WO2020223842A1

WO2020223842A1 - Resource mapping for low latency rach

Info

Publication number: WO2020223842A1
Application number: PCT/CN2019/085435
Authority: WO
Inventors: Yuantao Zhang; Emad Farag
Original assignee: Nokia Shanghai Bell Co., Ltd.; Nokia Solutions And Networks Oy; Nokia Technologies Oy
Priority date: 2019-05-03
Filing date: 2019-05-03
Publication date: 2020-11-12
Also published as: CN113767709A

Abstract

In accordance with some example embodiments, a method may include generating, by a network entity, at least one interlaced mapping pattern. The method may further include transmitting, by the network entity, the at least one interlaced mapping pattern to a user equipment. The method may further include receiving, by the network entity, at least one PUSCH according to the at least one determined interlaced mapping pattern.

Description

RESOURCE MAPPING FOR LOW LATENCY RACH

BACKGROUND: Field:

Certain example embodiments may relate to communication systems. For example, some example embodiments may relate to preamble transmission.

Description of the Related Art:

3GPP technical report (TR) 38.889 describes a 4-step and 2-step random access channel (RACH) procedure, which are both meant to be supported under new radio for licensed and unlicensed spectrum (NR-U) . 2-step RACH refers to the procedure which can complete contention-based RACH (CBRA) in two steps as explained below.

SUMMARY:

In accordance with some example embodiments, an apparatus may include means for generating at least one interlaced mapping pattern. The apparatus may further include means for transmitting the at least one interlaced mapping pattern to a user equipment. The apparatus may further include means for receiving at least one PUSCH according to the at least one determined interlaced mapping pattern.

In accordance with some example embodiments, an apparatus may include at least one processor and at least one memory including computer program code. The at least one memory and the computer program code can be configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to at least generate at least one interlaced mapping pattern. The at least one memory and the computer program code can be further configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to at least transmit the at least one interlaced mapping pattern to a user equipment. The at least one memory and the computer program code can be further configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to at least receive at least one PUSCH according to the at least one determined interlaced mapping pattern.

In accordance with some example embodiments, a non-transitory computer readable medium can be encoded with instructions that may, when executed in hardware, perform a method. The method may include generating at least one interlaced mapping pattern. The method may further include transmitting the at least one interlaced mapping pattern to a user equipment. The method may further include receiving at least one PUSCH according to the at least one determined interlaced mapping pattern.

In accordance with some example embodiments, a computer program product may perform a method. The method may include generating at least one interlaced mapping pattern. The method may further include transmitting the at least one interlaced mapping pattern to a user equipment. The method may further include receiving at least one PUSCH according to the at least one determined interlaced mapping pattern.

In accordance with some example embodiments, an apparatus may include circuitry configured to generate at least one interlaced mapping pattern. The circuitry may further transmit the at least one interlaced mapping pattern to a user equipment. The circuitry may further receive at least one PUSCH according to the at least one determined interlaced mapping pattern.

In accordance with some example embodiments, a method may include receiving, by a user equipment, at least one interlaced mapping pattern from a network entity. The method may further include determining, by the user equipment, at least one association between at least one MsgA RA time instance and at least one MsgA PUSCH time instance at a first level. The method may further include determining, by the user equipment, at least one association between at least one MsgA RA occasion and at least one MsgA PUSCH resource at a second level. The method may further include transmitting, by the user equipment, at least one PUSCH according to the at least one determined interlaced mapping pattern. The method may further include determining, by the user equipment, at least one association between at least one MsgA RA preamble within at least one MsgA RA occasion and/or at least one MsgA PUSCH resource unit within at least one MsgA PUSCH resource.

In accordance with some example embodiments, an apparatus may include means for receiving at least one interlaced mapping pattern from a network entity. The apparatus may further include means for determining at least one association between at least one MsgA RA time instance and at least one MsgA PUSCH time instance at a first level. The apparatus may further include means for receiving at least one PUSCH according to the at least one determined interlaced mapping pattern.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS:

For proper understanding of this disclosure, reference should be made to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 (a) illustrates an example of a 4-step RACH procedure according to certain example embodiments.

FIG. 1 (b) illustrates an example of a 2-step RACH procedure according to certain example embodiments.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example of a mapping between synchronization signal blocks and physical random access channel according to certain example embodiments.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example of associated MsgA physical uplink shared channel resources with MsgA radio access occasions according to certain example embodiments.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example of a signaling diagram according to certain example embodiments.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example of mapping of radio access occasions and preamble sets to the physical uplink shared channel resources according to certain example embodiments.

FIG. 6 illustrates another example of the mapping of radio access occasions and preamble sets to the physical uplink shared channel resources according to certain example embodiments.

FIG. 7 illustrates another example of the mapping of radio access occasions and preamble sets to the physical uplink shared channel resources according to certain example embodiments.

FIG. 8 illustrates an example of a method performed by a network entity according to certain example embodiments.

FIG. 9 illustrates an example of a method performed by a user equipment according to certain example embodiments.

FIG. 10 illustrates an example of a system according to certain example embodiments.

FIG. 11 illustrates an example of mapping preambles within ROs and associated with SSBs to PUSCH occasions according to certain example embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION:

3GPP RAN #82 addresses a random access procedure compared with legacy 4-step random access procedure (RACH) . For example, this contains a MsgA transmitted from a user equipment to a base station, such as a gNB. The base station may then respond to the user equipment with a MsgB. As an example, FIG. 1 (a) illustrates the basic steps of the 4-step RACH procedure, while FIG. 1 (b) illustrates the basic steps of the 2-step RACH procedure. The 2-step RACH procedure provides lower signaling overhead and lower latency, which may be preferable for new radio (NR) usage scenarios such as ultra-reliable low-latency communication (URLLC) and enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) .

3GPP RP-182894 discusses that the 2-step RACH may be used for all radio resource control (RRC) , while the triggers for 4-step RACH may also apply to 2-step RACH, except for beam failure recovery (BFR) . Thus, 2-step RACH may be used for RRC state transition from RRC IDLE/RRC INACTIVE to RRC CONNECTED and uplink (UL) synchronization re-establishment for RRC CONNECTED.

MsgA in 2-step RACH may include a preamble sequence and a data block. For example, the preamble sequence is transmitted in the configured PRACH resource, such as RA occasions. The UE may randomly select a preamble sequence from a sequence pool to inform the base station of the requirement for accessing the network. In addition, the data block is transmitted in the configured MsgA PUSCH resources. It may comprise, for example, a RRC setup request, a scheduling request, or a data payload, depending on usage scenarios. In addition, MsgB in the second step may be transmitted from the base station to the user equipment. It may be transmitted based on scheduling of the base station, and may include the equivalent content of Msg2 and Msg4 in 4-step RACH.

5G NR defines the mapping between the SSB and PRACH preamble and occasions. The mapping rule may begin with a preamble, follow by frequency, time, and slot. FIG. 2 illustrates an example of how 8 SSBs may be mapped to a series of RA occasions, with each square box in a PRACH slot representing an RA occasion.

The UE may determine the best SSB, which may correspond to the best downlink beam, from measurement when accessing the network. The UE may then determine the RA occasions that are associated with this SSB for the PRACH preamble transmission from the predefined mapping rule. The mapping scheme ensures that the PRACH may be received from the best reception beam.

For msgA, the base station may need to configure resources for PRACH preamble and msgA PUSCH. The resource configuration may be similar with those for legacy 4-step RACH. In particular, the time instances configured for msgA preamble transmissions are msgA RA time instances. A MsgA RA time instance refers to a time instance in a 2-step RA preamble transmission, where one RA time instance comprises at least one MsgA RA occasion according to at least one configuration. A MsgA RA occasion may be a time-frequency resource for at least one MsgA preamble transmission. For one msgA RA time instance, the base station may configure one or more RA occasions. The time instances that contain the resources for msgA PUSCH are msgA PUSCH time instances. A msgA PUSCH time instance may comprise a time instance for 2-step RA, where one PUSCH time instance comprises at least one PUSCH resource based on at least one configuration. A MsgA PUSCH resource may comprise at least one time-frequency resource for MsgA PUSCH transmission. For one msgA PUSCH time instances, the base station may configure one or more msgA PUSCH resources. The msgA RA time instance and the msgA PUSCH time instance may be mutually associated. Furthermore, at least one MsgA PUSCH resource (atime-frequency resource) may comprise at least one PUSCH resource unit, where a PUSCH resource unit may correspond with at least one DMRS port and/or at least one DMRS sequence. FIG. 3 illustrates an example where the msgA RA time instance and the msgA PUSCH time instance are grouped together. The PUSCH transmission in 2-step RACH msgA may be based on contention. When two or more UEs transmit msgA PUSCH in the same resource unit simultaneously, interference may occur and the msgA PUSCH detection performance may be diminished.

Certain example embodiments described herein may have various benefits and/or advantages. For example, some example embodiments may enable transmission of signals from different beams in the same resource from different UEs, reducing interference between data signals and improving reliability for 2-step RACH. Thus, certain example embodiments are directed to improvements in computer-related technology, specifically, by conserving network resources and reducing power consumption of network entities and/or user equipment located within the network.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example of a signaling diagram showing communications between NE 420 and UE 430. NE 420 may be similar to NE 1010, and UE 430 may be similar to UE 1020, both illustrated in FIG. 10.

In step 401, NE 420 may generate at least one interlaced mapping pattern. For example, the at least one interlaced mapping pattern may comprise at least one association between at least one msgA RA occasion and at least one PUSCH resource such that the signals from separate beams are transmitted in the same resource from different UEs. Alternatively, the at least one association may be between at least one preamble and one PUSCH resource unit. In some example embodiments, the at least one interlaced mapping pattern may be associated with at least one capability of NE 420 regarding how many beams NE 420 may recover from the signals from one MsgA PUSCH resource. The at least one interlaced mapping pattern may be configured to configure UE 430 for how many RA occasions that are corresponding to different beams may be mapped to the same MsgA PUSCH resource.

In some example embodiments, the granularity of the at least one interlaced mapping pattern may be determined according to the number of RA occasions that are corresponding to different beams may be mapped to the same MsgA PUSCH resource and/or the number of RA occasions. For example, the at least one interlaced mapping pattern may have granularity m, where m corresponds with RA occasions k, k+m, k+2m, etc. mapped to the same resource.

In various example embodiments, if there are more than 1 MsgA RA time instances configured to be associated with the same MsgA PUSCH occasion in the first level association, the at least one RA occasion within the RA time instances may be numbered sequentially. The at least one interlaced mapping pattern may then be applied over the at least one RA occasion.

In some example embodiments, where K RA occasions are associated with N PUSCH resources in at least one uplink slot, which corresponds to a MsgA PUSCH time instance, and where NE 420 may recover at most P beam signals in a single resource, the number of preamble sets in each RA occasion X is determined as X = N*P/K preamble sets, where each preamble set has an equal number of preambles. Additionally or alternatively, the at least one interlaced mapping pattern of P RA occasions may map to a same resource, where gaps m for the identifiers of the RA occasions that map to a same PUSCH resource may be determined as m = K /P. Where N ＞=K /P, the at least one interlaced mapping pattern may be configured such that, for the n ^th PUSCH resources associated with k+m, k+2m RA occasions, the n ^th preamble set from each RA occasion may be mapped to the PUSCH resource. The NE may configure at least one of the value P, value X, value m, value N, and/or value K to the UE. For some parameters, at least one of these values may not be configured directly, but determined by other configured parameters, such as a multiplication of a number of RA time instances and a number of RA occasions with each RA time instance. The mapping pattern may then be determined at both the NE and the UE accordingly, such that there is a common understanding in both the NE and the UE of how the interlaced mapping pattern and how the preamble set is determined.

In certain example embodiments, where the granularity in the interlaced mapping pattern is larger than 1, and the number of MsgA PUSCH resources is no less than the number of RA occasions, the preambles of each RA occasion may be divided into multiple sets. As an example, the at least one interlaced mapping pattern may be configured so that, for the n ^th PUSCH resources associated with the same set of k, k+m, k+2m RA occasions, the n ^th preamble set from each RA occasion may be mapped to the PUSCH resource.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example of a base station capable of receiving PUSCH from P = 2 different beams simultaneously, with N = 4 MsgA PUSCH resources associated with K = 4 RA occasions, with the mapping of RA occasions and preamble set with MsgA PUSCH resources as follows:

PUCCH resource index	RA occasion index	Preamble set index
Resource l	RA occasion		1, 3	Preamble set 1
Resource 2	RA occasion 2, 4	Preamble set 1
Resource 3	RA occasion 1, 3	Preamble set 2
Resource 4	RA occasion 2, 4	Preamble set 2

FIG. 6 illustrates an example of a base station capable of receiving PUSCH from P = 2 different beams simultaneously, with N = 4 MsgA PUSCH resources associated with K = 8 RA occasions, with the mapping of RA occasions and preamble set with MsgA PUSCH resources as follows:

PUCCH resource index	RA occasion index	Preamble set index
Resource
1	RA occasion 1, 5	Preamble set 1
Resource 2	RA occasion 2, 6	Preamble set 1
Resource 3	RA occasion 3, 7	Preamble set 1
Resource 4	RA occasion 4, 8	Preamble set 1

However, if the base station is configured to recover 4 beam data signals, receiving PUSCH from P= 4 different beams simultaneously, with N= 4 MsgA PUSCH resources associated with K= 8 RA occasions, with the mapping of RA occasions and preamble set with MsgA PUSCH resources as follows:

PUCCH resource index	RA occasion index	Preamble set index
Resource
1	RA occasion 1, 3, 5, 7	Preamble set 1
Resource 2	RA occasion 2, 4, 6, 8	Preamble set 1
Resource 3	RA occasion 1, 3, 5, 7	Preamble set 2
Resource 4	RA occasion 2, 4, 6, 8	Preamble set 2

FIG. 7 illustrates an example of a base station capable of receiving PUSCH from P = 2 different beams simultaneously, with N= 4 MsgA PUSCH resources associated with K = 2 RA occasions, with the mapping of RA occasions and preamble set with MsgA PUSCH resources as follows:

PUCCH resource index	RA occasion index	Preamble set index
Resource
1	RA occasion 1, 2	Preamble set 1

Resource 2	RA occasion 1, 2	Preamble set 2
Resource 3	RA occasion 1, 2	Preamble set 3
Resource 4	RA occasion 1, 2	Preamble set 4

In step 403, NE 420 may transmit the at least one interlaced mapping pattern to UE 430. In step 405, UE 430 may determine at least one association between at least one MsgA RA time instance and at least one MsgA PUSCH time instance at a first level.

In step 407, UE 430 may determine at least one association between at least one MsgA RA occasion and at least one MsgA PUSCH resource at a second level by configuring at least one of value P, value X, value m, value N, and/or value K to UE 430. In step 409, UE 430 may transmit at least one PUSCH according to the at least one determined interlaced mapping pattern.

FIG. 8 illustrates an example of a method performed by a NE, such as NE 1010 in FIG. 10. In step 801, the NE may generate at least one interlaced mapping pattern. For example, the at least one interlaced mapping pattern may comprise at least one association between at least one msgA RA occasion and at least one PUSCH resource such that the signals from separate beams are transmitted in the same resource from different UEs. Alternatively, the at least one association may be between at least one preamble and one PUSCH resource unit. In some example embodiments, the at least one interlaced mapping pattern may be associated with at least one capability of the NE regarding how many beams the NE may recover from the signals from one MsgA PUSCH resource. The at least one interlaced mapping pattern may be configured to configure the UE for how many RA occasions that are corresponding to different beams may be mapped to the same MsgA PUSCH resource.

In some example embodiments, where K RA occasions are associated with N PUSCH resources in at least one uplink slot, which corresponds to a MsgA PUSCH time instance, and where NE 420 may recover at most P beam signals in a single resource, the number of preamble sets in each RA occasion X is determined as X= N*P/K preamble sets, where each preamble set has an equal number of preambles. Additionally or alternatively, the at least one interlaced mapping pattern of P RA occasions may map to a same resource, where gaps m for the identifiers of the RA occasions that map to a same PUSCH resource may be determined as m = K /P. Where N ＞=K /P, the at least one interlaced mapping pattern may be configured such that, for the n ^th PUSCH resources associated with k+m, k+2m RA occasions, the n ^th preamble set from each RA occasion may be mapped to the PUSCH resource.

In step 803, the NE may transmit the at least one interlaced mapping pattern to a UE, such as UE 1020 in FIG. 10. In step 805, the NE may receive at least one PUSCH according to the at least one determined interlaced mapping pattern.

FIG. 9 illustrates an example of a method performed by a UE, such as UE 1020 in FIG. 10. In step 901, the UE may receive at least one interlaced mapping pattern from a NE, such as NE 1010 in FIG. 10. For example, the at least one interlaced mapping pattern may comprise at least one association between at least one msgA RA occasion and at least one PUSCH resource and/or at least one association between at least one MsgA PRACH preamble and at least one MsgA PUSCH resource unit such that the signals from separate beams are transmitted in the same resource from different UEs. In some example embodiments, the at least one interlaced mapping pattern may be associated with at least one capability of the NE regarding how many beams the NE may recover from the signals from one MsgA PUSCH resource. The at least one interlaced mapping pattern may be configured to configure UE 430 for how many RA occasions that are corresponding to different beams may be mapped to the same MsgA PUSCH resource.

In some example embodiments, where K RA occasions are associated with N PUSCH resources in at least one uplink slot, which corresponds to a MsgA PUSCH time instance, and where NE 420. may recover at most P beam signals in a single resource, the number ofpreamble sets in each RA occasion X is determined as X = N*P/K preamble sets, where each preamble set has an equal number of preambles. Additionally or alternatively, the at least one interlaced mapping pattern of P RA occasions may map to a same resource, where gaps m for the identifiers of the RA occasions that map to a same PUSCH resource may be determined as m = K /P. Where N ＞=K /P, the at least one interlaced mapping pattern may be configured such that, for the n ^th PUSCH resources associated with k+m, k+2m RA occasions, the n ^th preamble set from each RA occasion may be mapped to the PUSCH resource.

In step 903, the UE may determine at least one association between at least one MsgA RA time instance and at least one MsgA PUSCH time instance at a first level. In step 905, the UE may determine at least one association between at least one MsgA RA occasion and at least one MsgA PUSCH resource at a second level. In step 907, the UE may determine at least one association between at least one preamble and at least one PUSCH resource unit at a third level. In step 909, the UE may transmit at least one PUSCH according to the at least one determined interlaced mapping pattern.

In some embodiments, support may be provided for one-to-one and multiple-to-one mapping between preambles in each RO and associated PUSCH resource unit. Specifically, a configurable number of preambles (including one or multiple) may be mapped to one PUSCH resource unit. With one-to-one mapping, the PUSCH resource reservation may be high since each preamble may require a separate PUSCH resource unit. For example, 64 SSBs, each RO may contain a preamble associated with 4 SSBs. In this case, there may be a total of 16 ROs to cover all 64 SSBs. With each RO containing 64 preambles, there are a total of 1024 preambles. Alternatively, in the case of one-to-one mapping, the total number PUSCH Resource units required is 1024 PUSCH resource units. If each PUSCH occasion has 8 PUSCH resource units, the number of PUSCH occasions is 128. If each PUSCH occasion has 16 PUSCH resource units, the number of PUSCH occasions is 64. In both cases, the PUSCH resource reservation is quite high.

In case of multiple-to-one mapping, multiple preambles (e.g. P preambles) may be mapped to the same PUSCH resource unit. Using the example in paragraph [0059] , with P=4, if each PUSCH occasion has 8 PUSCH resource units, the number of PUSCH occasions is 32. Ifeach PUSCH occasion has 16 PUSCH resource units, the number of PUSCH occasions is 16. With multiple-to-one mapping, the number of preambles mapped to the same PUSCH resource unit, P, may be a configurable value, with P=1 being a special case corresponding to one-to-one mapping of preambles to PUSCH resource units.

With respect to multiple-to-one mapping, if multiple preambles are mapped to the same PUSCH resource unit, and if more than one of those preambles is transmitted, the PUSCH resource corresponding to the transmitted preambles may interfere with each other leading to a decoding error. To mitigate the interference between PUSCH transmissions corresponding to preambles mapped to the same PUSCH resource unit, spatial separation between the PUSCH transmission may be utilized, as this minimizes the interference each PUSCH transmission causes to other PUSCH transmissions on the same resource.

Preambles may be mapped corresponding to different SSBs and/or different ROs to the same PUSCH resource unit. As the PUSCH transmission of each preamble corresponds to a different SSB beam direction, the PUSCH transmissions may be spatially separated in the receiver and may be decoded with minimal interference on each other.

FIG. 11 illustrates an example with 2 PRACH occasions and 4 PUSCH occasions. Each PRACH occasion has 64 preambles, and 2 SSBs are mapped to a PRACH occasion. Each PUSCH occasion has 8 PUSCH resource units. In total, there are 4 SSBs across the 2 ROs, each SSB having 32 preambles. The preambles of each SSB are divided into 4 groups with 8 preambles per group. Each group is mapped to a different PUSCH occasion, where each preamble within a group is mapped to PUSCH resource unit. In this example, there are a total of 128 preambles, and 32 PUSCH resource units, each PUSCH resource unit has 4 preambles mapped to it associated with different SSBs.

In various embodiments, preambles corresponding to different SSBs and/or ROs can be mapped to the same PUSCH resource unit. In an example, there are K ROs, and each RO has K1 preambles. Thus, the total number of available preambles is K*K1. Furthermore, with N PUSCH occasions, each has N1 PUSCH resource units. Thus, the total number of available resource units is N*N1. In addition, P = (K*K1) / (N*N1) , where P may be an integer, such as P preambles being mapped to the same PUSCH resource unit. A preamble across all ROs may be numbered sequentially from 0, 1, ..., k, ... K*K1-1. PUSCH resource units across all PUSCH occasions may be numbered sequentially from 0, 1, ..., n, ... N*N1-1.

In an example to determine the PUSCH resource unit index n for preamble k, consider m = mod (k, N*N1) , where preambles are separated by N*Nlindices that have the same m value. n= rev_digits (m) , where N*N1 is a power of 2, and n is the reverse order bits ofm. If N*N1 is not a power of 2, it is factorized to its prime components, the value ofm is expressed in terms of digits of these prime components starting with the smallest prime number as the least significant digit. For example, if N*N1 = 12 = 3*2^2, m is expressed as 3 digits, the first digit takes

values

0, 1, the second digital takes values 0, 1, and the third digit takes

values

0, 1, 2. For example, 9 may be expressed as 201 (=2*4 + 0*2+1*1) . The reverse digit number is (102= 1*6 + 0*3 + 2*1= 8) . This alternative just considers the mapping of preambles continuously without regard to the RO they are in.

In an example, K1/N (on average) preambles in the same RO or (mapped to the same SSB within an RO) may be mapped to different PUSCH occasions. Preambles may then be mapped consecutively to different PUSCH resource units within the same PUSCH occasion. For example, the mapping rule for preamble k1 in RO k to PUSCH occasion n and PUSCH resource unit nl may be:

, wherein frac (x) is the fraction part of x. These equations may distribute the preambles in each RO as evenly as possible among the PUSCH occasions.

In an embodiment, there may be L SSBs per RO (L＞1) . For mapping purposes, the preambles of each SSB may be mapped to a PUSCH occasion. The same equations as that of paragraph [0066] may be used, with K1 being replace byK1/L, and K being replaced by K *L. k is the SSB number, where the SSBs are number sequentially over all ROs, k1 is the preamble number within an SSB starting from index 0 within each SSB.

As noted above, FIG. 11 illustrates 2 PRACH occasions and 4 PUSCH occasions. Each PRACH occasion has 64 preambles, and 2 SSBs are mapped to a PRACH occasion. Each PUSCH occasion has 8 PUSCH Resource units. In total there are 4 SSBs across the 2 ROs, each SSB has 32 preambles. The preambles of each SSB are divided into 4 groups with 8 preambles per group. Each group is mapped to a different PUSCH occasion, where each preamble within a group is mapped to PUSCH resource unit. In this example, there are a total of 128 preambles, and 32 PUSCH resource units, each PUSCH resource unit as 4 preambles mapped to it associated with different SSBs.

In some embodiments, where a group of M consecutive preambles are mapped to the same PUSCH resource unit, k1 is replaced by floor (k1/M) and K1 is replaced by K1/M, and the equations of paragraph [0066] may be reused. In various embodiments, where a group of M consecutive preambles are mapped to the same PUSCH resource unit. There are L SSBs per RO (L＞1) . In this case, k1 is replaced by fioor (k1/M) , K1 = K1/ (M*L) and K = K*L and the equations of paragraph [0066] are reused. k is the SSB number, k1 is the preamble group number within an SSB starfing from index 0 with each SSB (a preamble group has M preambles and is mapped to a PUSCH resource unit) .

FIG. 10 illustrates an example of a system according to certain example embodiments. In one example embodiment, a system may include multiple devices, such as, for example, network entity 1010 and/or user equipment 1020.

Network entity 1010 may be one or more of a base station, such as a mmWave antenna, an evolved node B (eNB) or 5G or New Radio node B (gNB) , a serving gateway, a server, and/or any other access node or combination thereof. Furthermore, network entity 1010 and/or user equipment 1020 may be one or more of a citizens broadband radio service device (CBSD) .

User equipment 1020 may include one or more of a mobile device, such as a mobile phone, smart phone, personal digital assistant (PDA) , tablet, or portable media player, digital camera, pocket video camera, video game console, navigation unit, such as a global positioning system (GPS) device, desktop or laptop computer, single-location device, such as a sensor or smart meter, or any combination thereof.

One or more of these devices may include at least one processor, respectively indicated as 1011 and 1021.

Processors

1011 and 1021 may be embodied by any computational or data processing device, such as a central processing unit (CPU) , application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) , or comparable device. The processors may be implemented as a single controller, or a plurality of controllers or processors.

At least one memory may be provided in one or more of devices indicated at 1012 and 1022. The memory may be fixed or removable. The memory may include computer program instructions or computer code contained therein.

Memories

1012 and 1022 may independently be any suitable storage device, such as a non-transitory computer-readable medium. A hard disk drive (HDD) , random access memory (RAM) , flash memory, or other suitable memory may be used. The memories may be combined on a single integrated circuit as the processor, or may be separate from the one or more processors. Furthermore, the computer program instructions stored in the memory and which may be processed by the processors may be any suitable form of computer program code, for example, a compiled or interpreted computer program written in any suitable programming language. Memory may be removable or non-removable.

Processors

1011 and 1021 and

memories

1012 and 1022 or a subset thereof, may be configured to provide means corresponding to the various blocks of FIGS. 1-9. Although not shown, the devices may also include positioning hardware, such as GPS or micro electrical mechanical system (MEMS) hardware, which may be used to determine a location of the device. Other sensors are also permitted and may be included to determine location, elevation, orientation, and so forth, such as barometers, compasses, and the like.

As shown in FIG. 10,

transceivers

1013 and 1023 may be provided, and one or more devices may also include at least one antenna, respectively illustrated as 1014 and 1024. The device may have many antennas, such as an array of antennas configured for multiple input multiple output (MIMO) communications, or multiple antennas for multiple radio access technologies. Other configurations of these devices, for example, may be provided.

Transceivers

1013 and 1023 may be a transmitter, a receiver, or both a transmitter and a receiver, or a unit or device that may be configured both for transmission and reception.

The memory and the computer program instructions may be configured, with the processor for the particular device, to cause a hardware apparatus such as user equipment to perform any of the processes described below (see, for example, FIGS. 1-9) . Therefore, in certain example embodiments, a non-transitory computer-readable medium may be encoded with computer instructions that, when executed in hardware, perform a process such as one of the processes described herein. Alternatively, certain example embodiments may be performed entirely in hardware.

In certain example embodiments, an apparatus may include circuitry configured to perform any of the processes or functions illustrated in FIGS. 1-9. For example, circuitry may be hardware-only circuit implementations, such as analog and/or digital circuitry. In another example, circuitry may be a combination of hardware circuits and software, such as a combination of analog and/or digital hardware circuit (s) with software or firmware, and/or any portions of hardware processor (s) with software (including digital signal processor (s) ) , software, and at least one memory that work together to cause an apparatus to perform various processes or functions. In yet another example, circuitry may be hardware circuit (s) and or processor (s) , such as a microprocessor (s) or a portion of a microprocessor (s) , that include software, such as firmware for operation. Software in circuitry may not be present when it is not needed for the operation of the hardware.

The features, structures, or characteristics of certain example embodiments described throughout this specification may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more example embodiments. For example, the usage of the phrases “certain example embodiments, ” “some example embodiments, ” “other example embodiments, ” or other similar language, throughout this specification refers to the fact that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the example embodiment may be included in at least one example embodiment of the present invention. Thus, appearance of the phrases “in certain example embodiments, ” “in some example embodiments, ” “in other example embodiments, ” or other similar language, throughout this specification does not necessarily refer to the same group of example embodiments, and the described features, structures, or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more example embodiments.

One having ordinary skill in the art will readily understand that certain example embodiments discussed above may be practiced with steps in a different order, and/or with hardware elements in configurations which are different than those which are disclosed. Therefore, it would be apparent to those of skill in the art that certain modifications, variations, and alternative constructions would be apparent, while remaining within the spirit and scope of the invention. In order to determine the metes and bounds of the invention, therefore, reference should be made to the appended claims.

Partial Glossary

3GPP 3rd Generation Partnership Project

5G 5th Generation Wireless System

BSR Buffer Status Report

DL Downlink

DMRS Demodulation Reference Signal

gNB 5G Base Station

GPS Global Positioning System

NE Network Entity

NR New Radio

PRACH Physical Random Access Channel

PUSCH Physical Uplink Shared Channel

RA Random Access

RACH Random Access Channel

RRC Radio Resource Control

Rx Receiver

SSB Synchronization Signal Block

Tx Transmitter

UE User Equipment

UL Uplink

URLLC Ultra-reliable Low Latency Communication

Claims

A method, comprising:

generating, by a network entity, at least one interlaced mapping pattern at least one processor;

transmitting, by the network entity, the at least one interlaced mapping pattern to a user equipment; and

receiving, by the network entity, at least one PUSCH according to the at least one determined interlaced mapping pattern.
The method according to claim 1, wherein the at least one interlaced mapping pattern defines the granularity of RA occasions that are mapped to the same PUSCH resource, and comprises at least one association between at least one msgA RA occasion and at least one PUSCH resource and/or at least one association between at least one preamble and at least one PUSCH resource unit such that the signals from separate beams are transmitted in the same resource from different user equipment.
The method according to any of claims 1 and 2, wherein the at least one interlaced mapping pattern is associated with at least one capability of the network entity regarding how many beams the network entity may recover from the signals from one MsgA PUSCH resource.
The method according to any of claims 1-3, wherein the at least one interlaced mapping pattern may be configured to configure the user equipment for how many RA occasions that are corresponding to different beams is mapped to the same MsgA PUSCH resource.
The method according to any of claims 1-4, wherein the granularity of the at least one interlaced mapping pattern may be determined according to the number of RA occasions that are corresponding to different beams is mapped to the same MsgA PUSCH resource and/or the number of RA occasions.
The method according to any of claims 1-5, wherein if there are more than 1 MsgA RA time instances configured to be associated with the same MsgA PUSCH occasion in the first level association, the at least one RA occasion within the RA time instances is numbered sequentially.
The method according to any of claims 1-6, wherein where K RA occasions are associated with N PUSCH resources in an uplink slot, and where the network entity may recover at most P beam signals in a single resource, the number of preamble sets in each RA occasion X is determined as X = N*P/K preamble sets.
The method according to any of claims 1-7, wherein the at least one interlaced mapping pattern of P RA occasions maps to a same resource, where gaps m for the identifiers of the RA occasions that map to a same PUSCH resource may be determined as m = K /P.
The method according to any of claims 1-8, wherein where the granularity in the interlaced mapping pattern is larger than 1, and the number of MsgA PUSCH resources is no less than the number of RA occasions, the preambles of each RA occasion is divided into multiple sets.
A method, comprising:

receiving, by a user equipment, at least one interlaced mapping pattem from a network entity;

determining, by the user equipment, at least one association between at least one MsgA RA time instance and at least one MsgA PUSCH time instance at a first level;

determining, by the user equipment, at least one association between at least one MsgA RA occasion and at least one MsgA PUSCH resource at a second level; and

transmitting, by the user equipment, at least one PUSCH according to the at least one determined interlaced mapping pattern.
The method according to claim 10, wherein the at least one interlaced mapping pattern comprises at least one association between at least one msgA RA occasion and at least one PUSCH resource such that the signals from separate beams are transmitted in the same resource from different user equipment.
The method according to any of claims 10 and 11, wherein the at least one interlaced mapping pattern is associated with at least one capability of the network entity regarding how many beams the network entity may recover from the signals from one MsgA PUSCH resource.
The method according to any of claims 10-12, wherein the at least one interlaced mapping pattern may be configured to configure the user equipment for how many RA occasions that are corresponding to different beams is mapped to the same MsgA PUSCH resource.
The method according to any of claims 10-13, wherein the granularity of the at least one interlaced mapping pattern may be determined according to the number of RA occasions that are corresponding to different beams is mapped to the same MsgA PUSCH resource and/or the number of RA occasions.
The method according to any of claims 10-14, wherein if there are more than 1 MsgA RA time instances configured to be associated with the same MsgA PUSCH occasion in the first level association, the at least one RA occasion within the RA time instances is numbered sequentially.
The method according to any of claims 10-15, wherein where K RA occasions are associated with N PUSCH resources in an uplink slot, and where the network entity may recover at most P beam signals in a single resource, the number of preamble sets in each RA occasion X is determined as X= N*P/K preamble sets.
The method according to any of claims 10-16, wherein the at least one interlaced mapping pattern of P RA occasions maps to a same resource, where gaps m for the identifiers of the RA occasions that map to a same PUSCH resource may be determined as m = K /P.
The method according to any of claims 10-17, wherein where the granularity in the interlaced mapping pattern is larger than 1, and the number of MsgA PUSCH resources is no less than the number of RA occasions, the preambles of each RA occasion is divided into multiple sets.
The method according to any of claims 1-18, wherein the user equipment is configured for one-to-one and multiple-to-one mapping between preambles in each RO and associated PUSCH resource unit.
The method according to any of claims 1-19, wherein a configurable number of at least one preamble is mapped to one PUSCH resource unit.
The method according to any of claims 1-20, wherein, for multiple-to-one mapping, the PUSCH transmission is configured for spatial separation.
The method according to any of claims 1-21, wherein at least one preamble is mapped corresponding to different SSBs and/or different ROs to the same PUSCH resource unit.
The method according to any of claims 1-22, wherein at least one PUSCH transmission is spatially separated in the receiver and is decoded with minimal interference on each other.
The method according to any of claims 1-23, wherein at least one group of preambles is mapped to a different PUSCH occasion.
The method according to any of claims 1-24, wherein at least one preamble corresponds to at least one different SSB and/or RO mapped to the same PUSCH resource unit.
An apparatus configured to perform a process according to any of claims 1-25.
A non-transitory computer-readable medium encoding instructions that, when executed in hardware, perform a process according to any of claims 1-25.
An apparatus comprising means for performing a process according to any of claims 1-25.
An apparatus comprising circuitry configured to cause the apparatus to perform a process according to any of claims 1-25.
A computer program product encoded with instructions for performing a process according to any of claims 1-25.