阅读说明：本技术 用于广播信道的同步信号 (Synchronization signal for broadcast channel ) 是由 B·萨第齐 J·塞尚 S·库得卡尔 N·阿贝迪尼 M·N·*** 于 2018-04-27 设计创作，主要内容包括：提供了用于具有改进的PBCH构造和解码的基站处的无线通信的装置。该基站装置构造PBCH有效载荷,其中,基于相对应比特位置的估计的可靠性,来选择用于对PBCH的多个比特进行编码的比特位置,其中,所述多个比特包括冻结比特、用户设备未知的未知比特、以及用户设备潜在已知的潜在已知比特。该装置在多个SS块中的至少一个里发送PBCH有效载荷。接收PBCH的UE基于连续的解码顺序,对PBCH进行解码。该连续的解码顺序可以是基于相对应比特的估计的可靠性的,例如,其中在未知比特之前对潜在已知比特进行解码。(An apparatus for wireless communication at a base station with improved PBCH construction and decoding is provided. The base station apparatus constructs a PBCH payload, wherein bit positions for encoding a plurality of bits of the PBCH are selected based on reliability of estimates of corresponding bit positions, wherein the plurality of bits includes a frozen bit, an unknown bit unknown to the user equipment, and a potentially known bit potentially known to the user equipment. The apparatus transmits a PBCH payload in at least one of the plurality of SS blocks. The UE receiving the PBCH decodes the PBCH based on the consecutive decoding order. The sequential decoding order may be based on an estimated reliability of the corresponding bits, e.g., where potentially known bits are decoded before unknown bits.)

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

constructing a Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH) payload, wherein a bit position for encoding a plurality of bits of the PBCH payload is selected based on an estimated reliability of the bit position, wherein the plurality of bits includes a frozen bit, an unknown bit unknown to a User Equipment (UE), and a potentially known bit potentially known to the UE; and

transmitting the PBCH payload in at least one of a plurality of Synchronization Signal (SS) blocks.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein at least a plurality of the potentially known bits are given less reliable bit positions than the unknown bits.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the frozen bits are given less reliable bit positions than the potentially known bits.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the potentially known bits comprise system information provided to the UE by a serving cell.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the unknown bits comprise error detection bits.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the PBCH payload comprises a polarity encoded PBCH.

7. An apparatus for wireless communication at a base station, comprising:

means for constructing a Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH) payload, wherein a bit position for encoding a plurality of bits of the PBCH payload is selected based on an estimated reliability of the bit position, wherein the plurality of bits includes a frozen bit, an unknown bit unknown to a User Equipment (UE), and potentially known bits potentially known to the UE; and

means for transmitting the PBCH payload in at least one of a plurality of Synchronization Signal (SS) blocks.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein at least a plurality of the potentially known bits are given less reliable bit positions than the unknown bits.

9. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the frozen bits are given less reliable bit positions than the potentially known bits.

10. The apparatus of claim 7, in which the potentially known bits comprise system information provided to the UE by a serving cell.

11. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the unknown bits comprise error detection bits.

12. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the PBCH payload comprises a polarity encoded PBCH.

13. An apparatus for wireless communication at a base station, comprising:

a memory; and

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

constructing a Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH) payload, wherein a bit position for encoding a plurality of bits of the PBCH payload is selected based on an estimated reliability of the bit position, wherein the plurality of bits includes a frozen bit, an unknown bit unknown to a User Equipment (UE), and a potentially known bit potentially known to the UE; and

transmitting the PBCH payload in at least one of a plurality of Synchronization Signal (SS) blocks.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein at least a plurality of the potentially known bits are given less reliable bit positions than the unknown bits.

15. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the frozen bits are given less reliable bit positions than the potentially known bits.

16. The apparatus of claim 13, in which the potentially known bits comprise system information provided to the UE by a serving cell.

17. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the unknown bits comprise error detection bits.

18. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the PBCH payload comprises a polarity encoded PBCH.

19. A computer-readable medium storing computer executable code for wireless communication at a base station, comprising code for:

constructing a Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH) payload, wherein a bit position for encoding a plurality of bits of the PBCH payload is selected based on an estimated reliability of the bit position, wherein the plurality of bits includes a frozen bit, an unknown bit unknown to a User Equipment (UE), and a potentially known bit potentially known to the UE; and

transmitting the PBCH payload in at least one of a plurality of Synchronization Signal (SS) blocks.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 19, wherein at least a plurality of the potentially known bits are given less reliable bit positions than the unknown bits.

21. The computer-readable medium of claim 19, wherein the frozen bits are given less reliable bit positions than the potentially known bits.

22. The computer-readable medium of claim 19, wherein the potentially known bits include system information provided to the UE by a serving cell.

23. The computer-readable medium of claim 19, wherein the unknown bits comprise error detection bits.

24. The computer-readable medium of claim 19, wherein the PBCH payload comprises a polarity encoded PBCH.

25. A method of wireless communication at a User Equipment (UE) served by a first cell, comprising:

receiving a Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH) payload of a second cell in at least one of a plurality of Synchronization Signal (SS) blocks, wherein each SS block includes corresponding timing information, and wherein the PBCH payload includes frozen bits, unknown bits that are unknown to the UE, and potentially known bits that are potentially known to the UE, wherein the potentially known bits include system information provided to the UE by the first cell; and

decoding the PBCH payload based on a sequential decoding order.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the sequential decoding order is based on an estimated reliability of the corresponding bits.

27. The method of claim 25, wherein the potentially known bits are decoded before the unknown bits.

28. The method of claim 25, wherein the potentially known bits comprise system information provided to the UE by the first cell.

29. The method of claim 25, wherein the PBCH payload comprises a polarity encoded PBCH.

30. The method of claim 25, further comprising:

prior to reporting cell quality, receiving a plurality of potentially known bits from the first cell corresponding to a cell Identifier (ID) for the second cell; and

detecting a cell ID of the second cell from the received SS block,

wherein the PBCH payload is decoded based on the consecutive decoding order using the potential known bits received from the first cell.

31. The method of claim 25, further comprising:

detecting a cell Identifier (ID) of the second cell from the received SS block;

reporting the cell ID of the second cell to the first cell; and

receiving, from the first cell, a plurality of potentially known bits corresponding to the cell ID for the second cell in response to reporting the cell ID,

wherein the PBCH payload is decoded based on the consecutive decoding order using the potential known bits received from the first cell.

32. An apparatus for wireless communication at a User Equipment (UE) served by a first cell, comprising:

means for receiving a Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH) payload of a second cell in at least one of a plurality of Synchronization Signal (SS) blocks, wherein each SS block includes corresponding timing information, and wherein the PBCH payload includes frozen bits, unknown bits that are unknown to the UE, and potentially known bits that are potentially known to the UE, wherein the potentially known bits include system information provided to the UE by the first cell; and

means for decoding the PBCH payload based on a sequential decoding order.

33. The apparatus of claim 32, wherein the sequential decoding order is based on an estimated reliability of corresponding bits.

34. The apparatus of claim 32, wherein the potentially known bits are decoded before the unknown bits.

35. The apparatus of claim 32, wherein the potentially known bits comprise system information provided to the UE by the first cell.

36. The apparatus of claim 32, wherein the PBCH payload comprises a polarity encoded PBCH.

37. The apparatus of claim 32, further comprising:

means for receiving, from the first cell, a plurality of potentially known bits corresponding to a cell Identifier (ID) for the second cell prior to reporting cell quality; and

means for detecting a cell ID of the second cell from the received SS blocks,

wherein the PBCH payload is decoded based on the consecutive decoding order using the potential known bits received from the first cell.

38. The apparatus of claim 32, further comprising:

means for detecting a cell Identifier (ID) of the second cell from the received SS blocks;

means for reporting the cell ID of the second cell to the first cell; and

means for receiving, from the first cell, a plurality of potentially known bits corresponding to the cell ID for the second cell in response to reporting the cell ID,

wherein the PBCH payload is decoded based on the consecutive decoding order using the potential known bits received from the first cell.

39. An apparatus for wireless communication at a User Equipment (UE) served by a first cell, comprising:

a memory; and

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

receiving a Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH) payload of a second cell in at least one of a plurality of Synchronization Signal (SS) blocks, wherein each SS block includes corresponding timing information, and wherein the PBCH payload includes frozen bits, unknown bits that are unknown to the UE, and potentially known bits that are potentially known to the UE, wherein the potentially known bits include system information provided to the UE by the first cell; and

decoding the PBCH payload based on a sequential decoding order.

40. The apparatus of claim 39, wherein the sequential decoding order is based on an estimated reliability of corresponding bits.

41. The apparatus of claim 39, wherein the potentially known bits are decoded before the unknown bits.

42. The apparatus of claim 39, wherein the potentially known bits comprise system information provided to the UE by the first cell.

43. The apparatus of claim 39, wherein the PBCH payload comprises a polarity encoded PBCH.

44. The apparatus of claim 39, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

prior to reporting cell quality, receiving a plurality of potentially known bits from the first cell corresponding to a cell Identifier (ID) for the second cell; and

detecting a cell ID of the second cell from the received SS block,

wherein the PBCH payload is decoded based on the consecutive decoding order using the potential known bits received from the first cell.

45. The apparatus of claim 39, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

detecting a cell Identifier (ID) of the second cell from the received SS block;

reporting the cell ID of the second cell to the first cell; and

receiving, from the first cell, a plurality of potentially known bits corresponding to the cell ID for the second cell in response to reporting the cell ID,

wherein the PBCH payload is decoded based on the consecutive decoding order using the potential known bits received from the first cell.

46. A computer-readable medium storing computer executable code for wireless communication at a User Equipment (UE) served by a first cell, comprising code for:

receiving a Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH) payload of a second cell in at least one of a plurality of Synchronization Signal (SS) blocks, wherein each SS block includes corresponding timing information, and wherein the PBCH payload includes frozen bits, unknown bits that are unknown to the UE, and potentially known bits that are potentially known to the UE, wherein the potentially known bits include system information provided to the UE by the first cell; and

decoding the PBCH payload based on a sequential decoding order.

47. The computer-readable medium of claim 46, wherein the sequential decoding order is based on an estimated reliability of corresponding bits.

48. The computer-readable medium of claim 46, wherein the potentially known bits are decoded before the unknown bits.

49. The computer-readable medium of claim 46, wherein the potentially known bits include system information provided to the UE by the first cell.

50. The computer-readable medium of claim 46, wherein the PBCH payload comprises a polarity encoded PBCH.

51. The computer-readable medium of claim 46, further comprising code for:

prior to reporting cell quality, receiving a plurality of potentially known bits from the first cell corresponding to a cell Identifier (ID) for the second cell; and

detecting a cell ID of the second cell from the received SS block,

wherein the PBCH payload is decoded based on the consecutive decoding order using the potential known bits received from the first cell.

52. The computer-readable medium of claim 46, further comprising code for:

detecting a cell Identifier (ID) of the second cell from the received SS block;

reporting the cell ID of the second cell to the first cell; and

receiving, from the first cell, a plurality of potentially known bits corresponding to the cell ID for the second cell in response to reporting the cell ID,

wherein the PBCH payload is decoded based on the consecutive decoding order using the potential known bits received from the first cell.

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates generally to communication systems, and more particularly to synchronization signals and broadcast channels.

Background

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.

These multiple access techniques have been adopted in various telecommunications standards to provide a common protocol that enables different wireless devices to communicate on an urban, national, regional, or even global level. An example telecommunication standard is the 5G New Radio (NR). The 5G NR is part of a continuous mobile broadband evolution promulgated by the third generation partnership project (3GPP) to meet new requirements associated with latency, reliability, security, scalability (e.g., in terms of internet of things (IoT)), and other requirements. Some aspects of the 5G NR may be based on the 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) standard. There is a need for further improvements in the 5G NR technology. These improvements may also be applicable to other multiple access techniques and telecommunications standards using these techniques.

In NR, a base station may transmit multiple burst sets (e.g., beam scanning of L Synchronization Signal (SS) blocks) in a Broadcast Channel (BCH) Transmission Time Interval (TTI). A burst set may be a set of SS blocks that includes one complete beam sweep.

Disclosure of Invention

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.

The Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH) payload may include coded bits (e.g., frozen bits) that are already known to the User Equipment (UE). The PBCH payload may include coded bits potentially known to the UE, and the UE may need to decode only the PBCH for the remaining set of unknown information. Aspects presented herein improve PBCH construction at a base station and PBCH decoding performance for a UE. The base station may construct the PBCH by selecting bit positions for information based on whether the information includes frozen bits, potentially known information, and unknown information. For example, the base station may give at least some of the potentially known bits less reliable bit positions than the unknown bits, and may give the frozen bits less reliable bit positions than the potentially known bits. The UE may decode the PBCH using a sequential decoding order in which the potentially known bits are first decoded and then at least a portion of the unknown bits are decoded.

In one aspect of the disclosure, a method, computer-readable medium, and apparatus for wireless communication at a base station are provided. The apparatus constructs a PBCH payload, wherein bit positions for encoding a plurality of bits of the PBCH are selected based on estimated reliabilities of corresponding bit positions, wherein the plurality of bits includes a frozen bit, an unknown bit unknown to a user equipment, and a potentially known bit potentially known to the user equipment. The apparatus transmits the PBCH payload in at least one of a plurality of SS blocks.

In another aspect of the disclosure, a method, computer-readable medium, and apparatus are provided for wireless communication at a UE served by a first base station. The apparatus receives a PBCH payload in at least one of a plurality of SS blocks, wherein each SS block includes corresponding timing information, and wherein the PBCH payload includes a frozen bit, an unknown bit that is unknown to the user equipment, and a potentially known bit that is potentially known to the user equipment. The potential known bits may include system information provided to the UE by the first cell. The apparatus decodes the PBCH based on a sequential decoding order. The sequential decoding order may be based on an estimated reliability of the corresponding bits, e.g., decoding potentially known bits before unknown bits.

To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, 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 description is intended to include all such aspects and their equivalents.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a wireless communication system and an access network.

Fig. 2A, 2B, 2C, and 2D are diagrams illustrating examples of a DL frame structure, a DL channel in the DL frame structure, an UL frame structure, and an UL channel in the UL frame structure, respectively.

Fig. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a base station and a UE in an access network.

Fig. 4 is a diagram illustrating a base station communicating with a UE.

Fig. 5 shows example bursts, burst sets and BCH TTIs for PBCH transmission.

Fig. 6A and 6B illustrate example SS block index structures and corresponding example hypotheses for a pairing set.

Fig. 7 shows an example of wireless communication between a UE and a base station.

Fig. 8 is a flow chart of a method of wireless communication.

Fig. 9 is a conceptual data flow diagram illustrating the data flow between different units/components in an exemplary apparatus.

Fig. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware implementation for an apparatus using a processing system.

Fig. 11 is a flow chart of a method of wireless communication.

Fig. 12 is a conceptual data flow diagram illustrating the data flow between different units/components in an exemplary apparatus.

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware implementation for an apparatus using a processing system.

Fig. 14 shows an example of timing information to be carried in an SS block.

Detailed Description

The detailed description set forth below in connection with the appended drawings is intended as a description of various configurations and is not intended to represent the only configurations in which the concepts described herein may be practiced. The detailed description includes specific details for the purpose of providing a thorough understanding of various concepts. It will be apparent, however, to one skilled in the art that these concepts may be practiced without these specific details. In some instances, well-known structures and components are shown in block diagram form in order to avoid obscuring such concepts.

Several aspects of a telecommunications system will now be presented with reference to various apparatus and methods. These apparatus and methods are described in the following detailed description and illustrated in the accompanying drawings by various blocks, components, circuits, processes, algorithms, etc. (which are collectively referred to as "elements"). These elements may be implemented using electronic hardware, computer software, or any combination thereof. Whether such elements are implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the overall system.

By way of example, an element, or any portion of an element, or any combination of elements, may be implemented as a "processing system" that includes one or more processors. Examples of processors include microprocessors, microcontrollers, Graphics Processing Units (GPUs), Central Processing Units (CPUs), application processors, Digital Signal Processors (DSPs), Reduced Instruction Set Computing (RISC) processors, systems-on-chip (socs), baseband processors, Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), Programmable Logic Devices (PLDs), state machines, gated logic, discrete hardware circuits, and other suitable hardware configured to perform the various functions described throughout this disclosure. One or more processors in the processing system may execute software. Software should be construed broadly to mean instructions, instruction sets, code segments, program code, programs, subprograms, software components, applications, software packages, routines, subroutines, objects, executables, threads of execution, procedures, functions, etc., whether referred to as software, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware description language, or other terminology.

Thus, in one or more example embodiments, the functions described may be implemented in hardware, software, or any combination thereof. If implemented in software, the functions may be stored on or encoded as one or more instructions or code on a computer-readable medium. Computer readable media includes computer storage media. A storage media may be any available media that can be accessed by a computer. By way of example, and not limitation, such computer-readable media can comprise Random Access Memory (RAM), Read Only Memory (ROM), electrically erasable programmable ROM (eeprom), optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage, other magnetic storage devices, combinations of the foregoing types of computer-readable media, or any other medium that can be used to store computer-executable code in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a computer.

Fig. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a wireless communication system and an access network 100. The wireless communication system, which is also referred to as a Wireless Wide Area Network (WWAN), includes a base station 102, a UE104, and an Evolved Packet Core (EPC) 160. Base station 102 may include a macro cell (high power cellular base station) and/or a small cell (low power cellular base station). The macro cell includes a base station. Small cells include femtocells, picocells and microcells.

The base stations 102, which are collectively referred to as the evolved Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) terrestrial radio access network (E-UTRAN), interface with the EPC160 through backhaul links 132 (e.g., the S1 interface). Base station 102 may perform one or more of the following functions, among others: transmission of user data, radio channel encryption and decryption, integrity protection, header compression, mobility control functions (e.g., handover, dual connectivity), inter-cell interference coordination, connection establishment and release, load balancing, distribution of non-access stratum (NAS) messages, NAS node selection, synchronization, Radio Access Network (RAN) sharing, Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service (MBMS), user and device tracking, RAN Information Management (RIM), paging, positioning, and transmission of alarm messages. Base stations 102 may communicate with each other directly or indirectly (e.g., through EPC160) through backhaul link 134 (e.g., X2 interface). The backhaul link 134 may be wired or wireless.

The base station 102 may communicate wirelessly with the UE 104. Each of the base stations 102 may provide communication coverage for a respective geographic coverage area. There may be overlapping geographic coverage areas 110. For example, the small cell 102 'may have a coverage area 110' that overlaps with the coverage areas 110 of one or more macro base stations 102. A network including small cells and macro cells may be referred to as a heterogeneous network. The heterogeneous network may also include a home evolved node b (enb) (henb), which may provide services to a restricted group referred to as a Closed Subscriber Group (CSG). The communication link 120 between the base station 102 and the UE104 may include Uplink (UL) (also referred to as reverse link) transmissions from the UE104 to the base station 102 and/or Downlink (DL) (also referred to as forward link) transmissions from the base station 102 to the UE 104. The communication link 120 may use multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO) antenna techniques including spatial multiplexing, beamforming, and/or transmit diversity. These communication links may be over one or more carriers. The base station 102/UE 104 may use a spectrum of up to Y MHz (e.g., 5, 10, 15, 20, 100MHz) of bandwidth per carrier allocated in carrier aggregation of up to a total of yxmhz (x component carriers) for transmission in each direction. These carriers may or may not be adjacent to each other. The allocation of carriers may be asymmetric with respect to DL and UL (e.g., more or fewer carriers may be allocated for DL than for UL). The component carriers may include a primary component carrier and one or more secondary component carriers. The primary component carrier may be referred to as a primary cell (PCell), and the secondary component carrier may be referred to as a secondary cell (SCell).

Some UEs 104 may communicate with each other using a device-to-device (D2D) communication link 192. The D2D communication link 192 may use DL/UL WWAN spectrum. The D2D communication link 192 may use one or more sidelink channels, such as a Physical Sidelink Broadcast Channel (PSBCH), a Physical Sidelink Discovery Channel (PSDCH), a Physical Sidelink Shared Channel (PSSCH), and a Physical Sidelink Control Channel (PSCCH). D2D communications may be made over a variety of wireless D2D communication systems such as, for example, FlashLinQ, WiMedia, bluetooth, ZigBee, Wi-Fi based on IEEE 802.11 standards, LTE, or NR.

The wireless communication system may also include a Wi-Fi Access Point (AP)150 that communicates with a Wi-Fi Station (STA)152 via a communication link 154 in the 5GHz unlicensed spectrum. When communicating in the unlicensed spectrum, the STA 152/AP 150 may perform a Clear Channel Assessment (CCA) to determine whether the channel is available prior to communicating.

The small cell 102' may operate in licensed and/or unlicensed spectrum. When operating in the unlicensed spectrum, the small cell 102' may employ NR and use the same 5GHz unlicensed spectrum as used by the Wi-Fi AP 150. Small cells 102' employing NR in unlicensed spectrum may improve coverage and/or increase capacity of access networks.

The gsdeb (gnb)180 may operate in millimeter wave (mmW) frequencies and/or near-mmW frequencies, communicating with the UE 104. When the gNB 180 operates in millimeter wave or near millimeter wave frequencies, the gNB 180 may be referred to as a millimeter wave base station. Extremely High Frequencies (EHF) are part of the RF in the electromagnetic spectrum. The EHF has a range of 30GHz to 300GHz and a wavelength between 1 millimeter and 10 millimeters. The radio waveforms in this frequency band may be referred to as millimeter waves. Near millimeter waves may be extended down to a frequency of 3GHz with a wavelength of 100 millimeters. The ultra-high frequency (SHF) band extends between 3GHz and 30GHz, which is also known as a centimeter wave. Communication using the millimeter wave/near millimeter wave radio band has extremely high path loss and short distance. Millimeter-wave base station 180 may use beamforming 184 with UE104 to compensate for the extremely high path loss and short range.

The EPC160 may include a Mobility Management Entity (MME)162, other MMEs 164, a serving gateway 166, a Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service (MBMS) gateway 168, a broadcast multicast service center (BM-SC)170, and a Packet Data Network (PDN) gateway 172. MME 162 may communicate with Home Subscriber Server (HSS) 174. MME 162 is a control node that handles signaling between UE104 and EPC 160. Generally, the MME 162 provides bearer and connection management. All user Internet Protocol (IP) packets are transmitted through the serving gateway 166, where the serving gateway 166 itself connects to the PDN gateway 172. The PDN gateway 172 provides UE IP address allocation as well as other functions. The PDN gateway 172 and BM-SC 170 are connected to an IP service 176. IP services 176 may include the internet, intranets, IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) and PS streaming services, and/or other IP services. The BM-SC 170 may provide functionality for MBMS user service provisioning and delivery. The BM-SC 170 may serve as an entry point for content provider MBMS transmissions, may be used to authorize and initiate MBMS bearer services in a Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN), and may be used to schedule MBMS transmissions. The MBMS gateway 168 may be used to distribute MBMS traffic to base stations 102 belonging to a Multicast Broadcast Single Frequency Network (MBSFN) area broadcasting a particular service and may be responsible for session management (start/stop) and for collecting eMBMS related charging information.

A base station may also be called a gbb, a node B, an evolved node B (enb), an access point, a base transceiver station, a radio base station, a radio transceiver, a transceiver function, a Basic Service Set (BSS), an Extended Service Set (ESS), or some other suitable terminology. Base station 102 provides an access point for UE104 to EPC 160. Examples of UEs 104 include a cellular phone, a smart phone, a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) phone, a laptop, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a satellite radio, a global positioning system, a multimedia device, a video device, a digital audio player (e.g., MP3 player), a camera, a game console, a tablet device, a smart device, a wearable device, a vehicle, an electricity meter, a gas pump, an oven, or any other similar functioning device. Some of the UEs 104 may be referred to as IoT devices (e.g., parking meters, gas pumps, ovens, vehicles, etc.). UE104 may also be referred to as a station, mobile station, subscriber station, mobile unit, subscriber unit, wireless unit, remote unit, mobile device, wireless communication device, remote device, mobile subscriber station, access terminal, mobile terminal, wireless terminal, remote terminal, handset, user agent, mobile client, or some other suitable terminology.

Referring again to fig. 1, in certain aspects, base station 180 may be configured to include a PBCH component 198 configured to construct a PBCH payload, wherein bit positions for encoding a plurality of bits of the PBCH are selected based on estimated reliabilities of corresponding bit positions, wherein the plurality of bits includes frozen bits, unknown bits unknown to the user equipment, and potentially known bits potentially known to the user equipment. In other aspects, the UE104 may be configured to include a PBCH decoding component 199 configured to decode a PBCH including the frozen bits, the unknown bits, and the potential known bits based on a sequential decoding order.

Fig. 2A is a diagram 200 showing an example of a DL frame structure. Fig. 2B is a diagram 230 showing an example of channels in a DL frame structure. Fig. 2C is a diagram 250 illustrating an example of a UL frame structure. Fig. 2D is a diagram 280 illustrating an example of channels in a UL frame structure. Other wireless communication technologies may have different frame structures and/or different channels. A frame (10ms) may be divided into 10 equally sized sub-frames. Each subframe may include two consecutive slots. The two slots may be represented using a resource grid, each slot including one or more concurrent Resource Blocks (RBs) (which are also referred to as physical RBs (prbs)). A resource grid is divided into a plurality of Resource Elements (REs). For a normal cyclic prefix, one RB may contain 12 consecutive subcarriers in the frequency domain and 7 consecutive symbols in the time domain (for DL, OFDM symbols; for UL, SC-FDMA symbols) for a total of 84 REs. For an extended cyclic prefix, one RB may contain 12 consecutive subcarriers in the frequency domain and 6 consecutive symbols in the time domain for a total of 72 REs. The number of bits carried by each RE depends on the modulation scheme.

As shown in fig. 2A, some of the REs carry DL reference (pilot) signals (DL-RSs) for channel estimation at the UE. The DL-RS may include cell-specific reference signals (CRS), which are also sometimes referred to as common RS, UE-specific reference signals (UE-RS), and channel state information reference signals (CSI-RS). Fig. 2A shows CRSs (indicated as R, respectively) for antenna ports 0, 1, 2 and 3₀、R₁、R₂And R₃For antenna port 5, which is indicated as R₅) And CSI-RS for antenna port 15 (indicated as R).

Fig. 2B shows an example of various channels in a DL subframe of a frame. The Physical Control Format Indicator Channel (PCFICH) is located in symbol 0 of slot 0 and carries a Control Format Indicator (CFI) indicating whether the Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) occupies 1, 2 or 3 symbols (fig. 2B shows the PDCCH occupying 3 symbols). The PDCCH carries Downlink Control Information (DCI) in one or more Control Channel Elements (CCEs), each CCE includes nine RE groups (REGs), each REG including four consecutive REs in one OFDM symbol. The UE may be configured with a UE-specific enhanced pdcch (epdcch) that also carries DCI. The ePDCCH may have 2, 4, or 8 RB pairs (fig. 2B shows two RB pairs, each subset including one RB pair). A physical hybrid automatic repeat request (ARQ) (HARQ) indicator channel (PHICH) is also located in symbol 0 of slot 0 and carries HARQ Indicators (HI) for indicating Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) based HARQ Acknowledgement (ACK)/negative ACK (nack) feedback. A Primary Synchronization Channel (PSCH) may be located within symbol 6 of slot 0 in subframes 0 and 5 of a frame, the PSCH carrying a Primary Synchronization Signal (PSS) used by the UE104 to determine subframe/symbol timing and physical layer identification. The Secondary Synchronization Channel (SSCH) may be located within symbol 5 of slot 0 in subframes 0 and 5 of the frame. The SSCH carries a Secondary Synchronization Signal (SSS) that is used by the UE to determine the physical layer cell identification group number and radio frame timing. Based on the physical layer identity and the physical layer cell identity group number, the UE may determine a Physical Cell Identifier (PCI). Based on the PCI, the UE may determine the location of the aforementioned DL-RS. A Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH) carrying a Master Information Block (MIB) may be logically grouped with PSCH and SSCH to form a Synchronization Signal (SS) block. The MIB provides the number of RBs in the DL system bandwidth, PHICH configuration, and System Frame Number (SFN). The Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) carries user data, broadcast system information (e.g., System Information Blocks (SIBs)) that is not transmitted through the PBCH, and a paging message.

As shown in fig. 2C, some of the REs carry demodulation reference signals (DM-RS) for channel estimation at the base station. In addition, the UE may transmit a Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) in the last symbol of the subframe. The SRS may have a comb structure, and the UE may transmit the SRS on one of the combs. The base station may use the SRS for channel quality estimation to enable frequency dependent scheduling on the UL.

Fig. 2D shows an example of various channels in the UL subframe of a frame. A Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) may be located within one or more subframes in a frame based on a PRACH configuration. The PRACH may include six consecutive RB pairs in a subframe. The PRACH allows the UE to perform initial system access and achieve UL synchronization. The Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) may be located on the edge of the UL system bandwidth. The PUCCH carries Uplink Control Information (UCI) such as scheduling request, Channel Quality Indicator (CQI), Precoding Matrix Indicator (PMI), Rank Indicator (RI), and HARQ ACK/NACK feedback. The PUSCH carries data and may additionally be used to carry Buffer Status Reports (BSRs), Power Headroom Reports (PHR), and/or UCI.

Fig. 3 is a block diagram of a base station 310 in communication with a UE350 in an access network. In the DL, IP packets from the EPC160 may be provided to the controller/processor 375. Controller/processor 375 implements layer 3 and layer 2 functions. Layer 3 includes a Radio Resource Control (RRC) layer, and layer 2 includes a Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer, a Radio Link Control (RLC) layer, and a Medium Access Control (MAC) layer. The controller/processor 375 provides: RRC layer functions associated with the broadcast of system information (e.g., MIB, SIBs), RRC connection control (e.g., RRC connection paging, RRC connection establishment, RRC connection modification, and RRC connection release), inter-Radio Access Technology (RAT) mobility, and measurement configuration for UE measurement reporting; PDCP layer functions associated with header compression/decompression, security (ciphering, deciphering, integrity protection, integrity verification) and handover support functions; RLC layer functions associated with the delivery of upper layer Packet Data Units (PDUs), error correction by ARQ, concatenation, segmentation and reassembly of RLC Service Data Units (SDUs), re-segmentation of RLC data PDUs, and re-ordering of RLC data PDUs; and MAC layer functions associated with mapping between logical channels and transport channels, multiplexing of MAC SDUs into Transport Blocks (TBs), demultiplexing of MAC SDUs from TBs, scheduling information reporting, error correction by HARQ, priority handling, and logical channel prioritization.

A Transmit (TX) processor 316 and a Receive (RX) processor 370 implement layer 1 functions associated with various signal processing functions. Layer 1, which includes a Physical (PHY) layer, may include error detection on transport channels, Forward Error Correction (FEC) encoding/decoding of transport channels, interleaving, rate matching, mapping to physical channels, modulation/demodulation of physical channels, and MIMO antenna processing. The TX processor 316 processes the mapping to the signal constellation based on various modulation schemes (e.g., Binary Phase Shift Keying (BPSK), Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (QPSK), M-phase shift keying (M-PSK), M-quadrature amplitude modulation (M-QAM)). The coded and modulated symbols may then be split into parallel streams. Each stream may then be mapped to OFDM subcarriers, multiplexed with reference signals (e.g., pilots) in the time and/or frequency domain, and then combined together using an Inverse Fast Fourier Transform (IFFT) to generate a physical channel carrying a time domain OFDM symbol stream. The OFDM stream is spatially precoded to generate a plurality of spatial streams. The channel estimates from channel estimator 374 may be used to determine coding and modulation schemes and for spatial processing. The channel estimate may be derived from a reference signal and/or channel condition feedback transmitted by the UE 350. Each spatial stream may then be provided to a different antenna 320 via a separate transmitter 318 TX. Each transmitter 318TX may modulate an RF carrier with a respective spatial stream for transmission.

At the UE350, each receiver 354RX receives a signal through its respective antenna 352. Each receiver 354RX recovers information modulated onto an RF carrier and provides the information to a Receive (RX) processor 356. The TX processor 368 and the RX processor 356 implement layer 1 functions associated with various signal processing functions. The RX processor 356 may perform spatial processing on the information to recover any spatial streams destined for the UE 350. If multiple spatial streams are intended for the UE350, the RX processor 356 may combine them into a single OFDM symbol stream. The RX processor 356 then transforms the OFDM symbol stream from the time-domain to the frequency-domain using a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT). The frequency domain signal comprises a separate OFDM symbol stream for each subcarrier of the OFDM signal. The symbols on each subcarrier, as well as the reference signal, are recovered and demodulated by determining the most likely signal constellation points transmitted by the base station 310. These soft decisions may be based on channel estimates computed by channel estimator 358. These soft decisions are then decoded and deinterleaved to recover the data and control signals that were originally transmitted by the base station 310 on the physical channel. These data and control signals are then provided to a controller/processor 359, which implements layer 3 and layer 2 functionality.

The controller/processor 359 can be associated with memory 360 that stores program codes and data. The memory 360 may be referred to as a computer-readable medium. In the UL, controller/processor 359 provides demultiplexing between transport and logical channels, packet reassembly, deciphering, header decompression and control signal processing to recover IP packets from EPC 160. The controller/processor 359 is also responsible for error detection using ACK and/or NACK protocols to support HARQ operations.

Similar to the functionality described in connection with the DL transmission of base station 310, controller/processor 359 provides: RRC layer functions associated with system information (e.g., MIB, SIB) acquisition, RRC connection, and measurement reporting; PDCP layer functions associated with header compression/decompression and security (ciphering, deciphering, integrity protection, integrity verification); RLC layer functions associated with delivery of upper layer PDUs, error correction by ARQ, concatenation, segmentation and reassembly of RLC SDUs, re-segmentation of RLC data PDUs, and re-ordering of RLC data PDUs; and MAC layer functions associated with mapping between logical channels and transport channels, multiplexing of MAC SDUs into TBs, demultiplexing of MAC SDUs from TBs, scheduling information reporting, error correction by HARQ, priority handling, and logical channel prioritization.

Channel estimates derived by a channel estimator 358 from a reference signal or feedback transmitted by base station 310 may be used by TX processor 368 to select the appropriate coding and modulation schemes and to facilitate spatial processing. The spatial streams generated by the TX processor 368 may be provided to different antennas 352 via separate transmitters 354 TX. Each transmitter 354TX may modulate an RF carrier with a respective spatial stream for transmission.

The UL transmissions are processed at the base station 310 in a manner similar to that described in connection with the receiver functionality at the UE 350. Each receiver 318RX receives a signal through its respective antenna 320. Each receiver 318RX recovers information modulated onto an RF carrier and provides the information to RX processor 370.

The controller/processor 375 can be associated with a memory 376 that stores program codes and data. The memory 376 may be referred to as a computer-readable medium. In the UL, the controller/processor 375 provides demultiplexing between transport and logical channels, packet reassembly, deciphering, header decompression, control signal processing to recover IP packets from the UE 350. IP packets from controller/processor 375 may be provided to EPC 160. The controller/processor 375 is also responsible for error detection using ACK and/or NACK protocols to support HARQ operations.

Fig. 4 is a diagram 400 illustrating a base station 402 in communication with a UE 404. Referring to fig. 4, a base station 402 may transmit beamformed signals to a UE 404 in one or more of the directions 402a, 402b, 402c, 402d, 402e, 402f, 402g, 402 h. The UE 404 may receive beamformed signals from the base station 402 in one or more receive directions 404a, 404b, 404c, 404 d. The UE 404 may also transmit beamformed signals to the base station 402 in one or more of the directions 404a-404 d. The base station 402 may receive beamformed signals from the UE 404 in one or more of the receive directions 402a-402 h. The base station 402/UE 404 may perform beam training to determine the best receive and transmit directions for each of the base station 402/UE 404. The transmit and receive directions for the base station 402 may or may not be the same. The transmit and receive directions for the UE 404 may or may not be the same.

For example, a Synchronization Signal (SS) may be beam scanned in multiple SS blocks, e.g., rather than transmitted at predetermined fixed locations. A Broadcast Channel (BCH) Transmission Time Interval (TTI) may include a time window in which System Information (SI) other than timing remains unchanged in a Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH). Thus, within the BCH TTI, the PBCH payload other than timing information is the same for any transmitted PBCH. The remaining timing information may be included in the SS block (e.g., in the SS block index).

For example, the NR communications may include BCH TTIs of 80 ms. Within the BCH TTI, multiple sets of SS bursts may be transmitted (e.g., beam scanning of L SS blocks). For example, the initial set of cell selection bursts may be repeated with a 20ms periodicity. However, other periods are possible for connected/idle UEs and for non-standalone deployments, and so on.

Fig. 5 shows an example configuration 500 of bursts, sets of bursts, and BCH TTIs for PBCH transmissions by a base station. In fig. 5, each burst shows a plurality (L) of SS blocks, each burst set shows a plurality (n) of bursts, and each BCH TTI shows a plurality (m) of burst sets. For example, a burst set may be a set of SS blocks that includes one complete beam sweep. Thus, the period of the burst set may be a period in which the UE receives SS blocks on the same gNB beam. SS blocks may not be contiguous, e.g., allowing for distributed Downlink (DL) and Uplink (UL) control and data. For example, one burst set may include multiple bursts, where one burst includes a contiguous set of SS block transmission resources available for the gNB.

At least a portion of the remaining timing information for the synchronization signal may be explicitly in the PBCH payload. For example, the PBCH payload may include an SS block index and/or an SS burst set index. The UE may decode in combination with the PBCH transmission to improve PBCH decoding performance. Sometimes, PBCH transmissions may carry different SS block indices. By assuming a bit difference between the payloads received by any two PBCHs, the UE may combine PBCHs from different SS blocks using SS block indices, where the bit difference is caused by different SS blocks and burst set indices for the two PBCHs.

Based on the encoded linear G (b + δ) ═ Gb + G δ, where G denotes a high generator matrix and b and δ denote (column) vectors, all in GF (2), PBCH can be combined across two SS blocks based on the assumption of the bit difference δ between the respective payloads of the two SS blocks.

Make it

Denotes the SS block index, where_maxIs the total number of SS blocks, anRepresenting a set of SS block indices. At one endIn this example,/_maxMay be equal to 64. This is just one example, and the aspects presented herein apply to different total numbers of SS blocks.

The function c (l) gb (l) may represent codewords included in PBCH transmitted with SS block index l, where b (l) is PBCH payload transmitted with SS block index l and includes l (e.g., 6 Least Significant Bits (LSBs)), and G_polarG_CRCThe systematic CRC generator matrix is followed by the polar code generator matrix. Any linearly encoded generator matrix may be used instead of G_polarAnd still apply the aspects presented herein. Similarly, any linear error detection code generator matrix may be used instead of G_CRCAnd still apply the aspects presented herein.

Respectively indexed by SS blocks₁And an index l₂The bit difference between the PBCHs transmitted may be by δ ({ l }₁，l₂})＝b(l₁)+b(l₂) Is shown in which

As a note, even if present

An assumption { l }₁，l₂}，|B|＝l_max(e.g., 64 in this example).

When the UE detects two SS blocks at a time distance of Δ t apart, the UE may combine the PBCHs in the two blocks. The time distance Δ t may be in units of SS blocks. For example,

thus, the codewords sent in PBCH in SS blocks l and l + Δ t are correlated, and when the time interval Δ t is known, the UE can derive one codeword from the other codeword. In other words, one codeword can be considered as a scrambled version of another codeword, where the scrambling is given by G8({ l, l + Δ t }). In this example, the UE already knows Δ t (i.e., Δ t)How far apart in time they detect the two SS blocks). Accordingly, the UE may combine the calculated decoding metrics (e.g., LLRs) for the two receptions and thus improve decoding performance. To derive one PBCH codeword from the other, for all hypotheses

So that

The UE may perform the calculations as follows:

(1) calculation of b_δ({l，l+Δt})，

(2) Calculate G.delta ({ l, l + Δ t }),

in one example, this may be computed and stored offline, since the possible values of the bit difference vector δ ({ l, l + Δ t }) may be small (e.g., l + Δ t })_max)。

After performing these two calculations, the UE may increase the log-likelihood ratio (LLR) by correcting the sign of the LLRs (l + Δ t) using G · δ ({ l, l + Δ t }).

The UE may then decode the PBCH and check the CRC. The UE may determine the SS block index for the PBCH according to the decoded information.

The set of hypotheses may include all hypotheses L ∈ L such that (L + Δ t) ∈ L. The set of assumptions depends on the SS block mode configuration (e.g., SS burst and/or burst set design scheme) of the communication system. L ≡ {0, …, L _ max-1} represents the set of SS block indices, where lmax is the total number of SS blocks in the burst set. When the UE detects two SS blocks at a time spaced by Δ t, the set of hypotheses (e.g., such that all hypotheses L ∈ L of (L + Δ t) ∈ L) depend on the burst set pattern used in the system (i.e., the relative transmission times of the SS blocks). Fig. 6A illustrates an example SS block structure 600 and illustrates the assumption (l, l + Δ t) that a combined PBCH may be evaluated if the UE detects two SS blocks at an interval Δ t of 4 SS block durations. In fig. 6A, l may be an SS block index of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6, but SS block indexes 7, 8, 9, and 10 do not allow SS blocks spaced apart by Δ t ═ 4 SS block durations.

For a similar SS block pattern structure 602, fig. 6B shows the assumption that if the UE detects two SS blocks at an interval Δ t of 5ms + (3 SS block durations), it can evaluate the combined PBCH.

Thus, timing information (e.g., SS block index within a burst set or within a BCH TTI) may be conveyed in the PBCH payload. PBCHs from different SS blocks, which carry potentially different payloads due to timing information, may be combined to improve detection. The UE may make an assumption based on the SS block index carried in each PBCH, where the assumption corresponds to a time gap between the reception of two SS blocks. For each hypothesis, the UE may calculate a bit disparity vector between the payloads for the hypothesis and calculate a codeword corresponding to the bit disparity vector. Finally, the UE may use the codeword to correctly combine the detection metrics from the two PBCHs (e.g., add LLRs with correct symbols), and use the combined detection metrics to decode the PBCH.

The PBCH payload may include coded bits (e.g., frozen bits) that the UE already knows. The PBCH payload may include coded bits potentially known to the UE, and the UE may need to decode the PBCH only for the remaining unknown set of information.

The unknown information may include timing information, such as, for example, an SS block index, an SS burst set index, a System Frame Number (SFN), and/or error detection bits. For example, the timing information may include CRC bits.

Thus, a portion of the PBCH payload or encoded PBCH bits may be known to the UE and the UE may need to decode the PBCH only for the remaining unknown information.

For example, the UE may potentially know most of the system information (e.g., the MIB for the neighbor cell PBCH) in addition to unknown timing information. This potentially known information may be known to the UE because the information has already been provided to the UE (e.g., the serving cell may provide the UE with such information about neighbor cells). The PBCH may include a freeze bit, which is also known to the UE. The UE may decode the partially known PBCH using at least a portion of the potentially known bits of the payload and the frozen bits.

In one example, for a polar coded PBCH, the potentially known payload may be considered as a frozen bit during decoding at the UE.

Code generator matrix G for a given polarity of N_NWherein Q ═ Q (Q)₁，q₂，...，q_N) Is a bit position vector providing an index to the polarity encoder with respect to the input bits, q may be paired based on the estimated reliability₁，q₂，...，q_NAnd (6) sorting. For example, the input bits may be ordered such that q is₁Is the most reliable, so that q is analogized_NIs the least reliable. In some cases, the reliability may be based on the estimate.

For example, for a simple generator matrix

Generator codeword y-G₂x corresponds to a two-bit (column) vector x, we have Q ═ 2, 1.

Therefore, for a given G_NWe have a bit position vector Q. At the input of the encoder, K < N information bits are placed in the most reliable bit positions, and the frozen bits (which are known bits) are the remaining N-K bit positions. Thus, the obtained bit vector is an N × 1-dimensional vector x. The encoder then generates an N-bit codeword y ═ G_Nx. Sometimes, the transmitted codeword may be punctured to obtain fewer bits than N bits for transmission. In this case, the bit position vector Q may be appropriately updated to reflect the bit reliability according to the actually transmitted bits.

The frozen bit can be placed at the least reliable bit position. At least a portion of the potentially known bits may be placed in bit positions that are less reliable than the positions of the unknown bits. Thus, in constructing the PBCH for transmission by the base station, potentially known bits may be placed at bit positions with lower reliability than the bit positions where unknown bits are placed.

Given the location of the potentially known bits, the UE may decode the PBCH based on the continuous decoding of the information bits. The frozen bit is already known to the UE and may not need to be decoded. The UE may first decode the potentially known bits and then may subsequently decode at least a portion of the unknown bits.

This may enable the UE to more efficiently decode the PBCH of the neighbor cell. For example, the UE may need four PBCH decodes to obtain the timing information (e.g., SS block index) included in the PBCH. If the UE knows at least a portion of the remaining bits (e.g., bits other than the SS block index) for the neighbor cell PBCH, the UE may treat these bits as frozen bits. This may enable the UE to obtain the SS block index with reduced decoding processing, e.g., using a single PBCH decoding.

Fig. 7 illustrates a communication flow 700 between a UE 704 (e.g., UE104, 350, 404, 950, device 1202, 1202 '), a first base station 702 (e.g., base station 180, 350), and a second base station 706 (e.g., base station 180, 350, 402, 1250, device 902, 902'), in accordance with aspects presented herein. The first base station 702 may be a serving base station and the second base station may be a neighbor base station. The second base station 706 may transmit the PBCH in multiple SS blocks. Each SS block may include timing information (e.g., an SS block index) included in the PBCH payload. For example, fig. 7 shows the base station 706 sending a first PBCH payload including first timing information in a first SS block 712 and sending a second PBCH payload including second timing information in a second SS block 714.

Fig. 14 shows an example of overall timing information 1400 to be carried in an SS block. Fig. 14 shows various portions of timing bits indicating timing at different resolutions. At least some of these timing bits may be included in the PBCH payload sequence to be encoded (e.g., polarity encoded).

At 708, the base station 706 may construct the PBCH and, at 708, select a bit position for the PBCH information based on the estimated reliability of the corresponding bit position. Since certain PBCH fields may have known bit values in certain scenarios, these PBCH fields may be placed in, for example, more or less reliable bit positions to improve PBCH decoder performance. For example, the frozen bits may be placed at the least reliable bit positions, and at least a portion of the potentially known bits may be placed at bit positions that are less reliable than the unknown bits. As described in connection with fig. 5, 6, and 8, the PBCH field may include an SS block time index, reserved bits and system information bits, SFN bits, and the like.

At 720, the UE 704 may decode the PBCH payload received from the base station 706 based on the sequential decoding order. The frozen bits may be known and decoding may not be required. The UE may first decode the potentially known bits and then decode the unknown bits.

As shown in fig. 7, the potentially known bits may correspond to information provided from the first base station 702 to the UE 704 regarding the second base station PBCH.

In a first example, the first cell may provide information regarding the second cell PBCH bit to the UE 704 at 710 before the UE reports the cell quality measurement for the second cell. For example, the UE 704 may receive information from the first base station 702 regarding the PBCH of the second base station before receiving the PBCH from the second base station 706. Subsequently, the UE 704 may detect the SS block of the second base station and may decode the PBCH of the second base station with a sequential decoding order using information 710 received from the first base station 702 at 720. This may reduce PBCH decoding delay.

In this first example, the serving cell may provide each served UE with information on PBCH bits of a number of surrounding neighbor cells to use in reporting neighbor cell quality. For example, a serving cell may provide information corresponding to multiple neighbor cell Identifiers (IDs). However, this may require the serving cell to provide a large amount of information to the UE.

In a second example, the UE 704 may detect an SS block from the second base station 706 before receiving information from the first base station 702. The UE may detect the cell ID of the second base station 706. Upon detecting the cell ID, the UE may report the cell ID to the first base station 702 at 716. In response to receiving the cell ID from the UE, the first base station 702 may provide PBCH bit information for the second base station 706 to the UE at 718. The UE may then use information from the first cell 702 to decode the PBCH of the second base station with a sequential decoding order at 720.

In this second example, the serving cell may provide information on PBCH bits for a particular neighbor cell in response to the UE reporting a corresponding cell ID. While this example may involve more delay than the first example, the second example reduces RRC signaling overhead of the serving base station.

Thus, the first base station may provide information to assist the UE in deriving the reference time of the second base station, e.g., the serving cell may assist the UE in deriving the reference time of the target cell.

Fig. 8 is a flow chart 800 of a method of wireless communication. The method may be performed by a base station (e.g., base station 102, 180, 310, 402, 706, 1250, apparatus 902, 902 ') in communication with a UE (e.g., UE104, 350, 404, 704, 950, apparatus 1202, 1202'). At 802, the base station constructs a PBCH payload, wherein bit positions for encoding a plurality of bits of the PBCH are selected based on an estimated reliability of the bit positions, wherein the plurality of bits includes a frozen bit, an unknown bit unknown to the user equipment, and a potentially known bit potentially known to the user equipment, e.g., as described in connection with 708 in fig. 7. The PBCH payload may include a polarity encoded PBCH. At least a portion of the potentially known bits may be given less reliable bit positions than the unknown bits when encoding the PBCH payload. Frozen bits may be given less reliable bit positions than potentially known bits when encoding PBCH payloads. Accordingly, the base station may generate PBCH sequences and may polar encode the PBCH sequences in a particular order to achieve potentially improved PBCH decoder performance.

At 804, the base station transmits the PBCH payload in at least one of the plurality of SS blocks. In one example, each SS block includes corresponding timing information. For example, as described in conjunction with fig. 5 and 6, each SS block may include an SS block index. Accordingly, the timing information may include at least one of an SS block index, an SS burst set index, and a System Frame Number (SFN).

In one example, the unknown bits may include timing information (e.g., at least one of an SS block index, an SS burst set index, and an SFN). In other examples, the unknown bits may include other information. The unknown bits may include error detection bits (e.g., CRC bits or other information). For example, in the case of network synchronization, the timing information received by the UE from its serving cell may be applicable to neighbor cells. Thus, in this example, information other than timing information may be included in the unknown bits.

The potentially known bits may include system information provided to the user equipment by different cells. For example, such potentially known information may include any of the following: such as a set of parameters for subcarrier spacing for other channels, a configuration of a common control resource set (CORESET), a configuration of transmission of remaining system information, a system bandwidth, a location of a synchronization signal in the system bandwidth, and/or reserved bits. The potentially known information may include a portion of the SFN, e.g., 8 MSBs out of a total of 10 bits of the SFN. Thus, while a first cell may not be able to provide accurate timing of a second cell, the first cell may be able to provide neighbor cell time within a certain level of accuracy (e.g., up to 20ms accuracy).

Fig. 9 is a conceptual data flow diagram 900 illustrating the data flow between different units/components in an exemplary apparatus 902. The apparatus may be a base station (e.g., base station 180, 310, 402, 706, 1250) in communication with a UE 950 (e.g., UE104, 350, 404, 704, apparatus 1202, 1202'). The apparatus comprises a receiving component 904 and a transmitting component 906, wherein the receiving component 904 receives uplink communications and the transmitting component 906 transmits DL communications comprising PBCH to the UE. The apparatus can include a PBCH constructing component 908 configured to construct a PBCH payload, wherein bit positions for encoding a plurality of bits of the PBCH are selected based on reliability of an estimate of the bit positions, wherein the plurality of bits includes a frozen bit, an unknown bit unknown to a user equipment, and a potentially known bit potentially known to the user equipment. For example, when encoding PBCH, the PBCH construction component may give at least a portion of the potentially known bits less reliable bit positions than the unknown bits, and may give the frozen bits less reliable bit positions than the potentially known bits. The apparatus can comprise an SS block component 910 configured to transmit a PBCH payload in at least one of a plurality of SS blocks, e.g., via the transmitting component 906.

The apparatus may include additional components for performing each of the blocks in the algorithms in the aforementioned flow charts of fig. 7 and 8. Accordingly, each block in the aforementioned flow diagrams of fig. 7 and 8 may be performed by a component, and the apparatus may include one or more of these components. These components may be one or more hardware components specifically configured to perform the recited processes/algorithms, implemented by a processor configured to perform the recited processes/algorithms, stored in a computer-readable medium for implementation by a processor, or some combination thereof.

Fig. 10 is a diagram 1000 illustrating an example of a hardware implementation for an apparatus 902' using a processing system 1014. The processing system 1014 may be implemented with a bus architecture, represented generally by the bus 1024. The bus 1024 may include any number of interconnecting buses and bridges depending on the specific application of the processing system 1014 and the overall design constraints. The bus 1024 links together various circuits including one or more processors and/or hardware components, represented by the processor 1004, the components 904, 906, 908, 910, and the computer-readable medium/memory 1006. The bus 1024 may also link various other circuits such as timing sources, peripherals, voltage regulators, and power management circuits, which are well known in the art, and therefore, will not be described any further.

The processing system 1014 may be coupled to a transceiver 1010. The transceiver 1010 is coupled to one or more antennas 1020. The transceiver 1010 provides a means for communicating with various other apparatus over a transmission medium. Transceiver 1010 receives signals from the one or more antennas 1020, extracts information from the received signals, and provides the extracted information to processing system 1014 (specifically, receiving component 904). Further, transceiver 1010 receives information from processing system 1014 (and in particular, transmit component 906) and generates a signal to be applied to the one or more antennas 1020 based on the received information. The processing system 1014 includes a processor 1004 coupled to a computer-readable medium/memory 1006. The processor 1004 is responsible for general processing, including the execution of software stored on the computer-readable medium/memory 1006. The software, when executed by the processor 1004, causes the processing system 1014 to perform the various functions described supra for any particular apparatus. The computer-readable medium/memory 1006 may also be used for storing data that is manipulated by the processor 1004 when executing software. The processing system 1014 also includes at least one of the components 904, 906, 908, 910. These components may be software components running in the processor 1004, resident/stored in the computer readable medium/memory 1006, one or more hardware components coupled to the processor 1004, or some combination thereof. Processing system 1014 may be a component of base station 310 and may include memory 376 and/or at least one of the following: TX processor 316, RX processor 370, and controller/processor 375.

In one configuration, the means for wireless communication 902/902' comprises: means for constructing a PBCH payload, wherein bit positions for encoding a plurality of bits of the PBCH are selected based on estimated reliabilities of corresponding bit positions, wherein the plurality of bits includes a frozen bit, an unknown bit unknown to the user equipment, and a potentially known bit potentially known to the user equipment; and means for transmitting the PBCH payload in at least one of a plurality of SS blocks, wherein each SS block includes corresponding timing information. The aforementioned means may be one or more of the aforementioned components of the processing system 1014 of the apparatus 902 and/or the apparatus 902' configured to perform the functions recited by the aforementioned means. As described supra, the processing system 1014 may include the TX processor 316, the RX processor 370, and the controller/processor 375. Thus, in one configuration, the aforementioned means may be the TX processor 316, the RX processor 370, and the controller/processor 375 configured to perform the functions recited by the aforementioned means.

Fig. 11 is a flow chart 1100 of a method of wireless communication. The method may be performed by a UE (e.g., UE104, 350, 404, 704, 950, apparatus 1202, 1202 ') that is served by a first cell and receives communications from a base station of a second cell (e.g., base station 102, 180, 310, 402, 706, 1250, apparatus 902, 902'). Optional aspects are shown using dashed lines. At 1104, the UE receives a PBCH payload for the second cell in at least one of a plurality of SS blocks, wherein each SS block includes corresponding timing information, and wherein the PBCH payload includes a frozen bit, an unknown bit that is unknown to the user equipment, and a potentially known bit that is potentially known to the user equipment. The PBCH payload may include a polarity encoded PBCH.

At 1112, the UE decodes the PBCH based on the consecutive decoding order. The sequential decoding order may be based on an estimated reliability of the corresponding bits. Potentially known bits may be decoded before unknown bits. The potentially known bits may include system information provided by the first cell to the user equipment. The unknown bits may include timing information (e.g., at least one of an SS block index, an SS burst set index, and an SFN). The potentially known bits may include error detection bits (e.g., CRC bits).

In one example, as shown at 1102, a UE may receive a plurality of potentially known bits from a first cell corresponding to a cell ID for a second cell prior to reporting cell quality. Subsequently, at 1106, the UE can detect a cell ID of the second cell from the received SS block. At 1112, the PBCH may be decoded based on the sequential decoding order using bits obtained from the first cell.

In another example, the potentially known bits may not be received by the UE prior to receiving the PBCH at 1104. In this example, the UE may report the detected cell ID of the second cell to the first cell at 1108. Subsequently, at 1110, in response to reporting the cell ID, the UE may receive a plurality of potentially known bits from the first cell corresponding to the cell ID for the second cell. At 1112, the PBCH may be decoded based on the sequential decoding order using bits obtained from the first cell.

Fig. 12 is a conceptual data flow diagram 1200 illustrating the data flow between different means/components in an exemplary apparatus 1202. The apparatus may be a UE (e.g., UE104, 350, 404, 704, 950) in communication with a first base station 1251 (e.g., base station 180, 310, 402, 702) and with a second base station 1250 (e.g., base station 180, 310, 402, 706, apparatus 902, 902'). The apparatus includes a receiving component 1204 that receives downlink communications from a first cell and a second cell, e.g., via a first base station 1251 and a second base station 1250. The apparatus can comprise a transmitting component 1206 that transmits the UL communication to a base station (e.g., 1250, 1251). The apparatus includes a PBCH component 1208 configured to receive a PBCH payload for a second cell in at least one of a plurality of SS blocks, wherein each SS block includes corresponding timing information, and wherein the PBCH payload includes a frozen bit, an unknown bit that is unknown to the user equipment, and a potentially known bit that is potentially known to the user equipment.

The apparatus comprises a decoding component 1210 configured to decode the PBCH based on a sequential decoding order. The sequential decoding order may be based on an estimated reliability of the corresponding bits.

The apparatus can include a potential known bits component 1212 configured to receive a plurality of potential known bits from a first cell corresponding to a cell ID for a second cell. The apparatus can include a cell ID component 1214 configured to detect a cell ID of a second cell 1250. The potentially known bits may be received prior to detecting the cell ID, and the cell ID may be used to identify the potentially known bits for the corresponding second cell. In another example, the UE may detect the cell ID before receiving the potentially known bits. The apparatus can also include a reporting component 1216 configured to report the cell ID of the second cell to the first cell. Subsequently, potentially known bits for the second cell may be received in response to the reported cell ID.

The apparatus may include additional components for performing each of the blocks in the algorithms in the aforementioned flow charts of fig. 7 and 11. Accordingly, each block in the aforementioned flow diagrams of fig. 7 and 11 may be performed by a component, and the apparatus may include one or more of these components. These components may be one or more hardware components specifically configured to perform the recited processes/algorithms, implemented by a processor configured to perform the recited processes/algorithms, stored in a computer-readable medium for implementation by a processor, or some combination thereof.

Fig. 13 is a diagram 1300 illustrating an example of a hardware implementation for an apparatus 1202' using a processing system 1314. The processing system 1314 may be implemented with a bus architecture, represented generally by the bus 1324. The bus 1324 may include any number of interconnecting buses and bridges depending on the specific application of the processing system 1314 and the overall design constraints. The bus 1324 links together various circuits including one or more processors and/or hardware components, represented by the processor 1304, the components 1204, 1206, 1208, 1210, 1212, 1214, 1216, and the computer-readable medium/memory 1306. The bus 1324 may also link various other circuits such as timing sources, peripherals, voltage regulators, and power management circuits, which are well known in the art, and therefore, will not be described any further.

The processing system 1314 may be coupled to a transceiver 1310. The transceiver 1310 is coupled to one or more antennas 1320. The transceiver 1310 provides a means for communicating with various other apparatus over a transmission medium. The transceiver 1310 receives signals from the one or more antennas 1320, extracts information from the received signals, and provides the extracted information to the processing system 1314 (specifically, the receiving component 1204). Further, the transceiver 1310 receives information from the processing system 1314 (and in particular, the transmitting component 1206), and based on the received information, generates a signal to be applied to the one or more antennas 1320. The processing system 1314 includes a processor 1304 coupled to a computer-readable medium/memory 1306. The processor 1304 is responsible for general processing, including the execution of software stored on the computer-readable medium/memory 1306. The software, when executed by the processor 1304, causes the processing system 1314 to perform the various functions described supra for any particular apparatus. The computer-readable medium/memory 1306 may also be used for storing data that is manipulated by the processor 1304 when executing software. The processing system 1314 further includes at least one of the components 1204, 1206, 1208, 1210, 1212, 1214, 1216. These components may be software components running in the processor 1304, resident/stored in the computer readable medium/memory 1306, one or more hardware components coupled to the processor 1304, or some combination thereof. The processing system 1314 may be a component of the UE350 and may include the memory 360 and/or at least one of the following: TX processor 368, RX processor 356, and controller/processor 359.

In one configuration, the means for wireless communication 1202/1202' comprises: means for receiving a PBCH payload in at least one of a plurality of SS blocks, wherein each SS block includes corresponding timing information, and wherein the PBCH payload includes a frozen bit, an unknown bit unknown to the user equipment, and a potentially known bit potentially known to the user equipment; means for decoding the PBCH based on a sequential decoding order; means for receiving, from a first cell, a plurality of potentially known bits corresponding to a cell ID for a second cell prior to reporting cell quality; means for detecting a cell ID of a second cell from the received SS block; means for reporting a cell ID of a second cell to a first cell; and means for receiving, from the first cell, a plurality of potentially known bits corresponding to the cell ID for the second cell in response to reporting the cell ID. The aforementioned means may be one or more of the aforementioned components of the processing system 1314 of the apparatus 1202 and/or the apparatus 1202' configured to perform the functions recited by the aforementioned means. As described supra, the processing system 1314 may include the TX processor 368, the RX processor 356, and the controller/processor 359. Thus, in one configuration, the aforementioned means may be the TX processor 368, the RX processor 356, and the controller/processor 359 configured to perform the functions recited by the aforementioned means.

It should be understood that the specific order or hierarchy of blocks in the processes/flow diagrams disclosed is an illustration of exemplary approaches. It should be understood that the particular order or hierarchy of blocks in the processes/flow diagrams may be rearranged based on design preferences. Further, some blocks may be combined or omitted. The accompanying method claims present elements of the various blocks in a sample order, and are not meant to be limited to the specific order or hierarchy presented.

The previous description is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to practice the various aspects described herein. Various modifications to these aspects will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles defined herein may be applied to other aspects. Thus, the claims are not intended to be limited to the aspects shown herein, but is to be accorded the full scope consistent with the language claims, wherein reference to an element in the singular is not intended to mean "one and only one" unless specifically so stated, but rather "one or more. The word "exemplary" is used herein to mean "serving as an example, instance, or illustration. Any aspect described herein as "exemplary" is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other aspects. The term "some" refers to one or more unless specifically stated otherwise. Combinations such as "at least one of A, B or C", "one or more of A, B or C", "at least one of A, B and C", "one or more of A, B and C", and "A, B, C or any combination thereof" include any combination of A, B and/or C, and may include a plurality of a, B plurality, or C plurality. In particular, combinations such as "at least one of A, B or C", "one or more of A, B or C", "at least one of A, B and C", "one or more of A, B and C", and "A, B, C or any combination thereof" may be a only, B only, C, A only and B, A and C, B and C, or a and B and C, wherein any such combination may include one or more members or some members of A, B or C. All structural and functional equivalents to the elements of the various aspects described throughout this disclosure that are known or later come to be known to those of ordinary skill in the art are expressly incorporated herein by reference and are intended to be encompassed by the claims. Moreover, nothing disclosed herein is intended to be dedicated to the public regardless of whether such disclosure is explicitly recited in the claims. The terms "module," device, "" element, "" device, "and the like may not be a substitute for the term" unit. Thus, no element of a claim should be construed as a functional unit unless the element is explicitly recited in the language "unit for … …".