Patent Application
20250233693
The present disclosure relates to wireless telecommunications apparatuses and methods.
The “background” description provided is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work of the presently named inventors, to the extent it is described in the background section, as well as aspects of the description which may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly or impliedly admitted as prior art against the present disclosure.
Recent generation mobile telecommunication systems, such as those based on the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP (RTM)) defined Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), Long Term Evolution (LTE) and 5G New Radio (NR) architectures, are able to support a wider range of services than simple voice and messaging services offered by previous generations of mobile telecommunication systems. For example, with the improved radio interface and enhanced data rates provided by LTE and NR systems, a user can experience high data rate applications such as mobile video streaming and mobile video conferencing that would previously only have been available via a fixed line data connection.
In addition to supporting these kinds of more sophisticated services and devices, it is also proposed for newer generation mobile telecommunication systems such as NR to support less complex services and devices which make use of the reliable and wide ranging coverage of newer generation mobile telecommunication systems without necessarily needing to rely on the high data rates available in such systems. For example, a less complex device may be a tiny device equipped with sensors and a small battery capacity. Such a less complex device needs to transmit the sensor data at a typically infrequent and/or low data rate.
The demand to deploy such networks is therefore strong and there is a desire to improve the coverage area of these networks, i.e. geographic locations where access to the networks is possible.
The present disclosure is defined by the claims.
Non-limiting embodiments and advantages of the present disclosure are explained with reference to the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:
Like reference numerals designate identical or corresponding parts throughout the drawings.
The network 6 includes a plurality of base stations 1 connected to a core network 2. Each base station provides a coverage area 3 (i.e. a cell) within which data can be communicated to and from communications devices 4.
Although each base station 1 is shown in
Data is transmitted from base stations 1 to communications devices 4 within their respective coverage areas 3 via a radio downlink (DL). Data is transmitted from communications devices 4 to the base stations 1 via a radio uplink (UL). The core network 2 routes data to and from the communications devices 4 via the respective base stations 1 and provides functions such as authentication, mobility management, charging and so on. A communications device may also be referred to as a mobile station, user equipment (UE), user terminal, mobile radio, terminal device and so forth.
Services provided by the core network 2 may include connectivity to the internet or to external telephony services. The core network 2 may further track the location of the communications devices 4 so that it can efficiently contact (i.e. page) the communications devices 4 for transmitting downlink data towards the communications devices 4.
A base station, which is an example of network infrastructure equipment, may also be referred to as a transceiver station, nodeB, e-nodeB, eNB, g-nodeB, gNB and so forth (note g-nodeB and gNB are related to 5G New Radio—see below). In this regard different terminology is often associated with different generations of wireless telecommunications systems for elements providing broadly comparable functionality. However, certain embodiments of the disclosure may be equally implemented in different generations of wireless telecommunications systems, and for simplicity certain terminology may be used regardless of the underlying network architecture. That is to say, the use of a specific term in relation to certain example implementations is not intended to indicate these implementations are limited to a certain generation of network that may be most associated with that particular terminology.
In the present disclosure, any apparatus (e.g. communications device, infrastructure equipment and the like) which transmits and/or receives wireless telecommunications signals in any of the exemplified wireless telecommunication networks/systems may be referred to generally as a wireless telecommunications apparatus.
An example configuration of a wireless communications network which uses some of the terminology proposed for NR is shown in
The elements of the wireless access network shown in
The TRPs 10 of
In terms of broad top-level functionality, the core network 20 connected to the NR telecommunications system represented in
It will further be appreciated that
Thus certain embodiments of the disclosure as discussed herein may be implemented in wireless telecommunication systems/networks according to various different architectures, such as the example architectures shown in
A more detailed diagram of some of the components of the network shown in
The transmitters 30, 49 and the receivers 32, 48 (as well as other transmitters, receivers and transceivers described in relation to examples and embodiments of the present disclosure) may include radio frequency filters and amplifiers as well as signal processing components and devices in order to transmit and receive radio signals in accordance, for example, with the 5G/NR standard. The controllers 34, 44 (as well as other controllers described in relation to examples and embodiments of the present disclosure) may be, for example, a microprocessor, a CPU, or a dedicated chipset, etc., configured to carry out instructions which are stored on a computer readable medium, such as a non-volatile memory. The processing steps described herein may be carried out by, for example, a microprocessor in conjunction with a random access memory, operating according to instructions stored on a computer readable medium.
As shown in
The interface 46 between the DU 42 and the CU 40 is known as the F1 interface which can be a physical or a logical interface. The F1 interface 46 between CU and DU may operate in accordance with specifications 3GPP TS 38.470 and 3GPP TS 38.473 and, for example, may be formed from a fibre optic or other wired high bandwidth connection. In one example, the connection 16 from the TRP 10 to the DU 42 is fibre optic. The connection between a TRP 10 and the core network 20 can be generally referred to as a backhaul, which comprises the interface 16 from the network interface 50 of the TRP 10 to the DU 42 and the F1 interface 46 from the DU 42 to the CU 40.
It is desirable to be able to improve cell coverage, especially for UEs located at the edge of a cell. 3GPP has already completed a base version of 5G in 3GPP Release 15 known as New Radio (NR) and further enhancements have been added in 3GPP Releases 16 and 17. In these releases, the transmission in the downlink is based on a CP-OFDM (Cyclic Prefix—Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) waveform while the uplink can use either CP-OFDM or DFT-S-OFDM (Discrete Fourier Transform spread Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) waveforms.
A benefit of supporting DFT-S-OFDM in the uplink is to increase the coverage due to its lower PAPR (peak-to-average power ratio) than CP-OFDM, particularly when a UE is at the cell edge. The lower PAPR allows the UE to transmit with a higher average power which improves the UL coverage. DFT-S-OFDM is also known as SC-FDMA (Single Carrier—Frequency Division Multiple Access) or transform precoding. Alternatively, the UE can transmit at the same radiated power level in a more efficient manner since the power amplifier in the UE can be operated with less backoff. However, DFT-S-OFDM as implemented in 3GPP Release 15 to Release 17 supports only single stream/layer transmission in order to reduce implementation complexity.
In terms of informing a UE of which waveform to use in the uplink, a UE receives higher layer “broadcast” signalling (in e.g. System Information Block 1, SIB1) to enable or disable the usage of DFT-S-OFDM for message 3 (Msg3) transmission during the random access procedure. Alternatively, a UE may receive dedicated (e.g., Radio Resource Control, RRC) signalling as a part of PUSCH (Physical Uplink Shared Channel) configuration for UL transmissions. The configuration details to support both CP-OFDM and DFT-S-OFDM in the uplink are captured in [2], section 6.1.3, for example.
However, it is realised that these methods of specifying the use of the CP-OFDM or DFT-S-OFDM waveform in the uplink are relatively limited and inflexible. More dynamic switching is desired to, for example, enable a UE located at a cell edge to more easily switch to using the DFT-S-OFDM waveform to improve cell coverage.
In 3GPP Release 18, a new work item (WI) [3] has been approved which captures the justification of enhancing the use of DFT-S-OFDM in the uplink. It also highlights the problems with the current (e.g. SIB1- or RRC-based) approach and the need for enhancements to support dynamic switching between DFT-S-OFDM and CP-OFDM. [4] also provides a further discussion on some technical considerations and potential benefits of such dynamic switching.
The present technique helps address this problem of how to allow a UE to dynamically switch which waveform it uses for its next uplink transmission.
The present technique provides a number of efficient methods to dynamically switch between DFT-S-OFDM and CP-OFDM uplink waveforms. For example, the uplink waveform may be indicated for each scheduled UL transmission (e.g. by being explicitly or implicitly indicated in the scheduling Downlink Control Information, DCI). In another example, the uplink waveform is semi-persistently scheduled and the indicated waveform is applicable for a pre-determined duration or until an update to the waveform is signaled. In another example, the uplink waveform is semi-statically configured but there are opportunities for the network scheduler to flexibly change the uplink waveform. These examples are explained in more detail below.
In order to support dynamic switching between DFT-S-OFDM and CP-OFDM waveforms according to the examples, some signaling is necessary to indicate which waveform a UE can apply for its UL transmission.
In a first example, the uplink waveform for each scheduled UL transmission is explicitly indicated in the scheduling DCI.
In an embodiment, one bit in the DCI is used to indicate either the DFT-S-OFDM or CP-OFDM waveform. This may be a new bit in the DCI or one or more existing bits in the DCI can be repurposed to indicate which waveform the UE should apply for its scheduled UL transmission.
For CG (Configured Grant) PUSCH, more specifically CG Type 2, the activation DCI/command can contain the bit to inform the UE that transmissions of CG PUSCH should apply either the DFT-S-OFDM or CP-OFDM waveform. Such a 1-bit indicator may also be used in the activation DCI for SPS (Semi-Persistent Scheduling) PDSCH (Physical Downlink Shared Channel) and is applicable to the waveform of the PUCCH (Physical Uplink Control Channel) used to carry the HARQ (Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request) feedback (e.g. HARQ-ACK/NACK) for the SPS PDSCH.
In an embodiment, when the activation DCI indicates the waveform for CG-PUSCH Type 2 or SPS PDSCH, the indicated waveform is applicable to the first M transmissions or M transmission opportunities. CG-PUSCH and SPS PDSCH are periodic resources semi-statically configured in the UL and DL respectively. They are used for periodic traffic and reduce the need for constant UL Grant or DL Grant transmissions, respectively. It should be appreciated that these periodic UL and DL resources may not be used for transmission. However, these periodic resources provide transmission opportunities which the UE (in the case of UL) or the gNB (in the case of DL) can use if they have data to transmit. In this embodiment, only the first M transmissions or M transmission opportunities use the indicated waveform and the remaining transmissions use the semi-statically configured waveform. This recognizes that the condition of the UE may change and that the waveform that is beneficial when the activation DCI is transmitted may no longer be beneficial after M transmissions.
For example, the UE may firstly be at cell edge when the activation DCI is received but may then move towards the cell centre after several periods of CG-PUSCH/SPS PDSCH. For example, the UE is configured with a default semi-static waveform, such as CP-OFDM, for PUSCH. If M=1 and an activation DCI for CG-PUSCH indicates the DFT-S-OFDM waveform is to be used, the UE therefore applies DFT-S-OFDM on the 1st CG-PUSCH transmission after receiving the activation DCI for that CG-PUSCH and the remaining transmissions (i.e., 2nd, 3rd, 4th etc. CG-PUSCH transmissions) use CP-OFDM (i.e., the default semi-static waveform). The value M may be RRC configured, specified in the specifications or dynamically indicated in the activation DCI, for example.
In an embodiment, the time domain resource allocation (TDRA) field in NR is used for waveform indication. The TDRA is a field in the DCI that indicates a number of symbols within a slot allocated for the UE to transmit PUSCH. The TDRA is specified in table entries. For example, the default table captured in [2], section 6.1.2.1.1-2, is copied below (with an additional column, as explained below) as Table 1. There are a number of parameters included in the default table, for example PUSCH mapping type, the time gap between the UL scheduling DCI and the corresponding PUSCH (K2), starting symbol of PUSCH (S) and the PUSCH duration (L) in the slot. In this example, an additional column (the rightmost column) is added to the table to indicate whether the allocation defined in each row applies to DFT-S-OFDM or CP-OFDM. Thus, based on the table index indicated in the TDRA field, the UE is able to determine whether the waveform for the PUSCH should be DFT-S-OFDM or CP-OFDM.
Table 2 shows a variation of Table 1. In Table 1, each indication of DFT-S-OFDM or CP-OFDM is associated with different values of {PUSCH mapping type, K2, S, L}. On the other hand, in Table 2, DFT-S-OFDM or CP-OFDM can be indicated for the same values of {PUSCH mapping type, K2, S, L}.
The DL grant scheduling a PDSCH also schedules a PUCCH to carry the HARQ-ACK/NACK for that PDSCH. One of the PUCCH scheduling fields used in the DL Grant is the PRI (PUCCH Resource Indicator). The PRI points to an index of a PUCCH Resource Set table where each index maps to a PUCCH resource (e.g., frequency resource) and PUCCH format of the scheduled PUCCH. In an embodiment, a new parameter is also configured in the PUCCH Resource Set that also indicates the waveform the UE should use. For example, a subset of the indices in the PUCCH Resource Set indicates DFT-S-OFDM whilst another subset indicates CP-OFDM.
In a second example, the uplink waveform for each scheduled UL transmission is implicitly indicated in the scheduling DCI.
In NR, there are two types of DCI, fallback and normal DCIs. Fallback DCIs are applicable during initial access as well as when the UE is in connected mode. The content and size of fallback DCIs do not change (i.e., the content and size are fixed) during initial access and when the UE moves to connected mode. On the other hand, normal DCIs are only used when the UE is in connected mode and their content and size are configurable by RRC signaling. In an embodiment, in order to support dynamic switching between DFT-S-OFDM and CP-OFDM waveforms, fallback DCIs are associated with DFT-S-OFDM whilst normal DCIs are associated with CP-OFDM (or vice versa). For example, if the UE is scheduled PUSCH using a fallback DCI, the UE transmits that PUSCH using the DFT-s-OFDM waveform, whereas if it is scheduled using a normal DCI, the UE transmits using the CP-OFDM waveform.
In the current specifications, a UE in connected mode can monitor a DCI masked with different UE-specific Radio Network Temporary Identifiers (RNTIs) such as C-RNTI, CS-RNTI, MCS-C-RNTI and SP-CSI-RNTI. Masking of the DCI can be achieved in various ways, including masking a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) of the DCI with the RNTI (e.g. by performing an exclusive-OR operation of the CRC with the RNTI) or generating a scrambling sequence as a function of the RNTI and performing an exclusive-OR operation of the bits carried by the DCI with the scrambling sequence. In an embodiment, the use of these RNTIs indicates CP-OFDM whereas new RNTIs are specified to indicate DFT-S-OFDM. The new RNTIs may be named, for example, DFT-C-RNTI, DFT-CS-RNTI, DFT-MCS-C-RNTI and DFT-SP-CSI-RNTI (that is, DFT-S-OFDM equivalents of the existing RNTIs for which CP-OFDM is the default indication). Alternatively, the existing RNTIs may indicate DFT-S-OFDM and new RNTIs may be specified to indicate CP-OFDM.
In an embodiment, the legacy MCS-C-RNTI is used to differentiate between DFT-S-OFDM and CP-OFDM. In 3GPP Release 15, a UE may be dynamically signaled (e.g., by masking the DCI) via an MCS-C-RNTI which indicates use of a more robust MCS table (e.g., to provide higher reliability) or via a C-RNTI which indicates use of the default MCS table (which is designed for enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB)-like traffic, for example). The more robust MCS table associated with the MCS-C-RNTI may be beneficial for cell edge UEs (as such a table has Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS) entries with lower coding rates compared to the default MCS table). The more robust MCS table may further benefit from the use of DFT-S-OFDM to help extend the cell edge coverage further. Thus, the more robust MCS table is used and DFT-S-OFDM is used if the DL Grant/UL Grant has CRC (cyclic redundancy check) masked with MCS-C-RNTI. Otherwise (i.e., if C-RNTI is used), the default MCS table is used and CP-OFDM is used.
When a UE is at the cell-edge, it is likely that the UE is configured with repetitions in order to increase the coverage. In an embodiment, the repetition information is associated with whether or not to use DFT-S-OFDM. For example, whenever a UE is scheduled with repetitions with a repetition factor (e.g., number of repetitions) greater than a threshold X, the UE applies DFT-S-OFDM for the scheduled UL transmission. Otherwise (i.e., if the repetition factor is less than or equal to X), the UE uses CP-OFDM. The value of X can be fixed in the specifications, e.g., X=1, or RRC configured.
In an embodiment, the first Y repetitions may use one waveform (e.g., one which is indicated, implicitly or explicitly) and the remaining repetitions after the first Y repetitions may use the other waveform. For example, if a PUSCH has 4 repetitions and Y=2, the 1st and 2nd repetitions may use DFT-S-OFDM and the 3rd and 4th repetitions may use CP-OFDM. This allows some of the repetitions to benefit from the lower PAPR offered by DFT-S-OFDM. At the same time, since the use of DFT-S-OFDM requires a contiguous set of resource blocks (that is, a set of resources which are contiguous in the frequency domain), using CP-OFDM (which does not require a contiguous set of resource blocks) for the remaining repetitions means the frequency resources used for these remaining repetitions may be fragmented. This allows frequency resources to be used more flexibly. For example, the scheduler may have contiguous resources available in the first Y repetitions (these contiguous resources being suitable for DFT-S-OFDM) and only have non-contiguous resources available in the following repetitions (or not yet know whether it is contiguous or non-contiguous resources which will be available). In this case, the network can schedule DFT-S-OFDM in the Y repetitions that are known to be contiguous and CP-OFDM in the other repetitions.
In an embodiment, the waveform may alternate for repeated sets of transmissions. For example, the first M repetitions use DFT-S-OFDM, the next N repetitions use CP-OFDM, the next M repetitions use DFT-S-OFDM, and so on. Note M and N can have the same value. In an example, M=N=1 and therefore every alternate repetition uses a different waveform.
In the current specifications, there are 4 PUCCH Resource Sets. Each set contains a list of 8 or 32 PUCCH Resources that the UE can use to carry UCI (Uplink Control Information) such as SR (Scheduling Request), CSI (Channel State Information) and HARQ-ACK/NACK. The UE determines the PUCCH Resource Set and a PRI is then used to indicate which of the 8 or 32 PUCCH Resources in the determined PUCCH Resource Set the UE should use. The PUCCH Resource Set is determined using the total number of UCI bits that the UE needs to transmit in a single PUCCH. In an embodiment, each PUCCH Resource Set is also associated with a waveform. Thus, by determining the PUCCH Resource Set, the UE also knows the waveform to use for the PUCCH. It should be noted that, in an example, some PUCCH Formats, such as Format 0 or 1, use a sequence-based waveform and hence, for these PUCCH Formats, the associated waveform (either DFT-S-OFDM or CP-OFDM) is not applicable. Thus, the waveform (DFT-S-OFDM or CP-OFDM) associated with the PUCCH Resource Set is only applicable to PUCCH Resources in sets that do not use PUCCH Format 0 or 1.
In semi-persistent indication of the UL waveform, the indicator provides the UE with, for example, a waveform or a timetable of which waveform to use at which OFDM symbol. This reduces the amount of signaling required (e.g., compared to the waveform being signaled using a DL or UL grant.)
In the current specifications, the Slot Format Indicator (SFI) carried by group common DCI (GC-DCI) can change a FL-symbol (flexible symbol) to either a DL or UL symbol (see 3GPP Release 17). In an embodiment, an additional piece of information is added to the SFI to indicate the change of the waveform to either DFT-S-OFDM or CP-OFDM. The GC-DCI carrying the new SFI may use (e.g., have its CRC masked with) a different RNTI to the GC-DCI carrying the legacy SFI, for example. The new SFI provides a time pattern indicating to the UE which waveform to use for which symbol.
Note that the SFI referred to above can either be a new SFI that carries both the 3GPP Release 17 information and the waveform (DFT-S-OFDM vs CP-OFDM) information or a new additional SFI that only carries the waveform (DFT-S-OFDM vs CP-OFDM) information. When a new additional SFI is used, the UE combines the information in the legacy (3GPP Release 17) SFI and the additional SFI to determine whether a given slot is UL or DL from the legacy SFI and determine the waveform from the new additional SFI. The information in the SFI can either apply on a slot-by-slot basis or to all of the slots to which the SFI applies. For example, a single bit in the SFI can indicate whether all UL symbols in a slot (or all UL and FL symbols in a slot) to which the SFI applies should use CP-OFDM or DFT-S-OFDM.
In an embodiment, different UEs are configured to monitor different GC-DCI carrying SFI. For example, cell center UEs may be configured to monitor a legacy GC-DCI in which the waveform is not changed dynamically between DFT-s-OFDM and CP-OFDM. On the other hand, cell edge UEs may be configured to monitor a GC-DCI that carries an SFI allowing for dynamic switching between DFT-s-OFDM and CP-OFDM. The cell centre and cell edge UEs may be differentiated by configuring an RSRP threshold, for example (e.g., so UEs measuring an RSRP below the threshold are deemed to be cell edge UEs and UEs measuring an RSRP greater than or equal to the threshold are deemed to be cell centre UEs).
Activation DCI is used to activate a Type 2 CG-PUSCH or a SPS PDSCH. Once activated, the UE is provided with periodic PUSCH resources in CG-PUSCH or periodic PDSCH resources in SPS PDSCH. In an embodiment, the Activation DCI also indicates the waveform that the UE should use in its UL transmission. That is, the Activation DCI for Type 2 CG-PUSCH indicates the waveform for the activated CG-PUSCH and the Activation DCI for SPS PDSCH indicates the waveform to use for the corresponding PUCCH carrying the HARQ-ACK/NACK for the SPS PDSCH.
In NR, a UE can be configured with multiple DL and UL bandwidth parts (BWP). Up to 4 BWPs can be configured for each DL and UL direction and only one BWP can be activated for each direction at a given time. The activation can be done, for example, via the network scheduling PDCCH indicating a downlink assignment or an uplink grant to a specific BWP, by the bwp-InactivityTimer, by RRC signaling or by the MAC (Medium Access Control) entity upon initiation of a Random Access procedure. BWPs are explained in [5], for example.
In an embodiment, a specific BWP can be associated with either a DFT-S-OFDM or CP-OFDM waveform. This means that the symbols and slots in that BWP will be allocated to either the DFT-S-OFDM or CP-OFDM waveform.
In terms of scheduling, the network can assign dynamically (e.g., via DCI) the BWP indicated as “DFT-S-OFDM” for UEs at the cell-edge. However, for the non-cell edge UEs, the network can indicate the UEs to use the BWP indicated as “CP-OFDM”. Hence, by assigning UL BWPs to be either (1) DFT-S-OFDM UL BWPs or (2) CP-OFDM UL BWPs, and using the dynamic BWP switching mechanisms of previous 3GPP Releases, dynamic switching between DFT-S-OFDM and CP-OFDM can be effected with minimal specification impact.
In the current specifications, when a UE switches from one BWP to another BWP, there is a stabilization time due to frequency separation and the UE must take into account this time (known as BWP switching time). In an embodiment, two BWPs can be mapped to the same frequency resource, one BWP being used for DFT-S-OFDM and the other being used for CP-OFDM. As the UE does not change the frequency resource when moving from the BWP with CP-OFDM to the BWP with DFT-S-OFDM (or vice versa), there is no need for BWP switching time or the BWP switching time can be reduced. Hence, a faster BWP switching can be achieved (resulting in less latency). Also, although the difference between the two BWPs is the configuration of the waveform, other parameters of the two BWPs may also be different.
In semi-static flexible indication, the UE is semi-statically provided (e.g., via RRC signaling) with a predetermined time pattern where the UE is aware which waveform to use on which OFDM symbols without further dynamic signaling. This provides the network with the opportunity to schedule the waveform without the need to provide further dynamic signaling.
In NR, a slot format is an arrangement of OFDM symbols in a slot, where each OFDM symbol (which is sometimes referred to just as a “symbol”) can be configured as ‘Downlink’ (DL), ‘Flexible’ (F/FL), or ‘Uplink’ (UL). A UE receives in a DL symbol and transmits in an UL symbol. The FL symbol can be further indicated for use in the DL or UL as needed.
In the current specifications, for the slot format configuration, a table has been defined to contain different combinations of DL, UL and FL symbols in a slot as captured in [5], section 11.1.1. This table is reproduced here as Table 3.
From the above table, the UL symbols can be used for either a DFT-S-OFDM or a CP-OFDM waveform. The waveform is configured semi-statically as described above. However, in order to support waveform switching between DFT-S-OFDM and CP-OFDM, in an embodiment, the above table is updated to include additional information added to each UL symbol of the existing slot formats to indicate whether the symbol can only be used for a DFT-S-OFDM or CP-OFDM waveform.
An example is shown in Table 4 (which, for brevity, is based on a truncated version of Table 3). As can be seen for Slot Format 1 and Slot Format 48, the uplink symbols “U” have been replaced by either “U_DFT” or “U_CP” to indicate whether each UL symbol should be used for a DFT-S-OFDM or CP-OFDM waveform, respectively.
In another embodiment, some of the reserved formats, e.g., Slot Formats 56-254, are used to indicate whether the UE should use DFT-S-OFDM or CP-OFDM. Here, for example, the existing formats, i.e. Slot Formats 0-55, use the RRC configured waveform (as configured per UE) whereas the new entries (in Slot Formats 56-254) use DFT-S-OFDM or CP-OFDM depending on the Format Index and the indication “U_DFT” or “U_CP” for each UL symbol associated with that Format Index.
The signaling indication of the slot format indicating use of DFT-S-OFDM or CP-OFDM for each UL symbol can be configured semi-statically by, for example, reusing the existing tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationCommon or tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationDedicated from higher layers.
Furthermore, the FL symbols, when used for UL, may use either waveform and the network may provide signaling to indicate whether such FL symbols are to use DFT-S-OFDM or CP-OFDM for UL transmission. For example, the scheduling DCI may be used to indicate that the FL symbol(s) are to be changed to UL symbols and to additionally indicate the waveform to be employed for performing the UL transmission. In another example, the existing GC-DCI carrying the Slot Format Indicator (SFI) may be used to indicate dynamically that the FL symbol(s) have been changed to UL symbol(s) and to additionally indicate the waveform to be employed for performing the UL transmission Based on the above signaling configurations for the UEs in the cell, the network can, for example, dynamically schedule symbols labelled “U_DFT” (corresponding to the DFT-S-OFDM waveform) for UEs at the cell-edge and dynamically schedule symbols labelled “U_CP” (corresponding to the CP-OFDM waveform) for non-cell edge UEs.
Thus, as described, the FL symbol(s) associated with an SFI indicated by GC-DCI can be changed to UL symbol(s) and the use of DFT-S-OFDM or CP-OFDM for uplink transmission can be specified. In embodiments, a semi-static slot format configuration is maintained (so each symbol is semi-statically configured as DL, UL or FL). However, new SFI configurations or a new DCI are used to change the UL and FL symbols to UL using CP-OFDM or DFT-S-OFDM. The GC-DCI carrying a new SFI may use (e.g., have its CRC masked with) a different RNTI to the GC-DCI carrying legacy SFI.
In an embodiment, the granularity of waveform indication may be larger than the symbol level. For example, all UL symbols in a slot can be allocated to either DFT-S-OFDM or CP-OFDM by the network. As exemplified in Table 5, all uplink symbols with “U” in Slot Format 1 have been allocated to “U_CP” (indicating CP-OFDM should be used for all UL symbols in the slot) and all uplink symbols with “U” in Slot Format 48 have been allocated to “U_DFT” (indicating DFT-S-OFDM should be used for all UL symbols in the slot).
In another example, the signaling is indicated slot by slot (rather than symbol by symbol, as in Table 5) in one or more radio frames. This is exemplified in Table 6. In this table, an additional column is added to show whether DFT-S-OFDM or CP-OFDM should be applied to the UL symbols in each slot. This provides another way of indicating that CP-OFDM should be used for all UL symbols in a slot with Slot Format 1 and that DFT-S-OFDM should be used for all UL symbols in a slot with Slot Format 48, for example.
In an embodiment, in terms of scheduling, the network may dynamically assign the slot formats labelled “DFT-S-OFDM” to UEs at the cell edge and dynamically assign the slot formats labelled “CP-OFDM” to non-cell edge UEs (again, with each UE being determined as cell edge or non-cell edge based on UE RSRP measurements and an RSRP threshold, for example). In an embodiment, the network may schedule both cell edge UEs and non-cell edge UEs with DFT-S-OFDM. This helps provide improved coverage for both UE types if, for example, both UE types have urgent data.
While the examples of Tables 4 to 6 have shown reassignment of existing Slot Format Indicators (i.e. SFI=0-55) to include mixtures of CP-OFDM and DFT-S-OFDM UL waveforms, new rows in the SFI table (i.e. SFI=56-254) may be used. For example, according to the set of slot formats indicated in Table 7, if the UE is signaled to use SFI=1, it transmits in the UL using CP-OFDM whereas, if the UE is signaled to use SFI=56, it transmits in the UL using DFT-S-OFDM. This enables different slot formats (with distinct SFIs) with an identical configuration of DL, UL and FL symbols but which are distinguished by the use of either CP-OFDM or DFT-S-OFDM.
In an embodiment, the UE may be signaled an SFI that contains some symbols that are configured for CP-OFDM and other symbols that are configured for DFT-S-OFDM. The UE therefore has various options regarding which of the CP-OFDM and DFT-S-OFDM symbols to use for UL transmission in the slot.
In an example, RRC signaling indicates whether the UE should transmit using the symbols indicated as DFT-S-OFDM by the SFI or using the symbols indicated as CP-OFDM by the SFI. This may be useful, for example, for CG-PUSCH transmission or for PUSCH transmission scheduled by a compact DCI which does not specify the symbols at which the PUSCH allocation starts and stops but, rather, only gives a slot-based allocation (with the slot having some DFT-S-OFDM symbols and some CP-OFDM symbols indicated by the SFI).
In an example, if the RRC has signaled transformPrecoder in pusch-Config as being enabled, the UE transmits using the symbols indicated as DFT-S-OFDM by the SFI. Otherwise, the UE transmits using the symbols indicated as CP-OFDM by the SFI.
In an example, the UE transmits using DFT-S-OFDM in the symbols indicated as DFT-S-OFDM by the SFI and transmits using CP-OFDM in the symbols indicated as CP-OFDM by the SFI.
For instance, a single transport block may be transmitted wherein the transport block is mapped to both DFT-S-OFDM symbols and CP-OFDM symbols. Multiplexing the transport block in this way interleaves the transport block across the two symbol types. This helps provide diversity in case one of {DFT-S-OFDM, CP-OFDM} is more robust than the other (e.g. DFT-S-OFDM symbols may be more robust if they can be transmitted at a higher power or if they are transmitted as single layer transmissions).
Alternatively, separate transport blocks may be sent in each set of symbols. That is, one transport block is transmitted in the set of DFT-S-OFDM symbols and another transport block is transmitted in the set of CP-OFDM symbols.
In an example, the UE chooses whether CP-OFDM or DFT-S-OFDM is more appropriate (e.g. likely to be more reliable) and transmits in the appropriate CP-OFDM or DFT-S-OFDM symbols of the slot. For example, the UE may determine whether it is located at the cell edge or cell centre (again, by measuring an RSRP and comparing it to a threshold, for example) and determine whether DFT-S-OFDM or CP-OFDM is the most appropriate waveform based on this. Again, this may be useful, for example, for CG-PUSCH transmission or for PUSCH transmission scheduled by a compact DCI.
In an example, the DCI indicates which of the symbols are to be used by the UE for PUSCH transmission. For example, the network may use the Start and Length Indicator Value (SLIV) fields within the TDRA of the DCI to allocate certain symbols to the UE. The UE then transmits in those symbols using DFT-S-OFDM or CP-OFDM as appropriate, e.g. based on information in a slot format indicator, SFI, as previously described. The network (e.g., the gNB) may, for example, signal a SLIV that indicates only DFT-S-OFDM symbols or only CP-OFDM symbols. The network (e.g., the gNB) may also not signal a SLIV that indicates a combination of DFT-S-OFDM and CP-OFDM symbols, as this combination of different symbol types would lead to an inconsistency at the UE.
In an example, the UL transmission maintains use of the waveform associated with the 1st symbol of the UL transmission. For example, a slot with 14 OFDM symbols may be configured such that symbols 0 to 7 are CP-OFDM and symbols 8 to 13 are DFT-S-OFDM. If a PUSCH, PUSCH #1, is scheduled to start at symbol 6 and end at symbol 13, then PUSCH #1 will use CP-OFDM throughout (even for symbols 8 to 13) since the 1st symbol of PUSCH #1 is symbol 6 which is CP-OFDM.
In an embodiment, the UE is provided with one or more different types of waveform indications. For example, the UE may be configured with an explicit DCI indication and also a semi-static flexible configuration. The UE may therefore execute the following rules, for example:
That is, a dynamic indicator can configure the waveform of any symbol except those with a semi-static or semi-persistent waveform configuration. A semi-persistent indicator can configure the waveform of any symbol except those with a semi-static waveform configuration.
The method starts at step 400.
At step 401, control circuitry (e.g. controller 44) controls communication circuitry (e.g. transmitter 49 and/or receiver 48) to receive a first wireless signal. The first wireless signal is comprised in DCI (e.g. scheduling DCI, activation DCI or GC-DCI) and indicates a waveform (e.g. CP-OFDM or DFT-S-OFDM) to be used by the wireless telecommunications apparatus when transmitting a second wireless signal (e.g. in PUSCH or PUCCH).
At step 402, the control circuitry controls the communication circuitry to transmit the second wireless signal using the indicated waveform.
The method ends at step 403.
The method starts at step 404.
At step 405, control circuitry (e.g. controller 34) controls communication circuitry (e.g. transmitter 30 and/or receiver 32) to transmit a first wireless signal to a second wireless telecommunications apparatus (e.g. UE 14). The first wireless signal is comprised in DCI (e.g. scheduling DCI, activation DCI or GC-DCI) and indicates a waveform (e.g. CP-OFDM or DFT-S-OFDM) to be used by the second wireless telecommunications apparatus when transmitting a second wireless signal (e.g. in PUSCH or PUCCH).
The method ends at step 406.
The method starts at step 500.
At step 501, control circuitry (e.g. controller 44) controls communication circuitry (e.g. transmitter 49 and/or receiver 48) to receive a first wireless signal. The first wireless signal is comprised in RRC signalling and indicates a waveform (e.g. CP-OFDM or DFT-S-OFDM) to be used by the wireless telecommunications apparatus when transmitting a second wireless signal (e.g. in PUSCH or PUCCH). The indicated waveform is indicated based on a SFI (e.g. an SFI indicating one of the rows of one of Tables 4 to 7) carried by the RRC signalling.
At step 502, the control circuitry controls the communication circuitry to transmit the second wireless signal in a slot formatted according to the SFI using the indicated waveform.
The method ends at step 503.
The method starts at step 504.
At step 505, control circuitry (e.g. controller 34) controls communication circuitry (e.g. transmitter 30 and/or receiver 32) to transmit a first wireless signal to a second wireless telecommunications apparatus (e.g. UE 14). The first wireless signal is comprised in RRC signalling and indicates a waveform (e.g. CP-OFDM or DFT-S-OFDM) to be used by the second wireless telecommunications apparatus when transmitting a second wireless signal (e.g. in PUSCH or PUCCH). The indicated waveform is indicated based on an SFI (e.g. an SFI indicating one of the rows of one of Tables 4 to 7) carried by the RRC signalling.
The method ends at step 506.
The present technique thus provides a number of improved ways in which the waveform type (e.g. CP-OFDM or DFT-S-OFDM) for uplink transmission can be adjusted dynamically and/or flexibly.
Embodiment(s) of the present disclosure are defined by the following numbered clauses:
1. A wireless telecommunications apparatus for use in a wireless telecommunications network, the wireless telecommunications apparatus comprising:
2. A wireless telecommunications apparatus according to clause 1, wherein the indicated waveform is indicated by a bit comprised in the DCI.
3. A wireless telecommunications apparatus according to clause 1 or 2, wherein the DCI is an Activation DCI and a wireless telecommunications resource used to transmit the second wireless signal is part of a Configured Grant, CG, Physical Uplink Shared Channel, PUSCH, activated by the DCI.
4. A wireless telecommunications apparatus according to clause 1 or 2, wherein the DCI is an Activation DCI and the DCI activates a Semi-Persistent Scheduling, SPS, Physical Downlink Shared Channel, PDSCH, and a wireless telecommunications resource used to transmit the second wireless signal is a part of a Physical Uplink Control Channel, PUCCH, for carrying Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request feedback, HARQ-ACK/NACK, for the SPS PDSCH.
5. A wireless telecommunications apparatus according to clause 1, wherein:
6. A wireless telecommunications apparatus according to clause 1, wherein:
7. A wireless telecommunications apparatus according to clause 1, wherein the indicated waveform is indicated based on whether the DCI is a normal DCI or a fallback DCI.
8. A wireless telecommunications apparatus according to clause 1, wherein the indicated waveform is indicated based on a Radio Network Temporary Identifier, RNTI, used to mask the DCI.
9. A wireless telecommunications apparatus according to clause 1, wherein the indicated waveform is indicated based on a number of repetitions of transmission of the second wireless signal scheduled by the DCI.
10. A wireless telecommunications apparatus according to any preceding clause, wherein the control circuitry is configured to control the communication circuitry to:
11. A wireless telecommunications apparatus according to clause 10, wherein the portion is a firstly transmitted portion of the plurality of repetitions.
12. A wireless telecommunications apparatus according to clause 10 or 11, wherein the control circuitry is configured to control the communication circuitry to alternately transmit the second wireless signal over the plurality of repetitions using the indicated waveform and using another waveform.
13. A wireless telecommunications apparatus according to clause 1, wherein:
14. A wireless telecommunications apparatus according to clause 1, wherein the DCI is Group Common DCI, GC-DCI.
15. A wireless telecommunications apparatus according to clause 14, wherein the indicated waveform is indicated based on a Slot Format Indicator, SFI, carried by the GC-DCI.
16. A wireless telecommunications apparatus according to clause 15, wherein:
17. A wireless telecommunications apparatus according to clause 16, wherein the characteristic distinguishing the first type of GC-DCI and the second type of GC-DCI is a Radio Network Temporary Identifier, RNTI, used to mask the GC-DCI.
18. A wireless telecommunications apparatus according to clause 1, wherein the indicated waveform is indicated based on an activated bandwidth part, BWP.
19. A wireless telecommunications apparatus according to clause 18, wherein the indicated waveform is indicated by activation of a first BWP and another waveform is indicated by activation of a second BWP, the first and second BWP being mapped to the same frequency resource.
20. A wireless telecommunications apparatus according to any preceding clause, wherein the indicated waveform is either a Cyclic Prefix—Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing, CP-OFDM, waveform or a Discrete Fourier Transform—spread—Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing, DFT-S-OFDM, waveform.
21. A wireless telecommunications apparatus for use in a wireless telecommunications network, the wireless telecommunications apparatus comprising:
22. A wireless telecommunications apparatus according to clause 21, wherein the indicated waveform is indicated on a symbol-by-symbol basis.
23. A wireless telecommunications apparatus according to clause 21, wherein the indicated waveform is indicated on a slot-by-slot basis.
24. A wireless telecommunications apparatus according to any one of clauses 21 to 23, wherein a slot format indicated by the SFI comprises one or more flexible symbols updatable to uplink symbols for use with the indicated waveform.
25. A wireless telecommunications apparatus according to clause 24, wherein the flexible symbols of the slot format indicated by the SFI are updatable based on scheduling Downlink Control Information, DCI.
26. A wireless telecommunications apparatus according to clause 24, wherein the flexible symbols of the slot format indicated by the SFI are updatable based on Group Common Downlink Control Information, GC-DCI.
27. A wireless telecommunications apparatus according to clause 26, wherein the GC-DCI carries a new SFI indicating a new slot format, the new slot format indicated by the new SFI being the slot format indicated by the SFI carried by the RRC signalling with the one or more flexible symbols updated to uplink symbols for use with the indicated waveform.
28. A wireless telecommunications apparatus according to clause 27, wherein:
29. A wireless telecommunications apparatus according to clause 28, wherein the characteristic distinguishing the first type of GC-DCI and the second type of GC-DCI is a Radio Network Temporary Identifier, RNTI, used to mask the GC-DCI.
30. A wireless telecommunications apparatus according to any one of clauses 21 to 29, wherein a first uplink symbol of the formatted slot is for use with a first indicated waveform and a second uplink symbol of the formatted slot is for use with a second waveform.
31. A wireless telecommunications apparatus according to clause 30, wherein the second wireless signal is transmitted using the first uplink symbol or the second uplink symbol based on RRC signalling received by the communication circuitry.
32. A wireless telecommunications apparatus according to clause 30, wherein the second wireless signal transmits a transport block mapped to both the first and second uplink symbols.
33. A wireless telecommunications apparatus according to clause 30, wherein the second wireless signal transmits a transport block mapped to only one of the first and second uplink symbols.
34. A wireless telecommunications apparatus according to clause 30, wherein the second wireless signal is transmitted using the first uplink symbol or the second uplink symbol based on a location of the wireless telecommunications apparatus.
35. A wireless telecommunications apparatus according to clause 30, wherein the second wireless signal is transmitted using the first uplink symbol or the second uplink symbol based on Downlink Control Information, DCI, received by the communication circuitry.
36. A wireless telecommunications apparatus according to clause 35, wherein:
37. A wireless telecommunications apparatus according to any one of clauses 21 to 36, wherein the indicated waveform is either a Cyclic Prefix—Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing, CP-OFDM, waveform or a Discrete Fourier Transform—spread—Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing, DFT-S-OFDM, waveform.
38. A wireless telecommunications apparatus for use in a wireless telecommunications network, the wireless telecommunications apparatus comprising:
39. A wireless telecommunications apparatus according to clause 38, wherein the indicated waveform is indicated by a bit comprised in the DCI.
40. A wireless telecommunications apparatus according to clause 38 or 39, wherein the DCI is an Activation DCI and a wireless telecommunications resource to be used to transmit the second wireless signal is part of a Configured Grant, CG, Physical Uplink Shared Channel, PUSCH, activated by the DCI.
41. A wireless telecommunications apparatus according to clause 38 or 39, wherein the DCI is an Activation DCI and the DCI activates a Semi-Persistent Scheduling, SPS, Physical Downlink Shared Channel, PDSCH, and a wireless telecommunications resource to be used to transmit the second wireless signal is a part of a Physical Uplink Control Channel, PUCCH, for carrying a Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request feedback, HARQ-ACK/NACK, for the SPS PDSCH.
42. A wireless telecommunications apparatus according to clause 38, wherein:
43. A wireless telecommunications apparatus according to clause 38, wherein:
44. A wireless telecommunications apparatus according to clause 38, wherein the indicated waveform is indicated based on whether the DCI is a normal DCI or a fallback DCI.
45. A wireless telecommunications apparatus according to clause 38, wherein the indicated waveform is indicated based on a Radio Network Temporary Identifier, RNTI, used to mask the DCI.
46. A wireless telecommunications apparatus according to clause 38, wherein the indicated waveform is indicated based on a number of repetitions of transmission of the second wireless signal scheduled by the DCI.
47. A wireless telecommunications apparatus according to any one of clauses 38 to 46, the second wireless signal is to be repeatedly transmitted for a plurality of repetitions and to be transmitted using the indicated waveform for a portion of the plurality of repetitions.
48. A wireless telecommunications apparatus according to clause 47, wherein the portion is a firstly transmitted portion of the plurality of repetitions.
49. A wireless telecommunications apparatus according to clause 47 or 48, wherein the second wireless signal is to be transmitted alternately over the plurality of repetitions using the indicated waveform and using another waveform.
50. A wireless telecommunications apparatus according to clause 38, wherein:
51. A wireless telecommunications apparatus according to clause 38, wherein the DCI is Group Common DCI, GC-DCI.
52. A wireless telecommunications apparatus according to clause 51, wherein the indicated waveform is indicated based on a Slot Format Indicator, SFI, carried by the GC-DCI.
53. A wireless telecommunications apparatus according to clause 52, wherein:
54. A wireless telecommunications apparatus according to clause 53, wherein the characteristic distinguishing the first type of GC-DCI and the second type of GC-DCI is a Radio Network Temporary Identifier, RNTI, used to mask the GC-DCI.
55. A wireless telecommunications apparatus according to clause 38, wherein the indicated waveform is indicated based on an activated bandwidth part, BWP.
56. A wireless telecommunications apparatus according to clause 55, wherein the indicated waveform is indicated by activation of a first BWP and another waveform is indicated by activation of a second BWP, the first and second BWP being mapped to the same frequency resource.
57. A wireless telecommunications apparatus according to any one of clauses 38 to 56, wherein the indicated waveform is either a Cyclic Prefix—Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing, CP-OFDM, waveform or a Discrete Fourier Transform—spread—Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing, DFT-S-OFDM, waveform.
58. A wireless telecommunications apparatus for use in a wireless telecommunications network, the wireless telecommunications apparatus comprising:
59. A wireless telecommunications apparatus according to clause 58, wherein the indicated waveform is indicated on a symbol-by-symbol basis.
60. A wireless telecommunications apparatus according to clause 58, wherein the indicated waveform is indicated on a slot-by-slot basis.
61. A wireless telecommunications apparatus according to any one of clauses 58 to 60, wherein a slot format indicated by the SFI comprises one or more flexible symbols updatable to uplink symbols for use with the indicated waveform.
62. A wireless telecommunications apparatus according to clause 61, wherein the flexible symbols of the slot format indicated by the SFI are updatable based on scheduling Downlink Control Information, DCI.
63. A wireless telecommunications apparatus according to clause 61, wherein the flexible symbols of the slot format indicated by the SFI are updatable based on Group Common Downlink Control Information, GC-DCI.
64. A wireless telecommunications apparatus according to clause 63, wherein the GC-DCI carries a new SFI indicating a new slot format, the new slot format indicated by the new SFI being the slot format indicated by the SFI carried by the RRC signalling with the one or more flexible symbols updated to uplink symbols for use with the indicated waveform.
65. A wireless telecommunications apparatus according to clause 64, wherein:
66. A wireless telecommunications apparatus according to clause 65, wherein the characteristic distinguishing the first type of GC-DCI and the second type of GC-DCI is a Radio Network Temporary Identifier, RNTI, used to mask the GC-DCI.
67. A wireless telecommunications apparatus according to any one of clauses 58 to 66, wherein a first uplink symbol of the formatted slot is for use with a first indicated waveform and a second uplink symbol of the formatted slot is for use with a second waveform.
68. A wireless telecommunications apparatus according to clause 67, wherein the second wireless signal is to be transmitted using the first uplink symbol or the second uplink symbol based on RRC signalling transmitted to the second wireless telecommunications apparatus by the communication circuitry.
69. A wireless telecommunications apparatus according to clause 67, wherein the second wireless signal is to be transmitted in a transport block mapped to both the first and second uplink symbols.
70. A wireless telecommunications apparatus according to clause 67, wherein the second wireless signal is to be transmitted in a transport block mapped to only one of the first and second uplink symbols.
71. A wireless telecommunications apparatus according to clause 67, wherein the second wireless signal is to be transmitted using the first uplink symbol or the second uplink symbol based on a location of the wireless telecommunications apparatus.
72. A wireless telecommunications apparatus according to clause 67, wherein the second wireless signal is to be transmitted using the first uplink symbol or the second uplink symbol based on Downlink Control Information, DCI, transmitted to the second wireless telecommunications apparatus by the communication circuitry.
73. A wireless telecommunications apparatus according to clause 72, wherein:
74. A wireless telecommunications apparatus according to any one of clauses 58 to 73, wherein the indicated waveform is either a Cyclic Prefix—Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing, CP-OFDM, waveform or a Discrete Fourier Transform—spread—Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing, DFT-S-OFDM, waveform.
75. A method of controlling a wireless telecommunications apparatus for use in a wireless telecommunications network, the method comprising controlling the wireless telecommunications apparatus to:
76. A method of controlling a wireless telecommunications apparatus for use in a wireless telecommunications network, the method comprising controlling the wireless telecommunications apparatus to:
77. A method of controlling a wireless telecommunications apparatus for use in a wireless telecommunications network, the method comprising controlling the wireless telecommunications apparatus to:
78. A method of controlling a wireless telecommunications apparatus for use in a wireless telecommunications network, the method comprising controlling the wireless telecommunications apparatus to:
79. A program for controlling a computer to perform a method according to any one of clauses 75 to 78.
80. A storage medium storing a program according to clause 79.
Numerous modifications and variations of the present disclosure are possible in light of the above teachings. It is therefore to be understood that, within the scope of the claims, the disclosure may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described herein.
In so far as embodiments of the disclosure have been described as being implemented, at least in part, by one or more software-controlled information processing apparatuses, it will be appreciated that a machine-readable medium (in particular, a non-transitory machine-readable medium) carrying such software, such as an optical disk, a magnetic disk, semiconductor memory or the like, is also considered to represent an embodiment of the present disclosure. In particular, the present disclosure should be understood to include a non-transitory storage medium comprising code components which cause a computer to perform any of the disclosed method(s).
It will be appreciated that the above description for clarity has described embodiments with reference to different functional units, circuitry and/or processors. However, it will be apparent that any suitable distribution of functionality between different functional units, circuitry and/or processors may be used without detracting from the embodiments.
Described embodiments may be implemented in any suitable form including hardware, software, firmware or any combination of these. Described embodiments may optionally be implemented at least partly as computer software running on one or more computer processors (e.g. data processors and/or digital signal processors). The elements and components of any embodiment may be physically, functionally and logically implemented in any suitable way. Indeed, the functionality may be implemented in a single unit, in a plurality of units or as part of other functional units. As such, the disclosed embodiments may be implemented in a single unit or may be physically and functionally distributed between different units, circuitry and/or processors.
Although the present disclosure has been described in connection with some embodiments, it is not intended to be limited to these embodiments. Additionally, although a feature may appear to be described in connection with particular embodiments, one skilled in the art would recognize that various features of the described embodiments may be combined in any manner suitable to implement the present disclosure.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 22154625.2 | Feb 2022 | EP | regional |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/EP2023/050225 | 1/6/2023 | WO |
