System and method for conditional switching and augmented reality capacity augmentation

Abstract

Apparatus, systems, and methods for conditional switching (CHO) and augmented reality (XR) capacity augmentation. A base station may receive XR traffic characteristics from a user equipment (UE) and / or from a core network. These XR traffic characteristics may be UE-specific and / or flow-specific. The base station may provide the XR traffic characteristics to one or more target base stations as part of a conditional handover request. These XR traffic characteristics may be provided in an information element over an Xn interface. Further, the base station may receive a handover request acknowledgement from the one or more target base stations. The handover request acknowledgement may be based at least in part on an admission control process that is performed based on the XR traffic characteristics. Further, the base station may generate a list of candidate target base stations based on the handover request acknowledgement, and provide the list of candidate target base stations to the UE.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present application relates to wireless communications, and more particularly to systems, apparatuses, and methods for conditional handover (CHO) and extended reality (XR) capacity enhancement in, for example, 5G NR systems and beyond. Background Art

[0002] The use of wireless communication systems is growing rapidly. In recent years, wireless devices such as smart phones and tablet computers have become increasingly sophisticated. In addition to supporting phone calls, many mobile devices (i.e., user equipment devices or UEs) now also provide access to the Internet, email, text messaging, and navigation using the Global Positioning System (GPS), and are capable of operating complex and sophisticated applications that utilize these capabilities. In addition, there are many different wireless communication technologies and wireless communication standards. Some examples of wireless communication standards include GSM, UMTS (e.g., associated with WCDMA or TD-SCDMA air interfaces), LTE, Advanced LTE (LTE-A), NR, HSPA, 3GPP2 CDMA2000 (e.g., 1xRTT, 1xEV-DO, HRPD, eHRPD), IEEE 802.11 (WLAN or Wi-Fi), Bluetooth ™ wait.

[0003] The introduction of an ever-increasing number of features and functionalities in wireless communication devices has also created a continuing need for improved wireless communications and improved wireless communication devices. In particular, it is important to ensure the robustness and accuracy of signals transmitted and received by user equipment (UE) devices (e.g., by wireless devices such as cellular phones, base stations, and relay stations used in wireless cellular communications). Summary of the invention

[0004] Embodiments relate to wireless communications, and more particularly to apparatus, systems, and methods for a framework for conditional handover (CHO) and extended reality (XR) capacity enhancement in, for example, 5G NR systems and beyond.

[0005] For example, in some embodiments, the base station may receive XR traffic characteristics from a user equipment (UE) and / or from a radio access network (RAN) and / or a core network. These XR traffic characteristics may be UE-specific and / or flow-specific. The base station may provide these XR traffic characteristics to one or more target base stations as part of a conditional handover request. The XR traffic characteristics may be provided in an information element via an Xn interface. In addition, the base station may receive a handover request confirmation from the one or more target base stations. The handover request confirmation may be based at least in part on an admission control process that is performed based on the XR traffic characteristics. In addition, the base station may generate a list of candidate target base stations based on the handover request confirmation and provide the list of candidate target base stations to the UE.

[0006] The techniques described herein may be implemented in and / or used with a variety of different types of devices, including, but not limited to, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), unmanned aerial vehicle controllers (UACs), UTM servers, base stations, access points, cellular phones, tablet computers, XR devices, wearable computing devices, portable media players, and any of a variety of other computing devices.

[0007] This summary is intended to provide a brief overview of some of the topics described in this document. Therefore, it should be understood that the above-mentioned features are only examples and should not be construed as narrowing the scope or essence of the topics described herein in any way. Other features, aspects and advantages of the topics described herein will become apparent through the following detailed description, tables, drawings and claims. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0008] Figure 1 An exemplary (and simplified) wireless communication system is illustrated in accordance with some embodiments.

[0009] Figure 2 An exemplary base station in communication with an exemplary wireless user equipment (UE) device is illustrated in accordance with some embodiments.

[0010] Figure 3 An exemplary block diagram of a UE according to some embodiments is illustrated.

[0011] Figure 4 An exemplary block diagram of a base station according to some embodiments is illustrated.

[0012] Figure 5 An example block diagram of a server according to some embodiments is illustrated.

[0013] Figure 6 A diagram illustrating an example of a conditional switching process.

[0014] Figure 7A block diagram illustrating an example of a method for conditional switching according to some embodiments is illustrated.

[0015] Although the features described herein are susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments thereof are shown by way of example in the drawings and described in detail herein. However, it should be understood that the drawings and detailed description thereof are not intended to be limited to the specific forms disclosed, but on the contrary, are intended to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the subject matter as defined by the appended claims. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0016] Acronyms

[0017] Various acronyms are used throughout this disclosure. Definitions of the most commonly used acronyms that may appear throughout this disclosure are provided below:

[0018] 3GPP: Third Generation Partnership Project

[0019] UE: User Equipment

[0020] RF: Radio Frequency

[0021] BS: Base Station

[0022] DL: Downlink

[0023] UL: Uplink

[0024] LTE: Long Term Evolution

[0025] NR: New Radio

[0026] 5GS: 5G system

[0027] 5GMM: 5GS Mobility Management

[0028] 5GC / 5GCN: 5G core network

[0029] IE: Information Element

[0030] CE: Control Element

[0031] MAC: Media Access Control

[0032] ●RRC: Radio Resource Control

[0033] the term

[0034] The following is a glossary of terms used in this disclosure:

[0035] Memory medium—any of various types of non-transitory memory devices or storage devices. The term "memory medium" is intended to include installation media, such as CD-ROM, floppy disk, or tape devices; computer system memory or random access memory, such as DRAM, DDR RAM, SRAM, EDO RAM, Rambus RAM, etc.; non-volatile memory, such as flash memory, magnetic media, such as hard disk drives or optical storage devices; registers or other similar types of memory elements, etc. The memory medium may also include other types of non-transitory memory or a combination thereof. In addition, the memory medium may be located in a first computer system executing a program, or may be located in a different second computer system connected to the first computer system via a network such as the Internet. In the latter example, the second computer system may provide program instructions to the first computer for execution. The term "memory medium" may include two or more memory media, which may reside in different locations in different computer systems connected, for example, via a network. The memory medium may store program instructions (e.g., embodied as a computer program) that may be executed by one or more processors.

[0036] Carrier Media—Memory media as described above, as well as physical transmission media such as a bus, network, and / or other physical transmission media that convey signals such as electrical, electromagnetic, or digital signals.

[0037] Programmable hardware elements - include various hardware devices that include multiple programmable function blocks connected via programmable interconnects. Examples include FPGAs (field programmable gate arrays), PLDs (programmable logic devices), FPOAs (field programmable object arrays), and CPLDs (complex PLDs). Programmable function blocks can range from fine-grained (combinational logic or lookup tables) to coarse-grained (arithmetic logic units or processor cores). Programmable hardware elements may also be referred to as "configurable logic units."

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

[0039] User Equipment (UE) (or "UE device") – Any of various types of computer system devices that are mobile or portable and perform wireless communications. Examples of UE devices include mobile phones or smart phones, portable gaming devices, laptop computers, wearable devices (e.g., smart watches, smart glasses), PDAs, portable Internet devices, music players, data storage devices, other handheld devices, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) (e.g., drones), UAV controllers (UACs), etc. In general, the term "UE" or "UE device" can be broadly defined to cover any electronic device, computing device, and / or telecommunication device (or combination of devices) that is easily transportable by a user and capable of wireless communications.

[0040] Base Station—The term “base station” has the full breadth of its ordinary meaning and includes at least a wireless communication station that is installed at a fixed location and used to communicate as part of a wireless telephone system or radio system.

[0041] Processing element (or processor) – refers to various elements or combinations of elements that are capable of performing functions in a device, such as user equipment or cellular network equipment. Processing elements may include, for example, processors and associated memory, portions or circuits of individual processor cores, entire processor cores, processor arrays, circuits such as ASICs (application specific integrated circuits), programmable hardware elements such as field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), and any of the above combinations.

[0042] Channel - a medium used to convey information from a transmitter (sender) to a receiver. It should be noted that, since the characteristics of the term "channel" may vary according to different wireless protocols, the term "channel" as used herein may be considered to be used in a manner that conforms to the standards of the type of device to which the term is used. In some standards, the channel width may be variable (e.g., depending on device capabilities, frequency band conditions, etc.). For example, LTE may support scalable channel bandwidths of 1.4 MHz to 20 MHz. In contrast, a WLAN channel may be 22 MHz wide, while a Bluetooth channel may be 1 MHz wide. Other protocols and standards may include different definitions of channels. In addition, some standards may define and use multiple types of channels, such as different channels for uplink or downlink and / or different channels for different purposes such as data, control information, etc.

[0043] Frequency band—The term “frequency band” has the full breadth of its ordinary meaning and includes at least a segment of the spectrum (eg, radio frequency spectrum) in which channels are used or set aside for the same purpose.

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

[0045] 3GPP Access – refers to the access (e.g., radio access technology) specified by the 3GPP standards. These accesses include, but are not limited to, GSM / GPRS, LTE, LTE-A, and / or 5G NR. In general, 3GPP access refers to various types of cellular access technologies.

[0046] Non-3GPP access - refers to any access (e.g., radio access technology) not specified by the 3GPP standards. These accesses include, but are not limited to, WiMAX, CDMA2000, Wi-Fi, WLAN, and / or fixed networks. Non-3GPP accesses can be divided into two categories, "trusted" and "untrusted": trusted non-3GPP accesses can interact directly with the Evolved Packet Core (EPC) and / or 5G Core (5GC), while untrusted non-3GPP interworks with the EPC / 5GC via network entities (such as Evolved Packet Data Gateways and / or 5G NR Gateways). In general, non-3GPP accesses refer to various types of non-cellular access technologies.

[0047] Automatic—refers to an action or operation being performed by a computer system (e.g., software executed by a computer system) or a device (e.g., a circuit, a programmable hardware element, an ASIC, etc.) without the action or operation being directly specified or performed by a user input. Thus, the term "automatically" is in contrast to an operation being manually performed or specified by a user, where the user provides input to directly perform the operation. An automatic process may be initiated by input provided by a user, but subsequent actions performed "automatically" are not specified by the user, i.e., are not performed "manually," where the user specifies each action to be performed. For example, a user filling out an electronic form by selecting each field and providing input specifying information (e.g., by typing in information, selecting check boxes, radio selections, etc.) is manually filling out the form, even though the computer system must update the form in response to user actions. The form may be automatically filled out by a computer system, where the computer system (e.g., software executed on the computer system) analyzes the fields of the form and fills out the form without any user input specifying the answers to the fields. As indicated above, a user may invoke automatic filling out of a form, but not participate in the actual filling out of the form (e.g., the user does not manually specify the answers to the fields but rather they are automatically completed). This specification provides various examples of operations that are automatically performed in response to actions that a user has taken.

[0048] Approximately - refers to a value that is close to a correct or exact value. For example, approximately can refer to a value that is within 1% to 10% of an exact (or desired) value. However, it should be noted that the actual threshold value (or tolerance) may be application dependent. For example, in some embodiments, "approximately" may mean within 0.1% of some specified or desired value, while in various other embodiments, the threshold value may be, for example, 2%, 3%, 5%, etc., depending on the expectations or requirements of a particular application.

[0049] Concurrency – refers to parallel execution or implementation, where tasks, processes, or programs are executed in an at least partially overlapping manner. For example, concurrency can be implemented using "strong" or strict parallelism, where tasks are executed (at least partially) in parallel on respective computing elements, or using "weak parallelism," where tasks are executed in an interleaved manner (e.g., by time multiplexing of execution threads).

[0050] Various components may be described as being "configured to" perform one or more tasks. In such contexts, "configured to" is a broad statement that generally means "having a structure" that performs one or more tasks during operation. Thus, a component may be configured to perform a task even when the component is not currently performing the task (e.g., a collection of electrical conductors may be configured to electrically connect a module to another module even when the two modules are not connected). In some contexts, "configured to" may be a broad statement that generally means "having a structure" that performs one or more tasks during operation. Thus, a component may be configured to perform a task even when the component is not currently turned on. Typically, circuits that form a structure corresponding to "configured to" may include hardware circuits.

[0051] For ease of description, various components may be described as performing one or more tasks. Such descriptions should be interpreted as including the phrase "configured to". The statement that a component is configured to perform one or more tasks is expressly intended to not invoke 35 USC § 112(f) for that component.

[0052] Figure 1 and Figure 2 -Exemplary Communication System

[0053] Figure 1 An exemplary (and simplified) wireless communication system that can implement various aspects of the present disclosure according to some embodiments is illustrated. Note that, Figure 1 The system is only one example of a possible system, and the embodiments may be implemented in any of a variety of systems as desired.

[0054] As shown, the exemplary wireless communication system includes a base station 102, which communicates with one or more (e.g., any number) user equipment 106A, 106B, etc. to 106N through a transmission medium. Each user equipment may be referred to as a "user equipment" (UE) or a UE device in this document. Therefore, the user equipment 106 is referred to as a UE or a UE device.

[0055] The base station 102 may be a base transceiver station (BTS) or a cell site, and may include hardware and / or software that enables wireless communication with the UEs 106A to 106N. If the base station 102 is implemented in the context of LTE, it may be referred to as an "eNodeB" or "eNB". If the base station 102 is implemented in the context of 5G NR, it may alternatively be referred to as a "gNodeB" or "gNB". The base station 102 may also be equipped to communicate with a network 100 (e.g., a core network of a cellular service provider, a telecommunications network such as a public switched telephone network (PSTN), and / or the Internet, as well as various possible networks). Thus, the base station 102 may facilitate communication between user devices and / or between user devices and the network 100. The communication area (or coverage area) of a base station may be referred to as a "cell". Also as used herein, with respect to a UE, sometimes a base station may be considered to represent a network in consideration of the uplink and downlink communications of the UE. Therefore, a UE that communicates with one or more base stations in a network may also be understood as a UE that communicates with a network.

[0056] The base station 102 and the user equipment may be configured to communicate over a transmission medium using any of a variety of radio access technologies (RATs), also referred to as wireless communication technologies or telecommunication standards, such as GSM, UMTS (WCDMA), LTE, Advanced LTE (LTE-A), LAA / LTE-U, 5G NR, 3GPP2 CDMA2000 (e.g., 1xRTT, 1xEV-DO, HRPD, eHRPD), Wi-Fi, and the like.

[0057] Base station 102 and other similar base stations operating according to the same or different cellular communication standards may thus be provided as one or more cell networks that may provide continuous or nearly continuous overlapping service to UE 106 and similar devices over a geographic area via one or more cellular communication standards.

[0058] Note that the UE 106 is capable of communicating using multiple wireless communication standards. For example, the UE 106 may be configured to communicate using either or both of the 3GPP cellular communication standard or the 3GPP2 cellular communication standard. The UE 106 may also be configured to camp on multiple base stations and communicate with them simultaneously. In some embodiments, the UE 106 may be configured for CHO and XR capacity enhancement, for example, according to the various methods described herein. The UE 106 may also be configured or may alternatively be configured to use WLAN, Bluetooth, or other wireless communication standards. ™, one or more global navigation satellite systems (GNSS, such as GPS or GLONASS), one and / or more mobile television broadcast standards (e.g., ATSC-M / H), etc. Other combinations of wireless communication standards (including more than two wireless communication standards) are also possible.

[0059] Figure 2 An exemplary user equipment 106 (e.g., one of devices 106A to 106N) in communication with a base station 102 according to some embodiments is illustrated. UE 106 may be a device with wireless network connectivity, such as a mobile phone, a handheld device, a wearable device, a computer or a tablet, or substantially any type of wireless device. UE 106 may include a processor configured to execute program instructions stored in a memory. UE 106 may execute any of the method embodiments described herein by executing such stored instructions. Alternatively or in addition, UE 106 may include a programmable hardware element, such as a field programmable gate array (FPGA) configured to execute any of the method embodiments described herein or any part of any of the method embodiments described herein. UE 106 may be configured to communicate using any of a plurality of wireless communication protocols. For example, UE 106 may be configured to communicate using two or more of CDMA2000, LTE, LTE-A, 5G NR, WLAN, or GNSS. Other combinations of wireless communication standards are also possible.

[0060] UE 106 may include one or more antennas for communicating using one or more wireless communication protocols according to one or more RAT standards. In some embodiments, UE 106 may share one or more portions of a receive chain and / or a transmit chain between multiple wireless communication standards. The shared radio component may include a single antenna, or may include multiple antennas for performing wireless communication (e.g., for MIMO). Typically, the radio component may include any combination of a baseband processor, an analog RF signal processing circuit (e.g., including filters, mixers, oscillators, amplifiers, etc.), or a digital processing circuit (e.g., for digital modulation and other digital processing). Similarly, the radio component may use the aforementioned hardware to implement one or more receive chains and transmit chains.

[0061] In some embodiments, the UE 106 may include a separate transmit chain and / or receive chain (e.g., including separate antennas and other radio components) for each wireless communication protocol with which it is configured to communicate. As another possibility, the UE 106 may include one or more radio components shared between multiple wireless communication protocols, and one or more radio components used uniquely by a single wireless communication protocol. For example, the UE 106 may include shared radio components for communicating using any of LTE or CDMA2000 1xRTT (or LTE or NR, or LTE or GSM), and shared radio components for communicating using Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. ™ Each of the independent radio components for communication. Other configurations are also possible.

[0062] Figure 3 - Block diagram of an exemplary UE device

[0063] Figure 3 A block diagram of an exemplary UE 106 according to some embodiments is illustrated. As shown, the UE 106 may include a system on chip (SOC) 300, which may include parts for various purposes. For example, as shown, the SOC 300 may include a processor 302 that can execute program instructions for the UE 106, and a display circuit 304 that can perform graphics processing and provide display signals to a display 360. The processor 302 may also be coupled to a memory management unit (MMU) 340, which may be configured to receive addresses from the processor 302 and convert those addresses to locations in a memory (e.g., a memory 306, a read-only memory (ROM) 350, a NAND flash memory 310) and / or other circuits or devices, such as a display circuit 304, a radio component 330, a connector I / F 320, and / or a display 360. The MMU 340 may be configured to perform memory protection and page table translation or setup. In some embodiments, the MMU 340 may be included as part of the processor 302.

[0064] As shown, SOC 300 may be coupled to various other circuits of UE 106. For example, UE 106 may include various types of memory (e.g., including NAND flash memory 310), connector interface 320 (e.g., for coupling to a computer system, a docking station, a charging station, etc.), display 360, and wireless communication circuitry 330 (e.g., for LTE, LTE-A, NR, CDMA2000, Bluetooth ™, Wi-Fi, GPS, etc.). The UE device 106 may include at least one antenna (e.g., 335a), and may include multiple antennas (e.g., illustrated by antennas 335a and 335b) for performing wireless communications with base stations and / or other devices. Antennas 335a and 335b are shown by way of example, and the UE device 106 may include fewer or more antennas. In general, one or more antennas are collectively referred to as antennas 335. For example, the UE device 106 may use antennas 335 with the aid of radio circuits 330 to perform wireless communications. As mentioned above, in some embodiments, the UE may be configured to perform wireless communications using multiple wireless communication standards.

[0065] The UE 106 may include hardware and software components for implementing CHO and XR capacity enhancements, for example, according to the various methods described herein. The processor 302 of the UE device 106 may be configured to implement part or all of the methods described herein, for example by executing program instructions stored on a memory medium (e.g., a non-transitory computer-readable memory medium). In other embodiments, the processor 302 may be configured as a programmable hardware element, such as an FPGA (field programmable gate array) or as an ASIC (application-specific integrated circuit). In addition, the processor 302 may be coupled to other components and / or may interoperate with other components, such as Figure 3 As shown, for example, for CHO and XR capacity enhancement according to various methods described herein. The processor 302 may also implement various other applications and / or end-user applications running on the UE 106.

[0066] In some embodiments, radio 330 may include a separate controller dedicated to controlling communications for each corresponding RAT standard. Figure 3 As shown, the radio component 330 may include a Wi-Fi controller 352, a cellular controller (eg, an LTE and / or LTE-A controller) 354, and a Bluetooth controller. ™ Controllers 356, and in at least some embodiments, one or more or all of these controllers may be implemented as respective integrated circuits (ICs or chips) that communicate with each other and with SOC 300 (and more specifically, with processor 302). For example, Wi-Fi controller 352 may communicate with cellular controller 354 via a cell-ISM link or WCI interface, and / or Bluetooth controller 355 may communicate with cellular controller 354 via a cell-ISM link or WCI interface. ™ Controller 356 may communicate with cellular controller 354 via a cell-ISM link, etc. Although three separate controllers are illustrated within radio 330, other embodiments may have fewer or more similar controllers for the various different RATs that may be implemented in UE device 106.

[0067] Figure 4 - Block diagram of an exemplary base station

[0068] Figure 4 1 illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary base station 102 according to some embodiments. Note that Figure 4 The base station of is only one example of a possible base station. As shown, the base station 102 may include a processor 404 that may execute program instructions for the base station 102. The processor 404 may also be coupled to a memory management unit (MMU) 440 or other circuit or device, which may be configured to receive addresses from the processor 404 and convert these addresses to locations in memory (e.g., memory 460 and read-only memory (ROM) 450).

[0069] Base station 102 may include at least one network port 470. Network port 470 may be configured to couple to a telephone network and provide access to the telephone network described above. Figure 1 and Figure 2 The network port 470 may be configured to couple to a plurality of devices such as the UE device 106 of the telephone network described in the foregoing. The network port 470 (or an additional network port) may also or alternatively be configured to couple to a cellular network, such as a core network of a cellular service provider. The core network may provide mobility-related services and / or other services to a plurality of devices such as the UE device 106. In some cases, the network port 470 may be coupled to the telephone network via the core network, and / or the core network may provide the telephone network (e.g., in other UE devices served by the cellular service provider).

[0070] The base station 102 may include at least one antenna 434 and possibly multiple antennas. One or more antennas 434 may be configured to operate as a wireless transceiver and may be further configured to communicate with the UE device 106 via the radio component 430. The antenna 434 communicates with the radio component 430 via a communication chain 432. The communication chain 432 may be a receiving chain, a transmitting chain, or both. The radio component 430 may be designed to communicate via various wireless telecommunication standards, including but not limited to NR, LTE, LTE-A WCDMA, CDMA2000, etc. The processor 404 of the base station 102 may be configured to implement and / or support implementation of part or all of the methods described herein, for example, by executing program instructions stored on a memory medium (e.g., a non-transitory computer-readable memory medium). Alternatively, the processor 404 may be configured as a programmable hardware element such as an FPGA (field programmable gate array), or as an ASIC (application-specific integrated circuit) or a combination thereof. In the case of certain RATs (e.g., Wi-Fi), the base station 102 may also be designed as an access point (AP), in which case the network port 470 may be implemented to provide access to a wide area network and / or one or more local area networks, for example, it may include at least one Ethernet port, and the radio component 430 may be designed to communicate according to the Wi-Fi standard. The base station 102 may operate according to various methods as disclosed herein.

[0071] Figure 5 :Block diagram of the server

[0072] Figure 5 An example block diagram of a server 104 according to some embodiments is illustrated. Note that Figure 5 The server 104 is just one example of a possible server. As shown, the server 104 may include a processor 344 that can execute program instructions for the server 104. The processor 344 may also be coupled to a memory management unit (MMU) 374, which may be configured to receive addresses from the processor 344 and convert these addresses to locations in memory (e.g., memory 364 and read-only memory (ROM) 354) or to other circuits or devices.

[0073] The server 104 may be configured to provide a plurality of devices (such as the base station 102, the UE device 106, and / or the UTM 108) with access to network functionality, for example, as further described herein.

[0074] In some embodiments, server 104 may be part of a radio access network, such as a 5G New Radio (5G NR) access network. In some embodiments, server 104 may be connected to a legacy Evolved Packet Core (EPC) network and / or to a NR Core (NRC) network.

[0075] As further described later herein, the server 104 may include hardware components and software components for implementing or supporting the features described herein. The processor 344 of the server 104 may be configured to implement or support implementing part or all of the methods described herein, for example, by executing program instructions stored on a memory medium (e.g., a non-transitory computer-readable memory medium). Alternatively, the processor 344 may be configured as a programmable hardware element such as an FPGA (field programmable gate array) or as an ASIC (application-specific integrated circuit) or a combination thereof. Alternatively (or in addition thereto), in combination with one or more of the other components 354, 364, and / or 374, the processor 344 of the server 104 may be configured to implement or support implementing part or all of the features described herein.

[0076] In addition, as described herein, the processor 344 may be composed of one or more processing elements. In other words, one or more processing elements may be included in the processor 344. Therefore, the processor 344 may include one or more integrated circuits (ICs) configured to perform the functions of the processor 344. In addition, each integrated circuit may include a circuit (e.g., a first circuit, a second circuit, etc.) configured to perform the functions of the processor 344.

[0077] CHO and XR capacity enhancement

[0078] Extended reality (XR) is an umbrella term for immersive technologies ranging from virtual reality (VR) to mixed reality (MR) and augmented reality (AR). In VR, the user is fully immersed in a simulated digital environment or a digital replica of reality. In addition, MR includes all variants of a mixture of virtual and real environments. In addition, AR is a variant of MR in which digital information is superimposed on a real image viewed through a device. The level of enhancement can vary from a simple display of information to the addition of virtual objects and even a complete enhancement of the real world. MR may also include variants in which real objects are included in the virtual world. It is expected that XR will improve the productivity and convenience of consumers, businesses, and public institutions in a wide range of application areas such as entertainment, training, education, remote support, remote control, communications, and virtual meetings. XR can be used in various industry sectors, such as health care, real estate, shopping, transportation, and manufacturing, and VR has been used for games at home and in dedicated venues, for virtual tours in real estate scenarios, for education and training purposes, and for remote participation in live events such as concerts and sports.

[0079] Therefore, research on XR enhancements is ongoing. For example, the goals of 3GPP Release 18 enhancements include XR awareness in the radio access network (RAN), such as to identify and understand XR traffic (both uplink and downlink traffic), quality of service (QoS) indicators and application layer attributes, and how such information can help / enhance XR specific traffic processing and XR specific power saving. For example, XR specific power saving techniques (with C-DRX and PDCCH monitoring enhancements as the focus) that adapt to XR service characteristics (e.g., periodicity, multiple flows, jitter, latency, reliability, etc.) are of particular interest. In addition, another purpose is XR specific capacity improvement, for example, to identify mechanisms that provide enhanced (e.g., more efficient) resource allocation and scheduling for XR service characteristics (with semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) and configured grant (CG) enhancements and dynamic scheduling and authorization enhancements as the focus).

[0080] In particular, it has been recognized that both cell load and cell coverage may affect the latency associated with XR traffic. For example, a higher block error rate (BLER) at the cell edge only allows for the transmission of smaller transport blocks (TBs) and increases the transmission, resulting in latency degradation. As another example, higher cell loads result in longer data queues, which causes scheduling delays. As yet another example, handovers also typically result in interruption time.

[0081] With respect to handover, for example, in general and in far cell (e.g., cell edge) scenarios, a number of issues with conditional handover have been identified. For example, when a UE is configured with multiple conditional handover (CHO) target cells, e.g., Figure 6As illustrated. As shown, at (1), the UE may provide an RRC measurement report that triggers a CHO request to the source node. The source node may then perform handover preparation at (2), for example, requesting and receiving information from target nodes 1, 2, 3, and 4. At (3), the source node may provide a CHO configuration to the UE, the CHO condition including a CHO execution condition, such as, for example, a threshold criterion for at least reference signal received power (RSRP). Then, based on the threshold criterion, the UE may perform a CHO towards target node #1 at (4), which is heavily loaded but may have a slightly better RSRP (and / or other execution / handover conditions) than target node #4. However, target node #4, which has a better RSRP than the current serving cell and is less congested than any other candidate cell, would be a better target cell for the UE, for example, because a higher cell load (e.g., in terms of the number of UEs served) results in a lower granted scheduling rate, which increases uplink latency and in turn affects the quality of the XR service. Note that due to the challenging key performance indicators (KPIs) of XR (e.g., latency and throughput), it consumes a lot of spectrum and capacity in the cell, and therefore only a limited number of users in the same cell can enjoy XR services. In addition, since the handover process involves QoS differentiation of services, the problem becomes more significant if multiple users in the target cell use the same QoS flow indicator (QFI) / priority, which may become more common as XR becomes more popular. Ideally, as part of the conditional handover process, the serving cell should reserve resources in the target cell; otherwise, if resources cannot be guaranteed, the conditional handover target cell should not be admitted. However, if admission control does admit the target cell and the load is high, there is still a high probability of long queues, so latency can be affected by load conditions.

[0082] Therefore, when conditional handover (CHO) is configured by the network, the UE can decide when to handover and which candidate cell to select based on the CHO execution criteria. However, the CHO execution conditions are currently based only on RRC configured measurements such as RSRP, RSRQ and SNR, without considering any load (cell capacity and currently available resources). In addition, the two main factors affecting latency in cellular networks are cell load and UE mobility (high BLER). Conditional handover can help reduce latency, especially for latency-sensitive applications during mobility, but load is still an issue. For example, returning to Figure 6 , at (3), the source base station establishes a conditional handover command, which is an NRRRC reconfiguration message containing a list of conditional reconfiguration options plus an additional RRC measurement configuration that enables the UE to determine which of the possible target cells is the most suitable. Figure 6In the example of , the UE selects target node #1 based solely on the RSRP value even though there is a better cell (e.g., target node #4) that is better than the serving cell and less congested than any other candidate cell. Such scenarios lead to a poor user experience for delay-sensitive applications, as the delay will be significantly increased due to cell congestion.

[0083] In addition, as described above, an increase in BLER leads to lower scheduling, which increases uplink latency. Therefore, when the UE is in a far cell condition (e.g., at or at the edge of a cell), scheduling and RF conditions deteriorate, regardless of whether the UE has been given a default bearer or a dedicated bearer. This situation is even more serious in a stationary far cell condition, for example, where the UE is stationary and remains in this state until it moves into the coverage of another cell and the network triggers a handover. In addition, for far cell scenarios, when the uplink BLER increases, the uplink latency increases significantly because the UE does not receive enough scheduling (only smaller transport blocks can be allocated and retransmissions increase). Therefore, the UE must rely on the network to help move it to a cell that does not have a high BLER or has a better SNR for uplink data transmission. In addition, there may be connection loss and / or data stagnation in this case, which may result in a degraded user experience.

[0084] The embodiments described herein provide systems, methods, and mechanisms for conditional handover (CHO) enhancement and extended reality (XR) capacity enhancement. For example, in some embodiments, cell load conditions may be provided to the UE, such as cell loads may be transparent to the UE, so that the UE can make an informed choice of a target cell during conditional handover. As another example, in some embodiments, admission control and load management of a serving cell may be enhanced for a conditional handover candidate cell list, such as when a conditional handover candidate cell list is generated for a UE, the serving cell may be aware of the load conditions of neighboring cells. As another example, in some embodiments, conditional handover conditions may be changed based on the load and / or capacity of neighboring cells, such as a base station may make cells with heavier loads and / or cells with smaller capacity less attractive to the UE during conditional handover. As another example, in some embodiments, when the UE is in a far cell condition and conditional handover is configured by the network, the UE may determine when to switch. As another example, in some embodiments, additional conditional handover trigger conditions (e.g., for throughput and delay) may be introduced, and when in a far cell condition, trigger condition offsets and / or multiple trigger events may be specifically configured for stationary UEs.

[0085] In some cases, when a UE such as UE 106 is in a mobility condition and conditional switching is configured for multiple cells, the UE may have the flexibility to select a target cell (base station) based on both RRC measurements and congestion of the target cell. For example, information about the cell load may be available to the UE, or may be predicted or acquired by the UE. Therefore, if there are multiple target cells that meet the threshold criteria for switching, the UE may consciously decide to move to a target cell with lower congestion. In addition, with the help of cell load information and the latest RRC measurements, the UE may rank the target cells in order from most favorable to least favorable, and then select the target cell with the highest ranking. Such a scheme can proactively improve the user experience by selecting a target cell with more resources and lower latency, especially compared to remaining on a target cell with high congestion that degrades performance, which may become more apparent in the case of delay-sensitive applications.

[0086] For example, as part of an XnAP handover request, a source cell (or base station) such as base station 102 may request cell load and / or cell capacity information from a target cell. Then, as part of an RRC reconfiguration message transmission, the source cell may share the cell load and / or cell capacity information with a UE such as UE 106. For example, the source cell may provide such information in a dedicated RRC message, for example, as an indication when the cell is congested. The indication may be a flag (single bit) indicating that the cell load of a particular cell has exceeded a threshold. As another example, multiple fields / multiple quantities (e.g., for load and / or cell quality) may be provided to the UE via an RRC message. In some cases, the determination of a critical threshold for congestion may be determined by the network. For example, a simple percentage (for the entire cell) may not provide any information about how many physical resource blocks (PRBs) are left and what delays can be achieved for a particular UE. However, an indicator or standard that the network can use to detect / evaluate the load may be defined. In addition, when the load is estimated to be high (e.g., above a critical threshold), the source cell may provide an indication to the UE. Such indication may be more useful when the network estimates the expected capacity / load specifically for one UE and provides it in a dedicated message (e.g. such as an RRC message). However, cell load (e.g. capacity utilization) information may be outdated (relatively) quickly, so a validity timer may be associated with the cell load information and / or the network may periodically update the CHO candidate list.

[0087] As another example, a source cell (or base station) such as base station 102 may broadcast cell load information of neighboring cells in system information (e.g., in a system information block). Additionally and / or alternatively, each cell may broadcast its own cell load in system information (e.g., in a system information block). One advantage of such a scheme is that the cell load information is always up to date. In addition, such data may be linked to different services and / or different parts of the cell (e.g., SSB). In addition, the broadcasting of cell load information may reduce the signaling required for CHO, for example, if the UE can take such information into account, the source cell may not need to frequently update the CHO candidate list when the cell load changes and / or when the required capacity can no longer be guaranteed due to higher priority traffic in the cell. In addition, when the UE is about to start XR traffic (or any other service, such as a data call or service request), the UE can use the cell capacity utilization indication as a way to reselect to a better cell before starting data transmission.

[0088] As yet another example, a cell (or base station) may include an indication such as a flag (e.g., a binary indication) in a system information broadcast or dedicated signaling to indicate whether the cell is suitable for XR traffic. In some cases, such information may be used by the UE to prohibit unsuitable cells, for example, when the indication is included in the broadcast. In some cases, such information may be used as a decision criterion for the UE as part of CHO, for example, when the indication is included in dedicated signaling. In addition, when such XR traffic-specific resident information (including cell capacity utilization) is broadcasted, the UE may use it not only during CHO, but also for initial access when an RRC connection is triggered by an XR service request, for example, to reselect to a better cell before starting data transmission.

[0089] As yet another example, a UE (such as UE 106) may have access to a crowdsourced and / or artificial intelligence / machine learning driven database that may maintain some observed key performance indicators (KPIs) (e.g., such as average delay, average throughput, scheduling rate, BLER, etc.) for a given location based on a (variable and / or configurable) moving average time window. The UE may use the database as a reference for comparison. Thus, the UE may utilize the database to determine how congested a target cell may typically be during a particular time of day, and use such information as part of the target cell selection during CHO. In some cases, the UE may use the delay and / or scheduling rate together with statistics of earlier data for a particular time and location of the day. For example, when the data indicates a low scheduling rate for a cell, then the UE may avoid the cell and / or ignore the cell as part of CHO. In some cases, the UE's evaluation of historical data may take into account the time when the network configuration was last changed, such as to restart or reset the window. In some cases, the UE may also take into account the BLER, the frequency of loss of required QoS in the cell, and / or other QoS-related parameters as measured internally by the UE.

[0090] As another example, the UE may rank the target cells, for example, by adding a weighting factor and / or an "estimated probability of success" to each target cell, and rank the target cells accordingly. The acquisition of cell load and / or how to rank the CHO candidate cells may be based on any of the above examples and / or be left to the UE for specific implementation. In some cases, the UE may also consider BLER, the frequency of loss of required QoS in the cell, and / or other QoS-related parameters such as UE internal measurements.

[0091] In some cases, the XR traffic characteristics may be used as an input to a conditional handover decision at a serving (or source) cell (such as base station 102) and / or as an input to an admission control function at a target cell (such as base station 102). For example, the serving cell may provide the XR traffic characteristics as part of a handover request (e.g., via an information element). As another example, the UE or core network may provide specific and / or updated XR traffic characteristics for a flow or UE to the serving cell. The serving cell may then take these UE-specific data into account when populating the traffic characteristics information element. Note that the XR traffic characteristics may be included in other Xn processes that use the XR traffic characteristics in a similar manner, e.g., XR traffic characteristics sharing is not limited to CHO. In addition, the target base station may perform admission control by taking into account the QFI, the XR traffic characteristics, and / or the currently available resources. Thus, the radio resources may be budgeted accordingly by more appropriately taking into account the actual demand. Note further that the XR traffic characteristics may also be shared via the F1 and E1 interfaces, e.g., for UE context setup / modification (via F1, which may also include CHO) or bearer context modification (via E1). In other words, any process using the TSC Traffic Characteristics IE can be modified to include the XR Traffic Characteristics.

[0092] For example, at the Xn / F1 / E1 interface, there is a load management function and the resource status reporting procedure may be used to report load measurements. This includes information about the available capacity in the cell. Thus, in some cases, the base station (e.g., the source cell) may use load measurements during the CHO decision and reserve radio resources "once and for all" at the target cell until the CHO is canceled. In some cases, the base station may update the CHO candidate list at a later time. Thus, when the availability of radio resources changes, the base station may re-evaluate the CHO decision and may update the CHO candidate list. Thus, when the load management function indicates that sufficient resources are no longer available at the target cell, an updated CHO may be provided to the UE in a new RRC reconfiguration. Note that the XR traffic characteristics may be used as input to the load management function at the base station. For example, regarding the XR traffic characteristics provided as input to the load management function:

[0093] a) The source cell can send XR traffic characteristics to the target cell;

[0094] b) The target cell may admit the UE based on, for example, XR traffic characteristics;

[0095] c) the UE may be configured with a candidate CHO list, for example based on XR traffic characteristics; and / or

[0096] d) If at some point in time, the target cell no longer meets the XR requirements of the admitted (but not yet handed over) UE, the target cell may proactively indicate such information to the source cell, and the source cell may remove the target cell (new part) from the CHO candidate list.

[0097] In some cases, in order to take into account the cell load (e.g., the amount of available radio resources), the serving cell (such as base station 102) may reduce the attractiveness of conditional switching towards a heavily loaded target cell. For example, the serving cell (e.g., a cell providing a conditional switching configuration to the UE) may use a load / capacity indication from the target cell to apply a weighting factor (or a negative offset) to the RSRP / RSRQ / SINR value as part of the conditional switching trigger condition provided to the UE, for example, by slightly reducing the attractiveness of the congested cell as a switching target. Such a scheme may be transparent to the UE and / or may provide the UE with additional CHO offsets for RSRP / RSRQ / SINR in an RRC reconfiguration message, which will be applied in addition to the existing criteria. As another example, the network may assign a priority level (or another type of weighting) to each candidate target cell in the target cell list as an optional parameter. Thus, each conditional switching candidate cell may be assigned a priority that the UE can evaluate. The priority may indicate a load balancing hint or provide assistance for the UE's selection. As yet another example, the network may require the UE to process the CHO candidate list in a specific order, such that, for example, cells with preferred load conditions (e.g., shorter queues and / or achievable QoS based on resource availability) are considered first. In such cases, load specific parameters may not be required, however, the network may provide conditional handover preferences between target cells as to what is the preferred target.

[0098] In some cases, when a UE (such as UE 106) is in a far cell condition and conditional handover is configured by the network, the UE may determine when to switch to a target cell. Such a scheme may allow the UE to make a decision to move to a better cell based on the conditional handover configuration, for example, to help enable the UE to move to a cell with better RF conditions. The UE may select a conditional handover target cell based on local measurements. The decision may be based on UE measurement history (e.g., the UE may autonomously decide to move to a higher capacity / better cell based on previous history or measurements) or using a built-in database. Alternatively and / or in addition, the decision may be based on BLER and / or SINR. For example, the reason for the delay spike when the UE is in a stationary far cell condition is because the BLER increases even under appropriate RSRP conditions. Therefore, instead of relying on multiple additional triggering events configured by the network (the multiple additional triggering events are based on RRC measurements), the UE may benefit from including the downlink BLER calculated by the UE on the source cell as one of the CHO criteria in the CHO criteria. As an example, if the downlink BLER is greater than a threshold and the source cell RSRP is lower than another threshold and the UE determines that the candidate target cell has a better RSRP than the source cell but is within the range of the source cell so that the CHO triggering condition is not met, then an offset may be applied to trigger CHO. Similarly, other observed, recorded and / or otherwise available data about other cell quality indicators (such as uplink BLER, RSRQ, SINR, number of retransmissions, etc.) may be considered by the UE as a criterion for autonomously deciding when to move to another cell or perform CHO. As another example, additional CHO triggering conditions may be considered, such as measurements and / or measurement windows for throughput and delay, for example, CHO may be triggered when the throughput or delay exceeds the corresponding threshold. As another example, when in a far cell condition, when the UE is stationary in a far cell and / or cell edge condition, the UE may use an RSRP offset to trigger CHO when the CHO trigger is not met. For example, the UE may use an offset (e.g., as part of RRC condTriggerConfig and / or RRCcondExecutionCond) and / or a trigger specifically suitable for stationary UEs at the cell edge to trigger a separate time for CHO. As another example, when in a far cell condition, when the CHO trigger is not satisfied when the UE is stationary in a far cell and / or cell edge condition, the network may provide a plurality of condExecutionConds to the UE via RRC messaging.

[0099] Figure 7 A block diagram illustrating an example of a method for conditional switching according to some embodiments is illustrated. Among other devices, Figure 7The method shown can also be used with any one of the systems, methods or devices shown in the figure. In various embodiments, some of the method elements shown can be performed concurrently in a different order than shown, or can be omitted. Additional method elements can also be performed as needed. As shown in the figure, the method can operate as follows.

[0100] At 702, a base station (such as base station 102) may receive extended reality XR traffic characteristics. At least in some cases, the base station may be considered a source base station. For example, the XR traffic characteristics may be received from a user equipment (UE) (such as UE 106), a radio access network (RAN) (e.g., an entity of the RAN), or from a core network. These XR traffic characteristics may be UE-specific and / or flow-specific. In some cases, the XR traffic characteristics may include any one, any combination, and / or all (e.g., at least one and / or one or more) of traffic arrival pattern, burst size, jitter, typical periodicity, priority of the flow, downlink rate range, uplink rate range, protocol unit (PDU) setup delay budget in the downlink (e.g., maximum tolerable or threshold PDU setup delay budget in the downlink), PDU setup delay budget in the uplink (e.g., maximum tolerable or threshold PDU setup delay budget in the uplink), PDU setup error rate (e.g., maximum tolerable or threshold PDU setup error rate), round-trip time (e.g., maximum tolerable or threshold round-trip time), Internet Protocol (IP) level downlink packet size, IP level uplink packet size, IP level downlink time characteristics, IP level uplink time characteristics, and / or any other parameters indicating and / or providing information of XR traffic characteristics.

[0101] At 704, the base station may provide XR traffic characteristics to one or more neighboring cells (e.g., one or more target cells and / or one or more target base stations) as part of a conditional handover request. The XR traffic characteristics may be provided over an Xn interface. In some cases, the XR traffic characteristics may be provided via an information element. At least in some cases, the information element may be, for example, a time-sensitive communication (TSC) traffic characteristics information element as defined in the 3GPP standard. In other words, the XR traffic characteristics may be included as a parameter in the TSC traffic characteristics information element. In some cases, the information element may be different from the TSC traffic characteristics information element as defined in the 3GPP standard.

[0102] At 706, the base station may receive a handover request confirmation from the one or more neighboring cells. The handover request confirmation may be based at least in part on an admission control procedure that is performed based on and / or taking into account XR traffic characteristics.

[0103] At 708, the base station may generate a target candidate cell list (eg, a candidate target base station list) based on the handover request confirmation.

[0104] In some cases, the base station may provide a target candidate cell list to the UE. The candidate target base station list may be provided via a radio resource control (RRC) reconfiguration message. In some cases, the base station may also provide a target candidate cell list and / or the base station providing the target candidate cell list may include a base station that provides a conditional switching configuration to the UE. The conditional switching configuration may include a trigger condition. The trigger condition may include any one, any combination, and / or all (e.g., at least one and / or one or more) of a reference signal (RS) received power (RSRP), RS received quality (RSRQ), and / or a signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR) threshold.

[0105] In some cases, the base station may apply a weighting factor and / or a negative offset to one or more of the trigger conditions and / or at least one of the trigger conditions. The weighting factor and / or the negative offset may be based at least in part on a load indication and / or a capacity indication received from the one or more neighboring cells.

[0106] In some cases, the base station may assign a priority level to each of the one or more neighboring cells based on the load conditions of the one or more neighboring cells. For example, a higher priority level may be assigned to a neighboring cell with a lower load condition (e.g., a load condition that is more favorable for XR traffic), and a lower priority level may be assigned to a neighboring cell with a higher load condition (e.g., a load condition that is less favorable for XR traffic), thereby preventing the UE from selecting a neighboring cell with a higher load condition. At least in some cases, the conditional handover configuration may include an indication of the assigned priority level.

[0107] In some cases, the base station may assign a processing preference to each of the one or more neighboring cells based on the load conditions of the one or more neighboring cells. For example, a neighboring cell with a lower load condition (e.g., a load condition that is more favorable for XR traffic) will be processed by the UE before a neighboring cell with a higher load condition (e.g., a load condition that is less favorable for XR traffic). At least in some cases, the conditional handover configuration may include an indication of the processing order of the neighboring cells.

[0108] In some cases, the base station may reserve radio resources at one of the one or more neighboring cells based on the load measurement.The radio resources may be reserved until the conditional handover is cancelled.

[0109] In some cases, the base station may determine that the availability of radio resources at one of the one or more neighboring cells has changed. In this case, the base station may update the target candidate cell list based on the change in radio resources, thereby generating an updated target candidate cell list. In some cases, the base station may provide the updated target candidate cell list to the UE. The updated target candidate cell list may be provided to the UE via an RRC reconfiguration message.

[0110] In some cases, the base station may request cell load information and / or cell capacity information from the one or more neighboring cells. In addition, the base station may provide the cell load information and / or cell capacity information of the one or more neighboring cells to the UE. In some cases, the base station may provide the associated expiration time of the cell load information and / or cell capacity information to the UE. In some cases, the base station may provide the cell load information and / or cell capacity to the UE via an RRC message. In some cases, the base station may provide the cell load information and / or cell capacity information via a broadcast message.

[0111] In some cases, the base station may broadcast cell load information and / or cell capacity information. In some cases, the cell load information and / or cell capacity information may be indicated via a binary indicator. At least in some cases, the binary indicator may indicate whether the base station is suitable for XR traffic.

[0112] It is understood that the use of personally identifiable information should be subject to privacy policies and practices that are generally recognized to meet or exceed industry or government requirements for maintaining user privacy. Specifically, personally identifiable information data should be managed and processed to minimize the risk of unintentional or unauthorized access or use, and the nature of the authorized use should be clearly stated to users.

[0113] The embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented in any of a variety of forms. For example, some embodiments may be implemented as computer-implemented methods, computer-readable storage media, or computer systems. Other embodiments may be implemented using one or more custom-designed hardware devices such as ASICs. Other embodiments may be implemented using one or more programmable hardware elements such as FPGAs.

[0114] In some embodiments, a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium may be configured such that it stores program instructions and / or data, wherein if executed by a computer system, the program instructions cause the computer system to perform a method, such as any one of the method embodiments described herein, or any combination of the method embodiments described herein, or any subset of any of the method embodiments described herein or any combination of such subsets.

[0115] In some embodiments, a device (e.g., UE 106) may be configured to include a processor (or a group of processors) and a memory medium, wherein the memory medium stores program instructions, wherein the processor is configured to read and execute the program instructions from the memory medium, wherein the program instructions are executable to implement any of the various method embodiments described herein (or any combination of the method embodiments described herein, or any subset of any of the method embodiments described herein, or any combination of such subsets). The device may be implemented in any of a variety of forms.

[0116] By interpreting each message / signal X received by a user equipment (UE) in the downlink as a message / signal X sent by the base station, and interpreting each message / signal Y sent by the UE in the uplink as a message / signal Y received by the base station, any of the methods for operating a UE described herein may become the basis for the corresponding method for operating a base station.

[0117] Although the above embodiments have been described in considerable detail, numerous variations and modifications will become apparent to those skilled in the art once the above disclosure is fully appreciated. It is intended that the following claims be interpreted to include all such variations and modifications.

Claims

1. A method for conditional switching, the method comprising: Base station, Receive extended reality XR traffic characteristics; providing the XR traffic characteristics to one or more target base stations as part of a conditional handover; receiving a handover request confirmation from the one or more target base stations, wherein the handover request confirmation is based at least in part on an admission control procedure performed based on the XR traffic characteristics; as well as A candidate target base station list is generated based on the handover request confirmation.

2. The method according to claim 1, The XR traffic feature is provided via the Xn interface.

3. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 2, The XR traffic characteristics are provided via information elements.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, The XR traffic characteristics are received from a user equipment UE.

5. The method according to claim 4, The XR traffic characteristics are flow specific.

6. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, Wherein the XR traffic characteristics are received from a core network.

7. The method according to claim 6, The information elements include time-sensitive communication TSC traffic characteristics information elements.

8. The method according to any one of claims 6 to 7, The XR traffic characteristics are user equipment UE-specific or flow-specific.

9. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 8, further comprising: the base station, The candidate target base station list is provided to a user equipment UE.

10. The method according to claim 9, The candidate target base station list is provided via a radio resource control (RRC) reconfiguration message.

11. The method according to any one of claims 9 to 10, Wherein providing the candidate target base station list to the UE includes providing a conditional switching configuration to the UE.

12. The method according to claim 11, The conditional switching configuration includes a trigger condition, wherein the trigger condition includes a threshold value of one or more of the following: Reference signal RS received power RSRP; RS reception quality RSRQ; or Signal to Interference plus Noise Ratio SINR.

13. The method according to claim 12, further comprising: the base station, A weighting factor or a negative offset is applied to one or more of the triggering conditions, wherein the weighting factor or the negative offset is based at least in part on a load indication or a capacity indication received from the one or more neighboring cells.

14. The method according to claim 11, further comprising: the base station, A priority level is assigned to each of the one or more neighboring cells based on the load condition of the one or more target base stations, wherein a higher priority level is assigned to a neighboring cell with a lower load condition and a lower priority level is assigned to a neighboring cell with a higher load condition, thereby preventing the UE from selecting the neighboring cell with the higher load condition, and wherein the conditional switching configuration includes an indication of the assigned priority level.

15. The method according to claim 11, further comprising: the base station, A processing preference is assigned to each of the one or more target base stations based on a load condition of the one or more target base stations, wherein a neighboring cell with a lower load condition is to be processed by the UE before a neighboring cell with a higher load condition, and wherein the conditional switching configuration includes an indication of a processing order of the neighboring cells.

16. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 15, further comprising: the base station, Radio resources are reserved at a target base station of the one or more target base stations based on the load measurement.

17. The method according to claim 16, The radio resources are reserved until the conditional switching is cancelled.

18. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 17, further comprising: the base station, determining that availability of radio resources at one of the one or more target base stations has changed; as well as The candidate target base station list is updated based on the change of radio resources, thereby generating an updated candidate target base station list.

19. The method according to claim 18, further comprising: the base station, The updated candidate target base station list is provided to the user equipment UE.

20. The method according to claim 19, The updated candidate target base station list is provided via a radio resource control (RRC) reconfiguration message.

21. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 20, further comprising: the base station, One or more of cell load information or cell capacity information is requested from the one or more target base stations.

22. The method according to claim 21, further comprising: the base station, One or more of the cell load information or the cell capacity information of the one or more target base stations is provided to a user equipment (UE).

23. The method according to claim 22, Wherein providing one or more of the cell load information or the cell capacity information of the one or more target base stations to the UE comprises providing an associated expiration time of the one or more of the cell load information or the cell capacity information to the UE.

24. The method according to claims 22 to 23, Wherein one or more of the cell load information or the cell capacity information is provided via a radio resource control (RRC) message.

25. The method according to claims 22 to 23, Wherein one or more of the cell load information or the cell capacity information is provided via a broadcast message.

26. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 25, further comprising: the base station, Broadcast cell load information.

27. The method according to claim 26, The cell load information is indicated via a binary indicator.

28. The method according to claim 27, The binary indicator indicates whether the base station is suitable for XR traffic.

29. An apparatus, comprising: Memory; and At least one processor in communication with the memory and configured to perform the method according to any one of claims 1 to 28.

30. A network node, the network node comprising: At least one network interface; and A processor in communication with the network interface and configured to perform a method according to any one of claims 1 to 28.

31. A non-transitory computer readable memory medium storing program instructions executable by a processor of a network node to perform the method according to any one of claims 1 to 28.

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