Granted Patent B2

US 12,413,355 · App. 18/945,353 · Granted Sep 9, 2025

Inventors: Karol Schober (Helsinki, FI); Kari Juhani Hooli (Oulu, FI); Esa Tapani Tiirola (Oulu, FI); Sami-Jukka Hakola (Kempele, FI)

Assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy

H04L5/0042H04L5/0007

Abstract

Claims (54)

1. A method comprising:

determining, by a user equipment in a wireless network, a starting physical resource block of a common physical resource block grid that is associated with a wideband channel, wherein a plurality of bandwidth parts are provided within the common physical resource block grid, each bandwidth part having a bandwidth that is less than the bandwidth of the wideband channel;

determining, by the user equipment, a wideband channel guard band for the wideband channel, the wideband channel guard band provided between a lowest frequency of the wideband channel and a first usable physical resource block of the common physical resource block grid;

determining, by the user equipment for at least one bandwidth part of the plurality of bandwidth parts, a bandwidth part-specific physical resource block grid that is a subset of the common physical resource block grid;

wherein the determining, by the user equipment for at least one bandwidth part of the plurality of bandwidth parts, the bandwidth part-specific physical resource block grid comprises determining at least a lower edge or a lowest-frequency physical resource block of the bandwidth part-specific physical resource block grid for the at least one bandwidth part; and

wherein the determining the at least a lower edge or a lowest-frequency physical resource block of the bandwidth part-specific physical resource block grid for the at least one bandwidth part comprises determining a first full physical resource block of the common physical resource block grid that fulfills a minimum guard band requirement for the at least one bandwidth part.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first usable physical resource block of the common physical resource block grid is a frequency offset or carrier offset from the starting physical resource block of the common physical resource block grid.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the starting physical resource block of a common physical resource block grid is determined based on an absolute frequency or a relative frequency that is known by the user equipment or received in a message or signal by the user equipment from a base station.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining, by the user equipment, a wideband channel guard band for the wideband channel comprises:

receiving, by the user equipment from a base station, information indicating the wideband channel guard band provided between the lowest frequency of the wideband channel and the first usable physical resource block of the common physical resource block grid.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining, by the user equipment for at least one bandwidth part of the plurality of bandwidth parts, the bandwidth part-specific physical resource block grid comprises:

determining, by the user equipment, the bandwidth part-specific physical resource block grid for the at least one bandwidth part, for a current channel occupancy time; and

wherein the at least one bandwidth part comprises a subset of sub-bands defined by the wideband channel, wherein the at least one bandwidth part is used, by the user equipment, for reception of data or control information during the current channel occupancy time.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining, by the user equipment, a minimum guard band requirement for the at least one bandwidth part based on a subcarrier spacing and the bandwidth of the at least one bandwidth part.

7. A user equipment comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory including computer program code;

the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the user equipment at least to:

determine, by the user equipment in a wireless network, a starting physical resource block of a common physical resource block grid that is associated with a wideband channel, wherein a plurality of bandwidth parts is provided within the common physical resource block grid, each bandwidth part having a bandwidth that is less than the bandwidth of the wideband channel;

determine, by the user equipment, a wideband channel guard band for the wideband channel, the wideband channel guard band provided between a lowest frequency of the wideband channel and a first usable physical resource block of the common physical resource block grid;

determine, by the user equipment for at least one bandwidth part of the plurality of bandwidth parts, a bandwidth part-specific physical resource block grid that is a subset of the common physical resource block grid;

wherein causing the user equipment to determine, by the user equipment for at least one bandwidth part of the plurality of bandwidth parts, the bandwidth part-specific physical resource block grid comprises causing the user equipment to determine at least a lower edge or a lowest-frequency physical resource block of the bandwidth part-specific physical resource block grid for the at least one bandwidth part; and

wherein causing the user equipment to determine the at least a lower edge or a lowest-frequency physical resource block of the bandwidth part-specific physical resource block grid for the at least one bandwidth part comprises causing the user equipment to determine a first full physical resource block of the common physical resource block grid that fulfills a minimum guard band requirement for the at least one bandwidth part.

8. The user equipment of claim 7 , wherein the first usable physical resource block of the common physical resource block grid is a frequency offset or carrier offset from the starting physical resource block of the common physical resource block grid.

9. The user equipment of claim 7 , wherein the starting physical resource block of a common physical resource block grid is determined based on an absolute frequency or a relative frequency that is known by the user equipment or received in a message or signal by the user equipment from a base station.

10. The user equipment of claim 7 , wherein the plurality of bandwidth parts comprises:

at least a first bandwidth part that is temporarily available for use by the user equipment based on a downlink transmission, detected by the user equipment, on the at least first bandwidth part; and

at least a second bandwidth part that is unavailable for use by the user equipment based on an absence of a downlink transmission on one or more sub-bands of the at least first bandwidth part.

11. The user equipment of claim 7 , wherein the user equipment is caused to receive control information from a base station indicating one or more configured bandwidth parts that may be used by the user equipment, wherein each bandwidth part includes one or more sub-channels, wherein the user equipment is further caused to perform the following:

perform a clear channel assessment on one or more sub-channels of one or more of the configured bandwidth parts; and

select a bandwidth part that is temporarily available for use, of the one or more configured bandwidth parts, based on a positive result of the clear channel assessment of all of one or sub-channels of the selected bandwidth part.

12. The user equipment of claim 7 , wherein:

the wideband channel comprises a plurality of 20 MHz sub-bands;

the user equipment further configured to:

perform, by the user equipment, a clear channel assessment on sub-band(s) of one or more of the bandwidth parts before transmitting via the bandwidth part, wherein the clear channel assessment is performed per sub-band.

13. The user equipment of claim 7 , wherein causing the user equipment to determine, by the user equipment for at least one bandwidth part of the plurality of bandwidth parts, the bandwidth part-specific physical resource block grid comprises the user equipment to:

determine, by the user equipment, the bandwidth part-specific physical resource block grid for the at least one bandwidth part, for a current channel occupancy time; and

wherein the at least one bandwidth part contains a subset of sub-bands defined by the wideband channel, wherein the at least one bandwidth part is used, by the user equipment, for reception of data or control information during the current channel occupancy time.

14. The user equipment of claim 7 , wherein causing the apparatus to determine, by the user equipment, a wideband channel guard band for the wideband channel comprises causing the apparatus to:

receive, by the user equipment from a base station, information indicating the wideband channel guard band provided between the lowest frequency of the wideband channel and the first usable physical resource block of the common physical resource block grid.

15. The user equipment of claim 7 , further causing the user equipment to:

determine, by the user equipment, a minimum guard band requirement for the at least one bandwidth part based on a subcarrier spacing and the bandwidth of the at least one bandwidth part.

16. An user equipment comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory including computer program code;

the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the user equipment at least to:

determine, by the user equipment in a wireless network, a starting physical resource block of a common physical resource block grid that is associated with a wideband channel, wherein a plurality of bandwidth parts is provided within the common physical resource block grid, each bandwidth part having a bandwidth that is less than the bandwidth of the wideband channel;

determine, by the user equipment, a wideband channel guard band for the wideband channel, the wideband channel guard band provided between a lowest frequency of the wideband channel and a first usable physical resource block of the common physical resource block grid;

determine, by the user equipment for at least one bandwidth part of the plurality of bandwidth parts, a bandwidth part-specific physical resource block grid that is a subset of the common physical resource block grid;

wherein the plurality of bandwidth parts comprises:

at least a first bandwidth part that is temporarily available for use by the user equipment based on a downlink transmission, detected by the user equipment, on the at least first bandwidth part; and

at least a second bandwidth part that is unavailable for use by the user equipment based on an absence of a downlink transmission on one or more sub-bands of the at least first bandwidth part; and

wherein causing the user equipment to determine, by the user equipment for at least one bandwidth part of the plurality of bandwidth parts, the bandwidth part-specific physical resource block grid comprises causing the user equipment to determine a first full physical resource block of the common physical resource block grid that fulfills a minimum guard band requirement for the at least one bandwidth part.

Assignments (1)

Continuity (3)

References Cited (41)