Apparatus and method for avoiding interference of in-device coexistence

Abstract

A user equipment (1101, 1501) in a communication network (1100, 1500) is disclosed. The user equipment is configured to: communicate (1901) with a network device (1102, 1502, 1503) in a first communication session in which the user equipment is in an RCCCONNECTED state and is configured to report interference from in-device coexistence according to a first in-device coexistence configuration; receiving (1902), from the network device, a request to operate in the RRCINACTIVE state; an indication is received (1903) from the network device to store the first in-device coexistence configuration for use in a second communication session, where the second communication session is later in time than the first session. This may facilitate the user equipment to use the first IDC configuration in a small data transmission communication session when the user equipment is operating in the RRCINACTIVE state or in a subsequent communication session when the user equipment is in the RRCCONNECTED state.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to data transmission in a communication network, and in particular to avoiding interference between signals generated by one or more different radio technologies used in user devices such as smartphones, and in particular to a small data transmission (SDT) process. Background Art

[0002] As wireless technologies and services become more and more popular, handheld devices are increasingly equipped with multiple radio transceivers supporting different radio technologies such as Long Term Evolution (LTE), New Radio (NR), Global Positioning System (GPS), WiFi, and Bluetooth. As a result, and because both NR and LTE introduce more frequency bands, multiple radio transceivers in the same device are close together (e.g. Figure 1 As shown in the figure, the in-device coexistence (IDC) problem becomes serious. Device 100 includes transceivers 101 to 106 that support multiple different radio technologies. Transceivers 101 and 102 use antenna 107 to send and receive NR signals, transceivers 103 and 104 use antenna 108 to send and receive GPS signals, and transceivers 105 and 106 use antenna 109 to send and receive WiFi signals and Bluetooth signals. For some frequency bands, the simultaneous operation of these multiple different radio technologies operating at adjacent or subharmonic frequencies may cause serious IDC interference, which cannot be eliminated by filtering. Therefore, signaling mechanisms and processes are introduced to try to solve this IDC problem with the help of the network.

[0003] Previously established technical solutions such as frequency division multiplexing (FDM) were typically aimed at switching entire LTE or NR frequencies out of the Industrial, Scientific and Medical (ISM) radio frequency (RF) band.

[0004] As long as alternative carrier frequencies are available, the FDM solution is applicable to all scenarios. However, in some network deployments, it is not possible or desirable to use FDM-based solutions to solve the IDC interference problem.

[0005] In some cases, all available frequency carriers may be affected by ISM traffic, the user equipment may be located in an area where only one frequency is deployed, or the user equipment may not have good channel quality at an alternative frequency. In such cases, it may be beneficial to keep the user equipment on the current frequency and use a solution based on time division multiplexing (TDM).

[0006] IDC interference becomes more complicated when different frequencies of different radio technologies modulate each other. NR transmitters operating in the Frequency Range 1 (FR1) band (FR1 for 5G NR is below 7.125 GHz) (e.g., band n41) can interfere with WiFi receivers operating in the 2.5G band, and vice versa. Since 5 GHz in FR1 and 60 GHz in Frequency Range 2 (FR2) (above 24.250 GHz for 5G NR) have been allocated as ISM bands, transmitters and / or receivers operating in these bands can interfere with transmitters and / or receivers operating in the ISM bands.

[0007] Managing IDC interference may also be beneficial when the user equipment transitions between different operating states such as RRC_CONNECTED and RRC_INACTIVE, for example, when initiating a Small Data Transfer (SDT) procedure. The purpose of SDT is to create a technical solution whereby the UE can send or receive small data to or from a network node while remaining in RRC_INACTIVE mode.

[0008] It is hoped that an improved method can be developed to report which frequencies are affected by interference in these situations so that the network can take appropriate action. Summary of the invention

[0009] According to a first aspect, a user equipment in a communication network is provided. The user equipment is used to: communicate with a network equipment in the communication network in a first communication session, in which the user equipment is in an RCC_CONNECTED state and is used to report interference from in-device coexistence according to a first in-device coexistence configuration; receive a request to operate in an RRC_INACTIVE state from the network equipment; receive an indication from the network equipment to store the first in-device coexistence configuration for use in a second communication session, wherein the second communication session is later in time than the first communication session. This can facilitate the user equipment to use the first IDC configuration in a communication session when the user equipment is operating in an RRC_INACTIVE state or in a subsequent communication session when the user equipment is in an RRC_CONNECTED state.

[0010] The first communication session and the second communication session may be sub-sessions in a longer communication session in which the user equipment transitions between states and implements different procedures using a radio resource control (RRC) protocol (e.g., a small data transmission procedure when the user equipment transitions from an RRC_CONNECTED state to an RRC_INACTIVE state).

[0011] The second communication session may be a small data transmission communication session. In the small data transmission communication session, the user equipment may be in the RRC_INACTIVE state. The second communication session may be another communication session in which the user equipment is in the RRC_CONNECTED state. The other communication session may be later than the small data transmission communication session in time. This may facilitate the user equipment to use the first IDC configuration in the small data transmission communication session or in a subsequent communication session when the user equipment is in the RRC_CONNECTED state.

[0012] The second communication session may be a small data transfer communication session, and the user equipment may be further configured to receive an indication of a new in-device coexistence configuration to be used in the small data transfer communication session from the network equipment. The user equipment may be configured to report interference of in-device coexistence to the network equipment using the new in-device coexistence configuration in the small data transfer communication session. In this way, the user equipment may use the new IDC configuration to report an IDC problem in the SDT communication session.

[0013] The user equipment may be configured to communicate with the network device within a first frequency range. The first in-device coexistence configuration and / or the new in-device coexistence configuration may configure the user equipment to report to the network device one or more frequency ranges affected by interference from in-device coexistence. The frequency range in the one or more frequency ranges may be smaller than the range of carrier frequencies of the first frequency range. In this way, the user equipment may report fine-grained indications of affected frequencies at different levels, so that the network may take appropriate measures to address in-device coexistence issues.

[0014] One or more of the first in-device coexistence configuration and the new in-device coexistence configuration may specify a candidate affected frequency range, which may be a candidate center frequency and an affected bandwidth, a candidate number of affected physical resource blocks, or a bandwidth portion configured for the user equipment, wherein the user equipment is to report any frequency range affected by interference from in-device coexistence on the bandwidth portion. In this way, the user equipment may be configured to report frequencies affected by interference within the candidate affected range.

[0015] The second communication session may be a small data transfer communication session, and the user equipment may be configured to receive an indication from the network device to use the first in-device coexistence configuration in the small data transfer communication session. In this way, the user equipment may reuse the first IDC configuration in the SDT communication session.

[0016] The second communication session may be a small data transmission communication session, and the user equipment may be further configured to receive an indication of reporting the in-device coexistence problem on the current serving frequency in the small data transmission communication session. This may be a convenient implementation method.

[0017] The user equipment may also be configured to receive a request from the network device to report one or more time division multiplexing modes to the network device.

[0018] The user equipment can be used to send an indication of one or more time division multiplexing modes to the network equipment, wherein the one or more time division multiplexing modes are used to schedule data in one or more directions of an uplink direction and a downlink direction and are to be used between one or more different radio technologies implemented by the user equipment, or can be used to send one or more time division multiplexing modes for a primary cell group or a secondary cell group respectively controlled by a primary node and a secondary node under a dual-connectivity scheme of multiple radio access technologies.

[0019] The user equipment may also be configured to: receive an indication from a second network device that the second network device supports in-device coexistence reporting during a small data transmission process; initiate a small data transmission communication session with the second network device; and report in-device coexistence interference to the second network device during the small data transmission communication session. In this way, the user equipment may report an IDC problem after a user equipment context is transferred between network devices.

[0020] The user equipment may be configured to send signals to and receive signals from the network equipment over a first frequency range, and to implement one or more different radio technologies within at least a portion of the first frequency range. The user equipment may be configured to: receive a request from the network equipment indicating whether any frequency range in the first frequency range is affected by interference between signals generated by one or more of the different radio technologies (i.e., affected by coexisting interference within the device); send an indication of one or more frequency ranges in the first frequency range to the network equipment, wherein the one or more frequency ranges are affected by interference between signals generated by one or more of the different radio technologies, and the one or more frequency ranges are corresponding subsets of the first frequency range, and the frequency range of each corresponding subset is smaller than the range of carrier frequencies of the first frequency range. Alternatively, the user equipment may request the use of a TDM mode that defines a scheduled time period for data transmission or reception and / or an unscheduled time period for one of the different radio technologies, while other of the different radio technologies may perform data transmission or reception. The first in-device coexistence configuration and / or the new in-device coexistence configuration may configure the user equipment to indicate whether any frequency range in the first frequency range is affected by interference between signals generated by one or more of the different radio technologies (i.e., affected by interference from in-device coexistence).

[0021] The user equipment may be configured to: receive an indication of a candidate affected frequency range in the first frequency range from the network equipment; and send the indication of the one or more frequency ranges to the network equipment. In this way, the network equipment may configure the user equipment to report frequencies affected by interference in the candidate affected frequency ranges.

[0022] At least one of the one or more frequency ranges may be a part of the candidate affected frequency range. At least one of the one or more frequency ranges may be a corresponding subset of the candidate affected frequency range, and the frequency range of each corresponding subset is smaller than the range of the carrier frequency of the candidate affected frequency range. In this way, the network device may configure the user equipment to report fine-grained indications of frequencies affected by interference within the candidate affected frequency range at different levels.

[0023] The user equipment may be configured to receive the indication of the candidate affected frequency range from the network device as an indication of an absolute radio frequency channel number of a center frequency of the candidate affected frequency range and a corresponding bandwidth of the candidate affected frequency range or a common bandwidth of the candidate affected frequency range. This may be a convenient way of providing the candidate affected frequency range to the user equipment.

[0024] The user equipment may be configured to receive the indication of the candidate affected frequency range as an indication of the absolute radio frequency channel number of the starting point of the candidate affected frequency range and the absolute radio frequency channel number of the end point of the candidate affected frequency range from the network device. This may be another convenient way of providing the candidate affected frequency range to the user equipment.

[0025] The user equipment may be configured to send the indication of the one or more frequency ranges as an identification of one or more affected bandwidth portions of the first frequency range. The user equipment may be configured to send the indication of the one or more frequency ranges as an identification of one or more affected bandwidth portions of the candidate affected frequency range. In this way, the user equipment may notify the network device of the affected bandwidth portions, so that only the actual affected bandwidth portions may be avoided.

[0026] The candidate affected frequency range may be a serving frequency, and the user equipment may be configured to receive from the network device an indication of an absolute radio frequency channel number of a center frequency of the candidate affected frequency range and an indication of one or more bandwidth portion identifiers of the candidate affected frequency range. In this way, the user equipment may identify the candidate affected frequency range.

[0027] The candidate affected frequency range may be a non-serving frequency, and the user equipment may be configured to receive one or more of the following from the network equipment: an indication of an absolute radio frequency channel number of a center frequency of the candidate affected frequency range, an absolute radio frequency channel number of point A, a subcarrier spacing, and bandwidth portion information for each bandwidth portion of the candidate affected frequency range. In this way, the user equipment may identify the candidate affected frequency range. Point A' is a common reference point for all resource grids in the frequency domain. Point A is the center of subcarrier 0 of common resource block 0 of the lowest resource grid. Point A may be outside the carrier bandwidth.

[0028] The user equipment may be configured to send the indication of the one or more frequency ranges as an identification of one or more affected physical resource blocks of the first frequency range. The user equipment may be configured to send the indication of the one or more frequency ranges as an identification of one or more affected physical resource blocks of the candidate affected frequency range. In this way, the user equipment may inform the network device of the affected physical resource blocks, so that only the actual affected physical resource blocks may be avoided.

[0029] The candidate affected frequency range may be a serving frequency, and the user equipment may be configured to receive an absolute radio frequency channel number of a center frequency of the candidate affected frequency range from the network device. In this way, the user equipment may identify the candidate affected frequency range.

[0030] The candidate affected frequency range may be a non-serving frequency, and the user equipment may be configured to receive one or more of the following from the network device: an absolute radio frequency channel number of a center frequency of the candidate affected frequency range, an absolute radio frequency channel number of point A, and a subcarrier spacing. In this way, the user equipment may identify the candidate affected frequency range.

[0031] The user equipment may be configured to send the identification of the one or more affected physical resource blocks as a bitmap, a start index and a number of affected physical resource blocks or a start index and an end index of the affected physical resource blocks. In this way, the user equipment may notify the network device of the affected physical resource blocks.

[0032] The user equipment may also be configured to send an indication of one or more other affected frequency ranges to the network device, wherein the one or more other affected frequency ranges are outside the candidate affected frequency ranges. In this way, the user equipment may report the affected frequency ranges outside the candidate ranges indicated by the network device that cause interference to the in-device coexistence.

[0033] The user equipment may be configured to receive the indication of the candidate affected frequency range from the network device as an absolute radio frequency channel number of a center frequency and an individual bandwidth of one or more individual candidate affected frequency ranges or an absolute radio frequency channel number of a center frequency and a common bandwidth covering a plurality of candidate affected frequency ranges. In this way, the user equipment may receive the candidate affected frequency ranges as individual ranges or as a common range covering a plurality of candidate affected frequency ranges.

[0034] The one or more different radio technologies may include one or more technologies in Long Term Evolution, New Radio, WiFi, Wireless Local Area Network, Global Positioning System and Bluetooth. In this way, the above method can be used to reduce interference in device coexistence in modern devices such as smart phones.

[0035] The user equipment may be configured to send the indication of the one or more frequency ranges to the network device in a radio resource control message. This may be compatible with existing procedures.

[0036] One of the one or more frequency ranges may be affected by interference between a new air interface transmission from a user equipment and a non-3GPP reception arriving at the user equipment. One of the one or more frequency ranges may be affected by interference between a non-3GPP transmission from a user equipment and a new air interface reception arriving at the user equipment. The interference caused by these technologies may affect different frequency ranges in the candidate affected frequency ranges. Therefore, the affected frequency ranges may be reported to the network device separately.

[0037] The network device may be a primary node, and the user equipment may also be used to communicate with a secondary node in the communication network under a multi-radio access technology dual-connectivity solution. This may be compatible with existing procedures.

[0038] The user equipment may be configured to: receive information about the candidate affected frequency range from the primary node; and send information about the one or more frequency ranges to the secondary node. In this way, the user equipment may inform the secondary node of the frequency range affected by the interference of in-device coexistence.

[0039] The user equipment may be configured to send the information related to the one or more frequency ranges to the secondary node via a signaling radio bearer type 3 or a signaling radio bearer type 1. This may be a convenient implementation manner.

[0040] The user equipment may be configured to receive transmissions from the secondary node, wherein the transmissions comply with scheduling restrictions applied by the secondary node based on the one or more frequency ranges. In this way, communications between the user equipment and the secondary node may avoid frequency ranges affected by in-device coexistence interference.

[0041] According to a second aspect, a network device in a communication network is provided. The network device is used to: communicate with a user equipment in the communication network in a first communication session, in which the user equipment is in an RCC_CONNECTED state and is used to report interference from in-device coexistence according to a first in-device coexistence configuration; send a request to the user equipment to make the user equipment operate in an RRC_INACTIVE state; send an indication to the user equipment to make the user equipment store the first configuration for use in a second communication session, wherein the second communication session is later in time than the first communication session. This can facilitate the network device to notify the user equipment to use the first IDC configuration in a communication session when the user equipment is operating in the RRC_INACTIVE state or in a subsequent communication session when the user equipment is in the RRC_CONNECTED state.

[0042] The second communication session may be a small data transmission communication session, and the network device may be further configured to send one or more scheduling restrictions and / or one or more time division multiplexing modes (e.g., in the form of a discontinuous reception (DRX) configuration) to the user equipment for use in the small data transmission communication session. In this way, the network device may assist the user equipment in avoiding use of one or more frequency ranges affected by IDC interference in the SDT communication session.

[0043] The second communication session may be a small data transfer communication session, and the network device may be further configured to send an indication of a new in-device coexistence configuration to be used in the small data transfer communication session to the user equipment. In this way, the user equipment may use the new IDC configuration to report an IDC problem in the SDT communication session.

[0044] The network device may be configured to store the first in-device coexistence configuration in user equipment context information in the second communication session. The network device may be configured to not release the first in-device coexistence configuration from the user equipment context information stored in the network device. The network device may be configured to not release the first in-device coexistence configuration when configuring the device for small data transmission in the RRC_INACTIVE state. The network device may be configured to instruct the user equipment to store and / or use the first in-device coexistence configuration in a subsequent communication session.

[0045] The network device may be configured to operate as a last serving node in the communication network, and the network device may be further configured to provide the first in-device coexistence configuration and / or the new in-device coexistence configuration to the receiving node when the user equipment initiates a new small data transmission communication session with the receiving node in the communication network. In this way, the user equipment may report an IDC problem after a handover between network devices or a user equipment context transfer.

[0046] The network device may be used to send signals to and receive signals from the user equipment in the communication network over a first frequency range, wherein signals generated by one or more different radio technologies are transmitted within at least a portion of the first frequency range. The network device may be used to: send a request to the user equipment indicating whether any frequency range in the first frequency range is affected by interference between signals generated by one or more of the different radio technologies; receive an indication of one or more frequency ranges in the first frequency range from the user equipment, wherein the one or more frequency ranges are affected by interference between signals generated by one or more of the different radio technologies. The one or more frequency ranges may be corresponding subsets of the first frequency range, and the frequency range of each corresponding subset is less than or equal to the range of carrier frequencies of the first frequency range. In this way, the network device may configure the user equipment to report fine-grained indications of frequencies affected by interference at different levels, so that the network can take appropriate measures to address in-device coexistence issues. Alternatively or in addition, the user equipment may request the use of a TDM mode that defines a scheduled time period for data transmission or reception and / or an unscheduled time period for one of the different radio technologies, while other radio technologies of the different radio technologies may perform data transmission or reception. The first in-device coexistence configuration and / or the new in-device coexistence configuration may configure the user equipment to indicate whether any frequency range in the first frequency range is affected by interference between signals generated by one or more of the different radio technologies, as described above.

[0047] The network device may be configured to: provide an indication of candidate affected frequency ranges in the first frequency range to the user equipment; and receive the indication of the one or more frequency ranges from the user equipment. In this way, the network device may configure the user equipment to report frequencies affected by interference in the candidate affected frequency ranges.

[0048] The network device may be configured to provide the indication of the candidate affected frequency range to the user equipment as an indication of an absolute radio frequency channel number (ARFCN) of a center frequency of the candidate affected frequency range and a bandwidth of the candidate affected frequency range. This may be a convenient way of providing frequency ranges to user equipment.

[0049] The network device may be configured to provide the indication of the candidate affected frequency range to the user equipment as an indication of the absolute radio frequency channel number of the starting point of the candidate affected frequency range and the absolute radio frequency channel number of the end point of the candidate affected frequency range. This may be an alternative convenient way of providing frequency ranges to the user equipment.

[0050] The network device may be configured to receive the indication of the one or more frequency ranges as an identification of one or more affected bandwidth portions of the first frequency range. The network device may be configured to receive the indication of the one or more frequency ranges as an identification of one or more affected bandwidth portions of the candidate affected frequency range. In this way, the network device may be aware of the affected bandwidth portions, so that only the actual affected bandwidth portions may be avoided.

[0051] The candidate affected frequency range may be a serving frequency, and the network device may be configured to send to the user equipment an indication of an absolute radio frequency channel number of a center frequency of the candidate affected frequency range and an indication of one or more bandwidth portion identifiers of the candidate affected frequency range. This may be a convenient way to provide a frequency range to the user equipment.

[0052] The candidate affected frequency range may be a non-serving frequency, and the network device may be configured to send to the user equipment one or more of: an indication of an absolute radio frequency channel number of a center frequency of the candidate affected frequency range, an absolute radio frequency channel number of point A, a subcarrier spacing, and bandwidth portion information for each bandwidth portion of the candidate affected frequency range. This may be a convenient way to provide frequency ranges to the user equipment.

[0053] The network device may be configured to receive the indication of the one or more frequency ranges as an identification of one or more affected physical resource blocks of the first frequency range. The network device may be configured to receive the indication of the one or more frequency ranges as an identification of one or more affected physical resource blocks of the candidate affected frequency range. In this way, the network device may be informed of the affected physical resource blocks, so that only the actual affected physical resource blocks may be avoided.

[0054] The candidate affected frequency range may be a serving frequency, and the network device may be configured to send the absolute radio frequency channel number of the center frequency of the candidate affected frequency range to the user equipment. This may be a convenient way to provide the frequency range to the user equipment.

[0055] The candidate affected frequency range may be a non-serving frequency, and the network device may be configured to send one or more of the following to the user equipment: an absolute radio frequency channel number of a center frequency of the candidate affected frequency range, an absolute radio frequency channel number of point A, and a subcarrier spacing. This may be a convenient way to provide a frequency range to the user equipment.

[0056] The network device may be configured to receive the identification of the one or more affected physical resource blocks as a bitmap, a start index and a number of affected physical resource blocks, or a start index and an end index of the affected physical resource blocks. In this way, the network device may determine which physical resource blocks are affected.

[0057] The network device may also be used to receive an indication of one or more other affected frequency ranges from the user equipment, wherein the one or more other affected frequency ranges are outside the candidate affected frequency range. In this way, the affected frequency ranges outside the candidate range that cause interference coexistence in the device can be reported to the network device. This may also include a situation where the network device does not provide a candidate affected frequency range. In this case, the user equipment is able to report one or more affected frequency ranges according to an indication configured by the network device for the user equipment to report any affected frequency range in the first frequency range (i.e., the entire frequency range used by the device, for example, the 5G spectrum).

[0058] The network device may be used to receive an indication of one or more time division multiplexing modes from the user equipment, wherein the one or more time division multiplexing modes are used to schedule data in one or more directions of the uplink direction and the downlink direction, and are to be used between one or more radio technologies of the different radio technologies implemented by the user equipment. The network device may be used to receive the indication of the one or more time division multiplexing modes for one or more frequency ranges (e.g., for FR1 and FR2) in the first spectrum range for the first spectrum range. The network device may be used to receive the indication of the one or more time division multiplexing modes for the primary cell group and the secondary cell group used under the dual connectivity scheme. Based on the indication of the one or more time division multiplexing modes received from the user equipment, the network device may be used to apply scheduling restrictions or configure discontinuous reception or interval mode for the communication between the network device and the user equipment, so that the one or more affected frequencies are not used to send communication in the uplink direction or the downlink direction. This can avoid subframes affected by coexisting interference within the device.

[0059] The network device may be configured to provide the indication of the candidate affected frequency ranges to the user equipment as one or more individual candidate affected frequency ranges or as a common frequency range covering a plurality of candidate affected frequency ranges. The network device may be configured to provide the indication of the candidate affected frequency ranges to the user equipment as one or more absolute radio frequency channel numbers and individual bandwidths or as a common bandwidth covering a plurality of candidate affected frequency ranges. Thus, the network device may send the indication of the candidate affected frequency ranges as an absolute radio frequency channel number and an individual bandwidth or as a common bandwidth covering a plurality of candidate affected frequency ranges.

[0060] Based on the indication of the one or more frequency ranges received from the user equipment, the network device may be configured to apply scheduling restrictions for communications between the network device and the user equipment such that communications are not sent using the one or more frequency ranges. This may avoid frequencies affected by in-device co-existing interference.

[0061] Based on the indication of the one or more frequency ranges received from the user equipment, the network device may be configured to configure the user equipment to perform additional inter-frequency measurements. This may be a convenient implementation.

[0062] Based on the indication of the one or more frequency ranges received from the user equipment, the network device may be configured to move the user equipment to a preferred serving frequency, so as to avoid frequency ranges affected by interference.

[0063] The network device may be a base station. The network device may be a gNodeB. In this way, the network device may be used in a telecommunication network.

[0064] The gNodeB may include a centralized unit, one or more distributed units, and an interface connecting the centralized unit with the one or more distributed units, the network device being configured to include an indication of the scheduling restriction (alternatively or additionally, a discontinuous reception mode and / or a gapped mode) in a UE CONTEXT MODIFICATION REQUEST message or a UE CONTEXT MODIFICATION RESONSE message sent via the interface. In this way, the gNodeB may transmit the scheduling restriction over the F1 interface of the gNB having a split architecture.

[0065] The network equipment may be configured to receive the indication of the one or more frequency ranges from the user equipment in a Radio Resource Control (RRC) message. This may be compatible with existing procedures.

[0066] The network device may be a master node, and the master node is used to communicate with the user equipment and a secondary node in the communication network under a multi-radio access technology dual-connectivity solution. This is compatible with existing procedures.

[0067] The network device may be configured to: receive information related to the candidate affected frequency range from the secondary node; and send information related to the one or more frequency ranges to the secondary node. In this way, the secondary node may learn the frequency range affected by the interference coexisting in the device.

[0068] The network device may be configured to receive one or more of the following from a neighboring node in the communication network: information about the candidate affected frequency range and one or more frequency ranges, wherein the one or more frequency ranges are affected by interference between signals generated by one or more of the different radio technologies implemented by the user equipment for a cell controlled by the neighboring node. In this way, the network device may learn the affected frequencies of nearby nodes.

[0069] According to another aspect, a computer-readable storage medium storing computer-readable instructions is provided. When the computer-readable instructions are executed at a computer system, the computer system performs the above method. The computer system may include one or more processors. The computer-readable storage medium may be a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0070] The present invention is described below by way of examples in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. In the accompanying drawings:

[0071] Figure 1 In-device coexistence in a user equipment is schematically illustrated, where the user equipment includes a transceiver supporting multiple different radio frequency technologies including WiFi, Bluetooth, New Radio, and Global Positioning System.

[0072] Figure 2 An embodiment of the present invention is shown in a schematic diagram, wherein the user equipment reports the affected frequencies as one or more actually affected frequency ranges to the network equipment.

[0073] Figure 3 An embodiment of the present invention is schematically shown, wherein the user equipment reports the affected frequencies as one or more actually affected bandwidth parts (BWP) to the network equipment.

[0074] Figure 4 An embodiment of the present invention is shown in a schematic diagram, wherein the user equipment reports the affected frequencies as one or more actual affected physical resource blocks (PRBs) to the network device.

[0075] FIG5(a) schematically shows an example of a recommended TDM mode sent by a user equipment (UE) to a network device.

[0076] FIG5( b ) schematically shows an example of a discontinuous reception (DRX) mode configured by a network device (gNB) for a user equipment (UE).

[0077] Figure 6 An exemplary communication process between a user equipment, a primary node and a secondary node in a multi-radio access technology dual-connection solution is shown.

[0078] Figure 7 Another exemplary communication process between a user equipment, a primary node and a secondary node in a multi-radio access technology dual-connection solution is shown, wherein the user equipment communicates with the secondary node via a radio signal bearer type 3.

[0079] FIG8( a ) shows another exemplary communication process between a user equipment, a primary node and a secondary node in a multi-radio access technology dual-connectivity solution implementing frequency division multiplexing, wherein the user equipment communicates with the secondary node via radio signal bearer type 1.

[0080] FIG8( b ) shows another exemplary communication process between a user equipment, a primary node and a secondary node in a multi-radio access technology dual-connectivity solution implementing frequency division multiplexing, wherein the user equipment communicates with the secondary node via radio signal bearer type 3.

[0081] FIG9( a ) shows another exemplary communication process between a user equipment, a primary node and a secondary node in a multi-radio access technology dual-connectivity solution implementing time division multiplexing, wherein the user equipment communicates with the secondary node via radio signal bearer type 1.

[0082] FIG9( b ) shows another exemplary communication process between a user equipment, a primary node and a secondary node in a multi-radio access technology dual-connectivity solution implementing time division multiplexing, wherein the user equipment communicates with the secondary node via radio signal bearer type 3.

[0083] Fig.10 An exemplary communication process between a user equipment, a primary node and a secondary node in a multi-radio access technology dual-connection scheme implementing time division multiplexing is shown, wherein interference is caused by intermodulation distortion caused by simultaneous transmission to non-3GPP on the uplink frequency.

[0084] Fig.11 An exemplary communication process between a user equipment and a network device implementing frequency division multiplexing is shown, and optional measures that can be taken by the network device to configure the user equipment to perform in-device coexistence reporting in the RRC_INACTIVE state are shown.

[0085] Fig.12 An exemplary communication process between a user device and a network device implementing frequency division multiplexing is shown, and optional measures that can be taken by the network device when the network device detects interference from coexistence within the device during small data transmission are shown.

[0086] Fig.13 An exemplary communication process between a user equipment and a network device implementing time division multiplexing is shown, and optional measures that can be taken by the network device to configure the user equipment to perform in-device coexistence reporting in the RRC_INACTIVE state are shown.

[0087] Fig.14 An exemplary communication process between a user device and a network device implementing time division multiplexing is shown, and optional measures that can be taken by the network device when the network device detects interference from coexistence within the device during small data transmission are shown.

[0088] Fig.15An exemplary communication flow is shown, wherein a user equipment moves from a last serving network node to a receiving network node, and in-device coexistence configuration for small data transmission is processed with migration of UE context information from the last serving node to the receiving node.

[0089] Fig.16 An exemplary communication flow of an alternative implementation is shown, wherein a user equipment moves from a last serving network node to a receiving network node, and in-device coexistence configuration for small data transmission is handled with migration of UE context information from the last serving node to the receiving node.

[0090] Fig.17 An exemplary communication flow is shown in which a user equipment moves from a last serving network node to a receiving network node, and in-device coexistence configuration for small data transmission is processed without migrating UE context information from the last serving node to the receiving node.

[0091] Fig.18 An exemplary communication flow of an alternative implementation is shown, wherein a user equipment moves from a last serving network node to a receiving network node, and in-device coexistence configuration for small data transmission is processed without migrating UE context information from the last serving node to the receiving node.

[0092] Fig.19 A flowchart showing steps of an example of a method implemented at a user equipment provided by an embodiment of the present invention is shown.

[0093] Fig. 20 A flowchart showing steps of an example of a method provided by an embodiment of the present invention for implementation at a network device is shown. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0094] A communication network usually includes multiple nodes. Each node is a network device, i.e. a connection point in a communication network, which can be used as an endpoint for data transmission or redistribution. Each node can be a gNodeB (gNB), etc.

[0095] The Next Generation Radio Access Network (NG-RAN) may include multiple gNBs. Each gNB may include multiple computing entities, such as a Centralised Unit (CU) and multiple Distributed Units (DU). The CU may communicate with the DU via the F1 interface, which is the interface that connects the gNB CU to the gNB DU.

[0096] Two gNBs in the network can be interconnected through the Xn network interface, which is the network interface between NG-RAN nodes in NG-RAN. The gNB is also connected to the 5G Core Network (5GC) through the Next Generation (NG) network interface, more specifically, to the Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) through the Control Plane Interface (NG-C) between NG-RAN and 5GC and to the User Plane Function (UPF) through the User Plane Interface (NG-U) between NG-RAN and 5GC.

[0097] Each network node may include at least one processor and at least one memory. The memory stores code in a non-transient manner, which can be executed by one or more processors to implement the above-mentioned nodes using the methods described in this article. These nodes may also include a transceiver for sending and receiving data. The communication network is preferably a wireless network.

[0098] One or more gNBs in the network can communicate with user equipment (UE) such as a mobile phone, laptop or tablet. The UE can be used to implement one or more different radio technologies. The different radio technologies can include one or more of Long Term Evolution (LTE), New Radio (NR), WiFi, Wireless Local Area Network (W-LAN), Global Positioning System (GPS) and Bluetooth, or any other common technology used in modern devices.

[0099] Each UE may include at least one processor and at least one memory. The memory stores code in a non-transient manner, which can be executed by one or more processors to implement the above device in the manner described in this article. The UE may also include a transceiver for sending and receiving data.

[0100] The UE and one or more network nodes can communicate with each other using the Radio Resource Control (RRC) protocol (e.g., see https: / / en.wikipedia.org / wiki / Radio_Resource_Control). When an RRC connection has been established between a user equipment and a network device, the user equipment can be in an RRC_CONNECTED state or in an RRC_INACTIVE state. If this is not the case, i.e., no RRC connection is established, the UE is in an RRC_IDLE state. In the RRC_INACTIVE state, a UE in a network such as NG-RAN can move within an area configured by the NG-RAN (RAN-based notification area (RNA)) without notifying the NG-RAN. The purpose of small data transmission (SDT) is to create a technical solution that allows the UE to send or receive small data to or from a network node while remaining in the RRC_INACTIVE state.

[0101] The UE may communicate with the gNB using one or more of the different radio technologies over a frequency range. The frequency range may include frequencies in the radio frequency portion of the electromagnetic spectrum corresponding to frequencies from about 3 Hz to 3000 GHz. The frequency range may include frequencies in the 5G spectrum from about 700 MHz to 80 GHz. One or more of the different radio technologies may each use at least a portion of this frequency range to transmit signals between the UE and the gNB. The one or more portions of the frequency range used by each technology may not be adjacent and / or contiguous frequency ranges, and in some cases (e.g., where the technologies use frequency hopping), the one or more portions may not be the same for each time slot. In one or more of the frequency ranges in the frequency range that the UE is configured to operate in a normal situation, interference may exist between signals generated by one or more of the different radio technologies implemented by the UE. The interference may be caused by the use of two or more of the different radio technologies implemented by the user equipment to transmit or receive corresponding signals, or may be caused by interference generated by a single technology using different frequencies (e.g., different frequencies used by 5G NR).

[0102] The network node may configure the UE to report indications of frequencies affected by IDC interference at different levels, so that the network may take appropriate measures to reduce the IDC interference.

[0103] The various examples described below detail information that the gNB can configure by providing an in-device coexistence configuration to the UE, which enables the UE to report frequencies affected by IDC interference in a fine-grained manner, rather than just reporting the carrier frequency (the carrier frequency is the frequency of the carrier, which is modulated to transmit the signal) where IDC interference exists. This configuration is also referred to herein as an enhanced IDC configuration. The carrier frequency may also be referred to as a frequency band. A frequency band or carrier frequency is a specific frequency range in the radio frequency (RF) spectrum. Each frequency band has a well-defined upper and lower limit. Here, the frequency range or ranges actually affected by IDC interference are smaller than the frequency range of the carrier or frequency band.

[0104] A network device (a gNB in ​​the example described herein, but may be another type of network device) provides an IDC configuration to a UE so that the UE can report frequencies affected by IDC interference. Typically, the gNB may configure the UE to use an RRC reconfiguration process to report the affected frequencies, thereby sending one or more RRC reconfiguration messages from the gNB to the UE. As part of this process, as described in detail below, the gNB configures the UE to indicate whether any frequency range in a first frequency range is affected by interference between signals generated by one or more radio technologies in different radio technologies. In some implementations, the gNB may send an indication of a candidate affected frequency range to the UE (as part of the IDC configuration), within which the UE is requested to report the frequency range affected by the IDC problem. This information (optionally including the indication of the candidate affected frequency range) may be included in an OtherConfig information element (IE) in the RRC reconfiguration message sent by the gNB to the UE.

[0105] When the UE detects IDC, the UE may report the actual affected frequency range at the following levels, for example, one or more affected bandwidth parts, a portion of an affected bandwidth part, a portion of an affected carrier frequency range, or a range of affected physical resource blocks of a candidate affected frequency range and / or a range outside of a candidate range. The UE may send an indication of the actual affected frequencies as part of a UE Assistance Information message sent by the UE to the gNB. This is an RRC message that provides information to the UE, for example, any preferred configuration or interference problem reporting.

[0106] As described in detail below, based on information about the affected frequency range received from the UE (e.g., as part of UE Assistance Information (UAI)), the gNB may temporarily apply scheduling restrictions, configure the UE to perform additional inter-frequency measurements, or move the UE to a preferred serving frequency.

[0107] Various possible technical solutions for IDC configuration and reporting are described below. These exemplary technical solutions can be applied to configuration and reporting in any network embodiment described herein.

[0108] Figure 2 A first embodiment is shown in a schematic diagram. In this example, the UE is configured to communicate with the gNB using WiFi and NR, and there is interference in the frequency range used by the UE for WiFi and NR transmission and reception. The gNB provides an IDC configuration to the UE. In this example, the IDC configuration includes an indication of a candidate affected frequency range as shown in 201. The candidate affected frequency range is a specific frequency range specified by the IDC configuration where the UE is requested to report any IDC issues. The candidate frequency range can be a single frequency range or a wider common frequency range covering multiple individual candidate affected frequency ranges. In other examples, the gNB can send a general request to the UE to report any interference issues on the entire frequency range that the UE is configured to operate.

[0109] In this example, the candidate affected frequency range 201 is a single frequency range. The center frequency of the candidate affected frequency range is shown as 203. The starting frequency of the candidate affected frequency range is shown as 204, and the ending frequency of the candidate affected frequency range is shown as 205. The bandwidth of the candidate affected frequency range is shown as 206. The bandwidth 206 is equal to the difference between the starting frequency 204 and the ending frequency 205.

[0110] The gNB may send an indication of the candidate affected frequency ranges to the UE on a current serving channel having a frequency range as shown in 207. This may be sent to the UE using NR or WiFi.

[0111] In one embodiment, the gNB may provide an indication of the candidate affected frequency range to the UE as an indication of an absolute radio frequency channel number (ARFCN) of a center frequency of the candidate affected frequency range and a bandwidth of the candidate affected frequency range.

[0112] ARFCN is a code that specifies a pair of reference frequencies used for transmission and reception in a wireless system. In a frequency division duplex (FDD) system, one ARFCN number is required for the downlink and another ARFCN number is required for the uplink (because the downlink and uplink frequencies are different), while for a time division duplex (TDD) system, one ARFCN number is sufficient because the downlink and uplink frequencies remain unchanged.

[0113] In another implementation, the gNB may provide an indication of the candidate affected frequency range as an indication of the ARFCN of the starting point of the candidate affected frequency range 204 and an indication of the ARFCN of the end point of the candidate affected frequency range 205 to the user equipment.

[0114] In this embodiment, in response to receiving an indication of a candidate affected frequency range 201, the UE may report one or more frequency ranges of the candidate affected frequencies, which are actually affected by interference between signals generated by one or more radio technologies among different radio technologies implemented by the UE.

[0115] exist Figure 2 In the embodiment of the present invention, frequency ranges 208 and 209 are affected by IDC interference. These affected frequency ranges and other frequency ranges described herein may be detected by any suitable method, for example, analyzing data packets received at the user equipment, determining a bit error rate (BER), analyzing a received signal strength indicator (RSSI), or performing a cyclic redundancy check (CRC). Frequency ranges 208 and 209 are corresponding subsets of the candidate affected frequency range 201. The frequency range of each corresponding subset 208 and 209 is smaller than the range of the carrier frequency of the candidate affected frequency range 201.

[0116] The one or more affected frequency ranges may be different sub-ranges of the candidate affected frequency range, which are affected by interference between transmitted signals and / or received signals generated by one or more of the different radio technologies implemented by the UE.

[0117] In this particular example, frequency range 208 is affected by interference between non-3GPP (e.g., WiFi) transmissions from the UE and NR receptions (RX) arriving at the UE. Frequency range 209 is affected by interference between NR transmissions (TX) from the UE and non-3GPP receptions arriving at the UE. Frequency ranges 208 and 209 are different sub-ranges of candidate affected frequency ranges 201. Therefore, using this technique, these different sub-ranges of the candidate affected frequency ranges can be reported separately to the gNB.

[0118] Therefore, for each (single or multiple) candidate affected frequency range, if the UE detects an IDC problem within the frequency range configured by the gNB (i.e., the candidate affected frequency range), the UE reports the actual affected frequency range to the gNB, and the reporting granularity can be smaller than the range of the carrier frequency of the candidate affected frequency range.

[0119] The UE can report one or more actual affected frequency ranges to the gNB via a number of different methods.

[0120] In one embodiment, the UE reports the ARFCN of the center frequency of the corresponding affected frequency range and the bandwidth of the corresponding affected frequency range. In another embodiment, the UE reports the ARFCN of the start point of the corresponding affected frequency range and the ARFCN of the end point of the corresponding affected frequency range to the gNB. The meanings of these terms are the same as Figure 2 The terms are the same as those shown and described for the candidate affected frequency ranges in . From this, the gNB can determine the frequency ranges to avoid in subsequent communications.

[0121] Figure 3 An alternative embodiment is shown where the UE may report the identity of one or more actual affected bandwidth parts (BWPs) to the gNB.

[0122] A BWP is a set of contiguous physical resource blocks (PRBs) on a given carrier. One PRB spans 12 subcarriers. The subcarriers can have different spacings, but for example, at a subcarrier spacing of 15kHz, one PRB corresponds to 180kHz. These PRBs are selected from a contiguous subset of common resource blocks for a given system parameter (numerology) (μ). Each BWP determined for the system parameter may have the following parameters: subcarrier spacing, symbol duration, and cyclic prefix (CP) length.

[0123] exist Figure 3 In the example shown, the candidate affected frequency range is shown as 301. Three separate BWPs (BWP 1, BWP 2, and BWP 3) within the candidate affected frequency range are shown.

[0124] In response to receiving an indication of a candidate affected frequency range 301, the UE reports to the gNB one or more BWPs actually affected by interference of the candidate affected frequencies.

[0125] The gNB may send an indication of the candidate affected frequency ranges for the UE on a current serving channel having a frequency range as shown at 302. This may be sent to the UE using NR or WiFi.

[0126] To enable the UE to report the identities of one or more affected BWPs, the gNB may configure the UE with the following information for the candidate affected frequency 301.

[0127] When the candidate affected frequency is a serving frequency, the gNB may send to the UE an indication of the ARFCN of the center frequency of the candidate affected frequency range and an indication of one or more BWP identifiers (identifiers, IDs) of the candidate affected frequency range (i.e., the identifiers of the BWPs of the candidate affected frequency range). Figure 3 In the example shown, the candidate affected frequency range includes BWP 1 to 3. Therefore, the gNB sends an indication of the ARFCN of the center frequency of the candidate affected frequency range 301 and the BWP IDs of BWP 1 to 3 to the UE.

[0128] When the candidate affected frequency range is a non-serving frequency, the gNB may send one or more of the following to the UE: an indication of the ARFCN of the center frequency of the candidate affected frequency range, the ARFCN of point A, the subcarrier spacing (SCS), and BWP information for each bandwidth part of the candidate affected frequency range. The BWP information may include the identification of the BWP, the location and bandwidth of the BWP, the subcarrier spacing of the BWP, etc.

[0129] For non-serving frequencies, the UE may determine the frequency domain location and bandwidth of the candidate affected BWP based on the ARFCN at point A, the subcarrier spacing, and the BWP information for each bandwidth portion of the candidate affected frequency range, including the location and bandwidth of the BWP provided by the gNB and SCS).

[0130] For each candidate affected frequency range, if the UE detects an IDC problem within one or more BWPs configured by the gNB (i.e., one or more BWPs within the candidate affected frequency range indicated by the gNB), the UE may report the identity of the actual affected BWP to the gNB.

[0131] The information for each affected frequency range reported by the UE to the gNB may include the ARFCN of the center frequency of each affected BWP and / or one or more BWP IDs of one or more actual affected BWPs.

[0132] like Figure 3 As shown, the affected BWPs 303, 304 are respective subsets of the candidate affected frequency range 301, and the frequency range of each respective subset 303, 304 is smaller than the range of the carrier frequency of the candidate affected frequency range 301; in this case, each respective subset includes one or more BWPs of the candidate affected frequency range.

[0133] Affected BWPs 303, 304 are different sub-ranges of the candidate affected frequency ranges that are affected by interference between transmitted or received signals generated by one or more of the different radio technologies implemented by the UE. In this particular example, the frequency range 303 including BWP 1 is affected by interference between non-3GPP (e.g., WiFi) transmissions from the UE and NR receptions arriving at the UE. The frequency range 304 including BWPs 1 and 2 is affected by interference between NR transmissions from the UE and non-3GPP receptions arriving at the UE. Frequency ranges 303 and 304 are different sub-ranges of the candidate affected frequency range 301. Therefore, using this technique, these different sub-ranges of the candidate affected frequency range can be reported separately.

[0134] In yet another embodiment, Figure 4 As shown in the schematic diagram, the UE may report to the gNB the actual affected physical resource blocks (PRBs) of the candidate affected frequency range as shown in 401. The candidate affected frequency range 401 includes one or more PRBs. In this example, the candidate affected frequency range 401 includes multiple PRBs, one of which is shown in 402.

[0135] To enable the UE to report one or more actual affected PRBs, the gNB may configure the UE with the following information for the candidate affected frequency range 401.

[0136] The gNB may send an indication of the candidate affected frequency range 401 to the UE on the current serving channel having a frequency range as shown in 403. This may be sent to the UE using NR or WiFi.

[0137] When the candidate affected frequency range 401 is the serving frequency, the gNB may send the ARFCN of the center frequency of the candidate affected frequency range plus the bandwidth of the candidate affected frequency range to the UE, or may send the ARFCN of the starting frequency and the ending frequency of the candidate affected frequency range.

[0138] When the candidate affected frequency range 401 is a non-serving frequency, the gNB may send the ARFCN of the center frequency of the candidate affected frequency range, the ARFCN of point A, and the SCS. For the non-serving frequency, the UE may determine the frequency domain position based on the ARFCN of point A and the SCS of the gNB.

[0139] For each candidate affected frequency range, if the UE detects an IDC problem within the gNB configured carrier bandwidth, the UE may report one or more actual affected PRBs of the carrier to the gNB.

[0140] For each actually affected frequency range, the UE may send the ARFCN of the center frequency of the corresponding frequency range and an indication of the actually affected PRBs.

[0141] The indication of the actual affected PRB or PRBs may be sent to the gNB as a bitmap of affected PRBs, a start index and the number of affected PRBs or a start index of the affected PRBs and an end index of the affected PRBs.

[0142] In this particular example, the affected PRB at 404 is affected by interference between the non-3GPP transmission sent by the UE and the NR reception arriving at the UE. The affected PRB at 405 is affected by interference between the NR transmission sent by the UE and the non-3GPP reception arriving at the UE. Frequency ranges 404 and 405 are different sub-ranges of candidate affected frequency 401. Therefore, using this technique, these different sub-ranges of the candidate affected frequency range can be reported separately.

[0143] In yet another embodiment, the UE may also report information of non-configured frequency ranges outside the candidate affected frequency ranges indicated by the gNB to the UE as part of the IDC configuration process.

[0144] In this embodiment, the gNB may configure one or more candidate affected frequency ranges, as described in any of the above embodiments. If the UE detects an IDC problem outside of one or more candidate affected frequency ranges configured by the gNB, the UE may report these frequency ranges or frequency range combinations to the gNB. In other words, if the UE has an IDC interference problem on these frequencies or frequency combinations, one or more affected frequency ranges that are not configured by the network (i.e., not part of the candidate affected frequency ranges sent to the UE) may be reported.

[0145] Therefore, in the above example, the UE may indicate to the gNB one or more frequency ranges actually affected by interference between signals transmitted and received by the UE on a specific frequency, with a granularity smaller than the carrier frequency of the candidate affected frequency range, instead of indicating the entire carrier frequency.

[0146] Based on information received from the UE indicating one or more actual affected frequency ranges, for example, in an RRC UE Assistance Information message, the gNB may perform operations including, but not limited to, applying scheduling restrictions to communications between the gNB and the UE such that communications are not sent using one or more affected frequency ranges; moving the UE to a preferred serving frequency; and configuring the UE to perform additional inter-frequency measurements.

[0147] The information indicating one or more frequency ranges affected by IDC interference may also be referred to as IDC assistance information.

[0148] In some embodiments, the UE may send an indication of the TDM pattern to the gNB along with information indicating one or more actually affected frequency ranges.

[0149] The gNB may indicate to the UE that TDM-based assistance information may be used. Such an indication may be included in the IDC configuration sent to the UE.

[0150] The UE may also report discontinuous reception (DRX) (see https: / / en.wikipedia.org / wiki / Discontinuous_reception) assistance information to the gNB. The DRX assistance information may include one or more of the DRX cycle length, the DRX offset, and the DRX active time, among others.

[0151] When the UE reports one or more affected frequency ranges to the gNB, the UE may propose a TDM mode. In response, the gNB may configure a DRX mode for the UE.

[0152] FIG5(a) shows an example of a TDM pattern suggested by a UE, indicating the pattern period, the scheduled time period, and the non-scheduled time period.

[0153] Figure 5(b) shows an example of DRX configuration information sent by the gNB to the UE, indicating the DRX cycle, duration, and the portion of the cycle that has the opportunity to operate on the ISM band.

[0154] In some embodiments, the gNB may be one of multiple nodes in the network and may be used as a master node (MN) for communicating with the UE in a multi-radio access technology dual connectivity (MRDC) scheme.

[0155] Under the MRDC scheme, the UE can propose a TDM mode for a Master Cell Group (MCG) controlled by a MN and a Secondary Cell Group (SCG) controlled by a Secondary Node (SN). In response, the MN and the SN can configure a separate DRX mode for the UE.

[0156] Under MRDC, the MN acts as a control entity, thereby utilizing the SN, which is also used to communicate with the UE to obtain additional data capacity. Exemplary MRDC configurations include Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA) New Radio Dual Connectivity (E-UTRA→New Radio Dual Connectivity, EN-DC), New Radio Dual Connectivity (NR-DC), NG-RAN-E-UTRA Dual Connectivity (NGEN-DC) and New Radio E-UTRA Dual Connectivity (NE-DC). The following references Figure 6 and Figure 7 The described examples may implement any of these configurations.

[0157] As described below, the MN may receive information about candidate affected frequency ranges from the SN. The UE may send information about one or more affected frequency ranges to the SN via the MN or via a signaling radio bearer type 3 in the network.

[0158] Figure 6 An exemplary communication process of a network 600 including a UE 601, a MN 602 and a SN 603 is shown. The UE 601 is used to communicate with the MN and the SN under the MRDC solution.

[0159] At 604, SN 603 provides information about candidate affected frequency ranges of the SN serving frequency to MN 602. In this example, this information is provided in a Cell Group Configuration (CG-Config) information element (IE) of an RRC message. The candidate affected frequency ranges may be specified using the information described above with reference to Figures 2 to 4 Any format described (eg by indicating the ARFCN of the centre frequency and the candidate affected frequency range or the bandwidth of the affected frequency range) is indicated to the UE.

[0160] At 605, MN 602 provides information about candidate affected frequency ranges of SN serving frequencies to UE 601. In this example, this information is provided in the Other-Config IE of the RRC message. Alternatively or in addition, the MN may provide TDM related information to the SN in the Other-Config IE of the RRC message, which will be described in detail later.

[0161] At 606, UE 601 provides information about one or more actual affected frequencies within the candidate affected frequency range to MN 602. In this example, the information is provided in an IDC Assistance Information IE of an RRC message.

[0162] At 607, MN 602 provides information about one or more actual affected frequencies within the candidate affected frequency range to SN 603. In this example, the information is provided in the CG-ConfigInfo IE of the RRC message.

[0163] In an alternative implementation, the UE may send information about one or more actually affected frequency ranges to the SN 603 via a signaling radio bearer (SRB) type 3. Figure 7 An exemplary communication flow of the network 600 in this implementation is shown.

[0164] Step 701 and step 702 are respectively the same as those in the above reference Figure 6 Step 604 and step 605 are described to be the same.

[0165] exist Figure 7 At 703 in the figure, UE 601 directly provides information of one or more actually affected frequency ranges in the SN service frequency list to SN 603 through signaling radio bearer 3 (SRB3) in the network, and optionally provides preferred frequency range or TDM mode information for communicating with the UE. SRB3 is an SRB in the network for specific RRC messages when the UE is in dual connectivity, and the specific RRC message can be sent using a dedicated control channel (DCCH) logical channel.

[0166] At 704, information related to applying scheduling restrictions or switching one or more SN affected frequency ranges (eg, one or more BWPs or one or more PRBs) is provided directly to the UE over SRB3.

[0167] MN 602 and SN 603 may also exchange information of one or more actually affected frequency ranges to coordinate switching (handover) of one or more SN affected frequency ranges.

[0168] Therefore, SN 603 can be used to apply scheduling restrictions or switch one or more SN affected frequency ranges (which can be BWPs or PRBs) based on information received from the UE indicating the one or more actual affected frequency ranges.

[0169] In some embodiments of the present invention, using standalone (SA) and MRDC schemes, the UE may also additionally send to the gNB an indication of one or more TDM modes or a common TDM mode or a separate TDM mode, wherein the TDM mode is used to schedule data in one or more of the uplink (UL) (i.e., from the UE to the gNB) direction and the downlink (DL) (i.e., from the gNB to the UE) direction, the common TDM mode is used for both UL and DL and is to be used for one or more of the different radio technologies, and the separate TDM mode is used for MCG or SCG. The UE may also send an indication of a recommended spacing pattern to be used for one or more of the different radio technologies. The UE may send this additional information in an RRC message (e.g., a UE Assistance Information message) between the user equipment and the network equipment. The gNB may then configure the UE to use one or more recommended TDM modes and / or one or more spacing patterns, or different TDM modes or spacing patterns. The TDM pattern includes an indication of time periods during which communications using one of the different radio technologies (in this case, NR) may be scheduled or unscheduled.

[0170] Based on the indication of one or more recommended TDM modes received from the UE, the gNB may apply scheduling restrictions or configure discontinuous reception (DRX) for the communication between the gNB and the UE so that the communication is not sent using one or more affected frequency ranges in the UL direction or the DL direction, but rather TDM may be used to send the communication. This avoids the subframes affected by the IDC interference.

[0171] In the case where only the SN operating frequency band is affected by IDC interference, further enhancements of the EN-DC network and NR-DC network may include the following.

[0172] In some cases, there may be adjacent channel interference between the frequency range used by the SN in the MR-DC network for NR and one or more frequency ranges used by non-3GPP technologies (e.g., GPS and Bluetooth) implemented by the UE. In the case where the NR node operates as a SN within the MR-DC network configuration, and in the case where only the SN frequency is affected by the IDC interference and the MN frequency is not affected, the SN can use an enhancement scheme similar to the above-mentioned NR Stand Alone (SA) mode.

[0173] Two exemplary methods are described below, namely, depending on whether SRB3 is configured, the enhanced IDC configuration of the SN can be provided to the UE and how the UE reports.

[0174] If SRB3 is not configured, the SN gNB can configure IDC-related configurations for the UE through signal radio bearer type 1 (SRB1), and the UE can report IDC assistance information through SRB1, for example, reporting UE assistance information (UAI) in the ULInformationTransferMRDC message, and then sending the UAI to the SN using the RRCTransfer message.

[0175] This implementation is illustrated in the exemplary communication flow shown in Figure 8(a). At 801, SN 603 sends an NR RRCReconfiguration message to MN 602. This message indicates that enhanced IDC reporting with FDM is enabled. At 802, MN 602 sends an RRCReconfiguration message to UE 601. This message includes NR RRCReconfiguration information. At 803, UE 601 sends a ULInformationTransferMRDC message including UAI to MN 602, and then at 804, sends a ULInformationTransferMRDC message to SN using an RRCTransfer message.

[0176] Alternatively, if SRB3 is configured, the SN may configure the IDC configuration for the UE via SRB3. The UE may report the IDC assistance information via SRB3.

[0177] This implementation is illustrated in the exemplary communication flow shown in Figure 8(b). At 805, SN 603 sends a NR RRCReconfiguration message to MN 602. This message indicates that enhanced IDC reporting with FDM is enabled. At 806, UE 601 sends a UIA to SN 603 via SRB3.

[0178] In cases where the interference is caused by simultaneous transmissions to non-3GPP technologies (e.g., GPS and Bluetooth) in the UL frequency range, other enhancements can be provided for NR-DC networks. In this case, the affected carrier frequency combinations for NR-DC can be included in the IDC assistance information, which is used to indicate a list of NR carrier frequency combinations that are affected by IDC issues due to intermodulation when NR-DC is configured. In the CG-configInfo message, the affectedCarrierFreqCombMRDC field can be extended to cover NR-DC scenarios.

[0179] Other enhancements to TDM-based configuration and reporting that can be applied to EN-DC or NR-DC when only the SN frequency is affected by IDC interference may include the following. For the above FDM-based configuration and reporting, if SRB3 is not configured, the SN can configure IDC-related configurations for the UE through SRB1. The UE can report IDC assistance information through SRB1, that is, report UAI in the ULInformationTransferMRDC message.

[0180] This implementation is illustrated in the exemplary communication flow shown in Figure 9(a). At 901, SN 603 sends an NR RRCReconfiguration message to MN 602. This message indicates that enhanced IDC reporting with TDM enabled. At 902, MN 602 sends an RRCReconfiguration message to UE 601. This message includes NR RRCReconfiguration information. At 903, UE 601 sends a ULInformationTransferMRDC message including UAI to MN 602, and then at 904, sends a ULInformationTransferMRDC message to SN using an RRCTransfer message.

[0181] Alternatively, if SRB3 is configured, the SN may configure the IDC configuration for the UE via SRB3. The UE may report the IDC assistance information via SRB3.

[0182] This implementation is illustrated in the exemplary communication flow shown in Figure 9(b). At 905, SN 603 sends a NR RRCReconfiguration message to MN 602. This message indicates that enhanced IDC reporting with TDM is enabled. At 906, UE 601 sends a UIA to SN 603 via SRB3.

[0183] Therefore, in case the NR node operates as a SN within an MR-DC configuration, enhanced IDC configuration or SN-enabled TDM mode reporting may be provided to the UE via SRB1 or SRB3, depending on whether SRB3 is configured.

[0184] In case the interference is caused by simultaneous transmission to non-3GPP on UL frequency, TDM can be applied between the UE's MCG transmission and SCG transmission to resolve the IDC issue by reusing the current process. In the IDC assistance information, the UE may provide one or more affected frequency ranges in the combination to the MN. If one or more affected frequency ranges include the serving frequencies of the MN and the SN, the MN may negotiate the UL TDM mode with the SN in the MR-DC resource coordination information. Alternatively, the UE may additionally propose different TDM modes for the MCG and SCG, and the MN may negotiate the UL TDM mode with the SN in the enhanced MR-DC resource coordination information message field.

[0185] Fig.10 This implementation is illustrated in the exemplary communication flow shown. At 1001, SN 603 provides a cell group (CG) configuration including candidate serving frequencies to MN 602. At 1002, MN 602 sends an RRCConnectionReconfiguration message to UE 601. At 1003, UE 601 sends an indication of one or more frequency ranges affected by IDC interference for the combination under MR-DC. At 1004, MR-DC resource coordination information is modified for the SN.

[0186] As described above, for example, in order to initiate an SDT process, it may be desirable to transition a UE operating in the RRC_CONNECTED state to the RRC_INACTIVE state. The following embodiments may apply the above IDC configuration enhancement scheme to IDC detection at a level finer than carrier frequency before or during an SDT communication session. Any of the above options for IDC configuration and reporting for enhanced IDC assistance information may be applied to the following implementations.

[0187] Fig.11A communication flow of three exemplary options for IDC configuration of a UE by a gNB in ​​an SDT in a network 1100 including a UE 1101 and a gNB 1102 is shown. As shown in 1103, at the start of the communication flow, the UE is in an RRC_CONNECTED state. At 1104, the gNB configures the UE for IDC reporting by sending an RRCReconfiguration message, wherein the message includes an enhanced IDC configuration for the RRC_CONNECTED state. As described above, the enhanced IDC configuration enables the UE to report IDC problems on one or more affected frequency ranges less than the carrier frequency. At 1105, the UE sends an RRCReconfigurationComplete message, wherein the message indicates to the gNB that the UE has been used to report the IDC problem according to the previously sent IDC configuration.

[0188] In the first option (such as Fig.11 In the example of FIG. 1102 , if the gNB has provided an enhanced IDC configuration for the RRC_CONNECTED state (as described by the operation performed at step 1104 in this example), the gNB may provide an indication to the UE to cause the UE to continue to use the IDC configuration for IDC previously sent in the RRC_CONNECTED state in the RRC_INACTIVE state (i.e., in the SDT), as shown in 1106. Thus, the gNB 1102 indicates to the UE 1101 that upon receipt of the indication, the UE 1101 should not release the IDC configuration in its context. This is different from the conventional behavior, in which the IDC configuration is released by the UE.

[0189] As shown in 1107, this can be achieved by gNB 1102 sending a RRCRelease message to UE 1101, where the Suspend Config field specifies that the UE is to continue to use the IDC configuration for the RRC_CONNECTED state during the SDT process. The RRCRelease message is used by the network to initiate the RRC connection release procedure to transfer a UE in the RRC_CONNECTED state to RRC_IDLE, or to transfer a UE in the RRC_CONNECTED state to the RRC_INACTIVE state.

[0190] In the second option (such as Fig.11In the OPT 2 in FIG. 1 ), gNB 1102 may provide UE 1101 with a new IDC configuration for SDT in the RRC_INACTIVE state, as shown in 1108. The new ID configuration may include a list of candidate serving frequencies and / or candidate bandwidths (BW), etc. In addition, gNB 1102 may provide UE 1101 with an indication to retain the IDC configuration for IDC previously sent in the RRC_CONNECTED state at 1104 for use in a subsequent communication session in which the UE is in the RRC_CONNECTED state, wherein the subsequent communication session is after the SDT communication session.

[0191] As shown in 1109, this can be achieved by gNB 1102 sending a RRCRelease message to UE 1101, wherein the suspension configuration field specifies a new enhanced IDC configuration for SDT, which may include a list of candidate serving frequencies and / or candidate BWs and an indication for the UE to retain the IDC configuration previously used for the RRC_CONNECTED state.

[0192] In the third option (such as Fig.11 In the example shown in OPT 3 in FIG1 , gNB 1102 may provide UE 1101 with an indication to report any IDC issues on the current serving frequency range (i.e., any frequency range affected by IDC interference), as shown in 1110. In addition, gNB 1101 may provide UE 1101 with an indication to retain the previously sent IDC configuration for the RRC_CONNECTED state.

[0193] As shown in 1111, this can be achieved by gNB 1102 sending a RRCRelease message to UE 1101, wherein the suspend configuration field includes an indication for the UE to report an IDC problem on the current serving frequency and an indication for the UE to retain the IDC configuration previously used for the RRC_CONNECTED state.

[0194] As indicated at 1112, the UE then enters the RRC_INACTIVE state to perform the SDT procedure.

[0195] During the SDT procedure, the UE may detect an IDC problem based on the IDC configuration provided and specified by the gNB for use (i.e., the IDC configuration for RRC_CONNECTED or the new IDC configuration for RRC_INACTIVE).

[0196] After the UE reports an IDC problem in an SDT communication session, the gNB may perform Fig.12At the start of the communication process, the UE is in RRC_INACTIVE mode.

[0197] For SDT based on random-access channel (RACH), a UE in RRC_INACTIVE mode can initiate RACH and request RRC recovery while sending uplink SDT data / signaling.

[0198] Although the following description mainly takes the four-step mobile originated (MO) SDT process based on RACH as an example, the method is also applicable to the two-step MO-SDT based on RACH, the MO-SDT process based on configured grant (CG) or the mobile terminated (MT) SDT process.

[0199] To illustrate this aspect, Fig.12 An exemplary communication flow between devices in network 1100 is shown. UE 1101 and gNB 1102 may perform a four-step process based on RACH. The four steps are as follows:

[0200] ●MSG1: Random access preamble

[0201] MSG2: Random Access Response (RAR)

[0202] MSG3: Radio Resource Control (RRC) RRCResumeRequest

[0203] ●MSG4: Competition resolution

[0204] MSG1 as shown in 1201 is the preamble code transmission of the RACH process. MSG2 as shown in 1202 is a RAR message, including the authorization and DL data of MSG3. MSG3 as shown in 1203 is the first scheduled transmission of the RACH process. UE 1101 sends an RRCResume request message and UL data to gNB 1102.

[0205] At 1204, UE 1101 sends subsequent UL data to gNB 1102.

[0206] At 1205, the UE selects one or more BWPs (in the candidate affected frequency range) specified in the SDT. Fig.12As shown in 1206, UE 1101 may report the affected BW of the initial BWP or the affected PRBs of the initial DL BWP and the initial UL BWP to the gNB in ​​a UE Assistance Information message, and optionally also report information about the interference direction (e.g., NR transmission to non-3GPP reception or non-3GPP transmission to NR reception).

[0207] Three exemplary options for further communication between UE 1101 and gNB 1102 are described below.

[0208] In the first option (such as Fig.12 In OPT 1 in ), the gNB may apply scheduling restrictions to not have a candidate affected frequency range ( Figure 6 The UE is scheduled on an affected portion (e.g., BW or PRB) of the initial BWP in the example of the gNB, as shown in 1207. If there are PRBs on the initial BWP that are not affected by IDC interference, the gNB can restrict scheduling to use these PRBs. Information about scheduling restrictions can be sent from the CU of the gNB to the DU on the F1 interface through the UE context modification procedure. The UE context information is stored in the gNB and can generally include information such as security keys, UE radio capabilities, UE security capabilities, and configuration parameters for configuring the radio interface protocol layer.

[0209] As shown in 1208, UE 1101 may send subsequent uplink data on one or more frequency ranges not affected by the IDC interference (e.g., on unaffected BWs or PRBs). As shown in 1209, gNB 1102 may then send a RRCRelease message and DL data to UE 1101 on one or more frequency ranges not affected by the IDC interference (e.g., on unaffected BWs or PRBs).

[0210] In the second option (such as Fig.122 in RRC_CONNECTED state), if the gNB cannot apply the scheduling restriction or for some other reason, the gNB 1102 may transfer the UE 1101 to the RRC_CONNECTED state, as shown in 1210. The gNB may then reconfigure the frequency range (e.g., BWP) to be used for communication between the gNB and the UE. At 1211, the gNB sends a RRCResume message to the UE. At 1212, the UE releases the IDC configuration for the RRC_INACTIVE state and applies the IDC configuration for the RRC_CONNECTED state. At 1213, the UE sends a message to the gNB indicating that the RRCResume procedure is complete. The UE is now in the RRC_CONNECTED state. At 1214, other RRCReconfiguration procedures may be performed if necessary.

[0211] In the third option (such as Fig.12 As shown in OPT 3 in , if the gNB cannot apply the scheduling restriction or for some other reason, the gNB may redirect the UE to a different NR frequency (if available). As shown in 1215, the gNB may decide to end the SDT process and may provide redirection information to the UE for the different frequency. As shown in 1216, the RRCRelease message used to terminate the SDT process may include, in addition to the redirection information (e.g., in the suspended configuration field), a new IDC configuration or an indication to retain or release the existing IDC configuration after redirection. As shown in 1217, the UE remains in the RRC_INACTIVE state and may retain or release the current IDC configuration according to the indication sent in the RRCRelease message at 1216.

[0212] In another implementation, the UE may be configured to perform TDM-based IDC reporting. The gNB may provide the UE with an indication of the reporting TDM mode and one or more affected frequency ranges.

[0213] Fig.13 A communication flow of three exemplary options for communication between UE 1101 and gNB 1102 in network 1100 is shown.

[0214] As shown in 1301, the UE is in the RRC_CONNECTED state at the beginning of the communication process. At 1302, the gNB configures the UE for IDC reporting by sending an RRCReconfiguration message, wherein the message includes an enhanced IDC configuration for the RRC_CONNECTED state. As described above, the enhanced IDC configuration enables the UE to report IDC problems on affected frequency ranges that are less than the carrier frequency. In this example, the RRCReconfiguration message also includes an indication for the UE to report the TDM mode and one or more frequency ranges affected by the IDC interference. At 1303, the UE sends an RRCReconfigurationComplete message, wherein the message indicates to the gNB that the UE has been used to report the IDC problem according to the previously sent IDC configuration.

[0215] In the first option (such as Fig.13 In the example of FIG. 1301 , if the gNB has provided an IDC configuration for the RRC_CONNECTED state (as described by the operation performed at step 1302 in this example), the gNB may provide an indication to the UE to cause the UE to continue to use the IDC configuration for IDC previously sent in the RRC_CONNECTED state in the RRC_INACTIVE state (i.e., in the SDT), as shown in 1304. Thus, the gNB 1102 indicates to the UE 1101 that upon receipt of the indication, the UE 1101 should not release the IDC configuration in its context. This is different from the conventional behavior, in which the IDC configuration is released by the UE.

[0216] As shown in 1305, this can be achieved by gNB 1102 sending a RRCRelease message to UE 1101, wherein the suspension configuration field specifies that the UE is to continue to use the IDC configuration for the RRC_CONNECTED state during the SDT process, and specifies that the UE can report the TDM mode and one or more frequency ranges affected by the IDC interference.

[0217] In the second option (such as Fig.13In the RRC_INACTIVE state, gNB 1102 may provide UE 1101 with a new IDC configuration for SDT, as shown in 1306. The new ID configuration may include a candidate serving frequency list and / or a candidate BW, etc. In addition, gNB 1102 may provide UE 1101 with an indication to retain the IDC configuration for IDC previously sent in 1302 in the RRC_CONNECTED state for use in a subsequent RRC-CONNECTED communication session, wherein the subsequent communication session is after the SDT communication session.

[0218] As shown in 1307, this can be achieved by gNB 1102 sending a RRCRelease message to UE 1101, wherein the suspension configuration field specifies a new enhanced IDC configuration for SDT, which may include a candidate serving frequency list and / or candidate BW, an indication for the UE to retain the IDC configuration previously used for the RRC_CONNECTED state, and an indication for the UE to report the TDM mode and one or more frequency ranges affected by IDC interference.

[0219] In the third option (such as Fig.13 In OPT 3 in FIG, gNB 1102 may provide an indication to UE 1101 to report any IDC issues on the current serving frequency, as shown in 1308. In addition, gNB 1102 may provide an indication to UE 1101 to retain the IDC configuration for RRC_CONNECTED.

[0220] As shown in 1309, this can be achieved by gNB 1102 sending a RRCRelease message to UE 1101, wherein the suspension configuration field includes an indication for the UE to report IDC problems on the current serving frequency, an indication for the UE to retain the IDC configuration previously used for the RRC_CONNECTED state, and an indication for the UE to report the TDM mode and one or more frequency ranges affected by the IDC interference.

[0221] As shown in 1310, the UE then enters the RRC_INACTIVE state to perform the SDT process.

[0222] During the SDT procedure, the UE may detect an IDC problem based on the IDC configuration provided and specified by the gNB for use (i.e., the IDC configuration for RRC_CONNECTED or the new IDC configuration for RRC_INACTIVE).

[0223] After the UE reports an IDC problem in an SDT communication session, the gNB may perform Fig.14At the start of the communication process, the UE is in RRC_INACTIVE mode.

[0224] UE 1101 and gNB 1102 may perform a four-step process based on RACH. MSG1 as shown in 1401 is a preamble transmission of the RACH process. MSG2 as shown in 1402 is a RAR message including a grant and DL data of MSG3. MSG3 as shown in 1403 is the first scheduled transmission of the RACH process. UE 1101 sends a RRCResume request message and UL data to gNB 1102.

[0225] At 1404, UE 1101 sends subsequent UL data to gNB 1102.

[0226] At 1405, the UE specifies one or more BWPs (in Fig.14 As shown in 1406, UE 1101 may report the affected BW of the initial BWP or the affected PRBs of the initial DL BWP and the initial UL BWP to the gNB in ​​a UE assistance information message (including TDM-based assistance information).

[0227] Therefore, if the UE detects an IDC problem in an SDT communication session, the UE may report TDM information (e.g., DRX cycle length, DRX offset, and / or DRX active time) to the gNB in ​​a UE assistance information message, etc.

[0228] Three exemplary options for further communication between UE 1101 and gNB 1102 are described below.

[0229] In the first option (such as Fig.14 In OPT 1 in FIG, the gNB may decide to use TDM and may configure DRX for use in SDT, as shown in 1407. The DRX configuration of the UE may be provided via a DL RRC message during the SDT process.

[0230] As shown in 1408, gNB 1102 may send a DL RRC message including the SDT DRX configuration to UE 1101. Then, based on the SDT DRX configuration, UE 1101 may send subsequent uplink data to the gNB during the active time, as shown in 1409. At 1410, gNB 1102 may send a RRCRelease message and downlink data to UE 1101 during the active time.

[0231] In the second option (such as Fig.14In OPT 2 in FIG, gNB 1102 may decide to transfer UE 1101 to RRC_CONNECTED state and may configure DRX for the UE in RRC_CONNECTED state, as shown in 1411.

[0232] At 1412, the gNB sends a RRCResume message to the UE. At 1413, the UE releases the IDC configuration for the RRC_INACTIVE state and applies the IDC configuration for the RRC_CONNECTED state. At 1414, the UE sends a message to the gNB indicating the completion of the RRCResume procedure. The UE is now in the RRC_CONNECTED state. At 1415, other RRCReconfiguration procedures may be performed if necessary.

[0233] In the third option (such as Fig.14 As shown in OPT 3 in , if the gNB cannot provide the DRX configuration to the UE or for some other reason, the gNB may terminate the SDT communication session and redirect the UE to a different NR frequency (if available). As shown in 1416, the gNB may decide to end the SDT process and may provide redirection information to the UE for a different frequency. As shown in 1417, the RRCRelease message used to terminate the SDT process may include, in addition to the redirection information (e.g., in the suspended configuration field), an indication to retain or release the existing IDC configuration after the redirection. As shown in 1418, the UE remains in the RRC_INACTIVE state and may retain or release the current IDC configuration based on the indication sent in the RRCRelease message at 1417.

[0234] Fig.15 An alternative communication flow is shown, in which the UE transfers from communicating with the last serving network node to communicating with the receiving network node, and the IDC configuration for SDT is processed with the UE context information being migrated from the last serving node to the receiving node. Once the UE context information is migrated from the last serving node to the receiving node, the receiving node becomes the new serving node for the UE.

[0235] In this example, the UE detects an IDC problem in an SDT communication session between the UE and a receiving gNB. In this implementation, the communication network 1500 includes a UE 1501, a receiving gNB 1502, a last serving gNB 1503, and a UPF 1504.

[0236] As shown in 1505, UE 1501 has been configured for IDC reporting by a previous RRCRelease message of the last serving gNB 1503. The IDC configuration for the RRC_CONNECTED state and the RRC_INACTIVE state (i.e., for SDT) is stored in the last serving gNB, as shown in 906.

[0237] At 1507, the receiving gNB broadcasts whether it supports IDC reporting in the SDT process. At 1508, UE 1501 sends a RRCResume request and UL data to the receiving gNB 1502.

[0238] As shown in 1509, the receiving gNB 1502 sends a retrieve UE context request to the last serving gNB 1503. The retrieve UE context request may include an SDT indication and UE assistance information. At 1510, the last serving gNB 1503 decides to migrate the UE context information to the receiving node 1502.

[0239] As shown in 1511, the last serving gNB 1503 sends a retrieve UE context response message to the receiving gNB 1502. This message includes the IDC configuration for the RRC_CONNECTED state and / or the IDC configuration for the RRC_INACTIVE state.

[0240] The receiving gNB 1502 then sends UL data to the UPF as shown at 1512 and at 1513, sends an XnAP or Xn-U address indication to the last serving gNB 1503. This message at 1513 is used to establish a tunnel or path for forwarding data between the two nodes.

[0241] At 1514, a data forwarding tunnel is established and the path is switched between the last serving gNB 1503 and the receiving gNB 1502.

[0242] At 1515, UE 1501 detects an IDC problem in the SDT communication session. UE 1501 sends a message including UE assistance information to the receiving gNB 1502, as shown in 1516. The UE assistance information may include an indication of the affected BW (i.e., candidate affected frequency range) of the initial BWP, an indication of the affected PRBs of the initial DL BWP and the initial UL BWP, and so on.

[0243] At 1517, the receiving gNB 1502 applies scheduling restrictions and does not schedule the UE on the affected BW or PRB (UL / DL) of the initial BWP.

[0244] At 1518, UE 1501 sends subsequent UL data on an unaffected BW or PRB to receiving node 1502. At 1519, receiving gNB 1502 sends uplink data to UPF 1504. At 1520, receiving gNB 1502 sends a RRCRelease message to UE 1501, wherein the RRCRelease message may include a new IDC configuration for RRC_INACTIVE state and / or a new IDC configuration for RRC_CONNECTED state, or an indication to use a previous IDC configuration. If no new IDC configuration is provided or no indication to use a previous IDC configuration is provided, the UE may release the IDC configuration.

[0245] Therefore, the receiving gNB is used to broadcast whether it supports IDC reporting in SDT. The receiving gNB may indicate this in the SDT Config Common information element in the broadcast. The last serving gNB of the UE may provide the receiving gNB with the IDC configuration previously used for the RRC_CONNECTED / INACTIVE state in the Retrieve UE Context Response message. If the receiving gNB receives UE Assistance Information (UAI) from the UE indicating one or more frequency ranges affected by IDC interference, the receiving gNB may apply scheduling restrictions to not schedule the UE on the (UL / DL) affected BW or PRBs of the candidate affected frequency ranges (initial BWP), or may configure SDT DRX for the UE. If the receiving gNB wants to change the IDC configuration, it may provide a new IDC configuration for the RRC_INACTIVE state and / or RRC_CONNECTED state, or may provide an indication to the UE to continue using the previous IDC configuration.

[0246] Fig.16 An alternative implementation communication flow is shown where the UE moves from the last serving network node to the receiving network node and the IDC configuration for SDT is handled with the UE context information migrated from the last serving node to the receiving node. In this example, the UE detects an IDC problem prior to the SDT communication session between the UE and the receiving gNB.

[0247] As shown in 1601, UE 1501 has been configured for IDC reporting by a previous RRCRelease message of the last serving gNB 1503. The IDC configuration for the RRC_CONNECTED state and the RRC_INACTIVE state (i.e., for SDT) is stored in the last serving gNB, as shown in 1502.

[0248] At 1603, the receiving gNB broadcasts whether it supports IDC reporting in the SDT process. This indication may be included in the SDT configuration common information element in the broadcast.

[0249] At 1604, the UE detects an IDC problem before initiating an SDT communication session with the receiving gNB 1502.

[0250] At 1605, UE 1501 sends an RRCResume request and UE assistance information indicating one or more frequency ranges affected by IDC interference and UL data to the receiving gNB 1502.

[0251] As shown in 1606, the receiving gNB 1502 sends a retrieve UE context request to the last serving gNB 1503. The retrieve UE context request may include an SDT indication and UE assistance information (including IDC assistance information) in an RRC container. At 1607, the last serving gNB 1503 decides to migrate the UE context information to the receiving node 1502.

[0252] As shown in 1608, the last serving gNB 1503 sends a Retrieve UE Context Response message to the receiving gNB 1502. This message includes the IDC configuration for the RRC_CONNECTED state and / or the IDC configuration for the RRC_INACTIVE state. The message also includes the received IDC assistance information as UE Assistance Information (UAI).

[0253] The receiving gNB 1502 then sends UL data to the UPF, as shown in 1609, and at 1610, sends an XnAP or Xn-U address indication to the last serving gNB 1503.

[0254] At 1611, a data forwarding tunnel is established and the path is switched between the last serving gNB 1503 and the receiving gNB 1502.

[0255] At 1612, the receiving gNB 1502 applies scheduling restrictions and does not schedule the UE on the affected BW or PRB (UL / DL) of the initial BWP.

[0256] At 1613, UE 1501 sends subsequent UL data on an unaffected BW or PRB to receiving node 1502. At 1614, receiving gNB 1502 sends uplink data to UPF 1504. At 1615, receiving gNB 1502 sends a RRCRelease message to UE 1501, wherein the RRCRelease message may include a new IDC configuration for RRC_INACTIVE state and / or a new IDC configuration for RRC_CONNECTED state, or an indication to use a previous IDC configuration. If no new IDC configuration is provided or no indication to use a previous IDC configuration is provided, the UE may release the IDC configuration.

[0257] Therefore, if the UE detects an IDC problem before initiating the SDT procedure with the receiving gNB, it can send UAI (including IDC information) and RRCResumeRequest message to the receiving gNB.

[0258] The initial UL RRC message transmission procedure on the F1 interface can be enhanced to transmit the UAI message and the RRC Resume Request message simultaneously. The receiving gNB can send the UAI in the RRC container within the Retrieve UE Context Request message.

[0259] The last serving gNB may provide one or more stored IDC configurations for RRC_CONNECTED / INACTIVE to the receiving gNB in ​​the Retrieve UE Context Response message. The receiving gNB may apply scheduling restrictions or configure SDT-based DRX for the UE. If the receiving gNB wants to change the IDC configuration, it may provide a new IDC configuration for RRC_INACTIVE state and / or RRC_CONNECTED state or provide an indication to the UE to retain the previous IDC configuration.

[0260] Fig.17 An alternative implementation communication flow is shown where the UE moves from the last serving network node to the receiving network node and the IDC configuration for SDT is handled without migrating the UE context information from the last serving node to the receiving node. In this example, the UE detects an IDC problem in the SDT communication session between the UE and the receiving gNB.

[0261] As shown in 1701, UE 1501 has been configured for IDC reporting by a previous RRCRelease message of the last serving gNB 1503. The IDC configuration for the RRC_CONNECTED state and the RRC_INACTIVE state (i.e., for SDT) is stored in the last serving gNB, as shown in 1702.

[0262] At 1703, the receiving gNB 1502 broadcasts whether it supports IDC reporting during the SDT process. At 1704, UE 1501 sends an RRCResume request and UL data to the receiving gNB 1502 to initiate an SDT communication session with the receiving gNB 1502. UE 1501 is now in RRC_INACTIVE state.

[0263] As shown in 1705, the receiving gNB 1502 sends a retrieve UE context request to the last serving gNB 1503. The retrieve UE context request may include an SDT indication and UE assistance information. At 1706, the last serving gNB 1503 decides not to migrate the UE context information to the receiving node 1502.

[0264] At 1707, the last serving gNB 1503 performs a partial UE context transfer, wherein the UE context information stored in the last serving gNB 1503 is not fully transferred to the receiving gNB 1502 (i.e., the complete UE context information is not transferred to the receiving gNB). In this example, the last serving gNB 1503 sends the Radio Link Control (RLC) context stored in the last serving node 903 to the receiving gNB 1502. In response, at 1708, the receiving gNB 1502 sends a partial UE context transfer confirmation message to the last serving gNB 1503.

[0265] At 1709, the receiving gNB 1502 sends the uplink data (which was sent from the UE to the receiving gNB along with the RRCResume request at step 1704) to the UPF 1504. At 1710, the UE 1501 sends subsequent uplink data to the receiving gNB 1502, and at 1711, the receiving gNB 1502 sends subsequent uplink data to the UPF.

[0266] At 1712, UE 1501 detects an IDC problem in the SDT communication session. UE 1501 sends a message including UE assistance information to the receiving gNB 1502, as shown in 1713. The UE assistance information may include an indication of the actual affected center frequency and bandwidth of one or more frequency ranges affected by the IDC interference, an indication of the affected BW of the initial BWP (i.e., the candidate affected frequency range), or an indication of the affected PRBs of the initial DL BWP and the initial UL BWP, etc.

[0267] At 1714, the receiving node 1502 sends an RRCTransfer message including the UE assistance information received from the UE to the last serving gNB 1503.

[0268] At 1715, the last serving node 1503 sends an IDC Information Transmission Request message to the receiving node 1502. This message may include the decoded IDC information, which may be included in the UE Assistance Information field in the message. The message may also include scheduling restriction information. At 1716, the receiving gNB 1502 sends an IDC Information Transmission Response message to the last serving node. If the scheduling restriction information was sent to the receiving node in the IDC Information Transmission Request message at 1715, this message may include a confirmation that the scheduling restriction has been applied.

[0269] In this example, at 1717, the receiving gNB 1502 applies scheduling restrictions and does not schedule UEs on one or more frequency ranges affected by IDC interference.

[0270] At 1718, UE 1501 sends subsequent UL data on an unaffected BW or PRB to receiving gNB 1502. At 1719, receiving gNB 1502 sends uplink data to UPF 1504.

[0271] At 1720, the last serving gNB 1503 sends a Retrieve UE Context Failure message to the receiving gNB 1502. This message indicates that the Retrieve UE Context Request previously sent by the receiving gNB 1502 to the last serving gNB 1503 at 1705 has failed. This message may be a RRCRelease message. The message may include an indication for the receiving gNB 1502 to continue using the previous IDC configuration.

[0272] At 1721, the receiving gNB 1502 sends a RRCRelease message to the UE 1501 to transfer the UE back to the RRC_CONNECTED state. This RRCRelease message may include a new IDC configuration for the RRC_INACTIVE state and / or a new IDC configuration for the RRC_CONNECTED state, or an indication to use the previous IDC configuration. If no new IDC configuration is provided or no indication to use the previous IDC configuration is provided, the UE may release the IDC configuration.

[0273] Therefore, the receiving gNB is used to broadcast in the SDT Configuration Common whether it supports IDC reporting in SDT.

[0274] If the UE sends UE Assistance Information indicating an IDC problem to the receiving gNB, the UE Assistance Information may be forwarded to the last serving gNB using the RRC Transfer Message procedure. The last serving gNB may provide the decoded IDC information or scheduling restrictions in the UAI to the receiving gNB in ​​a new Xn interface message (e.g., IDC Information Transfer Request message) or a partial UE Context Transfer message.

[0275] If the receiving gNB can apply scheduling restrictions or if the UE-proposed TDM mode can be applied, the receiving gNB can send an acknowledgement back to the last serving gNB using an IDC Information Transfer Response message or in a Partial UE Context Transfer Confirm message.

[0276] For the TDM solution, the UE may send a proposed TDM mode to the network node, and the last serving gNB may send a DL SDT reconfiguration message and SDT DRX configuration to the UE. If the receiving gNB cannot apply the scheduling restriction or the TDM mode cannot be applied, the receiving gNB may send an IDC information transmission failure message to the last serving gNB. The last serving gNB may terminate the SDT process by sending an RRC release message to the receiving gNB, which is then sent to the UE.

[0277] Fig.18 An alternative implementation communication flow is shown where the UE moves from the last serving network node to the receiving network node and the IDC configuration for SDT is handled without migrating the UE context information from the last serving node to the receiving node. In this example, the UE detects an IDC problem prior to the SDT communication session between the UE and the receiving gNB.

[0278] As shown in 1801, UE 1501 has been configured for IDC reporting by a previous RRCRelease message of the last serving gNB 1503. The IDC configuration for the RRC_CONNECTED state and the RRC_INACTIVE state (i.e., for SDT) is stored in the last serving gNB, as shown in 1802.

[0279] At 1803, the receiving gNB 1502 broadcasts whether it supports IDC reporting during the SDT process.

[0280] At 1804, UE 1501 detects an IDC problem before initiating an SDT communication session with receiving gNB 1502.

[0281] At 1805, UE 1501 sends an RRCResume request and UL data to receiving gNB 1502 to initiate an SDT communication session with receiving gNB 1502. UE 1501 is in RRC_INACTIVE state at this time.

[0282] As shown in 1806, the receiving gNB 1502 sends a retrieve UE context request to the last serving gNB 1503. The retrieve UE context request may include an SDT indication and UE assistance information. Such information may be included in the RRC container field of the message.

[0283] At 1807, the last serving gNB 1503 decides not to migrate the UE context information to the receiving node 1502.

[0284] At 1808, the last serving gNB 1503 performs a partial UE context transfer, wherein not all UE context information stored in the last serving gNB 1503 is transmitted to the receiving gNB 1502 (i.e., the complete UE context information is not transmitted to the receiving gNB). In this example, the last serving gNB 1503 sends the Radio Link Control (RLC) context stored in the last serving node 1503 to the receiving gNB 1502. The partial UE context transfer may also include decoded IDC information (e.g., as UE assistance information) and / or scheduling restriction information stored in the last serving node 903. The UE assistance information may include an indication of the actual affected center frequency and bandwidth of one or more frequency ranges affected by the IDC interference, an indication of the affected BW of the initial BWP (i.e., the candidate affected frequency range), or an indication of the affected PRBs of the initial DL BWP and the initial UL BWP, etc.

[0285] In response, at 1809, the receiving gNB 1502 sends a partial UE context transfer confirmation message to the last serving gNB 1503.

[0286] At 1810, the receiving gNB 1502 sends uplink data to UPF 1504 (which was sent from the UE to the receiving gNB together with the RRCResume request at step 1805).

[0287] At 1811, the receiving gNB 1502 applies scheduling restrictions to not schedule UE 1501 on one or more frequency ranges affected by IDC interference.

[0288] At 1812, UE 1501 sends subsequent uplink data to the receiving gNB 1502 on one or more frequency ranges (or PRBs) that are not affected by IDC interference, and at 1813, the receiving gNB 1502 sends subsequent uplink data to the UPF.

[0289] At 1814, the last serving gNB 1503 sends a Retrieve UE Context Failure message to the receiving gNB 1502. This message indicates that the Retrieve UE Context Request previously sent by the receiving gNB 1502 to the last serving gNB 1503 at 1805 has failed. This message may be a RRCRelease message. The message may include an indication for the receiving gNB 1502 to continue using the previous IDC configuration.

[0290] At 1815, the receiving gNB 1502 sends a RRCRelease message to the UE 1501 to transfer the UE back to the RRC_CONNECTED state. This RRCRelease message may include a new IDC configuration for the RRC_INACTIVE state and / or a new IDC configuration for the RRC_CONNECTED state, or an indication to use the previous IDC configuration. If no new IDC configuration is provided or no indication to use the previous IDC configuration is provided, the UE may release the IDC configuration.

[0291] Therefore, the receiving gNB can broadcast whether IDC reporting is supported in SDT in the SDT configuration common information element in the broadcast, etc. If the UE detects an IDC problem before initiating the SDT process, it can send UAI (including IDC information) and RRCResumeRequest message to the receiving gNB.

[0292] The initial UL RRC message transmission procedure on the F1 interface can be enhanced to transmit the UAI message and the RRC Esume request message simultaneously.

[0293] The receiving gNB may send the UAI in an RRC container within the Retrieve UE Context Request message.

[0294] The last serving gNB may provide the decoded information as UE assistance information or may provide scheduling restrictions to the receiving gNB in ​​a partial UE context transfer message.

[0295] If the receiving gNB can apply scheduling restrictions, the receiving gNB can send an acknowledgement back to the last serving gNB using the Partial UE Context Transfer Confirm message.

[0296] If the receiving gNB cannot apply the scheduling restriction or for some other reason, the receiving gNB may send a Partial UE Context Transfer Failure message to the last serving gNB. The last serving gNB may terminate the SDT procedure by sending an RRC Release message to the receiving gNB, which is then sent to the UE.

[0297] Fig.19 An example of a general method 1900 implemented at a user equipment in a communication network provided by an embodiment of the present invention is shown. The user equipment is capable of sending signals to network equipment in the communication network and receiving signals from the user equipment within a first frequency range. The user equipment is capable of implementing one or more different radio technologies within at least a portion of the first frequency range.

[0298] At step 1901, the method includes: communicating with a network device in a communication network in a first communication session, in which the user equipment is in an RCC_CONNECTED state and is used to report interference from in-device coexistence according to a first in-device coexistence configuration. At step 1902, the method includes: receiving a request to operate in an RRC_INACTIVE state from the network device. At step 1903, the method includes: receiving an indication from the network device to store the first in-device coexistence configuration for use in a second communication session, wherein the second communication session is later in time than the first communication session.

[0299] Fig. 20 An example of a general method 2000 implemented at a network device in a communication network provided by an embodiment of the present invention is shown. The network device is capable of sending signals to and receiving signals from a user device in the communication network within a first frequency range. The user device is capable of implementing one or more different radio technologies within at least a portion of the first frequency range.

[0300] In step 2001, the method includes: communicating with a user equipment in a communication network in a first communication session, in which the user equipment is in an RCC_CONNECTED state and is used to report interference from in-device coexistence according to a first in-device coexistence configuration. At step 2002, the method includes: sending a request to the user equipment to cause the user equipment to operate in an RRC_INACTIVE state. At step 2003, the method includes: sending an indication to the user equipment to cause the user equipment to store the first in-device coexistence configuration for use in a second communication session, wherein the second communication session is later in time than the first communication session.

[0301] The methods described herein can be used in a variety of scenarios, including those implementing FDM and TDM.

[0302] In previous IDC FDM and TDM technical solutions for implementing SDT, the UE can only report the entire carrier frequency as the affected frequency range, rather than reporting the actual affected frequency range with a granularity finer than the carrier frequency.

[0303] By configuring the UE to report the frequencies actually affected by interference during the SDT process at fine granularity such as BWP and PRB, the network can take appropriate measures to avoid only the affected frequencies and keep the unaffected frequencies within the candidate affected frequency range for use.

[0304] In addition, in the previous method, the UE can only report the frequencies requested by the gNB. The UE cannot report the affected frequency range not indicated by the gNB. Using the technical solution described in this article, the UE can also report other frequency ranges or frequency combinations that cause IDC interference outside the candidate affected frequency range for SDT.

[0305] Applicants hereby disclose separately each individual feature described herein and any combination of two or more such features. With the common knowledge of those skilled in the art, such features or combinations can be implemented as a whole according to this specification, without considering whether such features or combinations of features can solve any problem disclosed herein; and without limiting the scope of the claims. Applicants point out that aspects of the present invention may include any such individual features or combinations of features. In view of the above description, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various modifications can be made within the scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A user equipment (1101, 1501) in a communication network (1100, 1500), the user equipment being configured to: Communicating (1901) with a network device (1102, 1502, 1503) in the communication network in a first communication session, wherein the user equipment is in an RCC_CONNECTED state and is configured to report interference from in-device coexistence according to a first in-device coexistence configuration; receiving (1902) a request from the network device to operate in an RRC_INACTIVE state; An indication is received (1903) from the network device to store the first intra-device coexistence configuration for use in a second communication session, wherein the second communication session is later in time than the first communication session.

2. The user equipment (1101, 1501) according to claim 1, characterized in that: The second communication session is a small data transmission communication session or other communication sessions in which the user equipment is in the RRC_CONNECTED state, wherein the other communication session is later than the small data transmission communication session in time.

3. The user equipment (1101, 1501) according to claim 1, characterized in that: The second communication session is a small data transfer communication session, and the user equipment is further configured to receive, from the network equipment, an indication of a new in-device coexistence configuration to be used in the small data transfer communication session.

4. The user equipment (1101, 1501) according to claim 3, characterized in that: The user equipment is configured to report interference of in-device coexistence to the network device using the new in-device coexistence configuration in the small data transmission communication session.

5. The user equipment (1101, 1501) according to claim 3 or 4, characterized in that: The user equipment is used to communicate with the network device within a first frequency range, and the first in-device coexistence configuration and / or the new in-device coexistence configuration configures the user equipment to report one or more frequency ranges affected by interference from in-device coexistence to the network device, wherein a frequency range in the one or more frequency ranges is smaller than a range of a carrier frequency of the first frequency range.

6. The user equipment (1101, 1501) according to any one of claims 3 to 5, characterized in that: One or more of the first in-device coexistence configuration and the new in-device coexistence configuration specify a candidate affected frequency range, a candidate affected bandwidth, a candidate number of affected physical resource blocks, or a bandwidth portion configured for the user equipment, wherein the user equipment is to report any frequency range affected by interference from in-device coexistence on the bandwidth portion.

7. The user equipment (1101, 1501) according to claim 1, characterized in that: The second communication session is a small data transfer communication session, and the user equipment is configured to receive an indication from the network equipment to use the first in-device coexistence configuration in the small data transfer communication session.

8. The user equipment (1101, 1501) according to claim 1, characterized in that: The second communication session is a small data transmission communication session, and the user equipment is further configured to receive an indication of reporting an in-device coexistence problem on the current serving frequency in the small data transmission communication session.

9. The user equipment (1101, 1501) according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that: The user equipment is further configured to receive a request from the network equipment to report one time division multiplexing mode or multiple time division multiplexing modes to the network equipment.

10. The user equipment (1101, 1501) according to claim 1, characterized in that: The user equipment is used for: receiving, from a second network device (1502), an indication that the second network device supports in-device coexistence reporting during small data transmission; Initiating a small data transfer communication session with the second network device; Reporting interference of in-device coexistence to the second network device in the small data transmission communication session.

11. A network device (1102, 1502, 1503) in a communication network (1100, 1500), the network device being used for: Communicating (2001) with a user equipment (1101, 1501) in the communication network in a first communication session, wherein the user equipment is in an RCC_CONNECTED state and is configured to report interference from in-device coexistence according to a first in-device coexistence configuration; sending (2002) a request to the user equipment to cause the user equipment to operate in an RRC_INACTIVE state; An instruction is sent (2003) to the user equipment to cause the user equipment to store the first intra-device coexistence configuration for use in a second communication session, wherein: The second communication session is later in time than the first communication session.

12. The network device (1102, 1502, 1503) according to claim 11, characterized in that: The second communication session is a small data transmission communication session, and the network device is further configured to send one or more scheduling restrictions and / or one or more time division multiplexing modes to the user equipment for use in the small data transmission communication session.

13. The network device (1102, 1502, 1503) according to claim 11 or 12, characterized in that: The network device is configured to store the first in-device coexistence configuration in user equipment context information in the second communication session.

14. The network device (1102, 1502, 1503) according to any one of claims 11 to 13, characterized in that: The second communication session is a small data transfer communication session, and the network device is further configured to send an indication of a new in-device coexistence configuration to be used in the small data transfer communication session to the user equipment.

15. The network device (1502, 1503) according to claim 14, characterized in that: The network device is used to operate as the last service node (1503) in the communication network, and the network device is also used to provide the first device coexistence configuration and / or the new device coexistence configuration to the receiving node (1502) when the user equipment (1501) initiates a new small data transmission communication session with the receiving node (1502) in the communication network.

Images