JP7728945B2 - Terminal - Google Patents

Description

This disclosure relates to a terminal that transmits and receives physical channels.

The 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP (registered trademark)) is developing specifications for the 5th generation mobile communication system (5G, also known as New Radio (NR) or Next Generation (NG)), and is also developing specifications for the next generation, known as Beyond 5G, 5G Evolution, or 6G.

For example, 3GPP Release-17 agreed to consider Coverage Enhancement (CE) in NR (Non-Patent Document 1).

"New SID on NR coverage enhancement", RP-193240, 3GPP TSG RAN Meeting #86, 3GPP, December 2019

In order to achieve coverage extension in NR, evaluation of the maximum coupling loss (MCL) of physical channels (PDSCH (Physical Downlink Shared Channel), PUSCH (Physical Uplink Shared Channel), PDCCH (Physical Downlink Control Channel), and PUCCH (Physical Uplink Control Channel) has revealed that there is room for improvement for these physical channels.

Specifically, one possible solution is to improve the power spectrum density (PSD) when transmitting on the physical channel.

The following disclosure has been made in light of this situation, and aims to provide a terminal that can properly transmit and receive physical channels that support coverage extension.

One aspect of the present disclosure is a terminal (UE200) including a transceiver unit (radio signal transceiver unit 210) that transmits and receives a physical channel, and a control unit (control unit 270) that assumes that the size of the resource block allocated to the physical channel is small when in a second state different from the first state.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the overall configuration of a wireless communication system 10. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a radio frame, a subframe, and a slot used in the radio communication system 10. FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram of the UE 200. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the MCL evaluation results of physical channels in FR1. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the MCL evaluation results of physical channels in FR2. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of BLER characteristics of a PUSCH. FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of the configuration of an RB unit and a DMRS according to the first operation example. FIG. 8A is a diagram illustrating an example of setting RB units (half) according to Resource allocation type 0 according to the second operation example. FIG. 8B is a diagram illustrating an example of setting RB units (half) according to Resource allocation type 1 according to the second operation example. FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a PDSCH-Config according to the second operation example. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of the hardware configuration of the UE 200.

Embodiments will be described below with reference to the drawings. Note that identical or similar reference symbols will be used to designate identical functions and configurations, and descriptions of these will be omitted where appropriate.

(1) Overall Schematic Configuration of Wireless Communication System Fig. 1 is a diagram showing the overall schematic configuration of a wireless communication system 10 according to this embodiment. The wireless communication system 10 is a wireless communication system conforming to 5G New Radio (NR) and includes a Next Generation-Radio Access Network 20 (hereinafter, NG-RAN 20) and a terminal 200 (User Equipment 200, hereinafter, UE 200).

Note that the wireless communication system 10 may be a wireless communication system conforming to a standard known as Beyond 5G, 5G Evolution, or 6G.

NG-RAN 20 includes radio base station 100A (hereinafter, gNB100A) and radio base station 100B (hereinafter, gNB100B). Note that the specific configuration of wireless communication system 10, including the number of gNBs and UEs, is not limited to the example shown in Figure 1.

NG-RAN 20 actually includes multiple NG-RAN nodes, specifically gNBs, and is connected to a 5G-compliant core network (5GC, not shown). Note that NG-RAN 20 and 5GC may also be simply referred to as the "network."

gNB100A and gNB100B are radio base stations that comply with NR and perform NR-compliant radio communications with UE200. gNB100A, gNB100B, and UE200 are capable of supporting Massive MIMO, which generates more directional beams by controlling radio signals transmitted from multiple antenna elements, Carrier Aggregation (CA), which aggregates and uses multiple component carriers (CCs), and Dual Connectivity (DC), which enables simultaneous communication between the UE and multiple NG-RAN nodes.

The wireless communication system 10 supports FR1 and FR2. The frequency bands for each FR are as follows:

・FR1: 410 MHz to 7.125 GHz
・FR2: 24.25 GHz to 52.6 GHz
FR1 may use a sub-carrier spacing (SCS) of 15, 30, or 60 kHz and a bandwidth (BW) of 5 to 100 MHz, while FR2 is a higher frequency band than FR1, using an SCS of 60 or 120 kHz (including 240 kHz) and a bandwidth (BW) of 50 to 400 MHz.

Furthermore, the wireless communication system 10 may also support frequency bands higher than the FR2 frequency band. Specifically, the wireless communication system 10 may support frequency bands exceeding 52.6 GHz up to 114.25 GHz.

In addition, Cyclic Prefix-Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (CP-OFDM)/Discrete Fourier Transform - Spread (DFT-S-OFDM) with larger Sub-Carrier Spacing (SCS) may be applied. Furthermore, DFT-S-OFDM may be applied not only to the uplink (UL) but also to the downlink (DL).

Figure 2 shows an example of the configuration of radio frames, subframes, and slots used in the wireless communication system 10.

As shown in Figure 2, one slot consists of 14 symbols, and the larger (wider) the SCS, the shorter the symbol period (and slot period). Note that the number of symbols that make up one slot does not necessarily have to be 14 symbols (e.g., 28 or 56 symbols). Also, the number of slots per subframe may differ depending on the SCS.

Note that the time direction (t) shown in Figure 2 may also be called the time domain, symbol period, or symbol time. The frequency direction may also be called the frequency domain, resource block, subcarrier, or BWP (Bandwidth part).

In addition, the wireless communication system 10 can support coverage enhancement (CE), which expands the coverage of the cell formed by gNB100A (and gNB100B, hereinafter the same). Coverage enhancement may provide a mechanism for increasing the success rate of reception of various physical channels.

In this embodiment, to support coverage expansion, the wireless communication system 10 can change the resource allocation (frequency direction and/or time direction) of a specified physical channel, improve power spectrum density (PSD), and improve channel estimation accuracy.

(2) Functional Block Configuration of Wireless Communication System Next, a functional block configuration of the wireless communication system 10 will be described. Specifically, a functional block configuration of the UE 200 will be described.

Figure 3 is a functional block diagram of UE 200. As shown in Figure 3, UE 200 includes a radio signal transceiver 210, an amplifier 220, a modem 230, a control signal/reference signal processor 240, an encoder/decoder 250, a data transceiver 260, and a controller 270.

The radio signal transmission/reception unit 210 transmits and receives radio signals in accordance with NR. The radio signal transmission/reception unit 210 supports Massive MIMO, CA, which uses a bundle of multiple CCs, and DC, which simultaneously communicates between a UE and two NG-RAN nodes.

Specifically, the wireless signal transceiver unit 210 transmits and receives wireless signals via various physical channels. In particular, in this embodiment, the wireless signal transceiver unit 210 constitutes a transceiver unit that transmits and receives physical channels.

In addition, the radio signal transceiver unit 210 may transmit to the network the capability information of the UE 200 regarding transmission and reception of the various physical channels.

UE200 capability information may be interpreted as UE capability information as specified in 3GPP TS38.331, etc.

The radio signal transceiver unit 210 can transmit UE capability information via a specified uplink physical channel. The content of the UE capability information related to transmission and reception on this physical channel will be described further below.

The amplifier unit 220 is composed of a PA (Power Amplifier)/LNA (Low Noise Amplifier) and the like. The amplifier unit 220 amplifies the signal output from the modem unit 230 to a predetermined power level. The amplifier unit 220 also amplifies the RF signal output from the radio signal transmitter/receiver unit 210.

The modem unit 230 performs data modulation/demodulation, transmission power setting, resource block allocation, etc. for each specified communication destination (e.g., gNB100A). The modem unit 230 may apply Cyclic Prefix-Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (CP-OFDM)/Discrete Fourier Transform - Spread (DFT-S-OFDM). Furthermore, DFT-S-OFDM may be used not only for the uplink (UL) but also for the downlink (DL).

The control signal/reference signal processing unit 240 performs processing related to various control signals transmitted and received by the UE 200, and processing related to various reference signals transmitted and received by the UE 200.

Specifically, the control signal/reference signal processing unit 240 receives various control signals, such as radio resource control layer (RRC) control signals, transmitted from gNB100A (or gNB100B, hereinafter the same) via a predetermined control channel. The control signal/reference signal processing unit 240 also transmits various control signals to gNB100A via a predetermined control channel.

The control signal/reference signal processing unit 240 performs processing using reference signals (RS) such as Demodulation Reference Signal (DMRS) and Phase Tracking Reference Signal (PTRS).

DMRS is a reference signal (pilot signal) known between the base station and the terminal for each terminal, used to estimate the fading channel used for data demodulation. PTRS is a terminal-specific reference signal intended to estimate phase noise, which is an issue in high frequency bands.

In addition to DMRS and PTRS, reference signals may also include Channel State Information-Reference Signal (CSI-RS), Sounding Reference Signal (SRS), and Positioning Reference Signal (PRS) for location information.

Channels include control channels and data channels. Control channels include the Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH), Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH), Random Access Channel (RACH, Downlink Control Information (DCI) including the Random Access Radio Network Temporary Identifier (RA-RNTI)), and Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH).

Data channels include PDSCH (Physical Downlink Shared Channel) and PUSCH (Physical Uplink Shared Channel). Data may refer to data transmitted via a data channel.

Furthermore, the physical channels may include at least PDCCH, PUCCH, PUSCH, and PDSCH.

The encoding/decoding unit 250 performs data division/concatenation and channel coding/decoding for each specified communication destination (e.g., gNB100A).

Specifically, the encoding/decoding unit 250 divides the data output from the data transmission/reception unit 260 into segments of a predetermined size and performs channel coding on the divided data. The encoding/decoding unit 250 also decodes the data output from the modulation/demodulation unit 230 and concatenates the decoded data.

The data transceiver 260 transmits and receives Protocol Data Units (PDUs) and Service Data Units (SDUs). Specifically, the data transceiver 260 assembles and disassembles PDUs/SDUs at multiple layers (such as the Medium Access Control layer (MAC), Radio Link Control layer (RLC), and Packet Data Convergence Protocol layer (PDCP)). The data transceiver 260 also performs data error correction and retransmission control based on Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (Hybrid ARQ).

The control unit 270 controls each functional block that constitutes the UE 200. In particular, in this embodiment, the control unit 270 can perform various controls related to physical channels to support coverage extension (CE).

Specifically, the control unit 270 may assume that, unlike the normal state (which may be called the first state), in the state supporting coverage extension (which may be called the second state), the size of the resource blocks (RBs) allocated to the physical channel is small.

For example, in 3GPP Release 15 and 16, resources for physical channels, specifically PDSCH, PUSCH, PDCCH, and PUCCH, are allocated in RB units (RB Unit: 12 subcarriers, full RB), but the RB unit may be reduced. Typical examples of reduction include half RB (6 subcarriers) and quarter RB (3 subcarriers). The control unit 270 may assume such RB units.

Furthermore, when the RB unit is reduced in this way, that is, when the coverage extension is supported, the control unit 270 may assume only the start position of the RB (RB _start ) and assume that the size of the RB is fixed. In other words, the control unit 270 may assume that the number of RBs is a uniquely determined value (fixed value).

In addition, when coverage extension is supported, the control unit 270 may estimate the coding rate (CR) to be applied to the physical channel based on the size of the RB.

Specifically, the control unit 270 may set an appropriate modulation and coding scheme (MCS) according to the set RB unit, in accordance with the specifications of 3GPP Release 15 and 16.

Alternatively, the control unit 270 may interpret the set MCS value differently depending on the RB unit being set. For example, if the transport block size (TBS) is half RB, it is the same as a full RB, so it may be interpreted as a full RB. Details of this type of operation will be described further below.

(3) Operation of the Wireless Communication System Next, a description will be given of the operation of the wireless communication system 10. Specifically, a description will be given of the operation related to reception by the UE 200 of physical channels (PDSCH, PUSCH, PDCCH, PUCCH) that support coverage enhancement (CE).

(3.1) Premise
The Study Item set by 3GPP (see RP-193240) envisages the realization of coverage extension in both the FR1 and FR2 frequency bands.

Target scenarios include providing service from an outdoor (O) gNB to an indoor (I) UE (in the case of FR1) and from an indoor gNB to an indoor UE (in the case of FR2). It also targets coverage extension in urban, suburban and rural areas (including long-distance communications in rural areas).

The main services covered are VoIP (Voice over IP) and eMBB (enhanced Mobile Broadband).

Based on this scenario and target services, we evaluated the maximum coupling loss (MCL) of physical channels, specifically PDSCH, PUSCH, PDCCH, and PUCCH, and found that improvements are needed, as shown below.

(FR1)
・PUSCH: Approximately 10 dB (VoIP), approximately 15 dB (eMBB)
・PDCCH: Approximately 5 dB (VoIP)
(FR2)
・PUSCH: Approximately 5 dB (eMBB)
・PDCCH: Approximately 10 dB (VoIP)
・PUCCH: Approximately 5 dB (VoIP)
Figure 4 shows the MCL evaluation results for physical channels in FR1, and Figure 5 shows the MCL evaluation results for physical channels in FR2.

The following describes the operation of PDSCH, PUSCH, PDCCH, and PUCCH improvements to support coverage extension.

One way to consider meeting a specified data rate (which may also be interpreted as transmission speed, communication rate, communication speed, throughput, etc.) is to consider the following options:

(Option 1): Increase the number of Physical Resource Blocks (PRBs) and decrease the modulation method and coding rate. (Option 2): Decrease the number of PRBs and increase the modulation method and coding rate. If option 1 is selected, the block error rate (BLER) performance relative to the signal-to-interference plus noise power ratio (SINR) improves, but the power spectrum density (PSD) decreases. On the other hand, if option 2 is selected, the opposite occurs.

Figure 6 shows an example of the BLER characteristics of PUSCH. Specifically, Figure 6 shows the BLER characteristics of PUSCH when the number of PRBs and coding rate are changed while the data rate is kept constant (assuming VoIP in FR1 (approximately 12.2 kbps)).

As shown in Figure 6, halving the number of PRBs and doubling the coding rate (CR) results in a difference of approximately 2 dB in the required SINR needed to achieve a BLER (e.g., 1%).

On the other hand, halving the number of PRBs results in a gain of approximately 3 dB when calculating the MCL (see Chapter 5.1.2 of 3GPP TS36.824). As a result, even if the coding rate is high, the smaller the number of PRBs (the higher the approx. ) the better the MCL that can be achieved.

The following describes operations that can improve the PSD of the physical channel.

(3.2) Operation overview
By improving the PSD, the coverage in which UE200 can reside (i.e., successfully perform wireless communication with gNB100A (or gNB100B)) can be expanded.

In 3GPP Release-15 and 16, resources for PDSCH, PUSCH, PDCCH, and PUCCH are allocated in RB units (i.e., 12 subcarriers), but in the following operation example, the RB units are reduced.

Specifically, as mentioned above, it may be reduced to half RB (6 subcarriers) or quarter RB (3 subcarriers).

As mentioned above, the physical channels that can be subject to this reduction are assumed to be PDSCH, PUSCH, PDCCH, and PUCCH, but they are not necessarily limited to these physical channels.

Note that DMRS mapping does not need to be changed and can remain the same as in 3GPP Release-15 and 16.

Alternatively, DMRS sequence generation can follow 3GPP Release-15, with N_SC^RB (number of subcarriers per RB) being interpreted as either {12, 6, 3} depending on the RB unit (full/half/quarter). N_SC^RB is specified in Chapter 4.4.4.1 of 3GPP TS38.211, etc.

RB units (full/half/quarter) can be set using one of the following methods:

Method 1: Use an existing resource allocation type. Method 2: Create a new resource allocation type. As mentioned above, the only thing that needs to be set is the start position of the RB (RB _start ).

The coding rate (CR) can be set using one of the following methods:

Method 1: Set the appropriate MCS in accordance with 3GPP Release-15, 16 according to the RB unit (full/half/quarter) that is set. Method 2: Change the MCS that is set according to the RB unit (full/half/quarter) that is set.

(3.3) Operation Examples Hereinafter, operation examples 1 to 4 will be described as specific examples of the above-mentioned operations.

(3.3.1) Operation example 1
In this operation example, the unit in which resources for PDSCH, PUSCH, PDCCH, and PUCCH are allocated, specifically, the RB unit, is reduced.

More specifically, the number of subcarriers included in an RB unit may be reduced from 12 (full) to 6 (half) or 3 (quarter), for example.
Fig. 7 shows an example of the configuration of an RB unit and a DMRS according to Operation Example 1. Specifically, the upper part of Fig. 7 shows an example where the RB unit is 12 subcarriers (full) (see the bold frame in the figure). The middle part of Fig. 7 shows an example where the RB unit is 6 subcarriers (half), and the lower part of Fig. 7 shows an example where the RB unit is 3 subcarriers (quarter).

As mentioned above, DMRS mapping does not need to be changed and can be the same as in 3GPP Release-15 and 16.

Alternatively, especially when transform precoding is enabled, DMRS sequence generation may follow 3GPP Release-15, with N_SC^RB being interpreted as one of {12, 6, 3} depending on the RB unit (full/half/quarter).

The DMRS sequence r(n) may be generated as follows (see Chapter 6.4.1.1.1.2 of 3GPP TS38.211):

(3.3.2) Operation example 2
This operation example relates to a method for setting RB units (full/half/quarter). As described above, the RB units may be set by the existing resource allocation type (method 1) or the new resource allocation type (method 2).

When using an existing resource allocation type (method 1), resource allocation type 0 or resource allocation type 1 can be applied.

Figure 8A shows an example of RB unit (half) configuration according to Resource allocation type 0 for operation example 2. Figure 8B shows an example of RB unit (half) configuration according to Resource allocation type 1 for operation example 2.

For Resource allocation type 0, as shown in Figure 8A, in a Resource Block Group (RBG) set by a bitmap, for example, the smallest (lowest frequency) six subcarriers (in the case of a half PRB (which may be abbreviated as RB)) of the set RBG may be set.

Alternatively, the six subcarriers to be configured may be configured in advance using RRC layer information elements (IEs), such as PDSCH-Config and PUSCH-Config.

Furthermore, whether or not to interpret the RB unit may be set in advance using PDSCH-config, PUSCH-config, etc. The number of required bits is _NRBG , where _NRBG indicates the number of RBGs.

For Resource allocation type 1, if the number of RBs allocated is 1, this can be interpreted as half or quarter RB. Whether or not to interpret the RB unit as a different unit can be set in advance using PDSCH-Config, PUSCH-Config, etc. The number of required bits can be expressed as follows:

N_RB^UL, BWP is the number of RBs in the UL BWP.

Furthermore, when a new resource allocation type (method 2) is provided, the only setting that needs to be made is the starting position of the RB (RB _start ).

Specifically, similar to DCI formats 0_2 and 1_2 (for URLLC (Ultra-Reliable and Low Latency Communications)), the granularity (K2) of the RB _start may be set (RBG _start ).

In this case, the number of bits required can be expressed as follows:

Furthermore, the number of RBs (L _RBs ) may be a unique value (fixed value) (for example, L _RBs = 1/4, 1/2, 1, 2, 3, ...). In this case, L _RBs may be set using PDSCH-config, PUSCH-config, etc. Furthermore, as an initial value, for example, L _RBs = 1 may be used.

Figure 9 shows an example configuration of PDSCH-Config for Operation Example 2. As shown in Figure 9, when a new resource allocation type is provided, for example, resourceAllocationType2 may be added as a value in the resourceAllocation field of PDSCH-Config.

In this case, the DCI that configures the PDSCH resources may use existing DCI (DCI format 0_0, 0_1, 0_2), or a new DCI format may be specified.

Also, when Dynamic Switch of resourceAllocationType is executed, it may be set using the MSB bit of the Frequency domain resource assignment field of the DCI, as in 3GPP Release-15 and 16.

In this case, the RA (Resource Allocation) type when the MSB bit = 0 and the RA type when the MSB bit = 1 may be set arbitrarily using, for example, PDSCH-Config. Alternatively, a new DCI format may be specified and Type 0, 1, or 2 may be set using the two MSB bits.

(3.3.3) Operation example 3
This operation example relates to a method for setting a coding rate (CR). As described above, an appropriate MCS may be set in accordance with 3GPP Release-15 and 16 according to the set RB unit (full/half/quarter) (Method 1), or the set MCS may be interpreted differently according to the set RB unit (full/half/quarter) (Method 2).

In the case of Method 1, for example, in the case of half RB, the TBS may be half that in the case of full RB. On the other hand, in the case of Method 2, for example, in the case of half RB, the TBS may be the same as in the case of full RB.

Note that if half RBs are assigned to the physical channel, the MCS coding rate may be interpreted as, for example, 2x. Alternatively, a new MCS table may be defined, and different coding rates may be defined for full/half/quarter RBs.

(3.3.4) Operation example 4
In this operation example, the UE 200 may transmit to the network the capability information of the UE 200 relating to transmission and reception of the physical channels (PDSCH, PUSCH, PDCCH, PUCCH).

As described above, UE200 can report its capabilities (Capabilities) for the physical channel, for example, as follows:

- Whether half RB (e.g., 6 subcarriers)/quarter RB (e.g., 3 subcarriers) is supported - Whether new DCI formats are supported Specifically, UE capability reporting (which can also be referred to as transmission of UE capability information) may follow any of the following for the frequency band (which can be FR or Band) supported by UE200.

- Report whether it can be supported for all frequencies at once (whether it can be supported as UE200) - Report whether it can be supported for each frequency - Report whether it can be supported for each frequency range (e.g., FR1, FR2) In addition, the reporting of the duplex method supported by UE200 may follow any of the following methods.

- Reports whether UE200 is compatible - Reports for each duplex method (time division duplex (TDD), frequency division duplex (FDD))

(4) Actions and Effects According to the above-described embodiment, the following actions and effects can be obtained. Specifically, when UE 200 is in a state supporting coverage extension (which may be referred to as a second state), unlike a normal state (which may be referred to as a first state), it can be assumed that the size of RBs allocated to physical channels (PDSCH, PUSCH, PDCCH, PUCCH) is small.

By having UE200 assume a physical channel configuration suitable for such coverage extension, UE200 can successfully transmit and receive physical channels compatible with coverage extension during coverage extension.

In this embodiment, when the UE 200 supports coverage extension, it may assume only the start position of the RB (RB _start ) and assume that the size of the RB is fixed. Therefore, the network does not need to specify the size of the small RB applied during coverage extension one by one, and efficient RB specification can be achieved.

In this embodiment, when UE200 supports coverage extension, it may assume the coding rate (CR) to be applied to the physical channel based on the size of the RB. This eliminates the need for the network to specify an appropriate coding rate corresponding to the small RB size applied during coverage extension, and allows for efficient specification of RBs and coding rates (MCS).

(5) Other Embodiments Although the embodiments have been described above, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that the present invention is not limited to the description of the embodiments, and that various modifications and improvements are possible.

For example, in the above-described embodiment, it is assumed that the settings related to the physical channel are changed when the coverage is extended, but as mentioned above, this is not necessarily limited to when the coverage is extended. For example, the second state may be interpreted as a state in which at least some settings related to the physical channel are different from those in the first state, or as a case in which a specified DCI format is used.

The block diagram (Figure 3) used to explain the above-mentioned embodiments shows functional blocks. These functional blocks (components) are realized by any combination of hardware and/or software. Furthermore, there are no particular limitations on how each functional block is realized. That is, each functional block may be realized using a single device that is physically or logically coupled, or may be realized using two or more physically or logically separated devices that are connected directly or indirectly (for example, using a wired or wireless connection) and these multiple devices. A functional block may also be realized by combining software with the single device or multiple devices.

Functions include, but are not limited to, judgment, determination, assessment, calculation, computation, processing, derivation, investigation, search, confirmation, reception, transmission, output, access, resolution, selection, election, establishment, comparison, assumption, expectation, regard, broadcasting, notifying, communicating, forwarding, configuring, reconfiguring, allocating, mapping, and assignment. For example, a functional block (component) that performs transmission functions is called a transmitting unit or transmitter. As mentioned above, there are no particular limitations on how these functions are implemented.

Furthermore, the above-mentioned UE200 may function as a computer that performs processing of the wireless communication method of the present disclosure. Figure 10 is a diagram showing an example of the hardware configuration of UE200. As shown in Figure 10, UE200 may be configured as a computer device including a processor 1001, memory 1002, storage 1003, a communication device 1004, an input device 1005, an output device 1006, and a bus 1007.

In the following explanation, the term "apparatus" can be interpreted as a circuit, device, unit, etc. The hardware configuration of the apparatus may be configured to include one or more of the devices shown in the diagram, or may be configured to exclude some of the devices.

Each functional block of UE200 (see Figure 3) is realized by any hardware element of the computer device, or a combination of such hardware elements.

Furthermore, each function in UE200 is realized by loading specific software (programs) onto hardware such as processor 1001 and memory 1002, causing processor 1001 to perform calculations, control communications by communication device 1004, and control at least one of reading and writing data from memory 1002 and storage 1003.

The processor 1001, for example, runs an operating system to control the entire computer. The processor 1001 may be configured as a central processing unit (CPU) that includes interfaces with peripheral devices, a control unit, an arithmetic unit, registers, etc.

The processor 1001 also reads programs (program code), software modules, data, etc. from at least one of the storage 1003 and the communication device 1004 into the memory 1002, and executes various processes in accordance with these. The programs used are those that cause a computer to execute at least some of the operations described in the above-mentioned embodiments. Furthermore, the various processes described above may be executed by a single processor 1001, or may be executed simultaneously or sequentially by two or more processors 1001. The processor 1001 may be implemented by one or more chips. The programs may also be transmitted from a network via telecommunications lines.

Memory 1002 is a computer-readable recording medium and may be composed of, for example, at least one of Read Only Memory (ROM), Erasable Programmable ROM (EPROM), Electrically Erasable Programmable ROM (EEPROM), Random Access Memory (RAM), etc. Memory 1002 may also be called a register, cache, main memory (primary storage device), etc. Memory 1002 can store a program (program code), software module, etc. that can execute a method according to one embodiment of the present disclosure.

Storage 1003 is a computer-readable recording medium and may be composed of at least one of an optical disk such as a Compact Disc ROM (CD-ROM), a hard disk drive, a flexible disk, a magneto-optical disk (e.g., a compact disk, a digital versatile disk, a Blu-ray® disk), a smart card, a flash memory (e.g., a card, a stick, a key drive), a floppy disk, a magnetic strip, etc. Storage 1003 may also be referred to as an auxiliary storage device. The above-mentioned recording medium may be, for example, a database, a server, or other suitable medium including at least one of memory 1002 and storage 1003.

The communication device 1004 is hardware (transmission/reception device) for communicating between computers via at least one of a wired network and a wireless network, and is also referred to as, for example, a network device, network controller, network card, or communication module.

The communication device 1004 may be configured to include high-frequency switches, duplexers, filters, frequency synthesizers, etc. to realize, for example, at least one of Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) and Time Division Duplex (TDD).

The input device 1005 is an input device (e.g., a keyboard, mouse, microphone, switch, button, sensor, etc.) that accepts input from the outside. The output device 1006 is an output device (e.g., a display, speaker, LED lamp, etc.) that outputs to the outside. Note that the input device 1005 and the output device 1006 may be integrated into one device (e.g., a touch panel).

Furthermore, each device, such as the processor 1001 and memory 1002, is connected by a bus 1007 for communicating information. The bus 1007 may be configured using a single bus, or may be configured using different buses between each device.

Furthermore, the device may be configured to include hardware such as a microprocessor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a programmable logic device (PLD), or a field programmable gate array (FPGA), and some or all of the functional blocks may be realized by such hardware. For example, the processor 1001 may be implemented using at least one of these pieces of hardware.

Furthermore, the notification of information is not limited to the aspects/embodiments described in the present disclosure, and may be performed using other methods. For example, the notification of information may be performed by physical layer signaling (e.g., Downlink Control Information (DCI), Uplink Control Information (UCI)), higher layer signaling (e.g., RRC signaling, Medium Access Control (MAC) signaling, broadcast information (Master Information Block (MIB), System Information Block (SIB))), other signals, or a combination of these. Furthermore, RRC signaling may be referred to as an RRC message, and may be, for example, an RRC Connection Setup message, an RRC Connection Reconfiguration message, etc.

Each aspect/embodiment described in this disclosure may be applied to at least one of systems using Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE-Advanced (LTE-A), SUPER 3G, IMT-Advanced, 4th generation mobile communication system (4G), 5th generation mobile communication system (5G), Future Radio Access (FRA), New Radio (NR), W-CDMA (registered trademark), GSM (registered trademark), CDMA2000, Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB), IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi (registered trademark)), IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX (registered trademark)), IEEE 802.20, Ultra-WideBand (UWB), Bluetooth (registered trademark), or other suitable systems, and next-generation systems enhanced based on these. Furthermore, multiple systems may be combined (e.g., a combination of at least one of LTE and LTE-A with 5G).

The order of the procedures, sequences, flowcharts, etc. of each aspect/embodiment described in this disclosure may be changed unless inconsistent. For example, the methods described in this disclosure present elements of various steps using an example order, and are not limited to the particular order presented.

Specific operations described as being performed by a base station in this disclosure may in some cases be performed by its upper node. In a network consisting of one or more network nodes having a base station, it is clear that various operations performed for communication with a terminal may be performed by at least one of the base station and another network node other than the base station (such as, but not limited to, an MME or S-GW). While the above example illustrates a case where there is one other network node other than the base station, a combination of multiple other network nodes (for example, an MME and an S-GW) may also be used.

Information, signals (information, etc.) can be output from a higher layer (or lower layer) to a lower layer (or higher layer). They may also be input and output via multiple network nodes.

Input and output information may be stored in a specific location (e.g., memory) or managed using a management table. Input and output information may be overwritten, updated, or appended. Output information may be deleted. Input information may be sent to another device.

The determination may be made based on a value represented by a single bit (0 or 1), a Boolean value (true or false), or a numerical comparison (e.g., comparison with a predetermined value).

Each aspect/embodiment described in this disclosure may be used alone, in combination, or switched depending on the implementation. Furthermore, notification of specified information (e.g., notification that "X is true") is not limited to being done explicitly, but may also be done implicitly (e.g., not notifying the specified information).

Software shall be construed broadly to mean instructions, instruction sets, code, code segments, program code, programs, subprograms, software modules, applications, software applications, software packages, routines, subroutines, objects, executable files, threads of execution, procedures, functions, etc., whether referred to as software, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware description language, or otherwise.

Software, instructions, information, etc. may also be transmitted or received via a transmission medium. For example, if software is transmitted from a website, server, or other remote source using wired technologies (such as coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, or Digital Subscriber Line (DSL)) and/or wireless technologies (such as infrared or microwave), then these wired and/or wireless technologies are included within the definition of transmission media.

The information, signals, etc. described in this disclosure may be represented using any of a variety of different technologies. For example, data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, chips, etc. that may be referred to throughout the above description may be represented by voltages, currents, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or magnetic particles, optical fields or photons, or any combination thereof.

Note that terms explained in this disclosure and terms necessary for understanding this disclosure may be replaced with terms having the same or similar meanings. For example, at least one of a channel and a symbol may be a signal (signaling). Furthermore, a signal may be a message. Furthermore, a component carrier (CC) may be called a carrier frequency, a cell, a frequency carrier, etc.

As used in this disclosure, the terms "system" and "network" are used interchangeably.

Furthermore, the information, parameters, etc. described in this disclosure may be expressed using absolute values, relative values from a predetermined value, or other corresponding information. For example, radio resources may be indicated by an index.

The names used for the parameters described above are not intended to be limiting in any way. Furthermore, the mathematical formulas using these parameters may differ from those explicitly disclosed in this disclosure. The various channels (e.g., PUCCH, PDCCH, etc.) and information elements may be identified by any suitable names, and therefore the various names assigned to these various channels and information elements are not intended to be limiting in any way.

In this disclosure, terms such as "base station (BS)," "radio base station," "fixed station," "NodeB," "eNodeB (eNB)," "gNodeB (gNB)," "access point," "transmission point," "reception point," "transmission/reception point," "cell," "sector," "cell group," "carrier," and "component carrier" may be used interchangeably. Base stations may also be referred to by terms such as macrocell, small cell, femtocell, and picocell.

A base station can accommodate one or more (e.g., three) cells (also called sectors). When a base station accommodates multiple cells, the base station's overall coverage area can be divided into multiple smaller areas, and each smaller area can be provided with communication services by a base station subsystem (e.g., a small indoor base station (Remote Radio Head: RRH)).

The terms "cell" or "sector" refer to part or all of the coverage area of a base station and/or base station subsystem that provides communication services within that coverage area.

In this disclosure, terms such as "Mobile Station (MS)," "user terminal," "User Equipment (UE)," and "terminal" may be used interchangeably.

A mobile station may also be referred to by those skilled in the art as a subscriber station, mobile unit, subscriber unit, wireless unit, remote unit, mobile device, wireless device, wireless communication device, remote device, mobile subscriber station, access terminal, mobile terminal, wireless terminal, remote terminal, handset, user agent, mobile client, client, or some other suitable terminology.

At least one of the base station and the mobile station may be referred to as a transmitting device, a receiving device, a communication device, etc. At least one of the base station and the mobile station may be a device mounted on a mobile body, or the mobile body itself. The mobile body may be a vehicle (e.g., a car, an airplane, etc.), an unmanned mobile body (e.g., a drone, an autonomous vehicle, etc.), or a robot (manned or unmanned). At least one of the base station and the mobile station may also be a device that does not necessarily move during communication operations. For example, at least one of the base station and the mobile station may be an Internet of Things (IoT) device such as a sensor.

Furthermore, the base station in this disclosure may be interpreted as a mobile station (user terminal, the same applies hereinafter). For example, the aspects/embodiments of this disclosure may be applied to a configuration in which communication between a base station and a mobile station is replaced with communication between multiple mobile stations (which may be called, for example, Device-to-Device (D2D) or Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X)). In this case, the mobile station may be configured to have the functions of a base station. Furthermore, terms such as "uplink" and "downlink" may be interpreted as terms corresponding to communication between terminals (for example, "side"). For example, terms such as uplink channel and downlink channel may be interpreted as side channel.

Similarly, a mobile station in the present disclosure may be interpreted as a base station, in which case the base station may have the functions of a mobile station.
A radio frame may be composed of one or more frames in the time domain. Each of the one or more frames in the time domain may be called a subframe. A subframe may further be composed of one or more slots in the time domain. A subframe may have a fixed time length (e.g., 1 ms) that is independent of numerology.

Numerology may be a communication parameter that applies to at least one of the transmission and reception of a signal or channel. Numerology may indicate, for example, at least one of the following: subcarrier spacing (SCS), bandwidth, symbol length, cyclic prefix length, transmission time interval (TTI), number of symbols per TTI, radio frame structure, specific filtering operations performed by the transceiver in the frequency domain, and specific windowing operations performed by the transceiver in the time domain.

A slot may consist of one or more symbols in the time domain (such as Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) symbols or Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA) symbols). A slot may also be a time unit based on numerology.

A slot may include multiple minislots. Each minislot may consist of one or more symbols in the time domain. A minislot may also be called a subslot. A minislot may consist of fewer symbols than a slot. A PDSCH (or PUSCH) transmitted in a time unit larger than a minislot may be called PDSCH (or PUSCH) mapping type A. A PDSCH (or PUSCH) transmitted using a minislot may be called PDSCH (or PUSCH) mapping type B.

Radio frame, subframe, slot, minislot, and symbol all represent time units for transmitting signals. Other names may also be used for radio frame, subframe, slot, minislot, and symbol.

For example, one subframe may be called a transmission time interval (TTI), multiple consecutive subframes may be called a TTI, or one slot or one minislot may be called a TTI. In other words, at least one of the subframe and the TTI may be a subframe (1 ms) in existing LTE, a period shorter than 1 ms (e.g., 1-13 symbols), or a period longer than 1 ms. Note that the unit used to express the TTI may be called a slot, minislot, etc., instead of a subframe.

Here, TTI refers to, for example, the smallest time unit for scheduling in wireless communication. For example, in an LTE system, a base station schedules each user terminal by allocating radio resources (such as the frequency bandwidth and transmission power available to each user terminal) in TTI units. However, the definition of TTI is not limited to this.

The TTI may be a transmission time unit for a channel-coded data packet (transport block), code block, code word, etc., or it may be a processing unit for scheduling, link adaptation, etc. When a TTI is given, the time interval (e.g., the number of symbols) to which the transport block, code block, code word, etc. is actually mapped may be shorter than the TTI.

Note that when one slot or one minislot is referred to as a TTI, one or more TTIs (i.e., one or more slots or one or more minislots) may be the smallest time unit for scheduling. Furthermore, the number of slots (minislots) that make up the smallest time unit for scheduling may be controlled.

A TTI with a time length of 1 ms may be referred to as a regular TTI (TTI in LTE Rel. 8-12), normal TTI, long TTI, regular subframe, normal subframe, long subframe, slot, etc. A TTI shorter than a regular TTI may be referred to as a shortened TTI, short TTI, partial TTI (partial or fractional TTI), shortened subframe, short subframe, minislot, subslot, slot, etc.

Note that a long TTI (e.g., a normal TTI, subframe, etc.) may be interpreted as a TTI having a time length of more than 1 ms, and a short TTI (e.g., a shortened TTI, etc.) may be interpreted as a TTI having a TTI length of 1 ms or more but less than the TTI length of a long TTI.

A resource block (RB) is a resource allocation unit in the time domain and frequency domain, and may include one or more consecutive subcarriers in the frequency domain. The number of subcarriers included in an RB may be the same regardless of numerology, for example, 12. The number of subcarriers included in an RB may also be determined based on numerology.

Furthermore, the time domain of an RB may include one or more symbols and may be one slot, one minislot, one subframe, or one TTI in length. One TTI, one subframe, etc. may each be composed of one or more resource blocks.

Note that one or more RBs may also be referred to as a physical resource block (PRB), a sub-carrier group (SCG), a resource element group (REG), a PRB pair, an RB pair, etc.

A resource block may also be composed of one or more resource elements (REs). For example, one RE may be a radio resource region of one subcarrier and one symbol.

A Bandwidth Part (BWP) (which may also be referred to as a partial bandwidth) may represent a subset of contiguous common resource blocks (RBs) for a given numerology on a given carrier, where the common RBs may be identified by their index relative to the common reference point of the carrier. PRBs may be defined in a given BWP and numbered within that BWP.

BWPs may include a BWP for the UL (UL BWP) and a BWP for the DL (DL BWP). One or more BWPs may be configured for a UE within one carrier.

At least one of the configured BWPs may be active, and the UE may not expect to transmit or receive a specific signal/channel outside of the active BWP. Note that "cell," "carrier," etc. in this disclosure may be read as "BWP."

The structures of the radio frames, subframes, slots, minislots, and symbols described above are merely examples. For example, the number of subframes included in a radio frame, the number of slots per subframe or radio frame, the number of minislots included in a slot, the number of symbols and RBs included in a slot or minislot, the number of subcarriers included in an RB, as well as the number of symbols within a TTI, symbol length, and cyclic prefix (CP) length can be varied in various ways.

The terms "connected," "coupled," or any variation thereof, refer to any direct or indirect connection or coupling between two or more elements, and may include the presence of one or more intermediate elements between two elements that are "connected" or "coupled" to each other. The coupling or connection between elements may be physical, logical, or a combination thereof. For example, "connected" may be read as "access." As used in this disclosure, two elements may be considered to be "connected" or "coupled" to each other using one or more wires, cables, and/or printed electrical connections, as well as electromagnetic energy having wavelengths in the radio frequency range, microwave range, and optical (both visible and invisible) range, as some non-limiting and non-exhaustive examples.

The reference signal may also be abbreviated as Reference Signal (RS) or may be called a pilot depending on the applicable standard.

As used in this disclosure, the phrase "based on" does not mean "based only on," unless expressly stated otherwise. In other words, the phrase "based on" means both "based only on" and "based at least on."

The "means" in the configuration of each of the above devices may be replaced with "part," "circuit," "device," etc.

As used in this disclosure, any reference to an element using a designation such as "first," "second," etc. does not generally limit the quantity or order of those elements. These designations may be used in this disclosure as a convenient method of distinguishing between two or more elements. Thus, a reference to a first and a second element does not imply that only two elements may be employed therein, or that the first element must in some way precede the second element.

When the terms "include," "including," and variations thereof are used in this disclosure, these terms are intended to be inclusive, similar to the term "comprising." Furthermore, when the term "or" is used in this disclosure, it is not intended to be an exclusive or.

In this disclosure, where articles are added by translation, such as a, an, and the in English, this disclosure may include the noun following these articles being plural.

As used in this disclosure, the terms "determining" and "determining" may encompass a wide variety of actions. "Determining" and "determining" may include, for example, judging, calculating, computing, processing, deriving, investigating, looking up, searching, inquiring (e.g., searching a table, database, or other data structure), and ascertaining something that is considered a "determination." Also, "determining" and "determining" may include receiving (e.g., receiving information), transmitting (e.g., sending information), input, output, accessing (e.g., accessing data in memory), and other actions that are considered a "determination." Furthermore, "judgment" and "decision" can include regarding actions such as resolving, selecting, choosing, establishing, and comparing as having been "judgment" or "decision." In other words, "judgment" and "decision" can include regarding some action as having been "judgment" or "decision." Furthermore, "judgment (decision)" can be interpreted as "assuming," "expecting," "considering," etc.

In this disclosure, the term "A and B are different" may mean "A and B are different from each other." It should be noted that the term may also mean "A and B are each different from C." Terms such as "separate" and "combined" may also be interpreted in the same way as "different."

Although the present disclosure has been described in detail above, it will be clear to those skilled in the art that the present disclosure is not limited to the embodiments described herein. The present disclosure can be implemented in modified and altered forms without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure, which are defined by the claims. Therefore, the description of the present disclosure is intended to be illustrative and does not have any limiting meaning on the present disclosure.

10. Wireless communication systems
20 NG-RAN
100A, 100B gNB
UE 200
210 Radio signal transmitter/receiver
220 Amplifier section
230 Modulation and Demodulation Unit
240 Control signal/reference signal processing section
250 Encoding/Decoding Unit
260 Data transmission and reception unit
270 Control Unit
1001 processor
1002 memory
1003 Storage
1004 Communication equipment
1005 Input Device
1006 Output Device
1007 Bus

Claims (2)

a transceiver unit for transmitting and receiving physical channels;
a control unit that assumes that a size of a resource block allocated to the physical channel is small when the state corresponds to coverage extension different from a normal state;
The terminal, when the control unit supports the coverage extension, assumes only the start position of the resource block and assumes that the size of the resource block is fixed. The terminal according to claim 1, wherein, when the coverage extension is supported, the control unit assumes the coding rate to be applied to the physical channel based on the size of the resource block.