IP Library Granted Patent US 12,659,949
Granted Patent B2
US 12,659,949 · App. 17/442,482 · Granted Jun 16, 2026

Technologies for uplink gap triggering and operation

Inventors: Huaning Niu (San Jose, CA); Qiming Li (Beijing, CN); Dawei Zhang (Saratoga, CA); Jie Cui (San Jose, CA); Manasa Raghavan (Sunnyvale, CA); Sharad Sambhwani (Cupertino, CA); Xiang Chen (Campbell, CA); Yang Tang (San Jose, CA)
Assignee: Apple Inc.
H04W72/1268H04L1/1812H04W72/232
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12,659,949
App. No.
17/442,482
Granted
Jun 16, 2026
Kind
B2
Abstract

The present application relates to devices and components including apparatus, systems, and methods for triggering and using uplink gaps in cellular networks. A method of an embodiment comprises: transmitting, to a base station, an indication of an uplink (UL) gap capability or preference of the UE for body proximity sensing (BPS) or transceiver calibration; activating a UL gap configuration based on an activation command received from a network; and performing operations for BPS or transceiver calibration within a UL gap defined by the UL gap configuration.

Claims (68)

1 . A method comprising:

generating an uplink (UL) gap preference report to be transmitted to a base station, wherein the UL gap preference report includes an indication of a gap periodicity and a gap length that are preferred for a UL gap configuration associated with a frequency range 2 (FR2) UL gap;

generating a UL gap capability report to indicate a capability to perform body proximity sensing (BPS) within the FR2 UL gap;

activating the UL gap configuration based on an activation command received from a network; and

performing BPS operation in accordance with the UL gap configuration.

2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

processing the activation command in a media access control (MAC) control element (CE) or downlink control information (DCI).

3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the activation command is received in a MAC CE and the method further comprises:

generating an acknowledgment of a physical downlink shared channel transmission, to be transmitted to the base station, that conveys the MAC CE to acknowledge receipt of the activation command.

4 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the activation command is received in DCI and the method further comprises:

generating a physical uplink shared channel transmission scheduled by the DCI, to be transmitted to the base station, to acknowledge receipt of the activation command.

5 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

deactivating the UL gap configuration based on a deactivation command received from the network.

6 . The method of claim 5 , further comprising:

processing the deactivation command in downlink control information (DCI) that schedules a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmission; and

generating the PUSCH transmission, to be transmitted to the base station, to indicate the deactivation command was successfully received.

7 . The method of claim 5 , further comprising:

processing the deactivation command in downlink control information (DCI) that does not schedule a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmission; and

generating a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) acknowledgement, to be transmitted to the base station, to indicate the deactivation command was successfully received.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises:

processing a radio resource control (RRC) signaling, received from the base station, to indicate configured parameters of the UL gap configuration, the parameters to include UL gap periodicity, length, or offset.

9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the configured parameters include a periodicity (ULgap_periodicity) and offset (ULgapStartOffset) that are defined in milliseconds, wherein the UL gap is to start at a subframe with a subframe number that meets a condition: ((SFN* 10) +subframe number) mod (ULgap_periodicity) ==(ULgapStartOffset) mod (ULgap_periodicity), where SFN is a system frame number.

10 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the configured parameters include a periodicity (ULgap_periodicity) and offset (ULgapStartOffset) that are defined in slots, wherein the UL gap within a subframe with a subframe number is to start at a slot with a slot index (slotIndex) that meets a condition: ((SFN* 10) +subframe number) * 8 + (slotIndex within subframe)) mod (ULgap_periodicity) ==(ULgapStartOffset) mod (ULgap_periodicity), where SFN is a system frame number.

11 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the parameters include a length that is defined as a number of consecutive uplink slots, wherein the number is 1, 2, 4, or 8.

12 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the parameters include a UL gap periodicity that is 20, 40, 80, or 160 milliseconds.

13 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

performing a transceiver calibration in accordance with the UL gap configuration.

14 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the UL gap preference report indicates a UL gap pattern that is preferred among a plurality of UL gap patterns.

15 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the FR2 UL gap is configured without a UL grant during the FR2 UL gap.

16 . One or more non-transitory computer-readable media having instructions that, when executed, cause processing circuitry to:

process an uplink (UL) gap preference report received from a user equipment (UE), wherein the UL gap preference report includes an indication of a gap periodicity and a gap length that are preferred for a UL gap configuration in frequency range 2 (FR2);

generate information based on the UL gap preference report, the information to be transmitted to the UE to configure one or more UL gap configurations;

process a request to activate a UL gap configuration of the one or more UL gap configurations; and

generate, based on the request, an activation command, to be transmitted to the UE, to activate the UL gap configuration of the one or more UL gap configurations.

17 . The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 16 , wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause the processing circuitry to:

process a measurement report from the UE;

detect a cell edge condition based on the measurement report; and

generate the activation command based on detection of the cell edge condition.

18 . The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 16 , wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause the processing circuitry to:

process a buffer status report from the UE;

detect a traffic condition at the UE based on the buffer status report; and

generate the activation command based on detection of the traffic condition.

19 . The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 16 , wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause the processing circuitry to:

process a power management-maximum power reduction (P-MPR) report from the UE;

detect a power condition at the UE based on the P-MPR report; and

generate the activation command based on detection of the power condition.

20 . The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 16 , wherein the UL gap configuration is for a body proximity sensing (BPS) operation of the UE.

21 . An apparatus comprising:

processing circuitry to:

generate an uplink (UL) gap preference report to be transmitted to a base station, wherein the UL gap preference report includes an indication of a gap periodicity and a gap length that are preferred for a UL gap configuration associated with a frequency range 2 (FR2) UL gap;

generate a UL gap capability report to indicate a capability to perform body proximity sensing (BPS) within the FR2 UL gap; and

activate the UL gap configuration based on an activation command received from a network; and

perform a BPS operation in accordance with the UL gap configuration; and

interface circuitry coupled with the processing circuitry to enable communication.

22 . The apparatus of claim 21 , wherein the processing circuitry is further to:

process the activation command in a media access control (MAC) control element (CE) or downlink control information (DCI).

23 . The apparatus of claim 22 , wherein the activation command is received in a MAC CE and the processing circuitry is further to:

generate an acknowledgment of a physical downlink shared channel transmission, to be transmitted to the base station, that conveys the MAC CE to acknowledge receipt of the activation command.

24 . The apparatus of claim 22 , wherein the activation command is received in DCI and the processing circuitry is further to:

generate a physical uplink shared channel transmission, to be transmitted to the base station, scheduled by the DCI to acknowledge receipt of the activation command.

25 . The apparatus of claim 21 , wherein the processing circuitry is further to:

deactivate the UL gap configuration based on a deactivation command received from the network.

26 . The apparatus of claim 25 , wherein the processing circuitry is further to:

process the deactivation command in a media access control (MAC) control element (CE) of a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) transmission; and

generate an acknowledgment of the PDSCH transmission, to be transmitted to the base station, to indicate the deactivation command was successfully received.

27 . The apparatus of claim 21 , wherein the processing circuitry is further to:

process radio resource control (RRC) signaling, received from the base station, to configure parameters of the UL gap configuration, the parameters to include UL gap periodicity, length, or offset.

28 . The apparatus of claim 21 , wherein the UL gap preference report indicates a UL gap pattern that is preferred among a plurality of UL gap patterns.

Continuity (1)
Related Publication 20230362920A1 · Nov 9, 2023
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