Granted Patent B2

US 12,432,677 · App. 17/765,463 · Granted Sep 30, 2025

Inventors: Haitong Sun (Cupertino, CA); Dawei Zhang (Saratoga, CA); Wei Zeng (Saratoga, CA); Hong He (San Jose, CA); Huaning Niu (San Jose, CA); Weidong Yang (Beijing, CN); Oghenekome Oteri (San Diego, CA); Sigen Ye (San Diego, CA); Chunhai Yao (Beijing, CN); Chunxuan Ye (San Diego, CA)

Assignee: Apple Inc.

H04W56/0045H04W72/12H04W72/232H04W84/16

Abstract

Claims (38)

1. An apparatus, comprising:

one or more memories configured to store instructions; and

one or more processors coupled to the one or more memories, and when executing the instructions, configured to:

schedule, for a user equipment (UE) in response to an uplink transmission request, an uplink transmission using one or more subframes ranging from a first uplink subframe to a last uplink subframe;

determine a timing advance (TA) indicating an amount of subframes of a propagation time delay between the UE and a base station (BS), wherein the TA is determined in response to a TA update reported by the UE, the TA update reporting being triggered based on a change in the TA of one subframe or more; and

schedule a downlink transmission, wherein the downlink transmission is refrained from being scheduled concurrently with the uplink transmission for a specified number of subframes, based on the TA, the first uplink subframe, and the last uplink subframe.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the TA is calculated from a UE location, a serving satellite location, and a BS location, and wherein the UE location is reported to the BS by the UE.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein, when the change of the TA is less than one subframe, the TA is estimated from a previously stored TA and a TA drift rate received from the UE.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the change is configured for the UE.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the change is one subframe.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 ,

wherein the downlink transmission is scheduled to be refrained from subframes ranging from TA plus one or more subframes before the first uplink subframe to TA minus one or more subframes before the last uplink subframe.

7. An apparatus, comprising:

one or more memories configured to store instructions; and

one or more processors coupled to the one or more memories, and when executing the instructions, configured to:

determine a timing advance (TA) related information, the TA related information indicating an amount of subframes of a propagation time delay between a user equipment (UE) and a timing reference point;

determine whether a TA updating criterion is met, the TA updating criterion comprises a change in the TA related information being one subframe or more; and

send the TA related information to a base station (BS) based on the TA updating criterion being satisfied.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the TA updating criterion comprises the TA related information being more than one subframe.

9. The apparatus of claim 7 ,

wherein the TA related information further comprises a location of the UE; and

wherein the UE does not update the BS the location of the UE unless the TA updating criterion is met.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the one or more processors are configured to send a velocity of the UE to the BS when sending the location of the UE.

11. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the one or more processors are configured to report the TA related information to the BS with a periodicity, wherein the periodicity is configured by the BS and broadcasted via SIB or RRC configuration.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:

sending, via a non-terrestrial equipment, an uplink transmission using one or more subframes ranging from a first uplink subframe to a last uplink subframe,

wherein a downlink transmission is not scheduled using subframes ranging from TA plus one or more subframes ahead of the first uplink subframe to TA minus one or more subframes ahead of the last uplink subframe.

13. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the one or more processors are configured to report the TA related information to the BS and is not updated by the UE unless responsive to a TA updating request from the BS.

14. A method, comprising:

scheduling, for a user equipment (UE) via a non-terrestrial equipment, an uplink transmission using one or more subframes ranging from a first uplink subframe to a last uplink subframe; and

receive from the UE, a timing advance (TA) update for updating a TA indicating a propagation time delay between the UE and a timing reference point, wherein the TA update is triggered based on a change in the TA of one subframe or more.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the TA is estimated from a previously stored TA unless the TA update is received.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the TA update is triggered based on the change in the TA being more than one subframe.

17. The method of claim 14 , wherein the TA is determined based on a UE location and a location of the non-terrestrial equipment.

18. The method of claim 14 , wherein the timing reference point is a base station.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein a downlink transmission is not scheduled concurrently with the uplink transmission for a specified number of subframes, based on the TA, the first uplink subframe, and the last uplink subframe.

20. The method of claim 18 ,

wherein a downlink transmission is scheduled to be refrained from subframes ranging from TA plus one or more subframes before the first uplink subframe to TA minus one or more subframes before the last uplink subframe.

Assignments (1)

Continuity (1)

References Cited (20)