Granted Patent B2

US 12,568,456 · App. 17/575,527 · Granted Mar 3, 2026

Inventors: Carmela Cozzo (San Diego, CA); Aristides Papasakellariou (Houston, TX)

Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.

H04W56/0045H04W56/001H04W72/1268H04W72/23H04W74/0833H04W80/02

Abstract

Claims (80)

1 . A user equipment (UE) comprising:

a transceiver configured to receive information, via a system information block, on a first time offset; and

a processor operably coupled to a transceiver, the processor configured to:

identify that a random access procedure is initiated by a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) order ending in a first subframe; and

determine a second subframe based on the first subframe and the first time offset,

wherein the transceiver is further configured to:

start transmission of a random access preamble at an end of the second subframe,

receive information on a second time offset and information on a duration of a time window, and

initiate a narrowband physical uplink shared channel (NPUSCH) transmission using a preconfigured uplink resource ending in a third subframe,

wherein the processor is further configured to:

determine a fourth subframe based on the third subframe, a fixed value, and the second time offset, and

monitor a narrowband physical downlink control channel (NPDCCH) UE-specific search space in a search space window starting in the fourth subframe with the duration,

wherein the transceiver is further configured to receive information on a third time offset via a medium access control control element (MAC CE),

wherein the processor is further configured to determine a fourth time offset by using the first time offset and the third time offset,

wherein the transceiver is further configured to receive a first channel in a first time unit,

wherein the processor is further configured to determine a second time unit based on the first time unit and the fourth time offset, and

wherein the transceiver is further configured to transmit a second channel associated with the first channel at or after an end of the second time unit.

2 . The UE of claim 1 , wherein:

the processor is further configured to:

identify that the UE is configured to report a time advance (TA) value estimated by the UE, and

determine the TA value, and

the transceiver is further configured to transmit information on the TA value via a medium access control control element (MAC CE).

3 . The UE of claim 1 , wherein:

the first channel is a narrowband physical downlink control channel (NPDCCH) that includes a downlink control information (DCI) format scheduling the transmission of the second channel, and

the second channel is a NPUSCH.

4 . The UE of claim 1 , wherein:

the first channel is a narrowband physical downlink shared channel (NPDSCH), and

the second channel is NPUSCH that includes acknowledgment information in response to the reception of the NPDSCH.

5 . The UE of claim 1 , wherein an index of the fourth subframe is n+4+k, n is an index of the third subframe, 4 is the fixed value, and k is the second time offset.

6 . A base station (BS) comprising:

a transceiver configured to transmit information, via a system information block, on a first time offset; and

a processor operably coupled to a transceiver, the processor configured to:

identify that a random access procedure is initiated by a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) order ending in a first subframe; and

determine a second subframe based on the first subframe and the first time offset,

wherein the transceiver is further configured to:

start reception of a random access preamble at an end of the second subframe,

transmit information on a second time offset and information on a duration of a time window, and

receive a narrowband physical uplink shared channel (NPUSCH) using a preconfigured uplink resource ending in a third subframe,

wherein the processor is further configured to:

determine a fourth subframe based on the third subframe, a fixed value, and the second time offset, and

transmit in a narrowband physical downlink control channel (NPDCCH) UE-specific search space in a search space window starting in the fourth subframe with the duration,

wherein the transceiver is further configured to transmit information on a third time offset via a medium access control control element (MAC CE),

wherein the processor is further configured to determine a fourth time offset by using the first time offset and the third time offset,

wherein the transceiver is further configured to transmit a first channel in a first time unit,

wherein the processor is further configured to determine a second time unit based on the first time unit and the fourth time offset, and

wherein the transceiver is further configured to receive a second channel associated with the first channel at or after an end of the second time unit.

7 . The BS of claim 6 , wherein:

the processor is further configured to identify that a user equipment (UE) is configured to report a time advance (TA) value estimated by the UE, and

the transceiver is further configured to receive information on the TA value via a medium access control control element (MAC CE).

8 . The BS of claim 6 , wherein:

the first channel is a narrowband physical downlink control channel (NPDCCH) that includes a downlink control information (DCI) format scheduling the reception of the second channel, and

the second channel is a NPUSCH.

9 . The BS of claim 6 , wherein:

the first channel is a narrowband physical downlink shared channel (NPDSCH), and

the second channel is NPUSCH that includes acknowledgment information in response to the transmission of the NPDSCH.

10 . The BS of claim 6 , wherein an index of the fourth subframe is n+4+k, n is an index of the third subframe, 4 is the fixed value, and k is the second time offset.

11 . A method performed by a user equipment (UE), the method comprising:

receiving information, via a system information block, indicating on a first time offset; identify that a random access procedure is initiated by a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) order ending in a first subframe;

determining a second subframe based on the first subframe and the first time offset;

starting transmission of a random access preamble at an end of the second subframe;

receiving information on a second time offset and information on a duration of a time window;

initiating a narrowband physical uplink shared channel (NPUSCH) transmission using a preconfigured uplink resource ending in a third subframe;

determining a fourth subframe based on the third subframe, a fixed value, and the second time offset;

monitoring a narrowband physical downlink control channel (NPDCCH) UE-specific search space in a search space window starting in the fourth subframe with the duration;

receiving information on a third time offset via a medium access control control element (MAC CE);

determining a fourth time offset by using the first time offset and the third time offset;

receiving a first channel in a first time unit;

determining a second time unit based on the first time unit and the fourth time offset; and

transmitting a second channel associated with the first channel at or after an end of the second time unit.

12 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising:

identifying that the UE is configured to report a time advance (TA) value estimated by the UE;

determining the TA value; and

transmitting information on the TA value via a medium access control control element (MAC CE).

13 . The method of claim 11 , wherein:

the first channel is a narrowband physical downlink control channel (NPDCCH) that includes a downlink control information (DCI) format scheduling the transmission of the second channel, and

the second channel is a NPUSCH.

14 . The method of claim 11 , wherein:

the first channel is a narrowband physical downlink shared channel (NPDSCH), and

the second channel is NPUSCH that includes acknowledgment information in response to the reception of the NPDSCH.

15 . The method of claim 11 , wherein an index of the fourth subframe is n+4+k, n is an index of the third subframe, 4 is the fixed value, and k is the second time offset.

Assignments (1)

Continuity (4)

References Cited (25)