WO2024178550A1

WO2024178550A1 - Apparatuses and methods for enhanced paging of alerts in a wireless communication network

Info

Publication number: WO2024178550A1
Application number: PCT/CN2023/078491
Authority: WO
Inventors: Lei SU; Keeth Saliya Jayasinghe LADDU; Amaanat ALI; Da Wei Wu
Original assignee: Nokia Shanghai Bell Co Ltd; Nokia Solutions and Networks Oy
Current assignee: Nokia Shanghai Bell Co Ltd; Nokia Solutions and Networks Oy
Priority date: 2023-02-27
Filing date: 2023-02-27
Publication date: 2024-09-06
Anticipated expiration: 2025-08-27
Also published as: CN120770192A

Abstract

Disclosed is a method comprising receiving, from a radio access network node, at least an application identifier for a proximity service application of a first wireless communication device, and location information of the first wireless communication device; generating a first paging message for one or more second wireless communication devices; and transmitting, to the radio access network node, the first paging message, wherein the first paging message comprises at least the application identifier, an identifier of the first wireless communication device, and a location of the first wireless communication device.

Description

APPARATUSES AND METHODS FOR ENHANCED PAGING OF ALERTS IN A WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORK

FIELD

The following example embodiments relate to wireless communication networks, and in particular apparatuses and methods for enhanced paging of alerts in a wireless communication network.

BACKGROUND

In wireless communication networks, paging may be used, for example, to send earthquake and tsunami warning system notifications or commercial mobile alert system notifications to wireless communication devices. It is desirable to enhance paging procedures in wireless communication networks.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION

The scope of protection sought for various example embodiments is set out by the independent claims. The example embodiments and features, if any, described in this specification that do not fall under the scope of the independent claims are to be interpreted as examples useful for understanding various embodiments.

According to an aspect, there is provided an apparatus of a radio access network node, the apparatus comprising at least one processor, and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to: transmit, to a core network, at least an application identifier for a proximity service application of a first wireless communication device, and location information of the first wireless communication device; receive, from the core network, a first paging message for one or more second wireless communication devices, wherein the first paging message comprises at least the application identifier, an identifier of the first wireless communication device, and a location of the first wireless communication device; and transmit, based at least on the first paging message, to a reconfigurable intelligent surface or to the one or more second wireless communication devices, a second paging message for the one or more second wireless communication devices in a paging area around the first wireless communication device, wherein the second paging message comprises at least the application identifier and at least one of: the location of the first wireless communication device, or a distance between the first wireless communication device and the one or more second wireless communication devices.

According to another aspect, there is provided an apparatus of a radio access network node, the apparatus comprising: means for transmitting, to a core network, at least an application identifier for a proximity service application of a first wireless communication device, and location information of the first wireless communication device; means for receiving, from the core network, a first paging message for one or more second wireless communication devices, wherein the first paging message comprises at least the application identifier, an identifier of the first wireless communication device, and a location of the first wireless communication device; and means for transmitting, based at least on the first paging message, to a reconfigurable intelligent surface or to the one or more second wireless communication devices, a second paging message for the one or more second wireless communication devices in a paging area around the first wireless communication device, wherein the second paging message comprises at least the application identifier and at least one of: the location of the first wireless communication device, or a distance between the first wireless communication device and the one or more second wireless communication devices.

According to another aspect, there is provided a method comprising: transmitting, by an apparatus of a radio access network node, to a core network, at least an application identifier for a proximity service application of a first wireless communication device, and location information of the first wireless communication device; receiving, by the apparatus, from the core network, a first paging message for one or more second wireless communication devices, wherein the first paging message comprises at least the application identifier, an identifier of the first wireless communication device, and a location of the first wireless communication device; and transmitting, by the apparatus, based at least on the first paging message, to a reconfigurable intelligent surface or to the one or more second wireless communication devices, a second paging message for the one or more second wireless communication devices in a paging area around the first wireless communication device, wherein the second paging message comprises at least the application identifier and at least one of: the location of the first wireless communication device, or a distance between the first wireless communication device and the one or more second wireless communication devices.

According to another aspect, there is provided a computer program comprising instructions which, when executed by an apparatus of a radio access network node, cause the apparatus to perform at least the following: transmitting, to a core network, at least an application identifier for a proximity service application of a first wireless communication device, and location information of the first wireless communication device; receiving, from the core network, a first paging message for one or more second wireless communication devices, wherein the first paging message comprises at least the application identifier, an identifier of the first wireless communication device, and a location of the first wireless communication device; and transmitting, based at least on the first paging message, to a reconfigurable intelligent surface or to the one or more second wireless communication devices, a second paging message for the one or more second wireless communication devices in a paging area around the first wireless communication device, wherein the second paging message comprises at least the application identifier and at least one of: the location of the first wireless communication device, or a distance between the first wireless communication device and the one or more second wireless communication devices.

According to another aspect, there is provided a computer readable medium comprising program instructions which, when executed by an apparatus of a radio access network node, cause the apparatus to perform at least the following: transmitting, to a core network, at least an application identifier for a proximity service application of a first wireless communication device, and location information of the first wireless communication device; receiving, from the core network, a first paging message for one or more second wireless communication devices, wherein the first paging message comprises at least the application identifier, an identifier of the first wireless communication device, and a location of the first wireless communication device; and transmitting, based at least on the first paging message, to a reconfigurable intelligent surface or to the one or more second wireless communication devices, a second paging message for the one or more second wireless communication devices in a paging area around the first wireless communication device, wherein the second paging message comprises at least the application identifier and at least one of: the location of the first wireless communication device, or a distance between the first wireless communication device and the one or more second wireless communication devices.

According to another aspect, there is provided a non-transitory computer readable medium comprising program instructions which, when executed by an apparatus of a radio access network node, cause the apparatus to perform at least the following: transmitting, to a core network, at least an application identifier for a proximity service application of a first wireless communication device, and location information of the first wireless communication device; receiving, from the core network, a first paging message for one or more second wireless communication devices, wherein the first paging message comprises at least the application identifier, an identifier of the first wireless communication device, and a location of the first wireless communication device; and transmitting, based at least on the first paging message, to a reconfigurable intelligent surface or to the one or more second wireless communication devices, a second paging message for the one or more second wireless communication devices in a paging area around the first wireless communication device, wherein the second paging message comprises at least the application identifier and at least one of: the location of the first wireless communication device, or a distance between the first wireless communication device and the one or more second wireless communication devices.

According to another aspect, there is provided an apparatus of a core network, the apparatus comprising at least one processor, and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to: receive, from a radio access network node, at least an application identifier for a proximity service application of a first wireless communication device, and location information of the first wireless communication device; generate a first paging message for one or more second wireless communication devices; and transmit, to the radio access network node, the first paging message, wherein the first paging message comprises at least the application identifier, an identifier of the first wireless communication device, and a location of the first wireless communication device.

According to another aspect, there is provided an apparatus of a core network, the apparatus comprising: means for receiving, from a radio access network node, at least an application identifier for a proximity service application of a first wireless communication device, and location information of the first wireless communication device; means for generating a first paging message for one or more second wireless communication devices; and means for transmitting, to the radio access network node, the first paging message, wherein the first paging message comprises at least the application identifier, an identifier of the first wireless communication device, and a location of the first wireless communication device.

According to another aspect, there is provided a method comprising: receiving, by an apparatus of a core network, from a radio access network node, at least an application identifier for a proximity service application of a first wireless communication device, and location information of the first wireless communication device; generating, by the apparatus, a first paging message for one or more second wireless communication devices; and transmitting, by the apparatus, to the radio access network node, the first paging message, wherein the first paging message comprises at least the application identifier, an identifier of the first wireless communication device, and a location of the first wireless communication device.

According to another aspect, there is provided a computer program comprising instructions which, when executed by an apparatus of a core network, cause the apparatus to perform at least the following: receiving, from a radio access network node, at least an application identifier for a proximity service application of a first wireless communication device, and location information of the first wireless communication device; generating a first paging message for one or more second wireless communication devices; and transmitting, to the radio access network node, the first paging message, wherein the first paging message comprises at least the application identifier, an identifier of the first wireless communication device, and a location of the first wireless communication device.

According to another aspect, there is provided a computer readable medium comprising program instructions which, when executed by an apparatus of a core network, cause the apparatus to perform at least the following: receiving, from a radio access network node, at least an application identifier for a proximity service application of a first wireless communication device, and location information of the first wireless communication device; generating a first paging message for one or more second wireless communication devices; and transmitting, to the radio access network node, the first paging message, wherein the first paging message comprises at least the application identifier, an identifier of the first wireless communication device, and a location of the first wireless communication device.

According to another aspect, there is provided a non-transitory computer readable medium comprising program instructions which, when executed by an apparatus of a core network, cause the apparatus to perform at least the following: receiving, from a radio access network node, at least an application identifier for a proximity service application of a first wireless communication device, and location information of the first wireless communication device; generating a first paging message for one or more second wireless communication devices; and transmitting, to the radio access network node, the first paging message, wherein the first paging message comprises at least the application identifier, an identifier of the first wireless communication device, and a location of the first wireless communication device.

According to an aspect, there is provided a first wireless communication device, the first wireless communication device comprising at least one processor, and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the first wireless communication device at least to: transmit one or more random access channel preambles to a radio access network node, wherein the one or more random access channel preambles are transmitted based on a timer associated with a proximity service application of the first wireless communication device; and transmit, to the radio access network node, a message comprising at least an application identifier associated with the proximity service application.

According to another aspect, there is provided a first wireless communication device comprising: means for transmitting one or more random access channel preambles to a radio access network node, wherein the one or more random access channel preambles are transmitted based on a timer associated with a proximity service application of the first wireless communication device; and means for transmitting, to the radio access network node, a message comprising at least an application identifier associated with the proximity service application.

According to another aspect, there is provided a method comprising: transmitting, by a first wireless communication device, one or more random access channel preambles to a radio access network node, wherein the one or more random access channel preambles are transmitted based on a timer associated with a proximity service application of the first wireless communication device; and transmitting, by the first wireless communication device, to the radio access network node, a message comprising at least an application identifier associated with the proximity service application.

According to another aspect, there is provided a computer program comprising instructions which, when executed by a first wireless communication device, cause the first wireless communication device to perform at least the following: transmitting one or more random access channel preambles to a radio access network node, wherein the one or more random access channel preambles are transmitted based on a timer associated with a proximity service application of the first wireless communication device; and transmitting, to the radio access network node, a message comprising at least an application identifier associated with the proximity service application.

According to another aspect, there is provided a computer readable medium comprising program instructions which, when executed by a first wireless communication device, cause the first wireless communication device to perform at least the following: transmitting one or more random access channel preambles to a radio access network node, wherein the one or more random access channel preambles are transmitted based on a timer associated with a proximity service application of the first wireless communication device; and transmitting, to the radio access network node, a message comprising at least an application identifier associated with the proximity service application.

According to another aspect, there is provided a non-transitory computer readable medium comprising program instructions which, when executed by a first wireless communication device, cause the first wireless communication device to perform at least the following: transmitting one or more random access channel preambles to a radio access network node, wherein the one or more random access channel preambles are transmitted based on a timer associated with a proximity service application of the first wireless communication device; and transmitting, to the radio access network node, a message comprising at least an application identifier associated with the proximity service application.

LIST OF DRAWINGS

In the following, various example embodiments will be described in greater detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which

FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a wireless communication network;

FIG. 2 illustrates another example of a wireless communication network;

FIG. 3 illustrates a procedure showing control plane signalling between entities of the wireless communication network shown in FIG. 1 and 2, and operations performed by the various entities of the wireless communication network shown in FIG. 1 and 2;

FIG. 4 illustrates a procedure showing control plane signalling between entities of the wireless communication network shown in FIG. 1 and 2, and operations performed by the various entities of the wireless communication network shown FIG. 1 and 2;

FIG. 5 illustrates a flow chart of a method performed by an apparatus of a radio access network node in accordance with an example embodiment;

FIG. 6 illustrates a flow chart of a method performed by an access and mobility function of a core network in accordance with an example embodiment;

FIG. 7 illustrates a flow chart of a method performed by an apparatus in accordance with an example embodiment;

FIG. 8 illustrates an example of an apparatus in accordance with an example embodiment;

FIG. 9 illustrates an example of an apparatus in accordance with an example embodiment; and

FIG. 10 illustrates an example of an apparatus in accordance with an example embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following embodiments are exemplifying. Although the specification may refer to “an” , “one” , or “some” embodiment (s) in several locations of the text, this does not necessarily mean that each reference is made to the same embodiment (s) , or that a particular feature only applies to a single embodiment. Single features of different embodiments may also be combined to provide other embodiments.

In the following, different example embodiments will be described using an example of a wireless communication network to which the example embodiments may be applied. The wireless communication network may comprise a radio access network operating using one or more radio access technologies, such as long-term evolution advanced (LTE Advanced, LTE-A) , new radio (NR, 5G) , beyond 5G, or sixth generation (6G) without restricting the example embodiments to such radio access technologies, however. Some examples of radio access networks include the universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS) radio access network (UTRAN) , the Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access network (E-UTRA) , or the next generation radio access network (NG-RAN) . The wireless communication network may further comprise a core network. It is obvious for a person skilled in the art that the example embodiments of enhanced paging of may also be applied to network functions of the core network.

FIG. 1 depicts an example of a simplified wireless communication network showing some physical and logical entities. The connections shown in FIG. 1 may be physical connections or logical connections. It is apparent to a person skilled in the art that the wireless communication network may also comprise other physical and logical entities than those shown in FIG. 1.

The example embodiments described herein are not, however, restricted to the wireless communication network given as an example but a person skilled in the art may apply the embodiments described herein to other wireless communication networks provided with necessary properties.

The example wireless communication network shown in FIG. 1 includes an access network 104, such as a radio access network (RAN) , and a core network 110.

FIG. 1 shows user equipment (UE) 100 and 102 each configured to be in a wireless connection on one or more communication channels in a radio cell with an access node (AN) 104 of an access network. The AN 104 may be an evolved Node B (abbreviated as eNB or eNodeB) or a next generation Node B (abbreviated as gNB or gNodeB) , providing the radio cell. The wireless connection (e.g., radio link) from a UE to the access node 104 may be called uplink (UL) or reverse link, and the wireless connection (e.g., radio link) from the access node to the UE may be called downlink (DL) or forward link. UE 100 may also communicate directly with UE 102, and vice versa, via a wireless connection generally referred to as a sidelink (SL) . It should be appreciated that the access node 104 or its functionalities may be implemented by using any node, host, server or access point etc. entity suitable for providing such functionalities.

The access network may comprise more than one access node, in which case the access nodes may also be configured to communicate with one another over links, wired or wireless. These links between access nodes may be used for sending and receiving control plane signaling and also for routing data from one access node to another access node.

The access node may comprise a computing device configured to control the radio resources of the access node. The access node may also be referred to as a base station, a base transceiver station (BTS) , an access point, a radio access node or any other type of node capable of being in a wireless connection with a UE (e.g., UEs 100, 102) . The access node may include or be coupled to transceivers. From the transceivers of the access node, a connection may be provided to an antenna unit that establishes bi-directional radio links to UEs 100, 102. The antenna unit may comprise an antenna or antenna element, or a plurality of antennas or antenna elements.

The access node 104 may further be connected to a core network (CN) 110. The core network 110 may comprise an evolved packet core (EPC) network and/or a 5^th generation core network (5GC) . The access node 104 may be connected to the CN 110 comprising network entities of an EPC, such as a serving gateway (S-GW for routing and forwarding data packets) , a packet data network gateway (P-GW) for providing connectivity of UEs to external packet data networks, and a mobility management entity (MME) , or network functions of a 5GC, such as a user plane function (UPF) , and an access and mobility management function (AMF) .

With respect to positioning, the core network 110 may comprise a 5GC having a service-based architecture as defined in TS 23.501 of 3^rd generation partnership project. The 5GC may comprise various network functions, including an AMF and a location management function (LMF) . The AMF may be configured to provide location information for call processing, mobility policy enforcement, and charging purposes to other network functions in the core network 110 and to other entities requesting for positioning of UEs. The AMF may receive and manage location requests from several entities: mobile-originated location requests (MO-LR) received from the UEs and mobile-terminated location requests (MT-LR) destined for other functions of the core network or the access network. The AMF may select the LMF for a given request and use its positioning service to trigger a positioning session. The LMF may then carry out the positioning upon receiving such a request from the AMF. The LMF may manage the resources and timing of positioning activities. The LMF may obtain location information for a UE with at least one of the following ways: by sending a Namf_Communication service request via the NL1 interface to one or more access nodes for network-based positioning; or by communicating with the UE over the N1 interface for UE-based or UE-assisted positioning. The location information obtained by the LMF may include an estimation of the location of the UE and, additionally, the LMF may also estimate movement or accuracy of the location information when requested. Connection-wise, the AMF may be between the access node and the LMF and, thus, closer to the access nodes than the LMF.

The illustrated UE 100, 102 is one type of an apparatus 800 to which resources on the air interface may be allocated and assigned. The UE 100, 102 may also be called a wireless communication device, a subscriber unit, a mobile station, a remote terminal, an access terminal, a user terminal, a terminal device, or a user device just to mention but a few names. The UE may be a computing device operating with or without a subscriber identification module (SIM) , including, but not limited to, the following types of computing devices: a mobile phone, a smartphone, a personal digital assistant (PDA) , a handset, a computing device comprising a wireless modem (e.g., an alarm or measurement device, etc. ) , a laptop computer, a desktop computer, a tablet, a game console, a notebook, a multimedia device, a reduced capability (RedCap) device, a wearable device (e.g., a watch, earphones or eyeglasses) with radio parts, a sensor comprising a wireless modem, or any computing device comprising a wireless modem integrated in a vehicle.

5G enables using multiple input –multiple output (MIMO) antennas in the access node 104 and/or the UE 100, 102, many more base stations or access nodes than an LTE network (a so-called small cell concept) , including macro sites operating in co-operation with smaller stations and employing a variety of radio technologies depending on service needs, use cases and/or spectrum available. 5G wireless communication networks may support a wide range of use cases and related applications including video streaming, augmented reality, different ways of data sharing and various forms of machine type applications (such as (massive) machine-type communications (mMTC) , including vehicular safety, different sensors and real-time control.

In 5G wireless communication networks, access nodes and/or UEs may have multiple radio interfaces, namely below 6GHz, cmWave and mmWave, and also being integrable with existing legacy radio access technologies, such as the LTE. Integration with the LTE may be implemented, for example, as a system, where macro coverage may be provided by the LTE, and 5G radio interface access may come from small cells by aggregation to the LTE. In other words, a 5G wireless communication network may support both inter-RAT operability (such as LTE-5G) and inter-RI operability (inter-radio interface operability, such as below 6GHz –cmWave –mmWave) . One of the concepts considered to be used in 5G wireless communication networks may be network slicing, in which multiple independent and dedicated virtual sub-networks (network instances) may be created within the substantially same infrastructure to run services that have different requirements on latency, reliability, throughput and mobility.

The core network 110 may also be able to communicate with one or more external networks 113 (i.e., networks that are outside or external to the wireless communication network) , such as a public switched telephone network or the Internet, or utilize services provided by them. For example, in 5G wireless communication networks, the UPF of the core network 110 may be configured to communicate with an external data network via an N6 interface. In LTE wireless communication networks, the P-GW of the core network 110 may be configured to communicate with an external data network (e.g., packet data network (PDN) ) .

The wireless communication network may also be able to support the usage of (i.e., may be capable of using) cloud services, for example at least part of core network operations may be carried out by a cloud computing system providing a cloud service (this is depicted in FIG. 1 by “cloud” 114) . The wireless communication system may also comprise a central control entity, or the like, providing facilities for wireless communication networks of different operators to cooperate for example in sharing of the same spectrum ( “spectrum sharing” ) to provide services.

In some embodiments, an access node (e.g., access node 104) may comprise: a radio unit (RU) comprising a radio transceiver (TRX) , i.e., a transmitter (Tx) and a receiver (Rx) ; one or more distributed units (DUs) 105 that may be used for the so-called Layer 1 (L1) processing and real-time Layer 2 (L2) processing; and a central unit (CU) 108 (also known as a centralized unit) that may be used for non-real-time L2 and Layer 3 (L3) processing. The CU 108 may be connected to the one or more DUs 105 for example via an F1 interface. Such an embodiment of the access node may enable the centralization of CUs relative to the cell sites and DUs, whereas DUs may be more distributed and may even remain at cell sites. The CU and DU together may also be referred to as baseband or a baseband unit (BBU) . The CU and DU may also be comprised in a radio access point (RAP) .

The CU 108 may be a logical node hosting radio resource control (RRC) , service data adaptation protocol (SDAP) and/or packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) , of the NR protocol stack for an access node. The DU 105 may be a logical node hosting radio link control (RLC) , medium access control (MAC) and/or physical (PHY) layers of the NR protocol stack for the access node. The operations of the DU may be at least partly controlled by the CU. The CU may comprise a control plane (CU-CP) , which may be a logical node hosting the RRC and the control plane part of the PDCP protocol of the NR protocol stack for the access node. The CU may further comprise a user plane (CU-UP) , which may be a logical node hosting the user plane part of the PDCP protocol and the SDAP protocol of the CU for the access node.

Cloud computing systems may also be used to provide the CU 108 and/or DU 105. A CU provided by a cloud computing system may be referred to as a virtualized CU (vCU) . In addition to the vCU, there may also be a virtualized DU (vDU) provided by a cloud computing system. Furthermore, there may also be a combination, where the DU may be implemented on so-called bare metal solutions, for example application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) or customer-specific standard product (CSSP) system-on-a-chip (SoC) .

Edge cloud may be brought into the access network (e.g., RAN) by utilizing network function virtualization (NFV) and software defined networking (SDN) . Edge cloud may mean access node operations are carried out, at least partly, by a computing system operationally coupled to a remote radio head (RRH) or a radio unit (RU) of an access node. It is also possible that access node operations may be performed by a computing system located at the access node. In some embodiments, the access network may be a cloud RAN configured to provide RAN real-time functions being carried out at the access network (e.g., in a DU 105) and non-real-time functions being carried out in a centralized manner (e.g., in a CU 108) .

It should also be understood that the distribution of core network operations and access node operations may differ in future wireless communication networks compared to that of the LTE or 5G, or even be non-existent. Some other technology advancements that may be used include big data and all-IP, which may change the way wireless communication networks are being constructed and managed. 5G (or new radio, NR) wireless communication networks may support multiple hierarchies, where multi-access edge computing (MEC) servers may be placed between the core network 110 and the access node 104. It should be appreciated that MEC may be applied in LTE wireless communication networks as well.

A 5G wireless communication network ( “5G network” ) may also comprise a non-terrestrial communication network, for example, a satellite communication network, to enhance or complement the coverage of the 5G radio access network thereby enabling more extensive network coverage for the 5G network. For example, a 5G network comprising a non-terrestrial network may be used to provide service continuity for machine-to-machine (M2M) or Internet of Things (IoT) devices or for passengers on board of vehicles, or ensuring service availability for critical communications, and future railway/maritime/aeronautical communications. Satellite communication may utilize geostationary earth orbit (GEO) satellite systems, but also low earth orbit (LEO) satellite systems, in particular mega-constellations (systems in which hundreds of (nano) satellites are deployed) . A given satellite 106 in the mega-constellation may cover several satellite-enabled network entities that create on-ground cells. The on-ground cells may be created through an on-ground relay access node or by an access node 104 located on-ground or in a satellite. Alternatively, a non-terrestrial communication network may be used to provide a backhaul link from an access node (or RAN) to a core network transfer control plane signaling and/or data between the access network (or RAN) and the core network.

It is obvious for a person skilled in the art that the access node 104 depicted in FIG. 1 is only an example of a part of an access network (e.g., a radio access network) and in practice, the access network may comprise a plurality of access nodes, the UEs 100, 102 may have access to a plurality of radio cells, and the access network may also comprise other apparatuses, such as physical layer relay access nodes or other entities. At least one of the access nodes may be a Home eNodeB or a Home gNodeB. A Home gNodeB or a Home eNodeB is a type of access node that may be used to provide indoor coverage inside a home, office, or other indoor environment.

Additionally, in a geographical area of an access network (e.g., a radio access network) , a plurality of different kinds of radio cells as well as a plurality of radio cells may be provided. Radio cells may be macro cells (or umbrella cells) which may be large cells having a diameter of up to tens of kilometers, or smaller cells such as micro-, femto-or picocells. The access node (s) of FIG. 1 may provide any kind of these cells. A cellular radio network may be implemented as a multilayer access networks including several kinds of radio cells. In multilayer access networks, one access node may provide one kind of a radio cell or radio cells, and thus a plurality of access nodes may be needed to provide such a multilayer access network.

For fulfilling the need for improving performance of access networks, the concept of “plug-and-play” access nodes may be introduced. An access network which may be able to use “plug-and-play” access nodes, may include, in addition to Home eNodeBs or Home gNodeBs, a Home Node B gateway, or HNB-GW (not shown in FIG. 1) . An HNB-GW, which may be installed within an operator’s access network, may aggregate traffic from a large number of Home eNodeBs or Home gNodeBs back to a core network of the operator.

Paging is a procedure that allows the core network 110 to reach UEs 100, 102 that are in RRC_IDLE state or RRC_INACTIVE state using paging messages, and to notify UEs 100, 102 that are in RRC_IDLE state or RRC_INACTIVE state or RRC_CONNECTED state. For example, the access node 104 may transmit a paging message to the UE 100, 102 in RRC_IDLE state or RRC_INACTIVE state to cause the UE 100, 102 to switch to RRC_CONNECTED state, when the core network needs to transmit data to the UE.

Paging may also be used by a wireless communication network for other purposes, such as providing an earthquake and tsunami warning system (ETWS) notification, or a commercial mobile alert system (CMAS) notification. This way, paging may be used to provide an alert (i.e., ETWS notification or CMAS notification) to UEs, and the information about the alert (i.e., ETWS notification or CMAS notification) may be carried in specific system information blocks (SIBs) . A CMAS may also include location information or coordinates in a CMAS notification that defines the area where the CMAS notification (i.e.., the alert) is valid. This area can be smaller than the cell area.

Based on a UE’s location, which may be obtained for example by using the global navigation satellite system (GNSS) , the UE may determine whether it is in an alert area (i.e., an area in which the alert, such as the ETWS notification or CMAS notification, is provided) and has to react to the alert (e.g., ETWS notification or CMAS notification) . Currently, CMAS notifications (i.e., alerts provided by a CMAS) can be targeted to a specific area, so that UEs within 160 meters react to the CMAS notification (i.e., alert) . It is also possible to send a short message service (SMS) message to all UEs that are in a specific location. However, current wireless communication networks do not take into account physical layer security and target’s vicinity concern. Furthermore, the GNSS-based positioning procedure significantly increases the UE’s power consumption.

In some scenarios, a call may need to be established on some specific UEs (instead of all UEs) located in an area around a target UE’s vicinity, for example for providing notifications or alerts to the specific UEs or for calling the specific UEs in order to ask users of the UEs to provide emergency rescue.

As an example, during a pandemic, a person with an asymptomatic infection (e.g., COVID-19) may attend social events because he/she is not aware of the infection. Thus, it may be desirable to send a notification or alert to UEs of people which are in the vicinity of the infected person, when the person is confirmed to be infected.

As another example, in an emergency medical treatment scenario, it may be desirable to call the UEs of medical volunteers located nearby a patient to provide emergency medical assistance to the patient, such as cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

As another example, in counterterrorism or public safety scenarios, it may be desirable to send notifications or alerts to UEs which are within a specific distance of a terrorist or other dangerous person.

Thus, there is a need to provide an enhanced paging procedure to support paging an identified group of UEs (generally referred to as a UE group) with physical layer security and the target UE’s vicinity concern. Herein the physical layer security means supporting paging of an identified group of UEs, while isolating a target UE in physical space.

Some example embodiments may address the above issues by delivering paging messages with physical layer security to one or more UEs in a paging area around a target UE that is to be isolated.

Some application (s) may be installed on a UE to receive and handle such an alert, request or notification. For example, identifiers of applications (“application identifiers (IDs) ” ) and their application group may be used to allocate resources to UEs to identify the data traffic profiles and mobility policies associated with the application IDs or the application group. That is, subscribers (e.g., UEs) may be associated with one or more application groups. An application group, identified by an application group ID, may comprise one or more applications (identified by their application ID) .

An application ID may be, for example, an octet string that may be mapped to a set of application detection rules based on either packet flow description, or uniform resource locator (URL) , or domain name. The set of application detection rules may be provisioned in the user plane function (UPF) using packet flow descriptions (PFDs) and can be configured dynamically or predefined in a way to increase operational efficiency.

An application group ID may be an octet string. An application group has one or more application IDs as its members. Core network functions (i.e., network functions of a core network) such as the UPF, session management function (SMF) , network exposure function (NEF) , and/or policy control function (PCF) may support (i.e., may be capable of using) the application group ID, so that UE mobility policies can be managed in groups. The core network may apply the same UE mobility policy for applications belonging to the same application group.

A reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) , which may also be referred to as an intelligent reflecting surface (IRS) , offers a physical layer security solution by creating a reflection path with passive beamforming (PBF) . For example, when an eavesdropper is in the middle of a communication link between the base station and a legitimate UE, the RIS can be used to create a reflection path so that the legitimate UE can still receive the signal, but the eavesdropper cannot. The reflected beamforming at the RIS is called passive beamforming (PBF) , while the precoding at the base station is called active beamforming (ABF) .

An RIS is a plane comprising a plurality of passive reflectors placed between the base station and the UE (i.e., between sender and receiver) . Since a given reflector can independently change the phase and/or amplitude of the incident signal, the reflector can be used to enable the UE to receive the signal sent by the base station better (e.g., when the UE is in a dead zone or at the cell edge) .

Some example embodiments may provide a proximity service (ProSe) oriented tracking area update (TAU) or RAN-based notification area (RNA) update procedure that includes sending a RAN sending a report to the core network. In some embodiments, the report sent by the RAN (referred to herein as a RAN report) is an enhanced TAU or RNA request message comprising a ProSe application ID, a relative position between the isolation target UE and the base station, and an enhanced paging service capability. The RAN report enables the core network to determine the location of the isolation target UE for future paging, which may be requested by the ProSe application.

In an enhanced paging message, the ProSe application ID, isolation target location and optionally a ring radius of the paging area may be provided by the core network to the base station. Afterwards, the RAN (e.g., base station or RIS) can distinguish the enhanced paging message from other types of paging messages and perform beamforming in Uu transmission of the enhanced paging message. Compared to other paging messages, at the UE side, the ProSe application may handle the enhanced paging message and display a proximity alert, play an emergency event handling demonstration video, establish a new call, or generate an acousto-optic alarm, etc.

For example, a ProSe application ID, UE location information and enhanced paging service capability may be indicated from the base station to the core network via a periodical RAN-based notification area (RNA) update procedure. In a subsequent paging process, the core network may signal to the base station a paging ring radius for beam generation according to the application needs. In the ring-shaped paging area, one or more UEs, on which the ProSe application is installed, receive the paging message and may respond to the base station. This way, an alert, emergency request or notification can be delivered with physical layer security to a proper UE group in the vicinity of a target UE that is to be isolated.

Electromagnetic (EM) waves carry both linear momentum and angular momentum. The angular momentum comprises two parts: spin angular momentum (SAM) corresponding to the polarization of the EM wave, and orbital angular momentum (OAM) associated to the spatial distribution of the EM wave. The enhanced paging service may be provided, for example, by using OAM beams. Vortex beams carrying orbital angular momentum may be generated in the microwave domain. For example, Laguerre–Gaussian (LG) beams may carry orbital angular momentum. The generation of orbital angular momentum vortex beams may rely on two main techniques: plane wave to vortex wave conversion, and direct generation using radiating antennas.

OAM beams may be generated by rotating the time-varying phase signal through the circular antenna array, resulting in a rotating orbital angular momentum (ROAM) beam, wherein the rotation speed is related to the time-varying period of the phase and the OAM mode. Consequently, in the transmitter, different signals may be used to drive OAM beams with different modes to generate ROAM beams with the same rotation speed. In the receiver, different frequency shifts, which are proportional to the mode value, can be received, so that the OAM modes can be distinguished by receiving the spectrum of the signal in a single point. With the OAM mode, the demultiplexing and demodulation of OAM beams can be performed, and the data carried by the beams can be recovered.

ROAM beams may be ring-shaped, such that the serving area of the beam covers the ring itself, but not the center of the ring (i.e., the center of the ring is “isolated” ) . The serving area of the ring-shaped beam can be controlled by the ring radius, the distance between the isolation target UE and the beam generator, and the angle of departure (AoD) from the beam generator towards the isolation target UE. This way, the target UE may be isolated from the serving area and a physical layer security solution may be offered as well.

Some example embodiments are described below using principles and terminology of 5G radio access technology without limiting the example embodiments to 5G radio access technology, however.

FIG. 2 illustrates a system, to which some example embodiments may be applied. The system comprises a radio access network node 201 (e.g., a base station) of a radio access network 200, a core network 202, a reconfigurable intelligent surface 203, a first wireless communication device 204, and one or more second wireless communication devices 205.

FIG. 2 may be understood to depict a part of the wireless communication network of FIG. 1, but with greater accuracy with respect to the enhanced paging service. The radio access network node 201 may correspond to the access node 104 of FIG. 1. The core network 202 of FIG. 2 may correspond to the core network 110 of FIG. 1. The first wireless communication device 204 of FIG. 2 may correspond to UE 100 of FIG. 1. The one or more second wireless communication devices 205 may correspond to UE 102 of FIG. 1.

The first wireless communication device 204 may also be referred to as an isolation target UE herein, and the one or more second wireless communication devices 205 may also be referred to as paging receivers herein. It should be noted that herein the terms “first wireless communication device” and “second wireless communication device” are used to distinguish the devices, and they do not necessarily refer to specific identifiers or a specific order of the devices.

Referring to FIG. 2, the RIS 203 may be configured to report (e.g., send) , to the radio access network node 201, at least one of: the location of the RIS 203, or an indication that the RIS 203 is capable of providing an enhanced paging message. For example, the capability of providing the enhanced paging message may mean that the RIS 203 is OAM beamforming capable.

The first wireless communication device 204 may be configured to transmit one or more random access channel (RACH) preambles to the radio access network node 201 according to a periodical TAU or RNA update procedure. In other words, the one or more random access channel preambles may be transmitted based on a timer associated with a proximity service application of the first wireless communication device 204. This may enable the radio access network node 201 to determine location information of the first wireless communication device, such as the distance between the radio access network node 201 and the first wireless communication device 204, as well as the angle of arrival (AoA) of the one or more RACH preambles received from the first wireless communication device 204.

The first wireless communication device 204 may further be configured to transmit a message, for example an RRC setup complete message, to the radio access network node 201 in order to inform the core network 202 that the proximity service application of the first wireless communication device 204 is requesting a location update. The RRC setup complete message may comprise an application identifier of the proximity service application in order to trigger the radio access network node 201 to transmit, to the core network 202 (e.g., in an NGAP initial UE message) , the application identifier of the proximity service application, the location information for the first wireless communication device 204, and an indication that the RIS 203 or the radio access network node 201 is capable of providing the enhanced paging message.

Since the location of the radio access network node 201 and the location information (distance and AoA) for the first wireless communication device 204 are known by the core network 202, the location of the first wireless network device 204 can be determined by the core network 202. The location of the first wireless communication device 204 may be used by the core network 202 to identify an isolation area 206.

The core network 202 may be configured to transmit, to the radio access network node 201, a first paging message for the one or more second wireless communication devices 205. The first paging message may comprise, for example, the application identifier of the proximity service application, an identifier of the first wireless communication device 204, such as a temporary mobile subscriber identity (TMSI) of the first wireless communication device 204 and the location of the first wireless communication device 204. Optionally, the first paging message may also comprise a paging ring radius for a paging area 207 around the first wireless communication device 204.

Upon receiving the first paging message transmitted by the core network 202, the radio access network node 201 may be configured to generate a beamforming configuration for the RIS 203 and transmit the beamforming configuration to the RIS 203 (e.g., if the radio access network node 201 itself is incapable of OAM beamforming, but the RIS 203 is capable of OAM beamforming) .

The beamforming configuration for the RIS 203 may comprise, for example, at least one of: the distance between the RIS 203 and the first wireless communication device 204, the reflection angle of departure from the RIS 203 towards the first wireless communication device 204, and/or the paging ring radius for the paging area 207. The reflection angle of departure indicates the beam shaping direction towards the location of the first wireless communication device 204.

The location of the first wireless communication device 204 may be used by the radio access network node 201 to determine the distance between the RIS 203 and the first wireless communication device 204, as well as the reflection angle of departure from the RIS 203 towards the first wireless communication device 204 for subsequent beamforming by the RIS 203. The radio access network node 201 may be configured to determine the distance between the RIS 203 and the first wireless communication device 204, as well as the reflection angle of departure, with a trigonometric method using the location of the RIS 203, the location of the first wireless communication device 204, and the location of the network node 201.

The radio access network node 201 may be configured to transmit, to the RIS 203, a second paging message for the one or more second wireless communication devices 205 in the paging area 207 around the first wireless communication device 204. The second paging message comprises at least the application identifier of the proximity service application and at least one of: the location of the first wireless communication device 204, and/or a distance between the first wireless communication device 204 and the one or more second wireless communication devices 205. The first wireless communication device 204, the RIS 203, and the radio access network node 201 may be considered as the three vertices of a triangle. The known coordinates of these three vertices can be used to calculate, determine, or compute the length and included angle of any side of the triangle through triangular geometry.

The paging area 207 may have a shape substantially of a ring. The first wireless communication device 204 is not in the paging area 207, and thus the first wireless communication device 204 does not receive the second paging message. In other words, the first wireless communication device 204 is in the isolation area 206 that is excluded from the paging area 207. This kind of paging may also be referred to as fouetté paging herein. The first and second paging messages may also be referred to as enhanced paging messages herein.

The radio access network node 201 may be configured to transmit the beamforming configuration to the RIS 203 in advance of transmitting the second paging message. Alternatively, the beamforming configuration may be transmitted in the second paging message. The RIS 203 may be configured to use the beamforming configuration to reflect the second paging message to the one or more second wireless communication devices 205 in the paging area 207. For example, the RIS 203 may generate a ROAM beam based on the beamforming configuration for reflecting the second paging message.

Alternatively, in some embodiments, the radio access network node 201 is capable of providing the enhanced paging message (e.g., the radio access network node 201 is OAM beamforming capable) . In these embodiments, the radio access network node 201 may transmit the second paging message directly to the one or more second wireless communication devices 205 for example via a ROAM beam. The radio access network node 201 may be configured to determine the distance between the radio access network node 201 and the first wireless communication device 204, as well as the angle of departure from the radio access network node 201 towards the first wireless communication device 204 for beamforming at the radio access network node 201.

In other words, the radio access network node 201 can either directly transmit the second paging message to the one or more second wireless communication devices 205 for example using ROAM beamforming, or generate and transmit the reflection beamforming configuration to the RIS 203 for subsequent passive beam generation, in which case the radio access network node 201 transmits the second paging message to the RIS 203. Since the second paging message is carried by a ROAM beam, the first wireless communication device 204 (isolation target UE) will not receive the second paging message, and the one or more second wireless communication devices 205 located in the ring-shaped beam serving area 207 will receive the second paging message.

If the one or more second wireless communication devices 205 have the proximity service application installed thereon and an application identifier of the installed proximity service application matches with the application identifier of the proximity service application included in the second paging message, the one or more second wireless communication devices 205 may be configured to perform at least one of: respond to the second paging message and establish a new call, display a proximity alert or notification, play an emergency event handling demonstration video, or generate an acousto-optic alarm.

FIG. 3 illustrates a procedure showing control plane signalling between two UEs, an RIS, a radio access network node, and a core network of the wireless communication network shown in FIG. 1 and 2, and operations performed by the RIS, the radio access network node and the core network of the wireless communication network shown in FIG. 1 and 2according to an example embodiment, wherein the RIS is capable of providing an enhanced paging message to UEs.

Referring to FIG. 3, at 301, a radio access network (RAN) node (e.g., access node 104 or radio access network node 201) receives, from a reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) (e.g., RIS 203) , at least one of: location information for the reconfigurable intelligent surface, or an indication that the reconfigurable intelligent surface (e.g., RIS 203) is capable of providing an enhanced paging message. For example, the capability of providing the enhanced paging message may mean that the RIS (e.g., RIS 203) is OAM beamforming capable. The location information for the reconfigurable intelligent surface indicates the location (e.g., latitude and longitude) of the reconfigurable intelligent surface.

The RIS (e.g., RIS 203) may communicate with the radio access network node over a wireless link via an air interface, or over a wired link via a cable, for example, a coaxial cable or a fiber optic cable. The RIS may report (e.g., may transmit or send) the location information and an indication of OAM beamforming capability of the RIS to the radio access network node once the RIS is powered up and the wireless or wired link is available.

In FIG. 3, the radio access network node may correspond to the access node 104 of FIG. 1 or the radio access network node 201 of FIG. 2, the RIS may correspond to the RIS 203 of FIG. 2, UE1 may correspond to the first wireless communication device 204, UE2 may correspond to one of the second wireless communication devices 205, and the core network may correspond to the core network 110 of FIG. 1 or the core network 202 of FIG. 2.

At 302, UE1 (e.g., the first wireless communication device 204 transmits one or more random access channel (RACH) preambles to the radio access network node (e.g., access node 104 or radio access network node 201, wherein the one or more random access channel preambles are transmitted based on a timer associated with a proximity service application of UE1 (e.g., the first wireless communication device 204) .

The proximity service application may control a periodical TAU/RNA update timer instead of, for example, T3412 timer, to initialize a location update procedure. T3412 timer is UE-specific timer, but the timer used herein is an application-specific timer. T3412 timer may be configured with a very long time, for example 50 minutes, which may not be suitable for a proximity service application on a moving UE. The TAU/RNA update procedure is illustrated by 302-313 of FIG. 3.

The proximity service application may determine the location update period and customize the target serving area of a call. The RAN and core network are responsible for delivering the call to a proper UE group in the vicinity of UE1 (e.g., the first wireless communication device 204) (which is to be isolated) with physical layer security.

At 303, the radio access network node (which is enabled to support the ProSe-oriented TAU/RNA update procedure) determines, based on the one or more random access channel preambles received from UE1 (i.e., the first wireless communication device 204) , at least one of: a distance between UE1 (i.e., the first wireless communication device 204) and the radio access network node, or an angle of arrival of the one or more random access channel preambles received from UE1 (i.e., the first wireless communication device 204) .

By using RACH preambles, the radio access network node may be aware of the location of UE1 (i.e., the first wireless communication device 204) , while UE1 (i.e., the first wireless communication device 204) is camping on the cell, and UE1 (i.e., the first wireless communication device 204) does not need to store an RRC connection for positioning UE1.

At 304, the radio access network node transmits, to UE1 (i.e., the first wireless communication device 204) , a random access response (RAR) for uplink resource grant in response to the one or more RACH preambles.

At 305, UE1 (i.e., the first wireless communication device 204) transmits, to the radio access network node, an RRC setup request message in response to the RAR.

At 306, the radio access network node transmits an RRC setup (RRC configuration) to UE1 (i.e., the first wireless communication device 204) in response to the RRC setup request message.

At 307, UE1 (i.e., the first wireless communication device 204) transmits, to the radio access network node, an RRC setup complete message in response to the RRC setup message. The RRC setup complete message comprises at least an application identifier for the proximity service application of UE1 (i.e., the first wireless communication device 204) .

At 308, the radio access network node transmits, to a core network (e.g., an AMF of the core network) , a TAU/RNA request comprising at least the application identifier for the proximity service application and location information for UE1 (i.e., the first wireless communication device 204) . The TAU/RNA request may further comprise an indication that the reconfigurable intelligent surface is capable of providing the enhanced paging message (e.g., OAM beamforming capability) . The TAU/RNA request may be comprised in, for example, an NGAP initial UE message.

The location information for UE1 (i.e., the first wireless communication device 204) may comprise at least one of: the distance between UE1 (i.e., the first wireless communication device 204) and the radio access network node, or the angle of arrival from UE1 (i.e., the first wireless communication device 204) at the radio access network node.

At 309, the core network (e.g., AMF of the core network) determines and stores a location of UE1 (i.e., the first wireless communication device 204) based at least on the location information. For example, the location may mean the latitude and longitude of UE1 (i.e., the first wireless communication device 204) . The determination of the location may be based on the relative position between UE1 (e.g., the first wireless communication device 204) and the radio access network node, as well as the location of the radio access network node (which is known by the core network) .

At 310, the core network (e.g., AMF of the core network) transmits, to the radio access network node, a TAU/RNA accept message indicating an acceptance of the TAU/RNA request.

At 311, the radio access network node transmits the TAU/RNA accept message to UE1 (i.e., the first wireless communication device 204) .

At 312, UE1 (i.e., the first wireless communication device 204) transmits, to the radio access network node, a TAU/RNA complete message.

At 313, the radio access network node transmits the TAU/RNA complete message to the core network (e.g., AMF of the core network) , thus concluding the TAU/RNA update procedure.

At 314, upon receiving a new call for the proximity service application and a request for fouetté paging (i.e., enhanced paging) , the core network (e.g., AMF of the core network) generates and transmits, to the radio access network node, a first paging message for UE2 (e.g., one of the one or more second wireless communication devices 205) . The first paging message comprises at least the application identifier for the proximity service application, an identifier of UE1 (e.g., the first wireless communication device 204) , and the location for UE1 (e.g., the first wireless communication device 204) . The identifier of UE1 may be, for example, a TMSI of UE1 (e.g., TMSI of the first wireless communication device 204) . Optionally, the first paging message may further comprise a paging ring radius for a paging area around UE1 (e.g., the first wireless communication device 204) , the paging area having a shape substantially of a ring.

At 315, the radio access network node generates, based at least on the location of UE1 (e.g., the first wireless communication device 204) included in the first paging message, a beamforming configuration for the reconfigurable intelligent surface, wherein the beamforming configuration comprises at least one of: a reflection angle of departure from the reconfigurable intelligent surface towards UE1 (e.g., the first wireless communication device 204) , a distance between the reconfigurable intelligent surface and UE1 (e.g., the first wireless communication device 204) , or the paging ring radius of the paging area. The beamforming configuration may also be referred to as a reflection OAM beamforming configuration. The reflection angle of departure indicates the beam shaping direction towards the location of UE1 (e.g., the first wireless communication device 204) .

The radio access network node may determine, based on the location information of the reconfigurable intelligent surface, the location of UE1 (e.g., the first wireless communication device 204) , and a location of the radio access network node, at least one of: the distance between the reconfigurable intelligent surface and UE1 (e.g., the first wireless communication device 204) , or the reflection angle of departure from the reconfigurable intelligent surface towards UE1 (e.g., the first wireless communication device 204) . That is, the beamforming configuration may be generated using the RIS location, the location of UE1 (e.g., the first wireless communication device 204) , and the location of the radio access network node.

At 316, the radio access network node transmits the beamforming configuration to the reconfigurable intelligent surface to be used for reflecting a second paging message from the reconfigurable intelligent surface to UE2 (e.g., one of the one or more second wireless communication devices 205) in the paging area around UE1 (e.g., the first wireless communication device 204) , the paging area having a shape substantially of a ring, wherein UE1 (e.g., the first wireless communication device 204) is not in the paging area.

At 317, based on the beamforming configuration, the reconfigurable intelligent surface generates a beam, for example a rotating orbital angular momentum beam, and waits for a subsequent paging message (i.e., the second paging message) . The rotating orbital angular momentum beam may also be referred to as a Laguerre-Gaussian beam.

At 318, the radio network node transmits, to the reconfigurable intelligent surface, the second paging message for UE2 (e.g., the one of the one or more second wireless communication devices 205) in the paging area around UE1 (e.g., the first wireless communication device 204) , wherein the second paging message comprises at least the application identifier for the proximity services application and at least one of: the location of UE1 (e.g., the first wireless communication device 204) , or a distance between UE1 (e.g., the first wireless communication device 204) and UE2 (e.g., the one of the one or more second wireless communication devices 205) . Herein the distance may refer to the paging ring radius that may be provided by the core network. Alternatively, the distance may depend on the OAM beamforming capability of the radio access network node.

At 319, the reconfigurable intelligent surface reflects the second paging message to UE2 (e.g., the one of the one or more second wireless communication devices 205) using the beam generated at 317. UE2 (e.g., the one of the one or more second wireless communication devices 205) , which are located in the paging area and have the proximity service application installed, receive the second paging message.

At 320, UE2 (e.g., the one of the one or more second wireless communication devices 205) handles the second paging message for example by performing at least one of: transmitting a response message in response to the second paging message, establishing a new call, displaying a proximity alert, playing an emergency event handling demonstration video, or generating an acousto-optic alarm. UE2 (e.g., the one of the one or more second wireless communication devices 205) may transmit the response message directly to the radio access network node, or to the reconfigurable intelligent surface to be reflected to the radio access network node.

FIG. 4 illustrates a procedure showing control plane signalling between two UEs, an RIS, a radio access network node, and a core network of the wireless communication network shown in FIG. 1 and 2, and operations performed by the RIS, the radio access network node and the core network of the wireless communication network shown in FIG. 1 and 2 according to an example embodiment, wherein the radio access network node is capable of providing the enhanced paging message.

Referring to FIG. 4, at 401, UE1 (e.g., a first wireless communication device 204 transmits one or more random access channel (RACH) preambles to a radio access network node (e.g., access node 104 or radio access network node 201) , wherein the one or more random access channel preambles are transmitted based on a timer associated with a proximity service application of UE1 (e.g., the first wireless communication device 204) .

The proximity service application may control a periodical TAU/RNA update timer instead of, for example, T3412 timer, to initialize a location update procedure. T3412 timer is UE-specific timer, but the timer used herein is an application-specific timer. T3412 timer may be configured with a very long time, for example 50 minutes, which may not be suitable for a proximity service application on a moving UE. The TAU/RNA update procedure is illustrated by 401-412 of FIG. 4.

The proximity service application may determine the location update period and customize the target serving area of a call. The RAN and core network are responsible of delivering the call to a proper UE group in the vicinity of UE1 (e.g., the first wireless communication device 204) (which is to be isolated) with physical layer security.

UE 1 may correspond to the first wireless communication device 204 of FIG. 2. The radio access network node may correspond to the access node 104 of FIG. 1 or the radio access network node 201 of FIG. 2.

At 402, the radio access network node (which is enabled to support the ProSe-oriented TAU/RNA update procedure) determines, based on the one or more random access channel preambles received from UE1 (e.g., the first wireless communication device 204) , at least one of: a distance between UE1 (e.g., the first wireless communication device 204) and the radio access network node, or an angle of arrival of the one or more random access channel preambles received from UE1 (e.g.., the first wireless communication device 204) .

By using the one or more RACH preambles, the radio access network node may be aware of the location of UE1 (e.g., the first wireless communication device 204) , while UE1 (e.g., the first wireless communication device 204) is camping on the cell, and UE1 (e.g., the first wireless communication device 204) does not need to store an RRC connection for positioning purposes.

At 403, the radio access network node transmits, to UE1 (e.g., the first wireless communication device 204) , a random access response (RAR) for uplink resource grant in response to the one or more RACH preambles.

At 404, UE1 (e.g., the first wireless communication device 204) transmits, to the radio access network node, an RRC setup request message in response to the RAR.

At 405, the radio access network node transmits an RRC setup (RRC configuration) to UE1 (e.g., the first wireless communication device 204) in response to the RRC setup request message.

At 406, UE1 (e.g., the first wireless communication device 204) transmits, to the radio access network node, an RRC setup complete message in response to the RRC setup message. The RRC setup complete message comprises at least an application identifier for the proximity service application of UE1 (e.g., the first wireless communication device 204) .

At 407, the radio access network node transmits, to a core network (e.g., an AMF of the core network) , a TAU/RNA request comprising at least the application identifier of the proximity services application and location information for UE1 (e.g., the first wireless communication device 204) . The TAU/RNA request may further comprise an indication that the radio access network node is capable of providing an enhanced paging message (e.g., OAM beamforming capability) . The TAU/RNA request may be comprised in, for example, an NGAP initial UE message.

The location information for UE1 (e.g., the first wireless communication device 204) may comprise at least one of: the distance between UE1 (e.g., the first wireless communication device 204) and the radio access network node, or the angle of arrival from UE1 (e.g., the first wireless communication device 204) at the radio access network node.

The core network may correspond to the core network 110 of FIG. 1 or the core network 202 of FIG. 2.

At 408, the core network (e.g., AMF of the core network) determines and stores a location of UE1 (e.g., the first wireless communication device 204) based at least on the location information. For example, the location may mean the latitude and longitude of UE1 (e.g., the first wireless communication device 204) . The determination of the location may be based on the relative position between UE1 (e.g., the first wireless communication device 204) and the radio access network node, as well as the location of the radio access network node (which is known by the core network) .

At 409, the core network (e.g., AMF of the core network) transmits, to the radio access network node, a TAU/RNA accept message indicating an acceptance of the TAU/RNA request.

At 410, the radio access network node transmits the TAU/RNA accept message to UE1 (e.g., the first wireless communication device 204) .

At 411, UE1 (e.g., the first wireless communication device 204) transmits, to the radio access network node, a TAU/RNA complete message.

At 412, the radio access network node transmits the TAU/RNA complete message to the core network (e.g., AMF of the core network) , thus concluding the TAU/RNA update procedure.

At 413, upon receiving a new call for the proximity service application and a request for fouetté paging (i.e., enhanced paging) , the core network (e.g., AMF of the core network) generates and transmits, to the radio access network node, a first paging message for UE2 (e.g., one of the one or more second wireless communication devices 205) . The first paging message comprises at least the application identifier of the proximity services application, an identifier of UE1 (e.g., the first wireless communication device 204) , and the location of UE1 (e.g., the first wireless communication device 204) . The identifier of UE1 may be, for example, a TMSI of UE1 (e.g., TMSI of the first wireless communication device 204) . Optionally, the first paging message may further comprise a paging ring radius for a paging area around UE1 (e.g., the first wireless communication device 204) , the paging area having a shape substantially of a ring.

UE2 may correspond to one of the one or more second wireless communication devices 205 of FIG. 2.

At 414, the radio access network node performs beamforming, for example Laguerre-Gaussian orbital angular momentum beamforming, based on an angle of departure from the radio access network towards UE1 (e.g., the first wireless communication device 204) , and a distance between the radio access network node and UE1 (e.g., the first wireless communication device 204) . The beamforming may also be based on the paging ring radius, if the core network includes the paging ring radius in the first paging message. The angle of departure indicates the beam shaping direction towards the location of UE1 (e.g., the first wireless communication device 204) .

The radio access network node may determine, based at least on the location of UE1 (e.g., the first wireless communication device 204) , the angle of departure from the radio access network node towards UE1 (e.g., the first wireless communication device 204) , and the distance between the radio access network node and UE1 (e.g., the first wireless communication device 204) .

At 415, the radio access network node uses the beam generated at 414 to transmit, to UE2 (e.g., the one of the one or more second wireless communication devices 205) , the second paging message for UE2 (e.g., the one of the one or more second wireless communication devices 205) included in the paging area around UE1 (e.g., the first wireless communication device 20) , wherein the second paging message comprises at least the application identifier for the proximity services application and at least one of: the location of UE1 (e.g., the first wireless communication device 204) , or a distance between UE1 (e.g., the first wireless communication device 204) and UE2 (e.g., the one of the one or more second wireless communication devices. Herein the distance may refer to the paging ring radius that may be indicated by the core network. Alternatively, the distance may depend on the OAM beamforming capability of the radio access network node.

UE2 (e.g., the one of the or more second wireless communication devices 205) , which are located in the paging area and have the proximity service application installed, receive the second paging message.

At 416, UE2 (e.g., the one of the or more second wireless communication devices 205) handle the second paging message for example by performing at least one of: transmitting a response message to the radio access network node in response to the second paging message, establishing a new call, displaying a proximity alert, playing an emergency event handling demonstration video, or generating an acousto-optic alarm.

FIG. 5 illustrates a flow chart according to an example embodiment of a method performed by an apparatus of a radio access network node. The radio access network node may correspond to the access node 104 of FIG. 1, or to the network node 201 of FIG. 2.

Referring to FIG. 5, in block 501, at least an application identifier for a proximity service application of a first wireless communication device, and location information of the first wireless communication device are transmitted to a core network.

The location information of the first wireless communication device may comprise at least one of: a distance between the first wireless communication device and the apparatus, or an angle of arrival from the first wireless communication device at the apparatus.

In block 502, a first paging message for one or more second wireless communication devices is received from the core network, wherein the first paging message comprises at least the application identifier, an identifier of the first wireless communication device, and a location of the first wireless communication device.

The first paging message may further comprise a paging ring radius for a paging area around the first wireless communication device.

In block 503, based at least on the first paging message, a second paging message for the one or more second wireless communication devices is transmitted to a reconfigurable intelligent surface or to the one or more second wireless communication devices in the paging area around the first wireless communication device, wherein the second paging message comprises at least the application identifier and at least one of: the location of the first wireless communication device, or a distance between the first wireless communication device and the one or more second wireless communication devices.

The apparatus may determine, based at least on the location of the first wireless communication device, an angle of departure from the apparatus towards the first wireless communication device, and a distance between the apparatus and the first wireless communication device, wherein the second paging message may be transmitted, based at least on the angle of departure and the distance between the apparatus and the first wireless communication device, to the one or more second wireless communication devices in the paging area around the first wireless communication device, the paging area having a shape substantially of a ring, wherein the first wireless communication device is not in the paging area.

The apparatus may transmit, to the core network, an indication that the apparatus is capable of providing an enhanced paging service.

The apparatus may generate, based at least on the location of the first wireless communication device in the first paging message, a beamforming configuration for the reconfigurable intelligent surface, wherein the beamforming configuration may comprise at least one of: a reflection angle of departure from the reconfigurable intelligent surface towards the first wireless communication device, a distance between the reconfigurable intelligent surface and the first wireless communication device, or a paging ring radius of the paging area; and transmit the beamforming configuration to the reconfigurable intelligent surface to be used for reflecting the second paging message from the reconfigurable intelligent surface to the one or more second wireless communication devices in the paging area around the first wireless communication device, the paging area having a shape substantially of a ring, wherein the first wireless communication device is not in the paging area.

The apparatus may transmit, to the core network, an indication that the reconfigurable intelligent surface is capable of providing an enhanced paging service.

The apparatus may receive, from the reconfigurable intelligent surface, at least one of: location information of the reconfigurable intelligent surface, or the indication that the reconfigurable intelligent surface is capable of providing the enhanced paging service.

The apparatus may determine, based on the location information of the reconfigurable intelligent surface, the location of the first wireless communication device, and a location of the apparatus, at least one of: the distance between the reconfigurable intelligent surface and the first wireless communication device, or the reflection angle of departure from the reconfigurable intelligent surface towards the first wireless communication device.

The apparatus may receive, from the first wireless communication device, a message comprising at least the application identifier.

The apparatus may determine, based on one or more random access channel preambles received from the first wireless communication device, at least one of: the distance between the first wireless communication device and the apparatus, or the angle of arrival of the one or more random access channel preambles received from the first wireless communication device.

FIG. 6 illustrates a flow chart according to an example embodiment of a method performed by an AMF of a core network. The core network may correspond to the core network 110 of FIG. 1, or to the core network 202 of FIG. 2.

Referring to FIG. 6, the method performed by the AMF of the core network begins at block 601. At block 601, at least an application identifier for a proximity service application of a first wireless communication device, and location information of the first wireless communication device are received from a radio access network node. The method then proceeds to block 602.

At block 602, a first paging message for one or more second wireless communication devices is generated.

At block 603, the first paging message is transmitted to the radio access network node, wherein the first paging message comprises at least the application identifier, an identifier of the first wireless communication device, and a location of the first wireless communication device.

In some embodiments of the method performed by the AMF of the core network, the first paging message may further comprise a paging ring radius for a paging area around the first wireless communication device, the paging area having a shape substantially of a ring.

In some embodiments of the method performed by the AMF of the core network, the location information of the first wireless communication device may comprise at least one of the following: a distance between the first wireless communication device and the radio access network node, or an angle of arrival from the first wireless communication device at the radio access network node.

In some embodiments of the method performed by the AMF of the core network, the AMF may receive, from the radio access network node, an indication that the radio access network node is capable of providing an enhanced paging service or an indication that a reconfigurable intelligent surface is capable of providing the enhanced paging service.

FIG. 7 illustrates a flow chart according to an example embodiment of a method performed by an apparatus. For example, the apparatus may be, or comprise, or be comprised in, a first wireless communication device. The first wireless communication device may also be called a subscriber unit, mobile station, remote terminal, access terminal, user terminal, terminal device, user device, user equipment (UE) , or isolation target UE. The first wireless communication device may correspond to one of the UEs 100, 102 of FIG. 1, or to the first wireless communication device 204 of FIG. 2.

Referring to FIG. 7, in block 701, one or more random access channel preambles are transmitted to a radio access network node, wherein the one or more random access channel preambles are transmitted based on a timer associated with a proximity service application of the first wireless communication device.

In block 702, a message comprising at least an application identifier associated with the proximity service application is transmitted to the radio access network node.

The blocks, related functions, and information exchanges (messages) described above by means of FIGS. 3-7 are in no absolute chronological order, and some of them may be performed simultaneously or in an order differing from the described one. Other functions can also be executed between them or within them, and other information may be sent, and/or other rules applied. Some of the blocks or part of the blocks or one or more pieces of information can also be left out or replaced by a corresponding block or part of the block or one or more pieces of information.

As used herein, “at least one of the following: <a list of two or more elements>” and “at least one of <a list of two or more elements>” and similar wording, where the list of two or more elements are joined by “and” or “or” , mean at least any one of the elements, or at least any two or more of the elements, or at least all the elements.

FIG. 8 illustrates an example of an apparatus 800 comprising means for performing one or more of the example embodiments described above. For example, the apparatus 800 may be an apparatus such as, or comprising, or comprised in, a first wireless communication device. The first wireless communication device may correspond to one of the UEs 100, 102 of FIG. 1, or to the first wireless communication device 204 or one of the second wireless communication devices 205 of FIG. 2. The first wireless communication device may also be called a subscriber unit, mobile station, remote terminal, access terminal, user terminal, terminal device, user device, user equipment (UE) , or isolation target UE.

The apparatus 800 may comprise a circuitry or a chipset applicable for realizing one or more of the example embodiments described above. For example, the apparatus 800 may comprise at least one processor 810. The at least one processor 810 interprets instructions (e.g., computer program instructions) and processes data. The at least one processor 810 may comprise one or more programmable processors. The at least one processor 810 may comprise programmable hardware with embedded firmware and may, alternatively or additionally, comprise one or more application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) .

The at least one processor 810 is coupled to at least one memory 820. The at least one processor is configured to read and write data to and from the at least one memory 820. The at least one memory 820 may comprise one or more memory units. The memory units may be volatile or non-volatile. It is to be noted that there may be one or more units of non-volatile memory and one or more units of volatile memory or, alternatively, one or more units of non-volatile memory, or, alternatively, one or more units of volatile memory. Volatile memory may be for example random-access memory (RAM) , dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) or synchronous dynamic random-access memory (SDRAM) . Non-volatile memory may be for example read-only memory (ROM) , programmable read-only memory (PROM) , electronically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM) , flash memory, optical storage or magnetic storage. In general, memories may be referred to as non-transitory computer readable media. The term “non-transitory, ” as used herein, is a limitation of the medium itself (i.e., tangible, not a signal) as opposed to a limitation on data storage persistency (e.g., RAM vs. ROM) . The at least one memory 820 stores computer readable instructions that are executed by the at least one processor 810 to perform one or more of the example embodiments described above. For example, non-volatile memory stores the computer readable instructions, and the at least one processor 810 executes the instructions using volatile memory for temporary storage of data and/or instructions. The computer readable instructions may refer to computer program code.

The computer readable instructions may have been pre-stored to the at least one memory 820 or, alternatively or additionally, they may be received, by the apparatus, via an electromagnetic carrier signal and/or may be copied from a physical entity such as a computer program product. Execution of the computer readable instructions by the at least one processor 810 causes the apparatus 800 to perform one or more of the example embodiments described above. That is, the at least one processor and the at least one memory storing the instructions may provide the means for providing or causing the performance of any of the methods and/or blocks described above.

In the context of this document, a “memory” or “computer-readable media” or “computer-readable medium” may be any non-transitory media or medium or means that can contain, store, communicate, propagate or transport the instructions for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device, such as a computer. The term “non-transitory, ” as used herein, is a limitation of the medium itself (i.e., tangible, not a signal) as opposed to a limitation on data storage persistency (e.g., RAM vs. ROM) .

The apparatus 800 may further comprise, or be connected to, an input unit 830. The input unit 830 may comprise one or more interfaces for receiving input. The one or more interfaces may comprise for example one or more temperature, motion and/or orientation sensors, one or more cameras, one or more accelerometers, one or more microphones, one or more buttons and/or one or more touch detection units. Further, the input unit 830 may comprise an interface to which external devices may connect to.

The apparatus 800 may also comprise an output unit 840. The output unit may comprise or be connected to one or more displays capable of rendering visual content, such as a light emitting diode (LED) display, a liquid crystal display (LCD) and/or a liquid crystal on silicon (LCoS) display. The output unit 840 may further comprise one or more audio outputs. The one or more audio outputs may be for example loudspeakers.

The apparatus 800 further comprises a connectivity unit 850. The connectivity unit 850 enables wireless connectivity to one or more external devices. The connectivity unit 850 comprises at least one transmitter and at least one receiver that may be integrated to the apparatus 800 or that the apparatus 800 may be connected to. The at least one transmitter comprises at least one transmission antenna, and the at least one receiver comprises at least one receiving antenna. The connectivity unit 850 may comprise an integrated circuit or a set of integrated circuits that provide the wireless communication capability for the apparatus 800. Alternatively, the wireless connectivity may be a hardwired application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) . The connectivity unit 850 may also provide means for performing at least some of the blocks of one or more example embodiments described above. The connectivity unit 850 may comprise one or more components, such as: power amplifier, digital front end (DFE) , analog-to-digital converter (ADC) , digital-to-analog converter (DAC) , frequency converter, (de) modulator, and/or encoder/decoder circuitries, controlled by the corresponding controlling units.

It is to be noted that the apparatus 800 may further comprise various components not illustrated in FIG. 8. The various components may be hardware components and/or software components.

FIG. 9 illustrates an example of an apparatus 900 of a radio access network node, the apparatus 900 comprising means for performing one or more of the example embodiments described above, for example, blocks of the method shown in FIG. 5. For example, the apparatus 900 may comprise, or be comprised in, a radio access network node of a radio access network. The radio network node may correspond to the access node 104 of FIG. 1, or to the radio network node 201 of FIG. 2. The radio access network node may also be referred to, for example, as a, a next generation radio access network (NG-RAN) node, a NodeB, an eNB, a gNB, a base transceiver station (BTS) , a base station, an NR base station, a 5G base station, an access node, an access point (AP) , a relay node, a repeater, an integrated access and backhaul (IAB) node, an IAB donor node, or a transmission and reception point (TRP) .

The apparatus 900 may comprise, for example, a circuitry or a chipset applicable for realizing one or more of the example embodiments described above. The apparatus 900 may be an electronic device comprising one or more electronic circuitries. The apparatus 900 may comprise a communication control circuitry 910 such as at least one processor, and at least one memory 920 storing instructions 922 which, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus 900 to carry out one or more of the example embodiments described above. Such instructions 922 may, for example, include computer program code (software) . The at least one processor and the at least one memory storing the instructions may provide the means for providing or causing the performance of any of the methods and/or blocks described above.

The processor is coupled to the memory 920. The processor is configured to read and write data to and from the memory 920. The memory 920 may comprise one or more memory units. The memory units may be volatile or non-volatile. It is to be noted that there may be one or more units of non-volatile memory and one or more units of volatile memory or, alternatively, one or more units of non-volatile memory, or, alternatively, one or more units of volatile memory. Volatile memory may be for example random-access memory (RAM) , dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) or synchronous dynamic random-access memory (SDRAM) . Non-volatile memory may be for example read-only memory (ROM) , programmable read-only memory (PROM) , electronically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM) , flash memory, optical storage or magnetic storage. In general, memories may be referred to as non-transitory computer readable media. The term “non-transitory, ” as used herein, is a limitation of the medium itself (i.e., tangible, not a signal) as opposed to a limitation on data storage persistency (e.g., RAM vs. ROM) . The memory 920 stores computer readable instructions that are executed by the processor. For example, non-volatile memory stores the computer readable instructions, and the processor executes the instructions using volatile memory for temporary storage of data and/or instructions.

The computer readable instructions may have been pre-stored to the memory 920 or, alternatively or additionally, they may be received, by the apparatus, via an electromagnetic carrier signal and/or may be copied from a physical entity such as a computer program product. Execution of the computer readable instructions causes the apparatus 900 to perform one or more of the functionalities described above.

The memory 920 may be implemented using any suitable data storage technology, such as semiconductor-based memory devices, flash memory, magnetic memory devices and systems, optical memory devices and systems, fixed memory and/or removable memory. The memory may comprise a configuration database for storing configuration data, such as a current neighbour cell list, and, in some example embodiments, structures of frames used in the detected neighbour cells.

The apparatus 900 may further comprise or be connected to a communication interface 930, such as a radio unit, comprising hardware and/or software for realizing communication connectivity with one or more wireless communication devices according to one or more communication protocols. The communication interface 930 comprises at least one transmitter (Tx) and at least one receiver (Rx) that may be integrated to the apparatus 900 or that the apparatus 900 may be connected to. The communication interface 930 may provide means for performing some of the blocks for one or more example embodiments described above. The communication interface 930 may comprise one or more components, such as: power amplifier, digital front end (DFE) , analog-to-digital converter (ADC) , digital-to-analog converter (DAC) , frequency converter, (de) modulator, and/or encoder/decoder circuitries, controlled by the corresponding controlling units.

The communication interface 930 provides the apparatus with radio communication capabilities to communicate in the wireless communication network. The communication interface may, for example, provide a radio interface to one or more wireless communication devices. The apparatus 900 may further comprise or be connected to another interface towards a core network such as the network coordinator apparatus or AMF, and/or to the access nodes of the cellular communication system.

The apparatus 900 may further comprise a scheduler 940 that is configured to allocate radio resources. The scheduler 940 may be configured along with the communication control circuitry 910 or it may be separately configured.

It is to be noted that the apparatus 900 may further comprise various components not illustrated in FIG. 9. The various components may be hardware components and/or software components.

FIG. 10 illustrates an example of an apparatus 1000 of a core network, the apparatus 1000 comprising means for performing operations of the one or more of the example embodiments described above. For example, in some embodiments, the means may be an access and mobility management function (AMF) of the core network for performing operations 309-314, operations 409-414, or the operations of blocks 601-603 described above. In some embodiments, the means may be network function virtualization infrastructure configured to instantiate one or more network functions of the core network, including an access and mobility function. The core network may correspond to the core network 110 of FIG. 1, or to the core network 202 of FIG. 2.

The apparatus 1000 may comprise, for example, a circuitry or a chipset applicable for realizing one or more of the example embodiments described above. The apparatus 1000 may be an electronic device or computing system comprising one or more electronic circuitries. The apparatus 1000 may comprise a control circuitry 1010 such as at least one processor, and at least one memory 1020 storing instructions 1022 which, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus 1000 to carry out one or more of the example embodiments described above. The instructions 1022 may comprise instructions of the AMF. Such instructions 1022 may, for example, include computer program code (software) . The at least one processor and the at least one memory storing the instructions may provide the means for providing or causing the performance of the method shown in FIG. 6 and/or operations described in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 above.

The processor is coupled to the memory 1020. The processor is configured to read and write data to and from the memory 1020. The memory 1020 may comprise one or more memory units. The memory units may be volatile or non-volatile. It is to be noted that there may be one or more units of non-volatile memory and one or more units of volatile memory or, alternatively, one or more units of non-volatile memory, or, alternatively, one or more units of volatile memory. Volatile memory may be for example random-access memory (RAM) , dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) or synchronous dynamic random-access memory (SDRAM) . Non-volatile memory may be for example read-only memory (ROM) , programmable read-only memory (PROM) , electronically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM) , flash memory, optical storage or magnetic storage. In general, memories may be referred to as non-transitory computer readable media. The term “non-transitory, ” as used herein, is a limitation of the medium itself (i.e., tangible, not a signal) as opposed to a limitation on data storage persistency (e.g., RAM vs. ROM) . The memory 1020 stores computer readable instructions that are executed by the processor. For example, non-volatile memory stores the computer readable instructions, and the processor executes the instructions using volatile memory for temporary storage of data and/or instructions.

The computer readable instructions may have been pre-stored to the memory 1020 or, alternatively or additionally, they may be received, by the apparatus, via an electromagnetic carrier signal and/or may be copied from a physical entity such as a computer program product. Execution of the computer readable instructions causes the apparatus 1000 to perform one or more of the functionalities described above.

The memory 1020 may be implemented using any suitable data storage technology, such as semiconductor-based memory devices, flash memory, magnetic memory devices and systems, optical memory devices and systems, fixed memory and/or removable memory.

The apparatus 1000 may further comprise or be connected to a communication interface 1030 comprising hardware and/or software for realizing communication connectivity according to one or more communication protocols. The communication interface 1030 may comprise at least one transmitter (Tx) and at least one receiver (Rx) that may be integrated to the apparatus 1000 or that the apparatus 1000 may be connected to. The communication interface 1030 may provide means for performing some of the blocks for one or more example embodiments described above. The communication interface 1030 may comprise one or more components, such as: power amplifier, digital front end (DFE) , analog- to-digital converter (ADC) , digital-to-analog converter (DAC) , frequency converter, (de) modulator, and/or encoder/decoder circuitries, controlled by the corresponding controlling units.

The communication interface 1030 provides the apparatus with communication capabilities to communicate in the cellular communication system. The communication interface may, for example, provide a radio, cable or fiber interface to one or more radio access network nodes of a radio access network.

It is to be noted that the apparatus 1000 may further comprise various components not illustrated in FIG. 10. The various components may be hardware components and/or software components.

As used in this application, the term “circuitry” may refer to one or more or all of the following: a) hardware-only circuit implementations (such as implementations in only analog and/or digital circuitry) ; and b) combinations of hardware circuits and software, such as (as applicable) : i) a combination of analog and/or digital hardware circuit (s) with software/firmware and ii) any portions of hardware processor (s) with software (including digital signal processor (s) , software, and memory (ies) that work together to cause an apparatus, such as a mobile phone, to perform various functions) ; and c) hardware circuit (s) and/or processor (s) , such as a microprocessor (s) or a portion of a microprocessor (s) , that requires software (for example firmware) for operation, but the software may not be present when it is not needed for operation.

This definition of circuitry applies to all uses of this term in this application, including in any claims. As a further example, as used in this application, the term circuitry also covers an implementation of merely a hardware circuit or processor (or multiple processors) or portion of a hardware circuit or processor and its (or their) accompanying software and/or firmware. The term circuitry also covers, for example and if applicable to the particular claim element, a baseband integrated circuit or processor integrated circuit for a mobile device or a similar integrated circuit in server, a cellular network device, or other computing or network device.

The techniques and methods described herein may be implemented by various means. For example, these techniques may be implemented in hardware (one or more devices) , firmware (one or more devices) , software (one or more modules) , or combinations thereof. For a hardware implementation, the apparatus (es) of example embodiments may be implemented within one or more application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) , digital signal processors (DSPs) , digital signal processing devices (DSPDs) , programmable logic devices (PLDs) , field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) , graphics processing units (GPUs) , processors, controllers, micro-controllers, microprocessors, other electronic units designed to perform the functions described herein, or a combination thereof. For firmware or software, the implementation can be carried out through modules of at least one chipset (for example procedures, functions, and so on) that perform the functions described herein. The software codes may be stored in a memory unit and executed by processors. The memory unit may be implemented within the processor or externally to the processor. In the latter case, it can be communicatively coupled to the processor via various means, as is known in the art. Additionally, the components of the systems described herein may be rearranged and/or complemented by additional components in order to facilitate the achievements of the various aspects, etc., described with regard thereto, and they are not limited to the precise configurations set forth in the given figures, as will be appreciated by one skilled in the art.

It will be obvious to a person skilled in the art that, as technology advances, the inventive concept may be implemented in various ways. The embodiments are not limited to the example embodiments described above, but may vary within the scope of the claims. Therefore, all words and expressions should be interpreted broadly, and they are intended to illustrate, not to restrict, the example embodiments.

Claims

An apparatus of a radio access network node, the apparatus comprising at least one processor, and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to:

transmit, to a core network, at least an application identifier for a proximity service application of a first wireless communication device, and location information of the first wireless communication device;

receive, from the core network, a first paging message for one or more second wireless communication devices, wherein the first paging message comprises at least the application identifier, an identifier of the first wireless communication device, and a location of the first wireless communication device; and

transmit, based at least on the first paging message, to a reconfigurable intelligent surface or to the one or more second wireless communication devices, a second paging message for the one or more second wireless communication devices in a paging area around the first wireless communication device, wherein the second paging message comprises at least the application identifier and at least one of: the location of the first wireless communication device, or a distance between the first wireless communication device and the one or more second wireless communication devices.
The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor further cause the apparatus to:

determine, based at least on the location of the first wireless communication device, an angle of departure from the apparatus towards the first wireless communication device, and a distance between the apparatus and the first wireless communication device,

wherein the second paging message is transmitted, based at least on the angle of departure and the distance between the apparatus and the first wireless communication device, to the one or more second wireless communication devices in the paging area around the first wireless communication device, the paging area having a shape substantially of a ring, wherein the first wireless communication device is not in the paging area.
The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor further cause the apparatus to:

transmit, to the core network, an indication that the apparatus is capable of providing an enhanced paging service.
The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor further cause the apparatus to:

generate, based at least on the location of the first wireless communication device in the first paging message, a beamforming configuration for the reconfigurable intelligent surface, wherein the beamforming configuration comprises at least one of: a reflection angle of departure from the reconfigurable intelligent surface towards the first wireless communication device, a distance between the reconfigurable intelligent surface and the first wireless communication device, or a paging ring radius of the paging area; and

transmit the beamforming configuration to the reconfigurable intelligent surface to be used for reflecting the second paging message from the reconfigurable intelligent surface to the one or more second wireless communication devices in the paging area around the first wireless communication device, the paging area having a shape substantially of a ring, wherein the first wireless communication device is not in the paging area.
The apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor further cause the apparatus to:

transmit, to the core network, an indication that the reconfigurable intelligent surface is capable of providing an enhanced paging service.
The apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor further cause the apparatus to:

receive, from the reconfigurable intelligent surface, at least one of: location information of the reconfigurable intelligent surface, or the indication that the reconfigurable intelligent surface is capable of providing the enhanced paging service.
The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor further cause the apparatus to:

determine, based on the location information of the reconfigurable intelligent surface, the location of the first wireless communication device, and a location of the apparatus, at least one of: the distance between the reconfigurable intelligent surface and the first wireless communication device, or the reflection angle of departure from the reconfigurable intelligent surface towards the first wireless communication device.
The apparatus according to any preceding claim, wherein the instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor further cause the apparatus to:

receive, from the first wireless communication device, a message comprising at least the application identifier.
The apparatus according to any preceding claim, wherein the first paging message further comprises a paging ring radius for the paging area around the first wireless communication device.
The apparatus according to any preceding claim, wherein the location information of the first wireless communication device comprises at least one of: a distance between the first wireless communication device and the apparatus, or an angle of arrival from the first wireless communication device at the apparatus.
The apparatus according to claim 10, further being caused to:

determine, based on one or more random access channel preambles received from the first wireless communication device, at least one of: the distance between the first wireless communication device and the apparatus, or the angle of arrival of the one or more random access channel preambles received from the first wireless communication device.
An apparatus of a core network, the apparatus comprising at least one processor, and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to:

receive, from a radio access network node, at least an application identifier for a proximity service application of a first wireless communication device, and location information of the first wireless communication device;

generate a first paging message for one or more second wireless communication devices; and

transmit, to the radio access network node, the first paging message, wherein the first paging message comprises at least the application identifier, an identifier of the first wireless communication device, and a location of the first wireless communication device.
The apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor further cause the apparatus to:

receive, from the radio access network node, an indication that the radio access network node is capable of providing an enhanced paging service or an indication that a reconfigurable intelligent surface is capable of providing the enhanced paging service.
The apparatus according to any of claims 12-13, wherein the location information of the first wireless communication device comprises at least one of the following: a distance between the first wireless communication device and the radio access network node, or an angle of arrival from the first wireless communication device at the radio access network node.
The apparatus according to any of claims 12-14, wherein the first paging message further comprises a paging ring radius for a paging area around the first wireless communication device, the paging area having a shape substantially of a ring.
A first wireless communication device, the first wireless communication device comprising at least one processor, and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the first wireless communication device at least to:

transmit one or more random access channel preambles to a radio access network node, wherein the one or more random access channel preambles are transmitted based on a timer associated with a proximity service application of the first wireless communication device; and

transmit, to the radio access network node, a message comprising at least an application identifier associated with the proximity service application.
An apparatus of a radio access network node, the apparatus comprising:

means for transmitting, to a core network, at least an application identifier for a proximity service application of a first wireless communication device, and location information of the first wireless communication device;

means for receiving, from the core network, a first paging message for one or more second wireless communication devices, wherein the first paging message comprises at least the application identifier, an identifier of the first wireless communication device, and a location of the first wireless communication device; and

means for transmitting, based at least on the first paging message, to a reconfigurable intelligent surface or to the one or more second wireless communication devices, a second paging message for the one or more second wireless communication devices in a paging area around the first wireless communication device, wherein the second paging message comprises at least the application identifier and at least one of: the location of the first wireless communication device, or a distance between the first wireless communication device and the one or more second wireless communication devices.
An apparatus of a core network, the apparatus comprising:

means for receiving, from a radio access network node, at least an application identifier for a proximity service application of a first wireless communication device, and location information of the first wireless communication device;

means for generating a first paging message for one or more second wireless communication devices; and

means for transmitting, to the radio access network node, the first paging message, wherein the first paging message comprises at least the application identifier, an identifier of the first wireless communication device, and a location of the first wireless communication device.
A first wireless communication device comprising:

means for transmitting one or more random access channel preambles to a radio access network node, wherein the one or more random access channel preambles are transmitted based on a timer associated with a proximity service application of the first wireless communication device; and

means for transmitting, to the radio access network node, a message comprising at least an application identifier associated with the proximity service application.
A method comprising:

transmitting, by an apparatus of a radio access network node, to a core network, at least an application identifier for a proximity service application of a first wireless communication device, and location information of the first wireless communication device;

receiving, by the apparatus, from the core network, a first paging message for one or more second wireless communication devices, wherein the first paging message comprises at least the application identifier, an identifier of the first wireless communication device, and a location of the first wireless communication device; and

transmitting, by the apparatus, based at least on the first paging message, to a reconfigurable intelligent surface or to the one or more second wireless communication devices, a second paging message for the one or more second wireless communication devices in a paging area around the first wireless communication device, wherein the second paging message comprises at least the application identifier and at least one of: the location of the first wireless communication device, or a distance between the first wireless communication device and the one or more second wireless communication devices.
A method comprising:

receiving, by an apparatus of a core network, from a radio access network node, at least an application identifier for a proximity service application of a first wireless communication device, and location information of the first wireless communication device;

generating, by the apparatus, a first paging message for one or more second wireless communication devices; and

transmitting, by the apparatus, to the radio access network node, the first paging message, wherein the first paging message comprises at least the application identifier, an identifier of the first wireless communication device, and a location of the first wireless communication device.
A method comprising:

transmitting, by a first wireless communication device, one or more random access channel preambles to a radio access network node, wherein the one or more random access channel preambles are transmitted based on a timer associated with a proximity service application of the first wireless communication device; and

transmitting, by the first wireless communication device, to the radio access network node, a message comprising at least an application identifier associated with the proximity service application.
A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising program instructions which, when executed by an apparatus of a radio access network node, cause the apparatus to perform at least the following:

transmitting, to a core network, at least an application identifier for a proximity service application of a first wireless communication device, and location information of the first wireless communication device;

receiving, from the core network, a first paging message for one or more second wireless communication devices, wherein the first paging message comprises at least the application identifier, an identifier of the first wireless communication device, and a location of the first wireless communication device; and

transmitting, based at least on the first paging message, to a reconfigurable intelligent surface or to the one or more second wireless communication devices, a second paging message for the one or more second wireless communication devices in a paging area around the first wireless communication device, wherein the second paging message comprises at least the application identifier and at least one of: the location of the first wireless communication device, or a distance between the first wireless communication device and the one or more second wireless communication devices.
A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising program instructions which, when executed by an apparatus of a core network, cause the apparatus to perform at least the following:

receiving, from a radio access network node, at least an application identifier for a proximity service application of a first wireless communication device, and location information of the first wireless communication device;

generating a first paging message for one or more second wireless communication devices; and

transmitting, to the radio access network node, the first paging message, wherein the first paging message comprises at least the application identifier, an identifier of the first wireless communication device, and a location of the first wireless communication device.
A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising program instructions which, when executed by a first wireless communication device, cause the first wireless communication device to perform at least the following:

transmitting one or more random access channel preambles to a radio access network node, wherein the one or more random access channel preambles are transmitted based on a timer associated with a proximity service application of the first wireless communication device; and

transmitting, to the radio access network node, a message comprising at least an application identifier associated with the proximity service application.