IP Library Granted Patent US 12684510
Granted Patent B2
US 12684510 · App. 18/306,150 · Granted Jul 14, 2026

Non-terrestrial network communications

Inventors: Ayan Sengupta (San Diego, CA); Alberto Rico Alvarino (San Diego, CA); Bharat Shrestha (San Diego, CA)
Assignee: QUALCOMM Incorporated
H04W56/0045H04W84/06
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12684510
App. No.
18/306,150
Granted
Jul 14, 2026
Kind
B2
Abstract

Various aspects of the present disclosure generally relate to wireless communication. In some aspects, a user equipment (UE) may obtain a first value associated with transmitting an uplink communication that corresponds to a downlink communication received in a non-terrestrial network (NTN). The UE may compare the first value to a second value. The UE may selectively transmit the uplink communication, or selectively process the downlink communication, based at least in part on a result of comparing the first value to the second value. Numerous other aspects are described.

Claims (50)

1 . An apparatus for wireless communication at a user equipment (UE), comprising:

one or more memories; and

one or more processors, coupled to the one or more memories, configured to:

obtain a first value associated with transmitting an uplink communication that corresponds to a downlink communication received in a non-terrestrial network (NTN), wherein the first value is a first processing time that is based at least in part on an NTN scheduling offset, a scheduling offset associated with the downlink communication, and an NTN timing advance value;

obtain a second value comprising a minimum processing time needed for processing communications in a terrestrial network based at least in part on a difference of a minimum configured scheduling offset of a plurality of configured scheduling offsets specific to the NTN for the downlink communication and a maximum processing time needed for processing communications in the terrestrial network;

compare, by the UE, the first value to the second value; and

selectively transmit the uplink communication, or selectively process the downlink communication, based at least in part on a result of comparing the first value to the second value.

2 . The apparatus of claim 1 ,

wherein the one or more processors, to obtain the first value, are configured to calculate the first value based at least in part on one or more configured values.

3 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first value corresponds to a time between receiving the downlink communication and transmitting the uplink communication, and wherein the second value corresponds to the minimum processing time for communications in the terrestrial network.

4 . The apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the one or more processors, to selectively transmit the uplink communication based at least in part on the result of comparing the first value to the second value, are configured to:

transmit the uplink communication based at least in part on the first processing time being greater than or equal to the minimum processing time; or

refrain from transmitting the uplink communication, or refrain from processing the downlink communication, based at least in part on the first processing time being less than the minimum processing time.

5 . The apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to initiate a radio link failure, transition to an idle state, or wait to be released from a connection by a network node based at least in part on the first processing time being less than the minimum processing time.

6 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the UE is configured with the scheduling offset associated with the downlink communication from among a plurality of scheduling offsets, and wherein at least a portion of the plurality of scheduling offsets are specific to NTN.

7 . The apparatus of claim 6 ,

wherein the one or more processors are further configured to select the scheduling offset associated with the downlink communication from the plurality of scheduling offsets such that the first value is greater than or equal to the second value.

8 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the second value is a minimum physical time for the UE to process the downlink communication.

9 . The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the one or more processors, to selectively transmit the uplink communication based at least in part on the result of comparing the first value to the second value, are configured to:

transmit the uplink communication based at least in part on the first value being greater than or equal to the minimum physical time; or

refrain from transmitting the uplink communication, or refrain from processing the downlink communication, based at least in part on the first value being less than the minimum physical time.

10 . The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to initiate a radio link failure, transition to an idle state, or wait to be released from a connection by a network node based at least in part on the first value being less than the minimum physical time.

11 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors, to selectively transmit the uplink communication, are configured to refrain from transmitting a portion of the uplink communication that occurs before a minimum processing time for communications associated with the terrestrial network.

12 . The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the one or more processors, to refrain from transmitting the portion of the uplink communication, are configured to drop a slot, a symbol, a subframe, a repetition unit, or a repetition associated with the uplink communication.

13 . The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the one or more processors, to refrain from transmitting the portion of the uplink communication, are configured to transmit the portion of the uplink communication after the minimum processing time for communications associated with the terrestrial network.

14 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the downlink communication is a narrowband physical downlink shared channel (NPDSCH) communication, the uplink communication is a hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK), and the first value is based at least in part on a scheduling offset associated with the NPDSCH communication and the HARQ-ACK.

15 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the downlink communication is a narrowband physical downlink control channel (NPDCCH) communication, the uplink communication is a narrowband physical uplink shared channel (NPUSCH) communication, and the first value is based at least in part on a scheduling offset associated with the NPDCCH communication and the NPUSCH communication.

16 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the downlink communication is a narrowband physical downlink control channel (NPDCCH) communication, the uplink communication is a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH)-ordered narrowband physical random access channel (NPRACH) communication, and the first value is based at least in part on a scheduling offset that is associated with the NPDCCH communication and the PDCCH-ordered NPRACH communication.

17 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the downlink communication is a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) communication, the uplink communication is a hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK), and the first value is based at least in part on a scheduling offset associated with the PDSCH communication and the HARQ-ACK.

18 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the downlink communication is a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) communication, the uplink communication is a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) communication, and the first value is based at least in part on a scheduling offset associated with the PDCCH communication and the PUSCH communication.

19 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the downlink communication is a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) communication, the uplink communication is a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH)-ordered physical random access channel (PRACH) communication, and the first value is based at least in part on a scheduling offset that is associated with the PDCCH communication and the PDCCH-ordered PRACH communication.

20 . A method of wireless communication performed by a user equipment (UE), comprising:

obtaining a first value associated with transmitting an uplink communication that corresponds to a downlink communication received in a non-terrestrial network (NTN), wherein the first value is a first processing time that is based at least in part on an NTN scheduling offset, a scheduling offset associated with the downlink communication, and an NTN timing advance value;

obtaining a second value comprising a minimum processing time needed for processing communications in a terrestrial network based at least in part on a difference of a minimum configured scheduling offset of a plurality of configured scheduling offsets specific to the NTN for the downlink communication and a maximum processing time needed for processing communications in the terrestrial network;

comparing, by the UE, the first value to the second value; and

selectively transmitting the uplink communication, or selectively processing the downlink communication, based at least in part on a result of comparing the first value to the second value.

21 . The method of claim 20 , wherein obtaining the first value comprises calculating the first value based at least in part on one or more configured values.

22 . The method of claim 20 , wherein the first value corresponds to a time between receiving the downlink communication and transmitting the uplink communication, and wherein the second value corresponds to a minimum processing time for communications in the terrestrial network.

23 . The method of claim 22 , wherein selectively transmitting the uplink communication based at least in part on the result of comparing the first value to the second value comprises:

transmitting the uplink communication based at least in part on the first processing time being greater than or equal to the minimum processing time; or

refraining from transmitting the uplink communication, or refraining from processing the downlink communication, based at least in part on the first processing time being less than the minimum processing time.

24 . The method of claim 22 , further comprising initiating a radio link failure, transitioning to an idle state, or waiting to be released from a connection by a network node based at least in part on the first processing time being less than the minimum processing time.

25 . The method of claim 20 , wherein the UE is configured with the scheduling offset associated with the downlink communication from among a plurality of scheduling offsets, and wherein at least a portion of the plurality of scheduling offsets are specific to NTN.

26 . The method of claim 25 , further comprising selecting the scheduling offset associated with the downlink communication from the plurality of scheduling offsets such that the first value is greater than or equal to the second value.

27 . The method of claim 20 , wherein the second value is a minimum physical time for the UE to process the downlink communication.

28 . The method of claim 27 , wherein selectively transmitting the uplink communication based at least in part on the result of comparing the first value to the second value comprises:

transmitting the uplink communication based at least in part on the first value being greater than or equal to the minimum physical time; or

refraining from transmitting the uplink communication, or refraining from processing the downlink communication, based at least in part on the first value being less than the minimum physical time.

29 . The method of claim 27 , further comprising initiating a radio link failure, transitioning to an idle state, or waiting to be released from a connection by a network node based at least in part on the first value being less than the minimum physical time.

30 . The method of claim 20 , wherein selectively transmitting the uplink communication comprises refraining from transmitting a portion of the uplink communication that occurs before a minimum processing time for communications associated with the terrestrial network.