CSI-RS availability and measurement requirements in cell DTX

Abstract

A method for a user equipment (UE) is provided. The method comprises: detecting whether a list of channel state information-reference signal (CSI-RS) resources is configured by a network device for an inactive period of a cell discontinuous transmission (DTX) cycle of the network device; and determining whether one or more CSI-RSs are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle of the network device based on a result of the detection.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present application relates generally to wireless communication systems, and more particularly to channel state information-reference signal (CSI-RS) availability and measurement requirements in cell discontinuous transmission (DTX). Background Art

[0002] Wireless mobile communication technology uses various standards and protocols to transmit data between base stations and wireless mobile devices. Wireless communication system standards and protocols may include the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Long Term Evolution (LTE); the fifth generation (5G) 3GPP New Radio (NR) standard; the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.16 standard, which is often referred to by industry organizations as Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX); and the IEEE 802.11 standard for wireless local area networks (WLANs), which is often referred to by industry organizations as Wi-Fi. In the 3GPP Radio Access Network (RAN) in an LTE system, a base station may include a RAN node such as an Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN) Node B (also often referred to as an evolved Node B, an enhanced Node B, an eNodeB, or an eNB) and / or a Radio Network Controller (RNC) in the E-UTRAN, which communicates with a wireless communication device referred to as a user equipment (UE). In a fifth generation (5G) wireless RAN, the RAN nodes may include 5G nodes, new radio (NR) nodes, or gNode Bs (gNBs), which communicate with wireless communication devices, also known as user equipment (UE). Summary of the invention

[0003] According to one aspect of the present disclosure, a method for a user equipment (UE) is provided, comprising: detecting whether a list of channel state information-reference signal (CSI-RS) resources is configured by a network device for an inactive period of a discontinuous transmission (DTX) cycle of a cell of the network device; and determining whether one or more CSI-RS are available during the inactive period of the DTX cycle of the cell of the network device based on a result of the detection.

[0004] According to one aspect of the present disclosure, a method for a user equipment (UE) is provided, comprising: determining, based on preset rules, whether one or more channel state information-reference signals (CSI-RS) are available during an inactive period of a cell discontinuous transmission (DTX) cycle of a network device; wherein the preset rules include: all CSI-RS are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle; no CSI-RS are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle; or whether one or more CSI-RS are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle of the network device is based on whether the cell DTX cycle is configured to be aligned with the CSI-RS cycle.

[0005] According to one aspect of the present disclosure, a method for a network device is provided, comprising: configuring a list of channel state information-reference signal (CSI-RS) resources for an inactive period of a discontinuous transmission (DTX) cycle of a cell of the network device for transmission to a user equipment (UE), wherein determining whether one or more CSI-RS are available during the inactive period of the DTX cycle of the cell of the network device is based on the list of CSI-RS resources.

[0006] According to an aspect of the present disclosure, an apparatus for a communication device is provided, the apparatus comprising a component for executing the steps of the method according to the present disclosure.

[0007] According to an aspect of the present disclosure, a computer readable medium is provided, on which a computer program is stored. When the computer program is executed by one or more processors, the apparatus executes the steps of the method according to the present disclosure. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0008] Features and advantages of the present disclosure will be apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, which together illustrate, by way of example, features of the present disclosure.

[0009] Figure 1 is a block diagram of a system including a base station and a user equipment (UE) according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0010] Figure 2 A flowchart of an exemplary method for a user device according to some embodiments of the present disclosure is illustrated.

[0011] Figure 3 A flowchart illustrating another exemplary method for a user device according to some embodiments of the present disclosure is provided.

[0012] Figure 4 A flowchart illustrating another exemplary method for a user device according to some embodiments of the present disclosure is provided.

[0013] FIG. 5A to FIG. 5F An exemplary diagram illustrating sampling intervals for UE measurement requirements according to some embodiments of the present disclosure is illustrated.

[0014] Figure 6 A flowchart illustrating another exemplary method for a user device according to some embodiments of the present disclosure is provided.

[0015] Figure 7 An exemplary diagram showing how a network device according to some embodiments of the present disclosure configures a first time window is illustrated.

[0016] Figure 8 An exemplary diagram showing how a network device according to some embodiments of the present disclosure configures a second time window is illustrated.

[0017] Fig. 9 A flowchart illustrating another exemplary method for a user device according to some embodiments of the present disclosure is provided.

[0018] Fig.10 A flowchart of an exemplary method for a network device according to some embodiments of the present disclosure is illustrated.

[0019] Fig.11 A flow chart illustrating exemplary steps for determining availability of CSI-RS and UE measurement requirements during an inactive period of a cell DTX cycle according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0020] Fig.12 An exemplary block diagram of an apparatus for a UE according to some embodiments of the present disclosure is illustrated.

[0021] Fig.13 An exemplary block diagram of an apparatus for a network device according to some embodiments of the present disclosure is illustrated.

[0022] Fig.14 Exemplary components of an apparatus according to some embodiments of the present disclosure are illustrated.

[0023] Fig.15 Exemplary interfaces of baseband circuitry according to some embodiments of the present disclosure are illustrated.

[0024] Fig.16 Components according to some embodiments of the present disclosure are illustrated.

[0025] Fig.17 The architecture of a wireless network according to some embodiments of the present disclosure is illustrated. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0026] In the present disclosure, a "base station" may include a RAN node such as an Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN) Node B (also commonly denoted as an evolved Node B, an enhanced Node B, an eNodeB, or an eNB) and / or a Radio Network Controller (RNC) and / or a 5G node, a New Radio (NR) node, or a gNode B (gNB), which communicates with a wireless communication device also referred to as a user equipment (UE). Although some examples may be described with reference to any of an E-UTRAN Node B, an eNB, an RNC, and / or a gNB, such devices may be replaced with any type of base station.

[0027] In wireless communication, discontinuous transmission / reception (DTX / DRX) of a cell or discontinuous reception of a UE is attracting more and more attention due to the benefit of energy saving. For example, when a network device is configured with a DTX cycle including an active period and an inactive period, the network device can operate normally in the active period of the DTX cycle and operate in a sleep mode in the inactive period of the DTX cycle, thereby saving energy.

[0028] In this context, considering that channel conditions may change frequently in 5G New Radio (NR) systems, and in order to measure the downlink channel quality and report to the base station for further adjustment purposes, channel state information-reference signal (CSI-RS) resources have been provided to the UE. Although CSI-RS is important for UE throughput and latency performance, it is also energy-consuming for network devices to send these CSI-RS during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle.

[0029] In view of the foregoing, according to multiple embodiments of the present disclosure, a method, an apparatus, a computer-readable medium, and a computer program product for achieving a tradeoff between a UE and a network device are provided, which will be described in detail below.

[0030] Figure 1 A wireless network 100 is illustrated according to some embodiments. The wireless network 100 comprises a UE 101 and a base station 150 connected via an air interface 190.

[0031] UE 101 and any other UE in the system may be, for example, a laptop computer, a smart phone, a tablet computer, a printer, a machine type device, such as a smart meter or a dedicated device for healthcare monitoring, remote safety monitoring, an intelligent transportation system, or any other wireless device with or without a user interface. Base station 150 provides network connectivity to a wider network (not shown) to UE 101 via an air interface 190 in a base station service area provided by base station 150. In some embodiments, such a wider network may be a wide area network operated by a cellular network provider, or may be the Internet. Each base station service area associated with base station 150 is supported by an antenna integrated with base station 150. The service area is divided into a plurality of sectors associated with certain antennas. Such sectors may be physically associated with fixed antennas, or may be assigned to a physical area with a tunable antenna or antenna setting that may be adjusted in a beamforming process for directing signals to a particular sector. For example, one embodiment of the base station 150 includes three sectors, each sector covering a 120 degree area, with antenna arrays pointed toward each sector to provide 360 ​​degree coverage around the base station 150 .

[0032] UE 101 includes a control circuit 105 coupled to a transmission circuit 110 and a receiving circuit 115. The transmission circuit 110 and the receiving circuit 115 may each be coupled to one or more antennas. The control circuit 105 may be adapted to perform operations associated with MTC. In some embodiments, the control circuit 105 of UE 101 may perform calculations or may initiate measurements associated with the air interface 190 to determine the channel quality of the available connection to the base station 150. These calculations may be performed in conjunction with the control circuit 155 of the base station 150. The transmission circuit 110 and the receiving circuit 115 may be adapted to transmit and receive data, respectively. The control circuit 105 may be adapted or configured to perform various operations, such as various operations related to the UE described elsewhere in this disclosure. The transmission circuit 110 may transmit multiple multiplexed uplink physical channels. The multiple uplink physical channels may be multiplexed according to time division multiplexing (TDM) or frequency division multiplexing (FDM). The transmission circuit 110 may be configured to receive block data from the control circuit 105 for transmission across the air interface 190. Similarly, the receiving circuit 115 can receive multiple multiplexed downlink physical channels from the air interface 190 and relay these physical channels to the control circuit 105. The uplink and downlink physical channels can be multiplexed according to TDM or FDM. The transmitting circuit 110 and the receiving circuit 115 can transmit and receive control data and content data (e.g., messages, images, videos, etc.) structured within data blocks carried by the physical channels.

[0033] Figure 1Also illustrated is a base station 150 according to various embodiments. The base station 150 circuitry may include a control circuit 155 coupled to a transmission circuit 160 and a reception circuit 165. The transmission circuit 160 and the reception circuit 165 may each be coupled to one or more antennas that may be used to enable communication via an air interface 190.

[0034] The control circuit 155 may be adapted to perform operations associated with MTC. The transmission circuit 160 and the reception circuit 165 may be adapted to transmit and receive data, respectively, within a narrow system bandwidth that is narrower than a standard bandwidth for personal communications. In some embodiments, for example, the transmission bandwidth may be set to or close to 1.4 MHz. In other embodiments, other bandwidths may be used. The control circuit 155 may perform various operations, such as base station-related operations described elsewhere in this disclosure.

[0035] Within the narrow system bandwidth, the transmission circuit 160 can transmit multiple multiplexed downlink physical channels. The multiple downlink physical channels can be multiplexed according to TDM or FDM. The transmission circuit 160 can transmit the multiple multiplexed downlink physical channels in a downlink superframe composed of multiple downlink subframes.

[0036] In a narrow system bandwidth, the receiving circuit 165 can receive multiple multiplexed uplink physical channels. The multiple uplink physical channels can be multiplexed according to TDM or FDM. The receiving circuit 165 can receive the multiple multiplexed uplink physical channels in an uplink superframe composed of multiple uplink subframes.

[0037] As further described below, control circuits 105 and 155 may be involved in measuring channel quality of air interface 190. Channel quality may be based, for example, on physical obstacles between UE 101 and base station 150, electromagnetic signal interference from other sources, reflections, or indirect paths between UE 101 and base station 150, or other such signal noise sources. Based on the channel quality, multiple retransmissions of a data block may be scheduled so that transmission circuit 110 may transmit copies of the same data multiple times, and reception circuit 115 may receive multiple copies of the same data multiple times.

[0038] In various embodiments, the reference may be configured in various ways. Figure 1 The described UE 101 and base station 150 are used to implement the UE and network devices described herein.

[0039] Figure 2 A flowchart of an exemplary method for a user device according to some embodiments of the present disclosure is illustrated. Figure 2 The method 200 shown in FIG. Figure 1 The UE 101 described is implemented.

[0040] Reference Figure 2 In some embodiments, the method 200 for the UE may include the following steps: S210, detecting whether a list of channel state information-reference signal (CSI-RS) resources is configured by a network device for an inactive period of a cell discontinuous transmission (DTX) cycle of the network device; and S220, determining whether one or more CSI-RSs are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle of the network device based on the detection result.

[0041] According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, by detecting a list of CSI-RS resources configured by a network device and determining the availability of one or more CSI-RSs during an inactive period of a cell DTX cycle, the network can utilize an existing signal to transmit a CSI-RS or transmit a more important CSI-RS to improve the performance of a UE. Therefore, throughput and performance (such as latency performance) can be ensured, and the network device does not have to transmit a CSI-RS individually or transmit all CSI-RSs, thereby reducing energy consumption.

[0042] According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, in step S210, the list of CSI-RS resources may be used for various purposes, such as for T / F tracking, CSI calculation, layer 1 (L1)-reference signal received power (RSRP), L1-signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR), mobility, fast auxiliary cell (Scell) activation tracking, or a combination thereof. It should be noted that the purpose of the CSI-RS resources listed above is for better illustration rather than limitation. The network device may configure a list including any suitable CSI-RS resources according to different requirements.

[0043] According to some embodiments of the present application, in step S210, a list of CSI-RS resources may be configured together with a cell DTX mode.

[0044] Figure 3 A flowchart of another exemplary method 300 for a user device according to some embodiments of the present disclosure is illustrated. Figure 3As shown, the method 300 of the UE may include steps S310 and S320 that are the same as steps S210 and S220, wherein step S320, determining whether one or more CSI-RSs are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle of the network device based on the detection result may include: step S321, in response to detecting that the list of CSI-RS resources is configured by the network device for the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle of the network device, determining that the CSI-RS on the list of CSI-RS resources are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle; and step S322, in response to detecting that the list of CSI-RS resources is configured by the network device for the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle of the network device, determining that the CSI-RS not on the list of CSI-RS resources is not available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle.

[0045] According to some embodiments, in a scenario where the network device does not offload all legacy UEs to other cells, there are some CSI-RS resources that must be transmitted for the legacy UEs, and the list of CSI-RS resources can be adapted to be the same as those required by the legacy UEs. In this case, by determining the CSI-RS on the list as available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle and determining those CSI-RS that are not on the list as unavailable during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle, no additional network transmission will be added, and the UE throughput and performance can be maintained due to the available CSI-RS during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle, for example, the UE can always perform measurements for downlink channel quality based on the updated CSI-RS, which in turn facilitates the adjustment of the network device.

[0046] According to some other embodiments, step S320, determining whether one or more CSI-RSs are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle of the network device based on the detection result may include: determining that a CSI-RS on the list of CSI-RS resources is not available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle, and determining that a CSI-RS not on the list of CSI-RS resources is available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle.

[0047] Continue to refer to Figure 3, step S320, determining whether one or more CSI-RS are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle of the network device based on the detection result may include: step S323, in response to detecting that no list of CSI-RS resources is configured by the network device for the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle of the network device, determining that all CSI-RS are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle; step S324, in response to detecting that no list of CSI-RS resources is configured by the network device for the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle of the network device, determining that no CSI-RS are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle; or step S325, in response to detecting that no list of CSI-RS resources is configured by the network device for the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle of the network device, determining whether one or more CSI-RS are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle of the network device based on whether the cell DTX cycle is configured to be aligned with the CSI-RS cycle.

[0048] According to some embodiments, when the UE does not receive a list of CSI-RS resources configured by the network device for the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle, the UE can monitor downlink channel changes to report to the network device by determining that all CSI-RS are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle, thereby increasing UE throughput and performance.

[0049] According to some other embodiments, when the UE does not receive a list of CSI-RS resources configured by the network device for the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle, transmission from the network device can be reduced by determining that no CSI-RS is available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle, thereby reducing energy consumption.

[0050] According to some other embodiments, when the UE does not receive a list of CSI-RS resources configured by the network device for the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle, the UE may determine the availability of CSI-RS based on whether the cell DTX cycle is configured to align with the CSI-RS resource cycle.

[0051] In the present disclosure, the alignment of the cell DTX cycle with the CSI-RS cycle can be determined based on the starting offset of each cell DTX cycle and each CSI-RS cycle. For example, when the cell DTX cycle is an integer multiple of the CSI-RS cycle and the starting offset of the cell DTX cycle is aligned with the starting offset of the CSI-RS cycle, the cell DTX cycle can be determined to be aligned with the CSI-RS cycle. For example, when the CSI-RS cycle is an integer multiple of the cell DTX cycle and the starting offset of the cell DTX cycle is aligned with the starting offset of the CSI-RS cycle, the cell DTX cycle can also be determined to be aligned with the CSI-RS cycle.

[0052] In this case, S325, determining whether one or more CSI-RSs are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle of the network device based on whether the cell DTX cycle is configured to be aligned with the CSI-RS cycle may include: if the cell DTX cycle is configured to be aligned with the CSI-RS cycle, determining that no CSI-RSs are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle; and if the cell DTX cycle is configured not to be aligned with the CSI-RS cycle, determining that all CSI-RSs are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle.

[0053] By determining the availability of CSI-RS based on the alignment of the cell DTX period and the CSI-RS period, the network device does not have to send all CSI-RS in each cell DTX period, thereby reducing energy consumption on the network device.

[0054] As discussed above, CSI-RS is an important parameter for the measurement of downlink channel changes performed by the UE. Therefore, the availability of CSI-RS will affect the UE measurement requirements, such as the measurement requirements for CSI-RS-based L1-RSRP reporting, the measurement requirements for CSI-RS-based beam failure detection, etc.

[0055] In order to redefine UE measurement requirements based on UE assumptions about whether CSI-RS is available for a specific purpose (e.g., T / F tracking, CSI calculation, L1-RSRP, L1-SINR, mobility, fast Scell ​​activation tracking, or a combination thereof), the present application further provides Figure 4 A method for a UE is illustrated in FIG.

[0056] refer to Figure 4 In some embodiments, the method 400 for the UE may include the following steps: S410-S420, which are the same or similar to steps S210-S220, and step S430, determining parameters required for UE measurement based on determining whether one or more CSI-RS are available during an inactive period of a cell DTX cycle of the network device.

[0057] By determining the parameters required for UE measurement based on the availability of CSI-RS during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle, the measurement parameters may be adjusted in real time and the accuracy of the measurement may be improved.

[0058] Continue to refer to Figure 4, the method 400 may also include: step S440, determining whether the UE is configured with connected-discontinuous reception (C-DRX); and step S430, determining the parameters required for UE measurement based on determining whether one or more CSI-RS are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle of the network device may include: determining the parameters required for UE measurement based on determining whether one or more CSI-RS are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle and determining whether the UE is configured with C-DRX.

[0059] The following will refer to FIG. 5A to FIG. 5F Various embodiments for determining parameters measured by a UE are described in detail.

[0060] According to some embodiments, determining the parameters of the UE measurement requirement based on determining whether one or more CSI-RSs are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle and determining whether the UE is configured with C-DRX may include: based on determining that the UE is not configured with C-DRX: based on determining that one or more CSI-RSs are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle, determining the sampling interval for the corresponding UE measurement requirement as the maximum value between the CSI-RS period and the cell DTX period; and based on determining that no CSI-RS is available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle, determining the sampling interval for the corresponding UE measurement requirement as the least common multiple of the CSI-RS period and the cell DTX period; and based on determining that the UE is configured with C-DRX: based on determining that one or more CSI-RSs are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle: determining the sampling interval for the corresponding UE measurement requirement as the maximum value among the CSI-RS period, the cell DTX period and the UE C-DRX period; and based on the UE The relaxation factor is determined based on the C-DRX cycle; and based on determining that no CSI-RS is available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle, the sampling interval required for the corresponding UE measurement is determined as the least common multiple of the CSI-RS cycle, the cell DTX cycle and the UE C-DRX cycle.

[0061] In case the UE is configured with a C-DRX cycle, the accuracy of the measurement may be improved by taking the UE C-DRX cycle into account when determining the sampling interval.

[0062] FIG. 5A to FIG. 5B 1 and 2 illustrate exemplary diagrams showing a sampling interval determined for a UE measurement requirement based on a determination that the UE is not configured with C-DRX and based on a determination that one or more CSI-RS are available during an inactive period of a cell DTX cycle, respectively. FIG. 5A to FIG. 5BAs shown, assuming that the CSI-RS is available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle and the cell DTX cycle is greater than the CSI-RS cycle, the sampling interval for the corresponding UE measurement requirement can be determined as the CSI-RS cycle T CSI-R and cell DTX period T cell_DTX The maximum value between sample =T cell_DTX .

[0063] FIG. 5C to FIG. 5D 1 and 2 illustrate exemplary diagrams showing a sampling interval determined for a UE measurement requirement based on a determination that the UE is not configured with C-DRX and based on a determination that no CSI-RS is available during an inactive period of a cell DTX cycle, respectively. FIG. 5C to FIG. 5D As shown, assuming that the CSI-RS is not available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle and the cell DTX cycle is aligned with the CSI-RS cycle (in these examples, the CSI-RS cycle is the same as the cell DTX cycle or twice the cell DTX cycle, respectively), the sampling interval for the corresponding UE measurement requirement can also be determined as the CSI-RS cycle T CSI- and cell DTX period T cell_DTX The maximum value, that is, T sample =T cell_DTX =T CSI-R (exist Figure 5C ) and T sample =T CSI-RS (exist Figure 5D middle).

[0064] Figure 5E An exemplary diagram is illustrated showing a sampling interval determined for a UE measurement requirement based on a determination that the UE is configured with C-DRX and based on a determination that one or more CSI-RS are available during an inactive period of a cell DTX cycle. Figure 5E As shown, assuming that the CSI-RS is available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle and the cell DTX cycle is greater than both the CSI-RS cycle and the UE C-DRX cycle, the sampling interval for the corresponding UE measurement requirement can be determined as the CSI-RS cycle T CSI-RS , cell DTX cycle T cell_DTX and UE C-DRX cycle T UEC-DR The maximum value in T sample =T cell_DTX .

[0065] Fig. 5F An exemplary diagram illustrating a sampling interval determined for a UE measurement requirement based on a determination that the UE is configured with C-DRX and based on a determination that no CSI-RS is available during an inactive period of a cell DTX cycle is illustrated. Fig. 5F As shown in , assuming that CSI-RS is not available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle and the CSI-RS period is twice the cell DTX period and three times the UE C-DRX period, the sampling interval for the corresponding UE measurement requirement can be determined as the CSI-RS period T CSI-RS , cell DTX cycle T cell_DTX and UE C-DRX cycle T UEC-DRX The lowest common multiple of sample =T CSI- .

[0066] According to some embodiments of the present application, method 400 may also include determining whether the UE C-DRX cycle is greater than a predetermined threshold, and wherein determining the relaxation factor based on the UE C-DRC cycle may include: determining the relaxation factor to be 1 based on determining that the UE C-DRX cycle is greater than the predetermined threshold; and determining that the relaxation factor is greater than 1 based on determining that the UE C-DRX cycle is not greater than the predetermined threshold.

[0067] According to some embodiments of the present application, the predetermined threshold may be any suitable value according to requirements for the UE, such as 100ms, 200ms, 320ms, etc.

[0068] According to some other embodiments of the present application, when the relaxation factor is determined to be greater than 1, any suitable value greater than 1, such as 1.5, 2, etc., may be selected according to requirements for the UE.

[0069] Figure 6 Another flow chart illustrating an exemplary method for a user device according to some embodiments of the present disclosure is shown. Figure 6As shown, the method 600 may include the following steps: S610-S620, which are the same or similar to steps S210-S220; and step S630, detecting whether the network device is configured with a first time window or a second time window, wherein the first time window is located in an inactive period of a cell DTX cycle, and the start offset and the end offset of the first time window are respectively in a synchronization signal block (SSB) / CORESET 0 / system information block (SIB) / paging physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) / paging physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), and wherein the second time window is just before the active period of the cell DTX cycle; and wherein step S620, based on the detection result, determines whether one or more CSI-RS are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle of the network device, may include: in response to detecting that a list of CSI-RS resources is configured by the network device for the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle of the network device: in response to detecting that the network device configures a first time window or a second time window: determining that a CSI-RS on the list of CSI-RS resources is available during the first time window or the second time window, and determining that a CSI-RS not on the list of CSI-RS resources is not available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle.

[0070] According to some embodiments, in a scenario where a network device offloads all connected UEs that are not capable of natural energy saving (NES) to other cells while maintaining SSB / CORESET 0 / SIB / paging transmissions for UEs in idle / inactive mode in the current cell, by configuring a first time window after and before SSB / CORESET 0 / SIB / paging PDCCH / paging PDSCH, the above-mentioned signals that will necessarily be transmitted may fall within the first time window. In this case, by determining that the CSI-RS on the list are available during the first time window and those CSI-RS that are not on the list are not available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle, transmission may occur only during the first time window and the network device may not frequently wake up from sleep mode for additional transmissions. At the same time, due to the available CSI-RS during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle, UE throughput and performance may be maintained.

[0071] According to some other embodiments, step S620, determining whether one or more CSI-RS are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle of the network device based on the detection result may include: in response to detecting that the network device configures the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle of the network device: in response to detecting that the network device configures a first time window or a second time window: determining that a CSI-RS that is not on the list of CSI-RS resources is available during the first time window or the second time window, and determining that the CSI-RS on the list of CSI-RS resources is not available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle.

[0072] According to some embodiments, the first time window may be configured by at least one of: a duration of the first time window; and two parameters indicating a start offset and an end offset of the first time window, respectively. Figure 7 An example diagram showing how to configure the first time window is illustrated. Figure 7 As shown, the duration of the first time window is T1, and the starting offset T1_1 and the ending offset T1_r are respectively located on the left and right sides of SSB / CORESET 0 / SIB / paging PDCCH / paging PDSCH.

[0073] It should be noted that the above three parameters T1, T1_1 and T1_r are for the purpose of better explanation rather than limitation. Figure 7 As shown in FIG. 1 , the first time window can also be configured only by the duration of the first time window T1, or only by the combination of the start offset T1_1 and the end offset T1_r.

[0074] According to some embodiments of the present application, the duration of the first time window may be signal / channel specific. For example, the duration T1 may be configured differently for SSB and paging transmissions.

[0075] In order to further reduce the number of transmissions by the network device during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle and save energy, method 600 may also include: detecting whether a time offset for the CSI-RS on the list of CSI-RS resources is configured by the network device, wherein the time offset indicates a shift offset for the CSI-RS so that the position of the CSI-RS is closer to the position of the synchronization signal block (SSB) / CORESET 0 / system information block (SIB) / paging physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) / paging physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH); and in response to detecting that the network device configures the time offset for the CSI-RS on the list of CSI-RS resources, shifting the CSI-RS on the list of CSI-RS resources by the time offset.

[0076] Continue to refer to Figure 7, the gray column 710 in the dotted line refers to the previous position of the CSI-RS, and the gray column 720 in the solid line refers to the shifted position of the CSI-RS. After shifting the CSI-RS by the time offset ΔT, the CSI-RS may be closer to the SSB / CORESET 0 / SIB / paging PDCCH / paging PDSCH. In a specific example, the CSI-RS may be shifted just before or after the SSB / CORESET 0 / SIB / paging PDCCH / paging PDSCH. In this way, the network device may wake up from sleep mode less frequently for additional transmissions, thereby reducing energy consumption.

[0077] According to some other embodiments, in a scenario with no SSB cells, where SSB may even be stopped for extreme energy saving so that only NES capable UEs in connected mode may access the cell for data transmission if necessary, it is possible that the above-mentioned signals that should be transmitted for legacy UEs or for SSB / paging will no longer be necessary and only the active period of the cell DTX cycle will be transmitted. Figure 8 An example diagram showing how to configure the second time window is illustrated. Figure 8 As shown, the second time window may be configured to have a duration T2 just before the active period of the cell DTX cycle. With such a configuration, the UE may determine that the CSI-RS on the list are available during the second time window, and those CSI-RS not on the list are not available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle, thereby helping to reduce energy consumption as described above.

[0078] According to some embodiments of the present application, determining whether one or more CSI-RS are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle of the network device based on the detection result may also include: in response to detecting that no list of CSI-RS resources is configured by the network device for the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle of the network device: in response to detecting that the network device configures a first time window or a second window, determining that all CSI-RS falling within the first time window or the second time window are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle; and in response to detecting that the network device does not configure the first time window and the second time window: determining that all CSI-RS are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle; determining that no CSI-RS is available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle; or determining whether one or more CSI-RS are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle of the network device based on whether the cell DTX cycle is configured to align with the CSI-RS cycle.

[0079] According to some embodiments, when the UE does not receive a list of CSI-RS resources configured by the network device for the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle, but the first time window or the second time window is configured, by determining that all CSI-RS falling within the first window or the second window are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle, the number of transmissions performed by the network device can be reduced as much as possible due to appropriate configuration of the position of the CSI-RS and the position of the SSB / paging transmission or the active period of the cell DTX cycle.

[0080] According to some other embodiments, when the UE neither receives a list of CSI-RS resources configured by the network device for the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle nor receives the first time window or the second time window, the UE can monitor downlink channel changes to report to the network device by determining that all CSI-RS are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle, thereby increasing UE throughput and performance.

[0081] According to some other embodiments, when the UE neither receives a list of CSI-RS resources configured by the network device for the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle nor receives the first time window or the second time window, transmission from the network device can be reduced by determining that no CSI-RS is available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle, thereby reducing energy consumption.

[0082] According to some other embodiments, when the UE neither receives a list of CSI-RS resources configured by the network device for the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle nor receives the first time window or the second time window, the UE may determine the availability of CSI-RS based on whether the cell DTX cycle is configured to be aligned with the CSI-RS cycle.

[0083] As discussed above, in the present disclosure, the alignment of the cell DTX cycle with the CSI-RS cycle may be determined based on the starting offset of each cell DTX cycle and each CSI-RS cycle. For example, when the cell DTX cycle is an integer multiple of the CSI-RS cycle and the starting offset of the cell DTX cycle is aligned with the starting offset of the CSI-RS cycle, the cell DTX cycle may be determined to be aligned with the CSI-RS cycle. In this case, determining whether one or more CSI-RS are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle of the network device based on whether the cell DTX cycle is configured to be aligned with the CSI-RS cycle may include: if the cell DTX cycle is configured to be aligned with the CSI-RS cycle, determining that no CSI-RS are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle; and if the cell DTX cycle is configured not to be aligned with the CSI-RS cycle, determining that all CSI-RS are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle.

[0084] By determining the availability of CSI-RS based on the alignment of the cell DTX period and the CSI-RS period, the network device does not have to send all CSI-RS in each cell DTX period, thereby reducing energy consumption on the network device.

[0085] Similarly, in order to redefine the UE measurement requirements based on the UE assumption regarding whether a CSI-RS is available for a specific purpose (e.g., T / F tracking, CSI calculation, L1-RSRP, L1-SINR, mobility, fast Scell ​​activation tracking, or a combination thereof) in a scenario in which the UE detects whether the first time window or the second time window is configured, method 600 may also include: determining parameters of the UE measurement requirements based on determining whether one or more CSI-RS are available during an inactive period of a cell DTX cycle of the network device, which may include determining parameters of the UE measurement requirements based on determining whether one or more CSI-RS are available during an inactive period of the cell DTX cycle and determining whether the UE is configured with connected-discontinuous reception (C-DRX).

[0086] By determining the parameters required for UE measurement based on the availability of CSI-RS during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle, the measurement parameters may be adjusted in real time and the accuracy of the measurement may be improved.

[0087] According to some embodiments of the present application, determining the parameters of the UE measurement requirement based on determining whether one or more CSI-RSs are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle and determining whether the UE is configured with C-DRX may include: in response to detecting that the network device configures a first time window: based on determining that the UE is not configured with C-DRX: based on determining that one or more CSI-RSs are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle, determining the sampling interval for the corresponding UE measurement requirement as the maximum value between the portion of the CSI-RS cycle that falls within the first time window and the cell DTX cycle; and based on determining that no CSI-RS is available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle, determining the sampling interval for the corresponding UE measurement requirement as the least common multiple of the CSI-RS cycle and the cell DTX cycle; and based on determining that the UE is configured with C-DRX; based on determining that one or more CSI-RSs are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle: determining the sampling interval for the corresponding UE measurement requirement as the maximum value among the portion of the CSI-RS cycle that falls within the first time window, the cell DTX cycle, and the UE C-DRX cycle; and based on the UE The relaxation factor is determined based on the C-DRX cycle; and based on determining that no CSI-RS is available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle, the sampling interval required for the corresponding UE measurement is determined as the least common multiple of the CSI-RS cycle, the cell DTX cycle and the UE C-DRX cycle.

[0088] According to some other embodiments of the present application, determining the parameters of the UE measurement requirement based on determining whether one or more CSI-RSs are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle and determining whether the UE is configured with C-DRX may include: in response to detecting that the network device configures a second time window: based on determining that the UE is not configured with C-DRX: based on determining that one or more CSI-RSs are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle, determining the sampling interval for the corresponding UE measurement requirement as the cell DTX cycle; and based on determining that no CSI-RS is available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle, determining the sampling interval for the corresponding UE measurement requirement as the least common multiple of the CSI-RS cycle and the cell DTX cycle; and based on determining that the UE is configured with C-DRX; based on determining that one or more CSI-RSs are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle: determining the sampling interval for the corresponding UE measurement requirement as the maximum value between the cell DTX cycle and the UE C-DRX cycle; and based on the UE The relaxation factor is determined by the C-DRC cycle; and based on determining that no CSI-RS is available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle, the sampling interval required for the corresponding UE measurement is determined as the least common multiple of the CSI-RS cycle, the cell DTX cycle and the UE C-DRX cycle.

[0089] In case the UE is configured with a C-DRX cycle, the accuracy of the measurement may be improved by taking the UE C-DRX cycle into account when determining the sampling interval.

[0090] According to some embodiments of the present application, method 600 may also include determining whether the UE C-DRX cycle is greater than a predetermined threshold, and wherein determining the relaxation factor based on the UE C-DRC cycle may include: determining the relaxation factor to be 1 based on determining that the UE C-DRX cycle is greater than the predetermined threshold; and determining that the relaxation factor is greater than 1 based on determining that the UE C-DRX cycle is not greater than the predetermined threshold.

[0091] According to some embodiments of the present application, the predetermined threshold may be any suitable value according to requirements for the UE, such as 100ms, 200ms, 320ms, etc.

[0092] According to some other embodiments of the present application, when the relaxation factor is determined to be greater than 1, any suitable value greater than 1, such as 1.5, 2, etc., may be selected according to requirements for the UE.

[0093] Fig. 9 A flowchart illustrating another exemplary method for a user device according to some embodiments of the present disclosure is provided. Fig. 9 The method shown in Ref. Figure 1 The UE 101 described is implemented.

[0094] Reference Fig. 9 In some embodiments, the method 900 for the UE may include the following steps: S910, determining whether one or more channel state information-reference signal (CSI-RS) resources are available during an inactive period of a cell discontinuous transmission (DTX) cycle of the network device based on preset rules, wherein the preset rules include: all CSI-RS are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle; no CSI-RS is available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle; or whether one or more CSI-RS are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle of the network device is based on whether the cell DTX cycle is configured to be aligned with the CSI-RS cycle.

[0095] According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, method 900 may further include: step S920, determining parameters required for UE measurement based on determining whether one or more CSI-RSs are available during an inactive period of a cell DTX cycle of the network device.

[0096] It should be understood that Fig. 9Steps S910-S920 shown in the figure may be similar to the steps described above with reference to FIG. xx, and therefore, for the sake of clarity, the elements, expressions, features, etc. described above and their corresponding descriptions are omitted herein.

[0097] Fig.10 A flow chart illustrating an exemplary method 1000 for a network device according to some embodiments of the present disclosure is illustrated. Fig.10 The method 1000 shown in FIG. Figure 1 The base station 150 is implemented as described above. For example, the network device may be a network device of the base station 150 .

[0098] In some embodiments, method 1000 for a network device may include the following steps: S1010, for transmission to a user equipment (UE), configuring a list of channel state information-reference signal (CSI-RS) resources for an inactive period of a cell discontinuous transmission (DTX) cycle of the network device, wherein determining whether one or more CSI-RS are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle of the network device is based on the list of CSI-RS resources.

[0099] According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, by configuring a list of CSI-RS resources for an inactive period of a cell DTX cycle for transmission to a UE, the UE can determine the availability of one or more CSI-RS during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle. Therefore, the network device can utilize an existing signal for transmission of the CSI-RS, or transmit a more important CSI-RS for improving the performance of the UE. Therefore, throughput and performance (such as latency performance) can be ensured, and the network device does not have to send CSI-RS individually or send all CSI-RS, thereby reducing energy consumption.

[0100] According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, method 1000 may also include: step S1020, configuring a first time window or a second time window for transmission to the UE, wherein the first time window is located in an inactive period of the cell DTX cycle, and the start offset and the end offset of the first time window are respectively before and after the synchronization signal block (SSB) / CORESET 0 / system information block (SIB) / paging physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) / paging physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), and wherein the second time window is just before the active period of the cell DTX cycle; and wherein whether one or more CSI-RS are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle of the network device is further determined based on the first time window or the second time window.

[0101] It should be understood that the steps in method 1000 are similar to the steps in methods 200, 300, 400, and 600, and thus, for the sake of clarity, the steps already referenced are omitted herein. Figures 2 to 4 and Figure 6 Those elements, expressions, features, etc. described and their corresponding descriptions (regarding UE).

[0102] Fig.11 A flow chart illustrating exemplary steps for determining availability of CSI-RS and UE measurement requirements during an inactive period of a cell DTX cycle according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0103] exist Fig.11 In the invention, steps of a method for a UE and a method for a network device are shown to determine the availability of CSI-RS during an inactive period of a cell DTX cycle and to redefine corresponding UE measurements.

[0104] At step S1110, the network device may configure a list of channel state information-reference signal (CSI-RS) resources for an inactive period of a cell discontinuous transmission (DTX) cycle of the network device for transmission to a user equipment (UE). Step S810 may be implemented according to the description with reference to step S1010.

[0105] In step S1120, the network device may further configure a first time window or a second time window for transmission to the UE, wherein the first time window is located in an inactive period of the cell DTX cycle, and the start offset and the end offset of the first time window are respectively before and after the synchronization signal block (SSB) / CORESET 0 / system information block (SIB) / paging physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) / paging physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), and wherein the second time window is located just before the active period of the cell DTX cycle. Step S820 may be implemented according to the description with reference to step S1020.

[0106] At step S1130, the UE may detect whether a list of CSI-RS resources is configured by the network device for an inactive period of a cell discontinuous transmission (DTX) cycle of the network device. Step S1130 may be implemented according to the description with reference to steps S210, S310, S410 and / or S610.

[0107] At step S1140, the UE may determine whether one or more CSI-RSs are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle of the network device based on the detection result. Step S1130 may be implemented according to the description with reference to step S220, step S320, step S420 and / or step S620.

[0108] At step S1150, the UE may determine the parameters required for UE measurement based on determining whether one or more CSI-RS are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle of the network device. Step S1130 may be implemented according to the description with reference to step S430 and / or step S630.

[0109] Fig.12 An exemplary block diagram of an apparatus 1200 for a UE according to some embodiments of the present disclosure is illustrated. Fig.12 The device 1200 shown in FIG. 1 can be used to implement the combination of Figures 2 to 4 and Figure 6 Methods 200, 300, 400 and 600 are described.

[0110] like Fig.12 As shown, the apparatus 1200 may include a detection unit 1210 and a determination unit 1220. The detection unit 1210 may be configured to detect whether a list of channel state information-reference signal (CSI-RS) resources is configured by a network device for an inactive period of a cell discontinuous transmission (DTX) cycle of the network device. The determination unit 1220 may be configured to determine whether one or more CSI-RSs are available during an inactive period of a cell DTX cycle of the network device based on a result of the detection.

[0111] According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, by detecting a list of CSI-RS resources configured by a network device and determining the availability of one or more CSI-RSs during an inactive period of a cell DTX cycle, the network can utilize an existing signal to transmit a CSI-RS or transmit a more important CSI-RS to improve the performance of a UE. Therefore, throughput and performance (such as latency performance) can be ensured, and the network device does not have to transmit a CSI-RS individually or transmit all CSI-RSs, thereby reducing energy consumption.

[0112] Fig.13 An exemplary block diagram of an apparatus 1300 for a network device according to some embodiments of the present disclosure is illustrated. Fig.13 The apparatus 1300 shown in FIG. 1 may be used to implement Fig.10 Method 1000 is shown.

[0113] like Fig.13As shown, the apparatus 1300 may include a configuration unit 1310. The configuration unit 1310 may be configured to configure a first time window or a second time window for transmission to the UE, wherein the first time window is located in an inactive period of a cell DTX cycle, and a start offset and an end offset of the first time window are respectively before and after a synchronization signal block (SSB) / CORESET 0 / system information block (SIB) / paging physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) / paging physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), and wherein the second time window is located just before an active period of the cell DTX cycle; and wherein whether one or more CSI-RSs are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle of the network device is further determined based on the first time window or the second time window.

[0114] According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, by configuring a list of CSI-RS resources for an inactive period of a cell DTX cycle for transmission to a UE, the UE can determine the availability of one or more CSI-RS during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle. Therefore, the network device can utilize an existing signal for transmission of the CSI-RS, or transmit a more important CSI-RS for improving the performance of the UE. Therefore, throughput and performance (such as latency performance) can be ensured, and the network device does not have to send CSI-RS individually or send all CSI-RS, thereby reducing energy consumption.

[0115] Fig.14 Exemplary components of device 1400 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure are illustrated. In some embodiments, device 1400 may include at least an application circuit 1402, a baseband circuit 1404, a radio frequency (RF) circuit (shown as RF circuit 1420), a front-end module (FEM) circuit (shown as FEM circuit 1430), one or more antennas 1432, and a power management circuit (PMC) (shown as PMC 1434) coupled together as shown in the figure. The components of the illustrated device 1400 may be included in a UE or a RAN node. In some embodiments, device 1400 may include fewer elements (for example, a RAN node may not utilize application circuit 1402, but include a processor / controller to process IP data received from an EPC). In some embodiments, device 1400 may include additional elements, such as, for example, a memory / storage device, a display, a camera, a sensor, or an input / output (I / O) interface. In other embodiments, the components described below may be included in more than one device (for example, the circuit may be included separately in more than one device for a specific implementation of a cloud-RAN (C-RAN)).

[0116] The application circuit 1402 may include one or more application processors. For example, the application circuit 1402 may include circuits such as, but not limited to, one or more single-core or multi-core processors. The processor may include any combination of general-purpose processors and special-purpose processors (e.g., graphics processors, application processors, etc.). The processor may be coupled to 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 device 1400. In some embodiments, the processor of the application circuit 1402 may process IP data packets received from the EPC.

[0117] The baseband circuit 1404 may include circuits such as, but not limited to, one or more single-core or multi-core processors. The baseband circuit 1404 may include one or more baseband processors or control logic components to process baseband signals received from the receive signal path of the RF circuit 1420 and generate baseband signals for the transmit signal path of the RF circuit 1420. The baseband circuit 1404 may interact with the application circuit 1402 to generate and process baseband signals and control the operation of the RF circuit 1420. For example, in some embodiments, the baseband circuit 1404 may include a third generation (3G) baseband processor (3G baseband processor 1406), a fourth generation (4G) baseband processor (4G baseband processor 1408), a fifth generation (5G) baseband processor (5G baseband processor 1410), or other baseband processors 1412 of other existing generations, under development, or to be developed in the future (e.g., second generation (2G), sixth generation (6G), etc.). The baseband circuit 1404 (e.g., one or more of the baseband processors) may handle various radio control functions that can communicate with one or more radio networks via the RF circuit 1420. In other embodiments, some or all of the functions of the illustrated baseband processor may be included in a module stored in the memory 1418 and executed via the central processing ETnit (CPET 1414). The radio control functions may include, but are not limited to, signal modulation / demodulation, encoding / decoding, radio frequency shifting, etc. In some embodiments, the modulation / demodulation circuit of the baseband circuit 1404 may include fast Fourier transform (FFT), precoding, or constellation mapping / demapping functions. In some embodiments, the encoding / decoding circuit of the baseband circuit 1404 may include convolution, tail-biting convolution, turbo, Viterbi, or low-density parity check (LDPC) encoder / decoder functions. The implementation of the modulation / demodulation and encoder / decoder functions is not limited to these examples, and may include other suitable functions in other embodiments.

[0118] In some embodiments, the baseband circuit 1404 may include a digital signal processor (DSP), such as one or more audio DSPs 1416. The one or more audio DSPs 1416 may include elements for compression / decompression and echo cancellation, and may include other suitable processing elements in other embodiments. In some embodiments, the components of the baseband circuit may be appropriately combined in a single chip, a single chipset, or disposed on the same circuit board. In some embodiments, some or all of the components of the baseband circuit 1404 and the application circuit 1402 may be implemented together, for example, on a system on a chip (SOC).

[0119] In some embodiments, baseband circuitry 1404 may provide communications compatible with one or more radio technologies. For example, in some embodiments, baseband circuitry 1404 may support communications with an Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (EUTRAN) or other wireless metropolitan area network (WMAN), wireless local area network (WLAN), or wireless personal area network (WPAN). Embodiments in which baseband circuitry 1404 is configured to support radio communications of more than one wireless protocol may be referred to as multi-mode baseband circuitry.

[0120] RF circuit 1420 can implement communication with a wireless network through a non-solid medium using modulated electromagnetic radiation. In various embodiments, RF circuit 1420 can include switches, filters, amplifiers, etc. to facilitate communication with a wireless network. RF circuit 1420 can include a receive signal path, which can include circuits for down-converting RF signals received from FEM circuit 1430 and providing baseband signals to baseband circuit 1404. RF circuit 1420 can also include a transmit signal path, which can include circuits for up-converting baseband signals provided by baseband circuit 1404 and providing RF output signals for transmission to FEM circuit 1430. In some embodiments, the receive signal path of RF circuit 1420 can include mixer circuit 1422, amplifier circuit 1424, and filter circuit 1426. In some embodiments, the transmit signal path of RF circuit 1420 can include filter circuit 1426 and mixer circuit 1422. RF circuit 1420 may also include synthesizer circuit 1428 for synthesizing frequencies used by mixer circuit 1422 for receiving signal path and transmitting signal path. In some embodiments, mixer circuit 1422 of receiving signal path may be configured to down-convert RF signal received from FEM circuit 1430 based on synthesized frequency provided by synthesizer circuit 1428. Amplifier circuit 1424 may be configured to amplify down-converted signal, and filter circuit 1426 may be configured to remove unwanted signals from down-converted signal to generate output baseband signal. Low pass filter (LPF) or band pass filter (BPF) . Output baseband signal may be provided to baseband circuit 1404 for further processing. In some embodiments, although this is not required, the output baseband signal may be a zero frequency baseband signal. In some embodiments, mixer circuit 1422 of receiving signal path may include passive mixer, but the scope of the embodiment is not limited in this respect.

[0121] In some embodiments, mixer circuit 1422 of the transmit signal path may be configured to up-convert an input baseband signal based on a synthesized frequency provided by synthesizer circuit 1428 to generate an RF output signal for FEM circuit 1430. The baseband signal may be provided by baseband circuit 1404 and may be filtered by filter circuit 1426.

[0122] In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 1422 of the receive signal path and the mixer circuit 1422 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 1422 of the receive signal path and the mixer circuit 1422 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 1422 of the receive signal path and the mixer circuit 1422 may be arranged for direct down-conversion and direct up-conversion, respectively. In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 1422 of the receive signal path and the mixer circuit 1422 of the transmit signal path may be configured for superheterodyne operation.

[0123] 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 in this respect. In some alternative embodiments, the output baseband signal and the input baseband signal may be digital baseband signals. In these alternative embodiments, RF circuit 1420 may include analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and digital-to-analog converter (DAC) circuits, and baseband circuit 1404 may include a digital baseband interface to communicate with RF circuit 1420.

[0124] In some dual-mode embodiments, separate radio IC circuits may be provided to process signals for each spectrum, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

[0125] In some embodiments, synthesizer circuit 1428 may be a fractional-N synthesizer or a fractional-N / N+1 synthesizer, but the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this regard, as other types of frequency synthesizers may also be suitable. For example, synthesizer circuit 1428 may be a delta-sigma synthesizer, a frequency multiplier, or a synthesizer including a phase-locked loop with a frequency divider.

[0126] The synthesizer circuit 1428 may be configured to synthesize an output frequency based on the frequency input and the divider control input for use by the mixer circuit 1422 of the RF circuit 1420. In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuit 1428 may be a fractional-N / N+1 synthesizer.

[0127] In some embodiments, the frequency input may be provided by a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO), although this is not required. The divider control input may be provided by baseband circuitry 1404 or application circuitry 1402 (such as an application processor) according to the desired output frequency. In some embodiments, the divider control input (e.g., N) may be determined from a lookup table based on the channel indicated by application circuitry 1402.

[0128] The synthesizer circuit 1428 of the RF circuit 1420 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-mode frequency divider (DMD), and the phase accumulator may be a digital phase accumulator (DPA). In some embodiments, the DMD may be configured to divide the input signal by N or N+1 (e.g., based on carry) to provide a fractional division ratio. In some example embodiments, the DLL may include a cascaded, tunable, delay element, a phase detector, a charge pump, and a D-type flip-flop set. In these embodiments, the delay element may be configured to divide the VCO cycle into Nd equal phase groups, where Nd is the number of delay elements in the delay line. In this way, the DLL provides negative feedback to help ensure that the total delay through the delay line is one VCO cycle.

[0129] In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuit 1428 can be configured to generate a carrier frequency as an output frequency, while in other embodiments, the output frequency can be a multiple of the carrier frequency (e.g., twice the carrier frequency, four times the carrier frequency) and used with a quadrature generator and divider circuit to generate multiple signals with multiple different phases relative to each other at the carrier frequency. In some embodiments, the output frequency can be the LO frequency (fLO). In some embodiments, the RF circuit 1420 can include an IQ / polarity converter.

[0130] The FEM circuitry 1430 may include a receive signal path that may include circuitry configured to operate on RF signals received from one or more antennas 1432, amplify the received signals, and provide an amplified version of the received signals to the RF circuitry 1420 for further processing. The FEM circuitry 1430 may also include a transmit signal path that may include circuitry configured to amplify transmit signals provided by the RF circuitry 1420 for transmission by one or more of the one or more antennas 1432. In various embodiments, amplification by the transmit signal path or the receive signal path may be accomplished only in the RF circuitry 1420, only in the FEM circuitry 1430, or in both the RF circuitry 1420 and the FEM circuitry 1430.

[0131] In some embodiments, the FEM circuit 1430 may include a TX / RX switch to switch between transmit mode and receive mode operation. The FEM circuit 1430 may include a receive signal path and a transmit signal path. The receive signal path of the FEM circuit 1430 may include an LNA to amplify a received RF signal and provide an amplified received RF signal as an output (e.g., provided to the RF circuit 1420). The transmit signal path of the FEM circuit 1430 may include a power amplifier (PA) to amplify an input RF signal (e.g., provided by the RF circuit 1420), and one or more filters to generate an RF signal for subsequent transmission (e.g., through one or more of the one or more antennas 1432).

[0132] In some embodiments, PMC 1434 can manage the power provided to baseband circuit 1404. Specifically, PMC 1434 can control power selection, voltage scaling, battery charging, or DC-DC conversion. When device 1400 is capable of being powered by a battery, for example, when device 1400 is included in an EGE, PMC 1434 can generally be included. PMC 1434 can improve power conversion efficiency while providing the desired implementation size and heat dissipation characteristics.

[0133] Fig.14 PMC 1434 is shown coupled only to baseband circuit 1404. However, in other embodiments, PMC 1434 may additionally or alternatively be coupled to other components (such as, but not limited to, application circuit 1402, RF circuit 1420, or FEM circuit 1430) and perform similar power management operations for these components.

[0134] In some embodiments, the PMC 1434 may control or otherwise be a part of various power saving mechanisms of the device 1400. For example, if the device 1400 is in an RRC connected state, in which the device remains connected to a RAN node because it expects to receive communications soon, the device may enter a state known as discontinuous reception mode (DRX) after a period of inactivity. During this state, the device 1400 may be powered off for short time intervals, thereby saving power.

[0135] If there is no data traffic activity for an extended period of time, the device 1400 may transition to an RRC idle state, in which the device is disconnected from the network and does not perform operations such as channel quality feedback, handover, etc. The device 1400 enters a very low power state and performs paging, in which the device periodically wakes up again to listen to the network and then powers down again. The device 1400 cannot receive data in this state, and in order to receive data, the device transitions back to the RRC connected state.

[0136] An additional power saving mode can keep a device from using the network for longer than the paging interval (which can range from a few seconds to several hours). During this time, the device is completely unable to connect to the network and can be completely powered down. Any data sent during this time will be significantly delayed, and it is assumed that the delay is acceptable.

[0137] The processor of the application circuit 1402 and the processor of the baseband circuit 1404 can be used to execute elements of one or more instances of the protocol stack. For example, the processor of the baseband circuit 1404 can be used alone or in combination to perform layer 3, layer 2, or layer 1 functions, while the processor of the application circuit 1402 can utilize 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) layers). As mentioned herein, layer 3 may include a radio resource control (RRC) layer, which will be described in further detail below. As mentioned herein, 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 will be described in further detail below. As mentioned herein, layer 1 may include a physical (PHY) layer of a UE / RAN node, which will be described in further detail below.

[0138] Fig.15 An exemplary interface 1500 of a baseband circuit according to some embodiments is illustrated. As discussed above, Fig.14 The baseband circuit 1404 may include a 3G baseband processor 1406, a 4G baseband processor 1408, a 5G baseband processor 1410, other baseband processors 1412, a CPU 1414, and a memory 1418 utilized by the processors. As shown, each processor may include a corresponding memory interface 1502 for sending / receiving data to / from the memory 1418.

[0139] The baseband circuit 1404 may also include: one or more interfaces for communicatively coupling to other circuits / devices, such as a memory interface 1504 (e.g., an interface for sending / receiving data to / from a memory external to the baseband circuit 1404); an application circuit interface 1506 (e.g., an interface for sending / receiving data to / from the application circuit 1402 of FIG. AA); an RF circuit interface 1508 (e.g., an interface for sending / receiving data to / from the RF circuit 1420 of FIG. AA); a wireless hardware connection interface 1510 (e.g., an interface for sending / receiving data to / from a near field communication (NFC) component, Parts (e.g. Low power consumption), components and other communication components to send / receive data); and a power management interface 1512 (for example, an interface for sending / receiving power or control signals to / from PMC1434).

[0140] Fig.16 16 is a block diagram illustrating a component 1600 capable of reading instructions from a machine-readable or computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium) and capable of performing any one or more of the methods discussed herein, according to some exemplary embodiments. Specifically, Fig.16 A diagrammatic representation of hardware resources 1602 is shown, including one or more processors 1612 (or processor cores), one or more memory / storage devices 1618, and one or more communication resources 1620, each of which may be communicatively coupled via a bus 1622. For embodiments in which node virtualization (e.g., NFV) is utilized, a hypervisor 1604 may be executed to provide an execution environment for one or more network slices / sub-slices to utilize the hardware resources 1602.

[0141] Processor 1612 (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) (such as a baseband processor), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a radio frequency integrated circuit (RFIC), another processor, or any suitable combination thereof) may include, for example, processor 1614 and processor 1616.

[0142] The memory / storage device 1618 may include main memory, disk storage, or any suitable combination thereof. The memory / storage device 1618 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.

[0143] The communication resources 1620 may include interconnect or network interface components or other suitable devices to communicate with one or more peripheral devices 1606 or one or more databases 1608 via the network 1610. For example, the communication resources 1620 may include a wired communication component (e.g., for coupling via a universal serial bus (USB)), a cellular communication component, an NFC component, Parts (e.g. Low power consumption), components and other communication components.

[0144] The instructions 1624 may include software, programs, applications, applets, applications, or other executable code for causing at least any one of the processors 1612 to perform any one or more of the methods discussed herein. The instructions 1624 may reside completely or partially in at least one of the processors 1612 (e.g., in a cache memory of the processor), the memory / storage device 1618, or any suitable combination thereof. In addition, any portion of the instructions 1624 may be transferred to the hardware resources 1602 from any combination of the peripherals 1606 or the database 1608. Thus, the memory of the processor 1612, the memory / storage device 1618, the peripherals 1606, and the database 1608 are examples of computer-readable and machine-readable media.

[0145] For one or more embodiments, at least one of the components shown in one or more of the foregoing figures may be configured to perform one or more operations, techniques, processes and / or methods described in the following example section. For example, the baseband circuit described above in conjunction with one or more of the foregoing figures may be configured to operate according to one or more of the following examples. For another example, the circuits associated with the UE, base station, network element, etc. described above in conjunction with one or more of the foregoing figures may be configured to operate according to one or more of the examples shown in the example section below.

[0146] Fig.17 The architecture of a system 1700 of a network according to some embodiments is illustrated. The system 1700 includes one or more user equipments (UEs), shown in this example as UE 1702 and UE 1704. UE 1702 and UE 1704 are illustrated as smart phones (e.g., handheld touch screen mobile computing devices capable of connecting to one or more cellular networks), but it may also include any mobile or non-mobile computing device, such as a personal data assistant (PDA), a pager, a laptop computer, a desktop computer, a wireless handheld terminal, or any computing device including a wireless communication interface.

[0147] In some embodiments, any one of UE 1702 and UE 1704 may include an Internet of Things (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 machine-to-machine (M2M) or machine-type communication (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 describes interconnected IoT UEs, which may include uniquely identifiable embedded computing devices (within the Internet infrastructure) with short-lived connections. The IoT UE may execute background applications (e.g., keep-alive messages, status updates, etc.) to facilitate connectivity to the IoT network. UE 1702 and UE 1704 may be configured to be connected (e.g., communicatively coupled) to a radio access network (RAN) (shown as RAN 1706). RAN 1706 may be, for example, an Evolved Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (ETMTS) Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN), a Next Generation RAN (NGRAN), or some other type of RAN. UE 1702 and UE 1704 utilize connection 1708 and connection 1710, respectively, wherein each connection includes a physical communication interface or layer (discussed in further detail below); in this example, connection 1708 and connection 1710 are illustrated as air interfaces to achieve communication coupling, and can be consistent with a cellular communication protocol, such as a Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) protocol, a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) network protocol, a Push-to-Talk (PTT) protocol, a Cellular PTT protocol (POC), a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) protocol, a 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) protocol, a Fifth Generation (5G) protocol, a New Radio (NR) protocol, etc.

[0148] In this embodiment, UE 1702 and UE 1704 may also directly exchange communication data via the ProSe interface 1712. The ProSe interface 1712 may alternatively be referred to as a sidelink interface including one or more logical channels including, but not limited to, a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH), a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH), a physical sidelink discovery channel (PSDCH), and a physical sidelink broadcast channel (PSBCH).

[0149] UE 1704 is shown as being configured to access an access point (AP) (shown as AP 1744) via connection 1716. Connection 1716 may include a local wireless connection, such as a connection consistent with any IEEE 802.14 protocol, where AP 1714 will include wireless fidelity In this example, AP 1714 may be connected to the Internet without being connected to the core network of the wireless system (described in further detail below).

[0150] The RAN 1706 may include one or more access nodes that enable connections 1708 and 1710. These access nodes (ANs) may be referred to as base stations (BSs), Node Bs, evolved Node Bs (eNBs), next generation Node Bs (gNBs), RAN nodes, etc., and may include ground stations (e.g., terrestrial access points) or satellite stations that provide coverage within a geographic area (e.g., a cell). The RAN 1406 may include one or more RAN nodes for providing macro cells, such as macro RAN nodes 1718, and one or more RAN nodes for providing femto cells or pico cells (e.g., cells with smaller coverage, smaller user capacity, or higher bandwidth than macro cells), such as low power (LP) RAN nodes (such as LP RAN nodes 1720). Either of the macro RAN node 1718 and the LP RAN node 1720 can terminate the air interface protocol and can be the first point of contact for the UE 1702 and the UE 1704. In some embodiments, either the macro RAN node 1718 and the LP RAN node 1720 may be capable of fulfilling various logical functions of the RAN 1706, including but not limited to the functions of a radio network controller (RNC), such as radio bearer management, uplink and downlink dynamic radio resource management, data packet scheduling, and mobility management.

[0151] According to some embodiments, EGE 1702 and EGE 1704 can be configured to communicate with each other or with either of macro RAN node 1718 and LP RAN node 1720 over a multi-carrier communication channel using orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) communication signals according to various communication techniques, such as but not limited to orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) communication techniques (e.g., for downlink communication) or single carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) communication techniques (e.g., for uplink and ProSe or sidelink communication), although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. OFDM signals may include multiple orthogonal subcarriers.

[0152] In some embodiments, the downlink resource grid can be used for downlink transmissions from either the macro RAN node 1718 and the LP RAN node 1720 to the UE 1702 and the UE 1704, while the uplink transmission can utilize similar techniques. The grid can be a time-frequency grid, referred to as a resource grid or a time-frequency resource grid, which is a physical resource in the downlink in each time slot. For OFDM systems, such a time-frequency plane representation is a common practice, which makes radio resource allocation intuitive. Each column and each row of the resource grid corresponds to an OFDM symbol and an OFDM subcarrier, respectively. The duration of the resource grid in the time domain corresponds to a time slot in a radio frame. The smallest time-frequency unit in the resource grid is represented as a resource element. Each resource grid includes a plurality of resource blocks, which describe the mapping of certain physical channels to resource elements. Each resource block includes a set of resource elements; in the frequency domain, this can represent the minimum amount of resources that can be currently allocated. Such resource blocks are used to transmit several different physical downlink channels.

[0153] The physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) may carry user data and higher layer signaling to the UE 1702 and UE 1704. 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 UE 1702 and UE 1704 of the transport format, resource allocation, and H-ARQ (Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request) information related to the uplink shared channel. Typically, downlink scheduling (allocation of control and shared channel resource blocks to the UE 1704 within the cell) may be performed at either the macro RAN node 1718 and the LP RAN node 1720 based on channel quality information fed back from either the UE 1702 and UE 1704. Downlink resource allocation information may be sent on the PDCCH for (e.g., allocated to) each of the UE 1702 and UE 1704.

[0154] PDCCH can use control channel elements (CCE) to transmit control information. Before being mapped to resource elements, the PDCCH complex-valued symbols can first be organized into four tuples, which can then be arranged using a sub-block interleaver for rate matching. One or more of these CCEs can be used to transmit each PDCCH, where each CCE can correspond to four sets of nine 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 channel conditions, one or more CCEs can be used to transmit the PDCCH. There can be four or more different PDCCH formats with different numbers of CCEs (e.g., aggregation levels, L=1, 2, 4, or 8) in LTE.

[0155] Some embodiments may use the concept of resource allocation for control channel information, which is an extension of the above concept. For example, some embodiments may utilize an enhanced physical downlink control channel (EPDCCH) that uses PDSCH resources for control information transmission. One or more enhanced control channel elements (ECCEs) may be used to transmit EPDCCH. Similar to the above, each ECCE may correspond to four sets of nine physical resource elements, referred to as enhanced resource element groups (EREGs). In some cases, ECCEs may have other numbers of EREGs.

[0156] The RAN 1706 is communicatively coupled to a core network (CN) (shown as CN 1728) via an S1 interface 1722. In an embodiment, the CN 1728 may be an evolved packet core (EPC) network, a next generation packet core (NPC) network, or some other type of CN. In this embodiment, the S1 interface 1722 is divided into two parts: an S1-U interface 1724, which carries traffic data between the macro RAN node 1718 and the LP RAN node 1720 and the serving gateway (S-GW) (shown as S-GW 1732); and an S1-mobility management entity (MME) interface (shown as S1-MME interface 1726), which is a signaling interface between the macro RAN node 1718 and the LP RAN node 1720 and the MME 1730.

[0157] In this embodiment, CN 1728 includes MME 1730, S-GW 1732, Packet Data Network (PDN) Gateway (P-GW) (shown as P-GW 1734) and Home Subscriber Server (HSS) (shown as HSS1736). MME 1730 may be similar in function to the control plane of a conventional Serving General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) Support Node (SGSN). MME 1730 may manage access-related mobility aspects such as gateway selection and tracking area list management. HSS14736 may include a database for network users, which includes subscription-related information for supporting communication session handling of network entities. Depending on the number of mobile subscribers, the capacity of the equipment, the organization of the network, etc., CN 1728 may include one or more HSS1736. For example, HSS1736 may provide support for routing / roaming, authentication, authorization, naming / addressing resolution, location dependency, etc.

[0158] The S-GW 1732 may terminate the S1 interface 1722 towards the RAN 1406 and route data packets between the RAN 1706 and the CN 1728. In addition, the S-GW 1432 may be a local mobility anchor for inter-RAN node handovers and may also provide an anchor for inter-3GPP mobility. Other responsibilities may include lawful interception, charging, and enforcement of certain policies.

[0159] The P-GW 1434 may terminate the SGi interface towards the PDN. The P-GW 1734 may route data packets between the CN 1728 (e.g., EPC network) and external networks such as a network including an application server 1742 (alternatively referred to as an application function (AF)) via an Internet Protocol (IP) interface (shown as an IP communication interface 1738). Generally speaking, the application server 1742 may be an element that provides applications that use IP bearer resources with a core network (e.g., an ETMTS packet service (PS) domain, an LTE PS data service, etc.). In this embodiment, the P-GW 1734 is shown to be communicatively coupled to the application server 1742 via the IP communication interface 1738. The application server 1742 can also be configured to support one or more communication services (e.g., voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) sessions, PTT sessions, group communication sessions, social network services, etc.) for the UE 1702 and UE 1704 via the CN 1728.

[0160] The P-GW 1734 may also be a node for policy enforcement and charging data collection. The Policy and Charging Enforcement Function (PCRF) (shown as PCRF 1440) is a policy and charging control element of the CN 1728. In a non-roaming scenario, there may be a single PCRF in the domestic public land mobile network (HPLMN) associated with the Internet Protocol Connectivity Access Network (IP-CAN) session of the ETE. In a roaming scenario with local traffic breakout, there may be two PCRFs associated with the UE's IP-CAN session: a domestic PCRF (H-PCRF) in the HPLMN and a visited PCRF (V-PCRF) in the visited public land mobile network (VPLMN). The PCRF 1740 may be communicatively coupled to an application server 1742 via the P-GW 1734. The application server 1742 may signal the PCRF 1740 to indicate a new service flow and select appropriate quality of service (QoS) and charging parameters. PCRF 1740 may provide the rules to a Policy and Charging Enforcement Function (PCEF) (not shown) with the appropriate Traffic Flow Template (TFT) and QoS Class Identifier (QCI), which initiates the QoS and charging specified by the Application Server 1742.

[0161] Additional Embodiments

[0162] For one or more embodiments, at least one of the components shown in one or more of the foregoing figures may be configured to perform one or more operations, techniques, processes and / or methods described in the following example section. For example, the baseband circuit described above in conjunction with one or more of the foregoing figures may be configured to operate according to one or more of the following examples. For another example, the circuits associated with the UE, base station, network element, etc. described above in conjunction with one or more of the foregoing figures may be configured to operate according to one or more of the examples shown in the example section below.

[0163] The following examples relate to additional embodiments.

[0164] Embodiment 1 is a method for a user equipment (UE), comprising: detecting whether a list of channel state information-reference signal (CSI-RS) resources is configured by a network device for an inactive period of a cell discontinuous transmission (DTX) cycle of the network device; and determining whether one or more CSI-RS are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle of the network device based on a result of the detection.

[0165] Embodiment 2 is a method according to embodiment 1, wherein determining whether one or more CSI-RS are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle of the network device based on the result of the detection includes: in response to detecting that a list of CSI-RS resources is configured by the network device for the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle of the network device: determining that the CSI-RS on the list of CSI-RS resources are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle, and determining that the CSI-RS not on the list of CSI-RS resources are not available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle; or determining that the CSI-RS on the list of CSI-RS resources are not available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle, and determining that the CSI-RS not on the list of CSI-RS resources are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle.

[0166] Embodiment 3 is a method according to embodiment 1, wherein determining whether one or more CSI-RSs are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle of the network device based on the result of the detection includes: in response to detecting that no list of CSI-RS resources is configured by the network device for the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle of the network device: determining that all CSI-RSs are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle; determining that no CSI-RSs are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle; or determining whether one or more CSI-RSs are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle of the network device based on whether the cell DTX cycle is configured to align with the CSI-RS cycle.

[0167] Embodiment 4 is a method according to embodiment 3, wherein determining whether one or more CSI-RS are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle of the network device based on whether the cell DTX cycle is configured to be aligned with the CSI-RS cycle includes: if the cell DTX cycle is configured to be aligned with the CSI-RS cycle, determining that no CSI-RS is available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle; and if the cell DTX cycle is configured not to be aligned with the CSI-RS cycle, determining that all CSI-RS are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle.

[0168] Embodiment 5 is a method according to embodiment 1, further comprising: determining parameters required for UE measurement based on determining whether one or more CSI-RS are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle of the network device.

[0169] Embodiment 6 is a method according to embodiment 5, further comprising: determining whether the UE is configured with connected-discontinuous reception (C-DRX), and wherein determining the parameters of the UE measurement requirements based on determining whether one or more CSI-RS are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle of the network device comprises: determining the parameters of the UE measurement requirements based on determining whether one or more CSI-RS are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle and determining whether the UE is configured with C-DRX.

[0170] Embodiment 7 is a method according to embodiment 6, wherein determining the parameters of the UE measurement requirement according to determining whether one or more CSI-RSs are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle and determining whether the UE is configured with C-DRX includes: according to determining that the UE is not configured with C-DRX: according to determining that one or more CSI-RSs are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle, determining the sampling interval for the corresponding UE measurement requirement as the maximum value between the CSI-RS period and the cell DTX period; and according to determining that no CSI-RS is available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle, determining the sampling interval for the corresponding UE measurement requirement as the least common multiple of the CSI-RS period and the cell DTX period; and according to determining that the UE is configured with C-DRX: according to determining that one or more CSI-RSs are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle: determining the sampling interval for the corresponding UE measurement requirement as the maximum value among the CSI-RS period, the cell DTX period and the UE C-DRX period; and based on the UE The method comprises the following steps: determining a relaxation factor based on a CSI-RS cycle and a C-DRX cycle; and determining the sampling interval required for the corresponding UE measurement as the least common multiple of the CSI-RS cycle, the cell DTX cycle and the UE C-DRX cycle based on determining that no CSI-RS is available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle.

[0171] Embodiment 8 is a method according to embodiment 7, further comprising: determining whether the UE C-DRX cycle is greater than a predetermined threshold; and wherein determining the relaxation factor based on the UE C-DRC cycle comprises: determining the relaxation factor to be 1 based on determining that the UE C-DRX cycle is greater than the predetermined threshold; and determining that the relaxation factor is greater than 1 based on determining that the UE C-DRX cycle is not greater than the predetermined threshold.

[0172] Embodiment 9 is a method according to embodiment 1, further comprising: detecting whether the network device configures a first time window or a second time window, wherein the first time window is located in the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle, and the start offset and the end offset of the first time window are respectively before and after a synchronization signal block (SSB) / CORESET0 / system information block (SIB) / paging physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) / paging physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), and wherein the second time window is located just before the active period of the cell DTX cycle; and wherein determining whether one or more CSI-RSs are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle of the network device based on the result of the detection comprises: in response to detecting that C The list of SI-RS resources is configured by the network device for the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle of the network device: in response to detecting that the network device configures the first time window or the second time window: determining that the CSI-RS on the list of CSI-RS resources is available during the first time window or the second time window, and determining that the CSI-RS not on the list of CSI-RS resources is not available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle; or determining that the CSI-RS not on the list of CSI-RS resources is available during the first time window or the second time window, and determining that the CSI-RS on the list of CSI-RS resources is not available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle.

[0173] Embodiment 10 is a method according to embodiment 9, wherein determining whether one or more CSI-RSs are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle of the network device based on the result of the detection also includes: in response to detecting that no list of CSI-RS resources is configured by the network device for the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle of the network device: in response to detecting that the network device configures the first time window or the second time window, determining that all CSI-RSs falling within the first time window or the second time window are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle; and in response to detecting that the network device does not configure the first time window and the second time window: determining that all CSI-RSs are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle; determining that no CSI-RSs are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle; or determining whether one or more CSI-RSs are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle of the network device based on whether the cell DTX cycle is configured to align with the CSI-RS cycle.

[0174] Embodiment 11 is a method according to embodiment 9, wherein the first time window is configured by at least one of: a duration of the first time window; and two parameters indicating the start offset and end offset of the first time window, respectively.

[0175] Embodiment 12 is a method according to embodiment 11, wherein the duration of the first time window is signal / channel specific.

[0176] Embodiment 13 is a method according to any one of embodiments 9 to 12, further comprising: detecting whether the time offset for the CSI-RS on the list of CSI-RS resources is configured by the network device, wherein the time offset indicates a shift offset for the CSI-RS so that the position of the CSI-RS is closer to the position of a synchronization signal block (SSB) / CORESET 0 / system information block (SIB) / paging physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) / paging physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH); and in response to detecting that the network device configures the time offset for the CSI-RS on the list of CSI-RS resources, shifting the CSI-RS on the list of CSI-RS resources by the time offset.

[0177] Embodiment 14 is a method according to embodiment 9, further comprising: determining parameters of UE measurement requirements based on determining whether one or more CSI-RS are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle of the network device, including: determining the parameters of the UE measurement requirements based on determining whether one or more CSI-RS are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle and determining whether the UE is configured with connected-discontinuous reception (C-DRX).

[0178] Embodiment 15 is a method according to embodiment 14, wherein determining the parameter of the UE measurement requirement according to determining whether one or more CSI-RSs are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle and determining whether the UE is configured with C-DRX includes: in response to detecting that the network device configures the first time window: according to determining that the UE is not configured with C-DRX: according to determining that one or more CSI-RSs are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle, determining the sampling interval for the corresponding UE measurement requirement as the portion of the CSI-RS period falling within the first time window and the maximum value between the cell DTX cycles; and based on determining that no CSI-RS is available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle, determining the sampling interval for the corresponding UE measurement requirement as the least common multiple of the CSI-RS cycle and the cell DTX cycle; and based on determining that the UE is configured with C-DRX; based on determining that one or more CSI-RS are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle: determining the sampling interval for the corresponding UE measurement requirement as the maximum value among the portion of the CSI-RS cycle, the cell DTX cycle and the UE C-DRX cycle that falls within the first time window; and determining a relaxation factor based on the UE C-DRX cycle; and based on determining that no CSI-RS is available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle, determining the sampling interval for the corresponding UE measurement requirement as the least common multiple of the CSI-RS cycle, the cell DTX cycle and the UE C-DRX cycle.

[0179] Embodiment 16 is a method according to embodiment 14, wherein determining the parameters of the UE measurement requirement according to determining whether one or more CSI-RSs are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle and determining whether the UE is configured with C-DRX includes: in response to detecting that the network device configures the second time window: according to determining that the UE is not configured with C-DRX: according to determining that one or more CSI-RSs are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle, determining the sampling interval for the corresponding UE measurement requirement as the cell DTX cycle; and according to determining that no CSI-RS is available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle, determining the sampling interval for the corresponding UE measurement requirement as the least common multiple of the CSI-RS cycle and the cell DTX cycle; and according to determining that the UE is configured with C-DRX; according to determining that one or more CSI-RSs are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle: determining the sampling interval for the corresponding UE measurement requirement as the maximum value between the cell DTX cycle and the UE C-DRX cycle; and based on the UE The method comprises the following steps: determining a relaxation factor based on a CSI-RS period and a C-DRC period; and determining the sampling interval required for the corresponding UE measurement as the least common multiple of the CSI-RS period, the cell DTX period and the UE C-DRX period based on determining that no CSI-RS is available during the inactive period of the cell DTX period.

[0180] Embodiment 17 is a method according to embodiment 15 or 16, further comprising: determining whether the UE C-DRX cycle is greater than a predetermined threshold; and wherein determining the relaxation factor based on the UE C-DRC cycle comprises: determining the relaxation factor to be 1 based on determining that the UE C-DRX cycle is greater than the predetermined threshold; and determining that the relaxation factor is greater than 1 based on determining that the UE C-DRX cycle is not greater than the predetermined threshold.

[0181] Embodiment 18 is a method for a user equipment (UE), comprising: determining, based on preset rules, whether one or more channel state information-reference signals (CSI-RS) are available during an inactive period of a cell discontinuous transmission (DTX) cycle of a network device; wherein the preset rules include: all CSI-RS are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle; no CSI-RS is available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle; or whether one or more CSI-RS are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle of the network device is based on whether the cell DTX cycle is configured to be aligned with the CSI-RS cycle.

[0182] Embodiment 19 is a method according to embodiment 18, further comprising: determining parameters of UE measurement requirements based on determining whether one or more CSI-RS are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle of the network device.

[0183] Embodiment 20 is a method for a network device, comprising: configuring a list of channel state information-reference signal (CSI-RS) resources for an inactive period of a cell discontinuous transmission (DTX) cycle of the network device for transmission to a user equipment (UE), wherein determining whether one or more CSI-RS are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle of the network device is based on the list of CSI-RS resources.

[0184] Embodiment 21 is a method according to embodiment 20, further comprising: configuring a first time window or a second time window for transmission to the UE, wherein the first time window is located in the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle, and the start offset and the end offset of the first time window are respectively before and after the synchronization signal block (SSB) / CORESET0 / system information block (SIB) / paging physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) / paging physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), and wherein the second time window is just before the active period of the cell DTX cycle; and wherein based on the first time window or the second time window, it is further determined whether one or more CSI-RS are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle of the network device.

[0185] Embodiment 22 is a device for a user equipment (UE), the device comprising: one or more processors, wherein the one or more processors are configured to execute the steps of the method according to any one of embodiments 1 to 19.

[0186] Embodiment 21 is a device for a network device, the device comprising: one or more processors, the one or more processors being configured to execute the steps of the method described in any one of Embodiments 20 to 21.

[0187] Embodiment 22 is an apparatus for a communication device, comprising means for executing the steps of the method according to any one of embodiments 1 to 19 or any one of embodiments 20 to 21.

[0188] Embodiment 23 is a computer-readable medium having a computer program stored thereon, which, when executed by one or more processors, causes a device to perform the steps of a method according to any one of embodiments 1 to 19 or any one of embodiments 20 to 21.

[0189] Embodiment 24 is a computer program product, which includes computer programs that, when executed by one or more processors, cause an apparatus to perform the steps of a method according to any one of embodiments 1 to 19 or any one of embodiments 20 to 21.

[0190] Unless explicitly stated otherwise, any of the above examples may be combined with any other example (or combination of examples). The foregoing description of one or more specific implementations provides illustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the scope of the embodiments to the precise form disclosed. Modifications and variations are possible in view of the above teachings or may be obtained from the practice of the various embodiments.

[0191] It should be appreciated that the systems described herein include descriptions of specific embodiments. These embodiments may be combined into a single system, partially incorporated into other systems, separated into multiple systems, or otherwise divided or combined. In addition, it is contemplated that parameters / attributes / aspects, etc. of one embodiment may be used in another embodiment. For clarity, these parameters / attributes / aspects, etc. are described only in one or more embodiments, and it should be appreciated that unless otherwise stated herein, these parameters / attributes / aspects, etc. may be combined with or substituted for parameters / attributes, etc. of another embodiment.

[0192] 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. In particular, personally identifiable information data should be managed and processed to minimize the risk of unintentional or unauthorized access or use, and the nature of the authorized use should be clearly stated to users.

[0193] Although the foregoing has been described in considerable detail for the sake of clarity, it will be apparent that certain changes and modifications may be made without departing from the principles of the invention. It should be noted that there are many alternative ways to implement both the processes and the apparatus described herein. Therefore, the embodiments of the present invention are to be regarded as illustrative rather than restrictive, and the specification is not limited to the details given herein, but may be modified within the scope and equivalents of the appended claims.

Claims

1. A method for a user equipment (UE), comprising: detecting whether a list of channel state information-reference signal (CSI-RS) resources is configured by a network device for an inactive period of a cell discontinuous transmission (DTX) cycle of the network device; as well as A determination is made based on a result of the detection whether one or more CSI-RSs are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle of the network device.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining whether one or more CSI-RSs are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle of the network device based on the result of the detection comprises: In response to detecting that a list of CSI-RS resources is configured by the network device for the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle of the network device: Determine that the CSI-RS on the list of CSI-RS resources is available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle, and determine that the CSI-RS not on the list of CSI-RS resources is not available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle; or The CSI-RS on the list of CSI-RS resources is determined to be unavailable during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle, and the CSI-RS not on the list of CSI-RS resources is determined to be available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining whether one or more CSI-RSs are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle of the network device based on the result of the detecting comprises: In response to detecting that no list of CSI-RS resources is configured by the network device for the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle of the network device: determining that all CSI-RS are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle; or determining that no CSI-RS is available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle; or Whether one or more CSI-RS are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle of the network device is determined based on whether the cell DTX cycle is configured to align with a CSI-RS cycle.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein determining whether one or more CSI-RSs are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle of the network device based on whether the cell DTX cycle is configured to align with a CSI-RS cycle comprises: If the cell DTX cycle is configured to be aligned with the CSI-RS cycle, determining that no CSI-RS is available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle; as well as If the cell DTX cycle is configured not to be aligned with the CSI-RS cycle, determining that all CSI-RS are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle.

5. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: Parameters of UE measurement requirements are determined based on determining whether one or more CSI-RSs are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle of the network device.

6. The method according to claim 5, further comprising: determining whether the UE is configured with connected-discontinuous reception (C-DRX), and wherein determining the parameter of the UE measurement requirement according to determining whether one or more CSI-RS are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle of the network device comprises: The parameter of the UE measurement requirement is determined based on determining whether one or more CSI-RS are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle and determining whether the UE is configured with C-DRX.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein determining the parameter of the UE measurement requirement based on determining whether one or more CSI-RS are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle and determining whether the UE is configured with C-DRX comprises: According to determining that the UE is not configured with C-DRX: Determining, based on determining that one or more CSI-RSs are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle, a sampling interval for a corresponding UE measurement requirement as a maximum value between a CSI-RS cycle and the cell DTX cycle; as well as Determining the sampling interval required for the corresponding UE measurement as a least common multiple of the CSI-RS period and the cell DTX period based on determining that no CSI-RS is available during the inactive period of the cell DTX period; as well as According to determining that the UE is configured with C-DRX: Based on determining that one or more CSI-RS are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle: Determine the sampling interval for the corresponding UE measurement requirement as the maximum value among the CSI-RS period, the cell DTX period and the UE C-DRX period; as well as determining a relaxation factor based on the UE C-DRX cycle; as well as Based on determining that no CSI-RS is available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle, the sampling interval required for the corresponding UE measurement is determined as a least common multiple of the CSI-RS cycle, the cell DTX cycle, and the UE C-DRX cycle.

8. The method according to claim 7, further comprising: Determining whether the UE C-DRX cycle is greater than a predetermined threshold; and Wherein determining the relaxation factor based on the UE C-DRC period comprises: According to determining that the UE C-DRX cycle is greater than the predetermined threshold, determining the relaxation factor to be 1; as well as According to determining that the UE C-DRX cycle is not greater than the predetermined threshold, determining that the relaxation factor is greater than 1.

9. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: Detecting whether the network device configures a first time window or a second time window, wherein the first time window is located in the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle, and the start offset and the end offset of the first time window are respectively before and after a synchronization signal block (SSB) / CORESET 0 / system information block (SIB) / paging physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) / paging physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), and wherein the second time window is just before the active period of the cell DTX cycle; and Wherein determining whether one or more CSI-RS are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle of the network device based on the result of the detection comprises: In response to detecting that a list of CSI-RS resources is configured by the network device for the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle of the network device: In response to detecting that the network device configures the first time window or the second time window: determining that the CSI-RS on the list of CSI-RS resources is available during the first time window or the second time window, and determining that the CSI-RS not on the list of CSI-RS resources is not available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle; or Determine that the CSI-RS not on the list of CSI-RS resources is available during the first time window or the second time window, and determine that the CSI-RS on the list of CSI-RS resources is not available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein determining whether one or more CSI-RSs are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle of the network device based on the result of the detection further comprises: In response to detecting that no list of CSI-RS resources is configured by the network device for the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle of the network device: In response to detecting that the network device configures the first time window or the second window, determining that all CSI-RSs falling within the first time window or the second time window are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle; as well as In response to detecting that the network device is not configured with the first time window and the second time window: determining that all CSI-RS are available during the inactive period of the DTX cycle of the cell; determining that no CSI-RS is available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle; or Whether one or more CSI-RS are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle of the network device is determined based on whether the cell DTX cycle is configured to align with a CSI-RS cycle.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the first time window is configured by at least one of: the duration of the first time window; and Two parameters respectively indicating the start offset and the end offset of the first time window.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the duration of the first time window is signal / channel specific.

13. The method according to any one of claims 9 to 12, further comprising: detecting whether a time offset for the CSI-RS on the list of CSI-RS resources is configured by the network device, wherein the time offset indicates a shift offset for the CSI-RS so that the position of the CSI-RS is closer to a position of a synchronization signal block (SSB) / CORESET 0 / system information block (SIB) / paging physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) / paging physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH); as well as In response to detecting that the network device configures a time offset for the CSI-RS on the list of CSI-RS resources, shifting the CSI-RS on the list of CSI-RS resources by the time offset.

14. The method according to claim 9, further comprising: Determining parameters required for UE measurement based on determining whether one or more CSI-RSs are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle of the network device, includes: The parameter of the UE measurement requirement is determined based on determining whether one or more CSI-RS are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle and determining whether the UE is configured with connected-discontinuous reception (C-DRX).

15. The method of claim 14, wherein determining the parameter of the UE measurement requirement based on determining whether one or more CSI-RS are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle and determining whether the UE is configured with C-DRX comprises: In response to detecting that the network device configures the first time window: According to determining that the UE is not configured with C-DRX: Determining, based on determining that one or more CSI-RSs are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle, a sampling interval for the corresponding UE measurement requirement as a maximum value between a portion of a CSI-RS cycle falling within the first time window and the cell DTX cycle; as well as Determining the sampling interval required for the corresponding UE measurement as a least common multiple of the CSI-RS period and the cell DTX period based on determining that no CSI-RS is available during the inactive period of the cell DTX period; as well as According to determining that the UE is configured with C-DRX: Based on determining that one or more CSI-RS are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle: Determine the sampling interval for the corresponding UE measurement requirement as a maximum value among the portion of the CSI-RS period, the cell DTX period, and the UE C-DRX period that falls within the first time window; as well as determining a relaxation factor based on the UE C-DRX cycle; as well as Based on determining that no CSI-RS is available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle, the sampling interval required for the corresponding UE measurement is determined as a least common multiple of the CSI-RS cycle, the cell DTX cycle, and the UE C-DRX cycle.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein determining the parameter of the UE measurement requirement based on determining whether one or more CSI-RS are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle and determining whether the UE is configured with C-DRX comprises: In response to detecting that the network device configures the second time window: According to determining that the UE is not configured with C-DRX: Determining, based on determining that one or more CSI-RSs are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle, a sampling interval for the corresponding UE measurement requirement as the cell DTX cycle; as well as Determining the sampling interval required for the corresponding UE measurement as a least common multiple of the CSI-RS period and the cell DTX period based on determining that no CSI-RS is available during the inactive period of the cell DTX period; as well as According to determining that the UE is configured with C-DRX: Based on determining that one or more CSI-RS are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle: Determine the sampling interval for the corresponding UE measurement requirement as the maximum value between the cell DTX cycle and the UE C-DRX cycle; as well as determining a relaxation factor based on the UE C-DRC period; as well as Based on determining that no CSI-RS is available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle, the sampling interval required for the corresponding UE measurement is determined as a least common multiple of the CSI-RS cycle, the cell DTX cycle, and the UE C-DRX cycle.

17. The method according to claim 15 or 16, further comprising: Determining whether the UE C-DRX cycle is greater than a predetermined threshold; and Wherein determining the relaxation factor based on the UE C-DRC period comprises: According to determining that the UE C-DRX cycle is greater than the predetermined threshold, determining the relaxation factor to be 1; as well as According to determining that the UE C-DRX cycle is not greater than the predetermined threshold, determining that the relaxation factor is greater than 1.

18. A method for a user equipment (UE), comprising: Based on a preset rule, determining whether one or more channel state information-reference signals (CSI-RS) are available during an inactive period of a cell discontinuous transmission (DTX) cycle of the network device; The preset rules include: All CSI-RS are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle; No CSI-RS is available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle; or Whether one or more CSI-RS are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle of the network device is based on whether the cell DTX cycle is configured to be aligned with a CSI-RS cycle.

19. The method according to claim 18, further comprising: Parameters of UE measurement requirements are determined based on determining whether one or more CSI-RSs are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle of the network device.

20. A method for a network device, comprising: configuring a list of channel state information-reference signal (CSI-RS) resources for an inactive period of a cell discontinuous transmission (DTX) cycle of the network device for transmission to a user equipment (UE), Wherein, it is determined whether one or more CSI-RS are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle of the network device based on the list of CSI-RS resources.

21. The method according to claim 20, further comprising: configuring a first time window or a second time window for transmission to the UE, wherein the first time window is located in the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle, and the start offset and the end offset of the first time window are respectively before and after a synchronization signal block (SSB) / CORESET 0 / system information block (SIB) / paging physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) / paging physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), and wherein the second time window is located just before the active period of the cell DTX cycle; and Wherein, it is further determined whether one or more CSI-RSs are available during the inactive period of the cell DTX cycle of the network device based on the first time window or the second time window.

22. An apparatus for a communication device, the apparatus comprising: One or more processors configured to perform the steps of a method according to any one of claims 1 to 19 or any one of claims 20 to 21.

23. A computer readable medium having stored thereon a computer program which, when executed by one or more processors, causes an apparatus to perform the steps of a method according to any one of claims 1 to 19 or any one of claims 20 to 21.

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