US-12621831-B2 - Client device and network access node for management of CCH monitoring capabilities

Abstract

A client device, a network access node for management of control channel monitoring capabilities and corresponding methods and computer program are described. The client device transmits a first control message to the network access node to inform the network access node about its CCH monitoring capabilities. The first control message indicates a set of CCH monitoring capabilities supported by the client device; each CCH monitoring capability in the set indicates a first CCH monitoring capability for a first CCH monitoring mode and a second CCH monitoring capability for a second CCH monitoring mode. Based on the first control message, the network access node can determine a CCH monitoring capability from the set of CCH monitoring capabilities for the client device and configure the client device with the determined CCH monitoring capability. Thereby, flexible CCH monitoring which can be adapted to different service requirements and traffic situations is provided.

Inventors

• Bengt Lindoff
• Thorsten Schier
• Fei Gao
• Yan Cheng

Assignees

• HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES CO., LTD.

Dates

Publication Date

20260505

Application Date

20220909

Claims (18)

1. 1 . A client device for a communication system, the client device comprising: a transceiver configured to transmit a first control message to a network access node, wherein the first control message indicates a set of control channel (CCH) monitoring capabilities supported by the client device, wherein each CCH monitoring capability in the set of CCH monitoring capabilities indicates a combination of: a first CCH monitoring capability associated with a first number of serving cells monitorable by the client device in a first CCH monitoring mode, and a second CCH monitoring capability associated with a second number of serving cells monitorable by the client device in a second CCH monitoring mode; and wherein, for each CCH monitoring capability in the set of CCH monitoring capabilities, a maximum number of CCH candidates and a maximum number of non-overlapping control channel elements (CCEs) per serving cell for CCH monitoring are dependent on the combination of the first CCH monitoring capability and the second CCH monitoring capability, in the first CCH monitoring mode, the maximum number of CCH candidates and the maximum number of CCEs per serving cell for CCH monitoring are for per slot, and in the second CCH monitoring mode, the maximum number of CCH candidates and the maximum number of CCEs per serving cell for CCH monitoring are for per span.
2. 2 . The client device according to claim 1 , wherein the first control message indicates: explicitly the set of CCH monitoring capabilities.
3. 3 . The client device according to claim 1 , further comprising a processor configured to: obtain a CCH monitoring capability to be used for CCH monitoring from the set of CCH monitoring capabilities; and perform CCH monitoring based on the obtained CCH monitoring capability.
4. 4 . The client device according to claim 3 , wherein: the transceiver is configured to receive a second control message from the network access node, wherein the second control message indicates the CCH monitoring capability to be used for CCH monitoring; and the processor is configured to obtain the CCH monitoring capability to be used for CCH monitoring based on the second control message.
5. 5 . The client device according to claim 4 , wherein the second control message is any of: a radio resource control message, a medium access control channel element, or a downlink control information.
6. 6 . The client device according to claim 3 , wherein the processor is configured to: determine a set of cell configurations for the client device, wherein at least one cell configuration in the set of cell configurations comprises the first CCH monitoring mode or the second CCH monitoring mode; and obtain the CCH monitoring capability to be used for CCH monitoring based on the set of cell configurations for the client device.
7. 7 . A network access node for a communication system, the network access node comprising: a transceiver configured to receive a first control message from a client device, wherein the first control message indicates a set of control channel (CCH) monitoring capabilities supported by the client device, and wherein each CCH monitoring capability in the set of CCH monitoring capabilities indicates a combination of: a first CCH monitoring capability associated with a first number of serving cells monitorable by the client device in a first CCH monitoring mode, and a second CCH monitoring capability associated with a second number of serving cells monitorable by the client device in a second CCH monitoring mode; and a processor configured to: determine a CCH monitoring capability to be used for CCH monitoring from the set of CCH monitoring capabilities for the client device based on the first control message; and configure the client device with the determined CCH monitoring capability, wherein, for each CCH monitoring capability in the set of CCH monitoring capabilities, a maximum number of CCH candidates and a maximum number of non-overlapping control channel elements (CCEs) per serving cell for CCH monitoring are dependent on the combination of the first CCH monitoring capability and the second CCH monitoring capability, in the first CCH monitoring mode, the maximum number of CCH candidates and the maximum number of CCEs per serving cell for CCH monitoring are for per slot, and in the second CCH monitoring mode, the maximum number of CCH candidates and the maximum number of CCEs per serving cell for CCH monitoring are for per span.
8. 8 . The network access node according to claim 7 , wherein the first control message indicates: explicitly the set of CCH monitoring capabilities.
9. 9 . The network access node according to claim 7 , wherein the processor is configured to determine the CCH monitoring capability to be used for CCH monitoring based on: the set of CCH monitoring capabilities, and at least one of: cell load, supported number of carriers, supported services, or configured services for the client device.
10. 10 . The network access node according to claim 7 , wherein the transceiver is configured to transmit a second control message to the client device, wherein the second control message indicates the determined CCH monitoring capability.
11. 11 . The network access node according to claim 10 , wherein the second control message is any of: a radio resource control message, a medium access control channel element, or a downlink control information.
12. 12 . The network access node according to claim 7 , wherein, to configure the client device with the determined CCH monitoring capability, the processor is configured to: determine a set of cell configurations for the client device, wherein at least one cell configuration in the set of cell configurations comprises the first CCH monitoring mode or the second CCH monitoring mode; and configure the client device based on the set of cell configurations for the client device.
13. 13 . A method for a client device in a communication system, the method comprising: transmitting, by the client device, a first control message to a network access node, wherein the first control message indicates a set of control channel (CCH) monitoring capabilities supported by the client device, wherein each CCH monitoring capability in the set of CCH monitoring capabilities indicates a combination of: a first CCH monitoring capability associated with a first number of serving cells monitorable by the client device in a first CCH monitoring mode, and a second CCH monitoring capability associated with a second number of serving cells monitorable by the client device in a second CCH monitoring mode, and wherein, for each CCH monitoring capability in the set of CCH monitoring capabilities, a maximum number of CCH candidates and a maximum number of non-overlapping control channel elements (CCEs) per serving cell for CCH monitoring are dependent on the combination of the first CCH monitoring capability and the second CCH monitoring capability, in the first CCH monitoring mode, the maximum number of CCH candidates and the maximum number of CCEs per serving cell for CCH monitoring are for per slot, and in the second CCH monitoring mode, the maximum number of CCH candidates and the maximum number of CCEs per serving cell for CCH monitoring are for per span.
14. 14 . A method for a network access node in a communication system, the method comprising: receiving, by the network access node, a first control message from a client device, wherein the first control message indicates a set of control channel (CCH) monitoring capabilities supported by the client device, and wherein each CCH monitoring capability in the set of CCH monitoring capabilities indicates a combination of: a first CCH monitoring capability associated with a first number of serving cells monitorable by the client device in a first CCH monitoring mode, and a second CCH monitoring capability associated with a second number of serving cells monitorable by the client device in a second CCH monitoring mode; determining, by the network access node, a CCH monitoring capability to be used for CCH monitoring from the set of CCH monitoring capabilities for the client device based on the first control message; and configuring, by the network access node, the client device with the determined CCH monitoring capability, wherein, for each CCH monitoring capability in the set of CCH monitoring capabilities, a maximum number of CCH candidates and a maximum number of non-overlapping control channel elements (CCEs) per serving cell for CCH monitoring are dependent on the combination of the first CCH monitoring capability and the second CCH monitoring capability, in the first CCH monitoring mode, the maximum number of CCH candidates and the maximum number of CCEs per serving cell for CCH monitoring are for per slot, and in the second CCH monitoring mode, the maximum number of CCH candidates and the maximum number of CCEs per serving cell for CCH monitoring are for per span.
15. 15 . A computer program product, comprising a non-transitory computer readable medium containing a computer program executable by a computer to cause the computer to perform: transmitting a first control message to a network access node, wherein the first control message indicates a set of control channel (CCH) monitoring capabilities supported by a client device, wherein each CCH monitoring capability in the set of CCH monitoring capabilities indicates a combination of: a first CCH monitoring capability associated with a first number of serving cells monitorable by the client device in a first CCH monitoring mode, and a second CCH monitoring capability associated with a second number of serving cells monitorable by the client device in a second CCH monitoring mode; and wherein, for each CCH monitoring capability in the set of CCH monitoring capabilities, a maximum number of CCH candidates and a maximum number of non-overlapping control channel elements (CCEs) per serving cell for CCH monitoring are dependent on the combination of the first CCH monitoring capability and the second CCH monitoring capability, in the first CCH monitoring mode, the maximum number of CCH candidates and the maximum number of CCEs per serving cell for CCH monitoring are for per slot, and in the second CCH monitoring mode, the maximum number of CCH candidates and the maximum number of CCEs per serving cell for CCH monitoring are for per span.
16. 16 . A computer program product, comprising a non-transitory computer readable medium containing a computer program executable by a computer to cause the computer to perform: receiving a first control message from a client device, wherein the first control message indicates a set of control channel (CCH) monitoring capabilities supported by the client device, and wherein each CCH monitoring capability in the set of CCH monitoring capabilities indicates a combination of: a first CCH monitoring capability associated with a first number of serving cells monitorable by the client device in a first CCH monitoring mode, and a second CCH monitoring capability associated with a second number of serving cells monitorable by the client device in a second CCH monitoring mode; determining a CCH monitoring capability to be used for CCH monitoring from the set of CCH monitoring capabilities for the client device based on the first control message; and configuring the client device with the determined CCH monitoring capability, wherein, for each CCH monitoring capability in the set of CCH monitoring capabilities, a maximum number of CCH candidates and a maximum number of non-overlapping control channel elements (CCEs) per serving cell for CCH monitoring are dependent on the combination of the first CCH monitoring capability and the second CCH monitoring capability, in the first CCH monitoring mode, the maximum number of CCH candidates and the maximum number of CCEs per serving cell for CCH monitoring are for per slot, and in the second CCH monitoring mode, the maximum number of CCH candidates and the maximum number of CCEs per serving cell for CCH monitoring are for per span.
17. 17 . The client device according to claim 1 , wherein for each CCH monitoring capability indicating the combination of the first CCH monitoring capability and the second CCH monitoring capability, only the first CCH monitoring capability is indicated, with the second CCH monitoring capability being implicitly derived from the indicated first CCH monitoring capability, or only the second CCH monitoring capability is indicated, with the first CCH monitoring capability being implicitly derived from the indicated second CCH monitoring capability.
18. 18 . The network access node according to claim 7 , wherein the first control message indicates: multiple indices, each of which is associated with one or more CCH monitoring capabilities in the set of CCH monitoring capabilities.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application is a continuation of International Application No. PCT/CN2020/084039, filed on Apr. 9, 2020, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. TECHNICAL FIELD The instant disclosure relates to a client device and a network access node for management of control channel (CCH) monitoring capabilities. Furthermore, the instant disclosure also relates to corresponding methods and computer program. BACKGROUND 3GPP new radio (NR) is designed for a variety of use cases, in particular enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) and ultra reliable low latency (URLLC) communication services. One important feature to meet the diverse requirements of mobile communication is carrier aggregation, where several carriers or serving cells can be used for transmission. Carrier aggregation can provide higher data rates and/or more reliability over the communication link. However, in order to provide an efficient usage of carrier aggregation, it should be possible to easily adapt the carrier aggregation configuration to different characteristics and requirements of different NR services, such as eMBB and URLLC. SUMMARY An objective of one or more embodiments of the instant disclosure is to provide a solution which mitigates or solves one or more of the drawbacks and problems of other approaches. According to a first aspect of some embodiments, one or more of the above mentioned and other objectives are achieved with a client device for a communication system, the client device being configured to transmit a first control message to a network access node, wherein the first control message indicates a set of control channel, CCH, monitoring capabilities supported by the client device, wherein each CCH monitoring capability in the set of CCH monitoring capabilities indicates a first CCH monitoring capability for a first CCH monitoring mode and a second CCH monitoring capability for a second CCH monitoring mode. Monitoring capability may be further denoted monitoring capability information which implies information content about the supported monitoring CCH capability of the client device. It is to be understood that the client device may transmit one or more first control messages to the network access node and hence not limited to a single first control message. The one or more first control messages may be transmitted in a single transmission or in plurality of transmissions to the network access node. An advantage of the client device according to the first aspect of some embodiments is that it can support diverse communication scenarios with widely different characteristics and requirements. Especially, in carrier aggregation efficient usage and adaption of capabilities is crucial. Such a mechanism is herein provided. For example, the client device can be designed to support a set of CCH monitoring capability pairs, and by sending the control message to the network access node the client device indicates/informs the network about this supported set. Based on this information the network can select the CCH monitoring capability pair from the indicated set that is most suitable for a given use case, and if the use case changes, the network can select another CCH monitoring capability pair from the supported set. By doing so it will be ensured that the network access node and the client device can adapt to the requirements of a given communication service, such as eMBB and URLLC. In an implementation form of a client device according to the first aspect of some embodiments, the first CCH monitoring capability is associated with a first number of serving cells and the second CCH monitoring capability is associated with a second number of serving cells. Serving cells can also be understood to be cells, activated cells, component carriers, carriers, bandwidth parts, active bandwidth parts, etc. An advantage with this implementation form in accordance with some embodiments is that mixed services can be supported efficiently by the client device. For example, URLLC can be monitored with monitoring mode M2 and eMBB with monitoring mode M1, or vice versa. Since the traffic loads for the two services can change over time the CCH monitoring capability can be adopted to such changes. In an implementation form of a client device according to the first aspect of some embodiments, in the first monitoring mode the client device is configured to perform CCH monitoring on a slot basis by monitoring a maximum number of resources in a time slot and in the second monitoring mode the client device is configured to perform CCH monitoring on a per span basis by monitoring a maximum number of resources in a sub-slot. The maximum number of resources may be understood as physical resources and/or computational resources. The first monitoring mode may correspond to the monitoring on slot basis as defined in release 15 of the 3GPP standard and the second monitoring mode may correspond