Configuring multiple measurement gaps

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to techniques for configuring a plurality of measurement gaps in a wireless communication system. A wireless device may provide wireless device capability information indicating measurement gap handling capabilities for the wireless device to a cellular base station. The capability information may indicate any or all of a maximum number of supports for active measurement gaps of the wireless device, a preferred maximum measurement gap length overhead for the wireless device, or a support by which the wireless device pairs associate functionality with measurement gaps, and various possibilities. The cellular base station may provide measurement gap configuration information to the wireless device, which may configure one or more measurement gaps for the wireless device.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present application relates to wireless communications, and more particularly, to systems, apparatuses, and methods for configuring multiple measurement gaps in a wireless communication system.

[0002] Related technical description

[0003] The use of wireless communication systems is growing rapidly. In recent years, wireless devices such as smart phones and tablet computers have become increasingly sophisticated. In addition to supporting phone calls, many mobile devices (i.e., user equipment devices or UEs) now also provide access to the Internet, email, text messaging, and navigation using a global positioning system (GPS), and are capable of operating sophisticated applications that utilize these capabilities. In addition, there are many different wireless communication technologies and wireless communication standards. Some examples of wireless communication standards include GSM, UMTS (e.g., associated with WCDMA or TD-SCDMA air interfaces), LTE, Advanced LTE (LTE-A), NR, HSPA, 3GPP2 CDMA2000 (e.g., 1xRTT, 1xEV-DO, HRPD, eHRPD), IEEE 802.11 (WLAN or Wi-Fi), Bluetooth, and the like. TM wait.

[0004] The introduction of an ever-increasing number of features and functionalities in wireless communication devices has also created a continuing need for improved wireless communications and improved wireless communication devices. In particular, it is important to ensure the accuracy of signals transmitted and received by user equipment (UE) devices (e.g., by wireless devices such as cellular phones, base stations, and relay stations used in wireless cellular communications). In addition, increasing the functionality of UE devices may put a great strain on the battery life of UE devices. Therefore, it is also very important to reduce the power requirements in UE device design while allowing the UE device to maintain good transmission and reception capabilities to improve communications. Therefore, improvements are desired in this area. Summary of the invention

[0005] Embodiments of apparatus, systems, and methods for configuring multiple measurement gaps in a wireless communication system are presented herein.

[0006] According to the techniques described herein, it is possible for a wireless device to provide capability information to a cellular network to inform the network of its gap handling related capabilities, including capabilities related to how many gaps the wireless device can handle are being configured and / or how much gap overhead the wireless device can handle is being configured.

[0007] The cellular network may use this information to configure the wireless device to have one or possibly multiple measurement gaps. It may further be possible to associate a specific gap function with the configured measurement gap. In this case, the wireless device may perform the gap function associated with this measurement gap during the measurement gap.

[0008] Additionally, multiple gap functions may be associated with a configured measurement gap and / or a gap function may be associated with multiple configured measurement gaps. Techniques for handling gap sharing scenarios (e.g., including configuring different priorities for different gap functions and / or configuring different sharing factors for different gap functions) are also described herein. Additionally, techniques for handling time domain coexistence between measurement gaps and layer one operations based on priority and sharing factor configuration are described herein.

[0009] It should be noted that the techniques described herein may be implemented in and / or used with a number of different types of devices, including but not limited to base stations, access points, cellular telephones, portable media players, tablet computers, wearable devices, unmanned aerial vehicles, unmanned flight controllers, automobiles and / or motor vehicles, and various other computing devices.

[0010] This summary is intended to provide a brief overview of some of the topics described in this document. Therefore, it should be understood that the above features are only examples and should not be construed as narrowing the scope or essence of the topics described herein in any way. Other features, aspects, and advantages of the topics described herein will become apparent through the following detailed description, drawings, and claims. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0011] A better understanding of the present subject matter may be obtained when the following detailed description of various embodiments is considered in conjunction with the following drawings, in which:

[0012] Figure 1 illustrates an exemplary (and simplified) wireless communication system according to some embodiments;

[0013] Figure 2 illustrates an exemplary base station in communication with an exemplary wireless user equipment (UE) device according to some embodiments;

[0014] Figure 3 illustrates an exemplary block diagram of a UE according to some embodiments;

[0015] Figure 4 illustrates an exemplary block diagram of a base station according to some embodiments;

[0016] Figure 5is a flow chart illustrating aspects of an exemplary possible method for configuring multiple measurement gaps in a wireless communication system according to some embodiments;

[0017] Figure 6 illustrates exemplary aspects of possible scenarios in which associations between assignable functions and measurement gaps may be implemented according to some embodiments;

[0018] Figure 7 illustrates exemplary aspects of possible scenarios in which measurement gaps may be shared among multiple functions according to some embodiments; and

[0019] Figure 8 is a table illustrating example possible sharing factors that may be used to determine sharing priority for a joint measurement gap according to some embodiments.

[0020] Although the features described herein are susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments thereof are shown by way of example in the drawings and described in detail herein. However, it should be understood that the drawings and detailed description thereof are not intended to be limited to the specific forms disclosed, but on the contrary, are intended to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the subject matter as defined by the appended claims. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0021] Acronyms

[0022] Various acronyms are used throughout this disclosure. Definitions of the most commonly used acronyms that may appear throughout this disclosure are provided below:

[0023] UE: User Equipment

[0024] RF: Radio Frequency

[0025] BS: Base Station

[0026] GSM: Global System for Mobile Communications

[0027] UMTS: Universal Mobile Telecommunications System

[0028] LTE: Long Term Evolution

[0029] NR: New Radio

[0030] TX: Send

[0031] RX: Receive

[0032] RAT: Radio Access Technology

[0033] TRP: Transmit Receive Point

[0034] the term

[0035] The following is a glossary of terms that will appear in this disclosure:

[0036] Memory medium—any of various types of non-transitory memory devices or storage devices. The term "memory medium" is intended to include installation media, such as CD-ROM, floppy disk, or tape devices; computer system memory or random access memory, such as DRAM, DDR RAM, SRAM, EDO RAM, Rambus RAM, etc.; non-volatile memory, such as flash memory, magnetic media, such as hard disk drives or optical storage devices; registers or other similar types of memory elements, etc. The memory medium may also include other types of non-transitory memory or combinations thereof. In addition, the memory medium may be located in a first computer system executing a program, or may be located in a different second computer system connected to the first computer system via a network such as the Internet. In the latter example, the second computer system may provide program instructions to the first computer system for execution. The term "memory medium" may include two or more memory media, which may reside in different locations in different computer systems connected, for example, via a network. The memory medium may store program instructions (e.g., embodied as a computer program) that may be executed by one or more processors.

[0037] Carrier Media—storage media such as described above, as well as physical transmission media such as a bus, network, and / or other physical transmission media that convey signals such as electrical, electromagnetic, or digital signals.

[0038] Computer system (or computer)—any of various types of computing or processing systems, including a personal computer system (PC), a mainframe computer system, a workstation, a network appliance, an Internet appliance, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a television system, a grid computing system, or other devices or combinations of devices. In general, the term "computer system" may be broadly defined as any device (or combination of devices) that includes at least one processor that executes instructions from a memory medium.

[0039] User Equipment (UE) (or "UE device") - any of various types of computer systems or devices that are mobile or portable and that perform wireless communications. Examples of UE devices include mobile phones or smart phones (e.g., iPhone TM , based on Android TM phones), tablet computers (e.g., iPad TM 、Samsung Galaxy TM ), portable gaming devices (e.g., Nintendo DS TM, PlayStation Portable TM 、Gameboy Advance TM , iPhone TM ), wearable devices (e.g., smart watches, smart glasses), laptops, PDAs, portable Internet devices, music players, data storage devices, other handheld devices, automobiles and / or motor vehicles, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) (e.g., drones), UAV controllers (UACs), etc. In general, the term "UE" or "UE device" can be broadly defined to cover any electronic device, computing device, and / or telecommunication device (or a combination of these devices) that is easily transportable by a user and capable of wireless communication.

[0040] Wireless Device—Any of various types of computer systems or devices that perform wireless communications. A wireless device may be portable (or mobile), or may be stationary or fixed at a location. A UE is an example of a wireless device.

[0041] Communication device - any of various types of computer systems or devices that perform communication, where the communication may be wired or wireless. A communication device may be portable (or mobile), or may be stationary or fixed at a location. A wireless device is an example of a communication device. A UE is another example of a communication device.

[0042] Base Station (BS)—The term "base station" has the full breadth of its ordinary meaning and includes at least a wireless communication station installed at a fixed location and used to communicate as part of a wireless telephone system or radio system.

[0043] Processing element (or processor) - refers to various elements or combinations of elements that are capable of performing functions in a device (e.g., a user equipment device or a cellular network device). Processing elements may include, for example, processors and associated memory, portions or circuits of individual processor cores, entire processor cores, processor arrays, circuits such as ASICs (application specific integrated circuits), programmable hardware elements such as field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), and any of the above combinations.

[0044] Wi-Fi—The term "Wi-Fi" has the full scope of its ordinary meaning and includes at least a wireless communication network or RAT that is served by wireless LAN (WLAN) access points and provides connectivity to the Internet through these access points. Most modern Wi-Fi networks (or WLAN networks) are based on the IEEE 802.11 standard and are marketed under the name "Wi-Fi". Wi-Fi (WLAN) networks are distinct from cellular networks.

[0045] Automatically—refers to an action or operation being performed by a computer system (e.g., software executed by a computer system) or a device (e.g., a circuit, a programmable hardware element, an ASIC, etc.) without the action or operation being directly specified or performed by a user input. Thus, the term "automatically" is in contrast to an operation being manually performed or specified by a user, where the user provides input to directly perform the operation. An automatic process may be initiated by input provided by a user, but subsequent actions performed "automatically" are not specified by the user, i.e., are not performed "manually," where the user specifies each action to be performed. For example, a user filling out an electronic form by selecting each field and providing input specifying information (e.g., by typing in information, selecting checkboxes, radio selections, etc.) is manually filling out the form, even though the computer system must update the form in response to the user action. The form may be automatically filled out by a computer system, where the computer system (e.g., software executed on the computer system) analyzes the fields of the form and fills out the form without any user input specifying the answers to the fields. As indicated above, a user may invoke automatic filling out of a form, but not participate in the actual filling out of the form (e.g., the user does not manually specify the answers to the fields but rather they are automatically completed). This specification provides various examples of operations that are automatically performed in response to actions that a user has taken.

[0046] Configured to—Various components may be described as being “configured to” perform one or more tasks. In such contexts, “configured to” is a broad statement that generally means “having a structure” that performs one or more tasks during operation. Thus, a component may be configured to perform a task even when the component is not currently performing the task (e.g., a collection of electrical conductors may be configured to electrically connect a module to another module even when the two modules are not connected). In some contexts, “configured to” may be a broad statement that generally means “having a circuit” that performs one or more tasks during operation. Thus, a component may be configured to perform a task even when the component is not currently turned on. Typically, circuits that form a structure corresponding to “configured to” may include hardware circuits.

[0047] For ease of description, various components may be described as performing one or more tasks. Such descriptions should be interpreted as including the phrase "configured to". The description of a component being configured to perform one or more tasks is expressly intended not to invoke the interpretation of 35 U.S.C. § 112, paragraph (s) for that component.

[0048] Figure 1 and Figure 2 -Exemplary Communication System

[0049] Figure 1An exemplary (and simplified) wireless communication system that can implement various aspects of the present disclosure according to some embodiments is illustrated. Note that, Figure 1 The system is only one example of a possible system, and the embodiments may be implemented in any of a variety of systems as desired.

[0050] As shown, the exemplary wireless communication system includes a base station 102, which communicates with one or more (e.g., any number) user equipment 106A, 106B, etc. to 106N through a transmission medium. Each user equipment may be referred to as a "user equipment" (UE) or a UE device in this document. Therefore, the user equipment 106 is referred to as a UE or a UE device.

[0051] The base station 102 may be a base transceiver station (BTS) or a cell site, and may include hardware and / or software that implements wireless communication with UEs 106A to 106N. If the base station 102 is implemented in the context of LTE, it may be referred to as an "eNodeB" or "eNB". If the base station 102 is implemented in the context of 5G NR, it may alternatively be referred to as a "gNodeB" or "gNB". The base station 102 may also be equipped to communicate with a network 100 (e.g., a core network of a cellular service provider, a telecommunications network such as a public switched telephone network (PSTN), and / or the Internet, and various possible networks). Therefore, the base station 102 may facilitate communication between user devices and / or between user devices and the network 100. The communication area (or coverage area) of a base station may be referred to as a "cell". Also as used herein, with respect to a UE, sometimes a base station may be considered to represent a network in consideration of the uplink and downlink communications of the UE. Therefore, a UE communicating with one or more base stations in a network may also be understood as a UE communicating with a network.

[0052] The base station 102 and the user equipment may be configured to communicate over a transmission medium using any of a variety of radio access technologies (RATs), also referred to as wireless communication technologies or telecommunication standards, such as GSM, UMTS (WCDMA), LTE, Advanced LTE (LTE-A), LAA / LTE-U, 5G NR, 3GPP2 CDMA2000 (e.g., 1xRTT, 1xEV-DO, HRPD, eHRPD), Wi-Fi, etc.

[0053] Base station 102 and other similar base stations operating according to the same or different cellular communication standards may thus be provided as one or more cell networks that may provide continuous or nearly continuous overlapping service to UE 106 and similar devices over a geographic area via one or more cellular communication standards.

[0054] Note that the UE 106 is capable of communicating using multiple wireless communication standards. For example, the UE 106 may be configured to communicate using either or both of the 3GPP cellular communication standard or the 3GPP2 cellular communication standard. In some embodiments, the UE 106 may be configured to perform techniques for configuring multiple measurement gaps in a wireless communication system, such as according to the various methods described herein. The UE 106 may also or alternatively be configured to communicate using WLAN, Bluetooth, or a combination thereof. TM , one or more global navigation satellite systems (GNSS, such as GPS or GLONASS), one and / or more mobile television broadcast standards (e.g., ATSC-M / H), etc. Other combinations of wireless communication standards (including more than two wireless communication standards) are also possible.

[0055] Figure 2 An exemplary user equipment 106 (e.g., one of devices 106A to 106N) communicating with a base station 102 according to some embodiments is illustrated. UE 106 may be a device with wireless network connectivity, such as a mobile phone, a handheld device, a wearable device, a computer or tablet computer, an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), an unmanned flight controller (UAC), a car, or almost any type of wireless device. UE 106 may include a processor (processing element) configured to execute program instructions stored in a memory. UE 106 may perform any method implementation in the method implementation scheme described herein by executing such stored instructions. Alternatively or in addition, UE 106 may include a programmable hardware element, such as an FPGA (field programmable gate array), an integrated circuit, and / or any of various other possible hardware components configured to perform (e.g., individually or in combination) any method implementation in the method implementation scheme described herein or any part of any method implementation in the method implementation scheme described herein. UE 106 may be configured to communicate using any of a plurality of wireless communication protocols. For example, UE 106 may be configured to communicate using two or more of CDMA2000, LTE, LTE-A, 5G NR, WLAN, or GNSS. Other combinations of wireless communication standards are also possible.

[0056] UE 106 may include one or more antennas for communicating using one or more wireless communication protocols according to one or more RAT standards. In some embodiments, UE 106 may share one or more parts of a receive chain and / or a transmit chain between multiple wireless communication standards. The shared radio component may include a single antenna, or may include multiple antennas (e.g., for a multiple-input, multiple-output or "MIMO" antenna system) for performing wireless communications. Typically, the radio component may include any combination of a baseband processor, an analog RF signal processing circuit (e.g., including filters, mixers, oscillators, amplifiers, etc.), or a digital processing circuit (e.g., for digital modulation and other digital processing). Similarly, the radio component may use the aforementioned hardware to implement one or more receive chains and transmit chains. For example, UE 106 may share one or more parts of a receive chain and / or a transmit chain between multiple wireless communication technologies such as those discussed above.

[0057] In some embodiments, UE 106 may include any number of antennas and may be configured to use the antennas to send and / or receive directional wireless signals (e.g., beams). Similarly, BS 102 may also include any number of antennas and may be configured to use the antennas to send and / or receive directional wireless signals (e.g., beams). In order to receive and / or send such directional signals, the antennas of UE 106 and / or BS 102 may be configured to apply different "weights" to different antennas. The process of applying these different weights may be referred to as "pre-coding".

[0058] In some embodiments, UE 106 may include a separate transmit chain and / or receive chain (e.g., including separate antennas and other radio components) for each wireless communication protocol with which it is configured to communicate. As another possibility, UE 106 may include one or more radio components shared between multiple wireless communication protocols, and one or more radio components used uniquely by a single wireless communication protocol. For example, UE 106 may include shared radio components for communicating using any of LTE or CDMA2000 1xRTT (or LTE or NR, or LTE or GSM), and shared radio components for communicating using Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. TM Each of the independent radio components for communication. Other configurations are also possible.

[0059] Figure 3 - Block diagram of an exemplary UE device

[0060] Figure 3A block diagram of an exemplary UE 106 according to some embodiments is illustrated. As shown, the UE 106 may include a system on chip (SOC) 300, which may include parts for various purposes. For example, as shown, the SOC 300 may include a processor 302 that can execute program instructions for the UE 106, and a display circuit 304 that can perform graphics processing and provide display signals to a display 360. The SOC 300 may also include a sensor circuit 370, which may include a component for sensing or measuring any of various possible characteristics or parameters of the UE 106. For example, the sensor circuit 370 may include a motion sensing circuit that is configured to detect the motion of the UE 106, for example, using a gyroscope, an accelerometer, and / or any of various other motion sensing components. As another possibility, the sensor circuit 370 may include one or more temperature sensing components, which are used, for example, to measure the temperature of each of one or more antenna panels and / or other components of the UE 106. Any of a variety of other possible types of sensor circuits may also or alternatively be included in the UE 106, as desired. The processor 302 may also be coupled to a memory management unit (MMU) 340, which may be configured to receive addresses from the processor 302 and translate those addresses into locations in memory (e.g., memory 306, read-only memory (ROM) 350, NAND flash memory 310) and / or other circuits or devices, such as display circuit 304, radio 330, connector I / F 320, and / or display 360. The MMU 340 may be configured to perform memory protection and page table translation or setup. In some embodiments, the MMU 340 may be included as part of the processor 302.

[0061] As shown, SOC 300 may be coupled to various other circuits of UE 106. For example, UE 106 may include various types of memory (e.g., including NAND flash memory 310), connector interface 320 (e.g., for coupling to a computer system, a docking station, a charging station, etc.), display 360, and wireless communication circuitry 330 (e.g., for LTE, LTE-A, NR, CDMA2000, Bluetooth TM, Wi-Fi, GPS, etc.). The UE device 106 may include or be coupled to at least one antenna (e.g., 335a), and may include multiple antennas (e.g., illustrated by antennas 335a and 335b) for performing wireless communications with base stations and / or other devices. Antennas 335a and 335b are shown by way of example, and the UE device 106 may include fewer or more antennas. In general, one or more antennas are collectively referred to as antennas 335. For example, the UE device 106 may use antenna 335 with the aid of radio circuitry 330 to perform wireless communications. The communication circuit may include multiple receive chains and / or multiple transmit chains for receiving and / or transmitting multiple spatial streams, such as in a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) configuration. As mentioned above, in some embodiments, the UE may be configured to perform wireless communications using multiple wireless communication standards.

[0062] The UE 106 may include hardware and software components for implementing the method for the UE 106 to perform techniques for configuring multiple measurement gaps in a wireless communication system, such as described further below in this document. The processor 302 of the UE device 106 may be configured to implement part or all of the methods described herein, for example, by executing program instructions stored on a memory medium (e.g., a non-transitory computer-readable memory medium). In other embodiments, the processor 302 may be configured as a programmable hardware element, such as an FPGA (field programmable gate array) or as an ASIC (application-specific integrated circuit). In addition, as Figure 3 As shown, the processor 302 can be coupled to other components and / or can interoperate with other components to perform techniques for configuring multiple measurement gaps in a wireless communication system according to various embodiments disclosed herein. The processor 302 can also implement various other applications and / or end-user applications running on the UE 106.

[0063] In some embodiments, radio 330 may include a separate controller dedicated to controlling communications for each corresponding RAT standard. Figure 3 As shown, the radio component 330 may include a Wi-Fi controller 352, a cellular controller (e.g., an LTE and / or LTE-A controller) 354, and a Bluetooth controller. TM Controller 356, and in at least some embodiments, one or more or all of these controllers may be implemented as respective integrated circuits (referred to as ICs or chips) that communicate with each other and with SOC 300 (and more specifically, with processor 302). For example, Wi-Fi controller 352 may communicate with cellular controller 354 via a cell-ISM link or WCI interface, and / or Bluetooth controller 355 may communicate with cellular controller 354 via a cell-ISM link or WCI interface. TMThe controller 356 may communicate with the cellular controller 354 via a cell-ISM link, etc. Although three separate controllers are illustrated within the radio 330, other embodiments may be implemented in the UE device 106 having fewer or more similar controllers for various different RATs.

[0064] Additionally, embodiments are contemplated in which the controller may implement functionality associated with multiple radio access technologies. For example, according to some embodiments, in addition to hardware and / or software components for performing cellular communications, the cellular controller 354 may also include hardware and / or software components for performing one or more activities associated with Wi-Fi, such as Wi-Fi preamble detection, and / or generation and transmission of Wi-Fi physical layer preamble signals.

[0065] Figure 4 - Block diagram of an exemplary base station

[0066] Figure 4 1 illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary base station 102 according to some embodiments. Note that Figure 4 The base station of is only one example of a possible base station. As shown, the base station 102 may include a processor 404 that may execute program instructions for the base station 102. The processor 404 may also be coupled to a memory management unit (MMU) 440 or other circuit or device, which may be configured to receive addresses from the processor 404 and convert these addresses to locations in memory (e.g., memory 460 and read-only memory (ROM) 450).

[0067] Base station 102 may include at least one network port 470. Network port 470 may be configured to couple to a telephone network and provide access to the telephone network described above. Figure 1 and Figure 2 The network port 470 may be configured to couple to a plurality of devices such as the UE device 106 to the telephone network described in the foregoing. The network port 470 (or an additional network port) may also or alternatively be configured to couple to a cellular network, such as a core network of a cellular service provider. The core network may provide mobility-related services and / or other services to a plurality of devices such as the UE device 106. In some cases, the network port 470 may be coupled to the telephone network via the core network, and / or the core network may provide the telephone network (e.g., in other UE devices served by the cellular service provider).

[0068] In some embodiments, base station 102 may be a next generation base station, e.g., a 5G New Radio (5G NR) base station, or "gNB". In such embodiments, base station 102 may be connected to a legacy evolved packet core (EPC) network and / or to an NR core (NRC) network. Furthermore, base station 102 may be considered a 5G NR cell and may include one or more transmit and receive points (TRPs). Furthermore, a UE capable of operating in accordance with 5G NR may be connected to one or more TRPs within one or more gNBs.

[0069] The base station 102 may include at least one antenna 434 and possibly multiple antennas. One or more antennas 434 may be configured to operate as a wireless transceiver and may be further configured to communicate with the UE device 106 via the radio component 430. The antenna 434 communicates with the radio component 430 via a communication chain 432. The communication chain 432 may be a receive chain, a transmit chain, or both. The radio component 430 may be designed to communicate via various wireless telecommunication standards, including but not limited to 5G NR, 5G NR SAT, LTE, LTE-A, GSM, UMTS, CDMA2000, Wi-Fi, etc.

[0070] Base station 102 may be configured to perform wireless communications using multiple wireless communication standards. In some examples, base station 102 may include multiple radio components that enable base station 102 to communicate according to multiple wireless communication technologies. For example, as one possibility, base station 102 may include an LTE radio component for performing communications according to LTE and a 5G NR radio component for performing communications according to 5G NR. In this case, base station 102 may be able to operate as both an LTE base station and a 5GNR base station. As another possibility, base station 102 may include a multimode radio component that can perform communications according to any one of multiple wireless communication technologies (e.g., 5G NR and Wi-Fi, 5G NR SAT and Wi-Fi, LTE and Wi-Fi, LTE and UMTS, LTE and CDMA2000, UMTS and GSM, etc.).

[0071] As further described later herein, BS 102 may include hardware and software components for implementing or supporting a specific implementation of the features described herein. The processor 404 of the base station 102 may be configured to implement and / or support a specific implementation of part or all of the methods described herein, for example, by executing program instructions stored on a memory medium (e.g., a non-transitory computer-readable memory medium). Alternatively, the processor 404 may be configured as a programmable hardware element such as an FPGA (field programmable gate array), or as an ASIC (application-specific integrated circuit) or a combination thereof. In the case of certain RATs (e.g., Wi-Fi), the base station 102 may be designed as an access point (AP), in which case the network port 470 may be implemented to provide access to a wide area network and / or one or more local area networks, for example, it may include at least one Ethernet port, and the radio component 430 may be designed to communicate according to the Wi-Fi standard.

[0072] Furthermore, as described herein, processor 404 may include one or more processing elements. Thus, processor 404 may include one or more integrated circuits (ICs) configured to perform the functions of processor 404. Furthermore, each integrated circuit may include circuits (e.g., a first circuit, a second circuit, etc.) configured to perform the functions of one or more processors 404.

[0073] Additionally, as described herein, radio 430 may include one or more processing elements. Thus, radio 430 may include one or more integrated circuits (ICs) configured to perform the functions of radio 430. Additionally, each integrated circuit may include circuits (e.g., a first circuit, a second circuit, etc.) configured to perform the functions of radio 430.

[0074] Reference signal

[0075] A wireless device (such as a user equipment) may be configured to perform various tasks including using reference signals (RS) provided by one or more cellular base stations. For example, initial access and beam measurements of the wireless device may be performed based at least in part on synchronization signal blocks (SSBs) provided by one or more cells provided by one or more cellular base stations within the communication range of the wireless device. Another type of reference signal commonly provided in a cellular communication system may include a channel state information (CSI) RS. Various types of CSI-RS may be provided for tracking (e.g., for time and frequency offset tracking), beam management (e.g., CSI-RS configured with repetitions to help determine one or more beams for uplink and / or downlink communications), and / or channel measurement (e.g., CSI-RS configured in a resource set for measuring the quality of a downlink channel and reporting information related to the quality measurement to a base station), as well as various possibilities. For example, in the case where the CSI-RS is used for CSI acquisition, the UE may periodically perform channel measurements and transmit channel state information (CSI) to the BS. The base station may then receive and use the channel state information during communication with the wireless device to determine adjustments to various parameters. In particular, the BS may use the received channel state information to adjust the coding of its downlink transmissions to improve downlink channel quality.

[0076] In many cellular communication systems, a base station may periodically transmit some or all such reference signals (or pilot signals), such as SSB and / or CSI-RS. In some cases, aperiodic reference signals (e.g., aperiodic reference signals for aperiodic CSI reporting) may also or alternatively be provided.

[0077] As a detailed example, at least according to some embodiments, in the 3GPP NR cellular communication standard, the channel state information fed back from the UE based on the CSI-RS for CSI acquisition may include one or more of a channel quality indicator (CQI), a precoding matrix indicator (PMI), a rank indicator (RI), a CSI-RS resource indicator (CRI), a SSBRI (SS / PBCH resource block indicator, and a layer indicator (LI).

[0078] Channel quality information may be provided to the base station for link adaptation, for example, to provide guidance on which modulation and coding scheme (MCS) the base station should use when sending data. For example, when the downlink channel communication quality between the base station and the UE is determined to be high, the UE may feedback a high CQI value, which may cause the base station to send data using a relatively high modulation order and / or a low channel coding rate. For another example, when the downlink channel communication quality between the base station and the UE is determined to be low, the UE may feedback a low CQI value, which may cause the base station to send data using a relatively low modulation order and / or a high channel coding rate.

[0079] The PMI feedback may include preferred precoding matrix information and may be provided to the base station to indicate which MIMO precoding scheme the base station should use. In other words, the UE may measure the quality of the downlink MIMO channel between the base station and the UE based on the pilot signal received on the channel, and may recommend which MIMO precoding the desired base station applies through PMI feedback. In some cellular systems, the PMI configuration is represented in matrix form, which provides linear MIMO precoding. The base station and the UE may share a codebook consisting of multiple precoding matrices, wherein each MIMO precoding matrix in the codebook may have a unique index. Therefore, as part of the channel state information fed back by the UE, the PMI may include an index (or possibly multiple indexes) corresponding to the most preferred MIMO precoding matrix (or multiple matrices) in the codebook. This may enable the UE to minimize the amount of feedback information. Therefore, at least according to some embodiments, the PMI may indicate which precoding matrix from the codebook should be used for transmission to the UE.

[0080] For example, when the base station and UE have multiple antennas, the rank indicator information (RI feedback) may indicate the number of transmission layers that the UE determines can be supported by the channel, which can achieve multi-layer transmission through spatial multiplexing. RI and PMI together may allow the base station to know which precoding needs to be applied to which layer, for example, depending on the number of transmission layers.

[0081] In some cellular systems, the PMI codebook is defined based on the number of transmission layers. In other words, for R layer transmission, N N codebooks can be defined. t ×R matrix (for example, where R represents the number of layers, N t denotes the number of transmitter antenna ports, and N denotes the size of the codebook). In such a scenario, the number of transmission layers (R) may conform to the rank value of the precoding matrix (N t ×R matrix), and thus R in this context may be referred to as a “rank indicator (RI)”.

[0082] Thus, the channel state information may include an assigned rank (e.g., a rank indicator or RI). For example, a MIMO-enabled UE communicating with a BS may include four receiver chains, e.g., may include four antennas. The BS may also include four or more antennas to implement MIMO communication (e.g., 4×4 MIMO). Thus, the UE is able to simultaneously receive up to four (or more) signals (e.g., layers) from the BS. Layer-to-antenna mapping may be applied, e.g., each layer may be mapped to any number of antenna ports (e.g., antennas). Each antenna port may transmit and / or receive information associated with one or more layers. The rank may include multiple bits and may indicate the number of signals that the BS may transmit to the UE in an upcoming time period (e.g., during an upcoming transmit time interval or TTI). For example, an indication of rank 4 may indicate that the BS will transmit 4 signals to the UE. As one possibility, the length of the RI may be two bits (e.g., because two bits are sufficient to distinguish 4 different rank values). Note that other numbers and / or configurations of antennas (e.g., at either or both of the UE or BS) and / or other numbers of data layers are also possible according to various embodiments.

[0083] Figure 5 -Configure multiple measurement gaps

[0084] Cellular communication systems may generally support the provision of scheduling gaps that may be used for various purposes. Such gaps may be referred to as "measurement gaps" at least according to some embodiments, for example because performing serving cell and / or neighbor cell measurements may be a common operation / activity performed during a measurement gap. As cellular communication technology continues to evolve, new purposes for gaps have been and will likely continue to be introduced, such that gap configuration and management are generally an area of ​​increasing interest. In particular, with the many possible gap functions that may be performed during a measurement gap, it may be useful to provide techniques for configuring multiple measurement gaps and for handling the coexistence of different gap functions, at least according to some embodiments.

[0085] Therefore, it may be beneficial to specify techniques for supporting configuration of multiple measurement gaps. To illustrate a set of such possible techniques, Figure 5 is a flow chart illustrating a method for configuring multiple measurement gaps in a wireless communication system according to at least some embodiments.

[0086] Figure 5Aspects of the methods of can be implemented by a wireless device, for example, in conjunction with one or more cellular base stations (such as UE 106 and BS 102 shown and described with respect to various figures herein), or more generally, as desired, in conjunction with any of the computer circuits, systems, devices, elements or components, etc. shown in the above figures. For example, a processor (and / or other hardware) of such a device can be configured to cause the device to perform any combination of the illustrated method elements and / or other method elements.

[0087] It is noted that although the present invention is described in a manner involving the use of communication techniques and / or features associated with 3GPP and / or NR specification documents, Figure 5 However, this description is not intended to limit the present disclosure and may be used in any suitable wireless communication system as needed. Figure 5 In various embodiments, some of the elements of the method shown may be performed simultaneously in an order different from that shown, may be replaced by other method elements, or may be omitted. Additional method elements may also be performed as needed. As shown in the figure, Figure 5 The method can be operated as follows.

[0088] In 502, the wireless device may establish a wireless link with a cellular base station. According to some embodiments, the wireless link may include a cellular link according to 5G NR. For example, the wireless device may establish a session with an AMF entity of a cellular network through one or more gNBs that provide radio access to the cellular network. As another possibility, the wireless link may include a cellular link according to LTE. For example, the wireless device may establish a session with a mobility management entity of a cellular network through an eNB that provides radio access to the cellular network. According to various embodiments, other types of cellular links are also possible, and the cellular network may also or alternatively operate according to another cellular communication technology (e.g., UMTS, CDMA2000, GSM, etc.).

[0089] Establishing a wireless link may include establishing an RRC connection with a serving cellular base station according to at least some embodiments. Establishing a first RRC connection may include configuring various parameters for communication between the wireless device and the cellular base station, establishing environmental information of the wireless device, and / or any of a variety of other possible features, for example, involving establishing an air interface of the wireless device for cellular communication with a cellular network associated with the cellular base station. After establishing the RRC connection, the wireless device may operate in an RRC connected state. In some instances, the RRC connection may also be released (e.g., after a certain period of inactivity relative to data communication), in which case the wireless device may operate in an RRC idle state or an RRC inactive state. In some instances, the wireless device may perform a handover (e.g., when in an RRC connected mode) or a cell reselection (e.g., when in an RRC idle mode or an RRC inactive mode) to a new serving cell, for example, due to wireless device mobility, changes in wireless medium conditions, and / or any of a variety of other possible reasons.

[0090] According to at least some embodiments, a wireless device may establish multiple wireless links according to a multi-TRP configuration, for example, with multiple TRPs of a cellular network. In this case, the wireless device may be configured (e.g., via RRC signaling) with one or more transmit control indicators (TCIs), for example, which may correspond to various beams that may be used to communicate with the TRPs. In addition, there may be situations where one or more configured TCI states may be activated by a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) of the wireless device at a particular time.

[0091] In 504, the cellular base station may provide wireless device capability information indicating measurement gap handling capabilities for the wireless device. At least in some cases, establishing the wireless link may include the wireless device providing capability information for the wireless device. Alternatively, the wireless device capability information indicating measurement gap handling capabilities for the wireless device may be provided at a later time. The capability information may be provided by the wireless device based on a network query (e.g., a request for capability information indicating measurement gap handling capabilities for the wireless device) or without any explicit network query (e.g., as part of a general wireless capability report). In some cases, the measurement gap handling capabilities (and / or other gap-related capability information for the wireless device) may be provided using wireless device assistance information (e.g., UE assistance information or UAI).

[0092] As one possibility, the wireless device capability information indicating the measurement gap handling capability may include an indication of a maximum number of supported active gaps for the wireless device. For example, the wireless device may be restricted (or may otherwise prefer) to have no more than a certain number of measurement gap patterns configured and activated for the wireless device, e.g., based on wireless device capabilities and / or preferences, and the measurement gap handling capability may correspondingly indicate to the cellular base station that no more than this certain number of measurement gap patterns for the wireless device may be configured as active at any given time.

[0093] As another possibility, the wireless device capability information indicating the measurement gap handling capability may include an indication of a preferred or required maximum gap length overhead based on active measurement gaps for the wireless device. For example, the wireless device may be restricted (or may otherwise prefer) to have any given measurement gap repetition period not exceed a certain proportion occupied by measurement gaps, e.g., based on wireless device capabilities and / or preferences, and the measurement gap handling capability may correspondingly indicate to the cellular base station to configure any given measurement gap repetition period not exceed this certain proportion to be occupied by measurement gaps.

[0094] In some embodiments, the wireless device may also or alternatively provide wireless device capability information and / or wireless device assistance information to indicate whether the wireless device is capable of supporting associating a function with a gap, and / or to indicate which gap function or functions the wireless device supports to be associated with the gap. For example, the wireless device may be restricted (or may otherwise prefer) to support certain gap functions or features over other gap functions or features, and the wireless device may provide capability and / or assistance information correspondingly indicating which functions the wireless device supports to be associated with the gap. Note that according to various embodiments, the indication of support for associating a function / feature with a gap may be explicitly indicated, or may be implicitly signaled by signaling support for the function / feature itself by the wireless device.

[0095] Note that the capability information provided by the wireless device may also or alternatively include information related to any of a variety of other types of wireless device capabilities.

[0096] In 506, the wireless device may receive measurement gap configuration information from the cellular base station. The cellular base station may configure a gap or multiple gaps for the wireless device. Configuring the gap may include activating one or more gap patterns, which may include one or more gaps of a configured or specified length and at configured or specified intervals in each measurement gap repetition period. The gaps may be provided to support any of a variety of possible gap functions and / or features, such as gaps for use by radio resource management (RRM), gaps for use by multiple universal subscriber identity modules (MUSIM), preconfigured measurement gaps, positioning (Pos) and / or enhanced positioning (ePos) gaps, non-terrestrial network (NTN) measurement gaps, network controlled small gaps (NCSG), and / or any of a variety of other possible gap functions.

[0097] In some embodiments, the cellular base station may indicate that a particular gap function is associated with one or more of the configured gaps. According to at least some embodiments, such indication may be provided based at least in part on wireless device capability information indicating that the wireless device supports association between gap functions and gaps, and may more specifically indicate that the wireless device supports such association for gap functions to be associated with gaps by the cellular base station.

[0098] Note that, at least in some embodiments, a gap function may be associated with multiple measurement gaps. For example, the measurement gap configuration information may associate a gap function with multiple measurement gap patterns for the wireless device. Additionally or alternatively, multiple gap functions may be associated with a measurement gap. For example, the measurement gap configuration information may associate multiple functions with a measurement gap pattern for the wireless device.

[0099] In scenarios where multiple gap functions may be associated with a measurement gap and / or where a measurement gap pattern is configured such that the measurement gaps overlap in time, it may be useful to provide a mechanism for handling gap sharing. In other words, it may be important to provide a technique for a wireless device to determine which function to perform during a gap opportunity associated with multiple functions (e.g., because multiple gap patterns associated with different gap functions overlap during the gap opportunity and / or because multiple gap functions are associated with a gap pattern of the gap opportunity). For example, a scenario may occur where measurement gap configuration information configures a first measurement gap pattern associated with a first gap function and a second measurement gap pattern associated with a second gap function such that the first measurement gap pattern and the second measurement gap pattern at least partially overlap. In such a scenario, the wireless device may be able to determine whether to prioritize the first gap function or the second gap function during an opportunity where a measurement gap in the first measurement gap pattern and a measurement gap in the second measurement gap pattern at least partially overlap. As another example, a scenario may occur where the measurement gap configuration information configures a measurement gap pattern associated with both the first gap function and the second gap function. In such a scenario, the wireless device may be able to determine whether to prioritize the first gap function or the second gap function during the gap opportunity of the measurement gap pattern.

[0100] In some cases, a cellular base station may provide priority or sharing factor information for different gap functions to assist the wireless device in determining which gap function to prioritize in such scenarios. For example, according to some embodiments, the wireless device may receive measurement gap function priority information from the cellular base station, which measurement gap function priority information may indicate priority values ​​or otherwise indicate relative priorities for different possible gap functions. In such a scenario, the wireless device may determine which gap function to prioritize when multiple gap functions share a gap opportunity based at least in part on the measurement gap function priority information received from the cellular base station. For example, the wireless device may determine to execute a gap function with a higher priority during the shared opportunity. It should be noted that the priority for the gap function may be static or semi-static (e.g., configured as a fixed value, permanently or until reconfigured), or may be configured to be dynamic. For example, as one possibility, the priority value for the gap function may be configured to increase as the time elapsed since the last execution of the gap function increases. As another example, the priority value for the gap function may be configured to increase as the number of gap opportunities that have occurred since the last execution of the gap function increases.

[0101] As another example, according to some embodiments, the wireless device may receive measurement gap function sharing factor information from a cellular base station, which measurement gap function sharing factor information may indicate a sharing factor value or otherwise indicate what proportion of shared gap opportunities should be used for different gap functions. In such a scenario, the wireless device may determine which gap function to prioritize when multiple gap functions share gap opportunities based at least in part on the measurement gap sharing factor information received from the cellular base station. For example, the wireless device may determine which gap functions to perform during shared gap opportunities for the gap functions based on the configured sharing factors; thus, in an example scenario in which a first gap function has a sharing factor of 0.75 and a second gap function has a sharing factor of 0.25, the wireless device may determine to perform the first gap function during three of every four gaps shared between the first gap function and the second gap function, and to perform the second gap function during one of every four gaps shared between the first gap function and the second gap function.

[0102] It is noted that the coexistence between the layer 1 operation and the gap function may be further managed similarly by configuring priority and / or sharing factor information for the layer 1 operation and the gap function. For example, it is possible that one or more layer 1 operations (e.g., radio link monitoring (RLM) measurement, beam failure detection (BFD) measurement, candidate beam detection (CBD) measurement, L1 reference signal received power (RSRP) measurement, L1 signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR) measurement) conflict with the measurement gap configured by the measurement gap configuration information. In such a scenario, the wireless device may determine that such a conflict exists, and may determine whether to prioritize the layer 1 operation or the measurement gap configured by the measurement gap configuration information.

[0103] In some embodiments, the prioritization decision may be based on priority information indicating relative priorities for L1 operations and gap functionality, which may be provided to the wireless device from a cellular base station. The priority information may be the same or different for different L1 operations, and may be similarly the same or different for different gap functionality. In such a scenario, the wireless device may determine whether to prioritize L1 operations or gap functionality based at least in part on the priority information received from the cellular base station. Note that the priorities for L1 operations and gap functionality may be static or semi-static (e.g., configured as fixed values, permanently or until reconfigured), or may be configured to be dynamic, such as previously described herein.

[0104] In some embodiments, the prioritization decision may be based on sharing factor information indicating sharing factors for L1 operations and gap functions, which sharing factor information may be provided to the wireless device from the cellular base station. The sharing factor may be configured commonly for all L1 operations, or different sharing factors may be configured for different L1 operations. Similarly, the sharing factor for the gap function used to determine how to share gap opportunities that conflict with L1 operations may be configured commonly for all gap functions, or different sharing factors may be configured for different gap functions. Therefore, whether a gap that conflicts with one or more L1 operations is canceled in favor of the L1 operation, or whether the L1 operation is discarded in favor of performing the gap function, may depend on the sharing factors for the L1 operation and gap function in conflict.

[0105] It should be noted that it is also possible that the priority information and / or sharing factor information for the gap function and / or L1 operation may be specified in a standard specification (e.g., a 3GPP technical specification), in which case it is also possible that the priority information and / or sharing factor information for the gap function and / or L1 operation is not provided to the wireless device by the cellular base station. In such a scenario, for example, the wireless device may be pre-provisioned with such information.

[0106] Thus, at least according to some embodiments, Figure 5 The method may be used to provide a framework according to which, at least in some cases, a wireless device may be configured with multiple measurement gaps. As described herein, at least according to some embodiments, such a framework may provide efficient support for a wider variety of possible gap functions, including support for coexistence between different gap function operations and other wireless device operations with the possibility of relatively fine-grained gap sharing management between such operations.

[0107] Figures 6 to 8 and additional information

[0108] Figures 6 to 8 Shown can be combined if necessary Figure 5 However, it should be noted that Figures 6 to 8 The exemplary details shown in and described with respect to these figures are not intended to limit the disclosure as a whole: many variations and alternatives to the details provided below are possible and are to be considered within the scope of the disclosure.

[0109] Measurement gaps may be used in cellular communications to perform measurements on a serving cell, a neighboring cell, and for a variety of other possible purposes. Measurement gaps and gap-related features that may be used in 3GPP communication systems may include, for example, gaps for use by multiple universal subscriber identity modules (MUSIMs), preconfigured measurement gaps, positioning (Pos) and enhanced positioning (ePos) gaps, non-terrestrial network (NTN) measurement gaps, and / or network controlled small gaps (NCSGs). To support this potential diversity of gap uses / types / functionalities, it may be beneficial to provide techniques for joint configuration of gaps and more generally for supporting effective gap coexistence in wireless communication systems, at least according to some embodiments.

[0110] One possible aspect of such techniques may include supporting UE capability reporting regarding measurement gap related capabilities for the UE. Such reporting may include reporting the maximum number of configured gap patterns supported by the UE and / or the maximum measurement gap length overhead supported by the UE. Another possible aspect of such techniques may include supporting associations between functions and gap IDs. Yet another possible aspect of such techniques may include supporting enhanced gap sharing features, such as techniques for handling priorities and / or sharing ratios when gap sharing occurs between different functions, and / or techniques for how to manage possible gap eliminations due to gap opportunities conflicting with each other and / or with Layer 1 (L1) operations such as radio link monitoring measurements, beam failure detection measurements, L1 reference signal received power (RSRP) measurements, and / or other L1 operations. Other techniques are also possible.

[0111] Techniques for supporting UE reporting of measurement gap related capabilities may include introducing a new UE capability parameter or information element (e.g., "maxNumberOfGap,") for reporting the maximum number of supported active gaps for a UE. For UEs that support per-frequency range (FR) gaps (e.g., with independentGapConfig as defined in 3GPP 38.306 v.17.0.0 and enabled [per FR NCSG gaps]), the maxNumberOfGap UE capability may be reported per FR (e.g., separately for each frequency range). In some cases, the candidate values ​​may be [2, 3, 4, ...]. Other candidate values ​​are also possible. For UEs that do not support per FR gaps, the maxNumberOfGap UE capability may be reported per UE, which may apply across all frequency ranges. Similarly, the candidate values ​​may be [2, 3, 4, ...], where other candidate values ​​are also possible. Note that the gaps mentioned in this UE capability may include any or all of NTN gaps, MUSIM gaps, preconfigured measurement gaps, network controlled short gaps, ePos gaps, uplink gaps and / or gaps for L1 measurements on adjacent TRPs, as well as various possibilities.

[0112] As another possibility, new UE assistance information (UAI) or UE capability information (e.g., "maxMGLOverhead") may be introduced to indicate the preferred or supported maximum measurement gap length (MGL) overhead. According to some embodiments, the MGL overhead parameter may be defined such that it is calculated based on the proportion of the measurement gap time in each measurement gap repetition period (MGRP); for example, as one possibility, the MGL overhead may be defined as sum(MGL x ) / sum(MGRP x ). Note that when calculating MGL x and MGRP x In at least some embodiments, the MGL overhead capability report may be specified to fall within a certain range of values ​​(e.g., between a configured or specified minimum value (based on the theoretical minimum possible amount of overhead in a standards-compliant system, which may be 0.39% or another number) and a maximum value (which may be less than 100%)). In such a scenario, it may be the case that the network may configure any desired measurement gap pattern as long as the MGL overhead is less than the maximum overhead supported by the UE (as indicated by the UE capability / assistance information).

[0113] There may be a number of options for when UE capabilities or assistance information such as maxNumberOfGap and / or MaxMGLOverhead information is provided to the network. As one possibility, the UE may provide such information after gaining access to the network (e.g., without explicitly requesting the information, such as as part of an initial UE capability report). As another possibility, the UE may provide such information in response to a network query. After receiving an indication of the maxNumberOfGap and / or MaxMGLOverhead information from the UE and the gap-related features supported by the UE, the network may know which types of gaps and how many gaps may be activated simultaneously within the capabilities of the UE. In this case, the network may be expected to configure gaps for the UE in accordance with the UE capabilities (e.g., not exceeding the maximum active gap and / or maximum MGL overhead supported). Therefore, a UE providing such capabilities and / or assistance information may expect the configured gaps to not exceed the reported UE capabilities; in the event that the configured gaps do exceed the UE capabilities, at least according to some embodiments, the UE may be left to the implementation of selecting which gaps to activate among the configured gaps.

[0114] Techniques for supporting associations between functions and gap IDs may include providing a signaling mechanism for indicating that a particular function (or functions) is associated with a gap ID (or gap IDs). In some cases, this may include explicitly indicating the function of the measurement gap when providing measurement configuration information that activates the measurement gap. As another possibility, a particular measurement gap may be preconfigured (e.g., in higher layer signaling and / or in broadcast system information), or specified (e.g., in a 3GPP technical specification) as being associated with a particular function, such that when measurement configuration information that activates the measurement gap is provided, an indication of the function of the measurement gap may be implied.

[0115] Figure 6 Exemplary aspects of possible scenarios in which associations between assignable functions and measurement gaps are illustrated according to some embodiments. In the illustrated scenario, a first measurement gap pattern ("MG1") may be configured for radio resource management (RRM) measurements 602 for a UE active bandwidth portion 604. Additionally, a second measurement gap pattern ("MG2") may be configured for NTN measurements 608 for a UE active bandwidth portion 604, and a third measurement gap pattern ("MG3") may be configured for MUSIM operations 610 for a UE active bandwidth portion.

[0116] In some embodiments, a UE supporting such an association may indicate to the network its supported / preferred association. Such an indication may be provided using a new UE capability report regarding the UE's support for an association between a function and a measurement gap. As another possibility, such an indication may be provided using a new UE assistance information report regarding the UE's support for an association between a function and a measurement gap. In some cases, it may be possible that the UE supports an association between a function and a measurement gap for some (e.g., supported) types of functions but not for other (e.g., unsupported) types of functions. In such a scenario, at least in some embodiments, the UE capability information and / or UE assistance information may indicate this more specifically. As another possibility, according to some embodiments, such support (or lack of support) for an association between a particular feature / function and a gap may be implied based on other information (e.g., UE capability information indicating support for these features / functions or lack of support for these features / functions).

[0117] There may be multiple options for when UE capabilities or assistance information indicating support for associations between functions and measurement gaps is provided to the network. As one possibility, the UE may provide such information after gaining access to the network (e.g., without explicitly requesting the information, such as as part of an initial UE capability report). As another possibility, the UE may provide such information in response to a network query. After receiving an indication from the UE of the UE's support for such associations, the network may know which associations between measurement gaps and functions are within the capabilities of the UE. The network may be expected to follow the UE capabilities to configure gaps for the UE (e.g., to provide associations between functions and measurement gaps based on UE capabilities supporting features and corresponding associations). For functions for which the UE does not support associations between functions and gaps (e.g., due to early implementation), at least according to some embodiments, the UE may be allowed to determine in which gap(s) to operate the function.

[0118] Since more gaps can potentially be activated simultaneously for different functions, it is possible that gap conflicts (e.g., in the time domain) between different modes (for the same or different functions) are increasingly likely to occur. Therefore, at least in some cases, it may be beneficial to provide techniques for gap sharing in the event of such conflicts. Figure 7Exemplary aspects of possible scenarios in which measurement gaps may be shared between multiple functions in accordance with some embodiments are illustrated. As shown, in the illustrated scenario, both a first measurement gap pattern ("MG1") and a second measurement gap pattern ("MG2") may be configured for RRM measurements 702 for a UE active bandwidth portion 704. Additionally, the second measurement gap pattern may also be configured for MUSIM operations 706. Thus, in this example, the MG2 gaps may be shared between multiple functions, and MG1 and MG2 may further conflict during one occasion per measurement gap repetition period.

[0119] In this scenario and / or other scenarios where gap conflicts and / or associations between multiple functions and measurement gap patterns occur, there may be multiple options for how the UE handles shared gaps between different functions. As one possibility, priorities may be introduced for functions such that different functions have different priority levels, and functions with higher priorities may be executed during shared gaps. For example, Figure 7 In a scenario where the priority for RRM measurement is configured as 3 and the priority for MUSIM operation is 1 (e.g., RRM has a higher priority), the UE may perform RRM measurement and discard MUSIM operation for overlapping interstitial occasions. At least as one possibility, priority information for functions may be provided via RRC signaling, for example, together with measurement-related configuration information.

[0120] If desired, it is possible that the priority for a given function can be configured to include a fixed component and a dynamic component. As one such possibility, the fixed component can be determined based on priority information for the function provided via RRC signaling, and the dynamic component can depend on the frequency with which operations for the function are discarded in favor of other functions. For example, the dynamic priority component for a given function can be incremented by one each time an operation for the function is discarded in favor of another function during a shared gap, and can be reset to 0 each time an operation for the function is performed and an operation for another function is discarded during a shared gap. This approach can allow operations with low baseline priorities to be occasionally executed, even if their gaps are always shared with higher priority functions.

[0121] As another possibility, a sharing factor may be introduced between functions. As one possibility, the sharing factor may be provided via RRC signaling. According to some embodiments, the sharing factor may indicate the proportion of shared gap occasions for each of the functions that share the gaps. For example, for gaps shared between RRM measurements and MUSIM operations, with a 75% (.75) sharing factor for RRM measurements and a 25% (.25) sharing factor for MUSIM operations, the UE may perform RRM measurements on 75% of the shared gap occasions and perform MUSIM operations on 25% of the shared gap occasions.

[0122] Figure 8 is a table illustrating example possible sharing factors that may be used to determine the sharing priority for a joint measurement gap according to some embodiments. In some cases, the sharing factors may be configured such that the sum of all sharing factors equals 1 (e.g., in Figure 8 In the scenario where X1+X2+X3+X4+X5+X6=1). It is also possible that, for example, if the corresponding function is not configured / supported, the sharing factor (X) value can be set to 0. In some cases, such a sharing factor table can be provided for each combination of functions configured in the measurement gap. As another possibility, a sharing factor table can be provided, and when determining how to share the measurement gap pattern between functions, the sharing factor values ​​in the table can be adjusted as needed to compensate for any function in the table that has a non-zero sharing factor value that does not share a given measurement gap pattern. For example, at least as one possibility, any non-zero sharing factor values ​​for functions that do not share a given measurement gap can be ignored, and the remaining sharing factor values ​​for functions that share the measurement gap can be normalized so that their sum is equal to 1 in order to determine the gap sharing factor for that particular measurement gap. Other techniques for using sharing factors to configure the proportional use of shared gaps between different functions are also possible.

[0123] According to at least some embodiments, techniques for handling conflicts between gaps and L1 operations may also be useful, particularly in view of the possibility of an increased number of gaps that may potentially be activated simultaneously for different functions. As various possibilities, the L1 operations may include radio link monitoring (RLM) operations, beam failure detection (BFD) operations, candidate beam detection (CBD) operations, L1-RSRP measurements, and / or L1-SINR measurements. As one possibility, when a conflict occurs between a gap and an L1 operation (e.g., in the time domain), the UE may always cancel the gap and perform the L1 operation. As another possibility, priorities may be introduced for L1 operations (potentially including different priorities for different L1 operations), and the UE may drop the gap or drop the L1 operation based on their relative priorities. As a further possibility, sharing between gaps and L1 operations may be introduced and managed by configuring a sharing factor for gaps and L1 operations. Such sharing factors may be managed in any of a variety of possible ways. As an option, one sharing factor may be configured for all types of gaps, and one sharing factor may be configured for all types of L1 operations. As another option, different sharing factors may be configured for different types of gaps, and one sharing factor may be configured for all types of L1 operations. As yet another option, one sharing factor may be configured for all types of gaps, and different sharing factors may be configured for different types of L1 operations. As yet another option, different sharing factors may be configured for different types of gaps, and different sharing factors may be configured for different types of L1 operations. Note that different types of gaps may refer to gaps configured for different functions. In some cases, a partner ID may also be used to indicate the gap type.

[0124] In the following, further exemplary embodiments are provided.

[0125] A set of embodiments may include a method comprising: by a wireless device: establishing a wireless link with a cellular base station; providing wireless device capability information indicating measurement gap handling capabilities for the wireless device; and receiving measurement gap configuration information from the cellular base station, wherein the measurement gap configuration information configures one or more measurement gaps for the wireless device.

[0126] According to some embodiments, the wireless device capability information indicating measurement gap handling capabilities for the wireless device indicates a supported maximum number of active measurement gaps for the wireless device.

[0127] According to some embodiments, the wireless device capability information indicating measurement gap handling capabilities for the wireless device indicates a preferred maximum measurement gap length overhead for active measurement gaps of the wireless device.

[0128] According to some embodiments, the measurement gap configuration information indicates a gap function associated with the one or more measurement gaps configured for the wireless device.

[0129] According to some embodiments, the method further comprises providing, to the cellular base station, wireless device capability information indicating that the wireless device supports associating a gap functionality with a measurement gap.

[0130] According to some embodiments, the method further comprises providing, to the cellular base station, wireless device capability information indicating that the wireless device supports one or more types of gap functionality associated with the measurement gap.

[0131] According to some embodiments, the measurement gap configuration information associates a plurality of gap functions with a measurement gap pattern for the wireless device.

[0132] According to some embodiments, the measurement gap configuration information associates a gap function with a plurality of measurement gap patterns for the wireless device.

[0133] According to some embodiments, the measurement gap configuration information configures at least a first measurement gap pattern associated with a first gap function and a second measurement gap pattern associated with a second gap function, wherein the first measurement gap pattern and the second measurement gap pattern at least partially overlap, wherein the method further includes: determining whether to prioritize the first gap function or the second gap function during a time when a measurement gap in the first measurement gap pattern and a measurement gap in the second measurement gap pattern at least partially overlap.

[0134] According to some embodiments, the method further includes: receiving measurement gap function priority information from the cellular base station, wherein whether to prioritize the first gap function or the second gap function during opportunities when measurement gaps in the first measurement gap pattern and measurement gaps in the second measurement gap pattern at least partially overlap is based at least in part on the measurement gap function priority information received from the cellular base station.

[0135] According to some embodiments, the method further comprises: receiving measurement gap function sharing factor information from the cellular base station, wherein whether to prioritize the first gap function or the second gap function during opportunities when measurement gaps in the first measurement gap pattern and measurement gaps in the second measurement gap pattern at least partially overlap is based at least in part on the measurement gap function sharing factor information received from the cellular base station.

[0136] According to some embodiments, the method further comprises: determining that a layer one operation conflicts with a measurement gap configured by the measurement gap configuration information; and determining whether to prioritize the layer one operation or the measurement gap configured by the measurement gap configuration information.

[0137] Another set of embodiments may include a wireless device comprising: one or more processors; and a memory having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by the one or more processors, perform the steps of a method according to any of the foregoing examples.

[0138] Yet another set of embodiments may include a method comprising: receiving, by a cellular base station: wireless device capability information indicating gap handling capabilities for the wireless device, wherein the wireless device capability information indicates one or more of: a maximum number of active gaps supported for the wireless device; or a preferred maximum gap length overhead for the wireless device; and providing gap configuration information to the wireless device, wherein the gap configuration information configures one or more gaps for the wireless device.

[0139] According to some embodiments, the method further includes receiving wireless device capability information from the wireless device indicating that the wireless device supports associating a function with a gap, wherein the gap configuration information indicates a function associated with the one or more gaps configured for the wireless device.

[0140] According to some embodiments, the gap configuration information associates one or more of: a plurality of gap functions and a gap pattern; or a gap function and a plurality of gap patterns.

[0141] According to some embodiments, the method further includes providing gap function priority information to the wireless device, wherein the gap function priority information is configured to be used to determine a gap function to be performed during a gap shared between a plurality of gap functions.

[0142] According to some embodiments, the method further comprises providing gap function sharing factor information to the wireless device, wherein the gap function sharing factor information is configured to be used to determine a gap function to be performed during a gap shared between a plurality of gap functions.

[0143] Still another set of embodiments may include a cellular base station comprising: one or more processors; and a memory having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by the one or more processors, perform the steps of the method according to any of the foregoing examples.

[0144] Another set of embodiments may include a computer program product comprising computer instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, perform the steps of a method according to any of the preceding examples.

[0145] Another example embodiment may include a device comprising: an antenna; a radio component coupled to the antenna; and a processing element operably coupled to the radio component, wherein the device is configured to implement any or all portions of the foregoing examples.

[0146] Another set of exemplary embodiments may include a non-transitory computer-accessible storage medium including program instructions that, when executed at a device, cause the device to implement any or all portions of any of the foregoing examples.

[0147] Yet another set of exemplary embodiments may include a computer program comprising instructions for performing any or all portions of any of the foregoing examples.

[0148] Yet another set of exemplary embodiments may include an apparatus comprising means for performing any or all elements of any of the preceding examples.

[0149] Another set of example embodiments may include an apparatus comprising a processing element configured to cause a wireless device to perform any or all elements of any of the foregoing examples.

[0150] It is understood that the use of personally identifiable information should be subject to privacy policies and practices that are generally recognized to meet or exceed industry or government requirements for maintaining user privacy. Specifically, personally identifiable information data should be managed and processed to minimize the risk of unintentional or unauthorized access or use, and the nature of the authorized use should be clearly stated to users.

[0151] By interpreting each message / signal X received by a user equipment (UE) in the downlink as a message / signal X sent by the base station, and interpreting each message / signal Y sent by the UE in the uplink as a message / signal Y received by the base station, any of the methods for operating a UE described herein may become the basis for the corresponding method for operating a base station.

[0152] The embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented in any of a variety of forms. For example, in some embodiments, the subject matter may be implemented as a computer-implemented method, a computer-readable storage medium, or a computer system. In other embodiments, one or more custom-designed hardware devices such as ASICs may be used to implement the subject matter. In other embodiments, one or more programmable hardware elements such as FPGAs may be used to implement the subject matter.

[0153] In some embodiments, a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium (e.g., a non-transitory storage element) may be configured to store program instructions and / or data, wherein if the program instructions are executed by a computer system, the computer system is caused to perform a method, such as any method implementation of the method embodiments described herein, or any combination of the method implementations described herein, or any subset of any method implementation of the method embodiments described herein, or any combination of such subsets.

[0154] In some embodiments, a device (e.g., a UE) may be configured to include a processor (or a group of processors) and a memory medium (or a memory element), wherein the memory medium stores program instructions, wherein the processor is configured to read and execute these program instructions from the memory medium, wherein these program instructions are executable to implement any method implementation in the various method implementations described herein (or any combination of the method implementations described herein, or any subset of any method implementation in the method implementations described herein, or any combination of such subsets). The device may be implemented in any of various forms.

[0155] Although the above embodiments have been described in considerable detail, numerous variations and modifications will become apparent to those skilled in the art once the above disclosure is fully appreciated. It is intended that the following claims be interpreted to include all such variations and modifications.

Claims

1. A method comprising: By wireless device: Establishing a wireless link with a cellular base station; providing wireless device capability information indicating measurement gap handling capabilities for the wireless device; as well as Measurement gap configuration information is received from the cellular base station, wherein the measurement gap configuration information configures one or more measurement gaps for the wireless device.

2. The method according to claim 1, The wireless device capability information indicating measurement gap handling capabilities for the wireless device indicates a supported maximum number of active measurement gaps for the wireless device.

3. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, The wireless device capability information indicating measurement gap handling capability for the wireless device indicates a preferred maximum measurement gap length overhead for active measurement gaps of the wireless device.

4. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, The measurement gap configuration information indicates a gap function associated with the one or more measurement gaps configured for the wireless device.

5. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the method further comprises: Wireless device capability information indicating that the wireless device supports associating a gap functionality with a measurement gap is provided to the cellular base station.

6. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the method further comprises: Wireless device capability information indicating that the wireless device supports one or more types of gap functionality associated with measurement gaps is provided to the cellular base station.

7. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, The measurement gap configuration information associates a plurality of gap functions with a measurement gap pattern for the wireless device.

8. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, The measurement gap configuration information associates a gap function with a plurality of measurement gap patterns for the wireless device.

9. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, The measurement gap configuration information configures at least a first measurement gap pattern associated with a first gap function and a second measurement gap pattern associated with a second gap function, wherein the first measurement gap pattern and the second measurement gap pattern at least partially overlap, and the method further comprises: Determining whether to prioritize the first gap functionality or the second gap functionality during an occasion when measurement gaps in the first measurement gap pattern and measurement gaps in the second measurement gap pattern at least partially overlap.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein the method further comprises: receiving measurement gap function priority information from the cellular base station, Wherein whether to prioritize the first gap function or the second gap function during an occasion when measurement gaps in the first measurement gap pattern and measurement gaps in the second measurement gap pattern at least partially overlap is based at least in part on the measurement gap function priority information received from the cellular base station.

11. The method according to claim 9, wherein the method further comprises: receiving measurement gap function sharing factor information from the cellular base station, Wherein whether to prioritize the first gap functionality or the second gap functionality during an occasion when measurement gaps in the first measurement gap pattern and measurement gaps in the second measurement gap pattern at least partially overlap is based at least in part on the measurement gap functionality sharing factor information received from the cellular base station.

12. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the method further comprises: determining that a layer one operation conflicts with a measurement gap configured by the measurement gap configuration information; as well as and determining whether to prioritize the layer one operation or the measurement gap configured by the measurement gap configuration information.

13. A wireless device comprising: one or more processors; and A memory having stored thereon instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, perform the steps of the method according to any one of claims 1 to 12.

14. A method comprising: By cellular base station: Receiving wireless device capability information indicating gap handling capabilities for the wireless device, wherein the wireless device capability information indicates one or more of: a supported maximum number of activity gaps for the wireless device; or a preferred maximum gap length overhead for the wireless device; and Gap configuration information is provided to the wireless device, wherein the gap configuration information configures one or more gaps for the wireless device.

15. The method according to claim 14, wherein the method further comprises: receiving wireless device capability information from the wireless device indicating that the wireless device supports associating a function with a gap, The gap configuration information indicates functions associated with the one or more gaps configured for the wireless device.

16. The method of any one of claims 14 to 15, wherein the gap configuration information associates one or more of: Multiple gap functions and gap modes; or Gap functionality with multiple gap modes.

17. The method according to any one of claims 14 to 16, wherein the method further comprises: Gap function priority information is provided to the wireless device, wherein the gap function priority information is configured to determine a gap function to be performed during a gap shared between a plurality of gap functions.

18. The method according to any one of claims 14 to 17, wherein the method further comprises: Gap function sharing factor information is provided to the wireless device, wherein the gap function sharing factor information is configured to determine a gap function to be performed during a gap shared between a plurality of gap functions.

19. A cellular base station, comprising: one or more processors; and A memory having stored thereon instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, perform the steps of the method according to any one of claims 14 to 18.

20. A computer program product comprising computer instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, perform the steps of the method according to any one of claims 1 to 12 or 14 to 18.

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