Handling of user equipment coverage enhancement mode B radio capability mismatch caused by changes in user equipment usage settings

Abstract

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to handling of a user equipment coverage enhancement mode B radio capability mismatch caused by a change in user equipment usage settings. When the UE's usage settings are set to voice-centric, the UE may not operate in coverage enhancement (CE) mode B. When the UE's usage settings are set to data-centric, the UE may operate in CE mode B. The UE may indicate the UE's usage settings in an attach or tracking area update (TAU) request message, and a mobility management entity (MME) may indicate to an evolved Node B that CE mode B is restricted or not restricted based on the usage settings. Other embodiments may be described and / or claimed.

Description

[0001] This application is a divisional application of the Chinese invention patent application with application number 201880018039.2 filed on January 30, 2018 and entitled “Handling of Radio Capability Mismatch of User Equipment Coverage Enhancement Mode B Caused by Changes in User Equipment Usage Settings”.

[0002] Related Applications

[0003] This application claims priority under 35 USC §119 to U.S. Provisional Application No. 62 / 473,917, filed on March 20, 2017, and U.S. Provisional Application No. 62 / 505,520, filed on May 12, 2017, the contents of each of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety. Technical Field

[0004] Various embodiments of the present application relate generally to the field of wireless communications, and more particularly to user equipment operating with coverage enhancement. Background Art

[0005] A user equipment (UE) in enhanced coverage is a UE that requires the use of enhanced coverage functionality to access a cell. The current Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) standard supports two enhanced coverage modes, namely CE mode A and CE mode B (where "CE" refers to "coverage enhancement" or "coverage extension"). A UE supporting CE mode B can be configured with a "data centric" or "voice centric" usage setting. The "voice centric" usage setting of the UE indicates that the UE should be able to use voice services at any time. The Evolved UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access (Evolved UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access, E-UTRA) radio bearer configured for use in CE mode B is not suitable for voice communications, for example due to transmission delays introduced by specific protocol mechanisms used for enhanced coverage support.

[0006] The UE may be notified of an indication that the UE supports CE Mode B during each Radio Resource Control (RRC) connection establishment and in the UE radio capability information. According to current 3GPP standards, UE radio capabilities can only be changed by performing a new attachment procedure. When the UE has a "data-centric" or "voice-centric" usage setting and is attached to the network, the mobility management entity (MME) stores the UE radio capability information indicating whether the UE supports CE Mode B. When the UE switches its usage setting from voice-centric to data-centric (or vice versa), the UE will initiate a Tracking Area Update (TAU) procedure and send a TAU request message to indicate that the UE's usage setting has been changed. During the RRC connection establishment for this TAU procedure or for a subsequent service request procedure, the UE will indicate its CE Mode B setting in one of the RRC messages. In addition, the MME will send an S1 application protocol (AP) initial context setup message including the UE radio capabilities to the evolved NodeB (eNB), and the UE radio capabilities will indicate the previous CE mode B settings of the UE. The eNB can assume that the previous CE mode B settings obtained from the MME are correct, even if the UE's usage setting has been changed. Therefore, if the UE's usage setting is changed from "data centric" or "voice centric", the signaling according to the current 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) standards does not allow to inform the eNB that CE mode B will no longer be used for the UE. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0007] The embodiments will be easily understood by the following detailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. To aid this description, similar reference numerals designate similar structural elements. The embodiments are illustrated in the accompanying drawings by way of example and not by way of limitation.

[0008] Figure 1 Example system architectures for networks are illustrated in accordance with various embodiments.

[0009] Figure 2 Another example system architecture of a network is illustrated in accordance with various embodiments.

[0010] Figure 3 Examples of infrastructure equipment are described in accordance with various embodiments.

[0011] Figure 4 Example components of a computer platform are depicted in accordance with various embodiments.

[0012] Figure 5Example components of baseband circuitry and radio frequency circuitry are depicted according to various embodiments.

[0013] Figure 6 Example interfaces for baseband circuitry are depicted in accordance with various embodiments.

[0014] Figure 7 Example components capable of performing any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein are depicted according to various example embodiments.

[0015] Figure 8 is a diagram of a control plane protocol stack according to various embodiments.

[0016] Fig. 9 is a diagram of a user plane protocol stack according to various embodiments.

[0017] Fig.10 An example user equipment (UE) radio capability match request process is shown in accordance with various embodiments.

[0018] Fig.11 An example feature specific UE / Radio Access Network (RAN) radio information and compatibility request procedure is shown in accordance with various embodiments.

[0019] Fig.12 An example mobility management entity procedure for updating usage settings of a UE is shown in accordance with various embodiments.

[0020] Fig.13 An example UE procedure for updating usage settings of a UE is shown in accordance with various embodiments. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0021] Embodiments discussed herein relate to enhanced coverage for a user equipment (UE) that may operate according to a voice-centric usage setting or a data-centric usage setting. When the UE's usage setting is set to voice-centric, the UE may not operate in coverage enhancement (CE) mode B. When the UE's usage setting is set to data-centric, the UE may operate in CE mode B. The UE may indicate the UE's usage setting in an attach or tracking area update (TAU) request message, which may be sent to a mobility management entity (MME). If the UE supports CE mode B and the UE's usage setting is set to voice-centric in an attach / TAU request message, the MME may indicate to an evolved Node B (eNB) that CE mode B is restricted for the UE. If the UE supports CE mode B and the UE's usage setting is set to data-centric in an attach / TAU request message, the MME may indicate to the eNB that CE mode B is not restricted for the UE. Other embodiments may be described and / or claimed.

[0022] The following detailed description refers to the accompanying drawings. The same reference numerals may be used to identify the same or similar elements in different figures. In the following description, for the purpose of illustration and not limitation, specific details such as specific structures, architectures, interfaces, technologies, etc. are recorded to provide a thorough understanding of the various aspects of the claimed invention. However, those skilled in the art who benefit from this disclosure will appreciate that the various aspects of the claimed invention can be implemented in other examples that are separated from these specific details. In some cases, the description of known devices, circuits, and methods is omitted to avoid unnecessary details that blur the description of the present invention.

[0023] The various aspects of the illustrative embodiments will be described using terms commonly used by those skilled in the art to convey the essence of their work to other persons skilled in the art. However, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that alternative embodiments may also be implemented utilizing only some of the described aspects. For purposes of illustration, specific numbers, materials, and configurations are provided to provide a thorough understanding of the illustrative embodiments. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that alternative embodiments may also be implemented without these specific details. In other cases, well-known features have been omitted or simplified to avoid obscuring the illustrative embodiments.

[0024] In addition, various operations will be described as multiple discrete operations in turn in a manner that is most helpful for understanding the illustrative embodiments; however, the order of description should not be interpreted as meaning that these operations are necessarily order-dependent. In particular, these operations do not need to be performed in the order presented.

[0025] The phrase "in various embodiments," "in some embodiments," and the like are used repeatedly. The phrase generally does not refer to the same embodiment; however, it may refer to the same embodiment. The terms "including," "having," and "comprising" are synonymous unless the context dictates otherwise. The phrase "A and / or B" means (A), (B), or (A and B). The phrases "A / B" and "A or B" mean (A), (B), or (A and B), similar to the phrase "A and / or B." For purposes of the present disclosure, the phrase "at least one of A and B" means (A), (B), or (A and B). The description may use the phrases "in one embodiment," "in an embodiment," "in some embodiments," and / or "in various embodiments," each of which may refer to one or more embodiments in the same or different embodiments. In addition, the terms "including," "comprising," "having," and the like used in connection with the embodiments of the present disclosure are synonymous.

[0026] Example embodiments may be described as a process, which is depicted as a flow chart, job diagram, data flow diagram, structure diagram, or block diagram. Although a flow chart may describe the operations as a sequential process, many operations may be performed in parallel, concurrently, or simultaneously. In addition, the order of the operations may be rearranged. A process may terminate when its operations are completed, but may also have additional steps not included in the diagram (or ones). A process may correspond to a method, function, flow, subroutine, subprogram, etc. When a process corresponds to a function, its termination may correspond to the function returning to the calling function and / or the main function.

[0027] The example embodiments may be described in the general context of computer executable instructions such as program code, software modules, and / or functional processes being executed by one or more of the above-described circuits. The program code, software modules, and / or functional processes may include routines, programs, objects, components, data structures, and the like that perform specific tasks or implement specific data types. The program code, software modules, and / or functional processes discussed herein may be implemented using existing hardware in existing communication networks. For example, the program code, software modules, and / or functional processes discussed herein may be implemented using existing hardware at existing network elements or control nodes.

[0028] Figure 1 The architecture of the system 100 of the network is illustrated according to various embodiments. The following description is provided for an example system 100 operating in conjunction with the Long Term Evolution (LTE) standard provided by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Technical Specification (TS). However, the example embodiments are not limited thereto and the described embodiments may be applied to other networks that benefit from the principles described herein, such as fifth generation (5G) or new radio (NR) systems, etc.

[0029] As used herein, the term "user equipment" or "UE" may refer to a device with radio communication capabilities and may describe a remote user of network resources in a communication network. The term "user equipment" or "UE" may be considered synonymous with and may be referred to as the following terms: client, mobile phone, mobile device, mobile terminal, user terminal, mobile unit, mobile station, mobile user, subscriber, user, remote station, access agent, user agent, receiver, radio device, reconfigurable radio device, reconfigurable mobile device, etc. In addition, the term "user equipment" or "UE" may include any type of wireless / wired device or any computing device that includes a wireless communication interface. In this example, UEs 101 and 102 are shown as smart phones (e.g., handheld touch screen mobile computing devices that can connect to one or more cellular networks), but may also include any mobile or non-mobile computing devices, such as consumer electronic devices, cellular phones, smart phones, feature phones, tablet computers, wearable computer devices, personal digital assistants (PDAs), pagers, wireless handsets, desktop computers, laptop computers, in-vehicle infotainment (IVI), in-car entertainment (ICE) devices, instrument clusters (ICs), head-up display (HUD) devices, onboard diagnostic (OBD) devices, dashboard mobile equipment (DME), mobile data terminals (MDTs), electronic engine management systems (EEMS), electronic / engine control units (ECUs), electronic / engine control modules (ECMs), embedded systems, microcontrollers, control modules, engine management systems (EMSs), etc. system (EMS), connected or “smart” appliances, machine-type communication (MTC) devices, machine-to-machine (M2M), Internet of Things (IoT) devices, and so on.

[0030] In some embodiments, any one of UE 101 and 102 may include 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 a public land mobile network (PLMN), proximity-based services (ProSe) or device-to-device (D2D) communication, a sensor network, or an IoT network. The M2M or MTC data exchange may be a machine-initiated data exchange. The IoT network description utilizes short-term connections to interconnect IoT UEs, which may include uniquely identifiable embedded computing devices (within the Internet infrastructure). The IoT UE may execute background applications (e.g., keep-alive messages, status updates, etc.) to facilitate the connection of the IoT network.

[0031] UE 101 and 102 may be configured to be connected (e.g., communicatively coupled) to a radio access network (RAN) - in this embodiment, the radio access network is an Evolved UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN) 110. UE 101 and 102 utilize connections (or channels) 103 and 104, respectively, each of which includes a physical communication interface or layer (discussed in more detail below). As used herein, the term "channel" may refer to any transmission medium, whether tangible or intangible, for transmitting data or data streams. The term "channel" may be synonymous and / or equivalent to "communication channel", "data communication channel", "transmission channel", "data transmission channel", "access channel", "data access channel", "link", "data link", "carrier", "radio frequency carrier" and / or any other similar terms representing a passage or medium through which data is transmitted. Furthermore, the term "link" may refer to a connection between two devices via a Radio Access Technology (RAT) for the purpose of sending and receiving information.

[0032] In this example, connections 103 and 104 are shown as air interfaces to enable communication coupling, and may conform to cellular communication protocols, such as global system for mobile communications (GSM) protocols, code-division multiple access (CDMA) network protocols, push-to-talk (PTT) protocols, PTT over Cellular (POC) protocols, universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS) protocols, 3GPP long term evolution (LTE) protocols, fifth generation (5G) protocols, new radio (NR) protocols, and / or any other communication protocols discussed herein. In an embodiment, UEs 101 and 102 may directly exchange communication data via ProSe interface 105. The ProSe interface 105 may also be referred to as a sidelink (SL) interface 105 and may include one or more logical channels, including but not limited to a physical sidelink control channel (Physical Sidelink Control Channel, PSCCH), a physical sidelink shared channel (Physical Sidelink Shared Channel, PSSCH), a physical sidelink discovery channel (Physical Sidelink Discovery Channel, PSDCH) and a physical sidelink broadcast channel (Physical Sidelink Broadcast Channel, PSBCH).

[0033] UE 102 is shown as being configured to access an access point (AP) 106 (also referred to as "WLAN node 106," "WLAN 106," "WLAN termination 106," or "WT 106," etc.) via a connection 107. Connection 107 may include a local wireless connection, such as a connection compliant with any IEEE 802.11 protocol, wherein AP 106 would include wireless fidelity router. In this example, AP 106 is shown as being connected to the Internet, but not to the core network of the wireless system (described in more detail below). In various embodiments, UE 102, RAN 110, and AP 106 may be configured to utilize LTE-WLAN aggregation (LWA) operation and / or WLAN LTE / WLAN Radio Level Integration with IPsec Tunnel (LWIP) operation. LWA operation may involve UE 102 in RRC_CONNECTED being configured by RAN nodes 111, 112 to utilize radio resources of LTE and WLAN. LWIP operation may involve UE 102 utilizing WLAN radio resources (e.g., connection 107) via Internet Protocol Security (IPsec) protocol tunneling to authenticate and encrypt packets (e.g., internet protocol (IP) packets) sent over connection 107. IPsec tunneling may include encapsulating the entire original IP packet and adding a new packet header, thereby protecting the original header of the IP packet.

[0034] The radio access network (RAN) 110 may include one or more access nodes that enable connections 103 and 104. As used herein, the terms "access node", "access point", etc. may describe a device that provides radio baseband functionality for data and / or voice connectivity between a network and one or more users. These access nodes may be referred to as base stations (BS), NodeBs, evolved NodeBs (eNBs), next generation NodeBs (gNBs), RAN nodes, road side units (RSUs), transmission reception points (TRxPs or TRPs), etc., and may include ground stations (e.g., ground access points) or satellite stations that provide coverage within a certain geographic area (e.g., a cell). The term "roadside unit" or "RSU" may refer to any transport infrastructure entity implemented in or by a gNB / eNB / RAN node or a fixed (or relatively fixed) UE, wherein an RSU implemented in or by a UE may be referred to as a "UE-type RSU", and an RSU implemented in or by an eNB may be referred to as an "eNB-type RSU". The RAN 110 may include one or more RAN nodes for providing macro cells, such as a macro RAN node 111, and one or more RAN nodes for providing femto cells or pico cells (e.g., cells with smaller coverage areas, smaller user capacity, or higher bandwidth than macro cells), such as a low power (LP) RAN node 112.

[0035] Any one of the RAN nodes 111 and 112 may terminate the air interface protocol and may be the first point of contact for the UEs 101 and 102. In some embodiments, any one of the RAN nodes 111 and 112 may perform various logical functions for the RAN 110, including but not limited to radio network controller (RNC) functions, such as radio bearer management, uplink and downlink dynamic radio resource management and data packet scheduling, and mobility management.

[0036] In an embodiment, UEs 101 and 102 may be configured to communicate with each other or with any of RAN nodes 111 and 112 using Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing (OFDM) communication signals over a multi-carrier communication channel according to various communication techniques, such as, but not limited to, Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) communication techniques (e.g., for downlink communications) or Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA) communication techniques (e.g., for uplink and ProSe or sidecar communications), although the scope of the embodiments is not limited thereto. OFDM signals may include multiple orthogonal subcarriers.

[0037] In some embodiments, a downlink resource grid may be used for downlink transmissions from any of the RAN nodes 111 and 112 to the UEs 101 and 102, 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 the physical resource in the downlink in each time slot. This time-frequency plane representation is a common practice in OFDM systems, which makes it intuitive for radio resource allocation. 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 several resource blocks, which describe the mapping of a specific physical channel to a resource element. Each resource block includes a set of resource elements; in the frequency domain, this may represent the minimum number of resources that can currently be allocated. There are several different physical downlink channels that are transported using such resource blocks.

[0038] The physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) may carry user data and higher layer signaling to the UEs 101 and 102. The physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) may carry information about the transport format and resource allocation related to the PDSCH channel, among other things. It may also inform the UEs 101 and 102 about the transport format, resource allocation, and H-ARQ (Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request) information related to the uplink shared channel. Typically, downlink scheduling (assignment of control and shared channel resource blocks to the UEs 102 within a cell) may be performed at any one of the RAN nodes 111 and 112 based on channel quality information fed back from any one of the UEs 101 and 102. The downlink resource assignment information may be sent on the PDCCH for (e.g., assigned to) each of the UEs 101 and 102.

[0039] PDCCH can use control channel elements (CCE) to carry control information. Before being mapped to resource elements, PDCCH complex symbols can first be organized into quaternions, which can then be transposed using a sub-block interleaver for rate matching. Each PDCCH can be sent using one or more of these CCEs, where each CCE can correspond to nine sets of four physical resource elements called resource element groups (REGs). Four quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) symbols can be mapped to each REG. Depending on the size of the downlink control information (DCI) and the channel conditions, one or more CCEs can be used to send PDCCH. Four or more different PDCCH formats can be defined in LTE, with different numbers of CCEs (e.g., aggregation levels L=1, 2, 4, or 8).

[0040] Some embodiments may use the concept of resource allocation for control channel information, which is an extension of the above concepts. For example, some embodiments may utilize an enhanced physical downlink control channel (EPDCCH) that uses PDSCH resources for control information transmission. EPDCCH may be transmitted using one or more enhanced control channel elements (ECCE). Similar to the above, each ECCE may correspond to nine sets of four physical resource elements referred to as enhanced resource element groups (EREGs). ECCE may have other numbers of EREGs in some cases.

[0041] The RAN 110 is shown as being communicatively coupled to a core network, in this embodiment a Core Network (CN) 120 (e.g., an Evolved Packet Core (EPC)), via an S1 interface 113. In this embodiment, the S1 interface 113 is split into two parts: an S1-U interface 114, which carries traffic data between the RAN nodes 111 and 112 and a serving gateway (S-GW) 122; and an S1 Mobility Management Entity (MME) interface 115, which is a signaling interface between the RAN nodes 111 and 112 and the MME 121.

[0042] In this embodiment, the EPC network 120 includes an MME 121, an S-GW 122, a Packet Data Network (PDN) Gateway (P-GW) 123, and a Home Subscriber Server (HSS) 124. The MME 121 may be similar in function to the control plane of a legacy Serving GPRS Support Node (SGSN). The MME 121 may perform various mobility management (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 an E-UTRAN system) may refer to all applicable procedures, methods, data storage devices, etc., for maintaining knowledge of the current location of the UE 101, 102, providing user identity confidentiality to the user / subscriber, and / or other similar services. Each UE 101, 102 and MME 121 may include an MM or EMM sublayer, and an MM context may be established in the UE 101, 102 and MME 121 when the attach procedure is successfully completed. The MM context may be a data structure or database object storing MM related information of the UE 101, 102.

[0043] The (E)MM sublayer may operate in one of two states, namely, an EMM-REGISTERED state or an EMM-DEREGISTERED state. When an MM / EMM context has been established, the EMM sublayer may enter the EMM-REGISTERED state. In the EMM-REGISTERED state, the UE 101, 102 may initiate sending and receiving user data and signaling information, reply to paging, and perform a tracking area update procedure. In addition, the EMM sublayer of the UE 101, 102 may operate in an EMM-IDLE mode or an EMM-CONNECTED mode. EMM states and modes may appear in any combination. For example, initially, the UE 101, 102 may be in an EMM-DEREGISTERED state and an EMM-IDLE mode, and then, by establishing an RRC connection, the UE 101, 102 may change to an EMM-CONNECTED mode in the EMM-DEREGISTERED state. After successfully completing the attach procedure, the UE 101, 102 may change to the EMM-REGISTERED state and EMM-CONNECTED mode. When the UE 101, 102 is attached and the UE 101, 102 and the network do not have any traffic / signaling to send, the network may release the radio connection and the UE 101, 102 may change to the EMM-IDLE mode while in the EMM-REGISTERED state.

[0044] When the UE 101, 102 is in the EMM-REGISTERED state and in the EMM-IDLE mode (also referred to as the "EPS Connection Management (ECM)-IDLE state"), the location of the UE 101, 102 is known to the MME 121 to the accuracy of a tracking area list containing a certain number of tracking areas. When there is no NAS signaling connection between the UE 101, 102 and the network (e.g., MME 121), the UE 101, 102 may be in the EMM-IDLE mode. When the UE 101, 102 is in the EMM-CONNECTED mode (also referred to as the "ECM-CONNECTED state"), the location of the UE 101, 102 is known to the MME 121 to the accuracy of the serving E-UTRAN node 111, 112. When a NAS signaling connection between the UE and the network is established, the UE 101, 102 may be in the EMM-CONNECTED mode.

[0045] HSS 124 may include a database for network users, including subscription-related information, to support network entities in handling communication sessions. EPC network 120 may include one or several HSSs 124, depending on the number of mobile subscribers, the capacity of the devices, the organization of the network, etc. For example, HSS 124 may provide support for routing / roaming, authentication, authorization, naming / addressing resolution, location compliance, etc.

[0046] The S-GW 122 may terminate the S1 interface 113 towards the RAN 110 and route data packets between the RAN 110 and the EPC network 120. In addition, the S-GW 122 may be a local mobility anchor point for handovers between RAN nodes and may also provide an anchor for inter-3GPP mobility. Other responsibilities may include lawful interception, charging, and some policy enforcement.

[0047] The P-GW 123 may terminate the SGi interface toward the PDN. The P-GW 123 may route data packets between the EPC network 123 and an external network via an Internet Protocol (IP) interface 125, such as a network including an application server 130 (or an application function (AF)). In general, the application server 130 may be an element that provides applications that use IP bearer resources with the core network (e.g., UMTS Packet Service (PS) domain, LTE PS data service, etc.). In this embodiment, the P-GW 123 is shown as being communicatively coupled to the application server 130 via an IP communication interface 125. The application server 130 may also be configured to support one or more communication services (e.g., Voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) sessions, PTT sessions, group communication sessions, social networking services, etc.) for the UEs 101 and 102 via the EPC network 120.

[0048] P-GW 123 may also be a node for policy enforcement and charging data collection. Policy and Charging Enforcement Function (PCRF) 126 is a policy and charging control element of EPC network 120. In a non-roaming scenario, there may be a single PCRF in the Home Public Land Mobile Network (HPLMN) associated with the Internet Protocol Connectivity Access Network (IP-CAN) session of RE. In a roaming scenario with local routing of traffic, there may be two PCRFs associated with the IP-CAN session of RE: the Home PCRF (H-PCRF) within the HPLMN and the Visited PCRF (V-PCRF) within the Visited Public Land Mobile Network (VPLMN). PCRF 126 may be communicatively coupled to application server 130 via P-GW 123. The application server 130 may signal the PCRF 126 to indicate the new service flow and select appropriate quality of service (QoS) and charging parameters. The PCRF 126 may configure this rule into the policy and charging enforcement function (PCEF) (not shown) using the appropriate traffic flow template (TFT) and QoS class of identifier (QCI), which initiates the QoS and charging specified by the application server 130.

[0049] According to various embodiments, the UE 101, 102 may operate in an enhanced coverage mode or use enhanced coverage functionality to access the cell(s) provided by the RAN nodes 111, 112. In some embodiments, the UE 101, 102 operating with enhanced coverage may be a bandwidth reduced low complexity (BL) UE 101, 102, which are UEs that are capable of operating in any LTE (or NR) system bandwidth but with a limited channel bandwidth of, for example, 6 physical resource blocks (PRBs) in the downlink and uplink (corresponding to the maximum channel bandwidth available in an LTE system of, for example, 1.4 MHz).

[0050] Currently, the 3GPP standard supports two enhanced coverage modes: Coverage Enhancement (CE) Mode A and CE Mode B. CE Mode A can be used for relatively mild coverage enhancement, and CE Mode B can be used for wide coverage enhancement. Depending on the UE category of the UE 101, 102, for unicast transmission, the UE 101, 102 operating in CE Mode B may have a maximum PDSCH / PUSCH bandwidth in connected mode. For example, a category M1 BL UE operating in CE Mode B may have a maximum 6PRB bandwidth for each of PDSCH and PUSCH; a category M2 BL UE operating in CE Mode B may have a maximum 24PRB bandwidth for PDSCH and a maximum 6PRB bandwidth for PUSCH; and a non-BL UE operating in CE Mode B may have a maximum 96PRB bandwidth for PDSCH and a maximum 6PRB bandwidth for PUSCH.

[0051] UE 101, 102 may also be a UE with Circuit Switched Fallback (CSFB) and / or IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) / Circuitry Switched (CS) voice capabilities. CSFB allows the UE to fall back to using GERAN (Global System for Mobile Communications, GSM) / Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE) radio access network), UTRAN (Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network) or some other legacy system while in E-UTRAN to initiate or receive calls via the Circuit Switched (CS) domain, etc. In such an embodiment, UE 101, 102 may perform an access domain selection procedure for UE-originated voice calls to decide whether the call should be served in the CS domain or using IMS. The access domain selection may be based on the state of the UE 101, 102 in the CS domain (e.g., attached, detached), the state of the UE 101, 102 in the IMS (e.g., registered or unregistered), the domain used by existing sessions / calls for the same service, user preferences and / or operator policies, whether the UE 101, 102 supports IMS sessions over PS, and whether the UE 101, 102 is expected to act in a "voice-centric" manner or in a "data-centric" manner, etc.

[0052] Domain selection for originating voice calls may include setting the UE 101, 102 to behave as "voice centric" or "data centric". When the UE 101, 102 is set to "voice centric", the UE 101, 102 will always try to ensure that voice services are possible. This means that if voice services in E-UTRAN cannot be provided via CSFB or voice over IMS, the voice-centric UE 101, 102 may reselect to a 2G / 3G RAN node (e.g., by disabling its E-UTRA capabilities). When the UE 101, 102 is set to "data centric", if voice services are not available, the UE 101, 102 does not disable E-UTRAN capabilities. This means that even if voice services in E-UTRAN cannot be provided via CSFB or voice over IMS, the data-centric UE 101, 102 will not reselect to other RATs.

[0053] If the UE 101, 102 supports CSFB, or the UE 101, 102 is configured to support IMS voice, or the UE 101, 102 supports both CSFB and IMS voice, the UE shall include a "Voice Domain Preference and UE Usage Settings" information element (IE) in the Attach Request, Tracking Area Update (TAU) Request, and Routing Area Update (RAU) Request messages. The UE 101, 102 may use the "Voice Domain Preference and UE Usage Settings" IE to inform the network of the UE's usage settings and the voice domain preference for E-UTRAN. The UE's usage settings indicate whether the UE acts in a voice-centric or data-centric manner. The voice domain preference for E-UTRAN indicates whether the UE is configured for CS voice only, CS voice preferred and IMS packet switched (PS) voice second, IMS PS voice preferred and CS voice second, or IMS PS voice only. In some cases, a change in the UE's usage settings or voice domain preference for E-UTRAN may trigger the UE 101, 102 to perform a TAU procedure.

[0054] According to various first embodiments, whenever the UE usage setting of UE 101, 102 is changed from "voice centric" to "data centric" or vice versa, the UE 101, 102 supporting CE mode B may detach and subsequently reattach to the network in order to update the UE radio capability information at the MME 121, changing the CE mode B support indication in the UE radio capability information from a value of "not supported" to a value of "supported", or vice versa. One disadvantage of the first embodiment is that such an embodiment may be relatively expensive in terms of signaling overhead via the radio interface, including that such an embodiment may require acquisition of a complete new UE radio capability. In addition, the change from "voice centric" to "data centric" or vice versa may occur when UE 101, 102 is operating in CE mode B, and therefore, signaling resources may be scarce when compared to operating in normal or non-enhanced coverage mode.

[0055] According to various second embodiments, whenever the UE's usage setting is changed from voice-centric to data-centric or from data-centric to voice-centric, the MME 121 may update the UE radio capabilities during a TAU procedure for the UE 101, 102. In such an embodiment, if the UE 101, 102 performs an attach procedure or a TAU procedure for "first TAU ​​after GERAN / UTRAN attach", for "UE radio capabilities update", or in the case where the UE supports CE mode B, in order to indicate a change in the UE usage setting from voice-centric to data-centric or from data-centric to voice-centric, the MME 121 may delete (or mark for deletion) any UE radio capabilities information it has stored for the UE 101, 102. In addition, if the MME 121 sends an S1 interface initial context setup request message or a UE radio capabilities match request message during the attach / TAU procedure, the MME 121 may not send any UE radio capabilities information to the RAN nodes 111, 112 in the message. This may trigger the E-UTRAN nodes 111, 112 to request UE radio capabilities from the UE 101, 102 and upload them to the MME 121 in an S1 interface UE CAPABILITY INFORMATION INDICATION message. In such an embodiment, the UE radio capabilities may include an indication of the support of CE Mode B by the UE 101, 102. Upon receiving the UE radio capabilities in the UE CAPABILITY INFORMATION INDICATION message, the MME 121 may store the UE radio capability information and include it in additional INITIALCONTEXT SETUP REQUEST or UE RADIO CAPABILITY MATCH REQUEST messages in cases other than the attach or TAU procedures for the "first TAU ​​after GERAN / UTRAN attach" and "UE radio capability update" procedures.

[0056] The second embodiment may include an update to Section 5.11.2 of 3GPP Technical Specification (TS) 23.401 Version (v) 15.2.0 (2017-12) as follows:

[0057] If the UE performs an Attach procedure or Tracking Area Update procedure for "First TAU ​​after GERAN / UTRAN Attach" or for "UE Radio Capability Update" or for "UE supports CE Mode B and changes the UE's usage setting from Voice Centric to Data Centric (and vice versa)", the MME shall delete (or mark for deletion) any UE radio capability information it has stored, and if the MME sends an S1 interface INITIAL CONTEXT SETUP REQUEST or UE RADIO CAPABILITY MATCH REQUEST message during this procedure, the MME shall not send any UE radio capability information to the E-UTRAN in this message. This triggers the E-UTRAN to request the UE radio capabilities from the UE and upload it to the MME in the S1 interface UECAPABILITY INFO INDICATION message. The MME stores the UE radio capability information and includes it in additional INITIAL CONTEXT SETUP REQUEST or UE RADIO CAPABILITY MATCH REQUEST messages in cases other than the Attach procedure, the Tracking Area Update procedure for "First TAU ​​after GERAN / UTRAN Attach" and the "UE Radio Capability Update" procedure.

[0058] The second embodiment may be better than the first embodiment in terms of radio signaling overhead; however, the second embodiment may only be applicable to UEs 101, 102 that are in EPS Mobility Management (EMM)-idle mode at the moment when the UE usage setting of UE 101, 102 is changed. If UE 101, 102 is already in EMM connected mode and the UE radio capability information element (IE) has been provided to E-UTRAN nodes 111, 112 by MME 121 using S1 interface INITIALCONTEXT SETUP REQUEST or UE RADIO CAPABILITY MATCH REQUEST message, it will not be updated as long as UE 101, 102 remains in EMM connected mode. If the UE radio capability IE has not been provided to the E-UTRAN node 111, 112 by the MME 121, the MME 121 may send an S1 interface INITIAL CONTEXT SETUP REQUEST or UE RADIO CAPABILITY MATCH REQUEST message that does not include the UE radio capability IE. In response to receiving such an S1 message, the E-UTRAN node 111, 112 may obtain the UE radio capabilities from the UE 101, 102. In order to allow the usage settings of the UE 101, 102 to be updated while the UE 101, 102 is in EMM connected mode, a new indicator / flag / parameter called "CE Mode B Restriction Parameter" may be added to the S1-AP message to be sent by the MME 121 to the RAN node 111, 112. The new indicator / flag / parameter may indicate whether the UE 101, 102 is "restricted" or "unrestricted" CE Mode B for the UE 101, 102. The S1-AP message may be an INITIAL CONTEXT SETUP REQUEST message, a HANDOVERREQUEST message, a PATH SWITCH REQUEST ACKNOWLEDGE message, a CONNECTION ESTABLISHMENT INDICATION message, a DOWNLINK NAS TRANSPORT message carrying a TAU ACCEPT message, or some other similar message.

[0059] A variation of the second embodiment may be used for UEs 101, 102 in EMM connected mode when the usage setting of the UE is changed from data-centric to voice-centric, or vice versa, and the UE radio capability IE has been provided to the E-UTRAN nodes 111, 112 by the MME 121. In such an embodiment, the MME 121 may receive a TAU request message from the UE 101, 102, wherein the TAU request includes a "UE radio capability information update required" indicator. In response to receiving a TAU request message including this indicator or indicating a change in the usage setting of the UE from data-centric to voice-centric or from voice-centric to data-centric, the MME 121 may send an S1 interface message, such as a UE RADIO CAPABILITYMATCH REQUEST message, which does not have the UE radio capability IE, but instead includes an "update required" indicator.

[0060] When the E-UTRAN nodes 111, 112 receive the S1 interface UE RADIOCAPABILITY MATCH REQUEST message with the "update required" indicator, the E-UTRAN nodes 111, 112 may initiate an RRC UE capability query procedure to obtain UE radio capabilities from the UE 101, 102, even if the E-UTRAN nodes 111, 112 have already received the UE radio capability IE from the MME 121 using an earlier S1 interface message (e.g., in an INITIAL CONTEXT SETUP REQUEST or UE RADIO CAPABILITY MATCH REQUEST message) or received the UE radio capability IE from the UE 101, 102 during an earlier RRC UE capability query procedure. The UE 101, 102 may provide updated UE capability information to the E-UTRAN node 111, 112, including an updated CE Mode B Support Indication, which indicates a value of "Not Supported" if the usage setting of the UE is changed from Data Centric to Voice Centric, or a value of "Supported" if the usage setting of the UE is changed from Voice Centric to Data Centric. After the E-UTRAN node 111, 112 obtains the UE capability information in the RRC UE Capability Query Response message, the E-UTRAN node 111, 112 may provide the updated UE Radio Capabilities IE to the MME 121 in the S1-AP UE Capability Information Indication message. The MME 121 may then store the UE radio capabilities, including the CE Mode B Support Indication, for subsequent access by the UE 101, 102.

[0061] In addition to updating the UE's usage settings and / or support for CE Mode B, the enhanced TAU procedure with the "UE radio capability information update required" indicator discussed for the variation of the second embodiment can be used to update any radio capability parameters. For example, supported UE categories, supported frequency bands or frequency band combinations, support for FDD or TDD mode, etc. can be updated using the variation of the second embodiment.

[0062] Furthermore, for the case where the UE 101, 102 determines that new UE radio capabilities should be notified to the network when it is already in EMM connected mode, the UE 101, 102 may need to keep using the previously or currently enabled UE radio capabilities until the UE 101, 102 has notified the E-UTRAN nodes 111, 112 of the new UE radio capabilities. If the UE 101, 102 immediately switches to using the new UE radio capabilities and configures its radio frequency circuits and physical layer accordingly, and the E-UTRAN node 111, 112 initiates an RRC procedure based on the old UE radio capabilities, the RRC procedure may fail.

[0063] According to various third embodiments, the MME 121 may determine whether CE Mode B should be restricted using the usage setting of the UE indicated by the Attach / TAU request, and may inform the E-UTRAN nodes 111, 112 about the determined restriction whenever the usage setting of the UE is changed from voice-centric to data-centric or from data-centric to voice-centric. In such embodiments, the UE 101, 102 may send a "Voice Domain Preference and UE's Usage Setting" IE to the MME 121 in an Attach Request, TAU Request, and / or RAU Request message to indicate the UE's usage setting and the voice domain preference for E-UTRAN. The voice domain preference for E-UTRAN may indicate whether the UE 101, 102 is configured for CS voice only, CS voice preferred and IMS Packet Switched (PS) voice second, IMS PS voice preferred and CS voice second, or IMS PS voice only.

[0064] In a third embodiment, if UE 101, 102 supports CE mode B, UE 101, 102 may send CE mode B capabilities to E-UTRAN nodes 111, 112 and / or MME 121, regardless of its current UE usage setting ("voice centric" or "data centric"). If UE 101, 102 supports "CE mode B" and the UE's usage setting is set to voice centric, UE 101, 102 may not operate in CE mode B, CE mode B may be disabled locally, and UE 101, 102 may not extend NAS timers and / or may or may not initiate any dedicated bearer establishment (e.g., voice over LTE (VoLTE) based on LTE, etc.).

[0065] One difference between the third embodiment and the second embodiment is that, if the UE 101, 102 supports CE mode B and the usage setting of the UE is set to voice centric, then in the second embodiment, the UE 101, 102 does not send a CE mode support capability indicating "support of CE mode B" to the MME 121 during the attach / TAU / RAU procedure. In contrast, in the third embodiment, the UE 101, 102 always reports its correct capability. Another difference is that the second embodiment may require updating of the UE radio capabilities stored at the MME 121 when the UE 101, 102 switches from "voice centric" to "data centric" and from "data centric" to "voice centric", while the third embodiment may not require updating of the UE radio capabilities stored at the MME 121 when the UE 101, 102 switches from "voice centric" to "data centric" and from "data centric" to "voice centric".

[0066] According to various fourth embodiments, the UE 101, 102 may provide two versions of UE radio capabilities to the MME 121 during the attach / TAU / RAU procedure. One version of the UE radio capabilities may be used for a voice-centric UE usage setting, and a second version of the UE radio capabilities information may be used for a data-centric usage setting. This may force the MME 121 to select the correct UE radio capabilities whenever the UE's usage setting is changed from voice-centric to data-centric or from data-centric to voice-centric during the TAU / RAU procedure. In such an embodiment, the MME 121 may store two versions of the UE radio capabilities information, and the MME 121 may send the UE radio capabilities corresponding to the UE's usage setting to the E-UTRAN nodes 111, 112. Furthermore, if UE 101, 102 supports CE Mode B, the UE usage setting is changed, and UE 101, 102 is already in EMM connected mode, MME 121 may send the UE radio capabilities to E-UTRAN nodes 111, 112 in a Connection Setup Indication message, a Downlink NAS Transport message, or some other appropriate message.

[0067] One difference between the fourth embodiment and the second embodiment may include the use of two versions of UE radio capabilities sent by the UE 101, 102 and stored by the MME 121. Transmitting and storing two versions of UE radio capabilities may require more signaling and storage overhead at the UE 101, 102 and the MME 121. However, the fourth embodiment may be simplified so that the second version only contains changes in the radio capabilities, rather than sending the complete radio capabilities. In addition, the fourth embodiment may be more general and may be used if more changes are proposed in the future, such as implementing new CE modes, new CE mechanisms, etc.

[0068] According to various fifth embodiments, whenever the usage setting of the UE is changed from voice-centric to data-centric or from data-centric to voice-centric, the MME 121 may analyze the UE radio capability information and may modify and provide updated UE radio capabilities to the E-UTRAN nodes 111, 112. In addition, if the UE 101, 102 supports CE mode B, the usage setting of the UE is changed, and the UE 101, 102 is already in EMM connected mode, the MME 121 may send the UE radio capabilities to the E-UTRAN nodes 111, 112 in a connection establishment indication message, a downlink NAS transfer message, or some other appropriate message. One disadvantage of the fifth embodiment is that it may require an update to the implementation / operation of the MME 121 to analyze and / or modify the UE radio capability information.

[0069] In various embodiments discussed herein, when the usage setting of the UE is changed while the UE 101, 102 is in EMM connected mode or EMM idle mode, a new indicator, flag, parameter referred to as "CE Mode B Restriction Parameter" may be added to S1-AP messages (e.g., INITIAL CONTEXT SETUP REQUEST message, HANDOVER REQUEST message, PATH SWITCH REQUEST ACKNOWLEDGE message, CONNECTION ESTABLISHMENT INDICATION message, and DOWNLINK NAS TRANSPORT message carrying TAU ACCEPT message (including when the UE initiates a TAU in EMM connected mode after PS handover)) sent from the MME 121 to the E-UTRAN nodes 111, 112. The new indicator may indicate whether CE Mode B is "restricted" or "unrestricted" for the UE 101, 102. For example, if the UE usage setting of the UE 101, 102 is set to voice centric, the UE 101, 102 may not operate in CE mode B (or CE mode B is "restricted"). In contrast, if the UE usage setting of the UE 101, 102 is set to data centric, the UE 101, 102 may operate in CE mode B (or CE mode B is "unrestricted"). In some of the various embodiments discussed herein, the CE mode B restriction parameter may be included in a non-access stratum (NAS) message (e.g., Attach Accept, TAU Accept, etc.) sent by the MME 121 to the UE 101, 102.

[0070] In some embodiments discussed herein, a "CE Mode B restriction parameter" may be set by the MME 121 based on the usage setting of the UE. If the UE 101, 102 supports CE Mode B and the usage setting of the UE is set to "Voice Centric", the MME 121 may set the CE Mode B restriction parameter to a first value to indicate that CE Mode B is "restricted" for the UE 101, 102. In one example, the first value may be an integer, such as "1", or may be a string, such as "restricted", or may be a flag set to "1". If the UE 101, 102 supports CE Mode B and the usage setting of the UE is set to "Data Centric", the MME 121 may set the CE Mode B restriction parameter to a second value to indicate that CE Mode B is "not restricted" for the UE 101, 102. In one example, the second value may be an integer, such as "0", or may be a string, such as "not restricted", or may be a flag set to "0".

[0071] In the various embodiments discussed herein, when the usage setting of the UE is changed from "data-centric" to "voice-centric", the CE mode B restriction parameter in the S1-AP message (e.g., INITIAL CONTEXT SETUP REQUEST message, HANDOVER REQUEST message, PATH SWITCH REQUEST ACKNOWLEDGE message, CONNECTION ESTABLISHMENT INDICATION message, and DOWNLINK NAS TRANSPORT message carrying TAU ACCEPT message) may be set to a first value (e.g., "1", "restricted", etc.) indicating that CE mode B is "restricted" for UE 101, 102. If the usage setting of the UE is changed from "voice centric" to "data centric", the CE mode B restriction parameter in the S1-AP message (e.g., INITIALCONTEXT SETUP REQUEST message, HANDOVER REQUEST message, PATH SWITCH REQUESTACKNOWLEDGE message, CONNECTION ESTABLISHMENT INDICATION message, and DOWNLINK NAS TRANSPORT message carrying TAU ACCEPT message) may be set to a second value (e.g., "0", "unrestricted", etc.) indicating "unrestricted" CE mode B for UE 101, 102. In some embodiments, the "CE mode B restriction parameter" may be included in the various S1-AP messages mentioned previously to indicate whether CE mode B is "restricted" or "unrestricted" for UE 101, 102 according to the subscription.

[0072] In some embodiments, a value of a CE mode B restriction parameter different from that previously described may be used to indicate whether CE mode B is "restricted" or "unrestricted" for UE 101, 102. In some embodiments, the "CE mode B restriction parameter" may be an "enumerated" type variable, for example, the "CE mode B restriction parameter" may be another code point value of the existing "enhanced coverage restriction parameter" included in the previously mentioned S1-AP message.

[0073] In the various embodiments discussed herein, MME 121 may store the "CE Mode B Restriction Parameter" parameter in the MM context of UE 101, 102 or MME 121 may derive its value from a UE usage setting parameter {possible values: "Data Centric", "Voice Centric"} already stored in the UE context (and / or MM context) when necessary.

[0074] In various embodiments discussed herein, if the "CE Mode B restriction parameter" is set to a "restricted" value, the UE 101, 102 and / or the MME 121 may not start or extend (one or more) extended NAS timers. In such embodiments, if the CE Mode B restriction parameter of the UE 101, 102 is set to a "unrestricted" value, the MME 121 may reject any request for dedicated bearer establishment for the UE 101, 102.

[0075] In various embodiments discussed herein, a NAS entity at a UE 101, 102 may disable the use of CE Mode B (e.g., due to a change from "data-centric" to "voice-centric" or from "voice-centric" to "data-centric"), and the NAS entity may inform an access stratum (AS) entity at the UE 101, 102 not to enable procedures applicable to CE Mode B in idle or connected mode, such as for cell reselection, random access, measurement gaps, etc. When the NAS entity enables the use of CE Mode B, the NAS entity may inform the AS entity to enable CE Mode B procedures applicable in idle or connected mode.

[0076] Figure 2 The architecture of a system 200 of a network is illustrated according to some embodiments. The system 200 is shown to include a UE 201, which may be the same or similar to the previously described UEs 101 and 102; a RAN node 211, which may be the same or similar to the previously described RAN nodes 111 and 112; a data network (DN) 203, which may be, for example, an operator service, Internet access, or a third-party service; and a 5G Core Network (5G Core Network, 5GC or CN) 220.

[0077] Similar to UE 101, 102, UE 201 with 5GC capability may also perform an access domain selection process for UE-originated voice calls. Access domain selection may be based on the state of UE 201 in IMS (e.g., registered or unregistered), whether UE 201 supports PS-based IMS sessions, the ability of UE to operate in dual registration mode with selective PDU session transfer, and whether UE 201 is expected to act in a "voice-centric" or "data-centric" manner, etc. For domain selection for originating voice calls, UE 101, 102 may be set to behave as "voice-centric" or "data-centric".

[0078] When a 5GC capable UE 201 is set to "Voice Centric" for 5GS, the UE 201 will always try to ensure that voice services are possible. This means that a voice-centric UE 201 may choose not only to connect to a cell of the 5GC 220. The UE 201 may also disable its 5GS capability and first reselect to an E-UTRAN node 111, 112 (if available) and may proceed as previously for 5GS. Figure 1 . When UE 201 is set to "data-centric", if voice services cannot be obtained, UE 201 does not disable 5GS capabilities (or perform any reselection). This means that even if voice services in 5GC cannot be provided, a data-centric UE 201 will not reselect to another RAT. In addition, if UE 201 is configured to support IMS voice, UE 201 may include a "UE usage settings" IE in the registration update request message (discussed below). The UE usage settings indicate whether the UE acts in a "voice-centric" or "data-centric" manner.

[0079] CN 220 may include an Authentication Server Function (AUSF) 222; an Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) 221; a Session Management Function (SMF) 224; a Network Exposure Function (NEF) 223; a Policy Control Function (PCF) 226; a Network Function (NF) Repository Function (NRF) 225; a Unified Data Management (UDM) 227; an Application Function (AF) 228; a User Plane Function (UPF) 202; and a Network Slice Selection Function (NSSF) 229.

[0080] UPF 202 may act as an anchor point for intra-RAT and inter-RAT mobility, an external PDU session point interconnected to DN 203, and a branch point supporting multi-homed PDU sessions. UPF 202 may also perform packet routing and forwarding, packet inspection, user plane portion of policy rule enforcement, lawful interception of packets (UP collection); traffic usage reporting, QoS processing for the user plane (e.g., packet filtering, gating, UL / DL rate enforcement), uplink traffic verification (e.g., SDF to QoS flow mapping), transport level packet marking in uplink and downlink, and downlink packet buffering and downlink data notification triggering. UPF 202 may include an uplink classifier to support routing of traffic flows to data networks. DN 203 may represent various network operator services, Internet access, or third-party services. NY 203 may include or be similar to the application server 130 described previously. UPF 202 may interact with SMF 224 via the N4 reference point between SMF 224 and UPF 202.

[0081] AUSF 222 may store data for authentication of UE 201 and handle authentication related functions. AUSF 222 may facilitate a common authentication framework for various access types. AUSF 222 may communicate with AMF 221 via the N12 reference point between AMF 221 and AUSF 222; and may communicate with UDM 227 via the N13 reference point between UDM 227 and AUSF 222. In addition, AUSF 222 may present a Nausf service-based interface.

[0082] AMF 221 may be responsible for registration management (e.g., for registering UE 201, etc.), connection management, reachability management, mobility management, and lawful interception of AMF-related events, as well as access authentication and authorization. AMF 221 may be a termination point for the N11 reference point between AMF 221 and SMF 224. AMF 221 may provide transport for session management (SM) messages between UE 201 and SMF 224, and act as a transparent proxy for routing SM messages. AMF 221 may also be a proxy for UE 201 and SMS function (SMSF) ( Figure 2The AMF 221 provides transport for short message service (SMS) messages between the (R)AN 211 and the UE 201 (not shown). The AMF 221 may act as a Security Anchor Function (SEA), which may include interaction with the AUSF 222 and the UE 201, and reception of intermediate keys established as a result of the UE 201 authentication process. When USIM-based authentication is used, the AMF 221 may obtain security material from the AUSF 222. The AMF 221 may also include a Security Context Management (SCM) function, which receives keys from the SEA, which are used to derive access network-specific keys. In addition, the AMF 221 may be a termination point for a RAN CP interface, which may include or may be an N2 reference point between the (R)AN 211 and the AMF 221; and the AMF 221 may be a termination point for NAS (N1) signaling, and perform NAS encryption and integrity protection.

[0083] The AMF 221 may also support NAS signaling with the UE 201 via an N3 interworking-function (IWF) interface. The N3IWF may be used to provide access to untrusted entities. The N3IWF may be a termination point for the N2 interface between the (R)AN 211 and the AMF 221 for the control plane, and may be a termination point for the N3 reference point between the (R)AN 211 and the UPF 202 for the user plane. In this way, the AMF 221 may process N2 signaling from the SMF 224 and the AMF 221 for PDU sessions and QoS, mark N3 user plane packets in the uplink for IPSec and N3 tunneling encapsulation / decapsulation packets, and implement QoS corresponding to N3 packet marking, taking into account QoS requirements associated with such marking received over N2. The N3IWF may also relay uplink and downlink control plane NAS signaling between the UE 201 and the AMF 221 via the N1 reference point between the UE 201 and the AMF 221, and relay uplink and downlink user plane packets between the UE 201 and the UPF 202. The N3IWF also provides a mechanism for IPsec tunnel establishment with the UE 201. The AMF 221 may present a Namf service-based interface and may be a termination point for the N14 reference point between two AMFs 221 and a 5G-Equipment Identity Register (5G-EIR) between the AMF 221 and the 5G-Equipment Identity Register (5G-EIR) ( Figure 2 The termination point of the N17 reference point between the two terminals (not shown).

[0084] UE 201 may need to register with AMF 221 in order to receive network services. Registration Management (RM) is used to register or deregister UE 221 with the network (e.g., AMF 221) and establish a UE context in the network (e.g., AMF 221). UE 201 may operate in the RM-REGISTERED state or the RM-DEREGISTERED state. In the RM DEREGISTERED state, UE 201 is not registered with the network, and the UE context in AMF 221 does not maintain valid location or routing information for UE 201, so UE 201 is unreachable by AMF 221. In the RM REGISTERED state, UE 201 is registered with the network, and the UE context in AMF 221 may maintain valid location or routing information for UE 201, so UE 201 is reachable by AMF 221. In the RM-REGISTERED state, UE 201 may perform a mobility registration update procedure, perform a periodic registration update procedure triggered by expiration of a periodic update timer (e.g., to notify the network that UE 201 is still active), and perform a registration update procedure to update UE capability information or renegotiate protocol parameters with the network, etc.

[0085] AMF 221 may store one or more RM contexts for UE 201, each RM context being associated with a specific access to the network. An RM context may be a data structure, a database object, or the like that indicates or stores registration status and periodic update timers by access type, etc. AMF 221 may also store a 5GC MM context that may be the same or similar to the (E)MM context described previously. In various embodiments, AMF 221 may store CE mode B restriction parameters for UE 201 in an associated MM context or RM context. AMF 221 may also derive the value from a UE usage setting parameter {possible values: "data-centric", "voice-centric"} already stored in the UE context (and / or MM / RM context) when necessary.

[0086] Connection Management (CM) may be used to establish and release a signaling connection between the UE 201 and the AMF 221 over the N1 interface. The signaling connection is used to enable NAS signaling exchange between the UE 201 and the CN 220, and includes both an AN signaling connection between the UE and the access network (AN) (e.g., an RRC connection or a UE-N3IWF connection for non-3GPP access), and an N2 connection for the UE 201 between the AN (e.g., RAN 211) and the AMF 221. The UE 201 may operate in one of two states, namely, a CM-IDLE mode or a CM-CONNECTED mode. When the UE 201 operates in the CM-IDLE state / mode, the UE 201 may not have a NAS signaling connection established with the AMF 221 over the N1 interface, and there may be a (R)AN 211 signaling connection for the UE 201 (e.g., an N2 and / or N3 connection). When the UE 201 operates in the CM-CONNECTED state / mode, the UE 201 may have a NAS signaling connection established with the AMF 221 through the N1 interface, and there may be a (R)AN 211 signaling connection (e.g., N2 and / or N3 connection) for the UE 201. Establishing an N2 connection between the (R)AN 211 and the AMF 221 may cause the UE 201 to transition from the CM-IDLE mode to the CM-CONNECTED mode, and the UE 201 may transition from the CM-CONNECTED mode to the CM-IDLE mode when the N2 signaling between the (R)AN 211 and the AMF 221 is released.

[0087] SMF 224 may be responsible for session management (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; configuration of traffic steering at UPF to route traffic to the appropriate destination; termination of interfaces toward policy control functions; control portion of policy enforcement and QoS; lawful interception (for SM events and interface to LI system); termination of the SM portion of NAS messages; downlink data notification; initiator of AN-specific SM information sent to AN via AMF over N2; determination of SSC mode for session. SMF224 may include the following roaming functions: handling local implementation to apply QoS SLA (VPLMN); charging data collection and charging interface (VPLMN); lawful interception (in VPLMN, for SM events and interface to LI system); support for interaction with external DNs for transporting signaling for PDU session authorization / authentication by external DNs. An N16 reference point between two SMFs 224 may be included in the system 200, which in a roaming scenario may be between another SMF 224 in a visited network and an SMF 224 in a home network. In addition, the SMF 224 may expose an Nsmf service-based interface.

[0088] NEF 223 may provide a means for securely exposing services and capabilities provided by 3GPP network functions, internal exposure / re-exposure, application functions (e.g., AF 228), edge computing or fog computing systems, etc. to third parties. In such an embodiment, NEF 223 may authenticate, authorize and / or throttle AF. NEF 223 may also convert information exchanged with AF 228 and information exchanged with internal network functions. For example, NEF 223 may convert between AF service identifiers and internal 5GC information. NEF 223 may also receive information from other network functions (NF) based on the exposure capabilities of other network functions. This information may be stored at NEF 223 as structured data, or stored at a data storage NF using a standardized interface. The stored information may then be re-exposed to other NFs and AFs by NEF 223, and / or used for other purposes, such as parsing. In addition, NEF 223 may present an Nnef service-based interface.

[0089] NRF 225 may support service discovery functionality, receive NF discovery requests from NF instances, and provide information of discovered NF instances to NF instances. NRF 225 also maintains information of available NF instances and the services they support. As used herein, the term "instantiation" or the like may refer to the creation of an instance, and "instance" may refer to a specific occurrence of an object, which may occur during the execution of, for example, a program code. In addition, NRF 225 may present an Nnrf service-based interface.

[0090] The PCF 226 may provide policy rules to (one or more) control plane functions for implementation thereof, and may also support a unified policy framework to constrain network behavior. The PCF 226 may also implement a front end (FE) to access subscription information related to policy decisions in the UDR of the UDM 227. The PCF 226 may communicate with the AMF 221 via the N15 reference point between the PCF 226 and the AMF 221, which may include the PCF 226 and the AMF 221 in the visited network in the case of a roaming scenario. The PCF 226 may communicate with the AF 228 via the N5 reference point between the PCF 226 and the AF 228; and communicate with the SMF 224 via the N7 reference point between the PCF 226 and the SMF 224. The system 200 and / or the CN 220 may also include an N24 reference point between the PCF 226 (in the home network) and the PCF 226 in the visited network. Additionally, PCF 226 may expose an Npcf service-based interface.

[0091] UDM 227 may process subscription-related information to support network entities in handling communication sessions, and may store subscription data of UE 201. For example, the subscription data may be communicated with AMF 221 ( Figure 2 The N8 reference point between the UDM 227 and the AMF 221 transmits subscription data between the UDM 227 and the AMF 221. The UDM 227 may include two parts, the application FE and the user data repository (User Data Repository, UDR) ( Figure 2FE and UDR are not shown). The UDR may store subscription data and policy data for the UDM 227 and PCF 226, and / or store structured data and application data for exposure for the NEF 223 (including Packet Flow Description (PFD) for application detection, application request information for multiple UEs 201). The Nudr service-based interface may be exposed by the UDR 221 to allow the UDM 227, PCF 226 and NEF 223 to access a specific set of stored data, as well as read, update (e.g., add, modify), delete and subscribe to notifications of changes to related data in the UDR. The UDM may include a UDM FE, which is responsible for certificate processing, location management, subscription management, and the like. Several different front ends may serve the same user in different transactions. The UDM-FE accesses the subscription information stored in the UDR and performs authentication certificate processing; user identification processing; access authorization; registration / mobility management; and subscription management. The UDR may interact with the SMF 224 via the N10 reference point between the UDM 227 and the SMF 224. The UDM 227 may also support SMS management, where the SMS-FE implements application logic similar to that described previously. In addition, the UDM 227 may expose a Nudm service-based interface.

[0092] AF 228 can provide application influence on traffic routing, access to Network Capability Exposure (NCE), and interact with the policy framework for policy control. NCE can be a mechanism that allows 5GC and AF 228 to provide information to each other via NEF 223, which can be used for edge computing implementation. In this implementation, the attached access point of UE 201 can be close to host network operators and third-party services to achieve efficient service delivery through reduced end-to-end delay and load on the transmission network. For edge computing implementation, 5GC can select UPF 202 close to UE201 and perform traffic manipulation from UPF 202 to DN 203 via N6 interface. This can be based on UE subscription data, UE location and information provided by AF 228. In this way, AF 228 can affect UPF (re) selection and traffic routing. Based on operator deployment, when AF 228 is considered a trusted entity, the network operator can allow AF 228 to interact directly with the relevant NF. Additionally, AF 228 may expose a Naf service-based interface.

[0093] NSSF 229 may select a set of network slice instances to serve UE 201. If necessary, NSSF 229 may also determine the allowed network slice selection assistance information (NSSAI) and the mapping to the subscribed single NSSAI (S-NSSAI). NSSF 229 may also determine the set of AMFs to be used to serve UE 201, or a list of (one or more) candidate AMFs 221, based on appropriate configuration and possibly by querying NRF 225. The selection of a set of network slice instances for UE 201 may be triggered by the AMF 221 with which UE 201 is registered by interacting with NSSF 229, which may result in changes to AMF 221. NSSF 229 may interact with AMF 221 via the N22 reference point between AMF 221 and NSSF 229; and may communicate with AMF 221 via the N31 reference point ( Figure 2 (not shown) communicates with another NSSF 229 in the visited network. In addition, the NSSF 229 may expose an Nnssf service-based interface.

[0094] As previously described, CN 220 may include SMSF, which may be responsible for SMS subscription checking and verification, and relaying SM messages to / from UE 201 to / from other entities such as SMS-GMSC / IWMSC / SMS routers. SMS may also interact with AMF 221 and UDM 227 to perform notification procedures regarding the availability of UE 201 for SMS delivery (e.g., setting a UE unreachable flag and notifying UDM 227 when UE 201 is available for SMS).

[0095] CN 220 may also include Figure 2 Other elements not shown, such as data storage system / architecture, 5G device identity registrar (5G-EIR), security edge protection proxy (Security Edge Protection Proxy, SEPP), etc. The data storage system may include structured data storage network function (Structured Data Storage network function, SDSF), unstructured data storage network function (Unstructured Data Storage network function, UDSF), etc. Any NF can communicate with UDSF ( Figure 2The N18 reference point between the NF and the NF (not shown) stores and retrieves unstructured data (e.g., UE context) to and from the UDSF. Individual NFs may share the UDSF to store their respective unstructured data, or the individual NFs may each have their own UDSF located at or near the individual NF. In addition, the UDSF may expose a Nudsf service-based interface ( Figure 2 (not shown). The 5G-EIR may be a NF that checks the status of the Permanent Equipment Identifier (PEI) to determine whether a particular device / entity is blacklisted from the network; and the SEPP may be a non-transparent proxy that performs topology hiding, message filtering, and policy enforcement on the inter-PLMN control plane interface.

[0096] In addition, there may be many other reference points and / or service-based interfaces between NF services in a NF; however, for clarity, these are shown in the figure. Figure 2 These interfaces and reference points are omitted in the figure. In one example, CN 220 may include an Nx interface, which is an inter-CN interface between an MME (e.g., MME 121) and an AMF 221 to enable interworking between CN 220 and CN 120. Other example interfaces / reference points may include an N5g-eir service-based interface exposed 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.

[0097] In another example, the system 200 may include multiple RAN nodes 211, wherein the Xn interface is defined between two or more RAN nodes 211 (e.g., gNBs) connected to the 5GC 220, and between the RAN node 211 (e.g., gNBs) connected to the 5GC 220 and the eNB (e.g., Figure 1RAN nodes 111 of the 5GC 220), and / or between two eNBs connected to the 5GC 220. In some implementations, the Xn interface may include an Xn user plane (Xn-U) interface and an Xn control plane (Xn-C) interface. Xn-U may provide non-guaranteed delivery of user plane PDUs and support / provide data forwarding and flow control functions. Xn-C may provide management and error handling functions, functions for managing the Xn-C interface; mobility support for UE 201 in connected mode (e.g., CM-CONNECTED), including functions for managing UE mobility in connected mode between one or more RAN nodes 211. Mobility support may include context transfer from an old (source) serving RAN node 211 to a new (target) serving RAN node 211; and control of a user plane tunnel between the old (source) serving RAN node 211 and the new (target) serving RAN node 211. 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 a UDP and / or (one or more) IP layer to transport user plane PDUs. The Xn-C protocol stack may include an application layer signaling protocol (referred to as the Xn Application Protocol (Xn Application Protocol, Xn-AP)) and a transport network layer built on an SCTP layer. The SCTP layer may be above the IP layer. The SCTP layer provides guaranteed delivery of application layer messages. In the transport IP layer, point-to-point transmission is used to deliver signaling PDUs. In other implementations, the Xn-U protocol stack and / or the Xn-C protocol stack may be the same or similar to the (one or more) user plane and / or control plane protocol stacks shown and described herein.

[0098] The various components of the core networks 120 and 220 may be referred to as "network elements". The term "network element" may describe a physical or virtualized device used to provide wired or wireless communication network services. The term "network element" may be considered synonymous with and / or referred to as the following terms: networked computers, networked hardware, network devices, routers, switches, hubs, bridges, radio network controllers, radio access network devices, gateways, servers, virtualized network functions (virtualized network functions, VNF), network functions virtualization infrastructure (network functions virtualization infrastructure, NFVI), etc. The components of CN 120, 220 may be implemented in one physical node or separate physical nodes, which include components to read and execute instructions from a machine-readable or computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium). In some embodiments, network function virtualization (NFV) may be utilized 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 more detail below). The logical instantiation of CN 120, 220 may be referred to as a network slice, and the logical instantiation of a portion of CN 120, 220 may be referred to as a network sub-slice (e.g., a network sub-slice may include PGW 123 and PCRF 126). NFV architecture and infrastructure may be used to virtualize one or more network functions (or the one or more network functions are performed by dedicated hardware) onto physical resources including a combination of industry standard server hardware, storage hardware, or switches. In other words, the NFV system may be used to perform a virtual or reconfigurable implementation of one or more EPC components / functions.

[0099] Figure 3Examples of infrastructure equipment 300 are illustrated according to various embodiments. Infrastructure equipment 300 (or "system 300") may be implemented as a base station, a radio head, a RAN node, etc., such as the RAN nodes 111 and 112 and / or AP 106 previously shown and described. In other examples, system 300 may be implemented in or by a UE or a core network node / entity. System 300 may include one or more of the following: application circuitry 305, baseband circuitry 304, one or more radio front-end modules 315, memory 320, power management integrated circuitry (PMIC) 325, power three-way circuit 330, network controller 335, network interface connector 340, satellite positioning circuit 345, and user interface 350. In some embodiments, device 400 may include additional elements, such as memory / storage, display, camera, sensor, or input / output (I / O) interface. In other embodiments, the components described below may be included in more than one device (eg, for a Cloud-RAN (C-RAN) implementation, the circuits may be separately included in more than one device).

[0100] As used herein, the term "circuitry" may refer to, be part of, or include a hardware component configured to provide the described functionality, such as an electronic circuit, a logic circuit, a processor (shared, dedicated, or grouped) and / or a memory (shared, dedicated, or grouped), an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), a field-programmable device (FPD) (e.g., a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), a programmable logic device (PLD), a complex PLD (CPLD), a high-capacity PLD (HCPLD), a structured ASIC or a programmable system on chip (SoC), a digital signal processor (DSP), or a processor. processor, DSP, etc. In some embodiments, the circuit can execute one or more software or firmware programs to provide at least some of the described functions. In addition, the term "circuit" can also refer to a combination of one or more hardware elements (or a combination of circuits used in an electrical or electronic system) and program code for performing the functions of the program code. In these embodiments, the combination of hardware elements and program code can be referred to as a specific type of circuit.

[0101] The terms "application circuitry" and / or "baseband circuitry" may be considered synonymous with "processor circuitry" and may be referred to as "processor circuitry". As used herein, the term "processor circuitry" may refer to, be part of, or include a circuit that is capable of sequentially and automatically performing a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations; recording, storing, and / or transmitting digital data. The term "processor circuitry" may refer to one or more application processors, one or more baseband processors, a physical central processing unit (CPU), a single-core processor, a dual-core processor, a triple-core processor, a quad-core processor, and / or any other device capable of executing or otherwise operating computer-executable instructions such as program code, software modules, and / or functional processes.

[0102] The application circuit 305 may include one or more central processing unit (CPU) cores and one or more of the following: cache memory, low drop-out (LDO) regulator, interrupt controller, serial interface such as SPI, I2C or general programmable serial interface module, real time clock (RTC), timer-counter including interval and watchdog timer, general input / output (I / O or IO), memory card controller such as Secure Digital (SD) / MultiMedia Card (MMC), Universal Serial Bus (USB) interface, Mobile Industry Processor Interface (MIPI) interface and Joint Test Access Group (JTAG) test access port. As an example, the application circuit 305 may include one or more Intel or Processor; (one or more) Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) Processor, Accelerated Processing Unit (APU) or processor; etc. In some embodiments, system 300 may not utilize application circuit 305, but may, for example, include a dedicated processor / controller to process IP data received from the EPC or 5GC.

[0103] Additionally or alternatively, the application circuit 305 may include circuits such as (but not limited to): 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 embodiments, the circuits of the application circuit 305 may include logic blocks or logic architectures and other interconnected resources that can be programmed to perform various functions, such as the processes, methods, functions, etc. of the various embodiments discussed herein. In such an embodiment, the circuitry of the application circuit 305 may include a storage 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 antifuse, etc.) for storing logic blocks, logic architectures, data, etc. in a lookup table (LUT), etc.), etc.

[0104] The baseband circuit 304 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 including two or more integrated circuits. Although not shown, the baseband circuit 304 may include one or more digital baseband systems, which may be coupled to the CPU subsystem, the audio subsystem, and the interface subsystem via an interconnect subsystem. The digital baseband subsystem may also be coupled to a digital baseband interface and a mixed signal baseband subsystem via another interconnect subsystem. Each interconnect subsystem may include a bus system, a point-to-point connection, a network-on-chip (NOC) structure, and / or some other appropriate bus or interconnect technology, such as those discussed herein. The audio subsystem may include a digital signal processing circuit, a buffer memory, a program memory, a voice processing accelerator circuit, a data converter circuit such as an analog-to-digital and a digital-to-analog converter circuit, an analog circuit including one or more amplifiers and filters, and / or other similar components. In one aspect of the present disclosure, baseband circuitry 304 may include protocol processing circuitry having one or more instances of control circuitry (not shown) to provide control functionality for digital baseband circuitry and / or radio frequency circuitry (e.g., radio front end module 315).

[0105] The user interface circuit 350 may include one or more user interfaces designed to enable interaction with a user of the system 300 or a peripheral component interface designed to enable interaction with a peripheral component of the system 300. 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., a light emitting diode (LED)), a physical keyboard or keypad, a mouse, a touch pad, a touch screen, a speaker or other audio emitting device, a microphone, a printer, a scanner, a headset, a display screen or a 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 supply interface, etc.

[0106] The radio front end module (RFEM) 315 may include a millimeter wave 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 millimeter wave RFEM. The RFIC may include connections to one or more antennas or antenna arrays, and the RFEM may be connected to multiple antennas. In alternative implementations, both millimeter wave and sub-millimeter wave radio functions may be implemented in the same physical radio front end module 315. The RFEM 315 may contain both millimeter wave antennas and sub-millimeter wave antennas.

[0107] The memory circuit 320 may include one or more of the following: volatile memory, including dynamic random access memory (DRAM) and / or synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM); and nonvolatile 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., and may include and The memory circuit 320 may be implemented as one or more of a solder-in package integrated circuit, a socketed memory module, and a plug-in memory card.

[0108] The PMIC 325 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 330 may provide power drawn from the network cable to provide both power supply and data connectivity to the infrastructure device 300 using a single cable.

[0109] The network controller circuit 335 may provide connectivity to the network using a standard network interface protocol such as Ethernet, Ethernet based on GRE tunnels, Ethernet based on Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS), or some other suitable protocol. Network connectivity may be provided to / from the infrastructure device 300 via the network interface connector 340 using a physical connection, which may be electrical (commonly referred to as a "copper interconnect"), optical, or wireless. The network controller circuit 335 may include one or more dedicated processors and / or FPGAs to communicate using one or more of the above-mentioned protocols. In some implementations, the network controller circuit 335 may include multiple controllers to provide connectivity to other networks using the same or different protocols.

[0110] The positioning circuit 345 may include circuits to receive and decode signals transmitted by one or more navigation satellite constellations of a global navigation satellite system (GNSS). Examples of navigation satellite constellations (or GNSS) may include the United States' Global Positioning System (GPS), Russia's Global Navigation System (GLONASS), the European Union's Galileo system, China's Beidou navigation satellite system, regional navigation systems or GNSS augmentation systems (e.g., Navigation with Indian Constellation (NAVIC), Japan's Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS), France's Doppler Orbitography and Radio-positioning Integrated by Satellite (DORIS), etc.), etc. The positioning circuit 345 may include various hardware elements (e.g., hardware devices such as switches, filters, amplifiers, antenna elements, etc., to facilitate over-the-air (OTA) communications) to communicate with components of a positioning network (e.g., a navigation satellite constellation node).

[0111] A node or satellite of a (one or more) navigation satellite constellation ("GNSS node") may provide positioning services by continuously transmitting or broadcasting GNSS signals along a line of sight, which may be used by a GNSS receiver (e.g., positioning circuitry 345 and / or positioning circuitry implemented by UE 101, 102, etc.) to determine its GNSS position. The GNSS signal may include a pseudo-random code (e.g., a sequence of ones and zeros) known to the GNSS receiver and a message including a time of transmission (ToT) of a code epoch (e.g., a defined point in the pseudo-random code sequence) and the GNSS node position at the ToT. The GNSS receiver may monitor / measure GNSS signals transmitted / broadcasted by a plurality of GNSS nodes (e.g., four or more satellites) and solve various equations to determine the corresponding GNSS position (e.g., spatial coordinates). The GNSS receiver also implements a clock that is generally not as stable and accurate as the atomic clock of the GNSS node, and the GNSS receiver may use the measured GNSS signals to determine the deviation of the GNSS receiver relative to true time (e.g., the deviation of the GNSS receiver clock relative to the GNSS node time). In some embodiments, the positioning circuit 345 may include a Micro-Technology for Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (Micro-PNT) IC that uses a master timing clock to perform position tracking / estimation without GNSS assistance.

[0112] The GNSS receiver may measure the time of arrival (ToA) of GNSS signals from multiple GNSS nodes based on its own clock. The GNSS receiver may determine a ToF value for each received GNSS signal based on ToA and ToT, and may then determine a three-dimensional (3D) position and clock bias based on ToF. The 3D position may then be converted into latitude, longitude, and altitude. The positioning circuit 345 may provide data to the application circuit 305, which may include one or more of position data or time data. The application circuit 305 may use the time data to synchronize operations with other radio base stations (e.g., RAN nodes 111, 112, 211, etc.).

[0113] Figure 3The components shown can communicate with each other using interface circuits. As used herein, the term "interface circuit" may refer to a circuit that supports information exchange between two or more components or devices, is a part of such a circuit, or includes such a circuit. The term "interface circuit" may refer to one or more hardware interfaces, such as a bus, an input / output (I / O) interface, a peripheral component interface, a network interface card, etc. Any appropriate bus technology may be used in various implementations, and the bus technology may include any number of technologies, including industry standard architecture (ISA), extended ISA (EISA), peripheral component interconnect (PCI), extended peripheral component interconnect (PCIx), fast PCI (PCI express, PCIe) or any number of other technologies. The bus may be a dedicated bus used in a system based on SoC, for example. Other bus systems may be included, such as I2C interface, SPI interface, point-to-point interface, and power bus, etc.

[0114] Figure 4 An example of a platform 400 (or "device 400") is illustrated according to various embodiments. In an embodiment, the computer platform 400 may be suitable for use as a UE 101, 102, 201, an application server 130, and / or any other element / device discussed herein. The platform 400 may include any combination of components shown in the example. The components of the platform 400 may be implemented as an integrated circuit (IC), a portion thereof, a discrete electronic device, or other module, logic, hardware, software, firmware, or a combination thereof adapted in the computer platform 400, or as a component otherwise contained within a housing of a larger system. Figure 4 The block diagram is intended to illustrate a high-level view of the components of computer platform 400. However, in other implementations, some of the components shown may be omitted, additional components may be present, and different arrangements of the components shown may occur.

[0115] The application circuit 405 may include circuits such as (but not limited to): a single-core or multi-core processor and one or more of the following: a cache memory, a low dropout (LDO) regulator, an interrupt controller, a serial interface such as a serial peripheral interface (SPI), an inter-integrated circuit (I2C) or a general programmable serial interface circuit, a real-time clock (RTC), a timer-counter including an interval and a watchdog timer, a general input-output (IO), a memory card controller such as a secure digital / multimedia card (SD / MMC), a universal serial bus (USB) interface, a mobile industrial processor interface (MIPI) interface, and a joint test access group (JTAG) test access port. (One or more) processors may include any combination of general-purpose processors and / or special-purpose processors (e.g., a graphics processor, an application processor, etc.). The processor (or core) may be coupled to a memory / storage device or may include a memory / storage device and may be configured to execute instructions stored in the memory / storage device to enable various applications or operating systems to run on the platform 400. In some embodiments, the processor of the application circuit 305 / 405 may process IP data packets received from the EPC or 5GC.

[0116] The application circuit 405 may be or include a microprocessor, a multi-core processor, a multi-threaded processor, an ultra-low voltage processor, an embedded processor, or other known processing elements. In one example, the application circuit 405 may include a processor based on ArchitectureCore TM Processors such as Quark TM 、Atom TM , i3, i5, i7 or MCU class processors, or available from Santa Clara, California The processor of application circuit 405 may also be one or more of the following: (one or more) Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) Processor or Accelerated Processing Unit (APU); from The company's A5-A9 processor(s), from Snapdragon(s) from technology companies TM processor, (One or more) Open Multimedia Applications Platform (OMAP)TM processor; a MIPS-based design from MIPS Technologies; an ARM-based design licensed from ARM Holdings plc; etc. In some implementations, application circuit 405 may be part of a system on a chip (SoC) in which application circuit 405 and other components are formed as a single integrated circuit, or a single package, such as from Edison TM or Galileo TM SoC board.

[0117] Additionally or alternatively, the application circuit 405 may include circuits such as (but not limited to): one or more field programmable devices (FPDs), such as 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 embodiments, the circuits of the application circuit 405 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, etc. of the various embodiments discussed herein. In such embodiments, the circuits of the application circuit 405 may include storage units (e.g., erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory, static memory (e.g., static random access memory (SRAM), anti-fuse, etc.) for storing logic blocks, logic structures, data, etc. in a lookup table (LUT), etc.), etc.

[0118] Baseband circuit 404 can be implemented 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 including two or more integrated circuits. Although not shown, baseband circuit 404 can include one or more digital baseband systems, which can be coupled to a CPU subsystem, an audio subsystem, and an interface subsystem via an interconnect subsystem. The digital baseband subsystem can also be coupled to a digital baseband interface and a mixed signal baseband subsystem via another interconnect subsystem. Each interconnect subsystem can include a bus system, a point-to-point connection, a network on chip (NOC) structure, and / or some other appropriate bus or interconnect technology, such as those discussed herein. The audio subsystem can include a digital signal processing circuit, a buffer memory, a program memory, a voice processing accelerator circuit, a data converter circuit such as an analog-to-digital and a digital-to-analog converter circuit, an analog circuit including one or more amplifiers and filters, and / or other similar components. In one aspect of the present disclosure, the baseband circuitry 404 may include a protocol processing circuit having one or more instances of a control circuit (not shown) to provide control functionality for digital baseband circuitry and / or radio frequency circuitry (e.g., radio front end module 415).

[0119] The radio front end module (RFEM) 415 may include a millimeter wave 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 millimeter wave RFEM. The RFIC may include connections to one or more antennas or antenna arrays, and the RFEM may be connected to multiple antennas. In alternative implementations, both millimeter wave and sub-millimeter wave radio functions may be implemented in the same physical radio front end module 415. The RFEM 415 may contain both millimeter wave antennas and sub-millimeter wave antennas.

[0120] The memory circuit 420 may include any number and type of memory devices for providing a quantitative system memory. As an example, the memory circuit 420 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 420 may be developed according to a design based on a Joint Electron Devices Engineering Council (JEDEC) low power double data rate (LPDDR), such as LPDDR2, LPDDR3, LPDDR4, etc. The memory circuit 320 may be implemented as one or more of a solder-in package integrated circuit, a single die package (SDP), a dual die package (DDP) or a quad die package (Q17P), a socketed memory module, a dual inline memory module (DIMM) including a microDIMM or MiniDIMM, and / or soldered to a motherboard via a ball grid array (BGA). In a low-power implementation, the storage device 108 of the memory circuit 420 may be an on-chip memory or register associated with the application circuit 405. To support persistent storage of information such as data, applications, operating systems, etc., the memory circuit 420 may include one or more mass storage devices, which may include 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, etc. For example, the computer platform 400 may include a memory device from and Three-dimensional (3D) cross-point (XPOINT) memory.

[0121] Removable memory circuitry 423 may include devices, circuits, cases / housings, ports or receptacles, etc., for coupling portable data storage devices to platform 400. These portable data storage devices may be used for mass storage purposes, and may include, for example, flash memory cards (e.g., Secure Digital (SD) cards, microSD cards, xD picture cards, etc.), as well as USB flash drives, optical disks, external HDDs, etc.

[0122] The platform 400 may also include an interface circuit (not shown) for connecting external devices to the platform 400. The external devices connected to the platform 400 via the interface circuit may include sensors 421, such as accelerometers, level sensors, flow sensors, temperature sensors, pressure sensors, air pressure sensors, and the like. The interface circuit may be used to connect the platform 400 to an electromechanical component (EMC) 422, which may allow the platform 400 to change its state, position, and / or orientation, or to move or control a mechanism or system. The EMC 422 may include one or more power switches, relays including electromechanical relays (EMRs) and / or solid state relays (SSRs), actuators (e.g., valve actuators, etc.), sound generators, visual warning devices, motors (e.g., DC motors, stepper motors, etc.), wheels, thrusters, propellers, claws, clamps, hooks, and / or other similar electromechanical components. In an embodiment, the platform 400 may be configured to operate one or more EMCs 422 based on one or more captured events and / or instructions or control signals received from service providers and / or various clients.

[0123] In some implementations, the interface circuit can connect the platform 400 to the positioning circuit 445, which can communicate with the Figure 3 The positioning circuit 445 discussed is the same or similar.

[0124] In some implementations, the interface circuit can connect the platform 400 to a near field communication (NFC) circuit 440, which can include an NFC controller coupled to an antenna element and a processing device. The NFC circuit 440 can be configured to read an electronic tag and / or connect to another NFC-enabled device.

[0125] Driver circuitry 446 may include software and hardware elements that operate to control specific devices embedded in, attached to, or otherwise communicatively coupled to platform 400. Driver circuitry 446 may include individual drivers that allow other components of platform 400 to interact with or control various input / output (I / O) devices that may be present within or connected to platform 400. For example, driver circuitry 446 may include a display driver to control and allow access to a display device, a touch screen driver to control and allow access to a touch screen interface of platform 400, a sensor driver to obtain sensor readings of sensor 421 and control and allow access to sensor 421, an EMC driver to obtain actuator positions of EMC 422 and / or control and allow access to EMC 422, a camera driver to control and allow access to an embedded image capture device, and an audio driver to control and allow access to one or more audio devices.

[0126] A power management integrated circuit (PMIC) 425 (also referred to as "power management circuit 425" or the like) can manage the power provided to various components of the platform 400. Specifically, for the baseband circuit 404, the PMIC 425 can control power selection, voltage scaling, battery charging, or DC to DC conversion. When the platform 400 is capable of being powered by a battery 430, such as when the device is included in a UE 101, 102, 201, a PMIC 425 can often be included.

[0127] In some embodiments, the PMIC 425 may control or otherwise be part of various power saving mechanisms of the platform 400. For example, if the platform 400 is in the RRC_Connected state where it is still connected to the RAN node because it is expected to receive traffic soon, it may enter a state called Discontinuous Reception Mode (DRX) after a period of inactivity. During this state, the platform 400 may be powered off in brief time intervals and thereby save power. If there is no data traffic activity for a longer period of time, the platform 400 may transition to the RRC_Idle state, in which it is disconnected from the network and does not perform operations such as channel quality feedback, switching, etc. The platform 400 enters an extremely low power state and it performs paging, in which it wakes up again periodically to listen to the network and then powers off again. The platform 400 may not receive data in this state, and in order to receive data, it must transition back to the RRC_Connected state. An additional power saving mode may allow a device to be unavailable to the network for a period longer than the paging interval (ranging from a few seconds to several hours). During this time, the device is completely unreachable to the network and may be completely powered off. Any data sent during this time is subject to a large delay, and it is assumed that this delay is acceptable.

[0128] The battery 430 can power the platform 400, although in some examples the platform 400 can be installed and deployed in a fixed location and can have a power supply coupled to a power grid. The battery 430 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 430 can be a typical lead-acid car battery.

[0129] In some implementations, the battery 430 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 400 to track the state of charge (SoCh) of the battery 430. The BMS may be used to monitor other parameters of the battery 430 to provide failure predictions, such as the state of health (SoH) and state of function (SoF) of the battery 430. The BMS may communicate information about the battery 430 to the application circuit 405 or other components of the platform 400. The BMS may also include an analog-to-digital (ADC) converter that allows the application circuit 405 to directly monitor the voltage of the battery 430 or the current flowing from the battery 430. The battery parameters may be used to determine actions that the platform 400 may perform, such as transmission frequency, network operation, sensing frequency, and the like.

[0130] A power block or other power supply coupled to a power grid can be coupled to the BMS to charge the battery 430. In some examples, the power block 128 can be replaced with a wireless power receiver to obtain power wirelessly, such as through a loop antenna in the computer platform 400. 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 430 and thus on the required current. Charging can be performed using the Airfuel standard promulgated by the Airfuel Alliance, the Qi wireless charging standard promulgated by the Wireless Power Consortium, or the Rezence charging standard promulgated by the Alliance for Wireless Power, etc.

[0131] Although not shown, the components of the platform 400 may communicate with each other using appropriate bus technology, which may include any number of technologies, including Industry Standard Architecture (ISA), Extended ISA (EISA), Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI), Extended Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCIx), PCI Express (PCIe), Time-Trigger Protocol (TTP) system or FlexRay system or any number of other technologies. The bus may be a proprietary bus used, for example, in a SoC-based system. Other bus systems may be included, such as an I2C interface, an SPI interface, a point-to-point interface, and a power bus, etc.

[0132] Figure 5Example components of baseband circuitry 304 / 404 and radio front end modules (RFEM) 315 / 415 are illustrated according to some embodiments. As shown, RFEM 315 / 415 may include radio frequency (RF) circuitry 506, front end module (FEM) circuitry 508, one or more antennas 510 coupled together at least as shown.

[0133] The baseband circuit 304 / 404 may include circuits such as, but not limited to, one or more single-core or multi-core processors. The baseband circuit 304 / 404 may include one or more baseband processors or control logic to process baseband signals received from the receive signal path of the RF circuit 506 and generate baseband signals for the transmit signal path of the RF circuit 506. The baseband processing circuit 304 / 404 may interface with the application circuit 305 / 405 to generate and process baseband signals and control the operation of the RF circuit 506. For example, in some embodiments, the baseband circuit 304 / 404 may include a third generation (3G) baseband processor 504A, a fourth generation (4G) baseband processor 504B, a fifth generation (5G) baseband processor 504C, or other (one or more) baseband processors 504D for other existing generations, generations under development, or generations to be developed in the future (e.g., second generation (2G), sixth generation (6G), etc.). The baseband circuitry 304 / 404 (e.g., one or more of the baseband processors 504A-D) may handle various radio control functions that enable communication with one or more radio networks via the RF circuitry 506. In other embodiments, some or all of the functions of the baseband processors 504A-D may be included in a module stored in the memory 504G and executed via the central processing unit (CPU) 504E. The radio control functions may include, but are not limited to, signal modulation / demodulation, encoding / decoding, radio frequency offset, and the like. In some embodiments, the modulation / demodulation circuitry of the baseband circuitry 304 / 404 may include Fast Fourier Transform (FFT), precoding, or constellation mapping / demapping functions. In some embodiments, the encoding / decoding circuitry of the baseband circuitry 304 / 404 may include convolution, tail-biting convolution, turbo, Viterbi, or Low Density Parity Check (LDPC) encoder / decoder functions. The embodiments of the modulation / demodulation and encoder / decoder functions are not limited to these examples, and may include other suitable functions in other embodiments.

[0134] In some embodiments, the baseband circuit 304 / 404 may include one or more audio digital signal processors (DSPs) 504F. (One or more) audio DSPs 504F may include elements for compression / decompression and echo cancellation, and may include other appropriate processing elements in other embodiments. The components of the baseband circuit may be appropriately combined in a single chip, a single chip set, or arranged on the same circuit board in some embodiments. In some embodiments, some or all of the constituent components of the baseband circuit 304 / 404 and the application circuit 305 / 405 may be implemented together, for example, on a system on a chip (SOC).

[0135] In some embodiments, the baseband circuit 304 / 404 may provide communications compatible with one or more radio technologies. For example, in some embodiments, the baseband circuit 304 / 404 may support communications with an evolved universal terrestrial radio access network (E-UTRAN) or other wireless metropolitan area networks (WMANs), wireless local area networks (WLANs), and wireless personal area networks (WPANs). Embodiments in which the baseband circuit 304 / 404 is configured to support radio communications of more than one wireless protocol may be referred to as multi-mode baseband circuits.

[0136] The RF circuit 506 may enable communication with a wireless network using modulated electromagnetic radiation through a non-solid medium. In various embodiments, the RF circuit 506 may include switches, filters, amplifiers, etc. to facilitate communication with a wireless network. The RF circuit 506 may include a receive signal path that may include circuitry to down-convert an RF signal received from the FEM circuit 508 and provide a baseband signal to the baseband circuit 304 / 404. The RF circuit 506 may also include a transmit signal path that may include circuitry to up-convert a baseband signal provided by the baseband circuit 304 / 404 and provide an RF output signal to the FEM circuit 508 for transmission.

[0137] In some embodiments, the receive signal path of the RF circuit 506 may include a mixer circuit 506a, an amplifier circuit 506b, and a filter circuit 506c. In some embodiments, the transmit signal path of the RF circuit 506 may include a filter circuit 506c and the mixer circuit 506a. The RF circuit 506 may also include a synthesizer circuit 506d for synthesizing frequencies for use by the mixer circuit 506a of the receive signal path and the transmit signal path. In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 506a of the receive signal path may be configured to down-convert the RF signal received from the FEM circuit 508 based on the synthesized frequency provided by the synthesizer circuit 506d. The amplifier circuit 506b may be configured to amplify the down-converted signal and the filter circuit 506c 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 304 / 404 for further processing. In some embodiments, the output baseband signal may be a zero frequency baseband signal, although this is not a necessary requirement. In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 506a of the receive signal path may include a passive mixer, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this regard.

[0138] In some embodiments, mixer circuit 506a of the transmit signal path may be configured to upconvert an input baseband signal based on a synthesized frequency provided by synthesizer circuit 506d to generate an RF output signal for FEM circuit 508. The baseband signal may be provided by baseband circuit 304 / 404 and may be filtered by filter circuit 506c.

[0139] In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 506a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuit 506a of the transmit signal path may include two or more mixers and may be arranged for quadrature down-conversion and up-conversion, respectively. In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 506a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuit 506a 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 embodiments, the mixer circuit 506a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuit 506a of the transmit signal path may be arranged for direct down-conversion and direct up-conversion, respectively. In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 506a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuit 506a of the transmit signal path may be configured for superheterodyne operation.

[0140] In some embodiments, the output baseband signal and the input baseband signal may be analog baseband signals, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited thereto. In some alternative embodiments, the output baseband signal and the input baseband signal may be digital baseband signals. In these alternative embodiments, the RF circuit 506 may include analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and digital-to-analog converter (DAC) circuits and the baseband circuit 304 / 404 may include a digital baseband interface to communicate with the RF circuit 506.

[0141] In some dual-mode embodiments, separate radio IC circuits may be provided to process signals for each spectrum, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this regard.

[0142] In some embodiments, synthesizer circuit 506d may be a fractional-N synthesizer or a fractional-N / N+1 synthesizer, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this regard, as other types of frequency synthesizers may be appropriate. For example, synthesizer circuit 506d may be a delta-sigma synthesizer, a frequency multiplier, or a synthesizer including a phase-locked loop with a frequency divider.

[0143] Synthesizer circuit 506d may be configured to synthesize an output frequency based on the frequency input and the divider control input for use by mixer circuit 506a of RF circuit 506. In some embodiments, synthesizer circuit 506d may be a fractional-N / N+1 synthesizer.

[0144] In some embodiments, the frequency input may be provided by a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO), although this is not a requirement. Depending on the desired output frequency, the divider control input may be provided by the baseband circuit 304 / 404 or the application processor 305 / 405. In some embodiments, the divider control input (e.g., N) may be determined from a lookup table based on the channel indicated by the application processor 305 / 405.

[0145] The synthesizer circuit 506d of the RF circuit 506 may include a frequency divider, a delay-locked loop (DLL), a multiplexer, and a phase accumulator. In some embodiments, the frequency divider may be a dual modulus divider (DMD) and the phase accumulator may be a digital phase accumulator (DPA). In some embodiments, the DMD may be configured to divide the input signal by N or N+1 (e.g., based on a carry output) to provide a fractional division ratio. In some example embodiments, the DLL may include a set of cascaded tunable delay elements, a phase detector, a charge pump, and a D-type flip-flop. In these embodiments, the delay element may be configured to decompose 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.

[0146] In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuit 506d may be configured to generate a carrier frequency as an output frequency, while in other embodiments, the output frequency may be a multiple of the carrier frequency (e.g., twice the carrier frequency, four times the carrier frequency) and used with a quadrature generator and divider circuit to generate multiple signals at the carrier frequency with multiple different phases from each other. In some embodiments, the output frequency may be an LO frequency (fLO). In some embodiments, the RF circuit 506 may include an IQ / polarity converter.

[0147] The FEM circuitry 508 may include a receive signal path that may include circuitry configured to operate on RF signals received from one or more antennas 510, amplify the received signals, and provide an amplified version of the received signals to the RF circuitry 506 for further processing. The FEM circuitry 508 may also include a transmit signal path that may include circuitry configured to amplify signals provided for transmission by the RF circuitry 506 for transmission by one or more of the one or more antennas 510. In various embodiments, amplification by the transmit or receive paths may be accomplished only in the RF circuitry 506, only in the FEM 508, or in both the RF circuitry 506 and the FEM 508.

[0148] In some embodiments, the FEM circuit 508 may include a TX / RX switch to switch between transmit mode and receive mode operation. The FEM circuit may include a receive signal path and a transmit signal path. The receive signal path of the FEM circuit may include an LNA to amplify the received RF signal and provide the amplified received RF signal as an output (e.g., provided to the RF circuit 506). The transmit signal path of the FEM circuit 508 may include a power amplifier (PA) to amplify the input RF signal (e.g., provided by the RF circuit 506), and include one or more filters to generate an RF signal for subsequent transmission (e.g., transmitted by one or more of the one or more antennas 510).

[0149] The processor of the application circuit 305 / 405 and the processor of the baseband circuit 304 / 404 can be used to execute elements of one or more instances of the protocol stack. For example, the processor of the baseband circuit 304 / 404 can be used to perform layer 3, layer 2 or layer 1 functions alone or in combination, and the processor of the baseband circuit 304 / 404 can use the data received from these layers (e.g., packet data) and further perform layer 4 functions (e.g., transmission communication protocol (TCP) and user datagram protocol (UDP) layer). For the purposes of this article, layer 3 may include a radio resource control (RRC) layer, which is described in more detail below. For the purposes of this article, layer 2 may include a medium access control (MAC) layer, a radio link control (RLC) layer, and a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer, which is described in more detail below. As referred to herein, Layer 1 may include the physical (PHY) layer of the UE / RAN node, which is described in more detail below.

[0150] Figure 6 An example interface of a baseband circuit is illustrated according to some embodiments. As described above, FIG. 3- Figure 4 The baseband circuit 304 / 404 may include processors 504A-504E and a memory 504G used by the processors. Each of the processors 504A-504E may include a memory interface 604A-604E, respectively, to send / receive data to / from the memory 504G.

[0151] The baseband circuit 304 / 404 may also include one or more interfaces to communicatively couple to other circuits / devices, such as a memory interface 612 (e.g., an interface for sending / receiving data to / from a memory external to the baseband circuit 304 / 404), an application circuit interface 614 (e.g., an interface for sending / receiving data to / from a memory external to the baseband circuit 304 / 404), Figure 4 an interface for sending / receiving data to / from the application circuit 305 / 405), an RF circuit interface 616 (e.g., Figure 5 an interface for sending / receiving data to / from the RF circuit 506), a wireless hardware connectivity interface 618 (e.g., to / from a near field communication (NFC) component, Components (e.g., low energy ), The PMIC 425 may include an interface for transmitting / receiving data to / from the PMIC 425 components and other communication components, and a power management interface 620 (eg, an interface for transmitting / receiving power or control signals to / from the PMIC 425).

[0152] Figure 7 is a block diagram illustrating components capable of reading instructions from a machine-readable 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 example embodiments. Specifically, Figure 7 A diagrammatic representation of hardware resources 700 is shown, including one or more processors (or processor cores) 710, one or more memory / storage devices 720, and one or more communication resources 730, each of which may be communicatively coupled via a bus 740. As used herein, the terms "computing resources," "hardware resources," and the like may refer to physical or virtual devices, physical or virtual components within a computing environment, and / or physical or virtual components within a particular device, such as computer equipment, mechanical equipment, memory space, processor / CPU time and / or processor / CPU usage, processor and accelerator load, hardware time or usage, power, input / output operations, ports or network sockets, channel / link allocation, throughput, memory usage, storage, networks, databases, and applications, and the like. For embodiments utilizing node virtualization (e.g., NFV), a hypervisor 702 may be executed to provide an execution environment for one or more network slices / subslices utilizing hardware resources 700. "Virtualized resources" may refer to computing, storage, and / or network resources provided by a virtualization infrastructure to applications, devices, systems, and the like.

[0153] Processor 710 (e.g., 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 digital signal processor (DSP) (e.g., a baseband processor), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a radio-frequency integrated circuit (RFIC), another processor, or any suitable combination of these) may include, for example, processor 712 and processor 714.

[0154] The memory / storage device 720 may include main memory, disk storage, or any suitable combination of these. The memory / storage device 720 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.

[0155] The communication resources 730 may include an interconnect or network interface component or other appropriate device to communicate with one or more peripheral devices 704 or one or more databases 706 via the network 708. For example, the communication resources 730 may include a wired communication component (e.g., for coupling via a Universal Serial Bus (USB)), a cellular communication component, an NFC component, Components (e.g., low energy ), components and other communication components. As used herein, the term "network resource" or "communication resource" may refer to a computing resource accessible by a computer device via a communication network. The term "system resource" may refer to any kind of shared entity that provides a service and may include computing and / or network resources. A system resource may be considered to be a collection of coherent functions, network data objects, or services accessible through a server, where such system resources exist on a single host or multiple hosts and are clearly identifiable.

[0156] The instructions 750 may include software, programs, applications, applet programs, apps, or other executable code for causing at least any one of the processors 710 to perform any one or more of the methods discussed herein. The instructions 750 may exist in whole or in part within at least one of the processors 710 (e.g., within a cache memory of the processor), within the memory / storage device 720, or any suitable combination of these. In addition, any portion of the instructions 750 may be transmitted to the hardware resources 700 from any combination of the peripheral device 704 or the database 706. Therefore, the memory of the processor 710, the memory / storage device 720, the peripheral device 704, and the database 706 are examples of computer-readable and machine-readable media.

[0157] Figure 8 is a diagram of a control plane protocol stack according to some embodiments. In this embodiment, the control plane 800 is shown as a communication protocol stack between UE 101 (or UE 102), RAN node 111 (or RAN node 112) and MME 121.

[0158] The PHY layer 801 may send or receive information used by the MAC layer 802 over one or more air interfaces. The PHY layer 801 may also perform link adaptation or adaptive modulation and coding (AMC), power control, cell search (e.g., for initial synchronization and handover purposes), and other measurements used by higher layers (e.g., the RRC layer 805). The PHY layer 801 may also perform error detection on transport channels, forward error correction (FEC) encoding / decoding of transport channels, modulation / demodulation of physical channels, interleaving, rate matching, mapping onto physical channels, and multiple input multiple output (MIMO) antenna processing.

[0159] The MAC layer 802 can perform mapping between logical channels and transport channels, multiplex MAC service data units (SDUs) from one or more logical channels to transport blocks (TBs) for delivery to PHY via transport channels, demultiplex MAC SDUs from transport blocks (TBs) delivered from PHY via transport channels to one or more logical channels, multiplex MAC SDUs onto TBs, schedule information reporting, error correction through hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ), and logical channel priority differentiation.

[0160] The RLC layer 803 can operate in multiple operation modes, including: Transparent Mode (TM), Unacknowledged Mode (UM), and Acknowledged Mode (AM). The RLC layer 803 can 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. The RLC layer 803 can also perform re-segmentation of RLC data PDUs for AM data transmission, reordering of RLC data PDUs for UM and AM data transmission, detection of duplicate data for UM and AM data transmission, discarding of RLC SDUs for UM and AM data transmission, detection of protocol errors for AM data transmission, and performance of RLC re-establishment.

[0161] The PDCP layer 804 can perform header compression and decompression of IP data, maintain the PDCP sequence number (Sequence Number, SN), perform in-order delivery of upper layer PDUs when the lower layer is re-established, eliminate duplication of lower layer SDUs when the lower layer is re-established for radio bearers mapped to RLC AM, encrypt and decrypt control plane data, perform integrity protection and integrity verification of control plane data, control timer-based discard of data, and perform security operations (e.g., encryption, decryption, integrity protection, integrity verification, etc.).

[0162] The main services and functions of the RRC layer 805 may include broadcasting of system information (e.g., included in a Master Information Block (MIB) or System Information Block (SIB) related to a non-access stratum (NAS), broadcasting of system information related to an access stratum (AS), paging, establishment, maintenance and release of an RRC connection between a UE and an E-UTRAN (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-radio access technology (RAT) mobility, and measurement configuration for UE measurement reporting. The MIB and SIB may include one or more information elements (IEs), each of which may include individual data fields or data structures.

[0163] UE 101 and RAN node 111 may utilize a Uu interface (eg, LTE-Uu interface) to exchange control plane data via a protocol stack including a PHY layer 801 , a MAC layer 802 , an RLC layer 803 , a PDCP layer 804 , and an RRC layer 805 .

[0164] The non-access stratum (NAS) protocol 806 forms the highest level of the control plane between the UE 101 and the MME 121. The NAS protocol 806 supports the mobility and session management procedures of the UEs 101, 102 to establish and maintain IP connectivity between the UE 101 and the P-GW 123.

[0165] The S1 Application Protocol (S1-AP) layer 815 may support the functionality of the S1 interface and include an elementary procedure (EP). An EP is a unit of interaction between the RAN node 111 and the CN 120. S1-AP layer services may include two groups: UE-associated services and non-UE-associated services. These services perform functions including, but not limited to: E-UTRAN Radio Access Bearer (E-RAB) management, UE capability indication, mobility, NAS signaling transmission, RAN Information Management (RIM), and configuration transfer.

[0166] The stream control transmission protocol (SCTP) layer (or SCTP / IP layer) 814 may ensure reliable delivery of signaling messages between the RAN node 111 and the MME 121 based in part on the IP protocol supported by the IP layer 813. The L2 layer 812 and the L1 layer 811 may refer to communication links (e.g., wired or wireless) used by the RAN nodes 111, 112 and the MME 121 to exchange information.

[0167] The RAN node 111 and the MME 121 may utilize the S1-MME interface to exchange control plane data via a protocol stack including an L1 layer 811 , an L2 layer 812 , an IP layer 813 , an SCTP layer 814 , and an S1-AP layer 815 .

[0168] Fig. 9 900 is a diagram of a user plane protocol stack according to some embodiments. In this embodiment, the user plane 900 is shown as a communication protocol stack between the UE 101 (or UE 102), the RAN node 111 (or RAN node 112), the S-GW 122, and the P-GW 123. The user plane 900 may utilize at least some of the same protocol layers as the control plane 800. For example, the UE 101 and the RAN node 111 may utilize a Uu interface (e.g., an LTE-Uu interface) to exchange user plane data via a protocol stack including a PHY layer 801, a MAC layer 802, an RLC layer 803, and a PDCP layer 804.

[0169] The General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) Tunneling Protocol for the user plane (GTP-U) layer 904 may be used to carry user data within the GPRS core network and between the radio access network and the core network. The transmitted user data may be packets in any of the formats of, for example, IPv4, IPv6, or PPP. The UDP and IP security (UDP / IP) layer 903 may provide checksums for data integrity, port numbers for addressing different functions at the source and destination, and encryption and authentication on selected data flows. The RAN node 111 and the S-GW 122 may utilize the S1-U interface to exchange user plane data via a protocol stack including the L1 layer 811, the L2 layer 812, the UDP / IP layer 903, and the GTP-U layer 904. S-GW 122 and P-GW 123 may utilize the S5 / S8a interface to exchange user plane data via a protocol stack including L1 layer 811, L2 layer 812, UDP / IP layer 903, and GTP-U layer 904. Figure 8As described above, the NAS protocol supports the mobility of UE 101 and session management procedures to establish and maintain IP connectivity between UE 101 and P-GW 123.

[0170] Figure 10-13 According to various embodiments, processes 1000-1300 for providing updated UE radio capabilities or indicating usage settings of the UE are respectively illustrated. For illustration, the operations of the processes 1000-1300 are described as being performed by reference to Figure 1-Figure 7 Some of the processes 1000-1300 may include communications between various devices, and it should be understood that such communications may be performed by reference to Figure 1-Figure 7 The various circuits described utilize reference Figure 8-Figure 9 The various messages / frames, protocols, entities, layers, etc. discussed herein are facilitated. In addition, although Figure 10-13 Specific examples and orders of operations are illustrated in the , but the order of operations depicted should not be interpreted as limiting the scope of the embodiments in any way. Rather, the operations depicted may be reordered, decomposed into additional operations, combined and / or omitted entirely, while still remaining within the spirit and scope of the present disclosure.

[0171] Fig.10 An example UE radio capability match request process 1000 is shown according to various embodiments. When MME 121 requires more information about UE radio capability support so that an IMS voice session support indication based on PS can be set, process 1000 may be performed in LTE and / or EPS systems (see, e.g., Figure 1 ). Process 1000 may be used during an initial attach procedure, during a TAU procedure for "first TAU ​​after GERAN / UTRAN attach", for "UE radio capability update", or when MME 121 does not receive a voice support match indicator (as part of an MM context).

[0172] Process 1000 may begin at operation 1002, where the UE 101, 102 sends a NAS TAU request message to the MME 121, where the TAU request message includes a "UE radio capability information update required" indication / indicator.

[0173] At operation 1004, the MME 121 may send an S1-AP UE radio capability match request message to the RAN nodes 111, 112. In general, the MME 121 may indicate whether the MME 121 wishes to receive a voice support match indicator, and the MME 121 may include the UE radio capability information (IE) that it has previously received from the RAN nodes 111, 112 by the S1-AP UE CAPABILITY INFO INDICATION. According to various embodiments, the MME 121 may send the S1-AP UE radio capability match request message without the UE radio capability information (IE) that it has previously received from the RAN nodes 111, 112 by the S1-AP UE CAPABILITY INFO INDICATION, and instead, the MME 121 may include an "update required" indication / indicator in the S1-AP UE radio capability match request message.

[0174] When the UE radio capability matching request is received from the MME 121 in operation 1004, if the RAN nodes 111, 112 have not received the UE radio capabilities from the UE 101, 102 or from the MME 121 in operation 1004, then in operation 1006, the RAN nodes 111, 112 send an RRC UE capability query message to the UE 101, 102 to request the UE 101, 102 to upload the UE radio capability information. In various embodiments, when the S1 interface UE RADIO CAPABILITY MATCH REQUEST message with the "update required" indicator is received at operation 1004, the RAN nodes 111, 112 may initiate an RRC UE capability query procedure to obtain UE radio capabilities from the UE 101, 102 (operations 1006 and 1008), even when the RAN nodes 111, 112 have already received the UE radio capability IE from the MME 121 using an earlier S1 interface INITIAL CONTEXT SETUP REQUEST or UE RADIO CAPABILITY MATCH REQUEST message, or when the RAN nodes 111, 112 have already received UE radio capability information from the UE 101, 102 using an earlier RRC UE capability query procedure.

[0175] At operation 1008, the UE 101, 102 may provide its UE radio capabilities to the RAN nodes 111, 112 by generating and sending an RRC message with UE radio capability information to the RAN nodes 111, 112. In an embodiment, the UE radio capabilities may include an indication of a current value of a CE Mode B support indication ("Data Centric" or "Voice Centric") and / or a change in a usage setting of the UE implemented by the UE 101, 102. For example, if the current value of the usage setting of the UE is "Voice Centric", the UE radio capabilities may include a CE Mode B support indication indicating a value of "Not Supported", or if the current value of the usage setting of the UE is "Data Centric", the UE radio capabilities may include a CE Mode B support indication indicating a value of "Supported". The value of the CE Mode B support indication may be based on the current UE usage setting of the UE 101, 102.

[0176] At operation 1010, the RAN nodes 111, 112 may send an S1-AP UE radio capability match response to the MME 121. Typically, at operation 1010, the RAN nodes 111, 112 check whether the UE radio capabilities are compatible with the network configuration to ensure voice service continuity for voice calls initiated in the IMS. In order to determine an appropriate UE radio capability match response, the RAN nodes 111, 112 are configured by the operator to check whether the UE supports certain capabilities required for voice continuity of voice calls using IMS PS. In a shared network, the RAN nodes 111, 112 maintain separate configurations for each PLMN. The network configuration may indicate specific checks to be performed, and may include checking the radio capabilities of UTRAN / E-UTRAN FDD and / or TDD and / or support for UTRAN / E-UTRAN frequency bands, etc. The RAN nodes 111, 112 provide a voice support match indicator to the MME 121 to indicate whether the UE capabilities and the network configuration are compatible in order to ensure voice service continuity for voice calls initiated in the IMS. In addition, MME 121 may store the received voice support match indicator in the MM context and use it as input for setting the IMS voice session support indication over PS. In some embodiments, operation 1010 may not be relevant for updating the usage setting of the UE, so MME 121 may perform operation 1010 according to current specifications.

[0177] At operation 1012, if the RAN nodes 111, 112 requested radio capabilities from the UE 101, 102 at operations 1006 and 1008, the RAN nodes 111, 112 may also send the UE radio capabilities to the MME 121 using S1-AP UE CAPABILITY INFO INDICATION. The MME 121 may store the UE radio capabilities for subsequent access by the UE 101, 102. The MME 121 may store the UE radio capabilities without interpreting them for further provision to the RAN nodes 111, 112. In an embodiment, the UE radio capabilities may include a CE mode B support indication, which indicates whether the UE 101, 102 supports operation in CE mode B; the value of the CE mode B support indication may be set based on current UE usage. Operations 1010 and 1012 may be received by the MME 121 in any order.

[0178] Fig.11 An example feature specific UE / RAN radio information and compatibility request procedure 1100 is shown according to various embodiments. The AMF 221 may be configured in an NR system (e.g., see UE / RAN radio information and compatibility request procedure 1100) when requesting specific information about UE radio capability support and / or support for a specific feature or compatibility with a next generation (NG) RAN or RAN node 211. Figure 2 ). Process 1100 is typically used during a registration procedure, and in various embodiments, process 1100 may be performed during a registration procedure with AMF reallocation, a UE-triggered or network-triggered service request procedure, a handover procedure, or some other appropriate procedure. In an embodiment where 5GS to EPS interworking occurs, process 1100 may be performed during a registration procedure for "first mobility registration update after GERAN / UTRAN attach", for "first TAU ​​after EPS attach", for "UE radio capability update" or "UE 5GC capability update", or when the AMF 221 does not receive a voice support match indicator (as part of an MM context) from the NG-RAN node 211. Such an embodiment may be based on LTE-NR interworking.

[0179] Process 1100 may begin at operation 1102, where UE 201 may send an initial message via the N1 interface. The initial NAS message may include a "UE capability information update required" indication / indicator, which may be a "UE radio capability information update required" indicator or a "UE 5GC capability information update required" indicator. In some embodiments, UE 201 may send a registration request message with a UE radio capability information update required indicator.

[0180] At operation 1104, the AMF 221 may send an N2 feature specific UE / RAN radio information and compatibility request message to the NG-RAN node 211. The AMF 221 generates the feature specific UE / RAN radio information and compatibility request message to indicate whether the AMF 221 requires RAN related information for (one or more) specific features. Generally, the AMF 221 may include UE (radio / 5GC) capability information that has been stored and has not yet been provided to the RAN node 221. According to various embodiments, the AMF 221 may send a feature specific UE / RAN radio information and compatibility request message without the UE radio capability information (IE) that it has previously received from the RAN node 211 by the N2 UE capability information indication message. Instead, at operation 1104, the AMF 221 may include an "update required" indication / indicator in the feature specific UE / RAN radio information and compatibility request message to request the current UE usage settings to the UE 201 or RAN 211 or request CE mode B restriction parameters to the UE 201 or RAN 211.

[0181] When the feature specific UE / RAN information and compatibility request message is received at operation 1104, if the RAN node 211 has not received the UE radio capabilities from the UE 201 or from the AMF 221 at operation 1104, the RAN node 211 may send a request to upload the UE radio capabilities information to the UE 201 at operation 1106. In various embodiments, when the N2 feature specific UE / RAN radio information and compatibility request message with the "update required" indicator is received at operation 1104, the RAN node 211 may initiate an RRC UE capability query procedure to obtain the UE radio capabilities from the UE 201 (operations 1106 and 1108), even when the RAN node 211 has received the UE radio capabilities IE from the AMF 221 using an earlier N2 interface message (e.g., N2 initial context setup message) or when the RAN node 211 has received the UE radio capabilities information from the UE 201 using an earlier RRC UE capability query procedure.

[0182] At operation 1108, the UE 201 may provide its UE radio capabilities to the RAN node 211 by generating and sending an RRC message with the UE radio capabilities information to the RAN node 211. In an embodiment, the UE radio capabilities may include an indication of a current value of the CE Mode B support indication. For example, if the current value of the UE's usage setting is "Voice Centric", the UE radio capabilities may include a CE Mode B support indication indicating a value of "Not Supported", or if the current value of the UE's usage setting is "Data Centric", the UE radio capabilities may include a CE Mode B support indication indicating a value of "Supported". The value of the CE Mode B support indication may be based on the current UE usage setting.

[0183] At operation 1110, the RAN node 211 may send an N2 feature specific UE / RAN information and compatibility response message to the AMF 221. Typically, the RAN node 211 may check whether the UE radio capabilities are compatible with the network configuration for the requested feature(s) and determine whether additional parameters(s) need to be provided to the AMF 221. In addition, the RAN node 211 may generate the feature specific UE / RAN information and compatibility request message to include a list of compatible features(s) and / or a list of required additional parameters(s). In addition, the AMF 221 may store the information included in the feature specific UE / RAN information and the compatibility response (e.g., in the MM context and / or RM context of the UE 201), and may use this information as input for enabling specific features and / or for subsequent access by the UE 201. In some embodiments, operation 1110 may not be relevant for updating the usage settings of the UE, so that the AMF 221 may perform operation 1110 according to the current specification.

[0184] At operation 1112, if the RAN node 211 requested the radio capabilities from the UE 201 at operations 1106 and 1108, the RAN node 211 may send an N2 UE capability information indication message including the UE radio capabilities to the AMF 221. The AMF 221 may store the UE radio capabilities without interpreting them for further provision to the RAN node 211. In an embodiment, the UE radio capabilities may include a CE mode B support indication indicating whether the UE 201 supports operation in CE mode B; the value of the CE mode B support indication may be based on the current UE usage setting. Operations 1110 and 1112 may be received by the AMF 221 in any order.

[0185] Fig.12A process 1200 for updating usage settings and CE Mode B restriction parameters for a UE is shown according to various embodiments. As an example, process 1200 is discussed as being performed by MME 121 for UE 101 and RAN node 111; however, other similar devices / entities may also perform process 1200. Process 1200 may begin at operation 1205, where network controller circuitry of MME 121 may receive a NAS message from UE 101. In various embodiments, the NAS message may be an Attach Request message, a TAU Request message, or a RAU Request message. For NR embodiments, the N1 version of any of the above messages may be used, for example: a Registration Request message for initial registration, mobility registration update, or periodic registration update, a UE Configuration Update Complete message, or a NAS Service Request message may be used.

[0186] At operation 1210, the processor circuit of the MME 121 may identify the UE usage setting of the UE 101 indicated by the NAS message obtained at operation 1205. At operation 1215, the processor circuit of the MME 121 may control the storage of the CE mode B restriction parameter having a "restricted" value or an "unrestricted" value. In an embodiment, the MME 121 may store the CE mode B restriction parameter in the MM context of the UE 101, or the processor circuit of the MME 121 may derive its value from the UE usage setting parameter already stored in the UE context when necessary.

[0187] At operation 1220, the processor circuit of the MME 121 may identify the CE mode B restriction parameters associated with the UE 101. In some embodiments, operation 1220 may be performed in response to receiving a NAS message, which may be, for example, an attach request message, a TAU request message, etc. obtained at operation 1205, or another NAS message obtained after operation 1205. At operation 1225, the processor circuit of the MME 121 may generate an S1-AP message to include the stored CE mode B restriction parameters. In an embodiment, the S1-AP message may be any one of the following messages: an INITIAL CONTEXT SETUP REQUEST message, a HANDOVER REQUEST message, a PATH SWITCH REQUEST ACKNOWLEDGE message, a CONNECTIONESTABLISHMENT INDICATION message, a UE RADIO CAPABILITY MATCH REQUEST message, and a DOWNLINK NAS TRANSPORT message carrying a TAU ACCEPT message. For NR embodiments, the N2 version of any of the above messages may be used, and / or NR specific messages may be used, such as an N2 Registration Accept message, an N2 AMF Mobility Request message, an N2 Path Switch Request Confirm message, a response to a Namf_Communication_UEContextTransfer message, etc. At operation 1230 , the network controller circuitry of the MME 121 may send the S1-AP message to the RAN node 111 .

[0188] In a first embodiment, the NAS message received at operation 1205 may be an attach request message sent after UE 101 has detached from a network, wherein UE 101 has changed the usage setting of the UE from "voice centric" to "data centric" or from "data centric" to "voice centric". In these embodiments, the NAS message may include an indication of the usage setting of the UE. In some embodiments, the RRC signaling sent by the UE during the attach procedure may include the UE radio capabilities of UE 101, and the UE radio capabilities may include a CE mode B support indicator to indicate whether the UE supports operation in CE mode B. MME 121 may obtain the UE radio capabilities including this parameter from RAN node 111 at any time during or after process 1200 and store it. In other embodiments, in the NAS message of the operation, the UE radio capability may only indicate the applicable UE usage setting (e.g., "voice centric" or "data centric"), which may be identified by the processor circuit of MME 121 at operation 1210; the processor circuit of MME 121 may then set the CE Mode B restriction parameters accordingly at operation 1215. In the first embodiment, the S1-AP message generated and sent at operations 1225 and 1230, respectively, may be an INITIAL CONTEXT SETUP REQUEST message.

[0189] In the second embodiment, the NAS message obtained at operation 1205 may be an attach request message or a TAU request message sent during an attach procedure or a TAU procedure for "first TAU ​​after GERAN / UTRAN attach", for "UE radio capability update", or for indicating a change of the UE's usage setting from voice-centric to data-centric (and from data-centric to voice-centric) when the UE supports CE mode B. If the UE 101 changes its UE usage setting while in the EMM idle mode, the NAS message obtained at operation 1205 may include the current UE usage setting of the UE 101, and operations 1210 and 1215 may be performed as described above. Fig.12 Execute in the order shown.

[0190] If UE 101 is in EMM connected when the UE usage setting is changed, the NAS message may or may not include the current UE usage setting of UE 101. In this case, at operation 1225, the processor circuit of MME 121 may generate an S1 interface INITIAL CONTEXT SETUP REQUEST or UE RADIOCAPABILITY MATCH REQUEST message that does not include the UE radio capability IE, and at operation 1230, the network controller circuit of MME 121 may send such an S1-AP message to RAN node 111 to trigger RAN node 111 to acquire UE radio capabilities from UE 101. MME 121 may then obtain the updated UE radio capabilities from RAN node 111.

[0191] In the NR implementation of the second embodiment, the NAS message obtained at operation 1205 may be a registration request message for initial registration (e.g., when UE 201 is in the RM-DEREGISTERED state) or for mobility registration update (e.g., UE 201 is in the RM-REGISTERED state and a registration procedure is initiated due to mobility), for periodic registration update (e.g., UE 201 is in the RM-REGISTERED state and a registration procedure is initiated due to expiration of a periodic registration update timer), or for emergency registration update (e.g., UE 201 is in the limited service state and emergency communication needs to be established). In this case, at operation 1225, the processor circuit of the AMF 221 may generate an N2 interface INITIAL CONTEXT SETUP REQUEST or an N2 feature specific UE / RAN radio information and compatibility request message that does not include the UE radio capability IE, and at operation 1230, the network controller circuit of the AMF 221 may send such an N2 message to the RAN node 211 to trigger the RAN node 211 to obtain the UE radio capability from the UE 201. The AMF 221 may then obtain the updated UE radio capabilities from the RAN node 211.

[0192] In a variation of the second embodiment, the NAS message may be a TAU request message including a "UE radio capability information update required" indicator. In this case, at operation 1225, the processor circuit of the MME 121 may generate an S1 interface INITIAL CONTEXT SETUP REQUEST or UE RADIO CAPABILITY MATCH REQUEST message that does not include the UE radio capability IE, but includes an "update required" indicator. At operation 1230, the network controller circuit of the MME 121 may send such an S1-AP message to the RAN node 111 to trigger the RAN node 111 to perform a UE capability query procedure with the UE 101 to obtain the UE radio capabilities from the UE 101. The MME 121 may then obtain the updated UE radio capabilities from the RAN node 111. In the NR implementation of the variation of the second embodiment, the NAS message may be, for example, a registration request message for mobility registration update including a "UE radio capability information update required" indicator.

[0193] In the third embodiment, the NAS message may be an Attach Request message or a TAU Request message including the "Voice Domain Preference and UE's Usage Settings" IE. The purpose of the "Voice Domain Preference and UE's Usage Settings" IE is to inform the network of the UE's usage settings and the voice domain preference for E-UTRAN. The UE's usage settings indicate whether the UE acts in a voice-centric or data-centric manner. The "Voice Domain Preference and UE's Usage Settings" IE may take the format shown in Table 1.

[0194] Table 1: Voice Domain Preference and UE Usage Settings IE Format

[0195]

[0196] In the Voice Domain Preference and UE Usage Settings IE of Table 1, the Voice Domain Preference may be located at bits 1 to 2 of Byte 3, and the UE Usage Settings may be located at bit 3 of Byte 3. The Voice Domain Preference field (bits 1 and 2) may include a value of "00" to indicate a "CS Voice Only" voice domain preference; a value of "01" to indicate a "IMS PS Voice Only" voice domain preference; a value of "10" to indicate a "CS Voice Preferred, IMS Voice Secondary" voice domain preference; or a value of "11" to indicate a "IMS PS Voice Preferred, CS Voice Secondary" voice domain preference. The UE Usage Settings field (bit 3) may have a value of "0" to indicate a "Voice Centric" usage setting or a value of "1" to indicate a "Data Centric" usage setting. For NR implementations, a "UE Usage Settings" IE may be used, which may include the same or similar values ​​to indicate a voice-centric or data-centric usage setting.

[0197] In a third embodiment, regardless of the currently enabled UE usage setting (e.g., "voice centric" or "data centric"), the CE mode B capability may be included or indicated in the RRC signaling during the attach or TAU procedure. For example, if the UE 101 has CE mode B capability with a value indicating "supported CE mode B", the UE's usage setting indicator (bit 3 of the voice domain preference and UE's usage setting IE or a certain bit of the UE's usage setting IE) may be set to "0" to indicate that the UE 101 is "voice centric", or it may be set to "1" to indicate that the UE 101 is "data centric".

[0198] In a third embodiment, if UE 101 supports "CE Mode B" and the UE's usage setting is set to "Voice Centric", at operation 1215, the processor circuit of MME 121 may set the CE Mode B restriction parameter of UE 101 to a "restricted" value (e.g., "1"). If UE 101 supports "CE Mode B" and the UE's usage setting is set to "Data Centric", at operation 1215, the processor circuit of MME 121 may set the CE Mode B restriction parameter of UE 101 to an "unrestricted" value (e.g., "0"). In various embodiments, the processor circuit of MME 121 may store the CE Mode B restriction parameter in an MM context associated with UE 101. In other embodiments, the processor circuit of MME 121 may derive the value of the CE Mode B restriction parameter from the UE usage setting parameter already stored in the UE context when necessary. In the NR implementation of the third embodiment, the processor circuit of the AMF 221 may set the CE mode B restriction parameter associated with the UE 201 (or derive its value) in the same or similar manner as previously described.

[0199] In the fourth embodiment, the NAS message obtained at operation 1205 may be an Attach / TAU Request message, and during the Attach or TAU procedure, the RRC signaling sent by the UE may include two versions of UE radio capabilities, namely a first version for voice-centric usage settings and a second version for data-centric usage settings. Both versions may be stored by the MME 121 at operation 1215, and at operation 1225, the processor circuit of the MME 121 may select the correct version to include in the S1-AP message based on the current UE usage settings of the UE 101. If the UE 101 is in EMM-CONNECTED mode and supports CE Mode B, and if the usage settings of the UE have changed, the MME 121 may send the appropriate version of the UE radio capabilities to the E-UTRAN 111, 112 in a Connection Establishment Indication message, a downlink NAS transport message, etc. at operation 1230. The NR implementation of the fourth embodiment may operate in a similar manner using NR-specific messages.

[0200] In the fifth embodiment, the processor circuit of the MME 121 may identify the usage setting of the UE at operation 1210 and / or may identify the UE radio capability information at operation 1220. Whenever the usage setting of the UE is changed from "voice centric" to "data centric" (and from "data centric" to "voice centric"), the processor circuit of the MME 121 may modify the UE radio capability information at operation 1220 or 1225 to obtain updated UE radio capabilities, and the updated UE radio capabilities may be sent to the RAN nodes 111, 112 at operation 1230.

[0201] Fig.13 An example process 1300 for updating usage settings of a UE is shown according to various embodiments. As an example, process 1300 is discussed as being performed by UE 101 for MME 121 and RAN node 111; however, other similar devices / entities may also perform process 1300. Process 1300 may begin at operation 1305, where a processor circuit of UE 101 may detect a change in usage settings.

[0202] At operation 1310, the processor circuit of the UE 101 may determine whether the change of the usage setting of the UE is from a data-centric usage setting to a voice-centric usage setting. If at operation 1310, the processor circuit determines that the usage setting of the UE has been changed from a data-centric usage setting to a voice-centric usage setting, the processor circuit may proceed to operation 1320 to operate the NAS entity and the AS entity to disable the CE mode B capability, not extend any NAS timer, initiate any dedicated bearer establishment process, initiate a reselection process (if the voice service is not available), etc. If at operation 1310, the processor circuit determines that the usage setting of the UE has not been changed from a data-centric usage setting to a voice-centric usage setting (for example, the change is from a voice-centric usage setting to a data-centric usage setting), the processor circuit may proceed to operation 1315 to operate the NAS entity and the AS entity to enable the CE mode B capability, extend the NAS timer (if necessary), initiate a dedicated bearer establishment process (if necessary), maintain the current connection, etc. At operation 1325, the processor circuit of UE 101 may generate a first message to indicate the new UE usage setting, and operate the radio control circuit (e.g., RF circuit 506 of RFEM 415) to send the message. At operation 1330, the processor circuit of UE 101 may generate a second message to indicate the new UE radio capability of UE 101, and operate the radio control circuit (e.g., RF circuit 506 of RFEM 415) to send the message. Operation 1330 may be omitted in some embodiments. For example, the second message may be generated and sent when UE 101 performs an attach procedure, but UE 101 may not generate the second message during the TAU procedure.

[0203] In a first embodiment, the first message generated and sent at operation 1325 may be an attach request message sent after UE 101 has detached from the network, which may include applicable UE usage settings (e.g., "voice centric" or "data centric"). The second message generated and sent at operation 1330 may be a message including the UE radio capabilities of UE 101, and the UE radio capabilities of UE 101 may indicate the usage settings of the UE. In some embodiments, the RRC signaling sent by the UE during the attach process may include the UE radio capabilities of UE 101, and the UE radio capabilities may include a CE mode B support indicator to indicate whether the UE supports operation in CE mode B.

[0204] In a second embodiment, the message generated and sent at operation 1325 may be an attach request message or a TAU request message sent during an attach procedure or a TAU procedure for "first TAU ​​after GERAN / UTRAN attach", for "UE radio capability update", or for indicating a change of the UE's usage setting from voice-centric to data-centric (and from data-centric to voice-centric) when the UE supports CE mode B. If the UE 101 changes its usage setting at operation 1305 while being in the EMM-IDLE mode, the NAS message may include the current UE usage setting of the UE. If the UE 101 is in the EMM-CONNECTED mode when the UE's usage setting is changed, the NAS message at operation 1325 may or may not include the current UE usage setting of the UE 101, and the second message generated and sent at operation 1330 may be an RRC UE capability information message sent in response to receiving an RRC UE capability query message from the RAN node 111. In the NR implementation of the second embodiment, the message generated and sent in operation 1325 can be a registration request message for initial registration (for example, when UE 201 is in the RM-DEREGISTERED state) or for mobility registration update (for example, UE 201 is in the RM-REGISTERED state and the registration process is initiated due to mobility), for periodic registration update (for example, UE 201 is in the RM-REGISTERED state and the registration process is initiated due to expiration of the periodic registration update timer), or for emergency registration update (for example, UE 201 is in the limited service state and emergency communication needs to be established).

[0205] In a variation of the second embodiment, the message generated and sent at operation 1325 may be a TAU request message including a "UE radio capability information update required" indicator. In an NR implementation of the variation of the second embodiment, the message generated and sent at operation 1325 may be a registration request message (e.g., for mobility registration update) including a "UE radio capability information update required" indicator.

[0206] In the third embodiment, the message generated and sent at operation 1325 may be an attach request message or a TAU request message including a “Voice Domain Preference and UE Usage Setting” IE, wherein the UE Usage Setting field (bit 3) of the “Voice Domain Preference and UE Usage Setting” IE may have a value of “0” to indicate a “voice-centric” usage setting or a value of “1” to indicate a “data-centric” usage setting. For NR implementations, the “UE Usage Setting” IE may be used, which may include the same or similar values ​​to indicate a voice-centric or data-centric usage setting. In the third embodiment, operation 1330 may be omitted.

[0207] In the fourth embodiment, the first message generated and sent at operation 1325 may be an Attach / TAU Request message, and the second message generated and sent at operation 1330 may be an RRC UE Capability Information message sent in response to receiving an RRC UE Capability Query message from the RAN node 111 and including two versions of UE radio capabilities, namely a first version for voice-centric usage settings and a second version for data-centric usage settings. In the fourth embodiment, operation 1330 may be omitted.

[0208] In the fifth embodiment, the message generated and sent at operation 1325 may be an attach / TAU request message indicating the usage setting of the UE (e.g., in the “Voice Domain Preference and Usage Setting of UE” IE or the “Usage Setting of UE” IE), wherein the MME 121 / AMF 221 modifies the UE radio capability information based on whether the usage setting of the UE is changed from “Voice Centric” to “Data Centric” (and from “Data Centric” to “Voice Centric”). In the fifth embodiment, operation 1330 may be omitted.

[0209] Some non-limiting examples are provided below. The following examples pertain to further embodiments. The specific details in the examples may be used anywhere in one or more of the previously discussed embodiments. All optional features of the apparatus described herein may also be implemented for one or more methods or processes, and vice versa.

[0210] Example 1 may include one or more computer-readable storage media "CRSM" having instructions, which, when executed by one or more processors of a mobility management entity "MME", cause the MME to: identify a CE mode B restriction parameter associated with a user equipment "UE" capable of operating in coverage enhancement "CE" mode B from a mobility management "MM" context, wherein the CE mode B restriction parameter is set to one of a "restricted" value or an "unrestricted" value; and control the sending of the CE mode B restriction parameter to an evolved Node B "eNB" via S1 signaling to indicate whether the use of CE mode B is restricted or unrestricted for the UE.

[0211] Example 2 may include one or more CRSMs of Example 1 and / or some other examples herein, wherein, in order to control the sending of the CE mode B restriction parameters via S1 signaling, execution of the instructions causes the MME to: generate an S1 application protocol "S1AP" message to include the CE mode B restriction parameters.

[0212] Example 3 may include one or more CRSMs of Example 2 and / or some other examples herein, wherein the S1AP message is one of the following messages: an initial context setup request message, a handover request message, a path switch request confirmation message, a connection establishment indication message, or a downlink non-access layer "NAS" transmission message carrying a tracking area update "TAU" acceptance message.

[0213] Example 4 may include one or more CRSMs of Examples 1-3 and / or some other examples herein, wherein execution of the instructions by the one or more processors causes the MME to: control receiving a NAS message from the UE; identify a usage setting of the UE indicated by the NAS message; and control storing the CE mode B restriction parameter in the MM context to have a "restricted" value when the usage setting of the UE is set to a voice-centric usage setting, or control storing the CE mode B restriction parameter in the MM context to have an "unrestricted" value when the usage setting of the UE is set to a data-centric usage setting.

[0214] Example 5 may include one or more CRSMs of Example 4 and / or some other examples herein, wherein the NAS message is an Attach Request message or a TAU Request message.

[0215] Example 6 may include one or more CRSMs of Example 5 and / or some other examples herein, wherein the attach request message or the TAU request message includes a voice domain preference and UE usage setting information element, and wherein the voice domain preference and UE usage setting information element indicates the usage setting of the UE.

[0216] Example 7 may include one or more CRSMs of Examples 1-6 and / or some other examples herein, wherein, when the CE mode B restriction parameter stored in the MM context is set to an “unrestricted” value, execution of the instructions by the one or more processors causes the MME to extend the NAS timer setting for the UE.

[0217] Example 8 may include an apparatus to be used as a mobility management entity "MME", the apparatus comprising: a processor circuit that: identifies, from a mobility management "MM" context, usage settings and UE radio capability information of a UE associated with a user equipment "UE" capable of operating in a coverage enhancement "CE" mode B, wherein the UE radio capability information includes a CE mode B support indication set to one of a "supported" value or a "not supported" value, and detects, from the usage settings of the UE in a non-access stratum "NAS" message, a change in the usage settings of the UE from a data-centric usage setting to a voice-centric usage setting or from a voice-centric usage setting to a data-centric usage setting; and a network controller circuit communicatively coupled to the processor circuit, the network controller circuit: receiving the NAS message from the UE; and sending an S1AP message to an evolved Node B "eNB" so that the eNB is triggered to request UE radio capability information from the UE.

[0218] Example 9 may include the apparatus of Example 8 and / or some other examples herein, wherein the S1AP message is an initial context setup request message or a UE radio capability match request message during an attach procedure or a tracking area update "TAU" procedure.

[0219] Example 10 may include the apparatus of Example 9 and / or some other examples herein, wherein, when the UE initiates the attach procedure or the TAU procedure in EPS mobility management "EMM" idle mode, the processor circuit: controls the deletion of any currently stored UE radio capability information of the UE; does not send any UE radio capability information to the eNB in ​​the initial context setup request message or the UE radio capability match request message, so that the eNB is triggered to request UE radio capability information from the UE and upload the requested UE radio capability to the MME in an S1 interface UE capability information indication message; controls the network controller circuit to receive an S1 interface UE capability information indication message from the eNB, wherein the S1 interface UE capability information indication message includes the UE radio capability information requested by the eNB; controls the storage of the UE radio capability information; and generates an initial context setup request message or a UE radio capability match request message to include the stored UE radio capability information in situations other than the attach procedure, the tracking area update procedure for "first TAU ​​after GERAN / UTRAN attach", and the "UE radio capability update" procedure.

[0220] Example 11 may include the apparatus of Example 8 and / or some other examples herein, wherein, when the UE initiates the TAU procedure in EMM connected mode, the network controller circuit: receives a TAU request message from the UE via NAS signaling, wherein the TAU request message indicates that a UE radio capability information update is required or that the UE's usage setting is changed from a data-centric usage setting to a voice-centric usage setting or from a voice-centric usage setting to a data-centric usage setting; sends a UE radio capability matching request message to the eNB via S1 signaling, wherein the UE radio capability matching request message includes an update required indicator, wherein the update required indicator triggers the eNB to send a UE capability query message to the UE via radio resource control (RRC) signaling; and receives a UE capability information indication message via the S1 signaling, wherein the UE capability information message includes a UE radio capability information element "IE", and wherein the UE radio capability IE includes a CE mode B support indication, and wherein the processor circuit controls the information of the UE radio capability IE to be stored in association with an identifier of the UE for subsequent network access by the UE.

[0221] Example 12 may include one or more computer-readable storage media "CRSM" having instructions, which, when executed by one or more processors of a user equipment "UE" capable of operating in coverage enhancement "CE" mode B, cause the UE to: detect a change in a usage setting of the UE from a data-centric usage setting to a voice-centric usage setting or from a voice-centric usage setting to a data-centric usage setting; generate a non-access layer "NAS" message to indicate the change in the usage setting; and control the sending of the NAS message to a mobility management entity.

[0222] Example 13 may include one or more CRSMs of Example 12 and / or some other examples herein, wherein the NAS message is an attach request message or a tracking area update "TAU" request message.

[0223] Example 14 may include one or more CRSMs of Example 13 and / or some other examples herein, wherein, in order to generate the NAS message, execution of the instructions by the one or more processors causes the UE to: generate the attach request message or the TAU message to include a "voice domain preference and UE usage settings" information element, wherein the "voice domain preference and UE usage settings" information element indicates whether the UE acts according to the voice-centric usage settings or the data-centric usage settings.

[0224] Example 15 may include one or more CRSMs of Example 14 and / or some other examples herein, wherein execution of the instructions causes the UE to: control reception of a radio resource control "RRC" UE capability query message from a radio access network "RAN" node; and generate an RRC UE capability information message in response to receiving the RRC UE capability query message to include the UE capability information.

[0225] Example 16 may include one or more CRSMs of Examples 12-15 and / or some other examples herein, wherein execution of the instructions causes the UE to: control the CE mode B support indication in the UE capability information to be set to a "not supported" value when the usage setting of the UE is set to a voice-centric usage setting, or control the CE mode B support indication in the UE capability information to be set to a "supported" value when the usage setting is set to a data-centric usage setting.

[0226] Example 17 may include one or more CRSMs of Example 13 and / or some other examples herein, wherein the NAS message includes a voice domain preference and UE usage setting information element, and wherein the voice domain preference and UE usage setting information element indicates a change in the usage setting of the UE.

[0227] Example 18 may include one or more CRSMs of Examples 12-17 and / or some other examples herein, wherein execution of the instructions causes the UE to: not operate in the CE mode B when the usage setting of the UE is set to the voice-centric usage setting.

[0228] Example 19 may include a device to be used as a mobility management entity "MME", the device comprising: a processing device for: identifying a CE mode B restriction parameter associated with a user equipment "UE" capable of operating in coverage enhancement "CE" mode B from a mobility management "MM" context, wherein the CE mode B restriction parameter is set to one of a "restricted" value or an "unrestricted" value, and generating an S1 application protocol "S1AP" message to include the CE mode B restriction parameter; and a communication device for sending the S1-AP message to an evolved Node B "eNB" via S1 signaling to indicate whether the use of CE mode B is restricted or unrestricted for the UE.

[0229] Example 20 may include an apparatus of Example 19 and / or some other examples herein, wherein the S1AP message is one of the following messages: an initial context setup request message, a handover request message, a path switch request confirmation message, a connection establishment indication message, or a downlink non-access layer "NAS" transmission message carrying a tracking area update "TAU" acceptance message.

[0230] Example 21 may include the apparatus of Example 19 or 20 and / or some other examples herein, wherein: the communication device is used to receive a NAS message from the UE; and the processing device is used to: identify the usage setting of the UE indicated by the NAS message; and when the usage setting of the UE is set to a voice-centric usage setting, control the CE mode B restriction parameter to be stored in the MM context to have a "restricted" value, or when the usage setting of the UE is set to a data-centric usage setting, control the CE mode B restriction parameter to be stored in the MM context to have an "unrestricted" value.

[0231] Example 22 may include the apparatus of Example 21 and / or some other examples herein, wherein the NAS message is an Attach Request message or a TAU Request message.

[0232] Example 23 may include the device of Example 22 and / or some other examples herein, wherein the attach request message or the TAU request message includes a voice domain preference and UE usage setting information element, and wherein the voice domain preference and UE usage setting information element indicates the usage setting of the UE.

[0233] Example 24 may include the apparatus of Example 19 and / or some other examples herein, wherein the S1AP message is an initial context setup request message or a UE radio capability match request message during an attach procedure or a TAU procedure.

[0234] Example 25 may include the apparatus of Examples 19-24 and / or some other examples herein, wherein, when the CE mode B restriction parameter stored in the MM context is set to a "no restriction" value, the processing device is used to extend the NAS timer setting for the UE.

[0235] Example 26 may include a method to be performed by a mobility management entity "MME", the method comprising: identifying from a mobility management "MM" context or causing identification from an MM context of a CE mode B restriction parameter associated with a user equipment "UE" capable of operating in coverage enhancement "CE" mode B, wherein the CE mode B restriction parameter is set to one of a "restricted" value or an "unrestricted" value; and sending or causing sending of the CE mode B restriction parameter to an evolved Node B "eNB" via S1 signaling to indicate whether use of CE mode B is restricted or unrestricted for the UE.

[0236] Example 27 may include the method of Example 26 and / or some other examples herein, wherein sending the CE Mode B restriction parameters via S1 signaling includes: generating or causing generation of an S1 Application Protocol "S1AP" message to include the CE Mode B restriction parameters.

[0237] Example 28 may include the method of Example 27 and / or some other examples herein, wherein the S1AP message is one of the following messages: an initial context setup request message, a handover request message, a path switch request confirmation message, a connection establishment indication message, or a downlink non-access layer "NAS" transmission message carrying a tracking area update "TAU" acceptance message.

[0238] Example 29 may include the method of Examples 26-28 and / or some other examples herein, further including: receiving or causing a NAS message to be received from the UE; identifying or causing identification of a usage setting of the UE indicated by the NAS message; and storing or causing storage of the CE mode B restriction parameter in the MM context to have a "restricted" value when the usage setting of the UE is set to a voice-centric usage setting, or storing or causing storage of the CE mode B restriction parameter in the MM context to have a "unrestricted" value when the usage setting of the UE is set to a data-centric usage setting.

[0239] Example 30 may include the method of Example 29 and / or some other examples herein, wherein the NAS message is an Attach Request message or a TAU Request message.

[0240] Example 31 may include the method of Example 30 and / or some other examples herein, wherein the attach request message or the TAU request message includes a voice domain preference and UE usage setting information element, and wherein the voice domain preference and UE usage setting information element indicates the usage setting of the UE.

[0241] Example 32 may include the method of Examples 26-31 and / or some other examples herein, wherein, when the CE mode B restriction parameter stored in the MM context is set to a "no restriction" value, the method includes extending or causing an extension of a NAS timer setting of the UE.

[0242] Example 33 may include a method to be performed by a mobility management entity "MME", the method comprising: identifying from a mobility management "MM" context or causing identification from an MM context of usage settings and UE radio capability information of a UE associated with a user equipment "UE" capable of operating in coverage enhancement "CE" mode B, wherein the UE radio capability information includes a CE mode B support indication set to one of a "supported" value or a "not supported" value, and receiving or causing reception of a non-access stratum "NAS" message from the UE; detecting from the usage settings of the UE in the NAS message a change in the usage settings of the UE from a data-centric usage setting to a voice-centric usage setting or from a voice-centric usage setting to a data-centric usage setting; and sending or causing sending of an S1AP message to an evolved Node B "eNB" so that the eNB is triggered to request UE radio capability information from the UE.

[0243] Example 34 may include the method of Example 33 and / or some other examples herein, wherein the S1AP message is an initial context setup request message or a UE radio capability match request message during an attach procedure or a tracking area update "TAU" procedure.

[0244] Example 35 may include the method of Example 34 and / or some other examples herein, wherein, when the UE initiates the attach procedure or the TAU procedure in EPS mobility management "EMM" idle mode, the method includes: deleting or causing deletion of any currently stored UE radio capability information of the UE; not sending or causing not sending any UE radio capability information to the eNB in ​​the initial context setup request message or the UE radio capability match request message, so that the eNB is triggered to request UE radio capability information from the UE and upload the requested UE radio capability to the MME in an S1 interface UE capability information indication message; receiving or causing receipt of an S1 interface UE capability information indication message from the eNB, wherein the S1 interface UE capability information indication message includes the UE radio capability information requested by the eNB; storing or causing storage of the UE radio capability information; and storing in a tracking area update procedure other than an attach procedure, a tracking area update procedure for "first TAU ​​after GERAN / UTRAN attach" and a "UE Generate or cause to be generated an initial context setup request message or a UE radio capability match request message to include the stored UE radio capability information in circumstances other than the "radio capability update" procedure.

[0245] Example 36 may include the method of Example 33 and / or some other examples herein, wherein, when the UE initiates the TAU procedure in EMM connected mode, the method includes: receiving a TAU request message from the UE via NAS signaling or causing a TAU request message to be received from the UE via NAS signaling, wherein the TAU request message indicates that a UE radio capability information update is required or that a usage setting of the UE is changed from a data-centric usage setting to a voice-centric usage setting or from a voice-centric usage setting to a data-centric usage setting; sending a UE radio capability matching request message to the eNB via S1 signaling or causing a UE radio capability matching request message to be sent to the eNB via S1 signaling, wherein The UE radio capability matching request message includes an update required indicator, wherein the update required indicator triggers the eNB to send a UE capability query message to the UE via radio resource control (RRC) signaling; receive or cause a UE capability information indication message to be received via the S1 signaling, wherein the UE capability information message includes a UE radio capability information element "IE", and wherein the UE radio capability IE includes a CE mode B support indication; and store the information of the UE radio capability IE in association with the identifier of the UE or cause the information of the UE radio capability IE to be stored in association with the identifier of the UE so that the UE performs subsequent network access.

[0246] Example 37 may include a method to be performed by a user equipment "UE" capable of operating in coverage enhancement "CE" mode B, the method comprising: detecting or causing detection of a change in a usage setting of the UE from a data-centric usage setting to a voice-centric usage setting or from a voice-centric usage setting to a data-centric usage setting; generating or causing generation of a non-access stratum "NAS" message to indicate the change in the usage setting; and sending or causing sending of the NAS message to a mobility management entity.

[0247] Example 38 may include the method of Example 37 and / or some other examples herein, wherein the NAS message is an attach request message or a tracking area update "TAU" request message.

[0248] Example 39 may include the method of Example 38 and / or some other examples herein, wherein generating the NAS message includes: generating or causing the attach request message or the TAU message to be generated to include a "voice domain preference and UE usage settings" information element, wherein the "voice domain preference and UE usage settings" information element indicates whether the UE acts according to the voice-centric usage settings or the data-centric usage settings.

[0249] Example 40 may include the method of Example 39 and / or some other examples herein, further including: receiving or causing receipt of a radio resource control "RRC" UE capability query message from a radio access network "RAN" node; and in response to receiving the RRC UE capability query message, generating or causing generation of an RRC UE capability information message to include the UE capability information.

[0250] Example 41 may include the method of Examples 37-40 and / or some other examples herein, further including: setting or causing the CE mode B support indication in the UE capability information to have a "not supported" value when the usage setting of the UE is set to a voice-centric usage setting, or setting or causing the CE mode B support indication in the UE capability information to have a "supported" value when the usage setting is set to a data-centric usage setting.

[0251] Example 42 may include the method of Example 38 and / or some other examples herein, wherein the NAS message includes a voice domain preference and UE usage setting information element, and wherein the voice domain preference and UE usage setting information element indicates a change in the usage setting of the UE.

[0252] Example 43 may include the method of Examples 37-42 and / or some other examples herein, further including: not operating in the CE mode B or causing not to operate in the CE mode B when the usage setting of the UE is set to the voice-centric usage setting.

[0253] Example 44 may include a method to be performed by a mobility management entity "MME", the method comprising: identifying from a mobility management "MM" context or causing identification from an MM context of a CE mode B restriction parameter associated with a user equipment "UE" capable of operating in coverage enhancement "CE" mode B, wherein the CE mode B restriction parameter is set to one of a "restricted" value or an "unrestricted" value; generating or causing generation of an S1 application protocol "S1AP" message to include the CE mode B restriction parameter; and sending the S1-AP message via S1 signaling or causing the S1-AP message to be sent via S1 signaling to an evolved Node B "eNB" to indicate whether use of CE mode B is restricted or unrestricted for the UE.

[0254] Example 45 may include the method of Example 44 and / or some other examples herein, wherein the S1AP message is one of the following messages: an initial context setup request message, a handover request message, a path switch request confirmation message, a connection establishment indication message, or a downlink non-access layer "NAS" transmission message carrying a tracking area update "TAU" acceptance message.

[0255] Example 46 may include the method of Example 44 or 45 and / or some other examples herein, further comprising: receiving or causing a NAS message to be received from the UE; identifying or causing identification of a usage setting of the UE indicated by the NAS message; and storing or causing storage of the CE mode B restriction parameter in the MM context to have a "restricted" value when the usage setting of the UE is set to a voice-centric usage setting, or storing or causing storage of the CE mode B restriction parameter in the MM context to have a "unrestricted" value when the usage setting of the UE is set to a data-centric usage setting.

[0256] Example 47 may include the method of Example 46 and / or some other examples herein, wherein the NAS message is an Attach Request message or a TAU Request message.

[0257] Example 48 may include the method of Example 47 and / or some other examples herein, wherein the attach request message or the TAU request message includes a voice domain preference and UE usage setting information element, and wherein the voice domain preference and UE usage setting information element indicates the usage setting of the UE.

[0258] Example 49 may include the method of Example 44 and / or some other examples herein, wherein the S1AP message is an initial context setup request message or a UE radio capability match request message during an attach procedure or a TAU procedure.

[0259] Example 50 may include the method of Examples 44-49 and / or some other examples herein, wherein when the CE mode B restriction parameter stored in the MM context is set to a “no restriction” value, the method includes extending a NAS timer setting for the UE.

[0260] Example 51 may include a device including a device for performing one or more elements of a method described in any of Examples 1-50 or related to any of Examples 1-50, or any other method or process described herein. Example 52 may include one or more non-transitory computer-readable media including instructions, which, when executed by one or more processors of an electronic device, cause the electronic device to perform one or more elements of a method described in any of Examples 1-50 or related to any of Examples 1-50, or any other method or process described herein. Example 53 may include a device including logic, modules, or circuits for performing one or more elements of a method described in any of Examples 1-50 or related to any of Examples 1-50, or any other method or process described herein. Example 54 may include a method, technique, or process as described in any of Examples 1-50 or related to any of Examples 1-50, or some portion thereof. Example 55 may include an apparatus comprising: one or more processors and one or more computer-readable media comprising instructions, which when executed by the one or more processors cause the one or more processors to perform a method, technique, or process as described in any of Examples 1-50 or related to any of Examples 1-50, or some portion thereof. Example 56 may include a signal as described in any of Examples 1-50 or related to any of Examples 1-50, or some portion thereof. Example 57 may include a signal in a wireless network as shown and described herein. Example 58 may include a method of communicating in a wireless network as shown and described herein. Example 59 may include a system for providing wireless communication as shown and described herein. Example 60 may include an apparatus for providing wireless communication as shown and described herein.

[0261] The above description of the above examples provides illustrations and descriptions of the example embodiments disclosed herein, but the above examples are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the scope of the invention to the precise forms disclosed. Modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings and / or can be obtained by implementing various implementations of the embodiments discussed herein.

Claims

1. A device to be implemented in a mobility management entity MME, the device comprising: A network interface circuit configured to receive a non-access stratum (NAS) message from a user equipment (UE) capable of operating in a coverage enhancement CE mode B; as well as a processor circuit communicatively coupled to the network interface circuit and configured to: determining a usage setting of the UE indicated by the NAS message; storing a CE Mode B restriction parameter in a mobility management MM context associated with the UE to have a “restricted” value when the usage setting of the UE is set to a voice-centric usage setting, or storing the CE Mode B restriction parameter in the MM context associated with the UE to have a “unrestricted” value when the usage setting of the UE is set to a data-centric usage setting; and identifying the CE Mode B restriction parameter associated with the UE from the MM context, The network interface circuit is further configured to: send the CE mode B restriction parameter to an evolved Node B (eNB) via S1 signaling to indicate whether the use of CE mode B is restricted or not restricted for the UE.

2. The device according to claim 1, wherein: The processor circuit is further configured to: An S1 Application Protocol S1AP message is generated to include the CE Mode B restriction parameters.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the S1AP message is one of the following messages: an initial context setup request message, a handover request message, a path switch request confirm message, a connection establishment indication message, or a downlink non-access layer NAS transmission message carrying a tracking area update TAU accept message. 4 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the NAS message is an Attach Request message or a TAU Request message.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the attach request message or the TAU request message includes a voice domain preference and a usage setting information element of the UE, and wherein the voice domain preference and the usage setting information element of the UE are used to indicate the usage setting of the UE.

6. The device according to claim 1, wherein: When the CE Mode B restriction parameter stored in the MM context is set to a “no restriction” value, the processor circuit is configured to extend a NAS timer setting for the UE.

7. A device to be implemented in a mobility management entity MME, the device comprising: means for identifying, from a mobility management MM context, usage settings and UE radio capability information of a UE associated with a user equipment UE capable of operating in coverage enhanced CE mode B, wherein the UE radio capability information comprises a CE mode B support indication set to one of a "supported" value or a "not supported" value; means for detecting, from a usage setting of the UE in a non-access stratum (NAS) message, a change in the usage setting of the UE from a data-centric usage setting to a voice-centric usage setting or from a voice-centric usage setting to a data-centric usage setting; means for receiving the NAS message from the UE; as well as A component for sending an S1AP message to an evolved Node B, eNB, so that the eNB is triggered to request UE radio capability information from the UE. 8 . The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the S1AP message is an initial context setup request message or a UE radio capability match request message during an attach procedure or a tracking area update (TAU) procedure.

9. The device of claim 8, wherein: When the UE initiates the attach procedure or the TAU procedure in EPS mobility management EMM idle mode, the apparatus further includes: means for deleting any currently stored UE radio capability information of said UE; means for not sending any UE radio capability information to the eNB in ​​the initial context setup request message or the UE radio capability match request message, so that the eNB is triggered to request UE radio capability information from the UE and upload the requested UE radio capability to the MME in an S1 interface UE capability information indication message; means for receiving an S1 interface UE capability information indication message from the eNB, wherein the S1 interface UE capability information indication message includes the UE radio capability information requested by the eNB; A means for storing the UE radio capability information; and A means for generating an initial context setup request message or a UE radio capability match request message to include the stored UE radio capability information in cases other than an attach procedure, a tracking area update procedure for "first TAU ​​after GERAN / UTRAN attach" and a "UE radio capability update" procedure.

10. The device according to claim 8, wherein: When the UE initiates the TAU procedure in the EMM connected mode, the apparatus further includes: means for receiving a TAU request message from the UE via NAS signaling, wherein the TAU request message is used to indicate that: a UE radio capability information update is required, or a usage setting of the UE is changed from the data-centric usage setting to the voice-centric usage setting or from the voice-centric usage setting to the data-centric usage setting; A component for sending a UE radio capability match request message to the eNB via S1 signaling, wherein the UE radio capability match request message includes an update required indicator, wherein the update required indicator is used to trigger the eNB to send a UE capability query message to the UE via radio resource control RRC signaling; means for receiving a UE capability information indication message via the S1 signaling, wherein the UE capability information message comprises a UE radio capability information element IE, and wherein the UE radio capability IE comprises a CE Mode B support indication; and A means for storing the information of the UE radio capability IE in association with an identifier of the UE for use by the UE in subsequent network access.

11. A device for use in a mobility management entity (MME) in a wireless network, the device comprising: A processor circuit configured to perform operations including: identifying, from a mobility management MM context corresponding to a user equipment UE capable of operating in coverage enhanced CE mode B, UE radio capability information and usage settings associated with the UE, wherein the UE radio capability information indicates whether the UE supports or does not support the CE mode B; determining, based on the usage setting of the UE indicated by a non-access stratum (NAS) message from the UE, a change of the usage setting of the UE from a data-centric usage setting to a voice-centric usage setting or from a voice-centric usage setting to a data-centric usage setting; as well as In response to determining the change in the usage setting of the UE, generating an S1AP message to request UE radio capability information from the UE; as well as A network controller circuit communicatively coupled to the processor circuit, the network controller circuit configured to perform operations including: receiving the NAS message from the UE; as well as The S1AP message is sent to a base station, so that the base station is triggered to request UE radio capability information from the UE.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the S1AP message is an initial context setup request message or a UE radio capability match request message during an attach procedure or a tracking area update (TAU) procedure.

13. The device of claim 12, wherein: When the UE initiates the attach procedure or the TAU procedure in EPS mobility management EMM idle mode, the processor circuit is configured to perform operations including: Controlling deletion of any currently stored UE radio capability information of the UE; not sending any UE radio capability information to the base station in the initial context setup request message or the UE radio capability match request message, so that the base station is triggered to request UE radio capability information from the UE and upload the requested UE radio capability to the MME in an S1 interface UE capability information indication message; Controlling a network controller circuit to receive an S1 interface UE capability information indication message from the base station, wherein the S1 interface UE capability information indication message includes the UE radio capability information requested by the base station; Controlling storage of the UE radio capability information; as well as In cases other than the Attach procedure, the Tracking Area Update procedure for "First TAU ​​after GERAN / UTRAN Attach" and the "UE Radio Capability Update" procedure, an Initial Context Setup Request message or a UE Radio Capability Matching Request message is generated to include the stored UE radio capability information.

14. The device of claim 12, wherein: When the UE initiates the TAU procedure in the EMM connected mode, the network controller circuit is configured to perform operations including: receiving a TAU request message from the UE via NAS signaling, wherein the TAU request message is used to indicate that: a UE radio capability information update is required, or a usage setting of the UE is changed from the data-centric usage setting to the voice-centric usage setting or from the voice-centric usage setting to the data-centric usage setting; Sending a UE radio capability matching request message to the base station via S1 signaling, wherein the UE radio capability matching request message includes an update need indicator, wherein the update need indicator is used to trigger the base station to send a UE capability query message to the UE via radio resource control RRC signaling; receiving a UE capability information indication message via the S1 signaling, wherein the UE capability information message comprises a UE radio capability information element IE, and wherein the UE radio capability IE comprises a CE mode B support indication; and The processor circuit is configured to control storing the information of the UE radio capability IE in association with an identifier of the UE for subsequent network access by the UE.

15. A method performed by a mobility management entity (MME) in a wireless network, the method comprising: identifying, from a mobility management MM context of a user equipment (UE) corresponding to the UE capable of operating in coverage enhanced CE mode B, UE radio capability information and usage settings associated with the UE, wherein the UE radio capability information indicates whether the UE supports or does not support the CE mode B; receiving a non-access stratum (NAS) message from the UE; determining, based on the usage setting of the UE indicated by the NAS message, a change of the usage setting of the UE from a data-centric usage setting to a voice-centric usage setting or from a voice-centric usage setting to a data-centric usage setting; In response to determining the change in the usage setting of the UE, generating an S1AP message to request UE radio capability information from the UE; as well as An S1AP message is sent to a base station, so that the base station is triggered to request UE radio capability information from the UE.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the S1AP message is an initial context setup request message or a UE radio capability match request message during an attach procedure or a tracking area update (TAU) procedure.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein: When the UE initiates the attach procedure or the TAU procedure in EPS mobility management EMM idle mode, the method further includes: Controlling deletion of any currently stored UE radio capability information of the UE; not sending any UE radio capability information to the base station in the initial context setup request message or the UE radio capability match request message, so that the base station is triggered to request UE radio capability information from the UE and upload the requested UE radio capability to the MME in an S1 interface UE capability information indication message; receiving an S1 interface UE capability information indication message from the base station, wherein the S1 interface UE capability information indication message includes the UE radio capability information requested by the base station; controlling storage of the UE radio capability information; and In cases other than the Attach procedure, the Tracking Area Update procedure for "First TAU ​​after GERAN / UTRAN Attach" and the "UE Radio Capability Update" procedure, an Initial Context Setup Request message or a UE Radio Capability Matching Request message is generated to include the stored UE radio capability information.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein: When the UE initiates the TAU procedure in the EMM connected mode, the method further includes: receiving a TAU request message from the UE via NAS signaling, wherein the TAU request message is used to indicate that: a UE radio capability information update is required, or a usage setting of the UE is changed from the data-centric usage setting to the voice-centric usage setting or from the voice-centric usage setting to the data-centric usage setting; Sending a UE radio capability matching request message to the base station via S1 signaling, wherein the UE radio capability matching request message includes an update required indicator, wherein the update required indicator is used to trigger the base station to send a UE capability query message to the UE via radio resource control RRC signaling; and receiving a UE capability information indication message via the S1 signaling, wherein the UE capability information message comprises a UE radio capability information element IE, and wherein the UE radio capability IE comprises a CE mode B support indication; and Controlling to store information of the UE radio capability IE in association with an identifier of the UE for use by the UE in subsequent network access.

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