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WO2025202899A1 - Methods, apparatus and computer-readable media related to measurement gaps and/or paging occasions - Google Patents

Methods, apparatus and computer-readable media related to measurement gaps and/or paging occasions

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Publication number
WO2025202899A1
WO2025202899A1 PCT/IB2025/053146 IB2025053146W WO2025202899A1 WO 2025202899 A1 WO2025202899 A1 WO 2025202899A1 IB 2025053146 W IB2025053146 W IB 2025053146W WO 2025202899 A1 WO2025202899 A1 WO 2025202899A1
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WO
WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
paging occasions
paging
user equipment
network node
invalid
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Pending
Application number
PCT/IB2025/053146
Other languages
French (fr)
Inventor
Johan Rune
Ming Li
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson AB
Original Assignee
Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson AB
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Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson AB filed Critical Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson AB
Publication of WO2025202899A1 publication Critical patent/WO2025202899A1/en
Pending legal-status Critical Current
Anticipated expiration legal-status Critical

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Classifications

    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
    • H04W68/00—User notification, e.g. alerting and paging, for incoming communication, change of service or the like
    • H04W68/005—Transmission of information for alerting of incoming communication
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
    • H04W24/00—Supervisory, monitoring or testing arrangements
    • H04W24/10—Scheduling measurement reports ; Arrangements for measurement reports
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
    • H04W84/00—Network topologies
    • H04W84/02—Hierarchically pre-organised networks, e.g. paging networks, cellular networks, WLAN [Wireless Local Area Network] or WLL [Wireless Local Loop]
    • H04W84/04—Large scale networks; Deep hierarchical networks
    • H04W84/06—Airborne or Satellite Networks

Definitions

  • Embodiments of the disclosure relate to mobile networks, and particularly to methods, apparatus and computer-readable media for configuring a user equipment with one or more measurement gaps and/or paging occasions.
  • Background Satellite Communications [0001] Satellite networks complement terrestrial mobile networks on the ground by providing connectivity to underserved areas and multicast/broadcast services.
  • a satellite radio access network usually includes the following components: ⁇ A satellite that refers to a space-borne platform. ⁇ An Earth-based gateway that connects the satellite to a base station or a core network, depending on the choice of architecture.
  • MEO and LEO are also known as Non-Geo Synchronous Orbit (NGSO) type of satellite.
  • NGSO Non-Geo Synchronous Orbit
  • ⁇ GEO height at about 35,786 km, with an orbital period of 24 hours.
  • GSO Geo Synchronous Orbit
  • Two basic architectures can be distinguished for satellite communication networks, depending on the functionality of the satellites in the system: ⁇ Transparent payload (also referred to as bent pipe architecture). The satellite forwards the received signal between the terminal and the network equipment on the ground with only amplification and a shift from uplink frequency to downlink frequency.
  • Figure 1 shows an example architecture of a satellite network or non-terrestrial network (NTN) with bent pipe transponders (i.e., the transparent payload architecture).
  • a base station (BS) 108 is coupled to a gateway, and communicates with a wireless device 104 via a feeder link (between the gateway 106 and a satellite 102) and an access link (between the satellite 102 and the device 104).
  • the base station, or gNB, 108 may be integrated in the gateway or connected to the gateway via a terrestrial connection (wire, optic fiber, wireless link).
  • the significant orbit height means that satellite systems are characterized by a path loss that is significantly higher than what is expected in terrestrial networks.
  • a communication satellite typically generates several beams over a given area.
  • the footprint of a beam is usually in an elliptic shape, which has been traditionally considered as a cell (but a cell consisting of multiple beams is not precluded).
  • the footprint of a beam is also often referred to as a spotbeam.
  • the spotbeam may move over the Earth’s surface with the satellite movement (and the Earth’s rotation) or may be Earth-fixed with some beam pointing mechanism used by the satellite to compensate for its motion.
  • the size of a spotbeam depends on the system design and may range from tens of kilometers to a few thousands of kilometers.
  • the NTN beam may in comparison to the beams observed in a terrestrial network provide a very wide footprint and may cover an area outside of the area defined by the served cell. Beams covering adjacent cells will overlap and cause significant levels of intercell interference, resulting from the slow decrease of the signal strength in the outward radial direction. This is due in part to the high elevation angle and the long distance to the network- side (satellite-borne) transceiver which, compared with terrestrial cells, result in a comparatively small relative difference between the distance from the cell center to the satellite and the distance from a point at the cell edge to the satellite.
  • NTN Three types of beams or cells are supported in NTN: ⁇ Earth-fixed beams/cells: provisioned by beam(s) continuously covering the same geographical areas all the time (e.g., in the case of GEO satellites). ⁇ Quasi-Earth-fixed beams/cells: provisioned by beam(s) covering one geographic area for a limited period and a different geographic area during another period (e.g., in the case of NGSO satellites generating steerable beams).
  • ⁇ Earth-moving beams /cells provisioned by beam(s) whose coverage area slides over the Earth’s surface (e.g., in the case of NGSO satellites generating fixed or non-steerable beams).
  • beam and “cell” are used interchangeably, unless explicitly noted otherwise.
  • quasi-Earth-fixed cells and moving cells seem to be the ones most promising for actual deployment. In the case of moving cells, each cell (the footprint of its beam(s)) moves across the surface of the Earth as its serving satellite moves along its orbit.
  • the cell area (as the name implies) remains fixed to the same geographical area, regardless of satellite movements.
  • a serving satellite has means for dynamically directing its beam(s), so that the same area of the Earth is covered despite the satellite’s movement.
  • the same satellite will only be able to cover the same area on the Earth for a limited time, unless the satellite is in a geostationary orbit (and note that LEO satellites have the most traction in the satellite communication industry). This means that different satellites will have the task of covering a certain geographical cell area at different time periods.
  • Ephemeris data (sometimes referred to as “ephemeris information” or “ephemeris parameters” or just “ephemeris”) is data that allows a UE (or other entity) to determine a satellite’s position and velocity, i.e., the ephemeris data contains parameters related to the satellite’s orbit. There are several different formats defined for ephemeris data.
  • TR 38.821 v16.2.0 it has been captured that ephemeris data should be provided to the UE, for example to assist with pointing a directional antenna (or an antenna beam) towards the satellite, and to calculate a correct Timing Advance (TA) (see more about this in section 6.3 of TR 38.821 v16.2.0) and Doppler shift.
  • TA Timing Advance
  • NR NTN and Internet- of-Things (IoT) NTN ephemeris data will be broadcast in the system information (SI) in each cell, included in an NTN specific SIB (labeled SIB19 in NR NTN and SIB31 IoT NTN).
  • SI system information
  • Exactly which set of parameters is chosen can be decided by the user; many different representations are possible.
  • a choice of parameters used often in astronomy is the set (a, ⁇ , i, ⁇ , ⁇ , t).
  • the semi-major axis a and the eccentricity ⁇ describe the shape and size of the orbit ellipse;
  • the inclination i, the right ascension of the ascending node ⁇ , and the argument of periapsis ⁇ determine its position in space, and the epoch time t determines a reference time (e.g. the time when the satellite moves through periapsis).
  • two line elements use mean motion n and mean anomaly M instead of a and t.
  • a completely different set of parameters is the position and velocity vector (x, y, z, v x , v y , v z ) of a satellite. These are sometimes called orbital state vectors. They can be derived from the orbital elements and vice versa, since the information they contain is equivalent. All these formats (and many others) are possible choices for the format of ephemeris data to be used in NTN.
  • An aspect discussed during the 3GPP study item and captured in 3GPP TR 38.821 16.2.0 is the validity time of ephemeris data.
  • GNSS Global Navigation Satellite System
  • an NTN gNB carried by a satellite, or communicating via a satellite broadcasts its ephemeris data (i.e., data that informs the UE about the satellite’s position, velocity, and orbit) and full or partial feeder link delay (in the form of so-called common TA parameters) to a GNSS equipped UE.
  • the UE can then determine the propagation delay, the delay variation rate, the Doppler shift, and its variation rate based on the UE’s own location (obtained through GNSS measurements) and the satellite location and movement (derived from the ephemeris data).
  • the UE uses this knowledge to compensate its UL transmissions for the propagation delay and Doppler effect.
  • the GNSS receiver also allows a device to determine a time reference (e.g. in terms of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC)) and frequency reference, which may facilitate the UE’s handling of the timing and frequency synchronization in an NR- or LTE-based NTN.
  • a time reference e.g. in terms of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC)
  • frequency reference e.g. in terms of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC)
  • UTC Coordinated Universal Time
  • UEs are expected to compensate their UL transmissions for the propagation delay and Doppler effect.
  • the UE uses knowledge of its location and broadcast information about the satellite’s position (i.e. ephemeris data) to calculate the UE- satellite RTT, which is then used in UE autonomous calculation of a Timing Advance (TA), as described in section 6.3 of TR 38.821 v16.2.0.
  • TA Timing Advance
  • an IoT NTN UE is not expected to be able to perform a GNSS measurement while receiving transmissions from the network at the same time.
  • the GNSS measurement should be fresh enough to be reliable.
  • the notion of a GNSS validity timer (or validity duration) has been introduced, which governs the maximum age UE location information may have when used in such operations (e.g. for calculation of a timing advance).
  • a suitable value for this maximum age may depend on the UE’s implementation, and therefore the GNSS validity timer is a UE implementation specific mechanism.
  • the standard specifications for IoT NTN include means by which the UE can inform the network (i.e. the serving eNB) of the remaining time of the UE’s currently running GNSS validity timer.
  • NTN-specific information in the system information [0025] Due to the special operating conditions in a NTN, the system information broadcast in an NTN cell has to include NTN-specific information.
  • SIB19 a new SIB (SIB19) is introduced in NR NTN which contains NTN-specific information.
  • the new SIB31 more or less corresponds to SIB19 in NR NTN. It contains the satellite specific information including the ephemeris data.
  • IoT NTN The Non-Terrestrial Network described above is based on 5G/NR technology adapted for communication via satellites. But an NTN standard for IoT, denoted as “IoT NTN”, is also being specified in release 17 of the 3GPP standards. IoT NTN is based on the LTE NB- IoT technology adapted for communication via satellites. To distinguish NTN based 5G/NR technology from IoT NTN, NTN based on 5G/NR technology is often referred to as “NR NTN”.
  • NTN is sometimes used to refer to either or both of NR NTN and IoT NTN, and sometimes the term “NTN” is used to refer only to NR NTN.
  • NR NTN and IoT NTN are important differences between NR NTN and IoT NTN.
  • an NR NTN UE is expected to be able to perform GNSS measurements independently of its communication in the NTN (e.g. using separate receiver circuitry for the two operations), an IoT NTN is not expected to be able to do that.
  • VSAT antenna/UE A very small aperture terminal (VSAT) is a two-way ground station that transmits and receives data from satellites.
  • a VSAT UE differs from a regular handheld device in that the former uses an external antenna (e.g. parabolic dish) to provide a better link budget for high throughput services especially in areas with low signal quality (e.g. SINR, SNR etc.).
  • an external antenna e.g. parabolic dish
  • the antenna(s) of the VSAT tracks satellites (e.g. reference signals) using a mechanical and/or electronic steering (or sweeping) of the receive beams of the satellite signals.
  • a VSAT has to point towards a satellite to acquire connectivity (at the signal acquisition and during connectivity).
  • the antenna generates one lobe.
  • the orientation of the VSAT reception and transmission lobe may be defined by the elevation angle (i.e. the angle between the horizon and the satellite) and the azimuth angle (i.e. the angle between the satellite and the north).
  • An electronically steered VSAT is equipped with a large array of antenna elements. AVSAT using electronic steering of signals to receive the signals from the satellite may change its receive beam (e.g. to point towards certain satellite) very quickly e.g. X11 degrees in azimuth plane and/or X12 degrees in vertical plane within few microseconds.
  • a VSAT using mechanical steering to receive the signals from the satellite may change the direction of its receive beam (e.g. to point towards a certain satellite) relatively slowly, e.g. X21 degrees in azimuth plane and/or X22 degrees in vertical plane over the course of a few seconds.
  • the VSAT changes its orientation by 15 degrees per second.
  • the VSAT changes its orientation by 20 degrees per second. Therefore steering the VSAT terminal by 120 degrees may take up to 6-8 seconds.
  • the azimuth angle is the horizontal angle from true north in a clockwise direction. Azimuth angle varies from 0° to 360°. The azimuth angle is 0° when the antenna is directed north.
  • the antenna Upon rotating in a clockwise direction, the antenna is directed east (azimuth angle is 90°), then south (azimuth angle is 180°), then west (which is 270°), and then returns to North (which is 360° and also 0°).
  • the elevation angle would be 0° when the antenna is directed to the horizon, and 90° when the antenna is directed directly overhead (i.e., ‘the zenith’).
  • Neighbor cell measurements in RRC_IDLE and RRC_INACTIVE state in NR NTN [0037] UEs in RRC_IDLE and RRC_INACTIVE states perform neighbor cell measurements (e.g.
  • the neighbor cell measurements may include both intra-frequency measurements (i.e. measurements on neighbor cells using the same carrier frequency as the UE’s serving cell) and inter-frequency measurements (i.e. measurements on neighbor cells using other carrier frequencies than the UE’s serving cell) and inter-radio-access technology (RAT) measurements (i.e. measurements on neighbor cells using another RAT (and carrier frequency) than the UE’s serving cell).
  • intra-frequency measurements i.e. measurements on neighbor cells using the same carrier frequency as the UE’s serving cell
  • inter-frequency measurements i.e. measurements on neighbor cells using other carrier frequencies than the UE’s serving cell
  • RAT inter-radio-access technology
  • Such neighbor cell measurements are governed by certain rules which are specified in the standard (mainly in 3GPP TS 38.304 version 17.5.0 and 3GPP TS 38.133 version 18.3.0), including various configurable parameters.
  • the standard mainly in 3GPP TS 38.304 version 17.5.0 and 3GPP TS 38.133 version 18.3.0
  • 3GPP standard specifies a set of rules to limit the effort and energy spent by UEs to perform neighbor cell measurements in RRC_IDLE and RRC_INACTIVE states.
  • 3GPP TS 38.304 version 17.5.0 stipulates the following for intra-frequency neighbor cell measurements in RRC_IDLE and RRC_INACTIVE states: “Following rules are used by the UE to limit needed measurements: ⁇ If the serving cell fulfils Srxlev > S IntraSearchP and Squal > S IntraSearchQ : ⁇ If distanceThresh and referenceLocation are broadcasted in SIB19, and if UE supports location-based measurement initiation and has obtained its location information: ⁇ If the distance between UE and the serving cell reference location referenceLocation is shorter than distanceThresh, the UE may not perform intra-frequency measurements; ⁇ Else, the UE shall perform intra-frequency measurements; ⁇ Else, the UE may not perform intra-frequency measurements; ⁇ Else, the UE shall perform intra-frequency measurements.” [0041] Similar rules are specified for inter-frequency and inter-RAT neighbor cell measurements in RRC_IDLE and RRC_INACTIVE states, but for these neighbor
  • 3GPP TS 38.304 version 17.5.0 stipulates the following for inter-frequency and inter-RAT neighbor cell measurements in RRC_IDLE and RRC_INACTIVE states: “The UE shall apply the following rules for NR inter-frequencies and inter-RAT frequencies which are indicated in system information and for which the UE has priority provided as defined in 5.2.4.1: ⁇ For a NR inter-frequency or inter-RAT frequency with a reselection priority higher than the reselection priority of the current NR frequency, the UE shall perform measurements of higher priority NR inter-frequency or inter-RAT frequencies according to TS 38.133 [8].
  • ⁇ For a NR inter-frequency with an equal or lower reselection priority than the reselection priority of the current NR frequency and for inter-RAT frequency with lower reselection priority than the reselection priority of the current NR frequency: ⁇ If the serving cell fulfils Srxlev > S nonIntraSearchP and Squal > S nonIntraSearchQ : ⁇ If distanceThresh and referenceLocation are broadcasted in SIB19, and if UE supports location-based measurement initiation and has obtained its UE location information: ⁇ If the distance between UE and the serving cell reference location referenceLocation is shorter than distanceThresh, the UE may choose not to perform measurements of NR inter-frequency cells of equal or lower priority, or inter-RAT frequency cells of lower priority; ⁇ Else, the UE shall perform measurements of NR inter-frequency cells of equal or lower priority, or inter-RAT frequency cells of lower priority according to TS 38.133 [8]; ⁇ Else, the UE may
  • a further rule is used which is related to the end of the service time of a quasi-Earth-fixed cell, i.e. the time which is indicated by the t- Service parameter broadcasted in SIB19.
  • the rule is specified to ensure that when the current serving cell of a UE in RRC_IDLE or RRC_INATCIVE state is approaching the end of its service time, the UE shall perform neighbor cell measurements irrespective of other rules or conditions (i.e. the UE should essentially ignore the above-described rules for limiting the neighbor cell measurements).
  • UE shall perform measurements of higher priority NR inter-frequency or inter-RAT frequencies according to TS 38.133 [8] regardless of the remaining service time of the serving cell (i.e. time remaining until t-Service).”
  • Paging in RRC_IDLE and RRC_INACTIVE states in NR UEs in RRC_IDLE and RRC_INACTIVE states in an NR network monitor the downlink for paging messages indicating that downlink control or user plane data is pending transmission to the UE, or indicating certain information of relevance to the UE, e.g. that the system information has been updated.
  • a UE when a UE performs such page monitoring, it monitors the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) in a certain so-called search space in the time-frequency resource grid, looking for downlink control information (DCI) messages addressed to the Paging radio network temporary identifier (P-RNTI).
  • PDCCH physical downlink control channel
  • DCI downlink control information
  • Each UE in RRC_IDLE and RRC_INACTIVE states monitors the PDCCH as described above at certain so-called paging occasions (POs), which are periodically recurring occasions (or more precisely, a set of PDCCH monitoring occasions), where the periodicity of the so-called paging discontinuous reception (DRX) periods is configured in the system information (or, in some cases, using dedicated non access stratum (NAS) signaling or dedicated radio resource control (RRC) signaling) and the location of a certain UE’s PO in a paging DRX period is derived from an identifier associated with the UE (typically using the operation 5G-S-TMSI modulo 1024, or, if the UE operates in eDRX, 5G-S-TMSI mod 4096).
  • POs paging occasions
  • NAS non access stratum
  • RRC radio resource control
  • the UE If the UE is in RRC_INACTIVE state and finds its paging identifier (the full I- RNTI) in the Paging RRC message, it typically responds to the page by attempting to access the network using a random access procedure with an RRCResumeRequest RRC message as message 3.
  • the UE is mandated to monitor the paging occasions associated with it in accordance with the relevant configurations.
  • the paging framework is defined in 3GPP TS 38.331 version 17.5.0, 3GPP TS 38.304 version 17.5.0 and (the relevant DCI format) in 3GPP TS 38.212 version 18.0.0. Summary [0052] There currently exist certain challenge(s).
  • the proposed solution enables a VSAT UE operating in RRC_IDLE or RRC_INACTIVE state in an NTN to measure on neighbor cells served by other satellites than the serving cell without missing pages from the network.
  • the teachings of certain embodiments may improve the robustness of connections with serving base stations, by providing a mechanism that allows user equipments to “miss” one or more paging occasions without adversely affecting the connection to the network; conversely, the user equipment is given greater opportunity to measure neighbor cells and may therefore make better handover decisions.
  • Fig.1 shows an example architecture of a satellite network
  • Fig. 2 is a flow chart illustrating a method performed by a user equipment in accordance with some embodiments
  • Fig. 3 is a flow chart illustrating a method performed by a network node in accordance with some embodiments
  • Fig. 1 shows an example architecture of a satellite network
  • Fig. 2 is a flow chart illustrating a method performed by a user equipment in accordance with some embodiments
  • Fig. 3 is a flow chart illustrating a method performed by a network node in accordance with some embodiments
  • FIG. 4 is a flow chart illustrating a method performed by a core network entity according to embodiments of the disclosure
  • Fig.5 is a schematic diagram showing valid and invalid paging occasions according to embodiments of the disclosure
  • Fig. 6 shows an example of a communication system in accordance with some embodiments
  • Fig.7 shows a UE in accordance with some embodiments
  • Fig.8 shows a network node in accordance with some embodiments
  • Fig. 9 is a block diagram illustrating a virtualization environment in which functions implemented by some embodiments may be virtualized
  • Fig.10 shows a network node in accordance with some embodiments.
  • a VSAT UE may therefore be configured with a series of repetitive paging occasions (e.g., an endless or infinite series of such occasions), which with regular intervals is interrupted by a finite sequence of invalidated/skipped/ignored paging occasions. This may be seen as overlaying a very extended DRX cycle (e.g. denoted as “overlay VSAT DRX”) on top of the regular DRX or eDRX cycles.
  • overlay VSAT DRX very extended DRX cycle
  • FIG. 2 depicts a method in accordance with particular embodiments. The method may be performed by a UE or wireless device (e.g.
  • the UE is a very-small-aperture terminal (VSAT).
  • VSAT very-small-aperture terminal
  • a UE may comprise two parts: a transceiver, such as a dish antenna or an antenna array; and a device connected to the transceiver for interfacing the transceiver with a user or a user’s terminal.
  • the transceiver may generate a single transmit/receive lobe.
  • the transceiver may be directable electronically (e.g., by phasing the signals to an array) or mechanically (e.g., by motors).
  • the method begins at step 202, in which the user equipment receives a configuration comprising an indication of a plurality of paging occasions on which the user equipment is to monitor for paging messages from a first radio access network node.
  • the indication of the plurality of paging occasions may comprise an indication of a cycle in which the paging occasions are configured, such as a paging cycle and/or a discontinuous reception (DRX) cycle.
  • DRX discontinuous reception
  • the UE is in a low-power state, but wakes up periodically to monitor one or more paging occasions (POs) for paging messages from the network.
  • POs may comprise time and/or frequency resources on which the UE is to monitor for paging messages.
  • the UE receives a configuration comprising an indication of one or more of the plurality of paging occasions which are invalid, and on which the user equipment is permitted not to monitor for paging messages from the first radio access network node.
  • the indication of one or more invalid paging occasions may itself comprise an indication of a cycle defining the one or more invalid paging occasions.
  • the cycle comprises one or more consecutive paging occasions which are invalid, followed by one or more consecutive paging occasions which are valid.
  • the cycle of the one or more invalid paging occasions may have a longer period than the cycle of the plurality of paging occasions, and so the interaction of the two cycles may be viewed as a regular cycle (the paging occasions) on which a longer cycle is superimposed or overlaid (the invalid PO cycle).
  • the overall configuration could be that with a cycle of N paging occasions, M consecutive paging occasions are skipped/invalid (where M ⁇ N) to allow enough time for the VSAT UE to perform neighbor cell measurements without missing a paging occasion.
  • step 204 comprises receiving a plurality of indications of one or more of the plurality of paging occasions which are invalid. Each indication may define a time window having a different duration in which paging occasions are invalid (or, equivalently, a different number of consecutive paging occasions).
  • the first radio access network node may be a serving node for the user equipment, while the one or more second radio access network nodes may serve neighboring cells.
  • One or more of the first and/or second radio access network nodes may be located on, or communicate with the user equipment via, satellites in a non-terrestrial network.
  • the one or more invalid paging occasions may therefore be used by the user equipment to redirect an antenna to perform measurements on transmissions by one or more second radio access network nodes.
  • the user equipment may redirect its antenna/transceiver to perform measurements on transmissions by one or more second radio access network nodes.
  • a time window may be known as a measurement gap.
  • the time window may be considerably longer than conventional measurement gaps, to allow sufficient time for the antenna/transceiver to be redirected to a second radio access network node (e.g., via a satellite).
  • the time window may therefore have a duration of at least one second, a duration of at least two seconds, or a duration of at least four seconds.
  • the UE should be in a position to monitor the first valid paging occasion (e.g., after the “measurement gap” described herein has finished).
  • One or more synchronization signals should be measured by the UE prior to that first valid paging occasion such that any paging message is correctly received and decoded.
  • additional embodiment #1 sets out various methods for achieving this.
  • cell reselection occurs during a period of invalid paging occasions (e.g., “the measurement gap) or close to the start of valid paging occasions in the target cell, the UE may encounter the measurement gap in the target cell and be unable to acquire paging occasions.
  • a base station (BS) or radio network node (RNN) associated with a satellite might include both a regenerative satellite, where the BS or RNN is the satellite payload, i.e. the BS or RNN is integrated with the satellite, or a transparent satellite, where the satellite payload is a relay and BS or RNN is on the ground (i.e. the satellite relays the communication between the BS or RNN on the ground and the UE).
  • the term node is used which can be a network node or a user equipment (UE).
  • network nodes are NodeB, base station (BS), multi-standard radio (MSR) radio node such as MSR BS, eNodeB, gNodeB, MeNB, SeNB, satellite access node (SAN), location measurement unit (LMU), integrated access backhaul (IAB) node, network controller, radio network controller (RNC), base station controller (BSC), relay, donor node controlling relay, base transceiver station (BTS), Central Unit (e.g. in a gNB), Distributed Unit (e.g.
  • the non-limiting term UE refers to any type of wireless device communicating with a network node and/or with another UE in a cellular or mobile communication system.
  • VSAT stands for “Very Small Aperture Terminal” and is strictly speaking a device.
  • VSAT may also be used as a property, e.g.
  • any of the equipment denoted by the term node, network node or radio network node may be capable of supporting a single or multiple RATs.
  • the term signal or radio signal used herein can be any physical signal or physical channel.
  • Examples of DL physical signals are reference signal (RS) such as cell specific RS (CRS), NRS, NPSS, NSSS, PSS, SSS, CSI-RS, DMRS signals in SS/PBCH block (SSB), discovery reference signal (DRS), CRS, PRS etc.
  • RS may be periodic e.g. RS occasion carrying one or more RSs may occur with certain periodicity e.g. 20 ms, 40 ms etc.
  • the RS may also be aperiodic.
  • Each SSB carries NR-PSS, NR-SSS and NR-PBCH in 4 successive symbols.
  • One or multiple SSBs are transmit in one SSB burst which is repeated with certain periodicity e.g. 5 ms, 10 ms, 20 ms, 40 ms, 80 ms and 160 ms.
  • the UE is configured with information about the SSB(s) on cells of certain carrier frequency by one or more SS/PBCH block measurement timing configuration (SMTC) configurations.
  • the SMTC configuration comprising parameters such as SMTC periodicity, SMTC occasion length in time or duration, SMTC time offset with regards to reference time (e.g. serving cell’s SFN) etc.
  • SMTC occasion may also occur with certain periodicity e.g.5 ms, 10 ms, 20 ms, 40 ms, 80 ms and 160 ms.
  • Examples of UL physical signals are reference signal such as SRS, DMRS etc.
  • the term carrier frequency refers to a frequency of special significance, e.g. the frequency of a carrier wave and/or the frequency where SSB(s) are transmitted.
  • the carrier frequency belongs to certain frequency band, which may contain one or multiple carrier frequencies based on its passband (e.g. size of the band in frequency domain) and/or bandwidth of the carriers and/or the channel raster etc.
  • the carrier frequency related information is transmitted to the UE by a network node using a frequency channel number or identifier via message e.g. RRC.
  • a frequency channel number or identifier which may be pre-defined, are absolute radio frequency channel number (ARFCN), NR-ARFCN etc.
  • ARFCN absolute radio frequency channel number
  • NR-ARFCN NR-ARFCN
  • any expression stating that a cell performs an action should be interpreted as a simplified way of writing that the base station (BS) serving the cell performs an action (e.g. that the BS serving the cell sends a message to the UE).
  • node an “BS” may sometimes be used in the solution description.
  • the “node” or “BS” in these terms should be understood as typically being a RAN node in a NTN based on NR technology, LTE technology or any other RAT in which handover, conditional handover or another mobility or conditional mobility concept is defined.
  • a RAN node may be assumed to be a gNB.
  • an LTE based NTN including an IoT NTN
  • a RAN node may be assumed to be an eNB.
  • Alternatives to, or refinements of, these interpretations are however also conceivable.
  • a gNB may be an en-gNB, and if a split gNB architecture is applied (dividing the gNB into multiple separate entities or notes), the term “node” may refer to a part of the gNB, such as a gNB-CU (often referred to as just CU), a gNB-DU (often referred to as just DU), a gNB-CU-CP or a gNB-CU-UP.
  • an eNB may be an ng-eNB, and if a split eNB architecture is applied (dividing the eNB into multiple separate entities or notes), the term “node” may refer to a part of the eNB, such as an eNB-CU, an eNB-DU, an eNB-CU-CP or an eNB-CU-UP. Furthermore, the “node” in the terms may also refer to an IAB-donor, IAB-donor-CU, IAB-donor-DU, IAB-donor-CU-CP, or an IAB-donor-CU-UP.
  • node may also refer to a core network node, such as an AMF, an SMF, a UDM node, or an MME.
  • the term “node” may refer to an OAM node, such as an OSS, an Element Manager (ME) or a Network Manager (NM).
  • OAM node such as an OSS, an Element Manager (ME) or a Network Manager (NM).
  • VSAT very small aperture terminal
  • VSAT very small aperture antenna
  • VSAT antenna is used interchangeably to represent the antenna on ‘VSAT’ or ‘VSAT UE’ in different context.
  • Note 14 When the text in the solution description states that a UE measures on a satellite, this should be interpreted to mean that the UE measures on reference signals transmitted in a cell served by the satellite. That is, stating that the UE measures on a satellite is just shortened way of writing (for convenience and simplicity).
  • the term ‘redirect’ is the action of a UE set antenna orientation to a certain direction from the initial/current antenna orientation, the term ‘redirect’ may be called as ‘direct’, ‘change’ or ‘tune’ without losing the general meaning.
  • Note 16 The terms ‘sweeping route’ and ‘sweep route’ are used interchangeably herein. They refer to a, possibly planned or configured, series of one or more rotation(s) or directional change(s) (i.e. movement(s)/redirection(s) from one direction to another) of a VSAT antenna.
  • Note 17 The term ‘antenna orientation’ is used to represent the (main lobe) direction of the beam transmitted/received by an antenna, it may be used interchangeably as the boresight direction or pointing direction or directivity of an antenna.
  • Note 18 At the core of the proposed solution is a feature which may be described as an overlay VSAT DRX or an RRC_INACTIVE and/or RRC_IDLE state measurement gap.
  • Information describing the overlay VSAT DRX feature e.g. describing a cycle
  • the RRC_INACTIVE and/or RRC_IDLE state measurement gap feature e.g.
  • VSAT-specific paging related configuration VSAT-specific paging related configuration information
  • VSAT related paging configuration VSAT related paging configuration information
  • VSAT related paging configuration information VSAT related paging configuration information
  • a UE in RRC_INACTIVE or RRC_IDLE state is expected to perform neighbor cell measurements to assess whether cell reselection would be beneficial at least once per paging cycle (i.e. between paging occasions) (unless certain conditions are fulfilled (related to the signal strength/quality in the serving cell, and, in NTN, optionally a condition related to the UE’s distance from a serving cell reference location), in which case the neighbor cell measurements may be skipped).
  • certain conditions related to the signal strength/quality in the serving cell, and, in NTN, optionally a condition related to the UE’s distance from a serving cell reference location
  • the neighbor cell measurements may be skipped.
  • the satellite constellation e.g. the density of the deployed satellites
  • VSAT UE’s capabilities related to redirections of its antenna e.g.
  • the proposed solution includes that the paging DRX and/or paging eDRX feature may be amended in order to allow a VSAT UE long enough time to perform neighbor cell measurements (e.g. following a sweep route, i.e. sequential measurements on neighbor cells served by a set of different satellites, e.g. as described in P109554) between two paging occasions that it is expected to monitor.
  • the challenge is that typically, a paging occasion periodicity may be desired which is too small to allow a VSAT UE’s neighbor cell measurements between two paging occasions.
  • the paging configuration for a VSAT UE may include a sequence of dense/frequent paging occasions, which, with a longer periodicity, is interrupted by a longer interval without paging occasions. This may be seen as overlaying a very extended DRX cycle (e.g. denoted as “overlay VSAT DRX”) on top of the regular DRX or eDRX cycles.
  • overlay VSAT DRX very extended DRX cycle
  • RRC_IDLE state measurement gaps or “RRC_INACTIVE state measurement gaps” are configured, wherein paging occasions which occur within such an RRC_IDLE state measurement gap or RRC_INACTIVE state measurement gap are invalidated.
  • the overall configuration could be that with a cycle of N paging occasions, M consecutive paging occasions are skipped/invalid (where M ⁇ N) to allow enough time for the VSAT UE to perform neighbor cell measurements without missing a paging occasion.
  • Figure 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating an embodiment of the disclosure, in which twelve valid paging occasions are followed by four invalid paging occasions, and this is repeated over and over. Note that the purpose of the drawing is to illustrate the principle conceptually, and the values twelve and four are chosen only to ease viewing.
  • the period of time highlighted by the bracket 510 may be seen as an overlay VSAT DRX cycle.
  • the period of time highlighted by the bracket 520 may be seen as an RRC_INACTIVE/RRC_IDLE measurement gap.
  • the overlay VSAT DRX principle – or equivalently the RRC_INACTIVE and/or RRC_IDLE state measurement gap principle – may be applied to “regular” DRX or extended DRX (eDRX). This includes eDRX configured for a UE in RRC_INACTIVE state (i.e. the ran- ExtendedPagingCycle field in the SuspendConfig IE in the RRCRelease message) and the eDRX configured for UE’s in RRC_IDLE state.
  • the above-described mechanisms comprise that the network, e.g. the gNB (or in some embodiments a core network node, e.g. an AMF) determines or obtains a configuration of an overlay VSAT DRX cycle (or RRC_INACTIVE and/or RRC_IDLE state measurement gap) and signals this configuration information to one or more UEs. The network then refrains from paging a VSAT UE in paging occasions which the VSAT UE has been configured to skip/ignore (i.e. regard as in valid).
  • the network e.g. the gNB (or in some embodiments a core network node, e.g. an AMF) determines or obtains a configuration of an overlay VSAT DRX cycle (or RRC_INACTIVE and/or RRC_IDLE state measurement gap) and signals this configuration information to one or more UEs.
  • the network then refrains from paging a VSAT UE in paging occasions which the VSAT UE has been configured to
  • VSAT DRX e.g. describing a cycle
  • RRC_INACTIVE e.g. describing RRC_IDLE state measurement gap
  • RRC_IDLE state measurement gap feature e.g. describing duration and periodicity of such a measurement gap
  • VSAT-specific paging related configuration “VSAT-specific paging related configuration”
  • VSAT-specific paging related configuration information “VSAT related paging configuration”
  • VSAT related paging configuration information “VSAT related paging configuration information”.
  • Configuration and signaling of the configuration [0131] A main choice regarding the configuration – and signaling of the configuration – of the VSAT-specific paging related mechanisms is whether it should be controlled by the RAN or the core network. Both of these are feasible and both options will be described below. [0132] One approach is to view this configuration information as something that can be common for all VSAT UEs, and then broadcasting the configuration information in the system information may be seen as a good choice. However, for paging of a UE in RRC_INACTIVE state, i.e.
  • VSAT-specific paging related configuration information for core network initiated paging using NAS is not precluded either, in which case the AMF could inform the gNB in the Paging NAS message of the configuration information the gNB needs to avoid paging the VSAT UE in paging occasions which are invalid according to the VSAT-specific paging related configuration information.
  • Configuration and signaling of the configuration controlled by the RAN [0133] There are various conceivable options for how to configure the VSAT related paging configuration extensions described above, e.g.
  • an overlay VSAT DRX cycle or RRC_INACTIVE state and/or RRC_IDLE state measurement gaps when the RAN, e.g. a gNB is in control.
  • the RAN e.g. a gNB is in control.
  • it may be signaled in the broadcasted system information.
  • RRC_INACTIVE state a further possibility is to signal this configuration information in the RRCRelease message, e.g. in the SuspendConfig IE, or to signal part of the configuration information in the system information and part of the configuration in the RRCRelease message (e.g. in the SuspendConfig IE).
  • an overlay VSAT DRX cycle may e.g.
  • ⁇ the number of valid/monitored PO(s) in the beginning of the cycle ⁇ the number of skipped/invalid PO(s) at the end (or beginning) of the cycle
  • PCCH-Config :: SEQUENCE ⁇ defaultPagingCycle PagingCycle, nAndPagingFrameOffset CHOICE ⁇ oneT NULL, halfT INTEGER (0..1), quarterT INTEGER (0..3), oneEighthT INTEGER (0..7), oneSixteenthT INTEGER (0..15) ⁇ , ns ENUMERATED ⁇ four, two, one ⁇ , firstPDCCH-MonitoringOccasionOfPO CHOICE ⁇ sCS15KHZoneT SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxPO-perPF)) OF INTEGER (0..139), sCS30KHZoneT-SCS15KHZhalfT SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxPO-perPF)) OF INTEGER (0..279), sCS60KHZoneT-SCS30KHZhalfT-SCS15KHZquarterT SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxPO-perPF)
  • PCCH-Config :: SEQUENCE ⁇ defaultPagingCycle PagingCycle, nAndPagingFrameOffset CHOICE ⁇ oneT NULL, halfT INTEGER (0..1), quarterT INTEGER (0..3), oneEighthT INTEGER (0..7), oneSixteenthT INTEGER (0..15) ⁇ , ns ENUMERATED ⁇ four, two, one ⁇ , firstPDCCH-MonitoringOccasionOfPO CHOICE ⁇ sCS15KHZoneT SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxPO-perPF)) OF INTEGER (0..139), sCS30KHZoneT-SCS15KHZhalfT SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxPO-perPF)) OF INTEGER (0..279), sCS60KHZoneT-SCS30KHZhalfT-SCS15KHZquarterT SEQUENCE
  • SIBxx an ASN.1 code example of how the above-described VSAT related paging configuration information could be included in a new SIB (here denoted as SIBxx). (Since this entire SIB is new, all related ASN.1 code is underlined to be consistent with the other ASN.1 code examples).
  • SIB2 SEQUENCE ⁇ cellReselectionInfoCommon SEQUENCE ⁇ nrofSS-BlocksToAverage INTEGER (2..maxNrofSS- BlocksToAverage) OPTIONAL, -- Need S absThreshSS-BlocksConsolidation ThresholdNR OPTIONAL, -- Need S rangeToBestCell RangeToBestCell OPTIONAL, -- Need R q-Hyst ENUMERATED ⁇ dB0, dB1, dB2, dB3, dB4, dB5, dB6, dB8, dB10, dB12, dB14, dB16, dB18, dB20, dB22, dB24 ⁇ , speedStateReselectionPars SEQUENCE ⁇ mobilityStateParameters MobilityStateParameters, q-HystSF SEQUENCE ⁇ sf
  • cellReselectionServingFreqInfo SEQUENCE ⁇ s-NonIntraSearchP ReselectionThreshold OPTIONAL, -- Need S s-NonIntraSearchQ ReselectionThresholdQ OPTIONAL, -- Need S threshServingLowP ReselectionThreshold, threshServingLowQ ReselectionThresholdQ OPTIONAL, -- Need R cellReselectionPriority CellReselectionPriority, cellReselectionSubPriority CellReselectionSubPriority OPTIONAL, -- Need R ...
  • intraFreqCellReselectionInfo SEQUENCE ⁇ q-RxLevMin Q-RxLevMin, q-RxLevMinSUL Q-RxLevMin OPTIONAL, -- Need R q-QualMin Q-QualMin OPTIONAL, -- Need S s-IntraSearchP ReselectionThreshold, s-IntraSearchQ ReselectionThresholdQ OPTIONAL, -- Need S t-ReselectionNR T-Reselection, frequencyBandList MultiFrequencyBandListNR-SIB OPTIONAL, -- Need S frequencyBandListSUL MultiFrequencyBandListNR-SIB OPTIONAL, -- Need R p-Max P-Max OPTIONAL, -- Need S smtc SSB-MTC OPTIONAL, -- Need S ss-RSSI-Measurement SS-RSSI-Measurement OPTIONAL, -- Need R ssb-ToMeasure SS
  • IntraFreqNeighCellInfo-v1610 SEQUENCE ⁇ ssb-PositionQCL-r16 SSB-PositionQCL-Relation-r16 OPTIONAL -- Cond SharedSpectrum2
  • IntraFreqNeighCellInfo-v1710 SEQUENCE ⁇ ssb-PositionQCL-r17 SSB-PositionQCL-Relation-r17 OPTIONAL -- Cond SharedSpectrum2
  • SIB4 SEQUENCE ⁇ interFreqCarrierFreqList InterFreqCarrierFreqList, lateNonCriticalExtension OCTET STRING OPTIONAL, ..., [[ interFreqCarrierFreqList-v1610 InterFreqCarrierFreqList-v1610 OPTIONAL -- Need R ]], [[ interFreqCarrierFreqList-v1700 InterFreqCarrierFreqList-v1700 OPTIONAL -- Need R ]], [[ interFreqCarrierFreqList-v1720 InterFreqCarrierFreqList-v1720 OPTIONAL -- Need R ]], [[ interFreqCarrierFreqList-v1730 InterFreqCarrierFreqList-
  • InterFreqNeighCellInfo-v1610 SEQUENCE ⁇ ssb-PositionQCL-r16 SSB-PositionQCL-Relation-r16 OPTIONAL -- Cond SharedSpectrum2 ⁇
  • InterFreqNeighCellInfo-v1710 SEQUENCE ⁇ ssb-PositionQCL-r17 SSB-PositionQCL-Relation-r17 OPTIONAL -- Cond SharedSpectrum2 ⁇
  • SuspendConfig :: SEQUENCE ⁇ fullI-RNTI I-RNTI-Value, shortI-RNTI ShortI-RNTI-Value, ran-PagingCycle PagingCycle, ran-NotificationAreaInfo RAN-NotificationAreaInfo OPTIONAL, -- Need M t380 PeriodicRNAU-TimerValue OPTIONAL, -- Need R nextHopChainingCount NextHopChainingCount, ..., [[ sl-UEIdentityRemote-r17 RNTI-Value OPTIONAL, -- Cond L2RemoteUE sdt-Config-r17 SetupRelease ⁇ SDT-Config-r17 ⁇ OPTIONAL, -- Need M srs-PosRRC-Inactive-r17 SetupRelease ⁇ SRS-PosRRC-Inactive- r17 ⁇ OPTIONAL, -- Need M ran-ExtendedPagingCycle-r17 ExtendedPagingCycle-r17 O
  • the core network can base its determination of the VSAT-specific paging related configuration information on one or more of: ⁇ Information configured in the core network node(s), e.g. configured by an OAM node/entity (e.g. the core network node(s) receives the VSAT-specific paging related configuration information from another node/entity. ⁇ The core network node(s) may determine the VSAT-specific paging related configuration information based on statistics of VSAT UE capability information, e.g.
  • the core network node(s) may determine the VSAT-specific paging related configuration information based on statistics of VSAT UE capability information received from a UDM, or the UDM may provide the VSAT-specific paging related configuration information to the core network node(s).
  • the core network may provide the determined VSAT-specific paging related configuration information to a gNB, so that the gNB can include it in the system information, e.g. as described above.
  • the core network may provide VSAT-specific paging related configuration information on a per UE basis.
  • the core network node(s) may provide the VSAT-specific paging related configuration information to a UE using NAS signaling, e.g. in a REGISTRATION ACCEPT NAS message and/or a PDU SESSION ESTABLISHMENT ACCEPT NAS message.
  • the core network node(s) may in turn have received the UE specific VSAT-specific paging related configuration information, or may have received information serving as the basis for the determination of the UE specific VSAT-specific paging related configuration information, from the UDM.
  • core network node(s) may determine the UE specific VSAT-specific paging related configuration information based on information, e.g. capability information, received from the UE, e.g. in a REGISTRATION REQUEST NAS message and/or in a PDU SESSION ESTABLISHMENT REQUEST NAS message, or from the gNB.
  • the core network e.g. the serving AMF, may provide the UE specific VSAT-specific paging related configuration information to the gNB(s) in the PAGING NGAP message (e.g.
  • the core network may provide the UE specific VSAT-specific paging related configuration information to the gNB e.g. in an INITIAL CONTEXT SETUP REQUEST NGAP message (e.g. in the UE Radio Capability for Paging IE) or in a UE CONTEXT MODIFICATION REQUEST NGAP message.
  • UE specific VSAT-specific paging related configuration information e.g.
  • the core network when core network initiated paging of a UE is to be initiated, the core network, e.g.
  • an AMF may adapt the times at which it sends PAGING NGAP message(s) to involved gNB(s) (or, alternatively, adapt which gNB(s) it sends PAGING NGAP message(s) to at a given time) based on knowledge of the UE’s overlay VSAT DRX cycle (or RRC_INACTIVE and/or RRC_IDLE state measurement gap), i.e. knowledge of when there is a sequence of valid/monitored paging occasions and when there is a sequence of skipped/invalid paging occasions in a certain cell served by a certain gNB.
  • the UE therefore should monitor the paging during the ON duration in every DRX cycle on the serving cell.
  • To monitor the paging the UE needs to use one or more than one SSB occasions to enable automatic gain control (AGC), perform time/frequency tracking to the serving cell, and measurement on serving cell before each paging occasion.
  • AGC automatic gain control
  • the concept of the RRC_INACTIVE and/or RRC_IDLE state measurement gap causes plenty of invalid paging occasions, in addition, the measurements on the SSB occasion during the RRC_INACTIVE and/or RRC_IDLE state measurement gaps are not feasible, because the UE has its antenna directed in another direction (i.e. these SSB occasions can in a sense be regarded as invalid).
  • the RRC_INACTIVE and/or RRC_IDLE state measurement gap shall be ended immediately after the last PO in the RRC_INACTIVE and/or RRC_IDLE state measurement gap.
  • the RRC_INACTIVE and/or RRC_IDLE state measurement gap shall end a sufficiently long time before the next valid PO in the serving cell to allow the UE to receive and measure on (and assess) one or more SSB(s) before the next valid PO in the serving cell.
  • the UE should start, or be ready to start, SSB assessment in the serving cell upon the end of RRC_INACTIVE and/or RRC_IDLE state measurement gap, or at the latest upon the end of the RRC_INACTIVE and/or RRC_IDLE state measurement gap.
  • this readiness requirement is valid only on condition that there is at least one SSB occasion between two consecutive paging occasions.
  • a UE manages to finish the intended neighbor cell measurement and has redirect its antenna back to the direction towards the serving satellite i.e.
  • the UE may initiate SSB assessment in the serving cell before the end of the RRC_INACTIVE and/or RRC_IDLE state measurement gap.
  • a pre-defined number of the first valid/monitored PO(s) after the RRC_INACTIVE and/or RRC_IDLE state measurement gap shall be recognized as the invalid PO(s), the time interval of such PO(s) is for the UE to accumulate adequate SSB occasions before the next valid paging occasion.
  • the UE is able to detect one or more than one SSB occasion in the RRC_INACTIVE and/or RRC_IDLE state measurement gap, normally occurs in the time interval of last PO(s) before end of the RRC_INACTIVE and/or RRC_IDLE state measurement gap.
  • SSB occasions e.g., start+duration, or start+end, or start+duration+periodicity, or start+end+periodicity, (normally defined associated with the definition of RRC_INACTIVE and/or RRC_IDLE state measurement gap) are explicitly signaled to the UE.
  • the UE shall resume its antenna direction and complete assessing SSB occasions before the end of the RRC_INACTIVE and/or RRC_IDLE state measurement gap.
  • the UE If cell reselection occurs during the valid paging occasions from the target cell, like what has been done in legacy behavior, the UE is able to monitor paging from the target cell immediately after the UE conducts time/frequency synchronization in the target cell. However, if cell reselection occurs close to the start of valid paging occasions in the target cell, the UE may encounter the RRC_INACTIVE and/or RRC_IDLE state measurement gap, as a result, the UE cannot acquire paging occasions and assess SSB occasions after cell reselection, and the UE may determine losing connection to the target cell.
  • the serving cell provides the RRC_INACTIVE and/or RRC_IDLE state measurement gaps of neighbor cells to the UE, e.g., in system information.
  • the UE can execute cell reselection to guarantee validity of paging occasions and SSB occasion from the target cell after cell reselection.
  • the UE can know the time interval before valid paging occasions and SSB occasion from the target cell after cell reselection, therefore the UE can wait and initiate monitoring of valid paging occasions and assessing SSB occasions after the time interval.
  • FIG. 6 shows an example of a communication system 600 in accordance with some embodiments.
  • the communication system 600 includes a telecommunication network 602 that includes an access network 604, such as a radio access network (RAN), and a core network 606, which includes one or more core network nodes 608.
  • an access network 604 such as a radio access network (RAN)
  • RAN radio access network
  • core network 606 which includes one or more core network nodes 608.
  • the access network 604 includes one or more access network nodes, such as network nodes 610a and 610b (one or more of which may be generally referred to as network nodes 610), or any other similar 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) access nodes or non-3GPP access points.
  • a network node is not necessarily limited to an implementation in which a radio portion and a baseband portion are supplied and integrated by a single vendor.
  • network nodes include disaggregated implementations or portions thereof.
  • the telecommunication network 602 includes one or more Open-RAN (ORAN) network nodes.
  • OFRAN Open-RAN
  • An ORAN network node is a node in the telecommunication network 602 that supports an ORAN specification (e.g., a specification published by the O-RAN Alliance, or any similar organization) and may operate alone or together with other nodes to implement one or more functionalities of any node in the telecommunication network 602, including one or more network nodes 610 and/or core network nodes 608.
  • ORAN specification e.g., a specification published by the O-RAN Alliance, or any similar organization
  • Examples of an ORAN network node include an open radio unit (O-RU), an open distributed unit (O-DU), an open central unit (O-CU), including an O-CU control plane (O- CU-CP) or an O-CU user plane (O-CU-UP), a RAN intelligent controller (near-real time or non-real time) hosting software or software plug-ins, such as a near-real time control application (e.g., xApp) or a non-real time control application (e.g., rApp), or any combination thereof (the adjective “open” designating support of an ORAN specification).
  • a near-real time control application e.g., xApp
  • rApp non-real time control application
  • the network node may support a specification by, for example, supporting an interface defined by the ORAN specification, such as an A1, F1, W1, E1, E2, X2, Xn interface, an open fronthaul user plane interface, or an open fronthaul management plane interface.
  • an ORAN access node may be a logical node in a physical node.
  • an ORAN network node may be implemented in a virtualization environment (described further below) in which one or more network functions are virtualized.
  • the virtualization environment may include an O-Cloud computing platform orchestrated by a Service Management and Orchestration Framework via an O-2 interface defined by the O-RAN Alliance or comparable technologies.
  • the network nodes 610 facilitate direct or indirect connection of user equipment (UE), such as by connecting UEs 612a, 612b, 612c, and 612d (one or more of which may be generally referred to as UEs 612) to the core network 606 over one or more wireless connections.
  • UE user equipment
  • Example wireless communications over a wireless connection include transmitting and/or receiving wireless signals using electromagnetic waves, radio waves, infrared waves, and/or other types of signals suitable for conveying information without the use of wires, cables, or other material conductors.
  • the communication system 600 may include any number of wired or wireless networks, network nodes, UEs, and/or any other components or systems that may facilitate or participate in the communication of data and/or signals whether via wired or wireless connections.
  • the communication system 600 may include and/or interface with any type of communication, telecommunication, data, cellular, radio network, and/or other similar type of system.
  • the UEs 612 may be any of a wide variety of communication devices, including wireless devices arranged, configured, and/or operable to communicate wirelessly with the network nodes 610 and other communication devices.
  • the network nodes 610 are arranged, capable, configured, and/or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with the UEs 612 and/or with other network nodes or equipment in the telecommunication network 602 to enable and/or provide network access, such as wireless network access, and/or to perform other functions, such as administration in the telecommunication network 602.
  • the core network 606 connects the network nodes 610 to one or more host computing systems, such as host 616. These connections may be direct or indirect via one or more intermediary networks or devices. In other examples, network nodes may be directly coupled to hosts.
  • the core network 606 includes one more core network nodes (e.g., core network node 608) that are structured with hardware and software components.
  • Example core network nodes include functions of one or more of a Mobile Switching Center (MSC), Mobility Management Entity (MME), Home Subscriber Server (HSS), Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF), Session Management Function (SMF), Authentication Server Function (AUSF), Subscription Identifier De-concealing function (SIDF), Unified Data Management (UDM), Security Edge Protection Proxy (SEPP), Network Exposure Function (NEF), and/or a User Plane Function (UPF).
  • MSC Mobile Switching Center
  • MME Mobility Management Entity
  • HSS Home Subscriber Server
  • AMF Access and Mobility Management Function
  • SMF Session Management Function
  • AUSF Authentication Server Function
  • SIDF Subscription Identifier De-concealing function
  • UDM Unified Data Management
  • SEPP Security Edge Protection Proxy
  • NEF Network Exposure Function
  • UPF User Plane Function
  • the host 616 may be under the ownership or control of a service provider other than an operator or provider of the access network 604 and/or the telecommunication network 602.
  • the host 616 may host a variety of applications to provide one or more service. Examples of such applications include live and pre-recorded audio/video content, data collection services such as retrieving and compiling data on various ambient conditions detected by a plurality of UEs, analytics functionality, social media, functions for controlling or otherwise interacting with remote devices, functions for an alarm and surveillance center, or any other such function performed by a server.
  • the communication system 600 of Figure 6 enables connectivity between the UEs, network nodes, and hosts.
  • the communication system may be configured to operate according to predefined rules or procedures, such as specific standards that include, but are not limited to: Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM); Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS); Long Term Evolution (LTE), and/or other suitable 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G standards, or any applicable future generation standard (e.g., 6G); wireless local area network (WLAN) standards, such as the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standards (WiFi); and/or any other appropriate wireless communication standard, such as the Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMax), Bluetooth, Z-Wave, Near Field Communication (NFC) ZigBee, LiFi, and/or any low-power wide-area network (LPWAN) standards such as LoRa and Sigfox.
  • GSM Global System for Mobile Communications
  • UMTS Universal Mobile Telecommunications System
  • LTE Long Term Evolution
  • 6G wireless local area network
  • WiFi wireless local area network
  • WiMax Worldwide Interoperability for Micro
  • the telecommunication network 602 is a cellular network that implements 3GPP standardized features. Accordingly, the telecommunications network 602 may support network slicing to provide different logical networks to different devices that are connected to the telecommunication network 602. For example, the telecommunications network 602 may provide Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communication (URLLC) services to some UEs, while providing Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) services to other UEs, and/or Massive Machine Type Communication (mMTC)/Massive IoT services to yet further UEs.
  • the UEs 612 are configured to transmit and/or receive information without direct human interaction.
  • a UE may be designed to transmit information to the access network 604 on a predetermined schedule, when triggered by an internal or external event, or in response to requests from the access network 604.
  • a UE may be configured for operating in single- or multi-RAT or multi-standard mode.
  • a UE may operate with any one or combination of Wi-Fi, NR (New Radio) and LTE, i.e. being configured for multi-radio dual connectivity (MR-DC), such as E-UTRAN (Evolved- UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network) New Radio – Dual Connectivity (EN-DC).
  • MR-DC multi-radio dual connectivity
  • the hub 614 communicates with the access network 604 to facilitate indirect communication between one or more UEs (e.g., UE 612c and/or 612d) and network nodes (e.g., network node 610b).
  • the hub 614 may be a controller, router, content source and analytics, or any of the other communication devices described herein regarding UEs.
  • the hub 614 may be a broadband router enabling access to the core network 606 for the UEs.
  • the hub 614 may be a controller that sends commands or instructions to one or more actuators in the UEs.
  • Commands or instructions may be received from the UEs, network nodes 610, or by executable code, script, process, or other instructions in the hub 614.
  • the hub 614 may be a data collector that acts as temporary storage for UE data and, in some embodiments, may perform analysis or other processing of the data.
  • the hub 614 may be a content source. For example, for a UE that is a VR device, display, loudspeaker, or other media delivery device, the hub 614 may retrieve VR assets, video, audio, or other media or data related to sensory information via a network node, which the hub 614 then provides to the UE either directly, after performing local processing, and/or after adding additional local content.
  • the hub 614 acts as a proxy server or orchestrator for the UEs, in particular if one or more of the UEs are low energy IoT devices.
  • the hub 614 may have a constant/persistent or intermittent connection to the network node 610b.
  • the hub 614 may also allow for a different communication scheme and/or schedule between the hub 614 and UEs (e.g., UE 612c and/or 612d), and between the hub 614 and the core network 606.
  • the hub 614 is connected to the core network 606 and/or one or more UEs via a wired connection.
  • the hub 614 may be configured to connect to an M2M service provider over the access network 604 and/or to another UE over a direct connection.
  • UEs may establish a wireless connection with the network nodes 610 while still connected via the hub 614 via a wired or wireless connection.
  • the hub 614 may be a dedicated hub – that is, a hub whose primary function is to route communications to/from the UEs from/to the network node 610b.
  • the hub 614 may be a non-dedicated hub – that is, a device which is capable of operating to route communications between the UEs and network node 610b, but which is additionally capable of operating as a communication start and/or end point for certain data channels.
  • Figure 7 shows a UE 700 in accordance with some embodiments.
  • the UE 700 presents additional details of some embodiments of the UE 612 of Figure 1.
  • a UE refers to a device capable, configured, arranged and/or operable to communicate wirelessly with network nodes and/or other UEs.
  • Examples of a UE include, but are not limited to, a smart phone, mobile phone, cell phone, voice over IP (VoIP) phone, wireless local loop phone, desktop computer, personal digital assistant (PDA), wireless cameras, gaming console or device, music storage/playback device, wearable terminal device, wireless endpoint, mobile station, tablet, laptop, laptop-embedded equipment (LEE), laptop-mounted equipment (LME), an Augmented Reality (AR) or Virtual Reality (VR) device, wireless customer-premise equipment (CPE), vehicle, vehicle-mounted or vehicle embedded/integrated wireless device, etc.
  • VoIP voice over IP
  • PDA personal digital assistant
  • LME laptop-embedded equipment
  • AR Augmented Reality
  • VR Virtual Reality
  • CPE wireless customer-premise equipment
  • vehicle vehicle-mounted or vehicle embedded/integrated wireless device, etc.
  • a UE may support device-to-device (D2D) communication, for example by implementing a 3GPP standard for sidelink communication, Dedicated Short-Range Communication (DSRC), vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I), or vehicle- to-everything (V2X).
  • a UE may not necessarily have a user in the sense of a human user who owns and/or operates the relevant device.
  • a UE may represent a device that is intended for sale to, or operation by, a human user but which may not, or which may not initially, be associated with a specific human user (e.g., a smart sprinkler controller).
  • a UE may represent a device that is not intended for sale to, or operation by, an end user but which may be associated with or operated for the benefit of a user (e.g., a smart power meter).
  • the UE 700 includes processing circuitry 702 that is operatively coupled via a bus 704 to an input/output interface 706, a power source 708, a memory 710, a communication interface 712, and/or any other component, or any combination thereof.
  • Certain UEs may utilize all or a subset of the components shown in Figure 7.
  • the level of integration between the components may vary from one UE to another UE.
  • certain UEs may contain multiple instances of a component, such as multiple processors, memories, transceivers, transmitters, receivers, etc.
  • the processing circuitry 702 is configured to process instructions and data and may be configured to implement any sequential state machine operative to execute instructions stored as machine-readable computer programs in the memory 710.
  • the processing circuitry 702 may be implemented as one or more hardware-implemented state machines (e.g., in discrete logic, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), etc.); programmable logic together with appropriate firmware; one or more stored computer programs, general-purpose processors, such as a microprocessor or digital signal processor (DSP), together with appropriate software; or any combination of the above.
  • the processing circuitry 702 may include multiple central processing units (CPUs).
  • the processing circuitry 702 may be configured to cause the UE 702 to perform the methods as described with reference to Figure 2.
  • the input/output interface 706 may be configured to provide an interface or interfaces to an input device, output device, or one or more input and/or output devices.
  • Examples of an output device include a speaker, a sound card, a video card, a display, a monitor, a printer, an actuator, an emitter, a smartcard, another output device, or any combination thereof.
  • An input device may allow a user to capture information into the UE 700.
  • Examples of an input device include a touch-sensitive or presence-sensitive display, a camera (e.g., a digital camera, a digital video camera, a web camera, etc.), a microphone, a sensor, a mouse, a trackball, a directional pad, a trackpad, a scroll wheel, a smartcard, and the like.
  • the presence-sensitive display may include a capacitive or resistive touch sensor to sense input from a user.
  • a sensor may be, for instance, an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a tilt sensor, a force sensor, a magnetometer, an optical sensor, a proximity sensor, a biometric sensor, etc., or any combination thereof.
  • An output device may use the same type of interface port as an input device.
  • the power source 708 is structured as a battery or battery pack. Other types of power sources, such as an external power source (e.g., an electricity outlet), photovoltaic device, or power cell, may be used.
  • the power source 708 may further include power circuitry for delivering power from the power source 708 itself, and/or an external power source, to the various parts of the UE 700 via input circuitry or an interface such as an electrical power cable. Delivering power may be, for example, for charging of the power source 708.
  • Power circuitry may perform any formatting, converting, or other modification to the power from the power source 708 to make the power suitable for the respective components of the UE 700 to which power is supplied.
  • the memory 710 may be or be configured to include memory such as random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), magnetic disks, optical disks, hard disks, removable cartridges, flash drives, and so forth.
  • the memory 710 includes one or more application programs 714, such as an operating system, web browser application, a widget, gadget engine, or other application, and corresponding data 716.
  • the memory 710 may store, for use by the UE 700, any of a variety of various operating systems or combinations of operating systems.
  • the memory 710 may be configured to include a number of physical drive units, such as redundant array of independent disks (RAID), flash memory, USB flash drive, external hard disk drive, thumb drive, pen drive, key drive, high-density digital versatile disc (HD- DVD) optical disc drive, internal hard disk drive, Blu-Ray optical disc drive, holographic digital data storage (HDDS) optical disc drive, external mini-dual in-line memory module (DIMM), synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), external micro-DIMM SDRAM, smartcard memory such as tamper resistant module in the form of a universal integrated circuit card (UICC) including one or more subscriber identity modules (SIMs), such as a USIM and/or ISIM, other memory, or any combination thereof.
  • RAID redundant array of independent disks
  • HD- DVD high-density digital versatile disc
  • HD- DVD high-density digital versatile disc
  • the UICC may for example be an embedded UICC (eUICC), integrated UICC (iUICC) or a removable UICC commonly known as ‘SIM card.’
  • the memory 710 may allow the UE 700 to access instructions, application programs and the like, stored on transitory or non-transitory memory media, to off-load data, or to upload data.
  • An article of manufacture, such as one utilizing a communication system may be tangibly embodied as or in the memory 710, which may be or comprise a device-readable storage medium.
  • the processing circuitry 702 may be configured to communicate with an access network or other network using the communication interface 712.
  • the communication interface 712 may comprise one or more communication subsystems and may include or be communicatively coupled to an antenna 722.
  • the communication interface 712 may include one or more transceivers used to communicate, such as by communicating with one or more remote transceivers of another device capable of wireless communication (e.g., another UE or a network node in an access network).
  • Each transceiver may include a transmitter 718 and/or a receiver 720 appropriate to provide network communications (e.g., optical, electrical, frequency allocations, and so forth).
  • the transmitter 718 and receiver 720 may be coupled to one or more antennas (e.g., antenna 722) and may share circuit components, software or firmware, or alternatively be implemented separately.
  • communication functions of the communication interface 712 may include cellular communication, Wi-Fi communication, LPWAN communication, data communication, voice communication, multimedia communication, short-range communications such as Bluetooth, near-field communication, location-based communication such as the use of the global positioning system (GPS) to determine a location, another like communication function, or any combination thereof.
  • GPS global positioning system
  • Communications may be implemented in according to one or more communication protocols and/or standards, such as IEEE 802.11, Code Division Multiplexing Access (CDMA), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), GSM, LTE, New Radio (NR), UMTS, WiMax, Ethernet, transmission control protocol/internet protocol (TCP/IP), synchronous optical networking (SONET), Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), QUIC, Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), and so forth.
  • a UE may provide an output of data captured by its sensors, through its communication interface 712, via a wireless connection to a network node. Data captured by sensors of a UE can be communicated through a wireless connection to a network node via another UE.
  • a UE comprises an actuator, a motor, or a switch, related to a communication interface configured to receive wireless input from a network node via a wireless connection. In response to the received wireless input the states of the actuator, the motor, or the switch may change.
  • Non-limiting examples of such an IoT device are a device which is or which is embedded in: a connected refrigerator or freezer, a TV, a connected lighting device, an electricity meter, a robot vacuum cleaner, a voice controlled smart speaker, a home security camera, a motion detector, a thermostat, a smoke detector, a door/window sensor, a flood/moisture sensor, an electrical door lock, a connected doorbell, an air conditioning system like a heat pump, an autonomous vehicle, a surveillance system, a weather monitoring device, a vehicle parking monitoring device, an electric vehicle charging station, a smart watch, a fitness tracker, a wearable for tactile augmentation or sensory enhancement, a water sprinkler, an animal- or item-tracking device, a sensor for monitoring a plant or animal, an industrial robot, an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), and any kind of medical device, like a heart rate monitor or a remote controlled surgical robot.
  • UAV Unmanned Aerial Vehicle
  • a UE in the form of an IoT device comprises circuitry and/or software in dependence of the intended application of the IoT device in addition to other components as described in relation to the UE 700 shown in Figure 7.
  • a UE may represent a machine or other device that performs monitoring and/or measurements, and transmits the results of such monitoring and/or measurements to another UE and/or a network node.
  • the UE may in this case be an M2M device, which may in a 3GPP context be referred to as an MTC device.
  • the UE may implement the 3GPP NB-IoT standard.
  • a UE may represent a vehicle, such as a car, a bus, a truck, a ship and an airplane, or other equipment that is capable of monitoring and/or reporting on its operational status or other functions associated with its operation.
  • a first UE might be or be integrated in a drone and provide the drone’s speed information (obtained through a speed sensor) to a second UE that is a remote controller operating the drone.
  • the first UE may adjust the throttle on the drone (e.g. by controlling an actuator) to increase or decrease the drone’s speed.
  • the first and/or the second UE can also include more than one of the functionalities described above.
  • a UE might comprise the sensor and the actuator, and handle communication of data for both the speed sensor and the actuators.
  • Figure 8 shows a network node 800 in accordance with some embodiments.
  • network node refers to equipment capable, configured, arranged and/or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with a UE and/or with other network nodes or equipment, in a telecommunication network.
  • network nodes include, but are not limited to, access points (APs) (e.g., radio access points), base stations (BSs) (e.g., radio base stations, Node Bs, evolved Node Bs (eNBs) and NR NodeBs (gNBs)), O-RAN nodes or components of an O-RAN node (e.g., O-RU, O-DU, O-CU).
  • APs access points
  • BSs base stations
  • eNBs evolved Node Bs
  • gNBs NR NodeBs
  • O-RAN nodes e.g., O-RU, O-DU, O-CU
  • Base stations may be categorized based on the amount of coverage they provide (or, stated differently, their transmit power level) and so, depending on the provided amount of coverage, may be referred to as femto base stations, pico base stations, micro base stations, or macro base stations.
  • a base station may be a relay node or a relay donor node controlling a relay.
  • a network node may also include one or more (or all) parts of a distributed radio base station such as centralized digital units, distributed units (e.g., in an O-RAN access node) and/or remote radio units (RRUs), sometimes referred to as Remote Radio Heads (RRHs).
  • RRUs remote radio units
  • RRHs Remote Radio Heads
  • Such remote radio units may or may not be integrated with an antenna as an antenna integrated radio.
  • Parts of a distributed radio base station may also be referred to as nodes in a distributed antenna system (DAS).
  • DAS distributed antenna system
  • network nodes include multiple transmission point (multi-TRP) 5G access nodes, multi-standard radio (MSR) equipment such as MSR BSs, network controllers such as radio network controllers (RNCs) or base station controllers (BSCs), base transceiver stations (BTSs), transmission points, transmission nodes, multi-cell/multicast coordination entities (MCEs), Operation and Maintenance (O&M) nodes, Operations Support System (OSS) nodes, Self-Organizing Network (SON) nodes, positioning nodes (e.g., Evolved Serving Mobile Location Centers (E-SMLCs)), and/or Minimization of Drive Tests (MDTs).
  • MSR multi-standard radio
  • RNCs radio network controllers
  • BSCs base station controllers
  • BTSs base transceiver stations
  • OFDM Operation and Maintenance
  • OSS Operations Support System
  • SON Self-Organizing Network
  • positioning nodes e.g., Evolved Serving Mobile Location Centers (E-SMLCs)
  • the network node 800 includes a processing circuitry 802, a memory 804, a communication interface 806, and a power source 808.
  • the network node 800 may be composed of multiple physically separate components (e.g., a NodeB component and a RNC component, or a BTS component and a BSC component, etc.), which may each have their own respective components.
  • the network node 800 comprises multiple separate components (e.g., BTS and BSC components)
  • one or more of the separate components may be shared among several network nodes.
  • a single RNC may control multiple NodeBs.
  • each unique NodeB and RNC pair may in some instances be considered a single separate network node.
  • the network node 800 may be configured to support multiple radio access technologies (RATs). In such embodiments, some components may be duplicated (e.g., separate memory 804 for different RATs) and some components may be reused (e.g., a same antenna 810 may be shared by different RATs).
  • the network node 800 may also include multiple sets of the various illustrated components for different wireless technologies integrated into network node 800, for example GSM, WCDMA, LTE, NR, WiFi, Zigbee, Z-wave, LoRaWAN, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) or Bluetooth wireless technologies. These wireless technologies may be integrated into the same or different chip or set of chips and other components within network node 800.
  • RFID Radio Frequency Identification
  • the memory 804 may comprise any form of volatile or non-volatile computer- readable memory including, without limitation, persistent storage, solid-state memory, remotely mounted memory, magnetic media, optical media, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), mass storage media (for example, a hard disk), removable storage media (for example, a flash drive, a Compact Disk (CD) or a Digital Video Disk (DVD)), and/or any other volatile or non-volatile, non-transitory device-readable and/or computer- executable memory devices that store information, data, and/or instructions that may be used by the processing circuitry 802.
  • volatile or non-volatile computer- readable memory including, without limitation, persistent storage, solid-state memory, remotely mounted memory, magnetic media, optical media, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), mass storage media (for example, a hard disk), removable storage media (for example, a flash drive, a Compact Disk (CD) or a Digital Video Disk (DVD)), and/or any other volatile or non
  • the memory 804 may store any suitable instructions, data, or information, including a computer program, software, an application including one or more of logic, rules, code, tables, and/or other instructions capable of being executed by the processing circuitry 802 and utilized by the network node 800.
  • the memory 804 may be used to store any calculations made by the processing circuitry 802 and/or any data received via the communication interface 806.
  • the processing circuitry 802 and memory 804 is integrated.
  • the communication interface 806 is used in wired or wireless communication of signaling and/or data between a network node, access network, and/or UE.
  • the radio front-end circuitry 818 may convert the digital data into a radio signal having the appropriate channel and bandwidth parameters using a combination of filters 820 and/or amplifiers 822. The radio signal may then be transmitted via the antenna 810. Similarly, when receiving data, the antenna 810 may collect radio signals which are then converted into digital data by the radio front-end circuitry 818. The digital data may be passed to the processing circuitry 802. In other embodiments, the communication interface may comprise different components and/or different combinations of components. [0208] In certain alternative embodiments, the network node 800 does not include separate radio front-end circuitry 818, instead, the processing circuitry 802 includes radio front-end circuitry and is connected to the antenna 810.
  • the RF transceiver circuitry 812 is part of the communication interface 806.
  • the communication interface 806 includes one or more ports or terminals 816, the radio front-end circuitry 818, and the RF transceiver circuitry 812, as part of a radio unit (not shown), and the communication interface 806 communicates with the baseband processing circuitry 814, which is part of a digital unit (not shown).
  • the antenna 810 may include one or more antennas, or antenna arrays, configured to send and/or receive wireless signals.
  • the antenna 810 may be coupled to the radio front-end circuitry 818 and may be any type of antenna capable of transmitting and receiving data and/or signals wirelessly.
  • the antenna 810 is separate from the network node 800 and connectable to the network node 800 through an interface or port.
  • the antenna 810, communication interface 806, and/or the processing circuitry 802 may be configured to perform any receiving operations and/or certain obtaining operations described herein as being performed by the network node. Any information, data and/or signals may be received from a UE, another network node and/or any other network equipment. Similarly, the antenna 810, the communication interface 806, and/or the processing circuitry 802 may be configured to perform any transmitting operations described herein as being performed by the network node. Any information, data and/or signals may be transmitted to a UE, another network node and/or any other network equipment.
  • Embodiments of the network node 800 may include additional components beyond those shown in Figure 8 for providing certain aspects of the network node’s functionality, including any of the functionality described herein and/or any functionality necessary to support the subject matter described herein.
  • the network node 800 may include user interface equipment to allow input of information into the network node 800 and to allow output of information from the network node 800. This may allow a user to perform diagnostic, maintenance, repair, and other administrative functions for the network node 800.
  • a core network node such as core network node 108 of FIG.6, some components, such as the radio front-end circuitry 818 and the RF transceiver circuitry 812 may be omitted.
  • FIG 10 shows a network node 1000 in accordance with some embodiments.
  • network node refers to equipment capable, configured, arranged and/or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with a UE and/or with other network nodes or equipment, in a telecommunication network.
  • the network node 1000 may be operable as a core network node, a core network function or, more generally, a core network entity, such as the core network node 608 described above with respect to Figure 6).
  • the network node 1000 may be composed of multiple physically separate components, which may each have their own respective components. In certain scenarios in which the network node 1000 comprises multiple separate components, one or more of the separate components may be shared among several network nodes.
  • the processing circuitry 1002 may comprise a combination of one or more of a microprocessor, controller, microcontroller, central processing unit, digital signal processor, application-specific integrated circuit, field programmable gate array, or any other suitable computing device, resource, or combination of hardware, software and/or encoded logic operable to provide, either alone or in conjunction with other network node 1000 components, such as the memory 1004, network node 1000 functionality.
  • the processing circuitry 1002 may be configured to cause the network node to perform the methods as described with reference to Figure 4.
  • the memory 1004 may comprise any form of volatile or non-volatile computer- readable memory including, without limitation, persistent storage, solid-state memory, remotely mounted memory, magnetic media, optical media, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), mass storage media (for example, a hard disk), removable storage media (for example, a flash drive, a Compact Disk (CD) or a Digital Video Disk (DVD)), and/or any other volatile or non-volatile, non-transitory device-readable and/or computer- executable memory devices that store information, data, and/or instructions that may be used by the processing circuitry 1002.
  • volatile or non-volatile computer- readable memory including, without limitation, persistent storage, solid-state memory, remotely mounted memory, magnetic media, optical media, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), mass storage media (for example, a hard disk), removable storage media (for example, a flash drive, a Compact Disk (CD) or a Digital Video Disk (DVD)), and/or any other volatile or non
  • the power source 1008 provides power to the various components of network node 1000 in a form suitable for the respective components (e.g., at a voltage and current level needed for each respective component).
  • the power source 1008 may further comprise, or be coupled to, power management circuitry to supply the components of the network node 1000 with power for performing the functionality described herein.
  • the network node 1000 may be connectable to an external power source (e.g., the power grid, an electricity outlet) via an input circuitry or interface such as an electrical cable, whereby the external power source supplies power to power circuitry of the power source 1008.
  • the power source 1008 may comprise a source of power in the form of a battery or battery pack which is connected to, or integrated in, power circuitry.
  • virtualizing means creating virtual versions of apparatuses or devices which may include virtualizing hardware platforms, storage devices and networking resources.
  • virtualization can be applied to any device described herein, or components thereof, and relates to an implementation in which at least a portion of the functionality is implemented as one or more virtual components.
  • Some or all of the functions described herein may be implemented as virtual components executed by one or more virtual machines (VMs) implemented in one or more virtual environments 900 hosted by one or more of hardware nodes, such as a hardware computing device that operates as a network node, UE, core network node, or host.
  • VMs virtual machines
  • the virtual node does not require radio connectivity (e.g., a core network node or host)
  • the node may be entirely virtualized.
  • the virtualization environment 900 includes components defined by the O-RAN Alliance, such as an O-Cloud environment orchestrated by a Service Management and Orchestration Framework via an O-2 interface. Virtualization may facilitate distributed implementations of a network node, UE, core network node, or host.
  • Applications 902 (which may alternatively be called software instances, virtual appliances, network functions, virtual nodes, virtual network functions, etc.) are run in the virtualization environment Q400 to implement some of the features, functions, and/or benefits of some of the embodiments disclosed herein.
  • Hardware 904 includes processing circuitry, memory that stores software and/or instructions executable by hardware processing circuitry, and/or other hardware devices as described herein, such as a network interface, input/output interface, and so forth.
  • a virtual appliance 902 may be implemented on one or more of VMs 908, and the implementations may be made in different ways.
  • Virtualization of the hardware is in some contexts referred to as network function virtualization (NFV).
  • NFV network function virtualization
  • NFV may be used to consolidate many network equipment types onto industry standard high volume server hardware, physical switches, and physical storage, which can be located in data centers, and customer premise equipment.
  • a VM 908 may be a software implementation of a physical machine that runs programs as if they were executing on a physical, non-virtualized machine.
  • Each of the VMs 908, and that part of hardware 904 that executes that VM forms separate virtual network elements. Still in the context of NFV, a virtual network function is responsible for handling specific network functions that run in one or more VMs 908 on top of the hardware 904 and corresponds to the application 902.
  • Hardware 904 may be implemented in a standalone network node with generic or specific components. Hardware 904 may implement some functions via virtualization. Alternatively, hardware 904 may be part of a larger cluster of hardware (e.g.
  • hardware 904 is coupled to one or more radio units that each include one or more transmitters and one or more receivers that may be coupled to one or more antennas. Radio units may communicate directly with other hardware nodes via one or more appropriate network interfaces and may be used in combination with the virtual components to provide a virtual node with radio capabilities, such as a radio access node or a base station. In some embodiments, some signaling can be provided with the use of a control system 912 which may alternatively be used for communication between hardware nodes and radio units.
  • computing devices described herein may include the illustrated combination of hardware components
  • computing devices may comprise multiple different physical components that make up a single illustrated component, and functionality may be partitioned between separate components.
  • a communication interface may be configured to include any of the components described herein, and/or the functionality of the components may be partitioned between the processing circuitry and the communication interface.
  • non-computationally intensive functions of any of such components may be implemented in software or firmware and computationally intensive functions may be implemented in hardware.
  • processing circuitry executing instructions stored on in memory, which in certain embodiments may be a computer program product in the form of a non-transitory computer- readable storage medium.
  • some or all of the functionality may be provided by the processing circuitry without executing instructions stored on a separate or discrete device-readable storage medium, such as in a hard-wired manner.
  • the processing circuitry can be configured to perform the described functionality.
  • a method performed by a user equipment wherein the user equipment is a very-small- aperture terminal, VSAT, the method comprising: receiving a configuration comprising an indication of a plurality of paging occasions on which the user equipment is to monitor for paging messages from a first radio access network node; and receiving a configuration comprising an indication of one or more of the plurality of paging occasions which are invalid, and on which the user equipment is permitted not to monitor for paging messages from the first radio access network node.
  • the indication of the plurality of paging occasions comprises an indication of a cycle in which the paging occasions are configured.
  • the cycle in which the paging occasions are arranged comprises one or more of: a paging cycle and a discontinuous reception, DRX, cycle. 4.
  • the indication of one or more invalid paging occasions comprises an indication of a cycle defining the one or more invalid paging occasions. 5.
  • the cycle comprises one or more consecutive paging occasions which are invalid, followed by one or more consecutive paging occasions which are valid. 6.
  • the one or more invalid paging occasions are for the user equipment to redirect an antenna to perform measurements on transmissions by one or more second radio access network nodes.
  • the one or more invalid paging occasions are for the user equipment to redirect an antenna to perform measurements on transmissions by one or more second radio access network nodes.
  • the time window is a measurement gap.
  • the time window has a duration of at least one second. 11.
  • any one of the preceding embodiments further comprising receiving a plurality of indications of one or more of the plurality of paging occasions which are invalid, wherein each indication defines a time window having a different duration in which paging occasions are invalid.
  • each of the plurality of indications is for implementation by user equipments with antennas having respective rotational speeds.
  • the user equipment is configured to monitor the plurality of paging occasions while in an idle or inactive mode.
  • one or more of the first and/or second radio access network nodes are located on, or communicate with the user equipment via, satellites in a non-terrestrial network.
  • the cycle in which the paging occasions are arranged comprises one or more of: a paging cycle and a discontinuous reception, DRX, cycle.
  • the indication of one or more invalid paging occasions comprises an indication of a cycle defining the one or more invalid paging occasions.
  • the cycle comprises one or more consecutive paging occasions which are invalid, followed by one or more consecutive paging occasions which are valid.
  • the cycle of the one or more invalid paging occasions has a longer period than the cycle of the plurality of paging occasions. 21.
  • any one of embodiments 15 to 20, wherein the one or more invalid paging occasions are for the user equipment to redirect an antenna to perform measurements on transmissions by one or more second radio access network nodes. 22. The method of any one of embodiments 15 to 21, wherein the one or more invalid paging occasions define a time window comprising the one or more invalid paging occasions. 23. The method of embodiment 22, wherein the time window is a measurement gap. 24. The method of embodiment 22 or 23, wherein the time window has a duration of at least one second. 25.
  • each of the plurality of indications is for implementation by user equipments with antennas having respective rotational speeds.
  • 27. The method of any one of embodiments 15 to 26, wherein the user equipment is configured to monitor the plurality of paging occasions while in an idle or inactive mode. 28.
  • the cycle in which the paging occasions are arranged comprises one or more of: a paging cycle and a discontinuous reception, DRX, cycle.
  • the indication of one or more invalid paging occasions comprises an indication of a cycle defining the one or more invalid paging occasions.
  • the cycle comprises one or more consecutive paging occasions which are invalid, followed by one or more consecutive paging occasions which are valid.
  • the cycle of the one or more invalid paging occasions has a longer period than the cycle of the plurality of paging occasions. 36.
  • any one of embodiments 30 to 39 further comprising the first radio access network node with a plurality of configurations comprising a plurality of indications of one or more of the plurality of paging occasions which are invalid, wherein each indication defines a time window having a different duration in which paging occasions are invalid.
  • each of the plurality of indications is for implementation by user equipments with antennas having respective rotational speeds.
  • 42. The method of any one of embodiments 30 to 41, wherein the user equipment is configured to monitor the plurality of paging occasions while in an idle or inactive mode. 43.
  • a user equipment comprising: processing circuitry configured to cause the user equipment to perform any of the steps of any of the Group A embodiments; and power supply circuitry configured to supply power to the processing circuitry. 47.

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Abstract

One aspect of the disclosure provides a method performed by a user equipment. The user equipment is a VSAT. The method comprises receiving a configuration comprising an indication of a plurality of paging occasions on which the user equipment is to monitor for paging messages from a first radio access network node. The method further comprises receiving a configuration comprising an indication of one or more of the plurality of paging occasions which are invalid, and on which the user equipment is permitted not to monitor for paging messages from the first radio access network node.

Description

METHODS, APPARATUS AND COMPUTER-READABLE MEDIA RELATED TO MEASUREMENT GAPS AND/OR PAGING OCCASIONS Technical field [0000] Embodiments of the disclosure relate to mobile networks, and particularly to methods, apparatus and computer-readable media for configuring a user equipment with one or more measurement gaps and/or paging occasions. Background Satellite Communications [0001] Satellite networks complement terrestrial mobile networks on the ground by providing connectivity to underserved areas and multicast/broadcast services. [0002] A satellite radio access network usually includes the following components: ^ A satellite that refers to a space-borne platform. ^ An Earth-based gateway that connects the satellite to a base station or a core network, depending on the choice of architecture. ^ A feeder link that refers to the link between a gateway and a satellite. ^ An access link, or service link, that refers to the link between a satellite and a UE. [0003] Depending on the orbit altitude, a satellite may be categorized as low Earth orbit (LEO), medium Earth orbit (MEO), or geostationary Earth orbit (GEO) satellite. ^ LEO: typical heights ranging from 250 – 1,500 km, with orbital periods ranging from 90 – 120 minutes. ^ MEO: typical heights ranging from 1,500 – 35,786 km, with orbital periods, PMEO, in the range 2 hours < PMEO < 24 hours. MEO and LEO are also known as Non-Geo Synchronous Orbit (NGSO) type of satellite. ^ GEO: height at about 35,786 km, with an orbital period of 24 hours. Also known as a Geo Synchronous Orbit (GSO) type of satellite. [0004] Two basic architectures can be distinguished for satellite communication networks, depending on the functionality of the satellites in the system: ^ Transparent payload (also referred to as bent pipe architecture). The satellite forwards the received signal between the terminal and the network equipment on the ground with only amplification and a shift from uplink frequency to downlink frequency. When applied to general 3GPP architecture and terminology, the transparent payload architecture means that the gNB is located on the ground and the satellite forwards signals/data between the gNB and the UE. ^ Regenerative payload. The satellite includes on-board processing to demodulate and decode the received signal and regenerate the signal before sending it back to the Earth. When applied to general 3GPP architecture and terminology, the regenerative payload architecture means that the gNB is located in the satellite. [0005] Currently in the 3GPP specifications only the transparent payload architecture is considered. However, those skilled in the art will appreciate that embodiments of the disclosure may also apply to the regenerative payload architecture. [0006] Figure 1 shows an example architecture of a satellite network or non-terrestrial network (NTN) with bent pipe transponders (i.e., the transparent payload architecture). A base station (BS) 108 is coupled to a gateway, and communicates with a wireless device 104 via a feeder link (between the gateway 106 and a satellite 102) and an access link (between the satellite 102 and the device 104). The base station, or gNB, 108 may be integrated in the gateway or connected to the gateway via a terrestrial connection (wire, optic fiber, wireless link). [0007] The significant orbit height means that satellite systems are characterized by a path loss that is significantly higher than what is expected in terrestrial networks. To overcome the pathloss it is often required that the access and feeder links are operated in line-of-sight conditions, and that the UE is equipped with an antenna offering high beam directivity. [0008] A communication satellite typically generates several beams over a given area. The footprint of a beam is usually in an elliptic shape, which has been traditionally considered as a cell (but a cell consisting of multiple beams is not precluded). The footprint of a beam is also often referred to as a spotbeam. The spotbeam may move over the Earth’s surface with the satellite movement (and the Earth’s rotation) or may be Earth-fixed with some beam pointing mechanism used by the satellite to compensate for its motion. The size of a spotbeam depends on the system design and may range from tens of kilometers to a few thousands of kilometers. [0009] The NTN beam may in comparison to the beams observed in a terrestrial network provide a very wide footprint and may cover an area outside of the area defined by the served cell. Beams covering adjacent cells will overlap and cause significant levels of intercell interference, resulting from the slow decrease of the signal strength in the outward radial direction. This is due in part to the high elevation angle and the long distance to the network- side (satellite-borne) transceiver which, compared with terrestrial cells, result in a comparatively small relative difference between the distance from the cell center to the satellite and the distance from a point at the cell edge to the satellite. To overcome the large levels of interference, a typical approach in NTN is to configure different cells with different carrier frequencies and polarization modes. [0010] Three types of beams or cells are supported in NTN: ^ Earth-fixed beams/cells: provisioned by beam(s) continuously covering the same geographical areas all the time (e.g., in the case of GEO satellites). ^ Quasi-Earth-fixed beams/cells: provisioned by beam(s) covering one geographic area for a limited period and a different geographic area during another period (e.g., in the case of NGSO satellites generating steerable beams). ^ Earth-moving beams /cells: provisioned by beam(s) whose coverage area slides over the Earth’s surface (e.g., in the case of NGSO satellites generating fixed or non-steerable beams). [0011] Throughout this disclosure, the terms “beam” and “cell” are used interchangeably, unless explicitly noted otherwise. [0012] Of the three above cell types, quasi-Earth-fixed cells and moving cells seem to be the ones most promising for actual deployment. In the case of moving cells, each cell (the footprint of its beam(s)) moves across the surface of the Earth as its serving satellite moves along its orbit. [0013] In the case of quasi-Earth-fixed cells, the cell area (as the name implies) remains fixed to the same geographical area, regardless of satellite movements. To enable this, a serving satellite has means for dynamically directing its beam(s), so that the same area of the Earth is covered despite the satellite’s movement. However, since the satellites orbit around the Earth, the same satellite will only be able to cover the same area on the Earth for a limited time, unless the satellite is in a geostationary orbit (and note that LEO satellites have the most traction in the satellite communication industry). This means that different satellites will have the task of covering a certain geographical cell area at different time periods. When this task is switched from one satellite to another, this in principle means that one cell is replaced by another, although covering the same area (often referred to as a cell switch). As a consequence, all UEs connected in the old cell (i.e., UEs in RRC_CONNECTED state) have to be handed over (or otherwise moved, e.g. using RRC connection reestablishment) from the old to the new cell, and all UEs camping on the old cell (i.e., UEs in RRC_IDLE or RRC_INACTIVE state) have to perform cell reselection to the new cell. [0014] A similar situation occurs in conjunction with feeder link switches, i.e. when the serving satellite remains the same, but its connection to the ground changes from one (old) GW/gNB to another (new) GW/gNB. Also in this case there is a switch between an old cell and a new cell (i.e. the old cell is replaced by a new cell). [0015] In terms of such cell switches there are two alternative principles: 1) hard switch; and 2) soft switch. With hard switch, there is an instantaneous switch from the old to the new cell, i.e., the new cell appears at the same time as the old cell disappears. This makes completely seamless (i.e., interruption free) handover impossible in practice and creates a situation which may lead to overload of the access resources in the new cell, due to potential access attempt peaks when many UEs try to access the new cell right after the cell switch. With soft switch there is a time period during which the new cell and the old cell coexist (i.e. overlap), covering the same geographical area. This coexistence/overlap period allows some time for connected UEs to be handed over and for camping UEs to reselect to the new cell, which facilitates distribution of the access load in the new cell and thereby also provides better conditions for handovers with shorter interruption time. Soft switch is likely to be the most prevalent cell switch principle in quasi-Earth-fixed cell deployments. Ephemeris data [0016] Ephemeris data (sometimes referred to as “ephemeris information” or “ephemeris parameters” or just “ephemeris”) is data that allows a UE (or other entity) to determine a satellite’s position and velocity, i.e., the ephemeris data contains parameters related to the satellite’s orbit. There are several different formats defined for ephemeris data. [0017] In TR 38.821 v16.2.0 it has been captured that ephemeris data should be provided to the UE, for example to assist with pointing a directional antenna (or an antenna beam) towards the satellite, and to calculate a correct Timing Advance (TA) (see more about this in section 6.3 of TR 38.821 v16.2.0) and Doppler shift. In New Radio (NR) NTN and Internet- of-Things (IoT) NTN, ephemeris data will be broadcast in the system information (SI) in each cell, included in an NTN specific SIB (labeled SIB19 in NR NTN and SIB31 IoT NTN). [0018] A satellite orbit can be fully described using six parameters. Exactly which set of parameters is chosen can be decided by the user; many different representations are possible. For example, a choice of parameters used often in astronomy is the set (a, ε, i, Ω, ω, t). Here, the semi-major axis a and the eccentricity ε describe the shape and size of the orbit ellipse; the inclination i, the right ascension of the ascending node Ω, and the argument of periapsis ω determine its position in space, and the epoch time t determines a reference time (e.g. the time when the satellite moves through periapsis). [0019] As an example of a different parametrization, two line elements (TLEs) use mean motion n and mean anomaly M instead of a and t. A completely different set of parameters is the position and velocity vector (x, y, z, vx, vy, vz) of a satellite. These are sometimes called orbital state vectors. They can be derived from the orbital elements and vice versa, since the information they contain is equivalent. All these formats (and many others) are possible choices for the format of ephemeris data to be used in NTN. [0020] An aspect discussed during the 3GPP study item and captured in 3GPP TR 38.821 16.2.0 is the validity time of ephemeris data. Predictions of satellite positions in general degrade with increasing age of the ephemeris data used, due to atmospheric drag, maneuvering of the satellite, imperfections in the orbital models used, etc. Therefore, the publicly available TLE data are updated quite frequently. For example, the update frequency depends on the satellite and its orbit and ranges from weekly to multiple times a day for satellites on very low orbits which are exposed to strong atmospheric drag and need to perform correctional maneuvers often. Even more frequent updates will be used in NR NTN (and IoT NTN) to allow the UE to determine/predict the satellite’s position (and velocity) accurately enough to satisfy the requirements in NTN, e.g., to enable a UE to calculate an accurate enough UE-specific TA. 3GPP dependence of GNSS for NR NTN and IoT NTN [0021] In 3GPP release 17, it is assumed, for both NR NTN and IoT NTN, that every UE is equipped with a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receiver and is capable of determining its own location using GNSS measurements and, based on that, handling the timing and frequency synchronization. The GNSS receiver allows a device to estimate its geographical position. In one example, an NTN gNB carried by a satellite, or communicating via a satellite, broadcasts its ephemeris data (i.e., data that informs the UE about the satellite’s position, velocity, and orbit) and full or partial feeder link delay (in the form of so-called common TA parameters) to a GNSS equipped UE. The UE can then determine the propagation delay, the delay variation rate, the Doppler shift, and its variation rate based on the UE’s own location (obtained through GNSS measurements) and the satellite location and movement (derived from the ephemeris data). The UE uses this knowledge to compensate its UL transmissions for the propagation delay and Doppler effect. [0022] The GNSS receiver also allows a device to determine a time reference (e.g. in terms of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC)) and frequency reference, which may facilitate the UE’s handling of the timing and frequency synchronization in an NR- or LTE-based NTN. [0023] Therefore, UEs are expected to compensate their UL transmissions for the propagation delay and Doppler effect. In particular, the UE uses knowledge of its location and broadcast information about the satellite’s position (i.e. ephemeris data) to calculate the UE- satellite RTT, which is then used in UE autonomous calculation of a Timing Advance (TA), as described in section 6.3 of TR 38.821 v16.2.0. However, an IoT NTN UE is not expected to be able to perform a GNSS measurement while receiving transmissions from the network at the same time. [0024] When using GNSS measurements for purposes related to the operation and performance of an NR NTN or IoT NTN, the GNSS measurement should be fresh enough to be reliable. For this reason, the notion of a GNSS validity timer (or validity duration) has been introduced, which governs the maximum age UE location information may have when used in such operations (e.g. for calculation of a timing advance). A suitable value for this maximum age may depend on the UE’s implementation, and therefore the GNSS validity timer is a UE implementation specific mechanism. However, the standard specifications for IoT NTN include means by which the UE can inform the network (i.e. the serving eNB) of the remaining time of the UE’s currently running GNSS validity timer. NTN-specific information in the system information [0025] Due to the special operating conditions in a NTN, the system information broadcast in an NTN cell has to include NTN-specific information. To serve this purpose, a new SIB (SIB19) is introduced in NR NTN which contains NTN-specific information. In IoT NTN, the new SIB31 more or less corresponds to SIB19 in NR NTN. It contains the satellite specific information including the ephemeris data. IoT NTN [0026] The Non-Terrestrial Network described above is based on 5G/NR technology adapted for communication via satellites. But an NTN standard for IoT, denoted as “IoT NTN”, is also being specified in release 17 of the 3GPP standards. IoT NTN is based on the LTE NB- IoT technology adapted for communication via satellites. To distinguish NTN based 5G/NR technology from IoT NTN, NTN based on 5G/NR technology is often referred to as “NR NTN”. In light of these distinctions, depending on the context, the term “NTN” is sometimes used to refer to either or both of NR NTN and IoT NTN, and sometimes the term “NTN” is used to refer only to NR NTN. [0027] One important difference between NR NTN and IoT NTN is that while an NR NTN UE is expected to be able to perform GNSS measurements independently of its communication in the NTN (e.g. using separate receiver circuitry for the two operations), an IoT NTN is not expected to be able to do that. Hence, to ensure that data is not lost in the IoT NTN while the UE performs a GNSS measurement, the network has the option to configure a GNSS measurement gap for a UE, during which the UE can perform a GNSS measurement. A measurement gap is a time period during which the network refrains from scheduling any downlink or uplink transmissions for the UE. VSAT antenna/UE [0028] A very small aperture terminal (VSAT) is a two-way ground station that transmits and receives data from satellites. [0029] In the work item on NTN in 3GPP release 18 (“Revised WID: NR NTN (Non- Terrestrial Networks) enhancements”, revision of RP-221819), support for VSAT devices was introduced in NTN, in accordance with the following quote from the work item description: “The work item aims at specifying enhancements for NG-RAN based NTN (non- terrestrial networks) according to the following assumptions with implicit compatibility to support HAPS (high altitude platform station) and ATG (air to ground) scenarios: […] Both ‘VSAT’ devices with directive antenna (including fixed and moving platform mounted devices and commercial handset terminals (e.g. Power class 3) are supported in FR1 Only “VSAT” devices with directive antenna (including fixed and moving platform mounted devices) are supported in above 10 GHz bands.” [0030] In NR NTN, a VSAT UE is provided with the satellite ephemeris data/information (e.g. in SIB19) by the NTN serving cell operating in an NTN network e.g. served or managed by a satellite. The ephemeris data indicates to the VSAT UE the location and velocity of the satellite at any given time within the validity duration of the ephemeris data. The VSAT UE’s antenna orientation is determined based on the VSAT UE’s location (e.g. determined using GNSS measurements) together with ephemeris data. [0031] A VSAT UE differs from a regular handheld device in that the former uses an external antenna (e.g. parabolic dish) to provide a better link budget for high throughput services especially in areas with low signal quality (e.g. SINR, SNR etc.). [0032] There exist different types of VSAT: ^ Fixed VSAT with a dish or phase antenna array ^ Mobile VSAT (e.g. Earth Station in Motion, ESIM): airborne (fast moving VSAT), maritime and land [0033] The antenna(s) of the VSAT tracks satellites (e.g. reference signals) using a mechanical and/or electronic steering (or sweeping) of the receive beams of the satellite signals. Contrary to handheld devices that are designed to acquire connectivity in any orientation, a VSAT has to point towards a satellite to acquire connectivity (at the signal acquisition and during connectivity). In both cases, the antenna generates one lobe. The orientation of the VSAT reception and transmission lobe may be defined by the elevation angle (i.e. the angle between the horizon and the satellite) and the azimuth angle (i.e. the angle between the satellite and the north). [0034] An electronically steered VSAT is equipped with a large array of antenna elements. AVSAT using electronic steering of signals to receive the signals from the satellite may change its receive beam (e.g. to point towards certain satellite) very quickly e.g. X11 degrees in azimuth plane and/or X12 degrees in vertical plane within few microseconds. [0035] In contrast, a VSAT using mechanical steering to receive the signals from the satellite may change the direction of its receive beam (e.g. to point towards a certain satellite) relatively slowly, e.g. X21 degrees in azimuth plane and/or X22 degrees in vertical plane over the course of a few seconds. In one typical example, the VSAT changes its orientation by 15 degrees per second. In another typical example, the VSAT changes its orientation by 20 degrees per second. Therefore steering the VSAT terminal by 120 degrees may take up to 6-8 seconds. [0036] The azimuth angle is the horizontal angle from true north in a clockwise direction. Azimuth angle varies from 0° to 360°. The azimuth angle is 0° when the antenna is directed north. Upon rotating in a clockwise direction, the antenna is directed east (azimuth angle is 90°), then south (azimuth angle is 180°), then west (which is 270°), and then returns to North (which is 360° and also 0°). The elevation angle would be 0° when the antenna is directed to the horizon, and 90° when the antenna is directed directly overhead (i.e., ‘the zenith’). Neighbor cell measurements in RRC_IDLE and RRC_INACTIVE state in NR NTN [0037] UEs in RRC_IDLE and RRC_INACTIVE states perform neighbor cell measurements (e.g. measuring the RSRP and/or RSRQ of reference signals, such as SSBs, in neighbor cells) to evaluate if the UE should switch to camp on another cell than its current serving cell, i.e. so-called cell reselection. The neighbor cell measurements may include both intra-frequency measurements (i.e. measurements on neighbor cells using the same carrier frequency as the UE’s serving cell) and inter-frequency measurements (i.e. measurements on neighbor cells using other carrier frequencies than the UE’s serving cell) and inter-radio-access technology (RAT) measurements (i.e. measurements on neighbor cells using another RAT (and carrier frequency) than the UE’s serving cell). [0038] Such neighbor cell measurements are governed by certain rules which are specified in the standard (mainly in 3GPP TS 38.304 version 17.5.0 and 3GPP TS 38.133 version 18.3.0), including various configurable parameters. [0039] As a basic rule, when a UE in RRC_IDLE or RRC_INACTIVE state performs regular neighbor cell measurements, it is required to perform such measurements with certain maximum intervals, as specified in 3GPP TS 38.133 version 18.3.0. [0040] In addition, the 3GPP standard specifies a set of rules to limit the effort and energy spent by UEs to perform neighbor cell measurements in RRC_IDLE and RRC_INACTIVE states. To this end, 3GPP TS 38.304 version 17.5.0 stipulates the following for intra-frequency neighbor cell measurements in RRC_IDLE and RRC_INACTIVE states: “Following rules are used by the UE to limit needed measurements: ^ If the serving cell fulfils Srxlev > SIntraSearchP and Squal > SIntraSearchQ: ^ If distanceThresh and referenceLocation are broadcasted in SIB19, and if UE supports location-based measurement initiation and has obtained its location information: ^ If the distance between UE and the serving cell reference location referenceLocation is shorter than distanceThresh, the UE may not perform intra-frequency measurements; ^ Else, the UE shall perform intra-frequency measurements; ^ Else, the UE may not perform intra-frequency measurements; ^ Else, the UE shall perform intra-frequency measurements.” [0041] Similar rules are specified for inter-frequency and inter-RAT neighbor cell measurements in RRC_IDLE and RRC_INACTIVE states, but for these neighbor cell measurements, assigned/configured frequency priorities are further important aspects impacting the UE’s inter-frequency and inter-RAT neighbor cell measurement behavior. [0042] 3GPP TS 38.304 version 17.5.0 stipulates the following for inter-frequency and inter-RAT neighbor cell measurements in RRC_IDLE and RRC_INACTIVE states: “The UE shall apply the following rules for NR inter-frequencies and inter-RAT frequencies which are indicated in system information and for which the UE has priority provided as defined in 5.2.4.1: ^ For a NR inter-frequency or inter-RAT frequency with a reselection priority higher than the reselection priority of the current NR frequency, the UE shall perform measurements of higher priority NR inter-frequency or inter-RAT frequencies according to TS 38.133 [8]. ^ For a NR inter-frequency with an equal or lower reselection priority than the reselection priority of the current NR frequency and for inter-RAT frequency with lower reselection priority than the reselection priority of the current NR frequency: ^ If the serving cell fulfils Srxlev > SnonIntraSearchP and Squal > SnonIntraSearchQ: ^ If distanceThresh and referenceLocation are broadcasted in SIB19, and if UE supports location-based measurement initiation and has obtained its UE location information: ^ If the distance between UE and the serving cell reference location referenceLocation is shorter than distanceThresh, the UE may choose not to perform measurements of NR inter-frequency cells of equal or lower priority, or inter-RAT frequency cells of lower priority; ^ Else, the UE shall perform measurements of NR inter-frequency cells of equal or lower priority, or inter-RAT frequency cells of lower priority according to TS 38.133 [8]; ^ Else, the UE may choose not to perform measurements of NR inter-frequency cells of equal or lower priority, or inter-RAT frequency cells of lower priority; ^ Else, the UE shall perform measurements of NR inter-frequency cells of equal or lower priority, or inter-RAT frequency cells of lower priority according to TS 38.133 [8].” [0043] The referenceLocation and distanceThres parameters in the above specification excerpts support the distance-based neighbor cell measurement rule, which is currently only supported in NTN (i.e. not in terrestrial networks). [0044] In NTNs with quasi-Earth-fixed cells, a further rule is used which is related to the end of the service time of a quasi-Earth-fixed cell, i.e. the time which is indicated by the t- Service parameter broadcasted in SIB19. The rule is specified to ensure that when the current serving cell of a UE in RRC_IDLE or RRC_INATCIVE state is approaching the end of its service time, the UE shall perform neighbor cell measurements irrespective of other rules or conditions (i.e. the UE should essentially ignore the above-described rules for limiting the neighbor cell measurements). This time-based aspect of the RRC_IDLE/RRC_INACTIVE neighbor cell measurement rules in NR NTNs with quasi-Earth-fixed cell deployments is specified as follows in 3GPP TS 38.304 version 17.5.0: “If the t-Service of the serving cell is present in SIB19, and if UE supports time-based measurement initiation, the UE shall perform intra-frequency, inter-frequency or inter-RAT measurements before the t-Service, regardless of the distance between UE and the serving cell reference location or whether the serving cell fulfils Srxlev > SIntraSearchP and Squal > SIntraSearchQ, or Srxlev > SnonIntraSearchP and Squal > SnonIntraSearchQ, The exact time to start measurement before t-Service is up to UE implementation. UE shall perform measurements of higher priority NR inter-frequency or inter-RAT frequencies according to TS 38.133 [8] regardless of the remaining service time of the serving cell (i.e. time remaining until t-Service).” Paging in RRC_IDLE and RRC_INACTIVE states in NR [0045] UEs in RRC_IDLE and RRC_INACTIVE states in an NR network monitor the downlink for paging messages indicating that downlink control or user plane data is pending transmission to the UE, or indicating certain information of relevance to the UE, e.g. that the system information has been updated. In more detail, when a UE performs such page monitoring, it monitors the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) in a certain so-called search space in the time-frequency resource grid, looking for downlink control information (DCI) messages addressed to the Paging radio network temporary identifier (P-RNTI). [0046] Each UE in RRC_IDLE and RRC_INACTIVE states monitors the PDCCH as described above at certain so-called paging occasions (POs), which are periodically recurring occasions (or more precisely, a set of PDCCH monitoring occasions), where the periodicity of the so-called paging discontinuous reception (DRX) periods is configured in the system information (or, in some cases, using dedicated non access stratum (NAS) signaling or dedicated radio resource control (RRC) signaling) and the location of a certain UE’s PO in a paging DRX period is derived from an identifier associated with the UE (typically using the operation 5G-S-TMSI modulo 1024, or, if the UE operates in eDRX, 5G-S-TMSI mod 4096). [0047] If the RRC_IDLE/RRC_INACTIVE UE receives a DCI message addressed to the P-RNTI (i.e. DCI format 1_0 with cyclic redundancy check (CRC) scrambled by P-RNTI) in one of its paging occasions, and the DCI message contains scheduling information for Paging RRC message on the physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), the UE receives the Paging RRC message and checks if the UE’s paging identifier (the NG-5G-S-TMSI or the full I-RNTI) is included in a paging record in the Paging RRC message. [0048] If the UE is in RRC_IDLE state and finds its paging identifier (NG-5G-S-TMSI) in the Paging RRC message, it typically responds to the page by attempting to access the network using a random access procedure with an RRCSetupRequest RRC message as message 3 and, upon conclusion of the random access procedure, an RRCSetupComplete RRC message with a SERVICE REQUEST NAS message contained in the dedicatedNAS-Message field. [0049] If the UE is in RRC_INACTIVE state and finds its paging identifier (the full I- RNTI) in the Paging RRC message, it typically responds to the page by attempting to access the network using a random access procedure with an RRCResumeRequest RRC message as message 3. [0050] The UE is mandated to monitor the paging occasions associated with it in accordance with the relevant configurations. [0051] The paging framework is defined in 3GPP TS 38.331 version 17.5.0, 3GPP TS 38.304 version 17.5.0 and (the relevant DCI format) in 3GPP TS 38.212 version 18.0.0. Summary [0052] There currently exist certain challenge(s). [0053] A VSAT UE in RRC_IDLE or RRC_INACTIVE state (as well as VSAT UEs in RRC_CONNECTED state) needs to direct or redirect its antenna orientation to measure on neighbor cells served by different neighbor satellites while camping on the serving cell, served by the serving satellite. The required antenna redirection time increases with the angular distance/separation between a neighbor satellite and the serving satellite with regards to the position of the UE. For example, if one neighbor satellite #1 has 120o angular offset from the serving cell’s satellite and another neighbor satellite #2 has 30o angular offset from the serving cell’s satellite, then it is likely that redirecting the antenna from the serving cell’s satellite towards satellite #1 takes the VSAT UE roughly four times as long as redirecting the antenna from the serving cell’s satellite to satellite #2. [0054] Hence, when a VSAT UE is used in an NTN, e.g. an NR NTN, a problem arises in that the specified rules for neighbor cell measurements in RRC_IDLE and RRC_INACTIVE state are not adapted to the long times required for a VSAT UE to redirect its antenna, or receive beam, from the satellite serving the UE’s current serving cell to a satellite serving another cell the UE is supposed to measure on, or between two satellites serving neighbor cells the UE is supposed to measure on. [0055] As a result, if the VSAT UE follows the specified RRC_IDLE/RRC_INACTIVE state neighbor cell measurement rules, it may regularly and/or frequently miss paging occasions in its serving cell, with the consequence that the VSAT UE may miss pages directed to it. In other words, in many NTN scenarios, depending on the satellite constellation (e.g. the density of the deployed satellites) and the VSAT UE’s capabilities related to redirections of its antenna (e.g. the antenna rotation/sweep speed), the time between two paging occasions may not be enough for a VSAT UE to perform the neighbor cell measurements it is expected to do in accordance with the specified rules. [0056] Certain aspects of the disclosure and their embodiments may provide solutions to these or other challenges. [0057] One aspect of the disclosure provides a method performed by a user equipment. The user equipment is a VSAT. The method comprises receiving a configuration comprising an indication of a plurality of paging occasions on which the user equipment is to monitor for paging messages from a first radio access network node. The method further comprises receiving a configuration comprising an indication of one or more of the plurality of paging occasions which are invalid, and on which the user equipment is permitted not to monitor for paging messages from the first radio access network node. [0058] A second aspect of the disclosure provides a method performed by a first radio access network node. The method comprises configuring a user equipment, which is a VSAT, with a plurality of paging occasions on which the user equipment is to monitor for paging messages from the first radio access network node. The method further comprises transmitting, to the user equipment, a configuration comprising an indication of one or more of the plurality of paging occasions which are invalid, and on which the user equipment is permitted not to monitor for paging messages from the first radio access network node. [0059] A third aspect of the disclosure provides a method performed by a core network node. The method comprises configuring a user equipment, which is a VSAT, with a plurality of paging occasions on which the user equipment is to monitor for paging messages from a first radio access network node. The method further comprises configuring the user equipment with an indication of one or more of the plurality of paging occasions which are invalid, and on which the user equipment is permitted not to monitor for paging messages from the first radio access network node. [0060] Apparatus and computer-readable media for performing the methods set out above are also provided. [0061] Certain embodiments may provide one or more of the following technical advantage(s). The proposed solution enables a VSAT UE operating in RRC_IDLE or RRC_INACTIVE state in an NTN to measure on neighbor cells served by other satellites than the serving cell without missing pages from the network. The teachings of certain embodiments may improve the robustness of connections with serving base stations, by providing a mechanism that allows user equipments to “miss” one or more paging occasions without adversely affecting the connection to the network; conversely, the user equipment is given greater opportunity to measure neighbor cells and may therefore make better handover decisions. Brief Description of the Drawings [0062] For a better understanding of the embodiments of the present disclosure, and to show how it may be put into effect, reference will now be made, by way of example only, to the accompanying drawings, in which: [0063] Fig.1 shows an example architecture of a satellite network; [0064] Fig. 2 is a flow chart illustrating a method performed by a user equipment in accordance with some embodiments; [0065] Fig. 3 is a flow chart illustrating a method performed by a network node in accordance with some embodiments; [0066] Fig. 4 is a flow chart illustrating a method performed by a core network entity according to embodiments of the disclosure; [0067] Fig.5 is a schematic diagram showing valid and invalid paging occasions according to embodiments of the disclosure; [0068] Fig. 6 shows an example of a communication system in accordance with some embodiments; [0069] Fig.7 shows a UE in accordance with some embodiments; [0070] Fig.8 shows a network node in accordance with some embodiments; [0071] Fig. 9 is a block diagram illustrating a virtualization environment in which functions implemented by some embodiments may be virtualized; and [0072] Fig.10 shows a network node in accordance with some embodiments. Detailed description [0073] Some of the embodiments contemplated herein will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings. Embodiments are provided by way of example to convey the scope of the subject matter to those skilled in the art. [0074] To address the problems described above, the paging DRX and/or paging eDRX feature may be amended in order to allow a VSAT UE sufficient time to perform inter-satellite neighbor cell measurements between two paging occasions that it is expected to monitor. To this end, according to the proposed solution, to get both dense/frequent paging occasions and long enough interval between two paging occasions for a VSAT UE to perform the neighbor cell measurements, the paging configuration for a VSAT UE may include a sequence of dense/frequent paging occasions, which, with a longer periodicity, is interrupted by a longer interval without paging occasions. This may be seen as overlaying a very extended DRX cycle (e.g. denoted as “overlay VSAT DRX”) on top of the regular DRX or eDRX cycles. Another way to see this is that periodical “RRC_IDLE state measurement gaps” or “RRC_INACTIVE state measurement gaps” are configured, wherein paging occasions which occur within such an RRC_IDLE state measurement gap or RRC_INACTIVE state measurement gap are invalidated. For instance, the overall configuration could be that with a cycle of N paging occasions, M consecutive paging occasions are skipped/invalid (where M < N) to allow enough time for the VSAT UE to perform neighbor cell measurements without missing a paging occasion. As an example, the result of such a configuration could be an overall cycle where N – M valid paging occasions are followed by M skipped/invalid paging occasions (and then the cycle would be repeated with another N – M valid paging occasions followed by M skipped/invalid paging occasions, and so on). [0075] A VSAT UE may therefore be configured with a series of repetitive paging occasions (e.g., an endless or infinite series of such occasions), which with regular intervals is interrupted by a finite sequence of invalidated/skipped/ignored paging occasions. This may be seen as overlaying a very extended DRX cycle (e.g. denoted as “overlay VSAT DRX”) on top of the regular DRX or eDRX cycles. Another way to see this is that periodical “RRC_IDLE state measurement gaps” or “RRC_INACTIVE state measurement gaps” are configured, wherein paging occasions which occur within such an RRC_IDLE state measurement gap or RRC_INACTIVE state measurement gap are invalidated. Within a period where paging occasions are invalid/skipped/ignored, i.e. within an RRC_INCATIVE and/or RRC_IDLE state measurement gap, the VSAT UE can perform inter-satellite neighbor cell measurements without missing any paging occasions it is expected to monitor. [0076] Figure 2 depicts a method in accordance with particular embodiments. The method may be performed by a UE or wireless device (e.g. the UE 612 or UE 700 as described later with reference to Figures 6 and 7 respectively). In accordance with embodiments of the disclosure, the UE is a very-small-aperture terminal (VSAT). For example, such a UE may comprise two parts: a transceiver, such as a dish antenna or an antenna array; and a device connected to the transceiver for interfacing the transceiver with a user or a user’s terminal. The transceiver may generate a single transmit/receive lobe. The transceiver may be directable electronically (e.g., by phasing the signals to an array) or mechanically (e.g., by motors). [0077] The method begins at step 202, in which the user equipment receives a configuration comprising an indication of a plurality of paging occasions on which the user equipment is to monitor for paging messages from a first radio access network node. For example, the indication of the plurality of paging occasions may comprise an indication of a cycle in which the paging occasions are configured, such as a paging cycle and/or a discontinuous reception (DRX) cycle. In such a cycle, the UE is in a low-power state, but wakes up periodically to monitor one or more paging occasions (POs) for paging messages from the network. Such POs may comprise time and/or frequency resources on which the UE is to monitor for paging messages. [0078] In step 204, the UE receives a configuration comprising an indication of one or more of the plurality of paging occasions which are invalid, and on which the user equipment is permitted not to monitor for paging messages from the first radio access network node. The indication of one or more invalid paging occasions may itself comprise an indication of a cycle defining the one or more invalid paging occasions. In some embodiments, the cycle comprises one or more consecutive paging occasions which are invalid, followed by one or more consecutive paging occasions which are valid. The cycle of the one or more invalid paging occasions may have a longer period than the cycle of the plurality of paging occasions, and so the interaction of the two cycles may be viewed as a regular cycle (the paging occasions) on which a longer cycle is superimposed or overlaid (the invalid PO cycle). For instance, the overall configuration could be that with a cycle of N paging occasions, M consecutive paging occasions are skipped/invalid (where M < N) to allow enough time for the VSAT UE to perform neighbor cell measurements without missing a paging occasion. As an example, the result of such a configuration could be an overall cycle where N – M valid paging occasions are followed by M skipped/invalid paging occasions (and then the cycle would be repeated with another N – M valid paging occasions followed by M skipped/invalid paging occasions, and so on). See Figure 5. In some embodiments, N – M > M, such that there are more valid paging occasions than invalid paging occasions in each cycle. [0079] In some embodiments, step 204 comprises receiving a plurality of indications of one or more of the plurality of paging occasions which are invalid. Each indication may define a time window having a different duration in which paging occasions are invalid (or, equivalently, a different number of consecutive paging occasions). Each of the plurality of indications may be for implementation by user equipments with antennas having respective rotational speeds. For example, user equipments with antennas having slower rotational speeds may be configured with longer time windows in which to perform measurements on transmissions by the second radio access network nodes; conversely, user equipments with antennas having quicker rotational speeds may be configured with shorter time windows in which to perform measurements on transmissions by the second radio access network nodes. [0080] The configurations in step 202 and/or step 204 may be received via broadcast transmissions (such as system information block(s)) or dedicated transmissions (such as RRC signalling). Further detail regarding the signalling of the configurations is set out below, in the sections entitled, “Configuration and signaling of the configuration controlled by the RAN” and “Configuration and signaling of the configuration controlled by the core network”. [0081] The first radio access network node may be a serving node for the user equipment, while the one or more second radio access network nodes may serve neighboring cells. One or more of the first and/or second radio access network nodes may be located on, or communicate with the user equipment via, satellites in a non-terrestrial network. [0082] In step 206, the UE refrains from monitoring the one or more invalid paging occasions indicated in step 204. The UE may additionally redirect its antenna/transceiver so as to perform measurements on transmissions by one or more second radio access network nodes. Step 206 may be performed while the user equipment is in an idle or inactive mode (e.g., RRC_IDLE or RRC_INACTIVE). [0083] The one or more invalid paging occasions may therefore be used by the user equipment to redirect an antenna to perform measurements on transmissions by one or more second radio access network nodes. In other words, during a time window comprising the one or more invalid paging occasions, the user equipment may redirect its antenna/transceiver to perform measurements on transmissions by one or more second radio access network nodes. Such a time window may be known as a measurement gap. According to embodiments of the disclosure, the time window may be considerably longer than conventional measurement gaps, to allow sufficient time for the antenna/transceiver to be redirected to a second radio access network node (e.g., via a satellite). In some embodiments, the time window may therefore have a duration of at least one second, a duration of at least two seconds, or a duration of at least four seconds. [0084] Once the one or more invalid paging occasions have passed, the UE should be in a position to monitor the first valid paging occasion (e.g., after the “measurement gap” described herein has finished). One or more synchronization signals should be measured by the UE prior to that first valid paging occasion such that any paging message is correctly received and decoded. The section below, “additional embodiment #1” sets out various methods for achieving this. [0085] If cell reselection occurs during a period of invalid paging occasions (e.g., “the measurement gap) or close to the start of valid paging occasions in the target cell, the UE may encounter the measurement gap in the target cell and be unable to acquire paging occasions. The section below, “additional embodiment #2”, sets out various methods for addressing this issue. [0086] Figure 3 depicts a method in accordance with particular embodiments. The method may be performed by a network node (e.g. the network node 610 or network node 800 as described later with reference to Figures 6 and 8 respectively). In accordance with embodiments of the disclosure, the network node is a first radio access network node serving a UE which is a very-small-aperture terminal (VSAT). For example, such a UE may comprise two parts: a transceiver, such as a dish antenna or an antenna array; and a device connected to the transceiver for interfacing the transceiver with a user or a user’s terminal. The transceiver may generate a single transmit/receive lobe. The transceiver may be directable electronically (e.g., by phasing the signals to an array) or mechanically (e.g., by motors). In some embodiments, the method 3 sets out complementary steps to those performed by the UE as discussed above with respect to method 2, and those performed by a core network node as discussed below with respect to method 4. [0087] The method begins at step 302, in which the network node configures the user equipment with a plurality of paging occasions on which the user equipment is to monitor for paging messages from a first radio access network node. For example, the indication of the plurality of paging occasions may comprise an indication of a cycle in which the paging occasions are configured, such as a paging cycle and/or a discontinuous reception (DRX) cycle. In such a cycle, the UE is in a low-power state, but wakes up periodically to monitor one or more paging occasions (POs) for paging messages from the network. Such POs may comprise time and/or frequency resources on which the UE is to monitor for paging messages. [0088] In step 304, the network node transmits, to the UE, a configuration comprising an indication of one or more of the plurality of paging occasions which are invalid, and on which the user equipment is permitted not to monitor for paging messages from the first radio access network node. The indication of one or more invalid paging occasions may itself comprise an indication of a cycle defining the one or more invalid paging occasions. In some embodiments, the cycle comprises one or more consecutive paging occasions which are invalid, followed by one or more consecutive paging occasions which are valid. The cycle of the one or more invalid paging occasions may have a longer period than the cycle of the plurality of paging occasions, and so the interaction of the two cycles may be viewed as a regular cycle (the paging occasions) on which a longer cycle is superimposed or overlaid (the invalid PO cycle). For instance, the overall configuration could be that with a cycle of N paging occasions, M consecutive paging occasions are skipped/invalid (where M < N) to allow enough time for the VSAT UE to perform neighbor cell measurements without missing a paging occasion. As an example, the result of such a configuration could be an overall cycle where N – M valid paging occasions are followed by M skipped/invalid paging occasions (and then the cycle would be repeated with another N – M valid paging occasions followed by M skipped/invalid paging occasions, and so on). See Figure 5. In some embodiments, N – M > M, such that there are more valid paging occasions than invalid paging occasions in each cycle. [0089] In some embodiments, step 304 comprises transmitting a plurality of indications of one or more of the plurality of paging occasions which are invalid. Each indication may define a time window having a different duration in which paging occasions are invalid (or, equivalently, a different number of consecutive paging occasions). Each of the plurality of indications may be for implementation by user equipments with antennas having respective rotational speeds. For example, user equipments with antennas having slower rotational speeds may be configured with longer time windows in which to perform measurements on transmissions by the second radio access network nodes; conversely, user equipments with antennas having quicker rotational speeds may be configured with shorter time windows in which to perform measurements on transmissions by the second radio access network nodes. [0090] The configurations in step 302 and/or step 304 may be transmitted or otherwise provided via broadcast transmissions (such as system information block(s)) or dedicated transmissions (such as RRC signalling). Further detail regarding the signalling of the configurations is set out below, in the sections entitled, “Configuration and signaling of the configuration controlled by the RAN” and “Configuration and signaling of the configuration controlled by the core network”. [0091] The first radio access network node may be a serving node for the user equipment, while the one or more second radio access network nodes may serve neighboring cells. One or more of the first and/or second radio access network nodes may be located on, or communicate with the user equipment via, satellites in a non-terrestrial network. [0092] The one or more invalid paging occasions may therefore be used by the user equipment to redirect an antenna to perform measurements on transmissions by one or more second radio access network nodes. In other words, during a time window comprising the one or more invalid paging occasions, the user equipment may redirect its antenna/transceiver to perform measurements on transmissions by one or more second radio access network nodes. Such a time window may be known as a measurement gap. According to embodiments of the disclosure, the time window may be considerably longer than conventional measurement gaps, to allow sufficient time for the antenna/transceiver to be redirected to a second radio access network node (e.g., via a satellite). In some embodiments, the time window may therefore have a duration of at least one second, a duration of at least two seconds, or a duration of at least four seconds. [0093] Once the one or more invalid paging occasions have passed, the UE should be in a position to monitor the first valid paging occasion (e.g., after the “measurement gap” described herein has finished). One or more synchronization signals should be measured by the UE prior to that first valid paging occasion such that any paging message is correctly received and decoded. The section below, “additional embodiment #1” sets out various methods for achieving this. [0094] If cell reselection occurs during a period of invalid paging occasions (e.g., “the measurement gap) or close to the start of valid paging occasions in the target cell, the UE may encounter the measurement gap in the target cell and be unable to acquire paging occasions. The section below, “additional embodiment #2”, sets out various methods for addressing this issue. [0095] Figure 4 depicts a method in accordance with particular embodiments. The method may be performed by a network node (e.g. the core network node 608 or network node 1000 as described later with reference to Figures 6 and 10 respectively). In accordance with embodiments of the disclosure, the network node is a core network node (e.g., an AMF) communicably coupled to a first radio access network node serving a UE which is a very-small- aperture terminal (VSAT). For example, such a UE may comprise two parts: a transceiver, such as a dish antenna or an antenna array; and a device connected to the transceiver for interfacing the transceiver with a user or a user’s terminal. The transceiver may generate a single transmit/receive lobe. The transceiver may be directable electronically (e.g., by phasing the signals to an array) or mechanically (e.g., by motors). In some embodiments, the method 4 sets out complementary steps to those performed by the UE as discussed above with respect to method 2, and those performed by the network node as discussed above with respect to method 3. [0096] The method begins at step 402, in which the core network node configures the user equipment with a plurality of paging occasions on which the user equipment is to monitor for paging messages from a first radio access network node. For example, the indication of the plurality of paging occasions may comprise an indication of a cycle in which the paging occasions are configured, such as a paging cycle and/or a discontinuous reception (DRX) cycle. In such a cycle, the UE is in a low-power state, but wakes up periodically to monitor one or more paging occasions (POs) for paging messages from the network. Such POs may comprise time and/or frequency resources on which the UE is to monitor for paging messages. [0097] In this context, the core network node may configure the UE by providing the information for the configuration to a radio access network node serving the UE, for onward transmission to the UE. For example, the core network node may use non-access stratum (NAS) signalling. [0098] In step 404, the core network node configures the UE with an indication of one or more of the plurality of paging occasions which are invalid, and on which the user equipment is permitted not to monitor for paging messages from the first radio access network node. The indication of one or more invalid paging occasions may itself comprise an indication of a cycle defining the one or more invalid paging occasions. In some embodiments, the cycle comprises one or more consecutive paging occasions which are invalid, followed by one or more consecutive paging occasions which are valid. The cycle of the one or more invalid paging occasions may have a longer period than the cycle of the plurality of paging occasions, and so the interaction of the two cycles may be viewed as a regular cycle (the paging occasions) on which a longer cycle is superimposed or overlaid (the invalid PO cycle). For instance, the overall configuration could be that with a cycle of N paging occasions, M consecutive paging occasions are skipped/invalid (where M < N) to allow enough time for the VSAT UE to perform neighbor cell measurements without missing a paging occasion. As an example, the result of such a configuration could be an overall cycle where N – M valid paging occasions are followed by M skipped/invalid paging occasions (and then the cycle would be repeated with another N – M valid paging occasions followed by M skipped/invalid paging occasions, and so on). See Figure 5. In some embodiments, N – M > M, such that there are more valid paging occasions than invalid paging occasions in each cycle. [0099] In some embodiments, step 404 comprises providing a plurality of indications of one or more of the plurality of paging occasions which are invalid. Each indication may define a time window having a different duration in which paging occasions are invalid (or, equivalently, a different number of consecutive paging occasions). Each of the plurality of indications may be for implementation by user equipments with antennas having respective rotational speeds. For example, user equipments with antennas having slower rotational speeds may be configured with longer time windows in which to perform measurements on transmissions by the second radio access network nodes; conversely, user equipments with antennas having quicker rotational speeds may be configured with shorter time windows in which to perform measurements on transmissions by the second radio access network nodes. [0100] The configurations in step 402 and/or step 404 may be transmitted or otherwise provided by the radio access network node via broadcast transmissions (such as system information block(s)) or dedicated transmissions (such as RRC signalling). Further detail regarding the signalling of the configurations is set out below, in the sections entitled, “Configuration and signaling of the configuration controlled by the RAN” and “Configuration and signaling of the configuration controlled by the core network”. [0101] The first radio access network node may be a serving node for the user equipment, while the one or more second radio access network nodes may serve neighboring cells. One or more of the first and/or second radio access network nodes may be located on, or communicate with the user equipment via, satellites in a non-terrestrial network. [0102] The one or more invalid paging occasions may therefore be used by the user equipment to redirect an antenna to perform measurements on transmissions by one or more second radio access network nodes. In other words, during a time window comprising the one or more invalid paging occasions, the user equipment may redirect its antenna/transceiver to perform measurements on transmissions by one or more second radio access network nodes. Such a time window may be known as a measurement gap. According to embodiments of the disclosure, the time window may be considerably longer than conventional measurement gaps, to allow sufficient time for the antenna/transceiver to be redirected to a second radio access network node (e.g., via a satellite). In some embodiments, the time window may therefore have a duration of at least one second, a duration of at least two seconds, or a duration of at least four seconds. [0103] Once the one or more invalid paging occasions have passed, the UE should be in a position to monitor the first valid paging occasion (e.g., after the “measurement gap” described herein has finished). One or more synchronization signals should be measured by the UE prior to that first valid paging occasion such that any paging message is correctly received and decoded. The section below, “additional embodiment #1” sets out various methods for achieving this. [0104] If cell reselection occurs during a period of invalid paging occasions (e.g., “the measurement gap) or close to the start of valid paging occasions in the target cell, the UE may encounter the measurement gap in the target cell and be unable to acquire paging occasions. The section below, “additional embodiment #2”, sets out various methods for addressing this issue. Terminology and notes [0105] Note 1: The proposed solution is described below mainly in terms of NR NTN, but the solution is equally applicable to IoT NTN. Adapting the solution description to IoT NTN implies minor adjustments such as straightforward changes of terminology, e.g. that a BS should be considered to be an eNB rather than a gNB, and that the inter-BS communication protocol is X2AP instead of XnAP. [0106] Note 2: The term ‘satellite’ may also be called as a satellite node, satellite access node (SAN), an NTN node, node in the space etc. A base station (BS) or radio network node (RNN) associated with a satellite might include both a regenerative satellite, where the BS or RNN is the satellite payload, i.e. the BS or RNN is integrated with the satellite, or a transparent satellite, where the satellite payload is a relay and BS or RNN is on the ground (i.e. the satellite relays the communication between the BS or RNN on the ground and the UE). [0107] Note 3: The term node is used which can be a network node or a user equipment (UE). Examples of network nodes are NodeB, base station (BS), multi-standard radio (MSR) radio node such as MSR BS, eNodeB, gNodeB, MeNB, SeNB, satellite access node (SAN), location measurement unit (LMU), integrated access backhaul (IAB) node, network controller, radio network controller (RNC), base station controller (BSC), relay, donor node controlling relay, base transceiver station (BTS), Central Unit (e.g. in a gNB), Distributed Unit (e.g. in a gNB), Baseband Unit, Centralized Baseband, C-RAN, access point (AP), transmission points, transmission nodes, transmission reception point (TRP), RRU, RRH, nodes in distributed antenna system (DAS), core network node (e.g. MSC, MME etc), OAM, OSS, SON, positioning node (e.g. E-SMLC), etc. [0108] Note 4: The non-limiting term UE refers to any type of wireless device communicating with a network node and/or with another UE in a cellular or mobile communication system. Examples of UE are target device, device to device (D2D) UE, vehicular to vehicular (V2V), machine type UE, MTC UE or UE capable of machine to machine (M2M) communication, PDA, tablet, mobile terminals, smart phone, laptop embedded equipment (LEE), laptop mounted equipment (LME), USB dongles, VSAT UE, etc. [0109] Note 5: VSAT stands for “Very Small Aperture Terminal” and is strictly speaking a device. However, in this document, the term VSAT may also be used as a property, e.g. in the expression “VSAT UE” (which in one sense is to be regarded as a synonym to “VSAT” in its strict meaning) or “VSAT antenna” (which refers to an antenna with a very small aperture, i.e. strictly speaking an antenna on a VSAT). [0110] Note 6: The term radio access technology, or RAT, may refer to any RAT e.g. UTRA, E-UTRA, narrow band internet of things (NB-IoT), Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, next generation RAT, New Radio (NR), 4G, 5G, 6G, NR NTN, IoT NTN, LTE NTN, etc. Any of the equipment denoted by the term node, network node or radio network node may be capable of supporting a single or multiple RATs. [0111] Note 7: The term signal or radio signal used herein can be any physical signal or physical channel. Examples of DL physical signals are reference signal (RS) such as cell specific RS (CRS), NRS, NPSS, NSSS, PSS, SSS, CSI-RS, DMRS signals in SS/PBCH block (SSB), discovery reference signal (DRS), CRS, PRS etc. RS may be periodic e.g. RS occasion carrying one or more RSs may occur with certain periodicity e.g. 20 ms, 40 ms etc. The RS may also be aperiodic. Each SSB carries NR-PSS, NR-SSS and NR-PBCH in 4 successive symbols. One or multiple SSBs are transmit in one SSB burst which is repeated with certain periodicity e.g. 5 ms, 10 ms, 20 ms, 40 ms, 80 ms and 160 ms. The UE is configured with information about the SSB(s) on cells of certain carrier frequency by one or more SS/PBCH block measurement timing configuration (SMTC) configurations. The SMTC configuration comprising parameters such as SMTC periodicity, SMTC occasion length in time or duration, SMTC time offset with regards to reference time (e.g. serving cell’s SFN) etc. Therefore, SMTC occasion may also occur with certain periodicity e.g.5 ms, 10 ms, 20 ms, 40 ms, 80 ms and 160 ms. Examples of UL physical signals are reference signal such as SRS, DMRS etc. [0112] Note 8: The term carrier frequency refers to a frequency of special significance, e.g. the frequency of a carrier wave and/or the frequency where SSB(s) are transmitted. The carrier frequency belongs to certain frequency band, which may contain one or multiple carrier frequencies based on its passband (e.g. size of the band in frequency domain) and/or bandwidth of the carriers and/or the channel raster etc. The carrier frequency related information is transmitted to the UE by a network node using a frequency channel number or identifier via message e.g. RRC. Examples of the channel number or identifier, which may be pre-defined, are absolute radio frequency channel number (ARFCN), NR-ARFCN etc. [0113] Note 9: In this solution description, the term Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN) may, depending on the context, refer to either or both of NR NTN and IoT NTN, and sometimes the term is used to refer to only NR NTN. Thus, even though the embodiments outlined below are described mainly in terms of NR based NTNs, they are also applicable in an NTN based on LTE technology (and in particular IoT NTN), albeit with minor modifications, like changing NR signaling message names and network node names to corresponding LTE signaling message names and network node names, without deviating from the principle of the solution. [0114] Note 10: In this solution description, any expression stating that a cell performs an action (e.g. that a cell sends a message to the UE) should be interpreted as a simplified way of writing that the base station (BS) serving the cell performs an action (e.g. that the BS serving the cell sends a message to the UE). [0115] Note 11: The terms “node” an “BS” may sometimes be used in the solution description. The “node” or “BS” in these terms should be understood as typically being a RAN node in a NTN based on NR technology, LTE technology or any other RAT in which handover, conditional handover or another mobility or conditional mobility concept is defined. In an NR based NTN, such a RAN node may be assumed to be a gNB. In an LTE based NTN (including an IoT NTN), such a RAN node may be assumed to be an eNB. Alternatives to, or refinements of, these interpretations are however also conceivable. For instance, a gNB may be an en-gNB, and if a split gNB architecture is applied (dividing the gNB into multiple separate entities or notes), the term “node” may refer to a part of the gNB, such as a gNB-CU (often referred to as just CU), a gNB-DU (often referred to as just DU), a gNB-CU-CP or a gNB-CU-UP. Similarly, an eNB may be an ng-eNB, and if a split eNB architecture is applied (dividing the eNB into multiple separate entities or notes), the term “node” may refer to a part of the eNB, such as an eNB-CU, an eNB-DU, an eNB-CU-CP or an eNB-CU-UP. Furthermore, the “node” in the terms may also refer to an IAB-donor, IAB-donor-CU, IAB-donor-DU, IAB-donor-CU-CP, or an IAB-donor-CU-UP. Furthermore, the term “node” may also refer to a core network node, such as an AMF, an SMF, a UDM node, or an MME. In addition, in some cases, the term “node” may refer to an OAM node, such as an OSS, an Element Manager (ME) or a Network Manager (NM). [0116] Note 12: When writing message names of a communication protocol, two equivalent principles are used in this document. The writing principle “<protocol name> <message name> message”, for example “XnAP HANDOVER REQUEST message”, and the writing principle “<message name> <protocol name> message”, for example “HANDOVER REQUEST XnAP message” are equivalent, both referring to a message (i.e. “<message name>”) of a communication protocol (i.e. “<protocol name>”), e.g. the HANDOVER REQUEST message of the communication protocol XnAP. The same writing format equivalence applies to other communication protocols, such as NGAP. [0117] Note 13: The term ‘VSAT’ or ‘VSAT UE’ or ‘VSAT capable UE’ or ‘UE capable of VSAT’ may sometimes be used interchangeably to represent a very small aperture terminal (VSAT) or a UE capable of very small aperture antenna for Tx transmission/RX reception. Sometimes, the term ‘VSAT’ or ‘VSAT antenna’ is used interchangeably to represent the antenna on ‘VSAT’ or ‘VSAT UE’ in different context. [0118] Note 14: When the text in the solution description states that a UE measures on a satellite, this should be interpreted to mean that the UE measures on reference signals transmitted in a cell served by the satellite. That is, stating that the UE measures on a satellite is just shortened way of writing (for convenience and simplicity). [0119] Note 15: The term ‘redirect’ is the action of a UE set antenna orientation to a certain direction from the initial/current antenna orientation, the term ‘redirect’ may be called as ‘direct’, ‘change’ or ‘tune’ without losing the general meaning. [0120] Note 16: The terms ‘sweeping route’ and ‘sweep route’ are used interchangeably herein. They refer to a, possibly planned or configured, series of one or more rotation(s) or directional change(s) (i.e. movement(s)/redirection(s) from one direction to another) of a VSAT antenna. [0121] Note 17: The term ‘antenna orientation’ is used to represent the (main lobe) direction of the beam transmitted/received by an antenna, it may be used interchangeably as the boresight direction or pointing direction or directivity of an antenna. [0122] Note 18: At the core of the proposed solution is a feature which may be described as an overlay VSAT DRX or an RRC_INACTIVE and/or RRC_IDLE state measurement gap. Information describing the overlay VSAT DRX feature (e.g. describing a cycle) and/or the RRC_INACTIVE and/or RRC_IDLE state measurement gap feature (e.g. describing duration and periodicity of such a measurement gap) is also referred to using more general terminology and expressions, e.g. “VSAT-specific paging related configuration”, “VSAT-specific paging related configuration information”, “VSAT related paging configuration” and “VSAT related paging configuration information”. Principles and mechanisms of the proposed solution [0123] The proposed solution addresses the problem described above related to VSAT UEs in RRC_IDLE and RRC_INACTIVE state. In these states, a UE is configured (and mandated by the standard) to monitor paging from the network at periodically occurring paging occasions. Furthermore, a UE in RRC_INACTIVE or RRC_IDLE state is expected to perform neighbor cell measurements to assess whether cell reselection would be beneficial at least once per paging cycle (i.e. between paging occasions) (unless certain conditions are fulfilled (related to the signal strength/quality in the serving cell, and, in NTN, optionally a condition related to the UE’s distance from a serving cell reference location), in which case the neighbor cell measurements may be skipped). As described above, in some scenarios, depending on the satellite constellation (e.g. the density of the deployed satellites) and the VSAT UE’s capabilities related to redirections of its antenna (e.g. the sweep/rotation speed), the time between two paging occasions may not be enough for a VSAT UE to perform the neighbor cell measurements it is expected to do. [0124] To overcome this problem, the proposed solution includes that the paging DRX and/or paging eDRX feature may be amended in order to allow a VSAT UE long enough time to perform neighbor cell measurements (e.g. following a sweep route, i.e. sequential measurements on neighbor cells served by a set of different satellites, e.g. as described in P109554) between two paging occasions that it is expected to monitor. The challenge is that typically, a paging occasion periodicity may be desired which is too small to allow a VSAT UE’s neighbor cell measurements between two paging occasions. Hence, according to the proposed solution, to get both dense/frequent paging occasions and long enough interval between two paging occasions for a VSAT UE to perform the neighbor cell measurements, the paging configuration for a VSAT UE may include a sequence of dense/frequent paging occasions, which, with a longer periodicity, is interrupted by a longer interval without paging occasions. This may be seen as overlaying a very extended DRX cycle (e.g. denoted as “overlay VSAT DRX”) on top of the regular DRX or eDRX cycles. Another way to see this is that periodical “RRC_IDLE state measurement gaps” or “RRC_INACTIVE state measurement gaps” are configured, wherein paging occasions which occur within such an RRC_IDLE state measurement gap or RRC_INACTIVE state measurement gap are invalidated. For instance, the overall configuration could be that with a cycle of N paging occasions, M consecutive paging occasions are skipped/invalid (where M < N) to allow enough time for the VSAT UE to perform neighbor cell measurements without missing a paging occasion. As an example, the result of such a configuration could be an overall cycle where N – M valid paging occasions are followed by M skipped/invalid paging occasions (and then the cycle would be repeated with another N – M valid paging occasions followed by M skipped/invalid paging occasions, and so on). This is illustrated in Figure 5. [0125] Figure 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating an embodiment of the disclosure, in which twelve valid paging occasions are followed by four invalid paging occasions, and this is repeated over and over. Note that the purpose of the drawing is to illustrate the principle conceptually, and the values twelve and four are chosen only to ease viewing. The period of time highlighted by the bracket 510 may be seen as an overlay VSAT DRX cycle. The period of time highlighted by the bracket 520 may be seen as an RRC_INACTIVE/RRC_IDLE measurement gap. [0126] The overlay VSAT DRX principle – or equivalently the RRC_INACTIVE and/or RRC_IDLE state measurement gap principle – may be applied to “regular” DRX or extended DRX (eDRX). This includes eDRX configured for a UE in RRC_INACTIVE state (i.e. the ran- ExtendedPagingCycle field in the SuspendConfig IE in the RRCRelease message) and the eDRX configured for UE’s in RRC_IDLE state. [0127] From the network’s point of view, the above-described mechanisms comprise that the network, e.g. the gNB (or in some embodiments a core network node, e.g. an AMF) determines or obtains a configuration of an overlay VSAT DRX cycle (or RRC_INACTIVE and/or RRC_IDLE state measurement gap) and signals this configuration information to one or more UEs. The network then refrains from paging a VSAT UE in paging occasions which the VSAT UE has been configured to skip/ignore (i.e. regard as in valid). [0128] From a VSAT UE’s point of view, the above-described mechanism comprise that the VSAT UE receives from the network and interprets a configuration of an overlay VSAT DRX cycle (or RRC_INACTIVE and/or RRC_IDLE state measurement gap), and optionally uses the time periods where paging occasions are skipped/invalid/ignored to perform neighbor cell measurements, in particular (and optionally only) inter-satellite neighbor cell measurements, such that it does not fail to monitor any of the paging occasions it is expected to monitor. [0129] As an option, the network may configure multiple RRC_INACTIVE and/or RRC_IDLE state measurement gaps, which may be applicable to all UEs (e.g. provided to the UEs using broadcast signaling) or to a single UE (e.g. provided to the UE using dedicated signaling), wherein each configured RRC_INACTIVE and/or RRC_IDLE state measurement gap has a different length/duration and/or has a different periodicity. Each of the multiple configured RRC_INACTIVE and/or RRC_IDLE state measurement gaps may be adapted for, or intended for, UEs with different antenna rotation speeds or antenna sweep speed. Alternatively, or additionally, each of the multiple configured RRC_INACTIVE and/or RRC_IDLE state measurement gaps may be adapted for, or intended for, the angle difference between the direction towards the serving satellite (i.e. the satellite serving the current cell) and the direction towards a neighbor satellite (i.e. a satellite serving a neighbor cell) (e.g. with longer gap duration for larger angle differences than for shorter angle differences), e.g. as seen from a certain reference location in the current cell. Each of the multiple configured RRC_INACTIVE and/or RRC_IDLE state measurement gaps may thus be adapted to, or intended for, neighbor cell measurements involving a certain neighbor satellite (or a set of neighbor cell(s) served by the certain neighbor satellite). Alternatively, each of the multiple configured RRC_INACTIVE and/or RRC_IDLE state measurement gaps may be adapted for, or intended for, neighbor cell measurements performed in a certain part of the current cell, where such a part of the cell may be defined e.g. as a sector around a cell reference location, or, alternatively, where such a part of the cell may be defined by one of multiple reference locations (i.e. each cell part has its own reference location and all locations in the cell for which this reference location is the closest reference location belongs to that cell part). [0130] Information describing the (overlay) VSAT DRX feature (e.g. describing a cycle) and/or the RRC_INACTIVE and/or RRC_IDLE state measurement gap feature (e.g. describing duration and periodicity of such a measurement gap) is henceforth also referred to using more general terminology and expressions, e.g. “VSAT-specific paging related configuration”, “VSAT-specific paging related configuration information”, “VSAT related paging configuration” and “VSAT related paging configuration information”. Configuration and signaling of the configuration [0131] A main choice regarding the configuration – and signaling of the configuration – of the VSAT-specific paging related mechanisms is whether it should be controlled by the RAN or the core network. Both of these are feasible and both options will be described below. [0132] One approach is to view this configuration information as something that can be common for all VSAT UEs, and then broadcasting the configuration information in the system information may be seen as a good choice. However, for paging of a UE in RRC_INACTIVE state, i.e. RAN initiated paging, dedicated signaling to a single VSAT UE may also be used, optionally in combination with the broadcasting of configuration information, wherein the configuration information in the dedicated signaling would override the broadcasted configuration information. Dedicated signaling of VSAT-specific paging related configuration information for core network initiated paging using NAS is not precluded either, in which case the AMF could inform the gNB in the Paging NAS message of the configuration information the gNB needs to avoid paging the VSAT UE in paging occasions which are invalid according to the VSAT-specific paging related configuration information. Configuration and signaling of the configuration controlled by the RAN [0133] There are various conceivable options for how to configure the VSAT related paging configuration extensions described above, e.g. an overlay VSAT DRX cycle or RRC_INACTIVE state and/or RRC_IDLE state measurement gaps, when the RAN, e.g. a gNB is in control. Like other paging related configuration, it may be signaled in the broadcasted system information. For UEs in RRC_INACTIVE state, a further possibility is to signal this configuration information in the RRCRelease message, e.g. in the SuspendConfig IE, or to signal part of the configuration information in the system information and part of the configuration in the RRCRelease message (e.g. in the SuspendConfig IE). [0134] For the alternative to configure the above-described VSAT related paging configuration extensions in the broadcasted system information there are two high level options: To include it in an existing SIB or in a new SIB. One choice for the existing SIB would be SIB1 which contains essential configuration information, including paging related configuration information, but there are also other conceivable alternatives, such as including the above-described VSAT related paging configuration extensions in SIB2 or in SIB3, SIB4 and/or SIB5. [0135] In SIB1, a suitable place for the new configuration information could be the PCCH- Config IE in the DownlinkConfigCommonSIB IE in the ServingCellConfigCommonSIB IE. The following is an ASN.1 code example of how the above-described VSAT related paging configuration information could be included in the PCCH-Config IE. [0136] A gNB may receive the VSAT related paging configuration from another node/entity, e.g. from an OAM node/entity or from a core network node, e.g. an AMF. Alternatively, the gNB determines the VSAT related paging configuration, e.g. based on statistics of UE VSAT capability information, e.g. received from VSAT UEs or from core network node(s), e.g. one or more AMF. Furthermore, a gNB may determine UE specific VSAT related paging configuration, e.g. for RAN initiated paging of a UE in RRC_INACTIVE state, e.g. based on capability information received from the concerned UE or from the concerned UE’s serving AMF (e.g. in one of the NGAP messages INITIAL CONTEXT SETUP REQUEST and/or UE CONTEXT MODIFICATION REQUEST), or based on assistance information received from the UE (e.g. in a UEAssistanceInformation RRC message). [0137] An overlay VSAT DRX cycle may e.g. be configured using parameters for: ^ the number of POs in the cycle, ^ the number of skipped/invalid PO(s) at the end (or beginning) of the cycle, ^ an offset indicating the start of the endless repetitive sequence of overlay VSAT DRX cycles, e.g. in terms of the number of PO(s) since H-SFN = 0 or the number of POs since an absolute time, e.g. the start of the UTC time keeping (i.e. UTC = 0, i.e. 00:00:00 on Gregorian calendar date 1 January, 1900 (midnight between Sunday, December 31, 1899 and Monday, January 1, 1900)). [0138] Alternatively, an overlay VSAT DRX cycle may e.g. be configured using parameters for: ^ the number of valid/monitored PO(s) in the beginning of the cycle, ^ the number of skipped/invalid PO(s) at the end (or beginning) of the cycle, ^ an offset indicating the start of the endless repetitive sequence of overlay VSAT DRX cycles, e.g. in terms of the number of PO(s) since H-SFN = 0 or the number of POs since an absolute time, e.g. the start of the UTC time keeping (i.e. UTC = 0, i.e. 00:00:00 on Gregorian calendar date 1 January, 1900 (midnight between Sunday, December 31, 1899 and Monday, January 1, 1900)). [0139] An RRC_INACTIVE and/or RRC_IDLE state measurement gap may e.g. be configured using parameters for: ^ measurement gap periodicity in number of POs, ^ duration of the measurement gap in number of PO(s), ^ an offset indicating the start of the endless repetitive sequence of measurement gap periods, e.g. in terms of the number of PO(s) since H-SFN = 0 or the number of PO(s) since an absolute time, e.g. the start of the UTC time keeping (i.e. UTC = 0, i.e.00:00:00 on Gregorian calendar date 1 January, 1900 (midnight between Sunday, December 31, 1899 and Monday, January 1, 1900)). [0140] Alternatively, an RRC_INACTIVE and/or RRC_IDLE state measurement gap may e.g. be configured using parameters for: ^ measurement gap periodicity measured in time units, e.g. frames or subframes or seconds, ^ duration of the measurement gap in time units, e.g. frames, or subframes or seconds, ^ an offset indicating the start of the endless repetitive sequence of measurement gap periods, e.g. in terms of the number of time units (e.g. frames or subframes or seconds) since H-SFN = 0 or the number of time units (e.g. frames or subframes or seconds) since an absolute time, e.g. the start of the UTC time keeping (i.e. UTC = 0, i.e.00:00:00 on Gregorian calendar date 1 January, 1900 (midnight between Sunday, December 31, 1899 and Monday, January 1, 1900)). [0141] The following is an ASN.1 code example of how the above-described VSAT related paging configuration information could be included in the PCCH-Config IE in SIB1. Additions are indicated with underlined font/text. PCCH-Config ::= SEQUENCE { defaultPagingCycle PagingCycle, nAndPagingFrameOffset CHOICE { oneT NULL, halfT INTEGER (0..1), quarterT INTEGER (0..3), oneEighthT INTEGER (0..7), oneSixteenthT INTEGER (0..15) }, ns ENUMERATED {four, two, one}, firstPDCCH-MonitoringOccasionOfPO CHOICE { sCS15KHZoneT SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxPO-perPF)) OF INTEGER (0..139), sCS30KHZoneT-SCS15KHZhalfT SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxPO-perPF)) OF INTEGER (0..279), sCS60KHZoneT-SCS30KHZhalfT-SCS15KHZquarterT SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxPO-perPF)) OF INTEGER (0..559), sCS120KHZoneT-SCS60KHZhalfT-SCS30KHZquarterT-SCS15KHZoneEighthT SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxPO-perPF)) OF INTEGER (0..1119), sCS120KHZhalfT-SCS60KHZquarterT-SCS30KHZoneEighthT- SCS15KHZoneSixteenthT SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxPO-perPF)) OF INTEGER (0..2239), sCS480KHZoneT-SCS120KHZquarterT-SCS60KHZoneEighthT- SCS30KHZoneSixteenthT SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxPO-perPF)) OF INTEGER (0..4479), sCS480KHZhalfT-SCS120KHZoneEighthT-SCS60KHZoneSixteenthT SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxPO-perPF)) OF INTEGER (0..8959), sCS480KHZquarterT-SCS120KHZoneSixteenthT SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxPO-perPF)) OF INTEGER (0..17919) } OPTIONAL, -- Need R ..., [[ nrofPDCCH-MonitoringOccasionPerSSB-InPO-r16 INTEGER (2..4) OPTIONAL -- Cond SharedSpectrum2 ]], [[ ranPagingInIdlePO-r17 ENUMERATED {true} OPTIONAL, -- Need R firstPDCCH-MonitoringOccasionOfPO-v1710 CHOICE { sCS480KHZoneEighthT SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxPO-perPF)) OF INTEGER (0..35839), sCS480KHZoneSixteenthT SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxPO-perPF)) OF INTEGER (0..71679) } OPTIONAL -- Need R numberOfPOsInOverlayVSAT-DRX-Cycle-rXX INTEGER (2..1048576) OPTIONAL, -- Need R numberOfSkippedPOsAtEndOfCycle-rXX INTEGER (1..1048575) OPTIONAL, -- Need R offsetInNoOfPOsSinceHSFN-Zero-rXX INTEGER (2..1048576) OPTIONAL -- Need R ]] } [0142] The following is another ASN.1 code example of how the above-described VSAT related paging configuration information could be included in the PCCH-Config IE in SIB1. Additions are indicated with underlined font/text. PCCH-Config ::= SEQUENCE { defaultPagingCycle PagingCycle, nAndPagingFrameOffset CHOICE { oneT NULL, halfT INTEGER (0..1), quarterT INTEGER (0..3), oneEighthT INTEGER (0..7), oneSixteenthT INTEGER (0..15) }, ns ENUMERATED {four, two, one}, firstPDCCH-MonitoringOccasionOfPO CHOICE { sCS15KHZoneT SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxPO-perPF)) OF INTEGER (0..139), sCS30KHZoneT-SCS15KHZhalfT SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxPO-perPF)) OF INTEGER (0..279), sCS60KHZoneT-SCS30KHZhalfT-SCS15KHZquarterT SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxPO-perPF)) OF INTEGER (0..559), sCS120KHZoneT-SCS60KHZhalfT-SCS30KHZquarterT-SCS15KHZoneEighthT SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxPO-perPF)) OF INTEGER (0..1119), sCS120KHZhalfT-SCS60KHZquarterT-SCS30KHZoneEighthT- SCS15KHZoneSixteenthT SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxPO-perPF)) OF INTEGER (0..2239), sCS480KHZoneT-SCS120KHZquarterT-SCS60KHZoneEighthT- SCS30KHZoneSixteenthT SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxPO-perPF)) OF INTEGER (0..4479), sCS480KHZhalfT-SCS120KHZoneEighthT-SCS60KHZoneSixteenthT SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxPO-perPF)) OF INTEGER (0..8959), sCS480KHZquarterT-SCS120KHZoneSixteenthT SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxPO-perPF)) OF INTEGER (0..17919) } OPTIONAL, -- Need R ..., [[ nrofPDCCH-MonitoringOccasionPerSSB-InPO-r16 INTEGER (2..4) OPTIONAL -- Cond SharedSpectrum2 ]], [[ ranPagingInIdlePO-r17 ENUMERATED {true} OPTIONAL, -- Need R firstPDCCH-MonitoringOccasionOfPO-v1710 CHOICE { sCS480KHZoneEighthT SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxPO-perPF)) OF INTEGER (0..35839), sCS480KHZoneSixteenthT SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxPO-perPF)) OF INTEGER (0..71679) } OPTIONAL -- Need R ]], [[ durationOfVSAT-IdleInactiveMeasGap-rXX INTEGER (2..1048576) OPTIONAL, -- Need R OPTIONAL, -- Need R VSAT-IdleInactiveMeasGapOffset-rXX INTEGER (2..1048576) OPTIONAL -- Need R ]] } [0143] In the above ASN.1 code the INTEGER parameters defining the RRC_INACTIVE and/or RRC_IDLE state measurement gap each indicate a number of PO(s). [0144] The following is an ASN.1 code example of how the above-described VSAT related paging configuration information could be included in a new SIB (here denoted as SIBxx). (Since this entire SIB is new, all related ASN.1 code is underlined to be consistent with the other ASN.1 code examples). -- ASN1START -- TAG-SIBxx-START SIBxx ::= SEQUENCE { OverlayVSAT-DRX-Cycle SEQUENCE { numberOfPOsInOverlayVSAT-DRX-Cycle-rXX INTEGER (2..1048576) OPTIONAL, -- Need R numberOfSkippedPOsAtEndOfCycle-rXX INTEGER (1..1048575) OPTIONAL, -- Need R offsetInNoOfPOsSinceHSFN-Zero-rXX INTEGER (2..1048576) OPTIONAL -- Need R } ... } -- TAG-SIBxx-STOP -- ASN1STOP [0145] The following is an ASN.1 code example of how the above-described VSAT related paging configuration information could be included in SIB2. Additions are indicated with underlined font/text. -- ASN1START -- TAG-SIB2-START SIB2 ::= SEQUENCE { cellReselectionInfoCommon SEQUENCE { nrofSS-BlocksToAverage INTEGER (2..maxNrofSS- BlocksToAverage) OPTIONAL, -- Need S absThreshSS-BlocksConsolidation ThresholdNR OPTIONAL, -- Need S rangeToBestCell RangeToBestCell OPTIONAL, -- Need R q-Hyst ENUMERATED { dB0, dB1, dB2, dB3, dB4, dB5, dB6, dB8, dB10, dB12, dB14, dB16, dB18, dB20, dB22, dB24}, speedStateReselectionPars SEQUENCE { mobilityStateParameters MobilityStateParameters, q-HystSF SEQUENCE { sf-Medium ENUMERATED {dB-6, dB-4, dB- 2, dB0}, sf-High ENUMERATED {dB-6, dB-4, dB- 2, dB0} } } OPTIONAL, -- Need R ... }, cellReselectionServingFreqInfo SEQUENCE { s-NonIntraSearchP ReselectionThreshold OPTIONAL, -- Need S s-NonIntraSearchQ ReselectionThresholdQ OPTIONAL, -- Need S threshServingLowP ReselectionThreshold, threshServingLowQ ReselectionThresholdQ OPTIONAL, -- Need R cellReselectionPriority CellReselectionPriority, cellReselectionSubPriority CellReselectionSubPriority OPTIONAL, -- Need R ... }, intraFreqCellReselectionInfo SEQUENCE { q-RxLevMin Q-RxLevMin, q-RxLevMinSUL Q-RxLevMin OPTIONAL, -- Need R q-QualMin Q-QualMin OPTIONAL, -- Need S s-IntraSearchP ReselectionThreshold, s-IntraSearchQ ReselectionThresholdQ OPTIONAL, -- Need S t-ReselectionNR T-Reselection, frequencyBandList MultiFrequencyBandListNR-SIB OPTIONAL, -- Need S frequencyBandListSUL MultiFrequencyBandListNR-SIB OPTIONAL, -- Need R p-Max P-Max OPTIONAL, -- Need S smtc SSB-MTC OPTIONAL, -- Need S ss-RSSI-Measurement SS-RSSI-Measurement OPTIONAL, -- Need R ssb-ToMeasure SSB-ToMeasure OPTIONAL, -- Need S deriveSSB-IndexFromCell BOOLEAN, ..., [[ t-ReselectionNR-SF SpeedStateScaleFactors OPTIONAL -- Need N ]], [[ smtc2-LP-r16 SSB-MTC2-LP-r16 OPTIONAL, -- Need R ssb-PositionQCL-Common-r16 SSB-PositionQCL-Relation-r16 OPTIONAL -- Cond SharedSpectrum ]], [[ ssb-PositionQCL-Common-r17 SSB-PositionQCL-Relation-r17 OPTIONAL -- Cond SharedSpectrum2 ]], [[ smtc4list-r17 SSB-MTC4List-r17 OPTIONAL -- Need R ]] }, ..., [[ relaxedMeasurement-r16 SEQUENCE { lowMobilityEvaluation-r16 SEQUENCE { s-SearchDeltaP-r16 ENUMERATED { dB3, dB6, dB9, dB12, dB15, spare3, spare2, spare1}, t-SearchDeltaP-r16 ENUMERATED { s5, s10, s20, s30, s60, s120, s180, s240, s300, spare7, spare6, spare5, spare4, spare3, spare2, spare1} } OPTIONAL, -- Need R cellEdgeEvaluation-r16 SEQUENCE { s-SearchThresholdP-r16 ReselectionThreshold, s-SearchThresholdQ-r16 ReselectionThresholdQ OPTIONAL -- Need R } OPTIONAL, -- Need R combineRelaxedMeasCondition-r16 ENUMERATED {true} OPTIONAL, -- Need R highPriorityMeasRelax-r16 ENUMERATED {true} OPTIONAL -- Need R } OPTIONAL -- Need R ]], [[ cellEquivalentSize-r17 INTEGER(2..16) OPTIONAL, -- Cond HSDN relaxedMeasurement-r17 SEQUENCE { stationaryMobilityEvaluation-r17 SEQUENCE { s-SearchDeltaP-Stationary-r17 ENUMERATED {dB2, dB3, dB6, dB9, dB12, dB15, spare2, spare1}, t-SearchDeltaP-Stationary-r17 ENUMERATED {s5, s10, s20, s30, s60, s120, s180, s240, s300, spare7, spare6, spare5, spare4, spare3, spare2, spare1} }, cellEdgeEvaluationWhileStationary-r17 SEQUENCE { s-SearchThresholdP2-r17 ReselectionThreshold, s-SearchThresholdQ2-r17 ReselectionThresholdQ OPTIONAL -- Need R } OPTIONAL, -- Need R combineRelaxedMeasCondition2-r17 ENUMERATED {true} OPTIONAL -- Need R } OPTIONAL -- Need R ]], [[ durationOfVSAT-IdleInactiveMeasGap-rXX INTEGER (2..1048576) OPTIONAL, -- Need R VSAT-IdleInactiveMeasGapOffset-rXX INTEGER (2..1048576) OPTIONAL -- Need R ]] } RangeToBestCell ::= Q-OffsetRange -- TAG-SIB2-STOP -- ASN1STOP [0146] In the above ASN.1 code the INTEGER parameters defining the RRC_INACTIVE and/or RRC_IDLE state measurement gap each indicate a number of PO(s). [0147] The following is an ASN.1 code example of how the above-described VSAT related paging configuration information could be included in SIB3. Additions are indicated with underlined font/text. -- ASN1START -- TAG-SIB3-START SIB3 ::= SEQUENCE { intraFreqNeighCellList IntraFreqNeighCellList OPTIONAL, -- Need R intraFreqExcludedCellList IntraFreqExcludedCellList OPTIONAL, -- Need R lateNonCriticalExtension OCTET STRING OPTIONAL, ..., [[ intraFreqNeighCellList-v1610 IntraFreqNeighCellList-v1610 OPTIONAL, -- Need R intraFreqAllowedCellList-r16 IntraFreqAllowedCellList-r16 OPTIONAL, -- Cond SharedSpectrum2 intraFreqCAG-CellList-r16 SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxPLMN)) OF IntraFreqCAG-CellListPerPLMN-r16 OPTIONAL -- Need R ]], [[ intraFreqNeighHSDN-CellList-r17 IntraFreqNeighHSDN-CellList-r17 OPTIONAL, -- Need R intraFreqNeighCellList-v1710 IntraFreqNeighCellList-v1710 OPTIONAL -- Need R ]], [[ channelAccessMode2-r17 ENUMERATED {enabled} OPTIONAL -- Need R ]], [[ durationOfVSAT-IdleInactiveMeasGap-rXX INTEGER (2..1048576) OPTIONAL, -- Need R OPTIONAL, -- Need R VSAT-IdleInactiveMeasGapOffset-rXX INTEGER (2..1048576) OPTIONAL -- Need R ]] } IntraFreqNeighCellList ::= SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxCellIntra)) OF IntraFreqNeighCellInfo IntraFreqNeighCellList-v1610::= SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxCellIntra)) OF IntraFreqNeighCellInfo-v1610 IntraFreqNeighCellList-v1710 ::= SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxCellIntra)) OF IntraFreqNeighCellInfo-v1710 IntraFreqNeighCellInfo ::= SEQUENCE { physCellId PhysCellId, q-OffsetCell Q-OffsetRange, q-RxLevMinOffsetCell INTEGER (1..8) OPTIONAL, -- Need R q-RxLevMinOffsetCellSUL INTEGER (1..8) OPTIONAL, -- Need R q-QualMinOffsetCell INTEGER (1..8) OPTIONAL, -- Need R ... } IntraFreqNeighCellInfo-v1610 ::= SEQUENCE { ssb-PositionQCL-r16 SSB-PositionQCL-Relation-r16 OPTIONAL -- Cond SharedSpectrum2 } IntraFreqNeighCellInfo-v1710 ::= SEQUENCE { ssb-PositionQCL-r17 SSB-PositionQCL-Relation-r17 OPTIONAL -- Cond SharedSpectrum2 } IntraFreqExcludedCellList ::= SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxCellExcluded)) OF PCI-Range IntraFreqAllowedCellList-r16 ::= SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxCellAllowed)) OF PCI-Range IntraFreqCAG-CellListPerPLMN-r16 ::= SEQUENCE { plmn-IdentityIndex-r16 INTEGER (1..maxPLMN), cag-CellList-r16 SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxCAG-Cell- r16)) OF PCI-Range } IntraFreqNeighHSDN-CellList-r17 ::= SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxCellIntra)) OF PCI-Range -- TAG-SIB3-STOP -- ASN1STOP [0148] In the above ASN.1 code the INTEGER parameters defining the RRC_INACTIVE and/or RRC_IDLE state measurement gap each indicate a number of PO(s). [0149] The following is an ASN.1 code example of how the above-described VSAT related paging configuration information could be included in SIB4. Additions are indicated with underlined font/text. -- TAG-SIB4-START SIB4 ::= SEQUENCE { interFreqCarrierFreqList InterFreqCarrierFreqList, lateNonCriticalExtension OCTET STRING OPTIONAL, ..., [[ interFreqCarrierFreqList-v1610 InterFreqCarrierFreqList-v1610 OPTIONAL -- Need R ]], [[ interFreqCarrierFreqList-v1700 InterFreqCarrierFreqList-v1700 OPTIONAL -- Need R ]], [[ interFreqCarrierFreqList-v1720 InterFreqCarrierFreqList-v1720 OPTIONAL -- Need R ]], [[ interFreqCarrierFreqList-v1730 InterFreqCarrierFreqList-v1730 OPTIONAL -- Need R ]], [[ idleInactiveMeasGapConfig-rXX IdleInactiveMeasGapConfig-rXX OPTIONAL -- Need R ]] } InterFreqCarrierFreqList ::= SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxFreq)) OF InterFreqCarrierFreqInfo InterFreqCarrierFreqList-v1610 ::= SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxFreq)) OF InterFreqCarrierFreqInfo-v1610 InterFreqCarrierFreqList-v1700 ::= SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxFreq)) OF InterFreqCarrierFreqInfo-v1700 InterFreqCarrierFreqList-v1720 ::= SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxFreq)) OF InterFreqCarrierFreqInfo-v1720 InterFreqCarrierFreqList-v1730 ::= SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxFreq)) OF InterFreqCarrierFreqInfo-v1730 InterFreqCarrierFreqInfo ::= SEQUENCE { dl-CarrierFreq ARFCN-ValueNR, frequencyBandList MultiFrequencyBandListNR-SIB OPTIONAL, -- Cond Mandatory frequencyBandListSUL MultiFrequencyBandListNR-SIB OPTIONAL, -- Need R nrofSS-BlocksToAverage INTEGER (2..maxNrofSS- BlocksToAverage) OPTIONAL, -- Need S absThreshSS-BlocksConsolidation ThresholdNR OPTIONAL, -- Need S smtc SSB-MTC OPTIONAL, -- Need S ssbSubcarrierSpacing SubcarrierSpacing, ssb-ToMeasure SSB-ToMeasure OPTIONAL, -- Need S deriveSSB-IndexFromCell BOOLEAN, ss-RSSI-Measurement SS-RSSI-Measurement OPTIONAL, -- Need R q-RxLevMin Q-RxLevMin, q-RxLevMinSUL Q-RxLevMin OPTIONAL, -- Need R q-QualMin Q-QualMin OPTIONAL, -- Need S p-Max P-Max OPTIONAL, -- Need S t-ReselectionNR T-Reselection, t-ReselectionNR-SF SpeedStateScaleFactors OPTIONAL, -- Need S threshX-HighP ReselectionThreshold, threshX-LowP ReselectionThreshold, threshX-Q SEQUENCE { threshX-HighQ ReselectionThresholdQ, threshX-LowQ ReselectionThresholdQ } OPTIONAL, -- Cond RSRQ cellReselectionPriority CellReselectionPriority OPTIONAL, -- Need R cellReselectionSubPriority CellReselectionSubPriority OPTIONAL, -- Need R q-OffsetFreq Q-OffsetRange DEFAULT dB0, interFreqNeighCellList InterFreqNeighCellList OPTIONAL, -- Need R interFreqExcludedCellList InterFreqExcludedCellList OPTIONAL, -- Need R ... } InterFreqCarrierFreqInfo-v1610 ::= SEQUENCE { interFreqNeighCellList-v1610 InterFreqNeighCellList-v1610 OPTIONAL, -- Need R smtc2-LP-r16 SSB-MTC2-LP-r16 OPTIONAL, -- Need R interFreqAllowedCellList-r16 InterFreqAllowedCellList-r16 OPTIONAL, -- Cond SharedSpectrum2 ssb-PositionQCL-Common-r16 SSB-PositionQCL-Relation-r16 OPTIONAL, -- Cond SharedSpectrum interFreqCAG-CellList-r16 SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxPLMN)) OF InterFreqCAG-CellListPerPLMN-r16 OPTIONAL -- Need R } InterFreqCarrierFreqInfo-v1700 ::= SEQUENCE { interFreqNeighHSDN-CellList-r17 InterFreqNeighHSDN-CellList-r17 OPTIONAL, -- Need R highSpeedMeasInterFreq-r17 ENUMERATED {true} OPTIONAL, -- Need R redCapAccessAllowed-r17 ENUMERATED {true} OPTIONAL, -- Need R ssb-PositionQCL-Common-r17 SSB-PositionQCL-Relation-r17 OPTIONAL, -- Cond SharedSpectrum interFreqNeighCellList-v1710 InterFreqNeighCellList-v1710 OPTIONAL -- Cond SharedSpectrum2 } InterFreqCarrierFreqInfo-v1720 ::= SEQUENCE { smtc4list-r17 SSB-MTC4List-r17 OPTIONAL -- Need R } InterFreqCarrierFreqInfo-v1730 ::= SEQUENCE { channelAccessMode2-r17 ENUMERATED {enabled} OPTIONAL -- Need R } InterFreqNeighHSDN-CellList-r17 ::= SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxCellInter)) OF PCI-Range InterFreqNeighCellList ::= SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxCellInter)) OF InterFreqNeighCellInfo InterFreqNeighCellList-v1610 ::= SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxCellInter)) OF InterFreqNeighCellInfo-v1610 InterFreqNeighCellList-v1710 ::= SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxCellInter)) OF InterFreqNeighCellInfo-v1710 InterFreqNeighCellInfo ::= SEQUENCE { physCellId PhysCellId, q-OffsetCell Q-OffsetRange, q-RxLevMinOffsetCell INTEGER (1..8) OPTIONAL, -- Need R q-RxLevMinOffsetCellSUL INTEGER (1..8) OPTIONAL, -- Need R q-QualMinOffsetCell INTEGER (1..8) OPTIONAL, -- Need R ... } InterFreqNeighCellInfo-v1610 ::= SEQUENCE { ssb-PositionQCL-r16 SSB-PositionQCL-Relation-r16 OPTIONAL -- Cond SharedSpectrum2 } InterFreqNeighCellInfo-v1710 ::= SEQUENCE { ssb-PositionQCL-r17 SSB-PositionQCL-Relation-r17 OPTIONAL -- Cond SharedSpectrum2 } InterFreqExcludedCellList ::= SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxCellExcluded)) OF PCI-Range InterFreqAllowedCellList-r16 ::= SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxCellAllowed)) OF PCI-Range InterFreqCAG-CellListPerPLMN-r16 ::= SEQUENCE { plmn-IdentityIndex-r16 INTEGER (1..maxPLMN), cag-CellList-r16 SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxCAG-Cell- r16)) OF PCI-Range } IdleInactiveMeasGapConfig-rXX ::= SEQUENCE { durationOfVSAT-IdleInactiveMeasGap-rXX INTEGER (2..1048576) OPTIONAL, -- Need R periodicityOfVSAT-IdleInactiveMeasGap-rXX INTEGER (1..1048575) OPTIONAL, -- Need R VSAT-IdleInactiveMeasGapOffset-rXX INTEGER (2..1048576) OPTIONAL -- Need R } -- TAG-SIB4-STOP -- ASN1STOP [0150] In the above ASN.1 code the INTEGER parameters defining the RRC_INACTIVE and/or RRC_IDLE state measurement gap each indicate a number of PO(s). [0151] The following is an ASN.1 code example of how the above-described VSAT related paging configuration information could be included in SIB5. Additions are indicated with underlined font/text. -- ASN1START -- TAG-SIB5-START SIB5 ::= SEQUENCE { carrierFreqListEUTRA CarrierFreqListEUTRA OPTIONAL, -- Need R t-ReselectionEUTRA T-Reselection, t-ReselectionEUTRA-SF SpeedStateScaleFactors OPTIONAL, -- Need S lateNonCriticalExtension OCTET STRING OPTIONAL, ..., [[ carrierFreqListEUTRA-v1610 CarrierFreqListEUTRA-v1610 OPTIONAL -- Need R ]], [[ carrierFreqListEUTRA-v1700 CarrierFreqListEUTRA-v1700 OPTIONAL, -- Need R idleModeMeasVoiceFallback-r17 ENUMERATED{true} OPTIONAL -- Need R ]], [[ idleInactiveMeasGapConfig-rXX IdleInactiveMeasGapConfig-rXX OPTIONAL -- Need R ]] } CarrierFreqListEUTRA ::= SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxEUTRA-Carrier)) OF CarrierFreqEUTRA CarrierFreqListEUTRA-v1610 ::= SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxEUTRA-Carrier)) OF CarrierFreqEUTRA-v1610 CarrierFreqListEUTRA-v1700 ::= SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxEUTRA-Carrier)) OF CarrierFreqEUTRA-v1700 CarrierFreqEUTRA ::= SEQUENCE { carrierFreq ARFCN-ValueEUTRA, eutra-multiBandInfoList EUTRA-MultiBandInfoList OPTIONAL, -- Need R eutra-FreqNeighCellList EUTRA-FreqNeighCellList OPTIONAL, -- Need R eutra-ExcludedCellList EUTRA-FreqExcludedCellList OPTIONAL, -- Need R allowedMeasBandwidth EUTRA-AllowedMeasBandwidth, presenceAntennaPort1 EUTRA-PresenceAntennaPort1, cellReselectionPriority CellReselectionPriority OPTIONAL, -- Need R cellReselectionSubPriority CellReselectionSubPriority OPTIONAL, -- Need R threshX-High ReselectionThreshold, threshX-Low ReselectionThreshold, q-RxLevMin INTEGER (-70..-22), q-QualMin INTEGER (-34..-3), p-MaxEUTRA INTEGER (-30..33), threshX-Q SEQUENCE { threshX-HighQ ReselectionThresholdQ, threshX-LowQ ReselectionThresholdQ } OPTIONAL -- Cond RSRQ } CarrierFreqEUTRA-v1610 ::= SEQUENCE { highSpeedEUTRACarrier-r16 ENUMERATED {true} OPTIONAL -- Need R } CarrierFreqEUTRA-v1700 ::= SEQUENCE { eutra-FreqNeighHSDN-CellList-r17 EUTRA-FreqNeighHSDN-CellList-r17 OPTIONAL -- Need R } EUTRA-FreqNeighHSDN-CellList-r17 ::= SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxCellEUTRA)) OF EUTRA-PhysCellIdRange EUTRA-FreqExcludedCellList ::= SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxEUTRA- CellExcluded)) OF EUTRA-PhysCellIdRange EUTRA-FreqNeighCellList ::= SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxCellEUTRA)) OF EUTRA-FreqNeighCellInfo EUTRA-FreqNeighCellInfo ::= SEQUENCE { physCellId EUTRA-PhysCellId, dummy EUTRA-Q-OffsetRange, q-RxLevMinOffsetCell INTEGER (1..8) OPTIONAL, -- Need R q-QualMinOffsetCell INTEGER (1..8) OPTIONAL -- Need R } IdleInactiveMeasGapConfig-rXX ::= SEQUENCE { durationOfVSAT-IdleInactiveMeasGap-rXX INTEGER (2..1048576) OPTIONAL, -- Need R periodicityOfVSAT-IdleInactiveMeasGap-rXX INTEGER (1..1048575) OPTIONAL, -- Need R VSAT-IdleInactiveMeasGapOffset-rXX INTEGER (2..1048576) OPTIONAL -- Need R } -- TAG-SIB5-STOP -- ASN1STOP [0152] In the above ASN.1 code the INTEGER parameters defining the RRC_INACTIVE and/or RRC_IDLE state measurement gap each indicate a number of PO(s). [0153] The following is an ASN.1 code example of how the above-described VSAT related paging configuration information could be included in the SuspendConfig IE in the RRCRelease message. Additions are indicated with underlined font/text. SuspendConfig ::= SEQUENCE { fullI-RNTI I-RNTI-Value, shortI-RNTI ShortI-RNTI-Value, ran-PagingCycle PagingCycle, ran-NotificationAreaInfo RAN-NotificationAreaInfo OPTIONAL, -- Need M t380 PeriodicRNAU-TimerValue OPTIONAL, -- Need R nextHopChainingCount NextHopChainingCount, ..., [[ sl-UEIdentityRemote-r17 RNTI-Value OPTIONAL, -- Cond L2RemoteUE sdt-Config-r17 SetupRelease { SDT-Config-r17 } OPTIONAL, -- Need M srs-PosRRC-Inactive-r17 SetupRelease { SRS-PosRRC-Inactive- r17 } OPTIONAL, -- Need M ran-ExtendedPagingCycle-r17 ExtendedPagingCycle-r17 OPTIONAL -- Cond RANPaging ]], [[ ncd-SSB-RedCapInitialBWP-SDT-r17 SetupRelease {NonCellDefiningSSB- r17} OPTIONAL -- Need M ]], [[ numberOfPOsInOverlayVSAT-DRX-Cycle-rXX INTEGER (2..1048576) OPTIONAL, -- Need R numberOfSkippedPOsAtEndOfCycle-rXX INTEGER (1..1048575) OPTIONAL, -- Need R offsetInNoOfPOsSinceHSFN-Zero-rXX INTEGER (2..1048576) OPTIONAL -- Need R ]] } Configuration and signaling of the configuration controlled by the core network [0154] Even if the VSAT-specific paging related configuration information is signaled to the UEs using the broadcasted system information, the concerned information to include in the system information may be determined and controlled by the core network, e.g. an AMF or an SMF, or an AMF in cooperation with an SMF. [0155] The core network can base its determination of the VSAT-specific paging related configuration information on one or more of: ^ Information configured in the core network node(s), e.g. configured by an OAM node/entity (e.g. the core network node(s) receives the VSAT-specific paging related configuration information from another node/entity. ^ The core network node(s) may determine the VSAT-specific paging related configuration information based on statistics of VSAT UE capability information, e.g. received from VSAT UEs in REGISTRATION REQUEST NAS messages and/or PDU SESSION ESTABLISHMENT REQUEST NAS messages, or received from gNB(s) in NGAP message(s). ^ The core network node(s) may determine the VSAT-specific paging related configuration information based on statistics of VSAT UE capability information received from a UDM, or the UDM may provide the VSAT-specific paging related configuration information to the core network node(s). [0156] The core network may provide the determined VSAT-specific paging related configuration information to a gNB, so that the gNB can include it in the system information, e.g. as described above. [0157] Furthermore, as another option, the core network, e.g. an AMF or an SMF, or an AMF in cooperation with an SMF, may provide VSAT-specific paging related configuration information on a per UE basis. The core network node(s) may provide the VSAT-specific paging related configuration information to a UE using NAS signaling, e.g. in a REGISTRATION ACCEPT NAS message and/or a PDU SESSION ESTABLISHMENT ACCEPT NAS message. The core network node(s) may in turn have received the UE specific VSAT-specific paging related configuration information, or may have received information serving as the basis for the determination of the UE specific VSAT-specific paging related configuration information, from the UDM. Alternatively, core network node(s) may determine the UE specific VSAT-specific paging related configuration information based on information, e.g. capability information, received from the UE, e.g. in a REGISTRATION REQUEST NAS message and/or in a PDU SESSION ESTABLISHMENT REQUEST NAS message, or from the gNB. [0158] For core network initiated paging of a UE which has been configured with UE specific VSAT-specific paging related configuration information, the core network, e.g. the serving AMF, may provide the UE specific VSAT-specific paging related configuration information to the gNB(s) in the PAGING NGAP message (e.g. in the UE Radio Capability for Paging IE or in the Assistance Data for Paging IE or in a new IE). [0159] For RAN initiated paging of a UE which the core network has configured with UE specific VSAT-specific paging related configuration information the core network, e.g. the serving AMF, may provide the UE specific VSAT-specific paging related configuration information to the gNB e.g. in an INITIAL CONTEXT SETUP REQUEST NGAP message (e.g. in the UE Radio Capability for Paging IE) or in a UE CONTEXT MODIFICATION REQUEST NGAP message. [0160] As one option, UE specific VSAT-specific paging related configuration information, e.g. signaled via NAS signaling, may exist/occur in parallel with common VSAT- specific paging related configuration information, e.g. broadcasted in the system information, in which case the UE specific VSAT-specific paging related configuration information would override the common VSAT-specific paging related configuration information. [0161] As a further option, when core network initiated paging of a UE is to be initiated, the core network, e.g. an AMF may adapt the times at which it sends PAGING NGAP message(s) to involved gNB(s) (or, alternatively, adapt which gNB(s) it sends PAGING NGAP message(s) to at a given time) based on knowledge of the UE’s overlay VSAT DRX cycle (or RRC_INACTIVE and/or RRC_IDLE state measurement gap), i.e. knowledge of when there is a sequence of valid/monitored paging occasions and when there is a sequence of skipped/invalid paging occasions in a certain cell served by a certain gNB. Additional embodiment #1: [0162] It is important that the UE does not miss any paging on the serving cell. The UE therefore should monitor the paging during the ON duration in every DRX cycle on the serving cell. To monitor the paging the UE needs to use one or more than one SSB occasions to enable automatic gain control (AGC), perform time/frequency tracking to the serving cell, and measurement on serving cell before each paging occasion. The concept of the RRC_INACTIVE and/or RRC_IDLE state measurement gap causes plenty of invalid paging occasions, in addition, the measurements on the SSB occasion during the RRC_INACTIVE and/or RRC_IDLE state measurement gaps are not feasible, because the UE has its antenna directed in another direction (i.e. these SSB occasions can in a sense be regarded as invalid). [0163] To enable monitoring the first valid paging occasion after the RRC_INACTIVE and/or RRC_IDLE state measurement gap, one or more than one SSB occasions should be assessed by the UE before the first valid paging occasion. [0164] One way to address the issue is that the RRC_INACTIVE and/or RRC_IDLE state measurement gap shall be ended immediately after the last PO in the RRC_INACTIVE and/or RRC_IDLE state measurement gap. Alternatively, the RRC_INACTIVE and/or RRC_IDLE state measurement gap shall end a sufficiently long time before the next valid PO in the serving cell to allow the UE to receive and measure on (and assess) one or more SSB(s) before the next valid PO in the serving cell. The UE should start, or be ready to start, SSB assessment in the serving cell upon the end of RRC_INACTIVE and/or RRC_IDLE state measurement gap, or at the latest upon the end of the RRC_INACTIVE and/or RRC_IDLE state measurement gap. Optionally, this readiness requirement is valid only on condition that there is at least one SSB occasion between two consecutive paging occasions. Furthermore, if a UE manages to finish the intended neighbor cell measurement and has redirect its antenna back to the direction towards the serving satellite (i.e. the satellite serving the UE’s serving cell, before the end of the RRC_INACTIVE and/or RRC_IDLE state measurement gap, the UE may initiate SSB assessment in the serving cell before the end of the RRC_INACTIVE and/or RRC_IDLE state measurement gap. [0165] In another way to address the issue, e.g., in case that the number of SSB occasions between two consecutive paging occasions isn’t adequate, a pre-defined number of the first valid/monitored PO(s) after the RRC_INACTIVE and/or RRC_IDLE state measurement gap shall be recognized as the invalid PO(s), the time interval of such PO(s) is for the UE to accumulate adequate SSB occasions before the next valid paging occasion. [0166] In yet another way to address the issue, the UE is able to detect one or more than one SSB occasion in the RRC_INACTIVE and/or RRC_IDLE state measurement gap, normally occurs in the time interval of last PO(s) before end of the RRC_INACTIVE and/or RRC_IDLE state measurement gap. [0167] In one example, such SSB occasions, e.g., start+duration, or start+end, or start+duration+periodicity, or start+end+periodicity, (normally defined associated with the definition of RRC_INACTIVE and/or RRC_IDLE state measurement gap) are explicitly signaled to the UE. [0168] In another example, such SSB occasions are implicitly comprised in the entire RRC_INACTIVE and/or RRC_IDLE state measurement gap, the UE shall resume its antenna direction and complete assessing SSB occasions before the end of the RRC_INACTIVE and/or RRC_IDLE state measurement gap. Additional embodiment #2: [0169] The UE shall perform the cell reselection with minimum interruption in monitoring downlink channels for paging reception. In other words, after cell reselection, the UE shall acquire paging from the target cell in the cell reselection. [0170] If cell reselection occurs during the valid paging occasions from the target cell, like what has been done in legacy behavior, the UE is able to monitor paging from the target cell immediately after the UE conducts time/frequency synchronization in the target cell. However, if cell reselection occurs close to the start of valid paging occasions in the target cell, the UE may encounter the RRC_INACTIVE and/or RRC_IDLE state measurement gap, as a result, the UE cannot acquire paging occasions and assess SSB occasions after cell reselection, and the UE may determine losing connection to the target cell. [0171] One way to address the issue is that the serving cell provides the RRC_INACTIVE and/or RRC_IDLE state measurement gaps of neighbor cells to the UE, e.g., in system information. In one example, the UE can execute cell reselection to guarantee validity of paging occasions and SSB occasion from the target cell after cell reselection. In another example, the UE can know the time interval before valid paging occasions and SSB occasion from the target cell after cell reselection, therefore the UE can wait and initiate monitoring of valid paging occasions and assessing SSB occasions after the time interval. [0172] Another way to address the issue is that the UE shall try to find paging occasions and SSB occasions in a pre-defined time interval after cell reselection. If the UE cannot find paging occasions and SSB occasions until end of the pre-defined time interval, the UE shall initiate cell selection procedure. [0173] Figure 6 shows an example of a communication system 600 in accordance with some embodiments. [0174] In the example, the communication system 600 includes a telecommunication network 602 that includes an access network 604, such as a radio access network (RAN), and a core network 606, which includes one or more core network nodes 608. The access network 604 includes one or more access network nodes, such as network nodes 610a and 610b (one or more of which may be generally referred to as network nodes 610), or any other similar 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) access nodes or non-3GPP access points. Moreover, as will be appreciated by those of skill in the art, a network node is not necessarily limited to an implementation in which a radio portion and a baseband portion are supplied and integrated by a single vendor. Thus, it will be understood that network nodes include disaggregated implementations or portions thereof. For example, in some embodiments, the telecommunication network 602 includes one or more Open-RAN (ORAN) network nodes. An ORAN network node is a node in the telecommunication network 602 that supports an ORAN specification (e.g., a specification published by the O-RAN Alliance, or any similar organization) and may operate alone or together with other nodes to implement one or more functionalities of any node in the telecommunication network 602, including one or more network nodes 610 and/or core network nodes 608. [0175] Examples of an ORAN network node include an open radio unit (O-RU), an open distributed unit (O-DU), an open central unit (O-CU), including an O-CU control plane (O- CU-CP) or an O-CU user plane (O-CU-UP), a RAN intelligent controller (near-real time or non-real time) hosting software or software plug-ins, such as a near-real time control application (e.g., xApp) or a non-real time control application (e.g., rApp), or any combination thereof (the adjective “open” designating support of an ORAN specification). The network node may support a specification by, for example, supporting an interface defined by the ORAN specification, such as an A1, F1, W1, E1, E2, X2, Xn interface, an open fronthaul user plane interface, or an open fronthaul management plane interface. Moreover, an ORAN access node may be a logical node in a physical node. Furthermore, an ORAN network node may be implemented in a virtualization environment (described further below) in which one or more network functions are virtualized. For example, the virtualization environment may include an O-Cloud computing platform orchestrated by a Service Management and Orchestration Framework via an O-2 interface defined by the O-RAN Alliance or comparable technologies. The network nodes 610 facilitate direct or indirect connection of user equipment (UE), such as by connecting UEs 612a, 612b, 612c, and 612d (one or more of which may be generally referred to as UEs 612) to the core network 606 over one or more wireless connections. [0176] Example wireless communications over a wireless connection include transmitting and/or receiving wireless signals using electromagnetic waves, radio waves, infrared waves, and/or other types of signals suitable for conveying information without the use of wires, cables, or other material conductors. Moreover, in different embodiments, the communication system 600 may include any number of wired or wireless networks, network nodes, UEs, and/or any other components or systems that may facilitate or participate in the communication of data and/or signals whether via wired or wireless connections. The communication system 600 may include and/or interface with any type of communication, telecommunication, data, cellular, radio network, and/or other similar type of system. [0177] The UEs 612 may be any of a wide variety of communication devices, including wireless devices arranged, configured, and/or operable to communicate wirelessly with the network nodes 610 and other communication devices. Similarly, the network nodes 610 are arranged, capable, configured, and/or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with the UEs 612 and/or with other network nodes or equipment in the telecommunication network 602 to enable and/or provide network access, such as wireless network access, and/or to perform other functions, such as administration in the telecommunication network 602. [0178] In the depicted example, the core network 606 connects the network nodes 610 to one or more host computing systems, such as host 616. These connections may be direct or indirect via one or more intermediary networks or devices. In other examples, network nodes may be directly coupled to hosts. The core network 606 includes one more core network nodes (e.g., core network node 608) that are structured with hardware and software components. Features of these components may be substantially similar to those described with respect to the UEs, network nodes, and/or hosts, such that the descriptions thereof are generally applicable to the corresponding components of the core network node 608. Example core network nodes include functions of one or more of a Mobile Switching Center (MSC), Mobility Management Entity (MME), Home Subscriber Server (HSS), Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF), Session Management Function (SMF), Authentication Server Function (AUSF), Subscription Identifier De-concealing function (SIDF), Unified Data Management (UDM), Security Edge Protection Proxy (SEPP), Network Exposure Function (NEF), and/or a User Plane Function (UPF). [0179] The host 616 may be under the ownership or control of a service provider other than an operator or provider of the access network 604 and/or the telecommunication network 602. The host 616 may host a variety of applications to provide one or more service. Examples of such applications include live and pre-recorded audio/video content, data collection services such as retrieving and compiling data on various ambient conditions detected by a plurality of UEs, analytics functionality, social media, functions for controlling or otherwise interacting with remote devices, functions for an alarm and surveillance center, or any other such function performed by a server. [0180] As a whole, the communication system 600 of Figure 6 enables connectivity between the UEs, network nodes, and hosts. In that sense, the communication system may be configured to operate according to predefined rules or procedures, such as specific standards that include, but are not limited to: Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM); Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS); Long Term Evolution (LTE), and/or other suitable 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G standards, or any applicable future generation standard (e.g., 6G); wireless local area network (WLAN) standards, such as the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standards (WiFi); and/or any other appropriate wireless communication standard, such as the Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMax), Bluetooth, Z-Wave, Near Field Communication (NFC) ZigBee, LiFi, and/or any low-power wide-area network (LPWAN) standards such as LoRa and Sigfox. [0181] In some examples, the telecommunication network 602 is a cellular network that implements 3GPP standardized features. Accordingly, the telecommunications network 602 may support network slicing to provide different logical networks to different devices that are connected to the telecommunication network 602. For example, the telecommunications network 602 may provide Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communication (URLLC) services to some UEs, while providing Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) services to other UEs, and/or Massive Machine Type Communication (mMTC)/Massive IoT services to yet further UEs. [0182] In some examples, the UEs 612 are configured to transmit and/or receive information without direct human interaction. For instance, a UE may be designed to transmit information to the access network 604 on a predetermined schedule, when triggered by an internal or external event, or in response to requests from the access network 604. Additionally, a UE may be configured for operating in single- or multi-RAT or multi-standard mode. For example, a UE may operate with any one or combination of Wi-Fi, NR (New Radio) and LTE, i.e. being configured for multi-radio dual connectivity (MR-DC), such as E-UTRAN (Evolved- UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network) New Radio – Dual Connectivity (EN-DC). [0183] In the example, the hub 614 communicates with the access network 604 to facilitate indirect communication between one or more UEs (e.g., UE 612c and/or 612d) and network nodes (e.g., network node 610b). In some examples, the hub 614 may be a controller, router, content source and analytics, or any of the other communication devices described herein regarding UEs. For example, the hub 614 may be a broadband router enabling access to the core network 606 for the UEs. As another example, the hub 614 may be a controller that sends commands or instructions to one or more actuators in the UEs. Commands or instructions may be received from the UEs, network nodes 610, or by executable code, script, process, or other instructions in the hub 614. As another example, the hub 614 may be a data collector that acts as temporary storage for UE data and, in some embodiments, may perform analysis or other processing of the data. As another example, the hub 614 may be a content source. For example, for a UE that is a VR device, display, loudspeaker, or other media delivery device, the hub 614 may retrieve VR assets, video, audio, or other media or data related to sensory information via a network node, which the hub 614 then provides to the UE either directly, after performing local processing, and/or after adding additional local content. In still another example, the hub 614 acts as a proxy server or orchestrator for the UEs, in particular if one or more of the UEs are low energy IoT devices. [0184] The hub 614 may have a constant/persistent or intermittent connection to the network node 610b. The hub 614 may also allow for a different communication scheme and/or schedule between the hub 614 and UEs (e.g., UE 612c and/or 612d), and between the hub 614 and the core network 606. In other examples, the hub 614 is connected to the core network 606 and/or one or more UEs via a wired connection. Moreover, the hub 614 may be configured to connect to an M2M service provider over the access network 604 and/or to another UE over a direct connection. In some scenarios, UEs may establish a wireless connection with the network nodes 610 while still connected via the hub 614 via a wired or wireless connection. In some embodiments, the hub 614 may be a dedicated hub – that is, a hub whose primary function is to route communications to/from the UEs from/to the network node 610b. In other embodiments, the hub 614 may be a non-dedicated hub – that is, a device which is capable of operating to route communications between the UEs and network node 610b, but which is additionally capable of operating as a communication start and/or end point for certain data channels. [0185] Figure 7 shows a UE 700 in accordance with some embodiments. The UE 700 presents additional details of some embodiments of the UE 612 of Figure 1. As used herein, a UE refers to a device capable, configured, arranged and/or operable to communicate wirelessly with network nodes and/or other UEs. Examples of a UE include, but are not limited to, a smart phone, mobile phone, cell phone, voice over IP (VoIP) phone, wireless local loop phone, desktop computer, personal digital assistant (PDA), wireless cameras, gaming console or device, music storage/playback device, wearable terminal device, wireless endpoint, mobile station, tablet, laptop, laptop-embedded equipment (LEE), laptop-mounted equipment (LME), an Augmented Reality (AR) or Virtual Reality (VR) device, wireless customer-premise equipment (CPE), vehicle, vehicle-mounted or vehicle embedded/integrated wireless device, etc. Other examples include any UE identified by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), including a narrow band internet of things (NB-IoT) UE, a machine type communication (MTC) UE, and/or an enhanced MTC (eMTC) UE. [0186] A UE may support device-to-device (D2D) communication, for example by implementing a 3GPP standard for sidelink communication, Dedicated Short-Range Communication (DSRC), vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I), or vehicle- to-everything (V2X). In other examples, a UE may not necessarily have a user in the sense of a human user who owns and/or operates the relevant device. Instead, a UE may represent a device that is intended for sale to, or operation by, a human user but which may not, or which may not initially, be associated with a specific human user (e.g., a smart sprinkler controller). Alternatively, a UE may represent a device that is not intended for sale to, or operation by, an end user but which may be associated with or operated for the benefit of a user (e.g., a smart power meter). [0187] The UE 700 includes processing circuitry 702 that is operatively coupled via a bus 704 to an input/output interface 706, a power source 708, a memory 710, a communication interface 712, and/or any other component, or any combination thereof. Certain UEs may utilize all or a subset of the components shown in Figure 7. The level of integration between the components may vary from one UE to another UE. Further, certain UEs may contain multiple instances of a component, such as multiple processors, memories, transceivers, transmitters, receivers, etc. [0188] The processing circuitry 702 is configured to process instructions and data and may be configured to implement any sequential state machine operative to execute instructions stored as machine-readable computer programs in the memory 710. The processing circuitry 702 may be implemented as one or more hardware-implemented state machines (e.g., in discrete logic, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), etc.); programmable logic together with appropriate firmware; one or more stored computer programs, general-purpose processors, such as a microprocessor or digital signal processor (DSP), together with appropriate software; or any combination of the above. For example, the processing circuitry 702 may include multiple central processing units (CPUs). The processing circuitry 702 may be configured to cause the UE 702 to perform the methods as described with reference to Figure 2. [0189] In the example, the input/output interface 706 may be configured to provide an interface or interfaces to an input device, output device, or one or more input and/or output devices. Examples of an output device include a speaker, a sound card, a video card, a display, a monitor, a printer, an actuator, an emitter, a smartcard, another output device, or any combination thereof. An input device may allow a user to capture information into the UE 700. Examples of an input device include a touch-sensitive or presence-sensitive display, a camera (e.g., a digital camera, a digital video camera, a web camera, etc.), a microphone, a sensor, a mouse, a trackball, a directional pad, a trackpad, a scroll wheel, a smartcard, and the like. The presence-sensitive display may include a capacitive or resistive touch sensor to sense input from a user. A sensor may be, for instance, an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a tilt sensor, a force sensor, a magnetometer, an optical sensor, a proximity sensor, a biometric sensor, etc., or any combination thereof. An output device may use the same type of interface port as an input device. For example, a Universal Serial Bus (USB) port may be used to provide an input device and an output device. [0190] In some embodiments, the power source 708 is structured as a battery or battery pack. Other types of power sources, such as an external power source (e.g., an electricity outlet), photovoltaic device, or power cell, may be used. The power source 708 may further include power circuitry for delivering power from the power source 708 itself, and/or an external power source, to the various parts of the UE 700 via input circuitry or an interface such as an electrical power cable. Delivering power may be, for example, for charging of the power source 708. Power circuitry may perform any formatting, converting, or other modification to the power from the power source 708 to make the power suitable for the respective components of the UE 700 to which power is supplied. [0191] The memory 710 may be or be configured to include memory such as random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), magnetic disks, optical disks, hard disks, removable cartridges, flash drives, and so forth. In one example, the memory 710 includes one or more application programs 714, such as an operating system, web browser application, a widget, gadget engine, or other application, and corresponding data 716. The memory 710 may store, for use by the UE 700, any of a variety of various operating systems or combinations of operating systems. [0192] The memory 710 may be configured to include a number of physical drive units, such as redundant array of independent disks (RAID), flash memory, USB flash drive, external hard disk drive, thumb drive, pen drive, key drive, high-density digital versatile disc (HD- DVD) optical disc drive, internal hard disk drive, Blu-Ray optical disc drive, holographic digital data storage (HDDS) optical disc drive, external mini-dual in-line memory module (DIMM), synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), external micro-DIMM SDRAM, smartcard memory such as tamper resistant module in the form of a universal integrated circuit card (UICC) including one or more subscriber identity modules (SIMs), such as a USIM and/or ISIM, other memory, or any combination thereof. The UICC may for example be an embedded UICC (eUICC), integrated UICC (iUICC) or a removable UICC commonly known as ‘SIM card.’ The memory 710 may allow the UE 700 to access instructions, application programs and the like, stored on transitory or non-transitory memory media, to off-load data, or to upload data. An article of manufacture, such as one utilizing a communication system may be tangibly embodied as or in the memory 710, which may be or comprise a device-readable storage medium. [0193] The processing circuitry 702 may be configured to communicate with an access network or other network using the communication interface 712. The communication interface 712 may comprise one or more communication subsystems and may include or be communicatively coupled to an antenna 722. The communication interface 712 may include one or more transceivers used to communicate, such as by communicating with one or more remote transceivers of another device capable of wireless communication (e.g., another UE or a network node in an access network). Each transceiver may include a transmitter 718 and/or a receiver 720 appropriate to provide network communications (e.g., optical, electrical, frequency allocations, and so forth). Moreover, the transmitter 718 and receiver 720 may be coupled to one or more antennas (e.g., antenna 722) and may share circuit components, software or firmware, or alternatively be implemented separately. [0194] In the illustrated embodiment, communication functions of the communication interface 712 may include cellular communication, Wi-Fi communication, LPWAN communication, data communication, voice communication, multimedia communication, short-range communications such as Bluetooth, near-field communication, location-based communication such as the use of the global positioning system (GPS) to determine a location, another like communication function, or any combination thereof. Communications may be implemented in according to one or more communication protocols and/or standards, such as IEEE 802.11, Code Division Multiplexing Access (CDMA), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), GSM, LTE, New Radio (NR), UMTS, WiMax, Ethernet, transmission control protocol/internet protocol (TCP/IP), synchronous optical networking (SONET), Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), QUIC, Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), and so forth. [0195] Regardless of the type of sensor, a UE may provide an output of data captured by its sensors, through its communication interface 712, via a wireless connection to a network node. Data captured by sensors of a UE can be communicated through a wireless connection to a network node via another UE. The output may be periodic (e.g., once every 15 minutes if it reports the sensed temperature), random (e.g., to even out the load from reporting from several sensors), in response to a triggering event (e.g., when moisture is detected an alert is sent), in response to a request (e.g., a user initiated request), or a continuous stream (e.g., a live video feed of a patient). [0196] As another example, a UE comprises an actuator, a motor, or a switch, related to a communication interface configured to receive wireless input from a network node via a wireless connection. In response to the received wireless input the states of the actuator, the motor, or the switch may change. For example, the UE may comprise a motor that adjusts the control surfaces or rotors of a drone in flight according to the received input or to a robotic arm performing a medical procedure according to the received input. [0197] A UE, when in the form of an Internet of Things (IoT) device, may be a device for use in one or more application domains, these domains comprising, but not limited to, city wearable technology, extended industrial application and healthcare. Non-limiting examples of such an IoT device are a device which is or which is embedded in: a connected refrigerator or freezer, a TV, a connected lighting device, an electricity meter, a robot vacuum cleaner, a voice controlled smart speaker, a home security camera, a motion detector, a thermostat, a smoke detector, a door/window sensor, a flood/moisture sensor, an electrical door lock, a connected doorbell, an air conditioning system like a heat pump, an autonomous vehicle, a surveillance system, a weather monitoring device, a vehicle parking monitoring device, an electric vehicle charging station, a smart watch, a fitness tracker, a wearable for tactile augmentation or sensory enhancement, a water sprinkler, an animal- or item-tracking device, a sensor for monitoring a plant or animal, an industrial robot, an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), and any kind of medical device, like a heart rate monitor or a remote controlled surgical robot. A UE in the form of an IoT device comprises circuitry and/or software in dependence of the intended application of the IoT device in addition to other components as described in relation to the UE 700 shown in Figure 7. [0198] As yet another specific example, in an IoT scenario, a UE may represent a machine or other device that performs monitoring and/or measurements, and transmits the results of such monitoring and/or measurements to another UE and/or a network node. The UE may in this case be an M2M device, which may in a 3GPP context be referred to as an MTC device. As one particular example, the UE may implement the 3GPP NB-IoT standard. In other scenarios, a UE may represent a vehicle, such as a car, a bus, a truck, a ship and an airplane, or other equipment that is capable of monitoring and/or reporting on its operational status or other functions associated with its operation. [0199] In practice, any number of UEs may be used together with respect to a single use case. For example, a first UE might be or be integrated in a drone and provide the drone’s speed information (obtained through a speed sensor) to a second UE that is a remote controller operating the drone. When the user makes changes from the remote controller, the first UE may adjust the throttle on the drone (e.g. by controlling an actuator) to increase or decrease the drone’s speed. The first and/or the second UE can also include more than one of the functionalities described above. For example, a UE might comprise the sensor and the actuator, and handle communication of data for both the speed sensor and the actuators. [0200] Figure 8 shows a network node 800 in accordance with some embodiments. As used herein, network node refers to equipment capable, configured, arranged and/or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with a UE and/or with other network nodes or equipment, in a telecommunication network. Examples of network nodes include, but are not limited to, access points (APs) (e.g., radio access points), base stations (BSs) (e.g., radio base stations, Node Bs, evolved Node Bs (eNBs) and NR NodeBs (gNBs)), O-RAN nodes or components of an O-RAN node (e.g., O-RU, O-DU, O-CU). [0201] Base stations may be categorized based on the amount of coverage they provide (or, stated differently, their transmit power level) and so, depending on the provided amount of coverage, may be referred to as femto base stations, pico base stations, micro base stations, or macro base stations. A base station may be a relay node or a relay donor node controlling a relay. A network node may also include one or more (or all) parts of a distributed radio base station such as centralized digital units, distributed units (e.g., in an O-RAN access node) and/or remote radio units (RRUs), sometimes referred to as Remote Radio Heads (RRHs). Such remote radio units may or may not be integrated with an antenna as an antenna integrated radio. Parts of a distributed radio base station may also be referred to as nodes in a distributed antenna system (DAS). [0202] Other examples of network nodes include multiple transmission point (multi-TRP) 5G access nodes, multi-standard radio (MSR) equipment such as MSR BSs, network controllers such as radio network controllers (RNCs) or base station controllers (BSCs), base transceiver stations (BTSs), transmission points, transmission nodes, multi-cell/multicast coordination entities (MCEs), Operation and Maintenance (O&M) nodes, Operations Support System (OSS) nodes, Self-Organizing Network (SON) nodes, positioning nodes (e.g., Evolved Serving Mobile Location Centers (E-SMLCs)), and/or Minimization of Drive Tests (MDTs). [0203] The network node 800 includes a processing circuitry 802, a memory 804, a communication interface 806, and a power source 808. The network node 800 may be composed of multiple physically separate components (e.g., a NodeB component and a RNC component, or a BTS component and a BSC component, etc.), which may each have their own respective components. In certain scenarios in which the network node 800 comprises multiple separate components (e.g., BTS and BSC components), one or more of the separate components may be shared among several network nodes. For example, a single RNC may control multiple NodeBs. In such a scenario, each unique NodeB and RNC pair, may in some instances be considered a single separate network node. In some embodiments, the network node 800 may be configured to support multiple radio access technologies (RATs). In such embodiments, some components may be duplicated (e.g., separate memory 804 for different RATs) and some components may be reused (e.g., a same antenna 810 may be shared by different RATs). The network node 800 may also include multiple sets of the various illustrated components for different wireless technologies integrated into network node 800, for example GSM, WCDMA, LTE, NR, WiFi, Zigbee, Z-wave, LoRaWAN, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) or Bluetooth wireless technologies. These wireless technologies may be integrated into the same or different chip or set of chips and other components within network node 800. [0204] The processing circuitry 802 may comprise a combination of one or more of a microprocessor, controller, microcontroller, central processing unit, digital signal processor, application-specific integrated circuit, field programmable gate array, or any other suitable computing device, resource, or combination of hardware, software and/or encoded logic operable to provide, either alone or in conjunction with other network node 800 components, such as the memory 804, to provide network node 800 functionality. For example, the processing circuitry 802 may be configured to cause the network node to perform the methods as described with reference to Figure 3. [0205] In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 802 includes a system on a chip (SOC). In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 802 includes one or more of radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry 812 and baseband processing circuitry 814. In some embodiments, the radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry 812 and the baseband processing circuitry 814 may be on separate chips (or sets of chips), boards, or units, such as radio units and digital units. In alternative embodiments, part or all of RF transceiver circuitry 812 and baseband processing circuitry 814 may be on the same chip or set of chips, boards, or units. [0206] The memory 804 may comprise any form of volatile or non-volatile computer- readable memory including, without limitation, persistent storage, solid-state memory, remotely mounted memory, magnetic media, optical media, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), mass storage media (for example, a hard disk), removable storage media (for example, a flash drive, a Compact Disk (CD) or a Digital Video Disk (DVD)), and/or any other volatile or non-volatile, non-transitory device-readable and/or computer- executable memory devices that store information, data, and/or instructions that may be used by the processing circuitry 802. The memory 804 may store any suitable instructions, data, or information, including a computer program, software, an application including one or more of logic, rules, code, tables, and/or other instructions capable of being executed by the processing circuitry 802 and utilized by the network node 800. The memory 804 may be used to store any calculations made by the processing circuitry 802 and/or any data received via the communication interface 806. In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 802 and memory 804 is integrated. [0207] The communication interface 806 is used in wired or wireless communication of signaling and/or data between a network node, access network, and/or UE. As illustrated, the communication interface 806 comprises port(s)/terminal(s) 816 to send and receive data, for example to and from a network over a wired connection. The communication interface 806 also includes radio front-end circuitry 818 that may be coupled to, or in certain embodiments a part of, the antenna 810. Radio front-end circuitry 818 comprises filters 820 and amplifiers 822. The radio front-end circuitry 818 may be connected to an antenna 810 and processing circuitry 802. The radio front-end circuitry may be configured to condition signals communicated between antenna 810 and processing circuitry 802. The radio front-end circuitry 818 may receive digital data that is to be sent out to other network nodes or UEs via a wireless connection. The radio front-end circuitry 818 may convert the digital data into a radio signal having the appropriate channel and bandwidth parameters using a combination of filters 820 and/or amplifiers 822. The radio signal may then be transmitted via the antenna 810. Similarly, when receiving data, the antenna 810 may collect radio signals which are then converted into digital data by the radio front-end circuitry 818. The digital data may be passed to the processing circuitry 802. In other embodiments, the communication interface may comprise different components and/or different combinations of components. [0208] In certain alternative embodiments, the network node 800 does not include separate radio front-end circuitry 818, instead, the processing circuitry 802 includes radio front-end circuitry and is connected to the antenna 810. Similarly, in some embodiments, all or some of the RF transceiver circuitry 812 is part of the communication interface 806. In still other embodiments, the communication interface 806 includes one or more ports or terminals 816, the radio front-end circuitry 818, and the RF transceiver circuitry 812, as part of a radio unit (not shown), and the communication interface 806 communicates with the baseband processing circuitry 814, which is part of a digital unit (not shown). [0209] The antenna 810 may include one or more antennas, or antenna arrays, configured to send and/or receive wireless signals. The antenna 810 may be coupled to the radio front-end circuitry 818 and may be any type of antenna capable of transmitting and receiving data and/or signals wirelessly. In certain embodiments, the antenna 810 is separate from the network node 800 and connectable to the network node 800 through an interface or port. [0210] The antenna 810, communication interface 806, and/or the processing circuitry 802 may be configured to perform any receiving operations and/or certain obtaining operations described herein as being performed by the network node. Any information, data and/or signals may be received from a UE, another network node and/or any other network equipment. Similarly, the antenna 810, the communication interface 806, and/or the processing circuitry 802 may be configured to perform any transmitting operations described herein as being performed by the network node. Any information, data and/or signals may be transmitted to a UE, another network node and/or any other network equipment. [0211] The power source 808 provides power to the various components of network node 800 in a form suitable for the respective components (e.g., at a voltage and current level needed for each respective component). The power source 808 may further comprise, or be coupled to, power management circuitry to supply the components of the network node 800 with power for performing the functionality described herein. For example, the network node 800 may be connectable to an external power source (e.g., the power grid, an electricity outlet) via an input circuitry or interface such as an electrical cable, whereby the external power source supplies power to power circuitry of the power source 808. As a further example, the power source 808 may comprise a source of power in the form of a battery or battery pack which is connected to, or integrated in, power circuitry. The battery may provide backup power should the external power source fail. [0212] Embodiments of the network node 800 may include additional components beyond those shown in Figure 8 for providing certain aspects of the network node’s functionality, including any of the functionality described herein and/or any functionality necessary to support the subject matter described herein. For example, the network node 800 may include user interface equipment to allow input of information into the network node 800 and to allow output of information from the network node 800. This may allow a user to perform diagnostic, maintenance, repair, and other administrative functions for the network node 800. In some embodiments providing a core network node, such as core network node 108 of FIG.6, some components, such as the radio front-end circuitry 818 and the RF transceiver circuitry 812 may be omitted. [0213] Figure 10 shows a network node 1000 in accordance with some embodiments. As used herein, network node refers to equipment capable, configured, arranged and/or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with a UE and/or with other network nodes or equipment, in a telecommunication network. The network node 1000 may be operable as a core network node, a core network function or, more generally, a core network entity, such as the core network node 608 described above with respect to Figure 6). Examples of network nodes in this context include core network entities such as one or more of a Mobile Switching Center (MSC), Mobility Management Entity (MME), Home Subscriber Server (HSS), Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF), Session Management Function (SMF), Authentication Server Function (AUSF), Subscription Identifier De-concealing function (SIDF), Unified Data Management (UDM), Security Edge Protection Proxy (SEPP), Network Exposure Function (NEF), Policy Control Function (PCF) and/or a User Plane Function (UPF). [0214] The network node 1000 includes processing circuitry 1002, a memory 1004, a communication interface 1006, and a power source 1008, and/or any other component, or any combination thereof. The network node 1000 may be composed of multiple physically separate components, which may each have their own respective components. In certain scenarios in which the network node 1000 comprises multiple separate components, one or more of the separate components may be shared among several network nodes. [0215] The processing circuitry 1002 may comprise a combination of one or more of a microprocessor, controller, microcontroller, central processing unit, digital signal processor, application-specific integrated circuit, field programmable gate array, or any other suitable computing device, resource, or combination of hardware, software and/or encoded logic operable to provide, either alone or in conjunction with other network node 1000 components, such as the memory 1004, network node 1000 functionality. For example, the processing circuitry 1002 may be configured to cause the network node to perform the methods as described with reference to Figure 4. [0216] The memory 1004 may comprise any form of volatile or non-volatile computer- readable memory including, without limitation, persistent storage, solid-state memory, remotely mounted memory, magnetic media, optical media, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), mass storage media (for example, a hard disk), removable storage media (for example, a flash drive, a Compact Disk (CD) or a Digital Video Disk (DVD)), and/or any other volatile or non-volatile, non-transitory device-readable and/or computer- executable memory devices that store information, data, and/or instructions that may be used by the processing circuitry 1002. The memory 1004 may store any suitable instructions, data, or information, including a computer program, software, an application including one or more of logic, rules, code, tables, and/or other instructions capable of being executed by the processing circuitry 1002 and utilized by the network node 1000. The memory 1004 may be used to store any calculations made by the processing circuitry 1002 and/or any data received via the communication interface 1006. In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 1002 and memory 1004 is integrated. [0217] The communication interface 1006 is used in wired or wireless communication of signaling and/or data between a network node, access network, and/or UE. [0218] The power source 1008 provides power to the various components of network node 1000 in a form suitable for the respective components (e.g., at a voltage and current level needed for each respective component). The power source 1008 may further comprise, or be coupled to, power management circuitry to supply the components of the network node 1000 with power for performing the functionality described herein. For example, the network node 1000 may be connectable to an external power source (e.g., the power grid, an electricity outlet) via an input circuitry or interface such as an electrical cable, whereby the external power source supplies power to power circuitry of the power source 1008. As a further example, the power source 1008 may comprise a source of power in the form of a battery or battery pack which is connected to, or integrated in, power circuitry. The battery may provide backup power should the external power source fail. [0219] Embodiments of the network node 1000 may include additional components beyond those shown in Figure 10 for providing certain aspects of the network node’s functionality, including any of the functionality described herein and/or any functionality necessary to support the subject matter described herein. For example, the network node 1000 may include user interface equipment to allow input of information into the network node 1000 and to allow output of information from the network node 1000. This may allow a user to perform diagnostic, maintenance, repair, and other administrative functions for the network node 1000. [0220] Figure 9 is a block diagram illustrating a virtualization environment 900 in which functions implemented by some embodiments may be virtualized. In the present context, virtualizing means creating virtual versions of apparatuses or devices which may include virtualizing hardware platforms, storage devices and networking resources. As used herein, virtualization can be applied to any device described herein, or components thereof, and relates to an implementation in which at least a portion of the functionality is implemented as one or more virtual components. Some or all of the functions described herein may be implemented as virtual components executed by one or more virtual machines (VMs) implemented in one or more virtual environments 900 hosted by one or more of hardware nodes, such as a hardware computing device that operates as a network node, UE, core network node, or host. Further, in embodiments in which the virtual node does not require radio connectivity (e.g., a core network node or host), then the node may be entirely virtualized. In some embodiments, the virtualization environment 900 includes components defined by the O-RAN Alliance, such as an O-Cloud environment orchestrated by a Service Management and Orchestration Framework via an O-2 interface. Virtualization may facilitate distributed implementations of a network node, UE, core network node, or host. [0221] Applications 902 (which may alternatively be called software instances, virtual appliances, network functions, virtual nodes, virtual network functions, etc.) are run in the virtualization environment Q400 to implement some of the features, functions, and/or benefits of some of the embodiments disclosed herein. [0222] Hardware 904 includes processing circuitry, memory that stores software and/or instructions executable by hardware processing circuitry, and/or other hardware devices as described herein, such as a network interface, input/output interface, and so forth. Software may be executed by the processing circuitry to instantiate one or more virtualization layers 906 (also referred to as hypervisors or virtual machine monitors (VMMs)), provide VMs 908a and 908b (one or more of which may be generally referred to as VMs 908), and/or perform any of the functions, features and/or benefits described in relation with some embodiments described herein. The virtualization layer 906 may present a virtual operating platform that appears like networking hardware to the VMs 908. [0223] The VMs 908 comprise virtual processing, virtual memory, virtual networking or interface and virtual storage, and may be run by a corresponding virtualization layer 906. Different embodiments of the instance of a virtual appliance 902 may be implemented on one or more of VMs 908, and the implementations may be made in different ways. Virtualization of the hardware is in some contexts referred to as network function virtualization (NFV). NFV may be used to consolidate many network equipment types onto industry standard high volume server hardware, physical switches, and physical storage, which can be located in data centers, and customer premise equipment. [0224] In the context of NFV, a VM 908 may be a software implementation of a physical machine that runs programs as if they were executing on a physical, non-virtualized machine. Each of the VMs 908, and that part of hardware 904 that executes that VM, be it hardware dedicated to that VM and/or hardware shared by that VM with others of the VMs, forms separate virtual network elements. Still in the context of NFV, a virtual network function is responsible for handling specific network functions that run in one or more VMs 908 on top of the hardware 904 and corresponds to the application 902. [0225] Hardware 904 may be implemented in a standalone network node with generic or specific components. Hardware 904 may implement some functions via virtualization. Alternatively, hardware 904 may be part of a larger cluster of hardware (e.g. such as in a data center or CPE) where many hardware nodes work together and are managed via management and orchestration 910, which, among others, oversees lifecycle management of applications 902. In some embodiments, hardware 904 is coupled to one or more radio units that each include one or more transmitters and one or more receivers that may be coupled to one or more antennas. Radio units may communicate directly with other hardware nodes via one or more appropriate network interfaces and may be used in combination with the virtual components to provide a virtual node with radio capabilities, such as a radio access node or a base station. In some embodiments, some signaling can be provided with the use of a control system 912 which may alternatively be used for communication between hardware nodes and radio units. [0226] Although the computing devices described herein (e.g., UEs, network nodes) may include the illustrated combination of hardware components, other embodiments may comprise computing devices with different combinations of components. It is to be understood that these computing devices may comprise any suitable combination of hardware and/or software needed to perform the tasks, features, functions and methods disclosed herein. Determining, calculating, obtaining or similar operations described herein may be performed by processing circuitry, which may process information by, for example, converting the obtained information into other information, comparing the obtained information or converted information to information stored in the network node, and/or performing one or more operations based on the obtained information or converted information, and as a result of said processing making a determination. Moreover, while components are depicted as single boxes located within a larger box, or nested within multiple boxes, in practice, computing devices may comprise multiple different physical components that make up a single illustrated component, and functionality may be partitioned between separate components. For example, a communication interface may be configured to include any of the components described herein, and/or the functionality of the components may be partitioned between the processing circuitry and the communication interface. In another example, non-computationally intensive functions of any of such components may be implemented in software or firmware and computationally intensive functions may be implemented in hardware. [0227] In certain embodiments, some or all of the functionality described herein may be provided by processing circuitry executing instructions stored on in memory, which in certain embodiments may be a computer program product in the form of a non-transitory computer- readable storage medium. In alternative embodiments, some or all of the functionality may be provided by the processing circuitry without executing instructions stored on a separate or discrete device-readable storage medium, such as in a hard-wired manner. In any of those particular embodiments, whether executing instructions stored on a non-transitory computer- readable storage medium or not, the processing circuitry can be configured to perform the described functionality. The benefits provided by such functionality are not limited to the processing circuitry alone or to other components of the computing device, but are enjoyed by the computing device as a whole, and/or by end users and a wireless network generally. [0228] The following numbered paragraphs set out embodiments of the disclosure. EMBODIMENTS Group A Embodiments 1. A method performed by a user equipment, wherein the user equipment is a very-small- aperture terminal, VSAT, the method comprising: receiving a configuration comprising an indication of a plurality of paging occasions on which the user equipment is to monitor for paging messages from a first radio access network node; and receiving a configuration comprising an indication of one or more of the plurality of paging occasions which are invalid, and on which the user equipment is permitted not to monitor for paging messages from the first radio access network node. 2. The method of embodiment 1, wherein the indication of the plurality of paging occasions comprises an indication of a cycle in which the paging occasions are configured. 3. The method of embodiment 2, wherein the cycle in which the paging occasions are arranged comprises one or more of: a paging cycle and a discontinuous reception, DRX, cycle. 4. The method of any one of the preceding embodiments, wherein the indication of one or more invalid paging occasions comprises an indication of a cycle defining the one or more invalid paging occasions. 5. The method of embodiment 4, wherein the cycle comprises one or more consecutive paging occasions which are invalid, followed by one or more consecutive paging occasions which are valid. 6. The method of embodiment 4 or 5, wherein the cycle of the one or more invalid paging occasions has a longer period than the cycle of the plurality of paging occasions. 7. The method of any one of the preceding embodiments, wherein the one or more invalid paging occasions are for the user equipment to redirect an antenna to perform measurements on transmissions by one or more second radio access network nodes. 8. The method of any one of the preceding embodiments, further comprising, during a time window comprising the one or more invalid paging occasions, redirecting an antenna to perform measurements on transmissions by one or more second radio access network nodes. 9. The method of embodiment 8, wherein the time window is a measurement gap. 10. The method of embodiment 8 or 9, wherein the time window has a duration of at least one second. 11. The method of any one of the preceding embodiments, further comprising receiving a plurality of indications of one or more of the plurality of paging occasions which are invalid, wherein each indication defines a time window having a different duration in which paging occasions are invalid. 12. The method of embodiment 11, wherein each of the plurality of indications is for implementation by user equipments with antennas having respective rotational speeds. 13. The method of any one of the preceding embodiments, wherein the user equipment is configured to monitor the plurality of paging occasions while in an idle or inactive mode. 14. The method of any one of the preceding embodiments, wherein one or more of the first and/or second radio access network nodes are located on, or communicate with the user equipment via, satellites in a non-terrestrial network. Group B Embodiments 15. A method performed by a first radio access network node, the method comprising: configuring a user equipment, wherein the user equipment is a very-small-aperture terminal, VSAT, with a plurality of paging occasions on which the user equipment is to monitor for paging messages from a first radio access network node; and transmitting, to the user equipment, a configuration comprising an indication of one or more of the plurality of paging occasions which are invalid, and on which the user equipment is permitted not to monitor for paging messages from the first radio access network node. 16. The method of embodiment 15, wherein the plurality of paging occasions comprises a cycle in which the paging occasions are arranged. 17. The method of embodiment 16, wherein the cycle in which the paging occasions are arranged comprises one or more of: a paging cycle and a discontinuous reception, DRX, cycle. 18. The method of any one of embodiments 15 to 17, wherein the indication of one or more invalid paging occasions comprises an indication of a cycle defining the one or more invalid paging occasions. 19. The method of embodiment 18, wherein the cycle comprises one or more consecutive paging occasions which are invalid, followed by one or more consecutive paging occasions which are valid. 20. The method of embodiment 18 or 19, wherein the cycle of the one or more invalid paging occasions has a longer period than the cycle of the plurality of paging occasions. 21. The method of any one of embodiments 15 to 20, wherein the one or more invalid paging occasions are for the user equipment to redirect an antenna to perform measurements on transmissions by one or more second radio access network nodes. 22. The method of any one of embodiments 15 to 21, wherein the one or more invalid paging occasions define a time window comprising the one or more invalid paging occasions. 23. The method of embodiment 22, wherein the time window is a measurement gap. 24. The method of embodiment 22 or 23, wherein the time window has a duration of at least one second. 25. The method of any one of embodiments 15 to 24, further comprising transmitting a configuration comprising a plurality of indications of one or more of the plurality of paging occasions which are invalid, wherein each indication defines a time window having a different duration in which paging occasions are invalid. 26. The method of embodiment 25, wherein each of the plurality of indications is for implementation by user equipments with antennas having respective rotational speeds. 27. The method of any one of embodiments 15 to 26, wherein the user equipment is configured to monitor the plurality of paging occasions while in an idle or inactive mode. 28. The method of any one of embodiments 15 to 27, wherein one or more of the first and/or second radio access network nodes are located on, or communicate with the user equipment via, satellites in a non-terrestrial network. 29. The method of any one of embodiments 15 to 28, wherein the one or more invalid paging occasions are determined based on statistics related to UE capabilities. Group C Embodiments 30. A method performed by a core network node, the method comprising: configuring a user equipment, wherein the user equipment is a very-small-aperture terminal, VSAT, with a plurality of paging occasions on which the user equipment is to monitor for paging messages from a first radio access network node; and configuring the user equipment with an indication of one or more of the plurality of paging occasions which are invalid, and on which the user equipment is permitted not to monitor for paging messages from the first radio access network node. 31. The method of embodiment 30, wherein the plurality of paging occasions comprises a cycle in which the paging occasions are arranged. 32. The method of embodiment 31, wherein the cycle in which the paging occasions are arranged comprises one or more of: a paging cycle and a discontinuous reception, DRX, cycle. 33. The method of any one of embodiments 30 to 32, wherein the indication of one or more invalid paging occasions comprises an indication of a cycle defining the one or more invalid paging occasions. 34. The method of embodiment 33, wherein the cycle comprises one or more consecutive paging occasions which are invalid, followed by one or more consecutive paging occasions which are valid. 35. The method of embodiment 33 or 34, wherein the cycle of the one or more invalid paging occasions has a longer period than the cycle of the plurality of paging occasions. 36. The method of any one of embodiments 30 to 35, wherein the one or more invalid paging occasions are for the user equipment to redirect an antenna to perform measurements on transmissions by one or more second radio access network nodes. 37. The method of any one of embodiments 30 to 36, wherein the one or more invalid paging occasions define a time window comprising the one or more invalid paging occasions. 38. The method of embodiment 37, wherein the time window is a measurement gap. 39. The method of embodiment 37 or 38, wherein the time window has a duration of at least one second. 40. The method of any one of embodiments 30 to 39, further comprising the first radio access network node with a plurality of configurations comprising a plurality of indications of one or more of the plurality of paging occasions which are invalid, wherein each indication defines a time window having a different duration in which paging occasions are invalid. 41. The method of embodiment 40, wherein each of the plurality of indications is for implementation by user equipments with antennas having respective rotational speeds. 42. The method of any one of embodiments 30 to 41, wherein the user equipment is configured to monitor the plurality of paging occasions while in an idle or inactive mode. 43. The method of any one of embodiments 30 to 42, wherein one or more of the first and/or second radio access network nodes are located on, or communicate with the user equipment via, satellites in a non-terrestrial network. 44. The method of any one of embodiments 30 to 43, wherein the one or more invalid paging occasions are determined based on statistics related to UE capabilities. 45. The method of any one of embodiments 30 to 44, wherein configuring the user equipment comprises providing the first radio access network node with the configuration for onward transmission to the user equipment. Group D Embodiments 46. A user equipment, comprising: processing circuitry configured to cause the user equipment to perform any of the steps of any of the Group A embodiments; and power supply circuitry configured to supply power to the processing circuitry. 47. A network node, the network node comprising: processing circuitry configured to cause the network node to perform any of the steps of any of the Group B embodiments; power supply circuitry configured to supply power to the processing circuitry. 48. A user equipment (UE), the UE comprising: an antenna configured to send and receive wireless signals; radio front-end circuitry connected to the antenna and to processing circuitry, and configured to condition signals communicated between the antenna and the processing circuitry; the processing circuitry being configured to cause the user equipment to perform any of the steps of any of the Group A embodiments; an input interface connected to the processing circuitry and configured to allow input of information into the UE to be processed by the processing circuitry; an output interface connected to the processing circuitry and configured to output information from the UE that has been processed by the processing circuitry; and a battery connected to the processing circuitry and configured to supply power to the UE. 49. A core network node, the network node comprising: processing circuitry configured to cause the core network node to perform any of the steps of any of the Group C embodiments; power supply circuitry configured to supply power to the processing circuitry.

Claims

CLAIMS 1. A method performed by a user equipment, wherein the user equipment is a very-small- aperture terminal, VSAT, the method comprising: receiving (202) a configuration comprising an indication of a plurality of paging occasions on which the user equipment is to monitor for paging messages from a first radio access network node; and receiving (204) a configuration comprising an indication of one or more of the plurality of paging occasions which are invalid, and on which the user equipment is permitted not to monitor for paging messages from the first radio access network node.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the indication of the plurality of paging occasions comprises an indication of a cycle (510) in which the paging occasions are configured.
3. The method of claim 2, wherein the cycle in which the paging occasions are arranged comprises one or more of: a paging cycle and a discontinuous reception, DRX, cycle.
4. The method of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the indication of one or more invalid paging occasions comprises an indication of a cycle defining the one or more invalid paging occasions.
5. The method of claim 4, wherein the cycle comprises one or more consecutive paging occasions which are invalid, followed by one or more consecutive paging occasions which are valid.
6. The method of claim 4 or 5, wherein the cycle of the one or more invalid paging occasions has a longer period than the cycle of the plurality of paging occasions.
7. The method of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the one or more invalid paging occasions are for the user equipment to redirect an antenna to perform measurements on transmissions by one or more second radio access network nodes.
8. The method of any one of the preceding claims, further comprising, during a time window comprising the one or more invalid paging occasions, redirecting (206) an antenna to perform measurements on transmissions by one or more second radio access network nodes.
9. The method of claim 8, wherein the time window has a duration of at least one second.
10. The method of claim 9, wherein the one or more second radio access network nodes are located on, or communicate with the user equipment via, satellites in a non-terrestrial network.
11. The method of any one of the preceding claims, further comprising receiving a plurality of indications of one or more of the plurality of paging occasions which are invalid, wherein each indication defines a time window having a different duration in which paging occasions are invalid.
12. The method of claim 11, wherein each of the plurality of indications is for implementation by user equipments with antennas having respective rotational speeds.
13. The method of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the user equipment is configured to monitor the plurality of paging occasions while in an idle or inactive mode.
14. The method of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the first radio access network node is located on, or communicates with the user equipment via, satellites in a non-terrestrial network.
15. A method performed by a first radio access network node, the method comprising: configuring (302) a user equipment, wherein the user equipment is a very-small- aperture terminal, VSAT, with a plurality of paging occasions on which the user equipment is to monitor for paging messages from the first radio access network node; and transmitting (304), to the user equipment, a configuration comprising an indication of one or more of the plurality of paging occasions which are invalid, and on which the user equipment is permitted not to monitor for paging messages from the first radio access network node.
16. The method of claim 15, wherein the plurality of paging occasions comprises a cycle in which the paging occasions are arranged.
17. The method of claim 16, wherein the cycle in which the paging occasions are arranged comprises one or more of: a paging cycle and a discontinuous reception, DRX, cycle.
18. The method of any one of claims 15 to 17, wherein the indication of one or more invalid paging occasions comprises an indication of a cycle defining the one or more invalid paging occasions.
19. The method of claim 18, wherein the cycle comprises one or more consecutive paging occasions which are invalid, followed by one or more consecutive paging occasions which are valid.
20. The method of claim 18 or 19, wherein the cycle of the one or more invalid paging occasions has a longer period than the cycle of the plurality of paging occasions.
21. The method of any one of claims 15 to 20, wherein the one or more invalid paging occasions are for the user equipment to redirect an antenna to perform measurements on transmissions by one or more second radio access network nodes.
22. The method of any one of claims 15 to 21, wherein the one or more invalid paging occasions define a time window comprising the one or more invalid paging occasions.
23. The method of any one of claims 15 to 22, further comprising transmitting a configuration comprising a plurality of indications of one or more of the plurality of paging occasions which are invalid, wherein each indication defines a time window having a different duration in which paging occasions are invalid.
24. The method of claim 23, wherein each of the plurality of indications is for implementation by user equipments with antennas having respective rotational speeds.
25. The method of any one of claims 15 to 24, wherein the first radio access network node is located on, or communicates with the user equipment via, satellites in a non-terrestrial network.
26. A method performed by a core network node, the method comprising: configuring (402) a user equipment, wherein the user equipment is a very-small- aperture terminal, VSAT, with a plurality of paging occasions on which the user equipment is to monitor for paging messages from a first radio access network node; and configuring (404) the user equipment with an indication of one or more of the plurality of paging occasions which are invalid, and on which the user equipment is permitted not to monitor for paging messages from the first radio access network node.
27. A user equipment, UE (700), comprising: processing circuitry (702) adapted to cause the UE to: receive a configuration comprising an indication of a plurality of paging occasions on which the user equipment is to monitor for paging messages from a first radio access network node; and receive a configuration comprising an indication of one or more of the plurality of paging occasions which are invalid, and on which the user equipment is permitted not to monitor for paging messages from the first radio access network node, wherein the user equipment is a very-small-aperture terminal, VSAT.
28. The UE of claim 27, wherein the processing circuitry is further adapted to cause the UE to perform the method of any one of claims 2 to 14.
29. A user equipment, UE, adapted to perform the method according to any one of claims 1 to 14.
30. A first radio access network node (800), comprising: processing circuitry (802) adapted to cause the first radio access network node to: configure a user equipment with a plurality of paging occasions on which the user equipment is to monitor for paging messages from the first radio access network node; and transmit, to the user equipment, a configuration comprising an indication of one or more of the plurality of paging occasions which are invalid, and on which the user equipment is permitted not to monitor for paging messages from the first radio access network node, wherein the user equipment is a very-small-aperture terminal, VSAT.
31. The first radio access network node of claim 30, wherein the processing circuitry is further adapted to cause the first radio access network node to perform the method of any one of claims 17 to 25.
32. A first radio access network node adapted to perform the method according to any one of claims 15 to 25.
33. A core network node (1000), comprising: processing circuitry (1002) adapted to cause the core network node to: configure a user equipment with a plurality of paging occasions on which the user equipment is to monitor for paging messages from a first radio access network node; and configure the user equipment with an indication of one or more of the plurality of paging occasions which are invalid, and on which the user equipment is permitted not to monitor for paging messages from the first radio access network node, wherein the user equipment is a very-small-aperture terminal, VSAT.
34. A core network node, adapted to perform the method according to claim 26.
35. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing code which, when executed by processing circuitry of a user equipment, causes the user equipment to perform the method according to any one of claims 1 to 14.
36. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing code which, when executed by processing circuitry of a first radio access network node, causes the first radio access network node to perform the method according to any one of claims 15 to 25.
37. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing code which, when executed by processing circuitry of a core network node, causes the core network node to perform the method according to claim 26.
PCT/IB2025/053146 2024-03-25 2025-03-25 Methods, apparatus and computer-readable media related to measurement gaps and/or paging occasions Pending WO2025202899A1 (en)

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