User equipment (UE) mobility history information management

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to user equipment (UE) mobility history information management, and provides systems, methods, apparatus, and computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium for providing user equipment mobility history information to a remote computing platform. In one aspect, a method performed by a processor of a user equipment, UE, for providing UE mobility history information to a remote computing platform includes, in response to a radio access network, RAN, connection state of the UE changing from a primary cell to another cell or another RRC state in a radio resource controller, RRC, state, uE mobility history information is transmitted to the remote computing platform, wherein the transmitted UE mobility history information includes time spent in each cell, identification information for the cell, and an indication of carrier frequency.

Description

[0001] This application is a divisional application of an invention patent application with an application date of August 15, 2019, application number: 201980099131.0, and invention name: "User Equipment (UE) Mobility History Information Management". Technical Field

[0002] The present disclosure generally relates to wireless devices, and more particularly, to managing wireless devices to provide user equipment mobility history information. Background Art

[0003] Long Term Evolution (LTE), 5G New Radio (NR), and other recently developed communication technologies allow wireless devices to communicate information at data rates (such as in terms of gigabits per second) that are several orders of magnitude greater than those available a few years ago. LTE supports the collection and sharing of connected mode mobility history information by the network to avoid delays during handovers. Typically, a source remote computing platform such as a base station (such as a logical 5G radio node (gNB) or an evolved Node B (eNB)) collects and stores user equipment (UE) mobility history information as long as the UE remains within one of its cells. The mobility history information typically includes a list of visited cells (i.e., vistedCellList) or an indication of the time spent within a cell (i.e., timeSpent). The collected and stored UE mobility history information is then typically used for subsequent handover preparation, such as through a handover preparation procedure over an interface (such as S1 or X2), such as between an LTE radio access network (RAN) and an evolved packet core transport network layer or between two eNBs. Providing a list of previously visited cells and related information elements (such as per-cell information) to the target eNB may increase handover time.

[0004] Although the RAN usually collects connected mode mobility history information on the network side (i.e., on a computing platform far away from the UE), this information is released when the UE enters an idle state (such as RRC_IDLE). Since the collected mobility history information is not shared with other nodes under certain conditions, other nodes cannot perform mobility-related optimizations based on the UE mobility history. For example, the visited cell list in the mobility history information will not include the UE radio resource controller (RRC) state information, which means that the RAN / core network (CN) cannot perform RRC state-specific mobility optimizations. Summary of the invention

[0005] The systems, methods and devices of the present disclosure each have several innovative aspects, no single one of which is responsible for the desirable attributes disclosed herein.

[0006] One innovative aspect of the subject matter described in this disclosure may be implemented in a wireless mobile communication device (hereinafter referred to as a "user equipment" or "UE"). Some implementations may include a method performed by a processor of a UE for providing UE mobility history information to a remote computing platform.

[0007] In some embodiments, a method for providing UE mobility history information to a remote computing platform, executed by a processor of a user equipment UE, is provided, comprising: in response to a change in a radio access network RAN ​​connection state of the UE from a primary cell to another cell or another RRC state in a radio resource controller RRC state, sending the UE mobility history information to the remote computing platform, wherein the sent UE mobility history information includes a time spent in each cell, identification information of the cell, and an indication of a carrier frequency.

[0008] In some embodiments, a user equipment UE is provided, comprising: a processor configured with processor-executable instructions to perform operations, the operations comprising: in response to a change in a radio access network RAN ​​connection state of the UE from a primary cell to another cell or another RRC state in a radio resource controller RRC state, sending UE mobility history information to a remote computing platform, wherein the sent UE mobility history information includes a time spent in each cell, identification information of the cell, and an indication of a carrier frequency.

[0009] In some embodiments, a method for providing user equipment UE mobility history information to a second remote RAN computing platform, executed by a processor of a first remote radio access network RAN ​​computing platform, is provided, comprising: receiving UE mobility history information from the UE; and in response to the RAN connection state of the UE changing from a primary cell to another cell or another RRC state in a radio resource controller RRC state, sending the UE mobility history information received from the UE to the second remote RAN computing platform, wherein the sent UE mobility history information includes the time spent in each cell, identification information of the cell, and an indication of the carrier frequency.

[0010] In some embodiments, a computing platform for use in a first remote radio access network RAN ​​is provided, comprising: a processor configured with processor-executable instructions to perform operations, the operations comprising: receiving UE mobility history information from a user equipment UE; and in response to a RAN connection state of the UE changing from a primary cell to another cell or another RRC state in a radio resource controller RRC state, sending the UE mobility history information received from the UE to a second remote RAN computing platform, wherein the sent UE mobility history information includes a time spent in each cell, identification information of the cell, and an indication of a carrier frequency.

[0011] In some embodiments, the method may be performed by a processor of the UE to provide UE mobility history information to a remote computing platform. Some embodiments may include storing the UE mobility history information in a memory within the UE. Some embodiments may include determining whether the RAN connection state of the UE has changed from a primary cell in a radio resource controller state to another cell outside the RAN, an inter-radio access technology cell, or a service interruption state. Some embodiments may include sending the UE mobility history information to a remote computing platform in response to determining that the RAN connection state of the UE has changed from a primary cell in a radio resource controller state to another cell outside the RAN, an inter-radio access technology cell, or a service interruption state.

[0012] In some embodiments, the method may include setting the time spent with a previous primary cell or a previous secondary cell for each radio resource controller state in a variable entry of the UE mobility history information in response to determining that the UE's RAN connection state has changed from a primary cell in a radio resource controller state to another cell outside the RAN, an inter-radio access technology cell, or a service outage state.

[0013] In some embodiments, the method may include, in response to determining that the UE's RAN connection state has changed from a primary cell in a radio resource controller state to another cell outside the RAN, an inter-radio access technology cell, or a service outage state, setting a radio resource controller state for each radio resource controller state of a previous primary cell or a previous secondary cell in a variable entry of the UE mobility history information.

[0014] In some embodiments, the method may include determining whether a global cell identifier of a previous primary cell or a previous secondary cell is available. In some embodiments, the method may include the global cell identifier in a variable entry of the UE mobility history information in response to determining that the global cell identifier of the previous primary cell or the previous secondary cell is available. In some embodiments, the method may include a physical cell identifier (PCI) and a frequency in a variable entry of the UE mobility history information in response to determining that the global cell identifier of the previous primary cell or the previous secondary cell is not available.

[0015] In some embodiments, the method may include determining whether dual / multiple connectivity is required. In some embodiments, the method may include, in response to determining that dual / multiple connectivity is required, including a global cell identity of a previous primary cell or a previous secondary cell in a variable entry of the UE mobility history information.

[0016] In some embodiments, the method may include determining whether a radio access technology type indication is required. In some embodiments, the method may include an indication of the radio access technology in a variable entry of the UE mobility history information in response to determining that a radio access technology type indication is required.

[0017] In some embodiments, the method may include determining whether a global cell identifier of a previous cell or a secondary cell is available. In addition, the method may include determining whether a dual / multiple connection state is required. In some embodiments, the method may include a physical cell identifier and a carrier frequency of a previous cell or a secondary cell in a variable entry of the UE mobility history information in response to determining that a global cell identifier of a previous cell or a secondary cell is not available and a dual / multiple connection state is not required.

[0018] In some embodiments, the method may include determining whether the UE has entered a new radio or next generation RAN while previously in service or using another radio access technology. In some embodiments, the method may include a global cell identity in a variable entry of the UE mobility history information in response to determining that the UE has entered a new radio or next generation RAN while previously in service or using another radio access technology.

[0019] In some embodiments, the method may include setting the radio resource controller state information in the variable entry to outside the new radio or outside the next generation RAN in response to determining that the UE has entered the new radio or next generation RAN while previous service is interrupted or another radio access technology is used.

[0020] In some embodiments, the method may include, in response to determining that the UE has entered new radio or next generation RAN while previous service is interrupted or another radio access technology is used, setting the time spent field information in the variable entry to the time spent outside the new radio or outside the next generation RAN.

[0021] In some implementations, the method may include receiving a UE information request from the remote computing platform. In some implementations of the method, a UE information response may be sent indicating that the UE mobility history information is available to the remote computing platform.

[0022] In some embodiments, the mobility history information may include at least one data set selected from a visited cell list, an indication of how long the UE should store the mobility history information, a cell list, a remote network access list, a timing advance list, a radio access technology type, a connection state information, and a radio resource controller state information.

[0023] In some embodiments, the method may be performed by a processor of a first remote RAN computing platform to provide UE mobility history information to a second remote RAN computing platform. Some embodiments may include receiving UE mobility history information from a UE. Some embodiments may store the UE mobility history information in a memory of the first remote RAN computing platform. Some embodiments may send the UE mobility history information received from the UE to the second remote RAN computing platform.

[0024] In some implementations, the UE mobility history information may be part of at least one of a handover preparation procedure, a context retrieval procedure, a UE suspension procedure, and a UE context release complete procedure.

[0025] In some embodiments, the method may include receiving UE mobility history information from a third remote RAN computing platform. In some embodiments, the method may include comparing the UE mobility history information received from the third RAN computing platform with the UE mobility history information received from the UE. In some embodiments, the method may include storing the UE mobility history information received from the third RAN computing platform that does not conflict with the UE mobility history information received from the UE in a memory of the first remote RAN computing platform.

[0026] Further aspects may include a wireless device having a processor configured with processor-executable instructions to perform the operations of any of the methods summarized above. Further aspects may include a non-transitory processor-readable storage medium having stored thereon processor-executable instructions configured to cause the processor of the wireless device to perform the operations of the methods summarized above. Further aspects include a wireless device having means for performing the functions of the methods summarized above. Further aspects include a system-on-chip for use in a wireless device including a processor configured to perform one or more operations of the methods summarized above. Further aspects include a system-in-package including two systems-on-chip for use in a wireless device including a processor configured to perform one or more operations of the methods summarized above.

[0027] Details of one or more implementations of the subject matter described in this disclosure are set forth in the accompanying drawings and the following description. Other features, aspects, and advantages will become apparent from the description, drawings, and claims. Note that the relative sizes of the following drawings may not be drawn to scale. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0028] FIG. 1 shows a system block diagram illustrating an example communication system.

[0029] 2 shows a component block diagram illustrating an example computing system that may be configured to implement cell selection management.

[0030] 3 illustrates a component block diagram of an example of a software architecture for a wireless protocol stack including user and control planes in wireless communications.

[0031] 4 shows a component block diagram illustrating an example system configured for providing UE mobility history information.

[0032] 5A illustrates a process flow diagram of an example method performed by a processor of a UE for providing UE mobility history information to a remote computing platform.

[0033] 5B-5K illustrate process flow diagrams of example operations that may be performed as part of a method for providing, by a processor of a UE, UE mobility history information to a remote computing platform.

[0034] 6A illustrates a process flow diagram of an example method performed by a processor of a first remote RAN computing platform for providing UE mobility history information to a second remote RAN computing platform.

[0035] 6B illustrates a process flow diagram of example operations that may be performed as part of a method for providing UE mobility history information to a second remote RAN computing platform.

[0036] FIG7 illustrates a component block diagram of an example remote computing platform.

[0037] FIG8 shows a component block diagram of an example UE.

[0038] The same reference numbers and names in different drawings represent the same elements. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0039] In order to describe the innovative aspects of the present disclosure, the following description is directed to certain embodiments. However, it will be readily appreciated by those skilled in the art that the teachings herein can be applied in many different ways.

[0040] The described embodiments may be implemented in any device, system, or network capable of transmitting and receiving radio frequency (RF) signals or other signals for communicating within a wireless, cellular, or Internet of Things (IoT) network, such as a system utilizing 3G, 4G, or 5G technology, or further embodiments thereof, in accordance with any of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 16.11 standards, or any of the IEEE 802.11 standards, the Bluetooth® standard, Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA), Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), GSM / General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), Enhanced Data GSM Environment (EDGE), Terrestrial Trunked Radio (TETRA), Wideband-CDMA (W-CDMA), Evolution Data Optimized (EV-DO), 1xEV-DO, EV-DO Rev A, EV-DO Rev B, High Speed ​​Packet Access (HSPA), High Speed ​​Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA), High Speed ​​Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA), Evolved High Speed ​​Packet Access (HSPA+), Long Term Evolution (LTE), AMPS.

[0041] The described embodiments may be implemented in any device, system, or network capable of providing UE mobility history information from a UE to a remote computing platform. Embodiments may store the UE mobility history information in a memory within the UE; determine whether the RAN connection state of the UE has changed from a primary cell (e.g., RRC_CONNECT, RRC_IDLE, RRC_INACTIVE) in a radio resource controller state to another cell outside the RAN, an inter-radio access technology cell, or a service interruption state; and in response to determining that the RAN connection state of the UE has changed from a primary cell in a radio resource controller state to another cell outside the RAN, an inter-radio access technology cell, or a service interruption state, send the UE mobility history information to a remote computing platform.

[0042] In some embodiments, the UE may store and report mobility history information containing each RRC state / cell combination with the time spent in the cell (i.e., timeSpent), RAT type indication, and each cell ID / RAT type situation for dual connectivity / multiple connectivity. The mobility history information may be stored by the UE for RAN retrieval, which may in turn share the mobility history information with another RAN node or AMF via Xn / N2. The RAN may combine the UE mobility history information retrieved from the UE with similar information retrieved from another RAN node for the UE. For example, during the UE context retrieval procedure for an RRC_INACTIVE UE, the mobility history information exchanged between nodes may be optimized by the RAN with a UE-specific RAN configuration based on the UE mobility history in the RRC_INACTIVE state. In addition, RAN paging or core network (CN) paging may be optimized based on the exchanged UE mobility history information (such as information on recommended cells and gNBs for paging).

[0043] LTE supports the UE's storage of mobility history information covering RRC_CONNECTED and RRC_IDLE. The UE can indicate "mobilityHistoryAvail" in the "RRCConnectionResumeComplete / RRCConnectionsetupComplete" terminology. Thereafter, the network can retrieve the mobility history information via the UE information request and the corresponding UE information response. In the NR work item description (WID) for self-organizing networks (SON) for minimization of driving tests (MDT), NR can support UE's similar mobility history information collection scheme for RRC_IDLE, RRC_INACTIVE and RRC_CONNECTED, with the LTE mobility history information as the baseline.

[0044] Certain embodiments of the subject matter described in this disclosure may be implemented to achieve one or more of the following potential advantages. When a UE leaves one network (such as an LTE network) and connects to another network (such as an NR RAN or a next generation (NG)-RAN), some embodiments may improve the operation of the UE and the communication network by reducing the amount of time required for procedures such as handover preparation, context retrieval, UE suspension, or UE context release. Some embodiments may improve the operation of the UE and the communication network by reducing the amount of time required for these procedures by providing mobility history information to the new network without requiring the networks to directly exchange such information.

[0045] The term "wireless device" as used herein refers to any or all of the following: wireless router devices, wireless appliances, cellular phones, smart phones, portable computing devices, personal or mobile multimedia players, laptop computers, tablet computers, smart books, ultrabooks, handheld computers, wireless email receivers, multimedia Internet-enabled cellular phones, medical devices and equipment, biometric sensors / devices, wearable devices including smart watches, smart clothing, smart glasses, smart wristbands, smart jewelry (e.g., smart rings and smart bracelets), entertainment devices (e.g., wireless game controllers, music and video players, satellite radios, etc.), wireless network-enabled Internet of Things (IoT) devices including smart meters / sensors, industrial manufacturing equipment, large and small machinery and appliances used in homes or businesses, wireless communication elements within autonomous and semi-autonomous vehicles, wireless devices fixed to or incorporated into various mobile platforms, global positioning system devices, and similar electronic devices including memory, wireless communication components and programmable processors.

[0046] The term "system on chip" (SoC) as used herein refers to a single integrated circuit (IC) chip containing multiple resources or processors integrated on a single substrate. A single SOC may contain circuits for digital, analog, mixed signal, and radio frequency functions. A single SOC may also include any number of general or special processors (digital signal processors, modem processors, video processors, etc.), memory blocks (such as ROM, RAM, flash memory, etc.), and resources (such as timers, voltage regulators, oscillators, etc.). The SOC may also include software for controlling the integrated resources and processors and for controlling peripheral devices.

[0047] The term "system in package" (SIP) may be used herein to refer to a single module or package that contains multiple resources, computing units, cores, or processors on two or more IC chips, substrates, or SOCs. For example, a SIP may include a single substrate on which multiple IC chips or semiconductor wafers (dies) are stacked in a vertical configuration. Similarly, a SIP may include one or more multi-chip modules (MCMs) on which multiple ICs or semiconductor wafers are packaged into a unified substrate. A SIP may also include multiple independent SOCs that are coupled together via high-speed communication circuits and packaged together in close proximity, such as on a single motherboard or in a single wireless device. The proximity of the SOCs facilitates high-speed communication and sharing of memory and resources.

[0048] The term "multi-core processor" may be used herein to refer to a single integrated circuit (IC) chip or chip package that contains two or more independent processing cores (such as CPU cores, Internet Protocol (IP) cores, graphics processor unit (GPU) cores, etc.) configured to read and run program instructions. A SOC may include multiple multi-core processors, and each processor in the SOC may be referred to as a core. The term "multi-processor" may be used herein to refer to a system or device that includes two or more processing units configured to read and run program instructions.

[0049] 1 shows a system block diagram illustrating an example communication system. The communication system 100 may be a 5G NR network, or any other suitable network, such as an LTE network.

[0050] The communication system 100 may include a heterogeneous network architecture including a core network 140 and a variety of mobile devices (shown as wireless devices 120a-120e in FIG. 1 ). The communication system 100 may also include multiple base stations (shown as BS 110a, BS 110b, BS 110c, and BS 110d) and other network entities. A base station is an entity that communicates with a wireless device (mobile device) and may also be referred to as a computing platform B, computing platform B, LTE evolved computing platform B (eNB), access point (AP), radio head, transmit receive point (TRP), new radio base station (NR BS), 5G computing platform B (NB), next generation computing platform B (gNB), etc. Each base station may provide communication coverage for a specific geographic area. In 3GPP, the term "cell" may refer to a coverage area of ​​a base station, a base station subsystem serving the coverage area, or a combination thereof, depending on the context in which the term is used.

[0051] Base stations 110a-110d may provide communication coverage for a macro cell, a pico cell, a femto cell, another type of cell, or a combination thereof. A macro cell may cover a relatively large geographic area (e.g., a radius of several kilometers) and may allow unrestricted access to mobile devices with service subscriptions. A pico cell may cover a relatively small geographic area and may allow unrestricted access to mobile devices with service subscriptions. A femto cell may cover a relatively small geographic area (e.g., a home) and may allow restricted access to mobile devices associated with the femto cell (e.g., mobile devices in a closed subscriber group (CSG)). A base station of a macro cell may be referred to as a macro BS. A base station of a pico cell may be referred to as a pico BS. A base station of a femto cell may be referred to as a femto BS or a home BS. In the example shown in FIG. 1 , base station 110a may be a macro BS of a macro cell 102a, base station 110b may be a pico BS of a pico cell 102b, and base station 110c may be a femto BS of a femto cell 102c. The base stations 110a-110d may support one or more (e.g., three) cells. The terms “eNB”, “base station”, “NR BS”, “gNB”, “TRP”, “AP”, “computing platform B”, “5G NB” and “cell” may be used interchangeably herein.

[0052] In some examples, the cells may not be stationary, and the geographic area of ​​the cells may move depending on the location of the mobile base station. In some examples, the base stations 110a-110d may be interconnected to each other and to one or more other base stations or network computing platforms (not shown) in the communication system 100 via various types of backhaul interfaces, such as direct physical connections, virtual networks, or combinations thereof using any suitable transport networks.

[0053] The base stations 110a-110d may communicate with the core network 140 via a wired or wireless communication link 126. The wireless devices 120a-120e may communicate with the base stations 110a-110d via a wireless communication link 122.

[0054] The wired communication link 126 may use a variety of wired networks (such as Ethernet, TV cable, telephone, fiber optic, and other forms of physical network connections), which may use one or more wired communication protocols, such as Ethernet, Point-to-Point Protocol, High-Level Data Link Control (HDLC), Advanced Data Communications Control Protocol (ADCCP), and Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol (TCP / IP).

[0055] The communication system 100 may also include a relay station (such as a relay BS 110d). A relay station is an entity that can receive transmissions of data from an upstream station (e.g., a base station or a mobile device) and send transmissions of data to a downstream station (e.g., a wireless device or a base station). A relay station may also be a mobile device that can relay transmissions for other wireless devices. In the example shown in FIG. 1 , a relay station 110d may communicate with a macro base station 110a and a wireless device 120d to facilitate communication between the base station 110a and the wireless device 120d. A relay station may also be referred to as a relay base station, a relay base station, a relay station, etc.

[0056] The communication system 100 may be a heterogeneous network including different types of base stations, such as macro base stations, pico base stations, femto base stations, relay base stations, etc. These different types of base stations may have different transmit power levels, different coverage areas, and different impacts on interference in the communication system 100. For example, a macro base station may have a high transmit power level (e.g., 5 to 40 watts), while a pico base station, a femto base station, and a relay base station may have a lower transmit power level (e.g., 0.1 to 2 watts).

[0057] A network controller 130 may be coupled to a set of base stations and may provide coordination and control for these base stations. The network controller 130 may communicate with the base stations via a backhaul. The base stations may also communicate with each other directly or indirectly, for example, via a wireless or wired backhaul.

[0058] The wireless devices 120a, 120b, 120c may be dispersed throughout the communication system 100, and each wireless device may be stationary or mobile. A wireless device may also be referred to as an access terminal, terminal, mobile station, subscriber unit, station, etc.

[0059] The macro base station 110a may communicate with the communication network 140 via a wired or wireless communication link 126. The wireless devices 120a, 120b, 120c may communicate with the base stations 110a-110d via a wireless communication link 122.

[0060] The wireless communication links 122 and 124 may include multiple carrier signals, frequencies, or frequency bands, each of which may include multiple logical channels. The wireless communication links 122 and 124 may utilize one or more radio access technologies (RATs). Examples of RATs that may be used in the wireless communication links include 3GPP LTE, 3G, 4G, 5G (such as NR), GSM, Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX), Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), and other mobile phone communication technology cellular RATs. Further examples of RATs that may be used in one or more of the various wireless communication links within the communication system 100 include medium-range protocols such as Wi-Fi, LTE-U, LTE-Direct, LAA, MuLTEfire, and relatively short-range RATs such as ZigBee, Bluetooth, and Bluetooth Low Energy (LE).

[0061] Some wireless networks, such as LTE, utilize orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) on the downlink and single carrier frequency division multiplexing (SC-FDM) on the uplink. OFDM and SC-FDM divide the system bandwidth into multiple (K) orthogonal subcarriers, which are also commonly referred to as tones, bins, etc. Each subcarrier can be modulated with data. In general, modulation symbols are sent in the frequency domain using OFDM and in the time domain using SC-FDM. The spacing between adjacent subcarriers can be fixed, and the total number of subcarriers (K) can depend on the system bandwidth. For example, the spacing of the subcarriers can be 15 kHz, and the minimum resource allocation (called a "resource block") can be 12 subcarriers (or 180 kHz). Therefore, for system bandwidths of 1.25, 2.5, 5, 10, or 20 megahertz (MHz), the nominal fast file transfer (FFT) size may be equal to 128, 256, 512, 1024, or 2048, respectively. The system bandwidth can also be divided into subbands. For example, one subband may cover 1.08 MHz (ie, 6 resource blocks), and for a system bandwidth of 1.25, 2.5, 5, 10, or 20 MHz, there may be 1, 2, 4, 8, or 16 subbands, respectively.

[0062] Although the description of some embodiments may use terms and examples associated with LTE technology, various embodiments may be applicable to other wireless communication systems, such as new radio (NR) or 5G networks. NR may utilize OFDM with a cyclic prefix (CP) on the uplink (UL) and downlink (DL), and include support for half-duplex operation using time division duplex (TDD). A single component carrier bandwidth of 100 MHz may be supported. An NR resource block may span 12 subcarriers with a subcarrier bandwidth of 75 kHz over a duration of 0.1 milliseconds. Each radio frame may consist of 50 subframes with a length of 10 ms. Thus, each subframe may have a length of 0.2 ms. Each subframe may indicate a link direction (ie, DL or UL) for data transmission, and the link direction of each subframe may be switched dynamically. Each subframe may include DL / UL data and DL / UL control data. Beamforming may be supported, and the beam direction may be dynamically configured. Multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) transmission with precoding may also be supported. MIMO configurations in the DL may support up to eight transmit antennas with up to eight streams and multi-layer DL transmissions of up to two streams per wireless device. Multi-layer transmissions of up to 2 streams per wireless device may be supported.

[0063] Up to eight serving cells can support aggregation of multiple cells. Alternatively, NR can support a different air interface instead of an OFDM-based air interface.

[0064] Some mobile devices may be considered machine type communication (MTC) or evolved or enhanced machine type communication (eMTC) mobile devices. MTC and eMTC mobile devices include, for example, robots, drones, remote devices, sensors, meters, monitors, location tags, etc., which may communicate with a base station, another device (e.g., a remote device), or some other entity. The wireless computing platform may provide connectivity or connect to a network (e.g., a wide area network such as the Internet or a cellular network), for example, via a wired or wireless communication link. Some mobile devices may be considered Internet of Things (IoT) devices, or may be implemented as NB-IoT (narrowband Internet of Things) devices. The wireless device 120 may be included in a housing that houses components of the wireless device 120, such as a processor component, a memory component, the like, or a combination thereof.

[0065] Generally, any number of communication systems and any number of wireless networks can be deployed in a given geographic area. Each communication system and wireless network can support a specific radio access technology (RAT) and can operate on one or more frequencies. RAT can also be referred to as radio technology, air interface, etc. Frequency can also be referred to as carrier, channel, etc. Each frequency can support a single RAT in a given geographic area to avoid interference between communication systems of different RATs. In some cases, NR or 5G RAT networks may be deployed.

[0066] In some embodiments, two or more mobile devices (e.g., shown as wireless device 120a and wireless device 120e) may communicate directly (e.g., without using base stations 110a-d as an intermediary to communicate with each other) using one or more sidelink channels. For example, wireless devices 120a-e may communicate using peer-to-peer (P2P) communication, device-to-device (D2D) communication, vehicle-to-everything (V2X) protocols (which may include vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) protocols, vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) protocols, or similar protocols), mesh networks, or similar networks, or combinations thereof. In this case, wireless device 120 may perform scheduling operations, resource selection operations, and other operations described elsewhere herein as being performed by base station 110.

[0067] FIG2 shows a component block diagram illustrating an example computing system that can be configured to implement cell selection management. Various embodiments can be implemented on multiple single-processor and multi-processor computer systems, including system-on-chip (SoC) or package system (SIP). The example shown in FIG2 is a SIP 200 architecture that can be used in a wireless device implementing various embodiments.

[0068] 1 and 2, the illustrated example SIP 200 includes two SOCs 202, an SOC 204, a clock 206, and a voltage regulator 208. In some embodiments, the first SOC 202 operates as a central processing unit (CPU) of the wireless device, which executes instructions of a software application by performing arithmetic, logic, control, and input / output (I / O) operations specified by the instructions. In some embodiments, the second SOC 204 can operate as a dedicated processing unit. For example, the second SOC 204 can operate as a dedicated 5G processing unit responsible for managing high-capacity, high-speed (such as 5 Gbps, etc.), or very high-frequency short-wave length (such as 28 GHz mmWave spectrum, etc.) communications.

[0069] The first SOC 202 may include a digital signal processor (DSP) 210, a modem processor 212, a graphics processor 214, an application processor 216, one or more coprocessors 218 (such as a vector coprocessor) connected to one or more processors, memory 220, custom circuits 222, system components and resources 224, an interconnect / bus module 226, one or more temperature sensors 230, a thermal management unit 232, and a thermal power envelope (TPE) component 234. The second SOC 204 may include a 5G modem processor 252, a power management unit 254, an interconnect / bus module 264, multiple mmWave transceivers 256, memory 258, and a variety of additional processors 260, such as an application processor, a packet processor, etc.

[0070] Each processor 210, 212, 214, 216, 218, 252, 260 may include one or more cores, and each processor / core may perform operations independently of other processors / cores. For example, the first SOC 202 may include a processor running a first type of operating system (such as FreeBSD, LINUX, OS X, etc.) and a processor running a second type of operating system (such as Microsoft Windows 10). In addition, any one or all of the processors 210, 212, 214, 216, 218, 252, 260 may be included as part of a processor cluster architecture (such as a synchronous processor cluster architecture, an asynchronous or heterogeneous processor cluster architecture, etc.).

[0071] The first SOC 202 and the second SOC 204 may include a variety of system components, resources, and custom circuits for managing sensor data, analog-to-digital conversion, wireless data transmission, and for performing other specialized operations, such as decoding data packets and processing encoded audio and video signals for presentation in a web browser. For example, the system components and resources 224 of the first SOC 202 may include power amplifiers, voltage regulators, oscillators, phase-locked loops, peripheral bridges, data controllers, memory controllers, system controllers, access ports, timers, and other similar components for supporting processors and software clients running on wireless devices. The system components and resources 224 or custom circuits 222 may also include circuits connected to peripheral devices such as cameras, electronic displays, wireless communication devices, external memory chips, etc.

[0072] The first SOC 202 and the second SOC 204 may communicate via an interconnect / bus module 250. The various processors 210, 212, 214, 216, 218 may be interconnected to one or more storage elements 220, system components and resources 224, custom circuits 222, and thermal management units 232 via an interconnect / bus module 226. Similarly, the processor 252 may be interconnected to a power management unit 254, a mmWave transceiver 256, a memory 258, and a variety of additional processors 260 via an interconnect / bus module 264. The interconnect / bus modules 226, 250, 264 may include an array of reconfigurable logic gates or implement a bus architecture such as CoreConnect, AMBA, etc. Communications may be provided by advanced interconnects such as high-performance networks on chip (NoCs).

[0073] The first SOC 202 or the second SOC 204 may also include an input / output module (not shown) for communicating with resources external to the SOC, such as a clock 206 and a voltage regulator 208. Resources external to the SOC, such as a clock 206, a voltage regulator 208, may be shared by two or more internal SOC processors / cores.

[0074] In addition to the example SIP 200 discussed above, various embodiments may be implemented in a wide variety of computing systems that may include a single processor, multiple processors, multi-core processors, or any combination thereof.

[0075] FIG3 shows a component block diagram of an example of a software architecture 300 including a wireless protocol stack for user and control planes in wireless communications. The software architecture 300 includes wireless protocol stacks for user and control planes in wireless communications between a base station 350 (such as base station 110a) and a wireless device 320 (such as wireless devices 120a-120e, 200). Referring to FIGS. 1-3, the wireless device 320 may implement the software architecture 300 to communicate with a base station 350 of a communication system (such as 100). In various embodiments, the layers in the software architecture 300 may form a logical connection with corresponding layers in the software of the base station 350. The software architecture 300 may be distributed among one or more processors (such as processors 212, 214, 216, 218, 252, 260). Although illustrated for one wireless protocol stack, in a multi-SIM (subscriber identity module) wireless device, the software architecture 300 may include multiple protocol stacks, each of which may be associated with a different SIM (such as two protocol stacks associated with two SIMs, respectively, in a dual SIM wireless communication device). Although described below with reference to LTE communication layers, the software architecture 300 may support any of a variety of standards and protocols for wireless communications, or may include additional protocol stacks that support any of a variety of standards and protocols for wireless communications.

[0076] The software architecture 300 may include a non-access stratum (NAS) 302 and an access stratum (AS) 304. The NAS 302 may include functions and protocols that support packet filtering, security management, mobility control, session management, and traffic and signaling between a SIM of a wireless device (such as SIM 204) and its core network 140. The AS 304 may include functions and protocols that support communications between a SIM (such as SIM 204) and entities of a supported access network (such as a base station). In particular, the AS 304 may include at least three layers (Layer 1, Layer 2, and Layer 3), each of which may include a variety of sub-layers.

[0077] In the user and control planes, layer 1 (L1) of the AS 304 may be a physical layer (PHY) 306, which may oversee functions that enable transmission or reception over the air interface. Examples of such physical layer 306 functions may include cyclic redundancy check (CRC) appending, coding blocks, scrambling and descrambling, modulation and demodulation, signal measurement, MIMO, etc. The physical layer may include a variety of logical channels including a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) and a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH).

[0078] In the user and control planes, Layer 2 (L2) of AS 304 may be responsible for the link between wireless device 320 and base station 350 on physical layer 306. In various implementations, Layer 2 may include a medium access control (MAC) sublayer 308, a radio link control (RLC) sublayer 310, and a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) sublayer 312, each of which forms a logical connection that terminates at base station 350.

[0079] In the control plane, layer 3 (L3) of AS 304 may include a radio resource control (RRC) sublayer 3. Although not shown, software architecture 300 may include additional layer 3 sublayers, as well as various upper layers above layer 3. In various embodiments, RRC sublayer 313 may provide functionality including broadcasting system information, paging, and establishing and releasing RRC signaling connections between wireless devices 320 and base stations 350.

[0080] In various embodiments, the PDCP sublayer 312 may provide uplink functions including multiplexing between different radio bearers and logical channels, sequence number addition, handover data processing, integrity protection, encryption, and header compression. In the downlink, the PDCP sublayer 312 may provide functions including sequential delivery of data packets, duplicate data packet detection, integrity verification, decryption, and header decompression.

[0081] In the uplink, the RLC sublayer 310 may provide segmentation and concatenation of upper layer data packets, retransmission of lost data packets, and automatic repeat request (ARQ). In the downlink, the functions of the RLC sublayer 310 may include reordering of data packets to compensate for out-of-order reception, reassembly of upper layer data packets, and ARQ.

[0082] In the uplink, the MAC sublayer 308 may provide functions including multiplexing between logical and transport channels, random access procedures, logical channel priority, and hybrid ARQ (HARQ) operations. In the downlink, MAC layer functions may include channel mapping within a cell, demultiplexing, discontinuous reception (DRX), and HARQ operations.

[0083] While the software architecture 300 may provide functionality for sending data over a physical medium, the software architecture 300 may also include at least one host layer 314 to provide data transmission services to various applications in the wireless device 320. In some implementations, the application-specific functionality provided by the at least one host layer 314 may provide an interface between the software architecture and the general purpose processor 206.

[0084] In other embodiments, the software architecture 300 may include one or more higher logical layers (such as transport, session, presentation, application, etc.) that provide host layer functionality. For example, in some embodiments, the software architecture 300 may include a network layer (such as an IP layer) where the logical connection terminates at a packet data network (PDN) gateway (PGW). In some embodiments, the software architecture 300 may include an application layer where the logical connection terminates at another device (such as an end-user device, a server, etc.). In some embodiments, the software architecture 300 may also include a hardware interface 316 between the physical layer 306 and communication hardware (such as one or more radio frequency (RF) transceivers) in the AS 304.

[0085] FIG4 shows a component block diagram illustrating an example system 400 configured to provide UE mobility history information. In some implementations, the system 400 may include one or more computing platforms 402 or one or more remote platforms 404. Referring to FIGS. 1-4, the computing platform 402 may include a base station (such as base station 110, 350) or a wireless device (such as wireless devices 120a-120e, 200, 320). The remote platform 404 may include a base station (such as base station 110, 350) or a wireless device (such as wireless devices 120a-120e, 200, 320) that is remote from the computing platform(s) 402.

[0086] The computing platform(s) 402 may be configured by machine readable instructions 406. The machine readable instructions 406 may include one or more instruction modules. The instruction modules may include computer program modules. The instruction modules may include a UE mobility history information storage module 408, a RAN connection state determination module 410, a UE mobility history information transmission module 412, a variable entry setting module 414, a radio resource controller state setting module 416, a mobility history information transmission module 418, a global cell identity determination module 420, a dual / multiple connection state requirement determination module 422, a radio access technology (RAT) type indication requirement determination module 424, a cell identity carrier frequency module 428, a UE new radio / next generation radio access network (NR / NG-RAN) determination module 430, a UE mobility history information request module 434, a UE mobility history information response module 436, a UE mobility history information receiving module 438, a UE mobility history information comparison module 440 or other instruction modules.

[0087] The UE mobility history information storage module 408 may be configured to store the UE mobility history information in a memory within the UE.

[0088] The radio access network connection state determination module 410 may be configured to determine whether the RAN connection state of the UE has changed from a primary cell in a radio resource controller state (such as RRC_CONNECT, RRC_IDLE, RRC_INACTIVE) to another cell outside the RAN, an inter-radio access technology cell, or a service outage state.

[0089] The UE mobility history information sending module 412 may be configured to send the UE mobility history information to the remote computing platform in response to determining that the UE's RAN connection state has changed from a primary cell in a radio resource controller state to another cell outside the RAN, an inter-radio access technology cell, or a service interruption state. In some embodiments, sending the UE mobility history information may be part of a handover preparation procedure, a context retrieval procedure, a UE suspension procedure, or a UE context release completion procedure.

[0090] The variable entry setting module 414 may be configured to set the time spent between each radio resource controller state and the previous primary cell or the previous secondary cell in the variable entry of the UE mobility history information in response to determining that the RAN connection state of the UE has changed from the primary cell in the radio resource controller state to another cell outside the RAN, an inter-radio access technology cell, or a service interruption state. In addition, the variable entry setting module 414 may be configured to set the radio resource controller state for each radio resource controller state of the previous primary cell or the previous secondary cell in the variable entry of the UE mobility history information in response to determining that the RAN connection state of the UE has changed from the primary cell in the radio resource controller state to another cell outside the RAN, an inter-radio access technology cell, or a service interruption state. In some embodiments, the variable entry setting module 414 may be configured to include the current global cell identifier, the global cell identifier of the previous primary cell or the previous secondary cell, an indication of the radio access technology, or the physical cell identifier and carrier frequency of the previous primary cell or the previous secondary cell in the variable entry of the UE mobility history information.

[0091] The radio resource controller state setting module 416 may be configured to set the radio resource controller state for each radio resource controller state of a previous primary cell or a previous secondary cell in a variable entry of the UE mobility history information.

[0092] The global cell identity determination module 420 may be configured to determine whether a global cell identity of a previous primary cell or a previous secondary cell is available.

[0093] The dual / multiple connection state requirement determination module 422 may be configured to determine whether a dual / multiple connection state is required.

[0094] The RAT type indication required determination module 424 may be configured to determine whether a RAT indication is required.

[0095] The NR / NG-RAN determination module 430 may be configured to determine whether the UE has entered a new radio or next generation RAN when a previous service was interrupted or another radio access technology was used.

[0096] The mobility history information request module 434 may be configured to receive a UE information request from a remote computing platform.

[0097] The UE mobility history information response module 436 may be configured to send a UE information response indicating that UE mobility history information is available to the remote computing platform.

[0098] 5 shows a process flow diagram of an example method 500 performed by a processor of a UE for providing UE mobility history information to a remote computing platform. Referring to FIGS. 1-5A , the operations of the method 500 may be performed by a processor of a computing platform (such as wireless devices 120a-120e, 200, 320) or a remote computing platform (such as base stations 110a-110d, 350).

[0099] In block 502, the processor may store UE mobility history information in a memory within the UE. The mobility history information may be collected, compiled, or stored with or without network configuration details. In various embodiments, the mobility history information may include at least one data set selected from a list of visited cells (such as visitedCellList), an indication of how long the UE should store the mobility history information (i.e., a time period), an indication of an area in which the UE is configured to store the mobility history information (such as a cell list, a remote network access list, or a timing advance list), a RAT type (such as NR, NG-RAN, or Evolved Universal Mobile Telecommunications System Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA)), connection state information (such as dual / multiple connection state information (EN-DC, NE-DC, NGEN-DC, or NR-DC)), or RRC state information (such as RRC_CONNECTED, RRC_INACTIVE, RRC_IDLE). The RRC state information may include whether the UE needs to store a visited cell list for each RRC state, connected mode, or idle / inactive state.

[0100] In block 504, the processor may determine whether the UE's RAN connection state has changed from a primary cell in a radio resource controller state to another cell outside the RAN, an inter-radio access technology cell, or a service outage state. In some implementations, the radio resource controller state may include RRC_CONNECT, RRC_IDLE, and RRC_INACTIVE.

[0101] In response to determining that the UE has changed cells or changed the state within a cell, the processor may send UE mobility history information to the remote computing platform in block 506. In some embodiments, the mobility history information may be sent in a new separate RRC signaling (such as a mobility history information collection configuration) or an existing RRC signaling (such as "RRCReconfiguration" or "loggedMeasurmentConfiguration").

[0102] 5B-5K illustrate process flow diagrams of example operations that may be performed as part of a method 500 for providing UE mobility history information to a remote computing platform. Referring to FIGS. 1-5K , the example operations may be implemented by a processor (such as 212 , 216 , 252 , or 260 ) of a UE (such as wireless devices 120 a - 120 e , 200 , 320 ).

[0103] 5B , in some embodiments following the operation of block 504 ( FIG. 5A ), in block 508 , in response to determining that the RAN connection state of the UE has changed from a primary cell to another cell outside the RAN, an inter-radio access technology cell, or a service outage state in a radio resource controller state, the processor may set a time spent with a previous primary cell or a previous secondary cell for each radio resource controller state in a variable entry of the UE mobility history information.

[0104] After the operations of block 508 , the processor may perform the operations of block 506 ( FIG. 5A ).

[0105] 5C , in some embodiments following the operation of block 504 ( FIG. 5A ), in block 510 , in response to determining that the RAN connection state of the UE has changed in the radio resource controller state from a primary cell to another cell outside the RAN, an inter-radio access technology cell, or a service outage state, the processor may set the radio resource controller state for each radio resource controller state of a previous primary cell or a previous secondary cell in a variable entry of the UE mobility history information.

[0106] After the operations of block 510 , the processor may perform the operations of block 506 ( FIG. 5A ).

[0107] 5D , in some embodiments following the operations of block 504 ( FIG. 5A ), in block 512 and determination block 513 , the processor may determine whether a global cell identity of a previous primary cell or a previous secondary cell is available.

[0108] In block 514 , in response to determining that the global cell identity of the previous primary cell or the previous secondary cell is available (ie, determination block 513 =“Yes”), the processor may include the global cell identity in a variable entry of the UE mobility history information.

[0109] In block 515 , in response to determining that the global cell identifier of the previous primary cell or the previous secondary cell is not available (ie, determination block 513 =“No”), the processor may include the physical cell identifier and frequency in the variable entry of the UE mobility history information.

[0110] After the operations of block 514 or block 515 , the processor may perform the operations of block 506 ( FIG. 5A ).

[0111] 5E , in some implementations following the operations of block 504 ( FIG. 5A ), at block 516 , the processor may determine whether a dual / multi connectivity state is desired.

[0112] In block 518, in response to determining that a dual / multiple connectivity state is required, the processor may include a global cell identity of a previous primary cell or a previous secondary cell in a variable entry of the UE mobility history information.

[0113] After the operations of block 518, the processor may perform the operations of block 506 (FIG. 5A).

[0114] 5F , in some implementations following the operations of block 504 ( FIG. 5A ), at block 520 , the processor may determine whether a radio access technology type indication is required.

[0115] In block 522, in response to determining that a radio access technology type indication is required, the processor may include an indication of the radio access technology in a mutable entry of the UE mobility history information.

[0116] After the operations of block 522 , the processor may perform the operations of block 506 ( FIG. 5A ).

[0117] 5G, in some embodiments after the operation of block 504 (FIG. 5A), the processor determines whether the global cell identity of the previous primary cell or secondary cell is available at block 524. In some embodiments, the determination in block 524 may be the same or similar to the determination in block 512 (FIG. 5D).

[0118] In block 526, the processor may determine whether dual / multi connectivity status is required. In some implementations, the determination in block 526 may be the same or similar to the determination in block 516 (FIG. 5E).

[0119] In block 528, in response to determining that the global cell identifier of the previous primary cell or secondary cell is not available and does not require dual / multiple connectivity, the processor may include the physical cell identifier and carrier frequency of the previous primary cell or secondary cell in a variable entry of the UE mobility history information.

[0120] After the operations of block 528, the processor may perform the operations of block 506 (FIG. 5A).

[0121] 5H , in some embodiments following the operations of block 504 ( FIG. 5A ), in block 530 , the processor may determine whether the UE has entered a new radio or next generation RAN while previous service was disrupted or using another radio access technology.

[0122] In block 532, in response to determining that the UE has entered a new radio or next generation RAN while previous service was disrupted or another radio access technology was used, the processor may include a global cell identity in a variable entry of the UE mobility history information.

[0123] After the operations of block 532 , the processor may perform the operations of block 506 ( FIG. 5A ).

[0124] 5I , in some embodiments following the operation of block 532 ( FIG. 5H ), in block 534 , in response to determining that the UE has entered a new radio or next generation RAN while previous service is interrupted or another radio access technology is used, the processor may set the radio resource controller state information in the variable entry to outside the new radio or outside the next generation RAN.

[0125] After the operations of block 534 , the processor may perform the operations of block 506 ( FIG. 5A ).

[0126] 5J , in some embodiments following the operation of block 532 ( FIG. 5H ), in block 536 , in response to determining that the UE has entered a new radio or next generation RAN while the previous service is interrupted or another radio access technology is used, the processor may set the time spent field information in the variable entry to the time spent outside the new radio or outside the next generation RAN.

[0127] After the operations of block 536 , the processor may perform the operations of block 506 ( FIG. 5A ).

[0128] 5K , in some implementations following the operations of block 504 ( FIG. 5A ), at block 538 , the processor may receive a UE information request from a remote computing platform.

[0129] In block 540, the processor may send a UE information response indicating that UE mobility history information is available to the remote computing platform.

[0130] After the operations of block 540 , the processor may perform the operations of block 506 ( FIG. 5A ).

[0131] 6A illustrates a process flow diagram of an example method 600 performed by a processor of a first remote RAN computing platform for providing UE mobility history information to a second remote RAN computing platform according to various embodiments. Referring to FIGS. 1-6A , the method 600 may be implemented by a processor (such as 212 , 216 , 252 , or 260 ) of a computing platform (such as base stations 110 a - 110 d , 350 ).

[0132] At block 602, the processor may receive UE mobility history information from a UE.

[0133] At block 604, the processor may store UE mobility history information in a memory of the first remote RAN computing platform.

[0134] At block 606, the processor may send the UE mobility history information received from the UE to a second remote RAN computing platform remote from the first remote RAN computing platform. In some embodiments, the UE mobility history information received from the UE may be sent as part of a handover preparation procedure, a context retrieval procedure, a UE suspension procedure, or a UE context release completion procedure. In this manner, the mobility history information collected by the UE and retrieved by one gNB may be propagated to another node by way of a handover preparation procedure via Xn / N2 and a UE context retrieval procedure via Xn.

[0135] 6B illustrates a process flow diagram of example operations that may be performed as part of a method 600 for providing UE mobility history information to a remote computing platform. Referring to FIGS. 1-6B , the example operations may be implemented by a processor (such as 212 , 216 , 252 , or 260 ) of a computing platform (such as base stations 110 a - 110 d , 350 ).

[0136] In some implementations following the operations of block 604 ( FIG. 6A ), at block 610 , the processor may receive UE mobility history information from a third remote RAN computing platform.

[0137] At block 612, the processor may compare the UE mobility history information received from the third RAN computing platform with the UE mobility history information received from the UE.

[0138] At block 614, the processor may store the UE mobility history information received from the third RAN computing platform that does not conflict with the UE mobility history information received from the UE in a memory of the first remote RAN computing platform.

[0139] After the operations of block 614 , the processor may perform the operations of block 606 ( FIG. 6A ).

[0140] FIG7 shows a component block diagram of an example remote computing platform 700. In some embodiments, the remote computing platform 700 can be used as a network element of a communication network, such as a base station. The remote computing platform 700 can include at least the components shown in FIG7. Referring to FIGS. 1-7, the remote computing platform 700 can include a processor 701 coupled to a volatile memory 702 and a large capacity non-volatile memory (such as a disk drive 703). The remote computing platform 700 can also include a peripheral memory access device coupled to the processor 701, such as a floppy disk drive, a compact disk (CD), or a digital video disk (DVD) drive 706. The remote computing platform 700 can also include a network access port 704 (or interface) coupled to the processor 701 for establishing a data connection with a network (such as the Internet or a local area network coupled to other system computers and servers). The remote computing platform 700 can include one or more antennas 707 for sending and receiving electromagnetic radiation that can be connected to a wireless communication link. The network computing device 700 may include additional access ports, such as USB, Firewire, Thunderbolt, etc., for coupling to peripheral devices, external storage, or other devices.

[0141] FIG8 shows a component block diagram of an example UE. Various embodiments may be implemented on a variety of wireless devices, such as wireless devices 120a-120e, 200, 320, an example of which is shown in FIG8 in the form of a smartphone 800. The smartphone 800 may include a first SOC 202 (such as a SOC-CPU) coupled to a second SOC 204 (such as a 5G-enabled SOC). The first SOC 202 and the second SOC 204 may be coupled to internal memory 806, 816, a display 812, and to a speaker 814. In addition, the smartphone 800 may include an antenna 804 for sending and receiving electromagnetic radiation, which may be connected to a wireless data link or cellular telephone transceiver 808 coupled to one or more processors in the first SOC 202 or the second SOC 204. The smartphone 800 also typically includes a menu selection button or rocker switch 820 for receiving user input.

[0142] The typical smart phone 800 also includes a sound coding / decoding (CODEC) circuit 810, which digitizes the sound received from the microphone into a data packet suitable for wireless transmission, and decodes the received sound data packet to generate an analog signal, which is provided to the speaker to generate sound. In addition, one or more processors in the first SOC 202 and the second SOC 204, the wireless transceiver 808 and the CODEC 810 may include a digital signal processor (DSP) circuit (not shown separately).

[0143] The processor of the wireless network computing device 700 and the smart phone 800 can be any programmable microprocessor, microcomputer or multi-processor chip that can be configured by software instructions (applications) to perform a variety of functions, including the functions of the various embodiments described below. In some mobile devices, multiple processors may be provided, such as one processor within the SOC 204 dedicated to wireless communication functions and one processor within the SOC 202 dedicated to running other applications. Typically, software applications can be stored in the memory 806, 816 before being accessed and loaded into the processor. The processor may include internal memory sufficient to store application software instructions.

[0144] As used in this application, the terms "component", "module", "system", etc. are intended to include computer-related entities, such as but not limited to hardware, firmware, a combination of hardware and software, software, or software in operation, which is configured to perform a specific operation or function. For example, a component can be, but is not limited to, a process running on a processor, a processor, an object, an executable file, a running thread, a program, or a computer. As an illustration, both applications running on a wireless device and wireless devices can be referred to as components. One or more components can remain within a running process or thread, and a component can be located on a processor or core, or distributed between two or more processors or cores. In addition, these components can be run from a variety of non-temporary computer-readable media having a variety of instructions or data structures stored thereon. Components can communicate via local or remote processes, function or process calls, electronic signals, data packets, memory read / write, and other known network, computer, processor, or process-related communication methods.

[0145] Many different cellular and mobile communication services and standards are available or contemplated in the future, all of which may be implemented and benefit from a variety of implementations. Such services and standards include, for example, the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), Long Term Evolution (LTE) systems, 3rd Generation wireless mobile communication technology (3G), 4th Generation wireless mobile communication technology (4G), 5th Generation wireless mobile communication technology (5G), Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), 3GSM, General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) systems (such as cdmaOne, CDMA1020TM), Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE), Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS), Digital AMPS (IS-136 / TDMA), Evolution Data Optimized (EV-DO), Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications (DECT), Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX), Wireless Local Area Networks (WLAN), Wi-Fi Protected Access I & II (WPA, WPA2), and Integrated Digital Enhanced Network (iDEN). For example, each of these technologies involves the transmission and reception of voice, data, signaling, or content messages. It should be understood that any reference to terminology or technical details related to a single telecommunication standard or technology is for illustrative purposes only and is not intended to limit the scope of the claims to a particular communication system or technology unless specifically recited in the claim language.

[0146] The various embodiments shown and described are provided only as examples to illustrate various features of the claims. However, the features shown and described with respect to any given embodiment are not necessarily limited to the associated embodiment and can be used or combined with other embodiments shown and described. In addition, the claims are not intended to be limited by any one example embodiment. For example, one or more operations of methods 500, 600 can replace one or more operations of methods 500, 600 or be combined with one or more operations of methods 500, 600.

[0147] As used herein, a phrase referring to "at least one" of a list of items refers to any combination of those items, including single members. For example, "at least one of a, b, or c" is intended to cover: a, b, c, ab, ac, bc, and abc.

[0148] The various illustrative logics, logical blocks, modules, components, circuits, and algorithmic operations described in conjunction with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented as electronic hardware, computer software, or a combination of both. The interchangeability of hardware and software has been generally described in terms of functionality and illustrated in the various illustrative components, blocks, modules, circuits, and processes described above. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends on the specific application and design constraints imposed on the overall system.

[0149] The hardware and data processing devices for implementing the various illustrative logics, logic blocks, modules and circuits described in conjunction with the aspects disclosed herein can be implemented or executed with a general-purpose single-chip or multi-chip processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. A general-purpose processor can be a microprocessor, or any conventional processor, controller, microcontroller or state machine. The processor can also be implemented as a combination, such as a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, a combination of one or more microprocessors and a DSP core, or any other such configuration. In some embodiments, specific processes and methods can be performed by circuits specific to a given function.

[0150] In one or more aspects, the functions described may be implemented in hardware, digital electronic circuitry, computer software, firmware, including the structures disclosed in this specification and their structural equivalents, or any combination thereof. Implementations of the subject matter described in this specification may also be implemented as one or more computer programs (i.e., one or more modules of computer program instructions) encoded on a non-transitory processor-readable storage medium for execution by a data processing apparatus or to control its operation.

[0151] If implemented in software, these functions can be stored on or sent through a computer-readable medium as one or more instructions or codes. The process of the method or algorithm disclosed herein can be implemented in a processor executable software module, which can be left on a computer-readable medium. Computer-readable media include computer storage media and communication media, which include any media capable of transmitting a computer program from one place to another. The storage medium can be any available non-temporary storage medium accessible by a computer. As an example and not limitation, such a computer-readable medium may include RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, disk storage or other magnetic storage device, or any other medium that can be used to store the desired program code in the form of an instruction or data structure and can be accessed by a computer. In addition, any connection can be properly referred to as a computer-readable medium. The disks and optical disks used herein include optical disks (CDs), laser disks, optical disks, digital versatile disks (DVDs), floppy disks, and Blu-ray disks, wherein the disks usually reproduce data magnetically, and the optical disks reproduce data optically with lasers. The above combination should also be included in the scope of computer-readable media. Furthermore, the operations of a method or algorithm may be incorporated into a computer program product as one or any combination or set of codes or instructions on a machine-readable medium and a computer-readable medium.

[0152] In one or more aspects, the described functions may be implemented by a processor, which may be coupled to a memory. The memory may be a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing processor executable instructions. The memory may store an operating system, user application software, or other executable instructions. The memory may also store application data, such as an array data structure. The processor may write information to the memory and read information from the memory. The memory may also store instructions associated with one or more protocol stacks. A protocol stack typically includes computer executable instructions to enable communication using a wireless access protocol or a communication protocol.

[0153] Various modifications to the embodiments described in this disclosure will be apparent to those skilled in the art, and the general principles defined herein may be applied to other embodiments without departing from the scope of this disclosure. Therefore, the claims are not intended to be limited to the embodiments shown herein, but are to be consistent with the broadest scope consistent with the disclosure, principles, and novel features disclosed herein.

[0154] Certain features described in this specification in the context of separate embodiments may also be implemented in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, various features described in the context of a single embodiment may also be implemented in multiple embodiments individually or in any suitable subcombination. In addition, although features may be described above as functioning in certain combinations, and even initially claimed as such, in some cases, one or more features from a claimed combination may be deleted from the combination, and a claimed combination may be directed to a subcombination or a variation of a subcombination.

[0155] Similarly, although the operations are described in a particular order in the accompanying drawings, this should not be understood as requiring the operations to be performed in the particular order shown or in a sequential order, or requiring the execution of all the operations shown to achieve the desired result. In addition, the accompanying drawings may schematically depict another example process in the form of a flow chart. However, other operations not shown may be incorporated into the schematically shown example process. For example, one or more additional operations may be performed before, after, simultaneously or between any of the operations shown. In some cases, multitasking and parallel processing may be advantageous. In addition, the separation of the various system components in the above-mentioned embodiments should not be understood as requiring such separation in all embodiments, and it should be understood that the described program components and systems can generally be integrated in a single software product or encapsulated in multiple software products. In addition, other embodiments are also within the scope of the following claims. In some cases, the actions listed in the claims may be performed in different orders and still achieve the desired results.

Claims

1. A method for providing UE mobility history information to a remote computing platform, performed by a processor of a user equipment UE, comprising: In response to the UE's radio access network RAN ​​connection state changing from a primary cell to another cell or another RRC state in a radio resource controller RRC state, UE mobility history information is sent to the remote computing platform, wherein the sent UE mobility history information includes a time spent in each cell, identification information of the cell, and an indication of a carrier frequency.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: In response to the global cell identity being one of the previous primary cell or the previous secondary cell being available, the global cell identity is included in the variable entry of the UE mobility history information.

3. The method according to claim 2, further comprising: In response to the global cell identity of the previous primary cell or the previous secondary cell being unavailable, a physical cell identity and a frequency are included in the variable entry of the UE mobility history information.

4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: In response to requiring a dual / multiple connectivity state, a global cell identity of a previous primary cell or a previous secondary cell is included in a variable entry of the UE mobility history information.

5. The method according to claim 4, In response to requiring a radio access technology type indication, including an indication of the radio access technology type in a variable entry of the UE mobility history information.

6. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: In response to the global cell identity of the previous primary cell or the secondary cell being unavailable and not requiring a dual / multiple connectivity state, the physical cell identity and the carrier frequency of the previous primary cell or the secondary cell are included in the variable entry of the UE mobility history information.

7. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: In response to the UE entering a new radio or next generation RAN or using another radio access technology when the previous service is interrupted, a global cell identity is included in the variable entry of the UE mobility history information.

8. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: receiving a UE information request from the remote computing platform; as well as A UE information response is sent indicating that the UE mobility history information is available to the remote computing platform.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The UE mobility history information comprises at least one data set selected from a visited cell list, an indication of how long the UE should store the UE mobility history information, a cell list, a remote network access list, a timing advance list, a radio access technology type, a connection state information, and an RRC state information.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The change in RRC state from the primary cell to another cell includes changing to another cell that does not belong to the RAN or the inter-radio access technology cell.

11. The method according to claim 1, wherein: A change in the RRC state from the primary cell to another RRC state includes a change to a service outage state.

12. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: The UE mobility history information is stored in a memory within the UE.

13. A user equipment UE, comprising: A processor configured with processor-executable instructions to perform operations, the operations comprising: In response to the UE's radio access network RAN ​​connection state changing from a primary cell to another cell or another RRC state in a radio resource controller RRC state, UE mobility history information is sent to a remote computing platform, wherein the sent UE mobility history information includes a time spent in each cell, identification information of the cell, and an indication of a carrier frequency.

14. The UE according to claim 13, wherein: The processor is configured with processor executable instructions to perform operations, the operations further comprising: In response to the global cell identity being one of the previous primary cell or the previous secondary cell being available, the global cell identity is included in the variable entry of the UE mobility history information.

15. The UE according to claim 14, wherein: The processor is configured with processor executable instructions to perform operations, the operations further comprising: In response to the global cell identity of the previous primary cell or the previous secondary cell being unavailable, a physical cell identity and a frequency are included in the variable entry of the UE mobility history information.

16. The UE according to claim 13, wherein: The processor is configured with processor executable instructions to perform operations, the operations further comprising: In response to requiring a dual / multiple connectivity state, a global cell identity of a previous primary cell or a previous secondary cell is included in a variable entry of the UE mobility history information.

17. The UE according to claim 16, wherein: The processor is configured with processor executable instructions to perform operations, the operations further comprising: In response to requiring a radio access technology type indication, including an indication of the radio access technology type in a variable entry of the UE mobility history information.

18. The UE according to claim 13, wherein: The processor is configured with processor executable instructions to perform operations, the operations further comprising: In response to the global cell identity of the previous primary cell or the secondary cell being unavailable and not requiring a dual / multiple connectivity state, the physical cell identity and the carrier frequency of the previous primary cell or the secondary cell are included in the variable entry of the UE mobility history information.

19. The UE according to claim 13, wherein: The processor is configured with processor executable instructions to perform operations, the operations further comprising: In response to the UE entering a new radio or next generation RAN or using another radio access technology when the previous service is interrupted, a global cell identity is included in the variable entry of the UE mobility history information.

20. The UE according to claim 13, wherein: The processor is configured with processor executable instructions to perform operations, the operations further comprising: receiving a UE information request from the remote computing platform; and A UE information response is sent indicating that the UE mobility history information is available to the remote computing platform.

21. The UE according to claim 13, wherein: The processor is configured with processor executable instructions to perform operations such that the UE mobility history information includes at least one data set, the at least one data set selected from a visited cell list, an indication of how long the UE should store the UE mobility history information, a cell list, a remote network access list, a timing advance list, a radio access technology type, connection state information, and RRC state information.

22. The UE according to claim 13, wherein: The processor is configured with processor-executable instructions such that a change in RRC state from a primary cell to another cell includes a change to another cell that is not a member of the RAN or an inter-radio access technology cell.

23. The UE according to claim 13, wherein: The processor is configured with processor-executable instructions such that a change in the RRC state from a primary cell to another RRC state includes a change to an out-of-service state.

24. The UE according to claim 13, wherein: The processor is configured with processor executable instructions to perform operations, the operations further comprising: The UE mobility history information is stored in a memory of a computing platform.

25. A method executed by a processor of a first remote radio access network RAN ​​computing platform for providing user equipment UE mobility history information to a second remote RAN computing platform, comprising: receiving UE mobility history information from the UE; as well as In response to the RAN connection state of the UE changing from a primary cell to another cell or another RRC state in a radio resource controller (RRC) state, the UE mobility history information received from the UE is sent to the second remote RAN computing platform, wherein the sent UE mobility history information includes a time spent in each cell, identification information of the cell, and an indication of a carrier frequency.

26. The method according to claim 25, wherein: Sending the UE mobility history information is a part of at least one of a handover preparation procedure, a context retrieval procedure, a suspension procedure, and a UE context release completion procedure.

27. The method of claim 25, further comprising: receiving UE mobility history information from a third remote RAN computing platform; comparing the UE mobility history information received from the third RAN computing platform with the UE mobility history information received from the UE; and The UE mobility history information received from the third RAN computing platform that does not conflict with the UE mobility history information received from the UE is stored in a memory of the first remote RAN computing platform.

28. A computing platform for use in a first remote radio access network RAN, comprising: A processor configured with processor-executable instructions to perform operations, the operations comprising: receiving UE mobility history information from a user equipment UE; and In response to the RAN connection state of the UE changing from a primary cell to another cell or another RRC state in a radio resource controller (RRC) state, the UE mobility history information received from the UE is sent to a second remote RAN computing platform, wherein the sent UE mobility history information includes a time spent in each cell, identification information of the cell, and an indication of a carrier frequency.

29. The computing platform of claim 28, wherein: Sending the UE mobility history information is a part of at least one of a handover preparation procedure, a context retrieval procedure, a suspension procedure, and a UE context release completion procedure.

30. The computing platform of claim 28, wherein the processor is configured with processor executable instructions to perform operations, the operations further comprising: receiving UE mobility history information from a third remote RAN computing platform; comparing the UE mobility history information received from the third RAN computing platform with the UE mobility history information received from the UE; and The UE mobility history information received from the third RAN computing platform that does not conflict with the UE mobility history information received from the UE is stored in a memory of the first remote RAN computing platform.

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