WO2025091392A1

WO2025091392A1 - Measurement reporting for switching between transmission and reception points

Info

Publication number: WO2025091392A1
Application number: PCT/CN2023/129386
Authority: WO
Inventors: Yuqin Chen; Fangli Xu; Haijing Hu; Chunhai Yao; Jie Cui; Dawei Zhang; Chunxuan Ye
Original assignee: Apple Inc
Current assignee: Apple Inc
Priority date: 2023-11-02
Filing date: 2023-11-02
Publication date: 2025-05-08
Anticipated expiration: 2026-05-02

Abstract

The present application relates to devices and components including apparatus, systems, and methods that support measurement reporting for switching between transmission and reception points (TRPs). In an example, a network configuration indicates to a user equipment (UE) whether multiple TRPs are associated with a same physical cell identifier (PCI) or different PCIs, and if different PCIs, the association of such PCIs with a same logical cell. The UE can receive signals from the TRPs and perform layer 1 and layer 3 measurements based on the network configuration to generate and send a measurement report. Based on such measurements, the UE can switch an active TRP from one of the TRPs to another one of the TRPs.

Description

MEASUREMENT REPORTING FOR SWITCHING BETWEEN TRANSMISSION AND RECEPTION POINTS

Cellular communications can be defined in various standards to enable communications between a user equipment and a cellular network. For example, Fifth generation mobile network (5G) is a wireless standard that aims to improve upon data transmission speed, reliability, availability, and more. Cellular coverage is a relevant feature for data transmission. In particular, when a user equipment (UE) is within a cell coverage, the UE may be able to exchange data with the cellular network. Otherwise, the UE may not be able to do so.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a network environment, in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example of access to a network based on a cell coverage, in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example of providing continuous cell coverage based on hard switching between two transmission and reception points (TRPs) of a network, in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example of providing continuous cell coverage based on soft switching between TRPs of a network, in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example of radio resource management (RRM) measurement model, in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example of RRM measurements during switching, in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 7 illustrates another example of RRM measurements during switching, in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 8 illustrates a further example of RRM measurements during switching, in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 9 illustrates yet another example of RRM measurements during switching, in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 10 illustrates an additional example of RRM measurements during switching, in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 11 illustrates an example of an operational flow/algorithmic structure implemented by a user equipment (UE) to perform RRM measurement, in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 12 illustrates an example of an operational flow/algorithmic structure implemented by a network to configure a UE to perform RRM measurement, in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 13 illustrates an example of receive components, in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 14 illustrates an example of a UE, in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 15 illustrates an example of a base station, in accordance with some embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following detailed description refers to the accompanying drawings. The same reference numbers may be used in different drawings to identify the same or similar elements. In the following description, for purposes of explanation and not limitation, specific details are set forth such as particular structures, architectures, interfaces, techniques, etc. in order to provide a thorough understanding of the various aspects of various embodiments. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art, having the benefit of the present disclosure, that the various aspects of the various embodiments may be practiced in other examples that depart from these specific details. In certain instances, descriptions of well-known devices, circuits, and methods are omitted so as not to obscure the description of the various embodiments with unnecessary detail. For the purposes of the present document, the phrase “A or B” means (A) , (B) , or (A and B) .

Generally, a device communicates with a network when the device is in a network coverage of the network. The network coverage can be provided via a base station of the network. In particular, a transmission and reception point (TRP) of the base station can provide a cell coverage. In certain situations, the base TRP may be physically movable relative to the device. For example, the TRP can be implemented as a repeater in a communications satellite that orbits around the Earth. In other situations, the device may be physically movable relative to the TRP (e.g., when the device is a mobile device traveling on a surface of Earth) . Of course, there can be situations where both the device and the TRP are movable relative to each other.

When the cell coverage is no longer available to the device (e.g., because of an orbital location of a communications satellite and/or a geographical location of the device) , the device may no longer be able to communicate with the network until the network coverage becomes available again to the device (where this “re-coverage” can be provided by a different TRP of the same base station or by a different base station) .

In certain situations, the UE can be in cell coverage of at least two TRPs simultaneously for a time duration. The TRPs can be communicatively coupled to a same base station (e.g., be considered, at least logically, as components of the same base station) . During the time duration, the communication of the UE with the network may switch from the first TRP to the second TRP. The UE can perform radio resource management (RRM) measurements at layer 1 and layer 3 to generate and send a measurement report to the network. The specific measurements to perform including, for example, which TRP signal to measure can be performed according to a network configuration. In an example, the network configuration can indicate that a same physical cell identifier (PCI) is associated with the TRPs. In another example, the network configuration can indicate different PCIs for the different TRPs and an associate the different PCIs with a same cell global identifier (CGI) . Depending on the network configuration, the UE can perform layer 1 (also referred to L1) and layer 3 (also referred to as L3) RRM measurements. These and other features are further described herein below.

The following is a glossary of terms that may be used in this disclosure.

The term “circuitry” as used herein refers to, is part of, or includes hardware components, such as an electronic circuit, a logic circuit, a processor (shared, dedicated, or group) or memory (shared, dedicated, or group) , an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) , a field-programmable device (FPD) (e.g., a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) , a programmable logic device (PLD) , a complex PLD (CPLD) , a high-capacity PLD (HCPLD) , a structured ASIC, a programmable system-on-a-chip (SoC) ) , digital signal processors (DSPs) , etc., that are configured to provide the described functionality. In some embodiments, the circuitry may execute one or more software or firmware programs to provide at least some of the described functionality. The term “circuitry” may also refer to a combination of one or more hardware elements (or a combination of circuits used in an electrical or electronic system) with the program code used to carry out the functionality of that program code. In these embodiments, the combination of hardware elements and program code may be referred to as a particular type of circuitry.

The term “processor circuitry” as used herein refers to, is part of, or includes circuitry capable of sequentially and automatically carrying out a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations, or recording, storing, or transferring digital data. The term “processor circuitry” may refer to an application processor, baseband processor, a central processing unit (CPU) , a graphics processing unit, a single-core processor, a dual-core processor, a triple-core processor, a quad-core processor, or any other device capable of executing or otherwise operating computer-executable instructions, such as program code, software modules, or functional processes.

The term “interface circuitry” as used herein refers to, is part of, or includes circuitry that enables the exchange of information between two or more components or devices. The term “interface circuitry” may refer to one or more hardware interfaces, for example, buses, I/O interfaces, peripheral component interfaces, network interface cards, or the like.

The term “device” as used herein refers to a device with radio communication capabilities, one or more processors, and one or more memory. The device may be configured as a UE that supports one or more configurations.

The term “user equipment” or “UE” as used herein refers to a device with radio communication capabilities and may describe a remote user of network resources in a communications network. The term “user equipment” or “UE” may be considered synonymous to, and may be referred to as, client, device, mobile, mobile device, mobile terminal, user terminal, mobile unit, mobile station, mobile user, subscriber, user, remote station, access agent, user agent, receiver, radio equipment, reconfigurable radio equipment, reconfigurable mobile device, etc. Furthermore, the term “user equipment” or “UE” may include any type of wireless/wired device or any computing device including a wireless communications interface. The UE may have a primary function of communication with another UE or a network and the UE may be integrated with other devices and/or systems (e.g., in a vehicle) .

The term “base station” as used herein refers to a device with radio communication capabilities, that is a device of a communications network (or, more briefly, network) , and that may be configured as an access node in the communications network. A UE’s access to the communications network may be managed at least in part by the base station, whereby the UE connects with the base station to access the communications network. Depending on the radio access technology (RAT) , the base station can be referred to as a gNodeB (gNB) , eNodeB (eNB) , access point, etc.

The term “computer system” as used herein refers to any type of interconnected electronic devices, computer devices, or components thereof. Additionally, the term “computer system” or “system” may refer to various components of a computer that are communicatively coupled with one another. Furthermore, the term “computer system” or “system” may refer to multiple computer devices or multiple computing systems that are communicatively coupled with one another and configured to share computing or networking resources.

The term “resource” as used herein refers to a physical or virtual device, a physical or virtual component within a computing environment, or a physical or virtual component within a particular device, such as computer devices, mechanical devices, memory space, processor/CPU time, processor/CPU usage, processor and accelerator loads, hardware time or usage, electrical power, input/output operations, ports or network sockets, channel/link allocation, throughput, memory usage, storage, network, database and applications, workload units, or the like. A “hardware resource” may refer to compute, storage, or network resources provided by physical hardware element (s) . A “virtualized resource” may refer to compute, storage, or network resources provided by virtualization infrastructure to an application, device, system, etc. The term “network resource” or “communication resource” may refer to resources that are accessible by computer devices/systems via a communications network. The term “system resources” may refer to any kind of shared entities to provide services, and may include computing or network resources. System resources may be considered as a set of coherent functions, network data objects or services, accessible through a server where such system resources reside on a single host or multiple hosts and are clearly identifiable.

The term “channel” as used herein refers to any transmission medium, either tangible or intangible, which is used to communicate data or a data stream. The term “channel” may be synonymous with or equivalent to “communications channel, ” “data communications channel, ” “transmission channel, ” “data transmission channel, ” “access channel, ” “data access channel, ” “link, ” “data link, ” “carrier, ” “radio-frequency carrier, ” or any other like term denoting a pathway or medium through which data is communicated. Additionally, the term “link” as used herein refers to a connection between two devices for the purpose of transmitting and receiving information.

The terms “instantiate, ” “instantiation, ” and the like as used herein refer to the creation of an instance. An “instance” also refers to a concrete occurrence of an object, which may occur, for example, during execution of program code.

The term “connected” may mean that two or more elements, at a common communication protocol layer, have an established signaling relationship with one another over a communication channel, link, interface, or reference point.

The term “network element” as used herein refers to physical or virtualized equipment or infrastructure used to provide wired or wireless communication network services. The term “network element” may be considered synonymous to or referred to as a networked computer, networking hardware, network equipment, network node, virtualized network function, or the like.

The term “information element” refers to a structural element containing one or more fields. The term “field” refers to individual contents of an information element, or a data element that contains content. An information element may include one or more additional information elements.

FIG. 1 illustrates a network environment 100, in accordance with some embodiments. The network environment 100 may include a UE 104 and a network node 108. The network node 108 may be a base station (or a set of TRPs thereof) that provides a wireless access cell; for example, a Third-Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) New Radio (NR) cell, through which the UE 104 may communicate with the network node 108. This base station may be a component of a terrestrial network, a component of a non-terrestrial network, or components distributed between a terrestrial network and a non-terrestrial network. The UE 104 and the network node 108 may communicate over an interface compatible with 3GPP technical specifications, such as those that define Fifth-Generation (5G) NR system standards.

The network node 108 may transmit information (for example, data and control signaling) in the downlink direction by mapping logical channels on the transport channels, then transport channels onto physical channels. The logical channels may transfer data between a radio link control (RLC) and media access control (MAC) layers; the transport channels may transfer data between the MAC and PHY layers; and the physical channels may transfer information across the air interface. The physical channels may include a physical broadcast channel (PBCH) ; a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) ; and a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) .

The PBCH may be used to broadcast system information that the UE 104 may use for initial access to a serving cell. The PBCH may be transmitted along with physical synchronization signals (PSS) and secondary synchronization signals (SSS) in a synchronization signal (SS) /PBCH block. The SS/PBCH blocks (SSBs) may be used by the UE 104 during a cell search procedure and for beam selection.

The PDSCH may be used to transfer end-user application data, signaling radio bearer (SRB) messages, system information messages (other than, for example, MIB) , and paging messages.

The PDCCH may transfer downlink control information (DCI) that is used by a scheduler of the network node 108 to allocate both uplink and downlink resources. The DCI may also be used to provide uplink power control commands, configure a slot format, or indicate that preemption has occurred.

The network node 108 may also transmit various reference signals to the UE 104. The reference signals may include demodulation reference signals (DMRSs) for the PBCH, PDCCH, and PDSCH. The UE 104 may compare a received version of the DMRS with a known DMRS sequence that was transmitted to estimate an impact of the propagation channel. The UE 104 may then apply an inverse of the propagation channel during a demodulation process of a corresponding physical channel transmission.

The reference signals may also include CSI-RS. The CSI-RS may be a multi-purpose downlink transmission that may be used for CSI reporting, beam management, connected mode mobility, radio link failure detection, beam failure detection and recovery, and fine-tuning of time and frequency synchronization.

The reference signals and information from the physical channels may be mapped to resources of a resource grid. There is one resource grid for a given antenna port, subcarrier spacing configuration, and transmission direction (for example, downlink or uplink) . The basic unit of an NR downlink resource grid may be a resource element, which may be defined by one subcarrier in the frequency domain, and one orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol in the time domain. Twelve consecutive subcarriers in the frequency domain may compose a physical resource block (PRB) . A resource element group (REG) may include one PRB in the frequency domain, and one OFDM symbol in the time domain, for example, twelve resource elements. A control channel element (CCE) may represent a group of resources used to transmit PDCCH. One CCE may be mapped to a number of REGs; for example, six REGs.

Transmissions that use different antenna ports may experience different radio channels. However, in some situations, different antenna ports may share common radio channel characteristics. For example, different antenna ports may have similar Doppler shifts, Doppler spreads, average delay, delay spread, or spatial receive parameters (for example, properties associated with a downlink received signal angle of arrival at a UE) . Antenna ports that share one or more of these large-scale radio channel characteristics may be said to be quasi co-located (QCL) with one another. 3GPP has specified four types of QCL to indicate which particular channel characteristics are shared. In QCL Type A, antenna ports share Doppler shift, Doppler spread, average delay, and delay spread. In QCL Type B, antenna ports share Doppler shift and Doppler spread. In QCL Type C, antenna ports share Doppler shift and average delay. In QCL Type D, antenna ports share spatial receiver parameters.

The network node 108 may provide transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state information to the UE 104 to indicate QCL relationships between antenna ports used for reference signals (for example, synchronization signal/PBCH or CSI-RS) and downlink data or control signaling (for example, PDSCH or PDCCH) . The network node 108 may use a combination of RRC signaling, MAC control element signaling, and DCI, to inform the UE 104 of these QCL relationships.

The UE 104 may transmit data and control information to the network node 108 using physical uplink channels. Different types of physical uplink channels are possible, including a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) and a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) . Whereas the PUCCH carries control information from the UE 104 to the network node 108, such as uplink control information (UCI) , the PUSCH carries data traffic (e.g., end-user application data) and can carry UCI.

In an example, communications with the network node 108 and/or the base station can use channels in the frequency range 1 (FR1) band (between 40 Megahertz (MHz) and 7,125 MHz) and/or frequency range 2 (FR2) band (between 24,250 MHz and 52,600 MHz) , although other frequency ranges are possible (e.g., a frequency range having a frequency larger than 52,600 MHz) . The FR1 band includes a licensed band and an unlicensed band. The NR unlicensed band (NR-U) includes a frequency spectrum that is shared with other types of radio access technologies (RATs) (e.g., LTE-LAA, WiFi, etc. ) . A listen-before-talk (LBT) procedure can be used to avoid or minimize collision between the different RATs in the NR-U, whereby a device applies a clear channel assessment (CCA) check before using the channel.

As further illustrated in FIG. 1, the UE 104 can be located within a network coverage 110. In particular, the network node 108 may provide the network coverage 110 with signaling (e.g., which may be carried by one or more beams) . The network coverage 110 may represent a cell or a portion of the cell that the network node 108 provides. The network coverage 110 may provide network connections to multiple UEs, similar to the UE 104. These UEs may communicate with the network node 108 on both the uplink and the downlink based on channels available to them when the UEs are in the network coverage 110.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example of access 200 to a network 210 based on a cell coverage 250, in accordance with some embodiments. The network 210 can be accessible to UEs via a TRP 220 that provides the cell coverage 250. Generally, a cell coverage corresponds to a geographical area within which the access to the network 210 via a TRP is available.

In an example, the network 210 can implement a particular set of radio access technologies (RATs) such as, but not limited to, 5G and/or different generation of a 3GPP network. The network 210 can also be a terrestrial network, in which case the TRP 220 can be a component of a terrestrial access node, such as gNB or an eNB (or, more generally a terrestrial base station) . In another example, the network 210 can be, at least in part, a non- terrestrial network where the TRP 220 may be implemented on a communications satellite. In this case, the TRP 220 may be referred to as a non-terrestrial network node, may be implemented as a repeater, and may be coupled with a terrestrial access node (e.g., a base station) of the network 210 via a gateway 222.

Generally, the TRP 220 can cover a large geographical area, where this area can be divided in a large number of cell coverages (potentially in the hundreds, if not thousands) . A UE 204 can be located in a cell coverage (show as the cell coverage 250 in FIG. 2) and can connect with the TRP 220 via a feeder link 224. The feeder link 224 can use mmWave or sub-mmWave frequencies (e.g., in the S band or Ka band) . In this way, the UE 204 can have access to the network 210 via the TRP 220 and the gateway 222.

The cell coverage 250 can be provided by a set of beams directed from the TRP 220. This coverage can be temporary and, thus, discontinuous. For instance, the set of beams can be directed to a particular area during a first time interval and directed to a different aread during a second time interval. Additionally, or alternatively, the TRP 220 can be repositioned such that the direction of the set of beams changes from the cell coverage 250 to a different cell coverage.

As such, access to the network 210 via the TRP 220 changes geographically over time. The cell coverage 250 via the RP 220 can be discontinuous. For example, during certain time intervals, the cell coverage 250 is available. During other time intervals, the cell coverage 250 is unavailable.

In the interest of clarity of explanation, various embodiments are described hereinafter in connection with a communications satellite as an example of the TRP 220. However, the embodiments are not limited as such and similarly apply to any other network node that belongs to a network providing a discontinuous network coverage. Furthermore, causes of the discontinuous network coverage are described as being due to the repositioning of the communications satellite. However, other causes can exist including, for instance, changes to the beam direction and/or changes to a device’s position (e.g., where the device may be re-located from a cell coverage to a geographical area where cell coverage is not available) . The embodiments similarly apply in situations where such discontinuous network coverage causes occur.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example of providing continuous cell coverage 300 based on hard switching between two TRPs of a network, in accordance with some embodiments. In an illustrative use case, a first TRP 310 is a first communications satellite (or a physical component thereof) , whereas a second TRP 320 is a second communications satellite (or a physical component thereof) . The first TRP 310 and the second TRP 320 are communicatively coupled to a same terrestrial base station of the network via a gateway.

During a first time period, shown on the left hand side of FIG. 3, the first TRP 310 (e.g., an example of the TRP 220 of FIG. 2) provides a cell coverage (illustrated with a blank ellipse) to a UE 304 (e.g., an example of the UE 104 of FIG. 1) . During that time period, the first TRP 310 is the serving TRP (e.g., the serving communications satellite) . At a particular switch time (T) , the UE 304 is switched to a cell coverage provided by the second TRP 320 (illustrated with a diagonally shaded ellipse) . The switching can have a switch time duration (T-duration) . Thereafter, and during a second time period, shown on the right hand side of FIG. 3, the second TRP 320 (e.g., another example of the TRP 220 of FIG. 1) provides the cell coverage. During the second time period, the second TRP 320 is the serving TRP. As such, before the switch time/switch time duration, the first TRP 310 is the serving TRP. After the switch time/switch time duration, the second TRP 320 is the serving TRP. As further described herein below, the cell coverages of the two TRPs 310 and 320 can be associated with a same physical cell identifier (PCI) or two different PCIs that, in turn, are associated with a same cell global identifier (CGI) . In the present disclosure, identifier and identity are used interchangeably. If the switch time duration is minimal, the UE 304 can be said to have continuous cell coverage because the UE’s 304 access to the network via a serving TRP is nearly continuous.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example of providing continuous cell coverage 400 based on soft switching between TRPs of a network, in accordance with some embodiments. In an illustrative use case, a first TRP 410 is a first communications satellite (or a physical component thereof) , whereas a second TRP 420 is a second communications satellite (or a physical component thereof) . The first TRP 410 and the second TRP 420 are communicatively coupled to a same terrestrial base station of the network via a gateway.

During a first time period, shown on the left hand side of FIG. 4, the first TRP 410 (e.g., an example of the TRP 220 of FIG. 2) provides a cell coverage (illustrated with a blank ellipse) to a UE 404 (e.g., an example of the UE 104 of FIG. 1) . During a switch duration 450 (which can be referred to as a soft switch duration T-duration) , shown in the middle part of FIG. 4, the first TRP 410 and the second TRP 420 (e.g., another example of the TRP 220 of FIG. 1) provides simultaneous cell coverages for the same area. As such, service in that area (e.g., access to the network) can be available from both TRPs 410 and 420. During this duration 450, the first TRP 410 may remain (for the entire switch duration 450 or for at least a part of it) the serving TRP. Thereafter (or at least during a remaining part of the switch duration 450) , as shown in the right hand side of FIG. 4, the second TRP 420 becomes the serving TRP and provides a cell coverage (illustrated with a diagonally shaded ellipse) to the UE 404. As further described herein below, the cell coverages of the two TRPs 410 and 420 can be associated with a same PCI or two different PCIs that, in turn, are associated with a same CGI. Due to the cell coverage overlap, the UE 404 can be said to have continuous cell coverage.

Referring back to FIGS. 3 and 4, and within the context of communications satellites, in quasi-earth fixed cell case, hard switching in the same synchronization signal block (SSB) frequency and same base station (no key change) , satellite switching without PCI changing (not necessitating layer 3 mobility) is supported. In hard switch unchanged PCI scenario (e.g., no handover) , a UE in a CONNECTED state needs to know the time the UE attempts to re-synchronize.

An explicit indication cane be used to enable the unchanged PCI switch. The unchanged PCI mechanism can be applied to the case where the coverage gap is zero or negligible (where there is no need to introduce t-gap or t-start) . A PCI unchanged procedure can be performed without performing a random access channel (RACH) procedure. In the unchanged PCI case, the UE considers an UL synchronization timer (T430) expired at t-Service (current cell stop time) to stop any UL operation. In the unchanged PCI case, for RACH-based solution, the UE may trigger RACH immediately after DL synchronizing with the new satellite. The UE specific Koffset, if configured, is not used after t-Service and the UE uses the cell specific Koffset until the UE receives new a differential Koffset medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) .

Both hard switching and soft switching scenarios are feasible and can be supported. It may also be possible to support soft switching without a PCI change under certain conditions. In the context of communications satellites, these conditions include any or a combination of the UE is not required to connect to two communications satellites simultaneously during soft satellite switching, interference avoidance/mitigation between two satellites may potentially be performed by a base station implementation at least to ensure noncolliding SSB with same PCI at the UE side, the UE is provided with the information on new common TA, K_mac, and ephemeris and cell-specific K-offset are applied during resynchronization to new satellite, the UE may be provided with the information if needed to detect the SSB of the new satellite for soft satellite switching, and the same UE behavior may be applied for soft satellite switching and hard satellite switching.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example of radio resource management (RRM) measurement model 500, in accordance with some embodiments. The RRM measurement model 500 indicates layer 1 processing to be performed by a UE (e.g., any example of UEs described herein) on a signal received from, for example, a TRP (e.g., any of the example TRPs described herein) . The output of the layer 1 processing can include layer 1 samples. The RRM measurement model 500 further indicates layer 3 processing to be performed by the UE on the output of the layer 1 processing to generate RRM measurements. These RRM measurements can include beam and/or cell level measurement results.

In an example of a 5G network, the RRM measurement model 500 is defined in 3GPP Technical Specification 38.300 V17.6.0 (2023-09) , which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. For example, section 9.2.4 of the 3GPP Technical Specification 38.300 V17.6.0 (2023-09) describes the following.

In RRC_CONNECTED, the UE measures multiple beams (at least one) of a cell and the measurements results (power values) are averaged to derive the cell quality. In doing so, the UE is configured to consider a subset of the detected beams. Filtering takes place at two different levels: at the physical layer to derive beam quality and then at RRC level to derive cell quality from multiple beams. Cell quality from beam measurements is derived in the same way for the serving cell (s) and for the non-serving cell (s) . Measurement reports may contain the measurement results of the X best beams if the UE is configured to do so by the gNB.

The corresponding high-level measurement model is shown in FIG. 5. K beams correspond to the measurements on SSB or CSI-RS resources configured for layer 3 mobility by gNB and detected by UE at layer 1. “A” refers to measurements (beam specific samples) internal to the physical layer. “Layer 1 filtering” refers to internal layer 1 filtering of the inputs measured at point A. Exact filtering is implementation dependent. How the measurements are actually executed in the physical layer by an implementation (inputs A and Layer 1 filtering) is not constrained by the 3GPP Technical Specification 38.300 V17.6.0 (2023-09) .

“A¹” refers to measurements (i.e., beam specific measurements) reported by layer 1 to layer 3 after layer 1 filtering. “Beam Consolidation/Selection” refers to beam specific measurements are consolidated to derive cell quality. The behaviour of the Beam consolidation/selection is standardised, and the configuration of this module is provided by RRC signalling. Reporting period at B equals one measurement period at A¹. “B” refers to a measurement (i.e., cell quality) derived from beam-specific measurements reported to layer 3 after beam consolidation/selection. “Layer 3 filtering for cell quality” refers to filtering performed on the measurements provided at point B. The behaviour of the Layer 3 filters is standardised, and the configuration of the layer 3 filters is provided by RRC signalling. Filtering reporting period at C equals one measurement period at B. “C” refers to a measurement after processing in the layer 3 filter. The reporting rate is identical to the reporting rate at point B. This measurement is used as input for one or more evaluation of reporting criteria. “Evaluation of reporting criteria” refers to checks whether actual measurement reporting is necessary at point D. The evaluation can be based on more than one flow of measurements at reference point C (e.g., to compare between different measurements) . This is illustrated by input C and C¹. The UE shall evaluate the reporting criteria at least every time a new measurement result is reported at point C, C¹. The reporting criteria are standardised, and the configuration is provided by RRC signalling (UE measurements) . “D” refers to measurement report information (message) sent on the radio interface. “layer 3 Beam filtering” refers to filtering performed on the measurements (i.e., beam specific measurements) provided at point A¹. The behaviour of the beam filters is standardised, and the configuration of the beam filters is provided by RRC signalling. Filtering reporting period at E equals one measurement period at A¹. “E” refers to a measurement (i.e., beam-specific measurement) after processing in the beam filter. The reporting rate is identical to the reporting rate at point A¹. This measurement is used as input for selecting the X measurements to be reported. “Beam Selection for beam reporting” refers to selecting the X measurements from the measurements provided at point E. The behaviour of the beam selection is standardised, and the configuration of this module is provided by RRC signalling. “F” refers to beam measurement information included in measurement report (sent) on the radio interface.

Layer 1 filtering introduces a certain level of measurement averaging. How and when the UE exactly performs the required measurements is implementation specific to the point that the output at B fulfils the performance requirements set in 3GPP Technical Specification 38.133. Layer 3 filtering for cell quality and related parameters used are specified in 3GPP Technical Specification 38.33, and do not introduce any delay in the sample availability between B and C. Measurement at point C, C¹ is the input used in the event evaluation. layer 3 Beam filtering and related parameters used are specified in 3GPP Technical Specification 38.331, and do not introduce any delay in the sample availability between E and F.

Measurement reports are characterized by the following. Measurement reports include the measurement identity of the associated measurement configuration that triggered the reporting. Cell and beam measurement quantities to be included in measurement reports are configured by the network. The number of non-serving cells to be reported can be limited through configuration by the network. Cells belonging to an exclude-list configured by the network are not used in event evaluation and reporting, and conversely when an allow-list is configured by the network, only the cells belonging to the allow-list are used in event evaluation and reporting. Beam measurements to be included in measurement reports are configured by the network (beam identifier only, measurement result and beam identifier, or no beam reporting) .

Intra-frequency neighbour (cell) measurements and inter-frequency neighbour (cell) measurements are defined as follow. SSB based intra-frequency measurement refers to a measurement is defined as an SSB based intra-frequency measurement provided the center frequency of the SSB of the serving cell and the center frequency of the SSB of the neighbour cell are the same, and the subcarrier spacing of the two SSBs is also the same. SSB based inter-frequency measurement refers to a measurement is defined as an SSB based inter-frequency measurement provided the center frequency of the SSB of the serving cell and the center frequency of the SSB of the neighbour cell are different, or the subcarrier spacing of the two SSBs is different. For SSB based measurements, one measurement object corresponds to one SSB and the UE considers different SSBs as different cells. If a reduced capability (RedCap) UE is configured to perform serving cell measurements based on an NCD-SSB configured in its active BWP, this NCD-SSB is considered as the SSB of the serving cell in the definition of intra-frequency and inter-frequency measurements as above. CSI-RS based intra-frequency measurement refers to a measurement is defined as a CSI-RS based intra-frequency measurement provided that: the subcarrier spacing of CSI-RS resources on the neighbour cell configured for measurement is the same as the SCS of CSI-RS resources on the serving cell indicated for measurement; and for 60kHz subcarrier spacing, the CP type of CSI-RS resources on the neighbour cell configured for measurement is the same as the CP type of CSI-RS resources on the serving cell indicated for measurement; and the centre frequency of CSI-RS resources on the neighbour cell configured for measurement is the same as the centre frequency of CSI-RS resource on the serving cell indicated for measurement. CSI-RS based inter-frequency measurement refers to a measurement is defined as a CSI-RS based inter-frequency measurement if it is not a CSI-RS based intra-frequency measurement. Extended CP for CSI-RS based measurement is not supported in this release. Whether a measurement is non-gap-assisted or gap-assisted depends on the capability of the UE, the active BWP of the UE and the current operating frequency. For SSB based inter-frequency measurement, if the measurement gap requirement information is reported by the UE, a measurement gap configuration may be provided according to the information. Otherwise, a measurement gap configuration is always provided in the following cases: if the UE only supports per-UE measurement gaps; if the UE supports per-FR measurement gaps and any of the serving cells are in the same frequency range of the measurement object. For SSB based intra-frequency measurement, if the measurement gap requirement information is reported by the UE, a measurement gap configuration may be provided according to the information. Otherwise, a measurement gap configuration is always provided in the following case. Other than the initial BWP, if any of the UE or RedCap UE configured BWPs do not contain the frequency domain resources of the SSB associated to the initial DL BWP, and for RedCap UE, are not configured with NCD-SSB for serving cell measurement.

In non-gap-assisted scenarios, the UE shall be able to carry out such measurements without measurement gaps. In gap-assisted scenarios, the UE cannot be assumed to be able to carry out such measurements without measurement gaps.

The network may request the UE to measure NR and/or E-UTRA carriers in RRC_IDLE or RRC_INACTIVE via system information or via dedicated measurement configuration in RRCRelease. If the UE was configured to perform measurements of NR and/or E-UTRA carriers while in RRC_IDLE or in RRC_INACTIVE, it may provide an indication of the availability of corresponding measurement results to the gNB in the RRCSetupComplete message. The network may request the UE to report those measurements after security activation. The request for the measurements can be sent by the network immediately after transmitting the Security Mode Command (i.e., before the reception of the Security Mode Complete from the UE) .

If the UE was configured to perform measurements of NR and/or E-UTRA carriers while in RRC_INACTIVE, the gNB can request the UE to provide corresponding measurement results in the RRCResume message and then the UE can include the available measurement results in the RRCResumeComplete message. Alternatively, the UE may provide an indication of the availability of the measurement results to the gNB in the RRCResumeComplete message and the gNB can then request the UE to provide these measurement results.

An example of the layer 3 filtering is described in 3GPP Technical Specification 38.331 V17.6.0 (2023-09) , which is incorporated by reference in its entirety. For instance, section 5.5.3.2 of 3GPP Technical Specification 38.331 V17.6.0 (2023-09) describes the following.

The UE shall, for each cell measurement quantity, each beam measurement quantity, each sidelink measurement quantity as needed, for each CLI measurement quantity that the UE performs measurements, for each candidate L2 U2N Relay UE measurement quantity, and for evaluating the detected NR sidelink U2N Relay UEs, filter the measured result, before using for evaluation of reporting criteria, for measurement reporting or for U2N Relay (re) selection evaluation, by the following formula: F_n = (1 –a) *F_n-1 + a*M_n, where “M_n” is the latest received measurement result from the physical layer, “F_n” is the updated filtered measurement result, that is used for evaluation of reporting criteria, for measurement reporting or for U2N Relay (re) selection evaluation; and “F_n-1” is the old filtered measurement result, where F₀ is set to M₁ when the first measurement result from the physical layer is received; and for MeasObjectNR, a = 1/2 ^(ki/4) , where k_i is the filterCoefficient for the corresponding measurement quantity of the i: th QuantityConfigNR in quantityConfigNR-List, and i is indicated by quantityConfigIndex in MeasObjectNR; for other measurements, a = 1/2 ^(k/4) , where k is the filterCoefficient for the corresponding measurement quantity received by the quantityConfig; for UTRA-FDD, a = 1/2 ^(k/4) _, where k is the filterCoefficient for the corresponding measurement quantity received by quantityConfigUTRA-FDD in the QuantityConfig.

Referring back to the RRM measurement model 500 and to the communications satellite use case, each communications satellite may have multi-carriers, where each carrier corresponds to a cell. An RRM measurement can be the same as terrestrial network (i.e., the measurement is performed per cell per carrier) . A measurement result is maintained and stored for each cell. For hard switching, as in FIG. 3, the measured satellite may have changed suddenly. Accordingly, a challenge includes whether the previous collected layer 1 samples should be maintained at the UE side. Another challenge includes whether the layer 3 measurement should proceed continuously. For soft switching, as in FIG. 4, the UE receives two different signals (at least) possible for the same PCI on a carrier. A challenge includes whether the layer 1 samples on the two satellites be mixed together in RRM. Another challenge includes whether the layer 3 measurement results need to be maintained separately. A further challenge includes treatment of the UE of the target satellite measurement results. Yet another challenge includes whether network requires the measurement results from two satellites to trigger satellite change. At least some or all these and possibly other challenges can be addressed according to embodiments described in connection with the next figures.

Generally, a first embodiment involves using the same PCI for the different TRPs (e.g., the PCI remains unchanged for the different communications satellites) . In this embodiment, the network can send a network configuration to the UE. The network configurations can indicate that TRP identifiers (e.g., satellite IDs) should be provisioned together. The network can provision the information for each TRP (e.g., each communications satellite) , wherein this information (e.g., included in the network configuration) indicates parameters associated with coverage of a cell provided by the TRP and having the PCI (e.g., the service start time, ephemeris data, Koffset, common TA, etc. ) .

In this embodiment, different options are available for the UE operations. In a first example option, the UE maintains a single set of layer 3 cell specific measurement results. In this example option, the layer 1 samples from two satellites are not differentiated at the UE side. Alternatively in this first example option, before a certain time point, the UE only performs measurement on the first TRP and after that time point, the UE starts performs measurement on the second TRP. Another variation in this first example option is to differentiate the TRPs by beams, or to rely on a UE specific implementation for how layer 1 sampling and inputting to the layer 3. In a second example option, the UE maintains two sets of layer 3 cell specific measurement results, one for each TRP.

Generally, a second embodiment is to use different PCIs for the different TRPs (e.g., a first PCI for the first communications satellite and a second PCI for the second communications satellite) . These TRPs can be configured (e.g., via a network configuration) to belong to the same logical cell (with the same CGI) . In this embodiment, all cell specific configurations and UE specific configurations (such as DRB, security, etc. ) can remain the same.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example of RRM measurements 600 during switching, in accordance with some embodiments. The example is illustrated in the context of soft switching and two TRPs. Nonetheless, the embodiments similarly and equivalently can be applied to hard switching and/or to more than two TRPs. In this example, the same PCI is used for multiple TRPs communicatively coupled to a base station. A UE maintains a single set of layer 3 cell specific measurement results, whereby the layer 1 samples from two satellites are not differentiated at the UE side.

The layer 1 processing of the UE is described herein first. Before a start of a time duration (e.g., a switch duration illustrated as T_overlapping) , a UE receives a first signal from a first TRP and generates layer 1 samples from this first signal per a measurement model (e.g., the measurement model of FIG. 5) . The time duration may be referred to herein as an overlapping time duration, starts when the service of a second TRP first becomes available (illustrated as TRP-2 service time start, such as the first point in time when the second TRP can become a serving TRP for the UE; T-service start of a communication satellite in the context of non-terrestrial networks) , and ends when the service of the first TRP is no longer available (illustrated as TRP-1 service time end, such as the last point in time when the first TRP can no longer continue to be the serving TRP for the UE; T-service stop of a communication satellite in the context of non-terrestrial networks) . At some point within the time duration, the UE receives a signal from the second TRP and generates layer 1 samples from this second signal per the measurement model. The first signal continues to be received from the first TRP during the time duration and, as such, the UE continues to generate layer 1 samples from this signal during the time duration. At the end of the time duration, the first signal is no longer received. However, the second signal continues to be received and, as such, the UE continues to generate layer 1 samples from this second signal. The layer 1 samples generated from the first signal are illustrated with blank rectangles, whereas the layer 1 samples generated from the second signal are illustrated with diagonally shaded rectangles. The collection of these two types of layer 1 samples forms a single set of Layer 1 samples. Note that using a single set of layer 1 samples from multiple TRPs may render the measurement results less accurate than other embodiments described herein below.

The layer 3 processing of the UE is described herein second. Before the start of the time duration, the layer 1 samples generated from the first signal are processed at layer 3 so that the UE generates layer 3 measurements from these samples per the measurement model. During the time duration, the layer 1 samples generated from both the first signal and the second signal are processed at layer 3 so that the UE generates layer 3 measurements from these samples per the measurement model. The UE does not distinguish between layer 1 samples generated from the first signal and layer 1 samples generated from the second signal. As such, the UE does not distinguish between layer 3 measurements corresponding to the first signal and layer 3 measurements corresponding to the second signal. After the end of the time duration, the layer 1 samples generated from the second signal are processed at layer 3 so that the UE generates layer 3 measurements from these samples per the measurement model. As such, over time (before, during, and after the time duration) , the UE generates layer 3 measurements without distinguishing between correspondences to the first signal and the second signal. These layer 3 measurements form a single set of measurements. The layer 3 measurements included in this single set are illustrated with black rectangles.

FIG. 7 illustrates another example of RRM measurements 700 during switching, in accordance with some embodiments. The example is illustrated in the context of soft switching and two TRPs. Nonetheless, the embodiments similarly and equivalently can be applied to hard switching and/or to more than two TRPs. In this example and like FIG. 6, the same PCI is used for multiple TRPs communicatively coupled to a base station. A UE maintains a single set of layer 3 cell specific measurement results. However, unlike FIG. 6, here the UE performs measurement on a first TRP and after a time point, the UE starts performs measurement on a second TRP.

Before a time duration (e.g., a switch duration illustrated as T_overlapping) , the UE receives a first signal from a first TRP. The time duration may be referred to herein as an overlapping time duration, starts when the service of a second TRP first becomes available (illustrated as TRP-2 service time start, such as the first point in time when the second TRP can become a serving TRP for the UE; T-service start of a communication satellite in the context of non-terrestrial networks) , and ends when the service of the first TRP is no longer available (illustrated as TRP-1 service time end, such as the last point in time when the first TRP can no longer continue to be the serving TRP for the UE; T-service stop of a communication satellite in the context of non-terrestrial networks) . During the time duration, the UE receives a second signal from the second TRP, while continuing to receive the second signal. After the time duration, the UE no longer receives the first signal and continues to receive the second signal. During the time duration, the UE inputs layer 1 samples corresponding to one TRP only to the layer 3, while filtering layer 1 samples corresponding to the other TRP via layer 3 filtering for cell quality.

In particular, the layer 1 processing of the UE is described herein first. Before the start of the time duration, the UE generates layer 1 samples from the first signal per a measurement model (e.g., the measurement model of FIG. 5) . During the time duration, the UE continues to generate layer 1 samples from the first signal and generates layer 1 samples from the second signal. At the end of the time duration, the UE continues to generate layer 1 samples from the second signal but not the first signal. The layer 1 samples generated from the first signal are illustrated with blank rectangles, whereas the layer 1 samples generated from the second signal are illustrated with diagonally shaded rectangles.

The layer 3 processing of the UE is described herein second. Before the start of the time duration, the layer 1 samples generated from the first signal are processed at layer 3 so that the UE generates layer 3 measurements from these samples per the measurement model. During the time duration, a measurement switch time point occurs. Between the start of the time duration and before the measurement switch time point, only the layer 1 samples corresponding to the first TRP are input to layer 3 so that the UE generates, per the measurement model, layer 3 measurements from the layer 1 samples corresponding to the first TRP only. During this time first interval that occurs within the time duration, layer 1 samples corresponding to the second TRP are filtered out and are not input to layer 3 for at least the purpose of cell measurements. After the measurement switch time point and before the end of the time duration, only the layer 1 samples corresponding to the second TRP are input to layer 3 so that the UE generates, per the measurement model, layer 3 measurements from the layer 1 samples corresponding to the second TRP only. During this time second interval that occurs within the time duration, layer 1 samples corresponding to the first TRP are filtered out and are not input to layer 3 for at least the purpose of cell measurements. After the end of the time duration, the layer 1 samples generated from the second signal are processed at layer 3 so that the UE generates layer 3 measurements from these samples per the measurement model. Over time (before, during, and after the time duration) , the UE generates layer 3 measurements without distinguishing between correspondences to the first signal and the second signal. These layer 3 measurements form a single set of measurements.

Accordingly, the layer 1 operations involve, during the T_overlapping, the UE inputting layer 1 samples from one TRP only. Before the measurement switch time point, the UE only considers the layer 1 samples from the first TRP (e.g., the serving TRP) and after the measurement switch time point, the UE only considers the layer 1 samples from the second TRP (which may not have become the serving TRP yet) . The measurement switch time point can be a configured or indicated by the network via signaling (e.g., a SAT_T-service start in the case of communications satellites) or determined by a predefined rule that is applied to one or all of the TRP’s signals (such as a rule applied to RSRP/RSRQ/SINR measurements relative to RSRP/RSRQ/SINR-related threshold (s) on one TRP, or the difference in RSRP/RSRQ/SINR measurements from multiple TRPs) .

In comparison, the layer 3 operations involve generating layer 3 measurements from the layer 1 samples that are input to the layer 3. Recall that per the measurement model of FIG. 5, the cell level measurements rely, in part, on a previous measurement result per the equation “F_n = (1 –a) *F_n-1 + a*M_n. ” As such, after the measurement switch time point occurs and, at least when the UE generates a first layer 3 measurement from the layer 1 sample corresponding to the second TRP, the only previous measurement result that the UE has maintained so far is the one derived from the layer 1 samples corresponding to the first TRP. As such, different options exist to generate the cell measurement result the first time after the measurement switch time point occurs. In one option, the UE discards its layers measurement result which was based on the signal of the first TRP and initiates the layer 3 filtering from scratch (e.g., F_n-1 is set to zero) . In another option, the UE does not discard its layers measurement result which was based on the signal of the first TRP and uses them in the layer 3 filtering (e.g., the value of F_n-1 is not changed) . In yet another option, the UE can have a specific implementation about whether to keep or discard previous the previous layer 3 measurement result (e.g., this specific implementation is not specified in a 3GPP technical specification) . Note that per this embodiment, only one TRP is measured during the overlapping duration. Thus, the other TRP’s channel quality is not available from the layer 3 measurement result generated after the switch measurement time point.

In an example, the UE can have a specific implementation (e.g., not specified in a 3GPP technical specification) to perform downlink synchronization and/or tracking on the first TRP after the UE switches to measuring the second signal of the second TRP. In other words, and referring to the above described second interval, the UE can perform, for instance, downlink tracking associated with the first TRP during at least a portion of the second interval. With this, the communication between the UE and the first TRP can continue while the UE performs downlink synchronization to the second TRP.

FIG. 8 illustrates a further example of RRM measurements 800 during switching, in accordance with some embodiments. The example is illustrated in the context of soft switching and two TRPs. Nonetheless, the embodiments similarly and equivalently can be applied to hard switching and/or to more than two TRPs. In this example and like FIG. 6, the same PCI is used for multiple TRPs communicatively coupled to a base station. A UE maintains a single set of layer 3 cell specific measurement results. However, unlike FIG. 6, here beams of TRPs are differentiated.

Before a time duration (e.g., a switch duration illustrated as T_overlapping) , the UE receives a first signal from a first TRP. The time duration may be referred to herein as an overlapping time duration, starts when the service of a second TRP first becomes available (illustrated as TRP-2 service time start, such as the first point in time when the second TRP can become a serving TRP for the UE; T-service start of a communication satellite in the context of non-terrestrial networks) , and ends when the service of the first TRP is no longer available (illustrated as TRP-1 service time end, such as the last point in time when the first TRP can no longer continue to be the serving TRP for the UE; T-service stop of a communication satellite in the context of non-terrestrial networks) . During the time duration, the UE receives a second signal from the second TRP, while continuing to receive the second signal. After the time duration, the UE no longer receives the first signal and continues to receive the second signal. At least during the time duration, the two TRPs (or equivalently signals) are differentiated by different beams. In other words, the network does not use, for instance, the same SSB index (s) on the two TRPs during the overlapping time duration. In illustration of FIG. 8, the first TRP is shown to be associated with SSB indexes “1” and 2, ” whereas the second TRP is shown to be associated with SSB indexes “k” and “k+1. ” The SSB indexes per TRP (which defer from that of another TRP during at least the overlapping time duration) can be indicated to the UE via a network configuration (e.g., via RRC, MAC CE, and/or DCI) . Because the beams are differentiated, the UE reports measurement results on different beams (e.g., L3 measurements at the beam level are also differentiated by beam index and/or the corresponding TRP) . The network can determine the channel quality of the TRPs based on the beam level Layer 3 measurement results. If a serving TRP is to be switched from the first TRP to the second TRP (e.g., a conditional switch) during the overlapping time duration, these beam level Layer 3 measurement results can be checked against beam level conditions (e.g., compared to beam level RSRP, RSRQ, and/or SINR based conditions for the switch) .

The layer 3 processing of the UE is described herein second. Before the start of the time duration, the layer 1 samples generated from the first signal are processed at layer 3 so that the UE generates layer 3 measurements from these samples per the measurement model (including layer 3 beam measurements) . During the time duration, the layer 1 samples generated from both the first signal and the second signal are processed at layer 3 so that the UE generates layer 3 measurements from these samples per the measurement model. However, for the purpose of at least the layer 3 beam measurements, these samples are differentiated based on the SSB beam indexes. In particular, layer 3 beam filtering (e.g., per the measurement model of FIG. 5) is applied to the layer 1 samples during at least the time duration. Accordingly, at least during the time duration, the UE differentiates between, layer 1 samples corresponding to the first TRP and layer 1 samples corresponding to the second TRP based on the SSB beam indexes. Given this differentiation, the UE generates Layer 3 beam measurements corresponding to the first TRP (illustrated with black rectangles and, corresponding to, for instance, SSB1 and SSB2) and Layer 3 beam measurements corresponding to the second TRP (illustrated with dotted rectangles and, corresponding to, for instance, SSBk and SSBk+1) . After the end of the time duration, the layer 1 samples generated from the second signal are processed at layer 3 so that the UE generates layer 3 measurements from these samples per the measurement model (including layer 3 beam measurements) . As such, over time (before, during, and after the time duration) , the UE generates layer 3 measurements (including layer 3 beam measurements) by using the same layer 3. These layer 3 measurements form a single set of measurements.

FIG. 9 illustrates yet another example of RRM measurements 900 during switching, in accordance with some embodiments. The example is illustrated in the context of soft switching and two TRPs. Nonetheless, the embodiments similarly and equivalently can be applied to hard switching and/or to more than two TRPs. In this example and like FIG. 6, the same PCI is used for multiple TRPs communicatively coupled to a base station. However, unlike FIG. 6, here a UE maintains a separate set of layer 3 cell specific measurement results per TRP.

In an example, the UE collects layer 1 samples from signals of a first TRP and a second TRP. The UE performs first layer 3 processing corresponding to the first TRP, and second layer 3 processing corresponding to the second TRP. These two sets of Layer 3 processing can be independent of each other. In particular, the input to the first layer 3 processing includes layer 1 samples corresponding to the first TRP. The output of the first layer 3 processing includes a first measurement result corresponding to the first TRP. The input to the second layer 3 processing includes layer 1 samples corresponding to the second TRP. The output of the second layer 3 processing includes a second measurement result corresponding to the second TRP. The two measurement results represent two different sets of RRM measurements, one set per TRP.

As illustrated, before a time duration (e.g., a switch duration illustrated as T_overlapping) , the UE receives a first signal from the first TRP. The time duration may be referred to herein as an overlapping time duration, starts when the service of the second TRP first becomes available (illustrated as TRP-2 service time start, such as the first point in time when the second TRP can become a serving TRP for the UE; T-service start of a communication satellite in the context of non-terrestrial networks) , and ends when the service of the first TRP is no longer available (illustrated as TRP-1 service time end, such as the last point in time when the first TRP can no longer continue to be the serving TRP for the UE; T-service stop of a communication satellite in the context of non-terrestrial networks) . During the time duration, the UE receives a second signal from the second TRP, while continuing to receive the second signal. After the time duration, the UE no longer receives the first signal and continues to receive the second signal.

The layer 1 processing of the UE is described herein first. Before the start of the time duration, the UE generates layer 1 samples from the first signal per a measurement model (e.g., the measurement model of FIG. 5) using layer 1 filtering corresponding to the first TRP. During the time duration, the UE continues to generate layer 1 samples from the first signal using layer 1 filtering corresponding to the first TRP. Also during the time duration, the UE generates layer 1 samples from the second signal using layer 1 filtering corresponding to the second TRP. At the end of the time duration, the UE continues to generate layer 1 samples from the second signal but not the first signal. The layer 1 samples generated from the first signal are illustrated with blank rectangles, whereas the layer 1 samples generated from the second signal are illustrated with diagonally shaded rectangles.

The layer 3 processing of the UE is described herein second. Before the start of the time duration, the layer 1 samples generated from the first signal are processed at layer 3 corresponding to the first TRP so that the UE generates layer 3 measurements from these samples per the measurement model. During the time duration, the layer 1 samples generated from the first signal are processed at layer 3 corresponding to the first TRP (e.g., given the layer 1 filtering) so that the UE generates first layer 3 measurements from these samples per the measurement model. These layer-3 measurements are show with black rectangles. Also, during the time duration, the layer 1 samples generated from the second signal are processed at layer 3 corresponding to the second TRP (e.g., given the layer 1 filtering) so that the UE generates second layer 3 measurements from these samples per the measurement model. These layer-3 measurements are show with dotted rectangles. After the end of the time duration, the layer 1 samples generated from the second signal are processed at layer 3 corresponding to the second TRP so that the UE generates layer 3 measurements from these samples per the measurement model. As such, over time (before, during, and after the time duration) , the UE generates layer 3 measurements as a first set corresponding to the first TRP and layer 3 measurements as a second set correspond to the second TRP.

Given that different sets of layer 3 measurements are generated, one set per TRP, different options exist to generate a measurement report. In one option, the measurement report contains the layer measurement results for the two TRPs on the same PCI, same carrier. For example, the measurement report includes the first set and the second set in association with a single instance of the PCI in the measurement report. An illustration of this option is as following (where Sat2 corresponds to the second TRP) :

In another option, the measurement report contains two layer 3 measurement results repeating the same PCI, same carrier. For example, the measurement report includes the first set in association with a first instance of the PCI in the measurement report and the second set in association with a second instance of the PCI in the measurement report.

Given that the sets of measurement results are report, the network needs to differentiate between these sets such as to determine the correspondence of each set to TRP. Different options exist for the differentiation. In one example, the Network can differentiate the two measurement results for the same PCI are due to soft PCI change scenario and it is up to network to determine the association between measurement result and satellites. In another example, the UE reports the satellite ID together in the measurement result for network to differentiate. An illustration of this example is as following (where SatelliteID corresponds to an identifier of the TRP for which the set is reported) :

In an example, communication of the UE switches from the first TRP to the second TRP based on the measurement report or based on an inter-TRP event associated with a signal quality per TRP or TRP pair. As far as the switching based on the measurement report only, the network can determine the exact time to change to second TRP based on UE measurement report. The network can indicate this timing to the UE using signaling (e.g., via the first TRP and/or the second TRP) . As far as inter-TRP event, these can be conditional switch events similar to the A3, A4, and/or A5 events specified in 3GPP Technical Specification 38.331 V17.6.0 (2023-09) , where the similar switch events are defined for inter-satellite scenarios, and where the signal quality threshold/difference is per satellite or satellite pair.

FIG. 10 illustrates an additional example of RRM measurements 1000 during switching, in accordance with some embodiments. The example is illustrated in the context of soft switching and two TRPs. Nonetheless, the embodiments similarly and equivalently can be applied to hard switching and/or to more than two TRPs. In this example, different PCIs for different TRPs communicatively coupled to a same base station are used. The PCIs are mapped to a cell logical cell (e.g., by using a mapping of the PCIs to a same CGI) .

In an example, the network associates a CGI with two PCIs: a first PCI (shown as PCI-1) for a first TRP 1010 and a second PCI (shown as PCI-2) for a second TRP 1020. The two TRPs 1010 and 1020 are communicatively coupled to a base station of the network via a gateway 1022. The network can indicate this association (e.g., mapping of PCIs and CGI) as part of a network configuration via signaling to a UE 1004. For example, the indication can be carried in a system information block (SIB) or signaling dedicated to sending the network configuration (or at least this indication) .

During a switch duration 1050 (e.g., similar to the overlapping time durations described in the above figures) , the UE 1004 can be in cell overage of the two TRPs 1010 and 1020. In particular, the first TRP 1010 provides a first cell coverage having a physical cell identity of PCI-1, while the first TRP 1020 provides a second cell coverage having a different physical cell identity of PCI-2. The UE 1004 performs RRM measurements 1000 per PCI (e.g., generates a measurement result for PCI-1 and a measurement result for PCI-2 by using (e.g., twice) a measurement model (e.g., the measurement model of FIG. 5) .

In an example, the network determines the actual time point for TRP change based on UE’s measurement report (via layer 1 or layer 3) . The actual time point can be within the switch duration 1050 such that the serving TRP can be updated. This change can be indicated via layer 1 and/or layer 2 (e.g., lower-layer triggered mobility (LTM) MAC CE) .

In an example, the UE 1004 determines a TRP change operation. For instance, the network indicates the TRP change condition, which can be based on L1 and/or L3 measurement results. The UE 1004 performs the TRP change (e.g., initiates random access channel (RACH) and/or configured grant (CG) transmission, etc. ) when the condition is met.

FIG. 11 illustrates an example of an operational flow/algorithmic structure 1100 implemented by a UE to perform RRM measurement, in accordance with some embodiments. The UE is an example of any of the UEs described in the figures of the present disclosure.

The operational flow/algorithmic structure 1100 may include, at 1102, receiving a network configuration associated with a first TRP and a second TRP, the first TRP and the second TRP communicatively coupled with a same base station. In an example, each TRP is repeater or network node that is a physical component of a communications satellite. The network configuration can indicate whether the TRPs are associated with a same PCI or different PCIs and, if different PCIs, the CGI associated with the PCIs. The network configuration can be sent via dedicated signaling, such as via RRC signaling.

The operational flow/algorithmic structure 1100 may include, at 1104, performing, based on the network configuration, a first radio resource management (RRM) measurement on a first signal transmitted by the first TRP. For example, performing the RRM measurement can include generating layer 1 samples and/or performing layer 3 cell and/or beam level measurements based on the first signal according to a measurement model, such as the one described in FIG. 5. Specific measurements can depend on whether a single set of measurements is to be generated for all TRPs or a whether a set of measurements per TRP is to be generated, as described in the above figures.

The operational flow/algorithmic structure 1100 may include, at 1106, performing, based on the network configuration, a second RRM measurement on a second signal transmitted by the second TRP, wherein the first signal and the second signal are transmitted during a time duration during which the UE is in cell coverage of both the first TRP and the second TRP and after which the UE is in cell coverage of only one of the first TRP or the second TRP. For example, performing the second RRM measurement can include generating layer 1 samples and/or performing layer 3 cell and/or beam level measurements based on the second signal according to the measurement model. Specific measurements can depend on whether a single set of measurements is to be generated for all TRPs or a whether a set of measurements per TRP is to be generated, as described in the above figures.

The operational flow/algorithmic structure 1100 may include, at 1108, sending a measurement report based on the first RRM measurement and the second RRM measurement. The measurement report can include the single set or the different sets of measurement results.

FIG. 12 illustrates an example of an operational flow/algorithmic structure 1200 implemented by a network (e.g., by a component of the network such as a base station) to configure a UE to perform RRM measurement, in accordance with some embodiments. The network may be any of the networks described in the present disclosure.

The operational flow/algorithmic structure 1200 may include, at 1202, sending, to a UE a network configuration associated with a first TRP and a second TRP, the first TRP and the second TRP communicatively coupled with a same base station of the network. In an example, each TRP is repeater or network node that is a physical component of a communications satellite. The network configuration can indicate whether the TRPs are associated with a same PCI or different PCIs and, if different PCIs, the CGI associated with the PCIs. The network configuration can be sent via dedicated signaling, such as via RRC signaling.

The operational flow/algorithmic structure 1200 may include, at 1204, receiving, from the UE, a measurement report based on a first RRM measurement by the UE on a first signal transmitted by the first TRP and a second RRM measurement by the UE on a second signal transmitted by the second TRP, wherein the first signal and the second signal are transmitted during a time duration during which the UE is in cell coverage of both the first TRP and the second TRP and after which the UE is in cell coverage of only one of the first TRP or the second TRP. For example, the first RRM measurement can include layer 1 samples and/or layer 3 cell and/or beam level measurements based on the first signal according to a measurement model such as the one described in FIG. 5. Similarly, the second RRM measurement can include layer 1 samples and/or layer 3 cell and/or beam level measurements based on the second signal according to the measurement model. Specific measurements can depend on whether a single set of measurements is to be generated for all TRPs or a whether a set of measurements per TRP is to be generated, as described in the above figures.

FIG. 13 illustrates receive components 1300 of the UE 104, in accordance with some embodiments. A device, such as one described in any of the above figures, can include similar receive components. The receive components 1300 may include an antenna panel 1304 that includes a number of antenna elements. The panel 1304 is shown with four antenna elements, but other embodiments may include other numbers.

The antenna panel 1304 may be coupled to analog beamforming (BF) components that include a number of phase shifters 1308 (1) –1308 (4) . The phase shifters 1308 (1) –1308 (4) may be coupled with a radio-frequency (RF) chain 1312. The RF chain 1312 may amplify a receive analog RF signal, downconvert the RF signal to baseband, and convert the analog baseband signal to a digital baseband signal that may be provided to a baseband processor for further processing.

In various embodiments, control circuitry, which may reside in a baseband processor, may provide BF weights (for example W1 –W4) , which may represent phase shift values, to the phase shifters 1308 (1) –1308 (4) to provide a receive beam at the antenna panel 1304. These BF weights may be determined based on the channel-based beamforming.

FIG. 14 illustrates a UE 1400, in accordance with some embodiments. The UE 1400 may be similar to and substantially interchangeable with UE 104 of FIG. 1. A device, such as one described in any of the above figures, can include similar components, including for instance, processors, memory, and RF interface circuitry.

Similar to that described above with respect to UE 104, the UE 1400 may be any mobile or non-mobile computing device, such as mobile phones, computers, tablets, industrial wireless sensors (for example, microphones, carbon dioxide sensors, pressure sensors, humidity sensors, thermometers, motion sensors, accelerometers, laser scanners, fluid level sensors, inventory sensors, electric voltage/current meters, actuators, etc. ) , video surveillance/monitoring devices (for example, cameras, video cameras, etc. ) , wearable devices, or relaxed-IoT devices. In some embodiments, the UE may be a reduced capacity UE or NR-Light UE.

The UE 1400 may include processors 1404, RF interface circuitry 1408, memory/storage 1412, user interface 1416, sensors 1420, driver circuitry 1422, power management integrated circuit (PMIC) 1424, and battery 1428. The components of the UE 1400 may be implemented as integrated circuits (ICs) , portions thereof, discrete electronic devices, or other modules, logic, hardware, software, firmware, or a combination thereof. The block diagram of FIG. 14 is intended to show a high-level view of some of the components of the UE 1400. However, some of the components shown may be omitted, additional components may be present, and different arrangements of the components shown may occur in other implementations.

The components of the UE 1400 may be coupled with various other components over one or more interconnects 1432, which may represent any type of interface, input/output, bus (local, system, or expansion) , transmission line, trace, optical connection, etc., that allows various circuit components (on common or different chips or chipsets) to interact with one another.

The processors 1404 may include processor circuitry, such as baseband processor circuitry (BB) 1404A, central processor unit circuitry (CPU) 1404B, and graphics processor unit circuitry (GPU) 1404C. The processors 1404 may include any type of circuitry or processor circuitry that executes or otherwise operates computer-executable instructions, such as program code, software modules, or functional processes from memory/storage 1412 to cause the UE 1400 to perform operations as described herein.

In some embodiments, the baseband processor circuitry 1404A may access a communication protocol stack 1436 in the memory/storage 1412 to communicate over a 3GPP compatible network. In general, the baseband processor circuitry 1404A may access the communication protocol stack to: perform user plane functions at a PHY layer, MAC layer, RLC layer, PDCP layer, SDAP layer, and PDU layer; and perform control plane functions at a PHY layer, MAC layer, RLC layer, PDCP layer, RRC layer, and a non-access stratum “NAS” layer. In some embodiments, the PHY layer operations may additionally/alternatively be performed by the components of the RF interface circuitry 1408.

The baseband processor circuitry 1404A may generate or process baseband signals or waveforms that carry information in 3GPP-compatible networks. In some embodiments, the waveforms for NR may be based on cyclic prefix OFDM (CP-OFDM) in the uplink or downlink, and discrete Fourier transform spread OFDM (DFT-S-OFDM) in the uplink.

The baseband processor circuitry 1404A may also access group information from memory/storage 1412 to determine search space groups in which a number of repetitions of a PDCCH may be transmitted.

The memory/storage 1412 may include any type of volatile or non-volatile memory that may be distributed throughout the UE 1400. In some embodiments, some of the memory/storage 1412 may be located on the processors 1404 themselves (for example, layer 1 and L2 cache) , while other memory/storage 1412 is external to the processors 1404 but accessible thereto via a memory interface. The memory/storage 1412 may include any suitable volatile or non-volatile memory, such as, but not limited to, dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) , static random-access memory (SRAM) , erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM) , electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM) , Flash memory, solid-state memory, or any other type of memory device technology.

The RF interface circuitry 1408 may include transceiver circuitry and a radio frequency front module (RFEM) that allows the UE 1400 to communicate with other devices over a radio access network. The RF interface circuitry 1408 may include various elements arranged in transmit or receive paths. These elements may include, for example, switches, mixers, amplifiers, filters, synthesizer circuitry, control circuitry, etc.

In the receive path, the RFEM may receive a radiated signal from an air interface via an antenna 1450 and proceed to filter and amplify (with a low-noise amplifier) the signal. The signal may be provided to a receiver of the transceiver that down-converts the RF signal into a baseband signal that is provided to the baseband processor of the processors 1404.

In the transmit path, the transmitter of the transceiver up-converts the baseband signal received from the baseband processor and provides the RF signal to the RFEM. The RFEM may amplify the RF signal through a power amplifier prior to the signal being radiated across the air interface via the antenna 1450.

In various embodiments, the RF interface circuitry 1408 may be configured to transmit/receive signals in a manner compatible with NR access technologies.

The antenna 1450 may include a number of antenna elements that each convert electrical signals into radio waves to travel through the air and to convert received radio waves into electrical signals. The antenna elements may be arranged into one or more antenna panels. The antenna 1450 may have antenna panels that are omnidirectional, directional, or a combination thereof to enable beamforming and multiple input, multiple output communications. The antenna 1450 may include microstrip antennas, printed antennas fabricated on the surface of one or more printed circuit boards, patch antennas, phased array antennas, etc. The antenna 1450 may have one or more panels designed for specific frequency bands including bands in FR1 or FR2.

The user interface circuitry 1416 includes various input/output (I/O) devices designed to enable user interaction with the UE 1400. The user interface 1416 includes input device circuitry and output device circuitry. Input device circuitry includes any physical or virtual means for accepting an input, including, inter alia, one or more physical or virtual buttons (for example, a reset button) , a physical keyboard, keypad, mouse, touchpad, touchscreen, microphones, scanner, headset, or the like. The output device circuitry includes any physical or virtual means for showing information or otherwise conveying information, such as sensor readings, actuator position (s) , or other like information. Output device circuitry may include any number or combinations of audio or visual display, including, inter alia, one or more simple visual outputs/indicators (for example, binary status indicators, such as light emitting diodes (LEDs) and multi-character visual outputs) , or more complex outputs, such as display devices or touchscreens (for example, liquid crystal displays (LCDs) , LED displays, quantum dot displays, projectors, etc. ) , with the output of characters, graphics, multimedia objects, and the like being generated or produced from the operation of the UE 1400.

The sensors 1420 may include devices, modules, or subsystems whose purpose is to detect events or changes in its environment and send the information (sensor data) about the detected events to some other device, module, subsystem, etc. Examples of such sensors include, inter alia, inertia measurement units comprising accelerometers; gyroscopes; or magnetometers; microelectromechanical systems or nanoelectromechanical systems comprising 3-axis accelerometers; 3-axis gyroscopes; or magnetometers; level sensors; flow sensors; temperature sensors (for example, thermistors) ; pressure sensors; barometric pressure sensors; gravimeters; altimeters; image capture devices (for example; cameras or lensless apertures) ; light detection and ranging sensors; proximity sensors (for example, infrared radiation detector and the like) ; depth sensors; ambient light sensors; ultrasonic transceivers; microphones or other like audio capture devices; etc.

The driver circuitry 1422 may include software and hardware elements that operate to control particular devices that are embedded in the UE 1400, attached to the UE 1400, or otherwise communicatively coupled with the UE 1400. The driver circuitry 1422 may include individual drivers allowing other components to interact with or control various input/output (I/O) devices that may be present within, or connected to, the UE 1400. For example, driver circuitry 1422 may include a display driver to control and allow access to a display device, a touchscreen driver to control and allow access to a touchscreen interface, sensor drivers to obtain sensor readings of sensor circuitry 1420 and control and allow access to sensor circuitry 1420, drivers to obtain actuator positions of electro-mechanic components or control and allow access to the electro-mechanic components, a camera driver to control and allow access to an embedded image capture device, audio drivers to control and allow access to one or more audio devices.

The PMIC 1424 may manage power provided to various components of the UE 1400. In particular, with respect to the processors 1404, the PMIC 1424 may control power-source selection, voltage scaling, battery charging, or DC-to-DC conversion.

In some embodiments, the PMIC 1424 may control, or otherwise be part of, various power saving mechanisms of the UE 1400. For example, if the platform UE is in an RRC_Connected state, where it is still connected to the RAN node as it expects to receive traffic shortly, then it may enter a state known as Discontinuous Reception Mode (DRX) after a period of inactivity. During this state, the UE 1400 may power down for brief intervals of time and thus save power. If there is no data traffic activity for an extended period of time, then the UE 1400 may transition off to an RRC_Idle state, where it disconnects from the network and does not perform operations, such as channel quality feedback, handover, etc. The UE 1400 goes into a very low power state and wakes up to listen to paging from the network and then powers down again. The UE 1400 may not receive data in this state; in order to receive data, it must transition back to RRC_Connected state. An additional power saving mode may allow a device to be unavailable to the network for periods longer than a paging interval (ranging from seconds to a few hours) . During this time, the device is totally unreachable to the network and may power down completely or shut down RF activity completely. Any data sent during this time incurs a large delay and it is assumed the delay is acceptable.

A battery 1428 may power the UE 1400, although in some examples the UE 1400 may be mounted deployed in a fixed location and may have a power supply coupled to an electrical grid. The battery 1428 may be a lithium-ion battery, a metal-air battery, such as a zinc-air battery, an aluminum-air battery, a lithium-air battery, and the like. In some implementations, such as in vehicle-based applications, the battery 1428 may be a typical lead-acid automotive battery.

FIG. 15 illustrates a gNB 1500, in accordance with some embodiments. The gNB 1500 may be similar to and substantially interchangeable with the network node 108 of FIG. 1.

The gNB 1500 may include processors 1504, RAN interface circuitry 1508, core network (CN) interface circuitry 1512, and memory/storage circuitry 1516.

The components of the gNB 1500 may be coupled with various other components over one or more interconnects 1528.

The processors 1504, RAN interface circuitry 1508, memory/storage circuitry 1516 (including communication protocol stack 1510) , antenna 1550, and interconnects 1528 may be similar to like-named elements shown and described with respect to FIG. 14.

The CN interface circuitry 1512 may provide connectivity to a core network, for example, a Fifth Generation Core network (5GC) using a 5GC-compatible network interface protocol, such as carrier Ethernet protocols, or some other suitable protocol. Network connectivity may be provided to/from the gNB 1500 via a fiber optic or wireless backhaul. The CN interface circuitry 1512 may include one or more dedicated processors or FPGAs to communicate using one or more of the aforementioned protocols. In some implementations, the CN interface circuitry 1512 may include multiple controllers to provide connectivity to other networks using the same or different protocols.

It is well understood that the use of personally identifiable information should follow privacy policies and practices that are generally recognized as meeting or exceeding industry or governmental requirements for maintaining the privacy of users. In particular, personally identifiable information data should be managed and handled so as to minimize risks of unintentional or unauthorized access or use, and the nature of authorized use should be clearly indicated to users.

For one or more embodiments, at least one of the components set forth in one or more of the preceding figures may be configured to perform one or more operations, techniques, processes, or methods as set forth in the example section below. For example, the baseband circuitry as described above in connection with one or more of the preceding figures may be configured to operate in accordance with one or more of the examples set forth below. For another example, circuitry associated with a UE, base station, network element, etc. as described above in connection with one or more of the preceding figures may be configured to operate in accordance with one or more of the examples set forth below in the example section.

Examples

In the following sections, further exemplary embodiments are provided.

Example 1 includes a method implemented by a user equipment (UE) , the method comprising: receiving a network configuration associated with a first transmission and reception point (TRP) and a second TRP, the first TRP and the second TRP communicatively coupled with a same base station; performing, based on the network configuration, a first radio resource management (RRM) measurement on a first signal transmitted by the first TRP; and performing, based on the network configuration, a second RRM measurement on a second signal transmitted by the second TRP, wherein the first signal and the second signal are transmitted during a time duration during which the UE is in cell coverage of both the first TRP and the second TRP and after which the UE is in cell coverage of only one of the first TRP or the second TRP.

Example 2 includes a method implemented by a network, the method comprising: sending, to a user equipment (UE) , a network configuration associated with a first transmission and reception point (TRP) and a second TRP, the first TRP and the second TRP communicatively coupled with a same base station of the network; Causing, based on the network configuration, the UE to perform a first radio resource management (RRM) measurement on a first signal transmitted by the first TRP and a second RRM measurement on a second signal transmitted by the second TRP, wherein the first signal and the second signal are transmitted during a time duration during which the UE is in cell coverage of both the first TRP and the second TRP and after which the UE is in cell coverage of only one of the first TRP or the second TRP.

Example 3 includes the method of any example 1-2, wherein the network configuration indicates a first identifier for the first TRP, a second identifier for the second TRP, and a same physical cell identifier (PCI) for both the first TRP and the second TRP, and wherein the network configuration further indicates, for each TRP, parameters associated with coverage of a cell having the PCI.

Example 4 includes the method of any example 1-2, wherein the network configuration indicates a first physical cell identifier (PCI) for the first TRP, a second PCI for the second TRP, and an association of the first TRP and the second TRP with a same cell global identity (CGI) , and wherein the network configuration further indicates, for each TRP, parameters associated with coverage of a cell having the corresponding first or second PCI.

Example 5 includes the method of any example 1-4, further comprising: maintaining a single set of layer 3 cell specific measurement results based on the first RRM measurement and the second RRM measurement, wherein the measurement report is based on the single set, and wherein the network configuration indicates a same physical cell identifier (PCI) for both the first TRP and the second TRP.

Example 6 includes the method of example 5, further comprising: generating, during the time duration, layer 1 samples from the first signal and the second signal; and generating the single set from the layer 1 samples.

Example 7 includes the method of example 5, further comprising: generating, during a first interval of the time duration, first layer 1 samples from the first signal; generating, during a second interval of the time duration, second layer 1 samples from the second signal, wherein the second interval is subsequent to the first interval; and generating the single set from the first layer 1 samples and second layer samples.

Example 8 includes the method of example 7, wherein a start of the second interval corresponds to a service start of the second TRP or is based on at least one of the first signal or the second signal.

Example 9 includes the method of any example 1-4, further comprising: generating, during a first interval of the time duration, first layer 1 samples from the first signal; generating, based on the first layer 1 samples, a first layer 3 measurement result; generating, during a second interval of the time duration, second layer 1 samples from the second signal, wherein the second interval is subsequent to the first interval; and generating, based on the second layer 1 samples and the first layer 3 measurement result, a second layer 3 measurement result.

Example 10 includes the method of any example 1-4, further comprising: generating, during a first interval of the time duration, first layer 1 samples from the first signal; generating, based on the first layer 1 samples, a first layer 3 measurement result; generating, during a second interval of the time duration, second layer 1 samples from the second signal, wherein the second interval is subsequent to the first interval; and generating, based on the second layer 1 samples and independently of the first layer 3 measurement result, a second layer 3 measurement result.

Example 11 includes the method of any example 1-4, further comprising: generating, during a first interval of the time duration, first layer 1 samples from the first signal; generating, during a second interval of the time duration, second layer 1 samples from the second signal, wherein the second interval is subsequent to the first interval; and performing downlink tracking associated with the first TRP during at least a portion of the second interval.

Example 12 includes the method of any example 1-11, wherein network configuration indicates a first synchronization signal block (SSB) index for a first beam of the first TRP and a second SSB index for a second beam of the second TRP, and wherein the SSB index is different from the second SSB index.

Example 13 includes the method of example 11, further comprising: generating a first layer 3 measurement result associated with the first SSB index; and generating a second layer 3 measurement result associated with the second SSB index, wherein the first layer 3 measurement result and the second layer 3 measurement result are included in the measurement report.

Example 14 includes the method of example 12, wherein the first layer 3 measurement result includes a first layer 3 beam measurement result that indicates a channel quality associated with the first TRP.

Example 15 includes the method of example 11, further comprising: sending a measurement report based on the first RRM measurement and the second RRM measurement, wherein communication of the UE switches from the first TRP to the second TRP based on a beam-level measurement condition.

Example 16 includes the method of any example 1-2, wherein the network configuration indicates a same physical cell identifier (PCI) for both the first TRP and the second TRP, and wherein the method further comprises: maintaining a first set of layer 3 cell specific measurement results based on the first RRM measurement; and maintaining a second set of layer 3 cell specific measurement results based on the second RRM measurement, wherein the second set is separate from the first set, and wherein the measurement report is based on the first set and the second set.

Example 17 includes the method of example 16, further comprising: generating, during the time duration and after a service start time of the second TRP, first layer 1 samples from the first signal and second layer 1 samples from the second signal; generating the first set of layer 3 cell specific measurement results based on the first layer 1 samples; and generating the second set of layer 3 cell specific measurement results based on the second layer 1 samples and independently of the first layer 1 samples.

Example 18 includes the method of example 16, wherein the measurement report includes the first set and the second set in association with a single instance of the PCI in the measurement report.

Example 19 includes the method of example 16, wherein the measurement report includes the first set in association with a first instance of the PCI in the measurement report and the second set in association with a second instance of the PCI in the measurement report.

Example 20 includes the method of example 19, wherein the measurement report includes a first identifier of the first TRP in association with the first instance and a second identifier of the second TRP in association with the second instance.

Example 21 includes the method of example 16, wherein communication of the UE switches from the first TRP to the second TRP based on the measurement report or based on an inter-TRP event associated with a signal quality per TRP or TRP pair.

Example 22 includes the method of any example 1-2, wherein the network configuration indicates a first physical cell identifier (PCI) for the first TRP, a second PCI for the second TRP, and an association of the first TRP and the second TRP with a same cell global identity (CGI) .

Example 23 includes the method of example 22, wherein the first PCI, second PCI, and CGI are indicated in a system information block (SIB) or in signaling dedicated to sending the network configuration.

Example 24 includes the method of any example 1-2, further comprising: receiving a measurement report from the UE based on the first RRM measurement and the second RRM measurement; and determining, based on the measurement report, a time to switch communication of the UE from the first TRP to the second TRP; and indicating the time to the UE via layer 1 or layer 2 signaling.

Example 25 includes the method of any example 1-2, further comprising: receiving a measurement report from the UE based on the first RRM measurement and the second RRM measurement; and indicating, to the UE, a TRP change condition, wherein communication of the UE switches from the first TRP to the second TRP by the UE based on the measurement report or based on the TRP change condition.

Example 26 includes an apparatus, such as a UE, comprising means to perform one or more elements of a method described in or related to any of examples 1, 3-25 or any other method or process described herein.

Example 27 includes one or more non-transitory computer-readable media comprising instructions to cause an electronic device, such as a UE, upon execution of the instructions by one or more processors of the electronic device, to perform one or more elements of a method described in or related to any of examples 1, 3-25 or any other method or process described herein.

Example 28 includes an apparatus, such as a UE, comprising logic, modules, or circuitry to perform one or more elements of a method described in or related to any of examples 1, 3-25 or any other method or process described herein.

Example 29 includes a method, technique, or process as described in or related to any of examples 1, 3-25 or portions or parts thereof.

Example 30 includes an apparatus, such as a UE, comprising: one or more processors and one or more memory (e.g., one or more computer-readable media) comprising instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform the method, techniques, or process as described in or related to any of examples 1, 3-25 or portions thereof.

Example 31 includes a signal as described in or related to any of examples 1, 3-25 or portions or parts thereof.

Example 32 includes a datagram, information element, packet, frame, segment, PDU, or message as described in or related to any of examples 1, 3-25 or portions or parts thereof, or otherwise described in the present disclosure.

Example 33 includes a signal encoded with data as described in or related to any of examples 1, 3-25 or portions or parts thereof, or otherwise described in the present disclosure.

Example 34 includes a signal encoded with a datagram, IE, packet, frame, segment, PDU, or message as described in or related to any of examples 1, 3-25 or portions or parts thereof, or otherwise described in the present disclosure.

Example 35 includes an electromagnetic signal carrying computer-readable instructions, wherein execution of the computer-readable instructions by one or more processors is to cause the one or more processors to perform the method, techniques, or process as described in or related to any of examples 1, 3-25 or portions thereof.

Example 36 includes a computer program comprising instructions, wherein execution of the program by a processing element is to cause the processing element to carry out the method, techniques, or process as described in or related to any of examples 1, 3-25 or portions thereof.

Example 37 includes a network comprising means to perform one or more elements of a method described in or related to any of examples 2-25, or any other method or process described herein.

Example 38 includes one or more non-transitory computer-readable media comprising instructions to cause a network upon execution of the instructions by one or more processors of the network, to perform one or more elements of a method described in or related to any of examples 2-25, or any other method or process described herein.

Example 39 includes a network comprising logic, modules, or circuitry to perform one or more elements of a method described in or related to any of examples 2-25, or any other method or process described herein.

Example 40 includes a network comprising: one or more processors and one or more memory (e.g., one or more computer-readable media) comprising instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform the method, techniques, or process as described in or related to any of examples 2-25, or portions thereof.

Any of the above-described examples may be combined with any other example (or combination of examples) , unless explicitly stated otherwise. The foregoing description of one or more implementations provides illustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the scope of embodiments to the precise form disclosed. Modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings or may be acquired from practice of various embodiments.

Although the embodiments above have been described in considerable detail, numerous variations and modifications will become apparent to those skilled in the art once the above disclosure is fully appreciated. It is intended that the following claims be interpreted to embrace all such variations and modifications.

Claims

A method implemented by a user equipment (UE) , the method comprising:

receiving a network configuration associated with a first transmission and reception point (TRP) and a second TRP, the first TRP and the second TRP communicatively coupled with a same base station;

performing, based on the network configuration, a first radio resource management (RRM) measurement on a first signal transmitted by the first TRP; and

performing, based on the network configuration, a second RRM measurement on a second signal transmitted by the second TRP, wherein the first signal and the second signal are transmitted during a time duration during which the UE is in cell coverage of both the first TRP and the second TRP and after which the UE is in cell coverage of only one of the first TRP or the second TRP.
The method of claim 1, wherein the network configuration indicates a first identifier for the first TRP, a second identifier for the second TRP, and a same physical cell identifier (PCI) for both the first TRP and the second TRP, and wherein the network configuration further indicates, for each TRP, parameters associated with coverage of a cell having the PCI.
The method of claim 1, wherein the network configuration indicates a first physical cell identifier (PCI) for the first TRP, a second PCI for the second TRP, and an association of the first TRP and the second TRP with a same cell global identity (CGI) , and wherein the network configuration further indicates, for each TRP, parameters associated with coverage of a cell having the corresponding first or second PCI.
The method of claim 1, further comprising:

maintaining a single set of layer 3 cell specific measurement results based on the first RRM measurement and the second RRM measurement, wherein the measurement report is based on the single set, and wherein the network configuration indicates a same physical cell identifier (PCI) for both the first TRP and the second TRP.
The method of claim 4, further comprising:

generating, during the time duration, layer 1 samples from the first signal and the second signal; and

generating the single set from the layer 1 samples.
The method of claim 4, further comprising:

generating, during a first interval of the time duration, first layer 1 samples from the first signal;

generating, during a second interval of the time duration, second layer 1 samples from the second signal, wherein the second interval is subsequent to the first interval; and

generating the single set from the first layer 1 samples and second layer samples.
The method of claim 6, wherein a start of the second interval corresponds to a service start of the second TRP or is based on at least one of the first signal or the second signal.
The method of claim 4, further comprising:

generating, during a first interval of the time duration, first layer 1 samples from the first signal;

generating, based on the first layer 1 samples, a first layer 3 measurement result;

generating, during a second interval of the time duration, second layer 1 samples from the second signal, wherein the second interval is subsequent to the first interval; and

generating, based on the second layer 1 samples and the first layer 3 measurement result, a second layer 3 measurement result.
The method of claim 4, further comprising:

generating, during a first interval of the time duration, first layer 1 samples from the first signal;

generating, based on the first layer 1 samples, a first layer 3 measurement result;

generating, during a second interval of the time duration, second layer 1 samples from the second signal, wherein the second interval is subsequent to the first interval; and

generating, based on the second layer 1 samples and independently of the first layer 3 measurement result, a second layer 3 measurement result.
The method of claim 4, further comprising:

generating, during a first interval of the time duration, first layer 1 samples from the first signal;

generating, during a second interval of the time duration, second layer 1 samples from the second signal, wherein the second interval is subsequent to the first interval; and

performing downlink tracking associated with the first TRP during at least a portion of the second interval.
The method of claim 1, wherein network configuration indicates a first synchronization signal block (SSB) index for a first beam of the first TRP and a second SSB index for a second beam of the second TRP, and wherein the SSB index is different from the second SSB index.
The method of claim 11, further comprising:

generating a first layer 3 measurement result associated with the first SSB index; and

generating a second layer 3 measurement result associated with the second SSB index, wherein the first layer 3 measurement result and the second layer 3 measurement result are included in the measurement report.
The method of claim 12, wherein the first layer 3 measurement result includes a first layer 3 beam measurement result that indicates a channel quality associated with the first TRP.
The method of claim 11, further comprising:

sending a measurement report based on the first RRM measurement and the second RRM measurement, wherein communication of the UE switches from the first TRP to the second TRP based on a beam-level measurement condition.
A user equipment (UE) comprising:

one or more processors; and

one or more memory storing instructions that, upon execution by the one or more processors, configure the UE to:

receive a network configuration associated with a first transmission and reception point (TRP) and a second TRP, the first TRP and the second TRP communicatively coupled with a same base station;

perform, based on the network configuration, a first radio resource management (RRM) measurement on a first signal transmitted by the first TRP;

perform, based on the network configuration, a second RRM measurement on a second signal transmitted by the second TRP, wherein the first signal and the second signal are transmitted during a time duration during which the UE is in cell coverage of both the first TRP and the second TRP and after which the UE is in cell coverage of only one of the first TRP or the second TRP.
The UE of claim 15, wherein the network configuration indicates a same physical cell identifier (PCI) for both the first TRP and the second TRP, and wherein execution of the instructions further configures the UE to:

maintain a first set of layer 3 cell specific measurement results based on the first RRM measurement; and

maintain a second set of layer 3 cell specific measurement results based on the second RRM measurement, wherein the second set is separate from the first set, and wherein the measurement report is based on the first set and the second set.
The UE of claim 16, wherein execution of the instructions further configures the UE to:

generate, during the time duration and after a service start time of the second TRP, first layer 1 samples from the first signal and second layer 1 samples from the second signal;

generate the first set of layer 3 cell specific measurement results based on the first layer 1 samples; and

generate the second set of layer 3 cell specific measurement results based on the second layer 1 samples and independently of the first layer 1 samples.
The UE of claim 16, wherein the measurement report includes the first set and the second set in association with a single instance of the PCI in the measurement report.
The UE of claim 16, wherein the measurement report includes the first set in association with a first instance of the PCI in the measurement report and the second set in association with a second instance of the PCI in the measurement report.
The UE of claim 19, wherein the measurement report includes a first identifier of the first TRP in association with the first instance and a second identifier of the second TRP in association with the second instance.
The UE of claim 16, wherein communication of the UE switches from the first TRP to the second TRP based on the measurement report or based on an inter-TRP event associated with a signal quality per TRP or TRP pair.
A method implemented by a network, the method comprising:

sending, to a user equipment (UE) , a network configuration associated with a first transmission and reception point (TRP) and a second TRP, the first TRP and the second TRP communicatively coupled with a same base station of the network; and

causing, based on the network configuration, the UE to perform a first radio resource management (RRM) measurement on a first signal transmitted by the first TRP and a second RRM measurement on a second signal transmitted by the second TRP, wherein the first signal and the second signal are transmitted during a time duration during which the UE is in cell coverage of both the first TRP and the second TRP and after which the UE is in cell coverage of only one of the first TRP or the second TRP.
The method of claim 22, wherein the network configuration indicates a first physical cell identifier (PCI) for the first TRP, a second PCI for the second TRP, and an association of the first TRP and the second TRP with a same cell global identity (CGI) .
The method of claim 23, wherein the first PCI, second PCI, and CGI are indicated in a system information block (SIB) or in signaling dedicated to sending the network configuration.
The method of claim 22, further comprising:

receiving a measurement report from the UE based on the first RRM measurement and the second RRM measurement;

determining, based on the measurement report, a time to switch communication of the UE from the first TRP to the second TRP; and

indicating the time to the UE via layer 1 or layer 2 signaling.
The method of claim 22, further comprising:

receiving a measurement report from the UE based on the first RRM measurement and the second RRM measurement; and

indicating, to the UE, a TRP change condition, wherein communication of the UE switches from the first TRP to the second TRP by the UE based on the measurement report or based on the TRP change condition.