阅读说明：本技术 用于克服无执照频谱中的带宽限制的窄带跳频机制 (Narrow band frequency hopping mechanism to overcome bandwidth limitations in unlicensed spectrum ) 是由 C-H·刘 S·耶拉玛利 T·卡多斯 于 2018-11-02 设计创作，主要内容包括：在本公开的一方面,提供了一种方法、计算机可读介质和装置。在一个示例中,该装置可以是基站。在某些配置中,该装置可向至少一个UE传送指示窄带跳频模式的信息。在某些方面,该窄带跳频模式可对应于多个帧。在某些其他方面,该多个帧可包括至少一个非锚信道并与多个锚信道相关联。该装置可使用窄带跳频模式来与该至少一个UE进行通信。在某些方面,该多个锚信道上的通信可发生在相同的帧期间。(In an aspect of the disclosure, a method, computer-readable medium, and apparatus are provided. In one example, the apparatus may be a base station. In certain configurations, the apparatus may transmit information indicative of a narrowband frequency hopping pattern to at least one UE. In certain aspects, the narrowband frequency hopping pattern may correspond to a plurality of frames. In certain other aspects, the plurality of frames may include at least one non-anchor channel and be associated with a plurality of anchor channels. The apparatus may communicate with the at least one UE using a narrowband frequency hopping pattern. In certain aspects, communication over the multiple anchor channels may occur during the same frame.)

1. A method of wireless communication of a base station, comprising:

transmitting, to at least one User Equipment (UE), information indicating a narrowband frequency hopping pattern corresponding to a plurality of frames comprising at least one non-anchor channel and associated with a plurality of anchor channels; and

communicate with the at least one UE using the narrowband frequency hopping pattern, wherein communications on the plurality of anchor channels occur during a same frame.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the at least one non-anchor channel in each frame of the plurality of frames comprises M non-anchor channels within a wideband;

the M non-anchor channels are grouped into M carriers across a plurality of frames; and

each of the M carriers occupies a set of adjacent non-anchor channels in each of the plurality of frames.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein using the narrowband frequency hopping pattern to communicate with the at least one UE comprises:

transmitting a plurality of downlink transmissions to one or more UEs, the plurality of downlink transmissions being transmitted concurrently in the M carriers.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein communicating with the at least one UE using the narrowband frequency hopping pattern further comprises:

receive a plurality of uplink transmissions from the one or more UEs, the plurality of uplink transmissions being received concurrently in the M carriers.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein:

a first portion of each of the M carriers is allocated for downlink transmission and a second portion of each of the M carriers is allocated for uplink transmission; and is

The second portion is located after the first portion in the time domain.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein:

each carrier of the M carriers is associated with a respective hopping sequence across a plurality of frames; and is

Each respective hopping sequence includes a respective fixed offset from a consecutive non-anchor channel in the M carriers.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein each respective hopping sequence comprises a pseudo-random hopping sequence.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein using the narrowband frequency hopping pattern to communicate with the at least one UE comprises:

concurrently transmitting a Discovery Reference Signal (DRS) in each of the plurality of anchor channels at a start of each hop frame.

9. The method of claim 2, wherein each of the M carriers has a same frame structure.

10. The method of claim 2, wherein a total bandwidth of each of the M carriers satisfies a bandwidth threshold criterion.

11. The method of claim 3, wherein:

the one or more UEs comprise a single UE;

the plurality of downlink transmissions includes an initial downlink transmission transmitted on one of the M carriers and downlink retransmissions transmitted on a subset of the M carriers.

12. The method of claim 3, wherein the plurality of downlink transmissions comprise a reservation signal on each of the M carriers when data transmission is unavailable.

13. The method of claim 2, wherein using the narrowband frequency hopping pattern to communicate with the at least one UE comprises:

concurrently transmitting a first downlink transmission to a first UE in a first portion of each of the M carriers; and

concurrently transmit a second downlink transmission to a second UE in a second portion of each of the M carriers, the second portion located after the first portion in the time domain.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein communicating with the at least one UE using the narrowband frequency hopping pattern further comprises:

receiving a first uplink transmission in a third portion of a first carrier of the M carriers; and

receiving a second uplink transmission in a third portion of a second carrier of the M carriers, the first uplink transmission and the second uplink transmission being received concurrently, and the third portion being adjacent to the second portion in a time domain.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one non-anchor channel comprises a single non-anchor channel.

16. A method of wireless communication of a User Equipment (UE), comprising:

receiving information from a base station indicating a narrowband frequency hopping pattern, the narrowband frequency hopping pattern corresponding to a plurality of frames, the plurality of frames including at least one non-anchor channel and being associated with a plurality of anchor channels; and

communicating with the base station using the narrowband frequency hopping pattern, wherein communications on the plurality of anchor channels occur during a same frame.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein:

the at least one non-anchor channel in each frame of the plurality of frames comprises M non-anchor channels within a wideband;

the M non-anchor channels are grouped into M carriers across a plurality of frames; and

each of the M carriers occupies a set of adjacent non-anchor channels in each of the plurality of frames.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein:

each carrier of the M carriers is associated with a respective hopping sequence across a plurality of frames; and is

Each respective hopping sequence includes a respective fixed offset from a consecutive non-anchor channel in the M carriers.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the respective hopping sequence comprises a pseudo-random hopping sequence.

20. The method of claim 16, wherein the at least one non-anchor channel comprises a single non-anchor channel.

21. The method of claim 16, wherein using the narrowband frequency hopping pattern to communicate with the base station comprises:

concurrently receiving a Discovery Reference Signal (DRS) in each of the plurality of anchor channels at a start of each hop frame.

22. An apparatus for wireless communication of a base station, comprising:

a memory; and

at least one processor coupled to the memory and configured to:

transmitting, to at least one User Equipment (UE), information indicating a narrowband frequency hopping pattern corresponding to a plurality of frames comprising at least one non-anchor channel and associated with a plurality of anchor channels; and

communicate with the at least one UE using the narrowband frequency hopping pattern, wherein communications on the plurality of anchor channels occur during a same frame.

23. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein:

the at least one non-anchor channel in each frame of the plurality of frames comprises M non-anchor channels within a wideband;

the M non-anchor channels are grouped into M carriers across a plurality of frames; and

each of the M carriers occupies a set of adjacent non-anchor channels in each of the plurality of frames.

24. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the at least one processor is configured to communicate with the at least one UE using the narrowband frequency hopping pattern by:

transmitting a plurality of downlink transmissions to one or more UEs, the plurality of downlink transmissions being transmitted concurrently in the M carriers.

25. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein the at least one processor is configured to communicate with the at least one UE using the narrowband frequency hopping pattern by:

receive a plurality of uplink transmissions from the one or more UEs, the plurality of uplink transmissions being received concurrently in the M carriers.

26. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein:

a first portion of each of the M carriers is allocated for downlink transmission and a second portion of each of the M carriers is allocated for uplink transmission; and is

The second portion is located after the first portion in the time domain.

27. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein:

each carrier of the M carriers is associated with a respective hopping sequence across a plurality of frames; and is

Each respective hopping sequence includes a respective fixed offset from a consecutive non-anchor channel in the M carriers.

28. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the respective hopping sequence comprises a pseudo-random hopping sequence.

29. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the at least one processor is configured to communicate with the at least one UE using the narrowband frequency hopping pattern by:

concurrently transmitting a Discovery Reference Signal (DRS) in each of the plurality of anchor channels at a start of each hop frame.

30. An apparatus for wireless communication of a User Equipment (UE), comprising:

a memory; and

at least one processor coupled to the memory and configured to:

receiving information from a base station indicating a narrowband frequency hopping pattern, the narrowband frequency hopping pattern corresponding to a plurality of frames, the plurality of frames including at least one non-anchor channel and being associated with a plurality of anchor channels; and

communicating with the base station using the narrowband frequency hopping pattern, wherein communications on the plurality of anchor channels occur during a same frame.

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates generally to communication systems, and more particularly to mechanisms to overcome bandwidth limitations for narrowband communications using unlicensed spectrum.

Introduction to the design reside in

Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide various telecommunication services such as telephony, video, data, messaging, and broadcasting. Typical wireless communication systems may employ multiple-access techniques capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing the available system resources. Examples of such multiple-access techniques include Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) systems, Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) systems, Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) systems, Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) systems, single carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) systems, and time division synchronous code division multiple access (TD-SCDMA) systems.

Example telecommunication standards are 5G New Radio (NR). 5G NR is part of continuous mobile broadband evolution promulgated by the third Generation partnership project (3GPP) to meet new requirements associated with latency, reliability, security, scalability (e.g., with the Internet of things (IoT)), and other requirements.some aspects of 5GNR may be based on the 4G Long term evolution (L TE) standard.there is a need for further improvements in the 5G NR technology.

One example of narrowband communication is Narrowband (NB) IoT communication, which may be limited to a single Resource Block (RB) of the system bandwidth, e.g., 180kHz another example of narrowband communication is enhanced machine type communication (eMTC), which may be limited to six RBs of the system bandwidth, e.g., 1.08 MHz. NB-IoT communication and/or eMTC may reduce device complexity, enable years of battery life, and provide deeper coverage to reach challenging locations, such as deep in buildings.

Thus, there is a need for mechanisms to overcome bandwidth limitations for narrowband communications using unlicensed spectrum.

SUMMARY

The following presents a simplified summary of one or more aspects in order to provide a basic understanding of such aspects. This summary is not an extensive overview of all contemplated aspects, and is intended to neither identify key or critical elements of all aspects nor delineate the scope of any or all aspects. Its sole purpose is to present some concepts of one or more aspects in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description that is presented later.

One example of narrowband communication is NB-IoT communication, which may be limited to a single RB of the system bandwidth, e.g., 180khz another example of narrowband communication is eMTC, which may be limited to six RBs of the system bandwidth, e.g., 1.08 mhz.

In some eMTC configurations, the channel bandwidth for narrowband communications may be six RBs with various repetition levels to support low complexity devices and high efficiency Power Amplifiers (PAs). In certain NB-IoT configurations, the channel bandwidth for narrowband communications may be limited to a single tone (e.g., 3.75kHz) to support low complexity devices and high efficiency PAs.

However, due to certain Power Spectral Density (PSD) limitations (e.g., transmit power limitations) and bandwidth requirements for narrowband communications (e.g., eMTC and/or NB-IoT) using unlicensed spectrum (e.g., 5GHz unlicensed spectrum, sub-2.4 GHz unlicensed spectrum, or sub-GHz unlicensed spectrum, etc.), supporting a six RB (e.g., 1.08MHz) communication bandwidth and/or a single tone (e.g., 3.75kHz, etc.) communication bandwidth may not be possible.

For example, the PSD for digital modulation (DTS) in the United states may be limited to a maximum of 8dBm/3 kHz. Thus, a UE may not be able to transmit a single tone transmission using full power in the unlicensed spectrum because the maximum PSD is limited to a smaller bandwidth (e.g., 3kHz) than a single tone (e.g., 3.75 kHz). Furthermore, the system bandwidth used for narrowband communications using unlicensed spectrum in the united states may be constrained to, for example, 500 kHz. In other words, when using DTS mode, a base station may have to meet minimum bandwidth requirements (e.g., 500kHz) and PSD limits (e.g., 8dBm/3kHz) in order to operate in the united states (and certain other countries).

Coverage enhancements, such as frequency hopping, for narrowband devices (e.g., UEs and/or base stations) may be used to provide more reliable communications within a narrowband communication system and overcome PSD limitations and bandwidth requirements associated with DTS modes for narrowband communications using unlicensed spectrum.

For example, a UE and/or base station may perform frequency hopping to monitor, receive, and/or transmit signals by switching carriers (e.g., carrier aggregation) between different frequency channels to take advantage of frequency diversity of the unlicensed spectrum.

In certain configurations, when operating in a frequency hopping mode in an unlicensed spectrum, a base station and/or UE may be constrained to a minimum number of frequency hopping channels (e.g., 50 channels) when a narrowband system bandwidth is less than a threshold criterion (e.g., less than 250 kHz). However, a base station and/or UE operating in frequency hopping mode may not be constrained to minimum bandwidth requirements and/or PSD limitations associated with DTS mode.

In some other configurations, the base station may operate in a hybrid mode in which PSD constraints on the DTS mode still apply without the minimum bandwidth constraints associated with the DTS mode, but are not constrained to a minimum number of frequency hopping channels associated with the frequency hopping mode.

There is a need for techniques to facilitate narrowband communications within unlicensed spectrum that satisfy various constraints associated with DTS modes, frequency hopping modes, and hybrid modes.

In an aspect of the disclosure, a method, computer-readable medium, and apparatus are provided. In one example, the apparatus may be a base station. In certain configurations, the apparatus may transmit information indicative of a narrowband frequency hopping pattern to at least one User Equipment (UE). In certain aspects, the narrowband frequency hopping pattern may correspond to a plurality of frames. In certain other aspects, the plurality of frames may include at least one non-anchor channel and be associated with a plurality of anchor channels. The apparatus may communicate with the at least one UE using a narrowband frequency hopping pattern. In certain aspects, communication over the multiple anchor channels may occur during the same frame.

In another example, the apparatus may be a UE. In some configurations, the apparatus may receive information from a base station indicating a narrowband frequency hopping pattern. In certain aspects, the narrowband frequency hopping pattern may correspond to a plurality of frames. In certain aspects, the plurality of frames may include at least one non-anchor channel and may be associated with a plurality of anchor channels. The device may communicate with the base station using a narrowband frequency hopping pattern. In certain aspects, communication over the multiple anchor channels may occur during the same frame.

To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, the one or more aspects comprise the features hereinafter fully described and particularly pointed out in the claims. The following description and the annexed drawings set forth in detail certain illustrative features of the one or more aspects. These features are indicative, however, of but a few of the various ways in which the principles of various aspects may be employed and the present description is intended to include all such aspects and their equivalents.

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