IP Library Granted Patent US 11,792,630
Granted Patent B2
US 11,792,630 · App. 17/830,880 · Granted Oct 17, 2023

Uplink transmission in TDD supporting feNB-IoT operation

Inventors: Qiaoyang Ye (Fremont, CA); Debdeep Chatterjee (San Jose, CA)
Assignee: Apple Inc.
H04W4/80H04B1/713H04L5/0094H04L5/1469H04W24/08H04W72/0446H04W72/23H04W74/0833
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 11,792,630
App. No.
17/830,880
Granted
Oct 17, 2023
Kind
B2
Abstract

Embodiments of a User Equipment (UE), generation Node-B (gNB) and methods of communication are generally described herein. The UE may receive a narrowband physical downlink control channel (NPDCCH) that includes an uplink scheduling parameter. The UE may determine an uplink scheduling delay for transmission of a narrowband physical uplink shared channel (NPUSCH) in accordance with time-division duplexing (TDD). The uplink scheduling delay may be based on a sum of a predetermined first number of subframes and a variable second number of subframes. The second number of subframes may be based on a window of variable size that starts when the first number of subframes has elapsed since reception of the NPDCCH, and ends when a number of uplink subframes has elapsed since the start of the window. The number of uplink subframes may be indicated by the uplink scheduling parameter.

Claims (70)

1. An apparatus, comprising:

a memory; and

at least one processor in communication with the memory and configured to:

decode a system information block type-1 narrowband (SIB1-NB) that indicates a subframe configuration for a radio frame configured for time-division duplexing (TDD) operation; and

encode, for transmission, a narrowband physical random access channel (NPRACH) preamble based on the subframe configuration, wherein the NPRACH preamble is mapped to multiple symbol groups, wherein each symbol group includes contiguous symbol periods and a cyclic prefix (CP) portion, and wherein a number of symbol periods per symbol group depends, at least partly, on a number of contiguous uplink subframes in the subframe configuration.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 ,

wherein the subframe configuration includes one or more downlink subframes and one or more uplink subframes.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 ,

wherein the symbol groups are continuous in time in the uplink subframes.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 ,

wherein a number of symbols per symbol group is at least one of:

one symbol per symbol group;

two symbols per symbol group;

three symbols per symbol group; or

four symbols per symbol group.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 ,

wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

select an NPRACH format from candidate NPRACH formats based, at least partly, on the subframe configuration indicated in the SIB 1-NB, wherein each NPRACH format includes a number of symbol groups per NPRACH preamble and the number of symbol periods per symbol group.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 ,

wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

encode the NPRACH preamble for transmission in accordance with frequency hopping between symbol groups.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 ,

wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

encode the NPRACH preamble in a first symbol group, a second symbol group, a third symbol group, and a fourth symbol group; and

encode the NPRACH preamble in accordance with frequency hopping by a first frequency spacing between the first symbol group and the second symbol group and a second frequency spacing between the third symbol group and the fourth symbol group, wherein the first frequency spacing is one subcarrier, and wherein the second frequency spacing is six subcarriers.

8. A user equipment (UE), comprising:

at least one antenna;

at least one radio in communication with the antenna; and

at least one processor in communication with the at least one radio and configured to cause the UE to:

decode a system information block type-1 narrowband (SIB1-NB) that indicates a subframe configuration for a radio frame configured for time-division duplexing (TDD) operation; and

encode, for transmission, a narrowband physical random access channel (NPRACH) preamble, wherein the NPRACH preamble is mapped to multiple symbol groups, and wherein a number of symbol periods per symbol group depends, at least partly, on a number of contiguous uplink subframes in the subframe configuration.

9. The UE of claim 8 ,

wherein the subframe configuration includes one or more downlink subframes and one or more uplink subframes.

10. The UE of claim 8 ,

wherein each symbol group includes contiguous symbol periods and a cyclic prefix (CP) portion.

11. The UE of claim 8 ,

wherein the symbol groups are continuous in time in the uplink subframes.

12. The UE of claim 8 ,

wherein the at least one processor is further configured to cause the UE to:

select an NPRACH format from candidate NPRACH formats based, at least partly, on the subframe configuration indicated in the SIB 1-NB, wherein each NPRACH format includes a number of symbol groups per NPRACH preamble and the number of symbol periods per symbol group.

13. The UE of claim 8 ,

wherein the at least one processor is further configured to cause the UE to:

encode the NPRACH preamble for transmission in accordance with frequency hopping between symbol groups.

14. The UE of claim 8 ,

wherein a number of symbols per symbol group is at least one of:

one symbol per symbol group;

two symbols per symbol group;

three symbols per symbol group; or

four symbols per symbol group.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing program instructions executable by one or more processors to cause a user equipment (UE) to:

decode a system information block type-1 narrowband (SIB1-NB) that indicates a subframe configuration for a radio frame configured for time-division duplexing (TDD) operation, wherein the subframe configuration includes one or more downlink subframes and one or more uplink subframes; and

encode, for transmission, a narrowband physical random access channel (NPRACH) preamble, wherein the NPRACH preamble is mapped to multiple symbol groups, wherein each symbol group includes contiguous symbol periods and a cyclic prefix (CP) portion, and wherein a number of symbol periods per symbol group depends, at least partly, on a number of contiguous uplink subframes in the subframe configuration.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 ,

wherein the symbol groups are continuous in time in the uplink subframes.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 ,

wherein a number of symbols per symbol group is at least one of:

one symbol per symbol group;

two symbols per symbol group;

three symbols per symbol group; or

four symbols per symbol group.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 ,

wherein the program instructions are further executable by the one or more processors to cause the UE to:

select an NPRACH format from candidate NPRACH formats based, at least partly, on the subframe configuration indicated in the SIB 1-NB, wherein each NPRACH format includes a number of symbol groups per NPRACH preamble and the number of symbol periods per symbol group.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 ,

wherein the program instructions are further executable by the one or more processors to cause the UE to:

encode the NPRACH preamble for transmission in accordance with frequency hopping between symbol groups.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 ,

wherein the program instructions are further executable by the one or more processors to cause the UE to:

encode the NPRACH preamble in a first symbol group, a second symbol group, a third symbol group, and a fourth symbol group; and

encode the NPRACH preamble in accordance with frequency hopping by a first frequency spacing between the first symbol group and the second symbol group and a second frequency spacing between the third symbol group and the fourth symbol group, wherein the first frequency spacing is one subcarrier, and wherein the second frequency spacing is six subcarriers.