WO2025176001A1

WO2025176001A1 - Methods and apparatus for user equipment-triggered on-demand synchronizatoin signal and physical broadcast channel block in mobile communications

Info

Publication number: WO2025176001A1
Application number: PCT/CN2025/074216
Authority: WO
Inventors: Chi-Hsuan Hsieh
Original assignee: MediaTek Inc
Current assignee: MediaTek Inc
Priority date: 2024-02-19
Filing date: 2025-01-23
Publication date: 2025-08-28
Anticipated expiration: 2026-08-19

Abstract

Various solutions for user equipment (UE) -triggered on-demand synchronization signal and physical broadcast channel block (SSB) with respect to UE and network apparatus in mobile communications are described. A UE may transmit an on-demand SSB triggering request to a network node. Also, the UE may receive an on-demand SSB property information from the network node. Therefore, the UE may receive an on-demand SSB from the network node based on the on-demand SSB property information. As the UE may provide more information about the channel status and/or the cell quality, the UE-triggered on-demand SSB may be beneficial for network to transmit the on-demand SSB more efficiently.

Description

METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR USER EQUIPMENT-TRIGGERED ON-DEMAND SYNCHRONIZATOIN SIGNAL AND PHYSICAL BROADCAST CHANNEL BLOCK IN MOBILE COMMUNICATIONS

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED PATENT APPLICATION (S)

The present disclosure is part of a non-provisional application claiming the priority benefit of U.S. Patent Application No. 63/555,140, filed 19 February 2024, the content of which herein being incorporated by reference in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure is generally related to mobile communications and, more particularly, to user equipment (UE) -triggered on-demand synchronization signal and physical broadcast channel block (SSB) with respect to user equipment and network apparatus in mobile communications.

BACKGROUND

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

In the current fifth generation (5G) new radio (NR) specification, synchronization signal and physical broadcast channel blocks (SSBs) are consistently configured as periodic signals by radio resource control (RRC) signaling. The specific SSB configuration details can be extracted from system information block 1 (SIB1) through its information elements (IEs) . The configurable period for a periodic SSB can range from 5 to 160 milliseconds (ms) , with possible values of 5, 10, 20, 40, 80, or 160 ms. Additionally, one or more periodic SSBs can be grouped together to form an SSB burst in the time domain. Each periodic SSB within this burst aligns with a specific transmit beam direction in the time domain.

However, periodically transmitting the SSB without considering UE needs will negatively impact network energy. Therefore, a solution is needed to mitigate this issue.

SUMMARY

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

An objective of the present disclosure is to propose solutions or schemes that address the aforementioned issue pertaining to user equipment (UE) -triggered on-demand synchronization signal and physical broadcast channel block (SSB) with respect to UE and network apparatus in mobile communications.

In one aspect, a method may involve an apparatus transmitting an on-demand SSB triggering request to a network node. The method may also involve the apparatus receiving an on-demand SSB property information from the network node. The method may further involve the apparatus receiving an on-demand SSB from the network node based on the on-demand SSB property information.

In one aspect, an apparatus may comprise a transceiver which, during operation, wirelessly communicates with a network node. The apparatus may also comprise a processor communicatively coupled to the transceiver. The processor, during operation, may perform operations comprising transmitting an on-demand SSB triggering request to a network node via the transceiver. The processor may also perform operations comprising receiving an on-demand SSB property information from the network node via the transceiver. The processor may further perform operations comprising receiving, via the transceiver, an on-demand SSB from the network node based on the on-demand SSB property information.

In another aspect, a method may involve a network node receiving an on-demand SSB triggering request from a UE. The method may also involve the network node transmitting an on-demand SSB property information to the UE after receiving the on-demand SSB triggering request. The method may further involve the network node transmitting an on-demand SSB to the UE in accordance with the on-demand SSB property information.

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

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

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

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

FIG. 2A is a diagram depicting an example scenario of triggering offset in accordance with the present disclosure may be implemented.

FIG. 2B is a diagram depicting another example scenario of triggering offset in accordance with the present disclosure may be implemented.

FIG. 3 is a diagram depicting an example scenario of on-demand SSB burst cluster in accordance with implementations of the present disclosure.

FIG. 4 is a diagram depicting an example scenario of frequency domain indications in accordance with implementations of the present disclosure.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of an example communication system in accordance with an implementation of the present disclosure.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of an example process in accordance with an implementation of the present disclosure.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of another example process in accordance with an implementation of the present disclosure.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED IMPLEMENTATIONS

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

Implementations in accordance with the present disclosure relate to various techniques, methods, schemes and/or solutions pertaining to user equipment (UE) -triggered on-demand synchronization signal and physical broadcast channel block (SSB) in mobile communications, which may improve network energy saving by ensuring that the network sends on-demand SSBs only when needed. According to the present disclosure, a number of possible solutions may be implemented separately or jointly. That is, although these possible solutions may be described below separately, two or more of these possible solutions may be implemented in one combination or another.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example scenario 100 of a communication environment in which various solutions and schemes in accordance with the present disclosure may be implemented. Scenario 100 involves a UE 110 in wireless communication with a wireless network (e.g., a 5G NR network) consisting of an access network 120 and a core network 130. The UE 110 may be a smart phone, a wearable device, an IoT device, and a tablet, etc. Alternatively, the UE 110 may be a notebook (NB) or personal computer (PC) inserted or installed with a data card which includes a modem and radio frequency (RF) transceiver (s) to provide the functionality of wireless communication. In 5G NR, the access network 120 is connected to the core network 130 by means of the NG interface, more specifically to a user plane function (UPF) by means of the NG user-plane part (NG-u) , and to a mobility management function (AMF) by means of the NG control-plane part (NG-c) . One base station (BS) such as a next generation Node-B (gNB) can be connected to multiple UPFs/AMFs for the purpose of load sharing and redundancy. In addition, the core network may include other entities, such as session management function (SMF) and unified data management (UDM) , etc. The access network 120 may include multiple BSs (e.g., the BS 121) , each BS may provide communication coverage for a geographic coverage area where communications with the UE 110 is supported.

In one embodiment, carrier aggregation (CA) is supported by the communication environment in scenario 100. The UE 110 may connect to multiple cells simultaneously to increase the data rate. Specifically, the UE 110 may be configured with one or more secondary cells (SCells) in the connected mode. By leveraging its understanding of the data volume in its uplink (UL) buffer, the quality of the measured cell, and the channel conditions, the UE 110 may trigger an on-demand SSB transmission used for an SCell activation and/or deactivation. Specifically, to enable the on-demand SSB, it would need an UL signal to send a UE request and a downlink (DL) signal to inform the UE 110 the time/frequency domain properties of the to be transmitted on-demand SSB (s) . In scenario 100, the UE 110 may initiate the on-demand SSB triggering by transmitting an on-demand SSB triggering request 140 to the BS 121. The on-demand SSB triggering request 140 is transmitted via an UL media access control (MAC) control element (CE) or an uplink control information (UCI) and may further include an information about one or more cells requiring the on-demand SSB transmission. For example, the on-demand SSB triggering request 140 may include a bitmap indicating which cell (s) would need the on-demand SSB.

After receiving the on-demand SSB triggering request 140 from the UE 110, the BS 121 may transmit an on-demand SSB property information 150 to the UE 110. The on-demand SSB property information 150 is, for example, transmitted via a DL MAC CE or a downlink control information (DCI) , and may include a time domain property and/or a frequency domain property associated with one or more on-demand SSBs to be transmitted by the BS 121. In one example, the on-demand SSB may be used for SCell activation and/or deactivation. Then, the UE 110 may receive the on-demand SSB (s) based on the received on-demand SSB property information 150.

Different from the periodically transmitted SSB searched by the UE 110 on the synchronization raster during an initial cell search process, the on-demand SSB is transmitted temporarily. To guarantee that the on-demand SSB can be used correctly, the transmitted on-demand SSB would not fall on the synchronization raster. In one example, all SSBs searched on the synchronization raster are the periodic SSBs (i.e., transmitted periodically) . In other words, the UE 110 does not expect the on-demand SSB to be transmitted on the synchronization raster.

Since the on-demand SSB is transmitted temporarily, the BS 121 may include the necessary on-demand SSB properties in the on-demand SSB property information 150 to ensure that the UE 110 is able to properly receive the on-demand SSB. The time domain property included in the on-demand SSB property information 150 may be one or a combination of an information about on-demand SSBs in one SSB burst, a number of on-demand SSB bursts, a gap length between on-demand SSB bursts, and a triggering offset of a triggered on-demand SSB. In one example, the information about on-demand SSBs in one SSB burst may be a bitmap, which informs the UE 110 of which on-demand SSBs are being transmitted. The triggering offset is an offset from a reference slot to the first slot of the triggered on-demand SSB, which represents the time of on-demand SSB takes effect. FIGs 2A and 2B illustrate two example scenarios 210 and 220 of the triggering offset in accordance with the present disclosure. It is assumed that the on-demand SSB property information 150 is transmitted by the BS 121 via the MAC CE (e.g., on the physical data shared channel (PDSCH) ) . In scenario 210 of FIG. 2A, the SCell activation is not triggered together with the on-demand SSB transmission, and the reference slot 213 is the receiving slot of the on-demand SSB property information 150. In scenario 220 of FIG. 2B, the SCell activation is triggered together with the on-demand SSB transmission, the reference slot is determined in accordance with a time interval from PDSCH reception to acknowledgment (ACK) response of the UE 110, which is k slots in scenario 220. To be specific, slot n is the MAC CE receiving slot (i.e., the receiving slot of the on-demand SSB property information 150) , and at slot n+k, the ACK response is completed. The reference slot is the last DL slot of the to-be-activated SCell overlapping with slot n+k.

The time domain property in the on-demand SSB property information 150 may further include one or a combination of a number of on-demand SSB burst clusters, a number of on-demand SSB bursts in one on-demand SSB burst cluster, and a gap length between on-demand SSB burst clusters. In which, one on-demand SSB burst cluster may include one or more on-demand SSB bursts. FIG. 3 is a diagram depicting an example scenario of on-demand SSB burst cluster in accordance with implementations of the present disclosure. In scenario 300, each of the on-demand SSB burst clusters 310, 320, and 330 includes two on-demand SSB bursts. In one embodiment, during the SCell activation procedure, the UE 110 may perform the operations of automatic control gain symbol (AGC) setting, cell searching and layer 1 reference signal received power (L1-RSRP) measurement in the on-demand SSB burst clusters 310, 320, and 330, respectively. As the operations with the same purpose are performed in the same on-demand SSB burst cluster, the UE processing time can be optimized accordingly.

The frequency domain property in the on-demand SSB property information 150 may include one or a combination of an absolute frequency position, a relative frequency position, or any frequency domain indications associated with the on-demand SSB. As shown in scenario 400 of FIG. 4, the absolute frequency position may indicate the middle of the on-demand SSB 410 (i.e., absoluteFrequencySSB) . The relative frequency position is relative to a reference frequency point A, and may include one or a combination of OffsetToPointA, Kssb, and absoluteFrequencyPointA. It should be noted that the necessary frequency domain property associated with the on-demand SSB is directly included in the DL MAC CE/DCI on-demand SSB property information 150.

In one embodiment, if multiple on-demand SSB bursts are triggered on a single cell (e.g., a SCell) , all bursts share the same configuration including one or a combination of an antenna port index, an orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol location, and a physical resource block (PRB) location.

In another embodiment, the on-demand SSB property information 150 may be associated with the on-demand SSB transmission for one single cell or multiple cells. In an event that the on-demand SSB property information 150 is associated with the on-demand SSB transmission for multiple cells, the SSB configurations (e.g., the antenna port index, the OFDM symbol location, the PRB location, or other configurations) for different cells may be different. Alternatively, the SSB configurations for different cells may be identical.

The UE-triggered on-demand SSB is realized by an UL MAC-CE/UCI indicating the UE request of on-demand SSB and cell (s) which would need the on-demand SSB. Therefore, the network can transmit on-demand SSB more accurately in response to UE requests, achieving energy saving.
Illustrative Implementations

FIG. 5 illustrates an example communication system 500 having at least an example communication apparatus 510 and an example network apparatus 520 in accordance with an implementation of the present disclosure. Each of the communication apparatus 510 and network apparatus 520 may perform various functions to implement schemes, techniques, processes and methods described herein pertaining to UE-triggered on-demand SSB in mobile communications, including scenarios/schemes described above as well as process 600 and process 700 described below.

Communication apparatus 510 may be a part of an electronic apparatus, which may be a UE such as a portable or mobile apparatus, a wearable apparatus, a wireless communication apparatus or a computing apparatus. For instance, communication apparatus 510 may be implemented in a smartphone, a smartwatch, a personal digital assistant, a digital camera, or a computing equipment such as a tablet computer, a laptop computer or a notebook computer. Communication apparatus 510 may also be a part of a machine type apparatus, which may be an IoT, NB-IoT, or IIoT apparatus such as an immobile or a stationary apparatus, a home apparatus, a wire communication apparatus or a computing apparatus. For instance, communication apparatus 510 may be implemented in a smart thermostat, a smart fridge, a smart door lock, a wireless speaker or a home control center. Alternatively, communication apparatus 510 may be implemented in the form of one or more integrated-circuit (IC) chips such as, for example and without limitation, one or more single-core processors, one or more multi-core processors, one or more reduced-instruction set computing (RISC) processors, or one or more complex-instruction-set-computing (CISC) processors. Communication apparatus 510 may include at least some of those components shown in FIG. 5 such as a processor 512, for example. Communication apparatus 510 may further include one or more other components not pertinent to the proposed scheme of the present disclosure (e.g., internal power supply, display device and/or user interface device) , and, thus, such component (s) of communication apparatus 510 are neither shown in FIG. 5 nor described below in the interest of simplicity and brevity.

Network apparatus 520 may be a part of a network apparatus, which may be a network node such as a satellite, a base station, a small cell, a router or a gateway. For instance, network apparatus 520 may be implemented in an eNB in an LTE network, in a gNB in a 5G/NR, IoT, NB-IoT or IIoT network or in a satellite or base station in a 6G network. Network apparatus 520 may include at least some of those components shown in FIG. 5 such as a processor 522, for example. Processor 522 may further include protocol stacks and a set of control functional modules and circuit. Network apparatus 520 may further include one or more other components not pertinent to the proposed scheme of the present disclosure (e.g., internal power supply, display device and/or user interface device) , and, thus, such component (s) of network apparatus 520 are neither shown in FIG. 5 nor described below in the interest of simplicity and brevity.

In one aspect, each of the processor 512 and processor 522 may be implemented in the form of one or more single-core processors, one or more multi-core processors, or one or more CISC processors. That is, even though a singular term “a processor” is used herein to refer to processor 512 and processor 522, each of the processor 512 and processor 522 may include multiple processors in some implementations and a single processor in other implementations in accordance with the present disclosure. In another aspect, each of the processor 512 and processor 522 may be implemented in the form of hardware (and, optionally, firmware) with electronic components including, for example and without limitation, one or more transistors, one or more diodes, one or more capacitors, one or more resistors, one or more inductors, one or more memristors and/or one or more varactors that are configured and arranged to achieve specific purposes in accordance with the present disclosure. In other words, in at least some implementations, each of the processor 512 and processor 522 is a special-purpose machine specifically designed, arranged and configured to perform specific tasks in a device (e.g., as represented by communication apparatus 510) and a network (e.g., as represented by network apparatus 520) in accordance with various implementations of the present disclosure.

In some implementations, communication apparatus 510 may also include a transceiver 516 coupled to processor 512 and capable of wirelessly transmitting and receiving data. In some implementations, communication apparatus 510 may further include a memory 514 coupled to processor 512 and capable of being accessed by processor 512 and storing data therein.

In some implementations, network apparatus 520 may further include a memory 524 coupled to processor 522 and capable of being accessed by processor 522 and storing data therein. Accordingly, communication apparatus 510 and network apparatus 520 may wirelessly communicate with each other via transceiver 516 and transceiver 526, respectively.

For illustrative purposes and without limitation, descriptions of capabilities of the communication apparatus 510 and network apparatus 520 are provided below with process 600 and process 700. In which, communication apparatus 510 is implemented in or as a communication apparatus or a UE, and network apparatus 520 is implemented in or as a network node of a communication network (e.g., a base station) .
Illustrative Processes

FIG. 6 illustrates an example process 600 in accordance with an implementation of the present disclosure. Process 600 may be an example implementation of above scenarios/schemes, whether partially or completely, with respect to UE-triggered on-demand SSB in mobile communications. Process 600 may represent an aspect of implementation of features of communication apparatus 510. Process 600 may include one or more operations, actions, or functions as illustrated by one or more of blocks 610, 620, and 630. Although illustrated as discrete blocks, various blocks of process 600 may be divided into additional blocks, combined into fewer blocks, or eliminated, depending on the desired implementation. Moreover, the blocks of process 600 may be executed in the order shown in FIG. 6 or, alternatively, in a different order. Process 600 may be implemented by communication apparatus 510 or any suitable UE (e.g., the UE 110) or machine type devices. Solely for illustrative purposes and without limitation, process 600 is described below in the context of communication apparatus 510 as a UE. Process 600 may begin at block 610.

At block 610, process 600 may involve processor 512 of communication apparatus 510 transmitting, via transceiver 516, an on-demand SSB triggering request to a network node (e.g., network apparatus 520) . Process 600 may proceed from block 610 to block 620.

At block 620, process 600 may involve processor 512 receiving, via transceiver 516, an on-demand SSB property information from the network node. Process 600 may proceed from block 620 to block 630.

At block 630, process 600 may involve processor 512 receiving, via transceiver 516, an on-demand SSB from the network node based on the on-demand SSB property information.

In some implementations, the on-demand SSB triggering request may further include a first information about one or more cells requiring an on-demand SSB transmission.

In some implementations, the on-demand SSB triggering request is transmitted via a UL MAC CE or a UCI.

In some implementations, the on-demand SSB property information is received via a DL MAC CE or a DCI.

In some implementations, the on-demand SSB property information may include at least one of a time domain property and a frequency domain property associated with the on-demand SSB.

In some implementations, the time domain property may include one or a combination of a second information about on-demand SSBs in a SSB burst, a number of on-demand SSB bursts, a gap length between on-demand SSB bursts, a triggering offset of a triggered on-demand SSB, a number of on-demand SSB burst clusters, a number of on-demand SSB bursts in one on-demand SSB burst cluster, a gap length between on-demand SSB burst clusters.

In some implementations, the frequency domain property may include one or a combination of an absolute frequency position and a relative frequency position associated with the on-demand SSB.

In some implementations, the on-demand SSB property information is associated with an on-demand SSB transmission with an SCell activation.

In some implementations, a plurality of on-demand SSB bursts triggered on a single cell share an identical configuration including one or a combination of an antenna port index, an OFDM symbol location, and a PRB location.

In some implementations, the on-demand SSB property information is associated with an on-demand SSB transmission for one or more cells.

In some implementations, process 600 may further involve processor 512 performing an SSB searching. More specifically, at least one SSB searched on a synchronization raster is transmitted periodically.

FIG. 7 illustrates another example process 700 in accordance with an implementation of the present disclosure. Process 700 may be an example implementation of above scenarios/schemes, whether partially or completely, with respect to UE-triggered on-demand SSB in mobile communications. Process 700 may represent an aspect of implementation of features of network apparatus 520 or any suitable network node (e.g., the BS 121) . Process 700 may include one or more operations, actions, or functions as illustrated by one or more of blocks 710, 720, and 730. Although illustrated as discrete blocks, various blocks of process 700 may be divided into additional blocks, combined into fewer blocks, or eliminated, depending on the desired implementation. Moreover, the blocks of process 700 may be executed in the order shown in FIG. 7 or, alternatively, in a different order. Process 700 may begin at block 710.

At block 710, process 700 may involve processor 522 of network apparatus 520 receiving, via transceiver 526, an on-demand SSB triggering request form a UE (e.g., communication apparatus 510) . Process 700 may proceed from block 710 to block 720.

At block 720, process 700 may involve processor 522 transmitting, via transceiver 526, an on-demand SSB property information to the UE after receiving the on-demand SSB triggering request. Process 700 may proceed from block 720 to block 730.

At block 730, process 700 may involve processor 522 transmitting, via transceiver 526, an on-demand SSB to the UE in accordance with the on-demand SSB property information.
Additional Notes

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

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

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

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

Claims

A method, comprising:

transmitting, by a processor of an apparatus, an on-demand synchronization signal and physical broadcast channel block (SSB) triggering request to a network node;

receiving, by the processor, an on-demand SSB property information from the network node; and

receiving, by the processor, an on-demand SSB from the network node based on the on-demand SSB property information.
The method of Claim 1, wherein the on-demand SSB triggering request further comprises a first information about one or more cells requiring an on-demand SSB transmission.
The method of Claim 1, wherein the on-demand SSB triggering request is transmitted via an uplink (UL) media access control (MAC) control element (CE) or an uplink control information (UCI) , and the on-demand SSB property information is received via a downlink (DL) MAC CE or a downlink control information (DCI) .
The method of Claim 1, the on-demand SSB property information comprises at least one of a time domain property and a frequency domain property associated with the on-demand SSB.
The method of Claim 4, wherein the time domain property comprises one or a combination of:

a second information about on-demand SSBs in a SSB burst;

a number of on-demand SSB bursts;

a gap length between on-demand SSB bursts;

a triggering offset of a triggered on-demand SSB;

a number of on-demand SSB burst clusters;

a number of on-demand SSB bursts in one on-demand SSB burst cluster; and

a gap length between on-demand SSB burst clusters.
The method of Claim 4, wherein the frequency domain property comprises one or a combination of an absolute frequency position and a relative frequency position associated with the on-demand SSB.
The method of Claim 1, wherein the on-demand SSB property information is associated with an on-demand SSB transmission with a secondary cell (SCell) activation.
The method of Claim 1, wherein a plurality of on-demand SSB bursts triggered on a single cell share an identical configuration including one or a combination of an antenna port index, an orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol location, and a physical resource block (PRB) location.
The method of Claim 1, wherein the on-demand SSB property information is associated with an on-demand SSB transmission for one or more cells.
The method of Claim 1, further comprising:

performing, by the processor, an SSB searching, wherein at least one SSB searched on a synchronization raster is transmitted periodically.
An apparatus, comprising:

a transceiver which, during operation, communicates wirelessly; and

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

transmitting, via the transceiver, an on-demand synchronization signal and physical broadcast channel block (SSB) triggering request to a network node;

receiving, via the transceiver, an on-demand SSB property information from the network node; and

receiving, via the transceiver, an on-demand SSB from the network node based on the on-demand SSB property information.
The apparatus of Claim 11, wherein the on-demand SSB triggering request further comprises a first information about one or more cells requiring an on-demand SSB transmission.
The apparatus of Claim 11, wherein the on-demand SSB triggering request is transmitted via an uplink (UL) media access control (MAC) control element (CE) or an uplink control information (UCI) , and the on-demand SSB property information is received via a downlink (DL) MAC CE or a downlink control information (DCI) .
The apparatus of Claim 11, the on-demand SSB property information comprises at least one of a time domain property and a frequency domain property associated with the on-demand SSB.
The apparatus of Claim 14, wherein:

the time domain property comprises one or a combination of a second information about on-demand SSBs in a SSB burst, a number of on-demand SSB bursts, a gap length between on-demand SSB bursts, a triggering offset of a triggered on-demand SSB, a number of on-demand SSB burst clusters, a number of on-demand SSB bursts in one on-demand SSB burst cluster, and a gap length between on-demand SSB burst clusters; or

the frequency domain property comprises one or a combination of an absolute frequency position and a relative frequency position associated with the on-demand SSB.
The apparatus of Claim 11, wherein the on-demand SSB property information is associated with an on-demand SSB transmission with a secondary cell (SCell) activation.
The apparatus of Claim 11, wherein a plurality of on-demand SSB bursts triggered on a single cell share an identical configuration including one or a combination of an antenna port index, an orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol location, and a physical resource block (PRB) location.
The apparatus of Claim 11, wherein the on-demand SSB property information is associated with an on-demand SSB transmission for one or more cells.
The apparatus of Claim 11, wherein, during operation, the processor further performs operations comprising:

performing an SSB searching, wherein at least one SSB searched on a synchronization raster is transmitted periodically.
A method, comprising:

receiving, by a processor of a network node, an on-demand synchronization signal and physical broadcast channel block (SSB) triggering request from a user equipment (UE) ;

transmitting, by the processor, an on-demand SSB property information to the UE after receiving the on-demand SSB triggering request; and

transmitting, by the processor, an on-demand SSB to the UE in accordance with the on-demand SSB property information.