JP7755656B2 - Terminal and wireless communication method - Google Patents

Description

The present disclosure relates to a terminal and a wireless communication method that support an inactive state of a radio resource control layer.

The 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) has specified Long Term Evolution (LTE) and the 5th generation mobile communication system (5G, also known as New Radio (NR) or Next Generation (NG)), and is also working on specifications for the next generation, known as Beyond 5G, 5G Evolution, or 6G.

3GPP Release 15 and Release 16 (NR) define a new inactive state (RRC INACTIVE) for the Radio Resource Control layer (RRC). In RRC INACTIVE, the terminal (User Equipment, UE) and radio access network (RAN) retain the UE context, but the radio bearer configuration is released.

3GPP Release 17 considers small data transmission (SDT) during such inactive states. Furthermore, Self-Organizing Networks (SON) that support SDT are also being considered (Non-Patent Document 1).

"Moderator’s summary for discussion [RAN93e-R18Prep-16] Additional RAN1/2/3 candidate topics Set 3", RP-211666, 3GPP TSG RAN#93e, 3GPP, September 2021

When implementing SON that supports SDT, the following problems may arise. For example, if a UE fails SDT, the network will not be able to recognize the SDT status, such as the failure of the SDT.

The following disclosure has been made in consideration of this situation and aims to provide a terminal and a wireless communication method that allows the network to reliably recognize the SDT state of the UE.

One aspect of the present disclosure is a terminal (UE200) having a control unit (control unit 240) that controls data transmission in an inactive state of a radio resource control layer in accordance with a random access procedure or configured permission from the network, and a transmission unit (SDT processing unit 230) that transmits a report regarding the result of the data transmission to the network if the data transmission fails.

One aspect of the present disclosure is a wireless communication method including a step of controlling data transmission in an inactive state of a radio resource control layer in accordance with a random access procedure or a configured permission from the network, and a step of transmitting a report to the network regarding the result of the data transmission if the data transmission fails.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the overall configuration of a wireless communication system 10. Figure 2 is a functional block diagram of gNB100. FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram of the UE 200. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a sequence of RACH-based SDT. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a sequence of CG based SDT. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a sequence when RACH-based SDT fails. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a sequence when the CG based SDT fails. Figure 8 is a diagram showing an example of the hardware configuration of gNB100 and UE200. FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a vehicle 2001.

The following describes the embodiments based on the drawings. Note that identical or similar symbols are used to designate identical functions and configurations, and descriptions of these will be omitted where appropriate.

(1) Overall Schematic Configuration of Wireless Communication System Fig. 1 is a diagram showing the overall schematic configuration of a wireless communication system 10 according to this embodiment. The wireless communication system 10 is a wireless communication system conforming to 5G New Radio (NR) and includes a Next Generation-Radio Access Network 20 (hereinafter, NG-RAN 20) and a terminal 200 (User Equipment 200, hereinafter, UE 200).

In addition, the wireless communication system 10 may be a wireless communication system conforming to a method called Beyond 5G, 5G Evolution, or 6G.

The NG-RAN 20 includes a radio base station 100 (hereinafter referred to as gNB 100). Note that the specific configuration of the radio communication system 10, including the number of gNBs and UEs, is not limited to the example shown in Figure 1.

NG-RAN20 actually includes multiple NG-RAN nodes, specifically gNBs (or ng-eNBs), and is connected to a 5G core network (5GC, not shown). NG-RAN20 is connected to the Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF), which is included in the 5G system architecture and provides access and mobility management functions for UE200. NG-RAN20 and 5GC may also be simply referred to as the "network."

gNB100 is a radio base station conforming to NR, and performs radio communication conforming to NR with UE200. Note that gNB100 may be composed of a CU (Central Unit) and a DU (Distributed Unit), and the DU may be separated from the CU and installed in a different geographical location.

The gNB100 and UE200 are capable of supporting Massive MIMO, which generates more directional beams by controlling the radio signals transmitted from multiple antenna elements; Carrier Aggregation (CA), which aggregates and uses multiple component carriers (CCs); and Dual Connectivity (DC), which enables simultaneous communication between the UE and multiple NG-RAN nodes.

In the wireless communication system 10, in addition to RRC CONNECTED and RRC IDLE, RRC INACTIVE may be specified as a state of the radio resource control layer (RRC). In RRC INACTIVE, the UE 200 and the radio access network (NG-RAN 20) retain the context of the UE 200, but the radio bearer settings may be interpreted as being released.

More specifically, in RRC INACTIVE, the UE AS (Access Stratum) context is held by gNB100/AMF and UE200, but within gNB100, this can be interpreted as the Signaling Radio Bearer (SRB)/Data Radio Bearer (DRB) settings being released.

UE200 can transition between the RRC CONNECTED state and the RRC INACTIVE state (which may also be referred to as the inactive state), and can transition between the RRC INACTIVE state and the RRC IDLE state.

In addition, the wireless communication system 10 may support small data transmission (SDT) by the UE 200 in the RRC INACTIVE state. SDT may refer to the transmission and reception of small amounts of data in the RRC INACTIVE state.

In other words, in SDT, no radio bearer is set up, but data transmission (reception) is possible. Note that "data" may refer to data transmitted via a data channel. Note that "data" may also refer to user data, and "control" may refer to various control signals transmitted via a control channel.

SDT may be defined as an SDT with a random access procedure (RA procedure) (Random Access (RACH) based SDT) or an SDT based on a configured grant (CG, also called a configured permission) from the network (Configured Grant (CG) based SDT).

(2) Functional Block Configuration of Wireless Communication System Next, a functional block configuration of the wireless communication system 10 will be described. Specifically, the functional block configurations of the gNB 100 and the UE 200 will be described.

Figure 2 is a functional block diagram of gNB100. Figure 3 is a functional block diagram of UE200. Note that Figures 2 and 3 only show the main functional blocks relevant to the description of the embodiments, and that gNB100 and UE200 have other functional blocks (e.g., power supply units, etc.). Also, Figures 2 and 3 show the functional block configurations of gNB100 and UE200; for the hardware configuration, please refer to Figure 8.

(2.1) gNB100
As shown in FIG. 2, the gNB 100 includes a wireless communication unit 110, an RA execution unit 120, a CG processing unit 130, and a control unit 140.

The wireless communication unit 110 transmits downlink signals (DL signals) in accordance with NR. The wireless communication unit 110 also receives uplink signals (UL signals) in accordance with NR.

The RA execution unit 120 executes an RA procedure with the UE 200. The RA procedure may simply be interpreted as a random access channel (RACH). The RA procedure (RACH) may include a two-step RACH and a four-step RACH.

In a two-step RACH, messages (MSG) A and B (Random Access Preamble, Contention Resolution/Random Access Response (RAR)) may be transmitted and received. In a four-step RACH, MSGs 1 to 4 (Random Access Preamble, Random Access Response, Scheduled Transmission, Contention Resolution) may be transmitted and received. The RA procedure may be either contention-based or contention-free.

Note that channels include control channels and data channels. Control channels may include PDCCH (Physical Downlink Control Channel), PUCCH (Physical Uplink Control Channel), RACH (Random Access Channel, which may be Downlink Control Information (DCI) including Random Access Radio Network Temporary Identifier (RA-RNTI)), and Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH).

Data channels include PDSCH (Physical Downlink Shared Channel) and PUSCH (Physical Uplink Shared Channel), etc. Data may refer to data transmitted via the data channel.

Layer 1 may also be interpreted as including lower layers such as the physical layer. Layer 3 is a layer higher than Layer 1. The higher layers may include at least one of the Radio Link Control layer (RLC), Packet Data Convergence Protocol layer (PDCP), and Radio Resource Control layer (RRC), and the Medium Access Control layer (MAC) may be positioned between the lower layer and the higher layer.

The CG processing unit 130 performs processing related to the Configured Grant (CG) for the UE 200. Specifically, the CG processing unit 130 may configure an uplink (UL) grant (which may also be referred to as an uplink grant) in the serving cell and instruct the configured grant (CG) to the UE 200. The CG (configured grant) may be transmitted by a message from an upper layer (RRC), etc.

The control unit 140 controls each functional block that constitutes the gNB 100. In particular, in this embodiment, the control unit 140 can control data transmission and reception according to the RRC state of the UE 200.

Specifically, the control unit 140 may perform control corresponding to data transmission (SDT) from the UE 200 when the UE 200 is in the RRC INACTIVE state. More specifically, the control unit 140 may perform control related to reception of small amounts of data transmitted from the UE 200 via SDT.

(2.2) UE200
As shown in FIG. 3 , the UE 200 includes a radio communication unit 210, an RA execution unit 220, an SDT processing unit 230, and a control unit 240.

The wireless communication unit 210 transmits uplink signals (UL signals) in accordance with NR. The wireless communication unit 210 also receives uplink signals (DL signals) in accordance with NR.

The RA execution unit 220 executes the RA procedure with the gNB 100. As described above, the RA execution unit 220 may support two-step RACH and four-step RACH, and the RA procedure may be contention-based or contention-free.

The SDT processing unit 230 performs processing related to Small Data Transmission (SDT). Specifically, the SDT processing unit 230 performs data transmission in the RRC INACTIVE state. The amount of data transmitted at one time may be smaller than the amount of data that can be transmitted in the RRC CONNECTED state.

The SDT processing unit 230 can perform this data transmission even when SRB and/or DRB are not configured. While such data is normally only possible in the RRC CONNECTED state, SDT may be interpreted as exceptional data transmission that can be transmitted in the RRC INACTIVE state when SRB and/or DRB are not configured.

If the SDT fails, the SDT processing unit 230 can transmit a report regarding the results of the SDT to the network. In this embodiment, the SDT processing unit 230 may constitute a transmitting unit. Specific examples of the report may include a RACH report (in the case of a RACH-based SDT) or a Failure report regarding the SDT (SDT Failure report) (in the case of a CG-based SDT).

The SDT processing unit 230 may transmit a report including information indicating the relationship between the downlink (DL) quality and the threshold for SDT. Specifically, the SDT processing unit 230 may transmit a report including an indication of whether the RSRP (Reference Signal Received Power) of the DL SSB (SS (Synchronization Signal)/PBCH (Physical Broadcast CHannel) Block) exceeds the threshold for RACH (2-step RACH or 4-step RACH).

Note that DL quality is not limited to SSB, and may also be based on other reference signals (RS), or on other qualities (such as RSRQ (Reference Signal Received Quality)).

In the case of SDT according to the RA procedure (RACH based SDT), the SDT processing unit 230 may transmit a report including information indicating whether the RA procedure is associated with the SDT. Specifically, the SDT processing unit 230 may transmit a report (RACH report) including an indication of whether the executed RA procedure is associated with the SDT.

In addition, in the case of RACH-based SDT, the SDT processing unit 230 may transmit a report including information indicating whether the SDT is in accordance with the configured permission, specifically, whether it is a fallback from a CG-based SDT. Specifically, the SDT processing unit 230 may transmit a report (RACH report) including an indication of whether the executed RA procedure is a fallback from a CG-based SDT.

In the case of a CG-based SDT, the SDT processing unit 230 may send a report including information indicating that a timer related to the SDT has expired. Specifically, the SDT processing unit 230 may send a report (SDT Failure report) including an indication of the expiration of the SDT-specific TAT (timeAlignmentTimer).

The control unit 240 controls each functional block that constitutes the UE 200. In particular, in this embodiment, the control unit 240 can control the SDT in the RRC INACTIVE state in accordance with the RA procedure or a Configured Grant from the network.

Specifically, the control unit 240 can execute the RA procedure for SDT. Furthermore, the control unit 240 can instruct the SDT processing unit 230 on SDT in the RRC INACTIVE state based on CG from the network.

(3) Operation of the Wireless Communication System Next, a description will be given of the operation of the wireless communication system 10. Specifically, a description will be given of the operation related to reporting when the RACH-based SDT and the CG-based SDT fail.

(3.1) Assumptions As mentioned above, SDT may mean that a UE can transmit and receive small amounts of data while in the RRC INACTIVE state. The use case of SDT targets terminals (UEs) that transmit small amounts of UL data, such as factory sensors or wearable devices. UL data transmission from UE 200 is possible in the RRC CONNECTED state, but in the case of small amounts of data, enabling data transmission in the RRC INACTIVE state is expected to reduce the power consumption of UE 200.

The wireless communication system 10 may also have a Self-Organizing Networks (SON) function that supports SDT. Specifically, it may be possible to optimize network settings based on reports regarding SDT.

Figure 4 shows an example sequence for RACH-based SDT. Figure 5 shows an example sequence for CG-based SDT.

As shown in Figure 4, in RACH based SDT, UE200 may initiate an RA procedure in RRC INACTIVE state if the new UL data is less than a threshold and transmit UL data (SDT) when transmitting MSG 3.

Also, as shown in Figure 5, in CG-based SDT, UE200 may receive a CG config and then transition to the RRC INACTIVE state. If the amount of new UL data is less than a threshold, UE200 may send UL data (SDT) together with an RRC RESEMERequest in the RRC INACTIVE state.

(3.2) Example of Operation Below, an example of operation regarding reporting when the UE 200 fails in SDT will be described.

(3.2.1) RACH based SDT
Fig. 6 shows an example of a sequence when RACH-based SDT fails, which corresponds to the example of the sequence in Fig. 4 .

If RACH-based SDT fails, UE200 may report at least one of the following information to the network by including it in a RACH report:

- Indication to identify whether it is RACH-based SDT or not
Indication of whether the DL SSB RSRP has exceeded the threshold for the 4-step RACH or the threshold for the 2-step RACH (the threshold may be dedicated to SDT or may be shared with the normal RACH other than SDT)
- Indication of whether the RACH based SDT is a fallback from the CG based SDT. Note that, in the SDT type selection stage, if none of the SSB RSRPs exceed the RSRP threshold for the CG based SDT, the UE 200 may select the RACH based SDT if the criteria for the RACH based SDT are met.

- Non-SDT based RACH, i.e., if the RACH is not intended for SDT, an indication indicating whether it is a fallback from CG based SDT or RACH based SDT. Specifically, the following indications may be included:

Whether a fallback instruction was received from the network via RAR when falling back to non-SDT RACH; An indication indicating that the number of UL transmission failures (by MSG A or MSG 3) exceeded a predetermined threshold and that fallback occurred from SDT to non-SDT; An indication indicating the RACH resource (initial BWP (Bandwidth part) or SDT specific BWP, or non-SDT RACH resource or SDT specific RACH resource) used in the RACH based SDT; An indication indicating whether RACH was performed in NUL (Normal UL) or SUL (Supplemental UL) in the RACH based SDT, or an indication indicating whether DL SSB RSRP exceeded a specific carrier selection threshold (NUL or SUL). As shown in FIG. 6 , the UE 200 may transmit a RACH report including the above-mentioned indications to the network (gNB 100). The RACH report may be included in, for example, RRCSetupComplete or UEInformationResponse.

(3.2.2) CG based SDT
7 shows an example of a sequence when CG-based SDT fails, which corresponds to the example of the sequence in FIG.

If CG-based SDT fails, UE200 may include at least one of the following information in an SDT Failure report and report it to the network. Note that the SDT Failure report may be reported to the network in the next RRC CONNECTED state.

- Indication that DL SSB RSRP has fallen below the SDT threshold (SDT specific threshold) - Indication that SDT specific TAT (timeAlignmentTimer) has expired - Indication that SDT failure detection timer has expired - Indication that the number of UL transmission (due to CG resource) failures has exceeded a specified threshold - SDT failure due to Cell reselection - Indication that RLC retransmissions have exceeded (Max retransmission is reached in RLC) - Indication that UL resource shortage (UL resource (CG resource) is unavailable) The SDT failure detection timer may be set as follows.

・Started by the first SDT ・Stopped by one of the following ・Reception of RRCResume
・Reception of RRCSetup
・Reception of RRCRelease
・Reception of RRCRelease with SuspendConfig
・Reception of RRCReject
・Cell reselection
・Abortion of connection establishment by upper layers
If the timer expires, the UE 200 may perform the operation specified in 3GPP TS 38.331, chapter 5.3.13.5 (transition to IDLE as per legacy T319 timer) and attempt RRC connection setup.

As shown in FIG. 7, UE200 may send an SDT Failure report including the above-mentioned indication to the network (gNB100). The SDT Failure report may be included in, for example, RRCSetupComplete or UEInformationResponse.

(4) Actions and Effects According to the above-described embodiment, the following actions and effects can be obtained. Specifically, when SDT using RACH-based SDT or CG-based SDT fails, UE 200 can transmit a report on the result of the SDT to the network.

This allows the network to quickly and reliably recognize the status of the SDT, including failure of the SDT. This can be useful for analyzing the cause of the SDT failure and optimizing parameters related to the SDT. In other words, the network can optimize network settings, i.e., realize SON related to the SDT, based on the SDT report from UE200.

In this embodiment, UE200 can report detailed information such as the quality of RACH-based SDT or CG-based SDT, whether fallback is enabled, etc. This allows the network to set more appropriate parameters for SDT.

(5) Other Embodiments Although the embodiments have been described above, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that the present invention is not limited to the description of the embodiments, and that various modifications and improvements are possible.

For example, in the above-described embodiments, a RACH-based SDT or a CG-based SDT was described, but the SDT does not necessarily have to be based on such a RACH or CG. Also, SDT is a tentative name and may be called by a different name.

In addition, in the above description, the words configure, activate, update, indicate, enable, specify, and select may be read as interchangeable. Similarly, the words link, associate, correspond, and map may be read as interchangeable, and the words allocate, assign, monitor, and map may also be read as interchangeable.

Furthermore, specific, dedicated, UE-specific, and UE-individual may be read as interchangeable. Similarly, common, shared, group-common, UE-common, and UE-shared may be read as interchangeable.

In this disclosure, terms such as "precoding," "precoder," "weight (precoding weight)," "Quasi-Co-Location (QCL)," "Transmission Configuration Indication state (TCI state)," "spatial relation," "spatial domain filter," "transmit power," "phase rotation," "antenna port," "antenna port group," "layer," "number of layers," "rank," "resource," "resource set," "resource group," "beam," "beam width," "beam angle," "antenna," "antenna element," and "panel" may be used interchangeably.

Furthermore, the block diagrams (Figures 2 and 3) used to explain the above-mentioned embodiments show functional blocks. These functional blocks (components) are realized by any combination of hardware and/or software. Furthermore, there are no particular limitations on the method for realizing each functional block. That is, each functional block may be realized using a single device that is physically or logically coupled, or may be realized using two or more physically or logically separated devices that are connected directly or indirectly (e.g., using wires, wirelessly, etc.) and these multiple devices. A functional block may also be realized by combining software with the single device or multiple devices.

Functions include, but are not limited to, judgment, determination, assessment, calculation, computation, processing, derivation, investigation, search, confirmation, reception, transmission, output, access, resolution, selection, election, establishment, comparison, assumption, expectation, regard, broadcasting, notifying, communicating, forwarding, configuring, reconfiguring, allocating, mapping, and assignment. For example, a functional block (component) that performs transmission functions is called a transmitting unit or transmitter. As mentioned above, there are no particular limitations on how these functions are implemented.

Furthermore, the above-mentioned gNB100 and UE200 (the device) may function as a computer that performs processing of the wireless communication method of the present disclosure. Figure 8 is a diagram showing an example of the hardware configuration of the device. As shown in Figure 8, the device may be configured as a computer device including a processor 1001, memory 1002, storage 1003, communication device 1004, input device 1005, output device 1006, bus 1007, etc.

In the following explanation, the term "apparatus" can be interpreted as a circuit, device, unit, etc. The hardware configuration of the apparatus may be configured to include one or more of the devices shown in the figure, or may be configured to exclude some of the devices.

Each functional block of the device (see Figure 2.3) is realized by any hardware element of the computer device or a combination of such hardware elements.

In addition, each function of the device is realized by loading specified software (programs) onto hardware such as processor 1001 and memory 1002, causing processor 1001 to perform calculations, control communication via communication device 1004, and control at least one of reading and writing data in memory 1002 and storage 1003.

The processor 1001, for example, runs an operating system to control the entire computer. The processor 1001 may be configured as a central processing unit (CPU) including interfaces with peripheral devices, a control unit, an arithmetic unit, registers, etc.

The processor 1001 also reads programs (program code), software modules, data, etc. from at least one of the storage 1003 and the communication device 1004 into the memory 1002, and executes various processes in accordance with these. The program used is a program that causes a computer to execute at least some of the operations described in the above-mentioned embodiments. Furthermore, the various processes described above may be executed by a single processor 1001, or may be executed simultaneously or sequentially by two or more processors 1001. The processor 1001 may be implemented by one or more chips. The program may also be transmitted from a network via a telecommunications line.

Memory 1002 is a computer-readable recording medium and may be composed of, for example, at least one of Read Only Memory (ROM), Erasable Programmable ROM (EPROM), Electrically Erasable Programmable ROM (EEPROM), Random Access Memory (RAM), etc. Memory 1002 may also be referred to as a register, cache, main memory, etc. Memory 1002 can store a program (program code), software module, etc. that can execute a method according to one embodiment of the present disclosure.

Storage 1003 is a computer-readable recording medium and may be composed of, for example, at least one of an optical disk such as a Compact Disc ROM (CD-ROM), a hard disk drive, a flexible disk, a magneto-optical disk (e.g., a compact disk, a digital versatile disk, a Blu-ray® disk), a smart card, a flash memory (e.g., a card, a stick, a key drive), a floppy disk, a magnetic strip, etc. Storage 1003 may also be referred to as an auxiliary storage device. The above-mentioned recording medium may be, for example, a database, a server, or other suitable medium including at least one of memory 1002 and storage 1003.

The communication device 1004 is hardware (transmitting/receiving device) for communicating between computers via at least one of a wired network and a wireless network, and is also referred to as, for example, a network device, network controller, network card, or communication module.

The communication device 1004 may be configured to include high-frequency switches, duplexers, filters, frequency synthesizers, etc. to realize, for example, at least one of Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) and Time Division Duplex (TDD).

The input device 1005 is an input device (e.g., a keyboard, mouse, microphone, switch, button, sensor, etc.) that accepts input from the outside. The output device 1006 is an output device (e.g., a display, speaker, LED lamp, etc.) that outputs to the outside. Note that the input device 1005 and the output device 1006 may be integrated into one device (e.g., a touch panel).

Furthermore, each device such as the processor 1001 and memory 1002 is connected by a bus 1007 for communicating information. The bus 1007 may be configured using a single bus, or may be configured using different buses between each device.

Furthermore, the device may be configured to include hardware such as a microprocessor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a programmable logic device (PLD), or a field programmable gate array (FPGA), and some or all of the functional blocks may be realized by such hardware. For example, the processor 1001 may be implemented using at least one of these pieces of hardware.

Furthermore, the notification of information is not limited to the aspects/embodiments described in the present disclosure, and may be performed using other methods. For example, the notification of information may be performed by physical layer signaling (e.g., Downlink Control Information (DCI), Uplink Control Information (UCI)), higher layer signaling (e.g., RRC signaling, Medium Access Control (MAC) signaling, broadcast information (Master Information Block (MIB), System Information Block (SIB))), other signals, or a combination thereof. Furthermore, RRC signaling may be referred to as an RRC message, and may be, for example, an RRC Connection Setup message, an RRC Connection Reconfiguration message, etc.

Each aspect/embodiment described in this disclosure may be applied to at least one of systems using Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE-Advanced (LTE-A), SUPER 3G, IMT-Advanced, 4th generation mobile communication system (4G), 5th generation mobile communication system (5G), Future Radio Access (FRA), New Radio (NR), W-CDMA (registered trademark), GSM (registered trademark), CDMA2000, Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB), IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi (registered trademark)), IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX (registered trademark)), IEEE 802.20, Ultra-WideBand (UWB), Bluetooth (registered trademark), or other suitable systems, and next-generation systems enhanced based on these. Furthermore, multiple systems may be combined (e.g., a combination of at least one of LTE and LTE-A with 5G).

The order of the procedures, sequences, flowcharts, etc. of each aspect/embodiment described in this disclosure may be changed unless inconsistent. For example, the methods described in this disclosure present elements of various steps using an example order and are not limited to the particular order presented.

Specific operations described in this disclosure as being performed by a base station may in some cases be performed by its upper node. In a network consisting of one or more network nodes having a base station, it is clear that various operations performed for communication with a terminal may be performed by at least one of the base station and another network node other than the base station (such as, but not limited to, an MME or S-GW). While the above example illustrates a case where there is one other network node other than the base station, a combination of multiple other network nodes (e.g., an MME and an S-GW) may also be used.

Information, signals (information, etc.) may be output from a higher layer (or lower layer) to a lower layer (or higher layer). They may also be input and output via multiple network nodes.

Input and output information may be stored in a specific location (e.g., memory) or managed using a management table. Input and output information may be overwritten, updated, or appended. Output information may be deleted. Input information may be sent to another device.

The determination may be made based on a value represented by a single bit (0 or 1), a Boolean value (true or false), or a numerical comparison (e.g., comparison with a predetermined value).

Each aspect/embodiment described in this disclosure may be used alone, in combination, or switched between depending on the implementation. Furthermore, notification of specified information (e.g., notification that "X is true") is not limited to being done explicitly, but may also be done implicitly (e.g., not notifying the specified information).

Software shall be construed broadly to mean instructions, instruction sets, code, code segments, program code, programs, subprograms, software modules, applications, software applications, software packages, routines, subroutines, objects, executable files, threads of execution, procedures, functions, etc., whether referred to as software, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware description language, or otherwise.

Software, instructions, information, etc. may also be transmitted or received via a transmission medium. For example, if software is transmitted from a website, server, or other remote source using wired technologies (such as coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, Digital Subscriber Line (DSL)), and/or wireless technologies (such as infrared, microwave), these wired and/or wireless technologies are included within the definition of transmission media.

The information, signals, etc. described in this disclosure may be represented using any of a variety of different technologies. For example, data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, chips, etc. that may be referred to throughout the above description may be represented by voltages, currents, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or magnetic particles, optical fields or photons, or any combination thereof.

Note that terms explained in this disclosure and terms necessary for understanding this disclosure may be replaced with terms having the same or similar meanings. For example, at least one of a channel and a symbol may be a signal (signaling). Furthermore, a signal may be a message. Furthermore, a component carrier (CC) may be called a carrier frequency, a cell, a frequency carrier, etc.

As used in this disclosure, the terms "system" and "network" are used interchangeably.

Furthermore, the information, parameters, etc. described in this disclosure may be expressed using absolute values, relative values from a predetermined value, or other corresponding information. For example, radio resources may be indicated by an index.

The names used for the parameters described above are not intended to be limiting in any way. Furthermore, the mathematical formulas, etc. using these parameters may differ from those explicitly disclosed in this disclosure. The various channels (e.g., PUCCH, PDCCH, etc.) and information elements may be identified by any suitable names, and therefore the various names assigned to these various channels and information elements are not intended to be limiting in any way.

In this disclosure, terms such as "base station (BS)," "radio base station," "fixed station," "NodeB," "eNodeB (eNB)," "gNodeB (gNB)," "access point," "transmission point," "reception point," "transmission/reception point," "cell," "sector," "cell group," "carrier," and "component carrier" may be used interchangeably. Base stations may also be referred to by terms such as macrocell, small cell, femtocell, and picocell.

A base station can accommodate one or more (e.g., three) cells (also called sectors). When a base station accommodates multiple cells, the base station's overall coverage area can be divided into multiple smaller areas, and each smaller area can be provided with communication services by a base station subsystem (e.g., a small indoor base station (Remote Radio Head: RRH)).

The terms "cell" or "sector" refer to part or all of the coverage area of a base station and/or a base station subsystem that provides communication services within that coverage area.

In this disclosure, terms such as "Mobile Station (MS)," "user terminal," "User Equipment (UE)," and "terminal" may be used interchangeably.

A mobile station may also be referred to by those skilled in the art as a subscriber station, mobile unit, subscriber unit, wireless unit, remote unit, mobile device, wireless device, wireless communication device, remote device, mobile subscriber station, access terminal, mobile terminal, wireless terminal, remote terminal, handset, user agent, mobile client, client, or some other suitable terminology.

At least one of the base station and the mobile station may be referred to as a transmitting device, a receiving device, a communication device, etc. At least one of the base station and the mobile station may be a device mounted on a mobile body, or the mobile body itself. The mobile body may be a vehicle (e.g., a car, an airplane, etc.), an unmanned mobile body (e.g., a drone, an autonomous vehicle, etc.), or a robot (manned or unmanned). At least one of the base station and the mobile station may also be a device that does not necessarily move during communication operations. For example, at least one of the base station and the mobile station may be an Internet of Things (IoT) device such as a sensor.

Furthermore, the base station in the present disclosure may be read as a mobile station (user terminal, the same applies hereinafter). For example, each aspect/embodiment of the present disclosure may be applied to a configuration in which communication between a base station and a mobile station is replaced with communication between multiple mobile stations (which may be called, for example, Device-to-Device (D2D), Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X), etc.). In this case, the mobile station may be configured to have the functions possessed by a base station. Furthermore, terms such as "uplink" and "downlink" may be read as terms corresponding to communication between terminals (for example, "side"). For example, terms such as uplink channel and downlink channel may be read as side channel.

Similarly, a mobile station in the present disclosure may be interpreted as a base station, in which case the base station may have the functions of a mobile station.
A radio frame may be composed of one or more frames in the time domain. Each of the one or more frames in the time domain may be called a subframe. A subframe may further be composed of one or more slots in the time domain. A subframe may have a fixed time length (e.g., 1 ms) that is independent of numerology.

Numerology may be a communication parameter that applies to at least one of the transmission and reception of a signal or channel. Numerology may indicate, for example, at least one of the following: subcarrier spacing (SCS), bandwidth, symbol length, cyclic prefix length, transmission time interval (TTI), number of symbols per TTI, radio frame structure, specific filtering operations performed by the transceiver in the frequency domain, and specific windowing operations performed by the transceiver in the time domain.

A slot may consist of one or more symbols in the time domain (such as Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) symbols or Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA) symbols). A slot may also be a time unit based on numerology.

A slot may include multiple minislots. Each minislot may consist of one or more symbols in the time domain. A minislot may also be called a subslot. A minislot may consist of fewer symbols than a slot. A PDSCH (or PUSCH) transmitted in a time unit larger than a minislot may be called PDSCH (or PUSCH) mapping type A. A PDSCH (or PUSCH) transmitted using a minislot may be called PDSCH (or PUSCH) mapping type B.

Radio frame, subframe, slot, minislot, and symbol all represent time units for transmitting signals. Other names may also be used for radio frame, subframe, slot, minislot, and symbol.

For example, one subframe may be referred to as a transmission time interval (TTI), multiple consecutive subframes may be referred to as a TTI, or one slot or one minislot may be referred to as a TTI. In other words, at least one of the subframe and the TTI may be a subframe (1 ms) in existing LTE, a period shorter than 1 ms (e.g., 1-13 symbols), or a period longer than 1 ms. Note that the unit representing the TTI may be referred to as a slot, minislot, etc. instead of a subframe.

Here, TTI refers to, for example, the smallest time unit for scheduling in wireless communication. For example, in an LTE system, a base station schedules each user terminal by allocating radio resources (such as frequency bandwidth and transmission power that can be used by each user terminal) in TTI units. However, the definition of TTI is not limited to this.

The TTI may be a transmission time unit for a channel-coded data packet (transport block), code block, code word, etc., or may be a processing unit for scheduling, link adaptation, etc. When a TTI is given, the time interval (e.g., the number of symbols) to which the transport block, code block, code word, etc. is actually mapped may be shorter than the TTI.

Note that when one slot or one minislot is referred to as a TTI, one or more TTIs (i.e., one or more slots or one or more minislots) may be the smallest time unit for scheduling. Furthermore, the number of slots (minislots) that make up the smallest time unit for scheduling may be controlled.

A TTI with a time length of 1 ms may be referred to as a regular TTI (TTI in LTE Rel. 8-12), normal TTI, long TTI, regular subframe, normal subframe, long subframe, slot, etc. A TTI shorter than a regular TTI may be referred to as a shortened TTI, short TTI, partial TTI (partial or fractional TTI), shortened subframe, short subframe, minislot, subslot, slot, etc.

Note that a long TTI (e.g., a normal TTI, a subframe, etc.) may be interpreted as a TTI having a time length of more than 1 ms, and a short TTI (e.g., a shortened TTI, etc.) may be interpreted as a TTI having a TTI length shorter than the TTI length of a long TTI and equal to or greater than 1 ms.

A resource block (RB) is a resource allocation unit in the time domain and frequency domain, and may include one or more consecutive subcarriers in the frequency domain. The number of subcarriers included in an RB may be the same regardless of numerology, for example, 12. The number of subcarriers included in an RB may also be determined based on numerology.

Furthermore, the time domain of an RB may include one or more symbols and may be one slot, one minislot, one subframe, or one TTI in length. One TTI, one subframe, etc. may each consist of one or more resource blocks.

In addition, one or more RBs may also be referred to as a physical resource block (PRB), a sub-carrier group (SCG), a resource element group (REG), a PRB pair, an RB pair, etc.

A resource block may also be composed of one or more resource elements (REs). For example, one RE may be a radio resource area of one subcarrier and one symbol.

A Bandwidth Part (BWP) (which may also be referred to as a partial bandwidth) may represent a subset of contiguous common resource blocks (RBs) for a given numerology on a given carrier, where the common RBs may be identified by their index relative to a common reference point for that carrier. PRBs may be defined in a given BWP and numbered within that BWP.

BWPs may include a BWP for UL (UL BWP) and a BWP for DL (DL BWP). One or more BWPs may be configured for a UE within one carrier.

At least one of the configured BWPs may be active, and the UE may not expect to transmit or receive a given signal/channel outside of the active BWP. Note that the terms "cell," "carrier," etc. in this disclosure may be read as "BWP."

The above-described structures of radio frames, subframes, slots, minislots, and symbols are merely examples. For example, the number of subframes included in a radio frame, the number of slots per subframe or radio frame, the number of minislots included in a slot, the number of symbols and RBs included in a slot or minislot, the number of subcarriers included in an RB, as well as the number of symbols within a TTI, symbol length, and cyclic prefix (CP) length can be varied in various ways.

The terms "connected," "coupled," or any variation thereof, refer to any direct or indirect connection or coupling between two or more elements, and may include the presence of one or more intermediate elements between two elements that are "connected" or "coupled" to each other. The coupling or connection between elements may be physical, logical, or a combination thereof. For example, "connected" may be read as "access." As used in this disclosure, two elements may be considered to be "connected" or "coupled" to each other using one or more wires, cables, and/or printed electrical connections, as well as electromagnetic energy having wavelengths in the radio frequency range, microwave range, and optical (both visible and invisible) range, as some non-limiting and non-exhaustive examples.

The reference signal may also be abbreviated as Reference Signal (RS) or may be called a pilot depending on the applicable standard.

As used in this disclosure, the phrase "based on" does not mean "based only on," unless expressly stated otherwise. In other words, the phrase "based on" means both "based only on" and "based at least on."

The "means" in the configuration of each of the above devices may be replaced with "part," "circuit," "device," etc.

As used in this disclosure, any reference to an element using a designation such as "first," "second," etc. does not generally limit the quantity or order of those elements. These designations may be used in this disclosure as a convenient method of distinguishing between two or more elements. Thus, a reference to a first and a second element does not imply that only two elements may be employed therein or that the first element must precede the second element in some way.

When the terms "include," "including," and variations thereof are used in this disclosure, these terms are intended to be inclusive, similar to the term "comprising." Furthermore, when the term "or" is used in this disclosure, it is not intended to be an exclusive or.

In this disclosure, where articles are added by translation, such as a, an, and the in English, this disclosure may include the noun following these articles being plural.

As used in this disclosure, the terms "determining" and "determining" may encompass a wide variety of actions. "Determining" and "determining" may include, for example, judging, calculating, computing, processing, deriving, investigating, looking up, searching, inquiring (e.g., searching a table, database, or other data structure), and ascertaining something that is considered a "determination." Also, "determining" and "determining" may include receiving (e.g., receiving information), transmitting (e.g., sending information), input, output, accessing (e.g., accessing data in memory), and other actions that are considered a "determination." Furthermore, "judgment" and "decision" can include regarding resolving, selecting, choosing, establishing, comparing, etc. as having been "judged" or "decided." In other words, "judgment" and "decision" can include regarding some action as having been "judged" or "decided." Furthermore, "judgment (decision)" can be interpreted as "assuming," "expecting," "considering," etc.

In this disclosure, the term "A and B are different" may mean "A and B are different from each other." The term may also mean "A and B are each different from C." Terms such as "separate" and "combined" may also be interpreted in the same way as "different."

Figure 9 shows an example configuration of vehicle 2001. As shown in Figure 9, vehicle 2001 is equipped with a drive unit 2002, a steering unit 2003, an accelerator pedal 2004, a brake pedal 2005, a shift lever 2006, left and right front wheels 2007, left and right rear wheels 2008, an axle 2009, an electronic control unit 2010, various sensors 2021 to 2029, an information service unit 2012, and a communication module 2013.

The drive unit 2002 is composed of, for example, an engine, a motor, or a hybrid of an engine and a motor.
The steering unit 2003 includes at least a steering wheel (also called a handle) and is configured to steer at least one of the front wheels and the rear wheels based on the operation of the steering wheel operated by the user.
The electronic control unit 2010 is composed of a microprocessor 2031, a memory (ROM, RAM) 2032, and a communication port (IO port) 2033. Signals are input to the electronic control unit 2010 from various sensors 2021 to 2027 provided in the vehicle. The electronic control unit 2010 may also be called an ECU (Electronic Control Unit).

Signals from the various sensors 2021 to 2028 include a current signal from a current sensor 2021 that senses the motor current, a front and rear wheel rotation speed signal obtained by a rotation speed sensor 2022, a front and rear wheel air pressure signal obtained by an air pressure sensor 2023, a vehicle speed signal obtained by a vehicle speed sensor 2024, an acceleration signal obtained by an acceleration sensor 2025, an accelerator pedal depression amount signal obtained by an accelerator pedal sensor 2029, a brake pedal depression amount signal obtained by a brake pedal sensor 2026, a shift lever operation signal obtained by a shift lever sensor 2027, and a detection signal for detecting obstacles, vehicles, pedestrians, etc. obtained by an object detection sensor 2028.

The information service unit 2012 is composed of various devices, such as a car navigation system, audio system, speakers, television, and radio, that provide various types of information such as driving information, traffic information, and entertainment information, as well as one or more ECUs that control these devices. The information service unit 2012 uses information obtained from external devices via the communication module 2013, etc., to provide various types of multimedia information and multimedia services to the occupants of the vehicle 1.

The driving assistance system unit 2030 is composed of various devices that provide functions to prevent accidents and reduce the driver's driving burden, such as millimeter-wave radar, LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging), cameras, positioning locators (e.g., GNSS, etc.), map information (e.g., high-definition (HD) maps, autonomous vehicle (AV) maps, etc.), gyro systems (e.g., IMU (Inertial Measurement Unit), INS (Inertial Navigation System), etc.), AI (Artificial Intelligence) chips, and AI processors, as well as one or more ECUs that control these devices. The driving assistance system unit 2030 also transmits and receives various information via the communication module 2013 to realize driving assistance functions or autonomous driving functions.

The communication module 2013 can communicate with the microprocessor 2031 and components of the vehicle 1 via the communication port. For example, the communication module 2013 transmits and receives data via the communication port 2033 between the drive unit 2002, steering unit 2003, accelerator pedal 2004, brake pedal 2005, shift lever 2006, left and right front wheels 2007, left and right rear wheels 2008, axles 2009, the microprocessor 2031 and memory (ROM, RAM) 2032 in the electronic control unit 2010, and sensors 2021 to 2028, all of which are provided on the vehicle 2001.

The communication module 2013 is a communication device that can be controlled by the microprocessor 2031 of the electronic control unit 2010 and can communicate with an external device. For example, it transmits and receives various information to and from the external device via wireless communication. The communication module 2013 may be located either inside or outside the electronic control unit 2010. The external device may be, for example, a base station, a mobile station, etc.

The communication module 2013 transmits, via wireless communication, current signals from the current sensors input to the electronic control unit 2010 to external devices. The communication module 2013 also transmits, via wireless communication, to external devices, signals input to the electronic control unit 2010, such as front and rear wheel rotation speed signals acquired by the rotation speed sensor 2022, front and rear wheel air pressure signals acquired by the air pressure sensor 2023, vehicle speed signals acquired by the vehicle speed sensor 2024, acceleration signals acquired by the acceleration sensor 2025, accelerator pedal depression amount signals acquired by the accelerator pedal sensor 2029, brake pedal depression amount signals acquired by the brake pedal sensor 2026, shift lever operation signals acquired by the shift lever sensor 2027, and detection signals for detecting obstacles, vehicles, pedestrians, etc. acquired by the object detection sensor 2028.

The communication module 2013 receives various information (traffic information, traffic signal information, vehicle distance information, etc.) transmitted from external devices and displays it on the information service unit 2012 provided in the vehicle. The communication module 2013 also stores the various information received from external devices in memory 2032 that can be used by the microprocessor 2031. Based on the information stored in memory 2032, the microprocessor 2031 may control the drive unit 2002, steering unit 2003, accelerator pedal 2004, brake pedal 2005, shift lever 2006, left and right front wheels 2007, left and right rear wheels 2008, axles 2009, sensors 2021-2028, and the like provided in the vehicle 2001.

Although the present disclosure has been described in detail above, it will be clear to those skilled in the art that the present disclosure is not limited to the embodiments described herein. The present disclosure can be implemented in modified and altered forms without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure as defined by the claims. Therefore, the description of the present disclosure is intended to be illustrative and does not have any limiting meaning on the present disclosure.

10. Wireless communication systems
20 NG-RAN
100 gNB
110 Radio Communication Department
120 RA Executive Department
130 CG Processing Department
140 Control Unit
200 UE
210 Radio Communication Department
220 RA Executive Department
230 SDT processing section
240 Control Unit
1001 processor
1002 memory
1003 Storage
1004 Communication equipment
1005 Input Device
1006 Output Device
1007 Bus
2001 Vehicle
2002 Drive unit
2003 Steering Section
2004 accelerator pedal
2005 brake pedal
2006 Shift Lever
2007 Left and right front wheels
2008 Left and right rear wheels
2009 Axle
2010 Electronic Control Unit
2012 Information Services Department
2013 Communication Module
2021 Current Sensor
2022 RPM Sensor
2023 Air Pressure Sensor
2024 Vehicle speed sensor
2025 Acceleration Sensor
2026 Brake pedal sensor
2027 Shift lever sensor
2028 Object Detection Sensor
2029 Accelerator pedal sensor
2030 Driving Assistance Systems Department
2031 microprocessor
2032 memory (ROM, RAM)
2033 communication port

Claims (4)

a control unit for initiating a random access procedure involving data transmission in an inactive state of a radio resource control layer;
a transmitter that, if the data transmission fails, transmits, to a base station, information indicating a failure of the data transmission in the random access procedure;
A terminal comprising: the transmitting unit transmits information indicating whether the random access procedure has been initiated for the data transmission.
The terminal according to claim 1 . initiating a random access procedure involving data transmission in an inactive state of the radio resource control layer;
If the data transmission fails, transmitting information indicating the failure of the data transmission in the random access procedure to a base station;
A wireless communication method comprising: A wireless communication system including a terminal and a base station,
The terminal
a control unit for initiating a random access procedure involving data transmission in an inactive state of a radio resource control layer;
a transmitter that, if the data transmission fails, transmits, to the base station, information indicating a failure of the data transmission in the random access procedure;
Equipped with
Wireless communication system.