Method and radio communication equipment for signaling a physical layer profile

1. A method for a serving cell for communicating with a user equipment (UE), the method comprising:

transmitting, by the serving cell, a radio resource control (RRC) message to the UE, the RRC message comprising a plurality of sets of physical layer parameters and a plurality of radio access network (RAN) profile indices corresponding to the plurality of sets of physical layer parameters; and

transmitting, by the serving cell, downlink control information (DCI) to the UE indicating an allocated resource block (RB) in a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCI-I) for the UE and a RAN profile index, wherein the UE decodes the allocated RB using a set of physical layer parameters in the plurality of sets of physical layer parameters that corresponds to the transmitted RAN profile index.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

performing a RAN profile indexing operation to define the plurality of sets of physical layer parameters; and

assigning the plurality of RAN profile indices to the plurality of sets of physical layer parameters based on the RAN profile indexing operation.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving an acknowledgement message from the UE indicating that the UE supports the plurality of sets of physical layer parameters corresponding to all of the plurality of RAN profile indices.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

reconfiguring the plurality of sets of physical layer parameters and the plurality of RAN profile indices; and

transmitting a second RRC message to the UE indicating changes to the plurality of sets of physical layer parameters and the plurality of RAN profile indices after the reconfiguration,

wherein the changes to the plurality of sets of physical layer parameters and the plurality of RAN profile indices comprise at least one of adding a new RAN profile index for a new set of physical layer parameters, removing an existing RAN profile index and an associated set of physical layer parameters, modifying one of the plurality of sets of physical layer parameters, and canceling all of the plurality of RAN profile indices and the plurality of sets of physical layer parameters.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

counting a predefined time interval after transmitting the RRC message to the UE, wherein during the predefined time interval, the serving cell maintains the plurality of sets of physical layer parameters and the plurality of RAN profile indices.

6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising:

reconfiguring, after an expiration of the predefined time interval, the plurality of sets of physical layer parameters and the plurality of RAN profile indices; and

transmitting a second RRC message to the UE indicating the reconfigured plurality of sets of physical layer parameters and the plurality of RAN profile indices.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising, before transmitting the RRC message to the UE, receiving, from the UE, a request for physical layer configuration.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of sets of physical layer parameters comprises at least one of a subcarrier spacing value, a channel coding mode, a cyclic prefix length value, a transmission time interval (TTI) value, and a multiplexing mode.

9. A base station (BS), comprising:

one or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing computer-executable instructions; and

at least one processor coupled to the one or more non-transitory computer-readable media and configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to:

transmit a radio resource control (RRC) message to the UE, the RRC message comprising a plurality of sets of physical layer parameters and a plurality of radio access network (RAN) profile indices corresponding to the plurality of sets of physical layer parameters; and

transmit downlink control infoti talon (DCI) to the UE indicating an allocated resource block (RB) in a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) for the UE and a RAN profile index, wherein the UE decodes the allocated RB using a set of physical layer parameters in the plurality of sets of physical layer parameters that corresponds to the transmitted RAN profile index.

10. The BS of claim 9 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to:

perform a RAN profile indexing operation to define the plurally of sets of physical layer parameters; and

assign the plurality of RAN profile indices to the plurality of sets of physical layer parameters based on the RAN profile indexing operation.

11. The BS of claim 9 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to:

receive an acknowledgement message from the UE indicating that the UE supports the plurality of sets of physical layer parameters corresponding to all of the plurality of RAN profile indices.

12. The BS of claim 9 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to:

reconfigure the plurality of sets of physical layer parameters and the plurality of RAN profile indices; and

transmit a second RRC message to the UE indicating changes to the plurality of sets of physical layer parameters and the plurality of RAN profile indices after the reconfiguration,

wherein the changes to the plurality of sets of physical layer parameters and the plurality of RAN profile indices comprise at least one of adding a new RAN profile index for a new set of physical layer parameters, removing an existing RAN profile index and an associated set of physical layer parameters, modifying one of the plurality of sets of physical layer parameters, and canceling all of the plurality of RAN profile indices and the plurality of sets of physical layer parameters.

13. The BS of claim 9 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to:

count a predefined time interval after transmitting the RRC message to the UE, wherein during the predefined time interval, the serving cell maintains the plurality of sets of physical layer parameters and the plurality of RAN profile indices.

14. The BS of claim 13 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to:

reconfigure, after an expiration of the predefined time interval, the plurality of sets of physical layer parameters and the plurality of RAN profile indices; and

transmit a second RRC message to the UE indicating the reconfigured plurality of sets of physical layer parameters and the plurality of RAN profile indices.

15. The BS of claim 9 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to, before transmitting the RRC message to the UE, receive, from the UE, a request for physical layer configuration.

16. The BS of claim 9 , wherein each of the plurality of sets of physical layer parameters comprises at least one of a subcarrier spacing value, a channel coding mode, a cyclic prefix length value, a transmission time interval (TTI) value, and a multiplexing mode.