CSI measurement for inter-cell mobility

Abstract

According to some embodiments, a method is implemented by a wireless device for performing channel state information (CSI) measurements for inter-cell mobility of Layer 1 (L1) / Layer 2 (L2). The method includes receiving a message from a network node. The message includes at least one configuration of a target inter-cell mobility candidate cell (L1 / L2). The method further comprises performing a CSI measurement on at least one of a synchronization signal (SS) and a reference signal (RS) of the target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell based on the at least one configuration of the target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell, and transmitting a CSI report including information based on the CSI measurement to the network node.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to wireless communications, and more particularly, to channel state information (CSI) measurements for inter-cell mobility. Background Art

[0002] In wireless communication networks such as the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) fifth generation (5G) network, to support beam management operations, the network configures a channel state information (CSI) measurement configuration (e.g., information element (IE) CSI-MeasConfig received within an RRCReconfiguration message) for a user equipment (UE). The CSI measurement configuration is configured per serving cell (within ServingCellConfig, such as within the ServingCellConfig of a SpCell) to associate the cell in which the CSI report is to be sent.

[0003] For each type of CSI report sent by the UE, the network indicates an explicit list of CSI resources (also called CSI resource configuration), including a CSI-RS set list (nzp-CSI-RS-ResourceSetList, IE SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxNrofNZP-CSI-RS-ResourceSetsPerConfig)) OF NZP-CSI-RS-ResourceSetId) and / or an SSB set list (csi-SSB-ResourceSetList, IE SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxNrofCSI-SSB-ResourceSetsPerConfig)) OF CSI-SSB-ResourceSetId) for a given serving cell (e.g., SpCell of a cell group, or SCell) for which the UE is configured.

[0004] The following reproduces the IE in which the CSI resource configuration is provided to the UE:

[0005] CSI-ResourceConfig Information Element

[0006]

[0007]

[0008]

[0009] In general, to implement CSI measurements that support network beam management operations (e.g., beam switching, activation and / or deactivation of transmission configuration indicator (TCI) states), the UE is configured with an explicit list of CSI-RS resources and / or SSBs for each serving cell to be measured and reported.

[0010] 3GPP standards activities include a work item on further New Radio (NR) mobility enhancements for inter-cell mobility based on layer one (L1) / layer two (L2) (see RP-213565 for details). According to the work item description, when a UE moves from the coverage area of ​​one cell to another, a serving cell change is implemented at a certain moment. Currently, the serving cell change is triggered by L3 measurements and is completed by a reconfiguration triggered by radio resource control (RRC) signaling (with synchronization for changes to PCell and PSCell) and the addition of a release of the SCell when applicable. All cases involve a full L2 (and L1) reset, resulting in longer delays, more overhead and longer interruption time compared to beam switching mobility. The goal of the L1 / L2 mobility enhancement is to implement serving cell changes through L1 / L2 signaling to reduce delays, overhead and interruption time.

[0011] L1-L2 inter-cell mobility should be similar to inter-cell beam management, ie, to support L1-L2 inter-cell mobility, the UE should be configured to perform measurements on cells that are not the serving cell as defined up to Rel-17.

[0012] In Rel-17, to support inter-physical cell identifier (PCI) multiple transmit / receive point (mTRP) operation, CSI resources can be associated with a PCI that is not the same PCI as one of the serving cells. This solution requires the UE to receive an explicit indication of which beams (SSBs) and PCIs to measure for a given reporting configuration.

[0013] The goal is to specify procedures for L1 / L2-based inter-cell mobility to reduce mobility delays. These include: configuration and maintenance of multiple candidate cells to facilitate rapid application of candidate cell configuration; dynamic switching mechanisms between candidate serving cells (including SpCells and SCells) for potentially applicable scenarios based on L1 / L2 signaling; L1 enhancements for inter-cell beam management, including L1 measurements and reporting, and beam indication; timing advance management; and central unit (CU-distributed unit (DU) interface signaling for supporting L1 / L2 mobility when needed.

[0014] The procedures for L1 / L2 based inter-cell mobility are applicable to the following scenarios: standalone, carrier aggregation (CA) and NR dual connectivity (DC) cases, where the serving cell change is within a cell group (CG; intra-DU case and intra-CU inter-DU case (applicable to standalone and CA, no new RAN interface is expected)); both intra-frequency and inter-frequency; and both frequency range one (FR1) and frequency range two (FR2). The source cell and the target cell can be synchronized or asynchronous.

[0015] There are some challenges currently. For example, the problem with existing solutions for configuring CSI resources for UEs for CSI measurements to assist the network in implementing beam management operations (e.g., SSB and / or CSI-RS measurements for TCI state activation / deactivation) is that the CSI resources are limited to the serving cells configured for the group of cells in which the configuration is included, i.e., the current PCell and the configured SCell. Such a solution does not work well for L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility because the UE should be configured to measure SSB and / or CSI-RS of L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cells that may not be one of the currently defined serving cells (e.g., not the PCell) but may be cells at the same frequency as the serving cell.

[0016] 3GPP Rel-17 includes a solution to configure a UE to perform CSI measurements on SSBs of a PCI that is not one of the serving cells for which the UE is configured by configuring the IE CSI-SSB-ResourceSet as follows:

[0017] CSI-SSB-ResourceSet information element

[0018]

[0019]

[0020] For the Rel-17 solution for multiple TRPs, the UE receives a CSI resource configuration (CSI-ResourceConfig) associated with a resource set (CSI-SSB-ResourceSet), where each resource set includes a list of SSB indices, associated with SSBs that may be from different PCIs. For example, if csi-SSB-ResourceList = [SSB index - 7, SSB index - 3, SSB index - 7] and additionalPCIList-r17 = [3 5 6], the UE is configured with:

[0021] PCI index = SSB index of 3 - 7;

[0022] PCI index = SSB index of 5 - 3;

[0023] PCI index = SSB index of 6 - 7;

[0024] The CSI resource configuration may include resources for multiple PCIs, but the CSI-SSB-ResourceSet IE is generated by the serving DU because the solution is meant to be specified only for intra-DU scenarios, i.e., multiple TRPs but within the same DU. In Rel-18, the UE may be configured with L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidates from neighboring DUs (e.g., in the same CU as the serving DU) and the UE should be configured to perform measurements on the candidate cells of the neighboring DUs. Since the current CSI resource configuration is part of the CSI-MeasConfig within the CellGroupConfig of the serving cell configuration of the serving DU, it is unclear how to configure the UE with these CSI resources associated with the candidate cells of the neighboring DUs. Summary of the invention

[0025] As described above, there are currently some challenges in channel state information (CSI) measurements for inter-cell mobility. Certain aspects of the present disclosure and embodiments thereof may provide solutions to these or other challenges. For example, in a particular embodiment, based on a target candidate configuration, a user equipment (UE) performs measurements on one or more target candidate cells to assist the network in triggering layer one (L1) / layer two (L2) inter-cell mobility, wherein at least one configuration of the target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cells is generated by a candidate distributed unit (DU) (e.g., different from a serving DU).

[0026] This is different from the above solution where the measurement is determined based on the serving cell configuration (as generated by the serving DU, assuming a single DU as in existing solutions) for which the UE is configured (CSI-MeasConfig within the serving cell configuration with which the UE is configured and communicating).

[0027] A specific embodiment includes a method at a UE for implementing channel state information (CSI) measurements for L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility. The method includes: receiving a radio resource control (RRC) message from a network node. The RRC message includes at least one configuration of a target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell. The method also includes: applying the configuration from the RRC message, and in response, sending an RRC completion message to the network node. When applying the configuration in the RRC message, the method includes: based on the at least one configuration of the target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell, implementing CSI measurements on at least one synchronization signal (SS) and / or reference signal (RS) of the target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell. The method also includes: sending a CSI report to the network node, the CSI report including information based on the CSI measurement of the at least one SS and / or RS.

[0028] Some embodiments include determining a frequency. For example, some embodiments further include: the UE performs the at least one CSI measurement on at least one SS (e.g., a synchronization signal block (SSB)) and / or at least one RS (CSI-RS) based on at least one frequency information of the SS and / or RS of the L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell.

[0029] Some embodiments include: the UE obtains the at least one frequency information of the SS and / or RS of the L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell in the following manner: for the currently active serving cell, (explicitly) receiving the CSI measurement configuration in the RRC message; and / or (explicitly) receiving the RRM measurement configuration in the RRC message, wherein the frequency information is associated with a measurement object including frequency information (e.g., SSB frequency); and / or (implicitly) receiving the configuration of the target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell.

[0030] In a specific embodiment, the configuration of the target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell includes a configuration used by the UE in the target cell after L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility is performed, that is, a configuration to be applied, switched to, or activated by the UE after receiving an L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility command from the network, wherein the L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility command includes lower layer signaling (e.g., a media access control (MAC) control element (CE) or a downlink control indication (DCI)) indicating to the UE the execution of L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility to the L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell.

[0031] In a specific embodiment, the configuration of the target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell includes at least one or more of the following: a beam configuration, wherein the beam configuration includes a beam identifier; an SS index and / or one or more RS identifiers; a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state configuration, wherein the TCI state configuration includes an associated RS identifier and / or SS index; a quasi-co-location (QCL) configuration, wherein the QCL configuration includes an associated RS identifier and / or SS index; a TCI state configuration, wherein the TCI state configuration includes an associated QCL configuration with an associated RS identifier and / or SS index; a cell identifier (physical cell identity); a CSI measurement configuration, including one or more CSI resource configurations, wherein the CSI resource configuration indicates at least one SS index and / or at least one RS identifier to be measured when the UE operates in the target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell; and frequency information for transmission of SS and / or RS of the target cell (e.g., SSB frequency, CSI-RS initial frequency, number of CSI-RS physical resource blocks, relative to TS 38.331 as defined in point A).

[0032] In a specific embodiment, the method further includes: based on the at least one frequency information of the SS and / or RS, performing at least one CSI measurement on the SS and / or RS in the following manner: performing a cell search on a cell having a cell identifier configured within the configuration of the target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell, and when the cell is detected, performing the at least one CSI measurement on the SS and / or RS of the cell.

[0033] In a specific embodiment, the method further includes: performing at least one CSI measurement on the SS and / or RS that is part of the beam configuration of the target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell based on the at least one frequency information of the SS and / or RS.

[0034] Some embodiments include determining the SS / RS for which to perform measurements. For example, in some embodiments, the UE performs CSI measurements on at least one SS and / or at least one RS indicated in the configuration of the target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell for sending a CSI report to the network.

[0035] In some embodiments, the UE performs CSI measurements (and reports CSI measurements) on at least one SS and / or at least one RS configured as a QCL source for a TCI state as part of the configuration of the target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell.

[0036] In some embodiments, the UE performs CSI measurements (and reports CSI measurements) on at least one SS and / or at least one RS that is configured as a QCL source for a TCI state and indicated to be measured, wherein the at least one SS and / or the at least one RS is a subset of the SS and / or RS that is configured as a QCL source for a configured TCI state as part of the configuration of the target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell.

[0037] In some embodiments, the UE performs CSI measurement (and reports CSI measurement) on at least one SS and / or at least one RS configured in a CSI measurement configuration within the configuration of the target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell.

[0038] Some embodiments include determining candidate cells for which measurements are to be performed. For example, in some embodiments, the UE performs CSI measurements on at least one cell whose cell identifier (e.g., PCI) is indicated in the configuration of the target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cells for sending a CSI report to the network.

[0039] In some embodiments, the UE performs CSI measurements (and reports CSI measurements) on a cell whose cell identifier is indicated in a serving cell configuration common (eg, IE ServingCellConfigCommon) as part of the configuration of the target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell.

[0040] In some embodiments, the configuration of the target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cells is generated by a candidate distributed unit (DU) of a radio access network (RAN), wherein the candidate DU corresponds to a candidate cell for a neighboring DU and / or the candidate cell for the neighboring DU corresponds to a serving DU.

[0041] In some embodiments, the method comprises: sending a CSI report comprising information based on CSI measurements of the at least one SS and / or RS to the network node based on one or more reporting criteria. The one or more reporting criteria may be configured in a CSI reporting configuration.

[0042] In some embodiments, the method further includes: receiving a message indicating the removal of at least one target candidate cell configured for L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility on which the UE has performed measurements based on the configuration of the target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidates (for example, according to any method described herein); and, as the cell is removed, the configuration of the target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidates is deleted, and the UE stops performing measurements performed according to one of the methods.

[0043] Some embodiments are implemented by a central unit (CU). According to some embodiments, a method for configuring CSI measurement for a UE configured with L1 / L2-based inter-cell mobility at a CU of a RAN (e.g., a gNodeB-CU) includes: sending a request message to a DU (e.g., a gNodeB-DU) of the RAN, indicating a request for the DU to configure the UE with L1 / L2-based inter-cell mobility. The request is for a cell in a frequency indicated in the message. The method also includes: receiving a response message from the DU in response to a second message, the response message including at least one configuration of a candidate cell for L1 / L2-based inter-cell mobility in the frequency indicated in the message.

[0044] The method further includes: generating an RRC reconfiguration to be provided to the UE, including a CSI measurement configuration, the CSI measurement configuration including frequency information of L1 / L2 based inter-cell mobility candidate cells where the UE needs to find SS and RS for which the UE performs CSI measurement; sending a message including the RRC reconfiguration to be sent to the UE to the DU; and receiving a message including an RRC reconfiguration completion from the DU from the UE. Further CU actions will be described in more detail below.

[0045] Some embodiments are implemented by a candidate DU. For example, a method for configuring L1 / L2-based inter-cell mobility for a UE in RRC_CONNECTED at a candidate DU of a RAN (e.g., a gNodeB-DU) includes: receiving a request message from a CU (e.g., a gNodeB-CU) of the RAN, indicating a request for the DU to configure L1 / L2-based inter-cell mobility for the UE. The request is for a cell in a frequency indicated in the message. The method also includes: sending a response message to the CU in response to a second message, the response message including at least one configuration of an L1 / L2-based inter-cell mobility candidate cell in the frequency indicated in the message. One configuration of the L1 / L2-based inter-cell mobility candidate cell will be used by the UE to perform CSI measurements on at least one SS and / or RS of the target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell when the UE is still connected to a serving cell that is not a target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell, in preparation for L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility execution.

[0046] Figure 1 is a flow chart showing an overview of L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility execution according to certain embodiments. Figure 1 The interactions between the UE, CU, serving DU and candidate DUs are shown.

[0047] In general, a specific embodiment includes: a UE receives an RRC message including a configuration of a target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell, and based on the configuration (which can be mainly used to operate with the target cell after performing received lower layer signaling), the UE determines which SS and / or RS and which cell(s) the UE should perform CSI measurements on.

[0048] In some embodiments, the SS (e.g., SSB index) and / or RS (CSI-RS resource identifier) ​​on which the UE determines to perform CSI measurement is an SS and RS configured within the configuration of the target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell as a QCL source for the configured TCI state of the target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell. In other words, the UE performs CSI measurement on the beams indicated in the configuration of the target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell as candidate beams for L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility. The benefit is that the UE reduces the number of SSs and RSs on which the UE is required to perform CSI measurement for CSI reporting for L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility.

[0049] In some embodiments, the UE determines that the cell (e.g., physical cell identity, encoded in one or more SSs, such as PSS / SSS) on which to perform CSI measurement is a cell configured in the configuration of the target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell. In other words, the UE performs CSI measurement on the cell whose PCI is indicated in the configuration of the target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell.

[0050] In some embodiments, the UE determines that the frequency of the SS and / or RS for which the CSI measurement is to be performed (e.g., the SSB frequency and / or the CSI-RS frequency) is the frequency of the SS and / or RS configured in the configuration of the target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell. In another alternative, the frequency of the SS and / or RS (e.g., the SSB frequency and / or the CSI-RS frequency) is explicitly configured as part of the CSI measurement configuration.

[0051] The term "applicable cell" refers to the cell for which the UE measures CSI, i.e., the cell of those SSs and RSs for which the UE measures CSI for CSI reporting to assist L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility. The term "applicable beam" refers to the SSs and RSs for which the UE measures CSI, i.e., the SSs and RSs for which the UE measures CSI for CSI reporting to assist L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility.

[0052] In general, a method is implemented by a wireless device for performing CSI measurement for L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility. The method includes: receiving a message from a network node. The message includes at least one configuration of a target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell. The method also includes: based on the at least one configuration of the target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell, performing CSI measurement on at least one of an SS and an RS of the target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell, and sending a CSI report including information based on the CSI measurement to the network node.

[0053] According to some embodiments, a wireless receiver comprises a processing circuit operable to implement any of the methods of a wireless device and / or UE described above.

[0054] Also disclosed is a computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-readable program code, which, when executed by a processing circuit, is operable to implement any of the methods implemented by the wireless device and / or UE described above.

[0055] According to some embodiments, a method is implemented by a network node operating as a CU of a radio access network (RAN) for configuring CSI measurements for a wireless device configured with L1 / L2-based inter-cell mobility. The method includes: sending a request message to a DU of the RAN, indicating a request for the DU to configure the wireless device with L1 / L2-based inter-cell mobility. The request is for a cell in a frequency indicated in the request message. The method also includes: receiving a response message from the DU in response to the request message, the response message including at least one configuration of an L1 / L2-based inter-cell mobility candidate cell in the frequency indicated in the message; generating an RRC reconfiguration to be provided to the wireless device, including a CSI measurement configuration, the CSI measurement configuration including frequency information of the L1 / L2-based inter-cell mobility candidate cell in which the wireless device will find an SS or RS for which the wireless device performs CSI measurement; and sending a message to the DU including the RRC reconfiguration to be sent to the wireless device.

[0056] According to some embodiments, the network node comprises a processing circuit operable to implement any of the methods of the network node CU and / or DU described above.

[0057] Also disclosed is a computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable medium storing computer readable program code, which, when executed by a processing circuit, is operable to implement any of the methods implemented by the above-described network node.

[0058] Certain embodiments may provide one or more of the following technical advantages. For example, in certain embodiments, the UE performs CSI measurements based on the configuration of the target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cells for CSI reporting to support L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility without the need for CSI measurement configuration generated by the candidate DU and / or serving DU. This is a significant advantage in intra-CU inter-DU scenarios, where L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidates are configured by neighboring DUs.

[0059] One reason for this advantage is that the neighboring DU generates the configuration of the target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell to be applied and / or switched to when L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility is performed, including the cell identifier of the target candidate, which the UE uses to limit the number of cells on which the UE needs to perform CSI measurements in a given frequency (e.g., SSB frequency). This is beneficial to the UE because the UE performs fewer measurements and more relevant measurements because the cells measured by the UE are the cells configured as candidates because the cell identifier is determined based on the configuration of the target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell.

[0060] Similarly, the configuration of the target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell also includes the identifier and index of the configured beam (i.e., the RS identifier and SS index of the RS and SS transmitted in different spatial directions in the beam of the candidate cell), which the UE uses to limit the number of SS and RS on which the UE needs to perform CSI measurements in a given frequency (e.g., SSB frequency). This is also beneficial to the UE, which performs fewer measurements and more relevant measurements in a given cell, because the SS and RS measured by the UE are the SS and RS of the target candidate cell, which can be indicated during beam switching.

[0061] Another advantage is that because the UE determines what to measure for the cell and the SS and RS of the cell based on the target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility configuration, when configuring L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility (e.g., UE-specific CSI resource configuration), the candidate DU does not need to generate an explicit CSI measurement configuration to configure the UE during the preparation phase, including an explicit list of SS indexes and RS identifiers, which simplifies the implementation of the candidate DU; or, a very limited CSI measurement configuration is generated, such as frequency information of the SS and RS (e.g., E-Absolute Radio Frequency Channel Number (ARFCN) of the SSB frequency, ARFCN of point A, offset of the CSI-RS initial resource to point A, CSI-RS bandwidth, etc.), for use by the UE along with the configuration of the target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell to limit the number of CSI measurements performed by the UE (and the cells on which the UE performs CSI measurements) to the candidate cell for which the UE is configured, and the SS / RS of the beam configured as the target candidate cell (e.g., QCL source in the TCI state configuration) (if the UE performs L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility to that candidate cell). BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0062] For a more complete understanding of the disclosed embodiments and their features and advantages, reference is now made to the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

[0063] Figure 1 is a flow chart showing an overview of L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility execution according to certain embodiments;

[0064] Figure 2 is a block diagram illustrating the architecture of a Central Unit (CU) and a Distributed Unit (DU) for use in a Radio Access Network (RAN);

[0065] Figure 3 An example of how a UE may receive frequency information for channel state information (CSI) measurements of synchronization signals (SS) and / or reference signals (RS) for L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidates is shown;

[0066] Figure 4 Another example of how a UE may receive frequency information for CSI measurement of SS and / or RS for L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidates is shown;

[0067] Figure 5 An example is shown of how a UE may receive an indication of which SSs and / or RSs to use for CSI measurements of L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidates;

[0068] Figure 6 Another example of how a UE may receive an indication of which SSs and / or RSs to use for CSI measurements of L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidates is shown;

[0069] Figure 7 An example is shown of how a UE may receive an indication of which cells to measure for CSI measurement (i.e. which L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidates / PCIs of the candidates);

[0070] Figure 8 Common parameters across primary cell group candidates are shown;

[0071] Fig. 9 is a flowchart showing an example of a signaling flow when a candidate DU is a neighboring DU;

[0072] Fig.10 is a flow chart showing an example of a signaling flow showing a process by which a serving DU configures a mapping between each L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate from a neighboring DU and a CSI reporting configuration so that the UE knows what CSI reporting configuration is associated with the SS and / or RS and / or cell for which CSI is to be measured and reported;

[0073] Fig.11 is a flowchart showing an example of a signaling flow when a candidate DU is a serving DU;

[0074] Fig.12 is a flow chart showing an example of a signaling flow for multiple candidate DUs (having at least a serving DU and one or more neighboring DUs);

[0075] Fig.13 An example communication system according to certain embodiments is shown;

[0076] Fig.14 illustrates an example user equipment (UE) according to certain embodiments;

[0077] Fig.15 illustrates an example network node according to certain embodiments;

[0078] Fig.16 shows a block diagram of a host according to some embodiments;

[0079] Fig.17 illustrates a virtualization environment in which functionality implemented by some embodiments may be virtualized according to certain embodiments;

[0080] Fig.18 A host is shown communicating with a UE via a network node over a partial wireless connection according to some embodiments;

[0081] Fig. 20 A method implemented by a network node central unit (CU) according to certain embodiments is shown; and

[0082] Fig.21 A method implemented by a network node distributed unit (DU) according to certain embodiments is shown. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0083] As described above, there are currently challenges in channel state information (CSI) measurements for inter-cell mobility. Certain aspects of the present disclosure and embodiments thereof may provide solutions to these or other challenges. For example, in a particular embodiment, a user equipment (UE) performs measurements on one or more target candidate cells based on a target candidate configuration to assist the network in triggering layer one (L1) / layer two (L2) inter-cell mobility, wherein at least one configuration of the target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cells is generated by a candidate distributed unit (DU) (e.g., different from a serving DU).

[0084] Specific embodiments will be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, other embodiments are included within the scope of the subject matter disclosed herein, and the disclosed subject matter should not be interpreted as being limited to the embodiments set forth herein; instead, these embodiments are provided by way of example to convey the scope of the subject matter to those skilled in the art.

[0085] Figure 2 The invention is a block diagram showing an architecture for a central unit (CU) and a DU in a radio access network (RAN). In the example shown, the RAN is a next generation RAN (NG-RAN), which may also be referred to as a 5G RAN, however, the method is applicable to any RAN, such as a sixth generation (6G) RAN architecture. The example shown includes an architecture (with both NG-RAN and 5GC) in which the NG-RAN is separated in the CU and the DU (which are connected via an F1 interface).

[0086] A RAN (e.g., NG-RAN) includes a set of RAN nodes (e.g., gNBs) connected to a core network (CN) (e.g., 5GC) via a RAN / CN interface (e.g., NG interface). For an NG-RAN, it may include one or more ng-eNBs, where the ng-eNB may include an ng-eNB-CU and one or more ng-eNB-DUs. A gNB may include a gNB-CU and one or more gNB-DUs. The gNB-CU and the gNB-DU are connected via an F1 interface. The gNB-DU may be connected to multiple gNB-CUs. Specific embodiments are presented herein as being applicable to NG-RAN as examples, however, these embodiments are also applicable to any RAN architecture, such as a 6G RAN.

[0087] The term "L1 / L2-based inter-cell mobility" is used in the work item description in 3GPP, but the terms L1 / L2 mobility, L1 mobility, L1-based mobility, L1 / L2-centric inter-cell mobility or L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility are used interchangeably. The basic principle is that the UE receives lower layer signaling from the network, indicating the change (or handover or activation) of its serving cell (e.g., PCell change from source PCell to target PCell), where the lower layer signaling is the message / signaling of the lower layer protocol.

[0088] A lower layer protocol refers to a lower layer protocol in the air interface protocol stack compared to the radio resource control (RRC) protocol, for example, the medium access control (MAC) is considered a lower layer protocol because it is located below the RRC in the air interface protocol stack, in which case the lower layer signaling / message may correspond to a MAC control element (MAC CE). Another example of a lower layer protocol is layer one (or physical layer, L1), in which case the lower layer signaling / message may correspond to downlink control information (DCI).

[0089] Signaling information in a protocol layer below RRC reduces processing time, thereby reducing interruption time during mobility. In addition, it can also increase mobility robustness because the network can respond to faster changes in channel conditions.

[0090] Another relevant aspect of L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility is that in a multi-beam scenario, a cell may be associated with multiple synchronization signal blocks (SSBs), and different SSBs may be transmitted in different spatial directions (i.e., using different beams, across the coverage area of ​​the cell) during a half-frame. Similar reasoning may also apply to the channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) resources, which may also be transmitted in different spatial directions. Therefore, in L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility, receiving lower layer signaling instructs the UE to change from one beam in the serving cell to another beam in a neighboring cell (which is a configured candidate cell) thereby changing the serving cell.

[0091] The term "L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell" is mentioned herein to refer to the cell that the UE is configured with when L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility is configured. This is the cell that the UE can move to in the L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility process after receiving lower layer signaling. These cells may also be referred to as candidate cells, candidates, mobility candidates, non-serving cells, additional cells, etc. This is the cell on which the UE performs measurements (e.g., CSI measurements) as disclosed herein, so that the UE reports these measurements and the network can make an informed decision about which beam (e.g., transmission configuration indication (TCI) state) and / or which cell the UE is to switch to.

[0092] L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cells may be candidates for SCells to become target PCells or PSCells or cell groups (e.g., MCG SCells). In this sense, when the resource configuration is mentioned to indicate to the UE the synchronization signals (SS) and / or reference signals (RS) to be measured for CSI for reporting, it may refer to the SS and / or RS of the candidate SCells of the primary cell group (MCG), the candidate SCells of the secondary cell group (SCG), the candidate PSCells and / or the candidate PCells.

[0093] CSI measurements are measurements based on which the UE derives information to include in the CSI report. CSI measurements are different from the Radio Resource Management (RRM) measurements reported on the RRCMeasurementReport message. RRM measurements are configured by the RRC measurement configuration (IE MeasConfig in the first ASN.1 level in the RRCReconfiguration message), filtered by Layer 3, used as input to trigger the RRC Measurement Report (which is an RRC message), and once reported, are typically used by the network (e.g., CU) to determine whether the UE needs to be handed over to another cell using the Reconfiguration with Sync procedure. In the context of the embodiments described herein, CSI measurements are configured by a CSI measurement configuration (e.g., CSI-MeasConfig-L1-L2-Mobility), are not necessarily layer 3 filtered by the UE, are not used as input to trigger an RRC Measurement Report (which is an RRC message), but are used as input to derive information included in the CSI report, which is fundamentally different from an RRC measurement report because the CSI report is not an RRC message, but a message in a layer below RRC in the protocol stack (e.g., physical layer / layer 1 (L1)), such as a CSI report over a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) and / or a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) similar to that defined in TS 38.214, but may include information of L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cells. After the CSI report is reported, it is typically used by the network (e.g., DU) in the L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility execution process to determine whether the UE needs to be handed over to the beam (and / or SSB, TCI state, quasi co-location (QCL) source) of the candidate cell.

[0094] In one set of embodiments, the CSI measurement includes one or more of the following. The CSI measurement may include a synchronization signal reference signal received power (SS-RSRP) of the L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell for at least one configuration / indication of the L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell. The SS-RSRP is measured only in reference signals corresponding to SS / PBCH blocks (SSBs) having the same physical layer cell identity (PCI) and the same SS / PBCH block (SSB) index of the L1 / L2 inter-cell candidate cell.

[0095] In some embodiments, SS-RSRP may be derived as a linear average of the power contributions (in [W]) of resource elements carrying secondary synchronization signals (SSS) of L1 / L2 inter-cell candidate cells.

[0096] In some embodiments, SS-RSRP determination is based on the demodulation reference signal of the physical broadcast channel (PBCH) for the L1 / L2 inter-cell candidate cell; and, if indicated by higher layers, the CSI reference signal of the L1 / L2 inter-cell candidate cell may be used in addition to the secondary synchronization signal.

[0097] In some embodiments, if the SS-RSRP indicates a specific SS / PBCH block to be used to perform the SS-RSRP measurement, then the SS-RSRP is measured only from the indicated set of SS / PBCH blocks.

[0098] In some embodiments, SS-RSRP is used for L1-RSRP to be included in the CSI report.

[0099] For at least one configured / indicated SSB of the L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell, the CSI measurement may include the SS reference signal received quality (SS-RSRQ) of the L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell.

[0100] For at least one configured / indicated SSB of the L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell, the CSI measurement may include the SS signal-noise and interference ratio (SS-SINR) of the L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell.

[0101] For at least one configured / indicated CSI-RS resource of the L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell, the CSI measurement may include the CSI Reference Signal Received Power (CSI-RSRP) of the L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell.

[0102] In some embodiments, for the L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell, the CSI-RSRP comprises a linear average of the power contributions (in [W]) of the resource elements of the antenna ports carrying the CSI reference signals configured for RSRP measurement within the considered measurement frequency bandwidth in the configured CSI-RS opportunities.

[0103] For at least one configured / indicated CSI-RS resource of the L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell, the CSI measurement may include the CSI reference signal received quality (CSI-RSRQ) of the L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell.

[0104] For at least one configured / indicated CSI-RS resource of the L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell, the CSI measurement may include a CSI signal-to-noise and interference ratio (CSI-SINR) of the L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell.

[0105] The CSI measurement may include a layer 1 reference signal received power (L1-RSRP) based on at least one SSB of the L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell.

[0106] The CSI measurement may include L1-RSRP based on at least one CSI-RS resource of the L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell.

[0107] The CSI measurement may include a layer 1 SINR (L1-SINR) based on at least one SSB of the L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell.

[0108] The CSI measurement may include an L1-SINR based on at least one CSI-RS resource of an L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell.

[0109] Based on the SSB and / or CSI-RS in the CSI resource configuration, the CSI measurement may include a channel quality indicator (CQI) of the L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell;

[0110] Based on the SSB and / or CSI-RS in the CSI resource configuration, the CSI measurement may include the precoding matrix indicator (PMI) of the L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell;

[0111] Based on the SSB and / or CSI-RS in the CSI resource configuration, the CSI measurement may include the CSI-RS resource indicator (CRI) of the L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell;

[0112] Based on the SSB and / or CSI-RS in the CSI resource configuration, the CSI measurement may include the SS / PBCH block resource indicator (SSBRI) of the L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell;

[0113] Based on the SSB and / or CSI-RS in the CSI resource configuration, the CSI measurement may include the layer indicator (LI) of the L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell;

[0114] Based on the SSB and / or CSI-RS in the CSI resource configuration, the CSI measurement may include the rank indicator (RI) of the L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cells.

[0115] In one set of embodiments, the reporting criteria for reporting CSI include one or more of the following: periodic, aperiodic, semi-persistent, and the UE sends the CSI report according to the criteria.

[0116] In one set of embodiments, the reporting configuration includes one or more of the following: configuration of a physical uplink channel (such as PUCCH and / or PUSCH) in which the UE sends the CSI report; and configuration of one or more reporting quantities to be measured and included in the CSI report (such as RI, CQI, SSBRI, CRI, L1-RSRP, L1-RSRQ, L1-SINR of SSB and / or CSI-RS resources of candidate cells based on L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility).

[0117] Some embodiments include UE embodiments. In one set of embodiments, the UE receives an RRC message from a network node, including at least one configuration of a target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell. The RRC message may correspond to an RRC reconfiguration message (e.g., RRCReconfiguration, as defined in TS 38.331). The message may be received by the UE after the UE sends an RRC measurement report (e.g., MeasurementReport message defined in TS 38.331).

[0118] The measurement report may include one or more cells (e.g., cell A, cell B), indicating that these cells are possible candidate cells for L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility (e.g., the coverage is good enough, RSRP is above a threshold), so that at least one of the target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cells is configured for cell A and / or cell B.

[0119] The RRC reconfiguration message may be the first RRC reconfiguration message received by the UE after security is activated and / or the UE transitions to RRC_CONNECTED.

[0120] In one set of embodiments, the UE receives at least one configuration of an L1 / L2 based inter-cell mobility candidate cell generated by a candidate DU (which may be a serving DU or a neighboring DU). Based on the configuration, the UE performs CSI measurement on at least one SS and / or RS of the target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell, and sends a CSI report including information based on the CSI measurement of the at least one SS and / or RS to the network node.

[0121] The SS may correspond to an SSB as defined in TS 38.331, TS 38.330, TS 38.211, TS 38.213, or another SS block with similar characteristics, such as described below. The SSB may encode a physical cell identity (e.g., an identifier using multiple bits). The SSB may be sent in a group (or burst), where for each half frame, a group of SSBs are sent on different time domain resources and / or different spatial directions (e.g., with different spatial domain characteristics, sometimes referred to as beams). The SSB may also be referred to as an SS / PBCH block. In addition to encoding the PCI, the SSB also encodes an SSB index, which can be detected by the UE. The SSB may include one or more synchronization sequences, such as a primary synchronization sequence (PSS) and a secondary synchronization sequence (SSS).

[0122] The RS may correspond to a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS), a tracking reference signal (TRS), a demodulation RS (DMRS), and the like.

[0123] In one set of embodiments, at least one of the configurations of the L1 / L2-based inter-cell mobility candidate cell includes a configuration that the UE needs to operate accordingly when it implements (executes) L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility to the L1 / L2-based inter-cell mobility candidate cell, for example, upon receiving lower layer signaling indicating L1 / L2-based inter-cell mobility to the L1 / L2-based inter-cell mobility candidate cell, the L1 / L2-based inter-cell mobility candidate cell becomes the target cell and the current (new) PCell, or SCell in the serving frequency. Although that is the main purpose of the target candidate L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility cell, specific embodiments include additional uses for indicating to the UE what are the relevant cells and the SS / RS of the relevant cells for implementing CSI measurements even before accessing that target candidate cell. The UE operating accordingly may mean that the UE applies the configuration of the L1 / L2 based inter-cell mobility candidate cell, or switches to the configuration, or activates the configuration after receiving an L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility command from the network, wherein the L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility command includes lower layer signaling (e.g., MAC CE or downlink control indicator) indicating to the UE the execution of L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility to the L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell.

[0124] In one set of embodiments, the UE is configured with multiple target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cells, i.e., the UE receives multiple configurations, one for each L1 / L2 based inter-cell mobility candidate cell. If these are all from the same DU, the candidate DU generates and sends multiple configurations of multiple L1 / L2 based inter-cell mobility candidate cells to the CU, and the UE receives these configurations in an RRC reconfiguration message.

[0125] Some embodiments include determining a frequency to measure. For example, in one set of embodiments, based on at least one frequency information of SSs and / or RSs of L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cells, the UE performs at least one CSI measurement on at least one SS and / or at least one RS.

[0126] The frequency information of the SS may include an absolute frequency value, such as an absolute radio frequency channel number (ARFCN) value, indicating the frequency at which the UE should detect the SS (i.e., the frequency at which the UE assumes the SS is being transmitted). The ARFCN may be applicable to a downlink and / or uplink and / or bidirectional (TDD) global frequency grid in a radio access technology (RAT) (e.g., new radio (NR) or 6G air interface).

[0127] When the SS corresponds to an SSB or corresponds to one of the signals including the SSB (such as PSS and / or SSS and / or DMRS), the frequency information of the SS may correspond to the SSB frequency. The frequency information of the SS may also be referred to as the carrier frequency of the SS or cell, for example, when the SS defines a cell (such as for a cell defining an SSB).

[0128] The frequency information of the RS may include one or more frequency-related information indicating the frequency in which the UE should detect the RS (ie, the frequency in which the UE assumes that the RS is being transmitted) and its bandwidth (if configurable).

[0129] The frequency information of the SS and / or CSI-RS may include one or more of the following. The frequency information may include an absolute frequency value (e.g., an ARFCN value) used as a reference, such as point A (or point A frequency), which may correspond to the lowest subcarrier of a predefined resource block (e.g., common resource block (RB) 0), which may be used as a reference for multiple RS resources. This may be required at least for CSI-RS.

[0130] The frequency information may include an offset relative to an absolute frequency value (eg, an ARFCN value) used as a reference, such as an offset to point A (or point A frequency).

[0131] The frequency information may include the subcarrier spacing and / or bandwidth used for the RS, for example indicated by the number of physical resource blocks (PRBs).

[0132] For SSB, the UE can obtain some frequency information from its memory according to the SSB frequency, such as the location of resources within the PRB, bandwidth, initial PRB, center of the SSB, etc.

[0133] The UE may obtain at least one frequency information of the SS and / or RS of the L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell in different ways. In one set of embodiments, the UE obtains at least one frequency information of the SS and / or RS by receiving a CSI measurement configuration in an RRC message, wherein the CSI measurement configuration is part of the serving cell configuration, for example, in an IE CSI-MeasConfig sent in a series of nested IEs within a ServingCellConfig for SpCell and / or for SCell, such as Figure 3 shown.

[0134] Figure 3 An example of how a UE may receive frequency information for CSI measurement of SSs and / or RSs for L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidates is shown.

[0135] In some embodiments, at least one frequency information of SS and / or RS within the CSI measurement configuration (as part of the serving cell configuration) in the RRC message may correspond to an identifier pointing to another IE and / or parameter including frequencies for SS and / or CSI-RS. For example, the identifier may be a measurement object ID pointing to a measurement object configured with the measurement configuration, wherein the measurement object associated with the identifier includes configuration of at least one frequency information of SS and / or RS.

[0136] In one set of embodiments, the UE obtains at least one frequency information of the SS and / or RS by receiving the configuration of the target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell in an RRC message. The at least one frequency information of the SS and / or RS may correspond to one or more frequency information associated with the target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell, such as the frequency of the cell, the absolute frequency of the cell used as a reference (e.g., point A frequency). In some embodiments, this is obtained within the target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell, for example, as part of a cell-specific configuration (e.g., ServingCellConfigCommon), such as Figure 4 shown.

[0137] Figure 4 Another example of how a UE may receive frequency information for CSI measurement of SSs and / or RSs for L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidates is shown.

[0138] In a group of embodiments, based on one or more configurations / parameters / fields of at least one configuration of a target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell, the UE performs CSI measurement on at least one SS and / or RS of the target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell, wherein the one or more configurations / parameters / fields include: a beam configuration, wherein the beam configuration includes a beam identifier; an SS index and / or one or more RS identifiers; a TCI state configuration, wherein the TCI state configuration includes an associated RS identifier and / or SS index; a QCL configuration, wherein the QCL configuration includes an associated RS identifier and / or SS index; a TCI state configuration, wherein the TCI state configuration includes an associated QCL configuration with an associated RS identifier and / or SS index; a CSI measurement configuration, including one or more CSI resource configurations, wherein the CSI resource configuration indicates at least one SS index and / or at least one RS identifier to be measured when the UE operates in the target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell; and a cell identifier (e.g., a physical cell identifier).

[0139] Some embodiments include determining the SS / RS to be measured. For example, in one set of embodiments, the one or more configurations / parameters / fields of the at least one configuration of the target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell are part of a dedicated (or UE-specific) configuration, as the parameters may be adjusted for a specific UE based on UE capabilities / radio capabilities. The UE determines within the dedicated configuration which SSs (e.g., SSBs) and RSs (e.g., CSI-RS resources) to perform CSI measurements on for CSI reporting.

[0140] In one set of embodiments, the UE performs CSI measurements on SSs (e.g., SSBs) and / or RSs (e.g., CSI-RS resources) whose indices or identifiers are configured as QCL sources in a TCI state configuration within a dedicated configuration for a target candidate cell. The dedicated configuration of the target candidate cell for L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility includes a list of TCI state configurations. Each TCI state configuration has an associated QCL configuration including an SS index and / or RS index / identifier.

[0141] exist Figure 5In the example shown, the UE receives a dedicated configuration (e.g., IE ServingCellConfig or equivalent) of the L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cells within the configuration of the target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cells including a TCI state list (TCI state (1) and TCI state (K)). In TCI state (1), the QCL configuration has an SSB index X, and in TCI state (K), the QCL configuration has an SSB index Y. Therefore, the UE performs CSI measurements on the SSBs associated with the SSB index X and SSB index Y of the L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell, and reports the CSI derived based on the SSB index X and SSB index Y to be reported on one of its serving cells (e.g., PCell, SCell, PSCell) in order to assist the network with respect to L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility, such as Figure 5 shown.

[0142] Figure 5 An example is shown of how a UE may receive an indication of which SSs and / or RSs to use for CSI measurements of L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidates.

[0143] In one set of embodiments, the UE performs CSI measurements on SSs (e.g., SSBs) whose index or identifier is configured as QCL sources in the TCI state configuration within the dedicated configuration for the target candidate cell, but does not perform CSI measurements on RSs (e.g., CSI-RS resources). Such a solution enables the candidate DU to generate a configuration of a target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell that contains a TCI state whose QCL sources are associated with both CSI-RS and SSBs (not necessarily in the same TCI state and QCL source), but in order to indicate to the UE what to measure CSI for and to assist in L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility measurements, only SSs are considered because these are sent periodically and are cell-specific / always sent (not just when the UE is configured).

[0144] For example, in TCI state (1), the QCL configuration has an SSB index X, and in TCI state (K), the QCL configuration has a CSI-RS resource identifier Z. Therefore, the UE only performs CSI measurement on the SSB associated with the SSB index X of the L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell, and reports the CSI derived based on the SSB index X to be reported on one of its serving cells (e.g., PCell, SCell, PSCell) to assist the network with respect to L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility, such as Figure 6 shown.

[0145] Figure 6Another example of how a UE may receive an indication of which SSs and / or RSs to use for CSI measurements of L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidates is shown.

[0146] In one set of embodiments, the UE performs CSI measurements on SSs (e.g., SSBs) and / or RSs (e.g., CSI-RS resources) whose indexes or identifiers are configured as QCL sources in the TCI state configuration within the dedicated configuration for the target candidate cell and based on the QCL types they are associated with. For example, the UE performs CSI measurements on SSs and / or RSs configured as QCL source type D or corresponding QCL types related to beamforming characteristics / spatial receiver characteristics.

[0147] In one set of embodiments, the UE performs CSI measurements on an SS (e.g., SSB) and / or RS (e.g., CSI-RS resource) whose index or identifier is configured as a QCL source in a TCI state configuration within a dedicated configuration for a target candidate cell and based on the CSI resource configuration within the dedicated configuration.

[0148] In one set of embodiments, the UE performs CSI measurements on SS (e.g., SSB) and / or RS (e.g., CSI-RS resources) configured as periodic resources. For example, the target candidate cell configuration may have a TCI state whose QCL configuration includes CSI-RS. However, the UE performs CSI measurements on CSI-RS configured as periodic resources. The UE can determine this by identifying the CSI-RS resource identifier in the QCL source configuration and checking whether it is periodic in the associated CSI resource configuration.

[0149] In one set of embodiments, the UE performs CSI measurements on SSs (e.g., SSBs) and / or RSs (e.g., CSI-RS resources) that are explicitly indicated to be measured to assist L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility. This indication may be set by the candidate DU to indicate which TCI states are to be considered as possible target TCI states in L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility.

[0150] In one set of embodiments, the one or more configurations / parameters / fields may be received within an IE ServingCellConfig (or equivalent IE), which includes frequency configuration for downlink and uplink (including bandwidth part), L1 control channels (such as PDCCH, CORESET, PUCCH) and L1 data channels (such as PDSCH, PUSCH), beam configuration, TCI state configuration, QCL configuration, and other parameters defined in the IE ServingCellConfig as defined in TS 38.331.

[0151] In one set of embodiments, the UE performs CSI measurements on the SS (e.g., SSB) and / or RS (e.g., CSI-RS resources) whose beam is configured as a "candidate beam" of a target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell.

[0152] Some embodiments include determining cells to measure. For example, in one set of embodiments, the UE performs CSI measurements on at least one cell whose cell identifier (e.g., PCI) is indicated in the configuration of the target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell for sending a CSI report to the network.

[0153] In one set of embodiments, the cell identifier (e.g., PCI) of the target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell is configured in a common (or cell-specific) configuration, because the parameters are common to various UEs in the cell. The UE determines within the common (or cell-specific) configuration for which cell to measure CSI on the SS (e.g., SSB) and RS (e.g., CSI-RS resources) of the cell for CSI reporting.

[0154] In one set of embodiments, the UE performs CSI measurements on cells whose identifiers (e.g. PCI) are configured in the common / cell-specific configuration of the target candidate cell. The common configuration of the target candidate cell for L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility includes the PCI (field physCellId, IE PhysCellId). For example, the cell identifier may be indicated in the serving cell configuration common (e.g. IE ServingCellConfigCommon), which is part of the configuration of the target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell. See for example Figure 7 shown.

[0155] Figure 7 An example is shown of how a UE may receive an indication of which cells to measure for CSI measurement (ie which L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidates / PCIs of the candidates).

[0156] In one set of embodiments, the UE performs CSI measurements on cells whose identifiers (e.g., PCI) are configured in the common / cell-specific configuration for target candidate cells, where the target candidate cells are candidates as primary cells (e.g., PCell or PSCell) and / or special cells (SpCell, as defined in TS 38.331). This further limits the number of cell measurements that the UE needs to perform for CSI reporting to assist with L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility (which means saving more UE power and reporting only relevant measurements). In one option, the UE is instructed which cells to measure, for example, the UE can be instructed to measure only the primary cell, and for the cells for which the UE needs to perform CSI measurements, the PCI is still obtained in the same way.

[0157] In one set of embodiments, the UE performs CSI measurements on cells whose identifiers (e.g., PCI) are configured within a common / cell-specific configuration for target candidate cells, where the target candidate cells are candidates on the same frequency as a primary cell (e.g., PCell or PSCell) and / or a special cell (SpCell, as defined in TS 38.331).

[0158] In one set of embodiments, the UE performs CSI measurements on a cell whose identifier (e.g., PCI) is configured within a common / cell-specific configuration for a target candidate cell, where the target candidate cell is a candidate on the same frequency as the serving cell (e.g., PCell, PSCell, SCell of a primary cell group, SCell of a secondary cell group).

[0159] In one set of embodiments, even if the UE is configured with multiple target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cells, the UE performs CSI measurements on cells whose identifiers (e.g. PCI) are explicitly indicated in the common / cell specific configuration received in the RRC message. This is the case when multiple target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cells are configured at the UE, but the network instructs the UE to perform CSI measurements on only a subset of the candidate cells, e.g. based on whether all cells are within the same RAN Notification Area (RNA) or within any form of group determined by the network.

[0160] Some embodiments include CSI reporting and reporting configurations. In one set of embodiments, the UE sends at least one CSI report, the at least one CSI report including information based on CSI measurements of at least one SS and / or RS of a target candidate cell, wherein the UE determines the cell, SS and / or RS based on one of the previous sets of embodiments, wherein the CSI report is sent based on one or more reporting configurations (including one or more reporting criteria).

[0161] In one set of embodiments, the UE is configured with an association between: i) one or more CSI resources, such as SS and / or RS (associated with PCI and SSB frequency and / or RS frequency) of L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cells determined according to one or more of the previous sets of embodiments; and ii) a reporting configuration.

[0162] In some embodiments, the association is configured by a report configuration (eg, IE CSI-ReportConfig) including a configuration identifier for the L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate.

[0163] In one option, the serving DU receives a configuration identifier associated with the configuration of the L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cells from the CU, for example, in a UE CONTEXT MODIFICATION REQUEST from the CU to the serving DU, which indicates to the serving DU that L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility is to be configured. The serving DU includes the configuration identifier in the report configuration (CSI-ReportConfig) so that the UE understands that the given report configuration is for resources determined based on the configuration of the L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cells.

[0164] For example, the CU requests the candidate DU to configure L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cells A and B. The CU receives CellConfig(A) and CellConfig(B) and associates each with a configuration identifier, for example, CellConfig(A): configId=5; CellConfig(B): configId=7. The CU indicates at least the configuration identifiers configId=5 and configId=7 to the serving DU. The serving DU generates a report configuration based on configId=5 and configId=7. When the UE receives a report configuration including, for example, configId=7, the UE determines the SS and / or RS and / or PCI and / or frequency information for which CSI measurement is to be performed based on the cell configuration associated with the same configuration ID (i.e., cell B in this example). In this case, for example, the serving DU may not need to understand the configuration of the L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cells, which actually includes the SS index and / or RS identifier and PCI measured by the UE.

[0165] CellConfig(x) refers to the configuration associated with the target candidate cell x, and may be an IE that includes at least parameters for the target candidate cell, but may also include associated parameters. For example, CellConfig(x) may correspond to a cell group configuration (e.g., MCG or SCG configuration), for example, like a CellGroupConfig IE, including the target candidate cell as part of the possible serving cells within the group.

[0166] In one set of embodiments, the reporting criteria for reporting CSI include one or more of the following: periodic, aperiodic, semi-persistent, and the UE sends the CSI report according to the criteria.

[0167] In one set of embodiments, the reporting configuration includes one or more of the following: configuration of a physical uplink channel (such as a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) and / or a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH)) in which the UE sends a CSI report, and configuration of one or more reporting quantities to be measured and included in the CSI report, such as RI, CQI, SSBRI, CRI, L1-RSRP, L1-RSRQ, L1-SINR of SSBs and / or CSI-RS resources of candidate cells based on L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility.

[0168] In one set of embodiments, the one or more reporting configurations are configured as part of the serving cell configuration, e.g., the current PCell configuration (not the target candidate configuration). In other words, the SS, RS, and cell are determined based on the configuration of the target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell, while the one or more reporting criteria are configured as part of the serving cell configuration. This is because the reporting criteria are related to how the UE sends CSI reports to the serving DU, while the resources measured by the UE are the resources of the target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell.

[0169] In some embodiments, the reporting configuration indicates to the UE that it is used for CSI measurement to assist L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility (or one or more L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cells). Based on this, the UE determines the SS and / or RS and / or cell and / or frequency based on the target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell according to one or more of the previous embodiments.

[0170] In some embodiments, the reporting configuration indicates to the UE that it is used for CSI measurement to assist L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility (or one or more L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cells), and if one or more configurations regarding SS and / or RS and / or cell and / or frequency do not exist, the UE determines that they are obtained based on the target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell according to one or more of the previous embodiments.

[0171] In some embodiments, the reporting configuration indicates to the UE the order in which CSI measurements should be performed to assist L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility. This means that the reporting configuration may indicate the order in which the UE should measure the L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cells. In one example, the reporting configuration may include a list, where configId=5 is first in the list and configId=7 is second in the list. This means that the UE should first measure cell A and then cell B. Optionally, the reporting configuration may explicitly indicate the order in which the cells should be measured, for example, providing a list, where cell A is at the first position in the list and cell B is at the second position in the list.

[0172] In some embodiments, the reporting configuration may instruct the UE to report a CSI report for the configured target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell, regardless of whether the UE has successfully performed CSI measurements on the target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell. In this case, if the UE is unable to perform any CSI measurements on the target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell, the UE sends an empty CSI report to the network.

[0173] In one set of embodiments, the UE receives a message (e.g., RRCReconfiguration) indicating removal of a target candidate cell for L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility, e.g., the UE has performed measurements on the target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate based on its configuration according to any of the methods described herein. With the cell being removed, the configuration of the target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate may be deleted, and the UE may stop performing measurements performed according to one of the methods.

[0174] Some embodiments include information received in an RRC message from a source. Certain embodiments and examples involve a UE receiving an RRC message from a network node including at least one configuration of a target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell. If the UE is configured with multiple L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cells, the UE receives multiple configurations of the target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cells.

[0175] Each of these configurations can be modeled as an "RRC container", which is either a message embedded in the RRC reconfiguration received by the UE, or an RRC information element (IE) / field / parameter (or a set of parameters) used for the operations performed by the UE for L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility.

[0176] The content and / or structure of the IE and / or embedded message including the configuration of L1 / L2 based inter-cell mobility candidate cells may be referred to as an RRC model for candidate configuration, or simply an RRC model.

[0177] In a group of embodiments, the at least one configuration of the L1 / L2-based inter-cell mobility candidate cell includes: after receiving lower layer signaling indicating L1 / L2-based inter-cell mobility to the L1 / L2-based inter-cell mobility candidate cell (which becomes the target cell and the current (new) PCell, or the SCell in the serving frequency), the UE needs to operate accordingly when it implements (executes) L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility to the L1 / L2-based inter-cell mobility candidate cell.

[0178] In one set of embodiments, the UE may be configured with multiple candidates, so the candidate DU generates and sends multiple configurations to the CU, for example, one configuration for each L1 / L2 based inter-cell mobility candidate cell.

[0179] In one set of embodiments, the configuration of L1 / L2 based inter-cell mobility candidate cells includes parameters of a serving cell (or multiple serving cells), including one or more of the parameter groups within IE SpCellConfig (or IE SCellConfig in the case of a secondary cell), such as any of the following.

[0180] In some embodiments, the configuration includes a cell index (e.g., encoded with fewer bits than the cell identifier of the L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell). This can be a field 'servCellIndex' or 'candidateCellIndex' of the IE 'ServCellIndex' or IE 'CandidateCellIndex'. After this is configured, the index can later refer to, for example: i) indicating to the UE in lower layer signaling that this is the L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell that the UE needs to move to during the L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility process; ii) indicating some operations in this particular candidate cell in the RRC message.

[0181] In some embodiments, the configuration includes a cell configuration for the UE corresponding to the configuration of the L1 / L2 based inter-cell mobility candidate cells, referred to as a dedicated configuration, because the parameters may be adjusted for that specific UE according to the UE capabilities / radio capabilities. The configuration may include parameters defined in the IE ServingCellConfig, such as frequency configuration for downlink and uplink (including bandwidth parts), L1 control channels (such as PDCCH, CORESET, PUCCH) and L1 data channels (such as PDSCH, PUSCH) and other parameters defined in the IE ServingCellConfig defined in TS 38.331.

[0182] In some embodiments, the configuration includes a cell (referred to as a common cell) configuration, also referred to as a cell-specific configuration, corresponding to the configuration of the candidate cell for inter-cell mobility based on L1 / L2 in the IE ServingCellConfigCommon. This can be provided within the IE ReconfigurationWithSync or provided separately. The configuration includes, for example, a random access configuration for the UE to access the target candidate, if necessary.

[0183] This may include radio link failure (RLF) configuration, such as values ​​for timer T310, counter N310, counter N311, timer N311. It may include at least one UE identifier to identify the UE in L1 / L2 based inter-cell mobility candidate cells, such as a cell radio network temporary identifier (C-RNTI).

[0184] In some embodiments, the UE may be configured with multiple L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cells, so the candidate DU generates and sends multiple sets of parameters of the serving cell to the CU, including one or more of the parameter groups in multiple IE SpCellConfigs. For example, the UE may receive a list of IE SpCellConfigs, each for one L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate.

[0185] In a set of embodiments, the configuration of L1 / L2-based inter-cell mobility candidate cells may be a SpCell configuration (e.g., a PCell configuration) provided as part of a cell group configuration, which may also include one or more SCell configurations and further cell group-specific configurations (cell group identifier, physical layer configuration for the cell group, MAC layer configuration for the cell group, simultaneous TCI state configuration for the cell group, etc.).

[0186] In this case, the UE is configured with a cell group configuration per candidate. Therefore, an alternative is that the UE receives one configuration per cell group candidate, where the configuration of L1 / L2 based inter-cell mobility candidate cells is the SpCell candidate configuration within the group. Then, lower layer signaling instructs the UE to change to the configured cell group candidate, for example, apply the cell group configuration for that candidate, for example, from MCG configuration A to MCG configuration B.

[0187] When the UE is configured with multiple candidates, the candidate DU generates and sends multiple cell group configurations to the CU, each cell group configuration is associated with each L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate, for example, a list of CellGroupConfig IEs. The L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidates can be in the same frequency or in a different frequency than the current PCell.

[0188] In one set of embodiments, the L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidates may be SCell candidates.

[0189] Some examples on how signaling may be implemented in RRC for configuration of L1 / L2 based inter-cell mobility candidate cells are described as RRC model for L1 / L2 based inter-cell mobility:

[0190] a) RRC reconfiguration for each candidate cell. In this case, the UE receives multiple RRC messages (RRC message list) within a single RRCReconfiguration message (i.e., RRCReconfiguration message). Each RRCReconfiguration message identifies the configuration of the candidate cell for L1 / L2 based inter-cell mobility, which is stored by the UE and applied / used / activated when lower layer signaling for L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility is received. This model implements full flexibility like L3 reconfiguration so that the target node can modify / release / retain any parameters / fields in the RRCReconfiguration message, such as measurement configuration, bearers, etc.

[0191] b) CellGroupConfig for each candidate cell. With this model, the UE receives a list of CellGroupConfig IEs within the RRCReconfiguration, each of which identifies the configuration of a candidate cell for inter-cell mobility based on L1 / L2. Each CellGroupConfig IE is stored at the UE and is applied / used / activated when lower layer signaling for L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility is received. This model enables the target node to modify / release / retain any parameters / fields that are part of the CellGroupConfig IE, while the rest of the RRCReconfiguration message (in which the UE receives the CellGroupConfig IE) remains unchanged. This means that, for example, measurement configuration, bearer and security remain the same and are not changed by the target node.

[0192] c), d) and f) 'K'SpCellConfig or 'K'ServingCellConfigCommon for each cell, or both for each cell. With this model, the UE receives 'K'SpCellConfig for each cell (option c), 'K'ServingCellConfigCommon for each cell (option e), or 'K'SpCellConfig and 'K'ServingCellConfigCommon for each cell (option d) as the configuration of the candidate cells for L1 / L2 based inter-cell mobility. This solution provides only minimal flexibility for the target node, as only cell specific parameters (e.g., bandwidth part, downlink and uplink configuration) can be modified / released / retained.

[0193] f) "K" PCIs in the same PCell. With this model, multiple PCIs are configured for the same TCI state configuration, where each PCI identifies the configuration of an L1 / L2 based inter-cell mobility candidate cell. This method does not provide flexibility because all parameters / fields used to configure the L1 / L2 based inter-cell mobility candidate cell configuration are fixed and only the target node is allowed to change the PCI, scrambling code Id and C-RNTI. Figure 8 An example is shown in .

[0194] Figure 8 Common parameters across primary cell group candidates are shown.

[0195] Some embodiments include interactions between the UE, the candidate DU, the serving DU, and the CU. For example, in one set of embodiments, after receiving the configuration of the target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell from the network, the UE measures (e.g., derives CSI) one or more of the configured SSs and / or RSs of one or more L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cells (there may be one or more), and based on reporting criteria (e.g., periodic, aperiodic, semi-persistent), the UE sends a CSI report to the network. These RSs and / or SSs to be measured are referenced (directly or indirectly) in the reporting configuration, indicating how the UE should report the CSI associated with these configured RSs. In one option, based on the report, the network decides to trigger L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility for the UE and sends lower layer signaling indicating the switching of the serving cell and / or beam (TCI state). If the network receives an "empty" CSI report for the target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell, the network may decide to release the target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell from the UE.

[0196] In one set of embodiments, the configuration of the target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cells is generated by a candidate DU, which is the DU responsible for the L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cells. Thus, the candidate DU generates information within the configuration of the target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cells, which the UE uses to determine the cells and / or SSs and / or RSs and / or frequencies to measure for CSI reporting. The candidate DU also sends a set of RSs and / or SSs to be measured by the UE.

[0197] The candidate DU may correspond to a serving DU, i.e., a DU responsible for a primary cell to which the UE is connected (e.g., a special cell (SpCell), a primary cell (PCell), a primary-secondary cell group cell (PSCell)) or a primary cell to which the UE is to be connected. In this case, the serving DU receives a message from the CU (e.g., a UE Context Modification Request message via F1AP) that includes a request for configuring the UE with L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility, and in response, it generates a configuration of a target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell in a response message (e.g., a UE Context Modification Response message) sent to the CU.

[0198] The candidate DU may correspond to a neighboring DU, i.e., a DU that is not responsible for the primary cell to which the UE is connected. In this case, the neighboring DU receives a message from the CU (e.g., a UE Context Setup Request message via F1AP) that includes a request for configuring the UE with L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility, and in response, it generates a configuration of a target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell and includes it in a response message (e.g., a UE Context Setup Response message) sent to the CU, such as Fig. 9 as shown in .

[0199] Fig. 9 is a flowchart showing an example of a signaling flow when a candidate DU is a neighboring DU. Fig. 9 For reference, most steps are described, but the description of the steps should not be limited to this figure. When describing multiple groups of embodiments, they should not be limited to the case where the candidate DU is a neighboring DU, but also apply to the case where the candidate DU is a serving DU, unless otherwise specified.

[0200] In step 1, the CU determines to configure at least one L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate for a UE connected to the CU and having L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility capability (the CU may optionally determine one or more candidate cells and associated DUs, which are neighboring DUs). The CU sends a request to configure L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility to the neighboring DU, for example, by sending a UE CONTEXT SETUP REQUEST message via F1AP, which includes an indication that this is a request for the neighboring DU to configure at least one L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell. In response to the message, the neighboring DU generates an L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell configuration for the target candidate, which includes a beam-related configuration used primarily when the UE operates in the target candidate after execution, and according to one or more embodiments, the UE uses the configuration to determine which frequencies and / or cells and / or SSBs and / or CSI-RSs to measure for CSI reporting, thereby supporting L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility decisions at the network. "To measure" means that the UE derives CSI based on the configuration, for example, SS-RSRP, L1 RSRP for SSB or CSI-RS.

[0201] In step 2, the neighboring DU sends a message to the CU (eg, UECONTEXT SETUP RESPONSE via F1AP if the candidate DU is a neighboring DU), which includes the configuration of each L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell that the neighboring DU is configured as a candidate.

[0202] In one set of embodiments (between steps 2 and 3), the CU sends a message (e.g., UE Context Modification Request) to the serving DU and receives a response (e.g., UE Context Modification Response) including at least a CSI reporting configuration (to be included in an RRC reconfiguration provided to the UE) of one of the configured serving cells of the UE (e.g., a primary cell or a secondary cell) for reporting CSI via an uplink channel of the cell in which the reporting configuration is included. The CSI reporting configuration is associated with a resource configuration of the L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility target candidate so that the UE determines the resources of the L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell to be measured (e.g., SSB-x of candidate cell A) and reports CSI (e.g., periodic or aperiodic CSI) via an uplink of the serving cell in which the reporting configuration is configured (e.g., via its PUCCH and / or PUSCH, or any other uplink channel configured for such CSI reporting). The CSI reporting configuration provided from the serving DU to the CU and then included in the RRC reconfiguration received by the UE may include an association between: i) one or more CSI resources, such as the SS and / or RS (associated with the PCI and SSB frequencies and / or RS frequencies) of the L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cells determined according to one or more of the previous groups of embodiments; and ii) the reporting configuration.

[0203] In some embodiments, the association is configured by a report configuration (e.g., IE CSI-ReportConfig) including a configuration identifier for the L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate. The serving DU includes the configuration identifier in the report configuration (CSI-ReportConfig) so that the UE understands that the given report configuration is for resources to be determined based on the configuration of the L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell. For example, the CU requests the candidate DU to configure L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cells A and B. The CU receives CellConfig(A) and CellConfig(B) and associates each with a configuration identifier, for example, CellConfig(A): configId=5; CellConfig(B): configId=7. The CU indicates at least the configuration identifiers configId=5 and configId=7 to the serving DU. The serving DU generates a report configuration based on configId=5 and configId=7. When the UE receives a report configuration including, for example, configId=7, the UE determines the SS and / or RS and / or PCI and / or frequency information based on the cell configuration associated with the same configuration Id (i.e., cell B in this example) to perform CSI measurement. In this case, for example, the serving DU may not need to understand the configuration of the L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell, which actually includes the SS index and / or RS identifier and PCI measured by the UE.

[0204] In one set of embodiments (between steps 2 and 3), the CU generates a CSI reporting configuration including resource configurations from neighboring DUs. In some embodiments, a CSI measurement configuration (including a reporting configuration for configuring one of the serving cells of the UE (e.g., for reporting CSI measurements of uplink channels of one of the serving cells)) is configured by the CU and included in an RRC reconfiguration received by the UE, wherein the CSI measurement configuration for reporting CSI of L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cells is configured outside of a cell group configuration (e.g., MCG configuration). In one embodiment, the CSI measurement configuration may be within a measurement configuration for configuring RRC measurements and RRC measurement reporting, e.g., within an IE MeasConfig defined in TS 38.331.

[0205] In step 3, the CU sends a message to the serving DU (eg, DL RRC MESSAGE TRANSFER via F1AP), which includes an RRC reconfiguration message to the UE, including per L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell.

[0206] As described in the various groups of embodiments in step 2 and in the previous sections of this document, the CU may send the message to the serving DU after having implemented another process for obtaining the configuration to be included in the RRC reconfiguration received by the UE from the serving DU, configuring the UE with the resource configuration for each L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell and the associated CSI reporting configuration.

[0207] In step 4, the UE receives an RRC reconfiguration message (eg, RRCReconfiguration) including at least one configuration of L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cells, based on which the UE determines which SSBs and / or CSI-RSs to measure and report in the CSI report.

[0208] Upon reception, the UE applies the RRC reconfiguration message.

[0209] In step 5, after having received and applied the RRC reconfiguration, the UE sends an RRC reconfiguration complete message. In some embodiments, the message is sent when the UE verifies that the CSI resource configuration of at least each L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell meets the requirements (e.g., the configured measurements do not exceed the UE capabilities).

[0210] In step 6, the serving DU receives the RRC Reconfiguration Complete and sends it to the CU (e.g., in the UL RRCMESSAGE TRANSFER via F1AP).

[0211] In one set of embodiments, the CU receives a message from a serving DU indicating that the UE has received at least one configured L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell as configured by a neighboring DU, indicating that the UE has determined which SSBs and / or CSI-RS resources and / or frequencies and / or cells to measure for CSI reporting to assist with L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility. In response, the CU sends a message to the neighboring DU to indicate this. In response, the neighboring DU can use the indication to start sending the required SS and / or CSI-RS for the candidate cells that the UE needs to measure for CSI reporting.

[0212] Some embodiments include the serving DU participating in configuring the CSI resource configuration of each L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate from a neighboring DU. For example, some previous embodiments describe a process in which the serving DU participates in generating a CSI report configuration (CSI-ReportConfig) to be provided to the UE, the CSI report configuration being associated with the SS and / or RS and / or cell and / or frequency for measuring CSI determined by the UE based on the configuration of the L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell. Fig.10 An updated version of the signaling flow is shown showing these additional steps between the CU and the serving DU.

[0213] Fig.10 is a flowchart showing an example of a signaling flow of a process in which a serving DU configures a mapping between each L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate from a neighboring DU and a CSI reporting configuration, so that the UE knows what CSI reporting configuration is associated with the SS and / or RS and / or cell for which CSI is to be measured and reported. In some embodiments, the serving DU may provide to the CU (included in the RRC reconfiguration to the UE (as shown in step 2a)) a portion of the configuration required for the UE to perform the measurement, such as a reporting configuration, which includes at least frequency information and / or a typical reporting configuration. However, the actual resources to be measured (such as RS indices and / or SS indices and / or cells) are determined based on the L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility target candidate cell configuration. Therefore, according to this method, the UE still performs measurements based on the target candidate configuration for L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility (as generated by the candidate DU), but also uses measurements from the serving DU.

[0214] In some embodiments, the candidate DU is a serving DU. For example, the candidate DU may correspond to a serving DU, i.e., a DU responsible for the primary cell to which the UE is connected (e.g., a special cell (SpCell), a primary cell (PCell), a primary-secondary cell group cell (PSCell)) or a primary cell to which the UE is to be connected. In this case, the serving DU receives a message from the CU (e.g., a UE ContextModification Request message via F1AP) that includes a request for configuring the UE with L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility, and in response, it generates a configuration of an L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell for each candidate, including information for the UE to determine the SS and RS to be measured for CSI reporting.

[0215] The serving DU includes the configuration of the L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell for each candidate in a response message (e.g., a UE Context Modification Response message) sent to the CU, and the CSI reporting configuration associated with the configuration of the L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell, for example, through a configuration identifier.

[0216] Fig.11is a flowchart showing an example of a signaling flow when the candidate DU is a serving DU. In step 1, the CU determines that the UE connected to the CU and having L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility capability to be configured has at least one L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate (the CU may optionally determine one or more candidate cells in the serving DU). The CU sends a request to configure L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility to the serving DU by sending a UECONTEXT MODIFICATION REQUEST message via F1AP, which includes an indication that this is for requesting the serving DU to configure at least one L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell.

[0217] In response to this message, the serving DU generates a CSI report configuration for each L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell to support L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility decision at the network. "To measure" means that the UE derives CSI based on the configuration, for example, SS-RSRP, L1 RSRP for SSB or CSI-RS.

[0218] In step 2, the serving DU sends a UE CONTEXT MODIFICATION RESPONSE to the CU (via F1AP), which includes the configuration of the L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell for which the serving DU is configured as a candidate, and the CSI reporting configuration associated with the candidate cell, so that the UE knows the configuration of the serving cell in which it needs to report CSI, and determines the SS (e.g., SSB) and / or RS (CSI-RS) and / or frequency and cell for which it needs to measure CSI based on the configuration of the L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell.

[0219] In one set of embodiments, the UE CONTEXT MODIFICATION RESPONSE may also include at least a CSI reporting configuration (included in an RRC reconfiguration provided to the UE) of one of the UE's configured serving cells (e.g., a primary cell or a secondary cell) for reporting CSI via an uplink channel of the cell in which the reporting configuration is included. The CSI reporting configuration is associated with the configuration of the L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility target candidates so that the UE determines the resources of the L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell to be measured (e.g., SSB-x of candidate cell A) and reports CSI (e.g., periodic or aperiodic CSI) via the uplink of the serving cell in which the reporting configuration is configured (e.g., via its PUCCH and / or PUSCH, or any other uplink channel configured for such CSI reporting).

[0220] In step 3, the CU sends a message to the serving DU (e.g., DL RRC MESSAGE TRANSFER via F1AP), which includes an RRC reconfiguration message to the UE, which includes the configuration of L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cells, and CSI report configuration (including mapping to associated candidate cells).

[0221] In step 4, the UE receives an RRC reconfiguration message (e.g., RRCReconfiguration) including each L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell, and determines the RS and / or SS (and / or cell and / or frequency) to be measured and reported by the UE for CSI (also referred to as CSI resource configuration in this document). Within the RRC reconfiguration message, in an IE, field and / or parameter, the UE may receive the configuration of each L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell to be applied (or switched to) when L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility is performed (i.e., after receiving lower layer signaling (e.g., DCI or MAC CE indicating the TCI status of the L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell and / or the L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell)).

[0222] about Fig. 9 The set of embodiments described in step 4 of is also valid when the candidate DU is a serving DU. Upon reception, the UE applies the RRC reconfiguration message.

[0223] Step 3 includes various groups of embodiments, disclosing different alternatives, involving IEs, fields and / or parameters included in the RRC reconfiguration received by the UE being generated by the CU and / or by the serving DU, including the CSI reporting configuration of each L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate from the serving DU.

[0224] In step 5, after having received and applied the RRC reconfiguration, the UE sends an RRC reconfiguration complete message. In some embodiments, the message is sent when the UE verifies that the CSI reporting configuration of at least each L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell meets the requirements (e.g., the configured measurements do not exceed the UE capabilities).

[0225] In step 6, the serving DU receives the RRC Reconfiguration Complete and sends it to the CU (e.g., in the UL RRCMESSAGE TRANSFER via F1AP).

[0226] In one set of embodiments, the CU receives a message from the serving DU indicating that the UE has received the configuration of each L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell as configured by the serving DU as a candidate DU and the associated CSI reporting configuration (e.g., including mapping). In response, the CU sends a message to the serving DU to indicate this. In response, the serving DU may use the indication to start sending the configuration resources for each L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell. Another alternative is that the serving DU starts sending the configuration resources for each L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell after having received the RRC reconfiguration complete message.

[0227] In some embodiments, the candidate DUs are the serving DU and one or more neighboring DUs. Fig.12 An example is shown in .

[0228] Fig.12 1 is a flowchart showing an example of a signaling flow for multiple candidate DUs (having at least a serving DU and one or more neighboring DUs). In step 1, the CU determines that a UE connected to the CU and having L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility capability is to be configured with at least one L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate among neighboring DU (1) and neighboring DU (2), and sends a UE CONTEXT SETUP REQUEST message to each of these DUs through F1AP, which includes an indication that this is for requesting the neighboring DU to configure at least one L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell. In response to the message, each requested neighboring DU generates each L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell.

[0229] In step 2, each neighboring DU sends a UE CONTEXT SETUP RESPONSE message to the CU via F1AP, which includes the configuration of a set of RS and / or SS to be measured and reported by the UE for CSI, and each neighboring DU configures each L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell as a candidate.

[0230] In step 2a, the CU determines that the UE connected to it and having L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility capability to be configured has at least one L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell from the serving DU. The CU sends a request for configuring L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility to the serving DU by sending a UE CONTEXTMODIFICATION REQUEST message via F1AP, which includes an indication that this is for requesting the serving DU to configure at least one L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell.

[0231] In one set of embodiments, the UE CONTEXT MODIFICATION REQUEST message also includes one or more indications of configuration identifiers associated with one or more L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cells generated by the neighboring DU.

[0232] In one set of embodiments, if the CU determines that the UE is to be configured with L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cells from the serving DU and from at least one neighboring DU, the CU first requests the configuration from the neighboring DU and obtains the response of the neighboring DU so as to send the request to the serving DU only thereafter. This order is performed so that the CU can send information about the L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cells of the neighboring DU and the request for the serving DU to configure the L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidates in the same message (e.g., in the UE CONTEXT MODIFICATION REQUEST). Therefore, the serving DU is able to generate a mapping between the configuration of the L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidates and the reported configuration of one of the UE's serving cells (where one of the UE's serving cells is the serving cell of the serving DU).

[0233] Fig.13 An example of a communication system 100 according to some embodiments is shown. In this example, the communication system 100 includes a telecommunications network 102, which includes an access network 104 (such as a radio access network (RAN)) and a core network 106, which includes one or more core network nodes 108. The access network 104 includes one or more access network nodes, such as network nodes 110a and 110b (one or more of which may be generally referred to as network nodes 110), or any other similar third generation partnership project (3GPP) access nodes or non-3GPP access points. The network nodes 110 facilitate direct or indirect connection of user equipment (UE), for example, by connecting UE 112a, 112b, 112c, and 112d (one or more of which may be generally referred to as UE 112) to the core network 106 via one or more wireless connections.

[0234] Example wireless communications over wireless connections include sending and / or receiving wireless signals using electromagnetic waves, radio waves, infrared waves, and / or other types of signals suitable for transferring information without the use of wires, cables, or other material conductors. Additionally, in various embodiments, the communication system 100 may include any number of wired or wireless networks, network nodes, UEs, and / or any other components or systems that may facilitate or participate in the communication of data and / or signals, whether over a wired or wireless connection. The communication system 100 may include and / or interface to any type of communication, telecommunication, data, cellular, radio network, and / or other similar types of systems.

[0235] The UE 112 may be any of a variety of communication devices, including wireless devices that are arranged, configured, and / or operable to communicate wirelessly with the network node 110 and other communication devices. Similarly, the network node 110 is arranged, capable, configured, and / or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with the UE 112 and / or with other network nodes or devices in the telecommunications network 102 to enable and / or provide network access, such as wireless network access, and / or to perform other functions, such as management in the telecommunications network 102.

[0236] In the depicted example, the core network 106 connects the network node 110 to one or more hosts, such as the host 116. These connections may be direct or may be indirect via one or more intermediate networks or devices. In other examples, the network node may be directly coupled to the host. The core network 106 includes one or more core network nodes (e.g., core network node 108) constructed with hardware and software components. The features of these components may be substantially similar to those described with respect to the UE, network nodes, and / or hosts, so that their descriptions are generally applicable to the corresponding components of the core network node 108. The example core network node includes a mobile switching center (MSC), a mobility management entity (MME), a home subscriber server (HSS), an access and mobility management function (AMF), a session management function (SMF), an authentication server function (AUSF), a subscription identifier de-hiding function (SIDF), a unified data management (UDM), a security edge protection agent (SEPP), a network open function (NEF), and / or a user plane function (UPF) One or more functions.

[0237] The host 116 may be owned or controlled by a service provider other than the operator or provider of the telecommunications network 102 and / or the access network 104, and may be operated by or on behalf of the service provider. The host 116 may host various applications to provide one or more services. Examples of such applications include real-time and pre-recorded audio / video content, data collection services such as retrieving and compiling data of various environmental conditions detected by multiple UEs, analytical functions, social media, functions for controlling or otherwise interacting with remote devices, functions for alarm and monitoring centers, or any other such functions implemented by a server.

[0238] Overall, Fig.13The communication system 100 enables connections between UEs, network nodes, and hosts. In this sense, the communication system can be configured to operate according to predefined rules or procedures, such as specific standards, including but not limited to: Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM); Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS); Long Term Evolution (LTE) and / or other suitable 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G standards, or any applicable future generation standards (e.g., 6G); Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) standards, such as the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standard (WiFi); and / or any other suitable wireless communication standards, such as Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMax), Bluetooth, Z-Wave, Near Field Communication (NFC) ZigBee, LiFi, and / or any low power wide area network (LPWAN) standards such as LoRa and Sigfox.

[0239] In some examples, the telecommunication network 102 is a cellular network that implements 3GPP standardized features. Therefore, the telecommunication network 102 can support network slicing to provide different logical networks to different devices connected to the telecommunication network 102. For example, the telecommunication network 102 can provide ultra-reliable low-latency communication (URLLC) services to some UEs, enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) services to other UEs, and / or massive machine type communication (mMTC) / massive IoT services to other UEs.

[0240] In some examples, UE 112 is configured to send and / or receive information without direct human interaction. For example, the UE may be designed to send information to access network 104 according to a predetermined schedule when triggered by an internal or external event, or in response to a request from access network 104. Additionally, the UE may be configured to operate in a single RAT or multi-RAT or multi-standard mode. For example, the UE may operate using any one or a combination of WiFi, NR (New Radio), and LTE, i.e., configured for multi-radio dual connectivity (MR-DC), such as E-UTRAN (Evolved UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network) New Radio-Dual Connectivity (EN-DC).

[0241] In this example, the hub 114 communicates with the access network 104 to facilitate indirect communication between one or more UEs (e.g., UE 112c and / or 112d) and a network node (e.g., network node 110b). In some examples, the hub 114 can be a controller, a router, a content source and analysis, or any other communication device described herein with respect to the UE. For example, the hub 114 can be a broadband router that enables the UE to access the core network 106. As another example, the hub 114 can be a controller that sends commands or instructions to one or more actuators in the UE. The command or instruction can be received from the UE, the network node 110, or received by an executable code, a script, a process, or other instructions in the hub 114. As another example, the hub 114 can be a data collector that acts as a temporary storage for UE data, and in some embodiments, analysis or other processing of the data can be implemented. As another example, the hub 114 can be a content source. For example, for a UE that is a VR headset, display, speaker, or other media delivery device, the hub 114 can retrieve VR assets, video, audio, or other media or data related to sensory information via a network node, and then the hub 114 provides it directly to the UE, provides it to the UE after implementing local processing, and / or provides it to the UE after adding additional local content. In another example, the hub 114 acts as a proxy server or orchestrator for the UE, especially when one or more UEs are low-energy IoT devices.

[0242] The hub 114 may have a constant / persistent or intermittent connection to the network node 110b. The hub 114 may also allow different communication schemes and / or scheduling between the hub 114 and the UE (e.g., UE 112c and / or 112d) and between the hub 114 and the core network 106. In other examples, the hub 114 is connected to the core network 106 and / or one or more UEs via a wired connection. In addition, the hub 114 may be configured to be connected to an M2M service provider and / or to another UE via a direct connection through the access network 104. In some scenarios, the UE may establish a wireless connection with the network node 110 while still being connected via the hub 114 via a wired or wireless connection. In some embodiments, the hub 114 may be a dedicated hub, i.e., a hub whose main function is to route communication from the network node 110b to the UE or from the UE to the network node 110b. In other embodiments, the hub 114 may be a non-dedicated hub, ie, a device operable to route communications between UEs and the network node 110b, but which is also operable as a communications origin and / or destination for a particular data channel.

[0243] Fig.14UE 200 according to some embodiments is shown. As used herein, UE refers to a device capable of, configured, arranged and / or operable to wirelessly communicate with a network node and / or other UEs. Examples of UEs include, but are not limited to, smart phones, mobile phones, cellular phones, voice over IP (VoIP) phones, wireless local loop phones, desktop computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), wireless cameras, game consoles or devices, music storage devices, playback devices, wearable terminal devices, wireless endpoints, mobile stations, tablet computers, notebook computers, notebook embedded devices (LEEs), notebook mounted devices (LMEs), smart devices, wireless customer premises equipment (CPEs), vehicle-mounted or vehicle-mounted embedded / integrated wireless devices, etc. Other examples include any UE identified by the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), including narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT) UEs, machine type communications (MTC) UEs, and / or enhanced MTC (eMTC) UEs.

[0244] A UE may support device-to-device (D2D) communications, such as by implementing 3GPP standards for sidelink communications, dedicated short-range communications (DSRC), vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I), or vehicle-to-everything (V2X). In other examples, a UE may not necessarily have a user in the sense of a human user owning and / or operating the associated device. Rather, a UE may represent a device that is intended to be sold to or operated by a human user, but may not be associated with a specific human user (e.g., a smart sprinkler controller), or may not initially be associated with one. Alternatively, a UE may represent a device that is not intended to be sold to or operated by an end user, but may be associated with or operated for the benefit of a user (e.g., a smart meter).

[0245] UE 200 includes processing circuitry 202, which is operatively coupled to input / output interface 206, power supply 208, memory 210, communication interface 212, and / or any other components, or any combination thereof, via bus 204. Some UEs may utilize Fig.14 All or a subset of the components shown in . The level of integration between components may vary from UE to UE. In addition, some UEs may contain multiple instances of a component, such as multiple processors, memories, transceivers, transmitters, receivers, etc.

[0246] The processing circuit 202 is configured to process instructions and data, and may be configured to implement any sequential state machine operable to execute instructions stored in the memory 210 as a machine-readable computer program. The processing circuit 202 may be implemented as one or more hardware-implemented state machines (e.g., in discrete logic, field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), etc.); programmable logic and appropriate firmware; one or more stored computer programs, general-purpose processors, such as microprocessors or digital signal processors (DSPs), and appropriate software; or any combination of the above. For example, the processing circuit 202 may include multiple central processing units (CPUs).

[0247] In this example, the input / output interface 206 can be configured to provide one or more interfaces to an input device, an output device, or one or more input and / or output devices. Examples of output devices include speakers, sound cards, video cards, displays, monitors, printers, actuators, transmitters, smart cards, another output device, or any combination thereof. An input device can allow a user to capture information into the UE 200. Examples of input devices include touch-sensitive or presence-sensitive displays, cameras (e.g., digital cameras, digital video cameras, web cameras, etc.), microphones, sensors, mice, trackballs, direction pads, trackpads, rollers, smart cards, etc. The presence-sensitive display can include a capacitive or resistive touch sensor to sense input from a user. The sensor can be, for example, an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a tilt sensor, a force sensor, a magnetometer, an optical sensor, a proximity sensor, a biometric sensor, etc., or any combination thereof. An output device can use an interface port of the same type as an input device. For example, a universal serial bus (USB) port can be used to provide input devices and output devices.

[0248] In some embodiments, the power supply 208 is configured as a battery or a battery pack. Other types of power supplies may be used, such as an external power supply (e.g., a power outlet), a photovoltaic device, or a battery. The power supply 208 may also include a power supply circuit for delivering power from the power supply 208 itself and / or an external power supply to various components of the UE 200 through an input circuit or an interface such as a power cable. For example, the delivered power may be used to charge the power supply 208. The power supply circuit may implement any formatting, conversion, or other modifications to the power from the power supply 208 so that the power is suitable for the corresponding components of the UE 200 to which the power is supplied.

[0249] The memory 210 may be or be configured to include a memory such as a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), a programmable read-only memory (PROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), a magnetic disk, an optical disk, a hard disk, a removable cartridge, a flash drive, etc. In one example, the memory 210 includes one or more application programs 214, such as an operating system, a web browser application, a widget, a gadget engine, or other application, and corresponding data 216. The memory 210 may store any of a variety of different operating systems or a combination of operating systems for use by the UE 200.

[0250] The memory 210 may be configured to include multiple physical drive units, such as a redundant array of independent disks (RAID), a flash memory, a USB flash drive, an external hard drive, a thumb drive, a pen drive, a key drive, a high-density digital versatile disk (HD-DVD) optical drive, an internal hard drive, a Blu-ray optical drive, a holographic digital data storage (HDDS) optical drive, an external mini dual in-line memory module (DIMM), a synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), an external micro DIMM SDRAM, a smart card memory, such as a tamper-proof module in the form of a universal integrated circuit card (UICC), including one or more subscriber identity modules (SIMs), such as USIM and / or ISIM, other memories, or any combination thereof. The UICC may be, for example, an embedded UICC (eUICC), an integrated UICC (iUICC), or a removable UICC commonly referred to as a "SIM card". The memory 210 may allow the UE 200 to access instructions, applications, etc. stored on a temporary or non-temporary storage medium to offload data or upload data. An article of manufacture (eg, an article of manufacture utilizing a communication system) may be tangibly embodied as or in memory 210 , which may be or include a device-readable storage medium.

[0251] The processing circuit 202 may be configured to communicate with an access network or other network using a communication interface 212. The communication interface 212 may include one or more communication subsystems and may include an antenna 222 or be communicatively coupled to the antenna 222. The communication interface 212 may include one or more transceivers for communication, such as by communicating with one or more remote transceivers of another device capable of wireless communication (e.g., another UE or network node in the access network). Each transceiver may include a transmitter 218 and / or a receiver 220 suitable for providing network communications (e.g., optical, electrical, frequency allocation, etc.). In addition, the transmitter 218 and the receiver 220 may be coupled to one or more antennas (e.g., antenna 222) and may share circuit components, software, or firmware, or may alternatively be implemented separately.

[0252] In the illustrated embodiment, the communication functionality of the communication interface 212 may include cellular communication, WiFi communication, LPWAN communication, data communication, voice communication, multimedia communication, short-range communication (such as Bluetooth, near field communication), location-based communication (such as using a global positioning system (GPS) to determine location), another similar communication functionality, or any combination thereof. Communication may be implemented according to one or more communication protocols and / or standards, such as IEEE 802.11, code division multiple access (CDMA), wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA), GSM, LTE, new radio (NR), UMTS, WiMax, Ethernet, transmission control protocol / Internet protocol (TCP / IP), synchronous optical network (SONET), asynchronous transfer mode (ATM), QUIC, hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP), etc.

[0253] Regardless of the type of sensor, the UE may provide an output of the data captured by its sensor via a wireless connection to a network node through its communication interface 212. The data captured by the UE's sensor may be transmitted to the network node via another UE through a wireless connection. The output may be periodic (e.g., every 15 minutes if it reports the sensed temperature), random (e.g., to balance the load of reports from several sensors), in response to a trigger event (e.g., when humidity is detected, an alarm is sent), in response to a request (e.g., a user-initiated request), or a continuous stream (e.g., a live video feed of a patient).

[0254] As another example, the UE includes an actuator, motor, or switch associated with a communication interface that is configured to receive wireless input from a network node via a wireless connection. In response to the received wireless input, the state of the actuator, motor, or switch can change. For example, the UE can include a motor that adjusts a control surface or rotor of a drone in flight based on the received input, or adjusts a robotic arm that performs a medical procedure based on the received input.

[0255] When the UE is in the form of an Internet of Things (IoT) device, it can be a device for one or more application areas, including but not limited to urban wearable technology, extended industrial applications, and healthcare. Non-limiting examples of such IoT devices are the following devices or devices embedded in the following devices: connected refrigerators or freezers, TVs, connected lighting devices, electricity meters, robotic vacuum cleaners, voice-controlled smart speakers, home security cameras, motion detectors, thermostats, smoke detectors, door / window sensors, flood / humidity sensors, electric door locks, connected doorbells, air conditioning systems such as heat pumps, self-driving cars, surveillance systems, weather monitoring devices, parking monitoring devices, electric vehicle charging stations, smart watches, fitness trackers, head-mounted displays for augmented reality (AR) or virtual reality (VR), wearable devices for tactile enhancement or sensory enhancement, sprinklers, animal or item tracking devices, sensors for monitoring plants or animals, industrial robots, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), and any type of medical equipment, such as heart rate monitors or remotely controlled surgical robots. In addition to including, for example, in combination with Fig.14 In addition to the other components described for the UE 200 shown in FIG. 1 , the UE 200 may also include circuits and / or software depending on the intended application of the IoT device.

[0256] As another specific example, in an IoT scenario, a UE may represent a machine or other device that performs monitoring and / or measurements and sends the results of such monitoring and / or measurements to another UE and / or a network node. In this case, the UE may be an M2M device, which may be referred to as an MTC device in the 3GPP context. As a specific example, a UE may implement the 3GPP NB-IoT standard. In other scenarios, a UE may represent a vehicle, such as a car, bus, truck, ship, airplane, or other device capable of monitoring and / or reporting its operating status or other functions related to its operation.

[0257] In practice, any number of UEs may be used together for a single use case. For example, a first UE may be a drone or integrated in a drone and provide the drone's speed information (obtained via a speed sensor) to a second UE that is a remote controller for operating the drone. When the user implements changes from the remote controller, the first UE may adjust the throttle on the drone (e.g., by controlling an actuator) to increase or decrease the speed of the drone. The first and / or second UE may also include one or more of the above functions. For example, a UE may include a sensor and an actuator and handle communication of data for both the speed sensor and the actuator.

[0258] Fig.15 A network node 300 according to some embodiments is shown. As used herein, a network node refers to a device capable of, configured, arranged and / or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with a UE and / or with other network nodes or devices in a telecommunications network. Examples of network nodes include, but are not limited to: an access point (AP) (e.g., a radio access point), a base station (BS) (e.g., a radio base station, a Node B, an evolved Node B (eNB), and an NR Node B (gNB)).

[0259] Base stations can be classified based on the amount of coverage they provide (or, in other words, their transmit power level), and therefore can be called femto base stations, pico base stations, micro base stations or macro base stations, depending on the amount of coverage provided. A base station can be a relay node or a relay donor node that controls a relay. A network node may also include one or more (or all) components of a distributed radio base station, such as a centralized digital unit and / or a remote radio unit (RRU), sometimes referred to as a remote radio head (RRH). Such a remote radio unit may or may not be integrated with an antenna as an antenna-integrated radio. The components of a distributed radio base station may also be referred to as nodes in a distributed antenna system (DAS).

[0260] Other examples of network nodes include multiple transmission point (multi-TRP) 5G access nodes, multi-standard radio (MSR) equipment (such as MSR BS), network controllers (such as radio network controllers (RNC) or base station controllers (BSC)), base transceiver stations (BTS), transmission points, transmission nodes, multi-cell / multicast coordination entities (MCEs), operations and maintenance (O&M) nodes, operations support system (OSS) nodes, self-organizing network (SON) nodes, positioning nodes (e.g., evolved serving mobile positioning centers (E-SMLCs)), and / or minimization of drive tests (MDTs).

[0261] The network node 300 includes a processing circuit 302, a memory 304, a communication interface 306, and a power supply 308. The network node 300 may include multiple physically separated components (e.g., a node B component and an RNC component, or a BTS component and a BSC component, etc.), each of which may have its own corresponding component. In a specific scenario where the network node 300 includes multiple individual components (e.g., a BTS and a BSC component), one or more individual components may be shared between several network nodes. For example, a single RNC may control multiple node Bs. In such a scenario, in some instances, each unique node B and RNC pair may be considered as a single individual network node. In some embodiments, the network node 300 may be configured to support multiple radio access technologies (RATs). In such an embodiment, some components may be repeated (e.g., separate memories 304 for different RATs), and some components may be reused (e.g., the same antenna 310 may be shared by different RATs). The network node 300 may also include multiple sets of the various components shown for different wireless technologies, such as GSM, WCDMA, LTE, NR, WiFi, Zigbee, Z-wave, LoRaWAN, radio frequency identification (RFID), or Bluetooth wireless technologies, integrated into the network node 300. These wireless technologies may be integrated into the same or different chips or chipsets and other components within the network node 300.

[0262] The processing circuit 302 may include a microprocessor, a controller, a microcontroller, a central processing unit, a digital signal processor, an application specific integrated circuit, a field programmable gate array, or any other suitable computing device, a combination of one or more of resources, or a combination of hardware, software and / or encoded logic that is operable to provide network node 300 functionality alone or in combination with other network node 300 components (such as memory 304).

[0263] In some embodiments, processing circuitry 302 includes a system on a chip (SOC). In some embodiments, processing circuitry 302 includes one or more of radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry 312 and baseband processing circuitry 314. In some embodiments, radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry 312 and baseband processing circuitry 314 may be on separate chips (or chipsets), boards, or units (e.g., a radio unit and a digital unit). In alternative embodiments, part or all of RF transceiver circuitry 312 and baseband processing circuitry 314 may be on the same chip or chipset, board, or unit.

[0264] Memory 304 may include any form of volatile or non-volatile computer-readable memory, including but not limited to persistent memory, solid-state memory, remotely mounted memory, magnetic media, optical media, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), mass storage media (e.g., hard disk), removable storage media (e.g., flash drive, compact disk (CD) or digital video disk (DVD)), and / or any other volatile, non-volatile, non-transitory device-readable and / or computer-executable storage device that stores information, data and / or instructions that can be used by processing circuit 302. Memory 304 may store any suitable instructions, data or information, including computer programs, software, applications (including one or more of logic, rules, codes, tables and / or other instructions that can be executed by processing circuit 302 and utilized by network node 300). Memory 304 may be used to store any calculations performed by processing circuit 302 and / or any data received via communication interface 306. In some embodiments, processing circuit 302 and memory 304 are integrated.

[0265] The communication interface 306 is used for wired or wireless communication of signaling and / or data between network nodes, access networks and / or UEs. As shown, the communication interface 306 includes a port / terminal 316 for, for example, sending data to the network and receiving data from the network via a wired connection. The communication interface 306 also includes a radio front-end circuit 318, which can be coupled to the antenna 310, or in some embodiments is a part of the antenna 310. The radio front-end circuit 318 includes a filter 320 and an amplifier 322. The radio front-end circuit 318 can be connected to the antenna 310 and the processing circuit 302. The radio front-end circuit 318 can be configured to adjust the signal transmitted between the antenna 310 and the processing circuit 302. The radio front-end circuit 318 can receive digital data to be sent to other network nodes or UEs via a wireless connection. The radio front-end circuit 318 can use a combination of a filter 320 and / or an amplifier 322 to convert the digital data into a radio signal with appropriate channel and bandwidth parameters. Then, the radio signal can be sent via the antenna 310. Similarly, when receiving data, antenna 310 may collect radio signals, which may then be converted to digital data by radio front end circuitry 318. The digital data may be passed to processing circuitry 302. In other embodiments, the communication interface may include different components and / or different combinations of components.

[0266] In certain alternative embodiments, the network node 300 does not include a separate radio front end circuit 318, and instead the processing circuit 302 includes the radio front end circuit and is connected to the antenna 310. Similarly, in some embodiments, all or some of the RF transceiver circuit 312 is part of the communication interface 306. In other embodiments, the communication interface 306 includes one or more ports or terminals 316, the radio front end circuit 318, and the RF transceiver circuit 312 as part of a radio unit (not shown), and the communication interface 306 communicates with the baseband processing circuit 314 as part of a digital unit (not shown).

[0267] Antenna 310 may include one or more antennas or antenna arrays configured to send and / or receive wireless signals. Antenna 310 may be coupled to radio front end circuitry 318 and may be any type of antenna capable of wirelessly sending and receiving data and / or signals. In some embodiments, antenna 310 is separate from network node 300 and may be connected to network node 300 via an interface or port.

[0268] Antenna 310, communication interface 306 and / or processing circuit 302 can be configured to implement any receiving operation and / or certain obtaining operation implemented by the network node as described herein. Any information, data and / or signal can be received from UE, another network node and / or any other network device. Similarly, antenna 310, communication interface 306 and / or processing circuit 302 can be configured to implement any sending operation implemented by the network node as described herein. Any information, data and / or signal can be sent to UE, another network node and / or any other network device.

[0269] The power supply 308 provides power to the various components of the network node 300 in a form suitable for the various components (e.g., at the voltage and current levels required by each corresponding component). The power supply 308 may also include or be coupled to a power management circuit to provide power to the components of the network node 300 for implementing the functions described herein. For example, the network node 300 may be connected to an external power source (e.g., an electrical grid, a power outlet) via an input circuit or an interface such as a cable, whereby the external power source provides power to the power circuit of the power supply 308. As another example, the power supply 308 may include a power source in the form of a battery or battery pack connected to or integrated in the power circuit. If the external power source fails, the battery can provide backup power.

[0270] An embodiment of the network node 300 may include Fig.15Additional components other than those shown in the figure are used to provide certain aspects of the network node functionality, including any of the functionality described herein and / or any functionality required to support the subject matter described herein. For example, the network node 300 may include a user interface device to allow information to be input into the network node 300 and to allow information to be output from the network node 300. This may allow a user to perform diagnostic, maintenance, repair, and other management functions for the network node 300.

[0271] Fig.16 is a block diagram of a host 400 according to various aspects described herein, and the host 400 may be Fig.13 1. The host 400 of the present invention is an embodiment of the host 116 of the present invention. As used herein, the host 400 can be or include various combinations of hardware and / or software, including processing resources in a stand-alone server, a blade server, a cloud-implemented server, a distributed server, a virtual machine, a container, or a server farm. The host 400 can provide one or more services to one or more UEs.

[0272] Host 400 includes processing circuitry 402, which is operably coupled to input / output interface 406, network interface 408, power supply 410, and memory 412 via bus 404. Other components may be included in other embodiments. The features of these components may be similar to those described with respect to previous figures (such as Figure 3 and Figure 4 ) are substantially similar in features, such that their descriptions are generally applicable to corresponding components of the host 400.

[0273] The memory 412 may include one or more computer programs (including one or more host applications 414 and data 416), and the data 416 may include user data, such as data generated by the UE for the host 400 or data generated by the host 400 for the UE. An embodiment of the host 400 may utilize only a subset or all of the components shown. The host application 414 may be implemented in a container-based architecture and may provide support for video codecs (e.g., Versatile Video Coding (VVC), High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC), Advanced Video Coding (AVC), MPEG, VP9) and audio codecs (e.g., FLAC, Advanced Audio Coding (AAC), MPEG, G.711), including transcoding for multiple different categories, types, or implementations of UEs (e.g., mobile phones, desktop computers, wearable display systems, and head-up display systems). The host application 414 may also provide user authentication and authorization checks, and may periodically report health, routing, and content availability to a central node (such as a device in a core network or at the edge). Thus, the host 400 can select and / or instruct different hosts for over-the-top services for the UE. The host application 414 may support various protocols, such as HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) protocol, Real Time Messaging Protocol (RTMP), Real Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP), Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP (MPEG-DASH), and the like.

[0274] Fig.17 5 is a block diagram showing a virtualized environment 500, in which the functions implemented by some embodiments can be virtualized. In the current context, virtualization means creating a virtual version of a device or apparatus, which may include a virtualized hardware platform, storage device, and network resources. As used herein, virtualization can be applied to any device or component thereof described herein, and relates to an implementation in which at least a portion of the functions are implemented as one or more virtual components. Some or all of the functions described herein can be implemented as virtual components performed by one or more virtual machines (VMs), which are implemented in one or more virtual environments 500 hosted by one or more hardware nodes (such as hardware computing devices operating as network nodes, UEs, core network nodes, or hosts). In addition, in embodiments where the virtual node does not require a radio connection (e.g., a core network node or host), the node can be fully virtualized.

[0275] Application 502 (which may alternatively be referred to as a software instance, a virtual appliance, a network function, a virtual node, a virtual network function, etc.) runs in a virtualized environment Q400 to implement some features, functions and / or benefits of some embodiments disclosed herein.

[0276] Hardware 504 includes processing circuitry, memory storing software and / or instructions executable by the hardware processing circuitry, and / or other hardware devices as described herein, such as network interfaces, input / output interfaces, etc. The software may be executed by the processing circuitry to instantiate one or more virtualization layers 506 (also referred to as hypervisors or virtual machine monitors (VMMs)), provide VMs 508a and 508b (one or more of which may be generally referred to as VMs 508), and / or implement any functionality, features, and / or benefits associated with some embodiments described herein. Virtualization layer 506 may present a virtual operating platform that appears to be network hardware to VMs 508.

[0277] VM 508 includes virtual processing, virtual memory, virtual network or interface and virtual storage, and can be operated by corresponding virtualization layer 506. Different embodiments of instances of virtual device 502 can be implemented on one or more VM 508, and can be implemented in different ways. Virtualization of hardware is referred to as network function virtualization (NFV) in some contexts. NFV can be used to integrate many network device types onto industry-standard high-volume server hardware, physical switches and physical storage, which can be located in data centers and customer premises equipment.

[0278] In the context of NFV, VM 508 can be a software implementation of a physical machine that runs programs as if they were executed on a physical, non-virtualized machine. Each VM 508 and a portion of the hardware 504 on which the VM is executed, whether hardware dedicated to the VM and / or hardware shared by the VM and other VMs in VM 508, form a separate virtual network element. Still in the context of NFV, a virtual network function is responsible for handling a specific network function running in one or more VMs 508 on the hardware 504 and corresponding to an application 502.

[0279] The hardware 504 may be implemented in a standalone network node with general or specific components. The hardware 504 may implement some functions through virtualization. Alternatively, the hardware 504 may be part of a larger hardware cluster (e.g., as in a data center or CPE) where many hardware nodes work together and are managed through management and orchestration 510, where management and orchestration 510 oversees the lifecycle management of the application 502. In some embodiments, the hardware 504 is coupled to one or more radio units, each of which includes one or more transmitters that can be coupled to one or more antennas and one or more receivers. The radio units can communicate directly with other hardware nodes through one or more appropriate network interfaces, and can be used in conjunction with virtual components to provide radio capabilities for virtual nodes, such as radio access points or base stations. In some embodiments, a control system 512 may be used to provide some signaling, and the control system 512 may optionally be used for communication between hardware nodes and radio units.

[0280] Fig.18 A communication diagram is shown in which a host 602 communicates with a UE 606 via a network node 604 over a partially wireless connection according to some embodiments. Fig.18 To describe the UE discussed in the preceding paragraphs (such as Fig.13 UE 112a and / or Fig.14 UE 200), network nodes (such as Fig.13 The network node 110a and / or Fig.15 network nodes 300) and hosts (such as Fig.13 Host 116 and / or Fig.16 An example implementation of host 400).

[0281] Similar to the host 400, an embodiment of the host 602 includes hardware, such as a communication interface, a processing circuit, and a memory. The host 602 also includes software, which is stored in the host 602 or accessible by the host 602 and can be executed by the processing circuit. The software includes a host application, which is operable to provide services to a remote user (e.g., a UE 606 connected via an over-the-top (OTT) connection 650 extending between the UE 606 and the host 602). When providing services to the remote user, the host application can provide user data sent using the OTT connection 650.

[0282] The network node 604 includes hardware that enables it to communicate with the host 602 and the UE 606. The connection 660 can be direct or through a core network (such as Fig.13The core network 106 of the present invention) and / or one or more other intermediate networks, such as one or more public, private or managed networks. For example, the intermediate network can be a backbone network or the Internet.

[0283] UE 606 includes hardware and software, which is stored in UE 606 or accessible by UE 606 and can be executed by the processing circuit of UE. The software includes a client application, such as a web browser or an operator-specific "app", which is operable to provide services to human or non-human users through UE 606 with the support of host 602. In host 602, the execution host application can communicate with the execution client application via an OTT connection 650 terminated at UE 606 and host 602. When providing services to the user, the client application of the UE can receive request data from the host application of the host and provide user data in response to the request data. The OTT connection 650 can transmit both request data and user data. The client application of the UE can interact with the user to generate user data that it provides to the host application through the OTT connection 650.

[0284] The OTT connection 650 may extend via a connection 660 between the host 602 and the network node 604 and via a wireless connection 670 between the network node 604 and the UE 606 to provide a connection between the host 602 and the UE 606. The connection 660 and the wireless connection 670 over which the OTT connection 650 may be provided are drawn abstractly to illustrate communication between the host 602 and the UE 606 via the network node 604 without explicit reference to any intermediate devices and the precise routing of messages via these devices.

[0285] As an example of sending data via the OTT connection 650, in step 608, the host 602 provides user data, which can be implemented by executing a host application. In some embodiments, the user data is associated with a specific human user interacting with the UE 606. In other embodiments, the user data is associated with the UE 606, and the UE 606 shares the data with the host 602 without explicit human-computer interaction. In step 610, the host 602 initiates a transmission carrying the user data to the UE 606. The host 602 may initiate the transmission in response to a request sent by the UE 606. The request may be caused by human interaction with the UE 606, or by the operation of a client application executed on the UE 606. According to the teachings of the embodiments described throughout the present disclosure, the transmission may be transmitted via the network node 604. Therefore, in step 612, according to the teachings of the embodiments described throughout the present disclosure, the network node 604 sends the user data carried in the transmission initiated by the host 602 to the UE 606. In step 614 , the UE 606 receives the user data carried in the transmission, which may be performed by a client application executing on the UE 606 that is associated with a host application executed by the host 602 .

[0286] In some examples, UE 606 executes a client application that provides user data to host 602. The user data may be provided as a reaction or response to data received from host 602. Thus, in step 616, UE 606 may provide the user data, which may be implemented by executing the client application. In providing the user data, the client application may also take into account user input received from a user via an input / output interface of UE 606. Regardless of the particular manner in which the user data is provided, in step 618, UE 606 initiates transmission of the user data to host 602 via network node 604. In step 620, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout the present disclosure, network node 604 receives user data from UE 606 and initiates transmission of the received user data to host 602. In step 622, host 602 receives the user data carried in the transmission initiated by UE 606.

[0287] One or more of the various embodiments improve the performance of OTT services provided to UE 606 using OTT connection 650, where wireless connection 670 forms the last leg. More specifically, the teachings of these embodiments can improve the latency of directly activating SCells through RRC and the power consumption of user equipment, thereby providing benefits such as reduced user waiting time and extended battery life.

[0288] In an example scenario, the host 602 may collect and analyze plant status information. As another example, the host 602 may process audio and video data that may have been retrieved from the UE for use in creating a map. As another example, the host 602 may collect and analyze real-time data to help control vehicle congestion (e.g., control traffic lights). As another example, the host 602 may store surveillance videos uploaded by the UE. As another example, the host 602 may store or control access to media content, such as video, audio, VR, or AR, which may broadcast, multicast, or unicast the media content to the UE. As other examples, the host 602 may be used for energy pricing, remote control of non-time-critical power loads to balance power generation demand, location services, presentation services (such as compiling charts based on data collected from remote devices, etc.), or any other function for collecting, retrieving, storing, analyzing, and / or sending data.

[0289] In some examples, a measurement process may be provided for monitoring data rates, delays, and other factors improved by one or more embodiments. There may also be an optional network function for reconfiguring the OTT connection 650 between the host 602 and the UE 606 in response to changes in the measurement results. The measurement process and / or network function for reconfiguring the OTT connection 650 may be implemented in software and hardware of the host 602 and / or the UE 606. In some embodiments, sensors (not shown) may be deployed in or associated with other devices through which the OTT connection 650 passes; the sensors may participate in the measurement process by providing the values ​​of the monitored quantities of the above examples or by providing the values ​​of other physical quantities from which the software can calculate or estimate the monitored quantities. The reconfiguration of the OTT connection 650 may include message formats, retransmission settings, preferred routes, etc.; the reconfiguration does not require direct changes to the operation of the network node 604. These processes and functions may be known and practiced in the art. In some embodiments, the measurement may involve proprietary UE signaling that facilitates the host 602 to measure throughput, propagation time, delay, etc. The measurements may be implemented in software that causes messages (particularly empty or 'dummy' messages) to be sent using the OTT connection 650 while monitoring propagation times, errors and the like.

[0290] Fig.19 is a flow chart illustrating an example method in a wireless device according to certain embodiments. In certain embodiments, Fig.19 One or more steps may be performed by Fig.14 The wireless device may be implemented by the UE 200. The wireless device may be operable to implement CSI measurement for L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility.

[0291] The method starts at step 1912, where a wireless device (eg, UE 200) receives a message from a network node (eg, network node 300). The message includes at least one configuration of a target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell.

[0292] In a particular embodiment, the configuration of the target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell includes a configuration for the wireless device to use in the target cell after L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility is performed. The configuration is a configuration that the wireless device is to apply, switch to, or activate after receiving an L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility command from the network. The L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility command includes lower layer signaling that indicates to the wireless device the performance of L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility to the L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell.

[0293] In a particular embodiment, the configuration of the target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell includes one or more of the following: a beam configuration, wherein the beam configuration includes a beam identifier; one or more SS indices or one or more RS identifiers; a transmission configuration indication (TCI) state configuration, wherein the TCI state configuration includes an associated RS identifier or SS index; a quasi-co-location (QCL) configuration, wherein the QCL configuration includes an associated RS identifier or SS index; a TCI state configuration, wherein the TCI state configuration includes an associated QCL configuration with an associated RS identifier or SS index; a cell identifier; a CSI measurement configuration, including one or more CSI resource configurations, wherein the CSI resource configuration indicates at least one SS index or at least one RS identifier to be measured when the wireless device operates in the target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell; and / or frequency information of the SS or RS being transmitted in the target cell (e.g., SSB frequency, CSI-RS initial frequency, number of CSI-RS physical resource blocks, CSI-RS offset relative to an absolute frequency such as point A as defined in TS 38.331).

[0294] In a specific embodiment, the configuration of the target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cells is generated by a candidate distributed unit (DU), wherein the candidate cell of the candidate DU for a neighboring DU corresponds to the neighboring DU or the candidate cell for the neighboring DU corresponds to a serving DU.

[0295] In certain embodiments, the configuration of the target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cells includes any configuration described with respect to any of the embodiments and examples described herein.

[0296] In step 1914, based on the at least one configuration of the target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell, the wireless device performs CSI measurement on at least one SS (e.g., SSB) and / or at least one RS (e.g., CSI-RS) of the target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell.

[0297] In a specific embodiment, performing at least one CSI measurement on at least one SS or at least one RS is based on at least one frequency information of the SS or RS of the L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell.

[0298] In a specific embodiment, the at least one frequency information of the SS or RS of the L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell is obtained by any one or more of the following methods: receiving a CSI measurement configuration in the message for the currently active serving cell; receiving a radio resource management (RRM) measurement configuration in the message, wherein the frequency information is associated with a measurement object including frequency information (e.g., SSB frequency); and / or receiving a configuration of a target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell.

[0299] In a specific embodiment, performing at least one CSI measurement on the SS or RS is: based on at least one frequency information of the SS or RS, and by performing a cell search for a cell of a cell identifier configured within the configuration of a target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell, and when the cell is detected, performing the at least one CSI measurement on the SS or RS of the cell.

[0300] In a specific embodiment, for a SS or RS that is part of a beam configuration of a configuration of a target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell, performing at least one CSI measurement on the SS or RS is based on at least one frequency information of the SS or RS.

[0301] In a particular embodiment, performing at least one CSI measurement on a SS or RS is based on at least one SS or RS being configured as a quasi co-located (QCL) source of a transmission configuration indication (TCI) state as part of configuration of a target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell.

[0302] In a specific embodiment, performing at least one CSI measurement on a SS or RS is based on at least one SS or at least one RS configured in a CSI measurement configuration within a configuration of a target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell.

[0303] In a particular embodiment, performing at least one CSI measurement on a SS or RS is based on at least one cell whose cell identifier is indicated in the configuration of the target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell.

[0304] In certain embodiments, the wireless device may perform measurements according to any of the embodiments and examples described herein.

[0305] At step 1916, the wireless device sends a CSI report including information based on the CSI measurement to the network node. In a specific embodiment, sending the CSI report including information based on the CSI measurement of at least one SS and / or RS to the network node is based on one or more reporting criteria. The wireless device may send the one or more reporting criteria configured in the CSI reporting configuration.

[0306] Can Fig.19 The method 1900 may be modified, added or omitted. In addition, Fig.19 One or more steps in the method may be performed in parallel or in any suitable order.

[0307] Fig. 20 A method implemented by a network node central unit (CU) according to a specific embodiment is shown. In a specific embodiment, Fig. 20 One or more steps may be performed by Fig.15 The network node 300 is implemented as a CU of the RAN to configure CSI measurement for a wireless device configured with L1 / L2-based inter-cell mobility.

[0308] The method starts at step 2012, where the CU (eg, network node 300) sends a request message to the DU of the RAN, indicating a request for the DU to configure L1 / L2-based inter-cell mobility for the wireless device. The request is for a cell in the frequency indicated in the request message.

[0309] At step 2014, in response to the request message, the network node CU receives a response message from the DU, which includes at least one configuration of L1 / L2 based inter-cell mobility candidate cells in the frequency indicated in the message. The configuration is as described above with respect to Fig.19 described.

[0310] In step 2016, the network node CU generates an RRC reconfiguration to be provided to the wireless device, including a CSI measurement configuration, wherein the CSI measurement configuration includes frequency information of L1 / L2 based inter-cell mobility candidate cells, in which the wireless device will find the SS or RS on which the wireless device performs CSI measurement.

[0311] At step 2018, the network node CU sends a message to the DU including the RRC reconfiguration to be sent to the wireless device.

[0312] At step 220, the network node CU may receive a message including a reconfiguration completion from the wireless device from the DU.

[0313] Can Fig. 20 Method 2000 is modified, added or omitted. In addition, Fig. 20 One or more steps in the method may be performed in parallel or in any suitable order.

[0314] Fig.21 A method implemented by a network node distributed unit (DU) according to a specific embodiment is shown. In a specific embodiment, Fig.21 One or more steps may be performed by Fig.15 The network node 300 is implemented as a DU of the RAN to configure L1 / L2-based inter-cell mobility for a wireless device (eg, the wireless device 200).

[0315] The method starts at step 2112, where a DU (eg, network node 300) receives a request message from a CU of the RAN, indicating a request for the DU to configure L1 / L2-based inter-cell mobility for a wireless device. The request is for a cell in a frequency indicated in the message.

[0316] In response to the request message, the network node DU sends a response message to the CU, which includes at least one configuration of the L1 / L2-based inter-cell mobility candidate cell in the frequency indicated in the message, at step 2114. The at least one configuration of the L1 / L2-based inter-cell mobility candidate cell will be used by the wireless device to perform CSI measurements on at least one SS and / or RS of the target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell when the wireless device is still connected to a serving cell that is not the target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell, in preparation for L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility execution.

[0317] Can Fig.21 The method 2100 is modified, added or omitted. In addition, Fig.21 One or more steps in the method may be performed in parallel or in any suitable order.

[0318] The methods disclosed herein may be modified, added to, or omitted without departing from the scope of the invention. The methods may include more, less, or other steps. In addition, the steps may be implemented in any suitable order.

[0319] The foregoing description sets forth numerous specific details. However, it should be appreciated that the embodiments may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known circuits, structures, and techniques are not shown in detail to avoid obscuring the understanding of this description. A person of ordinary skill in the art, using the included description, will be able to implement appropriate functionality without undue experimentation.

[0320] References in the specification to "one embodiment", "an embodiment", "an example embodiment", etc. indicate that the described embodiment may include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, but not every embodiment necessarily includes the particular feature, structure, or characteristic. In addition, such phrases do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment. Further, when a particular feature, structure, or characteristic is described in conjunction with an embodiment, it should be considered that a person skilled in the art can implement such feature, structure, or characteristic in conjunction with other embodiments, whether or not explicitly described.

[0321] Although the present disclosure has been described in terms of certain embodiments, changes and substitutions to the embodiments will be apparent to those skilled in the art. Therefore, the description of the above embodiments does not limit the present disclosure. Other changes, substitutions and modifications are possible without departing from the scope of the present disclosure as defined in the following claims.

Claims

1. A method implemented by a wireless device for performing channel state information (CSI) measurement for layer 1 L1 / layer 2 L2 inter-cell mobility, the method comprising: receiving (1912) a message from a network node, the message comprising at least one configuration of a target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell; Based on the at least one configuration of the target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell, performing (1914) CSI measurement on at least one of a synchronization signal SS and a reference signal RS of the target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell; as well as A CSI report including information based on the CSI measurement is sent (1916) to the network node.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein: Performing the at least one CSI measurement on at least one SS or at least one RS is based on at least one frequency information of the SS or RS of the L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein: The at least one frequency information of the SS or RS of the L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell is obtained by any one or more of the following methods: receiving a CSI measurement configuration in the message for a currently active serving cell; receiving a radio resource management (RRM) measurement configuration in the message, wherein the frequency information is associated with a measurement object including frequency information; and Receive the configuration of the target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein: The configuration of the target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell includes a configuration used by the wireless device in the target cell after L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility is performed, wherein the configuration is a configuration to be applied, switched to, or activated by the wireless device after receiving an L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility command from the network, wherein the L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility command includes lower layer signaling indicating to the wireless device the performance of L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility to the L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein: The configuration of the target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell includes at least one or more of the following: A beam configuration, wherein the beam configuration comprises a beam identifier; One or more SS indices or one or more RS identifiers; A transmission configuration indication TCI state configuration, wherein the TCI state configuration includes an associated RS identifier or SS index; A quasi-co-located QCL configuration, wherein the QCL configuration comprises an associated RS identifier or SS index; A TCI state configuration, wherein the TCI state configuration comprises an associated QCL configuration with an associated RS identifier or SS index; cell identifier; a CSI measurement configuration comprising one or more CSI resource configurations, wherein the CSI resource configuration indicates at least one SS index or at least one RS identifier to be measured when the wireless device operates in the target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell; Frequency information of the SS or the RS sent in the target cell.

6. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein: The at least one CSI measurement performed on the SS or RS is: based on at least one frequency information of the SS or the RS, and by performing a cell search for a cell of a cell identifier configured in the configuration of the target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell, and when the cell is detected, performing the at least one CSI measurement on the SS or RS of the cell.

7. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein: For a SS or RS that is part of a beam configuration of a configuration of the target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell, performing at least one CSI measurement on the SS or the RS is based on at least one frequency information of the SS or the RS.

8. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein: Performing at least one CSI measurement on the SS or the RS is based on at least one SS or RS configured as a quasi-co-located QCL source of a TCI state as a transmission configuration indicating a part of the configuration of the target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell.

9. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein: Performing at least one CSI measurement on the SS or the RS is based on at least one SS or at least one RS configured in a CSI measurement configuration within a configuration of the target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell.

10. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein: Performing at least one CSI measurement on the SS or the RS is based on at least one cell whose cell identifier is indicated in the configuration of the target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell.

11. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 10, wherein: The configuration of the target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cells is generated by a candidate distributed unit DU, wherein the candidate cell of the candidate DU for a neighboring DU corresponds to the neighboring DU or the candidate cell for the neighboring DU corresponds to a serving DU.

12. A wireless device (200) capable of implementing channel state information (CSI) measurements for layer 1 L1 / layer 2 L2 inter-cell mobility, the wireless device comprising a processing circuit (202) operable to: receiving a message from a network node, the message comprising at least one configuration of a target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell; Based on the at least one configuration of the target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell, perform CSI measurement on at least one of a synchronization signal SS and a reference signal RS of the target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell; as well as A CSI report including information based on the CSI measurement is sent to the network node.

13. The wireless device of claim 12, wherein: The processing circuit may be operable to perform the at least one CSI measurement on at least one SS or at least one RS based on at least one frequency information of the SS or RS of the L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell.

14. The wireless device of claim 13, wherein: The at least one frequency information of the SS or RS of the L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell is obtained by any one or more of the following methods: receiving a CSI measurement configuration in the message for a currently active serving cell; receiving a radio resource management (RRM) measurement configuration in the message, wherein the frequency information is associated with a measurement object including frequency information; and Receive the configuration of the target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell.

15. The wireless device according to any one of claims 12 to 14, wherein: The configuration of the target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell includes a configuration used by the wireless device in the target cell after L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility is performed, wherein the configuration is a configuration to be applied, switched to, or activated by the wireless device after receiving an L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility command from the network, wherein the L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility command includes lower layer signaling indicating to the wireless device the performance of L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility to the L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell.

16. The wireless device according to any one of claims 12 to 15, wherein: The configuration of the target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell includes at least one or more of the following: A beam configuration, wherein the beam configuration comprises a beam identifier; One or more SS indices or one or more RS identifiers; A transmission configuration indication TCI state configuration, wherein the TCI state configuration includes an associated RS identifier or SS index; A quasi-co-located QCL configuration, wherein the QCL configuration comprises an associated RS identifier or SS index; A TCI state configuration, wherein the TCI state configuration comprises an associated QCL configuration with an associated RS identifier or SS index; cell identifier; a CSI measurement configuration comprising one or more CSI resource configurations, wherein the CSI resource configuration indicates at least one SS index or at least one RS identifier to be measured when the wireless device operates in the target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell; Frequency information of the SS or the RS sent in the target cell.

17. The wireless device according to any one of claims 12 to 16, wherein: The processing circuit is operable to perform at least one CSI measurement on the SS or RS based on at least one frequency information of the SS or the RS, and by performing a cell search on a cell of a cell identifier configured within the configuration of the target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell, and when the cell is detected, performing the at least one CSI measurement on the SS or RS of the cell.

18. The wireless device according to any one of claims 12 to 17, wherein: The processing circuit may be operable to perform at least one CSI measurement on a SS or RS that is part of a beam configuration of a configuration of the target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell based on at least one frequency information of the SS or the RS.

19. The wireless device according to any one of claims 12 to 18, wherein: The processing circuit is operable to perform at least one CSI measurement on at least one SS or RS configured as a quasi-co-located QCL source indicating a TCI state as part of the configuration of the target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell.

20. The wireless device according to any one of claims 12 to 19, wherein: The processing circuit may be operable to perform at least one CSI measurement on the SS or the RS based on at least one SS or at least one RS configured in a CSI measurement configuration within a configuration of the target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell.

21. The wireless device according to any one of claims 12 to 20, wherein: The processing circuit may be operable to perform at least one CSI measurement on the SS or the RS based on at least one cell whose cell identifier is indicated in the configuration of the target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell.

22. The wireless device according to any one of claims 12 to 21, wherein: The configuration of the target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cells is generated by a candidate distributed unit DU, wherein the candidate cell of the candidate DU for a neighboring DU corresponds to the neighboring DU or the candidate cell for the neighboring DU corresponds to a serving DU.

23. A method for configuring channel state information (CSI) measurements for a wireless device configured with L1 / L2 based inter-cell mobility, implemented by a network node operating as a central unit (CU) of a radio access network (RAN), the method comprising: sending (2012) a request message to a DU of the RAN, indicating a request for the DU to configure L1 / L2-based inter-cell mobility for the wireless device, wherein the request is for a cell in a frequency indicated in the request message; receiving (2014) a response message from the DU in response to the request message, the response message including at least one configuration of L1 / L2 based inter-cell mobility candidate cells in the frequency indicated in the message; generating (2016) a radio resource control, RRC, reconfiguration to be provided to the wireless device, comprising a CSI measurement configuration, the CSI measurement configuration comprising frequency information of the L1 / L2 based inter-cell mobility candidate cells, in which the wireless device will find a synchronization signal SS or a reference signal RS on which the wireless device performs CSI measurement; and A message including the RRC reconfiguration to be sent to the wireless device is sent (2018) to the DU.

24. The method according to claim 23, further comprising: A message including a reconfiguration completion message from the wireless device is received (2020) from the DU.

25. The method according to any one of claims 23-24, wherein: The at least one configuration of the target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell includes at least one or more of the following: A beam configuration, wherein the beam configuration comprises a beam identifier; One or more SS indices or one or more RS identifiers; A transmission configuration indication TCI state configuration, wherein the TCI state configuration includes an associated RS identifier or SS index; A quasi-co-located QCL configuration, wherein the QCL configuration comprises an associated RS identifier or SS index; A TCI state configuration, wherein the TCI state configuration comprises an associated QCL configuration with an associated RS identifier or SS index; cell identifier; a CSI measurement configuration comprising one or more CSI resource configurations, wherein the CSI resource configuration indicates at least one SS index or at least one RS identifier to be measured when the wireless device operates in the target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell; Frequency information of the SS or the RS sent in the target cell.

26. A network node (300) operable as a central unit CU of a radio access network RAN ​​for configuring channel state information (CSI) measurements for a wireless device (200) configured with L1 / L2 based inter-cell mobility, the network node comprising a processing circuit (302) operable to: Sending a request message to the DU of the RAN, indicating a request for the DU to configure L1 / L2-based inter-cell mobility for the wireless device, wherein: The request is for a cell in a frequency indicated in the request message; receiving, in response to the request message, a response message from the DU, the response message including at least one configuration of L1 / L2 based inter-cell mobility candidate cells in the frequency indicated in the message; generating a radio resource control RRC reconfiguration to be provided to the wireless device, the reconfiguration comprising a CSI measurement configuration, the CSI measurement configuration comprising frequency information of the L1 / L2 based inter-cell mobility candidate cell, in which the wireless device will find a synchronization signal SS or a reference signal RS on which the wireless device performs CSI measurement; as well as A message including the RRC reconfiguration to be sent to the wireless device is sent to the DU.

27. The network node of claim 26, the processing circuit is further operable to receive a message from the DU including a reconfiguration completion from the wireless device.

28. The network node according to any one of claims 26-27, wherein: The at least one configuration of the target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell includes at least one or more of the following: A beam configuration, wherein the beam configuration comprises a beam identifier; One or more SS indices or one or more RS identifiers; A transmission configuration indication TCI state configuration, wherein the TCI state configuration includes an associated RS identifier or SS index; A quasi-co-located QCL configuration, wherein the QCL configuration comprises an associated RS identifier or SS index; A TCI state configuration, wherein the TCI state configuration comprises an associated QCL configuration with an associated RS identifier or SS index; cell identifier; a CSI measurement configuration comprising one or more CSI resource configurations, wherein the CSI resource configuration indicates at least one SS index or at least one RS identifier to be measured when the wireless device operates in the target L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell; Frequency information of the SS or the RS sent in the target cell.

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