Patent Description:
Mobile communication technologies are moving the world toward an increasingly connected and networked society. The rapid growth of mobile communications and advances in technology have led to greater demand for capacity and connectivity. Other aspects, such as energy consumption, device cost, spectral efficiency, and latency are also important to meeting the needs of various communication scenarios. Various techniques, including new ways to provide higher quality of service, longer battery life, and improved performance are being discussed. 3GPP R1-<NUM> relates to solutions for fast SCG and SCell activation. 3GPP R1-<NUM> relates to efficient SCell access switching for NR. <CIT> relates to wireless communication systems, and more particularly, to providing partial bandwidth support of secondary cells in carrier aggregation deployments. <CIT> belongs to the prior-art under Article <NUM>(<NUM>) EPC and relates to a wireless device receiving one or more radio resource control (RRC) messages comprising configuration parameters.

This patent document describes, among other things, techniques for providing bandwidth part (BWP) specific configurations so that fast activation of one or more secondary cells (SCells) can be performed without impacting signaling overhead of a primary cell (PCell).

In one example aspect, a wireless communication method is disclosed. The method includes receiving, by a mobile device, a signaling message from a base station for configuring a primary cell and at least one secondary cell. The secondary cell is configured with at least one bandwidth part and the signaling message includes a first information element associated with the bandwidth part. The first information element further includes a second information element for enabling or disabling cross-carrier scheduling for the bandwidth part. The method also includes performing, by the mobile device, blind decoding to obtain scheduling information with respect to the bandwidth part based on whether the cross-carrier scheduling for the bandwidth part is enabled or disabled.

In another example aspect, a wireless communication method is disclosed. The method includes transmitting, from a base station to a mobile device, a signaling message for configuring a primary cell and at least one secondary cell. The secondary cell is configured with a bandwidth part and the signaling message includes a first information element associated with the bandwidth part. The first information element further includes a second information element for enabling or disabling cross-carrier scheduling for the bandwidth part to cause the mobile device to perform blind decoding according to whether the cross-carrier scheduling is enabled to disabled.

In another example aspect, a communication apparatus is disclosed. The apparatus includes a processor that is configured to implement an above-described method.

These, and other, aspects are described in the present document.

Section headings are used in the present document only to improve readability and do not limit scope of the disclosed embodiments and techniques in each section to only that section. Certain features are described using the example of <NUM> wireless protocol. However, applicability of the disclosed techniques is not limited to only <NUM> wireless systems.

The development of the new generation of wireless communication - <NUM> New Radio (NR) communication - is a part of a continuous mobile broadband evolution process to meet the requirements of increasing network demand. NR will provide greater throughput to allow more users connected at the same time. Other aspects, such as energy consumption, device cost, spectral efficiency, and latency are also important to meeting the needs of various communication scenarios.

NR introduced the concept of a carrier bandwidth part (BWP), which is a contiguous subset of the physical resource blocks for a given numerology µ on a given carrier. The bandwidth part can be used to support several usage scenarios. For example, BWP can support frequency domain multiplexing of different numerologies and enable non-contiguous spectrum. Bandwidth part adaptation can also be used to reduce energy consumption of a user equipment (UE).

As NR emerges in the wireless domain, the logical structure of a base station has changed. <FIG> shows a schematic diagram of a logical structure of a next generation Node B (gNB). The gNB <NUM> includes a central unit (CU) <NUM> and one or more distributed units (DUs) 102a, 102b. The CU <NUM> is a logical node hosting Radio Resource Control (RRC), Service Data Adaptation Protocol (SDAP) and Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) of the gNB that control the operation of one or more DUs. The DU is a logical node hosting Radio Link Control (RLC), Medium Access Control (MAC) and Physical (PHY) layers of the gNB. One DU can support one or multiple cells, including one primary cell (PCell) and one or more secondary cells (SCells).

If the UE is configured with multiple SCells, the base station can activate and deactivate the configured SCells. If the UE receives an SCell activation command at slot n in the time domain, the UE officially starts the SCell activation process at slot n+k and terminates the SCell activation process in the slot when valid Channel State Information (CSI) is reported. <FIG> is an example schematic diagram illustrating the activation delay of an SCell. The SCell activation delay mainly includes the following components:.

Here, k is <MAT>. k<NUM> is used to indicate the slot in which the Hybrid Automatic Repeat request (HARQ) feedback corresponding to the SCell activation command is located. The calculation of the k value is based on the subcarrier spacing (SCS) of the uplink channel (e.g., the Physical Uplink Control Channel) that carries the HARQ feedback. k<NUM> can correspond to the Layer <NUM> processing delay and <NUM> can correspond to Layer <NUM> processing delay and Radio Frequency (RF) warm-up delay.

According to the current 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) standard TS <NUM>, the UE should activate the SCell no later than n+ [THARQ + Tactivation_time + TCSI_Reporting]. THARQ indicates k1. Tactivation_time indicates delays such as MAC-CE resolution delay, RF warm up, AGC adjustment, and/or time-frequency offset synchronization. TCSI_Reporting indicates the delay of the CSI Reference Signal (RS) acquisition by the UE, the CSI-RS processing delay, and/or the uncertainty delay for obtaining the first CSI report resource. Table <NUM> shows example delay values in existing NR systems.

In order to reduce the delays and enable fast activations of SCells, the concept of dormant BWP was proposed. The state of the UE on an Scell in dormant BWP is similar to that of an SCell in deactivated BWP, except for allowing CSI transmissions. The UE does not need to blindly decode the uplink and downlink grants in the dormant BWP. The introduction of the dormant BWP can greatly reduce the activation processing delay to achieve fast activation of the SCells.

However, cross-carrier scheduling is currently defined at the cell level. The Cross-Carrier Scheduling Config Information Element (IE) in Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling message is used to specify whether cross-carrier scheduling is used in a cell. This means that if there is a dormant BWP on the Scell, which may need cross-carrier scheduling to trigger CSI reporting, then all BWPs in the Scell must have cross-carrier scheduling enabled. The maximum number of SCells supporting cross-carrier scheduling is seven according to the current standard. Scheduling all BWPs in all SCells that support cross-carrier scheduling would impose too much signaling overhead in the PCell. This patent document describes techniques that can be implemented in various embodiment to reduce the signaling overhead in the PCell when one or more SCells is configured with dormant BWP(s). In particular, BWP-specific configurations can be transmitted from the base station to enable cross-carrier scheduling for dormant BWP(s) only so that the SCells can self-schedule transmissions in the non-dormant BWP(s) -- the scheduling overhead in the PCell is thus greatly reduced.

<FIG> illustrates a schematic diagram of an example scheduling in accordance with one or more embodiments of the present technology. In the SCell <NUM>, the dormant BWP <NUM> is configured with cross-carrier scheduling enabled such that the PCell <NUM> can trigger CSI measurement and reporting on the UE. The non-dormant BWP <NUM> is configured without cross-carrier scheduling to allow the SCell <NUM> to schedule data traffic by itself.

<FIG> is a flowchart representation of a method <NUM> for wireless communication in accordance with one or more embodiments of the present technology. The method <NUM> includes, at <NUM>, receiving, by a mobile device, a signaling message from a base station for configuring a primary cell and at least one secondary cell. The secondary cell is configured with at least one bandwidth part and the signaling message includes a first information element associated with the bandwidth part. The first information element further includes a second information element for enabling or disabling cross-carrier scheduling for the bandwidth part. The method <NUM> also includes, at <NUM>, performing, by the mobile device, blind decoding to obtain scheduling information with respect to the bandwidth part based on whether the cross-carrier scheduling for the bandwidth part is enabled or disabled.

<FIG> is a flowchart representation of a method <NUM> for wireless communication in accordance with one or more embodiments of the present technology. The method <NUM> includes, at <NUM>, transmitting, from a base station to a mobile device, a signaling message for configuring a primary cell and at least one secondary cell. The secondary cell is configured with a bandwidth part and the signaling message includes a first information element associated with the bandwidth part. The first information element further includes a second information element for enabling or disabling cross-carrier scheduling for the bandwidth part to cause the mobile device to perform blind decoding according to whether the cross-carrier scheduling is enabled to disabled.

Some examples of the disclosed techniques are described in the following example embodiments.

The embodiment describes several possible methods of providing BWP-specific configurations via higher layer signaling (e.g., RRC signaling).

A new Information Element (IE) -- DormantBWPConfig IE -- can be introduced into the RRC signaling message of the NR standard. The DormantBWPConfig IE includes a CrossCarrierSchedulingConfig IE or a sub-IE inside the DormantBWPConfig IE. Table <NUM> shows an example DormantBWPConfig IE in accordance with one or more embodiments of the present technology.

In some embodiments, the DormantBWPConfig IE includes at least a BWP ID IE, a BWP-DownlinkDedicated IE, and/or a BWP-UplinkDedicated IE. The BWP-DownlinkDedicatedIE can include at least a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) Config and/or a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) config IE. The BWP-UplinkDedicated IE can include at least a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) Config IE.

Table <NUM> shows an example CrossCarrierSchedulingConfig IE in the DormantBWPConfig IE in accordance with one or more embodiments of the present technology.

Table <NUM> shows example field descriptions of CrossCarrierSchedulingConfig IE in accordance with one or more embodiments of the present technology.

If the field "own" is enabled in the CrossCarrierSchedulingConfig IE, the BWP is a self-scheduled BWP. If the field "other" in the CrossCarrierSchedulingConfig IE is enabled, the BWP is a cross-carrier scheduled Dormant BWP, and the scheduling cell is indicated by the schedulingCellId field.

It is noted that the DormantBWPConfig IE can be applied to both uplink and downlink BWP for the SCell. In some embodiments, the UE can indicate, in its capability information, whether the UE supports cell-specific or BWP-specific cross-carrier scheduling (or both). For example, earlier versions of UEs may only support cell-specific cross-carrier scheduling, while newer UEs can support both.

A new Information Element (IE) -- DormantBWPConfig IE -- can be introduced into the RRC signaling message of the NR standard. If the DormantBWPConfig IE is configured for a BWP, then cross-carrier scheduling is enabled for the BWP by default. For example, BWP1 in the SCell is configured as a dormant BWP by the DormantBWPConfig IE. The BWP1 of the Scell uses cross-carrier scheduling by default.

In some embodiments, the DormantBWPConfig IE includes at least a BWP ID IE, a BWP-DownlinkDedicated IE, and/or a BWP-UplinkDedicated IE. The BWP-DownlinkDedicatedIE can include at least a PDCCH-Config and/or a PDSCH-config IE. The BWP-UplinkDedicated IE can include at least a PUSCH-config.

The DormantBWPConfig IE can be applied to both uplink and downlink BWP for the SCell. In some embodiments, the DormantBWPConfig IE can include schedulingCellId field to indicate which cell is the scheduling cell for the cross-carrier scheduling.

In some embodiments, the UE can indicate, in its capability information, whether the UE supports cell-specific or BWP-specific cross-carrier scheduling (or both). For example, earlier versions of UEs may only support cell-specific cross-carrier scheduling, while newer UEs can support both.

The CrossCarrierSchedulingConfig IE can be added into existing BWP IEs to accomplish BWP-specific configurations. For example, the CrossCarrierSchedulingConfig IE can be added to BWP-Downlink IE, BWP-Uplink IE, BWP-DownlinkDedicated IE, a BWP-UplinkDedicated IE, BWP-DownlinkCommon IE, BWP-UplinkCommon IE, and/or BWP IE. In some embodiments, the CrossCarrierSchedulingConfig IE can be added to IEs that are associated with BWP configurations, such as PDCCH-Config IE, PDSCH-Config IE, Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) Config IE, and PUSCH-Config IE.

Table <NUM> shows an example BWP-Downlink IE that includes the CrossCarrierSchedulingConfig IE in accordance with one or more embodiments of the present technology.

Table <NUM> shows an example BWP-Uplink IE that includes the CrossCarrierSchedulingConfig IE in accordance with one or more embodiments of the present technology.

Table <NUM> shows an example BWP-DownlinkDedicated IE that includes the CrossCarrierSchedulingConfig IE in accordance with one or more embodiments of the present technology.

Table <NUM> shows an example BWP-UplinkDedicated IE that includes the CrossCarrierSchedulingConfig IE in accordance with one or more embodiments of the present technology.

Table <NUM> shows an example BWP-DownlinkCommon IE that includes the CrossCarrierSchedulingConfig IE in accordance with one or more embodiments of the present technology.

Table <NUM> shows an example BWP-UplinkCommon IE that includes the CrossCarrierSchedulingConfig IE in accordance with one or more embodiments of the present technology.

Table <NUM> shows an example BWP IE that includes the CrossCarrierSchedulingConfig IE in accordance with one or more embodiments of the present technology.

Table <NUM> shows an example PDCCH-Config IE that includes the CrossCarrierSchedulingConfig IE in accordance with one or more embodiments of the present technology.

Table <NUM> shows an example PDSCH-Config IE that includes the CrossCarrierSchedulingConfig IE in accordance with one or more embodiments of the present technology.

Table <NUM> shows an example PUCCH-Config IE that includes the CrossCarrierSchedulingConfig IE in accordance with one or more embodiments of the present technology.

Table <NUM> shows an example PUSCH-Config IE that includes the CrossCarrierSchedulingConfig IE in accordance with one or more embodiments of the present technology.

Table <NUM> shows an example PDCCH-ConfigCommon IE that includes the CrossCarrierSchedulingConfig IE in accordance with one or more embodiments of the present technology.

Table <NUM> shows an example PDSCH-ConfigCommon IE that includes the CrossCarrierSchedulingConfig IE in accordance with one or more embodiments of the present technology.

Table <NUM> shows an example PUSCH-ConfigCommon IE that includes the CrossCarrierSchedulingConfig IE in accordance with one or more embodiments of the present technology.

Table <NUM> shows an example PUCCH-ConfigCommon IE that includes the CrossCarrierSchedulingConfig IE in accordance with one or more embodiments of the present technology.

Table <NUM> shows an example Semi-Persistent Scheduling (SPS) Config IE that includes the CrossCarrierSchedulingConfig IE in accordance with one or more embodiments of the present technology.

Table <NUM> shows an example RadioLinkMonitoringConfig IE that includes the CrossCarrierSchedulingConfig IE in accordance with one or more embodiments of the present technology.

Table <NUM> shows an example ConfiguredGrantConfig IE that includes the CrossCarrierSchedulingConfig IE in accordance with one or more embodiments of the present technology.

This embodiment describes an example scenario for configuring BWPs of the SCell. The base station (e.g., gNB) sends a signaling message (e.g., RRC signaling message) to a UE to configure the PCell and one or more SCells.

<FIG> shows a schematic diagram of an example configuration of a primary cell and a secondary cell in accordance with one or more embodiments of the present technology. As shown in <FIG>, SCelll is configured multiple BWPs: BWP#<NUM>, BWP#<NUM>, and BWP#<NUM>. The gNB can enable cross-carrier scheduling for BWP#<NUM> so that it can act as a dormant BWP. The BWP#<NUM> can also be configured with increased CSI measurement periods to help the UE conserve power. Furthermore, in some embodiments, BWP#<NUM> can be configured as a BWP with small bandwidth for energy saving purposes. The BWP#<NUM> can be configured to disable cross-carrier scheduling to act as a non-dormant BWP. The bandwidth of BWP#<NUM> can be larger.

In some embodiments, the gNB can include resource configuration for the CSI reference signal (RS) in the RRC message. The RRC message can further include configurations for CSI calculation as well as channel resource configuration for CSI reporting. The CSI-RS can be periodic, semi-persistent, or aperiodic. The CSI reporting can also be periodic, semi-persistent, or aperiodic. In some embodiments, periodic and semi-persistent CSI reporting is performed on the PUCCH. In some embodiments, aperiodic and semi-persistent CSI reporting is performed on PUSCH.

Periodic CSI reporting and periodic CSI-RS can be configured and activated by higher layer signaling, such as RRC signaling messages. Semi-persistent CSI reporting on PUCCH and semi-persistent CSI-RS can be activated by the MAC Control Element (CE). Aperiodic CSI-RS, aperiodic CSI reporting, and semi-persistent CSI reporting on PUSCH can be triggered or activated by DCI messages.

In some embodiments, the gNB sends a Downlink Control Information (DCI) message to the UE to indicate uplink grant(s) and/or downlink allocations. In some cases, when BWP#<NUM> is the activated BWP, the gNB sends the scheduling information via a scheduling cell. In <FIG>, the scheduling cell is PCell. <FIG> shows a schematic diagram of an example configuration of secondary cells in accordance with one or more embodiments of the present technology. The scheduling cell in <FIG> is SCell2. When BWP#<NUM> is the activated BWP, the gNB can send the scheduling information directly via SCell. For example, the UE can determine, based on the Carrier Indicator Field (CIF) in the DCI message, whether a downlink (DL) grant is for the SCell. If so, and the BWP#<NUM> is currently activated, then semi-persistent CSI measurement and reporting can be activated by the MAC CE. As another example, the UE can determine, based on the CIF in the DCI message, whether an uplink (UL) grant is for the SCell. If so, and the BWP#<NUM> is currently activated, then aperiodic CSI reporting can be triggered by the CSI request field.

In some embodiments, at least one search space is configured for the dormant BWP of the SCell by the gNB. In some embodiments, the search space may not be configured for the dormant BWP of the SCell by the gNB.

In some embodiments, when data traffic suddenly increases, the gNB can send a DCI message to the UE to switch BWP. For example, SCell is configured with multiple BWPs and BWP#<NUM> is currently activated. The DCI message can include <NUM> bits indicating a switch operation to BWP#<NUM>. After BWP switching is completed, the UE performs blind decoding of control information in BWP#<NUM> of the SCell because cross-carrier scheduling is disabled for BWP#<NUM>.

When data traffic suddenly reduces, the gNB can send another DCI message to the UE to switch BWP again. The currently activated BWP#<NUM> is switched back to BWP#<NUM>. Because BWP#<NUM> is configured with cross-carrier scheduling enabled, the UE performs blind decoding of control information in the activated BWP of a scheduling cell (e.g., the PCell in <FIG> or SCell2 in <FIG>) after the switch.

<FIG> shows an example of a wireless communication system <NUM> where techniques in accordance with one or more embodiments of the present technology can be applied. A wireless communication system <NUM> can include one or more base stations (BSs) 605a, 605b, one or more wireless devices 610a, 610b, 610c, 610d, and a core network <NUM>. A base station 605a, 605b can provide wireless service to wireless devices 610a, 610b, 610c and 610d in one or more wireless sectors. In some implementations, a base station 605a, 605b includes directional antennas to produce two or more directional beams to provide wireless coverage in different sectors.

The core network <NUM> can communicate with one or more base stations 605a, 605b. The core network <NUM> provides connectivity with other wireless communication systems and wired communication systems. The core network may include one or more service subscription databases to store information related to the subscribed wireless devices 610a, 610b, 610c, and 610d. A first base station 605a can provide wireless service based on a first radio access technology, whereas a second base station 605b can provide wireless service based on a second radio access technology. The base stations 605a and 605b may be co-located or may be separately installed in the field according to the deployment scenario. The wireless devices 610a, 610b, 610c, and 610d can support multiple different radio access technologies.

<FIG> is a block diagram representation of a portion of a radio station. A radio station <NUM> such as a base station or a wireless device (or UE) can include processor electronics <NUM> such as a microprocessor that implements one or more of the wireless techniques presented in this document. The radio station <NUM> can include transceiver electronics <NUM> to send and/or receive wireless signals over one or more communication interfaces such as antenna <NUM>. The radio station <NUM> can include other communication interfaces for transmitting and receiving data. Radio station <NUM> can include one or more memories (not explicitly shown) configured to store information such as data and/or instructions. In some implementations, the processor electronics <NUM> can include at least a portion of the transceiver electronics <NUM>. In some embodiments, at least some of the disclosed techniques, modules or functions are implemented using the radio station <NUM>.

It will be appreciated that the present document discloses techniques that can be embodied into wireless communication systems to provide bandwidth part specific configurations in order to reduce signaling overhead in a primary cell while supporting fast activation of the secondary cell(s).

While this patent document contains many specifics, these should not be construed as limitations on the scope of any invention or of what may be claimed, but rather as descriptions of features that may be specific to particular embodiments of particular inventions. Certain features that are described in this patent document in the context of separate embodiments can also be implemented in combination in a single embodiment.

Claim 1:
A wireless communication method, comprising:
receiving, by a mobile device, a signaling message from a base station for configuring a primary cell (<NUM>) and at least one secondary cell (<NUM>), wherein the secondary cell (<NUM>) is configured with a bandwidth part and the signaling message includes a first information element including an identifier for the bandwidth part, the first information element further including a second information element for enabling or disabling cross-carrier scheduling for the bandwidth part causing the bandwidth part of the secondary cell (<NUM>) to be scheduled by a scheduling cell or the secondary cell (<NUM>); and
performing, by the mobile device, blind decoding in the scheduling cell or the secondary cell (<NUM>) to obtain scheduling information with respect to the bandwidth part from the scheduling cell in case that the cross-carrier scheduling is enabled and to obtain the scheduling information from the secondary cell (<NUM>) in case that the cross-carrier scheduling is disabled.