Radio resource management relaxation with paging time window limitation

Abstract

A method to be performed by a user equipment (UE) is provided. The method includes determining that one or more criteria associated with radio resource management (RRM) relaxation are satisfied. The method includes determining that an extended discontinuous reception (eDRX) cycle length exceeds a first predetermined value. The method includes determining that a discontinuous reception (DRX) cycle length is greater than or equal to a second predetermined value. The method includes applying one or more RRM settings in response to the determination. The method also includes performing RRM based on the applied one or more RRM settings. A non-transitory computer readable medium and one or more processors are also provided.

Description

[0001] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0002] This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 63 / 443,476, filed on February 6, 2023, entitled “RADIO RESOURCE MANAGEMENT RELAXATION WITH PAGING TIME WINDOW LIMITATION,” which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Background Art

[0003] Wireless communication networks provide integrated communication platforms and telecommunication services to wireless user devices. Example telecommunication services include telephony, data (e.g., voice, audio, and / or video data), messaging, and / or other services. Wireless communication networks have radio access nodes that exchange wireless signals with wireless user devices using wireless network protocols (such as protocols described in various telecommunication standards promulgated by the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP)). Example wireless communication networks include time division multiple access (TDMA) networks, frequency division multiple access (FDMA) networks, orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) networks, long term evolution (LTE), and fifth generation (5G) new radio (NR). Wireless communication networks use technologies such as OFDM, multiple input multiple output (MIMO), advanced channel coding, massive MIMO, beamforming, and / or other features to facilitate mobile broadband services.

[0004] A wireless user device, such as a user equipment (UE), can communicate with one or more radio access nodes, such as a base station, in a wireless communication network. A base station can configure and manage one or more cells covering a geographic area. UEs within the coverage area of ​​a cell can access the wireless communication network via the cell. When a UE is in a location covered by multiple cells simultaneously, the UE can perform radio resource management (RRM) with the base station to determine the most suitable radio resources for the connection. RRM may involve, for example, measuring the signal quality between the UE and the base station. Summary of the Invention

[0005] According to one aspect of the present disclosure, a method to be performed by a UE is disclosed. The method includes determining that one or more criteria associated with RRM relaxation are satisfied. The method includes determining that an extended discontinuous reception (eDRX) cycle length exceeds a first predetermined value. The method includes determining that the discontinuous reception (DRX) cycle length is greater than or equal to a second predetermined value. The method includes implementing one or more RRM settings in response to the determination.

[0006] Other versions include corresponding systems, apparatus, and computer programs for performing the actions of the method defined by the instructions encoded on the computer-readable storage device.These and other versions may optionally include one or more of the following features.

[0007] In some implementations, the method further includes performing RRM with one or more base stations.

[0008] In some implementations, the UE is in a radio resource control (RRC) idle mode or an RRC inactive mode.

[0009] In some implementations, the UE is a reduced capability (RedCap) UE.

[0010] In some implementations, the first predetermined value is equal to 10.24 seconds.

[0011] In some implementations, the second predetermined value is equal to 1.28 seconds.

[0012] In some implementations, the DRX cycle length is equal to 1.28 seconds or 2.56 seconds.

[0013] In some implementations, the one or more RRM settings include at least one of: a measurement interval scaling factor, a beam scanning factor, or a number of evaluation filter samples.

[0014] In some implementations, applying the one or more RRM settings includes: determining a value N of the beam scanning factor according to the one or more criteria; determining a value m of the number of evaluation filter samples according to the one or more criteria; and calculating a value K of the measurement interval scaling factor as The integer part of PTW_cap, where PTW_cap represents the upper limit of the paging time window (PTW) length.

[0015] In some implementations, applying the one or more RRM settings includes: determining a value K of the measurement interval scaling factor according to the one or more criteria; determining a value m of the number of evaluation filter samples according to the one or more criteria; and calculating a value N of the beam scanning factor as The integer part of PTW_cap represents the upper limit of the PTW length.

[0016] In some implementations, applying the one or more RRM settings includes: determining a value m1 according to the one or more criteria; and determining a value m2 for the evaluation filter sample number, wherein m2 is less than m1.

[0017] In some implementations, the value m2 is equal to 1. The UE performs a measurement evaluation in the PTW. The UE performs RRM based on the measurement evaluation.

[0018] In some implementations, the UE further performs one or more measurement evaluations in one or more neighboring PTWs. The UE further performs RRM based on the one or more measurement evaluations.

[0019] In some implementations, the UE makes mobility decisions based on the RRM.

[0020] In some implementations, applying the one or more RRM settings includes turning off the RRM relaxation.

[0021] In some implementations, applying the one or more RRM settings includes: determining a time difference between (i) a DRX sample of a current PTW and (ii) a DRX sample of a next PTW; determining that the time difference is less than or equal to a predetermined threshold; and performing filtering using at least (iii) the DRX sample of the current PTW and (iv) the DRX sample of the next PTW.

[0022] In some implementations, the method further includes at least one of: accessing a memory storing the predetermined threshold, or receiving a signal indicating the predetermined threshold from a base station.

[0023] According to another aspect of the present disclosure, one or more processors have circuits for executing instructions. These instructions cause the UE to perform the above method.

[0024] According to another aspect of the present disclosure, a non-transitory computer-readable medium stores program instructions, which, when executed, cause a UE to perform the above method.

[0025] The details of one or more specific implementations of these systems and methods are set forth in the accompanying drawings and the following description. Other features, objects, and advantages of these systems and methods will be apparent from the description and drawings, and from the claims. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0026] Figure 1 An example wireless network according to some implementations is illustrated.

[0027] Figure 2 An example timing diagram with RRM relaxation according to some implementations is illustrated.

[0028] Figure 3 Illustrated is a table 300 with two example RRM scenarios suitable for some implementations.

[0029] Figure 4 Flowcharts illustrating example methods according to some implementations are shown.

[0030] Figure 5An example UE according to some implementations is illustrated.

[0031] Figure 6 An example access node according to some implementations is illustrated. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0032] In current systems, a UE can support DRX when performing measurements for RRM. When operating in DRX, the UE is configured with a series of DRX cycles over a period of time. Each DRX cycle provides an opportunity (also known as an On Duration) during which the UE can perform measurements with a base station. Each DRX cycle also provides a period (also known as an Off Duration) during which the UE does not perform measurements. The UE can disable some wireless communication functions during the Off Duration to save power.

[0033] The UE may additionally support eDRX to further save power. The eDRX cycle extends over a time period that includes multiple DRX cycles. Each eDRX cycle provides a duration (commonly referred to as PTW) during which the UE can receive incoming data traffic (e.g., paging) from the base station. The UE can perform measurements during the DRX opportunities within the PTW. Each eDRX cycle also provides a duration (also referred to as a deep sleep period) during which the UE does not receive incoming data traffic and does not perform measurements. Compared to the power savings in the off duration within the PTW, the UE can disable more wireless communication functions during the deep sleep period to further save power. The power savings from eDRX may result in an increase in data waiting time. Therefore, the eDRX feature is typically implemented in RedCap UEs that do not require a high data transmission rate.

[0034] In some scenarios, the UE may be in RRC idle mode or RRC inactive mode when performing measurements in an eDRX cycle. If the UE is in RRC idle mode, these eDRX cycles are referred to as idle eDRX cycles. If the UE is in RRC inactive mode, these eDRX cycles are referred to as inactive eDRX cycles. The UE may support other eDRX cycles depending on the UE's mode.

[0035] The UE may perform RRM by taking measurements at one or more DRX occasions to determine the signal quality of a cell. The measurement results at each DRX occasion may be referred to as samples. The measurements may be intra-frequency (e.g., within the same frequency range) or inter-frequency (e.g., across different frequency ranges). The UE may utilize filtering to process the samples, for example, by determining an average value of the signal quality. The UE may also evaluate the cell by, for example, determining the signal strength and interference level under certain frequency ranges. The UE may then make mobility decisions with respect to, for example, cell reselection based on the evaluation results. For RedCap UEs operating under eDRX, the UE may relax one or more RRM settings to save power. For example, a UE with RRM relaxation may reduce the number of total measurements, increase the time gap between two consecutive measurements, and / or reduce the number of samples used in cell evaluation, compared to RRM without relaxation. Sometimes, the UE supports RRM relaxation when one or more criteria are met. Each of these criteria is referred to as a fixed criterion.

[0036] When a UE supporting eDRX meets the criteria for RRM relaxation, the UE may configure RRM relaxation based on eDRX-related parameters such as the length of each PTW, the length of each eDRX cycle, and the length of each DRX cycle. In current technology, the UE may determine the eDRX-related parameters according to a set of rules, such as those set forth by a standards-setting organization (e.g., 3GPP). According to a first example rule, when the length of an idle eDRX cycle is greater than 10.24 seconds, the maximum PTW length is 40.96 seconds. According to a second example rule, when the length of an idle eDRX cycle is greater than 10.24 seconds, the minimum PTW length is 1.28 seconds and the PTW length is a multiple of 1.28 seconds. Similar rules have been proposed based on the length of an inactive eDRX cycle or other types of eDRX cycles. Under these rules, the UE does not employ PTWs in an eDRX cycle that have a length equal to or less than 10.24 seconds.

[0037] As the demand for power conservation in UEs increases, it may be desirable for UEs to support RRM relaxation in scenarios where the lengths of the eDRX cycle and PTW exceed their respective maximum values ​​set forth in the rules (e.g., 10.24s and 40.96s, respectively, in the first example rule). However, because the above rules do not contemplate RRM relaxation in these scenarios, the UE may not be able to configure RRM relaxation appropriately and may consume power unnecessarily during RRM. In light of this challenge, implementations of the present disclosure provide techniques for the UE to determine RRM relaxation settings even when the eDRX cycle and PTW are longer than the values ​​specified in the current rules. Among other benefits, these disclosed techniques improve power conservation in the UE.

[0038] Figure 1An example wireless network 100 is illustrated according to some implementations. Wireless network 100 includes UE 102 and base station 104 connected via one or more channels 106A, 106B across an air interface 108. UE 102 and base station 104 communicate using a system that supports control for managing UE 102 access to the network via base station 104.

[0039] In some implementations, the wireless network 100 may be a non-standalone (NSA) network that combines LTE and 5G NR communication standards as defined by 3GPP technical specifications. For example, the wireless network 100 may be an E-UTRA (Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access)-NR dual connectivity (EN-DC) network or an NR-EUTRA dual connectivity (NE-DC) network. However, the wireless network 100 may also be a standalone (SA) network that combines only 5G NR. In addition, other types of communication standards are possible, including future 3GPP systems (e.g., sixth generation (6G) systems), Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 technologies (e.g., IEEE 802.11a; IEEE 802.11b; IEEE 802.11g; IEEE 802.11-2007; IEEE 802.11n; IEEE 802.11-2012; IEEE 802.11ac; or other currently or future developed IEEE 802.11 technologies), IEEE 802.16 protocols (e.g., WMAN, WiMAX, etc.), etc. Although various aspects may be described herein using terms generally associated with 5G NR, various aspects of the present disclosure may be applicable to other systems, such as 3G, 4G, and / or systems after 5G (e.g., 6G).

[0040] In wireless network 100, UE 102 and any other UEs in the system can be, for example, laptops, smartphones, tablet computers, machine-type devices such as smart meters or specialized devices for healthcare, intelligent transportation systems, or any other wireless device with or without a user interface. In network 100, base station 104 provides network connectivity to a broader network (not shown) for UE 102. This connectivity is provided via an air interface 108 within the base station service area provided by base station 104. In some implementations, this broader network can be a wide area network operated by a cellular network provider, or it can be the Internet. Each base station service area associated with base station 104 is supported by an antenna integrated with base station 104. The service area is divided into multiple sectors associated with certain antennas. Such sectors can be physically associated with fixed antennas, or can be assigned to physical areas with tunable antennas or antenna settings that can be adjusted in a beamforming process used to direct signals to specific sectors.

[0041] UE 102 includes control circuitry 110 coupled to transmit circuitry 112 and receive circuitry 114. Transmit circuitry 112 and receive circuitry 114 may each be coupled to one or more antennas. Control circuitry 110 may include various combinations of dedicated circuitry and baseband circuitry. Transmit circuitry 112 and receive circuitry 114 may be adapted to transmit and receive data, respectively, and may include radio frequency (RF) circuitry or front-end module (FEM) circuitry.

[0042] In various implementations, aspects of the transmit circuitry 112, receive circuitry 114, and control circuitry 110 may be integrated in various ways to implement the operations described herein. The control circuitry 110 may be adapted or configured to perform various operations, such as the UE-related operations described elsewhere in this disclosure. For example, the control circuitry 110 may configure the UE 102 with one or more settings for RRM. The control circuitry 110 may also control the transmit circuitry 112 and receive circuitry 114 to perform measurements with a base station. Furthermore, the control circuitry 110 may make mobility decisions, such as cell reselection, based on the measurement results.

[0043] The transmit circuitry 112 may transmit a plurality of multiplexed uplink physical channels. The plurality of uplink physical channels may be multiplexed according to time division multiplexing (TDM) or frequency division multiplexing (FDM) as well as carrier aggregation. The transmit circuitry 112 may be configured to receive block data from the control circuitry 110 for transmission across the air interface 108.

[0044] The receiving circuit 114 may receive a plurality of multiplexed downlink physical channels from the air interface 108 and relay these physical channels to the control circuit 110. The plurality of downlink physical channels may be multiplexed according to TDM or FDM and carrier aggregation. The transmitting circuit 112 and the receiving circuit 114 may transmit and receive both control data and content data (e.g., messages, images, video, etc.) structured within data blocks carried by the physical channels.

[0045] Figure 1 Also illustrated is a base station 104. In a specific implementation, the base station 104 can be an NG radio access network (RAN) or 5G RAN, E-UTRAN, a non-terrestrial cell, or a traditional RAN such as UTRAN or GERAN. As used herein, the term "NG RAN" or the like can refer to a base station 104 operating in an NR or 5G wireless network 100, and the term "E-UTRAN" or the like can refer to a base station 104 operating in an LTE or 4G wireless network 100. The UE 102 utilizes connections (or channels) 106A, 106B, each of which includes a physical communication interface or layer.

[0046] Base station 104 circuitry may include control circuitry 116 coupled to transmit circuitry 118 and receive circuitry 120. Transmit circuitry 118 and receive circuitry 120 may each be coupled to one or more antennas that may be used to enable communication over air interface 108. Transmit circuitry 118 and receive circuitry 120 may be adapted to transmit data to and receive data from any UE connected to base station 104, respectively. Transmit circuitry 118 may transmit downlink physical channels including a plurality of downlink subframes. Receive circuitry 120 may receive a plurality of uplink physical channels from various UEs, including UE 102.

[0047] exist Figure 1 In the embodiment, one or more channels 106A, 106B are illustrated as air interfaces for implementing communication coupling and may conform to a cellular communication protocol, such as a GSM protocol, a CDMA network protocol, a UMTS protocol, a 3GPP LTE protocol, an advanced long term evolution (LTE-A) protocol, an LTE-based unlicensed spectrum access (LTE-U), a 5G protocol, a NR protocol, an NR-based unlicensed spectrum access (NR-U) protocol, and / or any other communication protocol discussed herein. In a specific implementation, the UE 102 may directly exchange communication data via a ProSe interface. The ProSe interface may alternatively be referred to as a sidelink (SL) interface and may include one or more logical channels, including, but not limited to, a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH), a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH), a physical sidelink discovery channel (PSDCH), and a physical sidelink broadcast channel (PSBCH).

[0048] Figure 2 An example timing diagram 200 with RRM relaxation according to some implementations is illustrated. The timing diagram 200 may be provided by a UE such as Figure 1 The timing diagram 200 shows two consecutive eDRX cycles 210 and 220. Figure 2 As shown, each of the eDRX cycles 210 and 220 has multiple DRX opportunities. Figure 2 As shown, the eDRX cycle 210 has a PTW 211 followed by a deep sleep period 212. Similarly, the eDRX cycle 220 has a PTW 221 followed by a deep sleep period ( Figure 2 (not shown in FIG. 1 ). The UE may perform RRM in more eDRX cycles than eDRX cycles 210 and 220.

[0049] During the PTW of the eDRX cycle, the UE may perform actual measurements at some or all DRX opportunities. The result of each measurement may be referred to as a sample. Figure 2As illustrated, the UE performs M=2 measurements at DRX opportunities 231 and 232 while skipping other DRX opportunities in PTW 211. The UE may filter the two measurements to perform an assessment of, for example, the quality of the cell. DRX opportunities 231 and 232 are separated in time by K (K=6) DRX cycles. Similarly, the UE may perform two measurements while skipping other DRX opportunities in PTW 221. Because a larger value of K indicates a longer time gap between two consecutive measurements in a PTW, K may indicate an RRM relaxation level and is commonly referred to as a measurement relaxation factor or a measurement interval scaling factor. The UE may change the value of K to apply different RRM settings. When K=1, the UE performs measurements in all DRX opportunities in the PTW. In this case, there is no RRM relaxation.

[0050] As previously described, the UE does not perform actual measurements at any DRX opportunity during the deep sleep period 212. Therefore, after the measurement at DRX opportunity 232, the UE can save power until the next DRX opportunity with actual measurements, i.e., DRX opportunity 241 in PTW 221 of the next eDRX cycle 220. The UE can determine the time difference D between (i) DRX opportunity 232 (which is the last DRX opportunity with actual measurements in PTW 211) and (ii) DRX opportunity 241 (which is the first DRX opportunity with actual measurements in the next PTW 221). Generally, the larger the value of D, the more power the UE can save. However, the UE can limit the value of D to be less than or equal to a threshold so that the measurement results at DRX opportunities 232 and 241 can be meaningfully correlated and processed (e.g., filtered). PTWs in consecutive eDRX cycles are referred to as adjacent PTWs. For example, PTWs 211 and 221 are adjacent PTWs to each other.

[0051] Figure 3 Table 300 is illustrated with two example RRM scenarios applicable to some implementations. The settings given in Table 300 assume that a UE (e.g., UE 102) performs intra-frequency measurements with one or more cells within a given frequency range (e.g., frequency range 2) (e.g., the UE does not change frequency when communicating with different cells). However, these settings can be similarly applied to inter-frequency measurements within the same given frequency range or different frequency ranges (e.g., the UE operates at different frequencies when communicating with different cells).

[0052] The left three columns of Table 300 provide example values ​​of eDRX-related parameters (i.e., the length of the idle eDRX cycle, the length of the DRX cycle, and the length of the PTW). The fourth column provides example values ​​of a scaling factor N1 (such as a beam scanning factor) that can be used in the RRM setting. The right three columns provide example calculations of RRM relaxation parameters based on the eDRX-related parameters, the scaling factor N1, and the measurement relaxation factor K3 (which is equal to 6 according to Note 7). Specifically, the fifth column from the left provides an example calculation of the time period of a round of detection in RRM; the sixth column from the left provides an example calculation of the time period of a round of measurement in RRM; and the seventh column from the left provides an example calculation of the time period of a round of evaluation in RRM. Different values ​​of these RRM relaxation parameters may result in different levels of RRM relaxation and different power saving performance. The concepts of detection, measurement, and evaluation in RRM are well known in the art and are therefore not elaborated in detail in this specification.

[0053] As indicated in the first column of Table 300, the RRM relaxation settings in Table 300 are applicable when the idle eDRX cycle is longer than 20.48 seconds (which is longer than 10.24 seconds). At the same time, as indicated in the second and third columns, in some implementations, when (a) the DRX cycle length is 1.28 seconds, the length of the PTW may be 61.44 seconds or greater. Similarly, when (b) the DRX cycle length is 2.56 seconds, the length of the PTW may be 92.16 seconds or greater. Because both 61.44 seconds and 92.16 seconds are greater than 40.96 seconds, a UE with a DRX cycle length equal to 1.28 seconds or 2.56 seconds may face scenarios not envisioned by the first example rule. Therefore, in cases (a) and (b), as well as other similar cases, the UE may need to adjust the calculations provided in the right three columns to determine the RRM settings. In other words, when the UE is configured with a DRX cycle length equal to 1.28s or 2.56s and a PTW of 61.44s or 92.16s or greater, respectively, the UE may need to determine one or more RRM settings that deviate from the RRM relaxation parameters provided in table 300 .

[0054] The RRM settings may include a value of the measurement interval scaling factor K, a value of the beam scanning factor N, and a value of the number of evaluation filter samples m. The value of the measurement interval scaling factor K may be similar to Figure 2 The number K in , which indicates the number of DRX cycles between two consecutive measurements within the same PTW. In the case provided in table 300, according to Note 7, K=K3=6.

[0055] The value of the beam scanning factor N can be similar to Figure 3, which is a scaling factor N1 in the UE. A smaller N may indicate that the UE uses a coarser local beam (e.g., a receive beam generated at the UE side of the communication) for measurement (e.g., with greater angular coverage but less gain). Alternatively or additionally, a smaller N may indicate that the UE may need to switch from power save mode between DRX opportunities to complete beam scanning. For cases (a) and (b), Table 300 specifies that N1 may be 4 and 3, respectively.

[0056] The value m of the number of evaluation filter samples may indicate the number of measurements used by the UE for evaluation in each PTW. For example, in timing diagram 200, since PTW 211 and PTW 221 (and other PTWs not shown) each have two DRX opportunities with actual measurements, the number of evaluation filter samples m = M = 2.

[0057] In some implementations, to determine the RRM settings for cases (a) and (b) and other similar cases, the UE is configured to adjust one or more of the value K of the measurement interval scaling factor, the value N of the beam scanning factor, or the value m of the number of evaluation filter samples. That is, instead of implementing the RRM settings according to timing diagram 200 and table 300 (e.g., K=K3=6, N=N1=4 or 3, and m=M=2), the UE implements the RRM settings with different values ​​of K, N, or m. The UE's use of different values ​​ensures that the measurements performed according to cases (a) and (b) are suitable for the PTW length, even if the PTW does not conform to the first example rule (or other similar rules). For example, in some implementations, in the case of DRX cycle length=1.28s, the PTW can be 40.96s. In such implementations, when the number of evaluation filter samples m=M=2 and N1 is 4, the measurement relaxation factor / measurement interval scaling factor K is calculated as K=K3=4.

[0058] In some implementations, the UE implements an RRM setting with a value K different from K3. For example, the UE may determine the value K as The integer part of . Here, PTW_cap represents the upper limit of the PTW length. The UE can obtain the value of PTW_cap by accessing a stored value in its own memory or by receiving a configuration signal from the base station. The values ​​N and m in the calculation may be similar to those specified in the timing diagram 200 and table 300, or may be different from those values. The value K thus determined may be less than K3, which indicates that the number of DRX cycles between two measurements in the PTW is less than K3. This may further indicate a reduced level of RRM relaxation (e.g., more frequent measurements and less power savings). For another example, the UE may apply an RRM setting in which K=1. This setting indicates that measurements are performed at each DRX opportunity within the PTW. This further indicates that the UE performs RRM without relaxation (e.g., the UE turns off RRM relaxation).

[0059] In some implementations, the UE is configured to apply an RRM setting having a value N different from N1. For example, the UE may determine the value N to be The integer part of PTW_cap. Here, PTW_cap also represents the upper limit of the PTW length. The values ​​K and m in the calculation may be similar to those specified in timing diagram 200 and table 300, or may be different from those values. The value N determined in this way may be less than N1. As previously described, a reduced value of N may indicate that the UE is using a coarser local beam for measurements, or switching from power save mode for beam scanning between DRX opportunities. This may further indicate a reduced level of RRM relaxation (e.g., more effort in performing measurements or less time in power save mode).

[0060] In some implementations, the UE is configured to apply an RRM setting having a value m that is different from M. For example, the UE may reduce the value m from, for example, M=2 to a smaller value (e.g., m=1). By reducing m, the UE may use fewer samples in the PTW to perform the evaluation. Specifically, when m has a value of 1, the UE performs only a single measurement ("single measurement") in each PTW for evaluation.

[0061] The UE may perform RRM and make mobility decisions based on a single measurement result (without filtering) of a single PTW. For example, the UE may use a single measurement result to evaluate the signal quality of a cell (such as a candidate handover target cell). If, for example, the signal quality of the cell is above a certain level, the UE may decide to establish a connection with the cell. Additionally, the UE may perform one or more single measurements in one or more adjacent PTWs. The UE may perform RRM and make mobility decisions based on a combination of all single measurements. For example, the UE may use single measurement results of L (L≥2) adjacent PTWs to make mobility decisions about the cell. If, for example, all of the L measurement results indicate that the signal quality of the cell is above a certain level, the UE may decide to establish a connection with the cell.

[0062] In some implementations, the UE implements RRM settings based on the time difference between the two closest measurements in two consecutive PTWs (e.g., the current PTW and the next PTW). In the example of timing diagram 200, the UE may apply RRM settings based on the value D between DRX opportunity 232 of PTW 211 and DRX opportunity 241 of PTW 221. The time difference may be measured in absolute time (e.g., seconds), number of DRX cycles, or other time units. If the time difference is less than or equal to a predetermined threshold, the UE may perform RRM by combining measurement results from consecutive PTWs (e.g., results measured at DRX opportunities 232 and 241) and filtering the combined measurement results. This mechanism may be referred to as cross-PTW filtering. With cross-PTW filtering, the UE can save power from relaxed RRM measurements. On the other hand, if the time difference is longer than a predetermined threshold, the UE may choose not to apply cross-PTW filtering. This may reduce the risk of unreliable filtered samples due to excessive time differences. The UE may obtain the value of the predetermined threshold from its own memory or by receiving a configuration signal from the base station.

[0063] Figure 4 A flowchart illustrating an example method 400 according to some specific implementations is shown. For clarity of presentation, the following description generally describes the method 400 in the context of other figures in this specification. For example, the method 400 may be performed by Figure 1 UE 102. It should be understood that method 400 can be performed by any suitable system, environment, software, hardware, or a combination of systems, environments, software, and hardware. In some implementations, the steps of method 400 can be executed in parallel, in combination, in a loop, or in any order.

[0064] At 402, method 400 involves determining that one or more criteria associated with RRM relaxation are satisfied. Each of the criteria may be a fixed criterion for RRM relaxation, as previously described.

[0065] At 404, method 400 involves determining that the eDRX cycle length exceeds a first predetermined value. The eDRX cycle can be an idle eDRX cycle, an inactive eDRX cycle, or another eDRX cycle. The first predetermined value can be 10.24 seconds, as set forth in the first example rule described previously.

[0066] At 406, method 400 involves determining that the DRX cycle length is greater than or equal to a second predetermined value. For example, the second predetermined value may be 1.28s, and the DRX cycle length may be 1.28s or 2.56s. Figure 3 provided in Table 300 of .

[0067] At 408, method 400 involves applying one or more RRM settings in response to the determinations at 402-406. Applying the one or more RRM settings may include determining a value for one or more of a measurement interval scaling factor (K), a beam scanning factor (N), or an evaluation filter sample number (m). Alternatively or additionally, the one or more RRM settings may include applying cross-PTW filtering if a time difference between two closest measurements in two consecutive PTWs is less than or equal to a predetermined threshold.

[0068] At 410, method 400 involves performing RRM based on the applied one or more RRM settings.

[0069] Leveraging the aforementioned features, implementations of the present disclosure may allow UEs (particularly RedCap UEs) to support RRX relaxation in a wide range of scenarios, including those exceeding the limits proposed by some market participants. Implementations of the present disclosure also provide UEs with the flexibility to apply appropriate RRM settings to balance power saving performance with RRM accuracy or reliability.

[0070] Figure 5 UE 500 according to some implementations is illustrated. UE 500 may be similar to Figure 1 UE 102 and is essentially interchangeable therewith.

[0071] UE 500 can be any mobile or non-mobile computing device, such as, for example, a mobile phone, a computer, a tablet, an industrial wireless sensor (e.g., a microphone, a pressure sensor, a thermometer, a motion sensor, an accelerometer, an inventory sensor, a voltage / current meter, etc.), a video device (e.g., a camera, a camcorder, etc.), a wearable device (e.g., a smart watch), or a loose IoT device.

[0072] UE 500 may include a processor 502, RF interface circuitry 504, memory / storage 506, a user interface 508, sensors 510, driver circuitry 512, a power management integrated circuit (PMIC) 514, antenna structures 516, and a battery 518. The components of UE 500 may be implemented as integrated circuits (ICs), portions of integrated circuits, discrete electronic devices or other modules, logic components, hardware, software, firmware, or combinations thereof. Figure 5 The block diagram is intended to show a simplified view of some of the components of UE 500. However, some of the components shown may be omitted, additional components may be present, and different arrangements of the components shown may occur in other implementations.

[0073] Components of the UE 500 may be coupled to various other components via one or more interconnects 520, which may represent any type of interface, input / output, bus (local, system, or extension), transmission line, trace, optical connection, etc., that allows various circuit components (on a common or different chip or chipset) to interact with each other.

[0074] The processor 502 may include processor circuits such as, for example, a baseband processor circuit (BB) 522A, a central processor unit circuit (CPU) 522B, and a graphics processor unit circuit (GPU) 522C. The processor 502 may include any type of circuit or processor circuit that executes or otherwise operates computer-executable instructions (such as program code, software modules, or functional processes from the memory / storage device 506) to cause the UE 500 to perform operations as described herein.

[0075] In some implementations, the baseband processor circuit 522A can access the communication protocol stack 524 in the memory / storage 506 to communicate over a 3GPP-compliant network. Generally speaking, the baseband processor circuit 522A can access the communication protocol stack to perform user plane functions at the physical (PHY) layer, the medium access control (MAC) layer, the radio link control (RLC) layer, the packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer, the service data adaptation protocol (SDAP) layer, and the PDU layer; and to perform control plane functions at the PHY layer, the MAC layer, the RLC layer, the PDCP layer, the RRC layer, and the non-access stratum layer. In some implementations, PHY layer operations can additionally / alternatively be performed by components of the RF interface circuit 504. The baseband processor circuit 522A can generate or process baseband signals or waveforms that carry information in the 3GPP-compliant network. In some implementations, the waveform used for NR can be based on cyclic prefix orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) "CP-OFDM" in the uplink or downlink, and discrete Fourier transform spread OFDM "DFT-S-OFDM" in the uplink.

[0076] The memory / storage 506 may include one or more non-transitory computer-readable media containing instructions (e.g., the communication protocol stack 524) that are executable by one or more processors in the processor 502 to cause the UE 500 to perform the various operations described herein. The memory / storage 506 includes any type of volatile or non-volatile memory that may be distributed throughout the UE 500. In some implementations, some of the memory / storage 506 may be located on the processor 502 itself (e.g., an L1 cache and an L2 cache), while other memory / storage 506 may be external to the processor 502 but accessible via a memory interface. The memory / storage 506 may include any suitable volatile or non-volatile memory, such as, but not limited to, dynamic random access memory (DRAM), static random access memory (SRAM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory, solid-state memory, or any other type of memory device technology.

[0077] The RF interface circuit 504 may include a transceiver circuit and a radio frequency front-end module (RFEM) that allow the UE 500 to communicate with other devices via a radio access network. The RF interface circuit 504 may include various components arranged in a transmit path or a receive path. These components may include, for example, switches, mixers, amplifiers, filters, synthesizer circuits, control circuits, and the like.

[0078] In the receive path, the RFEM receives the radiated signal from the air interface via the antenna structure 516 and further filters and amplifies the signal (using a low-noise amplifier). This signal is provided to the transceiver's receiver, which downconverts the RF signal to a baseband signal, which is provided to the baseband processor of the processor 502.

[0079] In the transmit path, the transceiver's transmitter upconverts the baseband signal received from the baseband processor and provides an RF signal to the RFEM. The RFEM may amplify the RF signal through a power amplifier before radiating it across the air interface via the antenna 516. In various implementations, the RF interface circuit 504 may be configured to transmit and receive signals in a manner compatible with NR access technology.

[0080] Antenna 516 may include antenna elements to convert electrical signals into radio waves to travel through the air and convert received radio waves into electrical signals. These antenna elements may be arranged into one or more antenna panels. Antenna 516 may have antenna panels that are omnidirectional, directional, or a combination thereof to enable beamforming and multiple-input multiple-output communications. Antenna 516 may include microstrip antennas, patch antennas, phased array antennas, printed antennas fabricated on the surface of one or more printed circuit boards, and the like. Antenna 516 may have one or more panels designed for a specific frequency band, including a band in FR1 or FR2.

[0081] User interface 508 includes various input / output (I / O) devices designed to enable a user to interact with UE 500. User interface 508 includes input device circuitry and output device circuitry. Input device circuitry includes any physical or virtual component for accepting input, including, in particular, one or more physical or virtual buttons (e.g., a reset button), a physical keyboard, a keypad, a mouse, a touchpad, a touch screen, a microphone, a scanner, or a headset. Output device circuitry includes any physical or virtual component for displaying or otherwise conveying information (such as sensor readings, actuator positions, or other similar information). Output device circuitry may include any number or combination of audio or visual displays, including, in particular, one or more simple visual outputs / indicators (e.g., binary state indicators such as light emitting diodes (LEDs) and multi-character visual outputs), or more complex outputs such as a display device or touch screen (e.g., a liquid crystal display (LCD), an LED display, a quantum dot display, a projector, etc.), where the output of characters, graphics, multimedia objects, etc. is generated or produced by the operation of UE 500.

[0082] Sensors 510 may include devices, modules, or subsystems whose purpose is to detect events or changes in their environment and to send information about the detected events (sensor data) to some other device, module, subsystem, etc. Examples of such sensors include, among others: an inertial measurement unit including an accelerometer, gyroscope, or magnetometer; a microelectromechanical system or nanoelectromechanical system including a three-axis accelerometer, three-axis gyroscope, or magnetometer; a fluid level sensor; a temperature sensor (e.g., a thermistor); a pressure sensor; an image capture device (e.g., a camera or lensless aperture); a light detection and ranging sensor; a proximity sensor (e.g., an infrared radiation detector, etc.); a depth sensor; an ambient light sensor; an ultrasonic transceiver; a microphone or other similar audio capture device; and the like.

[0083] The driver circuitry 512 may include software and hardware components that operate to control specific devices embedded in, attached to, or otherwise communicatively coupled to the UE 500. The driver circuitry 512 may include various drivers to allow other components to interact with or control various input / output (I / O) devices that may be present in or connected to the UE 500. For example, the driver circuitry 512 may include a display driver for controlling and enabling access to a display device, a touch screen driver for controlling and enabling access to a touch screen interface, a sensor driver for obtaining sensor readings from the sensor circuitry 528 and controlling and enabling access to the sensor circuitry 528, a driver for obtaining actuator positioning of an electromechanical component or controlling and enabling access to an electromechanical component, a camera driver for controlling and enabling access to an embedded image capture device, and an audio driver for controlling and enabling access to one or more audio devices.

[0084] The PMIC 514 may manage the power provided to various components of the UE 500. Specifically, with respect to the processor 502, the PMIC 514 may control power source selection, voltage scaling, battery charging, or DC-DC conversion.

[0085] In some implementations, the PMIC 514 can control or otherwise be part of various power saving mechanisms of the UE 500. A battery 518 can power the UE 500, but in some examples, the UE 500 can be installed and deployed in a fixed location and can have a power source coupled to the power grid. The battery 518 can be a lithium-ion battery, a metal-air battery such as a zinc-air battery, an aluminum-air battery, a lithium-air battery, or the like. In some implementations, such as in vehicle-based applications, the battery 518 can be a typical lead-acid automotive battery.

[0086] Figure 6 An access node 600 (e.g., a base station or gNB) is illustrated according to some implementations. Access node 600 can be similar to base station 104 and substantially interchangeable therewith. Access node 600 can include a processor 602, RF interface circuitry 604, core network (CN) interface circuitry 606, memory / storage circuitry 608, and antenna structures 610.

[0087] The components of access node 600 may be coupled to various other components via one or more interconnects 612. Processor 602, RF interface circuitry 604, memory / storage circuitry 608 (including communication protocol stack 614), antenna structures 610, and interconnects 612 may be similar to those described with respect to FIG. Figure 5Like-named elements are shown and described.For example, processor 602 may include processor circuits such as baseband processor circuit (BB) 616A, CPU 616B, and GPU 616C.

[0088] The CN interface circuitry 606 can provide connectivity to a core network (e.g., a 5th Generation Core Network (5GC) using a 5GC-compatible network interface protocol, such as a Carrier Ethernet protocol or some other suitable protocol). Network connectivity can be provided to / from the access node 600 via optical fiber or wireless backhaul. The CN interface circuitry 606 can include one or more dedicated processors or FPGAs for communicating using one or more of the aforementioned protocols. In some implementations, the CN interface circuitry 606 can include multiple controllers for providing connectivity to other networks using the same or different protocols.

[0089] As used herein, the terms "access node," "access point," and the like may describe equipment that provides radio baseband functionality for data and / or voice connections between a network and one or more users. These access nodes may be referred to as BSs, gNBs, RAN nodes, eNBs, NodeBs, RSUs, TRxPs, or TRPs, and may include ground stations (e.g., terrestrial access points) or satellite stations that provide coverage within a geographic area (e.g., a cell). As used herein, the terms "NG RAN node" and the like may refer to access nodes 600 (e.g., gNBs) operating in NR or 5G systems, and the terms "E-UTRAN node" and the like may refer to access nodes 600 (e.g., eNBs) operating in LTE or 4G systems. Depending on the implementation, access node 600 may be implemented as one or more of the following: a dedicated physical device such as a macrocell base station, and / or a low-power (LP) base station for providing femtocells, picocells, or other similar cells with smaller coverage areas, smaller user capacity, or higher bandwidth than macrocells.

[0090] In some implementations, all or part of the access node 600 may be implemented as one or more software entities running on a server computer as part of a virtual network that may be referred to as a CRAN and / or a virtual baseband unit pool (vBBUP). In a V2X scenario, the access node 600 may be or function as a "roadside unit." The term "roadside unit" or "RSU" may refer to any traffic infrastructure entity used for V2X communication. The RSU may be implemented in or by a suitable RAN node or a stationary (or relatively stationary) UE, where an RSU implemented in or by a UE may be referred to as a "UE-type RSU," an RSU implemented in or by an eNB may be referred to as an "eNB-type RSU," an RSU implemented in or by a gNB may be referred to as a "gNB-type RSU," and so on.

[0091] For ease of description, various components may be described as performing one or more tasks. Such descriptions should be interpreted as including the phrase "configured to." Representing a component as being configured to perform one or more tasks expressly intends that the component not be interpreted under 35 U.S.C. §112(f).

[0092] For one or more specific implementations, at least one of the components described in one or more of the preceding figures may be configured to perform one or more operations, techniques, processes, or methods described in the following embodiments. For example, the baseband circuitry described above in conjunction with one or more of the preceding figures may be configured to operate in accordance with one or more of the embodiments described below. For another example, circuitry associated with the UE, base station, network element, etc. described above in conjunction with one or more of the preceding figures may be configured to operate in accordance with one or more of the embodiments described below in the embodiments section.

[0093] Unless expressly stated otherwise, any of the above embodiments may be combined with any other embodiment (or combination of embodiments). The foregoing description of one or more specific implementations provides illustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the scope of the specific implementations to the precise form disclosed. Modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings or may be acquired from practice of various specific implementations.

[0094] Although the above embodiments have been described in considerable detail, numerous variations and modifications will become apparent to those skilled in the art once the above disclosure is fully appreciated. It is intended that the following claims be interpreted to encompass all such variations and modifications.

[0095] It is understood that the use of personally identifiable information should be subject to privacy policies and practices that are generally recognized to meet or exceed industry or government requirements for maintaining user privacy. Specifically, personally identifiable information data should be managed and processed to minimize the risk of unintentional or unauthorized access or use, and the nature of authorized use should be clearly stated to users.

Claims

1. A method to be performed by a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: determining that one or more criteria associated with radio resource management (RRM) relaxation are satisfied; determining that an extended discontinuous reception (eDRX) cycle length exceeds a first predetermined value; determining that a discontinuous reception (DRX) cycle length is greater than or equal to a second predetermined value; In response, applying one or more RRM settings; as well as RRM is performed based on the applied RRM setting or settings.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the UE is in RRC inactive mode.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the UE is in a radio resource control (RRC) idle mode. The method of claim 1 , wherein the UE is a reduced capability (RedCap) UE. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first predetermined value is equal to 10.24 seconds. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second predetermined value is equal to 1.28 seconds. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the DRX cycle length is equal to 1.28 seconds or 2.56 seconds.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more RRM settings include at least one of: Measurement interval scaling factor; beam scanning factor; or Number of evaluation filter samples.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein applying the one or more RRM settings comprises: determining a value N of the beam scanning factor according to the one or more criteria; Determine the value m of the number of evaluation filter samples according to the one or more criteria; as well as The value K of the measurement interval scaling factor is calculated as the integer part of: PTW_cap represents the upper limit of the paging time window (PTW) length.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein applying the one or more RRM settings comprises: determining a value K of the measurement interval scaling factor according to the one or more criteria; Determine the value m of the number of evaluation filter samples according to the one or more criteria; as well as The value N of the beam scanning factor is calculated as the integer part of: PTW_cap represents the upper limit of the paging time window (PTW) length.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein applying the one or more RRM settings comprises: determining a value m1 according to the one or more criteria; as well as A value m2 of the number of evaluation filter samples is determined, wherein m2 is smaller than m1.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein the value m2 is equal to one, The UE performs a measurement evaluation in a paging time window (PTW), and The UE performs RRM based on the primary measurement evaluation.

13. The method according to claim 12, The UE further performs one or more measurement evaluations in one or more adjacent PTWs, and The UE further performs the RRM based on the one or more measurement evaluations. The method of claim 12 , wherein the UE makes mobility decisions based on the RRM.

15. The method of claim 1 , wherein applying the one or more RRM settings comprises: Turn off the RRM slack.

16. The method of claim 1 , wherein applying the one or more RRM settings comprises: Determine a time difference between (i) a DRX sample of a current paging time window (PTW) and (ii) a DRX sample of a next PTW; determining that the time difference is less than or equal to a predetermined threshold; as well as Filtering is performed using at least (iii) the DRX samples of the current PTW and (iv) the DRX samples of the next PTW.

17. The method according to claim 16, further comprising at least one of the following: accessing a memory storing said predetermined threshold, or A signal indicative of the predetermined threshold is received from a base station.

18. One or more processors comprising circuitry for executing instructions to cause a user equipment (UE) to perform the method according to any one of claims 1 to 17.

19. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing program instructions, which, when executed by a user equipment (UE), cause the UE to perform the method according to any one of claims 1 to 17.

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