U.S. patent application number 17/090520 was filed with the patent office on 2021-03-18 for setting default physical downlink shared channel (pdsch) beams.
The applicant listed for this patent is Intel Corporation. Invention is credited to Alexei Davydov, Bishwarup Mondal.
Application Number | 20210084669 17/090520 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 1000005248056 |
Filed Date | 2021-03-18 |
United States Patent
Application |
20210084669 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Mondal; Bishwarup ; et
al. |
March 18, 2021 |
SETTING DEFAULT PHYSICAL DOWNLINK SHARED CHANNEL (PDSCH) BEAMS
Abstract
In accordance with various embodiments herein, for single
downlink control information (DCI) and/or multi-DCI
multi-transmission-reception point (TRP) transmission, a default
physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) beam is determined based
on the lowest indexed control resource set (CORESET) within the set
of monitored CORESETs in the latest slot with the same value of
CORESETPoolIndex. Other embodiments may be described and
claimed.
Inventors: |
Mondal; Bishwarup; (San
Ramon, CA) ; Davydov; Alexei; (Nizhny Novgorod,
RU) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Intel Corporation |
Santa Clara |
CA |
US |
|
|
Family ID: |
1000005248056 |
Appl. No.: |
17/090520 |
Filed: |
November 5, 2020 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
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62931646 |
Nov 6, 2019 |
|
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Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H04W 72/121 20130101;
H04L 5/0032 20130101; H04W 72/042 20130101; H04W 72/044 20130101;
H04W 72/0413 20130101 |
International
Class: |
H04W 72/12 20060101
H04W072/12; H04W 72/04 20060101 H04W072/04; H04L 5/00 20060101
H04L005/00 |
Claims
1. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media (NTCRM)
having instructions, stored thereon, that when executed by one or
more processors cause a user equipment (UE) to: receive a physical
downlink control channel (PDCCH) to schedule a physical downlink
shared channel (PDSCH) of a multi-transmission-reception point
(TRP) transmission; and determine a default PDSCH beam based on a
control resource set (CORESET) with a lowest index within a set of
monitored CORESETs in a latest slot with a same CORESETPoolIndex as
the PDCCH.
2. The one or more NTCRM of claim 1, wherein the multi-TRP
transmission is a single-downlink control information (DCI)
multi-TRP transmission.
3. The one or more NTCRM of claim 1, wherein the multi-TRP
transmission is a multi-DCI multi-TRP transmission.
4. The one or more NTCRM of claim 1, wherein the instructions, when
executed, are further to cause the UE to receive the PDSCH based on
the default PDSCH beam.
5. The one or more NTCRM of claim 4, wherein the PDSCH is received
based on the default PDSCH beam if the PDSCH is scheduled within a
time period from receipt of the PDCCH.
6. The one or more NTCRM of claim 1, wherein the instructions, when
executed, are further to cause the UE to: determine that
group-based beam reporting is enabled; and generating, based on the
determination, a Layer 1 (L1)-reference signal received power
(RSRP) report for multi-TRP reception using a best antenna panel of
the UE.
7. The one or more NTCRM of claim 1, wherein the instructions, when
executed, are further to cause the UE to: determine that
group-based beam reporting is not enabled; and generate, based on
the determination, a Layer 1 (L1)-reference signal received power
(RSRP) report for multi-TRP reception using a set of antenna panels
of the UE.
8. The one or more NTCRM of claim 1, wherein the PDSCH is scheduled
in a Frequency Range 2 (FR2).
9. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media (NTCRM)
having instructions, stored thereon, that when executed by one or
more processors cause a next generation NodeB (gNB) to: encode, for
transmission to a user equipment (UE), a physical downlink control
channel (PDCCH) to schedule a physical downlink shared channel
(PDSCH) of a multi-transmission-reception point (TRP) transmission;
and determine a default PDSCH beam for the PDSCH based on a control
resource set (CORESET) with a lowest index within a set of
monitored CORESETs in a latest slot with a same CORESETPoolIndex as
the PDCCH.
10. The one or more NTCRM of claim 9, wherein the multi-TRP
transmission is a single-downlink control information (DCI)
multi-TRP transmission.
11. The one or more NTCRM of claim 9, wherein the multi-TRP
transmission is a multi-DCI multi-TRP transmission.
12. The one or more NTCRM of claim 9, wherein the instructions,
when executed, are further to cause the gNB to encode the PDSCH for
transmission based on the default PDSCH beam.
13. The one or more NTCRM of claim 12, wherein the PDSCH is
transmitted based on the default PDSCH beam if the PDSCH is
scheduled within a time period from the PDCCH.
14. The one or more NTCRM of claim 9, wherein the instructions,
when executed, are further to cause the gNB to: encode, for
transmission to the UE, an indication that group-based beam
reporting is enabled; and receive, based on the indication, a Layer
1 (L1)-reference signal received power (RSRP) report for multi-TRP
reception that is generated using a best antenna panel of the
UE.
15. The one or more NTCRM of claim 9, wherein the instructions,
when executed, are further to cause the gNB to: encode, for
transmission to the UE, an indication that group-based beam
reporting is not enabled; and receive, based on the indication, a
Layer 1 (L1)-reference signal received power (RSRP) report for
multi-TRP reception that is generated using a set of antenna panels
of the UE.
16. The one or more NTCRM of claim 9, wherein the PDSCH is
scheduled in a Frequency Range 2 (FR2).
Description
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
[0001] The present application claims priority to U.S. Provisional
Patent Application No. 62/931,646, which was filed Nov. 6, 2019;
the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference.
FIELD
[0002] Embodiments relate generally to the technical field of
wireless communications.
BACKGROUND
[0003] According to 3GPP Technical Standard (TS) 38.215, for a
multi-panel UE (in Frequency Range 2 (FR2)), reported Layer 1
(L1)-reference signal received power (RSRP) may or may not include
receiver diversity. This means that it is up to UE implementation
whether the best panel or both UE panels are used for L1-RSRP
determination.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0004] Embodiments will be readily understood by the following
detailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
To facilitate this description, like reference numerals designate
like structural elements. Embodiments are illustrated by way of
example and not by way of limitation in the figures of the
accompanying drawings.
[0005] FIG. 1 illustrates the gain in Layer 1 (L1)-reference signal
received power (RSRP) of Joint-Panel reception compared to
Selected-Panel reception corresponding to the best serving-cell
transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state, in accordance
with various embodiments.
[0006] FIG. 2 illustrates the difference in received power between
the best user equipment (UE) panel and the non-best UE panel
corresponding to the best serving-cell TCI state, in accordance
with various embodiments.
[0007] FIG. 3 illustrates an example of two types of slot for
default physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) beam setting, in
accordance with various embodiments.
[0008] FIG. 4 illustrates an example architecture of a system of a
network, in accordance with various embodiments.
[0009] FIG. 5 illustrates an example of infrastructure equipment in
accordance with various embodiments.
[0010] FIG. 6 illustrates an example of a computer platform in
accordance with various embodiments.
[0011] FIG. 7 illustrates example components of baseband circuitry
and radio front end modules in accordance with various
embodiments.
[0012] FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating components, according
to some example embodiments, able to read instructions from a
machine-readable or computer-readable medium (e.g., a
non-transitory machine-readable storage medium) and perform any one
or more of the methodologies discussed herein.
[0013] FIG. 9 is a flowchart to illustrate an example process in
accordance with various embodiments.
[0014] FIG. 10 is a flowchart to illustrate another example process
in accordance with various embodiments.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0015] The following detailed description refers to the
accompanying drawings. The same reference numbers may be used in
different drawings to identify the same or similar elements. In the
following description, for purposes of explanation and not
limitation, specific details are set forth such as particular
structures, architectures, interfaces, techniques, etc. in order to
provide a thorough understanding of the various aspects of various
embodiments. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the
art having the benefit of the present disclosure that the various
aspects of the various embodiments may be practiced in other
examples that depart from these specific details. In certain
instances, descriptions of well-known devices, circuits, and
methods are omitted so as not to obscure the description of the
various embodiments with unnecessary detail. For the purposes of
the present document, the phrase "A or B" means (A), (B), or (A and
B).
[0016] In accordance with various embodiments herein, for single
downlink control information (DCI) and/or multi-DCI
multi-transmission-reception point (TRP) transmission, a default
physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) beam is determined based
on the lowest indexed control resource set (CORESET) within the set
of monitored CORESETs in the latest slot with the same value of
CORESETPoolIndex. In a slot associated with a single default PDSCH
beam where the beam is associated with CORESETPoolIndex=0, a user
equipment (UE) is not expected to receive PDSCH scheduled before
timeDurationForQCL (e.g., time duration for quasi co-location
(QCL)) and scheduled from a CORESET not associated with
CORESETPoolIndex=0 (and vice versa). A UE is expected to receive
PDSCH scheduled after timeDurationForQCL threshold from any CORESET
in any slot.
[0017] According to 3GPP Technical Standard (TS) 38.215, for a
multi-panel UE (in Frequency Range 2 (FR2)), reported Layer 1
(L1)-reference signal received power (RSRP) may or may not include
receiver diversity. This means that it is up to UE implementation
whether the best panel or both UE panels are used for L1-RSRP
determination. In the context of multi-TRP operation in FR2 two
distinct UE behaviors may be envisioned: [0018] Selected Panel
Reception (Selected-Panel): Best UE panel is selected for receiving
a TCI state, multi-TRP reception possible. [0019] Joint Panel
Reception (Joint-Panel): Both UE panels are used for receiving a
TCI state, multi-TRP reception not possible.
[0020] Joint-Panel reception achieves a higher L1-RSRP than
Selected-Panel reception. At the same time, Selected-Panel
reception allows for multi-TRP operation while Joint-Panel
reception does not. FIG. 1 shows the gain in L1-RSRP of Joint-Panel
reception compared to Selected-Panel reception corresponding to the
best serving-cell transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state.
It is observed that a small fraction of UEs (less than 10%) benefit
by more than a decibel (dB) (power) by using Joint-Panel reception.
Note that if the benefit is -3 dB it is equivalent to the benefit
of using 4 receive (Rx) ports vs 2 Rx ports as in FR1. Another way
to observe this (FIG. 2) is the difference in received power
between the best UE panel and the non-best UE panel corresponding
to the best serving-cell TCI state. Therefore, in order to switch a
UE into multi-TRP operation, it is necessary for the network (NW)
to know that L1-RSRP based on Selected-Panel reception is not
significantly below the L1-RSRP based on Joint-Panel reception (for
the same TCI state). In order to enable such functionality
embodiments herein may include to use a groupBasedBeamReporting
framework. For example, when groupBasedBeamReporting is enabled, a
UE is expected to use only the best UE panel for L1-RSRP reporting
consistent with multi-TRP reception. When groupBasedBeamReporting
is disabled, a UE is expected to report L1-RSRP based on a set of
UE panels consistent with (Rel-15) single TRP reception.
[0021] Default PDSCH Beam
[0022] In the case of single DCI multi-TRP transmission, a default
PDSCH beam may be determined based on the lowest indexed CORESET
within the set of monitored CORESETs in the latest slot with the
same value of CORESETPoolIndex. This implies defining two types of
slots--slots with 1 default PDSCH beam (as in Rel-15) and slots
with 2 default PDSCH beams as shown in FIG. 3.
[0023] Based on this understanding, in a slot associated with one
default PDSCH beam, a UE is not expected to receive two PDSCHs,
both scheduled before timeDurationForQCL and scheduled by two
TRPs.
[0024] In some embodiments, for both single DCI and multi-DCI
multi-TRP transmission, a default PDSCH beam is determined based on
the lowest indexed CORESET within the set of monitored CORESETs in
the latest slot with the same value of CORESETPoolIndex. In a slot
associated with a single default PDSCH beam where the beam is
associated with CORESETPoolIndex=0, a UE is not expected to receive
PDSCH scheduled before timeDurationForQCL and scheduled from a
CORESET not associated with CORESETPoolIndex=0 (and vice versa). A
UE is expected to receive PDSCH scheduled after timeDurationForQCL
threshold from any CORESET in any slot.
[0025] In the case of carrier aggregation (CA) operation (e.g., in
intra-band) search space monitoring occasions for the different CCs
may lead of conflicts in terms of default PDSCH beams. This can be
resolved using the PDCCH prioritization rules defined in
Rel-15.
[0026] In some embodiments, in the case of intra-band CA, whether a
single or multiple default PDSCH beam(s) is associated with a slot
and the default PDSCH beam(s) may be determined based on the
physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) prioritization rules
defined in Rel-15.
Systems and Implementations
[0027] FIG. 4 illustrates an example architecture of a system 400
of a network, in accordance with various embodiments. The following
description is provided for an example system 400 that operates in
conjunction with the LTE system standards and 5G or NR system
standards as provided by 3GPP technical specifications. However,
the example embodiments are not limited in this regard and the
described embodiments may apply to other networks that benefit from
the principles described herein, such as future 3GPP systems (e.g.,
Sixth Generation (6G)) systems, IEEE 802.16 protocols (e.g., WMAN,
WiMAX, etc.), or the like.
[0028] As shown by FIG. 4, the system 400 includes UE 401a and UE
401b (collectively referred to as "UEs 401" or "UE 401"). In this
example, UEs 401 are illustrated as smartphones (e.g., handheld
touchscreen mobile computing devices connectable to one or more
cellular networks), but may also comprise any mobile or non-mobile
computing device, such as consumer electronics devices, cellular
phones, smartphones, feature phones, tablet computers, wearable
computer devices, personal digital assistants (PDAs), pagers,
wireless handsets, desktop computers, laptop computers, in-vehicle
infotainment (IVI), in-car entertainment (ICE) devices, an
Instrument Cluster (IC), head-up display (HUD) devices, onboard
diagnostic (OBD) devices, dashtop mobile equipment (DME), mobile
data terminals (MDTs), Electronic Engine Management System (EEMS),
electronic/engine control units (ECUs), electronic/engine control
modules (ECMs), embedded systems, microcontrollers, control
modules, engine management systems (EMS), networked or "smart"
appliances, MTC devices, M2M, IoT devices, and/or the like.
[0029] In some embodiments, any of the UEs 401 may be IoT UEs,
which may comprise a network access layer designed for low-power
IoT applications utilizing short-lived UE connections. An IoT UE
can utilize technologies such as M2M or MTC for exchanging data
with an MTC server or device via a PLMN, ProSe or D2D
communication, sensor networks, or IoT networks. The M2M or MTC
exchange of data may be a machine-initiated exchange of data. An
IoT network describes interconnecting IoT UEs, which may include
uniquely identifiable embedded computing devices (within the
Internet infrastructure), with short-lived connections. The IoT UEs
may execute background applications (e.g., keep-alive messages,
status updates, etc.) to facilitate the connections of the IoT
network.
[0030] The UEs 401 may be configured to connect, for example,
communicatively couple, with an or RAN 410. In embodiments, the RAN
410 may be an NG RAN or a 5G RAN, an E-UTRAN, or a legacy RAN, such
as a UTRAN or GERAN. As used herein, the term "NG RAN" or the like
may refer to a RAN 410 that operates in an NR or 5G system 400, and
the term "E-UTRAN" or the like may refer to a RAN 410 that operates
in an LTE or 4G system 400. The UEs 401 utilize connections (or
channels) 403 and 404, respectively, each of which comprises a
physical communications interface or layer (discussed in further
detail below).
[0031] In this example, the connections 403 and 404 are illustrated
as an air interface to enable communicative coupling, and can be
consistent with cellular communications protocols, such as a GSM
protocol, a CDMA network protocol, a PTT protocol, a POC protocol,
a UMTS protocol, a 3GPP LTE protocol, a 5G protocol, a NR protocol,
and/or any of the other communications protocols discussed herein.
In embodiments, the UEs 401 may directly exchange communication
data via a ProSe interface 405. The ProSe interface 405 may
alternatively be referred to as a SL interface 405 and may comprise
one or more logical channels, including but not limited to a PSCCH,
a PSSCH, a PSDCH, and a PSBCH.
[0032] The UE 401b is shown to be configured to access an AP 406
(also referred to as "WLAN node 406," "WLAN 406," "WLAN Termination
406," "WT 406" or the like) via connection 407. The connection 407
can comprise a local wireless connection, such as a connection
consistent with any IEEE 802.11 protocol, wherein the AP 406 would
comprise a wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi.RTM.) router. In this example,
the AP 406 is shown to be connected to the Internet without
connecting to the core network of the wireless system (described in
further detail below). In various embodiments, the UE 401b, RAN
410, and AP 406 may be configured to utilize LWA operation and/or
LWIP operation. The LWA operation may involve the UE 401b in
RRC_CONNECTED being configured by a RAN node 411a-b to utilize
radio resources of LTE and WLAN. LWIP operation may involve the UE
401b using WLAN radio resources (e.g., connection 407) via IPsec
protocol tunneling to authenticate and encrypt packets (e.g., IP
packets) sent over the connection 407. IPsec tunneling may include
encapsulating the entirety of original IP packets and adding a new
packet header, thereby protecting the original header of the IP
packets.
[0033] The RAN 410 can include one or more AN nodes or RAN nodes
411a and 411b (collectively referred to as "RAN nodes 411" or "RAN
node 411") that enable the connections 403 and 404. As used herein,
the terms "access node," "access point," or the like may describe
equipment that provides the radio baseband functions for data
and/or voice connectivity between a network and one or more users.
These access nodes can be referred to as BS, gNBs, RAN nodes, eNBs,
NodeBs, RSUs, TRxPs or TRPs, and so forth, and can comprise ground
stations (e.g., terrestrial access points) or satellite stations
providing coverage within a geographic area (e.g., a cell). As used
herein, the term "NG RAN node" or the like may refer to a RAN node
411 that operates in an NR or 5G system 400 (for example, a gNB),
and the term "E-UTRAN node" or the like may refer to a RAN node 411
that operates in an LTE or 4G system 400 (e.g., an eNB). According
to various embodiments, the RAN nodes 411 may be implemented as one
or more of a dedicated physical device such as a macrocell base
station, and/or a low power (LP) base station for providing
femtocells, picocells or other like cells having smaller coverage
areas, smaller user capacity, or higher bandwidth compared to
macrocells.
[0034] In some embodiments, all or parts of the RAN nodes 411 may
be implemented as one or more software entities running on server
computers as part of a virtual network, which may be referred to as
a CRAN and/or a virtual baseband unit pool (vBBUP). In these
embodiments, the CRAN or vBBUP may implement a RAN function split,
such as a PDCP split wherein RRC and PDCP layers are operated by
the CRAN/vBBUP and other L2 protocol entities are operated by
individual RAN nodes 411; a MAC/PHY split wherein RRC, PDCP, RLC,
and MAC layers are operated by the CRAN/vBBUP and the PHY layer is
operated by individual RAN nodes 411; or a "lower PHY" split
wherein RRC, PDCP, RLC, MAC layers and upper portions of the PHY
layer are operated by the CRAN/vBBUP and lower portions of the PHY
layer are operated by individual RAN nodes 411. This virtualized
framework allows the freed-up processor cores of the RAN nodes 411
to perform other virtualized applications. In some implementations,
an individual RAN node 411 may represent individual gNB-DUs that
are connected to a gNB-CU via individual F1 interfaces (not shown
by FIG. 4). In these implementations, the gNB-DUs may include one
or more remote radio heads or RFEMs (see, e.g., FIG. 5), and the
gNB-CU may be operated by a server that is located in the RAN 410
(not shown) or by a server pool in a similar manner as the
CRAN/vBBUP. Additionally or alternatively, one or more of the RAN
nodes 411 may be next generation eNBs (ng-eNBs), which are RAN
nodes that provide E-UTRA user plane and control plane protocol
terminations toward the UEs 401, and are connected to a 5GC via an
NG interface (discussed infra).
[0035] In V2X scenarios one or more of the RAN nodes 411 may be or
act as RSUs. The term "Road Side Unit" or "RSU" may refer to any
transportation infrastructure entity used for V2X communications.
An RSU may be implemented in or by a suitable RAN node or a
stationary (or relatively stationary) UE, where an RSU implemented
in or by a UE may be referred to as a "UE-type RSU," an RSU
implemented in or by an eNB may be referred to as an "eNB-type
RSU," an RSU implemented in or by a gNB may be referred to as a
"gNB-type RSU," and the like. In one example, an RSU is a computing
device coupled with radio frequency circuitry located on a roadside
that provides connectivity support to passing vehicle UEs 401 (vUEs
401). The RSU may also include internal data storage circuitry to
store intersection map geometry, traffic statistics, media, as well
as applications/software to sense and control ongoing vehicular and
pedestrian traffic. The RSU may operate on the 5.9 GHz Direct Short
Range Communications (DSRC) band to provide very low latency
communications required for high speed events, such as crash
avoidance, traffic warnings, and the like. Additionally or
alternatively, the RSU may operate on the cellular V2X band to
provide the aforementioned low latency communications, as well as
other cellular communications services. Additionally or
alternatively, the RSU may operate as a Wi-Fi hotspot (2.4 GHz
band) and/or provide connectivity to one or more cellular networks
to provide uplink and downlink communications. The computing
device(s) and some or all of the radiofrequency circuitry of the
RSU may be packaged in a weatherproof enclosure suitable for
outdoor installation, and may include a network interface
controller to provide a wired connection (e.g., Ethernet) to a
traffic signal controller and/or a backhaul network.
[0036] Any of the RAN nodes 411 can terminate the air interface
protocol and can be the first point of contact for the UEs 401. In
some embodiments, any of the RAN nodes 411 can fulfill various
logical functions for the RAN 410 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.
[0037] In embodiments, the UEs 401 can be configured to communicate
using OFDM communication signals with each other or with any of the
RAN nodes 411 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 SC-FDMA communication technique (e.g., for
uplink and ProSe or sidelink communications), although the scope of
the embodiments is not limited in this respect. The OFDM signals
can comprise a plurality of orthogonal subcarriers.
[0038] In some embodiments, a downlink resource grid can be used
for downlink transmissions from any of the RAN nodes 411 to the UEs
401, while uplink transmissions can utilize similar techniques. The
grid can be a time-frequency grid, called a resource grid or
time-frequency resource grid, which is the physical resource in the
downlink in each slot. Such a time-frequency plane representation
is a common practice for OFDM systems, which makes it intuitive for
radio resource allocation. Each column and each row of the resource
grid corresponds to one OFDM symbol and one OFDM subcarrier,
respectively. The duration of the resource grid in the time domain
corresponds to one slot in a radio frame. The smallest
time-frequency unit in a resource grid is denoted as a resource
element. Each resource grid comprises a number of resource blocks,
which describe the mapping of certain physical channels to resource
elements. Each resource block comprises a collection of resource
elements; in the frequency domain, this may represent the smallest
quantity of resources that currently can be allocated. There are
several different physical downlink channels that are conveyed
using such resource blocks.
[0039] According to various embodiments, the UEs 401 and the RAN
nodes 411 communicate data (for example, transmit and receive) data
over a licensed medium (also referred to as the "licensed spectrum"
and/or the "licensed band") and an unlicensed shared medium (also
referred to as the "unlicensed spectrum" and/or the "unlicensed
band"). The licensed spectrum may include channels that operate in
the frequency range of approximately 400 MHz to approximately 3.8
GHz, whereas the unlicensed spectrum may include the 5 GHz
band.
[0040] To operate in the unlicensed spectrum, the UEs 401 and the
RAN nodes 411 may operate using LAA, eLAA, and/or feLAA mechanisms.
In these implementations, the UEs 401 and the RAN nodes 411 may
perform one or more known medium-sensing operations and/or
carrier-sensing operations in order to determine whether one or
more channels in the unlicensed spectrum is unavailable or
otherwise occupied prior to transmitting in the unlicensed
spectrum. The medium/carrier sensing operations may be performed
according to a listen-before-talk (LBT) protocol.
[0041] LBT is a mechanism whereby equipment (for example, UEs 401
RAN nodes 411, etc.) senses a medium (for example, a channel or
carrier frequency) and transmits when the medium is sensed to be
idle (or when a specific channel in the medium is sensed to be
unoccupied). The medium sensing operation may include CCA, which
utilizes at least ED to determine the presence or absence of other
signals on a channel in order to determine if a channel is occupied
or clear. This LBT mechanism allows cellular/LAA networks to
coexist with incumbent systems in the unlicensed spectrum and with
other LAA networks. ED may include sensing RF energy across an
intended transmission band for a period of time and comparing the
sensed RF energy to a predefined or configured threshold.
[0042] Typically, the incumbent systems in the 5 GHz band are WLANs
based on IEEE 802.11 technologies. WLAN employs a contention-based
channel access mechanism, called CSMA/CA. Here, when a WLAN node
(e.g., a mobile station (MS) such as UE 401, AP 406, or the like)
intends to transmit, the WLAN node may first perform CCA before
transmission. Additionally, a backoff mechanism is used to avoid
collisions in situations where more than one WLAN node senses the
channel as idle and transmits at the same time. The backoff
mechanism may be a counter that is drawn randomly within the CWS,
which is increased exponentially upon the occurrence of collision
and reset to a minimum value when the transmission succeeds. The
LBT mechanism designed for LAA is somewhat similar to the CSMA/CA
of WLAN. In some implementations, the LBT procedure for DL or UL
transmission bursts including PDSCH or PUSCH transmissions,
respectively, may have an LAA contention window that is variable in
length between X and Y ECCA slots, where X and Y are minimum and
maximum values for the CWSs for LAA. In one example, the minimum
CWS for an LAA transmission may be 9 microseconds (.mu.s); however,
the size of the CWS and a MCOT (for example, a transmission burst)
may be based on governmental regulatory requirements.
[0043] The LAA mechanisms are built upon CA technologies of
LTE-Advanced systems. In CA, each aggregated carrier is referred to
as a CC. A CC may have a bandwidth of 1.4, 3, 5, 10, 15 or 20 MHz
and a maximum of five CCs can be aggregated, and therefore, a
maximum aggregated bandwidth is 100 MHz. In FDD systems, the number
of aggregated carriers can be different for DL and UL, where the
number of UL CCs is equal to or lower than the number of DL
component carriers. In some cases, individual CCs can have a
different bandwidth than other CCs. In TDD systems, the number of
CCs as well as the bandwidths of each CC is usually the same for DL
and UL.
[0044] CA also comprises individual serving cells to provide
individual CCs. The coverage of the serving cells may differ, for
example, because CCs on different frequency bands will experience
different pathloss. A primary service cell or PCell may provide a
PCC for both UL and DL, and may handle RRC and NAS related
activities. The other serving cells are referred to as SCells, and
each SCell may provide an individual SCC for both UL and DL. The
SCCs may be added and removed as required, while changing the PCC
may require the UE 401 to undergo a handover. In LAA, eLAA, and
feLAA, some or all of the SCells may operate in the unlicensed
spectrum (referred to as "LAA SCells"), and the LAA SCells are
assisted by a PCell operating in the licensed spectrum. When a UE
is configured with more than one LAA SCell, the UE may receive UL
grants on the configured LAA SCells indicating different PUSCH
starting positions within a same subframe.
[0045] The PDSCH carries user data and higher-layer signaling to
the UEs 401. The PDCCH carries information about the transport
format and resource allocations related to the PDSCH channel, among
other things. It may also inform the UEs 401 about the transport
format, resource allocation, and HARQ information related to the
uplink shared channel. Typically, downlink scheduling (assigning
control and shared channel resource blocks to the UE 401b within a
cell) may be performed at any of the RAN nodes 411 based on channel
quality information fed back from any of the UEs 401. The downlink
resource assignment information may be sent on the PDCCH used for
(e.g., assigned to) each of the UEs 401.
[0046] The PDCCH uses CCEs to convey the control information.
Before being mapped to resource elements, the PDCCH complex-valued
symbols may first be organized into quadruplets, which may then be
permuted using a sub-block interleaver for rate matching. Each
PDCCH may be transmitted using one or more of these CCEs, where
each CCE may correspond to nine sets of four physical resource
elements known as REGs. Four Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (QPSK)
symbols may 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 defined in LTE with different numbers of CCEs (e.g.,
aggregation level, L=1, 2, 4, or 8).
[0047] Some embodiments may use concepts for resource allocation
for control channel information that are an extension of the
above-described concepts. For example, some embodiments may utilize
an EPDCCH that uses PDSCH resources for control information
transmission. The EPDCCH may be transmitted using one or more
ECCEs. Similar to above, each ECCE may correspond to nine sets of
four physical resource elements known as an EREGs. An ECCE may have
other numbers of EREGs in some situations.
[0048] The RAN nodes 411 may be configured to communicate with one
another via interface 412. In embodiments where the system 400 is
an LTE system (e.g., when CN 420 is an EPC), the interface 412 may
be an X2 interface 412. The X2 interface may be defined between two
or more RAN nodes 411 (e.g., two or more eNBs and the like) that
connect to EPC 420, and/or between two eNBs connecting to EPC 420.
In some implementations, the X2 interface may include an X2 user
plane interface (X2-U) and an X2 control plane interface (X2-C).
The X2-U may provide flow control mechanisms for user data packets
transferred over the X2 interface, and may be used to communicate
information about the delivery of user data between eNBs. For
example, the X2-U may provide specific sequence number information
for user data transferred from a MeNB to an SeNB; information about
successful in sequence delivery of PDCP PDUs to a UE 401 from an
SeNB for user data; information of PDCP PDUs that were not
delivered to a UE 401; information about a current minimum desired
buffer size at the SeNB for transmitting to the UE user data; and
the like. The X2-C may provide intra-LTE access mobility
functionality, including context transfers from source to target
eNBs, user plane transport control, etc.; load management
functionality; as well as inter-cell interference coordination
functionality.
[0049] In embodiments where the system 400 is a 5G or NR system
(e.g., when CN 420 is an 5GC), the interface 412 may be an Xn
interface 412. The Xn interface is defined between two or more RAN
nodes 411 (e.g., two or more gNBs and the like) that connect to 5GC
420, between a RAN node 411 (e.g., a gNB) connecting to 5GC 420 and
an eNB, and/or between two eNBs connecting to 5GC 420. In some
implementations, the Xn interface may include an Xn user plane
(Xn-U) interface and an Xn control plane (Xn-C) interface. The Xn-U
may provide non-guaranteed delivery of user plane PDUs and
support/provide data forwarding and flow control functionality. The
Xn-C may provide management and error handling functionality,
functionality to manage the Xn-C interface; mobility support for UE
401 in a connected mode (e.g., CM-CONNECTED) including
functionality to manage the UE mobility for connected mode between
one or more RAN nodes 411. The mobility support may include context
transfer from an old (source) serving RAN node 411 to new (target)
serving RAN node 411; and control of user plane tunnels between old
(source) serving RAN node 411 to new (target) serving RAN node 411.
A protocol stack of the Xn-U may include a transport network layer
built on Internet Protocol (IP) transport layer, and a GTP-U layer
on top of a UDP and/or IP layer(s) to carry user plane PDUs. The
Xn-C protocol stack may include an application layer signaling
protocol (referred to as Xn Application Protocol (Xn-AP)) and a
transport network layer that is built on SCTP. The SCTP may be on
top of an IP layer, and may provide the guaranteed delivery of
application layer messages. In the transport IP layer,
point-to-point transmission is used to deliver the signaling PDUs.
In other implementations, the Xn-U protocol stack and/or the Xn-C
protocol stack may be same or similar to the user plane and/or
control plane protocol stack(s) shown and described herein.
[0050] The RAN 410 is shown to be communicatively coupled to a core
network--in this embodiment, core network (CN) 420. The CN 420 may
comprise a plurality of network elements 422, which are configured
to offer various data and telecommunications services to
customers/subscribers (e.g., users of UEs 401) who are connected to
the CN 420 via the RAN 410. The components of the CN 420 may 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). In some
embodiments, NFV may be utilized to virtualize any or all of the
above-described network node functions via executable instructions
stored in one or more computer-readable storage mediums (described
in further detail below). A logical instantiation of the CN 420 may
be referred to as a network slice, and a logical instantiation of a
portion of the CN 420 may be referred to as a network sub-slice.
NFV architectures and infrastructures may be used to virtualize one
or more network functions, alternatively performed by proprietary
hardware, onto physical resources comprising a combination of
industry-standard server hardware, storage hardware, or switches.
In other words, NFV systems can be used to execute virtual or
reconfigurable implementations of one or more EPC
components/functions.
[0051] Generally, the application server 430 may be an element
offering applications that use IP bearer resources with the core
network (e.g., UMTS PS domain, LTE PS data services, etc.). The
application server 430 can also be configured to support one or
more communication services (e.g., VoIP sessions, PTT sessions,
group communication sessions, social networking services, etc.) for
the UEs 401 via the EPC 420.
[0052] In embodiments, the CN 420 may be a 5GC (referred to as "5GC
420" or the like), and the RAN 410 may be connected with the CN 420
via an NG interface 413. In embodiments, the NG interface 413 may
be split into two parts, an NG user plane (NG-U) interface 414,
which carries traffic data between the RAN nodes 411 and a UPF, and
the S1 control plane (NG-C) interface 415, which is a signaling
interface between the RAN nodes 411 and AMFs.
[0053] In embodiments, the CN 420 may be a 5G CN (referred to as
"5GC 420" or the like), while in other embodiments, the CN 420 may
be an EPC). Where CN 420 is an EPC (referred to as "EPC 420" or the
like), the RAN 410 may be connected with the CN 420 via an S1
interface 413. In embodiments, the S1 interface 413 may be split
into two parts, an S1 user plane (S1-U) interface 414, which
carries traffic data between the RAN nodes 411 and the S-GW, and
the S1-MME interface 415, which is a signaling interface between
the RAN nodes 411 and MMES.
[0054] FIG. 5 illustrates an example of infrastructure equipment
500 in accordance with various embodiments. The infrastructure
equipment 500 (or "system 500") may be implemented as a base
station, radio head, RAN node such as the RAN nodes 411 and/or AP
406 shown and described previously, application server(s) 430,
and/or any other element/device discussed herein. In other
examples, the system 500 could be implemented in or by a UE.
[0055] The system 500 includes application circuitry 505, baseband
circuitry 510, one or more radio front end modules (RFEMs) 515,
memory circuitry 520, power management integrated circuitry (PMIC)
525, power tee circuitry 530, network controller circuitry 535,
network interface connector 540, satellite positioning circuitry
545, and user interface 550. In some embodiments, the device 500
may include additional elements such as, for example,
memory/storage, display, camera, sensor, or input/output (I/O)
interface. In other embodiments, the components described below may
be included in more than one device. For example, said circuitries
may be separately included in more than one device for CRAN, vBBU,
or other like implementations.
[0056] Application circuitry 505 includes circuitry such as, but
not limited to one or more processors (or processor cores), cache
memory, and one or more of low drop-out voltage regulators (LDOs),
interrupt controllers, serial interfaces such as SPI, I2C or
universal programmable serial interface module, real time clock
(RTC), timer-counters including interval and watchdog timers,
general purpose input/output (110 or 10), memory card controllers
such as Secure Digital (SD) MultiMediaCard (MMC) or similar,
Universal Serial Bus (USB) interfaces, Mobile Industry Processor
Interface (MIPI) interfaces and Joint Test Access Group (JTAG) test
access ports. The processors (or cores) of the application
circuitry 505 may be coupled with or may include memory/storage
elements and may be configured to execute instructions stored in
the memory/storage to enable various applications or operating
systems to run on the system 500. In some implementations, the
memory/storage elements may be on-chip memory circuitry, which may
include any suitable volatile and/or non-volatile memory, such as
DRAM, SRAM, EPROM, EEPROM, Flash memory, solid-state memory, and/or
any other type of memory device technology, such as those discussed
herein.
[0057] The processor(s) of application circuitry 505 may include,
for example, one or more processor cores (CPUs), one or more
application processors, one or more graphics processing units
(GPUs), one or more reduced instruction set computing (RISC)
processors, one or more Acorn RISC Machine (ARM) processors, one or
more complex instruction set computing (CISC) processors, one or
more digital signal processors (DSP), one or more FPGAs, one or
more PLDs, one or more ASICs, one or more microprocessors or
controllers, or any suitable combination thereof. In some
embodiments, the application circuitry 505 may comprise, or may be,
a special-purpose processor/controller to operate according to the
various embodiments herein. As examples, the processor(s) of
application circuitry 505 may include one or more Intel
Pentium.RTM., Core.RTM., or Xeon.RTM. processor(s); Advanced Micro
Devices (AMD) Ryzen.RTM. processor(s), Accelerated Processing Units
(APUs), or Epyc.RTM. processors; ARM-based processor(s) licensed
from ARM Holdings, Ltd. such as the ARM Cortex-A family of
processors and the ThunderX2.RTM. provided by Cavium.TM., Inc.; a
MIPS-based design from MIPS Technologies, Inc. such as MIPS Warrior
P-class processors; and/or the like. In some embodiments, the
system 500 may not utilize application circuitry 505, and instead
may include a special-purpose processor/controller to process IP
data received from an EPC or 5GC, for example.
[0058] In some implementations, the application circuitry 505 may
include one or more hardware accelerators, which may be
microprocessors, programmable processing devices, or the like. The
one or more hardware accelerators may include, for example,
computer vision (CV) and/or deep learning (DL) accelerators. As
examples, the programmable processing devices may be one or more a
field-programmable devices (FPDs) such as field-programmable gate
arrays (FPGAs) and the like; programmable logic devices (PLDs) such
as complex PLDs (CPLDs), high-capacity PLDs (HCPLDs), and the like;
ASICs such as structured ASICs and the like; programmable SoCs
(PSoCs); and the like. In such implementations, the circuitry of
application circuitry 505 may comprise logic blocks or logic
fabric, and other interconnected resources that may be programmed
to perform various functions, such as the procedures, methods,
functions, etc. of the various embodiments discussed herein. In
such embodiments, the circuitry of application circuitry 505 may
include memory cells (e.g., erasable programmable read-only memory
(EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory
(EEPROM), flash memory, static memory (e.g., static random access
memory (SRAM), anti-fuses, etc.)) used to store logic blocks, logic
fabric, data, etc. in look-up-tables (LUTs) and the like.
[0059] The baseband circuitry 510 may be implemented, for example,
as a solder-down substrate including one or more integrated
circuits, a single packaged integrated circuit soldered to a main
circuit board or a multi-chip module containing two or more
integrated circuits. The various hardware electronic elements of
baseband circuitry 510 are discussed infra with regard to FIG.
7.
[0060] User interface circuitry 550 may include one or more user
interfaces designed to enable user interaction with the system 500
or peripheral component interfaces designed to enable peripheral
component interaction with the system 500. User interfaces may
include, but are not limited to, one or more physical or virtual
buttons (e.g., a reset button), one or more indicators (e.g., light
emitting diodes (LEDs)), a physical keyboard or keypad, a mouse, a
touchpad, a touchscreen, speakers or other audio emitting devices,
microphones, a printer, a scanner, a headset, a display screen or
display device, etc. Peripheral component interfaces may include,
but are not limited to, a nonvolatile memory port, a universal
serial bus (USB) port, an audio jack, a power supply interface,
etc.
[0061] The radio front end modules (RFEMs) 515 may comprise a
millimeter wave (mmWave) RFEM and one or more sub-mmWave radio
frequency integrated circuits (RFICs). In some implementations, the
one or more sub-mmWave RFICs may be physically separated from the
mmWave RFEM. The RFICs may include connections to one or more
antennas or antenna arrays (see e.g., antenna array 711 of FIG. 7
infra), and the RFEM may be connected to multiple antennas. In
alternative implementations, both mmWave and sub-mmWave radio
functions may be implemented in the same physical RFEM 515, which
incorporates both mmWave antennas and sub-mmWave.
[0062] The memory circuitry 520 may include one or more of volatile
memory including dynamic random access memory (DRAM) and/or
synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), and nonvolatile
memory (NVM) including high-speed electrically erasable memory
(commonly referred to as Flash memory), phase change random access
memory (PRAM), magnetoresistive random access memory (MRAM), etc.,
and may incorporate the three-dimensional (3D) cross-point (XPOINT)
memories from Intel.RTM. and Micron.RTM.. Memory circuitry 520 may
be implemented as one or more of solder down packaged integrated
circuits, socketed memory modules and plug-in memory cards.
[0063] The PMIC 525 may include voltage regulators, surge
protectors, power alarm detection circuitry, and one or more backup
power sources such as a battery or capacitor. The power alarm
detection circuitry may detect one or more of brown out
(under-voltage) and surge (over-voltage) conditions. The power tee
circuitry 530 may provide for electrical power drawn from a network
cable to provide both power supply and data connectivity to the
infrastructure equipment 500 using a single cable.
[0064] The network controller circuitry 535 may provide
connectivity to a network using a standard network interface
protocol such as Ethernet, Ethernet over GRE Tunnels, Ethernet over
Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS), or some other suitable
protocol. Network connectivity may be provided to/from the
infrastructure equipment 500 via network interface connector 540
using a physical connection, which may be electrical (commonly
referred to as a "copper interconnect"), optical, or wireless. The
network controller circuitry 535 may include one or more dedicated
processors and/or FPGAs to communicate using one or more of the
aforementioned protocols. In some implementations, the network
controller circuitry 535 may include multiple controllers to
provide connectivity to other networks using the same or different
protocols.
[0065] The positioning circuitry 545 includes circuitry to receive
and decode signals transmitted/broadcasted by a positioning network
of a global navigation satellite system (GNSS). Examples of
navigation satellite constellations (or GNSS) include United
States' Global Positioning System (GPS), Russia's Global Navigation
System (GLONASS), the European Union's Galileo system, China's
BeiDou Navigation Satellite System, a regional navigation system or
GNSS augmentation system (e.g., Navigation with Indian
Constellation (NAVIC), Japan's Quasi-Zenith Satellite System
(QZSS), France's Doppler Orbitography and Radio-positioning
Integrated by Satellite (DORIS), etc.), or the like. The
positioning circuitry 545 comprises various hardware elements
(e.g., including hardware devices such as switches, filters,
amplifiers, antenna elements, and the like to facilitate OTA
communications) to communicate with components of a positioning
network, such as navigation satellite constellation nodes. In some
embodiments, the positioning circuitry 545 may include a
Micro-Technology for Positioning, Navigation, and Timing
(Micro-PNT) IC that uses a master timing clock to perform position
tracking/estimation without GNSS assistance. The positioning
circuitry 545 may also be part of, or interact with, the baseband
circuitry 510 and/or RFEMs 515 to communicate with the nodes and
components of the positioning network. The positioning circuitry
545 may also provide position data and/or time data to the
application circuitry 505, which may use the data to synchronize
operations with various infrastructure (e.g., RAN nodes 411, etc.),
or the like.
[0066] The components shown by FIG. 5 may communicate with one
another using interface circuitry, which may include any number of
bus and/or interconnect (IX) technologies such as industry standard
architecture (ISA), extended ISA (EISA), peripheral component
interconnect (PCI), peripheral component interconnect extended
(PCIx), PCI express (PCIe), or any number of other technologies.
The bus/IX may be a proprietary bus, for example, used in a SoC
based system. Other bus/IX systems may be included, such as an
I.sup.2C interface, an SPI interface, point to point interfaces,
and a power bus, among others.
[0067] FIG. 6 illustrates an example of a platform 600 (or "device
600") in accordance with various embodiments. In embodiments, the
computer platform 600 may be suitable for use as UEs 401,
application servers 430, and/or any other element/device discussed
herein. The platform 600 may include any combinations of the
components shown in the example. The components of platform 600 may
be implemented as integrated circuits (ICs), portions thereof,
discrete electronic devices, or other modules, logic, hardware,
software, firmware, or a combination thereof adapted in the
computer platform 600, or as components otherwise incorporated
within a chassis of a larger system. The block diagram of FIG. 6 is
intended to show a high level view of components of the computer
platform 600. However, some of the components shown may be omitted,
additional components may be present, and different arrangement of
the components shown may occur in other implementations.
[0068] Application circuitry 605 includes circuitry such as, but
not limited to one or more processors (or processor cores), cache
memory, and one or more of LDOs, interrupt controllers, serial
interfaces such as SPI, I2C or universal programmable serial
interface module, RTC, timer-counters including interval and
watchdog timers, general purpose I/O, memory card controllers such
as SD MMC or similar, USB interfaces, MIPI interfaces, and JTAG
test access ports. The processors (or cores) of the application
circuitry 605 may be coupled with or may include memory/storage
elements and may be configured to execute instructions stored in
the memory/storage to enable various applications or operating
systems to run on the system 600. In some implementations, the
memory/storage elements may be on-chip memory circuitry, which may
include any suitable volatile and/or non-volatile memory, such as
DRAM, SRAM, EPROM, EEPROM, Flash memory, solid-state memory, and/or
any other type of memory device technology, such as those discussed
herein.
[0069] The processor(s) of application circuitry 505 may include,
for example, one or more processor cores, one or more application
processors, one or more GPUs, one or more RISC processors, one or
more ARM processors, one or more CISC processors, one or more DSP,
one or more FPGAs, one or more PLDs, one or more ASICs, one or more
microprocessors or controllers, a multithreaded processor, an
ultra-low voltage processor, an embedded processor, some other
known processing element, or any suitable combination thereof. In
some embodiments, the application circuitry 505 may comprise, or
may be, a special-purpose processor/controller to operate according
to the various embodiments herein.
[0070] As examples, the processor(s) of application circuitry 605
may include an Intel.RTM. Architecture Core.TM. based processor,
such as a Quark.TM., an Atom.TM., an i3, an i5, an i7, or an
MCU-class processor, or another such processor available from
Intel.RTM. Corporation, Santa Clara, Calif. The processors of the
application circuitry 605 may also be one or more of Advanced Micro
Devices (AMD) Ryzen.RTM. processor(s) or Accelerated Processing
Units (APUs); A5-A9 processor(s) from Apple.RTM. Inc.,
Snapdragon.TM. processor(s) from Qualcomm.RTM. Technologies, Inc.,
Texas Instruments, Inc..RTM. Open Multimedia Applications Platform
(OMAP).TM. processor(s); a MIPS-based design from MIPS
Technologies, Inc. such as MIPS Warrior M-class, Warrior I-class,
and Warrior P-class processors; an ARM-based design licensed from
ARM Holdings, Ltd., such as the ARM Cortex-A, Cortex-R, and
Cortex-M family of processors; or the like. In some
implementations, the application circuitry 605 may be a part of a
system on a chip (SoC) in which the application circuitry 605 and
other components are formed into a single integrated circuit, or a
single package, such as the Edison.TM. or Galileo.TM. SoC boards
from Intel.RTM. Corporation.
[0071] Additionally or alternatively, application circuitry 605 may
include circuitry such as, but not limited to, one or more a
field-programmable devices (FPDs) such as FPGAs and the like;
programmable logic devices (PLDs) such as complex PLDs (CPLDs),
high-capacity PLDs (HCPLDs), and the like; ASICs such as structured
ASICs and the like; programmable SoCs (PSoCs); and the like. In
such embodiments, the circuitry of application circuitry 605 may
comprise logic blocks or logic fabric, and other interconnected
resources that may be programmed to perform various functions, such
as the procedures, methods, functions, etc. of the various
embodiments discussed herein. In such embodiments, the circuitry of
application circuitry 605 may include memory cells (e.g., erasable
programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable
programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory, static memory
(e.g., static random access memory (SRAM), anti-fuses, etc.)) used
to store logic blocks, logic fabric, data, etc. in look-up tables
(LUTs) and the like.
[0072] The baseband circuitry 610 may be implemented, for example,
as a solder-down substrate including one or more integrated
circuits, a single packaged integrated circuit soldered to a main
circuit board or a multi-chip module containing two or more
integrated circuits. The various hardware electronic elements of
baseband circuitry 610 are discussed infra with regard to FIG.
7.
[0073] The RFEMs 615 may comprise a millimeter wave (mmWave) RFEM
and one or more sub-mmWave radio frequency integrated circuits
(RFICs). In some implementations, the one or more sub-mmWave RFICs
may be physically separated from the mmWave RFEM. The RFICs may
include connections to one or more antennas or antenna arrays (see
e.g., antenna array 711 of FIG. 7 infra), and the RFEM may be
connected to multiple antennas. In alternative implementations,
both mmWave and sub-mmWave radio functions may be implemented in
the same physical RFEM 615, which incorporates both mmWave antennas
and sub-mmWave.
[0074] The memory circuitry 620 may include any number and type of
memory devices used to provide for a given amount of system memory.
As examples, the memory circuitry 620 may include one or more of
volatile memory including random access memory (RAM), dynamic RAM
(DRAM) and/or synchronous dynamic RAM (SDRAM), and nonvolatile
memory (NVM) including high-speed electrically erasable memory
(commonly referred to as Flash memory), phase change random access
memory (PRAM), magnetoresistive random access memory (MRAM), etc.
The memory circuitry 620 may be developed in accordance with a
Joint Electron Devices Engineering Council (JEDEC) low power double
data rate (LPDDR)-based design, such as LPDDR2, LPDDR3, LPDDR4, or
the like. Memory circuitry 620 may be implemented as one or more of
solder down packaged integrated circuits, single die package (SDP),
dual die package (DDP) or quad die package (Q17P), socketed memory
modules, dual inline memory modules (DIMMs) including microDIMMs or
MiniDIMMs, and/or soldered onto a motherboard via a ball grid array
(BGA). In low power implementations, the memory circuitry 620 may
be on-die memory or registers associated with the application
circuitry 605. To provide for persistent storage of information
such as data, applications, operating systems and so forth, memory
circuitry 620 may include one or more mass storage devices, which
may include, inter alia, a solid state disk drive (SSDD), hard disk
drive (HDD), a micro HDD, resistance change memories, phase change
memories, holographic memories, or chemical memories, among others.
For example, the computer platform 600 may incorporate the
three-dimensional (3D) cross-point (XPOINT) memories from
Intel.RTM. and Micron.RTM..
[0075] Removable memory circuitry 623 may include devices,
circuitry, enclosures/housings, ports or receptacles, etc. used to
couple portable data storage devices with the platform 600. These
portable data storage devices may be used for mass storage
purposes, and may include, for example, flash memory cards (e.g.,
Secure Digital (SD) cards, microSD cards, xD picture cards, and the
like), and USB flash drives, optical discs, external HDDs, and the
like.
[0076] The platform 600 may also include interface circuitry (not
shown) that is used to connect external devices with the platform
600. The external devices connected to the platform 600 via the
interface circuitry include sensor circuitry 621 and
electro-mechanical components (EMCs) 622, as well as removable
memory devices coupled to removable memory circuitry 623.
[0077] The sensor circuitry 621 include devices, modules, or
subsystems whose purpose is to detect events or changes in its
environment and send the information (sensor data) about the
detected events to some other a device, module, subsystem, etc.
Examples of such sensors include, inter alia, inertia measurement
units (IMUs) comprising accelerometers, gyroscopes, and/or
magnetometers; microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) or
nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS) comprising 3-axis
accelerometers, 3-axis gyroscopes, and/or magnetometers; level
sensors; flow sensors; temperature sensors (e.g., thermistors);
pressure sensors; barometric pressure sensors; gravimeters;
altimeters; image capture devices (e.g., cameras or lensless
apertures); light detection and ranging (LiDAR) sensors; proximity
sensors (e.g., infrared radiation detector and the like), depth
sensors, ambient light sensors, ultrasonic transceivers;
microphones or other like audio capture devices; etc.
[0078] EMCs 622 include devices, modules, or subsystems whose
purpose is to enable platform 600 to change its state, position,
and/or orientation, or move or control a mechanism or (sub)system.
Additionally, EMCs 622 may be configured to generate and send
messages/signalling to other components of the platform 600 to
indicate a current state of the EMCs 622. Examples of the EMCs 622
include one or more power switches, relays including
electromechanical relays (EMRs) and/or solid state relays (SSRs),
actuators (e.g., valve actuators, etc.), an audible sound
generator, a visual warning device, motors (e.g., DC motors,
stepper motors, etc.), wheels, thrusters, propellers, claws,
clamps, hooks, and/or other like electro-mechanical components. In
embodiments, platform 600 is configured to operate one or more EMCs
622 based on one or more captured events and/or instructions or
control signals received from a service provider and/or various
clients.
[0079] In some implementations, the interface circuitry may connect
the platform 600 with positioning circuitry 645. The positioning
circuitry 645 includes circuitry to receive and decode signals
transmitted/broadcasted by a positioning network of a GNSS.
Examples of navigation satellite constellations (or GNSS) include
United States' GPS, Russia's GLONASS, the European Union's Galileo
system, China's BeiDou Navigation Satellite System, a regional
navigation system or GNSS augmentation system (e.g., NAVIC),
Japan's QZSS, France's DORIS, etc.), or the like. The positioning
circuitry 645 comprises various hardware elements (e.g., including
hardware devices such as switches, filters, amplifiers, antenna
elements, and the like to facilitate OTA communications) to
communicate with components of a positioning network, such as
navigation satellite constellation nodes. In some embodiments, the
positioning circuitry 645 may include a Micro-PNT IC that uses a
master timing clock to perform position tracking/estimation without
GNSS assistance. The positioning circuitry 645 may also be part of,
or interact with, the baseband circuitry 510 and/or RFEMs 615 to
communicate with the nodes and components of the positioning
network. The positioning circuitry 645 may also provide position
data and/or time data to the application circuitry 605, which may
use the data to synchronize operations with various infrastructure
(e.g., radio base stations), for turn-by-turn navigation
applications, or the like
[0080] In some implementations, the interface circuitry may connect
the platform 600 with Near-Field Communication (NFC) circuitry 640.
NFC circuitry 640 is configured to provide contactless, short-range
communications based on radio frequency identification (RFID)
standards, wherein magnetic field induction is used to enable
communication between NFC circuitry 640 and NFC-enabled devices
external to the platform 600 (e.g., an "NFC touchpoint"). NFC
circuitry 640 comprises an NFC controller coupled with an antenna
element and a processor coupled with the NFC controller. The NFC
controller may be a chip/IC providing NFC functionalities to the
NFC circuitry 640 by executing NFC controller firmware and an NFC
stack. The NFC stack may be executed by the processor to control
the NFC controller, and the NFC controller firmware may be executed
by the NFC controller to control the antenna element to emit
short-range RF signals. The RF signals may power a passive NFC tag
(e.g., a microchip embedded in a sticker or wristband) to transmit
stored data to the NFC circuitry 640, or initiate data transfer
between the NFC circuitry 640 and another active NFC device (e.g.,
a smartphone or an NFC-enabled POS terminal) that is proximate to
the platform 600.
[0081] The driver circuitry 646 may include software and hardware
elements that operate to control particular devices that are
embedded in the platform 600, attached to the platform 600, or
otherwise communicatively coupled with the platform 600. The driver
circuitry 646 may include individual drivers allowing other
components of the platform 600 to interact with or control various
input/output (I/O) devices that may be present within, or connected
to, the platform 600. For example, driver circuitry 646 may include
a display driver to control and allow access to a display device, a
touchscreen driver to control and allow access to a touchscreen
interface of the platform 600, sensor drivers to obtain sensor
readings of sensor circuitry 621 and control and allow access to
sensor circuitry 621, EMC drivers to obtain actuator positions of
the EMCs 622 and/or control and allow access to the EMCs 622, a
camera driver to control and allow access to an embedded image
capture device, audio drivers to control and allow access to one or
more audio devices.
[0082] The power management integrated circuitry (PMIC) 625 (also
referred to as "power management circuitry 625") may manage power
provided to various components of the platform 600. In particular,
with respect to the baseband circuitry 610, the PMIC 625 may
control power-source selection, voltage scaling, battery charging,
or DC-to-DC conversion. The PMIC 625 may often be included when the
platform 600 is capable of being powered by a battery 630, for
example, when the device is included in a UE 401.
[0083] In some embodiments, the PMIC 625 may control, or otherwise
be part of, various power saving mechanisms of the platform 600.
For example, if the platform 600 is in an RRC_Connected state,
where it is still connected to the RAN node as it expects to
receive traffic shortly, then it may enter a state known as
Discontinuous Reception Mode (DRX) after a period of inactivity.
During this state, the platform 600 may power down for brief
intervals of time and thus save power. If there is no data traffic
activity for an extended period of time, then the platform 600 may
transition off to an RRC_Idle state, where it disconnects from the
network and does not perform operations such as channel quality
feedback, handover, etc. The platform 600 goes into a very low
power state and it performs paging where again it periodically
wakes up to listen to the network and then powers down again. The
platform 600 may not receive data in this state; in order to
receive data, it must transition back to RRC_Connected state. An
additional power saving mode may allow a device to be unavailable
to the network for periods longer than a paging interval (ranging
from seconds to a few hours). During this time, the device is
totally unreachable to the network and may power down completely.
Any data sent during this time incurs a large delay and it is
assumed the delay is acceptable.
[0084] A battery 630 may power the platform 600, although in some
examples the platform 600 may be mounted deployed in a fixed
location, and may have a power supply coupled to an electrical
grid. The battery 630 may be a lithium ion battery, a metal-air
battery, such as a zinc-air battery, an aluminum-air battery, a
lithium-air battery, and the like. In some implementations, such as
in V2X applications, the battery 630 may be a typical lead-acid
automotive battery.
[0085] In some implementations, the battery 630 may be a "smart
battery," which includes or is coupled with a Battery Management
System (BMS) or battery monitoring integrated circuitry. The BMS
may be included in the platform 600 to track the state of charge
(SoCh) of the battery 630. The BMS may be used to monitor other
parameters of the battery 630 to provide failure predictions, such
as the state of health (SoH) and the state of function (SoF) of the
battery 630. The BMS may communicate the information of the battery
630 to the application circuitry 605 or other components of the
platform 600. The BMS may also include an analog-to-digital (ADC)
convertor that allows the application circuitry 605 to directly
monitor the voltage of the battery 630 or the current flow from the
battery 630. The battery parameters may be used to determine
actions that the platform 600 may perform, such as transmission
frequency, network operation, sensing frequency, and the like.
[0086] A power block, or other power supply coupled to an
electrical grid may be coupled with the BMS to charge the battery
630. In some examples, the power block XS30 may be replaced with a
wireless power receiver to obtain the power wirelessly, for
example, through a loop antenna in the computer platform 600. In
these examples, a wireless battery charging circuit may be included
in the BMS. The specific charging circuits chosen may depend on the
size of the battery 630, and thus, the current required. The
charging may be performed using the Airfuel standard promulgated by
the Airfuel Alliance, the Qi wireless charging standard promulgated
by the Wireless Power Consortium, or the Rezence charging standard
promulgated by the Alliance for Wireless Power, among others.
[0087] User interface circuitry 650 includes various input/output
(I/O) devices present within, or connected to, the platform 600,
and includes one or more user interfaces designed to enable user
interaction with the platform 600 and/or peripheral component
interfaces designed to enable peripheral component interaction with
the platform 600. The user interface circuitry 650 includes input
device circuitry and output device circuitry. Input device
circuitry includes any physical or virtual means for accepting an
input including, inter alia, one or more physical or virtual
buttons (e.g., a reset button), a physical keyboard, keypad, mouse,
touchpad, touchscreen, microphones, scanner, headset, and/or the
like. The output device circuitry includes any physical or virtual
means for showing information or otherwise conveying information,
such as sensor readings, actuator position(s), or other like
information. Output device circuitry may include any number and/or
combinations of audio or visual display, including, inter alia, one
or more simple visual outputs/indicators (e.g., binary status
indicators (e.g., light emitting diodes (LEDs)) and multi-character
visual outputs, or more complex outputs such as display devices or
touchscreens (e.g., Liquid Chrystal Displays (LCD), LED displays,
quantum dot displays, projectors, etc.), with the output of
characters, graphics, multimedia objects, and the like being
generated or produced from the operation of the platform 600. The
output device circuitry may also include speakers or other audio
emitting devices, printer(s), and/or the like. In some embodiments,
the sensor circuitry 621 may be used as the input device circuitry
(e.g., an image capture device, motion capture device, or the like)
and one or more EMCs may be used as the output device circuitry
(e.g., an actuator to provide haptic feedback or the like). In
another example, NFC circuitry comprising an NFC controller coupled
with an antenna element and a processing device may be included to
read electronic tags and/or connect with another NFC-enabled
device. Peripheral component interfaces may include, but are not
limited to, a non-volatile memory port, a USB port, an audio jack,
a power supply interface, etc.
[0088] Although not shown, the components of platform 600 may
communicate with one another using a suitable bus or interconnect
(IX) technology, which may include any number of technologies,
including ISA, EISA, PCI, PCIx, PCIe, a Time-Trigger Protocol (TTP)
system, a FlexRay system, or any number of other technologies. The
bus/IX may be a proprietary bus/IX, for example, used in a SoC
based system. Other bus/IX systems may be included, such as an
I.sup.2C interface, an SPI interface, point-to-point interfaces,
and a power bus, among others.
[0089] FIG. 7 illustrates example components of baseband circuitry
710 and radio front end modules (RFEM) 715 in accordance with
various embodiments. The baseband circuitry 710 corresponds to the
baseband circuitry 510 and 610 of FIGS. 5 and 6, respectively. The
RFEM 715 corresponds to the RFEM 515 and 615 of FIGS. 5 and 6,
respectively. As shown, the RFEMs 715 may include Radio Frequency
(RF) circuitry 706, front-end module (FEM) circuitry 708, antenna
array 711 coupled together at least as shown.
[0090] The baseband circuitry 710 includes circuitry and/or control
logic configured to carry out various radio/network protocol and
radio control functions that enable communication with one or more
radio networks via the RF circuitry 706. The radio control
functions may include, but are not limited to, signal
modulation/demodulation, encoding/decoding, radio frequency
shifting, etc. In some embodiments, modulation/demodulation
circuitry of the baseband circuitry 710 may include Fast-Fourier
Transform (FFT), precoding, or constellation mapping/demapping
functionality. In some embodiments, encoding/decoding circuitry of
the baseband circuitry 710 may include convolution, tail-biting
convolution, turbo, Viterbi, or Low Density Parity Check (LDPC)
encoder/decoder functionality. Embodiments of
modulation/demodulation and encoder/decoder functionality are not
limited to these examples and may include other suitable
functionality in other embodiments. The baseband circuitry 710 is
configured to process baseband signals received from a receive
signal path of the RF circuitry 706 and to generate baseband
signals for a transmit signal path of the RF circuitry 706. The
baseband circuitry 710 is configured to interface with application
circuitry 505/605 (see FIGS. 5 and 6) for generation and processing
of the baseband signals and for controlling operations of the RF
circuitry 706. The baseband circuitry 710 may handle various radio
control functions.
[0091] The aforementioned circuitry and/or control logic of the
baseband circuitry 710 may include one or more single or multi-core
processors. For example, the one or more processors may include a
3G baseband processor 704A, a 4G/LTE baseband processor 704B, a
5G/NR baseband processor 704C, or some other baseband processor(s)
704D for other existing generations, generations in development or
to be developed in the future (e.g., sixth generation (6G), etc.).
In other embodiments, some or all of the functionality of baseband
processors 704A-D may be included in modules stored in the memory
704G and executed via a Central Processing Unit (CPU) 704E. In
other embodiments, some or all of the functionality of baseband
processors 704A-D may be provided as hardware accelerators (e.g.,
FPGAs, ASICs, etc.) loaded with the appropriate bit streams or
logic blocks stored in respective memory cells. In various
embodiments, the memory 704G may store program code of a real-time
OS (RTOS), which when executed by the CPU 704E (or other baseband
processor), is to cause the CPU 704E (or other baseband processor)
to manage resources of the baseband circuitry 710, schedule tasks,
etc. Examples of the RTOS may include Operating System Embedded
(OSE).TM. provided by Enea.RTM., Nucleus RTOS.TM. provided by
Mentor Graphics.RTM., Versatile Real-Time Executive (VRTX) provided
by Mentor Graphics.RTM., ThreadX.TM. provided by Express
Logic.RTM., FreeRTOS, REX OS provided by Qualcomm.RTM., OKL4
provided by Open Kernel (OK) Labs.RTM., or any other suitable RTOS,
such as those discussed herein. In addition, the baseband circuitry
710 includes one or more audio digital signal processor(s) (DSP)
704F. The audio DSP(s) 704F include elements for
compression/decompression and echo cancellation and may include
other suitable processing elements in other embodiments.
[0092] In some embodiments, each of the processors 704A-704E
include respective memory interfaces to send/receive data to/from
the memory 704G. The baseband circuitry 710 may further include one
or more interfaces to communicatively couple to other
circuitries/devices, such as an interface to send/receive data
to/from memory external to the baseband circuitry 710; an
application circuitry interface to send/receive data to/from the
application circuitry 505/605 of FIG. 5-XT); an RF circuitry
interface to send/receive data to/from RF circuitry 706 of FIG. 7;
a wireless hardware connectivity interface to send/receive data
to/from one or more wireless hardware elements (e.g., Near Field
Communication (NFC) components, Bluetooth.RTM./Bluetooth.RTM. Low
Energy components, Wi-Fi.RTM. components, and/or the like); and a
power management interface to send/receive power or control signals
to/from the PMIC 625.
[0093] In alternate embodiments (which may be combined with the
above described embodiments), baseband circuitry 710 comprises one
or more digital baseband systems, which are coupled with one
another via an interconnect subsystem and to a CPU subsystem, an
audio subsystem, and an interface subsystem. The digital baseband
subsystems may also be coupled to a digital baseband interface and
a mixed-signal baseband subsystem via another interconnect
subsystem. Each of the interconnect subsystems may include a bus
system, point-to-point connections, network-on-chip (NOC)
structures, and/or some other suitable bus or interconnect
technology, such as those discussed herein. The audio subsystem may
include DSP circuitry, buffer memory, program memory, speech
processing accelerator circuitry, data converter circuitry such as
analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog converter circuitry, analog
circuitry including one or more of amplifiers and filters, and/or
other like components. In an aspect of the present disclosure,
baseband circuitry 710 may include protocol processing circuitry
with one or more instances of control circuitry (not shown) to
provide control functions for the digital baseband circuitry and/or
radio frequency circuitry (e.g., the radio front end modules
715).
[0094] Although not shown by FIG. 7, in some embodiments, the
baseband circuitry 710 includes individual processing device(s) to
operate one or more wireless communication protocols (e.g., a
"multi-protocol baseband processor" or "protocol processing
circuitry") and individual processing device(s) to implement PHY
layer functions. In these embodiments, the PHY layer functions
include the aforementioned radio control functions. In these
embodiments, the protocol processing circuitry operates or
implements various protocol layers/entities of one or more wireless
communication protocols. In a first example, the protocol
processing circuitry may operate LTE protocol entities and/or 5G/NR
protocol entities when the baseband circuitry 710 and/or RF
circuitry 706 are part of mmWave communication circuitry or some
other suitable cellular communication circuitry. In the first
example, the protocol processing circuitry would operate MAC, RLC,
PDCP, SDAP, RRC, and NAS functions. In a second example, the
protocol processing circuitry may operate one or more IEEE-based
protocols when the baseband circuitry 710 and/or RF circuitry 706
are part of a Wi-Fi communication system. In the second example,
the protocol processing circuitry would operate Wi-Fi MAC and
logical link control (LLC) functions. The protocol processing
circuitry may include one or more memory structures (e.g., 704G) to
store program code and data for operating the protocol functions,
as well as one or more processing cores to execute the program code
and perform various operations using the data. The baseband
circuitry 710 may also support radio communications for more than
one wireless protocol.
[0095] The various hardware elements of the baseband circuitry 710
discussed herein may be implemented, for example, as a solder-down
substrate including one or more integrated circuits (ICs), a single
packaged IC soldered to a main circuit board or a multi-chip module
containing two or more ICs. In one example, the components of the
baseband circuitry 710 may be suitably combined in a single chip or
chipset, or disposed on a same circuit board. In another example,
some or all of the constituent components of the baseband circuitry
710 and RF circuitry 706 may be implemented together such as, for
example, a system on a chip (SoC) or System-in-Package (SiP). In
another example, some or all of the constituent components of the
baseband circuitry 710 may be implemented as a separate SoC that is
communicatively coupled with and RF circuitry 706 (or multiple
instances of RF circuitry 706). In yet another example, some or all
of the constituent components of the baseband circuitry 710 and the
application circuitry 505/605 may be implemented together as
individual SoCs mounted to a same circuit board (e.g., a
"multi-chip package").
[0096] In some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 710 may provide
for communication compatible with one or more radio technologies.
For example, in some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 710 may
support communication with an E-UTRAN or other WMAN, a WLAN, a
WPAN. Embodiments in which the baseband circuitry 710 is configured
to support radio communications of more than one wireless protocol
may be referred to as multi-mode baseband circuitry.
[0097] RF circuitry 706 may enable communication with wireless
networks using modulated electromagnetic radiation through a
non-solid medium. In various embodiments, the RF circuitry 706 may
include switches, filters, amplifiers, etc. to facilitate the
communication with the wireless network. RF circuitry 706 may
include a receive signal path, which may include circuitry to
down-convert RF signals received from the FEM circuitry 708 and
provide baseband signals to the baseband circuitry 710. RF
circuitry 706 may also include a transmit signal path, which may
include circuitry to up-convert baseband signals provided by the
baseband circuitry 710 and provide RF output signals to the FEM
circuitry 708 for transmission.
[0098] In some embodiments, the receive signal path of the RF
circuitry 706 may include mixer circuitry 706a, amplifier circuitry
706b and filter circuitry 706c. In some embodiments, the transmit
signal path of the RF circuitry 706 may include filter circuitry
706c and mixer circuitry 706a. RF circuitry 706 may also include
synthesizer circuitry 706d for synthesizing a frequency for use by
the mixer circuitry 706a of the receive signal path and the
transmit signal path. In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 706a
of the receive signal path may be configured to down-convert RF
signals received from the FEM circuitry 708 based on the
synthesized frequency provided by synthesizer circuitry 706d. The
amplifier circuitry 706b may be configured to amplify the
down-converted signals and the filter circuitry 706c may be a
low-pass filter (LPF) or band-pass filter (BPF) configured to
remove unwanted signals from the down-converted signals to generate
output baseband signals. Output baseband signals may be provided to
the baseband circuitry 710 for further processing. In some
embodiments, the output baseband signals may be zero-frequency
baseband signals, although this is not a requirement. In some
embodiments, mixer circuitry 706a of the receive signal path may
comprise passive mixers, although the scope of the embodiments is
not limited in this respect.
[0099] In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 706a of the
transmit signal path may be configured to up-convert input baseband
signals based on the synthesized frequency provided by the
synthesizer circuitry 706d to generate RF output signals for the
FEM circuitry 708. The baseband signals may be provided by the
baseband circuitry 710 and may be filtered by filter circuitry
706c.
[0100] In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 706a of the receive
signal path and the mixer circuitry 706a of the transmit signal
path may include two or more mixers and may be arranged for
quadrature downconversion and upconversion, respectively. In some
embodiments, the mixer circuitry 706a of the receive signal path
and the mixer circuitry 706a of the transmit signal path may
include two or more mixers and may be arranged for image rejection
(e.g., Hartley image rejection). In some embodiments, the mixer
circuitry 706a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry
706a of the transmit signal path may be arranged for direct
downconversion and direct upconversion, respectively. In some
embodiments, the mixer circuitry 706a of the receive signal path
and the mixer circuitry 706a of the transmit signal path may be
configured for super-heterodyne operation.
[0101] In some embodiments, the output baseband signals and the
input baseband signals may be analog baseband signals, although the
scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. In some
alternate embodiments, the output baseband signals and the input
baseband signals may be digital baseband signals. In these
alternate embodiments, the RF circuitry 706 may include
analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and digital-to-analog converter
(DAC) circuitry and the baseband circuitry 710 may include a
digital baseband interface to communicate with the RF circuitry
706.
[0102] In some dual-mode embodiments, a separate radio IC circuitry
may be provided for processing signals for each spectrum, although
the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.
[0103] In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuitry 706d may be a
fractional-N synthesizer or a fractional N/N+1 synthesizer,
although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this
respect as other types of frequency synthesizers may be suitable.
For example, synthesizer circuitry 706d may be a delta-sigma
synthesizer, a frequency multiplier, or a synthesizer comprising a
phase-locked loop with a frequency divider.
[0104] The synthesizer circuitry 706d may be configured to
synthesize an output frequency for use by the mixer circuitry 706a
of the RF circuitry 706 based on a frequency input and a divider
control input. In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuitry 706d
may be a fractional N/N+1 synthesizer.
[0105] In some embodiments, frequency input may be provided by a
voltage controlled oscillator (VCO), although that is not a
requirement. Divider control input may be provided by either the
baseband circuitry 710 or the application circuitry 505/605
depending on the desired output frequency. In some embodiments, a
divider control input (e.g., N) may be determined from a look-up
table based on a channel indicated by the application circuitry
505/605.
[0106] Synthesizer circuitry 706d of the RF circuitry 706 may
include a divider, a delay-locked loop (DLL), a multiplexer and a
phase accumulator. In some embodiments, the divider may be a dual
modulus divider (DMD) and the phase accumulator may be a digital
phase accumulator (DPA). In some embodiments, the DMD may be
configured to divide the input signal by either N or N+1 (e.g.,
based on a carry out) to provide a fractional division ratio. In
some example embodiments, the DLL may include a set of cascaded,
tunable, delay elements, a phase detector, a charge pump and a
D-type flip-flop. In these embodiments, the delay elements may be
configured to break a VCO period up into Nd equal packets of phase,
where Nd is the number of delay elements in the delay line. In this
way, the DLL provides negative feedback to help ensure that the
total delay through the delay line is one VCO cycle.
[0107] In some embodiments, synthesizer circuitry 706d may be
configured to generate a carrier frequency as the output frequency,
while in other embodiments, the output frequency may be a multiple
of the carrier frequency (e.g., twice the carrier frequency, four
times the carrier frequency) and used in conjunction with
quadrature generator and divider circuitry to generate multiple
signals at the carrier frequency with multiple different phases
with respect to each other. In some embodiments, the output
frequency may be a LO frequency (fLO). In some embodiments, the RF
circuitry 706 may include an IQ/polar converter.
[0108] FEM circuitry 708 may include a receive signal path, which
may include circuitry configured to operate on RF signals received
from antenna array 711, amplify the received signals and provide
the amplified versions of the received signals to the RF circuitry
706 for further processing. FEM circuitry 708 may also include a
transmit signal path, which may include circuitry configured to
amplify signals for transmission provided by the RF circuitry 706
for transmission by one or more of antenna elements of antenna
array 711. In various embodiments, the amplification through the
transmit or receive signal paths may be done solely in the RF
circuitry 706, solely in the FEM circuitry 708, or in both the RF
circuitry 706 and the FEM circuitry 708.
[0109] In some embodiments, the FEM circuitry 708 may include a
TX/RX switch to switch between transmit mode and receive mode
operation. The FEM circuitry 708 may include a receive signal path
and a transmit signal path. The receive signal path of the FEM
circuitry 708 may include an LNA to amplify received RF signals and
provide the amplified received RF signals as an output (e.g., to
the RF circuitry 706). The transmit signal path of the FEM
circuitry 708 may include a power amplifier (PA) to amplify input
RF signals (e.g., provided by RF circuitry 706), and one or more
filters to generate RF signals for subsequent transmission by one
or more antenna elements of the antenna array 711.
[0110] The antenna array 711 comprises one or more antenna
elements, each of which is configured convert electrical signals
into radio waves to travel through the air and to convert received
radio waves into electrical signals. For example, digital baseband
signals provided by the baseband circuitry 710 is converted into
analog RF signals (e.g., modulated waveform) that will be amplified
and transmitted via the antenna elements of the antenna array 711
including one or more antenna elements (not shown). The antenna
elements may be omnidirectional, direction, or a combination
thereof. The antenna elements may be formed in a multitude of
arranges as are known and/or discussed herein. The antenna array
711 may comprise microstrip antennas or printed antennas that are
fabricated on the surface of one or more printed circuit boards.
The antenna array 711 may be formed in as a patch of metal foil
(e.g., a patch antenna) in a variety of shapes, and may be coupled
with the RF circuitry 706 and/or FEM circuitry 708 using metal
transmission lines or the like.
[0111] Processors of the application circuitry 505/605 and
processors of the baseband circuitry 710 may be used to execute
elements of one or more instances of a protocol stack. For example,
processors of the baseband circuitry 710, alone or in combination,
may be used execute Layer 3, Layer 2, or Layer 1 functionality,
while processors of the application circuitry 505/605 may utilize
data (e.g., packet data) received from these layers and further
execute Layer 4 functionality (e.g., TCP and UDP layers). As
referred to herein, Layer 3 may comprise a RRC layer, described in
further detail below. As referred to herein, Layer 2 may comprise a
MAC layer, an RLC layer, and a PDCP layer, described in further
detail below. As referred to herein, Layer 1 may comprise a PHY
layer of a UE/RAN node, described in further detail below.
[0112] FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating components, according
to some example embodiments, able to read instructions from a
machine-readable or computer-readable medium (e.g., a
non-transitory machine-readable storage medium) and perform any one
or more of the methodologies discussed herein. Specifically, FIG. 8
shows a diagrammatic representation of hardware resources 800
including one or more processors (or processor cores) 810, one or
more memory/storage devices 820, and one or more communication
resources 830, each of which may be communicatively coupled via a
bus 840. For embodiments where node virtualization (e.g., NFV) is
utilized, a hypervisor 802 may be executed to provide an execution
environment for one or more network slices/sub-slices to utilize
the hardware resources 800.
[0113] The processors 810 may include, for example, a processor 812
and a processor 814. The processor(s) 810 may be, for example, a
central processing unit (CPU), a reduced instruction set computing
(RISC) processor, a complex instruction set computing (CISC)
processor, a graphics processing unit (GPU), a DSP such as a
baseband processor, an ASIC, an FPGA, a radiofrequency integrated
circuit (RFIC), another processor (including those discussed
herein), or any suitable combination thereof.
[0114] The memory/storage devices 820 may include main memory, disk
storage, or any suitable combination thereof. The memory/storage
devices 820 may include, but are not limited to, any type of
volatile or nonvolatile memory such as dynamic random access memory
(DRAM), static random access memory (SRAM), erasable programmable
read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable
read-only memory (EEPROM), Flash memory, solid-state storage,
etc.
[0115] The communication resources 830 may include interconnection
or network interface components or other suitable devices to
communicate with one or more peripheral devices 804 or one or more
databases 806 via a network 808. For example, the communication
resources 830 may include wired communication components (e.g., for
coupling via USB), cellular communication components, NFC
components, Bluetooth.RTM. (or Bluetooth.RTM. Low Energy)
components, Wi-Fi.RTM. components, and other communication
components.
[0116] Instructions 850 may comprise software, a program, an
application, an applet, an app, or other executable code for
causing at least any of the processors 810 to perform any one or
more of the methodologies discussed herein. The instructions 850
may reside, completely or partially, within at least one of the
processors 810 (e.g., within the processor's cache memory), the
memory/storage devices 820, or any suitable combination thereof.
Furthermore, any portion of the instructions 850 may be transferred
to the hardware resources 800 from any combination of the
peripheral devices 804 or the databases 806. Accordingly, the
memory of processors 810, the memory/storage devices 820, the
peripheral devices 804, and the databases 806 are examples of
computer-readable and machine-readable media.
Example Procedures
[0117] In some embodiments, the electronic device(s), network(s),
system(s), chip(s) or component(s), or portions or implementations
thereof, of FIGS. 4-8, or some other figure herein, may be
configured to perform one or more processes, techniques, or methods
as described herein, or portions thereof. One such process 900 is
depicted in FIG. 9. In some embodiments, the process 900 may be
performed by a UE or a portion thereof. For example, the process
900 may include, at 902, receiving a physical downlink control
channel (PDCCH) to schedule a physical downlink shared channel
(PDSCH) of a multi-transmission-reception point (TRP) transmission.
In some embodiments, the multi-TRP transmission may be a single-DCI
multi-TRP transmission or a multi-DCI multi-TRP transmission. At
904, the process 900 may further include determining a default
PDSCH beam based on a control resource set (CORESET) with a lowest
index within a set of monitored CORESETs in a latest slot with a
same CORESETPoolIndex as the PDCCH.
[0118] FIG. 10 illustrates another process 1000 in accordance with
various embodiments. The process 1000 may include, at 1002,
encoding, for transmission to a user equipment (UE), a physical
downlink control channel (PDCCH) to schedule a physical downlink
shared channel (PDSCH) of a multi-transmission-reception point
(TRP) transmission. At 1004, the process may further include
determining a default PDSCH beam for the PDSCH based on a control
resource set (CORESET) with a lowest index within a set of
monitored CORESETs in a latest slot with a same CORESETPoolIndex as
the PDCCH. In some embodiments, the process 1000 may be performed
by a gNB or a portion thereof.
[0119] For one or more embodiments, at least one of the components
set forth in one or more of the preceding figures may be configured
to perform one or more operations, techniques, processes, and/or
methods as set forth in the example section below. For example, the
baseband circuitry as described above in connection with one or
more of the preceding figures may be configured to operate in
accordance with one or more of the examples set forth below. For
another example, circuitry associated with a UE, base station,
network element, etc. as described above in connection with one or
more of the preceding figures may be configured to operate in
accordance with one or more of the examples set forth below in the
example section.
Examples
[0120] Example 1 may include the method of obtaining L1-RSRP report
and setting default PDSCH beam for single and multi-DCI based
multi-TRP transmission, where L1-RSRP is based on
groupBasedBeamReporting and default PDSCH beam is based on lowest
index CORESET when CORESETPoolIndex is configured.
[0121] Example 2 may include the method of example 1 or some other
example herein, when groupBasedBeamReporting is enabled, a UE is
expected to use only the best UE panel for L1-RSRP reporting
consistent with multi-TRP reception. When groupBasedBeamReporting
is disabled, a UE is expected to report L1-RSRP based on a set of
UE panels used for single TRP reception.
[0122] Example 3 may include the method of example 1 or some other
example herein, where when both single DCI and multi-DCI multi-TRP
transmission, a default PDSCH beam is determined based on the
lowest indexed CORESET within the set of monitored CORESETs in the
latest slot with the same value of CORESETPoolIndex.
[0123] Example 4 may include the method of example 3 or some other
example herein, wherein in a slot associated with a single default
PDSCH beam where the beam is associated with CORESETPoolIndex=0, a
UE is not expected to receive PDSCH scheduled before
timeDurationForQCL and scheduled from a CORESET not associated with
CORESETPoolIndex=0 (and vice versa). A UE is expected to receive
PDSCH scheduled after timeDurationForQCL threshold from any CORESET
in any slot.
[0124] Example 5 may include a method of operating a UE, the method
comprising: determining whether group-based-beam reporting is
enabled or disabled; and select one or more of a plurality of UE
panels based on determination of whether the group-based-beam
reporting is enabled or disabled; generate a L1-RSRP report based
on the selected one or more UE panels.
[0125] Example 6 may include the method of example 5 or some other
example herein, wherein said determining comprises determining that
group-based-beam reporting is enabled and said selecting comprises
selecting a best UE panel as the one or more UE panels based on
said determining that the group-based-beam reporting is
enabled.
[0126] Example 7 may include the method of example 5 or some other
example herein, wherein said determining comprises determining that
group-based-beam reporting is disabled and said selecting comprises
selecting a set of UE panels based on said determining that the
group-based-beam reporting is disabled.
[0127] Example 8 may include a method of operating a UE, the method
comprising: determining a default PDSCH beam based on a lowest
indexed CORESET within a set of monitored CORESETS in a latest slot
with a same value as a CORESET pool index.
[0128] Example 9 may include the method of example 8 or some other
example herein, wherein the UE is to operate using single DCI
multi-TRP transmission.
[0129] Example 10 may include the method of example 8 or some other
example herein, wherein the UE is to operate using multi-DCI
multi-TRP transmission.
[0130] Example 11 may include a method of operating a UE with
intra-band CA, the method comprising determining a default PDSCH
beam based on a PDCCH prioritization rule.
[0131] Example 12 may include a method comprising: receiving a
physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) to schedule a physical
downlink shared channel (PDSCH) of a multi-transmission-reception
point (TRP) transmission; and determining a default PDSCH beam
based on a control resource set (CORESET) with a lowest index
within a set of monitored CORESETs in a latest slot with a same
CORESETPoolIndex as the PDCCH.
[0132] Example 13 may include the method of example 12 or some
other example herein, wherein the multi-TRP transmission is a
single-DCI multi-TRP transmission.
[0133] Example 14 may include the method of example 12 or some
other example herein, wherein the multi-TRP transmission is a
multi-DCI multi-TRP transmission.
[0134] Example 15 may include the method of example 12-14 or some
other example herein, further comprising receiving the PDSCH based
on the default PDSCH beam.
[0135] Example 16 may include the method of example 15 or some
other example herein, wherein the PDSCH is received based on the
default PDSCH beam if the PDSCH is scheduled within a time period
from receipt of the PDCCH.
[0136] Example 17 may include the method of example 12-16 or some
other example herein, further comprising: determining that
group-based beam reporting is enabled; and using, based on the
determination, a best antenna panel to generate a Layer 1
(L1)-reference signal received power (RSRP) report for multi-TRP
reception.
[0137] Example 18 may include the method of example 12-17 or some
other example herein, further comprising: determining that
group-based beam reporting is not enabled; and using, based on the
determination, a set of antenna panels to generate a Layer 1
(L1)-reference signal received power (RSRP) report for multi-TRP
reception.
[0138] Example 19 may include the method of example 12-18 or some
other example herein, wherein the PDSCH is scheduled in a Frequency
Range 2 (FR2).
[0139] Example 20 may include the method of example 12-19 or some
other example herein, wherein the method is performed by a UE or a
portion thereof.
[0140] Example 21 may include a method comprising: encoding, for
transmission to a user equipment (UE), a physical downlink control
channel (PDCCH) to schedule a physical downlink shared channel
(PDSCH) of a multi-transmission-reception point (TRP) transmission;
and determining a default PDSCH beam for the PDSCH based on a
control resource set (CORESET) with a lowest index within a set of
monitored CORESETs in a latest slot with a same CORESETPoolIndex as
the PDCCH.
[0141] Example 22 may include the method of example 21 or some
other example herein, wherein the multi-TRP transmission is a
single-DCI multi-TRP transmission.
[0142] Example 23 may include the method of example 22 or some
other example herein, wherein the multi-TRP transmission is a
multi-DCI multi-TRP transmission.
[0143] Example 24 may include the method of example 21-23 or some
other example herein, further comprising encoding the PDSCH for
transmission based on the default PDSCH beam.
[0144] Example 25 may include the method of example 24 or some
other example herein, wherein the PDSCH is transmitted based on the
default PDSCH beam if the PDSCH is scheduled within a time period
from the PDCCH.
[0145] Example 26 may include the method of example 21-25 or some
other example herein, further comprising: encoding, for
transmission to the UE, an indication that group-based beam
reporting is enabled; and receiving, based on the indication, a
Layer 1 (L1)-reference signal received power (RSRP) report for
multi-TRP reception that is generated using a best antenna panel of
the UE.
[0146] Example 27 may include the method of example 21-26 or some
other example herein, further comprising: encoding, for
transmission to the UE, an indication that group-based beam
reporting is not enabled; and receiving, based on the indication, a
Layer 1 (L1)-reference signal received power (RSRP) report for
multi-TRP reception that is generated using a set of antenna panels
of the UE.
[0147] Example 28 may include the method of example 21-27 or some
other example herein, wherein the PDSCH is scheduled in a Frequency
Range 2 (FR2).
[0148] Example 29 may include the method of example 21-28 or some
other example herein, wherein the method is performed by a next
generation NodeB (gNB) or a portion thereof.
[0149] Example 30 may include an apparatus comprising means to
perform one or more elements of a method described in or related to
any of examples 1-29, or any other method or process described
herein.
[0150] Example 31 may include one or more non-transitory
computer-readable media comprising instructions to cause an
electronic device, upon execution of the instructions by one or
more processors of the electronic device, to perform one or more
elements of a method described in or related to any of examples
1-29, or any other method or process described herein.
[0151] Example 32 may include an apparatus comprising logic,
modules, or circuitry to perform one or more elements of a method
described in or related to any of examples 1-29, or any other
method or process described herein.
[0152] Example 33 may include a method, technique, or process as
described in or related to any of examples 1-29, or portions or
parts thereof.
[0153] Example 34 may include an apparatus comprising: one or more
processors and one or more computer-readable media comprising
instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors,
cause the one or more processors to perform the method, techniques,
or process as described in or related to any of examples 1-29, or
portions thereof.
[0154] Example 35 may include a signal as described in or related
to any of examples 1-29, or portions or parts thereof.
[0155] Example 36 may include a datagram, packet, frame, segment,
protocol data unit (PDU), or message as described in or related to
any of examples 1-29, or portions or parts thereof, or otherwise
described in the present disclosure.
[0156] Example 37 may include a signal encoded with data as
described in or related to any of examples 1-29, or portions or
parts thereof, or otherwise described in the present
disclosure.
[0157] Example 38 may include a signal encoded with a datagram,
packet, frame, segment, protocol data unit (PDU), or message as
described in or related to any of examples 1-29, or portions or
parts thereof, or otherwise described in the present
disclosure.
[0158] Example 39 may include an electromagnetic signal carrying
computer-readable instructions, wherein execution of the
computer-readable instructions by one or more processors is to
cause the one or more processors to perform the method, techniques,
or process as described in or related to any of examples 1-29, or
portions thereof.
[0159] Example 40 may include a computer program comprising
instructions, wherein execution of the program by a processing
element is to cause the processing element to carry out the method,
techniques, or process as described in or related to any of
examples 1-29, or portions thereof.
[0160] Example 41 may include a signal in a wireless network as
shown and described herein.
[0161] Example 42 may include a method of communicating in a
wireless network as shown and described herein.
[0162] Example 43 may include a system for providing wireless
communication as shown and described herein.
[0163] Example 44 may include a device for providing wireless
communication as shown and described herein.
[0164] Any of the above-described examples may be combined with any
other example (or combination of examples), unless explicitly
stated otherwise. The foregoing description of one or more
implementations provides illustration and description, but is not
intended to be exhaustive or to limit the scope of embodiments to
the precise form disclosed. Modifications and variations are
possible in light of the above teachings or may be acquired from
practice of various embodiments.
Terminology
[0165] For the purposes of the present document, the following
terms and definitions are applicable to the examples and
embodiments discussed herein.
[0166] The term "circuitry" as used herein refers to, is part of,
or includes hardware components such as an electronic circuit, a
logic circuit, a processor (shared, dedicated, or group) and/or
memory (shared, dedicated, or group), an Application Specific
Integrated Circuit (ASIC), a field-programmable device (FPD) (e.g.,
a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), a programmable logic device
(PLD), a complex PLD (CPLD), a high-capacity PLD (HCPLD), a
structured ASIC, or a programmable SoC), digital signal processors
(DSPs), etc., that are configured to provide the described
functionality. In some embodiments, the circuitry may execute one
or more software or firmware programs to provide at least some of
the described functionality. The term "circuitry" may also refer to
a combination of one or more hardware elements (or a combination of
circuits used in an electrical or electronic system) with the
program code used to carry out the functionality of that program
code. In these embodiments, the combination of hardware elements
and program code may be referred to as a particular type of
circuitry.
[0167] The term "processor circuitry" as used herein refers to, is
part of, or includes circuitry capable of sequentially and
automatically carrying out a sequence of arithmetic or logical
operations, or recording, storing, and/or transferring digital
data. The term "processor circuitry" may refer to one or more
application processors, one or more baseband processors, a physical
central processing unit (CPU), a single-core processor, a dual-core
processor, a triple-core processor, a quad-core processor, and/or
any other device capable of executing or otherwise operating
computer-executable instructions, such as program code, software
modules, and/or functional processes. The terms "application
circuitry" and/or "baseband circuitry" may be considered synonymous
to, and may be referred to as, "processor circuitry."
[0168] The term "interface circuitry" as used herein refers to, is
part of, or includes circuitry that enables the exchange of
information between two or more components or devices. The term
"interface circuitry" may refer to one or more hardware interfaces,
for example, buses, I/O interfaces, peripheral component
interfaces, network interface cards, and/or the like.
[0169] The term "user equipment" or "UE" as used herein refers to a
device with radio communication capabilities and may describe a
remote user of network resources in a communications network. The
term "user equipment" or "UE" may be considered synonymous to, and
may be referred to as, client, mobile, mobile device, mobile
terminal, user terminal, mobile unit, mobile station, mobile user,
subscriber, user, remote station, access agent, user agent,
receiver, radio equipment, reconfigurable radio equipment,
reconfigurable mobile device, etc. Furthermore, the term "user
equipment" or "UE" may include any type of wireless/wired device or
any computing device including a wireless communications
interface.
[0170] The term "network element" as used herein refers to physical
or virtualized equipment and/or infrastructure used to provide
wired or wireless communication network services. The term "network
element" may be considered synonymous to and/or referred to as a
networked computer, networking hardware, network equipment, network
node, router, switch, hub, bridge, radio network controller, RAN
device, RAN node, gateway, server, virtualized VNF, NFVI, and/or
the like.
[0171] The term "computer system" as used herein refers to any type
interconnected electronic devices, computer devices, or components
thereof. Additionally, the term "computer system" and/or "system"
may refer to various components of a computer that are
communicatively coupled with one another. Furthermore, the term
"computer system" and/or "system" may refer to multiple computer
devices and/or multiple computing systems that are communicatively
coupled with one another and configured to share computing and/or
networking resources.
[0172] The term "appliance," "computer appliance," or the like, as
used herein refers to a computer device or computer system with
program code (e.g., software or firmware) that is specifically
designed to provide a specific computing resource. A "virtual
appliance" is a virtual machine image to be implemented by a
hypervisor-equipped device that virtualizes or emulates a computer
appliance or otherwise is dedicated to provide a specific computing
resource.
[0173] The term "resource" as used herein refers to a physical or
virtual device, a physical or virtual component within a computing
environment, and/or a physical or virtual component within a
particular device, such as computer devices, mechanical devices,
memory space, processor/CPU time, processor/CPU usage, processor
and accelerator loads, hardware time or usage, electrical power,
input/output operations, ports or network sockets, channel/link
allocation, throughput, memory usage, storage, network, database
and applications, workload units, and/or the like. A "hardware
resource" may refer to compute, storage, and/or network resources
provided by physical hardware element(s). A "virtualized resource"
may refer to compute, storage, and/or network resources provided by
virtualization infrastructure to an application, device, system,
etc. The term "network resource" or "communication resource" may
refer to resources that are accessible by computer devices/systems
via a communications network. The term "system resources" may refer
to any kind of shared entities to provide services, and may include
computing and/or network resources. System resources may be
considered as a set of coherent functions, network data objects or
services, accessible through a server where such system resources
reside on a single host or multiple hosts and are clearly
identifiable.
[0174] The term "channel" as used herein refers to any transmission
medium, either tangible or intangible, which is used to communicate
data or a data stream. The term "channel" may be synonymous with
and/or equivalent to "communications channel," "data communications
channel," "transmission channel," "data transmission channel,"
"access channel," "data access channel," "link," "data link,"
"carrier," "radiofrequency carrier," and/or any other like term
denoting a pathway or medium through which data is communicated.
Additionally, the term "link" as used herein refers to a connection
between two devices through a RAT for the purpose of transmitting
and receiving information.
[0175] The terms "instantiate," "instantiation," and the like as
used herein refers to the creation of an instance. An "instance"
also refers to a concrete occurrence of an object, which may occur,
for example, during execution of program code.
[0176] The terms "coupled," "communicatively coupled," along with
derivatives thereof are used herein. The term "coupled" may mean
two or more elements are in direct physical or electrical contact
with one another, may mean that two or more elements indirectly
contact each other but still cooperate or interact with each other,
and/or may mean that one or more other elements are coupled or
connected between the elements that are said to be coupled with
each other. The term "directly coupled" may mean that two or more
elements are in direct contact with one another. The term
"communicatively coupled" may mean that two or more elements may be
in contact with one another by a means of communication including
through a wire or other interconnect connection, through a wireless
communication channel or ink, and/or the like.
[0177] The term "information element" refers to a structural
element containing one or more fields. The term "field" refers to
individual contents of an information element, or a data element
that contains content.
[0178] The term "SMTC" refers to an SSB-based measurement timing
configuration configured by SSB-MeasurementTimingConfiguration.
[0179] The term "SSB" refers to an SS/PBCH block.
[0180] The term "a "Primary Cell" refers to the MCG cell, operating
on the primary frequency, in which the UE either performs the
initial connection establishment procedure or initiates the
connection re-establishment procedure.
[0181] The term "Primary SCG Cell" refers to the SCG cell in which
the UE performs random access when performing the Reconfiguration
with Sync procedure for DC operation.
[0182] The term "Secondary Cell" refers to a cell providing
additional radio resources on top of a Special Cell for a UE
configured with CA.
[0183] The term "Secondary Cell Group" refers to the subset of
serving cells comprising the PSCell and zero or more secondary
cells for a UE configured with DC.
[0184] The term "Serving Cell" refers to the primary cell for a UE
in RRC_CONNECTED not configured with CA/DC there is only one
serving cell comprising of the primary cell.
[0185] The term "serving cell" or "serving cells" refers to the set
of cells comprising the Special Cell(s) and all secondary cells for
a UE in RRC_CONNECTED configured with CA/.
[0186] The term "Special Cell" refers to the PCell of the MCG or
the PSCell of the SCG for DC operation; otherwise, the term
"Special Cell" refers to the Pcell.
* * * * *