User equipment capabilities for dual connectivity based handover

Abstract

The present invention discloses a method, system, device and computer program for implementing dual-connection switching. In one aspect, a method includes: determining by a user equipment (UE) whether the UE can communicate with a source cell and a target cell simultaneously; generating by the UE a switching flag, the switching flag having one or more fields that structure data, the one or more fields indicating that the UE can communicate with the source cell and the target cell simultaneously; transmitting by the UE the switching flag to an access node; and receiving by the UE a command for executing the switching from the access node based on the access node receiving the switching flag.

Description

[0001] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0002] This patent application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62 / 829,453, filed on April 4, 2019, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Background Art

[0003] Various implementations may generally relate to the field of wireless communications. Summary of the invention

[0004] According to the innovative aspects of the present disclosure, a method for implementing dual-connectivity switching is disclosed. In one aspect, the method may include the following actions: determining by a user equipment (UE) whether the UE can communicate with a source cell and a target cell simultaneously; generating by the UE a switching flag having one or more fields indicating that the UE can communicate with the source cell and the target cell simultaneously; transmitting by the UE the switching flag to an access node; and receiving by the UE a command for performing switching from the access node based on the access node receiving the switching flag.

[0005] Other versions include corresponding systems, apparatus, and computer programs for performing the actions of the method defined by the instructions encoded on a computer-readable storage device.

[0006] These and other versions may optionally include one or more of the following features. For example, in some implementations, one or more fields indicating that the UE is capable of communicating with the source cell and the target cell simultaneously may include: a first field indicating that the UE is capable of receiving in the source cell and the target cell simultaneously; a second field indicating that the UE is capable of transmitting in the source cell and the target cell simultaneously; a third field indicating that the UE is capable of transmitting in the source cell and receiving in the target cell simultaneously; or a fourth field indicating that the UE is capable of receiving in the source cell and transmitting in the target cell simultaneously during handover.

[0007] In some specific implementations, one or more fields indicating that the UE is capable of communicating with the source cell and the target cell simultaneously may include: a first field indicating that the UE is capable of receiving in the source cell and the target cell simultaneously; a second field indicating that the UE is capable of transmitting in the source cell and the target cell simultaneously; a third field indicating that the UE is capable of transmitting in the source cell and the target cell simultaneously; and a fourth field indicating that the UE is capable of receiving in the source cell and transmitting in the target cell simultaneously during switching.

[0008] In some specific implementations, one or more fields indicating that the UE is capable of communicating with the source cell and the target cell simultaneously may include a field representing a Boolean flag, which has: a first value, indicating that the UE is capable of both receiving and transmitting in the source cell and the target cell simultaneously during the switching; or a second value, indicating that the UE is capable of neither receiving nor transmitting in the source cell and the target cell simultaneously.

[0009] In some specific implementations, the first value of the Boolean flag further indicates that the UE can simultaneously transmit in the source cell and receive in the target cell, or simultaneously receive in the source cell and transmit in the target cell; and the second value of the Boolean flag further indicates that the UE can neither transmit in the source cell and receive in the target cell simultaneously, or simultaneously receive in the source cell and transmit in the target cell.

[0010] In some implementations, the handover flag may correspond to a frequency band combination of the source cell and the target cell.

[0011] In some implementations, the switching flag or frequency band is applicable to the source cell and the target cell having different subcarrier spacings.

[0012] In some implementations, the handover flag is a first handover flag. In such implementations, the method may also include transmitting, by the UE, a plurality of handover flags, the plurality of handover flags including: the first handover flag and a second handover flag, wherein the first handover flag and the second handover flag each correspond to a different respective frequency band combination.

[0013] According to another innovative aspect of the present disclosure, a method for implementing dual-connectivity switching is disclosed. In one aspect, the method may include the following actions: an access node acquires a switching flag, the switching flag having one or more fields indicating that a user equipment (UE) initiating the switching flag can communicate with a source cell and a target cell simultaneously; the access node generates a switching command based on the acquired flag, the switching command including: one or more fields structuring data, the data causing the UE to perform switching to the target cell when processed by the UE; the access node encodes the switching command for transmission to the UE; and the access node causes one or more antennas to transmit the switching command to the UE.

[0014] Other versions include corresponding systems, apparatus, and computer programs for performing the actions of the method defined by the instructions encoded on a computer-readable storage device.

[0015] These versions and other versions may optionally include one or more of the following features. For example, in some implementations, one or more fields indicating that the UE initiating the handover flag can communicate with the source cell and the target cell simultaneously may include: a first field indicating that the UE can simultaneously receive in the source cell and the target cell; a second field indicating that the UE can simultaneously transmit in the source cell and the target cell; a third field indicating that the UE can simultaneously transmit in the source cell and receive in the target cell; or a fourth field indicating that the UE can simultaneously receive in the source cell and transmit in the target cell during the handover.

[0016] In some specific implementations, one or more fields indicating that the UE initiating the switching flag is capable of communicating with the source cell and the target cell simultaneously may include: a first field indicating that the UE is capable of receiving in the source cell and the target cell simultaneously; a second field indicating that the UE is capable of transmitting in the source cell and the target cell simultaneously; a third field indicating that the UE is capable of transmitting in the source cell and the target cell simultaneously; and a fourth field indicating that the UE is capable of receiving in the source cell and transmitting in the target cell simultaneously during the switching.

[0017] In some specific implementations, one or more fields indicating that the UE initiating the switching flag is capable of communicating with the source cell and the target cell simultaneously may include a field representing a Boolean flag having: a first value indicating that the UE is capable of both receiving and transmitting in the source cell and the target cell simultaneously during the switching; or a second value indicating that the UE is capable of neither receiving nor transmitting in the source cell and the target cell simultaneously.

[0018] In some specific implementations, the first value of the Boolean flag further indicates that the UE can simultaneously transmit in the source cell and receive in the target cell, or simultaneously receive in the source cell and transmit in the target cell; and the second value of the Boolean flag further indicates that the UE can neither transmit in the source cell and receive in the target cell simultaneously, or simultaneously receive in the source cell and transmit in the target cell.

[0019] In some implementations, the handover flag corresponds to a frequency band combination of the source cell and the target cell.

[0020] In some implementations, the switching flag or frequency band is applicable to the source cell and the target cell having different subcarrier spacings.

[0021] These and other aspects of the disclosure are discussed in more detail below in the detailed description with reference to the accompanying figures. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0022] Figure 1 is a context diagram for a system enabling dual connectivity handover capability.

[0023] Figure 2 is a flow chart of a process for using a UE to notify a wireless network that the UE is ready for dual connectivity handover.

[0024] Figure 3 is a flow chart of a process for triggering dual connection switching using a wireless network.

[0025] Figure 4 An exemplary architecture of a system of networks is shown.

[0026] Figure 5 An exemplary architecture of a system including a first CN is shown.

[0027] Figure 6 The architecture of a system including a second CN is shown.

[0028] Figure 7 An example of infrastructure equipment is shown.

[0029] Figure 8 An example of a platform is shown.

[0030] Fig. 9 Exemplary components of a baseband circuit and a radio front end module (REFM) are shown.

[0031] Fig.10 Various protocol functions that may be implemented in a wireless communication device are shown.

[0032] Fig.11 Components of the core network are shown.

[0033] Fig.12 is a block diagram illustrating components of a system supporting NFV.

[0034] Fig.13 is a block diagram illustrating components capable of reading instructions from a machine-readable or computer-readable medium (eg, a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium) and performing any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0035] The present disclosure relates to methods, systems, and computer programs for enabling dual connectivity switching capabilities in a user equipment (UE). The dual connectivity switching capability includes a process of waiting until the UE has established simultaneous transmission capabilities to both a source cell and a target cell, simultaneous reception capabilities from both a source cell and a target cell, or both, before a switching command is issued by an access node (such as an eNodeB). In some specific implementations, the UE may be responsible for detecting the simultaneous transmission capability, the simultaneous reception capability, or both, and transmitting a switching indication message to an eNodeB (such as a source eNodeB). The switching indication message may indicate to the source eNodeB that the UE has established dual connectivity and is ready for switching. In such instances, the eNodeB (such as a source eNodeB) may issue a switching command to the UE that triggers the process of switching to the target eNodeB. Due to the existing dual connectivity at the time of switching, the present disclosure provides the benefit of reducing the interruption time due to switching.

[0036] Figure 1 1 is a context diagram of a system 100 for enabling dual connectivity switching capability. The system 100 may include: a UE 105, a first access node A 110, and a second access node B 120. Figure 1 In the example of , UE 105 may start in a first state A, where UE 105 is in a source cell 112 provided by access node A 110. Then, UE 105 may move from state A to state B, where state B is in a location with coverage overlap between source cell 112 provided by access node A 110 and target cell 122 provided by access node B 120.

[0037] In state A, since the UE 105 is connected to the wireless network provided by the access node A 110 in the source cell 112, the UE may have the ability to transmit data to one or more devices via the wireless network provided by the access node A 110 and receive data from one or more devices via the wireless network provided by the access node B 120. This may be referred to as transmission capability and reception capability, respectively. However, in state A, since the UE 105 has not yet entered the target cell 122 provided by the access node B 120, the UE 105 does not have the transmission capability or reception capability to use the wireless network provided by the access node B 120.

[0038] When the UE 105 transitions from state A to state B, the UE 105 may monitor the availability of transmission capabilities and reception capabilities through one or more access nodes, such as access node A 110 and access node B 120. When the UE 105 transitions to state B, the UE 105 may detect when the UE 105 achieves dual connectivity between the source cell 112 and the target cell 122. For the purposes of this disclosure, dual connectivity may include: the UE 105 achieving simultaneous transmission capabilities between the source cell 112 and the target cell 122, simultaneous reception capabilities between the source cell 112 and the target cell 122, or a combination of both. In this document, the term "simultaneously" means that the UE 105 is able to perform a specific task, such as transmitting data or receiving data using a wireless network provided by the source cell 112 or a wireless network provided by the target cell 122. The performance of such a specific task using the source cell 112 or the target cell 122 may occur simultaneously or continuously, albeit in rapid succession.

[0039] Once the UE 105 achieves dual connectivity between the source cell 112 and the target cell 122, the UE 105 is eligible for handover to the target cell 122. Upon detecting dual connectivity in any of a transmission area, a reception area, a transmission-reception area (such as transmission in the source cell 112 and reception in the target cell 122), a reception-transmission area (such as reception in the source cell 112 and transmission in the target cell 122), or some combination thereof, the UE 105 may generate and transmit a handover flag message (such as the dual connectivity handover flag 130).

[0040] The dual connectivity handover flag 130 (may be simply referred to as the handover flag 130) may provide an indication to the source cell 112 access node A 110 that the UE 105 is ready to handover to the target cell 122. The handover flag 130 includes one or more fields, the one or more fields including data indicating to the access node A 110 of the source cell 112 that the UE 105 is ready to handover to the target cell 122. In some implementations, the one or more fields may indicate the level of dual connectivity between the source cell 112 and the target cell 122 implemented by the UE 105. For example, in some implementations, the one or more fields may include: a first field indicating that the UE is capable of receiving in the source cell and the target cell simultaneously; a second field indicating that the UE is capable of transmitting in the source cell and the target cell simultaneously; a third field indicating that the UE is capable of transmitting in the source cell and the target cell simultaneously; a fourth field indicating that the UE is capable of receiving in the source cell and transmitting in the target cell simultaneously during the handover, or any combination thereof.

[0041] However, there is no requirement that the handover flag 130 use multiple fields to indicate a specific level of dual connectivity between the UE 105 and the source cell 112 and the target cell 122. For example, in some implementations, the handover flag 130 can be a Boolean variable with a TRUTH value (such as 1), which indicates that the UE can support simultaneous transmission to the source cell 112 and the target cell 122, simultaneous reception from the source cell 112 and the target cell 122, or any combination thereof. For another example, the handover flag 130 can be a Boolean variable with a FALSE value (such as 0), which indicates that the UE 105 cannot support simultaneous transmission to the source cell 112 and the target cell 122, simultaneous reception from the source cell 112 and the target cell 122, or any combination thereof. In some implementations, the handover flag 130 is transmitted per frequency band. That is, in some implementations, the UE 105 can generate multiple handover flags 130, each of which is transmitted on a different frequency band combination.

[0042] Thus, in some implementations utilizing Boolean variables, the handover flag 130 may be broadcast by the UE 105 with the handover flag set to TRUTH if the UE has achieved: (1) reception in the source cell 112 and reception in the target cell 122; (2) reception in the source cell 112 and transmission in the target cell 122; (3) transmission in the source cell 112 and reception in the target cell 122; and (4) transmission in the source cell 112 and transmission in the target cell 122. In such implementations, the handover flag may have a field set to FALSE if one of options (1) to (4) is not satisfied.

[0043] Examples of how the handover flag 130 may be generated include using one or more of the fields described by TS 38.306 for NR or TS 36.306 for LTE and set forth in Table 1 below:

[0044]

[0045] - Table 1 -

[0046] In some implementations, as described above, there may also be a separate switching flag on a per-band combination basis to inform the wireless network that the UE may support a subset of the transmission or reception capabilities listed in options (1) to (4) above. For example, a separate switching flag for each frequency band may be used, as described in Table 2 below:

[0047]

[0048] -Table 2-

[0049] In some implementations, if the UE 105 can support simultaneous transmission to the source cell 112 and the target cell 122 with different subcarrier spacings (SCS), simultaneous reception from the source cell 112 and the target cell 122, or a combination thereof, the per-band combination capability may be used. In such implementations, the handover flag may be a per-band combination Boolean variable having a TRUTH value (such as 1) indicating that the UE 105 can support simultaneous transmission to the source cell 112 and the target cell 122 with different SCSs, simultaneous reception from the source cell 112 and the target cell 122 with different SCSs, or a combination thereof. Alternatively, in such implementations, the handover flag may have a FALSE value (such as 0) indicating that the UE 105 cannot support simultaneous transmission to the source cell 112 and the target cell 122 with different SCSs, simultaneous reception from the source cell 112 and the target cell 122 with different SCSs, or a combination thereof. ‎

[0050] For example, in such implementations, if the handover flag has a TRUTH value, the network knows that the UE can support (1) reception in the source cell 112 and reception in the target cell 122 with a different SCS, and (2) transmission in the source cell 112 and transmission in the target cell 122 with a different SCS.

[0051] Examples of such a switching flag may include one or more fields described by TS38.306 for NR or TS36.306 for LTE, as shown in Table 3 below:

[0052]

[0053] -Table 3-

[0054] The presence of a switching flag may also use a separate (per frequency band combination) flag to inform the network that the UE may support a subset of the transmission or reception capabilities listed in options (1) and (2) above. For example, the separate flags for each frequency band of this specific implementation are shown below with respect to Table 4:

[0055]

[0056] - Table 4 -

[0057] The access node A 110 may receive the handover flag 130. The access node A 110 may determine the level of dual connectivity that the UE 105 has achieved between the source cell 112 and the target cell 122 based on the handover flag 130. Upon making this determination, the access node A 110 may generate, encode, and transmit a handover command 140 to the UE 105. The UE 105 receives the handover command 140 and initiates a handover from the source cell 112 to the target cell 122. By performing the handover after achieving dual connectivity between the source cell 112 and the target cell 122, the UE interruption time may be reduced compared to conventional methods.

[0058] Figure 2 2 is a flow chart of a process 200 for using a UE to notify a wireless network that the UE is ready for a dual connectivity handover. In general, process 200 may include: determining by a user equipment (UE) whether the UE is capable of communicating with a source cell and a target cell simultaneously (210); generating by the UE a handover flag having one or more fields indicating that the UE is capable of communicating with the source cell and the target cell simultaneously (220); transmitting by the UE the handover flag to an access node (230); and receiving by the UE a command from the access node for performing the handover based on the access node receiving the handover flag. For convenience, by a UE (e.g., Figure 1 UE 105 or Figure 4 The process 200 performed by the UE 401 may be described in more detail below.

[0059] The UE may begin performing process 200 (210) by determining whether the UE is able to communicate with the source cell and the target cell simultaneously. For example, the UE may determine whether the UE is able to transmit data to or receive data from one or more different cells by transmitting a paging message, testing a download connection, etc. In other specific implementations, the UE may determine whether the UE is communicating with one or more cells by evaluating operations performed by the UE. For example, in the UE current state operation, the UE may be using one or more networks. The UE may determine the connection level of the UE based on these operations.

[0060] The UE may generate a handover flag (220). In some implementations, the handover flag has one or more fields indicating that the UE is capable of communicating with the source cell and the target cell simultaneously. In some implementations, the one or more fields indicating that the UE is capable of communicating with the source cell and the target cell simultaneously may include: a first field indicating that the UE is capable of receiving in the source cell and the target cell simultaneously; a second field indicating that the UE is capable of transmitting in the source cell and the target cell simultaneously; a third field indicating that the UE is capable of transmitting in the source cell and receiving in the target cell simultaneously; or a fourth field indicating that the UE is capable of receiving in the source cell and transmitting in the target cell simultaneously during the handover.

[0061] In some implementations, the one or more fields indicating that the UE is capable of communicating with the source cell and the target cell simultaneously include a field representing a Boolean flag. In such implementations, the Boolean flag may include: a first value indicating that the UE is capable of both receiving in the source cell and the target cell and transmitting in the source cell and the target cell simultaneously during the handover; or a second value indicating that the UE is neither capable of receiving in the source cell and the target cell simultaneously, nor capable of transmitting in the source cell and the target cell simultaneously. In some implementations, the first value of the Boolean flag further indicates that the UE is capable of both transmitting in the source cell and receiving in the target cell simultaneously, nor capable of receiving in the source cell and transmitting in the target cell simultaneously; and the second value of the Boolean flag further indicates that the UE is neither capable of transmitting in the source cell and receiving in the target cell simultaneously, nor capable of receiving in the source cell and transmitting in the target cell simultaneously.

[0062] In some implementations, the handover flag corresponds to a frequency band combination of the source cell and the target cell. In such implementations, the handover flag or the frequency band is applicable to the source cell and the target cell having different subcarrier spacings. In some implementations, the UE may transmit a plurality of handover flags, the plurality of handover flags including a first handover flag and a second handover flag. In such implementations, the first handover flag and the second handover flag each correspond to a different respective frequency band combination.

[0063] Figure 3is a flow chart of a process 300 for triggering a dual connectivity handover using a wireless network. In general, the method 300 may include: obtaining a handover flag by an access node, the handover flag having one or more fields indicating that a user equipment (UE) initiating the handover flag is capable of communicating with a source cell and a target cell simultaneously (310); generating a handover command by the access node and based on the obtained flag, the handover command including: one or more fields structuring data that, when processed by the UE, causes the UE to perform a handover to the target cell (320); encoding the handover command by the access node for transmission to the UE (330); and causing one or more antennas by the access node to transmit the handover command to the UE (340). Examples of types of message encoding and transmission by an access node (such as an eNodeB) are described below, with at least reference to, for example, Figure 4 and Fig. 9 .

[0064] Figure 4 An exemplary architecture of a system 400 of a network according to various implementations is shown. The following description is provided for an example system 400 operating in conjunction with LTE system standards and 5G or NR system standards provided by 3GPP technical specifications. However, the exemplary implementations are not limited in this regard, and the implementations 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.

[0065] like Figure 4 As shown, system 400 includes UE 401a and UE 401b (collectively referred to as "UE 401"). In this example, UE 401 is shown as a smart phone (e.g., a handheld touch screen 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 smart phone, 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-vehicle entertainment (ICE) device, an instrument panel (IC), a head-up display (HUD) device, an on-board diagnostic (OBD) device, a dashtop mobile device (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 networked or "smart" appliance, an MTC device, an M2M, an IoT device, etc.

[0066] In some implementations, any of the UEs 401 may be an IoT UE, which may include a network access layer designed for low-power IoT applications that utilize short-term UE connections. The IoT UE may utilize technologies such as M2M or MTC to exchange data with an MTC server or device via PLMN, ProSe or D2D communications, sensor networks, or IoT networks. The M2M or MTC data exchange may be a machine-initiated data exchange. The IoT network describes interconnected IoT UEs, which may include uniquely identifiable embedded computing devices (within the Internet infrastructure) with short-lived connections. The IoT UE may execute background applications (e.g., keep-alive messages, status updates, etc.) to facilitate connectivity to the IoT network.

[0067] UE 401 may be configured to be connected, e.g., communicatively coupled, to RAN 410. In a specific implementation, RAN 410 may be an NG RAN or a 5G RAN, an E-UTRAN, or a legacy RAN, such as a UTRAN or a GERAN. As used herein, the term "NG RAN" or the like may refer to a RAN 410 operating in an NR or 5G system 400, while the term "E-UTRAN" or the like may refer to a RAN 410 operating in an LTE or 4G system 400. UE 401 utilizes connections (or channels) 403 and 404, respectively, each of which includes a physical communication interface or layer (discussed in further detail below).

[0068] In this example, connections 403 and 404 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 a specific implementation, the UE 401 may directly exchange communication data via the ProSe interface 405. The ProSe interface 405 may alternatively be referred to as a SL interface 405, and may include one or more logical channels, including but not limited to PSCCH, PSSCH, PSDCH, and PSBCH.

[0069] UE 401b is shown as being configured to access AP 406 (also referred to as "WLAN node 406", "WLAN 406", "WLAN terminal 406", "WT 406", etc.) via connection 407. Connection 407 may include a local wireless connection, such as a connection consistent with any IEEE 802.11 protocol, where AP 406 will include Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi ®) router. In this example, AP 406 is shown connected to the Internet without being connected to the core network of the wireless system (described in further detail below). In various specific implementations, UE 401b, RAN 410, and AP 406 may be configured to utilize LWA operation and / or LWIP operation. LWA operation may involve UE 401b in the RRC_CONNECTED state being configured by RAN nodes 411a-b to utilize radio resources of LTE and WLAN. LWIP operation may involve UE 401b using WLAN radio resources (e.g., connection 407) via an IPsec protocol tunnel to authenticate and encrypt packets (e.g., IP packets) sent over connection 407. 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.

[0070] The RAN 410 includes one or more AN nodes or RAN nodes 411a and 411b (collectively referred to as "RAN nodes 411") that enable connections 403 and 404. As used herein, the terms "access node", "access point", etc. may describe a device 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 BS, gNB, RAN node, eNB, NodeB, RSU, TRxP or TRP, etc., 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 a RAN node 411 (e.g., a gNB) operating in an NR or 5G system 400, while the terms "E-UTRAN node" and the like may refer to a RAN node 411 (e.g., an eNB) operating in an LTE or 4G system 400. According to various specific implementations, the RAN node 411 may be realized as one or more of a dedicated physical device 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.

[0071] In specific implementations, all or part of the RAN node 411 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 specific implementations, the CRAN or vBBUP may implement RAN functional splits, such as PDCP splits, where the RRC and PDCP layers are operated by the CRAN / vBBUP, while other L2 protocol entities are operated by individual RAN nodes 411; MAC / PHY splits, where the RRC, PDCP, RLC, and MAC layers are operated by the CRAN / vBBUP, and the PHY layer is operated by individual RAN nodes 411; or "lower PHY" splits, 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 411. This virtualization framework allows idle processor cores of the RAN node 411 to execute other virtualized applications. In some specific implementations, individual RAN nodes 411 may represent a plurality of RAN nodes 411 connected to the RAN node 411 via individual F1 interfaces ( Figure 4 In these embodiments, the gNB-DU may include one or more remote radio heads or RFEMs (see, e.g., Figure 7 ), and the gNB-CU may be operated by a server (not shown) located in the RAN 410 or by a server pool in a manner similar to CRAN / vBBUP. In addition or alternatively, one or more of the RAN nodes 411 may be a next generation eNB (ng-eNB), which is a next generation eNB that provides E-UTRA user plane and control plane protocol terminals to the UE 401 and is connected to the 5GC (e.g., Figure 6 CN 620) RAN node.

[0072] In a V2X scenario, one or more of the RAN nodes 411 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, wherein 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, the RSU is a computing device coupled to a radio frequency circuit located on the road side that provides connectivity support to a passing vehicle UE 401 (vUE 401). 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 vehicle 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, etc. In addition 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. In addition 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 weather-resistant 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 a backhaul network.

[0073] Any of the RAN nodes 411 may terminate the air interface protocol and may be the first point of contact for the UE 401. In some implementations, any of the RAN nodes 411 may perform various logical functions of the RAN 410, 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.

[0074] In a specific implementation, UE 401 may be configured to communicate with each other or with any of RAN nodes 411 using OFDM communication signals on 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), but the scope of the specific implementation is not limited in this respect. OFDM signals may include multiple orthogonal subcarriers.

[0075] In some implementations, a downlink resource grid may be used for downlink transmissions from any of the RAN nodes 411 to the UE 401, while uplink transmissions may utilize similar techniques. The grid may be a time-frequency grid, referred to as a resource grid or a time-frequency resource grid, which is a physical resource in the downlink in each time slot. For OFDM systems, such a time-frequency plane representation is common practice, which makes wireless resource allocation intuitive. Each column and each 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 a plurality of resource blocks, which describe the mapping of certain physical channels to resource elements. Each resource block includes a set of resource elements; in the frequency domain, this may represent the minimum amount of resources that can currently be allocated. Such resource blocks are used to transmit several different physical downlink channels.

[0076] According to various specific implementations, the UE 401 and the RAN node 411 communicate data (e.g., transmit data and receive data) through 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, and the unlicensed spectrum may include a 5 GHz band.

[0077] To operate in the unlicensed spectrum, the UE 401 and the RAN node 411 may operate using LAA, eLAA, and / or feLAA mechanisms. In these implementations, the UE 401 and the RAN node 411 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.

[0078] LBT is a mechanism by which a device (e.g., UE 401 RAN node 411, etc.) senses a 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 a CCA that utilizes at least an 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 on an intended transmission band over a period of time, and comparing the sensed RF energy to a predefined or configured threshold.

[0079] Typically, existing systems in the 5 GHz band are WLANs based on IEEE 802.11 technology. WLANs use a contention-based channel access mechanism called CSMA / CA. Here, when a WLAN node (e.g., a mobile station (MS) such as UE 401, AP 406, etc.) intends to transmit, the WLAN node may first perform CCA before transmission. In addition, in the case where more than one WLAN node senses the channel as idle and transmits at the same time, a backoff mechanism is used to avoid conflicts. The backoff mechanism may be a counter randomly introduced within the CWS that increases exponentially when a conflict 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 specific implementations, the LBT process for a DL or UL transmission burst (including PDSCH or PUSCH transmission) may have a 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.

[0080] The LAA mechanism is built on the 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, so the maximum aggregated bandwidth is 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 may have a different bandwidth from other CCs. In a TDD system, the number of CCs and the bandwidth of each CC are typically the same for DL ​​and UL.

[0081] 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. Other serving cells are referred to as SCells, and each SCell may provide individual SCCs for both UL and DL. SCCs may be added and removed as needed, and changing PCCs may require the UE 401 to undergo a switch. In LAA, eLAA, and feLAA, some or all of the SCells may operate in an 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 start positions within the same subframe.

[0082] The PDSCH carries user data and higher layer signaling to the UE 401. The PDCCH carries, among other information, information about the transport format and resource allocation related to the PDSCH channel. It may also inform the UE 401 about the transport format, resource allocation, and HARQ information related to the uplink shared channel. Typically, downlink scheduling (allocation of control and shared channel resource blocks to UE 401b within a cell) may be performed on any of the RAN nodes 411 based on channel quality information fed back from any of the UEs 401. Downlink resource allocation information may be sent on the PDCCH for (e.g., allocated to) each of the plurality of UEs 401.

[0083] PDCCH uses CCE to transmit control information. Before being mapped to resource elements, the PDCCH complex-valued symbols can first be organized into quadruplets, 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, 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).

[0084] Some implementations may use the concept of resource allocation for control channel information, which is an extension of the above concept. For example, some implementations 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 nine sets of four physical resource elements, referred to as EREGs. In some cases, ECCEs may have other numbers of EREGs.

[0085] RAN nodes 411 may be configured to communicate with each other via interface 412. In a specific implementation where system 400 is an LTE system (eg, when CN 420 is Figure 5 ), the interface 412 may be an X2 interface 412. The X2 interface may be defined between two or more RAN nodes 411 (e.g., two or more eNBs, etc.) connected to the EPC 420, and / or between two eNBs connected to the EPC 420. 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 transmit information about the delivery of user data between eNBs. For example, the X2-U may provide specific sequence number information about user data transmitted from the MeNB to the SeNB; information about successful in-sequence delivery of PDCP PDUs from the SeNB to the UE 401 for user data; information about PDCP PDUs that were not delivered to the UE 401; information about the current minimum expected buffer size at the SeNB for transmitting user data to the UE; and the like. X2-C can provide intra-LTE access mobility functions, including context transfer from source eNB to target eNB, user plane transmission control, etc.; load management functions; and inter-cell interference coordination functions.

[0086] When system 400 is a 5G or NR system (e.g., when CN 420 is Figure 6In a specific implementation of the 5GC 620 in the 5GC 420, the interface 412 may be an Xn interface 412. The Xn interface is defined between two or more RAN nodes 411 (e.g., two or more gNBs, etc.) connected to the 5GC 420, between a RAN node 411 (e.g., a gNB) and an eNB connected to the 5GC 420, and / or between two eNBs connected to the 5GC 420. 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 401 in a connected mode (e.g., a CM connection) includes functions for managing UE mobility in a connected mode between one or more RAN nodes 411. The mobility support may include context transfer from the old (source) service RAN node 411 to the new (target) service RAN node 411; and control of the user plane tunnel between the old (source) service RAN node 411 and the new (target) service RAN node 411. The protocol stack of Xn-U may include a transport network layer built on an Internet Protocol (IP) transport layer, and a GTP-U layer on top of a UDP and / or IP layer 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 on top of the IP layer and may provide guaranteed delivery of application layer messages. In the transport IP layer, point-to-point transport is used to deliver signaling PDUs. In other specific implementations, the Xn-U protocol stack and / or the Xn-C protocol stack may be the same or similar to the user plane and / or control plane protocol stacks shown and described herein.

[0087] RAN 410 is shown as being communicatively coupled to a core network—in this implementation, to a core network (CN) 420. CN 420 may include a plurality of network elements 422 configured to provide various data and telecommunication services to customers / subscribers (e.g., users of UE 401) connected to CN 420 via RAN 410. Components of CN 420 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 some implementations, NFV may be used to virtualize any or all of the above 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 420 may be referred to as a network slice, and a logical instance of a portion of CN 420 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 may be used to perform a virtual or reconfigurable implementation of one or more EPC components / functions.

[0088] Generally speaking, the application server 430 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 430 may also be configured to support one or more communication services for the UE 401 via the EPC 420 (e.g., VoIP sessions, PTT sessions, group communication sessions, social network services, etc.).

[0089] In a specific implementation, the CN 420 may be a 5GC (referred to as "5GC 420" or the like), and the RAN 410 may be connected to the CN 420 via an NG interface 413. In a specific implementation, the NG interface 413 may be divided into two parts: an NG user plane (NG-U) interface 414, which carries traffic data between the RAN node 411 and the UPF; and an S1 control plane (NG-C) interface 415, which is a signaling interface between the RAN node 411 and the AMF. Figure 6 Discussing CN 420 in more detail is a specific implementation of 5GC 420.

[0090] In a specific implementation, CN 420 may be a 5G CN (referred to as “5GC 420”, etc.), while in other specific implementations, CN 420 may be an EPC. In the case where CN 420 is an EPC (referred to as “EPC 420”, etc.), RAN 410 may be connected to CN 420 via an S1 interface 413. In a specific implementation, S1 interface 413 may be divided into two parts: an S1 user plane (S1-U) interface 414, which carries traffic data between RAN node 411 and S-GW; and an S1-MME interface 415, which is a signaling interface between RAN node 411 and MME.

[0091] Figure 5 FIG. 5 shows an exemplary architecture of a system 500 including a first CN 520 according to various implementations. In this example, the system 500 may implement the LTE standard, wherein the CN 520 is a first CN corresponding to the LTE standard. Figure 4 In addition, UE 501 may communicate with Figure 4 The UE 401 is the same as or similar to the UE 401, and the E-UTRAN 510 may be Figure 4 The CN 520 may be a RAN that is the same as or similar to the RAN 410 of the mobile network, and may include the RAN node 411 discussed previously. The CN 520 may include an MME 521, an S-GW 522, a P-GW 523, an HSS 524, and an SGSN 525.

[0092] The MME 521 may be similar in function to the control plane of a conventional SGSN, and may implement MM functions to keep track of the current location of the UE 501. The MME 521 may perform various MM procedures to manage mobility aspects in access, such as gateway selection and tracking area list management. MM (also referred to as "EPS MM" or "EMM" in the E-UTRAN system) may refer to all applicable procedures, methods, data storage, etc. for maintaining knowledge of the current location of the UE 501, providing user identity confidentiality to users / subscribers, and / or performing other similar services. Each UE 501 and the MME 521 may include an MM or EMM sublayer, and when the attachment procedure is successfully completed, an MM context may be established in the UE 501 and the MME 521. The MM context may be a data structure or database object that stores MM-related information of the UE 501. The MME 521 may be coupled to the HSS 524 via an S6a reference point, to the SGSN 525 via an S3 reference point, and to the S-GW 522 via an S11 reference point.

[0093] SGSN 525 may be a node that serves UE 501 by tracking the location of individual UE 501 and performing security functions. In addition, SGSN 525 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 521; handling of UE 501 time zone functions, as specified by MME 521; and MME selection for handover to E-UTRAN 3GPP access network. The S3 reference point between MME 521 and SGSN 525 may enable user and bearer information exchange for inter-3GPP access network mobility in an idle state and / or an active state.

[0094] The HSS 524 may include a database for network users, which includes subscription-related information for supporting network entities in handling communication sessions. The EPC 520 may include one or several HSSs 524, depending on the number of mobile subscribers, the capacity of the devices, the organization of the network, etc. For example, the HSS 524 may provide support for routing / roaming, authentication, authorization, naming / addressing solutions, location dependencies, etc. The S6a reference point between the HSS 524 and the MME 521 may enable the transfer of subscription and authentication data for authenticating / authorizing users to access the EPC 520 between the HSS 524 and the MME 521.

[0095] The S-GW 522 may terminate the S1 interface 413 towards the RAN 510 (at Figure 5 The S-GW 522 may be a local mobility anchor point for inter-RAN node handovers and may also provide an anchor for inter-3GPP mobility. Other responsibilities may include lawful interception, charging, and enforcement of certain policies. The S11 reference point between the S-GW 522 and the MME 521 may provide a control plane between the MME 521 and the S-GW 522. The S-GW 522 may be coupled to the P-GW 523 via the S5 reference point.

[0096] The P-GW 523 may terminate the SGi interface toward the PDN 530. The P-GW 523 may communicate with the PDN 530 via the IP interface 425 (see, e.g., Figure 4 ) routes data packets between EPC 520 and external networks such as a network including application server 430 (alternatively referred to as "AF"). In a specific implementation, P-GW 523 can communicate with the EPC 520 via IP communication interface 425 (see, for example, Figure 4 ) is communicatively coupled to an application server ( Figure 4 Application server 430 or Figure 5The S5 reference point between the P-GW 523 and the S-GW 522 may provide user plane tunneling and tunnel management between the P-GW 523 and the S-GW 522. The S5 reference point may also be used for S-GW 522 relocation due to the mobility of the UE 501 and whether the S-GW 522 needs to be connected to a non-colocated P-GW 523 for the required PDN connectivity. The P-GW 523 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 523 and the packet data network (PDN) 530 may be an operator-external public, private PDN, or an internal operator packet data network, such as for providing IMS services. The P-GW 523 may be coupled to the PCRF 526 via a Gx reference point.

[0097] PCRF 526 is a policy and charging control element of EPC 520. In a non-roaming scenario, there may be a single PCRF 526 in a domestic public land mobile network (HPLMN) associated with an Internet Protocol Connectivity Access Network (IP-CAN) session of UE 501. In a roaming scenario with local traffic breakout, there may be two PCRFs associated with the IP-CAN session of UE 501: a domestic PCRF (H-PCRF) in the HPLMN and a visited PCRF (V-PCRF) in a visited public land mobile network (VPLMN). PCRF 526 may be communicatively coupled to application server 530 via P-GW 523. Application server 530 may signal PCRF 526 to indicate a new service flow and select appropriate QoS and charging parameters. PCRF 526 may configure the rule to a PCEF (not shown) with the appropriate TFT and QCI, which starts QoS and charging as specified by application server 530. The Gx reference point between PCRF 526 and P-GW 523 may allow for the transfer of QoS policies and charging rules from PCRF 526 to PCEF in P-GW 523. The Rx reference point may reside between PDN 530 (or “AF 530”) and PCRF 526.

[0098] Figure 6The architecture of a system 600 including a second CN 620 according to various specific implementations is shown. The system 600 is shown to include a UE 601, which may be the same or similar to the previously discussed UE 401 and UE 501; a (R) AN 610, which may be the same or similar to the previously discussed RAN 410 and RAN 510, and which may include the previously discussed RAN node 411; and a DN 603, which may be, for example, an operator service, Internet access, or a 3rd party service; and a 5GC 620. The 5GC 620 may include an AUSF 622; an AMF 621; an SMF 624; an NEF 623; a PCF 626; an NRF 625; an UDM 627; an AF 628; an UPF 602; and an NSSF 629.

[0099] The UPF 602 may act as an anchor point for intra-RAT and inter-RAT mobility, an external PDU session point interconnected with the DN 603, and a branch point to support multi-homed PDU sessions. The UPF 602 may also perform packet routing and forwarding, perform packet inspection, perform the user plane portion of the policy rules, lawful interception of packets (UP collection), perform traffic usage reporting, perform QoS processing on the user plane (e.g., packet filtering, gating, UL / DL rate enforcement), perform uplink traffic verification (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 602 may include an uplink classifier for supporting routing of traffic flows to the data network. The DN 603 may represent various network operator services, Internet access, or third-party services. The DN 603 may include or be similar to the application server 430 discussed previously. The UPF 602 may interact with the SMF 624 via the N4 reference point between the SMF 624 and the UPF 602.

[0100] The AUSF 622 may store data for authentication of the UE 601 and handle authentication-related functions. The AUSF 622 may facilitate a common authentication framework for various access types. The AUSF 622 may communicate with the AMF 621 via the N12 reference point between the AMF 621 and the AUSF 622; and may communicate with the UDM 627 via the N13 reference point between the UDM 627 and the AUSF 622. In addition, the AUSF 622 may present an interface based on the Nausf service.

[0101] AMF 621 may be responsible for registration management (e.g., responsible for registering UE 601, etc.), connection management, reachability management, mobility management, and lawful interception of AMF-related events, and access authentication and authorization. AMF 621 may be the termination point of the N11 reference point between AMF 621 and SMF 624. AMF 621 may provide transport for SM messages between UE 601 and SMF 624, and act as a transparent proxy for routing SM messages. AMF 621 may also provide a transport for UE 601 and SMSF ( Figure 6 The AMF 621 may provide transport for SMS messages between the (R)AN 610 and the AMF 621 (not shown). The AMF 621 may act as a SEAF, which may include interaction with the AUSF 622 and the UE 601, receiving intermediate keys established as a result of the UE 601 authentication process. In the case of using USIM-based authentication, the AMF 621 may retrieve security materials from the AUSF 622. The AMF 621 may also include an SCM function that receives keys from the SEA for deriving access network-specific keys. In addition, the AMF 621 may be a termination point for the RAN CP interface, which may include or be an N2 reference point between the (R)AN 610 and the AMF 621; and the AMF 621 may be a termination point for NAS (N1) signaling, and perform NAS encryption and integrity protection.

[0102] The AMF 621 may also support NAS signaling with the UE 601 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 610 and the AMF 621 for the control plane, and may be the termination point for the N3 reference point between the (R) AN 610 and the UPF 602 for the user plane. Thus, the AMF 621 may process N2 signaling for PDU sessions and QoS from the SMF 624 and the AMF 621, 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 QoS requirements associated with such markings received over N2. The N3IWF may also relay uplink and downlink control plane NAS signaling between the UE 601 and the AMF 621 via the N1 reference point between the UE 601 and the AMF 621, and relay uplink and downlink user plane packets between the UE 601 and the UPF 602. The N3IWF also provides a mechanism for establishing an IPsec tunnel with the UE 601. The AMF 621 may present an interface based on the Namf service and may be an N14 reference point between the two AMF 621 and the AMF 621 and the 5G-EIR ( Figure 6 The termination point of the N17 reference point between the two (not shown).

[0103] UE 601 may need to register with AMF 621 in order to receive network services. RM is used to register UE 601 with the network (e.g., AMF 621) or deregister UE 601, and establish a UE context in the network (e.g., AMF 621). UE 601 may operate in the RM-REGISTERED state or the RM-DEREGISTERED state. In the RM-DEREGISTERED state, UE 601 is not registered with the network, and the UE context in AMF 621 does not maintain valid location or routing information of UE 601, so AMF 621 cannot reach UE 601. In the RM-REGISTERED state, UE 601 is registered with the network, and the UE context in AMF 621 may maintain valid location or routing information of UE 601, so AMF 621 can reach UE 601. In the RM-REGISTERED state, UE 601 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 notify the network that UE 601 is still active), and perform a registration update procedure to update UE capability information or renegotiate protocol parameters with the network, etc.

[0104] The AMF 621 may store one or more RM contexts for the UE 601, each RM context being associated with a specific access to the network. The RM context may be a data structure, a database object, etc., which indicates or stores, among other things, the registration status and periodic update timer for each access type. The AMF 621 may also store a 5GC MM context which may be the same or similar to the (E)MM context discussed previously. In various specific implementations, the AMF 621 may store the CE mode B restriction parameters of the UE 601 in the associated MM context or RM context. The AMF 621 may also derive values ​​from the UE's usage setting parameters already stored in the UE context (and / or MM / RM context) when necessary.

[0105] The CM may be used to establish and release a signaling connection between the UE 601 and the AMF 621 over the N1 interface. The signaling connection is used to enable NAS signaling exchange between the UE 601 and the CN 620, 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 an N2 connection of the UE 601 between the AN (e.g., RAN 610) and the AMF 621. The UE 601 may operate in one of two CM states (CM-IDLE mode or CM-CONNECTED mode). When the UE 601 operates in the CM-IDLE state / mode, the UE 601 may not have a NAS signaling connection established with the AMF 621 over the N1 interface, and there may be a (R)AN 610 signaling connection (e.g., N2 and / or N3 connection) for the UE 601. When the UE 601 operates in the CM-CONNECTED state / mode, the UE 601 may have a NAS signaling connection established with the AMF 621 through the N1 interface, and there may be a (R)AN 610 signaling connection (e.g., N2 and / or N3 connection) for the UE 601. Establishing an N2 connection between the (R)AN 610 and the AMF 621 may cause the UE 601 to transition from the CM-IDLE mode to the CM-CONNECTED mode, and when the N2 signaling between the (R)AN 610 and the AMF 621 is released, the UE 601 may transition from the CM-CONNECTED mode to the CM-IDLE mode.

[0106] SMF 624 may be responsible for SM (e.g., session establishment, modification, and release, including tunnel maintenance between UPF and AN nodes); UE IP address allocation and management (including optional authorization); selection and control of UP functions; configuring UPF's traffic steering to route traffic to the correct destination; terminating the interface toward the policy control function; control portion of policy enforcement and QoS; lawful interception (for SM events and interface with LI system); terminating the SM portion of NAS messages; downlink data notification; initiating AN-specific SM information sent to AN via 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 a UE 601 and a data network (DN) 603 identified by a data network name (DNN). A PDU session may be established upon request by UE 601, modified upon request by UE 601 and 5GC 620, and released upon request by UE 601 and 5GC 620 using NAS SM signaling exchanged over the N1 reference point between UE 601 and SMF 624. Upon request from an application server, 5GC 620 may trigger a specific application in UE 601. In response to receiving a trigger message, UE 601 may deliver the trigger message (or relevant parts / information of the trigger message) to one or more identified applications in UE 601. The identified applications in UE 601 may establish a PDU session to a specific DNN. SMF 624 may check whether the UE 601 request complies with user subscription information associated with UE 601. In this regard, SMF 624 may retrieve and / or request to receive update notifications about SMF 624 level subscription data from UDM 627.

[0107] SMF 624 may include the following roaming functions: handling local execution to apply QoS SLA (VPLMN); charging data collection and charging interface (VPLMN); lawful interception (for SM events and interface with LI system, in VPLMN); and support interaction with external DN to transmit signaling for PDU session authorization / authentication through external DN. In a roaming scenario, an N16 reference point between two SMFs 624 may be included in the system 600, which may be located between an SMF 624 in a visited network and another SMF 624 in a home network. In addition, SMF 624 may present an interface based on Nsmf services.

[0108] NEF 623 may provide components for securely exposing services and capabilities provided by 3GPP network functions for third parties, internal exposure / re-exposure, application functions (e.g., AF 628), edge computing or fog computing systems, etc. In such specific implementations, NEF 623 may authenticate, authorize and / or restrict AF. NEF 623 may also convert information exchanged with AF 628 and information exchanged with internal network functions. For example, NEF 623 may convert between AF service identifiers and internal 5GC information. NEF 623 may also receive information from other network functions (NFs) based on the exposure capabilities of other network functions. The information may be stored at NEF 623 as structured data, or at a data storage NF using a standardized interface. The stored information may then be re-exposed by NEF 623 to other NFs and AFs, and / or used for other purposes such as analysis. In addition, NEF 623 may present an interface based on Nnef services.

[0109] NRF 625 may support service discovery functionality, receive NF discovery requests from NF instances, and provide information of discovered NF instances to NF instances. NRF 625 also maintains information of available NF instances and the services they support. As used herein, the term "instantiation" and the like may refer to the creation of an instance, and "instance" may refer to the specific occurrence of an object, which may occur, for example, during the execution of a program code. In addition, NRF 625 may present an interface based on Nnrf services.

[0110] The PCF 626 may provide for control plane functions to enforce their policy rules, and may also support a unified policy framework for managing network behavior. The PCF 626 may also implement FEs to access subscription information related to policy decisions in the UDR of the UDM 627. The PCF 626 may communicate with the AMF 621 via the N15 reference point between the PCF 626 and the AMF 621, which may include the PCF 626 in the visited network and the AMF 621 in the case of a roaming scenario. The PCF 626 may communicate with the AF 628 via the N5 reference point between the PCF 626 and the AF 628; and communicate with the SMF 624 via the N7 reference point between the PCF 626 and the SMF 624. The system 600 and / or the CN 620 may also include an N24 reference point between the PCF 626 (in the home network) and the PCF 626 in the visited network. In addition, the PCF 626 may present an interface based on Npcf services.

[0111] UDM 627 may process subscription-related information to support the handling of communication sessions by network entities, and may store subscription data of UE 601. For example, subscription data may be transmitted between UDM 627 and AMF 621 via an N8 reference point between UDM 627 and AMF. UDM 627 may include two parts: application FE and UDR ( Figure 6 FE and UDR are not shown). The UDR may store subscription data and policy data of the UDM 627 and PCF 626, and / or structured data for exposure and application data of the NEF 623 (including PFD for application detection, application request information of multiple UEs 601). The Nudr service-based interface may be presented by the UDR 221 to allow the UDM 627, PCF 626, and NEF 623 to access specific sets of stored data, as well as read, update (e.g., add, modify), delete, and subscribe to notifications of related data changes 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 may interact with the SMF 624 via the N10 reference point between the UDM 627 and the SMF 624. UDM 627 may also support SMS management, where SMS-FE implements similar application logic as described above. In addition, UDM 627 may present an interface based on Nudm services.

[0112] AF 628 can provide application influence on traffic routing, provide access to NCE, and interact with policy framework for policy control. NCE can be a mechanism that allows 5GC 620 and AF 628 to provide information to each other via NEF 623, which can be used for edge computing implementation. In such implementation, network operators and third-party services can be hosted near the UE 601 access point of the attachment to achieve effective service delivery through reduced end-to-end delay and load on the transmission network. For edge computing implementation, 5GC can select UPF 602 near UE 601 and perform traffic steering from UPF 602 to DN 603 via N6 interface. This can be based on UE subscription data, UE location and information provided by AF 628. In this way, AF 628 can affect UPF (re) selection and traffic routing. Based on operator deployment, when AF 628 is considered a trusted entity, the network operator can allow AF 628 to interact directly with the relevant NF. In addition, AF 628 can present an interface based on Naf services.

[0113] NSSF 629 may select a set of network slice instances to serve UE 601. If necessary, NSSF 629 may also determine the allowed NSSAI and the mapping to the subscribed S-NSSAI. NSSF 629 may also determine the set of AMFs to serve UE 601, or a list of candidate AMFs 621, based on appropriate configuration and possibly by querying NRF 625. The selection of a set of network slice instances for UE 601 may be triggered by AMF 621, where UE 601 registers by interacting with NSSF 629, which may result in changes to AMF 621. NSSF 629 may interact with AMF 621 via the N22 reference point between AMF 621 and NSSF 629; and may communicate via the N31 reference point ( Figure 6 The NSSF 629 may communicate with another NSSF 629 in the visited network (not shown). In addition, the NSSF 629 may present an interface based on the Nnssf service.

[0114] As discussed previously, CN 620 may include SMSF, which may be responsible for SMS subscription checking and verification, and relaying SM messages to / from UE 601 from / to other entities, such as SMS-GMSC / IWMSC / SMS routers. SMS may also interact with AMF 621 and UDM 627 for notification procedures that UE 601 is available for SMS transmission (e.g., setting a UE unreachable flag and notifying UDM 627 when UE 601 is available for SMS). CN 620 may also include Figure 6 Other elements not shown, such as data storage system / architecture, 5G-EIR, SEPP, etc.

[0115] The data storage system may include SDSF, UDSF, etc. Any NF can be connected via any NF and UDSF ( Figure 6 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). Individual NFs may share a UDSF for storing their respective unstructured data, or individual NFs may each have their own UDSF located at or near a single NF. In addition, the UDSF may present an interface based on the Nudsf service ( Figure 6 (not shown). The 5G-EIR may be a NF that checks the status of the PEI to determine whether to blacklist a specific device / entity from the network; and the SEPP may be a non-transparent proxy that performs topology hiding, message filtering, and policing on the inter-PLMN control plane interface.

[0116] Additionally, there may be more reference points and / or service-based interfaces between NF services in a NF; however, for clarity, Figure 6These interfaces and reference points are omitted. In one example, CN 620 may include an Nx interface, which is an inter-CN interface between an MME (e.g., MME 521) and an AMF 621 to enable intercommunication between CN 620 and CN 520. Other example interfaces / reference points may include an interface based on N5g-EIR services presented by 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.

[0117] Figure 7 An example of an infrastructure device 700 according to various implementations is shown. The infrastructure device 700 (or "system 700") can be implemented as a base station, a radio head, a RAN node (such as the RAN node 411 and / or AP 406 shown and described previously), an application server 430, and / or any other element / device discussed herein. In other examples, the system 700 can be implemented in or by a UE.

[0118] System 700 may include: application circuit 705, baseband circuit 710, one or more radio front-end modules 715, memory circuit 720, power management integrated circuit (PMIC) 725, power three-way circuit 730, network controller circuit 735, network interface connector 740, satellite positioning circuit 745 and user interface 750. In some specific implementations, device 700 may include additional elements, such as memory / storage, display, camera, sensor or input / output (I / O) interface. In other specific implementations, the components described below may be included in more than one device. For example, the circuit may be included separately in more than one device for CRAN, vBBU or other similar specific implementations.

[0119] Application circuit 705 includes 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, 2C or general programmable serial interface module, real-time clock (RTC), timer-counter including interval timer and watchdog timer, general input / output (I / O or IO), memory card controller such as secure digital (SD) multimedia card (MMC) or similar products, universal serial bus (USB) interface, mobile industry processor interface (MIPI) interface and joint test access group (JTAG) test access port. The processor (or core) of the application circuit 705 can be coupled with or can include a memory / storage element and can be configured to execute instructions stored in the memory / storage element to enable various applications or operating systems to run on the system 700. In some specific implementations, 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.

[0120] The processor of the application circuit 705 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 implementations, the application circuit 705 may include or may be a dedicated processor / controller for operating in accordance with various implementations herein. As an example, the processor of the application circuit 705 may include one or more Apple A series processors, Intel Pentium ® 、Core ® or Xeon ® Processor: Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) Ryzen ® Processor, Accelerated Processing Unit (APU) or Epyc ® Processors; ARM-based processors licensed from ARM Holdings, Ltd., such as the ARM Cortex-A series processors and ThunderX2 provided by Cavium(TM), Inc. ®; MIPS-based designs from MIPS Technologies, Inc., such as the MIPSWarrior P-class processor; etc. In some implementations, the system 700 may not utilize the application circuit 705, and instead may include a dedicated processor / controller to process IP data received, for example, from the EPC or 5GC.

[0121] In some implementations, the application circuit 705 may include one or more hardware accelerators, which may be microprocessors, programmable processing devices, etc. 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), etc.; programmable logic devices (PLDs), such as complex PLDs (CPLDs), high capacity PLDs (HCPLDs), etc.; ASICs, such as structured ASICs, etc.; programmable SoCs (PSoCs); etc. In such implementations, the circuits of the application circuit 705 may include logic blocks or logic architectures, as well as other interconnected resources that may be programmed to perform various functions, such as the processes, methods, functions, etc. of the various implementations discussed herein. In such a specific implementation, the circuitry of the application circuit 705 may include a memory unit (e.g., an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), a flash memory, a static memory (e.g., a static random access memory (SRAM), an anti-fuse, etc.)) for storing logic blocks, logic architectures, data, etc. in a look-up table (LUT), etc.

[0122] Baseband circuit 710 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. Fig. 9 The various hardware electronic components of baseband circuit 710 are discussed.

[0123] The user interface circuit 750 may include one or more user interfaces designed to enable a user to interact with the system 700 or a peripheral component interface designed to enable a peripheral component to interact with the system 700. The user interface may include, but is 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 touch pad, a touch screen, a speaker or other audio transmitting device, a microphone, a printer, a scanner, a headset, a display screen or display device, etc. The peripheral component interface may include, but is not limited to, a non-volatile memory port, a universal serial bus (USB) port, an audio jack, a power interface, etc.

[0124] The radio front end module (RFEM) 715 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 separated from the mmWave RFEM. The RFIC may include connections to one or more antennas or antenna arrays (see, e.g., below). Fig. 9 In an alternative embodiment, both millimeter wave and sub-millimeter wave radio functions can be implemented in the same physical RFEM 715 incorporating both millimeter wave antennas and sub-millimeter wave.

[0125] The memory circuit 720 may include one or more of the following: a volatile memory including 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 Intel ® and Micron ® The memory circuit 720 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.

[0126] The PMIC 725 may include a voltage regulator, a surge protector, a power alarm detection circuit, and one or more backup power sources, such as a battery or capacitor. The power alarm detection circuit may detect one or more of a brownout (undervoltage) and a surge (overvoltage) condition. The power tee circuit 730 may provide power drawn from the network cable to provide both power and data connections for the infrastructure device 700 using a single cable.

[0127] The network controller circuit 735 may provide connectivity to the network using a standard network interface protocol such as Ethernet, Ethernet based on a GRE tunnel, Ethernet based on a multi-protocol label switching (MPLS), or some other suitable protocol. A physical connection may be used to provide a network connection to / from the infrastructure device 700 via a network interface connector 740, which may be an electrical connection (commonly referred to as a "copper interconnect"), an optical connection, or a wireless connection. The network controller circuit 735 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 735 may include multiple controllers for providing connectivity to other networks using the same or different protocols.

[0128] The positioning circuit 745 includes circuits for receiving and decoding signals transmitted / broadcasted by a positioning network of a 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., using the Indian constellation (NAVIC), Japan's Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS), France's Doppler Orbit Chart and Satellite Integrated Radio Positioning (DORIS), etc. for navigation), etc. The positioning circuit 745 includes various hardware elements (e.g., including hardware devices such as switches, filters, amplifiers, antenna elements, etc. for facilitating OTA communications) to communicate with components of the positioning network such as navigation satellite constellation nodes. In some specific implementations, the positioning circuit 745 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 745 may also be part of or interact with the baseband circuit 710 and / or RFEM 715 to communicate with nodes and components of the positioning network. The positioning circuit 745 may also provide location data and / or time data to the application circuit 705, which may use the data to synchronize operations with various infrastructure (e.g., RAN node 411, etc.), etc.

[0129] Figure 7 The components shown may communicate with each other using interface circuitry that may 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 may be a proprietary bus, such as used in SoC-based systems. Other bus / IX systems may be included, such as I 2 C interface, SPI interface, point-to-point interface and power bus, etc.

[0130] Figure 8 An example of a platform 800 (or "device 800") according to various specific implementations is shown. In specific implementations, the computer platform 800 may be suitable for use as a UE 401, 501, 601, an application server 430, and / or any other element / device discussed herein. The platform 800 may include any combination of components shown in the example. The components of the platform 800 may be implemented as an integrated circuit (IC), part of an IC, a discrete electronic device, or other modules, logic, hardware, software, firmware, or a combination thereof adapted in the computer platform 800, or implemented as components otherwise incorporated within a chassis of a larger system. Figure 8The block diagram is intended to show a high-level view of the components of computer platform 800. 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.

[0131] Application circuit 805 includes circuits such as, but not limited to, one or more processors (or processor cores), cache memory, and LDO, interrupt controller, serial interface (such as SPI), I 2 C or general programmable serial interface module, RTC, timer (including interval timer and watchdog timer), general I / O, memory card controller (such as SD MMC or similar controller), USB interface, MIPI interface and JTAG test access port. The processor (or core) of the application circuit 805 can be coupled with or can include a memory / storage element, and can be configured to execute instructions stored in the memory / storage element to enable various applications or operating systems to run on the system 800. In some specific implementations, the memory / storage element can be an on-chip memory circuit, which 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.

[0132] The processor of the application circuit 705 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, multi-threaded processors, ultra-low voltage processors, embedded processors, some other known processing elements, or any suitable combination thereof. In some specific implementations, the application circuit 705 may include or may be a dedicated processor / controller for operating according to various specific implementations herein.

[0133] As an example, the processor of the application circuit 805 may include an Apple A series processor. The processor of the application circuit 805 may also include one or more of the following: based on Intel ® Architecture Core ™ Processors such as Quark ™ 、Atom ™ , i3, i5, i7 or MCU class processors, or available from Intel in Santa Clara, CA ® Company (Intel ®Corporation, Santa Clara, CA); Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) Ryzen ® Processor or Accelerated Processing Unit (APU); from Qualcomm ® Snapdragon by Technologies, Inc. ™ Processors, Texas Instruments, Inc. ® Open Multimedia Applications Platform (OMAP) ™ 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; etc. In some implementations, the application circuit 805 can be part of a system on a chip (SoC), in which the application circuit 805 and other components are formed as a single integrated circuit or a single package.

[0134] Additionally or alternatively, the application circuit 805 may include circuits 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 implementations, the circuits of the application circuit 805 may include logic blocks or logic structures, and other interconnected resources that may be programmed to perform various functions such as the processes, methods, functions, and the like of the various implementations discussed herein. In such implementations, the circuits of the application circuit 805 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, and the like)) for storing logic blocks, logic structures, data, and the like in a lookup table (LUT), and the like.

[0135] Baseband circuit 810 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. Fig. 9 The various hardware electronic components of baseband circuit 810 are discussed.

[0136] The RFEM 815 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 separated from the mmWave RFEM. The RFIC may include connections to one or more antennas or antenna arrays (see, e.g., below). Fig. 9 In an alternative embodiment, both millimeter wave and sub-millimeter wave radio functions can be implemented in the same physical RFEM 815 incorporating both millimeter wave antennas and sub-millimeter wave antennas.

[0137] The memory circuit 820 may include any number and type of memory devices for providing a quantitative system memory. For example, the memory circuit 820 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 820 may be developed according to the Joint Electron Device Engineering Council (JEDEC) based low power double data rate (LPDDR) design such as LPDDR2, LPDDR3, LPDDR4, etc. The memory circuit 820 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 socket 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 820 may be an on-chip memory or register associated with the application circuit 805. To provide persistent storage of information such as data, applications, operating systems, etc., the memory circuit 820 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 800 may be combined with an Intel ® and Micron ® Three-dimensional (3D) cross-point (XPOINT) memory.

[0138] Removable memory circuitry 823 may include devices, circuitry, housings / casings, ports or receptacles, etc., for coupling portable data storage devices to platform 800. 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.

[0139] The platform 800 may further include an interface circuit (not shown) for connecting external devices to the platform 800. External devices connected to the platform 800 via the interface circuit include a sensor circuit 821 and an electromechanical component (EMC) 822, and a removable memory device coupled to a removable memory circuit 823.

[0140] Sensor circuitry 821 comprises a device, module, or subsystem that is intended 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 a nanoelectromechanical system (NEMS) including a three-axis accelerometer, a three-axis gyroscope, and / or a magnetometer; a 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; etc.

[0141] The EMC 822 includes devices, modules or subsystems that are intended to enable the platform 800 to change its state, position and / or orientation or to move or control a mechanism or (sub) system. In addition, the EMC 822 may be configured to generate messages / signaling and send messages / signaling to other components of the platform 800 to indicate the current state of the EMC 822. The EMC 822 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 a specific implementation, the platform 800 is configured to operate one or more EMCs 822 based on one or more capture events and / or instructions or control signals received from a service provider and / or various clients.

[0142] In some specific implementations, the interface circuit may connect the platform 800 to the positioning circuit 845. The positioning circuit 845 includes a circuit for receiving and decoding signals transmitted / broadcasted by the positioning network of the GNSS. Examples of navigation satellite constellations (or GNSS) may include the GPS of the United States, the GLONASS of Russia, the Galileo system of the European Union, the Beidou navigation satellite system of China, regional navigation systems or GNSS augmentation systems (e.g., NAVIC, QZSS of Japan, DORIS of France, etc.), etc. The positioning circuit 845 may include 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 specific implementations, the positioning circuit 845 may include a micro PNT IC that uses a master timing clock to perform position tracking / estimation without GNSS assistance. The positioning circuit 845 may also be part of the baseband circuit 710 and / or the RFEM 815 or interact with it to communicate with nodes and components of the positioning network. Positioning circuitry 845 may also provide position data and / or time data to application circuitry 805 , 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.

[0143] In some implementations, the interface circuit may connect the platform 800 with a near field communication (NFC) circuit 840. The NFC circuit 840 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 circuit 840 and an NFC-enabled device (e.g., an "NFC touch point") external to the platform 800. The NFC circuit 840 includes an NFC controller coupled to an antenna element and a processor coupled to the NFC controller. The NFC controller may be a chip / IC that provides NFC functionality to the NFC circuit 840 by executing NFC controller firmware and an NFC stack. The NFC stack may be executed by the processor to control the NFC controller, and the NFC controller firmware may be executed by the NFC controller to control the antenna element to transmit a short-range RF signal. The RF signal may power a passive NFC tag (e.g., a microchip embedded in a sticker or wristband) to transfer stored data to the NFC circuit 840, or initiate data transfer between the NFC circuit 840 and another active NFC device (e.g., a smartphone or an NFC-enabled POS terminal) proximate to the platform 800.

[0144] The driver circuit 846 may include software and hardware elements for controlling specific devices embedded in, attached to, or otherwise communicatively coupled to the platform 800. The driver circuit 846 may include various drivers to allow other components of the platform 800 to interact with or control various input / output (I / O) devices that may be present in or connected to the platform 800. For example, the driver circuit 846 may include: a display driver for controlling and allowing access to a display device, a touch screen driver for controlling and allowing access to a touch screen interface of the platform 800, a sensor driver for obtaining sensor readings of the sensor circuit 821 and controlling and allowing access to the sensor circuit 821, an EMC driver for obtaining an actuator position of the EMC 822 and / or controlling and allowing access to the EMC 822, a camera driver for controlling and allowing access to an embedded image capture device, and an audio driver for controlling and allowing access to one or more audio devices.

[0145] A power management integrated circuit (PMIC) 825 (also referred to as “power management circuit 825”) may manage power provided to various components of the platform 800. Specifically, the PMIC 825 may control power selection, voltage regulation, battery charging, or DC-DC conversion relative to the baseband circuit 810. When the platform 800 is capable of being powered by a battery 830, for example, when the device is included in a UE 401, 501, 601, the PMIC 825 may be generally included.

[0146] In some implementations, the PMIC 825 can control or otherwise be part of various power saving mechanisms of the platform 800. For example, if the platform 800 is in the RRC_Connected state, in which the platform is still connected to the RAN node because it expects to receive traffic soon, then after a period of inactivity, the platform may enter a state known as discontinuous reception mode (DRX). During this state, the platform 800 may be powered off for short intervals, thereby saving power. If there is no data traffic activity for an extended period of time, the platform 800 may transition to the RRC_Idle state, in which the platform is disconnected from the network and does not perform operations such as channel quality feedback, handovers, etc. The platform 800 enters a very low power state and performs paging, in which the platform periodically wakes up to listen to the network and then powers off again. The platform 800 may not receive data in this state; in order to receive data, the platform must transition back to the RRC_Connected state. Additional power saving modes may prevent the device from using the network for longer than the paging interval (ranging 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 be significantly delayed, and it is assumed that the delay is acceptable.

[0147] The battery 830 can power the platform 800, but in some examples, the platform 800 can be mounted in a fixed location and can have a power source coupled to a power grid. The battery 830 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, the battery 830 can be a typical lead-acid car battery.

[0148] In some implementations, the battery 830 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 800 to track the state of charge (SoCh) of the battery 830. The BMS may be used to monitor other parameters of the battery 830, such as the state of health (SoH) and state of function (SoF) of the battery 830, to provide fault prediction. The BMS may transmit information about the battery 830 to the application circuit 805 or other components of the platform 800. The BMS may also include an analog-to-digital (ADC) converter that allows the application circuit 805 to directly monitor the voltage of the battery 830 or the current from the battery 830. The battery parameters may be used to determine actions that the platform 800 may perform, such as transmission frequency, network operation, sensing frequency, etc.

[0149] A power block or other power source coupled to the grid can be coupled to the BMS to charge the battery 830. In some examples, the power block XS30 can be replaced with a wireless power receiver to obtain power wirelessly, for example, through a loop antenna in the computer platform 800. In these examples, a wireless battery charging circuit can be included in the BMS. The specific charging circuit selected can depend on the size of the battery 830 and therefore the current required. 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 Alliance, or the Rezence charging standard published by the Wireless Power Alliance.

[0150] The user interface circuit 850 includes various input / output (I / O) devices present in or connected to the platform 800, and includes one or more user interfaces designed to implement user interaction with the platform 800 and / or a peripheral component interface designed to implement interaction with the peripheral components of the platform 800. The user interface circuit 850 includes input device circuits and output device circuits. The input device circuit includes any physical or virtual device 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 touchpad, a touch screen, a microphone, a scanner, a headset, etc. The output device circuit includes any physical or virtual device 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 display devices or touch screens (e.g., liquid crystal displays (LCDs), LED displays, quantum dot displays, projectors, etc.), where outputs of characters, graphics, multimedia objects, etc. are generated or produced by the operation of the platform 800. The output device circuitry may also include speakers or other audio emitting devices, printers, etc. In some implementations, the sensor circuitry 821 may be used as an input device circuitry (e.g., an image capture device, a motion capture device, etc.) and one or more EMCs may be used 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. The peripheral component interface may include, but is not limited to, a non-volatile memory port, a USB port, an audio jack, a power interface, etc.

[0151] Although not shown, the components of platform 800 may communicate with each other using a suitable bus or interconnect (IX) technology, which may 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 may be a proprietary bus / IX, such as used in SoC-based systems. Other bus / IX systems, such as I 2 C interface, SPI interface, point-to-point interface and power bus, etc.

[0152] Fig. 9 9 and 915. Exemplary components of a baseband circuit 910 and a radio front end module (RFEM) 915 are shown according to various implementations. The baseband circuit 910 corresponds to Figure 7 and Figure 8Baseband circuits 710 and 810. RFEM 915 corresponds accordingly Figure 7 and Figure 8 RFEM 715 and 815. As shown, RFEM 915 may include radio frequency (RF) circuitry 906, front end module (FEM) circuitry 908, and an antenna array 911 coupled together at least as shown.

[0153] The baseband circuit 910 includes circuits and / or control logic components that are configured to execute various radio / network protocols and radio control functions that enable communication with one or more radio networks via the RF circuit 906. The radio control functions may include, but are not limited to, signal modulation / demodulation, encoding / decoding, radio frequency shifting, etc. In some specific implementations, the modulation / demodulation circuit of the baseband circuit 910 may include fast Fourier transform (FFT), precoding, or constellation mapping / demapping functions. In some specific implementations, the encoding / decoding circuit of the baseband circuit 910 may include convolution, tail-biting convolution, turbo, Viterbi, or low-density parity check (LDPC) encoder / decoder functions. The specific implementation of the modulation / demodulation and encoder / decoder functions is not limited to these examples and may include other suitable functions in other aspects. The baseband circuit 910 is configured to process baseband signals received from the receive signal path of the RF circuit 906 and generate baseband signals for the transmit signal path of the RF circuit 906. The baseband circuit 910 is configured to communicate with the application circuit 705 / 805 (see Figure 7 and Figure 8 ) to generate and process baseband signals and control the operation of RF circuit 906. Baseband circuit 910 can handle various radio control functions.

[0154] The aforementioned circuits and / or control logic components of the baseband circuit 910 may include one or more single-core or multi-core processors. For example, the one or more processors may include a 3G baseband processor 904A, a 4G / LTE baseband processor 904B, a 5G / NR baseband processor 904C, or some other baseband processors 904D for other existing generations, generations under development or generations to be developed in the future (e.g., the sixth generation (6G), etc.). In other specific implementations, some or all of the functions in the baseband processors 904A-D may be included in a module stored in the memory 904G and executed via a central processing unit (CPU) 904E. In other specific implementations, part or all of the functions of the baseband processors 904A-D may be provided as a hardware accelerator (e.g., FPGA, ASIC, etc.) loaded with an appropriate bitstream or logic block stored in a corresponding memory unit. In various specific implementations, the memory 904G may store program code of a real-time OS (RTOS), which, when executed by the CPU 904E (or other baseband processor), enables the CPU 904E (or other baseband processor) to manage resources of the baseband circuit 910, schedule tasks, etc. Examples of RTOS may include the Enea ® Operating System Embedded (OSE) ™ , by Mentor Graphics ® Nucleus RTOS provided ™ , by Mentor Graphics ® Versatile Real-Time Executive (VRTX) provided by Express Logic ® Provided by ThreadX ™ , by Qualcomm ® FreeRTOS and REX OS provided by Open Kernel (OK) Labs ® OKL4 is provided, or any other suitable RTOS, such as those discussed herein. In addition, the baseband circuit 910 includes one or more audio digital signal processors (DSPs) 904F. The audio DSP 904F includes elements for compression / decompression and echo cancellation, and may include other suitable processing elements in other specific implementations.

[0155] In some implementations, each of the processors 904A-904E includes a corresponding memory interface to send data to / receive data from the memory 904G. The baseband circuit 910 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 910; an interface for sending data to / receiving data from a memory external to the baseband circuit; Figures 7 to X Application circuit interface for sending data to / receiving data from the application circuit 705 / 805 of T; Fig. 9 RF circuit 906 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, Bluetooth ® / Bluetooth ® Low power components, Wi-Fi ® components, etc.) to send data / receive data from these wireless hardware elements; and a power management interface for sending power or control signals to / receiving power or control signals from the PMIC 825.

[0156] In an alternative embodiment (which may be combined with the above embodiment), the baseband circuit 910 includes one or more digital baseband systems, which are coupled to each other and to the CPU subsystem, the audio subsystem, and the interface subsystem via an interconnection subsystem. The digital baseband subsystem may also be coupled to the digital baseband interface and the mixed signal baseband subsystem via another interconnection subsystem. Each of the interconnection subsystems may include a bus system, a point-to-point connection, a network on chip (NOC) structure, and / or some other suitable bus or interconnection 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 910 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., the radio front end module 915).

[0157] although Fig. 9Not shown, but in some implementations, the baseband circuit 910 includes various processing devices (e.g., a "multi-protocol baseband processor" or "protocol processing circuit") to operate one or more wireless communication protocols and various processing devices to implement PHY layer functions. In these implementations, the PHY layer functions include the aforementioned radio control functions. In these implementations, the protocol processing circuit operates or implements various protocol layers / entities of one or more wireless communication protocols. In a first example, when the baseband circuit 910 and / or the RF circuit 906 are part of a millimeter wave communication circuit or some other suitable cellular communication circuit, the protocol processing circuit may operate LTE protocol entities and / or 5G / NR protocol entities. In the first example, the protocol processing circuit will operate MAC, RLC, PDCP, SDAP, RRC, and NAS functions. In a second example, when the baseband circuit 910 and / or the RF circuit 906 are part of a Wi-Fi communication system, the protocol processing circuit may operate one or more IEEE-based protocols. In the second example, the protocol processing circuit will operate Wi-Fi MAC and logical link control (LLC) functions. The protocol processing circuitry may include one or more memory structures (e.g., 904G) 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 910 may also support radio communications for more than one wireless protocol.

[0158] The various hardware elements of the baseband circuit 910 discussed herein may be implemented, for example, as a solder-in substrate including one or more integrated circuits (ICs), a single packaged integrated circuit soldered to a main circuit board, or a multi-chip module containing two or more ICs. In one example, the components of the baseband circuit 910 may be appropriately combined in a single chip or a single chipset, or disposed on the same circuit board. In another example, some or all of the components of the baseband circuit 910 and the RF circuit 906 may be implemented together, such as, for example, a system on a chip (SoC) or a system-level package (SiP). In another example, some or all of the components of the baseband circuit 910 may be implemented as a separate SoC communicatively coupled to the RF circuit 906 (or multiple instances of the RF circuit 906). In yet another example, some or all of the components of the baseband circuit 910 and the application circuit 705 / 805 may be implemented together as a separate SoC mounted to the same circuit board (e.g., a "multi-chip package").

[0159] In some implementations, the baseband circuit 910 may provide communications compatible with one or more radio technologies. For example, in some implementations, the baseband circuit 910 may support communications with E-UTRAN or other WMANs, WLANs, WPANs. Implementations in which the baseband circuit 910 is configured to support radio communications of more than one wireless protocol may be referred to as multi-mode baseband circuits.

[0160] RF circuit 906 may enable communication with a wireless network through a non-solid medium using modulated electromagnetic radiation. In various specific implementations, RF circuit 906 may include switches, filters, amplifiers, etc. to facilitate communication with a wireless network. RF circuit 906 may include a receive signal path, which may include circuits for down-converting RF signals received from FEM circuit 908 and providing baseband signals to baseband circuit 910. RF circuit 906 may also include a transmit signal path, which may include circuits for up-converting baseband signals provided by baseband circuit 910 and providing RF output signals for transmission to FEM circuit 908.

[0161] In some implementations, the receive signal path of the RF circuit 906 may include a mixer circuit 906a, an amplifier circuit 906b, and a filter circuit 906c. In some implementations, the transmit signal path of the RF circuit 906 may include a filter circuit 906c and the mixer circuit 906a. The RF circuit 906 may also include a synthesizer circuit 906d for synthesizing the frequencies used by the mixer circuit 906a of the receive signal path and the transmit signal path. In some implementations, the mixer circuit 906a of the receive signal path may be configured to down-convert the RF signal received from the FEM circuit 908 based on the synthesized frequency provided by the synthesizer circuit 906d. The amplifier circuit 906b may be configured to amplify the down-converted signal, and the filter circuit 906c may be a low pass filter (LPF) or a band pass filter (BPF) configured to remove unwanted signals from the down-converted signal to generate an output baseband signal. The output baseband signal may be provided to the baseband circuit 910 for further processing. In some implementations, the output baseband signal can be a zero frequency baseband signal, but this is not required.In some implementations, the mixer circuit 906a of the receive signal path can include a passive mixer, but the scope of the implementations is not limited in this respect.

[0162] In some implementations, the mixer circuit 906a of the transmit signal path can be configured to up-convert the input baseband signal based on the synthesized frequency provided by the synthesizer circuit 906d to generate an RF output signal for the FEM circuit 908. The baseband signal can be provided by the baseband circuit 910 and can be filtered by the filter circuit 906c.

[0163] In some implementations, the mixer circuit 906a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuit 906a 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 implementations, the mixer circuit 906a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuit 906a of the transmit signal path may include two or more mixers and may be arranged for image rejection (e.g., Hartley image rejection). In some implementations, the mixer circuit 906a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuit 906a of the transmit signal path may be arranged for direct down-conversion and direct up-conversion, respectively. In some implementations, the mixer circuit 906a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuit 906a of the transmit signal path may be configured for superheterodyne operation.

[0164] In some implementations, the output baseband signal and the input baseband signal may be analog baseband signals, although the scope of the implementation is not limited in this respect. In some alternative implementations, the output baseband signal and the input baseband signal may be digital baseband signals. In these alternative implementations, the RF circuit 906 may include an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and a digital-to-analog converter (DAC) circuit, and the baseband circuit 910 may include a digital baseband interface to communicate with the RF circuit 906.

[0165] In some dual-mode implementations, separate radio IC circuits may be provided to process signals for each spectrum, although the scope of the implementations is not limited in this respect.

[0166] In some implementations, synthesizer circuit 906d can be a fractional-N synthesizer or a fractional N / N+1 synthesizer, but the scope of the implementation is not limited in this respect, as other types of frequency synthesizers may also be suitable. For example, synthesizer circuit 906d can be a delta-sigma synthesizer, a frequency multiplier, or a synthesizer including a phase-locked loop with a frequency divider.

[0167] The synthesizer circuit 906d can be configured to synthesize an output frequency based on the frequency input and the divider control input for use by the mixer circuit 906a of the RF circuit 906. In some implementations, the synthesizer circuit 906d can be a fractional-N / N+1 synthesizer.

[0168] In some implementations, 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 the baseband circuit 910 or the application circuit 705 / 805 according to the desired output frequency. In some implementations, the divider control input (e.g., N) may be determined from a lookup table based on the channel indicated by the application circuit 705 / 805.

[0169] The synthesizer circuit 906d of the RF circuit 906 may include a frequency divider, a delay locked loop (DLL), a multiplexer, and a phase accumulator. In some implementations, the frequency divider may be a dual modulus divider (DMD), and the phase accumulator may be a digital phase accumulator (DPA). In some implementations, the DMD may be configured to divide the input signal by N or N+1 (e.g., based on a carry output) to provide a fractional division ratio. In some exemplary implementations, 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 implementations, 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.

[0170] In some implementations, the synthesizer circuit 906d can be configured to generate a carrier frequency as an output frequency, while in other implementations, the output frequency can be a multiple of the carrier frequency (e.g., twice the carrier frequency, four times the carrier frequency) and can be 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 implementations, the output frequency can be an LO frequency (fLO). In some implementations, the RF circuit 906 can include an IQ / polarity converter.

[0171] The FEM circuitry 908 may include a receive signal path that may include circuitry configured to operate on RF signals received from the antenna array 911, amplify the received signals, and provide an amplified version of the received signals to the RF circuitry 906 for further processing. The FEM circuitry 908 may also include a transmit signal path that may include circuitry configured to amplify transmit signals provided by the RF circuitry 906 for transmission by one or more antenna elements in the antenna array 911. In various implementations, amplification by the transmit signal path or the receive signal path may be performed only in the RF circuitry 906, only in the FEM circuitry 908, or in both the RF circuitry 906 and the FEM circuitry 908.

[0172] In some implementations, the FEM circuit 908 may include a TX / RX switch to switch between transmit mode and receive mode operation. The FEM circuit 908 may include a receive signal path and a transmit signal path. The receive signal path of the FEM circuit 908 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 circuit 906). The transmit signal path of the FEM circuit 908 may include a power amplifier (PA) for amplifying an input RF signal (e.g., provided by the RF circuit 906), and one or more filters for generating an RF signal for subsequent transmission by one or more antenna elements of the antenna array 911.

[0173] The antenna array 911 includes one or more antenna elements, each of which is configured to convert an electrical signal into a radio wave to travel through the air and convert the received radio wave into an electrical signal. For example, a digital baseband signal provided by the baseband circuit 910 is converted into an analog RF signal (e.g., a modulated waveform), which is amplified and transmitted via the antenna elements of the antenna array 911 including one or more antenna elements (not shown). The antenna elements may be omnidirectional, directional, or a combination thereof. The antenna elements may be formed into a variety of arrangements as known and / or discussed herein. The antenna array 911 may include a microstrip antenna or a printed antenna fabricated on the surface of one or more printed circuit boards. The antenna array 911 may be formed as a patch of metal foil of various shapes (e.g., a patch antenna) and may be coupled to the RF circuit 906 and / or the FEM circuit 908 using a metal transmission line or the like.

[0174] The processor of the application circuit 705 / 805 and the processor of the baseband circuit 910 can be used to execute elements of one or more instances of the protocol stack. For example, the processor of the baseband circuit 910 can be used alone or in combination to perform layer 3, layer 2, or layer 1 functions, while the processor of the application circuit 705 / 805 can 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 an RRC layer, which will be described in further detail below. As mentioned herein, layer 2 may include a MAC layer, an RLC layer, and a PDCP layer, which will be described in further detail below. As mentioned herein, layer 1 may include a PHY layer of a UE / RAN node, which will be described in further detail below.

[0175] Fig.10 Various protocol functions that can be implemented in a wireless communication device according to various specific implementations are shown. Specifically, Fig.10 An arrangement 1000 is included to show the interconnection between various protocol layers / entities. Various protocol layers / entities operating in conjunction with 5G / NR system standards and LTE system standards are provided. Fig.10The following description, but Fig.10 Some or all aspects of the invention may also be applicable to other wireless communication network systems.

[0176] In addition to other higher layer functions not shown, the protocol layers of arrangement 1000 may also include one or more of PHY 1010, MAC 1020, RLC 1030, PDCP 1040, SDAP 1047, RRC 1055, and NAS layer 1057. These protocol layers may include one or more service access points (e.g., Fig.10 Items 1059, 1056, 1050, 1049, 1045, 1035, 1025, and 1015).

[0177] PHY 1010 can transmit and receive physical layer signals 1005, which can be received from or transmitted to one or more other communication devices. Physical layer signals 1005 may include one or more physical channels, such as those discussed herein. PHY 1010 may also perform link adaptation or adaptive modulation and coding (AMC), power control, cell search (e.g., for initial synchronization and switching purposes), and other measurements used by higher layers (e.g., RRC1055). PHY 1010 may also further perform error detection on transmission channels, forward error correction (FEC) encoding / decoding of transmission channels, modulation / demodulation of physical channels, interleaving, rate matching, mapping to physical channels, and MIMO antenna processing. In a specific implementation, an instance of PHY 1010 may process a request from an instance of MAC1020 via one or more PHY-SAP 1015 and provide an indication thereof. According to some specific implementations, the request and indication transmitted via PHY-SAP 1015 may include one or more transmission channels.

[0178] An instance of MAC 1020 may process requests from an instance of RLC 1030 via one or more MAC-SAPs 1025 and provide indications thereto. These requests and indications transmitted via MAC-SAP 1025 may include one or more logical channels. MAC 1020 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 1010 via transport channels, demultiplexing MAC SDUs from TBs delivered from PHY 1010 via transport channels to one or more logical channels, multiplexing MAC SDUs onto TBs, scheduling information reporting, error correction via HARQ, and logical channel prioritization.

[0179] An instance of RLC 1030 may process requests from an instance of PDCP 1040 via one or more radio link control service access points (RLC-SAPs) 1035 and provide indications thereto. These requests and indications transmitted via RLC-SAPs 1035 may include one or more RLC channels. RLC 1030 may operate in a variety of operating modes, including: transparent mode (TM), unacknowledged mode (UM), and acknowledged mode (AM). RLC 1030 may perform transmission of upper layer protocol data units (PDUs), error correction through automatic repeat request (ARQ) for AM data transmission, and concatenation, segmentation, and reassembly of RLC SDUs for UM and AM data transmission. RLC 1030 may also perform resegmentation of 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.

[0180] An instance of PDCP 1040 may process requests from an instance of RRC 1055 and / or an instance of SDAP 1047 via one or more Packet Data Convergence Protocol Service Points (PDCP-SAPs) 1045 and provide indications thereto. These requests and indications transmitted via PDCP-SAP 1045 may include one or more radio bearers. PDCP 1040 may perform header compression and decompression of IP data, maintain PDCP sequence numbers (SNs), perform in-order delivery of upper layer PDUs when lower layers are reestablished, eliminate duplication of lower layer SDUs when lower layers are reestablished 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.).

[0181] An instance of SDAP 1047 may process requests from one or more higher layer protocol entities via one or more SDAP-SAPs 1049 and provide instructions thereto. These requests and instructions transmitted via SDAP-SAPs 1049 may include one or more QoS flows. SDAP 1047 may map QoS flows to DRBs and vice versa, and may also mark QFIs in DL packets and UL packets. A single SDAP entity 1047 may be configured for a separate PDU session. In the UL direction, NG-RAN 410 may control the mapping of QoS flows to DRBs in two different ways (reflective mapping or explicit mapping). For reflective mapping, SDAP 1047 of UE 401 may monitor the QFI of DL packets for each DRB, and may apply the same mapping to packets flowing in the UL direction. For DRBs, SDAP 1047 of UE 401 may map UL packets belonging to a QoS flow corresponding to the QoS flow ID and PDU session observed in the DL packets of the DRB. To implement the reflective mapping, the NG-RAN 610 may mark the DL packets with a QoS flow ID over the Uu interface. The explicit mapping may involve the RRC 1055 configuring the SDAP 1047 with explicit mapping rules of QoS flows to DRBs, which may be stored and followed by the SDAP 1047. In a specific implementation, the SDAP 1047 may only be used in NR specific implementations and may not be used in LTE specific implementations.

[0182] The RRC 1055 may configure aspects of one or more protocol layers, which may include one or more instances of PHY 1010, MAC 1020, RLC 1030, PDCP 1040, and SDAP 1047, via one or more Management Service Access Points (M-SAPs). In a specific implementation, an instance of the RRC 1055 may process requests from one or more NAS entities 1057 and provide instructions thereto via one or more RRC-SAPs 1056. The main services and functions of the RRC 1055 may include broadcasting of system information (e.g., included in a MIB or SIB related to NAS), broadcasting of system information related to the access stratum (AS), paging, establishment, maintenance, and release of an RRC connection between the UE 401 and the RAN 410 (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.

[0183] NAS 1057 may form the highest layer of the control plane between UE 401 and AMF 621. NAS 1057 may support mobility and session management procedures of UE 401 to establish and maintain an IP connection between UE 401 and P-GW in the LTE system.

[0184] According to various implementations, one or more protocol entities of arrangement 1000 may be implemented in UE 401, RAN node 411, AMF 621 in NR implementation or MME 521 in LTE implementation, UPF 602 in NR implementation or S-GW 522 and P-GW 523 in LTE implementation, etc., for control plane or user plane communication protocol stacks between the aforementioned devices. In such implementations, one or more protocol entities that may be implemented in one or more of UE 401, gNB 411, AMF 621, 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 specific implementations, the gNB-CU of gNB 411 may host the RRC 1055, SDAP 1047, and PDCP 1040 of the gNB that control one or more gNB-DU operations, and the gNB-DUs of gNB 411 may each host the RLC 1030, MAC 1020, and PHY 1010 of gNB 411.

[0185] In a first example, the control plane protocol stack may include, in order from the highest layer to the lowest layer, NAS 1057, RRC 1055, PDCP 1040, RLC 1030, MAC 1020, and PHY 1010. In this example, an upper layer 1060 may be built on top of NAS 1057, which includes an IP layer 1061, SCTP 1062, and an application layer signaling protocol (AP) 1063.

[0186] In a NR specific implementation, the AP 1063 may be an NG application protocol layer (NGAP or NG-AP) 1063 for the NG interface 413 defined between the NG-RAN node 411 and the AMF 621, or the AP 1063 may be an Xn application protocol layer (XnAP or Xn-AP) 1063 for the Xn interface 412 defined between two or more RAN nodes 411.

[0187] The NG-AP 1063 may support the functionality of the NG interface 413 and may include an elementary procedure (EP). The NG-AP EP may be an interaction unit between the NG-RAN node 411 and the AMF 621. The NG-AP 1063 services may include two groups: UE-associated services (e.g., services related to the UE 401) and non-UE-associated services (e.g., services related to the entire NG interface instance between the NG-RAN node 411 and the AMF 621). These services may include functions including, but not limited to: a paging function for sending a paging request to the NG-RAN node 411 involved in a specific paging area; a UE context management function for allowing the AMF 621 to establish, modify and / or release the UE context in the AMF 621 and the NG-RAN node 411; a mobility function for the UE 401 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 signaling transport function for transmitting or rerouting NAS messages between the UE 401 and the AMF 621; a NAS node selection function for determining the association between the AMF 621 and the UE 401; an NG interface management function for setting up the NG interface and monitoring errors through the NG interface; a warning message sending function for providing a means for transmitting a warning message via the NG interface or cancelling an ongoing warning message broadcast; a NAS signaling transport function for transmitting or rerouting NAS messages between the UE 401 and the AMF 621; a NAS node selection function for determining the association between the AMF 621 and the UE 401; a ... 420 is a configuration transmission function for requesting and transmitting RAN configuration information (eg, SON information, performance measurement (PM) data, etc.) between two RAN nodes 411; and / or other similar functions.

[0188] The XnAP 1063 may support the functions of the Xn interface 412 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 411 (or E-UTRAN 510), such as handover preparation and cancellation procedures, SN state transfer procedures, UE context retrieval and UE context release procedures, RAN paging procedures, procedures related to dual connectivity, etc. The XnAP global procedures may include procedures that are not related to a specific UE 401, such as Xn interface setup and reset procedures, NG-RAN update procedures, cell activation procedures, etc.

[0189] In an LTE specific implementation, the AP 1063 may be an S1 application protocol layer (S1-AP) 1063 for the S1 interface 413 defined between the E-UTRAN node 411 and the MME, or the AP 1063 may be an X2 application protocol layer (X2AP or X2-AP) 1063 for the X2 interface 412 defined between two or more E-UTRAN nodes 411.

[0190] The S1 application protocol layer (S1-AP) 1063 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 an interaction unit between the E-UTRAN node 411 and the MME 521 within the LTE CN 420. The S1-AP 1063 services may include two groups: UE-associated services and non-UE-associated services. The functions performed by these services include, but are not limited to: E-UTRAN Radio Access Bearer (E-RAB) management, UE capability indication, mobility, NAS signaling transmission, RAN Information Management (RIM), and configuration transmission.

[0191] The X2AP 1063 may support the functions of the X2 interface 412 and may include an X2AP basic mobility procedure and an X2AP global procedure. The X2AP basic mobility procedure may include a procedure for handling UE mobility within the E-UTRAN 420, such as a handover preparation and cancellation procedure, an SN state transfer procedure, a UE context retrieval and a UE context release procedure, a RAN paging procedure, a procedure related to dual connectivity, etc. The X2AP global procedure may include a procedure that is not related to a specific UE 401, such as an X2 interface setup and reset procedure, a load indication procedure, an error indication procedure, a cell activation procedure, etc.

[0192] The SCTP layer (alternatively referred to as the SCTP / IP layer) 1062 may 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). The SCTP 1062 may ensure reliable delivery of signaling messages between the RAN node 411 and the AMF 621 / MME 521 based in part on the IP protocol supported by the IP 1061. The Internet Protocol layer (IP) 1061 may be used to perform packet addressing and routing functions. In some implementations, the IP layer 1061 may deliver and transmit PDUs using point-to-point transport. In this regard, the RAN node 411 may include L2 and L1 layer communication links (e.g., wired or wireless) with the MME / AMF to exchange information.

[0193] In a second example, the user plane protocol stack may include SDAP 1047, PDCP 1040, RLC 1030, MAC 1020, and PHY 1010 in order from the highest layer to the lowest layer. The user plane protocol stack may be used for communication between UE 401, RAN node 411, and UPF 602 in NR implementation, or communication between S-GW 522 and P-GW 523 in LTE implementation. In this example, the upper layer 1051 may be built on top of SDAP 1047 and may include a user datagram protocol (UDP) and IP security layer (UDP / IP) 1052, a general packet radio service (GPRS) tunneling protocol for a user plane layer (GTP-U) 1053, and a user plane PDU layer (UP PDU) 1063.

[0194] The transport network layer 1054 (also referred to as the "transport layer") may be built on top of the IP transport, and the GTP-U 1053 may be used on top of the UDP / IP layer 1052 (including the UDP layer and the IP layer) to carry the user plane PDU (UP-PDU). The IP layer (also referred to as the "Internet layer") may be used to perform packet addressing and routing functions. The IP layer may assign IP addresses to user data packets, for example, in any of the IPv4, IPv6, or PPP formats.

[0195] GTP-U 1053 may 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 may be packets in any of the IPv4, IPv6, or PPP formats. UDP / IP 1052 may provide checksums for data integrity, port numbers for addressing different functions at the source and destination, and encryption and authentication of selected data flows. The RAN node 411 and the S-GW 522 may utilize the S1-U interface to exchange user plane data via a protocol stack including an L1 layer (e.g., PHY 1010), an L2 layer (e.g., MAC 1020, RLC 1030, PDCP 1040, and / or SDAP 1047), a UDP / IP layer 1052, and a GTP-U 1053. S-GW 522 and P-GW 523 may utilize an S5 / S8a interface to exchange user plane data via a protocol stack including an L1 layer, an L2 layer, a UDP / IP layer 1052, and a GTP-U 1053. As previously discussed, the NAS protocol may support the mobility and session management procedures of UE 401 to establish and maintain an IP connection between UE 401 and P-GW 523.

[0196] In addition, despite Fig.10Not shown, but an application layer may exist above the AP 1063 and / or transport network layer 1054. The application layer may be a layer where a user of the UE 401, RAN node 411, or other network element interacts with a software application, for example, executed by the application circuit 705 or the application circuit 805, respectively. The application layer may also provide one or more interfaces for the software application to interact with the communication system (such as the baseband circuit 910) of the UE 401 or RAN node 411. In some implementations, the IP layer and / or the application layer may provide the same or similar functionality as layers 5 to 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).

[0197] Fig.11 Components of a core network according to various implementations are shown. The components of CN 520 may be implemented in one physical node or in 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 a specific implementation, the components of CN 620 can be implemented in the same or similar manner as discussed herein with respect to the components of CN 520. In some implementations, NFV is used to virtualize any or all of the above-mentioned 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 520 may be referred to as a network slice 1101, and each logical instance of CN 520 may provide specific network functions and network characteristics. A logical instance of a portion of CN 520 may be referred to as a network sub-slice 1102 (e.g., network sub-slice 1102 is shown as including P-GW 523 and PCRF 526).

[0198] 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 resources (e.g., computing, storage, and networking resources) required to deploy a network slice.

[0199] Compared to 5G systems (see e.g. Figure 6), a network slice always includes a RAN part and a CN part. 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 by scheduling and also by providing different L1 / L2 configurations. If the appropriate RRC message has been provided by NAS, UE601 provides auxiliary 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 at the same time.

[0200] The network slice may include the CN 620 control plane and user plane NF, the NG-RAN 610 in the serving PLMN, and the N3IWF function 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 the S-NSSAI. The network slice may differ in terms of supported features and network function optimizations, and / or multiple network slice instances may deliver the same service / function, but differ for different UE 601 groups (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 a 5G AN and be associated with eight different S-NSSAIs. In addition, an AMF 621 instance serving a single UE may belong to each network slice instance serving the UE 601.

[0201] Network slicing in NG-RAN 610 involves RAN slice awareness. RAN slice awareness includes differentiated handling of traffic for different network slices that have been pre-configured. Slice awareness in NG-RAN 610 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 NG-RAN 610 supports slice enablement in terms of NG-RAN functions (e.g., a set of network functions including each slice) is implementation-dependent. NG-RAN 610 selects the RAN portion of the network slice using assistance information provided by UE 601 or 5GC 620 that explicitly identifies one or more of the pre-configured network slices in the PLMN. NG-RAN 610 also supports resource management and policy enforcement between slices in accordance with SLAs. A single NG-RAN node can support multiple slices, and NG-RAN 610 can also apply appropriate RRM policies for SLAs in appropriate locations to each supported slice. NG-RAN 610 can also support QoS differentiation within a slice.

[0202] If available, the NG-RAN 610 may also use UE assistance information for selecting an AMF 621 during the initial attach. The NG-RAN 610 uses the assistance information for routing the initial NAS to the AMF 621. If the NG-RAN 610 cannot use the assistance information to select the AMF 621, or the UE 601 does not provide any such information, the NG-RAN 610 sends the NAS signaling to a default AMF 621 that may be located in a pool of AMFs 621. For subsequent access, the UE 601 provides the temp ID assigned to the UE 601 by the 5GC 620 to enable the NG-RAN 610 to route the NAS message to the appropriate AMF 621, as long as the temp ID is valid. The NG-RAN 610 knows and can reach the AMF 621 associated with the temp ID. Otherwise, the method for initial attach applies.

[0203] NG-RAN 610 supports resource isolation between slices. NG-RAN 610 resource isolation can be achieved through RRM policies and protection mechanisms, which should avoid shared resource shortages in the case where one slice disrupts the service level agreement of another slice. In some implementations, NG-RAN 610 resources can be fully assigned to a slice. How NG-RAN 610 supports resource isolation depends on the specific implementation.

[0204] Some slices may be only partially available in the network. Awareness of the NG-RAN 610 of supported slices in its neighboring cells may be beneficial for inter-frequency mobility in connected mode. Slice availability may not change within the registration area of ​​the UE. The NG-RAN 610 and 5GC 620 are responsible for handling service requests for slices that may or may not be available in a given area. Admission or denial of slice access may depend on factors such as support for the slice, availability of resources, support of the requested service by the NG-RAN 610.

[0205] The UE 601 may be associated with multiple network slices simultaneously. In the case where the UE 601 is associated with multiple slices simultaneously, only one signaling connection is maintained and for intra-frequency cell reselection, the UE 601 attempts to camp on the best cell. For inter-frequency cell reselection, dedicated priorities may be used to control the frequency that the UE 601 camps on. The 5GC 620 will verify that the UE 601 has the right to access the network slice. Prior to receiving the Initial Context Setup Request message, the NG-RAN 610 may be allowed to apply some temporary / local policies based on the awareness of the specific slice that the UE 601 is requesting access to. During the Initial Context Setup, the NG-RAN 610 is informed of the slice whose resources are being requested.

[0206] 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 performed by proprietary hardware). In other words, the NFV system can be used to perform a virtual or reconfigurable implementation of one or more EPC components / functions.

[0207] Fig.12 12 is a block diagram illustrating components of a NFV-enabled system 1200 according to some exemplary implementations. System 1200 is shown to include a VIM 1202, a NFVI 1204, a VNFM 1206, a VNF 1208, an EM 1210, a NFVO 1212, and a NM 1214.

[0208] The VIM 1202 manages resources of the NFVI 1204. The NFVI 1204 may include physical or virtual resources and applications (including a hypervisor) for executing the system 1200. The VIM 1202 may utilize the NFVI 1204 to manage the lifecycle of virtual resources (e.g., creation, maintenance, and teardown of VMs associated with one or more physical resources), track VM instances, track performance, failures, and security of VM instances and associated physical resources, and expose VM instances and associated physical resources to other management systems.

[0209] The VNFM 1206 may manage the VNF 1208. The VNF 1208 may be used to perform EPC components / functions. The VNFM 1206 may manage the lifecycle of the VNF 1208 and track the performance, failures, and security of the virtual aspects of the VNF 1208. The EM 1210 may track the performance, failures, and security of the functional aspects of the VNF 1208. The tracking data from the VNFM 1206 and the EM 1210 may include, for example, PM data used by the VIM 1202 or the NFVI 1204. The VNFM 1206 and the EM 1210 may both scale up / down the number of VNFs of the system 1200.

[0210] NFVO 1212 may coordinate, authorize, release, and engage resources of NFVI 1204 in order to provide requested services (e.g., to execute EPC functions, components, or slices). NM 1214 may provide an end-user functional package responsible for network management, which may include network elements with VNFs, non-virtualized network functions, or both (management of VNFs may occur via EM 1210).

[0211] Fig.13is 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 implementations. Specifically, Fig.13 A schematic diagram of hardware resources 1300 is shown, including one or more processors (or processor cores) 1310, one or more memory / storage devices 1320, and one or more communication resources 1330, each of which can be communicatively coupled via a bus 1340. For specific implementations in which node virtualization (e.g., NFV) is utilized, a hypervisor 1302 can be executed to provide an execution environment for one or more network slices / sub-slices to utilize the hardware resources 1300.

[0212] Processor 1310 may include, for example, processor 1312 and processor 1314. Processor 1310 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.

[0213] The memory / storage device 1320 may include main memory, disk storage, or any suitable combination thereof. The memory / storage device 1320 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.

[0214] The communication resources 1330 may include an interconnect or network interface component or other suitable device to communicate with one or more peripheral devices 1304 or one or more databases 1306 via the network 1308. For example, the communication resources 1330 may include a wired communication component (e.g., for coupling via USB), a cellular communication component, an NFC component, a Bluetooth® communication component, or a wireless communication component. ® (or Bluetooth ® Low power consumption) components, Wi-Fi ® components and other communication components.

[0215] The instructions 1350 may include software, programs, applications, applet, applications, or other executable code for causing at least any one of the processors 1310 to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein. The instructions 1350 may reside in whole or in part in at least one of the processors 1310 (e.g., within a cache memory of the processor), the memory / storage device 1320, or any suitable combination thereof. In addition, any portion of the instructions 1350 may be transmitted to the hardware resources 1300 from any combination of the peripheral device 1304 or the database 1306. Therefore, the memory of the processor 1310, the memory / storage device 1320, the peripheral device 1304, and the database 1306 are examples of computer-readable and machine-readable media.

[0216] For one or more specific implementations, 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 following embodiments section. For example, the baseband circuit described above in conjunction with one or more of the foregoing figures may be configured to operate according to one or more of the following embodiments. For another example, the circuits 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 shown in the embodiments section below.

Claims

1. A method for implementing dual connection switching, comprising: Determining, by a user equipment UE, whether the UE can communicate with a source cell and a target cell simultaneously; generating, by the UE at least based on determining that the UE can communicate with a source cell and a target cell simultaneously, a handover flag having a plurality of fields indicating that the UE can communicate with the source cell and the target cell simultaneously; The UE transmits the switching flag to the access node; as well as Based on the access node receiving the handover flag, the UE receives a command for performing handover from the access node, The multiple fields indicating that the UE can communicate with the source cell and the target cell simultaneously include: a first field, wherein the first field indicates that the UE is capable of receiving in the source cell and the target cell simultaneously; a second field, wherein the second field indicates that the UE is capable of transmitting in the source cell and the target cell simultaneously; a third field indicating that the UE is capable of simultaneously transmitting in the source cell and receiving in the target cell; and A fourth field indicates that the UE can simultaneously perform reception in the source cell and transmission in the target cell during the handover.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether the UE can communicate with the source cell and the target cell simultaneously comprises determining a transmission capability or a reception capability with the source cell and a transmission capability or a reception capability with the target cell.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the plurality of fields indicating that the UE is capable of communicating with the source cell and the target cell simultaneously comprises: A field representing a Boolean flag with: a first value, wherein the first value indicates that the UE can simultaneously perform reception in the source cell and the target cell, and can simultaneously perform transmission in the source cell and the target cell during the handover; or a second value, where the second value indicates that the UE can neither receive in the source cell and the target cell simultaneously nor transmit in the source cell and the target cell simultaneously.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the first value of the Boolean flag further indicates that the UE is capable of both transmitting in the source cell and receiving in the target cell at the same time, and also capable of simultaneously receiving in the source cell and transmitting in the target cell, and The second value of the Boolean flag further indicates that the UE is neither capable of transmitting in the source cell and receiving in the target cell simultaneously, nor capable of receiving in the source cell and transmitting in the target cell simultaneously. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the handover flag corresponds to a frequency band combination of the source cell and the target cell. 6 . The method of claim 5 , wherein generating the handover flag comprises generating the handover flag of the frequency band combination based on a first carrier spacing of the source cell and a different second carrier spacing of the target cell.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the switching flag is the first switching flag among a plurality of switching flags, each of the plurality of switching flags is used for a different frequency band combination, and The transmitting of the switching flag comprises: The plurality of switching flags are transmitted so that the access node generates a switching command based on the plurality of switching flags, the plurality of switching flags comprising: the first switching flag and the second switching flag, wherein the first switching flag and the second switching flag each correspond to a different respective frequency band combination.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the UE comprises one or more processors.

9. A user equipment (UE) comprising one or more processors, wherein the one or more processors are configured to cause the UE to perform operations including: determining whether the UE can communicate with a source cell and a target cell simultaneously; generating a handover flag based at least on determining that the UE can communicate with a source cell and a target cell simultaneously, the handover flag having a plurality of fields indicating that the UE can communicate with the source cell and the target cell simultaneously; transmitting the switching flag to an access node; as well as receiving a command for performing a handover from the access node based on the access node receiving the handover flag, The multiple fields indicating that the UE can communicate with the source cell and the target cell simultaneously include: a first field, wherein the first field indicates that the UE is capable of receiving in the source cell and the target cell simultaneously; a second field, wherein the second field indicates that the UE is capable of transmitting in the source cell and the target cell simultaneously; a third field indicating that the UE is capable of simultaneously transmitting in the source cell and receiving in the target cell; and A fourth field indicates that the UE can simultaneously perform reception in the source cell and transmission in the target cell during the handover.

10. The UE of claim 9, wherein determining whether the UE can communicate with the source cell and the target cell simultaneously comprises determining a transmission capability or a reception capability with the source cell and a transmission capability or a reception capability with the target cell.

11. The UE according to claim 10, wherein the plurality of fields indicating that the UE can communicate with the source cell and the target cell simultaneously include: A field representing a Boolean flag with: a first value, wherein the first value indicates that the UE can simultaneously perform reception in the source cell and the target cell, and can simultaneously perform transmission in the source cell and the target cell during the handover; or a second value, where the second value indicates that the UE can neither receive in the source cell and the target cell simultaneously nor transmit in the source cell and the target cell simultaneously.

12. The UE according to claim 11, wherein the first value of the Boolean flag further indicates that the UE is capable of both transmitting in the source cell and receiving in the target cell at the same time, and also capable of simultaneously receiving in the source cell and transmitting in the target cell, and The second value of the Boolean flag further indicates that the UE is neither capable of transmitting in the source cell and receiving in the target cell simultaneously, nor capable of receiving in the source cell and transmitting in the target cell simultaneously. 13 . The UE according to claim 9 , wherein the handover flag corresponds to a frequency band combination of the source cell and the target cell.

14. The UE of claim 13, wherein generating the handover flag comprises generating the handover flag of the frequency band combination based on a first carrier spacing of the source cell and a different second carrier spacing of the target cell.

15. The UE according to claim 9, wherein the switching flag is the first switching flag among a plurality of switching flags, each of the plurality of switching flags is used for a different frequency band combination, and The transmitting of the switching flag comprises: The plurality of switching flags are transmitted so that the access node generates a switching command based on the plurality of switching flags, the plurality of switching flags comprising: the first switching flag and the second switching flag, wherein the first switching flag and the second switching flag each correspond to a different respective frequency band combination.

16. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing software including instructions, the instructions being executable by one or more processors, which when executed cause a user equipment (UE) to perform operations including: determining whether the UE can communicate with a source cell and a target cell simultaneously; generating a handover flag based at least on determining that the UE can communicate with a source cell and a target cell simultaneously, the handover flag having a plurality of fields indicating that the UE can communicate with the source cell and the target cell simultaneously; transmitting the switching flag to an access node; as well as receiving a command for performing a handover from the access node based on the access node receiving the handover flag, The multiple fields indicating that the UE can communicate with the source cell and the target cell simultaneously include: a first field, wherein the first field indicates that the UE is capable of receiving in the source cell and the target cell simultaneously; a second field, wherein the second field indicates that the UE is capable of transmitting in the source cell and the target cell simultaneously; a third field indicating that the UE is capable of simultaneously transmitting in the source cell and receiving in the target cell; and A fourth field indicates that the UE can simultaneously perform reception in the source cell and transmission in the target cell during the handover.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein determining whether the UE is capable of communicating with the source cell and the target cell simultaneously comprises determining a transmission capability or a reception capability with the source cell and a transmission capability or a reception capability with the target cell.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the plurality of fields indicating that the UE is capable of communicating with the source cell and the target cell simultaneously comprises: A field representing a Boolean flag with: a first value, wherein the first value indicates that the UE can simultaneously perform reception in the source cell and the target cell, and can simultaneously perform transmission in the source cell and the target cell during the handover; or a second value, where the second value indicates that the UE can neither receive in the source cell and the target cell simultaneously nor transmit in the source cell and the target cell simultaneously.

19. The computer readable medium of claim 18, wherein the first value of the Boolean flag further indicates that the UE is capable of both transmitting in the source cell and receiving in the target cell at the same time, and also capable of simultaneously receiving in the source cell and transmitting in the target cell, and The second value of the Boolean flag further indicates that the UE is neither capable of transmitting in the source cell and receiving in the target cell simultaneously, nor capable of receiving in the source cell and transmitting in the target cell simultaneously.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the handover flag corresponds to a frequency band combination of the source cell and the target cell.

21. The computer readable medium of claim 16, wherein the switching flag is the first switching flag among a plurality of switching flags, each of the plurality of switching flags is used for a different frequency band combination, and The transmitting of the switching flag comprises: The plurality of switching flags are transmitted so that the access node generates a switching command based on the plurality of switching flags, the plurality of switching flags comprising: the first switching flag and the second switching flag, wherein the first switching flag and the second switching flag each correspond to a different respective frequency band combination.

22. A method for implementing dual connection switching, comprising: Acquiring, by the access node, a handover flag, the handover flag having a plurality of fields indicating that a user equipment UE initiating the handover flag can communicate with a source cell and a target cell simultaneously; The access node generates a handover command based on the acquired handover flag, the handover command comprising: one or more fields structuring data, the data causing the UE to perform handover to the target cell when processed by the UE; encoding, by an access node, the handover command for transmission to the UE; and The access node enables one or more antennas to transmit the handover command to the UE, The multiple fields indicating that the UE initiating the handover flag can communicate with the source cell and the target cell simultaneously include: a first field, wherein the first field indicates that the UE is capable of receiving in the source cell and the target cell simultaneously; a second field, wherein the second field indicates that the UE is capable of transmitting in the source cell and the target cell simultaneously; a third field indicating that the UE is capable of simultaneously transmitting in the source cell and receiving in the target cell; and A fourth field indicates that the UE can simultaneously perform reception in the source cell and transmission in the target cell during the handover.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein determining whether the UE can communicate with the source cell and the target cell simultaneously comprises determining a transmission capability or a reception capability with the source cell and a transmission capability or a reception capability with the target cell.

24. The method according to claim 23, wherein the plurality of fields indicating that the UE initiating the handover flag is capable of communicating with the source cell and the target cell simultaneously comprises: A field representing a Boolean flag with: a first value, wherein the first value indicates that the UE can simultaneously perform reception in the source cell and the target cell, and can simultaneously perform transmission in the source cell and the target cell during the handover; or a second value, where the second value indicates that the UE can neither receive in the source cell and the target cell simultaneously nor transmit in the source cell and the target cell simultaneously.

25. The method according to claim 24, wherein the first value of the Boolean flag further indicates that the UE is capable of both transmitting in the source cell and receiving in the target cell at the same time, and also capable of simultaneously receiving in the source cell and transmitting in the target cell, and The second value of the Boolean flag further indicates that the UE is neither capable of transmitting in the source cell and receiving in the target cell simultaneously, nor capable of receiving in the source cell and transmitting in the target cell simultaneously.

26. The method of claim 22, wherein the handover flag corresponds to a frequency band combination of the source cell and the target cell.

27. The method according to claim 26, wherein the handover flag or the frequency band combination is applicable to the source cell and the target cell having different subcarrier spacings.

28. A wireless communication system comprising one or more processors configured to perform operations comprising: Acquiring, by the access node, a handover flag, the handover flag having a plurality of fields indicating that a user equipment UE initiating the handover flag can communicate with a source cell and a target cell simultaneously; The access node generates a handover command based on the acquired handover flag, the handover command comprising: one or more fields structuring data, the data causing the UE to perform handover to the target cell when processed by the UE; encoding, by an access node, the handover command for transmission to the UE; and The access node enables one or more antennas to transmit the handover command to the UE, The multiple fields indicating that the UE initiating the handover flag can communicate with the source cell and the target cell simultaneously include: a first field, wherein the first field indicates that the UE is capable of receiving in the source cell and the target cell simultaneously; a second field, wherein the second field indicates that the UE is capable of transmitting in the source cell and the target cell simultaneously; a third field indicating that the UE is capable of simultaneously transmitting in the source cell and receiving in the target cell; and A fourth field indicates that the UE can simultaneously perform reception in the source cell and transmission in the target cell during the handover.

29. The system of claim 28, wherein determining whether the UE can communicate with the source cell and the target cell simultaneously comprises determining a transmission capability or a reception capability with the source cell and a transmission capability or a reception capability with the target cell.

30. The system of claim 29, wherein the plurality of fields indicating that the UE initiating the handover flag is capable of communicating with the source cell and the target cell simultaneously include: A field representing a Boolean flag with: a first value, wherein the first value indicates that the UE can simultaneously perform reception in the source cell and the target cell, and can simultaneously perform transmission in the source cell and the target cell during the handover; or a second value, where the second value indicates that the UE can neither receive in the source cell and the target cell simultaneously nor transmit in the source cell and the target cell simultaneously.

31. The system according to claim 30, wherein the first value of the Boolean flag further indicates that the UE is capable of both transmitting in the source cell and receiving in the target cell at the same time, and also capable of simultaneously receiving in the source cell and transmitting in the target cell, and The second value of the Boolean flag further indicates that the UE is neither capable of transmitting in the source cell and receiving in the target cell simultaneously, nor capable of receiving in the source cell and transmitting in the target cell simultaneously.

32. The system of claim 28, wherein the handover flag corresponds to a frequency band combination of the source cell and the target cell.

33. The system of claim 32, wherein the handover flag or the frequency band combination is applicable to the source cell and the target cell having different subcarrier spacings.

34. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing software comprising instructions executable by one or more processors that, when executed, cause an access node to perform operations comprising: Acquire a handover flag, where the handover flag has a plurality of fields indicating that a user equipment UE initiating the handover flag can communicate with a source cell and a target cell simultaneously; Generate a switching command based on the acquired switching flag, the switching command comprising: one or more fields structuring data that, when processed by the UE, causes the UE to perform a handover to the target cell; encoding the handover command for transmission to the UE; as well as enabling one or more antennas to transmit the handover command to the UE, The multiple fields indicating that the UE initiating the handover flag can communicate with the source cell and the target cell simultaneously include: a first field, wherein the first field indicates that the UE is capable of receiving in the source cell and the target cell simultaneously; a second field, wherein the second field indicates that the UE is capable of transmitting in the source cell and the target cell simultaneously; a third field, the third field indicating that the UE is capable of simultaneously transmitting in the source cell and receiving in the target cell; and A fourth field indicates that the UE can simultaneously perform reception in the source cell and transmission in the target cell during the handover.

35. The computer-readable medium of claim 34, wherein determining whether the UE is capable of communicating with the source cell and the target cell simultaneously comprises determining a transmission capability or a reception capability with the source cell and a transmission capability or a reception capability with the target cell.

36. The computer-readable medium of claim 35, wherein the plurality of fields indicating that the UE initiating the handover flag is capable of communicating with the source cell and the target cell simultaneously comprises: A field representing a Boolean flag with: a first value, wherein the first value indicates that the UE can simultaneously perform reception in the source cell and the target cell, and can simultaneously perform transmission in the source cell and the target cell during the handover; or a second value, where the second value indicates that the UE can neither receive in the source cell and the target cell simultaneously nor transmit in the source cell and the target cell simultaneously.

37. The computer readable medium of claim 36, wherein the first value of the Boolean flag further indicates that the UE is capable of both transmitting in the source cell and receiving in the target cell at the same time, and also capable of simultaneously receiving in the source cell and transmitting in the target cell, and The second value of the Boolean flag further indicates that the UE is neither capable of transmitting in the source cell and receiving in the target cell simultaneously, nor capable of receiving in the source cell and transmitting in the target cell simultaneously.

38. The computer-readable medium of claim 34, wherein the handover flag corresponds to a frequency band combination of the source cell and the target cell.

Images