METHODS SUPPORTING FAST-SWITCHED UPLINK TRANSMISSION ACROSS CARRIERS

Abstract

A communication device in a communication network can be configured to provide uplink communication using a first uplink carrier and a second uplink carrier. The communication device can provide a parameter relating to a time duration (Tswitch) required to switch an uplink transmit chain from the first carrier to the second carrier. The communication device can further transmit the parameter relating to the time duration (Tswitch) required to switch the uplink transmit chain from the first carrier to the second carrier to the communication network.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates generally to communications, and more particularly to communication methods and related devices and nodes supporting wireless communications.

BACKGROUND

The New radio (“NR”) standard in the 3^rd Generation Partnership Project (“3GPP”) provides service for multiple use cases such as enhanced mobile broadband (“eMBB”), ultra-reliable and low latency communication (“URLLC”), and machine type communication (“MTC”). Each of these services has different technical requirements. For example, the general requirement for eMBB is high data rate with moderate latency and moderate coverage, while URLLC service requires a low latency and high reliability transmission but perhaps allows for moderate data rates.

One of the approaches for low latency data transmission is shorter transmission time intervals. In NR in addition to transmission in a slot, a mini-slot transmission is also allowed to reduce latency. A mini-slot may include any number of 1 to 14 Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing (“OFDM”) symbols. It should be noted that the concepts of slot and mini-slot are not specific to a specific service meaning that a mini-slot may be used for either eMBB, URLLC, or other services.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of radio resources in NR.

Carrier Aggregation (“CA”) is generally used in NR (also referred to as 5th Generation (“5G”)) and Long Term Evolution (“LTE”) systems to improve communication device (also referred to herein as user equipment (“UE”)) transmit/receive data rates. With CA, the UE typically operates initially on a single serving cell called a primary cell (“Pcell”). The Pcell is operated on a component carrier in a frequency band. The UE is then configured by the network with one or more secondary serving cells (“Scell(s)”). Each Scell can correspond to a component carrier (“CC”) in the same frequency band (intra-band CA) or different frequency band (inter-band CA) from the frequency band of the CC corresponding to the Pcell. For the UE to transmit/receive data on the Scell(s) (e.g., by receiving DownLink Shared Channel (“DL-SCH”) information on a Physical DownLink Shared Channel (“PUSCH”) or by transmitting UpLink Shared Channel (“UL-SCH”) on a Physical UpLink Shared Channel (“PUSCH”)), the Scell(s) may need to be activated by the network. The Scell(s) can also be deactivated and later reactivated as needed via activation/deactivation signaling.

UE can be configured with carrier aggregation to aggregate Frequency Division Duplex (“FDD”) carriers, Time Division Duplex (“TDD”) carriers or both FDD and TDD carriers. UE can indicate via capability its carrier aggregation capability, including whether it supports CA on the downlink and whether it supports CA on the uplink.

A UE supporting uplink CA across carriers can be assumed to have dedicated Transmit (“Tx”) chains for each carrier, and hence is able to support CA without any restrictions. On the other hand, there can be UEs that may share some hardware (e.g. a Tx antenna, a power amplifier, phase locked loops, a transmitter chain circuit, etc.) across the two carriers, and hence may need special handling (e.g., via scheduling) to ensure proper operation. An example is shown in the table of FIG. 2, where a UE has only 2 Tx chains, and it can transmit on the uplink on two carriers, but with some restriction as shown in the table of FIG. 2. Such a UE is not able to transmit 1 Tx on carrier 1 and 2 Tx on carrier 2 (e.g., to support 2-layer multiple-input-multiple-output (“MIMO”) on carrier 2) since it has only 2 Tx chains, and hence the UE can only support either case 1 or case 2 for transmitting on the uplink.

A switching gap may be needed to allow the UE enough time to switch (e.g., to move/reconfigure some hardware (or a Tx chain) from carrier 1 to carrier 2 or vice versa) between the two carriers. The network (“NW”) needs to provide switching gaps on one of the carriers and would also need to provide enough additional relaxation in UE Physical Uplink Shared Channel (“PUSCH”) processing time, which is time typically between an end of an UpLink (“UL”) grant and start of the PUSCH.

In some existing approaches such as the Rel-15 CA signaling framework as well as Rel-15, PUSCH processing time may be inefficient/inadequate to support fast-switched uplink. Accordingly, some additional relaxation in PUSCH processing time may be useful.

SUMMARY

According to some embodiments, a method of operating a communication device in a communication network is provided. The communication device is configured to provide uplink communication using a first uplink carrier and a second uplink carrier. The method includes providing a parameter providing a parameter relating to a time duration (T_switch) required to switch an uplink transmit chain from the first carrier to the second carrier. The method further includes transmitting the parameter relating to the time duration (T_switch) required to switch the uplink transmit chain from the first carrier to the second carrier to the communication network.

According to other embodiments, a method of operating a network node to support communication for a communication device is provided. The communication device is configured to provide uplink communication using a first uplink carrier and a second uplink carrier. The method includes receiving a parameter from the communication device. The parameter relates to a time duration (T_switch) required for the communication device to switch an uplink transmit chain from the first carrier to the second carrier to the communication network. The method further includes determining an uplink preparation time for the communication device using the parameter relating to the time duration (T_switch) required for the communication device to switch the uplink transmit chain from the first carrier to the second carrier. The method further includes, generating scheduling information for an uplink transmission from the communication device using the second carrier based on the uplink preparation time using the parameter relating to the time duration (T_switch) required for the communication device to switch the uplink transmit chain from the first carrier to the second carrier.

According to other embodiments, a communication device, network node, computer program, or computer program product is provided for performing one of the above methods.

Various embodiments herein enable fast-switched UL Tx operation and may allow (via UE capability signaling) flexibility in UE implementations to support such features without compromising overall performance. In some examples, the switching gap can be separately determined (or signaled), which can allow the UE more flexibility to improve/optimize overall uplink performance without unnecessary linkage between the switching gap and overall PUSCH processing time.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of the disclosure and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this application, illustrate certain non-limiting embodiments of inventive concepts. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating radio resources in New Radio NR;

FIG. 2 is a table illustrating cases of carrier aggregation;

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating carrier aggregation using FDD and TDD bands;

FIGS. 4-5 are diagrams illustrating carrier aggregation using FDD and TDD bands with switching gaps;

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating preparation time according to some embodiments of inventive concepts;

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating preparation time and an additional time (T1) according to some embodiments of inventive concepts;

FIG. 8 is a table illustrating preparation times for different capabilities and numerologies (p);

FIG. 9 is a table illustrating different values of switching_time_case1_case2 for different numerologies (p);

FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating a wireless device UE according to some embodiments of inventive concepts;

FIG. 11 is a block diagram illustrating a radio access network RAN node (e.g., a base station eNB/gNB) according to some embodiments of inventive concepts;

FIG. 12 is a block diagram illustrating a core network CN node (e.g., an AMF node, an SMF node, etc.) according to some embodiments of inventive concepts;

FIG. 13 is a flow chart illustrating operations of a communication device according to some embodiments of inventive concepts;

FIG. 14 is a flow chart illustrating operations of a network node according to some embodiments of inventive concepts;

FIG. 15 is a block diagram of a wireless network in accordance with some embodiments;

FIG. 16 is a block diagram of a user equipment in accordance with some embodiments

FIG. 17 is a block diagram of a virtualization environment in accordance with some embodiments;

FIG. 18 is a block diagram of a telecommunication network connected via an intermediate network to a host computer in accordance with some embodiments;

FIG. 19 is a block diagram of a host computer communicating via a base station with a user equipment over a partially wireless connection in accordance with some embodiments;

FIG. 20 is a block diagram of methods implemented in a communication system including a host computer, a base station and a user equipment in accordance with some embodiments;

FIG. 21 is a block diagram of methods implemented in a communication system including a host computer, a base station and a user equipment in accordance with some embodiments;

FIG. 22 is a block diagram of methods implemented in a communication system including a host computer, a base station and a user equipment in accordance with some embodiments; and

FIG. 23 is a block diagram of methods implemented in a communication system including a host computer, a base station and a user equipment in accordance with some embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Inventive concepts will now be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which examples of embodiments of inventive concepts are shown. Inventive concepts may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of present inventive concepts to those skilled in the art. It should also be noted that these embodiments are not mutually exclusive. Components from one embodiment may be tacitly assumed to be present/used in another embodiment.

The following description presents various embodiments of the disclosed subject matter. These embodiments are presented as teaching examples and are not to be construed as limiting the scope of the disclosed subject matter. For example, certain details of the described embodiments may be modified, omitted, or expanded upon without departing from the scope of the described subject matter.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating elements of a communication device UE 1000 (also referred to as a mobile terminal, a mobile communication terminal, a wireless device, a wireless communication device, a wireless terminal, mobile device, a wireless communication terminal, user equipment, UE, a user equipment node/terminal/device, etc.) configured to provide wireless communication according to embodiments of inventive concepts. (Communication device 1000 may be provided, for example, as discussed below with respect to wireless device 4110 of FIG. 15, UE 4200 of FIG. 16, UEs 4491, 4492 of FIG. 18, and UE 4530 of FIG. 19.) As shown, communication device UE 1000 may include an antenna 1007 (e.g., corresponding to antenna 4111 of FIG. 15), and transceiver circuitry 1001 (also referred to as a transceiver, e.g., corresponding to interface 4114 of FIG. 15; interfaces 4205, 4209, 4211, transmitter 4233, and receiver 4235 of FIG. 16; and radio interface 4537 of FIG. 19) including a transmitter and a receiver configured to provide uplink and downlink radio communications with a base station(s) (e.g., corresponding to network node 4160 of FIG. 15, also referred to as a RAN node) of a radio access network. Communication device UE 1000 may also include processing circuitry 1003 (also referred to as a processor, e.g., corresponding to processing circuitry 4120 of FIG. 15, processor 4201 of FIG. 16, and processing circuitry 4538 of FIG. 19) coupled to the transceiver circuitry, and memory circuitry 1005 (also referred to as memory, e.g., corresponding to device readable medium 4130 of FIG. 15) coupled to the processing circuitry. The memory circuitry 1005 may include computer readable program code that when executed by the processing circuitry 1003 causes the processing circuitry to perform operations according to embodiments disclosed herein. According to other embodiments, processing circuitry 1003 may be defined to include memory so that separate memory circuitry is not required. Communication device UE 1000 may also include an interface (such as a user interface) coupled with processing circuitry 1003, and/or communication device UE may be incorporated in a vehicle.

As discussed herein, operations of communication device UE 1000 may be performed by processing circuitry 1003 and/or transceiver circuitry 1001. For example, processing circuitry 1003 may control transceiver circuitry 1001 to transmit communications through transceiver circuitry 1001 over a radio interface to a radio access network node (also referred to as a base station) and/or to receive communications through transceiver circuitry 1001 from a RAN node over a radio interface. Moreover, modules may be stored in memory circuitry 1005, and these modules may provide instructions so that when instructions of a module are executed by processing circuitry 1003, processing circuitry 1003 performs respective operations.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram illustrating elements of a radio access network RAN node 1100 (also referred to as a network node, base station, eNodeB/eNB, gNodeB/gNB, etc.) of a Radio Access Network (RAN) configured to provide cellular communication according to embodiments of inventive concepts. (RAN node 1100 may be provided, for example, as discussed below with respect to network node 4160 of FIG. 15, base stations 4412a-c of FIG. 18, and/or base station 4520 of FIG. 19, all of which should be considered interchangeable in the examples and embodiments described herein and be withing the intended scope of this disclosure, unless otherwise noted.) As shown, the RAN node 1100 may include transceiver circuitry 1101 (also referred to as a transceiver, e.g., corresponding to portions of interface 4190 of FIG. 15 and/or portions of radio interface 4527 of FIG. 19) including a transmitter and a receiver configured to provide uplink and downlink radio communications with mobile terminals. The RAN node 1100 may include network interface circuitry 1107 (also referred to as a network interface, e.g., corresponding to portions of interface 4190 of FIG. 15 and/or portions of communication interface 4526 of FIG. 19) configured to provide communications with other nodes (e.g., with other base stations) of the RAN and/or core network CN. The RAN node 1100 may also include processing circuitry 1103 (also referred to as a processor, e.g., corresponding to processing circuitry 4170 and/or processing circuitry 4528 of FIG. 19) coupled to the transceiver circuitry, and memory circuitry 1105 (also referred to as memory, e.g., corresponding to device readable medium 4180 of FIG. 15) coupled to the processing circuitry. The memory circuitry 1105 may include computer readable program code that when executed by the processing circuitry 1103 causes the processing circuitry to perform operations according to embodiments disclosed herein. According to other embodiments, processing circuitry 1103 may be defined to include memory so that a separate memory circuitry is not required.

As discussed herein, operations of the RAN node 1100 may be performed by processing circuitry 1103, network interface 1107, and/or transceiver 1101. For example, processing circuitry 1103 may control transceiver 1101 to transmit downlink communications through transceiver 1101 over a radio interface to one or more mobile terminals UEs and/or to receive uplink communications through transceiver 1101 from one or more mobile terminals UEs over a radio interface. Similarly, processing circuitry 1103 may control network interface 1107 to transmit communications through network interface 1107 to one or more other network nodes and/or to receive communications through network interface from one or more other network nodes. Moreover, modules may be stored in memory 1105, and these modules may provide instructions so that when instructions of a module are executed by processing circuitry 1103, processing circuitry 1103 performs respective operations (e.g., operations discussed below with respect to Example Embodiments relating to network nodes).

According to some other embodiments, a network node may be implemented as a core network CN node without a transceiver. In such embodiments, transmission to a wireless communication device UE may be initiated by the network node so that transmission to the wireless communication device UE is provided through a network node including a transceiver (e.g., through a base station or RAN node). According to embodiments where the network node is a RAN node including a transceiver, initiating transmission may include transmitting through the transceiver.

FIG. 12 is a block diagram illustrating elements of a core network CN node 1200 (e.g., an SMF node, an AMF node, etc.) of a communication network configured to provide cellular communication according to embodiments of inventive concepts. As shown, the CN node 1200 may include network interface circuitry 1207 (also referred to as a network interface) configured to provide communications with other nodes of the core network and/or the RAN. The CN node 1200 may also include a processing circuitry 1203 (also referred to as a processor) coupled to the network interface circuitry, and memory circuitry 1205 (also referred to as memory) coupled to the processing circuitry. The memory circuitry 1205 may include computer readable program code that when executed by the processing circuitry 1203 causes the processing circuitry to perform operations according to embodiments disclosed herein. According to other embodiments, processing circuitry 1203 may be defined to include memory so that a separate memory circuitry is not required.

As discussed herein, operations of the CN node 1200 may be performed by processing circuitry 1203 and/or network interface circuitry 1207. For example, processing circuitry 1203 may control network interface circuitry 1207 to transmit communications through network interface circuitry 1207 to one or more other network nodes and/or to receive communications through network interface circuitry from one or more other network nodes. Moreover, modules may be stored in memory 1205, and these modules may provide instructions so that when instructions of a module are executed by processing circuitry 1203, processing circuitry 1203 performs respective operations (e.g., operations discussed below with respect to Example Embodiments relating to network nodes).

According to some embodiments of inventive concepts, PUSCH preparation time enhancement for fast-switched uplink case may be provided, including additional time duration (T1/T2) determination based on UE capability signaling for operation in such a mode. The switching gap can be separately determined (or signaled) which allows UE more flexibility to improve/optimize overall uplink performance without unnecessary linkage between the switching gap and overall PUSCH processing time. According to some embodiments of inventive concepts, UE capability signaling related to fast-switched uplink, including inclusion of additional bits within CA-parametersNR IE, is also proposed.

Some embodiments of inventive concepts may enable fast-switched UL Tx operation and may allow (via UE capability signaling) flexibility in UE implementations to support such features without compromising overall performance. In particular, the switching gap can be separately determined (or signaled) which allows the UE more flexibility to improve/optimize overall uplink performance without unnecessary linkage between the switching gap and overall PUSCH processing time. UE capability signaling related to fast-switched uplink, including inclusion of additional bits within CA-parametersNR IE may reduce overall signaling overhead while allowing UE to signal its desired fast-switched UL Tx preferences.

According to some embodiments of inventive concepts, a UE is configured with carrier aggregation between FDD and TDD carriers, with a carrier configured as a primary carrier (or primary cell). An example of a band/band combination for this scenario is shown below.

• • Carrier 1 can be in FDD—e.g., 1.8 GHz at 15 kHz SCS (Subcarrier spacing), 1 Tx UL, 20 MHz BW (Bandwidth)
  • Carrier 2 can be in TDD—e.g., 3.5 GHz at 30 kHz SCS with DDDSUDDSUU pattern or DDDSUUDDDD pattern, 2 Tx UL, 80 MHz BW

Another example of a band/band combination for this scenario is shown below.

• • Carriers 1 and 2 can be in FDD—e.g., 1.8 GHz at 15 kHz SCS, 1 Tx UL, 10 MHz BW+10 MHz BW
  • Carriers 3 and 4 can be in TDD—e.g., 3.5 GHz at 30 kHz SCS with DDDSUDDSUU pattern or DDDSUUDDDD pattern, 2 Tx UL, 40 MHz BW+40 MHz BW

In the TDD pattern(s), D denotes a Downlink slot, U denotes an uplink slot, and S denotes a slot which can contain symbols where the UE receives on downlink, and symbols where the UE can receive on the uplink, and some gap in between to allow downlink to uplink switching at the UE. Some symbols can flexible symbols (i.e., which can be used for downlink or for uplink or reserved).

FIG. 3 shows a baseline CA scenario, where the UE aggregates the FDD and TDD carriers. In FIG. 3, the UE is expected to transmit with 1 Tx on carrier 1, and 1 Tx or 2 Tx (e.g., supporting 2-layer MIMO transmission) on carrier 2 at the same time, and hence the UE would have effectively 2 or 3 Tx chains overall. Tx can refer to a Tx chain, a transmitter chain or transmit antenna.

FIG. 4 shows a first fast-switched UL Tx CA scenario (e.g., option 1). In FIG. 4, a UE is configured with FDD-TDD CA. However, the UE does not simultaneously transmit on the FDD and TDD parts, or the UE can support transmission on the uplink on FDD and TDD in a time-division multiplexing. This is indicated by U*** slots in the FDD uplink where the UE does not transmit on the FDD uplink during TDD uplink transmissions. When 2 Tx transmission is scheduled on the TDD (e.g., for 2-layer MIMO transmission) leg (darkest shading and indicated by U* slots), some symbols are used (or truncated as) for a switching gap 411. The switching gap can be defined in units of symbols or absolute time (e.g., 1 OFDM symbol in the numerology of the uplink carrier on which the gap occurs or it can be 4 OFDM symbols in the numerology of the uplink carrier on which the gap occurs). The switching gap 401 enables moving a transmit chain from FDD leg to TDD leg to enable UL MIMO on TDD. No switching gap is needed when there is a 1 Tx transmission (e.g., a 1-layer MIMO transmission) on TDD leg as indicated by TDD uplink slots U** (without a switching gap).

FIG. 5 shows a second fast-switched UL Tx CA scenario (e.g., option 2). A UE is configured with FDD-TDD CA. However, the UE does not simultaneously transmit on the FDD and TDD only when the TDD part uses 2 Tx transmission (e.g., for 2-layer MIMO transmission). In other words, the UE can simultaneously transmit on the two carriers when FDD uses 1 Tx (indicated by FDD slot U****) and TDD uses 1 Tx (indicated by corresponding TDD slots U**). When 2 Tx transmission is scheduled on TDD leg (darkest shading and indicated by U* slot), some symbols are used (or truncated as) for the switching gap 401. The switching gap can be defined in units of symbols or absolute time (e.g., 1 OFDM symbol in the numerology of the uplink carrier on which the gap occurs or it can be 4 OFDM symbols in the numerology of the uplink carrier on which the gap occurs). The switching gap enables moving a transmit chain from FDD leg to TDD leg to enable UL MIMO on TDD. No switching gap can be needed when there is a 1 Tx transmission on TDD leg as indicated by TDD uplink slots U** (without a switching gap).

The same principles of UL CA, fast-switched UL Tx CA scenarios can apply for the multi-carrier aggregation case, where as an example a UE can transmit on only FDD carriers simultaneously (Carriers 1 and 2) or only TDD carriers simultaneously (carriers 3 and 4), but may not be able to transmit simultaneously on both the FDD and TDD carriers.

Next, some description is provided for PUSCH (Physical Uplink Shared Channel) preparation time.

The network NW schedules PUSCH transmissions for a UE such that UE gets a minimum PUSCH preparation time (or processing time). For typical uplink data transmissions, the minimum processing time is the time between the end of reception of PDCCH (Physical Downlink Control Channel) carrying the uplink grant and the start of the corresponding uplink transmission at the UE. The minimum processing time reflects the minimum time a UE needs to decode the PDCCH, parse the DCI (Downlink Control Information), prepare uplink data and start the transmission. The UE indicates its processing time via UE capability (e.g., UE capability 1) that is typically SCS-based. Various ways are specified in the standard to reflect various conditions which determine the minimum processing time for a given PUSCH transmission. For example, if UCI (Uplink Control Information) is to be multiplexed onto a PUSCH, then extra relaxation is provided for that PUSCH preparation. Similarly, if PDCCH uses a first SCS and PUSCH uses a second SCS, PUSCH preparation time is determined based on a reference SCS determined from the first and second SCS.

An example description of PUSCH preparation time is shown below. If the first uplink symbol in the PUSCH allocation for a transport block, including the DM-RS, as defined by the slot offset K₂ and the start and length indicator SLIV of the scheduling DCI and including the effect of the timing advance, is no earlier than at symbol L₂, where L₂ is defined as the next uplink symbol with its CP starting T_proc,2=max ((N₂+d_2,1)(2048+144)·κ2^−μ·T_C,d_2,2) after the end of the reception of the last symbol of the PDCCH carrying the DCI scheduling the PUSCH, then the UE shall transmit the transport block.

• • N₂ is based on μ of for UE processing capability 1 and 2 respectively, where μ corresponds to the one of (μ_DL, μ_UL) resulting with the largest T_proc,2, where the μ_DL corresponds to the subcarrier spacing of the downlink with which the PDCCH carrying the DCI scheduling the PUSCH was transmitted and μ_UL corresponds to the subcarrier spacing of the uplink channel with which the PUSCH is to be transmitted, and K is defined in subclause 4.1 of [4, TS 38.211].
    • d_2,1 can take values 0 or 1, based on whether the first symbol of PUSCH is DMRS-only or not.
    • If the UE is configured with multiple active component carriers, the first uplink symbol in the PUSCH allocation further includes the effect of timing difference between component carriers as given in [11, TS 38.133].
    • If UE is configured with capability 2, it follows capability 2 processing time, otherwise the baseline capability that the UE follows is capability 1.
    • If the scheduling DCI triggered a switch of BWP, d_2,2 equals to the BWP switching time, otherwise d_2,2=0.

The table of FIG. 8 illustrates values for PUSCH preparation time N₂ [symbols] for Capability 1, and for PUSCH preparation time N₂ [symbols] for Capability 2.

An example of PUSCH transmission is shown in FIG. 6. The figure shows a PDCCH in slot n and a corresponding scheduled PUSCH transmission in slot n+2. Since the scheduled PUSCH allows the UE enough preparation time (i.e. >=T_proc,2), UE transmits on the PUSCH. If sufficient preparation time is not provided, the UE may or may not transmit the PUSCH, or in general, the UE behavior may be undefined.

To support fast-switched UL Tx CA scenarios (e.g., option 1 or 2 above), the network NW must provision gaps, and since the NW can schedule PUSCHs on the two carriers dynamically, the UE would need to be provisioned with sufficient preparation time so that it can decode a DCI, and based on the contents of the DCI determine whether to switch the hardware or tx chain (from one carrier to another), and then prepare PUSCH accordingly. Thus, additional time can be needed to reflect the extra step of switching of Tx in the PUSCH preparation time.

Details of the additional time duration and associated capability signaling aspects are discussed below.

According to some embodiments, a UE is configured with multiple serving cells. The UE is configured with a higher layer parameter that configures the UE to operate in a fast-switched UL mode. The UE PUSCH preparation time for uplink transmission on a first serving cell is based on its PUSCH processing capability for the serving cell (e.g. one of capability 1 or 2 as shown in the table of FIG. 8) and additionally based on a first time duration (T1, shown in FIG. 7). The UE PUSCH preparation time for uplink transmission on a second serving cell or a second set of serving cells is based on its PUSCH processing capability for the serving cell (e.g., one of capability 1 or 2 as shown in the table of FIG. 8) and is additionally based on a second time duration (T2).

In some embodiments, there can one or more serving cells (e.g., intra-band carriers of a first band in a band-combination) that have the same Tx chain as first serving cell, and there can be one or more serving cells ((e.g., intra-band carriers of a second band in a band-combination) that have the same Tx chain as second serving cell.

In some embodiments, T1 and T2 are the same.

In some embodiments, T1 and/or T2 can be the same as the time duration (Tgap, also referred to as T_switch) for the switching gap (or guard period) required for the UE to switch its tx-chain between carriers. Tgap can be indicated by the UE using UE capability parameter signaling.

In some examples, the switching gap Tgap can be 7 symbols (250 us in 30 kHz numerology), while T1/T2 can 4 symbols (˜120 us). In another example, both switching gap Tgap and T1/T2 can be 7 symbols (250 us in 30 kHz numerology).

In some embodiments, T1 and/or T2 can additionally depend on the numerology of the first serving cell and the numerology of the second serving cell.

In some embodiments, T1 and/or T2 can additionally depend on a reference numerology that is based on the numerology of the first serving cell and second serving cell.

In some embodiments, the reference numerology is the lowest numerology (e.g., SCS or Subcarrier spacing) among the numerology of the first serving cell and second serving cell. In an example, the reference numerology is the lowest numerology (e.g., SCS) among the numerologies of all BWPs (DL, UL or DL and UL) of the first serving cell and second serving cell.

When UE is configured with multiple BWPs for a carrier, the numerologies considered can be the ones corresponding to only the active BWP, or across all configured BWPs.

In some embodiments, the reference numerology is the numerology (e.g., SCS) of the serving cell on which gap is provisioned.

In some embodiments, the reference numerology is based on the numerologies (e.g., SCS) across all BWPs of the serving cell on which gap is provisioned.

In some embodiments, T1 and/or T2 are in units of OFDM symbols corresponding to the reference numerology.

In some embodiments, T1 (and optionally T2) is indicated via UE capability signaling. The UE can indicate T1 per numerology. The numerology used to determine T1 can be the reference numerology.

The UE can indicate a first capability (e.g., time duration T1) based on which additional PUSCH preparation time for UL Tx switching (or when UL Tx switching is enabled) between a first and second carrier (or serving cell) is derived; and a second capability (Tgap) based on which switching gap/guard duration is required for UL Tx switching between the first and the second carrier (or serving cell) is determined. Tgap and T1 can be different. The UE may pause or drop transmissions on the first or second carrier that overlap with switching gap time duration. In general, the UE may not be expected to transmit and/or receive on the first or second carrier during the switching gap duration.

In some embodiments, the UE indicates the switching gap Tgap capability (and optionally the additional PUSCH preparation time capability) for fast switching between two carriers belonging to a band-combination only if the UE also indicates supports for at least one of the following: Carrier aggregation between carriers of that band-combination; and EN-DC (EUTRA-NR dual connectivity) between carriers of that band-combination.

In EN-DC, the first carrier (or serving cell, or set of carriers) can belong to a first cell group (a master cell group, e.g. LTE), and a second carrier (or serving cell, or set of carriers) can belong to a second cell group (or secondary cell group e.g. NR).

In some embodiments, the UE may send capability signaling to the NW to indicate that it does not support simultaneous UL transmissions between two UL carriers that are indicated as part of a band combination signaled by the UE. The band combination can be a combination of an FDD band and a TDD band.

For example, the UE may include additional bits within CA-ParametersNR IE indicating that it does not support simultaneous uplink (e.g., PUSCH, PUCCH, SRS) transmission for carriers (e.g., inter-band carriers, carrier 1 belonging to first band and carrier 2 belonging to second band) in that band combination. In another example, the UE may indicate that it does not support simultaneous PUSCH transmission between carriers (e.g., inter-band carriers, carrier 1 belonging to first band and carrier 2 belonging to second band) in the band combination. In another example, the UE may indicate that it does not support simultaneous PUSCH transmission between carriers in the band combination (e.g., inter-band carriers, carrier 1 belonging to first band and carrier 2 belonging to second band) if more than 1 spatial layer is used for PUSCH transmission on either carrier.

The UE may indicate via feature sets the various capabilities it can offer with respect to support of fast-switched uplink. Take an example of 1 UL carrier in FDD and 1 UL carrier in TDD.

The UE may indicate support for one or more of the following:

• • x UL carriers, 1-layer FDD+y UL carriers 1-layer on TDD
  • x UL carrier, 1-layer FDD+y UL carrier 2-layer on TDD, and condition such as below:
    • No simultaneous uplink transmission on TDD and FDD
    • Gap provisioned for Tx-switching: Gap can also be signaled by UE as capability
    • Time duration (T1 and/or T2) associated with PUSCH preparation time can also be signaled by the UE
  • x UL carrier, 1-layer FDD+y UL carrier 2-layer on TDD and condition such as below:
    • No simultaneous uplink transmission of 1-layer on FDD & 2-layer on TDD
    • Gap provisioned for Tx-switching: Gap can also be signaled by UE as capability
    • Time duration (T1 and/or T2) associated with PUSCH preparation time can also be signaled by the UE

In another example, UE may indicate support for 1-layer FDD and 1-layer TDD with only fast-switched uplink support (i.e., no simultaneous uplink transmission on TDD and FDD and gap provisioned for Tx-switching).

In some embodiments, the T1 and/or T2 are in units of absolute time, corresponding to the reference numerology.

In some embodiments, the UE PUSCH preparation for a serving cell is given by the sum of a) reference UE PUSCH preparation time for the serving cell (e.g., without fast-switched-UL mode) and b) T1/T2 for the first/second serving cell. E.g. Tproc,2-fast-switched-UL=TProc,2-no-fast-switched-UL+T1.

An example is shown in FIG. 7, where there is an additional processing time of T1 available for PUSCH processing for the case that fast switched uplink Tx is enabled.

T1/T2 can be dynamically determined (e.g., by the UE and gNB) for a given PUSCH transmission. T1 can vary between a first PUSCH transmission a second PUSCH transmission on a given serving cell.

In some embodiments, T1 for a given PUSCH transmission on a serving cell (e.g., cell x) is dependent on the serving cell (e.g., cell y) with the most recent uplink transmission or PUSCH transmission across all serving cells. These can be per UE (e.g., in case of EN-DC) or per-cell group (e.g. NR-DC with FR1-FR2 CA)

If cell x=cell y, then the T1 for the PUSCH transmission can be 0. If cell x is not equal to cell y, then the T1 for the PUSCH transmission can be a non-zero value (e.g., gap).

Example 1

• • T_switch=0, if the UE is operating/transmitting on the same serving cell in the X symbols preceding the corresponding PUSCH transmission, where X is the switching gap in terms of symbols
  • T_switch=X2 symbols, otherwise

In some embodiments, a serving cell can be configured or determined to be the default cell, where UE UL Tx is operating in certain default scenarios (e.g., if UE has not transmitted on the uplink for a long duration). The default cell can be a primary cell. This can be used by NW and UE to identify the provisioning of the gaps/T1.

If an uplink cell (e.g., TDD Scell) is deactivated, then there can be no uplink transmissions for that cell until it can be activated. In that case, there is no fast switching between UL carriers effectively, and hence no additional PUSCH processing time needs to be applied for PUSCH preparation for the activated cells (e.g., on the FDD cell).

The T1 (and or T2) can depend on the activation/deactivation status of one or more serving cells. The T1 (and or T2) for the case when one serving cell is deactivated can be smaller than the T1 (and or T2) for the case when the serving cell is activated.

An example draft spec change is shown below to provision T1 according to some embodiments of inventive concepts. As shown, the value T_switch is included in the calculation for T_proc,2.

• • start TP1 to sub clause 6.4 of TS 38.214
  • If the first uplink symbol in the PUSCH allocation for a transport block, including the DM-RS, as defined by the slot offset K₂ and the start and length indicator SLIV of the scheduling DCI and including the effect of the timing advance, is no earlier than at symbol L₂, where L₂ is defined as the next uplink symbol with its CP starting T_proc,2=max((N₂+d_2,1+T_switch)(2048+144)·κ2⁻¹·T_C,d_2,2) after the end of the reception of the last symbol of the PDCCH carrying the DCI scheduling the PUSCH, then the UE shall transmit the transport block.
    • N₂ is based on μ of Table 6.4-1 and Table 6.4-2 for UE processing capability 1 and 2 respectively, where p corresponds to the one of (μ_DL, μ_UL) resulting with the largest T_proc,2, where the poi corresponds to the subcarrier spacing of the downlink with which the PDCCH carrying the DCI scheduling the PUSCH was transmitted and μ_UL corresponds to the subcarrier spacing of the uplink channel with which the PUSCH is to be transmitted, and K is defined in clause 4.1 of [4, TS 38.211].
    • If the first symbol of the PUSCH allocation consists of DM-RS only, then d_2,1=0, otherwise d_2,1=1.
    • If the UE is configured with multiple active component carriers, the first uplink symbol in the PUSCH allocation further includes the effect of timing difference between component carriers as given in [11, TS 38.133].
    • If the scheduling DCI triggered a switch of BWP, d_2,2 equals to the switching time as defined in [11, TS 38.133], otherwise d_2,2=0.
    • For a UE that supports capability 2 on a given cell, the processing time according to UE processing capability 2 is applied if the high layer parameter processingType2Enabled in PUSCH-ServingCellConfig is configured for the cell and set to enable,
    • If the PUSCH indicated by the DCI is overlapping with one or more PUCCH channels, then the transport block is multiplexed following the procedure in clause 9.2.5 of [6, TS 38.213], otherwise the transport block is transmitted on the PUSCH indicated by the DCI.
    • If the UE configured with multiple uplink carriers or EN-DC, and configured with higher layer parameter fast_switching_case1_case2 set to enabled, T_switch is given by the parameter switching_time_case1_case2 supported by the UE; otherwise T_switch=0

Otherwise the UE may ignore the scheduling DCI.

• • end TP1

An example switching_time_case1_case2 (based on p) is shown in the Table of FIG. 9.

A NW node that receives and processes the UE capability signaling (described above) can configure the UE with multiple serving cells and fast-switched UL Tx mode, determine the overall processing time including the additional processing time duration (T1) UE may require for fast-switched UL Tx between serving cells (or carriers), identify at least one serving cell as a reference cell for provisioning gaps. NW can schedule the UE using time-domain resource allocation for a serving cell such that the allowed processing time for PUSCH transmission (including the effect of T1) on that serving cell is satisfied. NW may schedule UE such that gaps are provisioned for uplink Tx switching. The minimum gap can be different than T1. NW may utilize the gap duration to determine the SLIVs (slot length indicator values) that it configures for PUSCH transmission on one or more of the serving cells.

In some cases, the additional time duration for PUSCH processing time is needed (or applied) only for one of the carriers (i.e., only for Scell but not on Pcell/PScell). For example, T2 discussed above can be assumed to be zero and T1 is assumed to be only for the Scells.

In some embodiments, the UE can be configured with a first mode or a second mode for UL transmit chain switching.

• • When configured for the first mode, switching gaps (and/or an additional time duration for PUSCH processing time) for UL transmit switching are provided only when UE has a 2 (or more) layer UL MIMO transmission on carrier 2.
  • When configured for the second mode, switching gaps (and/or additional time duration for PUSCH processing time) for UL transmit switching are provided whenever the UE has a transmission on carrier 2 (i.e., a single layer or multi-layer MIMO transmission).

For example, for both the above cases, switching gaps can be provided only when the UE has a transmission on carrier 1 following which there is a transmission on carrier 2.

The first and second modes can be configured via higher layer signaling (e.g., Radio Resource Control RRC signaling).

When configured with first mode, the UE may be restricted from using UL transmit diversity (e.g., schemes like large delay CDD, precoder cycling) for transmissions on carrier2.

Carrier1 can be, for example, an FDD carrier, and carrier2 can be, for example, a TDD carrier, and UE may be configured for CA or EN-DC between carrier1 and carrier2.

According to some embodiments of inventive concepts, methods are provided to enable fast-switched uplink, including the embodiments discussed above.

• • According to some embodiments, PUSCH preparation time enhancement may be provided for a fast-switched uplink case, including T1, T2 determination based on UE capability signaling (switching gap signaled separately from T1/T2).
  • According to some embodiments, UE capability signaling related to fast-switched uplink may be provided, including inclusion of additional bits within the CA-parametersNR IE (information element).

Operations of the communication device 300 (implemented using the structure of the block diagram of FIG. 10) will now be discussed with reference to the flow chart of FIG. 13 according to some embodiments of inventive concepts. For example, modules may be stored in memory 305 of FIG. 10, and these modules may provide instructions so that when the instructions of a module are executed by respective communication device processing circuitry 303, processing circuitry 303 performs respective operations of the flow chart.

FIG. 13 relates to operations of communication device 300 in a communication network, where the communication device is configured to provide uplink communication using a first uplink carrier and a second uplink carrier.

At block 1311, processing circuitry 303 provides a parameter relating to a time duration (T_switch) required to switch an uplink transmit chain from the first carrier to the second carrier.

At block 1315, processing circuitry 303 transmits the parameter relating to the time duration (T_switch) required to switch the uplink transmit chain from the first carrier to the second carrier to the communication network.

Operations of a RAN node 400 (implemented using the structure of FIG. 11) will now be discussed with reference to the flow chart of FIG. 14 according to some embodiments of inventive concepts. For example, modules may be stored in memory 405 of FIG. 14, and these modules may provide instructions so that when the instructions of a module are executed by respective RAN node processing circuitry 403, processing circuitry 403 performs respective operations of the flow chart.

FIG. 14 relates to operations of a network node 400 to support communication for a communication device 300 configured to provide uplink communication using a first uplink carrier and a second uplink carrier.

At block 1411, processing circuitry 403 receives a parameter from the communication device, wherein the parameter relates to a time duration (T_switch) required for the communication device to switch an uplink transmit chain from the first carrier to the second carrier to the communication network.

At block 1415, processing circuitry 403 determines an uplink preparation time for the communication device using the parameter relating to the time duration (T_switch) required for the communication device to switch the uplink transmit chain from the first carrier to the second carrier.

At block 1419, processing circuitry 403 generates scheduling information for an uplink transmission from the communication device using the second carrier based on the uplink preparation time using the parameter relating to the time duration (T_switch) required for the communication device to switch the uplink transmit chain from the first carrier to the second carrier.

Example embodiments are discussed below.

Embodiment 1. A method of operating a communication device (300) in a communication network, wherein the communication device is configured to provide uplink communication using a first uplink carrier and a second uplink carrier, the method comprising:

providing a parameter relating to a time duration (T_switch) required to switch an uplink transmit chain from the first carrier to the second carrier; and

transmitting the parameter relating to the time duration (T_switch) required to switch the uplink transmit chain from the first carrier to the second carrier to the communication network.

Embodiment 2. The method of Embodiment 1, wherein the parameter indicates an additional time (T1) to be added to an uplink preparation time (T_proc2), wherein the additional time (T1) is based on the time duration (T_switch) required to switch the uplink transmit chain from the first carrier to the second carrier

Embodiment 3. The method of any of Embodiments 1-2, wherein the parameter indicates the time duration (T_switch) required to switch the uplink transmit chain from the first carrier to the second carrier.

Embodiment 4. The method of any of Embodiments 1-3 further comprising:

receiving downlink control information, DCI, indicating scheduling of an uplink transmission on the second carrier;

responsive to receiving the DCI, switching the uplink transmit chain from the first carrier to the second carrier; and

responsive to receiving the DCI, transmitting the uplink transmission to the communication network using the uplink transmit chain and the second carrier.

Embodiment 5. The method of Embodiment 4 further comprising:

responsive to downlink control information, DCI, indicating scheduling of an uplink transmission on the second carrier, determining an uplink preparation time for the uplink transmission based on the parameter relating to the time duration (T_switch) required to switch the uplink transmit chain from the first carrier to the second carrier

wherein the uplink transmission is transmitted based on determining the uplink preparation time.

Embodiment 6. The method of any of Embodiments 4-5, wherein the DCI indicates scheduling the uplink transmission on the second carrier as a multi-layer multiple-input-multiple-output, MIMO, transmission, and wherein the uplink transmission is transmitted as a MIMO transmission.

Embodiment 7. The method of any of Embodiments 1-6, wherein the parameter is defined according to a numerology (p) of at least one of the first carrier and/or the second carrier.

Embodiment 8. A method of operating a network node (400) to support communication for a communication device (300) configure to provide uplink communication using a first uplink carrier and a second uplink carrier, the method comprising:

receiving a parameter from the communication device, wherein the parameter relates to a time duration (T_switch) required for the communication device to switch an uplink transmit chain from the first carrier to the second carrier to the communication network;

determining an uplink preparation time for the communication device using the parameter relating to the time duration (T_switch) required for the communication device to switch the uplink transmit chain from the first carrier to the second carrier;

generating scheduling information for an uplink transmission from the communication device using the second carrier based on the uplink preparation time using the parameter relating to the time duration (T_switch) required for the communication device to switch the uplink transmit chain from the first carrier to the second carrier.

Embodiment 9. The method of Embodiment 8 further comprising:

transmitting downlink control information, DCI, to the communication device, wherein the DCI includes the scheduling information for the uplink transmission from the communication device; and

receiving the uplink transmission from the communication device according to the scheduling information.

Embodiment 10. The method of any of Embodiments 8-9, wherein the parameter indicates an additional time (T1) to be added to the uplink preparation time (T_proc2), wherein the additional time (T1) is based on the time duration (T_switch) required to switch the uplink transmit chain from the first carrier to the second carrier

Embodiment 11. The method of Embodiment 10, wherein determining the uplink preparation time comprises determining the uplink preparation time (e.g., T_proc,2=max(N₂+d_2,1)(2048+144)·κ3^−μ·T_C,d_2,2)) and then modifying the uplink preparation time by adding the additional time (T1) to the uplink preparation time (T_proc2).

Embodiment 12. The method of any of Embodiments 8-11, wherein the parameter indicates the time duration (T_switch) required to switch the uplink transmit chain from the first carrier to the second carrier, and wherein the uplink preparation time (T_proc2) is determined as a function (e.g., T_proc,2=max((N₂+d_2,1+T_switch)(2048+144)·κ2^−μ·T_C, d_2,2)) of the time duration (T_switch).

Embodiment 13. The method of any of Embodiments 8-12, wherein the scheduling information is generated using the parameter relating to the time duration (T_switch) required for the communication device to switch the uplink transmit chain from the first carrier to the second carrier responsive to scheduling the uplink transmission using the second carrier for a multi-layer multiple-input-multiple-output, MIMO, transmission.

Embodiment 14. The method of any of Embodiments 8-13, wherein the scheduling information is generated using the parameter relating to the time duration (T_switch) required for the communication device to switch the uplink transmit chain from the first carrier to the second carrier responsive to scheduling the uplink transmission using the second carrier in a slot following a preceding slot used by the communication device to transmit an uplink transmission using the first carrier.

Embodiment 15. The method of any of Embodiments 8-14, wherein the network node comprises a Radio Access Network, RAN, node.

Embodiment 16. The method of Embodiment 13, further comprising:

transmitting downlink control information, DCI, to the communication device, wherein the DCI includes the scheduling information for the uplink transmission from the communication device using the second carrier for the MIMO transmission; and

receiving the uplink transmission from the communication device according to the scheduling information using the second carrier for the MIMO transmission.

Embodiment 17. The method of any of Embodiments 8-16, wherein the parameter is defined according to a numerology (μ) of at least one of the first carrier and/or the second carrier.

Embodiment 18. A communication device (300) comprising:

processing circuitry (303); and

memory (305) coupled with the processing circuitry, wherein the memory includes instructions that when executed by the processing circuitry causes the communication device to perform operations according to any of Embodiments 1-7.

Embodiment 19. A communication device (300) adapted to perform according to any of Embodiments 1-7.

Embodiment 20. A computer program comprising program code to be executed by processing circuitry (303) of a communication device (300), whereby execution of the program code causes the communication device (300) to perform operations according to any of embodiments 1-7.

Embodiment 21. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory storage medium including program code to be executed by processing circuitry (303) of a communication device (300), whereby execution of the program code causes the communication device (300) to perform operations according to any of embodiments 1-7.

Embodiment 22. A network node (400) comprising:

processing circuitry (403); and

memory (405) coupled with the processing circuitry, wherein the memory includes instructions that when executed by the processing circuitry causes the network node to perform operations according to any of Embodiments 8-17.

Embodiment 23. A network node (400) adapted to perform according to any of Embodiments 8-17.

Embodiment 24. A computer program comprising program code to be executed by processing circuitry (403) of a network node (400), whereby execution of the program code causes the network node (400) to perform operations according to any of embodiments 8-17.

Embodiment 25. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory storage medium including program code to be executed by processing circuitry (403) of a network node (400), whereby execution of the program code causes the network node (400) to perform operations according to any of embodiments 8-17.

Explanations are provided below for various abbreviations/acronyms used in the present disclosure.

Abbreviation Explanation
DMRS         Demodulation Reference Signal
DM-RS        Demodulation Reference Signal
EUTRA        Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access
TBS          Transport block size
SCS          Subcarrier spacing
eMBB         enhanced Mobile BroadBand
LTE          Long Term Evolution
NR           Next Radio
PDCCH        Physical Downlink Control Channel
PDSCH        Physical Downlink Shared Channel
PUSCH        Physical Uplink Shared Channel
UE           User Equipment
CC           Component carrier
FDD          Frequency Division Duplex
TDD          Time Division Duplex
SRS          sounding reference signal
UL           Uplink
BWP          Bandwidth Part

Additional explanation is provided below.

Generally, all terms used herein are to be interpreted according to their ordinary meaning in the relevant technical field, unless a different meaning is clearly given and/or is implied from the context in which it is used. All references to a/an/the element, apparatus, component, means, step, etc. are to be interpreted openly as referring to at least one instance of the element, apparatus, component, means, step, etc., unless explicitly stated otherwise. The steps of any methods disclosed herein do not have to be performed in the exact order disclosed, unless a step is explicitly described as following or preceding another step and/or where it is implicit that a step must follow or precede another step. Any feature of any of the embodiments disclosed herein may be applied to any other embodiment, wherever appropriate. Likewise, any advantage of any of the embodiments may apply to any other embodiments, and vice versa. Other objectives, features and advantages of the enclosed embodiments will be apparent from the following description.

Some of the embodiments contemplated herein will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings. Other embodiments, however, are contained within the scope of the subject matter disclosed herein, the disclosed subject matter should not be construed as limited to only the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided by way of example to convey the scope of the subject matter to those skilled in the art.

FIG. 15 illustrates a wireless network in accordance with some embodiments.

Although the subject matter described herein may be implemented in any appropriate type of system using any suitable components, the embodiments disclosed herein are described in relation to a wireless network, such as the example wireless network illustrated in FIG. 15. For simplicity, the wireless network of FIG. 15 only depicts network 4106, network nodes 4160 and 4160b, and WDs 4110, 4110b, and 4110c (also referred to as mobile terminals). In practice, a wireless network may further include any additional elements suitable to support communication between wireless devices or between a wireless device and another communication device, such as a landline telephone, a service provider, or any other network node or end device. Of the illustrated components, network node 4160 and wireless device (WD) 4110 are depicted with additional detail. The wireless network may provide communication and other types of services to one or more wireless devices to facilitate the wireless devices' access to and/or use of the services provided by, or via, the wireless network.

The wireless network may comprise and/or interface with any type of communication, telecommunication, data, cellular, and/or radio network or other similar type of system. In some embodiments, the wireless network may be configured to operate according to specific standards or other types of predefined rules or procedures. Thus, particular embodiments of the wireless network may implement communication standards, such as Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), Long Term Evolution (LTE), and/or other suitable 2G, 3G, 4G, or 5G standards; wireless local area network (WLAN) standards, such as the IEEE 802.11 standards; and/or any other appropriate wireless communication standard, such as the Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMax), Bluetooth, Z-Wave and/or ZigBee standards.

Network 4106 may comprise one or more backhaul networks, core networks, IP networks, public switched telephone networks (PSTNs), packet data networks, optical networks, wide-area networks (WANs), local area networks (LANs), wireless local area networks (WLANs), wired networks, wireless networks, metropolitan area networks, and other networks to enable communication between devices.

Network node 4160 and WD 4110 comprise various components described in more detail below. These components work together in order to provide network node and/or wireless device functionality, such as providing wireless connections in a wireless network. In different embodiments, the wireless network may comprise any number of wired or wireless networks, network nodes, base stations, controllers, wireless devices, relay stations, and/or any other components or systems that may facilitate or participate in the communication of data and/or signals whether via wired or wireless connections.

As used herein, network node refers to equipment capable, configured, arranged and/or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with a wireless device and/or with other network nodes or equipment in the wireless network to enable and/or provide wireless access to the wireless device and/or to perform other functions (e.g., administration) in the wireless network. Examples of network nodes include, but are not limited to, access points (APs) (e.g., radio access points), base stations (BSs) (e.g., radio base stations, Node Bs, evolved Node Bs (eNBs) and NR NodeBs (gNBs)). Base stations may be categorized based on the amount of coverage they provide (or, stated differently, their transmit power level) and may then also be referred to as femto base stations, pico base stations, micro base stations, or macro base stations. A base station may be a relay node or a relay donor node controlling a relay. A network node may also include one or more (or all) parts of a distributed radio base station such as centralized digital units and/or remote radio units (RRUs), sometimes referred to as Remote Radio Heads (RRHs). Such remote radio units may or may not be integrated with an antenna as an antenna integrated radio. Parts of a distributed radio base station may also be referred to as nodes in a distributed antenna system (DAS). Yet further examples of network nodes include multi-standard radio (MSR) equipment such as MSR BSs, network controllers such as radio network controllers (RNCs) or base station controllers (BSCs), base transceiver stations (BTSs), transmission points, transmission nodes, multi-cell/multicast coordination entities (MCEs), core network nodes (e.g., MSCs, MMEs), O&M nodes, OSS nodes, SON nodes, positioning nodes (e.g., E-SMLCs), and/or MDTs. As another example, a network node may be a virtual network node as described in more detail below. More generally, however, network nodes may represent any suitable device (or group of devices) capable, configured, arranged, and/or operable to enable and/or provide a wireless device with access to the wireless network or to provide some service to a wireless device that has accessed the wireless network.

In FIG. 15, network node 4160 includes processing circuitry 4170, device readable medium 4180, interface 4190, auxiliary equipment 4184, power source 4186, power circuitry 4187, and antenna 4162. Although network node 4160 illustrated in the example wireless network of FIG. 15 may represent a device that includes the illustrated combination of hardware components, other embodiments may comprise network nodes with different combinations of components. It is to be understood that a network node comprises any suitable combination of hardware and/or software needed to perform the tasks, features, functions and methods disclosed herein. Moreover, while the components of network node 4160 are depicted as single boxes located within a larger box, or nested within multiple boxes, in practice, a network node may comprise multiple different physical components that make up a single illustrated component (e.g., device readable medium 4180 may comprise multiple separate hard drives as well as multiple RAM modules).

Similarly, network node 4160 may be composed of multiple physically separate components (e.g., a NodeB component and a RNC component, or a BTS component and a BSC component, etc.), which may each have their own respective components. In certain scenarios in which network node 4160 comprises multiple separate components (e.g., BTS and BSC components), one or more of the separate components may be shared among several network nodes. For example, a single RNC may control multiple NodeB's. In such a scenario, each unique NodeB and RNC pair, may in some instances be considered a single separate network node. In some embodiments, network node 4160 may be configured to support multiple radio access technologies (RATs). In such embodiments, some components may be duplicated (e.g., separate device readable medium 4180 for the different RATs) and some components may be reused (e.g., the same antenna 4162 may be shared by the RATs). Network node 4160 may also include multiple sets of the various illustrated components for different wireless technologies integrated into network node 4160, such as, for example, GSM, WCDMA, LTE, NR, WiFi, or Bluetooth wireless technologies. These wireless technologies may be integrated into the same or different chip or set of chips and other components within network node 4160.

Processing circuitry 4170 is configured to perform any determining, calculating, or similar operations (e.g., certain obtaining operations) described herein as being provided by a network node. These operations performed by processing circuitry 4170 may include processing information obtained by processing circuitry 4170 by, for example, converting the obtained information into other information, comparing the obtained information or converted information to information stored in the network node, and/or performing one or more operations based on the obtained information or converted information, and as a result of said processing making a determination.

Processing circuitry 4170 may comprise a combination of one or more of a microprocessor, controller, microcontroller, central processing unit, digital signal processor, application-specific integrated circuit, field programmable gate array, or any other suitable computing device, resource, or combination of hardware, software and/or encoded logic operable to provide, either alone or in conjunction with other network node 4160 components, such as device readable medium 4180, network node 4160 functionality. For example, processing circuitry 4170 may execute instructions stored in device readable medium 4180 or in memory within processing circuitry 4170. Such functionality may include providing any of the various wireless features, functions, or benefits discussed herein. In some embodiments, processing circuitry 4170 may include a system on a chip (SOC).

In some embodiments, processing circuitry 4170 may include one or more of radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry 4172 and baseband processing circuitry 4174. In some embodiments, radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry 4172 and baseband processing circuitry 4174 may be on separate chips (or sets of chips), boards, or units, such as radio units and digital units. In alternative embodiments, part or all of RF transceiver circuitry 4172 and baseband processing circuitry 4174 may be on the same chip or set of chips, boards, or units

In certain embodiments, some or all of the functionality described herein as being provided by a network node, base station, eNB or other such network device may be performed by processing circuitry 4170 executing instructions stored on device readable medium 4180 or memory within processing circuitry 4170. In alternative embodiments, some or all of the functionality may be provided by processing circuitry 4170 without executing instructions stored on a separate or discrete device readable medium, such as in a hard-wired manner. In any of those embodiments, whether executing instructions stored on a device readable storage medium or not, processing circuitry 4170 can be configured to perform the described functionality. The benefits provided by such functionality are not limited to processing circuitry 4170 alone or to other components of network node 4160, but are enjoyed by network node 4160 as a whole, and/or by end users and the wireless network generally.

Device readable medium 4180 may comprise any form of volatile or non-volatile computer readable memory including, without limitation, persistent storage, solid-state memory, remotely mounted memory, magnetic media, optical media, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), mass storage media (for example, a hard disk), removable storage media (for example, a flash drive, a Compact Disk (CD) or a Digital Video Disk (DVD)), and/or any other volatile or non-volatile, non-transitory device readable and/or computer-executable memory devices that store information, data, and/or instructions that may be used by processing circuitry 4170. Device readable medium 4180 may store any suitable instructions, data or information, including a computer program, software, an application including one or more of logic, rules, code, tables, etc. and/or other instructions capable of being executed by processing circuitry 4170 and, utilized by network node 4160. Device readable medium 4180 may be used to store any calculations made by processing circuitry 4170 and/or any data received via interface 4190. In some embodiments, processing circuitry 4170 and device readable medium 4180 may be considered to be integrated.

Interface 4190 is used in the wired or wireless communication of signalling and/or data between network node 4160, network 4106, and/or WDs 4110. As illustrated, interface 4190 comprises port(s)/terminal(s) 4194 to send and receive data, for example to and from network 4106 over a wired connection. Interface 4190 also includes radio front end circuitry 4192 that may be coupled to, or in certain embodiments a part of, antenna 4162. Radio front end circuitry 4192 comprises filters 4198 and amplifiers 4196. Radio front end circuitry 4192 may be connected to antenna 4162 and processing circuitry 4170. Radio front end circuitry may be configured to condition signals communicated between antenna 4162 and processing circuitry 4170. Radio front end circuitry 4192 may receive digital data that is to be sent out to other network nodes or WDs via a wireless connection. Radio front end circuitry 4192 may convert the digital data into a radio signal having the appropriate channel and bandwidth parameters using a combination of filters 4198 and/or amplifiers 4196. The radio signal may then be transmitted via antenna 4162. Similarly, when receiving data, antenna 4162 may collect radio signals which are then converted into digital data by radio front end circuitry 4192. The digital data may be passed to processing circuitry 4170. In other embodiments, the interface may comprise different components and/or different combinations of components.

In certain alternative embodiments, network node 4160 may not include separate radio front end circuitry 4192, instead, processing circuitry 4170 may comprise radio front end circuitry and may be connected to antenna 4162 without separate radio front end circuitry 4192. Similarly, in some embodiments, all or some of RF transceiver circuitry 4172 may be considered a part of interface 4190. In still other embodiments, interface 4190 may include one or more ports or terminals 4194, radio front end circuitry 4192, and RF transceiver circuitry 4172, as part of a radio unit (not shown), and interface 4190 may communicate with baseband processing circuitry 4174, which is part of a digital unit (not shown).

Antenna 4162 may include one or more antennas, or antenna arrays, configured to send and/or receive wireless signals. Antenna 4162 may be coupled to radio front end circuitry 4192 and may be any type of antenna capable of transmitting and receiving data and/or signals wirelessly. In some embodiments, antenna 4162 may comprise one or more omni-directional, sector or panel antennas operable to transmit/receive radio signals between, for example, 2 GHz and 66 GHz. An omni-directional antenna may be used to transmit/receive radio signals in any direction, a sector antenna may be used to transmit/receive radio signals from devices within a particular area, and a panel antenna may be a line of sight antenna used to transmit/receive radio signals in a relatively straight line. In some instances, the use of more than one antenna may be referred to as MIMO. In certain embodiments, antenna 4162 may be separate from network node 4160 and may be connectable to network node 4160 through an interface or port.

Antenna 4162, interface 4190, and/or processing circuitry 4170 may be configured to perform any receiving operations and/or certain obtaining operations described herein as being performed by a network node. Any information, data and/or signals may be received from a wireless device, another network node and/or any other network equipment. Similarly, antenna 4162, interface 4190, and/or processing circuitry 4170 may be configured to perform any transmitting operations described herein as being performed by a network node. Any information, data and/or signals may be transmitted to a wireless device, another network node and/or any other network equipment.

Power circuitry 4187 may comprise, or be coupled to, power management circuitry and is configured to supply the components of network node 4160 with power for performing the functionality described herein. Power circuitry 4187 may receive power from power source 4186. Power source 4186 and/or power circuitry 4187 may be configured to provide power to the various components of network node 4160 in a form suitable for the respective components (e.g., at a voltage and current level needed for each respective component). Power source 4186 may either be included in, or external to, power circuitry 4187 and/or network node 4160. For example, network node 4160 may be connectable to an external power source (e.g., an electricity outlet) via an input circuitry or interface such as an electrical cable, whereby the external power source supplies power to power circuitry 4187. As a further example, power source 4186 may comprise a source of power in the form of a battery or battery pack which is connected to, or integrated in, power circuitry 4187. The battery may provide backup power should the external power source fail. Other types of power sources, such as photovoltaic devices, may also be used.

Alternative embodiments of network node 4160 may include additional components beyond those shown in FIG. 15 that may be responsible for providing certain aspects of the network node's functionality, including any of the functionality described herein and/or any functionality necessary to support the subject matter described herein. For example, network node 4160 may include user interface equipment to allow input of information into network node 4160 and to allow output of information from network node 4160. This may allow a user to perform diagnostic, maintenance, repair, and other administrative functions for network node 4160.

As used herein, wireless device (WD) refers to a device capable, configured, arranged and/or operable to communicate wirelessly with network nodes and/or other wireless devices. Unless otherwise noted, the term WD may be used interchangeably herein with user equipment (UE). Communicating wirelessly may involve transmitting and/or receiving wireless signals using electromagnetic waves, radio waves, infrared waves, and/or other types of signals suitable for conveying information through air. In some embodiments, a WD may be configured to transmit and/or receive information without direct human interaction. For instance, a WD may be designed to transmit information to a network on a predetermined schedule, when triggered by an internal or external event, or in response to requests from the network. Examples of a WD include, but are not limited to, a smart phone, a mobile phone, a cell phone, a voice over IP (VoIP) phone, a wireless local loop phone, a desktop computer, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a wireless cameras, a gaming console or device, a music storage device, a playback appliance, a wearable terminal device, a wireless endpoint, a mobile station, a tablet, a laptop, a laptop-embedded equipment (LEE), a laptop-mounted equipment (LME), a smart device, a wireless customer-premise equipment (CPE). a vehicle-mounted wireless terminal device, etc. A WD may support device-to-device (D2D) communication, for example by implementing a 3GPP standard for sidelink communication, vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I), vehicle-to-everything (V2X) and may in this case be referred to as a D2D communication device. As yet another specific example, in an Internet of Things (loT) scenario, a WD may represent a machine or other device that performs monitoring and/or measurements, and transmits the results of such monitoring and/or measurements to another WD and/or a network node. The WD may in this case be a machine-to-machine (M2M) device, which may in a 3GPP context be referred to as an MTC device. As one particular example, the WD may be a UE implementing the 3GPP narrow band internet of things (NB-loT) standard. Particular examples of such machines or devices are sensors, metering devices such as power meters, industrial machinery, or home or personal appliances (e.g. refrigerators, televisions, etc.) personal wearables (e.g., watches, fitness trackers, etc.). In other scenarios, a WD may represent a vehicle or other equipment that is capable of monitoring and/or reporting on its operational status or other functions associated with its operation. A WD as described above may represent the endpoint of a wireless connection, in which case the device may be referred to as a wireless terminal. Furthermore, a WD as described above may be mobile, in which case it may also be referred to as a mobile device or a mobile terminal.

As illustrated, wireless device 4110 includes antenna 4111, interface 4114, processing circuitry 4120, device readable medium 4130, user interface equipment 4132, auxiliary equipment 4134, power source 4136 and power circuitry 4137. WD 4110 may include multiple sets of one or more of the illustrated components for different wireless technologies supported by WD 4110, such as, for example, GSM, WCDMA, LTE, NR, WiFi, WiMAX, or Bluetooth wireless technologies, just to mention a few. These wireless technologies may be integrated into the same or different chips or set of chips as other components within WD 4110.

Antenna 4111 may include one or more antennas or antenna arrays, configured to send and/or receive wireless signals, and is connected to interface 4114. In certain alternative embodiments, antenna 4111 may be separate from WD 4110 and be connectable to WD 4110 through an interface or port. Antenna 4111, interface 4114, and/or processing circuitry 4120 may be configured to perform any receiving or transmitting operations described herein as being performed by a WD. Any information, data and/or signals may be received from a network node and/or another WD. In some embodiments, radio front end circuitry and/or antenna 4111 may be considered an interface.

As illustrated, interface 4114 comprises radio front end circuitry 4112 and antenna 4111. Radio front end circuitry 4112 comprise one or more filters 4118 and amplifiers 4116. Radio front end circuitry 4112 is connected to antenna 4111 and processing circuitry 4120, and is configured to condition signals communicated between antenna 4111 and processing circuitry 4120. Radio front end circuitry 4112 may be coupled to or a part of antenna 4111. In some embodiments, WD 4110 may not include separate radio front end circuitry 4112; rather, processing circuitry 4120 may comprise radio front end circuitry and may be connected to antenna 4111. Similarly, in some embodiments, some or all of RF transceiver circuitry 4122 may be considered a part of interface 4114. Radio front end circuitry 4112 may receive digital data that is to be sent out to other network nodes or WDs via a wireless connection. Radio front end circuitry 4112 may convert the digital data into a radio signal having the appropriate channel and bandwidth parameters using a combination of filters 4118 and/or amplifiers 4116. The radio signal may then be transmitted via antenna 4111. Similarly, when receiving data, antenna 4111 may collect radio signals which are then converted into digital data by radio front end circuitry 4112. The digital data may be passed to processing circuitry 4120. In other embodiments, the interface may comprise different components and/or different combinations of components.

Processing circuitry 4120 may comprise a combination of one or more of a microprocessor, controller, microcontroller, central processing unit, digital signal processor, application-specific integrated circuit, field programmable gate array, or any other suitable computing device, resource, or combination of hardware, software, and/or encoded logic operable to provide, either alone or in conjunction with other WD 4110 components, such as device readable medium 4130, WD 4110 functionality. Such functionality may include providing any of the various wireless features or benefits discussed herein. For example, processing circuitry 4120 may execute instructions stored in device readable medium 4130 or in memory within processing circuitry 4120 to provide the functionality disclosed herein.

As illustrated, processing circuitry 4120 includes one or more of RF transceiver circuitry 4122, baseband processing circuitry 4124, and application processing circuitry 4126. In other embodiments, the processing circuitry may comprise different components and/or different combinations of components. In certain embodiments processing circuitry 4120 of WD 4110 may comprise a SOC. In some embodiments, RF transceiver circuitry 4122, baseband processing circuitry 4124, and application processing circuitry 4126 may be on separate chips or sets of chips. In alternative embodiments, part or all of baseband processing circuitry 4124 and application processing circuitry 4126 may be combined into one chip or set of chips, and RF transceiver circuitry 4122 may be on a separate chip or set of chips. In still alternative embodiments, part or all of RF transceiver circuitry 4122 and baseband processing circuitry 4124 may be on the same chip or set of chips, and application processing circuitry 4126 may be on a separate chip or set of chips. In yet other alternative embodiments, part or all of RF transceiver circuitry 4122, baseband processing circuitry 4124, and application processing circuitry 4126 may be combined in the same chip or set of chips. In some embodiments, RF transceiver circuitry 4122 may be a part of interface 4114. RF transceiver circuitry 4122 may condition RF signals for processing circuitry 4120.

In certain embodiments, some or all of the functionality described herein as being performed by a WD may be provided by processing circuitry 4120 executing instructions stored on device readable medium 4130, which in certain embodiments may be a computer-readable storage medium. In alternative embodiments, some or all of the functionality may be provided by processing circuitry 4120 without executing instructions stored on a separate or discrete device readable storage medium, such as in a hard-wired manner. In any of those particular embodiments, whether executing instructions stored on a device readable storage medium or not, processing circuitry 4120 can be configured to perform the described functionality. The benefits provided by such functionality are not limited to processing circuitry 4120 alone or to other components of WD 4110, but are enjoyed by WD 4110 as a whole, and/or by end users and the wireless network generally.

Processing circuitry 4120 may be configured to perform any determining, calculating, or similar operations (e.g., certain obtaining operations) described herein as being performed by a WD. These operations, as performed by processing circuitry 4120, may include processing information obtained by processing circuitry 4120 by, for example, converting the obtained information into other information, comparing the obtained information or converted information to information stored by WD 4110, and/or performing one or more operations based on the obtained information or converted information, and as a result of said processing making a determination.

Device readable medium 4130 may be operable to store a computer program, software, an application including one or more of logic, rules, code, tables, etc. and/or other instructions capable of being executed by processing circuitry 4120. Device readable medium 4130 may include computer memory (e.g., Random Access Memory (RAM) or Read Only Memory (ROM)), mass storage media (e.g., a hard disk), removable storage media (e.g., a Compact Disk (CD) or a Digital Video Disk (DVD)), and/or any other volatile or non-volatile, non-transitory device readable and/or computer executable memory devices that store information, data, and/or instructions that may be used by processing circuitry 4120. In some embodiments, processing circuitry 4120 and device readable medium 4130 may be considered to be integrated.

User interface equipment 4132 may provide components that allow for a human user to interact with WD 4110. Such interaction may be of many forms, such as visual, audial, tactile, etc. User interface equipment 4132 may be operable to produce output to the user and to allow the user to provide input to WD 4110. The type of interaction may vary depending on the type of user interface equipment 4132 installed in WD 4110. For example, if WD 4110 is a smart phone, the interaction may be via a touch screen; if WD 4110 is a smart meter, the interaction may be through a screen that provides usage (e.g., the number of gallons used) or a speaker that provides an audible alert (e.g., if smoke is detected). User interface equipment 4132 may include input interfaces, devices and circuits, and output interfaces, devices and circuits. User interface equipment 4132 is configured to allow input of information into WD 4110, and is connected to processing circuitry 4120 to allow processing circuitry 4120 to process the input information. User interface equipment 4132 may include, for example, a microphone, a proximity or other sensor, keys/buttons, a touch display, one or more cameras, a USB port, or other input circuitry. User interface equipment 4132 is also configured to allow output of information from WD 4110, and to allow processing circuitry 4120 to output information from WD 4110. User interface equipment 4132 may include, for example, a speaker, a display, vibrating circuitry, a USB port, a headphone interface, or other output circuitry. Using one or more input and output interfaces, devices, and circuits, of user interface equipment 4132, WD 4110 may communicate with end users and/or the wireless network, and allow them to benefit from the functionality described herein.

Auxiliary equipment 4134 is operable to provide more specific functionality which may not be generally performed by WDs. This may comprise specialized sensors for doing measurements for various purposes, interfaces for additional types of communication such as wired communications etc. The inclusion and type of components of auxiliary equipment 4134 may vary depending on the embodiment and/or scenario.

Power source 4136 may, in some embodiments, be in the form of a battery or battery pack. Other types of power sources, such as an external power source (e.g., an electricity outlet), photovoltaic devices or power cells, may also be used. WD 4110 may further comprise power circuitry 4137 for delivering power from power source 4136 to the various parts of WD 4110 which need power from power source 4136 to carry out any functionality described or indicated herein. Power circuitry 4137 may in certain embodiments comprise power management circuitry. Power circuitry 4137 may additionally or alternatively be operable to receive power from an external power source; in which case WD 4110 may be connectable to the external power source (such as an electricity outlet) via input circuitry or an interface such as an electrical power cable. Power circuitry 4137 may also in certain embodiments be operable to deliver power from an external power source to power source 4136. This may be, for example, for the charging of power source 4136. Power circuitry 4137 may perform any formatting, converting, or other modification to the power from power source 4136 to make the power suitable for the respective components of WD 4110 to which power is supplied.

FIG. 16 illustrates a user Equipment in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 16 illustrates one embodiment of a UE in accordance with various aspects described herein. As used herein, a user equipment or UE may not necessarily have a user in the sense of a human user who owns and/or operates the relevant device. Instead, a UE may represent a device that is intended for sale to, or operation by, a human user but which may not, or which may not initially, be associated with a specific human user (e.g., a smart sprinkler controller). Alternatively, a UE may represent a device that is not intended for sale to, or operation by, an end user but which may be associated with or operated for the benefit of a user (e.g., a smart power meter). UE 42200 may be any UE identified by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), including a NB-IoT UE, a machine type communication (MTC) UE, and/or an enhanced MTC (eMTC) UE. UE 4200, as illustrated in FIG. 16, is one example of a WD configured for communication in accordance with one or more communication standards promulgated by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), such as 3GPP's GSM, UMTS, LTE, and/or 5G standards. As mentioned previously, the term WD and UE may be used interchangeable. Accordingly, although FIG. 16 is a UE, the components discussed herein are equally applicable to a WD, and vice-versa.

In FIG. 16, UE 4200 includes processing circuitry 4201 that is operatively coupled to input/output interface 4205, radio frequency (RF) interface 4209, network connection interface 4211, memory 4215 including random access memory (RAM) 4217, read-only memory (ROM) 4219, and storage medium 4221 or the like, communication subsystem 4231, power source 4213, and/or any other component, or any combination thereof. Storage medium 4221 includes operating system 4223, application program 4225, and data 4227. In other embodiments, storage medium 4221 may include other similar types of information. Certain UEs may utilize all of the components shown in FIG. 16, or only a subset of the components. The level of integration between the components may vary from one UE to another UE. Further, certain UEs may contain multiple instances of a component, such as multiple processors, memories, transceivers, transmitters, receivers, etc.

In FIG. 16, processing circuitry 4201 may be configured to process computer instructions and data. Processing circuitry 4201 may be configured to implement any sequential state machine operative to execute machine instructions stored as machine-readable computer programs in the memory, such as one or more hardware-implemented state machines (e.g., in discrete logic, FPGA, ASIC, etc.); programmable logic together with appropriate firmware; one or more stored program, general-purpose processors, such as a microprocessor or Digital Signal Processor (DSP), together with appropriate software; or any combination of the above. For example, the processing circuitry 4201 may include two central processing units (CPUs). Data may be information in a form suitable for use by a computer.

In the depicted embodiment, input/output interface 4205 may be configured to provide a communication interface to an input device, output device, or input and output device. UE 4200 may be configured to use an output device via input/output interface 4205. An output device may use the same type of interface port as an input device. For example, a USB port may be used to provide input to and output from UE 4200. The output device may be a speaker, a sound card, a video card, a display, a monitor, a printer, an actuator, an emitter, a smartcard, another output device, or any combination thereof. UE 4200 may be configured to use an input device via input/output interface 4205 to allow a user to capture information into UE 4200. The input device may include a touch-sensitive or presence-sensitive display, a camera (e.g., a digital camera, a digital video camera, a web camera, etc.), a microphone, a sensor, a mouse, a trackball, a directional pad, a trackpad, a scroll wheel, a smartcard, and the like. The presence-sensitive display may include a capacitive or resistive touch sensor to sense input from a user. A sensor may be, for instance, an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a tilt sensor, a force sensor, a magnetometer, an optical sensor, a proximity sensor, another like sensor, or any combination thereof. For example, the input device may be an accelerometer, a magnetometer, a digital camera, a microphone, and an optical sensor.

In FIG. 16, RF interface 4209 may be configured to provide a communication interface to RF components such as a transmitter, a receiver, and an antenna. Network connection interface 4211 may be configured to provide a communication interface to network 4243a. Network 4243a may encompass wired and/or wireless networks such as a local-area network (LAN), a wide-area network (WAN), a computer network, a wireless network, a telecommunications network, another like network or any combination thereof. For example, network 4243a may comprise a Wi-Fi network. Network connection interface 4211 may be configured to include a receiver and a transmitter interface used to communicate with one or more other devices over a communication network according to one or more communication protocols, such as Ethernet, TCP/IP, SONET, ATM, or the like. Network connection interface 4211 may implement receiver and transmitter functionality appropriate to the communication network links (e.g., optical, electrical, and the like). The transmitter and receiver functions may share circuit components, software or firmware, or alternatively may be implemented separately.

RAM 4217 may be configured to interface via bus 4202 to processing circuitry 4201 to provide storage or caching of data or computer instructions during the execution of software programs such as the operating system, application programs, and device drivers. ROM 4219 may be configured to provide computer instructions or data to processing circuitry 4201. For example, ROM 4219 may be configured to store invariant low-level system code or data for basic system functions such as basic input and output (I/O), startup, or reception of keystrokes from a keyboard that are stored in a non-volatile memory. Storage medium 4221 may be configured to include memory such as RAM, ROM, programmable read-only memory (PROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), magnetic disks, optical disks, floppy disks, hard disks, removable cartridges, or flash drives. In one example, storage medium 4221 may be configured to include operating system 4223, application program 4225 such as a web browser application, a widget or gadget engine or another application, and data file 4227. Storage medium 4221 may store, for use by UE 4200, any of a variety of various operating systems or combinations of operating systems.

Storage medium 4221 may be configured to include a number of physical drive units, such as redundant array of independent disks (RAID), floppy disk drive, flash memory, USB flash drive, external hard disk drive, thumb drive, pen drive, key drive, high-density digital versatile disc (HD-DVD) optical disc drive, internal hard disk drive, Blu-Ray optical disc drive, holographic digital data storage (HDDS) optical disc drive, external mini-dual in-line memory module (DIMM), synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), external micro-DIMM SDRAM, smartcard memory such as a subscriber identity module or a removable user identity (SIM/RUIM) module, other memory, or any combination thereof. Storage medium 4221 may allow UE 4200 to access computer-executable instructions, application programs or the like, stored on transitory or non-transitory memory media, to off-load data, or to upload data. An article of manufacture, such as one utilizing a communication system may be tangibly embodied in storage medium 4221, which may comprise a device readable medium.

In FIG. 16, processing circuitry 4201 may be configured to communicate with network 4243b using communication subsystem 4231. Network 4243a and network 4243b may be the same network or networks or different network or networks. Communication subsystem 4231 may be configured to include one or more transceivers used to communicate with network 4243b. For example, communication subsystem 4231 may be configured to include one or more transceivers used to communicate with one or more remote transceivers of another device capable of wireless communication such as another WD, UE, or base station of a radio access network (RAN) according to one or more communication protocols, such as IEEE 802.11, CDMA, WCDMA, GSM, LTE, UTRAN, WiMax, or the like. Each transceiver may include transmitter 4233 and/or receiver 4235 to implement transmitter or receiver functionality, respectively, appropriate to the RAN links (e.g., frequency allocations and the like). Further, transmitter 4233 and receiver 4235 of each transceiver may share circuit components, software or firmware, or alternatively may be implemented separately.

In the illustrated embodiment, the communication functions of communication subsystem 4231 may include data communication, voice communication, multimedia communication, short-range communications such as Bluetooth, near-field communication, location-based communication such as the use of the global positioning system (GPS) to determine a location, another like communication function, or any combination thereof. For example, communication subsystem 4231 may include cellular communication, Wi-Fi communication, Bluetooth communication, and GPS communication. Network 4243b may encompass wired and/or wireless networks such as a local-area network (LAN), a wide-area network (WAN), a computer network, a wireless network, a telecommunications network, another like network or any combination thereof. For example, network 4243b may be a cellular network, a Wi-Fi network, and/or a near-field network. Power source 4213 may be configured to provide alternating current (AC) or direct current (DC) power to components of UE 4200.

The features, benefits and/or functions described herein may be implemented in one of the components of UE 4200 or partitioned across multiple components of UE 4200. Further, the features, benefits, and/or functions described herein may be implemented in any combination of hardware, software or firmware. In one example, communication subsystem 4231 may be configured to include any of the components described herein. Further, processing circuitry 4201 may be configured to communicate with any of such components over bus 4202. In another example, any of such components may be represented by program instructions stored in memory that when executed by processing circuitry 4201 perform the corresponding functions described herein. In another example, the functionality of any of such components may be partitioned between processing circuitry 4201 and communication subsystem 4231. In another example, the non-computationally intensive functions of any of such components may be implemented in software or firmware and the computationally intensive functions may be implemented in hardware.

FIG. 17 illustrates a virtualization environment in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 17 is a schematic block diagram illustrating a virtualization environment 4300 in which functions implemented by some embodiments may be virtualized. In the present context, virtualizing means creating virtual versions of apparatuses or devices which may include virtualizing hardware platforms, storage devices and networking resources. As used herein, virtualization can be applied to a node (e.g., a virtualized base station or a virtualized radio access node) or to a device (e.g., a UE, a wireless device or any other type of communication device) or components thereof and relates to an implementation in which at least a portion of the functionality is implemented as one or more virtual components (e.g., via one or more applications, components, functions, virtual machines or containers executing on one or more physical processing nodes in one or more networks).

In some embodiments, some or all of the functions described herein may be implemented as virtual components executed by one or more virtual machines implemented in one or more virtual environments 4300 hosted by one or more of hardware nodes 4330. Further, in embodiments in which the virtual node is not a radio access node or does not require radio connectivity (e.g., a core network node), then the network node may be entirely virtualized.

The functions may be implemented by one or more applications 4320 (which may alternatively be called software instances, virtual appliances, network functions, virtual nodes, virtual network functions, etc.) operative to implement some of the features, functions, and/or benefits of some of the embodiments disclosed herein. Applications 4320 are run in virtualization environment 4300 which provides hardware 4330 comprising processing circuitry 4360 and memory 4390. Memory 4390 contains instructions 4395 executable by processing circuitry 4360 whereby application 4320 is operative to provide one or more of the features, benefits, and/or functions disclosed herein.

Virtualization environment 4300, comprises general-purpose or special-purpose network hardware devices 4330 comprising a set of one or more processors or processing circuitry 4360, which may be commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) processors, dedicated Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), or any other type of processing circuitry including digital or analog hardware components or special purpose processors. Each hardware device may comprise memory 4390-1 which may be non-persistent memory for temporarily storing instructions 4395 or software executed by processing circuitry 4360. Each hardware device may comprise one or more network interface controllers (NICs) 4370, also known as network interface cards, which include physical network interface 4380. Each hardware device may also include non-transitory, persistent, machine-readable storage media 4390-2 having stored therein software 4395 and/or instructions executable by processing circuitry 4360. Software 4395 may include any type of software including software for instantiating one or more virtualization layers 4350 (also referred to as hypervisors), software to execute virtual machines 4340 as well as software allowing it to execute functions, features and/or benefits described in relation with some embodiments described herein.

Virtual machines 4340 comprise virtual processing, virtual memory, virtual networking or interface and virtual storage, and may be run by a corresponding virtualization layer 4350 or hypervisor. Different embodiments of the instance of virtual appliance 4320 may be implemented on one or more of virtual machines 4340, and the implementations may be made in different ways.

During operation, processing circuitry 4360 executes software 4395 to instantiate the hypervisor or virtualization layer 4350, which may sometimes be referred to as a virtual machine monitor (VMM). Virtualization layer 4350 may present a virtual operating platform that appears like networking hardware to virtual machine 4340.

As shown in FIG. 17, hardware 4330 may be a standalone network node with generic or specific components. Hardware 4330 may comprise antenna 43225 and may implement some functions via virtualization. Alternatively, hardware 4330 may be part of a larger cluster of hardware (e.g. such as in a data center or customer premise equipment (CPE)) where many hardware nodes work together and are managed via management and orchestration (MANO) 43100, which, among others, oversees lifecycle management of applications 4320.

Virtualization of the hardware is in some contexts referred to as network function virtualization (NFV). NFV may be used to consolidate many network equipment types onto industry standard high volume server hardware, physical switches, and physical storage, which can be located in data centers, and customer premise equipment.

In the context of NFV, virtual machine 4340 may be a software implementation of a physical machine that runs programs as if they were executing on a physical, non-virtualized machine. Each of virtual machines 4340, and that part of hardware 4330 that executes that virtual machine, be it hardware dedicated to that virtual machine and/or hardware shared by that virtual machine with others of the virtual machines 4340, forms a separate virtual network elements (VNE).

Still in the context of NFV, Virtual Network Function (VNF) is responsible for handling specific network functions that run in one or more virtual machines 4340 on top of hardware networking infrastructure 4330 and corresponds to application 4320 in FIG. 17.

In some embodiments, one or more radio units 43200 that each include one or more transmitters 43220 and one or more receivers 43210 may be coupled to one or more antennas 43225. Radio units 43200 may communicate directly with hardware nodes 4330 via one or more appropriate network interfaces and may be used in combination with the virtual components to provide a virtual node with radio capabilities, such as a radio access node or a base station.

In some embodiments, some signalling can be effected with the use of control system 43230 which may alternatively be used for communication between the hardware nodes 4330 and radio units 43200.

FIG. 18 illustrates a telecommunication network connected via an intermediate network to a host computer in accordance with some embodiments.

With reference to FIG. 18, in accordance with an embodiment, a communication system includes telecommunication network 4410, such as a 3GPP-type cellular network, which comprises access network 4411, such as a radio access network, and core network 4414. Access network 4411 comprises a plurality of base stations 4412a, 4412b, 4412c, such as NBs, eNBs, gNBs or other types of wireless access points, each defining a corresponding coverage area 4413a, 4413b, 4413c. Each base station 4412a, 4412b, 4412c is connectable to core network 4414 over a wired or wireless connection 4415. A first UE 4491 located in coverage area 4413c is configured to wirelessly connect to, or be paged by, the corresponding base station 4412c. A second UE 4492 in coverage area 4413a is wirelessly connectable to the corresponding base station 4412a. While a plurality of UEs 4491, 4492 are illustrated in this example, the disclosed embodiments are equally applicable to a situation where a sole UE is in the coverage area or where a sole UE is connecting to the corresponding base station 4412.

Telecommunication network 4410 is itself connected to host computer 4430, which may be embodied in the hardware and/or software of a standalone server, a cloud-implemented server, a distributed server or as processing resources in a server farm. Host computer 4430 may be under the ownership or control of a service provider, or may be operated by the service provider or on behalf of the service provider. Connections 4421 and 4422 between telecommunication network 4410 and host computer 4430 may extend directly from core network 4414 to host computer 4430 or may go via an optional intermediate network 4420. Intermediate network 4420 may be one of, or a combination of more than one of, a public, private or hosted network; intermediate network 4420, if any, may be a backbone network or the Internet; in particular, intermediate network 4420 may comprise two or more sub-networks (not shown).

The communication system of FIG. 18 as a whole enables connectivity between the connected UEs 4491, 4492 and host computer 4430. The connectivity may be described as an over-the-top (OTT) connection 4450. Host computer 4430 and the connected UEs 4491, 4492 are configured to communicate data and/or signaling via OTT connection 4450, using access network 4411, core network 4414, any intermediate network 4420 and possible further infrastructure (not shown) as intermediaries. OTT connection 4450 may be transparent in the sense that the participating communication devices through which OTT connection 4450 passes are unaware of routing of uplink and downlink communications. For example, base station 4412 may not or need not be informed about the past routing of an incoming downlink communication with data originating from host computer 4430 to be forwarded (e.g., handed over) to a connected UE 4491. Similarly, base station 4412 need not be aware of the future routing of an outgoing uplink communication originating from the UE 4491 towards the host computer 4430.

FIG. 19 illustrates a host computer communicating via a base station with a user equipment over a partially wireless connection in accordance with some embodiments.

Example implementations, in accordance with an embodiment, of the UE, base station and host computer discussed in the preceding paragraphs will now be described with reference to FIG. 19. In communication system 4500, host computer 4510 comprises hardware 4515 including communication interface 4516 configured to set up and maintain a wired or wireless connection with an interface of a different communication device of communication system 4500. Host computer 4510 further comprises processing circuitry 4518, which may have storage and/or processing capabilities. In particular, processing circuitry 4518 may comprise one or more programmable processors, application-specific integrated circuits, field programmable gate arrays or combinations of these (not shown) adapted to execute instructions. Host computer 4510 further comprises software 4511, which is stored in or accessible by host computer 4510 and executable by processing circuitry 4518. Software 4511 includes host application 4512. Host application 4512 may be operable to provide a service to a remote user, such as UE 4530 connecting via OTT connection 4550 terminating at UE 4530 and host computer 4510. In providing the service to the remote user, host application 4512 may provide user data which is transmitted using OTT connection 4550.

Communication system 4500 further includes base station 4520 provided in a telecommunication system and comprising hardware 4525 enabling it to communicate with host computer 4510 and with UE 4530. Hardware 4525 may include communication interface 4526 for setting up and maintaining a wired or wireless connection with an interface of a different communication device of communication system 4500, as well as radio interface 4527 for setting up and maintaining at least wireless connection 4570 with UE 4530 located in a coverage area (not shown in FIG. 19) served by base station 4520. Communication interface 4526 may be configured to facilitate connection 4560 to host computer 4510. Connection 4560 may be direct or it may pass through a core network (not shown in FIG. 19) of the telecommunication system and/or through one or more intermediate networks outside the telecommunication system. In the embodiment shown, hardware 4525 of base station 4520 further includes processing circuitry 4528, which may comprise one or more programmable processors, application-specific integrated circuits, field programmable gate arrays or combinations of these (not shown) adapted to execute instructions. Base station 4520 further has software 4521 stored internally or accessible via an external connection.

Communication system 4500 further includes UE 4530 already referred to. Its hardware 4535 may include radio interface 4537 configured to set up and maintain wireless connection 4570 with a base station serving a coverage area in which UE 4530 is currently located. Hardware 4535 of UE 4530 further includes processing circuitry 4538, which may comprise one or more programmable processors, application-specific integrated circuits, field programmable gate arrays or combinations of these (not shown) adapted to execute instructions. UE 4530 further comprises software 4531, which is stored in or accessible by UE 4530 and executable by processing circuitry 4538. Software 4531 includes client application 4532. Client application 4532 may be operable to provide a service to a human or non-human user via UE 4530, with the support of host computer 4510. In host computer 4510, an executing host application 4512 may communicate with the executing client application 4532 via OTT connection 4550 terminating at UE 4530 and host computer 4510. In providing the service to the user, client application 4532 may receive request data from host application 4512 and provide user data in response to the request data. OTT connection 4550 may transfer both the request data and the user data. Client application 4532 may interact with the user to generate the user data that it provides.

It is noted that host computer 4510, base station 4520 and UE 4530 illustrated in FIG. 19 may be similar or identical to host computer 4430, one of base stations 4412a, 4412b, 4412c and one of UEs 4491, 4492 of FIG. 18, respectively. This is to say, the inner workings of these entities may be as shown in FIG. 19 and independently, the surrounding network topology may be that of FIG. 18.

In FIG. 19, OTT connection 4550 has been drawn abstractly to illustrate the communication between host computer 4510 and UE 4530 via base station 4520, without explicit reference to any intermediary devices and the precise routing of messages via these devices. Network infrastructure may determine the routing, which it may be configured to hide from UE 4530 or from the service provider operating host computer 4510, or both. While OTT connection 4550 is active, the network infrastructure may further take decisions by which it dynamically changes the routing (e.g., on the basis of load balancing consideration or reconfiguration of the network).

Wireless connection 4570 between UE 4530 and base station 4520 is in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure. One or more of the various embodiments may improve the performance of OTT services provided to UE 4530 using OTT connection 4550, in which wireless connection 4570 forms the last segment. More precisely, the teachings of these embodiments may improve the random access speed and/or reduce random access failure rates and thereby provide benefits such as faster and/or more reliable random access.

A measurement procedure may be provided for the purpose of monitoring data rate, latency and other factors on which the one or more embodiments improve. There may further be an optional network functionality for reconfiguring OTT connection 4550 between host computer 4510 and UE 4530, in response to variations in the measurement results. The measurement procedure and/or the network functionality for reconfiguring OTT connection 4550 may be implemented in software 4511 and hardware 4515 of host computer 4510 or in software 4531 and hardware 4535 of UE 4530, or both. In embodiments, sensors (not shown) may be deployed in or in association with communication devices through which OTT connection 4550 passes; the sensors may participate in the measurement procedure by supplying values of the monitored quantities exemplified above, or supplying values of other physical quantities from which software 4511, 4531 may compute or estimate the monitored quantities. The reconfiguring of OTT connection 4550 may include message format, retransmission settings, preferred routing etc.; the reconfiguring need not affect base station 4520, and it may be unknown or imperceptible to base station 4520. Such procedures and functionalities may be known and practiced in the art. In certain embodiments, measurements may involve proprietary UE signaling facilitating host computer 4510's measurements of throughput, propagation times, latency and the like. The measurements may be implemented in that software 4511 and 4531 causes messages to be transmitted, in particular empty or ‘dummy’ messages, using OTT connection 4550 while it monitors propagation times, errors etc.

FIG. 20 illustrates methods implemented in a communication system including a host computer, a base station and a user equipment in accordance with some embodiments

FIG. 20 is a flowchart illustrating a method implemented in a communication system, in accordance with one embodiment. The communication system includes a host computer, a base station and a UE which may be those described with reference to FIGS. 18-19. For simplicity of the present disclosure, only drawing references to FIG. 20 will be included in this section. In step 4610, the host computer provides user data. In substep 4611 (which may be optional) of step 4610, the host computer provides the user data by executing a host application. In step 4620, the host computer initiates a transmission carrying the user data to the UE. In step 4630 (which may be optional), the base station transmits to the UE the user data which was carried in the transmission that the host computer initiated, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure. In step 4640 (which may also be optional), the UE executes a client application associated with the host application executed by the host computer.

FIG. 21 illustrates methods implemented in a communication system including a host computer, a base station and a user equipment in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 21 is a flowchart illustrating a method implemented in a communication system, in accordance with one embodiment. The communication system includes a host computer, a base station and a UE which may be those described with reference to FIGS. 18-19. For simplicity of the present disclosure, only drawing references to FIG. 21 will be included in this section. In step 4710 of the method, the host computer provides user data. In an optional substep (not shown) the host computer provides the user data by executing a host application. In step 4720, the host computer initiates a transmission carrying the user data to the UE. The transmission may pass via the base station, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure. In step 4730 (which may be optional), the UE receives the user data carried in the transmission.

FIG. 22 illustrates methods implemented in a communication system including a host computer, a base station and a user equipment in accordance with some embodiments

FIG. 22 is a flowchart illustrating a method implemented in a communication system, in accordance with one embodiment. The communication system includes a host computer, a base station and a UE which may be those described with reference to FIGS. 18-19. For simplicity of the present disclosure, only drawing references to FIG. 22 will be included in this section. In step 4810 (which may be optional), the UE receives input data provided by the host computer. Additionally or alternatively, in step 4820, the UE provides user data. In substep 4821 (which may be optional) of step 4820, the UE provides the user data by executing a client application. In substep 4811 (which may be optional) of step 4810, the UE executes a client application which provides the user data in reaction to the received input data provided by the host computer. In providing the user data, the executed client application may further consider user input received from the user. Regardless of the specific manner in which the user data was provided, the UE initiates, in substep 4830 (which may be optional), transmission of the user data to the host computer. In step 4840 of the method, the host computer receives the user data transmitted from the UE, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure.

FIG. 23 illustrates methods implemented in a communication system including a host computer, a base station and a user equipment in accordance with some embodiments

FIG. 23 is a flowchart illustrating a method implemented in a communication system, in accordance with one embodiment. The communication system includes a host computer, a base station and a UE which may be those described with reference to FIGS. 18-19. For simplicity of the present disclosure, only drawing references to FIG. 23 will be included in this section. In step 4910 (which may be optional), in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure, the base station receives user data from the UE. In step 4920 (which may be optional), the base station initiates transmission of the received user data to the host computer. In step 4930 (which may be optional), the host computer receives the user data carried in the transmission initiated by the base station.

Any appropriate steps, methods, features, functions, or benefits disclosed herein may be performed through one or more functional units or modules of one or more virtual apparatuses. Each virtual apparatus may comprise a number of these functional units. These functional units may be implemented via processing circuitry, which may include one or more microprocessor or microcontrollers, as well as other digital hardware, which may include digital signal processors (DSPs), special-purpose digital logic, and the like. The processing circuitry may be configured to execute program code stored in memory, which may include one or several types of memory such as read-only memory (ROM), random-access memory (RAM), cache memory, flash memory devices, optical storage devices, etc. Program code stored in memory includes program instructions for executing one or more telecommunications and/or data communications protocols as well as instructions for carrying out one or more of the techniques described herein. In some implementations, the processing circuitry may be used to cause the respective functional unit to perform corresponding functions according one or more embodiments of the present disclosure.

The term unit may have conventional meaning in the field of electronics, electrical devices and/or electronic devices and may include, for example, electrical and/or electronic circuitry, devices, modules, processors, memories, logic solid state and/or discrete devices, computer programs or instructions for carrying out respective tasks, procedures, computations, outputs, and/or displaying functions, and so on, as such as those that are described herein.

Abbreviations

At least some of the following abbreviations may be used in this disclosure. If there is an inconsistency between abbreviations, preference should be given to how it is used above. If listed multiple times below, the first listing should be preferred over any subsequent listing(s).

• • 1×RTT CDMA2000 1×Radio Transmission Technology
  • 3GPP 3rd Generation Partnership Project
  • 5G 5th Generation
  • ABS Almost Blank Subframe
  • ARQ Automatic Repeat Request
  • AWGN Additive White Gaussian Noise
  • BCCH Broadcast Control Channel
  • BCH Broadcast Channel
  • CA Carrier Aggregation
  • CC Carrier Component
  • CCCH SDU Common Control Channel SDU
  • CDMACode Division Multiplexing Access
  • CGI Cell Global Identifier
  • CIR Channel Impulse Response
  • CP Cyclic Prefix
  • CPICH Common Pilot Channel
  • CPICH Ec/No CPICH Received energy per chip divided by the power density in the band
  • CQI Channel Quality information
  • C-RNTI Cell RNTI
  • CSI Channel State Information
  • DCCH Dedicated Control Channel
  • DL Downlink
  • DM Demodulation
  • DMRS Demodulation Reference Signal
  • DRX Discontinuous Reception
  • DTX Discontinuous Transmission
  • DTCH Dedicated Traffic Channel
  • DUT Device Under Test
  • E-CID Enhanced Cell-ID (positioning method)
  • E-SMLC Evolved-Serving Mobile Location Centre
  • ECGI Evolved CGI
  • eNB E-UTRAN NodeB
  • ePDCCH enhanced Physical Downlink Control Channel
  • E-SMLC evolved Serving Mobile Location Center
  • E-UTRA Evolved UTRA
  • E-UTRAN Evolved UTRAN
  • FDD Frequency Division Duplex
  • FFS For Further Study
  • GERAN GSM EDGE Radio Access Network
  • gNB Base station in NR
  • GNSS Global Navigation Satellite System
  • GSM Global System for Mobile communication
  • HARQ Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request
  • HO Handover
  • HSPA High Speed Packet Access
  • HRPD High Rate Packet Data
  • LOS Line of Sight
  • LPP LTE Positioning Protocol
  • LTE Long-Term Evolution
  • MAC Medium Access Control
  • MBMS Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Services
  • MBSFN Multimedia Broadcast multicast service Single Frequency Network
  • MBSFN ABS MBSFN Almost Blank Subframe
  • MDT Minimization of Drive Tests
  • MIB Master Information Block
  • MME Mobility Management Entity
  • MSC Mobile Switching Center
  • NPDCCH Narrowband Physical Downlink Control Channel
  • NR New Radio
  • OCNG OFDMA Channel Noise Generator
  • OFDM Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing
  • OFDMA Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access
  • OSS Operations Support System
  • OTDOA Observed Time Difference of Arrival
  • O&M Operation and Maintenance
  • PBCH Physical Broadcast Channel
  • P-CCPCH Primary Common Control Physical Channel
  • PCell Primary Cell
  • PCFICH Physical Control Format Indicator Channel
  • PDCCH Physical Downlink Control Channel
  • PDP Profile Delay Profile
  • PDSCH Physical Downlink Shared Channel
  • PGW Packet Gateway
  • PHICH Physical Hybrid-ARQ Indicator Channel
  • PLMN Public Land Mobile Network
  • PMI Precoder Matrix Indicator
  • PRACH Physical Random Access Channel
  • PRS Positioning Reference Signal
  • PSS Primary Synchronization Signal
  • PUCCH Physical Uplink Control Channel
  • PUSCH Physical Uplink Shared Channel
  • RACH Random Access Channel
  • QAM Quadrature Amplitude Modulation
  • RAN Radio Access Network
  • RAT Radio Access Technology
  • RLM Radio Link Management
  • RNC Radio Network Controller
  • RNTI Radio Network Temporary Identifier
  • RRC Radio Resource Control
  • RRM Radio Resource Management
  • RS Reference Signal
  • RSCP Received Signal Code Power
  • RSRP Reference Symbol Received Power OR Reference Signal Received Power
  • RSRQ Reference Signal Received Quality OR Reference Symbol Received Quality
  • RSSI Received Signal Strength Indicator
  • RSTD Reference Signal Time Difference
  • SCH Synchronization Channel
  • SCell Secondary Cell
  • SDU Service Data Unit
  • SFN System Frame Number
  • SGW Serving Gateway
  • SI System Information
  • SIB System Information Block
  • SNR Signal to Noise Ratio
  • SON Self Optimized Network
  • SS Synchronization Signal
  • SSS Secondary Synchronization Signal
  • TDD Time Division Duplex
  • TDOA Time Difference of Arrival
  • TOA Time of Arrival
  • TSS Tertiary Synchronization Signal
  • TTI Transmission Time Interval
  • UE User Equipment
  • UL Uplink
  • UMTS Universal Mobile Telecommunication System
  • USIM Universal Subscriber Identity Module
  • UTDOA Uplink Time Difference of Arrival
  • UTRA Universal Terrestrial Radio Access
  • UTRAN Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network
  • WCDMA Wide CDMA
  • WLAN Wide Local Area Network

Further definitions and embodiments are discussed below.

In the above-description of various embodiments of present inventive concepts, it is to be understood that the terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of present inventive concepts. Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which present inventive concepts belong. It will be further understood that terms, such as those defined in commonly used dictionaries, should be interpreted as having a meaning that is consistent with their meaning in the context of this specification and the relevant art and will not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unless expressly so defined herein.

When an element is referred to as being “connected”, “coupled”, “responsive”, or variants thereof to another element, it can be directly connected, coupled, or responsive to the other element or intervening elements may be present. In contrast, when an element is referred to as being “directly connected”, “directly coupled”, “directly responsive”, or variants thereof to another element, there are no intervening elements present. Like numbers refer to like elements throughout. Furthermore, “coupled”, “connected”, “responsive”, or variants thereof as used herein may include wirelessly coupled, connected, or responsive. As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. Well-known functions or constructions may not be described in detail for brevity and/or clarity. The term “and/or” (abbreviated “/”) includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.

It will be understood that although the terms first, second, third, etc. may be used herein to describe various elements/operations, these elements/operations should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element/operation from another element/operation. Thus a first element/operation in some embodiments could be termed a second element/operation in other embodiments without departing from the teachings of present inventive concepts. The same reference numerals or the same reference designators denote the same or similar elements throughout the specification.

As used herein, the terms “comprise”, “comprising”, “comprises”, “include”, “including”, “includes”, “have”, “has”, “having”, or variants thereof are open-ended, and include one or more stated features, integers, elements, steps, components or functions but does not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, elements, steps, components, functions or groups thereof. Furthermore, as used herein, the common abbreviation “e.g.”, which derives from the Latin phrase “exempli gratia,” may be used to introduce or specify a general example or examples of a previously mentioned item, and is not intended to be limiting of such item. The common abbreviation “i.e.”, which derives from the Latin phrase “id est,” may be used to specify a particular item from a more general recitation.

Example embodiments are described herein with reference to block diagrams and/or flowchart illustrations of computer-implemented methods, apparatus (systems and/or devices) and/or computer program products. It is understood that a block of the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustrations, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustrations, can be implemented by computer program instructions that are performed by one or more computer circuits. These computer program instructions may be provided to a processor circuit of a general purpose computer circuit, special purpose computer circuit, and/or other programmable data processing circuit to produce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer and/or other programmable data processing apparatus, transform and control transistors, values stored in memory locations, and other hardware components within such circuitry to implement the functions/acts specified in the block diagrams and/or flowchart block or blocks, and thereby create means (functionality) and/or structure for implementing the functions/acts specified in the block diagrams and/or flowchart block(s).

These computer program instructions may also be stored in a tangible computer-readable medium that can direct a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readable medium produce an article of manufacture including instructions which implement the functions/acts specified in the block diagrams and/or flowchart block or blocks. Accordingly, embodiments of present inventive concepts may be embodied in hardware and/or in software (including firmware, resident software, micro-code, etc.) that runs on a processor such as a digital signal processor, which may collectively be referred to as “circuitry,” “a module” or variants thereof.

It should also be noted that in some alternate implementations, the functions/acts noted in the blocks may occur out of the order noted in the flowcharts. For example, two blocks shown in succession may in fact be executed substantially concurrently or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon the functionality/acts involved. Moreover, the functionality of a given block of the flowcharts and/or block diagrams may be separated into multiple blocks and/or the functionality of two or more blocks of the flowcharts and/or block diagrams may be at least partially integrated. Finally, other blocks may be added/inserted between the blocks that are illustrated, and/or blocks/operations may be omitted without departing from the scope of inventive concepts. Moreover, although some of the diagrams include arrows on communication paths to show a primary direction of communication, it is to be understood that communication may occur in the opposite direction to the depicted arrows.

Many variations and modifications can be made to the embodiments without substantially departing from the principles of the present inventive concepts. All such variations and modifications are intended to be included herein within the scope of present inventive concepts. Accordingly, the above disclosed subject matter is to be considered illustrative, and not restrictive, and the examples of embodiments are intended to cover all such modifications, enhancements, and other embodiments, which fall within the spirit and scope of present inventive concepts. Thus, to the maximum extent allowed by law, the scope of present inventive concepts are to be determined by the broadest permissible interpretation of the present disclosure including the examples of embodiments and their equivalents, and shall not be restricted or limited by the foregoing detailed description.

Claims

1. A method of operating a communication device in a communication network, the communication device being configured to provide uplink communication using a first uplink carrier and a second uplink carrier, the method comprising: providing a parameter relating to a time duration (Tswitch) required to switch an uplink transmit chain from the first carrier to the second carrier; andtransmitting the parameter relating to the time duration (Tswitch) required to switch the uplink transmit chain from the first carrier to the second carrier to the communication network.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the parameter indicates an additional time (T1) to be added to an uplink preparation time (Tproc2), wherein the additional time (T1) is based on the time duration (Tswitch) required to switch the uplink transmit chain from the first carrier to the second carrier, and wherein the additional time (T1) to be added to the uplink preparation time (Tproc2) is further based on the lowest subcarrier spacing among the subcarrier spacing of the first uplink carrier and the second uplink carrier.

3. (canceled)

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the parameter indicates the time duration (Tswitch) required to switch the uplink transmit chain from the first carrier to the second carrier.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving downlink control information, DCI, indicating scheduling of an uplink transmission on the second carrier;responsive to receiving the DCI, switching the uplink transmit chain from the first carrier to the second carrier;responsive to receiving the DCI, transmitting the uplink transmission to the communication network using the uplink transmit chain and the second carrier; andresponsive to receiving the DCI, determining an uplink preparation time for the uplink transmission based on the parameter relating to the time duration (Tswitch) required to switch the uplink transmit chain from the first carrier to the second carrier,wherein the uplink transmission is transmitted based on determining the uplink preparation time.

6. (canceled)

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the DCI indicates scheduling the uplink transmission on the second carrier as a multi-layer multiple-input-multiple-output, MIMO, transmission, and wherein the uplink transmission is transmitted as a MIMO transmission.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the parameter is defined according to a numerology (μ) of at least one of the first carrier and/or the second carrier.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising: indicating to the communication network that the communication device will not perform at least one of: simultaneous uplink transmission on the first carrier and the second carrier; and simultaneous uplink transmission of 1-layer on the first carrier and 2-layer on the second carrier.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the communication device is configured with a higher layer parameter that configures the communication device to operate in a switched uplink mode.

11. A method of operating a network node to support communication for a communication device configured to provide uplink communication using a first uplink carrier and a second uplink carrier, the method comprising: receiving a parameter from the communication device, wherein the parameter relates to a time duration (Tswitch) required for the communication device to switch an uplink transmit chain from the first carrier to the second carrier to the communication network;determining an uplink preparation time for the communication device using the parameter relating to the time duration (Tswitch) required for the communication device to switch the uplink transmit chain from the first carrier to the second carrier; andgenerating scheduling information for an uplink transmission from the communication device using the second carrier based on the uplink preparation time using the parameter relating to the time duration (Tswitch) required for the communication device to switch the uplink transmit chain from the first carrier to the second carrier.

12. The method of claim 11 further comprising: transmitting downlink control information, DCI, to the communication device, wherein the DCI includes the scheduling information for the uplink transmission from the communication device; andreceiving the uplink transmission from the communication device according to the scheduling information.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the parameter indicates an additional time (T1) to be added to the uplink preparation time (Tproc2), wherein the additional time (T1) is based on the time duration (Tswitch) required to switch the uplink transmit chain from the first carrier to the second carrier, and wherein the additional time (T1) to be added to the uplink preparation time (Tproc2) is further based on the lowest subcarrier spacing among the subcarrier spacing of the first uplink carrier and the second uplink carrier.

14. (canceled)

15. The method of claim 13, wherein determining the uplink preparation time (Tproc2) comprises determining the uplink preparation time and then modifying the uplink preparation time by adding the additional time (T1) to the uplink preparation time (Tproc2), and wherein determining the uplink preparation time comprises determining that Tproc,2=max ((N2+d2,1)(2048+144)·κ2−μ·TC, d2,2).

16. (canceled)

17. The method of claim 11, wherein the parameter indicates the time duration (Tswitch) required to switch the uplink transmit chain from the first carrier to the second carrier, and wherein the uplink preparation time (Tproc2) is determined as a function of the time duration (Tswitch), andwherein determining the uplink preparation time (Tproc2) comprises determining that Tproc,2=max((N2+d2,1+Tswitch)(2048+144)·κ2−1·TC,d2,2)).

18. (canceled)

19. The method of claim 11, wherein the scheduling information is generated using the parameter relating to the time duration (Tswitch) required for the communication device to switch the uplink transmit chain from the first carrier to the second carrier responsive to scheduling the uplink transmission using the second carrier for a multi-layer multiple-input-multiple-output, MIMO, transmission, the method further comprising: transmitting downlink control information, DCI, to the communication device, wherein the DCI includes the scheduling information for the uplink transmission from the communication device using the second carrier for the MIMO transmission; andreceiving the uplink transmission from the communication device according to the scheduling information using the second carrier for the MIMO transmission.

20. (canceled)

21. The method of claim 11, wherein the scheduling information is generated using the parameter relating to the time duration (Tswitch) required for the communication device to switch the uplink transmit chain from the first carrier to the second carrier responsive to scheduling the uplink transmission using the second carrier in a slot following a preceding slot used by the communication device to transmit an uplink transmission using the first carrier.

22. The method of claim 11, wherein the parameter is defined according to a numerology (μ) of at least one of the first carrier and/or the second carrier.

23. The method of claim 11, further comprising: receiving an indication from the communication device that the communication device will not perform at least one of: simultaneous uplink transmission on the first carrier and the second carrier; and simultaneous uplink transmission of 1-layer on the first carrier and 2-layer on the second carrier.

24. The method of claim 11, further comprising: determining that the communication device is configured with a higher layer parameter that configures the communication device to operate in a switched uplink mode.

25. (canceled)

26. A communication device comprising: processing circuitry; andmemory coupled with the processing circuitry, wherein the memory includes instructions that when executed by the processing circuitry causes the communication device to perform operations comprising: providing a parameter relating to a time duration (Tswitch) required to switch an uplink transmit chain from the first carrier to the second carrier; andtransmitting the parameter relating to the time duration (Tswitch) required to switch the uplink transmit chain from the first carrier to the second carrier to the communication network.

27-29. (canceled)

30. A network node comprising: processing circuitry; andmemory coupled with the processing circuitry, wherein the memory includes instructions that when executed by the processing circuitry causes the network node to perform operations comprising: receiving a parameter from the communication device, wherein the parameter relates to a time duration (Tswitch) required for the communication device to switch an uplink transmit chain from the first carrier to the second carrier to the communication network;determining an uplink preparation time for the communication device using the parameter relating to the time duration (Tswitch) required for the communication device to switch the uplink transmit chain from the first carrier to the second carrier;generating scheduling information for an uplink transmission from the communication device using the second carrier based on the uplink preparation time using the parameter relating to the time duration (Tswitch) required for the communication device to switch the uplink transmit chain from the first carrier to the second carrier.

31-33. (canceled)