WO2024111055A1 - Network node and communication method - Google Patents

Abstract

This network node comprises: a reception unit that receives, when communication with a satellite is enabled, a service request including information for identifying the satellite and information indicating a data storage capacity of the satellite, from a base station; and a control unit that determines, on the basis of the data storage capacity of the satellite and the amount of arrival data to be transmitted to terminals existing in a region through which the satellite passes, whether the arrival data can be transmitted to the satellite.

Description

Network node and communication method

The present invention relates to a network node and a communication method in a wireless communication system.

For NR (New Radio) (also known as "5G"), the successor system to LTE (Long Term Evolution), a network architecture is being considered that includes 5GC (5G Core Network), which corresponds to EPC (Evolved Packet Core), the core network in the LTE (Long Term Evolution) network architecture, and NG-RAN (Next Generation-Radio Access Network), which corresponds to E-UTRAN (Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network), the RAN (Radio Access Network) in the LTE network architecture (for example, Non-Patent Document 1 and Non-Patent Document 2).

NR Release 19 also considers Store and Forward Operation (S&F Operation) for the transmission of IoT (Internet of Things) data via satellites or air vehicles (hereinafter, satellites or air vehicles are collectively referred to as satellites). Signaling and data exchange between terminals and satellites can occur even if the satellite is not simultaneously connected to a terrestrial network (i.e., the service link can continue to operate even if there is no active feeder link connection).

3GPP TS 23.501 V17.5.0 (2022-06) 3GPP TS 23.502 V17.5.0 (2022-06)

In the previous specifications, the architecture for S&F operations was not determined. For example, while S&F operations should support the mobile terminated (MT) procedure, there was a problem in that the method for implementing the appropriate mobile terminated procedure had not been established.

The present invention was made in consideration of the above points, and aims to realize an appropriate procedure for receiving data at a terminal in communication via satellite.

The disclosed technology provides a network node that includes: a receiving unit that, when communication with a satellite becomes possible, receives from a base station a service request including information for identifying the satellite and information indicating the amount of data that the satellite can store; and a control unit that determines whether the incoming data can be transmitted to the satellite based on the amount of data that the satellite can store and the amount of incoming data to be transmitted to a terminal in the area through which the satellite passes.

The disclosed technology provides a technique that enables proper data arrival procedures to be implemented at a terminal in communications via satellite.

1 is a diagram for explaining a wireless communication system according to an embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of a wireless communication system according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining a transmission method for S&F operation via a satellite. FIG. 11 is a sequence diagram showing an example of a flow of a registration procedure according to an embodiment of the present invention. A sequence diagram showing an example of the flow of a PDU session establishment procedure relating to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 11 is a sequence diagram showing an example of a flow of a data delivery subscription procedure by AF according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 11 is a sequence diagram showing an example of a flow of a data transmission procedure by AF according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 11 is a sequence diagram showing an example of a first flow of a data delivery notification procedure to an AF according to an embodiment of the present invention. 11 is a sequence diagram showing an example of a flow of a DL data delivery status notification procedure according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 13 is a sequence diagram showing an example of a second flow of the procedure for notifying an AF of data delivery in the embodiment of the present invention. 11 is a sequence diagram showing an example of a first half of the flow of an extended service request procedure according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 13 is a sequence diagram showing an example of a third flow of the procedure for notifying an AF of data delivery in the embodiment of the present invention. 11 is a sequence diagram showing an example of a second half of the flow of an extended service request procedure in the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. FIG. 13 is a sequence diagram showing an example of a fourth flow of the procedure for notifying an AF of data delivery in the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a functional configuration of a base station according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a functional configuration of a terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware configuration of a base station or a terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a configuration of a vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Below, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. Note that the embodiment described below is an example, and the embodiment to which the present invention can be applied is not limited to the following embodiment.

Existing technology may be used as appropriate when operating the wireless communication system of the embodiment of the present invention. The existing technology is, for example, existing NR or LTE, but is not limited to existing NR or LTE. Furthermore, the term "LTE" used in this specification has a broad meaning including LTE-Advanced and systems subsequent to LTE-Advanced (e.g., NR) unless otherwise specified.

In addition, in the embodiment of the present invention described below, terms such as SS (Synchronization signal), PSS (Primary SS), SSS (Secondary SS), PBCH (Physical broadcast channel), PRACH (Physical random access channel), PDCCH (Physical Downlink Control Channel), PDSCH (Physical Downlink Shared Channel), PUCCH (Physical Uplink Control Channel), and PUSCH (Physical Uplink Shared Channel), which are used in existing LTE, are used. This is for convenience of description, and similar signals, functions, etc. may be called by other names. Furthermore, the above-mentioned terms in NR correspond to NR-SS, NR-PSS, NR-SSS, NR-PBCH, NR-PRACH, etc. However, even if a signal is used in NR, it is not necessarily specified as "NR-".

Furthermore, in an embodiment of the present invention, the duplex method may be a TDD (Time Division Duplex) method, an FDD (Frequency Division Duplex) method, or another method (e.g., Flexible Duplex, etc.).

Furthermore, in the embodiment of the present invention, when radio parameters and the like are "configured," it may mean that predetermined values are pre-configured, or that radio parameters notified from a base station or a terminal are configured.

(System configuration)
FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining a wireless communication system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
As shown in Fig. 1, a wireless communication system according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a RAN 10 and a terminal 20. Although one RAN 10 and one terminal 20 are shown in Fig. 1, this is an example, and there may be a plurality of RANs 10 and a plurality of terminals 20.

RAN 10 is a communication device that provides one or more cells and performs wireless communication with terminals 20. The physical resources of a wireless signal are defined in the time domain and the frequency domain, and the time domain may be defined by the number of OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) symbols, and the frequency domain may be defined by the number of subcarriers or the number of resource blocks. In addition, the TTI (Transmission Time Interval) in the time domain may be a slot, or the TTI may be a subframe.

The RAN 10 transmits synchronization signals and system information to the terminal 20. The synchronization signals are, for example, NR-PSS and NR-SSS. The system information is, for example, transmitted by NR-PBCH and is also called broadcast information. The synchronization signals and system information may be called SSB (SS/PBCH block). As shown in FIG. 1, the RAN 10 transmits control signals or data to the terminal 20 in DL (Downlink) and receives control signals or data from the terminal 20 in UL (Uplink). Both the RAN 10 and the terminal 20 are capable of transmitting and receiving signals by performing beamforming. In addition, both the RAN 10 and the terminal 20 are capable of applying MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output) communication to DL or UL. In addition, both the RAN 10 and the terminal 20 may communicate via a secondary cell (SCell: Secondary Cell) and a primary cell (PCell: Primary Cell) using CA (Carrier Aggregation). Furthermore, the terminal 20 may communicate via a primary cell of the RAN 10 and a primary secondary cell group cell (PSCell: Primary SCG Cell) of another RAN 10 using DC (Dual Connectivity).

The terminal 20 is a communication device equipped with a wireless communication function, such as a smartphone, a mobile phone, a tablet, a wearable terminal, or a communication module for M2M (Machine-to-Machine). As shown in FIG. 1, the terminal 20 receives control signals or data from the RAN 10 in the DL and transmits control signals or data to the RAN 10 in the UL, thereby utilizing various communication services provided by the wireless communication system. The terminal 20 also receives various reference signals transmitted from the RAN 10, and performs measurement of the propagation path quality based on the reception results of the reference signals. The terminal 20 may also be referred to as a UE.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a wireless communication system according to an embodiment of the present invention. The wireless communication system includes a RAN 10, a terminal 20, a core network 30, and a DN (Data Network) 40.

RAN 10 includes a ground station GW (Gateway) 11 and a base station 12. The ground station GW 11 relays communications between the base station 12 and a terminal 20 or a satellite. The base station 12 is a device that has all or part of the functions of the RAN 10 described above. The base station 12 may be referred to as a gNB.

The core network 30 is a network that includes exchanges, subscriber information management devices, etc. The core network 30 includes network nodes that realize U-Plane functions and a group of network nodes that realize C-Plane functions.

The U-Plane function is a function that executes the transmission and reception processing of user data. A network node that realizes the U-Plane function is, for example, UPF (User plane function) 380. UPF 380 is a network node that has functions such as a PDU (Protocol Data Unit) session point to the outside for interconnection with DN 40, packet routing and forwarding, and user plane QoS (Quality of Service) handling. UPF 380 controls the transmission and reception of data between DN 40 and terminal 20. UPF 380 and DN 40 may be composed of one or more network slices.

The C-Plane function group is a group of functions that execute a series of control processes for establishing communications, etc. The network nodes that realize the C-Plane function group include, for example, AMF (Access and Mobility Management Function) 310, UDM (Unified Data Management) 320, NEF (Network Exposure Function) 330, NRF (Network Repository Function) 340, AUSF (Authentication Server Function) 350, PCF (Policy Control Function) 360, SMF (Session Management Function) 370, and AF (Application Function) 390.

AMF 310 is a network node that has functions such as RAN interface termination, NAS (Non-Access Stratum) termination, registration management, connection management, reachability management, and mobility management. AMF 310 also includes SEAF (SEcurity Anchor Function) 311. SEAF 311 functions as a security anchor in the serving network.

NRF340 is a network node that has the function of discovering NF (Network Function) instances that provide services. UDM320 is a network node that manages subscriber data and authentication data. UDM320 includes UDR (User Data Repository) 321 that holds the data, and FE (Front End) 322. FE322 processes subscriber information. UDM320 may also include ARPF (Authentication credential Repository and Processing Function). ARPF is a network node that has an authentication credential repository and processing function. AUSF350 is a network node that has a terminal authentication function.

The SMF 370 is a network node that has functions such as session management, IP (Internet Protocol) address allocation and management for the terminal 20, DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) function, ARP (Address Resolution Protocol) proxy, and roaming function. The NEF 330 is a network node that has the function of notifying other NFs (Network Functions) of capabilities and events. The PCF 360 is a network node that has the function of controlling network policies.

AF (Application Function) 390 is a network node that has the function of controlling the application server.

AMF310 and RAN10 are connected to be able to communicate as an N2 link. UPF380 and RAN10 are connected to be able to communicate as an N3 link. UPF380 and SMF370 are connected to be able to communicate as an N4 link. UPF380 and DN40 are connected to be able to communicate as an N6 link.

(Conventional problems)
Next, the conventional problems will be described. In NR Release 19, Store and Forward Operation (S&F Operation) is considered for the transmission of IoT (Internet of Things) data via a satellite or an air vehicle (hereinafter, the satellite or the air vehicle is collectively referred to as a satellite). Signaling and data exchange between a terminal and a satellite can occur even if the satellite is not simultaneously connected to a terrestrial network (i.e., the service link can continue to operate even if there is no active feeder link connection).

Figure 3 is a diagram to explain the transmission method for S&F operation via satellite. In step A, when the terminal has satellite coverage, there is no end-to-end path to reach the terrestrial network. Therefore, in this step A, the exchange of signaling and data traffic occurs only between the terminal and the satellite.

In step B, a connection is also established between the satellite and the terrestrial network via a feeder link. In step B, the satellite can no longer reach the terminal, but can upload/download user data traffic (messages collected from or addressed to the terminal) to serve the terminal.

However, the existing specifications do not define the architecture for S&F operation. For example, it is stated that the mobile terminated (MT) procedure should be supported in S&F operation, but if one tries to simply implement the mobile terminated procedure, there is a problem in that it is not clear how the base station should select the satellite that will transmit paging to the terminal.

Specifically, consider the following setting. Assume that the 5G system deploys low earth orbit satellites (LEO) 1-8 to provide satellite communications. The first terminal is located in a fixed terrestrial tracking area (TA) 1. LEOs 1-3 pass over TA1, but LEOs 4-8 do not. When LEOs 1-3 pass over TA1, they provide a service link to the terminal in TA1, but cannot have a feeder link because there is no ground station GW11 nearby. On the other hand, LEOs 1-3 have feeder links at other positions in the orbit.

In such a setting, for example, consider the following scenario. The first terminal registers with the 5G system and establishes a PDU session. The PDU session becomes UP (User Plane) inactive. The first application server sends data to the first terminal. The data remains in the UPF 380. The UPF 380 notifies the SMF 370, which notifies the AMF 310, which notifies the base station 12. The base station 12 attempts to send paging to the first terminal, but is unsure of which LEO to use to send the signal.

As such, in the conventional scenario, there is a problem in that data cannot be sent to the first terminal. In other words, in the conventional satellite S&F operation, there is no mechanism for sending data to a terminal under the satellite coverage.

Furthermore, according to the status of the study in NR Release 19, there are requirements that (i) the amount of data sent to a terminal should be limited, (ii) delivery priority should be taken into consideration, and (iii) the network should send a data receipt confirmation. Furthermore, although not clear in MT, there is a requirement for MO that (iv) the network should be able to provide a data delivery delay value. However, up to now, no method has been established to meet these requirements.

(Outline of the present embodiment)
In order to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, in this embodiment, when a satellite establishes a feeder link, an example will be described in which the AMF 310 determines a target terminal, activates the UP between the base station 12 and the UPF 380, and generates paging information for each terminal. In addition, a method for satisfying the above-mentioned requirements (i) to (iv) will be described.

First, the underlying network deployment will be explained. It is assumed that mobile communication operators assign different TAs to terrestrial access and satellite access. The satellite operation system then provides AMF310, for example via OAM (Operations, Administration, Maintenance), with information indicating the coverage area for each satellite as part of the satellite ephemeris information, in which an identifier for identifying the satellite is associated with the TA in operation, for example a list of [satellite number, operating TA list [TA number, ...]]. AMF310 pre-sets this information.

The list of [satellite number, operating TA list [TA number, ...]] is data such as, for example, [LEO1, [TA1, ...]], [LEO2, [TA1, ...]], [LEO3, [TA1, ...]], [LEO4, [TA5, ...]], [LEO5, [TA5, ...]], [LEO6, [TA5, ...]], LEO satellite 7, [TA10, ...]], [LEO8, [TA10, ...]].

Next, the procedure for registering the terminal 20 will be described. Figure 4 is a sequence diagram showing an example of the flow of the registration procedure according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The terminal 20 sends a registration request to the AMF 310 via the RAN 10 (step S101). The AMF 310 derives the terminal's area TA based on the user location information (information indicating the location of the terminal 20 owned by the user) obtained from the base station 12, and assigns a registration area to the terminal 20 (step S102).

Then, AMF310 stores the user location information and the registered area as the terminal context (UE context) (step S103). Then, AMF310 recognizes from the terminal coverage TA that the terminal 20 is under the control of a satellite performing S&F operation, and sets a "satellite S&F operation TA coverage identifier" in the terminal context (step S104). The "satellite S&F operation TA coverage identifier" is an identifier indicating that the terminal 20 is in the operating TA of a satellite performing S&F operation. In other words, at this point, the terminal context includes the information [SUPI (Subscription Permanent Identifier), user location information, registered area, satellite S&F operation TA coverage]. SUPI is an identifier for identifying the terminal 20. The terminal coverage TA is derived from the user location information and registered area.

When the AMF registers with the UDM320, it transmits the "Satellite S&F Operation TA Location Identifier" (step S105). The registration procedure is then completed.

Next, the procedure for establishing a PDU session will be described. Figure 5 is a sequence diagram showing an example of the flow of a PDU session establishment procedure according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The terminal 20 transmits a PDU session establishment request to the AMF 310 (step S201). Since the terminal context of the terminal 20 includes a "satellite S&F operation TA presence identifier", the AMF 310 transmits an SM context creation request (Nsmf_PDUSession_CreateSMContext Request) including a "retained packet number proposal" and "DL data volume report control" in addition to the PDU session establishment request to the SMF 370 (step S202). The "retained packet number proposal" and "DL data volume report control" included in the SM context creation request may be new information elements.

The SMF 370 sends a PFCP session establishment request including "Suggested Buffering Packets Count" and "DL data volume reporting control" to the UPF 380 (step S203).

Note that the "proposed number of packets to be held" included in the PFCP session establishment request may be a conventional information element. Note that the new information element "proposed number of packets to be held" included in the above-mentioned SM context creation request is an information element that corresponds to the conventional information element "proposed number of packets to be held" included in the PFCP session establishment request, but may be named differently.

In addition, the "DL data volume report control" included in the PFCP session establishment request may be a new information element. The new information element "DL data volume report control" may be the conventional information element MT-EDT control information in the EPC (Evolved Packet Core) applied to a 5G system.

The SMF370 sets the "satellite S&F operation TA presence identifier" in the PDU session context (specifically, the SM (Session Management) context) (step S204).

Then, SMF370 and terminal 20 establish a PDU session (step S205).

Next, we will explain the procedure for an AF to subscribe to a service that allows the AF to grasp the data delivery status. Figure 6 is a sequence diagram showing an example of the flow of a data delivery subscription procedure by an AF in an embodiment of the present invention.

AF390 subscribes to the "satellite DL data delivery status event notification service" of NEF330 (step S301). The "satellite DL data delivery status event notification service" may be an expanded service of the conventional "DL data delivery status event notification service."

The "Satellite DL data delivery status event notification service" is a service that reports on new events "DL packet uploaded to satellite" or "DL packet cannot be uploaded to satellite - DL packet continues to be held." "DL packet uploaded to satellite" is an event indicating that a DL packet has been uploaded to the satellite. "DL packet cannot be uploaded to satellite - DL packet continues to be held" is an event indicating that the DL packet will continue to be held because it cannot be uploaded to the satellite.

The "Satellite DL Data Delivery Status Event Notification Service" also reports the events "DL packet held," "DL packet discarded," and "DL packet sent" of the conventional "DL data delivery status event notification service."

Next, NEF330 subscribes to the "satellite DL data delivery status event notification service" of UDM320 (step S302). The "satellite DL data delivery status event notification service" of UDM320 may be a new service similar to the new service "satellite DL data delivery status event notification service" of NEF330.

The UDM320 checks whether the AMF registration information includes a "satellite S&F operation TA presence identifier" (step S303). This allows the UDM320 to determine whether it can provide a "satellite DL data delivery status event notification service."

When UDM320 determines that it can provide the "satellite DL data delivery status event notification service," it subscribes to the "satellite DL data delivery status event notification service" of SMF370 (step S304). The "satellite DL data delivery status event notification service" of SMF370 may be a new service similar to the new service "satellite DL data delivery status event notification service" of NEF330 or UDM320.

The SMF 370 instructs the UPF 380 to notify the DL data delivery status (step S305). The instruction in step S305 may be the same as that given when the SMF 370 provides a conventional DL data delivery status event notification service (see TS23.502, section 4.15.3.2.8). This allows the SMF 370 to receive notification of the DL data delivery status from the UPF 380.

Next, SMF370 subscribes to the "Satellite DL data delivery satellite rendezvous event notification service" of AMF310 (step S306). This service is a new event that reports on new events "Satellite DL data held" and "Unable to upload DL packets to satellite - DL packets held continuously." In this service, AMF310 adds the satellite rendezvous time for each event and notifies the subscriber (here, SMF370). Note that the satellite rendezvous time indicates the time to wait for the arrival of the satellite, based on the predicted arrival time of the satellite.

Next, a procedure for transmitting data (incoming data) from the AF 390 to the terminal 20 will be described. FIG. 7 is a sequence diagram showing an example of the flow of a data transmission procedure by the AF according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The AF 390 transmits data (incoming data) intended for the terminal 20 to the UPF 380 (step S401). The transmitted data remains in the UPF 380.

Next, the UPF 380 sends a PFCP session report request to the SMF 370, notifying it that incoming data is available, including "DL packets held" and the amount of DL data packets (step S402).

Next, the procedure for notifying the AF 390 of the data delivery status will be explained in four steps. Figure 8 is a sequence diagram showing an example of the first step of the procedure for notifying the AF of data delivery in an embodiment of the present invention.

Following the procedure shown in FIG. 7, the SMF 370 notifies the NEF 330 that the DL packet has been held (step S501).

The NEF 330 notifies the AF 390 that the DL packet has been held (step S502). This allows the AF 390 to understand that the data has been sent to the core network 30 and is being held.

Next, the procedure for notifying the DL data delivery status based on the instruction shown in step S202 of FIG. 5 will be described. FIG. 9 is a sequence diagram showing an example of the flow of the DL data delivery status notification procedure according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The SMF370 notifies the AMF310 that there is incoming data and the amount of DL data packets (step S601).

Then, AMF310 stores in the terminal context of terminal 20 the information that the terminal has DL data, including the amount of DL data packets (step S602). Here, terminal 20 determines whether or not the terminal context includes a "satellite S&F operation TA location identifier", and if it determines that the terminal context includes a "satellite S&F operation TA location identifier", it may perform the process of step S602 instead of transmitting a paging to base station 12. On the other hand, if the terminal 20 determines that the terminal context does not include a "satellite S&F operation TA location identifier", it may transmit a paging to base station 12.

In other words, at this point, the terminal context includes the following information: [SUPI, user location information, registered area, satellite S&F operation TA in range, DL data present, DL data packet volume]. The terminal in range TA is derived based on the user location information and the registered area.

Next, a second flow of the procedure for notifying AF 390 of the data delivery status will be described. Figure 10 is a sequence diagram showing an example of the second flow of the procedure for notifying AF of the data delivery status in an embodiment of the present invention.

AMF310 notifies SMF370 that "satellite DL data has been retained" and the satellite rendezvous time (step S701). Here, the satellite rendezvous time is information such as X hours and Y minutes.

The SMF370 notifies the NEF330 that "DL packet has been held" and the satellite waiting time (step S702). The NEF330 transfers the "DL packet has been held" and the satellite waiting time to the AF390 (step S703).

Note that each of the above procedures is executed regardless of whether the terminal is a priority terminal or a normal terminal. Then, by the above procedures, AMF310 grasps the total amount of DL data packets of (multiple) priority terminals and the total amount of DL data packets of (multiple) normal terminals for each TA in which the terminal is located.

Next, we will explain the procedure when a satellite arrives after the above-mentioned procedure and a feeder link is established between the satellite and ground station GW11.

First, the extended service request procedure will be explained in two steps. Figure 11 is a sequence diagram showing an example of the first half of the extended service request procedure according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The ground station GW11 transmits a service request message corresponding to multiple terminals, including the satellite number and the storable data capacity, to the base station 12 (step S801).

The base station 12 forwards the service request message to the AMF 310 (step S802).

AMF310 derives the corresponding TA list from the received satellite number, finds (multiple) terminals from local data that have a terminal context that includes a TA in the TA list, and narrows down the terminals to those that have received a notification from SMF370 that incoming data is available (see step S601 in Figure 9) (step S803).

Then, AMF310 compares the storable data capacity received from the satellite with the total amount of DL data packets described above, and determines which terminal's DL data packets can be sent to the satellite (step S804). Here, AMF310 determines that the priority terminal is given priority over the normal terminal. Also, when AMF310 receives information indicating whether the DL data packet is urgent from another network node, etc., or determines by other methods that the DL data packet for the normal terminal is urgent, it may give priority to the DL data packet in question over the normal DL data packet for the normal terminal.

The AMF 310 and other network nodes proceed with the service request procedure for each of the selected terminals (step S805) in the same manner as before (see TS 23.502, section 4.2.3.2, steps 4 (AMF → SMF), 6a (SMF → UPF), 6b (UPF → SMF), and 11 (SMF → AMF)).

Next, a third flow of the procedure for notifying AF 390 of the data delivery status will be described. Figure 12 is a sequence diagram showing an example of the third flow of the procedure for notifying AF of the data delivery status in an embodiment of the present invention.

AMF310 notifies the notification SMF370 of "DL packet upload to satellite not possible - DL packet retention continues" for the PDU sessions of the (multiple) terminals 20 that were not selected in step S804 in FIG. 11 (step S901). Here, if AMF310 knows the arrival time of the next satellite passing over the same TA, it may also notify the satellite waiting time.

The SMF370 notifies the NEF330 of "Unable to upload DL packets to the satellite - DL packets continue to be held" and the satellite waiting time (step S902). The NEF330 then transfers the "Unable to upload DL packets to the satellite - DL packets continue to be held" and the satellite waiting time to the AF390 (step S903).

Next, the generation of paging messages by AMF 310 will be described. AMF 310 composes a paging message in response to each of the above-mentioned service request procedures so that the satellite can use it above the TA, and creates a single information element. Here, the paging message may include information about the TA in which terminal 20 is located. This allows the satellite to understand the timing of sending each paging message.

Next, the latter half of the flow of the extended service request procedure will be described. Figure 13 is a sequence diagram showing an example of the latter half of the flow of the extended service request procedure according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The AMF 310 proceeds with the service request procedure and sends a message including information elements constituting the paging message to the base station 12 (step S1001) (see TS 23.502, section 4.2.3.2, step 12). The extended service request procedure described above activates the UP between the base station 12 and the UPF 380 for each of the (multiple) terminals 20. In addition, the paging information used by the satellite above each terminal 20 is associated with the UP and notified to the base station 12.

Next, a fourth flow of the procedure for notifying AF390 of the data delivery status will be described. Figure 14 is a sequence diagram showing an example of the fourth flow of the procedure for notifying AF of the data delivery status in an embodiment of the present invention.

The UPF 380 notifies the SMF 370 that "DL packet has been sent" regarding the PDU session in which the DL data was uploaded to the satellite (step S1101).

Next, the SMF370 determines whether or not the satellite S&F operation TA location identifier is set in the SM context of the PDU session, and if it determines that the satellite S&F operation TA location identifier is set in the SM context, it notifies the NEF330 that "DL packet has been uploaded to the satellite" (step S1102).

Next, NEF330 notifies AF390 that "DL packets have been uploaded to the satellite" (step S1103).

In this embodiment, when the satellite establishes a feeder link, the AMF 310 identifies the target terminals and activates the UP between the base station 12 and the UPF 380. The AMF 310 then generates paging information for each terminal 20 for later use by the satellite. The base station 12 receives incoming data via the UP for each target terminal 20, and also receives paging information.

This allows the core network 30 to transmit data to be sent to a terminal under satellite coverage, and information necessary for the satellite to call the terminal, to the appropriate satellite. Therefore, even in the case of satellite S&F operation, data can be transmitted to the terminal 20 under satellite coverage in a timely manner. Note that the transition of the UP from active to inactive occurs when there is no more communication data, as in the conventional case.

In addition, when DL data arrives, AMF310 obtains information on its size. AMF310 uploads DL data in the following order until the satellite's storable data capacity is reached: DL data for priority terminals, emergency DL data for normal terminals, and normal DL data for normal terminals. This makes it possible to satisfy the requirements "(i) the amount of data sent to the terminal should be limited" and "(ii) delivery priority should be taken into consideration" from among the conventional problems mentioned above.

In addition, the core network 30 has newly introduced a "satellite DL data delivery status event notification service" that is an expansion of the conventional DL data delivery status event notification service, and notifies the AF 390 of the satellite waiting time, the completion of data upload to the satellite, etc. This makes it possible to satisfy the requirements "(iii) the network should send a data receipt confirmation" and "(iv) the network should be able to provide a data delivery delay value" from among the conventional problems mentioned above.

(Device configuration)
Next, a functional configuration example of the base station 12, the terminal 20, and various network nodes that perform the processes and operations described above will be described. The base station 12, the terminal 20, and various network nodes include functions for performing the above-mentioned embodiments. However, the base station 12, the terminal 20, and various network nodes may each have only a part of the functions of the embodiments.

<Base Station 12 and Network Nodes>
FIG. 15 is a diagram showing an example of the functional configuration of the base station 12. As shown in FIG. 15, the base station 12 has a transmitting unit 110, a receiving unit 120, a setting unit 130, and a control unit 140. The functional configuration shown in FIG. 15 is merely an example. As long as the operation according to the embodiment of the present invention can be performed, the names of the functional divisions and the functional units may be any. Note that the network node may have the same functional configuration as the base station 12. In addition, a network node having a plurality of different functions in the system architecture may be composed of a plurality of network nodes separated by function.

The transmitting unit 110 has a function of generating a signal to be transmitted to the terminal 20 or another network node, and transmitting the signal by wire or wirelessly. The receiving unit 120 has a function of receiving various signals transmitted from the terminal 20 or another network node, and acquiring, for example, information of a higher layer from the received signal.

The setting unit 130 stores preset setting information and various setting information to be transmitted to the terminal 20 in a storage device, and reads it from the storage device as necessary. The contents of the setting information include, for example, settings related to communication using NTN.

The control unit 140 performs processes related to communication using NTN, as described in the embodiment. The control unit 140 also performs processes related to communication with the terminal 20. The control unit 140 also performs processes related to verifying the geographical position of the terminal 20. The functional unit in the control unit 140 related to signal transmission may be included in the transmitting unit 110, and the functional unit in the control unit 140 related to signal reception may be included in the receiving unit 120.

<Terminal 20>
Fig. 16 is a diagram showing an example of the functional configuration of the terminal 20. As shown in Fig. 16, the terminal 20 has a transmitting unit 210, a receiving unit 220, a setting unit 230, and a control unit 240. The functional configuration shown in Fig. 16 is merely an example. As long as the operation according to the embodiment of the present invention can be performed, the names of the functional divisions and the functional units may be any. The USIM mounted in the terminal 20 may have the transmitting unit 210, the receiving unit 220, the setting unit 230, and the control unit 240, similar to the terminal 20.

The transmitter 210 creates a transmission signal from the transmission data and transmits the transmission signal wirelessly. The receiver 220 receives various signals wirelessly and obtains higher layer signals from the received physical layer signals. The receiver 220 also has the function of receiving NR-PSS, NR-SSS, NR-PBCH, DL/UL control signals, reference signals, etc. transmitted from a network node.

The setting unit 230 stores various setting information received from the network node by the receiving unit 220 in a storage device, and reads it from the storage device as necessary. The setting unit 230 also stores setting information that is set in advance.

The network node of this embodiment may be configured as a network node as shown in each of the following items. In addition, the following communication method may be implemented.

<Configuration of this embodiment>
(Section 1)
a receiving unit that, when communication with a satellite is established, receives from a base station a service request including information for identifying the satellite and information indicating a data capacity that the satellite can store;
and a control unit that determines whether the incoming data can be transmitted to the satellite based on a data capacity that the satellite can store and an amount of incoming data to be transmitted to a terminal in an area through which the satellite passes.
Network node.
(Section 2)
the control unit prioritizes a priority terminal over a normal terminal when determining whether the incoming data can be transmitted to the satellite.
A network node as defined in claim 1.
(Section 3)
the control unit prioritizes the urgent data over the non-urgent data when determining whether the incoming data intended for the normal terminal can be transmitted to the satellite based on information indicating whether the incoming data is urgent data or not.
A network node as defined in clause 2.
(Section 4)
receiving, when communication with a satellite is established, a service request from a base station, the service request including information for identifying the satellite and information indicating a data capacity that the satellite can store;
and determining whether the incoming data can be transmitted to the satellite based on a data capacity that the satellite can store and an amount of incoming data to be transmitted to a terminal in an area through which the satellite passes.
The communication method implemented by network nodes.

Any of the above configurations provide technology that enables appropriate procedures for transmitting incoming data to a terminal in communication via a satellite. According to paragraph 1, it is possible to determine whether incoming data can be transmitted to a satellite based on the data capacity that the satellite can store and the amount of incoming data to be transmitted to a terminal in the area the satellite passes through. According to paragraph 2, when determining whether incoming data can be transmitted to a satellite, priority terminals can be given priority over normal terminals. According to paragraph 3, when determining whether incoming data intended for normal terminals can be transmitted to a satellite based on information indicating whether the data is urgent, it is possible to give priority to urgent data over non-urgent data.

(Hardware configuration)
The block diagrams (FIGS. 15 and 16) used in the description of the above embodiments show functional blocks. These functional blocks (components) are realized by any combination of at least one of hardware and software. The method of realizing each functional block is not particularly limited. That is, each functional block may be realized using one device that is physically or logically coupled, or may be realized using two or more devices that are physically or logically separated and directly or indirectly connected (for example, using wires, wirelessly, etc.). The functional block may be realized by combining the one device or the multiple devices with software.

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

For example, the network node, terminal 20, etc. in one embodiment of the present disclosure may function as a computer that performs processing of the wireless communication method of the present disclosure. FIG. 17 is a diagram showing an example of the hardware configuration of the base station 12 and the terminal 20 in one embodiment of the present disclosure. The network node may have a hardware configuration similar to that of the base station 12. The USIM may have a hardware configuration similar to that of the terminal 20. The above-mentioned base station 12 and terminal 20 may be physically configured as a computer device including a processor 1001, a storage device 1002, an auxiliary storage device 1003, a communication device 1004, an input device 1005, an output device 1006, a bus 1007, etc.

In the following description, the term "apparatus" can be interpreted as a circuit, device, unit, etc. The hardware configuration of the base station 12 and the terminal 20 may be configured to include one or more of the devices shown in the figure, or may be configured to exclude some of the devices.

The functions of the base station 12 and the terminal 20 are realized by loading specific software (programs) onto hardware such as the processor 1001 and the storage device 1002, causing the processor 1001 to perform calculations, control communications by the communication device 1004, and control at least one of the reading and writing of data in the storage device 1002 and the auxiliary storage device 1003.

The processor 1001, for example, operates an operating system to control the entire computer. The processor 1001 may be configured as a central processing unit (CPU) including an interface with peripheral devices, a control device, an arithmetic unit, registers, etc. For example, the above-mentioned control unit 140, control unit 240, etc. may be realized by the processor 1001.

The processor 1001 reads out a program (program code), software module, data, etc. from at least one of the auxiliary storage device 1003 and the communication device 1004 to the storage device 1002, and executes various processes according to the program. The program is a program that causes a computer to execute at least a part of the operations described in the above-mentioned embodiment. For example, the control unit 140 of the base station 12 shown in FIG. 15 may be stored in the storage device 1002 and realized by a control program that runs on the processor 1001. For example, the control unit 240 of the terminal 20 shown in FIG. 16 may be stored in the storage device 1002 and realized by a control program that runs on the processor 1001. Although the above-mentioned various processes have been described as being executed by one processor 1001, they may be executed simultaneously or sequentially by two or more processors 1001. The processor 1001 may be implemented by one or more chips. The program may be transmitted from a network via a telecommunication line.

The storage device 1002 is a computer-readable recording medium and may be composed of, for example, at least one of a ROM (Read Only Memory), an EPROM (Erasable Programmable ROM), an EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable ROM), a RAM (Random Access Memory), etc. The storage device 1002 may also be called a register, a cache, a main memory, etc. The storage device 1002 can store executable programs (program codes), software modules, etc. for implementing a communication method relating to one embodiment of the present disclosure.

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

The communication device 1004 is hardware (transmitting/receiving 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, a network controller, a network card, a communication module, etc. The communication device 1004 may be configured to include a high-frequency switch, a duplexer, a filter, a frequency synthesizer, etc., to realize at least one of, for example, Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) and Time Division Duplex (TDD). For example, the transmitting/receiving antenna, an amplifier unit, a transmitting/receiving unit, a transmission path interface, etc. may be realized by the communication device 1004. The transmitting/receiving unit may be implemented as a transmitting unit or a receiving unit that is physically or logically separated.

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

Furthermore, each device such as the processor 1001 and the storage device 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 base station 12 and the terminal 20 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 the hardware. For example, the processor 1001 may be implemented using at least one of these pieces of hardware.

FIG. 18 shows an example configuration of a vehicle 2001. As shown in FIG. 18, the vehicle 2001 includes a drive unit 2002, a steering unit 2003, an accelerator pedal 2004, a brake pedal 2005, a shift lever 2006, front wheels 2007, rear wheels 2008, an axle 2009, an electronic control unit 2010, various sensors 2021-2029, an information service unit 2012, and a communication module 2013. Each aspect/embodiment described in this disclosure may be applied to a communication device mounted on the vehicle 2001, and may be applied to the communication module 2013, for example.

The drive unit 2002 is composed of, for example, an engine, a motor, or a hybrid of an engine and a motor. The steering unit 2003 includes at least a steering wheel (also called a handlebar), and is configured to steer at least one of the front wheels and the rear wheels based on the operation of the steering wheel operated by the user.

The electronic control unit 2010 is composed of a microprocessor 2031, memory (ROM, RAM) 2032, and a communication port (IO port) 2033. Signals are input to the electronic control unit 2010 from various sensors 2021 to 2029 provided in the vehicle 2001. The electronic control unit 2010 may also be called an ECU (Electronic Control Unit).

Signals from the various sensors 2021-2029 include a current signal from a current sensor 2021 that senses the motor current, a front and rear wheel rotation speed signal obtained by a rotation speed sensor 2022, a front and rear wheel air pressure signal obtained by an air pressure sensor 2023, a vehicle speed signal obtained by a vehicle speed sensor 2024, an acceleration signal obtained by an acceleration sensor 2025, an accelerator pedal depression amount signal obtained by an accelerator pedal sensor 2029, a brake pedal depression amount signal obtained by a brake pedal sensor 2026, a shift lever operation signal obtained by a shift lever sensor 2027, and a detection signal for detecting obstacles, vehicles, pedestrians, etc. obtained by an object detection sensor 2028.

The information service unit 2012 is composed of various devices, such as a car navigation system, an audio system, speakers, a television, and a radio, for providing (outputting) various information such as driving information, traffic information, and entertainment information, and one or more ECUs for controlling these devices. The information service unit 2012 uses information acquired from external devices via the communication module 2013, etc., to provide various multimedia information and multimedia services to the occupants of the vehicle 2001.

The information service unit 2012 may include input devices (e.g., a keyboard, a mouse, a microphone, a switch, a button, a sensor, a touch panel, etc.) that accept input from the outside, and may also include output devices (e.g., a display, a speaker, an LED lamp, a touch panel, etc.) that perform output to the outside.

The driving assistance system unit 2030 is composed of various devices that provide functions for preventing accidents and reducing the driving burden on the driver, such as a millimeter wave radar, LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging), a camera, a positioning locator (e.g., GNSS, etc.), map information (e.g., high definition (HD) maps, autonomous vehicle (AV) maps, etc.), a gyro system (e.g., IMU (Inertial Measurement Unit), INS (Inertial Navigation System), etc.), AI (Artificial Intelligence) chip, and AI processor, as well as one or more ECUs that control these devices. In addition, the driving assistance system unit 2030 transmits and receives various information via the communication module 2013 to realize driving assistance functions or autonomous driving functions.

The communication module 2013 can communicate with the microprocessor 2031 and components of the vehicle 2001 via the communication port. For example, the communication module 2013 transmits and receives data via the communication port 2033 between the drive unit 2002, steering unit 2003, accelerator pedal 2004, brake pedal 2005, shift lever 2006, front wheels 2007, rear wheels 2008, axle 2009, microprocessor 2031 and memory (ROM, RAM) 2032 in the electronic control unit 2010, and sensors 2021 to 29, which are provided on the vehicle 2001.

The communication module 2013 is a communication device that can be controlled by the microprocessor 2031 of the electronic control unit 2010 and can communicate with an external device. For example, it transmits and receives various information to and from the external device via wireless communication. The communication module 2013 may be located either inside or outside the electronic control unit 2010. The external device may be, for example, a base station, a mobile station, etc.

The communication module 2013 may transmit at least one of the signals from the various sensors 2021-2029 described above input to the electronic control unit 2010, information obtained based on the signals, and information based on input from the outside (user) obtained via the information service unit 2012 to an external device via wireless communication. The electronic control unit 2010, the various sensors 2021-2029, the information service unit 2012, etc. may be referred to as input units that accept input. For example, the PUSCH transmitted by the communication module 2013 may include information based on the above input.

The communication module 2013 receives various information (traffic information, signal information, vehicle distance information, etc.) transmitted from an external device, and displays it on the information service unit 2012 provided in the vehicle 2001. The information service unit 2012 may be called an output unit that outputs information (for example, outputs information to a device such as a display or speaker based on the PDSCH (or data/information decoded from the PDSCH) received by the communication module 2013).

The communication module 2013 also stores various information received from external devices in memory 2032 that can be used by the microprocessor 2031. Based on the information stored in memory 2032, the microprocessor 2031 may control the drive unit 2002, steering unit 2003, accelerator pedal 2004, brake pedal 2005, shift lever 2006, front wheels 2007, rear wheels 2008, axles 2009, sensors 2021 to 2029, and the like provided on the vehicle 2001.

(Supplementary description of the embodiment)
Although the embodiment of the present invention has been described above, the disclosed invention is not limited to such an embodiment, and those skilled in the art will understand various modifications, modifications, alternatives, replacements, and the like. Although the description has been given using specific numerical examples to facilitate understanding of the invention, unless otherwise specified, those numerical values are merely examples and any appropriate value may be used. The division of items in the above description is not essential to the present invention, and matters described in two or more items may be used in combination as necessary, and matters described in one item may be applied to matters described in another item (as long as there is no contradiction). The boundaries of functional units or processing units in the functional block diagram do not necessarily correspond to the boundaries of physical parts. The operations of multiple functional units may be physically performed by one part, or the operations of one functional unit may be physically performed by multiple parts. The order of the processing procedures described in the embodiment may be changed as long as there is no contradiction. For convenience of the processing description, the base station 12 and the terminal 20 have been described using functional block diagrams, but such devices may be realized by hardware, software, or a combination thereof. The software operated by the processor of the base station 12 in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention and the software operated by the processor of the terminal 20 in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention may each be stored in random access memory (RAM), flash memory, read only memory (ROM), EPROM, EEPROM, register, hard disk (HDD), removable disk, CD-ROM, database, server or any other suitable storage medium.

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., Radio Resource Control (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 a mobile communication system (mobile communications system) for mobile communications over a wide range of networks, including LTE (Long Term Evolution), LTE-A (LTE-Advanced), SUPER 3G, IMT-Advanced, 4G (4th generation mobile communication system), 5G (5th generation mobile communication system), 6th generation mobile communication system (6G), xth generation mobile communication system (xG) (xG (x is, for example, an integer or a decimal number)), FRA (Future Ra The present invention may be applied to at least one of systems using IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi (registered trademark)), IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX (registered trademark)), IEEE 802.20, UWB (Ultra-WideBand), Bluetooth (registered trademark), and other appropriate systems, and next-generation systems that are expanded, modified, created, or defined based on these. It may also be applied to a combination of multiple systems (for example, a combination of at least one of LTE and LTE-A with 5G, etc.).

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

In this specification, certain operations that are described as being performed by the base station 12 may in some cases be performed by its upper node. In a network consisting of one or more network nodes having a base station 12, it is clear that various operations performed for communication with the terminal 20 may be performed by at least one of the base station 12 and other network nodes other than the base station 12 (such as, but not limited to, an MME or S-GW). Although the above example shows a case where there is one other network node other than the base station 12, the other network node may be a combination of multiple other network nodes (such as an MME and an S-GW).

The information or signals described in this disclosure may be output from a higher layer (or a lower layer) to a lower layer (or a higher layer). They may be input and output via multiple network nodes.

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

The determination in this disclosure may be based on a value represented by one bit (0 or 1), a Boolean (true or false) value, or a comparison of numerical values (e.g., a comparison with a predetermined value).

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

The information, signals, etc. described in this disclosure may be represented using any of a variety of different technologies. For example, the 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 the terms explained in this disclosure and the terms necessary for understanding this disclosure may be replaced with terms having the same or similar meanings. For example, at least one of the channel and the symbol may be a signal (signaling). Also, the signal may be a message. Also, the 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.

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

The names used for the above-mentioned parameters are not limiting in any respect. Furthermore, the formulas etc. 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 limiting in any respect.

In this disclosure, terms such as "base station (BS)", "radio base station", "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. A base station 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. When a base station accommodates multiple cells, the entire coverage area of the base station can be divided into multiple smaller areas, and each smaller area can also provide communication services by a base station subsystem (e.g., a small indoor base station (RRH: Remote Radio Head)). The term "cell" or "sector" refers to a part or the entire coverage area of at least one of the base station and base station subsystems that provide communication services in this coverage.

In this disclosure, a base station transmitting information to a terminal may be interpreted as the base station instructing the terminal to control or operate based on the information.

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 called 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 moving object, the moving object itself, etc. The moving object is a movable object, and the moving speed is arbitrary. It also includes the case where the moving object is stopped. The moving object includes, but is not limited to, for example, a vehicle, a transport vehicle, an automobile, a motorcycle, a bicycle, a connected car, an excavator, a bulldozer, a wheel loader, a dump truck, a forklift, a train, a bus, a handcar, a rickshaw, a ship and other watercraft, an airplane, a rocket, an artificial satellite, a drone (registered trademark), a multicopter, a quadcopter, a balloon, and objects mounted thereon. The moving object may also be a moving object that travels autonomously based on an operation command. It may be a vehicle (e.g., a car, an airplane, etc.), an unmanned moving object (e.g., a drone, an autonomous vehicle, etc.), or a robot (manned or unmanned). In addition, at least one of the base station and the mobile station may 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 IoT (Internet of Things) device such as a sensor.

Furthermore, the base station in the present disclosure may be read as a user terminal. For example, each aspect/embodiment of the present disclosure may be applied to a configuration in which communication between a base station and a user terminal is replaced with communication between multiple terminals 20 (which may be called, for example, D2D (Device-to-Device) or V2X (Vehicle-to-Everything)). In this case, the terminal 20 may be configured to have the functions of the base station 12 described above. Furthermore, terms such as "uplink" and "downlink" may be read as terms corresponding to terminal-to-terminal communication (for example, "side"). For example, the uplink channel, downlink channel, etc. may be read as a side channel.

Similarly, the user terminal in this disclosure may be interpreted as a base station. In this case, the base station may be configured to have the functions of the user terminal described above.

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, search, inquiry (e.g., searching in a table, database, or other data structure), and considering ascertaining as "judging" or "determining." 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 considering ascertaining as "judging" or "determining." Additionally, "judgment" and "decision" can include considering resolving, selecting, choosing, establishing, comparing, etc., to have been "judged" or "decided." In other words, "judgment" and "decision" can include considering some action to have been "judged" or "decided." Additionally, "judgment (decision)" can be interpreted as "assuming," "expecting," "considering," etc.

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 at least one of one or more wires, cables, and 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 RS (Reference Signal) 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."

Any reference to an element using a designation such as "first," "second," etc., used in this disclosure 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 or that the first element must precede the second element in some way.

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

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." Additionally, the term "or," as used in this disclosure, is not intended to be an exclusive or.

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, a specific filtering process performed by the transceiver in the frequency domain, a specific windowing process performed by the transceiver in the time domain, etc.

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

A slot may include multiple minislots. Each minislot may consist of one or multiple 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. Radio frame, subframe, slot, minislot, and symbol may each be referred to by a different name that corresponds to the 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 representing 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 performs scheduling to allocate wireless resources (such as frequency bandwidth and transmission power that can be used by each terminal 20) to each terminal 20 in TTI units. Note that 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), a code block, a code word, etc., or may be a processing unit for scheduling, link adaptation, etc. When a TTI is given, the time interval (e.g., the number of symbols) in which a transport block, a code block, a code word, etc. is actually mapped may be shorter than the TTI.

Note that when one slot or one minislot is called a TTI, one or more TTIs (i.e., one or more slots or one or more minislots) may be the minimum time unit of scheduling. In addition, the number of slots (minislots) that constitute the minimum time unit of scheduling may be controlled.

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

Note that a long TTI (e.g., a normal TTI, a 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 shorter than the TTI length of a long TTI and equal to or greater than 1 ms.

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 the numerology, and may be, for example, 12. The number of subcarriers included in an RB may be determined based on the 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.

In addition, one or more RBs may 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.

Furthermore, a resource block may be composed of one or more resource elements (REs). For example, one RE may be a radio resource area 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 an index of the RB relative to a common reference point of the carrier. PRBs may be defined in a BWP and numbered within the BWP.

The BWP may include a BWP for UL (UL BWP) and a BWP for DL (DL BWP). One or more BWPs may be configured within one carrier for the terminal 20.

At least one of the configured BWPs may be active, and the terminal 20 may not be expected to transmit or receive a specific signal/channel outside the active BWP. Note that "cell," "carrier," and the like in this disclosure may be read as "BWP."

The above-mentioned structures of radio frames, subframes, slots, minislots, and symbols 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 in a TTI, the symbol length, and the cyclic prefix (CP) length can be changed in various ways.

In this disclosure, where articles have been added through translation, such as a, an, and the in English, this disclosure may include that the nouns following these articles are plural.

In this disclosure, the term "A and B are different" may mean "A and B are different from each other." 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."

Each aspect/embodiment described in this disclosure may be used alone, in combination, or switched between depending on the execution. In addition, notification of specific information (e.g., notification that "X is the case") is not limited to being done explicitly, but may be done implicitly (e.g., not notifying the specific information).

　Although the present disclosure has been described in detail above, it is 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 as 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 RAN
11 Ground Station GW
12 Base station 110 Transmitter 120 Receiver 130 Setting unit 140 Control unit 20 Terminal 30 Core network 40 DN
210 Transmission unit 220 Reception unit 230 Setting unit 240 Control unit 310 AMF
320 U.D.M.
330 NEF
340 NRF
350 AUSF
360 PCF
370 SMF
380 U.P.F.
390 AF
1001 Processor 1002 Storage device 1003 Auxiliary storage device 1004 Communication device 1005 Input device 1006 Output device 2001 Vehicle 2002 Drive unit 2003 Steering unit 2004 Accelerator pedal 2005 Brake pedal 2006 Shift lever 2007 Front wheels 2008 Rear wheels 2009 Axle 2010 Electronic control unit 2012 Information service unit 2013 Communication module 2021 Current sensor 2022 Rotational speed sensor 2023 Air pressure sensor 2024 Vehicle speed sensor 2025 Acceleration sensor 2026 Brake pedal sensor 2027 Shift lever sensor 2028 Object detection sensor 2029 Accelerator pedal sensor 2030 Driving support system unit 2031 Microprocessor 2032 Memory (ROM, RAM)
2033 Communication port (IO port)

Claims (4)

a receiving unit that, when communication with a satellite is established, receives from a base station a service request including information for identifying the satellite and information indicating a data capacity that the satellite can store;
and a control unit that determines whether the incoming data can be transmitted to the satellite based on a data capacity that the satellite can store and an amount of incoming data to be transmitted to a terminal in an area through which the satellite passes.
Network node. the control unit prioritizes a priority terminal over a normal terminal when determining whether the incoming data can be transmitted to the satellite.
A network node according to claim 1. the control unit prioritizes the urgent data over the non-urgent data when determining whether the incoming data intended for the normal terminal can be transmitted to the satellite based on information indicating whether the incoming data is urgent data or not.
A network node according to claim 2. receiving, when communication with a satellite is established, a service request from a base station, the service request including information for identifying the satellite and information indicating a data capacity that the satellite can store;
and determining whether the incoming data can be transmitted to the satellite based on a data capacity that the satellite can store and an amount of incoming data to be transmitted to a terminal in an area through which the satellite passes.
The communication method implemented by network nodes.

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