WO2024199281A1

WO2024199281A1 - Method and apparatus for secondary cell activation delay enhancement in mobile communications

Info

Publication number: WO2024199281A1
Application number: PCT/CN2024/084096
Authority: WO
Inventors: Ogeen Hanna Toma Toma; Hsuan-Li Lin; Tsang-Wei Yu
Original assignee: MediaTek Singapore Pte Ltd
Current assignee: MediaTek Singapore Pte Ltd
Priority date: 2023-03-31
Filing date: 2024-03-27
Publication date: 2024-10-03
Anticipated expiration: 2025-09-30
Also published as: CN120982146A

Abstract

Various solutions for secondary cell (SCell) activation delay enhancement in mobile communications are described. An apparatus may receive an SCell activation command for activating an SCell from a network node of a wireless network. The apparatus may determine the SCell as an unknown SCell in an event that no measurement reporting for the SCell is performed before receiving the SCell activation command within a first period of time prior to a reception of a transmission configuration indication (TCI) activation command. The apparatus may transmit a report of valid measurement results associated with the SCell to the network node responsive to the determination of the SCell as the unknown SCell.

Description

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR SECONDARY CELL ACTIVATION DELAY ENHANCEMENT IN MOBILE COMMUNICATIONS

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED PATENT APPLICATION (S)

The present disclosure is part of a non-provisional application claiming the priority benefit of U.S. Patent Application No. 63/493,335, filed 31 March 2023, the content of which herein being incorporated by reference in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure is generally related to mobile communications and, more particularly, to secondary cell (SCell) activation delay enhancement with respect to user equipment (UE) and network apparatus in mobile communications.

BACKGROUND

Unless otherwise indicated herein, approaches described in this section are not prior art to the claims listed below and are not admitted as prior art by inclusion in this section.

Wireless communication technologies have grown exponentially over the years. A Long-Term Evolution (LTE) system offers high peak data rates, low latency, improved system capacity, and low operating cost resulting from simplified network architecture. LTE systems, also known as the 4^th Generation (4G) networks, also provide seamless integration to legacy wireless networks, such as Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) networks, Code-Division Multiple Access (CDMA) networks, and Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS) networks. In LTE systems, an Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN) generally includes a plurality of evolved Node-Bs (eNodeBs or eNBs) communicating with a plurality of mobile stations (also referred to as UEs) . The 3^rd Generation Partner Project (3GPP) network normally includes a hybrid of 2G/3G/4G systems. The next generation mobile network (NGMN) board has decided to focus the future NGMN activities on defining the end-to-end requirements for 5^th Generation (5G) New Radio (NR) systems.

In 4G LTE, a feature called carrier aggregation (CA) is supported to allow communications between a UE and a base station (BS) (e.g., an eNB) on multiple aggregated carriers or cells, e.g., a primary cell (PCell) and one or more SCells. The design of SCell is to provide more data bandwidth in other carrier frequencies, typically higher frequencies, for boosting up data throughput while the PCell is more for ensuring the coverage. Later, in Release 12 of 4G LTE, a new feature called dual connectivity (DC) is proposed, with which a UE may be connected to multiple eNBs using multiple carriers or cells. Generally, one eNB may be configured as a master node which provides the control plane connection to the core network, and another eNB may be configured as a secondary node which provides additional radio resources to the UE without control plane connection to the core network. More specifically, the group of cells associated with the master node may be referred to as the master cell group (MCG) , while the group of cells associated with the secondary node may be referred to as the secondary cell group (SCG) .

In 5G NR, the CA and DC features are also employed. However, it is observed that a significant amount of time may be required for the UE to perform SCell activation. The timing latency for SCell activation is generally referred to as the SCell activation delay which can be dependent on the status or the UE’s knowledge of the target SCell. The SCell activation delay can be short when the target SCell is considered as known, or it can be significantly long when the target SCell is considered as unknown. For example, if the UE does not have any valid prior knowledge of a target SCell in frequency range 2 (FR2) , the target SCell is considered as unknown and the UE is required to perform additional procedures (e.g., automatic gain control (AGC) , cell search, etc. ) to complete the whole process of SCell activation. Due to the long SCell activation delay, the network may seldomly deactivate an SCell and this is bad for overall system resource utilization. In addition, the long SCell activation delay may impact the UE’s power consumption and data throughput performance.

Accordingly, how to reduce the SCell activation delay has become an important issue for newly developed wireless communication systems. Therefore, there is a need to provide proper schemes to solve this issue.

SUMMARY

The following summary is illustrative only and is not intended to be limiting in any way. That is, the following summary is provided to introduce concepts, highlights, benefits and advantages of the novel and non-obvious techniques described herein. Select implementations are further described below in the detailed description. Thus, the following summary is not intended to identify essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended for use in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.

An objective of the present disclosure is to propose solutions or schemes that address the aforementioned issue pertaining to SCell activation delay enhancement in mobile communications.

In one aspect, a method may involve an apparatus receiving an SCell activation command for activating an SCell from a network node of a wireless network. The method may also involve the apparatus determining the SCell as an unknown SCell in an event that no measurement reporting for the SCell is performed before receiving the SCell activation command within a first period of time prior to a reception of a transmission configuration indication (TCI) activation command. The method may further involve the apparatus transmitting a report of valid measurement results associated with the SCell to the network node responsive to the determination of the SCell as the unknown SCell.

In one aspect, an apparatus may comprise a transceiver which, during operation, wirelessly communicates with a network node of a wireless network. The apparatus may also comprise a processor communicatively coupled to the transceiver. The processor, during operation, may perform operations comprising receiving, via the transceiver, an SCell activation command for activating an SCell from the network node. The processor may also perform operations comprising determining the SCell as an unknown SCell in an event that no measurement reporting for the SCell is performed before receiving the SCell activation command within a first period of time prior to a reception of a TCI activation command. The processor may further perform operations comprising transmitting, via the transceiver, a report of valid measurement results associated with the SCell to the network node responsive to the determination of the SCell as the unknown SCell.

It is noteworthy that, although description provided herein may be in the context of certain radio access technologies, networks and network topologies such as LTE, LTE-Advanced, LTE-Advanced Pro, 5G, NR, Internet-of-Things (IoT) , Narrow Band Internet of Things (NB-IoT) , Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) , beyond 5G (B5G) , and 6th Generation (6G) , the proposed concepts, schemes and any variation (s) /derivative (s) thereof may be implemented in, for and by other types of radio access technologies, networks and network topologies. Thus, the scope of the present disclosure is not limited to the examples described herein.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the disclosure and are incorporated in and constitute a part of the present disclosure. The drawings illustrate implementations of the disclosure and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the disclosure. It is appreciable that the drawings are not necessarily in scale as some components may be shown to be out of proportion than the size in actual implementation in order to clearly illustrate the concept of the present disclosure.

FIG. 1 is a diagram depicting an example scenario of a communication environment in which various solutions and schemes in accordance with the present disclosure may be implemented.

FIG. 2 is a diagram depicting an example scenario of the conditions for known SCell being met in accordance with an implementation of the present disclosure.

FIG. 3 is a diagram depicting example scenarios of the conditions for known SCell not being met in accordance with implementations of the present disclosure.

FIG. 4 is a diagram depicting an example scenario of SCell activation delay enhancement in accordance with an implementation of the present disclosure.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of an example communication system in accordance with an implementation of the present disclosure.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of an example process in accordance with an implementation of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED IMPLEMENTATIONS

Detailed embodiments and implementations of the claimed subject matters are disclosed herein. However, it shall be understood that the disclosed embodiments and implementations are merely illustrative of the claimed subject matters which may be embodied in various forms. The present disclosure may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the exemplary embodiments and implementations set forth herein. Rather, these exemplary embodiments and implementations are provided so that description of the present disclosure is thorough and complete and will fully convey the scope of the present disclosure to those skilled in the art. In the description below, details of well-known features and techniques may be omitted to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the presented embodiments and implementations.

Overview

Implementations in accordance with the present disclosure relate to various techniques, methods, schemes and/or solutions pertaining to SCell activation delay enhancement in mobile communications. According to the present disclosure, a number of possible solutions may be implemented separately or jointly. That is, although these possible solutions may be described below separately, two or more of these possible solutions may be implemented in one combination or another.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example scenario 100 of a communication environment in which various solutions and schemes in accordance with the present disclosure may be implemented. Scenario 100 involves a UE 110 in wireless communication with a wireless network (e.g., a 5G NR network) consisting of an access network 120 and a core network 130. The UE 110 may be a smart phone, a wearable device, an IoT device, and a tablet, etc. Alternatively, the UE 110 may be a notebook (NB) or personal computer (PC) inserted or installed with a data card which includes a modem and radio frequency (RF) transceiver (s) to provide the functionality of wireless communication. In 5G NR, the access network 120 is connected to the core network 130 by means of the NG interface, more specifically to a user plane function (UPF) by means of the NG user-plane part (NG-u) , and to a mobility management function (AMF) by means of the NG control-plane part (NG-c) . One bBS (e.g., a next generation Node-B (gNB) ) can be connected to multiple UPFs/AMFs for the purpose of load sharing and redundancy. In addition, the core network may include other entities, such as session management function (SMF) and unified data management (UDM) , etc.

The access network 120 may include multiple BSs, such as the BS 121 and the BS 122, each of which may provide communication coverage for a geographic coverage area where communications with the UE 110 is supported. In one example, the BS 121 may be configured as a master node (MN) for serving the UE 110, and the communication link between the BS 121 and the UE 110 may utilize one or more frequency carriers to form one or more cells (e.g., a PCell and one or more SCells) . The communication link between the BS 121 and the UE 110 may include transmission of control-plane data, such as an SCell/PSCell addition/activation command, from the BS 121 to the UE 110 (e.g., on the Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) or Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) ) . In one example, the BS 122 may be configured as a secondary node (SN) for serving the UE 110, and the communication link between the BS 122 and the UE 110 may utilize one or more frequency carriers to form one or more cells (e.g., a PSCell and one or more SCells) . After at least one SCell is activated, the communication link between the BS 122 and the UE 110 may include uplink transmission from the UE 110 to the BS 122 (e.g., on the Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) or Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) ) or downlink transmissions from the BS 122 to the UE 110 (e.g., on the PDCCH or PDSCH) .

Two frequency ranges, i.e., frequency range 1 (FR1) and frequency range 2 (FR2) , are supported in 5G NR. FR1 may include communications occurring at below a certain frequency (e.g., below 6 Gigahertz (GHz) (also referred to as sub-6 GHz or SUB6) ) , while FR2 may include communication occurring at above FR1 frequencies (e.g., from 24.25 GHz to 71.0 GHz) . FR2 may also be referred to as the millimeter (mm) spectrum or the mmWave. In some implementations, FR1 may be designated for carrying traditional cellular traffic, while FR2 may be designated for shorter range, higher data rate traffic.

For SCell activation for an SCell operating in FR2 bands, the target SCell is determined as known when the following conditions are met: during the period of 4s/3s (e.g., 4s for UE supporting power class 1/5 or 3s for UE supporting power class 2/3/4) before the UE receives a TCI activation command, (i) the UE has sent a valid layer 3-reference signal received power (L3-RSRP) measurement report with synchronization signal block (SSB) index for the target SCell, and (ii) the SCell activation command is received after L3-RSRP reporting and before the UE receives the TCI activation command. FIG. 2 illustrates an example scenario 200 of the conditions for known SCell being met in accordance with an implementation of the present disclosure. Otherwise, if the above conditions are not met, the target SCell is determined as unknown. FIG. 3 illustrates example scenarios 310-340 of the conditions for known SCell not being met in accordance with implementations of the present disclosure. Scenario 310 depicts the case where the UE does not perform any measurement on the target SCell before receiving the SCell activation command, and thus, there is no measurement report to transmit. Scenario 320 depicts the case where the UE performs a measurement on the target SCell before receiving the SCell activation command, but it does not transmit any measurement report of the target SCell to the network. Scenario 330 depicts the case where the UE performs a measurement on the target SCell before receiving the SCell activation command, and it transmits a measurement report of the target SCell to the network after receiving the SCell activation command. Scenario 340 depicts the case where the UE performs a measurement on the target SCell before receiving the SCell activation command, and it transmits a measurement report of the target SCell to the network prior to the 4s/3s time period preceding the reception of the TCI activation command.

It is noteworthy that there are cases where the conditions for known SCell are not met but the UE has prior knowledge of the target SCell. For example, in scenario 320 of FIG. 3, the UE does not transmit any measurement report even if the UE has valid measurement results of the target SCell. Moreover, in scenarios 330 and 340 of FIG. 3, the UE does transmit the measurement report of the target SCell but either too late or too early.

In view of the above, the present disclosure proposes a number of schemes pertaining to SCell activation delay enhancement in mobile communications. According to the schemes of the present disclosure, the UE is triggered to transmit the measurement report of the target SCell when the SCell activation procedure is initiated. Specifically, upon receiving an SCell activation command for activating an SCell from a network node, the UE may determine the SCell as an unknown SCell in an event that no measurement reporting for the SCell is performed before receiving the SCell activation command within a first period of time prior to the reception of a TCI activation command. Then, responsive to the determination of the SCell as the unknown SCell, the UE may transmit a report of valid measurement results associated with the SCell to the network node. Accordingly, by applying the schemes of the present disclosure, the unknown status of the target SCell may be changed to known, and the SCell activation delay for the target SCell may be reduced significantly due to the known status.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example scenario 400 of SCell activation delay enhancement in accordance with an implementation of the present disclosure. Scenario 400 depicts the timeline of UE’s operations related to FR2 SCell addition and activation. At time t1, the UE receives an RRC message (e.g., an RRCReconfiguration message) including a configuration for adding SCell (s) , and the UE performs SCell addition according to the configuration. Specifically, if the configuration includes an sCellState information element (IE) for an SCell to be added, then the SCell is considered as activated after SCell addition. Otherwise, if the configuration does not include the sCellState IE for the SCell to be added, then the SCell is considered as deactivated (by default) after SCell addition. For activating a deactivated SCell, the network needs to transmit an SCell activation command (e.g., via a media access control (MAC) control element (CE) ) later on. Additionally, or optionally, the RRC message may include a reporting configuration (i.e., configuration of radio resources for measurement reporting) .

At time t2, the UE performs an L3-RSRP measurement on a deactivated SCell. Next, at time t3, the UE receives an SCell activation command for activating the deactivated SCell on which the UE previously performed L3-RSRP measurement. At time t4 that is within a margin time duration (denoted as M) after the time duration T_HARQ (i.e., the time required for the UE to transmit a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback of the SCell activation command) and the time duration T_{MAC-CE_processing} (i.e., the time required for the UE to process the MAC CE with the SCell activation command) from receiving the SCell activation command, the UE transmits an L3-RSRP measurement report including the valid measurement results of the target SCell to the network (e.g., by using the reporting configuration) . In other words, the SCell activation command triggers the UE to determine the target SCell as an unknown SCell in an event that no measurement reporting for the target SCell is performed before receiving the SCell activation command within the 4s/3s time period prior to the reception of a TCI activation command (e.g., via a MAC CE) at time t5, and accordingly, the L3-RSRP measurement report is transmitted responsive to the determination of the SCell as the unknown SCell.

It is noteworthy that, responsive to the transmission of the L3-RSRP measurement report, the UE may determine the SCell as a known SCell, and then activates the SCell based on the determination of the SCell as the known SCell. Accordingly, the SCell activation delay may be reduced significantly due to the known status of the target SCell, such that the UE’s power saving and data throughput performance may be improved.

In some implementations, if the trigger condition is met but the UE does not have valid/fresh L3-RSRP measurement results within the time period W, prior to the SCell activation command, then instead of transmitting the measurement report, the UE may indicate unknow status for the target SCell at time t4. Specifically, the UE may determine the target SCell as an unknow SCell and activate the SCell based on the determination of the SCell as unknown.

Illustrative Implementations

FIG. 5 illustrates an example communication system 500 having an example communication apparatus 510 and an example network apparatus 520 in accordance with an implementation of the present disclosure. Each of communication apparatus 510 and network apparatus 520 may perform various functions to implement schemes, techniques, processes and methods described herein pertaining to SCell activation delay enhancement in mobile communications, including scenarios/schemes described above as well as process 400 described below.

Communication apparatus 510 may be a part of an electronic apparatus, which may be a UE such as a portable or mobile apparatus, a wearable apparatus, a wireless communication apparatus or a computing apparatus. For instance, communication apparatus 510 may be implemented in a smartphone, a smartwatch, a personal digital assistant, a digital camera, or a computing equipment such as a tablet computer, a laptop computer or a notebook computer. Communication apparatus 510 may also be a part of a machine type apparatus, which may be an IoT, NB-IoT, or IIoT apparatus such as an immobile or a stationary apparatus, a home apparatus, a wire communication apparatus or a computing apparatus. For instance, communication apparatus 510 may be implemented in a smart thermostat, a smart fridge, a smart door lock, a wireless speaker or a home control center. Alternatively, communication apparatus 510 may be implemented in the form of one or more integrated-circuit (IC) chips such as, for example and without limitation, one or more single-core processors, one or more multi-core processors, one or more reduced-instruction set computing (RISC) processors, or one or more complex-instruction-set-computing (CISC) processors. Communication apparatus 510 may include at least some of those components shown in FIG. 5 such as a processor 512, for example. Communication apparatus 510 may further include one or more other components not pertinent to the proposed scheme of the present disclosure (e.g., internal power supply, display device and/or user interface device) , and, thus, such component (s) of communication apparatus 510 are neither shown in FIG. 5 nor described below in the interest of simplicity and brevity.

Network apparatus 520 may be a part of a network apparatus, which may be a network node such as a satellite, a BS, a small cell, a router or a gateway. For instance, network apparatus 520 may be implemented in an eNodeB in an LTE network, in a gNB or a transmission and reception point (TRP) in 5G NR, IoT, NB-IoT or IIoT network or in a satellite or BS in a 6G network. Alternatively, network apparatus 520 may be implemented in the form of one or more IC chips such as, for example and without limitation, one or more single-core processors, one or more multi-core processors, or one or more RISC or CISC processors. Network apparatus 520 may include at least some of those components shown in FIG. 5 such as a processor 522, for example. Network apparatus 520 may further include one or more other components not pertinent to the proposed scheme of the present disclosure (e.g., internal power supply, display device and/or user interface device) , and, thus, such component (s) of network apparatus 520 are neither shown in FIG. 5 nor described below in the interest of simplicity and brevity.

In one aspect, each of processor 512 and processor 522 may be implemented in the form of one or more single-core processors, one or more multi-core processors, or one or more CISC processors. That is, even though a singular term “aprocessor” is used herein to refer to processor 512 and processor 522, each of processor 512 and processor 522 may include multiple processors in some implementations and a single processor in other implementations in accordance with the present disclosure. In another aspect, each of processor 512 and processor 522 may be implemented in the form of hardware (and, optionally, firmware) with electronic components including, for example and without limitation, one or more transistors, one or more diodes, one or more capacitors, one or more resistors, one or more inductors, one or more memristors and/or one or more varactors that are configured and arranged to achieve specific purposes in accordance with the present disclosure. In other words, in at least some implementations, each of processor 512 and processor 522 is a special-purpose machine specifically designed, arranged and configured to perform specific tasks including SCell activation delay enhancement in a UE (e.g., as represented by communication apparatus 510) and a network node (e.g., as represented by network apparatus 520) in accordance with various implementations of the present disclosure.

In some implementations, communication apparatus 510 may also include a transceiver 516 coupled to processor 512 and capable of wirelessly transmitting and receiving data. In some implementations, transceiver 516 may be capable of wirelessly communicating with different types of wireless networks of different radio access technologies (RATs) . In some implementations, transceiver 516 may be equipped with a plurality of antenna ports (not shown) such as, for example, four antenna ports. That is, transceiver 516 may be equipped with multiple transmit antennas and multiple receive antennas for multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) wireless communications. In some implementations, network apparatus 520 may also include a transceiver 526 coupled to processor 522 and capable of wirelessly transmitting and receiving data. In some implementations, transceiver 526 may be capable of wirelessly communicating with different types of UEs of different RATs. In some implementations, transceiver 526 may be equipped with a plurality of antenna ports (not shown) such as, for example, four antenna ports. That is, transceiver 526 may be equipped with multiple transmit antennas and multiple receive antennas for MIMO wireless communications.

In some implementations, communication apparatus 510 may further include a memory 514 coupled to processor 512 and capable of being accessed by processor 512 and storing data therein. In some implementations, network apparatus 520 may further include a memory 524 coupled to processor 522 and capable of being accessed by processor 522 and storing data therein. Each of memory 514 and memory 524 may include a type of random-access memory (RAM) such as dynamic RAM (DRAM) , static RAM (SRAM) , thyristor RAM (T-RAM) and/or zero-capacitor RAM (Z-RAM) . Alternatively, or additionally, each of memory 514 and memory 524 may include a type of read-only memory (ROM) such as mask ROM, programmable ROM (PROM) , erasable programmable ROM (EPROM) and/or electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM) . Alternatively, or additionally, each of memory 514 and memory 524 may include a type of non-volatile random-access memory (NVRAM) such as flash memory, solid-state memory, ferroelectric RAM (FeRAM) , magnetoresistive RAM (MRAM) and/or phase-change memory.

Each of communication apparatus 510 and network apparatus 520 may be a communication entity capable of communicating with each other using various proposed schemes in accordance with the present disclosure. For illustrative purposes and without limitation, a description of capabilities of communication apparatus 510, implemented in or as a UE, and network apparatus 520, implemented in or as a network node, is provided below.

Under certain proposed schemes in accordance with the present disclosure with respect to SCell activation delay enhancement in mobile communications, processor 512 of communication apparatus 510 may receive, via transceiver 516, an SCell activation command for activating an SCell from network apparatus 520. Then, processor 512 may determine the SCell as an unknown SCell in an event that no measurement reporting for the SCell is performed before receiving the SCell activation command within a first period of time prior to a reception of a TCI activation command. Also, processor 512 may transmit, via transceiver 516, a report of valid measurement results associated with the SCell to network apparatus 520 responsive to the determination of the SCell as the unknown SCell.

In some implementations, processor 512 may also determine the SCell as a known SCell responsive to the transmission of the report of the valid measurement results associated with the SCell. Additionally, processor 512 may activate the SCell based on the determination of the SCell as the known SCell.

In some implementations, the report of the valid measurement results associated with the SCell may be transmitted in an event that a measurement on the SCell is performed before receiving the SCell activation command within the first period of time.

In some implementations, processor 512 may also activate the SCell based on the determination of the SCell as the unknown SCell in an event that no measurement on the SCell is performed before receiving the SCell activation command within the first period of time.

In some implementations, the first period of time may equal to 3 or 4 seconds.

In some implementations, the report of the valid measurement results associated with the SCell may be transmitted after a second period of time subsequent to the reception of the SCell activation command, and the second period of time may equal to a sum of a first time duration (e.g., T_HARQ in FIG. 4) for transmitting a HARQ feedback of the SCell activation command and a second time duration (e.g., T_{MAC-CE_processing} in FIG. 4) for processing a MAC CE with the SCell activation command.

In some implementations, the report of the valid measurement results associated with the SCell may be transmitted within a third time duration (e.g., M in FIG. 4) subsequent to the second period of time.

In some implementations, processor 512 may also receive, via transceiver 516, a configuration of radio resources for measurement reporting from network apparatus 520, wherein the report of the valid measurement results associated with the SCell may be transmitted according to the configuration.

In some implementations, the configuration may be received via an RRC message (e.g., an RRCReconfiguration message) .

In some implementations, the SCell is operating in FR2 for 5G NR.

Illustrative Processes

FIG. 6 illustrates an example process 600 in accordance with an implementation of the present disclosure. Process 600 may be an example implementation of above scenarios/schemes, whether partially or completely, with respect to SCell activation delay enhancement in mobile communications. Process 600 may represent an aspect of implementation of features of communication apparatus 510. Process 600 may include one or more operations, actions, or functions as illustrated by one or more of blocks 610, 620, and 630. Although illustrated as discrete blocks, various blocks of process 600 may be divided into additional blocks, combined into fewer blocks, or eliminated, depending on the desired implementation. Moreover, the blocks of process 600 may be executed in the order shown in FIG. 6 or, alternatively, in a different order. Process 600 may be implemented by communication apparatus 510 or any suitable UE or machine type devices. Solely for illustrative purposes and without limitation, process 600 is described below in the context of communication apparatus 510 as a UE and network apparatus 520 as a network node. Process 600 may begin at block 610.

At 610, process 600 may involve processor 512 of communication apparatus 510 receiving, via transceiver 516, an SCell activation command for activating an SCell from network apparatus 520. Process 600 may proceed from 610 to 620.

At 620, process 600 may involve processor 512 determining the SCell as an unknown SCell in an event that no measurement reporting for the SCell is performed before receiving the SCell activation command within a first period of time prior to a reception of a TCI activation command. Process 600 may proceed from 620 to 630.

At 630, process 600 may involve processor 512 transmitting, via transceiver 516, a report of valid measurement results associated with the SCell to the network node responsive to the determination of the SCell as the unknown SCell.

In some implementations, process 600 may further involve processor 512 determining the SCell as a known SCell responsive to the transmission of the report of the valid measurement results associated with the SCell. Additionally, process 600 may further involve processor 512 activating the SCell based on the determination of the SCell as the known SCell.

In some implementations, process 600 may further involve processor 512 activating the SCell based on the determination of the SCell as the unknown SCell in an event that no measurement on the SCell is performed before receiving the SCell activation command within the first period of time.

In some implementations, the first period of time may equal to 3 or 4 seconds.

In some implementations, process 600 may further involve processor 512 receiving, via transceiver 516, a configuration of radio resources for measurement reporting from network apparatus 520, wherein the report of the valid measurement results associated with the SCell may be transmitted according to the configuration.

In some implementations, the SCell is operating in FR2 for 5G NR.

Additional Notes

The herein-described subject matter sometimes illustrates different components contained within, or connected with, different other components. It is to be understood that such depicted architectures are merely examples, and that in fact many other architectures can be implemented which achieve the same functionality. In a conceptual sense, any arrangement of components to achieve the same functionality is effectively "associated" such that the desired functionality is achieved. Hence, any two components herein combined to achieve a particular functionality can be seen as "associated with" each other such that the desired functionality is achieved, irrespective of architectures or intermedial components. Likewise, any two components so associated can also be viewed as being "operably connected" , or "operably coupled" , to each other to achieve the desired functionality, and any two components capable of being so associated can also be viewed as being "operably couplable" , to each other to achieve the desired functionality. Specific examples of operably couplable include but are not limited to physically mateable and/or physically interacting components and/or wirelessly interactable and/or wirelessly interacting components and/or logically interacting and/or logically interactable components.

Further, with respect to the use of substantially any plural and/or singular terms herein, those having skill in the art can translate from the plural to the singular and/or from the singular to the plural as is appropriate to the context and/or application. The various singular/plural permutations may be expressly set forth herein for sake of clarity.

Moreover, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that, in general, terms used herein, and especially in the appended claims, e.g., bodies of the appended claims, are generally intended as “open” terms, e.g., the term “including” should be interpreted as “including but not limited to, ” the term “having” should be interpreted as “having at least, ” the term “includes” should be interpreted as “includes but is not limited to, ” etc. It will be further understood by those within the art that if a specific number of an introduced claim recitation is intended, such an intent will be explicitly recited in the claim, and in the absence of such recitation no such intent is present. For example, as an aid to understanding, the following appended claims may contain usage of the introductory phrases "at least one" and "one or more" to introduce claim recitations. However, the use of such phrases should not be construed to imply that the introduction of a claim recitation by the indefinite articles "a" or "an" limits any particular claim containing such introduced claim recitation to implementations containing only one such recitation, even when the same claim includes the introductory phrases "one or more" or "at least one" and indefinite articles such as "a" or "an, " e.g., “a” and/or “an” should be interpreted to mean “at least one” or “one or more; ” the same holds true for the use of definite articles used to introduce claim recitations. In addition, even if a specific number of an introduced claim recitation is explicitly recited, those skilled in the art will recognize that such recitation should be interpreted to mean at least the recited number, e.g., the bare recitation of "two recitations, " without other modifiers, means at least two recitations, or two or more recitations. Furthermore, in those instances where a convention analogous to “at least one of A, B, and C, etc. ” is used, in general such a construction is intended in the sense one having skill in the art would understand the convention, e.g., “asystem having at least one of A, B, and C” would include but not be limited to systems that have A alone, B alone, C alone, A and B together, A and C together, B and C together, and/or A, B, and C together, etc. In those instances where a convention analogous to “at least one of A, B, or C, etc. ” is used, in general such a construction is intended in the sense one having skill in the art would understand the convention, e.g., “a system having at least one of A, B, or C” would include but not be limited to systems that have A alone, B alone, C alone, A and B together, A and C together, B and C together, and/or A, B, and C together, etc. It will be further understood by those within the art that virtually any disjunctive word and/or phrase presenting two or more alternative terms, whether in the description, claims, or drawings, should be understood to contemplate the possibilities of including one of the terms, either of the terms, or both terms. For example, the phrase “Aor B” will be understood to include the possibilities of “A” or “B” or “Aand B. ”

From the foregoing, it will be appreciated that various implementations of the present disclosure have been described herein for purposes of illustration, and that various modifications may be made without departing from the scope and spirit of the present disclosure. Accordingly, the various implementations disclosed herein are not intended to be limiting, with the true scope and spirit being indicated by the following claims.

Claims

A method, comprising:

receiving, by a processor of an apparatus, a secondary cell (SCell) activation command for activating an SCell from a network node of a wireless network;

determining, by the processor, the SCell as an unknown SCell in an event that no measurement reporting for the SCell is performed before receiving the SCell activation command within a first period of time prior to a reception of a transmission configuration indication (TCI) activation command; and

transmitting, by the processor, a report of valid measurement results associated with the SCell to the network node responsive to the determination of the SCell as the unknown SCell.
The method of Claim 1, further comprising:

determining, by the processor, the SCell as a known SCell responsive to the transmission of the report of the valid measurement results associated with the SCell; and

activating, by the processor, the SCell based on the determination of the SCell as the known SCell.
The method of Claim 1, wherein the report of the valid measurement results associated with the SCell is transmitted in an event that a measurement on the SCell is performed before receiving the SCell activation command within the first period of time.
The method of Claim 1, further comprising:

activating, by the processor, the SCell based on the determination of the SCell as the unknown SCell in an event that no measurement on the SCell is performed before receiving the SCell activation command within the first period of time.
The method of Claim 1, wherein the first period of time equals to 3 or 4 seconds.
The method of Claim 1, wherein the report of the valid measurement results associated with the SCell is transmitted after a second period of time subsequent to the reception of the SCell activation command, and the second period of time equals to a sum of a first time duration for transmitting a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback of the SCell activation command and a second time duration for processing a media access control (MAC) control element (CE) with the SCell activation command.
The method of Claim 6, wherein the report of the valid measurement results associated with the SCell is transmitted within a third time duration subsequent to the second period of time.
The method of Claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, by the processor, a configuration of radio resources for measurement reporting from the network node;

wherein the report of the valid measurement results associated with the SCell is transmitted according to the configuration.
The method of Claim 8, wherein the configuration is received via a radio resource control (RRC) message.
The method of Claim 1, wherein the SCell is operating in frequency range 2 (FR2) for 5^th generation (5G) new radio (NR) .
An apparatus, comprising:

a transceiver which, during operation, wirelessly communicates with a network node of a wireless network; and

a processor communicatively coupled to the transceiver such that, during operation, the processor performs operations comprising:

receiving, via the transceiver, a secondary cell (SCell) activation command for activating an SCell from the network node;

determining the SCell as an unknown SCell in an event that no measurement reporting for the SCell is performed before receiving the SCell activation command within a first period of time prior to a reception of a transmission configuration indication (TCI) activation command; and

transmitting, via the transceiver, a report of valid measurement results associated with the SCell to the network node responsive to the determination of the SCell as the unknown SCell.
The apparatus of Claim 11, wherein, during operation, the processor further performs operations comprising:

determining the SCell as a known SCell responsive to the transmission of the report of the valid measurement results associated with the SCell; and

activating the SCell based on the determination of the SCell as the known SCell.
The apparatus of Claim 11, wherein the report of the valid measurement results associated with the SCell is transmitted in an event that a measurement on the SCell is performed before receiving the SCell activation command within the first period of time.
The apparatus of Claim 11, wherein, during operation, the processor further performs operations comprising:

activating the SCell based on the determination of the SCell as the unknown SCell in an event that no measurement on the SCell is performed before receiving the SCell activation command within the first period of time.
The apparatus of Claim 11, wherein the first period of time equals to 3 or 4 seconds.
The apparatus of Claim 11, wherein the report of the valid measurement results associated with the SCell is transmitted after a second period of time subsequent to the reception of the SCell activation command, and the second period of time equals to a sum of a first time duration for transmitting a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback of the SCell activation command and a second time duration for processing a media access control (MAC) control element (CE) with the SCell activation command.
The apparatus of Claim 16, wherein the report of the valid measurement results associated with the SCell is transmitted within a third time duration subsequent to the second period of time.
The apparatus of Claim 11, wherein, during operation, the processor further performs operations comprising:

receiving, via the transceiver, a configuration of radio resources for measurement reporting from the network node;

wherein the report of the valid measurement results associated with the SCell is transmitted according to the configuration.
The apparatus of Claim 18, wherein the configuration is received via a radio resource control (RRC) message.
The apparatus of Claim 11, wherein the SCell is operating in frequency range 2 (FR2) for 5^th generation (5G) new radio (NR) .