Transmission, retransmission, and hybrid automatic repeat request procedures using pre-configured uplink resources in idle mode

Abstract

Some embodiments of the present disclosure include apparatus and methods for facilitating transmission, retransmission, and hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) processes using preconfigured uplink resources (PURs) in idle mode. In some embodiments, a user equipment (UE) may establish a first PUR and a second PUR for use in idle mode. The UE may utilize the first PUR using a HARQ process to transmit uplink data. The UE may start a PUR retransmission timer and monitor a control channel for an acknowledgment message. The UE may identify expiration of the PUR retransmission timer before receiving the acknowledgment message and, in response, may use the second PUR to retransmit the uplink data.

Description

[0001] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0002] This application claims the benefit under 35 USC §119(e) of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62 / 805,162, filed on February 13, 2019, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. Background Art

[0003] Various embodiments may generally relate to the field of wireless communications. Summary of the Invention

[0004] Certain embodiments of the present disclosure include apparatus and methods for facilitating transmission, retransmission, and hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) processes using preconfigured uplink resources (PURs) in idle mode.

[0005] In some embodiments, a method may be provided for a user equipment (UE) to perform a HARQ process using a preconfigured uplink resource (PUR) in idle mode. The method may include establishing a first preconfigured uplink resource (PUR) and a second PUR for use by the user equipment (UE) in idle mode. The method may include using a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) process to transmit uplink data using the first PUR when in idle mode. The method may include starting a PUR retransmission timer and monitoring a control channel for an acknowledgment message. The method may include identifying expiration of the PUR retransmission timer before receiving the acknowledgment message. In response to identifying the expiration, the method may include using the second PUR to retransmit the uplink data.

[0006] In some embodiments, the method may further include confirming that the message is a radio resource control (RRC) message transmitted from an evolved Node B (eNB).

[0007] In some embodiments, the method may further include receiving a radio resource control (RRC) message directing the UE to remain in idle mode in response to the retransmission, and causing the UE to remain in idle mode.

[0008] In some embodiments, the method may further include receiving a radio resource control (RRC) message directing the UE to move to connected mode in response to the retransmission, and changing the state of the UE from idle to connected.

[0009] In some embodiments, the method may further include receiving a contention resolution medium access control element (MAC CE) as an acknowledgement in response to the retransmission, and maintaining the UE in idle mode.

[0010] In some embodiments, the method may further include receiving a negative acknowledgement (NACK) in response to the retransmission, and retransmitting the uplink data using an early data transmission (EDT) protocol.

[0011] In some embodiments, the method may further include transmitting a radio resource control (RRC) message to an evolved Node B (eNB) to release the second PUR in response to the retransmission.

[0012] In some embodiments, a device such as a user equipment (UE) may facilitate HARQ communication using a PUR in idle mode. The device may include a radio front-end circuit and a processing circuit coupled to the radio front-end circuit. The processing circuit may be configured to establish a first PUR and a second PUR for use by the device in idle mode. The processing circuit may utilize the first PUR to transmit uplink data using a HARQ process while in idle mode. The processing circuit may start a PUR retransmission timer and monitor a control channel for an acknowledgment message. The processing circuit may identify expiration of the PUR retransmission timer before receiving the acknowledgment message and, in response, may utilize the second PUR to retransmit the uplink data.

[0013] In some embodiments, the confirmation message is a radio resource control (RRC) message transmitted from an evolved Node B (eNB).

[0014] In some embodiments, the processing circuit may be further configured to receive a radio resource control (RRC) message directing the apparatus to remain in idle mode in response to the retransmission; and cause the apparatus to remain in idle mode.

[0015] In some embodiments, the processing circuit may be further configured to receive a radio resource control (RRC) message directing the apparatus to move to connected mode in response to the retransmission, and change the state of the apparatus from idle to connected.

[0016] In some embodiments, the processing circuit may be further configured to receive a contention resolution medium access control-control element (MAC CE) as an acknowledgement in response to the retransmission and to maintain the apparatus in the idle mode.

[0017] In some embodiments, the processing circuit may be further configured to receive a negative acknowledgement (NACK) in response to the retransmission and retransmit the uplink data using an early data transmission (EDT) protocol.

[0018] In some embodiments, the processing circuit may be further configured to transmit a radio resource control (RRC) message to an evolved Node B (eNB) to release the second PUR in response to the retransmission.

[0019] In some embodiments, a method may be provided for a user equipment (UE) to perform a HARQ process using a preconfigured uplink resource (PUR) in idle mode. The method may include establishing a first HARQ process corresponding to a first PUR and a second HARQ process corresponding to a second PUR for use by the user equipment (UE) in idle mode. The method may include transmitting uplink data using the first HARQ process and the first PUR while in idle mode. The method may include starting a PUR retransmission timer and monitoring a control channel for an acknowledgment message. The method may include identifying expiration of the PUR retransmission timer before receiving the acknowledgment message. In response to identifying the expiration, the method may include retransmitting the uplink data using the second HARQ process and the second PUR.

[0020] In some embodiments, the method may further include confirming that the message is a radio resource control (RRC) message transmitted from an evolved Node B (eNB).

[0021] In some embodiments, the method may further include receiving a radio resource control (RRC) message directing the UE to remain in idle mode in response to the retransmission, and causing the UE to remain in idle mode.

[0022] In some embodiments, the method may further include receiving a radio resource control (RRC) message directing the UE to move to connected mode in response to the retransmission, and changing the state of the UE from idle to connected.

[0023] In some embodiments, the method may further include receiving a negative acknowledgement (NACK) in response to the retransmission, and retransmitting the uplink data using an early data transmission (EDT) protocol.

[0024] In some embodiments, the method may further include transmitting a radio resource control (RRC) message to an evolved Node B (eNB) to release the second PUR in response to the retransmission. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0025] Figure 1 An exemplary system architecture according to an embodiment is shown.

[0026] Figure 2 Another exemplary system architecture according to an embodiment is shown.

[0027] Figure 3 Another exemplary system architecture according to an embodiment is shown.

[0028] Figure 4 A block diagram of exemplary infrastructure equipment is shown, according to an embodiment.

[0029] Figure 5A block diagram of an exemplary platform is shown, according to an embodiment.

[0030] Figure 6 A block diagram of a baseband circuit and a front-end module according to an embodiment is shown.

[0031] Figure 7 A block diagram illustrating exemplary protocol functionality that may be implemented in a wireless communication device according to an embodiment.

[0032] Figure 8 A block diagram of exemplary core network components is shown, according to an embodiment.

[0033] Figure 9 A block diagram of system components for supporting network function virtualization is shown according to an embodiment.

[0034] Figure 10 A block diagram is shown of an exemplary computer system that can be used to implement various embodiments.

[0035] Figure 11 A block diagram of a Medium Access Control - Control Element (MAC CE) is shown in accordance with some embodiments.

[0036] Figure 12 A flow diagram of HARQ communication using preconfigured uplink resources (PUR) in idle mode is shown according to some embodiments.

[0037] Features and advantages of the embodiments will become more apparent from the detailed description set forth below when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like reference numerals identify corresponding elements throughout. In the drawings, like reference numerals generally indicate identical, functionally similar, and / or structurally similar elements. The drawing in which an element first appears is indicated by the leftmost digit(s) in the corresponding reference numeral. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0038] The following detailed description refers to the accompanying drawings. The same reference numerals may be used to identify the same or similar elements in different drawings. In the following description, specific details, such as specific structures, architectures, interfaces, technologies, etc., are set forth for the purpose of illustration and not limitation, so as to provide a thorough understanding of the various aspects of the various embodiments. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art who benefit from this disclosure that the various aspects of the various embodiments can be practiced in other examples that deviate from these specific details. In some cases, descriptions of well-known devices, circuits, and methods have been omitted so as not to obscure the description of the various embodiments due to unnecessary details. For the purposes of this document, the phrase "A or B" refers to (A), (B), or (A and B).

[0039] The present disclosure relates to configuring a user equipment (UE) to perform transmission, retransmission, and hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) processes while the UE is in idle mode. To perform these processes in idle mode, the UE may use preconfigured uplink resources (PURs). The UE may use PURs to communicate with and transmit data to nodes of a next-generation radio access network (NG-RAN) or 5G communication network. For example, the UE may communicate with nodes of the network, such as an evolved Node B (eNB) or a next-generation Node B (gNB). Communicating with such nodes while the UE is in idle mode may help reduce transmission delays.

[0040] Idle mode may refer to a state in which a UE has completed a cell selection and / or reselection process and has selected a cell and / or a node serving the cell. Idle mode may be distinct from a connected mode or state in which a data session is ongoing. In some embodiments, idle mode may be a low-power state in which the UE is not transmitting or receiving data from the node. In some embodiments, a radio resource control (RRC) designation may indicate that the UE is idle when there is no RRC connection between the node and the UE.

[0041] A HARQ process may refer to an error control method for data transmission that uses acknowledgements and timeouts to achieve reliable data transmission. An acknowledgement may be a message sent by a receiver, such as a node, indicating that it has correctly received a packet. A timeout may be a specified period of time allowed to elapse before receiving an acknowledgement. If a UE transmitting a packet using a HARQ process does not receive an acknowledgement before the timeout, the UE may retransmit the packet until the UE receives an acknowledgement and / or exceeds a predefined number of retransmissions. In some embodiments, the "hybrid" designation of the HARQ process may add an element of forward error correction (FEC).

[0042] In some embodiments, the HARQ process may be asynchronous for downlink and uplink transmissions. Furthermore, for communications transmitted from a UE on a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), the UE may not receive an acknowledgment or negative acknowledgment (ACK / NACK). Instead, the UE may determine whether the communication was successful based on whether the UE received a retransmission request from the node. If the node does not send a retransmission request within a certain period of time, the UE may assume that the PUSCH transmission was successfully received and / or decoded by the node.

[0043] As will be further explained below, preconfigured uplink resources (PURs) can be used to perform HARQ transmissions when the UE is in idle mode. Performing these communications in idle mode can help reduce latency and can facilitate faster delivery of communications. As will be further explained below, the UE can use an effective timing advance (TA) to transmit preconfigured uplink resources (PURs) in idle mode. While the use of PURs in idle mode will be further described below, the use of shared resources can be further employed and will also be discussed.

[0044] In idle mode, HARQ processes are supported using transmissions of dedicated PURs. A single HARQ process may be supported. In some embodiments, more than one HARQ process may be supported. A corresponding machine type communication (MTC) physical downlink control channel (MPDCCH) search space may be further designed, associated with the HARQ process. While dedicated PURs may be described below, support for CFS PURs and CBS PURs may also be provided. In some embodiments, a fallback mechanism for random access channel (RACH) / early data transmission (EDT) may also be supported for PUR transmission. Furthermore, for PUR transmission, a UE in RRC idle state may use the most recent TA received from a node that has passed validation criteria. In some embodiments, the PUR used for data transmission may be indicated by RRC signaling. UE-specific RRC signaling may also be supported.

[0045] As previously explained, a UE can be configured to use a HARQ process utilizing a PUR in idle mode. A PUR can also be configured for the UE when it is in connected mode. This configuration can then be used in idle mode. When a transmission using a PUR in idle mode supports a HARQ process, the same HARQ process can also be applied in random access mode and / or connected mode. This HARQ process will be further explained below and will be further described with respect to handling retransmissions of transmissions in a PUR.

[0046] The following various embodiments describe how to use a PUR, calculate a HARQ process identifier (ID), handle retransmissions, and fall back to legacy random access when a PUR is configured in idle mode. When a PUR is configured by dedicated RRC signaling and / or broadcast, parameters including the transport block size (TBS), periodicity, allowed coverage enhancement (CE) level, and number of HARQ processes can be configured for the PUR in idle mode. If the UE has uplink (UL) data greater than the TBS, the UE can use the PUR to send an RRC connection request message along with a buffer status report (BSR) and / or segments of the UL data.

[0047] An exemplary HARQ process may be further described below:

[0048] 1. Apply the HARQ process from the random access scheme

[0049] 2. Modify the HARQ process in the random access scheme

[0050] a. If multiple HARQ processes are supported, a separate random access procedure may be initiated for each HARQ process. Feedback / new grants / retransmissions in response to transmissions in a PUR may indicate the HARQ process ID.

[0051] b. After UL transmission, start a new PUR retransmission timer.

[0052] c. Use the new Radio Network Temporary Identifier (RNTI) provided in the PUR configuration to monitor the Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) in the Common Search Space (CSS) provided in the public configuration.

[0053] i. If the timer expires and no information is received, the request fails and a retransmission is performed in another PUR.

[0054] ii. If the timer expires and no information is received, fall back to initiating legacy and / or EDT random access transmission.

[0055] iii. If the timer expires and no information is received, then it is successful.

[0056] d. When the timer is running,

[0057] i. The eNB may provide a retransmission grant addressed to the new RNTI.

[0058] ii. The eNB may provide a negative acknowledgement (NACK) message, which causes the UE to back off and initiate a legacy / EDT random access transmission.

[0059] iii. The eNB may also provide a success ID and / or contention resolution Medium Access Control - Control Element (MAC CE) so that the UE may immediately go to sleep.

[0060] iv. The eNB may schedule an RRC message that tells the UE to remain in idle mode (similar to the EarlyDataComplete or RRCConnectionRelease message in EDT) or to move to connected mode (RRCConnectionSetup or RRCConnectionResume message).

[0061] e. After each retransmission, the PUR retransmission timer may be restarted.

[0062] 3. Follow asynchronous UL HARQ

[0063] a. After the UL transmission, the HARQ round trip time (RTT) is started, and then the discontinuous reception (DRX) retransmission timer is started.

[0064] i. If the timer expires and no information is received, the request fails and a retransmission is performed in another PUR.

[0065] ii. If the timer expires and no information is received, fall back to initiating legacy and / or EDT random access transmission.

[0066] iii. If the timer expires and no information is received, then it is successful.

[0067] 4. Same as synchronous UL HARQ

[0068] a. The HARQ process corresponds to a transmission time interval (TTI).

[0069] b. After the last repetition of PUSCH, the UE monitors PDCCH for ACK / NACK in a predefined search space (e.g., the same CSS used for random access response). Monitoring of PDCCH starts at the xth TTI (e.g., the 4th TTI) after the last repetition of PUSCH.

[0070] i. If no information is received, the UE fails and retransmits in the next PUR or initiates a new conventional RACH / EDT.

[0071] ii. If a NACK is received, the UE retransmits using the same resource configuration in the TTI corresponding to the same HARQ process as the initial transmission.

[0072] iii. If ACK is received, then it is successful.

[0073] c. PUR transmission is successful.

[0074] To implement the HARQ process for the control plane (CP) implementation, the UE sends an RRC connection request message along with a non-access stratum protocol data unit (NAS PDU), such as an RRC EarlyDataRequest. This transmission can be performed with or without a BSR. If the CP data in the NAS PDU is not suitable for the TBS for the PUR, the UE sends an RRC connection request message along with a non-access stratum (NAS) service request. This request can also be performed with or without a BSR.

[0075] The interaction between NAS and AS may be used to decide whether to transmit CP data plus NAS signaling, only NAS signaling, and / or only NAS service request in the PUR based on the TBS size limit of the PUR. The interaction between NAS and AS may depend on the UE specific implementation.

[0076] When the UE is using Control Plane Evolved Packet System (CP-CIoT EPS) optimization, AS security may not be present. In this case, control plane data may be sent via NAS PDU while relying on NAS security. Therefore, the same RRCEarlyDataRequest message may be reused to carry CP data via a dedicated PUR (D-PUR) in idle mode. However, in some embodiments, the UE may have additional UL data to transmit, for which the UE may need to transition to RRC_CONNECTED. Currently, segmentation or BSR may not be allowed when transmitting the RRCEarlyDataRequest message. In addition, two establishment causes may be used: mo-Data-r15 and delayTolerantAccess-r15. In view of these limitations, extensions of the RRCEarlyDataRequest message may be used to carry CP data, AS release assistance information (RAI) and other establishment causes. The BSR Medium Access Control-Control Element (MAC CE) may also be sent together with the RRC message. When the UE has completed the uplink, there is no additional UL data or BSR=0, the new indication of the AS RAI in the RRC message may be used instead of the BSR MACCE.

[0077] When a UE is released to idle mode with a D-PUR configuration, a node such as an eNB may store the D-PUR configuration. To confirm that an UL transmission in a D-PUR has been received from the intended UE, the new ID of the D-PUR or the System Architecture Evolution (SAE) Temporary Mobile Station Identifier (S-TMSI) provided in the RRC message may be used. This confirmation may be performed before the node forwards the UL data to the network. In one embodiment, the UE ID is not provided in the RRC message (e.g., the S-TMSI is not provided). In this case, the eNB maps the dedicated PUR configuration to the S-TMSI or the Cell Radio Network Temporary Identity (C-RNTI) or any other allocated UE-specific Radio Network Temporary Identifier (RNTI) to identify the UE.

[0078] For the user plane (UP) implementation, if the UE has received a Next Hop Chaining Counter (NCC) in the previous connection before activating the new connection, the UE activates AS security. The UE may activate AS security before transmitting the RRC Connection Resumption Request message with or without multiplexing user plane data and / or BSR. The message class of the RRC Connection Resumption Request message can be used to indicate to the eNB that security has been activated. If the user data is larger than the TBS of the PUR, segmentation may be performed. The segmented data may be multiplexed with the RRC Resumption Request message. Based on the BSR, the eNB may schedule an additional UL grant to transmit the remaining segments or UL data. After transmission of the remaining data or when the eNB receives an indication of BSR = 0, the eNB may release the UE. This is applicable to both CP and UP implementations.

[0079] When D-PUR is used in the UP implementation, AS security of the UE is activated. In addition, signaling radio bearers (SRBs), data radio bearers (DRBs) and packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) can be restored. TA can be verified when RRC messages are not used. The UE can transmit ULInformationTransfer in a dedicated control channel (DCCH) to deliver CP data or NAS signaling with an implicit establishment cause. The UE can transmit MAC PDU in a dedicated traffic channel (DTCH) to deliver user plane UL data with packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) encryption. In some embodiments, a new RRC message in the DCCH can be defined or ULInformationTransfer can be extended to send CP data. The RRC message and / or ULInformationTransfer can be a request to establish or resume an RRC connection due to the establishment cause moving to RRC_CONNECTED. The recovery ID can also be included in the DCCH message.

[0080] In some embodiments, if the UE does not send an RRC message, the eNB may still move the UE to RRC_CONNECTED. In this case, the UE may still receive an RRCConnectionSetup or RRCConnectionResume message in response to a D-PUR transmission. Similar to UP-EDT, if security is activated and an RRCConnectionSetup is received, the UL data transmission in the D-PUR may be considered failed and / or unsuccessful.

[0081] In some embodiments, the UE activates AS security when the UE can send multiplexed user UL data in a PUR. Otherwise, the UE sends a traditional RRCConnectionResume message with or without a BSR in the PUR. In some embodiments, if the UE does not receive a new NCC (or does not receive an NCC) in response to the PUR, the UE may retain the same AS key for the next PUR occasion (if available). The UE may also send a request to the eNB indicating that the UE expects to use the same AS key for the next PUR occasion. This indication may be known from the BSR or an indication that additional UL data is available in the PUR transmission. In some embodiments, the UE returns to idle mode with a pause indication and uses the same NCC to initiate transmission in the D-PUR or initiates EDT at a further time.

[0082] When the UE starts using RACH and moves to the RRC_CONNECTED state, the UE may use the D-PUR in connected mode, for example, to transmit a scheduling request (SR), a BSR, or UL data when the D-PUR has not been released. The eNB may release the D-PUR using Msg2 or Msg4 or in connected mode. In some embodiments, the eNB may command the UE to enter the RRC_CONNECTED state by using an ACK message for the D-PUR transmitted to the UE.

[0083] If the UE receives an RRC message in response to a transmission in a PUR (e.g., instructing the UE to remain in idle mode or move to RRC_CONNECTED), the RRC message may include a new TA command NCC. The new TA command may restart the TA validity timer. Based on the BSR, the eNB may provide the UE with another UL grant to transmit the remaining UL data. The grant may indicate a new HARQ process. The RRC message may also include a D-PUR reconfiguration to modify or cancel the D-PUR. The UE may also receive a HARQ acknowledgment based on the PDCCH. This acknowledgment may allow the UE to assume that the transmission in the D-PUR has been successfully completed. In this case, the UE may remain in idle mode. In some embodiments, if the UE does not receive a response message or ACK in response to a transmission in a PUR and the transmission is deemed successful, the UE may still return to the idle state.

[0084] If the UE is using UP C-IoT optimization and has activated security for transmissions in a PUR, then in the next PUR, if the UE still has additional data to transmit, the UE can use the same existing key while the current TA is still valid. To use EDT in a PUR, a condition for initiating EDT can be added. This condition can be that EDT can be used for a PUR even if there are multiple packets to transmit.

[0085] In some embodiments, the number of HARQ processes may vary. For a single HARQ process, HARQ process ID = 0 may be used. For multiple HARQ processes, the HARQ process ID may be determined as follows:

[0086] HARQ process ID=[floor(CURRENT_TTI / PURinterval)]modulo

[0087] numberOfHARQ-Processes,

[0088] Where CURRENT_TTI = [(SFN*10) + subframe number]. This value may refer to the subframe in which the first transmission of the bundle occurs.

[0089] For synchronous HARQ, the HARQ process ID can be determined by the following formula:

[0090] HARQ process ID=CURRENT_TTI modulo numberOfHARQ-Processes

[0091] In some embodiments, when multiple D-PUR configurations are supported, each D-PUR configuration may correspond to a different HARQ process. If the D-PUR retransmission timer expires, the UE may assume that the HARQ process has failed and may start a new HARQ process in the next D-PUR to retransmit the data. A HARQ process ID may be assigned to each D-PUR during configuration. In some embodiments, a HARQ process offset may be configured for each D-PUR. In this case, the HARQ process ID may be calculated as:

[0092] HARQ process ID=[floor(CURRENT_TTI / PURinterval)]modulo

[0093] numberOfHARQ-Processes+HARQ-Offset

[0094] The HARQ-offset may also be the starting HARQ process ID for a given D-PUR configuration. For a one-time D-PUR, the HARQ process ID may be configured as a constant value, for example, HARQ process ID = 0.

[0095] In some implementations, the first periodic D-PUR configuration may have a value of HARQ-offset = 1. The second periodic D-PUR configuration may have HARQ offset = numberOfHARQ-Processes + 1. The nth periodic D-PUR configuration may have HARQ offset = (n X numberOfHARQ-Processes) + 1.

[0096] In some embodiments, the HARQ processes may be calculated jointly for one-time D-PUR and / or periodic D-PUR.For example, assume there are "x" one-time configurations and "y" periodic D-PUR configurations.

[0097] For the first disposable D-PUR(0 <i<x+1)

[0098] HARQ process ID = HARQ-Offset(i) = i-1,

[0099] For the j-th periodic D-PUR(0 <j<y+1)

[0100] HARQ process ID=[floor(CURRENT_TTI / PURinterval)]modulo numberOfHARQ-Processes+HARQ-Offset,

[0101] Wherein, HARQ-Offset=(j-1)X numberOfHARQ-Processes+x.

[0102] The PURinterval and HARQ-Offset may be configured differently for each D-PUR configuration so that their HARQ process IDs do not conflict.

[0103] Radio Network Temporary Identifier (RNTI)

[0104] After transmission in the D-PUR, the UE may monitor the PDCCH for the acknowledgment. The RNTI may also be identified. The RNTI may be derived from the time and frequency at which the UE uses the D-PUR resource. In some embodiments, the RNTI may be common and / or cell-specific for all UEs. In some embodiments, a group RNTI may be allocated to a group of UEs for this purpose. The UE receives PDSCH data scheduled by the PDCCH to resolve contention, receive acknowledgments, retransmission grants and / or new transmissions. Similar to a random access response (RAR), multiple UEs may receive a D-PUR response service data unit (SDU) corresponding to the UE's ID (e.g., S-TMSI) or the first 48 bits of the PDU transmitted in the D-PUR. The response SDU may include acknowledgments, retransmission grants and / or new DL allocations. If the response SDU does not correspond to the UE, the UE continues to monitor the PDCCH until the PUR retransmission timer expires.

[0105] The response SDU may include a contention resolution MAC CE, a TA command, a new UL or DL ​​grant, a temporary C-RNTI, and / or a HARQ process ID. This data may be used in implementations where multiple HARQ processes are configured. For example, there may be multiple response SDUs for multiple UEs. The contention resolution ID may include the new D-PUR ID assigned to the UE. The D-PUR ID may be of varying lengths, such as 8 bits, 16 bits, 24 bits, or 40 bits.

[0106] In some embodiments, a reserved logical channel identifier (LCID) or an extended LCID (eLCID) may be used for the D-PUR response MAC CE. Figure 11 A block diagram of a MAC CE 1100 according to one embodiment is shown. Bits of the MAC CE 1100 may provide a response message to the UE based on a D-PUR transmission from the UE. For example, the MAC CE 1100 may include bits for a D-PUR ID 1110, an R 1120, a U / D 1130, an UL / DL grant 1140, an UL / DL grant 1150, a Temporary C-RNTI 1160, and / or a Temporary C-RNTI 1170. In embodiments where multiple HARQ processes are configured, the R 1120 bit may be used to indicate the HARQ process ID. In some embodiments, two reserved bits in the MAC subheader with the eLCID may be used.

[0107] In some embodiments, if a UE-specific RNTI for a D-PUR is configured, the UE may not indicate the UE's ID (e.g., S-TMSI or ResumeID) in the RRC message in the UL transmission in the D-PUR. However, the UE may indicate the establishment cause or the resumption cause in the RRC message.

[0108] In this case, a new UL Common Control Channel (CCCH) message class extension may be defined for the RRCConnectionRequest or RRCConnectionResumeRequest message to carry the establishment cause and / or resumption cause. In some embodiments, this message may include NAS PDU (CP data). For UL solutions, a new UL DCCH message class extension may be defined.

[0109] Release of PUR in idle mode

[0110] If the UE wants to release the PUR and the TA validity timer is still running, the UE can send a new RRC message, MAC CE, or L1 signaling in the PUR to indicate the release of the PUR to the eNB. The PUR can also be released if the UE initiates the legacy RRC connection / resumption establishment procedure using legacy physical random access channel (PRACH) resources or initiates EDT using EDT PRACH resources.

[0111] System and implementation

[0112] Figure 1 An exemplary architecture of a system 100 of a network according to various embodiments is shown. The following description is provided for an exemplary system 100 operating in conjunction with LTE system standards and 5G or NR system standards provided by 3GPP technical specifications. However, the exemplary embodiments are not limited in this regard and may be applied to other networks that benefit from the principles described herein, such as future 3GPP systems (e.g., sixth generation (6G) systems), IEEE 802.16 protocols (e.g., WMAN, WiMAX, etc.), and the like.

[0113] like Figure 1As shown, system 100 includes UE 101a and UE 101b (collectively referred to as "UEs 101" or "UE 101"). In this example, UE 101 is shown as a smartphone (e.g., a handheld touchscreen mobile computing device that can connect to one or more cellular networks), but may also include any mobile or non-mobile computing device, such as a consumer electronic device, a mobile phone, a smartphone, a feature phone, a tablet computer, a wearable computer device, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a pager, a wireless handheld device, a desktop computer, a laptop computer, an in-vehicle infotainment (IVI), an in-car entertainment (ICE) device, an instrument panel (IC), a head-up display (HUD) device, an on-board diagnostic (OBD) device, a dashtop mobile equipment (DME), a mobile data terminal (MDT), an electronic engine management system (EEMS), an electronic / engine electronic control unit (ECU), an electronic / engine electronic control module (ECM), an embedded system, a microcontroller, a control module, an engine management system (EMS), a connected or "smart" appliance, a MTC device, an M2M device, an IoT device, etc.

[0114] UE 101 may be configured to connect, e.g., be communicatively coupled, to RAN 110. In an embodiment, RAN 110 may be an NG RAN or 5G RAN, E-UTRAN, or a legacy RAN, such as UTRAN or GERAN. As used herein, the term "NG RAN," etc., may refer to the RAN 110 operating in an NR or 5G system 100, while the term "E-UTRAN," etc., may refer to the RAN 110 operating in an LTE or 4G system 100. Multiple UEs 101 utilize connections (or channels) 103 and 104, respectively, each connection comprising a physical communication interface or layer (discussed in further detail below).

[0115] In this example, connections 103 and 104 are shown as air interfaces to achieve communication coupling and may be consistent with a cellular communication protocol, such as a GSM protocol, a CDMA network protocol, a PTT protocol, a POC protocol, a UMTS protocol, a 3GPP LTE protocol, a 5G protocol, a NR protocol, and / or any other communication protocol discussed herein. In an embodiment, the UE 101 may directly exchange communication data via a ProSe interface 105. The ProSe interface 105 may alternatively be referred to as an SL interface 105 and may include one or more logical channels, including but not limited to a PSCCH, a PSSCH, a PSDCH, and a PSBCH.

[0116] UE 101b is shown configured to access AP 106 (also referred to as "WLAN node 106," "WLAN 106," "WLAN terminal 106," "WT 106," etc.) via connection 107. Connection 107 may comprise a local wireless connection, such as a connection consistent with any IEEE 802.11 protocol, wherein AP 106 would include Wireless Fidelity. router. In this example, AP 106 is shown connected to the Internet without being connected to the core network of the wireless system (described in further detail below). In various embodiments, UE 101b, RAN 110, and AP 106 may be configured to utilize LWA operation and / or LWIP operation. LWA operation may involve RAN nodes 111a-b configuring UE 101b in an RRC_CONNECTED state to utilize radio resources of LTE and WLAN. LWIP operation may involve UE 101b using WLAN radio resources (e.g., connection 107) via an IPsec protocol tunnel to authenticate and encrypt packets (e.g., IP packets) sent over connection 107. IPsec tunneling may include encapsulating the entire original IP packet and adding a new packet header, thereby protecting the original header of the IP packet.

[0117] The RAN 110 includes one or more AN nodes or RAN nodes 111a and 111b (collectively, "RAN nodes 111") that enable connections 103 and 104. As used herein, the terms "access node," "access point," and the like may describe equipment that provides radio baseband functionality for data and / or voice connections between a network and one or more users. These access nodes may be referred to as BSs, gNBs, RAN nodes, eNBs, NodeBs, RSUs, TRxPs, or TRPs, and may include ground stations (e.g., terrestrial access points) or satellite stations that provide coverage within a geographic area (e.g., a cell). As used herein, the terms "NG RAN node" and the like may refer to RAN nodes 111 (e.g., gNBs) operating in NR or 5G systems 100, while the terms "E-UTRAN node" and the like may refer to RAN nodes 111 (e.g., eNBs) operating in LTE or 4G systems 100. According to various embodiments, the RAN node 111 may be implemented as one or more dedicated physical devices such as a macrocell base station and / or a low power (LP) base station for providing a femtocell, picocell or other similar cell with a smaller coverage area, smaller user capacity or higher bandwidth than a macrocell.

[0118] In some embodiments, all or part of the RAN nodes 111 may be implemented as one or more software entities running on a server computer as part of a virtual network that may be referred to as a CRAN and / or a virtual baseband unit pool (vBBUP). In these embodiments, the CRAN or vBBUP may implement a RAN functional split, such as a PDCP split, where the RRC and PDCP layers are operated by the CRAN / vBBUP, while other L2 protocol entities are operated by individual RAN nodes 111; a MAC / PHY split, where the RRC, PDCP, RLC, and MAC layers are operated by the CRAN / vBBUP, and the PHY layer is operated by individual RAN nodes 111; or a "lower PHY" split, where the RRC, PDCP, RLC, MAC layers, and upper portions of the PHY layers are operated by the CRAN / vBBUP, and the lower portions of the PHY layers are operated by individual RAN nodes 111. This virtualization framework allows idle processor cores of multiple RAN nodes 111 to execute other virtualized applications. In some implementations, a separate RAN node 111 may represent a plurality of RAN nodes 111 connected to the RAN via individual F1 interfaces ( Figure 1 In these implementations, the gNB-DU may include one or more remote radio heads or RFEMs (see, e.g., Figure 4 ), and the gNB-CU may be operated by a server (not shown) located in the RAN 110 or by a server pool in a manner similar to CRAN / vBBUP. Additionally or alternatively, one or more of the RAN nodes 111 may be a next generation eNB (ng-eNB), which is a next generation eNB that provides E-UTRA user plane and control plane protocol terminations to the UE 101 and is connected to the 5GC (e.g., NG-eNB) via an NG interface (discussed below). Figure 3 RAN node of CN 320).

[0119] In a V2X scenario, one or more of the RAN nodes 111 may be or act as an RSU. The term "roadside unit" or "RSU" may refer to any traffic infrastructure entity used for V2X communication. The RSU may be implemented in or by a suitable RAN node or a stationary (or relatively stationary) UE, where an RSU implemented in or by a UE may be referred to as a "UE-type RSU," an RSU implemented in or by an eNB may be referred to as an "eNB-type RSU," an RSU implemented in or by a gNB may be referred to as a "gNB-type RSU," and so on. In one example, an RSU is a computing device coupled to RF circuitry located on the roadside that provides connectivity support to passing vehicle UEs 101 (vUEs 101). The RSU may also include internal data storage circuitry for storing intersection map geometry, traffic statistics, media, and applications / software for sensing and controlling ongoing vehicular and pedestrian traffic. The RSU may operate on the 5.9 GHz Direct Short Range Communication (DSRC) band to provide extremely low latency communications required for high-speed events, such as collision avoidance, traffic warnings, and the like. Additionally or alternatively, the RSU may operate on the cellular V2X band to provide the aforementioned low latency communications as well as other cellular communication services. Additionally or alternatively, the RSU may operate as a Wi-Fi hotspot (2.4 GHz band) and / or provide connectivity to one or more cellular networks to provide uplink and downlink communications. Some or all of the computing device and the RSU's RF circuitry may be packaged in a weatherproof enclosure suitable for outdoor installation, and may include a network interface controller to provide a wired connection (e.g., Ethernet) to a traffic signal controller and / or backhaul network.

[0120] Any of the RAN nodes 111 may serve as the endpoint for the air interface protocol and may be the first point of contact for the UE 101. In some embodiments, any of the RAN nodes 111 may perform various logical functions of the RAN 110, including but not limited to functions of a radio network controller (RNC), such as radio bearer management, uplink and downlink dynamic radio resource management and data packet scheduling, and mobility management.

[0121] In an embodiment, UEs 101 may be configured to communicate with each other or with any of RAN nodes 111 using OFDM communication signals over a multi-carrier communication channel according to various communication techniques, such as, but not limited to, OFDMA communication techniques (e.g., for downlink communication) or SC-FDMA communication techniques (e.g., for uplink and ProSe or sidelink communication), although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. The OFDM signal may include multiple orthogonal subcarriers.

[0122] In some embodiments, a downlink resource grid can be used for downlink transmissions from any of the RAN nodes 111 to the UE 101, while similar techniques can be used for uplink transmissions. The grid can be a time-frequency grid, called a resource grid or time-frequency resource grid, which represents the physical resources in the downlink in each time slot. This type of time-frequency plane representation is common for OFDM systems, making radio resource allocation intuitive. Each column and row of the resource grid corresponds to an OFDM symbol and an OFDM subcarrier, respectively. The duration of the resource grid in the time domain corresponds to a time slot in a radio frame. The smallest time-frequency unit in the resource grid is represented as a resource element. Each resource grid includes multiple resource blocks, which describe the mapping of certain physical channels to resource elements. Each resource block includes a collection of resource elements; in the frequency domain, this can represent the minimum amount of resources that can currently be allocated. Such resource blocks are used to transmit several different physical downlink channels.

[0123] According to various embodiments, UE 101 and RAN node 111 communicate data (e.g., transmit data and receive data) over a licensed medium (also referred to as a "licensed spectrum" and / or a "licensed band") and an unlicensed shared medium (also referred to as an "unlicensed spectrum" and / or an "unlicensed band"). The licensed spectrum may include channels operating in a frequency range of approximately 400 MHz to approximately 3.8 GHz, while the unlicensed spectrum may include a 5 GHz band.

[0124] To operate in the unlicensed spectrum, the UE 101 and the RAN node 111 may operate using LAA, eLAA, and / or feLAA mechanisms. In these implementations, the UE 101 and the RAN node 111 may perform one or more known medium sensing operations and / or carrier sensing operations to determine whether one or more channels in the unlicensed spectrum are unavailable or otherwise occupied before transmitting in the unlicensed spectrum. The medium / carrier sensing operations may be performed according to a listen-before-talk (LBT) protocol.

[0125] LBT is a mechanism by which equipment (e.g., UE 101, RAN node 111, etc.) senses the medium (e.g., a channel or carrier frequency) and transmits when the medium is sensed to be idle (or when a particular channel in the medium is sensed to be unoccupied). The medium sensing operation may include CCA, which utilizes at least ED to determine whether other signals are present on the channel in order to determine whether the channel is occupied or idle. The LBT mechanism allows cellular / LAA networks to coexist with existing systems in unlicensed spectrum and with other LAA networks. ED may include sensing RF energy over a period of time on an intended transmission band and comparing the sensed RF energy to a predefined or configured threshold.

[0126] Typically, existing systems in the 5 GHz band are WLANs based on IEEE 802.11 technology. WLANs employ a contention-based channel access mechanism known as CSMA / CA. Here, when a WLAN node (e.g., a mobile station (MS) such as UE 101, AP 106, etc.) intends to transmit, the WLAN node may first perform CCA before transmitting. In addition, in the event that more than one WLAN node senses the channel as idle and transmits simultaneously, a backoff mechanism is used to avoid collisions. The backoff mechanism may be a counter randomly introduced within the CWS that increases exponentially when a collision occurs and is reset to a minimum value when the transmission is successful. The LBT mechanism designed for LAA is somewhat similar to CSMA / CA for WLAN. In some implementations, the LBT process for a DL or UL transmission burst (including PDSCH or PUSCH transmission) may have an LAA contention window of variable length between X and Y ECCA slots, where X and Y are the minimum and maximum values ​​of the CWS for LAA. In one example, the minimum CWS for LAA transmissions may be 9 microseconds (μs); however, the size of the CWS and MCOT (eg, transmission burst) may be based on government regulatory requirements.

[0127] The LAA mechanism is built on the Carrier Adaptation (CA) technology of the LTE-Advanced system. In CA, each aggregated carrier is called a CC. A CC can have a bandwidth of 1.4, 3, 5, 10, 15, or 20 MHz, and up to five CCs can be aggregated, resulting in a maximum aggregate bandwidth of 100 MHz. In an FDD system, the number of aggregated carriers can be different for DL ​​and UL, where the number of UL CCs is equal to or lower than the number of DL component carriers. In some cases, each CC can have a different bandwidth than other CCs. In a TDD system, the number of CCs and the bandwidth of each CC are generally the same for DL ​​and UL.

[0128] CA also includes individual serving cells to provide individual CCs. The coverage of the serving cells may be different, for example, because CCs on different frequency bands will experience different path losses. The primary serving cell or PCell may provide the PCC for both UL and DL and may handle activities related to RRC and NAS. The other serving cells are called SCells, and each SCell may provide individual SCCs for both UL and DL. SCCs may be added and removed as needed, and changing the PCC may require the UE 101 to undergo a handover. In LAA, eLAA, and feLAA, some or all of the SCells may operate in unlicensed spectrum (referred to as "LAA SCells"), and the LAA SCells are assisted by the PCells operating in the licensed spectrum. When a UE is configured with more than one LAA SCell, the UE may receive UL grants on the configured LAA SCells indicating different PUSCH starting positions within the same subframe.

[0129] The PDSCH carries user data and higher layer signaling to multiple UEs 101. The PDCCH carries, among other information, information about the transport format and resource allocation associated with the PDSCH channel. It can also inform multiple UEs 101 about the transport format, resource allocation, and HARQ information associated with the uplink shared channel. Typically, downlink scheduling (allocation of control and shared channel resource blocks to UEs 101b within a cell) can be performed at any of the RAN nodes 111 based on channel quality information fed back from any of the UEs 101. Downlink resource allocation information can be sent on the PDCCH for (e.g., allocated to) each of the UEs 101.

[0130] PDCCH uses CCE to transmit control information. Before being mapped to resource elements, the PDCCH complex-valued symbols can first be organized into quadruples, which can then be arranged using a sub-block interleaver for rate matching. One or more of these CCEs can be used to transmit each PDCCH, where each CCE can correspond to nine sets of four physical resource elements, respectively, called REGs. Four quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) symbols can be mapped to each REG. Depending on the size of the DCI and the channel conditions, one or more CCEs can be used to transmit the PDCCH. There may be four or more different PDCCH formats defined in LTE with different numbers of CCEs (e.g., aggregation levels, L=1, 2, 4, or 8).

[0131] Some embodiments may use the concept of resource allocation for control channel information, which is an extension of the above concept. For example, some embodiments may utilize EPDCCH that uses PDSCH resources for control information transmission. One or more ECCEs may be used to transmit EPDCCH. Similar to the above, each ECCE may correspond to a set of nine physical resource elements, called EREGs, including four physical resource elements. In some cases, an ECCE may have other numbers of EREGs.

[0132] RAN nodes 111 may be configured to communicate with each other via interface 112. In embodiments where system 100 is an LTE system (eg, when CN 120 is a Figure 2 101 ), the interface 112 may be an X2 interface 112. The X2 interface may be defined between two or more RAN nodes 111 (e.g., two or more eNBs, etc.) connected to the EPC 120, and / or between two eNBs connected to the EPC 120. In some implementations, the X2 interface may include an X2 user plane interface (X2-U) and an X2 control plane interface (X2-C). The X2-U may provide a flow control mechanism for user packets transmitted over the X2 interface and may be used to convey information regarding the delivery of user data between eNBs. For example, the X2-U may provide specific sequence number information regarding user data transmitted from the MeNB to the SeNB; information regarding successful in-sequence delivery of PDCP PDUs for user data from the SeNB to the UE 101; information regarding PDCP PDUs that were not delivered to the UE 101; information regarding the current minimum expected buffer size at the SeNB for transmitting user data to the UE; and the like. X2-C provides intra-LTE access mobility functions, including context transfer from the source eNB to the target eNB, user plane transmission control, load management functions, and inter-cell interference coordination functions.

[0133] When system 100 is a 5G or NR system (e.g., when CN 120 is Figure 3In an embodiment (when the 5GC 320 is included in the 5GC 320), the interface 112 may be an Xn interface 112. The Xn interface is defined between two or more RAN nodes 111 (e.g., two or more gNBs, etc.) connected to the 5GC 120, between a RAN node 111 (e.g., a gNB) and an eNB connected to the 5GC 120, and / or between two eNBs connected to the 5GC 120. In some specific implementations, the Xn interface may include an Xn user plane (Xn-U) interface and an Xn control plane (Xn-C) interface. The Xn-U may provide non-guaranteed delivery of user plane PDUs and support / provide data forwarding and flow control functions. The Xn-C may provide management and error handling functions for managing the functions of the Xn-C interface; mobility support for the UE 101 in connected mode (e.g., CM-CONNECTED) includes functions for managing UE mobility in connected mode between one or more RAN nodes 111. This mobility support may include context transfer from the old (source) serving RAN node 111 to the new (target) serving RAN node 111; and control of the user plane tunnel between the old (source) serving RAN node 111 and the new (target) serving RAN node 111. The Xn-U protocol stack may include a transport network layer built on the Internet Protocol (IP) transport layer, and a GTP-U layer built on top of the UDP and / or IP layers for carrying user plane PDUs. The Xn-C protocol stack may include an application layer signaling protocol (referred to as the Xn Application Protocol (Xn-AP)) and a transport network layer built on SCTP. SCTP may be built on top of the IP layer and may provide guaranteed delivery of application layer messages. Within the transport IP layer, signaling PDUs are delivered using point-to-point transport. In other implementations, the Xn-U protocol stack and / or the Xn-C protocol stack may be the same as or similar to the user plane and / or control plane protocol stacks shown and described herein.

[0134] RAN 110 is shown as being communicatively coupled to a core network—in this embodiment, to a core network (CN) 120. CN 120 may include multiple network elements 122 configured to provide various data and telecommunication services to customers / subscribers (e.g., users of multiple UEs 101) connected to CN 120 via RAN 110. Components of CN 120 may be implemented in one physical node or separate physical nodes, including components for reading and executing instructions from machine-readable or computer-readable media (e.g., non-transitory machine-readable storage media). In some embodiments, NFV may be used to virtualize any or all of the aforementioned network node functions (described in further detail below) via executable instructions stored in one or more computer-readable storage media. A logical instance of CN 120 may be referred to as a network slice, and a logical instance of a portion of CN 120 may be referred to as a network sub-slice. NFV architecture and infrastructure may be used to virtualize one or more network functions onto physical resources comprising a combination of industry-standard server hardware, storage hardware, or switches (alternatively, performed by proprietary hardware). In other words, the NFV system can be used to perform virtual or reconfigurable implementations of one or more EPC components / functions.

[0135] Generally speaking, the application server 130 may be an element that provides applications that use IP bearer resources with the core network (e.g., UMTS PS domain, LTE PS data services, etc.). The application server 130 may also be configured to support one or more communication services for the UE 101 via the EPC 120 (e.g., VoIP sessions, PTT sessions, group communication sessions, social networking services, etc.).

[0136] In an embodiment, CN 120 may be a 5GC (referred to as "5GC 120" or the like), and RAN 110 may be connected to CN 120 via an NG interface 113. In an embodiment, NG interface 113 may be divided into two parts: an NG user plane (NG-U) interface 114, which carries traffic data between RAN node 111 and UPF; and an S1 control plane (NG-C) interface 115, which is a signaling interface between RAN node 111 and AMF. Figure 3 Discussed in more detail, CN 120 is an implementation of 5GC 120.

[0137] In an embodiment, CN 120 may be a 5G CN (referred to as "5GC 120," etc.), while in other embodiments, CN 120 may be an EPC. In the case where CN 120 is an EPC (referred to as "EPC 120," etc.), RAN 110 may be connected to CN 120 via an S1 interface 113. In an embodiment, S1 interface 113 may be divided into two parts: an S1 user plane (S1-U) interface 114, which carries traffic data between RAN node 111 and the S-GW; and an S1-MME interface 115, which is a signaling interface between RAN node 111 and the MME. Figure 2 An exemplary architecture is shown in which CN 120 is EPC 120 .

[0138] Figure 2 FIG2 shows an exemplary architecture of a system 200 including a first CN 220 according to various embodiments. In this example, the system 200 may implement the LTE standard, wherein the CN 220 is a Figure 1 In addition, UE 201 can communicate with EPC 220 of CN 120. Figure 1 The UE 101 is the same as or similar to the UE 101, and the E-UTRAN 210 may be the same as Figure 1 The CN 220 may be a RAN that is the same as or similar to the RAN 110 of the mobile network, and may include the RAN node 111 discussed previously. The CN 220 may include an MME 221, an S-GW 222, a P-GW 223, an HSS 224, and an SGSN 225.

[0139] MME 221 may be functionally similar to the control plane of a traditional SGSN and may implement MM functionality to keep track of the current location of UE 201. MME 221 may perform various MM procedures to manage mobility aspects of access, such as gateway selection and tracking area list management. MM (also referred to as "EPS MM" or "EMM" in E-UTRAN systems) may refer to all applicable procedures, methods, data stores, etc. used to maintain knowledge of the current location of UE 201, provide user identity confidentiality to users / subscribers, and / or perform other similar services. Each UE 201 and MME 221 may include an MM or EMM sublayer, and upon successful completion of the attach procedure, an MM context may be established in both UE 201 and MME 221. An MM context may be a data structure or database object that stores MM-related information for UE 201. MME 221 may be coupled to HSS 224 via the S6a reference point, to SGSN 225 via the S3 reference point, and to S-GW 222 via the S11 reference point.

[0140] SGSN 225 may be a node that serves UE 201 by tracking the location of individual UE 201 and performing security functions. Furthermore, SGSN 225 may perform inter-EPC node signaling for mobility between 2G / 3G and E-UTRAN 3GPP access networks; PDN and S-GW selection as specified by MME 221; handling of UE 201 time zone capabilities, as specified by MME 221; and MME selection for handover to E-UTRAN 3GPP access networks. The S3 reference point between MME 221 and SGSN 225 may enable the exchange of user and bearer information for inter-3GPP access network mobility in idle and / or active states.

[0141] HSS 224 may include a database for network users, including subscription-related information used to support network entities handling communication sessions. EPC 220 may include one or several HSSs 224, depending on the number of mobile subscribers, device capabilities, network organization, and the like. For example, HSS 224 may provide support for routing / roaming, authentication, authorization, naming / addressing solutions, location dependencies, and the like. The S6a reference point between HSS 224 and MME 221 may enable the transfer of subscription and authentication data for authenticating / authorizing users to access EPC 220 between HSS 224 and MME 221.

[0142] The S-GW 222 may terminate the S1 interface 113 towards the RAN 210 ( Figure 2 The S-GW 222 is a RAN-based mobile gateway ("S1-U" in

[15] ) and routes data packets between the RAN 210 and the EPC 220. Additionally, the S-GW 222 can be the local mobility anchor for inter-RAN node handovers and can also provide an anchor for inter-3GPP mobility. Other responsibilities may include lawful interception, charging, and enforcing certain policies. The S11 reference point between the S-GW 222 and the MME 221 can provide the control plane between the MME 221 and the S-GW 222. The S-GW 222 can be coupled to the P-GW 223 via the S5 reference point.

[0143] The P-GW 223 may terminate the SGi interface towards the PDN 230. The P-GW 223 may communicate with the PDN 230 via the IP interface 125 (see, e.g., Figure 1 ) routes data packets between EPC 220 and external networks such as a network including application server 130 (alternatively referred to as "AF"). In an embodiment, P-GW 223 may communicate with the EPC 220 via IP communication interface 125 (see, e.g., Figure 1 ) is communicatively coupled to an application server ( Figure 1 Application server 130 or Figure 2230). The S5 reference point between the P-GW 223 and the S-GW 222 may provide user plane tunneling and tunnel management between the P-GW 223 and the S-GW 222. The S5 reference point may also be used for S-GW 222 relocation due to the mobility of the UE 201 and whether the S-GW 222 needs to be connected to a non-collocated P-GW 223 for the required PDN connectivity. The P-GW 223 may also include nodes for policy enforcement and charging data collection, such as a PCEF (not shown). In addition, the SGi reference point between the P-GW 223 and the packet data network (PDN) 230 may be an operator external public, private PDN, or an intra-operator packet data network, for example, for providing IMS services. The P-GW 223 may be coupled to the PCRF 226 via a Gx reference point.

[0144] PCRF 226 is the policy and charging control element of EPC 220. In a non-roaming scenario, a single PCRF 226 may exist in the Home Public Land Mobile Network (HPLMN) associated with UE 201's Internet Protocol Connectivity Access Network (IP-CAN) session. In a roaming scenario with local traffic breakout, two PCRFs may be associated with UE 201's IP-CAN session: a Home PCRF (H-PCRF) in the HPLMN and a Visited PCRF (V-PCRF) in the Visited Public Land Mobile Network (VPLMN). PCRF 226 may be communicatively coupled to application server 230 via P-GW 223. Application server 230 may signal PCRF 226 to indicate a new service flow and select appropriate QoS and charging parameters. PCRF 226 may configure the rules to a PCEF (not shown) with the appropriate TFT and QCI, which initiates QoS and charging as specified by application server 230. The Gx reference point between PCRF 226 and P-GW 223 may allow for the transfer of QoS policies and charging rules from PCRF 226 to PCEF in P-GW 223. The Rx reference point may reside between PDN 230 (or "AF 230") and PCRF 226.

[0145] Figure 3The architecture of a system 300 including a second CN 320 according to various embodiments is shown. The system 300 is shown to include a UE 301, which may be the same as or similar to the previously discussed UE 101 and UE 201; an (R)AN 310, which may be the same as or similar to the previously discussed RAN 110 and RAN 210, and which may include the previously discussed RAN node 111; and a DN 303, which may be, for example, an operator service, internet access, or a third-party service; and a 5GC 320. The 5GC 320 may include an AUSF 322; an AMF 321; an SMF 324; an NEF 323; a PCF 326; an NRF 325; an UDM 327; an AF 328; a UPF 302; and an NSSF 329.

[0146] The UPF 302 can serve as an anchor point for intra-RAT and inter-RAT mobility, an external PDU session point interconnecting with the DN 303, and a branching point supporting multi-homed PDU sessions. The UPF 302 can also perform packet routing and forwarding, perform packet inspection, enforce the user plane portion of policy rules, perform lawful interception of packets (UP collection), perform traffic usage reporting, perform QoS processing for the user plane (e.g., packet filtering, gating, UL / DL rate enforcement), perform uplink traffic validation (e.g., SDF to QoS flow mapping), transport-level packet marking in the uplink and downlink, and perform downlink packet buffering and downlink data notification triggering. The UPF 302 may include an uplink classifier to support routing traffic flows to the data network. The DN 303 may represent various network operator services, internet access, or third-party services. The DN 303 may include or be similar to the application server 130 discussed previously. The UPF 302 may interact with the SMF 324 via the N4 reference point between the SMF 324 and the UPF 302.

[0147] The AUSF 322 may store data used for authentication of the UE 301 and handle authentication-related functions. The AUSF 322 may facilitate a common authentication framework for various access types. The AUSF 322 may communicate with the AMF 321 via the N12 reference point between the AMF 321 and the AUSF 322; and may communicate with the UDM 327 via the N13 reference point between the UDM 327 and the AUSF 322. In addition, the AUSF 322 may present an interface based on the NAUSF service.

[0148] AMF 321 may be responsible for registration management (e.g., responsible for registering UE 301, etc.), connection management, reachability management, mobility management, and lawful interception of AMF-related events, as well as access authentication and authorization. AMF 321 may be the termination point of the N11 reference point between AMF 321 and SMF 324. AMF 321 may provide transport for SM messages between UE 301 and SMF 324 and act as a transparent proxy for routing SM messages. AMF 321 may also provide communication between UE 301 and SMSF ( Figure 3 301). The AMF 321 may act as a SEAF, which may include interaction with the AUSF 322 and the UE 301, receiving intermediate keys established as a result of the UE 301 authentication process. In the case of using USIM-based authentication, the AMF 321 may retrieve security material from the AUSF 322. The AMF 321 may also include an SCM function that receives keys for deriving access network specific keys from the SEA. In addition, the AMF 321 may be the termination point of the RAN CP interface, which may include or be the N2 reference point between the (R)AN 310 and the AMF 321; and the AMF 321 may be the termination point of NAS (N1) signaling and perform NAS encryption and integrity protection.

[0149] The AMF 321 may also support NAS signaling with the UE 301 over the N3 IWF interface. The N3 IWF may be used to provide access to untrusted entities. The N3 IWF may be the termination point for the N2 interface between the (R)AN 310 and the AMF 321 for the control plane, and may be the termination point for the N3 reference point between the (R)AN 310 and the UPF 302 for the user plane. Thus, the AMF 321 may process N2 signaling for PDU sessions and QoS from the SMF 324 and the AMF 321, encapsulate / decapsulate packets for IPSec and N3 tunnels, mark N3 user plane packets in the uplink, and perform QoS corresponding to N3 packet markings, taking into account the QoS requirements associated with such markings received over N2. The N3IWF may also relay uplink and downlink control plane NAS signaling between the UE 301 and the AMF 321 via the N1 reference point between the UE 301 and the AMF 321, and relay uplink and downlink user plane packets between the UE 301 and the UPF 302. The N3IWF also provides a mechanism for establishing an IPsec tunnel with the UE 301. The AMF 321 may present an interface based on Namf services and may be an N14 reference point between two AMFs 321 and an N14 reference point between the AMF 321 and the 5G-EIR ( Figure 3 The termination point of the N17 reference point between the two reference points (not shown).

[0150] UE 301 may need to register with AMF 321 in order to receive network services. RM is used to register UE 301 with the network (e.g., AMF 321) or deregister the UE and establish a UE context in the network (e.g., AMF 321). UE 301 may operate in RM-REGISTERED state or RM-DEREGISTERED state. In RM-DEREGISTERED state, UE 301 is not registered with the network, and the UE context in AMF 321 does not hold valid location or routing information of UE 301, so AMF 321 cannot reach UE 301. In RM-REGISTERED state, UE 301 is registered with the network, and the UE context in AMF 321 may hold valid location or routing information of UE 301, so AMF 321 can reach UE 301. In the RM-REGISTERED state, UE 301 may perform a mobility registration update procedure, perform a periodic registration update procedure triggered by the expiration of a periodic update timer (e.g., to inform the network that UE 301 is still active), and perform a registration update procedure to update UE capability information or renegotiate protocol parameters with the network, etc.

[0151] The AMF 321 may store one or more RM contexts for the UE 301, where each RM context is associated with a specific access to the network. The RM context may be a data structure, a database object, or the like that indicates or stores, among other things, the registration status and periodic update timer for each access type. The AMF 321 may also store a 5GC MM context that may be the same as or similar to the (E)MM context discussed previously. In various embodiments, the AMF 321 may store CE Mode B restriction parameters for the UE 301 in an associated MM context or RM context. The AMF 321 may also derive values ​​from the UE's usage setting parameters already stored in the UE context (and / or MM / RM context) when necessary.

[0152] The CM can be used to establish and release a signaling connection between the UE 301 and the AMF 321 over the N1 interface. The signaling connection is used to enable NAS signaling exchanges between the UE 301 and the CN 320, and includes a signaling connection between the UE and the AN (e.g., an RRC connection or a UE-N3IWF connection for non-3GPP access) and the UE 301's N2 connection between the AN (e.g., the RAN 310) and the AMF 321. The UE 301 can operate in one of two CM states: CM-IDLE mode or CM-CONNECTED mode. When the UE 301 operates in the CM-IDLE state / mode, the UE 301 may not have a NAS signaling connection established with the AMF 321 over the N1 interface, and a (R)AN 310 signaling connection (e.g., an N2 and / or N3 connection) may exist for the UE 301. When the UE 301 operates in the CM-CONNECTED state / mode, the UE 301 may have a NAS signaling connection established with the AMF 321 through the N1 interface, and there may be a (R)AN 310 signaling connection (e.g., N2 and / or N3 connection) for the UE 301. Establishing an N2 connection between the (R)AN 310 and the AMF 321 may cause the UE 301 to transition from the CM-IDLE mode to the CM-CONNECTED mode, and when the N2 signaling between the (R)AN 310 and the AMF 321 is released, the UE 301 may transition from the CM-CONNECTED mode to the CM-IDLE mode.

[0153] The SMF 324 may be responsible for SM (e.g., session establishment, modification, and release, including tunnel maintenance between the UPF and AN nodes); UE IP address allocation and management (including optional authorization); selection and control of UP functions; configuring the UPF's traffic steering to route traffic to the correct destination; terminating the interface towards the policy control function; control portion of policy enforcement and QoS; lawful interception (for SM events and interface with the LI system); terminating the SM portion of NAS messages; downlink data notification; initiating AN-specific SM information sent to the AN via the AMF over N2; and determining the SSC mode for the session. SM may refer to the management of a PDU session, and a PDU session or "session" may refer to a PDU connectivity service that provides or enables the exchange of PDUs between the UE 301 and the data network (DN) 303 identified by a data network name (DNN). A PDU session may be established upon request by UE 301, modified upon request by UE 301 and 5GC 320, and released upon request by UE 301 and 5GC 320 using NAS SM signaling exchanged between UE 301 and SMF 324 over the N1 reference point. Upon request from an application server, 5GC 320 may trigger a specific application in UE 301. In response to receiving the trigger message, UE 301 may deliver the trigger message (or relevant parts / information of the trigger message) to one or more identified applications in UE 301. The identified applications in UE 301 may establish a PDU session to a specific DNN. SMF 324 may check whether the UE 301 request complies with user subscription information associated with UE 301. In this regard, SMF 324 may retrieve and / or request to receive update notifications regarding SMF 324-level subscription data from UDM 327.

[0154] The SMF 324 may include the following roaming functions: handling local execution to apply QoS SLAs (VPLMN); charging data collection and billing interfaces (VPLMN); lawful interception (for SM events and interfaces with LI systems, in VPLMN); and support for interaction with external DNs to transport signaling for PDU session authorization / authentication through external DNs. In roaming scenarios, an N16 reference point between two SMFs 324 may be included in the system 300, which may be located between an SMF 324 in a visited network and another SMF 324 in a home network. In addition, the SMF 324 may present an interface based on Nsmf services.

[0155] NEF 323 may provide a component for securely exposing services and capabilities provided by 3GPP network functions to third parties, internal exposure / re-exposure, application functions (e.g., AF 328), edge computing or fog computing systems, and the like. In such an embodiment, NEF 323 may authenticate, authorize, and / or restrict the AF. NEF 323 may also convert information exchanged with AF 328 and information exchanged with internal network functions. For example, NEF 323 may convert between AF service identifiers and internal 5GC information. NEF 323 may also receive information from other network functions (NFs) based on their exposed capabilities. This information may be stored as structured data at NEF 323 or at a data storage NF using standardized interfaces. The stored information may then be re-exposed by NEF 323 to other NFs and AFs and / or used for other purposes such as analysis. In addition, NEF 323 may present an interface based on NNEF services.

[0156] NRF 325 can support service discovery functionality, receiving NF discovery requests from NF instances and providing information about discovered NF instances to NF instances. NRF 325 also maintains information about available NF instances and the services supported by these instances. As used herein, the term "instantiation" and the like can refer to the creation of an instance, and "instance" can refer to the specific occurrence of an object, which can occur, for example, during the execution of program code. In addition, NRF 325 can present an interface based on Nnrf services.

[0157] The PCF 326 may provide control plane functions for enforcing their policy rules and may also support a unified policy framework for managing network behavior. The PCF 326 may also enable the FE to access subscription information related to policy decisions in the UDM 327's UDR. The PCF 326 may communicate with the AMF 321 via the N15 reference point between the PCF 326 and the AMF 321, which may include the PCF 326 in the visited network and the AMF 321 in roaming scenarios. The PCF 326 may communicate with the AF 328 via the N5 reference point between the PCF 326 and the AF 328, and with the SMF 324 via the N7 reference point between the PCF 326 and the SMF 324. The system 300 and / or CN 320 may also include an N24 reference point between the PCF 326 (in the home network) and the PCF 326 in the visited network. In addition, the PCF 326 may present an Npcf service-based interface.

[0158] The UDM 327 may process subscription-related information to support network entities in handling communication sessions and may store subscription data for the UE 301. For example, subscription data may be transferred between the UDM 327 and the AMF 321 via the N8 reference point between the UDM 327 and the AMF. The UDM 327 may include two parts: the application FE and the UDR ( Figure 3 FE and UDR are not shown). The UDR can store subscription data and policy data of the UDM 327 and PCF 326, and / or structured data for exposure and application data of the NEF 323 (including PFD for application detection, application request information of multiple UEs 301). An interface based on Nudr service can be presented by the UDR 221 to allow the UDM 327, PCF 326 and NEF 323 to access specific sets of stored data, as well as read, update (e.g., add, modify), delete and subscribe to notifications of changes to relevant data in the UDR. The UDM may include a UDM-FE, which is responsible for handling credentials, location management, subscription management, etc. In different transactions, several different front ends may serve the same user. The UDM-FE accesses the subscription information stored in the UDR and performs authentication credential processing, user identification processing, access authorization, registration / mobility management and subscription management. The UDR can interact with the SMF 324 via the N10 reference point between the UDM 327 and the SMF 324. UDM 327 may also support SMS management, where SMS-FE implements similar application logic discussed previously. Additionally, UDM 327 may present an interface based on Nudm services.

[0159] AF 328 can provide application influence on traffic routing, provide access to the NCE, and interact with the policy framework for policy control. The NCE can be a mechanism that allows the 5GC 320 and AF 328 to provide information to each other via the NEF 323, which can be used in edge computing implementations. In such implementations, network operators and third-party services can be hosted near the UE 301 access point to achieve efficient service delivery with reduced end-to-end latency and load on the transport network. For edge computing implementations, the 5GC can select a UPF 302 near the UE 301 and perform traffic steering from the UPF 302 to the DN 303 via the N6 interface. This can be based on UE subscription data, UE location, and information provided by the AF 328. In this way, the AF 328 can influence UPF (re)selection and traffic routing. Based on operator deployment, when the AF 328 is considered a trusted entity, the network operator may allow the AF 328 to interact directly with the relevant NF. In addition, the AF 328 can present an interface based on the NAF service.

[0160] The NSSF 329 may select a set of network slice instances to serve the UE 301. If required, the NSSF 329 may also determine the allowed NSSAIs and the mapping to the subscribed S-NSSAIs. The NSSF 329 may also determine the set of AMFs to serve the UE 301, or a list of candidate AMFs 321, based on appropriate configuration and possibly by querying the NRF 325. The selection of a set of network slice instances for the UE 301 may be triggered by the AMF 321, where the UE 301 registers by interacting with the NSSF 329, which may result in a change in the AMF 321. The NSSF 329 may interact with the AMF 321 via the N22 reference point between the AMF 321 and the NSSF 329; and may communicate via the N31 reference point ( Figure 3 The NSSF 329 may communicate with another NSSF 329 in the visited network (not shown). In addition, the NSSF 329 may present an interface based on the Nnssf service.

[0161] As previously discussed, CN 320 may include an SMSF that may be responsible for SMS subscription checking and verification, and relaying SM messages to / from UE 301 to / from other entities, such as SMS-GMSC / IWMSC / SMS routers. SMS may also interact with AMF 321 and UDM 327 for notification procedures that UE 301 is available for SMS transmission (e.g., setting a UE unreachable flag and notifying UDM 327 when UE 301 is available for SMS).

[0162] CN 120 may also include Figure 3 Other elements not shown, such as data storage system / architecture, 5G-EIR, SEPP, etc. The data storage system may include SDSF, UDSF, etc. Any NF can communicate with any NF and UDSF ( Figure 3 The N18 reference point between the NF and the NF (not shown) stores or retrieves unstructured data into or from the UDSF (e.g., UE context). A single NF may share a UDSF for storing its respective unstructured data, or each NF may have its own UDSF located at or near a single NF. In addition, the UDSF may present an interface based on Nudsf services ( Figure 3 (not shown). The 5G-EIR may be a NF that checks the status of the PEI to determine whether to blacklist a specific equipment / entity from the network; and the SEPP may be a non-transparent pro9 that performs topology hiding, message filtering, and policing on the inter-PLMN control plane interface.

[0163] Additionally, there may be more reference points and / or service-based interfaces between NF services in a NF; however, for clarity, Figure 3These interfaces and reference points are omitted. In one example, CN 320 may include an Nx interface, which is an inter-CN interface between an MME (e.g., MME 221) and an AMF 321, to enable interworking between CN 320 and CN 220. Other example interfaces / reference points may include an interface based on N5g-EIR services presented by the 5G-EIR, an N27 reference point between an NRF in a visited network and an NRF in a home network; and an N31 reference point between an NSSF in a visited network and an NSSF in a home network.

[0164] Figure 4 An example of infrastructure equipment 400 according to various embodiments is illustrated. Infrastructure equipment 400 (or "system 400") can be implemented as a base station, a radio head, a RAN node (such as the RAN node 111 and / or AP 106 shown and described previously), an application server 130, and / or any other element / device discussed herein. In other examples, system 400 can be implemented in or by a UE.

[0165] System 400 includes application circuitry 405, baseband circuitry 410, one or more radio front-end modules (RFEMs) 415, memory circuitry 420, a power management integrated circuit (PMIC) 425, power tee circuitry 430, network controller circuitry 435, a network interface connector 440, satellite positioning circuitry 445, and a user interface 450. In some embodiments, device 400 may include additional components such as, for example, memory / storage, a display, a camera, sensors, or input / output (I / O) interfaces. In other embodiments, the components described below may be included in more than one device. For example, the circuitry described may be separately included in more than one device for a CRAN, vBBU, or other similar implementation.

[0166] The application circuit 405 may include circuits such as, but not limited to, one or more processors (or processor cores), cache memory, and one or more of the following: a low dropout regulator (LDO), an interrupt controller, a serial interface such as SPI, I2C, or a general-purpose programmable serial interface module, a real-time clock (RTC), a timer-counter including an interval timer and a watchdog timer, general-purpose input / output (I / O or IO), a memory card controller such as a secure digital (SD) multimedia card (MMC) or similar product, a universal serial bus (USB) interface, a mobile industry processor interface (MIPI) interface, and a joint test access group (JTAG) test access port. The processor (or core) of the application circuit 405 may be coupled to or include a memory / storage element and may be configured to execute instructions stored in the memory / storage element to enable various applications or operating systems to run on the system 400. In some embodiments, the memory / storage element can be an on-chip memory circuit that can include any suitable volatile and / or non-volatile memory, such as DRAM, SRAM, EPROM, EEPROM, flash memory, solid-state memory, and / or any other type of memory device technology, such as those discussed herein.

[0167] The processor of the application circuit 405 may include, for example, one or more processor cores (CPUs), one or more application processors, one or more graphics processing units (GPUs), one or more reduced instruction set computing (RISC) processors, one or more Acorn RISC Machine (ARM) processors, one or more complex instruction set computing (CISC) processors, one or more digital signal processors (DSPs), one or more FPGAs, one or more PLDs, one or more ASICs, one or more microprocessors or controllers, or any suitable combination thereof. In some embodiments, the application circuit 405 may include or may be a dedicated processor / controller for operating in accordance with various embodiments herein. As an example, the processor of the application circuit 405 may include one or more Intel or Processor: Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) Processor, Accelerated Processing Unit (APU), or processors; ARM-based processors licensed by ARM Holdings, Ltd., such as the ARM Cortex-A series processors and MIPS-based designs from MIPS Technologies, Inc., such as the MIPS Warrior P-class processor; etc. In some embodiments, system 400 may not utilize application circuitry 405 and instead may include a dedicated processor / controller to process IP data received, for example, from an EPC or 5GC.

[0168] In some implementations, the application circuit 405 may include one or more hardware accelerators, which may be microprocessors, programmable processing devices, and the like. The one or more hardware accelerators may include, for example, computer vision (CV) and / or deep learning (DL) accelerators. For example, the programmable processing device may be one or more field programmable devices (FPDs), such as field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs); programmable logic devices (PLDs), such as complex PLDs (CPLDs) and high-capacity PLDs (HCPLDs); ASICs, such as structured ASICs; programmable SoCs (PSoCs); and the like. In such implementations, the circuitry of the application circuit 405 may include logic blocks or logic architectures, as well as other interconnected resources that can be programmed to perform various functions, such as the processes, methods, functions, and the like of the various embodiments discussed herein. In such an embodiment, the circuitry of the application circuit 405 may include memory cells (e.g., erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory, static memory (e.g., static random access memory (SRAM), anti-fuse, etc.)) for storing logic blocks, logic architectures, data, etc. in a look-up table (LUT), etc.

[0169] The baseband circuit 410 may be implemented, for example, as a solder-in substrate including one or more integrated circuits, a single packaged integrated circuit soldered to a main circuit board, or a multi-chip module containing two or more integrated circuits. Figure 6 The various hardware electronic components of baseband circuitry 410 are discussed.

[0170] User interface circuitry 450 may include one or more user interfaces designed to enable a user to interact with system 400 or peripheral component interfaces designed to enable peripheral components to interact with system 400. User interfaces may include, but are not limited to, one or more physical or virtual buttons (e.g., a reset button), one or more indicators (e.g., light emitting diodes (LEDs)), a physical keyboard or keypad, a mouse, a touchpad, a touch screen, a speaker or other audio emitting device, a microphone, a printer, a scanner, a headset, a display screen or display device, etc. Peripheral component interfaces may include, but are not limited to, a non-volatile memory port, a universal serial bus (USB) port, an audio jack, a power port, etc.

[0171] The radio front end module (RFEM) 415 may include a millimeter wave (mmWave) RFEM and one or more sub-mmWave radio frequency integrated circuits (RFICs). In some implementations, the one or more sub-mmWave RFICs may be physically separate from the mmWave RFEM. The RFIC may include connections to one or more antennas or antenna arrays (see, for example, below). Figure 6 The antenna array 611 is configured such that the RFEM can be connected to multiple antennas. In an alternative embodiment, both millimeter wave and sub-millimeter wave radio functions can be implemented in the same physical RFEM 415 that combines both millimeter wave antennas and sub-millimeter wave antennas.

[0172] The memory circuit 420 may include one or more of the following: a volatile memory such as a dynamic random access memory (DRAM) and / or a synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), a non-volatile memory (NVM) including a high-speed electrically erasable memory (commonly referred to as a "flash memory"), a phase change random access memory (PRAM), a magnetoresistive random access memory (MRAM), etc., and may be combined with and The memory circuit 420 may be implemented as one or more of the following: a solder-in package integrated circuit, a socket memory module, and a plug-in memory card.

[0173] The PMIC 425 may include a voltage regulator, a surge protector, a power alarm detection circuit, and one or more backup power sources, such as batteries or capacitors. The power alarm detection circuit may detect one or more of a brownout (undervoltage) and a surge (overvoltage) condition. The power tee circuit 430 may provide power drawn from the network cable to provide both power and data connectivity for the infrastructure equipment 400 using a single cable.

[0174] The network controller circuit 435 can provide connectivity to the network using a standard network interface protocol such as Ethernet, Ethernet based on a GRE tunnel, Ethernet based on Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS), or some other suitable protocol. Network connectivity can be provided to / from the infrastructure equipment 400 via the network interface connector 440 using a physical connection, which can be an electrical connection (commonly referred to as a "copper interconnect"), an optical connection, or a wireless connection. The network controller circuit 435 may include one or more dedicated processors and / or FPGAs for communicating using one or more of the aforementioned protocols. In some implementations, the network controller circuit 435 may include multiple controllers for providing connectivity to other networks using the same or different protocols.

[0175] The positioning circuit 445 includes circuits for receiving and decoding signals transmitted / broadcasted by the positioning network of the global navigation satellite system (GNSS). Examples of navigation satellite constellations (or GNSS) include the United States' Global Positioning System (GPS), Russia's Global Navigation System (GLONASS), the European Union's Galileo system, China's BeiDou Navigation Satellite System, regional navigation systems or GNSS augmentation systems (e.g., navigation using the Indian constellation (NAVIC), Japan's Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS), France's Doppler Orbit Chart and Satellite Integrated Radio Positioning (DORIS), etc.). The positioning circuit 445 includes various hardware elements (e.g., including hardware devices such as switches, filters, amplifiers, antenna elements, etc. for facilitating OTA communication) to communicate with components of the positioning network such as navigation satellite constellation nodes. In some embodiments, the positioning circuit 445 may include a micro technology (micro PNT) IC for positioning, navigation, and timing that uses a master timing clock to perform position tracking / estimation without GNSS assistance. The positioning circuit 445 may also be part of or interact with the baseband circuit 410 and / or the RFEM 415 to communicate with nodes and components of the positioning network. The positioning circuit 445 may also provide location data and / or time data to the application circuit 405, which may use the data to synchronize operations with various infrastructure (e.g., the RAN node 111, etc.), etc.

[0176] Figure 4 The components shown can communicate with each other using interface circuitry that can include any number of bus and / or interconnect (IX) technologies, such as Industry Standard Architecture (ISA), Extended ISA (EISA), Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI), Peripheral Component Interconnect Extended (PCIx), PCI express (PCIe), or any number of other technologies. The bus / IX can be a proprietary bus, such as used in SoC-based systems. Other bus / IX systems can be included, such as an I2C interface, an SPI interface, a point-to-point interface, and a power bus, among others.

[0177] Figure 5 An example of a platform 500 (or "device 500") according to various embodiments is shown. In an embodiment, computer platform 500 may be suitable for use as UE 101, 201, 301, application server 130, and / or any other element / device discussed herein. Platform 500 may include any combination of components shown in the examples. Components of platform 500 may be implemented as integrated circuits (ICs), portions of ICs, discrete electronic devices, or other modules, logic, hardware, software, firmware, or combinations thereof adapted within computer platform 500, or as components otherwise incorporated within a chassis of a larger system. Figure 5The block diagram is intended to show a high-level view of the components of computer platform 500. However, some of the components shown may be omitted, additional components may be present, and different arrangements of the components shown may occur in other implementations.

[0178] The application circuit 505 includes circuitry such as, but not limited to, one or more processors (or processor cores), cache memory, and one or more of an LDO, an interrupt controller, a serial interface (such as SPI), I2C or a general-purpose programmable serial interface module, an RTC, a timer (including an interval timer and a watchdog timer), general-purpose I / O, a memory card controller (such as an SD MMC or similar controller), a USB interface, a MIPI interface, and a JTAG test access port. The processor (or core) of the application circuit 505 may be coupled to or may include a memory / storage element and may be configured to execute instructions stored in the memory / storage device to enable various applications or operating systems to run on the system 500. In some embodiments, the memory / storage element may be an on-chip memory circuit that may include any suitable volatile and / or non-volatile memory, such as DRAM, SRAM, EPROM, EEPROM, flash memory, solid-state memory, and / or any other type of memory device technology, such as those discussed herein.

[0179] The processor of the application circuit 405 may include, for example, one or more processor cores, one or more application processors, one or more GPUs, one or more RISC processors, one or more ARM processors, one or more CISC processors, one or more DSPs, one or more FPGAs, one or more PLDs, one or more ASICs, one or more microprocessors or controllers, a multi-threaded processor, an ultra-low voltage processor, an embedded processor, some other known processing element, or any suitable combination thereof. In some embodiments, the application circuit 405 may include or may be a dedicated processor / controller for operating according to various embodiments herein.

[0180] As an example, the processor of the application circuit 505 may include a processor based on Architecture TM Processors such as Quark TM 、Atom TM , i3, i5, i7 or MCU-class processors, or available from Santa Clara, CA The processor of the application circuit 505 may also be one or more of the following: Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) Processor or Accelerated Processing Unit (APU); from Inc.'s A5-A9 processors, Snapdragon by Technologies, Inc. TM processors, Texas Instruments, Open Multimedia Applications Platform(OMAP) TM processors; MIPS-based designs from MIPS Technologies, Inc., such as the MIPS Warrior M-class, Warrior I-class, and Warrior P-class processors; ARM-based designs licensed from ARM Holdings, Ltd., such as the ARM Cortex-A, Cortex-R, and Cortex-M series processors; and the like. In some implementations, the application circuit 505 can be part of a system on a chip (SoC), in which the application circuit 505 and other components are formed as a single integrated circuit or a single package, such as a SoC. company( Edison Corporation TM or Galileo TM SoC board.

[0181] Additionally or alternatively, the application circuit 505 may include circuitry such as, but not limited to, one or more field programmable devices (FPDs) such as FPGAs; programmable logic devices (PLDs) such as complex PLDs (CPLDs), high-capacity PLDs (HCPLDs); ASICs such as structured ASICs; programmable SoCs (PSoCs); and the like. In such embodiments, the circuitry of the application circuit 505 may include logic blocks or logic fabrics, as well as other interconnected resources that can be programmed to perform various functions, such as the processes, methods, functions, and the like of the various embodiments discussed herein. In such embodiments, the circuitry of the application circuit 505 may include memory cells (e.g., erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory, static memory (e.g., static random access memory (SRAM), antifuse), and the like) for storing the logic blocks, logic fabrics, data, and the like in a lookup table (LUT) or the like.

[0182] The baseband circuit 510 may be implemented, for example, as a solder-in substrate including one or more integrated circuits, a single packaged integrated circuit soldered to a main circuit board, or a multi-chip module containing two or more integrated circuits. Figure 6 The various hardware electronic components of baseband circuit 510 are discussed.

[0183] The RFEM 515 may include a millimeter wave (mmWave) RFEM and one or more sub-millimeter wave radio frequency integrated circuits (RFICs). In some implementations, the one or more sub-millimeter wave RFICs may be physically separate from the mmWave RFEM. The RFIC may include connections to one or more antennas or antenna arrays (see, for example, below). Figure 6 The antenna array 611 is configured such that the RFEM can be connected to multiple antennas. In an alternative embodiment, both millimeter-wave and sub-millimeter-wave radio functions can be implemented in the same physical RFEM 515, which combines both millimeter-wave antennas and sub-millimeter-wave antennas.

[0184] The memory circuit 520 may include any number and type of memory devices for providing a fixed amount of system memory. For example, the memory circuit 520 may include one or more of the following: volatile memory, including random access memory (RAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM), and / or synchronous dynamic RAM (SDRAM); and non-volatile memory (NVM), including high-speed electrically erasable memory (commonly referred to as flash memory), phase-change random access memory (PRAM), magnetoresistive random access memory (MRAM), etc. The memory circuit 520 may be developed according to a Joint Electron Device Engineering Council (JEDEC) low-power double data rate (LPDDR)-based design, such as LPDDR2, LPDDR3, LPDDR4, etc. The memory circuit 520 may be implemented as one or more of the following: a solder-in package integrated circuit, a single die package (SDP), a dual die package (DDP), or a quad die package (Q17P), a socketed memory module, a dual in-line memory module (DIMM) including a micro DIMM or a mini DIMM, and / or soldered to a motherboard via a ball grid array (BGA). In a low-power implementation, the memory circuit 520 may be on-chip memory or registers associated with the application circuit 505. To provide persistent storage of information such as data, applications, operating systems, etc., the memory circuit 520 may include one or more mass storage devices, which may include, among others, a solid-state disk drive (SSDD), a hard disk drive (HDD), a micro HDD, a resistive change memory, a phase change memory, a holographic memory, or a chemical memory. For example, the computer platform 500 may be combined with a computer system obtained from and Three-dimensional (3D) cross-point (XPOINT) memory.

[0185] Removable storage circuitry 523 may include devices, circuitry, housings / casings, ports or receptacles, etc., for coupling portable data storage devices to platform 500. These portable data storage devices may be used for mass storage and may include, for example, flash memory cards (e.g., Secure Digital (SD) cards, micro SD cards, xD picture cards, etc.), as well as USB flash drives, optical disks, external HDDs, etc.

[0186] Platform 500 may also include an interface circuit (not shown) for connecting external devices to platform 500. External devices connected to platform 500 via the interface circuit include sensor circuit 521 and electromechanical components (EMC) 522, and a removable memory device coupled to removable memory circuit 523.

[0187] Sensor circuitry 521 comprises a device, module, or subsystem whose purpose is to detect events or changes in its environment and to send information about the detected events (sensor data) to some other device, module, subsystem, etc. Examples of such sensors include, among others: an inertial measurement unit (IMU) including an accelerometer, a gyroscope, and / or a magnetometer; a microelectromechanical system (MEMS) or nanoelectromechanical system (NEMS) including a three-axis accelerometer, a three-axis gyroscope, and / or a magnetometer; a fluid level sensor; a flow sensor; a temperature sensor (e.g., a thermistor); a pressure sensor; a barometric pressure sensor; a gravity meter; an altimeter; an image capture device (e.g., a camera or a lensless aperture); a light detection and ranging (LiDAR) sensor; a proximity sensor (e.g., an infrared radiation detector, etc.), a depth sensor, an ambient light sensor, an ultrasonic transceiver; a microphone or other similar audio capture device; and the like.

[0188] The EMC 522 includes devices, modules, or subsystems designed to enable the platform 500 to change its state, position, and / or orientation, or to move or control mechanisms or (sub)systems. In addition, the EMC 522 can be configured to generate messages / signaling and send messages / signaling to other components of the platform 500 to indicate the current state of the EMC 522. The EMC 522 includes one or more power switches, relays (including electromechanical relays (EMRs) and / or solid-state relays (SSRs)), actuators (e.g., valve actuators, etc.), audible sound generators, visual warning devices, motors (e.g., DC motors, stepper motors, etc.), wheels, thrusters, propellers, claws, clamps, hooks, and / or other similar electromechanical components. In an embodiment, the platform 500 is configured to operate one or more EMCs 522 based on one or more capture events and / or instructions or control signals received from service providers and / or various clients.

[0189] In some implementations, the interface circuitry may connect the platform 500 to the positioning circuitry 545. The positioning circuitry 545 includes circuitry for receiving and decoding signals transmitted / broadcasted by a GNSS positioning network. Examples of navigation satellite constellations (or GNSS) may include the United States' GPS, Russia's GLONASS, the European Union's Galileo system, China's BeiDou Navigation Satellite System, regional navigation systems, or GNSS augmentation systems (e.g., NAVIC, Japan's QZSS, France's DORIS, etc.). The positioning circuitry 545 includes various hardware components (e.g., including hardware devices for facilitating over-the-air (OTA) communications, such as switches, filters, amplifiers, antenna elements, etc.) to communicate with components of the positioning network, such as nodes of the navigation satellite constellation. In some embodiments, the positioning circuitry 545 may include a micro PNT IC that uses a master timing clock to perform position tracking / estimation without GNSS assistance. The positioning circuitry 545 may also be part of or interact with the baseband circuitry 410 and / or RFEM 515 to communicate with nodes and components of the positioning network. Positioning circuitry 545 may also provide position data and / or time data to application circuitry 505 , which may use the data to synchronize operations with various infrastructure (eg, radio base stations) for use in turn-by-turn navigation applications, and the like.

[0190] In some implementations, the interface circuitry can connect the platform 500 to a near-field communication (NFC) circuitry 540. The NFC circuitry 540 is configured to provide contactless, short-range communication based on the radio frequency identification (RFID) standard, where magnetic field induction is used to enable communication between the NFC circuitry 540 and an NFC-enabled device (e.g., an "NFC touchpoint") external to the platform 500. The NFC circuitry 540 includes an NFC controller coupled to an antenna element and a processor coupled to the NFC controller. The NFC controller can be a chip / IC that provides NFC functionality to the NFC circuitry 540 by executing NFC controller firmware and an NFC stack. The NFC stack can be executed by the processor to control the NFC controller, and the NFC controller firmware can be executed by the NFC controller to control the antenna element to transmit short-range RF signals. The RF signals can power a passive NFC tag (e.g., a microchip embedded in a sticker or wristband) to transfer stored data to the NFC circuitry 540, or initiate data transfer between the NFC circuitry 540 and another active NFC device (e.g., a smartphone or an NFC-enabled POS terminal) in close proximity to the platform 500.

[0191] Driver circuitry 546 may include software and hardware components for controlling specific devices embedded in, attached to, or otherwise communicatively coupled to platform 500. Driver circuitry 546 may include various drivers to allow other components of platform 500 to interact with or control various input / output (I / O) devices that may be present within or connected to platform 500. For example, driver circuitry 546 may include a display driver for controlling and enabling access to a display device, a touch screen driver for controlling and enabling access to a touch screen interface of platform 500, a sensor driver for acquiring sensor readings from sensor circuitry 521 and controlling and enabling access to sensor circuitry 521, an EMC driver for acquiring actuator positions of EMC 522 and / or controlling and enabling access to EMC 522, a camera driver for controlling and enabling access to an embedded image capture device, and an audio driver for controlling and enabling access to one or more audio devices.

[0192] A power management integrated circuit (PMIC) 525 (also referred to as "power management circuit 525") can manage the power provided to various components of the platform 500. Specifically, the PMIC 525 can control power source selection, voltage scaling, battery charging, or DC-DC conversion with respect to the baseband circuit 510. When the platform 500 is capable of being powered by a battery 530, for example, when the device is included in a UE 101, 201, or 301, the PMIC 525 is typically included.

[0193] In some embodiments, the PMIC 525 can control or otherwise be part of various power-saving mechanisms of the platform 500. For example, if the platform 500 is in the RRC_Connected state, in which it remains connected to the RAN node because it expects to receive traffic soon, after a period of inactivity, the platform can enter a state known as discontinuous reception mode (DRX). During this state, the platform 500 can power down for short intervals, thereby saving power. If there is no data traffic activity for an extended period of time, the platform 500 can transition to the RRC_Idle state, in which the device is disconnected from the network and does not perform operations such as channel quality feedback, handovers, etc. The platform 500 enters a very low-power state and performs paging, in which the device periodically wakes up again to listen to the network, and then powers down again. The platform 500 cannot receive data in this state; to receive data, the platform must transition back to the RRC_Connected state. Additional power-saving modes can prevent the device from using the network for periods exceeding the paging interval (which can range from a few seconds to several hours). During this time, the device is completely unable to connect to the network and can be completely powered off. Any data sent during this time will incur significant delays, assuming that the delay is acceptable.

[0194] Battery 530 can power platform 500, but in some examples, platform 500 can be installed in a fixed location and can have a power source coupled to the power grid. Battery 530 can be a lithium-ion battery, a metal-air battery such as a zinc-air battery, an aluminum-air battery, a lithium-air battery, etc. In some implementations, such as in V2X applications, battery 530 can be a typical lead-acid car battery.

[0195] In some implementations, the battery 530 may be a "smart battery" that includes or is coupled to a battery management system (BMS) or a battery monitoring integrated circuit. The BMS may be included in the platform 500 to track the state of charge (SoCh) of the battery 530. The BMS may be used to monitor other parameters of the battery 530, such as the state of health (SoH) and state of function (SoF) of the battery 530 to provide fault prediction. The BMS may transmit information about the battery 530 to the application circuit 505 or other components of the platform 500. The BMS may also include an analog-to-digital (ADC) converter that allows the application circuit 505 to directly monitor the voltage of the battery 530 or the current from the battery 530. The battery parameters may be used to determine actions that the platform 500 may perform, such as transmission frequency, network operation, sensing frequency, etc.

[0196] A power block or other power source coupled to the grid can be coupled to the BMS to charge the battery 530. In some examples, the power block 530 can be replaced with a wireless power receiver to wirelessly obtain power, for example, via a loop antenna in the computer platform 500. In these examples, wireless battery charging circuitry can be included in the BMS. The specific charging circuit selected can depend on the size of the battery 530 and, therefore, the required current. Charging can be performed using the aviation fuel standard published by the Aviation Fuel Alliance, the Qi wireless charging standard published by the Wireless Power Consortium, or the Rezence charging standard published by the Wireless Power Consortium.

[0197] The user interface circuit 550 includes various input / output (I / O) devices present within or connected to the platform 500, and includes one or more user interfaces designed to implement user interaction with the platform 500 and / or peripheral component interfaces designed to implement interaction with peripheral components of the platform 500. The user interface circuit 550 includes input device circuits and output device circuits. The input device circuit includes any physical or virtual means for accepting input, including, in particular, one or more physical or virtual buttons (e.g., a reset button), a physical keyboard, a keypad, a mouse, a trackpad, a touch screen, a microphone, a scanner, a headset, etc. The output device circuit includes any physical or virtual means for displaying information or otherwise conveying information (such as sensor readings, actuator positions, or other similar information). The output device circuitry may include any number and / or combination of audio or visual displays, including, in particular, one or more simple visual outputs / indicators (e.g., binary state indicators (e.g., light emitting diodes (LEDs)) and multi-character visual outputs, or more complex outputs such as a display device or touch screen (e.g., a liquid crystal display (LCD), an LED display, a quantum dot display, a projector, etc.), wherein the output of characters, graphics, multimedia objects, etc. is generated or produced by the operation of the platform 500. The output device circuitry may also include a speaker or other audio emitting device, a printer, etc. In some embodiments, the sensor circuitry 521 may function as an input device circuitry (e.g., an image capture device, a motion capture device, etc.) and one or more EMCs may function as output device circuitry (e.g., an actuator for providing tactile feedback, etc.). In another example, an NFC circuit may be included to read an electronic tag and / or connect to another NFC-enabled device, the NFC circuitry including an NFC controller and a processing device coupled to an antenna element. Peripheral component interfaces may include, but are not limited to, a non-volatile memory port, a USB port, an audio jack, a power port, etc.

[0198] Although not shown, the components of platform 500 can communicate with each other using a suitable bus or interconnect (IX) technology, which can include any number of technologies, including ISA, EISA, PCI, PCIx, PCIe, a time-triggered protocol (TTP) system, a FlexRay system, or any number of other technologies. The bus / IX can be a proprietary bus / IX, such as used in a SoC-based system. Other bus / IX systems can be included, such as an I2C interface, an SPI interface, a point-to-point interface, and a power bus, among others.

[0199] Figure 6 Exemplary components of a baseband circuit 610 and a radio front end module (RFEM) 615 are shown according to various embodiments. The baseband circuit 610 corresponds to Figure 4 The baseband circuit 410 and Figure 5Baseband circuit 510. RFEM 615 corresponds to Figure 4 RFEM 415 and Figure 5 RFEM 515. As shown, RFEM 615 may include at least a radio frequency (RF) circuit 606, a front end module (FEM) circuit 608, and an antenna array 611 coupled together as shown.

[0200] The baseband circuitry 610 includes circuitry and / or control logic components configured to execute various radio / network protocols and radio control functions that enable communication with one or more radio networks via the RF circuitry 606. The radio control functions may include, but are not limited to, signal modulation / demodulation, encoding / decoding, radio frequency shifting, etc. In some embodiments, the modulation / demodulation circuitry of the baseband circuitry 610 may include fast Fourier transform (FFT), precoding, or constellation mapping / demapping functions. In some embodiments, the encoding / decoding circuitry of the baseband circuitry 610 may include convolution, tail-biting convolution, turbo, Viterbi, or low-density parity check (LDPC) encoder / decoder functions. The implementation of the modulation / demodulation and encoder / decoder functions is not limited to these examples and may include other suitable functions in other embodiments. The baseband circuitry 610 is configured to process baseband signals received from the receive signal path of the RF circuitry 606 and to generate baseband signals for the transmit signal path of the RF circuitry 606. The baseband circuitry 610 is configured to communicate with the application circuitry 405 / 505 (see Figure 4 and Figure 5 ) are connected to generate and process baseband signals and control the operation of RF circuit 606. Baseband circuit 610 can handle various radio control functions.

[0201] The aforementioned circuits and / or control logic components of the baseband circuitry 610 may include one or more single-core or multi-core processors. For example, the one or more processors may include a 3G baseband processor 604A, a 4G / LTE baseband processor 604B, a 5G / NR baseband processor 604C, or some other baseband processor 604D for other existing, developing, or future generations (e.g., the sixth generation (6G), etc.). In other embodiments, some or all of the functionality of the baseband processors 604A-D may be included in modules stored in the memory 604G and executed via the central processing unit (CPU) 604E. In other embodiments, some or all of the functionality of the baseband processors 604A-D may be provided as hardware accelerators (e.g., FPGAs, ASICs, etc.) loaded with appropriate bitstreams or logic blocks stored in corresponding memory units. In various embodiments, the memory 604G may store program code for a real-time OS (RTOS) that, when executed by the CPU 604E (or other baseband processor), enables the CPU 604E (or other baseband processor) to manage resources of the baseband circuit 610, schedule tasks, etc. Examples of RTOS may include: Operating System Embedded (OSE) TM , by Mentor Nucleus RTOS provided TM , by Mentor Versatile Real-Time Executive (VRTX) provided by Express ThreadX TM ,Depend on FreeRTOS and REX OS provided by OpenKernel (OK) The baseband circuit 610 may include one or more audio digital signal processors (DSPs) 604F. The audio DSPs 604F may include elements for compression / decompression and echo cancellation, and may include other suitable processing elements in other embodiments.

[0202] In some embodiments, each of the processors 604A-604E includes a corresponding memory interface to send data to / receive data from the memory 604G. The baseband circuit 610 may also include one or more interfaces for communicatively coupling to other circuits / devices, such as an interface for sending data to / receiving data from a memory external to the baseband circuit 610; an interface for sending data to / receiving data from a memory external to the baseband circuit; Figures 4 to 6Application circuit interface for sending data to / receiving data from the application circuit 405 / 505; Figure 6 RF circuit 606 to send data / receive data from the RF circuit RF circuit interface; for receiving data from one or more wireless hardware elements (e.g., near field communication (NFC) components, Low power consumption components, components, etc.) to send data / receive data from these wireless hardware elements; and a power management interface for sending power or control signals to / from the PMIC 525.

[0203] In an alternative embodiment (which may be combined with the above embodiment), the baseband circuit 610 includes one or more digital baseband systems that are coupled to each other and to the CPU subsystem, audio subsystem, and interface subsystem via an interconnect subsystem. The digital baseband subsystem may also be coupled to a digital baseband interface and a mixed-signal baseband subsystem via another interconnect subsystem. Each of the interconnect subsystems may include a bus system, a point-to-point connection, a network on chip (NOC) structure, and / or some other suitable bus or interconnect technology, such as those discussed herein. The audio subsystem may include a DSP circuit, a buffer memory, a program memory, a voice processing accelerator circuit, a data converter circuit such as an analog-to-digital converter circuit and a digital-to-analog converter circuit, an analog circuit including one or more of an amplifier and a filter, and / or other similar components. In one aspect of the present disclosure, the baseband circuit 610 may include a protocol processing circuit having one or more control circuit instances (not shown) to provide control functions for the digital baseband circuit and / or the radio frequency circuit (e.g., a radio front-end module 615).

[0204] although Figure 6Although not shown, in some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 610 includes various processing devices (e.g., a "multi-protocol baseband processor" or "protocol processing circuitry") for operating one or more wireless communication protocols and various processing devices for implementing PHY layer functions. In these embodiments, the PHY layer functions include the aforementioned radio control functions. In these embodiments, the protocol processing circuitry operates or implements various protocol layers / entities of one or more wireless communication protocols. In a first example, when the baseband circuitry 610 and / or the RF circuitry 606 are part of millimeter wave communication circuitry or some other suitable cellular communication circuitry, the protocol processing circuitry may operate LTE protocol entities and / or 5G / NR protocol entities. In the first example, the protocol processing circuitry will operate MAC, RLC, PDCP, SDAP, RRC, and NAS functions. In a second example, when the baseband circuitry 610 and / or the RF circuitry 606 are part of a Wi-Fi communication system, the protocol processing circuitry may operate one or more IEEE-based protocols. In the second example, the protocol processing circuitry will operate Wi-Fi MAC and Logical Link Control (LLC) functions. The protocol processing circuitry may include one or more memory structures (e.g., 604G) for storing program code and data for operating protocol functions, and one or more processing cores for executing program code and performing various operations using data. The baseband circuitry 610 may also support radio communications for more than one wireless protocol.

[0205] The various hardware elements of the baseband circuit 610 discussed herein may be implemented as, for example, a solder-in substrate comprising one or more integrated circuits (ICs), a single packaged integrated circuit soldered to a main circuit board, or a multi-chip module comprising two or more ICs. In one example, the components of the baseband circuit 610 may be appropriately combined in a single chip or a single chipset, or provided on the same circuit board. In another example, some or all of the components of the baseband circuit 610 and the RF circuit 606 may be implemented together, such as, for example, a system on a chip (SOC) or a system in a package (SiP). In another example, some or all of the components of the baseband circuit 610 may be implemented as a separate SoC communicatively coupled to the RF circuit 606 (or multiple instances of the RF circuit 606). In yet another example, some or all of the components of the baseband circuit 610 and the application circuit 405 / 505 may be implemented together as a separate SoC mounted to the same circuit board (e.g., a "multi-chip package").

[0206] In some embodiments, baseband circuitry 610 may provide communications compatible with one or more radio technologies. For example, in some embodiments, baseband circuitry 610 may support communications with E-UTRAN or other WMANs, WLANs, or WPANs. Embodiments in which baseband circuitry 610 is configured to support radio communications using more than one wireless protocol may be referred to as multi-mode baseband circuitry.

[0207] RF circuitry 606 can communicate with a wireless network using modulated electromagnetic radiation through a non-solid medium. In various embodiments, RF circuitry 606 can include switches, filters, amplifiers, etc. to facilitate communication with the wireless network. RF circuitry 606 can include a receive signal path that can include circuitry for down-converting RF signals received from FEM circuitry 608 and providing baseband signals to baseband circuitry 610. RF circuitry 606 can also include a transmit signal path that can include circuitry for up-converting baseband signals provided by baseband circuitry 610 and providing an RF output signal to FEM circuitry 608 for transmission.

[0208] In some embodiments, the receive signal path of RF circuitry 606 may include mixer circuitry 606a, amplifier circuitry 606b, and filter circuitry 606c. In some embodiments, the transmit signal path of RF circuitry 606 may include filter circuitry 606c and mixer circuitry 606a. RF circuitry 606 may also include synthesizer circuitry 606d for synthesizing frequencies for use by mixer circuitry 606a in the receive and transmit signal paths. In some embodiments, mixer circuitry 606a in the receive signal path may be configured to downconvert the RF signal received from FEM circuitry 608 based on the synthesized frequency provided by synthesizer circuitry 606d. Amplifier circuitry 606b may be configured to amplify the downconverted signal, and filter circuitry 606c may be a low-pass filter (LPF) or a band-pass filter (BPF) configured to remove unwanted signals from the downconverted signal to generate an output baseband signal. The output baseband signal may be provided to baseband circuitry 610 for further processing. In some embodiments, the output baseband signal can be a zero-frequency baseband signal, although this is not required.In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 606a of the receive signal path can include a passive mixer, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

[0209] In some embodiments, mixer circuit 606a of the transmit signal path can be configured to upconvert an input baseband signal based on a synthesized frequency provided by synthesizer circuit 606d to generate an RF output signal for FEM circuit 608. The baseband signal can be provided by baseband circuit 610 and can be filtered by filter circuit 606c.

[0210] In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 606a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuit 606a of the transmit signal path may include two or more mixers and may be arranged for quadrature down-conversion and up-conversion, respectively. In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 606a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuit 606a of the transmit signal path may include two or more mixers and may be arranged for image suppression (e.g., Hartley image suppression). In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 606a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuit 606a of the transmit signal path may be arranged for direct down-conversion and direct up-conversion, respectively. In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 606a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuit 606a of the transmit signal path may be configured for superheterodyne operation.

[0211] In some embodiments, the output baseband signal and the input baseband signal can be analog baseband signals, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. In some alternative embodiments, the output baseband signal and the input baseband signal can be digital baseband signals. In these alternative embodiments, RF circuitry 606 can include analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and digital-to-analog converter (DAC) circuitry, and baseband circuitry 610 can include a digital baseband interface to communicate with RF circuitry 606.

[0212] In some dual-mode embodiments, separate radio IC circuits may be provided to process signals for each spectrum, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

[0213] In some embodiments, synthesizer circuit 606 d may be a fractional-N synthesizer or a fractional N / N+1 synthesizer, but the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect, as other types of frequency synthesizers may also be suitable. For example, synthesizer circuit 606 d may be a delta-sigma synthesizer, a frequency multiplier, or a synthesizer including a phase-locked loop with a frequency divider.

[0214] Synthesizer circuit 606d can be configured to synthesize an output frequency based on the frequency input and the divider control input for use by mixer circuit 606a of RF circuit 606. In some embodiments, synthesizer circuit 606d can be a fractional-N / N+1 synthesizer.

[0215] In some embodiments, the frequency input may be provided by a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO), although this is not required. The divider control input may be provided by baseband circuitry 610 or application circuitry 405 / 505 depending on the desired output frequency. In some embodiments, the divider control input (e.g., N) may be determined from a lookup table based on the channel indicated by application circuitry 405 / 505.

[0216] The synthesizer circuit 606d of the RF circuit 606 may include a frequency divider, a delay-locked loop (DLL), a multiplexer, and a phase accumulator. In some embodiments, the frequency divider may be a dual-modulus frequency divider (DMD), and the phase accumulator may be a digital phase accumulator (DPA). In some embodiments, the DMD may be configured to divide the input signal by N or N+1 (e.g., based on a carry) to provide a fractional division ratio. In some example embodiments, the DLL may include a cascaded, tunable delay element, a phase detector, a charge pump, and a set of D-type flip-flops. In these embodiments, the delay element may be configured to divide the VCO cycle into Nd equal phase groups, where Nd is the number of delay elements in the delay line. In this way, the DLL provides negative feedback to help ensure that the total delay through the delay line is one VCO cycle.

[0217] In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuit 606d can be configured to generate a carrier frequency as the output frequency, while in other embodiments, the output frequency can be a multiple of the carrier frequency (e.g., twice the carrier frequency, four times the carrier frequency) and used with a quadrature generator and divider circuit to generate multiple signals with multiple different phases relative to each other at the carrier frequency. In some embodiments, the output frequency can be the LO frequency (fLO). In some embodiments, the RF circuit 606 can include an IQ / polarity converter.

[0218] The FEM circuitry 608 may include a receive signal path that may include circuitry configured to operate on RF signals received from the antenna array 611, amplify the received signals, and provide an amplified version of the received signals to the RF circuitry 606 for further processing. The FEM circuitry 608 may also include a transmit signal path that may include circuitry configured to amplify transmit signals provided by the RF circuitry 606 for transmission by one or more antenna elements in the antenna array 611. In various embodiments, amplification by either the transmit signal path or the receive signal path may be performed only in the RF circuitry 606, only in the FEM circuitry 608, or in both the RF circuitry 606 and the FEM circuitry 608.

[0219] In some embodiments, the FEM circuitry 608 may include a TX / RX switch to switch between transmit and receive modes of operation. The FEM circuitry 608 may include a receive signal path and a transmit signal path. The receive signal path of the FEM circuitry 608 may include an LNA to amplify a received RF signal and provide the amplified received RF signal as an output (e.g., to the RF circuitry 606). The transmit signal path of the FEM circuitry 608 may include a power amplifier (PA) for amplifying an input RF signal (e.g., provided by the RF circuitry 606), and one or more filters for generating an RF signal for subsequent transmission by one or more antenna elements of the antenna array 611.

[0220] Antenna array 611 includes one or more antenna elements, each configured to convert electrical signals into radio waves for travel through the air and to convert received radio waves into electrical signals. For example, a digital baseband signal provided by baseband circuitry 610 is converted into an analog RF signal (e.g., a modulated waveform), which is amplified and transmitted via the antenna elements of antenna array 611, which includes one or more antenna elements (not shown). Antenna elements can be omnidirectional, directional, or a combination thereof. Antenna elements can be formed into various arrangements as known and / or discussed herein. Antenna array 611 can include microstrip antennas or printed antennas fabricated on the surface of one or more printed circuit boards. Antenna array 611 can be formed as patches of metal foil of various shapes (e.g., patch antennas) and can be coupled to RF circuitry 606 and / or FEM circuitry 608 using metal transmission lines or the like.

[0221] The processors of the application circuitry 405 / 505 and the processors of the baseband circuitry 610 may be used to execute elements of one or more instances of the protocol stack. For example, the processor of the baseband circuitry 610 may be used, alone or in combination, to perform layer 3, layer 2, or layer 1 functions, while the processors of the application circuitry 405 / 505 may utilize data received from these layers (e.g., packet data) and further perform layer 4 functions (e.g., TCP and UDP layers). As mentioned herein, layer 3 may include the RRC layer, which is described in further detail below. As mentioned herein, layer 2 may include the MAC layer, the RLC layer, and the PDCP layer, which are described in further detail below. As mentioned herein, layer 1 may include the PHY layer of the UE / RAN node, which is described in further detail below.

[0222] Figure 7 Various protocol functions that can be implemented in wireless communication devices according to various embodiments are shown. Specifically, Figure 7 The present invention includes an arrangement 700 showing the interconnection between various protocol layers / entities. The present invention provides various protocol layers / entities for operating in conjunction with the 5G / NR system standard and the LTE system standard. Figure 7The following description, but Figure 7 Some or all aspects of the present invention may also be applicable to other wireless communication network systems.

[0223] In addition to other higher layer functions not shown, the protocol layers of arrangement 700 may include one or more of PHY 710, MAC 720, RLC 730, PDCP 740, SDAP 747, RRC 755, and NAS layer 757. These protocol layers may include one or more service access points (e.g., Figure 7 Items 759, 756, 750, 749, 745, 735, 725, and 715).

[0224] PHY 710 can send and receive physical layer signals 705, which can be received from or sent to one or more other communication devices. Physical layer signals 705 may include one or more physical channels, such as those discussed herein. PHY 710 may also perform link adaptation or adaptive modulation and coding (AMC), power control, cell search (e.g., for initial synchronization and handover purposes) and other measurements used by higher layers (e.g., RRC 755). PHY 710 may also further perform error detection on transport channels, forward error correction (FEC) encoding / decoding of transport channels, modulation / demodulation of physical channels, interleaving, rate matching, mapping to physical channels, and MIMO antenna processing. In an embodiment, an instance of PHY 710 may process a request from an instance of MAC 720 and provide an indication thereto via one or more PHY-SAPs 715. According to some embodiments, the request and indication transmitted via PHY-SAP 715 may include one or more transport channels.

[0225] Instances of MAC 720 may process requests from instances of RLC 730 and provide indications thereto via one or more MAC-SAPs 725. These requests and indications conveyed via MAC-SAP 725 may include one or more logical channels. MAC 720 may perform mapping between logical channels and transport channels, multiplexing MAC SDUs from one or more logical channels onto TBs to be delivered to PHY 710 via transport channels, demultiplexing MAC SDUs from TBs delivered from PHY 710 via transport channels onto one or more logical channels, multiplexing MAC SDUs onto TBs, scheduling information reporting, error correction via HARQ, and logical channel prioritization.

[0226] Instances of RLC 730 can process requests from instances of PDCP 740 and provide indications thereto via one or more Radio Link Control Service Access Points (RLC-SAPs) 735. These requests and indications conveyed via RLC-SAPs 735 can include one or more logical channels. RLC 730 can operate in multiple modes of operation, including Transparent Mode (TM), Unacknowledged Mode (UM), and Acknowledged Mode (AM). RLC 730 can perform transmission of upper layer protocol data units (PDUs), error correction via Automatic Repeat Request (ARQ) for AM data transmission, and concatenation, segmentation, and reassembly of RLC SDUs for UM and AM data transmission. RLC 730 can also resegment RLC data PDUs for AM data transmission, reorder RLC data PDUs for UM and AM data transmission, detect duplicate data for UM and AM data transmission, discard RLC SDUs for UM and AM data transmission, detect protocol errors for AM data transmission, and perform RLC re-establishment.

[0227] An instance of PDCP 740 may process requests from an instance of RRC 755 and / or an instance of SDAP 747 and provide instructions thereto via one or more Packet Data Convergence Protocol Service Points (PDCP-SAPs) 745. These requests and instructions conveyed via PDCP-SAPs 745 may include one or more radio bearers. PDCP 740 may perform header compression and decompression of IP data, maintain PDCP sequence numbers (SNs), enforce in-sequence delivery of upper layer PDUs upon lower layer reestablishment, eliminate duplication of lower layer SDUs upon lower layer reestablishment for radio bearers mapped on RLC AM, encrypt and decrypt control plane data, perform integrity protection and integrity verification on control plane data, control timer-based data discard, and perform security operations (e.g., encryption, decryption, integrity protection, integrity verification, etc.).

[0228] An instance of SDAP 747 can process requests from one or more higher layer protocol entities and provide instructions to them via one or more SDAP-SAPs 749. These requests and instructions transmitted via SDAP-SAP 749 may include one or more QoS flows. SDAP 747 can map QoS flows to DRBs and vice versa, and can also mark the QFI in DL and UL packets. A single SDAP entity 747 can be configured for a separate PDU session. In the UL direction, NG-RAN 110 can control the mapping of QoS flows to DRBs in two different ways: reflective mapping or explicit mapping. For reflective mapping, SDAP 747 of UE 101 can monitor the QFI of DL packets for each DRB and apply the same mapping to packets flowing in the UL direction. For a DRB, SDAP 747 of UE 101 can map UL packets belonging to a QoS flow that corresponds to the QoS flow ID and PDU session observed in the DL packets of that DRB. To implement reflective mapping, the NG-RAN 310 may tag DL packets with a QoS flow ID over the Uu interface. Explicit mapping may involve the RRC 755 configuring the SDAP 747 with explicit mapping rules for QoS flows to DRBs, which may be stored and followed by the SDAP 747. In an embodiment, the SDAP 747 may be used only in NR implementations and may not be used in LTE implementations.

[0229] The RRC 755 may configure aspects of one or more protocol layers, which may include one or more instances of the PHY 710, MAC 720, RLC 730, PDCP 740, and SDAP 747, via one or more Management Service Access Points (M-SAPs). In an embodiment, instances of the RRC 755 may process requests from one or more NAS entities 757 and provide instructions thereto via one or more RRC-SAPs 756. Primary services and functions of the RRC 755 may include broadcasting of system information (e.g., included in a MIB or SIB related to the NAS), broadcasting of system information related to the access stratum (AS), paging, establishment, maintenance, and release of the RRC connection between the UE 101 and the RAN 110 (e.g., RRC Connection Paging, RRC Connection Establishment, RRC Connection Modification, and RRC Connection Release), establishment, configuration, maintenance, and release of point-to-point radio bearers, security functions including key management, inter-RAT mobility, and measurement configuration for UE measurement reporting. These MIBs and SIBs may include one or more IEs, each of which may include a separate data field or data structure.

[0230] NAS 757 may form the highest layer of the control plane between UE 101 and AMF 321. NAS 757 may support mobility and session management procedures of UE 1701 to establish and maintain an IP connection between UE 101 and P-GW in the LTE system.

[0231] According to various embodiments, one or more protocol entities of arrangement 700 may be implemented in UE 101, RAN node 111, AMF 321 in NR implementations or MME 221 in LTE implementations, UPF 302 in NR implementations or S-GW 222 and P-GW 223 in LTE implementations, etc., for control plane or user plane communication protocol stacks between the aforementioned devices. In such embodiments, one or more protocol entities that may be implemented in one or more of UE 101, gNB 111, AMF 321, etc. may communicate with corresponding peer protocol entities that may be implemented in or on another device (using services of corresponding lower layer protocol entities to perform such communication). In some embodiments, the gNB-CU of gNB 111 may host the gNB's RRC 755, SDAP 747, and PDCP 740 that control operations of one or more gNB-DUs, and the gNB-DUs of gNB 111 may each host the RLC 730, MAC 720, and PHY 710 of gNB 111.

[0232] In a first example, the control plane protocol stack may include, in order from highest layer to lowest layer, NAS 757, RRC 755, PDCP 740, RLC 730, MAC 720, and PHY 710. In this example, upper layers 760 may be built on top of NAS 757, including an IP layer 761, SCTP 762, and an application layer signaling protocol (AP) 763.

[0233] In an NR implementation, the AP 763 may be an NG application protocol layer (NGAP or NG-AP) 763 for the NG interface 113 defined between the NG-RAN node 111 and the AMF 321, or the AP 763 may be an Xn application protocol layer (XnAP or Xn-AP) 763 for the Xn interface 112 defined between two or more RAN nodes 111.

[0234] The NG-AP 763 may support the functionality of the NG interface 113 and may include an elementary procedure (EP). The NG-AP EP may be an interaction unit between the NG-RAN node 111 and the AMF 321. The NG-AP 763 services may include two groups: UE-associated services (e.g., services related to the UE 101) and non-UE-associated services (e.g., services related to the entire NG interface instance between the NG-RAN node 111 and the AMF 321). These services may include functions including, but not limited to: a paging function for sending a paging request to the NG-RAN node 111 involved in a specific paging area; a UE context management function for allowing the AMF 321 to establish, modify and / or release the UE context in the AMF 321 and the NG-RAN node 111; a mobility function for the UE 101 in ECM-CONNECTED mode, for intra-system HO to support mobility within the NG-RAN, and for inter-system HO to support mobility from / to the EPS system; a NAS signalling transport function for transferring or rerouting NAS messages between the UE 101 and the AMF 321; a NAS node selection function for determining the association between the AMF 321 and the UE 101; an NG interface management function for setting up the NG interface and monitoring errors over the NG interface; a warning message sending function for providing a means to transfer a warning message via the NG interface or to cancel an ongoing warning message broadcast; a NAS signalling transport function for transferring or rerouting NAS messages between the UE 101 and the AMF 321; a NAS node selection function for determining the association between the AMF 321 and the UE 101; a ... 120 Configuration transmission function for requesting and transmitting RAN configuration information (eg, SON information, performance measurement (PM) data, etc.) between two RAN nodes 111; and / or other similar functions.

[0235] The XnAP 763 may support the functionality of the Xn interface 112 and may include XnAP basic mobility procedures and XnAP global procedures. The XnAP basic mobility procedures may include procedures for handling UE mobility within the NG RAN 111 (or E-UTRAN 210), such as handover preparation and cancellation procedures, SN status transfer procedures, UE context retrieval and UE context release procedures, RAN paging procedures, and procedures related to dual connectivity. The XnAP global procedures may include procedures unrelated to a specific UE 101, such as Xn interface setup and reset procedures, NG-RAN update procedures, and cell activation procedures.

[0236] In an LTE implementation, the AP 763 may be an S1 application protocol layer (S1-AP) 763 for the S1 interface 113 defined between the E-UTRAN node 111 and the MME, or the AP 763 may be an X2 application protocol layer (X2AP or X2-AP) 763 for the X2 interface 112 defined between two or more E-UTRAN nodes 111.

[0237] The S1 application protocol layer (S1-AP) 763 may support the functionality of the S1 interface, and similar to the NG-AP discussed previously, the S1-AP may include an S1-AP EP. The S1-AP EP may be the interaction unit between the E-UTRAN node 111 and the MME 221 within the LTE CN 120. S1-AP 763 services may include two groups: UE-associated services and non-UE-associated services. These services perform functions including, but not limited to, E-UTRAN Radio Access Bearer (E-RAB) management, UE capability indication, mobility, NAS signaling, RAN Information Management (RIM), and configuration transfer.

[0238] The X2AP 763 may support the functionality of the X2 interface 112 and may include X2AP basic mobility procedures and X2AP global procedures. The X2AP basic mobility procedures may include procedures for handling UE mobility within the E-UTRAN 120, such as handover preparation and cancellation procedures, SN status transfer procedures, UE context retrieval and UE context release procedures, RAN paging procedures, and procedures related to dual connectivity. The X2AP global procedures may include procedures unrelated to a specific UE 101, such as X2 interface setup and reset procedures, load indication procedures, error indication procedures, and cell activation procedures.

[0239] The SCTP layer (alternatively referred to as the SCTP / IP layer) 762 can provide guaranteed delivery of application layer messages (e.g., NGAP or XnAP messages in NR implementations, or S1-AP or X2AP messages in LTE implementations). SCTP 762 can ensure reliable delivery of signaling messages between the RAN node 111 and the AMF 321 / MME 221 based in part on the IP protocol supported by IP 761. The Internet Protocol layer (IP) 761 can be used to perform packet addressing and routing functions. In some implementations, the IP layer 761 can use point-to-point transport to deliver and transmit PDUs. In this regard, the RAN node 111 can include L2 and L1 layer communication links (e.g., wired or wireless) with the MME / AMF to exchange information.

[0240] In a second example, the user plane protocol stack may include, in order from highest layer to lowest layer, SDAP 747, PDCP 740, RLC 730, MAC 720, and PHY 710. The user plane protocol stack may be used for communication between UE 101, RAN node 111, and UPF 302 in an NR implementation, or between S-GW 222 and P-GW 223 in an LTE implementation. In this example, upper layers 751 may be built on top of SDAP 747 and may include a user datagram protocol (UDP) and IP security layer (UDP / IP) 752, a general packet radio service (GPRS) tunneling protocol for the user plane layer (GTP-U) 753, and a user plane PDU layer (UP PDU) 763.

[0241] The transport network layer 754 (also known as the "transport layer") can be built on top of the IP transport, and the GTP-U 753 can be used on top of the UDP / IP layer 752 (including the UDP layer and the IP layer) to carry user plane PDUs (UP-PDUs). The IP layer (also known as the "Internet layer") can be used to perform packet addressing and routing functions. The IP layer can assign IP addresses to user data packets in any of the formats, such as IPv4, IPv6, or PPP.

[0242] GTP-U 753 can be used to carry user data within the GPRS core network and between the radio access network and the core network. For example, the transmitted user data can be packets in any of the IPv4, IPv6, or PPP formats. UDP / IP 752 can provide checksums for data integrity, port numbers for addressing different functions at the source and destination, and encryption and authentication for selected data flows. The RAN node 111 and the S-GW 222 can exchange user plane data using the S1-U interface via a protocol stack including the L1 layer (e.g., PHY 710), the L2 layer (e.g., MAC 720, RLC 730, PDCP 740, and / or SDAP 747), the UDP / IP layer 752, and GTP-U 753. The S-GW 222 and the P-GW 223 can exchange user plane data using the S5 / S8a interface via a protocol stack including the L1 layer, the L2 layer, the UDP / IP layer 752, and GTP-U 753. As previously discussed, the NAS protocol may support mobility and session management procedures for UE 101 to establish and maintain an IP connection between UE 101 and P-GW 223 .

[0243] In addition, despite Figure 7Not shown, but an application layer may exist above the AP 763 and / or transport network layer 754. The application layer may be the layer where a user of the UE 101, RAN node 111, or other network element interacts with, for example, software applications executed by the application circuitry 405 or the application circuitry 505, respectively. The application layer may also provide one or more interfaces for the software applications to interact with the communication system of the UE 101 or RAN node 111, such as the baseband circuitry 610. In some implementations, the IP layer and / or the application layer may provide functionality that is the same as or similar to layers 5 through 7 of the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model, or portions thereof (e.g., OSI layer 7—application layer, OSI layer 6—presentation layer, and OSI layer 5—session layer).

[0244] Figure 8 Components of a core network according to various embodiments are shown. The components of CN 220 may be implemented in one physical node or separate physical nodes, including components for reading and executing instructions from a machine-readable or computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium). In an embodiment, the components of CN 320 can be implemented in the same or similar manner as discussed herein with respect to the components of CN 220. In some embodiments, NFV is used to virtualize any or all of the above-described network node functions via executable instructions stored in one or more computer-readable storage media (described in further detail below). A logical instance of CN 220 may be referred to as a network slice 801, and each logical instance of CN 220 may provide specific network functions and network characteristics. A logical instance of a portion of CN 220 may be referred to as a network sub-slice 802 (e.g., network sub-slice 802 is shown as including P-GW 223 and PCRF 226).

[0245] As used herein, the terms "instantiation" and the like may refer to the creation of an instance, and "instance" may refer to the concrete occurrence of an object, which may occur, for example, during the execution of program code. A network instance may refer to information identifying a domain, which may be used for traffic detection and routing in different IP domains or in the case of overlapping IP addresses. A network slice instance may refer to a set of network function (NF) instances and the resources required to deploy a network slice (e.g., computing, storage, and network resources).

[0246] Regarding 5G systems (see e.g. Figure 3), a network slice always includes a RAN portion and a CN portion. Support for network slicing relies on the principle that traffic for different slices is handled by different PDU sessions. The network can implement different network slices through scheduling and also by providing different L1 / L2 configurations. If the NAS has provided an RRC message, the UE 301 provides assistance information for network slice selection in the appropriate RRC message. Although the network can support a large number of slices, the UE does not need to support more than 8 slices simultaneously.

[0247] A network slice may include the CN 320 control plane and user plane NFs, the NG-RAN 310 in the serving PLMN, and the N3IWF functionality in the serving PLMN. Each network slice may have a different S-NSSAI and / or may have a different SST. The NSSAI includes one or more S-NSSAIs, and each network slice is uniquely identified by an S-NSSAI. Network slices may differ in supported features and network function optimizations, and / or multiple network slice instances may deliver the same services / features but differently for different groups of UEs 301 (e.g., enterprise users). For example, each network slice may deliver different committed services and / or may be dedicated to a specific customer or enterprise. In this example, each network slice may have a different S-NSSAI with the same SST but with a different slice differentiator. In addition, a single UE may be served simultaneously by one or more network slice instances via the 5G AN and associated with eight different S-NSSAIs. Furthermore, the AMF 321 instance serving a single UE 301 may belong to each network slice instance serving that UE.

[0248] Network slicing in the NG-RAN 310 involves RAN slice awareness. RAN slice awareness involves differentiated handling of traffic for different pre-configured network slices. Slice awareness in the NG-RAN 310 is introduced at the PDU session level by indicating the S-NSSAI corresponding to the PDU session in all signaling, including PDU session resource information. How the NG-RAN 310 supports slicing in terms of NG-RAN functionality (e.g., a set of network functions per slice) depends on the specific implementation. The NG-RAN 310 selects the RAN portion of the network slice using assistance information provided by the UE 301 or 5GC 320. This assistance information explicitly identifies one or more pre-configured network slices in the PLMN. The NG-RAN 310 also supports resource management and policy enforcement between slices according to SLAs. A single NG-RAN node can support multiple slices, and the NG-RAN 310 can also apply the appropriate RRM policy for the SLA to each supported slice. The NG-RAN 310 also supports QoS differentiation within a slice.

[0249] NG-RAN 310 can also use UE assistance information to select an AMF 321 during the initial attach, if available. NG-RAN 310 uses the assistance information to route the initial NAS to AMF 321. If NG-RAN 310 cannot select an AMF 321 using the assistance information, or if UE 301 does not provide any such information, NG-RAN 310 sends NAS signaling to a default AMF 321, which may be in the AMF 321 pool. For subsequent access, UE 301 provides the temporary ID assigned to UE 301 by 5GC 320 to enable NG-RAN 310 to route NAS messages to the appropriate AMF 321, as long as the temporary ID is valid. NG-RAN 310 is aware of and can reach the AMF 321 associated with the temporary ID. Otherwise, the method used for initial attach applies.

[0250] The NG-RAN 310 supports resource isolation between slices. This isolation is achieved through RRM policies and protection mechanisms that prevent shared resource starvation in situations where one slice disrupts the service-level agreement of another slice. In some implementations, NG-RAN 310 resources can be fully dedicated to a slice. How the NG-RAN 310 supports resource isolation is implementation-dependent.

[0251] Some slices may only be partially available in the network. The NG-RAN 310 is aware of the slices supported in its neighboring cells that may be beneficial for inter-frequency mobility in connected mode. Slice availability may not change within the UE's registration area. The NG-RAN 310 and 5GC 320 are responsible for processing service requests for slices that may or may not be available in a given area. Granting or denying access to a slice may depend on factors such as support for the slice, resource availability, and NG-RAN 310 support for the requested service.

[0252] UE 301 can be associated with multiple network slices simultaneously. In the event that UE 301 is associated with multiple slices simultaneously, only one signaling connection is maintained, and for intra-frequency cell reselection, UE 301 attempts to camp on the best cell. For inter-frequency cell reselection, dedicated priorities can be used to control the frequency that UE 301 camps on. 5GC 320 will verify that UE 301 has the right to access the network slice. Knowing the specific slice that UE 301 is requesting access to before receiving the Initial Context Setup Request message allows NG-RAN 310 to apply temporary / local policies. During Initial Context Setup, NG-RAN 310 is informed of the slice whose resources are being requested.

[0253] The NFV architecture and infrastructure can be used to virtualize one or more NFs onto physical resources including a combination of industry-standard server hardware, storage hardware, or switches (alternatively executed by proprietary hardware). In other words, the NFV system can be used to perform virtual or reconfigurable implementations of one or more EPC components / functions.

[0254] Figure 9 900 , according to some exemplary embodiments, is a block diagram illustrating components of an NFV-enabled system 900. System 900 is shown to include a VIM 902, an NFVI 904, a VNFM 906, a VNF 908, an EM 910, an NFVO 912, and an NM 914.

[0255] The VIM 902 manages the resources of the NFVI 904. The NFVI 904 may include physical or virtual resources and applications (including a hypervisor) for executing the system 900. The VIM 902 may utilize the NFVI 904 to manage the lifecycle of virtual resources (e.g., the creation, maintenance, and teardown of VMs associated with one or more physical resources), track VM instances, track the performance, faults, and security of VM instances and associated physical resources, and expose VM instances and associated physical resources to other management systems.

[0256] VNFM 906 can manage VNF 908. VNF 908 can be used to perform EPC components / functions. VNFM 906 can manage the lifecycle of VNF 908 and track the performance, faults, and security of the virtual aspects of VNF 908. EM 910 can track the performance, faults, and security of the functional aspects of VNF 908. Tracking data from VNFM 906 and EM 910 can include, for example, PM data used by VIM 902 or NFVI 904. Both VNFM 906 and EM 910 can scale up / down the number of VNFs in system 900.

[0257] The NFVO 912 can coordinate, authorize, release, and join resources of the NFVI 904 to provide the requested service (e.g., execute EPC functions, components, or slices). The NM 914 can provide an end-user functional grouping responsible for network management, which may include network elements with VNFs, non-virtualized network functions, or both (management of VNFs can occur via the EM 910).

[0258] Figure 10 is a block diagram illustrating components capable of reading instructions from a machine-readable medium or computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium) and performing any one or more of the methods discussed herein, according to some exemplary embodiments. Specifically, Figure 10 A schematic diagram of hardware resources 1000 is shown, including one or more processors (or processor cores) 1010, one or more memory / storage devices 1020, and one or more communication resources 1030, each of which may be communicatively coupled via a bus 1040. For embodiments in which node virtualization (e.g., NFV) is utilized, a hypervisor 1002 may be executed to provide an execution environment for one or more network slices / sub-slices to utilize the hardware resources 1000.

[0259] Processor 1010 may include, for example, processor 1012 and processor 1014. Processor 1010 may be, for example, a central processing unit (CPU), a reduced instruction set computing (RISC) processor, a complex instruction set computing (CISC) processor, a graphics processing unit (GPU), a DSP such as a baseband processor, an ASIC, an FPGA, a radio frequency integrated circuit (RFIC), another processor (including those discussed herein), or any suitable combination thereof.

[0260] The memory / storage device 1020 may include main memory, disk storage, or any suitable combination thereof. The memory / storage device 1020 may include, but is not limited to, any type of volatile or non-volatile memory, such as dynamic random access memory (DRAM), static random access memory (SRAM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory, solid-state storage, etc.

[0261] The communication resources 1030 may include interconnect or network interface components or other suitable devices to communicate with one or more peripheral devices 1004 or one or more databases 1006 via the network 1008. For example, the communication resources 1030 may include wired communication components (e.g., for coupling via USB), cellular communication components, NFC components, (or Low power consumption) components, components and other communication components.

[0262] The instructions 1050 may include software, a program, an application, an applet, an application, or other executable code for causing at least one of the processors 1010 to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein. The instructions 1050 may reside entirely or partially within at least one of the processors 1010 (e.g., within a cache memory of the processor), the memory / storage device 1020, or any suitable combination thereof. Furthermore, any portion of the instructions 1050 may be transferred to the hardware resources 1000 from any combination of the peripheral device 1004 or the database 1006. Thus, the memory of the processor 1010, the memory / storage device 1020, the peripheral device 1004, and the database 1006 are examples of computer-readable and machine-readable media.

[0263] For one or more embodiments, at least one of the components shown in one or more of the foregoing figures may be configured to perform one or more operations, techniques, processes, and / or methods described in the Examples section below. For example, the baseband circuitry described above in conjunction with one or more of the foregoing figures may be configured to operate according to one or more of the embodiments described below. For another example, circuitry associated with the UE, base station, network element, etc. described above in conjunction with one or more of the foregoing figures may be configured to operate according to one or more of the embodiments described below in the Examples section.

[0264] Figure 12 Flowchart 1200 illustrates HARQ communications using preconfigured uplink resources (PURs) in idle mode, according to some embodiments. In some embodiments, user equipment (UE) 101, 201, 301, platform 500, and / or other computing devices may execute flowchart 1200. While the foregoing description will describe interactions between UE 101 and RAN node 111, these interactions may also refer to other UE devices described herein. In some embodiments, UE 101 may use elements of flowchart 1200 to perform HARQ communications with RAN node 111.

[0265] In step 1202, UE 101 may establish a first preconfigured uplink resource (PUR) and a second PUR for use by the UE in idle mode. In some embodiments, UE 101 may receive an allocation of the PURs from RAN node 111. For example, UE 101 may establish the first PUR and the second PUR upon initial completion of a cell selection and / or reselection process. The first PUR and the second PUR may be established when UE 101 has selected a cell and / or a RAN node 111 serving that cell. The first PUR and the second PUR may also be used while the UE is in idle mode. As previously explained, idle mode may be a low-power state in which UE 101 is not transmitting or receiving data from RAN node 111. Idle mode may be distinct from connected mode or a state in which a data session is ongoing.

[0266] In step 1204, UE 101 may utilize a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) process to transmit uplink data using the first PUR while in idle mode. UE 101 may transmit the uplink data to RAN node 111. This uplink data may be transmitted even when UE 101 is in idle mode because the PUR may be configured to facilitate this communication. The HARQ process may provide a protocol for confirming reception at RAN node 111. In some embodiments, UE 101 may utilize a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) to transmit the uplink data.

[0267] In step 1206, UE 101 may start a PUR retransmission timer. As previously explained, the PUR retransmission timer may be used in a HARQ process to confirm reception by RAN node 111 and successful communication from UE 101. UE 101 may monitor the PUR retransmission timer to determine whether an acknowledgment message is received within the timer's duration. Specifically, in step 1208, UE 101 may monitor a control channel for acknowledgment messages. The control channel may be, for example, a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH). RAN node 111 may use the PDCCH to transmit the acknowledgment message.

[0268] At step 1210, UE 101 may determine whether an acknowledgment message (or ACK) has been received. If an acknowledgment message has been received, the UE may determine at step 1212 that the transmission was successful. The UE may continue in idle mode. In some embodiments, RAN node 111 may transmit an RRC message to UE 101 indicating that UE 101 should remain in idle mode or move to RRC_CONNECTED mode. The acknowledgment message may also include a new TA command and / or may provide the UE with an additional uplink grant to transmit the remaining uplink data. This transmission may be a subsequent HARQ process.

[0269] In some embodiments, depending on the configuration, a transmission may be considered successful when no message is received. For example, UE 101 may consider a transmission failed when a negative acknowledgement (NACK) is received. In this case, the NACK may also indicate to UE 101 to fall back to a traditional and / or EDT random access scheme to retransmit the uplink data.

[0270] At step 1214, UE 101 may determine whether the PUR retransmission timer has expired. If the PUR retransmission timer has not expired, UE 101 may continue to monitor the control channel for confirmation messages. However, in some embodiments, the timer may expire before receiving the confirmation message from RAN node 111. This may occur, for example, if the communication fails and / or is not received and / or decoded at RAN 111.

[0271] In response to the timer expiring at step 1214, UE 101 may retransmit the uplink data using a second PUR at step 1216. This retransmission may utilize elements of the HARQ protocol to retransmit the data until RAN node 111 has provided confirmation of receipt. For example, UE 101 may perform the retransmission and start another PUR retransmission timer at step 1206. UE 101 may continue to monitor the control channel for confirmation of receipt. If a PUR is not received before the timer expires, UE 101 may retransmit the uplink data using another PUR. This transmission may provide HARQ communication while the UE is in idle mode. These HARQ communications described in flowchart 1200 may follow asynchronous and / or synchronous uplink HARQ.

[0272] In some embodiments, UE 101 may be configured to use the legacy and / or EDT random access protocols when the timer expires and / or when RAN node 111 transmits a NACK message to UE 101. In this case, a second PUR is not used, and UE 101 may retransmit the uplink data using the legacy protocol and / or the EDT random access protocol.

[0273] Example

[0274] Embodiment 1 may include a method for transmitting, by a UE in idle mode, NAS signaling, NAS PDU, TAU update, RRC connection request, CP / UP uplink data, or BSR using pre-configured uplink resources.

[0275] Embodiment 2 may include a method according to embodiment 1 or some other embodiment herein, wherein interaction between NAS and AS is required to decide whether to transmit CP data plus NAS signaling or only NAS signaling or only NAS service request in the PUR based on the TBS size limit of the PUR.

[0276] Embodiment 3 may include the method of embodiment 1 or some other embodiment herein, wherein a UE using UPC IoT optimization always activates AS security using a stored value of the NCC before using a PUR or before sending UL data in a PUR.

[0277] Embodiment 4 may include the method of embodiment 3 or some other embodiment herein, wherein if the user data is larger than the TBS of the PUR, segmentation may be performed and the segmented UL data may be sent in the PUR.

[0278] Embodiment 5 may include a method according to embodiment 3 or some other embodiment herein, wherein after receiving the response to remain idle, the UE does not delete any security keys and remains idle until the current TA is still valid so as to have the possibility of sending UL data in the next PUR.

[0279] Embodiment 6 may include a method according to embodiment 1 or some other embodiment herein, wherein if multiple HARQ processes are supported, a separate random access procedure is initiated for each HARQ process and the feedback / new grant / retransmission in response to the transmission in the PUR indicates the HARQ process ID.

[0280] Embodiment 7 may include a method according to embodiment 6 or some other embodiment herein, wherein a new PUR retransmission timer is used to monitor the PDCCH for ACK / NACK feedback or response to go to idle or go to connected mode or fall back to legacy / EDT random access procedure or retransmission.

[0281] Embodiment 8 may include the method of embodiment 1 or some other embodiment herein, wherein asynchronous UL HARQ-like is used to monitor PDCCH for ACK / NACK feedback or response to go to idle or go to connected mode or fall back to legacy / EDT random access procedure or retransmission.

[0282] Embodiment 9 may include a method according to embodiment 1 or some other embodiment herein, wherein similar synchronous UL HARQ is used to monitor PDCCH for ACK / NACK feedback or response to go to idle or go to connected mode or fall back to legacy / EDT random access procedure or retransmission.

[0283] Embodiment 10 may include the method of embodiment 1 or some other embodiment herein, wherein the response to the transmission in the PUR includes a new TA command, an NCC, restarting the TA validity timer, and an indication to remain idle or go to connected mode.

[0284] Embodiment 11 may include a method wherein if the TA validity timer is still running, the UE releases the PUR by transmitting a new RRC message in the PUR or a new indication in an existing RRC message or MAC CE or L1 signaling.

[0285] Embodiment 12 may include a method of operating a UE, the method comprising: generating an RRC EarlyDataRequest message with an extension carrying CP data, AS RAI, or an establishment cause; and causing the RRC EarlyDataRequest message to be sent to an access node.

[0286] Embodiment 13 may include the method of embodiment 12 or some other embodiment herein, further comprising causing a BSR MAC CE to be transmitted with an RRCEarlyDataRequest message.

[0287] Embodiment 14 may include a method according to embodiment 12 or some other embodiment herein, wherein the extension is to carry an AS RAI to indicate that the UE has no additional uplink data.

[0288] Embodiment 15 may include a method of operating an access node, the method comprising confirming that an uplink transmission in a D-PUR is from an intended UE based on an identifier of the D-PUR or an S-TMSI in an RRC message or a mapping of a dedicated PUR configuration to an S-TMSI, a C-RNTI or other UE-specific RNTI identifying the UE; and forwarding the uplink transmission based on the confirmation.

[0289] Embodiment 16 may include a method of operating an access node, the method comprising scheduling an additional UL grant based on a BSR.

[0290] Embodiment 17 may include a method of operating a UE, the method comprising: determining the correspondence between multiple D-PUR configurations and the multiple HARQ processes; detecting expiration of a D-PUR retransmission timer; determining that a first HARQ process has failed based on the detection; and initiating a second HARQ process in the corresponding D-PUR to retransmit the data.

[0291] Embodiment 18 may include the method of embodiment 17 or some other embodiment herein, further comprising determining, during configuration, an assignment of a HARQ process ID to each of the plurality of D-PURs.

[0292] Embodiment 19 may include a method according to embodiment 17 or some other embodiment herein, further comprising: determining a configuration of a HARQ process offset for each D-PUR in a plurality of D-PURs; and determining a HARQ process ID based on HARQ process ID = [floor(CURRENT_TTI / PURinterval)] modulo numberOfHARQ-Processes + HARQ-Offset.

[0293] Embodiment 20 may include a method of operating a UE, the method comprising: causing an uplink transmission in a D-PUR; and monitoring a PDCCH for an acknowledgement based on an RNTI.

[0294] Embodiment 21 may include the method of embodiment 20 or some other embodiment herein, further comprising deriving the RNTI from a time and frequency associated with the D-PUR.

[0295] Embodiment Z01 may comprise an apparatus comprising means for performing one or more elements of the method described in or related to any of Embodiments 1-21, or any other method or process described herein.

[0296] Embodiment Z02 may include one or more non-transitory computer-readable media comprising instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of an electronic device, cause the electronic device to perform one or more elements of a method described in or related to any one of Embodiments 1 to 21 or any other method or process described herein.

[0297] Embodiment Z03 may include an apparatus comprising logic components, modules, or circuits for performing one or more elements of a method according to or related to any of Embodiments 1 to 21, or any other method or process described herein.

[0298] Embodiment Z04 may include a method, technique, or process as described or related to any one of embodiments 1 to 21, or a portion or component thereof.

[0299] Embodiment Z05 may include a device comprising: one or more processors and one or more computer-readable media, the one or more computer-readable media comprising instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform a method, technique, or process, or portion thereof, described in or related to any one of Embodiments 1 to 21.

[0300] Embodiment Z06 may include a signal as described or related to any one of embodiments 1 to 21, or a portion or component thereof.

[0301] Embodiment Z07 may include signals in a wireless network as shown and described herein.

[0302] Embodiment Z08 may include a method of communicating in a wireless network as shown and described herein.

[0303] Embodiment Z09 may include a system for providing wireless communications as shown and described herein.

[0304] Embodiment Z10 may include an apparatus for providing wireless communications as shown and described herein.

[0305] Unless expressly stated otherwise, any of the above embodiments may be combined with any other embodiment (or combination of embodiments). The foregoing description of one or more specific implementations provides illustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the scope of the embodiments to the precise forms disclosed. Modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings or may be acquired from practice of the various embodiments.

[0306] abbreviation

[0307] For the purposes of this document and without limitation, the following abbreviations may be applied to the examples and embodiments discussed herein but are not intended to be limiting.

[0308] 3GPP Third Generation Partnership Project

[0309] 4G fourth generation

[0310] 5G fifth generation

[0311] 5GC 5G core network

[0312] ACK

[0313] AF application function

[0314] AM Confirmation Mode

[0315] AMBR Aggregate Maximum Bit Rate

[0316] AMF Access and Mobility Management Function

[0317] AN Access Network

[0318] ANR Automatic Neighbor Relation

[0319] AP application protocol, antenna port, access point

[0320] API Application Programming Interface

[0321] APN Access Point Name

[0322] ARP Allocation Preservation Priority

[0323] ARQ Automatic Repeat Request

[0324] AS access layer

[0325] ASN.1 Abstract Syntax Notation

[0326] AUSF authentication server function

[0327] AWGN Additive White Gaussian Noise

[0328] BCH Broadcast Channel

[0329] BER Bit Error Rate

[0330] BFD beam failure detection

[0331] BLER Block Error Rate

[0332] BPSK Binary Phase Shift Keying

[0333] BRAS Broadband Remote Access Server

[0334] BSS Business Support System

[0335] BS Base Station

[0336] BSR Buffer Status Report

[0337] BW Bandwidth

[0338] BWP Bandwidth Part

[0339] C-RNTI Cell Radio Network Temporary Identifier

[0340] CA Carrier Aggregation, Certification Authority

[0341] CAPEX Capital Expenditure

[0342] CBRA Contention-based random access

[0343] CC component carrier, country code, encryption checksum

[0344] CCA Clear Channel Assessment

[0345] CCE Control Channel Element

[0346] CCCH Common Control Channel

[0347] CE Coverage Enhancement

[0348] CDM Content Delivery Network

[0349] CDMA Code Division Multiple Access

[0350] CFRA Contention-Free Random Access

[0351] CG Cell Group

[0352] CI Cell Identifier

[0353] CID Cell ID (e.g., positioning method)

[0354] CIM Common Information Model

[0355] CIR Carrier to Interference Ratio

[0356] CK Cryptographic Key

[0357] CM Connection Management, Conditionally Mandatory

[0358] CMAS Commercial Mobile Alert Service

[0359] CMD command

[0360] CMS Cloud Management System

[0361] CN Control Node

[0362] CO conditional optional

[0363] CoMP Coordinated Multipoint

[0364] CORESET Control Resource Set

[0365] COTS Commercial Off-the-Shelf

[0366] CP Control Plane, Cyclic Prefix, Connection Point

[0367] CPD Connection Point Descriptor

[0368] CPE user terminal equipment

[0369] CPICH Common Pilot Channel

[0370] CQI Channel Quality Indicator

[0371] CPU CSI processing unit, central processing unit

[0372] C / R Command / Response field bit

[0373] CRAN Cloud Radio Access Network, Cloud RAN

[0374] CRB Common Resource Block

[0375] CRC Cyclic Redundancy Check

[0376] CRI Channel State Information Resource Indicator, CSI-RS Resource Indicator

[0377] C-RNTI Cell RNTI

[0378] CS Circuit Switched

[0379] CSAR Cloud Service Archive

[0380] CSI Channel State Information

[0381] CSI-IM CSI interference measurement

[0382] CSI-RS CSI reference signal

[0383] CSI-RSRP CSI reference signal received power

[0384] CSI-RSRQ CSI reference signal reception quality

[0385] CSI-SINR CSI signal to interference plus noise ratio

[0386] CSMA Carrier Sense Multiple Access

[0387] CSMA / CA CSMA with collision avoidance

[0388] CSS Common Search Space, Cell Specific Search Space

[0389] CTS Clear to Send

[0390] CW codeword

[0391] CWS Contention Window Size

[0392] D2D device to device

[0393] DC dual connection, direct current

[0394] DCI Downlink Control Information

[0395] DF deployment preferences

[0396] DL Downlink

[0397] DMTF Distributed Management Task Force

[0398] DPDK Data Plane Development Kit

[0399] DM-RS, DMRS Demodulation Reference Signal

[0400] DN Data Network

[0401] DRB Data Radio Bearer

[0402] DRS Discovery Reference Signal

[0403] DRX Discontinuous Reception

[0404] DSL Domain Specific Language Digital Subscriber Line

[0405] DSLAM DSL Access Multiplexer

[0406] DwPTS Downlink Pilot Time Slot

[0407] E-LAN ​​Ethernet Local Area Network

[0408] E2E End-to-End

[0409] ECCA Extended Clear Channel Assessment, Extended CCA

[0410] ECCE Enhanced Control Channel Element, Enhanced CCE

[0411] ED Energy Detection

[0412] EDGE Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (GSM Evolution)

[0413] EGMF exposes governance management functions

[0414] EGPRS Enhanced GPRS

[0415] EIR Equipment Identity Register

[0416] eLAA Enhanced License Assisted Access, enhanced LAA

[0417] EM Component Manager

[0418] eMBB Enhanced Mobile Broadband

[0419] EMS Component Management System

[0420] eNB Evolved Node B, E-UTRAN Node B

[0421] EN-DC E-UTRA-NR Dual Connectivity

[0422] EPC Evolved Packet Core

[0423] EPDCCH Enhanced PDCCH, Enhanced Physical Downlink Control Channel

[0424] EPRE Energy per resource element

[0425] EPS Evolved Packet System

[0426] EREG Enhanced REG, Enhanced Resource Element Group

[0427] ETSI European Telecommunications Standards Institute

[0428] ETWS Earthquake and Tsunami Warning System

[0429] eUICC embedded UICC, embedded universal integrated circuit card

[0430] E-UTRA Evolved UTRA

[0431] E-UTRAN Evolved UTRAN

[0432] EV2X Enhanced V2X

[0433] F1AP F1 Application Protocol

[0434] F1-C F1 control plane interface

[0435] F1-U F1 User Plane Interface

[0436] FACCH Fast Associated Control Channel

[0437] FACCH / F Fast Associated Control Channel / Full Rate

[0438] FACCH / H Fast Associated Control Channel / Half Rate

[0439] FACH Forward Access Channel

[0440] FAUSCH Fast Uplink Signaling Channel

[0441] FB function block

[0442] FBI feedback

[0443] FCC Federal Communications Commission

[0444] FCCH Frequency Correction Channel

[0445] FDD Frequency Division Duplex

[0446] FDM Frequency Division Multiplexing

[0447] FDMA Frequency Division Multiple Access

[0448] FE Front End

[0449] FEC Forward Error Correction

[0450] FFS for further research

[0451] FFT Fast Fourier Transform

[0452] feLAA Further Enhanced Licensing Assisted Access, further enhanced LAA

[0453] FN Frame Number

[0454] FPGA Field Programmable Gate Array

[0455] FR frequency range

[0456] G-RNTI GERAN Radio Network Temporary Identifier

[0457] GERAN GSM EDGE RAN, GSM EDGE Radio Access Network

[0458] GSM Gateway GPRS Support Node

[0459] GLONASS GLObal'naya NAvigatsionnaya Sputnikovaya Sistema (Chinese: Global Navigation Satellite System)

[0460] gNB Next Generation Node B

[0461] gNB-CU gNB centralized unit, next generation Node B centralized unit

[0462] gNB-DU gNB distributed unit, next generation Node B distributed unit

[0463] GNSS Global Navigation Satellite System

[0464] GPRS General Packet Radio Service

[0465] GSM Global System for Mobile Communications, Mobile Association

[0466] GTP GPRS Tunneling Protocol

[0467] GTP-U GPRS Tunneling Protocol for the User Plane

[0468] GTS Go to sleep signal (related to WUS)

[0469] GUMMEI Globally Unique MME Identifier

[0470] GUTI Globally Unique Temporary UE Identifier

[0471] HARQ Hybrid ARQ, Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request

[0472] HANDO, HO switch

[0473] HFN Superframe Number

[0474] HHO Hard Handover

[0475] HLR Home Location Register

[0476] HN Home Network

[0477] HO Handover

[0478] HPLMN Home Public Land Mobile Network

[0479] HSDPA High Speed ​​Downlink Packet Access

[0480] HSN Hopping Sequence Number

[0481] HSPA High Speed ​​Packet Access

[0482] HSS Home Subscriber Server

[0483] HSUPA High Speed ​​Uplink Packet Access

[0484] HTTP Hypertext Transfer Protocol

[0485] HTTPS Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (https is http / 1.1 over SSL (i.e. port 443))

[0486] I-Block Information Block

[0487] ICCID Integrated Circuit Card Identifier

[0488] ICIC Inter-cell Interference Coordination

[0489] ID identification, identifier

[0490] IDFT Inverse Discrete Fourier Transform

[0491] IE Information Element

[0492] IBE In-Band Emission

[0493] IEEE Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers

[0494] IEI Information Element Identifier

[0495] IEIDL Information Element Identifier Data Length

[0496] IETF Internet Engineering Task Force

[0497] IF Infrastructure

[0498] IM interference measurement, intermodulation, IP multimedia

[0499] IMC IMS credentials

[0500] IMEI International Mobile Equipment Identity

[0501] IMGI International Mobile Group Identity

[0502] IMPI IP Multimedia Privacy Identity

[0503] IMPU IP Multimedia Public Identity

[0504] IMS IP Multimedia Subsystem

[0505] IMSI International Mobile Subscriber Identity

[0506] IoT

[0507] IP Internet Protocol

[0508] IPsec IP security, Internet Protocol Security

[0509] IP-CAN IP connection access network

[0510] IP-M IP Multicast

[0511] IPv4 Internet Protocol version 4

[0512] IPv6 Internet Protocol version 6

[0513] IR

[0514] IS Synchronization

[0515] IRP Integration Reference Point

[0516] ISDN Integrated Services Digital Network

[0517] ISIM IM Service Identity Module

[0518] ISO International Organization for Standardization

[0519] ISP Internet Service Provider

[0520] IWF interworking function

[0521] I-WLAN Intercommunication WLAN

[0522] K is the constraint length of the convolutional code, USIM individual key

[0523] kB kilobyte (1000 bytes)

[0524] kbps kilobits per second

[0525] Kc cryptographic key

[0526] Ki individual user authentication key

[0527] KPI Key Performance Indicator

[0528] KQI Key Quality Indicator

[0529] KSI Key Set Identifier

[0530] ksps kilosymbols per second

[0531] KVM Kernel Virtual Machine

[0532] L1 Layer 1 (physical layer)

[0533] L1-RSRP Layer 1 reference signal received power

[0534] L2 Layer 2 (Data Link Layer)

[0535] L3 Layer 3 (Network Layer)

[0536] LAA License Assisted Access

[0537] LAN Local Area Network

[0538] LBT Listen before speaking

[0539] LCM Lifecycle Management

[0540] LCR Low Chip Rate

[0541] LCS Location Services

[0542] LCID Logical Channel ID

[0543] LI layer indicator

[0544] LLC Logical Link Control, low layer compatibility

[0545] LPLMN Local PLMN

[0546] LPP LTE Positioning Protocol

[0547] LSB Least Significant Bit

[0548] LTE Long Term Evolution

[0549] LWA LTE-WLAN aggregation

[0550] LWIP LTE / WLAN radio-level integration with IPsec tunneling

[0551] LTE Long Term Evolution

[0552] M2M Machine to Machine

[0553] MAC Medium Access Control (Protocol Layer Context)

[0554] MAC Message Authentication Code (Security / Cryptography Context)

[0555] MAC-A MAC for authentication and key agreement (TSG T WG3 context)

[0556] MAC-I MAC for data integrity of signaling messages (TSG T WG3 context)

[0557] MANO Management and Orchestration

[0558] MBMS Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service

[0559] MBSFN Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service Single Frequency Network

[0560] MCC Mobile Country Code

[0561] MCG Master Cell Group

[0562] MCOT Maximum Channel Occupancy Time

[0563] MCS modulation and coding scheme

[0564] MDAF management data analysis function

[0565] MDAS Management Data Analysis Service

[0566] Minimization of MDT-driven testing

[0567] ME Mobile Devices

[0568] MeNB Master eNB

[0569] MER message error rate

[0570] MGL Measuring Gap Length

[0571] MGRP measurement gap repetition period

[0572] MIB Master Information Block, Management Information Base

[0573] MIMO Multiple Input Multiple Output

[0574] MLC Mobile Location Center

[0575] MM Mobility Management

[0576] MME Mobility Management Entity

[0577] MN Master Node

[0578] MO measurement object, mobile station calling

[0579] MPBCH MTC physical broadcast channel

[0580] MPDCCH MTC Physical Downlink Control Channel

[0581] MPDSCH MTC Physical Downlink Shared Channel

[0582] MPRACH MTC Physical Random Access Channel

[0583] MPUSCH MTC Physical Uplink Shared Channel

[0584] MPLS Multi-Protocol Label Switching

[0585] MS Mobile Station

[0586] MSB Most Significant Bit

[0587] MSC Mobile Switching Center

[0588] MSI minimum system information, MCH scheduling information

[0589] MSID Mobile Station Identifier

[0590] MSIN Mobile Station Identification Number

[0591] MSISDN Mobile Subscriber ISDN Number

[0592] MT mobile station called, mobile terminal

[0593] MTC Machine Type Communication

[0594] mMTC Massive MTC, massive machine type communication

[0595] MU-MIMO Multi-User MIMO

[0596] MWUS MTC wake-up signal, MTC WUS

[0597] NACK Negative Acknowledgement

[0598] NAI Network Access Identifier

[0599] NAS Non-Access Stratum, Non-Access Stratum

[0600] NCT Network Connection Topology

[0601] NEC Network Capabilities Exposure

[0602] NE-DC NR-E-UTRA Dual Connectivity

[0603] NEF network exposure function

[0604] NF Network Function

[0605] NFP Network Forwarding Path

[0606] NFPD Network Forwarding Path Descriptor

[0607] NFV Network Function Virtualization

[0608] NFVI NFV Infrastructure

[0609] NFVO NFV Orchestrator

[0610] NG Next Generation, Next Generation

[0611] NGEN-DC NG-RAN E-UTRA-NR Dual Connectivity

[0612] NM Network Manager

[0613] NMS Network Management System

[0614] N-PoP Network Point of Presence

[0615] NMIB, N-MIB Narrowband MIB

[0616] NPBCH Narrowband Physical Broadcast Channel

[0617] NPDCCH Narrowband Physical Downlink Control Channel

[0618] NPDSCH Narrowband Physical Downlink Shared Channel

[0619] NPRACH Narrowband Physical Random Access Channel

[0620] NPUSCH Narrowband Physical Uplink Shared Channel

[0621] NPSS Narrowband Primary Synchronization Signal

[0622] NSSS Narrowband Secondary Synchronization Signal

[0623] NR New Radio, Neighbor Relations

[0624] NRF NF Repository Functionality

[0625] NRS Narrowband Reference Signal

[0626] NS Network Service

[0627] NSA non-standalone operation mode

[0628] NSD Network Service Descriptor

[0629] NSR Network Service Record

[0630] NSSAI Network Slice Selection Assistance Information

[0631] S-NNSAI Single NSSAI

[0632] NSSF network slice selection function

[0633] NW Network

[0634] NWUS narrowband wake-up signal, narrowband WUS

[0635] NZP Non-Zero Power

[0636] O&M Operations and Maintenance

[0637] ODU2 Optical Channel Data Unit - Type 2

[0638] OFDM Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing

[0639] OFDMA Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access

[0640] OOB Out-of-Band

[0641] OOS out of sync

[0642] OPEX operating expenses

[0643] OSI Other System Information

[0644] OSS Operation Support System

[0645] OTA (Over the Air)

[0646] PAPR Peak to Average Power Ratio

[0647] PAR Peak to Average Ratio

[0648] PBCH Physical Broadcast Channel

[0649] PC Power Control, Personal Computer

[0650] PCC Primary Component Carrier, Primary CC

[0651] PCell Primary Cell

[0652] PCI Physical Cell ID, Physical Cell Identity

[0653] PCEF Policy and Charging Enforcement Function

[0654] PCF Policy Control Function

[0655] PCRF Policy Control and Charging Rules Function

[0656] PDCP Packet Data Convergence Protocol, Packet Data Convergence Protocol Layer

[0657] PDCCH Physical Downlink Control Channel

[0658] PDCP Packet Data Convergence Protocol

[0659] PDN Packet Data Network, Public Data Network

[0660] PDSCH Physical Downlink Shared Channel

[0661] PDU Protocol Data Unit

[0662] PEI Persistent Equipment Identifier

[0663] PFD Packet Flow Description

[0664] P-GW PDN Gateway

[0665] PHICH Physical Hybrid ARQ Indicator Channel

[0666] PHY Physical Layer

[0667] PLMN Public Land Mobile Network

[0668] PIN Personal Identification Number

[0669] PM performance measurement

[0670] PMI Precoding Matrix Indicator

[0671] PNF Physical Network Function

[0672] PNFD Physical Network Function Descriptor

[0673] PNFR Physical Network Function Record

[0674] POC PTT over Cellular

[0675] PP, PTP point-to-point

[0676] PPP Point-to-Point Protocol

[0677] PRACH Physical RACH

[0678] PRB Physical Resource Block

[0679] PRG Physical Resource Group

[0680] ProSe proximity-based services

[0681] PRS Positioning Reference Signal

[0682] PRR Packet Receive Radio

[0683] PS Packet Service

[0684] PSBCH Physical Sidelink Broadcast Channel

[0685] PSDCH Physical Sidelink Downlink Channel

[0686] PSCCH Physical Sidelink Control Channel

[0687] PSSCH Physical Sidelink Shared Channel

[0688] PSCell Primary SCell

[0689] PSS Primary Synchronization Signal

[0690] PSTN Public Switched Telephone Network

[0691] PT-RS Phase Tracking Reference Signal

[0692] PTT Push to Talk

[0693] PUCCH Physical Uplink Control Channel

[0694] PUSCH Physical Uplink Shared Channel

[0695] QAM Quadrature Amplitude Modulation

[0696] QCI QoS Class Identifier

[0697] QCL quasi-co-sited

[0698] QFI QoS flow ID, QoS flow identifier

[0699] QoS Quality of Service

[0700] QPSK Quadrature (Quaternary) Phase Shift Keying

[0701] QZSS Quasi-Zenith Satellite System

[0702] RA-RNTI Random Access RNTI

[0703] RAB Radio Access Bearer, Random Access Burst

[0704] RACH Random Access Channel

[0705] RADIUS Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service

[0706] RAN Radio Access Network

[0707] RAND random number (for authentication)

[0708] RAR Random Access Response

[0709] RAT Radio Access Technology

[0710] RAU Routing Area Update

[0711] RB Resource Block, Radio Bearer

[0712] RBG Resource Block Group

[0713] REG Resource Element Group

[0714] Rel release

[0715] REQ Request

[0716] RF

[0717] RI rank indicator

[0718] RIV Resource Indicator Value

[0719] RL Radio Link

[0720] RLC Radio Link Control, Radio Link Control Layer

[0721] RLC AM RLC Acknowledgement Mode

[0722] RLC UM RLC Unacknowledged Mode

[0723] RLF Radio Link Failure

[0724] RLM Radio Link Monitoring

[0725] RLM-RS Reference signal for RLM

[0726] RM Registration Management

[0727] RMC Reference Measurement Channel

[0728] RMSI Remaining MSI, Remaining Minimum System Information

[0729] RN relay node

[0730] RNC Radio Network Controller

[0731] RNL Radio Network Layer

[0732] RNTI Radio Network Temporary Identifier

[0733] ROHC Robust Header Compression

[0734] RRC Radio Resource Control, Radio Resource Control Layer

[0735] RRM Radio Resource Management

[0736] RS reference signal

[0737] RSRP Reference Signal Received Power

[0738] RSRQ Reference Signal Received Quality

[0739] RSSI Reference Signal Strength Indicator

[0740] RSU Road Side Unit

[0741] RSTD Reference Signal Time Difference

[0742] RTP Real-Time Protocol

[0743] RTS Ready to Send

[0744] RTT Round Trip Time

[0745] Rx receive, receive, receiver

[0746] S1AP S1 Application Protocol

[0747] S1-MME is used for S1 control plane

[0748] S1-U S1 for user plane

[0749] S-GW Service Gateway

[0750] S-RNTI SRNC Radio Network Temporary Identifier

[0751] S-TMSI SAE temporary mobile station identifier

[0752] SA standalone operation mode

[0753] SAE system architecture evolution

[0754] SAP Service Access Point

[0755] SAPD Service Access Point Descriptor

[0756] SAPI Service Access Point Identifier

[0757] SCC Secondary Component Carrier, Secondary CC

[0758] SCell Secondary Cell

[0759] SC-FDMA Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access

[0760] SCG Secondary Cell Group

[0761] SCM Security Context Management

[0762] SCS subcarrier spacing

[0763] SCTP Stream Control Transmission Protocol

[0764] SDAP Service Data Adaptation Protocol, Service Data Adaptation Protocol Layer

[0765] SDL Supplementary Downlink

[0766] SDNF Structured Data Storage Network Function

[0767] SDP Service Discovery Protocol (Bluetooth related)

[0768] SDSF structured data storage function

[0769] SDU Service Data Unit

[0770] SEAF Security Anchoring Function

[0771] SeNB Assisted eNB

[0772] SEPP Security Edge Protection Proxy Pro9

[0773] SFI Slot Format Indicator

[0774] SFTD Space Frequency Time Diversity, SFN and Frame Timing Difference

[0775] SFN System Frame Number

[0776] SgNB auxiliary gNB

[0777] SGSN Serving GPRS Support Node

[0778] S-GW Service Gateway

[0779] SI System Information

[0780] SI-RNTI System Information RNTI

[0781] SIB System Information Block

[0782] SIM Subscriber Identity Module

[0783] SIP Session Initiation Protocol

[0784] SiP System-in-Package

[0785] SL Side Link

[0786] SLA Service Level Agreement

[0787] SM Session Management

[0788] SMF session management functions

[0789] SMS Short Message Service

[0790] SMSF SMS function

[0791] SMTC SSB-based measurement timing configuration

[0792] SN Secondary node, serial number

[0793] SoC System on Chip

[0794] SON self-organizing network

[0795] SpCell Special Cell

[0796] SP-CSI-RNTI Semi-persistent CSI RNTI

[0797] SPS Semi-persistent Scheduling

[0798] SQN serial number

[0799] SR Scheduling Request

[0800] SRB Signalling Radio Bearer

[0801] SRS Sounding Reference Signal

[0802] SS synchronization signal

[0803] SSB Synchronization Signal Block, SS / PBCH Block

[0804] SSBRI SS / PBCH block resource indicator, synchronization signal block resource indicator

[0805] SSC Session and Service Continuity

[0806] SS-RSRP is the reference signal received power based on the synchronization signal.

[0807] SS-RSRQ Reference signal reception quality based on synchronization signal

[0808] SS-SINR Signal to Interference and Noise Ratio based on synchronization signal

[0809] SSS Secondary synchronization signal

[0810] SSSG Search Space Group

[0811] SSSIF Search Space Set Indicator

[0812] SST Slice / Serving Type

[0813] SU-MIMO Single-User MIMO

[0814] SUL Supplementary Uplink

[0815] TA timing advance, tracking area

[0816] TAC Tracking Area Code

[0817] TAG Timing Advance Group

[0818] TAU Tracking Area Updates

[0819] TB transfer block

[0820] TBS transport block size

[0821] TBD To be defined

[0822] TCI Transmission Configuration Indicator

[0823] TCP transport communication protocol

[0824] TDD Time Division Duplex

[0825] TDM Time Division Multiplexing

[0826] TDMA Time Division Multiple Access

[0827] TE terminal equipment

[0828] TEID Tunnel Endpoint Identifier

[0829] TFT business flow template

[0830] TMSI Temporary Mobile Subscriber Identity

[0831] TNL Transport Network Layer

[0832] TPC Transmit Power Control

[0833] TPMI transmitted precoding matrix indicator

[0834] TR Technical Report

[0835] TRP,TRxP Transmission Receive Point

[0836] TRS Tracking Reference Signal

[0837] TRx transceiver

[0838] TS Technical Specification, Technical Standard

[0839] TTI Transmission Time Interval

[0840] Tx transmission, transmission, transmitter

[0841] U-RNTI UTRAN Radio Network Temporary Identity

[0842] UART Universal Asynchronous Receiver and Transmitter

[0843] UCI Uplink Control Information

[0844] UE User Equipment

[0845] UDM Unified Data Management

[0846] UDP User Datagram Protocol

[0847] UDSF Unstructured Data Storage Network Function

[0848] UICC Universal Integrated Circuit Card

[0849] UL Uplink

[0850] UM Unconfirmed Mode

[0851] UML Unified Modeling Language

[0852] UMTS Universal Mobile Telecommunications System

[0853] UP User Plane

[0854] UPF User Plane Function

[0855] URI Uniform Resource Identifier

[0856] URL Uniform Resource Locator

[0857] URLLC Ultra-Reliable Low Latency

[0858] USB Universal Serial Bus

[0859] USIM Universal Subscriber Identity Module

[0860] USS UE-specific search space

[0861] UTRA UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access

[0862] UTRAN Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network

[0863] UwPTS Uplink Pilot Time Slot

[0864] V2I Vehicle to Infrastructure

[0865] V2P Vehicle to Pedestrian

[0866] V2V Vehicle to Vehicle

[0867] V2X: Vehicle-to-Everything Connection

[0868] VIM Virtualization Infrastructure Manager

[0869] VL Virtual Link

[0870] VLAN virtual LAN, virtual local area network

[0871] VM virtual machine

[0872] VNF Virtualized Network Function

[0873] VNFFG VNF forwarding graph

[0874] VNFFGD VNF Forwarding Graph Descriptor

[0875] VNFM VNF Manager

[0876] VoIP Voice over IP, Voice over Internet Protocol

[0877] VPLMN Visited Public Land Mobile Network

[0878] VPN Virtual Private Network

[0879] VRB Virtual Resource Block

[0880] WiMAX Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access

[0881] WLAN Wireless Local Area Network

[0882] WMAN Wireless Metropolitan Area Network

[0883] WPAN Wireless Personal Area Network

[0884] X2-C X2 control plane

[0885] X2-U X2 user plane

[0886] XML Extensible Markup Language

[0887] 2ES Expected User Response

[0888] XOR

[0889] ZC Zadoff-Chu

[0890] ZP Zero Power

[0891] the term

[0892] For the purposes of this document, the following terms and definitions apply to the examples and embodiments discussed herein, but are not intended to be limiting.

[0893] As used herein, the term "circuit" refers to, is part of, or includes a hardware component such as an electronic circuit, a logic circuit, a processor (shared, dedicated, or group) and / or memory (shared, dedicated, or group) configured to provide the described functionality, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable device (FPD) (e.g., a field programmable gate array (FPGA), a programmable logic device (PLD), a complex PLD (CPLD), a high capacity PLD (HCPLD), a structured ASIC, or a programmable SoC), a digital signal processor (DSP), etc. In some embodiments, the circuit can execute one or more software or firmware programs to provide at least some of the described functionality. The term "circuit" can also refer to a combination of one or more hardware elements and program code for performing the functions of the program code (or a combination of circuits used in an electrical or electronic system). In these embodiments, the combination of hardware elements and program code can be referred to as a specific type of circuit.

[0894] As used herein, the term "processor circuitry" means, is part of, or includes circuitry that is capable of sequentially and automatically performing a series of arithmetic or logical operations or recording, storing, and / or transmitting digital data. The term "processor circuitry" may refer to one or more application processors, one or more baseband processors, a physical central processing unit (CPU), a single-core processor, a dual-core processor, a triple-core processor, a quad-core processor, and / or any other device capable of executing or otherwise operating computer-executable instructions (such as program code, software modules, and / or functional processes). The terms "application circuitry" and / or "baseband circuitry" may be considered synonymous with "processor circuitry" and may be referred to as "processor circuitry."

[0895] As used herein, the term "interface circuitry" refers to circuitry that enables, is part of, or includes information exchange between two or more components or devices. The term "interface circuitry" may refer to one or more hardware interfaces, such as a bus, an I / O interface, a peripheral component interface, a network interface card, and the like.

[0896] As used herein, the term "user equipment" or "UE" refers to a device that has radio communication capabilities and can represent a remote user of network resources in a communication network. Furthermore, the terms "user equipment" or "UE" may be considered synonymous and may be referred to as a client, mobile phone, mobile device, mobile terminal, user terminal, mobile unit, mobile station, mobile user, subscriber, user, remote station, access agent, user agent, receiver, radio equipment, reconfigurable radio equipment, reconfigurable mobile device, etc. Furthermore, the term "user equipment" or "UE" may include any type of wireless / wired device or any computing device that includes a wireless communication interface.

[0897] As used herein, the term "network element" refers to physical or virtualized equipment and / or infrastructure used to provide wired or wireless communication network services. The term "network element" may be considered synonymous with and / or referred to as networked computers, networking hardware, network equipment, network nodes, routers, switches, hubs, bridges, radio network controllers, RAN equipment, RAN nodes, gateways, servers, virtualized VNFs, NFVIs, etc.

[0898] As used herein, the term "computer system" refers to any type of interconnected electronic devices, computer devices, or components thereof. Additionally, the terms "computer system" and / or "system" may refer to various components of a computer that are communicatively coupled to one another. Furthermore, the terms "computer system" and / or "system" may refer to multiple computer devices and / or multiple computing systems that are communicatively coupled to one another and configured to share computing and / or networking resources.

[0899] As used herein, the terms "appliance," "computer appliance," and the like refer to a computer device or computer system having program code (e.g., software or firmware) specifically designed to provide specific computing resources. A "virtual appliance" is a virtual machine image to be implemented by a device equipped with a hypervisor that virtualizes or emulates a computer appliance or is otherwise dedicated to providing specific computing resources.

[0900] As used herein, the term "resource" refers to a physical or virtual device, a physical or virtual component within a computing environment, and / or a physical or virtual component within a specific device, such as computer equipment, mechanical equipment, memory space, processor / CPU time and / or processor / CPU utilization, processor and accelerator load, hardware time or utilization, power, input / output operations, ports or network sockets, channel / link allocation, throughput, memory utilization, storage, network, database, and application, workload units, etc. "Hardware resources" may refer to the computing, storage, and / or network resources provided by physical hardware elements. "Virtualized resources" may refer to the computing, storage, and / or network resources provided by a virtualization infrastructure to applications, devices, systems, etc. The terms "network resources" or "communication resources" may refer to resources accessible to a computer device / system via a communication network. The term "system resources" may refer to any type of shared entity that provides a service and may include computing resources and / or network resources. System resources may be considered a set of coherent functions, network data objects, or services accessible through a server, where such system resources reside on a single host or multiple hosts and are clearly identifiable.

[0901] As used herein, the term "channel" refers to any tangible or intangible transmission medium for transmitting data or data streams. The term "channel" may be synonymous and / or equivalent to "communication channel," "data communication channel," "transmission channel," "data transmission channel," "access channel," "data access channel," "link," "data link," "carrier," "radio frequency carrier," and / or any other similar terms indicating a path or medium through which data is transmitted. In addition, the term "link" as used herein refers to a connection between two devices over a RAT for transmitting and receiving information.

[0902] As used herein, the terms "instantiate," "instantiate," and the like refer to the creation of an instance. "Instance" also refers to a concrete occurrence of an object, which may occur, for example, during the execution of program code.

[0903] As used herein, the terms "coupled," "communicably coupled," and their derivatives are used. The term "coupled" may mean that two or more elements are in direct physical or electrical contact with one another, may mean that two or more elements are in indirect contact with one another but still cooperate or interact with one another, and / or may mean that one or more other elements are coupled or connected between the elements said to be coupled to one another. The term "directly coupled" may mean that two or more elements are in direct contact with one another. The term "communicably coupled" may mean that two or more elements may be in contact with one another by means of communication, including through wires or other interconnections, through wireless communication channels or links, and the like.

[0904] The term "information element" refers to a structural element that contains one or more fields. The term "field" refers to the individual contents of an information element, or a data element that contains the contents.

[0905] The term "SMTC" refers to the SSB-based measurement timing configuration configured by SSB-MeasurementTimingConfiguration.

[0906] The term "SSB" refers to SS / PBCH block.

[0907] The term "primary cell" refers to an MCG cell operating on a primary frequency, where the UE either performs an initial connection establishment procedure or initiates a connection re-establishment procedure.

[0908] The term "primary SCG cell" refers to an SCG cell in which a UE performs random access when reconfiguration is performed using a synchronization procedure for DC operation.

[0909] The term "secondary cell" refers to a cell that provides additional radio resources on top of a special cell for a UE configured with CA.

[0910] The term "secondary cell group" refers to a subset of serving cells including a PSCell for a UE configured with DC and zero or more secondary cells.

[0911] The term "serving cell" refers to a primary cell for a UE in RRC_CONNECTED without CA / DC configured, where there is only one serving cell including the primary cell.

[0912] The term "serving cell" refers to a cell set including a special cell for a UE configured with CA / in RRC_CONNECTED and all secondary cells.

[0913] The term "special cell" refers to the PCell of the MCG or the PSCell of the SCG for DC operation; otherwise, the term "special cell" refers to the Pcell.

[0914] As described above, various aspects of the present technology may include collecting and using data available from various sources to, for example, improve or enhance functionality. The present disclosure contemplates that, in some instances, these collected data may include personal information data that uniquely identifies or can be used to contact or locate a specific person. Such personal information data may include demographic data, location-based data, phone numbers, email addresses, Twitter IDs, home addresses, data or records related to the user's health or fitness level (e.g., vital sign measurements, medication information, exercise information), date of birth, or any other identifying information or personal information. The present disclosure recognizes that the use of such personal information data in the present technology can be used to benefit users.

[0915] This disclosure contemplates that entities responsible for collecting, analyzing, disclosing, transmitting, storing, or otherwise using such personal information will adhere to established privacy policies and / or practices. Specifically, such entities should implement and adhere to privacy policies and practices that are recognized as meeting or exceeding industry or government requirements for maintaining the privacy and security of personal information. Such policies should be easily accessible to users and updated as the collection and / or use of data changes. Personal information collected from users should be used for the entity's legitimate and reasonable purposes and not shared or sold beyond those legitimate uses. Furthermore, such collection / sharing should only be done with the user's informed consent. Furthermore, such entities should consider taking any necessary steps to safeguard and secure access to such personal information and ensure that others with access to the personal information adhere to their privacy policies and procedures. Furthermore, such entities may subject themselves to third-party assessments to demonstrate compliance with widely accepted privacy policies and practices. Furthermore, policies and practices should be tailored to the specific type of personal information collected and / or accessed, and to applicable laws and standards, including jurisdictional considerations. For example, in the United States, the collection or access of certain health data may be governed by federal and / or state laws, such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA); whereas health data in other countries may be subject to other regulations and policies and should be handled accordingly. Therefore, different privacy practices should be maintained for different types of personal data in each country.

[0916] Regardless of the foregoing, the present disclosure also contemplates implementation schemes in which users selectively block the use or access of personal information data. That is, the present disclosure contemplates providing hardware components and / or software components to prevent or block access to such personal information data. For example, the present technology can be configured to allow users to selectively “opt in” or “opt out” of collecting personal information data at any time, for example, during or after registration for a service. In addition to providing “opt in” and “opt out” options, the present disclosure contemplates providing notifications related to access or use of personal information. For example, a user may be notified that their personal information data will be accessed when downloading an application, and then reminded again just before the personal information data is accessed by the application.

[0917] Furthermore, it is an object of the present disclosure that personal information data should be managed and processed to minimize the risk of unintentional or unauthorized access or use. Risk can be minimized by limiting data collection and deleting data once it is no longer needed. In addition, and when applicable, including in certain health-related applications, data de-identification can be used to protect the privacy of users. De-identification can be facilitated by removing specific identifiers (e.g., date of birth, etc.), controlling the amount or specificity of stored data (e.g., collecting location data at the city level rather than the address level), controlling how data is stored (e.g., aggregating data across users), and / or other methods, where appropriate.

[0918] Thus, while the present disclosure broadly encompasses the use of personal information data to implement one or more of the various disclosed embodiments, the present disclosure also contemplates that various embodiments may be implemented without requiring access to such personal information data. That is, various embodiments of the present technology will not be unable to function properly due to the lack of all or a portion of such personal information data.

Claims

1. A method for wireless communication, the method comprising: establishing a first preconfigured uplink resource (PUR) and a second PUR for use by a user equipment (UE) in an idle mode, wherein the first PUR uses a first hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) process with a first HARQ process ID and the second PUR uses a second HARQ process with a second HARQ process ID; Transmitting uplink data using the first PUR using the first HARQ process when in idle mode; Start the PUR retransmission timer; monitoring a control channel for an acknowledgement message prior to expiration of the PUR retransmission timer; identifying expiration of the PUR retransmission timer before receiving the confirmation message; In response to the identifying, determining that the first HARQ process has failed; as well as In response to the determination, starting the second HARQ process to retransmit the uplink data using the second PUR, wherein the second HARQ process is different from the first HARQ process, The first HARQ process ID and the second HARQ process ID are determined based on the following: HARQ process ID=[floor(CURRENT_TTI / PURinterval)]modulonumberOfHARQ-Processes+HARQ-Offset, Wherein CURRENT_TTI represents the current transmission time interval, PURinterval represents the interval of PUR, numberOfHARQ-Processes represents the number of HARQ processes, HARQ-Offset represents the HARQ offset, and wherein the PURinterval and the HARQ offset are configured differently for the first PUR and the second PUR so that the first HARQ process ID and the second HARQ process ID do not conflict. 2 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the confirmation message is a Radio Resource Control (RRC) message transmitted from a base station.

3. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: In response to the retransmission, receiving a radio resource control (RRC) message directing the UE to remain in idle mode; as well as The UE is kept in idle mode.

4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: In response to the retransmission, receiving a radio resource control (RRC) message directing the UE to move to a connected mode; as well as Changing the state of the UE from idle to connected.

5. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: In response to the retransmission, receiving a contention resolution medium access control - control element MAC CE as an acknowledgment; as well as The UE is kept in idle mode.

6. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: receiving a negative acknowledgement (NACK) in response to the retransmission; as well as The uplink data is retransmitted using an Early Data Transmission (EDT) protocol.

7. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: In response to the retransmission, a radio resource control (RRC) message is transmitted to a base station to release the second PUR.

8. An apparatus for wireless communication, the apparatus comprising: Radio front-end circuits; and a processing circuit coupled to the radio front-end circuit, wherein the processing circuit is configured to: establishing a first preconfigured uplink resource (PUR) and a second PUR for use by the apparatus in idle mode, wherein the first PUR uses a first hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) process with a first HARQ process ID and the second PUR uses a second HARQ process with a second HARQ process ID; Using the radio front-end circuitry, while in idle mode, transmit uplink data using the first HARQ process with the first PUR; Start the PUR retransmission timer; monitoring a control channel for an acknowledgement message prior to expiration of the PUR retransmission timer; identifying expiration of the PUR retransmission timer before receiving the confirmation message; In response to the identifying, determining that the first HARQ process has failed; as well as In response to the determination, starting the second HARQ process to retransmit the uplink data using the second PUR, wherein the second HARQ process is different from the first HARQ process, The first HARQ process ID and the second HARQ process ID are determined based on the following: HARQ process ID=[floor(CURRENT_TTI / PURinterval)]modulonumberOfHARQ-Processes+HARQ-Offset, Wherein CURRENT_TTI represents the current transmission time interval, PURinterval represents the interval of PUR, numberOfHARQ-Processes represents the number of HARQ processes, HARQ-Offset represents the HARQ offset, and wherein the PURinterval and the HARQ offset are configured differently for the first PUR and the second PUR so that the first HARQ process ID and the second HARQ process ID do not conflict. 9 . The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the confirmation message is a Radio Resource Control (RRC) message transmitted from a base station.

10. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the processing circuit is further configured to: In response to the retransmission, receiving a radio resource control (RRC) message directing the apparatus to remain in idle mode; and The device is left in idle mode.

11. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the processing circuit is further configured to: In response to the retransmission, receiving a Radio Resource Control (RRC) message directing the apparatus to move to a connected mode; and Changes the state of the device from idle to connected.

12. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the processing circuit is further configured to: In response to the retransmission, receiving a contention resolution medium access control element MAC CE as an acknowledgment; and The device is left in idle mode.

13. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the processing circuit is further configured to: receiving a negative acknowledgement (NACK) in response to the retransmission; and The uplink data is retransmitted using an Early Data Transmission (EDT) protocol.

14. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the processing circuit is further configured to: In response to the retransmission, a radio resource control (RRC) message is transmitted to a base station to release the second PUR.

15. A method for wireless communication, the method comprising: establishing a first hybrid automatic repeat request HARQ process with a first hybrid automatic repeat request HARQ process ID corresponding to a first preconfigured uplink resource PUR and a second HARQ process with a second HARQ process ID corresponding to a second PUR for use by a user equipment UE in an idle mode, wherein the second HARQ process is different from the first HARQ process; transmitting uplink data using the first HARQ process and the first PUR when in idle mode; Start the PUR retransmission timer; monitoring a control channel for an acknowledgement message prior to expiration of the PUR retransmission timer; identifying expiration of the PUR retransmission timer before receiving the confirmation message; In response to the identifying, determining that the first HARQ process has failed; as well as In response to the determination, retransmitting the uplink data using the second HARQ process and the second PUR, The first HARQ process ID and the second HARQ process ID are determined based on the following: HARQ process ID=[floor(CURRENT_TTI / PURinterval)]modulonumberOfHARQ-Processes+HARQ-Offset, Wherein CURRENT_TTI represents the current transmission time interval, PURinterval represents the interval of PUR, numberOfHARQ-Processes represents the number of HARQ processes, HARQ-Offset represents the HARQ offset, and wherein the PURinterval and the HARQ offset are configured differently for the first PUR and the second PUR so that the first HARQ process ID and the second HARQ process ID do not conflict. The method according to claim 15 , wherein the confirmation message is a Radio Resource Control (RRC) message transmitted from a base station.

17. The method according to claim 15, further comprising: In response to the retransmission, receiving a radio resource control (RRC) message directing the UE to remain in idle mode; as well as The UE is kept in idle mode.

18. The method according to claim 15, further comprising: In response to the retransmission, receiving a radio resource control (RRC) message directing the UE to move to a connected mode; as well as Changing the state of the UE from idle to connected.

19. The method according to claim 15, further comprising: receiving a negative acknowledgement (NACK) in response to the retransmission; as well as The uplink data is retransmitted using an Early Data Transmission (EDT) protocol.

20. The method of claim 15, further comprising: In response to the retransmission, a radio resource control (RRC) message is transmitted to a base station to release the second PUR.

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