Mobility Support for User Equipments with Different Capabilities in Wireless Networks

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to mobility support for user equipment with different capabilities in a wireless network. Some aspects of the present disclosure relate to apparatuses and methods for implementing techniques to support the mobility of user equipment (UE) with different capabilities in a wireless network. The UE may receive first system information from a serving base station, where the first system information includes UE capability conditions associated with neighboring base stations, and determine whether the UE capabilities satisfy the UE capability conditions associated with the neighboring base stations. When the UE capability conditions are satisfied, the UE may determine whether a first measurement of a first reference signal received from the serving base station and a second measurement of a second reference signal received from the neighboring base station satisfy threshold conditions. When the threshold conditions are satisfied, the UE may obtain second system information from the neighboring base station, and the second system information indicates that the UE has performed a handover to the neighboring base station.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The aspects described generally relate to mobility support for user equipment (UE) with different capabilities operating in a wireless network. Background Art

[0002] The 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) has developed a new radio access technology called 5th Generation (5G) New Radio (NR). 5G wireless technology is mainly designed to accommodate various use cases classified as enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), ultra-reliable low-latency communication (URLLC), and massive machine-type communication (mMTC). Exemplary applications can include industrial wireless sensor networks, video surveillance, or wearable devices. For various applications, user equipment (UE) for 5G wireless networks can sometimes have reduced capabilities (RedCap), i.e., lower cost and complexity, smaller form factor, and longer battery life. Summary of the Invention

[0003] Some aspects of the present disclosure relate to apparatuses and methods for implementing mobility support for user equipment (UE) with different capabilities operating in a wireless network. One UE can have different UE capabilities from another UE, such as reduced capabilities (RedCap), such as lower cost and complexity, smaller form factor, and longer battery life. UE mobility can refer to an event where a UE can move from communicating with a serving base station to or switch to an adjacent base station. A UE can be in different states, such as an idle state, an inactive state, or a connected state. Various operations can be performed to support UE mobility of UEs with different capabilities in different states.

[0004] Some aspects of the present disclosure relate to a UE. The UE can include a transceiver and a processor communicatively coupled to the transceiver. The transceiver can implement wireless communication with a serving base station and one or more adjacent base stations. In some embodiments, the UE can communicate with the serving base station using a first frequency band and communicate with an adjacent base station using a second frequency band different from the first frequency band.

[0005] According to some aspects, a processor of the UE may be configured to receive first system information from a serving base station using the transceiver. The first system information may include UE capability conditions associated with one or more neighboring base stations. The processor of the UE is further configured to determine whether the UE capabilities meet the UE capability conditions associated with the neighboring base stations. The UE capabilities and corresponding conditions may include one or more of the number of antenna ports of the UE, the data rate of the UE, or the latency requirements of the UE. Additionally, the processor is configured to perform a first measurement of a first reference signal received from the serving base station. Further, in response to the UE capabilities meeting the UE capability conditions associated with the neighboring base stations, the processor is configured to perform a second measurement of a second reference signal received from the neighboring base station. When the first measurement and the second measurement meet a threshold condition, the processor is configured to obtain second system information from the neighboring base station, where the second system information indicates that the UE has performed a handover to the neighboring base station.

[0006] Additionally and alternatively, the neighboring base station is a first neighboring base station, the UE capability condition is a first UE capability condition, and the first system information further includes a second UE capability condition associated with a second neighboring base station. In some examples, the UE capabilities do not meet the second UE capability condition.

[0007] According to some aspects, the neighboring base station is a first neighboring base station and the UE capability condition is a first UE capability condition. The first system information further includes a second UE capability condition associated with a second neighboring base station. The processor is further configured to perform a third measurement of a third reference signal from the second neighboring base station in response to the UE capabilities meeting the second UE capability condition associated with the second neighboring base station. The processor is then configured to select a next neighboring base station from among the first neighboring base station and the second neighboring base station based on the first measurement, the second measurement, the third measurement, and the threshold condition. In some examples, the processor is configured to select the first neighboring base station as the next neighboring base station when the second measurement is stronger than the third measurement. Additionally, the processor is configured to obtain second system information from the next neighboring base station.

[0008] In some examples, the UE is registered to a serving base station and is in an idle state, the first system information is first broadcast information received from the serving base station, and the second system information is second broadcast information received from the neighboring base station. For example, the first system information may include information carried by system information block (SIB) 3 or SIB 4, and the second system information includes information carried by the master information block (MIB) or SIB1. Additionally, the first system information may include a threshold condition, and the threshold condition may specify an offset between the first measurement and the second measurement. Further, the first system information may also include an indication of whether the neighboring base station supports the UE's extended discontinuous reception (eDRX) capability.

[0009] In some examples, the processor is further configured to provide an indication of UE capabilities associated with the UE to a serving base station. When the UE is in a connected state, the processor is further configured to receive information about neighboring base stations from the serving base station, where the serving base station determines that the UE capabilities meet the UE capability conditions associated with the neighboring base stations. The processor is then configured to store the information about the neighboring base stations and perform a second measurement of a second reference signal from the neighboring base station in response to the UE transitioning to an idle state.

[0010] Some aspects of the present disclosure relate to a method performed by a UE. The method includes receiving first system information from a serving base station, where the first system information includes UE capability conditions associated with a neighboring base station among one or more neighboring base stations. The method further includes determining whether the UE capabilities meet the UE capability conditions associated with the neighboring base station. Additionally, the method includes performing a first measurement of a first reference signal received from the serving base station. The method further includes performing a second measurement of a second reference signal received from the neighboring base station in response to the UE capabilities meeting the UE capability conditions associated with the neighboring base station. Then, the method includes obtaining second system information from the neighboring base station in response to the first measurement and the second measurement meeting threshold conditions.

[0011] Some aspects of the present disclosure relate to a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions. When executed by a processor of a UE, the instructions stored in the non-transitory computer-readable medium cause the UE to perform various operations. These operations include receiving first system information from a serving base station, where the first system information includes UE capability conditions associated with a neighboring base station among one or more neighboring base stations. These operations further include determining whether the UE capabilities meet the UE capability conditions associated with the neighboring base station. Additionally, these operations include performing a first measurement of a first reference signal received from the serving base station. These operations further include performing a second measurement of a second reference signal received from the neighboring base station in response to the UE capabilities meeting the UE capability conditions associated with the neighboring base station. Then, these operations include obtaining second system information from the neighboring base station in response to the first measurement and the second measurement meeting threshold conditions.

[0012] The present invention content is provided only for the purpose of exemplifying some aspects to provide an understanding of the subject matter described herein. Accordingly, the above features are only examples and should not be construed as narrowing the scope or essence of the subject matter in the present disclosure. Other features, aspects, and advantages of the present disclosure will become apparent from the following detailed description, the drawings, and the claims. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0013] The drawings incorporated herein and forming a part of the specification illustrate the present disclosure and, together with the specification, further serve to explain the principles of the present disclosure and enable those skilled in the relevant art to make and use the present disclosure.

[0014] Figure 1 A wireless system including a user equipment (UE) according to some aspects of the present disclosure is shown, where the UE is configured to switch from communicating with a serving base station to an adjacent base station.

[0015] Figure 2 A block diagram of a UE for performing the functions described herein according to some aspects of the present disclosure is shown.

[0016] Figure 3 An exemplary method performed by a UE to switch from communicating with a serving base station to an adjacent base station according to some aspects of the present disclosure is shown.

[0017] Figure 4 An exemplary sequence diagram showing operations performed by a UE, a serving base station, and one or more adjacent base stations according to some aspects of the present disclosure is shown.

[0018] Figure 5 An exemplary sequence diagram showing operations performed by a UE, a serving base station, and a core network to register UE capabilities of the UE according to some aspects of the present disclosure is shown.

[0019] Figure 6 An exemplary computer system for implementing some aspects or portions thereof of the disclosure provided herein.

[0020] The present disclosure is described with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the drawings, generally, the same reference numerals denote the same or functionally similar elements. Additionally, generally, the leftmost digit of a reference numeral identifies the drawing in which the reference numeral first appears. Detailed Description

[0021] In a wireless system such as fifth generation (5G) new radio (NR) technology, a user equipment (UE) may have reduced capabilities (RedCap) compared to a conventional UE, which results in lower cost, lower complexity, a smaller form factor, and longer battery life for the RedCap UE. Many applications such as industrial wireless sensor networks, video surveillance, wearable devices, etc. can benefit from RedCap UEs. Various ways can be adopted to specify UE capabilities, including: the number of antenna ports of the UE, the data rate that can be associated with the UE, the latency requirements of the UE, or other performance capabilities.

[0022] The base station can support various types of UEs, including conventional UEs and RedCap UEs. The base station can specify the type of UEs it supports through UE capability conditions, which can be specified in various ways. For example, the base station can specify the UE capability condition by listing a set of UE capabilities that are not allowed to access the base station, and this UE capability condition can be referred to as an access restriction. Alternatively, the base station can specify the UE capability condition by listing a set of UE capabilities that are allowed to access the base station. For example, the UE capability condition can specify that the base station supports UEs with two receiver antenna ports but does not support UEs with only one receiver antenna port. The base station can provide the UE capability condition in broadcast information such as the Master Information Block (MIB) or System Information Block (SIB) 1.

[0023] In some wireless systems such as NR technology, the UE can be in various states or operating modes. For example, the UE can be in an idle state, an inactive state, or a connected state, where the state can also be referred to as a mode. When the UE is in different states, different ways can be adopted to manage UE mobility or UE handover. The UE handover from the serving base station to an adjacent base station can also be referred to as reselection of the base station.

[0024] When the UE is in the connected mode, the UE can perform measurements and report the measurements on the measurement objects to the serving base station to make a handover decision. The UE can report the measurement in a periodic manner or when the UE is triggered by an event. For example, when the signal strength from an adjacent base station is better than a predetermined offset of the serving base station over a period of time, the UE can be triggered to report the measurement.

[0025] When the UE is in the idle mode or inactive mode, the UE may not have explicit knowledge of the serving base station to manage UE handover or mobility. Since the UE is in the idle mode, there may be no established connection between the UE and the serving base station. Instead, the UE can only register with or preoccupy the serving base station. The UE can still listen to the information broadcast by the serving base station or adjacent base stations. Based on this broadcast information or signal, the UE can perform various measurements but does not report any measurement. The UE can use the measurements to decide whether it wants to reselect an adjacent cell instead of the serving cell. Once the UE decides to handover to an adjacent cell, the UE does not notify the adjacent cell of this reselection. Instead, the UE only starts listening to the broadcast channel of the adjacent cell for paging, for broadcast reception, etc., which indicates that the UE has performed this handover in the idle state.

[0026] In some embodiments, the UE may periodically measure signals from neighboring base stations, which may be provided at the same frequency as the serving base station or at a different frequency. If the neighboring base station provides a better signal strength that can meet the threshold condition between the measurement of the signal from the serving base station and the measurement of the signal from the neighboring base station, the UE may start obtaining broadcast system information from the neighboring base station. The broadcast system information from the neighboring base station may contain UE capability conditions associated with the neighboring base station. After the UE obtains the broadcast system information from the neighboring base station and determines that the UE capabilities meet the UE capability conditions associated with the neighboring base station, the UE completes the handover to the neighboring base station such that the neighboring base station is the serving cell after the handover.

[0027] However, if the UE capabilities do not meet the UE capability conditions associated with the neighboring base station, the UE's execution of the measurement of the signal from the neighboring base station will waste energy. Even if the neighboring base station has a higher signal quality, the neighboring base station does not support the UE because the UE capabilities do not meet the UE capability conditions associated with the neighboring base station.

[0028] In some embodiments, an improved mechanism may be provided. The system information from the serving base station may include UE capability conditions associated with one or more neighboring base stations. The UE may determine whether the UE capabilities meet the UE capability conditions associated with the neighboring base station. When the UE capabilities meet the UE capability conditions associated with the neighboring base station, the UE may perform the measurement of the reference signal received from the neighboring base station. In this way, when the UE capabilities do not meet the UE capability conditions, the UE may not perform the measurement of the reference signal received from the neighboring base station, thus saving energy. In addition, there may be a threshold condition for the relative signal strength determined between the measurement of the reference signal received from the serving base station and the measurement of the reference signal received from the neighboring base station. If the threshold condition is met, the UE may obtain system information from the neighboring base station. The UE may obtain the broadcast system information by listening to the neighboring base station, reading the broadcast system information, and / or decoding the broadcast system information.

[0029] The system information from the serving base station may include corresponding UE capability conditions associated with one or more neighboring base stations. If the UE meets the UE capability conditions associated with one or more neighboring base stations, the UE may perform the measurement of the corresponding reference signal and select the neighboring base station as a potential next serving base station when the measurement of the reference signal from the selected neighboring base station meets the threshold condition. Then, the UE may obtain system information from the selected neighboring base station, indicating that the UE has performed a handover to the selected neighboring base station in the idle state or the inactive state.

[0030] Figure 1FIG. 100 shows a wireless system 100 including a UE, such as UE 101, in accordance with some aspects of the present disclosure, the UE being configured to switch from communicating with a serving base station to an adjacent base station. The wireless system 100 is provided for illustrative purposes only and is not limiting of the disclosed aspects. The wireless system 100 may include, but is not limited to, UE 101, base station 103, base station 105, and base station 107, all of which are communicatively coupled to a core network 110. The UE 101 communicates with the base station 103 via carrier 121, communicates with the base station 105 via carrier 123, and communicates with the base station 107 via carrier 125.

[0031] In some examples, the wireless system 100 may be an NR system, an LTE system, a 5G system, or some other wireless system. There may be other network entities not shown, such as network controllers, relay stations. The wireless system 100 may support a wide range of use cases, such as enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), massive machine type communication (mMTC), ultra-reliable and low-latency communication (URLLC), and enhanced vehicle-to-everything communication (eV2X). The wireless system 100 may also support industrial wireless sensor networks, video surveillance, or wearable devices, where the UE 101 may be a RedCap UE with lower cost and complexity, smaller form factor, and longer battery life.

[0032] According to some aspects, the base stations 103, 105, and 107 may be fixed stations or mobile stations. The base stations 103, 105, and 107 may also have other names, such as base transceiver system (BTS), access point (AP), transmit / receive point (TRP), evolved Node B (eNB), next-generation Node B (gNB), 5G Node B (NB), or some other equivalent term. In some examples, the base stations 103, 105, and 107 may be interconnected with each other and / or interconnected to other base stations or network nodes in the network via various types of backhaul interfaces (such as direct physical connections, virtual networks, etc.) not shown.

[0033] According to some aspects, the UE 101 can be fixed or mobile. The UE 101 can be a cellular phone (e.g., a smart phone), a personal digital assistant (PDA), a wireless modem, a wireless communication device, a handheld device, a laptop computer, a desktop computer, a cordless phone, a wireless local loop station, a wireless sensor, a tablet computer, a video surveillance camera, a gaming device, a netbook, a superbook, a medical device or equipment, a biometric sensor or device, a wearable device (smart watch, smart clothing, smart glasses, smart wristband, smart jewelry such as a smart ring or a smart bracelet), an entertainment device (e.g., a music or video device, or a satellite radio), a vehicle component, a smart meter, industrial manufacturing equipment, a global positioning system device, an Internet of Things (IoT) device, a machine type communication (MTC) device, an evolved or enhanced machine type communication (eMTC) device, or any other suitable device configured to communicate via a wireless medium. For example, MTC and eMTC devices can include robots, drones, location tags, etc.

[0034] According to some aspects, the base stations 103, 105, and 107 can be communicatively coupled to the core network 110. The base station 103 can serve the cell 102, the base station 105 can serve the cell 104 contained within the cell 102, and the base station 107 can serve the cell 106 that overlaps with the cells 102 and 104. In some other embodiments, the cell 102 can partially overlap with the cell 104. The cell 102, the cell 104, or the cell 106 can be a macro cell, a pico cell, a femto cell, and / or another type of cell. In contrast, a macro cell can cover a relatively large geographical area, e.g., with a radius of several kilometers, a femto cell can cover a relatively small geographical area, e.g., a home, while a pico cell covers an area smaller than that covered by a macro cell but larger than that covered by a femto cell. For example, the cells 102 and 106 can be macro cells, and the cell 104 can be a pico cell or a femto cell. Additionally, the cells 102 and 106 can be pico cells, and the cell 104 can be a femto cell. In some examples, the geographical area of the cell can move according to the position of the mobile base station.

[0035] According to some aspects, the base station 103 can be a serving base station, and the cell 102 can be a serving cell or a primary cell. The base stations 105 and 107 can be neighboring base stations of the UE 101. The cell 104 can be a secondary cell, or a primary-secondary cell. There may be other secondary cells for the UE 101, not shown. Data of the UE 101 can be transmitted between the UE 101 and the core network 110 simultaneously via a radio connection between the UE 101 and the base station 103 at carrier 121, a radio connection between the UE 101 and the base station 105 at carrier 123, and a radio connection between the UE 101 and the base station 107 at carrier 125. The UE 101 can communicate with a serving base station such as the base station 103 using a first frequency band, and communicate with a neighboring base station such as the base station 105 or 107 using a second frequency band different from the first frequency band.

[0036] According to some aspects, the UE 101 can receive first system information 122 from a serving base station such as the base station 103. The first system information 122 can include UE capability conditions 124 associated with a neighboring base station such as the base station 107. The UE 101 is registered to the base station 103 and can be in an idle state, and the first system information 122 can be broadcast information received from the base station 103. The first system information 122 can include information carried by SIB 3 or SIB 4. The first system information 122 can also include an indication of whether a neighboring base station such as the base station 107 supports the UE's extended discontinuous reception (eDRX) capability. The base station 107 can communicate via the core network 110 to indicate the UE capability conditions 124 and its ability to support eDRX to the base station 103.

[0037] The UE 101 can include UE capabilities 112 and a UE state 114. The UE 101 can be in various states, namely, an idle state, an inactive state, a connected state, or other states. In some examples, the idle state can be used as an example for ease of description. The description of the idle state can equally apply to other states, such as the inactive state. The UE capabilities 112 can include various parameters describing the capabilities of the UE 101, for example, the number of receive antenna ports or transmit antenna ports of the UE 101, the data rate that can be associated with the UE 101, the latency requirements of the UE 101, or the bandwidth used by the UE 101, etc. For example, the number of receive antenna ports and the number of transmit antenna ports of the UE 101 can be the same and can simply be referred to as the number of antenna ports of the UE 101. The UE 101 can determine whether the UE capabilities 112 meet the UE capability conditions 124 associated with a neighboring base station such as the base station 107.

[0038] According to some aspects, the UE 101 may perform a first measurement 116 of a first reference signal received from a serving base station, such as base station 103. When the UE 101 determines that the UE capability 112 meets the UE capability condition 124, the UE 101 may perform a second measurement 118 of a second reference signal received from an adjacent base station, such as base station 107.

[0039] For network operations such as handover to an adjacent cell, it is desirable to measure the cell quality of the adjacent cell, such as the reference signal received power (RSRP) or the reference signal received quality (RSRQ), or the cell quality of the serving cell. The UE 101 may perform various measurements. For NR, the cell quality may be measured by using the SS / PBCH block (SSB). These are composed of the synchronization signal (SS) and the physical broadcast channel (PBC). According to some aspects, the UE 101 may measure a reference signal. In some examples, the reference signal may be a synchronization block (SSB), including the synchronization signal based reference signal received power (SS-RSRP), the synchronization signal based reference signal received quality (SS-RSRQ), the synchronization signal based signal to noise interference ratio (SS-SINR), the synchronization signal based signal to noise interference ratio (SS-SINR), or the received (linear) average power of the resource elements carrying the NR SSB signal and channel (SSB_RP).

[0040] However, in some examples, when the UE capability 112 does not meet the UE capability condition 124, the UE 101 does not perform the second measurement 118. When the UE capability 112 does not meet the UE capability condition 124, due to the limitation of the support of the UE capability provided by the adjacent base station, the UE 101 cannot handover to the adjacent base station. Therefore, even if the UE 101 performs the second measurement 118, the data will not be useful.

[0041] According to some aspects, the first system information 122 may include a threshold condition 126 associated with the first measurement 116 and the second measurement 118. In some examples, the threshold condition specifies an offset between the first measurement 116 and the second measurement 118, where the offset may be specified as the difference in signal strength between the first measurement 116 and the second measurement 118, for example, as the signal strength measured in decibel milliwatt (dBm).

[0042] According to some aspects, when the first measurement and the second measurement satisfy the threshold condition 126, the UE 101 may obtain the second system information 128 from an adjacent base station, such as base station 107. The second system information 128 may be the second broadcast information received from the adjacent base station. The second system information 128 may include information carried by the master information block (MIB) or SIB 1, and may be used for paging, for broadcast reception, etc. By listening for and obtaining the second system information 128, the UE 101 has performed a handover from the serving base station to an adjacent base station in the idle state.

[0043] According to some aspects, in addition to base stations 105 and 107, there may be more than one adjacent base station. The first system information 122 may further include a second UE capability condition associated with the second adjacent base station. When the UE capability 112 satisfies the second UE capability condition associated with the second adjacent base station, the UE 101 may perform a third measurement on a third reference signal from the second adjacent base station. Then, the UE 101 may select a next adjacent base station from the first adjacent base station and the second adjacent base station based on the first measurement, the second measurement, the third measurement, and the threshold condition, and obtain the second system information from the next adjacent base station. In some examples, when the second measurement is stronger than the third measurement, the UE 101 may select the first adjacent base station as the next adjacent base station.

[0044] According to some aspects, the UE 101 may have a UE state 114 that is a connected state UE. During the connected state, the UE 101 and the base station 103 may communicate and exchange data. The UE 101 may provide an indication of the UE capabilities associated with the UE to the serving base station. The serving base station, such as base station 103, may determine that the UE capability 112 satisfies the UE capability condition 124 associated with an adjacent base station, such as base station 107. Additionally, the UE 101 may receive information about the base station 107 from the base station 103, store the information about the base station 107, and subsequently perform a second measurement 128 of the second reference signal from the base station 107 when the UE 101 transitions to the idle state.

[0045] Figure 2 A block diagram of the UE 101 having an antenna panel 217 is illustrated. The antenna panel includes one or more antenna elements, e.g., antenna elements 219 coupled to a transceiver 203 and controlled by a processor 201. Specifically, the transceiver 203 may include a radio frequency (RF) circuit 216, a baseband transmit circuit 212, and a baseband receive circuit 214. The RF circuit 216 may include a plurality of parallel RF chains for performing one or more of the transmit or receive functions, with each RF chain connected to one or more antenna elements in the antenna panel. Additionally, the processor 201 may be communicatively coupled to a memory device 211, which is further coupled to the transceiver 203.

[0046] In some examples, the RF circuit 216 is used by the UE 101 to perform measurements of reference signals and for transmitting and receiving data in the serving cell. The memory device 211 may store UE capabilities 112, UE state 114, first measurement 116, and second measurement 118. The memory device 211 may include instructions that, when executed by the processor 201, perform functions for implementing the handover from the serving base station to an adjacent base station as described herein. Alternatively, the processor 201 may be "hard coded" to perform the functions described herein.

[0047] Figure 3 An exemplary method 300 performed by a UE to hand over from a serving base station to an adjacent base station in accordance with some aspects of the present disclosure is shown. The method 300 may be performed by the UE 101, as Figures 1-2 shown.

[0048] At 302, the UE 101 may receive first system information from the serving base station, where the first system information includes UE capability conditions associated with an adjacent base station. For example, the UE 101 may receive first system information 122 from base station 103, which is the serving base station. The first system information 122 includes UE capability conditions 124 associated with an adjacent base station, e.g., base station 107.

[0049] At 304, the UE 101 may determine whether the UE capabilities satisfy the UE capability conditions associated with the adjacent base station. For example, the UE 101 may determine whether the UE capabilities 112 satisfy the UE capability conditions 124 associated with base station 107. The UE capabilities and corresponding conditions may include one or more of the number of antenna ports of the UE, the data rate of the UE, or the latency requirements of the UE.

[0050] At 306, the UE 101 may perform a first measurement of a first reference signal received from the serving base station. For example, the UE 101 may perform a first measurement 116 of a first reference signal received from base station 103.

[0051] At 308, the UE 101 may perform a second measurement of a second reference signal received from the adjacent base station in response to the UE capabilities satisfying the UE capability conditions associated with the adjacent base station. For example, when the UE capabilities 112 satisfy the UE capability conditions 124, the UE 101 may perform a second measurement 118 of a second reference signal received from base station 107.

[0052] At 309, the UE 101 may obtain second system information from an adjacent base station in response to the first measurement and the second measurement satisfying a threshold. For example, when the first measurement 116 and the second measurement 118 satisfy the threshold condition 126, the UE 101 may obtain the second system information 128 from the base station 107. In some examples, the threshold condition 126 specifies an offset between the first measurement 116 and the second measurement 118, where the offset may be specified as the difference between the signal strength of the first measurement 116 and the signal strength of the second measurement 118, e.g., the signal strength measured in decibel-milliwatts (dBm). When the UE 101 is in the idle state and obtains the second system information 128, the UE has performed a handover from the base station 103 to the base station 107. In one implementation, the UE 101 does not notify the adjacent base station 107 of this reselection.

[0053] Figure 4 Exemplary sequence diagram 400 shows operations performed by a UE 401, a serving base station 403, and one or more adjacent base stations, in accordance with some aspects of the present disclosure. Sequence diagram 400 is Figure 3 an example of the method 300 shown. The UE 401, base station 403, base station 407, and base station 409 may form a wireless system 410, where the UE 401 is a RedCap UE with only one receiver antenna port. The wireless system 410 is similar to Figure 1 the wireless system 100 shown.

[0054] At 402, the UE 401 may receive first system information 422 from the serving base station 403. The first system information 422 includes UE capability conditions for the base station 407 and UE capability conditions for the base station 409. The UE capability condition for the base station 407 specifies that the base station 407 can only support UEs with at least 2 receiver antenna ports, while the UE capability condition for the base station 409 specifies that the base station 409 can support UEs with any capabilities without any restrictions, including supporting UEs with only one antenna port. The first system information 422 includes information carried by SIB 3.

[0055] At 404, the UE 401 may determine whether the UE capabilities satisfy the UE capability conditions associated with the adjacent base stations. Specifically, the UE 401 may determine that the UE 401 does not satisfy the UE capability condition for the base station 407 because the UE capability condition for the base station 407 requires at least 2 receiver antenna ports, while the UE 401 has only one receiver antenna port. On the other hand, the UE 401 may determine that the UE 401 satisfies the UE capability condition for the base station 409 because the UE capability condition for the base station 409 has no restrictions and can support any RedCap UE.

[0056] At 406, the UE 401 may perform a first measurement of a first reference signal received from the serving base station 403.

[0057] At 408, the UE 401 may perform a second measurement of a second reference signal received from the neighboring base station 409 in response to the UE capabilities of the UE 401 meeting the UE capability conditions associated with the neighboring base station 409. On the other hand, the UE 401 does not perform a measurement of the reference signal received from the neighboring base station 407 because the UE capabilities of the UE 401 do not meet the UE capability conditions associated with the neighboring base station 407.

[0058] At 409, the UE 401 may determine whether the first measurement and the second measurement meet a threshold condition, where the threshold condition may be included in the first system information 422. For example, the threshold condition may specify that the second measurement of the reference signal from the neighboring base station 409 is stronger or has a signal quality that is higher than the first measurement of the reference signal from the serving base station 403 by a certain offset. For example, the offset may indicate the difference in the measured signal strengths of the first measurement and the second measurement.

[0059] At 411, when the first measurement and the second measurement meet the threshold condition, the UE 401 may obtain second system information from the neighboring base station 409. When the UE 401 is in the idle state and obtains second system information from the neighboring base station 409, the UE 401 has performed a handover from the base station 403 to the base station 409. In one embodiment, the UE 401 does not notify the neighboring base station 409 of this reselection.

[0060] At 413, the base station 407 may still broadcast system information to the UE 401, but the UE 401 may not perform any operations on the broadcast system information from the base station 407 because the UE 401 does not meet the UE capability conditions for the base station 407.

[0061] Figure 5 An exemplary sequence diagram 500 showing operations performed by the UE 101, the base station 103 as the serving base station, and the core network 110 is shown. According to some aspects of the present disclosure, the operations in FIG. 500 show the registration of the UE 101 with UE capabilities.

[0062] At 502, the base station 103 may broadcast system information including UE capability conditions for the base station 103, and the UE101 may receive the system information including the UE capability conditions. The UE capability conditions may be access restrictions for the base station 103.

[0063] At 504, the UE 101 may determine that the UE capabilities of the UE 101 meet the UE capability conditions of the base station 103 and meet the access criteria. Once the UE capability conditions of the base station 103 are met, the UE 101 may register with the base station 103.

[0064] At 506, the UE 101 and the base station 103 may perform operations to establish a random access channel (RACH) between the UE 101 and the base station 103.

[0065] At 508, the base station 103 may retrieve any saved UE capabilities for the UE 101 from the core network 110.

[0066] At 511, the base station 103 may determine that the core network 110 does not have saved UE capabilities for the UE 101.

[0067] At 513, the base station 103 may send an inquiry about its UE capabilities to the UE 101.

[0068] At 515, the UE 101 may provide an indication of the UE capabilities associated with the UE 101 to the base station 103.

[0069] At 517, the base station 103 may send the UE capabilities to the core network 110 to store the UE capability information in the core network 110.

[0070] At 519, the UE 101 and the base station 103 may perform operations to configure the UE 101 based on the UE capabilities.

[0071] Additionally, the UE 101 may perform other operations. For example, the UE 101 may receive information about neighboring base stations from the serving base station in response to the UE being in a connected state, where the serving base station determines that the UE capabilities meet the UE capability conditions associated with the neighboring base stations; store the information about the neighboring base stations; and perform a second measurement of a second reference signal from the neighboring base station in response to the UE transitioning to an idle state.

[0072] Various aspects may be implemented, for example, using one or more computer systems such as Figure 6 the computer system 600 shown. The computer system 600 may be any computer capable of performing the functions described herein, such as Figure 1 and Figure 2The UE 101, base station 103, base station 105, or base station 107 shown. Computer system 600 includes one or more processors (also referred to as central processing units or CPUs), such as processor 604. Processor 604 is connected to a communication infrastructure 606 (e.g., a bus). Computer system 600 also includes user input / output devices 603 that communicate with communication infrastructure 606 via user input / output interface 602, such as monitors, keyboards, pointing devices, etc. Computer system 600 also includes main memory or primary storage 608, such as random access memory (RAM). Main memory 608 may include one or more levels of cache. Control logic (e.g., computer software) and / or data are stored in main memory 608.

[0073] Computer system 600 may also include one or more secondary storage devices or memories 610. Secondary memory 610 may include, for example, a hard disk drive 612 and / or a removable storage device or drive 614. Removable storage drive 614 may be a floppy disk drive, a tape drive, a CD drive, an optical storage device, a tape backup device, and / or any other storage device / drive.

[0074] Removable storage drive 614 may interact with removable storage unit 618. Removable storage unit 618 includes a computer-usable or readable storage device on which computer software (control logic) and / or data are stored. Removable storage unit 618 may be a floppy disk, a tape, a CD, a DVD, an optical storage disk, and / or any other computer data storage device. Removable storage drive 614 reads from and / or writes to removable storage unit 618 in a well-known manner.

[0075] According to some aspects, secondary memory 610 may include other means, tools, or other methods for allowing computer programs and / or other instructions and / or data to be accessed by computer system 600. Such means, tools, or other methods may include, for example, removable storage unit 622 and interface 620. Examples of removable storage unit 622 and interface 620 may include program cartridges and cartridge interfaces (such as those found in video game devices), removable memory chips (such as EPROM or PROM) and associated sockets, memory sticks and USB ports, memory cards and associated memory card slots, and / or any other removable storage unit and associated interface.

[0076] In some examples, main memory 608, removable storage unit 618, removable storage unit 622 may store instructions that, when executed by processor 604, cause processor 604 to perform operations for the UE or base station (e.g., as Figure 1 and Figure 2Operations of the UE 101, base station 103, or base station 105) shown. In some examples, the operations include Figures 3-5 Those operations illustrated and described in

[0077] Computer system 600 may also include a communication or network interface 624. The communication interface 624 enables the computer system 600 to communicate and interact with any combination of remote devices, remote networks, remote entities, etc. (collectively and individually referred to by reference numeral 628). For example, the communication interface 624 may allow the computer system 600 to communicate with a remote device 628 via a communication path 626, which may be wired and / or wireless and may include any combination of LAN, WAN, the Internet, etc. Control logic and / or data may be transmitted to and from the computer system 600 via the communication path 626. Operations of the communication interface 624 may be performed by a wireless controller and / or a cellular controller. The cellular controller may be a separate controller to manage communications according to different wireless communication technologies. Operations in the foregoing aspects can be implemented in various configurations and architectures. Thus, some or all of the operations in the foregoing aspects may be performed in hardware, software, or both hardware and software. In some aspects, a tangible, non-transitory device or article includes a tangible, non-transitory computer-usable or readable medium having control logic (software) stored thereon, also referred to herein as a computer program product or a program storage device. This includes, but is not limited to, the computer system 600, the main memory 608, the secondary memory 610, and the removable storage units 618 and 622, as well as tangible articles embodying any combination of the foregoing. Such control logic, when executed by one or more data processing devices such as the computer system 600, causes such data processing devices to operate as described herein.

[0078] Based on the teachings contained in this disclosure, it will be apparent to those skilled in the relevant art how to make and use aspects of this disclosure using data processing devices, computer systems, and / or computer architectures other than Figure 6 Those shown. In particular, the aspects may operate in conjunction with software, hardware, and / or operating system implementations other than those described herein.

[0079] It should be understood that the detailed implementation section, rather than the summary and abstract sections, is intended to interpret the claims. The summary and abstract sections may set forth one or more but not all exemplary aspects of the disclosure as contemplated by the inventors, and thus are not intended to limit the disclosure or the appended claims in any way.

[0080] Although the present disclosure has been described with reference to exemplary aspects of exemplary fields and applications, it should be understood that the present disclosure is not limited thereto. Other aspects and modifications are possible and within the scope and spirit of the present disclosure. For example, and without limiting the generality of this paragraph, the aspects are not limited to the software, hardware, firmware, and / or entities shown in the figures and / or described herein. Further, the aspects, whether or not explicitly described herein, have significant utility for fields and applications other than those described herein as examples.

[0081] Aspects have been described herein by way of functional building blocks of specific implementations that illustrate specific functions and their relationships. For ease of description, the boundaries of these functional building blocks have been arbitrarily defined herein. Alternate boundaries may be defined so long as the specified functions and relationships (or their equivalents) are appropriately performed. Additionally, alternative aspects may perform the functional blocks, steps, operations, methods, etc. in an order different from that described herein.

[0082] References herein to "one embodiment", "an embodiment", "exemplary embodiment" or similar phrases indicate that the embodiment described may include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, but every embodiment may not necessarily include the particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Moreover, such phrases are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment. Further, when a particular feature, structure, or characteristic is described in connection with an embodiment, whether or not explicitly recited or described herein, incorporating such feature, structure, or characteristic into other aspects is within the knowledge of one of ordinary skill in the relevant art.

[0083] The breadth and scope of the present disclosure should not be limited by any of the above-described exemplary aspects, but should be defined only in accordance with the following claims and their equivalents.

[0084] The present disclosure contemplates that entities responsible for collecting, analyzing, disclosing, transmitting, storing, or otherwise using such personal information data will comply with established privacy policies and / or privacy practices. Specifically, such entities should implement and adhere to privacy policies and practices that are recognized as meeting or exceeding industry or government requirements for maintaining the privacy and security of personal information data. Such policies should be readily accessible to users and should be updated as the data collection and / or use changes. Personal information from users should be collected for legitimate and reasonable purposes of the entity and not shared or sold outside of those legitimate uses. Additionally, such collection / sharing should only occur upon receipt of the user's informed consent. Further, such entities should consider taking any necessary steps to safeguard and secure access to such personal information data and ensure that others with access to the personal information data comply with their privacy policies and procedures. Additionally, such an entity may subject itself to third-party assessments to demonstrate its compliance with widely accepted privacy policies and practices. Moreover, policies and practices should be adjusted to account for the specific types of personal information data being collected and / or accessed and to apply applicable laws and standards that include specific considerations of the jurisdiction. For example, in the United States, the collection or acquisition of certain health data may be governed by federal and / or state laws such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA); while health data in other countries may be subject to other regulations and policies and should be handled accordingly. Therefore, different privacy practices should be maintained for different types of personal data in each country.

Claims

1. A user equipment (UE), comprising: a transceiver configured to enable wireless communication with a serving base station and one or more neighboring base stations; and a processor communicatively coupled to the transceiver and configured to: receive first system information from the serving base station using the transceiver, wherein the first system information includes UE capability conditions associated with a neighboring base station among the one or more neighboring base stations, and wherein the UE capability conditions include parameters describing the number of transmit antenna ports or receive antenna ports of the UE; determine whether the UE capabilities meet the UE capability conditions associated with the neighboring base station; perform a first measurement of a first reference signal received from the serving base station; perform a second measurement of a second reference signal received from the neighboring base station in response to the UE capabilities meeting the UE capability conditions associated with the neighboring base station; and obtain second system information from the neighboring base station in response to the first measurement and the second measurement meeting a threshold condition.

2. The UE according to claim 1, wherein the neighboring base station is a first neighboring base station, the UE capability condition is a first UE capability condition, and the first system information further includes a second UE capability condition associated with a second neighboring base station, and wherein the UE capabilities do not meet the second UE capability condition.

3. The UE according to claim 1, wherein the UE is registered to the serving base station and is in an idle state, the first system information is first broadcast information received from the serving base station, and the second system information is second broadcast information received from the neighboring base station.

4. The UE according to claim 1, wherein the first system information includes information carried by system information block (SIB) 3 or SIB 4, and the second system information includes information carried by the master information block (MIB) or SIB 1.

5. The UE according to claim 1, wherein the first system information includes the threshold condition, and the threshold condition specifies an offset between the first measurement and the second measurement.

6. The UE according to claim 1, wherein the UE communicates with the serving base station using a first frequency band, and the UE communicates with the neighboring base station using a second frequency band.

7. The UE according to claim 1, wherein the neighboring base station is a first neighboring base station, the UE capability condition is a first UE capability condition, and the first system information further includes a second UE capability condition associated with a second neighboring base station, and the processor is further configured to: perform a third measurement of a third reference signal from the second neighboring base station in response to the UE capabilities meeting the second UE capability conditions associated with the second neighboring base station; select a next neighboring base station from among the first neighboring base station and the second neighboring base station based on the first measurement, the second measurement, the third measurement, and the threshold condition; and obtain the second system information from the next neighboring base station.

8. The UE according to claim 7, wherein the processor is further configured to select the first neighboring base station as the next neighboring base station in response to the second measurement being stronger than the third measurement.

9. The UE according to claim 1, wherein the UE capabilities include the number of receive or transmit antenna ports of the UE, the data rate of the UE, or the latency requirement of the UE.

10. The UE according to claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to: Provide an indication of the UE capabilities to the serving base station.

11. The UE according to claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to: Receive information about the neighboring base stations from the serving base station in response to the UE being in a connected state, wherein the serving base station determines that the UE capabilities meet the UE capability conditions associated with the neighboring base stations; Store the information about the neighboring base stations; And Perform the second measurement of the second reference signal from the neighboring base station in response to the UE transitioning to an idle state.

12. The UE according to claim 1, wherein the first system information from the serving base station further includes an indication of whether the neighboring base station supports the extended discontinuous reception eDRX capabilities of the UE.

13. A method for operating a user equipment UE, comprising: Receiving first system information from a serving base station, wherein the first system information includes UE capability conditions associated with neighboring base stations among one or more neighboring base stations, and wherein the UE capability conditions include parameters describing the number of transmit or receive antenna ports of the UE; Determining whether the UE capabilities meet the UE capability conditions associated with the neighboring base stations; Performing a first measurement of a first reference signal received from the serving base station; Performing a second measurement of a second reference signal received from the neighboring base station in response to the UE capabilities meeting the UE capability conditions associated with the neighboring base stations; And Obtaining second system information from the neighboring base station in response to the first measurement and the second measurement meeting threshold conditions.

14. The method according to claim 13, wherein the neighboring base station is a first neighboring base station, the UE capability condition is a first UE capability condition, and the first system information further includes a second UE capability condition associated with a second neighboring base station, and wherein the UE capabilities do not meet the second UE capability condition.

15. The method according to claim 13, wherein the UE is registered with the serving base station and is in an idle state, the first system information is first broadcast information received from the serving base station, and the second system information is second broadcast information received from the neighboring base station.

16. The method according to claim 13, wherein the first system information includes information carried by system information block SIB3 or SIB4, and the second system information includes information carried by master information block MIB or SIB 1.

17. The method according to claim 13, wherein the neighboring base station is a first neighboring base station, the UE capability condition is a first UE capability condition, and the first system information further includes a second UE capability condition associated with a second neighboring base station, and the method further includes: performing a third measurement on a third reference signal from the second neighboring base station in response to the UE capability satisfying the second UE capability condition associated with the second neighboring base station; selecting a next neighboring base station from one of the first neighboring base station and the second neighboring base station based on the first measurement, the second measurement, the third measurement, and the threshold condition; and obtaining the second system information from the next neighboring base station.

18. The method according to claim 13, wherein the UE capability includes the number of receive antenna ports or transmit antenna ports of the UE, the data rate of the UE, or the latency requirement of the UE.

19. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by a processor of a user equipment UE, cause the UE to perform operations, the operations including: receiving first system information from a serving base station, wherein the first system information includes a UE capability condition associated with a neighboring base station among one or more neighboring base stations, and wherein the UE capability condition includes a parameter describing the number of transmit antenna ports or receive antenna ports of the UE; determining whether the UE capability satisfies the UE capability condition associated with the neighboring base station; performing a first measurement on a first reference signal received from the serving base station; performing a second measurement on a second reference signal received from the neighboring base station in response to the UE capability satisfying the UE capability condition associated with the neighboring base station; and obtaining second system information from the neighboring base station in response to the first measurement and the second measurement satisfying a threshold condition.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium according to claim 19, wherein the neighboring base station is a first neighboring base station, the UE capability condition is a first UE capability condition, and the first system information further includes a second UE capability condition associated with a second neighboring base station, and the operations further include: performing a third measurement on a third reference signal from the second neighboring base station in response to the UE capability satisfying the second UE capability condition associated with the second neighboring base station; selecting a next neighboring base station from one of the first neighboring base station and the second neighboring base station based on the first measurement, the second measurement, the third measurement, and the threshold condition; and obtaining the second system information from the next neighboring base station.

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