Random access channel (RACH) timing adjustment

• US 10,897,780 B2
• Filed: 09/19/2017
• Issued: 01/19/2021
• Est. Priority Date: 12/19/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Islam, Muhammad Nazmul, Subramanian, Sundar, Li, Junyi, Luo, Tao, Nagaraja, Sumeeth
• Primary Examiner(s): Eng, George
• Assistant Examiner(s): Du, Hung K
• Application Number:
  US15/708,585
• Publication Number:
  US 20180176958A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,218 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0048 Allocation of pilot signals, i.e. of signals known to the receiver
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 56/00 Synchronisation arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/046 the resource being in the space domain, e.g. beams
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/0833 Random access procedures, e.g. with 4-step access
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/02 Terminal devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/08 Access point devices

Abstract

Certain aspects of the present disclosure provide techniques for random access channel (RACH) communication. For example, certain aspects provide a method for wireless communication by a user-equipment (UE). The method generally includes transmitting a first message comprising a RACH preamble, receiving a second message comprising random access response (RAR) in response to the RACH preamble, transmitting a third message in response to the RAR, receiving a fourth message (MSG4) comprising a contention resolution message in response to the third message. In certain aspects, the fourth message may include a timing advance (TA) parameter which may be used to communicate one or more messages.

Claims

1. A method for wireless communication, comprising:

transmitting a first message of a random access channel (RACH) procedure, the first message comprising a RACH preamble;

receiving a second message of the RACH procedure, the second message comprising random access response (RAR) in response to the RACH preamble;

transmitting a third message of the RACH procedure in response to the RAR, wherein the third message is transmitted to a base station (BS) and comprises at least one reference signal (RS) to be used by the BS to determine at least one timing advance (TA) parameter, wherein the at least one RS comprises a plurality of reference signals that are transmitted using a plurality of transmit beams;

receiving a fourth message of the RACH procedure in response to the third message, wherein the fourth message comprises a plurality of TA parameters each determined for one of the plurality of transmit beams, wherein the plurality of TA parameters are included in the same fourth message; and

communicating one or more messages based on at least one of the plurality of TA parameters.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the second message comprises another TA parameter, wherein timing adjustment for communicating the one or more messages is based on at least one of the plurality of TA parameters and the other TA parameter.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one RS is transmitted using a wide bandwidth having a wider bandwidth with respect to a bandwidth used to transmit the first message.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising receiving an indication of the wide bandwidth in the second message.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising identifying a configuration of the at least one RS by receiving an indication of the configuration from the BS.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the plurality of RSs are used to refine a transmit beam selected for transmitting the first message.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a plurality of reference signals that are transmitted from the BS using different transmit beams; and

selecting at least one of the transmit beams based on a parameter of each of the plurality of reference signals, wherein the third message is transmitted using the at least one of the transmit beams.

8. A method for wireless communication, comprising:

receiving a first message of a random access channel (RACH) procedure, the first message comprising a RACH preamble;

transmitting a second message of the RACH procedure, the second message comprising random access response (RAR) in response to the RACH preamble;

receiving a third message of the RACH procedure in response to the RAR, wherein the third message comprises a plurality of reference signals (RSs) that are received using a plurality of receive beams;

determining a plurality of timing advance (TA) parameters, each of the plurality of TA parameters determined for one of the plurality of receive beams;

transmitting a fourth message of the RACH procedure in response to the third message, wherein the fourth message comprises the plurality of TA parameters, wherein the plurality of TA parameters are included in the same fourth message; and

communicating one or more messages based on at least one of the plurality of TA parameters.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

determining another TA parameter based on the first message, wherein timing adjustment for communicating the one or more messages is based on the plurality of TA parameters and the other TA parameter.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the plurality of RSs are received using a wide bandwidth having a wider bandwidth with respect to a bandwidth used to receive the first message.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising determining the wide bandwidth based on a length of cyclic prefix or a numerology used to transmit at least one of a data message or a control message, wherein the second message comprises an indication of the wide bandwidth.

12. The method of claim 8, further comprising transmitting an indication of a configuration of the plurality of RSs.

13. The method of claim 8, further comprising performing uplink beam refinement based on at least one RS of the plurality of RSs.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein:

the plurality of RSs are used to refine a receiver beam selected for receiving the first message.

15. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

determining one or more indices corresponding to one or more symbols of the third message, each of the one or more symbols corresponding to a RS of the plurality of RSs; and

transmitting an indication of the one or more indices.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the one or more indices correspond to one or more of the plurality of RSs received with a highest quality as determined based on one or more parameters.

17. A method for wireless communication, comprising:

transmitting a first message of a random access channel (RACH) procedure, the first message comprising a RACH preamble;

receiving a second message of the RACH procedure, the second message comprising random access response (RAR) in response to the RACH preamble;

transmitting a third message of the RACH procedure in response to the RAR, wherein the third message comprises a plurality of reference signals that are transmitted using a plurality of transmit beams;

receiving a fourth message of the RACH procedure in response to the third message, wherein the fourth message comprises an index associated with a beam, wherein the fourth message comprises a plurality of TA parameters each determined for one of the plurality of transmit beams, wherein the plurality of TA parameters are included in the same fourth message; and

communicating one or more messages based on the index.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein each of the plurality of RSs is used by a BS to determine the index.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the second message comprises another index associated with a beam, and wherein the index in the fourth message is used to refine the beam selected based on the other index.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein the index in the fourth message corresponds to a symbol of one of the plurality of RSs received at a BS with the highest signal strength.

21. A method for wireless communication, comprising:

receiving a first message of a random access channel (RACH) procedure, the first message comprising a RACH preamble;

transmitting a second message of the RACH procedure, the second message comprising random access response (RAR) in response to the RACH preamble;

receiving a third message of the RACH procedure in response to the RAR, wherein the third message comprises a plurality of reference signals that are received using a plurality of receive beams;

transmitting a fourth message of the RACH procedure in response to the third message, wherein the fourth message comprises an index associated with a beam, wherein the fourth message comprises a plurality of TA parameters each determined for one of the plurality of receive beams, wherein the plurality of TA parameters are included in the same fourth message; and

communicating one or more messages based on the index.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising determining the index based on the plurality of RSs.

23. The method of claim 22, further comprising selecting another beam, wherein the second message comprises another index associated with the other beam, and wherein the index is used by a user equipment (UE) to refine the other beam.

24. The method of claim 21, further comprising selecting a symbol of one of the plurality of RSs received with the highest signal strength, wherein the index in the fourth message corresponds to the symbol.