WO2025171566A1

WO2025171566A1 - Bandwidth part switching

Info

Publication number: WO2025171566A1
Application number: PCT/CN2024/077249
Authority: WO
Inventors: Erika PORTELA LOPES DE ALMEIDA; Nhat-Quang NHAN; Jing Yuan Sun; Guillermo POCOVI
Original assignee: Nokia Shanghai Bell Co Ltd; Nokia Solutions and Networks Oy; Nokia Technologies Oy
Current assignee: Nokia Shanghai Bell Co Ltd; Nokia Solutions and Networks Oy; Nokia Technologies Oy
Priority date: 2024-02-15
Filing date: 2024-02-15
Publication date: 2025-08-21
Anticipated expiration: 2026-08-15

Abstract

Example embodiments of the present disclosure relate to methods, devices, apparatuses and computer readable storage medium for bandwidth part (BWP) switching. The method comprises: receiving, at a first apparatus, a sub-band non-overlapping full duplex (SBFD) configuration from a second apparatus; determining, based on the SBFD configuration, whether an active BWP of the first apparatus contains at least one SBFD sub-band or whether the active BWP of the first apparatus overlaps with one or more SBFD sub-bands; and performing, based on the determination, a SBFD operation by using the SBFD configuration.

Description

BANDWIDTH PART SWITCHING

FIELDS

Various example embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to the field of telecommunication and in particular, to methods, devices, apparatuses and computer readable storage medium for bandwidth part (BWP) switching.

BACKGROUND

The 5th Generation Mobile Communication Technology (5G) New Radio (NR) currently supports two duplexing modes, namely Frequency Division Duplexing (FDD) for paired bands and Time division duplex (TDD) for unpaired bands. In TDD, the time domain resource may be split between downlink and uplink. Allocation of a limited time duration for the uplink in TDD may result in reduced coverage, increased latency, and reduced capacity. Therefore, a study of sub-band non-overlapping full duplex (SBFD) is required.

SUMMARY

In a first aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a first apparatus. The first apparatus comprises at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the first apparatus at least to: receive a SBFD configuration from a second apparatus; determine, based on the SBFD configuration, whether an active BWP of the first apparatus contains at least one SBFD sub-band or whether the active BWP of the first apparatus overlaps with one or more SBFD sub-bands; and perform, based on the determination, a SBFD operation by using the SBFD configuration.

In a second aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a second apparatus. The second apparatus comprises at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the second apparatus at least to: transmit, to a first apparatus, a SBFD configuration indicating resources allocated for a SBFD operation in at least one BWP or in a carrier, wherein the active BWP of the first apparatus contains one or more SBFD sub-bands in the at least one BWP or overlaps with one or more SBFD sub-bands within the carrier.

In a third aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method. The method comprises: receiving, at a first apparatus, a SBFD configuration from a second apparatus; determining, based on the SBFD configuration, whether an active BWP of the first apparatus contains at least one SBFD sub-band or whether the active BWP of the first apparatus overlaps with one or more SBFD sub-bands; and performing, based on the determination, a SBFD operation by using the SBFD configuration.

In a fourth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method. The method comprises: transmitting, from a second apparatus to a first apparatus, a SBFD configuration indicating resources allocated for a SBFD operation in at least one BWP or in a carrier, wherein the active BWP of the first apparatus contains one or more SBFD sub-bands in the at least one BWP or overlaps with one or more SBFD sub-bands within the carrier.

In a fifth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a first apparatus. The first apparatus comprises means for receiving a SBFD configuration from a second apparatus; means for determining, based on the SBFD configuration, whether an active BWP of the first apparatus contains at least one SBFD sub-band or whether the active BWP of the first apparatus overlaps with one or more SBFD sub-bands; and means for performing, based on the determination, a SBFD operation by using the SBFD configuration.

In a sixth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a second apparatus. The second apparatus comprises means for transmitting, to a first apparatus, a SBFD configuration indicating resources allocated for a SBFD operation in at least one BWP or in a carrier, wherein the active BWP of the first apparatus contains one or more SBFD sub-bands in the at least one BWP or overlaps with one or more SBFD sub-bands within the carrier.

In a seventh aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a computer readable medium. The computer readable medium comprises instructions stored thereon for causing an apparatus to perform at least the method according to the third aspect.

In an eighth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a computer readable medium. The computer readable medium comprises instructions stored thereon for causing an apparatus to perform at least the method according to the fourth aspect.

It is to be understood that the Summary section is not intended to identify key or essential features of embodiments of the present disclosure, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the present disclosure. Other features of the present disclosure will become easily comprehensible through the following description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Some example embodiments will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, where:

FIG. 1 illustrates an example communication environment in which example embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented;

FIG. 2 illustrates an example of SBFD and non-SBFD slots according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 illustrates a signaling chart illustrating an example of process according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 illustrates a flowchart illustrating an example of process according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 illustrates a flowchart illustrating an example of process according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6 illustrates a flowchart illustrating an example of process according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 7 illustrates a flowchart of a method implemented at a first apparatus according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 8 illustrates a flowchart of a method implemented at a second apparatus according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 9 illustrates a simplified block diagram of a device that is suitable for implementing example embodiments of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 10 illustrates a block diagram of an example computer readable medium in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure.

Throughout the drawings, the same or similar reference numerals represent the same or similar element.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Principle of the present disclosure will now be described with reference to some example embodiments. It is to be understood that these embodiments are described only for the purpose of illustration and help those skilled in the art to understand and implement the present disclosure, without suggesting any limitation as to the scope of the disclosure. Embodiments described herein can be implemented in various manners other than the ones described below.

In the following description and claims, unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skills in the art to which this disclosure belongs.

References in the present disclosure to “one embodiment, ” “an embodiment, ” “an example embodiment, ” and the like indicate that the embodiment described may include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, but it is not necessary that every embodiment includes the particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Moreover, such phrases are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment. Further, when a particular feature, structure, or characteristic is described in connection with an embodiment, it is submitted that it is within the knowledge of one skilled in the art to affect such feature, structure, or characteristic in connection with other embodiments whether or not explicitly described.

It shall be understood that although the terms “first, ” “second, ” …, etc. in front of noun (s) and the like may be used herein to describe various elements, these elements should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element from another and they do not limit the order of the noun (s) . For example, a first element could be termed a second element, and similarly, a second element could be termed a first element, without departing from the scope of example embodiments. As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the listed terms.

As used herein, “at least one of the following: <a list of two or more elements>” and “at least one of <a list of two or more elements>” and similar wording, where the list of two or more elements are joined by “and” or “or” , mean at least any one of the elements, or at least any two or more of the elements, or at least all the elements.

As used herein, unless stated explicitly, performing a step “in response to A” does not indicate that the step is performed immediately after “A” occurs and one or more intervening steps may be included.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of example embodiments. As used herein, the singular forms “a” , “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises” , “comprising” , “has” , “having” , “includes” and/or “including” , when used herein, specify the presence of stated features, elements, and/or components etc., but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, elements, components and/or combinations thereof.

As used in this application, the term “circuitry” may refer to one or more or all of the following:

(a) hardware-only circuit implementations (such as implementations in only analog and/or digital circuitry) and

(b) combinations of hardware circuits and software, such as (as applicable) :

(i) a combination of analog and/or digital hardware circuit (s) with software/firmware and

(ii) any portions of hardware processor (s) with software (including digital signal processor (s) ) , software, and memory (ies) that work together to cause an apparatus, such as a mobile phone or server, to perform various functions) and

(c) hardware circuit (s) and or processor (s) , such as a microprocessor (s) or a portion of a microprocessor (s) , that requires software (e.g., firmware) for operation, but the software may not be present when it is not needed for operation.

This definition of circuitry applies to all uses of this term in this application, including in any claims. As a further example, as used in this application, the term circuitry also covers an implementation of merely a hardware circuit or processor (or multiple processors) or portion of a hardware circuit or processor and its (or their) accompanying software and/or firmware. The term circuitry also covers, for example and if applicable to the particular claim element, a baseband integrated circuit or processor integrated circuit for a mobile device or a similar integrated circuit in server, a cellular network device, or other computing or network device.

As used herein, the term “communication network” refers to a network following any suitable communication standards, such as New Radio (NR) , Long Term Evolution (LTE) , LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) , Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) , High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA) , Narrow Band Internet of Things (NB-IoT) and so on. Furthermore, the communications between a terminal device and a network device in the communication network may be performed according to any suitable generation communication protocols, including, but not limited to, the first generation (1G) , the second generation (2G) , 2.5G, 2.75G, the third generation (3G) , the fourth generation (4G) , 4.5G, the fifth generation (5G) , the sixth generation (6G) communication protocols, and/or any other protocols either currently known or to be developed in the future. Embodiments of the present disclosure may be applied in various communication systems. Given the rapid development in communications, there will of course also be future type communication technologies and systems with which the present disclosure may be embodied. It should not be seen as limiting the scope of the present disclosure to only the aforementioned system.

As used herein, the term “network device” refers to a node in a communication network via which a terminal device accesses the network and receives services therefrom. The network device may refer to a base station (BS) or an access point (AP) , for example, a node B (NodeB or NB) , an evolved NodeB (eNodeB or eNB) , an NR NB (also referred to as a gNB) , a Remote Radio Unit (RRU) , a radio header (RH) , a remote radio head (RRH) , a relay, an Integrated Access and Backhaul (IAB) node, a low power node such as a femto, a pico, a non-terrestrial network (NTN) or non-ground network device such as a satellite network device, a low earth orbit (LEO) satellite and a geosynchronous earth orbit (GEO) satellite, an aircraft network device, and so forth, depending on the applied terminology and technology. In some example embodiments, radio access network (RAN) split architecture comprises a Centralized Unit (CU) and a Distributed Unit (DU) at an IAB donor node. An IAB node comprises a Mobile Terminal (IAB-MT) part that behaves like a UE toward the parent node, and a DU part of an IAB node behaves like a base station toward the next-hop IAB node.

The term “terminal device” refers to any end device that may be capable of wireless communication. By way of example rather than limitation, a terminal device may also be referred to as a communication device, user equipment (UE) , a Subscriber Station (SS) , a Portable Subscriber Station, a Mobile Station (MS) , or an Access Terminal (AT) . The terminal device may include, but not limited to, a mobile phone, a cellular phone, a smart phone, voice over IP (VoIP) phones, wireless local loop phones, a tablet, a wearable terminal device, a personal digital assistant (PDA) , portable computers, desktop computer, image capture terminal devices such as digital cameras, gaming terminal devices, music storage and playback appliances, vehicle-mounted wireless terminal devices, wireless endpoints, mobile stations, laptop-embedded equipment (LEE) , laptop-mounted equipment (LME) , USB dongles, smart devices, wireless customer-premises equipment (CPE) , an Internet of Things (IoT) device, a watch or other wearable, a head-mounted display (HMD) , a vehicle, a drone, a medical device and applications (e.g., remote surgery) , an industrial device and applications (e.g., a robot and/or other wireless devices operating in an industrial and/or an automated processing chain contexts) , a consumer electronics device, a device operating on commercial and/or industrial wireless networks, and the like. The terminal device may also correspond to a Mobile Termination (MT) part of an IAB node (e.g., a relay node) . In the following description, the terms “terminal device” , “communication device” , “terminal” , “user equipment” and “UE” may be used interchangeably.

As used herein, the term “resource, ” “transmission resource, ” “resource block, ” “physical resource block” (PRB) , “uplink resource, ” or “downlink resource” may refer to any resource for performing a communication, for example, a communication between a terminal device and a network device, such as a resource in time domain, a resource in frequency domain, a resource in space domain, a resource in code domain, or any other combination of the time, frequency, space and/or code domain resource enabling a communication, and the like. In the following, unless explicitly stated, a resource in both frequency domain and time domain will be used as an example of a transmission resource for describing some example embodiments of the present disclosure. It is noted that example embodiments of the present disclosure are equally applicable to other resources in other domains.

FIG. 1 shows an example communication network 100 in which embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented. As shown in FIG. 1, the communication network 100 may include a first apparatus 110. Hereinafter the first apparatus 110 may also be referred to as a UE or a terminal device.

The communication network 100 may further include a second apparatus 120. Hereinafter the second apparatus 120 may also be referred to as a gNB or a network device. The first apparatus 110 may communicate with the second apparatus 120.

It is to be understood that the number of network devices and terminal devices shown in FIG. 1 is given for the purpose of illustration without suggesting any limitations. The communication network 100 may include any suitable number of network devices and terminal devices.

In some example embodiments, links from the second apparatus 120 to the first apparatus 110 may be referred to as a downlink (DL) , while links from the first apparatus 110 to the second apparatus 120 may be referred to as an uplink (UL) . In DL, the second apparatus 120 is a transmitting (TX) device (or a transmitter) and the first apparatus 110 is a receiving (RX) device (or receiver) . In UL, the first apparatus 110 is a TX device (or transmitter) and the second apparatus 120 is a RX device (or a receiver) .

Communications in the communication environment 100 may be implemented according to any proper communication protocol (s) , includes, but not limited to, cellular communication protocols of the first generation (1G) , the second generation (2G) , the third generation (3G) , the fourth generation (4G) , 5G, the sixth generation (6G) , and the like, wireless local network communication protocols such as Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 and the like, and/or any other protocols currently known or to be developed in the future. Moreover, the communication may utilize any proper wireless communication technology, includes but not limited to: Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) , Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) , Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) , FDD, TDD, Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) , Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple (OFDM) , Discrete Fourier Transform spread OFDM (DFT-s-OFDM) and/or any other technologies currently known or to be developed in the future.

As described, 5G NR currently supports two duplexing modes: FDD for paired bands and TDD for unpaired bands. In TDD, the time domain resource is split between downlink and uplink. Allocation of a limited time duration for the uplink in TDD would result in reduced coverage, increased latency, and reduced capacity.

Motivated by this, 3GPP conducted a study item on the evolution of duplexing operation in NR that addresses the challenges above. One of the main objectives of the study item is to allow simultaneous DL and UL transmission on different physical resource blocks (RBs) /sub-bands within an unpaired wideband NR cell, which is referred to as SBFD.

Below we include some of the most relevant objectives of the study item in the study item description with regards to this invention.

Table 1

From the above description of SBFD operation, it can be observed that there are two slot types for both DL and UL transmissions namely SBFD slots, during which the non-overlapping DL sub-bands and UL sub-band (s) both exist, and non-SBFD slots, during which the entire band is used for either DL or UL (i.e., legacy/full DL/UL slots.

In SBFD slots, a guardband is expected to be placed between DL and UL RBs. This provides better isolation between UL and DL transmissions and is expected to be essential for reducing the impact of the self-interference (due to gNB’s own DL transmissions and the gNB’s own UL reception) as well as cross-link interference (CLI) between UE to UE links, and gNB to gNB links.

FIG. 2 shows an example of SBFD and non-SBFD slots according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 2, there are two slot types exist for both DL and UL transmissions, including SBFD slots 220 and non-SBFD slots 210 and 230. During the SBFD slots 220, both the non-overlapping DL sub-bands 221 and 223 and UL sub-band (s) 222 exist, while during the non-SBFD slots 210 and 230, the entire band is used for DL resource 211 or UL resource 231 (i.e., full DL/UL slots) .

It is still not clear that how to configure SBFD, both in time and frequency domain, while still guaranteeing that the gNB can quickly enable/disable SBFD to adapt the DL/UL resource ratio to the traffic loads.

Therefore, the present disclosure proposes a mechanism for BWP switching. In this solution, the second apparatus 120 transmits, to a first apparatus 110, a SBFD configuration indicating resources allocated for a SBFD operation. The first apparatus 110 determines, based on the SBFD configuration, whether an active BWP of the first apparatus contains at least one SBFD sub-band or whether the active BWP of the first apparatus overlaps with one or more SBFD sub-bands and performs, based on the determination, a SBFD operation by using the SBFD configuration.

In this way, the solution of the present disclosure proposes a fast switching from SBFD and legacy TDD operations by leveraging the existing BWP switch framework to enable /disable the SBFD UL sub-band.

Example embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Reference is now made to FIG. 3, which shows a signaling chart 300 for communication according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 3, the signaling chart 300 involves the first apparatus 110 and the second apparatus 120. For the purpose of discussion, reference is made to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 to describe the signaling chart 300.

As shown in FIG. 3, the second apparatus transmits (302) SBFD configuration to the first apparatus 110.

As an example, the SBFD configuration includes a time domain indication indicating a location of SBFD resources in a time domain and/or a frequency domain indication indicating a location of SBFD resources in a frequency domain.

It is to be understood that the SBFD resources used herein may refer to one or more SBFD uplink sub-bands consisting of a set of resource blocks for uplink transmission, one or more guardbands of a set of resource blocks for neither uplink or downlink transmission, one or more SBFD downlink sub-bands consisting of a set of resource blocks for downlink transmission.

More specifically, the time domain indication may contain the TDD pattern to be used by a UE when SBFD is enabled (SBFD-UL-DL-Config) , in addition to the TDD pattern configuration already indicated for TDD UEs (TDD-UL-DL-Config) . The SBFD time domain configuration can be dedicated to each UE or common to all SBFD aware UEs in this cell. In one example, it may consist of a sequence of different symbol or slot types e.g., DXXXUDDDSU, where D, U and X are respectively downlink, uplink and SBFD (mixed UL and DL) slots, with each slot consisting of 14 symbols. The SBFD time domain configuration may also be provided with symbol-level resolution.

The frequency domain indication may contain information related to the location of the SBFD UL sub-band, and SBFD DL sub-bands and/or guardbands.

In one alternative, the SBFD configuration may be configured per BWP level. In another alternative, the SBFD configuration may be configured per carrier level. For both alternative, the first apparatus 110 may obtain a time-domain SBFD configuration, additionally to a frequency-domain SBFD configuration.

An example of how the time domain configuration for SBFD could be signaled to the first apparatus 110 is shown below:

Table 2

Based on the SBFD configuration, the first apparatus 110 may determine (304) whether the SBFD operation is enabled in the active BWP of the first apparatus 110. In other words, the first apparatus 110 may determine whether the first apparatus 110 operates in a SBFD mode in the active BWP of the first apparatus 110.

The second apparatus 120 may further transmit (306) a BWP switch command to the first apparatus 110. The first apparatus 110 then determines (308) whether a fast BWP switching is to be performed based on, e.g., a center frequency or a subcarrier spacing of the indicated BWP indicated in the BWP switch command.

More details for the BWP switching will be further described with reference to FIGS. 4-6 as below. As one option, the SBFD configuration may be configured per BWP level or per carrier level.

FIG. 4 illustrates a flowchart illustrating an example of process 400 according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, the process 400 will be described from the perspective of the first apparatus 110 in FIG. 1.

If the SBFD frequency configuration is given per BWP. The first apparatus 110 determines whether SBFD is enabled or not in the currently active BWP by combining the frequency domain configuration and the time domain configuration.

As an example, the first apparatus 110 can be configured with two overlapping BWPs in the frequency domain. A first BWP may be configured in the legacy manner and the second BWP may additionally contain the SBFD sub-bands configuration.

When the first BWP is activated, the first apparatus 110 operates in TDD mode, so it also assumes that the TDD time configuration (TDD-UL-DL-Config) is to be used. When the second BWP is activated, the first apparatus 110 operates in SBFD mode, so it assumes that the SBFD time configuration (SBFD-UL-DL-Config) is to be used. Enabling/Disabling of SBFD occurs by means of BWP switching.

In some scenarios associated with FIG. 4, at least the frequency domain indication of the UL sub-bands is done per BWP.

At block 405, the first apparatus 110 receives a SBFD configuration for each BWP and determines whether SBFD is enabled or not in an active BWP indicated by second apparatus 120, wherein the determination may be performed as follows:

At block 410, if the active BWP contains a SBFD configuration, the first apparatus 110 may determine that SBFD operation is enabled. The first apparatus 110 may, at block 415, apply the SBFD time and frequency domain configuration and at block 425, operate in SBFD mode.

If the active BWP does not contain a SBFD configuration, the first apparatus 110 may determine that SBFD operation is not enabled. The first apparatus 110 may, at block 420, apply normal BWP configuration and TDD time-domain configuration and at block 430, operate in TDD mode as a legacy UE (as it does not know the position of UL sub-band) .

In this case, a SBFD configuration may contain both time and frequency domain indication or only frequency domain indication. For the latter case, time domain indication may be commonly configured and applicable to all BWPs.

These BWPs may be configured with the same frequency domain information (in terms of starting RB, bandwidth and subcarrier spacing (SCS) ) , but differentiate whether SBFD is active or not.

In a case where the first apparatus 110 operates in a SBFD mode (using the SBFD frequency resource configuration, and the SBFD time domain pattern SBFD-UL-DL-Config which in this case is DXXXUDDDSU) , the network may ensure that legacy UEs are not allocated in the UL sub-band during SBFD symbols. It is to be understood that in case there are no UEs with active UL transmission in the UL sub-band and/or operating in the BWP configured with SBFD mode, the second apparatus 120 may also schedule the UE in the DL direction in resources overlapping with the UL sub-band; this is up to second apparatus 120 scheduler implementation. When SBFD is going to be disabled, the network sends a BWP switch command to the UEs that are in a further BWP (i.e., the second BWP as mentioned above) . By receiving the BWP switch command, the UEs assume the TDD pattern DDDSUDDDSU. During the BWP switch delay, the UEs are not expected to be scheduled.

An example of how the frequency domain configuration for SBFD could be signaled to the first apparatus 110 is shown as below. Additionally to the BWP configuration (location and bandwidth, subcarrier spacing and cyclic prefix, the first apparatus 110 may obtain SBFD specific configuration for this BWP, such as the location of the sub-bands (UL or DL; or both) and optionally the location of the guardbands.

Table 3

As shown in FIG. 4, the first apparatus 110 may receive a BWP switch command from the second apparatus 120. At block 435, if the first apparatus 110 receives the BWP switch command, the first apparatus 110 may determine whether a fast BWP switching (shorter switching time compared to legacy) is to be applied.

As an example, at block 440, if the indicated BWP of the BWP switch command has bandwidth, center frequency and SCS of the indicated BWP that is identical to those of the active BWP, at block 445, the first apparatus 110 then applies a fast BWP switching with a shorter switching delay. Otherwise, at block 450, the first apparatus 110 applies legacy BWP switching with a longer switching delay.

The active BWP switch can be done by means of DCI or a RRC reconfiguration message. That is, the first apparatus 110 may receive the BWP switch command via a DCI or an RRC message.

The DCI based active BWP indication may have a short delay. In order to disable SBFD in the cell, the network would need to do an active BWP switch to all UEs that are in BWPs in which SBFD is enabled. The active BWP switch delay usually takes into account the delay for the radio frequency (RF) retuning and filtering at the UE. If the BWP switch is done between BWPs that have the same center frequency, SCS and bandwidth, it can be expected that the BWP switching delay is shorter.

In the process 400 shown in FIG. 4, the first apparatus 110 may also obtain a dedicated configuration with SBFD-specific parameters for BWPs in which SBFD is enabled. In the uplink, this configuration can include PUCCH configuration (power control information, DL data to UL acknowledgement and others) and PUSCH configuration, for example. In the downlink, it includes at least PDSCH configuration and PDCCH configuration which is specific to SBFD symbols. An example of how this configuration could be signaled to the first apparatus 110 (for the DL signals) is shown below. In addition to the PDCCH, PDSCH configuration, which would be valid in non-SBFD symbols, the first apparatus 110 would get PDCCH and PDSCH configuration for SBFD symbols.

Table 4

As another option, the frequency domain and time domain indication are done separately from the BWP configuration, e.g. at carrier level.

FIG. 5 illustrates a flowchart illustrating an example of process 500 according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, the process 500 will be described from the perspective of the first apparatus 110 in FIG. 1.

FIG. 6 illustrates a flowchart illustrating an example of process according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, the process 600 will be described from the perspective of the first apparatus 110 in FIG. 1.

For the cases to be described with FIGS. 5 and 6, SBFD frequency configuration is cell-specific or signaled separately from the BWP configuration. In addition, in some scenarios, the second apparatus 120 can use 1 bit to enable or disable SBFD in BWPs that overlap with the UL sub-band. That is, the first apparatus 110 may evaluate whether SBFD is enabled or disabled by assessing whether the active BWP overlaps with the UL sub-band and/or whether SBFD is enabled in this BWP.

When SBFD is enabled, the first apparatus 110 uses the SBFD time domain configuration (SBFD-UL-DL-Config) . When SBFD is not enabled, the first apparatus 110 assumes the TDD time domain configuration (TDD-UL-DL-Config) .

The reference now is made to FIG. 5, as an example, at block 505, the first apparatus 110 may receive a SBFD configuration for the entire carrier and determines whether SBFD is enabled or not in an active BWP indicated by second apparatus 120. At block 510, if the active BWP overlaps with the SBFD sub-band (s) (e.g., UL sub-band) configured for the entire carrier, at block 515, the first apparatus 110 may apply the SBFD time and frequency domain configuration (considering the DL and UL sub-bands within the BWP) and consider that SBFD is used in the TDD symbols indicated as SBFD. At block 525, the first apparatus 110 operates in SBFD mode.

Otherwise, if the active BWP does not overlap with the SBFD sub-band (s) , at block 520, the first apparatus 110 may apply normal BWP configuration and TDD time-domain configuration, i.e., legacy TDD operation. At block 530, the first apparatus 110 may operate in TDD mode as a legacy UE.

Similar with FIG. 4, the first apparatus 110 may receive a BWP switch command from the second apparatus 120. At block 535, if the first apparatus 110 receives the BWP switch command, the first apparatus 110 may determine whether a fast BWP switching (shorter switching time compared to legacy) is to be applied.

At block 540, if the indicated BWP of the BWP switch command has bandwidth, center frequency and SCS of the indicated BWP is identical to those of the active BWP, at block 545, the first apparatus 110 then applies a fast BWP switching with a shorter switching delay. Otherwise, at block 550, the first apparatus 110 applies legacy BWP switching with a longer switching delay.

Compared with the process 500 shown in FIG. 5, the process 600 shows another option where an additional indication is received by the first apparatus 110 from the second apparatus 120.

For example, on top of the carrier configuration of SBFD, the first apparatus 110 further receives, in each BWP that overlaps with the SBFD sub-band (e.g., UL sub-band) , an additional indication informing the first apparatus 110 whether SBFD operation is enabled or not in the BWP. For example, the first apparatus 110 may obtain the additional indication via a MAC-CE or via a RRC configuration message.

At block 610, if the SBFD configuration is enabled in the BWP, at block 615, the first apparatus 110 applies the SBFD time and frequency domain configuration (considering the DL and UL sub-bands within the BWP) and considers that SBFD is used in the TDD symbols indicated as SBFD. At block 625, the first apparatus 110 operates in SBFD mode.

If the SBFD configuration is not enabled in the BWP, at block 620, the first apparatus 110 may apply normal BWP configuration and TDD time-domain configuration, i.e., legacy TDD operation. At block 630, the first apparatus 110 may operate in TDD mode as a legacy UE.

In addition, for the case where the SBFD configuration is not enabled in the BWP, the following two options for the first apparatus 110 behavior are possible.

As an option, the first apparatus 110 may operate in TDD mode according to the configured time-domain pattern (TDD-UL-DL-Config) . However, the first apparatus 110 can still use the knowledge of the UL sub-bands for different purposes. In one example, the first apparatus 110 is not expected to transmit/receive (or scheduled to transmit/receive) on the SBFD UL sub-band in the BWP, e.g., the first apparatus 110 does not expect to be scheduled with a transmission on the UL sub-band that overlaps with the BWP. The first apparatus 110 can also use the knowledge of the UL sub-bands to e.g. perform rate matching of DL signals to exclude the RBs overlapping with the UL sub-band from the signaled DL allocation.

As another option, the first apparatus 110 operates in TDD mode according to the configured time-domain pattern (TDD-UL-DL-Config) in the same way as a legacy first apparatus 110, i.e. it disregards the presence of a UL sub-band, thus the second apparatus 120 may ensure that e.g. DL signals are only scheduled in the DL sub-bands. Note that in case there are no UEs with active UL transmission in the UL sub-band and/or operating in the BWP configured with SBFD mode, the second apparatus 120 may also schedule the UE in the DL direction in resources overlapping with the UL sub-band-this is up to second apparatus 120 scheduler implementation.

Furthermore, for a BWP that does not overlap with the SBFD sub-band, the first apparatus 110 applies legacy TDD operation.

As shown in FIG. 6, the first apparatus 110 may also determine, at block 635, whether an indication for enabling or disabling the SBFD operation is received. If so, the process 600 may be performed from block 610 again. If not, the first apparatus 110 may determine whether a BWP switch command is received from the second apparatus 120, at block 640 and further determine whether a fast BWP switching is to be applied, which has been described with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5 and will be omitted here.

In this way, the UE is allowed to do a fast transition between a TDD operation and an SBFD operation, by doing an active BWP switch and to be configured/reconfigured with SBFD without an RRC reconfiguration and without the need to support a dynamic version of SBFD.

Additionally, with the solution of the present disclosure, UEs in RRC_IDLE are allowed to operate in SBFD mode if the Initial BWP contains an SBFD configuration (or overlaps with SBFD UL sub-bands) . Another option is that SBFD UEs are configured with a specific Initial BWP, so that when reading the SIB1 of this cell they are aware that the cell uses SBFD.

By providing the SBFD configuration per BWP, the NW can also configure different parameters for the signals and channels in SBFD symbols and non-SBFD symbols, such as search spaces (PDCCH) , transmit power control for PUSCH, PUCCH, SRS, rate matching pattern, resource block group size (PDSCH) and so on.

FIG. 7 shows a flowchart of an example method 700 implemented at a first apparatus in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, the method 700 will be described from the perspective of the first apparatus 110 in FIG. 1.

At block 710, the first apparatus 110 receives a SBFD configuration from a second apparatus.

At block 720, the first apparatus 110 determines, based on the SBFD configuration, whether an active BWP of the first apparatus contains at least one SBFD sub-band or whether the active BWP of the first apparatus overlaps with one or more SBFD sub-bands.

At block 730, the first apparatus 110 performs, based on the determination, a SBFD operation by using the SBFD configuration.

In some example embodiments, the method 700 further comprises: receiving the SBFD configuration per BWP level or per carrier level.

In some example embodiments, the SBFD configuration includes at least one of: a time domain indication indicating a location of SBFD resources in a time domain, or a frequency domain indication indicating a location of SBFD resources in a frequency domain.

In some example embodiments, the SBFD resources comprises: one or more SBFD uplink sub-bands consisting of a set of resource blocks for uplink transmission, and/or one or more guardbands of a set of resource blocks for neither uplink or downlink transmission, and/or one or more SBFD downlink sub-bands consisting of a set of resource blocks for downlink transmission.

In some example embodiments, the first apparatus is caused to: in accordance with a determination that the active BWP contains the at least one SBFD sub-band, determining that the SBFD operation is enabled in the active BWP; and performing the SBFD operation by using the SBFD configuration.

In some example embodiments, the method 700 further comprises: receiving, from the second apparatus, a dedicated configuration of at least one SBFD-specific parameter for one or more BWPs in which the SBFD operation is enabled.

In some example embodiments, the method 700 further comprises: in accordance with a determination that the active BWP of the first apparatus overlaps with one or more SBFD sub-bands, performing the SBFD operation by using the SBFD configuration in the one or more SBFD sub-bands.

In some example embodiments, the method 700 further comprises: obtaining, from the second apparatus, an additional indication whether the SBFD operation is enabled or not in the active BWP; in accordance with a determination that the active BWP of the first apparatus overlaps with one or more SBFD sub-bands, determining, based on the additional indication, whether the SBFD operation is enabled in the active BWP; and in accordance with a determination, based on the additional indication, that the SBFD operation is enabled in the active BWP, perform the SBFD operation by using the SBFD configuration.

In some example embodiments, the method 700 further comprises: obtaining the additional indication via a medium access control-control element, MAC-CE or via Radio Resource Control, RRC, configuration.

In some example embodiments, the method 700 further comprises: in accordance with a determination, based on the additional indication, that the SBFD operation is not enabled in the active BWP, operate in a time division duplexing, TDD, mode that is different from a time-domain pattern configured for the SBFD operation while avoiding a transmission or a reception on one or more SBFD uplink sub-bands, or receiving a downlink transmission on one or more SBFD downlink sub-bands or one or more SBFD uplink sub-bands.

In some example embodiments, the method 700 further comprises: receiving, from the second apparatus, a BWP switch command; and in accordance with a determination that an indicated BWP indicated in the BWP switch command has a same center frequency and/or a same subcarrier spacing with the active BWP, performing a fast BWP switching based on the BWP switch command.

In some example embodiments, the method 700 further comprises: receiving the BWP switch command via a downlink control information, DCI, or an RRC message.

In some example embodiments, the first apparatus comprises a terminal device and the second apparatus comprises a network device.

FIG. 8 shows a flowchart of an example method 800 implemented at a second apparatus in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, the method 800 will be described from the perspective of the second apparatus 120 in FIG. 1.

At block 810, the second apparatus 120 transmits, to a first apparatus, a SBFD configuration indicating resources allocated for a SBFD operation in at least one BWP or in a carrier, wherein the active BWP of the first apparatus contains one or more SBFD sub-bands in the at least one BWP or overlaps with one or more SBFD sub-bands within the carrier.

In some example embodiments, the method 800 further comprises: transmitting, to the first apparatus, a dedicated configuration of at least one SBFD-specific parameter for one or more BWPs in which the SBFD operation is enabled.

In some example embodiments, the method 800 further comprises: transmitting, to the first apparatus, an additional indication whether the SBFD operation is enabled or not in each BWP overlapping with the one or more SBFD sub-bands.

In some example embodiments, the method 800 further comprises: transmitting the additional indication via a medium access control-control element, MAC-CE or via Radio Resource Control, RRC, configuration.

In some example embodiments, the method 800 further comprises: transmitting, to the first apparatus, a BWP switch command via a downlink control information, DCI, or an RRC message.

In some example embodiments, a first apparatus capable of performing any of the method 700 (for example, the first apparatus 110 in FIG. 1) may comprise means for performing the respective operations of the method 700. The means may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the means may be implemented in a circuitry or software module. The first apparatus may be implemented as or included in the first apparatus 110 in FIG. 1.

In some example embodiments, the first apparatus comprises means for receiving a SBFD configuration from a second apparatus; means for determining, based on the SBFD configuration, whether an active BWP of the first apparatus contains at least one SBFD sub-band or whether the active BWP of the first apparatus overlaps with one or more SBFD sub-bands; and means for performing, based on the determination, a SBFD operation by using the SBFD configuration.

In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for receiving the SBFD configuration per BWP level or per carrier level.

In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for in accordance with a determination that the active BWP contains the at least one SBFD sub-band, determining that the SBFD operation is enabled in the active BWP; and means for performing the SBFD operation by using the SBFD configuration.

In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for receiving, from the second apparatus, a dedicated configuration of at least one SBFD-specific parameter for one or more BWPs in which the SBFD operation is enabled.

In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for in accordance with a determination that the active BWP of the first apparatus overlaps with one or more SBFD sub-bands, performing the SBFD operation by using the SBFD configuration in the one or more SBFD sub-bands.

In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for obtaining, from the second apparatus, an additional indication whether the SBFD operation is enabled or not in the active BWP; means for in accordance with a determination that the active BWP of the first apparatus overlaps with one or more SBFD sub-bands, determining, based on the additional indication, whether the SBFD operation is enabled in the active BWP; and means for in accordance with a determination, based on the additional indication, that the SBFD operation is enabled in the active BWP, perform the SBFD operation by using the SBFD configuration.

In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for obtaining the additional indication via a medium access control-control element, MAC-CE or via Radio Resource Control, RRC, configuration.

In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for in accordance with a determination, based on the additional indication, that the SBFD operation is not enabled in the active BWP, operate in a time division duplexing, TDD, mode that is different from a time-domain pattern configured for the SBFD operation while avoiding a transmission or a reception on one or more SBFD uplink sub-bands, or receiving a downlink transmission on one or more SBFD downlink sub-bands or one or more SBFD uplink sub-bands.

In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for receiving, from the second apparatus, a BWP switch command; and means for in accordance with a determination that an indicated BWP indicated in the BWP switch command has a same center frequency and/or a same subcarrier spacing with the active BWP, performing a fast BWP switching based on the BWP switch command.

In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for receiving the BWP switch command via a downlink control information, DCI, or an RRC message.

In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises means for performing other operations in some example embodiments of the method 700 or the first apparatus 110. In some example embodiments, the means comprises at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the performance of the first apparatus.

In some example embodiments, a second apparatus capable of performing any of the method 800 (for example, the second apparatus 120 in FIG. 1) may comprise means for performing the respective operations of the method 800. The means may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the means may be implemented in a circuitry or software module. The second apparatus may be implemented as or included in the second apparatus 120 in FIG. 1.

In some example embodiments, the second apparatus comprises means for transmitting, to a first apparatus, a SBFD configuration indicating resources allocated for a SBFD operation in at least one BWP or in a carrier, wherein the active BWP of the first apparatus contains one or more SBFD sub-bands in the at least one BWP or overlaps with one or more SBFD sub-bands within the carrier.

In some example embodiments, the second apparatus further comprises: means for transmitting, to the first apparatus, a dedicated configuration of at least one SBFD-specific parameter for one or more BWPs in which the SBFD operation is enabled.

In some example embodiments, the second apparatus further comprises: means for transmitting, to the first apparatus, an additional indication whether the SBFD operation is enabled or not in each BWP overlapping with the one or more SBFD sub-bands.

In some example embodiments, the second apparatus further comprises: means for transmitting the additional indication via a medium access control-control element, MAC-CE or via Radio Resource Control, RRC, configuration.

In some example embodiments, the second apparatus further comprises: means for transmitting, to the first apparatus, a BWP switch command via a downlink control information, DCI, or an RRC message.

In some example embodiments, the second apparatus further comprises means for performing other operations in some example embodiments of the method 800 or the second apparatus 120. In some example embodiments, the means comprises at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the performance of the second apparatus.

FIG. 9 is a simplified block diagram of a device 900 that is suitable for implementing example embodiments of the present disclosure. The device 900 may be provided to implement a communication device, for example, the first apparatus 110 or the second apparatus 120 as shown in FIG. 1. As shown, the device 900 includes one or more processors 910, one or more memories 920 coupled to the processor 910, and one or more communication modules 940 coupled to the processor 910.

The communication module 940 is for bidirectional communications. The communication module 940 has one or more communication interfaces to facilitate communication with one or more other modules or devices. The communication interfaces may represent any interface that is necessary for communication with other network elements. In some example embodiments, the communication module 940 may include at least one antenna.

The processor 910 may be of any type suitable to the local technical network and may include one or more of the following: general purpose computers, special purpose computers, microprocessors, digital signal processors (DSPs) and processors based on multicore processor architecture, as non-limiting examples. The device 900 may have multiple processors, such as an application specific integrated circuit chip that is slaved in time to a clock which synchronizes the main processor.

The memory 920 may include one or more non-volatile memories and one or more volatile memories. Examples of the non-volatile memories include, but are not limited to, a Read Only Memory (ROM) 924, an electrically programmable read only memory (EPROM) , a flash memory, a hard disk, a compact disc (CD) , a digital video disk (DVD) , an optical disk, a laser disk, and other magnetic storage and/or optical storage. Examples of the volatile memories include, but are not limited to, a random access memory (RAM) 922 and other volatile memories that will not last in the power-down duration.

A computer program 930 includes computer executable instructions that are executed by the associated processor 910. The instructions of the program 930 may include instructions for performing operations/acts of some example embodiments of the present disclosure. The program 930 may be stored in the memory, e.g., the ROM 924. The processor 910 may perform any suitable actions and processing by loading the program 930 into the RAM 922.

The example embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented by means of the program 930 so that the device 900 may perform any process of the disclosure as discussed with reference to FIG. 2 to FIG. 8. The example embodiments of the present disclosure may also be implemented by hardware or by a combination of software and hardware.

In some example embodiments, the program 930 may be tangibly contained in a computer readable medium which may be included in the device 900 (such as in the memory 920) or other storage devices that are accessible by the device 900. The device 900 may load the program 930 from the computer readable medium to the RAM 922 for execution. In some example embodiments, the computer readable medium may include any types of non-transitory storage medium, such as ROM, EPROM, a flash memory, a hard disk, CD, DVD, and the like. The term “non-transitory, ” as used herein, is a limitation of the medium itself (i.e., tangible, not a signal) as opposed to a limitation on data storage persistency (e.g., RAM vs. ROM) .

FIG. 10 shows an example of the computer readable medium 1000 which may be in form of CD, DVD or other optical storage disk. The computer readable medium 1000 has the program 930 stored thereon.

Generally, various embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented in hardware or special purpose circuits, software, logic or any combination thereof. Some aspects may be implemented in hardware, and other aspects may be implemented in firmware or software which may be executed by a controller, microprocessor or other computing device. Although various aspects of embodiments of the present disclosure are illustrated and described as block diagrams, flowcharts, or using some other pictorial representations, it is to be understood that the block, apparatus, system, technique or method described herein may be implemented in, as non-limiting examples, hardware, software, firmware, special purpose circuits or logic, general purpose hardware or controller or other computing devices, or some combination thereof.

Some example embodiments of the present disclosure also provide at least one computer program product tangibly stored on a computer readable medium, such as a non-transitory computer readable medium. The computer program product includes computer-executable instructions, such as those included in program modules, being executed in a device on a target physical or virtual processor, to carry out any of the methods as described above. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, libraries, objects, classes, components, data structures, or the like that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. The functionality of the program modules may be combined or split between program modules as desired in various embodiments. Machine-executable instructions for program modules may be executed within a local or distributed device. In a distributed device, program modules may be located in both local and remote storage media.

Program code for carrying out methods of the present disclosure may be written in any combination of one or more programming languages. The program code may be provided to a processor or controller of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus, such that the program code, when executed by the processor or controller, cause the functions/operations specified in the flowcharts and/or block diagrams to be implemented. The program code may execute entirely on a machine, partly on the machine, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the machine and partly on a remote machine or entirely on the remote machine or server.

In the context of the present disclosure, the computer program code or related data may be carried by any suitable carrier to enable the device, apparatus or processor to perform various processes and operations as described above. Examples of the carrier include a signal, computer readable medium, and the like.

The computer readable medium may be a computer readable signal medium or a computer readable storage medium. A computer readable medium may include but not limited to an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. More specific examples of the computer readable storage medium would include an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM) , a read-only memory (ROM) , an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory) , an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM) , an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing.

Further, although operations are depicted in a particular order, this should not be understood as requiring that such operations be performed in the particular order shown or in sequential order, or that all illustrated operations be performed, to achieve desirable results. In certain circumstances, multitasking and parallel processing may be advantageous. Likewise, although several specific implementation details are contained in the above discussions, these should not be construed as limitations on the scope of the present disclosure, but rather as descriptions of features that may be specific to particular embodiments. Unless explicitly stated, certain features that are described in the context of separate embodiments may also be implemented in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, unless explicitly stated, various features that are described in the context of a single embodiment may also be implemented in a plurality of embodiments separately or in any suitable sub-combination.

Although the present disclosure has been described in languages specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the present disclosure defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above. Rather, the specific features and acts described above are disclosed as example forms of implementing the claims.

Claims

A first apparatus comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the first apparatus at least to:

receive a sub-band non-overlapping full duplex, SBFD, configuration from a second apparatus;

determine, based on the SBFD configuration, whether an active bandwidth part, BWP, of the first apparatus contains at least one SBFD sub-band or whether the active BWP of the first apparatus overlaps with one or more SBFD sub-bands; and

perform, based on the determination, a SBFD operation by using the SBFD configuration.
The first apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first apparatus is caused to:

receive the SBFD configuration per BWP level or per carrier level.
The first apparatus of claim 1 or 2, wherein the SBFD configuration includes at least one of:

a time domain indication indicating a location of SBFD resources in a time domain, or

a frequency domain indication indicating a location of SBFD resources in a frequency domain.
The first apparatus of claim 3, wherein the SBFD resources comprises:

one or more SBFD uplink sub-bands consisting of a set of resource blocks for uplink transmission, and/or

one or more guardbands of a set of resource blocks for neither uplink or downlink transmission, and/or

one or more SBFD downlink sub-bands consisting of a set of resource blocks for downlink transmission.
The first apparatus of any of claims 1-4 wherein the first apparatus is caused to:

in accordance with a determination that the active BWP contains the at least one SBFD sub-band, determine that the SBFD operation is enabled in the active BWP; and

perform the SBFD operation by using the SBFD configuration.
The first apparatus of claim 5, wherein the first apparatus is caused to:

receive, from the second apparatus, a dedicated configuration of at least one SBFD-specific parameter for one or more BWPs in which the SBFD operation is enabled.
The first apparatus of any of claims 1-4, wherein the first apparatus is caused to:

in accordance with a determination that the active BWP of the first apparatus overlaps with one or more SBFD sub-bands, perform the SBFD operation by using the SBFD configuration in the one or more SBFD sub-bands.
The first apparatus of any of claims 1-4, wherein the first apparatus is caused to:

obtain, from the second apparatus, an additional indication whether the SBFD operation is enabled or not in the active BWP;

in accordance with a determination that the active BWP of the first apparatus overlaps with one or more SBFD sub-bands, determine, based on the additional indication, whether the SBFD operation is enabled in the active BWP; and

in accordance with a determination, based on the additional indication, that the SBFD operation is enabled in the active BWP, perform the SBFD operation by using the SBFD configuration.
The first apparatus of claim 8, wherein the first apparatus is caused to:

obtain the additional indication via a medium access control-control element, MAC- CE or via Radio Resource Control, RRC, configuration.
The first apparatus of claim 8, wherein the first apparatus is caused to:

in accordance with a determination, based on the additional indication, that the SBFD operation is not enabled in the active BWP, operate in a time division duplexing, TDD, mode that is different from a time-domain pattern configured for the SBFD operation while

avoiding a transmission or a reception on one or more SBFD uplink sub-bands, or

receiving a downlink transmission on one or more SBFD downlink sub-bands or one or more SBFD uplink sub-bands.
The first apparatus of any of claims 5, 7 and 8, wherein the first apparatus is caused to:

receive, from the second apparatus, a BWP switch command; and

in accordance with a determination that an indicated BWP indicated in the BWP switch command has a same center frequency and/or a same subcarrier spacing with the active BWP, perform a fast BWP switching based on the BWP switch command.
The first apparatus of claim 11, wherein the first apparatus is caused to:

receive the BWP switch command via a downlink control information, DCI, or an RRC message.
The first apparatus of any of claims 1-12, wherein the first apparatus comprises a terminal device and the second apparatus comprises a network device.
A second apparatus comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the second apparatus at least to:

transmit, to a first apparatus, a sub-band non-overlapping full duplex, SBFD, configuration indicating resources allocated for a SBFD operation in at least one BWP or in a carrier, wherein the active BWP of the first apparatus contains one or more SBFD sub-bands in the at least one BWP or overlaps with one or more SBFD sub-bands within the carrier.
The second apparatus of claim 14, wherein the SBFD configuration includes at least one of:

a time domain indication indicating a location of SBFD resources in a time domain, or

a frequency domain indication indicating a location of SBFD resources in a frequency domain.
The second apparatus of claim 15, wherein the SBFD resources comprises:

one or more SBFD uplink sub-bands consisting of a set of resource blocks for uplink transmission, and/or

one or more guardbands of a set of resource blocks for neither uplink or downlink transmission, and/or

one or more SBFD downlink sub-bands consisting of a set of resource blocks for downlink transmission.
The second apparatus of claim any of claims 14-15, wherein the second apparatus is caused to:

transmit, to the first apparatus, a dedicated configuration of at least one SBFD-specific parameter for one or more BWPs in which the SBFD operation is enabled.
The second apparatus of any of claims 14-15, wherein the second apparatus is caused to:

transmit, to the first apparatus, an additional indication whether the SBFD operation is enabled or not in each BWP overlapping with the one or more SBFD sub-bands.
The second apparatus of claim 18, wherein the second apparatus is caused to:

transmit the additional indication via a medium access control-control element, MAC-CE or via Radio Resource Control, RRC, configuration.
The second apparatus of any of claims 13-19, wherein the second apparatus is caused to:

transmit, to the first apparatus, a BWP switch command via a downlink control information, DCI, or an RRC message.
The second apparatus of any of claims 13-20, wherein the first apparatus comprises a terminal device and the second apparatus comprises a network device.
A method comprising:

receiving, at a first apparatus, a sub-band non-overlapping full duplex, SBFD, configuration from a second apparatus;

determining, based on the SBFD configuration, whether an active bandwidth part, BWP, of the first apparatus contains at least one SBFD sub-band or whether the active BWP of the first apparatus overlaps with one or more SBFD sub-bands; and

performing, based on the determination, a SBFD operation by using the SBFD configuration.
The method of claim 22, further comprising:

receiving the SBFD configuration per BWP level or per carrier level.
The method of claim 22 or 23, wherein the SBFD configuration includes at least one of:

a time domain indication indicating a location of SBFD resources in a time domain, or

a frequency domain indication indicating a location of SBFD resources in a frequency domain.
The method of claim 24, wherein the SBFD resources comprises:

one or more SBFD uplink sub-bands consisting of a set of resource blocks for uplink transmission, and/or

one or more guardbands of a set of resource blocks for neither uplink or downlink transmission, and/or

one or more SBFD downlink sub-bands consisting of a set of resource blocks for downlink transmission.
The method of any of claims 22-25 wherein the first apparatus is caused to:

in accordance with a determination that the active BWP contains the at least one SBFD sub-band, determining that the SBFD operation is enabled in the active BWP; and

performing the SBFD operation by using the SBFD configuration.
The method of claim 26, further comprising:

receiving, from the second apparatus, a dedicated configuration of at least one SBFD-specific parameter for one or more BWPs in which the SBFD operation is enabled.
The method of any of claims 22-25, further comprising:

in accordance with a determination that the active BWP of the first apparatus overlaps with one or more SBFD sub-bands, performing the SBFD operation by using the SBFD configuration in the one or more SBFD sub-bands.
The method of any of claims 22-25, further comprising:

obtaining, from the second apparatus, an additional indication whether the SBFD operation is enabled or not in the active BWP;

in accordance with a determination that the active BWP of the first apparatus overlaps with one or more SBFD sub-bands, determining, based on the additional indication, whether the SBFD operation is enabled in the active BWP; and

in accordance with a determination, based on the additional indication, that the SBFD operation is enabled in the active BWP, perform the SBFD operation by using the SBFD configuration.
The method of claim 29, further comprising:

obtaining the additional indication via a medium access control-control element, MAC-CE or via Radio Resource Control, RRC, configuration.
The method of claim 29, further comprising:

in accordance with a determination, based on the additional indication, that the SBFD operation is not enabled in the active BWP, operate in a time division duplexing, TDD, mode that is different from a time-domain pattern configured for the SBFD operation while

avoiding a transmission or a reception on one or more SBFD uplink sub-bands, or

receiving a downlink transmission on one or more SBFD downlink sub-bands or one or more SBFD uplink sub-bands.
The method of any of claims 26, 7 and 8, further comprising:

receiving, from the second apparatus, a BWP switch command; and

in accordance with a determination that an indicated BWP indicated in the BWP switch command has a same center frequency and/or a same subcarrier spacing with the active BWP, performing a fast BWP switching based on the BWP switch command.
The method of claim 32, further comprising:

receiving the BWP switch command via a downlink control information, DCI, or an RRC message.
The method of any of claims 22-33, wherein the first apparatus comprises a terminal device and the second apparatus comprises a network device.
A method comprising:

transmitting, from a second apparatus to a first apparatus, a sub-band non-overlapping full duplex, SBFD, configuration indicating resources allocated for a SBFD operation in at least one BWP or in a carrier, wherein the active BWP of the first apparatus contains one or more SBFD sub-bands in the at least one BWP or overlaps with one or more SBFD sub-bands within the carrier.
The method of claim 35, wherein the SBFD configuration includes at least one of:

a time domain indication indicating a location of SBFD resources in a time domain, or

a frequency domain indication indicating a location of SBFD resources in a frequency domain.
The method of claim 36, wherein the SBFD resources comprises:

one or more SBFD uplink sub-bands consisting of a set of resource blocks for uplink transmission, and/or

one or more guardbands of a set of resource blocks for neither uplink or downlink transmission, and/or

one or more SBFD downlink sub-bands consisting of a set of resource blocks for downlink transmission.
The method of claim any of claims 35-36, further comprising:

transmitting, to the first apparatus, a dedicated configuration of at least one SBFD- specific parameter for one or more BWPs in which the SBFD operation is enabled.
The method of any of claims 35-36, further comprising:

transmitting, to the first apparatus, an additional indication whether the SBFD operation is enabled or not in each BWP overlapping with the one or more SBFD sub-bands.
The method of claim 39, further comprising:

transmitting the additional indication via a medium access control-control element, MAC-CE or via Radio Resource Control, RRC, configuration.
The method of any of claims 34-40, further comprising:

transmitting, to the first apparatus, a BWP switch command via a downlink control information, DCI, or an RRC message.
The method of any of claims 34-41, wherein the first apparatus comprises a terminal device and the second apparatus comprises a network device.
A first apparatus comprising:

means for receiving a sub-band non-overlapping full duplex, SBFD, configuration from a second apparatus;

means for determining, based on the SBFD configuration, whether an active bandwidth part, BWP, of the first apparatus contains at least one SBFD sub-band or whether the active BWP of the first apparatus overlaps with one or more SBFD sub-bands; and

means for performing, based on the determination, a SBFD operation by using the SBFD configuration.
A second apparatus comprising:

means for transmitting, to a first apparatus, a sub-band non-overlapping full duplex, SBFD, configuration indicating resources allocated for a SBFD operation in at least one BWP or in a carrier, wherein the active BWP of the first apparatus contains one or more SBFD sub-bands in the at least one BWP or overlaps with one or more SBFD sub-bands within the carrier.
A computer readable medium comprising instructions stored thereon for causing an apparatus at least to perform the method of any of claims 22-34 or the method of any of claims 35-42.