Channel access sharing during a random access procedure for NR-unlicensed networks

1. An apparatus to be used in a user equipment (UE), the apparatus comprising:

processing circuitry, wherein to configure the UE for a 4-step contention-based random access (CBRA) procedure with a next generation Node-B (gNB) in a 5G-New Radio (NR) communication network, the processing circuitry is to:

during a first step of the 4-step CBRA procedure, encode a first message (Msg1) for transmission to the gNB, the first message including a random access preamble communicated on a physical random access channel (PRACH);

during a second step of the 4-step CBRA procedure, decode a second message (Msg2) received from the gNB in response to the first message, the Msg2 including a random access response (RAR) with a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), the PDCCH including a scheduled uplink (UL) grant with UL resources and an indication of a channel access type associated with an UL transmission using the UL grant, the channel access type indicating whether shared spectrum channel access is enabled for the UL transmission;

during a third step of the 4-step CBRA procedure, encode a third message (Msg3) for a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmission to the gNB using the scheduled UL grant, the PUSCH transmission using shared spectrum when the shared spectrum channel access is enabled, and the PUSCH transmission using non-shared spectrum sensed by the UE to be idle during a channel access procedure when the shared spectrum channel access is not enabled; and

during a fourth step of the 4-step CBRA procedure, decode a fourth message (Msg4) received from the gNB, the Msg4 associated with contention resolution; and

a memory coupled to the processing circuitry and configured to store the RAR.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the Msg2 includes a RAR grant field with the scheduled UL grant.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the scheduled UL grant within the RAR grant field includes a PUSCH frequency resource allocation and a PUSCH time resource allocation for the transmission of Msg3.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the RAR grant field includes the indication of the channel access type.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the indication of the channel access type is 2 bits, and wherein the PUSCH frequency resource allocation is reduced from 14 bits to 12 bits when the RAR grant field includes the indication of the channel access type.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the channel access procedure is one of a Category 1 Listen-Before-Talk (LBT) procedure, a Category 2 LBT procedure, and a Category 4 LBT procedure.

7. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the RAR includes an UL grant content field with the scheduled UL resources, and wherein the UL grant content field comprises an LBT type field or a channel access and CP extension type field indicating a type of the LBT procedure.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the LBT type field or the channel access and CP extension type field is 2 bits.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the RAR is a fallback RAR informing the UE to switch from a 2-step CBRA to the 4-step CBRA procedure.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising transceiver circuitry coupled to the processing circuitry; and, one or more antennas coupled to the transceiver circuitry.

11. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium that stores instructions for execution by one or more processors of a next generation Node-B (gNB), the instructions to configure the gNB for a 4-step contention-based random access (CBRA) procedure with a user equipment (UE) in a 5G-New Radio (NR) communication network, and to cause the gNB to:

during a first step of the 4-step CBRA procedure, decode a first message (Msg1) received from the UE, the first message including a random access preamble communicated on a physical random access channel (PRACH);

during a second step of the 4-step CBRA procedure, encode a second message (Msg2) for transmission to the UE in response to the first message, the Msg2 including a random access response (RAR) with a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), the PDCCH including a scheduled uplink (UL) grant with UL resources and an indication of a channel access type associated with an UL transmission using the UL grant, the channel access type indicating whether shared spectrum channel access is enabled for the UL transmission;

during a third step of the 4-step CBRA procedure, decode a third message (Msg3) received via a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmission from the UE using the scheduled UL resources, the PUSCH transmission using shared spectrum when the shared spectrum channel access is enabled, and the PUSCH transmission using non-shared spectrum sensed by the UE to be idle during a channel access procedure when the shared spectrum channel access is not enabled; and

during a fourth step of the 4-step CBRA procedure, encode a fourth message (Msg4) for transmission to the UE, the Msg4 associated with contention resolution.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 11 , wherein the Msg2 includes a RAR grant field with the UL grant.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 12 , wherein the UL grant within the RAR grant field includes a PUSCH frequency resource allocation and a PUSCH time resource allocation for the transmission of Msg3.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13 , wherein the RAR grant field includes the indication of the channel access type.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 14 , wherein the indication of the channel access type is 2 bits, and wherein the PUSCH frequency resource allocation is reduced from 14 bits to 12 bits when the RAR grant field includes the indication of the channel access type.

16. An apparatus to be used in a next generation Node-B (gNB), the apparatus comprising:

at least two antennas;

front-end circuitry coupled to the at least two antennas; and

baseband processing circuitry coupled to the front-end circuitry, wherein to configure the gNB for a 4-step contention-based random access (CBRA) procedure with a user equipment (UE) in a 5G-New Radio (NR) communication network, the baseband processing circuitry is to:

during a first step of the 4-step CBRA procedure, decode a first message (Msg1) received from the UE, the first message including a random access preamble communicated on a physical random access channel (PRACH);

during a second step of the 4-step CBRA procedure, encode a second message (Msg2) for transmission to the UE in response to the first message, the Msg2 including a random access response (RAR) with a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), the PDCCH including a scheduled uplink (UL) grant with UL resources and an indication of a channel access type associated with an UL transmission using the UL grant, the channel access type indicating whether shared spectrum channel access is enabled for the UL transmission;

during a third step of the 4-step CBRA procedure, decode a third message (Msg3) received via a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmission from the UE using the scheduled UL resources, the PUSCH transmission using shared spectrum when the shared spectrum channel access is enabled, and the PUSCH transmission using non-shared spectrum sensed by the UE to be idle during a channel access procedure when the shared spectrum channel access is not enabled; and

during a fourth step of the 4-step CBRA procedure, encode a fourth message (Msg4) for transmission to the UE, the Msg4 associated with contention resolution.

17. The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the Msg2 includes a RAR grant field with the scheduled UL grant.

18. The apparatus of claim 17 , wherein the scheduled UL grant within the RAR grant field includes a PUSCH frequency resource allocation and a PUSCH time resource allocation for the transmission of Msg3.

19. The apparatus of claim 18 , wherein the RAR grant field includes the indication of the channel access type.

20. The apparatus of claim 19 , wherein the indication of the channel access type is 2 bits, and wherein the PUSCH frequency resource allocation is reduced from 14 bits to 12 bits when the RAR grant field includes the indication of the channel access type.