Patent Application
20200389836
Wireless systems typically include multiple User Equipment (UE) devices communicatively coupled to one or more Base Stations (BS). The one or more BSs may be Long Term Evolved (LTE) evolved NodeBs (eNB) or New Radio (NR) next generation NodeBs (gNB) that can be communicatively coupled to one or more UEs by a Third-Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) network.
Next generation wireless communication systems are expected to be a unified network/system that is targeted to meet vastly different and sometimes conflicting performance dimensions and services. New Radio Access Technology (RAT) is expected to support a broad range of use cases including Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB), Massive Machine Type Communication (mMTC), Mission Critical Machine Type Communication (uMTC), and similar service types operating in frequency ranges up to 100 GHz.
Features and advantages of the disclosure will be apparent from the detailed description which follows, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, which together illustrate, by way of example, features of the disclosure; and, wherein:
Reference will now be made to the exemplary embodiments illustrated, and specific language will be used herein to describe the same. It will nevertheless be understood that no limitation of the scope of the technology is thereby intended.
Before the present technology is disclosed and described, it is to be understood that this technology is not limited to the particular structures, process actions, or materials disclosed herein, but is extended to equivalents thereof as would be recognized by those ordinarily skilled in the relevant arts. It should also be understood that terminology employed herein is used for the purpose of describing particular examples only and is not intended to be limiting. The same reference numerals in different drawings represent the same element. Numbers provided in flow charts and processes are provided for clarity in illustrating actions and operations and do not necessarily indicate a particular order or sequence.
As used herein, the term “User Equipment (UE)” refers to a computing device capable of wireless digital communication such as a smart phone, a tablet computing device, a laptop computer, a multimedia device such as an iPod Touch®, or other type computing device that provides text or voice communication. The term “User Equipment (UE)” may also be referred to as a “mobile device,” “wireless device,” of “wireless mobile device.”
As used herein, the term “Base Station (BS)” includes “Base Transceiver Stations (BTS),” “NodeBs,” “evolved NodeBs (eNodeB or eNB),” and/or “next generation NodeBs (gNodeB or gNB),” and refers to a device or configured node of a mobile phone network that communicates wirelessly with UEs.
As used herein, the term “cellular telephone network,” “4G cellular,” “Long Term Evolved (LTE),” “5G cellular” and/or “New Radio (NR)” refers to wireless broadband technology developed by the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP).
An initial overview of technology embodiments is provided below and then specific technology embodiments are described in further detail later. This initial summary is intended to aid readers in understanding the technology more quickly but is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the technology nor is it intended to limit the scope of the claimed subject matter.
The present technology relates to Long Term Evolution (LTE) operation in an unlicensed spectrum in MulteFire (MF), and to the Wideband Coverage Enhancement (WCE) for MulteFire. More specifically, the present technology relates to a design for a resource allocation (RA) for an enhanced physical downlink control channel (ePDCCH) and an associated physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) for a system information block 1 (SIB1) in the WCE for MulteFire.
In one example, Internet of Things (IoT) is envisioned as a significantly important technology component, by enabling connectivity between many devices. IoT has wide applications in various scenarios, including smart cities, smart environment, smart agriculture, and smart health systems.
3GPP has standardized two designs to IoT services—enhanced Machine Type Communication (eMTC) and NarrowBand IoT (NB-IoT). As eMTC and NB-IoT UEs will be deployed in large numbers, lowering the cost of these UEs is a key enabler for the implementation of IoT. Also, low power consumption is desirable to extend the life time of the UE's battery.
With respect to LTE operation in the unlicensed spectrum, both Release 13(Rel-13) eMTC and NB-IoT operates in a licensed spectrum. On the other hand, the scarcity of licensed spectrum in low frequency band results in a deficit in the data rate boost. Thus, there are emerging interests in the operation of LTE systems in unlicensed spectrum. Potential LTE operation in the unlicensed spectrum includes, but not limited to, Carrier Aggregation based licensed assisted access (LAA) or enhanced LAA (eLAA) systems, LTE operation in the unlicensed spectrum via dual connectivity (DC), and a standalone LTE system in the unlicensed spectrum, where LTE-based technology solely operates in the unlicensed spectrum without necessitating an “anchor” in licensed spectrum—a system that is referred to as MulteFire.
In one example, there are substantial use cases of devices deployed deep inside buildings, which would necessitate coverage enhancement in comparison to the defined LTE cell coverage footprint. In summary, eMTC and NB-IoT techniques are designed to ensure that the UEs have low cost, low power consumption and enhanced coverage.
To extend the benefits of LTE IoT designs into unlicensed spectrum, MulteFire 1.1 is expected to specify the design for Unlicensed-IoT (U-IoT) based on eMTC and/or NB-IoT. The unlicensed frequency band of current interest for NB-IoT or eMTC based U-IoT is the sub-1 GHz band and the ˜2.4 GHz band.
In addition, different from eMTC and NB-IoT which applies to narrowband operation, the WCE is also of interest to MulteFire 1.1 with an operation bandwidth of 10 MHz and 20 MHz. The objective of WCE is to extend the MulteFire 1.0 coverage to meet industry IoT market specifications, with the targeting operating bands at 3.5 GHz and 5 GHz.
In one example, the SIB1 can be transmitted in two discovery reference signal (DRS) subframes in a WCE system, and can be scheduled by downlink control information (DCI) in the ePDCCH based on resource allocation type 2. Since resource allocation type 2 can configure contiguous resource blocks (RBs), it is advantageous to reserve as many contiguous resources as possible to guarantee the performance of the SIB1, as well as its capacity. In the DRS, the center 6 RBs can be reserved for a primary synchronization signal (PSS), a secondary synchronization signal (SSS) and a physical broadcast channel (PBCH), which can break the contiguous resource allocation.
In one example, with respect to resource allocation type 2, the network can allocate a set of contiguous RBs, but these contiguous RBs can adhere to a “virtual” model rather than a “physical” model. For example, even though a medium access control (MAC) layer can allocate multiple contiguous RBs, these RBs may not be aligned contiguously when transmitted at a physical (PHY) layer. A rule/algorithm can be used to convert this logical (virtual) RB allocation to a physical RB allocation. The conversion can be either localized or distributed. For a localized conversion, both a virtual allocation and a physical allocation can allocate RBs in a contiguous manner. For a distributed conversion, a virtual RB allocation can be contiguous, but a physical allocation is not contiguous (e.g., the physical allocation can be distributed over wider frequency ranges).
In one example, to enable SIB1 transmission in the WCE system, a DCI format and ePDCCH resource allocation is described in further detail below. In addition, the reduction in impact from the PSS/SSS/PBCH is discussed in further detail below.
As shown in
In one example, for distributed VRB allocation mapping, there can be four PRBs, indexing from PRB96 to PRB99, that are not used, since distributed VRBs can map to only PRB0 to PRB95.
In one example, since the central 6 PRBs occupy two VRBs, and only one slot is utilized, remaining slots of the VRBs, whose partial has already been occupied by the center 6 PRBs, can be paired and utilized for an ePDCCH transmission.
In an alternative ePDCCH configuration, 5 PRBs can be used for the ePDCCH transmission that range from PRB #0 to PRB #4, 4 PRBs can be used for the ePDCCH transmission that range from PRB #24 to PRB #27, 4 PRBs can be used for the ePDCCH transmission that range from PRB #72 to PRB #75, and 1 PRB can be used for the ePDCCH transmission and can correspond with PRB95. As a result, a total of 74 contiguous distributed VRBs can be assigned for SIB transmission (i.e., contiguous distributed VRB#19 to distributed VRB#92).
In one configuration, with respect to a search space for ePDCCH, at least 16 RBs were used for DCI format 1A in the previous solution. In the present technology, for DCI format 1A with an aggregation level (AL) of 8, a 5.7 decibel (dB) enhancement is desired, so at least an aggregation level of 8 is desired. Considering an ePDCCH performance loss due to an enhanced control channel element (eCCE) puncture for the PDCCH, an aggregation level of 64 can achieve a target maximum coupling loss (MCL), and at least 8 RB can be used. Further, for DCI format 1C with an aggregation level of 8, a 2.6 dB enhancement is desired, so considering an ePDCCH performance loss, an aggregation level of 32 can be sufficient.
In one example, 18 or 22 RBs can be utilized for an ePDCCH transmission, while one or more candidate search space(s) can be defined. In a first option, one candidate can be supported for DCI format 1A. In a second option, two candidates can be supported for DCI format 1C, using 16 RBs whose RB indexes are reduced, e.g., PRB #0 to PRB #4, PRB #23 to PRB #28, and PRB #71 to PRB #75. Alternatively, distributed PRBs can be used to obtain a potential frequency diversity gain, e.g., PRB #0 to PRB #3, PRB #24 to PRB #27, PRB #72 to PRB #75, and PRB#96 to PRB#99. In one example, candidates can be associated with the PRB in an increasing order or a decreasing order. Taking the increasing order as an example, the first candidate can occupy PRB #0 to PRB #3 and PRB #24 to PRB #27, and the second candidate can occupy PRB #72 to PRB #75, and PRB#96 to PRB#99. In another example, regardless of the order of association, PRBs for each of the two candidates can be selected in a contiguous manner among available PRBs, or the allocation can be non-contiguous.
In one example, with respect to a resource configuration for a SIB1 for MF-WCE (SIB1-MF-WCE), parameters for the ePDCCH can be hard-coded, including a resource allocation, a candidate number, a search space, and a distributed/localized mapping.
In another example, with respect to the resource configuration for the SIB1-MF-WCE, one or multiple resource allocation type can be utilize to configure the SIB1-MF-WCE, such as a DCI format 1A with localized PRB configuration with downlink (DL) resource allocation (RA) type2, DCI format 1A with Ngap,1 and distributed VRB configuration with DL RA type2, DCI format 1A with Ngap,2 and distributed VRB configuration with DL RA type2, DCI format 1C with Ngap,1 and distributed VRB configuration with DL RA type2 and/or DCI format 1C with Ngap,2 and distributed VRB configuration with DL RA type2. For example, one type resource allocation, e.g., DCI format 1C with Ngap,1 can be hard-coded as a unique RA type for the SIB1-MF-WCE configuration.
In one example, with respect to an ePDCCH configuration, parameters for the ePDCCH can be hard-coded, including a resource, a candidate number, a search space, and a distributed/localized mapping.
In another example, with respect to an ePDCCH configuration, the resource allocation and DCI format can be configured by a master information block (MIB). For example, 1 bit can be used to indicate 8 RBs for one candidate or 16 or 22 or 18 RBs for two candidates and/or 1 bit can be used to indicate DCI 1A or DCI 1C. In addition, a candidate number can be associated with a configured resource, e.g., one candidate for DCI 1C is available when a RB number is 8, or two candidates for DCI 1C and DCI 1A are available when the resource number is 16.
In another example, with respect to an ePDCCH configuration, the resource allocation can be configured by the MIB while the DCI format 1C can be hardcoded. In this example, 1 bit can be used to indicate 8 PRBs with 1 candidate DCI format 1C, or 16 PRBs with 2 candidate DCI format 1C.
In another example, with respect to an ePDCCH configuration, the resource allocation can be configured by the MIB while the DCI format 1A can be hard coded. In this example, 1 bit can be used to indicate 16 PRBs with 1 candidate DCI format 1C, or 32 PRBs with 2 candidate DCI format 1A.
In another example, 16 RBs can be hard-coded for the ePDCCH configuration. For example, 1 bit can be used to indicate a PRB resource allocation for the ePDCCH, e.g., a value of ‘0’ can indicate a 16 contiguous PRB allocation of, for example, PRB84 to PRB 99, and a value of ‘1’ can indicate 16 distributed VRBs for the ePDCCH, which can correspond to, for example, PRB0 to PRB4, PRB24 to PRB27, PRB72 to PRB75 and PRB95 to PRB99. For a localized PRB configuration for the ePDCCH, one candidate DCI format 1A can be used with an aggregation level of 64, or two candidates DCI format 1A can be used with an aggregation level of 32. For a distributed VRB configuration for the ePDCCH, one candidate DCI format 1A can be used with an aggregation level of 64, or two candidates DCI format 1C/1A can be used with an aggregation level of 32, and two or four candidates can be used for DCI format 1C. Therefore, both a localized PRB configuration and a distributed virtual resource block (VRB) configuration can be supported, depending on a gNB configuration.
In one example, a PRB resource allocation of the PDSCH containing the SIB can be indicated in downlink control information (DCI).
Another example provides functionality 400 of a Next Generation NodeB (gNB) operable to encode a system information block (SIB) for transmission in an enhanced physical downlink control channel (ePDCCH) in a MulteFire system having a wideband coverage enhancement (WCE), as shown in
Another example provides functionality 500 of a user equipment (UE) operable to decode a system information block (SIB) received in an enhanced physical downlink control channel (ePDCCH) from a Next Generation NodeB (gNB) in a MulteFire system having a wideband coverage enhancement (WCE), as shown in
Another example provides at least one machine readable storage medium having instructions 600 embodied thereon for encoding a system information block (SIB) for transmission in an enhanced physical downlink control channel (ePDCCH) from a Next Generation NodeB (gNB) in a MulteFire system having a wideband coverage enhancement (WCE), as shown in
In some embodiments, any of the UEs 701 and 702 can comprise an Internet of Things (IoT) UE, which can comprise a network access layer designed for low-power IoT applications utilizing short-lived UE connections. An IoT UE can utilize technologies such as machine-to-machine (M2M) or machine-type communications (MTC) for exchanging data with an MTC server or device via a public land mobile network (PLMN), Proximity-Based Service (ProSe) or device-to-device (D2D) communication, sensor networks, or IoT networks. The M2M or MTC exchange of data may be a machine-initiated exchange of data. An IoT network describes interconnecting IoT UEs, which may include uniquely identifiable embedded computing devices (within the Internet infrastructure), with short-lived connections. The IoT UEs may execute background applications (e.g., keep-alive messages, status updates, etc.) to facilitate the connections of the IoT network.
The UEs 701 and 702 may be configured to connect, e.g., communicatively couple, with a radio access network (RAN) 710—the RAN 710 may be, for example, an Evolved Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN), a NextGen RAN (NG RAN), or some other type of RAN. The UEs 701 and 702 utilize connections 703 and 704, respectively, each of which comprises a physical communications interface or layer (discussed in further detail below); in this example, the connections 703 and 704 are illustrated as an air interface to enable communicative coupling, and can be consistent with cellular communications protocols, such as a Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) protocol, a code-division multiple access (CDMA) network protocol, a Push-to-Talk (PTT) protocol, a PTT over Cellular (POC) protocol, a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) protocol, a 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) protocol, a fifth generation (5G) protocol, a New Radio (NR) protocol, and the like.
In this embodiment, the UEs 701 and 702 may further directly exchange communication data via a ProSe interface 705. The ProSe interface 705 may alternatively be referred to as a sidelink interface comprising one or more logical channels, including but not limited to a Physical Sidelink Control Channel (PSCCH), a Physical Sidelink Shared Channel (PSSCH), a Physical Sidelink Discovery Channel (PSDCH), and a Physical Sidelink Broadcast Channel (PSBCH).
The UE 702 is shown to be configured to access an access point (AP) 706 via connection 707. The connection 707 can comprise a local wireless connection, such as a connection consistent with any IEEE 802.15 protocol, wherein the AP 706 would comprise a wireless fidelity (WiFi®) router. In this example, the AP 706 is shown to be connected to the Internet without connecting to the core network of the wireless system (described in further detail below).
The RAN 710 can include one or more access nodes that enable the connections 703 and 704. These access nodes (ANs) can be referred to as base stations (BSs), NodeBs, evolved NodeBs (eNBs), next Generation NodeBs (gNB), RAN nodes, and so forth, and can comprise ground stations (e.g., terrestrial access points) or satellite stations providing coverage within a geographic area (e.g., a cell). The RAN 710 may include one or more RAN nodes for providing macrocells, e.g., macro RAN node 711, and one or more RAN nodes for providing femtocells or picocells (e.g., cells having smaller coverage areas, smaller user capacity, or higher bandwidth compared to macrocells), e.g., low power (LP) RAN node 712.
Any of the RAN nodes 711 and 712 can terminate the air interface protocol and can be the first point of contact for the UEs 701 and 702. In some embodiments, any of the RAN nodes 711 and 712 can fulfill various logical functions for the RAN 710 including, but not limited to, radio network controller (RNC) functions such as radio bearer management, uplink and downlink dynamic radio resource management and data packet scheduling, and mobility management.
In accordance with some embodiments, the UEs 701 and 702 can be configured to communicate using Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing (OFDM) communication signals with each other or with any of the RAN nodes 711 and 712 over a multicarrier communication channel in accordance various communication techniques, such as, but not limited to, an Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) communication technique (e.g., for downlink communications) or a Single Carrier
Frequency Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA) communication technique (e.g., for uplink and ProSe or sidelink communications), although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. The OFDM signals can comprise a plurality of orthogonal subcarriers.
In some embodiments, a downlink resource grid can be used for downlink transmissions from any of the RAN nodes 711 and 712 to the UEs 701 and 702, while uplink transmissions can utilize similar techniques. The grid can be a time-frequency grid, called a resource grid or time-frequency resource grid, which is the physical resource in the downlink in each slot. Such a time-frequency plane representation is a common practice for OFDM systems, which makes it intuitive for radio resource allocation. Each column and each row of the resource grid corresponds to one OFDM symbol and one OFDM subcarrier, respectively. The duration of the resource grid in the time domain corresponds to one slot in a radio frame. The smallest time-frequency unit in a resource grid is denoted as a resource element. Each resource grid comprises a number of resource blocks, which describe the mapping of certain physical channels to resource elements. Each resource block comprises a collection of resource elements; in the frequency domain, this may represent the smallest quantity of resources that currently can be allocated. There are several different physical downlink channels that are conveyed using such resource blocks.
The physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) may carry user data and higher-layer signaling to the UEs 701 and 702. The physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) may carry information about the transport format and resource allocations related to the PDSCH channel, among other things. It may also inform the UEs 701 and 702 about the transport format, resource allocation, and H-ARQ (Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request) information related to the uplink shared channel. Typically, downlink scheduling (assigning control and shared channel resource blocks to the UE 702 within a cell) may be performed at any of the RAN nodes 711 and 712 based on channel quality information fed back from any of the UEs 701 and 702. The downlink resource assignment information may be sent on the PDCCH used for (e.g., assigned to) each of the UEs 701 and 702.
The PDCCH may use control channel elements (CCEs) to convey the control information. Before being mapped to resource elements, the PDCCH complex-valued symbols may first be organized into quadruplets, which may then be permuted using a sub-block interleaver for rate matching. Each PDCCH may be transmitted using one or more of these CCEs, where each CCE may correspond to nine sets of four physical resource elements known as resource element groups (REGs). Four Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (QPSK) symbols may be mapped to each REG. The PDCCH can be transmitted using one or more CCEs, depending on the size of the downlink control information (DCI) and the channel condition. There can be four or more different PDCCH formats defined in LTE with different numbers of CCEs (e.g., aggregation level, L=1, 2, 4, or 8).
Some embodiments may use concepts for resource allocation for control channel information that are an extension of the above-described concepts. For example, some embodiments may utilize an enhanced physical downlink control channel (EPDCCH) that uses PDSCH resources for control information transmission. The EPDCCH may be transmitted using one or more enhanced the control channel elements (ECCEs). Similar to above, each ECCE may correspond to nine sets of four physical resource elements known as an enhanced resource element groups (EREGs). An ECCE may have other numbers of EREGs in some situations.
The RAN 710 is shown to be communicatively coupled to a core network (CN) 720—via an S1 interface 713. In embodiments, the CN 720 may be an evolved packet core (EPC) network, a NextGen Packet Core (NPC) network, or some other type of CN.
In this embodiment the S1 interface 713 is split into two parts: the S1-U interface 714, which carries traffic data between the RAN nodes 711 and 712 and the serving gateway (S-GW) 722, and the S1-mobility management entity (MME) interface 715, which is a signaling interface between the RAN nodes 711 and 712 and MMEs 721.
In this embodiment, the CN 720 comprises the MMEs 721, the S-GW 722, the Packet Data Network (PDN) Gateway (P-GW) 723, and a home subscriber server (HSS) 724. The MMEs 721 may be similar in function to the control plane of legacy Serving General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) Support Nodes (SGSN). The MMEs 721 may manage mobility aspects in access such as gateway selection and tracking area list management. The HSS 724 may comprise a database for network users, including subscription-related information to support the network entities' handling of communication sessions. The CN 720 may comprise one or several HSSs 724, depending on the number of mobile subscribers, on the capacity of the equipment, on the organization of the network, etc. For example, the HSS 724 can provide support for routing/roaming, authentication, authorization, naming/addressing resolution, location dependencies, etc.
The S-GW 722 may terminate the S1 interface 713 towards the RAN 710, and routes data packets between the RAN 710 and the CN 720. In addition, the S-GW 722 may be a local mobility anchor point for inter-RAN node handovers and also may provide an anchor for inter-3GPP mobility. Other responsibilities may include lawful intercept, charging, and some policy enforcement.
The P-GW 723 may terminate an SGi interface toward a PDN. The P-GW 723 may route data packets between the EPC network 723 and external networks such as a network including the application server 730 (alternatively referred to as application function (AF)) via an Internet Protocol (IP) interface 725. Generally, the application server 730 may be an element offering applications that use IP bearer resources with the core network (e.g., UMTS Packet Services (PS) domain, LTE PS data services, etc.). In this embodiment, the P-GW 723 is shown to be communicatively coupled to an application server 730 via an IP communications interface 725. The application server 730 can also be configured to support one or more communication services (e.g., Voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) sessions, PTT sessions, group communication sessions, social networking services, etc.) for the UEs 701 and 702 via the CN 720.
The P-GW 723 may further be a node for policy enforcement and charging data collection. Policy and Charging Enforcement Function (PCRF) 726 is the policy and charging control element of the CN 720. In a non-roaming scenario, there may be a single PCRF in the Home Public Land Mobile Network (HPLMN) associated with a UE's Internet Protocol Connectivity Access Network (IP-CAN) session. In a roaming scenario with local breakout of traffic, there may be two PCRFs associated with a UE's IP-CAN session: a Home PCRF (H-PCRF) within a HPLMN and a Visited PCRF (V-PCRF) within a Visited Public Land Mobile Network (VPLMN). The PCRF 726 may be communicatively coupled to the application server 730 via the P-GW 723. The application server 730 may signal the PCRF 726 to indicate a new service flow and select the appropriate Quality of Service (QoS) and charging parameters. The PCRF 726 may provision this rule into a Policy and Charging Enforcement Function (PCEF) (not shown) with the appropriate traffic flow template (TFT) and QoS class of identifier (QCI), which commences the QoS and charging as specified by the application server 730.
The application circuitry 802 may include one or more application processors. For example, the application circuitry 802 may include circuitry such as, but not limited to, one or more single-core or multi-core processors. The processor(s) may include any combination of general-purpose processors and dedicated processors (e.g., graphics processors, application processors, etc.). The processors may be coupled with or may include memory/storage and may be configured to execute instructions stored in the memory/storage to enable various applications or operating systems to run on the device 800. In some embodiments, processors of application circuitry 802 may process IP data packets received from an EPC.
The baseband circuitry 804 may include circuitry such as, but not limited to, one or more single-core or multi-core processors. The baseband circuitry 804 may include one or more baseband processors or control logic to process baseband signals received from a receive signal path of the RF circuitry 806 and to generate baseband signals for a transmit signal path of the RF circuitry 806. Baseband processing circuity 804 may interface with the application circuitry 802 for generation and processing of the baseband signals and for controlling operations of the RF circuitry 806. For example, in some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 804 may include a third generation (3G) baseband processor 804a, a fourth generation (4G) baseband processor 804b, a fifth generation (5G) baseband processor 804c, or other baseband processor(s) 804d for other existing generations, generations in development or to be developed in the future (e.g., second generation (2G), sixth generation (6G), etc.). The baseband circuitry 804 (e.g., one or more of baseband processors 804a-d) may handle various radio control functions that enable communication with one or more radio networks via the RF circuitry 806. In other embodiments, some or all of the functionality of baseband processors 804a-d may be included in modules stored in the memory 804g and executed via a Central Processing Unit (CPU) 804e. The radio control functions may include, but are not limited to, signal modulation/demodulation, encoding/decoding, radio frequency shifting, etc. In some embodiments, modulation/demodulation circuitry of the baseband circuitry 804 may include Fast-Fourier Transform (FFT), precoding, or constellation mapping/demapping functionality. In some embodiments, encoding/decoding circuitry of the baseband circuitry 804 may include convolution, tail-biting convolution, turbo, Viterbi, or Low Density Parity Check (LDPC) encoder/decoder functionality. Embodiments of modulation/demodulation and encoder/decoder functionality are not limited to these examples and may include other suitable functionality in other embodiments.
In some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 804 may include one or more audio digital signal processor(s) (DSP) 804f. The audio DSP(s) 804f may be include elements for compression/decompression and echo cancellation and may include other suitable processing elements in other embodiments. Components of the baseband circuitry may be suitably combined in a single chip, a single chipset, or disposed on a same circuit board in some embodiments. In some embodiments, some or all of the constituent components of the baseband circuitry 804 and the application circuitry 802 may be implemented together such as, for example, on a system on a chip (SOC).
In some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 804 may provide for communication compatible with one or more radio technologies. For example, in some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 804 may support communication with an evolved universal terrestrial radio access network (EUTRAN) or other wireless metropolitan area networks (WMAN), a wireless local area network (WLAN), a wireless personal area network (WPAN). Embodiments in which the baseband circuitry 804 is configured to support radio communications of more than one wireless protocol may be referred to as multi-mode baseband circuitry.
RF circuitry 806 may enable communication with wireless networks using modulated electromagnetic radiation through a non-solid medium. In various embodiments, the RF circuitry 806 may include switches, filters, amplifiers, etc. to facilitate the communication with the wireless network. RF circuitry 806 may include a receive signal path which may include circuitry to down-convert RF signals received from the FEM circuitry 808 and provide baseband signals to the baseband circuitry 804. RF circuitry 806 may also include a transmit signal path which may include circuitry to up-convert baseband signals provided by the baseband circuitry 804 and provide RF output signals to the FEM circuitry 808 for transmission.
In some embodiments, the receive signal path of the RF circuitry 806 may include mixer circuitry 806a, amplifier circuitry 806b and filter circuitry 806c. In some embodiments, the transmit signal path of the RF circuitry 806 may include filter circuitry 806c and mixer circuitry 806a. RF circuitry 806 may also include synthesizer circuitry 806d for synthesizing a frequency for use by the mixer circuitry 806a of the receive signal path and the transmit signal path. In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 806a of the receive signal path may be configured to down-convert RF signals received from the FEM circuitry 808 based on the synthesized frequency provided by synthesizer circuitry 806d. The amplifier circuitry 806b may be configured to amplify the down-converted signals and the filter circuitry 806c may be a low-pass filter (LPF) or band-pass filter (BPF) configured to remove unwanted signals from the down-converted signals to generate output baseband signals. Output baseband signals may be provided to the baseband circuitry 804 for further processing. In some embodiments, the output baseband signals may be zero-frequency baseband signals, although this is not a requirement. In some embodiments, mixer circuitry 806a of the receive signal path may comprise passive mixers, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.
In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 806a of the transmit signal path may be configured to up-convert input baseband signals based on the synthesized frequency provided by the synthesizer circuitry 806d to generate RF output signals for the FEM circuitry 808. The baseband signals may be provided by the baseband circuitry 804 and may be filtered by filter circuitry 806c.
In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 806a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry 806a of the transmit signal path may include two or more mixers and may be arranged for quadrature downconversion and upconversion, respectively. In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 806a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry 806a of the transmit signal path may include two or more mixers and may be arranged for image rejection (e.g., Hartley image rejection). In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 806a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry 806a may be arranged for direct downconversion and direct upconversion, respectively. In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 806a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry 806a of the transmit signal path may be configured for super-heterodyne operation.
In some embodiments, the output baseband signals and the input baseband signals may be analog baseband signals, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. In some alternate embodiments, the output baseband signals and the input baseband signals may be digital baseband signals. In these alternate embodiments, the RF circuitry 806 may include analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and digital-to-analog converter (DAC) circuitry and the baseband circuitry 804 may include a digital baseband interface to communicate with the RF circuitry 806.
In some dual-mode embodiments, a separate radio IC circuitry may be provided for processing signals for each spectrum, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.
In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuitry 806d may be a fractional-N synthesizer or a fractional N/N+1 synthesizer, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect as other types of frequency synthesizers may be suitable. For example, synthesizer circuitry 806d may be a delta-sigma synthesizer, a frequency multiplier, or a synthesizer comprising a phase-locked loop with a frequency divider.
The synthesizer circuitry 806d may be configured to synthesize an output frequency for use by the mixer circuitry 806a of the RF circuitry 806 based on a frequency input and a divider control input. In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuitry 806d may be a fractional N/N+1 synthesizer.
In some embodiments, frequency input may be provided by a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO), although that is not a requirement. Divider control input may be provided by either the baseband circuitry 804 or the applications processor 802 depending on the desired output frequency. In some embodiments, a divider control input (e.g., N) may be determined from a look-up table based on a channel indicated by the applications processor 802.
Synthesizer circuitry 806d of the RF circuitry 806 may include a divider, a delay-locked loop (DLL), a multiplexer and a phase accumulator. In some embodiments, the divider may be a dual modulus divider (DMD) and the phase accumulator may be a digital phase accumulator (DPA). In some embodiments, the DMD may be configured to divide the input signal by either N or N+1 (e.g., based on a carry out) to provide a fractional division ratio. In some example embodiments, the DLL may include a set of cascaded, tunable, delay elements, a phase detector, a charge pump and a D-type flip-flop. In these embodiments, the delay elements may be configured to break a VCO period up into Nd equal packets of phase, where Nd is the number of delay elements in the delay line. In this way, the DLL provides negative feedback to help ensure that the total delay through the delay line is one VCO cycle.
In some embodiments, synthesizer circuitry 806d may be configured to generate a carrier frequency as the output frequency, while in other embodiments, the output frequency may be a multiple of the carrier frequency (e.g., twice the carrier frequency, four times the carrier frequency) and used in conjunction with quadrature generator and divider circuitry to generate multiple signals at the carrier frequency with multiple different phases with respect to each other. In some embodiments, the output frequency may be a LO frequency (fLO). In some embodiments, the RF circuitry 806 may include an IQ/polar converter.
FEM circuitry 808 may include a receive signal path which may include circuitry configured to operate on RF signals received from one or more antennas 810, amplify the received signals and provide the amplified versions of the received signals to the RF circuitry 806 for further processing. FEM circuitry 808 may also include a transmit signal path which may include circuitry configured to amplify signals for transmission provided by the RF circuitry 806 for transmission by one or more of the one or more antennas 810. In various embodiments, the amplification through the transmit or receive signal paths may be done solely in the RF circuitry 806, solely in the FEM 808, or in both the RF circuitry 806 and the FEM 808.
In some embodiments, the FEM circuitry 808 may include a TX/RX switch to switch between transmit mode and receive mode operation. The FEM circuitry may include a receive signal path and a transmit signal path. The receive signal path of the FEM circuitry may include an LNA to amplify received RF signals and provide the amplified received RF signals as an output (e.g., to the RF circuitry 806). The transmit signal path of the FEM circuitry 808 may include a power amplifier (PA) to amplify input RF signals (e.g., provided by RF circuitry 806), and one or more filters to generate RF signals for subsequent transmission (e.g., by one or more of the one or more antennas 810).
In some embodiments, the PMC 812 may manage power provided to the baseband circuitry 804. In particular, the PMC 812 may control power-source selection, voltage scaling, battery charging, or DC-to-DC conversion. The PMC 812 may often be included when the device 800 is capable of being powered by a battery, for example, when the device is included in a UE. The PMC 812 may increase the power conversion efficiency while providing desirable implementation size and heat dissipation characteristics.
While
In some embodiments, the PMC 812 may control, or otherwise be part of, various power saving mechanisms of the device 800. For example, if the device 800 is in an RRC_Connected state, where it is still connected to the RAN node as it expects to receive traffic shortly, then it may enter a state known as Discontinuous Reception Mode (DRX) after a period of inactivity. During this state, the device 800 may power down for brief intervals of time and thus save power.
If there is no data traffic activity for an extended period of time, then the device 800 may transition off to an RRC_Idle state, where it disconnects from the network and does not perform operations such as channel quality feedback, handover, etc. The device 800 goes into a very low power state and it performs paging where again it periodically wakes up to listen to the network and then powers down again. The device 800 may not receive data in this state, in order to receive data, it must transition back to RRC_Connected state.
An additional power saving mode may allow a device to be unavailable to the network for periods longer than a paging interval (ranging from seconds to a few hours). During this time, the device is totally unreachable to the network and may power down completely. Any data sent during this time incurs a large delay and it is assumed the delay is acceptable.
Processors of the application circuitry 802 and processors of the baseband circuitry 804 may be used to execute elements of one or more instances of a protocol stack. For example, processors of the baseband circuitry 804, alone or in combination, may be used execute Layer 3, Layer 2, or Layer 1 functionality, while processors of the application circuitry 804 may utilize data (e.g., packet data) received from these layers and further execute Layer 4 functionality (e.g., transmission communication protocol (TCP) and user datagram protocol (UDP) layers). As referred to herein, Layer 3 may comprise a radio resource control (RRC) layer, described in further detail below. As referred to herein, Layer 2 may comprise a medium access control (MAC) layer, a radio link control (RLC) layer, and a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer, described in further detail below. As referred to herein, Layer 1 may comprise a physical (PHY) layer of a UE/RAN node, described in further detail below.
The baseband circuitry 804 may further include one or more interfaces to communicatively couple to other circuitries/devices, such as a memory interface 912 (e.g., an interface to send/receive data to/from memory external to the baseband circuitry 804), an application circuitry interface 914 (e.g., an interface to send/receive data to/from the application circuitry 802 of
The following examples pertain to specific technology embodiments and point out specific features, elements, or actions that can be used or otherwise combined in achieving such embodiments.
Example 1 includes an apparatus of a Next Generation NodeB (gNB) operable to encode a system information block (SIB) for transmission in an enhanced physical downlink control channel (ePDCCH) in a MulteFire system having a wideband coverage enhancement (WCE), the apparatus comprising: one or more processors configured to: determine, at the gNB, a physical resource block (PRB) resource allocation for the ePDCCH in the MulteFire system having the WCE, wherein the PRB resource allocation for the ePDCCH is a localized PRB configuration or a distributed virtual resource block (VRB) configuration ; encode, at the gNB, an indication of the PRB resource allocation for the ePDCCH for transmission to a user equipment (UE), to indicate whether the PRB resource allocation for the ePDCCH is the localized PRB configuration or the distributed VRB configuration; and encode, at the gNB, a system information block type 1 (SIB1) for MulteFire with WCE (SIB1-MF-WCE) for transmission to the UE over one or more discovery reference signal (DRS) subframes, wherein the SIB1-MF-WCE is transmitted via the ePDCCH having the PRB resource allocation that corresponds to the localized PRB configuration or the distributed VRB configuration; and a memory interface configured to retrieve from a memory the indication of the PRB resource allocation for the ePDCCH and the SIB1-MF-WCE.
Example 2 includes the apparatus of Example 1, further comprising a transceiver configured to: transmit, to the UE, the indication of the PRB resource allocation for the ePDCCH; and transmit the SIB1-MF-WCE to the UE.
Example 3 includes the apparatus of any of Examples 1 to 2, wherein the indication of the PRB resource allocation for the ePDCCH includes 1 bit with a value of “0” that indicates a 16 contiguous PRB allocation for the ePDCCH that corresponds to PRB index 84 to PRB index 99, or with a value of “1” that indicates a 16 distributed VRB allocation for the ePDCCH that corresponds to PRB index 0 to PRB index 4 and PRB index 24 to PRB index 27 and PRB index 72 to PRB index 75 and PRB index 95 to PRB index 99.
Example 4 includes the apparatus of any of Examples 1 to 3, wherein the localized PRB configuration for the ePDCCH corresponds to a one candidate downlink control information (DCI) format lA with an aggregation level of 64 or a two candidates DCI format 1A with an aggregation level of 32.
Example 5 includes the apparatus of any of Examples 1 to 4, wherein the distributed VRB configuration for the ePDCCH corresponds to a two candidates DCI format 1C with an aggregation level of 32.
Example 6 includes the apparatus of any of Examples 1 to 5, wherein the indication of the PRB resource allocation for the ePDCCH includes 1 bit to indicate whether the PRB resource allocation for the ePDCCH corresponds to downlink control information (DCI) format 1A or DCI format 1C.
Example 7 includes the apparatus of any of Examples 1 to 6, wherein the one or more processors are configured to encode the SIB1-MF-WCE for transmission to the UE using one of: a downlink control information (DCI) format 1A with the localized PRB configuration having a downlink (DL) resource allocation (RA) type 2; or a DCI format 1C with Ngap,1 and the distributed VRB configuration having the DL RA type 2, wherein Ngap,1 is a parameter used to indicate a mapping pattern between VRBs and PRBs.
Example 8 includes the apparatus of any of Examples 1 to 7, wherein the distributed VRB configuration uses a distributed VRB allocation mapping that includes PRB index 0 to PRB index 95 and does not include PRB index 96 to PRB index 99.
Example 9 includes the apparatus of any of Examples 1 to 8, wherein the PRB resource allocation for the ePDCCH corresponds to two candidates for downlink control information (DCI) format 1C, wherein a first candidate occupies PRB index 0 to PRB index 3 and PRB index 24 to PRB index 27, and a second candidate occupies PRB index 72 to PRB index 75 and PRB index 96 to PRB index 99.
Example 10 includes an apparatus of a user equipment (UE) operable to decode a system information block (SIB) received in an enhanced physical downlink control channel (ePDCCH) from a Next Generation NodeB (gNB) in a MulteFire system having a wideband coverage enhancement (WCE), the apparatus comprising: one or more processors configured to: decode, at the UE, an indication received in downlink control information (DCI) from the gNB of a physical resource block (PRB) resource allocation for the ePDCCH in the MulteFire system having the WCE, wherein the indication received from the gNB indicates whether the PRB resource allocation for the ePDCCH is a localized PRB configuration or a distributed virtual resource block (VRB) configuration; and decode, at the UE, a system information block type 1 (SIB1) for MulteFire with WCE (SIB1-MF-WCE) received from the gNB over one or more discovery reference signal (DRS) subframes, wherein the SIB1-MF-WCE is received via the ePDCCH having the PRB resource allocation that corresponds to the localized PRB configuration or the distributed VRB configuration; and a memory interface configured to send to a memory the indication of the PRB resource allocation for the ePDCCH and the SIB1-MF-WCE.
Example 11 includes the apparatus of Example 10, further comprising a transceiver configured to: receive, from the gNB, the indication of the PRB resource allocation for the ePDCCH; and receive the SIB1-MF-WCE from the gNB.
Example 12 includes the apparatus of any of Examples 10 to 11, wherein the indication of the PRB resource allocation for the ePDCCH includes 1 bit with a value of “0” that indicates a 16 contiguous PRB allocation for the ePDCCH that corresponds to PRB index 84 to PRB index 99, or a value of “1” that indicates a 16 distributed VRB allocation for the ePDCCH that corresponds to PRB index 0 to PRB index 4 and PRB index 24 to PRB index 27 and PRB index 72 to PRB index 75 and PRB index 95 to PRB index 99.
Example 13 includes the apparatus of any of Examples 10 to 12, wherein the localized PRB configuration for the ePDCCH corresponds to a one candidate downlink control information (DCI) format 1A with an aggregation level of 64 or a two candidates DCI format 1A with an aggregation level of 32.
Example 14 includes the apparatus of any of Examples 10 to 13, wherein the distributed VRB configuration for the ePDCCH corresponds to a two candidates DCI format 1C with an aggregation level of 32.
Example 15 includes the apparatus of any of Examples 10 to 14, wherein the indication of the PRB resource allocation for the ePDCCH includes 1 bit to indicate whether the PRB resource allocation for the ePDCCH corresponds to downlink control information (DCI) format 1A or DCI format 1C.
Example 16 includes the apparatus of any of Examples 10 to 15, wherein the one or more processors are configured to decode the SIB1-MF-WCE received from the gNB in accordance with one of: a downlink control information (DCI) format 1A with the localized PRB configuration having a downlink (DL) resource allocation (RA) type 2; or a DCI format 1C with Ngap,1 and the distributed VRB configuration having the DL RA type 2, wherein Ngap,1 is a parameter used to indicate a mapping pattern between VRBs and PRBs.
Example 17 includes the apparatus of any of Examples 10 to 16, wherein the distributed VRB configuration uses a distributed VRB allocation mapping that includes PRB index 0 to PRB index 95 and does not include PRB index 96 to PRB index 99.
Example 18 includes the apparatus of any of Examples 10 to 17, wherein the PRB resource allocation for the ePDCCH corresponds to two candidates for downlink control information (DCI) format 1C, wherein a first candidate occupies PRB index 0 to PRB index 3 and PRB index 24 to PRB index 27, and a second candidate occupies PRB index 72 to PRB index 75 and PRB index 96 to PRB index 99.
Example 19 includes at least one machine readable storage medium having instructions embodied thereon for encoding a system information block (SIB) for transmission in an enhanced physical downlink control channel (ePDCCH) from a Next Generation NodeB (gNB) in a MulteFire system having a wideband coverage enhancement (WCE), the instructions when executed by one or more processors at the gNB perform the following: determining, at the gNB, a physical resource block (PRB) resource allocation for the ePDCCH in the MulteFire system having the WCE, wherein the PRB resource allocation for the ePDCCH is a localized PRB configuration or a distributed virtual resource block (VRB) configuration; encoding, at the gNB, an indication of the PRB resource allocation for the ePDCCH for transmission to a user equipment (UE), to indicate whether the PRB resource allocation for the ePDCCH is the localized PRB configuration or the distributed VRB configuration; and encoding, at the gNB, a system information block type 1 (SIB1) for MulteFire with WCE (SIB1-MF-WCE) for transmission to the UE over one or more discovery reference signal (DRS) subframes, wherein the SIB1-MF-WCE is transmitted via the ePDCCH having the PRB resource allocation that corresponds to the localized PRB configuration or the distributed VRB configuration.
Example 20 includes the at least one machine readable storage medium of Example 19, wherein the indication of the PRB resource allocation for the ePDCCH includes 1 bit with a value of “0” that indicates a 16 contiguous PRB allocation for the ePDCCH that corresponds to PRB index 84 to PRB index 99, or a value of “1” that indicates a 16 distributed VRB allocation for the ePDCCH that corresponds to PRB index 0 to PRB index 4 and PRB index 24 to PRB index 27 and PRB index 72 to PRB index 75 and PRB index 95 to PRB index 99.
Example 21 includes the at least one machine readable storage medium of any of Examples 19 to 20, wherein the localized PRB configuration for the ePDCCH corresponds to a one candidate downlink control information (DCI) format 1A with an aggregation level of 64 or a two candidates DCI format 1A with an aggregation level of 32.
Example 22 includes the at least one machine readable storage medium of any of Examples 19 to 21, wherein the distributed VRB configuration for the ePDCCH corresponds to a two candidates DCI format 1C with an aggregation level of 32.
Example 23 includes the at least one machine readable storage medium of any of Examples 19 to 22, wherein the indication of the PRB resource allocation for the ePDCCH includes 1 bit to indicate whether the PRB resource allocation for the ePDCCH corresponds to downlink control information (DCI) format 1A or DCI format 1C.
Example 24 includes the at least one machine readable storage medium of any of Examples 19 to 23, further comprising instructions when executed perform the following: encoding the SIB1-MF-WCE for transmission to the UE using one of: a downlink control information (DCI) format 1A with the localized PRB configuration having a downlink (DL) resource allocation (RA) type 2; or a DCI format 1C with Ngap,1 and the distributed VRB configuration having the DL RA type 2, wherein Ngap,1 is a parameter used to indicate a mapping pattern between VRBs and PRBs.
Example 25 includes the at least one machine readable storage medium of any of Examples 19 to 24, wherein the distributed VRB configuration uses a distributed VRB allocation mapping that includes PRB index 0 to PRB index 95 and does not include PRB index 96 to PRB index 99.
Example 26 includes the at least one machine readable storage medium of any of Examples 19 to 25, wherein the PRB resource allocation for the ePDCCH corresponds to two candidates for downlink control information (DCI) format 1C, wherein a first candidate occupies PRB index 0 to PRB index 3 and PRB index 24 to PRB index 27, and a second candidate occupies PRB index 72 to PRB index 75 and PRB index 96 to PRB index 99.
Example 27 includes a Next Generation NodeB (gNB) operable to encode a system information block (SIB) for transmission in an enhanced physical downlink control channel (ePDCCH) in a MulteFire system having a wideband coverage enhancement (WCE), the gNB comprising: means for determining, at the gNB, a physical resource block (PRB) resource allocation for the ePDCCH in the MulteFire system having the WCE, wherein the PRB resource allocation for the ePDCCH is a localized PRB configuration or a distributed virtual resource block (VRB) configuration; means for encoding, at the gNB, an indication of the PRB resource allocation for the ePDCCH for transmission to a user equipment (UE), to indicate whether the PRB resource allocation for the ePDCCH is the localized PRB configuration or the distributed VRB configuration; and means for encoding, at the gNB, a system information block type 1 (SIB1) for MulteFire with WCE (SIB1-MF-WCE) for transmission to the UE over one or more discovery reference signal (DRS) subframes, wherein the SIB1-MF-WCE is transmitted via the ePDCCH having the PRB resource allocation that corresponds to the localized PRB configuration or the distributed VRB configuration.
Example 28 includes the gNB of Example 27, wherein the indication of the PRB resource allocation for the ePDCCH includes 1 bit with a value of “0” that indicates a 16 contiguous PRB allocation for the ePDCCH that corresponds to PRB index 84 to PRB index 99, or a value of “1” that indicates a 16 distributed VRB allocation for the ePDCCH that corresponds to PRB index 0 to PRB index 4 and PRB index 24 to PRB index 27 and PRB index 72 to PRB index 75 and PRB index 95 to PRB index 99.
Example 29 includes the gNB of any of Examples 27 to 28, wherein the localized PRB configuration for the ePDCCH corresponds to a one candidate downlink control information (DCI) format 1A with an aggregation level of 64 or a two candidates DCI format 1A with an aggregation level of 32.
Example 30 includes the gNB of any of Examples 27 to 29, wherein the distributed VRB configuration for the ePDCCH corresponds to a two candidates DCI format 1C with an aggregation level of 32.
Example 31 includes the gNB of any of Examples 27 to 30, wherein the indication of the PRB resource allocation for the ePDCCH includes 1 bit to indicate whether the PRB resource allocation for the ePDCCH corresponds to downlink control information (DCI) format 1A or DCI format 1C.
Example 32 includes the gNB of any of Examples 27 to 31, further comprising: means for encoding the SIB1-MF-WCE for transmission to the UE using one of: a downlink control information (DCI) format 1A with the localized PRB configuration having a downlink (DL) resource allocation (RA) type 2; or a DCI format 1C with Ngap,1 and the distributed VRB configuration having the DL RA type 2, wherein Ngap,1 is a parameter used to indicate a mapping pattern between VRBs and PRBs.
Example 33 includes the gNB of any of Examples 27 to 32, wherein the distributed VRB configuration uses a distributed VRB allocation mapping that includes PRB index 0 to PRB index 95 and does not include PRB index 96 to PRB index 99.
Example 34 includes the gNB of any of Examples 27 to 33, wherein the PRB resource allocation for the ePDCCH corresponds to two candidates for downlink control information (DCI) format 1C, wherein a first candidate occupies PRB index 0 to PRB index 3 and PRB index 24 to PRB index 27, and a second candidate occupies PRB index 72 to PRB index 75 and PRB index 96 to PRB index 99.
Various techniques, or certain aspects or portions thereof, may take the form of program code (i.e., instructions) embodied in tangible media, such as floppy diskettes, compact disc-read-only memory (CD-ROMs), hard drives, non-transitory computer readable storage medium, or any other machine-readable storage medium wherein, when the program code is loaded into and executed by a machine, such as a computer, the machine becomes an apparatus for practicing the various techniques. In the case of program code execution on programmable computers, the computing device may include a processor, a storage medium readable by the processor (including volatile and non-volatile memory and/or storage elements), at least one input device, and at least one output device. The volatile and non-volatile memory and/or storage elements may be a random-access memory (RAM), erasable programmable read only memory (EPROM), flash drive, optical drive, magnetic hard drive, solid state drive, or other medium for storing electronic data. The node and wireless device may also include a transceiver module (i.e., transceiver), a counter module (i.e., counter), a processing module (i.e., processor), and/or a clock module (i.e., clock) or timer module (i.e., timer). In one example, selected components of the transceiver module can be located in a cloud radio access network (C-RAN). One or more programs that may implement or utilize the various techniques described herein may use an application programming interface (API), reusable controls, and the like. Such programs may be implemented in a high level procedural or object oriented programming language to communicate with a computer system. However, the program(s) may be implemented in assembly or machine language, if desired. In any case, the language may be a compiled or interpreted language, and combined with hardware implementations.
As used herein, the term “circuitry” may refer to, be part of, or include an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), an electronic circuit, a processor (shared, dedicated, or group), and/or memory (shared, dedicated, or group) that execute one or more software or firmware programs, a combinational logic circuit, and/or other suitable hardware components that provide the described functionality. In some embodiments, the circuitry may be implemented in, or functions associated with the circuitry may be implemented by, one or more software or firmware modules. In some embodiments, circuitry may include logic, at least partially operable in hardware.
It should be understood that many of the functional units described in this specification have been labeled as modules, in order to more particularly emphasize their implementation independence. For example, a module may be implemented as a hardware circuit comprising custom very-large-scale integration (VLSI) circuits or gate arrays, off-the-shelf semiconductors such as logic chips, transistors, or other discrete components. A module may also be implemented in programmable hardware devices such as field programmable gate arrays, programmable array logic, programmable logic devices or the like.
Modules may also be implemented in software for execution by various types of processors. An identified module of executable code may, for instance, comprise one or more physical or logical blocks of computer instructions, which may, for instance, be organized as an object, procedure, or function. Nevertheless, the executables of an identified module may not be physically located together, but may comprise disparate instructions stored in different locations which, when joined logically together, comprise the module and achieve the stated purpose for the module.
Indeed, a module of executable code may be a single instruction, or many instructions, and may even be distributed over several different code segments, among different programs, and across several memory devices. Similarly, operational data may be identified and illustrated herein within modules, and may be embodied in any suitable form and organized within any suitable type of data structure. The operational data may be collected as a single data set, or may be distributed over different locations including over different storage devices, and may exist, at least partially, merely as electronic signals on a system or network. The modules may be passive or active, including agents operable to perform desired functions.
Reference throughout this specification to “an example” or “exemplary” means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the example is included in at least one embodiment of the present technology. Thus, appearances of the phrases “in an example” or the word “exemplary” in various places throughout this specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment.
As used herein, a plurality of items, structural elements, compositional elements, and/or materials may be presented in a common list for convenience. However, these lists should be construed as though each member of the list is individually identified as a separate and unique member. Thus, no individual member of such list should be construed as a de facto equivalent of any other member of the same list solely based on their presentation in a common group without indications to the contrary. In addition, various embodiments and example of the present technology may be referred to herein along with alternatives for the various components thereof. It is understood that such embodiments, examples, and alternatives are not to be construed as defacto equivalents of one another, but are to be considered as separate and autonomous representations of the present technology.
Furthermore, the described features, structures, or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments. In the following description, numerous specific details are provided, such as examples of layouts, distances, network examples, etc., to provide a thorough understanding of embodiments of the technology. One skilled in the relevant art will recognize, however, that the technology can be practiced without one or more of the specific details, or with other methods, components, layouts, etc. In other instances, well-known structures, materials, or operations are not shown or described in detail to avoid obscuring aspects of the technology.
While the forgoing examples are illustrative of the principles of the present technology in one or more particular applications, it will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that numerous modifications in form, usage and details of implementation can be made without the exercise of inventive faculty, and without departing from the principles and concepts of the technology.
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/US18/48180 | 8/27/2018 | WO | 00 |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62557005 | Sep 2017 | US | |
| 62554381 | Sep 2017 | US |
