Discontinuous transmission and discontinuous reception of cells

Abstract

This disclosure describes systems, methods, and devices relating to network efficiency optimization. For example, a device may receive a first cell discontinuous transmission (DTX) / discontinuous reception (DRX) configuration and a second cell DTX / DRX configuration in a radio resource control (RRC) connected mode. The device may perform transmission and reception based on the first cell DTX / DRX configuration. The device may receive a downlink control information (DCI) indication associated with a base station cell DTX / DRX mode transition to switch to a second cell DTX / DRX configuration / rule. The device may perform transmission and reception based on the second cell DTX / DRX configuration. The device may postpone operation based on the DTX / DRX configuration of the first cell.

Description

[0001] Cross-reference to related applications

[0002] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 63 / 485,507, filed February 16, 2023, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference as if fully set forth herein. Technical Field

[0003] The present disclosure relates generally to systems and methods for wireless communications, and more particularly to discontinuous transmission and discontinuous reception of cells. Background Art

[0004] Energy consumption has a significant impact on network operating expenses. The adoption of energy-saving equipment and technologies can bring significant benefits to cost management and power conservation. Although 5G networks offer enhanced bandwidth and performance compared to 4G, their complex infrastructure and high deployment density also pose challenges to energy management. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0005] Figure 1-Figure 3 Depicted is an illustrative diagram for network efficiency optimization according to one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0006] Figure 4 A flow chart illustrating a process for an illustrative network efficiency optimization system is shown, according to one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0007] Figure 5 An example network architecture according to one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure is illustrated.

[0008] Figure 6 A wireless network according to one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure is schematically illustrated.

[0009] Figure 7 Components of a computing device according to one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure are illustrated.

[0010] Figure 8 A network according to various embodiments is illustrated. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0011] The following description and accompanying drawings sufficiently illustrate the specific embodiments to enable those skilled in the art to implement them. Other embodiments may include structural, logical, electrical, process, algorithmic, and other changes. Portions and features of some embodiments may be included in other embodiments, or substituted for portions and features of other embodiments. The embodiments recited in the claims encompass all available equivalents of those claims.

[0012] Energy consumption is a major contributor to network operating expenses (OPEX). The implementation of energy-efficient devices and technologies can offer significant benefits by helping operators cope with unpredictable fuel prices and conserve electricity. Compared to fourth-generation (4G) networks, fifth-generation (5G) systems feature greater bandwidth, a greater number of transmit / receive (TX / RX) antennas / panels, and higher deployment density, all designed to improve system performance and user experience. Currently, different vendors implement proprietary solutions to improve or optimize their network energy consumption. While beneficial, these proprietary solutions often lack industry standardization, create compatibility challenges, and hinder the widespread adoption of the most effective energy-saving practices. However, such technologies may be limited by a lack of feedback from user equipment (UE) or better gNodeB (gNB)-UE coordination to enable gNBs to obtain more information to ensure optimized network energy conservation. Standardized solutions, such as UE feedback or gNB control signaling to support network energy conservation, can address this gap. One potential enabler of network energy conservation is increasing base station sleep opportunities. By extending the duration of these sleep periods, base stations significantly reduce their energy consumption, promoting more sustainable and cost-effective network operations. In other words, a base station or gNB can be active only at certain times within a cycle, while transmissions to and from the UE can occur when the gNB is active. Discontinuous transmission (DTX) and / or discontinuous reception (DRX) of a cell can provide the gNB with longer periods of inactivity. Embodiments herein may relate to cell DTX and / or cell DRX. Specifically, embodiments relate to different DCI-based signaling techniques for enabling and operating cell DTX and / or cell DRX. The terms base station and cell are used interchangeably herein.

[0013] Distance TX (DTX) and distance RX (DRX) are technologies used in wireless communication systems to improve the efficiency and battery life of mobile devices. The core idea behind DTX is to shut down the transmitter when there is no voice input (such as during periods of silence). This not only saves energy but also reduces interference and network load by making more efficient use of the radio spectrum. DRX, on the other hand, is a power-saving technology that allows devices to shut down their receivers at specific intervals. During these intervals, the device does not listen to signals from the network. This method is particularly useful for saving energy in idle states or when there is low network activity.

[0014] Example embodiments of the present disclosure relate to systems, methods, and devices for discontinuous transmission and discontinuous reception of cells.

[0015] Typical next-generation radio access network (gNB) operations can serve different load conditions (e.g., low, medium, and high load), and system resource utilization will vary accordingly. Under low-load conditions, resource utilization is expected to be lower, and there may be more opportunities for gNB inactivity, such as periods of no transmission / reception or limited transmission / reception, causing the gNB to reside in idle mode more frequently.

[0016] In one or more embodiments, the network efficiency optimization system can further promote improved network energy conservation, and the gNB can switch to discontinuous transmission (DTX) and / or discontinuous reception (DRX). Note that DTX and DRX configurations can be configured independently or jointly. The following embodiments can be applicable to different scenarios: only cell DTX is configured, only DRX is configured, and cell DTX and cell DRX are jointly configured with a common configuration. The examples / embodiments herein can be applicable to frequency range 1 (FR1), frequency range 2 (FR2), licensed / unlicensed bands, time division duplex (TDD) / frequency division duplex (FDD), or other duplex systems. Unless otherwise specified, it is assumed that the specific configuration can be provided to the UE via UE-specific radio resource control (RRC) signaling or group-shared RRC signaling.

[0017] In one or more embodiments, DTX and / or DRX at a gNB or cell may follow a pattern or periodic cycle. Cell DTX / DRX patterns can be implemented in different ways. A UE may or may not operate with a first UE-specific DRX configuration. In a first approach, a second DTX and / or DRX configuration or pattern may be provided to the UE via UE-specific dedicated RRC signaling. Note that the DRX configuration from the UE's perspective also implies the DTX configuration from the gNB's perspective, and vice versa. The second configuration may be UE-specific or group-shared / cell-specific. Each of the DTX and DRX configurations may include at least a start offset, an on-duration or active time, and a periodicity or cycle value. If configured jointly, the common set {start offset, on-duration, periodicity or cycle value} applies to both DTX and DRX. When a cell-specific DTX and / or DRX mode is activated, the UE will switch to the second configuration and the cyclic period will start relative to a reference point (such as a system frame boundary or a time slot boundary) that is located after the application delay, which can be expressed as a number of time slots / symbols under a given parameter set (numerology) and counted from the end of the symbol carrying the activation signaling or the time slot carrying the activation signaling. The ON duration will start after the offset relative to the reference point and repeat periodically with respect to the cyclic period. UEs residing in the cell may start following the second DTX and / or DRX configuration after the application delay and, in one example, may or may not postpone existing UE DRX procedures utilizing the first configuration. One or more UE DRX parameters in the first DRX configuration may or may not apply to the second DTX and / or DRX configuration. In one example, cell DTX / DRX may be applicable to a cell group.

[0018] The above description is for illustration and is not intended to be limiting. There may be many other examples, configurations, processes, algorithms, etc., some of which are described in more detail below. Example embodiments will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0019] Figure 1 Depicted is an illustrative diagram of network efficiency optimization according to one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0020] refer to Figure 1 , which shows an example of when the UE starts a new DRX configuration after the cell DTX / DRX mode is activated.

[0021] Typical gNB operations can serve different load conditions (e.g., low, medium, and high load), and system resource utilization will vary accordingly. Under low load conditions, resource utilization is expected to be lower, and there may be more gNB inactivity opportunities (i.e., periods of no or limited transmission / reception), resulting in the gNB being in idle mode more frequently.

[0022] In one or more embodiments, to further improve network energy efficiency, the gNB can switch to discontinuous transmission (DTX) and / or discontinuous reception (DRX). Note that DTX and DRX configurations can be configured independently or jointly. The following embodiments can be applied to different scenarios: only cell DTX is configured, only DRX is configured, and cell DTX and cell DRX are jointly configured with a shared configuration. The examples / embodiments herein can be applied to frequency range 1 (FR1), frequency range 2 (FR2), licensed / unlicensed bands, time division duplex (TDD) / frequency division duplex (FDD), or other duplex systems. Unless otherwise specified, it is assumed that the specific configuration can be provided to the UE via UE-specific radio resource control (RRC) signaling or group-shared RRC signaling.

[0023] In one or more embodiments, DTX and / or DRX at the gNB or cell may follow a pattern or periodic cycle. Cell DTX / DRX patterns can be implemented in different ways. The UE may or may not operate with a first UE-specific DRX configuration. In a first approach, a second DTX and / or DRX configuration or pattern may be provided to the UE via UE-specific dedicated RRC signaling. Note that the DRX configuration from the UE's perspective also implies the DTX configuration from the gNB's perspective, and vice versa. The second configuration may be UE-specific or group-shared / cell-specific. Each of the DTX and DRX configurations may include at least a start offset, an on-duration or active time, and a periodic or cyclic period value. If configured jointly, the common set {start offset, on-duration, periodic or cyclic period value} applies to both DTX and DRX. When a cell-specific DTX and / or DRX mode is activated, the UE will switch to the second configuration and the cyclic period will start relative to a reference point (such as a system frame boundary or a time slot boundary) that is located after the application delay, which can be expressed as a number of time slots / symbols under a given parameter set and counted from the end of the symbol carrying the activation signaling or the time slot carrying the activation signaling. The ON duration will start after the offset relative to the reference point and repeat periodically with respect to the cyclic period. UEs residing in the cell may start following the second DTX and / or DRX configuration after the application delay, and in one example, the existing UE DRX process utilizing the first configuration may or may not be postponed. One or more UE DRX parameters in the first DRX configuration may or may not be applicable to the second DTX and / or DRX configuration. In one example, cell DTX / DRX may be applicable to a cell group.

[0024] In the second technique, a second (UE-specific or cell-specific or UE group-common) DTX and / or DRX configuration may not be provided, but instead the UE may adjust its DRX cycle when the cell DTX / DRX mode is activated, i.e., one or more parameters of the UE DRX configuration may be adjusted. For example, the start offset may be adjusted so that the start of the DRX ON duration timer of the UE DRX is aligned with a reference point or alignment boundary. When the cell DTX / DRX mode is activated, the UE may identify a reference point (such as a system frame boundary or a time slot boundary) after applying a delay (which may be expressed as a number of time slots / symbols under a given parameter set). The start position of the UE's DRX cycle or the start of the first drxOnduration-timer (e.g., a drxOnduration-timer associated with an existing or first UE DRX configuration) is aligned at the reference position. Options related to the second technique may include one or more of the following:

[0025] The values ​​of drxOnduration-timer for DRX of different UEs may be the same or different. When the values ​​are the same, a second drxOnduration-timer may be preconfigured or assumed by the UE after the cell DTX / DRX mode is activated; alternatively, a second ON duration may be configured, and the UE may terminate the UE's DRX active time or drxOnduration-timer at the end of the second ON duration, i.e., the UE's DRX active time / drxOnduration-timer <= the second ON duration.

[0026] refer to Figure 2 , which shows an example in which the starting positions of the DRX cycles of the UEs are aligned. The values ​​of the DRX cycles of different UEs can be the same or different. Figure 2 In the example, the DRX cycle value of UE2 is shown to be an integer multiple of the DRX cycle values ​​of UE1 and UE3. When they are the same, the UE may assume a second DRX cycle or periodicity value (which may be preconfigured) after the cell DTX / DRX mode is activated.

[0027] In one embodiment, a group-common or UE-specific DCI may be provided to the UE to indicate the activation and / or deactivation of a cell DTX / DRX mode. As discussed above, activation of a cell DTX / DRX mode means whether the UE switches to a second DTX and / or DRX configuration or adjusts one or more parameters of an existing first UE DRX configuration. If cell DRX and DTX are configured independently, the same or different DCIs may be used to provide the corresponding activation / deactivation. In one example, the UE may monitor the DCI format only during the UE's DRX active time, or monitor the DCI format both during and outside the UE's DRX active time. In another example, the DCI format may have a fixed or configured RNTI and may be monitored in a UE-specific search space (UE SS) or a group-common search space (such as a Type 3 CSS). In one example, a plurality of cell DTX / DRX patterns or configurations may be provided to the UE, for example, in the form of two or more DRX or DTX configurations, wherein each configuration includes at least {start offset, ON duration, periodicity, or cycle period value}. The activation DCI may include a log2N bit field, which may activate one of N≥2 configurations. If only one cell DTX / DRX pattern or configuration is provided, 1 bit is sufficient.

[0028] Even if a cell DTX / DRX pattern with a specific pattern is adopted, having a fixed or preconfigured ON duration may still not be well adapted to different network load conditions. In another embodiment, it is possible to consider adjusting the cell DTX / DRX pattern or the configured ON duration based on signaling of dynamic DCI. In one example, the UE may monitor the DCI format transmitted in the PDCCH before the ON duration of the cell DTX / DRX or the second DTX / DRX configuration (see the first method), wherein the DCI indicates to the UE whether to monitor the subsequent ON duration, that is, to act as a wake-up signal (WUS). In one example, the DCI may have a 1-bit field, in which one code point (such as 1) indicates to wake up and monitor the ON duration, and another code point (such as 0) indicates to skip the ON duration. If no DCI is detected, the UE can skip the next ON duration. Alternatively, the UE behavior can be configured, wherein the UE can wake up to monitor or skip the next ON duration without detecting the DCI format. Figure 3 The example in FIG shows that the WUS is sent before the ON duration in one cycle and is not sent in another cycle. It should be noted that even if the UE does not wake up to monitor the ON duration, the UE can still monitor some signals / channels. For example, the UE can still perform transmission / reception that is allowed outside the active time or ON duration, such as SSB reception, SPS data reception, CG data transmission, SR transmission, or PRACH transmission. In one example, the DCI format 2_6 introduced in Rel-16 can be reused for this purpose, as shown in Table A: DCI format:

[0029]

[0030] DCI format 2_6 refers to a specific DCI format used in cellular communications, mainly used in the context of 4G LTE and 5GNR (new radio) technologies. DCI is critical for communications in cellular networks because it carries control information from the base station (eNodeB in LTE or gNodeB in 5G NR) to the user equipment (UE). This control information includes various aspects such as resource allocation, power control, modulation and coding schemes, and other necessary instructions for data transmission. DCI format 2_6 is one of multiple predefined DCI formats, each designed for a specific type of control signaling. The specific structure and usage of DCI format 2_6 may vary depending on the technical standard (LTE vs. 5G NR) and the specific version of the standard. Typically, DCI formats are defined in the technical specifications provided by 3GPP.

[0031] refer to Figure 3, which shows an example dynamic adjustment of the ON duration, such as by using WUSDCI or by triggering an extension by DCI.

[0032] Alternatively, the gNB can configure a short ON duration to reduce energy consumption. In one embodiment, the gNB or cell can dynamically extend the ON duration or active time of the cell's DTX / DRX configuration. In one example, the gNB can send a DCI to indicate the extension of the ON duration or active time, which is also referred to as an inactivity timer. The DCI triggering the extension may also include the duration in the indication; in other cases, the duration or timer may be configured by higher layers. In one example, the DCI may be group-common DCI or UE-specific DCI. Group-common DCI is not specific to a single UE but applies to a group of UEs. The DCI format can be monitored in the UE SS or CSS and can be associated with a fixed or specially configured RNTI. The inactivity timer may expire upon receipt of another indication or at the end of the indicated or configured duration. In 3GPP standards, "group-common DCI" is a downlink control information format used by the gNB to communicate with multiple UEs simultaneously, in contrast to UE-specific DCI targeted at individual devices. This method effectively manages energy consumption by enabling the gNB to set a short ON duration in a DTX / DRX configuration and dynamically extend it as needed. The gNB sends a DCI (which can be group-common or UE-specific) to signal the extension of the ON duration (also known as the inactivity timer). The duration of this timer can be indicated in the DCI or predefined by higher layers.

[0033] As described, dynamic management of ON duration in the gNB provides a flexible approach for optimizing network performance and energy efficiency. This is particularly important in scenarios with variable network traffic patterns. For example, during peak usage periods, longer ON durations can be maintained to ensure seamless service delivery. Conversely, during off-peak hours, shorter ON durations can help conserve energy, thereby reducing operating costs and environmental impact. Using DCI to extend ON duration is a good example of how control information can be efficiently delivered to the UE to ensure it is prepared for changes in network conditions. This approach not only improves the user experience by minimizing service disruptions but also enables a more responsive and adaptable network. This balance between maintaining high service quality and optimizing resource utilization demonstrates the intricacies of network management in modern communications systems.

[0034] In one embodiment, a cell DTX / DRX pattern or configuration can be activated and deactivated via DCI, a timer, or expiration of a validity period. In one example, the cell DTX / DRX pattern can take effect from a reference location, which can be found after an applied delay from the timeslot or symbol providing activation. The pattern / configuration can remain in effect until a deactivation DCI is provided or the configured validity period expires. Upon expiration of the validity period or deactivation of the cell DTX / DRX, the UE can switch back to the previous DRX configuration or remain in the active time.

[0035] The embodiments described herein emphasize the adaptability of cell DTX / DRX patterns in response to changing network demands and conditions. Activation / deactivation of these patterns via DCI or timers adds multiple levels of flexibility and control. For example, in high-demand scenarios such as large public events, the network can activate specific DTX / DRX patterns to effectively manage sudden increases in data traffic. The concept of applying a delay from the time slot or symbol providing activation allows for precise timing control of pattern activation, ensuring that changes in network configuration do not interfere with ongoing transmissions. In addition, the ability of the UE to revert to the previous DRX configuration or remain active at the time the pattern expires enables seamless transitions between states, ensuring a great user experience. This mechanism is critical in modern networks, where the balance between efficient resource utilization and high-quality service is paramount. This demonstrates the complex and dynamic nature of network management, where every element, from the cell to the UE, plays a role in providing optimal service.

[0036] In one embodiment, the inactive period of the cell DTX and / or cell DRX configuration may allow for one or more of the following transmissions (i.e., the UE will still expect to transmit or receive the identified signal / channel):

[0037] ·SSB

[0038] DL semi-persistent SPS data

[0039] UL Configuration Grant (CG) data

[0040] Scheduling Request (SR)

[0041] ·PRACH

[0042] UL Reference Signal (SRS)

[0043] DL reference signal CSI-RS / TRS

[0044] DL and / or UL retransmissions

[0045] In one embodiment, when cell DTX / DRX is activated, the UE may postpone one or more behaviors associated with the previous UE DRX configuration. This adaptability ensures that the UE can prioritize current network needs, thereby optimizing its performance under fluctuating network conditions. For example, if the UE was configured to monitor using the previous UE DRX configuration, the UE may not monitor DCI format 2_6, ps-Wakeup, ps-TransmitPeriodicL1-RSRP and / or ps-TransmitOtherPeriodicCSI are disabled (if configured). By selectively disengaging from these specific monitoring activities, the UE can retain resources and processing power for more critical tasks consistent with the new network settings. In one example, if the indicated K1 value (HARQ-ACK timing indication in the DCI that schedules DL data, PDSCH) is a non-numeric value or points to a location outside the active time, then the HARQ-ACK feedback is postponed. This postponement strategy ensures that the UE's feedback mechanism remains synchronized with the network's active period, thereby improving the efficiency of data transmission. The UE may or may not maintain the existing dormant / non-dormant state of the activated SCell when cell DTX / DRX is activated. When cell DTX / DRX is activated, the UE may not operate one or more of the following timers: for example, the drx-inactivity-timer, DL and UL HARQ-RTT timers, DL and UL retransmission timers, etc. Deactivating these timers can lead to improved power and resource allocation, allowing the UE's operation to more closely match the immediate network needs and conditions.

[0046] A device may be directed to a method for a 5G NR UE, wherein the UE may receive first and second DRX configurations in RRC connected mode. This demonstrates the device's ability to handle multiple DRX configurations simultaneously, thereby enhancing the device's adaptability to diverse network conditions. The device may monitor or transmit based on the first DRX configuration. This allows the device to efficiently manage its resources and battery life by aligning its operations with the optimal DRX configuration. Furthermore, (e.g., when the gNB transitions to cell DTX / DRX mode), the device may receive a DCI indication commanding the UE to switch to the second DRX configuration / rules. Receiving the DCI instruction for the configuration switch ensures that the device remains synchronized with the current operating state of the network, thereby maintaining network efficiency. The device may then monitor or transmit based on the second DRX configuration and defer operations based on the first DRX configuration. This strategy for switching between monitoring and transmission demonstrates the device's ability to dynamically adapt to changing network demands. In some instances, the DCI indication received by the UE may be a group-shared DCI indication. A group-shared DCI indication highlights the device's ability to respond to network-wide changes, rather than being limited to instructions specific to individual UEs. Furthermore, the first and second configurations can be provided to the UE via UE-specific RRC signaling. This method of delivering configurations ensures a customized network experience, potentially enhancing the overall performance of the UE. There may be situations where the second configuration is deactivated based on another DCI signaling (e.g., a deactivation DCI). This flexibility in configuration management allows for rapid adaptation to network conditions and user needs. In such situations, upon termination of the first DRX configuration, the UE can switch back to the first DRX configuration. This recovery mechanism ensures uninterrupted continuous operation, even when configurations change frequently. Each DRX configuration handled by the device may include at least: a start offset, an ON duration, a periodicity, or a cycle value. These components of the DRX configuration contribute to a highly customizable network experience, allowing for precise control over the device's network interactions. Furthermore, the device can monitor DCI, which can dynamically adjust the ON duration of the second DRX configuration. This dynamic adjustment capability demonstrates the device's ability to optimize its performance in real time based on current network demands. Furthermore, in this context, the term device can refer to various network elements, such as a cell, gNodeB, or other network equipment, highlighting the broad applicability of this approach across different network infrastructure components.

[0047] In some embodiments, Figure 5-Figure 8 Or some other figure(s) of this document, (one or more) electronic devices, (one or more) networks, (one or more) systems, (one or more) chips or (one or more) components, or some parts or implementations thereof, may be configured to perform one or more processes, techniques or methods as described herein, or some parts thereof. Figure 4 Such a process is depicted in .

[0048] For example, the process may include, at 402, receiving a first cell discontinuous transmission (DTX) / discontinuous reception (DRX) configuration and a second cell DTX / DRX configuration in a radio resource control (RRC) connected mode.

[0049] The process also includes, at 404, performing transmission and reception based on the first cell DTX / DRX configuration.

[0050] The process also includes, at 406, receiving a downlink control information (DCI) indication associated with a base station cell DTX / DRX mode transition to switch to a second cell DTX / DRX configuration / rule.

[0051] The process also includes, at 408, performing transmission and reception based on the second cell DTX / DRX configuration.

[0052] The process also includes, at 410, deferring operations based on the first cell DTX / DRX configuration.

[0053] In one or more embodiments, the process may involve utilizing a group-common DCI indication as part of a DCI indication for the device. The process may also include configuring the first and second cell DTX / DRX configurations to enable or disable cell DTX, cell DRX, or both. Additionally, the process may involve disabling the second DTX / DRX configuration based on other DCI signaling (e.g., deactivating DCI).

[0054] In this process, the following step may be included: the processing circuit of the device is configured to restore the first cell DTX / DRX configuration when the second cell DTX / DRX configuration is suspended. In addition, the process may include: each of the first and second cell DTX / DRX configurations has the following elements: for example, a start offset, an ON duration, a periodicity, or a cycle period value.

[0055] Furthermore, the process may include the steps of: processing circuitry monitoring DCI for dynamic adjustment of the ON duration of the second cell DTX / DRX configuration. In this embodiment, the process may also utilize group-shared DCI indications to synchronize multiple UEs with the current operational state of the network. Furthermore, the process involves providing the first and second cell DTX / DRX configurations via UE-specific RRC signaling. Finally, the process includes dynamically adjusting the ON duration of the second cell DTX / DRX configuration to optimize UE performance in real time based on current network requirements.

[0056] 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 example section below. For example, the baseband circuit described above in connection with one or more of the foregoing figures may be configured to operate according to one or more examples described below. For another example, the circuits associated with the UE, base station, network element, etc. described above in connection with one or more of the foregoing figures may be configured to operate according to one or more examples described in the example section below.

[0057] It is to be understood that the above description is intended to be illustrative, and is not intended to be restrictive.

[0058] Figure 5-Figure 8 Various systems, devices, and components are illustrated in which aspects of the disclosed embodiments may be implemented.

[0059] Figure 5 An example network architecture 500 is illustrated according to various embodiments. Network 500 may operate in a manner compliant with 3GPP technical specifications for LTE or 5G / NR systems. However, example embodiments are not limited thereto, and the described embodiments may be applied to other networks that benefit from the principles described herein, such as future 3GPP systems, etc.

[0060] The network 500 includes a UE 502, which is any mobile or non-mobile computing device designed to communicate with a RAN 504 via an over-the-air connection. The UE 502 is communicatively coupled to the RAN 504 via a Uu interface, which is applicable to both LTE and NR systems. Examples of the UE 502 include, but are not limited to, smartphones, tablet computers, wearable computers, desktop computers, laptop computers, in-vehicle infotainment systems, in-vehicle entertainment systems, instrument clusters, heads-up displays (HUDs), onboard diagnostic equipment, dashboard mobile devices, mobile data terminals, electronic engine management systems, electronic / engine control units, electronic / engine control modules, embedded systems, sensors, microcontrollers, control modules, engine management systems, networked appliances, machine-type communication devices, machine-to-machine (M2M), device-to-device (D2D), machine-type communication (MTC) devices, Internet of Things (IoT) devices, and the like. The network 500 may include multiple UEs 502 directly coupled to each other via D2D, ProSe, PC5, and / or sidelink (SL) interfaces. These UEs 502 may be M2M / D2D / MTC / IoT devices and / or vehicle-mounted systems that communicate using physical sidelink channels, such as, but not limited to, PSBCH, PSDCH, PSSCH, PSCCH, PSFCH, etc. The UEs 502 may perform blind decoding attempts on the SL channels / links according to various embodiments herein.

[0061] In some embodiments, UE 502 may also communicate with AP 506 via an over-the-air (OTA) connection. AP 506 manages a WLAN connection, which may be used to offload some / all network traffic from RAN 504. The connection between UE 502 and AP 506 may conform to any IEEE 802.11 protocol. In addition, UE 502, RAN 504, and AP 506 may utilize cellular-WLAN aggregation / integration (e.g., LWA / LWIP). Cellular-WLAN aggregation may involve UE 502 being configured by RAN 504 to utilize both cellular radio resources and WLAN resources.

[0062] RAN 504 includes one or more access network nodes (ANs) 508. AN 508 terminates the air interface(s) for UE 502 by providing access layer protocols, including RRC, PDCP, RLC, MAC, and PHY / L1 protocols. Thus, AN 508 enables data / voice connectivity between CN 520 and UE 502. AN 508 can be a macrocell base station, or a low-power base station for a femtocell, picocell, or other similar cell with a smaller coverage area, smaller user capacity, or higher bandwidth than a macrocell, or some combination thereof. In these implementations, AN 508 is referred to as a BS, gNB, RAN node, eNB, ng-eNB, NodeB, RSU, TRxP, etc.

[0063] One example implementation is a "CU / DU split" architecture, in which the AN 508 is embodied as a gNB-Central Unit (CU) communicatively coupled to one or more gNB-Distributed Units (DUs), each of which may be communicatively coupled to one or more Radio Units (RUs) (also known as RRHs, RRUs, etc.) (e.g., see 3GPP TS 38.401 v16.1.0 (2020-03)). In some implementations, one or more RUs may be individual RSUs. In some implementations, the CU / DU split may include one ng-eNB-CU and one or more ng-eNB-DUs, respectively, instead of or in addition to the gNB-CU and gNB-DU. The AN 508 employed as a CU may be implemented in a discrete device or as one or more software entities running on a server computer, for example, as part of a virtual network including a virtual baseband unit (BBU) or a BBU pool, a cloud RAN (CRAN), a radio equipment controller (REC), a radio cloud center (RCC), a centralized RAN (C-RAN), a virtualized RAN (vRAN), and the like (although these terms may refer to different implementation concepts). Any other type of architecture, arrangement, and / or configuration may also be used.

[0064] Multiple ANs may be coupled to each other via an X2 interface (if the RAN 504 is an LTE RAN or an Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN) 510) or an Xn interface (if the RAN 504 is an NG-RAN 514). The X2 / Xn interface (which may be separated into control / user plane interfaces in some embodiments) may allow the ANs to communicate information related to handover, data / context transfer, mobility, load management, interference coordination, and the like.

[0065] Each AN of the RAN 504 may manage one or more cells, cell groups, component carriers, etc., to provide an air interface for network access to the UE 502. The UE 502 may be simultaneously connected to multiple cells provided by the same or different ANs 508 of the RAN 504. For example, the UE 502 and the RAN 504 may use carrier aggregation to allow the UE 502 to connect to multiple component carriers, each corresponding to a PCell or Scell. In a dual connectivity scenario, the first AN 508 may be a primary node providing an MCG, and the second AN 508 may be a secondary node providing an SCG. The first / second AN 508 may be any combination of eNBs, gNBs, ng-eNBs, etc.

[0066] The RAN 504 may provide an air interface via licensed or unlicensed spectrum. To operate in unlicensed spectrum, a node may utilize LAA, eLAA, and / or feLAA mechanisms based on Carrier Access Control (CA) technology and PCell / Scell. Before accessing the unlicensed spectrum, the node may perform medium / carrier sensing operations based on, for example, a listen-before-talk (LBT) protocol.

[0067] In a V2X scenario, the UE 502 or AN 508 can be or act as a roadside unit (RSU), which can refer to any traffic infrastructure entity used for V2X communication. The RSU can be implemented in or by an appropriate AN or a fixed (or relatively fixed) UE. An RSU implemented in or by a UE can be referred to as a "UE-type RSU," an RSU implemented in or by an eNB can be referred to as an "eNB-type RSU," an RSU implemented in or by a gNB can be referred to as a "gNB-type RSU," and so on. In one example, an RSU is a computing device coupled to roadside RF circuitry that provides connectivity support to passing vehicular UEs. The RSU may also include internal data storage circuitry to store intersection map geometry, traffic flow statistics, media, and applications / software to sense and control ongoing vehicular and pedestrian traffic. The RSU can provide the extremely low-latency communications required for high-speed events such as collision avoidance, traffic warnings, and the like. Additionally or alternatively, the RSU can provide other cellular / WLAN communication services. The components of the RSU may be housed in a weatherproof enclosure suitable for outdoor installation and may include a network interface controller to provide a wired connection (eg, Ethernet) to a traffic signal controller or backhaul network.

[0068] In some embodiments, the RAN 504 may be an E-UTRAN 510 with one or more eNBs 512. The E-UTRAN 510 may provide an LTE air interface (Uu) with the following characteristics: a 15 kHz SCS; a CP-OFDM waveform for DL ​​and an SC-FDMA waveform for UL; turbo coding for data and TBCC for control; etc. The LTE air interface may rely on CSI-RS for CSI acquisition and beam management; PDSCH / PDCCH DMRS for PDSCH / PDCCH demodulation; and CRS for cell search and initial acquisition, channel quality measurement, and channel estimation for coherent demodulation / detection at the UE. The LTE air interface may operate in frequency bands below 6 GHz.

[0069] In some embodiments, the RAN 504 may be a next-generation (NG)-RAN 514 having one or more gNBs 516 and / or one or more ng-eNBs 518. The gNB 516 connects to the 5G-capable UE 502 using a 5G NR interface. The gNB 516 connects to the 5GC 540 via an NG interface, which may include an N2 interface or an N3 interface. The ng-eNB 518 also connects to the 5GC 540 via an NG interface, but may connect to the UE 502 via a Uu interface. The gNB 516 and the ng-eNB 518 may connect to each other via an Xn interface.

[0070] In some embodiments, the NG interface can be divided into two parts, one is the NG user plane (NG-U) interface, which carries traffic data between the node of the NG-RAN 514 and the UPF 548 (e.g., N3 interface), and the other is the NG control plane (NG-C) interface, which is the signaling interface between the node of the NG-RAN 514 and the AMF 544 (e.g., N2 interface).

[0071] The NG-RAN 514 may provide a 5G-NR air interface (also referred to as a Uu interface) with the following features: variable SCS; CP-OFDM for DL, CP-OFDM and DFT-s-OFDM for UL; polar, repetition, simplex, and Reed-Muller codes for control, and LDPC for data. The 5G-NR air interface may rely on CSI-RS and PDSCH / PDCCH DMRS, similar to the LTE air interface. The 5G-NR air interface may not use CRS, but may use PBCH DMRS for PBCH demodulation; PTRS for phase tracking of PDSCH; and tracking reference signals for time tracking. The 5G-NR air interface may operate in either FR1, which includes sub-6 GHz bands, or FR2, which includes bands from 24.25 GHz to 52.6 GHz. The 5G-NR air interface may include an SSB, which is a region of the downlink resource grid that includes the PSS / SSS / PBCH.

[0072] The 5G-NR air interface can utilize BWPs for various purposes. For example, BWPs can be used for dynamic adaptation of SCSs. For example, a UE 502 can be configured with multiple BWPs, each configured with a different SCS. When a BWP change is indicated to the UE 502, the transmitted SCS is also changed. Another example use case for BWPs is related to power conservation. Specifically, a UE 502 can be configured with multiple BWPs with different amounts of frequency resources (e.g., PRBs) to support data transmission in different traffic load scenarios. A BWP containing a smaller number of PRBs can be used for data transmission with a small traffic load, while allowing power savings at the UE 502 and, in some cases, at the gNB 516. A BWP containing a larger number of PRBs can be used for scenarios with higher traffic loads.

[0073] The RAN 504 is communicatively coupled to the CN 520, which includes network elements and / or network functions (NFs) to provide various functions to support data and telecommunication services to customers / subscribers (e.g., UE 502). The components of the CN 520 may be implemented in one physical node or in separate physical nodes. In some embodiments, NFV may be utilized to virtualize any or all functions provided by the network elements of the CN 520 onto physical computing / storage resources in servers, switches, etc. A logical instantiation of the CN 520 may be referred to as a network slice, and a logical instantiation of a portion of the CN 520 may be referred to as a network sub-slice.

[0074] CN 520 may be LTE CN 522 (also known as Evolved Packet Core (EPC) 522). EPC 522 may include MME 524, SGW 526, SGSN 528, HSS 530, PGW 532, and PCRF 534, which are coupled to each other via interfaces (or "reference points") as shown. The NFs in EPC 522 are briefly described below.

[0075] The MME 524 implements mobility management functions to track the current location of the UE 502 to facilitate paging, bearer activation / deactivation, handover, gateway selection, authentication, and the like.

[0076] The S-GW 526 terminates the S1 interface towards the RAN 510 and routes data packets between the RAN 510 and the EPC 522. The S-GW 526 can be the local mobility anchor point for handovers between RAN nodes and can also provide an anchor for inter-3GPP mobility. Other responsibilities may include lawful interception, charging, and some policy enforcement.

[0077] SGSN 528 tracks the location of UE 502 and performs security functions and access control. SGSN 528 also performs inter-EPC node signaling for mobility between different RAT networks; selects PDN and S-GW as specified by MME 524; selects MME 524 for handover; and so on. The S3 reference point between MME 524 and SGSN 528 enables user and bearer information exchange for inter-3GPP access network mobility in idle / active states.

[0078] HSS 530 includes a database for network users, including subscription-related information, to support network entities in handling communication sessions. HSS 530 can provide support for routing / roaming, authentication, authorization, naming / addressing resolution, location compliance, etc. The S6a reference point between HSS 530 and MME 524 enables the transfer of subscription and authentication data to authenticate / authorize user access to EPC 520.

[0079] The PGW 532 can terminate the SGi interface toward a data network (DN) 536, which may include an application (app) / content server 538. The PGW 532 routes data packets between the EPC 522 and the data network 536. The PGW 532 is communicatively coupled to the SGW 526 via the S5 reference point to facilitate user plane tunneling and tunnel management. The PGW 532 may also include a node (e.g., PCEF) for policy enforcement and charging data collection. In addition, the SGi reference point may communicatively couple the PGW 532 to the same or different data network 536. The PGW 532 may be communicatively coupled to the PCRF 534 via the Gx reference point.

[0080] PCRF 534 is the policy and charging control element of EPC 522. PCRF 534 is communicatively coupled with application / content server 538 to determine the appropriate QoS and charging parameters for the service flow. PCRF 532 also configures the associated rules into PCEF with the appropriate TFT and QCI (via the Gx reference point).

[0081] CN 520 may be 5GC 540, which includes AUSF 542, AMF 544, SMF 546, UPF 548, NSSF 550, NEF 552, NRF 554, PCF 556, UDM 558, and AF 560, which are coupled to each other through various interfaces as shown. The NFs in 5GC 540 are briefly introduced as follows.

[0082] The AUSF 542 stores data used for authentication of the UE 502 and handles authentication-related functions. The AUSF 542 may facilitate a common authentication framework for various access types.

[0083] AMF 544 allows other functions of 5GC 540 to communicate with UE 502 and RAN 504, and subscribe to notifications about mobility events for UE 502. AMF 544 is also responsible for registration management (e.g., for registering UE 502), connection management, reachability management, mobility management, lawful interception of AMF-related events, and access authentication and authorization. AMF 544 provides transport for SM messages between UE 502 and SMF 546, and acts as a transparent proxy for routing SM messages. AMF 544 also provides transport for SMS messages between UE 502 and SMSF. AMF 544 interacts with AUSF 542 and UE 502 to perform various security anchoring and context management functions. In addition, AMF 544 is the termination point of the RAN-CP interface, which includes the N2 reference point between RAN 504 and AMF 544. AMF 544 is also the termination point for NAS (N1) signaling and performs NAS encryption and integrity protection.

[0084] AMF 544 also supports NAS signaling with UE 502 via the N3IWF interface. The N3IWF provides access to untrusted entities. The N3IWF can be the termination point of the N2 interface between (R)AN 504 and AMF 544 for the control plane, and the termination point of the N3 reference point between (R)AN 514 and UPF 548 for the user plane. Thus, AMF 544 handles N2 signaling from SMF 546 and AMF 544 for PDU sessions and QoS, encapsulates / decapsulates packets for IPSec and N3 tunneling, marks N3 user plane packets in the uplink, and enforces QoS corresponding to N3 packet markings, taking into account the QoS requirements associated with such markings received over N2. The N3IWF may also relay UL and DL control plane NAS signaling between the UE 502 and the AMF 544 via the N1 reference point between the UE 502 and the AMF 544, and relay uplink and downlink user plane packets between the UE 502 and the UPF 548. The N3IWF also provides a mechanism for establishing an IPsec tunnel with the UE 502. The AMF 544 may present a Namf service-based interface and may be the termination point for the N14 reference point between two AMFs 544 and the N17 reference point between the AMF 544 and the 5G-EIR (not shown in FIG. 45 ).

[0085] The SMF 546 is responsible for SM (e.g., session establishment, tunnel management between the UPF 548 and the AN 508); UE IP address allocation and management (including optional authorization); selection and control of UP functions; configuration of traffic steering at the UPF 548 to route traffic to the appropriate destination; termination of interfaces to policy control functions; control of policy enforcement, charging, and QoS; lawful interception (for SM events and interfaces to the LI system); termination of the SM portion of NAS messages; downlink data notification; initiation of AN-specific SM information sent to the AN 508 via the AMF 544 over N2; and determination of the SSC mode for the session. SM refers to the management of PDU sessions, and PDU sessions or "sessions" refer to the PDU connectivity service that provides or enables the exchange of PDUs between the UE 502 and the DN 536.

[0086] The UPF 548 serves as an anchor point for intra-RAT and inter-RAT mobility, an external PDU session point for interconnection to the data network 536, and a branch point to support multi-homed PDU sessions. The UPF 548 also performs packet routing and forwarding, packet inspection, enforces the user plane portion of policy rules, performs lawful interception of packets (UP collection), performs traffic usage reporting, performs QoS handling for the user plane (e.g., packet filtering, gating, UL / DL rate enforcement), performs uplink traffic validation (e.g., SDF to QoS flow mapping), transport-level packet marking in the uplink and downlink, and performs downlink packet buffering and downlink data notification triggering. The UPF 548 may include an uplink classifier to support routing of traffic flows to the data network.

[0087] The NSSF 550 selects a set of network slice instances to serve the UE 502. If required, the NSSF 550 also determines the allowed NSSAIs and the mapping to the subscribed S-NSSAIs. The NSSF 550 also determines the set of AMFs to be used to serve the UE 502, or a list of candidate AMFs 544, based on appropriate configuration and possibly by querying the NRF 554. The selection of a set of network slice instances for the UE 502 may be triggered by the AMF 544 with which the UE 502 is registered, by interacting with the NSSF 550; this may result in a change of the AMF 544. The NSSF 550 interacts with the AMF 544 via the N22 reference point; and may communicate with another NSSF in the visited network via the N31 reference point (not shown).

[0088] NEF 552 securely exposes the services and capabilities provided by 3GPP NF to third parties, internal exposure / re-exposure, AF560, edge computing or fog computing systems (e.g., edge computing nodes, etc.). In this embodiment, NEF 552 can authenticate, authorize, or throttle AF. NEF 552 can also convert information exchanged with AF 560 and information exchanged with internal network functions. For example, NEF 552 can translate between AF service identifiers and internal 5GC information. NEF 552 can also receive information from other NFs based on the exposed capabilities of other NFs. This information can be stored at NEF 552 as structured data or stored at a data storage NF using a standardized interface. The stored information can then be re-exposed to other NFs and AFs by NEF 552, or used for other purposes, such as parsing.

[0089] The NRF 554 supports a service discovery function, receives an NF discovery request from an NF instance, and provides information about the discovered NF instance to the requesting NF instance. The NRF 554 also maintains information about available NF instances and the services they support. The NRF 554 also supports a service discovery function, where the NRF 554 receives an NF discovery request from an NF instance or an SCP (not shown), and provides information about the discovered NF instance to the NF instance or the SCP.

[0090] PCF 556 provides policy rules to control plane functions to enforce them and may also support a unified policy framework to constrain network behavior. PCF 556 may also implement a front end to access subscription information related to policy decisions in the UDR of UDM 558. In addition to communicating with functions through reference points as shown in the figure, PCF 556 may also expose an Npcf service-based interface.

[0091] The UDM 558 handles subscription-related information to support network entities handling communication sessions and stores subscription data for the UE 502. For example, subscription data can be communicated via the N8 reference point between the UDM 558 and the AMF 544. The UDM 558 may include two components: an application front end and a UDR. The UDR may store subscription data and policy data for the UDM 558 and PCF 556, and / or store structured data and application data (including PFDs for application detection and application request information for multiple UEs 502) for exposure to the NEF 552. The UDR service-based interface may be exposed by the UDR 221 to allow the UDM 558, PCF 556, and NEF 552 to access a specific set of stored data, as well as read, update (e.g., add, modify), delete, and be notified of changes to subscription-related data in the UDR. The UDM may include a UDM-FE, which is responsible for handling credentials, location management, subscription management, and the like. Several different front ends may serve the same user in different transactions. The UDM-FE accesses subscription information stored in the UDR and performs authentication credential processing, user identity handling, access authorization, registration / mobility management, and subscription management. In addition to communicating with other NFs through reference points as shown, the UDM 558 can also expose Nudm service-based interfaces.

[0092] AF 560 provides application influence over traffic routing, provides access to NEF 552, and interacts with the policy framework for policy control. AF 560 can influence UPF 548 (re)selection and traffic routing. Based on operator deployment, network operators may allow AF 560 to interact directly with relevant NFs when AF 560 is considered a trusted entity. Furthermore, AF 560 can be used in edge computing implementations.

[0093] 5GC 540 can implement edge computing by selecting an operator / third-party service that is geographically close to the point where UE 502 attaches to the network. This can reduce latency and load on the network. In an edge computing implementation, 5GC 540 can select a UPF 548 close to UE 502 and perform traffic steering from UPF 548 to DN 536 via the N6 interface. This can be based on UE subscription data, UE location, and information provided by AF 560, which allows AF 560 to influence UPF (re)selection and traffic routing.

[0094] Data network (DN) 536 can represent various network operator services, Internet access, or third-party services, which can be provided by one or more servers, including, for example, application (app) / content server 538. DN 536 can be an operator's external public network, a dedicated PDN, or an operator's internal packet data network, for example, for provisioning IMS services. In this embodiment, application server 538 can be coupled to IMS via an S-CSCF or I-CSCF. In some implementations, DN 536 can represent one or more local area DNs (LADNs), i.e., DNs 536 (or DN names (DN names, DNNs)) that UE 502 can access in one or more specific areas. Outside of these specific areas, UE 502 cannot access LADN / DN 536.

[0095] Additionally or alternatively, DN 536 may be an edge DN 536, i.e., a (local) data network that supports an architecture for implementing edge applications. In these embodiments, application server 538 may represent a physical hardware system / device that provides application server functionality and / or application software residing in the cloud or at an edge computing node that executes (one or more) server functions. In some embodiments, application / content server 538 provides an edge hosting environment that provides the support required for the execution of edge application servers.

[0096] In some embodiments, the 5GS may use one or more edge computing nodes to provide interfaces and offload the processing of wireless communication traffic. In these embodiments, the edge computing nodes may be included in one or more RANs 510, 514, or co-located with one or more RANs 510, 514. For example, the edge computing node may provide a connection between the RAN 514 and the UPF 548 in the 5GC 540. The edge computing node may use one or more NFV instances instantiated on a virtualized infrastructure within the edge computing node to handle wireless connections with the RAN 514 and the UPF 548.

[0097] The interfaces of the 5GC 540 include reference points and service-based interfaces. Reference points include: N1 (between UE 502 and AMF 544), N2 (between RAN 514 and AMF 544), N3 (between RAN 514 and UPF 548), N4 (between SMF 546 and UPF 548), N5 (between PCF 556 and AF 560), N6 (between UPF 548 and DN 536), N7 (between SMF 546 and PCF 556), N8 (between UDM 558 and AMF 544), N9 (between two UPFs 548), N10 (between UDM 558 and SMF 546), N11 (between AMF 544 and SMF 546), N12 (between AUSF 542 and AMF 544), N13 (between AUSF 542 and UDM 558), N14 (between two AMFs 544; not shown), N15 (between PCF 556 and AMF 544 in the case of a non-roaming scenario, or between PCF 556 and AMF 544 in the visited network in the case of a roaming scenario), N16 (between two SMFs 546; not shown), and N22 (between AMF 544 and NSSF 550). Figure 5 Other reference points not shown are indicated. Figure 5 The service-based representation represents the NFs within the control plane that enable other authorized NFs to access their services. The service-based interfaces (SBIs) include: Namf (SBI presented by AMF 544), Nsmf (SBI presented by SMF 546), Nnef (SBI presented by NEF 552), Npcf (SBI presented by PCF 556), Nudm (SBI presented by UDM 558), Naf (SBI presented by AF 560), Nnrf (SBI presented by NRF 554), Nnssf (SBI presented by NSSF 550), Nausf (SBI presented by AUSF 542). You can also use Figure 55g-eir and Nudsf). In some embodiments, the NEF 552 may provide an interface to the edge computing node 536x, which may be used to handle wireless connections with the RAN 514. In some implementations, the system 500 may include an SMSF that is responsible for SMS subscription checking and verification, as well as relaying SM messages to / from the UE 502 to / from other entities such as SMS-GMSC / IWMSC / SMS routers. The SMS may also interact with the AMF 544 and the UDM 558 to perform notification procedures regarding the availability of the UE 502 for SMS delivery (e.g., setting a UE unreachable flag and notifying the UDM 558 when the UE 502 is available for SMS).

[0098] 5GS may also include an SCP (or individual instances of an SCP) that supports indirect communication (e.g., see 3GPP TS 23.501 Section 7.1.1); delegated discovery (e.g., see 3GPP TS 23.501 Section 7.1.1); message forwarding and routing to destination NF / NF service(s), communication security (e.g., authorizing NF service consumers to access NF service producer APIs) (e.g., see 3GPP TS 33.501), load balancing, monitoring, overload control, etc.; and discovery and selection functions for UDM(s), AUSF(s), UDR(s), PCF(s), which may access subscription data stored in the UDR based on the UE's SUPI, SUCI, or GPSI (e.g., see 3GPP TS 23.501 Section 6.3). The load balancing, monitoring, and overload control functions provided by the SCP may be implementation-dependent. The SCP may be deployed in a distributed manner. More than one SCP may be present in the communication path between various NF services. Although SCP is not an NF instance, it can also be deployed in a distributed, redundant, and scalable manner.

[0099] Figure 6 Schematically illustrates a wireless network 600 according to various embodiments. The wireless network 600 may include a UE 602 in wireless communication with an AN 604. The UE 602 and the AN 604 may be similar to those described in reference to FIG. Figure 4 Components with similar names are described and are substantially interchangeable with each other.

[0100] UE 602 may be communicatively coupled with AN 604 via connection 606. Connection 606 is illustrated as an air interface to enable the communicative coupling and may conform to a cellular communication protocol, such as an LTE protocol or a 5G NR protocol operating at mmWave or sub-6 GHz frequencies.

[0101] UE 602 may include a host platform 608 coupled to a modem platform 610. Host platform 608 may include application processing circuitry 612, which may be coupled to protocol processing circuitry 614 of modem platform 610. Application processing circuitry 612 may run various applications that source and sink application data for UE 602. Application processing circuitry 612 may further implement one or more layer operations to send and receive application data to and from a data network. These layer operations may include transport (e.g., UDP) and internet (e.g., IP) operations.

[0102] Protocol processing circuitry 614 may implement one or more layer operations to facilitate sending or receiving data over connection 606. The layer operations implemented by protocol processing circuitry 614 may include, for example, MAC, RLC, PDCP, RRC, and NAS operations.

[0103] The modem platform 610 may also include digital baseband circuitry 616, which may implement one or more layer operations in the network protocol stack "below" the layer operations performed by the protocol processing circuitry 614. These operations may include, for example, PHY operations, including one or more of: HARQ acknowledgement (ACK) functionality, scrambling / descrambling, encoding / decoding, layer mapping / demapping, modulation symbol mapping, received symbol / bit metric determination, multi-antenna port precoding / decoding (which may include one or more of space-time, space-frequency, or spatial coding), reference signal generation / detection, preamble sequence generation and / or decoding, synchronization sequence generation / detection, control channel signal blind decoding, and other related functions.

[0104] Modem platform 610 may also include transmit circuitry 618, receive circuitry 620, RF circuitry 622, and an RF front end (RFFE) 624, which may include or be connected to one or more antenna panels 626. Briefly, transmit circuitry 618 may include digital-to-analog converters, mixers, intermediate frequency (IF) components, etc.; receive circuitry 620 may include analog-to-digital converters, mixers, IF components, etc.; RF circuitry 622 may include low-noise amplifiers, power amplifiers, power tracking components, etc.; and RFFE 624 may include filters (e.g., surface / bulk acoustic wave filters), switches, antenna tuners, beamforming components (e.g., phased array antenna components), etc. The selection and arrangement of the components of transmit circuitry 618, receive circuitry 620, RF circuitry 622, RFFE 624, and antenna panels 626 (generally referred to as "transmit / receive components") may depend on the details of the specific implementation, such as whether the communication is TDM or FDM, at mmWave or sub-6 GHz frequencies, etc. In some embodiments, the transmit / receive components may be arranged in multiple parallel transmit / receive chains, may be disposed in the same or different chips / modules, and so on.

[0105] In some embodiments, the protocol processing circuitry 614 may include one or more instances of control circuitry (not shown) to provide control functionality for the transmit / receive components.

[0106] UE 602 reception may be established by and via antenna panel 626, RFFE 624, RF circuitry 622, receive circuitry 620, digital baseband circuitry 616, and protocol processing circuitry 614. In some embodiments, antenna panel 626 may receive transmissions from AN 604 via receive beamformed signals received by multiple antennas / antenna elements of one or more antenna panels 626.

[0107] UE 602 transmission may be established by and via protocol processing circuitry 614, digital baseband circuitry 616, transmit circuitry 618, RF circuitry 622, RFFE 624, and antenna panel 626. In some embodiments, the transmit component of UE 604 may apply a spatial filter to the data to be transmitted to form a transmit beam emitted by the antenna elements of antenna panel 626.

[0108] Similar to UE 602, AN 604 may include a host platform 628 coupled to a modem platform 630. Host platform 628 may include application processing circuitry 632 coupled to protocol processing circuitry 634 of modem platform 630. The modem platform may also include digital baseband circuitry 636, transmit circuitry 638, receive circuitry 640, RF circuitry 642, RFFE circuitry 644, and an antenna panel 646. The components of AN 604 may be similar to the similarly named components of UE 602 and may be substantially interchangeable. In addition to performing data transmission / reception as described above, the components of AN 608 may also perform various logical functions, including, for example, RNC functions such as radio bearer management, uplink and downlink dynamic radio resource management, and data packet scheduling.

[0109] Figure 7 Components of a computing device 700 are illustrated that are capable of reading instructions from a machine-readable or computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium) and executing any one or more of the methods discussed herein, according to some example embodiments. Figure 7 A diagrammatic representation of hardware resources 701 is shown, including one or more processors (or processor cores) 710, one or more memory / storage devices 720, and one or more communication resources 730, each of which may be communicatively coupled via a bus 740 or other interface circuitry. For embodiments utilizing node virtualization (e.g., NFV), a hypervisor 702 may be executed to provide an execution environment for one or more network slices / subslices utilizing the hardware resources 701.

[0110] The processor 710 includes, for example, a processor 712 and a processor 714. The processor 710 includes circuits such as, but not limited to, one or more processor cores and one or more of the following: cache memory, a low drop-out (LDO) voltage regulator, an interrupt controller, a serial interface such as SPI, I2C, or a general-purpose programmable serial interface circuit, a real-time clock (RTC), a timer-counter including an interval and a watchdog timer, general-purpose I / O, a memory card controller such as a secure digital / multi-media card (SD / MMC), an interface, a mobile industry processor interface (MIPI) interface, and a Joint Test Access Group (JTAG) test access port. The processor 710 may be, for example, a central processing unit (CPU), a reduced instruction set computing (RISC) processor, an Acorn RISC Machine (ARM) processor, a complex instruction set computing (CISC) processor, a graphics processing unit (GPU), one or more digital signal processors (DSPs) (e.g., a baseband processor), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), a radio-frequency integrated circuit (RFIC), one or more microprocessors or controllers, another processor (including those discussed herein), or any suitable combination thereof. In some implementations, the processor circuit 710 may include one or more hardware accelerators, which may be microprocessors, programmable processing devices (e.g., FPGAs, complex programmable logic devices (CPLDs), etc.), etc.

[0111] The memory / storage device 720 may include main memory, disk storage, or any suitable combination of these. The memory / storage device 720 may include, but is not limited to, any type of volatile, non-volatile, or semi-volatile memory, such as random access memory (RAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM), static RAM (SRAM), synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory, solid-state storage, phase change RAM (PRAM), resistive memory (such as magnetoresistive random access memory (MRAM)), etc., and may include memory from and The memory / storage device 720 may also include a persistent storage device, which may be any type of temporary and / or persistent storage device, including but not limited to non-volatile memory, optical, magnetic and / or solid-state mass storage devices, etc.

[0112] The communication resources 730 may include interconnect or network interface controllers, components, or other appropriate devices to communicate with one or more peripheral devices 704 or one or more databases 706 or other network elements via the network 708. For example, the communication resources 730 may include wired communication components (e.g., for coupling via USB, Ethernet, Ethernet, Ethernet through a GRE tunnel, Ethernet through Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS), Ethernet through USB, Controller Area Network (CAN), Local Interconnect Network (LIN), DeviceNet, ControlNet, DataHighway+, PROFIBUS, or PROFINET, etc.), cellular communication components, NFC components, (or low energy ) components, Components, and other communication components. Network connectivity to / from computing device 700 can be provided via communication resources 730 using physical connections, which can be electrical connections (e.g., "copper interconnects") or fiber optic connections. The physical connections also include appropriate input connectors (e.g., ports, sockets, receptacles, etc.) and output connectors (e.g., plugs, pins, etc.). Communication resources 730 may include one or more dedicated processors and / or FPGAs to communicate using one or more of the above-mentioned network interface protocols.

[0113] The instructions 750 may include software, programs, applications, applet programs, apps, or other executable code for causing at least any one of the processors 710 to perform any one or more of the methods discussed herein. The instructions 750 may reside, in whole or in part, within at least one of the processors 710 (e.g., within a cache memory of the processor), within the memory / storage device 720, or any suitable combination thereof. In addition, any portion of the instructions 750 may be transferred to the hardware resources 701 from any combination of the peripheral devices 704 or the database 706. Thus, the memory of the processor 710, the memory / storage device 720, the peripheral devices 704, and the database 706 are examples of computer-readable and machine-readable media.

[0114] Figure 8 The diagram illustrates a network 800 according to various embodiments. The network 800 may operate in a manner that complies with the 3GPP technical specifications or technical reports for 6G systems. In some embodiments, the network 800 may operate simultaneously with the network 500. For example, in some embodiments, the network 800 may share one or more frequency or bandwidth resources with the network 500. As a specific example, a UE (e.g., UE 802) may be configured to operate in both the network 800 and the network 500. This configuration may be based on the UE including circuits configured to communicate with the frequency and bandwidth resources of both the network 500 and the network 800. In general, several elements of the network 800 may share one or more characteristics with elements of the network 500. For the sake of brevity and clarity, these elements may not be repeated in the description of the network 800.

[0115] The network 800 may include a UE 802, which may include any mobile or non-mobile computing device designed to communicate with the RAN 808 via an over-the-air connection. The UE 802 may be similar to, for example, the UE 502. The UE 802 may be, but is not limited to, a smartphone, a tablet computer, a wearable computer device, a desktop computer, a laptop computer, an in-vehicle infotainment device, an in-vehicle entertainment device, an instrument cluster, a heads-up display device, an onboard diagnostic device, an in-dash mobile device, a mobile data terminal, an electronic engine management system, an electronic / engine control unit, an electronic / engine control module, an embedded system, a sensor, a microcontroller, a control module, an engine management system, a networked appliance, a machine-type communication device, an M2M or D2D device, an IoT device, or the like.

[0116] Although Figure 8 Although not specifically shown in FIG, in some embodiments, the network 800 may include multiple UEs that are directly coupled to each other via a sidelink interface. The UEs may be M2M / D2D devices that communicate using physical sidelink channels such as, but not limited to, PSBCH, PSDCH, PSSCH, PSCCH, PSFCH, etc. Similarly, although in Figure 8 Although not specifically shown, UE 802 can communicate with AP (e.g., Figure 5 506) are communicatively coupled. Figure 8 Although not specifically shown, in some embodiments, the RAN 808 may include one or more ANs, such as Figure 5 The AN 508 is described. The RAN 808 and / or the AN of the RAN 808 may be referred to as a base station (BS), a RAN node, or by some other terminology or name.

[0117] UE 802 and RAN 808 may be configured to communicate via an air interface that may be referred to as a sixth generation (6G) air interface. The 6G air interface may include one or more features, such as communication in terahertz (THz) or sub-THz bandwidth, or joint communication and sensing. As used herein, the term "joint communication and sensing" may refer to a system that implements wireless communication and radar-based sensing via various types of multiplexing. As used herein, THz or sub-THz bandwidth may refer to communication in a frequency range of 80 GHz and above. This frequency range may additionally or alternatively be referred to as a "millimeter wave" or "mmWave" frequency range.

[0118] The RAN 808 may enable communication between the UE 802 and the 6G core network (CN) 810. Specifically, the RAN 808 may facilitate the transmission and reception of data between the UE 802 and the 6G CN 810. The 6G CN 810 may include various functions, such as the NSSF 580, the NEF 552, the NRF 554, the PCF 556, the UDM 558, the AF 560, the SMF 546, and the AUSF 542. Figure 8 As shown, 6G CN810 may also include UPF 548 and DN 536.

[0119] Furthermore, RAN 808 may include various additional functions that are in addition to or in place of the functions of traditional cellular networks (e.g., 4G or 8G networks). Two such functions may include a compute control function (compute CF) 824 and a compute service function (compute SF) 836. Compute CF 824 and compute SF 836 may be parts or functions of the compute service plane. Compute CF 824 may be a control plane function that provides functions such as management of compute SF 836, generation and management of compute task contexts (e.g., creation, reading, modification, and deletion), interaction with the underlying compute infrastructure for compute resource management, and the like. Compute SF 836 may be a user plane function that acts as an interface gateway between compute service users (e.g., UE 802) and the compute nodes behind the compute SF instances. Some functions of compute SF 836 may include parsing compute service data received from users to calculate tasks executable by the compute nodes; maintaining a service mesh ingress gateway or service API gateway; enforcing service and billing policies; performance monitoring and telemetry collection, and the like. In some embodiments, a Compute SF 836 instance may serve as a user plane gateway for a cluster of compute nodes.A Compute CF 824 instance may control one or more Compute SF 836 instances.

[0120] Two other such functions may include a communication control function (communication CF) 828 and a communication service function (communication SF) 838, which may be part of the communication service plane. The communication CF 828 may be a control plane function for managing the communication SF 838, communication session creation / configuration / release, and managing communication session contexts. The communication SF 838 may be a user plane function for data transmission. The communication CF 828 and the communication SF 838 may be considered as upgrades to the SMF 546 and UPF 548, both of which have been referenced. Figure 5 The upgrade provided by the communication CF 828 and the communication SF 838 can achieve service-aware transmission. For traditional (e.g., 4G or 5G) data transmission, the SMF 546 and UPF 548 can still be used.

[0121] Two other such functions may include a data control function (data CF) 822 and a data service function (data SF) 832, which may be part of the data service plane. The data CF 822 may be a control plane function and provide functions such as data SF 832 management, data service creation / configuration / release, data service context management, etc. The data SF 832 may be a user plane function and act as a gateway between data service users (e.g., UE 802 and various functions of 6G CN 810) and data service endpoints behind the gateway. Specific functions may include parsing data service user data and forwarding it to the corresponding data service endpoints, generating billing data, and reporting data service status.

[0122] Another such function may be the Service Orchestration and Chaining Function (SOCF) 820, which can discover, orchestrate, and chain communication / computing / data services provided by functions in the network. Upon receiving a service request from a user, SOCF 820 may interact with one or more of the Compute CF 824, the Communication CF 828, and the Data CF 822 to identify instances of the Compute SF 836, the Communication SF 838, and the Data SF 832, configure service resources, and generate a service chain, which may include multiple instances of the Compute SF 836, the Communication SF 838, and the Data SF 832 and their associated compute endpoints. Workload processing and data movement can then be performed within the generated service chain. SOCF 820 may also be responsible for maintaining, updating, and releasing the created service chain.

[0123] Another such function may be a service registration function (SRF) 814, which may act as a registration center for system services provided in the user plane, such as services provided by service endpoints behind the compute SF 836 and data SF 832 gateways, and services provided by the UE 802. The SRF 814 may be considered a counterpart to the NRF 554, which may act as a registration center for network functions.

[0124] Other such functions may include the evolved service communication proxy (eSCP) and the service infrastructure control function (SICF) 826, which can provide service communication infrastructure for control plane services and user plane services. The eSCP may be related to the service communication proxy (SCP) of 5G, with the addition of user plane service communication proxy capabilities. The eSCP is therefore expressed as two parts: eCSP-C 812 and eSCP-U 834, for control plane service communication proxy and user plane service communication proxy, respectively. The SICF 826 can control and configure the eCSP instance in terms of service traffic routing policies, access rules, load balancing configuration, performance monitoring, etc.

[0125] Another such function is AMF 844. AMF 844 may be similar to 544, but with additional functionality. Specifically, AMF 844 may include potential functional re-splitting, such as moving message forwarding functionality from AMF 844 to RAN 808.

[0126] Another such function is a service orchestration exposure function (SOEF) 818. SOEF may be configured to expose service orchestration and chaining services to external users (eg, applications).

[0127] The UE 802 may include an additional function called a compute client service function (compute CSF) 804. The compute CSF 804 may have both control plane and user plane functions and may interact with corresponding network-side functions (e.g., SOCF 820, compute CF 824, compute SF 836, data CF 822, and / or data SF 832) to implement service discovery, request / response, computing task workload exchange, etc. The compute CSF 804 may also cooperate with network-side functions to decide whether computing tasks should be run on elements of the UE 802, RAN 808, and / or 6G CN 810.

[0128] UE 802 and / or computing CSF 804 may include a service mesh proxy 806. The service mesh proxy 806 may act as a proxy for service-to-service communications in the user plane. The functions of the service mesh proxy 806 may include one or more of addressing, security, load balancing, and the like.

[0129] 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 example section below. For example, the baseband circuit described above in connection with one or more of the foregoing figures may be configured to operate according to one or more examples described below. For another example, the circuits associated with the UE, base station, network element, etc. described above in connection with one or more of the foregoing figures may be configured to operate according to one or more examples described in the example section below.

[0130] Other examples of the presently described embodiments include the following non-limiting implementations. Each of the following non-limiting examples may stand alone or may be combined with any one or more of the other examples provided below or throughout this disclosure in any permutation or combination.

[0131] 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 example sections below. For example, the baseband circuitry described above in connection 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, the circuitry associated with a UE, a base station, a network element, and the like described above in connection with one or more of the foregoing figures may be configured to operate according to one or more of the examples described below.

[0132] The following examples relate to further embodiments.

[0133] Example 1 may include an apparatus comprising: a processor configured to: receive a first cell discontinuous transmission (DTX) / discontinuous reception (DRX) configuration and a second cell DTX / DRX configuration in a radio resource control (RRC) connected mode; perform transmission and reception based on the first cell DTX / DRX configuration; receive a downlink control information (DCI) indication associated with a base station cell DTX / DRX mode transition to switch to a second cell DTX / DRX configuration / rule; perform transmission and reception based on the second cell DTX / DRX configuration; and postpone operations based on the first cell DTX / DRX configuration; and a memory for storing the first cell DTX / DRX configuration and the second cell DTX / DRX configuration.

[0134] Example 2 may include the apparatus described in Example 1 and / or some other examples herein, wherein the DCI indication may be a group-common DCI indication.

[0135] Example 3 may include the apparatus described in Example 1 and / or some other examples herein, wherein the first cell DTX / DRX configuration and the second cell DTX / DRX configuration each correspond to enabling and disabling cell DTX, cell DRX, or cell DTX and cell DRX configuration.

[0136] Example 4 may include the apparatus described in Example 1 and / or some other examples herein, wherein the second DTX / DRX configuration may be stopped based on another DCI signaling, such as a deactivation DCI.

[0137] Example 5 may include the apparatus described in Example 1 and / or some other examples herein, wherein the processing circuit may also be configured to: switch back to the first cell DTX / DRX configuration when terminating the second cell DTX / DRX configuration.

[0138] Example 6 may include the apparatus described in Example 1 and / or some other examples herein, wherein each of the first cell DTX / DRX configuration and the second cell DTX / DRX configuration may include at least: a starting offset, an on-duration, a periodicity, or a cycle period value.

[0139] Example 7 may include the apparatus described in Example 1 and / or some other examples herein, wherein the processing circuit may be further configured to: monitor a DCI capable of dynamically adjusting the on-duration of the second cell DTX / DRX configuration.

[0140] Example 8 may include the apparatus of Example 1 and / or some other examples herein, wherein the group-common DCI indication may be used to synchronize multiple UEs to a current operating state of the network.

[0141] Example 9 may include the apparatus described in Example 1 and / or some other examples herein, wherein the first cell DTX / DRX configuration and the second cell DTX / DRX configuration are provided via UE-specific RRC signaling.

[0142] Example 10 may include the apparatus described in 1 and / or some other examples herein, wherein dynamic adjustment of the on-duration of the second cell DTX / DRX configuration allows real-time optimization of UE performance based on current network demand.

[0143] Example 11 may include a computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause operations to be performed, the operations including: receiving a first cell discontinuous transmission (DTX) / discontinuous reception (DRX) configuration and a second cell DTX / DRX configuration in a radio resource control (RRC) connected mode; performing transmission and reception based on the first cell DTX / DRX configuration; receiving a downlink control information (DCI) indication associated with a base station cell DTX / DRX mode transition to switch to the second cell DTX / DRX configuration / rules; performing transmission and reception based on the second cell DTX / DRX configuration; and postponing operations based on the first cell DTX / DRX configuration.

[0144] Example 12 may include the computer-readable medium of Example 11 and / or some other examples herein, wherein the DCI indication may be a group-common DCI indication.

[0145] Example 13 may include the computer-readable medium described in Example 11 and / or some other examples herein, wherein the first cell DTX / DRX configuration and the second cell DTX / DRX configuration each correspond to enabling and disabling cell DTX, cell DRX, or cell DTX and cell DRX configuration.

[0146] Example 14 may include the computer-readable medium described in Example 11 and / or some other examples herein, wherein the second DTX / DRX configuration may be stopped based on another DCI signaling, such as a deactivation DCI.

[0147] Example 15 may include the computer-readable medium described in Example 11 and / or some other examples herein, wherein the operation further comprises: switching back to the first cell DTX / DRX configuration when terminating the second cell DTX / DRX configuration.

[0148] Example 16 may include the computer-readable medium described in Example 11 and / or some other examples herein, wherein each of the first cell DTX / DRX configuration and the second cell DTX / DRX configuration may include at least: a starting offset, an on-duration, a periodicity, or a cycle period value.

[0149] Example 17 may include the computer-readable medium of Example 11 and / or some other examples herein, wherein the operations further comprise monitoring a DCI capable of dynamically adjusting an on-duration of the second cell DTX / DRX configuration.

[0150] Example 18 may include the computer-readable medium of Example 11 and / or some other examples herein, wherein the group-common DCI indication may be used to synchronize multiple UEs to a current operating state of a network.

[0151] Example 19 may include the computer-readable medium described in Example 11 and / or some other examples herein, wherein the first cell DTX / DRX configuration and the second cell DTX / DRX configuration are provided via UE-specific RRC signaling.

[0152] Example 20 may include the computer-readable medium described in Example 11 and / or some other examples herein, wherein dynamic adjustment of the on-duration of the second cell DTX / DRX configuration allows real-time optimization of UE performance based on current network demand.

[0153] Example 21 may include a method comprising: receiving a first cell discontinuous transmission (DTX) / discontinuous reception (DRX) configuration and a second cell DTX / DRX configuration in a radio resource control (RRC) connected mode; performing transmission and reception based on the first cell DTX / DRX configuration; receiving a downlink control information (DCI) indication associated with a base station cell DTX / DRX mode transition to switch to the second cell DTX / DRX configuration / rules; performing transmission and reception based on the second cell DTX / DRX configuration; and postponing operations based on the first cell DTX / DRX configuration.

[0154] Example 22 may include the method described in Example 21 and / or some other examples herein, wherein the DCI indication may be a group-common DCI indication.

[0155] Example 23 may include the method described in Example 21 and / or some other examples herein, wherein the first cell DTX / DRX configuration and the second cell DTX / DRX configuration each correspond to enabling and disabling cell DTX, cell DRX, or cell DTX and cell DRX configuration.

[0156] Example 24 may include the method described in Example 21 and / or some other examples herein, wherein the second DTX / DRX configuration may be stopped based on another DCI signaling, such as a deactivation DCI.

[0157] Example 25 may include the method described in Example 21 and / or some other examples in this document, further comprising: switching back to the first cell DTX / DRX configuration when terminating the second cell DTX / DRX configuration.

[0158] Example 26 may include the method described in Example 21 and / or some other examples herein, wherein each of the first cell DTX / DRX configuration and the second cell DTX / DRX configuration may include at least: a starting offset, an on-duration, a periodicity, or a cyclic period value.

[0159] Example 27 may include the method described in Example 21 and / or some other examples herein, further comprising: monitoring a DCI capable of dynamically adjusting the on-duration of the DTX / DRX configuration of the second cell.

[0160] Example 28 may include the method of Example 21 and / or some other examples herein, wherein the group-common DCI indication may be used to synchronize multiple UEs to a current operating state of the network.

[0161] Example 29 may include the method described in Example 21 and / or some other examples herein, wherein the first cell DTX / DRX configuration and the second cell DTX / DRX configuration are provided via UE-specific RRC signaling.

[0162] Example 30 may include the method of Example 21 and / or some other examples herein, wherein dynamic adjustment of the on-duration of the second cell DTX / DRX configuration allows real-time optimization of UE performance based on current network demand.

[0163] Example 31 may include a device comprising means for performing the following operations: receiving a first cell discontinuous transmission (DTX) / discontinuous reception (DRX) configuration and a second cell DTX / DRX configuration in a radio resource control (RRC) connected mode; performing transmission and reception based on the first cell DTX / DRX configuration; receiving a downlink control information (DCI) indication associated with a base station cell DTX / DRX mode transition to switch to the second cell DTX / DRX configuration / rules; performing transmission and reception based on the second cell DTX / DRX configuration; and postponing operations based on the first cell DTX / DRX configuration.

[0164] Example 32 may include the apparatus of Example 31 and / or some other examples herein, wherein the DCI indication may be a group-common DCI indication.

[0165] Example 33 may include the apparatus described in Example 31 and / or some other examples herein, wherein the first cell DTX / DRX configuration and the second cell DTX / DRX configuration each correspond to enabling and disabling cell DTX, cell DRX, or cell DTX and cell DRX configuration.

[0166] Example 34 may include the apparatus of Example 31 and / or some other examples herein, wherein the second DTX / DRX configuration may be stopped based on another DCI signaling, such as a deactivation DCI.

[0167] Example 35 may include the device described in Example 31 and / or some other examples in this document, which further includes: switching back to the first cell DTX / DRX configuration when terminating the second cell DTX / DRX configuration.

[0168] Example 36 may include the device described in Example 31 and / or some other examples herein, wherein each of the first cell DTX / DRX configuration and the second cell DTX / DRX configuration may include at least: a starting offset, an on-duration, a periodicity, or a cycle period value.

[0169] Example 37 may include the apparatus described in Example 31 and / or some other examples herein, further comprising: monitoring a DCI capable of dynamically adjusting the on-duration of the DTX / DRX configuration of the second cell.

[0170] Example 38 may include the apparatus of Example 31 and / or some other examples herein, wherein the group-common DCI indication may be used to synchronize multiple UEs to a current operating state of the network.

[0171] Example 39 may include the apparatus described in Example 31 and / or some other examples herein, wherein the first cell DTX / DRX configuration and the second cell DTX / DRX configuration are provided via UE-specific RRC signaling.

[0172] Example 40 may include the apparatus of Example 31 and / or some other examples herein, wherein dynamic adjustment of the on-duration of the second cell DTX / DRX configuration allows real-time optimization of UE performance based on current network demand.

[0173] Example 41 may include an apparatus comprising means for performing any of the methods of Examples 1-40.

[0174] Example 42 may include a network node comprising a communication interface and processing circuitry coupled thereto, the processing circuitry configured to perform the method of Examples 1-40.

[0175] Example 43 may include an apparatus comprising means for performing one or more elements of a method described in or related to any of Examples 1-40, or any other method or process described herein.

[0176] Example 44 may include one or more non-transitory computer-readable media including instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of an electronic device, cause the electronic device to perform one or more elements of a method described in or related to any of Examples 1-40 or any other method or process described herein.

[0177] Example 45 may include an apparatus including logic, modules, or circuits for performing one or more elements of the method described in or related to any of Examples 1-40, or any other method or process described herein.

[0178] Example 46 may include methods, techniques, or processes as described in or related to any of Examples 1-40, or portions thereof.

[0179] Example 47 may include a device comprising: one or more processors and one or more computer-readable media comprising instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform a method, technique, or process as described in or related to any of Examples 1-40, or portions thereof.

[0180] Example 48 may include a signal as described in or relating to any of Examples 1-40, or portions thereof.

[0181] Example 49 may include a datagram, packet, frame, fragment, protocol data unit (PDU), or message as described in or related to any of Examples 1-40, or some portion thereof, or a datagram, packet, frame, fragment, protocol data unit (PDU), or message otherwise described in this disclosure.

[0182] Example 50 may include a signal encoding data as described in or relating to any of Examples 1-40, or portions thereof, or data otherwise described in this disclosure.

[0183] Example 51 may include a signal encoding a datagram, packet, frame, fragment, protocol data unit (PDU), or message as described in or related to any of Examples 1-40, or some portion thereof, or a datagram, packet, frame, fragment, protocol data unit (PDU), or message otherwise described in this disclosure.

[0184] Example 52 may include an electromagnetic signal carrying computer-readable instructions, wherein execution of the computer-readable instructions by one or more processors causes the one or more processors to perform a method, technique, or process as described in or related to any of Examples 1-40, or portions thereof.

[0185] Example 53 may include a computer program comprising instructions, wherein execution of the program by a processing element causes the processing element to perform a method, technique, or process as described in or related to any of Examples 1-40, or portions thereof.

[0186] Example 54 may include signals in a wireless network as shown and described herein.

[0187] Example 55 may include a method of communicating in a wireless network as shown and described herein.

[0188] Example 56 may include a system for providing wireless communications as shown and described herein.

[0189] Example 57 may include an apparatus for providing wireless communications as shown and described herein.

[0190] One example implementation is an edge computing system comprising various edge processing devices and nodes to invoke or perform operations of the above examples or other subjects described herein. Another example implementation is a client endpoint node operable to invoke or perform operations of the above examples or other subjects described herein. Another example implementation is an aggregation node, a network hub node, a gateway node, or a core data processing node, which is within an edge computing system or coupled to an edge computing system, operable to invoke or perform operations of the above examples or other subjects described herein. Another example implementation is an access point, a base station, a roadside unit, a streetside unit, or an in-field unit, which is within an edge computing system or coupled to an edge computing system, operable to invoke or perform operations of the above examples or other subjects described herein. Another example implementation is an edge provisioning node, a service orchestration node, an application orchestration node, or a multi-tenant management node, which is within an edge computing system or coupled to an edge computing system, operable to invoke or perform operations of the above examples or other subjects described herein. Another example implementation is an edge node that operates edge provisioning services, application or service orchestration services, virtual machine deployment, container deployment, function deployment, and compute management, within or coupled to an edge computing system, operable to invoke or perform operations of the above examples or other topics described herein. Another example implementation is an edge computing system that is operable as an edge mesh, an edge mesh with sidecar loading, or with mesh-to-mesh communication, operable to invoke or perform operations of the above examples or other topics described herein. Another example implementation is an edge computing system that includes aspects of network functions, acceleration functions, acceleration hardware, storage hardware, or compute hardware resources, operable to invoke or perform the use cases discussed herein, utilizing the above examples, or other topics described herein. Another example implementation is an edge computing system adapted to support client mobility, vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), vehicle-to-everything (V2X), or vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) scenarios, and optionally operating in accordance with ETSIMEC specifications, operable to invoke or execute the use cases discussed herein, utilizing the examples above, or other subject matter described herein. Another example implementation is an edge computing system adapted for mobile wireless communications, including configuration in accordance with 3GPP 4G / LTE or 5G network capabilities, operable to invoke or execute the use cases discussed herein, utilizing the examples above, or other subject matter described herein.Another example implementation is a computing system adapted for network communications, including configuration according to O-RAN capabilities, operable to invoke or perform the use cases discussed herein, utilizing the above examples, or other subject matter described herein.

[0191] Unless expressly stated otherwise, any of the above examples may be combined with any other example (or combination of examples). The above description of one or more implementations provides illustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the scope of the embodiments to the precise forms disclosed. Modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings or may be acquired through implementation of the various embodiments.

[0192] the term

[0193] The terms used herein are for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and are not intended to limit the present disclosure. When used herein, the singular forms "a," "an," and "the" are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It is also to be understood that the term "comprising," when used in this specification, specifies the presence of recited features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and / or components, but does not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and / or groups thereof.

[0194] For purposes of this disclosure, the phrase "A and / or B" means (A), (B), or (A and B). For purposes of this disclosure, the phrase "A, B, and / or C" means (A), (B), (C), (A and B), (A and C), (B and C), or (A, B, and C). The description may use the phrase "in one embodiment" or "in some embodiments," each of which may refer to one or more of the same or different embodiments. In addition, the terms "including," "comprising," "having," and the like, as used with respect to embodiments of the present disclosure, are synonymous.

[0195] As used herein, the terms "coupled," "communicatively coupled," and their derivatives are used. The term "coupled" may mean that two or more elements are in direct physical or electrical contact with each other, may mean that two or more elements are in indirect contact with each other but still cooperate or interact with each other, and / or may mean that one or more other elements are coupled or connected between the elements said to be coupled with each other. The term "directly coupled" may mean that two or more elements are in direct contact with each other. The term "communicatively coupled" may mean that two or more elements are in contact with each other by communication means, including through wires or other interconnections, through wireless communication channels or links, and the like.

[0196] As used herein, the term "circuit" refers to a hardware component configured to provide the described functionality, such as an electronic circuit, a logic circuit, a processor (shared, dedicated, or grouped) and / or memory (shared, dedicated, or grouped), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field-programmable device (FPD) (e.g., a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), a programmable logic device (PLD), a complex PLD (CPLD), a high-capacity PLD (HCCPLD), a structured ASIC, or a programmable SoC), a digital signal processor (DSP), etc. In some embodiments, the circuit may execute one or more software or firmware programs to provide at least some of the described functionality. The term "circuit" may also refer to a combination of one or more hardware elements (or circuits used in an electrical or electronic system) and program code to perform the functions of the program code. In these embodiments, the combination of hardware elements and program code may be referred to as a specific type of circuit.

[0197] The term "processor circuit" as used herein refers to, is part of, or includes a circuit that is capable of sequentially and automatically performing a sequence of operations or logical operations, or recording, storing, and / or transmitting digital data. The processing circuit may include one or more processing cores to execute instructions, and one or more memory structures to store program and data information. The term "processor circuit" may refer to one or more application processors, one or more baseband processors, a physical central processing unit (CPU), a single-core processor, a dual-core processor, a triple-core processor, a quad-core processor, and / or any other device capable of executing or otherwise operating computer-executable instructions such as program code, software modules, and / or functional processes. The processing circuit may include more hardware accelerators, which may be microprocessors, programmable processing devices, and the like. The one or more hardware accelerators may include, for example, computer vision (CV) and / or deep learning (DL) accelerators. The terms "application circuit" and / or "baseband circuit" may be considered synonymous with "processor circuit" and may be referred to as "processor circuit".

[0198] As used herein, the terms "memory" and / or "memory circuit" refer to one or more hardware devices for storing data, including RAM, MRAM, PRAM, DRAM and / or SDRAM, core memory, ROM, magnetic disk storage media, optical storage media, flash memory devices, or other machine-readable media for storing data. The term "computer-readable medium" may include, but is not limited to, memory, portable or fixed storage devices, optical storage devices, and various other media capable of storing, containing, or carrying instructions or data.

[0199] As used herein, the term "interface circuitry" refers to circuitry that enables, is a part of, or includes circuitry that enables information exchange between two or more components or devices. The term "interface circuitry" may refer to one or more hardware interfaces, such as a bus, an I / O interface, a peripheral component interface, a network interface card, and the like.

[0200] As used herein, the term "user equipment" or "UE" refers to a device with radio communication capabilities and may describe a remote user of network resources in a communication network. The term "user equipment" or "UE" may be considered synonymous with, and may be referred to as, the following terms: client, mobile phone, mobile device, mobile terminal, user terminal, mobile unit, mobile station, mobile user, subscriber, user, remote station, access agent, user agent, receiver, radio device, reconfigurable radio device, reconfigurable mobile device, and the like. Furthermore, the term "user equipment" or "UE" may include any type of wireless / wired device or any computing device that includes a wireless communication interface.

[0201] As used herein, the term "network element" refers to a physical or virtualized device and / or infrastructure used to provide wired or wireless communication network services. The term "network element" may be considered synonymous with and / or referred to as the following terms: networked computer, networking hardware, network device, network node, router, switch, hub, bridge, radio network controller, RAN equipment, RAN node, gateway, server, virtualized VNF, NFVI, etc.

[0202] As used herein, the term "computer system" refers to any type of interconnected electronic devices, computing devices, or components thereof. Furthermore, the terms "computer system" and / or "system" may refer to components of a computer that are communicatively coupled to one another. Furthermore, the terms "computer system" and / or "system" may refer to multiple computing devices and / or multiple computing systems that are communicatively coupled to one another and configured to share computing and / or networking resources.

[0203] As used herein, the terms "appliance," "computer appliance," and the like refer to a computer device or computer system having program code (e.g., software or firmware) specifically designed to provide specific computing resources. A "virtual appliance" is a virtual machine image to be implemented by a device equipped with a hypervisor that virtualizes or simulates a computer appliance or is otherwise dedicated to providing specific computing resources. The term "element" refers to a unit that is indivisible and has well-defined boundaries at a given level of abstraction, where an element can be any type of entity, including, for example, one or more devices, systems, controllers, network elements, modules, etc., or a combination of these. The term "device" refers to a physical entity that is embedded within or attached to another physical entity in its vicinity and has the ability to communicate digital information from or to the physical entity. The term "entity" refers to a unique component of an architecture or device, or information transmitted as a payload. The term "controller" refers to an element or entity that has the ability to affect a physical entity, such as by changing its state or causing the physical entity to move.

[0204] The term "cloud computing" or "cloud" refers to a paradigm for enabling network access to a scalable and elastic pool of shareable computing resources, with on-demand, self-service provisioning and management, and without the need for active user management. Cloud computing provides cloud computing services (or cloud services), which are one or more capabilities provided via cloud computing and invoked using defined interfaces (e.g., APIs, etc.). The term "computing resources" or simply "resources" refers to any physical or virtual component with limited availability within a computer system or network, or the use of such a component. Examples of computing resources include the use / access of a server, processor(s), storage devices, memory devices, memory areas, networks, power, input / output (peripheral) devices, mechanical devices, network connections (e.g., channels / links, ports, network sockets, etc.), operating systems, virtual machines (VMs), software / applications, computer files, etc., over a period of time. "Hardware resources" may refer to computing, storage, and / or network resources provided by physical hardware(s). "Virtualized resources" may refer to computing, storage and / or network resources provided by a virtualized infrastructure to applications, devices, systems, and the like. The term "network resources" or "communication resources" may refer to resources that can be accessed by a computer device / system via a communication network. The term "system resources" may refer to any kind of shared entity that provides a service, and may include computing and / or network resources. System resources may be considered to be a collection of coherent functions, network data objects, or services accessible through a server, where such system resources reside on a single host or multiple hosts and are clearly identifiable. As used herein, the term "cloud service provider" (or CSP) refers to an organization that operates typically large-scale "cloud" resources, which are composed of centralized, regional, and edge data centers (e.g., as used in the context of a public cloud). In other examples, a CSP may also be referred to as a Cloud Service Operator (CSO). Reference to "cloud computing" generally refers to computing resources and services provided by a CSP or CSO at a remote location, with at least some increase in latency, distance, or constraints relative to edge computing.

[0205] As used herein, the term "data center" refers to a specially designed structure that is intended to house multiple high-performance computing and data storage nodes, thereby allowing a large amount of computing, data storage, and network resources to be present in a single location. This often requires specialized rack and enclosure systems, appropriate heating, cooling, ventilation, security, fire suppression, and power delivery systems. In some contexts, the term may also refer to computing and data storage nodes. The size of a data center can vary between centralized or cloud data centers (e.g., the largest), regional data centers, and edge data centers (e.g., the smallest).

[0206] As used herein, the term "edge computing" refers to the implementation, coordination, and use of computing and resources at a location closer to the "edge" or a collection of "edges" of a network. Deploying computing resources at the edge of a network can reduce application and network latency, reduce network backhaul traffic and associated energy consumption, improve service capabilities, improve compliance with security or data privacy requirements (especially compared to traditional cloud computing), and improve total cost of ownership. As used herein, the term "edge computing node" refers to a real-world, logical, or virtualized implementation of an element with computing capabilities in the form of a device, gateway, bridge, system or subsystem, component, whether it operates as a server, client, endpoint, or peer-to-peer mode, and whether it is located at the "edge" of the network or at a more distant connection within the network. References to "node" herein are generally interchangeable with "device," "component," and "subsystem"; however, references to "edge computing system" or "edge computing network" generally refer to a distributed architecture, organization, or collection of multiple nodes and devices, and they are organized to complete or provide some aspects of services or resources in an edge computing environment.

[0207] Additionally or alternatively, the term "edge computing" refers to a concept, as described in [6], that enables operator and third-party services to be hosted close to the UE's attachment access point to achieve efficient service delivery by reducing end-to-end latency and load on the transport network. As used herein, the term "edge computing service provider" refers to a mobile network operator or third-party service provider that provides edge computing services. As used herein, the term "edge data network" refers to a local data network (DN) that supports the architecture for implementing edge applications. As used herein, the term "edge hosting environment" refers to an environment that provides the support required for the execution of edge application servers. As used herein, the term "application server" refers to application software that resides in the cloud and performs server functions.

[0208] The term "Internet of Things" or "IoT" refers to a system of interconnected computing devices, mechanical and digital machines that can transmit data with little or no human interaction, and may involve technologies such as real-time analytics, machine learning and / or AI, embedded systems, wireless sensor networks, control systems, automation (e.g., smart home, smart building, and / or smart city technologies), and so on. IoT devices are typically low-power devices without significant computing or storage capabilities. An "edge IoT device" can be any type of IoT device deployed at the edge of a network.

[0209] As used herein, the term "cluster" refers to a collection or grouping of entities that are part of (one or more) edge computing systems, in the form of physical entities (e.g., different computing systems, networks, or network groups), logical entities (e.g., applications, functions, security constructs, containers), etc. In some places, a "cluster" is also referred to as a "group" or "domain". The membership of a cluster can be modified or affected based on conditions or functions, including from dynamic or attribute-based membership, from network or system management scenarios, or from various example techniques discussed below that can add, modify, or remove entities from a cluster. A cluster can also include or be associated with multiple layers, multiple levels, or multiple attributes, including changes in security functions and results based on such layers, levels, or attributes.

[0210] The term "application" can refer to a complete, deployable, packaged environment that implements a certain functionality within an operating environment. The term "AI / ML application" or similar terms can refer to an application that includes a number of AI / ML models and an application-level description. The term "machine learning" or "ML" refers to the use of computer systems that implement algorithms and / or statistical models to perform specific tasks (one or more) without explicit instructions, relying instead on patterns and reasoning. ML algorithms construct or estimate one or more mathematical models (referred to as "ML models," etc.) based on sample data (referred to as "training data," "model training information," etc.) to make predictions or decisions without being explicitly programmed to perform such tasks. Generally speaking, an ML algorithm is a computer program that learns from experience and a performance metric related to a task, and an ML model can be an object or data structure created after training the ML algorithm with one or more training datasets. After training, the ML model can be used to make predictions on new datasets. Although the term "ML algorithm" refers to a different concept from the term "ML model," these terms, as described herein, are used interchangeably for the purposes of this disclosure.

[0211] The terms "machine learning model," "ML model," or similar terms may also refer to the ML methods and concepts used by ML-assisted solutions. An "ML-assisted solution" is a solution that uses ML algorithms to solve specific use cases during operation. ML models include supervised learning (e.g., linear regression, k-nearest neighbor (KNN), decision tree algorithms, support machine vectors, Bayesian algorithms, lumping algorithms, etc.), unsupervised learning (e.g., K-means clustering, principal component analysis (PCA), etc.), reinforcement learning (e.g., Q-learning, multi-armed bandit learning, deep RL, etc.), neural networks, and others. Depending on the implementation, a specific ML model may have many sub-models as components, and all sub-models may be trained together. During inference, separately trained ML models may also be chained together in an ML pipeline. An "ML pipeline" is a set of functions, features, or functional entities specific to an ML-assisted solution; an ML pipeline may include one or more data sources in a data pipeline, a model training pipeline, a model evaluation pipeline, and actors. An “actor” is an entity that uses the output of ML model inference to host an ML-assisted solution. The term “ML training host” refers to an entity, such as a network function, that hosts the training of a model. The term “ML inference host” refers to an entity, such as a network function, that hosts a model during inference mode (this includes both model execution and any online learning, if applicable). The ML host informs the actor of the output of the ML algorithm, and the actor makes decisions for actions (an “action” is performed by the actor as a result of the output of the ML-assisted solution). The term “model inference information” refers to information used as input to an ML model to determine inference(s); the data used to train an ML model and the data used to determine inferences may overlap, however, “training data” and “inference data” refer to different concepts.

[0212] As used herein, terms such as "instantiation" refer to the creation of an instance. "Instance" also refers to a specific occurrence of an object, which may occur, for example, during the execution of program code. The term "information element" refers to a structural element that contains one or more fields. The term "field" refers to the individual content of an information element, or a data element that contains content. As used herein, "database object," "data structure," or similar terms may refer to any information representation in the form of an object, attribute-value pair (AVP), key-value pair (KVP), tuple, etc., and may include variables, data structures, functions, methods, classes, database records, database fields, database entities, data and / or associations between database entities (also known as "relations"), blocks and links between blocks in a blockchain implementation, etc.

[0213] As used herein, an "information object" refers to a collection of structured data and / or any representation of information, and may include, for example, an electronic document (or "document"), a database object, a data structure, a file, audio data, video data, raw data, an archive file, an application package, and / or any other similar representation of information. The term "electronic document" or "document" may refer to a data structure, computer file, or resource for recording data, and includes various file types and / or data formats, such as a word processing document, a spreadsheet, a slide presentation, a multimedia project, a web page, and / or a source code document, among others. For example, an information object may include markup and / or source code documents, such as HTML, XML, JSON, CSS, JSP, MessagePack TM 、 Thrift TM 、ASN.1、 Protocol Buffers (protobuf) or some other document / format, such as those discussed in this article. Information objects can have both a logical structure and a physical structure. Physically, an information object consists of one or more units called entities. An entity is a storage unit that contains content and is identified by a name. An entity can refer to other entities so that they are included in the information object. An information object begins with a document entity, which is also called the root element (or "root"). Logically, an information object consists of one or more declarations, elements, comments, character references, and processing instructions, all of which are expressed in the information object (for example, using tags).

[0214] As used herein, the term "data item" refers to the atomic state of a particular object having at least one particular attribute at a point in time. Such an object is typically identified by an object name or object identifier, and the attributes of such an object are typically defined as database objects (e.g., fields, records, etc.), object instances, or data elements (e.g., markup language elements / tags, etc.). Additionally or alternatively, the term "data item" as used herein may refer to a data element and / or content item, although these terms may refer to different concepts. As used herein, the term "data element" or "element" refers to a unit that is indivisible and has well-defined boundaries at a given level of abstraction. A data element is a logical component of an information object (e.g., an electronic document) that can be identified by a start tag (e.g., " <element> ”) and ends with a matching end tag (e.g., "< / element> ") or has only an empty element tag (e.g., " <element / > Any characters between the start and end tags (if any) are the content of the element (referred to herein as "content items" or the like).

[0215] The content of an entity may include one or more content items, each of which has an associated data type representation. Content items may include, for example, attribute values, character values, URIs, qualified names (qnames), parameters, and so on. A qname is the fully qualified name of an element, attribute, or identifier in an information object. A qname associates the URI of a namespace with the local name of an element, attribute, or identifier in that namespace. To establish this association, a qname assigns a prefix to the local name that corresponds to its namespace. A qname includes the URI of a namespace, a prefix, and a local name. Namespaces are used to provide uniquely named elements and attributes in information objects. Content items may include text content (for example, " <element> content item< / element> ”), attributes (e.g., “<element attribute="attributeValue"> ”) and other elements called “child elements” (e.g., “ <element1> <element2> content item< / element2> < / element1> ”). An “attribute” may refer to a markup construct consisting of a name-value pair that resides within a start tag or empty-element tag. An attribute contains data associated with its element and / or controls the behavior of that element.

[0216] As used herein, the term "resource" refers to a physical or virtual device, a physical or virtual component in a computing environment, and / or a physical or virtual component in a specific device, such as computer equipment, mechanical equipment, memory space, processor / CPU time, processor / CPU usage, processor and accelerator load, hardware time or usage, power, input / output operations, ports or network sockets, channel / link allocation, throughput, memory usage, storage, network, database, and application, workload units, and the like. The term "hardware resource" may refer to the computing, storage, and / or network resources provided by (one or more) physical hardware elements. The term "virtualized resource" may refer to the computing, storage, and / or network resources provided by a virtualization infrastructure to an application, device, system, and the like. The term "network resource" or "communication resource" may refer to a resource that can be accessed by a computer device / system via a communication network. The term "system resource" may refer to any shared entity that provides a service and may include computing and / or network resources. System resources can be considered a coherent set of functions, network data objects, or services that can be accessed via a server, where these system resources are located on a single host or multiple hosts and are clearly identifiable. As used herein, the term "channel" refers to any transmission medium, whether tangible or intangible, for transmitting data or data streams. The term "channel" may be synonymous with and / or equivalent to "communication channel," "data communication channel," "transmission channel," "data transmission channel," "access channel," "data access channel," "link," "data link," "carrier," "radio frequency carrier," and / or any other similar terms representing a channel or medium through which data is communicated. Additionally, the term "link" as used herein refers to a connection between two devices over a radio access technology (RAT) for the purpose of sending and receiving information. As used herein, the term "radio technology" refers to a technology for wirelessly transmitting and / or receiving electromagnetic radiation for information transmission. The term "radio access technology" or "RAT" refers to a technology for establishing an underlying physical connection to a radio-based communication network. As used herein, the term "communication protocol" (wired or wireless) refers to a set of standardized rules or instructions implemented by a communication device and / or system for communicating with other devices and / or systems, including instructions for packetizing / depacketizing data, modulating / demodulating signals, implementing a protocol stack, and the like.

[0217] As used herein, the term "radio technology" refers to the technology for wireless transmission and / or reception of electromagnetic radiation for information transmission. The term "radio access technology" or "RAT" refers to the technology used to establish the underlying physical connection to a radio-based communication network. As used herein, the term "communication protocol" (wired or wireless) refers to a set of standardized rules or instructions implemented by a communication device and / or system for communicating with other devices and / or systems, including instructions for packetizing / depacketizing data, modulating / demodulating signals, implementing a protocol stack, and the like. Examples of wireless communication protocols that may be used in various embodiments include Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) radio communication technology, General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) radio communication technology, Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE) radio communication technology, and / or Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) radio communication technology, including, for example, 3GPP Fifth Generation (5G) or New Radio (NR), Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), Freedom of Multimedia Access (FOMA), Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE Advanced, LTE Extra, LTE-A Pro, cdmaOne (2G), Code Division Multiple Access 2000 (CDMA2000), Cellular Digital Packet Data (CDPDM), LTE-4G, LTE-5G, LTE-6G, LTE-7, LTE-8, LTE-9, LTE-10, LTE-11, LTE-12, LTE-13, LTE-14, LTE-15, LTE-16, LTE-17, LTE-18, LTE-19, LTE-20, LTE-21, LTE-22, LTE-23, LTE-24, LTE-25, LTE-26 Data (CDPD), Mobitex, Circuit Switched Data (CSD), High-Speed ​​CSD (HSCSD), Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (W-CDM),High Speed ​​Packet Access (HSPA), HSPA+, Time Division-Code Division Multiple Access (TD-CDMA), Time Division-Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access (TD-SCDMA), LTE LAA, MuLTEfire, UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA), Evolved UTRA (E-UTRA), Evolution-Data Optimized or Evolution-Data Only (EV-DO), Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS), Digital AMPS (D-AMPS), Total Access Communication System / Extended Total Access Communication System (TACS / ETACS), Push-to-talk (PTT), Mobile Telephone System System, MTS, Improved Mobile Telephone System (IMTS), Advanced Mobile Telephone System (AMTS), Cellular Digital Packet Data (CDPD), DataTAC, Integrated Digital Enhanced Network (iDEN), Personal Digital Cellular (PDC), Personal Handy-phone System (PHS), Wideband Integrated Digital Enhanced Network (WiDEN), iBurst, Unlicensed Mobile Access (UMA) (also known as 3GPP Universal Access Network, or Standard GAN), Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), IEEE 802.15.4-based protocols (e.g., IPv6 over Low power Wireless Personal Area Networks (6LoWPAN), WirelessHART, MiWi, Thread, 802.11a, etc.), WiFi Direct, ANT / ANT+, ZigBee, Z-Wave, 3GPP device-to-device (D2D) or Proximity Service (ProSe), Universal Plug and Play (UPnP), Low-Power Wide-Area Network (LPWAN), Long Range Wide Area Network (LoRA) or LoRaWAN developed by Semtech and the LoRa Alliance TM , Sigfox, Wireless Gigabit Alliance (WiGig) standards, Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX), general mmWave standards (e.g., wireless systems operating in the 10-300 GHz and above range, such as WiGig, IEEE 802.11ad, IEEE 802.11ay, etc.), V2X communication technologies (including 3GPP C-V2X), Dedicated Short Range Communications (DSRC) communication systems, such as Intelligent-Transport-Systems (ITS), including European ITS-G5, ITS-G5B, ITS-G5C, etc. In addition to the standards listed above, any number of satellite uplink technologies may be used for the purposes of the present disclosure, including, for example, radios that comply with standards promulgated by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) or the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI), etc. The examples provided herein are therefore understood to be applicable to various other communication technologies, both existing and yet to be developed.

[0218] The term "access network" refers to any network used to connect user devices and service providers, using any combination of radio technologies, RATs, and / or communication protocols. In the context of WLAN, "access network" refers to the IEEE 802 local area network (LAN) or metropolitan area network (MAN) between the terminal and the access router connected to the provider's services. The term "access router" refers to a router that terminates the medium access control (MAC) service from the terminal and forwards user traffic to an information server based on the Internet Protocol (IP) address.

[0219] The term "SMTC" refers to the SSB-based measurement timing configuration configured by SSB-MeasurementTimingConfiguration. The term "SSB" refers to the synchronization signal / Physical Broadcast Channel (SS / PBCH) block, which includes the primary synchronization signal (PSS), the secondary synchronization signal (SSS), and the PBCH. The term "primary cell" refers to the MCG cell operating on the primary frequency, where the UE either performs the initial connection establishment process or initiates the connection re-establishment process. The term "primary SCG cell" refers to the SCG cell where the UE performs random access when performing the reconfiguration process with synchronization for DC operation. The term "secondary cell" refers to a cell that provides additional radio resources for UEs configured with CA on top of a special cell. The term "secondary cell group" refers to a subset of service cells for UEs configured with DC, including a PSCell and zero or more secondary cells. The term "serving cell" refers to the primary cell for a UE in RRC_CONNECTED without CA / DC configured, with only one serving cell consisting of the primary cell. The term "serving cell" refers to the set of cells including (one or more) special cells and all secondary cells for a UE in RRC_CONNECTED with CA configured. The term "special cell" refers to the PCell of an MCG or the PSCell of an SCG for DC operation; otherwise, the term "special cell" refers to the Pcell.

[0220] The term "A1 policy" refers to a declarative policy expressed using formal statements that enables non-RTRIC functions in the SMO to guide near-RT RIC functions, and thus guide the RAN, to better achieve the RAN intent.

[0221] The term "A1 enriched information" refers to information utilized by the near-RT RIC that is collected or derived at the SMO / non-RT RIC from non-network data sources or from the network functions themselves.

[0222] The term "A1 policy-based traffic steering processing mode" refers to an operating mode in which the near-RT RIC is configured via A1 policy to use traffic steering actions to ensure a more specific notion of network performance (e.g., applicable to smaller groups of E2 nodes and UEs in the RAN) than it ensures in background traffic steering.

[0223] The term "background traffic steering processing mode" refers to an operating mode in which the near-RT RIC is configured via O1 to use traffic steering actions to ensure general background network performance, which is broadly applicable to E2 nodes and UEs in the RAN.

[0224] The term "baseline RAN behavior" refers to the default RAN behavior configured by the SMO at the E2 node.

[0225] The term "E2" refers to an interface connecting a near-RT RIC and one or more O-CU-CPs, one or more O-CU-UPs, one or more O-DUs, and one or more O-eNBs.

[0226] The term "E2 node" refers to the logical node that terminates the E2 interface. In this version of the specification, the ORAN node that terminates the E2 interface is: for NR access: O-CU-CP, O-CU-UP, O-DU or any combination; and for E-UTRA access: O-eNB.

[0227] In the context of O-RAN systems / implementations, the term "intent" refers to declarative policies used to control or guide the behavior of RAN functions, allowing them to calculate the optimal outcome to achieve the stated goals.

[0228] The term “O-RAN Non-Real-Time RAN Intelligent Controller” or “Non-RT RIC” refers to the logical function that enables non-real-time control and optimization of RAN elements and resources, AI / ML workflows including model training and updates, and policy-based steering of applications / features in the Near-RT RIC.

[0229] The term “Near RT RIC” or “O-RAN Near Real-Time RAN Intelligent Controller” refers to a logical function that enables near real-time control and optimization of RAN elements and resources via fine-grained (e.g., UE-based, cell-based) data collection and actions over the E2 interface.

[0230] The term "O-RAN Central Unit" or "O-CU" refers to the logical node that hosts the RRC, SDAP, and PDCP protocols.

[0231] The term “O-RAN Central Unit - Control Plane” or “O-CU-CP” refers to the logical node that hosts the control plane portion of the RRC and PDCP protocols.

[0232] The term “O-RAN Central Unit - User Plane” or “O-CU-UP” refers to the logical node that hosts the user plane part of the PDCP protocol and the SDAP protocol.

[0233] The term “O-RAN Distributed Unit” or “O-DU” refers to the logical node that hosts the RLC / MAC / higher PHY layers based on the lower layer functional split.

[0234] The term "O-RAN eNB" or "O-eNB" refers to an eNB or ng-eNB that supports the E2 interface.

[0235] The term "O-RAN Radio Unit" or "O-RU" refers to a logical node that hosts the lower PHY layers and RF processing based on the underlying functional split. This is similar to the 3GPP "TRP" or "RRH," but is more specific in that it includes the lower PHY layers (FFT / iFFT, PRACH extraction).

[0236] The term “O1” refers to the interface between the orchestration and management entity (orchestration / NMS) and the O-RAN managed elements for operations and management, through which FCAPS management, software management, file management and other similar functions should be implemented.

[0237] The term "RAN UE Group" refers to an aggregation of UEs that are grouped into groups that are also set up in the E2 node through E2 procedures based on the scope of the A1 policy. These groups can then be the target of E2 CONTROL or POLICY messages.

[0238] The term "traffic manipulation action" refers to the use of a mechanism to change RAN behavior. Such actions include E2 procedures such as CONTROL and POLICY.

[0239] The term "traffic steering inner loop" refers to the part of the traffic steering process that is triggered by the arrival of periodic TS-related KPMs (Key Performance Measurements) from the E2 node, which includes UE grouping, setting up additional data collection from the RAN, and selecting and executing one or more optimization actions to implement the traffic steering policy.

[0240] The term "traffic manipulation outer loop" refers to the part of the traffic manipulation processing that is triggered by the near-RT RIC setting or updating the traffic manipulation aware resource optimization process based on information from A1 policy settings or updates, A1 enrichment information (EI) and / or the results of near-RT RIC evaluation, including the initial configuration (preconditions) and the injection of relevant A1 policies, and the triggering conditions for TS changes.

[0241] The term "traffic steering processing mode" refers to an operational mode in which the RAN or near-RTRIC is configured to ensure specific network performance. This performance includes aspects such as cell load and throughput, and may be applied differently to different E2 nodes and UEs. Throughout this process, "traffic steering actions" are used to meet the requirements of this configuration.

[0242] The term "traffic steering target" refers to the expected performance results desired from the network, which are configured to the near-RT RIC via O1.

[0243] Furthermore, any disclosed embodiments and example implementations may be embodied in the form of various types of hardware, software, firmware, middleware, or a combination thereof, including in the form of control logic, and using such hardware or software in a modular or integrated manner. Furthermore, any software components or functions described herein may be implemented as software, program code, scripts, instructions, etc. operable to be executed by a processor circuit. These components, functions, programs, etc. may be developed using any suitable computer language, for example, Python, PyTorch, NumPy, Ruby, Ruby on Rails, Scala, Smalltalk, Java, or any other suitable programming language. TM, C++, C#, "C", Kotlin, Swift, Rust, Go (or "Golang"), EMCAScript, JavaScript, TypeScript, Jscript, ActionScript, Server-Side JavaScript (SSJS), PHP, Pearl, Lua, Torch / Lua with Just-In Time compiler (LuaJIT), Accelerated Mobile Pages Script (AMPscript), VBScript, JavaServer Pages (JSP), Active Server Pages (ASP), Node.js, ASP.NET, JAMscript, Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), extensible HTML (XHTML), Extensible Markup Language (XML), XML User Interface Language (XUL), Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG), RESTful API Modeling Language (RAML), Wikimarkup or Wikitext, Wireless Markup Language (WML), Language, WML), JavaScript Object Notion (JSON), MessagePack TM , Cascading Stylesheet (CSS), extensible stylesheet language (XSL), Mustache template language, Handlebars template language, Guide Template Language (GTL), Thrift, Abstract Syntax Notation One (ASN.1), Protocol Buffer (protobuf), Bitcoin Script, Bytecode, Solidity TM , Vyper (Python derivative), Bamboo, Lisp-like Language (LLL), Blockstream TM Provided Simplicity, Rholang, Michelson, Counterfactual, Plasma, Plutus, Sophia, and / or any other programming language or development tool, including proprietary programming languages ​​and / or development tools. The software code may be stored as computer or processor executable instructions or commands on a physical, non-transitory computer-readable medium. Examples of suitable media include RAM, ROM, magnetic media (e.g., hard disk or floppy disk) or optical media (e.g., compact disk (CD) or DVD (digital versatile disk)), flash memory, etc., or any combination of such storage or transmission devices.

[0244] abbreviation

[0245] Unless used differently herein, the terms, definitions, and abbreviations may be consistent with those defined in 3GPP TR 21.905 v16.0.0 (2019-06). For the purposes of this document, the following abbreviations may apply to the examples and embodiments discussed herein.

[0246] Table 1 Abbreviations:

[0247]

[0248]

[0249]

[0250]

[0251]

[0252]

[0253]

[0254]

[0255]

[0256]

[0257]

[0258]

[0259]

[0260]

[0261] The above description provides illustrations and descriptions of various example embodiments, but is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the scope of the embodiments to the precise forms disclosed. Modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings or may be obtained by implementing various embodiments. Where specific details are set forth to describe example embodiments of the present disclosure, it will be clear to those skilled in the art that the present disclosure may be implemented without these specific details or with variations of these specific details. However, it will be understood that the concepts of the present disclosure are not intended to be limited to the specific forms disclosed, but rather, are intended to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives consistent with the present disclosure and the appended claims.

Claims

1. An apparatus for a user equipment (UE), comprising: The processor is configured to: receiving a first cell discontinuous transmission (DTX) / discontinuous reception (DRX) configuration and a second cell DTX / DRX configuration in a radio resource control (RRC) connected mode; Performing transmission and reception based on the first cell DTX / DRX configuration; receiving a downlink control information (DCI) indication associated with a base station cell DTX / DRX mode switch to switch to the second cell DTX / DRX configuration / rule; performing transmission and reception based on the second cell DTX / DRX configuration; as well as Postponing an operation based on the DTX / DRX configuration of the first cell; as well as The memory is used to store the DTX / DRX configuration of the first cell and the DTX / DRX configuration of the second cell.

2. The device according to claim 1, wherein The DCI indication is a group-common DCI indication.

3. The device according to claim 1, wherein The first cell DTX / DRX configuration and the second cell DTX / DRX configuration each correspond to enabling and disabling cell DTX, cell DRX, or cell DTX and cell DRX configuration.

4. The device according to claim 1, wherein The second DTX / DRX configuration is stopped based on another DCI signaling, where the other DCI signaling is, for example, a deactivation DCI.

5. The device according to claim 1, wherein The processing circuit is further configured to: when the second cell DTX / DRX configuration is terminated, switch back to the first cell DTX / DRX configuration.

6. The device according to claim 1, wherein Each of the first cell DTX / DRX configuration and the second cell DTX / DRX configuration includes at least: a start offset, an on-duration, a periodicity, or a cycle period value.

7. The device according to claim 1, wherein The processing circuit is further configured to monitor DCI that can dynamically adjust an on-duration of the second cell DTX / DRX configuration.

8. The device according to claim 1, wherein The group common DCI indication is used to synchronize multiple UEs to the current operating state of the network.

9. The device according to claim 1, wherein The first cell DTX / DRX configuration and the second cell DTX / DRX configuration are provided via UE-specific RRC signaling.

10. The device according to claim 1, wherein Dynamic adjustment of the on-duration of the second cell DTX / DRX configuration allows real-time optimization of UE performance based on current network requirements.

11. A computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause operations to be performed, the operations comprising: receiving a first cell discontinuous transmission (DTX) / discontinuous reception (DRX) configuration and a second cell DTX / DRX configuration in a radio resource control (RRC) connected mode; Performing transmission and reception based on the first cell DTX / DRX configuration; receiving a downlink control information (DCI) indication associated with a base station cell DTX / DRX mode switch to switch to the second cell DTX / DRX configuration / rule; performing transmission and reception based on the second cell DTX / DRX configuration; as well as Postponing operations based on the DTX / DRX configuration of the first cell.

12. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein: The DCI indication is a group-common DCI indication.

13. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein: The first cell DTX / DRX configuration and the second cell DTX / DRX configuration each correspond to enabling and disabling cell DTX, cell DRX, or cell DTX and cell DRX configuration.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein: The second DTX / DRX configuration is stopped based on another DCI signaling, where the other DCI signaling is, for example, a deactivation DCI.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein: The operation further includes: when the second cell DTX / DRX configuration is terminated, switching back to the first cell DTX / DRX configuration.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein: Each of the first cell DTX / DRX configuration and the second cell DTX / DRX configuration includes at least: a start offset, an on-duration, a periodicity, or a cycle period value.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein: The operations also include monitoring DCI that can dynamically adjust an on-duration of the second cell DTX / DRX configuration.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein: The group common DCI indication is used to synchronize multiple UEs to the current operating state of the network.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein: The first cell DTX / DRX configuration and the second cell DTX / DRX configuration are provided via UE-specific RRC signaling.

20. A method comprising: receiving a first cell discontinuous transmission (DTX) / discontinuous reception (DRX) configuration and a second cell DTX / DRX configuration in a radio resource control (RRC) connected mode; Performing transmission and reception based on the first cell DTX / DRX configuration; receiving a downlink control information (DCI) indication associated with a base station cell DTX / DRX mode switch to switch to the second cell DTX / DRX configuration / rule; performing transmission and reception based on the second cell DTX / DRX configuration; as well as Postponing operations based on the DTX / DRX configuration of the first cell.

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