WO2025171662A1

WO2025171662A1 - On-demand network (nw) operation for energy saving

Info

Publication number: WO2025171662A1
Application number: PCT/CN2024/077449
Authority: WO
Inventors: Haitong Sun; Xiang Chen; Seung Hee Han; Huaning Niu; Dawei Zhang; Dan Wu; Hong He; Wei Zeng
Original assignee: Apple Inc
Current assignee: Apple Inc
Priority date: 2024-02-18
Filing date: 2024-02-18
Publication date: 2025-08-21
Anticipated expiration: 2026-08-18

Abstract

A user equipment (UE), a base station, a baseband processor or other network device can generate on-demand network (NW) operations for energy savings. The NW generates layer 1 (L1) or layer 2 (L2) signaling to the UE in order to configure on-demand synchronization signal block (SSB) /system information block 1 (SIB1) transmissions. The UE generates on-demand SSB /SIB1 operation to process or monitor the on-demand SSB /SIB1 transmission based on the L1 signaling or the L2 signaling. The L1 signaling can be a physical layer signaling with downlink control information (DCI). The L2 signaling can be a medium access control (MAC) layer signaling with a MAC control element (MAC-CE) that indicates that the base station (e.g., gNB) is, or is not, transmitting the on-demand SSB /SIB1 transmission. The L1 or L2 signaling thus enables /disables on-demand NW operations for energy savings of the NW.

Description

ON-DEMAND NETWORK (NW) OPERATION FOR ENERGY SAVING

FIELD

The present disclosure is related to wireless technology and on-demand network (NW) operations for energy savings.

BACKGROUND

Mobile communication in the next generation wireless communication system, 5G, or new radio (NR) network will provide ubiquitous connectivity and access to information, as well as ability to share data, around the globe. 5G networks with network slicing will be a unified, service-based framework that will target to meet versatile and sometimes, conflicting performance criteria to provide services to vastly heterogeneous application domains ranging from Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) to massive Machine-Type Communications (mMTC) , Ultra-Reliable Low-Latency Communications (URLLC) , and other communications. In general, NR will evolve based on third generation partnership project (3GPP) long term evolution (LTE) -Advanced technology with additional enhanced radio access technologies (RATs) to enable seamless and faster wireless connectivity solutions. As 5G is becoming pervasive across industries and geographical areas, handling more advanced services and applications requiring very high data rates (e.g. XR) , networks are being denser, use more antennas, larger bandwidths and more frequency bands. The environmental impact of 5G needs to stay under control, and novel solutions to improve network energy savings need to be developed. As network (NW) complexity and cost continues to increase, NW devices, their components and processing methods can operate to save energy by various means. Network energy savings for the NW can be defined among different power states of base station categories; in particular, including active downlink (DL) /uplink (UL) power states considering a static part of power consumption and a dynamic part of power consumption. The latter part reflects dynamic power consumption with respect to transmission/reception resource configurations in time, frequency, spatial and power domains. Although various means to conserve power, not just for cost savings, but environmental savings, have been proposed from the UE side of the NW, but there remains a demand for the NW and operators to conserve cost as well.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a signaling flow diagram for configuration of on-demand network (NW) operations in accordance with various aspects.

FIG. 2 illustrates another example of a signaling flow diagram for configuration of on-demand network (NW) operations in accordance with various aspects.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example timeline for signaling on-demand NW operations with associated information or parameters in accordance with various aspects.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example of payload information in signaling for on-demand NW operations in accordance with various aspects.

FIG. 5 illustrates another example of payload information in signaling for on-demand NW operations in accordance with various aspects.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example beam area for bandwidth part switching for on-demand NW operations in accordance with various aspects.

FIG. 7 illustrates another example of payload information in signaling for on-demand NW operations in accordance with various aspects.

FIG. 8 illustrates another example of a signaling flow diagram for configuration of on-demand network (NW) operations in accordance with various aspects.

FIG. 9 illustrates another example of payload information in signaling for on-demand NW operations in accordance with various aspects

FIG. 10 illustrates another example timeline for signaling on-demand NW operations with associated information or parameters in accordance with various aspects.

FIG. 11 illustrates an example process flow for on-demand NW operations in accordance with various aspects examples.

FIG. 12 illustrates an exemplary block diagram illustrating an example of UEs communicatively coupled a network with network components as peer devices useable in connection with various aspects described herein.

FIG. 13 illustrates an example simplified block diagram of a UE wireless communication device or other network device/component (e.g., base station, eNB, gNB) in accordance with various aspects.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following detailed description refers to the accompanying drawings. Like reference numbers in different drawings may identify the same or similar features, elements, operations, etc. Additionally, the present disclosure is not limited to the following description as other implementations may be utilized, and structural or logical changes made, without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

Various aspects include configuring on-demand network (NW) operations by the NW and user equipment (UE) devices to enhance energy savings. On-demand operations can refer to operating NW signaling operations such as monitoring, processing, or any other energy consuming related operation when necessary or when an on-demand mode of operation is being indicated or established. Prior to Release 19 for new radio (NR) standards, NW energy savings for new radio (NR) led to the specification of some techniques that were found beneficial, primarily for radio resource control (RRC) Connected (RRC_CONNECTED) mode, user specific signals and channels, and low load scenarios. The techniques specified included synchronization signal block (SSB) -less secondary cell (SCell) operation for inter-band carrier aggregation (CA) for frequency range 1 (FR1) and co-located cells, enhancement on cell discontinuous transmission (DTX) /discontinuous reception (DRX) mechanism including the alignment of cell DTX/DRX in RRC_CONNECTED mode, inter-node information exchange on cell DTX/DRX, techniques in spatial and power domains to enable efficient adaptation of spatial elements, as well as efficient adaptation of power offset values between the physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) and channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) , as well as other mechanisms.

Other techniques being envisioned for Release 19 can further NW energy savings. Because particular transmissions consume larger amounts of energy over the NW than others, focusing on these transmissions by making them “on-demand” can maximize energy savings. For example, the NW can configure on-demand SSB transmissions and on-demand SIB1 transmissions by triggering (activating/enabling) UEs to receive SSB/SIB1 transmission by on-demand SSB/SIB1 operations, and either signaling them to stop or deactivate, or implicitly ceasing the energy consuming operation after a duration. Procedures and signaling method (s) can support on-demand SSB secondary cell (SCell) operation for UEs in connected mode configured with CA, for both intra-/inter-band CA. In particular, triggering method (s) can select from a UE uplink wake-up-signal using an existing signal/channel, cell on/off indication via backhaul, SCell activation/deactivation signaling. On-demand SSB transmission can be used by UE for at least SCell time/frequency synchronization, layer 1 (L1) /layer 3 (L3) measurements and SCell activation, and is supported for frequency range 1 (FR1) and frequency range 2 (FR2) in non-shared spectrum. Procedures and signaling method (s) to support on-demand SIB1 for UEs in idle/inactive mode can include triggering method (s) by uplink wake-up-signal using an existing signal/channel.

In an aspect, the NW can generate, or a UE can process, L1 signaling by the physical (PHY) layer or layer 2 (L2) signaling by the medium access control (MAC) that corresponds to an on-demand SSB/SIB1 transmission. The base station notifies the UE that an on-demand SSB/SIB1 transmission is taking place, or will take place via L1 signaling or L2 signaling, in order to activate on-demand SSB/SIB1 operation at the UE, including monitoring, receiving or processing the on-demand SSB/SIB1 transmission, as well as when to expect the on-demand signaling by an application time, delay or window duration. The L1 signaling or L2 signaling can be generated in response to a UE request for the on-demand SSB/SIB1 transmission, or be independent of a UE request by NW determination alone, for example.

The SSB refers to a synchronization signal (SS) /physical broadcast channel (PBCH) information. The SSB contains the primary synchronization signal (PSS) and the secondary synchronization signal (SSS) for synchronization as an initial action to access the NW. This provides the timing and frequency synchronization for the cell and also contains an other signal: the PBCH that contains the master information block (MIB) , which include the information broadcast in the NW cell regarding the cell configuration and other information for wireless communication with the base station of the cell. The SIB1 is another important information for NW operation that contains the physical random access channel (PRACH) configuration information element (IE) , and other information for a Random Access (RA) Procedure to attach or connect to the NW and request uplink (UL) resources to send data.

However, the SSB/SIB1 transmission are performed with a periodicity or periodically. The SSB for enabling initial access is at about 20 milliseconds (ms) , for example, while the SIB1 is being transmitted by the NW with different periodicities, such as 40 ms, 80 ms, 160 ms, etc., for example. Thus, on-demand SSB/SIB1 operations between the UE and the base station (e.g., gNB or the like) in a connected, idle or other state of operation can realize further energy savings through a reduction in the SSB/SIB1 transmissions from the NW by configuring these transmissions to being on-demand SIB1 transmissions without regular periodicity, for example. An objective therefore is to support on-demand NW SSB/SIB1 operations.

In one aspect, the UE requests the on-demand SSB/SIB1 transmissions as needed, and a baseline NW operation has no SSB/SIB1 transmission. Under certain conditions the UE could also request to be transmitted the on-demand SSB/SIB1 transmission with the SSB/SIB1, although the NW may or may not respond based on the UE request alone.

Alternatively, or additionally, the base station configures the on-demand SSB/SIB1 transmission for on-demand SSB/SIB1 operations with the NW by indicating or commanding the UE when the NW transmits the SSB/SIB1 and does not transmit SSB/SIB1; in this manner the UE can perform monitoring, processing or any other on-demand SSB/SIB1 operation associated with reception for the on-demand SSB/SIB1 transmission. At a high level, the on-demand transmission is intended to be more dynamic or on-the fly, than higher level signaling (e.g., RRC signaling or the like) ; although higher layer signaling is also possible. In one example, the base station can configure the L1/L2 layer signaling to indicate to the UE that an on-demand SSB/SIB1 transmission is being enabled or disabled. This L1 or L2 signaling could also indicate/activate/enable on-demand SSB/SIB1 monitoring or processing or other process (e.g., a UE request for on-demand SSB/SIB1 transmissions or associated signaling) instead of periodic transmission of the SSB/SIB1.

In another aspect, the UE can receive L1 (e.g., PHY layer) signaling or L2 (MAC) signaling that comprises an activation message or indication that triggers or activates the UE to perform on-demand SSB/SIB1 operation for processing or monitoring of the on-demand SSB/SIB1 transmission. The NW or base station can further provide another L1/L2 signaling comprising a deactivation message that deactivates the on-demand SSB/SIB1 operation at the UE, indicating that the on-demand SSB/SIB1 transmission is deactivating.

Alternatively, or additionally, the UE can initiate a timer that determines a duration of activation of the on-demand SSB/SIB1 operation. The timer and corresponding time duration can be configured by the NW via the L1 or L2 message to be used to disable/stop the on-demand SSB/SIB1 transmission and associated on- demand SSB/SIB1 operations at the UE or can be configured by another message, radio resource control (RRC) , MAC control element (MAC-DE) , or downlink control information (DCI) , for example.

Additional aspects and details of the disclosure are further described below with reference to figures.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example signal flow 100 between a UE 110 and a network device or base station 122 (e.g., a gNB, or other network component) . The UE 110 can operate to monitor, process, decode or activate on-demand signaling for transmissions that consume larger amounts of energy over time based on a message or indication from the base station 122 telling the UE 110 that the NW is operating such transmission in an on-demand mode or state. In this manner, the NW can increase energy savings while managing ever-increasing network complexity and congestion.

In an aspect, the NW or base station (e.g., a gNB, or other network device) can initiate the on-demand NW operations 104 with the UE 110; although aspects including the on-demand NW signaling 300 initiating by the UE 110 are envisioned herein as described with reference to FIG. 3. The base station 122 provides a NW signaling 102 for on-demand transmission to the UE 110, notifying the UE 110 of the on-demand status/mode of the corresponding cell or NW and that on-demand transmissions 106 are forthcoming.

The NW signaling 102 can comprise an L1/L2 signaling 102 with a message or indication that on-demand operations are being activated. As such, in an on-demand mode of operation, the NW initiates on-demand transmission 106 and the UE 110 is expected to configure on-demand NW operations 104 by monitoring, decoding or activating processing of the on-demand transmissions 106 from the base station 122 based on the message or indications of the L1/L2 signaling 102. Alternatively, or additionally, the on-demand NW transmissions can be initiated by the UE 122, upon a UE request when on-demand NW operations 104 are being activated by the NW to notify of the on-demand mode or state of the NW, for example.

In one example, the L1/L2 signaling for energy saving by on-demand NW operation can be configured as a message or indication through the PHY Layer or MAC Layer. The L1/L2 signaling comprises a DCI or MAC-CE message, respectively, that activates the on-demand operations 104 for on-demand SSB transmission, on-demand SIB1 transmission or both SSB and SIB1 transmission. Regardless of whether the base station 122 provides either L1 or L2 signaling, the NW enables or disables on-demand SSB/SIB1 transmissions 106 by an indication or message in the L1/L2 signaling 102. Once the base station 122 activates the on-demand SSB/SIB1 transmissions 106 with the UE 110, the NW can further indicate to the UE 110 via another NW signaling for on-demand transmission 108 that it will no longer transmit the on-demand SSB/SIB1 transmissions 106 in an additional L1/L2 signaling. Thus, the base station 122 can stop the on-demand operations with the UE 110 by explicitly indicating a deactivation command or message in another L1/L2 signaling message 108. The activation and deactivation signaling 102, 108 in this case can both be the same L1 signaling or L2 signaling, or be different from one another such that one is an L1 signaling and the other is an L2 signaling, for example

In an aspect, the same L1/L2 message being signaled by the base station 122 can be used to enable/start the on-demand SSB/SIB1 transmission and also be used to disable/stop the on-demand SSB/SIB1 transmission. Here, the optional deactivation signaling 108 would be optional because start (activation) and stop (deactivation) commands/triggers could be present in the same signaling 102. The base station 122 can likewise enable/disable/start/stop on-demand SSB/SIB1 operations at the UE 110 for processing or monitoring of the on-demand SSB/SIB1 transmissions 106.

Alternatively, or additionally, the base station 122 can use the PHY layer signaling (L1 signaling) or the MAC layer signaling (L2 signaling) to activate/enable/start the on-demand SSB/SIB1 transmission 106 only, while using a timer to deactivate /disable/stop the on-demand SSB/SIB1 transmission with associated on-demand SSB/SIB1 operations based on the NW signaling 102. For example, the UE 110 can receive the L1/L2 signaling with a message or an indication to activate the on-demand SSB/SIB1 operations 104, and then use a timer/timer duration indicated in the same signaling message to deactivate the on-demand SSB/SIB1 operations 104. Alternatively, the base station 122 or UE 110 could use a corresponding timer from the NW signaling 102 and a time duration configured by the NW via a DCI, MAC-CE, RRC or higher layer signaling, or vice versa, such that the timer could be signaled in a different message than the time duration in signaling 102. Therefore, the base station 122 could configure one command or message via L1/L2 signaling, which may indicate the timer, how long the base station 122 is going to transmit for (e.g., 40 ms, 100 ms, or other duration) , or both the timer and time duration. The timer could be statically configured or hardcoded in by standards, for example. As such, L1 or L2 signaling could be used for either both activation and deactivation of the on-demand SSB/SIB1 transmission in one message or two different messages, or for just one signaling message to activate; while the deactivation can be performed based on a specified duration in a time domain.

Subsequently, the UE 110 can perform data transmission after obtaining the SSB/SIB1 for normal operation after being powered on, moving from airplane mode to normal mode, cell handover, inter-radio access technology (RAT) handover (Wi-Fi to cell, Cell-to-WiFi, or other licensed/unlicensed handover) , or other operation for resuming standard communication.

In an aspect, the NW can utilize the L1/L2 signaling to provide an indication to the UE 110 of on-demand SSB/SIB1 transmissions as a function of a frequency domain, rather than a function of a time domain as described above, or both by frequency domain and time domain in combination of various aspects described. In carrier aggregation (CA) operations, the UE 110 can access a larger amount of spectrum with access to multiple component carriers (CCs) , where each CC can correspond to a serving cell occupying a different frequency range. If the NW utilizes a fragmented spectrum, the NW can configure multiple CCs so that UE 110 can have access across this fragmented spectrum. Additionally, in order to cover a large geographical area the NW can deploy multiple serving cells. Thus, for any given frequency, the whole geographical area (e.g., California, other state, or geographical area) could be covered by many different cells.

For example, the L1/L2 signaling 102 can include a DCI or a MAC-CE, respectively, with an on-demand indication indicating a particular serving cell or a component carrier that is to be transmitting the on-demand SSB/SIB1 transmission 106. In this example, the NW signaling 102 provides a command or indication that only enables or disables the on-demand SSB/SIB1 operations 104 of the on-demand SSB/SIB1 transmission for one serving cell, or in only one of the CCs or frequencies with only one cell identifier (ID) . Another signaling 108 could thus provide another command to disable the indication for on-demand SSB/SIB1 operations 104 on one CC or serving cell, and then either further activate another CC or serving cell for on- demand SSB/SIB1 transmissions 106 with another indication or not activate any other serving cell for on-demand operation.

In another example, multiple UEs can be served by multiple server cells at different frequencies. Thus, a single command of the L1/L2 signaling 102 can enable or disable SSB/SIB1 transmission on different frequencies on different server cells. In this manner, only one command of the NW signaling 102 modifies the transmission of multiple cells to be configured for on-demand SSB/SIB1 transmission 106. The L1/L2 signaling 102 can include different serving cell identifiers (IDs) associated with serving cells for the corresponding the on-demand SSB/SIB1 transmission. For example, a list or data set of serving cells or associated serving cell IDs could be provided via the L1/L2 signaling 102. The UE 110 could then not expect ongoing, periodic SSB/SIB1 transmissions over any particular CC or serving cells that are indicated, but rather only based on the on-demand NW signaling thereafter, until receiving another indication, providing a request for the on-demand SSB/SIB1 transmission, or otherwise as indicated or commanded.

In an aspect, the L1/L2 signaling for on-demand NW operations or transmissions can be based on a geographical area. The UE 110 could be at a cell boundary and detect multiple cells, where one of the cells is the serving cell, while the others are neighboring cells on or within a same frequency. However, the L1/L2 signaling 102 command could potentially enable or disable the on-demand SSB/SIB1 transmission from any one or more of the neighboring cell by providing a list of neighboring cells and an associated physical cell identity (PCI) for corresponding on-demand SSB/SIB1 transmission to be expected.

In another aspect the base station 122 can provide the L1/L2 signaling 102 with a list or data set of SSB IDs for corresponding on-demand SSB/SIB1 transmissions. Where multiple SSBs are supported (e.g., 64, 120 or other number of SSBs) , the NW can operate to further reduce energy consumption in terms of a complete stop of normal SSB/SIB1 transmission and enabling on-demand SSB transmissions. Subsets of SSBs could be enabled or disabled for on-demand SSB operation and transmission. This configures an even finer granularity for on-demand SSB/SIB1 transmission by the base station 122, not only at the server level, the frequency level, at the same geographical ID level, but could also at the SSB level. Thus, the L1/L2 signaling can operation in any one or more combination of aspects herein so that, for example, the L1/L2 signaling 102 can provide a single indication of a serving cell, a set (one or more) serving cells via serving cell IDs, a set of neighboring cells via PCIs, or a set of SSB IDs as various aspects that are not mutually exclusive to one another or the aspects related to the time domain dimension discussed above.

Referring to FIG. 2, illustrates is another example signal flow 200 between the UE 110 and the base station 122 (e.g., a gNB, or other network device) . Here, the NW signaling 102 is provided from the base station 122 to the UE 110 in response to a UE request 202. Although the NW could decline the UE request 202 by not providing or establishing on-demand NW operations with the UE 110, the base station 110 can give consideration to a UE request for an on-demand SSB/SIB1 transmission. Then the base station 122 can decide to provide an indication or trigger for an on-demand SSB/SIB1 transmission in response to receiving the UE request 202. For example, if the UE 202 is in a bad mobility, moving very fast or at the cell edge, the UE 110 may likely start measuring any neighboring cell. In other circumstances, if the UE 110 would like to perform a handover to the neighboring cell, the UE 110 may provide a UE request 202 to receive an on-demand SSB/SIB1 transmission, either if the UE knows the NW is operating in an on-demand state for transmission, or to induce on-demand NW operations for on-demand SSB/SIB1 transmission from the base station 122. The UE 110 can then read the SIB1 for the neighboring cell reception, and only during the time that the UE needs the NW to send the SSB/SIB1. Thus, the need for the SSB/SIB1 may depend on the UE’s circumstances. In this case, the UE 110 sends the UE request 202 to the NW telling the NW that the UE demands an SSB/SIB1. Here, a MAC-CE or a DCI could be part of the response to the UE in the L1/L2 signaling 102.

Referring to FIG. 3, illustrated is another example of a signaling timeline between the UE 110 and base station 122 for on-demand operations with on-demand NW signaling 102. The UE 110 can be pre-defined or hardcoded through standard specification certain parameters to ensure that the UE and NW operate seamlessly. In particular, a delay or duration (d) 302 of symbols/slots ensures time for the NW to process or react to the UE request 202 without the UE monitoring for a response from the base station 122. Additionally, a window (D) 304 of symbols/slots can indicate a time that the UE 110 can monitor for the L1/L2 signaling 102 indication or message for on-demand SSB/SIB1 transmissions.

Although the UE 110 provides the UE request 110, the NW may not necessarily provide a NW indication or L1/L1 signaling 102 of on-demand SSB/SIB1 transmission, which can be a DCI or MAC-CE, for example, enabling on-demand SSB/SIB1 operation for on-demand SSB/SIB1 transmission. Thus, the UE 110 can monitor the response and check whether the NW agrees or not, based on the duration (d) 302 and window (D) 304. The UE 110 can give the NW time to process/react to the UE request 202 with duration (d) 302, and instead of waiting forever be expected to monitor within the window (D) for any response by the base station 122, before either retransmitting the UE request 202 or ceasing any retransmission once a threshold number of retransmissions has been reached.

In an aspect, if the NW refused or did not respond, either because of the NW or a decoding error on the UE side of communications, after the window (D) 304 expires, or is completed in time, the UE could retransmit the request or not by or at the end of the window. After a certain number of request attempts, the UE 110 could be disallowed to retransmit the request until after a certain period.

Referring to FIG. 4, illustrated are example aspects of on-demand NW signaling 400 for on-demand NW transmissions, including the on-demand SSB/SIB1 transmission. In an aspect, the UE 110 can receive L1 signaling 402 indicating to the UE 110 that the base station 122 is activating on-demand transmission mode, or will be transmitting on-demand SSB/SIB1 transmissions 106 based on the message or indication (s) of the L1 signaling 402. This can mean that the NW will not be transmitting SSB and/or SIB1 periodically, but based on on-demand transmissions with the SSB/SIB1 406 according to the NW’s determination, or a UE request in order to increase NW energy savings, for example.

In an aspect, the L1 signaling 402 can include a payload 404 with DCI comprising a fallback DCI, a non-fallback DCI, a bandwidth part (BWP) switching DCI, or a special DCI that can be broadcasted or groupcasted. The L1 signaling enables or disables a network on-demand SSB/SIB1 operation with the UE 110 by activating or deactivating the on-demand SSB/SIB1 operation for receiving the on-demand SSB/SIB1 transmission 106 with the SSB/SIB1 406.

DCI of payload 404 can provide the UE 110 with the information such as physical layer resource allocation, power control commands, hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) information for uplink (UL) / (DL) . DCI is transmitted on the PDCCH with cyclic redundancy check (CRC) attachment (e.g., a 24 bit or other bit number attachment) . Multiple DCI formats are defined to meet different needs. Unlike LTE DCI formats, several of NR DCI formats can share a same DCI size, and have corresponding radio network temporary ID (RNTI) types for scrambling the CRC.

In an aspect, the payload 404 with DCI can comprise a fallback DCI or a non-fallback DCI. From among various DCI sizes that UE 110 may monitor, one size is for scheduling downlink assignments for non-fallback format (e.g., DCI format 1_1/1_2) , one size can be for fallback DCI formats (e.g., DCI formats 1_0) , each of which DCI format 1_0, 1_1 or 1_2 can be configured for scheduling of the PDSCH in a serving cell. Use of fallback DCI formats in general avoids uncertainties during. for example, RRC reconfiguration, in which case the network does not know the exact time when the UE 110 has applied the RRC configuration. Moreover, fallback DCI formats are usually of less size compared to non-fallback DCI formats, and the size of the non-fallback DCI format varies depending on the active configuration.

DCI can be configured with multiple fields, with sizes on the low side of about 60 bits and on the higher side up to 140 bits, for example, which can carry all the different information for scheduling in different fields. One characteristic of the fallback DCI is that the fields are not configured by the NW, but are hard coded in the standard specifications, which is why it is referred to as fallback DCI. This means there are cases where the base station 122 may have a configuration ambiguity with the UE 110. The NW may try to reconfigure the UE 110, but the UE 110 did not receive the reconfiguration, for example. Because the fallback DCI format is hard coded, there is ambiguity between the UE 110 and the base station 122, either one could use the fallback DCI to communicate between the two devices. In case, for example, the UE 110 could not decode any other DCI because of the configuration ambiguity, the UE 110 could utilize the fallback DCI and receive scheduling from the NW. The fallback DCI has less flexibility than non-fallback DCI with respect to dynamically configuring the fields, the bit width of the fields, and the interpretation of the fields, which is hardcoded and not interchangeable.

The NW indication L1 signaling 402 can include non-fallback DCI as the payload 404, which is DCI Format 1_1/1_2. The non-fallback DCI is a DCI where one or more fields can be configured by the NW, offering some flexibility, but the risk is that certain cases may further occur that the configuration is ambiguous, where if not received or received in error, then the NW may not be able to use this DCI to communicate with the UE.

In another aspect, the base station 122 can indicate on-demand SSB/SIB1 transmission for on-demand operations by providing a BWP switching DCI as the payload 404. Here, any of the indications, commands, messages for activation/deactivation being signaled to the UE 110 to notify of on-demand SSB/SIB1 transmissions can be configured with a DCI in the L1 signaling. The DCI can also configure or trigger BWP switching from one BWP to another BWP. BWP switching itself is promoted to achieve energy saving, intended initially for the UE energy savings primarily. By indicating on-demand SSB/SIB1 transmissions via a BWP switching DCI, or a DCI based BWP switching transmission, the same can be used to achieve NW energy savings also. For example, the NW can configure the BWP with different SSB or SIB1 transmissions. Then by switching the BWP, the UE 110 can anticipate enabling or disabling a switch to on-demand SSB/SIB1 transmission.

The DCI format 1 is for downlink (DL) DCI, while DCI format 0 is for uplink (UL) DCI. In another aspect, the payload 404 can be a DCI format 2, known as a special DCI. This DCI format is configured to be received by a group or a plurality of UEs. The fallback or non-fallback DCI is a unicast DCI provided in the on-demand SSB/SIB1 transmission in a unicast link, but special DCI has a special use case for being received by multiple UEs and is a broadcast or a groupcast DCI. Thus, when the base station 122 or gNB transmits SSB there could be multiple UEs in the cell that could be indicated or messages for on-demand SSB/SIB1 operations with a single DCI. The base station 122 can reach multiple UEs, informing the UEs that it is going to transmit on-demand SSB or stop the on-demand transmitting.

In an aspect, regarding configuring fallback DCI (e.g., DCI format 1_0) to enable/disable the on-demand SSB/SIB1 transmissions, the fallback DCI can be associated with CRC bits that are scrambled using an on-demand mode/status dedicated RNTI. For example, an on-demand RNTI (ON-RNTI) can be configured specifically by the NW for the SSB as an SSB-ON-RNTI, or for the SIB1 as a SIB1-ON-RNTI, or both as an ON-RNTI. Adding the CRC bits enables the UE 110 to detect a decoding error. This CRC can be scrambled by different RNTI in order to ensure that only the UE 110 configured with the corresponding RNTI can decode the DCI. The dedicated ON-RNTI can have a particular purpose for telling the UE 110 that the content of the DCI is intended for the on-demand NW activity with this particular RNTI.

Alternatively, or additionally, the fallback DCI of DCI format 1_0 for enabling/disabling the on-demand SSB/SIB1 transmission by the NW can be associated with CRC bits that are scrambled with an existing or common RNTI, such as a cell RNTI (C-RNTI) , a configured scheduling RNTI (CS-RNTI) , a semi-persistent RNTI (SP-RNTI) , a modulation and coding scheme RNTI (MCS-RNTI) , or other RNTI. Additionally, But if an existing RNTI is reused for on-demand NW operation purposes, then the UE 110 should also know that this RNTI is for a different purpose or is being used with a different interpretation. Thus, an addition bit or bits can be introduced for a field indicating an on-demand purpose. For example, a bit of an on-demand field can indicate that the RNTI is being interpreted for an on-demand DCI to indicate, activate or disable on-demand transmission. At least one bit could in an on-demand field, or other field, could tell the UE 110 that the content of the DCI is for a legacy purpose, or for the new purpose for on-demand NW operations, providing a differentiation from the new DCI from the legacy DCI. For example, if the field value is “1” , the other fields of the DCI could be interpreted as indicating how to enable/disable the on-demand SSB/SIB1 transmission; and if the field value is “0” , then the other DCI fields could be interpreted as legacy DCI fields.

Additionally, or alternatively, the fallback DCI of DCI format 1_0 for enabling/disabling the on-demand SSB/SIB1 transmission by the NW can be appended with CRS scrambled by one RNTI as a legacy RNTI (e.g., the CS-RNTI) , or multiple RNTIs could be used for on-demand DCI. The UE 110 can be configured with multiple RNTIs, so that it can detect multiple RNTI simultaneously. Thus, only one RNTI may be configured to carry this on-demand indication for an on-demand DCI, or potentially multiple RNTIs can be used to carry the on-demand indication.

Additionally, or alternatively, the fallback DCI of DCI format 1_0 for enabling/disabling the on-demand SSB/SIB1 transmission by the NW can be configured with a size alignment mechanism or size alignment, especially where one or more different RNTIs are configured for the DCI comprising the indication (s) for on-demand SSB/SIB1 transmission, especially if an additional on-demand field is generated to indicate that the DCI is for on-demand SSB/SIB1 transmission. These additional on-demand fields can be reserved in this one bit for those RNTI that are not for the on-demand DCI. This on-demand field could have no meaning in those non-on-demand RNTIs, so that the UE can ignore the field when decoding the DCI or determining an interpretation of the DCI. In particular, a DCI size alignment with other fallback DCI (DCI format 1_0) can cause decoding the DCI to be less complex. The decoding includes polar decoding of polar code so that the different payload sizes of payload 404 can have different coding rates, different payload sizes that demand different polar decoding. Thus, the DCI size alignment is beneficial where there can be different DCI sizes, which can largely be determined by the UE controlled decoding. In order to align the DCIs, and have as few DCI sizes as possible, the on-demand DCI can be the same among the legacy DCI so that the UE 110 only utilizes one manner of polar decoding. If the new fallback DCI size for on-demand SSB/SIB1 transmission is larger than other fallback DCI, then additional bits can be appended to the legacy DCI to make the size equal. If the new DCI size for on-demand SSB/SIB1 transmission is smaller, then append additional bits can be appended to the new DCI to make the new on-demand DCI the same size as the legacy DCI. Thus, the DCI can be configured to add bits to make it larger and reduce the decoding complexity with uniformity by a size alignment.

Referring to FIG. 5, illustrated is an example of on-demand NW signaling 500 (e.g., L1 signaling 502) for on-demand NW transmissions, including the on-demand SSB/SIB1 transmission, with non-fallback DCI. In an aspect, the UE 110 can receive an on-demand indication or payload 504 comprising non-fallback DCI with various fields or be characterized with one or more conditions. The non-fallback DCI 1_1/1_2 can be used for scheduling the PDSCH, but in order to interpret the non-fallback DCI (or the fallback DCI) as an on-demand DCI rather than adding one or more bits, the existing legacy fields can operate as the on-demand indication (s) for activating, deactivating, or other triggering information, either by one field or a combination of any one or more fields with particular values. The values can be invalid values, or meaningless values within the associate legacy field, such as all “0” or all “1” s, for example, but interpreted as on-demand signaling information.

FIG. 5 illustrates the payload 504 with various potential fields and example values for indicating on-demand NW operation to the UE 110. One or more of the fields, in combination with all “0” s or all “1” s could indicate activation, for example, where the other value in a combination or alone indicates deactivation, for example, as well as, potentially, a duration window time, delay, or application delay time.

The non-fallback DCI (or a fallback DCI) can be characterized with one or more, including all of the following conditions that can be used for re-interpreting on-demand DCI information: a CS-RNTI used to scramble the CRC for the DCI; redundancy version (RV) of all “1” s or all “0” s, in which the RV field is 2 bits it can inform the UE for rate matching of a different retransmission of the same packet; modulation and coding scheme (MCS) of all “1” s or all “0” s, in which MCS is used to indicate the modulation and coding scheme in legacy for the data scheduled by the DCI; a HARQ process ID/number of all “1” s or all “0” s, which can be about 3 bits or 4 bits, indicating one from multiple HARQ processes that the UE maintains to process scheduling data of the PDSCH; a New Data Indicator (NDI) of 0; or a Frequency domain resource allocation (FDRA) , which can be set to all “0” s for FDRA Type 0, all “1” s for FDRA Type 1, or all “0” s for dynamic switching. Alternatively, the FDRA of Type 0 could be all “1” s and the FDRA of Type 1 be all “0” s, or all “1” s for dynamic switching (dynamic Switch) , for example, depending on the validity or invalidity of the corresponding value in legacy DCI formats.

Instead of adding a new bit, another aspect is that every existing field can take a multiple value and there are certain value combinations that may not be meaningful in the current spec. It may be the case where particular value combinations do not hold a value and these can be indicated to be meant for something else like triggering/activating/disabling on-demand SSB/SIB1 transmission or on-demand NW operations. Thus, rather than adding one or more bits with a new on-demand bit field, or introducing new dedicated RNTI, the UE 110 and base station 122 can reuse existing RNTIs without adding any further bits, and utilize some of the invalid IE value combinations to use to indicate to the UE 110 that this value could mean something else for on-demand SSB/SIB1 transmission. For example, the NW can choose RV value to be all ones or all zeros, or the HARQ process ID to be all ones or all zeros. The same could be with the other fields (e.g., FDRA or the like) or any combination thereof so that any two or any two of these conditions, for example, are to be met for activation of on-demand NW operations. Thus, additional DCI content can be created that is not of value in the legacy, but could be used for the on-demand purpose. For example, setting the FDRA to all ‘0’s for FDRA Type 0, or all ‘1’s for FDRA Type 1, or all ‘0’s for a dynamic switch to indicate on-demand NW operations for on-demand SIB/SIB1 transmission.

In a further aspect, the payload 404 or 504 can include adding a new RNTI, adding a new bit, or using a special combination of values for different IEs in a fallback or non-fallback DCI field used for indication of the on-demand DCI for the purpose of on-demand SIB/SIB1 operation. In this manner, the UE 110 can acquire these additional measures, for example, to determine whether the DCI being received is for activation or deactivation of on-demand NW operation, or to indicate to the UE 110 that the base station 122 or gNB is going to transmit or stop transmitting. Additionally, the on-demand indications or messaging could indicate duration information or that the DCI carries the duration information. Thus, the on-demand DCI not only informs the UE 110 the on-demand SSB/SIB1 transmission is coming, but further indicate to the UE 110 how long, as well as afterwards a delay or application duration.

If an on-demand DCI field is set to have a fixed value, then other fields could be re-purposed to carry the information for the on-demand operation information. The enable/disable of SSB/SIB1 transmission (s) can include a new on-demand DCI field or re-purposing one or more existing DCI fields, as discussed above. Once the UE 110 knows the DCI is to be interpreted as an on-demand DCI, then the DCI should also carry the configuration information for the on-demand operation information, which could be either in a new field in the DCI or could be a re-purpose of some of the legacy existing fields that are not currently meaningful, as in the examples above.

In an aspect, DCI formats for non-fallback DCI or fallback DCI that also designate UL or DL, and their combinations could also be used to indicate information about on-demand NW transmissions such as to activate/deactivate on-demand SSB/SIB1 operations for associated on-demand transmissions to be monitored, processed or received, and at what duration, interval, delay, or window. These DCI formats or any one combination thereof can include: non-fallback DL DCI (DCI format 1_1/1_2) or non-fallback UL DCI (DCI format 0_1/0_2) ; fallback DL DCI (DCI Format 1_0) , fallback UL DCI (DCI Format 0_0) or any combination of these to indicate activation, deactivation or other related information for on-demand NW operations or SSB/SIB1 transmission. Thus, when switching from one DCI to another, the UE 110 can either become activated or deactivated based on the particular DCI format, whether it is for UL or DL, non-fallback DCI, fallback DCI, or the like. In particular, the NW can configure combinations of formats, for example, to inform or command on-demand NW operations, including activation, deactivation, or other related information, similarly as BWP switching DCI or DCI base BWP switching discussed herein.

In other aspects, the NW can configure on-demand SSB/SIB1 operation for NW energy saving, with BWP switching DCI, as discussed above, but configure even finer granularity with one or more different DCI formats in a particular coverage area. Referring to FIG. 6, illustrated is an example of BWP switching that can be configured to further enhance efficient signaling with beam management and associations of synchronization signal blocks (SSBs) , beams and bandwidth parts (BWPs) .

The cell can include different beams across a cell coverage area 600 with different beams having different geographic areas such as Beam 1 thru 8 in the same cell: Cell 0. A neighbor beam could have different BWP so Beam 1 using BWP 1, beam 2 uses BWP 2 and so on. But the BWP can be reduced, for example, such that BWP 1 is used at Beam 1 and Beam 5, in order to be correlated somewhat in frequency, or the frequency domain part with beam frequency domain separation to avoid the intra beam interference because they comprise different neighbor beams, aiming to reduce the interference between the neighbor beam by various means.

From a UE point of view, beam switching is achieved by the transmission configuration indication (TCI) state, which is associated with beam switching and communicated via a DCI or MAC CE in a TCI state configuration (including the cell and BWP of a reference signal, a reference signal index, or the Quasi Co Location (QCL) type with the reference signal) . For example, DCI 1_1 contains a field of “Transmission configuration indication” to switch the PDSCH reception beam. A MAC CE of “Indication of TCI state for UE-specific PDCCH” or “Activation/deactivation of UE-specific PDSCH TCI state” can be used to switch PDCCH or PDSCH reception beam.

The BWP switching however can include a separate procedure, which can be achieved by DCI. Each BWP configuration can include a frequency and a bandwidth. DCI 0_1 or 1_1 can include a field of “bandwidth part indicator” to switch UL or DL BWP among the configured list, respectively. In an aspect, the NW can configure up to four BWPs or a different number of BWPs (e.g., 2 or otherwise) , for example. The NW can configure the DCI to switch the BWP, and be configured as a BWP switching DCI or DCI based BWP switching. One BWP part could configure the on-demand SSB/SIB1 transmission, while for the other BWP the NW does not configure on-demand SSB/SIB1 transmission. The base station 122 can use the existing BWP of the switching mechanism to activate or deactivate the on-demand SSB/SIB1 transmission, or indicate the activation or deactivation of the same. Thus, one BWP can be configured for on-demand SSB/SIB1 transmission, and once the NW switches the BWP to one BWP (e.g., an on-demand BWP) by the DCI, then the UE 110 operates in such manner that the NW will be deactivating the on-demand SSB/SIB1 mode of transmission. Likewise, once the NW switches back to the other BWP (e.g., a legacy BWP or another particular BWP different from the first) that has the SSB/SIB1, the UE knows that the NW is going to on-demand mode to start the transmission of on-demand SSB/SIB1 transmission, for example. This can be done based either on the legacy or the on-demand designated BWP.

Alternatively, or additionally, a Dormant BWP can be reused to indicate or command on-demand NW operations. The Dormant BWP (e.g., DormantBWP-Config) IE is also used for any other receiving operations. On the Dormant BWP, the UE 110 performs minimal operations, and thus, considered dormant as the UE is in a near dormant state. The Dormant BWP can be used to carry a dormant bandwidth. Not only is the UE dormant, but also the NW is dormant, so that there is no SSB/SIB1 transmission. Once the BWP switching DCI toggles or moves the UE to the Dormant BWP, the UE 110 can be indicated by this action that the NW that it is going to cease SSB/SIB1 transmission. Once the NW changes the BWP from the dormant BWP to regular BWP, then the UE interprets this signaling as an indication that the NW is about to start the periodic SSB/SIB1 transmission.

Referring to FIG. 7, illustrated is an example of payload 704 of on-demand NW signaling 700 (e.g., L1 signaling) that can include DCI to enable/disable on-demand SSB/SIB1 operations for on-demand SSB/SIB1 transmission from the NW (e.g., base station 122 or gNB) to UE 110. Here, the payload 704 of the L1 signaling 702 can include on-demand DCI. The L1 signaling 702 comprises the DCI 704 that can be configured with or without additional information (based on a NW determination) , or is only without the additional information, along with information that enables/disables the on-demand SSB/SIB1 operation at the UE for on-demand SSB/SIB1 transmission. This additional information can comprise DL/UL data scheduling information, aperiodic sounding reference signal (SRS) information, aperiodic channel state information (CSI) , as well as one or more indications for triggering the aperiodic SRS or CSI, for example. Additionally, the DCI can be fallback or non-fallback DCI or BWP switching based DCI. Whether the DCI has to also schedule the data simultaneously, can be configured according to the NW or mandates by the standards. Because the SSB/SIB1 does not necessarily need to be tied to data scheduling, and could schedule this for mobility measurement purposes, the DCI could be without scheduling data or data scheduling, for example. However, the same DCI could be utilized to indicate to the UE 110 whether the NW will start or stop the on-demand SSB/SIB1 transmission. Thus, instead of generating two DCIs to achieve these purposes, a single DCI could also serve to save NW overhead, comprising the SSB/SIB 1, along with additional information comprising DL/UL data scheduling information, aperiodic sounding reference signal (SRS) information, aperiodic channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) , as well as one or more indications for triggering the aperiodic SRS or CSI, for example.

Additionally, or alternatively, where not only data could be configured in the DCI 704 for DL data, but the DCI 704 or the on-demand SSB/SIB1 transmission could be configured with data indications for some other aperiodic operation, such as aperiodic SRS UL transmission or aperiodic CSI-RS transmission. All three pieces of information, including scheduling data, aperiodic SRS transmission data or aperiodic CSI-RS transmission data, or any combination thereof can be included in the payload 704 or the on-demand SSB/SIB1 transmission to the UE 110 for efficiency; thereby, allowing the same DCI to also carry the on-demand SIB/SIB1 transmission, so it could save the NW one additional DCI, for example.

Referring to FIG. 8, illustrates is another example signal flow 800 for on-demand NW operation for NW energy saving similar to FIG. 1 or 2. Here, the UE request 202 is illustrated in dashed line to demonstrate this aspect may be optional, along with a separate signaling for deactivation. Additionally, the UE 110 can be configured to provide a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) acknowledgment (ACK) or non-acknowledgement (NACK) 802, informing the base station 122 whether the UE 110 receives the on-demand SSB/SIB1 triggering information (e.g., an L1/L2 message, indication or data set) .

Because a DCI may not be received reliably, the UE 110 may miss the DCI and the network start the SSB/SIB1 transmission 106 without the UE being informed of it. As such, the UE 110 could be configured or not to respond to the NW signaling (e.g., L1 or L2 signaling) with a DCI or MAC-CE, with a HARQ-ACK or ACK-NACK 802. This can serve to make the signaling flow more reliable, but this also may cost extra capacity because the UE is sending some other UL. One aspect is that the UE 110 is configured to send the ACK/NACK 802. However, when the NW is very reliable sending the ACK-NACK 802 would be higher power, which is a very large acquisition, and so the UE 110 could opt to not send it. Alternatively, the NW could send the DCI, and the UE 110 send ACK/NACK 802 to indicate whether the DCI or NW signaling 202 has been received or not on the UL.

In an aspect, in response to the UE sending the HARQ-ACK 802 on the UL, and also the DCI being received via L1 signaling 102 in the DL, the HARQ-ACK 802 is generated and transmitted to the base station 122, to indicate whether the UE received the DCI or not. If the UE 110 generates an ACK or NACK, this does not necessarily mean that the UE received the DCI, the ACK-NACK would indicate whether the UE received the data or not. Therefore, the UE 110 reports the HARQ-ACK 802 to inform the NW whether the UE 110 received the on-demand SSB/SIB1 triggering information or L1/L2 signaling 102 only when DL data is scheduled together with the on demand SSB/SIB1 signaling (with triggering information/indication) from the same DCI. Alternatively, or additionally, the UE 110 can report the HARQ-ACK 802 regardless of whether DL data is scheduled together with the on-demand SSB/SIB1 signaling from the NW in the same DCI.

In an aspect, when the UE 110 reports the HARQ-ACK 802 (or NACK) , the HARQ-ACK 802 can be used to indicate whether the DCI was received or not. If the DCI schedules data with the on-demand SIB/SSB1 transmission information of the L1 signaling 102 (e.g., the on-demand DCI) for activating or informing the UE 110 of on-demand SIB/SSB1 transmission, then the HARQ-ACK 802 can be encoded as a regular HARQ-ACK for the data. However, if the on-demand DCI of the L1 signaling 102 does not schedule data or scheduling data with it, then the UE 110 can generate the HARQ-ACK 802 based on which codebook is being use from one of two types of codebooks: Type 1 codebook and Type 2 codebook. Type 1 codebook has a fixed size, which is not as efficient, but allows all the bits in a worst case, allocating a hardcoded size to account for most congested scheduling. In contrast, the Type 2 codebook has a size of the data bits, and carries only the HARQ-ACK bits for scheduling data. For Type 1, once these bits are statically allocated in the codebook, so only one bit could be reserved, or potentially more than one bit, depending on how often the on-demand DCI can be scheduled. This Type 2 codebook generation of the HARQ-ACK 802 can be done by a virtual PDSCH. Thus, if the DCI does not schedule data, for a Type-1 HARQ-ACK codebook a location for the HARQ-ACK information in the HARQ-ACK codebook can be determined based on a virtual PDSCH that can be indicated by a time domain resource allocation (TDRA) field in the on-demand DCI, based on a time domain allocation list configured for the virtual PDSCH. The HARQ-ACK 802 can thus be generated based on an assumption that a virtual PDSCH is scheduled by the TDRA field, even though the UE 110 will not try to decode this since is not being transmitted, but rather can be assumed for HARQ-ACK generation purposes. However, there is one bit being reserved in the HARQ-ACK codebook and this bit could be used to carry the HARQ-ACK 802 to indicate whether the UE 110 has received the on-demand DCI signaling (L1 signaling 102) or not.

Alternatively, or additionally, for a Type 2 HARQ-ACK codebook, a location for the HARQ-ACK information in the HARQ-ACK codebook can be determined based on a DL assignment index (DAI) in the on-demand DCI of the L1 signaling 102. The DAI already tells the UE 110 how many bits the UE 110 should allocate to the final HARQ-ACK codebook. Therefore, the DAI field in the on-demand DCI can be used by the UE 110 to allocate the HARQ-ACK bits for the Type 2 HARQ-ACK codebook to inform the NW whether the on-demand SSB/SIB1 signaling is received.

Referring to FIG. 9, illustrated is an example of payload 904 of on-demand NW signaling 900 (e.g., L1 signaling 902) that can include on-demand DCI to enable/disable on-demand SSB/SIB1 operations for on-demand SSB/SIB1 transmission from the NW (e.g., base station 122 or gNB) to UE 110. Here, the payload 904 of the L1 signaling 902 can include on-demand DCI as special DCI in a special DCI format (e.g., DCI Format 2_9 or 2_10 or otherwise 2_x) . The special DCI format of 2_x can be configured to indicate on-demand NW operations such as activating, deactivating, duration, delay or application timing for on-demand SSB/SIB1 transmission. In one example, a special DCI format already existing could be reused or an additional special DCI (e.g., DCI format 2_10 or 2_11 or the like) can be generated.

Additionally, the RNTI used to scramble the CRC of the special DCI can be an on-demand RNTI or a dedicated RNTI to on-demand NW operation, separately for SSB (SSB-ON-RNTI) and SIB1 (SSB-ON-RNTI) , for example. The SSB of this DCI can be broadcast or groupcast to multiple users or UEs simultaneously. In particular, a single DCI, for example, can be sent to one hundred UEs, and change the configuration of all one hundred UEs simultaneously. Additionally, the special on-demand DCI 904 could potentially have various blocks of UEs associated with groups of UEs. The one hundred UEs, for example, could be divided into ten different group, every group could receive independent information about whether to transmit or stop on-demand SSB/SIB1 operations for an on-demand SSB/SIB1 being transmitted. Thus, the on-demand special DCI can be divided or divisions of signaling information divided into multiple blocks, in which each block indicates to every associated UE, which block the UE can read into. The NW could tell the UE which information block (e.g., the second bit or third bit) that informs the UE whether the NW is going to start on-demand transmission or stop on-demand transmission, for example. In this manner, the DCI can address multiple UEs simultaneously, as well as even different groups of UEs differently by this single on-demand special DCI payload 904 via L1 signaling 902.

The L1 signaling 902 thus comprises the on-demand DCI 904 based on a network on-demand SSB/SIB1 operation. This DCI 904 can be broadcast or groupcast to enable or disable the on-demand SSB/SIB1 operation for the on-demand SSB/SIB1 transmission. In particular, the DCI 904 comprises either an additional special DCI Format 2_10 or a legacy special DCI Format being reused. Additionally, the CRC bits of the special DCI can be scrambled based on an SSB-ON-RNTI or a SIB1-ON-RNTI, or based on one or more legacy RNTIs. The special DCI can be divided into multiple blocks as information blocks corresponding to different groups of UEs indicating which block is configured for each UE or a single block for all UEs.

Referring to FIG. 10, illustrated is an example timeline 1000 with an application delay for on-demand SSB/SIB1 signaling. The NW can configure an application delay 1002 to be provided to the UE 110. The application delay 1002 can comprise a number of symbols/slots that initiates after receiving the L1 signaling or the L2 signaling, or after transmitting an ACK corresponding to receiving a MAC-CE and up to receiving the on-demand SSB/SIB1 transmission before generating the on-demand SSB/SIB1 operation for the on-demand SSB/SIB1 transmission, for example.

Once the UE receives a DCI, for example, as an on-demand SSB/SIB1 indication or signaling 1004, the UE 110 can know that an on-demand SSB/SIB1 transmission has actually started, and there needs to be a minimum application delay, (T) 1002 for example. The delay 1002 can be specified with respect to the end of the DCI 1004, if the DCI is carrying the on-demand command (s) or message indication. The T or application delay (T) 1002 can be 1 ms, 1 slot, 10 slots, 10 ms, or other time delay, so after the UE 110 receives the DCI 1004, the NW will start or stop the on-demand SIB/SIB1 transmission 1006 at 10 ms, or 1 slot, or other application delay amount. In this manner, the NW (e.g., base station 122) and UE (e.g., UE 110) is informed of the timeline and can be synchronized in terms of the on-demand SIB/SIB1 transmission.

In an aspect, the application delay (T) 1002 can be pre-defined (hardcoded) in the standards or configured by the NW or base station 122. Additionally, or alternatively, the UE 110 can report a minimum application delay 1002 needed.

Alternatively or additionally, to support on-demand SSB/SIB1 operations for NW energy savings, when a MAC-CE is used for the NW to enable/disable on-demand SSB/SSB1 transmission, the application delay 1002 can be configured. For example, the application delay can be about 3 ms, or otherwise, for the UE to transmit the ACK corresponding to the MAC-CE. After 3 ms, for example, or other application delay 1002 the MAC-CE could take effect or be activated, for example, giving time for the HARQ-ACK to be communicated.

FIG. 11 illustrates an example process flow 1100 for on-demand NW operations for NW energy saving between a UE and base station. The process flow 1100 initiates at 1110 with receiving, via processing circuitry, an L1 signaling or an L2 signaling that corresponds to an on-demand SSB/SIB1 transmission. The process flow 1100 further includes generating, via the processing circuitry, an on-demand SSB/SIB1 operation to process or monitor the on-demand SSB/SIB1 transmission based on the L1 signaling or the L2 signaling.

The L1/L2 signaling can include a DCI or a MAC-CE, and an activation indication indicating the on-demand SSB/SIB1 transmission for activating the on-demand SSB/SIB1 operation. The process flow 1100 can further include receiving another L1 signaling or another L2 signaling comprising a deactivation indication that deactivates the on-demand SSB/SIB1 operation, or initiating a timer to determine a duration of activation of the on-demand SSB/SIB1 operation based on the L1 signaling or the L2 signaling.

The process flow 1100 can further include the UE receiving the L1 signaling that comprises a fallback DCI, a non-fallback DCI, a BWP switching DCI, or a special DCI that is broadcasted or groupcasted. The L1 signaling enables/disables a NW on- demand SSB/SIB1 operation with the UE by activating or deactivating the on-demand SSB/SIB1 operation for the on-demand SSB/SIB1 transmission. The UE can also transmit a UE request for the on-demand SSB/SIB1 transmission. The UE can further configure monitoring within a window of symbols/slots for a response to the UE request with the L1/L2 signaling to configure the on-demand SSB/SIB1 operation for the on-demand SSB/SIB1 transmission, in response to a number of symbols/slots after transmitting the UE request.

FIG. 12 is an example network 1200 according to one or more implementations described herein. Example network 1200 can include UEs 110-1, 110-2, etc. (referred to collectively as “UEs 110” and individually as “UE 110” ) , a radio access network (RAN) 122, a core network (CN) 1230, application servers 1240, and external networks 1250.

UEs 110 can communicate and establish a connection with (be communicatively coupled to) RAN 122, which can involve one or more wireless channels 1214-1 and 1214-2, each of which can comprise a physical communications interface/layer. In some implementations, a UE can be configured with dual connectivity (DC) as a multi-radio access technology (multi-RAT) or multi-radio dual connectivity (MR-DC) , where a multiple receive and transmit (Rx/Tx) capable UE can use resources provided by different network nodes or base stations 122 (e.g., 122-1 and 122-2) that can be connected via non-ideal backhaul (e.g., where one network node provides NR access and the other network node provides either E-UTRA for LTE or NR access for 5G) . In such a scenario, one network node can operate as a master node (MN) and the other as the secondary node (SN) . The MN and SN can be connected via a network interface, and at least the MN can be connected to the CN 1230. Additionally, at least one of the MN or the SN can be operated with shared spectrum channel access, and functions specified for UE 110 can be used for an integrated access and backhaul mobile termination (IAB-MT) . Similar for UE 110, the IAB-MT can access the network using either one network node or using two different nodes with enhanced dual connectivity (EN-DC) architectures, new radio dual connectivity (NR-DC) architectures, or other direct connectivity such as an SL communication channel as an SL interface 1212.

In some implementations, a base station (as described herein) can be an example of network node 122. As shown, UE 110 can additionally, or alternatively, connect to access point (AP) 1216 via connection interface 1218, which can include an air interface enabling UE 110 to communicatively couple with AP 1216. AP 1216 can comprise a wireless local area network (WLAN) , WLAN node, WLAN termination point, etc. The connection 1218 can comprise a local wireless connection, such as a connection consistent with any IEEE 702.11 protocol, and AP 1216 can comprise a wireless fidelityrouter or other AP. AP 1216 could be also connected to another network (e.g., the Internet) without connecting to RAN 122 or CN 1230.

RAN 122 can also include one or more RAN nodes 122-1 and 122-2 (referred to collectively as RAN nodes 122, and individually as RAN node 122) that enable channels 1214-1 and 1214-2 to be established between UEs 110 and RAN 122. RAN nodes 122 can include network access points configured to provide radio baseband functions for data or voice connectivity between users and the network based on one or more of the communication technologies described herein (e.g., 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G, WiFi, etc. ) . As examples therefore, a RAN node can be an E-UTRAN Node B (e.g., an enhanced Node B, eNodeB, eNB, 4G base station, etc. ) , a next generation base station (e.g., a 5G base station, NR base station, next generation eNBs (gNB) , etc. ) . RAN nodes 122 can include a roadside unit (RSU) , a transmission reception point (TRxP or TRP) , and one or more other types of ground stations (e.g., terrestrial access points) . In some scenarios, RAN node 122 can be a dedicated physical device, such as a macrocell base station, or a low power (LP) base station for providing femtocells, picocells or other like having smaller coverage areas, smaller user capacity, or higher bandwidth compared to macrocells. As described below, in some implementations, satellites 160 can operate as bases stations (e.g., RAN nodes 122) with respect to UEs 110. As such, references herein to a base station, RAN node 122, etc., can involve implementations where the base station, RAN node 122, etc., is a terrestrial network node and also to implementation where the base station, RAN node 122, etc., is a non-terrestrial network node.

Some or all of RAN nodes 122 can be implemented as one or more software entities running on server computers as part of a virtual network, which can be referred to as a centralized RAN (CRAN) or a virtual baseband unit pool (vBBUP) . In these implementations, the CRAN or vBBUP can implement a RAN function split, such as a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) split wherein radio resource control (RRC) and PDCP layers can be operated by the CRAN/vBBUP and other Layer 2 (L2) protocol entities can be operated by individual RAN nodes 122; a media access control (MAC) /physical (PHY) layer split wherein RRC, PDCP, radio link control (RLC) , and MAC layers can be operated by the CRAN/vBBUP and the PHY layer can be operated by individual RAN nodes 122; or a “lower PHY” split wherein RRC, PDCP, RLC, MAC layers and upper portions of the PHY layer can be operated by the CRAN/vBBUP and lower portions of the PHY layer can be operated by individual RAN nodes 122. This virtualized framework can allow freed-up processor cores of RAN nodes 122 to perform or execute other virtualized applications, for example.

In some implementations, an individual RAN node 122 can represent individual gNB-distributed units (DUs) connected to a gNB-control unit (CU) via individual F1 interfaces. In such implementations, the gNB-DUs can include one or more remote radio heads or radio frequency (RF) front end modules (RFEMs) , and the gNB-CU can be operated by a server (not shown) located in RAN 122 or by a server pool (e.g., a group of servers configured to share resources) in a similar manner as the CRAN/vBBUP. Additionally, or alternatively, one or more of RAN nodes 122 can be next generation eNBs (i.e., gNBs) that can provide evolved universal terrestrial radio access (E-UTRA) user plane and control plane protocol terminations toward UEs 110, and that can be connected to a 5G core network (5GC) 1230 via a Next Generation (NG) interface 1224.

Any of the RAN nodes 122 can terminate an air interface protocol and can be the first point of contact for UEs 110. In some implementations, any of the RAN nodes 122 can fulfill various logical functions for the RAN 122 including, but not limited to, radio network controller (RNC) functions such as radio bearer management, uplink and downlink dynamic radio resource management and data packet scheduling, and mobility management. UEs 110 can be configured to communicate using orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) communication signals with each other or with any of the RAN nodes 122 over a multicarrier communication channel in accordance with various communication techniques, such as, but not limited to, an OFDMA communication technique (e.g., for downlink communications) or a single carrier frequency-division multiple access (SC-FDMA) communication technique (e.g., for uplink and ProSe or sidelink (SL) communications) , although the scope of such implementations cannot be limited in this regard. The OFDM signals can comprise a plurality of orthogonal subcarriers.

A physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) can carry user data and higher layer signaling to UEs 110. The physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) can carry information about the transport format and resource allocations related to the PDSCH channel, among other things. The PDCCH can also inform UEs 110 about the transport format, resource allocation, and hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) information related to the uplink shared channel. Typically, downlink scheduling (e.g., assigning control and shared channel resource blocks to UE 110-2 within a cell) can be performed at any of the RAN nodes 122 based on channel quality information fed back from any of UEs 110. The downlink resource assignment information can be sent on the PDCCH used for (e.g., assigned to) each of UEs 110.

The PDCCH uses control channel elements (CCEs) to convey the control information, wherein a number of CCEs (e.g., 6 or other number) can consists of a resource element groups (REGs) , where a REG is defined as a physical resource block (PRB) in an OFDM symbol. Before being mapped to resource elements, the PDCCH complex-valued symbols can first be organized into quadruplets, which can then be permuted using a sub-block interleaver for rate matching, for example. Each PDCCH can be transmitted using one or more of these CCEs, where each CCE can correspond to nine sets of four physical resource elements known as REGs. Four quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) symbols can be mapped to each REG. The PDCCH can be transmitted using one or more CCEs, depending on the size of the DCI and the channel condition. There can be four or more different PDCCH formats with different numbers of CCEs (e.g., aggregation level, L=1, 2, 4, 8, or 16) .

The RAN nodes 122 may be configured to communicate with one another via interface 1223. In implementations where the system is an LTE system, interface 1223 may be an X2 interface. In LTE networks, X2 and S1 interface are defined as the interfaces between RAN nodes and between RAN and Core Network. 5G may operate in two modes as non-standalone and standalone mode. For non-standalone operation the specification defines the extension for S1 and X2 interfaces as for standalone operation as X2/Xn for the interface between RAN nodes 122 and S1/NG for the interface 1224 between RAN 120 and CN 1230. The interface 1224 may be defined between two or more RAN nodes 122 (e.g., two or more eNBs/gNBs or a combination thereof) that connect to evolved packet core (EPC) , the CN 1230, or between eNBs connecting to an EPC. In some implementations, the X2/Xn interface may include an X2/Xn user plane interface (X2-U/Xn-U) and an X2 control plane interface (X2-C/Xn-C) . The X2-U/Xn-U may provide flow control mechanisms for user data packets transferred over the X2/Xn interface and may be used to communicate information about the delivery of user data between eNBs or gNBs. For example, the X2-U/Xn-U may provide specific sequence number information for user data transferred from a master eNB (MeNB) to a secondary eNB (SeNB) ; information about successful in sequence delivery of PDCP packet data units (PDUs) to a UE 110 from an SeNB for user data; information of PDCP PDUs that were not delivered to a UE 110; information about a current minimum desired buffer size at the SeNB for transmitting to the UE user data; and the like. The X2-C/Xn-C may provide intra-LTE access mobility functionality (e.g., including context transfers from source to target eNBs, user plane transport control, etc. ) , load management functionality, and inter-cell interference coordination functionality.

Alternatively, or additionally, RAN 122 can be also connected (e.g., communicatively coupled) to CN 1230 via a Next Generation (NG) interface as interface 1224. The NG interface 1224 can be split into two parts, a Next Generation (NG) user plane (NG-U) interface 1226, which carries traffic data between the RAN nodes 122 and a User Plane Function (UPF) , and the S1 control plane (NG-C) interface 1228, which is a signaling interface between the RAN nodes 122 and Access and Mobility Management Functions (AMFs) .

CN 1230 can comprise a plurality of network elements 1232, which are configured to offer various data and telecommunications services to customers/subscribers (e.g., users of UEs 110) who are connected to the CN 1230 via the RAN 122. In some implementations, CN 1230 can include an evolved packet core (EPC) , a 5G CN, and/or one or more additional or alternative types of CNs. The components of the CN 1230 can be implemented in one physical node or separate physical nodes including components to read and execute instructions from a machine-readable or computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium) .

As shown, CN 1230, application servers 1240, and external networks 1250 can be connected to one another via interfaces 1234, 1236, and 1238, which can include IP network interfaces. Application servers 1240 can include one or more server devices or network elements (e.g., virtual network functions (VNFs) offering applications that use IP bearer resources with CN 1230 (e.g., universal mobile telecommunications system packet services (UMTS PS) domain, LTE PS data services, etc. ) . Application servers 1240 can also, or alternatively, be configured to support one or more communication services (e.g., voice over IP (VoIP sessions, push-to-talk (PTT) sessions, group communication sessions, social networking services, etc. ) for UEs 110 via the CN 1230. Similarly, external networks 1250 can include one or more of a variety of networks, including the Internet, thereby providing the mobile communication network and UEs 110 of the network access to a variety of additional services, information, interconnectivity, and other network features.

In an aspect, the UE 110 can operate via the processing circuitry by receiving a L1/L2 signaling that corresponds to an on-demand SSB/SIB1 transmission, and generate an on-demand SSB/SIB1 operation based on the L1 signaling or the L2 signaling that corresponds to the on-demand SSB/SIB1 transmission. The L1/L2 signaling can include an activation message that enables the on-demand SSB/SIB1 operation for processing or monitoring of the on-demand SSB/SIB1 transmission. The UE 110 can receive another L1/L2 signaling comprising a deactivation message that deactivates the on-demand SSB/SIB1 operation, or initiate a timer to determine a duration of activation of the on-demand SSB/SIB1 operation based on the activation message. The L1/L2 signaling can comprise an on-demand DCI or MAC-CE with a first on-demand indication that indicates a serving cell or a component carrier that transmits the on-demand SSB/SIB1 transmission, a second on-demand indication that indicates plurality of serving cell identifiers (IDs) associated with serving cells corresponding to the on-demand SSB/SIB1 transmission, a third on-demand indication that indicates a plurality of physical cell identifiers (PCIs) associated with neighboring cells corresponding to the on-demand SSB/SIB1 transmission, or a fourth on-demand indication that indicates a plurality of SSB IDs that enable or disable the on-demand SSB/SIB1 transmission, for example.

When the DCI is based on a network on-demand SSB/SIB1 operation that comprises a fallback DCI, the associated CRC bits can be scrambled based on an ON-RNTI or on one or more legacy RNTIs. In response to being based on the one or more legacy RNTIs, the DCI can comprise an on-demand field indicating whether one or more other fields of the DCI are to be interpreted for enabling/disabling the on-demand SSB/SIB1 operation for the on-demand SSB/SIB1 transmission; in any other legacy RNTI the on-demand field can be configured with one or more reserve bits. A fallback DCI as the on-demand DCI can be further size aligned with other DCI of Format 1_0, for example, by appending bits on the DCI based on the network on-demand SSB/SIB1 operation or on the other DCI of Format 1_0 for alignment to ensure a same size there-between.

Additionally, or alternatively, the L1 signaling can comprise a DCI based on a network on-demand SSB/SIB1 operation that comprises a non-fallback DCI including one or more fields that indicate a same value of either all “1” sor all “0” s, or other legacy invalid value for re-purposing to on-demand NW operation. The NW can further signal that the DCI is based on the network on-demand SSB/SIB1 operation, activate the on-demand SSB/SIB1 operation, or deactivate the on-demand SSB/SIB1 operation.

Additionally, or alternatively, the L1 signaling can comprise a DCI based on a network on-demand SSB/SIB1 operation and on a BWP switching operation. The DCI can comprise at least one of: a non-fallback downlink (DL) DCI, a non-fallback uplink (UL) DCI, a fallback DL DCI, or a fallback UL DCI, used to activate or deactivate for the on-demand SSB/SIB1 transmission.

Additionally, or alternatively, the L1 signaling can comprise a BWP switching DCI that configures switching from a first BWP to a second BWP. The first BWP or the second BWP can deactivate the on-demand SSB/SIB1 transmission for the on-demand SSB/SIB1 operation, and the other of the first BWP or the second BWP can comprise a legacy BWP with an SSB/SIB1 that activates the on-demand SSB/SIB1 transmission.

The L1 signaling can also include a DCI that is with or without additional information, or is only without the additional information, along with information that enables or disables the on-demand SSB/SIB1 operation at the UE for the on-demand SSB/SIB1 transmission. The additional information can include at least one of: DL/UL data scheduling information, aperiodic SRS information, or aperiodic CSI. The DCI can include on-demand SSB/SIB1 triggering information to activate the on-demand SSB/SIB1 operation.

The UE 110 can further report a HARQ-ACK, in response to receiving the DCI only or receiving the DCI with scheduling data. In response to receiving the DCI with the scheduling data, the UE 110 can encode the HARQ –ACK for the scheduling data. In response to receiving the DCI without scheduling data, the UE 110 can determine a location for the HARQ –ACK in a Type-1 HARQ –ACK codebook based on a virtual PDSCH indicated by a TDRA field of the DCI, based on a time domain allocation list configured for the virtual PDSCH, or determine the location for the HARQ –ACK in a Type-2 HARQ –ACK codebook based on a Downlink assignment index (DAI) indicated in the DCI.

One or more network components, devices or systems of network 1200 is configured to process, perform, generate, communicate or cause execution of any one or more combined aspects described herein or in association with any of the FIGs. 1 thru 13 herein.

Referring to FIG. 13, illustrated is a block diagram of a UE device 110 (e.g., UE 110-1 or 110-2) or other network device/component (e.g., V-UE/P-UE, IoT, gNB, eNB, base station 122 or other participating network entity/component) 1100. The device 1100 includes one or more processors 1310 (e.g., one or more baseband processors) comprising processing circuitry and associated interface (s) , transceiver circuitry 1320 (e.g., comprising RF circuitry, which can comprise transmitter circuitry (e.g., associated with one or more transmit chains) and/or receiver circuitry (e.g., associated with one or more receive chains) that can employ common circuit elements, distinct circuit elements, or a combination thereof) , and a memory 1330 (which can comprise any of a variety of storage mediums and can store instructions and/or data associated with one or more of processor (s) 1310 or transceiver circuitry 1320) .

Memory 1330 (as well as other memory components discussed herein, e.g., memory, data storage, or the like) can comprise one or more machine-readable medium /media including instructions that, when performed by a machine or component herein cause the machine or other device to perform acts of a method, an apparatus or system for communication using multiple communication technologies according to aspects, embodiments and examples described herein. It is to be understood that aspects described herein can be implemented by hardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented in software, functions can be stored on or transmitted over as one or more instructions or code on a computer-readable medium (e.g., the memory described herein or other storage device) . Computer-readable media includes both computer storage media and communication media including any medium that facilitates transfer of a computer program from one place to another. A storage media or a computer readable storage device can be any available media that can be accessed by a general purpose or special purpose computer. By way of example, and not limitation, such computer-readable media can comprise RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or other tangible and/or non-transitory medium, that can be used to carry or store desired information or executable instructions. Any connection can be also termed a computer-readable medium.

Memory 1330 can include executable instructions, and be integrated in, or communicatively coupled to, processor or processing circuitry 1310. The executable instructions of the memory 1330 can cause processing circuitry 1310 to receive/process the instructions to receive/process/determine/generate on-demand NW operations. The processing circuitry or one or more processors can further enable processing L1/L2 signaling that corresponds to an on-demand synchronization signal block (SSB) /system information block 1 (SIB1) transmission, and perform operations that include activating an on-demand SSB/SIB1 operation for monitoring the on-demand SSB/SIB1 transmission based on the L1 signaling or the L2 signaling.

The device 1300 is configured to process, perform, generate, communicate or cause execution of any one or more combined aspects described herein or in association with any of the FIGs. 1 thru 12.

While the methods described within this disclosure are illustrated in and described herein as a series of acts or events, it will be appreciated that the illustrated ordering of such acts or events are not to be interpreted in a limiting sense. For example, some acts can occur in different orders and/or concurrently with other acts or events apart from those illustrated and/or described herein. In addition, not all illustrated acts can be required to implement one or more aspects or embodiments of the description herein. Further, one or more of the acts depicted herein can be carried out in one or more separate acts and/or phases. Reference can be made to the figures described above for ease of description. However, the methods are not limited to any particular embodiment, aspect or example provided within this disclosure and can be applied to any of the systems/devices/components disclosed herein.

It is well understood that the use of personally identifiable information should follow privacy policies and practices that are generally recognized as meeting or exceeding industry or governmental requirements for maintaining the privacy of users. In particular, personally identifiable information data should be managed and handled so as to minimize risks of unintentional or unauthorized access or use, and the nature of authorized use should be clearly indicated to users.

The present disclosure is described with reference to attached drawing figures, wherein like reference numerals are used to refer to like elements throughout, and wherein the illustrated structures and devices are not necessarily drawn to scale. As utilized herein, terms “component, ” “system, ” “interface, ” and the like are intended to refer to a computer-related entity, hardware, software (e.g., in execution) , and/or firmware. For example, a component can be a processor (e.g., a microprocessor, a controller, or other processing device) , a process running on a processor, a controller, an object, an executable, a program, a storage device, a computer, a tablet PC and/or a user equipment (e.g., mobile phone, etc. ) with a processing device. By way of illustration, an application running on a server and the server can be also a component. One or more components can reside within a process, and a component can be localized on one computer and/or distributed between two or more computers. A set of elements or a set of other components can be described herein, in which the term “set” can be interpreted as “one or more. ”

Further, these components can execute from various computer readable storage media having various data structures stored thereon such as with a module, for example. The components can communicate via local and/or remote processes such as in accordance with a signal having one or more data packets (e.g., data from one component interacting with another component in a local system, distributed system, and/or across a network, such as, the Internet, a local area network, a wide area network, or similar network with other systems via the signal) .

As another example, a component can be an apparatus with specific functionality provided by mechanical parts operated by electric or electronic circuitry, in which the electric or electronic circuitry can be operated by a software application or a firmware application executed by one or more processors. The one or more processors can be internal or external to the apparatus and can execute at least a part of the software or firmware application. As yet another example, a component can be an apparatus that provides specific functionality through electronic components without mechanical parts; the electronic components can include one or more processors therein to execute software and/or firmware that confer (s) , at least in part, the functionality of the electronic components.

Use of the word exemplary is intended to present concepts in a concrete fashion. As used in this application, the term “or” is intended to mean an inclusive “or” rather than an exclusive “or” . That is, unless specified otherwise, or clear from context, “X employs A or B” is intended to mean any of the natural inclusive permutations. That is, if X employs A; X employs B; or X employs both A and B, then “X employs A or B” is satisfied under any of the foregoing instances. In addition, the articles “a” and “an” as used in this application and the appended claims should generally be construed to mean “one or more” unless specified otherwise or clear from context to be directed to a singular form. Furthermore, to the extent that the terms “including” , “includes” , “having” , “has” , “with” , or variants thereof are used in either the detailed description and the claims, such terms are intended to be inclusive in a manner similar to the term “comprising. ” Additionally, in situations wherein one or more numbered items are discussed (e.g., a “first X” , a “second X” , etc. ) , in general the one or more numbered items can be distinct, or they can be the same, although in some situations the context can indicate that they are distinct or that they are the same.

As used herein, the term “circuitry” can refer to, be part of, or include an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) , an electronic circuit, a processor (shared, dedicated, or group) , or associated memory (shared, dedicated, or group) operably coupled to the circuitry that execute one or more software or firmware programs, a combinational logic circuit, or other suitable hardware components that provide the described functionality. In some embodiments, the circuitry can be implemented in, or functions associated with the circuitry can be implemented by, one or more software or firmware modules. In some embodiments, circuitry can include logic, at least partially operable in hardware.

As it is employed in the subject specification, the term “processor” can refer to substantially any computing processing unit or device including, but not limited to including, single-core processors; single-processors with software multithread execution capability; multi-core processors; multi-core processors with software multithread execution capability; multi-core processors with hardware multithread technology; parallel platforms; and parallel platforms with distributed shared memory. Additionally, a processor can refer to an integrated circuit, an application specific integrated circuit, a digital signal processor, a field programmable gate array, a programmable logic controller, a complex programmable logic device, a discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions and/or processes described herein. Processors can exploit nano-scale architectures such as, but not limited to, molecular and quantum-dot based transistors, switches and gates, in order to optimize space usage or enhance performance of mobile devices. A processor can also be implemented as a combination of computing processing units.

Examples (aspects) can include subject matter such as a method, means for performing acts or blocks of the method, at least one machine-readable medium including instructions that, when performed by a machine (e.g., a processor with memory, an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) , a field programmable gate array (FPGA) , or the like) cause the machine to perform acts of the method or of an apparatus or system for concurrent communication using multiple communication technologies according to embodiments and examples described herein.

Moreover, various aspects or features described herein can be implemented as a method, apparatus, or article of manufacture using standard programming and/or engineering techniques. The term "article of manufacture" as used herein is intended to encompass a computer program accessible from any computer-readable device, carrier, or media. For example, computer-readable media can include but are not limited to magnetic storage devices (e.g., hard disk, floppy disk, magnetic strips, etc. ) , optical disks (e.g., compact disk (CD) , digital versatile disk (DVD) , etc. ) , smart cards, and flash memory devices (e.g., EPROM, card, stick, key drive, etc. ) . Additionally, various storage media described herein can represent one or more devices and/or other machine-readable media for storing information. The term “machine-readable medium” can include, without being limited to, wireless channels and various other media capable of storing, containing, and/or carrying instruction (s) and/or data. Additionally, a computer program product can include a computer readable medium having one or more instructions or codes operable to cause a computer to perform functions described herein.

Communications media embody computer-readable instructions, data structures, program modules or other structured or unstructured data in a data signal such as a modulated data signal, e.g., a carrier wave or other transport mechanism, and includes any information delivery or transport media. The term “modulated data signal” or signals refers to a signal that has one or more of its characteristics set or changed in such a manner as to encode information in one or more signals. By way of example, and not limitation, communication media include wired media, such as a wired network or direct-wired connection, and wireless media such as acoustic, RF, infrared and other wireless media.

An exemplary storage medium can be coupled to processor, such that processor can read information from, and write information to, storage medium. In the alternative, storage medium can be integral to processor. Further, in some aspects, processor and storage medium can reside in an ASIC. Additionally, ASIC can reside in a user terminal. In the alternative, processor and storage medium can reside as discrete components in a user terminal. Additionally, in some aspects, the processes and/or actions of a method or algorithm can reside as one or any combination or set of codes and/or instructions on a machine-readable medium and/or computer readable medium, which can be incorporated into a computer program product.

In this regard, while the disclosed subject matter has been described in connection with various embodiments and corresponding Figures, where applicable, it is to be understood that other similar embodiments can be used or modifications and additions can be made to the described embodiments for performing the same, similar, alternative, or substitute function of the disclosed subject matter without deviating therefrom. Therefore, the disclosed subject matter should not be limited to any single embodiment described herein, but rather should be construed in breadth and scope in accordance with the appended claims below.

In particular regard to the various functions performed by the above described components (assemblies, devices, circuits, systems, etc. ) , the terms (including a reference to a "means" ) used to describe such components are intended to correspond, unless otherwise indicated, to any component or structure which performs the specified function of the described component (e.g., that is functionally equivalent) , even though not structurally equivalent to the disclosed structure which performs the function in the herein illustrated exemplary implementations of the disclosure. In addition, while a particular feature can have been disclosed with respect to only one of several implementations, such feature can be combined with one or more other features of the other implementations as can be desired and advantageous for any given or particular application.

Claims

A user equipment (UE) , comprising:

a memory; and

processing circuitry, comprising the memory, configured to execute instructions that cause the UE to:

receive a layer 1 (L1) signaling or a layer 2 (L2) signaling that corresponds to an on-demand synchronization signal block (SSB) /system information block 1 (SIB1) transmission; and

generate an on-demand SSB /SIB1 operation based on the L1 signaling or the L2 signaling that corresponds to the on-demand SSB /SIB1 transmission.
The UE of claim 1, wherein the L1 signaling or the L2 signaling comprises an activation message that enables the on-demand SSB /SIB1 operation for processing or monitoring of the on-demand SSB /SIB1 transmission, and wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to cause the UE to:

receive another L1 signaling or another L2 signaling comprising a deactivation message that deactivates the on-demand SSB /SIB1 operation; or

initiate a timer to determine a duration of activation of the on-demand SSB /SIB1 operation based on the activation message.
The UE of claim 1, wherein the L1 signaling or the L2 signaling comprises a downlink control information (DCI) or a medium access control (MAC) control element (MAC-CE) , respectively, with at least one of:

a first on-demand indication that indicates a serving cell or a component carrier that transmits the on-demand SSB /SIB1 transmission;

a second on-demand indication that indicates plurality of serving cell identifiers (IDs) associated with serving cells corresponding to the on-demand SSB /SIB1 transmission;

a third on-demand indication that indicates a plurality of physical cell identifiers (PCIs) associated with neighboring cells corresponding to the on-demand SSB /SIB1 transmission; or

a fourth on-demand indication that indicates a plurality of SSB IDs that enable or disable the on-demand SSB /SIB1 transmission.
The UE of claim 1, wherein the L1 signaling comprises a DCI based on a network on-demand SSB /SIB1 operation that comprises a fallback DCI with one or more cyclic redundancy check (CRC) bits scrambled based on an on-demand radio network temporary identifier (ON-RNTI) , or based on one or more legacy RNTIs, wherein, in response to being based on the one or more legacy RNTIs, the DCI comprises an on-demand field indicating whether one or more other fields of the DCI are to be interpreted for enabling /disabling the on-demand SSB /SIB1 operation for the on-demand SSB /SIB1 transmission, and wherein in any other legacy RNTI the on-demand field is configured with one or more reserve bits.
The UE of claim 1, wherein the L1 signaling comprises a DCI based on a network on-demand SSB /SIB1 operation that comprises a fallback DCI, and the processing circuitry is further configured to cause the UE to:

size align the DCI based on the network on-demand SSB /SIB1 operation with other DCI of Format 1_0 by appending bits on the DCI based on the network on-demand SSB /SIB1 operation or on the other DCI of Format 1_0 for alignment with a same size there-between.
The UE of claim 1, wherein the L1 signaling comprises a DCI based on a network on-demand SSB /SIB1 operation that comprises a non-fallback DCI including one or more fields that indicate a same value of either all “1” sor all “0” s, or other legacy invalid value, and further signal that the DCI is based on the network on-demand SSB /SIB1 operation, activate the on-demand SSB /SIB1 operation, or deactivate the on-demand SSB /SIB1 operation.
The UE of claim 1, wherein the L1 signaling comprises a DCI based on a network on-demand SSB /SIB1 operation and based on a BWP switching operation, wherein the DCI comprises at least one of: a non-fallback downlink (DL) DCI, a non-fallback uplink (UL) DCI, a fallback DL DCI, or a fallback UL DCI, used for activation or deactivation of the on-demand SSB /SIB1 operation.
The UE of claim 1, wherein the L1 signaling comprises a BWP switching DCI that configures switching from a first BWP to a second BWP, wherein one of the first BWP or the second BWP deactivates the on-demand SSB /SIB1 transmission for the on-demand SSB /SIB1 operation, and an other of the first BWP or the second BWP comprises a legacy BWP with an SSB/SIB1 and activates the on-demand SSB /SIB1 transmission.
The UE of claim 1, wherein the L1 signaling comprises a DCI that is configurable with or without additional information, or is only without the additional information, along with information that enables or disables the on-demand SSB /SIB1 operation at the UE for the on-demand SSB /SIB1 transmission, wherein the additional information comprises at least one of: DL /UL data scheduling information, aperiodic sounding reference signal (SRS) information, or aperiodic channel state information (CSI) .
The UE of claim 1, wherein the L1 signaling comprises a DCI comprising on-demand SSB/SIB1 triggering information to activate the on-demand SSB/SIB1 operation, and the processing circuitry is further configured to cause the UE to:

report a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) -acknowledgment (ACK) , in response to receiving the DCI or receiving the DCI with scheduling data.
The UE of claim 10, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to cause the UE to:

in response to receiving the DCI with the scheduling data, encode the HARQ –ACK for the scheduling data; and

in response to receiving the DCI without scheduling data, determine a location for the HARQ –ACK in a Type-1 HARQ –ACK codebook based on a virtual physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) indicated by a time domain resource allocation (TDRA) field in the DCI, based on a time domain allocation list configured for the virtual PDSCH, or determine the location for the HARQ –ACK in a Type-2 HARQ –ACK codebook based on a Downlink assignment index (DAI) indicated in the DCI.
The UE of claim 1, wherein the L1 signaling comprises a DCI based on a network on-demand SSB /SIB1 operation that comprises a special DCI that is groupcast to enable or disable the on-demand SSB/SIB1 operation for the on-demand SSB /SIB1 transmission, wherein the special DCI comprises either an additional special DCI Format 2_10 or a legacy special DCI Format being reused, and wherein one or more cyclic redundancy check (CRC) bits of the special DCI are scrambled based on an on-demand radio network temporary identifier (ON-RNTI) for an SSB (SSB-ON-RNTI) or an SIB1 (SIB1-ON-RNTI) , or based on one or more legacy RNTIs, and wherein the special DCI is divided into multiple blocks corresponding to different groups of UEs indicating which block is configured for each UE or a single block for all UEs.
The UE of claim 1, wherein the L1 signaling comprises a DCI and the L2 signaling comprises a MAC-CE, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to cause the UE to:

configure an application delay comprising a number of symbols /slots that initiates after receiving the L1 signaling or the L2 signaling, or after transmitting an ACK corresponding to receiving the MAC-CE, and up to receiving the on-demand SSB/SIB1 transmission before generating the on-demand SSB /SIB1 operation for the on-demand SSB /SIB1 transmission.
A method of a user equipment (UE) comprising:

receiving, via processing circuitry, a layer 1 (L1) signaling or a layer 2 (L2) signaling that corresponds to an on-demand synchronization signal block (SSB) /system information block 1 (SIB1) transmission; and

generating, via the processing circuitry, an on-demand SSB /SIB1 operation to process or monitor the on-demand SSB /SIB1 transmission based on the L1 signaling or the L2 signaling.
The method of claim 14, wherein the L1 signaling or the L2 signaling comprises a downlink control information (DCI) or a medium access control (MAC) control element (MAC-CE) , respectively, with an activation indication that indicates the on-demand SSB /SIB1 transmission for activating the on-demand SSB /SIB1 operation, the method further comprising:

receiving another L1 signaling or another L2 signaling comprising a deactivation indication that deactivates the on-demand SSB /SIB1 operation; or

initiating a timer to determine a duration of activation of the on-demand SSB /SIB1 operation based on the L1 signaling or the L2 signaling.
The method of claim 14, wherein receiving the L1 signaling comprises receiving a fallback DCI, a non-fallback DCI, a BWP switching DCI, or a special DCI that is broadcasted or groupcasted, wherein the L1 signaling enables or disables a network on-demand SSB /SIB1 operation with the UE by activating or deactivating the on-demand SSB /SIB1 operation for the on-demand SSB /SIB1 transmission.
The method of claim 14, further comprising:

transmitting a UE request for the on-demand SSB /SIB1 transmission; and

monitoring within a window of symbols /slots for a response to the UE request with the L1 signaling or the L2 signaling to configure the on-demand SSB/SIB1 operation for the on-demand SSB /SIB1 transmission, in response to a number of symbols /slots after transmitting the UE request.
A baseband processor configured to, when executing instructions stored in a memory, perform operations comprising:

processing, via processing circuitry, a layer 1 (L1) signaling or a layer 2 (L2) signaling that corresponds to an on-demand synchronization signal block (SSB) /system information block 1 (SIB1) transmission; and

activating, via the processing circuitry, an on-demand SSB /SIB1 operation for monitoring the on-demand SSB /SIB1 transmission based on the L1 signaling or the L2 signaling.
The baseband processor of claim 18, wherein the operations further comprise:

generating a UE request for the on-demand SSB /SIB1 transmission; and

monitoring within a window of symbols /slots for a response to the UE request with the L1 signaling or the L2 signaling to configure the on-demand SSB/SIB1 operation for the on-demand SSB /SIB1 transmission, in response to a number of symbols /slots after transmitting the UE request; and

providing another UE request in response to not detecting the response and being within a number of re-transmissions of the UE request.
The baseband processor of claim 18, wherein the L1 signaling comprises a DCI and the L2 signaling comprises a MAC-CE, wherein operations further comprise:

configuring an application delay comprising a number of symbols /slots that initiates after receiving the L1 signaling or the L2 signaling, or after transmitting an ACK corresponding to receiving the MAC-CE, and up to receiving the on-demand SSB/SIB1 transmission before activating the on-demand SSB /SIB1 operation; and

transmitting the application delay.