Cellular network selectively configuring measurement gaps based on subcarrier spacing

Abstract

A system for determining and reporting user equipment (UE) time gap requirement information for performing measurements on reference signals provided by a target base station. The UE receives a radio resource control (RRC) message from a current base station to modify a current RRC connection. The RRC configuration message may include subcarrier spacing (SCS) information for one or more target frequency bands of at least one target base station. The UE may then determine gap information based at least in part on the received SCS information for the one or more target frequency bands. The gap information may indicate whether a gap is required when performing measurements on reference signals transmitted at each of the one or more target frequency bands. The UE then transmits the gap information to the current base station.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present application relates to wireless networks for user equipment (UE) devices, and more particularly to systems and methods for dynamically providing measurement gaps for use in target cell measurements. Background Art

[0002] The use of wireless communication systems has grown rapidly. In recent years, wireless devices such as smartphones and tablets have become increasingly sophisticated. Mobile devices (i.e., user equipment devices or UEs) support phone calls, as well as provide access to the Internet, email, text messaging, and navigation using a global positioning system (GPS), and are capable of operating complex applications that utilize these capabilities. In addition, there are many different wireless communication technologies and wireless communication standards. Some examples of wireless communication standards include GSM, UMTS (e.g., associated with WCDMA or TD-SCDMA air interfaces), LTE, Advanced LTE (LTE-A), NR, HSPA, 3GPP2CDMA2000 (e.g., 1xRTT, 1xEV-DO, HRPD, eHRPD), IEEE 802.11 (WLAN or Wi-Fi), BLUETOOTH, and LTE-A. TM wait.

[0003] In a cellular network system, when a UE handover or cell reselection occurs, the UE can perform measurements on a reference signal provided by the target cell to assess the quality of the channel. When the reference signal transmitted by the target cell is at a frequency different from that of the UE's current serving cell, the UE can request a gap, such as a time slot for performing measurements. Currently, the UE reports a measurement gap requirement, or in other words, requests a gap (its "gap demand") from the network based only on the currently configured band combination. However, this approach may be insufficient because it does not address other situations where a gap may be needed and may result in providing a gap when one is not actually needed. Therefore, improvements in the art are desired. Summary of the Invention

[0004] Embodiments of systems and methods for operating a base station and a user equipment (UE) to selectively configure gaps in UE measurements of a target base station reference signal are provided herein. A user equipment (UE) may include at least one antenna; a radio operatively coupled to the at least one antenna for communicating with a cellular network; a memory storing applications; and a processor operatively coupled to the radio.

[0005] The serving (or current) base station may provide a message to the UE to modify or resume the current RRC connection. The message may take the form of a radio resource control (RRC) reconfiguration message or a radio resource control (RRC) resume message. The RRC message may include target band frequency information and subcarrier spacing (SCS) information for the target frequency band of one or more target base stations. The RRC message may also include other information, such as the band configuration of the current base station.

[0006] The UE may then determine gap information based at least in part on the target band frequency information and the received SCS information for the target band. The gap information may indicate whether a gap is required when performing measurements on a reference signal transmitted at each of the one or more target bands. For each target band, the UE may determine the gap information based at least in part on one or both of the frequency of the target band and the received SCS information for the target band.

[0007] As an example, if the target band and the serving band have the same frequency, the UE may determine "gap" or "no gap" based on the difference in subcarrier spacing between the target band and the serving band. As another example, if the received SCS information for the first target band is the same as the received SCS information for the current base station, the UE may specify "no gap" for the first target band in some instances. If the received SCS information indicates a first SCS for the first target band, and the current base station has a different second SCS, the gap information may indicate a gap for the first target band in some instances.

[0008] The UE then transmits the gap information to the current base station. The gap information may be used by the base station to determine whether to allocate a time slot to the UE for performing reference signal measurements at each of the target frequency bands.

[0009] In another embodiment, the RRC message may include target carrier band configuration information for one or more target frequency bands, but may not include any SCS information. In this embodiment, the determined gap information may be based at least in part on the assumption that the corresponding target frequency band has an SCS configuration that is the same as the current base station SCS configuration. The UE may then transmit the gap information to the current base station. In instances where the assumption made by the UE is incorrect, i.e., the SCS configuration of the target band is not the same as the currently configured SCS, the base station may override the gap information received from the UE. In another embodiment, the UE may provide the gap information to the base station together with the assumed subcarrier spacing used to make the determination. The base station may then compare the assumed SCS received by the UE with the actual SCS of the target band and selectively override the UE's "no gap" indication if the two SCS values ​​are different.

[0010] It should be noted that the techniques described herein may be implemented in and / or used with several different types of devices, including but not limited to base stations, access points, cellular phones, portable media players, tablets, wearable devices, and various other computing devices.

[0011] This summary is intended to provide a brief overview of some of the subject matter described in this document. Therefore, it should be understood that the above-described features are merely examples and should not be construed as narrowing the scope or spirit of the subject matter described herein in any way. Other features, aspects, and advantages of the subject matter described herein will become apparent from the following detailed description, accompanying drawings, and claims. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0012] A better understanding of the present invention may be obtained when the following detailed description of the embodiments is considered in conjunction with the following drawings.

[0013] Figure 1 An exemplary (and simplified) wireless communication system according to some embodiments is shown;

[0014] Figure 2 shows an example of a base station (BS) and access point communicating with a user equipment (UE) device according to some embodiments;

[0015] Figure 3 is a block diagram of a cellular network system according to some embodiments;

[0016] Figure 4 shows an exemplary block diagram of a UE according to one embodiment;

[0017] Figure 5 shows an exemplary block diagram of a base station according to one embodiment;

[0018] Figure 6 An example of channel bandwidth is shown;

[0019] Figure 7 is a flow chart illustrating a method according to some embodiments, wherein a network transmits subcarrier spacing information of a target band for use by a UE in determining gap requirement information;

[0020] Figure 8 is a flow chart illustrating a method according to some embodiments, wherein the UE transmits gap requirement information to the network based on the assumption that the subcarrier spacing on the target carrier is the same; and

[0021] Figure 9 is a flow chart illustrating a method according to some embodiments, wherein a UE transmits gap requirement information to the network for each target band and for each subcarrier spacing.

[0022] While the invention is susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments thereof are shown by way of example in the drawings and are herein described in detail. However, it should be understood that the drawings and detailed description thereof are not intended to limit the invention to the particular forms disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0023] Acronyms

[0024] Various acronyms are used throughout this disclosure. The definitions of the most prominent acronyms used that may appear throughout this disclosure are as follows:

[0025] UE: User Equipment

[0026] RF: Radio Frequency

[0027] BS: Base Station

[0028] NW: Network

[0029] DL: Downlink

[0030] UL: Uplink

[0031] GSM: Global System for Mobile Communications

[0032] UMTS: Universal Mobile Telecommunications System

[0033] LTE: Long Term Evolution

[0034] NR: New Radio

[0035] TX: Transmit

[0036] RX: Receive

[0037] RAT: Radio Access Technology

[0038] FDMA: Frequency Division Multiple Access

[0039] OFMDA: Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access

[0040] SCS: Subcarrier Spacing

[0041] SSB: Synchronous Signal Block

[0042] CSI-RS: Channel State Information-Reference Signal

[0043] BC: with configuration

[0044] IE: Information Element

[0045] NF: Network Function

[0046] PUSCH: Physical Uplink Shared Channel

[0047] PDCCH: Physical Downlink Control Channel

[0048] RRC: Radio Resource Control

[0049] the term

[0050] The following is a glossary of terms that will appear in this disclosure:

[0051] Memory medium—any of various types of non-transitory memory devices or storage devices. The term "memory medium" is intended to include installation media, such as CD-ROMs, floppy disks, or tape devices; computer system memory or random access memory such as DRAM, DDR RAM, SRAM, EDO RAM, Rambus RAM, etc.; non-volatile memory such as flash memory, magnetic media, for example, hard drives or optical storage devices; registers or other similar types of memory elements, etc. The memory medium may also include other types of non-transitory memory or a combination thereof. In addition, the memory medium may be located in the first computer system executing the program, or may be located in a different second computer system connected to the first computer system via a network such as the Internet. In the latter example, the second computer system may provide program instructions to the first computer system for execution. The term "memory medium" may include two or more memory media that may reside in different locations in different computer systems connected, for example, via a network. The memory medium may store program instructions (e.g., represented as a computer program) that may be executed by one or more processors.

[0052] Carrier Media—storage media as described above, and physical transmission media such as a bus, network, and / or other physical transmission media that carry signals such as electrical, electromagnetic, or digital signals.

[0053] Computer system (or computer)—any of various types of computing or processing systems, including a personal computer system (PC), a mainframe computer system, a workstation, a network appliance, an Internet appliance, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a television system, a grid computing system, or other devices or combinations of devices. In general, the term "computer system" can be broadly defined as any device (or combination of devices) that includes at least one processor that executes instructions from a memory medium.

[0054] User Equipment (UE) (or "UE device") - any of various types of computer systems or devices that are mobile or portable and that perform wireless communication. Examples of UE devices include mobile phones or smartphones (e.g., iPhones, TM , based on Android TM phones), tablets (e.g., iPad TM 、Samsung Galaxy TM ), portable gaming devices (e.g., Nintendo DS TM PlayStation Portable TM 、Gameboy Advance TM , iPhone TM ), wearable devices (e.g., smart watches, smart glasses), laptops, PDAs, portable Internet devices, music players, data storage devices or other handheld devices, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), unmanned aerial vehicle controllers (UACs), vehicles, etc. In general, the term "UE" or "UE device" can be broadly defined to include any electronic device, computing device and / or telecommunication device (or combination of devices) that is convenient for a user to transport and capable of wireless communication.

[0055] Wireless Device—Any of various types of computer systems or devices that perform wireless communications. A wireless device may be portable (or mobile), or may be stationary or fixed in place. A UE is an example of a wireless device.

[0056] Communication Device—Any of various types of computer systems or devices that perform communication, where the communication may be wired or wireless. A communication device may be portable (or mobile), or may be stationary or fixed in place. A wireless device is one example of a communication device. A UE is another example of a communication device.

[0057] Base Station (BS) - The term "base station" has the full breadth of its ordinary meaning and includes at least a wireless communication station installed at a fixed location and used to communicate as part of a wireless telephone system or radio system.

[0058] Processing element (or processor) – refers to any element or combination of elements capable of performing functions in a device, such as a user equipment device or a cellular network device. A processing element may include, for example, a processor and associated memory, portions or circuits of individual processor cores, entire processor cores, processor arrays, circuits such as ASICs (application-specific integrated circuits), programmable hardware elements such as field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), and any combination thereof.

[0059] Wi-Fi—The term "Wi-Fi" has the full scope of its ordinary meaning and includes at least wireless communication networks, or RATs, that are served by wireless LAN (WLAN) access points and provide connectivity to the Internet through those access points. Most modern Wi-Fi networks (or WLAN networks) are based on the IEEE 802.11 standard and are marketed under the name "Wi-Fi." Wi-Fi (WLAN) networks are distinct from cellular networks.

[0060] Automatic—refers to an action or operation being performed by a computer system (e.g., software executed by the computer system) or a device (e.g., a circuit, a programmable hardware element, an ASIC, etc.) without requiring user input to directly specify or execute the action or operation. Thus, the term "automatic" is in contrast to manual execution or specification of an action by a user, where the user provides input to directly perform the action. An automatic process may be initiated by user-provided input, but subsequent actions performed "automatically" are not specified by the user, i.e., they are not performed "manually," where the user specifies each action to be performed. For example, a user filling out an electronic form by selecting each field and providing input specifying information (e.g., by typing information, selecting checkboxes, radio selections, etc.) is manually filling out the form, even though the computer system must update the form in response to the user's actions. The form can be automatically filled out by a computer system, where the computer system (e.g., software executing on the computer system) analyzes the fields of the form and fills it out without requiring any user input to specify the answers to the fields. As indicated above, a user can invoke automatic filling of a form without participating in the actual filling out of the form (e.g., the user does not manually specify the answers to the fields; they are automatically completed). This specification provides various examples of operations that are automatically performed in response to actions that a user has taken.

[0061] Configured to—Various components may be described as being “configured to” perform one or more tasks. In such contexts, “configured to” is a broad statement that generally means “having the structure” to perform one or more tasks during operation. Thus, a component can be configured to perform a task even when the component is not currently performing the task (e.g., a set of electrical conductors can be configured to electrically connect a module to another module even when the two modules are not connected). In some contexts, “configured to” can be a broad statement that generally means “having the circuitry” to perform one or more tasks during operation. Thus, a component can be configured to perform a task even when the component is not currently turned on. Generally, the circuitry that forms the structure corresponding to “configured to” may include hardware circuitry.

[0062] For ease of description, various components may be described as performing one or more tasks. Such descriptions should be interpreted as including the phrase "configured to." Representing a component as being configured to perform one or more tasks expressly does not invoke the sixth paragraph of section 112 of title 35 of the United States Code for that component.

[0063] Figure 1 and Figure 2 -Exemplary Communication System

[0064] Figure 1 1 shows a simplified exemplary wireless communication system in which various aspects of the present disclosure may be implemented according to some embodiments. Figure 1 The system is only one example of a possible system, and the embodiment may be implemented in any of a variety of systems as desired.

[0065] As shown, the exemplary wireless communication system includes a base station 102 that communicates with one or more (e.g., any number) user devices 106A, 106B, and so on through 106N via a transmission medium. Each user device may be referred to herein as a "user equipment" (UE) or a UE device. Accordingly, user device 106 is referred to as a UE or a UE device. A UE device is an example of a wireless device.

[0066] Base station 102 may be a base transceiver station (BTS) or a cell site and may include hardware and / or software that enables wireless communication with UEs 106A through 106N. If base station 102 is implemented in the context of LTE, it may be referred to as an "eNodeB" or "eNB." If base station 102 is implemented in the context of 5G NR, it may alternatively be referred to as a "gNodeB" or "gNB."

[0067] The communication area (or coverage area) of a base station may be referred to as a “cell.” The base station 102 and user equipment may be configured to communicate over a transmission medium using any of a variety of radio access technologies (RATs), also known as wireless communication technologies or telecommunication standards, such as GSM, UMTS (WCDMA), LTE, LTE-Advanced (LTE-A), LAA / LTE-U, 5G NR, 3GPP2, CDMA2000 (e.g., 1xRTT, 1xEV-DO, HRPD, eHRPD), Wi-Fi, and the like.

[0068] Base station 102 may also be equipped to communicate with network 100 (e.g., a core network of a cellular service provider, a telecommunications network such as a public switched telephone network (PSTN), and / or the Internet, among other possible networks). Thus, base station 102 may facilitate communications between user devices and / or between user devices and network 100. In particular, cellular base station 102A may provide UE 106 with various communication capabilities, such as voice, SMS, and / or data services.

[0069] Also as used herein, with respect to a UE, a base station may sometimes be considered to represent a network in consideration of the UE's uplink and downlink communications. Thus, a UE communicating with one or more base stations in a network may also be understood as a UE communicating with the network.

[0070] Base station 102A and other similar base stations (such as base stations 102B...102N) operating according to the same or different cellular communication standards can therefore be provided as a network of cells that can provide continuous or nearly continuous overlapping service to UEs 106A-N and similar devices over a geographic area via one or more cellular communication standards.

[0071] Thus, although base station 102A may function as Figure 1 106A-N, each UE 106 may also be capable of receiving signals from (and possibly within communication range of) one or more other cells (which may be provided by base stations 102B-N and / or any other base stations), which may be referred to as "neighboring cells." Such cells may also be capable of facilitating communications between user devices and / or between user devices and network 100. Such cells may include "macro" cells, "micro" cells, "pico" cells, and / or cells of any other variety of granularities of service area size. For example, in Figure 1 The base stations 102A-102B shown in FIG may be macro cells, while the base station 102N may be a micro cell. Other configurations are also possible.

[0072] In some embodiments, base station 102A may be a next-generation base station, such as a 5G New Radio (5G NR) base station or "gNB." In some embodiments, a gNB may be connected to a legacy evolved packet core (EPC) network and / or to an NR core (NRC) network. Furthermore, a gNB cell may include one or more transition and reception points (TRPs). Furthermore, a UE capable of operating in accordance with 5G NR may connect to one or more TRPs within one or more gNBs.

[0073] It is noted that the UE 106 is capable of communicating using multiple wireless communication standards. For example, in addition to at least one cellular communication protocol (e.g., GSM, UMTS (associated with, for example, WCDMA or TD-SCDMA air interfaces), LTE, LTE-A, 5G NR, HSPA, 3GPP2 CDMA2000 (e.g., 1xRTT, 1xEV-DO, HRPD, eHRPD), etc.), the UE 106 can be configured to communicate using wireless networking (e.g., Wi-Fi) and / or peer-to-peer wireless communication protocols (e.g., Bluetooth, Wi-Fi peer-to-peer, etc.). If desired, the UE 106 can also or alternatively be configured to communicate using one or more global navigation satellite systems (GNSS, such as GPS or GLONASS), one or more mobile television broadcast standards (e.g., ATSC-M / H or DVB-H), and / or any other wireless communication protocols. Other combinations of wireless communication standards (including more than two wireless communication standards) are also possible.

[0074] Figure 2 A user equipment (UE) 106 (e.g., one of devices 106A through 106N) is shown in accordance with some embodiments in communication with a base station 102 and an access point 112. The UE 106 may be a device having cellular and non-cellular communication capabilities (e.g., Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, etc.), such as a mobile phone, handheld device, computer or tablet, or substantially any type of wireless device as defined above.

[0075] The UE 106 may include a processor (processing element) configured to execute program instructions stored in a memory. The UE 106 may perform any of the operations described herein by executing such stored instructions. Alternatively or in addition, the UE 106 may include a programmable hardware element, such as an FPGA (field programmable gate array), an integrated circuit, and / or any of various other possible hardware components configured to perform (e.g., individually or in combination) any of the embodiments described herein or any portion of any of the embodiments described herein.

[0076] UE 106 may include one or more antennas for communicating using one or more wireless communication protocols or technologies. In some embodiments, UE 106 may be configured to communicate using, for example, CDMA2000 (1xRTT / 1xEV-DO / HRPD / eHRPD), LTE / LTE-Advanced, or 5G NR using a single shared radio and / or GSM, LTE, LTE-Advanced, or 5G NR using a single shared radio. The shared radio may be coupled to a single antenna or to multiple antennas (e.g., for MIMO) for performing wireless communications. Typically, the radio may include any combination of a baseband processor, analog radio frequency (RF) signal processing circuitry (e.g., including filters, mixers, oscillators, amplifiers, etc.), or digital processing circuitry (e.g., for digital modulation and other digital processing). Similarly, the radio may implement one or more receive and transmit chains using the aforementioned hardware. For example, UE 106 may share one or more portions of a receive and / or transmit chain between multiple wireless communication technologies such as those discussed above.

[0077] In some embodiments, the UE 106 may include a separate transmit chain and / or receive chain (e.g., including separate antennas and other radio components) for each wireless communication protocol with which it is configured to communicate. As another possibility, the UE 106 may include one or more radio components shared between multiple wireless communication protocols, and one or more radio components used exclusively by a single wireless communication protocol. For example, the UE 106 may include a shared radio component for communicating using either LTE or 5GNR (or LTE or 1xRTT, or LTE or GSM), and a separate radio component for communicating using each of Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Other configurations are also possible.

[0078] Similarly, the base station 102 may include a processor (processing element) configured to execute program instructions stored in a memory. The base station 102 may perform any of the operations described herein by executing such stored instructions. Alternatively or in addition, the base station 102 may include a programmable hardware element, such as an FPGA (field programmable gate array), an integrated circuit, and / or any of various other possible hardware components configured to perform (e.g., individually or in combination) any of the embodiments described herein or any portion of any of the embodiments described herein.

[0079] Figure 3 —Exemplary Cellular Network

[0080] Figure 3is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary cellular network, according to some embodiments. As shown, a UE wirelessly communicates with a base station, which may be referred to as a gNB, for example. The base station, in turn, communicates with the cellular network.

[0081] Figure 3 A simplified diagram of a cellular network is shown, illustrating various elements that may be relevant to the operations described herein. As shown, a base station may be coupled to a radio access network (RAN). The RAN, in turn, may be coupled to various network elements or network functions, such as one or more computer systems that implement the various network functions. For example, the radio access network may be coupled to a user plane function (UPF), which in turn may be coupled to various additional network functions.

[0082] Typically, the network function may be implemented as software executed on a computer system (such as a server, e.g., a cloud server). The network functions that may be present in a cellular network system may include functions such as an access and mobility management function (AMF), a policy control function (PCF), a network data analysis function (NWDAF), an application function (AF), a network slice selection function (NSSF), and a UE radio capability management function (UCMF), as well as various possible other functions.

[0083] Figure 4 – Block diagram of an exemplary UE device

[0084] Figure 4 A block diagram of an exemplary UE 106 according to some embodiments is shown. As shown, the UE 106 may include a system on a chip (SOC) 300, which may include components for various purposes. For example, as shown, the SOC 300 may include a processor 302 that may execute program instructions for the UE 106, and a display circuit 304 that may perform graphics processing and provide display signals to a display 360. The SOC 300 may also include motion sensing circuitry 370, which may detect motion of the UE 106 using, for example, a gyroscope, an accelerometer, and / or any of various other motion sensing components. The processor 302 may also be coupled to a memory management unit (MMU) 340 and / or other circuits or devices, such as the display circuitry 304, the radio 330, the connector I / F 320, and / or the display 360. The MMU may be configured to receive addresses from the processor 302 and convert those addresses into locations in a memory (e.g., the memory 306, the read-only memory (ROM) 350, the flash memory 310). The MMU 340 may be configured to perform memory protection and page table translation or setup. In some embodiments, the MMU 340 may be included as part of the processor 302 .

[0085] As shown, the SOC 300 may be coupled to various other circuits of the UE 106. For example, the UE 106 may include various types of memory (e.g., including NAND flash memory 310), a connector interface 320 (e.g., for coupling to a computer system, a docking station, a charging station, etc.), a display 360, and wireless communication circuitry 330 (e.g., for LTE, LTE-A, NR, CDMA2000, BLUETOOTH, etc.). TM , Wi-Fi, GPS, etc.). The UE device 106 may include at least one antenna (e.g., 335a), and may include multiple antennas (e.g., as shown by antennas 335a and 335b), for performing wireless communications with base stations and / or other devices. Antennas 335a and 335b are shown by way of example, and the UE device 106 may include fewer or more antennas. In general, one or more antennas are collectively referred to as antennas 335. For example, the UE device 106 may use antennas 335 with the aid of radio circuitry 330 to perform wireless communications. As described above, in some embodiments, the UE may be configured to perform wireless communications using multiple wireless communication standards.

[0086] In some embodiments, radio 330 may include separate controllers dedicated to controlling communications for various corresponding RAT standards. Figure 4 As shown, the radio component 330 may include a Wi-Fi controller 352, a cellular controller (eg, an LTE and / or LTE-A controller) 354, and a BLUETOOTH controller. TM Controller 356, and in at least some embodiments, one or more or all of these controllers may be implemented as respective integrated circuits (ICs or chips) that communicate with each other and with SOC 300 (more specifically, with processor 302). For example, Wi-Fi controller 352 may communicate with cellular controller 354 via a cell-ISM link or WCI interface, and / or BLUETOOTH controller 354 may communicate with the cellular controller 354 via a cell-ISM link or WCI interface. TM The controller 356 may communicate with the cellular controller 354 via a cell-ISM link, etc. Although three separate controllers are shown within the radio 330, other embodiments may be implemented in the UE device 106 with fewer or more similar controllers for various different RATs.

[0087] Figure 5 – Block diagram of an exemplary base station

[0088] Figure 5 1 shows a block diagram of an exemplary base station 102 according to some embodiments. Note that Figure 5The base station 102 is only one example of a possible base station. As shown, the base station 102 may include a processor 404 that may execute program instructions for the base station 102. The processor 404 may also be coupled to a memory management unit (MMU) 440 or other circuit or device that may be configured to receive addresses from the processor 404 and translate those addresses into locations in memory (e.g., memory 460 and read-only memory (ROM) 450).

[0089] The base station 102 may include at least one network port 470. The network port 470 may be configured to couple to a telephone network and provide access to the telephone network as described above. Figure 1 and Figure 2 The network port 470 may be configured to couple to a plurality of devices such as the UE device 106 to the telephone network described in the embodiment of the present invention. The network port 470 (or an additional network port) may also or alternatively be configured to couple to a cellular network, such as a core network of a cellular service provider. The core network may provide mobility-related services and / or other services to a plurality of devices such as the UE device 106. In some cases, the network port 470 may be coupled to the telephone network via the core network, and / or the core network may provide the telephone network (e.g., in other UE devices served by the cellular service provider).

[0090] The base station 102 may include at least one antenna 434 and possibly multiple antennas. One or more antennas 434 may be configured to operate as a wireless transceiver and may be further configured to communicate with the UE device 106 via the radio component 430. The antenna 434 communicates with the radio component 430 via a communication chain 432. The communication chain 432 may be a receive chain, a transmit chain, or both. The radio component 430 may be designed to communicate via various wireless telecommunication standards, including but not limited to NR, LTE, LTE-A WCDMA, CDMA2000, etc. The processor 404 of the base station 102 may be configured to implement and / or support implementation of part or all of the methods described herein, for example, by executing program instructions stored on a memory medium (e.g., a non-transitory computer-readable memory medium). In the case of certain RATs (e.g., Wi-Fi), the base station 102 may be designed as an access point (AP), in which case the network port 470 may be implemented to provide access to a wide area network and / or one or more local area networks, for example, it may include at least one Ethernet port, and the radio component 430 may be designed to communicate according to the Wi-Fi standard.

[0091] Measuring gap

[0092] Cellular devices are widely used around the world and are often used in transport, resulting in the UE moving from one geographical cell to another. This movement often requires the UE to perform a handover, i.e., transfer its communications from one (serving) base station to another (target) base station. For example, while a user is driving on a highway, the user's UE may leave a first cell of the network and enter a second cell. This may cause the UE to perform a handover, in which the UE interrupts communications with a first base station of the first (serving) cell and begins communications with a second base station of the second (target) cell. When in idle mode, the UE may also perform cell reselection to attempt to connect to the cell with the best signal quality.

[0093] When a UE wishes to perform handover (or reselection) to a new target cell, it can measure the reference signals provided by the base station of the new cell to assess the quality of the channel between the UE and the cell. The measurements performed by the UE on the target cell reference signals can generate channel state information (CSI) that characterizes the quality of the channel. The UE can report this channel state information back to the network so that the network can decide whether to allow the UE to handover (or reselect) to the target cell.

[0094] However, when the UE attempts to perform measurements on the reference signal of the new target cell, various problems may arise. For example, the base station of the target cell may use a different carrier frequency than the current serving cell when communicating with the UE. The term "intra-frequency measurement" refers to the case where the current serving cell and the target cell operate on the same carrier frequency and the same SCS is applied to the serving cell and the target cell. The term "inter-frequency measurement" refers to the case where the current serving cell and the target cell operate on different carrier frequencies or the case where the current serving cell and the target cell operate on the same carrier frequency but have different SCS.

[0095] In some cases, the UE may request the network to configure at least one "measurement gap" so that the UE can perform measurements on the target carrier. As used herein, the term "measurement gap" or "gap" has the full scope of its ordinary meaning and refers to at least the amount of time, such as a timeslot, allocated for the UE to perform desired measurements. The concept of a "measurement gap" is to create a small gap during which no transmission or reception occurs. Since there is no signal transmission or reception during the gap, the UE can switch its RF chain to the frequency of the target cell and perform signal quality measurements, and then return to the frequency of the current serving cell.

[0096] For example, when a UE attempts to perform inter-frequency measurements (i.e., measurements on reference signals transmitted at a frequency different from that of its current serving cell), the UE may require additional time to configure its radio components (receive chain) to the new frequency. In other words, the UE may require additional time to measure reference signals at the target carrier frequency while the UE is transmitting / receiving at a different frequency on the serving cell, and therefore the UE may request a measurement gap. Similarly, when a UE attempts to perform measurements on a target cell operating according to a different radio access technology (RAT) than its current serving cell, the UE may also require additional time for this purpose. Therefore, the UE may require measurement gaps to identify and / or measure inter-frequency or inter-RAT cells.

[0097] Some UEs have multiple RF chains, such as multiple receive chains, and are therefore operable such that a first RF chain communicates with the current serving cell, while a second RF chain is configured to perform measurements of a target cell operating at a different carrier frequency. However, sometimes multiple instances of an RF chain may be occupied, for example, a first RF chain may be used to perform voice communications (a phone call), and a second RF chain may be simultaneously used for data communications, such as downloading email. In this instance, measurement gaps may also be desirable.

[0098] In a radio access network (RAN), the entire channel bandwidth is divided into multiple subcarriers. The term "subcarrier" may refer to a portion or all of a carrier wave that is modulated to transmit information, such as a sideband of a carrier wave. Figure 6 A simple example of an LTE channel bandwidth with multiple subcarriers is shown. The number of subcarriers in a channel may depend on the channel bandwidth, where the number of subcarriers generally increases as the channel bandwidth increases. RF subcarriers may have various parameters, such as subcarrier spacing. The phrase "subcarrier spacing" refers to the spacing allocated for a subcarrier, and the subcarrier spacing may also be referred to as "symbol time." In the proposed New Radio (NR) standard, the NR subcarrier spacing is defined as 15×2 n kHz, where n can currently take positive values ​​and may also take negative values ​​in the future, as follows:

[0099] n=0,15×2 0 =15kHz

[0100] n=1,15×2 1 =30kHz

[0101] n=2,15×2 2 =60kHz

[0102] n=3,15×2 3 =120kHz

[0103] n=4,15×2 4=240kHz

[0104] n=-1,15×2 -1 =7.5kHz

[0105] n=-2,15×2 -2 =3.75kHz

[0106] Embodiments described herein may provide that, when determining whether to request a measurement gap, the UE may consider the subcarrier spacing of one or both of the serving cell and the target cell. More specifically, in some embodiments, determining whether a gap is required may depend on: 1) the target band frequency (the frequency location of the target band), where the UE may or may not have additional RF chains to measure specific frequencies; and 2) the SCS of the target band frequency.

[0107] In some cases, when the SCS of the target cell and the serving cell are the same, the UE may be able to measure the target band while transmitting with its serving cell. This is typically the case when the reference signal has a target band frequency within or near the active bandwidth portion on the serving cell. In this case, the UE can use a single RF chain to perform both operations simultaneously.

[0108] Thus, in some embodiments, both the target band frequency and the SCS of the target band may be evaluated when determining the need for a gap. For example, for each target band, the UE may report separate UE capabilities or gap information, which may depend at least in part on (or may take into account) the subcarrier spacing of the target band. The gap information may also take into account other factors, such as the target band frequency and / or available radio frequency (RF) resources of the UE. For example, for one target band having the same SCS as the serving cell, the UE may report "no gap". In contrast, for a second target band having the same SCS as the serving cell, the UE may report "gap required". Additionally, for a target band having a different SCS than the serving cell, the UE may report "no gap" if the UE has additional RF chains for the band. For another target band having a different SCS than the serving cell, the UE may report "gap required" if no additional RF chains are available.

[0109] The following describes the operation of various possible implementations. As described below, the UE (or network) may compare the subcarrier spacing of the current serving cell and the target cell (i.e., comparing the subcarrier spacing of the serving band of the serving cell and the target band of the target cell) to help determine whether a measurement gap should be requested.

[0110] Figure 7

[0111] Figure 7is a flow chart illustrating operations of a base station and a UE to selectively configure gaps in UE measurements of a target base station reference signal.

[0112] As shown at 602, the serving base station (BS) may send a message, such as a radio resource control (RRC) message, to the UE. The RRC message may be in the form of a radio resource control (RRC) reconfiguration message or an RRC recovery message. The RRC message may include serving cell band configuration (BC) information, target carrier band configuration information, and subcarrier spacing (SCS) information for the corresponding target band. More specifically, the RRC message may include information about multiple target bands and SCS information for each target band in the target band. The term "target band" refers to a frequency or carrier used by a target cell (or target base station). For each target band, the subcarrier spacing information may be associated with a reference signal provided by a target base station in the target cell. The reference signal may take the form of a synchronization signal block (SSB) or a channel state information-reference signal (CSI-RS).

[0113] At 604, the UE may receive this information and use it to determine whether it should request a measurement gap for at least one target band (preferably each target band). For example, the UE may already know the SCS of its current serving cell (the base station or cell on which the UE is currently camped). At 602, the UE receives information regarding the frequencies of one or more target bands and the SCS for each of the one or more target bands. At 604, for each received target band, the UE may use the frequency of the corresponding band and its corresponding SCS to determine whether a gap should be requested for the corresponding target band. The UE may also use other information, such as available UE RF resources, when determining the gap information.

[0114] In some embodiments, if the SCS of the serving cell matches the SCS of the corresponding target band, the UE may indicate that no gap is required for the corresponding target band (depending on other factors). This may occur when the reference signal of the target band is within or near the active bandwidth part (BWP) of the serving band. Conversely, if the SCS of the serving cell does not match the SCS of the corresponding target band, the UE may indicate that a gap is required for the corresponding target band. Thus, for one target band having the same SCS as the serving cell, the UE may report "no gap" if, for example, the reference signal of the target band frequency is very close to or within the active bandwidth part (BWP) of the serving cell. For a second target band having the same SCS as the serving cell, the UE may report "gap required" if, for example, the reference signal of the target band frequency is not close to or within the active bandwidth part (BWP) of the serving cell and no additional UE RF resources are available.

[0115] At 606, the UE reports the gap information to the base station. At 602, the gap information may include a "gap requirement" for each of the target bands received in the reconfiguration message. More specifically, the gap information provided at 606 may indicate "gap" or "no gap" for each of the target bands. In some embodiments, the UE generates a reply message that it transmits to the base station in a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH). The gap information may be provided by the UE to the base station using an RRCreconfigurationcomplete message or an RRCresumecomplete message.

[0116] The base station (or network) can then use this information to selectively provide gaps (e.g., time slots) to the UE, as requested by the UE, so that the UE can perform measurements on the reference signals of the corresponding target base stations (target base stations associated with the target band). For example, if the UE requests gaps for the first target band, the base station can provide the UE with gaps (measurement gaps) for performing measurements on the reference signals of the target base stations associated with the target band.

[0117] Figure 8

[0118] Figure 8 is a flow chart illustrating another embodiment of operations of a base station and a UE to selectively configure gaps in UE measurements of a target base station reference signal.

[0119] As shown at 622, the serving BS sends an RRC message to the UE. The RRC message may include serving band configuration information and information associated with one or more target bands, such as target carrier band configuration information. In this embodiment, the RRC message does not include subcarrier spacing information (SCS) of the target band. As described above, the RRC message may be in the form of an RRC reconfiguration message or an RRC recovery message.

[0120] At 624, the UE may receive this information and use it to determine whether it will request a measurement gap for at least one band (preferably each target band). For example, the UE may already know the SCS of its current serving cell (the base station or cell on which the UE is currently camped). At 622, the UE does not receive information about the SCS for one or more target bands. Therefore, in this embodiment, the UE may assume that the SCS configuration for each target band is the same as the SCS configuration of the serving carrier (of the serving cell or serving base station) and determine its need for measurement gaps accordingly. Therefore, if the target band frequency is different from the serving carrier, the UE may request a gap. If the target band frequency of the reference signal is close to or within the active bandwidth part (BWP) of the serving carrier, the UE may not request a gap.

[0121] At 626, the UE reports its measurement gap requirements for each target band to the base station. The base station can then use this information to selectively provide gaps (e.g., time slots) to the UE, possibly as requested by the UE. As described above, providing gaps by the base station can allow the UE to perform measurements on the reference signal of the target base station. More specifically, when the base station determines that the actual SCS configuration of the target carrier is different from that of the serving carrier, the network can determine that gaps are required (regardless of the nature of the UE gap information). Therefore, here, when the base station determines that the assumption made by the UE is incorrect (in fact, the SCS of the target carrier does not match the SCS of the serving carrier), the base station essentially overrides the UE's gap information. Therefore, if the UE specifies "no gaps" based on the assumption that the SCS of the target carrier matches the SCS of the serving carrier, but in fact they do not match, the base station can ignore the "no gaps" information provided by the UE and provide gaps to the UE for reference signal measurements. However, if the UE reports "gaps", the base station can provide gaps to the UE regardless of whether the base station determines that the assumption made by the UE is incorrect.

[0122] When the base station determines that the actual SCS configuration of the target carrier matches the inference made by the UE (the same as the serving carrier), and the UE has requested "no gaps", the network can determine that no gaps are required. Similarly, when the base station determines that the actual SCS configuration of the target carrier matches the inference made by the UE (the same as the serving carrier), and the UE has requested gaps, the network can determine that gaps are required.

[0123] Therefore, the base station, knowing that the SCS configuration for each target band is not sent to the UE, can independently determine whether a measurement gap is required for each target band. If the base station determines that the SCS configuration of the target carrier is different from the SCS configuration of the serving carrier, the base station can determine that a gap is required regardless of the gap information provided by the UE.

[0124] Figure 9

[0125] Figure 9 is a flow chart illustrating the operation of another embodiment of a base station and a UE to selectively configure gaps in UE measurements of a target base station reference signal.

[0126] As shown at 642, the serving base station may send RRC information (e.g., an RRC message) to the UE. The RRC information may include serving band configuration information and information associated with one or more target bands, such as target carrier band configuration information. In this embodiment, the RRC information does not include subcarrier spacing information (SCS) for the target band.

[0127] At 644, the UE may receive this information and use it to determine whether it will request a measurement gap for each target band. This determination may be based on the assumed target carrier subcarrier spacing. As described above, at 642, the UE does not receive information regarding the SCS for one or more target bands. Therefore, since the UE does not know the SCS information for the various target bands, the UE determines gap information for at least one possible SCS value associated with each target band.

[0128] At 646, the UE may report to the base station its measurement gap requirement for each target band and the assumed SCS used in determining the associated measurement gap requirement. In other words, the UE may report to the base station a combination of the gap requirement associated with each target band and the assumed target band SCS used to determine the gap requirement. In other words, the UE may make at least one assumption about the SCS for each of the one or more target bands and report the assumed SCS configuration to the base station.

[0129] The base station (or network) may then use this information to selectively provide gaps (eg, time slots) to the UE, as requested by the UE, for the UE to perform measurements on the reference signal of the target base station.

[0130] In embodiments where the UE has two or more RF chains, the UE may send SCS information associated with the specific RF chain it plans to use to perform measurements. Since the base station does not know which RF chain the UE will use for measurement, the UE may provide this information to the base station.

[0131] For example, assume that the UE has three RF chains and is configured to communicate with three serving carriers, each of which has a different SCS. The UE can reuse one of these RF chains to perform inter-frequency measurements, but the base station does not know which one a priori. Therefore, in this embodiment, the UE can provide the assumed SCS information of the target base station or the SCS information associated with the relevant RF chain to be measured (the SCS information of the serving channel in which the relevant RF chain communicates). The base station (network) already has full knowledge of the SCS of each target carrier. Using this information from the UE about the assumed target SCS or the SCS of the relevant serving channel, the network can make appropriate configurations.

[0132] As described above, the base station can fully understand the SCS for each target band. If the UE has requested "no gaps" for the target band and has reported an assumed SCS that is not actually used for the target band, the base station can determine that a gap is required, thereby overriding the UE's request. If the UE has requested a gap for the target band but has not yet provided the base station with an assumed SCS that the UE uses to determine its gap requirement, the network will determine that a gap is required.

[0133] The embodiments are described herein in the context of a cellular system (eg, a 3GPP-based system). However, the embodiments described herein can be readily extended to non-cellular (non-3GPP-based) systems, such as Wi-Fi systems.

[0134] Embodiments of the present invention may be implemented in any of a variety of forms. For example, in some embodiments, the present invention may be implemented as a computer-implemented method, a computer-readable storage medium, or a computer system. In other embodiments, the present invention may be implemented using one or more custom-designed hardware devices such as ASICs. In other embodiments, the present invention may be implemented using one or more programmable hardware elements such as FPGAs.

[0135] In some embodiments, a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium (e.g., a non-transitory memory element) may be configured such that it stores program instructions and / or data, wherein the program instructions, if executed by a computer system, cause the computer system to perform a method, such as any of the method embodiments described herein, or any combination of the method embodiments described herein, or any subset of any method embodiments described herein, or any combination of such subsets.

[0136] In some embodiments, a device (e.g., a UE) may be configured to include a processor (or a group of processors) and a memory medium (or a memory element), wherein the memory medium stores program instructions, wherein the processor is configured to read and execute the program instructions from the memory medium, wherein the program instructions are executable to implement any of the various method implementations described herein (or any combination of the method implementations described herein, or any subset of any method implementations described herein, or any combination of such subsets). The device may be implemented in any of various forms.

[0137] It is understood that the use of personally identifiable information should be subject to privacy policies and practices that are generally recognized to meet or exceed industry or government requirements for maintaining user privacy. Specifically, personally identifiable information data should be managed and processed to minimize the risk of unintentional or unauthorized access or use, and the nature of authorized use should be clearly stated to users.

[0138] Although the above embodiments have been described in considerable detail, numerous variations and modifications will become apparent to those skilled in the art once the above disclosure is fully appreciated. It is intended that the following claims be interpreted to encompass all such variations and modifications.

Claims

1. A method for wireless communication, comprising: receiving a radio resource control (RRC) message from a current base station to modify a current radio connection, wherein the RRC message includes target band configuration information of one or more target bands of at least one target base station, wherein subcarrier spacing (SCS) information of the one or more target bands of the at least one target base station is not included in the RRC message, and wherein the current base station has a first SCS configuration for a current serving band; First gap information is determined for one or more corresponding target bands of the one or more target bands, wherein for the one or more corresponding target bands: The first gap information is determined based at least in part on the one or more corresponding target bands having an SCS configuration that is the same as the first SCS configuration, and The first gap information indicates whether a first gap is required to perform measurement on a reference signal transmitted at the one or more corresponding target bands; and The first gap information is transmitted to the current base station.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: determining second gap information based at least in part on frequencies of the one or more target bands and SCS information for the one or more target bands, wherein the second gap information indicates whether a gap is required when performing measurements on a reference signal transmitted at each of the one or more target bands; and The second gap information is transmitted to the current base station.

3. The method according to claim 2, When determining the second gap information, the method further includes: Determine whether the SCS information of the one or more target bands matches the SCS information of the serving band of the current base station.

4. The method according to claim 2, The method further comprises: determining gap information for each target band of the plurality of target bands; as well as The gap information indicates whether each target band in the plurality of target bands requires a gap or does not require a gap.

5. The method according to claim 2, For at least one target zone, the method further comprises: The second gap information is determined based at least in part on available radio frequency (RF) resources of a user equipment (UE).

6. The method according to claim 2, wherein the first target band has a reference signal at a target band frequency within or near an active bandwidth portion of a service band of the current base station; The method further comprises: If the SCS of the first target band is the same as the SCS of the serving band of the current base station, it is determined that the first target band does not require a gap.

7. The method according to claim 6, Also includes: If the SCS of the first target band is different from the SCS of the serving band of the current base station, it is determined that the first target band requires a gap.

8. The method according to claim 6, The service band of the current base station also has the first SCS; The determined second gap information indicates no gap for the first target band.

9. The method according to claim 6, wherein the service band of the current base station has a different second SCS; and The determined gap information indicates a gap for the first target band.

10. The method according to claim 2, The second gap information may be used by the base station to determine whether to allocate a time slot to a user equipment (UE) for performing reference signal measurement at each of the one or more target bands.

11. The method according to claim 2, The RRC message further includes information about the band configuration of the current base station; The method further comprises: The second gap information is determined based at least in part on the band configuration of the current base station.

12. The method according to claim 2, further comprising: The reconfiguration information received from the current base station is stored.

13. The method according to claim 1, The first gap information can be used by the base station to determine whether to allocate a first time slot to a user equipment (UE) for performing a first measurement of a reference signal at each of the one or more target bands.

14. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first gap information indicates that the first target band does not require a gap; The method further includes receiving a measurement gap allocation when measuring a reference signal at the first target band when the first target band has an SCS configuration different from the first SCS configuration.

15. A method for wireless communication, comprising: transmitting a radio resource control (RRC) message to a user equipment (UE) to modify a current RRC connection between the UE and a current base station, wherein the RRC message includes target band configuration information of one or more target bands of at least one target base station, wherein subcarrier spacing (SCS) information of the one or more target bands of the at least one target base station is not included in the RRC message, and wherein the current base station has a first SCS configuration for a current serving band; First gap information is determined for one or more corresponding target bands of the one or more target bands, wherein for the one or more corresponding target bands: The first gap information is determined based at least in part on the one or more corresponding target bands having an SCS configuration that is the same as the first SCS configuration, and The first gap information indicates whether a first gap is required to perform measurement on a reference signal transmitted at the one or more corresponding target bands; and At least one time slot is selectively assigned to the UE based on the first gap information for target base station reference signal measurement.

16. The method according to claim 15, further comprising: Second gap information is received from the UE in response to transmitting the RRC message to the UE, wherein the second gap information indicates whether a gap is required when performing measurement on a reference signal transmitted at each of the one or more target bands.

17. The method according to claim 16, The second gap information is determined at least in part based on the SCS information of the one or more target bands.

18. An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising: At least one processor configured to cause a user equipment (UE) to perform the steps of the method according to any one of claims 1-14.

19. An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising: At least one processor, the at least one processor being configured to cause a base station BS to perform the steps of the method according to any one of claims 15-17.

20. A computer program product comprising computer instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, perform the steps of the method according to any one of claims 1 to 17.

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