Patent Application
20250056369
Various example embodiments relate to wireless communications.
In dual connectivity such as multi radio access technology (RAT) dual-connectivity (MR-DC), a given terminal device may be served by two different random access network (RAN) nodes: a Master (RAN) Node (MN) and a Secondary (RAN) node. The MN is associated with a primary cell group (PCG) comprising a primary cell (PCell) and optionally one or more secondary cells (SCells) while the SN is associated with a secondary cell group (SCG) comprising one or more primary secondary cells (PSCells) and optionally one or more secondary cells (SCells). Two different mechanisms for conditional re-configuration exist in MR-DC: conditional handover (CHO) for conditional reconfiguration primary cells (PCells) and conditional primary secondary cell addition/change (CPAC) for conditional reconfiguration of PSCells. In order to carry out handover for both the PCell and the PSCell, execution conditions for both CHO and CPAC need to be satisfied by a terminal device. In some cases, CPAC execution condition may become satisfied while CHO execution conditions is not satisfied. In such a case, according to current practice, the terminal device, nevertheless, continues evaluation of both CHO and CPAC execution conditions until also the CHO execution condition is met.
According to an aspect, there is provided the subject matter of the independent claims. Embodiments are defined in the dependent claims.
One or more examples of implementations are set forth in more detail in the accompanying drawings and the description below. Other features will be apparent from the description and drawings, and from the claims.
The following embodiments are only presented as examples. Although the specification may refer to “an”, “one”, or “some” embodiment(s) and/or example(s) in several locations of the text, this does not necessarily mean that each reference is made to the same embodiment(s) or example(s), or that a particular feature only applies to a single embodiment and/or example. Single features of different embodiments and/or examples may also be combined to provide other embodiments and/or examples.
As used herein, “at least one of the following: <a list of two or more elements>” and “at least one of <a list of two or more elements>” and similar wording, where the list of two or more elements are joined by “and” or “or”, mean at least any one of the elements, or at least any two or more of the elements, or at least all the elements.
In the following, different exemplifying embodiments will be described using, as an example of an access architecture to which the embodiments may be applied, a radio access architecture based on long term evolution advanced (LTE Advanced, LTE-A) or new radio (NR, 5G), without restricting the embodiments to such an architecture, however. It is obvious for a person skilled in the art that the embodiments may also be applied to other kinds of communications networks having suitable means by adjusting parameters and procedures appropriately. Some examples of other options for suitable systems are the universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS) radio access network (UTRAN or E-UTRAN), long term evolution (LTE, the same as E-UTRA), wireless local area network (WLAN or WiFi), worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX), Bluetooth®, personal communications services (PCS), ZigBee®, wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA), systems using ultra-wideband (UWB) technology, sensor networks, mobile ad-hoc networks (MANETs) and Internet Protocol multimedia subsystems (IMS) or any combination thereof.
The embodiments are not, however, restricted to the system given as an example but a person skilled in the art may apply the solution to other communication systems provided with necessary properties.
The example of
A communications system typically comprises more than one (e/g)NodeB in which case the (e/g)NodeBs may also be configured to communicate with one another over links, wired or wireless, designed for the purpose. These links may be used for signaling purposes. The (e/g)NodeB is a computing device configured to control the radio resources of communication system it is coupled to. The NodeB may also be referred to as a base station, an access point or any other type of interfacing device including a relay station capable of operating in a wireless environment. The (e/g)NodeB includes or is coupled to transceivers. From the transceivers of the (e/g)NodeB, a connection is provided to an antenna unit that establishes bi-directional radio links to user devices. The antenna unit may comprise a plurality of antennas or antenna elements. The (e/g)NodeB is further connected to core network 110 (CN or next generation core NGC). Depending on the system, the counterpart on the CN side can be a serving gateway (S-GW, routing and forwarding user data packets), packet data network gateway (P-GW), for providing connectivity of user devices (UEs) to external packet data networks, or mobile management entity (MME), etc.
The user device (also called UE, user equipment, user terminal, terminal device, etc.) illustrates one type of an apparatus to which resources on the air interface are allocated and assigned, and thus any feature described herein with a user device may be implemented with a corresponding apparatus, such as a relay node. An example of such a relay node is a layer 3 relay (self-backhauling relay) towards the base station. The user equipment may comprise a mobile equipment and at least one universal integrated circuit card (UICC).
The user device typically refers to a portable computing device that includes wireless mobile communication devices operating with or without a subscriber identification module (SIM) or UICC, including, but not limited to, the following types of devices: a mobile station (mobile phone), smartphone, personal digital assistant (PDA), handset, device using a wireless modem (alarm or measurement device, etc.), laptop and/or touch screen computer, tablet, game console, notebook, and multimedia device. It should be appreciated that a user device may also be a nearly exclusive uplink only device, of which an example is a camera or video camera loading images or video clips to a network. A user device may also be a device having capability to operate in Internet of Things (IoT) network which is a scenario in which objects are provided with the ability to transfer data over a network without requiring human-to-human or human-to-computer interaction. The user device (or in some embodiments a layer 3 relay node) is configured to perform one or more of user equipment functionalities. The user device may also be called a subscriber unit, mobile station, remote terminal, access terminal, user terminal or user equipment (UE) just to mention but a few names or apparatuses.
Various techniques described herein may also be applied to a cyber-physical system (CPS) (a system of collaborating computational elements con-trolling physical entities). CPS may enable the implementation and exploitation of massive amounts of interconnected ICT devices (sensors, actuators, processors microcontrollers, etc.) embedded in physical objects at different locations. Mobile cyber physical systems, in which the physical system in question has inherent mobility, are a subcategory of cyber-physical systems. Examples of mobile physical systems include mobile robotics and electronics transported by humans or animals.
It should be understood that, in
Additionally, although the apparatuses have been depicted as single entities, different units, processors and/or memory units (not all shown in
5G enables using multiple input-multiple output (MIMO) antennas, many more base stations or nodes than the LTE (a so-called small cell concept), including macro sites operating in co-operation with smaller stations and employing a variety of radio technologies depending on service needs, use cases and/or spectrum available. 5G mobile communications supports a wide range of use cases and related applications including video streaming, augmented reality, different ways of data sharing and various forms of machine type applications, including vehicular safety, different sensors and real-time control. 5G is expected to have multiple radio interfaces, namely below 6 GHz, cmWave and mmWave, and also being integradable with existing legacy radio access technologies, such as the LTE. Integration with the LTE may be implemented, at least in the early phase, as a system, where macro coverage is provided by the LTE and 5G radio interface access comes from small cells by aggregation to the LTE. In other words, 5G is planned to support both inter-RAT operability (such as LTE-5G) and inter-RI operability (inter-radio interface operability, such as below 6 GHz-cmWave, below 6 GHz-cmWave-mmWave). One of the concepts considered to be used in 5G networks is network slicing in which multiple independent and dedicated virtual sub-networks (network instances) may be created within the same infrastructure to run services that have different requirements on latency, reliability, throughput and mobility.
The current architecture in LTE networks is fully distributed in the radio and fully centralized in the core network. The low latency applications and services in 5G require to bring the content close to the radio which leads to local break out and multi-access edge computing (MEC). 5G enables analytics and knowledge generation to occur at the source of the data. This approach requires leveraging resources that may not be continuously connected to a network such as laptops, smartphones, tablets and sensors. MEC provides a distributed computing environment for application and service hosting. It also has the ability to store and process content in close proximity to cellular subscribers for faster response time. Edge computing covers a wide range of technologies such as wireless sensor networks, mobile data acquisition, mobile signature analysis, cooperative distributed peer-to-peer ad hoc networking and processing also classifiable as local cloud/fog computing and grid/mesh computing, dew computing, mobile edge computing, cloudlet, distributed data storage and retrieval, autonomic self-healing networks, remote cloud services, augmented and virtual reality, data caching, Internet of Things (massive connectivity and/or latency critical), critical communications (autonomous vehicles, traffic safety, real-time analytics, time-critical control, healthcare applications).
The communication system is also able to communicate with other networks, such as a public switched telephone network or the Internet 112, or utilize services provided by them. The communication network may also be able to support the usage of cloud services, for example at least part of core network operations may be carried out as a cloud service (this is depicted in
Edge cloud may be brought into the RAN by utilizing network function virtualization (NVF) and software defined networking (SDN). Using edge cloud may mean access node operations to be carried out, at least partly, in a server, host or node operationally coupled to a remote radio head or unit (RU) or base station comprising radio parts. It is also possible that node operations will be distributed among a plurality of servers, nodes or hosts. Application of cloudRAN architecture enables RAN real time functions being carried out at the RAN side (in a distributed unit, DU 104) and non-real time functions being carried out in a centralized manner (in a central or centralized unit, CU 108). Thus, in summary, the RAN may comprise at least one distributed access node comprising a central unit, one or more distributed units communicatively connected to the central unit and one or more (remote) radio heads or units, each of which is communicatively connected to at least one of the one or more distributed units.
It should also be understood that the distribution of labor between core network operations and base station operations may differ from that of the LTE or even be non-existent. Some other technology advancements probably to be used are Big Data and all-IP, which may change the way networks are being constructed and managed. 5G (or new radio, NR) networks are being designed to support multiple hierarchies, where MEC servers can be placed between the core and the base station or nodeB (gNB). It should be appreciated that MEC can be applied in 4G networks as well.
5G may also utilize satellite communication to enhance or complement the coverage of 5G service, for example by providing backhauling. Possible use cases are providing service continuity for machine-to-machine (M2M) or Internet of Things (IoT) devices or for passengers on board of vehicles, or ensuring service availability for critical communications, and future rail-way/maritime/aeronautical communications. Satellite communication may utilize geostationary earth orbit (GEO) satellite systems, but also low earth orbit (LEO) satellite systems, in particular mega-constellations (systems in which hundreds of (nano)satellites are deployed). Each satellite 106 in the mega-constellation may cover several satellite-enabled network entities that create on-ground cells. The on-ground cells may be created through an on-ground relay node 104 or by a gNB located on-ground or in a satellite.
It is obvious for a person skilled in the art that the depicted system is only an example of a part of a radio access system and in practice, the system may comprise a plurality of (e/g)NodeBs, the user device may have an access to a plurality of radio cells and the system may comprise also other apparatuses, such as physical layer relay nodes or other network elements, etc. At least one of the (e/g)NodeBs or may be a Home(e/g)nodeB. Additionally, in a geographical area of a radio communication system a plurality of different kinds of radio cells as well as a plurality of radio cells may be provided. Radio cells may be macro cells (or umbrella cells) which are large cells, usually having a diameter of up to tens of kilometers, or smaller cells such as micro-, femto- or picocells. The (e/g)NodeBs of
For fulfilling the need for improving the deployment and performance of communication systems, the concept of “plug-and-play” (e/g)NodeBs has been introduced. Typically, a network which is able to use “plug-and-play” (e/g)Node Bs, includes, in addition to Home (e/g)NodeBs (H(e/g)nodeBs), a home node B gateway, or HNB-GW (not shown in
6G architecture is targeted to enable easy integration of everything, such as a network of networks, joint communication and sensing, non-terrestrial networks and terrestrial communication. 6G systems are envisioned to encompass machine learning algorithms as well as local and distributed computing capabilities, where virtualized network functions can be distributed over core and edge computing resources. Far edge computing, where computing resources are pushed to the very edge of the network, will be part of the distributed computing environment, for example in “zero-delay” scenarios. 5G systems may also employ such capabilities. More generally, the actual (radio) communication system is envisaged to be comprised of one or more computer programs executed within a programmable infrastructure, such as general-purpose computing entities (servers, processors, and like).
Embodiments to be discussed below relate specifically to multi radio access technology (RAT) dual connectivity (MR-DC). Thus, while
Two different mechanisms for conditional re-configuration in MR-DC exist: conditional handover (CHO) for conditional reconfiguration primary cells (PCells) and conditional primary secondary cell addition/change (CPAC) for conditional reconfiguration of PSCells. For carrying CHO+CPAC handover, a terminal device may be configured with a plurality of CHO+CPAC configurations. Each CHO-CPAC configuration may define a unique combination of a PCell and a PSCell. To perform CHO-CAPC handover, CHO and CPAC execution conditions are evaluated in parallel based on radio measurements of the PCells and PSCells of the CHO+CPAC configuration. In order to carry out handover for both the PCell and the PSCell, both (execution) conditions of CHO and CPAC need to be satisfied by a terminal device. In some cases, it may occur that the CPAC execution condition becomes satisfied while the CHO execution condition is still not satisfied. In such a case, the terminal device continues evaluation of both CHO and CPAC executions conditions until also the CHO execution condition is met. In other words, even though the CHO execution condition for a PCell is met, the terminal device will still continue the measurements of other PSCells as well as evaluation of the CPAC execution condition of those other PSCells. Thus, the terminal device performs unnecessary measurements and CAPC execution condition evaluation which leads to throughput loss in case of inter-frequency measurements as well as excessive power consumption due to measurements and terminal device processing on CPAC execution condition evaluation (intra-frequency and inter-frequency).
In
The embodiments to be discussed below serve to overcome or to at least alleviate the problems described in the two previous paragraphs by providing mechanisms for either stopping or at least relaxing CPAC-related measurements when the CPAC execution conditions have been satisfied.
Referring to
The one or more PCells for which radio measurements are performed in block 301 may be associated with one or more frequencies, that is, the one or more PCells may operate using the same frequency or using at least partly different frequencies. Similarly, the PSCells for which radio measurements are performed in block 301 may be associated with one or more frequencies, that is, the PSCells may operate using the radio frequency or using at least partly different frequencies. In general, each PCell and each PSCell may be associated with a measurement object (measObj) defining properties of the measurements (e.g., a frequency, a bandwidth, cell identity and physical cell identity). The measurement objects for the PSCell may be determined by a source MN of the terminal device with regard to the CPAC execution condition and the prepared PSCells. The measurement object(s) for the one or more PCells may also be determined by the source MN of the terminal device.
The apparatus evaluates, in block 302, a CHO execution condition for one or more PCells and a CPAC execution condition for the PSCells based on the radio measurements. The evaluating may be carried out continuously or periodically or regularly during the performing of the radio measurements. The CHO execution condition may be determined by a source MN of the terminal device. The CPAC execution condition may be determined by the one or more (target) MNs. The MN may indicate the execution condition(s) to the UE, e.g., in one or more configuration messages.
The CHO execution condition and/or the CPAC execution condition may correspond, e.g., to any of the measurement report triggering events A1 to A6 as defined in technical specifications of 3GPP. For example, the execution condition may correspond to an entry condition of any of the measurement report triggering events A1 to A6. In addition to the entry condition, a leave condition for the CHO execution and/or the CPAC execution may also be defined. For example, in the case of an A3 event, the entry condition may be defined as “Target cell is n dB or more stronger than the serving cell” while the leave condition may be defined as “Target cell is m dB or less stronger than the serving cell”, where n and m are positive real numbers with n>m (e.g., n=3 & m=2). With this definition, the hysteresis behavior is ensured, i.e., once the entry condition is satisfied, a small impairment in the measurements does not lead the time-to-trigger (TTT) timer to be terminated.
In response to the CPAC execution condition for a first PSCell being satisfied while the CHO execution condition for any PCell associated with the first PSCell is not satisfied in block 303, the apparatus relaxes or stops, in block 304, radio measurements of at least one PSCell. The radio measurements of the at least one PSCell may be relaxed or stopped at any frequency or at least at frequencies not used by the first PSCell.
In some alternative embodiments where radio measurements of multiple PCells are performed in block 301, in response to the CPAC execution condition for a first PSCell being satisfied while the CHO execution condition for any PCell associated with the first PSCell is not satisfied in block 303, the apparatus may relax or stop, in block 304, radio measurements of at least one PCell, instead of or in addition to the at least one PSCell. Said at least one PCell may be PCell(s) not associated with the first PSCell. The radio measurements of the at least one PCell may be relaxed or stopped at any frequency or at least at frequencies not used by the first PCell.
In response to the CPAC execution condition for any first PSCell not being satisfied in block 303, the apparatus continues the performing of the radio measurements (block 301) and the evaluation of the CHO & CPAC execution condition (block 302).
It should be noted that, in some embodiments, one or more further criteria (in addition to the criterion of block 303) may need to be satisfied before the apparatus moves on to block 304, as will be described in connection with further embodiments (see, e.g.,
Here and in the following, the relaxing of radio measurements may be defined to mean relaxing (i.e., making less strict) requirements associated with said radio measurements. For example, the relaxed measurement requirements may be for intra-frequency, NR inter-frequency or inter-RAT frequency cells selected by the PSCell & CPAC conditions. For example, the relaxing may comprise increasing periodicity of the radio measurements, that is, performing the radio measurements less often. In contrast, stopping of the radio measurements means that no radio measurements are performed at all (at least at certain frequencies). The relaxation/stopping may not only be limited to the RRC IDLE state operation but can also be applied to RRC INACTIVE and/or CONNECTED states.
In some embodiments, the relaxing/stopping of the radio measurements may correspond to stopping performing of layer-3 (L3) measurements, i.e., stop frequent measurements of a PSCell, stop sampling them with layer-1 (L1) filter and L3 filter. However, the terminal device may still perform the physical layer (PHY) measurements to see if the PSCell is or has been detected.
In some embodiments, the at least one PSCell for which radio measurements are relaxed or stopped in block 304 comprises all of the PSCells other than the first PSCell. In some embodiments, the at least one PSCell for which radio measurements are relaxed or stopped in block 304 may consist only of all of the PSCells other than the first PSCell. That is, radio measurements of all other PSCells are relaxed but the radio measurements for the first PSCell are not relaxed or stopped.
In some embodiments, the at least one PSCell for which radio measurements are relaxed or stopped in block 304 comprises at least one PSCell other than the first PSCell. In some embodiments, the at least one PSCell for which radio measurements are relaxed or stopped in block 304 may consist only of at least one PSCell other than the first PSCell. That is, at least the radio measurements for the first PSCell are not relaxed or stopped.
In some embodiments, the at least one PSCell for which radio measurements are relaxed or stopped in block 304 comprises the first PSCell. This may, in some embodiments, additionally include relaxing or stopping other PSCell(s) than the first PSCell.
In response to the CPAC execution condition for the first PSCell and the CHO execution condition of a first PCell associated with the first PSCell being satisfied in block 305, the apparatus triggers, in block 306, a PCell handover with the first PCell and a PSCell addition/change with the first PSCell. In practice, the apparatus may execute a CHO+CPAC configuration associated with the first PCell and the first PSCell stored in a memory of the apparatus. This may comprise carrying out a first random access procedure with the target MN associated with the first PCell and optionally a second random access procedure with the target SN associated with the first PSCell. The radio measurements of block 301 and the evaluation of block 302 may also be stopped in block 306.
In response to the CPAC execution condition for the first PSCell and the CHO execution condition of any PCell associated with the first PSCell still not being satisfied in block 305, the apparatus continues the performing of the radio measurements (with some of the radio measurements relaxed or stopped) and the evaluation of the CHO & CPAC execution condition.
In some embodiments, blocks 305, 306 may be omitted.
In some embodiments, the apparatus may receive, before block 301, a message from a master node. The message may be, for example, a reconfiguration message or more specifically an RRC reconfiguration message. The message comprises at least one or more measurement relaxation/stopping configurations for the apparatus. Each of the one or more measurement relaxation/stopping configurations may define one or more pre-defined rules for stopping or relaxing radio measurements of at least one PSCell (and/or at least one PCell). The apparatus may perform the relaxing or stopping of the radio measurements of the at least one PSCell (and/or the at least one PCell) in block 304 based on one of the one or more measurement relaxation/stopping configurations. The message may also comprise one or more CHO+CPAC configurations for the terminal device. The one or more CHO+CPAC configurations may be used for carrying out any of blocks 301, 302, 303, 305, 306. The configuration of the apparatus is discussed in further detail in connection with
The initial steps 401 to 404 of the process of
In
In some embodiments, the apparatus may stop, in block 405, the evaluating of the CPAC execution condition for the PSCells while still maintaining any detected PSCells. In other words, the apparatus may stop performing layer-3 (L3) measurements, i.e., stop frequent measurements of a PSCell, stop sampling them with layer-1 (L1) filter and L3 filter. However, the terminal device may still perform the physical layer (PHY) measurements to see if the PSCell is or has been detected. Here, the PSCell detection may be relaxed, that is, the apparatus may still be able to detect PSCells but the associated cell detection period (parameter Tdetect) may be increased.
Moreover, in the process of
The apparatus also stops, in block 408, the evaluation of the CHO execution condition for any PCell for which radio measurements were relaxed in block 407. In some embodiments, the apparatus may stop, in block 408, the evaluation of the CHO execution condition while still maintaining the detected PCell(s). In other words, the apparatus may stop performing layer-3 (L3) measurements, i.e., stop frequent measurements of a PCell, stop sampling them with layer-1 (L1) filter and L3 filter. However, the terminal device may still perform the physical layer (PHY) measurements to see if the PCell is detected
The remaining actions of
In some embodiments, one, two or three of block 405, blocks 406-408 or block 408 of
The process of
Compared to the process of
In response to either of the conditions defined in block 503 or block 505 being not satisfied, the apparatus continues the performing of the radio measurements (block 501) and the evaluation of the CHO & CPAC execution condition (block 502).
In some embodiments, the features discussed in connection with blocks 504, 505 may be combined with the process of
The process of
Compared to the process of
In response to either of the conditions defined in block 603 or block 605 being not satisfied, the apparatus continues the performing of the radio measurements (block 601) and the evaluation of the CHO & CPAC execution condition (block 602).
In some embodiments, the features discussed in connection with blocks 604, 605 may be combined with the process of
The process of
Referring to
The one or more pre-defined criteria of block 705 may be defined in a variety of different ways. The one or more pre-defined criteria for continuing current radio measurements may, for example, define that a PSCell for which radio measurements may be allowed to continue must be a PSCell for which results of radio measurements are especially promising (e.g., exceed a predefined signal quality or strength threshold). To give another example, the one or more pre-defined criteria for continuing current radio measurements may define that radio measurements may be allowed to continue only for the first PSCell which satisfied the CPAC execution condition. In some cases, the one or more pre-defined criteria for continuing current radio measurements may define that no PSCell measurements should be continued at all. Different possible definitions for the one or more pre-defined criteria will be discussed in further detail below in connection with
The evaluation of the one or more pre-defined criteria in block 704 may be continued until both CPAC and CHO execution conditions are satisfied in block 706. Thus, in some embodiments, the apparatus may initially relax or stop radio measurements of at least one PSCell failing to satisfy at least one of the one or more pre-defined criteria and subsequently relax or stop one or more further PSCells failing satisfy at least one of the one or more pre-defined criteria at that later time instance.
In some embodiments, the pre-defined threshold may be defined to be frequency-dependent. In other words, the one or more pre-defined criteria for continuing current radio measurements may comprise a plurality of pre-defined frequency-specific thresholds for a plurality of frequencies of the PSCells defining each a minimum value for a metric for signal strength or signal quality of a PSCell.
In the example of
As indicated in
In some embodiments, only one of the two conditions applied in
In some embodiments, the pre-defined relative threshold may be frequency-dependent. In other words, the one or more pre-defined criteria for continuing current radio measurements may comprise a plurality of pre-defined frequency-specific relative thresholds for a plurality of frequencies of the PSCells. Here, each of the plurality of pre-defined frequency-specific relative thresholds may define a frequency-specific minimum value for a relative metric quantifying signal strength or signal quality (e.g., RSRP or RSRQ) of a PSCell at a given frequency relative to signal strength or signal quality of the first PSCell (at its operating frequency).
In the example of
In the example of
While
In some embodiments, the apparatus may stop evaluation of the CHO and/or CPAC execution conditions to save processing power of the terminal device. This may be an independent procedure which may be combined with any of the measurement/stopping relaxation processes discussed in connection with above embodiments.
Referring to
The T-MN transmits, in message 1303, an SN addition request to the T-SN (based on the handover request). The SN addition request may request addition of one or more PSCells (e.g., PSCell-1 to PSCell-8) to SCG of the T-SN. The T-SN receives, in block 1304, the SN addition request. The T-SN adds, in block 1304, the requested PSCell(s) to its SCG. Subsequently, the T-SN transmits, in message 1305, an SN addition request acknowledgement back to the T-MN. The SN addition request acknowledgment serves to acknowledge that the addition was carried out successfully. The T-MN receives, in block 1306, the SN addition request acknowledgment.
In some embodiments, elements 1303 to 1306 may be omitted.
The T-MN determines, in block 1308, one or more CHO+CPAC configurations for the terminal device. Each (or at least some) of the one or more CHO+CPAC configurations may comprise an MCG configuration for a PCell and an SCG configuration for a PSCell associated with said PCell. The one or more CHO+CPAC configurations may altogether relate to one or more PCells associated each with one or more PSCells. To give an example (corresponding to scenario of
At least in some embodiments, the T-MN determines, in block 1308, one or more measurement relaxation/stopping configurations for the UE. In other embodiments, the T-MN may determine the one or more measurement relaxation/stopping configurations for the UE only partly or not at all. The determination in block 1308 may be based on a UE type of the UE. Examples of UE types may comprise, a UE with reduced capability and/or a UE with low battery situation. Additionally or alternatively, the determination in block 1308 may be based on one or more previous mobility events, i.e., on mobility history between the source cell and the target cell. Namely, the source cell may be able to observe whether or not the UE relaxation/stopping causes any mobility problems. These observations may be used for the determining in block 1308. In some embodiments, the determination may be based, additionally or alternatively, on one or more CHO+CPAC configurations defined for the UE.
Each (or at least some) of the one or more measurement relaxation/stopping configurations may define a (different) measurement relaxation/stopping scheme according to any of the embodiments discussed above. Each (or at least some) of the one or more measurement relaxation/stopping configurations may be define that in response to the CPAC execution condition for a first PSCell being satisfied (and optionally one or more further conditions being satisfied as discussed in connection with blocks 504 to 505 of
The T-MN transmits, in message 1309, a handover request acknowledgment back to the S-MN. The handover request acknowledgment may comprise the one or more CHO+CPAC configurations determined in block 1307. The handover request acknowledgment may further comprise the one or more measurement relaxation/stopping configurations if they were determined in block 1308.
The S-MN receives, in block 1310, the handover request acknowledgement.
At least in embodiments where the one or more measurement relaxation/stopping configurations were not determined in block 1308 or were determined only partly in block 1308, the S-MN determines, in block 1311, one or more measurement relaxation/stopping configurations for the UE. This determination may be based on one or more CHO+CPAC configurations of the UE received in block 1310. The one or more measurement relaxation/stopping configurations may be defined as described in connection with block 1308.
In some embodiments, the T-MN may determine one or more first measurement relaxation/stopping configurations for the UE in block 1308 while the S-MN determines one or more second measurement relaxation/stopping configurations for the UE in block 1311. One example of such an embodiment could be as follows: the T-MN determines the PSCell-associated measurement relaxation/stopping configuration(s) (CPAC), whereas the S-MN determines the PCell-associated measurement relaxation/stopping configuration(s) (CHO). This division would be sensible as the T-MN prepares the PSCells while the S-MN prepares the PCells.
The S-MN transmits, in message 1312, a reconfiguration message to the UE. The reconfiguration message may be an RRC reconfiguration message. The reconfiguration message may define both an SN (RRC) reconfiguration and an MN (RRC) reconfiguration for the UE. The reconfiguration message comprises the one or more CHO+CPAC configurations determined in block 1307 and the one or more relaxation/stopping configurations determined in block 1308 and/or block 1311.
The UE receives, in block 1313, the reconfiguration message and reconfigures, in block 1313, itself according to the reconfiguration message.
The UE transmits, in message 1314, a reconfiguration complete message back to the S-MN. The S-MN receives, in block 1315, the reconfiguration message. In some embodiments, elements 1314, 1315 may be omitted.
Following the completion of the re-configuration procedure of
In some embodiments, the one or more CHO+CPAC configurations and the one or more measurement relaxation/stopping configurations may be transmitted in separate messages. In one embodiment, the T-MN determines the measurement relaxation configurations of the UE and sends the configurations to S-MN. Hence, the S-MN forwards the configuration to the UE.
The blocks, related functions, and information exchanges described above by means of
The apparatus 1401 may comprise one or more communication control circuitry 1420, such as at least one processor, and at least one memory 1430, including one or more algorithms 1431 (instructions), such as a computer program code (software) wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code (software) are configured, with the at least one processor, to cause the apparatus 1401 to carry out any one of the exemplified functionalities of the apparatus (being, e.g., a terminal device, an SN or an MN) described above. Said at least one memory 1430 may also comprise at least one database 1432.
When the one or more communication control circuitry 1420 comprises more than one processor, the apparatus 1401 may be a distributed device wherein processing of tasks takes place in more than one physical unit. Each of the at least one processor may comprise one or more processor cores. A processing core may comprise, for example, a Cortex-A8 processing core manufactured by ARM Holdings or a Zen processing core designed by Advanced Micro Devices Corporation. The one or more communication control circuitry 1420 may comprise at least one Qualcomm Snapdragon and/or Intel Atom processor. The one or more communication control circuitry 1420 may comprise at least one application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC). The one or more control circuitry 1420 may comprise at least one field-programmable gate array (FPGA).
Referring to
Referring to
The one or more communication interfaces 1410 may comprise standard well-known components such as an amplifier, filter, frequency-converter, (de)modulator, and encoder/decoder circuitries, controlled by the corresponding controlling units, and one or more antennas. The apparatus 1401 may also comprise one or more user interfaces.
Referring to
As used in this application, the term ‘circuitry’ may refer to one or more or all of the following: (a) hardware-only circuit implementations, such as implementations in only analog and/or digital circuitry, and (b) combinations of hardware circuits and software (and/or firmware), such as (as applicable): (i) a combination of analog and/or digital hardware circuit(s) with soft-ware/firmware and (ii) any portions of hardware processor(s) with software, including digital signal processor(s), software, and memory(ies) that work together to cause an apparatus, such as a terminal device or an access node, to perform various functions, and (c) hardware circuit(s) and processor(s), such as a microprocessor(s) or a portion of a microprocessor(s), that requires software (e.g. firmware) for operation, but the software may not be present when it is not needed for operation. This definition of ‘circuitry’ applies to all uses of this term in this application, including any claims. As a further example, as used in this application, the term ‘circuitry’ also covers an implementation of merely a hard-ware circuit or processor (or multiple processors) or a portion of a hardware circuit or processor and its (or their) accompanying software and/or firmware.
In an embodiment, at least some of the processes described in connection with
According to an embodiment, there is provided an apparatus (e.g., a terminal device or a part thereof) comprising means for performing:
According to an embodiment, there is provided an apparatus (e.g., a terminal device or a part thereof) comprising at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to perform:
According to an embodiment, there is provided an apparatus (e.g., a terminal device or a part thereof) comprising means for performing:
According to an embodiment, there is provided an apparatus (e.g., a network node such as an MN) comprising at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to perform:
According to an embodiment, there is provided an apparatus (e.g., a network node such as an MN) comprising means for performing:
Embodiments as described may also be carried out, fully or at least in part, in the form of a computer process defined by a computer program or portions thereof. Embodiments of the methods described in connection with
The term “non-transitory”, as used herein, is a limitation of the medium itself (that is, tangible, not a signal) as opposed to a limitation on data storage persistency (for example, RAM vs. ROM).
Reference throughout this specification to one embodiment or an embodiment means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the present solution. Thus, appearances of the phrases “in one embodiment” or “in an embodiment” in various places throughout this specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment.
As used herein, a plurality of items, structural elements, compositional elements, and/or materials may be presented in a common list for convenience. However, these lists should be construed as though each member of the list is individually identified as a separate and unique member. Thus, no individual member of such list should be construed as a de facto equivalent of any other member of the same list solely based on their presentation in a common group without indications to the contrary. In addition, various embodiments and example of the present solution may be referred to herein along with alternatives for the various components thereof. It is understood that such embodiments, examples, and alternatives are not to be construed as de facto equivalents of one another, but are to be considered as separate and autonomous representations of the present solution.
Even though embodiments have been described above with reference to examples according to the accompanying drawings, it is clear that the embodiments are not restricted thereto but can be modified in several ways within the scope of the appended claims. Therefore, all words and expressions should be interpreted broadly and they are intended to illustrate, not to restrict, the embodiment. It will be obvious to a person skilled in the art that, as technology advances, the inventive concept can be implemented in various ways. Further, it is clear to a person skilled in the art that the described embodiments may, but are not required to, be combined with other embodiments in various ways.
At least some embodiments find industrial application in wireless communications.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20235893 | Aug 2023 | FI | national |
