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WO2025215605A1 - Measurement report after ondemand ssb - Google Patents

Measurement report after ondemand ssb

Info

Publication number
WO2025215605A1
WO2025215605A1 PCT/IB2025/053836 IB2025053836W WO2025215605A1 WO 2025215605 A1 WO2025215605 A1 WO 2025215605A1 IB 2025053836 W IB2025053836 W IB 2025053836W WO 2025215605 A1 WO2025215605 A1 WO 2025215605A1
Authority
WO
WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
cell
measurement report
ssb
network
message
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/IB2025/053836
Other languages
French (fr)
Inventor
Venkatarao Gonuguntla
Sven JACOBSSON
Ali Nader
Helka-Liina MÄÄTTÄNEN
Gustav Lindmark
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
Priority date (The priority date 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 date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson AB filed Critical Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson AB
Publication of WO2025215605A1 publication Critical patent/WO2025215605A1/en
Pending legal-status Critical Current
Anticipated expiration legal-status Critical

Links

Classifications

    • 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
    • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04L5/00—Arrangements affording multiple use of the transmission path
    • H04L5/0001—Arrangements for dividing the transmission path
    • H04L5/0014—Three-dimensional division
    • H04L5/0023—Time-frequency-space
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04L5/00—Arrangements affording multiple use of the transmission path
    • H04L5/003—Arrangements for allocating sub-channels of the transmission path
    • H04L5/0048—Allocation of pilot signals, i.e. of signals known to the receiver
    • H04L5/005—Allocation of pilot signals, i.e. of signals known to the receiver of common pilots, i.e. pilots destined for multiple users or terminals
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04L5/00—Arrangements affording multiple use of the transmission path
    • H04L5/0091—Signalling for the administration of the divided path, e.g. signalling of configuration information
    • H04L5/0096—Indication of changes in allocation
    • H04L5/0098—Signalling of the activation or deactivation of component carriers, subcarriers or frequency bands
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
    • H04W52/00—Power management, e.g. Transmission Power Control [TPC] or power classes
    • H04W52/02—Power saving arrangements
    • H04W52/0203—Power saving arrangements in the radio access network or backbone network of wireless communication networks
    • H04W52/0206—Power saving arrangements in the radio access network or backbone network of wireless communication networks in access points, e.g. base stations

Definitions

  • the present disclosure relates to network management and in particular to measurement report after OnDemand SSB.
  • a Synchronization Signal Block For a cell in NR, typically, a Synchronization Signal Block (SSB) is transmitted periodically, and it may be used to aid UE’s initial cell search, acquire frame/slot timing, initial time/frequency synchronization, measurements, and as QCL reference for channels/signals, etc.
  • SSBs With beamforming, SSBs must be transmitted in multiple beams, and this can lead to further increased network energy consumption, when the SSBs are transmitted in a burst that can span one or multiple slots.
  • An NR gNB can be configured with up to 64 SSBs.
  • the configured SSBs in a cell for UEs in RRC IDLE/INACTIVE have all the same periodicity and output power.
  • the gNB can provide information to the UEs about how many/which SSBs that are active (present) within the serving cell and neighboring cells.
  • the SSB consists of a primary synchronization signal (PSS), a secondary synchronization signal (SSS) and the physical broadcast channel (PBCH).
  • PSS primary synchronization signal
  • SSS secondary synchronization signal
  • PBCH physical broadcast channel
  • the gNB can further provide information about the rate/periodicity at which these SSBs are provided on cell level.
  • the parameter ssb- PositionsInBurst indicates which of the SSBs that are active, and the parameter ssb- PeriodicityServingCell specifies the rate/periodicity of them.
  • the UEs are informed about the SSBs output power via the common parameter ss-PBCH- BlockPower.
  • a gNB can specify the neighboring active (present) SSBs via the parameter ssb-ToMeasure and the associated rate/periodicity via the SSB Measurement Timing Configuration (SMTC) which defines the time window during which the UE measures the SSBs belonging to these neighboring cells.
  • SMTC SSB Measurement Timing Configuration
  • the UE makes certain assumptions for a standalone NR cell upon the cell selection procedure. Even though the periodicity of the SSB is configurable, the UE upon initial cell selection expects that the SSB is provided every 20ms in that cell.
  • the master information block (MIB) is part of the SSB. Together with SIB1 they are called Minimum System Information (Minimum SI).
  • UEs are configured with the above SSB/SIB1/SI presence and timing/rate information either in RRC IDLE/INACTIVE via broadcast system information or in RRC Connected via dedicated RRC messages.
  • IDLE/INACTIVE the ssb- PositionsInBurst and ssb-Periodicity Serving for serving cell is configured via SIB1 and the SMTC configurations for neighboring cells are provided in SIB2/SIB4 contained in SI messages.
  • FIG. 1 illustrates an example SSB transmission/structure.
  • the MIB is transmitted in the message part of the PBCH, which is a part of the SSB, and it contains the following information:
  • the MIB includes the system information transmitted on BCH.
  • the SSB also provides the UE with a physical cell ID (derived from the sequence indexes of the PSS and SSS) and an SSB- Index (derived from the sequence index of the DM-RS transmitted in the PBCH).
  • a gNB may omit SSB transmissions on a cell and the UE may use SSB of another cell (e.g. another serving deployed on frequency resources adjacent to current serving cell’s frequency resources in same frequency band, or with certain restrictions, in another serving cell in in another frequency band).
  • another cell e.g. another serving deployed on frequency resources adjacent to current serving cell’s frequency resources in same frequency band, or with certain restrictions, in another serving cell in in another frequency band.
  • a UE can be configured with multiple serving cells via carrier aggregation and/or dual connectivity (e.g. with a MCG and an SCG).
  • SCell secondary serving cells
  • SSB(s) may be transmitted on each of the serving cells, including the primary serving cell and secondary serving cell.
  • the SCells can be activated/deactivated using an SCell activation command that is typically communicated using a MAC CE such as SCell Activation/Deactivation MAC CE or an enhanced SCell Activation/Deactivation MAC CE.
  • the UE monitors downlink control messages (PDCCH, etc), measures and report CSI, transmits uplink SRS, etc.
  • PDCH downlink control messages
  • the UE does not need to monitor downlink control messages (PDCCH, etc), measure and report CSI, or transmit uplink SRS, etc.
  • a UE can save energy when an SCell is deactivated.
  • the UE Upon receiving an SCell activation message (e.g. from the gNB), the UE starts acquiring the AGC, time/frequency sync and should be able to activate the SCell within a certain duration as defined by the requirements for different cases, such as known cell vs unknown cell, etc. (described further below). If the SCell is known, delay required for SCell activation is shorter and if the SCell is unknown, the delay required to activate SCell is longer.
  • the legacy SCell Activation/Deactivation MAC CE of one octet is identified by a MAC subheader with LCID as specified in Table 6.2.1-1 of TS 38.321. It has a fixed size and consists of a single octet containing seven C-fields and one R-field (Reserve field).
  • the SCell Activation/Deactivation MAC CE with one octet is defined in Section 6.1.3.10 of TS 38.321 as follows:
  • the SCell Activation/Deactivation MAC CE of one octet is identified by a MAC subheader with LCID as specified in Table 6.2.1-1. It has a fixed size and consists of a single octet containing seven C-fields and one R-field.
  • the SCell Activation/Deactivation MAC CE with one octet is defined as follows (FIG. 6.1.3.10-1).
  • the SCell Activation/Deactivation MAC CE of four octets is identified by a MAC subheader with LCID as specified in Table 6.2.1-1. It has a fixed size and consists of four octets containing 31 C-fields and one R- field.
  • the SCell Activation/Deactivation MAC CE of four octets is defined as follows (FIG. 6.1.3.10-2).
  • Ci 1 to indicate that the SCell with SCelllndex i shall be activated.
  • the Ci field is set to 0 to indicate that the SCell with SCelllndex i shall be deactivated;
  • FIG. 2 is a copy of TS 38.321 FIG. 6.1.3.10-1 showing the SCell Activation/Deactivation MAC CE of one octet.
  • the gNB can also indicate to the
  • the Enhanced SCell Activation/Deactivation MAC CE with one octet Ci field is identified by a MAC subheader with eLCID as specified in Table 6.2.1-lb. It has a variable size and consists of seven C-fields, one R-field and zero or more TRS IDj fields in ascending order based on the Scelllndex for SCells indicated by the Ci field(s) to be activated.
  • the Enhanced SCell Activation/Deactivation MAC CE of with one octet Ci field is defined as follows (FIG. 6.1.3.55-1).
  • the Enhanced SCell Activation/Deactivation MAC CE with four octet Ci field is identified by a MAC subheader with eLCID as specified in Table 6.2.1-lb. It has a variable size and consists of 31 C-fields, one R-field and zero or more TRS IDj fields in ascending order based on the Scelllndex for SCells indicated by the Ci field(s) to be activated.
  • the Enhanced SCell Activation/Deactivation MAC CE with four octet Ci field is defined as follows (FIG. 6.1.3.55-2).
  • Ci 1 to indicate that the SCell with SCelllndex i shall be activated and that a TRS IDj field is included for the SCell.
  • the Ci field is set to 0 to indicate that the SCell with SCelllndex i shall be deactivated and that no TRS ID field is included for this SCell;
  • TRS IDj If TRS IDj is set to a non-zero value, it indicates the corresponding TRS address by scellActivationRS-Id as specified in TS 38.331 [5] is activated. If TRS IDj is set to zero, it indicates that no TRS is used for the corresponding SCell;
  • FIG. 3 is a copy of TS 38.321 FIG. 6.1.3.55-1 showing Enhanced SCell
  • SCell known or unknown conditions are defined based on whether UE has reported the measurement reports to the network, for example as described in TS 38.133 Section 8.3.2. Excerpt of TS 38.133 VI 8.1.0 (Section 8.3.2) Begins
  • SCell in FR1 is known if it has been meeting the following conditions:
  • the SCell For the first SCell activation in FR2 bands, the SCell is known if it has been meeting the following conditions:
  • the UE has sent a valid L3-RSRP measurement report with SSB index
  • the reported SSBs with indexes remain detectable according to the cell identification conditions specified in clauses 9.2 and 9.3, and the TCI state is selected based on one of the latest reported SSB indexes.
  • the first SCell in FR2 band is unknown.
  • the requirement for unknown SCell applies provided that the activation commands for PDCCH TCI, PDSCH TCI (when applicable), semi-persistent CSI-RS for CQI reporting (when applicable), and configuration message for TCI of periodic CSI-RS for CQI reporting (when applicable) are based on the latest valid Ll-RSRP reporting.
  • on-demand SSBs may be provided “temporarily” to UEs whose functionality or performance may be improved if additional signals for loop conversion, synchronization, measurements, or other signal processing steps are available.
  • a cell may be transmitting baseline SSBs at a lower rate, e.g. 160 ms or 20 ms, or no SSBs may be transmitted as a baseline.
  • the network may then activate additional SSBs or SSB bursts, e.g. with period 20 ms or 5 ms, respectively, in association with certain procedures, such as SCell activation.
  • On- demand SSBs may be one-shot transmissions or limited-duration SSB bursts, with or without a recurrent structure.
  • the on-demand SSBs may be transmitted during a specified/ configured time window or transmitted until further notice (until explicitly notified to the UE and turned off). They may be transmitted at the same or at a different power level and spatial configuration than the baseline SSB.
  • SCell activation delay requirements are based on the known and unknown conditions of the SCell to be activated.
  • SCell activation delay is X time units (e.g. X ms) and if the SCell is not known, SCell activation delay is Y time units (e.g. Y ms) where Y larger than X.
  • SCell known/unknown condition is based on whether UE has sent a measurement report (related to the measurement performed on the SCell) to the gNB in less than certain time or not.
  • the UE may not have sent the measurement report for the SCell to the gNB but in some scenarios the SCell may still be considered as known cell from UE side, e.g., if the UE has not moved out of the SCell coverage or UE does not send measurement report but was measuring the SCell.
  • the network node serving the UE has no information about the status of the cell (whether it is known or unknown). This may lead to unpredictable serving cell activation delay from the network node perspective. This in turn may lead to degradation of the performance since network may not be able to allocate the resources for scheduling after the activation of the serving cell
  • An aspect of the present disclosure provides a method performed by a user equipment for transmitting a serving cell measurement report upon on-demand SSB, the user equipment being served by a first cell (Cell-1) and second cell (Cell-2).
  • the method comprises:
  • a further aspect of the present disclosure provides a method performed by a network node for triggering a UE to transmit a serving cell measurement report upon on-demand SSB, the network node serving a first cell (Cell-1), the UE being served by Cell-1.
  • the method comprising:
  • the UE is configured by the network to trigger/transmit a measurement report or an indication related to a measurement performed by the UE on SSBs (including on-demand SSBs) when sufficient number of SSBs has been processed by the UE for different cases (e.g., an SCell is/has become known, or enough SSBs have been measured by the UE from a neighbour cell during a handover scenario, or during an MDT procedure such that the cell is perceived as measured by the UE).
  • SSBs including on-demand SSBs
  • the network Based on the report/indication from the UE, the network knows that enough on-demand SSBs have been provided to the UE and the network can e.g., turn off on- demand SSBs, or transmit SSBs at a lower rate and thereby save resources and energy.
  • the UE implicitly based on the report it provided knows that the on-demand SSB provision is terminated upon/after the report, or its rate is changed (e.g. reduced).
  • the network explicitly sends a command to the UE for changing/terminating the on-demand SSB configuration.
  • the UE transmits the measurement report for an activated SCell on which on-demand SSBs are provided if the UE has been requested by the network to send the measurement report/indication e.g. triggered by the serving cell activation message/command or by a separate message as soon as the SCell is known by the UE.
  • the measurement report/indication e.g. triggered by the serving cell activation message/command or by a separate message as soon as the SCell is known by the UE.
  • the UE Based on network configuration, the UE reports/indicates when sufficient number of SSBs has been processed by the UE.
  • the network Based on the report from the UE, the network knows that enough on- demand SSBs have been provided to the UE and the network can e.g., turn off on- demand SSBs, or transmit SSBs at a lower rate and thereby save resources and energy.
  • the network knows when the SCell has become known to the UE and can start scheduling the UE on the SCell. See further in section 2.7 below.
  • Certain embodiments may provide one or more of the following technical advantage(s). Unnecessary SSBs transmission (on-demand, or high-rate SSB) is avoided and thereby both resources and energy are saved in the network. Furthermore, SCell activation delay may be reduced.
  • Embodiments of a base station, communication system, and a method in a communication system are also disclosed.
  • FIG.s incorporated in and forming a part of this specification illustrate several aspects of the disclosure, and together with the description serve to explain principles of the disclosure.
  • FIG. 1 illustrates an example SSB transmission/structure
  • FIG. 2 is a copy of TS 38.321 FIG. 6.1.3.10-1 showing the SCell Activation/Deactivation MAC CE of one octet.
  • FIG. 3 is a copy of TS 38.321 FIG. 6.1.3.55-1 showing Enhanced SCell Activation/Deactivation MAC CE with one octet Ci field;
  • FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an example method in a UE in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure
  • FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an example method in a network node in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure
  • FIG. 6 shows an example of a communication system 600 in accordance with some embodiments
  • FIG. 7 shows a UE 700 in accordance with some embodiments
  • FIG. 8 shows a network node 800 in accordance with some embodiments.
  • FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating a virtualization environment 900 in which functions implemented by some embodiments may be virtualized. Detailed Description
  • Radio Node As used herein, a “radio node” is either a radio access node or a wireless device. [0045] Radio Access Node: As used herein, a “radio access node” or “radio network node” is any node in a radio access network of a cellular communications network that operates to wirelessly transmit and/or receive signals.
  • a radio access node examples include, but are not limited to, a base station (e.g., a New Radio (NR) base station (gNB) in a Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Fifth Generation (5G) NR network or an enhanced or evolved Node B (eNB) in a 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) network), a high-power or macro base station, a low-power base station (e.g., a micro base station, a pico base station, a home eNB, or the like), and a relay node.
  • a base station e.g., a New Radio (NR) base station (gNB) in a Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Fifth Generation (5G) NR network or an enhanced or evolved Node B (eNB) in a 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) network
  • a high-power or macro base station e.g., a micro base station, a pico base station, a home eNB, or the like
  • Core Network Node is any type of node in a core network.
  • Some examples of a core network node include, e.g., a Mobility Management Entity (MME), a Packet Data Network Gateway (P-GW), a Service Capability Exposure Function (SCEF), or the like.
  • MME Mobility Management Entity
  • P-GW Packet Data Network Gateway
  • SCEF Service Capability Exposure Function
  • Wireless Device is any type of device that has access to (i.e., is served by) a cellular communications network by wirelessly transmitting (and/or receiving) signals to (and/or from) a radio access node.
  • a wireless device include, but are not limited to, a User Equipment device (UE) in a 3 GPP network and a Machine Type Communication (MTC) device.
  • UE User Equipment device
  • MTC Machine Type Communication
  • Network Node As used herein, a “network node” is any node that is either part of the radio access network or the core network of a cellular communications network/system.
  • a “cell” is a combination of radio resources (such as, for example, antenna port allocation, time and frequency) that a wireless device may use to exchange radio signals with a radio access node, which may be referred to as a host node or a serving node of the cell.
  • a radio access node which may be referred to as a host node or a serving node of the cell.
  • beams may be used instead of cells, particularly with respect to 5G NR. As such, it should be appreciated that the techniques described herein are equally applicable to both cells and beams.
  • references in this disclosure to various technical standards should be understood to refer to the specific version(s) of such standard(s) that is(were) current at the time the present application was filed, and may also refer to applicable counterparts and successors of such versions.
  • the disclosure provides means for the network to know when sufficient number/sequences of on-demand/high-rate SSBs has been provided to one or more UEs.
  • the UE reports to the network when sufficient number of SSBs have been measured.
  • the examples herein are given in the context of carrier aggregation and SCell activation during which the network provides on-demand SSBs for faster Cell activation.
  • the disclosure is equally applicable to other scenarios in which the network adapts SSB transmission rate (e.g., during handover, based on UE on-demand/high-rate SSB request, etc.), where the term adapting means one or more of turning on/off extra/on- demand SSBs, or changing the transmission rate thereof.
  • UE is configured with one or more cells, Cell-1 and Cell-2.
  • Cell-1 is primary serving cell (PCell) and Cell-2 is secondary serving cell (SCell) where Cell-2 may not be ON all the time.
  • the network may initially not be providing any SSBs on Cell-2, or alternatively provide SSBs with a low rate (e.g., once every 160ms).
  • SCell activation the network may start providing on-demand SSBs/higher-rate SSBs.
  • the network may not know for how long the on-demand SSBs need to be provided as it does not know whether the cell has become “known” to the UE.
  • the UE behavior (trigger report/indication, or not) is configurable.
  • the UE report/indication includes one or more of the following:
  • the network stops the transmission (or lowers the transmission rate) of the on-demand SSBs upon the UE report. As such, the UE knows implicitly that the network will turn off (or change the rate) of the on-demand SSBs.
  • the expected SSB provision pattern after a report is configured by the network. As such, the UE knows that after such report the SSB rate will be according to the configured pattern.
  • how the network configures the reporting behavior is connected to the configuration/type of on-demand SSBs. For example, if the on-demand SSB pattern is “forever”/“ provided until further notice” or transmitted during a longer period (e.g., longer than a prespecified/configurable time period), then a report is requested, whereas if the SSB pattern is finite (e.g. one-shot burst) and/or transmitted over a short time period (e.g., shorter than a prespecified/configurable time period) then no report is required.
  • a longer period e.g., longer than a prespecified/configurable time period
  • the network learns the UE characteristics with respect to how many SSBs the UE needs for the different scenarios and adapts the SSB provision scheme towards that UE. For example, if the network has learnt that the UE only needs N number of SSBs for the sake of SCell activation, it then only provides a finite on-demand SSB sequence including N (potentially +/- one or more) SSBs during the activation phase and may configure the UE to not explicitly trigger the extra report described in the disclosure.
  • UE is configured with two or more cells, including, at least, Cell-1 and Cell-2.
  • Cell-1 is the PCell and Cell-2 is an SCell where Cell-2 may be powered OFF (it may be called as OFF state) and not transmitting SSB while it is in OFF state.
  • OFF state may refer to SSB not transmitting.
  • ON state means SSB is transmitted.
  • neither on-demand SSB nor legacy/always-on SSB is transmitted in an OFF state.
  • on-demand SSB is not transmitted in an OFF state but legacy/always-on SSB may or may not be transmitted.
  • a cell that is OFF is also not activated.
  • FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an example method 400 in a UE served by a first cell (Cell-1) and second cell (Cell-2) in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure.
  • the method comprises:
  • Step 1 (at 402): The UE receives an indication (Message-1) from either a first cell (Cell-1) or a second cell (Cell-2) for the reception of SSB on Cell-2.
  • the UE may receive Message-1 at a reference time instance (Tr).
  • Message- 1 is an on-demand SSB indication message indicating the transmission of SSB from the Cell-2.
  • Message- 1 also includes a serving cell activation command for Cell-2.
  • Step 2 (at 404): The UE performs measurements in response to Message- 1.
  • the measurements include RRM measurements such as, for example, RSRP, RSRQ, and SINR.
  • Step 3 (at 406): The UE determines whether to transmit a measurement report for a measurement performed in response to Message- 1, based at least in part on a predetermined rule; and
  • Step 4 (at 408): The UE transmits the measurement report to Cell-1 or Cell- 2, when it is determined to transmit the measurement report.
  • UE After performing measurements (step 2), UE reports to the network (i.e. Cell-1 or Cell-2) based on a predetermined rule, which provides a new reporting mechanism.
  • the network i.e. Cell-1 or Cell-2
  • Cell-2 may be in OFF state for extended period of time (e.g., for power saving purposes).
  • Cell-2 may transmit SSB more frequently (e.g., On Demand SSB) and the same is indicated to UE or group of UEs (e.g., the message which indicates OnDemand SSB is called as Message-1).
  • SSB On Demand SSB
  • the network may need to acquire recent measurement results from the UEs so that the network knows which UEs are under coverage of Cell-2. If Cell-2 has to be activated quickly, the network may need to know the measurement experienced by the UE.
  • the RRM measurements or L3 configured measurements are periodic or semi-persistent, or event triggered. The legacy L3 measurements triggering, and measurement takes longer time and may not work well for cell which comes from OFF state to on state.
  • the present disclosure provides a rule for determining whether or not the UE should send a measurement report.
  • the UE is required to transmit the measurement report for Cell-2 upon receiving Message- 1 command regardless of any other conditions.
  • the UE is required to transmit the measurement report for Cell-2 upon receiving Message- 1 when one or more of the following conditions is met:
  • Txl can be pre-defined or configured by network. In one example, Txl is a fixed value (e.g., 5 seconds)
  • Tx2 can be pre-defined or configured by network.
  • Tx2 is a fixed value (e.g. 5 seconds).
  • Tx2 is equal to the duration over which the cell remains known to the UE even if the UE has not performed measurement on that cell during Tx2.
  • Cell-2 is known to the UE if it meets one or more conditions related to the cell being known (described later).
  • the measurement report transmitted by the UE to network may comprise measured value (e.g., RSRP of -90 dBm) of the measurement performed on Cell-2.
  • the measurement report transmitted by the UE to network may comprise an indicator indicating that Cell-2 is known to the UE. This latter approach reduces the signaling overhead.
  • the UE determines the reporting mechanism/approach based on pre-defined rule or configuration received from network.
  • Tx3 can be pre-defined or configured by network.
  • the UE is pre-configured by higher layer (e.g., via RRC message) that the UE should transmit the measurement report for Cell-2 upon receiving Message- 1 or on-demand SSB.
  • higher layer e.g., via RRC message
  • the UE is configured to report the measurement report for measurement performed on Cell-2 to network, if the UE is indicated to report the measurement report of Cell-2 by the network.
  • the UE may be indicated to report the Cell-2 ’s measurement report, through a configuration message sent to the UE by the network in the Message- 1.
  • the configuration message can be included or added to the serving cell activation command (e.g. via MAC CE).
  • it can be a separate message (e.g., MAC CE or DCI) sent to the UE along with Message-1 or sent at a later point than serving cell activation command.
  • the above messages can be a UE specific or specific to group of UEs or all UEs connected to the cell.
  • the UE may be configured with RRC message to indicate measurement report.
  • An example of the configuration message using RRC message may be through the ReportConfigNR, and by introducing new IE, e.g., reportOnScellOnDemandSSB, in the ReportConfigNR.
  • New IE e.g., reportOnScellOnDemandSSB
  • ReportConfigNR SEQUENCE ⁇ reportType CHOICE ⁇ periodical Per iodical ReportConf ig , eventTriggered Eve ntT riggerConf ig , reported Reported , reportS FTD ReportS FTD-NR, condTr iggerConf ig-rl 6 CondTr iggerConf ig-rl 6 , cl i - Periodical -rl 6 CL I -Periodical ReportConfig-r l 6 , cl i - Eve ntT rigger ed-r 16 CL I -EventTriggerConfig-r l 6 , rxTxPeriodical -rl 7 RxTxPeriodical -r 17 reportOnSce llOnDemandS SB ReportOnSce l lOnDemandS SB ⁇
  • ReportOnScellOnDemandSSB in some embodiments is a new parameter/field to configure properties of the on-demand SSB report.
  • ReportOnScellOnDemandSSB is a Boolean parameter with value true, to indicate reporting on on-demand SSB transmissions.
  • the UE may further be configured to transmit the measurement report for the one or more measurements performed on Cell- 2 based on the relation between the measurement value and one or more thresholds.
  • the UE transmits the measurement report provided that the measurement value is above certain threshold e.g. RSRP > Hl 1 and/or RSRQ > H12.
  • certain threshold e.g. RSRP > Hl 1 and/or RSRQ > H12.
  • the UE transmits the measurement report provided that the measurement value of Cell-2 is not more than certain threshold below the measurement value of Cell-1, e.g., RSRP2 > (RSRP1 - H21) and/or RSRQ2 > (RSRQ1 - H22).
  • RSRP1 and RSRQ1 are measured on Cell-1 and RSRP2 and RSRQ2 are measured on Cell-2.
  • the UE is configured with Cell-1, Cell-2 and Cell-3.
  • Cell-1 is primary serving cell and Cell-2 and Cell-3 are secondary serving cells. Similar to above examples, Cell-2 is activated with on-demand SSB. Cell-3 is not activated, but for other reasons (e.g. other UEs) networks starts on-demand SSB on this cell. Network indicates to the UE about the on-demand SSB on Cell-3. Depending on configuration, UE shall measure Cell-3 and report both Cell-2(activated serving cell) and Cell-3 (not yet activated). In one example, the UE may be configured with RRC message to indicate measurement report. An example of the configuration message using RRC message may be through the ReportConfigNR, and using the IE e.g., reportSCellOnDemandSSB in the ReportConfigNR.
  • ReportConf igNR : : SEQUENCE ⁇ reportType CHOICE ⁇ periodical Period! cal ReportConfig , eventTriggered EventT riggerConfig , reported Reported , reportS FTD ReportS FTD-NR, condT rigger Conf ig-r 16 CondT rigger Conf ig-r 16 , cli - Per iodical -r 16 CL I - Per iodical ReportConf ig- r l 6 , cli -EventTriggered-rl 6 CL I -EventTr iggerConf ig- r l 6 , rxTxPer iodical -r 17 RxTxPer iodical -r 17 reportSCel lOnDemandSSB enumerated ⁇ 'uponactivation ' , 'uponS SB ' , ⁇ reportSCel lOn
  • Field value 'uponactivation means the UE only reports activated Serving cells
  • value ‘uponSSB’ means UE reports any configured serving cell upon OnDemandSSB regardless of activation status.
  • these measurements use different L3 filter coefficients than other L3 measurements.
  • the reason may be to obtain one shot, or Ll-RSRP type of measurements.
  • a benefit is that the UE may obtain these faster and it may be good enough to provide network information the cell is a known cell instead of unknown cell.
  • a separate filter coefficient configuration is provided which is applied to these measurement reports.
  • the configuration may be in IE QuantityConfig, or it may be given in IE ReportConfig.
  • the network may configure the cells or list of cells for which the UE needs to report measurement results upon on demand SSB reception.
  • This may be through RRC configuration or may be a L1/L2 signalling which indicates the list of cells the UE need to report measurement based on OnDemand SSB.
  • FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an example method 500 in a network node for triggering a UE to transmit a serving cell measurement report upon on-demand SSB in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure.
  • the network node serves or manages Cell-1 and the UE is served by Cell-1.
  • the method comprises:
  • Step 1 (at 502): The network node configures the UE to transmit a measurement report related to a measurement performed by the UE on a second cell (Cell-2) to the network node upon receiving an On Demand SSB trigger; and
  • Step 2 (at 504): The network node subsequently receives the measurement report for Cell-2 from the UE.
  • the network node may further use the received the measurement report for Cell-2 from the UE for performing one or more operational tasks.
  • the operational tasks include: determining the serving cell activation delay for Cell-2; scheduling the UE with data upon completion of the activation of Cell-2, etc.
  • the network may configure the UE to transmit the measurement report for Cell-2 in a separate message (e.g. pre-configures the UE before sending the Cell-2 activation command).
  • the network may configure the UE to transmit the measurement report for Cell-2 in the same message sent for activating Cell-2 (e.g. the Cell-2 activation command).
  • the network may configure the UE to transmit the measurement report to network based on one or more rules, which are the same as described in the UE embodiments.
  • 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.
  • 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 3 rd Generation Partnership Project (3 GPP) 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.
  • the telecommunication network 602 includes one or more Open-RAN (ORAN) network nodes.
  • ORAN 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 Open-RAN
  • 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 Al, Fl, Wl, El, 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. 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).
  • 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 prerecorded 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 FIG. 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
  • the telecommunication network 602 is a cellular network that implements 3 GPP 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 loT services to yet further UEs.
  • URLLC Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communication
  • eMBB Enhanced Mobile Broadband
  • mMTC Massive Machine Type Communication
  • 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.
  • 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 loT 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.
  • FIG. 7 shows a UE 700 in accordance with some embodiments.
  • the UE 700 presents additional details of some embodiments of the UE 612 of FIG. 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
  • WLAN personal digital assistant
  • AR Augmented Reality
  • VR Virtual Reality
  • CPE wireless customer-premise equipment
  • UEs identified by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3 GPP), including a narrow band internet of things (NB-IoT) UE, a machine type communication (MTC) UE, and/or an enhanced MTC (eMTC) UE.
  • 3 GPP 3rd Generation Partnership Project
  • NB-IoT narrow band internet of things
  • MTC machine type communication
  • eMTC enhanced MTC
  • a UE may support device-to-device (D2D) communication, for example by implementing a 3 GPP 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 FIG. 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.
  • 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 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.
  • USB Universal Serial Bus
  • 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 minidual 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
  • HDDS holographic digital data storage
  • DIMM external minidual in-line memory module
  • SDRAM synchronous dynamic random access memory
  • SDRAM synchronous dynamic random access memory
  • the UICC may for example be an embedded UICC (eUICC), integrated UICC (iUICC) or a removable UICC commonly known as ‘SIM card.’
  • eUICC embedded UICC
  • iUICC integrated UICC
  • SIM card 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.
  • CDMA Code Division Multiplexing Access
  • WCDMA Wideband Code Division Multiple Access
  • WCDMA Wideband Code Division Multiple Access
  • GSM Global System for Mobile communications
  • LTE Long Term Evolution
  • NR New Radio
  • UMTS Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access
  • WiMax Ethernet
  • TCP/IP transmission control protocol/internet protocol
  • SONET synchronous optical networking
  • ATM Asynchronous Transfer Mode
  • QUIC Hypertext Transfer Protocol
  • HTTP Hypertext Transfer Protocol
  • 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).
  • 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.
  • the states of the actuator, the motor, or the switch may change.
  • 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.
  • a UE when in the form of an Internet of Things (loT) 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.
  • loT 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
  • 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 3 GPP context be referred to as an MTC device.
  • the UE may implement the 3 GPP 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.
  • any number of UEs may be used together with respect to a single use case.
  • 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.
  • FIG. 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)), 0-RAN nodes or components of an 0-RAN node (e.g., 0-RU, 0-DU, O-CU).
  • APs access points
  • BSs base stations
  • eNBs evolved Node Bs
  • gNBs NR NodeBs
  • 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 0-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).
  • 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 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.
  • 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.
  • SOC system on a chip
  • the processing circuitry 802 includes one or more of radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry 812 and baseband processing circuitry 814.
  • 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
  • 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. 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 frontend 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.
  • 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.
  • the communication interface may comprise different components and/or different combinations of components.
  • 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).
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Embodiments of the network node 800 may include additional components beyond those shown in FIG. 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.
  • 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.
  • FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating a virtualization environment 900 in which functions implemented by some embodiments may be virtualized.
  • 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 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • NFV network function virtualization
  • a VM 908 may be a software implementation of a physical machine that runs programs as if they were executing on a physical, nonvirtualized 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.
  • 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. 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.
  • 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.
  • 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. 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.

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Abstract

Embodiments of a method in a user equipment (UE) for transmitting a serving cell measurement report upon on-demand SSB, the user equipment being served by a first cell (Cell-1) and second cell (Cell-2). The UE receives an indication (Message-1) via Cell-1 or Cell-2 for the reception of SSB on Cell-2. The UE performs measurements in response to Message-1. The UE determines whether to transmit a measurement report for a measurement performed in response to Message-1, based at least in part on a predetermined rule. The UE transmits the measurement report to Cell-1 or Cell-2, when it is determined to transmit the measurement report.

Description

Measurement report after OnDemand SSB
Technical Field
[0001] The present disclosure relates to network management and in particular to measurement report after OnDemand SSB.
Background
Network Energy Consumption
[0002] For a cell in NR, typically, a Synchronization Signal Block (SSB) is transmitted periodically, and it may be used to aid UE’s initial cell search, acquire frame/slot timing, initial time/frequency synchronization, measurements, and as QCL reference for channels/signals, etc. With beamforming, SSBs must be transmitted in multiple beams, and this can lead to further increased network energy consumption, when the SSBs are transmitted in a burst that can span one or multiple slots.
[0003] An NR gNB can be configured with up to 64 SSBs. The configured SSBs in a cell for UEs in RRC IDLE/INACTIVE have all the same periodicity and output power. The gNB can provide information to the UEs about how many/which SSBs that are active (present) within the serving cell and neighboring cells. The SSB consists of a primary synchronization signal (PSS), a secondary synchronization signal (SSS) and the physical broadcast channel (PBCH).
[0004] The gNB can further provide information about the rate/periodicity at which these SSBs are provided on cell level. For the serving cell, the parameter ssb- PositionsInBurst indicates which of the SSBs that are active, and the parameter ssb- PeriodicityServingCell specifies the rate/periodicity of them. Furthermore, the UEs are informed about the SSBs output power via the common parameter ss-PBCH- BlockPower. When it comes to neighbor cells, a gNB can specify the neighboring active (present) SSBs via the parameter ssb-ToMeasure and the associated rate/periodicity via the SSB Measurement Timing Configuration (SMTC) which defines the time window during which the UE measures the SSBs belonging to these neighboring cells. The UE makes certain assumptions for a standalone NR cell upon the cell selection procedure. Even though the periodicity of the SSB is configurable, the UE upon initial cell selection expects that the SSB is provided every 20ms in that cell. The master information block (MIB) is part of the SSB. Together with SIB1 they are called Minimum System Information (Minimum SI).
[0005] UEs are configured with the above SSB/SIB1/SI presence and timing/rate information either in RRC IDLE/INACTIVE via broadcast system information or in RRC Connected via dedicated RRC messages. In IDLE/INACTIVE, the ssb- PositionsInBurst and ssb-Periodicity Serving for serving cell is configured via SIB1 and the SMTC configurations for neighboring cells are provided in SIB2/SIB4 contained in SI messages.
[0006] FIG. 1 illustrates an example SSB transmission/structure.
Master Information Block
[0007] The MIB is transmitted in the message part of the PBCH, which is a part of the SSB, and it contains the following information:
Excerpt from TS 38.331 V18.1.0 (Section 6.2.2) Begins
MIB
The MIB includes the system information transmitted on BCH.
Signalling radio bearer: N/A
RLC-SAP: TM
Logical channel: BCCH
Direction: Network to UE
MIB
— ASNl START
— TAG-MI B- START — TAG-MI B-STOP
Excerpt from TS 38.331 V18.1.0 (Section 6.2.2) Ends
[0008] In addition to the MIB content, the SSB also provides the UE with a physical cell ID (derived from the sequence indexes of the PSS and SSS) and an SSB- Index (derived from the sequence index of the DM-RS transmitted in the PBCH).
[0009] In certain scenarios, a gNB may omit SSB transmissions on a cell and the UE may use SSB of another cell (e.g. another serving deployed on frequency resources adjacent to current serving cell’s frequency resources in same frequency band, or with certain restrictions, in another serving cell in in another frequency band).
[0010] A UE can be configured with multiple serving cells via carrier aggregation and/or dual connectivity (e.g. with a MCG and an SCG). There can be a primary serving cell (PCell) and one or more secondary serving cells (SCell). SSB(s) may be transmitted on each of the serving cells, including the primary serving cell and secondary serving cell. The SCells can be activated/deactivated using an SCell activation command that is typically communicated using a MAC CE such as SCell Activation/Deactivation MAC CE or an enhanced SCell Activation/Deactivation MAC CE. For an activated SCell, the UE monitors downlink control messages (PDCCH, etc), measures and report CSI, transmits uplink SRS, etc. For a deactivated SCell, the UE does not need to monitor downlink control messages (PDCCH, etc), measure and report CSI, or transmit uplink SRS, etc. Thus, a UE can save energy when an SCell is deactivated. Upon receiving an SCell activation message (e.g. from the gNB), the UE starts acquiring the AGC, time/frequency sync and should be able to activate the SCell within a certain duration as defined by the requirements for different cases, such as known cell vs unknown cell, etc. (described further below). If the SCell is known, delay required for SCell activation is shorter and if the SCell is unknown, the delay required to activate SCell is longer. SCell activation/de-activation MAC CEs
[0011 ] Examples of Legacy SCell activation/deactivation MAC CEs are given below. Some of these MAC CEs were described in prior Release (Rell 5/16/17/18) NR specifications.
[0012] In one example, the legacy SCell Activation/Deactivation MAC CE of one octet is identified by a MAC subheader with LCID as specified in Table 6.2.1-1 of TS 38.321. It has a fixed size and consists of a single octet containing seven C-fields and one R-field (Reserve field). The SCell Activation/Deactivation MAC CE with one octet is defined in Section 6.1.3.10 of TS 38.321 as follows:
Excerpt of TS 38.321 VI 8.1.0 (Section 6.1.3.10) Begins
6.1.3.10 SCell Activation/Deactivation MAC CEs
The SCell Activation/Deactivation MAC CE of one octet is identified by a MAC subheader with LCID as specified in Table 6.2.1-1. It has a fixed size and consists of a single octet containing seven C-fields and one R-field. The SCell Activation/Deactivation MAC CE with one octet is defined as follows (FIG. 6.1.3.10-1).
The SCell Activation/Deactivation MAC CE of four octets is identified by a MAC subheader with LCID as specified in Table 6.2.1-1. It has a fixed size and consists of four octets containing 31 C-fields and one R- field. The SCell Activation/Deactivation MAC CE of four octets is defined as follows (FIG. 6.1.3.10-2).
- Ci: If there is an SCell configured for the MAC entity with SCelllndex i as specified in TS 38.331 [5], this field indicates the activation/deactivation status of the SCell with SCelllndex i, else the MAC entity shall ignore the Ci field. The Ci field is set to 1 to indicate that the SCell with SCelllndex i shall be activated. The Ci field is set to 0 to indicate that the SCell with SCelllndex i shall be deactivated;
- R: Reserved bit, set to 0.
[...]
Excerpt of TS 38.321 VI 8.1.0 (Section 6.1.3.10) Ends
[0013] FIG. 2 is a copy of TS 38.321 FIG. 6.1.3.10-1 showing the SCell Activation/Deactivation MAC CE of one octet.
[0014] There is another legacy SCell activation/deactivation MAC CE of four octets that can support up-to 31 SCells. In this MAC CE signaling, the network has to indicate the wanted activation status for each configured SCell. [0015] S ection 6.1.3.55 of TS 38.321 describes yet another legacy S Cell activation/ deactivation MAC CE called Enhanced SCell activation/deactivation MAC
CE, wherein along with the SCell activation message, the gNB can also indicate to the
UE whether TRS for SCell activation is also triggered.
Excerpt of TS 38.321 VI 8.1.0 (Section 6.1.3.55) Begins
6.1 .3.55 Enhanced SCell Activation/Deactivation MAC CEs
The Enhanced SCell Activation/Deactivation MAC CE with one octet Ci field is identified by a MAC subheader with eLCID as specified in Table 6.2.1-lb. It has a variable size and consists of seven C-fields, one R-field and zero or more TRS IDj fields in ascending order based on the Scelllndex for SCells indicated by the Ci field(s) to be activated. The Enhanced SCell Activation/Deactivation MAC CE of with one octet Ci field is defined as follows (FIG. 6.1.3.55-1).
The Enhanced SCell Activation/Deactivation MAC CE with four octet Ci field is identified by a MAC subheader with eLCID as specified in Table 6.2.1-lb. It has a variable size and consists of 31 C-fields, one R-field and zero or more TRS IDj fields in ascending order based on the Scelllndex for SCells indicated by the Ci field(s) to be activated. The Enhanced SCell Activation/Deactivation MAC CE with four octet Ci field is defined as follows (FIG. 6.1.3.55-2).
- Ci: If there is an SCell configured for the MAC entity with SCelllndex i as specified in TS 38.331 [5], this field indicates the activation/deactivation status of the SCell with SCelllndex i, else the MAC entity shall ignore the Ci field. The Ci field is set to 1 to indicate that the SCell with SCelllndex i shall be activated and that a TRS IDj field is included for the SCell. The Ci field is set to 0 to indicate that the SCell with SCelllndex i shall be deactivated and that no TRS ID field is included for this SCell;
- TRS IDj : If TRS IDj is set to a non-zero value, it indicates the corresponding TRS address by scellActivationRS-Id as specified in TS 38.331 [5] is activated. If TRS IDj is set to zero, it indicates that no TRS is used for the corresponding SCell;
- R: Reserved bit, set to 0.
[...]
Excerpt of TS 38.321 VI 8.1.0 (Section 6.1.3.55) Ends
[0016] FIG. 3 is a copy of TS 38.321 FIG. 6.1.3.55-1 showing Enhanced SCell
Activation/Deactivation MAC CE with one octet Ci field.
Known and unknown conditions
[0017] SCell known or unknown conditions are defined based on whether UE has reported the measurement reports to the network, for example as described in TS 38.133 Section 8.3.2. Excerpt of TS 38.133 VI 8.1.0 (Section 8.3.2) Begins
[...]
SCell in FR1 is known if it has been meeting the following conditions:
- During the period equal to max(5*measCycleSCell, 5*DRX cycles) for FR1 before the reception of the SCell activation command:
- the UE has sent a valid measurement report for the SCell being activated and
- the SSB measured remains detectable according to the cell identification conditions specified in clause 9.2 and 9.3.
- the SSB measured during the period equal to max(5*measCycleSCell, 5*DRX cycles) also remains detectable during the SCell activation delay according to the cell identification conditions specified in clause 9.2 and 9.3.
Otherwise SCell in FR1 is unknown.
For the first SCell activation in FR2 bands, the SCell is known if it has been meeting the following conditions:
- During the period equal to 4s for UE supporting power class 1/5 and 3s for UE supporting power class 2/3/4 before UE receives the last activation command for PDCCH TCI, PDSCH TCI (when applicable) and semi -persistent CSI-RS for CQI reporting (when applicable):
- the UE has sent a valid L3-RSRP measurement report with SSB index, and
- SCell activation command is received after L3-RSRP reporting and no later than the time when UE receives MAC-CE command for TCI activation
- During the period from L3-RSRP reporting to the valid CQI reporting, the reported SSBs with indexes remain detectable according to the cell identification conditions specified in clauses 9.2 and 9.3, and the TCI state is selected based on one of the latest reported SSB indexes.
Otherwise, the first SCell in FR2 band is unknown. The requirement for unknown SCell applies provided that the activation commands for PDCCH TCI, PDSCH TCI (when applicable), semi-persistent CSI-RS for CQI reporting (when applicable), and configuration message for TCI of periodic CSI-RS for CQI reporting (when applicable) are based on the latest valid Ll-RSRP reporting.
[...]
Excerpt of TS 38.133 VI 8.1.0 (Section 8.3.2) Ends
On-demand SSB provision
[0018] In ongoing NR evolution, on-demand SSBs may be provided “temporarily” to UEs whose functionality or performance may be improved if additional signals for loop conversion, synchronization, measurements, or other signal processing steps are available. In some scenarios, a cell may be transmitting baseline SSBs at a lower rate, e.g. 160 ms or 20 ms, or no SSBs may be transmitted as a baseline. The network may then activate additional SSBs or SSB bursts, e.g. with period 20 ms or 5 ms, respectively, in association with certain procedures, such as SCell activation. On- demand SSBs may be one-shot transmissions or limited-duration SSB bursts, with or without a recurrent structure. The on-demand SSBs may be transmitted during a specified/ configured time window or transmitted until further notice (until explicitly notified to the UE and turned off). They may be transmitted at the same or at a different power level and spatial configuration than the baseline SSB. Some scenarios where on- demand SSBs are expected to be useful include:
• SCell quality measurements upon SCell configuration.
• Synchronization upon SCell activation.
• Timing/Frequency tracking for an active serving cell.
• RRM measurements on serving or neighbour cells.
[0019] There currently exist certain challenge(s). Mainly two problems are addressed herein:
1 As the network is not aware of the internal UE measurement activity/procedure, it does not know for how long it needs to provide the on-demand SSBs. It would be wasteful to transmit more on-demand SSBs than necessary.
2 Existing SCell activation delay requirements are based on the known and unknown conditions of the SCell to be activated. In general, if the SCell is known, SCell activation delay is X time units (e.g. X ms) and if the SCell is not known, SCell activation delay is Y time units (e.g. Y ms) where Y larger than X. Currently SCell known/unknown condition is based on whether UE has sent a measurement report (related to the measurement performed on the SCell) to the gNB in less than certain time or not. The UE may not have sent the measurement report for the SCell to the gNB but in some scenarios the SCell may still be considered as known cell from UE side, e.g., if the UE has not moved out of the SCell coverage or UE does not send measurement report but was measuring the SCell. However, the network node serving the UE has no information about the status of the cell (whether it is known or unknown). This may lead to unpredictable serving cell activation delay from the network node perspective. This in turn may lead to degradation of the performance since network may not be able to allocate the resources for scheduling after the activation of the serving cell
Summary
[0020] Certain aspects of the disclosure and their embodiments may provide solutions to these or other challenges.
[0021] An aspect of the present disclosure provides a method performed by a user equipment for transmitting a serving cell measurement report upon on-demand SSB, the user equipment being served by a first cell (Cell-1) and second cell (Cell-2). The method comprises:
• receiving an indication (Message- 1) via Cell-1 or Cell-2 for the reception of SSB on Cell-2;
• performing measurements in response to Message- 1 ;
• determining whether to transmit a measurement report for a measurement performed in response to Message- 1, based at least in part on a predetermined rule; and
• transmitting the measurement report to Cell-1 or Cell-2, when it is determined to transmit the measurement report.
[0022] A further aspect of the present disclosure provides a method performed by a network node for triggering a UE to transmit a serving cell measurement report upon on-demand SSB, the network node serving a first cell (Cell-1), the UE being served by Cell-1. The method comprising:
• configuring the UE to transmit a measurement report related to a measurement performed by the UE on a second cell (Cell-2) to the network node upon receiving an On Demand SSB trigger; and
• subsequently receiving the measurement report for Cell-2 from the UE.
[0023] The UE is configured by the network to trigger/transmit a measurement report or an indication related to a measurement performed by the UE on SSBs (including on-demand SSBs) when sufficient number of SSBs has been processed by the UE for different cases (e.g., an SCell is/has become known, or enough SSBs have been measured by the UE from a neighbour cell during a handover scenario, or during an MDT procedure such that the cell is perceived as measured by the UE).
[0024] Based on the report/indication from the UE, the network knows that enough on-demand SSBs have been provided to the UE and the network can e.g., turn off on- demand SSBs, or transmit SSBs at a lower rate and thereby save resources and energy.
[0025] In one embodiment, the UE implicitly based on the report it provided knows that the on-demand SSB provision is terminated upon/after the report, or its rate is changed (e.g. reduced). In another embodiment, based on the UE report, the network explicitly sends a command to the UE for changing/terminating the on-demand SSB configuration.
[0026] For example, the UE transmits the measurement report for an activated SCell on which on-demand SSBs are provided if the UE has been requested by the network to send the measurement report/indication e.g. triggered by the serving cell activation message/command or by a separate message as soon as the SCell is known by the UE.
[0027] Based on network configuration, the UE reports/indicates when sufficient number of SSBs has been processed by the UE.
[0028] Based on the report from the UE, the network knows that enough on- demand SSBs have been provided to the UE and the network can e.g., turn off on- demand SSBs, or transmit SSBs at a lower rate and thereby save resources and energy.
[0029] During SCell activation, the network knows when the SCell has become known to the UE and can start scheduling the UE on the SCell. See further in section 2.7 below.
[0030] Certain embodiments may provide one or more of the following technical advantage(s). Unnecessary SSBs transmission (on-demand, or high-rate SSB) is avoided and thereby both resources and energy are saved in the network. Furthermore, SCell activation delay may be reduced.
[0031 ] Embodiments of a base station, communication system, and a method in a communication system are also disclosed.
Brief Description of the Drawings
[0032] The accompanying drawing FIG.s incorporated in and forming a part of this specification illustrate several aspects of the disclosure, and together with the description serve to explain principles of the disclosure.
[0033] FIG. 1 illustrates an example SSB transmission/structure;
[0034] FIG. 2 is a copy of TS 38.321 FIG. 6.1.3.10-1 showing the SCell Activation/Deactivation MAC CE of one octet.
[0035] FIG. 3 is a copy of TS 38.321 FIG. 6.1.3.55-1 showing Enhanced SCell Activation/Deactivation MAC CE with one octet Ci field;
[0036] FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an example method in a UE in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure;
[0037] FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an example method in a network node in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure
[0038] FIG. 6 shows an example of a communication system 600 in accordance with some embodiments;
[0039] FIG. 7 shows a UE 700 in accordance with some embodiments;
[0040] FIG. 8 shows a network node 800 in accordance with some embodiments; and
[0041] FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating a virtualization environment 900 in which functions implemented by some embodiments may be virtualized. Detailed Description
[0042] The embodiments set forth below represent information to enable those skilled in the art to practice the embodiments and illustrate the best mode of practicing the embodiments. Upon reading the following description in light of the accompanying drawing FIG.s, those skilled in the art will understand the concepts of the disclosure and will recognize applications of these concepts not particularly addressed herein. It should be understood that these concepts and applications fall within the scope of the disclosure.
[0043] At least some of the following abbreviations and terms may be used in this disclosure.
• 2D Two Dimensional
• 3 GPP Third Generation Partnership Project
• 5G Fifth Generation
• AAS Antenna Array System
• AoA Angle of Arrival
• AoD Angle of Departure
• ASIC Application Specific Integrated Circuit
• BF Beamforming
• BLER Block Error Rate
• BW Beamwidth
• CPU Central Processing Unit
• CSI Channel State Information
• dB Decibel
• DCI Downlink Control Information
• DFT Discrete Fourier Transform
• DSP Digital Signal Processor
• eNB Enhanced or Evolved Node B
• FIR Finite Impulse Response • FPGA Field Programmable Gate Array
• gNB New Radio Base Station
• ICC Information Carrying Capacity
• IIR Infinite Impulse Response
• LTE Long Term Evolution
• MIMO Multiple Input Multiple Output
• MME Mobility Management Entity
• MMSE Minimum Mean Square Error
• MTC Machine Type Communication
• NR New Radio
• OTT Over-the-Top
• PBCH Physical Broadcast Channel
• PDCCH Physical Downlink Control Channel
• PDSCH Physical Downlink Shared Channel
• P-GW Packet Data Network Gateway
• RAM Random Access Memory
• ROM Read Only Memory
• RRC Radio Resource Control
• RRH Remote Radio Head
• SCEF Service Capability Exposure Function
• SINR Signal to Interference plus Noise Ratio
• TBS Transmission Block Size
• UE User Equipment
• U A Uniform Linear Array
• URA Uniform Rectangular Array
[0044] Radio Node: As used herein, a “radio node” is either a radio access node or a wireless device. [0045] Radio Access Node: As used herein, a “radio access node” or “radio network node” is any node in a radio access network of a cellular communications network that operates to wirelessly transmit and/or receive signals. Some examples of a radio access node include, but are not limited to, a base station (e.g., a New Radio (NR) base station (gNB) in a Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Fifth Generation (5G) NR network or an enhanced or evolved Node B (eNB) in a 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) network), a high-power or macro base station, a low-power base station (e.g., a micro base station, a pico base station, a home eNB, or the like), and a relay node.
[0046] Core Network Node: As used herein, a “core network node” is any type of node in a core network. Some examples of a core network node include, e.g., a Mobility Management Entity (MME), a Packet Data Network Gateway (P-GW), a Service Capability Exposure Function (SCEF), or the like.
[0047] Wireless Device: As used herein, a “wireless device” is any type of device that has access to (i.e., is served by) a cellular communications network by wirelessly transmitting (and/or receiving) signals to (and/or from) a radio access node. Some examples of a wireless device include, but are not limited to, a User Equipment device (UE) in a 3 GPP network and a Machine Type Communication (MTC) device.
[0048] Network Node: As used herein, a “network node” is any node that is either part of the radio access network or the core network of a cellular communications network/system.
[0049] Cell: As used herein, a “cell” is a combination of radio resources (such as, for example, antenna port allocation, time and frequency) that a wireless device may use to exchange radio signals with a radio access node, which may be referred to as a host node or a serving node of the cell. However, it is important to note that beams may be used instead of cells, particularly with respect to 5G NR. As such, it should be appreciated that the techniques described herein are equally applicable to both cells and beams. [0050] Note that references in this disclosure to various technical standards (such as 3GPP TS 38.211 V15.1.0 (2018-03) and 3GPP TS 38.214 V15.1.0 (2018-03), for example) should be understood to refer to the specific version(s) of such standard(s) that is(were) current at the time the present application was filed, and may also refer to applicable counterparts and successors of such versions.
[0051] The description herein focuses on a 3 GPP cellular communications system and, as such, 3GPP terminology or terminology similar to 3GPP terminology is oftentimes used. However, the concepts disclosed herein are not limited to a 3 GPP system.
[0052] The disclosure provides means for the network to know when sufficient number/sequences of on-demand/high-rate SSBs has been provided to one or more UEs. The UE reports to the network when sufficient number of SSBs have been measured.
[0053] For the sake of brevity, the examples herein are given in the context of carrier aggregation and SCell activation during which the network provides on-demand SSBs for faster Cell activation. However, the disclosure is equally applicable to other scenarios in which the network adapts SSB transmission rate (e.g., during handover, based on UE on-demand/high-rate SSB request, etc.), where the term adapting means one or more of turning on/off extra/on- demand SSBs, or changing the transmission rate thereof.
[0054] As an example, assume that UE is configured with one or more cells, Cell-1 and Cell-2. Cell-1 is primary serving cell (PCell) and Cell-2 is secondary serving cell (SCell) where Cell-2 may not be ON all the time. The network may initially not be providing any SSBs on Cell-2, or alternatively provide SSBs with a low rate (e.g., once every 160ms). For the sake of activating Cell-2 (SCell activation), the network may start providing on-demand SSBs/higher-rate SSBs. However, the network may not know for how long the on-demand SSBs need to be provided as it does not know whether the cell has become “known” to the UE. [0055] In one embodiment, the UE behavior (trigger report/indication, or not) is configurable.
[0056] In one embodiment, the UE report/indication includes one or more of the following:
• for one or more cells; values for RSRP, RSRQ, SINR or some other radio condition that has been measured on the on-demand SSB signals from the cell
• for one or more cells; the number of occasions that on-demand SSBs from a cell has been received or measured during a specified time-period,
• for one or more cells; the number of additional occasions that on-demand SSB from the cell must be received and measured before the cell is considered “known” by the UE (see Section 2.2.2 for the “known” cell condition) and a time
• for one or more cells; if the cell meets the “known” condition.
[0057] In one embodiment, the network stops the transmission (or lowers the transmission rate) of the on-demand SSBs upon the UE report. As such, the UE knows implicitly that the network will turn off (or change the rate) of the on-demand SSBs.
[0058] In one embodiment, the expected SSB provision pattern after a report is configured by the network. As such, the UE knows that after such report the SSB rate will be according to the configured pattern.
[0059] In one embodiment, how the network configures the reporting behavior is connected to the configuration/type of on-demand SSBs. For example, if the on-demand SSB pattern is “forever”/“ provided until further notice” or transmitted during a longer period (e.g., longer than a prespecified/configurable time period), then a report is requested, whereas if the SSB pattern is finite (e.g. one-shot burst) and/or transmitted over a short time period (e.g., shorter than a prespecified/configurable time period) then no report is required.
[0060] In one embodiment, the network learns the UE characteristics with respect to how many SSBs the UE needs for the different scenarios and adapts the SSB provision scheme towards that UE. For example, if the network has learnt that the UE only needs N number of SSBs for the sake of SCell activation, it then only provides a finite on-demand SSB sequence including N (potentially +/- one or more) SSBs during the activation phase and may configure the UE to not explicitly trigger the extra report described in the disclosure.
[0061] In what follows, UE is configured with two or more cells, including, at least, Cell-1 and Cell-2. In some embodiments, Cell-1 is the PCell and Cell-2 is an SCell where Cell-2 may be powered OFF (it may be called as OFF state) and not transmitting SSB while it is in OFF state. OFF state may refer to SSB not transmitting. ON state means SSB is transmitted.
[0062] If cell is not ON (i.e., cell is OFF):
• In some embodiments, neither on-demand SSB nor legacy/always-on SSB is transmitted in an OFF state.
• In some embodiments, on-demand SSB is not transmitted in an OFF state but legacy/always-on SSB may or may not be transmitted.
[0063] In some embodiments, a cell that is OFF is also not activated.
[0064] FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an example method 400 in a UE served by a first cell (Cell-1) and second cell (Cell-2) in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure. Referring to FIG. 4, the method comprises:
[0065] Step 1 (at 402): The UE receives an indication (Message-1) from either a first cell (Cell-1) or a second cell (Cell-2) for the reception of SSB on Cell-2. In an example, the UE may receive Message-1 at a reference time instance (Tr). In some embodiments, Message- 1 is an on-demand SSB indication message indicating the transmission of SSB from the Cell-2. In other embodiments, Message- 1 also includes a serving cell activation command for Cell-2.
[0066] Step 2 (at 404): The UE performs measurements in response to Message- 1. In some embodiments, the measurements include RRM measurements such as, for example, RSRP, RSRQ, and SINR. [0067] Step 3 (at 406): The UE determines whether to transmit a measurement report for a measurement performed in response to Message- 1, based at least in part on a predetermined rule; and
[0068] Step 4 (at 408): The UE transmits the measurement report to Cell-1 or Cell- 2, when it is determined to transmit the measurement report.
[0069] After performing measurements (step 2), UE reports to the network (i.e. Cell-1 or Cell-2) based on a predetermined rule, which provides a new reporting mechanism.
[0070] The motivation of this reporting mechanism is that Cell-2 may be in OFF state for extended period of time (e.g., for power saving purposes). When Cell-2 is coming from extended OFF state to ON state, Cell-2 may transmit SSB more frequently (e.g., On Demand SSB) and the same is indicated to UE or group of UEs (e.g., the message which indicates OnDemand SSB is called as Message-1).
[0071] Since Cell-2 is coming from OFF state to ON state, the network may need to acquire recent measurement results from the UEs so that the network knows which UEs are under coverage of Cell-2. If Cell-2 has to be activated quickly, the network may need to know the measurement experienced by the UE. Generally, the RRM measurements or L3 configured measurements are periodic or semi-persistent, or event triggered. The legacy L3 measurements triggering, and measurement takes longer time and may not work well for cell which comes from OFF state to on state.
[0072] For an on-demand SSB which may be aperiodic for a certain time, configuring the event triggered may delay the measurement. Accordingly, the present disclosure provides a rule for determining whether or not the UE should send a measurement report.
[0073] In one example of the rule, the UE is required to transmit the measurement report for Cell-2 upon receiving Message- 1 command regardless of any other conditions. [0074] In another example of the rule, the UE is required to transmit the measurement report for Cell-2 upon receiving Message- 1 when one or more of the following conditions is met:
• The UE has not transmitted the measurement report for Cell-2 during the last certain time (Txl) before the reception of the Message- 1, e.g., no report was sent during Tr-Txl. Txl can be pre-defined or configured by network. In one example, Txl is a fixed value (e.g., 5 seconds)
• Cell-2 is currently known to the UE but the UE has not transmitted a measurement report for Cell-2 during the last certain time period (Tx2) before the reception of the Message- 1 e.g., no report was sent during Tr- Tx2. Tx2 can be pre-defined or configured by network. In one example, Tx2 is a fixed value (e.g. 5 seconds). In another example, Tx2 is equal to the duration over which the cell remains known to the UE even if the UE has not performed measurement on that cell during Tx2. Cell-2 is known to the UE if it meets one or more conditions related to the cell being known (described later).
• In one example, the measurement report transmitted by the UE to network may comprise measured value (e.g., RSRP of -90 dBm) of the measurement performed on Cell-2.
• In another example, the measurement report transmitted by the UE to network may comprise an indicator indicating that Cell-2 is known to the UE. This latter approach reduces the signaling overhead. The UE determines the reporting mechanism/approach based on pre-defined rule or configuration received from network.
• Cell-2 is currently unknown to the UE. This may also imply that the UE has not transmitted the measurement report for Cell-2 during the last certain time period (Tx3) before the reception of the Message-1, e.g. no report was sent during Tr-Tx3. Tx3 can be pre-defined or configured by network.
[0075] In another example of the rule, the UE is pre-configured by higher layer (e.g., via RRC message) that the UE should transmit the measurement report for Cell-2 upon receiving Message- 1 or on-demand SSB.
[0076] In another example of the rule, the UE is configured to report the measurement report for measurement performed on Cell-2 to network, if the UE is indicated to report the measurement report of Cell-2 by the network. In some embodiments, the UE may be indicated to report the Cell-2 ’s measurement report, through a configuration message sent to the UE by the network in the Message- 1.
[0077] In one example, the configuration message can be included or added to the serving cell activation command (e.g. via MAC CE).
[0078] In another example it can be a separate message (e.g., MAC CE or DCI) sent to the UE along with Message-1 or sent at a later point than serving cell activation command.
[0079] In one example, the above messages can be a UE specific or specific to group of UEs or all UEs connected to the cell. In one example, the UE may be configured with RRC message to indicate measurement report. An example of the configuration message using RRC message may be through the ReportConfigNR, and by introducing new IE, e.g., reportOnScellOnDemandSSB, in the ReportConfigNR. An example configuration is shown below.
ReportConfigNR : : = SEQUENCE { reportType CHOICE { periodical Per iodical ReportConf ig , eventTriggered Eve ntT riggerConf ig , reported Reported , reportS FTD ReportS FTD-NR, condTr iggerConf ig-rl 6 CondTr iggerConf ig-rl 6 , cl i - Periodical -rl 6 CL I -Periodical ReportConfig-r l 6 , cl i - Eve ntT rigger ed-r 16 CL I -EventTriggerConfig-r l 6 , rxTxPeriodical -rl 7 RxTxPeriodical -r 17 reportOnSce llOnDemandS SB ReportOnSce l lOnDemandS SB }
}
[0080] Here, ReportOnScellOnDemandSSB in some embodiments is a new parameter/field to configure properties of the on-demand SSB report. In other embodiments, ReportOnScellOnDemandSSB is a Boolean parameter with value true, to indicate reporting on on-demand SSB transmissions.
[0081] In any of the rules described above, the UE may further be configured to transmit the measurement report for the one or more measurements performed on Cell- 2 based on the relation between the measurement value and one or more thresholds.
[0082] In one example, the UE transmits the measurement report provided that the measurement value is above certain threshold e.g. RSRP > Hl 1 and/or RSRQ > H12.
[0083] In another example, the UE transmits the measurement report provided that the measurement value of Cell-2 is not more than certain threshold below the measurement value of Cell-1, e.g., RSRP2 > (RSRP1 - H21) and/or RSRQ2 > (RSRQ1 - H22). Here, RSRP1 and RSRQ1 are measured on Cell-1 and RSRP2 and RSRQ2 are measured on Cell-2.
[0084] In another example, the UE is configured with Cell-1, Cell-2 and Cell-3.
Cell-1 is primary serving cell and Cell-2 and Cell-3 are secondary serving cells. Similar to above examples, Cell-2 is activated with on-demand SSB. Cell-3 is not activated, but for other reasons (e.g. other UEs) networks starts on-demand SSB on this cell. Network indicates to the UE about the on-demand SSB on Cell-3. Depending on configuration, UE shall measure Cell-3 and report both Cell-2(activated serving cell) and Cell-3 (not yet activated). In one example, the UE may be configured with RRC message to indicate measurement report. An example of the configuration message using RRC message may be through the ReportConfigNR, and using the IE e.g., reportSCellOnDemandSSB in the ReportConfigNR.
[0085] An example configuration is shown below. ReportConf igNR : : = SEQUENCE { reportType CHOICE { periodical Period! cal ReportConfig , eventTriggered EventT riggerConfig , reported Reported , reportS FTD ReportS FTD-NR, condT rigger Conf ig-r 16 CondT rigger Conf ig-r 16 , cli - Per iodical -r 16 CL I - Per iodical ReportConf ig- r l 6 , cli -EventTriggered-rl 6 CL I -EventTr iggerConf ig- r l 6 , rxTxPer iodical -r 17 RxTxPer iodical -r 17 reportSCel lOnDemandSSB enumerated { 'uponactivation ' , 'uponS SB ' , } reportSCel lOnDemandSSBForCe ll s l is t of ce l l s to report } }
[0086] Field value 'uponactivation’ means the UE only reports activated Serving cells, value ‘uponSSB’ means UE reports any configured serving cell upon OnDemandSSB regardless of activation status.
[0087] In one embodiment, these measurements use different L3 filter coefficients than other L3 measurements. The reason may be to obtain one shot, or Ll-RSRP type of measurements. A benefit is that the UE may obtain these faster and it may be good enough to provide network information the cell is a known cell instead of unknown cell. In this case, a separate filter coefficient configuration is provided which is applied to these measurement reports. The configuration may be in IE QuantityConfig, or it may be given in IE ReportConfig.
[0088] In another example, the network may configure the cells or list of cells for which the UE needs to report measurement results upon on demand SSB reception.
This may be through RRC configuration or may be a L1/L2 signalling which indicates the list of cells the UE need to report measurement based on OnDemand SSB.
[0089] FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an example method 500 in a network node for triggering a UE to transmit a serving cell measurement report upon on-demand SSB in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure. The network node serves or manages Cell-1 and the UE is served by Cell-1. Referring to FIG. 5, the method comprises:
[0090] Step 1 (at 502): The network node configures the UE to transmit a measurement report related to a measurement performed by the UE on a second cell (Cell-2) to the network node upon receiving an On Demand SSB trigger; and
[0091] Step 2 (at 504): The network node subsequently receives the measurement report for Cell-2 from the UE.
[0092] The network node may further use the received the measurement report for Cell-2 from the UE for performing one or more operational tasks. Examples of the operational tasks include: determining the serving cell activation delay for Cell-2; scheduling the UE with data upon completion of the activation of Cell-2, etc.
[0093] In one example, the network may configure the UE to transmit the measurement report for Cell-2 in a separate message (e.g. pre-configures the UE before sending the Cell-2 activation command). In another example, the network may configure the UE to transmit the measurement report for Cell-2 in the same message sent for activating Cell-2 (e.g. the Cell-2 activation command).
[0094] The network may configure the UE to transmit the measurement report to network based on one or more rules, which are the same as described in the UE embodiments.
[0095] FIG. 6 shows an example of a communication system 600 in accordance with some embodiments.
[0096] 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 (3 GPP) 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.
[0097] 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 Al, Fl, Wl, El, 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. [0098] 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.
[0099] 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.
[0100] 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).
[0101] 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 prerecorded 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.
[0102] As a whole, the communication system 600 of FIG. 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.
[0103] In some examples, the telecommunication network 602 is a cellular network that implements 3 GPP 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 loT services to yet further UEs.
[0104] 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).
[0105] 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 loT devices.
[0106] 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.
[0107] FIG. 7 shows a UE 700 in accordance with some embodiments. The UE 700 presents additional details of some embodiments of the UE 612 of FIG. 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 (3 GPP), including a narrow band internet of things (NB-IoT) UE, a machine type communication (MTC) UE, and/or an enhanced MTC (eMTC) UE.
[0108] A UE may support device-to-device (D2D) communication, for example by implementing a 3 GPP 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).
[0109] 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 FIG. 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.
[0110] 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).
[0111] 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.
[0112] 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.
[0113] 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.
[0114] 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 minidual 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.
[0115] 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.
[0116] 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.
[0117] 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).
[0118] 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.
[0119] A UE, when in the form of an Internet of Things (loT) 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 loT 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 loT device comprises circuitry and/or software in dependence of the intended application of the loT device in addition to other components as described in relation to the UE 700 shown in FIG. 7.
[0120] As yet another specific example, in an loT 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 3 GPP context be referred to as an MTC device. As one particular example, the UE may implement the 3 GPP 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.
[0121] 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.
[0122] FIG. 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)), 0-RAN nodes or components of an 0-RAN node (e.g., 0-RU, 0-DU, O-CU).
[0123] 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 0-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).
[0124] 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).
[0125] 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. [0126] 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.
[0127] 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.
[0128] 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.
[0129] 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 frontend 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.
[0130] 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).
[0131] 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.
[0132] 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.
[0133] 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. [0134] Embodiments of the network node 800 may include additional components beyond those shown in FIG. 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.
[0135] FIG. 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. [0136] 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.
[0137] 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.
[0138] 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.
[0139] 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, nonvirtualized 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.
[0140] 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.
[0141] 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.
[0142] 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.
[0143]
[0144] While processes in the FIG.s may show a particular order of operations performed by certain embodiments of the present disclosure, it should be understood that such order is representative, and that alternative embodiments may perform the operations in a different order, combine certain operations, overlap certain operations, etc.
[0145] Those skilled in the art will recognize improvements and modifications to the embodiments of the present disclosure. All such improvements and modifications are considered within the scope of the concepts disclosed herein.

Claims

Claims What is claimed is:
1. A method performed by a user equipment for transmitting a serving cell measurement report upon on-demand SSB, the user equipment being served by a first cell (Cell-1) and second cell (Cell-2), the method comprising: receiving an indication (Message- 1) via Cell-1 or Cell-2 for the reception of SSB on Cell-2; performing measurements in response to Message-1; determining whether to transmit a measurement report for a measurement performed in response to Message- 1, based at least in part on a predetermined rule; and transmitting the measurement report to Cell-1 or Cell-2, when it is determined to transmit the measurement report.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein Message- 1 is an on-demand SSB indication message indicating the transmission of SSB via Cell-2.
3. The method of claim 2, wherein Message- 1 comprises a serving cell activation command for Cell-2.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein the predetermined rule comprises any one or more of: the UE is configured to transmit the measurement report for Cell-2 upon receiving
Message- 1; the UE is configured to transmit the measurement report for Cell-2 upon receiving Message- 1 when a predetermined condition is met: the UE is pre-configured by higher layer (e.g., via RRC message) that the UE should transmit the measurement report for Cell-2 upon receiving Message-1 or on- demand SSB; and the UE is configured to report the measurement report for measurement performed on Cell-2, if the UE is indicated to report the measurement report of Cell-2.
5. The method of claim 4, wherein the predetermined condition comprises any one or more of: the UE has not transmitted the measurement report for Cell-2 during a first predetermined time (Txl) before reception of the Message- 1;
Cell-2 is currently known to the UE but the UE has not transmitted a measurement report for Cell-2 during a second predetermined time (Tx2) before the reception of the Message-1; and
Cell-2 is currently unknown to the UE.
6. The method of claim 4, wherein the UE is further configured to transmit the measurement report for the one or more measurements performed on Cell-2 based on a relation between the measurement value and one or more thresholds.
7. The method of claim 6, wherein at least one of the one or more thresholds is configured as an event triggering condition.
8. A method performed by a network node for triggering a UE to transmit a serving cell measurement report upon on-demand SSB, the network node serving a first cell (Cell- 1), the UE being served by Cell-1, the method comprising: configuring the UE to transmit a measurement report related to a measurement performed by the UE on a second cell (Cell-2) to the network node upon receiving an On Demand SSB trigger; and subsequently receiving the measurement report for Cell-2 from the UE.
9. A user equipment for transmitting a serving cell measurement report upon on-demand SSB, comprising: processing circuitry configured to perform any of the steps of any of claims 1 to 6; and power supply circuitry configured to supply power to the processing circuitry.
10. A network node for triggering a UE to transmit a serving cell measurement report upon on-demand SSB, the network node comprising: processing circuitry configured to perform any of the steps of claim 8; power supply circuitry configured to supply power to the processing circuitry.
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