WO2025209730A1 - Paging overload management - Google Patents

Abstract

Example embodiments of the present disclosure are directed to paging overload management A method comprises: receiving, from a second apparatus at a paging occasion, an indication at least indicating a monitoring or a reception of at least one additional paging transmission is to be performed on at least one additional time interval after the paging occasion and before a subsequent paging occasion; and receiving, based on the indication from the second apparatus, the at least one additional paging transmission on the at least one additional time interval.

Description

PAGING OVERLOAD MANAGEMENT

FIELD

[0001] Various example embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to the field of telecommunication and in particular, to methods, devices, apparatuses and computer readable storage medium for paging overload management.

BACKGROUND

[0002] Paging in 5G is a mechanism used to notify idle User Equipment (UE) about incoming data, call requests, or network updates. In a Radio Resource Control (RRC) idle or an RRC inactive mode, the UE monitors paging frames is a radio frame in which the UE monitors the paging channel (PCH) over the Paging Occasion (PO) for incoming paging message.

SUMMARY

[0003] In a first aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a first apparatus. The first apparatus comprises at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the first apparatus at least to: receive, from a second apparatus at a paging occasion, an indication at least indicating a monitoring or a reception of at least one additional paging transmission is to be performed on at least one additional time interval after the paging occasion and before a subsequent paging occasion; and receive, based on the indication from the second apparatus, the at least one additional paging transmission on the at least one additional time interval.

[0004] In a second aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a second apparatus. The second apparatus comprises at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the second apparatus at least to: transmit, to a first apparatus at a paging occasion, an indication at least indicating a monitoring or a reception of at least one additional paging transmission is to i be performed on at least one additional time interval after the paging occasion and before a subsequent paging occasion; and transmit, to the first apparatus, the at least one additional paging transmission on the at least one additional time interval.

[0005] In a third aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method. The method comprises: receiving, from a second apparatus at a paging occasion, an indication at least indicating a monitoring or a reception of at least one additional paging transmission is to be performed on at least one additional time interval after the paging occasion and before a subsequent paging occasion; and receiving, based on the indication from the second apparatus, the at least one additional paging transmission on the at least one additional time interval.

[0006] In a fourth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method. The method comprises: transmitting, to a first apparatus at a paging occasion, an indication at least indicating a monitoring or a reception of at least one additional paging transmission is to be performed on at least one additional time interval after the paging occasion and before a subsequent paging occasion; and transmitting, to the first apparatus, the at least one additional paging transmission on the at least one additional time interval.

[0007] In a fifth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a first apparatus. The first apparatus comprises means for receiving, from a second apparatus at a paging occasion, an indication at least indicating a monitoring or a reception of at least one additional paging transmission is to be performed on at least one additional time interval after the paging occasion and before a subsequent paging occasion; and means for receiving, based on the indication from the second apparatus, the at least one additional paging transmission on the at least one additional time interval.

[0008] In a sixth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a second apparatus. The second apparatus comprises means for transmitting, to a first apparatus at a paging occasion, an indication at least indicating a monitoring or a reception of at least one additional paging transmission is to be performed on at least one additional time interval after the paging occasion and before a subsequent paging occasion; and means for transmitting, to the first apparatus, the at least one additional paging transmission on the at least one additional time interval.

[0009] In a seventh aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a computer readable medium. The computer readable medium comprises instructions stored thereon for causing an apparatus to perform at least the method according to the third aspect.

[0010] In an eighth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a computer readable medium. The computer readable medium comprises instructions stored thereon for causing an apparatus to perform at least the method according to the fourth aspect.

[0011] It is to be understood that the Summary section is not intended to identify key or essential features of embodiments of the present disclosure, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the present disclosure. Other features of the present disclosure will become easily comprehensible through the following description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0012] Some example embodiments will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, where:

[0013] FIG. 1 illustrates an example communication environment in which example embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented;

[0014] FIG. 2 illustrates a signaling chart for a communication in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0015] FIG. 3 illustrates a schematic diagram of paging overload handling with additional paging messages with independent scheduling in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0016] FIG. 4 illustrates a schematic diagram of paging overload handling with additional paging messages with physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) optimized scheduling in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0017] FIG. 5 illustrates a flowchart of a method implemented at a first apparatus in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0018] FIG. 6 illustrates a flowchart of a method implemented at a second apparatus in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0019] FIG. 7 illustrates a simplified block diagram of a device that is suitable for implementing example embodiments of the present disclosure; and [0020] FIG. 8 illustrates a block diagram of an example computer readable medium in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0021] Throughout the drawings, the same or similar reference numerals represent the same or similar element.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0022] Principle of the present disclosure will now be described with reference to some example embodiments. It is to be understood that these embodiments are described only for the purpose of illustration and help those skilled in the art to understand and implement the present disclosure, without suggesting any limitation as to the scope of the disclosure. Embodiments described herein can be implemented in various manners other than the ones described below.

[0023] In the following description and claims, unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skills in the art to which this disclosure belongs.

[0024] References in the present disclosure to “one embodiment,” “an embodiment,” “an example embodiment,” and the like indicate that the embodiment described may include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, but it is not necessary that every embodiment includes the particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Moreover, such phrases are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment. Further, when a particular feature, structure, or characteristic is described in connection with an embodiment, it is submitted that it is within the knowledge of one skilled in the art to affect such feature, structure, or characteristic in connection with other embodiments whether or not explicitly described.

[0025] It shall be understood that although the terms “first,” “second,”..., etc. in front of noun(s) and the like may be used herein to describe various elements, these elements should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element from another and they do not limit the order of the noun(s). For example, a first element could be termed a second element, and similarly, a second element could be termed a first element, without departing from the scope of example embodiments. As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the listed terms. [0026] As used herein, “at least one of the following: <a list of two or more elements>” and “at least one of <a list of two or more elements>” and similar wording, where the list of two or more elements are joined by “and” or “or”, mean at least any one of the elements, or at least any two or more of the elements, or at least all the elements. [0027] As used herein, unless stated explicitly, performing a step “in response to A” does not indicate that the step is performed immediately after “A” occurs and one or more intervening steps may be included.

[0028] The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of example embodiments. As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises”, “comprising”, “has”, “having”, “includes” and/or “including”, when used herein, specify the presence of stated features, elements, and/or components etc., but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, elements, components and/ or combinations thereof.

[0029] As used in this application, the term “circuitry” may refer to one or more or all of the following:

(a) hardware-only circuit implementations (such as implementations in only analog and/or digital circuitry) and

(b) combinations of hardware circuits and software, such as (as applicable):

(i) a combination of analog and/or digital hardware circuit(s) with software/firmware and

(ii) any portions of hardware processor(s) with software (including digital signal processor(s)), software, and memory(ies) that work together to cause an apparatus, such as a mobile phone or server, to perform various functions) and

(c) hardware circuit(s) and or processor(s), such as a microprocessor(s) or a portion of a microprocessor(s), that requires software (e.g., firmware) for operation, but the software may not be present when it is not needed for operation.

[0030] This definition of circuitry applies to all uses of this term in this application, including in any claims. As a further example, as used in this application, the term circuitry also covers an implementation of merely a hardware circuit or processor (or multiple processors) or portion of a hardware circuit or processor and its (or their) accompanying software and/or firmware. The term circuitry also covers, for example and if applicable to the particular claim element, a baseband integrated circuit or processor integrated circuit for a mobile device or a similar integrated circuit in server, a cellular network device, or other computing or network device.

[0031] As used herein, the term “communication network” refers to a network following any suitable communication standards, such as New Radio (NR), Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE-Advanced (LTE-A), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA), Narrow Band Internet of Things (NB-IoT) and so on. Furthermore, the communications between a terminal device and a network device in the communication network may be performed according to any suitable generation communication protocols, including, but not limited to, the first generation (1G), the second generation (2G), 2.5G, 2.75G, the third generation (3G), the fourth generation (4G), 4.5G, the fifth generation (5G), 5.5G, the sixth generation (6G) communication protocols, and/or any other protocols either currently known or to be developed in the future. Embodiments of the present disclosure may be applied in various communication systems. Given the rapid development in communications, there will of course also be future type communication technologies and systems with which the present disclosure may be embodied. It should not be seen as limiting the scope of the present disclosure to only the aforementioned system.

[0032] As used herein, the term “network device” refers to a node in a communication network via which a terminal device accesses the network and receives services therefrom. The network device may refer to a base station (BS) or an access point (AP), for example, a node B (NodeB or NB), an evolved NodeB (eNodeB or eNB), an NR NB (also referred to as a gNB), a Remote Radio Unit (RRU), a radio header (RH), a remote radio head (RRH), a relay, an Integrated Access and Backhaul (IAB) node, a low power node such as a femto, a pico, a non-terrestrial network (NTN) or non-ground network device such as a satellite network device, a low earth orbit (LEO) satellite and a geosynchronous earth orbit (GEO) satellite, an aircraft network device, and so forth, depending on the applied terminology and technology. In some example embodiments, radio access network (RAN) split architecture comprises a Centralized Unit (CU) and a Distributed Unit (DU) at an IAB donor node. An IAB node comprises a Mobile Terminal (IAB-MT) part that behaves like a UE toward the parent node, and a DU part of an IAB node behaves like a base station toward the next-hop IAB node.

[0033] The term “terminal device” refers to any end device that may be capable of wireless communication. By way of example rather than limitation, a terminal device may also be referred to as a communication device, user equipment (UE), a Subscriber Station (SS), a Portable Subscriber Station, a Mobile Station (MS), or an Access Terminal (AT). The terminal device may include, but not limited to, a mobile phone, a cellular phone, a smart phone, voice over IP (VoIP) phones, wireless local loop phones, a tablet, a wearable terminal device, a personal digital assistant (PDA), portable computers, desktop computer, image capture terminal devices such as digital cameras, gaming terminal devices, music storage and playback appliances, vehicle-mounted wireless terminal devices, wireless endpoints, mobile stations, laptop-embedded equipment (LEE), laptop-mounted equipment (LME), USB dongles, smart devices, wireless customer-premises equipment (CPE), an Internet of Things (loT) device, a watch or other wearable, a head-mounted display (HMD), a vehicle, a drone, a medical device and applications (e.g., remote surgery), an industrial device and applications (e.g., a robot and/or other wireless devices operating in an industrial and/or an automated processing chain contexts), a consumer electronics device, a device operating on commercial and/or industrial wireless networks, and the like. The terminal device may also correspond to a Mobile Termination (MT) part of an IAB node (e.g., a relay node). In the following description, the terms “terminal device”, “communication device”, “terminal”, “user equipment” and “UE” may be used interchangeably.

[0034] As used herein, the term “resource,” “transmission resource,” “resource block,” “physical resource block” (PRB), “uplink resource,” or “downlink resource” may refer to any resource for performing a communication, for example, a communication between a terminal device and a network device, such as a resource in time domain, a resource in frequency domain, a resource in space domain, a resource in code domain, or any other combination of the time, frequency, space and/or code domain resource enabling a communication, and the like. In the following, unless explicitly stated, a resource in both frequency domain and time domain will be used as an example of a transmission resource for describing some example embodiments of the present disclosure. It is noted that example embodiments of the present disclosure are equally applicable to other resources in other domains.

[0035] Example embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0036] FIG. 1 illustrates an example communication environment 100 in which example embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented. As shown in FIG. 1, the communication network 100 may comprise a first apparatus 110 which may be, for example, a terminal device or be comprised in a terminal device. In some example embodiments, the terminal device may also be discussed as a UE.

[0037] The communication network 100 may further comprise a second apparatus 120, which may be, for example, a network device or be comprised in a network device. In some example embodiments, the network device may be discussed as a BS, a gNB, or an eNB.

[0038] A serving area provided by the second apparatus 120 is called a cell. The first apparatus 110 may communicate with the second apparatus 120 within the cell 102. The cell currently serving the first apparatus may be considered as a serving cell 102.

[0039] In the following, for the purpose of illustration, some example embodiments are described with the first apparatus 110 operating as a terminal device and the second apparatus 120 operating as a network device. However, in some example embodiments, operations described in connection with a terminal device may be implemented at a network device or other device, and operations described in connection with a network device may be implemented at a terminal device or other device.

[0040] In some example embodiments, if the first apparatus 110 is a terminal device and the second apparatus 120 is a network device, a link from the second apparatus 120 to the first apparatus 110 is referred to as a downlink (DL), while a link from the first apparatus 110 to the second apparatus 120 is referred to as an uplink (UL). In DL, the second apparatus 120 is a transmitting (TX) apparatus (or a transmitter) and the first apparatus 110 is a receiving (RX) apparatus (or a receiver). In UL, the first apparatus 110 is a TX apparatus (or a transmitter) and the second apparatus 120 is an RX apparatus (or a receiver).

[0041] It is to be understood that the number of network devices and terminal devices shown in FIG. 1 is given for the purpose of illustration without suggesting any limitations. The communication environment 100 may include any suitable number of network devices and terminal devices.

[0042] Communications in the communication environment 100 may be implemented according to any proper communication protocol(s), comprising, but not limited to, cellular communication protocols of the first generation (1G), the second generation (2G), the third generation (3G), the fourth generation (4G), the fifth generation (5G), the sixth generation (6G), and the like, wireless local network communication protocols such as Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 and the like, and/or any other protocols currently known or to be developed in the future. Moreover, the communication may utilize any proper wireless communication technology, comprising but not limited to: Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA), Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), Frequency Division Duplex (FDD), Time Division Duplex (TDD), Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO), Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple (OFDM), Discrete Fourier Transform spread OFDM (DFT-s-OFDM) and/or any other technologies currently known or to be developed in the future.

[0043] A paging occasion is a specific subframe within a paging frame in which the network searches for an idle UE to deliver data to. Instead, it wakes up in a specific subframe either subframe 0, 4, 5 or 9 within a radio frame. These specific subframes within a paging frame (PF) when UE wakes up are called as Paging Occasions (POs). The paging occasion is determined by the combination of the paging cycle and the radio frame number (RFN) and/or System Frame Number (SFN) of the cell. The paging occasion is used to minimize the signaling overhead by limiting the number of subframes that the network searches for idle UEs. The PF and PO for paging are determined by the following formulae: SFN for the PF is determined by: (SFN + PF offset) mod T = (T div N)*(UE_ID mod N); Index (i s), indicating the index of the PO is determined by: i s = floor (UE ID/N) mod Ns.

[0044] For a paging message, an example of an NR paging message may have following structure:

[0045] Table 1

[0047] In NR, DL common search space (CSS) scheduling (e.g., system information network temporary identifier (SI-RNTI), paging radio network temporary identifier (P- RNTI), random access radio network temporary identifier (RA-RNTI) etc.) is handled using downlink control information (DCI) 1 0 and with radio access technology 1 (RATI). For CSS scheduling with RATI, it is required to restrict physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) scheduling limited to Coreset 0 size and most of the NR deployments are being observed with 48 PRBs as control resource set #0 (Coreset#0) size. This restriction is applied for paging scheduling too.

[0048] 3GPP allows maximum of 32 paging records per paging message and this creates io paging message size approximately about 1700 bits. Paging is allowed to be scheduled only with quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) modulation. 3GPP also has established scaling factor for paging scheduling such that robust coding rate can be applied for paging transmission. Unlike system information transmission e.g., system information blocks (SIBs), paging transmission at a given PO does not get repeated and thus, it is expected paging to be scheduled with very low target block error rate (BLER) e.g.,1% BLER. Additionally, it is expected paging slots (where paging transmissions are configured) to handle at least random access response (RAR), message 4 (MSG4) and other DCI 1 0 transmissions with cell radio network temporary identifier (C-RNTI) along with paging where all (paging/RAR/MSG4/other DCI 1 0 transmissions) would share PRBs equal to Coreset#0 size. 3 GPP allows configuring multiple paging messages per slot by configuring multiple PDCCH Monitoring Occasions (PMO) for paging per slot (e.g., paging for synchronization signal/physical broadcast channel block (SSB) beam#l and SSB beam#2 in one slot). But this becomes useless if higher paging load are considered in each PO.

[0049] Given the above requirements, in real network one paging message can contain much lower than 32 paging records. For any network deployment, the number of POs per paging discontinuous reception (DRX) cycle are decided based on the amount of paging are expected to be handled per second. Paging arrival from core network or some other sources e.g. RAN paging can be approximated with Poisson distribution. Multiple paging requests may be mapped to POs. It is to be understood that a mapping of incoming paging requests to PO depends on nature of sTmsi or I-RNTI value i.e., Function (sTmsi, I-RNTI). The arrival of Paging requests i.e., arrival rate (e.g., more or few Paging requests) depends on Poisson distribution. But the mapping of Paging requests to Paging Occasion (PO) depends on the incoming sTmsi or I-RNTI value. Thus, patterns of incoming sTmsi or I- RNTI can put more Paging load on some PO and while in the other POs it would be lower Paging load i.e., non-uniform distribution of Paging load into multiple POs.

[0050] Thus, it is possible that some PO has more paging records whereas other POs have lower number of paging records. Considering scheduling restrictions as mentioned above, it is possible that some PO may observe overloading situation and additional paging records are either being discarded and relying on some other means for retriggering the paging e.g., core network for paging request retransmission for radio resource control (RRC) IDLE mode paging or scheduled only in the next paging DRX cycle.

[0051] Each RRC IDLE and/or RRC Inactive UE monitors only one PO per paging DRX cycle. If one PO is overloaded i.e., there are more incoming paging requests (either core network initiated or RAN initiated) compared to the number of paging records can be handled in a PO due to PDSCH scheduling restrictions, then missed UE can get paged only in the next paging DRX cycle.

[0052] These leads following problems in POs where paging overloading situation are observed and therefore the paging latency would increase. A gNB needs to apply scheduling restrictions such that no other UE/RNTI gets scheduled in CSS in slots when paging is scheduled. Additionally, paging cannot be configured in SSB slots, SIB slots and/or multiple PMOs per slot cannot be configured. This is very challenging particularly when frame configuration supports lower number of DL slots and/or ducting effects are observed, and many DL symbols/slots become non-useable. To solve the above problem, it can be proposed to increase number of POs but with multi-beam solution both PDSCH and PDCCH overhead would increase quiet a lot. Thus, increasing number of POs to tackle Paging overhead is not a good solution.

[0053] In summary, depending on the paging arrival rate, the number of PO in the system is configured to handle the mean arrival rate. Additionally, a mapping of paging requests to POs may cause unequal distribution of paging loads to different POs. In case if higher number of paging records to be sent in current PO than its maximum PDSCH capacity, the paging for UE that cannot be accommodated to be postponed leading to paging delay. Increasing the number of PO just for handling the occasional paging overload is not resource efficient.

[0054] Therefore, how to reasonably manage paging overload with a limited number of POs may need to be further discussed.

[0055] In accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure, there is provided a solution for paging overload management. In this solution, the second apparatus 120 transmits, to a first apparatus at a paging occasion, an indication at least indicating a monitoring or a reception of at least one additional paging transmission is to be performed on at least one additional time interval after the paging occasion and before a subsequent paging occasion. The first apparatus 110, based on the indication, receives the at least one additional paging transmission on the at least one additional time interval from the second apparatus 120.

[0056] The reference now is made to FIG. 2, which illustrates a signaling flow 200 of communication in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purposes of discussion, the signaling flow 200 will be discussed with reference to FIG. 1, for example, by using the first apparatus 110 and the second apparatus 120 that manages a cell currently serving the first apparatus 110.

[0057] As shown in FIG. 2, the second apparatus 120 may transmit (205) to the first apparatus 110, in a paging message at a paging occasion, an indication at least indicating a monitoring or a reception of at least one additional paging transmission is to be performed on at least one additional time interval after the paging occasion and before a subsequent paging occasion.

[0058] As a first option, the first apparatus 110 may receive the indication (hereinafter may be referred to as paging overload indicator) from the second apparatus 120 via a paging DCI scrambled with a P-RNTI.

[0059] If the first apparatus 110 determines that a paging overload occurs at the paging occasion, the first apparatus 110 may determine that the at least one additional paging transmission is to be received from the second apparatus 120 in the at least one additional time interval. For example, the at least one additional paging transmission is to be received according to a specific type search space (SS) (e.g., as per Type2 SS) configuration before the subsequent paging occasion.

[0060] The first apparatus 110 may obtain, from the paging DCI, a further indication (hereinafter may also be referred to as paging subgroup bitmap) indicating whether the first apparatus is required to monitor the at least one additional paging transmission on the at least one additional time interval after the paging occasion and before a subsequent paging occasion. For example, the further indication may indicate one or more UEs is required to monitor the at least one additional paging transmission on one or more slots after the paging occasion and before a subsequent paging occasion.

[0061] If the first apparatus 110 determines that the first apparatus is required to monitor the at least one additional paging transmission, the first apparatus 110 may monitor the at least one additional paging transmission on the at least one additional time interval after the paging occasion and before a subsequent paging occasion.

[0062] In this first option, for example, for further optimization and further UE power savings, additional field can be added into DCI 1 0 scrambled with P-RNTI-paging Subgroup bitmap to convey which sub-group UEs can expect paging in the following time intervals (e.g., slots) and before the start of next PO. This will reduce the number of UEs decoding paging in the following additional slots. An example of information to be transmitted by means of the DCI 1 0 with CRC scrambled by P-RNTI is listed as below:

[0063] Table 2

[0066] As shown in table 2, in addition to the short messages indicator, the short messages and the frequency domain resource assignment, as mentioned above, paging overload indicator and paging subgroup bitmap may be added to DCI 1 0 as new IES.

[0067] The paging overload indicator may be a 1-bit indication. If it is set, then the additional paging message transmission would follow in the following slots as per Type2 SS configurations before starting of the next PO. If it is reset, then behavior is same as legacy.

[0068] The paging subgroup bitmap may be an 8-bits indication. Bits corresponding to subgroups UEs will monitor additional paging slots before next PO if those are set. Other UEs will not monitor additional paging transmission at all.

[0069] FIG. 3 illustrates a schematic diagram of paging overload handling with additional paging messages with independent scheduling.

[0070] In DCI 1 0 scrambled with P-RNTI, one additional bit may be added to signify paging overloading situation at a PO. If that bit (namely paging overload indicator bit) is set, then UEs which are monitoring paging in the given PO but has not received paging yet would continue to monitor paging in additional slots before starting of the next PO as per Type2 SS configuration. Additional paging message in following slot(s) may be scheduled independently. It implies that additional paging records scheduled in the following slots with separate DCI 1 0 scrambled with P-RNTI.

[0071] As shown in FIG. 3, the UE may monitor paging message on each PO#1, PO#2 and PO#n in 1st paging DRX cycle or 2nd paging DRX cycle. Paging overloading is indicated at PO#2 in the 1st paging DRX cycle and at PO#n in the 2nd DRX cycle.

[0072] In both cases, remaining/additional paging records are transmitted in the following slots (for example, slots 302 and 303 following the slot 301 at which the PO#2 in the 1st paging DRX cycle occurs or slot 305 and 306 following the slot 304 at which the PO#N in the 2nd DRX cycle occurs) before the next PO using a separate DCI 1 0 scrambled with P-RNTI, and slots are selected as per Type2 SS configurations. In case of PO#2 in 1st paging DRX cycle, additional paging is transmitted at immediate next slot (i.e., slot 302) whereas in case of PO#n in 2nd paging DRX cycle, additional paging is transmitted one slot (i.e., slot 306) later than the immediate next slot to convey that there exists scheduling flexibility with this proposal.

[0073] As a second option, in addition to the paging overload indicator and paging subgroup bitmap as mentioned in the first option, the first apparatus 110 may obtain, from the paging DCI, an additional indication (hereinafter may also be referred to as a slot offset) indicating an offset between a slot at which the paging occasion occurs and one or more further slots corresponding to the at least one additional time interval on which the at least one additional paging transmission is to be monitored. Based on the slot and the offset, the first apparatus 110 may determine the one or more further slots corresponding to the at least one additional time interval.

[0074] In some embodiments, the first apparatus 110 may obtain, from the paging DCI, an indication of time and frequency domain resources allocated on the one or more further slots for monitoring the at least one additional paging transmission. Furthermore, modulation and coding scheme (MCS), a transport block (TB) scaling and/or Tracking Reference Signal (TRS) availability in the additional slot.

[0075] Similar with the first option, additional field can be added into DCI 1 0 scrambled with P-RNTI-paging subgroup bitmap to convey which sub-group UEs can expect saging in the following slots and before the start of next PO. This will reduce the number of UEs decoding paging in the following additional slots. An example of information to be transmitted by means of the DCI 1 0 with CRC scrambled by P-RNTI is listed as below:

[0076] Table 3

[0081] As shown in table 3, in addition to paging overload indicator and paging Subgroup bitmap, the slot offset and frequency domain resource assignment in the additional slot and Time domain resource assignment may be added to DCI 1 0 as new IES.

[0082] For example, the slot offset may be a 3 bits indication. Time differences in terms of slots from current slot to additional paging transmission slots. This field may indicate absolute slot difference or index to a table configured by higher layers and in later case, slot differences can certainly be larger than 8 slots. If there are no additional paging slots for current PO, then this can be reset and following Time and frequency domain allocation in the additional slots could be ignored by UEs.

[0083] The Frequency domain resource assignment in the additional slot may be an + l)/2)] bits indication. Bits conveying PRBs allocation in the additional slot. The Time domain resource assignment may be a 4 bits indication. It conveys start and length indicator value (SLIV) information for scheduling paging in the additional slot.

[0084] FIG. 4 illustrates a schematic diagram of paging overload handling with additional paging messages with PDCCH optimized scheduling. DCI 1 0 scrambled with P-RNTI in PO#i can contain additional fields to convey additional paging slots offset from the PO#i, PDSCH PRBs/OFDM symbol count in the new slot. Paging gets transmitted usually using the same MCS/TB Scaling (e.g., robust link adaptation for 1% BLER Target) and thus no need to include these fields again for the additional paging slot(s). This would help to save PDCCH savings.

[0085] As shown in FIG. 4, the UE may monitor paging message on each PO#1, PO#2 and PO#n in 1st paging DRX cycle or 2nd paging DRX cycle. Paging overloading is shown at PO#2 in the 1st paging DRX cycle and at PO#n in the 2nd paging DRX cycle. In both cases remaining paging records are transmitted in the following slots (for example, slots 402 and 403 following the slot 401 at which the PO#2 in the 1st paging DRX cycle occurs or slot 405 and 406 following the slot 404 at which the PO#N in the 2nd DRX cycle occurs) before the next PO using the same DCI 1 0 scrambled with P-RNTI which is transmitted during PO itself, and additional slots are selected as per newly proposed “slot offset” field following Type2 SS configurations. In case of PO#2 in 1st paging DRX cycle, additional paging is transmitted at immediate next slot (for example, slot 402), thus slot offset = 1 whereas in case of PO#n in 2nd paging DRX cycle, additional paging is transmitted one slot later than the immediate next slot (for example, slot 406) thus slot offset = 2. PRB (frequency domain allocation) and SLIV (time domain allocation) allocation for paging message in additional slots are mentioned in DCI 1 0 transmitted at PO using newly proposed fields given below, which may help the UE to determine the resource 410 on the slot 402 and the resource 420 on the slot 406 on which the additional paging transmission is to be performed.

[0086] In addition to indicating the paging overload in paging DCI, the indication of paging overload may also be indicated in a paging message, for example a paging record.

[0087] The first apparatus 110 may receive the indication from a paging message received at the paging occasion, wherein the indication indicating there is a continuation of one or more paging records from the at least one additional paging transmission in the at least one additional time interval without waiting for the subsequent paging occasion. [0088] In some embodiments, the paging message further indicates a sub-group of user devices that are required to continue monitoring the at least one additional paging transmission in the at least one additional time interval.

[0089] In some embodiments, the at least one additional time interval comprises at least one subsequent slot of a slot at which the paging occasion occurs.

[0090] For example, NW supporting paging continuation in case of paging overload, could indicate to the first apparatus 110 about continuation of paging, so that the first apparatus 110 could continue to detect/decode paging immediately after the PO without waiting for the next PO. An example of a paging message indicating the continuation of paging is listed as below.

[0091] Table d

[0092] As shown in table 4, Paging-Ext and Sub-Group-Bitmap BIT STRING (SIZE(8)) may be added to the paging record as new indication.

[0093] Now the reference is back to FIG. 2, based on the indication received from the second apparatus 120, as described above, the first apparatus 110 determines (210) a monitoring or a reception of at least one additional paging transmission is to be performed on at least one additional time interval after the paging occasion and before a subsequent paging occasion.

[0094] Then the first apparatus 110, based on the indication, receives (215) the at least one additional paging transmission on the at least one additional time interval from the second apparatus.

[0095] Based on the solution of the present disclosure, neither discarding additional paging records mapped to an overloaded PO nor delaying the paging transmission of additional paging records to the next Paging DRX cycle.

[0096] Furthermore, scheduling flexibility can be provided. RAR/MSG4/DCI 1 0 with C-RNTI can be scheduled religiously in the paging slots depending on the Paging load at a given PO and even multiple PMOs for Paging can be configured in one slot. Additionally, Paging can be configured in same slots where SSBs, SIBs are being configured. This is very critical for frame configurations where lower number of DL slots are available and for ducting scenario where many DL slots/symbols are non-useable.

[0097] This solution may also help network to configure a bit lower number of POs per Paging DRX cycle. If there are paging overloading in some POs then additional slots can be used for paging scheduling without waiting for next paging DRX cycle. Additionally with multi-beam solution, this proposal helps to reduce PDCCH overhead by enabling configuration with lower number of POs or by scheduling the additional paging records in different slots without additional DCI 1 0. Lower number of POs help gNB in pursuing network energy savings (NES) during low load.

[0098] As mentioned above, embodiments of the present disclosure proposes a paging DCI (i.e., DCI 1 0 scrambled with P-RNTI) including paging extension bit to indicate the UE to monitor PDCCH for another DCI 1 0 scrambled with P-RNTI in the same PO for receiving extended paging.

[0099] In order to avoid all UEs attempting to decode paging in additional slots, subgroup bitmap can be included in the paging DCI, e.g., DCI 1 0 scrambled with P-RNTI. UEs only belonging to certain sub-groups would make attempt decoding paging DCI in additional slots in case of paging overloading scenario if corresponding bits are set in the sub-group bitmap. UEs belonging to other sub-group would not make attempt decoding paging in the additional slots following the overloaded PO.

[0100] In case of paging overloading in PO, UE needs to assume that paging for the current PO is not completed yet and additional paging records will be transmitted in another paging message in following slots as per Type2 SS and before next PO. This will help to handle additional latency caused due to Paging overloading.

[0101] In addition to the paging extension in Paging DCI, the RRC paging message also include indication about the extension. In this case the details of next subframe on which UE can monitor the extended paging DCI is included in the RRC message.

[0102] Paging DCI can indicate presence of successive PDSCH at fixed location at the end of current PDSCH that delivers additional paging records. The grant size for this additional PDSCH is given as fraction of primary PDSCH. This short indication avoids providing explicit Resource-allocation-info for second PDSCH

[0103] FIG. 5 shows a flowchart of an example method 500 implemented at a first apparatus in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, the method 500 will be described from the perspective of the first apparatus 110 in FIG. 1.

[0104] At block 510, the first apparatus receives, from a second apparatus at a paging occasion, an indication at least indicating a monitoring or a reception of at least one additional paging transmission is to be performed on at least one additional time interval after the paging occasion and before a subsequent paging occasion.

[0105] At block 520, the first apparatus 110 receives, based on the indication from the second apparatus, the at least one additional paging transmission on the at least one additional time interval.

[0106] In some example embodiments, the method 500 further comprises: receiving the indication from the second apparatus via a paging downlink control information, DCI, scrambled with a paging radio network temporary identifier, P-RNTI; and in accordance with a determination, based on the indication, that a paging overload occurs at the paging occasion, determining that the at least one additional paging transmission is to be received from the second apparatus in the at least one additional time interval before the subsequent paging occasion.

[0107] In some example embodiments, the at least one additional paging transmission is to be received from the second apparatus according to a specific type search space configuration.

[0108] In some example embodiments, an indication of the paging overload at the paging occasion is indicated in an information element, IE, of the paging DCI.

[0109] In some example embodiments, the method 500 further comprises: obtaining, from the paging DCI, a further indication indicating whether the first apparatus is required to monitoring the at least one additional paging transmission on the at least one additional time interval after the paging occasion and before a subsequent paging occasion; and in accordance with a determination, based on on the further indication, that the first apparatus is required to monitor the at least one additional paging transmission, monitoring the at least one additional paging transmission on the at least one additional time interval after the paging occasion and before a subsequent paging occasion.

[0110] In some example embodiments, the further indication is indicated in an information element, IE, of the paging DCI.

[OHl] In some example embodiments, the further indication is indicated by a bitmap indicating a sub-group of user devices that are required to monitor the at least one additional paging transmission on the at least one additional time interval after the paging occasion and before the subsequent paging occasion.

[0112] In some example embodiments, the method 500 further comprises: obtaining, from the paging DCI, an additional indication indicating an offset between a slot at which the paging occasion occurs and one or more further slots corresponding to the at least one additional time interval on which the at least one additional paging transmission is to be monitored; and determining the one or more further slots corresponding to the at least one additional time interval based on the slot and the offset.

[0113] In some example embodiments, the at least one additional paging transmission is to be received from the second apparatus according to a specific type search space configuration.

[0114] In some example embodiments, the additional indication is indicated in an information element, IE, of the paging DCI.

[0115] In some example embodiments, the method 500 further comprises: obtaining, from the paging DCI, an indication of at least one of: a time and frequency domain resource allocation on the one or more further slots for monitoring the at least one additional paging transmission, a modulation and coding scheme, MCS, associated with the one or more further slots, a transport block, TB, scaling in the one or more further slots, or tracking reference signal, TRS, availability in the one or more further slots.

[0116] In some example embodiments, the time and frequency domain indication is indicated in an information element, IE, of the paging DCI.

[0117] In some example embodiments, the method 500 further comprises: receiving the indication from a paging message received at the paging occasion, wherein the indication indicating there is a continuation of one or more paging records from the at least one additional paging transmission in the at least one additional time interval without waiting for the subsequent paging occasion.

[0118] In some example embodiments, the paging message further indicates a sub-group of user devices that are required to continue monitoring the at least one additional paging transmission in the at least one additional time interval.

[0119] In some example embodiments, the at least one additional time interval comprises at least one subsequent slot of a slot at which the paging occasion occurs.

[0120] FIG. 6 shows a flowchart of an example method 600 implemented at a second apparatus in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, the method 600 will be described from the perspective of the second apparatus 120 in FIG. 1.

[0121] At block 610, the second apparatus transmits, to a first apparatus at a paging occasion, an indication at least indicating a monitoring or a reception of at least one additional paging transmission is to be performed on at least one additional time interval after the paging occasion and before a subsequent paging occasion.

[0122] At block 620, the second apparatus transmits, to the first apparatus, the at least one additional paging transmission on the at least one additional time interval.

[0123] In some example embodiments, the method 600 further comprises: transmitting, to the first apparatus, the indication via a paging downlink control information, DCI, scrambled with a paging radio network temporary identifier, P-RNTI.

[0124] In some example embodiments, the indication indicating that a paging overload occurs at the paging occasion and the at least one additional paging transmission is to be transmitted to the first apparatus in the at least one additional time interval according to a specific type search space configuration before the subsequent paging occasion.

[0125] In some example embodiments, the paging DCI comprises at least one of the following: a further indication indicating whether the first apparatus is required to monitoring the at least one additional paging transmission on the at least one additional time interval after the paging occasion and before a subsequent paging occasion, an additional indication indicating an offset between a slot at which the paging occasion occurs and one or more further slots corresponding to the at least one additional time interval on which the at least one additional paging transmission is to be monitored, or a time and frequency domain indication indicating time and frequency domain resources allocated on the one or more further slots for monitoring the at least one additional paging transmission.

[0126] In some example embodiments, the further indication is indicated by a bitmap indicating a sub-group of user devices that are required to monitor the at least one additional paging transmission.

[0127] In some example embodiments, the method 600 further comprises: transmitting, to the first apparatus, the indication in a paging message transmitted at the paging occasion, wherein the indication indicating there is a continuation of the at least one additional paging transmission in the at least one additional time interval without waiting for the subsequent paging occasion.

[0128] In some example embodiments, the paging message further indicates a sub-group of user devices that are required to continue monitoring the at least one additional paging transmission in the at least one additional time interval.

[0129] In some example embodiments, the configuration of a MCS and/or a TB scaling and/or a TRS used by the second apparatus for the at least one additional paging transmission is different or same with that used by the second apparatus for a paging transmission at the paging occasion.

[0130] In some example embodiments, a first apparatus capable of performing any of the method 500 (for example, the first apparatus 110 in FIG. 1) may comprise means for performing the respective operations of the method 500. The means may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the means may be implemented in a circuitry or software module. The first apparatus may be implemented as or included in the first apparatus 110 in FIG.

[0131] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus comprises means for receiving, from a second apparatus at a paging occasion, an indication at least indicating a monitoring or a reception of at least one additional paging transmission is to be performed on at least one additional time interval after the paging occasion and before a subsequent paging occasion; and means for receiving, based on the indication from the second apparatus, the at least one additional paging transmission on the at least one additional time interval. [0132] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for receiving the indication from the second apparatus via a paging downlink control information, DCI, scrambled with a paging radio network temporary identifier, P-RNTI; and means for in accordance with a determination, based on the indication, that a paging overload occurs at the paging occasion, determining that the at least one additional paging transmission is to be received from the second apparatus in the at least one additional time interval according to a specific type search space configuration before the subsequent paging occasion.

[0133] In some example embodiments, an indication of the paging overload at the paging occasion is indicated in an information element, IE, of the paging DCI.

[0134] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for obtaining, from the paging DCI, a further indication indicating whether the first apparatus is required to monitoring the at least one additional paging transmission on the at least one additional time interval after the paging occasion and before a subsequent paging occasion; and means for in accordance with a determination, based on the further indication, that the first apparatus is required to monitor the at least one additional paging transmission, monitoring the at least one additional paging transmission on the at least one additional time interval after the paging occasion and before a subsequent paging occasion.

[0135] In some example embodiments, the further indication is indicated in an information element, IE, of the paging DCI.

[0136] In some example embodiments, the further indication is indicated by a bitmap indicating a sub-group of user devices that are required to monitor the at least one additional paging transmission.

[0137] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for obtaining, from the paging DCI, an additional indication indicating an offset between a slot at which the paging occasion occurs and one or more further slots corresponding to the at least one additional time interval on which the at least one additional paging transmission is to be monitored; and means for determining the one or more further slots corresponding to the at least one additional time interval based on the slot and the offset.

[0138] In some example embodiments, the additional indication is indicated in an information element, IE, of the paging DCI.

[0139] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for obtaining, from the paging DCI, an indication of at least one of: a time and frequency domain resource allocation on the one or more further slots for monitoring the at least one additional paging transmission, a modulation and coding scheme, MCS, associated with the one or more further slots, a transport block, TB, scaling in the one or more further slots, or tracking reference signal, TRS, availability in the one or more further slots.

[0140] In some example embodiments, the time and frequency domain indication is indicated in an information element, IE, of the paging DCI.

[0141] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for receiving the indication from a paging message received at the paging occasion, wherein the indication indicating there is a continuation of one or more paging records from the at least one additional paging transmission in the at least one additional time interval without waiting for the subsequent paging occasion.

[0142] In some example embodiments, the paging message further indicates a sub-group of user devices that are required to continue monitoring the at least one additional paging transmission in the at least one additional time interval.

[0143] In some example embodiments, the at least one additional time interval comprises at least one subsequent slot of a slot at which the paging occasion occurs.

[0144] In some example embodiments, a second apparatus capable of performing any of the method 600 (for example, the second apparatus 120 in FIG. 1]) may comprise means for performing the respective operations of the method 600. The means may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the means may be implemented in a circuitry or software module. The second apparatus may be implemented as or included in the second apparatus 120 in FIG. 1.

[0145] In some example embodiments, the second apparatus comprises means for transmitting, to a first apparatus at a paging occasion, an indication at least indicating a monitoring or a reception of at least one additional paging transmission is to be performed on at least one additional time interval after the paging occasion and before a subsequent paging occasion; and means for transmitting, to the first apparatus, the at least one additional paging transmission on the at least one additional time interval. [0146] In some example embodiments, the second apparatus further comprises: means for transmitting, to the first apparatus, the indication via a paging downlink control information, DCI, scrambled with a paging radio network temporary identifier, P-RNTI.

[0147] In some example embodiments, the indication indicating that a paging overload occurs at the paging occasion and the at least one additional paging transmission is to be transmitted to the first apparatus in the at least one additional time interval according to a specific type search space configuration before the subsequent paging occasion.

[0148] In some example embodiments, the paging DCI comprises at least one of the following: a further indication indicating whether the first apparatus is required to monitoring the at least one additional paging transmission on the at least one additional time interval after the paging occasion and before a subsequent paging occasion, an additional indication indicating an offset between a slot at which the paging occasion occurs and one or more further slots corresponding to the at least one additional time interval on which the at least one additional paging transmission is to be monitored, or a time and frequency domain indication indicating time and frequency domain resources allocated on the one or more further slots for monitoring the at least one additional paging transmission.

[0149] In some example embodiments, the further indication is indicated by a bitmap indicating a sub-group of user devices that are required to monitor the at least one additional paging transmission.

[0150] In some example embodiments, the second apparatus further comprises: means for transmitting, to the first apparatus, the indication in a paging message transmitted at the paging occasion, wherein the indication indicating there is a continuation of the at least one additional paging transmission in the at least one additional time interval without waiting for the subsequent paging occasion.

[0151] In some example embodiments, the paging message further indicates a sub-group of user devices that are required to continue monitoring the at least one additional paging transmission in the at least one additional time interval.

[0152] In some example embodiments, the configuration of a MCS and/or a TB scaling and/or a TRS used by the second apparatus for the at least one additional paging transmission is different or same with that used by the second apparatus for a paging transmission at the paging occasion.

[0153] FIG. 7 is a simplified block diagram of a device 700 that is suitable for implementing example embodiments of the present disclosure. The device 700 may be provided to implement a communication device, for example, the first apparatus 110 or the second apparatus 120 as shown in FIG. 1. As shown, the device 700 includes one or more processors 710, one or more memories 720 coupled to the processor 710, and one or more communication modules 740 coupled to the processor 710.

[0154] The communication module 740 is for bidirectional communications. The communication module 740 has one or more communication interfaces to facilitate communication with one or more other modules or devices. The communication interfaces may represent any interface that is necessary for communication with other network elements. In some example embodiments, the communication module 740 may include at least one antenna.

[0155] The processor 710 may be of any type suitable to the local technical network and may include one or more of the following: general purpose computers, special purpose computers, microprocessors, digital signal processors (DSPs) and processors based on multicore processor architecture, as non-limiting examples. The device 700 may have multiple processors, such as an application specific integrated circuit chip that is slaved in time to a clock which synchronizes the main processor.

[0156] The memory 720 may include one or more non-volatile memories and one or more volatile memories. Examples of the non-volatile memories include, but are not limited to, a Read Only Memory (ROM) 724, an electrically programmable read only memory (EPROM), a flash memory, a hard disk, a compact disc (CD), a digital video disk (DVD), an optical disk, a laser disk, and other magnetic storage and/or optical storage. Examples of the volatile memories include, but are not limited to, a random-access memory (RAM) 722 and other volatile memories that will not last in the power-down duration.

[0157] A computer program 730 includes computer executable instructions that are executed by the associated processor 710. The instructions of the program 730 may include instructions for performing operations/acts of some example embodiments of the present disclosure. The program 730 may be stored in the memory, e.g., the ROM 724. The processor 710 may perform any suitable actions and processing by loading the program 730 into the RAM 722.

[0158] The example embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented by means of the program 730 so that the device 700 may perform any process of the disclosure as discussed with reference to FIG. 2 to FIG. 6. The example embodiments of the present disclosure may also be implemented by hardware or by a combination of software and hardware.

[0159] In some example embodiments, the program 730 may be tangibly contained in a computer readable medium which may be included in the device 700 (such as in the memory 720) or other storage devices that are accessible by the device 700. The device 700 may load the program 730 from the computer readable medium to the RAM 722 for execution. In some example embodiments, the computer readable medium may include any types of non-transitory storage medium, such as ROM, EPROM, a flash memory, a hard disk, CD, DVD, and the like. The term “non-transitory,” as used herein, is a limitation of the medium itself (i.e., tangible, not a signal) as opposed to a limitation on data storage persistency (e.g., RAM vs. ROM).

[0160] FIG. 8 shows an example of the computer readable medium 800 which may be in form of CD, DVD or other optical storage disk. The computer readable medium 800 has the program 730 stored thereon.

[0161] Generally, various embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented in hardware or special purpose circuits, software, logic or any combination thereof. Some aspects may be implemented in hardware, and other aspects may be implemented in firmware or software which may be executed by a controller, microprocessor or other computing device. Although various aspects of embodiments of the present disclosure are illustrated and described as block diagrams, flowcharts, or using some other pictorial representations, it is to be understood that the block, apparatus, system, technique or method described herein may be implemented in, as non-limiting examples, hardware, software, firmware, special purpose circuits or logic, general purpose hardware or controller or other computing devices, or some combination thereof.

[0162] Some example embodiments of the present disclosure also provide at least one computer program product tangibly stored on a computer readable medium, such as a non- transitory computer readable medium. The computer program product includes computer- executable instructions, such as those included in program modules, being executed in a device on a target physical or virtual processor, to carry out any of the methods as described above. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, libraries, objects, classes, components, data structures, or the like that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. The functionality of the program modules may be combined or split between program modules as desired in various embodiments. Machine-executable instructions for program modules may be executed within a local or distributed device. In a distributed device, program modules may be located in both local and remote storage media.

[0163] Program code for carrying out methods of the present disclosure may be written in any combination of one or more programming languages. The program code may be provided to a processor or controller of a general-purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus, such that the program code, when executed by the processor or controller, cause the functions/operations specified in the flowcharts and/or block diagrams to be implemented. The program code may execute entirely on a machine, partly on the machine, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the machine and partly on a remote machine or entirely on the remote machine or server.

[0164] In the context of the present disclosure, the computer program code or related data may be carried by any suitable carrier to enable the device, apparatus or processor to perform various processes and operations as described above. Examples of the carrier include a signal, computer readable medium, and the like.

[0165] The computer readable medium may be a computer readable signal medium or a computer readable storage medium. A computer readable medium may include but not limited to an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. More specific examples of the computer readable storage medium would include an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a random-access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing.

[0166] Further, although operations are depicted in a particular order, this should not be understood as requiring that such operations be performed in the particular order shown or in sequential order, or that all illustrated operations be performed, to achieve desirable results. In certain circumstances, multitasking and parallel processing may be advantageous. Likewise, although several specific implementation details are contained in the above discussions, these should not be construed as limitations on the scope of the present disclosure, but rather as descriptions of features that may be specific to particular embodiments. Unless explicitly stated, certain features that are described in the context of separate embodiments may also be implemented in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, unless explicitly stated, various features that are described in the context of a single embodiment may also be implemented in a plurality of embodiments separately or in any suitable sub-combination.

[0167] Although the present disclosure has been described in languages specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the present disclosure defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above. Rather, the specific features and acts described above are disclosed as example forms of implementing the claims.

Claims

We Claim:

1. A first apparatus comprising: at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the first apparatus at least to: receive, from a second apparatus at a paging occasion, an indication at least indicating a monitoring or a reception of at least one additional paging transmission is to be performed on at least one additional time interval after the paging occasion and before a subsequent paging occasion; and receive, based on the indication from the second apparatus, the at least one additional paging transmission on the at least one additional time interval.

2. The first apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first apparatus is caused to: receive the indication from the second apparatus via a paging downlink control information, DCI, scrambled with a paging radio network temporary identifier, P-RNTI; and in accordance with a determination, based on the indication, that a paging overload occurs at the paging occasion, determine that the at least one additional paging transmission is to be received from the second apparatus in the at least one additional time interval before the subsequent paging occasion.

3. The firs apparatus of claim 2, wherein the at least one additional paging transmission is to be received from the second apparatus according to a specific type search space configuration.

4. The first apparatus of claim 2 or 3, wherein an indication of the paging overload at the paging occasion is indicated in an information element, IE, of the paging DCI.

5. The first apparatus of any of claims 2-4, wherein the first apparatus is caused to: obtain, from the paging DCI, a further indication indicating whether the first apparatus is required to monitoring the at least one additional paging transmission on the at least one additional time interval after the paging occasion and before a subsequent paging occasion; and in accordance with a determination, based on the further indication, that the first apparatus is required to monitor the at least one additional paging transmission, monitor the at least one additional paging transmission on the at least one additional time interval after the paging occasion and before a subsequent paging occasion.

6. The first apparatus of claim 5, wherein the further indication is indicated in an information element, IE, of the paging DCI.

7. The first apparatus of claim 5 or 6, wherein the further indication is indicated by a bitmap indicating a sub-group of user devices that are required to monitor the at least one additional paging transmission on the at least one additional time interval after the paging occasion and before the subsequent paging occasion

8. The first apparatus of any of claims 2-7, wherein the first apparatus is caused to: obtain, from the paging DCI, an additional indication indicating an offset between a slot at which the paging occasion occurs and one or more further slots corresponding to the at least one additional time interval on which the at least one additional paging transmission is to be received; and determine the one or more further slots corresponding to the at least one additional time interval based on the slot and the offset.

9. The first apparatus of claim 8, wherein the at least one additional paging transmission is to be received from the second apparatus according to a specific type search space configuration.

10. The first apparatus of claim 8 or 9, wherein the additional indication is indicated in an information element, IE, of the paging DCI.

11. The first apparatus of any of claims 8-10, wherein the first apparatus is caused to: obtain, from the paging DCI, an indication of at least one of: a time and frequency domain resource allocation on the one or more further slots for monitoring the at least one additional paging transmission, a modulation and coding scheme, MCS, associated with the one or more further slots, a transport block, TB, scaling in the one or more further slots, or tracking reference signal, TRS, availability in the one or more further slots.

12. The first apparatus of claim 11, wherein the time and frequency domain indication is indicated in an information element, IE, of the paging DCI.

13. The first apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first apparatus is caused to: receive the indication from a paging message received at the paging occasion, wherein the indication indicating there is a continuation of one or more paging massages from the at least one additional paging transmission in the at least one additional time interval without waiting for the subsequent paging occasion.

14. The first apparatus of claim 13, wherein the paging message further indicates a sub-group of user devices that are required to continue monitoring the at least one additional paging transmission in the at least one additional time interval.

15. The first apparatus of claim 13 or 14, wherein the at least one additional time interval comprises at least one subsequent slot of a slot at which the paging occasion occurs.

16. A second apparatus comprising: at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the second apparatus at least to: transmit, to a first apparatus at a paging occasion, an indication at least indicating a monitoring or a reception of at least one additional paging transmission is to be performed on at least one additional time interval after the paging occasion and before a subsequent paging occasion; and transmit, to the first apparatus, the at least one additional paging transmission on the at least one additional time interval.

17. The second apparatus of claim 16, wherein the second apparatus is caused to: transmit, to the first apparatus, the indication via a paging downlink control information, DCI, scrambled with a paging radio network temporary identifier, P-RNTI.

18. The second apparatus of claim 17, wherein the indication indicating that a paging overload occurs at the paging occasion and the at least one additional paging transmission is to be transmitted to the first apparatus in the at least one additional time interval before the subsequent paging occasion.

19. The second apparatus of claim 18, wherein the paging DCI comprises at least one of the following: a further indication indicating whether the first apparatus is required to monitoring the at least one additional paging transmission on the at least one additional time interval after the paging occasion and before a subsequent paging occasion, an additional indication indicating an offset between a slot at which the paging occasion occurs and one or more further slots corresponding to the at least one additional time interval on which the at least one additional paging transmission is to be monitored, or a time and frequency domain indication indicating time and frequency domain resources allocated on the one or more further slots for monitoring the at least one additional paging transmission.

20. The second apparatus of claim 19, wherein the further indication is indicated by a bitmap indicating a sub-group of user devices that are required to monitor the at least one additional paging transmission.

21. The second apparatus of claim 16, wherein the second apparatus is caused to: transmit, to the first apparatus, the indication in a paging message transmitted at the paging occasion, wherein the indication indicating there is a continuation of the at least one additional paging transmission in the at least one additional time interval without waiting for the subsequent paging occasion.

22. The second apparatus of claim 21, wherein the paging message further indicates a sub-group of user devices that are required to continue monitoring the at least one additional paging transmission in the at least one additional time interval before the subsequent paging occasion.

23. The second apparatus of claim 22, wherein the configuration of a MCS and/or a TB scaling and/or a TRS used by the second apparatus for the at least one additional paging transmission is different or same with that used by the second apparatus for a paging transmission at the paging occasion.

24. A method comprising: receiving, at a first apparatus from a second apparatus at a paging occasion, an indication at least indicating a monitoring or a reception of at least one additional paging transmission is to be performed on at least one additional time interval after the paging occasion and before a subsequent paging occasion. receiving, based on the indication from the second apparatus, the at least one additional paging transmission on the at least one additional time interval.

25. A method comprising: transmitting, from a second apparatus to a first apparatus at a paging occasion, an indication at least indicating a monitoring or a reception of at least one additional paging transmission is to be performed on at least one additional time interval after the paging occasion and before a subsequent paging occasion. transmitting, to the first apparatus, the at least one additional paging transmission on the at least one additional time interval.

26. A first apparatus comprising: means for receiving, from a second apparatus at a paging occasion, an indication at least indicating a monitoring or a reception of at least one additional paging transmission is to be performed on at least one additional time interval after the paging occasion and before a subsequent paging occasion; and means for receiving, based on the indication from the second apparatus, the at least one additional paging transmission on the at least one additional time interval.

27. A second apparatus comprising: means for transmitting, to a first apparatus at a paging occasion, an indication at least indicating a monitoring or a reception of at least one additional paging transmission is to be performed on at least one additional time interval after the paging occasion and before a subsequent paging occasion; and means for transmitting, to the first apparatus, the at least one additional paging transmission on the at least one additional time interval.

28. A computer readable medium comprising instructions stored thereon for causing an apparatus at least to perform the method of claim 24 or the method of claim 25.