Systems and methods for data collection for beamforming systems

Abstract

A method (900) for data collection by a first user equipment, UE, (108, 110) comprises receiving (902), from a network node (104), a first message configuring one or more downlink reference signal resources. The UE receives (904), from the network node, a second message comprising an indication to monitor a communication channel associated with a radio network temporary identifier, RNTI, for data collection. The UE receives (906) a third message including downlink control information, DCI, associated with the RNTI for data collection. The third message instructs the UE to perform measurements on one or more of the downlink reference signal resources. Based on a third message comprising the DCI associated with the RNTI for data collection, the UE performs (908) at least one measurement on a downlink reference signal transmitted for the second UE (106). A downlink reference signal is transmitted on one indicated downlink reference signal resource of the one or more indicated downlink reference signal resources.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates generally to wireless communications and, more particularly, to systems and methods for data collection for beamforming systems. Background Art

[0002] Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) have been studied in both academia and industry as promising tools to optimize the design of air interfaces in wireless communication networks. Example use cases include: using autoencoders for channel state information (CSI) compression to reduce feedback overhead and improve channel prediction accuracy; using deep neural networks to classify line-of-sight (LOS) and non-LOS (NLOS) conditions to improve positioning accuracy; and using reinforcement learning for beam selection at the network side and / or user equipment (UE) side to reduce signaling overhead and beam alignment delay; using deep reinforcement learning to learn optimal precoding strategies for complex multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) precoding problems.

[0003] In the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) New Radio (NR) standardization work, there is a new Release 18 study item on AI / ML for the NR air interface. This study item explores the benefits of enhancing the air interface with features that enable improved support for AI / ML-based algorithms for improved performance and / or reduced complexity / overhead. By studying some selected use cases (such as CSI feedback, beam management, and positioning), this study item aims to lay the foundation for future air interface use cases that leverage AI / ML techniques.

[0004] Beam Management Process

[0005] In the high frequency range (FR2), multiple radio frequency (RF) beams may be used to transmit and receive signals at gNodeB (gNB) and UE. For each downlink (DL) beam from the gNB, there is typically an associated best UE receive (Rx) beam for receiving signals from the DL beam. The DL beam and the associated UE Rx beam form a beam pair. Beam pairs may be identified by the so-called beam management process in NR.

[0006] A DL beam is typically identified by an associated DL reference signal (RS) transmitted in the beam either periodically, semi-persistently, or aperiodically. The DL RS used for the purpose may be a synchronization signal (SS) and a physical broadcast channel (PBCH) block (SSB) or a channel state information RS (CSI-RS). By measuring all DL RSs, the UE may determine and report to the gNB the best DL beam for DL ​​transmission. The gNB may then transmit a burst of DL-RS in the reported best DL beam to let the UE evaluate candidate UE RX beams.

[0007] Although not explicitly stated in the NR specification, beam management has been divided into Figure 1 The three processes are schematically illustrated in:

[0008] P-1: The goal is to find a rough direction for the UE using a wide gNB TX beam covering the entire angular sector

[0009] P-2: The aim is to improve the gNB TX beam by performing a new beam search around the coarse direction found in P1.

[0010] P-3: For UEs with analog beamforming to let them find the appropriate UE RX beam.

[0011] It is expected that P-1 will utilize beams with a relatively large beamwidth and in which beam reference signals are transmitted periodically and shared among all UEs in the cell. Typically, the reference signal used for P-1 is a periodic CSI-RS or SSB. The UE then reports the N best beams and their corresponding reference signal received power (RSRP) values ​​to the gNB.

[0012] P-2 is expected to use aperiodic and / or semi-persistent CSI-RS transmitted in a narrow beam around the coarse direction found in P-1.

[0013] P-3 is expected to use aperiodic or semi-persistent CSI-RS that is transmitted repeatedly in a narrow gNB beam. An alternative approach is to let the UE determine the appropriate UE RX beam based on periodic SSB transmissions. Since each SSB consists of four orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols, up to four UE RX beams can be evaluated during each SSB burst transmission. One benefit of using SSB instead of CSI-RS is that the additional overhead of CSI-RS transmission is not required.

[0014] Beam pointing

[0015] In NR, several signals may be transmitted from different antenna ports of the same base station. These signals may have the same large-scale properties, such as Doppler shift / spread, average delay spread or average delay. These antenna ports are then said to be quasi co-located (QCL).

[0016] If the UE knows that the two antenna ports are QCL with respect to a certain parameter (eg, Doppler spread), the UE may estimate the parameter based on one of the antenna ports and apply the estimate for receiving signals on the other antenna port.

[0017] For example, there may be a QCL relationship between the CSI-RS for Tracking RS (TRS) and the Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) Demodulation Reference Signal (DMRS). When a UE receives PDSCH DMRS, it can use the measurements already made on the TRS to assist in DMRS reception.

[0018] Information about what assumptions can be made about QCL is signaled from the network to the UE. In NR, four types of QCL relationships between the transmit source RS and the transmit target RS are defined:

[0019] Type A: {Doppler shift, Doppler spread, average delay, delay spread}

[0020] Type B: {Doppler shift, Doppler spread}

[0021] Type C: {average delay, Doppler shift}

[0022] Type D: {spatial Rx parameters}

[0023] QCL Type D was introduced in NR to facilitate beam management with analog beamforming and is referred to as spatial QCL. Currently there is no strict definition of spatial QCL, but it is understood that if two transmit antenna ports are spatially QCL, the UE can use the same Rx beam to receive them. This is helpful for UEs that use analog beamforming to receive signals, because the UE needs to adjust its RX beam in a certain direction before receiving a certain signal. If the UE knows that a signal is spatially QCL with other signals it has received earlier, then it can safely use the same RX beam to receive this signal as well.

[0024] In NR, the spatial QCL relationship of DL or uplink (UL) signals / channels can be indicated to the UE by using "beam indication". "Beam indication" is used to help the UE find an RX beam suitable for DL ​​reception and / or a TX beam suitable for UL transmission. In NR, the "beam indication" for DL ​​is communicated to the UE by indicating the transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state to the UE, while in UL, the "beam indication" can be communicated by indicating the DL-RS or UL-RS as a spatial relationship (in NR Rel-15 / 16) or TCI state (in NRrel-17).

[0025] Beam management using unified TCI framework

[0026] In NR, downlink beam management is performed by virtue of communicating the spatial QCL (“Type D”) assumption to the UE through the TCI state.

[0027] In NR Rel-15 or Rel-16, for the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), the network configures the UE with a set of PDCCH TCI states through radio resource control (RRC), and then uses the media access control-control element (MAC CE) to activate one TCI state per CORESET. For PDSCH beam management, the network configures the UE with a set of PDCCH TCI states through RRC, and then activates up to 8 TCI states through MAC CE. After activation, the network uses the TCI field in the downlink control information (DCI) to dynamically indicate one of these activated TCI states when scheduling PDSCH.

[0028] Such a framework allows great flexibility for the network to instruct the UE to receive signals from different spatial directions in the DL, at the cost of large signaling overhead and slow beam switching. These limitations are particularly evident and expensive when considering UE mobility. An example is that beam updates using DCI can only be performed for PDSCH, and require MAC-CE and / or RRC to update beams for other reference signals / channels, which results in additional overhead and latency.

[0029] Furthermore, in most cases, the network transmits and receives to and from the UE in the same direction for both data and control. Therefore, using separate frameworks (spatial relationships of TCI states respectively) for different channels / signals complicates the implementation.

[0030] In Rel-17, a common beam framework was introduced to simplify beam management in FR2, where a common beam represented by a TCI state can be activated / indicated to the UE and is applicable to multiple channels / signals (such as PDCCH and PDSCH). The common beam framework is also called a unified TCI state framework.

[0031] The new framework may be an RRC configured in one of two modes of operation, "Joint DL / UL TCI" or "DL / UL TCI alone". For "Joint DL / UL TCI", one common joint TCI state is used for both DL and UL signals / channels. For "DL / UL TCI alone", one common DL-only TCI state is used for DL ​​channels / signals and one common UL-only TCI state is used for UL signals / channels.

[0032] The unified TCI state may be updated in a similar manner as the TCI state update for PDSCH in Rel-15 / 16, i.e. using one of two alternatives:

[0033] Two-stage: Use RRC signaling to configure multiple unified TCI states in the higher layer parameter PDSCH-config and use MAC-CE to activate one of the unified TCI states

[0034] Three stages: use RRC signaling to configure multiple unified TCI states in PDSCH-config, use MAC-CE to activate up to 8 unified TCI states, and use the 3-bit TCI state bit field in DCI to indicate one of the activated unified TCI states

[0035] An activated or indicated unified TCI state will be used in both subsequent PDCCH and PDSCH transmissions until a new unified TCI state is activated or indicated.

[0036] Existing DCI formats 1_1 and 1_2 may be reused for beam indication with and without DL assignment. For DCI formats 1_1 and 1_2 with DL assignment, an acknowledgement (ACK) / non-acknowledgement (NACK) of the PDSCH may be used as an indication of successful reception of the beam indication. For DCI formats 1_1 and 1_2 without DL assignment, a new ACK / NACK mechanism similar to the ACK / NACK mechanism for semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) PDSCH release with both type-1 and type-2 hybrid automatic repeat request-ACK (HARQ-ACK) codebooks is used, where the UE reports an ACK upon successful reception of the beam indication DCI.

[0037] For DCI based beam indication, the first timeslot to which the indicated TCI applies is at least Y symbols after the last symbol of the acknowledgement of the joint or individual DL / UL beam indication. The Y symbols are configured by the gNB based on the UE capabilities which are also reported in symbols. The value of Y is not yet determined and is left to RAN4 to decide.

[0038] Reference signal configuration

[0039] The CSI-RS is transmitted through each transmit (Tx) antenna port at the network node and for different antenna ports. The CSI-RS is multiplexed in the time, frequency, and code domains so that the channel between each Tx antenna port at the network node and each receive antenna port at the UE can be measured by the UE. The time-frequency resources used to transmit the CSI-RS are called CSI-RS resources.

[0040] In NR, CSI-RS for beam management is defined as 1-port or 2-port CSI-RS resources in a CSI-RS resource set where there is field repetition. The following three types of CSI-RS transmission are supported:

[0041] • Periodic CSI-RS: CSI-RS is transmitted periodically in certain time slots. This CSI-RS transmission is semi-statically configured using RRC signaling with parameters such as CSI-RS resource, periodicity, and slot offset.

[0042] Semi-persistent CSI-RS: Similar to periodic CSI-RS, resources for semi-persistent CSI-RS transmission are semi-statically configured using RRC signaling with parameters such as periodicity and slot offset. However, unlike periodic CSI-RS, dynamic signaling is required to activate and deactivate CSI-RS transmission.

[0043] · Aperiodic CSI-RS: This is a one-time CSI-RS transmission that can occur in any time slot. Here, one-time means that the CSI-RS transmission occurs only once per trigger. The CSI-RS resources (i.e., RE positions consisting of subcarrier positions and OFDM symbol positions) used for aperiodic CSI-RS are semi-statically configured. The transmission of aperiodic CSI-RS is triggered by dynamic signaling over PDCCH using the CSI request field in the UL DCI (UL resources for measurement reporting are scheduled in the same DCI). Multiple aperiodic CSI-RS resources can be included in a CSI-RS resource set and the triggering of aperiodic CSI-RS is on a resource set basis.

[0044] In NR, SSB consists of a synchronization signal pair (SS), a physical broadcast channel (PBCH), and the DMRS of the PBCH. SSB is mapped to 4 consecutive OFDM symbols in the time domain and to 240 consecutive subcarriers (20 RBs) in the frequency domain.

[0045] To support beamforming and beam scanning for SSB transmission, in NR, a cell can transmit multiple SSBs in different narrow beams in a time-multiplexed manner. The transmission of these SSBs is limited to a half-frame time interval (5ms). It is also possible to configure a cell to transmit multiple SSBs repeatedly in a single wide beam. The design of the beamforming parameters for each SSB in the SSB within a half-frame depends on the network implementation. The SSBs within a half-frame are broadcast periodically from each cell. The periodicity of a half-frame with SS / PBCH blocks is called the SSB periodicity, which is indicated by SIB1.

[0046] The maximum number of SSBs within a half-frame (denoted by L) depends on the frequency band, and the time positions of these L candidate SSBs within the half-frame depend on the SCS of the SSB. The L candidate SSBs within the half-frame are indexed in ascending order from 0 to L-1 in time. The UE knows the SSB index through successful detection of the PBCH and its associated DMRS. The cell does not have to transmit SS / PBCH blocks in all L candidate positions in the half-frame, and the resources of the unused candidate positions can instead be used for the transmission of data or control signaling. The decision of which candidate time positions to select for SSB transmission within the half-frame and which beam to use for each SSB transmission depends on the network implementation.

[0047] Measuring resource allocation

[0048] In NR, a UE can be configured with N≥1 CSI report settings (i.e., CSI-ReportConfig), M≥1 resource settings (i.e., CSI-ResourceConfig), where each CSI report setting is linked to one or more resource settings for channel and / or interference measurement. The CSI framework is modular, meaning that several CSI report settings can be associated with the same resource setting.

[0049] The measurement resource configuration for beam management is provided to the UE via the RRC information element (IE) CSI-ResourceConfig. A CSI-ResourceConfig contains several NZP-CSI-RS-ResourceSets and / or CSI-SSB-ResourceSets.

[0050] The UE can be configured to perform measurements on CSI-RS. Here, RRC IE NZP-CSI-RS-ResourceSet is used. The non-zero power (NZP) CSI-RS resource set contains the configuration of Ks≥1 CSI-RS resources, where the configuration of each CSI-RS resource includes at least: mapping to RE, number of antenna ports, time domain behavior, etc. Up to 64 CSI-RS resources can be grouped into NZP-CSI-RS-ResourceSet. The UE can also be configured to perform measurements on SSB. Here, RRC IE CSI-SSB-ResourceSet is used. Resource sets including SSB resources are defined in a similar manner.

[0051] In case of aperiodic CSI-RS and / or aperiodic CSI reporting, the network node utilizes S c The UE is configured with a CSI triggering state. Each triggering state contains an aperiodic CSI reporting setting to be triggered together with an associated aperiodic CSI-RS resource set.

[0052] Periodic and semi-persistent resource configurations may include only a single resource set (i.e., S=1), while S>=1 is used for aperiodic resource configurations. This is because in the aperiodic case, one of the S resource sets included in the resource configuration is indicated by the aperiodic triggering state that triggers the CSI report.

[0053] Measurement Report

[0054] Three types of CSI reports are supported in NR as shown below:

[0055] Periodic CSI reporting on PUCCH: CSI is reported periodically by the UE. Parameters such as periodicity and slot offset are semi-statically configured through higher layer RRC signaling from the network node to the UE

[0056] Semi-persistent CSI reporting on PUSCH or PUCCH: Similar to periodic CSI reporting, semi-persistent CSI reporting has a periodicity and slot offset that can be semi-statically configured. However, a dynamic trigger from the network node to the UE may be required to allow the UE to start semi-persistent CSI reporting. A dynamic trigger from the network node to the UE is required to request the UE to stop semi-persistent CSI reporting.

[0057] Aperiodic CSI reporting on PUSCH: This type of CSI reporting involves a single (i.e., one-time) CSI report by the UE that is dynamically triggered by the network node using DCI. Some of the parameters related to the configuration of aperiodic CSI reporting are semi-statically configured by RRC, but the triggering is dynamic.

[0058] In each CSI report configuration, the content and temporal behavior of the report are defined together with the link to the associated resource configuration. The CSI-ReportConfig IE includes the following configurations:

[0059] • reportConfigType: defines the time domain behavior (ie, periodic CSI reporting, semi-continuous CSI reporting, or aperiodic CSI reporting) along with the reporting periodicity and slot offset for periodic CSI reporting.

[0060] reportQuantity: defines the reported CSI parameter(s) (i.e., CSI content), such as PMI, CQI, RI, LI (layer indicator), CRI (CSI-RS resource index), and L1-RSRP. Only a certain number of combinations are possible (e.g., "cri-RI-PMI-CQI" is one possible value and "cri-RSRP" is another possible value), and it can be said that each value of reportQuantity corresponds to a certain CSI mode.

[0061] • codebookConfig: defines the codebook used for PMI reporting together with possible codebook subset restriction (CBSR). Two "types" of PMI codebooks are defined in NR: Type I CSI and Type IICSI, each codebook type further having two variants.

[0062] reportFrequencyConfiguration: defines the frequency granularity (wideband or subband) of PMI and CQI (if reported) along with the CSI reporting band, which is a subset of the subbands of the bandwidth part (BWP) where the CSI corresponds to the measurement restrictions (on / off) in the time domain for channel and interference, respectively

[0063] For beam management, the UE can be configured to report L1-RSRP to up to four different CSI-RS / SSB resource indicators. The reported RSRP value corresponding to the first (best) CRI / SSBRI requires 7 bits when using absolute values, and 4 bits when using coding relative to the first. In NR Release 16, the reporting of L1-SINR for beam management is already supported.

[0064] Beam prediction using AI / ML

[0065] An example AI / ML-model currently discussed in AI for air interface Rel-18 includes beam prediction channels with respect to a certain time-frequency resource. The expected performance of such a predictor depends on several different aspects, such as time / frequency variations of the channel due to UE mobility or environmental changes. Due to the inherent correlation in the time, frequency and spatial domains of the channel, the ML-model can be trained to exploit such correlations. The spatial domain can consist of different beams, where the correlation properties depend in part on how the gNB antennas form the different beams and how the UE forms the receiver beams.

[0066] A device can use such a predictive ML-model to reduce its beamforming related measurements. In NR, a device can be requested to measure a set of SSB beams or / and CSI-RS beams. A fixed device typically experiences less beam quality variations than a moving device. A fixed device can therefore save battery and reduce the number of beam measurements by instead using an ML model to predict the beam quality without explicit measurements. It can do this, for example, by measuring a subset of the beams and predicting the rest of the beams. For example, according to RP-202650, AI can be used to measure a subset of beams in order to predict the best beam, which can reduce measurement time by up to 75%. See

[0067] https: / / www.3gpp.org / ftp / tsg_ran / TSG_RAN / TSGR_90e / Docs / RP-202650.zip.

[0068] Previous techniques have enabled the UE to predict future beam values ​​based on historical values. Based on the received device data from measurement reports, the network can learn, for example, which signal quality measurement sequences (such as RSRP measurements) lead to large signal quality degradation events (e.g., Figure 2 This learning process can be enabled, for example, by partitioning the periodically reported RSRP data into training and prediction windows. Figure 2 illustrates two devices moving on similar paths. Figure 2 In the example shown in , two devices move and go around the same corner. Device 120b (marked by dashed lines) is the first device to go around the corner and experience a large signal quality drop. The main idea is to mitigate this drop in the second device (120a) by using experience learning from the first device.

[0069] By setting t1, ..., t n The RSRP in is fed into a machine learning model (e.g., a neural network) to complete the learning, and then learn t n+1 ,t n+2 After training the model, the network can then predict future signal quality values ​​and can then use the signal quality prediction to avoid radio link failures or beam failures by:

[0070] - Initiate inter-frequency switching

[0071] - Set switch / reselect parameters

[0072] - Preemptive candidate beam selection to avoid beam failures

[0073] -Change device scheduler priorities, such as scheduling devices when expected signal quality is good

[0074] However, there are some challenges. For example, developing AI / ML for mobile communication systems means entering the data collection era, because ML models require a large amount of data for training neural networks.

[0075] Data collection is a new functionality for the physical layer, as the UE needs to perform measurements without having a direct impact on the ongoing connection. This may be contrasted with, for example, CSI measurements or reporting, where the measurements are used fairly quickly by the network to enhance subsequent transmissions. Current 3GPP-based systems and associated measurements are not designed for data collection, which becomes a problem when AI / ML is introduced, and requires the use of traditional CSI acquisition methods, which are expensive in terms of overhead and battery consumption.

[0076] The more data is collected, the better the AI / ML model will be trained. However, one problem with collecting data is that it consumes overhead. This is especially true for beam management procedures where a major part of the beam measurement is UE-specific (e.g., typically triggering a P2 beam scan aperiodically which can only be done in a UE-specific manner in the current NR specification). Therefore, when using and training machine learning based algorithms, the PDCCH overhead used to trigger the measurements is an issue for beam measurements, especially for data collection. Beam RS (e.g., SSB or CSI-RS) overhead is also an issue, especially if there are many UEs in the cell where data collection needs to be performed. Summary of the invention

[0077] Certain aspects of the present disclosure and embodiments thereof may provide solutions to these or other challenges.For example, low overhead methods and systems are provided for performing measurements for data collection at multiple UEs in a cell.

[0078] According to certain embodiments, a method for data collection performed by a first UE includes receiving a first message configuring one or more downlink reference signal resources from a network node. The first UE receives a second message including an indication for monitoring a communication channel associated with an RNTI for data collection from the network node. The first UE receives a third message including a DCI associated with the RNTI for data collection. The third message indicates that the UE performs measurements on one or more downlink reference signal resources in the downlink reference signal resources. Based on the third message including the DCI associated with the RNTI for data collection, the first UE performs at least one measurement on a downlink reference signal transmitted for a second UE. A downlink reference signal is transmitted on an indicated downlink reference signal resource of the one or more indicated downlink reference signal resources.

[0079] According to certain embodiments, a first UE for data collection includes a processing circuit adapted to receive a first message from a network node to configure one or more downlink reference signal resources. The first UE is adapted to receive a second message from the network node including an indication to monitor a communication channel associated with an RNTI for data collection. The first UE is adapted to receive a third message including a DCI associated with the RNTI for data collection. The third message instructs the UE to perform measurements on one or more of the downlink reference signal resources. Based on the third message including the DCI associated with the RNTI for data collection, the first UE is adapted to perform at least one measurement on a downlink reference signal transmitted for a second UE. A downlink reference signal is transmitted on an indicated downlink reference signal resource of one of the one or more indicated downlink reference signal resources.

[0080] According to certain embodiments, a method for data collection performed by a network node includes transmitting a first message to a first UE configuring one or more downlink reference signal resources. The network node transmits a second message to the first UE including an indication for monitoring a communication channel associated with an RNTI for data collection. The network node transmits a third message to the first UE including a DCI associated with the RNTI for data collection. The third message indicates that the first UE performs measurements on the one or more downlink reference signal resources. Based on the third message including the DCI associated with the RNTI for data collection, the network node transmits a reference signal to the second UE. The reference signal is transmitted on one of the one or more indicated downlink reference signal resources.

[0081] According to certain embodiments, a network node for data collection includes a processing circuit adapted to transmit a first message to a first UE configuring one or more downlink reference signal resources. The network node is adapted to transmit a second message to the first UE including an indication for monitoring a communication channel associated with an RNTI for data collection. The network node is adapted to transmit a third message to the first UE including a DCI associated with the RNTI for data collection. The third message indicates that the first UE performs measurements on the one or more downlink reference signal resources. Based on the third message including the DCI associated with the RNTI for data collection, the network node is adapted to transmit a reference signal to the second UE. The reference signal is transmitted on one of the one or more indicated downlink reference signal resources.

[0082] Certain embodiments may provide one or more of the following technical advantages. For example, certain embodiments may provide a technical advantage of enabling data collection for UEs that are not intended for actual transmission. As a result, certain embodiments may increase the available collected data relative to overhead signaling. For beam management use cases, for example, this may result in better performance of beam prediction AI / ML models for 5G Advanced and / or 6G.

[0083] Other advantages may be readily apparent to those skilled in the art.Some embodiments may have none, some, or all of the advantages described. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0084] For a more complete understanding of the disclosed embodiments and their features and advantages, reference is now made to the following description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

[0085] Figure 1 An example beam management process is described;

[0086] Figure 2 illustrates two devices that are moving on similar paths;

[0087] Figure 3 An example beam scanning process according to certain embodiments is described;

[0088] Figure 4 Flowcharts and signaling diagrams illustrating high-level methods according to certain embodiments;

[0089] Figure 5 An example communication system according to certain embodiments is described;

[0090] Figure 6 An example UE according to certain embodiments is illustrated;

[0091] Figure 7 An example network node according to certain embodiments is illustrated;

[0092] Figure 8 illustrates a block diagram of a host according to some embodiments;

[0093] Fig. 9 illustrates a virtualization environment in which functionality implemented by some embodiments may be virtualized according to some embodiments;

[0094] Fig.10 A host communicating with a UE via a network node over a partial wireless connection according to certain embodiments is illustrated;

[0095] Fig.11An example method for data collection by a first UE according to certain embodiments is described; and

[0096] Fig.12 Methods for data collection performed by a network node according to certain embodiments are described. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0097] Some of the embodiments contemplated herein will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings.The embodiments are provided by way of example to convey the scope of the subject matter to those skilled in the art.

[0098] As used herein, a "node" may be a network node or a UE. Examples of network nodes are NodeB, base station (BS), multi-standard radio (MSR) radio node (such as an MSR BS), eNodeB (eNB), gNodeB (gNB), master eNB (MeNB), secondary eNB (SeNB), integrated access backhaul (IAB) node, network controller, radio network controller (RNC), base station controller (BSC), relay, donor node controlling relay, base transceiver station (BTS), central unit (e.g., in gNB), distributed unit (e.g., in gNB), baseband unit, centralized baseband, C-RAN, access point (AP), transmission point, transmission node, remote radio unit (RRU), remote radio head (RRH), node in distributed antenna system (DAS), core network node (e.g., mobile switching center (MSC), mobility management entity (MME), etc.), operation and maintenance (O&M), operation support system (OSS), self-organizing network (SON), positioning node (e.g., E-SMLC), etc.

[0099] Another example of a node is a user equipment (UE), which is a non-limiting term and refers to any type of wireless device that communicates with a network node and / or with another UE in a cellular or mobile communication system. Examples of UEs are target devices, device-to-device (D2D) UEs, vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), machine-type UEs, MTC UEs, or UEs capable of machine-to-machine (M2M) communication, personal digital assistants (PDAs), tablet computers, mobile terminals, smart phones, laptop embedded devices (LEEs), laptop mounted devices (LMEs), unified serial bus (USB) dongles, etc.

[0100] In some embodiments, the general term "radio network node" or simply "network node (NW node)" is used. It can be any kind of network node, which can include a base station, a radio base station, a base transceiver station, a base station controller, a network controller, an evolved Node B (eNB), a Node B, a gNodeB (gNB), a relay node, an access point, a radio access point, a remote radio unit (RRU), a remote radio head (RRH), a central unit (e.g. in a gNB), a distributed unit (e.g. in a gNB), a baseband unit, a centralized baseband, a C-RAN, an access point (AP), etc.

[0101] The term radio access technology (RAT) may refer to any RAT, such as, for example, Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRA), Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRA), Narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT), WiFi, Bluetooth, Next Generation RAT, NR, 4G, 5G, etc. Any of the devices represented by the term node, network node, or radio network node may be capable of supporting a single or multiple RATs.

[0102] In this document, the words "beam" (ie, spatial filter) and "reference signal" are used interchangeably.

[0103] Note that although certain embodiments are described with respect to beam management use cases, the methods and systems disclosed herein should not be limited to beam management use cases. Rather, the methods and systems disclosed herein are applicable to any use case where data collection can also be used for other types of AI / ML applications, such as, for example, CSI enhancement, mobility, positioning, etc.

[0104] According to certain embodiments described herein, a low-overhead method and system for performing measurements for data collection at multiple UEs in a cell is provided. Example scenarios include: an expected UE A, for which measurements and reports are triggered; and a set of observed UEs B1, ..., Bn, which only perform measurements for data collection. The set of observed UEs takes advantage of the fact that the network is scheduled for transmitting RSs to UE A and performs their own measurements on the RSs intended for UE A to collect data. Therefore, there are no reports associated with the measurements at the observed UEs. Therefore, the problem to be solved is how to indicate to the observed UEs where these RSs exist and when these RSs will exist, so that measurements can be made.

[0105] Certain embodiments described herein relate to, for example, a beam management use case, where UE A is (non-periodically) triggered to measure and report a set of beam RSs, and a set of UEs being observed is also triggered to measure the same set of beam RSs using a set of PDCCH messages (thus received by the UEs being observed). For example, assume that two UEs (UE A and UE B) reside in the same SSB beam coverage area. UE A is triggered using non-periodic P2 beam scanning to evaluate N narrow beams confined within the SSB. At the same time, UE B is notified of the non-periodic P2 beam scanning targeted at UE A. According to certain embodiments, UE B may perform measurements on the P2 beam scanning for data collection purposes.

[0106] According to certain embodiments, systems and methods for collecting data for training AI / ML models are provided. For example, the method in a wireless device (i.e., a UE in set B) may include:

[0107] a. receiving a message containing a DL reference signal configuration field, wherein the DL reference signal configuration configures one or more non-periodic DL reference signal resource sets;

[0108] b. Optionally, receiving a message containing a field network node beam configuration, wherein the network node beam configuration uses a beam ID to indicate information about the network node beam (spatial filter);

[0109] c. Optionally, receiving a message containing a field search space configuration, wherein the search space configuration contains an indication that it can monitor the PDCCH of the data_collection_measurement-RNTI;

[0110] d. If and / or when the UE has decided to perform data collection, receiving and decoding the PDCCH, which includes information about which RS to measure (and when to measure) for data collection (i.e., optionally, for example, via data_collection_measurement

[0111] - RNTI scrambles the CRC); and / or

[0112] e. Perform measurement.

[0113] Optionally, according to a specific embodiment, the PDCCH of the Data_Collection_Measurement-RNTI triggers measurement of one or more aperiodic DL reference signal resource sets among the aperiodic DL reference signal resource sets configured in the DL reference signal configuration.

[0114] Optionally, according to a specific embodiment, the PDCCH of Data_Collection_Measurement-RNTI indicates an aperiodic triggering state.

[0115] Optionally, according to a specific embodiment, the UE receives an indication of an aperiodic trigger state via the PDCCH of Data_Collection_Measurement-RNTI, and the UE ignores any potential CSI reports configured to be associated with that aperiodic trigger state. Thus, in this case, the UE may not transmit a report in the UCI.

[0116] Optionally, according to a specific embodiment, for the beam management use case, the PDCCH of the DATA_COLLECTION_MEASUREMENT-RNTI indicates the beam (spatial filter) used by the network node when transmitting (one or more) triggered aperiodic DL reference signal resource sets.

[0117] Optionally, according to a specific embodiment, the indication of the beam (spatial filter) is associated with a set of beam IDs. In another specific embodiment, the indication of the beam (spatial filter) is accomplished by indicating a set of DL-RS resources (using DL-R resource IDs), and each DL-RS resource is associated with a beam (spatial filter). In yet another specific embodiment, the indication of the beam (spatial filter) is accomplished by indicating a non-periodic trigger state, and the beam (spatial filter) is configured according to the non-periodic trigger state.

[0118] Optionally, according to a specific embodiment, the beam (spatial filter) is configured in a non-periodic triggering state by using the beam ID.

[0119] Optionally, according to a specific embodiment, the QCL relationship of the triggered DL-RS resources is indicated in the PDCCH of the data_collection_measurement-RNTI.

[0120] Optionally, according to a specific embodiment, a list of TCI states (TCI state IDs) is used to indicate the QCL relationship.

[0121] Optionally, according to a specific embodiment, the network node beam configuration contains a list of beam IDs.

[0122] Optionally, according to certain embodiments, spatial correlation and / or QCL relationship is indicated for the beam ID.

[0123] Optionally, according to certain embodiments, each beam ID is associated with a DL-RS resource.

[0124] Optionally, according to a specific embodiment, the UE reports to the network node the capability to support data collection for beam prediction based on a reference signal intended for another UE.

[0125] The main focus of certain embodiments described herein is data collection. As described above, certain embodiments relate to beam management, and in particular to beam prediction. Therefore, in certain embodiments, the UE is configured with a DL reference signal configuration within a message. This message may be, for example, an RRCReconfiguration message or a MAC CE. The DL reference configuration includes the configuration of one or more non-periodic DL reference signal resource sets. The reference signal may be, for example, a CSI-RS.

[0126] In a particular embodiment, the UE is further configured to monitor the PDCCH of Data_Collection_Measurement-RNTI.In one embodiment, the PDCCH of Measurement-RNTI is a broadcast PDCCH, which means that it is associated with a cell-specific search space.

[0127] In a specific embodiment, the UE is configured with a network node beam configuration in a message. This message may be, for example, an RRCReconfiguration message or a MAC CE. In the network node beam configuration, one or more of the following information may be included:

[0128] List of beam IDs

[0129] Spatial correlation between beam IDs

[0130] Spatial correlation between beam ID and other reference signals

[0131] QCL relationship between beam ID and other reference signals

[0132] The association between beam ID and DL reference signal resource (i.e. which DL-RS resource is transmitted using a certain beam ID)

[0133] Figure 3 An example beam scanning process 100 according to certain embodiments is illustrated. Specifically, in a first step 102, the gNB 104 triggers UE A 106 with a non-periodic P2 beam scanning 112. The gNB 104 also broadcasts a PDCCH with a data_collection_measurement-RNTI to the observing UEs 106, 108 of the cell, for example, thereby configuring them to perform measurements for data collection on the DL-reference signal associated with the P2 beam scanning intended for UE A 106.

[0134] In a second step 114 , UE A 106 , UE B1 108 and UE B2 110 perform measurements on the P2 beam scan 112 intended for UE A 106 .

[0135] In a third step 116, only UE A 106 performs beam reporting associated with the P2 beam scanning 112, while the remaining observed UEs 108, 110 only use measurements for data collection purposes.

[0136] According to certain embodiments, whether the UE 108, 110 being observed performs data collection may depend on the UE implementation. For example, if the UE is not otherwise performing data collection for reasons such as saving battery, the UE may also abandon monitoring the data_collection_measurement-RNTI associated with the beam scanning process. Therefore, in certain embodiments, configuring the search space to monitor the data_collection_measurement-RNTI is only a service given to the UE by the network and available to the UE, and whether the UE determines to perform data collection measurements in a certain time slot is unknown to the network.

[0137] Figure 4 A flow chart and signaling diagram 200 of a high level method according to certain embodiments is illustrated. Specifically, at step 202, UE B 108, 110 reports an indication that the UE supports data collection for beam prediction based on reference signals intended for another UE, such as, for example, UE 106, during, for example, UE capability signaling.

[0138] In step 204, gNB 104 configures the UE with non-periodic DL-RS resources.

[0139] In optional step 206, the gNB 104 signals the network node beam configuration to UE B 108, 110, where the potential information conveyed in the network node beam configuration is listed above.

[0140] In step 208, the gNB 104 configures the UE-B 108, 110 to monitor the PDCCH of the data_collection_measurement-RNTI.

[0141] In step 210, gNB 104 triggers PA beam scanning 112 for UE A 106.

[0142] During a time close to step 210, the gNB 104 performs step 212 and broadcasts a PDCCH for DATA_COLLECTION_MEASUREMENT-RNTI which is received and decoded by the UE-B 108, 110. The PDCCH for DATA_COLLECTION_MEASUREMENT-RNTI indicates to the UE-B 108, 110 that the gNB 104 will transmit multiple DL-reference signals (targeting another UE 106) in multiple gNB beams.

[0143] In step 214, the gNB 104 transmits a DL reference signal in a set of gNB beams, and both UE A 106 and UE B 108, 110 perform measurements on the DL-reference signal.

[0144] In step 216, UE A 106 reports back the best N beams (according to conventional beam management procedures), while UE B 108, 110 only stores the measurements for data collection purposes.

[0145] Figure 5 An example of a communication system 300 according to some embodiments is shown. In the example, the communication system 300 includes a telecommunications network 302, which includes an access network 304 such as a radio access network (RAN) and a core network 306, which includes one or more core network nodes 308. The access network 304 includes one or more access network nodes, such as network nodes 310a and 310b (one or more of which may be generally referred to as network nodes 310) or any other similar third generation partnership project (3GPP) access node or non-3GPP access point. The network node 310 facilitates direct or indirect connection of user equipment (UE), such as by connecting UE 312a, 312b, 312c, and 312d (one or more of which may be generally referred to as UE 312) to the core network 306 via one or more wireless connections.

[0146] Example wireless communications over wireless connections include transmitting and / or receiving wireless signals using electromagnetic waves, radio waves, infrared waves, and / or other types of signals suitable for conveying information without the use of wires, cables, or other material conductors. In addition, in different embodiments, the communication system 300 may include any number of wired or wireless networks, network nodes, UEs, and / or any other components or systems that can facilitate or participate in the transfer of data and / or signals, whether via a wired connection or a wireless connection. The communication system 300 may include any type of communication, telecommunication, data, cellular, radio network, and / or other similar type of system and / or be connected to any type of communication, telecommunication, data, cellular, radio network, and / or other similar type of system through an interface.

[0147] UE 312 may be any of a wide variety of communication devices, including wireless devices arranged, configured and / or operable to communicate wirelessly with network node 310 and other communication devices. Similarly, network node 310 is arranged, capable, configured and / or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with UE 312 and / or with other network nodes or devices in telecommunication network 302 to enable and / or provide network access (such as wireless network access) and / or to perform other functions (such as management in telecommunication network 302).

[0148] In the depicted example, the core network 306 connects the network node 310 to one or more hosts (such as the host 316). These connections may be direct or 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 306 includes one or more core network nodes (e.g., core network node 308) constructed by hardware and software components. The features of these components may be substantially similar to those described with respect to the UE, network node, and / or host, so that their description is generally applicable to the corresponding components of the core network node 308. 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.

[0149] The host 316 may be under the ownership or control of a service provider other than the operator or provider of the telecommunications network 302 and / or the access network 304, and may be operated by or on behalf of the service provider. The host 316 may host various applications to provide one or more services. Examples of such applications include live and pre-recorded audio / video content, data collection services (such as retrieving and compiling data about various environmental conditions detected by multiple UEs), analysis functionality, social media, functions for controlling or otherwise interacting with remote devices, functions for alarm and monitoring centers, or any other such functions performed by a server.

[0150] on the whole, Figure 5The communication system 300 enables connectivity between UEs, network nodes, and hosts. In that 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.

[0151] In some examples, the telecommunication network 302 is a cellular network implementing 3GPP standardized features. Therefore, the telecommunication network 302 can support network slicing to provide different logical networks to different devices connected to the telecommunication network 302. For example, the telecommunication network 302 can provide ultra-reliable low-latency communication (URLLC) services to some UEs, while providing enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) services to other UEs, and / or providing massive machine type communication (mMTC) / massive IoT services to yet other UEs.

[0152] In some examples, UE 312 is configured to transmit and / or receive information without direct human interaction. For example, the UE may be designed to transmit information to access network 304 on a predetermined schedule when triggered by an internal or external event or in response to a request from access network 304. In addition, the UE may be configured to operate in a single-RAT or multi-RAT or multi-standard mode. For example, the UE may operate with any one or a combination of Wi-Fi, NR (new air interface), and LTE, i.e., be configured for multi-radio dual connectivity (MR-DC), such as E-UTRAN (Evolved UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network) New Air Interface-Dual Connectivity (EN-DC).

[0153] In an example, the hub 314 communicates with the access network 304 to facilitate indirect communication between one or more UEs (e.g., UE 312c and / or 312d) and a network node (e.g., network node 310b). In some examples, the hub 314 may be any of a controller, a router, a content source, and an analysis tool, or other communication devices described herein with respect to the UE. For example, the hub 314 may be a broadband router for enabling access to the core network 306 for the UE. As another example, the hub 314 may be a controller that sends commands or instructions to one or more actuators in the UE. Commands or instructions may be received from the UE, the network node 310, or may be received by executable code, scripts, processes, or other instructions in the hub 314. As another example, the hub 314 may be a data collector that acts as a temporary storage device for UE data, and in some embodiments, analysis or other processing of data may be performed. As another example, the hub 314 may be a content source. For example, for a UE that is a VR headset, display, speaker, or other media delivery device, the hub 314 can retrieve VR assets, video, audio, or other media or data related to sensory information via a network node, and the hub 314 then provides the VR assets, video, audio, or other media or data related to sensory information to the UE either directly, after performing local processing, and / or after adding additional local content. In yet another example, the hub 314 acts as a proxy server or orchestrator for the UE, particularly if one or more of the UEs are low-energy IoT devices.

[0154] Hub 314 can have constant / persistent or intermittent connection to network node 310b. Hub 314 can also consider different communication schemes and / or scheduling between hub 314 and UE (such as UE 312c and / or 312d) and hub 314 and core network 306. In other examples, hub 314 is connected to core network 306 and / or one or more UE via wired connection. In addition, hub 314 can be configured to be connected to M2M service provider and / or connected to another UE by direct connection through access network 304. In some scenes, UE can establish wireless connection with network node 310 while still being connected via hub 314 via wired or wireless connection. In some embodiments, hub 314 can be a dedicated hub--that is, its main function is to route communication from network node 310b to UE / route communication from UE to network node 310b hub. In other embodiments, the hub 314 may be a non-dedicated hub - that is, a device operable to route communications between UEs and the network node 310b, but otherwise capable of operating as a communications origin and / or endpoint for certain data channels.

[0155] Figure 6 UE 400 according to some embodiments is shown. As used herein, UE refers to a device capable of, configured to, arranged to 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, laptop computers, laptop embedded devices (LEEs), laptop mounted devices (LMEs), smart devices, wireless customer premises equipment (CPEs), vehicle mounted or vehicle 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.

[0156] The UE may support device-to-device (D2D) communications, for example, by implementing 3GPP standards for direct link communications, dedicated short range communications (DSRC), vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I), or vehicle-to-everything (V2X). In other examples, the UE may not necessarily have a user in the sense of a human user who owns and / or operates the associated device. Instead, the UE may represent a device that is intended to be sold to or operated by a human user but may not or may not initially be associated with a specific human user (e.g., a smart sprinkler controller). Alternatively, the 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).

[0157] UE 400 includes processing circuitry 402, which is operatively coupled to input / output interface 406, power supply 408, memory 410, communication interface 412, and / or any other components, or any combination thereof, via bus 404. Some UEs may utilize Figure 6 All or a subset of the components shown in . The level of integration between components may vary from one UE to another UE. In addition, some UEs may contain multiple instances of a component, such as multiple processors, memories, transceivers, transmitters, receivers, etc.

[0158] Processing circuit 402 is configured to process instructions and data and may be configured to implement any sequential state machine that operates to execute instructions stored in memory 410 as a machine-readable computer program. Processing circuit 402 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 together with appropriate firmware; one or more stored computer programs, general-purpose processors such as microprocessors or digital signal processors (DSPs), together with appropriate software; or any combination of the above. For example, processing circuit 402 may include multiple central processing units (CPUs).

[0159] In an example, the input / output interface 406 can be configured to provide an interface or multiple 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 400. Examples of input devices include touch-sensitive or presence-sensitive displays, cameras (e.g., digital cameras, digital video cameras, webcams, etc.), microphones, sensors, mice, trackballs, directional pads, track pads, 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, a light sensor, a proximity sensor, a biosensor, etc., or any combination thereof. The output device can use an interface port of the same type as the input device. For example, a universal serial bus (USB) port can be used to provide an input device and an output device.

[0160] In some embodiments, the power supply 408 is configured as a battery or a battery pack. Other types of power supplies such as an external power supply (e.g., an electrical socket), a photovoltaic device, or a power cell may be used. The power supply 408 may further include a power supply circuit for delivering power from the power supply 408 itself and / or an external power supply to various parts of the UE 400 via an interface or input circuit such as a power cable. The delivered power may be used, for example, for charging the power supply 408. The power supply circuit may perform any formatting, conversion, or other modification to the power from the power supply 408 to make the power suitable for the corresponding components of the UE 400 being powered.

[0161] The memory 410 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 410 includes one or more application programs 414 (such as an operating system, a web browser application, a widget, a gadget engine, or other application) and corresponding data 416. The memory 410 may store any of a variety of different operating systems or a combination of operating systems for use by the UE 400.

[0162] The memory 410 may be configured to include multiple physical drive units such as a redundant array of independent disks (RAID), flash memory, USB flash drive, external hard drive, thumb drive, pen drive, key drive, high density digital versatile disk (HD-DVD) optical drive, internal hard drive, Blu-ray optical drive, holographic digital data storage (HDDS) optical drive, external mini dual in-line memory module (DIMM), synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), external micro DIMM SDRAM, 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 (SIM) such as USIM and / or ISIM), other memory, 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 410 may allow the UE 400 to access instructions, applications, etc. stored on a temporary or non-temporary storage medium to unload data or upload data. An article of manufacture, such as an article of manufacture utilizing a communication system, may be tangibly embodied as or contained in memory 410, which may be or include a device-readable storage medium.

[0163] The processing circuit 402 may be configured to communicate with an access network or other network using a communication interface 412. The communication interface 412 may include one or more communication subsystems and may include or be communicatively coupled to an antenna 422. The communication interface 412 may include one or more transceivers for communicating, such as by communicating with one or more remote transceivers of another device capable of wireless communication (e.g., a network node in an access network or another UE). Each transceiver may include a transmitter 418 and / or a receiver 420 suitable for providing network communications (e.g., optical, electrical, frequency allocation, etc.). In addition, the transmitter 418 and the receiver 420 may be coupled to one or more antennas (e.g., antenna 422) and may share circuit components, software, or firmware, or alternatively, the transmitter 418 and the receiver 420 may be implemented separately.

[0164] In the illustrated embodiment, the communication functionality of the communication interface 412 may include cellular communication, Wi-Fi 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. The 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 networking (SONET), asynchronous transfer mode (ATM), QUIC, hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP), etc.

[0165] Regardless of the type of sensor, the UE may provide an output of data captured by its sensor via its communication interface 412, via a wireless connection to a network node. The data captured by the UE's sensor may be delivered via another UE, via a wireless connection to a network node. The output may be periodic (e.g., every 14 minutes if it reports a sensed temperature), random (e.g., balancing the load of reports from several sensors), in response to a trigger event (e.g., sending an alarm when moisture is detected), in response to a request (e.g., a user-initiated request), or a continuous stream (e.g., a live video feed of a patient).

[0166] As another example, the UE includes an actuator, motor, or switch associated with a communication interface 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 the control surface or rotor of an unmanned aircraft in flight according to the received input or adjusts the motor of a robotic arm performing a medical procedure according to the received input.

[0167] A UE, when in the form of an Internet of Things (IoT) device, may be a device for use in one or more application domains, 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: a connected refrigerator or freezer, a TV, a connected lighting device, an electric meter, a robotic vacuum cleaner, a voice-controlled smart speaker, a home security camera, a motion detector, a thermostat, a smoke detector, a door / window sensor, a flood / moisture sensor, an electric door lock, a connected doorbell, an air conditioning system like a heat pump, an autonomous vehicle, a monitoring system, a weather monitoring device, a vehicle parking monitoring device, an electric vehicle charging station, a smart watch, a fitness tracker, a head-mounted display for augmented reality (AR) or virtual reality (VR), a wearable device for tactile enhancement or sensory enhancement, a sprinkler, an animal or item tracking device, a sensor for monitoring plants or animals, an industrial robot, an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), and any kind of medical device like a heart rate monitor or a remotely controlled surgical robot. In addition to the above, the present invention also provides a method for implementing a UE in a manner that is suitable for use in an IoT device. Figure 6 In addition to the other components described in the UE 400 shown in FIG. 4 , a UE in the form of an IoT device includes circuits and / or software depending on the intended application of the IoT device.

[0168] As yet another specific example, in an IoT scenario, a UE may represent a machine or other device that performs monitoring and / or measurement and transmits the results of such monitoring and / or measurement to another UE and / or a network node. The UE in this case 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, and airplane, or other equipment capable of monitoring and / or reporting its operating status or other functions associated with its operation.

[0169] In fact, any number of UEs may be used together with respect to a single use case. For example, a first UE may be a drone or may be integrated into a drone and provide speed information of the drone (obtained by a speed sensor) to a second UE that is a remote controller for operating the drone. When the user makes 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 more than one of the functionalities described above. For example, a UE may include a sensor and an actuator and handle the transfer of data from both the speed sensor and the actuator.

[0170] Figure 7A network node 500 according to some embodiments is shown. As used herein, a network node refers to a device capable of, configured to, arranged to, 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, access points (APs) (e.g., radio access points), base stations (BSs) (e.g., radio base stations, Node Bs, evolved Node Bs (eNBs), and NR NodeBs (gNBs)).

[0171] Base stations may be classified based on the amount of coverage they provide (or, in other words, their transmit power level), and thus, depending on the amount of coverage provided, a base station may be referred to as a femto base station, a pico base station, a micro base station, or a macro base station. A base station may be a relay node or a relay donor node that controls a relay. A network node may also include one or more (or all) parts 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 device. Parts of a distributed radio base station may also be referred to as nodes in a distributed antenna system (DAS).

[0172] Other examples of network nodes include a multi-transmission point (multi-TRP) 5G access node, a multi-standard radio (MSR) device such as an MSR BS, a network controller such as a radio network controller (RNC) or a base station controller (BSC), a base transceiver station (BTS), a transmission point, a transmission node, a multi-cell / multicast coordination entity (MCE), an operation and maintenance (O&M) node, an operation support system (OSS) node, a self-organizing network (SON) node, a positioning node (e.g., an evolved serving mobile location center (E-SMLC)), and / or a minimization of drive tests (MDT).

[0173] The network node 500 includes a processing circuit 502, a memory 504, a communication interface 506 and a power supply 508. The network node 500 may be composed of a plurality of physically separated components (e.g., a NodeB component and an RNC component or a BTS component and a BSC component, etc.), and the plurality of physically separated components may each have their own corresponding components. In certain scenarios where the network node 500 includes a plurality of separated components (e.g., a BTS and a BSC component), one or more of the separated components may be shared between several network nodes. For example, a single RNC may control a plurality of NodeBs. In such a scenario, each unique NodeB and RNC pair may be considered to be a single independent network node in some instances. In some embodiments, the network node 500 may be configured to support a plurality of radio access technologies (RATs). In such an embodiment, some components may be duplicated (e.g., independent memories 504 for different RATs) and some components may be reused (e.g., the same antenna 510 may be shared by different RATs). The network node 500 may also include multiple sets of components for various illustrations of 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 500. These wireless technologies may be integrated into the same or different chips or chipsets and other components within the network node 500.

[0174] The processing circuit 502 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, resource, or a combination of hardware, software and / or encoded logic that can be operated to provide network node 500 functionality either alone or in combination with other network node 500 components such as memory 504.

[0175] In some embodiments, processing circuitry 502 includes a system on a chip (SOC). In some embodiments, processing circuitry 502 includes one or more of radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry 512 and baseband processing circuitry 514. In some embodiments, radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry 512 and baseband processing circuitry 514 may be on separate chips (or chipsets), boards, or units such as a radio unit and a digital unit. In alternative embodiments, part or all of RF transceiver circuitry 512 and baseband processing circuitry 514 may be on the same chip or chipset, board, or unit.

[0176] The memory 504 may include any form of volatile or non-volatile computer-readable memory, including, without limitation, permanent storage devices, 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 or non-volatile, non-transitory device-readable and / or computer-executable memory device that stores information, data and / or instructions that can be used by the processing circuit 502. The memory 504 may store any suitable instructions, data or information, including applications, software, computer programs including one or more of logic, rules, codes, tables and / or other instructions that can be executed by the processing circuit 502 and utilized by the network node 500. The memory 504 may be used to store any calculations performed by the processing circuit 502 and / or any data received via the communication interface 506. In some embodiments, the processing circuit 502 and the memory 504 are integrated.

[0177] The communication interface 506 is used in the wired or wireless transmission of signaling and / or data between network nodes, access networks and / or UEs. As illustrated, the communication interface 506 includes (one or more) ports / (one or more) terminals 516 used to send data to the network and receive data from the network, for example, via a wired connection. The communication interface 506 also includes a radio front-end circuit 518 that can be coupled to the antenna 510 or is a part of the antenna 510 in some embodiments. The radio front-end circuit 518 includes a filter 520 and an amplifier 522. The radio front-end circuit 518 can be connected to the antenna 510 and the processing circuit 502. The radio front-end circuit can be configured to adjust the signal transmitted between the antenna 510 and the processing circuit 502. The radio front-end circuit 518 can receive digital data to be sent out to other network nodes or UEs via a wireless connection. The radio front-end circuit 518 can use a combination of filters 520 and / or amplifiers 522 to convert digital data into a radio signal with appropriate channel and bandwidth parameters. The radio signal can then be transmitted via the antenna 510. Similarly, when receiving data, antenna 510 may collect radio signals and then convert the radio signals into digital data via radio front end circuitry 518. The digital data may be passed to processing circuitry 502. In other embodiments, the communication interface may include different components and / or different combinations of components.

[0178] In some alternative embodiments, the network node 500 does not include a separate radio front end circuit 518, instead the processing circuit 502 includes the radio front end circuit and is connected to the antenna 510. Similarly, in some embodiments, all or some of the RF transceiver circuit 512 is part of the communication interface 506. In still other embodiments, the communication interface 506 includes one or more ports or terminals 516, the radio front end circuit 518, and the RF transceiver circuit 512 as part of a radio unit (not shown), and the communication interface 506 communicates with the baseband processing circuit 514, which is part of the digital unit (not shown).

[0179] Antenna 510 may include one or more antennas or antenna arrays configured to send and / or receive wireless signals. Antenna 510 may be coupled to radio front end circuit 518 and may be any type of antenna capable of wirelessly transmitting and receiving data and / or signals. In some embodiments, antenna 510 is separate from network node 500 and may be connected to network node 500 via an interface or port.

[0180] Antenna 510, communication interface 506 and / or processing circuit 502 may be configured to perform any receiving operation and / or certain obtaining operations described herein as being performed by a network node. Any information, data and / or signal may be received from a UE, another network node and / or any other network device. Similarly, antenna 510, communication interface 506 and / or processing circuit 502 may be configured to perform any transmitting operation described herein as being performed by a network node. Any information, data and / or signal may be transmitted to a UE, another network node and / or any other network device.

[0181] The power supply 508 provides power to the various components of the network node 500 in a form suitable for the respective components (e.g., at the voltage and current levels required by each respective component). The power supply 508 may further include or be coupled to a power management circuit to provide power to the components of the network node 500 for performing the functionality described herein. For example, the network node 500 may be connectable to an external power source (e.g., an electrical grid, an electrical outlet) via an input circuit or interface such as a cable, whereby the external power source provides power to the power circuit of the power supply 508. As a further example, the power supply 508 may include a power source in the form of a battery or battery pack, connected to or integrated into the power circuit. If the external power source fails, the battery may provide backup power.

[0182] Embodiments of the network node 500 may include Figure 7Additional components beyond those shown in the figure are used to provide certain aspects of the functionality of the network node, including any of the functionality described herein and / or any functionality necessary to support the subject matter described herein. For example, the network node 500 may include a user interface device to allow information to be entered into the network node 500 and to allow information to be output from the network node 500. This may allow a user to perform diagnostics, maintenance, repair, and other management functions for the network node 500.

[0183] Figure 8 According to various aspects described herein, it may be Figure 5 316 of the embodiment of the host 600. As used herein, the host 600 can be or include various combinations of hardware and / or software, including processing resources in a standalone server, a blade server, a cloud-implemented server, a distributed server, a virtual machine, a container, or a server farm. The host 600 can provide one or more services to one or more UEs.

[0184] Host 600 includes processing circuitry 602, which is operatively coupled to input / output interface 606, network interface 608, power supply 610, and memory 612 via bus 604. Other components may be included in other embodiments. The features of these components may be substantially similar to those described with respect to, for example, Figure 4 and Figure 5 Those features described for the devices of the previous figures make their description generally applicable to corresponding components of the host 600.

[0185] The memory 612 may include one or more computer programs, including one or more host applications 614 and data 616, which may include user data (e.g., data generated by the UE for the host 600 or data generated by the host 600 for the UE). An embodiment of the host 600 may utilize only a subset or all of the components shown. The host application 614 may be implemented in a container-based architecture, and the host application 614 may provide support for video codecs (e.g., generic 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 code conversion for multiple different categories, types, or implementations of UEs (e.g., mobile phones, desktop computers, wearable display systems, head-up display systems). The host application 614 may also provide user authentication and permission checks and may periodically report health, routing, and content availability to a central node (such as a device in a core network or on the edge). Thus, the host 600 can select and / or instruct different hosts for the UE to use for over-the-top services. The host application 614 can 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), etc.

[0186] Fig. 9 is a block diagram illustrating a virtualization environment 700 in which functionality implemented by some embodiments may be virtualized.

[0187] In this context, virtualization means creating a virtual version of an apparatus or device that can include a virtualized hardware platform, storage device, and networking resources. As used herein, virtualization is applicable to any device or component thereof described herein and is related to the implementation in which at least a portion of functionality is 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) implemented in one or more virtual environments 700 hosted by one or more hardware nodes in a hardware node (such as a hardware computing device operated as a network node, UE, core network node, or host). In addition, in an embodiment in which a virtual node does not require radio connectivity (e.g., a core network node or host), the node can be fully virtualized.

[0188] Application 702 (which may alternatively be referred to as a software instance, a virtual appliance, a network function, a virtual node, a virtual network function, etc.) is run in a virtualized environment Q400 to implement some of the features, functions and / or benefits of some of the embodiments disclosed herein.

[0189] The hardware 704 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, and the like. The software may be executed by the processing circuitry to instantiate one or more virtualization layers 706 (also referred to as hypervisors or virtual machine monitors (VMMs)), provide VMs 708a and 708b (one or more of which may be generally referred to as VMs 708), and / or perform any of the functions, features, and / or benefits described in connection with some embodiments described herein. The virtualization layer 706 may present a virtual operating platform that appears to be networked hardware to the VMs 708.

[0190] VM 708 includes virtual processing, virtual memory, virtual networking or interfaces, and virtual storage devices, and can be run on a corresponding virtualization layer 706. Different embodiments of instances of virtual device 702 can be implemented on one or more of VM 708, and the implementation can be made 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 devices that can be located in data centers and customer premises equipment.

[0191] In the context of NFV, VMs 708 may be software implementations of physical machines that run programs as if they were executing on a physical, non-virtualized machine. Each of VMs 708 and that portion of hardware 704 on which that VM executes, whether it is hardware dedicated to that VM and / or hardware shared by that VM with other VMs in the VM, 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 708 on top of hardware 704 and corresponds to an application 702.

[0192] The hardware 704 may be implemented in a standalone network node with general or specific components. The hardware 704 may implement some functions with the aid of virtualization. Alternatively, the hardware 704 may be part of a larger hardware cluster (e.g., such as in a data center or CPE), where many hardware nodes work together and are managed via management and orchestration 710, which in particular also oversees the lifecycle management of the application 702. In some embodiments, the hardware 704 is coupled to one or more radio units, each of which includes one or more transmitters and one or more receivers that may be coupled to one or more antennas. The radio unit may communicate directly with other hardware nodes via one or more appropriate network interfaces, and may be used in combination with virtual components to provide radio capabilities to virtual nodes, such as radio access nodes or base stations. In some embodiments, a control system 712 may be used to provide some signaling, which may alternatively be used for communication between hardware nodes and radio units.

[0193] Fig.10 A communication diagram is shown of a host 802 communicating with a UE 806 via a network node 804 over a partially wireless connection in accordance with some embodiments.

[0194] Now refer to Fig.10 To describe the UE discussed in the previous paragraphs (such as Figure 5 UE 312a and / or Figure 6 UE 400), network nodes (such as Figure 5 The network node 310a and / or Figure 7 network nodes 500) and hosts (such as Figure 5 Host 316 and / or Figure 8 An example implementation of a host 600 according to various embodiments.

[0195] Like the host 600, an embodiment of the host 802 includes hardware, such as a communication interface, a processing circuit, and a memory. The host 802 also includes software that is stored in the host 802 or accessible by the host 802 and can be executed by the processing circuit. The software includes a host application that can be operable to provide services to a remote user such as a UE 806 connected via an over-the-top (OTT) connection 850 extending between the UE 806 and the host 802. When providing services to the remote user, the host application can provide user data transmitted using the OTT connection 850.

[0196] The network node 804 includes hardware that enables it to communicate with the host 802 and the UE 806. The connection 860 can be direct or through a core network (such as Figure 5The intermediate network may be a backbone network or the Internet.

[0197] UE 806 includes hardware and software, which is stored in UE 806 or accessible by UE 806 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" that can be operated to provide services to human or non-human users via UE 806 with the support of host 802. In the host 802, the executing host application can communicate with the executing client application via the OTT connection 850 terminated at UE 806 and host 802. When providing services to users, 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 850 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 850.

[0198] The OTT connection 850 may extend via a connection 860 between the host 802 and the network node 804 and via a wireless connection 870 between the network node 804 and the UE 806 to provide a connection between the host 802 and the UE 806. The connection 860 and the wireless connection 870 over which the OTT connection 850 may be provided have been abstractly drawn to illustrate communications between the host 802 and the UE 806 via the network node 804, without explicit reference to any intermediate devices and the precise routing of messages via these devices.

[0199] As an example of transmitting data via the OTT connection 850, in step 808, the host 802 provides user data, which can be executed by executing a host application. In some embodiments, the user data is associated with a specific human user interacting with the UE 806. In other embodiments, the user data is associated with the UE 806, and the UE 806 shares data with the host 802 without explicit human interaction. In step 810, the host 802 initiates a transmission carrying the user data toward the UE 806. The host 802 may initiate the transmission in response to a request transmitted by the UE 806. The request may be prompted by human interaction with the UE 806 or by operation of a client application executed on the UE 806. According to the teachings of the embodiments described throughout the present disclosure, the transmission may pass through the network node 804. Therefore, in step 812, according to the teachings of the embodiments described throughout the present disclosure, the network node 804 transmits to the UE 806 the user data carried in the transmission initiated by the host 802. In step 814 , UE 806 receives the user data carried in the transmission, which may be executed by a client application executing on UE 806 associated with a host application executed by host 802 .

[0200] In some examples, UE 806 executes a client application that provides user data to host 802. The user data may be provided as a reaction to data received from host 802 or in response to data received from host 802. Therefore, in step 816, UE 806 may provide user data, which may be performed by executing a client application. In providing the user data, the client application may further consider user input received from a user via an input / output interface of UE 806. Regardless of the specific manner in which the user data is provided, UE 806 initiates transmission of user data toward host 802 via network node 804 in step 818. In step 820, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout the present disclosure, network node 804 receives user data from UE 806 and initiates transmission of the received user data toward host 802. In step 822, host 802 receives the user data carried in the transmission initiated by UE 806.

[0201] One or more of the various embodiments improve the performance of OTT services provided to UE 806 using OTT connection 850, with wireless connection 870 forming the last segment. More specifically, the teachings of these embodiments can improve, for example, one or more of data rate, latency, and / or power consumption, and thereby provide benefits such as, for example, reduced user waiting time, relaxed file size restrictions, improved content resolution, better responsiveness, and / or extended battery life.

[0202] In an example scenario, plant status information may be collected and analyzed by the host 802. As another example, the host 802 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 802 may collect and analyze real-time data to assist in controlling traffic congestion (e.g., controlling traffic lights). As another example, the host 802 may store surveillance videos uploaded by the UE. As another example, the host 802 may store or control access to media content such as video, audio, VR, or AR that it may broadcast, multicast, or unicast to the UE. As other examples, the host 802 may be used for energy pricing, remote control of non-time-critical power loads for balancing power generation demand, location services, representation services (such as compiled graphs from data collected from remote devices, etc.), or any other function for collecting, retrieving, storing, analyzing, and / or transmitting data.

[0203] In some examples, a measurement process may be provided for the purpose of monitoring data rates, delays, and other factors improved by one or more embodiments. In response to changes in the measurement results, there may be further optional network functionality for reconfiguring the OTT connection 850 between the host 802 and the UE 806. The measurement process and / or the network functionality for reconfiguring the OTT connection may be implemented in the software and hardware of the host 802 and / or the UE 806. In some embodiments, sensors (not shown) may be deployed in other devices through which the OTT connection 850 passes or may be associated with other devices through which the OTT connection 850 passes; the sensor may participate in the measurement process by providing the values ​​of the monitoring quantities illustrated above or providing the values ​​of other physical quantities by which the software can calculate or estimate the monitoring quantities. The reconfiguration of the OTT connection 850 may include message formats, retransmission settings, preferred routing selections, etc.; the reconfiguration does not require direct changes to the operation of the network node 804. Such processes and functionality may be known and implemented in the art. In some embodiments, the measurement may involve proprietary UE signaling that facilitates measurements of throughput, propagation time, delay, etc. performed by the host 802. Measurement can be achieved because the software uses the OTT connection 850 to cause messages to be transmitted, particularly empty or "fake" messages to be transmitted, while monitoring propagation times, errors, etc.

[0204] Although the computing devices (e.g., UE, network node, host) described herein may include the illustrated combination of hardware components, other embodiments may include computing devices with different combinations of components. It is to be understood that these computing devices may include any suitable combination of hardware and / or software required to perform the tasks, features, functions, and methods disclosed herein. The determination, calculation, acquisition, or similar operations described herein may be performed by a processing circuit, which may process information by, for example, converting the obtained information into other information, comparing the obtained information or the converted information with the information stored in the network node, and / or performing one or more operations based on the obtained information or the converted information to process the information and make a determination as a result of the processing. In addition, although the components are depicted as being located within a larger box or a single box nested within multiple boxes, in reality, the computing device may include multiple different physical components that make up a single illustrated component, and functionality may be divided between separate components. For example, a communication interface may be configured to include any of the components described herein, and / or the functionality of the components may be divided between a processing circuit and a communication interface. In another example, the non-computationally intensive functions of any of such components may be implemented in software or firmware, and the computationally intensive functions may be implemented in hardware.

[0205] Fig.11 An example method 900 for data collection performed by a first UE 108, 110 in accordance with certain embodiments is illustrated. As depicted, the method begins at step 902 when the first UE 108, 110 receives a first message from a network node 104 configuring one or more downlink reference signal resources. At step 904, the first UE 108, 110 receives a second message from the network node 104 including an indication to monitor a communication channel associated with an RNTI for data collection. At step 906, the first UE 108, 110 receives a third message including a DCI associated with the RNTI for data collection. The third message indicates that the UE performs measurements on one or more of the downlink reference signal resources. Based on the third message including the DCI associated with the RNTI for data collection, the first UE 108, 110 performs at least one measurement on a downlink reference signal transmitted for a second UE at step 908. A downlink reference signal is transmitted on one of the one or more indicated downlink reference signal resources.

[0206] In certain embodiments, the first UE 108, 110 uses at least one measurement to train an AI and / or ML model.

[0207] In certain embodiments, the first UE 108, 110 uses AI and / or ML models for beam management and / or beam prediction.

[0208] In certain embodiments, the one or more downlink reference signal resources include one or more aperiodic downlink reference signal resources.

[0209] In a particular embodiment, the third message including the DCI indicates when to measure the communication channel for a reference signal to be transmitted for the second UE 106 .

[0210] In certain embodiments, the first UE 108, 110 receives a network node beam configuration.

[0211] In another specific embodiment, the network node beam configuration includes at least one of the following: at least one beam identifier, at least one spatial correlation and / or QCL relationship between beam identifiers, at least one spatial correlation and / or QCL relationship between at least one beam identifier and at least one downlink reference signal resource, and an association between at least one beam identifier and a downlink reference signal resource.

[0212] In further specific embodiments, each beam identifier is associated with a resource within one or more downlink reference signal resources.

[0213] In certain embodiments, the network node beam configuration is received in a second message, the network node beam configuration is received in a third message, or the network node beam configuration is received in a fourth message.

[0214] In certain embodiments, the RNTI indicates an aperiodic triggering state.

[0215] In certain embodiments, based on the aperiodic triggering status, the first UE 108, 110 ignores or determines not to send the CSI report.

[0216] In a particular embodiment, a QCL relation of at least one downlink reference signal resource is indicated in a communication channel associated with the RNTI.

[0217] In another specific embodiment, a list of TCI state identifiers is used to indicate QCL relationships.

[0218] In a particular embodiment, the first UE 108, 110 transmits information to the network node 104 indicating the capability of the first UE to support data collection for beam prediction based on a reference signal intended for the second UE.

[0219] Fig.12A method 1000 for data collection performed by a network node 104 in accordance with certain embodiments is illustrated. As depicted, the method begins at step 1002 when the network node 104 transmits a first message to a first UE 108, 110 that configures one or more downlink reference signal resources. At step 1004, the network node 104 transmits a second message to the first UE 108, 110 that includes an indication to monitor a communication channel associated with an RNTI for data collection. At step 1006, the network node 104 transmits a third message to the first UE 108, 110 that includes a DCI associated with the RNTI for data collection. The third message instructs the first UE 108, 110 to perform measurements on the one or more downlink reference signal resources. Based on the third message that includes the DCI associated with the RNTI for data collection, the network node 104 transmits a reference signal to the second UE 106. The reference signal is transmitted on one of the one or more indicated downlink reference signal resources.

[0220] In a particular embodiment, the network node 104 configures the first UE 108 , 110 to perform at least one measurement on a reference signal transmitted for the second UE 106 .

[0221] In certain embodiments, the network node 104 configures the first UE 108, 110 to train an AI and / or ML model using at least one measurement.

[0222] In certain embodiments, the network node 104 uses AI and / or ML models for beam management and / or beam prediction.

[0223] In certain embodiments, the one or more downlink reference signal resources include one or more aperiodic downlink reference signal resources.

[0224] In a particular embodiment, the third message including the DCI indicates when to measure the communication channel for a reference signal to be transmitted to the second UE.

[0225] In a particular embodiment, the network node 104 transmits the network node beam configuration to the first UE 108 , 110 .

[0226] In another specific embodiment, the network node beam configuration includes at least one of the following: at least one beam identifier, at least one spatial correlation and / or quasi-co-location QCL relationship between beam identifiers, at least one spatial correlation and / or QCL relationship between at least one beam identifier and at least one reference signal, and an association between at least one beam identifier and a downlink reference signal resource.

[0227] In certain embodiments, each beam identifier is associated with one downlink reference signal resource of the one or more downlink reference signal resources.

[0228] In a particular embodiment, the network node beam configuration is transmitted in the second message, the network node beam configuration is transmitted in the third message, or the network node beam configuration is transmitted in the fourth message.

[0229] In certain embodiments, the RNTI indicates an aperiodic triggering state.

[0230] In certain embodiments, the network node 104 configures the first UE 108, 110 to ignore or determine not to send a CSI report based on an aperiodic triggering condition.

[0231] In a particular embodiment, a QCL relation of at least one downlink reference signal resource is indicated in a communication channel associated with the RNTI.

[0232] In another specific embodiment, a list of TCI state identifiers is used to indicate QCL relationships.

[0233] In a particular embodiment, the network node 104 receives information from the first UE 108 , 110 indicating a capability of the first UE 18 , 110 to support data collection for beam prediction based on a reference signal intended for the second UE 106 .

[0234] In some embodiments, some or all of the functionality described herein may be provided by a processing circuit executing instructions stored in a memory, which in some embodiments may be a computer program product in the form of a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. In alternative embodiments, some or all of the functionality may be provided by a processing circuit without executing instructions stored on an independent or discrete device-readable storage medium, such as in a hardwired manner. In any of those specific embodiments, the processing circuit may be configured to perform the described functionality, regardless of whether instructions stored on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium are executed. The benefits provided by such functionality are not limited to just the processing circuit or to other components of the computing device, but are generally enjoyed by the computing device as a whole and / or by end users and wireless networks.

[0235] Example Embodiments

[0236] Group A Example Embodiments

[0237] Example embodiment A1: A method for data collection performed by a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: any of the user equipment steps, features or functions described above, either alone or in combination with other steps, features or functions described above.

[0238] Example embodiment A2: The method as described in the previous embodiment further includes one or more additional user equipment steps, features or functions described above.

[0239] Example Embodiment A3: The method as in any of the preceding embodiments, further comprising: providing user data; and forwarding the user data to the host via transmission to the network node.

[0240] Group B Example Embodiments

[0241] Example embodiment B1: A method for data collection performed by a network node, the method comprising: any of the network node steps, features or functions described above, either alone or in combination with other steps, features or functions described above.

[0242] Example embodiment B2: The method as described in the previous embodiment further includes one or more additional network node steps, features or functions described above.

[0243] Example embodiment B3: The method as described in any of the preceding embodiments further comprises: obtaining user data; and forwarding the user data to a host or a user device.

[0244] Group C Example Embodiments

[0245] Example embodiment C1: A method for data collection performed by a first user equipment (UE), the method comprising: receiving a first message from a network node including information associated with at least one signal intended for transmission to a second UE; and performing at least one action based on the information.

[0246] Example Embodiment C2: The method of Example Embodiment C1, wherein performing at least one action based on the information comprises: determining that the first UE is not performing data collection; and determining not to monitor a communication channel for at least one reference signal.

[0247] Example embodiment C3: The method of example embodiment C1, wherein performing at least one action based on the information comprises: receiving at least one reference signal intended for the second UE; and performing at least one measurement on the at least one reference signal; and storing the at least one measurement.

[0248] Example Embodiment C4: The method of Example Embodiment C3, comprising using at least one measurement for data collection purposes.

[0249] Example embodiment C5: The method as described in any of example embodiments C2 to C4 includes using at least one measurement to train an artificial intelligence (AI) and / or machine learning (ML) model.

[0250] Example embodiment C6: The method as described in Example embodiment C5 includes using AI and / or ML models for beam management and / or beam prediction.

[0251] Example embodiment C7: A method as described in any of example embodiments C3 to C6, wherein the information includes a data collection measurement-radio network temporary identifier (data collection measurement-RNTI), and the method includes monitoring a physical downlink control channel associated with the data collection measurement-RNTI.

[0252] Example embodiment C8: The method as described in any of example embodiments C3 to C6 includes: receiving a second message from a network node, the second message including a data collection measurement-radio network temporary identifier (data collection measurement-RNTI), and monitoring a physical downlink control channel associated with the data collection measurement-RNTI.

[0253] Example Embodiment C9: The method of Example Embodiment C8, wherein the Data Collection Measurement-RNTI identifies a plurality of DL-reference signals in a plurality of beams to be transmitted to the second UE.

[0254] Example Embodiment C10: The method as in any of Example Embodiments C1 to C9, wherein the first message includes a downlink (DL) reference signal (RS) configuration.

[0255] Example Embodiment C11: The method as described in Example Embodiment C10, wherein the DL RS configuration includes at least one DL RS resource set.

[0256] Example Embodiment C12: The method as in any of Example Embodiments C1 to C11, wherein the first message includes a network node configuration.

[0257] Example embodiment C13: A method as described in Example embodiment C12, wherein the network node beam configuration includes at least one of the following: at least one beam identifier, at least one spatial correlation and / or QCL relationship between beam identifiers, at least one spatial correlation and / or QCL relationship between at least one beam identifier and at least one reference signal, and an association between at least one beam identifier and a DL reference signal resource.

[0258] Example Embodiment C14: The method as in any of Example Embodiments C1 to C11, comprising receiving a third message from the network node, the third message comprising the network node beam configuration.

[0259] Example embodiment C15: A method as described in example embodiment C14, wherein the network node beam configuration includes at least one of the following: at least one beam identifier, at least one spatial correlation and / or QCL relationship between beam identifiers, at least one spatial correlation and / or QCL relationship between at least one beam identifier and at least one reference signal, and an association between at least one beam identifier and a DL reference signal resource.

[0260] Example Embodiment C16: The method of any of Example Embodiments C1 to C15, wherein at least one of the first, second, and third messages comprises an RRCReconfiguration message or a Medium Access Control-Control Element (MAC-CE).

[0261] Example Embodiment C17: The method of Example Embodiments C1 to C16, further comprising: providing user data; and forwarding the user data to the host via transmission to the network node.

[0262] Example embodiment C18: A user equipment comprising a processing circuit configured to perform any of the methods as described in example embodiments C1 to C17.

[0263] Example Embodiment C19: A wireless device comprising a processing circuit configured to perform any of the methods as described in Example Embodiments C1 to C17.

[0264] Example embodiment C20: A computer program comprising instructions, which when executed on a computer, perform any of the methods as described in example embodiments C1 to C17.

[0265] Example embodiment C21: A computer program product comprising a computer program, the computer program comprising instructions, the instructions when executed on a computer, performing any of the methods as described in example embodiments C1 to C17.

[0266] Example embodiment C22: A non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by a computer, perform any of the methods described in example embodiments C1 to C17.

[0267] Group D Example Embodiments

[0268] Example embodiment D1: A method for data collection performed by a first user equipment (UE), the method comprising: receiving a first message configuring at least one non-periodic downlink (DL) reference signal (RS) resource set from a network node; and receiving a second message including an indication for monitoring a communication channel associated with a radio network temporary identifier (RNTI) from the network node; receiving a third message including information associated with an RS to be transmitted for a second UE; based on the third message, receiving the RS to be transmitted for the second UE; and performing at least one measurement on the RS transmitted for the second UE.

[0269] Example embodiment D2: The method as described in Example embodiment D1, wherein the first message includes a field for configuring one or more non-periodic DL RS resource sets.

[0270] Example Embodiment D3: The method of Example Embodiment D2, wherein the field is a DL RS configuration field.

[0271] Example Embodiment D4: The method as in any of Example Embodiments D1 to D3, wherein the second message includes a field containing an indication to monitor the communication channel.

[0272] Example Embodiment D5: The method of Example Embodiment D4, wherein the field comprises a search space configuration field.

[0273] Example Embodiment D6: The method as in any one of Example Embodiments D1 to D5, wherein the communication channel comprises a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH).

[0274] Example Embodiment D7: A method as described in any of Example Embodiments D1 to D6, wherein a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) is scrambled by the RNTI.

[0275] Example Embodiment D8: A method as in any of Example Embodiments D1 to D7, wherein the RNTI comprises a Data Collection Measurement-RNTI.

[0276] Example Embodiment D9: The method as in any one of Example Embodiments D1 to D8, wherein the third message includes information indicating when to measure a communication channel for the RS to be transmitted for the second UE.

[0277] Example embodiment D10a: The method as in any one of example embodiments D1 to D9, comprising receiving a fourth message from the network node, the fourth message comprising a configuration associated with at least one beam identifier.

[0278] Example Embodiment D10b: The method as described in Example Embodiment D10a, wherein the configuration includes network node beam configuration.

[0279] Example Embodiment D10c: The method as in any of Example Embodiments D10a to D10b, wherein the configuration includes a list of beam identifiers.

[0280] Example Embodiment D10d: The method of Example Embodiment D10c, wherein the configuration includes at least one spatial correlation and / or QCL relationship of the beam identifier.

[0281] Example Embodiment D10e: The method of Example Embodiment D10d, wherein each beam identifier is associated with a DL-RS resource.

[0282] Example embodiment D11: The method as in any one of example embodiments D1 to D10e, wherein the first message includes a DL reference signal configuration configuring at least one aperiodic DL RS resource set.

[0283] Example embodiment D12: The method as in any one of example embodiments D1 to D11, wherein the RNTI indicates a non-periodic triggering state.

[0284] Example embodiment D13: The method as described in Example embodiment D12 includes ignoring or determining not to send the CSI report based on the non-periodic triggering status.

[0285] Example Embodiment D14: The method as in any of Example Embodiments D1 to D13, wherein the communication associated with the RNTI indicates at least one beam used by the network node when transmitting in the aperiodic set of DL RS resources.

[0286] Example Embodiment D15: The method of Example Embodiment D14, wherein at least one beam is associated with a set of beam IDs.

[0287] Example Embodiment D16: The method of Example Embodiment D14, wherein the communication associated with the RNTI includes at least one identifier of the corresponding at least one DL-RS resource, and wherein each DL-RS resource is associated with a beam.

[0288] Example Embodiment D17: A method as described in Example Embodiment D14, wherein the communication associated with the RNTI includes an indication of a non-periodic triggering state, and wherein at least one beam is configured for the non-periodic triggering state.

[0289] Example Embodiment D18: The method of Example Embodiment D17, wherein at least one beam is configured for a non-periodic triggering state using at least one beam identifier.

[0290] Example Embodiment D19: The method as in any one of Example Embodiments D1 to D18, wherein a QCL relationship of at least one DL-RS resource is indicated in a communication channel associated with the RNTI.

[0291] Example Embodiment D20: The method of Example Embodiment D19, wherein a list of TCI state identifiers is used to indicate the QCL relationship.

[0292] Example embodiment D21: A method as in any of example embodiments D1 to D20, wherein information indicating a capability of the first UE to support data collection for beam prediction based on an RS intended for another UE is transmitted to the network node.

[0293] Example Embodiment D22: The method as described in Example Embodiments D1 to D21 further comprising: providing user data; and forwarding the user data to the host via transmission to the network node.

[0294] Example embodiment D23: A user equipment comprising a processing circuit configured to perform any of the methods as described in example embodiments D1 to D22.

[0295] Example Embodiment D24: A wireless device comprising a processing circuit configured to perform any of the methods as described in Example Embodiments D1 to D22.

[0296] Example Embodiment D25: A computer program comprising instructions that, when executed on a computer, perform any of the methods described in Example Embodiments D1 to D22.

[0297] Example Embodiment D26: A computer program product, comprising a computer program, the computer program comprising instructions, the instructions when executed on a computer, performing any of the methods as described in Example Embodiments D1 to D22.

[0298] Example Embodiment D27: A non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by a computer, perform any of the methods described in Example Embodiments D1 to D22.

[0299] Group E Example Embodiments

[0300] Example embodiment E1: A method for data collection performed by a network node, the method comprising: transmitting to a first UE a first message including information associated with at least one signal intended for transmission to a second UE; and transmitting to the first UE a second message including a data collection measurement-radio network temporary identifier (data collection measurement-RNTI) to trigger the first UE to monitor a physical downlink control channel associated with the data collection measurement-RNTI; and transmitting at least one signal intended for the second UE.

[0301] Example Embodiment E2: The method of Example Embodiment El, wherein the Data Collection Measurement-RNTI identifies a plurality of DL reference signals in a plurality of beams to be transmitted to the second UE.

[0302] Example Embodiment E3: The method of any of Example Embodiments E1 to E2, wherein the first message includes a downlink (DL) reference signal (RS) configuration, and wherein the DL RS configuration includes at least one DL RS resource set.

[0303] Example Embodiment E4: The method as in any one of Example Embodiments E1 to E2, wherein the first message includes a network node configuration.

[0304] Example embodiment E5: A method as described in Example embodiment E4, wherein the network node beam configuration includes at least one of the following: at least one beam identifier, at least one spatial correlation and / or QCL relationship between beam identifiers, at least one spatial correlation and / or QCL relationship between at least one beam identifier and at least one reference signal, and an association between at least one beam identifier and a DL reference signal resource.

[0305] Example embodiment E6: The method as in any one of example embodiments E1 to E3, comprising transmitting a third message including the network node beam configuration to the first UE.

[0306] Example embodiment E7: A method as described in Example embodiment E6, wherein the network node beam configuration includes at least one of the following: at least one beam identifier, at least one spatial correlation and / or QCL relationship between beam identifiers, at least one spatial correlation and / or QCL relationship between at least one beam identifier and at least one reference signal, and an association between at least one beam identifier and a DL reference signal resource.

[0307] Example Embodiment E8: The method as in any one of Example Embodiments E1 to E7, wherein at least one of the first, second, and third messages comprises an RRCReconfiguration message or a Medium Access Control-Control Element (MAC-CE).

[0308] Example embodiment E9: A method as described in any one of example embodiments E1 to E8, wherein the network node includes a gNodeB (gNB).

[0309] Example Embodiment E10: The method as in any one of Example Embodiments E1 to E9, further comprising: obtaining user data; and forwarding the user data to a host or a user device.

[0310] Example Embodiment E11: A network node comprising a processing circuit configured to perform any of the methods as described in Example Embodiments E1 to E10.

[0311] Example embodiment E12: A computer program comprising instructions, which when executed on a computer, perform any of the methods as described in example embodiments E1 to E10.

[0312] Example embodiment E13: A computer program product, comprising a computer program, the computer program comprising instructions, the instructions when executed on a computer, performing any of the methods as described in example embodiments E1 to E10.

[0313] Example Embodiment E14: A non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by a computer, perform any of the methods of Example Embodiments E1 to E10.

[0314] Group F Example Embodiments

[0315] Example embodiment F1: A method for data collection performed by a network node, the method comprising: transmitting a first message to a first UE to configure at least one non-periodic downlink (DL) reference signal (RS) resource set; and transmitting a second message to the first UE including an indication for monitoring a communication channel associated with a radio network temporary identifier (RNTI); transmitting a third message to the first UE to trigger the first UE to monitor a communication channel associated with a data collection measurement-RNTI for RS to be transmitted for a second UE; and transmitting at least one signal intended for the second UE.

[0316] Example Embodiment F2: The method of Example Embodiment F1, wherein the first message includes a field for configuring one or more aperiodic DL RS resource sets.

[0317] Example Embodiment F3: The method of Example Embodiment F2, wherein the field is a DL RS configuration field.

[0318] Example Embodiment F4: The method as recited in any of Example Embodiments F1 to F3, wherein the second message includes a field containing an indication to monitor the communication channel.

[0319] Example Embodiment F5: The method of Example Embodiment F4, wherein the field comprises a search space configuration field.

[0320] Example Embodiment F6: The method as in any one of Example Embodiments F1 to F5, wherein the communication channel comprises a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH).

[0321] Example Embodiment F7: A method as in any one of Example Embodiments F1 to F6, wherein a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) is scrambled by the RNTI.

[0322] Example Embodiment F8: A method as in any one of Example Embodiments F1 to F7, wherein the RNTI comprises a Data Collection Measurement-RNTI.

[0323] Example Embodiment F9: The method as in any one of Example Embodiments F1 to F8, wherein the third message includes information indicating when to measure a communication channel for the RS to be transmitted for the second UE.

[0324] Example Embodiment F10a: The method as in any one of Example Embodiments F1 to F9, comprising transmitting to the UE a fourth message comprising a configuration associated with at least one beam identifier.

[0325] Example Embodiment F10b: A method as described in Example Embodiment F10a, wherein the configuration includes network node beam configuration.

[0326] Example Embodiment F10c: A method as in any one of Example Embodiments F10a to F10b, wherein the configuration comprises a list of beam identifiers.

[0327] Example Embodiment F10d: The method of Example Embodiment F10c, wherein the configuration includes at least one spatial correlation and / or QCL relationship of the beam identifier.

[0328] Example Embodiment F10e: The method of Example Embodiment F10d, wherein each beam identifier is associated with a DL-RS resource.

[0329] Example Embodiment F11: The method as described in any one of Example Embodiments F1 to F10e, wherein the first message includes a DL reference signal configuration configuring at least one aperiodic DL RS resource set.

[0330] Example Embodiment F12: The method as in any one of Example Embodiments F1 to F11, wherein the RNTI indicates a non-periodic triggering state.

[0331] Example Embodiment F13: The method of Example Embodiment F12, comprising configuring the first UE to ignore or determine not to send the CSI report based on a non-periodic triggering state.

[0332] Example Embodiment F14: The method of any of Example Embodiments F1 to F13, wherein the communication associated with the RNTI indicates at least one beam used by the network node when transmitting in the aperiodic set of DL RS resources.

[0333] Example Embodiment F15: The method of Example Embodiment F14, wherein at least one beam is associated with a set of beam IDs.

[0334] Example Embodiment F16: The method of Example Embodiment F14, wherein the communication associated with the RNTI includes at least one identifier of the corresponding at least one DL-RS resource, and wherein each DL-RS resource is associated with a beam.

[0335] Example Embodiment F17: A method as described in Example Embodiment F14, wherein the communication associated with the RNTI includes an indication of a non-periodic triggering state, and wherein at least one beam is configured for the non-periodic triggering state.

[0336] Example Embodiment F18: The method of Example Embodiment F17, wherein at least one beam is configured for a non-periodic triggering state using at least one beam identifier.

[0337] Example Embodiment F19: The method as in any one of Example Embodiments F1 to F18, wherein the QCL relationship of the at least one DL-RS resource is indicated in a communication channel associated with the RNTI.

[0338] Example Embodiment F20: The method of Example Embodiment F19, wherein a list of TCI state identifiers is used to indicate the QCL relationship.

[0339] Example Embodiment F21: A method as described in any of Example Embodiments F1 to F20, wherein information indicating a capability of the first UE to support data collection for beam prediction based on an RS intended for another UE is received from the first UE.

[0340] Example Embodiment F22: The method of Example Embodiments F1 to F21, further comprising: providing user data; and forwarding the user data to the host via transmission to the network node.

[0341] Example Embodiment F23: A user equipment comprising a processing circuit configured to perform any of the methods as described in Example Embodiments F1 to F22.

[0342] Example Embodiment F24: A wireless device comprising a processing circuit configured to perform any of the methods as described in Example Embodiments F1 to F22.

[0343] Example Embodiment F25: A computer program comprising instructions, which when executed on a computer, perform any of the methods of Example Embodiments F1 to F22.

[0344] Example Embodiment F26: A computer program product, comprising a computer program, the computer program comprising instructions, the instructions when executed on a computer, performing any of the methods as described in Example Embodiments F1 to F22.

[0345] Example Embodiment F27: A non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by a computer, perform any of the methods of Example Embodiments F1 to F22.

[0346] Group G Example Embodiments

[0347] Example embodiment G1: A user equipment (UE) for data collection, the UE comprising: a processing circuit configured to perform any of the steps of any of the example embodiments in Group A, Group C, and Group D; and a power supply circuit configured to supply power to the processing circuit.

[0348] Example embodiment G2: A network node for data collection, the network node comprising: a processing circuit configured to perform any of the steps of any of the example embodiments in Group B, Group E and Group F; a power supply circuit configured to supply power to the processing circuit.

[0349] Example embodiment G3: A user equipment (UE) for data collection, the UE comprising: an antenna configured to send and receive wireless signals; a radio front-end circuit connected to the antenna and to a processing circuit and configured to condition signals transmitted between the antenna and the processing circuit; a processing circuit configured to perform any of the steps of any of the example embodiments in Group A, Group C, and Group D example embodiments; an input interface connected to the processing circuit and configured to allow information to be input into the UE and processed by the processing circuit; an output interface connected to the processing circuit and configured to output information from the UE that has been processed by the processing circuit; and a battery connected to the processing circuit and configured to power the UE.

[0350] Example embodiment G4: A host configured to operate in a communication system to provide an over-the-top (OTT) service, the host comprising: a processing circuit configured to provide user data; and a network interface configured to initiate transmission of user data to a cellular network for transmission to a user equipment (UE), wherein the UE comprises a communication interface and a processing circuit, the communication interface and processing circuit of the UE being configured to perform any of the steps of any of the example embodiments of Group A, Group C, and Group D to receive user data from the host.

[0351] Example embodiment G5: The host as described in the preceding example embodiment, wherein the cellular network further comprises a network node configured to communicate with the UE to transmit user data from the host to the UE.

[0352] Example embodiment G6: A host as described in the aforementioned two example embodiments, wherein: the processing circuit of the host is configured to execute a host application to provide user data; and the host application is configured to interact with a client application executed on the UE, and the client application is associated with the host application.

[0353] Example embodiment G7: A method implemented by a host operating in a communication system, the communication system further including a network node and a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: providing user data to the UE; and initiating a transmission carrying the user data to the UE via a cellular network including the network node, wherein the UE performs any of the operations of any of the embodiments in Group A to receive the user data from the host.

[0354] Example embodiment G8: The method as described in the aforementioned example embodiment further comprises: at the host, executing a host application associated with the client application executed on the UE to receive user data from the UE.

[0355] Example embodiment G9: The method as described in the aforementioned example embodiment further includes: at the host, transmitting input data to the client application executed on the UE, providing the input data by executing the host application, wherein the client application provides user data in response to the input data from the host application.

[0356] Example embodiment G10: A host configured to operate in a communication system to provide an over-the-top (OTT) service, the host comprising: a processing circuit configured to provide user data; and a network interface configured to initiate transmission of user data to a cellular network for transmission to a user equipment (UE), wherein the UE comprises a communication interface and a processing circuit, the communication interface and processing circuit of the UE being configured to perform any of the steps of any of the example embodiments of Group A, Group C, and Group D to transmit user data to the host.

[0357] Example embodiment G11: The host as described in the previous example embodiment, wherein the cellular network further includes a network node, and the network node is configured to communicate with the UE to transmit user data from the UE to the host.

[0358] Example embodiment G12: A host as described in the aforementioned two example embodiments, wherein: the processing circuit of the host is configured to execute a host application to provide user data; and the host application is configured to interact with a client application executed on the UE, and the client application is associated with the host application.

[0359] Example embodiment G13: A method implemented by a host, wherein the host is configured to operate in a communication system, wherein the communication system further includes a network node and a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: at the host, receiving user data transmitted to the host by the UE via the network node, wherein the UE performs any of the steps of any of the example embodiments of Group A, Group C, and Group D to transmit the user data to the host.

[0360] Example embodiment G14: The method as described in the aforementioned example embodiment further includes: at the host, executing a host application associated with the client application executed on the UE to receive user data from the UE.

[0361] Example embodiment G15: The method as described in the aforementioned example embodiment further includes: at the host, transmitting input data to the client application executed on the UE, providing the input data by executing the host application, wherein the client application provides user data in response to the input data from the host application.

[0362] Example embodiment G16: A host configured to operate in a communication system to provide an over-the-top (OTT) service, the host comprising: a processing circuit configured to provide user data; and a network interface configured to initiate transmission of user data to a network node in a cellular network for transmission to a user equipment (UE), the network node having a communication interface and a processing circuit, the processing circuit of the network node being configured to perform any of the operations of any of the example embodiments of Group B, Group E, and Group F to transmit user data from the host to the UE.

[0363] Example embodiment G17: A host as described in the aforementioned example embodiments, wherein: the processing circuit of the host is configured to execute a host application that provides user data; and the UE includes a processing circuit, which is configured to execute a client application associated with the host application to receive a transmission of user data from the host.

[0364] Example embodiment G18: A method implemented in a host, the host being configured to operate in a communication system, the communication system further comprising a network node and a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: providing user data to the UE; and initiating a transmission carrying the user data to the UE via a cellular network including the network node, wherein the network node performs any of the operations of any of the example embodiments of Group B, Group E, and Group F to transmit the user data from the host to the UE.

[0365] Example embodiment G19: The method as described in the aforementioned example embodiment further includes transmitting user data provided by the host for the UE at the network node.

[0366] Example embodiment G20: A method as in any of the foregoing 2 example embodiments, wherein the user data is provided at the host by executing a host application that interacts with a client application executing on the UE, the client application being associated with the host application.

[0367] Example embodiment G21: A communication system configured to provide an over-the-top service, the communication system comprising: a host, the host comprising: a processing circuit configured to provide user data to a user equipment (UE), the user data being associated with the over-the-top service; and a network interface configured to initiate transmission of the user data toward a cellular network node for transmission to the UE, the network node having a communication interface and a processing circuit, the processing circuit of the network node being configured to perform any of the operations of any of the example embodiments of Group B, Group E, and Group F to transmit user data from the host to the UE.

[0368] Example embodiment G22: The communication system as described in the aforementioned example embodiment further includes: a network node; and / or a user equipment.

[0369] Example embodiment G23: A host configured to operate in a communication system to provide an over-the-top (OTT) service, the host comprising: a processing circuit configured to initiate reception of user data; and a network interface configured to receive user data from a network node in a cellular network, the network node having a communication interface and a processing circuit, the processing circuit of the network node being configured to perform any of the operations of any of the example embodiments of Group B, Group E, and Group F to receive user data from a user equipment (UE) for the host.

[0370] Example embodiment G24: A host as described in the aforementioned two example embodiments, wherein: the processing circuit of the host is configured to execute a host application to provide user data; and the host application is configured to interact with a client application executed on the UE, and the client application is associated with the host application.

[0371] Example Embodiment G25: The host as described in any of the preceding 2 example embodiments, wherein initiating receipt of user data includes requesting user data.

[0372] Example embodiment G26: A method implemented by a host, the host being configured to operate in a communication system, the communication system further comprising a network node and a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: at the host, initiating reception of user data from the UE, the user data originating from a transmission already received by the network node from the UE, wherein the network node performs any of the steps of any of the example embodiments of Group B, Group E, and Group F to receive user data from the UE for the host.

[0373] Example embodiment G27: The method as described in the aforementioned example embodiment further includes transmitting the received user data to the host at the network node.

Claims

1. A method (900) for data collection performed by a first user equipment UE (108, 110), the method comprising: receiving (902) a first message configuring one or more downlink reference signal resources from a network node (104); receiving (904) from the network node a second message including an indication to monitor a communication channel associated with a radio network temporary identifier RNTI for data collection; receiving (906) a third message including downlink control information DCI associated with the RNTI for data collection, wherein the third message instructs the UE to perform measurements on the one or more of the downlink reference signal resources; based on the third message including the DCI associated with the RNTI for data collection, At least one measurement is performed (908) on a downlink reference signal transmitted for the second UE, wherein the downlink reference signal is transmitted on one of the one or more indicated downlink reference signal resources.

2. The method of claim 1, comprising using the at least one measurement to train an artificial intelligence (AI) and / or machine learning (ML) model.

3. The method of claim 2, comprising using the AI ​​and / or ML model for beam management and / or beam prediction.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 2, wherein: The one or more downlink reference signal resources include one or more aperiodic downlink reference signal resources.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein: The third message including the DCI indicates when to measure the communications channel for the reference signal to be transmitted for the second UE.

6. A method as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 5, comprising receiving a network node beam configuration.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein: The network node beam configuration includes at least one of the following: at least one beam identifier, at least one spatial correlation and / or quasi co-located QCL relationship between beam identifiers, at least one spatial correlation and / or QCL relationship between at least one beam identifier and at least one downlink reference signal resource, and An association between at least one beam identifier and a downlink reference signal resource.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein: Each beam identifier is associated with a resource within the one or more downlink reference signal resources.

9. The method according to any one of claims 6 to 8, wherein: receiving the network node beam configuration in the second message, receiving the network node beam configuration in the third message, or The network node beam configuration is received in a fourth message.

10. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein: The RNTI indicates a non-periodic triggering state.

11. The method of claim 10, comprising ignoring or determining not to send a channel state information report based on the aperiodic triggering status.

12. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 11, wherein: A quasi co-located (QCL) relationship of at least one downlink reference signal resource is indicated in the communication channel associated with the RNTI.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein: The QCL relationship is indicated using a list of transmission configuration indicator TCI state identifiers.

14. The method of any one of claims 1 to 13, comprising transmitting to the network node information indicating a capability of the first UE to support data collection for beam prediction based on the reference signal intended for the second UE.

15. A method (1000) for data collection performed by a network node (104), the method comprising: transmitting (1002) a first message configuring one or more downlink reference signal resources to a first user equipment UE (108, 110); transmitting (1004) to the first UE a second message including an indication to monitor a communication channel associated with a radio network temporary identifier RNTI for data collection; transmitting (1006) to the first UE a third message including downlink control information (DCI) associated with the RNTI for data collection, the third message instructing the first UE to perform measurements on the one or more downlink reference signal resources; as well as Based on the third message including the DCI associated with the RNTI for data collection, a reference signal is transmitted (1008) to a second UE (106), wherein the reference signal is transmitted on one of one or more indicated downlink reference signal resources.

16. The method of claim 15, comprising configuring the first UE to perform at least one measurement on the reference signal transmitted for the second UE.

17. The method of any one of claims 15 to 16, comprising configuring the first UE to use the at least one measurement to train an artificial intelligence (AI) and / or machine learning (ML) model.

18. The method of claim 17, comprising using the AI ​​and / or ML model for beam management and / or beam prediction.

19. The method according to any one of claims 15 to 18, wherein: The one or more downlink reference signal resources include one or more aperiodic downlink reference signal resources.

20. The method of any one of claims 15 to 19, wherein: The third message including the DCI indicates when to measure the communication channel of the reference signal to be transmitted to the second UE.

21. The method of any one of claims 15 to 20, comprising transmitting a network node beam configuration to the first UE.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the network node beam configuration comprises at least one of: at least one beam identifier, at least one spatial correlation and / or quasi co-located QCL relationship between beam identifiers, at least one spatial correlation and / or QCL relationship between at least one beam identifier and at least one reference signal, and An association between at least one beam identifier and a downlink reference signal resource.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein: Each beam identifier is associated with one downlink reference signal resource of the one or more downlink reference signal resources.

24. The method of any one of claims 21 to 23, wherein: transmitting said network node beam configuration in said second message, transmitting the network node beam configuration in the third message, or The network node beam configuration is transmitted in a fourth message.

25. The method of any one of claims 15 to 24, wherein: The RNTI indicates a non-periodic triggering state.

26. The method of claim 25, comprising configuring the first UE to ignore or determine not to send a channel state information report based on the aperiodic triggering status.

27. The method of any one of claims 15 to 26, wherein: A quasi co-located (QCL) relationship of at least one downlink reference signal resource is indicated in the communication channel associated with the RNTI.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein: The QCL relationship is indicated using a list of transmission configuration indicator TCI state identifiers.

29. The method of any one of claims 15 to 28, comprising receiving, from the first UE, information indicating a capability of the first UE to support data collection for beam prediction based on the reference signal intended for the second UE.

30. A first user equipment UE (108, 110, 400) for data collection, the first UE comprising a processing circuit (402), the processing circuit (402) being adapted to: receiving a first message from a network node (106, 500) configuring one or more downlink reference signal resources; receiving from the network node a second message including an instruction to monitor a communication channel associated with a radio network temporary identifier RNTI for data collection; receiving a third message including downlink control information DCI associated with the RNTI for data collection, wherein: The third message instructs the UE to perform measurement on one or more downlink reference signal resources among the downlink reference signal resources; Based on the third message including the DCI associated with the RNTI used for data collection, at least one measurement is performed on a downlink reference signal transmitted for a second UE (106, 400), wherein the downlink reference signal is transmitted on one of one or more indicated downlink reference signal resources.

31. The first UE according to claim 30, adapted to: Using the at least one measurement to train an artificial intelligence (AI) and / or machine learning (ML) model; and The AI ​​and / or ML models are used for beam management and / or beam prediction.

32. The method of any one of claims 30 to 31, wherein: The one or more downlink reference signal resources include one or more aperiodic downlink reference signal resources.

33. The first UE according to any one of claims 30 to 32, wherein: The third message including the DCI indicates when to measure the communications channel for the reference signal to be transmitted for the second UE.

34. The first UE according to any one of claims 30 to 33, adapted to receive a network node beam configuration, wherein: The network node beam configuration includes at least one of the following: at least one beam identifier associated with downlink reference signal resources within the at least one aperiodic downlink reference signal resource set, at least one spatial correlation and / or quasi co-located QCL relationship between beam identifiers, at least one spatial correlation and / or QCL relationship between at least one beam identifier and at least one reference signal, and An association between at least one beam identifier and a downlink reference signal resource.

35. The first UE of claim 34, wherein: receiving the network node beam configuration in the second message, receiving the network node beam configuration in the third message, or The network node beam configuration is received in a fourth message.

36. The first UE according to any one of claims 30 to 35, wherein: The RNTI indicates an aperiodic triggering status, and the first UE is adapted to ignore or determine not to send a channel state information report based on the aperiodic triggering status.

37. The first UE according to any one of claims 30 to 36, adapted to transmit to the network node information indicating the capability of the first UE to support data collection for beam prediction based on the reference signal intended for the second UE.

38. A network node (104, 500) for data collection, the network node being adapted to: Transmitting a first message to a first user equipment UE (108, 110) for configuring one or more downlink reference signal resources; transmitting to the first UE a second message including an indication to monitor a communication channel associated with a radio network temporary identifier RNTI for data collection; transmitting, to the first UE, a third message including downlink control information (DCI) associated with the RNTI for data collection; as well as Based on the third message including the DCI associated with the RNTI for data collection, a reference signal is transmitted to a second UE (106), wherein the reference signal is transmitted on one of one or more indicated downlink reference signal resources.

39. The network node of claim 38, adapted to perform at least one of the following: configuring the first UE to perform at least one measurement on the reference signal transmitted for the second UE; Using the at least one measurement to train an artificial intelligence (AI) and / or machine learning (ML) model; and The AI ​​and / or ML models are used for beam management and / or beam prediction.

40. The network node according to any one of claims 38 to 39, wherein: The one or more downlink reference signal resources include one or more aperiodic downlink reference signal resources.

41. A network node as claimed in any one of claims 38 to 40, wherein: The third message including the DCI indicates when to measure the communication channel of the reference signal to be transmitted to the second UE.

42. A network node as claimed in any one of claims 38 to 41, wherein: The network node is adapted to transmit a network node beam configuration to the first UE, wherein the network node beam configuration comprises at least one of: at least one beam identifier associated with downlink reference signal resources within the at least one aperiodic downlink reference signal resource set, at least one spatial correlation and / or quasi co-located QCL relationship between beam identifiers, at least one spatial correlation and / or QCL relationship between at least one beam identifier and at least one reference signal, and An association between at least one beam identifier and a downlink reference signal resource.

43. The network node of claim 42, wherein: transmitting said network node beam configuration in said second message, transmitting the network node beam configuration in the third message, or The network node beam configuration is transmitted in a fourth message.

44. A network node as claimed in any one of claims 38 to 43, wherein: The RNTI indicates a non-periodic triggering state, and the first UE is configured to ignore or determine not to send a channel state information report based on the non-periodic triggering state.

Images