Handling of measurement configuration when conditional mobility is enforced

Abstract

Embodiments include methods for conditional mobility in a radio access network (RAN) performed by a user equipment (UE). Such methods include: receiving one or more mobility-related messages from one or more RAN nodes (e.g., a source RAN node and / or a target RAN node), the mobility-related messages including: a first indication of a mobility operation; a second indication of a trigger condition for the mobility operation; a second measurement configuration associated with the trigger condition; and a third measurement configuration associated with one or more target cells. Such methods also include: based on the second measurement configuration, detecting satisfaction of the trigger condition for a specific target cell in the target cells, and performing a mobility operation toward the specific target cell; and then performing and reporting a third measurement in the specific target cell based on the third measurement configuration. Embodiments also include supplementary methods performed by a source RAN node and a target RAN node.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present application relates generally to the field of wireless communications, and more particularly, to devices, methods, and computer-readable media for improving mobility operations of wireless devices or user equipment (UE) in wireless networks. Background Art

[0002] Generally, all terms used in this article will be interpreted according to their common meaning in the relevant technical field, unless different meanings are clearly given and / or implied in the context of using the term. Unless clearly stated, all references to one / an / the element, equipment, assembly, device, step, etc. should be publicly interpreted as referring to at least one instance of the element, equipment, assembly, device, step, etc. The steps of any method and / or process disclosed herein do not have to be performed in the exact order disclosed, unless a step is clearly described as after or before another step and / or implicitly a step must be after or before another step. Where appropriate, any feature of any embodiment disclosed herein may be applicable to any other embodiment. Similarly, any advantage of any embodiment may be applicable to any other embodiment, and vice versa. Through the following description, other purposes, features and advantages of the attached embodiments will be apparent.

[0003] Long Term Evolution (LTE) is a generic name for the so-called fourth generation (4G) radio access technologies developed in the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) and initially standardized in Releases 8 and 9, also known as Evolved UTRAN (E-UTRAN). LTE targets various licensed frequency bands and is accompanied by improvements to non-radio aspects generally referred to as System Architecture Evolution (SAE), which includes the Evolved Packet Core (EPC) network. LTE has continued to evolve through subsequent releases, which are developed according to the standard setting process of 3GPP and its working groups (WGs), including the Radio Access Network (RAN) WG and sub-working groups (e.g., RAN1, RAN2, etc.).

[0004] LTE Release 10 supports bandwidths greater than 20 MHz. An important requirement for Release 10 is to ensure backward compatibility with LTE Release 8. This should also include spectrum compatibility. Therefore, a wideband LTE Release 10 carrier (e.g., wider than 20 MHz) should appear as multiple carriers to LTE Release 8 ("legacy") terminals. Each such carrier may be referred to as a component carrier (CC). In order to effectively use the wide carrier also for legacy terminals, legacy terminals may be scheduled in all parts of the wideband LTE Release 10 carrier. An exemplary way to achieve this is by means of carrier aggregation (CA), whereby a Release 10 terminal may receive multiple CCs, each CC preferably having the same structure as a Release 8 carrier. One enhancement in LTE Release 11 is the enhanced physical downlink control channel (ePDCCH), which aims to increase capacity and improve spatial reuse of control channel resources, improve inter-cell interference coordination (ICIC), and support antenna beamforming and / or transmit diversity of control channels. In addition, LTE Release 12 introduces dual connectivity (DC), whereby a UE may be connected to two network nodes simultaneously, thereby improving connection robustness and / or capacity.

[0005] exist Figure 1 An overall exemplary architecture of a network including LTE and SAE is shown in FIG. E-UTRAN 100 includes one or more evolved Node Bs (eNBs) (e.g., eNBs 105, 110, and 115) and one or more user equipments (UEs) (e.g., UE 120). As used within the 3GPP standards, "user equipment" or "UE" refers to any wireless communication device (e.g., a smartphone or computing device) capable of communicating with network equipment compliant with 3GPP standards (including E-UTRAN as well as UTRAN and / or GERAN, as third generation ("3G") and second generation ("2G") 3GPP radio access networks are generally known).

[0006] As specified by 3GPP, E-UTRAN 100 is responsible for all radio-related functions in the network, including radio bearer control, radio admission control, radio mobility control, scheduling, dynamic resource allocation to UEs in uplink and downlink, and security of communications with UEs. These functions reside in eNBs (e.g., eNBs 105, 110, and 115). The eNBs in E-UTRAN communicate with each other via the X2 interface, such as Figure 1 The eNB is also responsible for the E-UTRAN interface to the EPC 130, in particular to the Mobility Management Entity (MME) and the Serving Gateway (SGW) (in Figure 1134 and 138). In general, the MME / S-GW handles both the overall control of the UE and the data flow between the UE and the rest of the EPC. More specifically, the MME handles the signaling protocols (e.g., the control plane) between the UE and the EPC, which are referred to as the non-access stratum (NAS) protocols. The S-GW handles all Internet Protocol (IP) data packets (e.g., the data or user plane) between the UE and the EPC, and serves as a local mobility anchor point for data bearers when the UE moves between eNBs (e.g., eNBs 105, 110, and 115).

[0007] The EPC 130 may also include a home subscriber server (HSS) 131 that manages information related to users and subscribers. The HSS 131 may also provide support functions in mobility management, call and session establishment, user authentication, and access authorization. The functions of the HSS 131 may be related to the functions of a traditional home location register (HLR) and an authentication center (AuC) function or operation.

[0008] In some embodiments, HSS 131 can communicate with a user data repository (UDR) via a Ud interface ( Figure 1 The HSS 131 may communicate with the EPC-UDR 135 (labeled in FIG. 14 ) to communicate. The EPC-UDR 135 may store the user credentials after they have been encrypted by the AuC algorithm. These algorithms are non-standardized (i.e., vendor-specific) so that the encrypted credentials stored in the EPC-UDR 135 are generally not accessible by any other vendor other than the vendor of the HSS 131.

[0009] Figure 2A A high-level block diagram of an exemplary LTE architecture in terms of its constituent entities (UE, E-UTRAN and EPC) and a high-level functional division of the Access Stratum (AS) and the Non-Access Stratum (NAS) are shown. Figure 2A Also shown are two specific interface points, namely Uu (UE / E-UTRAN radio interface) and S1 (E-UTRAN / EPC interface), each using a specific set of protocols, namely the radio protocol and the S1 protocol. Figure 2A Although not shown in the figure, each protocol set can also be divided into user plane and control plane protocol functions. The user plane and the control plane are also referred to as U-plane and C-plane, respectively. On the Uu interface, the U-plane carries user information (e.g., data packets), while the C-plane carries control information between the UE and the E-UTRAN.

[0010] Figure 2BA block diagram of an exemplary C-plane protocol stack between a UE, an eNB, and an MME is shown. The exemplary protocol stack includes a physical (PHY) layer, a media access control (MAC) layer, a radio link control (RLC) layer, a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer, and a radio resource control (RRC) layer between the UE and the eNB. The PHY layer involves how and which features are used to transmit data through a transport channel on an LTE radio interface. The MAC layer provides data transmission services on logical channels, maps logical channels to PHY transport channels, and reallocates PHY resources to support these services. The RLC layer provides error detection and / or correction, concatenation, segmentation, and reassembly and reordering of data transmitted to / from the upper layer. The PHY layer, the MAC layer, and the RLC layer perform the same functions for both the U-plane and the C-plane. The PDCP layer provides encryption / decryption and integrity protection for both the U-plane and the C-plane, and provides other functions (e.g., header compression) for the U-plane. The exemplary protocol stack also includes non-access stratum (NAS) signaling between the UE and the MME.

[0011] Figure 2C A block diagram of an exemplary LTE radio interface protocol architecture from the perspective of the PHY layer is shown. The interface between the various layers is provided by a Service Access Point (SAP), which is provided by Figure 2C . The PHY layer interfaces with the MAC and RRC protocol layers described above. PHY, MAC, and RRC are also referred to as layers 1-3 in the figure, respectively. MAC provides different logical channels (characterized by the type of information transmitted) to the RLC protocol layer (also described above), while PHY provides transport channels (characterized by how information is transmitted over the radio interface) to MAC. In providing this transport service, PHY performs various functions, including error detection and correction; rate matching and mapping of coded transport channels to physical channels; power weighting, modulation, and demodulation of physical channels; transmit diversity; and beamforming, multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antenna processing. The PHY layer also receives control information (e.g., commands) from the RRC and provides various information, such as radio measurements, to the RRC.

[0012] The downlink (i.e., network node to UE) physical channels provided by LTE PHY include physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), physical multicast channel (PMCH), physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), relay physical downlink control channel (R-PDCCH), physical broadcast channel (PBCH), physical control format indicator channel (PCFICH), and physical hybrid ARQ indicator channel (PHICH). In addition, the LTE PHY downlink includes various reference signals, synchronization signals, and discovery signals.

[0013] The uplink (i.e., UE to network node) physical channels provided by LTE PHY include the physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), the physical uplink control channel (PUCCH), and the physical random access channel (PRACH). In addition, the LTE PHY uplink includes various reference signals, including: a demodulation reference signal (DM-RS), which is sent to help the network node receive the associated PUCCH or PUSCH; and a sounding reference signal (SRS), which is not associated with any uplink channel.

[0014] The multiple access scheme for LTE PHY is based on Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) with a cyclic prefix (CP) in the downlink and Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA) with a cyclic prefix in the uplink. To support transmission in paired and unpaired spectrum, LTE PHY supports both Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) (including both full-duplex and half-duplex operation) and Time Division Duplex (TDD). The LTE FDD downlink (DL) radio frame has a fixed duration of 10 ms and includes 20 time slots (labeled 0 to 19), each with a fixed duration of 0.5 ms. A 1 ms subframe includes two consecutive time slots, where subframe i includes time slot 2. i and 2 i+1 Each exemplary FDD DL time slot includes N DL symb OFDM symbols, each OFDM symbol includes N sc OFDM subcarriers. For a subcarrier bandwidth of 15kHz, N DL symb Exemplary values ​​of may be 7 (with normal CP) or 6 (with extended length CP). sc The value of can be configured based on the available channel bandwidth. Because those skilled in the art are familiar with the principles of OFDM, further details are omitted in this specification.

[0015] Furthermore, the combination of a particular subcarrier in a particular symbol is called a resource element (RE). Each RE is used to transmit a specific number of bits, depending on the type of modulation and / or bit mapping constellation used for that RE. For example, some REs may use QPSK modulation to carry two bits, while other REs may use 16-QAM or 64-QAM to carry four or six bits, respectively. The radio resources of the LTE PHY are also defined in terms of physical resource blocks (PRBs). A PRB is a physical resource block that is used in a time slot (i.e., N DL symb symbols) spans N RB sc subcarriers, where N RB scTypically 12 (with 15kHz subcarrier bandwidth) or 24 (7.5kHz bandwidth). DL symb symbols) across the same N RB sc The PRBs of N subcarriers are called PRB pairs. Therefore, the resources available in a subframe of the LTE PHY downlink include N DL RB PRB pairs, each PRB pair includes 2N DL symb ·N RB sc For a normal CP and a 15 kHz subcarrier bandwidth, a PRB pair includes 168 REs.

[0016] The LTE FDD uplink (UL) radio frame is configured in a similar manner to the exemplary FDD DL radio frame described above. Using terminology consistent with the DL description above, each UL timeslot includes N UL symb OFDM symbols, each OFDM symbol includes N sc OFDM subcarriers.

[0017] As described above, the LTE PHY maps various DL and UL physical channels to PHY resources. For example, the PHICH carries HARQ feedback (e.g., ACK / NAK) for UL transmissions by the UE. Similarly, the PDCCH carries scheduling assignments, channel quality feedback (e.g., CSI) for UL channels, and other control information. Likewise, the PUCCH carries uplink control information, such as scheduling requests, CSI for downlink channels, HARQ feedback for DL ​​transmissions of network nodes, and other control information. Both the PDCCH and the PUCCH may be sent on an aggregation of one or several consecutive control channel elements (CCEs), and the CCEs are mapped to physical resources based on resource element groups (REGs), each of which includes multiple REs. For example, a CCE may include nine (9) REGs, each of which may include four (4) REs.

[0018] Starting from LTE Release 8, three signaling radio bearers (SRBs) (i.e., SRB0, SRB1, and SRB2) can be used to transmit RRC and non-access stratum (NAS) messages between the UE and the network node. A new SRB called SRB1bis was also introduced in Release 13 to support DoNAS (Data on NAS) in NB-IoT. SRB0 is for RRC messages using the CCCH logical channel and is used to handle RRC connection establishment, RRC connection recovery, and RRC connection reestablishment. Once the UE is connected to the network node (i.e., RRC connection establishment or RRC connection reestablishment / reestablishment has succeeded), SRB1 is used to process RRC messages (which may include piggybacked NAS messages) and NAS messages before establishing SRB2, both of which use the DCCH logical channel. On the other hand, SRB2 is used for RRC messages (including recorded measurement information) and NAS messages, both of which use the DCCH logical channel. SRB2 has a lower priority than SRB1 because the recorded measurement information and NAS messages may be long and may cause blocking of more urgent and smaller SRB1 messages. SRB2 is always configured by E-UTRAN after security activation.

[0019] As briefly mentioned above, the LTE RRC layer (such as Figure 2B and Figure 2C The RRC_CONNECTED state (shown in Figure 1) controls the communication between the UE and the eNB at the radio interface, as well as the mobility of the UE between cells in the E-UTRAN. A common mobility procedure for a UE in the RRC_CONNECTED state (e.g., with an active connection) is a handover (HO) between cells. More specifically, the UE is handed over from a source cell or serving cell provided by a source node to a target cell provided by a target node. Generally speaking, for LTE, the handover source node and target node are different eNBs, however, intra-node handover between different cells provided by a single eNB is also possible.

[0020] The concept of "incremental signaling" is introduced in the 3GPP standard to reduce the amount of RRC signaling between the network and the UE. For example, in a handover, the source node can provide the target node with the current RRC configuration of the UE. Given this information, when the target node is ready to use the RRC configuration to be used by the UE in the target cell after the handover, the target node only needs to signal the "increment" or "difference" between the current UE configuration and the new UE configuration to be used in the target cell. Such incremental signaling is usually implemented using some protocol features (such as "need codes", AddMod lists, and UE variables in which the received configuration is stored).

[0021] However, handover may have various issues related to robustness. For example, a HO command (e.g., RRCConnectionReconfiguration with mobilityControlInfo or RRCReconfiguration with reconfigurationWithSync) is typically sent when the UE's radio conditions are already poor. Therefore, the HO command may need to be segmented (e.g., to allow redundancy to prevent errors) and / or retransmitted (e.g., using HARQ) one or more times before reaching the UE. In this case, the HO command may not reach the UE in time (or at all) before the downgraded connection with the source node (e.g., the node hosting the UE's current serving cell) is dropped.

[0022] Some "conditional mobility" techniques have been proposed to address these and other difficulties with handover and other mobility procedures. However, these proposed techniques have various drawbacks, particularly related to the use of incremental signaling, making these techniques unsuitable for various use cases, scenarios and / or conditions. Summary of the invention

[0023] Therefore, exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure address these and other mobility-related issues in wireless communication networks by providing improvements to mobility operations, such as handovers (including conditional handovers) between a source node (or cell) and a target node (or cell).

[0024] Exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure include methods (e.g., processes) for conditional mobility in a radio access network (RAN). The exemplary methods and / or processes may be performed by a user equipment (UE, e.g., a wireless device, an MTC device, an NB-IoT device, a modem, etc., or a component thereof) communicating with a network node (e.g., a base station, an eNB, a gNB, etc., or a component thereof) serving a cell in the RAN (e.g., an E-UTRAN, a NG-RAN).

[0025] In some embodiments, these exemplary methods may include: receiving a first measurement configuration from a source RAN node serving a source cell of the UE; storing the received first measurement configuration; and performing and reporting a first measurement in the source cell of the UE based on the first measurement configuration.

[0026] These exemplary methods may also include receiving one or more mobility-related messages from the RAN, the mobility-related messages including: a first indication of a mobility operation; a second indication of a triggering condition for the mobility operation; a second measurement configuration associated with a source cell; and a third measurement configuration associated with one or more target cells. In some embodiments, the one or more mobility-related messages may include a conditional mobility command received from a source node, the conditional mobility command including the first indication, the second indication, the second measurement configuration, and the third measurement configuration. In addition, the second measurement configuration and the third measurement configuration may include a corresponding measurement configuration for each target cell that is a candidate for the indicated mobility operation.

[0027] In other embodiments, the one or more mobility-related messages may include: a conditional mobility command received from a source node, the conditional mobility command including the first indication, the second indication, and the second measurement configuration; and a reconfiguration message received from a target node, the reconfiguration message including the third measurement configuration.

[0028] These example methods may also include detecting, for a specific target cell among the target cells, satisfaction of the trigger condition based on the second measurement configuration, and performing the mobility operation toward the specific target cell.

[0029] In some embodiments, detecting that the trigger condition is satisfied may include: performing a second measurement in the source cell based on the second measurement configuration. In some embodiments, performing the mobility operation may include one or more of the following operations: stopping performing the second measurement based on the second measurement configuration; deleting or releasing at least a portion of the stored second measurement configuration; and storing the third measurement configuration.

[0030] In some embodiments, the third measurement configuration may be received as a complete measurement configuration.In such an embodiment, performing the mobility operation may include replacing the stored first measurement configuration with the third measurement configuration.

[0031] In other embodiments, the third measurement configuration may be received as a delta with respect to the first measurement configuration and / or the second measurement configuration. In such embodiments, performing the mobility operation may include determining a measurement configuration for the third measurement based on the third measurement configuration and one or more of the first measurement configuration and the second measurement configuration.

[0032] In some embodiments, for example, when the one or more mobility-related messages include a conditional mobility command and a reconfiguration message, performing the mobility operation may include: performing and reporting a third measurement in the specific target cell based on the second measurement configuration (for example, received in the conditional mobility command); and subsequently receiving the reconfiguration message including the third measurement configuration (for example, in the reconfiguration message).

[0033] These example methods may also include performing and reporting a third measurement in the specific target cell based on the third measurement configuration.

[0034] Other exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure include additional methods (e.g., processes) for conditional mobility of user equipment (UE) in a radio access network (RAN). These exemplary methods may be performed by a source RAN node (e.g., a base station, eNB, gNB, etc., or a component thereof) serving one or more user equipment (UE, such as a wireless device, MTC device, NB-IoT device, modem, etc., or a component thereof) in a cell of the RAN (e.g., E-UTRAN, NG-RAN).

[0035] In some embodiments, these exemplary methods may include: sending a first measurement configuration related to a source cell for the UE served by the source RAN node to the UE; receiving a first measurement performed by the UE in the source cell based on the first measurement configuration; and determining, based on the first measurement, that the mobility operation is required for the UE.

[0036] These exemplary methods may also include: sending a request to a target node to accept a mobility operation (e.g., as determined above) related to the UE. In some embodiments, the request may include the first measurement configuration for the UE. These exemplary methods may also include: receiving a confirmation of the mobility operation from the target RAN node, the confirmation including a third measurement configuration related to one or more target cells served by the target RAN node. These exemplary methods may also include: determining a second measurement configuration related to a trigger condition for the mobility operation. For example, the second measurement configuration may be used to detect satisfaction of the trigger condition in a source cell of the UE. In some embodiments, determining the second measurement configuration may also include: sending the second measurement configuration to the target RAN node.

[0037] In some embodiments, at least one of the following conditions applies: the second measurement configuration is determined as a delta with respect to the first measurement configuration; the third measurement configuration is received as a delta with respect to the first measurement configuration; and the third measurement configuration is received as a delta with respect to the first measurement configuration and the second measurement configuration.

[0038] These exemplary methods may also include: sending a mobility-related message to the UE, the mobility-related message including: a first indication of the mobility operation; a second indication of the triggering condition; and the second measurement configuration. In some embodiments, the conditional mobility command may also include the third measurement configuration, and the second measurement configuration and the third measurement configuration may include a respective measurement configuration for each target cell that is a candidate for the indicated mobility operation.

[0039] In some embodiments, these exemplary methods may further include: receiving a third indication from the target RAN node that the mobility operation has been completed; and in response to the third indication, deleting or releasing at least a portion of the stored first measurement configuration and the second measurement configuration.

[0040] Other exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure include additional methods (e.g., processes) for conditional mobility of a user equipment (UE) in a radio access network (RAN). These exemplary methods may be performed by a target RAN node (e.g., a base station, eNB, gNB, etc., or a component thereof) serving a cell of the RAN (e.g., E-UTRAN, NG-RAN).

[0041] These example methods may include receiving, from a source RAN node, a request to accept a mobility operation associated with the UE. The request may include a first measurement configuration for the UE. These example methods may also include determining a third measurement configuration for the UE associated with one or more target cells served by the target RAN node. The third measurement configuration may be based on (e.g., a delta with respect to) the first measurement configuration.

[0042] The exemplary methods may further include: sending a confirmation of the mobility operation to the source RAN node, the confirmation including the third measurement configuration. In various embodiments, the third measurement configuration may be sent as a complete measurement configuration, or as a delta with respect to the first measurement configuration and / or the second measurement configuration. The exemplary methods may further include: receiving, from the UE, measurements made in a specific one of the target cells based on the third measurement configuration.

[0043] In some embodiments, these exemplary methods may further include: receiving measurements performed by the UE for the specific target cell based on the second measurement configuration; and subsequently sending a reconfiguration message including the third measurement configuration to the UE.

[0044] In these embodiments, these exemplary methods may further include: receiving a second measurement configuration for the UE from the source RAN node. The second measurement configuration may be received as a delta with respect to the first measurement configuration. In such embodiments, the third measurement configuration included in the reconfiguration message may be a delta with respect to the first measurement configuration and the second measurement configuration.

[0045] In some embodiments, these example methods may further include sending an indication to the source RAN node that the mobility operation has been completed.

[0046] Other exemplary embodiments include user equipment (UE, such as a wireless device, an MTC device, an NB-IoT device, a modem, etc. or its components) and a network node (such as a base station, a gNB, an eNB, etc. or its components) configured to perform operations corresponding to any of the exemplary methods described herein. Other exemplary embodiments include a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a processing circuit of a UE or a network node, configure such a UE or a network node to perform operations corresponding to any of the exemplary methods described herein.

[0047] These and other objects, features and advantages of the exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure will become apparent after reading the following detailed description in view of the accompanying drawings which are briefly described below. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0048] Figure 1 is a high-level block diagram of an exemplary architecture of a Long Term Evolution (LTE) Evolved-UTRAN (E-UTRAN) and Evolved Packet Core (EPC) network standardized by 3GPP;

[0049] Figure 2A is a high-level block diagram of an exemplary E-UTRAN architecture in terms of its constituent components, protocols and interfaces;

[0050] Figure 2B is a block diagram of exemplary protocol layers of the control plane portion of the radio (Uu) interface between a user equipment (UE) and an E-UTRAN;

[0051] Figure 2C is a block diagram of an exemplary LTE radio interface protocol architecture from the perspective of the PHY layer;

[0052] Figure 3 A high-level view of a 5G network architecture including a split Central Unit (CU)-Distributed Unit (DU) split architecture of a gNB is shown;

[0053] Figure 4 NR RRC states and the procedures used by the UE to transition between NR RRC states are shown;

[0054] Figure 5 is divided into Figure 5A and 5B , shows the signaling flow between a UE, a source node (e.g., source gNB) and a target node (e.g., target gNB) during a handover procedure in an NR network;

[0055] Figure 6 includes Figures 6A-6C , shows three exemplary ASN.1 data structures used to transmit and store measurement configurations of a UE;

[0056] Figure 7 includes Fig. 7A and 7B , showing two exemplary robustness issues that may occur during UE mobility operations (e.g. handover);

[0057] Figure 8 shows a signaling flow between a UE, a source node, and a target node for CHO according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0058] Figure 9 includes Figures 9A-9C , showing three different techniques for configuring a UE with conditional mobility (e.g., CHO) triggering conditions;

[0059] Fig.10 A signaling flow is shown for an exemplary technique of utilizing incremental signaling to provide a UE with measurement configurations to be used during and after conditional mobility (e.g., CHO) operation;

[0060] Fig.11 A signaling flow for an improved technique for providing a UE with measurement configurations to be used during the monitoring and execution phases of conditional mobility (e.g., CHO) operations according to various exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure is shown;

[0061] Fig.12 A signaling flow for another improved technique for providing a UE with measurement configuration to be used during the monitoring and execution phases of conditional mobility (e.g., CHO) operations according to various exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure is shown;

[0062] Fig.13 An exemplary method and / or process for conditional mobility in a radio access network (RAN) performed by a user equipment (UE) according to various exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure is shown;

[0063] Fig.14 An exemplary method and / or process for conditional mobility of a UE performed by a source node in a radio access network (RAN) according to various exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure is shown;

[0064] Fig.15 An exemplary method and / or process for conditional mobility of a UE performed by a target node in a radio access network (RAN) according to various exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure is shown;

[0065] Fig.16 An exemplary embodiment of a wireless network according to various aspects described herein is shown;

[0066] Fig.17 An exemplary embodiment of a UE according to various aspects described herein is shown;

[0067] Fig.18 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary virtualization environment that may be used to implement various embodiments of the network node described herein;

[0068] Figure 19-20 are block diagrams of various exemplary communication systems and / or networks according to various aspects described herein;

[0069] Figure 21-24 It is possible, for example, Figure 17-18 Flowchart of exemplary methods and / or processes for transmitting and / or receiving user data implemented in the illustrated exemplary communication system and / or network. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0070] Some embodiments contemplated herein will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, other embodiments are included within the scope of the subject matter disclosed herein, and the disclosed subject matter should not be construed as being limited to only the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided merely as examples to convey the scope of the subject matter to those skilled in the art. In addition, the following terms are used throughout the description given below:

[0071] • Radio node: As used herein, a "radio node" may be a "radio access node" or a "wireless device".

[0072] Radio access node: As used herein, a "radio access node" (or "radio network node") may be any node in a radio access network of a cellular communication network for wirelessly sending and / or receiving signals. Some examples of radio access nodes include, but are not limited to, base stations (e.g., new radio (NR) base stations (gNBs) in 3GPP fifth generation (5G) NR networks or enhanced or evolved Node Bs (network nodes) in 3GPP LTE networks), high power or macro base stations, low power base stations (e.g., micro base stations, pico base stations, home eNBs, etc.), integrated access backhaul (IAB), and relay nodes.

[0073] Core network node: As used herein, a "core network node" is any type of node in a core network. Some examples of core network nodes include, for example, a mobility management entity (MME), a packet data network gateway (P-GW), a service capability disclosure function (SCEF), etc.

[0074] Wireless device: As used herein, a "wireless device" (abbreviated as "WD") is any type of device that accesses a cellular communication network (i.e., is served by a cellular communication network) by wirelessly communicating with network nodes and / or other wireless devices. Unless otherwise specified, the term "wireless device" is used interchangeably with "user equipment" (or "UE" for short) herein. Some examples of wireless devices include, but are not limited to, UEs and machine type communication (MTC) devices in 3GPP networks. Wireless communication may involve sending and / or receiving wireless signals using electromagnetic waves, radio waves, infrared waves, and / or other types of signals suitable for conveying information over the air.

[0075] Network node: As used herein, a "network node" is any node that is part of a radio access network or a core network of a cellular communication network. Functionally, a network node is a device that is capable, configured, arranged and / or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with a wireless device and / or with other network nodes or devices in a cellular communication network to enable and / or provide wireless access to a wireless device and / or perform other functions (e.g., management) in a cellular communication network.

[0076] Note that the description given herein focuses on 3GPP cellular communication systems, and therefore, 3GPP terminology or terms similar to 3GPP terminology are often used. However, the concepts disclosed herein are not limited to 3GPP systems. Other wireless systems (including but not limited to Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMax), Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB), and Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM)) may also benefit from the concepts, principles, and / or embodiments described herein.

[0077] In addition, the functions and / or operations described herein as being performed by a wireless device or network node may be distributed across multiple wireless devices and / or network nodes. In addition, although the term "cell" is used herein, it should be understood (particularly for 5G NR) that a beam may be used instead of a cell, and therefore, the concepts described herein are equally applicable to both cells and beams.

[0078] As described above, the current handover (HO) process in 3GPP networks has various problems related to robustness. For example, the HO command (e.g., RRCConnectionReconfiguration with mobilityControlInfo or RRCReconfiguration with reconfigurationWithSync) is usually sent when the radio conditions of the UE are already poor. Therefore, the HO command may need to be segmented (e.g., to allow redundancy to prevent errors) and / or retransmitted (e.g., using HARQ) one or more times before reaching the UE. In this case, the HO command may not reach the UE in time (or at all) before the downgraded connection with the target node is dropped.

[0079] One solution for improving mobility robustness is known as "conditional handover" ("CHO" for short) or "early handover command". In order to avoid dependence on the serving radio link conditions when the UE should perform a handover, RRC signaling for the handover may be provided to the UE earlier, when conditions on the radio link are better. Such CHO RRC signaling may be based on the incremental signaling discussed above, which provides similar advantages as conventional (i.e., unconditional) handover. Even so, the use of incremental signaling during CHO operation may also create various challenges, inconsistencies, and / or difficulties, particularly when used to configure UE measurements. These issues and specific improvements provided by exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure are discussed in more detail below.

[0080] Prior to Release 13, two RRC states were defined for the UE. More specifically, after the UE is powered on, it will be in the RRC_IDLE state until an RRC connection is established, at which point it will transition to the RRC_CONNECTED state (e.g., where data transfer can occur). After the connection is released, the UE returns to RRC_IDLE. In the RRC_IDLE state, the UE's radio is active when the discontinuous reception (DRX) schedule is configured by the upper layers. During the DRX active period, the RRC_IDLE UE receives system information (SI) broadcast by the serving cell, performs measurements of neighbor cells to support cell reselection, and monitors the paging channel on the PDCCH for paging from the EPC via the eNB. The RRC_IDLE UE is known in the EPC and has an assigned IP address, but is unknown to the serving eNB (e.g., has no stored context).

[0081] In LTE Release 13, a mechanism was introduced to cause the UE to be suspended by the network in a suspended state, which is similar to RRC_IDLE but has some important differences. First, the suspended state is not a third RRC "state" in addition to RRC_IDLE and RRC_CONNECTED; rather, it can be considered a "sub-state" of RRC_IDLE. Second, both the UE and the serving eNB store the UE's AS (e.g., S1-AP) context and RRC context after suspension. When the suspended UE needs to resume the connection (e.g., to send UL data), the suspended UE simply sends an RRCConnectionResumeRequest message to the eNB, rather than going through the regular service request process. The eNB resumes the S1AP context and responds with an RRCConnectionResume message. There is no detailed security context exchange between the MME and the eNB, and no AS security context is established. The retained AS and RRC contexts are simply resumed from the point where they were previously suspended. Reducing signaling may provide reduced UE latency (eg, for smartphones accessing the Internet) and reduced UE signaling, which may result in reduced UE energy consumption, particularly for machine type communication (MTC) devices that send little data (ie, signaling is a major energy consumer).

[0082] To support mobility between cells and / or beams (e.g., handover or reselection), the UE can perform periodic cell searches and measurements of signal power and quality (e.g., reference signal received power RSRP and reference signal received quality RSRQ) in both RRC_CONNECTED and RRC_IDLE modes. The UE is responsible for detecting new neighbor cells and for tracking and monitoring already detected cells. The detected cells and associated measurements are reported to the network. The LTE UE can perform such measurements for various downlink reference signals (RS), including, for example, cell-specific reference signals (CRS), MBSFN RS, UE-specific demodulation RS (DM-RS) associated with PDSCH, DM-RS associated with EPDCCH or M / NPDCCH, positioning RS (PRS), and channel state information RS (CSI-RS).

[0083] The measurement reports made by the UE to the network can be configured to be periodic or aperiodic based on specific events. For example, the network can configure the UE to perform measurements for various carrier frequencies and various radio access technologies (RATs) corresponding to neighbor cells and for various purposes (including, for example, mobility and / or positioning). The configuration of each of these measurements is called a "measurement object". In addition, the UE can be configured to perform measurements according to a "measurement gap pattern" (or simply "gap pattern"), which can include a measurement gap repetition period (MGRP, i.e., the frequency at which the repetition gap can be used for measurement) and a measurement gap length (MGL, i.e., the length of each repetition gap).

[0084] In LTE, the concept of trigger time (TTT) is used to ensure that the event triggering criteria are met for a sufficiently long time before the UE sends a measurement report. The triggering criteria and TTT are configured in the reportConfig message (or information element IE of the message) sent by the network to the UE. The value of TTT provided in reportConfig applies to all neighbor cells of the UE that can trigger measurement reports based on the specified triggering criteria.

[0085] While LTE was primarily designed for user-to-user communications, 5G (also referred to as "NR") cellular networks are envisioned to support both high single-user data rates (e.g., 1 Gb / s) and massive machine-to-machine communications (involving short burst transmissions from many different devices sharing a frequency bandwidth). The 5G radio standard (also referred to as "new radio" or "NR") currently targets a wide range of data services, including eMBB (enhanced mobile broadband) and URLLC (ultra-reliable low-latency communications). These services can have different requirements and goals. For example, URLLC is designed to provide data services with extremely stringent error and latency requirements, such as as low as 10-5 or lower error probability and end-to-end latency of 1ms or lower. For eMBB, the requirements for latency and error probability may be less stringent, while the required supported peak rate and / or spectrum efficiency may be higher.

[0086] Similar to LTE, NR PHY uses CP-OFDM (Cyclic Prefix Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) in DL, and both CP-OFDM and DFT-Spread OFDM (DFT-S-OFDM) in UL. In the time domain, NR DL and UL physical resources are organized into 1ms subframes of the same size. Each subframe includes one or more slots, and each slot includes 14 (for normal cyclic prefix) or 12 (for extended cyclic prefix) time domain symbols.

[0087] Figure 3 A high-level view of a 5G network architecture including a next generation RAN (NG-RAN) 399 and a 5G core network (5GC) 398 is shown. The NG-RAN 399 may include one or more gNodeBs (gNBs) connected to the 5GC via one or more NG interfaces, such as gNBs 300, 350 connected via interfaces 302, 352, respectively. More specifically, the gNBs 300, 350 may be connected to one or more access and mobility management functions (AMFs) in the 5GC 398 via respective NG-C interfaces. Similarly, the gNBs 300, 350 may be connected to one or more user plane functions (UPFs) in the 5GC 398 via respective NG-U interfaces. NG-C and NG-U are respectively Figure 3 The control plane portion and the user plane portion of the NG interfaces 302 and 352 are shown.

[0088] Although not shown, in some deployments, the 5GC 398 may be replaced by an evolved packet core (EPC), which is typically used with LTE E-UTRAN. In such deployments, the gNBs 300, 350 may be connected to one or more mobility management entities (MMEs) in the EPC via respective S1-C interfaces. Similarly, the gNBs 300, 350 may be connected to one or more serving gateways (SGWs) in the EPC via respective NG-U interfaces.

[0089] In addition, the gNBs may be connected to each other via one or more Xn interfaces (e.g., Xn interface 340 between gNBs 300 and 350). The radio technology used for NG-RAN is generally referred to as "new radio" (NR). For the NR interface to the UE, each gNB may support frequency division duplex (FDD), time division duplex (TDD), or a combination thereof.

[0090] NG-RAN 399 can be divided into a radio network layer (RNL) and a transport network layer (TNL). The NG-RAN architecture (i.e., NG-RAN logical nodes and the interfaces between them) is defined as part of the RNL. For each NG-RAN interface (NG, Xn, F1), the relevant TNL protocols and functions are specified. TNL provides services for user plane transport and signaling transport. In some exemplary configurations, each gNB is connected to all 5GC nodes within the "AMF area" defined in 3GPP TS23.501 (v15.4.0). If security protection of CP and UP data on the TNL of the NG-RAN interface is supported, NDS / IP (defined in 3GPPTS 33.401v15.6.0) shall be applied.

[0091] Figure 3 The NG-RAN logical nodes shown in (and described in 3GPP TS 38.401 v15.4.0 and 3GPP TR 38.801 v14.0.0) include a central unit (CU or gNB-CU) and one or more distributed units (DU or gNB-DU). For example, gNB 300 includes gNB-CU 310 and gNB-DUs 320 and 330. The CU (e.g., gNB-CU 310) is a logical node that hosts high-layer protocols and performs various gNB functions (e.g., controlling the operation of the DU). The DU (e.g., gNB-DU 320, 330) is a decentralized logical node that hosts low-layer protocols and may include various subsets of gNB functions according to functional partitioning options. Therefore, each of the CU and DU may include various circuits required to perform their respective functions, including processing circuits, transceiver circuits (e.g., for communication), and power supply circuits. In addition, the terms "central unit" and "centralized unit" may be used interchangeably herein, as may the terms "distributed unit" and "decentralized unit".

[0092] gNB-CU through the corresponding F1 logical interface (e.g. Figure 3 The F1 interface is connected to one or more gNB-DUs (see interfaces 322 and 332 shown). However, a gNB-DU may be connected to only a single gNB-CU. The gNB-CU and the connected gNB-DU are visible only as gNBs to other gNBs and the 5GC. In other words, the F1 interface is not visible outside the gNB-CU. In addition, the F1 interface between the gNB-CU and the gNB-DU is specified and / or based on the following general principles:

[0093] F1 is an open interface;

[0094] F1 supports the exchange of signaling information between corresponding endpoints and the transmission of data to corresponding endpoints;

[0095] From a logical point of view, F1 is a point-to-point interface between endpoints (even when there is no physical direct connection between the endpoints);

[0096] F1 supports separation of control plane (CP) and user plane (UP) so that the gNB-CU can be separated in CP and UP;

[0097] F1 separates the radio network layer (RNL) and the transport network layer (TNL);

[0098] F1 implements the exchange of information associated with the user equipment (UE) and information not associated with the UE;

[0099] F1 is defined as forward-looking with regard to new requirements, services and features;

[0100] The gNB terminates the X2, Xn, NG, and S1-U interfaces, and for the F1 interface between the DU and the CU, utilizes the F1 Application Part protocol (F1-AP) defined in 3GPP TS 38.473.

[0101] In addition, the CU may host protocols such as RRC and PDCP, while the DU may host protocols such as RLC, MAC, and PHY. However, there may be other variations of protocol distribution between the CU and the DU, such as hosting a portion of the RRC, PDCP, and RLC protocols (e.g., automatic repeat request (ARQ) functionality) in the CU while hosting the remainder of the RLC protocol as well as MAC and PHY in the DU. In some exemplary embodiments, the CU may host RRC and PDCP, where it is assumed that the PDCP handles both UP traffic and CP traffic. However, other exemplary embodiments may utilize other protocol partitioning by hosting specific protocols in the CU and other specific protocols in the DU. Exemplary embodiments may also locate centralized control plane protocols (e.g., PDCP-C and RRC) in different CUs relative to centralized UP protocols (e.g., PDCP-U).

[0102] In addition to the RRC_IDLE and RRC_CONNECTED states discussed above, the NR UE also supports the RRC_INACTIVE state with similar characteristics to the suspension condition in LTE Release 13. Even so, the characteristics of the RRC_INACTIVE state are slightly different because it is a separate RRC state and not part of RRC_IDLE as in LTE. Additionally, the CN / RAN connection (NG or N2 interface) remains active during RRC_INACTIVE, while the CN / RAN connection (NG or N2 interface) is suspended in LTE.

[0103] Figure 4The NR RRC states and the procedures used by the UE to transition between the NR RRC states are shown. Figure 4 The characteristics of the indicated states are summarized as follows:

[0104] RRC_IDLE:

[0105] -UE-specific discontinuous reception (DRX) operation can be configured by upper layers;

[0106] - UE controlled mobility based on network configuration (e.g. cell reselection);

[0107] -UE:

[0108] o Use 5G-S-TMSI to monitor the paging channel for CN paging;

[0109] o perform neighbor cell measurements and cell (re)selection; and

[0110] oGet system information.

[0111] RRC_INACTIVE:

[0112] -UE-specific DRX operation can be configured by upper layers or by RRC;

[0113] - UE controlled mobility based on network configuration;

[0114] -UE stores the AS context;

[0115] -UE:

[0116] o Use 5G-S-TMSI to monitor the paging channel for CN paging and

[0117] Use I-RNTI to monitor the paging channel for RAN paging;

[0118] oPerform neighbor cell measurements and cell (re)selection;

[0119] o Perform RAN-based notification area updates periodically and upon moving out of the RAN-based notification area; and

[0120] oGet system information.

[0121] RRC_CONNECTED:

[0122] -UE stores the AS context.

[0123] - Transmission of unicast data to / from the UE via a shared data channel (eg, PDSCH and / or PUSCH).

[0124] - At lower layers, the UE may be configured with UE-specific DRX;

[0125] -For UEs supporting CA, use one or more SCells aggregated with SpCell to increase bandwidth;

[0126] -For UEs supporting DC, use one SCG aggregated with the MCG to increase bandwidth;

[0127] - Network controlled mobility, i.e. handover within NR and to / from E-UTRAN.

[0128] -UE:

[0129] oMonitor the paging channel;

[0130] oMonitor the control channel associated with the shared data channel to determine if data is being

[0131] Scheduling is for UE;

[0132] oProvide channel quality and feedback information;

[0133] oPerform neighbor cell measurements and measurement reporting; and

[0134] oGet system information.

[0135] like Figure 4 As shown, the transition between the RRC_INACTIVE and RRC_CONNECTED states is implemented by two new procedures: namely, "Suspend" (also known as RRC Connection Release with SuspendConfig) and "Resume". The gNB can suspend the connection and move the UE from RRC_CONNECTED to RRC_INACTIVE by sending an RRCRelease message with a suspend indication (or configuration) to the UE. For example, this can occur after the UE has been inactive for a certain period of time (causing the gNB internal inactivity timer to expire). When moving to RRC_INACTIVE, both the UE and the gNB store the UE's access stratum (AS) context and the associated identifier (known as I-RNTI).

[0136] Similarly, the UE may attempt to resume the connection towards a specific gNB (e.g., the same or a different cell from which the connection was suspended) by sending a RRCResumeRequest message to that gNB, which includes the I-RNTI, a security token used to identify and authenticate the UE when the RRC connection is resumed (referred to as resumeMAC-I), and an indication of the reason for the resumption (e.g., mobile originated data). The gNB serving the cell in which the UE attempts to resume is generally referred to as the "target gNB", while the gNB serving the cell in which the UE was suspended is generally referred to as the "source gNB". To resume the connection, the target gNB identifies the source gNB (e.g., from a portion of the I-RNTI) and requests the gNB to send the UE's context. In the request, the target gNB provides, among other items, the target cell ID, UE ID, and security token received from the UE. The NR resumption procedure is similar in some respects to the corresponding resumption procedures in LTE (e.g., E-UTRAN and EPC) and eLTE (e.g., E-UTRAN and 5GC).

[0137] As described above, the network may configure the RRC_CONNECTED UE to perform measurements, and upon triggering a measurement report, the network may send a handover command to the UE. In LTE, the command is an RRConnectionReconfiguration message with a mobilityControlInfo field. In NR, the command is an RRCReconfiguration message with a reconfigurationWithSync field.

[0138] These reconfigurations are prepared by the handover target node based on a request from the source node, via the X2 or S1 interface in LTE (see for example Figure 1 ) or in the case of NR via the NG interface (see e.g. Figure 3 ) are exchanged. These reconfigurations typically take into account the existing RRC configuration between the UE and the source cell, which is provided in the inter-node request. For example, in LTE, the existing UE configuration is provided in the HandoverPreparationInformation of the request from the source node to the target node. In response, the target node provides reconfiguration parameters containing all the information required for the UE to access the target cell, such as random access configuration, a new C-RNTI allocated by the target cell, security parameters that enable the UE to calculate new security keys associated with the target cell, etc. The new security keys enable the UE to send a handover complete message on SRB1 when accessing the target cell, which is encrypted and integrity protected.

[0139] Figure 5 is divided into Figure 5A and5B , shows the signaling flow between the UE, the source node (e.g., source gNB), and the target node (e.g., target gNB) during a handover procedure in an NR network. Figure 5 also shows the role of 5GC functions, which include the Access Management Function (AMF) and the User Plane Function (UPF). Even so, the following discussion also involves various principles related to HO (or more generally, UE mobility when in RRC_CONNECTED mode) in both NR and LTE networks.

[0140] First, UE mobility under RRC_CONNECTED is network-based because the network has the latest and / or most accurate information about the current situation, such as load conditions, resources in different nodes, available frequencies, etc. The network can also consider the situation of many UEs in the network from the perspective of resource allocation.

[0141] As shown in Figure 5, the handover process has three phases: handover preparation, handover execution, and handover completion. Before handover preparation, the UE may be sending and / or receiving user data to the UPF in the 5GC via the source gNB. During the handover preparation phase, the network prepares the target cell before the UE accesses the cell. The AMF provides mobility control information to the source gNB (operation 0). In addition, the source node receives measurement reports from the UE (operation 1), makes handover decisions based on these reports (e.g., operation 2), and negotiates the handover of the UE with the target node (e.g., operations 3-5).

[0142] During the handover execution, the source node provides various information to the UE to trigger the handover to the target cell served by the target node (operation 6), and also provides the target node with the current state of the UE in the source node (operation 7). For example, the source node (e.g., in operation 6) provides the UE with the RRC configuration to be used in the target cell, including the SRB1 configuration (e.g., parameters from which keys for encryption / integrity protection are derived) to send a HO completion message (e.g., RRCConnectionReconfigurationComplete). The source node provides the target C-RNTI to the UE so that the target node can identify the UE from the random access msg3 at the MAC level of the HO completion message. This information is received from the target node during the handover preparation phase. Therefore, unless a failure occurs, the target node does not need to perform UE context retrieval.

[0143] In addition, to speed up HO, the source node provides the UE with the required information on how to access the target (e.g., RACH configuration), so the UE does not have to obtain the target node system information (SI, e.g., from broadcast) before switching. Both full reconfiguration and incremental reconfiguration are supported so that HO commands can be minimized. Contention-free random access (CFRA) resources can be provided to the UE; in this case, the target node can identify the UE from the RACH preamble (also known as msg1). More generally, the normal HO process can always be optimized using dedicated resources (e.g., CFRA resources).

[0144] Also during the handover execution phase, the UE detaches from the old cell (e.g., served by the source node) and synchronizes to the new cell served by the target node (e.g., operation 8). Concurrently with these operations, the source node transmits buffered user data for the UE to the target node, which the target node may then transmit to the UE after the UE completes the handover.

[0145] During the handover completion phase, the target node and the source node in the NG-RAN communicate with the 5GC (e.g., AMF) to update the path information associated with the UE (e.g., operations 9 and 11). In addition, nodes or functions within the 5GC (e.g., AMF and UPF) may communicate to update the UE path based on the handover (e.g., operation 10). Finally, the target node may notify the source node that it may release the context of the UE (e.g., operation 12).

[0146] As described above, "incremental signaling" is used to reduce the amount of RRC signaling between the network and the UE. Also as described above, incremental signaling is typically implemented using protocol features such as "need codes", AddMod lists, and UE variables in which received configurations are stored.

[0147] In NR, a measurement configuration may be provided to the UE in an RRCResume or RRCReconfiguration message. For example, such a measurement configuration may be provided as an increment to one or more measurement configurations (e.g., a complete measurement configuration) provided to the UE earlier. For example, Fig. 6A An ASN.1 data structure defining an exemplary RRCResume message including a complete measurement configuration information element (measConfig IE) for a UE is shown.

[0148] Fig. 6A The measConfig IE in the UE is marked as "Need M", specifies the measurements to be performed by the UE, and covers the configuration of intra-frequency, inter-frequency and inter-RAT mobility and measurement gaps. The "Need M" code means that this field needs to be stored by the UE. In addition, Fig. 6AThe measConfig IE in the references the MeasConfig data structure, which can be used by Figure 6B The exemplary ASN.1 data structure shown is defined. Note that Figure 6B Some fields in are also marked as "Need M". Table 1 below provides Figure 6B Further definition of the specific fields shown.

[0149] Table 1.

[0150]

[0151] Once the measConfig IE is provided to the UE in the RRCResume message, the UE stores the above contents based on their associated "Need M" code. In particular, the UE stores the information received in measConfig in the UE variable VarMeasConfig, which includes the accumulated configuration of measurements to be performed by the UE, including measurements related to intra-frequency, inter-frequency and inter-RAT mobility. Figure 6C An ASN.1 data structure defining an exemplary VarMeasConfig for use by a UE in this manner is shown.

[0152] Assume that the UE receives an RRCReconfiguration with reconfigurationWithSync, indicating that the UE will perform a handover to a target cell. Upon receiving this message, the UE applies the contents of the message to its configuration. If a measConfig IE is present, the UE updates its stored configuration with any new values ​​or subfields included in that IE. Due to incremental signaling, the network only includes new or changed values ​​or subfields. If no configuration change is required, the network does not include the measConfig IE and the UE continues to use its currently stored measConfig. For the specific case of a handover, if the target node is aware that the measurement configuration stored by the UE is the desired configuration for the UE to use in the target cell, the target node simply does not signal anything. Alternatively, if specific fields should be changed, the target node only includes the fields sent to the UE in the measConfig IE.

[0153] For example, assuming that the UE has stored the measConfig received in the RRCResume, and now the UE receives the RRCReconfiguration with the MeasConfig IE (including measConfig'). Figure 6BAs shown, the fields s-MeasureConfig, quantityConfig, measGapConfig and measGapSharingConfig in this IE are marked as "NeedM". This means that if any of these fields is missing in the received IE, the UE will continue to use the corresponding stored parameters from measConfig.

[0154] For example, if in RRCResume the UE received quantityConfig, measGapConfig, s-MeasureConfig and measGapSharingConfig, and in RRCReconfiguration the UE received only measConfig' with quantityConfig', the UE replaces quantityConfig with quantityConfig' and continues to use the other stored values ​​received in measConfig. Therefore, after this incremental signaling, the configurations stored by the UE will be quantityConfig', measGapConfig, s-MeasureConfig and measGapSharingConfig.

[0155] For MeasConfig fields with the "Need N" code, a list structure is used, but the principle is similar. "Need N" stands for "No action", indicating a field that is not stored and whose presence results in a one-time action by the UE. In the absence of the "Need N" field, the UE does not perform an action. Such a list structure is important for configuring the UE with measurement objects to be measured (e.g., carrier frequencies, cells, cell quality derivation parameters in NR, frequency-specific thresholds, etc.), report configurations (e.g., event-triggered measurement report configurations), and measurement identifiers. Such a list structure is also used to delete these items.

[0156] Although such fields are marked as "Need N", their reception triggers the UE to store the included information. For example, if the network wants to add a measurement object to the UE when sending the initial measConfig of the previous example, this will trigger the UE to perform the following one-time procedure (assuming that the object does not exist):

[0157] 1> If the received measConfig includes measObjectToAddModList:

[0158] 2>UE will:

[0159] 1> For each measObjectId included in the received measObjectToAddModList:

[0160] 2> If there is an entry with a matching measObjectId in measObjectList within VarMeasConfig, then for that entry: ....

[0162] 2> Otherwise:

[0163] 3> Add a new entry for the received measObject to the measObjectList within VarMeasConfig.

[0164] Because the UE stores this list information, incremental signaling is performed by sending a pointer or identifier to a specific configuration known to be stored at the UE. If any of these lists are provided in a subsequent message with measConfig, the UE retains what it has stored in VarMeasConfig and continues to perform measurements accordingly. If the network wants to explicitly add measurement objects, reporting configurations and / or measurement identifiers, the network simply includes the field and adds a new field. This will be added to the list that the UE has stored in VarMeasConfig. Similar operations are performed if the network wants to delete or modify an existing measurement object or reporting configuration (which is referenced by the identifier provided in the AddMod list).

[0165] One of the main goals of NR is to provide more capacity for operators to serve the growing business needs and various applications. Because of this, NR should be able to work at high frequencies (over 6GHz and up to 100GHz), where more spectrum will be available. Some new bands will have more challenging propagation characteristics than the current bands allocated to LTE, such as lower diffraction and higher outdoor / indoor penetration losses. Therefore, the signal will have weaker corner propagation capabilities and wall penetration capabilities. In addition, in high frequency bands, atmospheric / rain attenuation and higher body losses cause the coverage of NR signals to be even more uneven. Fortunately, working at higher frequencies makes it possible to use smaller antenna units, which realizes antenna arrays with many antenna units. Such antenna arrays promote beamforming, in which multiple antenna units are used to form narrow beams and thereby compensate for challenging propagation characteristics.

[0166] Although beamforming solutions provide link budget gains, the reliability of systems that rely entirely on beamforming and operate at higher frequencies can be challenging, as coverage can be more sensitive to both time / frequency and spatial variations. Therefore, the SINR of such narrow links can degrade much faster than LTE. Even for LTE, it has been observed that the serving cell may not be able to transmit the HO command in time. Reducing the trigger time (TTT) and the allowed measurement hysteresis can reduce the handover failure rate, but it can also increase the ping-pong probability (e.g., bouncing between cells). These effects may be even more pronounced when operating at higher frequency bands of NR.

[0167] Figure 7 includes Fig. 7A and 7B , illustrates various exemplary robustness issues that may occur during UE mobility operations (e.g., during handover). Fig. 7A In the scenario shown, the UE triggers an "A3 event" based on neighbor cell measurements, where the neighbor cell is better than the UE's primary cell (PCell). In response, the UE attempts to send a measurement report about the condition to the source (e.g., serving) node. However, due to the rapidly deteriorating uplink radio conditions, the source node does not receive the measurement report from the UE. The conditions in the UE's source cell continue to deteriorate, eventually prompting the UE to declare a radio link failure (RLF) and attempt to re-establish a connection with the source node (which may or may not be successful). Figure 7B In the example, the source node correctly receives the measurement report of the UE, but due to the deterioration of the downlink radio condition, the UE does not receive the HO command from the source node. Ultimately, the same result occurs in the two cases shown in FIG. 7 .

[0168] Therefore, there is a need to improve the robustness of mobility in NR systems, and a work item for mobility enhancement in LTE and NR has been started in 3GPP Release 16. The main purpose of the work item is to improve the robustness during switching and reduce the interruption time during switching. In LTE and NR, different solutions for improving the robustness of mobility have been discussed in the past. One solution is based on dual connectivity (DC) introduced in LTE Release 12. In DC, the UE is connected to two network nodes at the same time. This improves mobility robustness by serving control plane services (for example, used for measurement reports and switching commands) at lower frequencies by a robust macro layer, and providing capacity enhancement at higher frequencies. This feature is often referred to as "UP / CP separation". Alternatively, DC can be configured so that control plane signaling is exchanged via two connected nodes. This is called "RRC diversity" and can increase robustness due to diversity in the time domain and space domain.

[0169] As briefly mentioned above, another solution is called "Conditional Handover" (or "CHO" for short) or "Early Handover Command". In order to avoid dependence on the serving radio link conditions when the UE should perform a handover, RRC signaling for handover may be provided to the UE earlier when conditions on the radio link are better. To achieve this, the HO command may be associated with a condition (e.g., a radio condition similar to the condition associated with an A3 event).

[0170] For example, an exemplary execution condition may be that the quality of the target cell or beam becomes XdB stronger than the serving cell. The previous measurement report event may use a threshold Y, which is selected to be lower than the threshold under the handover execution condition. This allows the serving cell to prepare for handover when an early measurement report is received, and to provide an RRCConnectionReconfiguration with mobilityControlInfo (for LTE) or an RRCReconfiguration with reconfigurationWithSync or CellGroupConfig (for NR) when the radio link between the source cell and the UE is still relatively stable. The execution of the handover is completed at a subsequent optimal and / or preferred time point (and threshold) for handover execution.

[0171] Figure 8 An exemplary signal flow between a user equipment (UE) 810, a source node 820, and a target node 830 for conditional handover (HO) according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure is shown. For example, the source node and the target node may be a gNB and / or components of the gNB, such as a CU and / or a DU.

[0172] The process involves two different measurement thresholds: a low threshold and a high threshold. The two thresholds can be expressed as different levels of a specific metric (e.g., signal strength, signal quality, etc.). For example, the high threshold can be that the quality of the mobility RS (MRS) of the target cell or beam becomes XdB stronger than the MRS of the UE's serving cell (e.g., provided by the source node), where the low threshold is less than the high threshold (i.e., the amount by which the target exceeds the source is lower). As used in this context, MRS represents a reference signal used for any mobility-related purpose. For example, in NR, the MRS can be an SSB (SS / PBCH block) or a CSI-RS. As another example, for NR operating in unlicensed spectrum (referred to as NR-U), in addition to any of the above signals, the MRS can be a discovery reference signal (DRS).

[0173] A measurement configuration including a low threshold may be provided to the UE (not shown in the figure). When performing measurements that meet the low threshold, the UE may send a measurement report to the serving node (operation 1). When performing measurements and evaluating the low threshold, the UE continues to operate with its current RRC configuration. In operation 2, based on the report, the source node may decide to request an early handover of the UE to a target node (e.g., to a cell indicated in the measurement report). For example, the early handover request may include the HandoverPreparationInformation IE as described above.

[0174] The target node performs admission control for the UE and responds with a handover confirmation including the RRC configuration (operation 3), which is similar to the basic handover shown in Figure 5. In operation 4, the source node then sends a "conditional HO command" to the UE that may include a high threshold. After receiving the command, the UE continues to perform measurements, and whenever the high threshold condition is met, the UE can move to the target node and perform a handover (e.g., operations 5-7). Even so, if the high threshold condition is not met, the UE can stay in the serving cell (i.e., provided by the source node) for a longer amount of time.

[0175] This allows the serving cell to prepare for handover when early measurement reports are received, and to provide a conditional HO command (e.g., RRCConnectionReconfiguration with mobilityControlInfo (for LTE) or RRCReconfiguration with reconfigurationWithSync or CellGroupConfig (for NR)) when the radio link between the source cell and the UE is still relatively stable. The UE performs the handover at an optimal and / or preferred subsequent time point (and threshold).

[0176] although Figure 8 An exemplary conditional handover involving a single serving cell and a single target cell is shown, but other scenarios may involve many cells or beams that the UE reports as possible candidates based on its radio resource management (RRM) measurements. The network should have the freedom to issue a conditional handover command for any of these candidates. The conditional HO command for each of these candidates may differ in terms of HO execution conditions (e.g., reference signals (RS) to be measured, thresholds to be exceeded, etc.) and / or in terms of the RA preamble to be sent when the conditions are met.

[0177] Each RRCConnectionReconfiguration / RRCReconfiguration message is typically an "increment" with respect to the UE's current configuration. LTE UEs apply these messages in the order in which they receive the RRCConnectionReconfiguration messages. When the UE receives a "conditional HO command", the UE shall interpret the corresponding RRC signaling as an increment relative to the UE's current configuration (unless the RRC signaling is a complete configuration message). In principle, the UE can determine the target configuration immediately upon receiving the command, but the UE shall apply / execute the command only when the associated condition is met. During the period when the UE evaluates the condition, the UE shall continue to operate according to its current RRC configuration without applying the conditional HO command. When the UE determines that the condition is met, the UE disconnects from the serving cell, applies the conditional handover command, and connects to the target cell.

[0178] In other words, the UE is configured with at least one measurement-related condition associated with a mobility command or operation (e.g., an RRCReconfiguration or RRCConnectionReconfiguration message), wherein the UE will apply the mobility command and perform the specified action when the condition is triggered. However, there are several problems with this configuration process.

[0179] First, there may be inconsistencies between the measurements that the UE has been configured to perform (e.g. upon receipt of an earlier message containing measConfig) and the measurements associated with the conditions of the conditional mobility command. In other words, it is uncertain whether the measurements that need to be performed to monitor the associated conditions are correctly configured. For example, certain parameters may be missing.

[0180] Second, the conditional mobility command may need to include a large amount of UE configuration information, which may need to be sent under poor radio conditions. The combination of large messages and poor radio conditions increases the likelihood that the command will be delayed, resulting in RLF of the UE.

[0181] Figure 9 includes Figures 9A-9C , three different techniques for configuring a UE with conditional mobility (eg, CHO) triggering conditions are shown, which at least partially address some of these issues. Fig.9A Signaling for a technique in which a UE receives a conditional mobility configuration (e.g., RRCConditionalReconfiguration) from a network (e.g., a gNB) that includes at least one trigger condition for a mobility procedure (e.g., handover). The trigger condition may include at least one reference to a measurement configuration or an identifier of the measurement configuration (e.g., in Fig.9A After receiving a trigger condition with an included identifier, the UE determines whether measurements associated with the identifier need to be initiated or whether these measurements are already being performed by the UE.

[0182] Fig. 9B Shows Fig.9A A variation of the technique shown. In this variation, the identifier X* provided references a measurement configuration that has been stored at the UE, which measurement configuration may have been received in a message processed before the message including the conditional mobility configuration. Therefore, the conditional mobility configuration message does not need to include the detailed measurement configuration, only the identifier of the configuration received earlier. After receiving the identifier, the UE can match the identifier with the stored configuration and initiate measurements based on the matching configuration.

[0183] Fig. 9C Shows Fig.9A Another variation of the technique shown. In this variation, the provided identifier references a measurement configuration that also has a conditional mobility configuration. In other words, the message may contain a measurement configuration (labeled as measConfig) and a reference to the measurement configuration (labeled as identifier X*). In this variation, the measurement configuration may be explicitly provided for the purpose of conditional mobility (e.g., conditional recovery / reestablishment / handover). After receiving the message, the UE may store the provided configuration and also initiate measurements based on the provided configuration.

[0184] Although the techniques shown in Figure 9 address measurements for detecting pre-mobility trigger conditions, they do not address any measurements that must be made after the trigger condition is detected at the time of execution of the mobility procedure itself (e.g., at handover). For example, for each target cell candidate for handover after the trigger condition is met, the CHO configuration may include the following information:

[0185] Trigger condition configuration (including measurement configuration); and

[0186] - RRCReconfiguration with reconfigurationWithSync (or parameters / fields / IEs used for handover / reconfiguration equivalent to those defined for these messages).

[0187] Fig.10The signaling flow of an exemplary conditional mobility (e.g., CHO) technique involving three different UE measurement configurations (measConfig, measConfig', and measConfig*) is shown. Each RRCReconfiguration may contain its own measurement configuration (e.g., measConfig*), which may be indicated by incremental signaling relative to the current UE measurement configuration (e.g., the measConfig used by UE 1010 (hereinafter referred to as "UE") before the conditional mobility operation is configured). In other words, the measConfig* generated by each target node in the RRCReconfiguration is the measurement configuration that the target node expects the UE to use in the target cell after performing the mobility operation.

[0188] like Fig.10 As shown, initially the UE operates in the RRC_CONNECTED state using the stored measurement configuration measConfig. The source node 1020 (e.g., gNB, hereinafter referred to as the "source node") serving the current source cell of the UE is also aware of measConfig. Subsequently, the source node decides to configure a CHO for the UE towards a specific target cell served by a target node 1030 (e.g., gNB, hereinafter referred to as the "target node"). For example, the decision may be based on a measurement report from the UE. Similar to Figure 8 In the arrangement shown, the source node and the target node exchange messages, wherein the target node provides measConfig* for use by the UE in the target cell after CHO is performed.

[0189] On the other hand, as described above, the source node may need to reconfigure the current UE measurement configuration measConfig for detecting trigger conditions prior to mobility operations. This may also be accomplished by incremental signaling measConfig' which may be different from measConfig*. For example, measConfig' may include new events, new thresholds, new carriers, etc. that are different from both measConfig and measConfig*.

[0190] After being configured in this way, the UE starts to monitor the CHO trigger condition using measConfig'. If the CHO condition is met, the UE performs CHO using the measConfig* prepared by the target cell (in which the UE is performing the procedure) (at this point, it is basically equivalent to a normal handover). In the case of incremental signaling, because the UE recently used measConfig' to detect the CHO trigger condition, the UE will apply the measConfig* with incremental signaling relative to measConfig'. However, the target node previously determined measConfig* based on the original measConfig of the UE before receiving the CHO command. In fact, the target node does not know measConfig' when preparing measConfig*.

[0191] This creates a state mismatch where the UE and the network take different configurations to determine which types of measurements the UE will perform in the target cell. This can lead to various issues such as the UE performing unnecessary measurements (which consumes the UE battery), not performing specific measurements determined by the specific target in which the CHO is performed, reporting measurements using some measurement IDs unknown to the target node, etc.

[0192] Exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure address these and other problems, challenges, and / or difficulties by providing certain enhancements and / or improvements to mobility robustness in wireless networks. In general, embodiments include techniques and / or mechanisms for configuring various measurement configurations for a UE in a manner that avoids confusion as to which stored measurement configuration the UE should use after performing a conditional mobility operation (e.g., CHO). Using these embodiments, both the UE and the target node for mobility operations have a consistent understanding of which measurements the UE will perform and / or report after performing a mobility operation toward a target node (e.g., toward a target cell served by the target node).

[0193] According to various embodiments, the UE may correctly manage measurement configurations related to CHO triggering and CHO execution. In various embodiments, the UE may distinguish between the following three types of measurement configurations:

[0194] A first measurement configuration, which is used in the source cell, for example, before a CHO command;

[0195] a second measurement configuration, which is also used in the source cell but is related to the monitoring of CHO triggering conditions; and

[0196] • A third measurement configuration, which is prepared for each CHO target candidate and is to be applied to the selected candidate only when CHO is performed.

[0197] When CHO is performed, the UE deletes the second measurement configuration and applies the third measurement configuration. In the case of a complete third configuration (e.g., without incremental signaling), the UE may also delete the first configuration. In the case of a third configuration with incremental signaling, the UE applies the third configuration to the second configuration. In some embodiments, the UE always has a single measurement configuration, and the network ensures that the UE is configured with the correct measurement at all times.

[0198] In the following discussion of exemplary embodiments, the terms "handover" and "reconfiguration with synchronization" are used synonymously. Therefore, conditional handover may also be referred to as conditional reconfiguration with synchronization. In NR terminology, the handover command is typically an RRCReconfiguration message with a reconfigurationWithSync field containing the configuration necessary to perform the handover. In LTE terminology, the handover command is typically an RRCConnectionReconfiguration message with a mobilityControlInfo field containing the configuration necessary to perform the handover.

[0199] NR terminology is mainly used in this document to describe UE and network actions, such as receiving a configuration of CHO in NR for an NR cell, where CHO is performed in NR. However, the exemplary embodiments are also applicable to non-NR scenarios, such as:

[0200] The UE is configured with conditional HO in NR (for candidate NR and LTE cells),

[0201] Then a condition is triggered for the NR cell and the UE performs HO in NR;

[0202] The UE is configured with conditional HO in LTE (for candidate NR and LTE cells),

[0203] Then a condition is triggered for the LTE cell and the UE performs a HO in LTE;

[0204] The UE is configured with conditional HO in NR (for candidate NR and LTE cells),

[0205] Then a condition is triggered for the LTE cell and the UE performs a HO in LTE;

[0206] The UE is configured with conditional HO in LTE (for candidate NR and LTE cells),

[0207] Then a condition is triggered for the NR cell and the UE performs HO in NR;

[0208] • More generally, the UE is configured with a conditional HO in RAT-1 for a cell in either RAT-1 or RAT-2, then a condition is triggered and the UE performs a HO in RAT-2.

[0209] In general, exemplary embodiments are described in terms of conditional switching, but this is intended to be exemplary rather than restrictive. The embodiments also apply to switching triggered by receiving an RRCReconfiguration message (or an RRCConnectionReconfiguration with mobilityControlInfo) with reconfigurationWithSync without any associated conditions. In other words, when the UE is monitoring the CHO condition and the UE has received a second measurement configuration, the UE may receive an RRCReconfiguration with reconfigurationWithSync, indicating that the UE should stop monitoring the CHO condition and perform a switch to the indicated target cell. Then, when performing a switch to the indicated target cell, the UE may have stored the second measurement configuration. Therefore, the actions described in the present invention (e.g., deleting / releasing the second measurement configuration) still apply.

[0210] The exemplary embodiments also apply to configurations stored during recovery (e.g., due to radio link failure or handover failure). In this case, the present invention also covers the case where the UE deletes / releases the second measurement configuration. The exemplary embodiments also apply to the case of suspension or release, where the UE goes to RRC_INACTIVE or RRC_IDLE, respectively. In this case, the second measurement configuration associated with CHO is also deleted / released.

[0211] In general, the term "conditional handover" (or CHO) is generally used in the context of the described embodiments to refer to conditional mobility, which includes conditional restoration, conditional reconfiguration with synchronization, conditional reconfiguration, beam switching / restoration, and conditional handover. Therefore, CHO should be interpreted as any process that is configured by the network and includes a condition (e.g., associated with a measurement event) and a mobility-related operation or process that is performed when the condition is triggered.

[0212] For example, the above Figure 4 The discussed recovery process can be adapted into a conditional mobility solution called “conditional recovery”, which has the same Figure 8The conditional HO described herein may be similar to the conditional HO shown in the drawings. More specifically, a low threshold "Y" may be provided to the UE to trigger a measurement report when in the RRC_INACTIVE state, and in response to the reported measurements, the serving node may provide the UE with a "conditional recovery" command including a high threshold "X" to trigger recovery toward a target cell provided by the target node. Unlike conditional HO, conditional recovery relies on context retrieval of the target node. Even so, the embodiments of the measurement configuration techniques for conditional HO discussed herein are equally applicable to conditional recovery operations and may provide similar advantages for conditional recovery operations.

[0213] In general, the following discussion uses the term "conditional resume" to refer to conditions associated with triggering any of the following:

[0214] A recovery-like procedure (e.g., where the UE sends a message similar to RRCResumeRequest containing the UE AS context identifier (e.g., I-RNTI or source C-RNTI + source physical cell identifier) ​​allocated by the source node and a security token (e.g., short MAC-I / recovery MAC-I)); or

[0215] · Re-establishment procedure (e.g., radio link re-establishment procedure, where the UE sends a message like RRCReestablishmentRequest, which contains the UE AS context identifier allocated by the source (such as I-RNTI or source C-RNTI + source physical cell identifier) ​​and a security token (such as short MAC-I / recovery MAC-I)).

[0216] The exemplary embodiments are also applicable to conditional mobility configurations associated with a single cell or multiple cells. In the case of a single cell, a single measurement configuration reference may be provided and linked / associated with a mobility procedure so that the UE monitors a specific condition, and when the condition is met, the UE performs a specific procedure toward a specific node (e.g., a specific target cell). In the case of multiple cells, a single measurement configuration reference may be provided and linked to monitoring of multiple cells within the same measurement object / frequency, etc. Alternatively, multiple measurement configuration references may be provided that reference or link to different cells.

[0217] As an example, for a cell to be monitored for conditional handover, the UE may be configured with an RRCReconfiguration with reconfigurationWithSync (for NR) or an RRCConnectionReconfiguration with mobilityControlInfo (for LTE), e.g. associated with the cell to be accessed when the condition is triggered.

[0218] As another example, for cells to be monitored for conditional recovery, the UE may be configured with at least one I-RNTI (for NR) or recovery ID (for LTE) (or another UE identifier) ​​to include in an RRCResumeRequest (for NR) or RRCConnectionResumeRequest (for LTE) (or similar messages). Alternatively, this may be the source C-RNTI+PCI, as in a reestablishment request. For NR, the source node may provide a short or long I-RNTI, depending on how each potential target accepts a long or short I-RNTI based on coverage. The source may provide both (short and long) I-RNTIs and conditions per cell, so that depending on which cell triggered the condition, the UE includes a message similar to the RRCResumeRequest, a short or long I-RNTI.

[0219] The UE may also be configured with an RRCReconfiguration with reconfigurationWithSync (for NR) or an RRCConnectionReconfiguration with mobilityControlInfo (for LTE), which contains some information of the target cell but not the complete configuration, and a UE identifier (e.g., I-RNTI or recovery ID). The target cell information may include information that is typically sent in system information, such as RACH information for faster access in the target cell. This information may also be included in parts of the reconfiguration message other than reconfigurationWithSync or mobilityControlInfo. An exemplary embodiment may also include monitoring conditional mobility trigger conditions when receiving the configuration, and when a condition for a specific cell X is triggered, selecting between conditional switching or conditional recovery toward cell X based on a second condition.

[0220] The following discussion of exemplary embodiments relates to actions when performing CHO or (unconditional) HO. For example, the 3GPP specification may define the same set of operations for both CHO and HO. A distinguishing feature may be that CHO is a HO triggered by satisfying a condition, while unconditional HO is triggered by receiving an RRCReconfiguration with reconfigurationWithSync. Thus, the embodiments are also applicable to cases where a new procedure called CHO is created, or where a conventional unconditional HO procedure is triggered by satisfying a condition.

[0221] Fig.11The signaling flow for an improved technique for providing a UE with measurement configurations to be used during the monitoring and execution phases of conditional mobility (eg, CHO) operations according to various exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure is shown. Fig.11 The exemplary techniques are illustrated in the examples by specific operations in a specific order, but the illustrated operations may be performed in an order different from that illustrated, and may be combined and / or divided into operations having functions different from those illustrated. Fig.11 The illustrated exemplary techniques may supplement other exemplary techniques, methods, and / or processes disclosed herein such that they may be used synergistically to provide benefits, advantages, and / or solutions to various problems, including those described herein.

[0222] Fig.11 In many ways it is similar to Fig.10 The signaling flows shown in and described above are shown in the figure. Therefore, the same figure numbers are used and only the main differences will be described below. Initially, the UE is configured with measConfig (e.g., via RRCResume from the source node), which the UE can store (e.g., in VarMeasConfig) and use to perform various measurements. The UE can report measurements made based on measConfig to the source node.

[0223] Subsequently, the source node determines that a conditional mobility operation (e.g., CHO) is required for the UE. The source node sends a request to each of the one or more target node candidates to accept the conditional mobility operation associated with the UE. The request may include the current measConfig of the UE. For the sake of brevity and clarity, Fig.11 A single target node candidate is shown in FIG. The target node responds with a confirmation of the requested operation for the UE. The response may include the measConfig* that the target node determines is required during the performance of the mobility operation (i.e., after the UE detects a condition that triggers the mobility operation). The configuration measConfig* may be a complete configuration or an incremental configuration with respect to measConfig. For example, the incremental measConfig* may be prepared based on the various need codes and AddMod list rules and / or procedures discussed above.

[0224] The source node then determines the required measConfig' so that the UE can detect and / or monitor the conditions that trigger the mobility operation. For example, the incremental measConfig' may be prepared based on the various required codes and AddMod list rules and / or procedures discussed above. The source node may also store measConfig'. Fig.11In the illustrated embodiment, the source node determines measConfig' after receiving measConfig* from the target node. In other embodiments, the source node may determine measConfig' (e.g., as a delta relative to measConfig) before sending a request to the target node. In this case, the request to the target node may also include measConfig', and the target node may determine measConfig* as a delta relative to measConfig' and measConfig.

[0225] Subsequently, the source node sends a conditional mobility command to the UE, which includes a first indication of a mobility operation to be performed, a second indication of a trigger condition, a measConfig' related to detecting the trigger condition, and a measConfig* related to the target node performing the mobility operation. Upon receiving the command, the UE stores measConfig' separately from the previously received measConfig. In other words, the UE maintains the measConfig, rather than simply updating the measConfig with the increment in measConfig' as is usually performed. For example, measConfig' may be stored in different VarMeasConfig's or VarMeasConfigCHO. Alternatively, measConfig' may be stored in the same VarMeasConfig used, but in different fields that may be distinguished as being associated with conditional mobility (e.g., CHO). The UE also uses measConfig' to start performing measurements to detect the indicated trigger condition.

[0226] There may be a situation where measConfig' and measConfig overlap. For example, both measConfig' and measConfigmeas may indicate that the UE should perform measurements for a given carrier (e.g., f0). In some embodiments, measConfig' may point to measConfig, i.e., measConfig' does not need to contain a completely separate configuration. In addition, because measConfig has been stored, there is no need to store measConfig twice unless there are any differences in the configuration (e.g., the same carrier but different cell quality derivation parameters, etc.). In some embodiments, measConfig' is marked with an indication of whether it will be released when CHO is executed. This can be indicated for the entire configuration or for parts of the configuration. For example, each field in the configuration may have a flag indicating whether the configuration will be released when CHO is executed.

[0227] The UE also stores the received measConfig*, but does not utilize measConfig* during triggered detection, but utilizes measConfig'. Note that measConfig* may include measurement configurations for one or more candidate target cells served by one or more target nodes (e.g., neighbor cells served by one or more other network nodes). The measurement configurations for the respective target cells may differ in various ways. Because the UE (before triggered detection) does not know the target cell in which it will perform the conditional mobility operation, the UE must store each of these configurations.

[0228] In some embodiments, measConfig* may be identified by the fact that it is provided in a different field / parameter / IE / etc. or by the fact that it is transmitted in a message different from the message in which measConfig is provided. For example, measConfig* may be provided in a message similar to RRCReconfiguration prepared by a neighbor cell that is a target candidate.

[0229] The UE also stores the measConfig* separately from the previously received measConfig. In other words, the UE maintains the measConfig rather than simply updating the measConfig with the delta in measConfig* as is normally performed. For example, the measConfig* may be stored in a different VarMeasConfig* or VarMeasConfigCHO. Alternatively, the measConfig* may be stored in the same VarMeasConfig used (but with different fields) so that the measConfig* may be distinguished as being associated with conditional mobility (e.g. CHO).

[0230] Once the UE detects the triggering condition, the UE performs the mobility operation indicated by the conditional mobility command. When performing the mobility operation, the UE stops using measConfig' to perform measurements in the source cell, and updates the stored VarMeasConfig with measConfig* (as an increment relative to measConfig / measConfig' or as a complete configuration). In some embodiments, the UE deletes and / or releases the stored measConfig'. In other embodiments, where measConfig* is calculated by the target node as an increment relative to measConfig' and measConfig, the UE retains measConfig' because measConfig' constitutes part of the new measurement configuration. The UE also accesses the target cell (including, for example, an RRCReconfiguration-Complete message), and begins to perform and report measurements in the target cell based on measConfig*. Because the target node (i.e., serving the target cell) provides measConfig*, the target node is fully aware of the measurements reported by the UE during the mobility operation so that mismatches are avoided.

[0231] In some embodiments, the target node may send a message to the source node indicating that a conditional mobility operation has been performed (eg, UE context release). In response to the indication, the source node may delete and / or release any stored measurement configurations associated with the UE in the source cell, such as measConfig and measConfig'.

[0232] Fig.12 FIG. 2 shows a signaling flow for another improved technique for providing a UE with measurement configuration to be used during the monitoring and execution phases of conditional mobility (eg, CHO) operations according to various exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure. Fig.12 The exemplary techniques are illustrated in the drawings by specific operations in a specific order, but the illustrated operations may be performed in an order different from that illustrated and may be combined and / or divided into operations having functions different from those illustrated. Fig.12 The illustrated exemplary techniques may supplement other exemplary techniques, methods, and / or processes disclosed herein such that they may be used synergistically to provide benefits, advantages, and / or solutions to various problems, including those described herein.

[0233] Fig.12 In many ways it is similar to Figure 10-11 The signaling flows shown in and described above are similar to those shown in FIG. 1 and described above. Therefore, the same reference numerals are used and only the main differences will be described below. Fig.11A significant difference is that the UE only stores the current measurement configuration and the network ensures that there is no mismatch between the measurement configuration stored by the UE and the measurement configuration stored by the network for the UE.

[0234] After receiving the target node response including measConfig*, the source node then determines the required measConfig' so that the UE can detect and / or monitor the condition that triggers the mobility operation. The source node sends a conditional mobility command to the UE, the conditional mobility command including a first indication of the mobility operation to be performed, a second indication of the triggering condition, and measConfig' related to detecting the triggering condition. However, the source node does not send the measConfig* (determined by the target node) related to the target node performing the mobility operation to the UE.

[0235] In some embodiments, the conditional mobility command may include an empty measConfig to be used when performing measurements in the target cell after detecting a trigger condition. In this case, the UE may infer from the empty configuration that measConfig' should be used to perform measurements in the target cell after detecting a trigger condition. In this case, the source node may also notify all candidate target nodes of the measConfig' that the source node has configured for such UE measurements.

[0236] Upon receiving the command, the UE stores measConfig' separately from the previously received measConfig. In other words, the UE maintains the measConfig rather than simply updating the measConfig with the increment in measConfig' as is normally performed. For example, measConfig' may be stored in a different VarMeasConfig' or VarMeasConfigCHO. Alternatively, measConfig' may be stored in the same VarMeasConfig used (but with different fields) so that measConfig' can be distinguished as being associated with conditional mobility (e.g. CHO). The UE also uses measConfig' to start performing measurements to detect the indicated trigger condition.

[0237] Once the UE detects the triggering condition, the UE performs the mobility operation indicated by the conditional mobility command. When performing the mobility operation, the UE stops using measConfig' to perform measurements in the source cell, accesses the target cell (including, for example, an RRCReconfiguration-Complete message), and starts to perform and report measurements in the target cell based on measConfig'. Because the target node (i.e., serving the target cell) receives measConfig', the target node is fully aware of the measurements reported by the UE during the mobility operation so that mismatches are avoided. However, the target node can also determine that the UE measurements in the target cell need to be reconfigured. In this case, the target node can send a reconfiguration message including measConfig* to the UE. Alternatively, based on determining that a configuration different from measConfig* (e.g., measConfig**) is desirable and / or advantageous in some respects, the target node can send such a configuration.

[0238] exist Fig.12 In the embodiment shown, the configurations measConfig, measConfig', measConfig* and measConfig* can be configured in the same manner as described above for Fig.11 The same various approaches described are delivered as incremental configurations or complete configurations.

[0239] You can refer to Figure 13-15 To further illustrate the above embodiment, Figure 13-15 Described are exemplary methods (eg, processes) performed by a UE, a source RAN node, and a target RAN node, respectively. In other words, the following references Figure 13-15 The various characteristics of the operations described correspond to the various embodiments described above.

[0240] In particular, Fig.13 An exemplary method (e.g., process) for conditional mobility in a RAN according to various exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure is shown. The exemplary method may be performed by a user equipment (e.g., UE, wireless device, MTC device, NB-IoT device, modem, etc. or a component thereof) communicating with a network node (e.g., base station, eNB, gNB, etc. or a component thereof) serving a cell in a RAN (e.g., E-UTRAN, NG-RAN). For example, Fig.13 The illustrated exemplary methods may be implemented in a UE or device configured according to the other figures described herein.

[0241] Despite Fig.13The exemplary method is shown in the specific blocks in a specific order, but the operations corresponding to the blocks may be performed in an order different from the order shown, and may be combined and / or divided into blocks with functions different from those shown. In addition, Fig.13 The exemplary methods shown can supplement the present invention (e.g. Figure 14-15 ) other exemplary methods disclosed in the present invention so that they can be used in conjunction to provide various benefits, advantages and / or solutions to problems, including those described herein. Optional boxes and / or operations are indicated with dashed lines.

[0242] In some embodiments, the exemplary method may include the operations of blocks 1310-1330. In block 1310, the UE may receive a first measurement configuration (e.g., measConfig) from a source RAN node serving a source cell of the UE. In block 1320, the UE may store the received first measurement configuration (e.g., in varMeasConfig). In block 1330, the UE may perform and report a first measurement in the source cell of the UE based on the first measurement configuration. These operations may be performed, for example, before the operations of block 1340 discussed below.

[0243] The exemplary method may also include the operation of block 1340, wherein the UE may receive one or more mobility-related messages from one or more RAN nodes, the mobility-related messages including: a first indication of a mobility operation (e.g., any of the mobility operations discussed above); a second indication of a triggering condition for the mobility operation; a second measurement configuration associated with a source cell; and a third measurement configuration associated with one or more target cells. For example, the second measurement configuration (e.g., measConfig') may be used to detect satisfaction of the triggering condition in the source cell, and the third measurement configuration (e.g., measConfig*) may be used in one of the target cells after performing the mobility operation.

[0244] In some embodiments, the operation of box 1340 may include the operation of sub-box 1341, wherein the UE may store at least a portion of the second measurement configuration and the third measurement configuration separately from the first measurement configuration (e.g., in varMeasConfig, varMeasConfig', varMeasConfig* and / or varMeasConfigCHO).

[0245] In some embodiments, the one or more mobility-related messages may include a conditional mobility command received from a source RAN node. The conditional mobility command may include a first indication, a second indication, a second measurement configuration, and a third measurement configuration. In addition, the second measurement configuration and the third measurement configuration include a corresponding measurement configuration for each target cell that is a candidate for the indicated mobility operation. In other words, each of the second measurement configuration and the third measurement configuration may include multiple measurement configurations, i.e., one measurement configuration for each candidate target cell.

[0246] In other embodiments, the one or more mobility-related messages may include two messages: a conditional mobility command received from a source RAN node, comprising a first indication and a second indication and a second measurement configuration; and a reconfiguration message received from a target RAN node serving a target cell, comprising a third measurement configuration.

[0247] The example method may also include the operations of blocks 1350-1360, wherein the UE may detect satisfaction of a trigger condition for a specific target cell among the target cells based on the second measurement configuration, and perform a mobility operation toward the specific target cell.

[0248] In some embodiments, detecting the satisfaction of the trigger condition in block 1350 may include the operation of sub-block 1351, wherein the UE may perform a second measurement in the source cell based on the second measurement configuration. In some embodiments, performing the mobility operation in block 1360 may include the operations of one or more of sub-blocks 1361-1363. In sub-block 1361, the UE may stop performing the second measurement based on the second measurement configuration. In sub-block 1362, the UE may delete or release at least a portion of the stored second measurement configuration. In sub-block 1363, the UE may store the third measurement configuration.

[0249] In some embodiments, the third measurement configuration may be received as a complete measurement configuration.In such embodiments, performing mobility operations in block 1360 may include operations of subblock 1364, where the UE may replace the stored first measurement configuration with the third measurement configuration.

[0250] In other embodiments, the third measurement configuration may be received as a delta with respect to one or more of the first measurement configuration and the second measurement configuration. In such embodiments, performing mobility operations in block 1360 may include operations of subblock 1365, wherein the UE may determine a measurement configuration for a third measurement based on the third measurement configuration and one or more of the first measurement configuration and the second measurement configuration.

[0251] In some embodiments, such as when the one or more mobility-related messages include a conditional mobility command and a reconfiguration message (discussed above), performing mobility operations in block 1360 may include operations of sub-blocks 1366-1367. In sub-block 1366, the UE may perform and report a third measurement in a specific target cell based on a second measurement configuration (e.g., received in the conditional mobility command). In sub-block 1367, the UE may subsequently receive a reconfiguration message including the third measurement configuration.

[0252] The example method may also include the operations of block 1370, where the UE may then perform and report a third measurement in the specific target cell based on the third measurement configuration.

[0253] in addition, Fig.14 Another exemplary method (e.g., process) for conditional mobility of user equipment (UE) in a radio access network (RAN) according to various exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure is shown. The exemplary method may be performed by a source RAN node (e.g., base station, eNB, gNB, etc. or a component thereof) serving one or more user equipment (UE, such as a wireless device, MTC device, NB-IoT device, modem, etc. or a component thereof) in a cell of a RAN (e.g., E-UTRAN, NG-RAN). For example, Fig.14 The illustrated exemplary methods may be implemented by network nodes configured according to the other diagrams described herein.

[0254] Despite Fig.14 The exemplary method is shown in the specific blocks in a specific order, but the operations corresponding to these blocks may be performed in an order different from the order shown, and may be combined and / or divided into blocks with functions different from those shown. In addition, Fig.14 The exemplary methods shown can supplement the present invention (e.g. Fig.13 and 15 ) other exemplary methods disclosed in the present invention so that they can be used in conjunction to provide various benefits, advantages and / or solutions to problems, including those described herein. Optional boxes and / or operations are indicated with dashed lines.

[0255] In some embodiments, the exemplary method may include operations of blocks 1410-1430. In block 1410, the source RAN node may send a first measurement configuration (e.g., measConfig) to the UE related to a source cell for the UE served by the source RAN node. In some embodiments, the operations of block 1410 may include operations of subblock 1412, wherein the source RAN node may store the first measurement configuration (e.g., in varMeasConfig). In block 1420, the source RAN node may receive a first measurement performed by the UE in the source cell based on the first measurement configuration. In block 1430, the source RAN node may determine that mobility operation is required for the UE based on the first measurement.

[0256] The exemplary method may also include the operation of block 1440, where the source RAN node may send a request to the target RAN node to accept a mobility operation (e.g., CHO) related to the UE. In some embodiments, the request may include a first measurement configuration (e.g., measConfig) for the UE. The mobility operation may be the mobility operation determined as required in block 1430. The exemplary method may also include the operation of block 1450, where the source RAN node may receive a confirmation of the mobility operation from the target RAN node, the confirmation including a third measurement configuration (e.g., measConfig*) related to one or more target cells served by the target RAN node.

[0257] The exemplary method may also include the operation of block 1460, wherein the source RAN node may determine a second measurement configuration (e.g., measConfig') associated with the trigger condition for the mobility operation. For example, the second measurement configuration may be used to detect satisfaction of the trigger condition in the source cell. In some embodiments, the operation of block 1460 may include the operation of sub-block 1462, wherein the source RAN node may store the second measurement configuration (e.g., in varMeasConfig' or varMeasConfigCHO). In some embodiments, the operation of block 1460 may include the operation of sub-block 1464, wherein the source RAN node may send the second measurement configuration to the target RAN node.

[0258] The exemplary method may also include the operation of box 1470, wherein the source RAN node may send a mobility-related message to the UE, the mobility-related message including: a first indication of a mobility operation (e.g., any mobility operation discussed above); a second indication of a triggering condition for the mobility operation; and a second measurement configuration (e.g., measConfig'). In some embodiments, the mobility-related message may also include a third measurement configuration (e.g., measConfig*). In addition, the second measurement configuration and the third measurement configuration include a corresponding measurement configuration for each target cell that is a candidate for the indicated mobility operation. In other words, each of the second measurement configuration and the third measurement configuration may include multiple measurement configurations, i.e., one measurement configuration for each candidate target cell.

[0259] In some embodiments, the exemplary method may further include operations of blocks 1480-1490. In block 1480, the source RAN node may receive a third indication from the target RAN node that the mobility operation has been completed. In block 1490, the source RAN node may delete or release at least a portion of the stored first measurement configuration and the second measurement configuration in response to the third indication.

[0260] In some embodiments, at least one of the following conditions applies: the second measurement configuration is determined as an increment with respect to the first measurement configuration; the third measurement configuration is received as an increment with respect to the first measurement configuration; and the third measurement configuration is received as an increment with respect to the first measurement configuration and the second measurement configuration.

[0261] in addition, Fig.15 Another exemplary method (e.g., process) for conditional mobility of a user equipment (UE) in a radio access network (RAN) according to various exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure is shown. The exemplary method may be performed by a target RAN node (e.g., base station, eNB, gNB, etc. or a component thereof) (UE, e.g., wireless device, MTC device, NB-IoT device, modem, etc. or a component thereof) serving a target cell in a RAN (e.g., E-UTRAN, NG-RAN). For example, Fig.15 The illustrated exemplary methods may be implemented by network nodes configured according to the other diagrams described herein.

[0262] Despite Fig.15 The exemplary method is shown in the specific blocks in a specific order, but the operations corresponding to the blocks may be performed in an order different from the order shown, and may be combined and / or divided into blocks with functions different from those shown. In addition, Fig.15 The exemplary methods shown can supplement the present invention (e.g. Figure 13-14) other exemplary methods disclosed in the present invention so that they can be used in conjunction to provide various benefits, advantages and / or solutions to problems, including those described herein. Optional boxes and / or operations are indicated with dashed lines.

[0263] The exemplary method may include the operation of block 1510, wherein the target RAN node may receive a request from the source RAN node to accept a mobility operation (e.g., CHO) associated with the UE. The request may include a first measurement configuration (e.g., measConfig) for the UE. The exemplary method may also include the operation of block 1520, wherein the target RAN node may determine a third measurement configuration (e.g., measConfig*) for the UE associated with one or more target cells served by the target RAN node. The third measurement configuration may be based on the first measurement configuration (e.g., be a delta with respect to the first measurement configuration).

[0264] The exemplary method may also include the operation of block 1530, where the target RAN node may send a confirmation of the mobility operation to the source RAN node, the confirmation including the third measurement configuration. In various embodiments, the third measurement configuration may be sent as a complete measurement configuration, or as a delta with respect to the first measurement configuration and / or the second measurement configuration. The exemplary method may also include the operation of block 1570, where the target RAN node may receive from the UE measurements made in a specific one of the target cells based on the third measurement configuration.

[0265] In some embodiments, the exemplary method may further include the operations of blocks 1550-1560. In block 1550, the target RAN node may receive measurements made by the UE for a specific target cell based on the second measurement configuration. In block 1560, the target RAN node may then send a reconfiguration message including a third measurement configuration to the UE.

[0266] In these embodiments, the example method may also include the operation of block 1540, wherein the target RAN node may receive a second measurement configuration for the UE from the source RAN node. The second measurement configuration (e.g., measConfig') may be received as a delta with respect to the first measurement configuration (e.g., measConfig). In such embodiments, the third measurement configuration included in the reconfiguration message is a delta with respect to the first measurement configuration and the second measurement configuration.

[0267] In some embodiments, the example method may further include the operations of block 1580, wherein the target RAN node may send an indication to the source RAN node that the mobility operation has been completed.

[0268] Although the subject matter described herein may be implemented in any suitable type of system using any suitable components, the embodiments disclosed herein are directed to wireless networks such as Fig.16 For simplicity, Fig.16 The wireless network of FIG. 1 depicts only network 1606, network nodes 1660 and 1660b, and WD 1610, 1610b, and 1610c. In practice, the wireless network may further include any additional units suitable for supporting communication between wireless devices or between a wireless device and another communication device (e.g., a landline phone, a service provider, or any other network node or terminal device). In the components shown, network node 1660 and wireless device (WD) 1610 are depicted in additional detail. The wireless network may provide communication and other types of services to one or more wireless devices to facilitate wireless devices to access and / or use services provided by the wireless network or services provided via the wireless network.

[0269] A wireless network may include and / or be connected to any type of communication, telecommunication, data, cellular and / or radio network or other similar type of system. In some embodiments, a wireless network may be configured to operate according to a specific standard or other type of predefined rules or procedures. Thus, specific embodiments of a wireless network may implement communication standards such as Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), Long Term Evolution (LTE), and / or other suitable 2G, 3G, 4G, or 5G standards; wireless local area network (WLAN) standards such as IEEE 802.11 standards; and / or any other suitable wireless communication standards such as Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMax), Bluetooth, Z-wave, and / or ZigBee standards.

[0270] Network 1606 may include one or more backhaul networks, core networks, IP networks, public switched telephone networks (PSTN), packet data networks, optical networks, wide area networks (WANs), local area networks (LANs), wireless local area networks (WLANs), wired networks, wireless networks, metropolitan area networks, and other networks that enable communication between devices.

[0271] The network node 1660 and the WD 1610 include various components described in more detail below. These components work together to provide network node and / or wireless device functions, such as providing wireless connections in a wireless network. In different embodiments, the wireless network may include any number of wired or wireless networks, network nodes, base stations, controllers, wireless devices, relay stations, and / or any other components or systems that may facilitate or participate in the communication of data and / or signals (whether via wired or wireless connections).

[0272] Examples of network nodes include, but are not limited to, access points AP (e.g., radio access points), base stations (BS) (e.g., radio base stations, Node Bs, evolved Node Bs (eNBs), and NR Node Bs (gNBs)). Base stations can be classified based on the amount of coverage they provide (or in other words, their transmit power levels), and they may then also be referred to as femto base stations, pico base stations, micro base stations, or macro base stations. A base station may be a relay node or a relay donor node that controls a relay. A network node may also include one or more (or all) parts of a distributed radio base station, such as a centralized digital unit and / or a remote radio unit (RRU), sometimes also referred to as a remote radio head (RRH). Such a remote radio unit may or may not be integrated with an antenna as an antenna-integrated radio. Portions of a distributed radio base station may also be referred to as nodes in a distributed antenna system (DAS).

[0273] Other examples of network nodes include multi-standard radio (MSR) equipment (such as MSR BS), network controllers (such as radio network controllers (RNC) or base station controllers (BSC)), base transceiver stations (BTS), transmission points, transmission nodes, multi-cell / multicast coordination entities (MCE), core network nodes (such as MSC, MME), O&M nodes, OSS nodes, SON nodes, positioning nodes (such as E-SMLC) and / or MDT. As another example, the network node can be a virtual network node as described in more detail below. However, more generally, a network node can represent any suitable device (or group of devices) that is capable of, configured, arranged and / or operable to enable and / or provide access to a wireless network by a wireless device or to provide a certain service to a wireless device that has accessed the wireless network.

[0274] exist Fig.16 In the embodiment, the network node 1660 includes a processing circuit 1670, a device readable medium 1680, an interface 1690, an auxiliary device 1684, a power supply 1686, a power supply circuit 1687, and an antenna 1662. Fig.16 The network node 1660 shown in the example wireless network of can represent a device including a combination of the hardware components illustrated, but other embodiments can include network nodes with different combinations of components. It should be understood that the network node includes any suitable combination of hardware and / or software required to perform the tasks, features, functions, and methods and / or processes disclosed herein. In addition, although the components of the network node 1660 are depicted as a single box located within a larger box or nested within multiple boxes, in reality, the network node may include multiple different physical components that make up a single illustrated component (for example, the device readable medium 1680 may include multiple separate hard drives and multiple RAM modules).

[0275] Similarly, the network node 1660 may include multiple physically separated components (e.g., NodeB components and RNC components, or BTS components and BSC components, etc.), each of which may have its own corresponding components. In the specific case where the network node 1660 includes multiple separate components (e.g., BTS and BSC components), one or more separate components may be shared between several network nodes. For example, a single RNC may control multiple NodeBs. In this case, each unique NodeB and RNC pair may be considered as a single separate network node in some cases. In some embodiments, the network node 1660 may be configured to support multiple radio access technologies (RATs). In such an embodiment, some components may be replicated (e.g., separate device-readable media 1680 for different RATs), while some components may be reused (e.g., the same antenna 1662 may be shared by RATs). The network node 1660 may also include multiple groups of various example components for different wireless technologies (e.g., GSM, WCDMA, LTE, NR, Wi-Fi, or Bluetooth wireless technologies) integrated into the network node 1660. These wireless technologies may be integrated into the same or different chips or chipsets and other components within network node 1660 .

[0276] The processing circuit 1670 is configured to perform any determination, calculation, or similar operation (e.g., certain obtaining operations) described herein as being provided by the network node. The operations performed by the processing circuit 1670 may include: processing information obtained by the processing circuit 1670, such as by converting the obtained information into other information, comparing the obtained information or the converted information with information stored in the network node, and / or performing one or more operations based on the obtained information or the converted information; and making a determination as a result of the processing.

[0277] The processing circuitry 1670 may include one or more combinations of a microprocessor, a controller, a microcontroller, a central processing unit, a digital signal processor, an application specific integrated circuit, a field programmable gate array, or any other suitable computing device, resource, or combination of hardware, software, and / or encoded logic operable to provide various functions of the network node 1660, either alone or in conjunction with other network node 1660 components (e.g., device readable media 1680). Such functions may include any of the various wireless features, functions, or benefits discussed herein.

[0278] For example, processing circuit 1670 may execute instructions stored in device-readable medium 1680 or a memory within processing circuit 1670. In some embodiments, processing circuit 1670 may include a system on a chip (SOC). As a more specific example, instructions (also referred to as a computer program product) stored in medium 1680 may include instructions that, when executed by processing circuit 1670, may configure network node 1660 to perform operations corresponding to various exemplary methods (e.g., processes) described herein.

[0279] In some embodiments, processing circuitry 1670 may include one or more of radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry 1672 and baseband processing circuitry 1674. In some embodiments, radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry 1672 and baseband processing circuitry 1674 may be on separate chips (or chipsets), boards, or units (e.g., a radio unit and a digital unit). In alternative embodiments, part or all of RF transceiver circuitry 1672 and baseband processing circuitry 1674 may be on the same chip or chipset, board, or unit.

[0280] In certain embodiments, some or all of the functions described herein as being provided by a network node, base station, eNB, or other such network device may be performed by a processing circuit 1670 executing instructions stored on a device-readable medium 1680 or a memory within the processing circuit 1670. In alternative embodiments, some or all of the functions may be provided by the processing circuit 1670 without the need to execute instructions stored on a separate or separate device-readable medium, such as in a hardwired manner. In any of these embodiments, the processing circuit 1670 may be configured to perform the described functions, regardless of whether instructions stored on a device-readable storage medium are executed. The benefits provided by such functions are not limited to the processing circuit 1670 or other components of the network node 1660, but are enjoyed by the network node 1660 as a whole and / or by end users and wireless networks as a whole.

[0281] Device-readable medium 1680 may include any form of volatile or non-volatile computer-readable memory, including but not limited to permanent storage devices, solid-state memory, remotely mounted memory, magnetic media, optical media, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), mass storage media (e.g., hard disk), removable storage media (e.g., flash drive, compact disk (CD), or digital video disk (DVD)), and / or any other volatile or non-volatile, non-transitory device-readable and / or computer-executable storage device that stores information, data, and / or instructions that may be used by processing circuit 1670. Device-readable medium 1680 may store any suitable instructions, data, or information, including: computer programs; software; applications including one or more of logic, rules, code, tables, etc.; and / or other instructions that are executable by processing circuit 1670 and utilized by network node 1660. Device-readable medium 1680 may be used to store any computations performed by processing circuit 1670 and / or any data received via interface 1690. In some embodiments, processing circuit 1670 and device readable medium 1680 may be considered integrated.

[0282] Interface 1690 is used for wired or wireless communication of signaling and / or data between network node 1660, network 1606 and / or WD 1610. As shown, interface 1690 includes port / terminal 1694 to send and receive data to and from network 1606 on wired connection, for example. Interface 1690 also includes radio front-end circuit 1692 that can be coupled to antenna 1662 or be a part of antenna 1662 in a specific embodiment. Radio front-end circuit 1692 includes filter 1698 and amplifier 1696. Radio front-end circuit 1692 can be connected to antenna 1662 and processing circuit 1670. Radio front-end circuit 1692 can be configured to adjust the signal transmitted between antenna 1662 and processing circuit 1670. Radio front-end circuit 1692 can receive digital data that will be sent to other network nodes or WD via wireless connection. Radio front-end circuit 1692 can use the combination of filter 1698 and / or amplifier 1696 to convert digital data into radio signals with appropriate channel and bandwidth parameters. The radio signal may then be transmitted via antenna 1662. Similarly, when receiving data, antenna 1662 may collect the radio signal, which may then be converted into digital data by radio front end circuit 1692. The digital data may be passed to processing circuit 1670. In other embodiments, the interface may include different components and / or different combinations of components.

[0283] In certain alternative embodiments, the network node 1660 may not include a separate radio front end circuit 1692, but rather, the processing circuit 1670 may include the radio front end circuit and may be connected to the antenna 1662 without the separate radio front end circuit 1692. Similarly, in some embodiments, all or some of the RF transceiver circuit 1672 may be considered part of the interface 1690. In other embodiments, the interface 1690 may include one or more ports or terminals 1694, the radio front end circuit 1692, and the RF transceiver circuit 1672 as part of a wireless unit (not shown), and the interface 1690 may communicate with the baseband processing circuit 1674, which is part of the digital unit (not shown).

[0284] Antenna 1662 may include one or more antennas or antenna arrays configured to send and / or receive wireless signals. Antenna 1662 may be coupled to radio front-end circuit 1690 and may be any type of antenna capable of wirelessly sending and receiving data and / or signals. In some embodiments, antenna 1662 may include one or more omnidirectional, sector or flat panel antennas operable to send / receive radio signals between, for example, 2 GHz and 66 GHz. Omnidirectional antennas may be used to send / receive radio signals in any direction, sector antennas may be used to send / receive radio signals from devices within a specific area, and flat panel antennas may be line of sight antennas for sending / receiving radio signals in a relatively straight line. In some cases, the use of more than one antenna may be referred to as MIMO. In a particular embodiment, antenna 1662 may be separated from network node 1660 and may be connected to network node 1660 via an interface or port.

[0285] Antenna 1662, interface 1690 and / or processing circuit 1670 can be configured to perform any receiving operation and / or specific obtaining operation described herein as being performed by a network node. Any information, data and / or signal can be received from a wireless device, another network node and / or any other network device. Similarly, antenna 1662, interface 1690 and / or processing circuit 1670 can be configured to perform any sending operation described herein as being performed by a network node. Any information, data and / or signal can be sent to a wireless device, another network node and / or any other network device.

[0286] The power circuit 1687 may include or be coupled to a power management circuit and is configured to provide power to the components of the network node 1660 for performing the functions described herein. The power circuit 1687 may receive power from the power supply 1686. The power supply 1686 and / or the power circuit 1687 may be configured to provide power to the various components of the network node 1660 in a form suitable for the various components (e.g., at the voltage and current level required by each corresponding component). The power supply 1686 may be included in the power circuit 1687 and / or the network node 1660 or outside it. For example, the network node 1660 may be connected to an external power source (e.g., a power outlet) via an input circuit or interface (e.g., a cable), whereby the external power source provides power to the power circuit 1687. As another example, the power supply 1686 may include a power source in the form of a battery or a battery pack, which is connected to the power circuit 1687 or integrated in the power circuit 1687. If the external power supply fails, the battery can provide backup power. Other types of power supplies, such as photovoltaic devices, may also be used.

[0287] Alternative embodiments of network node 1660 may include Fig.16 Additional components beyond those shown, which additional components may be responsible for providing specific aspects of the functionality of the network node, including any functionality described herein and / or any functionality necessary to support the subject matter described herein. For example, the network node 1660 may include a user interface device to allow and / or facilitate input of information into the network node 1660 and to allow and / or facilitate output of information from the network node 1660. This may allow and / or facilitate a user to perform diagnostics, maintenance, repair, and other management functions of the network node 1660.

[0288] In some embodiments, a wireless device (WD, such as WD 1610) can be configured to send and / or receive information without direct human interaction. For example, when triggered by an internal or external event or in response to a request from the network, the WD can be designed to send information to the network according to a predetermined schedule. Examples of WD include, but are not limited to, smart phones, mobile phones, cellular phones, voice over IP (VoIP) phones, wireless local loop phones, desktop computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), wireless cameras, game consoles or devices, music storage devices, playback devices, wearable devices, wireless endpoints, mobile stations, tablet computers, laptop computers, laptop built-in devices (LEEs), laptop computer mounted devices (LMEs), smart devices, wireless client equipment (CPEs), mobile communication (MTC) devices, Internet of Things (IoT) devices, vehicle-mounted wireless terminal devices, etc.

[0289] WD can support device-to-device (D2D) communication (e.g., by implementing 3GPP standards for sidelink communication), vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I), vehicle-to-everything (V2X), and in this case can be referred to as a D2D communication device. As another specific example, in an Internet of Things (IoT) scenario, WD can represent a machine or other device that performs monitoring and / or measurement and sends the results of such monitoring and / or measurement to another WD and / or network node. In this case, WD can be a machine-to-machine (M2M) device, which can be referred to as an MTC device in the 3GPP context. As a specific example, WD can be a UE that implements the 3GPP narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT) standard. Examples of such machines or devices are sensors, metering devices such as power meters, industrial machinery, or household or personal appliances (e.g., refrigerators, televisions, etc.), personal wearable devices (e.g., watches, fitness trackers, etc.). In other cases, WD can represent a vehicle or other device that can monitor and / or report its operating status or other functions associated with its operation. WD as described above can represent an endpoint of a wireless connection, in which case the device can be referred to as a wireless terminal. Furthermore, the WD as described above may be mobile, in which case it may also be referred to as a mobile device or a mobile terminal.

[0290] As shown, wireless device 1610 includes antenna 1611, interface 1614, processing circuit 1620, device readable medium 1630, user interface device 1632, auxiliary device 1634, power supply 1636 and power supply circuit 1637. WD 1610 can include multiple groups of one or more of the components shown for different wireless technologies supported by WD 1610 (e.g., GSM, WCDMA, LTE, NR, Wi-Fi, WiMAX or Bluetooth wireless technologies, to name a few). These wireless technologies can be integrated into the same or different chips or chipsets as other components in WD 1610.

[0291] Antenna 1611 may include one or more antennas or antenna arrays configured to send and / or receive wireless signals, and is connected to interface 1614. In a specific alternative embodiment, antenna 1611 can be separated from WD 1610 and can be connected to WD 1610 through an interface or port. Antenna 1611, interface 1614 and / or processing circuit 1620 may be configured to perform any receiving or sending operation described herein as being performed by WD. Any information, data and / or signal can be received from a network node and / or another WD. In some embodiments, radio front-end circuit and / or antenna 1611 can be considered as an interface.

[0292] As shown, the interface 1614 includes a radio front-end circuit 1612 and an antenna 1611. The radio front-end circuit 1612 includes one or more filters 1618 and an amplifier 1616. The radio front-end circuit 1614 is connected to the antenna 1611 and the processing circuit 1620, and can be configured to adjust the signal transmitted between the antenna 1611 and the processing circuit 1620. The radio front-end circuit 1612 can be coupled to the antenna 1611 or as part of the antenna 1611. In some embodiments, the WD 1610 may not include a separate radio front-end circuit 1612; instead, the processing circuit 1620 may include a radio front-end circuit and may be connected to the antenna 1611. Similarly, in some embodiments, some or all of the RF transceiver circuit 1622 may be considered as part of the interface 1614. The radio front-end circuit 1612 can receive digital data sent to other network nodes or WDs via a wireless connection. The radio front-end circuit 1612 can convert the digital data into a radio signal with appropriate channel and bandwidth parameters using a combination of filters 1618 and / or amplifiers 1616. The radio signal may then be transmitted via antenna 1611. Similarly, when receiving data, antenna 1611 may collect the radio signal, which is then converted into digital data by radio front end circuit 1612. The digital data may be passed to processing circuit 1620. In other embodiments, the interface may include different components and / or different combinations of components.

[0293] Processing circuitry 1620 may include a combination of one or more of a microprocessor, controller, microcontroller, central processing unit, digital signal processor, application specific integrated circuit, field programmable gate array, or any other suitable computing device, resource, or combination of hardware, software, and / or coding that is operable to provide WD 1610 functionality alone or in combination with other WD 1610 components (e.g., device readable medium 1630). Such functionality may include any of the various wireless features or benefits discussed herein.

[0294] For example, the processing circuit 1620 may execute instructions stored in the device-readable medium 1630 or a memory within the processing circuit 1620 to provide the functionality disclosed herein. More specifically, the instructions (also referred to as a computer program product) stored in the medium 1630 may include instructions that, when executed by the processing circuit 1620, may configure the wireless device 1610 to perform operations corresponding to the various exemplary methods (e.g., processes) described herein.

[0295] As shown, the processing circuit 1620 includes one or more of the RF transceiver circuit 1622, the baseband processing circuit 1624, and the application processing circuit 1626. In other embodiments, the processing circuit may include different components and / or different combinations of components. In a specific embodiment, the processing circuit 1620 of the WD 1610 may include a SOC. In some embodiments, the RF transceiver circuit 1622, the baseband processing circuit 1624, and the application processing circuit 1626 may be on a separate chip or chipset. In an alternative embodiment, part or all of the baseband processing circuit 1624 and the application processing circuit 1626 may be combined into one chip or chipset, and the RF transceiver circuit 1622 may be on a separate chip or chipset. In another alternative embodiment, part or all of the RF transceiver circuit 1622 and the baseband processing circuit 1624 may be on the same chip or chipset, and the application processing circuit 1626 may be on a separate chip or chipset. In other alternative embodiments, part or all of RF transceiver circuit 1622, baseband processing circuit 1624, and application processing circuit 1626 may be combined in the same chip or chipset. In some embodiments, RF transceiver circuit 1622 may be part of interface 1614. RF transceiver circuit 1622 may condition RF signals for processing circuit 1620.

[0296] In certain embodiments, some or all of the functions described herein as being performed by the WD may be provided by a processing circuit 1620 that executes instructions stored on a device-readable medium 1630, which may be a computer-readable storage device medium in certain embodiments. In alternative embodiments, some or all of the functions may be provided by the processing circuit 1620 without the need to execute instructions stored on a separate or separate device-readable storage medium, such as in a hardwired manner. In any of these specific embodiments, the processing circuit 1620 may be configured to perform the described functions, regardless of whether instructions stored on a device-readable storage medium are executed. The benefits provided by such functions are not limited to the processing circuit 1620 or other components of the WD 1610, but may also be enjoyed by the WD 1610 as a whole and / or by end users and wireless networks as a whole.

[0297] Processing circuit 1620 may be configured to perform any determination, calculation, or similar operation (e.g., a specific acquisition operation) described herein as being performed by WD. These operations performed by processing circuit 1620 may include: processing information obtained by processing circuit 1620, such as by converting the obtained information into other information, comparing the obtained information or the converted information with information stored by WD 1610, and / or performing one or more operations based on the obtained information or the converted information; and making a determination as a result of the processing.

[0298] Device readable medium 1630 may be used to store computer programs, software, applications including one or more of logic, rules, codes, tables, etc., and / or other instructions that can be executed by processing circuit 1620. Device readable medium 1630 may include computer memory (e.g., random access memory (RAM) or read-only memory (ROM)), mass storage media (e.g., hard disk), removable storage media (e.g., compact disk (CD) or digital video disk (DVD)), and / or any other volatile or non-volatile, non-transitory device-readable and / or computer-executable storage device that stores information, data, and / or instructions that can be used by processing circuit 1620. In some embodiments, processing circuit 1620 and device readable medium 1630 may be considered integrated.

[0299] The user interface device 1632 may include components that allow and / or facilitate human users to interact with the WD 1610. Such interactions may have a variety of forms, such as visual, auditory, tactile, etc. The user interface device 1632 may be used to generate output to the user and allow and / or facilitate the user to provide input to the WD 1610. The type of interaction may vary, depending on the type of user interface device 1632 installed in the WD 1610. For example, if the WD 1610 is a smart phone, the interaction may be via a touch screen; if the WD 1610 is a smart meter, the interaction may be through a screen that provides usage (e.g., the number of gallons used) or a speaker that provides an audible alarm (e.g., if smoke is detected). The user interface device 1632 may include input interfaces, devices, and circuits and output interfaces, devices, and circuits. The user interface device 1632 may be configured to allow and / or facilitate input of information to the WD 1610, and is connected to the processing circuit 1620 to allow and / or facilitate the processing circuit 1620 to process the input information. The user interface device 1632 may include, for example, a microphone, a proximity sensor or other sensor, a key / button, a touch display, one or more cameras, a USB port or other input circuit. The user interface device 1632 is also configured to allow and / or facilitate information output from WD 1610, and to allow and / or facilitate processing circuit 1620 to output information from WD 1610. The user interface device 1632 may include, for example, a speaker, a display, a vibration circuit, a USB port, a headphone jack or other output circuit. Using one or more input and output interfaces, devices and circuits of the user interface device 1632, WD 1610 can communicate with an end user and / or a wireless network, and allow and / or facilitate the end user and / or the wireless network to benefit from the functions described herein.

[0300] Auxiliary device 1634 is operable to provide more specific functions that a WD may not normally perform. This may include specialized sensors for taking measurements for various purposes, interfaces for additional communication types such as wired communications, etc. The inclusion and types of components of auxiliary device 1634 may vary depending on the embodiment and / or scenario.

[0301] In some embodiments, the power source 1636 may be in the form of a battery or battery pack. Other types of power sources may also be used, such as an external power source (e.g., a power outlet), a photovoltaic device, or a battery. WD 1610 may also include a power circuit 1637 for transmitting power from the power source 1636 to various parts of WD 1610, which require power from the power source 1636 to perform any functions described or indicated herein. In a specific embodiment, the power circuit 1637 may include a power management circuit. The power circuit 1637 may additionally or alternatively be operable to receive power from an external power source; in this case, the WD 1610 may be connected to an external power source (e.g., a power outlet) via an input circuit or interface (e.g., a power cable). In a specific embodiment, the power circuit 1637 may also be operable to transfer power from an external power source to the power source 1636. This may be used, for example, to charge the power source 1636. The power circuit 1637 may perform any conversion or other modification of the power from the power source 1636 to make the power suitable for supplying to the various components of the WD 1610.

[0302] Fig.17 An embodiment of a UE according to various aspects described herein is shown. As used herein, a user equipment or UE may not necessarily have a user in the sense of a human user who owns and / or operates the associated device. Rather, a UE may represent a device that is intended to be sold to or operated by a human user but may not be, or may not initially be, associated with a particular human user (e.g., a smart sprinkler controller). Alternatively, a UE may represent a device that is not intended to be sold to or operated by an end user but may be associated with or operated for the benefit of a user (e.g., a smart power meter). UE1700 may be any UE identified by the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), including a NB-IoT UE, a Machine Type Communication (MTC) UE, and / or an enhanced MTC (eMTC) UE. As Fig.17 As shown, UE 1700 is an example of a WD that is configured to communicate in accordance with one or more communication standards promulgated by the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), such as 3GPP's GSM, UMTS, LTE, and / or 5G standards. As previously mentioned, the terms WD and UE may be used interchangeably. Therefore, although Fig.17 It is UE, but the components discussed in this article are also applicable to WD and vice versa.

[0303] exist Fig.17 In the embodiment, UE 1700 includes a processing circuit 1701 that is operatively coupled to an input / output interface 1705, a radio frequency (RF) interface 1709, a network connection interface 1711, a memory 1715 (including a random access memory (RAM) 1717, a read-only memory (ROM) 1719, and a storage medium 1721, etc.), a communication subsystem 1731, a power supply 1733, and / or any other components, or any combination thereof. The storage medium 1721 includes an operating system 1723, an application 1725, and data 1727. In other embodiments, the storage medium 1721 may include other similar types of information. A particular UE may utilize Fig.17 All components shown, or only a subset of these components. The level of integration between components may vary from one UE to another UE. In addition, a particular UE may contain multiple instances of a component, such as multiple processors, memories, transceivers, transmitters, receivers, etc.

[0304] exist Fig.17 , processing circuit 1701 may be configured to process computer instructions and data. Processing circuit 1701 may be configured to implement any sequential state machine operable to execute machine instructions stored as a machine-readable computer program in memory, such as one or more hardware-implemented state machines (e.g., in the form of discrete logic, FPGA, ASIC, etc.); programmable logic and appropriate firmware; one or more stored programs, general-purpose processors (e.g., microprocessors or digital signal processors (DSPs)) and appropriate software; or any combination of the above. For example, processing circuit 1701 may include two central processing units (CPUs). Data may be information in a form suitable for use by a computer.

[0305] In the depicted embodiment, the input / output interface 1705 may be configured to provide a communication interface to an input device, an output device, or an input and output device. The UE 1700 may be configured to use an output device via the input / output interface 1705. The output device may use the same type of interface port as the input device. For example, a USB port may be used to provide input to or output from the UE 1700. The output device may be a speaker, a sound card, a video card, a display, a monitor, a printer, an actuator, a transmitter, a smart card, another output device, or any combination thereof. The UE 1700 may be configured to use an input device via the input / output interface 1705 to allow and / or facilitate a user to capture information into the UE 1700. The input device may include a touch-sensitive display or a presence-sensitive display, a camera (e.g., a digital camera, a digital video camera, a webcam, etc.), a microphone, a sensor, a mouse, a trackball, a steering wheel, a trackpad, a roller, a smart card, etc. The presence-sensitive display may include a capacitive or resistive touch sensor to sense input from a user. The sensor can be, for example, an accelerometer, a gyroscope, an inclination sensor, a force sensor, a magnetometer, an optical sensor, a proximity sensor, another similar sensor, or any combination thereof. For example, the input device can be an accelerometer, a magnetometer, a digital camera, a microphone, and an optical sensor.

[0306] exist Fig.17 In the embodiment of the present invention, the RF interface 1709 can be configured to provide a communication interface to RF components such as transmitters, receivers and antennas. The network connection interface 1711 can be configured to provide a communication interface to the network 1743a. The network 1743a can cover a wired and / or wireless network, such as a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), a computer network, a wireless network, a telecommunications network, another similar network, or any combination thereof. For example, the network 1743a can include a Wi-Fi network. The network connection interface 1711 can be configured to include a receiver and a transmitter interface for communicating with one or more other devices through a communication network according to one or more communication protocols (e.g., Ethernet, TCP / IP, SONET, ATM, etc.). The network connection interface 1711 can implement receiver and transmitter functions suitable for communication network links (e.g., optical, electrical, etc.). The transmitter and receiver functions can share circuit components, software or firmware, or can be implemented separately.

[0307] RAM 1717 may be configured to be connected to processing circuit 1701 via bus 1702 to provide storage or caching of data or computer instructions during execution of software programs such as operating systems, applications, and device drivers. ROM 1719 may be configured to provide computer instructions or data to processing circuit 1701. For example, ROM 1719 may be configured to store unchanged low-level system code or data for basic system functions (e.g., basic input and output (I / O), startup, or keystrokes received from a keyboard) stored in non-volatile memory. Storage medium 1721 may be configured to include memory such as RAM, ROM, programmable read-only memory (PROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), magnetic disk, optical disk, floppy disk, hard disk, removable cassette, or flash drive.

[0308] In one example, storage medium 1721 may be configured to include an operating system 1723, an application 1725 or another application such as a web browser application, a widget or a gadget engine, and data files 1727. Storage medium 1721 may store any of a variety of operating systems or a combination of operating systems for use by UE 1700. For example, application 1725 may include executable program instructions (also referred to as a computer program product) that, when executed by processor 1701, may configure UE 1700 to perform operations corresponding to the various exemplary methods (e.g., processes) described herein.

[0309] The storage medium 1721 may be configured to include multiple physical drive units, such as a redundant array of independent disks (RAID), a floppy disk drive, a flash memory, a USB flash drive, an external hard drive, a thumb drive, a pen drive, a key drive, a high-density digital versatile disk (HD-DVD) optical drive, an internal hard drive, a Blu-ray optical drive, a holographic digital data storage (HDDS) optical drive, an external mini dual in-line memory module (DIMM), a synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), an external micro DIMM SDRAM, a smart card memory (e.g., a subscriber identity module (SIM) or a removable user identity (RUIM) module), other memory, or any combination thereof. The storage medium 1721 may allow and / or facilitate the UE 1700 to access computer executable instructions, applications, etc. stored on a temporary or non-temporary storage medium to offload data or upload data. An article of manufacture (such as an article of manufacture utilizing a communication system) may be tangibly embodied in the storage medium 1721, which may include a device-readable medium.

[0310] exist Fig.17In the embodiment of the present invention, the processing circuit 1701 may be configured to communicate with the network 1743b using the communication subsystem 1731. The network 1743a and the network 1743b may be the same network or different networks. The communication subsystem 1731 may be configured to include one or more transceivers for communicating with the network 1743b. For example, the communication subsystem 1731 may be configured to include one or more transceivers for communicating with another device (e.g., another WD, UE, or a base station of a radio access network (RAN)) capable of wireless communication according to one or more communication protocols (e.g., IEEE 802.17, CDMA, WCDMA, GSM, LTE, UTRAN, WiMax, etc.). Each transceiver may include a transmitter 1733 and / or a receiver 1735 to respectively implement a transmitter or receiver function (e.g., frequency allocation, etc.) suitable for a RAN link. In addition, the transmitter 1733 and the receiver 1735 of each transceiver may share circuit components, software, or firmware, or may be implemented separately instead.

[0311] In the illustrated embodiment, the communication functions of the communication subsystem 1731 may include data communication, voice communication, multimedia communication, short-range communication such as Bluetooth, near-field communication, location-based communication (such as using a global positioning system (GPS) to determine the location), another similar communication function, or any combination thereof. For example, the communication subsystem 1731 may include cellular communication, Wi-Fi communication, Bluetooth communication, and GPS communication. The network 1743b may include a wired and / or wireless network, such as a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), a computer network, a wireless network, a telecommunications network, another similar network, or any combination thereof. For example, the network 1743B may be a cellular network, a Wi-Fi network, and / or a near-field network. The power supply 1713 may be configured to provide alternating current (AC) or direct current (DC) power to the components of the UE 1700.

[0312] The features, benefits and / or functions described herein may be implemented in one of the components of UE 1700, or may be divided between multiple components of UE 1700. In addition, the features, benefits and / or functions described herein may be implemented in any combination of hardware, software or firmware. In one example, the communication subsystem 1731 may be configured to include any component described herein. In addition, the processing circuit 1701 may be configured to communicate with any such component via bus 1702. In another example, any such component may be represented by a program instruction stored in a memory, which performs the corresponding function described herein when executed by the processing circuit 1701. In another example, the function of any such component may be divided between the processing circuit 1701 and the communication subsystem 1731. In another example, the non-computationally intensive functions of any such component may be implemented in software or firmware, while the computationally intensive functions may be implemented in hardware.

[0313] Fig.18 1800 is a schematic block diagram illustrating a virtualized environment 1800 in which functions implemented by some embodiments may be virtualized. In the present context, virtualization means creating a virtual version of an apparatus or device, which may include a virtualized hardware platform, storage devices, and networking resources. As used herein, virtualization may be applied to a node (e.g., a virtualized base station, a virtualized radio access node) or a device (e.g., a UE, a wireless device, or any other type of communication device) or components thereof, and involves an implementation in which at least a portion of the functions are implemented as one or more virtual components (e.g., via one or more applications, components, functions, virtual machines, or containers executed on one or more physical processing nodes in one or more networks).

[0314] In some embodiments, some or all of the functionality described herein may be implemented as virtual components executed by one or more virtual machines implemented in one or more virtual environments 1800 hosted by one or more hardware nodes 1830. Furthermore, in embodiments where the virtual nodes are not radio access nodes or do not require radio connectivity (e.g., core network nodes), then the network nodes may be fully virtualized.

[0315] These functions may be implemented by one or more applications 1820 (which may alternatively be referred to as software instances, virtual appliances, network functions, virtual nodes, virtual network functions, etc.) for implementing certain features, functions, and / or benefits of some embodiments disclosed herein. The applications 1820 run in a virtualized environment 1800, which provides hardware 1830 including processing circuitry 1860 and memory 1890. The memory 1890 contains instructions 1895 that can be executed by the processing circuitry 1860, whereby the applications 1820 are operable to provide one or more features, benefits, and / or functions disclosed herein.

[0316] The virtualized environment 1800 may include a general or special network hardware device (or node) 1830, which includes a set of one or more processors or processing circuits 1860, which may be commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) processors, application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), or any other type of processing circuits including digital or analog hardware components or special processors. Each hardware device may include a memory 1890-1, which may be a non-persistent memory for temporarily storing instructions 1895 or software executed by the processing circuit 1860. For example, the instructions 1895 may include program instructions (also referred to as computer program products) that, when executed by the processing circuit 1860, may configure the hardware node 1820 to perform operations corresponding to the various exemplary methods (e.g., processes) described herein. Such operations may also be attributed to the virtual node 1820 hosted by the hardware node 1830.

[0317] Each hardware device may include one or more network interface controllers (NICs) 1870 (also referred to as network interface cards) that include a physical network interface 1880. Each hardware device may also include a non-transitory persistent machine-readable storage medium 1890-2 having stored therein software 1895 and / or instructions executable by the processing circuitry 1860. The software 1895 may include any type of software including software for instantiating one or more virtualization layers 1850 (also referred to as hypervisors), software for executing virtual machines 1840, and software that enables the execution of functions, features, and / or benefits associated with some of the embodiments described herein.

[0318] The virtual machine 1840 includes virtual processing, virtual memory, virtual network or interface, and virtual storage device, and can be run by a corresponding virtualization layer 1850 or system hypervisor. Different embodiments of the instance of the virtual device 1820 can be implemented on one or more virtual machines 1840 and can be implemented in different ways.

[0319] During operation, processing circuitry 1860 executes software 1895 to instantiate a hypervisor or virtualization layer 1850, which may sometimes be referred to as a virtual machine monitor (VMM). Virtualization layer 1850 may present to virtual machines 1840 a virtual operating platform that appears to be networked hardware.

[0320] like Fig.18 As shown, hardware 1830 can be an independent network node with common or specific components. Hardware 1830 can include antenna 18225, and some functions can be implemented via virtualization. Alternatively, hardware 1830 can be part of a larger hardware cluster (e.g., such as in a data center or customer premise equipment (CPE)), in which many hardware nodes work together and are managed via management and orchestration (MANO) 18100 that oversees lifecycle management of application 1820, etc.

[0321] In some contexts, virtualization of hardware is referred to as network function virtualization (NFV). NFV can be used to consolidate many network equipment types onto industry-standard high-volume server hardware, physical switches, and physical storage, which can be located in data centers and customer premises equipment.

[0322] In the context of NFV, a virtual machine 1840 may be a software implementation of a physical machine that runs a program as if the program were executed on a physical, non-virtualized machine. Each virtual machine 1840 and the portion of the hardware 1830 that executes the virtual machine (whether hardware dedicated to the virtual machine and / or hardware shared by the virtual machine with other virtual machines 1840) form a separate virtual network element (VNE).

[0323] Still in the context of NFV, a virtual network function (VNF) is responsible for handling specific network functions in one or more virtual machines 1840 running on top of the hardware network infrastructure 1830 and can communicate with Fig.18 Corresponding to application 1820.

[0324] In some embodiments, one or more radio units 18200, each including one or more transmitters 18220 and one or more receivers 18210, may be coupled to one or more antennas 18225. The radio unit 18200 may communicate directly with the hardware node 1830 via one or more appropriate network interfaces, and may be used in conjunction with a virtual component to provide a virtual node with radio capabilities, such as a radio access node or base station. A node arranged in this manner may also communicate with one or more UEs, such as described elsewhere herein.

[0325] In some embodiments, some signaling may be performed via control system 18230 , which may alternatively be used for communications between hardware node 1830 and radio unit 18200 .

[0326] refer to Fig.19 According to an embodiment, a communication system includes a telecommunication network 1910 such as a 3GPP type cellular network, which includes an access network 1911 such as a radio access network and a core network 1914. The access network 1911 includes a plurality of base stations 1912a, 1912b, 1912c, such as NBs, eNBs, gNBs or other types of wireless access points, each defining a corresponding coverage area 1913a, 1913b, 1913c. Each base station 1912a, 1912b, 1912c may be connected to the core network 1914 via a wired or wireless connection 1915. A first UE 1991 located in the coverage area 1913c is configured to be wirelessly connected to or paged by the corresponding base station 1912c. A second UE 1992 in the coverage area 1913a may be wirelessly connected to the corresponding base station 1912a. Although multiple UEs 1991 , 1992 are shown in this example, the disclosed embodiments are equally applicable to situations where only a UE is in the coverage area or a only UE is connected to the corresponding base station 1912 .

[0327] The telecommunications network 1910 itself is connected to a host computer 1930, which may be embodied in the hardware and / or software of a standalone server, a cloud-implemented server, a distributed server, or as a processing resource in a server farm. The host computer 1930 may be under the ownership or control of a service provider, or may be operated by or on behalf of a service provider. The connections 1921 and 1922 between the telecommunications network 1910 and the host computer 1930 may extend directly from the core network 1914 to the host computer 1930, or may pass through an optional intermediate network 1920. The intermediate network 1920 may be one of a public, private, or managed network, or a combination of multiple thereof; the intermediate network 1920 (if any) may be a backbone network or the Internet; in particular, the intermediate network 1920 may include two or more sub-networks (not shown).

[0328] Overall, Fig.19The communication system implements a connection between the connected UE 1991, 1992 and the host computer 1930. The connection can be described as an over-the-top (OTT) connection 1950. The host computer 1930 and the connected UE 1991, 1992 are configured to use the access network 1911, the core network 1914, any intermediate network 1920, and possible other infrastructure (not shown) as intermediaries to transmit data and / or signaling via the OTT connection 1950. The OTT connection 1950 can be transparent because the participating communication devices through which the OTT connection 1950 passes do not know the routing of uplink and downlink communications. For example, the past route of the incoming downlink communication, which has data originating from the host computer 1930 to be forwarded (e.g., handed over) to the connected UE 1991, may not be notified or need not be notified to the base station 1912. Similarly, base station 1912 need not be aware of the future routing of outgoing uplink communications originating from UE 1991 toward host computer 1930 .

[0329] Now refer to Fig. 20 Describe the example implementation of the UE, base station and host computer discussed in the previous paragraph. In the communication system 2000, the host computer 2010 includes hardware 2015, which includes a communication interface 2016 configured to establish and maintain a wired or wireless connection with different communication devices of the communication system 2000. The host computer 2010 also includes a processing circuit 2018, which may have storage and / or processing capabilities. In particular, the processing circuit 2018 may include one or more programmable processors, application specific integrated circuits, field programmable gate arrays, or a combination of these items (not shown) suitable for executing instructions. The host computer 2010 also includes software 2011, which is stored in the host computer 2010 or can be accessed by the host computer 2010 and can be executed by the processing circuit 2018. The software 2011 includes a host application 2012. The host application 2012 is operable to provide services to a remote user, such as a UE 2030, which is connected via an OTT connection 2050 that terminates at the UE 2030 and the host computer 2010. In providing services to the remote user, the host application 2012 may provide user data sent using the OTT connection 2050.

[0330] The communication system 2000 may also include a base station 2020, which is arranged in the telecommunication system and includes hardware 2025 that enables it to communicate with the host computer 2010 and with the UE 2030. The hardware 2025 may include a communication interface 2026 for establishing and maintaining a wired or wireless connection with different communication devices of the communication system 2000, and a communication interface 2026 for establishing and maintaining a connection with a network located in a coverage area ( Fig. 20 The communication interface 2026 may be configured to facilitate a connection 2060 to the host computer 2010. The connection 2060 may be direct or may be through a core network (eg, a wireless network) of the telecommunications system. Fig. 20 2020) and / or through one or more intermediate networks external to the telecommunications system. In the illustrated embodiment, the hardware 2025 of the base station 2020 may also include processing circuitry 2028, which may include one or more programmable processors, application specific integrated circuits, field programmable gate arrays, or a combination of these items (not shown) suitable for executing instructions.

[0331] The base station 2020 also includes software 2021 that is stored internally or accessible via an external connection. For example, the software 2021 may include program instructions (also referred to as a computer program product) that, when executed by the processing circuit 2028, may configure the base station 2020 to perform operations corresponding to the various exemplary methods (e.g., processes) described herein.

[0332] The communication system 2000 may also include the already mentioned UE 2030. The hardware 2035 of the UE 2030 may include a radio interface 2037, which is configured to establish and maintain a wireless connection 2070 with a base station serving the coverage area where the UE 2030 is currently located. The hardware 2035 of the UE 2030 may also include a processing circuit 2038, which may include one or more programmable processors, application specific integrated circuits, field programmable gate arrays, or a combination of these items (not shown) suitable for executing instructions.

[0333] UE 2030 also includes software 2031 stored in or accessible by UE 2030 and executable by processing circuit 2038. Software 2031 includes client application 2032. Client application 2032 is operable to provide services to human or non-human users via UE 2030 with the support of host computer 2010. In host computer 2010, the executing host application 2012 can communicate with the executing client application 2032 via an OTT connection 2050 terminated at UE 2030 and host computer 2010. In providing services to users, client application 2032 can receive request data from host application 2012 and provide user data in response to the request data. OTT connection 2050 can transmit both request data and user data. Client application 2032 can interact with users to generate user data provided by users. The software 2031 may also include program instructions (also referred to as a computer program product) that, when executed by the processing circuit 2038 , may configure the UE 2030 to perform operations corresponding to the various exemplary methods (eg, processes) described herein.

[0334] Notice, Fig. 20 The host computer 2010, base station 2020 and UE 2030 shown can be respectively Fig.16 The host computer 1630, one of the base stations 1612a, 1612b, 1612c and one of the UEs 1691, 1692 may be similar or identical. That is, the internal working principles of these entities may be as follows: Fig. 20 As shown, and independently, the surrounding network topology can be Fig.16 The surrounding network topology.

[0335] exist Fig. 20 In the figure, the OTT connection 2050 has been abstractly drawn to illustrate the communication between the host computer 2010 and the UE 2030 via the base station 2020, without explicit reference to any intermediate devices and the exact routing of the messages via these devices. The network infrastructure can determine the route, and the network infrastructure can be configured to hide the route from the UE 2030 or from the service provider operating the host computer 2010, or both. When the OTT connection 2050 is active, the network infrastructure can further make a decision according to which it dynamically changes the route (e.g., based on load balancing considerations or reconfiguration of the network).

[0336] The wireless connection 2070 between the UE 2030 and the base station 2020 is in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout the present disclosure. One or more of the various embodiments improves the performance of the OTT service provided to the UE 2030 using the OTT connection 2050 (where the wireless connection 2070 forms the last segment). More precisely, the exemplary embodiments disclosed herein can improve the flexibility of the network monitoring the end-to-end quality of service (QoS) of the data stream (including their corresponding radio bearers) associated with the data session between the user equipment (UE) and another entity (e.g., an OTT data application or a service outside the 5G network). These and other advantages can promote more timely design, implementation and deployment of 5G / NR solutions. In addition, such an embodiment can promote flexible and timely control of the QoS of the data session, which can lead to improvements in capacity, throughput, latency, etc., which are envisioned by 5G / NR and are important for the growth of OTT services.

[0337] The measurement process may be provided for the purpose of monitoring data rates, delays, and other factors on which one or more embodiments are improved. In response to changes in the measurement results, there may also be an optional network function for reconfiguring the OTT connection 2050 between the host computer 2010 and the UE 2030. The measurement process and / or network function for reconfiguring the OTT connection 2050 may be implemented in the software 2011 and hardware 2015 of the host computer 2010 or in the software 2031 and hardware 2035 of the UE 2030, or in both. In some embodiments, a sensor (not shown) may be deployed in a communication device through which the OTT connection 2050 passes or associated with such a communication device; the sensor may participate in the measurement process by providing the value of the monitored quantity of the above example or providing the value of other physical quantities from which the software 2011, 2031 can calculate or estimate the monitored quantity. The reconfiguration of the OTT connection 2050 may include message formats, retransmission settings, preferred routes, etc. The reconfiguration does not need to affect the base station 2020, and it may be unknown or imperceptible to the base station 2020. Such processes and functions may be known and practiced in the art. In certain embodiments, the measurements may involve proprietary UE signaling that facilitates the host computer 2010 to measure throughput, propagation time, latency, etc. The measurements may be achieved because the software 2011, 2031 causes messages, particularly empty or "dummy" messages, to be sent using the OTT connection 2050 during its monitoring of propagation time, errors, etc.

[0338] Fig.21is a flow chart illustrating an exemplary method and / or process implemented in a communication system according to one embodiment. The communication system includes a host computer, a base station, and a UE, which in some exemplary embodiments may be the host computer, base station, and UE described with reference to other figures herein. For simplicity of this disclosure, this section only includes Fig.21 In step 2110, the host computer provides user data. In sub-step 2111 of step 2110 (which may be optional), the host computer provides the user data by executing a host application. In step 2120, the host computer initiates a transmission to the UE carrying the user data. In step 2130 (which may be optional), in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout the present disclosure, the base station sends the user data carried in the transmission initiated by the host computer to the UE. In step 2140 (which may also be optional), the UE executes a client application associated with the host application executed by the host computer.

[0339] Fig. 22 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary method and / or process implemented in a communication system according to one embodiment. The communication system includes a host computer, a base station, and a UE, which may be the host computer, base station, and UE described with reference to other figures herein. For simplicity of this disclosure, this section only includes Fig. 22 . In step 2210 of the method, the host computer provides user data. In an optional sub-step (not shown), the host computer provides the user data by executing a host application. In step 2220, the host computer initiates a transmission carrying the user data to the UE. According to the teachings of the embodiments described throughout the present disclosure, the transmission may pass through a base station. In step 2230 (which may be optional), the UE receives the user data carried in the transmission.

[0340] Fig.23 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary method and / or process implemented in a communication system according to one embodiment. The communication system includes a host computer, a base station, and a UE, which may be the host computer, base station, and UE described with reference to other figures herein. For simplicity of this disclosure, this section only includes Fig.23. In step 2310 (which may be optional), the UE receives input data provided by the host computer. Additionally or alternatively, in step 2320, the UE provides user data. In sub-step 2321 (which may be optional) of step 2320, the UE provides user data by executing a client application. In sub-step 2311 (which may be optional) of step 2310, the UE executes a client application, which provides user data in response to the received input data provided by the host computer. When providing user data, the executed client application may further consider user input received from the user. Regardless of the specific manner of providing user data, the UE initiates transmission of user data to the host computer in sub-step 2330 (which may be optional). In step 2340 of the method, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout the present disclosure, the host computer receives user data sent from the UE.

[0341] Fig.24 1 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary method and / or process implemented in a communication system according to one embodiment. The communication system includes a host computer, a base station, and a UE, which may be the host computer, base station, and UE described with reference to other figures of this document. For the sake of simplicity of this disclosure, only the description of Fig.24 In step 2410 (which may be optional), in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure, the base station receives user data from the UE. In step 2420 (which may be optional), the base station initiates transmission of the received user data to the host computer. In step 2430 (which may be optional), the host computer receives the user data carried in the transmission initiated by the base station.

[0342] As described herein, the device and / or apparatus may be represented by a semiconductor chip, a chipset, or a (hardware) module including such a chip or chipset; however, this does not exclude the possibility that the function of the device or apparatus is not implemented by hardware but is implemented as a software module (e.g., a computer program or a computer program product including an executable software code portion for execution or operation on a processor). In addition, the function of the device or apparatus may be implemented by any combination of hardware and software. The device or apparatus may also be considered as an assembly of multiple devices and / or apparatuses (whether they are functionally cooperative or independent of each other). In addition, the devices and apparatus may be implemented in a distributed manner throughout the system as long as the function of the device or apparatus is retained. Such principles and similar principles are considered to be known to technicians.

[0343] Furthermore, the functions described herein as being performed by a wireless device or network node may be distributed across multiple wireless devices and / or network nodes. In other words, it is contemplated that the functions of the network nodes and wireless devices described herein are not limited to being performed by a single physical device and may in fact be distributed across several physical devices.

[0344] Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which the present disclosure belongs. It will also be understood that the terms used herein should be interpreted as having a meaning consistent with their meaning in the context of this specification and the relevant art, and will not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unless explicitly defined herein.

[0345] In addition, certain terms used in the present disclosure (including specification, drawings and exemplary embodiments thereof) may be used synonymously in certain circumstances, including but not limited to, for example, data and information. It should be understood that although these words and / or other words that may be synonymous with each other may be used synonymously in this article, there are situations where such words may not be intended to be used synonymously. In addition, to the extent that prior art knowledge is not explicitly incorporated by reference above, its full text is explicitly incorporated herein. All publications cited are incorporated herein by reference in full.

[0346] As used herein, unless expressly stated otherwise, the phrases “at least one” and “one or more” followed by a joint list of enumerated items (e.g., “A and B,” “A, B, and C”) are intended to mean “at least one of the enumerated items, each of which is selected from the list consisting of the enumerated items.” For example, “at least one of A and B” is intended to mean any of the following: A; B; A and B. Similarly, “one or more of A, B, and C” is intended to mean any of the following: A; B; C; A and B; B and C; A and C; A, B, and C.

[0347] As used herein, unless expressly stated otherwise, the phrase "plurality" followed by a joint list of enumerated items (e.g., "A and B," "A, B, and C") is intended to mean "a plurality of the enumerated items, each of which is selected from the list consisting of the enumerated items." For example, "plurality A and B" is intended to mean any of the following: more than one A; more than one B; or at least one A and at least one B.

[0348] The foregoing merely illustrates the principles of the present disclosure. In view of the teachings herein, various modifications and changes to the described embodiments will be apparent to those skilled in the art. Therefore, it will be appreciated that those skilled in the art will be able to design many systems, arrangements and processes that, although not explicitly shown or described herein, embody the principles of the present disclosure and therefore can be within the spirit and scope of the present disclosure. As will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art, the various exemplary embodiments can be used together and interchangeably with each other.

[0349] Example embodiments of the techniques and apparatus described herein include, but are not limited to, the following examples:

[0350] 1. A method for conditional mobility in a radio access network (RAN) performed by a user equipment (UE), the method comprising:

[0351] One or more mobility-related messages are received from the RAN, the mobility-related messages comprising:

[0352] First indication of mobility operations;

[0353] a second indication of a triggering condition for a mobility operation;

[0354] a second measurement configuration associated with the source cell; and

[0355] a third measurement configuration associated with one or more target cells;

[0356] detecting a trigger condition for one of the target cells based on the second measurement configuration; and

[0357] Based on the third measurement configuration, a mobility operation towards the target cell is performed.

[0358] 2. The method according to embodiment 1, wherein detecting the triggering event includes: performing a second measurement in the source cell based on a second measurement configuration.

[0359] 3. The method according to any one of embodiments 1-2, wherein receiving the conditional mobility command further comprises: storing the second measurement configuration and the third measurement configuration.

[0360] 4. The method of any one of embodiments 1-3, wherein performing the mobility operation comprises one or more of the following operations:

[0361] Stop performing measurements in the source cell;

[0362] deleting the stored second measurement configuration; and

[0363] Based on the third measurement configuration, a third measurement is performed and reported in the target cell.

[0364] 5. The method according to any one of embodiments 1-4 further includes: receiving a first measurement configuration from a source node serving the UE.

[0365] 6. The method according to embodiment 5 further includes: performing and reporting a first measurement in a source cell based on the first measurement configuration.

[0366] 7. The method according to any one of embodiments 5-6, wherein receiving the first measurement configuration includes: storing the first measurement configuration.

[0367] 8. The method of any one of embodiments 5-7, wherein:

[0368] The third measurement configuration is received as a complete measurement configuration; and

[0369] Performing the mobility operation further includes replacing the stored first measurement configuration with a third measurement configuration.

[0370] 9. The method of any one of embodiments 5-7, wherein at least one of the following conditions applies:

[0371] The second measurement configuration is determined as a delta with respect to the first measurement configuration;

[0372] The third measurement configuration is received as a delta with respect to the first measurement configuration; and

[0373] The third measurement configuration is received as a delta with respect to the first measurement configuration and the second measurement configuration.

[0374] 10. A method according to any one of embodiments 1-9, wherein the one or more mobility-related messages include a conditional mobility command received from a source node, the conditional mobility command including a first indication, a second indication, a second measurement configuration, and a third measurement configuration.

[0375] 11. The method of any one of embodiments 1-9, wherein the one or more mobility-related messages include:

[0376] a conditional mobility command received from a source node, the conditional mobility command comprising a first indication, a second indication, and a second measurement configuration, and

[0377] A reconfiguration message is received from the target node including the third measurement configuration.

[0378] 12. The method of embodiment 11, wherein performing the mobility operation based on the third configuration comprises:

[0379] Based on the second measurement configuration, performing and reporting a third measurement in the target cell; and

[0380] A reconfiguration message including a third measurement configuration is subsequently received.

[0381] 13. A method for conditional mobility of a user equipment (UE) in a radio access network (RAN) performed by a source node, the method comprising:

[0382] sending a request to a target node for accepting a conditional mobility operation associated with the UE;

[0383] receiving, from the target node, a confirmation of the conditional mobility operation, the confirmation comprising a third measurement configuration related to one or more target cells served by the target node;

[0384] determining a second measurement configuration associated with a trigger condition for a conditional mobility operation; and

[0385] Sending a conditional mobility command to the UE, the conditional mobility command comprising:

[0386] Instructions for mobility operations;

[0387] an indication of the triggering conditions; and

[0388] Second measurement configuration.

[0389] 14. The method of embodiment 13, wherein the conditional mobility command further comprises a third measurement configuration.

[0390] 15. The method according to embodiment 13 further includes: sending a second measurement configuration to the target node.

[0391] 16. The method according to any one of embodiments 13-15 further includes: sending a first measurement configuration related to the source cell to the UE, wherein the request to the target node also includes the first measurement configuration.

[0392] 17. The method according to any one of embodiments 13-16 also includes: determining that conditional mobility operation is required for the UE.

[0393] 18. The method of any one of embodiments 16-17, wherein determining that conditional mobility operation is required includes receiving a first measurement performed by the UE based on a first measurement configuration.

[0394] 19. The method according to any one of embodiments 11-18 also includes: receiving an indication from the target node that the conditional mobility operation has been performed.

[0395] 20. The method of any one of embodiments 11-19, wherein sending the first measurement configuration includes storing the first measurement configuration.

[0396] 21. The method according to any one of embodiments 11-20, wherein determining the second measurement configuration includes storing the second measurement configuration.

[0397] 22. The method according to any one of embodiments 11-21 further includes: deleting the stored first measurement configuration and the second measurement configuration.

[0398] 23. The method of any one of embodiments 11-22, wherein at least one of the following conditions applies:

[0399] The second measurement configuration is determined as a delta with respect to the first measurement configuration;

[0400] The third measurement configuration is received as a delta with respect to the first measurement configuration; and

[0401] The third measurement configuration is received as a delta with respect to the first measurement configuration and the second measurement configuration.

[0402] 24. A method for conditional mobility of a user equipment (UE) in a radio access network (RAN) performed by a target node, the method comprising:

[0403] receiving, from a source node, a request to accept a conditional mobility operation associated with the UE, the request comprising a first measurement configuration for the UE;

[0404] determining, based on the first measurement configuration, a third measurement configuration for the UE associated with one or more target cells served by the target node;

[0405] sending a confirmation of the conditional mobility operation to the source node, the confirmation comprising the third measurement configuration; and

[0406] The UE performs a conditional mobility operation in one of the target cells based on the third measurement configuration.

[0407] 25. The method of embodiment 24 further comprises: sending an indication to the source node that the conditional mobility operation has been performed.

[0408] 26. The method of any one of embodiments 24-25, wherein the third measurement configuration is sent as a delta with respect to the first measurement configuration.

[0409] 27. The method of any one of embodiments 24-25, wherein the third measurement configuration is sent as a complete measurement configuration.

[0410] 28. The method of any one of embodiments 24-27, wherein performing conditional mobility operations includes receiving measurements performed by the UE in one of the target cells based on a third measurement configuration.

[0411] 29. The method of any one of embodiments 24-27, wherein performing a conditional mobility operation comprises:

[0412] receiving a measurement performed by the UE in one of the target cells based on the second measurement configuration; and

[0413] A reconfiguration message including the third measurement configuration is then sent to the UE.

[0414] 30. The method of embodiment 29 further comprises: receiving a second measurement configuration for the UE from the source node, wherein the second measurement configuration is received as a delta with respect to the first measurement configuration.

[0415] 31. The method of embodiment 30, wherein the third measurement configuration is sent as a delta with respect to the first measurement configuration and the second measurement configuration.

[0416] 32. A user equipment (UE) configured to support conditional mobility in a radio access network (RAN), the UE comprising:

[0417] communications circuitry configured to communicate with one or more network nodes in the RAN;

[0418] A processing circuit is operatively coupled to the communication circuit and is configured to perform operations corresponding to any of the methods according to embodiments 1-12.

[0419] 33. A user equipment (UE) configured to support conditional mobility in a radio access network (RAN), the UE being arranged to perform operations corresponding to any one of the methods according to embodiments 1-12.

[0420] 34. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions which, when executed by a processing circuit comprising a user equipment (UE), configure the UE to perform operations corresponding to any of the methods according to claims 1-12.

[0421] 35. A network node in a radio access network (RAN), comprising:

[0422] communications circuitry configured to communicate with one or more other network nodes and one or more user equipments (UEs);

[0423] A processing circuit is operatively coupled to the communication circuit and is configured to perform operations corresponding to any of the methods according to embodiments 13-31.

[0424] 36. A network node configured to support conditional mobility of a user equipment (UE) between cells in a radio access network (RAN), the network node being arranged to perform operations corresponding to any one of the methods according to embodiments 13-31.

[0425] 37. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions which, when executed by processing circuitry comprising a network node in a Radio Access Network (RAN), configure the network node to perform operations corresponding to any of the methods according to claims 13-31.

[0426] 38. A communication system comprising a host computer, the host computer comprising:

[0427] a. a processing circuit configured to provide user data; and

[0428] b. a communication interface configured to forward user data to a cellular network for transmission to a user equipment (UE) via a core network (CN) and a radio access network (RAN);

[0429] in:

[0430] c. RAN includes a first node and a second node;

[0431] d. The first node includes a communication transceiver and a processing circuit, the processing circuit being configured to perform operations corresponding to any method according to embodiments 1-13; and

[0432] e. The second node includes a communication transceiver and a processing circuit, which is configured to perform operations corresponding to any method according to embodiments 14-20.

[0433] 39. According to the communication system described in the previous embodiment, it also includes: the UE.

[0434] 40. The communication system of any one of the two preceding embodiments, wherein:

[0435] f. The processing circuitry of the host computer is configured to execute the host application, thereby providing user data; and

[0436] g. The UE comprises a processing circuit configured to execute a client application associated with a host application.

[0437] 41. A method implemented in a communication system including a host computer, a cellular network, and a user equipment (UE), the method comprising:

[0438] a. At the host computer, provide user data;

[0439] b. at a host computer, initiating a transmission carrying user data to a UE via a cellular network including a radio access network (RAN); and

[0440] c. Operations corresponding to any one of the methods according to embodiments 1-20 are performed by the first node and the second node of the RAN.

[0441] 42. The method according to the previous embodiment, wherein the data message includes user data, and the method further includes: sending the user data to the UE via the first node or the second node.

[0442] 43. The method of any one of the two preceding embodiments, wherein the user data is provided at a host computer by executing a host application, the method further comprising: executing a client application associated with the host application at a UE.

[0443] 44. A communication system comprising a host computer, the host computer comprising a communication interface configured to receive user data originating from a transmission from a user equipment (UE) via a first node or a second node in a radio access network (RAN), wherein:

[0444] a. The first node includes a communication interface and a processing circuit, the processing circuit being configured to perform operations corresponding to any method according to embodiments 1-13; and

[0445] b. The second node includes a communication interface and a processing circuit, which is configured to perform operations corresponding to any method according to embodiments 14-20.

[0446] 45. The communication system according to the previous embodiment further includes: the UE.

[0447] 46. ​​The communication system of any one of the two preceding embodiments, wherein:

[0448] c. The processing circuitry of the host computer is configured to execute a host application;

[0449] d. The UE is configured to execute a client application associated with a host application, thereby providing user data to be received by the host computer.

Claims

1. A method for conditional handover in a radio access network RAN, wherein: The method is performed by a user equipment UE and comprises: A conditional handover command is received (1340) from a source RAN node, the conditional handover command comprising: The first indication of conditional switching, a second indication of a triggering condition for the conditional switching, a second measurement configuration associated with the trigger condition, and a third measurement configuration relating to one or more target cells served by a target RAN node, the third measurement configuration to be applied after performing the conditional handover towards a specific target cell among the target cells; The second measurement configuration and the third measurement configuration include corresponding measurement configurations for each target cell that is a candidate for the indicated conditional handover; detecting (1350) satisfaction of the trigger condition for the specific target cell among the target cells based on the second measurement configuration, and performing (1360) the conditional handover toward the specific target cell; applying the third measurement configuration to the specific target cell after the UE performs the conditional handover toward the specific target cell; and Then, based on the third measurement configuration, a third measurement is performed (1370) in the specific target cell, and the performed third measurement is reported to the target RAN node.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein: Detecting (1350) that the trigger condition is satisfied includes performing (1351) a second measurement in a source cell of the UE and the one or more target cells based on the second measurement configuration.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein: Executing (1360) the conditional switching includes one or more of the following operations: stopping performing (1361) a second measurement based on the second measurement configuration; deleting or releasing (1362) at least a portion of the stored second measurement configuration; and The third measurement configuration is stored (1363).

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising: receiving (1310) a first measurement configuration related to a source cell of the UE from a source RAN node serving the source cell of the UE; storing (1320) the first measurement configuration; as well as Prior to receiving (1340) the conditional handover command, a first measurement is performed and reported (1330) in a source cell of the UE based on the first measurement configuration.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein: Receiving (1340) the conditional handover command includes storing (1342) at least a portion of the second measurement configuration and the third measurement configuration separately from the first measurement configuration.

6. The method according to claim 4, wherein: The third measurement configuration is received as a complete measurement configuration; as well as Performing (1360) the conditional switching further comprises replacing (1364) the stored first measurement configuration with the third measurement configuration.

7. The method according to claim 4, wherein: The third measurement configuration is received as a delta with respect to one or more of the first measurement configuration and the second measurement configuration; as well as Performing (1360) the conditional handover towards the specific target cell includes determining (1365) a measurement configuration for the third measurement based on the third measurement configuration and one or more of the first measurement configuration and the second measurement configuration.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein: Performing (1360) the conditional switching based on the second measurement configuration includes: performing and reporting (1366) a third measurement in the specific target cell based on the second measurement configuration; and A reconfiguration message including the third measurement configuration is then received (1367).

9. A method for conditional handover of a user equipment UE in a radio access network RAN, wherein: The method is performed by a source RAN node and comprises: sending (1440) to a target RAN node a request for accepting a conditional handover associated with the UE; receiving (1450) a confirmation of the conditional handover from the target RAN node, the confirmation comprising a third measurement configuration related to one or more target cells served by the target RAN node; determining (1460) a second measurement configuration associated with a trigger condition for the conditional handover; and Sending (1470) a conditional handover command to the UE, the conditional handover command comprising: a first indication of the conditional switching; a second indication of the trigger condition; the second measurement configuration; and The third measurement configuration, and wherein the second measurement configuration and the third measurement configuration include a corresponding measurement configuration for each target cell that is a candidate for the indicated conditional handover, wherein the third measurement configuration is to be applied after the UE performs the conditional handover towards a specific target cell among the target cells.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein: Determining (1460) the second measurement configuration further includes sending (1464) the second measurement configuration to the target RAN node.

11. The method according to any one of claims 9 to 10, further comprising: sending (1410) to the UE a first measurement configuration related to a source cell for the UE served by the source RAN node; receiving (1420) a first measurement performed by the UE in the source cell based on the first measurement configuration; as well as Based on the first measurement, it is determined (1430) that the conditional handover associated with the UE is needed.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein: The request sent to the target RAN node also includes the first measurement configuration.

13. The method according to claim 11, wherein: Sending (1410) the first measurement configuration includes: storing (1412) the first measurement configuration; and Determining (1460) the second measurement configuration includes storing (1462) the second measurement configuration separately from the first measurement configuration.

14. The method according to claim 13, further comprising: receiving (1480) a third indication from the target RAN node that the conditional handover has been completed; as well as In response to the third indication, at least a portion of the stored first measurement configuration and the second measurement configuration are deleted or released (1490).

15. The method according to claim 11, wherein: At least one of the following conditions applies: The second measurement configuration is determined as a delta with respect to the first measurement configuration; The third measurement configuration is received as a delta with respect to the first measurement configuration; as well as The third measurement configuration is received as a delta with respect to the first measurement configuration and the second measurement configuration.

16. A method for conditional handover of a user equipment UE in a radio access network RAN, wherein: The method is performed by a target RAN node and comprises: receiving (1510) from a source RAN node a request to accept a conditional handover associated with the UE, the request comprising a first measurement configuration for the UE; determining (1520) a third measurement configuration for the UE associated with one or more target cells served by the target RAN node based on the first measurement configuration, wherein the third measurement configuration is to be applied after the UE performs the conditional handover towards a specific target cell among the target cells; sending (1530) a confirmation of the conditional handover to the source RAN node, the confirmation comprising the third measurement configuration; and A measurement performed in the specific target cell among the target cells based on the third measurement configuration is received (1570) from the UE.

17. The method according to claim 16, further comprising: An indication is sent (1580) to the source RAN node that the conditional handover has been completed.

18. The method according to claim 16, wherein: The third measurement configuration included with the confirmation is one of: an increment in relation to one or more of the first measurement configuration and the second measurement configuration; or Complete measurement configuration.

19. The method according to any one of claims 16 to 18, further comprising: receiving (1550) measurements performed by the UE on the specific target cell based on a second measurement configuration; as well as A reconfiguration message including the third measurement configuration is then sent (1560) to the UE.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein: The method further comprises: receiving (1540) a second measurement configuration for the UE from the source RAN node; The second measurement configuration is received as an increment of the first measurement configuration; and The third measurement configuration included in the reconfiguration message is an increment with respect to the first measurement configuration and the second measurement configuration.

21. A user equipment UE (120, 810, 1010, 1610, 1700, 1991, 1992, 2030), configured for conditional handover in a radio access network RAN ​​(100, 399, 1911), the UE comprising: a radio interface circuit (1614, 1709, 2037) configured to communicate with one or more network nodes via one or more cells in a wireless network; as well as a processing circuit (1620, 1701, 2038) operatively coupled to the radio interface circuit, whereby the processing circuit and the radio interface circuit are configured to: A conditional handover command is received from a source RAN node, the conditional handover command comprising: The first indication of conditional switching, a second indication of a triggering condition for the conditional switching, a second measurement configuration associated with the trigger condition, and a third measurement configuration relating to one or more target cells served by a target RAN node, the third measurement configuration to be applied after performing the conditional handover towards a specific target cell among the target cells; The second measurement configuration and the third measurement configuration include corresponding measurement configurations for each target cell that is a candidate for the indicated conditional handover; Based on the second measurement configuration, detecting satisfaction of the trigger condition for the specific target cell among the target cells, and performing the conditional handover toward the specific target cell; after the UE performs the conditional handover toward the specific target cell, applying the third measurement configuration to the specific target cell; and Then, based on the third measurement configuration, a third measurement is performed in the specific target cell, and the performed third measurement is reported to the target RAN node.

22. A user equipment UE (120, 810, 1010, 1610, 1700, 1991, 1992, 2030), configured for conditional handover in a radio access network RAN ​​(100, 399, 1911), the UE comprising: a radio interface circuit (1614, 1709, 2037) configured to communicate with one or more network nodes via one or more cells in a wireless network; as well as A processing circuit (1620, 1701, 2038) operatively coupled to the radio interface circuit, whereby the processing circuit and the radio interface circuit are configured to perform operations corresponding to the method according to any one of claims 2 to 8.

23. A user equipment UE (120, 810, 1010, 1610, 1700, 1991, 1992, 2030) configured for conditional mobility in a radio access network RAN ​​(100, 399, 1911), the UE comprising at least one processor and a memory, the memory storing instructions executable by the at least one processor, whereby the UE is arranged to: A conditional handover command is received from a source RAN node, the conditional handover command comprising: The first indication of conditional switching, a second indication of a triggering condition for the conditional switching, a second measurement configuration associated with the trigger condition, and a third measurement configuration relating to one or more target cells served by a target RAN node, the third measurement configuration to be applied after performing the conditional handover towards a specific target cell among the target cells; The second measurement configuration and the third measurement configuration include corresponding measurement configurations for each target cell that is a candidate for the indicated conditional handover; Based on the second measurement configuration, detecting satisfaction of the trigger condition for the specific target cell among the target cells, and performing the conditional handover toward the specific target cell; after the UE performs the conditional handover toward the specific target cell, applying the third measurement configuration to the specific target cell; and Then, based on the third measurement configuration, a third measurement is performed in the specific target cell, and the performed third measurement is reported to the target RAN node.

24. A non-transitory computer-readable medium (1630, 1721) storing program instructions (1725, 2031), which, when executed by a processing circuit (1620, 1701, 2038) of a user equipment (UE) (120, 810, 1010, 1610, 1700, 1991, 1992, 2030), configures the UE to: A conditional handover command is received from a source RAN node, the conditional handover command comprising: The first indication of conditional switching, a second indication of a triggering condition for the conditional switching, a second measurement configuration associated with the trigger condition, and a third measurement configuration relating to one or more target cells served by a target RAN node, the third measurement configuration to be applied after performing the conditional handover towards a specific target cell among the target cells; The second measurement configuration and the third measurement configuration include corresponding measurement configurations for each target cell that is a candidate for the indicated conditional handover; Based on the second measurement configuration, detecting satisfaction of the trigger condition for the specific target cell among the target cells, and performing the conditional handover toward the specific target cell; after the UE performs the conditional handover toward the specific target cell, applying the third measurement configuration to the specific target cell; and Then, based on the third measurement configuration, a third measurement is performed in the specific target cell, and the performed third measurement is reported to the target RAN node.

25. A non-transitory computer-readable medium (1630, 1721) storing program instructions (1725, 2031), which, when executed by a processing circuit (1620, 1701, 2038) of a user equipment UE (120, 810, 1010, 1610, 1700, 1991, 1992, 2030), configures the UE to perform operations corresponding to any method according to claims 2 to 8.

26. A computer program product comprising program instructions (1725, 2031) which, when executed by a processing circuit (1620, 1701, 2038) of a user equipment (UE) (120, 810, 1010, 1610, 1700, 1991, 1992, 2030), configure the UE to: A conditional handover command is received from a source RAN node, the conditional handover command comprising: The first indication of conditional switching, a second indication of a triggering condition for the conditional switching, a second measurement configuration associated with the trigger condition, and a third measurement configuration relating to one or more target cells served by a target RAN node, the third measurement configuration to be applied after performing the conditional handover towards a specific target cell among the target cells; The second measurement configuration and the third measurement configuration include corresponding measurement configurations for each target cell that is a candidate for the indicated conditional handover; Based on the second measurement configuration, detecting satisfaction of the trigger condition for the specific target cell among the target cells, and performing the conditional handover toward the specific target cell; after the UE performs the conditional handover toward the specific target cell, applying the third measurement configuration to the specific target cell; and Then, based on the third measurement configuration, a third measurement is performed in the specific target cell, and the performed third measurement is reported to the target RAN node.

27. A computer program product comprising program instructions (1725, 2031), which, when executed by a processing circuit (1620, 1701, 2038) of a user equipment UE (120, 810, 1010, 1610, 1700, 1991, 1992, 2030), configures the UE to perform operations corresponding to any method according to claims 2 to 8.

28. A network node (105-115, 300, 350, 820, 1020, 1660, 1830, 1912, 2020) in a radio access network RAN ​​(100, 399, 1911), configured to facilitate conditional handover of a user equipment UE (120, 810, 1010, 1610, 1700, 1991, 1992, 2030) in the RAN, the network node comprising: a communication interface circuit (1690, 1870, 18200, 2026) configured to communicate with other network nodes in the RAN; as well as a processing circuit (1670, 1860, 2028) operatively coupled to the communication interface circuit, whereby the processing circuit and the communication interface circuit are configured to: sending a request to a target RAN node for accepting a conditional handover associated with the UE; receiving, from the target RAN node, a confirmation of the conditional handover, the confirmation comprising a third measurement configuration related to one or more target cells served by the target RAN node; determining a second measurement configuration associated with a trigger condition for the conditional handover; as well as Sending a conditional handover command to the UE, the conditional handover comprising: a first indication of the conditional switching; a second indication of the trigger condition; the second measurement configuration; and The third measurement configuration, and wherein the second measurement configuration and the third measurement configuration include a corresponding measurement configuration for each target cell that is a candidate for the indicated conditional handover, wherein the third measurement configuration is to be applied after the UE performs the conditional handover towards a specific target cell among the target cells.

29. A network node (105-115, 300, 350, 820, 1020, 1660, 1830, 1912, 2020) in a radio access network RAN ​​(100, 399, 1911), configured to facilitate conditional handover of a user equipment UE (120, 810, 1010, 1610, 1700, 1991, 1992, 2030) in the RAN, the network node comprising: a communication interface circuit (1690, 1870, 18200, 2026) configured to communicate with other network nodes in the RAN; as well as A processing circuit (1670, 1860, 2028) operatively coupled to the communication interface circuit, whereby the processing circuit and the communication interface circuit are configured to perform operations corresponding to the method according to any one of claims 10 to 15.

30. A network node (105-115, 300, 350, 820, 1020, 1660, 1830, 1912, 2020) in a radio access network RAN ​​(100, 399, 1911), configured to facilitate conditional handover of a user equipment UE (120, 810, 1010, 1610, 1700, 1991, 1992, 2030) in the RAN, the network node comprising at least one processor and a memory, the memory storing instructions executable by the at least one processor, whereby the network node is arranged to: sending a request to a target RAN node for accepting a conditional handover associated with the UE; receiving, from the target RAN node, a confirmation of the conditional handover, the confirmation comprising a third measurement configuration related to one or more target cells served by the target RAN node; determining a second measurement configuration associated with a trigger condition for the conditional handover; as well as Sending a conditional handover command to the UE, the conditional handover command comprising: a first indication of the conditional switching; a second indication of the trigger condition; the second measurement configuration; and The third measurement configuration, and wherein the second measurement configuration and the third measurement configuration include a corresponding measurement configuration for each target cell that is a candidate for the indicated conditional handover, wherein the third measurement configuration is to be applied after the UE performs the conditional handover towards a specific target cell among the target cells.

31. A non-transitory computer readable medium (1680, 1890) storing program instructions (1695, 1821) which, when executed by a processing circuit (1670, 1860, 2028) of a network node (105-115, 300, 350, 820, 1020, 1660, 1830, 1912, 2020) in a radio access network RAN ​​(100, 399, 1911), configure the network node to: sending a request to a target RAN node for accepting a conditional handover associated with a user equipment UE; receiving, from the target RAN node, a confirmation of the conditional handover, the confirmation comprising a third measurement configuration related to one or more target cells served by the target RAN node; determining a second measurement configuration associated with a trigger condition for the conditional handover; as well as Sending a conditional handover command to the UE, the conditional handover command comprising: a first indication of the conditional switching; a second indication of the trigger condition; the second measurement configuration; and The third measurement configuration, and wherein the second measurement configuration and the third measurement configuration include a corresponding measurement configuration for each target cell that is a candidate for the indicated conditional handover, wherein the third measurement configuration is to be applied after the UE performs the conditional handover towards a specific target cell among the target cells.

32. A non-transitory computer-readable medium (1680, 1890) storing program instructions (1695, 1821) which, when executed by a processing circuit (1670, 1860, 2028) of a network node (105-115, 300, 350, 820, 1020, 1660, 1830, 1912, 2020) in a radio access network RAN ​​(100, 399, 1911), configures the network node to perform operations corresponding to the method according to any one of claims 10 to 15.

33. A computer program product comprising program instructions (1695, 1821) which, when executed by a processing circuit (1670, 1860, 2028) of a network node (105-115, 300, 350, 820, 1020, 1660, 1830, 1912, 2020) in a radio access network RAN ​​(100, 399, 1911), configure the network node to: sending a request to a target RAN node for accepting a conditional handover associated with a user equipment UE; receiving, from the target RAN node, a confirmation of the conditional handover, the confirmation comprising a third measurement configuration related to one or more target cells served by the target RAN node; determining a second measurement configuration associated with a trigger condition for the conditional handover; as well as Sending a conditional handover command to the UE, the conditional handover command comprising: a first indication of the conditional switching; a second indication of the trigger condition; the second measurement configuration; and The third measurement configuration, and wherein the second measurement configuration and the third measurement configuration include a corresponding measurement configuration for each target cell that is a candidate for the indicated conditional handover, wherein the third measurement configuration is to be applied after the UE performs the conditional handover towards a specific target cell among the target cells.

34. A computer program product comprising program instructions (1695, 1821) which, when executed by a processing circuit (1670, 1860, 2028) of a network node (105-115, 300, 350, 820, 1020, 1660, 1830, 1912, 2020) in a radio access network RAN ​​(100, 399, 1911), configures the network node to perform operations corresponding to the method according to any one of claims 10 to 15.

35. A network node (105-115, 300, 350, 830, 1030, 1660, 1830, 1912, 2020) in a radio access network RAN ​​(100, 399, 1911), configured to facilitate conditional handover of a user equipment UE (120, 810, 1010, 1610, 1700, 1991, 1992, 2030) in the RAN, the network node comprising: a communication interface circuit (1690, 1870, 18200, 2026) configured to communicate with other network nodes in the RAN; as well as a processing circuit (1670, 1860, 2028) operatively coupled to the communication interface circuit, whereby the processing circuit and the communication interface circuit are configured to: receiving, from a source RAN node, a request to accept a conditional handover associated with the UE, the request comprising a first measurement configuration for the UE; determining, based on the first measurement configuration, a third measurement configuration for the UE associated with one or more target cells served by the network node, wherein the third measurement configuration is to be applied after the UE performs the conditional handover towards a specific target cell among the target cells; sending a confirmation of the conditional handover to the source RAN node, the confirmation comprising the third measurement configuration; and receiving, from the UE, measurements performed in the specific target cell among the target cells based on the third measurement configuration.

36. A network node (105-115, 300, 350, 830, 1030, 1660, 1830, 1912, 2020) in a radio access network RAN ​​(100, 399, 1911), configured to facilitate conditional handover of a user equipment UE (120, 810, 1010, 1610, 1700, 1991, 1992, 2030) in the RAN, the network node comprising: a communication interface circuit (1690, 1870, 18200, 2026) configured to communicate with other network nodes in the RAN; as well as A processing circuit (1670, 1860, 2028) operatively coupled to the communication interface circuit, whereby the processing circuit and the communication interface circuit are configured to perform operations corresponding to any of the methods according to claims 17 to 20.

37. A network node (105-115, 300, 350, 830, 1030, 1660, 1830, 1912, 2020) in a radio access network RAN ​​(100, 399, 1911), configured to facilitate conditional handover of a user equipment UE (120, 810, 1010, 1610, 1700, 1991, 1992, 2030) in the RAN, the network node comprising at least one processor and a memory, the memory storing instructions executable by the at least one processor, whereby the network node is arranged to: receiving, from a source RAN node, a request to accept a conditional handover associated with the UE, the request comprising a first measurement configuration for the UE; determining, based on the first measurement configuration, a third measurement configuration for the UE associated with one or more target cells served by the network node, wherein: The third measurement configuration is to be applied after the UE performs the conditional handover towards a specific target cell among the target cells; sending a confirmation of the conditional handover to the source RAN node, the confirmation comprising the third measurement configuration; as well as receiving, from the UE, measurements performed in the specific target cell among the target cells based on the third measurement configuration.

38. A non-transitory computer readable medium (1680, 1890) storing program instructions (1895, 2021) which, when executed by a processing circuit (1670, 1860, 2028) of a network node (105-115, 300, 350, 830, 1030, 1660, 1830, 1912, 2020) in a radio access network RAN ​​(100, 399, 1911), configure the network node to: receiving, from a source RAN node, a request to accept a conditional handover associated with a UE, the request comprising a first measurement configuration for the UE; determining, based on the first measurement configuration, a third measurement configuration for the UE associated with one or more target cells served by the network node, wherein: The third measurement configuration is to be applied after the UE performs the conditional handover towards a specific target cell among the target cells; sending a confirmation of the conditional handover to the source RAN node, the confirmation comprising the third measurement configuration; as well as receiving, from the UE, measurements performed in the specific target cell among the target cells based on the third measurement configuration.

39. A non-transitory computer-readable medium (1680, 1890) storing program instructions (1895, 2021) which, when executed by a processing circuit (1670, 1860, 2028) of a network node (105-115, 300, 350, 830, 1030, 1660, 1830, 1912, 2020) in a radio access network RAN ​​(100, 399, 1911), configures the network node to perform operations corresponding to any of the methods according to claims 17 to 20.

40. A computer program product comprising program instructions (1895, 2021) which, when executed by a processing circuit (1670, 1860, 2028) of a network node (105-115, 300, 350, 830, 1030, 1660, 1830, 1912, 2020) in a radio access network RAN ​​(100, 399, 1911), configure the network node to: receiving, from a source RAN node, a request to accept a conditional handover associated with a UE, the request comprising a first measurement configuration for the UE; determining, based on the first measurement configuration, a third measurement configuration for the UE associated with one or more target cells served by the network node, wherein: The third measurement configuration is to be applied after the UE performs the conditional handover towards a specific target cell among the target cells; sending a confirmation of the conditional handover to the source RAN node, the confirmation comprising the third measurement configuration; as well as receiving, from the UE, measurements performed in the specific target cell among the target cells based on the third measurement configuration.

41. A computer program product comprising program instructions (1895, 2021) which, when executed by a processing circuit (1670, 1860, 2028) of a network node (105-115, 300, 350, 830, 1030, 1660, 1830, 1912, 2020) in a radio access network RAN ​​(100, 399, 1911), configures the network node to perform operations corresponding to any of the methods according to claims 17 to 20.

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