Conditional handover and cell reselection along a known route

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to techniques for performing conditional handover and cell reselection along a known route. A cellular base station may select a conditional handover setting for a wireless device. The conditional handover setting may include information for a plurality of conditional handovers. The wireless device may receive the conditional handover setting. The wireless device may perform a conditional handover to at least a first cell indicated in the conditional handover setting based at least in part on the conditional handover setting.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present application relates to wireless communications, and more particularly to systems, apparatus, and methods for performing conditional handover and cell reselection along a known route. Background Art

[0002] The use of wireless communication systems is growing rapidly. In recent years, wireless devices such as smartphones and tablets have become increasingly sophisticated. In addition to supporting phone calls, many mobile devices (e.g., user equipment devices or UEs) now also provide access to the Internet, email, text messaging, and navigation using a global positioning system (GPS), and are capable of operating complex and sophisticated applications that utilize these capabilities. In addition, there are many different wireless communication technologies and wireless communication standards. Some examples of wireless communication standards include GSM, UMTS (e.g., associated with WCDMA or TD-SCDMA air interfaces), 5G NR, LTE, Advanced LTE (LTE-A), HSPA, 3GPP2 CDMA2000 (e.g., 1xRTT, 1xEV-DO, HRPD, eHRPD), IEEE 802.11 (WLAN or Wi-Fi), BLUETOOTH TM wait.

[0003] The introduction of an ever-increasing number of features and functions in wireless communication devices also requires continuous improvements in wireless communication as well as improvements in wireless communication devices. In particular, it is important to ensure the accuracy of signals transmitted and received by wireless devices used in wireless cellular communications. In addition, increasing the functionality of UE devices may place a significant strain on the battery life of the UE devices. Therefore, it is also very important to reduce the power requirements in the design of UE devices while allowing the UE devices to maintain good transmit and receive capabilities to improve communications.

[0004] In order to increase coverage and better serve the increased demand and range of intended uses of wireless communications, in addition to the above-mentioned communication standards, there are wireless communication technologies being developed, including fifth generation (5G) new radio (NR) communications. Therefore, there is a need for improvements in the field of supporting such development and design. Summary of the invention

[0005] Embodiments of apparatus, systems, and methods for performing conditional handover and cell reselection along a known route are provided herein.

[0006] According to the techniques described herein, a cellular base station may be able to configure a wireless device with information that supports potential early conditional handoffs to multiple cells. Such information may be selected or determined based on an expected or possible known route along which the wireless device may travel. For example, such information may be based on the location of the wireless device and a common travel pattern from that location (such as from a train station), in which case the common known travel route may include leaving the train station and traveling along any train tracks. Additionally or alternatively, such information may be based on information provided by the wireless device itself, such as in the case where the expected destination and route of the wireless device may be determined based on a map application that is in active use, based on user input, based on historical device usage patterns, etc.

[0007] According to at least some embodiments, such techniques can help minimize handover signaling and improve handover reliability, particularly in high speed / high mobility scenarios where timely signaling may be susceptible to rapidly changing channel conditions, and can help reduce data loss, data gaps, and data stagnation that may result from such less reliable handover operations.

[0008] Similarly, it may be possible to provide a wireless device with cell reselection assistance information to facilitate cell reselection along an expected or possible known route along which the wireless device may travel. According to at least some embodiments, such information may be selected or determined in a similar manner as route determination for supporting early conditional handover to a set of cells along an expected or possible known route.

[0009] According to at least some embodiments, such techniques can help improve cellular service retention, again particularly in high speed / high mobility scenarios where rapidly changing channel conditions can make cell reselection more challenging. According to at least some embodiments, such techniques can also save wireless device power consumption, for example, by potentially reducing the number of neighboring cells that need to be searched to find a suitable reselection candidate. As another possibility, according to at least some embodiments, such techniques can enable the network to more proactively manage its load balancing, for example, by directing the wireless device to remain on certain cells preferred by the network.

[0010] It should be noted that the techniques described herein may be implemented in and / or used with a number of different types of devices, including but not limited to base stations, access points, cellular telephones, portable media players, tablet computers, wearable devices, and various other computing devices.

[0011] This disclosure is intended to provide a brief overview of some of the topics described in this document. Therefore, it should be understood that the above features are only examples and should not be construed as narrowing the scope or essence of the topics described herein in any way. Other features, aspects and advantages of the topics described herein will become apparent through the following detailed description, drawings and claims. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0012] Figure 1 An exemplary (and simplified) wireless communication system according to some embodiments is shown;

[0013] Figure 2 illustrates an exemplary base station in communication with an exemplary wireless user equipment (UE) device in accordance with some embodiments;

[0014] Figure 3 is an exemplary block diagram of a UE according to some embodiments;

[0015] Figure 4 is an exemplary block diagram of a base station according to some embodiments;

[0016] Figures 5 and 6 is a flow chart illustrating aspects of an exemplary possible method for performing conditional handover and cell reselection along a known route according to some embodiments;

[0017] Figure 7 illustrates an exemplary scenario in which a wireless device may travel along a known route according to some embodiments;

[0018] Figure 8 is a message sequence chart illustrating possible signal flows in an exemplary scenario in which a conditional handover setting is completely consumed by a wireless device according to some embodiments;

[0019] Fig. 9 is a message sequence chart illustrating possible signal flow in an exemplary scenario according to some embodiments, wherein a conditional handover setup is partially consumed by a wireless device and then cancelled due to expiration of a validity timer;

[0020] Fig.10 is a message sequence diagram illustrating possible signal flow in an exemplary scenario according to some embodiments, wherein a conditional handover setup is partially consumed by a wireless device and then cancelled by a network;

[0021] Fig.11 is a message sequence chart illustrating possible signal flows in an exemplary scenario according to some embodiments, wherein a conditional handover setup is partially consumed by a wireless device and then cancelled due to a radio resource control connection release;

[0022] Fig.12is a message sequence diagram illustrating possible signal flows in an exemplary scenario according to some embodiments, wherein a conditional handover setup is partially consumed by a wireless device and then cancelled due to a handover to a cell that is not in the conditional handover setup;

[0023] Fig.13 is a message sequence diagram illustrating possible signal flow in an exemplary scenario according to some embodiments, wherein a wireless device provides information configured to facilitate selection of a conditional handover setting for the wireless device; and

[0024] Fig.14 Aspects of an exemplary possible evolved multimedia broadcast multicast service delivery mechanism for providing cell reselection assistance information for known routes are shown in accordance with some embodiments.

[0025] Although the features described herein are susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments thereof are shown by way of example in the drawings and described in detail herein. However, it should be understood that the drawings and detailed description thereof are not intended to limit this document to the specific forms disclosed, but on the contrary, their purpose is to cover all modifications, equivalents and alternatives that fall within the spirit and scope of the subject matter as defined by the appended claims. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0026] Acronyms

[0027] Various acronyms are used throughout this application. The definitions of the most prominent acronyms used that may appear throughout this application are as follows:

[0028] UE: User Equipment

[0029] RF: Radio Frequency

[0030] BS: Base Station

[0031] GSM: Global System for Mobile Communications

[0032] UMTS: Universal Mobile Telecommunications System

[0033] LTE: Long Term Evolution

[0034] NR: New Radio

[0035] TX: Transmit / Transmit

[0036] RX: Receive / Receive

[0037] LAN: Local Area Network

[0038] WLAN: Wireless Local Area Network

[0039] AP: Access Point

[0040] RAT: Radio Access Technology

[0041] IEEE: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers

[0042] Wi-Fi: Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) RAT based on IEEE 802.11 standard

[0043] the term

[0044] The following is a glossary of terms that will appear in this application:

[0045] Memory medium - any of various types of non-transitory memory devices or storage devices. The term "memory medium" is intended to include installation media, for example, CD-ROM, floppy disk or tape device; computer system memory or random access memory such as DRAM, DDRRAM, SRAM, EDO RAM, Rambus RAM, etc.; non-volatile memory such as flash memory, magnetic media, for example, hard disk drive or optical storage device; registers or other similar types of memory elements, etc. The memory medium may also include other types of non-transitory memory or a combination thereof. In addition, the memory medium may be located in the first computer system executing the program, or may be located in a different second computer system connected to the first computer system via a network such as the Internet. In the latter example, the second computer system may provide program instructions to the first computer system for execution. The term "memory medium" may include two or more memory media that may reside in different locations in different computer systems connected, for example, via a network. The memory medium may store program instructions (e.g., expressed as a computer program) that may be executed by one or more processors.

[0046] Carrier Medium—storage media as described above, and physical transmission media such as a bus, network, and / or other physical transmission media that transport signals such as electrical, electromagnetic or digital signals.

[0047] Computer System (or Computer) - Any of various types of computing or processing systems, including a personal computer system (PC), a mainframe computer system, a workstation, a network appliance, an Internet appliance, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a television system, a grid computing system, or other devices or combinations of devices. In general, the term "computer system" may be broadly defined as any device (or combination of devices) that includes at least one processor that executes instructions from a memory medium.

[0048] User Equipment (UE) (or "UE device") - any of various types of computer systems or devices that are mobile or portable and that perform wireless communications. Examples of UE devices include mobile phones or smartphones (e.g., iPhones).TM , based on Android TM phones), tablets (e.g., iPad TM 、Samsung Galaxy TM ), portable gaming devices (e.g., Nintendo DS TM , PlayStation Portable TM 、Gameboy Advance TM , iPhone TM ), wearable devices (e.g., smart watches, smart glasses), laptops, PDAs, portable Internet devices, music players, data storage devices or other handheld devices, etc. In general, the term "UE" or "UE device" can be broadly defined to include any electronic device, computing device and / or telecommunication device (or combination of devices) that is convenient for a user to transport and capable of wireless communication.

[0049] Wireless Device—Any of various types of computer systems or devices that perform wireless communications. A wireless device may be portable (or mobile), or may be stationary or fixed at a certain location. A UE is an example of a wireless device.

[0050] Communication device - any of various types of computer systems or devices that perform communication, where the communication may be wired or wireless. A communication device may be portable (or mobile), or may be stationary or fixed at a location. A wireless device is an example of a communication device. A UE is another example of a communication device.

[0051] Base Station (BS) - the term "base station" has the full breadth of its ordinary meaning and includes at least a wireless communication station installed at a fixed location and used to communicate as part of a wireless telephone system or a radio system.

[0052] Processing Element - refers to various elements or combinations of elements that are capable of performing functions in a device (e.g., a user equipment device or a cellular network device). Processing elements may include, for example, processors and associated memory, portions or circuits of individual processor cores, entire processor cores, processor arrays, circuits such as ASICs (application specific integrated circuits), programmable hardware elements such as field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), and any of the above combinations.

[0053] Wi-Fi - The term "Wi-Fi" has the full scope of its usual meaning and includes at least wireless communication networks or RATs that are served by wireless LAN (WLAN) access points and provide connectivity to the Internet through these access points. Most modern Wi-Fi networks (or WLAN networks) are based on the IEEE 802.11 standard and are marketed under the name "Wi-Fi". Wi-Fi (WLAN) networks are different from cellular networks.

[0054] Automatic—refers to an action or operation performed by a computer system (e.g., software executed by a computer system) or a device (e.g., a circuit, a programmable hardware element, an ASIC, etc.) without the need for user input to directly specify or perform the action or operation. Thus, the term "automatic" is in contrast to a user manually performing or specifying an action, where the user provides input to directly perform the action. An automatic process may be initiated by input provided by a user, but subsequent actions performed "automatically" are not specified by the user, i.e., are not performed "manually," where the user specifies each action to be performed. For example, a user filling out an electronic form by selecting each field and providing input specifying information (e.g., by typing in information, selecting checkboxes, radio selections, etc.) is manually filling out the form, even though the computer system must update the form in response to the user action. The form may be automatically filled out by a computer system, where the computer system (e.g., software executed on the computer system) analyzes the fields of the form and fills out the form without any user input specifying the answers to the fields. As indicated above, a user may invoke automatic filling out of a form, but not participate in the actual filling out of the form (e.g., the user does not manually specify the answers to the fields but rather they are automatically completed). This specification provides various examples of operations that are automatically performed in response to actions taken by a user.

[0055] Configured to - Various components may be described as being "configured to" perform one or more tasks. In such environments, "configured to" is a broad statement that generally means "having a structure" that performs one or more tasks during operation. Thus, a component can be configured to perform a task even when the component is not currently performing the task (e.g., a set of electrical conductors can be configured to electrically connect a module to another module even when the two modules are not connected). In some contexts, "configured to" can be a broad statement that generally means "having a structure" that performs one or more tasks during operation. Thus, the component can be configured to perform a task even when the component is not currently turned on. Typically, the circuitry that forms the structure corresponding to "configured to" may include hardware circuitry.

[0056] For ease of description, various components may be described as performing one or more tasks. Such descriptions should be interpreted as including the phrase "configured to". The description of a component being configured to perform one or more tasks is expressly intended to not invoke the interpretation of the sixth paragraph of Section 112 of Title 35 of the United States Code on that component.

[0057] Figure 1 and Figure 2 -Exemplary Communication System

[0058] Figure 1 An exemplary (and simplified) wireless communication system is shown that can implement various aspects of the present disclosure according to some embodiments. Note that Figure 1 The system is only an example of one possible system, and the embodiments may be implemented in any of a variety of systems as desired.

[0059] As shown, the exemplary wireless communication system includes a base station 102, which communicates with one or more (e.g., any number) user equipment 106A, 106B, etc., through 106N via a transmission medium. Each user equipment may be referred to herein as a "user equipment" (UE) or a UE device. Therefore, the user equipment 106 is referred to as a UE or a UE device.

[0060] The base station 102 may be a base transceiver station (BTS) or a cell site, and may include hardware and / or software that implements wireless communications with UEs 106A to 106N. If the base station 102 is implemented in the context of LTE, it may be referred to as an "eNodeB" or "eNB". If the base station 102 is implemented in the context of 5G NR, it may alternatively be referred to as a "gNodeB" or "gNB". The base station 102 may also be equipped to communicate with a network 100 (e.g., a core network of a cellular service provider, a telecommunications network such as a public switched telephone network (PSTN), and / or the Internet, and various possible networks). Therefore, the base station 102 may facilitate communication between user devices and / or between user devices and the network 100. The communication area (or coverage area) of a base station may be referred to as a "cell". Also as used herein, with respect to a UE, sometimes a base station may be considered to represent a network in consideration of the uplink and downlink communications of the UE. Therefore, a UE communicating with one or more base stations in a network may also be understood as a UE communicating with a network.

[0061] The base station 102 and the user equipment may be configured to communicate over a transmission medium using any of a variety of radio access technologies (RATs), also referred to as wireless communication technologies or telecommunication standards, such as GSM, UMTS (WCDMA), LTE, Advanced LTE (LTE-A), LAA / LTE-U, 5G NR, 3GPP2 CDMA2000 (e.g., 1xRTT, 1xEV-DO, HRPD, eHRPD), Wi-Fi, WiMAX, etc.

[0062] Base station 102 and other similar base stations operating according to the same or different cellular communication standards may thus be provided as one or more cell networks that may provide continuous or nearly continuous overlapping service to UE 106 and similar devices over a geographic area via one or more cellular communication standards.

[0063] Note that UE 106 is capable of communicating using multiple wireless communication standards. For example, UE 106 may be configured to communicate using either or both of the 3GPP cellular communication standard or the 3GPP2 cellular communication standard. In some embodiments, UE 106 may be configured to perform conditional handover and cell reselection along a known route at least according to the various methods described herein. UE 106 may also or alternatively be configured to use WLAN, Bluetooth, or a combination of WLAN and Bluetooth. TM , one or more global navigation satellite systems (GNSS, such as GPS or GLONASS), one and / or more mobile television broadcast standards (e.g., ATSC-M / H or DVB-H), etc. Other combinations of wireless communication standards (including more than two wireless communication standards) are also possible.

[0064] Figure 2An exemplary user equipment 106 (e.g., one of devices 106A to 106N) communicating with a base station 102 according to some embodiments is shown. UE 106 may be a device with wireless network connectivity, such as a mobile phone, a handheld device, a wearable device, a computer or a tablet, or substantially any type of wireless device. UE 106 may include a processor configured to execute program instructions stored in a memory. UE 106 may execute any of the method embodiments of the present invention by executing such stored instructions. Alternatively or in addition, UE 106 may include a programmable hardware element, such as a field programmable gate array (FPGA) configured to execute any of the method embodiments of the present invention or any part of any of the method embodiments of the present invention. UE 106 may be configured to communicate using any of a plurality of wireless communication protocols. For example, UE 106 may be configured to communicate using two or more of CDMA2000, LTE, LTE-A, 5G NR, WLAN, or GNSS. Other combinations of wireless communication standards are also possible.

[0065] UE 106 may include one or more antennas for communicating using one or more wireless communication protocols according to one or more RAT standards. In some embodiments, UE 106 may share one or more parts of a receive chain and / or a transmit chain between multiple wireless communication standards. The shared radio component may include a single antenna, or may include multiple antennas for performing wireless communication (e.g., for MIMO). Typically, the radio component may include any combination of a baseband processor, an analog radio frequency (RF) signal processing circuit (e.g., including filters, mixers, oscillators, amplifiers, etc.), or a digital processing circuit (e.g., for digital modulation and other digital processing). Similarly, the radio component may use the aforementioned hardware to implement one or more receive chains and transmit chains.

[0066] In some embodiments, the UE 106 may include a separate transmit chain and / or receive chain (e.g., including separate antennas and other radio components) for each wireless communication protocol with which it is configured to communicate. As another possibility, the UE 106 may include one or more radio components shared between multiple wireless communication protocols, and one or more radio components used uniquely by a single wireless communication protocol. For example, the UE 106 may include a shared radio component for communicating using either LTE or CDMA2000 1xRTT (or LTE or GSM), and a shared radio component for communicating using Wi-Fi and BLUETOOTH. TM Each of the independent radio components for communication. Other configurations are also possible.

[0067] Figure 3 - Block diagram of an exemplary UE device

[0068] Figure 3 A block diagram of an exemplary UE 106 according to some embodiments is shown. As shown, the UE 106 may include a system on a chip (SOC) 300, which may include parts for various purposes. For example, as shown, the SOC 300 may include a processor 302 that can execute program instructions for the UE 106, and a display circuit 304 that can perform graphics processing and provide display signals to a display 360. The SOC 300 may also include a motion sensing circuit 370, which may detect the motion of the UE 106, for example, using any of a gyroscope, an accelerometer, and / or various other motion sensing components. Processor 302 may also be coupled to a memory management unit (MMU) 340, which may be configured to receive addresses from processor 302 and translate those addresses into locations in memory (e.g., memory 306, read-only memory (ROM) 350, NAND flash memory 310) and / or other circuits or devices, such as display circuit 304, radio 330, connector I / F 320, and / or display 360. MMU 340 may be configured to perform memory protection and page table translation or setup. In some embodiments, MMU 340 may be included as part of processor 302.

[0069] As shown, SOC 300 may be coupled to various other circuits of UE 106. For example, UE 106 may include various types of memory (e.g., including NAND flash memory 310), a connector interface 320 (e.g., for coupling to a computer system), a display 360, and wireless communication circuitry 330 (e.g., for LTE, LTE-A, NR, CDMA2000, BLUETOOTH TM , Wi-Fi, GPS, etc.). The UE device 106 may include at least one antenna (e.g., 335a), and may include multiple antennas (e.g., as shown by antennas 335a and 335b) for performing wireless communications with base stations and / or other devices. Antennas 335a and 335b are shown by way of example, and the UE device 106 may include fewer or more antennas. In general, one or more antennas are collectively referred to as antennas 335. For example, the UE device 106 may use antenna 335 to perform wireless communications with the aid of radio circuitry 330. As described above, in some embodiments, the UE may be configured to perform wireless communications using multiple wireless communication standards.

[0070] As further described later herein, the UE 106 (and / or the base station 102) may include hardware and software components for implementing methods for at least the UE 106 to perform conditional handover and cell reselection along a known route. The processor 302 of the UE device 106 may be configured to implement a portion or all of the methods described herein, for example, by executing program instructions stored on a memory medium (e.g., a non-transitory computer-readable memory medium). In other embodiments, the processor 302 may be configured as a programmable hardware element, such as an FPGA (field programmable gate array) or as an ASIC (application-specific integrated circuit). In addition, as Figure 3 As shown, the processor 302 can be coupled to other components and / or can interoperate with other components to perform conditional switching and cell reselection along a known route according to various embodiments disclosed herein. The processor 302 can also implement various other applications and / or end-user applications running on the UE 106.

[0071] In some embodiments, radio 330 may include a separate controller dedicated to controlling communications for each respective RAT standard. Figure 3 As shown, the radio component 330 may include a Wi-Fi controller 350, a cellular controller (eg, an NR controller) 352, and a BLUETOOTH controller. TM Controller 354, and in at least some embodiments, one or more or all of these controllers may be implemented as respective integrated circuits (referred to as ICs or chips) that communicate with each other and with SOC 300 (and more specifically with one or more processors 302). For example, Wi-Fi controller 350 may communicate with cellular controller 352 via a cell-ISM link or WCI interface, and / or BLUETOOTH TM Controller 354 may communicate with cellular controller 352 via a cell-ISM link, etc. Although three separate controllers are shown within radio 330, other embodiments may be implemented in UE device 106 having fewer or more similar controllers for various different RATs.

[0072] Additionally, embodiments are contemplated in which the controller may implement functionality associated with multiple radio access technologies. For example, according to some embodiments, in addition to hardware components and / or software components for performing cellular communications, the cellular controller 352 may include hardware components and / or software components for performing Wi-Fi preamble detection (e.g., for detecting a Wi-Fi physical layer preamble transmitted in an unlicensed band that may be associated with possible communications conducted by the UE 106 in an unlicensed spectrum). As another possibility, the cellular controller 352 may include hardware components and / or software components for generating a Wi-Fi physical layer preamble signal (e.g., for transmission as part of an uplink communication conducted by the UE 106 and occurring in an unlicensed band).

[0073] Figure 4 - Block diagram of an exemplary base station

[0074] Figure 4 1 shows a block diagram of an exemplary base station 102 according to some embodiments. Note that Figure 4 The base station of is only one example of a possible base station. As shown, the base station 102 may include a processor 404 that may execute program instructions for the base station 102. The processor 404 may also be coupled to a memory management unit (MMU) 440 or other circuit or device, which may be configured to receive addresses from the processor 404 and convert these addresses to locations in memory (e.g., memory 460 and read-only memory (ROM) 450).

[0075] Base station 102 may include at least one network port 470. Network port 470 may be configured to couple to a telephone network and provide access to the telephone network described above. Figure 1 and Figure 2 The network port 470 may be configured to couple to a plurality of devices such as the UE device 106 of the telephone network described in the embodiment of the present invention. The network port 470 (or an additional network port) may also be configured or alternatively configured to couple to a cellular network, such as a core network of a cellular service provider. The core network may provide mobility-related services and / or other services to a plurality of devices such as the UE device 106. In some cases, the network port 470 may be coupled to the telephone network via the core network, and / or the core network may provide the telephone network (e.g., in other UE devices served by the cellular service provider).

[0076] The base station 102 may include at least one antenna 434 and possibly multiple antennas. One or more antennas 434 may be configured to operate as a wireless transceiver and may be further configured to communicate with the UE device 106 via the radio component 430. The antenna 434 communicates with the radio component 430 via a communication chain 432. The communication chain 432 may be a receiving chain, a transmitting chain, or both. The radio component 430 may be designed to communicate via various wireless telecommunication standards, including but not limited to NR, LTE, LTE-A WCDMA, CDMA2000, etc. The processor 404 of the base station 102 may be configured to implement and / or support implementation of part or all of the methods described herein, for example, by executing program instructions stored on a memory medium (e.g., a non-transitory computer-readable memory medium). Alternatively, the processor 404 may be configured as a programmable hardware element such as an FPGA (field programmable gate array), or as an ASIC (application-specific integrated circuit) or a combination thereof. In the case of certain RATs (e.g., Wi-Fi), the base station 102 may be designed as an access point (AP), in which case the network port 470 may be implemented to provide access to a wide area network and / or one or more local area networks, for example, it may include at least one Ethernet port, and the radio component 430 may be designed to communicate according to the Wi-Fi standard. The base station 102 may operate according to various methods disclosed herein to enable wireless devices to perform conditional handover and cell reselection along a known route.

[0077] Figures 5 and 6 - Conditional handover and cell reselection along a known route

[0078] Wireless devices operating in a radio resource control (RRC) connected mode may manage their mobility operations with the cellular network with which they are registered, such as through handover operations. In some cases, such handovers may include a serving base station providing signaling to the wireless device that configures the wireless device (e.g., periodically or in an event-based manner) to perform measurements of neighboring cells, receiving signaling including measurement reports from the wireless device based on those measurements, and providing signaling to the wireless device to configure a handover to another cell if certain handover conditions are met.

[0079] Using such timely signaling between the network and the device to perform handovers may allow for dynamic selection of the best cell to perform the handover on when a handover is needed, which may be important in situations where it is not possible to determine in advance which cell will be the best handover candidate. However, such timely signaling may sometimes result in handover failures, for example, because configuring a timely handover may often occur under relatively weak channel / signal conditions, especially in fast moving conditions where channel quality may deteriorate relatively quickly.

[0080] Thus, in such scenarios and / or in various other scenarios, early conditional switching may be used, for example, to reduce RRC signaling, which may make switching more reliable. Early conditional switching may include attempting to pre-deliver a switching command for a route, for example, when conditions are good (e.g., when the device is stationary and / or has good signal quality), and allowing the device to switch later, for example, with a reduced set of signaling. For example, if a wireless device can travel along a known route, the network may know in advance the possible switching target cells along the known / fixed route and the typical switching points (where the device typically switches from one serving cell to the next target cell), and may therefore configure early conditional switching for one or more cells along the predicted route. Such techniques may help reduce data loss, data gaps, and data stagnation, and may help reduce delays in a wireless device switching from one cell to another. Thus, Figures 5 and 6 is a flow chart illustrating a method for performing early conditional handover and cell reselection along a known route according to some embodiments.

[0081] Figure 5 Various aspects of the method may be implemented by a cellular base station (such as BS 102 shown and described in the various figures herein), or more generally, may be used in conjunction with any of the computer systems or devices shown in the above figures as desired. Note that although the method is described in a manner involving the use of communication techniques and / or features associated with LTE, NR and / or 3GPP specification documents, Figure 5 At least some elements of the method, but this description is not intended to limit the present disclosure and can be used in any suitable wireless communication system as needed Figure 5 In various embodiments, some of the method elements shown may be performed simultaneously in an order different from that shown, may be replaced by other method elements, or may be omitted. Additional method elements may also be performed as needed. As shown in the figure, Figure 5 The method can be operated as follows.

[0082] In 502, a cellular base station may select a conditional handover setup for a wireless device. The conditional handover setup may include information for a plurality of conditional handovers. According to some embodiments, the conditional handover setup may be ordered, for example including a sequential set of cells (e.g., identified by cell frequencies (such as E-UTRA absolute radio frequency channel numbers in the LTE context), physical cell identifiers, and global cell identifiers).

[0083] The conditional handover setting may also include threshold information indicating one or more threshold conditions to be met for each conditional handover indicated in the conditional handover setting. As a possibility, the threshold may include a serving cell signal strength (e.g., RSRP) threshold and / or a signal quality (e.g., RSRQ) threshold that triggers the handover when the threshold is reached within the trigger period, and a possible hysteresis offset parameter between the serving cell and the target cell. It should be noted that each conditional handover in the conditional handover setting may have different threshold information (e.g., the handover threshold may be unique to each cell), or some or all conditional hands may have the same threshold information.

[0084] At least in some cases, a validity timer for the conditional handover setting may also be selected. According to some embodiments, the validity timer may indicate a configured maximum amount of time between handovers associated with the conditional handover setting, for example, such that the conditional handover setting may expire or become invalid if the validity timer runs for its entire duration at the wireless device without the wireless device performing a handover in accordance with the conditional handover setting.

[0085] The cellular base station may select conditional switching settings for the wireless device based on any of a variety of possible considerations. As one possible consideration, the wireless device may be located in a location from which there may be a higher probability of traveling along a known route. For example, the wireless device may be located in a train station, so that there may be a higher probability of traveling along the train tracks leading from the station in one direction or another. As another possible example, a highway or trunk road may have similar characteristics. Additionally or alternatively, machine learning may be used, such as using minimized drive testing (MDT) or self-organizing network (SON) reports or any of a variety of other possible data sources, to create a probability model for locations and more common public travel paths starting from those locations to determine potential "known routes". According to some embodiments, typical features of such travel along known routes (e.g., typical distances traveled on trains, typical train speeds, etc.) may also be considered, for example, as determined based on previously collected data, route analysis, and / or any of a variety of other technologies.

[0086] As another possibility, in some cases, the cellular base station may receive assistance information from the wireless device, for example, indicating a candidate set of cells for conditional handover settings, or otherwise providing information that the network can use to select conditional handover settings for the wireless device. For example, the wireless device may be able to predict its likely route of travel based on, for example, directions to a current destination associated with a map application that the wireless device is actively using, or based on pre-programming of the wireless device's travel routes (e.g., where a wireless device embedded in a vehicle is programmed to travel a specific route). As another possibility, the wireless device may be able to predict its likely route of travel based on previous wireless device usage, for example, where a user of the wireless device typically follows a predictable route of travel at specific times of the day and / or week.

[0087] As another possibility, in some cases, the network load distribution may inform the selection of the conditional handover settings. For example, if one cell along a known or predicted route is heavily loaded, but another cell along the known or predicted route is lightly loaded and may be able to be used as an alternative, the lighter loaded cell may be included in the conditional handover settings instead of the heavier loaded cell. Any other various considerations are also possible. Therefore, such information may inform the selection of which conditional handovers to include in the conditional handover settings, how many conditional handovers to include in the conditional handover settings, threshold information for the conditional handover settings, etc.

[0088] In addition, in some cases, the cellular base station may select one or more additional conditional handoff settings for the wireless device. For example, as previously described, in some cases, there may be multiple possible known / predicted routes that can be traveled from a particular location, and the network may not know in which direction the wireless device will travel. In such cases, it may be advantageous to provide the wireless device with multiple conditional handoff settings, for example, where each conditional handoff setting is associated with a possible known / predicted route from the wireless device's current location.

[0089] According to at least some embodiments, the cellular base station may provide an early handover request to a target cell of an initial conditional handover of a conditional handover setup. If multiple conditional handover setups are provided, such a request may be provided to each such potential initial target cell. If the early handover request is accepted (e.g., in this case, a handover confirmation may be received by the cellular base station from the target cell), then in 504, the cellular base station may provide the conditional handover setup to the wireless device. According to at least some embodiments, once such potential handover target cell accepts the early handover request, the data of the wireless device may be provided to the current serving cell of the wireless device, and may also be provided to any potential handover target cells of the wireless device. This may help reduce any possible data loss / gaps / stagnation that the wireless device may otherwise experience during the handover, although it may cost additional network resource usage.

[0090] Conditional switching settings may be provided in any of a variety of ways. According to at least some embodiments, when the wireless device is in RRC connected mode, the conditional switching settings may be provided using RRC signaling. As one possibility, the conditional switching settings may be included in the mobilityControlInfo information element (IE) in the RRC reconfiguration message. As another possibility, the conditional switching settings may be included in the measObject IE in the RRC reconfiguration message. As another possibility, a portion of the conditional switching settings may be provided in each of the mobilityControlInfo IE and the measObject IE. For example, as an option, a list of cell identification tuples (e.g., cell frequency, physical cell ID, global cell ID) for conditional switching settings may be provided in the mobilityControlInfo IE, and switching threshold information for conditional switching settings may be provided in the measObject IE. Additionally or alternatively, any number of other signaling configurations for providing conditional switching settings may be used.

[0091] Additionally, the cellular base station (e.g., or another cellular base station to which the wireless device has performed a handover) may be able to modify or cancel the conditional handover settings provided to the wireless device. For example, when providing conditional handover settings, one possible parameter may include the number of conditional handover settings being provided. Such signaling may also be used to indicate that 0 conditional handover settings are being provided, for example, to indicate cancellation of any currently configured conditional handover settings. Similarly, when one or more conditional handover settings have been configured for the wireless device, the cellular base station may provide one or more conditional handover settings to the wireless device, in which case it may be considered to overwrite any existing conditional handover settings with the most recent conditional handover settings so that the old conditional handover settings can be cancelled / discarded.

[0092] Once the one or more conditional handoff settings are provided to the wireless device, the wireless device may use the one or more conditional handoff settings to perform conditional handoffs, such as Figure 6 As shown and described herein with respect to that figure. Figure 6 Various aspects of the method may be implemented by a wireless device (such as the UE 106 described herein and shown in the various figures), or more generally, may be implemented in other devices in combination with any of the computer systems or devices shown in the above figures as needed. Note that although Figure 6 At least some elements of the method are described in terms of using communication techniques and / or features associated with LTE, NR and / or 3GPP specification documents, but such description is not intended to limit the present disclosure and may be used in any suitable wireless communication system as needed. Figure 6 In various embodiments, some of the method elements shown may be performed simultaneously in an order different from that shown, may be replaced by other method elements, or may be omitted. Additional method elements may also be performed as needed. As shown in the figure, Figure 6 The method can be operated as follows.

[0093] At 602, the wireless device may receive a conditional handover setting from a cellular base station. The conditional handover setting may include information to support multiple ordered early conditional handovers. For example, Figure 5 Similarly described, the conditional handover setting may include cell frequency and cell identification information for each of the plurality of cells, and may indicate a specified order and threshold information, in which order early conditional handovers may be performed to those cells according to the conditional handover setting, the threshold information indicating a specific threshold condition to be satisfied for performing each of the indicated early conditional handovers. For example, the conditional handover setting may indicate one or more of the following: a serving cell signal strength threshold, which triggers handover to the cell indicated in the sequential conditional handover setting if the serving cell signal strength threshold is satisfied for at least a trigger period; a serving cell signal quality threshold, which triggers handover to the cell indicated in the sequential conditional handover setting if the serving cell signal quality threshold is satisfied for at least the trigger period; a hysteresis offset parameter between the serving cell and the handover target cell, which hysteresis offset parameter must be satisfied to perform conditional handover to the cell indicated in the sequential conditional handover setting; or a validity timer, which indicates the maximum amount of time between handovers of the sequential conditional handover setting. Other threshold conditions are also possible.

[0094] In 604, the wireless device may perform a conditional handover using the conditional handover setting. For example, if a threshold condition for at least a first conditional handover indicated in the conditional handover setting is met, the wireless device may, for example, perform a conditional handover to at least a first cell indicated in the conditional handover setting based at least in part on the conditional handover setting. In this case, the wireless device may transmit a handover confirmation to the first cell (i.e., the cell in which the handover is being performed). It should be noted that, at least in some cases, after the threshold condition for the conditional handover is met, performing the conditional handover may not require or include any additional signaling between the wireless device and the previous serving cell (i.e., the cell from which the handover is being performed). This can help reduce the likelihood of a handover failure, for example, because the previous serving cell may have become relatively weak at this time, and the chance of such signaling being unsuccessful may be correspondingly relatively high.

[0095] Similarly, if the threshold condition for at least a second conditional handover indicated in the conditional handover setting is met, the wireless device may also perform a conditional handover to at least a second cell indicated in the conditional handover setting, for example, after further traveling along the known route for which the conditional handover setting was selected. If the condition is met, such conditional handovers according to the conditional handover setting may continue to be performed until the conditional handover setting has been completed (e.g., there are no further conditional handovers indicated by the conditional handover setting), or alternatively until one or more other events occur that trigger cancellation or modification of the conditional handover setting.

[0096] Before the conditional handover settings are exhausted, there may be any number of reasons / causes that lead to the discarding / cancelling of the conditional handover settings. As one possibility, as previously described, the serving cell of the wireless device may provide an indication of canceling the conditional handover settings. Similarly, the serving cell of the wireless device may provide one or more updated conditional handover settings to the wireless device, which may replace and thus cancel any conditional handover settings previously provided to the wireless device. As another possibility, the serving cell of the wireless device may configure the wireless device to switch to a cell that is not part of the conditional handover settings currently configured at the wireless device, or may even switch to a cell that is part of the conditional handover settings currently configured at the wireless device but is not the next cell in the sequence in the conditional handover settings, for example, in the case where the wireless device leaves a known route (e.g., due to leaving from a highway exit, getting off a train, etc.). In this case, the wireless device may also discard the conditional handover settings. As another possibility, if a validity timer is configured for the conditional handover settings, and the wireless device does not perform the next indicated conditional handover of the conditional handover settings before the validity timer expires, the wireless device may discard the conditional handover settings.

[0097] According to at least some embodiments, the conditional handover setting may be associated with a single RRC connection. Thus, as another possibility, if the wireless device's RRC connection is released, the wireless device may discard the conditional handover setting. Similarly, if the wireless device detects a radio link failure and cannot recover from the radio link failure on the same cell where the radio link failure occurred, the wireless device may discard the conditional handover setting.

[0098] In some cases (e.g., also as with respect to Figure 5As discussed above, a wireless device may receive multiple conditional handover settings. In at least some cases, such multiple conditional handover settings may include different cell sets, for example, to account for the possibility of different directions of travel along a known route from a given location. In this case, once an early conditional handover is performed according to one such conditional handover setting that is different from another conditional handover setting, the wireless device may discard any such different conditional handover settings. However, it should be noted that it is also possible to maintain multiple conditional handover settings that include partially overlapping known routes, for example, as long as the wireless device performs conditional handovers along overlapping portions of the multiple conditional handover settings.

[0099] In some cases (e.g., also as with respect to Figure 5 As discussed above, the wireless device may provide assistance information to the network to facilitate the network's selection of one or more conditional handover settings for the wireless device. For example, the wireless device may determine an ordered set of candidate cells for sequential conditional handover settings and transmit an indication of the ordered set of candidate cells to its serving cellular base station. The wireless device may determine candidate cells in any of a variety of ways. Some possibilities may include using a route to a destination associated with a map application used at the wireless device, a pre-programmed travel route of the wireless device, or a predicted travel route of the wireless device based at least in part on previous use of the wireless device. Other techniques for determining a set of candidate cells for conditional handover settings are also possible.

[0100] Note that, as an addition or alternative to providing conditional handover settings to support early conditional handover along a known route, for example when in RRC connected mode, it may also be useful to apply knowledge of potential known travel routes to facilitate more efficient and / or more energy-efficient cell selection and reselection, for example when in RRC deactivated or idle mode.

[0101] For example, it may be the case that a cellular base station may provide a wireless device with cell reselection assistance information, e.g., including (e.g., mandatory) system information for a plurality of cells along a possible known / expected travel route of the wireless device. Such information may be broadcast (e.g., by one or more serving cells or other broadcast points near a common fixed travel route such as a train route), e.g., using RRC configuration information when the wireless device is in RRC connected mode or using an RRC connection release message upon RRC connection release, or may be specifically selected for the wireless device and unicast to the wireless device (e.g., in an unsolicited manner or upon request by the wireless device, e.g., based on a cell set selected and suggested by the wireless device). Any of a variety of other ways of providing such information are also possible.

[0102] As one possibility, the cell reselection assistance information may include complete mandatory system information for at least one of the cells, and delta information indicating a difference from the complete mandatory system information for any cells for which the mandatory system information is different from the complete mandatory system information, e.g., thereby reducing the payload of the cell reselection assistance information compared to providing complete mandatory system information for each of the cells included in the cell reselection assistance information. In some cases, the cell reselection assistance information may include a refresh timer length, e.g., indicating a validity period of at least a portion of the cell reselection assistance information. Many other cell reselection assistance information parameters and formats are also possible.

[0103] The wireless device may use such cell reselection assistance information when performing cell reselection. For example, the wireless device may perform cell reselection to a cell for which system information may be obtained from the cell reselection assistance information. In some cases, when performing cell reselection, the cells indicated in the cell reselection assistance information may be prioritized, for example, by applying an offset to their cell rankings, performing cell measurements on such cells in a priority manner, and / or in any of a variety of other possible ways.

[0104] Note that although Figures 5 and 6 The methods may be performed in conjunction with each other (eg, performed by a wireless device and a cellular base station communicating with each other), but Figures 5 and 6 Part or all of the methods may alternatively be used independently of each other as desired.

[0105] Figures 7 to 14 and additional information

[0106] Provided Figures 7 to 14 and the following information, which shows the Figures 5 and 6 Further considerations of the method and possible implementation details are provided, and are not intended to limit the disclosure as a whole. Various variations and alternatives to the details provided below are possible and should be considered to fall within the scope of the disclosure.

[0107] Figure 7 One possible scenario is shown where fast moving conditions may be expected and where the network may be able to determine that the wireless device may be traveling along a known / fixed route. In the illustrated scenario, the wireless device 700 may be located at a station 704 within a cell 730. Given the train route, two possible paths for the wireless device 700 may be toward the station 702 (e.g., via the cell 720 and the cell 710) or toward the station 706 (e.g., via the cell 740 and the cell 750).

[0108] In this case, it may be the case that the channel conditions from the source cell deteriorate very quickly, e.g. due to high-speed mobility, which in turn may result in an increased probability that timely handover command signaling is not successful. If measurements are configured (e.g., even for conditional handover), there may be a possibility that a large number of devices (e.g., those of train passengers) evaluate similar channel conditions and enter the reporting point at almost the same time, which in turn may potentially result in a spike in network load. Furthermore, if measurements are lost, this may result in conditional handover failure and the network may not be able to forward the wireless device's data to the wireless device's target cell.

[0109] Thus, in such scenarios and / or in various other scenarios, early conditional handover can be used, for example, to reduce RRC signaling, which can make handover more reliable. As previously described, early conditional handover can include attempting to pre-deliver a handover command for a route, for example, when conditions are good (e.g., when the device is stationary and / or has good signal quality), and allowing the device to handover later, for example, with a reduced set of signaling. For example, if the wireless device can travel along a known route (such as in Figure 7 In the scenario shown in FIG. 1 , the network can know in advance the possible handover target cells along a known / fixed route and the typical handover points (where the device typically switches from one serving cell to the next target cell), and can therefore configure early conditional handover for one or more cells along the predicted route. Such techniques can help reduce data loss, data gaps, and data stagnation, and can help reduce delays in wireless devices switching from one cell to another.

[0110] Note that while a train route (e.g., whether highway or otherwise) may represent one possible scenario in which the network may know a possible or perhaps known route along which a wireless device may travel, many other scenarios in which the network may know a possible or perhaps known route along which a wireless device may travel are possible. For example, in some cases, a wireless device traveling along a particular highway or arterial road may have a likelihood of traveling along a known / fixed route. As another possibility, machine learning may be used (e.g., using minimized drive testing (MDT) or self-organizing network (SON) reports from the device and / or any of a variety of other possible data sources) to create a probabilistic model to determine potential routes for a device from a particular location that may be associated with a particular time of day and / or other considerations.

[0111] In order for the network to configure the sequential early conditional handoff settings for the wireless device, specific information may be provided from the network to the wireless device. Among such possible information may be multiple sequential conditional handoff settings (e.g., ranging from 0 to any desired maximum value), for example, to account for the possibility that there may be multiple routes from a given location. For example, in Figure 7In the scenario shown, a wireless device located at site 704 and served by cell 730 may be provided with a sequential early conditional handover setup including cells 720 and 710 and a sequential early conditional handover setup including cells 740 and 750 .

[0112] For each sequential early conditional handover setting, a list of tuples is included in the sequential early conditional handover setting, the list of tuples including cell frequency and cell identifier information for the cell (e.g., EARFCN, PCI, global cell ID for LTE cells as one possibility). In addition, handover threshold information may be provided, including a serving cell signal strength and / or signal quality (e.g., RSRP, RSRQ) threshold ("Threshold 1") that triggers handover if the threshold is reached within a trigger period ("Time 1"). If necessary, a hysteresis offset parameter may also be included, which indicates the minimum signal strength and / or quality difference between the serving cell and the next target cell. Alternatively, such parameters may not be included, and if the serving cell threshold is met, a blind handover may be attempted to the target cell. The handover threshold may be unique for each cell, or common to a particular group of cells, or common to all cells. In addition, an indication validity timer ("V") may be set for the sequential early conditional handover, for example, so that the time between handovers cannot exceed V, or the conditional handover setting may fail and the wireless device may discard the entire configuration.

[0113] The network may be able to send one or more sequential early conditional handover settings to the wireless device in any of a variety of ways. As one possibility, some or all of the information for the sequential early conditional handover settings may be provided via mobilityControlInfo in an RRC reconfiguration message in an RRC connected state. As another possibility, some or all of the information for the sequential early conditional handover settings may be provided via measObject in an RRC reconfiguration message in an RRC connected state. Other signaling frameworks for indicating some or all of one or more sequential early conditional handover settings are also possible.

[0114] Furthermore, if needed / desired to do so, the network may be able to cancel the sequential early conditional handover settings, for example by sending an update (e.g., as part of mobilityControlInfo or via any other configured signaling) indicating that the number of sequential early conditional handover settings configured for the wireless device is equal to 0. The network may also be able to update the sequential early conditional handover settings configured at the wireless device, for example, by sending one or more updated sequential early conditional handover settings. Such updates may completely overwrite any previous conditional handover settings and may restart the validity timer at the wireless device upon receipt of the new message.

[0115] According to some embodiments, the ordered early conditional handover settings configured by the network may persist across a single RRC connection. Thus, in the event of an RRC connection release or other transition to an RRC idle / inactive state, the validity timer may be canceled and the wireless device may discard all configured sequential early conditional handover settings. Similarly, in the event of an unrecovered radio link failure on the same cell, the validity timer may be canceled and the wireless device may discard all configured sequential early conditional handover settings. In addition, in the event of a successful execution of the last handover specified in the sequential early conditional handover settings, the validity timer may also be canceled and the wireless device may discard all configured sequential early conditional handover settings.

[0116] In some cases, the wireless device may leave (or not even initially follow) a known route for which the sequential early conditional handover setting has been configured. To account for such possibilities, the network may additionally configure additional measurement objects for the wireless device, and the wireless device may provide measurement reports using parameter sets in the measurement configuration via an RRC reconfiguration message. The wireless device may also be configured to report detected cells to the network. Detected cells (e.g., according to 5G NR, at least according to some embodiments) may include cells that are not listed in the configured measurement objects but are detected by the wireless device on one or more carrier frequencies indicated by the configured measurement objects. If the sequential early conditional handover setting was previously configured, the wireless device may optionally be configured to have an offset in the number and / or time of measurements to trigger these additional cells, and / or the offset may be applied to the cells in the sequential early conditional handover setting, for example, to prioritize cells on a fixed / known route over these additional cells. If the wireless device reports to the network these additional cells that are not part of the sequential early conditional handover settings configured by the network, the network may select (e.g., based on its own internal implementation, and taking into account any of a variety of possible factors) to hand over the RRC connection to one of these additional cells. In this case, if the wireless device is handed over by the network to a cell that is not part of any configured conditional handover settings of the wireless device, it may be assumed that the device is no longer on a fixed / known route. In this case, the validity timer may be canceled and the wireless device may discard all configured sequential early conditional handover settings.

[0117] For early conditional handover, it may be the case that the network prepares the UE's user plane data and forwards it to the UE's current serving cell and potential targets for early conditional handover, e.g., to allow conditional handover to be performed with the minimum interval in the UE's data service. Therefore, if there are multiple sequential conditional handover setups, the network will have to forward data to multiple cells simultaneously, which may represent a consumption of network resources, which may be a problem.

[0118] However, it may be possible to mitigate such issues, at least to some extent. For example, consider the following scenario, where two different sequential conditional handover setups are configured when the UE is currently served by 'cell 1': 'cell 1' to 'cell 2' to 'cell 3' to 'cell 4', and 'cell 1' to 'cell 5' to 'cell 6' to 'cell 7'. Initially, the network may forward data to cell 2 and cell 5 as well as cell 1. However, once the UE sends a handover confirmation to cell 2, the network will stop forwarding data to cell 1 and cell 5, and start forwarding data to cell 3. Similarly, for the remainder of the UE's progress through the sequential conditional handover setup, the network may not need to forward data to more than two cells at any given time. Therefore, in most cases, the network resource consumption when providing multiple sequential conditional handover setups may not be greater than the network resource consumption when providing one conditional handover command at a time.

[0119] In addition, the network may be able to delay forwarding data to one or more early conditional handover target cells for a certain amount of time, for example, to further limit the impact of network resource usage on early conditional handover as needed. For example, the network may delay data forwarding until one or more configured triggers are detected (e.g., which may indicate that the UE is about to switch to the next target cell on the route), which may be based on one or more of the following: RRC signaling measurement report A2 on the current serving cell (if configured); L1 timing advance information; Doppler and arrival angle associated with the UE; L1 CQI / CSI-RS measurements and other channel feedback; and / or any of a variety of other possible considerations.

[0120] Figures 8 to 14 is a message sequence chart showing possible signal flows in various scenarios using a sequential early conditional switching arrangement.

[0121] Figure 8 is a message sequence diagram illustrating possible signal flows in an exemplary scenario in which a conditional handover setting is completely consumed by a UE according to some embodiments. As shown, in the illustrated scenario, the UE may initially be in an RRC connected state with a first cell. The first cell may select a sequential early conditional handover setting for the UE, for example including a second cell and a third cell. The first cell may provide an early handover request (e.g., a first handover target of a sequential early conditional handover setting) to the second cell, and the second cell may accept the early handover request and provide a handover confirmation (ACK) accordingly. The first cell may provide a sequential early conditional handover setting to the UE.

[0122] The UE may start a validity timer having a length indicated for the sequential early conditional handover setting. Before the validity timer expires, handover criteria for the conditional handover to the second cell may be met, and the UE may handover to the second cell, including providing a handover confirmation to the second cell. The UE may restart the validity timer after a successful handover. At this point, the UE may be in an RRC connected state with the second cell.

[0123] The second cell may provide an early handover request (e.g., a next handover target of a sequential early conditional handover setting) to the third cell, and the third cell may accept the early handover request and provide a handover ACK accordingly. At some point before the validity timer expires, the handover criteria for the conditional handover to the third cell may be met, and the UE may handover to the third cell, including providing a handover confirmation to the third cell. At this point, the UE may be in an RRC connected state with the third cell. At this point, the UE may cancel the validity timer and discard the sequential early conditional handover setting, for example, because it may have completely consumed the sequential early conditional handover setting.

[0124] Fig. 9 is a message sequence diagram illustrating possible signal flows in an exemplary scenario according to some embodiments, wherein a conditional handover setting is partially consumed by a wireless device and then canceled due to expiration of a validity timer. As shown in the figure, in the illustrated scenario, the UE may initially be in an RRC connected state with a first cell. The first cell may select a sequential early conditional handover setting for the UE, for example, including a second cell and a third cell. The first cell may provide an early handover request (e.g., a first handover target of a sequential early conditional handover setting) to the second cell, and the second cell may accept the early handover request and provide a handover confirmation (ACK) accordingly. The first cell may provide a sequential early conditional handover setting to the UE.

[0125] The UE may start a validity timer having a length indicated for the sequential early conditional handover setting. Before the validity timer expires, handover criteria for the conditional handover to the second cell may be met, and the UE may handover to the second cell, including providing a handover confirmation to the second cell. The UE may restart the validity timer after a successful handover. At this point, the UE may be in an RRC connected state with the second cell.

[0126] The second cell may provide an early handover request (e.g., the next handover target of the sequential early conditional handover setting) to the third cell, and the third cell may accept the early handover request and provide a handover ACK accordingly. However, the handover criteria for the conditional handover to the third cell may not be met before the validity timer expires, so the UE may cancel the validity timer and discard the sequential early conditional handover setting. In addition, the third cell may independently run the validity timer for the early conditional handover, and when it expires, the third cell may indicate that the early handover is aborted, and the second cell may confirm that the early handover is returned to the third cell. Therefore, the UE and the network may be able to cancel the conditional handover without additional signaling between the UE and the network.

[0127] Fig.10 is a message sequence diagram illustrating possible signal flows in an exemplary scenario according to some embodiments, wherein the conditional handover setting is partially consumed by the wireless device and then canceled by the network. As shown in the figure, in the illustrated scenario, the UE may initially be in an RRC connected state with the first cell. The first cell may select a sequential early conditional handover setting for the UE, for example, including a second cell and a third cell. The first cell may provide an early handover request (e.g., a first handover target of the sequential early conditional handover setting) to the second cell, and the second cell may accept the early handover request and provide a handover confirmation (ACK) accordingly. The first cell may provide a sequential early conditional handover setting to the UE.

[0128] The UE may start a validity timer having a length indicated for the sequential early conditional handover setting. Before the validity timer expires, handover criteria for the conditional handover to the second cell may be met, and the UE may handover to the second cell, including providing a handover confirmation to the second cell. The UE may restart the validity timer after a successful handover. At this point, the UE may be in an RRC connected state with the second cell.

[0129] The second cell may provide an early handover request (e.g., the next handover target of the sequential early conditional handover setup) to the third cell, and the third cell may reject the early handover request (which may be rejected for any reason) and provide a handover NO-ACK accordingly. The second cell may provide an RRC reconfiguration message to the UE to indicate that the sequential early conditional handover setup is cancelled, and the UE may cancel the validity timer and discard the sequential early conditional handover setup accordingly.

[0130] Fig.11is a message sequence diagram illustrating possible signal flows in an exemplary scenario according to some embodiments, wherein a conditional handover setting is partially consumed by a wireless device and then canceled due to a radio resource control connection release. As shown in the figure, in the illustrated scenario, the UE may initially be in an RRC connected state with a first cell. The first cell may select a sequential early conditional handover setting for the UE, for example including a second cell and a third cell. The first cell may provide an early handover request (e.g., a first handover target of a sequential early conditional handover setting) to the second cell, and the second cell may accept the early handover request and provide a handover confirmation (ACK) accordingly. The first cell may provide a sequential early conditional handover setting to the UE.

[0131] The UE may start a validity timer having a length indicated for the sequential early conditional handover setting. Before the validity timer expires, handover criteria for the conditional handover to the second cell may be met, and the UE may handover to the second cell, including providing a handover confirmation to the second cell. The UE may restart the validity timer after a successful handover. At this point, the UE may be in an RRC connected state with the second cell.

[0132] The second cell may provide an early handover request (e.g., the next handover target of the sequential early conditional handover setting) to the third cell, and the third cell may accept the early handover request and provide a handover ACK accordingly. However, before the handover criteria for the conditional handover to the third cell are met, the second cell may release the RRC connection for the UE (e.g., due to the completion of the data session between the UE and the network), based on which the UE may cancel the validity timer and discard the sequential early conditional handover setting. In addition, the second cell may notify the third cell that the early conditional handover is aborted, and the third cell may confirm that the early conditional handover is returned to the second cell. At this point, the UE may be in an RRC idle state with the second cell.

[0133] Fig.12 is a message sequence diagram illustrating possible signal flows in an exemplary scenario according to some embodiments, wherein a conditional handover setting is partially consumed by a wireless device and then canceled due to switching to a cell that is not in the conditional handover setting. As shown in the figure, in the illustrated scenario, the UE may initially be in an RRC connected state with the first cell. The first cell may select a sequential early conditional handover setting for the UE, for example including a second cell and a third cell. The first cell may provide an early handover request (e.g., a first handover target of a sequential early conditional handover setting) to the second cell, and the second cell may accept the early handover request and provide a handover confirmation (ACK) accordingly. The first cell may provide a sequential early conditional handover setting to the UE.

[0134] The UE may start a validity timer having a length indicated for the sequential early conditional handover setting. Before the validity timer expires, handover criteria for the conditional handover to the second cell may be met, and the UE may handover to the second cell, including providing a handover confirmation to the second cell. The UE may restart the validity timer after a successful handover. At this point, the UE may be in an RRC connected state with the second cell.

[0135] The second cell may provide an early handover request (e.g., the next handover target of the sequential early conditional handover setting) to the third cell, and the third cell may accept the early handover request and provide a handover ACK accordingly. However, the second cell may provide an RRC reconfiguration message that configures an A3 report for a measurement object ("Freq F1") on which, for example, a fourth cell may be deployed. A3 measurement may be triggered at the UE for the fourth cell, and the UE may provide an A3 measurement report of the fourth cell to the second cell.

[0136] Based at least in part on the A3 measurement report, the second cell may notify the third cell that the early conditional handover is aborted, and the third cell may confirm that the early conditional handover is returned to the second cell. The second cell may also provide a handover request to the fourth cell, and the fourth cell may accept the handover request and provide a handover ACK to the second cell accordingly. The second cell may provide the UE with an RRC reconfiguration message configuring the handover to the fourth cell, and the UE may send a handover confirmation to the fourth cell. At this point, the UE may be in an RRC connected state with the fourth cell. The UE may cancel the validity timer and discard the sequential early conditional handover setting, for example, due to switching to a cell that is not in the sequential early conditional handover setting.

[0137] In addition to routes known to the network, it is also possible that the UE can predict or know in advance the route of the UE, which can also be used to support the sequential conditional handover setting configuration of the UE. For example, the UE may be able to determine a route to a destination (e.g., home, work, or any of a variety of other destinations) to which the UE is traveling, such as a destination that may be suggested by a map tool executed on the UE. As another possibility, a UE embedded in an autonomous vehicle, a delivery drone, an aerial vehicle, etc. may be preprogrammed to travel along a specific route. In addition, the UE may be able to learn user behavior, such as if the user habitually visits a specific cell along a known route at a specific date / time (e.g., around 9AM on weekdays, such as during commuting), and / or the user of the UE may provide user input indicating predicted / expected route information. Such information may be provided to the network by the UE as auxiliary information (e.g., as a global cell ID list of the expected traversal order, or in any of a variety of other ways) to facilitate the network's early conditional handover configuration of the UE.

[0138] Such information may be provided using any of a variety of signaling mechanisms that may be defined by the cellular communication standard according to which the UE communicates with the network, and / or such information may include a proprietary signaling mechanism defined between the UE and the network.

[0139] In some cases, the network may configure a backoff timer associated with such UE assistance information, for example, to avoid too frequent UE assistance information updates. If such backoff timer does not prevent, the UE may send UE assistance information, which may include a sequential list of global cell IDs of cells that the UE expects to access. Such information may, for example, help the network identify cells to be included in the sequential conditional handover setting if the UE is in RRC connected mode, or, for example, identify cell reselection candidates if the UE is in RRC inactive or idle mode, and the network may provide cell reselection assistance information to the UE for the cell reselection candidate (e.g., as further described later in this document). The UE may also provide device type information (e.g., "RF / power limited", "embedded vehicle device", "normal device", etc.), requested sequential conditional handover setting parameters (e.g., threshold condition values, validity timer values, etc.) and / or any of various other information that may help the network select a sequential conditional handover setting for the UE including any parameters associated therewith.

[0140] The UE may provide such information at any of a variety of intervals, e.g., in a periodic and / or event-based manner, as desired. As previously described, the UE may back off from sending such assistance information for at least the length of a configured backoff timer after previously providing such assistance information. If the configured backoff timer has a length of 0 or no backoff timer is configured, the UE may be able to send such assistance information frequently upon triggering an update; for example, the UE may send delta information or new assistance information to modify a known route indicated in previously provided assistance information in the event that a different route is chosen, e.g., due to vehicular traffic delays, detours, or for any of a variety of other possible reasons.

[0141] Alternatively or additionally, the UE may use such known route information for the UE internally (e.g., potentially after obtaining such information from the UE's application processor as part of the UE's baseband operations), for example, to improve handover and / or cell reselection efficiency, or even potentially as a signaling mechanism to provide such information to an unavailable network. For example, the UE may use such information to prioritize sending measurement reports for specific neighboring cells (e.g., the next one it expects to visit along its expected route), which may help prompt the network to handover the UE to the cell that the UE wants to handover to. Similarly, such information may be used to prioritize reselection candidates along a route based on the UE's internal database information. For example, when it may be known that cells are expected to encounter handovers (e.g., in connected mode) and cell reselections (e.g., in idle / deactivated mode), such techniques may reduce the number of cell measurements that the UE needs to obtain when performing mobility.

[0142] Fig.13 is a message sequence diagram illustrating possible signal flows in an exemplary scenario according to some embodiments, wherein a wireless device provides information configured to facilitate selection of conditional switching settings for the wireless device. As shown, the network may provide system information to the UE, which may indicate the length of a back-off timer for providing UE assistance information for an expected cell to be visited. The UE may then begin a journey to a first destination (e.g., "home") on a map application on the UE. Based on the destination / route information, the UE may provide UE assistance information indicating one or more expected cells to be visited and a device type parameter of the UE, and may start a back-off timer. The network may configure the UE to perform conditional switching, for example, including providing one or more sequential early conditional switching settings that may be based at least in part on UE assistance information provided by the UE.

[0143] However, the UE may modify the itinerary on the map application toward the second destination (e.g., "grocery store"). Once the back-off timer expires, the UE may provide updated UE assistance information based on the updated destination / route information in this case, the updated UE assistance information also including one or more expected cells to be visited and a device type parameter of the UE. The network may reconfigure the UE to perform conditional handover, for example, including providing one or more sequential early conditional handover settings, possibly based at least in part on the updated UE assistance information provided by the UE.

[0144] In addition to (or alternatively to) configuring one or more conditional handover settings for a UE based on possible travel along one or more known routes, it may be possible to use such information to improve cell reselection along the known routes. Such techniques may be particularly useful in at least some 5G NR deployments, e.g., due to the potential size of 5G NR cells / beams, it is more likely that a UE traveling along a known route may reselect between cells more frequently to maintain cellular service.

[0145] Thus, for known routes of expected mobility (e.g., among various possibilities, a high-speed train scenario or any of the various other possible known route scenarios described herein), it may be possible to leverage this knowledge, along with immediate system information block (SIB) availability, to achieve better cellular service retention (e.g., channel conditions from a source cell may deteriorate more quickly in a high-speed mobility scenario, which may result in many cell reselections and MIB / SIB reads that may fail in such high-speed mobility scenarios, which may be avoided by pre-providing MIB / SIB information along the known route), power consumption savings for the UE (e.g., it may be possible to perform an optimized search for a selected set of neighboring cells along the known route, rather than performing a broader search for neighboring cells for which cell reselection may be performed), and / or load balancing assistance for the network (e.g., the network may be able to direct the UE to stay on a particular cell as part of its provision of cell reselection assistance information for the known route, which in turn may increase the likelihood that a connection mode transition for the UE will occur on one of the cells in the network's preferred set of cells, and / or the network may be able to reduce paging load and reduce the frequency of paging across the RNA in which the UE is located by more aggressively paging the UE in a small subset of cells).

[0146] The cell reselection assistance information may include an indication of the number of neighbor cell / route cell mandatory system information sets being provided (e.g., ranging from 1 to any desired maximum value). For each neighbor cell / route cell, mandatory system information may be provided. If the mandatory system information for all neighbor cells / route cells is common, the network may provide only one set of mandatory system information, for example, to minimize payload data. If there are minor differences in the mandatory system information for one or more of the neighbor cells / route cells, the network may provide delta information for those cells (e.g., indicating the difference to the serving cell system information and the route cell system information).

[0147] In some cases, a "refresh timer" (MIB-value-tag-refresh-check-timer) length may be indicated for the cell reselection assistance information, for example, which may help track the freshness of the cell reselection assistance information. If configured, such a timer may be started when the UE receives the message. If the refresh timer has expired when the UE reselects to a cell for which mandatory system information for that cell has been received from the cell reselection assistance information, the UE may check the MIB value tag of the cell, and if it is different from the value tag stored from the cell reselection assistance information, the UE may discard the neighbor cell / route cell system information from the cell reselection assistance information and obtain the system information directly from the cell.

[0148] As another possibility, it may be the case that a Q offset delta parameter is indicated for the cell reselection assistance information. Such a parameter may cause reselection to a cell included in the cell reselection assistance information to be prioritized over reselection to other cells visible to the UE. For example, when reselecting between cells, if multiple cells are visible, then when ranking the cells according to the cell reselection criteria, the cells for which system information can be obtained from the cell reselection assistance information may be prioritized by applying the Q offset delta parameter.

[0149] Such cell reselection assistance information may be provided in any of a variety of ways. As one possibility, when the UE is in an RRC connected state, the IE (e.g., which may be newly defined) may be provided in an RRC reconfiguration message, or the information may be tunneled via an RRC connection release message for a neighboring cell / route cell set. As another possibility, when the UE is in an RRC idle or inactive state, such information may be broadcast (e.g., as part of other SI), or may be available via an on-demand SIB request (e.g., so that interested UEs can request other SI as on-demand SI). Such information may also be provided via an evolved multimedia broadcast multicast service (eMBMS) broadcast or a network infrastructure unit configured to provide one or more of the unicast or broadcast information for vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communications.

[0150] Fig.14 An exemplary aspect of one such possible eMBMS delivery mechanism for providing mandatory system information for certain neighboring cells / route cells is shown. As shown, multiple cells C1-C11 may be deployed along several possible known routes. At those cells deployed at junctions between known routes (e.g., C3, C8), the eMBMS broadcast site may provide cell reselection assistance information, including mandatory system information for neighboring cells / route cells in its vicinity.

[0151] In the following, further exemplary embodiments are provided.

[0152] A set of embodiments may include an apparatus comprising: a processing element configured to cause a wireless device to: establish a radio resource control (RRC) connection with a cellular base station; receive a sequential conditional handover setup comprising information for multiple conditional handovers; and perform a conditional handover to at least a first cell indicated in the sequential conditional handover setup based at least in part on the sequential conditional handover setup.

[0153] According to some embodiments, the sequential conditional handover setup includes ordered cell frequencies and cell identification information for each cell in the plurality of cells, wherein the sequential conditional handover setup further includes threshold information indicating one or more threshold conditions to be satisfied to perform the conditional handover.

[0154] According to some embodiments, in order to perform a conditional handover to at least a first cell indicated in a sequential conditional handover setting, the processing element is further configured to cause the wireless device to: determine that one or more threshold conditions for the conditional handover are satisfied; and transmit a handover confirmation to the first cell based at least in part on determining that the one or more threshold conditions for the conditional handover are satisfied.

[0155] According to some embodiments, the sequential conditional handover setting indicates one or more of the following: a serving cell signal strength threshold, which triggers handover to the cell indicated in the sequential conditional handover setting if the serving cell signal strength threshold is met within at least the trigger period; a serving cell signal quality threshold, which triggers handover to the cell indicated in the sequential conditional handover setting if the serving cell signal quality threshold is met within at least the trigger period; a hysteresis offset parameter between the serving cell and the handover target cell, which hysteresis offset parameter must be met to perform conditional handover to the cell indicated in the sequential conditional handover setting; or a validity timer, which indicates the maximum amount of time between switches of the sequential conditional handover setting.

[0156] According to some embodiments, the processing element is further configured to cause the wireless device, after performing the conditional handover to the first cell: to perform a conditional handover to at least a second cell indicated in the sequential conditional handover setting based at least in part on the sequential conditional handover setting.

[0157] According to some embodiments, the processing element is further configured to cause the wireless device to: discard the sequential conditional handover setup based at least in part on one or more of: receiving an indication from a serving cell to cancel the sequential conditional handover setup; receiving an indication from a serving cell to update the sequential conditional handover setup; receiving handover information indicating to perform a handover to a cell that is not part of the sequential conditional handover setup; releasing the RRC connection; detecting an unrecovered radio link failure on the same cell where the radio link failure occurred; or successfully performing the last conditional handover specified in the sequential conditional handover setup.

[0158] According to some embodiments, the processing element is further configured to cause the wireless device to: receive a plurality of sequential conditional switching settings, wherein each sequential conditional switching setting includes information for a plurality of conditional switchings.

[0159] According to some embodiments, the processing element is further configured to cause the wireless device to: determine an ordered set of candidate cells for a sequential conditional handover setup; and transmit an indication of the ordered set of candidate cells to a cellular base station.

[0160] In accordance with some embodiments, an ordered set of candidate cells is determined based at least in part on one or more of: a route to a destination associated with a map application used at the wireless device; a preprogrammed travel route of the wireless device; or a predicted travel route of the wireless device determined at least in part based on previous use of the wireless device.

[0161] Another set of embodiments may include a wireless device comprising: an antenna; a radio component that is operably coupled to the antenna; and a processing element that is operably coupled to the radio component; wherein the antenna, the radio component, and the processing element are configured to: receive cell reselection assistance information, the cell reselection assistance information including system information for multiple cells; and use the cell reselection assistance information to perform cell reselection to at least a first cell.

[0162] According to some embodiments, the antenna, radio component and processing element are further configured to prioritize the plurality of cells indicated in the cell reselection assistance information when performing cell reselection.

[0163] According to some embodiments, the cell reselection assistance information is received via one or more of: radio resource control (RRC) configuration information when the wireless device is in RRC connected mode; an RRC connection release message; system information broadcast by a serving cell of the wireless device when the wireless device is in RRC deactivated or idle mode; on-demand system information requested by the wireless device; an evolved Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service (eMBMS) broadcast; or a network infrastructure unit configured to provide one or more of unicast or broadcast information for vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communications.

[0164] According to some embodiments, the antenna, radio component and processing element are further configured to: determine an ordered set of candidate cells for ordered cell reselection assistance information; and transmit an indication of the ordered set of candidate cells to a serving cell of the wireless device.

[0165] Another set of embodiments may include a cellular base station comprising: an antenna; a radio component that is operably coupled to the antenna; and a processing element that is operably coupled to the radio component; wherein the antenna, the radio component, and the processing element are configured to: select a first conditional switching setting for a wireless device, wherein the first conditional switching setting includes information for a first plurality of conditional switching; and provide the first conditional switching setting to the wireless device.

[0166] According to some embodiments, a first conditional switching setting includes cell frequency and cell identification information for a first ordered set of cells, wherein the first conditional switching setting also includes threshold information indicating one or more threshold conditions to be satisfied for performing each of a first plurality of conditional switchings, wherein the first conditional switching setting also includes a validity timer length indicating a configured maximum amount of time between switches associated with the first conditional switching setting.

[0167] According to some embodiments, the antenna, radio components, and processing elements are further configured to: select a second conditional switching setting for the wireless device, wherein the second conditional switching setting includes information for a second plurality of conditional switching; and provide the second conditional switching setting to the wireless device, wherein the first conditional switching setting and the second conditional switching setting are provided to the wireless device together.

[0168] According to some embodiments, the antenna, radio component, and processing element are further configured to: determine to cancel the first conditional switching setting; and provide an indication to cancel the first conditional switching setting based at least in part on the determination to cancel the first conditional switching setting.

[0169] According to some embodiments, the antenna, radio component, and processing element are further configured to: select cell reselection assistance information for the wireless device, wherein the cell reselection assistance information includes system information for multiple cells; and provide the cell reselection assistance information to the wireless device.

[0170] According to some embodiments, the cell reselection assistance information includes: complete mandatory system information for at least one of the multiple cells; differential information indicating a difference from the complete mandatory system information for at least one of the multiple cells; and a refresh timer length indicating a validity period of at least a portion of the cell reselection assistance information.

[0171] According to some embodiments, the antenna, radio components and processing element are further configured to: receive an indication of a candidate cell set for the conditional handover setting from the wireless device; wherein the conditional handover setting is selected at least in part based on the candidate cell set for the conditional handover setting.

[0172] Another example embodiment may include a device comprising: an antenna; a radio coupled to the antenna; and a processing element operably coupled to the radio, wherein the device is configured to implement any or all of the foregoing examples.

[0173] Yet another exemplary embodiment may include a method comprising: performing, by an apparatus: any or all of the foregoing examples.

[0174] Still another example embodiment may include a non-transitory computer-accessible storage medium including program instructions that, when executed at a device, cause the device to implement any or all portions of any of the foregoing examples.

[0175] Yet another exemplary embodiment may include a computer program including instructions for performing any or all portions of any of the foregoing examples.

[0176] Still another exemplary embodiment may include an apparatus including means for performing any or all of the elements of any of the preceding examples.

[0177] Yet another example embodiment may include an apparatus comprising a processing element configured to cause a wireless device to perform any or all elements of any of the preceding examples.

[0178] As described above, one aspect of the present technology is to collect and use data available from specific and legitimate sources to monitor the handover and / or cell reselection performance of wireless devices. The present disclosure contemplates that, in some instances, the collected data may include personal information data that uniquely identifies or can be used to identify a specific person. Such personal information data may include demographic data, location-based data, online identifiers, phone numbers, email addresses, home addresses, data or records related to the user's health or fitness level (e.g., vital signs measurements, medication information, exercise information), date of birth, or any other personal information.

[0179] The present disclosure recognizes that the use of such personal information data in the present technology can be used to benefit users. For example, personal information data can be used to improve cellular service quality and reliability.

[0180] The present disclosure envisions that entities responsible for collecting, analyzing, disclosing, transmitting, storing or otherwise using such personal information data will comply with established privacy policies and / or privacy practices. Specifically, such entities will be expected to implement and consistently apply privacy practices that are generally recognized as meeting or exceeding the requirements of the industry or government that maintain user privacy. Such information about the use of personal data should be highlighted and easily accessible to users, and should be updated as the collection and / or use of data changes. The user's personal information should be collected only for legal use. In addition, such collection / sharing should only occur after receiving user consent or other legal basis specified in applicable law. In addition, such entities should consider taking any necessary steps to defend and safeguard access to such personal information data and ensure that others who have access to personal information data comply with their privacy policies and processes. In addition, such entities may subject themselves to third-party assessments to demonstrate that they comply with widely accepted privacy policies and practices. In addition, policies and practices should be adjusted for specific types of personal information data collected and / or accessed, and applied to applicable laws and standards, including considerations that are exclusive to jurisdictions that can be used to impose higher standards. For example, in the United States, collection or access to certain health data may be governed by federal and / or state laws, such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA); while health data in other countries may be subject to other regulations and policies and should be handled accordingly.

[0181] Regardless of the foregoing, the present disclosure also contemplates implementation schemes in which users selectively block the use or access of personal information data. That is, the present disclosure contemplates that hardware elements and / or software elements may be provided to prevent or block access to such personal information data. For example, in the case of using route information to provide auxiliary information for determining conditional switching settings for wireless devices, the present technology may be configured to allow users to choose to "opt in" or "opt out" to participate in the collection of personal information data at any time during or after registration for a service. In addition to providing "opt-in" and "opt-out" options, the present disclosure contemplates providing notifications related to access or use of personal information. For example, a user may be notified that their personal information data will be accessed when downloading an application, and then be reminded again just before the personal information data is accessed by the application.

[0182] In addition, it is an object of the present disclosure that personal information data should be managed and processed to minimize the risk of unintentional or unauthorized access or use. Risks can be minimized by limiting data collection and deleting data once it is no longer needed. In addition, and when applicable, including in certain health-related applications, data de-identification can be used to protect the privacy of users. De-identification can be facilitated by removing identifiers, controlling the amount or specificity of stored data (e.g., collecting location data at a city level rather than at an address level), controlling how data is stored (e.g., aggregating data across users), and / or other methods such as differential privacy, where appropriate.

[0183] Thus, while the present disclosure broadly covers the use of personal information data to implement one or more of the various disclosed embodiments, the present disclosure also contemplates that various embodiments may also be implemented without access to such personal information data. That is, various embodiments of the present technology will not fail to function properly due to the lack of all or a portion of such personal information data. For example, content may be selected and delivered to a user based on aggregated non-personal information data or an absolute minimum amount of personal information, such as content processed only on the user's device or other non-personal information that may be used for content delivery services.

[0184] Embodiments of the present invention may be implemented in any of a variety of forms. For example, in some embodiments, the present invention may be implemented as a computer-implemented method, a computer-readable storage medium, or a computer system. In other embodiments, one or more custom-designed hardware devices such as ASICs may be used to implement the present invention. In other embodiments, one or more programmable hardware elements such as FPGAs may be used to implement the present invention.

[0185] In some embodiments, a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium (e.g., a non-transitory storage element) may be configured to store program instructions and / or data, wherein if the program instructions are executed by a computer system, the computer system is caused to perform a method, such as any of the method embodiments described herein, or any combination of the method embodiments described herein, or any subset of any method embodiments described herein, or any combination of such subsets.

[0186] In some embodiments, a device (e.g., a UE) may be configured to include a processor (or a group of processors) and a memory medium (or a memory element), wherein the memory medium stores program instructions, wherein the processor is configured to read and execute the program instructions from the memory medium, wherein the program instructions are executable to implement any of the various method implementations described herein (or any combination of the method implementations described herein, or any subset of any method implementations described herein or any combination of such subsets). The device may be implemented in any of various forms.

[0187] Although the above embodiments have been described in considerable detail, numerous variations and modifications will become apparent to those skilled in the art once the above disclosure is fully appreciated. It is intended that the following claims be interpreted to encompass all such variations and modifications.

Claims

1. A device comprising: at least one processor configured to cause the wireless device to: Establishing a radio resource control (RRC) connection with a cellular base station; receiving a sequential conditional switching setup including information for a plurality of conditional switchings; determining that a first condition for performing a conditional handover to a first cell in the sequential conditional handover setting has been met; In response to determining that the first condition has been satisfied, performing a conditional handover to the first cell without sending signaling to the cellular base station; After performing conditional handover to the first cell, determining that a second condition for performing conditional handover to a second cell indicated in the sequential conditional handover setting has been satisfied; as well as In response to determining that the second condition has been met, conditional handover to the second cell is performed without sending signaling to the first cell.

2. The device according to claim 1, wherein the sequential conditional handover arrangement comprises ordered cell frequencies and cell identification information for each of the plurality of cells, The sequential conditional switching setting further includes threshold information, wherein the threshold information indicates one or more threshold conditions to be satisfied for executing the conditional switching.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein to perform the conditional handover to at least the first cell indicated in the sequential conditional handover setting, the at least one processor is further configured to cause the wireless device to: determining that one or more threshold conditions for the conditional switching are satisfied; and Based at least in part on determining that the one or more threshold conditions for the conditional handover are satisfied, transmitting a handover confirmation to the first cell.

4. The device of claim 1 , wherein the sequential conditional switching setting indicates one or more of the following: a serving cell signal strength threshold, if the serving cell signal strength threshold is met for at least a trigger period, triggering a handover to the cell indicated in the sequential conditional handover setting; a serving cell signal quality threshold, if the serving cell signal quality threshold is met during at least the trigger period, triggering a handover to the cell indicated in the sequential conditional handover setting; a hysteresis offset parameter between a serving cell and a handover target cell, the hysteresis offset parameter to be satisfied to perform a conditional handover to the cell indicated in the sequential conditional handover setting; or A validity timer indicating a maximum amount of time between switching of the sequential conditional switching setting.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to cause the wireless device to: The sequential conditional switching setting is discarded based at least in part on one or more of: receiving an instruction to cancel the sequential conditional handover setting from a serving cell; receiving an indication of an updated sequential conditional handover setting from a serving cell; receiving handover information indicating to perform handover to a cell that is not part of the sequential conditional handover setup; releasing the RRC connection; detecting an unrecovered radio link failure on the same cell where the radio link failure occurred; or The last conditional switch specified in the sequential conditional switch setting is successfully executed.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to cause the wireless device to: A plurality of sequential conditional switch settings are received, wherein each sequential conditional switch setting includes information for a plurality of conditional switches.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to cause the wireless device to: determining an ordered set of candidate cells for sequential conditional handover setup; and An indication of the ordered set of candidate cells is transmitted to the cellular base station.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the ordered set of candidate cells is determined based at least in part on one or more of: a route to a destination associated with a map application used at the wireless device; a preprogrammed route of travel of the wireless device; or A predicted route of travel of the wireless device is determined based at least in part on previous wireless device usage.

9. A wireless device comprising: antenna; a radio operably coupled to the antenna; and at least one processor operably coupled to the radio; wherein the antenna, the radio component and the at least one processor are configured to: receiving cell reselection assistance information, the cell reselection assistance information comprising system information for a plurality of cells, wherein the cell reselection assistance information specifies system information for a first cell and system information for a second cell, wherein the system information for the second cell can be used for cell reselection from the first cell; performing cell reselection to the first cell using the cell reselection assistance information; as well as After performing cell reselection to the first cell, performing cell reselection from the first cell to the second cell using the cell reselection assistance information.

10. The wireless device of claim 9, wherein the antenna, the radio, and the at least one processor are further configured to: When performing cell reselection, the multiple cells indicated in the cell reselection assistance information are prioritized.

11. The wireless device of claim 9, wherein the cell reselection assistance information is received via one or more of: Radio Resource Control (RRC) configuration information when the wireless device is in RRC connected mode; RRC connection release message; system information broadcast by a serving cell of the wireless device when the wireless device is in RRC inactive or idle mode; on-demand system information requested by the wireless device; Evolved Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service eMBMS Broadcast; or A network infrastructure unit configured to provide one or more of unicast or broadcast information for vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communications.

12. The wireless device of claim 9, wherein the antenna, the radio, and the at least one processor are further configured to: determining an ordered set of candidate cells for sequential cell reselection assistance information; and An indication of the ordered set of candidate cells is transmitted to a serving cell of the wireless device.

13. The wireless device of claim 10 , wherein the cell reselection assistance information comprises a sequential conditional handover setup, wherein the sequential conditional handover setup comprises ordered cell frequency and cell identification information for each of a plurality of cells including the first cell and the second cell, and wherein the sequential conditional handover setup further comprises threshold information indicating one or more threshold conditions to be satisfied for performing the conditional handover.

14. A cellular base station, comprising: antenna; a radio operably coupled to the antenna; and at least one processor operably coupled to the radio; wherein the antenna, the radio component and the at least one processor are configured to: selecting a first conditional handoff setting for the wireless device, wherein the first conditional handoff setting includes information for a first plurality of conditional handoffs, wherein the first plurality of conditional handoffs includes handoffs from a first cell to a second cell and from the second cell to a third cell; providing the first conditional switching setting to the wireless device; as well as For a first conditional handover from the first cell to the second cell, an early handover request is provided to the second cell, wherein providing the first conditional handover setting to the wireless device and providing the early handover request to the second cell allow the wireless device to perform the conditional handover from the first cell to the second cell without sending signaling to the first cell.

15. The cellular base station according to claim 14, wherein the first conditional switching setting includes cell frequencies and cell identification information for a first ordered cell set, The first conditional switching setting further includes threshold information, wherein the threshold information indicates one or more threshold conditions to be satisfied for executing each of the first plurality of conditional switchings. Wherein the first conditional handover setting further includes a validity timer length, the validity timer length indicating a configured maximum amount of time between handovers associated with the first conditional handover setting.

16. The cellular base station of claim 14, wherein the antenna, the radio component, and the at least one processor are further configured to: selecting a second conditional handoff setting for the wireless device, wherein the second conditional handoff setting includes information for a second plurality of conditional handoffs; and The second conditional handover setting is provided to the wireless device, wherein the first conditional handover setting and the second conditional handover setting are provided together to the wireless device.

17. The cellular base station of claim 14, wherein the antenna, the radio component, and the at least one processor are further configured to: Determine to cancel the first condition switching setting; and An indication to cancel the first conditional switch setting is provided based at least in part on a determination to cancel the first conditional switch setting.

18. The cellular base station of claim 14, wherein the antenna, the radio, and the at least one processor are further configured to: selecting cell reselection assistance information for a wireless device, wherein the cell reselection assistance information includes system information for a plurality of cells; and The cell reselection assistance information is provided to the wireless device.

19. The cellular base station according to claim 18, wherein the cell reselection assistance information comprises: complete mandatory system information for at least one cell of the plurality of cells; delta information indicating a difference from the complete mandatory system information for at least one cell among the plurality of cells; and A refresh timer length indicates a validity period of at least a portion of the cell reselection assistance information.

20. The cellular base station of claim 14, wherein the antenna, the radio, and the at least one processor are further configured to: receiving, from the wireless device, an indication of a set of candidate cells for conditional handover setup; Wherein the conditional handover setting is selected based at least in part on the set of candidate cells for the conditional handover setting.

21. A method performed by a wireless device, the method comprising: Establishing a radio resource control (RRC) connection with a cellular base station; receiving a sequential conditional switching setup including information for a plurality of conditional switchings; determining that a first condition for performing a conditional handover to a first cell in the sequential conditional handover setting has been met; In response to determining that the first condition has been satisfied, performing a conditional handover to the first cell without sending signaling to the cellular base station; After performing conditional handover to the first cell, determining that a second condition for performing conditional handover to a second cell indicated in the sequential conditional handover setting has been satisfied; as well as In response to determining that the second condition has been met, conditional handover to the second cell is performed without sending signaling to the first cell.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the sequential conditional handover arrangement comprises ordered cell frequencies and cell identification information for each of the plurality of cells, The sequential conditional switching setting further includes threshold information, wherein the threshold information indicates one or more threshold conditions to be satisfied for executing the conditional switching.

23. The method of claim 21, wherein in order to perform the conditional handover to at least the first cell indicated in the sequential conditional handover setting, the method further comprises: determining that one or more threshold conditions for the conditional switching are satisfied; as well as Based at least in part on determining that the one or more threshold conditions for the conditional handover are satisfied, transmitting a handover confirmation to the first cell.

24. The method of claim 21, wherein the sequential conditional switching setting indicates one or more of the following: a serving cell signal strength threshold, if the serving cell signal strength threshold is met for at least a trigger period, triggering a handover to the cell indicated in the sequential conditional handover setting; a serving cell signal quality threshold, if the serving cell signal quality threshold is met during at least the trigger period, triggering a handover to the cell indicated in the sequential conditional handover setting; a hysteresis offset parameter between a serving cell and a handover target cell, the hysteresis offset parameter to be satisfied to perform a conditional handover to the cell indicated in the sequential conditional handover setting; or A validity timer indicating a maximum amount of time between switching of the sequential conditional switching setting.

25. The method of claim 21, further comprising: The sequential conditional switching setting is discarded based at least in part on one or more of: receiving an instruction to cancel the sequential conditional handover setting from a serving cell; receiving an indication of an updated sequential conditional handover setting from a serving cell; receiving handover information indicating to perform handover to a cell that is not part of the sequential conditional handover setup; releasing the RRC connection; detecting an unrecovered radio link failure on the same cell where the radio link failure occurred; or The last conditional switch specified in the sequential conditional switch setting is successfully executed.

26. The method of claim 21, further comprising: A plurality of sequential conditional switch settings are received, wherein each sequential conditional switch setting includes information for a plurality of conditional switches.

27. The method of claim 21, further comprising: determining an ordered set of candidate cells for sequential conditional handover setup; as well as An indication of the ordered set of candidate cells is transmitted to the cellular base station.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein the ordered set of candidate cells is determined based at least in part on one or more of: a route to a destination associated with a map application used at the wireless device; a preprogrammed route of travel of the wireless device; or A predicted route of travel of the wireless device is determined based at least in part on previous wireless device usage.

29. A non-transitory storage medium comprising instructions which, when executed, cause a wireless device to perform the method of any one of claims 21-28.

30. A computer program product comprising instructions which, when executed, cause a wireless device to perform the method of any one of claims 21-28.

31. A method performed by a wireless device, the method comprising: receiving cell reselection assistance information, the cell reselection assistance information comprising system information for a plurality of cells, wherein the cell reselection assistance information specifies system information for a first cell and system information for a second cell, wherein the system information for the second cell can be used for cell reselection from the first cell; performing cell reselection to the first cell using the cell reselection assistance information; as well as After performing cell reselection to the first cell, performing cell reselection from the first cell to the second cell using the cell reselection assistance information.

32. The method of claim 31 , further comprising: When performing cell reselection, the multiple cells indicated in the cell reselection assistance information are prioritized.

33. The method of claim 31 , wherein the cell reselection assistance information is received via one or more of: Radio Resource Control (RRC) configuration information when the wireless device is in RRC connected mode; RRC connection release message; system information broadcast by a serving cell of the wireless device when the wireless device is in RRC inactive or idle mode; on-demand system information requested by the wireless device; Evolved Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service eMBMS Broadcast; or A network infrastructure unit configured to provide one or more of unicast or broadcast information for vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communications.

34. The method of claim 31, further comprising: determining an ordered set of candidate cells for sequential cell reselection assistance information; as well as An indication of the ordered set of candidate cells is transmitted to a serving cell of the wireless device.

35. The method of claim 32, wherein the cell reselection assistance information comprises a sequential conditional handover setting, wherein the sequential conditional handover setting comprises ordered cell frequency and cell identification information for each of a plurality of cells including the first cell and the second cell, and wherein the sequential conditional handover setting further comprises threshold information indicating one or more threshold conditions to be satisfied for performing the conditional handover.

36. A non-transitory storage medium comprising instructions which, when executed, cause a wireless device to perform the method of any one of claims 31-35.

37. A computer program product comprising instructions which, when executed, cause a wireless device to perform the method of any one of claims 31-35.

38. A method performed by a cellular base station, the method comprising: selecting a first conditional handoff setting for the wireless device, wherein the first conditional handoff setting includes information for a first plurality of conditional handoffs, wherein the first plurality of conditional handoffs includes handoffs from a first cell to a second cell and from the second cell to a third cell; providing the first conditional switching setting to the wireless device; as well as For a first conditional handover from the first cell to the second cell, an early handover request is provided to the second cell, wherein providing the first conditional handover setting to the wireless device and providing the early handover request to the second cell allow the wireless device to perform the conditional handover from the first cell to the second cell without sending signaling to the first cell.

39. The method of claim 38, wherein the first conditional switching setting includes cell frequencies and cell identification information for a first ordered cell set, The first conditional switching setting further includes threshold information, wherein the threshold information indicates one or more threshold conditions to be satisfied for executing each of the first plurality of conditional switchings. Wherein the first conditional handover setting further includes a validity timer length, the validity timer length indicating a configured maximum amount of time between handovers associated with the first conditional handover setting.

40. The method of claim 38, further comprising: selecting a second conditional handoff setting for the wireless device, wherein the second conditional handoff setting includes information for a second plurality of conditional handoffs; as well as The second conditional handover setting is provided to the wireless device, wherein the first conditional handover setting and the second conditional handover setting are provided together to the wireless device.

41. The method of claim 38, further comprising: Determine to cancel the first condition switching setting; as well as An indication to cancel the first conditional switch setting is provided based at least in part on a determination to cancel the first conditional switch setting.

42. The method of claim 38, further comprising: selecting cell reselection assistance information for a wireless device, wherein the cell reselection assistance information includes system information for a plurality of cells; as well as The cell reselection assistance information is provided to the wireless device.

43. The method of claim 42, wherein the cell reselection assistance information comprises: complete mandatory system information for at least one cell of the plurality of cells; delta information indicating a difference from the complete mandatory system information for at least one cell among the plurality of cells; and A refresh timer length indicates a validity period of at least a portion of the cell reselection assistance information.

44. The method of claim 38, further comprising: receiving, from the wireless device, an indication of a set of candidate cells for conditional handover setup; Wherein the conditional handover setting is selected based at least in part on the set of candidate cells for the conditional handover setting.

45. A non-transitory storage medium comprising instructions which, when executed, cause a cellular base station to perform the method of any one of claims 38-44.

46. ​​A computer program product comprising instructions which, when executed, cause a cellular base station to perform the method of any one of claims 38-44.

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