FIELD

The present application relates to wireless devices, and more particularly to apparatus, systems, and methods for communicating large RRC messages in a fifth generation (5G) New Radio (NR) network.

DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART

Wireless communication systems are rapidly growing in usage. In recent years, wireless devices such as smart phones and tablet computers have become increasingly sophisticated. In addition to supporting telephone calls, many mobile devices now provide access to the internet, email, text messaging, and navigation using the global positioning system (GPS), and are capable of operating sophisticated applications that utilize these functionalities.

Long Term Evolution (LTE) has become the technology of choice for the majority of wireless network operators worldwide, providing mobile broadband data and high-speed Internet access to their subscriber base. LTE defines a number of downlink (DL) physical channels, categorized as transport or control channels, to carry information blocks received from media access control (MAC) and higher layers. LTE also defines a number of physical layer channels for the uplink (UL).

For example, LTE defines a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) as a DL transport channel. The PDSCH is the main data-bearing channel allocated to users on a dynamic and opportunistic basis. The PDSCH carries data in Transport Blocks (TB) corresponding to a MAC protocol data unit (PDU), passed from the MAC layer to the physical (PHY) layer once per Transmission Time Interval (TTI). The PDSCH is also used to transmit broadcast information such as System Information Blocks (SIB) and paging messages.

As another example, LTE defines a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) as a DL control channel that carries the resource assignment for UEs that are contained in a Downlink Control Information (DCI) message. Multiple PDCCHs can be transmitted in the same subframe using Control Channel Elements (CCE), each of which includes nine sets of four resource elements known as Resource Element Groups (REG). The PDCCH employs quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK) modulation, with four QPSK symbols mapped to each REG. Furthermore, 1, 2, 4, or 8 CCEs can be used for a UE, depending on channel conditions, to ensure sufficient robustness.

Additionally, LTE defines a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) as a UL channel shared by all devices (user equipment, UE) in a radio cell to transmit user data to the network. The scheduling for all UEs is under control of the LTE base station (enhanced Node B, or eNB). The eNB uses the uplink scheduling grant (DCI format 0) to inform the UE about resource block (RB) assignment, and the modulation and coding scheme to be used. PUSCH typically supports QPSK and quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM). In addition to user data, the PUSCH also carries any control information necessary to decode the information, such as transport format indicators and multiple-in multiple-out (MIMO) parameters. Control data is multiplexed with information data prior to digital Fourier transform (DFT) spreading.

A proposed next telecommunications standard moving beyond the current International Mobile Telecommunications-Advanced (IMT-Advanced) Standards is called 5th generation mobile networks or 5th generation wireless systems, or 5G for short (otherwise known as 5G-NR for 5G New Radio, also simply referred to as NR). 5G-NR proposes a higher capacity for a higher density of mobile broadband users, also supporting device-to-device, ultra-reliable, and massive machine communications, as well as lower latency and lower battery consumption, than current LTE standards. Further, the 5G-NR standard may allow for less restrictive UE scheduling as compared to current LTE standards. Consequently, efforts are being made in ongoing developments of 5G-NR to take advantage of the less restrictive UE scheduling in order to further leverage power savings opportunities.

SUMMARY

Embodiments relate to apparatuses, systems, and methods for communicating an RRC configuration having a size that exceeds PDCP SDU size constraints.

According to some embodiments, a base station may encode the RRC configuration as a single large RRC message. The base station may then segment the RRC message, e.g., at the RRC layer or the PDCP layer, into a series of PDUs that comply with the size constraints. According to some embodiments, the base station may encode the RRC configuration as a series of RRC messages, each complying with the PDU size constraints. The base station may further provide an indication of when a receiving user equipment should apply the RRC configuration.

A method is disclosed for communicating a radio resource control (RRC) message. A wireless communication device may generate an RRC message, segment the RRC message into a plurality of segments, and encapsulate the plurality of segments within a plurality of protocol data units (PDUs), wherein each PDU of the plurality of PDUs includes one of the segments. The wireless communication device may transmit one or more signals including the plurality of PDUs.

In some implementations, the plurality of PDUs may be a plurality of RRC PDUs. In other implementations, the plurality of PDUs may be a plurality of PDCP PDUs.

In some implementations, the RRC message may further include header information. the wireless communication device may duplicate the header information within a header of each PDU of the plurality of PDUs. In some scenarios, the header information may include at least one of message type or transaction ID.

In some implementations, each PDU of the plurality of PDUs may include a header, the header including an indication of whether the PDU is a final PDU of the plurality of PDUs.

In some implementations, each PDU of the plurality of PDUs may include a header, the header including an indication of the number of PDUs in the plurality of PDUs and an index uniquely identifying the current PDU among the plurality of PDUs.

Systems and apparatuses are disclosed for implementing methods such as those described above.

The techniques described herein may be implemented in and/or used with a number of different types of devices, including but not limited to cellular phones, base stations, tablet computers, wearable computing devices, portable media players, and any of various other computing devices.

This Summary is intended to provide a brief overview of some of the subject matter described in this document. Accordingly, it will be appreciated that the above-described features are merely examples and should not be construed to narrow the scope or spirit of the subject matter described herein in any way. Other features, aspects, and advantages of the subject matter described herein will become apparent from the following Detailed Description, Figures, and Claims.

