WO2025148551A1

WO2025148551A1 - Method and apparatus for operations associated with uplink only cell in mobile communications

Info

Publication number: WO2025148551A1
Application number: PCT/CN2024/135487
Authority: WO
Inventors: Chi-Hsuan Hsieh; Hung-Chi Kuo; Xiu-sheng LI; Wei-De Wu
Original assignee: MediaTek Inc
Current assignee: MediaTek Inc
Priority date: 2024-01-09
Filing date: 2024-11-29
Publication date: 2025-07-17
Anticipated expiration: 2026-07-09

Abstract

Various solutions for operations associated with uplink (UL) only cell with respect to user equipment (UE) and network apparatus in mobile communications are described. A UE may receive a first message indicating a reference signal on a first specific cell from a network. The UE may perform a preprocessing procedure associated with an UL only cell based on the reference signal. The UE may further perform an UL transmission with the UL only cell so as to achieve a better throughput for UL data.

Description

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR OPERATIONS ASSOCIATED WITH UPLINK ONLY CELL IN MOBILE COMMUNICATIONS

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED PATENT APPLICATION (S)

The present disclosure is part of a non-provisional application claiming the priority benefit of U.S. Patent Application No. 63/618,924, filed 9 January 2024, the content of which herein being incorporated by reference in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure is generally related to mobile communications and, more particularly, to operations associated with uplink only cell with respect to user equipment and network apparatus in mobile communications.

BACKGROUND

Unless otherwise indicated herein, approaches described in this section are not prior art to the claims listed below and are not admitted as prior art by inclusion in this section.

In fifth generation (5G) new radio (NR) , Supplementary Uplink (SUL) is a technology that enhances uplink (UL) data rates by adding a dedicated low-frequency carrier for UL transmissions. With SUL, a user equipment (UE) is configured with two UL carriers for one DL carrier of a single cell. The UE may be scheduled to transmit either on the SUL carrier or on the normal UL (NUL) carrier, but not on both at the same time. Since SUL must be bundled with the NUL, its scheduling flexibility is limited compared to an UL only cell in terms of simultaneous transmission, and retransmission. To reap the benefits of UL only cells, appropriate schemes are needed for the UE and network in such scenario.

SUMMARY

The following summary is illustrative only and is not intended to be limiting in any way. That is, the following summary is provided to introduce concepts, highlights, benefits and advantages of the novel and non-obvious techniques described herein. Select implementations are further described below in the detailed description. Thus, the following summary is not intended to identify essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended for use in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.

An objective of the present disclosure is to propose solutions or schemes that address the aforementioned issue pertaining to operations associated with uplink (UL) only cell with respect to user equipment (UE) and network apparatus in mobile communications.

In one aspect, a method may involve an apparatus receiving a first message indicating a reference signal on a first specific cell from a network. The method may also involve the apparatus performing a preprocessing procedure associated with an UL only cell based on the reference signal. The method may further involve the apparatus performing an UL transmission with the UL only cell.

In one aspect, an apparatus may comprise a transceiver which, during operation, wirelessly communicates with a network. The apparatus may also comprise a processor communicatively coupled to the transceiver. The processor, during operation, may perform operations comprising receiving a first message indicating a reference signal on a first specific cell from a network via the transceiver. The processor may also perform operations comprising performing a preprocessing procedure associated with an UL only cell based on the reference signal. The processor may further perform operations comprising performing an UL transmission with the UL only cell.

In another aspect, a method may involve a network configuring an UL only cell. The method may also involve the network transmitting a first message indicating a reference signal on a first specific cell to a UE for performing a preprocessing procedure associated with the UL only cell based on the reference signal. The method may further involve the network receiving UL data from the UE through the UL only cell.

It is noteworthy that, although description provided herein may be in the context of certain radio access technologies, networks and network topologies such as LTE, LTE-Advanced, LTE-Advanced Pro, 5G, NR, 5G-Advanced, Internet-of-Things (IoT) , Narrow Band Internet of Things (NB-IoT) , Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) , beyond 5G (B5G) , and 6th Generation (6G) , the proposed concepts, schemes and any variation (s) /derivative (s) thereof may be implemented in, for and by other types of radio access technologies, networks and network topologies. Thus, the scope of the present disclosure is not limited to the examples described herein.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the disclosure and are incorporated in and constitute a part of the present disclosure. The drawings illustrate implementations of the disclosure and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the disclosure. It is appreciable that the drawings are not necessarily in scale as some components may be shown to be out of proportion than the size in actual implementation in order to clearly illustrate the concept of the present disclosure.

FIG. 1 is a diagram depicting an example scenario of a communication environment in which various solutions and schemes in accordance with the present disclosure may be implemented.

FIG. 2 is a diagram depicting another example scenario of a communication environment in which various solutions and schemes in accordance with the present disclosure may be implemented.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an example communication system in accordance with an implementation of the present disclosure.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of an example process in accordance with an implementation of the present disclosure.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of another example process in accordance with an implementation of the present disclosure.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED IMPLEMENTATIONS

Detailed embodiments and implementations of the claimed subject matters are disclosed herein. However, it shall be understood that the disclosed embodiments and implementations are merely illustrative of the claimed subject matters which may be embodied in various forms. The present disclosure may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the exemplary embodiments and implementations set forth herein. Rather, these exemplary embodiments and implementations are provided so that description of the present disclosure is thorough and complete and will fully convey the scope of the present disclosure to those skilled in the art. In the description below, details of well-known features and techniques may be omitted to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the presented embodiments and implementations.
Overview

Implementations in accordance with the present disclosure relate to various techniques, methods, schemes and/or solutions pertaining to operations associated with uplink (UL) only cell in mobile communications for the enhancement of UL throughput and coverage. According to the present disclosure, a number of possible solutions may be implemented separately or jointly. That is, although these possible solutions may be described below separately, two or more of these possible solutions may be implemented in one combination or another.

FIG. 1 is a diagram depicting an example scenario of a communication environment in which various solutions and schemes in accordance with the present disclosure may be implemented. In scenario 100, the UE 110 may simultaneously communicate with multiple base stations (e.g., the BSs 120 and 130) . For example, the UE 110 may first connect to the BS 120. Then, the UE 110 may connect to the BS 130 by using the radio resource control (RRC) message from the BS 120. In one embodiment, the BS 120 is referred to as a master radio access network (RAN) node and the BS 130 is referred to as a secondary RAN node. The UE 110 may camp on the cell 121 associated with the BS 120 and perform UL and downlink (DL) transmission (s) 125 with the cell 121. In scenario 100, the BS 130 configures a UL only cell 131 with an UL component carrier but no DL component carrier. To enjoy the higher UL throughput and the better UL coverage by using the UL only cell 131, the UE 110 may perform one or more preprocessing procedures associated with the UL only cell 131 based on one or more reference signals on another cell (referred to as a specific cell, which is different from the UL only cell 131) . For example, the UE 110 may receive a message transmitted by the BS 120, the message indicates one or more reference signals on the cell 121 for the preprocessing procedure (s) . The message may be a RRC message, a downlink control information (DCI) message, or a medium access control-control element (MAC-CE) message, the present disclosure is not limited thereto. By using the reference signal (s) on the cell 121, the UE may perform the preprocessing procedure (s) associated with the UL only cell 131, and then perform the UL transmission 135 with the UL only cell 131.

In one embodiment, the preprocessing procedure may include a time synchronization procedure, however, the details of the time synchronization procedure are not limited by the present disclosure. For instance, the UE 110 may use the reference signal on the cell 121 to perform time synchronization to identify an orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol boundary associated with the UL only cell 131 via auto correlation in time domain. As a cyclic prefix (CP) is appended at the end of each OFDM symbol, the symbol boundary region lies in the plateau region though the auto correlation process.

In one embodiment, the preprocessing procedure may include a frequency synchronization procedure, but the details of the frequency synchronization procedure are not limited by the present disclosure. For example, the UE 110 may use the reference signal on the cell 121 to perform frequency synchronization to estimate a carrier frequency offset (CFO) and/or a channel response associated with the UL only cell 131. The CFO and the channel response may be estimated though the Fourier transform or other suitable transform process.

In one embodiment, the preprocessing procedure may include a beam management procedure. Nevertheless, the details of the beam management procedure are not limited by the present disclosure. For instance, the UE 110 may perform the beam management of the UL only cell 131 based on the reference signal on the cell 121. To be specific, a beam pair link (BPL) associated with the UL only cell 131 may be determined and maintained according to the beam management performed based on the reference signal. Also, a BPL for a control channel and/or a data channel associated with the UL only cell 131 may be established according to the beam management performed based on the reference signal. Further, a beam alignment associated with the UL only cell 131 may be restored according to the beam management performed based on the reference signal when a serving BPL fails.

In the foregoing embodiments, the reference signals for all necessary preprocessing procedures correspond to a single specific cell (e.g., the cell 121) . On the other hand, the reference signals for different preprocessing procedures may correspond to different specific cells. For example, the UE 110 may use the reference signal on the cell 121 to perform the time and frequency synchronization of the UL only cell 131, and use the reference signal on a specific cell different from the cells 121 and 131 to perform the beam management of the UL only cell 131. Alternatively, the UE 110 may use the reference signal on a specific cell other than the cells 121 and 131 to perform the time and frequency synchronization of the UL only cell 131, and use the reference signal on the cell 121 to perform the beam management of the UL only cell 131.

For the UL transmission 135, the UE 110 may receive a timing advance (TA) value of the UL only cell 131 from the network, and then apply the TA value to a DL timing from a reference cell when transmitting the UL data. The TA value may be indicated in a RRC message, a DCI message, or a MAC-CE message, the present disclosure is not limited thereto. In one example, the UE 110 may apply the TA value using the DL timing from a primary cell (PCell) such as the cell 121. Alternatively, the UE 110 may apply the TA value using the DL timing from a reference cell indicated by the network through a RRC message, a DCI message, or a MAC-CE message.

Furthermore, the UE 110 may receive a message indicating a pathloss reference signal on a reference cell from the network. The reference cell may be the cell 121 or a cell other than the cells 121 and 131. The UE 110 may calculate a pathloss for the UL transmission 135 with the UL only cell 131 based on the pathloss reference signal. More specifically, the UE 110 may use the pathloss reference signal to calculate the pathloss by measuring the power difference between the transmission side (indicated by the network) and the receiving side. In this example, the message received by the UE 110 may be a RRC message, a DCI message, or a MAC-CE message, the present disclosure is not limited thereto.

In scenario 100, the cell 121 is regarded as the PCell while the UL only cell 131 is regarded as the secondary cell (SCell) . For the SCell activation of the UL only cell 131, when the activation is completed, the UE 110 may transmit an activation complete flag rather than a channel state information (CSI) report to the network. In other examples, the UL only cell 131 may correspond to a different cell type, and when the cell activation of the UL only cell 131 is completed, the UE 110 may transmit an activation complete flag to the network.

FIG. 2 is a diagram depicting another example scenario of a communication environment in which various solutions and schemes in accordance with the present disclosure may be implemented. In scenario 200, the cells 221 and 231 are both associated with the BS 220. In which, the cell 221 has a configured UL component carrier as well as a configured DL component carrier, but the UL only cell 231 has a configured UL component carrier with no configured DL component carrier. The UE 210 may perform the DL and UL transmission 225 with the cell 221. To perform the UL transmission 235 with the UL only cell 231, the UE 210 may receive a message indicating a reference signal on a specific cell (e.g., the cell 221) , and perform the preprocessing procedure associated with the UL only cell 231 accordingly. Similar to scenario 100 in FIG. 1, the preprocessing procedure may include any of the time synchronization, the frequency synchronization, and the beam management of the UL only cell 231. The details of the preprocessing procedure are not limited by the present disclosure. The UE 210 may use the reference signal (s) on a single specific cell for performing all the preprocessing procedures of the UL only cell 231. Alternatively, the UE 210 may use the reference signal (s) on different specific cells for performing different preprocessing procedures of the UL only cell 231. Also, to perform the UL transmission 235 with the UL only cell 231, the UE 210 may receive a TA value from the network and apply the TA value to a DL timing associated with another cell (e.g., the cell 221 or a cell indicated by a RRC/DCI/MAC-CE message) . Further, the UE 210 may obtain a pathloss reference signal on another cell indicated by a RRC/DCI/MAC-CE message to calculate the pathloss for the UL transmission 235 with the UL only cell 231. Besides, once the activation of the UL only cell 231 is completed, the UE 210 may transmit a flag rather than a CSI report to the network.

In the foregoing embodiments, to support the UL only cell 131/231, the UE 110/210 has to support a cross-carrier scheduling. Furthermore, to support an intra/inter-band UL only cell, the UE 110/210 has to support a cell without a synchronization signal and physical broadcast channel block (SSB) in intra-band carrier aggregation (CA) or inter-band CA.

By using the reference signal from another cell, the UE may complete the preprocessing procedure associated with the UL only cell and obtain the necessary parameters for the UL transmission with the UL only cell, so that a higher UL throughput and a better UL coverage can be achieved.
Illustrative Implementations

FIG. 3 illustrates an example communication system 300 having at least an example communication apparatus 310 and an example network apparatus 320 in accordance with an implementation of the present disclosure. Each of the communication apparatus 310 and network apparatus 320 may perform various functions to implement schemes, techniques, processes and methods described herein pertaining to operations associated with UL only cell in mobile communications, including scenarios/schemes described above as well as process 400 and process 500 described below.

Communication apparatus 310 may be a part of an electronic apparatus, which may be a UE such as a portable or mobile apparatus, a wearable apparatus, a wireless communication apparatus or a computing apparatus. For instance, communication apparatus 310 may be implemented in a smartphone, a smartwatch, a personal digital assistant, a digital camera, or a computing equipment such as a tablet computer, a laptop computer or a notebook computer. Communication apparatus 310 may also be a part of a machine type apparatus, which may be an IoT, NB-IoT, or IIoT apparatus such as an immobile or a stationary apparatus, a home apparatus, a wire communication apparatus or a computing apparatus. For instance, communication apparatus 310 may be implemented in a smart thermostat, a smart fridge, a smart door lock, a wireless speaker or a home control center. Alternatively, communication apparatus 310 may be implemented in the form of one or more integrated-circuit (IC) chips such as, for example and without limitation, one or more single-core processors, one or more multi-core processors, one or more reduced-instruction set computing (RISC) processors, or one or more complex-instruction-set-computing (CISC) processors. Communication apparatus 310 may include at least some of those components shown in FIG. 3 such as a processor 312, for example. Communication apparatus 310 may further include one or more other components not pertinent to the proposed scheme of the present disclosure (e.g., internal power supply, display device and/or user interface device) , and, thus, such component (s) of communication apparatus 310 are neither shown in FIG. 3 nor described below in the interest of simplicity and brevity.

Network apparatus 320 may be a part of a network apparatus, which may be a network node such as a satellite, a base station, a small cell, a router or a gateway. For instance, network apparatus 320 may be implemented in an eNB in an LTE network, in a gNB in a 5G/NR, IoT, NB-IoT or IIoT network or in a satellite or base station in a 6G network. Network apparatus 320 may include at least some of those components shown in FIG. 3 such as a processor 322, for example. Processor 322 may further include protocol stacks and a set of control functional modules and circuit. Network apparatus 320 may further include one or more other components not pertinent to the proposed scheme of the present disclosure (e.g., internal power supply, display device and/or user interface device) , and, thus, such component (s) of network apparatus 320 are neither shown in FIG. 3 nor described below in the interest of simplicity and brevity.

In one aspect, each of the processor 312 and processor 322 may be implemented in the form of one or more single-core processors, one or more multi-core processors, or one or more CISC processors. That is, even though a singular term “a processor” is used herein to refer to processor 312 and processor 322, each of the processor 312 and processor 322 may include multiple processors in some implementations and a single processor in other implementations in accordance with the present disclosure. In another aspect, each of the processor 312 and processor 322 may be implemented in the form of hardware (and, optionally, firmware) with electronic components including, for example and without limitation, one or more transistors, one or more diodes, one or more capacitors, one or more resistors, one or more inductors, one or more memristors and/or one or more varactors that are configured and arranged to achieve specific purposes in accordance with the present disclosure. In other words, in at least some implementations, each of the processor 312 and processor 322 is a special-purpose machine specifically designed, arranged and configured to perform specific tasks in a device (e.g., as represented by communication apparatus 310) and a network (e.g., as represented by network apparatus 320) in accordance with various implementations of the present disclosure.

In some implementations, communication apparatus 310 may also include a transceiver 316 coupled to processor 312 and capable of wirelessly transmitting and receiving data. In some implementations, communication apparatus 310 may further include a memory 314 coupled to processor 312 and capable of being accessed by processor 312 and storing data therein.

In some implementations, network apparatus 320 may further include a memory 324 coupled to processor 322 and capable of being accessed by processor 322 and storing data therein. Accordingly, communication apparatus 310 and network apparatus 320 may wirelessly communicate with each other via transceiver 316 and transceiver 326, respectively.

For illustrative purposes and without limitation, descriptions of capabilities of the communication apparatus 310 and network apparatus 320 are provided below with process 400 and process 500. In which, communication apparatus 310 is implemented in or as a communication apparatus or a UE, and network apparatus 320 is implemented in or as a network node of a communication network (e.g., a base station) .
Illustrative Processes

FIG. 4 illustrates an example process 400 in accordance with an implementation of the present disclosure. Process 400 may be an example implementation of above scenarios/schemes, whether partially or completely, with respect to operations associated with UL only cell in mobile communications. Process 400 may represent an aspect of implementation of features of communication apparatus 310. Process 400 may include one or more operations, actions, or functions as illustrated by one or more of blocks 410, 420, and 430. Although illustrated as discrete blocks, various blocks of process 400 may be divided into additional blocks, combined into fewer blocks, or eliminated, depending on the desired implementation. Moreover, the blocks of process 400 may be executed in the order shown in FIG. 4 or, alternatively, in a different order. Process 400 may be implemented by communication apparatus 310 or any suitable UE (e.g., the UE 110 and the UE 210) or machine type devices. Solely for illustrative purposes and without limitation, process 400 is described below in the context of communication apparatus 310 as a UE. Process 400 may begin at block 410.

At block 410, process 400 may involve processor 312 of communication apparatus 310 receiving, via transceiver 316, a first message indicating a reference signal on a first specific cell from a network. For example, the first specific cell may be associated with network apparatus 320, and the first message is transmitted by network apparatus 320 via transceiver 326. Process 400 may proceed from block 410 to block 420.

At block 420, process 400 may involve processor 312 performing a preprocessing procedure associated with an UL only cell based on the reference signal. For example, the UL only cell may be associated with a network apparatus other then network apparatus 320. Alternatively, the UL only cell may be associated with network apparatus 320, however, the UL only cell and the first specific cell are two different cells. Process 400 may proceed from block 420 to block 430.

At block 430, process 400 may involve processor 312 performing an UL transmission with the UL only cell.

In some implementations, when performing the preprocessing procedure associated with the UL only cell based on the reference signal, process 400 may involve processor 312 performing at least one of a time synchronization, a frequency synchronization, and a beam management of the UL only cell based on the reference signal.

In some implementations, an OFDM symbol boundary associated with the UL only cell is identified according to the time synchronization performed based on the reference signal.

In some implementations, at least one of a CFO and a channel response associated with the UL only cell is estimated according to the frequency synchronization performed based on the reference signal.

In some implementations, a BPL associated with the UL only cell is determined and maintained according to the beam management performed based on the reference signal.

In some implementations, a BPL for at least one of a control channel and a data channel associated with the UL only cell is established according to the beam management performed based on the reference signal.

In some implementations, a beam alignment associated with the UL only cell is restored according to the beam management performed based on the reference signal when a serving BPL fails.

In some implementations, process 400 may involve processor 312 receiving a TA value of the UL only cell from the network.

In some implementations, when performing the UL transmission with the UL only cell, process 400 may involve processor 312 obtaining a DL timing from a second specific cell. Process 400 may further involve processor 312 applying the TA value to the DL timing when performing the UL transmission with the UL only cell. For example, the second specific cell may be identical to the first specific cell. Alternatively, the second specific cell and the first specific cell are two different cells.

In some implementations, the second specific cell may include a PCell or a cell indicated by the network through a second message.

In some implementations, process 400 may involve processor 312 receiving, via transceiver 316, a third message indicating a pathloss reference signal on a third specific cell from the network. Process 400 may further involve processor 312 calculating a pathloss for the UL transmission with the UL only cell based on the pathloss reference signal. For example, the third specific cell may be identical to the first specific cell. In another example, the third specific cell may be identical to the second specific cell. In yet another example, the third specific cells may be different from the first and second specific cells.

In some implementations, process 400 may involve processor 312 transmitting, via transceiver 316, a flag to the network in an event that a cell activation of the UL only cell is completed.

In some implementations, communication apparatus 310 supports at least one of a cross-carrier scheduling and a cell without a SSB in intra-band CA or inter-band CA.

In some implementations, the first message may include a RRC message, a DCI message, or a MAC-CE message.

FIG. 5 illustrates another example process 500 in accordance with an implementation of the present disclosure. Process 500 may be an example implementation of above scenarios/schemes, whether partially or completely, with respect to operations associated with UL only cell in mobile communications. Process 500 may represent an aspect of implementation of features any suitable network node (s) . Process 500 may include one or more operations, actions, or functions as illustrated by one or more of blocks 510, 520, and 530. Although illustrated as discrete blocks, various blocks of process 500 may be divided into additional blocks, combined into fewer blocks, or eliminated, depending on the desired implementation. Moreover, the blocks of process 500 may be executed in the order shown in FIG. 5 or, alternatively, in a different order. Process 500 may begin at block 510.

At block 510, process 500 may involve a network configuring an UL only cell. For example, process 500 may involve a processor of a network apparatus other than network apparatus 320 configuring the UL only cell. Alternatively, process 500 may involve processor 322 of network apparatus 320 configuring the UL only cell. Process 500 may proceed from block 510 to block 520.

At block 520, process 500 may involve the network transmitting a first message indicating a reference signal on a first specific cell to a UE (e.g., communication apparatus 310, the UE 110, or the UE 210) for performing a preprocessing procedure associated with the UL only cell based on the reference signal. For example, the first specific cell may be associated with network apparatus 320, and process 500 may involve transmitting the first message to the UE via transceiver 326. Process 500 may proceed from block 520 to block 530.

At block 530, process 500 may involve the network receiving UL data from the UE through the UL only cell.

In some implementations, process 500 may further involve the network receiving a flag indicating a cell activation of the UL only cell is completed from the UE.
Additional Notes

The herein-described subject matter sometimes illustrates different components contained within, or connected with, different other components. It is to be understood that such depicted architectures are merely examples, and that in fact many other architectures can be implemented which achieve the same functionality. In a conceptual sense, any arrangement of components to achieve the same functionality is effectively "associated" such that the desired functionality is achieved. Hence, any two components herein combined to achieve a particular functionality can be seen as "associated with" each other such that the desired functionality is achieved, irrespective of architectures or intermedial components. Likewise, any two components so associated can also be viewed as being "operably connected" , or "operably coupled" , to each other to achieve the desired functionality, and any two components capable of being so associated can also be viewed as being "operably couplable" , to each other to achieve the desired functionality. Specific examples of operably couplable include but are not limited to physically mateable and/or physically interacting components and/or wirelessly interactable and/or wirelessly interacting components and/or logically interacting and/or logically interactable components.

Further, with respect to the use of substantially any plural and/or singular terms herein, those having skill in the art can translate from the plural to the singular and/or from the singular to the plural as is appropriate to the context and/or application. The various singular/plural permutations may be expressly set forth herein for sake of clarity.

Moreover, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that, in general, terms used herein, and especially in the appended claims, e.g., bodies of the appended claims, are generally intended as “open” terms, e.g., the term “including” should be interpreted as “including but not limited to, ” the term “having” should be interpreted as “having at least, ” the term “includes” should be interpreted as “includes but is not limited to, ” etc. It will be further understood by those within the art that if a specific number of an introduced claim recitation is intended, such an intent will be explicitly recited in the claim, and in the absence of such recitation no such intent is present. For example, as an aid to understanding, the following appended claims may contain usage of the introductory phrases "at least one" and "one or more" to introduce claim recitations. However, the use of such phrases should not be construed to imply that the introduction of a claim recitation by the indefinite articles "a" or "an" limits any particular claim containing such introduced claim recitation to implementations containing only one such recitation, even when the same claim includes the introductory phrases "one or more" or "at least one" and indefinite articles such as "a" or "an, " e.g., “a” and/or “an” should be interpreted to mean “at least one” or “one or more; ” the same holds true for the use of definite articles used to introduce claim recitations. In addition, even if a specific number of an introduced claim recitation is explicitly recited, those skilled in the art will recognize that such recitation should be interpreted to mean at least the recited number, e.g., the bare recitation of "two recitations, " without other modifiers, means at least two recitations, or two or more recitations. Furthermore, in those instances where a convention analogous to “at least one of A, B, and C, etc. ” is used, in general such a construction is intended in the sense one having skill in the art would understand the convention, e.g., “a system having at least one of A, B, and C” would include but not be limited to systems that have A alone, B alone, C alone, A and B together, A and C together, B and C together, and/or A, B, and C together, etc. In those instances where a convention analogous to “at least one of A, B, or C, etc. ” is used, in general such a construction is intended in the sense one having skill in the art would understand the convention, e.g., “a system having at least one of A, B, or C” would include but not be limited to systems that have A alone, B alone, C alone, A and B together, A and C together, B and C together, and/or A, B, and C together, etc. It will be further understood by those within the art that virtually any disjunctive word and/or phrase presenting two or more alternative terms, whether in the description, claims, or drawings, should be understood to contemplate the possibilities of including one of the terms, either of the terms, or both terms. For example, the phrase “A or B” will be understood to include the possibilities of “A” or “B” or “A and B. ”

From the foregoing, it will be appreciated that various implementations of the present disclosure have been described herein for purposes of illustration, and that various modifications may be made without departing from the scope and spirit of the present disclosure. Accordingly, the various implementations disclosed herein are not intended to be limiting, with the true scope and spirit being indicated by the following claims.

Claims

A method, comprising:

receiving, by a processor of an apparatus, a first message indicating a reference signal on a first specific cell from a network;

performing, by the processor, a preprocessing procedure associated with an uplink (UL) only cell based on the reference signal; and

performing, by the processor, an UL transmission with the UL only cell.
The method of Claim 1, wherein the performing of the preprocessing procedure associated with the UL only cell based on the reference signal comprises:

performing at least one of a time synchronization, a frequency synchronization, and a beam management of the UL only cell based on the reference signal.
The method of Claim 2, wherein:

an orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol boundary associated with the UL only cell is identified according to the time synchronization performed based on the reference signal,

at least one of a carrier frequency offset (CFO) and a channel response associated with the UL only cell is estimated according to the frequency synchronization performed based on the reference signal,

a beam pair link (BPL) associated with the UL only cell is determined and maintained according to the beam management performed based on the reference signal,

a BPL for at least one of a control channel and a data channel associated with the UL only cell is established according to the beam management performed based on the reference signal, or

a beam alignment associated with the UL only cell is restored according to the beam management performed based on the reference signal when a serving BPL fails.
The method of Claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, by the processor, a timing advance (TA) value of the UL only cell from the network.
The method of Claim 4, wherein the performing of the UL transmission with the UL only cell comprises:

obtaining a downlink (DL) timing from a second specific cell; and

applying the TA value to the DL timing when performing the UL transmission with the UL only cell.
The method of Claim 5, wherein the second specific cell comprises a primary cell (PCell) or a cell indicated by the network through a second message.
The method of Claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, by the processor, a third message indicating a pathloss reference signal on a third specific cell from the network; and

calculating, by the processor, a pathloss for the UL transmission with the UL only cell based on the pathloss reference signal.
The method of Claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting, by the processor, a flag to the network in an event that a cell activation of the UL only cell is completed.
The method of Claim 1, wherein the apparatus supports at least one of a cross-carrier scheduling and a cell without a synchronization signal and physical broadcast channel block (SSB) in intra-band carrier aggregation (CA) or inter-band CA.
The method of Claim 1, wherein the first message comprises a radio resource control (RRC) message, a downlink control information (DCI) message, or a medium access control-control element (MAC-CE) message.
An apparatus, comprising:

a transceiver which, during operation, communicates wirelessly; and

a processor communicatively coupled to the transceiver such that, during operation, the processor performs operations comprising:

receiving, via the transceiver, a first message indicating a reference signal on a first specific cell from a network;

performing a preprocessing procedure associated with an uplink (UL) only cell based on the reference signal; and

performing an UL transmission with the UL only cell.
The apparatus of Claim 11, wherein the performing of the preprocessing procedure associated with the UL only cell based on the reference signal comprises:

performing at least one of a time synchronization, a frequency synchronization, and a beam management of the UL only cell based on the reference signal.
The apparatus of Claim 11, wherein, during operation, the processor further performs operations comprising:

receiving, via the transceiver, a timing advance (TA) value of the UL only cell from the network.
The apparatus of Claim 13, wherein the performing of the UL transmission with the UL only cell comprises:

obtaining a downlink (DL) timing from a second specific cell; and

applying the TA value to the DL timing when performing the UL transmission with the UL only cell,

wherein the second specific cell comprises a primary cell (PCell) or a cell indicated by the network through a second message.
The apparatus of Claim 11, wherein, during operation, the processor further performs operations comprising:

receiving, via the transceiver, a third message indicating a pathloss reference signal on a third specific cell from the network; and

calculating a pathloss for the UL transmission with the UL only cell based on the pathloss reference signal.
The apparatus of Claim 11, wherein, during operation, the processor further performs operations comprising:

transmitting, via the transceiver, a flag to the network in an event that a cell activation of the UL only cell is completed.
The apparatus of Claim 11, wherein the apparatus supports at least one of a cross-carrier scheduling and a cell without a synchronization signal and physical broadcast channel block (SSB) in intra-band carrier aggregation (CA) or inter-band CA.
The apparatus of Claim 11, wherein the first message comprises a radio resource control (RRC) message, a downlink control information (DCI) message, or a medium access control-control element (MAC-CE) message.
A method, comprising:

configuring, by a network, an uplink (UL) only cell;

transmitting, by the network, a first message indicating a reference signal on a first specific cell to a user equipment (UE) for performing a preprocessing procedure associated with the UL only cell based on the reference signal; and

receiving, by the network, UL data from the UE through the UL only cell.
The method of Claim 19, further comprising:

receiving, by the network, a flag indicating a cell activation of the UL only cell is completed from the UE.