Methods for controlling ue synchronization and cell identification in nr

Abstract

A wireless device (105) is configured for use in an NR wireless communications network (100). In one embodiment, the wireless device (105) is configured to obtain (S1505) various transmission parameters associated with one or more synchronization signals (SS) transmitted by a network node during a first time period and a second time period and determine (S1510) one or more antenna configuration characteristics C of the network node operable to transmit the SS. The wireless device (105) is further configured to determine (S1515) a time Tss associated with a measurement of the SS based on the obtained parameters and the determined antenna configuration characteristics C.

1 . A wireless device for a wireless communications system comprising:
 at least one transceiver;   at least one antenna;   at least one processor operably coupled to the at least one transceiver; and   memory comprising instructions executable by the at least one processor whereby the wireless device is operable to perform a method comprising:   obtaining:
 a numerology parameter NUM used by a network node to transmit at least a portion of one or more synchronization signals (SS) during a first time period, t 1 , and a second time period, t 2 , 
 periodicity parameters T 1  and T 2  of the one or more SS transmitted during the first and second time periods, t 1  and t 2 , respectively, and 
 bandwidth parameters BW 1  and BW 2  and bandwidth center parameters BWC 1  and BWC 2  for the one or more SS during the first and second time periods, t 1  and t 2 , respectively; 
   determining one or more antenna configuration characteristics C of the network node operable to transmit the at least a portion of the one or more SS during the first and second time periods t 1  and t 2 ; and   based on the NUM, T 1 , T 2 , BW 1 , BWC 1 , BW 2 , and BWC 2  parameters and the one or more C characteristics, determining a time Tss associated with a measurement of the one or more SS.   
     
     
         2 . The wireless device of  claim 1 , wherein one or more of the NUM, T 1 , T 2 , BW 1 , BWC 1 , BW 2 , and BWC 2  parameters is obtained based on at least one of: a pre-defined value, a pre-defined rule, and a message received from the network node. 
     
     
         3 . The wireless device of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more SS are comprised in one or more corresponding SS blocks and the NUM, T 1 , T 2 , BW 1 , BWC 1 , BW 2 , and BWC 2  parameters define a timing aspect of the one or more SS blocks. 
     
     
         4 . The wireless device of  claim 1 , wherein one or more of the NUM, T 1 , T 2 , BW 1 , BWC 1 , BW 2 , and BWC 2  parameters is obtained based on one or more of:
 a carrier frequency of the one or more SS, 
 a frequency band of the one or more SS, 
 a type of cell in which the wireless device is operating, 
 a time unit index number of the one or more SS, 
 a system bandwidth configured for the network node, 
 a duplexing mode configured for the wireless device, and 
 an activity state of the network node. 
 
     
     
         5 . The wireless device of  claim 1 , wherein the NUM parameter is a subcarrier spacing parameter, a symbol length parameter, a slot length parameter, a CP length parameter, a number of subcarriers per resource block, a number of resource blocks with a given bandwidth, or a minislot length parameter. 
     
     
         6 . The wireless device of  claim 1 , wherein BW 2  is determined from a rule defining BW 2  as a function of BW 1 , N 1 , and N 2 , where N 1  and N 2  are sample length parameters corresponding to BW 1  and BW 2 , respectively. 
     
     
         7 . The wireless device of  claim 1 , wherein Tss is a measurement time for obtaining a measurement of the one or more SS or a reporting time for reporting the measurement of the one or more SS. 
     
     
         8 . The wireless device of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more antenna configuration characteristics C are determined based on an indication of one or more of:
 an activity state of the wireless device,   if a set of beams used to transmit the one or more SS during time period t 1  substantially differs from another set of beams used during time period t 2 ,   if a measured set of beams used to transmit the one or more SS during time period t 1  substantially differs from another measured set of beams used during time period t 2 ,   if, during one or both of time periods t 1  and t 2 , an antenna configuration of the network node is beamformed,   if, during both of time periods t 1  and t 2 , an antenna configuration of the network node is non-beamformed but the antenna configuration of the network node during time period t 1  differs from the antenna configuration of the network node during time period t 2 ,   if, during both of time periods t 1  and t 2 , an antenna configuration of the network node is beamformed but the antenna configuration of the network node during time period t 1  differs from the antenna configuration of the network node during time period t 2 ,   if the antenna configuration during time period t 1  is the same as the antenna configuration during time period t 2  and the one or more SS are transmitted from both beamformed and non-beamformed antenna during time period t 1 ,   if the antenna configuration during time period t 1  is the same as the antenna configuration during time period t 2  and the one or more SS are transmitted from both beamformed and non-beamformed antenna during time period t 2 ,   whether a configuration of at least one of the beams in the set of beams used to transmit the one or more SS during time period t 1  substantially differs from a configuration of at least one of the beams of the set of beams used to transmit the one or more SS during time period t 2 ,   whether a configuration of all of the beams in the set of beams used to transmit the one or more SS during time period t 1  substantially differs from a configuration of all of the beams in the set of beams used to transmit the one or more SS during time period t 2 ,   whether a configuration of all of the beams in the set of beams used to transmit the one or more SS in a cell serving the wireless device during time period t 1  substantially differs from a configuration of all of the beams in the set of beams used to transmit the one or more SS in the cell during time period t 2 ,   whether a configuration of all of the beams in the set of beams used to transmit the one or more SS that are received by the wireless device during time period t 1  substantially differs from a configuration of all of the beams in the set of beams used to transmit the one or more SS that are received by the wireless device during time period t 2 ,   the specific subframes corresponding to the time periods t 1  and t 2 .   
     
     
         9 . The wireless device of  claim 8 , wherein the wireless device is further operable to determine whether the one or more SS are transmitted using beamformed or non-beamformed antenna based on the specific subframes corresponding to the time periods t 1  and t 2 . 
     
     
         10 . The wireless device of  claim 9 , wherein the specific subframes are determined based on symbol indices corresponding to the time periods t 1  and t 2 . 
     
     
         11 . The wireless device of  claim 1 , wherein Tss is determined based on one of:
 a maximum function of T 1  and T 2 ,   a minimum function of BW 1  and BW 2 ,   a ratio of T 1  to T 2 ,   a ratio of BW 1  to BW 2 ,   a product of T 1  and BW 1  and a product of T 2  and BW 2 ,   a product of N 1  and BW 1  and a product of N 2  and BW 2 , where N 1  and N 2  are sample length parameters corresponding to BW 1  and BW 2 , respectively, or   a product of N 1  and NBW 1  and a product of N 2  and NBW 2 , where NBW 1  and NBW 2  are frequency domain sample number parameters corresponding to BW 1  and BW 2 , respectively.   
     
     
         12 . The wireless device of  claim 1 , wherein Tss is a function of a number K of times over a period of time that one or more of the T 1 , T 2 , BW 1 , BWC 1 , BW 2 , and BWC 2  parameters change. 
     
     
         13 . The wireless device of  claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises using the determined time Tss for one or more operational tasks comprising:
 configuring the wireless device to receive the one or more SS for the measurement during the time Tss,   combining samples received over the determined time Tss into a measurement result,   determining a cell ID based on the one or more SS received during the time Tss,   completing a synchronization procedure within the time Tss,   completing the measurement or obtaining a result of the measurement within the time Tss,   time stamping the result of the measurement within the time Tss,   performing filtering of samples of the one or more SS adaptively based on the time Tss,   refraining from changing an RF parameter of a receiver in the wireless device during time Tss,   configuring the receiver to use the same set of receiver beams to receive the one or more SS during the time Tss,   configuring layer 1 and/or layer 3 filtering adaptively based on the time Tss,   determining, based on the time Tss, an amount of time relative to a time of measurement of the one or more SS within which to transmit an UL transmission in response to the measurement of the one or more SS,   determining, based on the time Tss, an amount of time needed to acquire an UL transmission timing,   indicating the time Tss to another node, and   storing the time Tss for future use.   
     
     
         14 . A network node for a wireless communications system comprising:
 at least one radio unit comprising at least one transmitter;   at least one processor operably coupled to the at least one radio unit; and   memory comprising instructions executable by the at least one processor whereby the radio access node is operable to perform a method comprising:
 transmitting, during a first time period t 1 , at least a portion of one or more non-beamformed SS based on a first cell ID; 
 transmitting, during a second time period t 2 , at least a portion of one or more beamformed SS based on the first cell ID; 
 determining a time Tss for the network node to use in association with a measurement, made by a wireless device, of the one or more non-beamformed SS or the one or more beamformed SS. 
   
     
     
         15 . The network node of  claim 14 , wherein the method that the network is operable to perform further comprises:
 obtaining capability information that characterizes a capability of the wireless device for receiving the one or more non-beamformed SS and the one or more beamformed SS,   wherein the time Tss is determined based on the obtained capability information.   
     
     
         16 . The network node of  claim 14 , wherein the time period t 1  corresponds to a first set of resources R 1  that are pre-defined for transmission of non-beamformed signals. 
     
     
         17 . The network node of  claim 14 , wherein the first set of resources R 1  are further pre-defined for use with wireless devices in an IDLE state. 
     
     
         18 . The network node of  claim 14 , wherein a first set of resources R 1  comprising the time period t 1  at least partially overlap with a second set of resources R 2  comprising the time period t 2 , and wherein an antenna configuration used for a partially overlapping set of one or more resources to transmit the at least a portion of one or more non-beamformed SS is the same as an antenna configuration used for the partially overlapping set of one or more resources to transmit the at least a portion of one or more beamformed SS. 
     
     
         19 . The network node of  claim 14 , wherein the time Tss is determined based on one or more of a set of parameters obtained by the network node, the set of parameters comprising:
 a numerology parameter NUM used by the network node to transmit the one or more non-beamformed SS and the one or more beamformed SS,   periodicity parameters T 1  and T 2  of the one or more non-beamformed SS and the one or more beamformed SS transmitted during the first and second time periods, t 1  and t 2 , respectively, and   bandwidth parameters BW 1  and BW 2  and bandwidth center parameters BWC 1  and BWC 2  for the one or more non-beamformed SS and the one or more beamformed SS transmitted during the first and second time periods, t 1  and t 2 , respectively.   
     
     
         20 . The network node of  claim 14 , wherein the method that the network node is operable to perform further comprising receiving, from the wireless device, a result of the measurement made by the wireless device, wherein the time Tss is used to configure a waiting time for receiving the result. 
     
     
         21 . The network node of  claim 14 , wherein the result is received in a message, the message further comprising an indication of a type of SS used for the measurement by the wireless device, the method further comprising performing an operation based on the indication of the type of SS, wherein the operation includes one or more of:
 configuring an SS transmission,   providing mobility or cell change assistance to the wireless device,   configuring one or more intra-frequency or inter-frequency measurements for the wireless device,   adapting DL and/or UL scheduling for the wireless device,   configuring a set of serving cells for the wireless device,   configuring, for one or more wireless devices, specific beams for transmitting to or receiving from each of the one or more wireless devices, and   configuring one or more transmissions to the wireless device.