阅读说明：本技术 半音偏移的可配置性和信令 (Configurability and signaling of semitone offsets ) 是由 全晸鍸 赵俊英 迈克尔·法尔伯 韩承希 苗洪雷 于 2018-06-15 设计创作，主要内容包括：描述了一种可操作来在无线网络上与演进型节点B(eNB)通信的用户设备(UE)的装置。该装置可包括第一电路、第二电路和第三电路。第一电路可操作来处理携带半音偏移指示符的配置传输。第二电路可操作来基于半音偏移指示符选择用于上行链路(UL)传输的一个或多个子载波频率。第三电路可操作来生成用于一个或多个子载波频率的UL传输。半音偏移指示符可具有指示应用半子载波偏置的第一值和指示不应用半子载波偏置的第二值。(An apparatus of a User Equipment (UE) operable to communicate with an evolved node b (enb) on a wireless network is described. The apparatus may include a first circuit, a second circuit, and a third circuit. The first circuit is operable to process a configuration transmission carrying a semitone offset indicator. The second circuit is operable to select one or more subcarrier frequencies for Uplink (UL) transmission based on the semitone offset indicator. The third circuit is operable to generate UL transmissions for one or more subcarrier frequencies. The semitone offset indicator may have a first value indicating that a half subcarrier offset is applied and a second value indicating that a half subcarrier offset is not applied.)

1. An apparatus of a User Equipment (UE) operable to communicate with a fifth generation evolved node b (gnb) over a wireless network, the apparatus comprising:

one or more processors configured to:

processing a configuration transmission carrying a semitone offset indicator;

selecting one or more subcarrier frequencies for Uplink (UL) transmission based on the semitone offset indicator; and is

Generating UL transmissions for the one or more subcarrier frequencies,

wherein the semitone offset indicator has: a first value indicating that a half subcarrier offset is applied and a second value indicating that the half subcarrier offset is not applied, an

An interface for generating a UL transmit UL transmission to the transmit circuitry and for receiving a DL transmission from the receive circuitry.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first and second electrodes are disposed in a common plane,

wherein the UE is configured to have a subcarrier spacing of 15 kilohertz (kHz) and the semitone offset has an amplitude of 7.5 kHz.

3. The device of any one of claims 1 to 2,

wherein the configuration transmission is a Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling transmission.

4. The device of any one of claims 1 to 2,

wherein the UL transmission comprises at least one of: a cyclic prefix orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (CP-OFDM) waveform, or a discrete Fourier transform spread orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (DFT-s-OFDM) waveform.

5. The apparatus of any of claims 1-2, wherein the one or more processors are to:

generating a Radio Frequency (RF) offset indicator for RF circuitry based on the semitone offset indicator.

6. A machine-readable storage medium having machine-executable instructions that, when executed, cause one or more processors of a User Equipment (UE) operable to communicate with an evolved node b (enb) on a wireless network to perform operations comprising:

processing a configuration transmission carrying a semitone offset indicator;

selecting one or more subcarrier frequencies for Uplink (UL) transmission based on the semitone offset indicator; and is

Generating UL transmissions for the one or more subcarrier frequencies,

wherein the semitone offset indicator has: a first value indicating that a half subcarrier offset is applied and a second value indicating that the half subcarrier offset is not applied.

7. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 7,

wherein the UE is configured to have a subcarrier spacing of 15 kilohertz (kHz) and the semitone offset has an amplitude of 7.5 kHz.

8. The machine-readable storage medium of any one of claims 7 to 8,

wherein the configuration transmission is a Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling transmission.

9. The machine-readable storage medium of any one of claims 7 to 8,

wherein the UL transmission comprises at least one of: a cyclic prefix orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (CP-OFDM) waveform, or a discrete Fourier transform spread orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (DFT-s-OFDM) waveform.

10. The machine-readable storage medium of any of claims 7 to 8, the operations comprising:

generating a Radio Frequency (RF) offset indicator for RF circuitry based on the semitone offset indicator.

11. An apparatus of a User Equipment (UE) operable to communicate with an evolved node b (enb) on a wireless network, the apparatus comprising:

one or more processors configured to:

determining one or more subcarrier frequencies not used for data allocation;

generating an Uplink (UL) configuration transmission carrying a reserved resource configuration request indicator;

processing a Downlink (DL) configuration transmission carrying a reserved resource configuration acknowledgement indicator; and is

Processing DL data transmissions that are not present in transmissions on the one or more subcarrier frequencies that are not used for data allocation, and

an interface for generating a UL transmit UL transmission to the transmit circuitry and for receiving a DL transmission from the receive circuitry.

12. The apparatus as set forth in claim 12,

wherein at least one of the one or more subcarrier frequencies not used for data allocation corresponds to a Direct Current (DC) subcarrier frequency of the UE.

13. The device of any one of claims 12 to 13,

wherein the one or more subcarrier frequencies not used for data allocation are contiguous in the frequency domain.

14. The device of any one of claims 12 to 13,

wherein the reserved resource configuration request indicator comprises at least one of: an indicator of a link direction; an indicator of a parameter set; an indicator of one or more subcarriers in an operating bandwidth of the UE; or an indicator of the periodicity of the reserved subcarriers in the time domain.

15. The apparatus as set forth in claim 15, wherein,

wherein a period of the reserved subcarriers has a value indicating that the one or more subcarrier frequencies are to be continuously unused.

16. A machine-readable storage medium having machine-executable instructions that, when executed, cause one or more processors of a User Equipment (UE) operable to communicate with an evolved node b (enb) on a wireless network to perform operations comprising:

determining one or more subcarrier frequencies not used for data allocation;

generating an Uplink (UL) configuration transmission carrying a reserved resource configuration request indicator;

processing a Downlink (DL) configuration transmission carrying a reserved resource configuration acknowledgement indicator; and is

Processing a DL data transmission that is not present in transmissions on the one or more subcarrier frequencies that are not used for data allocation.

17. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 18,

wherein at least one of the one or more subcarrier frequencies not used for data allocation corresponds to a Direct Current (DC) subcarrier frequency of the UE.

18. The machine-readable storage medium of any one of claims 18 to 19,

wherein the one or more subcarrier frequencies not used for data allocation are contiguous in the frequency domain.

19. The machine-readable storage medium of any one of claims 18 to 19,

wherein the reserved resource configuration request indicator comprises at least one of: an indicator of a link direction; an indicator of a parameter set; an indicator of one or more subcarriers in an operating bandwidth of the UE; or an indicator of the periodicity of the reserved subcarriers in the time domain.

20. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 21,

wherein a period of the reserved subcarriers has a value indicating that the one or more subcarrier frequencies are to be continuously unused.

Background

Various wireless cellular communication systems have been implemented, including 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) systems, 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) systems, and 3GPP LTE-Advanced (LTE-a) systems. Next generation wireless cellular communication systems based on LTE and LTE-a systems are being developed, such as fifth generation (5G) wireless systems/5G mobile network systems.

Drawings

Embodiments of the present disclosure will be understood more fully from the detailed description given below and from the accompanying drawings of various embodiments of the disclosure. However, while the drawings will aid in illustration and understanding, they are merely helpful and should not be construed to limit the disclosure to the specific embodiments depicted therein.

Fig. 1 illustrates different Direct Current (DC) subcarriers at a fifth generation (5G) capable evolved node b (gnb) and a User Equipment (UE), in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 2 illustrates a UE-oriented configuration of reserved resources according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 3 illustrates an evolved node b (enb) and a UE, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 4 illustrates hardware processing circuitry for a UE for semitone offset when a New Radio (NR) system shares an Uplink (UL) carrier with a 3rd generation partnership project (3GPP) Long Term Evolution (LTE) system, and for UE-specific reserved resource signaling, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 5 illustrates a method for a UE for semitone offset when an NR system shares a UL carrier with a 3GPP LTE system, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 6 illustrates a method for a UE for UE-specific reserved resource signaling, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 7 illustrates example components of a device, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 8 illustrates example interfaces of baseband circuitry, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

Detailed Description

Various wireless cellular communication systems have been implemented or are being proposed, including 3rd generation partnership project (3GPP) Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) system, 3GPP LTE-advanced (LTE-a) system, and 5 th generation (5G) wireless system/5G mobile network system/5G New Radio (NR) system.

Mobile cellular communication systems have evolved considerably over time. Next generation 5G wireless communication systems (which may be directed to NR systems) may provide greatly improved performance over current 4G systems in many respects, including improved spectral efficiency, lower latency, higher reliability, and so on. These multidimensional targets are driven by different services and applications, including enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB), Ultra-Reliable low latency Communication (URLLC), and so on. Thus, NR systems targeting 5G systems can enrich people's lives with faster, more demanding and more reliable wireless connectivity solutions.

For various embodiments, mechanisms and methods of half-tone shifting (half-tone shifting) when NR shares an Uplink (UL) carrier with LTE and 15 kilohertz (kHz) subcarrier spacing (SCS) is used for NR are disclosed herein. Since UL sharing may enable or facilitate smooth migration of operators from the LTE network to the NR network, 15khz scs may be used for NR (e.g., in LTE-NR shared UL carriers). Thus, the disclosed mechanisms and methods may advantageously facilitate a decision as to whether to apply a semitone offset to the NR UL.

In various embodiments, the NR device may be configurable as to whether a 7.5kHz frequency offset is applied. In some embodiments, the Minimum System Information (MSI) transmission and/or Remaining MSI (RMSI) transmission may indicate whether a 7.5kHz frequency offset is applied for UL transmission. For some embodiments, the UE may be dual connectivity configured to operate the NR also with an indicator of the semitone offset (e.g., a layer 1 (L1) indicator, a layer 2 (L2) indicator, a Media Access Control (MAC) Control Element (CE) indicator, and/or a higher layer signaling indicator). In some embodiments, the signaling mechanism may be implicit in the sense that a 7.5kHz offset may be linked to a frequency band and explicit signaling may not be performed. For some embodiments, the signaling mechanism may be applied to the baseband option or the Radio Frequency (RF) option for a 7.5kHz Frequency offset of the UL waveform.

In some embodiments, if the configured SCS is not a 15kHz SCS, the UE may ignore the 7.5kHz offset (e.g., semitone offset) configuration. For some embodiments, the UE may follow a 7.5kHz offset configuration for all SCS configurations. In some embodiments, the UE may ignore the 7.5kHz offset configuration if the configured waveform is a Cyclic Prefix orthogonal frequency Division Multiplexing (CP-OFDM) waveform. For some embodiments, the UE may follow a 7.5kHz offset configuration regardless of the configured UL waveform (e.g., for CP-OFDM waveforms, or Discrete Fourier Transform Orthogonal Frequency division multiplexing (DFT-s-OFDM) waveforms).

For the various embodiments, the signal quality at the DC subcarrier may be very low due to Local Oscillators (LOs) and/or interfering self-mixing on the UE side. In LTE, all non-Machine-Type-Communication (MTC) UEs may support the full system bandwidth so that the eNB transmitter and the UE receiver may share the same DC subcarrier. Thus, for the construction of physical resource blocks, the center subcarrier (e.g., the DC subcarrier) of the system bandwidth may simply be discarded.

However, in NR systems, not all UEs may support the same system bandwidth as the base station (e.g., the gbb and/or 5G-NB).

Fig. 1 illustrates different Direct Current (DC) subcarriers at an Evolved Node B (Evolved Node-B, gNB) and a User Equipment (UE) with 5G capability, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. In scenario 100, the center subcarrier of the operational bandwidth of the gNB may not be the same as the center subcarrier of the operational bandwidth of the UE. Thus, the DC subcarrier of the gbb and the DC subcarrier of the UE may be different, subject to UE transceiver architecture factors.

Meanwhile, a DC subcarrier at the transmitter side may be indicated to the UE. For example, the UE may be informed of the location of the DC subcarrier, or whether the DC subcarrier is not present within the receiver bandwidth. However, the DC processing on the receiver side may be subject to the receiver implementation. If the DC subcarrier of the UE receiver has very poor signal quality, it may be desirable to avoid using it for signal transmission, since the UE can puncture (puncture) it at any rate on the receiver side. Furthermore, DC subcarrier processing at the receiver may not be specifically addressed in the standard.

Accordingly, various mechanisms and methods are disclosed herein relating to UE-specific signaling of reserved resources, e.g., for handling the DC subcarrier of a UE transceiver. Since NR systems may use reserved resources to support better forward compatibility, the proposed method may advantageously use a similar framework so that DC processing may be performed in a relatively generic, network-transparent manner.

In addition, in various embodiments, the reserved resource towards the UE (UE-ordered) may be requested not only for the DC sub-carrier but also for strong self-interference or other kinds of interference.

In the following description, numerous details are discussed to provide a more thorough explanation of embodiments of the present disclosure. It will be apparent, however, to one skilled in the art that the embodiments of the disclosure may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known structures and devices are shown in block diagram form, rather than in detail, in order to avoid obscuring embodiments of the present disclosure.

Note that in the respective drawings of the embodiments, signals are represented by lines. Some lines may be thicker to indicate a greater number of constituent signal paths and/or have arrows at one or more ends to indicate the direction of information flow. Such indication is not intended to be limiting. Rather, these lines are used in conjunction with one or more exemplary embodiments to facilitate easier understanding of circuits or logic cells. Any represented signal, as determined by design needs or preferences, may actually comprise one or more signals that may travel in either direction and may be implemented using any suitable type of signal scheme.

Throughout the specification, and in the claims, the term "connected" means a direct electrical, mechanical, or magnetic connection between the things that are connected, without any intervening devices. The term "coupled" means either a direct electrical, mechanical, or magnetic connection between the things that are connected, or an indirect connection through one or more passive or active intermediary devices. The term "circuit" or "module" may refer to one or more passive and/or active components arranged to cooperate with one another to provide a desired function. The term "signal" may refer to at least one current signal, voltage signal, magnetic signal, or data/clock signal. The meaning of "a" and "the" includes plural references. The meaning of "in …" includes "in …" and "on …".

The terms "substantially", "close", "approximately" and "approximately" generally refer to being within +/-10% of a target value. Unless otherwise specified the use of the ordinal adjectives "first", "second", and "third", etc., to describe a common object, merely indicate that different instances of like objects are being referred to, and are not intended to imply that the objects so described must be in a given sequence, either temporally, spatially, in ranking, or in any other manner.

It is to be understood that the terms so used are interchangeable under appropriate circumstances such that the embodiments of the invention described herein are, for example, capable of operation in other orientations than those illustrated or otherwise described herein.

The terms "left," "right," "front," "back," "top," "bottom," "over," "under," and the like in the description and in the claims, if any, are used for descriptive purposes and not necessarily for describing permanent relative positions.

For purposes of the embodiments, the transistors in the various circuits, modules and logic blocks are Tunneling FETs (TFETs). Some transistors of the various embodiments may include Metal Oxide Semiconductor (MOS) transistors that include a drain terminal, a source terminal, a gate terminal, and a bulk terminal. Transistors may also include tri-gate and FinFET transistors, fully wrapped-gate cylinder transistors, square line transistors, or rectangular strip transistors, or other devices like carbon nanotubes or spin devices that perform the function of a transistor. MOSFET symmetric source and drain terminals are the same terminal and are used interchangeably herein. TFET devices, on the other hand, have asymmetric source and drain terminals. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that other transistors, such as bipolar junction transistors-BJTs PNP/NPN, BiCMOS, CMOS, etc., may be used for some of the transistors without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

For the purposes of this disclosure, the phrases "a and/or B" and "a or B" mean (a), (B), or (a and B). For the purposes of this disclosure, the phrase "A, B and/or C" means (a), (B), (C), (a and B), (a and C), (B and C), or (A, B and C).

Furthermore, the various elements of combinational and sequential logic discussed in this disclosure may relate to both physical structures (e.g., and, or exclusive or), as well as synthetic or otherwise optimized sets of devices implementing boolean equivalent logic structures as the discussed logic.

Further, for purposes of this disclosure, the term "eNB" may refer to a conventional LTE-capable Evolved Node B (eNB), a next generation or 5G-capable eNB, a centimeter-wave (cmWave) capable eNB or cmWave small cell, a millimeter-wave (mmWave) capable eNB or mmWave small cell, an Access Point (AP), and/or another base station for a wireless communication system. The term "gNB" may refer to a 5G-capable or NR-capable eNB. For purposes of this disclosure, the term "UE" may refer to a conventional LTE-capable UE, an mmWave-capable UE, a cmWave-capable UE, a Station (STA), and/or another mobile device for a wireless communication system. The term "UE" may also refer to next generation or 5G capable UEs.

Various embodiments of enbs and/or UEs discussed below may handle various types of one or more transmissions. Some processing of the transmission may include demodulating, decoding, detecting, parsing, and/or otherwise handling the received transmission. In some embodiments, an eNB or UE processing a transmission may determine or identify the type of transmission and/or conditions associated with the transmission. For some embodiments, the eNB or UE handling the transmission may act according to the type of transmission and/or may conditionally act based on the type of transmission. The eNB or UE handling the transmission may also identify one or more values or fields of the data carried by the transmission. Processing the transmission may include moving the transmission through one or more layers of a protocol stack (which may be implemented, for example, with hardware and/or software configured elements), such as by moving the transmission received by the eNB or UE through one or more layers of the protocol stack.

Various embodiments of the eNB and/or UE discussed below may also generate various types of one or more transmissions. Some generation of the transmission may include modulating, encoding, formatting, assembling, and/or otherwise handling the transmission to be sent. In some embodiments, the eNB or UE generating the transmission may establish the type of transmission and/or conditions associated with the transmission. For some embodiments, the eNB or UE generating the transmission may act according to the type of transmission and/or may act conditionally based on the type of transmission. The eNB or UE generating the transmission may also determine one or more values or fields of the data carried by the transmission. Generating the transmission may include moving the transmission through one or more layers of a protocol stack (which may be implemented, for example, with hardware and/or software configured elements), such as by moving the transmission to be sent by the eNB or UE through one or more layers of the protocol stack.

In various embodiments, resources may span various Resource Blocks (RBs), Physical Resource Blocks (PRBs), and/or time periods (e.g., frames, subframes, and/or slots) of a wireless communication system in some contexts, allocated resources (e.g., channels, Orthogonal Frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols, subcarrier frequencies, Resource Elements (REs), and/or portions thereof) may be formatted for transmission over a wireless communication link (prior to transmission). In other scenarios, the allocated resources (e.g., channels, OFDM symbols, subcarrier frequencies, REs, and/or portions thereof) may be detected from reception over the wireless communication link (detected after reception).

For various embodiments, without a semitone offset (e.g., a 7.5kHz frequency offset), the NR and/or LTE UL subcarriers may not be aligned with each other and inter-subcarrier interference may thus occur between NR and LTE UL transmissions. Some implementation-based solutions may be considered, such as guard bands between LTE and NR UL. At least a 1PRB guard band may be desirable, and the guard band may be increased for higher modulation orders and/or code rates. If the shared UL resources are split equally, one part for LTE and another part for NR, only one guard band may be wanted.

In one example, a 20 megahertz (MHz) carrier may be split into two 10MHz portions. Given LTE Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) transmissions on both edges of a carrier, if only one guard band is desired, LTE UEs may tend to be configured in such a way that the LTE carrier bandwidth is substantially 10 MHz. By doing so, LTE PUCCH transmissions may be restricted to within a 10MHz bandwidth portion. However, configuring the carrier bandwidth to a fixed bisection value can severely impact the flexibility of resource allocation between the two systems. In addition, if full flexible UL sharing between LTE and NR is desired, a larger number of guard bands may be used between LTE and NR PRBs.

In various embodiments, there may be at least two options for using a semitone offset. A first option may relate to a baseband implementation, which may use a semitone offset (7.5kHz frequency offset) at baseband signal generation, similar to the LTE UL semitone offset. Note that in LTE, the introduction of a semitone offset may be related to the adoption of DFT-S-OFDM waveforms and the use of direct frequency conversion to avoid destroying the single carrier property by zeroing out the DC sub-carrier for single UE allocation scenarios. By shifting the subcarriers, the direct effect of signal distortion at zero frequency can be avoided, but distortion can be spread over adjacent subcarriers.

In the case of the UL OFDM waveform, the semitone offset is not necessarily the most desirable choice to avoid DC distortion as is the case with the DFT-S-OFDM waveform. With the semitone offset, the DC distortion can be spread to other subcarriers. However, this offset may be considered in the context of sharing the UL carrier with LTE. Applying a semitone offset to the OFDM waveform may still be advantageous from the perspective of avoiding inter-subcarrier interference to LTE.

A second option may relate to an RF implementation that may implement a semitone offset (7.5kHz frequency offset) for NR UL at RF by up-converting the baseband signal to the carrier frequency and adding a 7.5kHz offset. Fundamentally, baseband solutions and RF solutions can achieve similar goals. For independent NR, a Phase Locked Loop (PLL) may be configured to the carrier frequency plus a 7.5kHz offset. However, for dual connectivity of LTE and NR, RF solutions may not be the most desirable solution. This may be because dual connectivity UEs may tend to maintain two different carrier frequencies for the same shared UL carrier. This, in turn, may result in the UE implementing two PLLs for a single shared UL carrier unless the UE alternates between the two carrier frequencies with one PLL.

Alternatively, the UE may have one PLL, but may implement a 7.5kHz frequency shifter between the baseband signal output and the RF block. This may not be fundamentally different from the baseband solution, except that the radio access network 1(RAN1) specification may not specify the offset.

Accordingly, various mechanisms and methods disclosed herein may relate to signaling for semitone offsets. The semitone offset may be signaled in a variety of ways. In some embodiments, the signaling mechanism may apply to both the baseband option and the RF option for a 7.5kHz frequency offset of the UL waveform. For some embodiments, the NR may be configurable to apply a 7.5kHz frequency offset or not apply the offset. For independent NR, MSI or RMSI may indicate whether a 7.5kHz frequency offset is applied for UL transmission. In some embodiments, for dual connectivity of LTE and NR, a UE may access a LTE primary cell (PCell) and may be dual connectivity configured to operate NR also with an indication of a semitone offset (e.g., an L1-based indicator, an L2-based indicator, a MAC CE-based indicator, or a higher layer signaling-based indicator).

In addition, the semitone offset that has been signaled or indicated may be employed or ignored for various reasons. For some embodiments, the UE may ignore the 7.5kHz offset configuration if the configured SCS is not a 15kHz SCS. In some embodiments, the UE may follow a 7.5kHz offset configuration for all SCS configurations. For some embodiments, the 7.5kHz offset may be linked to a frequency band. If the LTE-NR shared frequency band is configured, the UE may apply a 7.5kHz offset. If the configured SCS is not 15kHzSCS, the UE may ignore the 7.5kHz offset. In some embodiments, the UE may apply a 7.5kHz offset to all SCS configurations. For some embodiments, the UE may ignore the 7.5kHz offset configuration if the configured waveform is CP-OFDM. In some embodiments, the UE may follow a 7.5kHz offset configuration regardless of the configured UL waveform (e.g., CP-OFDM or DFT-S-OFDM).

For various embodiments, the various embodiments may include mechanisms and methods for UE-oriented and/or UE-specific scheduling of reserved resources. In the reserved resource signaling method, when data transmission in Downlink (DL) or UL is scheduled for a UE, the UE may determine which subcarrier or set of subcarriers (e.g., a continuous set of subcarriers, or a discontinuous set of subcarriers) should not be constantly or periodically used.

As a result, various parameters and/or indicators that facilitate UE-oriented signaling of reserved resources may include: parameters and/or indicators regarding the link direction (e.g., whether for DL or UL); parameters and/or indicators (e.g., including subcarrier spacing) for an aspect of a parameter set (numerology); parameters and/or indicators regarding a set of subcarriers in a respective UE operating bandwidth (e.g., one subcarrier, or several consecutive subcarriers, or several non-consecutive subcarriers); and/or the periodicity of the reserved subcarriers in time units, e.g., the number of OFDM symbols (e.g., for a first value, e.g., a value of "1," a subcarrier or set of subcarriers may be reserved for all consecutive transmissions).

After receiving the reserved resource signaling for the UE, the gNB may map corresponding data symbols around these reserved resource elements when the gNB schedules UE data transmission in DL or UL. Thus, reserved REs may be avoided and data may not be transmitted over them.

Fig. 2 illustrates a UE-oriented configuration of reserved resources according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. Process 200 between gNB 201 and UE 202 may include a first portion 210, a second portion 220, a third portion 230, a fourth portion 240, and/or a fifth portion 250.

Portion 210 may relate to a determination of a reserved resource configuration at UE 202. In portion 210, UE 202 may determine one or more subcarriers (e.g., contiguous subcarriers or non-contiguous subcarriers) to be configured as reserved resources that are not to be used for data scheduling. In some embodiments, these reserved resources may correspond to UE DC subcarriers, which may be different from the gbb DC subcarriers. In some embodiments, these subcarriers may be some REs that suffer strong constant or periodic self-interference or other interference, so that the received signal quality in these resources is very poor. Depending on the type of interference (e.g., constant interference or periodic interference) of these victim resources, various indicators and/or parameters of one or more reserved resources may be provided as appropriate.

Various indicators and/or parameters of reserved resources may include: link direction (e.g., DL or UL); an aspect of a set of parameters for reserved resources (e.g., subcarrier spacing); a set of subcarriers (e.g., one subcarrier, or several consecutive subcarriers, or several non-consecutive subcarriers) in the respective UE operating bandwidth; and/or the periodicity of the reserved resource sub-carriers in time units, e.g., OFDM symbols (which may include at least one value, e.g., "1", to indicate that resources are reserved for all consecutive transmissions).

Portion 220 may relate to a reserved resource configuration request. In portion 220, once one or more parameters for reserved resources are established or determined, UE 202 can send a reserved resource configuration request to gNB 201.

Portion 230 may relate to an acknowledgement of a reserved resource configuration. In portion 230, upon receiving the reserved resource configuration request, and possibly without conflict, gNB 202 may acknowledge the configuration request to UE 201.

Portion 240 may relate to a gNB resource allocation for scheduled data. In portion 240, after confirmation of the reserved resource configuration, gNB 201 may schedule DL or UL data without using these reserved resources (e.g., by avoiding resources that will not be used). Some reserved resources may be bypassed by rate matching if they are in the range of the scheduled bandwidth.

Portion 250 may relate to data transmission. In portion 250, the scheduled data may be transmitted in the corresponding DL or UL channel with the resource allocation from portion 240.

Fig. 3 illustrates an eNB and a UE, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. Fig. 3 includes a block diagram of an eNB 310 and a UE330 operable to co-exist with each other and with other elements of an LTE network. A high level of simplified architecture of the eNB 310 and the UE330 is described to avoid obscuring embodiments. It should be noted that in some embodiments, eNB 310 may be a fixed, non-mobile device.

The eNB 310 is coupled to one or more antennas 305, and the UE330 is similarly coupled to one or more antennas 325. However, in some embodiments, the eNB 310 may include or include the antenna 305, and the UE330 may include or include the antenna 325 in various embodiments.

In some embodiments, antennas 305 and/or 325 may include one or more directional or omnidirectional antennas, including monopole antennas, dipole antennas, loop antennas, patch antennas, microstrip antennas, coplanar wave antennas, or other types of antennas suitable for transmission of RF signals. In some MIMO (multiple input and multiple output) embodiments, the antennas 305 are separated to exploit spatial diversity.

The eNB 310 and the UE330 may be operable to communicate with each other over a network (e.g., a wireless network). The eNB 310 and the UE330 may communicate with each other through a wireless communication channel 350, the wireless communication channel 350 having both a downlink path from the eNB 310 to the UE330 and an uplink path from the UE330 to the eNB 310.

As shown in fig. 3, in some embodiments, eNB 310 may include physical layer circuitry 312, MAC (medium access control) circuitry 314, a processor 316, a memory 318, and hardware processing circuitry 320. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that other components not shown may be used in addition to those shown to form a complete eNB.

In some embodiments, the physical layer circuitry 312 includes a transceiver 313 for providing signals to and from the UE 330. The transceiver 313 provides signals to and from the UE or other devices using one or more antennas 305. In some embodiments, MAC circuitry 314 controls access to the wireless medium. The memory 318 may be or include a storage medium/media such as a magnetic storage medium (e.g., tape or disk), an optical storage medium (e.g., optical disk), an electronic storage medium (e.g., a conventional hard disk drive, solid state drive, or flash memory-based storage medium), or any tangible or non-transitory storage medium. Hardware processing circuitry 320 may comprise logic devices or circuits to perform various operations. In some embodiments, the processor 316 and memory 318 are arranged to perform operations of the hardware processing circuitry 320, such as the operations described herein for the eNB 310 and/or the logic devices and circuitry within the hardware processing circuitry 320.

Thus, in some embodiments, the eNB 310 may be a device that includes an application processor, a memory, one or more antenna ports, and an interface to allow the application processor to communicate with another device.

As also shown in fig. 3, in some embodiments, the UE330 may include physical layer circuitry 332, MAC circuitry 334, a processor 336, memory 338, hardware processing circuitry 340, a wireless interface 342, and a display 344. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that other components not shown may be used in addition to those shown to form a complete UE.

In some embodiments, the physical layer circuitry 332 includes a transceiver 333 for providing signals to and from the eNB 310 (and other enbs). The transceiver 333 provides signals to and from an eNB or other device using one or more antennas 325. In some embodiments, MAC circuitry 334 controls access to the wireless medium. The memory 338 may be or include a storage medium/media such as a magnetic storage medium (e.g., tape or disk), an optical storage medium (e.g., optical disk), an electronic storage medium (e.g., a conventional hard disk drive, solid state drive, or flash memory-based storage medium), or any tangible or non-transitory storage medium. The wireless interface 342 may be arranged to allow the processor to communicate with another device. The display 344 may provide visual and/or tactile displays for user interaction with the UE330, such as a touch screen display. Hardware processing circuitry 340 may comprise logic devices or circuits to perform various operations. In some embodiments, the processor 336 and the memory 338 may be arranged to perform operations of the hardware processing circuitry 340, such as the operations described herein for logic devices and circuitry within the UE330 and/or the hardware processing circuitry 340.

Thus, in some embodiments, the UE330 may be a device that includes an application processor, memory, one or more antennas, a wireless interface for allowing the application processor to communicate with another device, and a touch screen display.

The elements of fig. 3, as well as elements of other figures having the same name or designation, may operate or function in the manner described herein with respect to any such figure (although the operation and function of such elements is not limited to such description). For example, fig. 4 and 7-8 also depict embodiments of an eNB, hardware processing circuitry of an eNB, a UE, and/or hardware processing circuitry of a UE, and the embodiments described with respect to fig. 3 and 4 and 7-8 may operate or function in the manner described herein with respect to any of the figures.

Further, while the eNB 310 and the UE330 are each described as having several separate functional elements, one or more of the functional elements may be combined and may be implemented by combinations of software-configured elements and/or other hardware elements. In some embodiments of the disclosure, a functional element may refer to one or more processes operating on one or more processing elements. Examples of software and/or hardware configured elements include a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), one or more microprocessors, a DSP, a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), a Radio-Frequency Integrated Circuit (RFIC), and so forth.

Fig. 4 illustrates hardware processing circuitry for a UE for a semitone offset when an NR system shares a UL carrier with a 3GPP LTE system, and for UE-specific reserved resource signaling, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. Referring to fig. 3, the UE may include various hardware processing circuitry discussed herein (e.g., hardware processing circuitry 400 of fig. 4), which in turn may include logic devices and/or circuitry operable to perform various operations. For example, in fig. 3, the UE330 (or various elements or components thereof, such as the hardware processing circuitry 340, or a combination of elements or components thereof) may include some or all of these hardware processing circuitry.

In some embodiments, one or more devices or circuits within these hardware processing circuits may be implemented by combinations of software-configured elements and/or other hardware elements. For example, the processor 336 (and/or one or more other processors that the UE330 may include), the memory 338, and/or other elements or components of the UE330 (which may include the hardware processing circuitry 340) may be arranged to perform operations of these hardware processing circuitry, such as the operations described herein for the devices and circuitry within these hardware processing circuitry. In some embodiments, the processor 336 (and/or one or more other processors that the UE330 may include) may be a baseband processor.

Returning to fig. 4, an apparatus of a UE330 (or another UE or mobile handset) operable to communicate with one or more enbs over a wireless network may include hardware processing circuitry 400. In some embodiments, hardware processing circuit 400 may include one or more antenna ports 405 operable to provide various transmissions over a wireless communication channel (e.g., wireless communication channel 350). The antenna port 405 may be coupled to one or more antennas 407 (which may be antennas 325). In some embodiments, hardware processing circuit 400 may include antenna 407, while in other embodiments hardware processing circuit 400 may simply be coupled to antenna 407.

The antenna port 405 and antenna 407 are operable to provide signals from the UE to the wireless communication channel and/or eNB, and are operable to provide signals from the eNB and/or wireless communication channel to the UE. For example, the antenna port 405 and the antenna 407 may be operable to provide transmissions from the UE330 to the wireless communication channel 350 (and from the UE330 to the eNB 310 or another eNB). Similarly, the antennas 407 and antenna ports 405 may be operable to provide transmissions from the wireless communication channel 350 (and, in addition, from the eNB 310 or another eNB) to the UE 330.

Hardware processing circuit 400 may comprise various circuits operable in accordance with the various embodiments discussed herein. Referring to fig. 4, hardware processing circuit 400 may include a first circuit 410, a second circuit 420, and/or a third circuit 430.

For the various embodiments, the first circuit 410 is operable to process a configuration transmission carrying a semitone offset indicator. The second circuit 420 is operable to select one or more subcarrier frequencies for UL transmission based on the semitone offset indicator. The first circuit 410 is operable to provide information about the semitone offset indicator to the second circuit 420 via the interface 412. The third circuit 430 is operable to generate UL transmissions for one or more subcarrier frequencies. Second circuit 420 is operable to provide information regarding one or more subcarrier frequencies for UL transmissions to third circuit 430 via interface 422. The semitone offset indicator may have a first value indicating that a half subcarrier offset is applied and a second value indicating that a half subcarrier offset is not applied. Hardware processing circuitry 400 may also include an interface for generating UL transmit UL transmissions to transmit circuitry and for receiving DL transmissions from receive circuitry.

In some embodiments, the UE may be configured to have a subcarrier spacing of 15kHz and the semitone offset has a magnitude of 7.5 kHz. For some embodiments, the configuration transmission may be a Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling transmission. In some embodiments, the UL transmission may include at least one of: a CP-OFDM waveform, or a DFT-s-OFDM waveform.

For some embodiments, the third circuit 430 is operable to generate an RF offset indicator for the RF circuit based on the semitone offset indicator.

For various embodiments, the second circuit 420 may be operable to determine one or more subcarrier frequencies that are not to be used for data allocation. The third circuit 430 is operable to generate a UL configuration transmission carrying a reserved resource configuration request indicator. The first circuit 410 is operable to process a DL configuration transmission carrying a reserved resource configuration acknowledgement indicator. The first circuit 410 is also operable to process DL data transmissions that are not present in transmissions on one or more subcarrier frequencies that are not used for data allocation. The second circuit 420 is operable to provide information to the first circuit 410 via the indicator 412 regarding one or more subcarrier frequencies that are not to be used for data allocation. Hardware processing circuitry 400 may also include an interface for generating UL transmit UL transmissions to transmit circuitry and for receiving DL transmissions from receive circuitry.

In some embodiments, at least one of the one or more subcarrier frequencies not used for data allocation may correspond to a DC subcarrier frequency of the UE. For some embodiments, one or more subcarrier frequencies not used for data allocation may be contiguous in the frequency domain. In some embodiments, reserving the resource configuration request indicator may include: an indicator of a link direction, an indicator of a set of parameters, an indicator of one or more subcarriers in an operating bandwidth of the UE, and/or an indicator of a periodicity of reserved subcarriers in a time domain. In some embodiments, the periodicity of the reserved subcarriers may have a value indicating that one or more subcarrier frequencies are to be continuously unused.

In some embodiments, first circuit 410, second circuit 420, and/or third circuit 430 may be implemented as separate circuits. In other embodiments, the first circuit 410, the second circuit 420, and/or the third circuit 430 may be combined and implemented together in a circuit without altering the spirit of the embodiments.

Fig. 5 illustrates a method for a UE for a semitone offset when an NR system shares a UL carrier with a 3GPP LTE system, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. Fig. 6 illustrates a method for a UE for UE-specific reserved resource signaling, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. Referring to fig. 3, a method that may be related to the UE330 and the hardware processing circuitry 340 is discussed herein. Although the actions in method 500 of fig. 5 and method 600 of fig. 6 are shown in a particular order, the order of the actions may be modified. Thus, the illustrated embodiments may be performed in a different order, and some actions may be performed in parallel. Some of the acts and/or operations listed in fig. 5 and 6 may be optional in accordance with certain embodiments. The numbering of the acts is presented for the sake of clarity and is not intended to dictate the order in which the various acts must occur. Further, operations from the various flows may be utilized in a variety of combinations.

Additionally, in some embodiments, the machine-readable storage medium may have executable instructions that, when executed, cause the UE330 and/or the hardware processing circuitry 340 to perform operations comprising the methods of fig. 5 and 6. Such a machine-readable storage medium may include any of a variety of storage media, such as magnetic storage media (e.g., tape or disk), optical storage media (e.g., optical disk), electronic storage media (e.g., a conventional hard disk drive, solid state drive, or flash memory-based storage media), or any other tangible or non-transitory storage media.

In some embodiments, an apparatus may comprise means for performing various acts and/or operations of the methods of fig. 5 and 6.

Returning to fig. 5, various methods may be in accordance with various embodiments discussed herein. Method 500 may include processing 510, and selecting 515, generating 520. In some embodiments, method 500 may include generating 530.

In process 510, a configuration transmission carrying a semitone offset indicator may be processed. In selection 515, one or more subcarrier frequencies for UL transmission may be selected based on the semitone offset indicator. In generating 520, UL transmissions for one or more subcarrier frequencies may be generated. The semitone offset indicator may have: a first value indicating that a half subcarrier offset is applied and a second value indicating that a half subcarrier offset is not applied.

In some embodiments, the UE may be configured to have a subcarrier spacing of 15kHz and the semitone offset has a magnitude of 7.5 kHz. For some embodiments, the configuration transmission may be an RRC signaling transmission. In some embodiments, the UL transmission may include at least one of: a CP-OFDM waveform, or a DFT-s-OFDM waveform.

In generating 530, an RF offset indicator for the RF circuitry may be generated based on the semitone offset indicator.

Returning to fig. 6, various methods may be in accordance with various embodiments discussed herein. The method 600 may include determining 610, generating 615, processing 620, and/or processing 625. In determination 610, one or more subcarrier frequencies that are not to be used for data allocation may be determined. In generating 615, an UL configuration transmission carrying a reserved resource configuration request indicator may be generated. In process 620, a DL configuration transmission carrying a reserved resource configuration acknowledgement indicator may be processed. In process 625, DL data transmissions that are not present in transmissions on the one or more subcarrier frequencies that are not used for data allocation are processed.

In some embodiments, at least one of the one or more subcarrier frequencies not used for data allocation may correspond to a DC subcarrier frequency of the UE. For some embodiments, one or more subcarrier frequencies not used for data allocation may be contiguous in the frequency domain. In some embodiments, reserving the resource configuration request indicator may include: an indicator of a link direction, an indicator of a set of parameters, an indicator of one or more subcarriers in an operating bandwidth of the UE, and/or an indicator of a periodicity of reserved subcarriers in a time domain. In some embodiments, the periodicity of the reserved subcarriers may have a value indicating that one or more subcarrier frequencies are to be continuously unused.

Fig. 7 illustrates example components of a device, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. In some embodiments, device 700 may include application circuitry 702, baseband circuitry 704, Radio Frequency (RF) circuitry 706, front-end module (FEM) circuitry 708, one or more antennas 710, and Power Management Circuitry (PMC) 712 coupled together at least as shown. The illustrated components of the apparatus 700 may be included in a UE or RAN node. In some embodiments, the apparatus 700 may include fewer elements (e.g., the RAN node may not utilize the application circuitry 702, but rather includes a processor/controller to process IP data received from the EPC). In some embodiments, device 700 may include additional elements, such as memory/storage, a display, a camera, a sensor, or an input/output (I/O) interface. In other embodiments, the components described below may be included in more than one device (e.g., for Cloud-RAN (C-RAN) implementations, the circuitry may be included separately in more than one device).

The application circuitry 702 may include one or more application processors. For example, the application circuitry 702 may include circuitry such as, but not limited to, one or more single-core or multi-core processors. The processor(s) may include any combination of general-purpose processors and special-purpose processors (e.g., graphics processors, application processors, etc.). The processor may be coupled with or may include memory/storage and may be configured to execute instructions stored in the memory/storage to enable various applications or operating systems to run on the device 700. In some embodiments, the processor of the application circuitry 702 may process IP data packets received from the EPC.

The baseband circuitry 704 may include circuitry such as, but not limited to, one or more single-core or multi-core processors. Baseband circuitry 704 may include one or more baseband processors or control logic to process baseband signals received from a receive signal path of RF circuitry 706 and to generate baseband signals for a transmit signal path of RF circuitry 706. Baseband processing circuitry 704 may interface with application circuitry 702 to generate and process baseband signals and to control operation of RF circuitry 706. For example, in some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 704 may include a third generation (3G) baseband processor 704A, a fourth generation (4G) baseband processor 704B, a fifth generation (5G) baseband processor 704C, or other baseband processor(s) 704D for other existing generations, generations in development, or generations to be developed in the future (e.g., second generation (2G), sixth generation (6G), etc.). The baseband circuitry 704 (e.g., one or more of the baseband processors 704A-D) may handle various radio control functions that enable communication with one or more radio networks via the RF circuitry 706. In other embodiments, some or all of the functionality of the baseband processors 704A-D may be included in modules stored in the memory 704G and executed via a Central Processing Unit (CPU) 704E. The radio control functions may include, but are not limited to, signal modulation/demodulation, encoding/decoding, radio frequency offset, and so forth. In some embodiments, the modulation/demodulation circuitry of baseband circuitry 704 may include Fast-Fourier Transform (FFT), precoding, or constellation mapping/demapping functionality. In some embodiments, the encoding/decoding circuitry of baseband circuitry 704 may include convolution, tail-biting convolution, turbo, viterbi, or Low Density Parity Check (LDPC) encoder/decoder functionality. Embodiments of modulation/demodulation and encoder/decoder functions are not limited to these examples, and other suitable functions may be included in other embodiments.

In some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 704 may include one or more audio Digital Signal Processors (DSPs) 704F. The audio DSP(s) 704F may include elements for compression/decompression and echo cancellation, and may include other suitable processing elements in other embodiments. The components of the baseband circuitry may be combined as appropriate in a single chip, in a single chipset, or in some embodiments arranged on the same circuit board. In some embodiments, some or all of the constituent components of baseband circuitry 704 and application circuitry 702 may be implemented together, for example, on a system on a chip (SOC).

In some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 704 may provide communications compatible with one or more radio technologies. For example, in some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 704 may support communication with an Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (EUTRAN) or other Wireless Metropolitan Area Network (WMAN), Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), Wireless Personal Area Network (WPAN). Embodiments in which the baseband circuitry 704 is configured to support radio communications of more than one wireless protocol may be referred to as multi-mode baseband circuitry.

RF circuitry 706 may enable communication with a wireless network using modulated electromagnetic radiation through a non-solid medium. In various embodiments, the RF circuitry 706 may include switches, filters, amplifiers, and the like to facilitate communication with the wireless network. RF circuitry 706 may include a receive signal path that may include circuitry to down-convert RF signals received from FEM circuitry 708 and provide baseband signals to baseband circuitry 704. RF circuitry 706 may also include a transmit signal path that may include circuitry to up-convert baseband signals provided by baseband circuitry 704 and provide RF output signals to FEM circuitry 708 for transmission.

In some embodiments, the receive signal path of RF circuit 706 may include a mixer circuit 706A, an amplifier circuit 706B, and a filter circuit 706C. In some embodiments, the transmit signal path of RF circuitry 706 may include filter circuitry 706C and mixer circuitry 706A. RF circuitry 706 may also include synthesizer circuitry 706D to synthesize frequencies for use by mixer circuitry 706A of the receive signal path and the transmit signal path. In some embodiments, mixer circuit 706A of the receive signal path may be configured to down-convert the RF signal received from FEM circuit 708 based on the synthesized frequency provided by synthesizer circuit 706D. The amplifier circuit 706B may be configured to amplify the downconverted signal and the filter circuit 706C may be a low-pass filter (LPF) or band-pass filter (BPF) configured to remove unwanted signals from the downconverted signal to generate an output baseband signal. The output baseband signal may be provided to baseband circuitry 704 for further processing. In some embodiments, the output baseband signal may be a zero frequency baseband signal, although this is not a necessary requirement. In some embodiments, mixer circuit 706A of the receive signal path may comprise a passive mixer, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

In some embodiments, mixer circuitry 706A of the transmit signal path may be configured to upconvert an input baseband signal based on a synthesis frequency provided by synthesizer circuitry 706D to generate an RF output signal for FEM circuitry 708. The baseband signal may be provided by baseband circuitry 704 and may be filtered by filter circuitry 706C.

In some embodiments, mixer circuit 706A of the receive signal path and mixer circuit 706A of the transmit signal path may include two or more mixers and may be arranged for quadrature down-conversion and up-conversion, respectively. In some embodiments, mixer circuit 706A of the receive signal path and mixer circuit 706A of the transmit signal path may include two or more mixers and may be arranged for image rejection (e.g., hartley image rejection). In some embodiments, mixer circuit 706A and mixer circuit 706A of the receive signal path may be arranged for direct down-conversion and direct up-conversion, respectively. In some embodiments, mixer circuit 706A of the receive signal path and mixer circuit 706A of the transmit signal path may be configured for superheterodyne operation.

In some embodiments, the output baseband signal and the input baseband signal may be analog baseband signals, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. In some alternative embodiments, the output baseband signal and the input baseband signal may be digital baseband signals. In these alternative embodiments, the RF circuitry 706 may include analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and digital-to-analog converter (DAC) circuitry and the baseband circuitry 704 may include a digital baseband interface to communicate with the RF circuitry 706.

In some dual-mode embodiments, separate radio IC circuits may be provided to process signals for each spectrum, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

In some embodiments, synthesizer circuit 706D may be a fractional-N synthesizer or a fractional-N/N +1 synthesizer, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect as other types of frequency synthesizers may be suitable. For example, synthesizer circuit 706D may be a delta-sigma synthesizer, a frequency multiplier, or a synthesizer including a phase locked loop with a frequency divider.

Synthesizer circuit 706D may be configured to synthesize an output frequency for use by mixer circuit 706A of RF circuit 706 based on the frequency input and the divider control input. In some embodiments, synthesizer circuit 706D may be a fractional-N/N +1 type synthesizer.

In some embodiments, the frequency input may be provided by a Voltage Controlled Oscillator (VCO), although this is not a necessary requirement. The divider control input may be provided by either baseband circuitry 704 or application processor 702, depending on the desired output frequency. In some embodiments, the divider control input (e.g., N) may be determined from a look-up table based on the channel indicated by the application processor 702.

Synthesizer circuit 706D of RF circuit 706 may include a frequency divider, a delay-locked loop (DLL), a multiplexer, and a phase accumulator. In some embodiments, the divider may be a Dual Modulus Divider (DMD) and the phase accumulator may be a Digital Phase Accumulator (DPA). In some embodiments, the DMD may be configured to divide an input signal by N or N +1 (e.g., based on a carry out) to provide a fractional divide ratio. In some example embodiments, a DLL may include a set of cascaded tunable delay elements, a phase detector, a charge pump, and a D-type flip-flop. In these embodiments, the delay elements may be configured to decompose the VCO period into Nd equal phase packets, where Nd is the number of delay elements in the delay line. Thus, the DLL provides negative feedback to help ensure that the total delay through the delay line is one VCO cycle.

In some embodiments, synthesizer circuit 706D may be configured to generate a carrier frequency as the output frequency, while in other embodiments, the output frequency may be a multiple of the carrier frequency (e.g., twice the carrier frequency, four times the carrier frequency) and used in conjunction with a quadrature generator and frequency divider circuit to generate multiple signals at the carrier frequency having multiple different phases from one another. In some embodiments, the output frequency may be the LO frequency (fLO). In some embodiments, the RF circuitry 706 may include an IQ/polar converter.

FEM circuitry 708 may include a receive signal path that may include circuitry configured to operate on RF signals received from one or more antennas 710, amplify the received signals, and provide amplified versions of the received signals to RF circuitry 706 for further processing. FEM circuitry 708 may also include a transmit signal path, which may include circuitry configured to amplify signals provided by RF circuitry 706 for transmission by one or more of the one or more antennas 710. In various embodiments, amplification by the transmit or receive signal path may be done in only RF circuitry 706, only FEM 708, or in both RF circuitry 706 and FEM 708.

In some embodiments, FEM circuitry 708 may include TX/RX switches to switch between transmit mode and receive mode operation. The FEM circuitry may include a receive signal path and a transmit signal path. The receive signal path of the FEM circuitry may include an LNA to amplify the received RF signal and provide the amplified receive RF signal as an output (e.g., to RF circuitry 706). The transmit signal path of FEM circuitry 708 may include a Power Amplifier (PA) to amplify an input RF signal (e.g., provided by RF circuitry 706) and one or more filters to generate the RF signal for subsequent transmission (e.g., by one or more of the one or more antennas 710).

In some embodiments, PMC 712 may manage power provided to baseband circuitry 704. Specifically, PMC 712 may control power selection, voltage scaling, battery charging, or DC-to-DC conversion. PMC 712 may often be included when device 700 is capable of being battery powered, such as when the device is included in a UE. PMC 712 may increase power conversion efficiency while providing desired implementation size and heat dissipation characteristics.

Although figure 7 shows PMC 712 only coupled to baseband circuitry 704. However, in other embodiments, PMC 712 may additionally or alternatively be coupled with and perform similar power management operations for other components, such as, but not limited to, application circuitry 702, RF circuitry 706, or FEM 708.

In some embodiments, PMC 712 may control or otherwise be part of various power saving mechanisms of device 700. For example, if the device 700 is in an RRC _ Connected state while still Connected to the RAN node because it is expected to receive traffic soon, it may enter a state called Discontinuous Reception Mode (DRX) after a period of inactivity. During this state, the device 700 may be powered down for brief time intervals and thus save power.

If there is no data traffic activity for a longer period of time, the device 700 may transition off to an RRC _ Idle state in which it is disconnected from the network and does not perform operations such as channel quality feedback, handover, and the like. The device 700 enters a very low power state and it performs a page in which it again periodically wakes up to listen to the network and then powers down again. Device 700 may not receive data in this state and in order to receive data it must transition back to the RRC Connected state.

The additional power saving mode may allow the device to be unavailable to the network for periods longer than the paging interval (ranging from seconds to hours). During this time, the device is completely inaccessible to the network and can be completely powered down. Any data sent during this time is subject to a large delay and it is assumed that the delay is acceptable.

A processor of the application circuitry 702 and a processor of the baseband circuitry 704 may be used to execute elements of one or more instances of a protocol stack. For example, the processor of the baseband circuitry 704, alone or in combination, may be used to perform layer 3, layer 2, or layer 1 functions, while the processor of the application circuitry 704 may utilize data (e.g., packet data) received from these layers and further perform layer 4 functions (e.g., Transmission Communication Protocol (TCP) and User Datagram Protocol (UDP) layers). As referred to herein, layer 3 may include a Radio Resource Control (RRC) layer, which is described in more detail below. As referred to herein, layer 2 may include a Medium Access Control (MAC) layer, a Radio Link Control (RLC) layer, and a Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer, which are described in more detail below. Layer 1, as referred to herein, may comprise the Physical (PHY) layer of the UE/RAN node, which is described in more detail below.

Fig. 8 illustrates example interfaces of baseband circuitry, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. As described above, the baseband circuitry 704 of FIG. 7 may include processors 704A-704E and memory 704G utilized by the processors. Each of the processors 704A-704E may include a memory interface 804A-804E, respectively, to send and receive data to and from memory 704G.

Baseband circuitry 704 may also include one or more interfaces to communicatively couple to other circuitry/devices, such as a memory interface 812 (e.g., an interface to send/receive data to/from memory external to baseband circuitry 704), an application circuitry interface 814 (e.g., an interface to send/receive data to/from application circuitry 702 of fig. 7), an RF circuitry interface 816 (e.g., an interface to send/receive data to/from RF circuitry 706 of fig. 7), a wireless hardware connectivity interface 818 (e.g., a Near Field Communication (NFC) component, a wireless hardware connectivity interface 818, a wireless hardware interface, a wireless network,Component (e.g. low energy consumption))、An interface for transmitting/receiving data from/to components, and other communication components), and a power management interface 820 (e.g., an interface for transmitting/receiving power or control signals to/from PMC 712).

It is pointed out that any element of the figures herein having the same reference numbers and/or names as the elements of any other figure herein can, in various embodiments, operate or function in a similar manner to (and are not limited to operating or functioning in such a manner) that those elements of the other figures.

Reference in the specification to "one embodiment," "some embodiments," or "other embodiments" means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiments is included in at least some embodiments, but not necessarily all embodiments. The various appearances of "an embodiment," "one embodiment," or "some embodiments" are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiments. If the specification states a component, feature, structure, or characteristic "may", "might", or "could" be included, that particular component, feature, structure, or characteristic is not required to be included. If the specification or claim refers to "a" or "an" element, that does not mean there is only one of the element. If the specification or claims refer to "an additional" element, that does not preclude there being more than one of the additional element.

Furthermore, the particular features, structures, functions, or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments. For example, a first embodiment may be combined with a second embodiment wherever particular features, structures, functions or characteristics associated with the two embodiments are not mutually exclusive.

While the present disclosure has been described in conjunction with specific embodiments thereof, many alternatives, modifications, and variations of such embodiments will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art in light of the foregoing description. For example, other memory architectures, such as Dynamic RAM (DRAM), may use the discussed embodiments. The embodiments of the present disclosure are intended to embrace all such alternatives, modifications and variances that fall within the broad scope of the appended claims.

Furthermore, well known power/ground connections to Integrated Circuit (IC) chips and other components may or may not be shown in the given figure for simplicity of illustration and discussion, and so as not to obscure the disclosure. Additionally, arrangements may be shown in block diagram form in order to avoid obscuring the disclosure, and also in view of the following facts: the specifics with respect to implementation of such block diagram arrangements is highly dependent upon the platform within which the present disclosure is implemented (i.e., such specifics should be well within the purview of one skilled in the art). Where specific details (e.g., circuits) are set forth in order to describe example embodiments of the disclosure, it should be apparent to one skilled in the art that the disclosure can be practiced without, or with variation of, these specific details. The description is thus to be regarded as illustrative instead of limiting.

The following examples pertain to further embodiments. The specific details in the examples may be used anywhere in one or more embodiments. All optional features of the apparatus described herein may also be implemented with respect to the method or process.

Example 1 provides an apparatus of a User Equipment (UE) operable to communicate with a fifth generation evolved node b (gnb) over a wireless network, comprising: one or more processors configured to: processing a configuration transmission carrying a semitone offset indicator; selecting one or more subcarrier frequencies for Uplink (UL) transmission based on the semitone offset indicator; and generating a UL transmission for the one or more subcarrier frequencies, wherein the semitone offset indicator has a first value indicating that a half-subcarrier bias is applied and a second value indicating that a half-subcarrier bias is not applied, and including an interface for generating a UL transmit UL transmission to transmit circuitry and for receiving a DL transmission from receive circuitry.

In example 2, the apparatus of example 1, wherein the UE is configured to have a subcarrier spacing of 15 kilohertz (kHz) and the semitone offset has an amplitude of 7.5 kHz.

In example 3, the apparatus of any one of examples 1 to 2, wherein the configuration transmission is a Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling transmission.

In example 4, the apparatus of any of examples 1 to 3, wherein the UL transmission comprises at least one of: a cyclic prefix orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (CP-OFDM) waveform, or a discrete Fourier transform spread orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (DFT-s-OFDM) waveform.

In example 5, the apparatus of any one of examples 1 to 4, wherein the one or more processors: generating a Radio Frequency (RF) offset indicator for an RF circuit based on the semitone offset indicator.

Example 6 provides a User Equipment (UE) device comprising an application processor, a memory, one or more antennas, a wireless interface to allow the application processor to communicate with another device, and a touchscreen display, the UE device comprising the apparatus of any of examples 1-5.

Example 7 provides a machine-readable storage medium having machine-executable instructions that, when executed, cause one or more processors of a User Equipment (UE) operable to communicate with an evolved node b (enb) over a wireless network to perform operations comprising: processing a configuration transmission carrying a semitone offset indicator; selecting one or more subcarrier frequencies for Uplink (UL) transmission based on the semitone offset indicator; and generating an UL transmission for the one or more subcarrier frequencies, wherein the semitone offset indicator has a first value indicating that a half subcarrier offset is applied and a second value indicating that a half subcarrier offset is not applied.

In example 8, the machine-readable storage medium of example 7, wherein the UE is configured to have a subcarrier spacing of 15 kilohertz (kHz) and the semitone offset has a magnitude of 7.5 kHz.

In example 9, the machine-readable storage medium of any of examples 7 to 8, wherein the configuration transmission is a Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling transmission.

In example 10, the machine-readable storage medium of any of examples 7 to 9, wherein the UL transmission comprises at least one of: a cyclic prefix orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (CP-OFDM) waveform, or a discrete Fourier transform spread orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (DFT-s-OFDM) waveform.

In example 11, the machine-readable storage medium of any of examples 7 to 10, the operations comprising: generating a Radio Frequency (RF) offset indicator for an RF circuit based on the semitone offset indicator.

Example 12 provides an apparatus of a User Equipment (UE) operable to communicate with an evolved node b (enb) on a wireless network, comprising: one or more processors configured to: determining one or more subcarrier frequencies not used for data allocation; generating an Uplink (UL) configuration transmission carrying a reserved resource configuration request indicator; processing a Downlink (DL) configuration transmission carrying a reserved resource configuration acknowledgement indicator; and processing DL data transmissions not present in transmissions on the one or more subcarrier frequencies not used for data allocation, and including an interface for generating UL transmit UL transmissions to the transmit circuitry and for receiving DL transmissions from the receive circuitry.

In example 13, the apparatus of example 12, wherein at least one of the one or more subcarrier frequencies not used for data allocation corresponds to a Direct Current (DC) subcarrier frequency of the UE.

In example 14, the apparatus of any one of examples 12 to 13, wherein the one or more subcarrier frequencies not used for data allocation are contiguous in a frequency domain.

In example 15, the apparatus of any of examples 12 to 14, wherein the reserved resource configuration request indicator comprises at least one of: an indicator of a link direction; an indicator of a parameter set; an indicator of one or more subcarriers in an operating bandwidth of the UE; or an indicator of the periodicity of the reserved subcarriers in the time domain.

In example 16, the apparatus of example 15, wherein the periodicity of the reserved subcarriers has a value indicating that the one or more subcarrier frequencies are to be continuously unused.

Example 17 provides a User Equipment (UE) device comprising an application processor, a memory, one or more antennas, a wireless interface to allow the application processor to communicate with another device, and a touchscreen display, the UE device comprising the apparatus of any of examples 12-16.

Example 18 provides a machine-readable storage medium having machine-executable instructions that, when executed, cause one or more processors of a User Equipment (UE) operable to communicate with an evolved node b (enb) over a wireless network to perform operations comprising: determining one or more subcarrier frequencies not used for data allocation; generating an Uplink (UL) configuration transmission carrying a reserved resource configuration request indicator; processing a Downlink (DL) configuration transmission carrying a reserved resource configuration acknowledgement indicator; and processing DL data transmissions not present in transmissions on the one or more subcarrier frequencies not used for data allocation.

In example 19, the machine-readable storage medium of example 18, wherein at least one of the one or more subcarrier frequencies not used for data allocation corresponds to a Direct Current (DC) subcarrier frequency of the UE.

In example 20, the machine-readable storage medium of any of examples 18 to 19, wherein the one or more subcarrier frequencies not used for data allocation are contiguous in a frequency domain.

In example 21, the machine-readable storage medium of any of examples 18 to 20, wherein the reserved resource configuration request indicator comprises at least one of: an indicator of a link direction; an indicator of a parameter set; an indicator of one or more subcarriers in an operating bandwidth of the UE; or an indicator of the periodicity of the reserved subcarriers in the time domain.

In example 22, the machine-readable storage medium of example 21, wherein the periodicity of the reserved subcarriers has a value indicating that the one or more subcarrier frequencies are to be continuously unused.

In example 23, the apparatus of any one of examples 1 to 5 and 12 to 16, wherein the one or more processors comprise a baseband processor.

In example 24, the apparatus of any one of examples 1 to 5 and 12 to 16, comprising a memory to store instructions, the memory coupled to the one or more processors.

In example 25, the apparatus of any one of examples 1 to 5 and 12 to 16, comprising transceiver circuitry to at least one of: generating a transmission, encoding a transmission, processing a transmission, or decoding a transmission.

In example 26, the apparatus of any one of examples 1 to 5 and 12 to 16, comprising transceiver circuitry to generate the transmission and process the transmission.

The abstract is provided to allow the reader to ascertain the nature and gist of the technical disclosure. Digest is submitted under the following understanding: it is submitted with the understanding that it will not be used to limit the scope or meaning of the claims. The following claims are hereby incorporated into the detailed description, with each claim standing on its own as a separate embodiment.