WO2022155488A1 - Enhanced frequency hopping mechanisms for reduced capability (redcap) devices - Google Patents

Abstract

Various embodiments herein provide techniques for frequency hopping for reduced capability (RedCap) user equipments (UEs). The technique cause the RedCap UE to : receive configuration information for multiple bandwidth parts (BWPs); map repetitions of a PDSCH or a PUSCH to different BWPs of the multiple BWPs using inter-BWP frequency hopping (FH) according to a FH pattern; and receive the PDSCH or transmit the PUSCH based on the mapped repetitions.

Description

ENHANCED FREQUENCY HOPPING MECHANISMS FOR REDUCED

CAPABILITY (REDCAP) DEVICES

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

The present application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63/138,286, which was filed January 15, 2021; and U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63/138,680, which was filed January 18, 2021.

FIELD

Various embodiments generally may relate to the field of wireless communications. For example, some embodiments may relate to frequency hopping mechanisms for reduced capability (RedCap) user equipments (UEs).

BACKGROUND

The 5G New Radio (NR) specifications cater to support of a diverse set of verticals and use cases, including enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) as well as the newly introduced ultrareliable and low latency communication (URLLC) services. Support for Low Power Wide Area (LPWA) networks and use cases for low complexity/cost devices, targeting extreme coverage and ultra-long battery lifetimes, are expected to be served by MTC (Category M user equipments (UEs)) and NB-IoT (Category NB UEs) technologies.

It has been identified as beneficial to support a class of NR UEs with complexity and power consumption levels lower than 3GPP Release (Rel)-15 NR UEs, catering to use cases like industrial wireless sensor networks (IWSN), certain class of wearables, and video surveillance, to fill the gap between current LPWA solutions and eMBB solutions in NR and also to further facilitate a smooth migration from 3.5G and 4G technologies to 5G (NR) technology for currently deployed bands serving relevant use cases requiring relatively low-to-moderate reference (e.g., median) and peak user throughputs, low device complexity, small device form factors, and relatively long battery lifetimes.

Towards the above, a class of Reduced Capability (RedCap) NR UE is expected to be defined that can be served using the currently specified 5G NR framework with necessary adaptations and enhancements to limit device complexity and power consumption while minimizing any adverse impact to network resource utilization, system spectral efficiency, and operation efficiency.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Embodiments will be readily understood by the following detailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. To facilitate this description, like reference numerals designate like structural elements. Embodiments are illustrated by way of example and not by way of limitation in the figures of the accompanying drawings.

Figure 1 schematically illustrates a wireless network in accordance with various embodiments.

Figure 2 schematically illustrates components of a wireless network in accordance with various embodiments.

Figure 3 is a block diagram illustrating components, according to some example embodiments, able to read instructions from a machine-readable or computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium) and perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein.

Figure 4 is a flowchart of a process in accordance with various embodiments.

Figure 5 is a flowchart of another process in accordance with various embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following detailed description refers to the accompanying drawings. The same reference numbers may be used in different drawings to identify the same or similar elements. In the following description, for purposes of explanation and not limitation, specific details are set forth such as particular structures, architectures, interfaces, techniques, etc. in order to provide a thorough understanding of the various aspects of various embodiments. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art having the benefit of the present disclosure that the various aspects of the various embodiments may be practiced in other examples that depart from these specific details. In certain instances, descriptions of well-known devices, circuits, and methods are omitted so as not to obscure the description of the various embodiments with unnecessary detail. For the purposes of the present document, the phrases “A or B” and “A/B” mean (A), (B), or (A and B).

Various embodiments herein provide techniques for frequency hopping in RedCap UEs. For example, the RedCap UE may use frequency hopping across bandwidth parts (BWPs) to receive or transmit a message, such as a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), and/or another suitable message. The frequency hopping may be performed according to a frequency hopping pattern, which may be predefined or configured. The frequency hopping pattern may be performed across sets of one or more repetitions and/or slots.

For frequency range 1 (FR1), it has been agreed to support RedCap devices with reduced maximum bandwidth (BW) of 20 MHz instead of 100 MHz, while for FR2, RedCap devices are expected to require support of 100 MHz instead of up to 200 MHz. RedCap UEs are also expected to require support of one receiving branch (Rx branch) in frequency bands in which Release 15 NR UEs are required to support 2 Rx branches, while in bands in which Release 15 NR UEs are required to support 4 Rx branches, RedCap UEs may only need to support up to 1 or 2 Rx branches (yet to be finalized in 3 GPP). In addition, considering one of the key use-cases for RedCap UEs is in small form-factor devices, for FR1 bands, a RedCap UE may be allowed to support reduced antenna gains, e.g., that may be up to 3 dB lower than the Rel-15 requirements.

As a consequence of such limited capabilities, link performance for RedCap UEs, e.g., in terms of achievable coverage, reliability, and link spectral efficiency, is expected to degrade compared to Release 15 NR UEs. To compensate for the degradation in reliability and/or coverage, scheduling with repetitions for PDSCH and PUSCH are expected more frequently than Release 15 NR UEs for similar channel conditions. In this disclosure, enhancements to improve the efficiency of repeated transmissions for RedCap UEs are provded.

Various embodiments herein provide mechanisms that may improve the efficiency of repeated transmissions for RedCap UEs. For example, embodiments include systems and methods for:

• Inter-BWP frequency hopping for PDSCH;

• Inter-BWP frequency hopping for PUSCH; and/or

• Considerations on inter-BWP FH in TDD systems.

In order to recover diversity benefits for PDSCH reception or PUSCH transmission, instead of limiting to within 20 MHz BW in FR1, frequency hopping across a larger BW, e.g., 100 MHz can be beneficial. However, due to the maximum BW constraint of 20 MHz for RedCap UEs, this would require support of Frequency Hopping (FH) across bandwidth parts (BWPs), each of which may be limited to within 20 MHz.

Note that, in general, other BWP sizes can also be possible to support the methods of inter- BWP frequency hopping disclosed herein. For example, any BWP size that is supported by RedCap UEs may be used, such as BWPs with maximum BW of 40 MHz in FR1, BWPs with maximum BW of 100 MHz in FR2, and/or BWPs with maximum BW of 20 MHz or less (e.g., 5MHz), etc.

Additionally, although embodiments are described herein with reference to RedCap NR UEs, the embodiments may additionally or alternatively be used for non-RedCap NR UEs.

Furthermore, while repetitions at the slot-level (e.g., “slot aggregation” -based methods) are considered for the presentation of the concepts herein, the techniques disclosed herein may be applied to cases involving other forms of repetitions, e.g., “mini-slot repetitions” similar to PUSCH type B repetitions, etc.

Inter-BWP FH for PDSCH for RedCap NR UEs

In an embodiment, for receiving PDSCH with repetitions, a RedCap UE may be configured to receive the PDSCH such that the reception of the repetitions of the PDSCH are distributed across multiple downlink (DL) BWPs according to a specified or semi-statically configured (e.g., via Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling) hopping patterns. Accordingly, in an embodiment, a RedCap UE may be configured with multiple BWPs (e.g.,, K BWPs) via dedicated RRC signaling, and when indicated to receive PDSCH using repetitions, the repetitions of the PDSCH are received across multiple DL BWPs.

As an example, for a PDSCH with A repetitions, where R > K, the PDSCH may be received across the K BWPs in a cyclic manner, with at most floor(R/K) consecutive repetitions in each BWP before switching to the next. In an example, the value of R may be specified or configured UE-specifically (e.g., via dedicated RRC signaling) or cell-specifically (e.g., via System Information Block (SIB) signaling).

Cross-slot channel estimation is an important mechanism that can be used to improve the coverage performance of PDSCH and PUSCH. To enable cross-slot channel estimation, in an embodiment, for PDSCH, frequency hopping across BWPs applies every ‘r ’ (r > 1) repetitions or slots. In terms of frequency domain resource allocation (FDRA) within a DL BWP, the mechanisms in Rel-15 and Rel-16 may apply for the first ‘r’ repetitions in the first DL BWP. Further, in an embodiment, the same FDRA applies in the other BWPs.

Note that the embodiments may also apply to the case of PUSCH repetitions with inter- BWP FH. Some possible exceptions for PUSCH are described in the next sub-section.

In an embodiment, once a RedCap UE switches to a DL BWP different from the one in which the scheduling downlink control information (DCI) format was received, it is expected to receive PDCCH in the new DL BWP in the new DL BWP. Further, the existing (e.g., Release 15) timer-based fallback to “default BWP” can be reused to provide robustness against missed scheduling DCI formats. For this option, at the end of reception of the last repetition of the PDSCH, the UE may be expected to continue in the last DL BWP or be expected to retune back to the DL BWP in which the scheduling DCI format was received. Further, in an example, the UE may be configured by higher layers to follow one of the two behaviors.

Alternatively, in some embodiments, once a RedCap UE switches to a DL BWP that is different from the one in which the scheduling DCI format was received, it is not expected to receive PDCCH in the new DL BWP. Thus, the UE may only monitor for and receive PDCCH in a “ scheduling DL BWP” and skip PDCCH monitoring when switching to other DL BWPs to receive one or more repetitions of the PDSCH. For this alternative, at the end of the last repetition of the PDSCH, the UE may be expected to retune back to the scheduling DL BWP.

In order to minimize the resource loss due to BWP switching times necessary to enable BWP hopping, in an embodiment, shorter BWP retuning times may be specified for inter-BWP switching that may primarily account for the radio frequency (RF) retuning and automatic gain control (AGC) transition times. Further, in an embodiment, the first ‘r’ repetitions are scheduled within the DL BWP in which the scheduling PDCCH is received. This allows for avoiding consideration of additional delays due to PDCCH processing time to determine the first BWP in which the first set of PDSCH repetitions are to be received. Additionally, the configured DL and/or uplink (UL) BWPs may be configured such that a common set of values for a set of parameters apply for all or an identified subset of the DL or UL BWPs the UE is configured with. For example, the common set of values may include all parameters configured as part of BWP configurations, except for the center frequency and BW (indicated via locationAndBandwidth bwp-Id, and possibly subcarrierSpacing of the BWP. In a further example, a common value of subcarrier spacing (SCS) is used in the configured DL or UL BWPs. That is, other parameters, including one or more of subcarrierSpacing, BWP-DownlinkCommon, BWP-DownlinkDedicated, BWP- UplinkCommon, BWP-UplinkDedicated may be same across all or an identified subset of configured BWPs the UE is configured with for inter-BWP FH. With such constraints, the application time for the new RRC configuration can be reduced significantly (to a few orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols (OSs), e.g., 50-200 ps) as the UE may switch from one BWP to another across repetitions. In another example, the BW of the candidate BWPs for inter-BWP FH are restricted to be the same.

Although here and in the rest of the disclosure, the concepts are described for FH between different BWPs, for examples with BWPs sharing common configuration, with exception of center frequency and possibly bandwidth, instead of identifying different BWPs, the physical channels may be mapped to sets of contiguous-in-frequency PRBs (e.g., “PRB sets”) that are associated with a same BWP configuration.

Inter-BWP FH for PUSCH for RedCap NR UEs

In various embodiments, transmission of PUSCH with repetitions and inter-BWP frequency hopping may use the techniques described herein for PDSCH. As one possible exception, for the case of PUSCH, there can be benefits from FH within an UL BWP as well, especially when the PUSCH allocation is limited to a small number of PRBs relative to the UL BWP. To enable such methods, in one embodiment, the PUSCH repetitions may be defined to follow a two-stage FH mechanism (of intra- and inter-BWP FH), such that the UE transmits one or more repetitions of the PUSCH in the indicated set of PRBs in the active UL BWP, then transmits a number of repetitions in another one or more frequency resource(s) within the active UL BWP, and then switches to another UL BWP for similar repetitions (with intra-BWP FH) in the new UL BWP. The FH mechanism within an active UL BWP can follow existing specifications, e.g., with inter-slot FH, or following, enhanced FH mechanisms that enable cross- repetition/slot channel estimation that are expected to be defined for coverage enhancements in Rel-17.

In another variation of the embodiment, the intra-BWP FH is limited to intra-slot FH defined in Release 15 NR specifications, while the inter-BWP FH follows the description for the case of PDSCH described above (that is, r >=1 repetitions or slots within a single UL BWP before switching to another UL BWP.

For both cases, the FDRA and intra-BWP FH offsets can be the same across the different UL BWPs.

Methods for inter-BWP FH in DL and UL in TDD systems for RedCap NR UEs

For unpaired spectrum (e.g., time-division duplexing (TDD) deployments), current specifications restrict that the active DL and active UL BWPs share a common center frequency. This avoids excessive BWP switching whenever transitioning between DL and UL. In an embodiment, when receiving repetitions of PDSCH with inter-BWP hopping, the active UL BWP also changes with the change in the active DL BWP and the candidate DL and UL BWPs share a common center frequency in a pair-wise manner; e.g., for each DL BWP, there is a corresponding UL BWP with the same center frequency. Note that the BW and SCS may be different between the active DL and active UL BWPs. According to this option, the gNB may need to ensure that a DL BWP switch event does not conflict with indicated UL BWP switches. For instance, interleaving between PDSCH reception and PUSCH transmission in respective DL and UL symbols or slots, when both are scheduled with repetitions and with or without frequency hopping, should not cause any conflict in terms of the center frequencies of the respective active DL and UL BWPs.

In another embodiment, when receiving repetitions of PDSCH with inter-BWP hopping in unpaired spectrum, the active UL BWP may not change with the change in the active DL BWP. In this case, additional time for DL-to-UL switching and UL-to-DL switching, beyond the currently specified Tx-Rx switching times (e.g., in 3GPP TS 38.211), need to be specified to accommodate RF retuning time when switching between DL and UL.

In one embodiment, the number of slots ‘ Y’ for which the UE stays in one active DL or UL BWP is provided by a common parameter. This constraint may be applicable only to TDD deployments or to both TDD and frequency-division duplexing (FDD) deployments.

Furthermore, in another embodiment, at least for unpaired spectrum (TDD deployments), the FH pattern may defined with respect to an absolute point in time, e.g., by System Frame Number (SFN #0) and/or slot #0, with a common hopping pattern in time domain across DL and UL. Accordingly, once configured, the UE is expected to retune from one active DL/UL BWP pair to another BWP every ‘ Y’ slots. Therefore, all DL receptions, including PDCCH reception, and all UL transmissions are mapped to the corresponding DL/UL BWPs respectively. Note, although not strictly necessary, such a method with a common hopping time-pattern can be applicable for pair spectra (e.g., FDD deployments) as well.

In an example of the embodiment, the inter-BWP FH pattern follows a periodicity and offset defined on the absolute time scale (e.g., SFN #0, slot #0), and the reception and transmission of physical signals and channels follow a common higher layer configuration across the candidate BWPs for inter-BWP FH, and switch from one BWP to another at every FH boundary. In a further example, possible exceptions to this may be the presence of SSB and CORESET #0 as indicated by the synchronization signal block (SSB). The SSB and SSB-defined CORESET #0 may only be identified with the initial DL BWP. Similarly, an additional “CORESET #0” may be assumed in a secondary initial DL BWP if the latter is configured to RedCap UEs.

Further, in an embodiment, the numbers of candidate BWPs configured for inter-BWP FH may be limited to two or four BWPs.

Handling switching transition times for inter-BWP frequency hopping

In an embodiment, the maximum separation between the center frequencies of the DL or UL BWPs configured to a RedCap UE for inter-BWP FH is bounded by specifications. For examples, the maximum separation between the center frequencies of the DL/UL BWPs could be 80 MHz or 100 MHz. Further, the DL BWPs may be assumed to use a single common FFT at the gNodeB transmitter.

Further, in an embodiment, the inter-BWP transition times for DL and UL are reported by the UE from a set of candidate values in absolute time (e.g., in microseconds) or in number of OFDM symbols (OS) that may further be defined as a function of the larger of the SCS between the original and new BWPs. Note that, as mentioned above, for inter-BWP FH, the candidate BWPs may be configured with the same SCS. For instance, such a set of candidate values for inter-BWP transition times for DL/UL may include {0, 1, 2, 3, 4} symbols.

In an embodiment, for inter-BWP FH, the FH across BWPs may only occur at slot boundaries.

In order to accommodate the transition times, in an embodiment, during hopping from a first DL BWP to a second DL BWP at the boundary of slots ‘n’ and ‘n+U, a RedCap UE may skip reception of one or more OFDM symbols at the end of slot ‘n’ and at the beginning of slot ‘n+U.

This implies that the UE may not be expected to receive PDCCH in PDCCH monitoring occasions (MOs) that may overlap fully or partially with such skipped symbols.

Similarly, in an embodiment, during hopping from a first UL BWP to a second UL BWP at the boundary of slots ‘n’ and ‘n+U, a RedCap UE may skip transmission of one or more OFDM/DFT-S-OFDM symbols at the end of slot ‘n’ and at the beginning of slot ‘n+U. In another example, when the BWP transition time amounts to an odd number of symbols, one additional symbol may be skipped from slot ‘n’ compared to the number of skipped symbols in slot ‘n+1’.

In an embodiment, PDSCH and/or PUSCH with repetitions and inter-BWP FH are restricted to PDSCH and PUSCH (respectively) with mapping type A wherein the associated first DMRS symbol occurs not before the 3^rd symbol of a slot.

Further, in an embodiment, for PDSCH or PUSCH or PUCCH formats 2, 3, or 4, the skipping of the symbols to accommodate inter-BWP transition time is realized by rate-matching the PDSCH or PUSCH (respectively) to the symbols available for reception or transmission (respectively) in the slot.

Alternatively, for PDSCH or PUSCH or PUCCH formats 2, 3, or 4, the skipping of the symbols to accommodate inter-BWP transition time is realized by assuming the availability of such symbols during rate-matching and resource mapping, but not receiving or transmitting (respectively) the symbols (e.g., via “receiver or transmitter (respectively) side puncturing”).

In another embodiment, for physical channels and signals other than one or more of: PDSCH, PUSCH, and PUCCH formats 2, 3, and 4; the skipping of the symbols to accommodate inter-BWP transition time is realized by assuming the availability of such symbols during resource mapping, but not receiving or transmitting (respectively) the symbols (e.g., via “receiver or transmitter (respectively) side puncturing”).

SYSTEMS AND IMPLEMENTATIONS

Figures 1-3 illustrate various systems, devices, and components that may implement aspects of disclosed embodiments.

Figure 1 illustrates a network 100 in accordance with various embodiments. The network 100 may operate in a manner consistent with 3GPP technical specifications for LTE or 5G/NR systems. However, the example embodiments are not limited in this regard and the described embodiments may apply to other networks that benefit from the principles described herein, such as future 3 GPP systems, or the like.

The network 100 may include a UE 102, which may include any mobile or non-mobile computing device designed to communicate with a RAN 104 via an over-the-air connection. The UE 102 may be communicatively coupled with the RAN 104 by a Uu interface. The UE 102 may be, but is not limited to, a smartphone, tablet computer, wearable computer device, desktop computer, laptop computer, in-vehicle infotainment, in-car entertainment device, instrument cluster, head-up display device, onboard diagnostic device, dashtop mobile equipment, mobile data terminal, electronic engine management system, electronic/engine control unit, electronic/engine control module, embedded system, sensor, microcontroller, control module, engine management system, networked appliance, machine-type communication device, M2M or D2D device, loT device, etc.

In some embodiments, the network 100 may include a plurality of UEs coupled directly with one another via a sidelink interface. The UEs may be M2M/D2D devices that communicate using physical sidelink channels such as, but not limited to, PSBCH, PSDCH, PSSCH, PSCCH, PSFCH, etc.

In some embodiments, the UE 102 may additionally communicate with an AP 106 via an over-the-air connection. The AP 106 may manage a WLAN connection, which may serve to offload some/all network traffic from the RAN 104. The connection between the UE 102 and the AP 106 may be consistent with any IEEE 802.11 protocol, wherein the AP 106 could be a wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi®) router. In some embodiments, the UE 102, RAN 104, and AP 106 may utilize cellular-WLAN aggregation (for example, LWA/LWIP). Cellular-WLAN aggregation may involve the UE 102 being configured by the RAN 104 to utilize both cellular radio resources and WLAN resources.

The RAN 104 may include one or more access nodes, for example, AN 108. AN 108 may terminate air-interface protocols for the UE 102 by providing access stratum protocols including RRC, PDCP, RLC, MAC, and LI protocols. In this manner, the AN 108 may enable data/voice connectivity between CN 120 and the UE 102. In some embodiments, the AN 108 may be implemented in a discrete device or as one or more software entities running on server computers as part of, for example, a virtual network, which may be referred to as a CRAN or virtual baseband unit pool. The AN 108 be referred to as a BS, gNB, RAN node, eNB, ng-eNB, NodeB, RSU, TRxP, TRP, etc. The AN 108 may be a macrocell base station or a low power base station for providing femtocells, picocells or other like cells having smaller coverage areas, smaller user capacity, or higher bandwidth compared to macrocells.

In embodiments in which the RAN 104 includes a plurality of ANs, they may be coupled with one another via an X2 interface (if the RAN 104 is an LTE RAN) or an Xn interface (if the RAN 104 is a 5G RAN). The X2/Xn interfaces, which may be separated into control/user plane interfaces in some embodiments, may allow the ANs to communicate information related to handovers, data/context transfers, mobility, load management, interference coordination, etc.

The ANs of the RAN 104 may each manage one or more cells, cell groups, component carriers, etc. to provide the UE 102 with an air interface for network access. The UE 102 may be simultaneously connected with a plurality of cells provided by the same or different ANs of the RAN 104. For example, the UE 102 and RAN 104 may use carrier aggregation to allow the UE 102 to connect with a plurality of component carriers, each corresponding to a Pcell or Scell. In dual connectivity scenarios, a first AN may be a master node that provides an MCG and a second AN may be secondary node that provides an SCG. The first/second ANs may be any combination of eNB, gNB, ng-eNB, etc.

The RAN 104 may provide the air interface over a licensed spectrum or an unlicensed spectrum. To operate in the unlicensed spectrum, the nodes may use LAA, eLAA, and/or feLAA mechanisms based on CA technology with PCells/Scells. Prior to accessing the unlicensed spectrum, the nodes may perform medium/carrier-sensing operations based on, for example, a listen-before-talk (LBT) protocol.

In V2X scenarios the UE 102 or AN 108 may be or act as a RSU, which may refer to any transportation infrastructure entity used for V2X communications. An RSU may be implemented in or by a suitable AN or a stationary (or relatively stationary) UE. An RSU implemented in or by: a UE may be referred to as a “UE-type RSU”; an eNB may be referred to as an “eNB-type RSU”; a gNB may be referred to as a “gNB-type RSU”; and the like. In one example, an RSU is a computing device coupled with radio frequency circuitry located on a roadside that provides connectivity support to passing vehicle UEs. The RSU may also include internal data storage circuitry to store intersection map geometry, traffic statistics, media, as well as applications/software to sense and control ongoing vehicular and pedestrian traffic. The RSU may provide very low latency communications required for high speed events, such as crash avoidance, traffic warnings, and the like. Additionally or alternatively, the RSU may provide other cellular/WLAN communications services. The components of the RSU may be packaged in a weatherproof enclosure suitable for outdoor installation, and may include a network interface controller to provide a wired connection (e.g., Ethernet) to a traffic signal controller or a backhaul network.

In some embodiments, the RAN 104 may be an LTE RAN 110 with eNBs, for example, eNB 112. The LTE RAN 110 may provide an LTE air interface with the following characteristics: SCS of 15 kHz; CP-OFDM waveform for DL and SC-FDMA waveform for UL; turbo codes for data and TBCC for control; etc. The LTE air interface may rely on CSI-RS for CSI acquisition and beam management; PDSCH/PDCCH DMRS for PDSCH/PDCCH demodulation; and CRS for cell search and initial acquisition, channel quality measurements, and channel estimation for coherent demodulation/detection at the UE. The LTE air interface may operating on sub-6 GHz bands.

In some embodiments, the RAN 104 may be an NG-RAN 114 with gNBs, for example, gNB 116, or ng-eNBs, for example, ng-eNB 118. The gNB 116 may connect with 5G-enabled UEs using a 5G NR interface. The gNB 116 may connect with a 5G core through an NG interface, which may include an N2 interface or an N3 interface. The ng-eNB 118 may also connect with the 5G core through an NG interface, but may connect with a UE via an LTE air interface. The gNB 116 and the ng-eNB 118 may connect with each other over an Xn interface.

In some embodiments, the NG interface may be split into two parts, an NG user plane (NG-U) interface, which carries traffic data between the nodes of the NG-RAN 114 and a UPF 148 (e.g., N3 interface), and an NG control plane (NG-C) interface, which is a signaling interface between the nodes of the NG-RAN114 and an AMF 144 (e.g., N2 interface).

The NG-RAN 114 may provide a 5G-NR air interface with the following characteristics: variable SCS; CP-OFDM for DL, CP-OFDM and DFT-s-OFDM for UL; polar, repetition, simplex, and Reed-Muller codes for control and LDPC for data. The 5G-NR air interface may rely on CSI-RS, PDSCH/PDCCH DMRS similar to the LTE air interface. The 5G-NR air interface may not use a CRS, but may use PBCH DMRS for PBCH demodulation; PTRS for phase tracking for PDSCH; and tracking reference signal for time tracking. The 5G-NR air interface may operating on FR1 bands that include sub-6 GHz bands or FR2 bands that include bands from 24.25 GHz to 52.6 GHz. The 5G-NR air interface may include an SSB that is an area of a downlink resource grid that includes PSS/SSS/PBCH.

In some embodiments, the 5G-NR air interface may utilize BWPs for various purposes. For example, BWP can be used for dynamic adaptation of the SCS. For example, the UE 102 can be configured with multiple BWPs where each BWP configuration has a different SCS. When a BWP change is indicated to the UE 102, the SCS of the transmission is changed as well. Another use case example of BWP is related to power saving. In particular, multiple BWPs can be configured for the UE 102 with different amount of frequency resources (for example, PRBs) to support data transmission under different traffic loading scenarios. A BWP containing a smaller number of PRBs can be used for data transmission with small traffic load while allowing power saving at the UE 102 and in some cases at the gNB 116. A BWP containing a larger number of PRBs can be used for scenarios with higher traffic load.

The RAN 104 is communicatively coupled to CN 120 that includes network elements to provide various functions to support data and telecommunications services to customers/subscribers (for example, users of UE 102). The components of the CN 120 may be implemented in one physical node or separate physical nodes. In some embodiments, NFV may be utilized to virtualize any or all of the functions provided by the network elements of the CN 120 onto physical compute/storage resources in servers, switches, etc. A logical instantiation of the CN 120 may be referred to as a network slice, and a logical instantiation of a portion of the CN 120 may be referred to as a network sub-slice.

In some embodiments, the CN 120 may be an LTE CN 122, which may also be referred to as an EPC. The LTE CN 122 may include MME 124, SGW 126, SGSN 128, HSS 130, PGW 132, and PCRF 134 coupled with one another over interfaces (or “reference points”) as shown. Functions of the elements of the LTE CN 122 may be briefly introduced as follows.

The MME 124 may implement mobility management functions to track a current location of the UE 102 to facilitate paging, bearer activation/deactivation, handovers, gateway selection, authentication, etc.

The SGW 126 may terminate an SI interface toward the RAN and route data packets between the RAN and the LTE CN 122. The SGW 126 may be a local mobility anchor point for inter-RAN node handovers and also may provide an anchor for inter-3GPP mobility. Other responsibilities may include lawful intercept, charging, and some policy enforcement.

The SGSN 128 may track a location of the UE 102 and perform security functions and access control. In addition, the SGSN 128 may perform inter-EPC node signaling for mobility between different RAT networks; PDN and S-GW selection as specified by MME 124; MME selection for handovers; etc. The S3 reference point between the MME 124 and the SGSN 128 may enable user and bearer information exchange for inter-3 GPP access network mobility in idle/active states.

The HSS 130 may include a database for network users, including subscription-related information to support the network entities’ handling of communication sessions. The HSS 130 can provide support for routing/roaming, authentication, authorization, naming/addressing resolution, location dependencies, etc. An S6a reference point between the HSS 130 and the MME 124 may enable transfer of subscription and authentication data for authenticating/authorizing user access to the LTE CN 120.

The PGW 132 may terminate an SGi interface toward a data network (DN) 136 that may include an application/content server 138. The PGW 132 may route data packets between the LTE CN 122 and the data network 136. The PGW 132 may be coupled with the SGW 126 by an S5 reference point to facilitate user plane tunneling and tunnel management. The PGW 132 may further include a node for policy enforcement and charging data collection (for example, PCEF). Additionally, the SGi reference point between the PGW 132 and the data network 1 36 may be an operator external public, a private PDN, or an intra-operator packet data network, for example, for provision of IMS services. The PGW 132 may be coupled with a PCRF 134 via a Gx reference point.

The PCRF 134 is the policy and charging control element of the LTE CN 122. The PCRF 134 may be communicatively coupled to the app/content server 138 to determine appropriate QoS and charging parameters for service flows. The PCRF 132 may provision associated rules into a PCEF (via Gx reference point) with appropriate TFT and QCI.

In some embodiments, the CN 120 may be a 5GC 140. The 5GC 140 may include an AUSF 142, AMF 144, SMF 146, UPF 148, NSSF 150, NEF 152, NRF 154, PCF 156, UDM 158, and AF 160 coupled with one another over interfaces (or “reference points”) as shown. Functions of the elements of the 5GC 140 may be briefly introduced as follows.

The AUSF 142 may store data for authentication of UE 102 and handle authentication- related functionality. The AUSF 142 may facilitate a common authentication framework for various access types. In addition to communicating with other elements of the 5GC 140 over reference points as shown, the AUSF 142 may exhibit an Nausf service-based interface.

The AMF 144 may allow other functions of the 5GC 140 to communicate with the UE 102 and the RAN 104 and to subscribe to notifications about mobility events with respect to the UE 102. The AMF 144 may be responsible for registration management (for example, for registering UE 102), connection management, reachability management, mobility management, lawful interception of AMF -related events, and access authentication and authorization. The AMF 144 may provide transport for SM messages between the UE 102 and the SMF 146, and act as a transparent proxy for routing SM messages. AMF 144 may also provide transport for SMS messages between UE 102 and an SMSF. AMF 144 may interact with the AUSF 142 and the UE 102 to perform various security anchor and context management functions. Furthermore, AMF 144 may be a termination point of a RAN CP interface, which may include or be an N2 reference point between the RAN 104 and the AMF 144; and the AMF 144 may be a termination point of NAS (Nl) signaling, and perform NAS ciphering and integrity protection. AMF 144 may also support NAS signaling with the UE 102 over an N3 IWF interface.

The SMF 146 may be responsible for SM (for example, session establishment, tunnel management between UPF 148 and AN 108); UE IP address allocation and management (including optional authorization); selection and control of UP function; configuring traffic steering at UPF 148 to route traffic to proper destination; termination of interfaces toward policy control functions; controlling part of policy enforcement, charging, and QoS; lawful intercept (for SM events and interface to LI system); termination of SM parts of NAS messages; downlink data notification; initiating AN specific SM information, sent via AMF 144 over N2 to AN 108; and determining SSC mode of a session. SM may refer to management of a PDU session, and a PDU session or “session” may refer to a PDU connectivity service that provides or enables the exchange of PDUs between the UE 102 and the data network 136.

The UPF 148 may act as an anchor point for intra-RAT and inter-RAT mobility, an external PDU session point of interconnect to data network 136, and a branching point to support multi-homed PDU session. The UPF 148 may also perform packet routing and forwarding, perform packet inspection, enforce the user plane part of policy rules, lawfully intercept packets (UP collection), perform traffic usage reporting, perform QoS handling for a user plane (e.g., packet filtering, gating, UL/DL rate enforcement), perform uplink traffic verification (e.g., SDF- to-QoS flow mapping), transport level packet marking in the uplink and downlink, and perform downlink packet buffering and downlink data notification triggering. UPF 148 may include an uplink classifier to support routing traffic flows to a data network.

The NSSF 150 may select a set of network slice instances serving the UE 102. The NSSF 150 may also determine allowed NSSAI and the mapping to the subscribed S-NSSAIs, if needed. The NSSF 150 may also determine the AMF set to be used to serve the UE 102, or a list of candidate AMFs based on a suitable configuration and possibly by querying the NRF 154. The selection of a set of network slice instances for the UE 102 may be triggered by the AMF 144 with which the UE 102 is registered by interacting with the NSSF 150, which may lead to a change of AMF. The NSSF 150 may interact with the AMF 144 via an N22 reference point; and may communicate with another NSSF in a visited network via an N31 reference point (not shown). Additionally, the NSSF 150 may exhibit an Nnssf service-based interface.

The NEF 152 may securely expose services and capabilities provided by 3GPP network functions for third party, internal exposure/re-exposure, AFs (e.g., AF 160), edge computing or fog computing systems, etc. In such embodiments, the NEF 152 may authenticate, authorize, or throttle the AFs. NEF 152 may also translate information exchanged with the AF 160 and information exchanged with internal network functions. For example, the NEF 152 may translate between an AF-Service-Identifier and an internal 5GC information. NEF 152 may also receive information from other NFs based on exposed capabilities of other NFs. This information may be stored at the NEF 152 as structured data, or at a data storage NF using standardized interfaces. The stored information can then be re-exposed by the NEF 152 to other NFs and AFs, or used for other purposes such as analytics. Additionally, the NEF 152 may exhibit an Nnef service-based interface.

The NRF 154 may support service discovery functions, receive NF discovery requests from NF instances, and provide the information of the discovered NF instances to the NF instances. NRF 154 also maintains information of available NF instances and their supported services. As used herein, the terms “instantiate,” “instantiation,” and the like may refer to the creation of an instance, and an “instance” may refer to a concrete occurrence of an object, which may occur, for example, during execution of program code. Additionally, the NRF 154 may exhibit the Nnrf service-based interface.

The PCF 156 may provide policy rules to control plane functions to enforce them, and may also support unified policy framework to govern network behavior. The PCF 156 may also implement a front end to access subscription information relevant for policy decisions in a UDR of the UDM 158. In addition to communicating with functions over reference points as shown, the PCF 156 exhibit an Npcf service-based interface.

The UDM 158 may handle subscription-related information to support the network entities’ handling of communication sessions, and may store subscription data of UE 102. For example, subscription data may be communicated via an N8 reference point between the UDM 158 and the AMF 144. The UDM 158 may include two parts, an application front end and a UDR. The UDR may store subscription data and policy data for the UDM 158 and the PCF 156, and/or structured data for exposure and application data (including PFDs for application detection, application request information for multiple UEs 102) for the NEF 152. The Nudr service-based interface may be exhibited by the UDR 221 to allow the UDM 158, PCF 156, and NEF 152 to access a particular set of the stored data, as well as to read, update (e.g., add, modify), delete, and subscribe to notification of relevant data changes in the UDR. The UDM may include a UDM- FE, which is in charge of processing credentials, location management, subscription management and so on. Several different front ends may serve the same user in different transactions. The UDM-FE accesses subscription information stored in the UDR and performs authentication credential processing, user identification handling, access authorization, registration/mobility management, and subscription management. In addition to communicating with other NFs over reference points as shown, the UDM 158 may exhibit the Nudm service-based interface.

The AF 160 may provide application influence on traffic routing, provide access to NEF, and interact with the policy framework for policy control.

In some embodiments, the 5GC 140 may enable edge computing by selecting operator/3^rd party services to be geographically close to a point that the UE 102 is attached to the network. This may reduce latency and load on the network. To provide edge-computing implementations, the 5GC 140 may select a UPF 148 close to the UE 102 and execute traffic steering from the UPF 148 to data network 136 via the N6 interface. This may be based on the UE subscription data, UE location, and information provided by the AF 160. In this way, the AF 160 may influence UPF (re)selection and traffic routing. Based on operator deployment, when AF 160 is considered to be a trusted entity, the network operator may permit AF 160 to interact directly with relevant NFs. Additionally, the AF 160 may exhibit an Naf service-based interface.

The data network 136 may represent various network operator services, Internet access, or third party services that may be provided by one or more servers including, for example, application/content server 138.

Figure 2 schematically illustrates a wireless network 200 in accordance with various embodiments. The wireless network 200 may include a UE 202 in wireless communication with an AN 204. The UE 202 and AN 204 may be similar to, and substantially interchangeable with, like-named components described elsewhere herein. The UE 202 may be communicatively coupled with the AN 204 via connection 206. The connection 206 is illustrated as an air interface to enable communicative coupling, and can be consistent with cellular communications protocols such as an LTE protocol or a 5G NR protocol operating at mmWave or sub-6GHz frequencies.

The UE 202 may include a host platform 208 coupled with a modem platform 210. The host platform 208 may include application processing circuitry 212, which may be coupled with protocol processing circuitry 214 of the modem platform 210. The application processing circuitry 212 may run various applications for the UE 202 that source/ sink application data. The application processing circuitry 212 may further implement one or more layer operations to transmit/receive application data to/from a data network. These layer operations may include transport (for example UDP) and Internet (for example, IP) operations

The protocol processing circuitry 214 may implement one or more of layer operations to facilitate transmission or reception of data over the connection 206. The layer operations implemented by the protocol processing circuitry 214 may include, for example, MAC, RLC, PDCP, RRC and NAS operations.

The modem platform 210 may further include digital baseband circuitry 216 that may implement one or more layer operations that are “below” layer operations performed by the protocol processing circuitry 214 in a network protocol stack. These operations may include, for example, PHY operations including one or more of HARQ-ACK functions, scrambling/descrambling, encoding/decoding, layer mapping/de-mapping, modulation symbol mapping, received symbol/bit metric determination, multi-antenna port precoding/decoding, which may include one or more of space-time, space-frequency or spatial coding, reference signal generation/detection, preamble sequence generation and/or decoding, synchronization sequence generation/detection, control channel signal blind decoding, and other related functions.

The modem platform 210 may further include transmit circuitry 218, receive circuitry 220, RF circuitry 222, and RF front end (RFFE) 224, which may include or connect to one or more antenna panels 226. Briefly, the transmit circuitry 218 may include a digital -to-analog converter, mixer, intermediate frequency (IF) components, etc.; the receive circuitry 220 may include an analog-to-digital converter, mixer, IF components, etc.; the RF circuitry 222 may include a low-noise amplifier, a power amplifier, power tracking components, etc.; RFFE 224 may include filters (for example, surface/bulk acoustic wave filters), switches, antenna tuners, beamforming components (for example, phase-array antenna components), etc. The selection and arrangement of the components of the transmit circuitry 218, receive circuitry 220, RF circuitry 222, RFFE 224, and antenna panels 226 (referred generically as “transmit/receive components”) may be specific to details of a specific implementation such as, for example, whether communication is TDM or FDM, in mmWave or sub-6 gHz frequencies, etc. In some embodiments, the transmit/receive components may be arranged in multiple parallel transmit/receive chains, may be disposed in the same or different chips/modules, etc.

In some embodiments, the protocol processing circuitry 214 may include one or more instances of control circuitry (not shown) to provide control functions for the transmit/receive components.

A UE reception may be established by and via the antenna panels 226, RFFE 224, RF circuitry 222, receive circuitry 220, digital baseband circuitry 216, and protocol processing circuitry 214. In some embodiments, the antenna panels 226 may receive a transmission from the AN 204 by receive-beamforming signals received by a plurality of antennas/antenna elements of the one or more antenna panels 226.

A UE transmission may be established by and via the protocol processing circuitry 214, digital baseband circuitry 216, transmit circuitry 218, RF circuitry 222, RFFE 224, and antenna panels 226. In some embodiments, the transmit components of the UE 204 may apply a spatial filter to the data to be transmitted to form a transmit beam emitted by the antenna elements of the antenna panels 226.

Similar to the UE 202, the AN 204 may include a host platform 228 coupled with a modem platform 230. The host platform 228 may include application processing circuitry 232 coupled with protocol processing circuitry 234 of the modem platform 230. The modem platform may further include digital baseband circuitry 236, transmit circuitry 238, receive circuitry 240, RF circuitry 242, RFFE circuitry 244, and antenna panels 246. The components of the AN 204 may be similar to and substantially interchangeable with like-named components of the UE 202. In addition to performing data transmission/reception as described above, the components of the AN 208 may perform various logical functions that include, for example, RNC functions such as radio bearer management, uplink and downlink dynamic radio resource management, and data packet scheduling.

Figure 3 is a block diagram illustrating components, according to some example embodiments, able to read instructions from a machine-readable or computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium) and perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein. Specifically, Figure 3 shows a diagrammatic representation of hardware resources 300 including one or more processors (or processor cores) 310, one or more memory/storage devices 320, and one or more communication resources 330, each of which may be communicatively coupled via a bus 340 or other interface circuitry. For embodiments where node virtualization (e.g., NFV) is utilized, a hypervisor 302 may be executed to provide an execution environment for one or more network slices/ sub-slices to utilize the hardware resources 300.

The processors 310 may include, for example, a processor 312 and a processor 314. The processors 310 may be, for example, a central processing unit (CPU), a reduced instruction set computing (RISC) processor, a complex instruction set computing (CISC) processor, a graphics processing unit (GPU), a DSP such as a baseband processor, an ASIC, an FPGA, a radio-frequency integrated circuit (RFIC), another processor (including those discussed herein), or any suitable combination thereof.

The memory/storage devices 320 may include main memory, disk storage, or any suitable combination thereof. The memory/storage devices 320 may include, but are not limited to, any type of volatile, non-volatile, or semi-volatile memory such as dynamic random access memory (DRAM), static random access memory (SRAM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), Flash memory, solid-state storage, etc.

The communication resources 330 may include interconnection or network interface controllers, components, or other suitable devices to communicate with one or more peripheral devices 304 or one or more databases 306 or other network elements via a network 308. For example, the communication resources 330 may include wired communication components (e.g., for coupling via USB, Ethernet, etc.), cellular communication components, NFC components, Bluetooth® (or Bluetooth® Low Energy) components, Wi-Fi® components, and other communication components.

Instructions 350 may comprise software, a program, an application, an applet, an app, or other executable code for causing at least any of the processors 310 to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein. The instructions 350 may reside, completely or partially, within at least one of the processors 310 (e.g., within the processor’s cache memory), the memory/storage devices 320, or any suitable combination thereof. Furthermore, any portion of the instructions 350 may be transferred to the hardware resources 300 from any combination of the peripheral devices 304 or the databases 306. Accordingly, the memory of processors 310, the memory/storage devices 320, the peripheral devices 304, and the databases 306 are examples of computer-readable and machine-readable media.

EXAMPLE PROCEDURES

In some embodiments, the electronic device(s), network(s), system(s), chip(s) or component(s), or portions or implementations thereof, of Figures 1-3, or some other figure herein, may be configured to perform one or more processes, techniques, or methods as described herein, or portions thereof. One such process 400 is depicted in Figure 4. The process 400 may be performed by a UE (e.g., a RedCap UE) or a portion thereof. At 402, the process 400 may include receiving configuration information for multiple bandwidth parts (BWPs). At 404, the process 400 may further include mapping repetitions of a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) or a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) to different BWPs of the multiple BWPs using inter- BWP frequency hopping (FH) according to a FH pattern. At 406, the process 400 may further include receiving the PDSCH or transmitting the PUSCH based on the mapped repetitions.

Figure 5 illustrates another process 500 in accordance with various embodiments. The process 500 may be performed by a gNB or a portion thereof. At 502, the process 500 may include encoding, for transmission to a reduced capability (RedCap) user equipment (UE), configuration information for multiple bandwidth parts (BWPs). At 504, the process 500 may further include mapping repetitions of a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) or a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) to different BWPs of the multiple BWPs using inter-BWP frequency hopping (FH) according to a FH pattern. At 506, the process 500 may further include transmitting the PDSCH or receiving the PUSCH based on the mapped repetitions.

For one or more embodiments, at least one of the components set forth in one or more of the preceding figures may be configured to perform one or more operations, techniques, processes, and/or methods as set forth in the example section below. For example, the baseband circuitry as described above in connection with one or more of the preceding figures may be configured to operate in accordance with one or more of the examples set forth below. For another example, circuitry associated with a UE, base station, network element, etc. as described above in connection with one or more of the preceding figures may be configured to operate in accordance with one or more of the examples set forth below in the example section.

EXAMPLES

Example Al may include one or more non-transitory computer-readable media having instructions, stored thereon, that when executed by one or more processors of a reduced capability (RedCap) user equipment (UE), cause the RedCap UE to: receive configuration information for multiple bandwidth parts (BWPs); map repetitions of a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) or a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) to different BWPs of the multiple BWPs using inter-BWP frequency hopping (FH) according to a FH pattern; and receive the PDSCH or transmit the PUSCH based on the mapped repetitions.

Example A2 may include the one or more NTCRM of example Al or some other example herein, wherein the configuration information is received via dedicated radio resource control (RRC) signaling. Example A3 may include the one or more NTCRM of example Al or some other example herein, wherein the FH pattern is predefined.

Example A4 may include the one or more NTCRM of example Al or some other example herein, wherein the instructions, when executed, are further to cause the RedCap UE to receive FH pattern information to indicate the FH pattern.

Example A5 may include the one or more NTCRM of example Al or some other example herein, wherein the FH pattern is defined with respect to an absolute point in time.

Example A6 may include the one or more NTCRM of example A5 or some other example herein, wherein the FH pattern is defined based on a system frame number and a slot number, with a common hopping pattern in a time domain across downlink and uplink.

Example A7 may include the one or more NTCRM of example Al or some other example herein, wherein the configuration information for the BWPs includes a common set of parameters that apply to all or a subset of the BWPs, and wherein the configuration information further includes separate center frequencies and BWP identifiers for the respective BWPs.

Example A8 may include the one or more NTCRM of example A7 or some other example herein, wherein the inter-BWP frequency hopping is performed in accordance with a BWP retuning times that is shorter than a minimum delay for active downlink or uplink BWP change defined in 3GPP Technical Standard (TS) 38.133, V17.4.0.

Example A9 may include the one or more NTCRM of example Al or some other example herein, wherein a same frequency domain resource allocation (FDRA) is used to map repetitions of a physical channel in each of the BWPs.

Example A10 may include the one or more NTCRM of example Al or some other example herein, wherein the inter-BWP FH occurs only at slot boundaries.

Example Al 1 may include the one or more NTCRM of any one of examples A1-A10 or some other example herein, wherein, to receive the PDSCH or transmit the PUSCH, the RedCap UE is to: hop from a first BWP to a second BWP at a boundary of a first slot and a second slot; and skip reception or transmission of one or more symbols at the end of the first slot and at the beginning of the second slot.

Example A12 may include the one or more NTCRM of example Al 1 or some other example herein, wherein to receive the PDSCH or transmit the PUSCH, the RedCap UE is further to: rate-match the PDSCH or PUSCH to available symbols of the first slot and the second slot; or use receiver-side puncturing for the PDSCH or transmitter-side puncturing for the PUSCH.

Example Al 3 may include one or more non-transitory computer-readable media having instructions, stored thereon, that when executed by one or more processors of a next generation Node B (gNB), cause the gNB to: encode, for transmission to a reduced capability (RedCap) user equipment (UE), configuration information for multiple bandwidth parts (BWPs); map repetitions of a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) or a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) to different BWPs of the multiple BWPs using inter-BWP frequency hopping (FH) according to a FH pattern; and transmit the PDSCH or receive the PUSCH based on the mapped repetitions.

Example A14 may include the one or more NTCRM of example A13 or some other example herein, wherein the FH pattern is predefined.

Example Al 5 may include the one or more NTCRM of example Al 3 or some other example herein, wherein the instructions, when executed, are further to cause the gNB to encode, for transmission to the RedCap UE, FH pattern information to indicate the FH pattern.

Example Al 6 may include the one or more NTCRM of example Al 3 or some other example herein, wherein the FH pattern is defined with respect to a system frame number and a slot number, with a common hopping pattern in a time domain across downlink and uplink.

Example Al 7 may include the one or more NTCRM of example Al 3 or some other example herein, wherein the configuration information for the BWPs includes a common set of parameters that apply to all or a subset of the BWPs, and wherein the configuration information further includes separate indications of a center frequency, a bandwidth, and a BWP identifier for the respective BWPs.

Example Al 8 may include the one or more NTCRM of example Al 3 or some other example herein, wherein a same frequency domain resource allocation (FDRA) is used to map repetitions of a physical channel in each of the BWPs.

Example Al 9 may include the one or more NTCRM of example Al 3 or some other example herein, wherein the inter-BWP FH occurs only at slot boundaries.

Example A20 may include the one or more NTCRM of any one of examples A13-A19 or some other example herein, wherein, to transmit the PDSCH or receive the PUSCH, the gNB is to: hop from a first BWP to a second BWP at a boundary of a first slot and a second slot; and skip reception or transmission of one or more symbols at the end of the first slot and at the beginning of the second slot.

Example A21 may include the one or more NTCRM of example A20 or some other example herein, wherein to receive the PDSCH or transmit the PUSCH, the gNB is further to: rate-match the PDSCH or PUSCH to available symbols of the first slot and the second slot; or use puncturing for the PDSCH or the PUSCH.

Example Bl may include a system or method of wireless communication for a fifth generation (5G) or new radio (NR) system, that includes support of a reduced capability (RedCap) NR UE, wherein the UE may be configured with multiple BWPs via dedicated RRC signaling and repetitions of PDSCH or PUSCH are mapped to different DL or UL BWPs (respectively) using inter-BWP frequency hopping (FH).

Example B2 may include the system or method of example Bl or some other example herein, wherein the frequency hopping (FH) pattern is either specified or provided to the UE via higher layer signaling.

Example B3 may include the system or method of example B2 or some other example herein, wherein the FH pattern is defined with respect to an absolute point in time, e.g., by System Frame Number (SFN #0), slot #0, with a common hopping pattern in time domain across DL and UL.

Example B4 may include the system or method of example B3 or some other example herein, wherein shorter BWP retuning times are specified for inter-BWP switching that may primarily account for the RF retuning and AGC (automatic gain control) transition times (e.g., shorter BWP retuning time than specified in 3GPP TS 38.133, V17.4.0, for active DL or UL BWP change.

Example B5 may include the system or method of example B4 or some other example herein, wherein a common set of values for all parameters configured as part of BWP configurations, except for the center frequency and BW (indicated via locationAndBandwidth), and bwp-Id, apply for all or an identified subset of the DL or UL BWPs the UE is configured with for inter-BWP FH.

Example B5A may include the system or method of example B1-B5, wherein, instead of identifying different BWPs, the physical channels are mapped to sets of contiguous-in-frequency PRBs (e.g., “PRB sets”) that are associated with a same BWP configuration.

Example B6 may include the system or method of example B5 or some other example herein, wherein for PDSCH or PUSCH, frequency hopping across BWPs applies every ‘r’ (r > 1) repetitions or slots.

Example B7 may include the system or method of example B5 or some other example herein, wherein the same frequency domain resource allocation (FDRA) applies in all DL/UL (respectively) BWPs.

Example B8 may include the system or method of example B5 or some other example herein, wherein once a RedCap UE switches to a DL BWP different from the one in which the scheduling DCI format was received, it is expected to receive PDCCH in the new DL BWP in the new DL BWP. Example B9 may include the system or method of example B5 or some other example herein, wherein the PUSCH repetitions follow a two-stage FH mechanism involving intra-BWP and inter-BWP FH.

Example BIO may include the system or method of example B9 or some other example herein, wherein the PUSCH repetitions follow a two-stage FH mechanism, such that the UE transmits one or more repetitions of the PUSCH in the indicated set of PRBs in the active UL BWP, then transmits a number of repetitions in another one or more frequency resource(s) within the active UL BWP, and then switches to another UL BWP for similar repetitions (with intra-BWP FH) in the new UL BWP.

Example Bl 1 may include the system or method of example B9 or some other example herein, wherein the intra-BWP FH is limited to intra-slot FH defined in Release 15 NR specifications.

Example B 12 may include the system or method of examples BIO or Bl 1 or some other example herein, wherein the FDRA and intra-BWP FH offsets are the same across the different UL BWPs.

Example B13 may include the system or method of example B4, wherein the maximum separation between the center frequencies of the DL or UL BWPs configured to a RedCap UE for inter-BWP FH is bounded by specifications.

Example B14 may include the system or method of example B4, wherein the inter-BWP transition times for DL and UL are reported by the UE from a set of candidate values in absolute time (e.g., in microseconds) or in number of OFDM symbols (OS) that is defined as a function of the larger of the SCS between the original and new BWPs.

Example B15 may include the system or method of example B4, wherein, for inter-BWP FH, the FH across BWPs may only occur at slot boundaries.

Example B16 may include the system or method of example B4, wherein, during hopping from a first DL BWP to a second DL BWP at the boundary of slots ‘n’ and ‘n+U, the UE may skip reception of one or more OFDM symbols at the end of slot ‘n’ and at the beginning of slot ‘n+U.

Example B17 may include the system or method of example B4, wherein, during hopping from a first UL BWP to a second UL BWP at the boundary of slots ‘n’ and ‘n+U, the UE may skip transmission of one or more OFDM/DFT-S-OFDM symbols at the end of slot ‘n’ and at the beginning of slot ‘n+U.

Example B18 may include the system or method of examples B 16 or B 17, wherein, for PDSCH or PUSCH or PUCCH formats 2, 3, or 4, the skipping of the symbols to accommodate inter-BWP transition time is realized by rate-matching the PDSCH or PUSCH (respectively) to the symbols available for reception or transmission (respectively) in the slot.

Example B19 may include the system or method of examples B 16 or B 17, wherein, for PDSCH or PUSCH or PUCCH formats 2, 3, or 4, the skipping of the symbols to accommodate inter-BWP transition time is realized by assuming the availability of such symbols during ratematching and resource mapping, but not receiving or transmitting (respectively) the symbols (e.g., via “receiver or transmitter (respectively) side puncturing”).

Example B20 may include the system or method of examples B 16 or B 17, wherein, for physical channels and signals other than one or more of: PDSCH, PUSCH, and PUCCH formats 2, 3, and 4; the skipping of the symbols to accommodate inter-BWP transition time is realized by assuming the availability of such symbols during resource mapping, but not receiving or transmitting (respectively) the symbols (e.g., via “receiver or transmitter (respectively) side puncturing”).

Example B21 may include a method of a reduced capacity (RedCap) user equipment (UE), the method comprising; receiving configuration information for multiple bandwidth parts (BWPs); and mapping repetitions of a PDSCH (e.g., for receipt of the PDSCH) or a PUSCH (e.g., for transmission of the PUSCH) to different BWPs of the multiple BWPs using inter-BWP frequency hopping (FH).

Example B22 may include the method of example B21 or some other example herein, wherein the configuration information is received via dedicated RRC signaling.

Example B23 may include the method of example B21-B22 or some other example herein, wherein the repetitions are mapped according to a FH pattern.

Example B24 may include the method of example B23 or some other example herein, wherein the FH pattern is predefined.

Example B25 may include the method of example B23 or some other example herein, further comprising receiving configuration information (e.g., via RRC signaling) to indicate the FH pattern.

Example Z01 may include an apparatus comprising means to perform one or more elements of a method described in or related to any of examples A1-A21, B1-B25, or any other method or process described herein.

Example Z02 may include one or more non-transitory computer-readable media comprising instructions to cause an electronic device, upon execution of the instructions by one or more processors of the electronic device, to perform one or more elements of a method described in or related to any of examples A1-A21, B1-B25, or any other method or process described herein. Example Z03 may include an apparatus comprising logic, modules, or circuitry to perform one or more elements of a method described in or related to any of examples A1-A21, B1-B25, or any other method or process described herein.

Example Z04 may include a method, technique, or process as described in or related to any of examples A1-A21, B1-B25, or portions or parts thereof.

Example Z05 may include an apparatus comprising: one or more processors and one or more computer-readable media comprising instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform the method, techniques, or process as described in or related to any of examples A1-A21, B1-B25, or portions thereof.

Example Z06 may include a signal as described in or related to any of examples A1-A21, B1-B25, or portions or parts thereof.

Example Z07 may include a datagram, packet, frame, segment, protocol data unit (PDU), or message as described in or related to any of examples A1-A21, B1-B25, or portions or parts thereof, or otherwise described in the present disclosure.

Example Z08 may include a signal encoded with data as described in or related to any of examples A1-A21, B1-B25, or portions or parts thereof, or otherwise described in the present disclosure.

Example Z09 may include a signal encoded with a datagram, packet, frame, segment, protocol data unit (PDU), or message as described in or related to any of examples A1-A21, Bl- B25, or portions or parts thereof, or otherwise described in the present disclosure.

Example Z10 may include an electromagnetic signal carrying computer-readable instructions, wherein execution of the computer-readable instructions by one or more processors is to cause the one or more processors to perform the method, techniques, or process as described in or related to any of examples A1-A21, B1-B25, or portions thereof.

Example Z11 may include a computer program comprising instructions, wherein execution of the program by a processing element is to cause the processing element to carry out the method, techniques, or process as described in or related to any of examples A1-A21, Bl- B25, or portions thereof.

Example Z12 may include a signal in a wireless network as shown and described herein.

Example Z 13 may include a method of communicating in a wireless network as shown and described herein.

Example Z14 may include a system for providing wireless communication as shown and described herein.

Example Z15 may include a device for providing wireless communication as shown and described herein. Any of the above-described examples may be combined with any other example (or combination of examples), unless explicitly stated otherwise. The foregoing description of one or more implementations provides illustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the scope of embodiments to the precise form disclosed. Modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings or may be acquired from practice of various embodiments.

Abbreviations

Unless used differently herein, terms, definitions, and abbreviations may be consistent with terms, definitions, and abbreviations defined in 3GPP TR 21.905 vl6.0.0 (2019-06). For the purposes of the present document, the following abbreviations may apply to the examples and embodiments discussed herein.

35 AP Application BRAS Broadband

3 GPP Third Protocol, Antenna 70 Remote Access Generation Port, Access Point Server

Partnership API Application BSS Business Project Programming Interface Support System 4G Fourth 40 APN Access Point BS Base Station Generation Name 75 BSR Buffer Status 5G Fifth ARP Allocation and Report Generation Retention Priority BW Bandwidth 5GC 5G Core ARQ Automatic BWP Bandwidth Part network 45 Repeat Request C-RNTI Cell AC AS Access Stratum 80 Radio Network

Application ASP Temporary Client Application Service Identity ACK Provider CA Carrier

Acknowledgem 50 Aggregation, ent ASN.l Abstract Syntax 85 Certification ACID Notation One Authority

Application AUSF Authentication CAPEX CAPital Client Identification Server Function Expenditure AF Application 55 AWGN Additive CBRA Contention Function White Gaussian 90 Based Random

AM Acknowledged Noise Access Mode BAP Backhaul CC Component

AMBRAggregate Adaptation Protocol Carrier, Country Maximum Bit Rate 60 BCH Broadcast Code, Cryptographic AMF Access and Channel 95 Checksum

Mobility BER Bit Error Ratio CCA Clear Channel

Management BFD Beam Assessment

Function Failure Detection CCE Control

AN Access 65 BLER Block Error Channel Element

Network Rate 100 CCCH Common

ANR Automatic BPSK Binary Phase Control Channel Neighbour Relation Shift Keying CE Coverage

Enhancement CDM Content COTS Commercial C-RNTI Cell Delivery Network Off-The-Shelf RNTI CDMA Code- CP Control Plane, CS Circuit Division Multiple Cyclic Prefix, Switched Access 40 Connection 75 CSAR Cloud Service

CFRA Contention Free Point Archive Random Access CPD Connection CSI Channel-State CG Cell Group Point Descriptor Information CGF Charging CPE Customer CSI-IM CSI

Gateway Function 45 Premise 80 Interference CHF Charging Equipment Measurement

Function CPICHCommon Pilot CSI-RS CSI

CI Cell Identity Channel Reference Signal CID Cell-ID (e g., CQI Channel CSI-RSRP CSI positioning method) 50 Quality Indicator 85 reference signal CIM Common CPU CSI processing received power Information Model unit, Central CSI-RSRQ CSI CIR Carrier to Processing Unit reference signal Interference Ratio C/R received quality CK Cipher Key 55 Command/Resp 90 CSI-SINR CSI CM Connection onse field bit signal-to-noise and Management, CRAN Cloud Radio interference

Conditional Access ratio Mandatory Network, Cloud CSMA Carrier Sense CMAS Commercial 60 RAN 95 Multiple Access Mobile Alert Service CRB Common CSMA/CA CSMA CMD Command Resource Block with collision CMS Cloud CRC Cyclic avoidance Management System Redundancy Check CSS Common CO Conditional 65 CRI Channel -State 100 Search Space, CellOptional Information specific Search CoMP Coordinated Resource Space Multi-Point Indicator, CSI-RS CTF Charging CORESET Control Resource Trigger Function Resource Set 70 Indicator 105 CTS Clear-to-Send CW Codeword 35 DSL Domain ECSP Edge

CWS Contention Specific Language. Computing Service

Window Size Digital 70 Provider

D2D Device-to- Subscriber Line EDN Edge

Device DSLAM DSL Data Network

DC Dual 40 Access Multiplexer EEC Edge

Connectivity, Direct DwPTS Enabler Client Current Downlink Pilot 75 EECID Edge

DCI Downlink Time Slot Enabler Client

Control E-LAN Ethernet Identification

Information 45 Local Area Network EES Edge

DF Deployment E2E End-to-End Enabler Server

Flavour ECCA extended clear 80 EESID Edge

DL Downlink channel Enabler Server

DMTF Distributed assessment, Identification

Management Task 50 extended CCA EHE Edge Force ECCE Enhanced Hosting Environment

DPDK Data Plane Control Channel 85 EGMF Exposure

Development Kit Element, Governance

DM-RS, DMRS Enhanced CCE Management

Demodulation 55 ED Energy Function

Reference Signal Detection EGPRS DN Data network EDGE Enhanced 90 Enhanced DNN Data Network Datarates for GSM GPRS Name Evolution EIR Equipment

DNAI Data Network 60 (GSM Evolution) Identity Register Access Identifier EAS Edge eLAA enhanced

Application Server 95 Licensed Assisted

DRB Data Radio EASID Edge Access,

Bearer Application Server enhanced LAA

DRS Discovery 65 Identification EM Element

Reference Signal ECS Edge Manager

DRX Discontinuous Configuration Server 100 eMBB Enhanced Reception Mobile

Broadband EMS Element 35 E-UTRA Evolved FCCH Frequency

Management System UTRA 70 Correction CHannel eNB evolved NodeB, E-UTRAN Evolved FDD Frequency E-UTRAN Node B UTRAN Division Duplex

EN-DC E- EV2X Enhanced V2X FDM Frequency

UTRA-NR Dual 40 F1AP Fl Application Division

Connectivity Protocol 75 Multiplex EPC Evolved Packet Fl-C Fl Control FDM A Frequency Core plane interface Division Multiple

EPDCCH Fl-U Fl User plane Access enhanced 45 interface FE Front End

PDCCH, enhanced FACCH Fast 80 FEC Forward Error Physical Associated Control Correction

Downlink Control CHannel FFS For Further

Cannel FACCH/F Fast Study

EPRE Energy per 50 Associated Control FFT Fast Fourier resource element Channel/Full 85 Transformation

EPS Evolved Packet rate feLAA further System FACCH/H Fast enhanced Licensed

EREG enhanced REG, Associated Control Assisted enhanced resource 55 Channel/Half Access, further element groups rate 90 enhanced LAA ETSI European FACH Forward Access FN Frame Number

Telecommunica Channel FPGA Field- tions Standards FAUSCH Fast Programmable Gate Institute 60 Uplink Signalling Array

ETWS Earthquake and Channel 95 FR Frequency

Tsunami Warning FB Functional Range

System Block FQDN Fully eUICC embedded FBI Feedback Qualified Domain UICC, embedded 65 Information Name

Universal FCC Federal 100 G-RNTI GERAN Integrated Circuit Communications Radio Network

Card Commission Temporary

Identity GERAN GSM Global System 70 HSDPA High

GSM EDGE for Mobile Speed Downlink RAN, GSM EDGE Communication Packet Access

Radio Access s, Groupe Special HSN Hopping

Network 40 Mobile Sequence Number

GGSN Gateway GPRS GTP GPRS 75 HSPA High Speed Support Node Tunneling Protocol Packet Access GLONASS GTP-UGPRS HSS Home

GLObal'naya Tunnelling Protocol Subscriber Server

NAvigatsionnay 45 for User Plane HSUPA High a Sputnikovaya GTS Go To Sleep 80 Speed Uplink Packet Si sterna (Engl.: Signal (related Access Global Navigation to WUS) HTTP Hyper Text

Satellite GUMMEI Globally Transfer Protocol

System) 50 Unique MME HTTPS Hyper gNB Next Identifier 85 Text Transfer Protocol Generation NodeB GUTI Globally Secure (https is gNB-CU gNB- Unique Temporary http/ 1.1 over centralized unit, Next UE Identity SSL, i.e. port 443)

Generation 55 HARQ Hybrid ARQ, I-Block

NodeB Hybrid 90 Information centralized unit Automatic Block gNB-DU gNB- Repeat Request ICCID Integrated distributed unit, Next HANDO Handover Circuit Card

Generation 60 HFN HyperFrame Identification

NodeB Number 95 IAB Integrated distributed unit HHO Hard Handover Access and

GNSS Global HLR Home Location Backhaul Navigation Satellite Register ICIC Inter-Cell

System 65 HN Home Network Interference

GPRS General Packet HO Handover 100 Coordination

Radio Service HPLMN Home ID Identity,

GPSI Generic Public Land Mobile identifier

Public Subscription Network

Identifier IDFT Inverse Discrete 35 IMPI IP Multimedia ISO International Fourier Private Identity 70 Organisation for

Transform IMPU IP Multimedia Standardisation IE Information PUblic identity ISP Internet Service element IMS IP Multimedia Provider IBE In-Band 40 Subsystem IWF Interworking- Emission IMSI International 75 Function IEEE Institute of Mobile I-WLAN Electrical and Subscriber Interworking

Electronics Identity WLAN Engineers 45 loT Internet of Constraint IEI Information Things 80 length of the Element IP Internet convolutional

Identifier Protocol code, USIM IEIDL Information Ipsec IP Security, Individual key Element 50 Internet Protocol kB Kilobyte (1000

Identifier Data Security 85 bytes) Length IP-CAN IP- kbps kilo-bits per IETF Internet Connectivity Access second Engineering Task Network Kc Ciphering key Force 55 IP-M IP Multicast Ki Individual

IF Infrastructure IPv4 Internet 90 subscriber

IM Interference Protocol Version 4 authentication

Measurement, IPv6 Internet key

Intermodulation Protocol Version 6 KPI Key , IP Multimedia 60 IR Infrared Performance Indicator IMC IMS IS In Sync 95 KQI Key Quality Credentials IRP Integration Indicator IMEI International Reference Point KSI Key Set Mobile ISDN Integrated Identifier

Equipment 65 Services Digital ksps kilo-symbols Identity Network 100 per second IMGI International ISIM IM Services KVM Kernel Virtual mobile group identity Identity Module Machine LI Layer 1 35 LTE Long Term 70 Broadcast and

(physical layer) Evolution Multicast

Ll-RSRP Layer 1 LWA LTE-WLAN Service reference signal aggregation MBSFN received power LWIP LTE/WLAN Multimedia

L2 Layer 2 (data 40 Radio Level 75 Broadcast link layer) Integration with multicast

L3 Layer 3 IPsec Tunnel service Single

(network layer) LTE Long Term Frequency

LAA Licensed Evolution Network

Assisted Access 45 M2M Machine-to- 80 MCC Mobile Country

LAN Local Area Machine Code

Network MAC Medium Access MCG Master Cell

LADN Local Control Group

Area Data Network (protocol MCOT Maximum

LBT Listen Before 50 layering context) 85 Channel

Talk MAC Message Occupancy

LCM LifeCycle authentication code Time

Management (security/ encry pti on MCS Modulation and

LCR Low Chip Rate context) coding scheme

LCS Location 55 MAC-A MAC 90 MD AF Management

Services used for Data Analytics

LCID Logical authentication Function

Channel ID and key MD AS Management

LI Layer Indicator agreement Data Analytics

LLC Logical Link 60 (TSG T WG3 context) 95 Service

Control, Low Layer MAC -IMAC used for MDT Minimization of

Compatibility data integrity of Drive Tests

LPLMN Local signalling messages ME Mobile

PLMN (TSG T WG3 context) Equipment

LPP LTE 65 MANO 100 MeNB master eNB

Positioning Protocol Management MER Message Error

LSB Least and Orchestration Ratio

Significant Bit MBMS MGL Measurement

Multimedia Gap Length MGRP Measurement 35 Access Communication Gap Repetition CHannel 70 s Period MPUSCH MTC MU-MIMO Multi

MIB Master Physical Uplink Shared User MIMO Information Block, Channel MWUS MTC Management 40 MPLS MultiProtocol wake-up signal, MTC

Information Base Label Switching 75 WUS MIMO Multiple Input MS Mobile Station NACK Negative Multiple Output MSB Most Acknowledgement MLC Mobile Significant Bit NAI Network Location Centre 45 MSC Mobile Access Identifier MM Mobility Switching Centre 80 NAS Non-Access Management MSI Minimum Stratum, Non- Access MME Mobility System Stratum layer Management Entity Information, NCT Network MN Master Node 50 MCH Scheduling Connectivity MNO Mobile Information 85 Topology Network Operator MSID Mobile Station NC-JT NonMO Measurement Identifier coherent Joint

Object, Mobile MSIN Mobile Station Transmission

Originated 55 Identification NEC Network MPBCH MTC Number 90 Capability

Physical Broadcast MSISDN Mobile Exposure CHannel Subscriber ISDN NE-DC NR-E-

MPDCCH MTC Number UTRA Dual Physical Downlink 60 MT Mobile Connectivity Control Terminated, Mobile 95 NEF Network

CHannel Termination Exposure Function

MPDSCH MTC MTC Machine-Type NF Network Physical Downlink Communication Function Shared 65 s NFP Network

CHannel mMTCmassive MTC, 100 Forwarding Path

MPRACH MTC massive NFPD Network Physical Random Machine-Type Forwarding Path

Descriptor NFV Network NPRACH 70 S-NNSAI Single-

Functions Narrowband NSSAI

Virtualization Physical Random NSSF Network Slice

NFVI NFV Access CHannel Selection Function

Infrastructure 40 NPUSCH NW Network

NF VO NFV Narrowband 75 NWU S N arrowb and

Orchestrator Physical Uplink wake-up signal,

NG Next Shared CHannel N arrowb and WU S

Generation, Next Gen NPSS Narrowband NZP Non-Zero

NGEN-DC NG- 45 Primary Power

RAN E-UTRA-NR Synchronization 80 O&M Operation and

Dual Connectivity Signal Maintenance

NM Network NSSS Narrowband ODU2 Optical channel

Manager Secondary Data Unit - type 2

NMS Network 50 Synchronization OFDM Orthogonal

Management System Signal 85 Frequency Division

N-PoP Network Point NR New Radio, Multiplexing of Presence Neighbour Relation OFDMA

NMIB, N-MIB NRF NF Repository Orthogonal

Narrowband MIB 55 Function Frequency Division

NPBCH NRS Narrowband 90 Multiple Access

Narrowband Reference Signal OOB Out-of-band

Physical NS Network OO S Out of

Broadcast Service Sync

CHannel 60 NS A Non- Standalone OPEX OPerating

NPDCCH operation mode 95 EXpense

Narrowband NSD Network OSI Other System

Physical Service Descriptor Information

Downlink NSR Network OSS Operations

Control CHannel 65 Service Record Support System

NPDSCH NSSAINetwork Slice 100 OTA over-the-air

Narrowband Selection PAPR Peak-to-

Physical Assistance Average Power

Downlink Information Ratio

Shared CHannel PAR Peak to PDN Packet Data POC PTT over Average Ratio 35 Network, Public Cellular PBCH Physical Data Network 70 PP, PTP Point-to- Broadcast Channel PDSCH Physical Point PC Power Control, Downlink Shared PPP Point-to-Point Personal Channel Protocol

Computer 40 PDU Protocol Data PRACH Physical PCC Primary Unit 75 RACH Component Carrier, PEI Permanent PRB Physical Primary CC Equipment resource block PCell Primary Cell Identifiers PRG Physical PCI Physical Cell 45 PFD Packet Flow resource block ID, Physical Cell Description 80 group Identity P-GW PDN Gateway ProSe Proximity

PCEF Policy and PHICH Physical Services, Charging hybrid-ARQ indicator Proximity-

Enforcement 50 channel Based Service Function PHY Physical layer 85 PRS Positioning

PCF Policy Control PLMN Public Land Reference Signal Function Mobile Network PRR Packet

PCRF Policy Control PIN Personal Reception Radio and Charging Rules 55 Identification Number PS Packet Services Function PM Performance 90 PSBCH Physical

PDCP Packet Data Measurement Sidelink Broadcast Convergence PMI Precoding Channel

Protocol, Packet Matrix Indicator PSDCH Physical Data Convergence 60 PNF Physical Sidelink Downlink Protocol layer Network Function 95 Channel

PDCCH Physical PNFD Physical PSCCH Physical Downlink Control Network Function Sidelink Control

Channel Descriptor Channel

PDCP Packet Data 65 PNFR Physical PSSCH Physical Convergence Protocol Network Function 100 Sidelink Shared

Record Channel

PSCell Primary SCell PSS Primary RAB Radio Access Link Control

Synchronization 35 Bearer, Random 70 layer

Signal Access Burst RLC AM RLC

PSTN Public Switched RACH Random Access Acknowledged Mode

Telephone Network Channel RLC UM RLC

PT-RS Phase-tracking RADIUS Remote Unacknowledged reference signal 40 Authenti cati on Di al 75 Mode

PTT Push-to-Talk In User Service RLF Radio Link

PUCCH Physical RAN Radio Access Failure

Uplink Control Network RLM Radio Link

Channel RAND RANDom Monitoring

PUSCH Physical 45 number (used for 80 RLM-RS

Uplink Shared authentication) Reference

Channel RAR Random Access Signal for RLM

QAM Quadrature Response RM Registration

Amplitude RAT Radio Access Management

Modulation 50 Technology 85 RMC Reference

QCI QoS class of RAU Routing Area Measurement Channel identifier Update RMSI Remaining

QCL Quasi coRB Resource block, MSI, Remaining location Radio Bearer Minimum

QFI QoS Flow ID, 55 RBG Resource block 90 System

QoS Flow group Information

Identifier REG Resource RN Relay Node

QoS Quality of Element Group RNC Radio Network

Service Rel Release Controller

QPSK Quadrature 60 REQ REQuest 95 RNL Radio Network

(Quaternary) Phase RF Radio Layer

Shift Keying Frequency RNTI Radio Network

QZSS Quasi-Zenith RI Rank Indicator Temporary

Satellite System RIV Resource Identifier

RA-RNTI Random 65 indicator value 100 ROHC RObust Header

Access RNTI RL Radio Link Compression

RLC Radio Link RRC Radio Resource

Control, Radio Control, Radio Resource Control 35 S-RNTI SRNC 70 SCS Subcarrier layer Radio Network Spacing

RRM Radio Resource Temporary SCTP Stream Control

Management Identity Transmission

RS Reference S-TMSI SAE Protocol

Signal 40 Temporary Mobile 75 SDAP Service Data

RSRP Reference Station Adaptation

Signal Received Identifier Protocol,

Power SA Standalone Service Data

RSRQ Reference operation mode Adaptation Signal Received 45 SAE System 80 Protocol layer

Quality Architecture SDL Supplementary

RS SI Received Signal Evolution Downlink Strength SAP Service Access SDNF Structured Data

Indicator Point Storage Network

RSU Road Side Unit 50 SAPD Service Access 85 Function RSTD Reference Point Descriptor SDP Session Signal Time SAPI Service Access Description Protocol difference Point Identifier SDSF Structured Data

RTP Real Time SCC Secondary Storage Function

Protocol 55 Component Carrier, 90 SDU Service Data

RTS Ready-To-Send Secondary CC Unit RTT Round Trip SCell Secondary Cell SEAF Security Time SCEF Service Anchor Function

Rx Reception, Capability Exposure SeNB secondary eNB Receiving, Receiver 60 Function 95 SEPP Security Edge S1AP SI Application SC-FDMA Single Protection Proxy Protocol Carrier Frequency SFI Slot format

Sl-MME SI for Division indication the control plane Multiple Access SFTD Space- Sl-U SI for the user 65 SCG Secondary Cell 100 Frequency Time plane Group Diversity, SFN

S-GW Serving SCM Security and frame timing Gateway Context difference

Management SFN System Frame SoC System on Chip Signal based

Number SON Self-Organizing Reference

SgNB Secondary gNB Network Signal Received

SGSN Serving GPRS SpCell Special Cell Power

Support Node 40 SP-CSI-RNTISemi- 75 SS-RSRQ

S-GW Serving Persistent CSI RNTI Synchronization

Gateway SPS Semi-Persistent Signal based

SI System Scheduling Reference

Information SQN Sequence Signal Received

SI-RNTI System 45 number 80 Quality

Information RNTI SR Scheduling SS-SINR

SIB System Request Synchronization

Information Block SRB Signalling Signal based Signal

SIM Subscriber Radio Bearer to Noise and

Identity Module 50 SRS Sounding 85 Interference Ratio

SIP Session Reference Signal SSS Secondary

Initiated Protocol SS Synchronization Synchronization

SiP System in Signal Signal

Package SSB Synchronization SSSG Search Space

SL Sidelink 55 Signal Block 90 Set Group

SLA Service Level SSID Service Set SSSIF Search Space

Agreement Identifier Set Indicator

SM Session SS/PBCH Block SST Slice/Service

Management SSBRI SS/PBCH Types

SMF Session 60 Block Resource 95 SU-MIMO Single

Management Function Indicator, User MIMO

SMS Short Message Synchronization SUL Supplementary

Service Signal Block Uplink

SMSF SMS Function Resource TA Timing

SMTC SSB-based 65 Indicator 100 Advance, Tracking

Measurement Timing SSC Session and Area

Configuration Service TAC Tracking Area

SN Secondary Continuity Code

Node, Sequence SS-RSRP TAG Timing

Number 70 Synchronization 105 Advance Group TAI TPMI Transmitted UDSF Unstructured

Tracking Area Precoding Matrix Data Storage Network

Identity Indicator Function

TAU Tracking Area TR Technical UICC Universal Update 40 Report 75 Integrated Circuit

TB Transport Block TRP, TRxP Card TBS Transport Block Transmission UL Uplink Size Reception Point UM

TBD To Be Defined TRS Tracking Unacknowledge

TCI Transmission 45 Reference Signal 80 d Mode

Configuration TRx Transceiver UML Unified

Indicator TS Technical Modelling Language

TCP Transmission Specifications, UMTS Universal

Communication Technical Mobile

Protocol 50 Standard 85 Telecommunica

TDD Time Division TTI Transmission tions System

Duplex Time Interval UP User Plane

TDM Time Division Tx Transmission, UPF User Plane Multiplexing Transmitting, Function

TDMATime Division 55 Transmitter 90 URI Uniform

Multiple Access U-RNTI UTRAN Resource Identifier

TE Terminal Radio Network URL Uniform

Equipment Temporary Resource Locator

TEID Tunnel End Identity URLLC Ultra¬

Point Identifier 60 UART Universal 95 Reliable and Low

TFT Traffic Flow Asynchronous Latency

Template Receiver and USB Universal Serial

TMSI Temporary Transmitter Bus

Mobile UCI Uplink Control USIM Universal

Subscriber 65 Information 100 Subscriber Identity

Identity UE User Equipment Module

TNL Transport UDM Unified Data USS UE-specific

Network Layer Management search space

TPC Transmit Power UDP User Datagram Control 70 Protocol UTRA UMTS 35 VoIP Voice-over-IP, Terrestrial Radio Voice-over- Internet Access Protocol

UTRAN VPLMN Visited

Universal Public Land Mobile Terrestrial Radio 40 Network

Access VPN Virtual Private

Network Network

UwPTS Uplink VRB Virtual Pilot Time Slot Resource Block V2I Vehicle-to- 45 WiMAX Infrastruction Worldwide

V2P Vehicle-to- Interoperability Pedestrian for Micro wave

V2V Vehicle-to- Access Vehicle 50 WLANWireless Local

V2X Vehicle-to- Area Network everything WMAN Wireless

VIM Virtualized Metropolitan Area Infrastructure Manager Network VL Virtual Link, 55 WPANWireless VLAN Virtual LAN, Personal Area Network Virtual Local Area X2-C X2-Control Network plane VM Virtual X2-U X2-User plane Machine 60 XML extensible

VNF Virtualized Markup Network Function Language

VNFFG VNF XRES EXpected user

Forwarding Graph RESponse VNFFGD VNF 65 XOR exclusive OR

Forwarding Graph ZC Zadoff-Chu

Descriptor ZP Zero Power VNFMVNF Manager For the purposes of the present document, the following terms and definitions are applicable to the examples and embodiments discussed herein.

The term “circuitry” as used herein refers to, is part of, or includes hardware components such as an electronic circuit, a logic circuit, a processor (shared, dedicated, or group) and/or memory (shared, dedicated, or group), an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), a field-programmable device (FPD) (e.g., a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), a programmable logic device (PLD), a complex PLD (CPLD), a high-capacity PLD (HCPLD), a structured ASIC, or a programmable SoC), digital signal processors (DSPs), etc., that are configured to provide the described functionality. In some embodiments, the circuitry may execute one or more software or firmware programs to provide at least some of the described functionality. The term “circuitry” may also refer to a combination of one or more hardware elements (or a combination of circuits used in an electrical or electronic system) with the program code used to carry out the functionality of that program code. In these embodiments, the combination of hardware elements and program code may be referred to as a particular type of circuitry.

The term “processor circuitry” as used herein refers to, is part of, or includes circuitry capable of sequentially and automatically carrying out a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations, or recording, storing, and/or transferring digital data. Processing circuitry may include one or more processing cores to execute instructions and one or more memory structures to store program and data information. The term “processor circuitry” may refer to one or more application processors, one or more baseband processors, a physical central processing unit (CPU), a single-core processor, a dual-core processor, a triple-core processor, a quad-core processor, and/or any other device capable of executing or otherwise operating computerexecutable instructions, such as program code, software modules, and/or functional processes. Processing circuitry may include more hardware accelerators, which may be microprocessors, programmable processing devices, or the like. The one or more hardware accelerators may include, for example, computer vision (CV) and/or deep learning (DL) accelerators. The terms “application circuitry” and/or “baseband circuitry” may be considered synonymous to, and may be referred to as, “processor circuitry.”

The term “interface circuitry” as used herein refers to, is part of, or includes circuitry that enables the exchange of information between two or more components or devices. The term “interface circuitry” may refer to one or more hardware interfaces, for example, buses, I/O interfaces, peripheral component interfaces, network interface cards, and/or the like. The term “user equipment” or “UE” as used herein refers to a device with radio communication capabilities and may describe a remote user of network resources in a communications network. The term “user equipment” or “UE” may be considered synonymous to, and may be referred to as, client, mobile, mobile device, mobile terminal, user terminal, mobile unit, mobile station, mobile user, subscriber, user, remote station, access agent, user agent, receiver, radio equipment, reconfigurable radio equipment, reconfigurable mobile device, etc. Furthermore, the term “user equipment” or “UE” may include any type of wireless/wired device or any computing device including a wireless communications interface.

The term “network element” as used herein refers to physical or virtualized equipment and/or infrastructure used to provide wired or wireless communication network services. The term “network element” may be considered synonymous to and/or referred to as a networked computer, networking hardware, network equipment, network node, router, switch, hub, bridge, radio network controller, RAN device, RAN node, gateway, server, virtualized VNF, NFVI, and/or the like.

The term “computer system” as used herein refers to any type interconnected electronic devices, computer devices, or components thereof. Additionally, the term “computer system” and/or “system” may refer to various components of a computer that are communicatively coupled with one another. Furthermore, the term “computer system” and/or “system” may refer to multiple computer devices and/or multiple computing systems that are communicatively coupled with one another and configured to share computing and/or networking resources.

The term “appliance,” “computer appliance,” or the like, as used herein refers to a computer device or computer system with program code (e.g., software or firmware) that is specifically designed to provide a specific computing resource. A “virtual appliance” is a virtual machine image to be implemented by a hypervisor-equipped device that virtualizes or emulates a computer appliance or otherwise is dedicated to provide a specific computing resource.

The term “resource” as used herein refers to a physical or virtual device, a physical or virtual component within a computing environment, and/or a physical or virtual component within a particular device, such as computer devices, mechanical devices, memory space, processor/CPU time, processor/CPU usage, processor and accelerator loads, hardware time or usage, electrical power, input/output operations, ports or network sockets, channel/link allocation, throughput, memory usage, storage, network, database and applications, workload units, and/or the like. A “hardware resource” may refer to compute, storage, and/or network resources provided by physical hardware element(s). A “virtualized resource” may refer to compute, storage, and/or network resources provided by virtualization infrastructure to an application, device, system, etc. The term “network resource” or “communication resource” may refer to resources that are accessible by computer devices/ systems via a communications network. The term “system resources” may refer to any kind of shared entities to provide services, and may include computing and/or network resources. System resources may be considered as a set of coherent functions, network data objects or services, accessible through a server where such system resources reside on a single host or multiple hosts and are clearly identifiable.

The term “channel” as used herein refers to any transmission medium, either tangible or intangible, which is used to communicate data or a data stream. The term “channel” may be synonymous with and/or equivalent to “communications channel,” “data communications channel,” “transmission channel,” “data transmission channel,” “access channel,” “data access channel,” “link,” “data link,” “carrier,” “radiofrequency carrier,” and/or any other like term denoting a pathway or medium through which data is communicated. Additionally, the term “link” as used herein refers to a connection between two devices through a RAT for the purpose of transmitting and receiving information.

The terms “instantiate,” “instantiation,” and the like as used herein refers to the creation of an instance. An “instance” also refers to a concrete occurrence of an object, which may occur, for example, during execution of program code.

The terms “coupled,” “communicatively coupled,” along with derivatives thereof are used herein. The term “coupled” may mean two or more elements are in direct physical or electrical contact with one another, may mean that two or more elements indirectly contact each other but still cooperate or interact with each other, and/or may mean that one or more other elements are coupled or connected between the elements that are said to be coupled with each other. The term “directly coupled” may mean that two or more elements are in direct contact with one another. The term “communicatively coupled” may mean that two or more elements may be in contact with one another by a means of communication including through a wire or other interconnect connection, through a wireless communication channel or link, and/or the like.

The term “information element” refers to a structural element containing one or more fields. The term “field” refers to individual contents of an information element, or a data element that contains content.

The term “SMTC” refers to an SSB-based measurement timing configuration configured by SSB-MeasurementTimingConfiguration .

The term “SSB” refers to an SS/PBCH block. The term “a “Primary Cell” refers to the MCG cell, operating on the primary frequency, in which the UE either performs the initial connection establishment procedure or initiates the connection re-establishment procedure.

The term “Primary SCG Cell” refers to the SCG cell in which the UE performs random access when performing the Reconfiguration with Sync procedure for DC operation.

The term “Secondary Cell” refers to a cell providing additional radio resources on top of a Special Cell for a UE configured with CA.

The term “Secondary Cell Group” refers to the subset of serving cells comprising the PSCell and zero or more secondary cells for a UE configured with DC. The term “Serving Cell” refers to the primary cell for a UE in RRC CONNECTED not configured with CA/DC there is only one serving cell comprising of the primary cell.

The term “serving cell” or “serving cells” refers to the set of cells comprising the Special Cell(s) and all secondary cells for a UE in RRC CONNECTED configured with CA/.

The term “Special Cell” refers to the PCell of the MCG or the PSCell of the SCG for DC operation; otherwise, the term “Special Cell” refers to the Pcell.

Claims

1. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media having instructions, stored thereon, that when executed by one or more processors of a reduced capability (RedCap) user equipment (UE), cause the RedCap UE to: receive configuration information for multiple bandwidth parts (BWPs); map repetitions of a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) or a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) to different BWPs of the multiple BWPs using inter-BWP frequency hopping (FH) according to a FH pattern; and receive the PDSCH or transmit the PUSCH based on the mapped repetitions.

2. The one or more NTCRM of claim 1, wherein the configuration information is received via dedicated radio resource control (RRC) signaling.

3. The one or more NTCRM of claim 1, wherein the FH pattern is predefined.

4. The one or more NTCRM of claim 1, wherein the instructions, when executed, are further to cause the RedCap UE to receive FH pattern information to indicate the FH pattern.

5. The one or more NTCRM of claim 1, wherein the FH pattern is defined with respect to an absolute point in time.

6. The one or more NTCRM of claim 5, wherein the FH pattern is defined based on a system frame number and a slot number, with a common hopping pattern in a time domain across downlink and uplink.

7. The one or more NTCRM of claim 1, wherein the configuration information for the BWPs includes a common set of parameters that apply to all or a subset of the BWPs, and wherein the configuration information further includes separate center frequencies and BWP identifiers for the respective BWPs.

8. The one or more NTCRM of claim 7, wherein the inter-BWP frequency hopping is performed in accordance with a BWP retuning times that is shorter than a minimum delay for active downlink or uplink BWP change defined in 3GPP Technical Standard (TS) 38.133, V17.4.0.

46

9. The one or more NTCRM of claim 1, wherein a same frequency domain resource allocation (FDRA) is used to map repetitions of a physical channel in each of the BWPs.

10. The one or more NTCRM of claim 1, wherein the inter-BWP FH occurs only at slot boundaries.

11. The one or more NTCRM of any one of claims 1-10, wherein, to receive the PDSCH or transmit the PUSCH, the RedCap UE is to: hop from a first BWP to a second BWP at a boundary of a first slot and a second slot; and skip reception or transmission of one or more symbols at the end of the first slot and at the beginning of the second slot.

12. The one or more NTCRM of claim 11, wherein to receive the PDSCH or transmit the PUSCH, the RedCap UE is further to: rate-match the PDSCH or PUSCH to available symbols of the first slot and the second slot; or use receiver-side puncturing for the PDSCH or transmitter-side puncturing for the PUSCH.

13. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media having instructions, stored thereon, that when executed by one or more processors of a next generation Node B (gNB), cause the gNB to: encode, for transmission to a reduced capability (RedCap) user equipment (UE), configuration information for multiple bandwidth parts (BWPs); map repetitions of a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) or a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) to different BWPs of the multiple BWPs using inter-BWP frequency hopping (FH) according to a FH pattern; and transmit the PDSCH or receive the PUSCH based on the mapped repetitions.

14. The one or more NTCRM of claim 13, wherein the FH pattern is predefined.

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15. The one or more NTCRM of claim 13, wherein the instructions, when executed, are further to cause the gNB to encode, for transmission to the RedCap UE, FH pattern information to indicate the FH pattern.

16. The one or more NTCRM of claim 13, wherein the FH pattern is defined with respect to a system frame number and a slot number, with a common hopping pattern in a time domain across downlink and uplink.

17. The one or more NTCRM of claim 13, wherein the configuration information for the BWPs includes a common set of parameters that apply to all of the BWPs, and wherein the configuration information further includes separate indications of a center frequency, a bandwidth, and a BWP identifier for the respective BWPs.

18. The one or more NTCRM of claim 13, wherein a same frequency domain resource allocation (FDRA) is used to map repetitions of a physical channel in each of the BWPs.

19. The one or more NTCRM of claim 13, wherein the inter-BWP FH occurs only at slot boundaries.

20. The one or more NTCRM of any one of claims 13-19, wherein, to transmit the PDSCH or receive the PUSCH, the gNB is to: hop from a first BWP to a second BWP at a boundary of a first slot and a second slot; and skip reception or transmission of one or more symbols at the end of the first slot and at the beginning of the second slot.

21. The one or more NTCRM of claim 20, wherein to receive the PDSCH or transmit the PUSCH, the gNB is further to: rate-match the PDSCH or PUSCH to available symbols of the first slot and the second slot; or use puncturing for the PDSCH or the PUSCH.

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