Cell reselection for ATG

Abstract

A method for a user equipment (UE) is provided. The UE performs at least one of: obtaining, from a BS, first information indicating at least one candidate cell, the first information based on a flight trajectory associated with the UE; obtaining, from the BS, second information indicating the accessibility of the cell, the second information based on at least one of whether the cell is related to the ATG-specific BS or the TN BS, a coverage of the cell, or a geographic location of the cell; obtaining, from the BS, third information indicating a power mode switching operation, the third information based on at least one of: a cell radius of the serving cell, a cell radius of at least one neighboring cell, a geographic location of the serving cell, or a geographic location of the at least one neighboring cell; or generating fourth information related to the flight state of the UE for sending to the BS, wherein the fourth information is used for the BS to determine at least one parameter for UE measurement reporting.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present application relates generally to wireless communication systems, and more particularly to cell reselection for air-to-ground (ATG). Background Art

[0002] Wireless mobile communication technology uses various standards and protocols to send data between base stations and wireless mobile devices. Wireless communication system standards and protocols may include the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Long Term Evolution (LTE); the fifth generation (5G) 3GPP New Radio (NR) standard; the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.16 standard, which is often referred to by industry organizations as Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX); and the IEEE 802.11 standard for wireless local area networks (WLANs), which is often referred to by industry organizations as Wi-Fi. In the 3GPP Radio Access Network (RAN) in an LTE system, a base station may include a RAN node such as an Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN) Node B (also often referred to as an evolved Node B, an enhanced Node B, an eNodeB, or an eNB) and / or a Radio Network Controller (RNC) in the E-UTRAN, which communicates with a wireless communication device referred to as a user equipment (UE). In a fifth generation (5G) wireless RAN, the RAN nodes may include 5G nodes, new radio (NR) nodes, or gNode Bs (gNBs), which communicate with wireless communication devices, also known as user equipment (UEs). Summary of the invention

[0003] According to one aspect of the present disclosure, a method for a user equipment (UE) is provided, the method comprising: performing at least one of the following: obtaining first information indicating at least one candidate cell from a base station (BS), the first information being based on a flight trajectory associated with the UE; obtaining second information indicating accessibility of the cell from the BS, the second information being based on at least one of the following: whether the cell is associated with an air-to-ground (ATG) dedicated BS or a terrestrial network (TN) BS, the coverage of the cell, or the geographic location of the cell; obtaining third information indicating a power mode switching operation from the BS, the third information being based on at least one of the following: a cell radius of a serving cell, a cell radius of at least one neighboring cell, a geographic location of the serving cell, or a geographic location of the at least one neighboring cell; or generating fourth information for sending to the BS based on the flight status of the UE and in order for the BS to determine at least one parameter for a UE measurement report.

[0004] According to one aspect of the present disclosure, a method for a base station (BS) is provided, the method comprising: performing at least one of the following: generating first information for sending to a user equipment (UE) based on a flight trajectory associated with the UE, the first information indicating at least one candidate cell for the UE; generating second information for sending to the UE based on at least one of the following: whether the cell is related to an air-to-ground (ATG) dedicated BS or a terrestrial network (TN) BS, the coverage of the cell, or the geographical location of the cell, the second information indicating the accessibility of the UE to the cell; generating third information for sending to the UE based on at least one of the following: the cell radius of the serving cell, the cell radius of at least one neighboring cell, the geographical location of the serving cell, or the geographical location of the at least one neighboring cell, the third information indicating a power mode switching operation of the UE; or obtaining fourth information related to the flight status of the UE from the UE, and determining at least one parameter for UE measurement reporting based on the fourth information.

[0005] According to one aspect of the present disclosure, a device for a user equipment (UE) is provided, the device comprising: one or more processors, the one or more processors being configured to perform the steps of the method according to the present disclosure.

[0006] According to one aspect of the present disclosure, an apparatus for a base station (BS) is provided, the apparatus comprising: one or more processors, the one or more processors being configured to perform the steps of the method according to the present disclosure.

[0007] According to one aspect of the present disclosure, an apparatus for a user equipment (UE) is provided, the apparatus comprising: a component for performing the steps of the method described in the present disclosure.

[0008] According to one aspect of the present disclosure, an apparatus for a base station (BS) is provided, the apparatus comprising: a component for performing the steps of the method described in the present disclosure.

[0009] According to one aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a computer readable medium having computer programs stored thereon, which, when executed by one or more processors, cause an apparatus to perform the steps of the method described in the present disclosure.

[0010] According to one aspect of the present disclosure, a computer program product is provided. The computer program product comprises computer programs. When the computer programs are executed by one or more processors, the apparatus is caused to perform the steps of the method according to the present disclosure. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0011] Features and advantages of the present disclosure will be apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, which together illustrate, by way of example, features of the present disclosure.

[0012] Figure 1 is a block diagram of a system including a base station and a user equipment (UE) according to some embodiments.

[0013] Figure 2 A flowchart of an exemplary method for user equipment according to some embodiments is illustrated.

[0014] Figure 3 A flow chart of an exemplary method for a network device according to some embodiments is illustrated.

[0015] Figure 4 An exemplary block diagram of an apparatus for a UE according to some embodiments is illustrated.

[0016] Figure 5 An exemplary block diagram of an apparatus for a network device according to some embodiments is illustrated.

[0017] Figure 6 Example components of an apparatus according to some embodiments are illustrated.

[0018] Figure 7 Example interfaces for baseband circuitry according to some embodiments are illustrated.

[0019] Figure 8 Components according to some embodiments are illustrated.

[0020] Fig. 9 The architecture of a wireless network according to some embodiments is illustrated. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0021] In the present disclosure, a "base station" may include a RAN node such as an Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN) Node B (also commonly denoted as an evolved Node B, an enhanced Node B, an eNodeB, or an eNB) and / or a Radio Network Controller (RNC) and / or a 5G node, a New Radio (NR) node, or a gNode B (gNB), which communicates with a wireless communication device also referred to as a user equipment (UE). Although some examples may be described with reference to any of an E-UTRAN Node B, an eNB, an RNC, and / or a gNB, such devices may be replaced with any type of base station.

[0022] In wireless communications, air-to-ground (ATG) operations have been developed. For 3GPP R18 (latest WID in RP#96: RP-221369), features are specified as core specifications for ATG BS and UE. Scenarios include, for example, a direct radio link between a BS on the ground and a CPE type UE installed in an aircraft and / or a BS on the ground and a CPE type UE installed in an aircraft. During an ATG scenario, cell reselection may occur more frequently than in conventional cases, and therefore a solution or enhancement to the cell reselection procedure for ATG may be required.

[0023] Figure 1 A wireless network 100 is illustrated according to some embodiments. The wireless network 100 comprises a UE 101 and a base station 150 connected via an air interface 190.

[0024] UE 101 and any other UE in the system may be, for example, a laptop, a smart phone, a tablet computer, a printer, a machine type device such as a smart meter or a dedicated device for healthcare monitoring, remote safety monitoring, an intelligent transportation system, or any other wireless device with or without a user interface. The base station 150 provides a network connection to a wider network (not shown) to the UE 101 via an air interface 190 in the base station service area provided by the base station 150. In some embodiments, this wider network may be a wide area network operated by a cellular network provider, or may be the Internet. Each base station service area associated with the base station 150 is supported by an antenna integrated with the base station 150. The service area is divided into a plurality of sectors associated with certain antennas. Such sectors may be physically associated with fixed antennas, or may be assigned to a physical area with tunable antennas or antenna settings that may be adjusted in a beamforming process for directing signals to a particular sector. For example, one embodiment of the base station 150 includes three sectors, each covering a 120 degree area, with antenna arrays pointing to each sector to provide 360 ​​degree coverage around the base station 150.

[0025] UE 101 includes a control circuit 105 coupled to a transmitting circuit 110 and a receiving circuit 115. The transmitting circuit 110 and the receiving circuit 115 may each be coupled to one or more antennas. The control circuit 105 may be adapted to perform operations associated with MTC. In some embodiments, the control circuit 105 of UE 101 may perform calculations or may initiate measurements associated with the air interface 190 to determine the channel quality of the available connection to the base station 150. These calculations may be performed in conjunction with the control circuit 155 of the base station 150. The transmitting circuit 110 and the receiving circuit 115 may be adapted to transmit and receive data, respectively. The control circuit 105 may be adapted or configured to perform various operations, such as various operations related to the UE described elsewhere in this disclosure. The transmitting circuit 110 may transmit multiple multiplexed uplink physical channels. The multiple uplink physical channels may be multiplexed according to time division multiplexing (TDM) or frequency division multiplexing (FDM). The transmitting circuit 110 may be configured to receive block data from the control circuit 105 for transmission across the air interface 190. Similarly, the receiving circuit 115 can receive multiple multiplexed downlink physical channels from the air interface 190 and relay these physical channels to the control circuit 105. The uplink and downlink physical channels can be multiplexed according to TDM or FDM. The transmitting circuit 110 and the receiving circuit 115 can transmit and receive control data and content data (e.g., messages, images, videos, etc.) structured within the data blocks carried by the physical channels.

[0026] Figure 1 Also illustrated is a base station 150 according to various embodiments. The base station 150 circuitry may include a control circuit 155 coupled to a transmit circuit 160 and a receive circuit 165. The transmit circuit 160 and the receive circuit 165 may each be coupled to one or more antennas that may be used to enable communication via an air interface 190.

[0027] The control circuit 155 may be adapted to perform operations associated with MTC. The transmit circuit 160 and the receive circuit 165 may be adapted to transmit and receive data, respectively, within a narrow system bandwidth that is narrower than a standard bandwidth for personal communications. In some embodiments, for example, the transmit bandwidth may be set to or close to 1.4 MHz. In other embodiments, other bandwidths may be used. The control circuit 155 may perform various operations, such as base station-related operations described elsewhere in this disclosure.

[0028] In a narrow system bandwidth, the transmission circuit 160 may transmit a plurality of multiplexed downlink physical channels. The plurality of downlink physical channels may be multiplexed according to TDM or FDM. The transmission circuit 160 may transmit the plurality of multiplexed downlink physical channels in a downlink superframe composed of a plurality of downlink subframes.

[0029] In a narrow system bandwidth, the receiving circuit 165 can receive a plurality of multiplexed uplink physical channels. The plurality of uplink physical channels can be multiplexed according to TDM or FDM. The receiving circuit 165 can receive the plurality of multiplexed uplink physical channels in an uplink superframe composed of a plurality of uplink subframes.

[0030] As further described below, control circuits 105 and 155 may be involved in measuring channel quality of air interface 190. Channel quality may be based, for example, on physical obstacles between UE 101 and base station 150, electromagnetic signal interference from other sources, reflections, or indirect paths between UE 101 and base station 150, or other such signal noise sources. Based on the channel quality, multiple retransmissions of data blocks may be scheduled, such that transmission circuit 110 may transmit copies of the same data multiple times, and reception circuit 115 may receive multiple copies of the same data multiple times.

[0031] The UE and network devices described in the following embodiments may be Figure 1 The UE 101 and the base station 150 described in the embodiment are implemented.

[0032] Figure 2 A flowchart of an exemplary method for user equipment according to some embodiments is illustrated. Figure 2 The illustrated method 200 may be performed by Figure 1 The UE 101 is implemented.

[0033] In some embodiments, the method 200 for the UE may include at least one of the following steps: S202, obtaining first information indicating at least one candidate cell from a base station (BS), the first information being based on a flight trajectory associated with the UE; S204, obtaining second information indicating the accessibility of the cell from the BS, the second information being based on at least one of: whether the cell is associated with an air-to-ground (ATG) dedicated BS or a terrestrial network (TN) BS, the coverage of the cell, or the geographic location of the cell; S206, obtaining third information indicating a power mode switching operation from the BS, the third information being based on at least one of: a cell radius of a serving cell, a cell radius of at least one neighboring cell, a geographic location of the serving cell, or a geographic location of at least one neighboring cell; and / or S208, generating fourth information for sending to the BS based on the flight status of the UE and in order for the BS to determine at least one parameter for a UE measurement report.

[0034] According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, cell reselection procedures may be enhanced for ATG operation.

[0035] In the following, each step of the method 200 will be described in detail.

[0036] At step S202, first information indicating at least one candidate cell is obtained from a base station (BS), the first information being based on a flight trajectory associated with a UE.

[0037] According to some embodiments, network assistance information of neighboring cells may be provided to the UE.

[0038] In some embodiments, the first information includes a list of physical cell identifiers (PCIs) based on the flight trajectory, and the method further includes: searching and measuring at least one neighboring cell in the PCI list. Such embodiments alleviate the need to search for all candidate PCIs, and thus latency can be reduced and power savings can be achieved.

[0039] In some embodiments, the first information also includes at least one geolocation of at least one neighboring cell, and the method further includes: determining a start cell search time based on the at least one geolocation and the location of the UE. In such embodiments, the ATG UE will know when to start the cell search and which target cell to search for.

[0040] According to some embodiments, a mechanism may be provided to facilitate a cell reselection procedure for ATG. In some examples, a serving cell base station such as a gNB may broadcast a PCI list based on a flight trajectory. This is because the flight trajectory is typically predefined and stable. Therefore, the ATG UE only needs to search and measure neighboring cells in the PCI list. In contrast, a traditional UE needs to search for all candidate PCIs. Therefore, latency can be reduced and power savings can be achieved.

[0041] Additionally, the network may also broadcast gNB geolocation. Since the ATG UE may know its location precisely due to GNSS, using the gNB positioning information, for candidate cell reselection, the ATG UE knows when to start the cell search and which target cell to search for. In this example, latency may be further reduced and power savings may be further achieved.

[0042] At step S204, second information indicating accessibility of the cell is obtained from a base station (BS), the second information being based on at least one of whether the cell is associated with an air-to-ground (ATG) dedicated BS or a terrestrial network (TN) BS, the coverage of the cell, or the geographic location of the cell.

[0043] According to some embodiments, ATG UE access control may be implemented.

[0044] In some scenarios, along the flight trajectory, the ATG UE may see not only the ATG dedicated BS but also the conventional terrestrial network (TN) BS. If the TN BS has good coverage, such as in rural areas near airports where the aircraft is not moving so fast (not reaching its cruising speed), it may serve the ATG UE. If the TN BS does not have extensive coverage, such as in urban areas, it is not suitable for serving the ATG UE.

[0045] For example, a flag may be introduced in system information 1 or 2 as the second information to indicate whether the ATG UE is allowed to access or camp on.

[0046] In some embodiments, the second information includes a first indicator indicating whether the cell is suitable for ATG service, and the method further includes: in response to determining that the UE is flying and the cell is indicated in the first indicator as being unsuitable for ATG service, determining not to access the cell or not to reside on the cell.

[0047] For example, the flag may be a Boolean parameter. In such a case, the UE may determine whether it is operating as an ATG UE (i.e., whether it is flying) based on its speed, altitude, location, etc. The UE may then know whether it is allowed to access or camp on the cell indicated by the second information.

[0048] In some embodiments, the second information includes a first threshold for the cell, the first threshold including at least one threshold selected from the group consisting of a speed threshold and a height threshold, and the method also includes: in response to determining that the first threshold is not exceeded for the UE, determining not to access the cell or not to reside on the cell.

[0049] For example, the flag of the second information may also be a threshold of speed. The method may include, for example, obtaining a current state of the UE, where the obtained current state indicates at least one of a moving speed or a height of the UE. When the ATG UE is moving at a speed higher than the threshold, the ATG UE is not allowed to access the cell or reside on the cell. Otherwise, for example, when the aircraft is still on the ground, the ATG UE is allowed to access the cell or reside on the cell.

[0050] According to some embodiments, flexibility can be achieved. For example, some of the embodiments allow a UE installed on an aircraft to utilize a certain conventional TN BS when it is not flying / moving quickly. For another example, for an ATG UE, a rural BS with a larger coverage area may be more suitable than an urban BS with a smaller coverage area, and it may be beneficial to indicate to the UE whether a specific BS is allowed to access and / or whether a specific BS is allowed to access when the mobile speed, altitude, etc. is below a threshold. Therefore, different types of communication resources can be effectively unified, and better communication quality can be achieved.

[0051] At step S206, third information indicating a power mode switching operation is obtained from a base station (BS), the third information being based on at least one of: a cell radius of a serving cell, a cell radius of at least one neighboring cell, a geographic location of the serving cell, or a geographic location of at least one neighboring cell.

[0052] According to some embodiments, high / low power consumption modes associated with ATG operation may also be implemented. Increasing cell search and measurement activities may facilitate cell reselection procedures, but increase power consumption. Therefore, balancing power consumption and cell reselection performance is important.

[0053] In some embodiments, the power mode switching operation includes entering or exiting a specific power mode, which includes at least one of a high power mode or a low power mode. For example, when flying in a relatively small cell (e.g., TNgNB) or at a cell edge, more frequent cell search and measurement activities may be required, and the ATG UE may need to enter a high power mode (HPM). When flying in a giant cell or not flying at a cell edge, less frequent cell search and measurement activities may be required, and the ATG UE may choose to exit HPM. When staying on the ground, the ATG UE may even enter a low power mode (LPM). Therefore, by sending third information based on the cell radius and / or geographic location of the serving cell or neighboring cell, the power mode can be selected more efficiently.

[0054] In some embodiments, the power mode switching may be under the control of the network. For example, a new flag from the NW to the UE may be introduced as the third information to indicate whether the UE should enter HPM. When to indicate the new flag may depend on the NW specific implementation, such as based on cell radius, geographical location, etc.

[0055] In some examples, the third information includes a second indicator indicating that the UE enters or exits a specific power mode. For example, the new flag may be a Boolean parameter captured in system information (SIBx) or a dedicated RRC configuration, and the present disclosure is not limited thereto.

[0056] Additionally or alternatively, the third information includes a second threshold value, the second threshold value includes at least one speed threshold value, at least one altitude threshold value, or both, and the method further includes: determining to enter or exit the specific power mode when the second threshold value is met. For example, the new flag may also be a speed threshold value. When the ATG UE is moving at a speed higher than the threshold value, it should enter the HPM. Otherwise, it is allowed to exit the HPM.

[0057] It can be seen that although described with respect to HPM, it is also applicable to low power mode (LPM). For example, another flag can be introduced with a design similar to the design for HPM to control when the UE should enter / exit LPM. As a non-limiting example, the third information may include a speed and / or altitude threshold for HPM and another speed and / or altitude threshold for LPM, and when the UE state exceeds the former, HPM should be entered, and when the UE drops below the latter, LPM should be entered. As another non-limiting example, the third information may include more thresholds (e.g., four thresholds) for entering HPM, exiting HPM, exiting LPM, and entering LPM, respectively, and it can be seen that the present disclosure is not limited to this.

[0058] In some additional or alternative examples, the power consumption mode switching related to the ATG may be under the control of the UE. In some examples, the third information includes at least one of the following: a cell radius of the serving cell, at least one cell radius of at least one neighboring cell, a geographic location of the serving cell, or at least one geographic location of at least one neighboring cell, and the method further includes: determining to enter or exit a specific power mode based on the third information and at least one of the following: a moving speed, altitude, or position of the UE.

[0059] In such examples, the NW informs the UE of the cell radius, or the geolocation of the serving cell and neighboring cells, or the BS type (TN gNB or dedicated ATG gNB). The ATG UE can determine when to enter / exit HPM / LPM based on the information provided by the NW and the location, speed, etc. of the ATG UE.

[0060] At step S208, fourth information for transmission to the BS is generated based on the flight status of the UE and in order for the BS to determine at least one parameter for the UE measurement report.

[0061] So far, handover in NR is triggered by NW (directly or indirectly). Typically, NW configures measurement and corresponding reporting events such as A3 (the signal level of the neighboring cell is X dB higher than the signal level of the serving cell). UE keeps measuring neighboring cells. Once the conditions in the reporting event are met, UE triggers a measurement report. After receiving the report, NW triggers handover accordingly.

[0062] When the aircraft is flying at high speed towards the next gNB, the measurement results of the target cell may quickly become stronger. The NW may need to trigger the handover in time, for example, by configuring a smaller A3 threshold, a shorter trigger time (TTT) window, etc. In contrast, when the aircraft is flying at a relatively low speed or even on the ground, the NW may want to configure all parameters as traditional, because the smaller A3 threshold and shorter TTT window may result in a ping-pong handover (HO), which is not desirable when the aircraft is still on the ground.

[0063] According to some embodiments, a flag from the UE to a network device such as a BS or gNB may be introduced as fourth information to indicate whether the ATG UE is in flight mode.

[0064] In some implementations, the fourth information includes at least one of: a third indicator indicating whether the UE is flying; a moving speed of the UE; or an enumerated parameter indicating a moving speed of the UE.

[0065] In some examples, the fourth information indicating the flight mode may be a new Boolean parameter. In some other examples, the fourth information may also include the speed of the UE (eg, a speed value) or an enumeration parameter including, for example, low, medium, and high.

[0066] In 3GPP R18, core requirements for coexistence between ATG and IMT terrestrial networks are also specified. Example frequency bands include n1, n78, and n79. FR1 coexistence assessments for ATG networks (e.g., ACLR, ACS) can be performed. Key characteristics are identified where it is necessary to distinguish ATG ground-based BSs and UEs from conventional ground-based BSs and UEs. One goal is to reuse existing requirements for BSs and UEs where possible, such as reusing TN BS requirements for ATG BSs. RF requirements for ATG UE / BS are also specified, including consideration of the results of coexistence simulations on the impact on transmission and RX requirements, cell size and link budget, technical capabilities, possible BS and UE architectures, and other relevant aspects, consideration of the identified differences between ATG and fully ground-based systems, consideration of BS types 1-C / 1-H / 1-O and specification of requirements, and / or consideration of conduction requirements for UEs. The RRM core requirements for ATG UEs are also specified, including, for example, taking into account the identified differences between ATG and fully terrestrial-based systems, and / or taking into account the different nature of ATG UEs and their observations of the network, increased cell sizes, and other relevant aspects. If necessary, new UE / BS types for ATG networks are also specified.

[0067] In some existing ATG operation scenarios, the flight speed can be as high as 1200km / h. Compared with traditional situations, cell reselection can be performed more frequently. Therefore, the existing cell reselection model may not be applicable, especially when the cell coverage is not large enough.

[0068] According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, by introducing at least one of first information of network assistance information of neighboring cells, second information for ATG UE access control, and third information for selecting a power consumption mode based on the UE flight status, the UE location related to the cell, and / or the cell coverage sent to the UE, the UE can be more aware of the ATG status. Therefore, the delay of cell search, measurement, handover, etc. can be reduced. On the other hand, since unnecessary cell searches can be avoided due to new knowledge introduced through the first information, the second information, and / or the third information, the UE can know when to search and / or when to change to power saving mode, which will greatly reduce unnecessary power consumption. It can be understood that the first information, the second information, and / or the third information can be introduced through broadcasting, and in some cases, at least a part of the first information, the second information, and / or the third information can also be predefined or preconfigured.

[0069] According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, by introducing the fourth information for UE to report flight mode and non-flight mode, the NW will know the UE status regarding ATG operation, and will adjust some UE measurement parameters accordingly. For example, when the UE is flying, a smaller A3 threshold and a shorter TTT window may be set, because the ATG UE usually moves along a flight trajectory, and the probability of ping-pong HO is relatively low. Therefore, a more efficient handover may be achieved. It is understandable that the fourth information may be sent via RRC, DCI, MAC CE, etc., and the present disclosure is not limited thereto.

[0070] It is also understood that any number of first information, second information, third information, and fourth information may be utilized, and the presented information may be combined with each other.

[0071] According to at least one embodiment of the present disclosure, the UE should be able to achieve faster cell reselection when, for example, it is in HPM or in flight mode. Taking intra-frequency cell reselection as an example, Table 1 gives an example of a shorter cell reselection time that can be achieved by the present invention.

[0072] Table 1

[0073]

[0074] Table 1 is an exemplary table 4.2.2.3-x: T for UE configured with [ATG-flag] (frequency range FR1) detect,NR_Intra , T measure,NR_Intra and T evaluate,NR_Intra, which is based on Table 4.2.2.3-1: T in traditional non-high-speed cell reselection detect,NR_Intra 、T measure,NR_Intr and T evaluate,NR_Intra .

[0075] Table 2 below gives the cell reselection time in conventional non-high-speed cell reselection.

[0076] Table 2

[0077]

[0078] It can be seen that according to one or more embodiments of the embodiments of this invention, T in Table 1 detect,NR_Intra Can be smaller than the traditional T in Table 2 detect,NR_Intra .

[0079] Figure 3 A flow chart of an exemplary method for a network device according to some embodiments is illustrated. Figure 3 The illustrated method 300 may be performed by Figure 1 The network device may be implemented by the base station 150. For example, the network device may be a network device of the base station 150.

[0080] In some embodiments, the method 300 for a network device may include performing at least one of the following steps: S302, generating first information for sending to a user equipment (UE) based on a flight trajectory associated with the UE, the first information indicating at least one candidate cell for the UE; S304, generating second information for sending to the UE based on at least one of the following: whether the cell is associated with an air-to-ground (ATG) dedicated BS or a terrestrial network (TN) BS, the coverage of the cell, or the geographic location of the cell, the second information indicating the accessibility of the cell to the UE; S306, generating third information for sending to the UE based on at least one of the following: the cell radius of the serving cell, the cell radius of at least one neighboring cell, the geographic location of the serving cell, or the geographic location of at least one neighboring cell, the third information indicating a power mode switching operation of the UE; and S308, obtaining fourth information related to the flight status of the UE from the UE, and determining at least one parameter for the UE measurement report based on the fourth information.

[0081] In the following, each step of the method 300 will be described in detail.

[0082] At step S302, first information for transmission to a user equipment (UE) is generated based on a flight trajectory associated with the UE, the first information indicating at least one candidate cell for the UE.

[0083] In some embodiments, the first information includes a list of physical cell identifiers (PCIs) indicating at least one neighboring cell for the UE based on the flight trajectory.

[0084] In some embodiments, the first information also includes at least one geographical location of at least one neighboring cell.

[0085] At step S304, second information is generated for sending to the UE based on at least one of the following: whether the cell is related to an air-to-ground (ATG) dedicated BS or a terrestrial network (TN) BS, the coverage of the cell, or the geographic location of the cell, and the second information indicates the accessibility of the cell to the UE.

[0086] In some embodiments, the second information includes a first indicator indicating whether the cell is suitable for air-to-ground (ATG) service. For example, the first indicator may be a Boolean parameter.

[0087] In some embodiments, the second information includes a first threshold for the cell, the first threshold being used to indicate that the cell is unsuitable for a UE exceeding the first threshold, the first threshold comprising at least one threshold selected from the group consisting of a speed threshold and an altitude threshold.

[0088] At step S306, third information for sending to the UE is generated based on at least one of the following: a cell radius of the serving cell, a cell radius of at least one neighboring cell, a geographic location of the serving cell, or a geographic location of at least one neighboring cell, the third information indicating a power mode switching operation of the UE.

[0089] In some embodiments, the power mode switching operation includes entering or exiting a specific power mode, the specific power mode including at least one of a high power mode or a low power mode. As discussed above, the power mode switching operation can be under the control of the NW through the third information, or the third information can be regarded as some kind of auxiliary information, based on which the UE can determine whether to perform the power mode switching.

[0090] In some examples, the third information includes a second indicator indicating that the UE enters or exits a particular power mode.

[0091] In some examples, the third information includes a second threshold value used to allow the UE to enter or exit a specific power mode when the second threshold value is met, and the second threshold value includes at least one speed threshold, at least one altitude threshold, or both.

[0092] In some examples, the third information includes at least one of: a cell radius of the serving cell, at least one cell radius of at least one neighboring cell, a geographic location of the serving cell, or at least one geographic location of at least one neighboring cell.

[0093] As already discussed above, the third information may include several indicators and / or thresholds for entering and exiting HPM, LPM, etc.

[0094] At step S308, fourth information related to the flight status of the UE is obtained from the UE, and at least one parameter for the UE measurement report is determined based on the fourth information.

[0095] In some embodiments, the fourth information includes at least one of: a third indicator indicating whether the UE is flying; a moving speed of the UE; or an enumerated parameter indicating the moving speed of the UE. It is understood that the fourth information may alternatively or additionally include other parameters or indicators, such as parameters or indicators for indicating an altitude or altitude level.

[0096] In some examples, at least one parameter for UE measurement reporting includes at least one of: a trigger threshold for event A3, or a time to trigger (TTT) window.

[0097] Event A3 is triggered when the neighboring cell becomes better than the serving cell by a certain offset. The offset can be positive or negative. By setting a smaller trigger threshold for event A3, a more sensitive handover can be achieved. As discussed, in non-ATG scenarios, a smaller A3 and / or a shorter TTT window can lead to unstable handovers such as ping-pong HO, while in ATG scenarios, ping-pong HO is unlikely to occur due to the characteristics of common flight trajectories. Therefore, it is beneficial to set it in different ways based on the flight or non-flight status of the UE.

[0098] Other benefits and advantageous technical effects are similar to those already described with respect to one or more methods on the UE side and are omitted hereby to avoid redundancy.

[0099] Figure 4 An exemplary block diagram of an apparatus for a user equipment (UE) according to some embodiments is illustrated. Figure 4 The illustrated apparatus 400 may be used to implement Figure 2 Illustrated method 200 .

[0100] like Figure 4 As illustrated, the apparatus 400 includes at least one of a first obtaining unit 410 , a second obtaining unit 420 , a third obtaining unit 430 and / or a generating unit 440 .

[0101] The first obtaining unit 410 may be configured to obtain first information indicating at least one candidate cell from a base station (BS), the first information being based on a flight trajectory associated with the UE.

[0102] The second obtaining unit 420 may be configured to obtain second information indicating accessibility of a cell from the BS, the second information being based on at least one of whether the cell is associated with an air-to-ground (ATG) dedicated BS or a terrestrial network (TN) BS, coverage of the cell, or a geographic location of the cell.

[0103] The third obtaining unit 430 may be configured to obtain third information indicating a power mode switching operation from the BS, the third information being based on at least one of the following: a cell radius of the serving cell, a cell radius of at least one neighboring cell, a geographical location of the serving cell, or a geographical location of at least one neighboring cell.

[0104] The generating unit 440 may be configured to generate fourth information for transmission to the BS based on the flight status of the UE and in order for the BS to determine at least one parameter for the UE measurement report.

[0105] According to the embodiments of the present application, the cell reselection procedure may be enhanced for ATG operation.

[0106] Figure 5 An exemplary block diagram of an apparatus for a network according to some embodiments is illustrated. Figure 5 The illustrated apparatus 500 may be used to implement Figure 3 Illustrated method 300 .

[0107] like Figure 5 As illustrated, the apparatus 500 includes at least one of a first generating unit 510 , a second generating unit 520 , a third generating unit 530 , and an obtaining unit 540 .

[0108] The first generating unit 510 may be configured to generate first information for transmission to a user equipment (UE) based on a flight trajectory associated with the UE, the first information indicating at least one candidate cell for the UE.

[0109] The second generation unit 520 can be configured to generate second information for sending to the UE based on at least one of the following: whether the cell is related to an air-to-ground (ATG) dedicated BS or a terrestrial network (TN) BS, the coverage of the cell or the geographic location of the cell, and the second information indicates the accessibility of the cell to the UE.

[0110] The third generating unit 530 may be configured to generate third information for sending to the UE based on at least one of the following: a cell radius of the serving cell, a cell radius of at least one neighboring cell, a geographic location of the serving cell, or a geographic location of at least one neighboring cell, the third information indicating a power mode switching operation of the UE.

[0111] The obtaining unit 540 may be configured to obtain fourth information related to the flight status of the UE from the UE, and determine at least one parameter for the UE measurement report based on the fourth information.

[0112] According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, cell reselection procedures may be enhanced for ATG operation.

[0113] Also provided are: a device for a user equipment (UE), the device comprising one or more processors configured to perform steps of a method of one or more embodiments; a device for a base station (BS), the device comprising one or more processors configured to perform steps of a method of one or more embodiments; a computer-readable medium; and a computer program product.

[0114] Figure 6 Example components of the device 600 according to some embodiments are illustrated. In some embodiments, the device 600 may include at least an application circuit 602, a baseband circuit 604, a radio frequency (RF) circuit (shown as RF circuit 620), a front-end module (FEM) circuit (shown as FEM circuit 630), one or more antennas 632, and a power management circuit (PMC) (shown as PMC 634) coupled together as shown in the figure. The components of the illustrated device 600 may be included in a UE or a RAN node. In some embodiments, the device 600 may include fewer elements (for example, the RAN node may not utilize the application circuit 602, but include a processor / controller to process IP data received from the EPC). In some embodiments, the device 600 may include additional elements, such as, for example, a memory / storage device, a display, a camera, a sensor, or an 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 separately included in more than one device for a cloud RAN (C-RAN) implementation).

[0115] The application circuit 602 may include one or more application processors. For example, the application circuit 602 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 600. In some embodiments, the processor of the application circuit 602 may process IP data packets received from the EPC.

[0116] The baseband circuit 604 may include circuits such as, but not limited to, one or more single-core or multi-core processors. The baseband circuit 604 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 620 and generate baseband signals for the transmit signal path of the RF circuit 620. The baseband circuit 604 may interact with the application circuit 602 to generate and process baseband signals and control the operation of the RF circuit 620. For example, in some embodiments, the baseband circuit 604 may include a third generation (3G) baseband processor (3G baseband processor 606), a fourth generation (4G) baseband processor (4G baseband processor 608), a fifth generation (5G) baseband processor (5G baseband processor 610), or other baseband processors 612 of other existing generations, under development, or to be developed in the future (e.g., second generation (2G), sixth generation (6G), etc.). The baseband circuit 604 (e.g., one or more of the baseband processors) may handle various radio control functions that enable communication with one or more radio networks via the RF circuit 620. In other embodiments, some or all of the functions of the illustrated baseband processor may be included in a module stored in the memory 618 and performed via the central processing ETnit (CPET614). 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 circuit of the baseband circuit 604 may include fast Fourier transform (FFT), precoding, or constellation mapping / demapping functions. In some embodiments, the encoding / decoding circuit of the baseband circuit 604 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.

[0117] In some embodiments, the baseband circuit 604 may include a digital signal processor (DSP), such as one or more audio DSPs 616. The one or more audio DSPs 616 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 constituent components of the baseband circuit 604 and the application circuit 602 may be implemented together, such as on a system on a chip (SOC).

[0118] In some embodiments, the baseband circuit 604 may provide communications compatible with one or more radio technologies. For example, in some embodiments, the baseband circuit 604 may support communications with an Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (EUTRAN) or other wireless metropolitan area network (WMAN), wireless local area network (WLAN), or wireless personal area network (WPAN). Embodiments in which the baseband circuit 604 is configured to support radio communications of more than one wireless protocol may be referred to as multi-mode baseband circuits.

[0119] RF circuit 620 may enable communication with a wireless network through a non-solid medium using modulated electromagnetic radiation. In various embodiments, RF circuit 620 may include switches, filters, amplifiers, etc. to facilitate communication with a wireless network. RF circuit 620 may include a receive signal path, which may include circuitry for down-converting an RF signal received from FEM circuit 630 and providing a baseband signal to baseband circuit 604. RF circuit 620 may also include a transmit signal path, which may include circuitry for up-converting a baseband signal provided by baseband circuit 604 and providing an RF output signal to FEM circuit 630 for transmission.

[0120] In some embodiments, the receive signal path of the RF circuit 620 may include a mixer circuit 622, an amplifier circuit 624, and a filter circuit 626. In some embodiments, the transmit signal path of the RF circuit 620 may include a filter circuit 626 and a mixer circuit 622. The RF circuit 620 may also include a synthesizer circuit 628 for synthesizing frequencies used by the mixer circuits 622 of the receive signal path and the transmit signal path. In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 622 of the receive signal path may be configured to down-convert the RF signal received from the FEM circuit 630 based on the synthesized frequency provided by the synthesizer circuit 628. The amplifier circuit 624 may be configured to amplify the down-converted signal, and the filter circuit 626 may be a low pass filter (LPF) or a band pass filter (BPF) configured to remove unwanted signals from the down-converted signal to generate an output baseband signal. The output baseband signal may be provided to the baseband circuit 604 for further processing. In some embodiments, the output baseband signal may be a zero frequency baseband signal, although this is not required.In some embodiments, mixer circuit 622 of the receive signal path may include a passive mixer, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

[0121] In some embodiments, mixer circuit 622 of the transmit signal path may be configured to up-convert an input baseband signal based on a synthesized frequency provided by synthesizer circuit 628 to generate an RF output signal for FEM circuit 630. The baseband signal may be provided by baseband circuit 604 and may be filtered by filter circuit 626.

[0122] In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 622 of the receive signal path and the mixer circuit 622 of the transmit signal path may include two or more mixers and may be arranged for quadrature down-conversion and up-conversion, respectively. In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 622 of the receive signal path and the mixer circuit 622 of the transmit signal path may include two or more mixers and may be arranged for image suppression (e.g., Hartley image suppression). In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 622 of the receive signal path and the mixer circuit 622 of the transmit signal path may be arranged for direct down-conversion and direct up-conversion, respectively. In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 622 of the receive signal path and the mixer circuit 622 of the transmit signal path may be configured for superheterodyne operation.

[0123] In some embodiments, the output baseband signal and the input baseband signal can be analog baseband signals, but the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. In some alternative embodiments, the output baseband signal and the input baseband signal can be digital baseband signals. In these alternative embodiments, the RF circuit 620 may include an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) circuit and a digital-to-analog converter (DAC) circuit, and the baseband circuit 604 may include a digital baseband interface to communicate with the RF circuit 620.

[0124] In some dual-mode implementations, separate radio IC circuits may be provided to process signals for each spectrum, although the scope of the implementations is not limited in this respect.

[0125] In some embodiments, synthesizer circuit 628 may be a fractional-N synthesizer or a fractional-N / N+1 synthesizer, but the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this regard, as other types of frequency synthesizers may also be suitable. For example, synthesizer circuit 628 may be a delta-sigma synthesizer, a frequency multiplier, or a synthesizer including a phase-locked loop with a frequency divider.

[0126] The synthesizer circuit 628 may be configured to synthesize an output frequency based on the frequency input and the divider control input for use by the mixer circuit 622 of the RF circuit 620. In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuit 628 may be a fractional-N / N+1 synthesizer.

[0127] In some embodiments, the frequency input may be provided by a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO), although this is not required. The divider control input may be provided by baseband circuitry 604 or application circuitry 602 (such as an application processor) according to the desired output frequency. In some embodiments, the divider control input (e.g., N) may be determined from a lookup table based on the channel indicated by application circuitry 602.

[0128] The synthesizer circuit 628 of the RF circuit 620 may include a frequency divider, a delay locked loop (DLL), a multiplexer, and a phase accumulator. In some embodiments, the frequency divider may be a dual-mode frequency divider (DMD), and the phase accumulator may be a digital phase accumulator (DPA). In some embodiments, the DMD may be configured to divide the input signal by N or N+1 (e.g., based on a carry) to provide a fractional division ratio. In some example embodiments, the DLL may include a cascaded, tunable, delay element, a phase detector, a charge pump, and a set of D-type flip-flops. In these embodiments, the delay element may be configured to divide the VCO cycle into Nd equal phase groups, where Nd is the number of delay elements in the delay line. In this way, the DLL provides negative feedback to help ensure that the total delay through the delay line is one VCO cycle.

[0129] In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuit 628 can be configured to generate a carrier frequency as an output frequency, while in other embodiments, the output frequency can be a multiple of the carrier frequency (e.g., twice the carrier frequency, four times the carrier frequency) and used with a quadrature generator and divider circuit to generate multiple signals with multiple different phases relative to each other at the carrier frequency. In some embodiments, the output frequency can be an LO frequency (fLO). In some embodiments, the RF circuit 620 can include an IQ / polarity converter.

[0130] The FEM circuitry 630 may include a receive signal path that may include circuitry configured to operate on RF signals received from one or more antennas 632, amplify the received signals, and provide an amplified version of the received signals to the RF circuitry 620 for further processing. The FEM circuitry 630 may also include a transmit signal path that may include circuitry configured to amplify transmit signals provided by the RF circuitry 620 for transmission by one or more of the one or more antennas 632. In various embodiments, amplification by the transmit or receive signal path may be accomplished only in the RF circuitry 620, only in the FEM circuitry 630, or in both the RF circuitry 620 and the FEM circuitry 630.

[0131] In some embodiments, the FEM circuit 630 may include a TX / RX switch for switching between transmit mode and receive mode operation. The FEM circuit 630 may include a receive signal path and a transmit signal path. The receive signal path of the FEM circuit 630 may include an LNA to amplify the received RF signal and provide the amplified received RF signal as an output (e.g., to the RF circuit 620). The transmit signal path of the FEM circuit 630 may include a power amplifier (PA) to amplify the input RF signal (e.g., provided by the RF circuit 620), and one or more filters to generate an RF signal for subsequent transmission (e.g., through one or more of the one or more antennas 632).

[0132] In some embodiments, PMC 634 can manage the power provided to baseband circuit 604. Specifically, PMC 634 can control power selection, voltage scaling, battery charging, or DC-DC conversion. When device 600 is capable of being powered by a battery, for example, when device 600 is included in an EGE, PMC 634 can generally be included. PMC 634 can improve power conversion efficiency while providing the desired specific implementation size and heat dissipation characteristics.

[0133] Figure 6 PMC 634 is shown coupled only to baseband circuitry 604. However, in other embodiments, PMC 634 may additionally or alternatively be coupled to other components (such as, but not limited to, application circuitry 602, RF circuitry 620, or FEM circuitry 630) and perform similar power management operations for these components.

[0134] In some embodiments, the PMC 634 may control or otherwise be part of various power saving mechanisms of the device 600. For example, if the device 600 is in an RRC connected state, in which the device remains connected to a RAN node because it expects to receive communications soon, the device may enter a state known as discontinuous reception mode (DRX) after a period of inactivity. During this state, the device 600 may be powered off for short time intervals, thereby saving power.

[0135] If there is no data traffic activity for an extended period of time, the device 600 may transition to an RRC idle state, in which the device is disconnected from the network and does not perform operations such as channel quality feedback, handovers, etc. The device 600 enters a very low power state and performs paging, in which the device periodically wakes up again to listen to the network and then powers down again. The device 600 cannot receive data in this state, and in order to receive data, the device transitions back to an RRC connected state.

[0136] An additional power saving mode can make the device unable to use the network for a period of time exceeding the paging interval (from a few seconds to a few hours). During this time, the device is completely unable to connect to the network and can be completely powered off. Any data transmitted during this time will cause significant delays, assuming that the delay is acceptable.

[0137] The processor of the application circuit 602 and the processor of the baseband circuit 604 can be used to execute elements of one or more instances of the protocol stack. For example, the processor of the baseband circuit 604 can be used alone or in combination to perform layer 3, layer 2, or layer 1 functions, while the processor of the application circuit 602 can utilize data received from these layers (e.g., packet data) and further perform layer 4 functions (e.g., transmit 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 a UE / RAN node, which will be described in further detail below.

[0138] Figure 7 An example interface 700 of a baseband circuit according to some embodiments is illustrated. As discussed above, Figure 6 The baseband circuit 604 may include a 3G baseband processor 606, a 4G baseband processor 608, a 5G baseband processor 610, other baseband processors 612, a CPU 614, and a memory 618 utilized by the processors. As illustrated, each of the processors may include a corresponding memory interface 702 for transmitting / receiving data to / from the memory 618.

[0139] The baseband circuit 704 may also include one or more interfaces for communicatively coupling to other circuits / devices, such as a memory interface 704 (e.g., an interface for transmitting / receiving data to / from a memory external to the baseband circuit 604), an application circuit interface 706 (e.g., an interface for transmitting / receiving data to / from a memory external to the baseband circuit 604), and a memory interface 707 (e.g., an interface for transmitting / receiving data to / from a memory external to the baseband circuit 604). Figure 6 an interface for transmitting / receiving data to / from the application circuit 602), an RF circuit interface 708 (for example, for transmitting / receiving data to / from the application circuit 602); Figure 6 an interface for transmitting / receiving data from / to the RF circuit 620 of the wireless device), a wireless hardware connection interface 710 (e.g., for transmitting / receiving data to / from a near field communication (NFC) component, Components (e.g. Low power consumption), components and other communication components to transmit / receive data from it) and a power management interface 712 (e.g., an interface for transmitting / receiving power or control signals to / from the PMC 634).

[0140] Figure 8 800 is a block diagram illustrating a component capable of reading instructions from a machine-readable or computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium) and performing any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein, according to some example embodiments. Specifically, Figure 8 A diagrammatic representation of hardware resources 802 is shown, including one or more processors 812 (or processor cores), one or more memory / storage devices 818, and one or more communication resources 820, each of which may be communicatively coupled via a bus 822. For embodiments in which node virtualization (e.g., NFV) is utilized, a hypervisor 804 may be executed to provide an execution environment for one or more network slices / sub-slices to utilize the hardware resources 802.

[0141] Processor 812 (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 814 and processor 816.

[0142] The memory / storage device 818 may include main memory, disk storage, or any suitable combination thereof. The memory / storage device 818 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 memory, etc.

[0143] The communication resources 820 may include an interconnect or network interface component or other suitable device to communicate with one or more peripheral devices 806 or one or more databases 808 via the network 810. For example, the communication resources 820 may include a wired communication component (e.g., for coupling via a universal serial bus (USB)), a cellular communication component, an NFC component, Components (e.g. Low power consumption), components and other communication components.

[0144] The instructions 824 may include software, programs, applications, applet, apps, or other executable code for causing at least any of the processors 812 to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein. The instructions 824 may reside completely or partially within at least one of the processors 812 (e.g., within a cache memory of a processor), the memory / storage device 818, or any suitable combination thereof. In addition, any portion of the instructions 824 may be transferred to the hardware resources 802 from any combination of the peripheral device 806 or the database 808. Therefore, the memory of the processor 812, the memory / storage device 818, the peripheral device 806, and the database 808 are examples of computer-readable and machine-readable media.

[0145] For one or more embodiments, at least one of the components described in one or more of the foregoing figures may be configured to perform one or more operations, techniques, processes and / or methods described in the Examples section below. For example, the baseband circuitry described above in conjunction with one or more of the foregoing figures may be configured to operate according to one or more of the examples described below. For another example, circuitry associated with a UE, base station, network element, etc., as described above in conjunction with one or more of the foregoing figures, may be configured to operate according to one or more of the examples described below in the Examples section.

[0146] Fig. 9 The architecture of a system 900 of a network according to some embodiments is illustrated. The system 900 includes one or more user equipment (UE), shown in this example as UE 902 and UE 904. UE 902 and UE 904 are illustrated as smart phones (e.g., handheld touch screen mobile computing devices 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, or any computing device that includes a wireless communication interface.

[0147] In some embodiments, any one of UE 902 and UE 904 may include an Internet of Things (IoT) UE, which may include a network access layer designed for low-power IoT applications that utilize transient UE connections. The IoT UE may utilize technologies such as machine-to-machine (M2M) or machine-type communication (MTC) to exchange data with an MTC server or device via a public land mobile network (PLMN), proximity-based services (ProSe) or device-to-device (D2D) communication, a sensor network, or an IoT network. The M2M or MTC data exchange may be a machine-initiated data exchange. The IoT network describes interconnected IoT UEs, which may include uniquely identifiable embedded computing devices (within the Internet infrastructure) with transient connections. The IoT UE may execute background applications (e.g., keep-alive messages, status updates, etc.) to facilitate connectivity to the IoT network.

[0148] UE 902 and UE 904 may be configured to connect (e.g., be communicatively coupled) to a radio access network (RAN) (shown as RAN 906). RAN 906 may be, for example, an Evolved Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (ETMTS) Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN), a Next Generation RAN (NG RAN), or some other type of RAN. UE 902 and UE 904 utilize connection 908 and connection 910, respectively, each of which includes a physical communication interface or layer (discussed in further detail below); in this example, connection 908 and connection 910 are illustrated as air interfaces to achieve communicatively coupling, and may be consistent with cellular communication protocols, such as a Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) protocol, a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) network protocol, a Push-to-Talk (PTT) protocol, a Cellular PTT (POC) protocol, a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) protocol, a 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) protocol, a Fifth Generation (5G) protocol, a New Radio (NR) protocol, and the like.

[0149] In this embodiment, UE 902 and UE 904 may also directly exchange communication data via the ProSe interface 912. The ProSe interface 912 may alternatively be referred to as a sidelink interface including one or more logical channels including, but not limited to, a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH), a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH), a physical sidelink discovery channel (PSDCH), and a physical sidelink broadcast channel (PSBCH).

[0150] UE 904 is shown as being configured to access an access point (AP) (shown as AP 914) via connection 916. Connection 916 may include a local wireless connection, such as a connection consistent with any IEEE 802.11 protocol, where AP 914 would include wireless fidelity. In this example, AP 914 may be connected to the Internet without being connected to the core network of the wireless system (described in further detail below).

[0151] The RAN 906 may include one or more access nodes that implement connectivity 908 and connectivity 910. These access nodes (ANs) may be referred to as base stations (BSs), Node Bs, evolved Node Bs (eNBs), next generation Node Bs (gNBs), RAN nodes, etc., and may include ground stations (e.g., terrestrial access points) or satellite stations that provide coverage within a geographic area (e.g., a cell). The RAN 906 may include one or more RAN nodes (e.g., macro RAN nodes 918) for providing macro cells, and one or more RAN nodes (e.g., low power (LP) RAN nodes such as LP RAN nodes 920) for providing femto cells or pico cells (e.g., cells with smaller coverage areas, smaller user capacity, or higher bandwidth than macro cells).

[0152] Either the macro RAN node 918 or the LP RAN node 920 may terminate the air interface protocol and may be the first point of contact for the UE 902 and the UE 904. In some embodiments, either the macro RAN node 918 or the LP RAN node 920 may fulfill various logical functions of the RAN 906, including but not limited to radio network controller (RNC) functions such as radio bearer management, uplink and downlink dynamic radio resource management and data packet scheduling, and mobility management.

[0153] According to some embodiments, EGE 902 and EGE 904 may be configured to communicate with each other or with either macro RAN node 918 and LP RAN node 920 over a multi-carrier communication channel using orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) communication signals according to various communication techniques, such as but not limited to orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) communication techniques (e.g., for downlink communication) or single carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) communication techniques (e.g., for uplink and ProSe or sidelink communication), although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. OFDM signals may include multiple orthogonal subcarriers.

[0154] In some embodiments, a downlink resource grid may be used for downlink transmissions from either the macro RAN node 918 and the LP RAN node 920 to the UE 902 and the UE 904, 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 OFDM systems, such a time-frequency plane representation is common practice, which makes radio 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 currently allocable. Such resource blocks are used to convey several different physical downlink channels.

[0155] The physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) may carry user data and higher layer signaling to the UE 902 and UE 904. The physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) may carry information about the transport format and resource allocation associated with the PDSCH channel, among other things. It may also inform the UE 902 and UE 904 of the transport format, resource allocation, and H-ARQ (Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request) information associated with the uplink shared channel. Typically, downlink scheduling (allocation of control and shared channel resource blocks to the UE 904 within the cell) may be performed at either the macro RAN node 918 and the LP RAN node 920 based on channel quality information fed back from either the UE 902 and UE 904. Downlink resource allocation information may be transmitted on the PDCCH for (e.g., allocated to) each of the UE 902 and UE 904.

[0156] PDCCH can use control channel elements (CCE) to convey control information. Before being mapped to resource elements, the 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 send 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 send PDCCH. There can be four or more different PDCCH formats with different numbers of CCEs (e.g., aggregation levels, L=1, 2, 4, or 8) in LTE.

[0157] 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.

[0158] The RAN 906 is communicatively coupled to a core network (CN) (shown as CN 928) via an S1 interface 922. In an embodiment, the CN 928 may be an evolved packet core (EPC) network, a next generation packet core (NPC) network, or some other type of CN. In this embodiment, the S1 interface 922 is divided into two parts: an S1-U interface 924, which carries traffic data between the macro RAN node 918 and the LPRAN node 920 and the serving gateway (S-GW) (shown as S-GW 1132); and an S1 mobility management entity (MME) interface (shown as S1-MME interface 926), which is a signaling interface between the macro RAN node 918 and the LPRAN node 920 and the MME 930.

[0159] In this embodiment, CN 928 includes MME 930, S-GW 932, Packet Data Network (PDN) Gateway (P-GW) (shown as P-GW 934) and Home Subscriber Server (HSS) (shown as HSS 936). MME 930 may be similar in function to the control plane of a conventional Serving General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) Support Node (SGSN). MME 930 may manage access-related mobility aspects such as gateway selection and tracking area list management. HSS 936 may include a database for network users, which includes subscription-related information for supporting network entities in handling communication sessions. Depending on the number of mobile subscribers, the capacity of the equipment, the organization of the network, etc., CN 928 may include one or several HSS 936. For example, HSS 936 may provide support for routing / roaming, authentication, authorization, naming / addressing resolution, location dependency, etc.

[0160] The S-GW 932 may terminate the S1 interface 922 towards the RAN 906 and route data packets between the RAN 906 and the CN 928. In addition, the S-GW 932 may be a local mobility anchor for inter-RAN node handovers and may also provide an anchor for inter-3GPP mobility. Other responsibilities may include lawful interception, charging, and enforcement of certain policies.

[0161] The P-GW 934 may terminate the SGi interface towards the PDN. The P-GW 934 may route data packets between the CN 928 (e.g., EPC network) and an external network such as a network including an application server 942 (alternatively referred to as an application function (AF)) via an Internet Protocol (IP) (shown as an IP communication interface 938). Generally speaking, the application server 942 may be an element that provides an application that uses IP bearer resources with a core network (e.g., an ETMTS packet service (PS) domain, an LTE PS data service, etc.). In this embodiment, the P-GW 934 is shown as being communicatively coupled to the application server 942 via the IP communication interface 938. The application server 942 may also be configured to support one or more communication services (e.g., voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) sessions, PTT sessions, group communication sessions, social networking services, etc.) for the UE 902 and the UE 904 via the CN 928.

[0162] The P-GW 934 may also be a node for policy enforcement and charging data collection. The Policy and Charging Enforcement Function (PCRF) (shown as PCRF 940) is a policy and charging control element of the CN 928. In a non-roaming scenario, there may be a single PCRF in the domestic public land mobile network (HPLMN) associated with the Internet Protocol Connectivity Access Network (IP-CAN) session of the ETE. In a roaming scenario with local traffic breakout, there may be two PCRFs associated with the UE's IP-CAN session: a domestic PCRF (H-PCRF) within the HPLMN and a visited PCRF (V-PCRF) within the visited public land mobile network (VPLMN). The PCRF 940 may be communicatively coupled to an application server 942 via the P-GW 934. The application server 942 may signal the PCRF 940 to indicate a new service flow and select appropriate quality of service (QoS) and charging parameters. PCRF 940 may configure the rules to a Policy and Charging Enforcement Function (PCEF) (not shown) with the appropriate Communication Flow Template (TFT) and QoS Class Identifier (QCI), which initiates the QoS and charging specified by the Application Server 942.

[0163] Additional Embodiments

[0164] For one or more embodiments, at least one of the components described in one or more of the foregoing figures may be configured to perform one or more operations, techniques, processes and / or methods described in the Examples section below. For example, the baseband circuitry described above in conjunction with one or more of the foregoing figures may be configured to operate according to one or more of the examples described below. For another example, circuitry associated with a UE, base station, network element, etc., as described above in conjunction with one or more of the foregoing figures, may be configured to operate according to one or more of the examples described below in the Examples section.

[0165] The following examples relate to additional embodiments.

[0166] Embodiment 1 is a method for user equipment (UE), the method comprising:

[0167] Do at least one of the following:

[0168] obtaining, from a base station (BS), first information indicating at least one candidate cell, the first information being based on a flight trajectory associated with the UE,

[0169] obtaining, from the BS, second information indicating accessibility of a cell, the second information being based on at least one of: whether the cell is associated with an air-to-ground (ATG) dedicated BS or a terrestrial network (TN) BS, coverage of the cell, or a geographical location of the cell, obtaining, from the BS, third information indicating a power mode switching operation, the third information being based on at least one of: a cell radius of a serving cell, a cell radius of at least one neighboring cell, a geographical location of the serving cell, or a geographical location of the at least one neighboring cell, or

[0170] Based on the flight status of the UE and in order for the BS to determine at least one parameter for UE measurement reporting, fourth information is generated for transmission to the BS.

[0171] Embodiment 2 is a method according to embodiment 1, wherein the first information includes a physical cell identifier (PCI) list based on the flight trajectory, and the method further includes: searching for and measuring at least one neighboring cell in the PCI list.

[0172] Embodiment 3 is a method according to embodiment 2, wherein the first information also includes at least one geographic location of the at least one neighboring cell, and the method further includes: determining a start time for cell search based on the at least one geographic location and the location of the UE.

[0173] Embodiment 4 is a method according to embodiment 1, wherein the second information includes a first indicator indicating whether the cell is suitable for ATG service, and the method further includes:

[0174] In response to determining that the UE is flying and the cell is indicated in the first indicator as not suitable for ATG service, determining not to access the cell or not to camp on the cell.

[0175] Embodiment 5 is a method according to embodiment 1, wherein the second information includes a first threshold for the cell, the first threshold includes at least one threshold selected from the group consisting of a speed threshold and a height threshold, and the method further includes:

[0176] In response to determining that the first threshold is exceeded for the UE, it is determined not to access the cell or not to camp on the cell.

[0177] Embodiment 6 is a method according to embodiment 1, wherein the power mode switching operation includes entering or exiting a specific power mode, the specific power mode including at least one of a high power mode or a low power mode, and

[0178] The third information includes a second indicator indicating that the UE enters or exits the specific power mode, or

[0179] The third information includes a second threshold, the second threshold includes at least one speed threshold, at least one altitude threshold, or both, and the method further includes: determining to enter or exit the specific power mode when the second threshold is met, or

[0180] The third information includes at least one of the following: a cell radius of the serving cell, at least one cell radius of at least one neighboring cell, a geographic location of the serving cell, or at least one geographic location of at least one neighboring cell, and the method further includes: determining to enter or exit the specific power mode based on the third information and at least one of the following: a moving speed, an altitude, or a position of the UE.

[0181] Embodiment 7 is a method according to embodiment 1, wherein the fourth information includes at least one of the following:

[0182] a third indicator indicating whether the UE is in flight;

[0183] The moving speed of the UE; or

[0184] An enumeration parameter indicating the moving speed of the UE.

[0185] Embodiment 8 is a method for a base station (BS), the method comprising:

[0186] Do at least one of the following:

[0187] generating first information for transmission to a user equipment (UE) based on a flight trajectory associated with the UE, the first information indicating at least one candidate cell for the UE,

[0188] generating second information for transmission to the UE based on at least one of: whether the cell is associated with an air-to-ground (ATG) dedicated BS or a terrestrial network (TN) BS, a coverage area of ​​the cell, or a geographical location of the cell, the second information indicating accessibility of the cell to the UE,

[0189] generating third information for transmission to the UE based on at least one of the following: a cell radius of the serving cell, a cell radius of at least one neighboring cell, a geographic location of the serving cell, or a geographic location of the at least one neighboring cell, the third information indicating a power mode switching operation of the UE, or

[0190] Fourth information related to a flight status of the UE is obtained from the UE, and at least one parameter for UE measurement reporting is determined based on the fourth information.

[0191] Embodiment 9 is a method according to embodiment 8, wherein the first information includes a physical cell identifier (PCI) list indicating at least one neighboring cell of the UE based on the flight trajectory.

[0192] Embodiment 10 is a method according to embodiment 9, wherein the first information further includes at least one geographic location of the at least one neighboring cell.

[0193] Embodiment 11 is a method according to embodiment 8, wherein the second information includes a first indicator indicating whether the cell is suitable for air-to-ground (ATG) service.

[0194] Embodiment 12 is a method according to embodiment 8, wherein the second information includes a first threshold for the cell, the first threshold being used to indicate that the cell is not suitable for a UE exceeding the first threshold, the first threshold including at least one threshold selected from the group consisting of a speed threshold and a height threshold.

[0195] Embodiment 13 is a method according to embodiment 8, wherein the power mode switching operation includes entering or exiting a specific power mode, the specific power mode including at least one of a high power mode or a low power mode, and

[0196] The third information includes a second indicator indicating that the UE enters or exits the specific power mode, or

[0197] The third information includes a second threshold, the second threshold is used to allow the UE to enter or exit the specific power mode when the second threshold is met, and the second threshold includes at least one speed threshold, at least one height threshold, or both, or

[0198] The third information includes at least one of the following: a cell radius of the serving cell, at least one cell radius of at least one neighboring cell, a geographical location of the serving cell, or at least one geographical location of the at least one neighboring cell.

[0199] Embodiment 14 is a method according to embodiment 8, wherein the fourth information includes at least one of the following:

[0200] a third indicator indicating whether the UE is in flight;

[0201] The moving speed of the UE; or

[0202] an enumerated parameter indicating the moving speed of the UE, and

[0203] The at least one parameter used for UE measurement reporting includes at least one of the following:

[0204] The trigger threshold, or trigger time (TTT) window, of event A3.

[0205] Embodiment 15 is a device for a user equipment (UE), the device comprising: one or more processors, the one or more processors being configured to execute the steps of the method according to any one of Embodiments 1 to 7.

[0206] Embodiment 16 is a device for a base station (BS), the device comprising: one or more processors, the one or more processors being configured to execute the steps of the methods described in embodiments 8 to 14.

[0207] Embodiment 17 is a device for a user equipment (UE), the device comprising: a component for performing the steps of the method according to any one of Embodiments 1 to 7.

[0208] Embodiment 18 is a device for a base station (BS), the device comprising: a component for performing the steps of the method according to any one of Embodiments 8 to 14.

[0209] Embodiment 19 is a computer-readable medium having computer programs stored thereon, which, when executed by one or more processors, cause an apparatus to perform the steps of the method according to any one of embodiments 1 to 7 or 8 to 14.

[0210] Embodiment 20 is a computer program product, which includes computer programs, which, when executed by one or more processors, cause an apparatus to perform the steps of the method according to any one of embodiments 1 to 7 or 8 to 14.

[0211] Unless explicitly stated otherwise, any of the embodiments described above may be combined with any other embodiment (or combination of embodiments). The foregoing description of one or more specific implementations provides illustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the scope of the embodiments to the precise form disclosed. In view of the above teachings, modifications and variations are possible or can be obtained from the practice of various embodiments.

[0212] It should be appreciated that the systems described herein include descriptions of specific embodiments. These embodiments may be combined into a single system, partially combined into other systems, separated into multiple systems, or otherwise divided or combined. In addition, it is contemplated that parameters / attributes / aspects, etc. of one embodiment may be used in another embodiment. For clarity, these parameters / attributes / aspects, etc. are described only in one or more embodiments, and it should be appreciated that unless otherwise stated herein, these parameters / attributes / aspects, etc. may be combined with or substituted for parameters / attributes, etc. of another embodiment.

[0213] It is understood that the use of personally identifiable information should be subject to privacy policies and practices that are generally recognized to meet or exceed industry or government requirements for maintaining user privacy. In particular, personally identifiable information data should be managed and processed to minimize the risk of unintentional or unauthorized access or use, and the nature of the authorized use should be clearly stated to users.

[0214] Although the foregoing has been described in considerable detail for the sake of clarity, it will be apparent that certain changes and modifications may be made without departing from the principles of the invention. It should be noted that there are many alternative ways to implement both the processes and the apparatus described herein. Therefore, the embodiments of the present invention should be regarded as illustrative rather than restrictive, and the specification is not limited to the details given herein, but may be modified within the scope and equivalents of the appended claims.

Claims

1. A method for a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: Do at least one of the following: obtaining, from a base station (BS), first information indicating at least one candidate cell, the first information being based on a flight trajectory associated with the UE, obtaining second information indicating accessibility of a cell from the BS, the second information being based on at least one of: whether the cell is associated with an air-to-ground (ATG) dedicated BS or a terrestrial network (TN) BS, a coverage area of ​​the cell, or a geographical location of the cell, obtaining third information indicating a power mode switching operation from the BS, the third information being based on at least one of: a cell radius of a serving cell, a cell radius of at least one neighboring cell, a geographic location of the serving cell, or a geographic location of the at least one neighboring cell, or Fourth information related to the flight status of the UE is generated for transmission to a BS, the fourth information being used by the BS to determine at least one parameter for UE measurement reporting.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first information comprises a list of physical cell identifiers (PCIs) based on the flight trajectory, and the method further comprises: At least one neighboring cell in the PCI list is searched and measured.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the first information further comprises at least one geographical location of the at least one neighboring cell, and the method further comprises: A start cell search time is determined based on the at least one geolocation and the location of the UE.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the second information includes a first indicator indicating whether the cell is suitable for ATG service, and the method further comprises: In response to determining that the UE is flying and the cell is indicated in the first indicator as not suitable for ATG service, determining not to access the cell or not to camp on the cell.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the second information comprises a first threshold for the cell, the first threshold comprising at least one threshold selected from the group consisting of a speed threshold and a height threshold, and the method further comprises: In response to determining that the first threshold is exceeded for the UE, a determination is made not to access the cell or not to camp on the cell.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the power mode switching operation comprises entering or exiting a specific power mode, the specific power mode comprising at least one of a high power mode or a low power mode, and wherein the third information includes a second indicator instructing the UE to enter or exit the specific power mode, or The third information includes a second threshold, the second threshold includes at least one speed threshold, at least one height threshold, or both, and the method further includes: determining to enter or exit the specific power mode when the second threshold is met, or The third information includes at least one of the following: a cell radius of a serving cell, at least one cell radius of at least one neighboring cell, a geographic location of the serving cell, or at least one geographic location of at least one neighboring cell, and the method further includes: determining entry or exit of the specific power mode based on the third information and at least one of the following: a moving speed, altitude, or position of the UE.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the fourth information comprises at least one of the following: a third indicator indicating whether the UE is flying; the moving speed of the UE; or An enumerated parameter indicating the moving speed of the UE.

8. A method for a base station (BS), the method comprising: Do at least one of the following: generating first information for transmission to a user equipment (UE) based on a flight trajectory associated with the UE, the first information indicating at least one candidate cell for the UE, generating second information for transmission to the UE based on at least one of: whether a cell is associated with an air-to-ground (ATG) dedicated BS or a terrestrial network (TN) BS, a coverage area of ​​the cell, or a geographical location of the cell, the second information indicating accessibility of the cell to the UE, generating third information for transmission to the UE based on at least one of the following: a cell radius of a serving cell, a cell radius of at least one neighboring cell, a geographic location of the serving cell, or a geographic location of the at least one neighboring cell, the third information indicating a power mode switching operation of the UE, or Fourth information related to a flight status of the UE is obtained from the UE, and at least one parameter for UE measurement reporting is determined based on the fourth information.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the first information comprises a list of physical cell identifiers (PCIs) for at least one neighboring cell for the UE indicative based on the flight trajectory.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the first information further comprises at least one geographical location of the at least one neighboring cell.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the second information comprises a first indicator indicating whether the cell is suitable for air-to-ground (ATG) service.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein the second information comprises a first threshold for the cell, the first threshold being used to indicate that the cell is not suitable for a UE exceeding the first threshold, the first threshold comprising at least one threshold selected from the group consisting of a speed threshold and a height threshold.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein the power mode switching operation comprises entering or exiting a specific power mode, the specific power mode comprising at least one of a high power mode or a low power mode, and wherein the third information includes a second indicator instructing the UE to enter or exit the specific power mode, or wherein the third information includes a second threshold, the second threshold is used to allow the UE to enter or exit the specific power mode when the second threshold is met, and the second threshold includes at least one speed threshold, at least one height threshold, or both, or The third information includes at least one of the following: a cell radius of a serving cell, at least one cell radius of at least one neighboring cell, a geographical location of the serving cell, or at least one geographical location of the at least one neighboring cell.

14. The method according to claim 8, wherein the fourth information comprises at least one of the following: a third indicator indicating whether the UE is flying; the moving speed of the UE; or an enumerated parameter indicating the moving speed of the UE, and The at least one parameter used for UE measurement reporting includes at least one of the following: a trigger threshold of event A3, or a trigger time (TTT) window.

15. An apparatus for a user equipment (UE), the apparatus comprising: One or more processors configured to perform the steps of the method according to any one of claims 1 to 7.

16. An apparatus for a base station (BS), the apparatus comprising: One or more processors configured to perform the steps of the method according to claims 8 to 14.

17. An apparatus for a user equipment (UE), the apparatus comprising: Means for performing the steps of the method according to any one of claims 1 to 7.

18. An apparatus for a base station (BS), the apparatus comprising: Means for performing the steps of the method according to any one of claims 8 to 14.

19. A computer readable medium having stored thereon a computer program which, when executed by one or more processors, causes an apparatus to perform the steps of the method according to any one of claims 1 to 7 or 8 to 14.

20. A computer program product comprising a computer program which, when executed by one or more processors, causes an apparatus to perform the steps of the method according to any one of claims 1 to 7 or 8 to 14.

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