WO2023079326A1

WO2023079326A1 - Apparatus and method of wireless communication

Info

Publication number: WO2023079326A1
Application number: PCT/IB2021/000761
Authority: WO
Inventors: Hao Lin
Original assignee: Orope France SARL
Current assignee: Orope France SARL
Priority date: 2021-11-05
Filing date: 2021-11-05
Publication date: 2023-05-11
Anticipated expiration: 2024-05-05

Abstract

An apparatus and a method of wireless communication are provided. The method by a user equipment (UE) includes being configured, by a base station or a serving cell, with a validity duration and performing a recovery for the first information after the validity duration. This can solve issues in the prior art, provide a recovery for first information after a validity duration, reduce signaling overhead, provide a good communication performance, and/or provide high reliability.

Description

APPARATUS AND METHOD OF WIRELESS COMMUNICATION

BACKGROUND OF DISCLOSURE

1. Field of the Disclosure

[0001] The present disclosure relates to the field of communication systems, and more particularly, to an apparatus and a method of wireless communication, which can provide a good communication performance and/or high reliability.

2. Description of the Related Art

[0002] Non-terrestrial networks (NTNs) refer to networks, or segments of networks, using a spaceborne vehicle or an airborne vehicle for transmission. Spaceborne vehicles include satellites including low earth orbiting (LEO) satellites, medium earth orbiting (MEO) satellites, geostationary earth orbiting (GEO) satellites, and highly elliptical orbiting (HEO) satellites. Airborne vehicles include high altitude platforms (HAPs) encompassing unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) including lighter than air (LTA) unmanned aerial systems (UAS) and heavier than air (HTA) UAS, all operating in altitudes typically between 8 and 50 km, quasi- stationary.

[0003] Communication via a satellite is an interesting means thanks to its well-known coverage, which can bring the coverage to locations that normally cellular operators are not willing to deploy either due to non-stable crowd potential client, e.g., extremely rural, or due to high deployment cost, e.g., middle of ocean or mountain peak. Nowadays, the satellite communication is a separate technology to a 3rd generation partnership project (3GPP) cellular technology. Coming to 5G era, these two technologies can merge together, i.e., we can imagine having a 5G terminal that can access to a cellular network and a satellite network. The NTN can be good candidate technology for this purpose. It is to be designed based on 3GPP new radio (NR) with necessary enhancement.

[0004] In NTN, different satellite deployment scenarios can be used. When LEO satellite is deployed, satellite velocity can augment up to more than 7 km/s, which is greatly beyond a maximum mobility speed experienced in a terrestrial network, e.g., high-speed train has a maximum speed of 500 km/h.

[0005] Internet of things (loT) operation is critical in remote areas with low/no cellular connectivity for many different industries, including e.g., transportation (maritime, road, rail, air) & logistics, solar, oil & gas harvesting, utilities, farming, environment monitoring, and mining etc. The capabilities of narrowband Internet of things (NB-IoT) are a good fit to the above but will require satellite connectivity to provide coverage beyond terrestrial deployments, where loT connectivity is required. There is an urgent need for a standardized solution allowing global loT operation anywhere on Earth, in view of other solutions already available. It is important that satellite NB-IoT be defined in a complementary manner to terrestrial deployments.

[0006] In terrestrial network, e.g., Release. 15, a timing advance for an uplink transmission is controlled by a network via a timing advance command (TAC), i.e., TS 38.213. The UE does not update the TA until it receives a new TAG. In NTN system, when a satellite is moving with a high velocity with regard to the UE position on earth, relying solely on network to control the synchronization adjustment does not seem to be feasible, since the adjustment needs to be performed very often, leading to an unaffordable signaling overhead.

[0007] Therefore, there is a need for an apparatus (such as a user equipment (UE) and/or a base station) and a method of wireless communication, which can solve issues in the prior art, provide a recovery for first information after a validity duration, reduce signaling overhead, provide a good communication performance, and/or provide high reliability.

SUMMARY

[0008] An object of the present disclosure is to propose an apparatus (such as a user equipment (UE) and/or a base station) and a method of wireless communication, which can solve issues in the prior art, provide a recovery for first information after a validity duration, reduce signaling overhead, provide a good communication performance, and/or provide high reliability.

[0009] In a first aspect of the present disclosure, a method of wireless communication by a user equipment (UE) comprises being configured, by a base station or a serving cell, with a validity duration and performing a recovery for the first information after the validity duration.

[0010] In a second aspect of the present disclosure, a method of wireless communication by a base station comprises configuring, to a user equipment (UE), a validity duration and controlling the UE to perform a recovery for the first information after the validity duration.

[0011] In a third aspect of the present disclosure, a user equipment comprises a memory, a transceiver, and a processor coupled to the memory and the transceiver. The processor is configured, by a base station or a serving cell, with a validity duration and performing a recovery for the first information after the validity duration.

[0012] In a fourth aspect of the present disclosure, a base station comprises a memory, a transceiver, and a processor coupled to the memory and the transceiver. The processor is configured to configure, to a user equipment (UE), a validity duration and control the UE to perform a recovery for the first information after the validity duration.

[0013] In a fifth aspect of the present disclosure, a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium has stored thereon instructions that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform the above method.

[0014] In a sixth aspect of the present disclosure, a chip includes a processor, configured to call and run a computer program stored in a memory, to cause a device in which the chip is installed to execute the above method.

[0015] In a seventh aspect of the present disclosure, a computer readable storage medium, in which a computer program is stored, causes a computer to execute the above method.

[0016] In an eighth aspect of the present disclosure, a computer program product includes a computer program, and the computer program causes a computer to execute the above method. [0017] In a ninth aspect of the present disclosure, a computer program causes a computer to execute the above method.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0018] In order to illustrate the embodiments of the present disclosure or related art more clearly, the following figures will be described in the embodiments are briefly introduced. It is obvious that the drawings are merely some embodiments of the present disclosure, a person having ordinary skill in this field can obtain other figures according to these figures without paying the premise.

[0019] FIG. 1A is a block diagram of one or more user equipments (UEs) and a base station (e.g., gNB or eNB) of communication in a communication network system (e.g., non-terrestrial network (NTN) or a terrestrial network) according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0020] FIG. IB is a block diagram of one or more user equipments (UEs) and a base station (e.g., gNB or eNB) of communication in a non-terrestrial network (NTN) system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0021] FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a method of wireless communication performed by a user equipment (UE) according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0022] FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a method of wireless communication performed by a base station according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0023] FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating a communication system including a base station (BS) and a UE according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0024] FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating that a BS transmits 3 beams to the ground forming 3 footprints according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0025] FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram illustrating an uplink-downlink timing relation according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0026] FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a UE behavior for validity duration according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0027] FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a UE behavior for validity duration according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0028] FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a UE behavior for validity duration according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0029] FIG. 10 is a block diagram of a system for wireless communication according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

DETAIEED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

[0030] Embodiments of the present disclosure are described in detail with the technical matters, structural features, achieved objects, and effects with reference to the accompanying drawings as follows. Specifically, the terminologies in the embodiments of the present disclosure are merely for describing the purpose of the certain embodiment, but not to limit the disclosure. [0031] FIG. 1A illustrates that, in some embodiments, one or more user equipments (UEs) 10 and a base station (e.g., gNB or eNB) 20 for transmission adjustment in a communication network system 30 (e.g., non-terrestrial network (NTN) or terrestrial network) according to an embodiment of the present disclosure are provided. The communication network system 30 includes the one or more UEs 10 and the base station 20. The one or more UEs 10 may include a memory 12, a transceiver 13, and a processor 11 coupled to the memory 12 and the transceiver 13. The base station 20 may include a memory 22, a transceiver 23, and a processor 21 coupled to the memory 22 and the transceiver 23. The processor 11 or 21 may be configured to implement proposed functions, procedures and/or methods described in this description. Layers of radio interface protocol may be implemented in the processor 11 or 21. The memory 12 or 22 is operatively coupled with the processor 11 or 21 and stores a variety of information to operate the processor 11 or 21. The transceiver 13 or 23 is operatively coupled with the processor 11 or 21, and the transceiver 13 or 23 transmits and/or receives a radio signal.

[0032] The processor 11 or 21 may include application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), other chipset, logic circuit and/or data processing device. The memory 12 or 22 may include read-only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), flash memory, memory card, storage medium and/or other storage device. The transceiver 13 or 23 may include baseband circuitry to process radio frequency signals. When the embodiments are implemented in software, the techniques described herein can be implemented with modules (e.g., procedures, functions, and so on) that perform the functions described herein. The modules can be stored in the memory 12 or 22 and executed by the processor 11 or 21. The memory 12 or 22 can be implemented within the processor 11 or 21 or external to the processor 11 or 21 in which case those can be communicatively coupled to the processor 11 or 21 via various means as is known in the art.

[0033] In some embodiments, the communication between the UE 10 and the BS 20 comprises nonterrestrial network (NTN) communication. In some embodiments, the base station 20 comprises spaceborne platform or airborne platform or high altitude platform station. The base station 20 can communicate with the UE 10 via a spaceborne platform or airborne platform, e.g., NTN satellite 40, as illustrated in FIG. IB. [0034] FIG. IB illustrates a system which includes a base station 20 and one or more UEs 10. Optionally, the system may include more than one base station 20, and each of the base stations 20 may connect to one or more UEs 10. In this disclosure, there is no limit. As an example, the base station 20 as illustrated in FIG. IB may be a moving base station, e.g., spaceborne vehicle (satellite) or airborne vehicle (drone). The UE 10 can transmit transmissions to the base station 20 and the UE 10 can also receive the transmission from the base station 20. Optionally, not shown in FIG. IB, the moving base station can also serve as a relay which relays the received transmission from the UE 10 to a ground base station or vice versa. Optionally, a satellite 40 may be seen as a relay point which relays the communications between a UE 10 and a base station 20, e.g. gNB/eNB. Spaceborne platform includes satellite 40 and the satellite 40 includes LEO satellite, MEO satellite, and GEO satellite. While the satellite 40 is moving, the LEO satellite and MEO satellite are moving with regard to a given location on earth. However, for GEO satellite, the GEO satellite is relatively static with regard to a given location on earth. In some embodiments of this disclosure, some embodiments focus on the LEO satellite type or MEO satellite type, for which some embodiments of the disclosure aim at resolving an issue of wider range of frequency offset and/or Doppler offset (shift).

[0035] Spaceborne platform includes satellite and the satellite includes low earth orbiting (LEO) satellite, medium earth orbiting (MEO) satellite and geostationary earth orbiting (GEO) satellite. While the satellite is moving, the LEO and MEO satellite is moving with regard to a given location on earth. However, for GEO satellite, the GEO satellite is relatively static with regard to a given location on earth.

[0036] In an NTN system, a user equipment (UE) needs to pre-compensate a propagation delay for a service link and a feeder link by using a timing advance. The timing advance (TA) at least includes a first component N_{TA,UE_specific} and a second component NTA, common. The first component refers to the timing advance (TA) for compensating a service link delay, i.e., between a satellite and the UE. The second component refers to the TA for compensating a feeder link delay, i.e., between satellite and a reference point, or the gateway (GW). In this disclosure, some examples present a method for timing advance calculation.

[0037] In some embodiments, the processor 11 is configured, by a base station or a serving cell, with a validity duration and performing a recovery for the first information after the validity duration. This can solve issues in the prior art, provide a recovery for first information after a validity duration, reduce signaling overhead, provide a good communication performance, and/or provide high reliability.

[0038] In some embodiments, the processor 21 is configured to control the UE 10 to apply a timing advance for an uplink transmission, wherein the timing advance comprises a first component and/or a second component, the first component is relevant to a first information, and the second component is relevant to a second information. This can solve issues in the prior art, provide a recovery for first information after a validity duration, reduce signaling overhead, provide a good communication performance, and/or provide high reliability. In some embodiments, the PDCCH comprises a narrowband PDCCH (NPDCCH).

[0039] FIG. 2 illustrates a method 200 of wireless communication by a user equipment (UE) 10 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. In some embodiments, the method 200 includes: a block 202, being configured, by a base station or a serving cell, with a validity duration, and a block 204, performing a recovery for the first information after the validity duration. This can solve issues in the prior art, provide a recovery for first information after a validity duration, reduce signaling overhead, provide a good communication performance, and/or provide high reliability.

[0040] FIG. 3 illustrates a method 300 of wireless communication by a base station 20 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. In some embodiments, the method 300 includes: a block 302, configuring, to a user equipment (UE), a validity duration, and a block 304, controlling the UE to perform a recovery for the first information after the validity duration. This can solve issues in the prior art, provide a recovery for first information after a validity duration, reduce signaling overhead, provide a good communication performance, and/or provide high reliability. [0041] In some embodiments, performing the recovery for the first information after the validity duration if the UE does not receive the first information in the validity duration. In some embodiments, the first information is transmitted in a system information or a radio resource control (RRC) message. In some embodiments, the first information comprises a satellite ephemeris data and/or common timing advance (TA) related parameters. In some embodiments, the validity duration is used to check if the satellite ephemeris data and/or the common TA related parameters are valid. In some embodiments, if the UE receives the satellite ephemeris data and/or the common TA related parameters in the validity duration, the UE restarts a new validity duration.

[0042] In some embodiments, after the validity duration, the UE assumes that the satellite ephemeris data and/or the common TA related parameters are not valid. In some embodiments, the first information comprises a new satellite ephemeris data and/or new common timing advance (TA) related parameters. In some embodiments, when the UE does not receive the new satellite ephemeris data and/or the new common TA related parameters in the validity duration, the validity duration is expired. In some embodiments, the UE is configured to acquire the new satellite ephemeris data and/or the new common TA related parameters. In some embodiments, performing the recovery for the first information after the validity duration comprises that the UE starts to monitor PDCCH that schedules a PDSCH carrying the first information.

[0043] In some embodiments, the PDCCH monitoring is performed in a window, wherein the window comprises a system information update window. In some embodiments, the PDCCH monitoring is performed according to a PDCCH search space set. In some embodiments, the PDCCH search space set comprises a type 0 PDCCH CSS set or type 0A PDCCH CSS set. In some embodiments, the UE starts to monitor in the window in which the validity duration ends. In some embodiments, the UE starts to monitor from a next window after the validity duration ends.

[0044] In some embodiments, the UE detects a PDCCH that contains a downlink control information (DO) scheduling a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) carrying the system information. In some embodiments, the UE changes an active downlink bandwidth part (BWP) to an initial downlink BWP, and the UE reads the system information in the initial DL BWP. In some embodiments, the UE performs the recovery for the first information after the validity duration when a first timer is still running. In some embodiments, the first timer is pre-configured or pre-defined.

[0045] In some embodiments, the first timer comprises a timer relevant to radio link failure. In some embodiments, the first timer comprises one or more or any combination of: T300 timer, T301 timer, T304 timer, T307 timer, T310 timer, T311 timer, T312 timer, T316 timer, or T319 timer. In some embodiments, when the UE detects the DO scheduling the PDSCH carrying the system information in a system information update window and the UE receives the new satellite ephemeris data and/or the new common TA related parameters, the UE restarts the validity duration and sets a start of the validity duration at a beginning of the window. In some embodiments, when the UE receives the new satellite ephemeris data and/or the new common TA related parameters, the UE resets a new validity duration. [0046] In some embodiments, the UE performs a physical random access channel (PRACH) transmission to the base station. In some embodiments, the UE performs the PRACH transmission after reception of the first information. In some embodiments, for a timing advance applied for the PRACH transmission, the UE sets NTA value equal to 0. In some embodiments, for a timing advance applied for the PRACH transmission, the UE uses an existing NTA value. In some embodiments, the UE uses the existing NTA value when a second timer is running.

[0047] In some embodiments, after the UE transmits the PRACH transmission, the UE receives a timing advance command (TAC) from a random access response (RAR), and the UE applies the TAC. In some embodiments, the UE applies the TAC from the RAR when a second timer is not running. In some embodiments, the UE ignores the TAC from the RAR when the second timer is running. In some embodiments, when the UE applies the TAC from the RAR, the UE restarts the second timer.

[0048] In some embodiments, the second timer comprises a timing alignment timer. In some embodiments, when the UE receives the new satellite ephemeris data and/or the new common TA related parameters, the UE performs the PRACH transmission to the base station if the second timer is not running or the second timer is expired. In some embodiments, when the validity duration expires, the UE releases uplink configurations. In some embodiments, when the validity duration expires, the UE releases the uplink configurations if the second timer is not running or is expired. In some embodiments, the UE performs the PRACH transmission in an active uplink BWP when the active uplink BWP is configured with RACH resources. In some embodiments, the UE performs the PRACH transmission in an initial uplink BWP if the active UL BWP is not configured with the RACH resources. In some embodiments, when determining the validity duration, the UE assumes that a start time instance of the validity duration is at a satellite side, a reference point side, or a gateway side.

[0049] FIG. 4 illustrates a communication system including a base station (BS) and a UE according to another embodiment of the present disclosure. Optionally, the communication system may include more than one base station, and each of the base stations may connect to one or more UEs. In this disclosure, there is no limit. As an example, the base station illustrated in FIG. 1 A may be a moving base station, e.g., spaceborne vehicle (satellite) or airborne vehicle (drone). The UE can transmit transmissions to the base station and the UE can also receive the transmission from the base station. Optionally, not shown in FIG. 4, the moving base station can also serve as a relay which relays the received transmission from the UE to a ground base station or vice versa.

[0050] Spaceborne platform includes satellite and the satellite includes LEO satellite, MEO satellite and GEO satellite. While the satellite is moving, the LEO and MEO satellite is moving with regards to a given location on earth. However, for GEO satellite, the GEO satellite is relatively static with regards to a given location on earth. A moving base station or satellite, e.g., in particular for LEO satellite or drone, communicates with a user equipment (UE) on the ground. Due to long distance between the UE and the base station on satellite, the beamformed transmission is needed to extend the coverage. [0051] Optionally, as illustrated in FIG. 5, where a base station is integrated in a satellite or a drone, and the base station transmits one or more beams to the ground forming one or more coverage areas called footprint. In FIG. 5, an example illustrates that the BS transmits three beams (beam 1, beam 2 and beam3) to form three footprints (footprint 1 , 2 and 3), respectively. Optionally, 3 beams are transmitted at 3 different frequencies. In this example, the bit position is associated with a beam. FIG. 5 illustrates that, in some embodiments, a moving base station, e.g., in particular for LEO satellite or drone, communicates with a user equipment (UE) on the ground. Due to long distance between the UE and the base station on satellite, the beamformed transmission is needed to extend the coverage. As illustrated in FIG. 5, where a base station is transmitting three beams to the earth forming three coverage areas called footpoints. Moreover, each beam may be transmitted at dedicated frequencies so that the beams for footprint 1, 2 and 3 are nonoverlapped in a frequency domain. The advantage of having different frequencies corresponding to different beams is that the inter-beam interference can be minimized.

[0052] In some embodiments, a moving base station (BS), e.g., in particular for LEO satellite or drone, communicates with a user equipment (UE) on the ground. A round trip time (RTT) between the BS and the UE is time varying. The RTT variation is related to a distance variation between the BS and the UE. The RTT variation rate is proportional to a BS motion velocity. To ensure a good uplink synchronization, the BS will adjust an uplink transmission timing and/or frequency for the UE. In some embodiments of this disclosure, a method for uplink synchronization adjustment is provided, and the uplink synchronization adjustment comprises at least one of the followings: a transmission timing adjustment or a transmission frequency adjustment. Optionally, the transmission timing adjustment further comprises a timing advance (TA) adjustment.

[0053] FIG. 6 illustrates an uplink-downlink timing relation according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. FIG. 6 illustrates that, in some embodiments, downlink, uplink, and sidelink transmissions are organized into frames with T_f = (Δf_max N_f/100)·T_c = 10 ms duration, each consisting of ten subframes of T_sf = (Δf_max N_f/1000).T_c = 1 ms duration. T_f refers to a radio frame duration. Δf refers to subcarrier spacing. n_f refers to a system frame number (SFN). T_c refers to a basic time unit for NR. T_sf refers to a subframe duration. The number of consecutive orthogonal frequency division multiplexed (OFDM) symbols per subframe is

refers to number of OFDM symbols per subframe for subcarrier spacing configuration μ . N_symb ^slot refers to number of symbols per slot. Nsiot ^{frame ,μ} refers to number of slots per subframe for subcarrier spacing configuration μ . Each frame is divided into two equally-sized half-frames of five subframes each with half-frame 0 consisting of subframes 0 to 4 and half-frame 1 consisting of subframes 5 to 9. There is one set of frames in the uplink and one set of frames in the downlink on a carrier. Uplink frame number i for transmission from the UE starts T_TA=(N_TA+N_TA,offset)T_c, before the start of the corresponding downlink frame at the UE where N_{TA, offset} is given by TS 38.213, except for a message A (msgA) transmission on physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) where T_TA = 0 is used. T_TA refers to timing advance between downlink and uplink. N _TA refers to timing advance between downlink and uplink. A_{TA offset} refers to a fixed offset used to calculate the timing advance. T_c refers to a basic time unit for NR.

[0054] FIG. 7 illustrates an example of a UE behavior for validity duration according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. A UE is configured by a network or by its serving cell with a validity duration as illustrated in FIG. 7. The validity duration is used to check if the received satellite ephemeris data and/or the common TA related parameters are still valid. Within the validity duration, the UE assumes that the satellite ephemeris data and/or the common TA related parameters are still valid. After the validity duration, the UE assumes that the satellite ephemeris data and/or the common TA related parameters are not valid. [0055] In some examples, when UE does not receive new ephemeris data and/or new common TA related parameters within the validity duration, say call that the validity duration is expired, which implies that the satellite ephemeris data and/or the common TA related parameters become invalid when the validity duration expires. Then some example discuss the following options for the UE behavior.

[0056] FIG. 8 illustrates an example of a UE behavior for validity duration according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. In some examples, the UE will acquire new ephemeris data and/or new common TA related parameters. For this option, the information may be transmitted in system information or RRC. Thus, UE shall read SIB. The UE may follow the SIB update acquisition procedure, e.g., start to monitor type 0 or type 0A PDCCH search space set in the next SI update window after the validity duration expires or in the current SI update window when the validity duration expires as shown in FIG. 8. The UE detects a PDCCH that contains a DO scheduling a PDSCH carrying the SIB. In some examples, the UE shall change the active DL BWP to the initial DL BWP and the UE reads SIB in the initial DL BWP. In some examples, the UE will perform the above monitoring when a first timer is still running, where the first timer is pre-configured or pre-defined. In some examples, the first timer comprises a timer relevant to radio link failure.

[0057] FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a UE behavior for validity duration according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. In some examples, when UE detects a DO scheduling a PDSCH carrying the SIB in a SI update window, and UE receives the new ephemeris data and/or the new common TA related parameters, the UE restarts the validity duration and set the start of the validity duration at the beginning of the SI update window as illustrated in FIG. 9.

[0058] In some examples, when the UE receives the new ephemeris data and/or the new common TA related parameters, the UE resets a new validity duration. In some examples, the UE performs PRACH transmission to the network. For the TA applied for the PRACH transmission, UE sets NTA=0. Optionally, for the TA applied for the PRACH transmission, the UE uses the existing NTA value. In some examples, the UE uses the existing NTA value when a second timer is still running. In some examples, the second timer comprises a timing alignment timer. In some examples, after UE transmits the PRACH, the UE receives a TAC from the RAR, the UE shall apply the TAC. In some examples, the UE applies the TAC from the RAR, when the second timer is not running. In some examples, the UE ignores the TAC from the RAR, when the second timer is running. In some examples, when UE applies the TAC from the RAR, the UE restarts the second timer.

[0059] In some examples, when the UE receives the new ephemeris data and/or the new common TA related parameters, the UE performs PRACH transmission to the network if the second timer is not running or the second timer is expired. In some examples, when the validity duration expires, the UE releases the UL configurations. In some examples, when the validity duration expires, the UE releases the UL configurations if the second timer is not running or is expired. In some examples, the UE performs PRACH transmission is active UL BWP when the active UL BWP is configured with RACH resources. In some examples, the UE performs PRACH transmission in initial UL BWP if the active UL BWP is not configured with RACH resources. When determining the validity time duration, the UE assumes that the validity time duration start time instance is at satellite side or at reference point side or at gateway side.

[0060] The examples given in this disclosure can be applied for loT device or NB-IoT UE in NTN systems, but the method is not exclusively restricted to NTN system nor for loT devices or NB-IoT UE. The examples given in this disclosure can be applied for NR systems, LTE systems, or NB-IoT systems. [0061] Commercial interests for some embodiments are as follows. 1. Solving issues in the prior art. 2. Providing a recovery for first information after a validity duration. 3. Reducing signaling overhead. 4. Providing a good communication performance. 5. Providing a high reliability. 6. Some embodiments of the present disclosure are used by 5G-NR chipset vendors, V2X communication system development vendors, automakers including cars, trains, trucks, buses, bicycles, moto-bikes, helmets, and etc., drones (unmanned aerial vehicles), smartphone makers, communication devices for public safety use, AR/VR device maker for example gaming, conference/seminar, education purposes. Some embodiments of the present disclosure are a combination of “techniques/processes” that can be adopted in 3GPP specification to create an end product. Some embodiments of the present disclosure could be adopted in the 5G NR unlicensed band communications. Some embodiments of the present disclosure propose technical mechanisms.

[0062] FIG. 10 is a block diagram of an example system 700 for wireless communication according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Embodiments described herein may be implemented into the system using any suitably configured hardware and/or software. FIG. 10 illustrates the system 700 including a radio frequency (RF) circuitry 710, a baseband circuitry 720, an application circuitry 730, a memory/storage 740, a display 750, a camera 760, a sensor 770, and an input/output (I/O) interface 780, coupled with each other at least as illustrated. The application circuitry 730 may include a circuitry such as, but not limited to, one or more single-core or multi-core processors. The processors may include any combination of general-purpose processors and dedicated processors, such as graphics processors, application processors. The processors may be coupled with the memory/storage and configured to execute instructions stored in the memory/storage to enable various applications and/or operating systems running on the system.

[0063] The baseband circuitry 720 may include circuitry such as, but not limited to, one or more singlecore or multi-core processors. The processors may include a baseband processor. The baseband circuitry may handle various radio control functions that enables communication with one or more radio networks via the RF circuitry. The radio control functions may include, but are not limited to, signal modulation, encoding, decoding, radio frequency shifting, etc. In some embodiments, the baseband circuitry may provide for communication compatible with one or more radio technologies. For example, in some embodiments, the baseband circuitry may support communication with an evolved universal terrestrial radio access network (EUTRAN) and/or other wireless metropolitan area networks (WMAN), a wireless local area network (WLAN), a wireless personal area network (WPAN). Embodiments in which the baseband circuitry is configured to support radio communications of more than one wireless protocol may be referred to as multi-mode baseband circuitry.

[0064] In various embodiments, the baseband circuitry 720 may include circuitry to operate with signals that are not strictly considered as being in a baseband frequency. For example, in some embodiments, baseband circuitry may include circuitry to operate with signals having an intermediate frequency, which is between a baseband frequency and a radio frequency. The RF circuitry 710 may enable communication with wireless networks using modulated electromagnetic radiation through a non-solid medium. In various embodiments, the RF circuitry may include switches, filters, amplifiers, etc. to facilitate the communication with the wireless network. In various embodiments, the RF circuitry 710 may include circuitry to operate with signals that are not strictly considered as being in a radio frequency. For example, in some embodiments, RF circuitry may include circuitry to operate with signals having an intermediate frequency, which is between a baseband frequency and a radio frequency.

[0065] In various embodiments, the transmitter circuitry, control circuitry, or receiver circuitry discussed above with respect to the user equipment, eNB, or gNB may be embodied in whole or in part in one or more of the RF circuitry, the baseband circuitry, and/or the application circuitry. As used herein, “circuitry” may refer to, be part of, or include an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), an electronic circuit, a processor (shared, dedicated, or group), and/or a memory (shared, dedicated, or group) that execute one or more software or firmware programs, a combinational logic circuit, and/or other suitable hardware components that provide the described functionality. In some embodiments, the electronic device circuitry may be implemented in, or functions associated with the circuitry may be implemented by, one or more software or firmware modules. In some embodiments, some or all of the constituent components of the baseband circuitry, the application circuitry, and/or the memory/storage may be implemented together on a system on a chip (SOC). The memory/storage 740 may be used to load and store data and/or instructions, for example, for system. The memory/storage for one embodiment may include any combination of suitable volatile memory, such as dynamic random access memory (DRAM)), and/or non-volatile memory, such as flash memory.

[0066] In various embodiments, the I/O interface 780 may include one or more user interfaces designed to enable user interaction with the system and/or peripheral component interfaces designed to enable peripheral component interaction with the system. User interfaces may include, but are not limited to a physical keyboard or keypad, a touchpad, a speaker, a microphone, etc. Peripheral component interfaces may include, but are not limited to, a non-volatile memory port, a universal serial bus (USB) port, an audio jack, and a power supply interface. In various embodiments, the sensor 770 may include one or more sensing devices to determine environmental conditions and/or location information related to the system. In some embodiments, the sensors may include, but are not limited to, a gyro sensor, an accelerometer, a proximity sensor, an ambient light sensor, and a positioning unit. The positioning unit may also be part of, or interact with, the baseband circuitry and/or RF circuitry to communicate with components of a positioning network, e.g., a global positioning system (GPS) satellite.

[0067] In various embodiments, the display 750 may include a display, such as a liquid crystal display and a touch screen display. In various embodiments, the system 700 may be a mobile computing device such as, but not limited to, a laptop computing device, a tablet computing device, a netbook, an ultrabook, a smartphone, an AR/VR glasses, etc. In various embodiments, system may have more or less components, and/or different architectures. Where appropriate, methods described herein may be implemented as a computer program. The computer program may be stored on a storage medium, such as a non-transitory storage medium.

[0068] A person having ordinary skill in the art understands that each of the units, algorithm, and steps described and disclosed in the embodiments of the present disclosure are realized using electronic hardware or combinations of software for computers and electronic hardware. Whether the functions run in hardware or software depends on the condition of application and design requirement for a technical plan. A person having ordinary skill in the art can use different ways to realize the function for each specific application while such realizations should not go beyond the scope of the present disclosure. It is understood by a person having ordinary skill in the art that he/she can refer to the working processes of the system, device, and unit in the above-mentioned embodiment since the working processes of the above-mentioned system, device, and unit are basically the same. For easy description and simplicity, these working processes will not be detailed.

[0069] It is understood that the disclosed system, device, and method in the embodiments of the present disclosure can be realized with other ways. The above-mentioned embodiments are exemplary only. The division of the units is merely based on logical functions while other divisions exist in realization. It is possible that a plurality of units or components are combined or integrated in another system. It is also possible that some characteristics are omitted or skipped. On the other hand, the displayed or discussed mutual coupling, direct coupling, or communicative coupling operate through some ports, devices, or units whether indirectly or communicatively by ways of electrical, mechanical, or other kinds of forms.

[0070] The units as separating components for explanation are or are not physically separated. The units for display are or are not physical units, that is, located in one place or distributed on a plurality of network units. Some or all of the units are used according to the purposes of the embodiments. Moreover, each of the functional units in each of the embodiments can be integrated in one processing unit, physically independent, or integrated in one processing unit with two or more than two units. [0071] If the software function unit is realized and used and sold as a product, it can be stored in a readable storage medium in a computer. Based on this understanding, the technical plan proposed by the present disclosure can be essentially or partially realized as the form of a software product. Or, one part of the technical plan beneficial to the conventional technology can be realized as the form of a software product. The software product in the computer is stored in a storage medium, including a plurality of commands for a computational device (such as a personal computer, a server, or a network device) to run all or some of the steps disclosed by the embodiments of the present disclosure. The storage medium includes a USB disk, a mobile hard disk, a read-only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), a floppy disk, or other kinds of media capable of storing program codes. [0072] While the present disclosure has been described in connection with what is considered the most practical and preferred embodiments, it is understood that the present disclosure is not limited to the disclosed embodiments but is intended to cover various arrangements made without departing from the scope of the broadest interpretation of the appended claims.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A wireless communication method by a user equipment (UE), comprising: being configured, by a base station or a serving cell, with a validity duration; and performing a recovery for the first information after the validity duration.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein performing the recovery for the first information after the validity duration if the UE does not receive the first information in the validity duration.

3. The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein the first information is transmitted in a system information or a radio resource control (RRC) message.

4. The method of any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the first information comprises a satellite ephemeris data and/or common timing advance (TA) related parameters.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the validity duration is used to check if the satellite ephemeris data and/or the common TA related parameters are valid.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein if the UE receives the satellite ephemeris data and/or the common TA related parameters in the validity duration, the UE restarts a new validity duration.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein after the validity duration, the UE assumes that the satellite ephemeris data and/or the common TA related parameters are not valid.

8. The method of any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the first information comprises a new satellite ephemeris data and/or new common timing advance (TA) related parameters.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein when the UE does not receive the new satellite ephemeris data and/or the new common TA related parameters in the validity duration, the validity duration is expired.

10. The method of claim 8 or 9, wherein the UE is configured to acquire the new satellite ephemeris data and/or the new common TA related parameters.

11. The method of any one of claims 1 to 10, wherein performing the recovery for the first information after the validity duration comprises that the UE starts to monitor PDCCH that schedules a PDSCH carrying the first information.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the PDCCH monitoring is performed in a window, wherein the window comprises a system information update window.

13. The method of claim 10 or 11, wherein the PDCCH monitoring is performed according to a PDCCH search space set.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the PDCCH search space set comprises a type 0 PDCCH CSS set or type 0A PDCCH CSS set.

15. The method of any one of claims 11 to 14, wherein the UE starts to monitor in the window in which the validity duration ends.

16. The method of any one of claims 11 to 15, wherein the UE starts to monitor from a next window after the validity duration ends.

17. The method of claim 11 , wherein the UE detects a PDCCH that contains a downlink control information (DO) scheduling a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) carrying the system information.

18. The method of any one of claims 11 to 17, wherein the UE changes an active downlink bandwidth part (BWP) to an initial downlink BWP, and the UE reads the system information in the initial DL BWP.

19. The method of any one of claims 11 to 18, wherein the UE performs the recovery for the first information after the validity duration when a first timer is still running.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the first timer is pre-configured or pre-defined.

21. The method of claim 19 or 20, wherein the first timer comprises a timer relevant to radio link failure.

22. The method of any one of claims 19 to 21, wherein the first timer comprises one or more or any combination of: T300 timer, T301 timer, T304 timer, T307 timer, T310 timer, T311 timer, T312 timer, T316 timer, or T319 timer.

23. The method of any one of claims 16 to 22, wherein when the UE detects the DCI scheduling the PDSCH carrying the system information in a system information update window and the UE receives the new satellite ephemeris data and/or the new common TA related parameters, the UE restarts the validity duration and sets a start of the validity duration at a beginning of the window.

24. The method of any one of claims 10 to 23, wherein when the UE receives the new satellite ephemeris data and/or the new common TA related parameters, the UE resets a new validity duration.

25. The method of any one of claims 1 to 24, wherein the UE performs a physical random access channel (PRACH) transmission to the base station.

26. The method of any one of claims 1 to 25, wherein the UE performs the PRACH transmission after reception of the first information.

27. The method of claim 25 or 26, wherein for a timing advance applied for the PRACH transmission, the UE sets NTA value equal to 0.

28. The method of claim 25 or 26, wherein for a timing advance applied for the PRACH transmission, the UE uses an existing NTA value.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein the UE uses the existing NTA value when a second timer is running.

30. The method of any one of claims 25 to 29, wherein after the UE transmits the PRACH transmission, the UE receives a timing advance command (TAC) from a random access response (RAR), and the UE applies the TAC.

31. The method of claim 30, wherein the UE applies the TAC from the RAR when a second timer is not running.

32. The method of claim 30, wherein the UE ignores the TAC from the RAR when the second timer is running.

33. The method of claim 30, wherein when the UE applies the TAC from the RAR, the UE restarts the second timer.

34. The method of any one of claims 29 to 33, wherein the second timer comprises a timing alignment timer.

35. The method of claim 29 or 34, wherein when the UE receives the new satellite ephemeris data and/or the new common TA related parameters, the UE performs the PRACH transmission to the base station if the second timer is not running or the second timer is expired.

36. The method of any one of claims 1, 29, or 34, wherein when the validity duration expires, the UE releases uplink configurations.

37. The method of claim 36, wherein when the validity duration expires, the UE releases the uplink configurations if the second timer is not running or is expired.

38. The method of any one of claim 25 to 37, wherein the UE performs the PRACH transmission in an active uplink BWP when the active uplink BWP is configured with RACH resources.

39. The method of any one of claim 25 to 38, wherein the UE performs the PRACH transmission in an initial uplink BWP if the active UL BWP is not configured with the RACH resources.

40. The method of any one of claim 1 to 39, wherein when determining the validity duration, the UE assumes that a start time instance of the validity duration is at a satellite side, a reference point side, or a gateway side.

41. A wireless communication method by a base station, comprising: configuring, to a user equipment (UE), a validity duration; and controlling the UE to perform a recovery for the first information after the validity duration.

42. The method of claim 41, wherein the base station controls the UE to perform the recovery for the first information after the validity duration if the UE does not receive the first information in the validity duration.

43. The method of claim 41 or 42, wherein the first information is transmitted in a system information or a radio resource control (RRC) message.

44. The method of any one of claims 41 to 43, wherein the first information comprises a satellite ephemeris data and/or common timing advance (TA) related parameters.

45. The method of claim 44, wherein the validity duration is used to check if the satellite ephemeris data and/or the common TA related parameters are valid.

46. The method of claim 45, wherein if the UE receives the satellite ephemeris data and/or the common TA related parameters in the validity duration, the base station controls the UE to restart a new validity duration.

47. The method of claim 46, wherein after the validity duration, the base station controls the UE to assume that the satellite ephemeris data and/or the common TA related parameters are not valid.

48. The method of any one of claims 41 to 47, wherein the first information comprises a new satellite ephemeris data and/or new common timing advance (TA) related parameters.

49. The method of claim 48, wherein when the UE does not receive the new satellite ephemeris data and/or the new common TA related parameters in the validity duration, the validity duration is expired.

50. The method of claim 48 or 49, wherein the base station controls the UE to acquire the new satellite ephemeris data and/or the new common TA related parameters.

51. The method of any one of claims 41 to 50, wherein performing the recovery for the fust information after the validity duration comprises that the base station controls the UE to start to monitor PDCCH that schedules a PDSCH carrying the first information.

52. The method of claim 51, wherein the PDCCH monitoring is performed in a window, wherein the window comprises a system information update window.

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53. The method of claim 50 or 51, wherein the PDCCH monitoring is performed according to a PDCCH search space set.

54. The method of claim 53, wherein the PDCCH search space set comprises a type 0 PDCCH CSS set or type 0A PDCCH CSS set.

55. The method of any one of claims 51 to 54, wherein the base station controls the UE to start to monitor in the window in which the validity duration ends.

56. The method of any one of claims 51 to 55, wherein the base station controls the UE to start to monitor from a next window after the validity duration ends.

57. The method of claim 51 , wherein the base station controls the UE to detect a PDCCH that contains a downlink control information (DCI) scheduling a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) carrying the system information.

58. The method of any one of claims 51 to 57, wherein the base station controls the UE to change an active downlink bandwidth part (BWP) to an initial downlink BWP, and the base station controls the UE to read the system information in the initial DL BWP.

59. The method of any one of claims 51 to 58, wherein the base station controls the UE to perform the recovery for the first information after the validity duration when a first timer is still running.

60. The method of claim 59, wherein the first timer is pre-configured or pre-defined.

61. The method of claim 59 or 60, wherein the first timer comprises a timer relevant to radio link failure.

62. The method of any one of claims 59 to 61, wherein the first timer comprises one or more or any combination of: T300 timer, T301 timer, T304 timer, T307 timer, T310 timer, T311 timer, T312 timer, T316 timer, or T319 timer.

63. The method of any one of claims 56 to 62, wherein when the base station controls the UE to detect the DCI scheduling the PDSCH carrying the system information in a system information update window and the base station controls the UE to receive the new satellite ephemeris data and/or the new common TA related parameters, the base station controls the UE to restart the validity duration and sets a start of the validity duration at a beginning of the window.

64. The method of any one of claims 50 to 63, wherein when the base station controls the UE to receive the new satellite ephemeris data and/or the new common TA related parameters, the base station controls the UE to reset a new validity duration.

65. The method of any one of claims 41 to 64, wherein the base station controls the UE to perform a physical random access channel (PRACH) transmission to the base station.

66. The method of any one of claims 41 to 65, wherein the base station controls the UE to perform the PRACH transmission after reception of the first information.

67. The method of claim 65 or 66, wherein for a timing advance applied for the PRACH transmission, the base station controls the UE to set NTA value equal to 0.

68. The method of claim 65 or 66, wherein for a timing advance applied for the PRACH transmission, the base station controls the UE to use an existing NTA value.

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69. The method of claim 68, wherein the base station controls the UE to use the existing NTA value when a second timer is running.

70. The method of any one of claims 65 to 69, wherein after the base station receives the PRACH transmission from the UE, the base station transmits a timing advance command (TAC) from a random access response (RAR) to the UE, and the base station controls the UE to apply the TAC.

71. The method of claim 70, wherein the base station controls the UE to apply the TAC from the RAR when a second timer is not running.

72. The method of claim 70, wherein the base station controls the UE to ignore the TAC from the RAR when the second timer is running.

73. The method of claim 70, wherein when the base station controls the UE to apply the TAC from the RAR, the UE restarts the second timer.

74. The method of any one of claims 69 to 73, wherein the second timer comprises a timing alignment timer.

75. The method of claim 69 or 74, wherein when the base station controls the UE to receive the new satellite ephemeris data and/or the new common TA related parameters, the base station controls the UE to perform the PRACH transmission to the base station if the second timer is not running or the second timer is expired.

76. The method of any one of claims 41, 69, or 74, wherein when the validity duration expires, the base station controls the UE to release uplink configurations.

77. The method of claim 76, wherein when the validity duration expires, the base station controls the UE to release the uplink configurations if the second timer is not running or is expired.

78. The method of any one of claim 65 to 77, wherein the base station controls the UE to perform the PRACH transmission in an active uplink BWP when the active uplink BWP is configured with RACH resources.

79. The method of any one of claim 65 to 78, wherein the base station controls the UE to perform the PRACH transmission in an initial uplink BWP if the active UL BWP is not configured with the RACH resources.

80. The method of any one of claim 41 to 79, wherein when determining the validity duration, the base station controls the UE to assume that a start time instance of the validity duration is at a satellite side, a reference point side, or a gateway side.

81. A user equipment (UE), comprising: a memory; a transceiver; and a processor coupled to the memory and the transceiver; wherein the processor is configured to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 40.

82. Abase station, comprising: a memory; a transceiver; and a processor coupled to the memory and the transceiver;

18 wherein the processor is configured to perform the method of any one of claims 41 to 80.

83. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium having stored thereon instructions that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 80.

84. A chip, comprising: a processor, configured to call and run a computer program stored in a memory, to cause a device in which the chip is installed to execute the method of any one of claims 1 to 80.

85. A computer readable storage medium, in which a computer program is stored, wherein the computer program causes a computer to execute the method of any one of claims 1 to 80.

86. A computer program product, comprising a computer program, wherein the computer program causes a computer to execute the method of any one of claims 1 to 80.

87. A computer program, wherein the computer program causes a computer to execute the method of any one of claims 1 to 80.

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