Dynamic radio frequency handover in new air interface for radio resource management in radio resource control connected state

Abstract

The invention relates to dynamic radio frequency handover in a new air interface for radio resource management in a radio resource control connected state. Embodiments of the present disclosure describe methods, apparatus, storage medium, and systems for configuring and implementing radio resource management (RRM) measurements for monitoring neighbor cells based on a synchronization signal block (SSB) timing group in a radio resource control (RRC) connection (RRC) state. Various embodiments describe how to determine a set of SSB timing groups, and how to generate receiver switching patterns based on the set of SSB timing groups and / or SSB scan measurements. Embodiments also describe the determination of an SSB scan pattern and an SSB. Other embodiments may be described and claimed.

Description

[0001] This application is a divisional application of a Chinese patent application with an application date of October 22, 2019, application number 201980069871X, and invention name “Dynamic RF switching in a new air interface for radio resource management in a radio resource control connection state”.

[0002] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0003] This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62 / 750,464, filed on October 25, 2018, entitled “Dynamic Radio Frequency Switching for Inter-frequency Radio Resource Management (RRM) Measurements in Radio Resource Control (RRC)_CONNECTED State,” and the entire disclosure of that patent application is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. Technical Field

[0004] Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to the field of wireless communication technology. Background Art

[0005] The background description provided herein is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the present disclosure. The work of the inventors disclosed herein, to the extent described in this background section, and in all aspects of the description that may not qualify as prior art at the time of filing, is not explicitly or implicitly admitted as prior art to the present disclosure. Unless otherwise indicated herein, the methods described in this section are not prior art to the claims of the present disclosure and are not admitted as prior art by inclusion in this section.

[0006] In the fifth generation (5G) new radio (NR), the user equipment (UE) requires inter-frequency and / or intra-frequency radio resource management (RRM) measurements to monitor the quality of neighboring cells. Such monitoring can be used for handover in the radio resource control (RRC)_CONNECTED state and / or cell reselection in the RRC_IDLE state. In 5G NR, RRM measurements of one or more target neighboring cells may be based on measurements relative to one or more synchronization signal blocks (SSBs) associated with the one or more target neighboring cells. In the RRC_CONNECTED state, more than one inter-frequency layer may need to be monitored. Based on the existing RRM measurements relative to the SSB burst in the corresponding measurement gap, it may not be effective if the UE can only measure the SSB of one inter-frequency layer corresponding to one SSB burst within the scheduled measurement gap. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0007] The embodiment will be more easily understood by the following specific implementation in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. In order to facilitate this description, similar reference numerals represent similar structural elements. In each figure of the accompanying drawings, the embodiment is shown by way of example and not limitation.

[0008] Figure 1 An example of a network including a user equipment (UE) and an access node (AN) in a wireless network according to various embodiments is schematically illustrated.

[0009] Figure 2 Exemplary components of an apparatus according to various embodiments are shown.

[0010] Figure 3A An exemplary radio frequency front end (RFFE) combining a millimeter wave (mmWave) RFFE and one or more sub-millimeter wave radio frequency integrated circuits (RFICs) according to some embodiments is shown. Figure 3B Alternative RFFEs according to some embodiments are shown.

[0011] Figure 4A Examples of RRM measurements in the RRC_CONNECTED state based on SSB bursts according to various embodiments are shown. Figure 4B Examples of RRM measurements in the RRC_CONNECTED state based on SSB timing groups according to various embodiments are shown.

[0012] Figure 5 An exemplary operational flow that facilitates a neighbor cell monitoring procedure in the RRC_CONNECTED state according to various embodiments is shown.

[0013] Fig. 6A An operational flow / algorithm structure for facilitating a receiver switching mode determination and implementation process in an RRC-CONNECTED state by a UE according to various embodiments is shown. Figure 6B An operational flow / algorithm structure of a receiver switching mode determination and implementation process in an RRC-CONNECTED state that facilitates an AN according to various embodiments is shown.

[0014] Figure 7 Exemplary interfaces of baseband circuitry according to various embodiments are shown.

[0015] Figure 8 Hardware resources are shown according to various embodiments. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0016] In the following specific embodiments, reference is made to the accompanying drawings forming a part of the present invention, wherein like numbers represent like parts throughout the accompanying drawings, and wherein practicable embodiments are shown by way of example. It should be understood that other embodiments may be used and structural or logical changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. Therefore, the following specific embodiments will not have a limiting meaning.

[0017] Various operations can be described in sequence as multiple discrete actions or operations in a manner that is most helpful for understanding the claimed subject matter. However, the order of description should not be understood to imply that these operations must rely on the order. Specifically, these operations cannot be performed in the order presented. The operations can be performed in a different order from the described embodiment. In additional embodiments, various additional operations can be performed and / or the described operations can be omitted.

[0018] For purposes of this disclosure, the phrases "A or B" and "A and / or B" mean (A), (B), or (A and B). For purposes of this disclosure, the phrases "A, B or C" and "A, B and / or C" mean (A), (B), (C), (A and B), (A and C), (B and C), or (A, B and C).

[0019] The description may use the phrases "in one embodiment" or "in multiple embodiments," which may each refer to one or more of the same or different embodiments. In addition, the terms "comprising," "including," "having," etc. used with the embodiments of the present disclosure are synonymous.

[0020] The terms "coupled", "electrically coupled", "communicatively coupled", "connected", "electrically connected", "communicatively connected", and their derivatives are used herein. The terms "coupled" and / or "connected" may mean that two or more elements are in direct physical or electrical contact with each other, may mean that two or more elements are in indirect contact with each other but still cooperate or interact with each other, and / or may mean that one or more other elements are coupled or connected between the elements said to be coupled to each other. The terms "directly coupled" and / or "directly connected" may mean that two or more elements are in direct contact with each other. The terms "electrically coupled" and / or "electrically connected" may mean that two or more elements may be in circuit contact with each other, including through one or more through-holes, traces, leads, wirebonds or other interconnect connections, through wireless communication channels or links, etc.

[0021] As used herein, the term "circuit" may refer to an integrated circuit (e.g., a field programmable gate array (FPGA), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), etc.), a discrete circuit, a combinational logic circuit, a system on a chip (SOC), a portion of a packaged system (SiP), or any combination thereof that provides the described functionality. In some embodiments, the circuit may execute one or more software or firmware modules to provide the described functionality. In some embodiments, the circuit may include a logic component that is capable of operating at least partially in hardware.

[0022] Conventionally, in the RRC_CONNECTED state, the UE needs to perform RRM measurements to monitor the signal quality from one or more cells at more than one frequency inter-layer. The UE may switch its one or more receivers to operate at one of those frequency inter-layers that need to be monitored during one SSB burst. Then, the UE may switch the one or more receivers to operate at another of those frequency inter-layers during the next SSB burst. Thus, SSB measurements may be performed at the frequency inter-layer per SSB burst. Such measurements may or may not be performed within a measurement gap. Therefore, not all SSBs of different frequency inter-layers are to be monitored in one SSB burst and / or during a measurement gap, which may affect the inter-frequency measurement update rate and / or affect the related UE handover performance.

[0023] Embodiments described herein may include, for example, apparatus, methods, and storage media for configuring and implementing RRM measurements for monitoring neighboring cells based on SSB timing groups in the RRC_CONNECTED state. The UE may determine a receiver switching pattern to effectively measure SSBs at one or more inter-frequency layers within an SSB burst and / or measurement gap. Thus, the UE may operate more efficiently when monitoring neighboring cells in the RRC_CONNECTED state.

[0024] Figure 1An exemplary wireless network 100 (hereinafter referred to as "network 100") according to various embodiments of the present invention is schematically illustrated. Network 100 may include a UE 105 in wireless communication with AN 110. UE 105 may be configured to connect, e.g., be communicatively coupled, to AN 110. In this example, connection 112 is illustrated as an air interface to achieve communicatively coupling, and may be consistent with a cellular communication protocol, such as a 5GNR protocol operating at mmWave and sub-6GHz, a global system for mobile communications (GSM) protocol, a code division multiple access (CDMA) network protocol, a push-to-talk (PTT) protocol, etc.

[0025] UE 105 is shown as a smart phone (e.g., a handheld touch screen mobile computing device that can connect to one or more cellular networks), but may also include any mobile or non-mobile computing device, such as a personal data assistant (PDA), a pager, a laptop computer, a desktop computer, a wireless handheld terminal, a customer premises equipment (CPE), a fixed wireless access (FWA) device, a vehicle-mounted UE, or any computing device that includes a wireless communication interface. In some embodiments, UE 105 may include an Internet of Things (IoT) UE, which may include a network access layer designed for low-power IoT applications that utilize short-term UE connections. The IoT UE may exchange data with an MTC server or device via a public land mobile network (PLMN), proximity-based services (ProSe) or device-to-device (D2D) communications, a sensor network, or an IoT network using technologies such as narrowband IoT (NB-IoT), machine-to-machine (M2M), or machine type communications (MTC). The M2M or MTC data exchange may be a machine-initiated data exchange. The NB-IoT / MTC network describes interconnected NB-IoT / MTC UEs, which may include uniquely identifiable embedded computing devices (within the Internet infrastructure) with ephemeral connections. NB-IoT / MTC UEs may execute background applications (e.g., keep-alive messages, status updates, location-related services, etc.).

[0026] AN 110 may initiate or terminate connection 112. AN 110 may be referred to as a base station (BS), NodeB, evolved NodeB (eNB), next generation eNB (ng-eNB), next generation NodeB (gNB or ng-gNB), NG-RAN node, cell, serving cell, neighbor cell, primary cell (PCell), secondary cell (SCell), primary SCell (PSCell), etc., and may include a ground station (e.g., a terrestrial access point) or a satellite station that provides coverage in a geographic area.

[0027] AN 110 may be the first point of contact for UE 105. In some embodiments, AN 110 may fulfill various logical functions including, but not limited to, radio resource control (c), radio network controller (RNC) functions such as radio bearer management, uplink and downlink dynamic radio resource management, data packet scheduling, and mobility management.

[0028] In some embodiments, a downlink resource grid may be used for downlink transmissions from AN 110 to UE 105, while uplink transmissions may utilize similar techniques. The grid may be a time-frequency grid, referred to as a resource grid or a time-frequency resource grid, which is a physical resource in the downlink in each time slot. For orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) systems, such a time-frequency plane representation is a common practice, which makes wireless resource allocation intuitive. Each column and each row of the resource grid corresponds to an OFDM symbol and an OFDM subcarrier, respectively. The duration of the resource grid in the time domain corresponds to a time slot in a radio frame. The smallest time-frequency unit in the resource grid is represented as a resource element. Each resource grid includes a plurality of resource blocks, which describe the mapping of certain physical channels to resource elements. Each resource block includes a set of resource elements; in the frequency domain, this may represent the minimum amount of resources that can currently be allocated. Such resource blocks are used to transmit several different physical downlink channels.

[0029] The physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) may carry user data and higher layer signaling to the UE 105. The physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) may carry information about the transport format and resource allocation related to the PDSCH channel, among other things. It may also inform the UE 105 about the transport format, resource allocation, and hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) information related to the uplink shared channel. Typically, downlink scheduling (allocation of control and shared channel resource blocks to the UE 105 within the cell) may be performed at the AN 110 based on channel quality information fed back from any of the UEs 105. Downlink resource allocation information may be sent on the PDCCH for (e.g., allocated to) the UE 105.

[0030] PDCCH can use control channel elements (CCE) to transmit control information. Before being mapped to resource elements, PDCCH complex-valued symbols can first be organized into four tuples, which can then be arranged using a sub-block interleaver for rate matching. One or more of these CCEs can be used to transmit each PDCCH, where each CCE can correspond to four sets of nine physical resource elements, called resource element groups (REGs). Four orthogonal phase shift keying (QPSK) symbols can be mapped to each REG. Depending on the size of the downlink control information (DCI) and channel conditions, one or more CCEs can be used to transmit the PDCCH.

[0031] Some embodiments may use the concept of resource allocation for control channel information, which is an extension of the above concept. For example, some embodiments may utilize an enhanced physical downlink control channel (ePDCCH) that uses PDSCH resources for control information transmission. One or more enhanced control channel elements (ECCEs) may be used to transmit ePDCCH. Similar to the above, each ECCE may correspond to four sets of nine physical resource elements, referred to as enhanced resource element groups (EREGs). In some cases, ECCEs may have other numbers of EREGs.

[0032] like Figure 1 As shown, UE 105 may include millimeter wave communication circuits grouped according to functions. The circuits shown here are for illustrative purposes, and UE 105 may include Figure 3A and Figure 3B UE 105 may include protocol processing circuitry 115 that may implement one or more layer operations related to medium access control (MAC), radio link control (RLC), packet data convergence protocol (PDCP), radio resource control (RRC), and non-access stratum (NAS). Protocol processing circuitry 115 may include one or more processing cores (not shown) for executing instructions and one or more memory structures (not shown) for storing program and data information.

[0033] The UE 105 may also include digital baseband circuitry 125, which may implement physical layer (PHY) functions, including one or more of the following: HARQ functions, scrambling and / or descrambling, encoding and / or decoding, layer mapping and / or demapping, modulation symbol mapping, received symbol and / or bit metric determination, multi-antenna port precoding and / or decoding, which may include space-time, space-frequency or space coding, reference signal generation and / or detection, preamble sequence generation and / or decoding, synchronization sequence generation and / or detection, control channel signal blind decoding, and one or more of other related functions.

[0034] UE 105 may also include transmit circuitry 135 , receive circuitry 145 , radio frequency (RF) circuitry 155 , and an RF front end (RFFE) 165 , which may include or be connected to one or more antenna panels 175 .

[0035] In some embodiments, the RF circuit 155 may include multiple parallel RF chains or branches for one or more of transmit or receive functions; each chain or branch may be coupled to an antenna panel 175 .

[0036] In some embodiments, the protocol processing circuit 115 may include one or more instances of control circuits (not shown) to provide control functions for the digital baseband circuit 125 (or simply referred to as "baseband circuit 125"), the transmit circuit 135, the receive circuit 145, the RF circuit 155, the RFFE 165, and one or more antenna panels 175.

[0037] UE reception may be established by and via one or more antenna panels 175, RFFE 165, RF circuitry 155, receive circuitry 145, digital baseband circuitry 125, and protocol processing circuitry 115. One or more antenna panels 175 may receive transmissions from AN 110 via receive beamforming signals received by multiple antennas / antenna elements of one or more antenna panels 175. More details on the UE 105 architecture are provided in Figure 2 , Figure 3A / Figure 3B 6. Transmissions from AN 110 may be transmit beamformed by the antenna of AN 110. In some embodiments, baseband circuitry 125 may include both transmit circuitry 135 and receive circuitry 145. In other embodiments, baseband circuitry 125 may be implemented in separate chips (e.g., one chip including transmit circuitry 135 and another chip including receive circuitry 145) or modules.

[0038] Similar to UE 105, AN 110 may include millimeter wave / sub-millimeter wave communication circuits grouped according to functions. AN 110 may include protocol processing circuits 120, digital baseband circuits 130 (or simply referred to as "baseband circuits 130"), transmission circuits 140, reception circuits 150, RF circuits 160, RFFE 170, and one or more antenna panels 180.

[0039] Cell transmission can be established by and via the protocol processing circuit 120, the digital baseband circuit 130, the transmission circuit 140, the RF circuit 160, the RFFE 170, and one or more antenna panels 180. The one or more antenna panels 180 can transmit signals by forming a transmit beam. FIG. 3 also shows details about the RFFE 170 and the antenna panel 180.

[0040] According to various embodiments herein, AN 110 may generate and transmit a message to include a measurement gap configuration. According to various embodiments herein, UE 105 may decode the message transmitted by AN 100 to determine the starting point of the configured measurement gap.

[0041] Figure 2 2 shows example components of an apparatus 200 according to some embodiments. Figure 1 compared to, Figure 2 Exemplary components of UE 105 or AN 110 are shown from the perspective of receiving and / or transmitting functions, and may not include Figure 1 All components described in . In some embodiments, at least as shown in the figure, the device 200 may include application circuit 202, baseband circuit 204, RF circuit 206, RFFE circuit 208 and multiple antennas 210 at the same time. In some embodiments, baseband circuit 204 may be similar to baseband circuit 125 and substantially interchangeable. Multiple antennas 210 may constitute one or more antenna panels for beamforming. The components of the illustrated device 200 may be included in a UE or AN. In some embodiments, the device 200 may include fewer elements (for example, the cell may not utilize application circuit 202, but include a processor / controller to process IP data received from the EPC). In some embodiments, the device 200 may include additional elements, such as memory / storage, display, camera, sensor, or input / output (I / O) interface. In other embodiments, the components described below may be included in more than one device (for example, the circuit may be included separately in more than one device for cloud-RAN (C-RAN) implementation).

[0042] The application circuit 202 may include one or more application processors. For example, the application circuit 202 may include circuits such as, but not limited to, one or more single-core or multi-core processors. The processors may include any combination of general-purpose processors and special-purpose processors (e.g., graphics processors, application processors, etc.). These processors may be coupled to or may include memory / storage devices, and may be configured to execute instructions stored in the memory / storage devices to enable various applications or operating systems to run on the device 200. In some embodiments, the processors of the application circuit 202 may process IP data packets received from the EPC.

[0043] The baseband circuit 204 may include circuits such as, but not limited to, one or more single-core or multi-core processors. In some embodiments, the baseband circuit 204 may be similar to the baseband circuit 125 and the baseband circuit 130 and may be substantially interchangeable. The baseband circuit 204 may include one or more baseband processors or control logic components to process baseband signals received from the receive signal path of the RF circuit 206 and generate baseband signals for the transmit signal path of the RF circuit 206. The baseband circuit 204 may interact with the application circuit 202 to generate and process baseband signals and control the operation of the RF circuit 206. For example, in some embodiments, the baseband circuit 204 may include a third generation (3G) baseband processor 204A, a fourth generation (4G) baseband processor 204B, a fifth generation (5G) and / or NR baseband processor 204C, or other baseband processors 204D of other existing generations, generations under development or generations to be developed in the future (e.g., second generation (2G), sixth generation (6G), etc.). The baseband circuitry 204 (e.g., one or more of the baseband processors 204A-D) may handle various radio control functions that enable communication with one or more radio networks via the RF circuitry 206. In other embodiments, some or all of the functions of the baseband processors 204A-D may be included in a module stored in the memory 204G and executed via the central processing unit (CPU) 204E. The radio control functions may include, but are not limited to, signal modulation / demodulation, encoding / decoding, radio frequency shifting, etc. In some embodiments, the modulation / demodulation circuitry of the baseband circuitry 204 may include fast Fourier transform (FFT), precoding, or constellation mapping / demapping functions. In some embodiments, the encoding / decoding circuitry of the baseband circuitry 204 may include convolution, tail-biting convolution, turbo, Viterbi, or low-density parity check (LDPC) encoder / decoder functions. The implementation of the modulation / demodulation and encoder / decoder functions is not limited to these examples, and may include other suitable functions in other embodiments.

[0044] In some embodiments, the baseband circuit 204 may include one or more audio digital signal processors (DSPs) 204F. The audio DSP 204F may include elements for compression / decompression and echo cancellation, and may include other suitable processing elements in other embodiments. In some embodiments, the components of the baseband circuit may be appropriately combined in a single chip, a single chipset, or disposed on the same circuit board. In some embodiments, some or all of the components of the baseband circuit 204 and the application circuit 202 may be implemented together, such as, for example, on a SOC.

[0045] In some embodiments, baseband circuitry 204 may provide communications compatible with one or more radio technologies. For example, in some embodiments, baseband circuitry 204 may support communications with an Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN) or other wireless metropolitan area network (WMAN), wireless local area network (WLAN), wireless personal area network (WPAN). Embodiments in which baseband circuitry 204 is configured to support radio communications of more than one wireless protocol may be referred to as multi-mode baseband circuitry.

[0046] RF circuitry 206 may communicate with a wireless network through a non-solid medium using modulated electromagnetic radiation. In various embodiments, RF circuitry 206 may include one or more switches, filters, amplifiers, etc. to facilitate communication with a wireless network. RF circuitry 206 may include receiver circuitry 206A, which may include circuitry for down-converting RF signals received from RFFE circuitry 208 and providing baseband signals to baseband circuitry 204. RF circuitry 206 may also include transmitter circuitry 206B, which may include circuitry for up-converting baseband signals provided by baseband circuitry 204 and providing RF output signals for transmission to RFFE circuitry 208.

[0047] In some embodiments, the output baseband signal and the input baseband signal may be analog baseband signals, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. In some alternative embodiments, the output baseband signal and the input baseband signal may be digital baseband signals. In these alternative embodiments, RF circuit 206 may include analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and digital-to-analog converter (DAC) circuits, and baseband circuit 204 may include a digital baseband interface to communicate with RF circuit 206.

[0048] In some dual-mode embodiments, separate radio integrated circuit (IC) circuits may be provided to process signals for each spectrum, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

[0049] The RFFE circuitry 208 may include a receive signal path that may include circuitry configured to operate on RF beams received from one or more antennas 210. The RF beams may be transmit beams formed and transmitted by the AN 110 when operating in the millimeter wave or sub-millimeter wave frequency range. The RFFE circuitry 208 coupled to the one or more antennas 210 may receive the transmit beams and forward them to the RF circuitry 206 for further processing. The RFFE circuitry 208 may also include a transmit signal path that may include circuitry configured to amplify transmit signals provided by the RF circuitry 206 for transmission by the one or more antennas 210 with or without beamforming. In various embodiments, amplification through the transmit or receive signal path may be accomplished only in the RF circuitry 206, only in the RFFE circuitry 208, or in both the RF circuitry 206 and the RFFE circuitry 208.

[0050] In some embodiments, the RFFE circuit 208 may include a TX / RX switch to switch between transmit mode and receive mode operation. The RFFE circuit 208 may include a receive signal path and a transmit signal path. The receive signal path of the RFFE circuit 208 may include a low noise amplifier (LNA) to amplify the received RF beam and provide the amplified received RF signal as an output (e.g., to the RF circuit 206). The transmit signal path of the RFFE circuit 208 may include a power amplifier (PA) to amplify the input RF signal (e.g., provided by the RF circuit 206), and one or more filters to generate an RF signal for beamforming and subsequent transmission (e.g., through one or more of the one or more antennas 210).

[0051] The processor of the application circuit 202 and the processor of the baseband circuit 204 can be used to execute elements of one or more instances of the protocol stack. For example, the processor of the baseband circuit 204 can be used alone or in combination to perform layer 3, layer 2, or layer 1 functions, while the processor of the application circuit 202 can utilize data received from these layers (e.g., packet data) and further perform layer 4 functions (e.g., transport communication protocol (TCP) and user datagram protocol (UDP) layers). As mentioned herein, layer 3 may include a radio resource control (RRC) layer, which will be described in further detail below. As mentioned herein, layer 2 may include a medium access control (MAC) layer, a radio link control (RLC) layer, and a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer, which will be described in further detail below. As mentioned herein, layer 1 may include a physical (PHY) layer of the UE / AN, which will be described in further detail below.

[0052] Figure 3AAn embodiment of a RF front end 300 incorporating a millimeter wave RFFE 305 and one or more sub-6 GHz radio frequency integrated circuits (RFICs) 310 is shown. In some embodiments, the millimeter wave RFFE 305 may be similar to and substantially interchangeable with the RFFE 165, RFFE 170, and / or RFFE circuitry 208. The millimeter wave RFFE 305 may be used for the UE 105 when operating in FR2 or millimeter wave; the RFIC 310 may be used for the UE 105 when operating in FR1, sub-6 GHz, or LTE bands. In this embodiment, the one or more RFICs 310 may be physically separated from the millimeter wave RFFE 305. The RFIC 310 may include connections to one or more antennas 320. The RFFE 305 may be coupled to a plurality of antennas 315, which may constitute one or more antenna panels.

[0053] Figure 3B An alternative embodiment of RFFE 325 is shown. In this aspect, both mmWave and sub-6 GHz radio functionality may be implemented in the same physical RFFE 330. RFFE 330 may incorporate both mmWave antenna 335 and sub-6 GHz antenna 340. In some embodiments, RFFE 330 may be similar to and substantially interchangeable with RFFE 165, RFFE 170, and / or RFFE circuitry 208.

[0054] Figure 3A and 3B Various RFFE architecture implementations of the UE 105 or AN 110 are shown.

[0055] Figure 4A An example of RRM measurements in the RRC_CONNECTED state based on SSB bursts according to various embodiments is shown. The bottom row represents the frequency intra-layer f0 400 of the serving cell of the UE 105. The middle row represents the frequency inter-layer f1 405 of the serving cell, and the top row represents another frequency inter-layer f2 410 of the serving cell. In this exemplary illustration, all neighboring cells may have the same burst pattern, and they may be time synchronized with each other. It should be noted that the various embodiments disclosed herein may be applicable to non-time synchronized SSB and / or different SSB burst patterns.

[0056] The neighbor cell transmission may include a first SSB burst 1 415A and a second SSB burst 2 415B, and more similar SSB bursts (not shown). Figure 4AIn each of the illustrated SSB bursts, there may be four SSBs (SSB1_f1, SSB2_f1, SSB3_f1, and SSB4_f1) at a first inter-frequency layer f1 405 and four SSBs (SSB1_f2, SSB2_f2, SSB3_f2, and SSB4_f2) at a second inter-frequency layer f2 410. In the RRC_CONNECTED state, the UE 105 may be required to monitor at least two inter-frequency layers, which means that the UE 105 may switch its receiver or RF receiver to operate at those frequencies to receive the transmitted SSBs and / or perform RRM measurements. Since the RRM measurements will be based on the SSB bursts, the UE 105 may switch the receiver to operate at the inter-frequency layer f2 410 for the duration of the first SSB burst 1 415A within the first measurement gap 418A and to operate at the inter-frequency layer f1 405 for the duration of the second SSB burst 2 415B within the second measurement gap 418B. The on_time period of the two receivers is Figure 4A Thus, SSB1_f2, SSB2_f2, SSB3_f2, and SSB4_f2 corresponding to SSB burst 1 415A and SSB1_f1, SSB2_f1, SSB3_f1, and SSB4_f1 corresponding to SSB burst 2 415B may be measured by UE 105 in two measurement gaps, which are illustrated as RX_ON_f1 and RX-ON_f2 in FIG. Figure 4A In addition, during the non-measurement gap time, the UE 105 may switch the receiver back to the frequency inner layer f0 400 for downlink data reception, as shown by RX_ON_f0 420. Note that the frequency inner layer refers to a frequency associated with the same frequency as used by the UE's serving cell, and the inter-frequency layer refers to a frequency associated with a different frequency than used by the UE's serving cell.

[0057] RRM measurements may include, but are not limited to, reference signal received power (RSRP), reference signal received quality (RSRQ), signal-to-noise-and-interference ratio (SINR), and received signal strength indication (RSSI) measurements relative to the channel state information reference signal (CSI_RS) in SSB and / or NR. Depending on the subcarrier spacing (SCS) of the reference signal, the SSB may include 1 or up to 64 SSBs. The SSB burst may be periodically transmitted with a preconfigured repetition period (RP), which may be 5 milliseconds (ms) to 160 ms. In NR, the SSB burst configuration indicating the SSB burst transmission may be provided to the UE 105 by the AN 110 via a neighboring cell via system information block type 1 (SIB1).

[0058] In some embodiments, RRM measurements performed based on SSB bursts may be referred to herein as SSB scanning measurements, where the UE 105 may not be able to switch to operate at more than one inter-frequency layer during one scheduled measurement gap. In such scanning measurements, if the UE 105 needs to monitor SSBs at more than one inter-frequency layer, the UE may monitor each inter-frequency layer in more than one measurement gap.

[0059] In the NR RRC_CONNECTED state, the UE may need to monitor and measure neighboring cells at more than one inter-frequency layer, which can be used to prepare for inter-frequency handovers in high mobility scenarios to reduce or minimize call drops and / or other similar situations. RRM measurements can be performed by interrupting intra-frequency downlink PDSCH and / or PDCCH reception by AN 110 based on one or more pre-configured measurement gap patterns. UE 105 can switch the receiver to operate at the inter-frequency layer during the measurement gap and perform RRM measurements accordingly. As described above, RRM measurements based on SSB bursts can only measure one inter-frequency layer during one measurement gap period. In contrast, RRM measurements based on SSB timing groups can measure more than one inter-frequency layer during one measurement gap period to improve the measurement update rate of the corresponding measurement gap.

[0060] Figure 4B An example of RRM measurements in the RRC_CONNECTED state based on SSB timing groups according to various embodiments is shown. Figure 4A , the bottom row represents the intra-frequency layer f0 400. The middle row represents the inter-frequency layer f1 405, and the top row represents the inter-frequency layer f2 410. In this exemplary illustration, all neighboring cells may have the same burst pattern, and they may be time synchronized with each other. It should be noted that various embodiments disclosed herein may be applicable to non-time synchronized SSB and / or different SSB burst patterns.

[0061] The neighboring cell transmission may include a first SSB burst 1 435A and a second SSB burst 2 435B, and more similar SSB bursts (not shown). In each SSB burst, there may be four SSB groups (SSB group 1, SSB group 2, SSB group 3, and SSB group 4) at both the inter-frequency layer f1 405 and the inter-frequency layer f2 410. The SSB group may be referred to as an SSB timing group, and if those SSBs are aligned on a time scale when arriving at the UE 105, the SSB timing group groups all SSBs into one SSB group. Note that the alignment of the SSBs may not be exact, and a certain degree of tolerance may be allowed. For example, there may be one or more SSBs that arrive at the UE receiver at or near time t0. All those SSBs may be grouped into SSB group 1. All those grouped SSBs may have the same or different carrier frequencies and / or be in different inter-frequency layers. Therefore, those SSBs may be at the inter-frequency layer f1 405 and the inter-frequency layer f2 410, or Figure 4B At some other inter-frequency layer(s) not shown in FIG.

[0062] In an embodiment, the UE 105 may measure SSBs from neighboring cells within an SSB burst in the RRC_CONNECTED state. Thus, the UE 105 may determine one or more SSB time groups that include SSBs from neighboring cells operating on one or more inter-frequency layers. Such determination may be based on the corresponding power levels and / or other signal quality indicators of the SSBs according to RRM measurements within one or more SSB bursts and / or measurement gaps. This will be discussed below with respect to Figure 5 Further details on this point are discussed in detail below. Thus, the receiver switching pattern may be determined based on the SSBs that need to be measured (e.g., one or more pre-selected SSBs). Figure 4BIn the example shown, SSB group 1 and SSB group 3 may have pre-selected time-synchronized SSBs at inter-frequency layer f1; SSB group 2 may have pre-selected time-synchronized SSBs at inter-frequency layer f1 and inter-frequency layer f2, and SSB group 4 may have pre-selected time-synchronized SSBs at inter-frequency layer f2. Accordingly, a receiver switching pattern 440 may be determined. According to the receiver switching pattern 440, the UE 105 may switch its receiver to receive and measure SSB group 1 and SSB group 3 at inter-frequency layer f1 during the first SSB burst 1 435A and the second SSB burst 2 435B and / or the measurement gap 418A / 418B. The UE 105 may switch the receiver to receive and measure SSB group 2 at inter-frequency layer f1 during the first SSB burst 1 435A and / or the measurement gap 438A and at inter-frequency layer f2 during the second SSB burst 2 435B and / or the measurement gap 438B in a time division multiplexed manner. The UE 105 may switch the receiver to receive and measure SSB group 4 at the inter-frequency layer f1 during the first SSB burst 435A and the second SSB burst 435B and / or the measurement gaps 438A / 438B.

[0063] If no measurement gap is scheduled, the UE 105 may switch the receiver back to operating in the frequency inner layer f0, such as Figure 4B In the “RX_ON_f0” Figure 4B In the figure, the SSB timing group to be measured is shaded in gray. Figure 4B In the example of , both inter-frequency layers (f1 and f2) are measured in one measurement gap. Since UE 105 monitors only two inter-frequency layers, the measurement update rate for corresponding SSB timing groups 1, 3, and 4 is one per measurement gap; and the measurement update rate for SSB timing group 2 is one per two measurement gaps.

[0064] In an embodiment, according to Figure 4A UE 105 may determine one or more SSB timing groups corresponding to the inter-frequency layer to be measured based on scanning measurements of SSBs with one or more measurement gaps. Such scanning measurements may be performed in one or more measurement gaps. For example, if UE 105 is to monitor three inter-frequency layers of a neighboring cell, UE 105 may need to perform scanning measurements in three measurement gaps for the corresponding three inter-frequency layers. UE 105 may then determine one or more SSB timing groups based on the determined one or more SSBs that need to be measured in the RRC_CONNECTED state.

[0065] In an embodiment, the UE 105 may determine the receiver switching pattern based on the SSB timing group pattern (rather than the SSB burst pattern) after detecting / determining that one or more SSBs or SSB timing groups are measured at a particular frequency layer.

[0066] In an embodiment, if an SSB timing group has a time that conflicts with an SSB from a different inter-frequency layer (e.g., Figure 4B 2), the UE 105 may determine to measure the SSBs at different frequency layers in a time division multiplexing manner. For example, Figure 4B It is shown that the UE receiver can switch to operate in the first SSB burst 1 435A and / or the first measurement gap 438A to measure SSB group 2 at the frequency inter-layer f1, and switch to operate in the second SSB burst 1 435B and / or the second measurement gap 438B to measure SSB group 2 at the frequency inter-layer f2.

[0067] In an embodiment, if an SSB group contains SSBs that need to be monitored at only one inter-frequency layer (e.g., Figure 4B If the UE 105 determines that the SSB group is to be measured at the inter-frequency layer in each scheduled measurement gap, the UE 105 may determine to measure the SSB group at the inter-frequency layer in each scheduled measurement gap, so that the measurement update rate may be one per measurement gap. The measurement update rate refers to the rate at which RRM measurements for neighbor cell monitoring may be performed in a measurement gap with respect to a particular SSB.

[0068] In an embodiment, if a measurement gap is not scheduled, the UE 105 may determine to switch the receiver to operate in the inner frequency layer for data transmission and / or reception.

[0069] By comparison Figure 4A and Figure 4B Based on the RX_ON time at the inter-frequency layer in the middle, it can be inferred that UE 105 can be able to monitor / measure SSBs at different inter-frequency layers within one SSB burst and / or measurement gap based on RRM measurements based on SSB timing groups. In addition, the corresponding measurement update rates can be increased accordingly. For example, SSB 1 and 3 at inter-frequency layer f1 and SSB 4 at inter-frequency layer f2 can have their corresponding measurement update rates increased from 50% to 100%.

[0070] Figure 5 Shows that according to Figure 4A and Figure 4BAn exemplary operational flow 500 is shown for facilitating a neighbor cell monitoring process in the RRC_CONNECTED state in accordance with various embodiments. The operational flow 500 may include two modes, an SSB scanning mode 505 and an SSB tracking mode 510. In the SSB scanning mode 505, the UE 105 may perform one or more SSB scanning measurements, which may be related to the neighbor cell monitoring process in the RRC_CONNECTED state. Figure 4A The SSB burst-based RRM measurements are the same or substantially similar. In SSB tracking mode 510, UE 105 may perform one or more SSB tracking measurements, which may be related to Figure 4B The SSB timing group-based RRM measurements are the same or substantially similar.

[0071] In an embodiment, one or more SSBs may be selected based on one or more SSB scanning measurements in the SSB scanning mode 505 within one or more measurement gaps. If the quality metrics of those SSBs are greater than the scanning threshold, the UE 105 may switch to the SSB tracking mode 510. The quality metrics may include, but are not limited to, reference signal received power (RSRP), reference signal received quality (RSRQ), signal to noise plus interference ratio (SINR), and received signal strength indication (RSSI) measurements of the SSB. In some embodiments, the UE 105 may select the strongest one or more SSBs based on the scanning measurements. The UE 105 may select the one or more SSBs based on other criteria regarding the quality metrics of the SSBs. The quality metric may take into account one or more of those measurements relative to the SSB. A scanning threshold that may include a value or a set of values ​​may be configured by the AN 110 or predetermined by the UE 105. The UE 105 may include the one or more selected SSBs into one or more SSB timing groups based on the timing information of the selected SSBs.

[0072] In an embodiment, the UE 105 may perform SSB tracking measurements with respect to a selected SSB in its corresponding SSB timing group in the SSB tracking mode 510 within the corresponding scheduled measurement gap. If the corresponding quality metric of the measured SSB is less than a tracking threshold, which may include a value or a set of values ​​corresponding to the measurement results used in this regard (e.g., RSRP, RSRQ, SINR, RSSI, or a combination thereof), the UE 105 may switch back to the SSB scanning mode 505. It is noted that in this regard, various algorithms and / or weights may be used to form a determination method.

[0073] In an embodiment, a scanning threshold may be used to ensure that the selected SSB should be above a certain quality to be monitored and / or measured in the RRC_CONNECTED state. A tracking threshold may ensure that the SSB should be reselected if the quality of the selected SSB degrades due to various reasons in the network (such as UE mobility, interference, etc.).

[0074] Fig. 6A It is shown that according to Figure 4A / Figure 4B and Figure 5 An operational flow / algorithm structure 600 of various embodiments is shown to facilitate a receiver switching mode determination and implementation process in an RRC_CONNECTED state by a UE 105. The operational flow / algorithm structure 600 may be performed by a UE 105 or circuitry thereof.

[0075] The operational flow / algorithm structure 600 may include determining, at 610, a set of SSB timing groups in an SSB burst based on one or more selected SSBs. Figure 4A Various embodiments are described, where one or more selected SSBs may be determined based on one or more SSB scan measurements. Each SSB timing group in the set of SSB timing groups may include one or more SSBs that are temporally co-related. For example, the SSBs in an SSB timing group may have the same transmission time or sufficiently close transmission times at the AN 110, and / or the same reception time or sufficiently close reception times at the UE 105. The temporally co-located SSBs may be determined based on decoding one or more SSB burst configurations coupled to reception of the SSBs by the UE 105.

[0076] In an embodiment, the SSB scanning measurement may be performed at each frequency layer and / or each neighboring cell. According to the decoded one or more neighboring cell SSB burst configurations, the SSB scanning measurement may be performed based on the SSB burst.

[0077] Additionally or alternatively, the UE 105 may determine the SSB timing group based on one or more SSB burst configurations relative to one or more neighboring cells. The UE 105 may receive and / or obtain one or more neighboring cell SSB burst configurations via system information block type 1 (SIB1) or other system signaling. Each neighboring cell SSB burst configuration may indicate one or more SSB bursts transmitted with the neighboring cell at one or more inter-frequency layers.

[0078] The operational flow / algorithm structure 600 may include generating a receiver switching pattern based on the set of SSB timing groups at 620, the receiver switching pattern indicating whether to switch the UE's receiver to operate in one or more inter-frequency layers associated with a serving cell of the UE in the RRC_CONNECTED state with respect to respective SSB timing groups in the set of SSB timing groups. The receiver switching pattern may be used to configure the UE 105 to switch on and off one or more receivers of the UE 105. Figure 1 and / or Figure 2 The one or more receivers may include one or more RF sections and one or more baseband sections. The one or more receivers may also include one or more intermediate frequency (IF) sections of a receiver for operating within the FR2 range.

[0079] The operational flow / algorithm structure 600 may include switching the receiver to operate at 630 in the RRC_CONNECTED state for respective SSB measurements relative to respective SSB timing groups for respective inter-frequency layers of the one or more inter-frequency layers based on the receiver switching mode. The SSB measurements may be referred to as SSB tracking measurements, as described with respect to Figure 5 described.

[0080] In an implementation scheme for determining the set of SSB timing groups, UE 105 may perform one or more SSB scanning measurements at the one or more frequency inter-layers relative to one or more SSB bursts, select one or more SSBs to be measured at the corresponding one or more frequency inter-layers for neighboring cell monitoring in the RRC_CONNECTED state, and determine one or more SSB timing groups based on the selected one or more SSBs and their corresponding timing information.

[0081] Figure 6B It is shown that according to Figure 4A and Figure 4B The illustrated various embodiments are an operational flow / algorithm structure 605 for facilitating the AN 110 to determine and implement a receiver switching mode in an RRC_CONNECTED state. The AN 110 may be an eNB in ​​an NR-related network operating in EN-DC mode, NR CA mode, NR-NR DC mode, or other NR standalone mode. The operational flow / algorithm structure 605 may be performed by the AN 110 or its circuitry.

[0082] The operational flow / algorithm structure 605 may include generating one or more SSBs relative to one or more neighboring cells based on one or more SSB burst configurations at 615. The one or more SSBs may be operating on one or more inter-frequency layers associated with a serving cell of the UE. The SSBs relative to different neighboring cells may correspond to the same or different SSB burst patterns.

[0083] The operational flow / algorithm structure 605 may also include transmitting the one or more SSBs at 625. The one or more SSBs may be transmitted for neighbor cell monitoring purposes and / or other similar purposes.

[0084] In an embodiment, AN 110 may also transmit one or more SSB burst configurations relative to one or more neighboring cells to the UE. The one or more SSB burst configurations may indicate transmission of the one or more SSBs corresponding to the one or more neighboring cells.

[0085] Figure 7 An exemplary interface of a baseband circuit according to some embodiments is shown. As discussed above, Figure 2 The baseband circuit 204 may include processors 204A to 204E and a memory 204G used by the processors. Figure 4A / Figure 4B and Figure 5 In various embodiments, the processors 204A-204E of the UE 105 may execute some or all of the operation flow / algorithm structure 600. Figure 4A / Figure 4B and Figure 5 In various embodiments, the processors 204A to 204E of the AN 110 may execute some or all of the operation flow / algorithm structure 605. Each of the processors 204A to 204E may include a memory interface 704A to 704E for sending / receiving data to / from the memory 204G, respectively. The processors 204A to 204E of the UE 105 may be used to process SFTD measurements; the processors 204A to 204E of the AN 110 may be used to generate SFTD measurement configurations.

[0086] The baseband circuit 204 may also include: one or more interfaces to communicatively couple to other circuits / devices, such as a memory interface 712 (e.g., an interface for sending / receiving data to / from a memory external to the baseband circuit 204); an application circuit interface 714 (e.g., an interface for sending / receiving data to / from a memory external to the baseband circuit 204); Figure 2 RF circuit interface 716 (for example, for sending / receiving data to / from the application circuit 202); Figure 2an interface for sending / receiving data to / from a RF circuit 206); a wireless hardware connection interface 718 (e.g., for sending / receiving data to / from a near field communication (NFC) component, Parts (e.g. Low power consumption), components and other communication components to send / receive data); and a power management interface 720 (for example, an interface for sending / receiving power or control signals).

[0087] Figure 8 is a block diagram illustrating components capable of reading instructions from a machine-readable medium or computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium) and performing any one or more of the methods discussed herein, according to some exemplary embodiments. Specifically, Figure 8 A schematic diagram of hardware resources 800 is shown, including one or more processors (or processor cores) 810, one or more memory / storage devices 820, and one or more communication resources 830, each of which may be communicatively coupled via a bus 840. For embodiments in which node virtualization (e.g., network function virtualization (NFV)) is utilized, a hypervisor 802 may be executed to provide an execution environment for one or more network slices / sub-slices to utilize the hardware resources 800.

[0088] Processor 810 (e.g., a central processing unit (CPU), a reduced instruction set computing (RISC) processor, a complex instruction set computing (CISC) processor, a graphics processing unit (GPU), a digital signal processor (DSP) (such as a baseband processor), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a radio frequency integrated circuit (RFIC), another processor, or any suitable combination thereof) may include, for example, processor 812 and processor 814.

[0089] The memory / storage device 820 may include main memory, disk storage, or any suitable combination thereof. The memory / storage device 820 may include, but is not limited to, any type of volatile or non-volatile memory, such as dynamic random access memory (DRAM), static random access memory (SRAM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory, solid-state storage, etc.

[0090] The communication resources 830 may include an interconnect or network interface component or other suitable device to communicate with one or more peripheral devices 804 or one or more databases 806 via the network 808. For example, the communication resources 830 may include a wired communication component (e.g., for coupling via a universal serial bus (USB)), a cellular communication component, an NFC component, Parts (e.g. Low power consumption), components and other communication components.

[0091] The instructions 850 may include software, programs, applications, applet, applications, or other executable codes for causing at least any one of the processors 810 to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein (e.g., operation flows 600 and 605). For example, in an embodiment in which the hardware resource 800 is implemented in the UE 105, the instructions 850 may cause the UE to perform some or all of the operation flow / algorithm structure 600. In other embodiments, the hardware resource 800 may be implemented in the AN 110. The instructions 850 may cause the AN 110 to perform some or all of the operation flow / algorithm structure 605. The instructions 850 may reside in whole or in part in at least one of the processor 810 (e.g., in a cache memory of the processor), the memory / storage device 820, or any suitable combination thereof. In addition, any portion of the instructions 850 may be transmitted to the hardware resource 800 from any combination of the peripheral device 804 or the database 806. Thus, the memory of processor 810, memory / storage device 820, peripheral device 804, and database 806 are examples of computer-readable media and machine-readable media.

[0092] Below are some non-limiting examples. The following examples relate to additional embodiments, and the details in the examples can be used anywhere in one or more embodiments previously discussed. Any of the following examples can be combined with any other example or any embodiment discussed herein.

[0093] Embodiment 1 may include a method comprising: determining a set of SSB timing groups in an SSB burst based on one or more selected synchronization signal blocks (SSBs); generating a receiver switching pattern based on the set of SSB timing groups, the receiver switching pattern indicating whether to switch a receiver of a UE to operate in one or more frequency inter-layers associated with a serving cell of the UE in a radio resource control_connected (RRC_CONNECTED) state relative to each SSB timing group in the set of SSB timing groups; and switching the receiver based on the receiver switching pattern to operate in each of the one or more frequency layers relative to each SSB timing group for corresponding radio resource management (RRM) measurements in the RRC_CONNECTED state.

[0094] Embodiment 2 may include the method of embodiment 1 and / or some other embodiments herein, wherein the one or more inter-frequency layers are to be monitored and / or measured by a user equipment (UE) through RRM measurements.

[0095] Embodiment 3 may include the methods of embodiments 1 to 2 and / or some other embodiments herein, wherein the one or more inter-frequency layers refer to one or more carrier frequencies different from the carrier frequency used between the UE and the UE's serving cell.

[0096] Embodiment 4 may include the method of embodiments 1 to 2 and / or some other embodiments herein, wherein the RRM measurement is a SSB scanning measurement or a SSB tracking measurement.

[0097] Embodiment 5 may include the method of embodiments 1 to 4 and / or some other embodiments herein, wherein the set of SSB timing groups is determined by performing SSB scanning measurements relative to one or more SSB bursts at the one or more frequency layers when one or more SSB burst configurations are received; selecting one or more SSBs to be measured at the corresponding one or more inter-frequency layers for neighboring cell monitoring in the RRC_CONNECTED state based on the SSB scanning measurements; and determining one or more SSB timing groups based on the selected one or more SSBs and their corresponding timing information.

[0098] Embodiment 6 may include the method of embodiment 5 and / or some other embodiments herein, wherein selecting the one or more SSBs is based on determining, by the SSB scanning measurement, that respective quality metrics of the one or more SSBs are greater than a scanning threshold; and selecting the one or more SSBs.

[0099] Embodiment 7 may include the method of embodiment 6 and / or some other embodiments herein, wherein the corresponding quality metric is a measurement result based on at least one of the reference signal received power (RSRP), reference signal received quality (RSRQ), signal to noise plus interference ratio (SINR) and received signal strength indication (RSSI) measurement results in the SSB scanning measurement.

[0100] Embodiment 8 may include a method according to Embodiment 6 and / or some other embodiments herein, further comprising performing one or more SSB tracking measurements relative to the respective inter-frequency layers in the one or more frequency layers for the corresponding radio resource management (RRM) measurements in the RRC_CONNECTED state based on the receiver switching mode.

[0101] Embodiment 9 may include the method of embodiment 8 and / or some other embodiments herein, wherein the SSB group set is a first SSB group set, and the SSB scanning measurement is a first SSB scanning measurement at the one or more frequency inter-layers relative to the first one or more SSB burst sets.

[0102] Embodiment 10 may include the method of embodiment 9 and / or some other embodiments herein, further comprising: determining, based on performing the one or more SSB tracking measurements, that at least one quality metric of the individual quality metrics of one or more measured SSBs is below a tracking threshold; and performing a second SSB scanning measurement relative to a second one or more SSB burst sets at the one or more inter-frequency layers.

[0103] Embodiment 11 may include the methods of embodiments 1 to 10 and / or some other embodiments herein, wherein the receiver switching mode is used to indicate whether to switch the receiver to operate in one of the one or more frequency inter-layers relative to a corresponding SSB timing group in the set of SSB timing groups during one or more SSB bursts corresponding to a corresponding measurement gap.

[0104] Embodiment 12 may include the methods of embodiments 1 to 10 and / or some other embodiments herein, wherein the receiver switching mode is used to indicate that if one SSB timing group in the set of SSB timing groups includes only one selected SSB among the one or more selected SSBs, then the receiver is switched to operate at one of the one or more frequency inter-layers relative to the one SSB timing group.

[0105] Embodiment 13 may include the method of embodiment 12 and / or some other embodiments herein, wherein the receiver switching mode is used to indicate switching of the receiver to operate between the one frequencies until it is determined that the respective quality metrics of the one or more measured SSBs are below the tracking threshold.

[0106] Embodiment 14 may include the methods of embodiments 1 to 10 and / or some other embodiments herein, wherein the receiver switching mode is used to indicate that if one SSB timing group in the set of SSB timing groups includes two or more selected SSBs of two or more frequency inter-layers, then the receiver is switched to operate on the two or more frequency inter-layers in a time division multiplexed manner relative to the one SSB timing group.

[0107] Embodiment 15 may include a method according to embodiments 1 to 10 and / or some other embodiments herein, wherein the receiver switching mode is used to indicate that if no SSB timing group is to be measured, then the receiver is switched to operate in a frequency inner layer associated with the serving cell.

[0108] Embodiment 16 may include the method of embodiments 1 to 10 and / or some other embodiments herein, and further include decoding the one or more SSB burst configurations relative to monitoring the neighboring cell SSB in the RRC-CONNECTED state when receiving the one or more SSB burst configurations.

[0109] Embodiment 17 may include the method of embodiment 16 and / or some other embodiments herein, further comprising receiving the one or more SSB burst configurations relative to monitoring the one or more SSB burst configurations of neighboring cell SSBs.

[0110] Embodiment 18 may include a method comprising: upon receiving one or more SSB burst configurations, performing SSB scanning measurements at multiple frequency inter-layers relative to the one or more SSB bursts; determining a set of SSB timing groups for one or more incoming SSB bursts based on the SSB scanning measurements; generating a receiver switching pattern based on the set of SSB timing groups, the receiver switching pattern indicating whether to switch the UE's receiver to operate at the multiple frequency inter-layers relative to each SSB timing group in the set of SSB timing groups for the one or more incoming SSB bursts; and switching the receiver based on the receiver switching pattern to operate at each of the multiple frequency inter-layers relative to each SSB timing group for one or more SSB tracking measurements of the one or more incoming SSB bursts in a radio resource control_connected (RRC_CONNECTED) state.

[0111] Embodiment 19 may include a method according to embodiment 18 and / or some other embodiments herein, wherein determining the set of SSB timing groups is based on selecting one or more SSBs to be measured at each of the multiple frequency inter-layers for neighboring cell monitoring in the RRC_CONNECTED state based on the SSB scanning measurement; and determining one or more SSB timing groups based on the selected one or more SSBs and their corresponding timing information.

[0112] Embodiment 20 may include a method according to embodiment 18 and / or some other embodiments herein, further comprising performing one or more SSB tracking measurements relative to each SSB timing group at each of the multiple frequency inter-layers based on the receiver switching pattern.

[0113] Embodiment 21 may include the method of embodiment 20 and / or some other embodiments herein, and further include: based on the one or more SSB tracking measurements, determining that at least one quality metric of the individual quality metrics of one or more SSBs of the measured one or more SSBs is lower than a tracking threshold.

[0114] Embodiment 22 may include the method of embodiments 18 to 20 and / or some other embodiments herein, wherein the SSB scan measurement is a first SSB scan measurement, and the method further includes determining to perform a second SSB scan measurement in the one or more incoming SSB bursts.

[0115] Embodiment 23 may include the method of embodiments 1 to 22 and / or some other embodiments herein, wherein the method is performed by a UE or a part thereof.

[0116] Embodiment 24 may include a method comprising: generating one or more synchronization signal blocks (SSBs) relative to one or more neighboring cells based on one or more SSB burst configurations; and transmitting the one or more SSBs.

[0117] Embodiment 25 may include the method of embodiment 24 and / or some other embodiments herein, wherein transmitting the one or more SSBs is transmitting the one or more SSBs at one or more inter-frequency layers.

[0118] Embodiment 26 may include the method of embodiment 25 and / or some other embodiments herein, wherein the one or more inter-frequency layers are one or more inter-frequency layers relative to a serving cell of a user equipment (UE).

[0119] Embodiment 27 may include the method of embodiments 24 to 26 and / or some other embodiments herein, further comprising generating the one or more SSB burst configurations; and transmitting the one or more SSB burst configurations.

[0120] Embodiment 28 may include the method of embodiment 27 and / or some other embodiments herein, wherein the one or more SSB burst configurations correspond to one or more neighboring cells.

[0121] Embodiment 29 may include the methods of Embodiments 24 to 28 and / or some other embodiments herein, wherein the methods are performed by the AN or a portion thereof.

[0122] Embodiment 30 may include an apparatus comprising means for performing one or more elements of the method described in or related to any of Embodiments 1 to 29, or any other method or process described herein.

[0123] Embodiment 31 may include one or more non-transitory computer-readable media, which include instructions that, when one or more processors of an electronic device execute the instructions, cause the electronic device to perform one or more elements of a method described in or related to any one of Embodiments 1 to 29 or any other method or process described herein.

[0124] Embodiment 32 may include a device comprising logic components, modules and / or circuits for performing one or more elements of the method described in or related to any of Embodiments 1 to 29 or any other method or process described herein.

[0125] Embodiment 33 may include methods, techniques or processes described in or related to any one of Embodiments 1 to 29, or parts or components thereof.

[0126] Embodiment 34 may include a device comprising: one or more processors and one or more computer-readable media, wherein the one or more computer-readable media include instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform a method, technique, or process, or a portion thereof, described in or related to any one of Embodiments 1 to 29.

[0127] The present disclosure is described with reference to the flowcharts or block diagrams of the methods, devices (systems) and computer program products according to the embodiments of the present disclosure. It should be understood that each block of the flowchart illustration or block diagram, as well as the combination of blocks in the flowchart illustration or block diagram, can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions can be provided to a processor of a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer or other programmable data processing device to produce a machine, so that the instructions executed by the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing device create a device for implementing the function / action specified in one or more blocks of the flowchart or block diagram.

[0128] These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer-readable medium, which can direct a computer or other programmable data processing device to function in a specific manner, so that the instructions stored in the computer-readable medium produce a manufactured article including instruction devices, which implement the functions / actions specified in one or more blocks of the flowchart or block diagram.

[0129] Computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus so that a series of operational steps are performed on the computer or other programmable apparatus to produce a computer-implemented process, so that the instructions executed on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide a process for implementing the functions / actions specified in one or more blocks of the flowchart or block diagram.

[0130] The descriptions of the implementations shown herein, including the implementations described in the Abstract, are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the disclosure to the precise forms disclosed. Although specific implementations and examples are described herein for illustrative purposes, as will be appreciated by those skilled in the relevant art, various calculations may be performed to achieve alternative or equivalent embodiments or implementations for the same purpose, based on the above detailed description, without departing from the scope of the disclosure.

Claims

1. A non-transitory computer readable medium CRM, comprising instructions, which, when executed by one or more processors of an access node AN, cause the AN to perform operations, the operations comprising: generating one or more SSBs associated with one or more neighboring cells based on one or more synchronization signal block (SSB) burst configurations, wherein the one or more SSB burst configurations include information of a set of SSB timing groups; as well as The one or more SSBs are transmitted.

2. The non-transient CRM of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise: generating one or more SSB burst configurations associated with the one or more neighboring cells; as well as One or more SSB burst configurations associated with the one or more neighboring cells are transmitted.

3. The non-transient CRM of claim 2, wherein sending the one or more SSB burst configurations further comprises sending the one or more SSB burst configurations using a system information block type 1 message, wherein the system information block type 1 message is a SIB1 message.

4. The non-transient CRM of claim 1, wherein sending the one or more SSBs further comprises sending the one or more SSBs at one or more inter-frequency layers associated with a serving cell of a user equipment UE. 5 . The non-transient CRM of claim 4 , wherein the one or more inter-frequency layers are located at frequency range 1, frequency range 2, or both, wherein frequency range 1 is FR1 and frequency range 2 is FR2.

6. The non-transient CRM of claim 1, wherein an SSB timing group in the set of SSB timing groups comprises a plurality of SSBs, and the plurality of SSBs are aligned in a time scale when arriving at a user equipment UE.

7. The non-transient CRM of claim 6, wherein the plurality of SSBs are transmitted on different inter-frequency layers associated with a serving cell of the UE.

8. A method comprising: generating one or more SSBs associated with one or more neighboring cells based on one or more synchronization signal block (SSB) burst configurations, wherein the one or more SSB burst configurations include information of a set of SSB timing groups; as well as The one or more SSBs are transmitted.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the operation further comprises: generating one or more SSB burst configurations associated with the one or more neighboring cells; as well as One or more SSB burst configurations associated with the one or more neighboring cells are transmitted.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein sending the one or more SSB burst configurations further comprises sending the one or more SSB burst configurations using a system information block type 1 message, wherein the system information block type 1 message is a SIB1 message.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein sending the one or more SSBs further comprises sending the one or more SSBs at one or more inter-frequency layers associated with a serving cell of a user equipment (UE).

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the one or more inter-frequency layers are located at frequency range 1, frequency range 2, or both, wherein frequency range 1 is FR1 and frequency range 2 is FR2.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein the SSB timing group in the set of SSB timing groups comprises a plurality of SSBs, and the plurality of SSBs are aligned in time scale when arriving at a user equipment UE.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein the plurality of SSBs are transmitted at different inter-frequency layers associated with a serving cell of the UE.

15. A device for accessing a node AN, comprising: Transmitting and receiving circuits; as well as a processing circuit coupled to the transmitting and receiving circuits, the processing circuit being configured to: generating one or more SSBs associated with one or more neighboring cells based on one or more synchronization signal block (SSB) burst configurations, wherein the one or more SSB burst configurations include information of a set of SSB timing groups; as well as The one or more SSBs are transmitted.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the processing circuit is further configured to: generating one or more SSB burst configurations associated with the one or more neighboring cells; and One or more SSB burst configurations associated with the one or more neighboring cells are transmitted.

17. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the processing circuit is further configured to send the one or more SSB burst configurations by using a system information block type 1 message, wherein the system information block type 1 message is a SIB1 message.

18. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the processing circuit is further configured to transmit the one or more SSBs at one or more inter-frequency layers associated with a serving cell of a user equipment (UE).

19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the one or more inter-frequency layers are located at frequency range 1, or frequency range 2, or both, wherein frequency range 1 is FR1, and frequency range 2 is FR2.

20. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the SSB timing groups in the set of SSB timing groups include a plurality of SSBs, the plurality of SSBs being aligned in time scale when arriving at a UE, and the processing circuit being further configured to send the plurality of SSBs at different interference layers associated with a serving cell of the UE.

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