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EP-4064590-B1 - USER EQUIPMENT OPERATION IN BANDWIDTH NARROWER THAN SYNCHRONIZATION SIGNAL BANDWIDTH

EP4064590B1EP 4064590 B1EP4064590 B1EP 4064590B1EP-4064590-B1

Inventors

  • CHENDAMARAI KANNAN, ARUMUGAM
  • ZHANG, XIAOXIA
  • LUO, TAO

Dates

Publication Date
20260513
Application Date
20180313

Claims (9)

  1. A method (2000) for wireless communication, comprising: identifying (2005) that a wireless network supports narrowband user equipment, UE, (115) operation within a UE bandwidth that is less than a wideband synchronization signal bandwidth used by a radio access technology to transmit a synchronization signal; configuring (2010) the synchronization signal based at least in part on the wireless network support of narrowband UE operation by configuring the synchronization signal to include a plurality of sequences that are each less than an entirety of the synchronization signal and are decodable to convey synchronization information, wherein the plurality of sequences are arranged as a concatenation of different non-overlapping segments in the frequency domain, wherein the plurality of sequences are primary synchronization signal, PSS, sequences and the synchronization information includes a physical cell identity, PCI, group; transmitting (2015) the synchronization signal in accordance with the configuring; and receiving, from a narrowband UE, an indication of a segment of the synchronization signal received by the UE.
  2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: transmitting a physical broadcast channel, PBCH, in a channel separate from that used for transmitting the synchronization signal in accordance with the configuring.
  3. A method (2200) for wireless communication, comprising: operating (2205) a narrowband user equipment, UE, (115) in a wireless network that supports narrowband UE operation for a UE bandwidth that is less than a wideband synchronization signal bandwidth; and receiving (2210) a synchronization signal that has been configured based at least in part on the wireless network support of narrowband UE operation and that has been configured to include a plurality of sequences that are each less than an entirety of the synchronization signal and are decodable to convey synchronization information, wherein the plurality of sequences are arranged as a concatenation of different nonoverlapping segments in the frequency domain, wherein the plurality of sequences are primary synchronization signal, PSS, sequences and the synchronization information includes a physical cell identity, PCI, group; and transmitting an indication of a segment of the synchronization signal received by the narrowband UE.
  4. The method of claim 3, wherein receiving the synchronization signal comprises decoding one or more sequences of the synchronization signal from one or more individual subbands of the wideband synchronization signal bandwidth, each of the one or more sequences being less than an entirety of the synchronization signal but conveying synchronization information, further comprising receiving a physical broadcast channel, PBCH, in a channel separate from that used for receiving the synchronization signal.
  5. The method of claim 4, wherein the one or more individual subbands are each scrambled using separate scrambling sequences.
  6. The method of claim 4, wherein: a mapping of scrambling sequences to individual subbands is predetermined.
  7. The method of claim 3, further comprising transmitting an indication of a received portion of the synchronization signal to a base station (105).
  8. An apparatus for wireless communication comprising means for performing a method according to any of claims 1 to 2 or a method according to any of claims 3 to 7.
  9. A computer program product comprising instructions which cause the apparatus according to claim 8 to carry out a method according to one of the claims 1 to 2 or 3 to 7.

Description

BACKGROUND The following relates generally to wireless communication, and more specifically to synchronization techniques for UE operation in narrower bandwidths than synchronization signal bandwidths. Wireless communications systems are widely deployed to provide various types of communication content such as voice, video, packet data, messaging, broadcast, and so on. These systems may be capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing the available system resources (e.g., time, frequency, and power). Examples of such multiple-access systems include code division multiple access (CDMA) systems, time division multiple access (TDMA) systems, frequency division multiple access (FDMA) systems, and orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) systems, (e.g., a Long Term Evolution (LTE) system, or a 5G New Radio (NR) system). A wireless multiple-access communications system may include a number of base stations or access network nodes, each simultaneously supporting communication for multiple communication devices, which may be otherwise known as user equipment (UE). Some wireless communications systems may enable communication between a base station and a UE over different radio frequency spectrum operating bandwidths (e.g., wideband operation, narrowband operation, etc.). When initially performing a cell acquisition, or when identifying one or more neighbor cells when connected with a serving cell, a UE may identify one or more synchronization signals of a base station, such as a primary synchronization signal (PSS), a secondary synchronization signal (SSS), or both. The synchronization signal(s) may allow the UE to identify a physical cell ID, as well as time slot and frame synchronization, which may allow the UE to read a system information block (SIB) of a base station. Base station scheduling and UE identification of such synchronization signals may not account for the different operating bandwidths employed by UEs within the wireless communications system, resulting in synchronization inefficiencies and communication delays. Improved techniques for transmission and identification of synchronization signals may thus be desired. R1-1612745 relates to the design and evaluation of wideband synchronization signal, wherein wideband NR-PSS/SSS (wider transmission bandwidth than LTE) are considered by concatenating multiple sequences to support both bandlimited UEs and normal (i.e., non-BL) UEs. R4-1609559 relates to RRM bandwidth considerations for NR and shows techniques by which a UE operating with narrower BW than the system BW of the cell could measure and access cells. SUMMARY The invention is defined by the independent claims. Parts of the description and drawings which are not covered by the claims are not presented as embodiments of the present invention, but as examples useful for understanding the present invention. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a system for wireless communication that supports synchronization techniques for UE operation bandwidths less than synchronization signal bandwidths in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.FIG. 2 illustrates an example of a wireless communications system that supports synchronization techniques for UE operation bandwidths less than synchronization signal bandwidths in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.FIGs. 3A and 3B illustrate examples of rastering configurations that support synchronization techniques for UE operation bandwidths less than synchronization signal bandwidths in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.FIGs. 4A, 4B and 4C illustrate examples of synchronization signal configurations that support synchronization techniques for UE operation bandwidths less than synchronization signal bandwidths in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.FIGs. 5A and 5B illustrate examples of synchronization signal designs that support synchronization techniques for UE operation bandwidths less than synchronization signal bandwidths in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.FIGs. 6A and 6B illustrate examples of synchronization signal scrambling that support synchronization techniques for UE operation bandwidths less than synchronization signal bandwidths in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.FIGs. 7 and 8 illustrates examples of process flows that support synchronization techniques for UE operation bandwidths less than synchronization signal bandwidths in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.FIGs. 9 through 11 show block diagrams of a device that supports synchronization techniques for UE operation bandwidths less than synchronization signal bandwidths in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.FIG. 12 illustrates a block diagram of a system including a base station that supports synchronization techniques for UE operation bandwidths less than synchronization signal bandwidths in accordance with aspects of