Patent Application
20240357693
Embodiments herein relate to network nodes, communication devices and methods therein. In particular, they relate to handling resume procedure for a communication device operating in dual connectivity with a master cell group (MCG) and a secondary cell group (SCG) in a wireless communication network.
In a typical wireless communication network, wireless devices, also known as wireless communication devices, mobile stations, stations (STA) and/or user equipments (UE), communicate via a Radio Access Network (RAN) to one or more core networks (CN). The RAN covers a geographical area which is divided into service areas or cell areas, which may also be referred to as a beam or a beam group, with each service area or cell area being served by a radio network node such as a radio access node e.g., a Wi-Fi access point or a radio base station (RBS), which in some networks may also be denoted, for example, a “NodeB” or “eNodeB” or “gNB”. A service area or cell area is a geographical area where radio coverage is provided by the radio network node. The radio network node communicates over an air interface operating on radio frequencies with the wireless communication device within a range of the radio network node.
A Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) is a third generation (3G) telecommunication network, which evolved from the second generation (2G) Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM). Specifications for the Evolved Packet System (EPS), also called a Fourth Generation (4G) network or Long Term Evolution (LTE) have been completed within the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) and this work continues in the coming 3GPP releases, for example to specify a Fifth Generation (5G) New Radio (NR) network and upcoming releases.
CA is used in wireless communication in order to increase bandwidth, and thereby increase the data rate per user, whereby multiple frequency blocks, called component carriers, are assigned to the same user. When CA is configured, the UE only has one Radio Resource Control (RRC) connection with the network node. Further, at RRC connection establishment/re-establishment/handover, one serving cell provides the Non Access Stratum (NAS) mobility information, and at RRC connection re-establishment/handover, one serving cell provides the security input. This cell is referred to as the Primary Cell (PCell). In addition, depending on UE capabilities, Secondary Cells (SCells) can be configured to form together with the PCell a set of serving cells. Therefore, when carrier aggregation is configured for the UE, the set of serving cells used by the UE always consists of one PCell and one or more SCells.
The reconfiguration, addition and removal of SCells can be performed by RRC. At intra-Radio Access Technology (intra-RAT) handover, RRC can also add, remove, or reconfigure SCells for usage with the target PCell. When adding a new SCell, dedicated RRC signalling is used for sending all required system information of the SCell i.e. while in connected mode, UEs need not acquire broadcasted system information directly from the SCells.
In 3GPP Rel-12, the LTE feature Dual Connectivity (DC) was introduced, to enable the UE to be connected in two cell groups, each controlled by an LTE access node, eNBs, labelled as the Master eNB (MeNB) and the Secondary eNB (SeNB). The UE still only has one RRC connection with the network node. In 3GPP, the Dual Connectivity (DC) solution has since then been evolved and is now also specified for NR as well as between LTE and NR. With introduction of 5G, the term Multi-Radio Dual Connectivity (MR-DC), see also 3GPP TS 37.340, was defined as a generic term for all dual connectivity options which includes at least one NR access node. Using the MR-DC generalized terminology, the UE is connected in a Master Cell Group (MCG), controlled by the Master Node (MN), and in a Secondary Cell Group (SCG) controlled by a Secondary Node (SN).
Further, in MR-DC, when dual connectivity is configured for the UE, within each of the two cell groups, MCG and SCG, carrier aggregation may be used as well. In this case, within the MCG, controlled by the master node (MN), the UE may use one PCell and one or more SCell(s). And within the SCG, controlled by the secondary node (SN), the UE may use one Primary SCell (PSCell), also known as the primary SCG cell in NR, and one or more SCell(s). This combined case, i.e. dual connectivity combined with carrier aggregation in MR-DC, is illustrated in
There are different ways to deploy 5G network with or without interworking with LTE, also referred to as E-UTRA and evolved packet core (EPC). In principle, NR and LTE can be deployed without any interworking, denoted by NR stand-alone (SA) operation, also known as Option 2, that is gNB in NR can be connected to 5G core network (5GC) and eNB in LTE can be connected to EPC with no interconnection between the two, also known as Option 1.
On the other hand, the first supported version of NR uses dual connectivity, denoted as EN-DC (E-UTRAN-NR Dual Connectivity), also known as Option 3, as depicted in
With introduction of 5GC, other options may be also valid. As mentioned above, option 2 supports stand-alone NR deployment where gNB is connected to 5GC. Similarly, LTE can also be connected to 5GC using option 5, also known as eLTE, E-UTRA/5GC, or LTE/5GC and the node can be referred to as an ng-eNB. In these cases, both NR and LTE are seen as part of the NG-RAN and both the ng-eNB and the gNB can be referred to as NG-RAN nodes.
It is worth noting that, there are also other variants of dual connectivity between LTE and NR which have been standardized as part of NG-RAN connected to 5GC. Under the MR-DC umbrella, we have:
As migration for these options may differ from different operators, it is possible to have deployments with multiple options in parallel in the same network e.g. there could be eNB base station supporting option 3, 5 and 7 in the same network as NR base station supporting 2 and 4. In combination with dual connectivity solutions between LTE and NR it is also possible to support CA (Carrier Aggregation) in each cell group, i.e. MCG and SCG and dual connectivity between nodes on same RAT, e.g. NR-NR DC. For the LTE cells, a consequence of these different deployments is the co-existence of LTE cells associated to eNBs connected to EPC, 5GC or both EPC and 5GC.
As said earlier, DC is standardized for both LTE and E-UTRA-NR DC (EN-DC).
LTE DC and EN-DC are designed differently when it comes to which nodes control what. Basically, there are two options:
For EN-DC and NR-DC, the major changes compared to LTE DC are:
Packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) packet duplication, also known as Packet Duplication or PDCP duplication, is a feature that can be used to support ultra-reliable low latency (URLLC) use-cases.
PDCP duplication is configurable in both carrier aggregation (CA) as well as dual connectivity (DC),
According to 3GPP TS 38.300 v16.1, and depicted in
Duplication at PDCP therefore consists in submitting the same PDCP PDUs multiple times: once to each activated RLC entity for the radio bearer. The packet duplicates are transmitted via the different carriers (cells). With multiple independent transmission paths, packet duplication therefore increases reliability and reduces latency and is especially beneficial for URLLC services.
When configuring duplication for a DRB, RRC also sets the state of PDCP duplication, either activated or deactivated, at the time of configuration or reconfiguration. After the configuration, the PDCP duplication state can then be dynamically controlled by means of a MAC control element and in DC, the UE applies the MAC CE commands regardless of their origin, MCG or SCG.
In order to improve network energy efficiency and UE battery life for UEs in MR-DC, a Rel-17 work item is planned to introduce efficient SCG/SCell activation/deactivation. This can be especially important for MR-DC configurations with NR SCG, as it has been evaluated in 3GPP contribution document RP-190919 that in some cases NR UE power consumption is 3 to 4 times higher than LTE.
3GPP has specified the concepts of dormant SCell (in LTE) and dormancy like behavior of an SCell (for NR).
In LTE, when an SCell is in dormant state, like in the deactivate state, the UE does not need to monitor the corresponding Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) or PDSCH and cannot transmit in the corresponding uplink. However, differently from deactivated state, the UE is required to perform and report Channel Quality Indicator (CQI) measurements. A PUCCH SCell, i.e. SCell configured with PUCCH, cannot be in dormant state.
In NR, dormancy like behaviour for SCells is realized using the concept of dormant Bandwidth Parts (BWPs). See
However, only SCells can be put in dormant state (in LTE) or operate in dormancy like behavior (NR). Also, only SCells can be put into the deactivated state in both LTE and NR. Thus, if the UE is configured with MR-DC, it is not possible to fully benefit from the power saving options of dormant state or dormancy like behavior as the PSCell cannot be configured with that feature. Instead, an existing solution could be releasing for power savings and adding when traffic demands requires the SCG on a need basis. However, traffic is likely to be bursty, and adding and releasing the SCG involves a significant amount of RRC signaling and inter-node messaging between the MN and the SN, which causes considerable delay.
In 3GPP rel-16, some discussions were made regarding putting also the PSCell in dormancy, also referred to as SCG Suspension. Some preliminary agreements were made in RAN2-107bis, October 2019 (see chairman notes at R2-1914301):
R2-1914301 assumes the following (can be slightly modified due to progress on Scell dormancy):
In RAN2-108, further discussion was made to clarify the above for further studies (FFSs).
Some solutions have been proposed in Rel-16, but these have different problems. For example, in R2-1908679 (Introducing suspension of SCG-Qualcomm) the paper proposes that gNB can indicate UE to suspend SCG transmissions when no data traffic is expected to be sent in SCG so that UE keeps the SCG configuration but does not use it for power saving purpose. Therein, it is mentioned that signaling to suspend SCG could be based on DCI/MAC-CE/RRC signaling, but no details were provided regarding the configuration from the gNB to the UE. And, differently from the defined behavior for SCell(s), PSCell(s) may be associated to a different network node, e.g. a gNodeB operating as Secondary Node.
The 3GPP discussions on solutions for the Rel-17 MR-DC work item objective “Support efficient activation/de-activation mechanism for one SCG and Scells” have just started in 3GPP RAN1, RAN2 and RAN3. As part of this objective, the concept of a “deactivated SCG” with aim of power saving when the traffic demands are dynamically reduced is being discussed. As
Current RAN2 assumption is that during “SCG deactivated state” or sometimes referred to as “SCG is deactivated”, in order to save power, the UE does not perform PDCCH monitoring of the PSCell. This also means that Uplink/Downlink (UL/DL) data transmission in the SCG is suspended when the SCG is in SCG deactivated state. Activation and deactivation of the SCG is typically controlled by the network node, e.g. by the MN, using RRC signalling. Moreover, RAN2 has agreed that PSCell mobility is supported while the SCG is deactivated, even if details are for further studies (FFS). When the UE is configured with the SCG in “SCG activated state” the power saving of the SCG is not applied.
RRC_INACTIVE and Suspend/Resume procedures:
A UE is either in RRC_CONNECTED state or in RRC_INACTIVE state, the latter is also known as suspended state, when an RRC connection has been established. If this is not the case, i.e. no RRC connection is established, the UE is in RRC_IDLE state.
When the UE in RRC_CONNECTED state receives an RRC Release with a suspend configuration (suspendConfig in RRCRelease) the UE transitions to RRC_INACTIVE state and stores its configuration in the so called AS Inactive context. Then, when the UE tries to resume the configuration is restored so that network node is able to apply delta signaling in the RRCResume message during a resume procedure.
In the particular case the RRC_CONNECTED UE is configured with MR-DC, e.g. has a configured SCG, there are some differences in suspend/resume procedures in 3GPP Release 15 and Release 16.
The network node may determine to suspend an RRC connection for a UE operating in MR-DC, e.g. configured with a Secondary Cell Group (SCG) and with a Master Cell Group (MCG), so the UE transitions from RRC_CONNECTED to RRC_INACTIVE. In Rel-15, it was defined that the UE releases MR-DC configurations upon entering RRC_INACTIVE (though it was rather modeled as an MR-DC release upon the initiation to resume defined in TS 38.331, 5.3.13.2), see section 5.3.8.3 Reception of the RRCRelease by the UE, section 5.3.13 RRC connection resume and section 5.3.5.10 MR-DC release in Rel-15 for detail information.
In Rel-16 an enhancement was introduced: for a UE operating in MR-DC, e.g. EN-DC, NR-DC, that is suspended to RRC_INACTIVE, the UE stores the SCG configurations, at least some of the configurations, so that these can be restored and resumed upon resume procedure. Among the changes introduced in 5.3.8.3, the UE in Rel-16 stores the spCellConfigCommon within ReconfigurationWithSync of the NR PSCell (if configured).
Another change introduced in resume initiation in Rel-16 for this feature was that the UE only releases MR-DC if it does not support maintaining SCG configuration upon connection resumption. And, when the UE restores the context it restores the MR-DC configuration, including the SCG configuration (as defined up to Rel-16).
Yet another change is that RRCResume can include the field mrdc-SecondaryCellGroup possibly set to nr-SCG, so that an SCG RRC Reconfiguration can include the reconfiguration with sync for the SCG to be resumed (or added/modified). This is needed for the UE to trigger a random access procedure with the PSCell that is being resumed. See section 5.3.8.3 Reception of the RRCRelease by the UE and section 5.3.13 RRC connection resume comprising section 5.3.13.1 General, 5.3.13.2 Initiation, section 5.3.13.3 Actions related to transmission of RRCResumeRequest or RRCResumeRequest1 message and section 5.3.13.4 Reception of the RRCResume by the UE in Rel-16 for detail information.
With the introduction in 3GPP Rel-17 of the SCG power saving mode, often called in 3GPP “deactivated SCG” or “SCG deactivated state”, as described above, the network node may still determine to suspend the UE to RRC_INACTIVE while the SCG is deactivated. Upon suspension, i.e. reception of an RRCRelease with suspendConfig, if the SCG is activated the same behavior as in Rel-16 could be adopted, as to some extent, in Rel-16 the SCG is always activated when an SCG is configured. With the introduction of the Rel-17 feature, the SCG may be deactivated when the UE receives an RRCRelease with suspendConfig and transitions to RRC_INACTIVE. And, regardless if the UE was suspended when it was configured with multi-radio dual connectivity (MR-DC) including a Master Cell Group (MCG) and a Secondary Cell Group (SCG), when the UE resumes from RRC_INACTIVE to RRC_CONNECTED it has been agreed in 3GPP RAN2 that the SCG state, e.g. SCG activated state or SCG deactivated state, can be configured at RRC resume. In legacy, when the UE resumes e.g. due to the fact there is some uplink traffic, NAS layer trigger the resume procedure and a cause value mo-Data is set to be included in RRC Resume Request message, as follows:
The UE initiates the procedure when upper layers or AS (when responding to RAN paging, upon triggering RNA updates while the UE is in RRC_INACTIVE, or for sidelink communication as specified in sub-clause 5.3.13.1a) requests the resume of a suspended RRC connection.
The UE shall ensure having valid and up to date essential system information as specified in clause 5.2.2.2 before initiating this procedure.
[ . . . ]
[ . . . ]
The IE ResumeCause is used to indicate the resume cause in RRCResumeRequest and RRCResumeRequest1.
In the following, the terms “suspended SCG”, “SCG in power saving mode”, “SCG deactivated state”, or “deactivated SCG” are used interchangeably. The term “suspended SCG” may also be called as “deactivated SCG or inactive SCG”, or “dormant SCG”. The terms “resumed SCG”, “SCG in normal operating mode”, “SCG activated state” and “SCG in non-power saving mode” are used interchangeably. The terms “resumed SCG” may also be called as “activated SCG” or “active SCG”. The operation of the SCG operating in resumed or active mode may also be called as normal SCG operation or legacy SCG operation. Examples of operations are UE signal reception/transmission procedures e.g. reception of signals messages, transmission of signals messages, etc. The terms “communication device” and “UE” are used interchangeably. The term “network node”, “gNB”, “eNB”, “gNodeB are used interchangeably.
As part of developing embodiments herein problems were identified and will first be discussed.
Even though upon reception the network node knows that the UE requested the resume procedure due to the need to have UL transmission, during RRC resume of the UE, the network node is not aware whether the UE initiated RRC resume request was triggered due to uplink data for a MCG DRB or for an SCG DRB. As a matter of fact, that remains unknown even after context fetching, which enables the network node, e.g. the target network node where the UE is trying to resume, to at least know whether the UE was configured with an SCG or split DRB.
This means that the network node would not be aware of which SCG state or mode of operation to select, e.g. SCG activated state or SCG deactivated state, for the UE performing RRC resume procedure. Hence, the network node, e.g. target gNodeB where the UE tries to resume, may activate the SCG unnecessarily, in case UL data that triggered the resume request is associated to the MCG or the amount of data is not sufficient to justify activating the SCG. When the network node realizes that sub-optimal decision, the network node would have to transmit another message to the UE after the resume procedure, e.g. an RRCReconfiguration and/or a MAC CE, to deactivate the SCG for power savings purpose. During the time the UE has resumed until the time the UE receives this message, more power is consumed and more signaling is used after resume. Alternatively, the network node, e.g. target gNodeB where the UE tries to resume, may deactivate the SCG even though the UE has UL data associated to the SCG. In that case the network node would then have to transmit another message to activate the SCG after the RRC resume procedure once it realizes that there is data associated to the SCG that justifies activation of the SCG. During the time the UE has resumed until the time the UE receives this message, the performance would then be restricted due to that only the MCG can be used.
In order to resume a stored SCG as part of the RRC Resume procedure, i.e. already with the RRC Resume message or shortly thereafter, the network node has to do it more or less blindly. This is since the network node has then not received any new measurement results from the UE for the SCG (PSCell) that it can use to determine if the UE is in radio coverage of the SCG/PSCell. There is then a risk that the UE is configured with the SCG even if it is out-of-coverage of the previous SCG/PSCell.
Therefore, it is an object of embodiments herein to provide an improved method for handling a resume procedure for a communication device operating in dual connectivity with a master cell group (MCG) and a secondary cell group (SCG) of a network node in a wireless communication network.
According to one aspect of the embodiments herein, the object is achieved by a method performed in a communication device for handling a resume procedure from a suspended state to a connected state. The communication device is configured with multi-radio connectivity (MR-DC) with a Master Cell Group (MCG) and a Secondary Cell Group (SCG). The communication device initiates a resume procedure when there is uplink data available. The communication device determines the type of the UL data, i.e. whether the UL data is available for an MCG bearer, an SCG bearer or a split bearer. The communication device sets an UL data indication based on the determination of whether the UL data is available for an MCG bearer, an SCG bearer or a split bearer. The communication device sends the UL data indication to a network node. The UL data indication indicates whether the resume is initiated due to uplink data that is available only for the MCG, or, regardless data is available for MCG, due to uplink data is available for SCG. The UL data indication may be in an information element in the RRC Resume Complete message if not included in a previous message in the resume procedure.
In other words, the communication device sends to a network node upon resuming from the suspended state such as RRC_INACTIVE state to the connected state such as RRC_CONNECTED state, an UL data indication for assisting the network node to determine a SCG configuration for the communication device. When the UL data is available, the resume from a suspended state is performed, the communication device determines whether the UL data is for an MCG, SCG or split DRB and sets the UL data indication based on this determination and possibly other criteria such as a data volume threshold.
The embodiments herein enable the communication device to unequivocally transmit an indication if there is any UL data that needs to be transmitted via the SCG, in the case that one or more than one bearer type has UL data during the resume procedure. In one embodiment, the communication device checks the bearer type with a given priority order, such as the SCG bearer and the split bearer is checked first, so that the indication that SCG has data to transmit is triggered first in the procedure. If uplink data is available for the SCG, the communication device transmits an indication in a message, e.g. RRCResumeRequest message, which may trigger the network node to activate SCG during resume procedure. Otherwise, the communication device transmits an indication that only bearers on the MCG side have data to transmit, which may trigger the network node not to activate SCG during resume procedure.
In another embodiment, the UL data indication of SCG may be additionally added in the RRCResumeComplete message if there are further UL data arrival to transmit via SCG between sending RRCResumeRequest message and sending RRCResumeComplete message. The network node may activate the SCG in a separate message that is not part of the resume procedure.
According to one aspect of the embodiments herein, the object is achieved by a method performed in a network node, such as a gNB, to determine a SCG configuration upon a communication device initiating a resume procedure from a suspended state such as RRC_INACTIVE state to a connected state such as RRC_CONNECTED state, based on an UL data indication, SCG coverage indication or a measurement report received from the communication device. The network node is configured to:
Determine whether a suspend SCG is to be resumed and, if it is to be resumed, which mode of operation should be set to the SCG e.g. deactivated or activated;
Determine whether an SCG is to be released in case the communication device trying to resume is configured with an SCG;
Determine whether an SCG is to be added in case the communication device trying to resume is not configured with an SCG, and, if it is to be added, which mode of operation should be set to the SCG e.g. deactivated or activated.
According to one aspect of the embodiments herein, the object is achieved by a method performed in a communication device in RRC_INACTIVE state to initiate measurements for the SCG, e.g. PSCell, that it has stored as part of the UE Inactive AS Context when the communication device determines that it has UL data available for the SCG, such as an SCG DRB or sufficient amount of data available for a split DRB to justify SCG activation.
The embodiments herein enable the network node to select strategy for a communication device in MR-DC during resuming from a suspended state, for example, to select the SCG state, e.g. SCG deactivated state or SCG activated state.
In some embodiments, a benefit of the embodiment herein is that the network node may set the SCG state in the first RRC message such as an RRCResume RRC message responding to the resume request.
Thanks to the method according to embodiments herein, the network node, e.g. the target network node the communication device is trying to resume to, is made aware whether the communication device initiated RRC resume request was triggered due to uplink data for a MCG DRB or for an SCG DRB, and based on that, take the appropriated educated decision on setting up MR-DC, release MR-DC, resume MR-DC and in case of setup and resume, in which state or mode of operation the SCG should be e.g. deactivated SCG or activated SCG.
According to embodiments herein, the network node may also select strategy for the communication device in MR-DC when resuming in case more than one type of DRB have uplink data to transmit, in which the DRB type may be MCG DRB, SCG DRB or a split DRB. An example is that both a MCG DRB and a SCG DRB have uplink data to transmit.
Hence, the network node, e.g. the target gNodeB where the communication device tries to resume, would not activate the SCG unnecessarily, in case the UL data that triggered the resume request is associated to the MCG or the amount of data is not sufficient to justify activating the SCG, which prevents unnecessary actions on the SCG and prevents unnecessary spent of energy at the communication device. That translates in lower power consumption at the communication device thanks to the method according to embodiments herein.
In addition to it, by preventing a potentially sub-optimal decision, the network node does not need to transmit another message to the communication device after the resume procedure e.g. an RRCReconfiguration and/or a MAC CE to deactivate the SCG for power savings purpose, which is also a signaling reduction.
Therefor embodiments herein provide an improved method for handling a resume procedure for a communication device operating in dual connectivity with a master cell group (MCG) and a secondary cell group (SCG) of a network node in a wireless communication network.
Examples of embodiments herein are described in more detail with reference to attached drawings in which:
Embodiments herein relate to communications networks in general.
In the wireless communication network 1200, one or more wireless communication devices 1230, 1231 such as a UE, a mobile station or a wireless terminals communicates via one or more Radio Access Networks (RAN) to one or more core networks (CN). It should be understood by the skilled in the art that “wireless communication device” is a non-limiting term which means any terminal, wireless communication terminal, user equipment, Machine Type Communication (MTC) device, Device to Device (D2D) terminal, or node e.g. smart phone, laptop, mobile phone, sensor, relay, mobile tablets or even a small base station communicating within a cell.
Network nodes operate in the wireless communication network 1200 such as a first network node 1211 and a second network node 1212. The first and second network node 1211, 1212 may be any of RAN node, such as gNB, eNB, en-gNB, ng-eNB, gNB etc. The first network node 1211 provides radio coverage over a geographical area, a service area 11, which may also be referred to as a beam or a beam group where the group of beams is covering the service area of a first radio access technology (RAT), such as 5G, LTE, Wi-Fi or similar. The second network node 1212 provides radio coverage over a geographical area, a service area 12, which may also be referred to as a beam or a beam group where the group of beams is covering the service area of a first or a second radio access technology (RAT), such as 5G, LTE, Wi-Fi or similar. It should be noted that a network node may be a RAN node, a CN node or an OAM node.
The first and second network nodes 1211 and 1212 may be a transmission and reception point e.g. a radio access network node such as a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) access point or an Access Point Station (AP STA), an access controller, a base station, e.g. a radio base station such as a NodeB, a gNB, an evolved Node B (eNB, eNode B), a base transceiver station, a radio remote unit, an Access Point Base Station, a base station router, a transmission arrangement of a radio base station, a stand-alone access point or any other network unit capable of communicating with a wireless communication device within the service area served by the respective first and second network nodes 1211 and 1212 depending e.g. on the radio access technology and terminology used. The first and second network nodes 1211 and 1212 may be referred to as a source and target network node, respectively, and may communicate with the wireless communication device 1230, 1231 with Downlink (DL) transmissions to the wireless communication device 1230, 1231 and Uplink (UL) transmissions from the wireless communication device 1230, 1231.
The first and second network nodes 1211, 1212 may each be either a master node (MN) having a cell group MCG, or a secondary node (SN) having a cell group SCG, respectively, as shown in
The description herein describes terms like SCG and PSCell, as one of the cells associated with the SCG. That can be for example a PSCell as defined in NR specifications (e.g. RRC TS 38.331), defined as a Special Cell (SpCell) of the SCG, or a Primary SCG Cell (PSCell), as follows:
For the sake of brevity, the description herein mostly refers and shows examples wherein the second cell group is a Secondary Cell Group (SCG) that is deactivated or suspended or in power saving mode of operation, for a UE configured with Multi-Radio Dual Connectivity (MR-DC). However, the method is equally applicable for the case where the second cell group is a Master Cell Group (MCG) for a UE configured with Dual Connectivity (e.g. MR-DC), wherein the MCG could be suspended, while the SCG is operating in normal mode.
The description herein describes that when the second cell group is deactivated e.g. SCG becomes deactivated upon reception of an indication from the network node, the UE stops monitoring PDCCH on the SCG cells, i.e. stop monitoring PDCCH of the PSCell and of the SCells of the SCG. Solutions are mainly described using as an example a second cell group that is a Secondary Cell Group that the UE configured with MR-DC is configured with; and, the SCG being deactivated mode of operation at the UE when the UE perform the actions disclosed in the method. However, the method is also applicable for the case one assumes that the second cell group is a Master Cell Group (MCG) that is deactivated, so that the UE stops monitoring PDCCH on the MCG and continues monitoring PDCCH on the SCG.
Correspondingly, the description herein mostly refers and shows examples wherein the first cell group is a Master Cell Group (MCG) for a UE configured with Multi-Radio Dual Connectivity (MR-DC). However, the method is equally applicable for the case where the first cell group is a Secondary Cell Group (SCG) that is deactivated or suspended or in power saving mode of operation, for a UE configured with Multi-Radio Dual Connectivity (MR-DC).
According to embodiments herein, a method performed by a communication device 1230 is provided for handling a resume procedure from a first state to a second state. The first state may be a suspended state such as RRC_INACTIVE state, the second state may be a connected state such as RRC_CONNECTED state.
According to embodiments herein, the communication device 1230 determines whether the resume procedure is initiated due to uplink data that is available for the MCG, such as an MCG DRB, or for the SCG, such as an SCG DRB or whether sufficient amount of data e.g. determined based on a configured threshold for UL data volume, is available for a split DRB to justify SCG activation. Based on this determination the communication device 1230 includes the UL data indication during the resume procedure e.g. within a resume request to the network node 1211 and/or multiplexed with the resume request to the network node 1211.
In a first embodiment, the communication device 1230 checks the data availability in the priority order of SCG bearer, split bearer, and followed by MCG bearer. In other words, the communication device 1230 first checks if there is UL data available in the SCG bearer followed by split bearer and MCG bearer.
The method according to a first embodiment will be described in detail with reference to
The communication device 1230 is in a first state e.g. a suspended state such as the RRC_INACTIVE state, and has MR-DC configured with an MCG and an SCG. When uplink data becomes available, upper layers triggers the RRC layer in the communication device 1230 to initiate resume of the suspended RRC connection.
The communication device 1230 checks if SCG bearer has data. If SCG bearer has data, the communication device 1230 in Action 13060 sets the UL data indication to “SCG” . . .
If SCG bearer does not have data, the communication device 1230 checks if split bearer has data. If split bearer does not have data, the communication device 1230 in Action 13050 sets the UL data indication to “MCG”.
If split bearer has data, the communication device 1230 checks if the total amount of data e.g., PDCP data volume and the RLC data volume pending for initial transmission in the primary and split secondary RLC entity, for the split bearer exceeds a threshold e.g., ul-DataSplitThreshold. If the data exceeds the threshold, the communication device 1230 in Action 13060 sets the UL data indication to “SCG”. Otherwise, the communication device 1230 in Action 13050 sets the UL data indication to “MCG”.
The communication device 1230 sets the UL data indication to “MCG”.
The communication device 1230 sets the UL data indication to “SCG”.
The communication device 1230 initiates a resume procedure by transmitting a resume request, e.g. RRC Resume Request message to a network node, e.g. the network node 1211. During the resume procedure, the communication device 1230 also transmits the UL data indication as set according to the previous Actions.
In this embodiment, if an UL data indication is set to SCG, then either the SCG bearer has data or the split bearer has more data than the threshold and thus an indication from the communication device 1230 that there is data available for SCG. It is not clear though if there is data available for MCG. But this is not essential, since the MCG needs to be resumed in any case.
If an UL data indication is set to MCG, then neither SCG bearer has data nor the split bearer has more data than the threshold, and thus this is an implicit indication from the communication device 1230 that there is no data available for SCG.
In one alternative, in Action 13020 of
In yet another alternative, in Action 13040 of
The communication device 1230 may include the UL data indication during the resume procedure e.g. within the resume request to the network node 1211 and/or multiplexed with the resume request to the network node 1211.
Concerning how the UL data indication is indicated to the network node 1211, there may be different alternatives.
In one alternative, as illustrated in
An example of how it is implemented in the 3GPP specs is shown below with the changes underlined.
PDCP spec v16.2.0
transmit according to the procedure in this subclause.
In another embodiment, as illustrated in
In another embodiment, as illustrated in
Below is an example on how this can be implemented in the RRC spec v16.3.0, with changes underlined.
The RRCResumeComplete message is used to confirm the successful completion of an RRC connection resumption.
According a second embodiment herein, a method performed by a communication device 1230 is provided for handling a resume procedure from a first state, e.g. a suspended state to a second state, e.g. a connected state, which may be combined with the first embodiment described above. The communication device 1230 in RRC_INACTIVE initiates measurements for the SCG e.g. the PSCell, that it has stored as part of the UE Inactive AS Context when the communication device 1230 determines that it has UL data available for the SCG, such as UL data available for an SCG DRB or a sufficient amount of data available for a split DRB to justify SCG activation.
The method will be described in detail with reference to
The communication device 1230 is in a suspended state, such as the RRC_INACTIVE state, and has MR-DC configured with an MCG and an SCG. Uplink data becomes available and upper layers triggers the RRC layer in the communication device 1230 to initiate resume of the suspended RRC connection.
The communication device 1230 checks if SCG bearer has data. If SCG bearer has data, the communication device 1230 in Action 17050 initiates measurements for the SCG.
If SCG bearer does not have data, the communication device 1230 checks if split bearer has data.
If split bearer has data, the communication device 1230 checks if the total amount of data i.e., PDCP data volume and the RLC data volume pending for initial transmission in the primary and split secondary RLC entity, for the split bearer exceeds a threshold e.g., ul-DataSplitThreshold. If the data exceeds the threshold, the communication device 1230 in Action 17050 initiates measurements for the SCG.
The communication device 1230 initiates measurements for the SCG.
In one alternative the communication device 1230 performs continuous measurements on the suspended SCG e.g. the PSCell while it is in RRC_INACTIVE state. In one example, the communication device 1230 performs the measurements on the suspended SCG (PSCell), i.e. the one stored in the UE Inactive AS Context, while in RRC_INACTIVE state based on a network configuration. The network configuration may then e.g. be provided through system information, whereby it e.g. is valid in the cell where the configuration is broadcasted, or through dedicated signaling, such as e.g. in the RRC Release message that suspended the communication device 1230 to RRC_INACTIVE state.
In another alternative the communication device 1230 in RRC_INACTIVE state initiates measurements for the suspended SCG e.g. the PSCell that it has stored as part of the UE Inactive AS Context, when it determines that it has an amount of UL data available for a split DRB, which is above a threshold. The threshold can then be configured by the network, e.g. in system information or in dedicated signaling, e.g. the RRC Release message that suspended the communication device 1230 to RRC_INACTIVE state. In one example, the threshold value for initiating the measurements on the suspended SCG/PSCell is then lower than the threshold for indicating that the SCG should be activated and/or resumed.
In some alternatives of the above embodiments, the communication device 1230 indicates to the network node whether it is in coverage of the suspended SCG e.g. the PSCell as part of, or following, the RRC Resume procedure. The communication device 1230 may then e.g. indicate to the network node whether it is in coverage of the suspended SCG/PSCell through an SCG in-coverage indication. In one example, the communication device 1230 determines that it is in coverage of the suspended SCG e.g. the PSCell based on one or more threshold values, e.g. that the measured Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP), Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ) and/or Signal to Interference plus Noise Ratio (SINR) values for the suspended PSCell is/are above configured threshold value(s). The threshold values to determine whether the communication device 1230 is in coverage of the suspended SCG e.g. the PSCell may e.g. be based on a network configuration, which may be provided by the network node 1211, 1212 to the communication device 1230 e.g. through system information or dedicated signaling, such as e.g. in the RRC Release message that suspended the communication device 1230 to RRC_INACTIVE state.
In one alternative, the UE transmits the measurement results for the SCG e.g. PSCell that was stored as part of the UE Inactive AS Context while the communication device 1230 was in RRC_INACTIVE state, e.g. measured RSRP, RSRQ and/or SINR values, in or following the RRC Resume procedure.
In some alternatives the indication whether the UE is in coverage of the suspended SCG/PSCell, i.e. the SCG in-coverage indication, and/or the measurement results for the suspended SCG/PSCell is/are provided by the communication device 1230 to the network node together with the UL data indication according to the above embodiments. In some alternatives, the SCG in-coverage indication and/or the measurement results for the suspended SCG/PSCell is/are provided by the communication device 1230 to the network node according to those methods even if no UL data indication is provided to the network node. In one example, the SCG in-coverage indication and/or the measurement results for the suspended SCG/PSCell is/are provided within or multiplexed with an RRC Resume Request message, e.g. as one or more separate field(s) or using specific resume cause values. In another example, the SCG in-coverage indication and/or the measurement results for the suspended SCG/PSCell is/are provided within the RRC Resume Complete message or in another RRC message that is sent as part of, or after, the RRC Resume procedure, e.g. an UEAssistanceInformation message.
According to embodiments herein a method performed by the network node 1211, 1212 is provided for handling a resume procedure for a communication device 1230 in the wireless communication network 1200.
According to a first embodiment, the network node 1211, 1212 operates as a target network node e.g. a gNodeB where the communication device 1230 is attempting to resume. The method comprises receiving from the communication device 1230 an UL data indication, as described above e.g. associated to a suspended SCG, and based on that information, determining the SCG configuration for the communication device 1230, sometimes referred to as the MR-DC strategy to be set for the incoming communication device 1230.
The method will be described in detail with reference to
The network node 1211, 1212 receives an UL data indication from the communication device 1230 during a resume procedure initiated by the communication device 1230.
The network node 1211, 1212 determines a SCG configuration for the communication device 1230 based on the received UL data indication.
The network node 1211, 1212 configures the communication device 1230 according the determined SCG configuration. This configuration may be provided in a message sent to the communication device 1230, for example in a RRCResume message as response to RRCResumeRequest or in a separate RRCReconfiguration message.
As part of the determination of the SCG configuration for the communication device 1230, the network node 1211, 1212 performs at least one of the following actions:
Determining whether a suspend SCG is to be resumed and, if it is to be resumed, which mode of operation should be set to the SCG e.g. deactivated or activated;
Determining whether an SCG is to be released in case the UE trying to resume is configured with an SCG;
Determining whether an SCG is to be added in case the UE trying to resume is not configured with an SCG, and, if it is to be added, which mode of operation should be set to the SCG e.g. deactivated or activated.
According to embodiments herein, the method comprises the network node determining the MR-DC strategy based on the UL data indication and possibly other information such as the resource availability e.g. for the SCG, possibly indicated by the SN, or measurement results from the communication device 1230, e.g. RSRP, RSRQ, SINR from the communication device 1230 for the PSCell(s) and/or SCells of the SCG, which could have been obtained as an early measurement report.
According to a second embodiment, the network node 1211. 1212, operating as a target network node e.g. a gNodeB where the UE is attempting to resume, receives an indication, as part of the RRC Resume procedure, from the communication device 1230 that it is in coverage of the SCG/PSCell that is stored as part of the UE Inactive AS Context, e.g. an SCG in-coverage indication. Based on this indication the network node 1211, 1212 may determine whether to restore the suspended SCG e.g. PSCell or not. The indication may also be used by the network node 1211, 1212 to determine whether to resume the SCG/PSCell in SCG activated state or SCG deactivated state. As an example, if the SCG in-coverage indication indicates that the communication device 1230 is not in coverage of the SCG e.g. the PSCell, the network node 1211, 1222 does not resume the SCG, or it resumes the SCG in deactivated state, i.e. in an SCG power saving mode.
The network node 1211, 1212 may also receive a measurement report from the communication device 1230 and use the content of that report in the determination of the SCG configuration.
The method will be described in detail with reference to
The network node 1211, 1212 receives an SCG coverage indication from the communication device 1230 during a resume procedure initiated by the communication device 1230.
The network node 1211, 1212 determines an SCG configuration for the communication device 1230 based on the received SCG coverage indication.
The network node 1211, 1212 configures the communication device 1230 according to the determined SCG configuration. This configuration may be provided in a message sent to the communication device 1230, for example in a RRCResume message as response to RRCResumeRequest or in a separate RRCReconfiguration message.
To perform the method in the network node 1211, 1212, the network node 1211, 1212 comprises modules as shown in
The network node 1211, 1212 is configured to perform any one of the Actions 18010-18030, 19010-19030 described above.
The method according to embodiments herein may be implemented through one or more processors, such as the processor 2060 in the network node 1211, 1212 together with computer program code for performing the functions and actions of the embodiments herein. The program code mentioned above may also be provided as a computer program product, for instance in the form of computer readable medium or a data carrier 2080 carrying computer program code 2070, as shown in
The method according to embodiments herein may be implemented through one or more processors, such as the processor 2160 in the UE 1230 together with computer program code for performing the functions and actions of the embodiments herein. The program code mentioned above may also be provided as a computer program product, for instance in the form of computer readable medium or a data carrier 2180 carrying computer program code 2170, as shown in
Some example embodiments are listed in the following:
Embodiment 1: A method performed by a communication device 1230, operating in dual connectivity with a master cell group (MCG) and a secondary cell group (SCG) of a network node 1211, 1212 in a wireless communication network 1200, for handling a resume procedure from a first state, e.g. a suspended state to a second state, e.g. a connected state, wherein the network node 1211, 1212 is a target network node that the communication device 1230 is to resume a connection, the method comprising:
Initiating a resume procedure;
Transmitting an uplink (UL) data indication to the network node 1211, 1212.
Embodiment 2: The method according to embodiment 1, further comprising determining type of data radio bearer for the UL data, such as whether the UL data is available for an MCG bearer, an SCG bearer or a split bearer.
Embodiment 3: The method according to any embodiments 1-2, wherein the UL data indication indicates whether the resume is initiated due to uplink data that is available only for the MCG, or, regardless data available to MCG, uplink data is available for SCG.
Embodiment 4: The method according to any embodiments 1-3, further comprising setting the UL data indication based on the determined type of the UL data.
Embodiment 5: The method according to any embodiments 1-4, wherein the UL data indication is an information element in the RRC Resume Complete message if not included in a previous message in the resume procedure.
Embodiment 6: A method performed by a communication device 1230 operating in dual connectivity with a master cell group (MCG) and a secondary cell group (SCG) of a network node 1211, 1212 in a wireless communication network 1200, to perform measurements on the SCG, wherein the communication device 1230 is in a suspended state, the method comprising:
Determining that UL data becomes available; and
Performing measurements for the SCG.
Embodiment 7: The method according to embodiment 6, further comprising determining the type of the UL data, i.e. whether the UL data is available for an MCG bearer, an SCG bearer or a split bearer.
Embodiment 8: The method according to any embodiments 6-7, wherein performing measurements is based on the determined type of the UL data.
Embodiment 9: The method according to any embodiments 6-8, wherein performing measurements comprises one of initiating measurements, continuing measurements or stopping measurements.
Embodiment 10: The method according to any embodiments 6-9, further comprising transmitting an SCG coverage indication to the network node.
Embodiment 11: The method according to any embodiments 6-10, further comprising transmitting a measurement report to the network node.
Embodiment 12: A method performed by a network node 1211, 1212 for handling a resume procedure for a communication device 1230, wherein the communication device 1230 is operating in dual connectivity with a master cell group (MCG) and a secondary cell group (SCG) of the network node and is to request a resume from a first state, e.g. a suspended state to a second state, e.g. a connected state, the method comprising: Receiving a request to resume from the communication device 1230; Receiving an UL data indication from the communication device 1230; Determining a SCG configuration of the communication device 1230 based on the UL data indication;
Configuring the communication device 1230 according to the determined SCG configuration.
Embodiment 13: A method performed by a network node 1211, 1212 for handling a resume procedure for a communication device 1230, wherein the communication device 1230 is operating in dual connectivity with a master cell group (MCG) and a secondary cell group (SCG) of the network node and is to request a resume from a first state, e.g. a suspended state to a second state, e.g. a connected state, the method comprising:
Receiving a request to resume from the communication device 1230;
Receiving an SCG coverage indication from the communication device 1230;
Determining a SCG configuration of the communication device 1230;
Configuring the communication device 1230 according to the determined SCG configuration.
Embodiment 14: The method according to embodiment 13, wherein determining a SCG configuration of the communication device 1230 is based on the SCG coverage indication.
Embodiment 15: The method according to embodiment 13, further comprising receiving a measurement report from the communication device 1230 and wherein determining the SCG configuration is based on the measurement report.
Embodiment 16: The method according to any embodiments 13-15, wherein determining a SCG configuration of the communication device 1230 comprises any one of:
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/SE2022/050253 | 3/17/2022 | WO |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 63169256 | Apr 2021 | US |
