Idle mode network power saving

Abstract

A radio access node may receive, from a core network, a configuration including criteria for determining whether to activate a network energy saving mode. And the nodes share network energy-saving information. When the criteria are met, the node activates a network energy saving mode. The user equipment may establish a connection with a node that does not activate the network energy saving mode by deploying a beam. Based on a connection established through an allocation beam, a node that does not activate a network energy-saving mode may request a node that activates the network energy-saving mode to transmit a synchronization signal block signal, and request a user equipment to monitor the synchronization signal block signal, and determining whether to establish a connection with the node in the active network energy saving mode based on the signal strength of the synchronization signal block signal.

Description

[0001] Related applications

[0002] This application claims priority to U.S. non-provisional patent application No. 18 / 166,194, filed on February 8, 2023, entitled “Idle Mode Network Energy Saving,” the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. Background Art

[0003] The term "New Radio" (NR), associated with fifth-generation mobile wireless communication systems ("5G"), refers to the technologies used in the radio access network ("RAN"), encompassing multiple Quality of Service (QoS) categories, including ultra-reliable low-latency communication ("URLLC"), enhanced mobile broadband ("eMBB"), and massive machine-type communication ("mMTC"). The URLLC QoS category is associated with stringent latency requirements (e.g., low latency or low signal / message latency) and high reliability of radio performance, while the conventional eMBB use case is associated with high-capacity wireless communication, which may allow for less stringent latency requirements (e.g., higher latency than URLLC) and less reliable radio performance. The performance requirements of mMTC may be lower than those of the eMBB use case. Some use case applications involving mobile devices or mobile user equipment (UEs), such as smartphones, wireless tablets, and smartwatches, may place different loads or demands on given RAN resources. RAN nodes may activate network energy-saving modes to reduce power consumption. Summary of the Invention

[0004] The following presents a brief summary of the disclosed subject matter to provide a basic understanding of some of the various embodiments. This summary is not a comprehensive overview of the various embodiments. It is not intended to identify key or critical elements of the various embodiments, nor is it intended to delineate the scope of the various embodiments. Its sole purpose is to present some concepts of the disclosure in a concise manner, serving as a prelude to the more detailed description that follows.

[0005] In an example embodiment, a method may include receiving, by a first radio access network node including a processor, a network energy saving message from a second radio access network node, the network energy saving message including a network energy saving indication indicating a network energy saving mode corresponding to the second radio access network node. The first radio access network node and the second radio access network node may be part of a configured group of radio access network nodes, the nodes being adjacent to each other, within a configured distance range, or providing communication signal coverage for a configured geographic area. The network energy saving message or the network energy saving indication may be for the second radio access network node that has determined to activate the network energy saving mode. The network energy saving message may include a configuration or an element. The first radio access network node may be a radio access network node that has not yet determined to activate the network energy saving mode, or a radio access network node whose network energy saving mode is inactive. In an embodiment, the first radio access network node may be a radio access network node that has determined to activate the network energy saving mode, but may still assist or accommodate transmission of minimum system information on behalf of the second radio access network node when the second radio access network node is in the network energy saving mode corresponding to the network energy saving message.

[0006] In response to a network power saving indication or a network power saving message, an example method includes sending, by a first radio access network node, a network power saving mode assistance indication to a second radio access network node, the network power saving mode assistance indication indicating that the first radio access network node is capable of assisting the second radio access network node during a network power saving mode of the second radio access network node. The example method may include receiving, by the first radio access network node, a first connection establishment message from a user equipment (UE), the first connection establishment message including connection information corresponding to the first radio access network node. The connection information may include minimum system information corresponding to the UE, such as system information block 1 ("SIB1") information. The connection information may include beam information corresponding to a beam or beam direction of the UE. The example method may include facilitating, by the first radio access network node, execution of a connection operation with respect to the UE based on the connection information. The network power saving message includes minimum system information corresponding to the second UE.

[0007] In an embodiment, the minimum system information corresponding to the second radio access network node comprises information sent by the second radio access network node in a system information block 1 when the network energy saving mode is inactive at the second radio access network node.

[0008] In an embodiment, the connection information includes a beam index indicator, the beam index indicator indicating that the user equipment has received first minimum system information corresponding to the first radio access network node via a provisioned downlink beam of the first radio access network node. Facilitating the execution of the connection operation may include facilitating, by the first radio access network node, sending a synchronization signal block request message to the second radio access network node, the synchronization signal block request message including a request for the second radio access network node to send a synchronization signal block message, the synchronization signal block message including second minimum system information corresponding to the second radio access network node. Furthermore, facilitating the execution of the connection operation may include facilitating, by the first radio access network node, sending a synchronization signal block measurement request message to the user equipment, the synchronization signal block measurement request message including a request for the user equipment to measure a signal strength of the synchronization signal block message to determine a first signal strength corresponding to the second radio access network node. The synchronization signal block measurement request message may include a request for the user equipment to send a second connection establishment message to the second radio access network node based on the second minimum system information, based on a determination that the first signal strength meets a signal strength criterion.

[0009] A downlink beam is deployed to be transmitted from the first radio access network node in a direction within a configured angular range relative to the first radio access network node. The angular range may be determined to include a vector pointing from the first radio access network node to the second radio access network node. For example, the second radio access network node may be located within an angular range sweep having the RAN as a focal point.

[0010] The synchronization signal block request message may include a request for the second radio access network node to transmit the synchronization signal block message a configured number of times. For example, the synchronization signal block request message may include a request for the second radio access network node to transmit the synchronization signal block message twice and then to resume pausing transmission of the synchronization signal block message in accordance with a network energy saving indication of a network energy saving message sent from the second radio access network node to the first radio access network node. Transmitting the synchronization signal block request message to the second radio access network node includes transmitting the synchronization signal block request message to the second radio access network node via a backhaul communication link.

[0011] In an embodiment, the signal strength criterion may be determined by the user equipment by applying a function to a second signal strength corresponding to the first radio access network node, as measured at the user equipment. For example, the user equipment may apply a "greater than" function or a "less than" function to the second signal strength and, in conjunction with the function, compare the first signal strength to the second signal strength to determine whether the first signal strength or the second signal strength is greater. Thus, the signal strength criterion may include a combination of the second signal strength and a function.

[0012] In an embodiment, the connection information includes a beam index indication indicating that the user equipment has received minimum system information corresponding to the first radio access network node via a non-provisioned downlink beam of the first radio access network node, and wherein facilitating the connection operation includes facilitating, by the first radio access network node, establishing a connection with the user equipment. In an embodiment, the connection established with the user equipment may be a connection with the first radio access network node. In another embodiment, the connection established with the user equipment may be a connection with a second radio access network node.

[0013] In an embodiment, the second radio access network node activates a network energy saving mode based on a determined number of user devices that are camped on the second radio access network node and initiate a transition from idle mode to connected mode that meets configured transition mode criteria. The second radio access network node determines whether the configured transition mode criteria are met within a time window. As an example, the transition mode criteria may include a threshold value indicated in the configuration. If, during the configuration period, which is also indicated in configuration 1200, fewer than the threshold number of user devices camped on the second radio access network node transition or initiate a transition from idle mode to connected mode, the transition mode criteria are met and the second radio access network node activates the network energy saving mode.

[0014] The network energy saving indication includes at least one of the following: a service inactivity indication indicating that at least one signaling message is inactive during the network energy saving mode, a network energy saving mode duration, or a random access and preamble configuration corresponding to the second radio access network node. The at least one signaling message inactive during the network energy saving mode includes at least one of the following: a synchronization signal block message or a system information block 1 message.

[0015] In another example embodiment, a first radio access network node may include a processor configured to send a network energy saving message to a second radio access network node, the network energy saving message including a network energy saving indication indicating a network energy saving mode at the first radio access network node. The first radio access network node and the second radio access network node may be part of a configured group of radio access network nodes, the nodes being adjacent to each other, within a configured distance range, or providing communication signal coverage for a configured geographic area. The network energy saving message or the network energy saving indication may correspond to the first radio access network node that has determined to activate the network energy saving mode. The network energy saving message may include a configuration or an element. The second radio access network node may be a radio access network node that has not yet determined to activate the network energy saving mode, or a radio access network node whose network energy saving mode is inactive. In an embodiment, the second radio access network node may be a radio access network node that has determined to activate the network energy saving mode, but may still assist, accommodate, or transmit minimum system information on behalf of the first radio access network node when the first radio access network node is in the network energy saving mode corresponding to the network energy saving message.

[0016] The processor of the exemplary first radio access network node may be configured to receive, in response to a network energy saving message, a network energy saving mode assistance availability indication from a second radio access network node, the network energy saving mode assistance availability indication indicating availability of the second radio access network node to transmit minimum system information corresponding to the first radio access network node on behalf of the first radio access network node during a network energy saving mode. The processor of the exemplary first radio access network node may be configured to activate a network energy saving mode based on a determination that a configured network energy saving mode criterion is satisfied, wherein the second radio access network node transmits the minimum system information corresponding to the first radio access network node to a user equipment. The processor of the exemplary first radio access network node may be configured to receive a connection establishment message from a user equipment based on the minimum system information corresponding to the first radio access network node, and to establish a connection with the user equipment based on the minimum system information corresponding to the first radio access network node.

[0017] The processor of the exemplary first radio access network node may be further configured to determine a number of user equipments that initiated a transition from idle mode to connected mode during a configured transition-monitoring period to produce a determined number of transitioning user equipments. A configured network energy saving mode criterion may be satisfied by the determined number of transitioning user equipments being determined to be less than a configured number of transitioning user equipments during the configured transition-monitoring period, and wherein the configured transition-monitoring period includes a sliding time window.

[0018] In an embodiment, the configured network energy saving mode criterion may be satisfied by a network energy saving mode assistance availability indication, the network energy saving mode assistance availability indication indicating that the second radio access network node is available to transmit minimum system information on behalf of the first radio access network node during the network energy saving mode. For example, instead of or in addition to the configured network energy saving mode criterion being satisfied that the determined number of transition user equipments is less than the configured number of transition user equipments during the configured transition-monitoring period, the configured network energy saving mode criterion may be satisfied by the second radio access network node indicating that the second radio access network node is available to transmit SSB and / or SIB1 message signals corresponding to the first radio access network node on behalf of the first radio access network node.

[0019] In an embodiment, the processor of the first radio access network node may be further configured to determine a number of times the first radio access network node receives synchronization signal block request messages from the second radio access network node to generate a determined number of received synchronization signal block request messages, wherein the configured network energy saving mode criterion is satisfied by the determined number of received synchronization signal block request messages exceeding a configured received synchronization signal block request message threshold. For example, the number of times the second radio access network node requests the first radio access network node to transmit SSB message signals corresponding to the first radio access network exceeding the configured threshold may be an indication that there are sufficient user equipment that can be better served by the first radio access network node rather than the second radio access network node, such that the second radio access network node has reason to cause the first radio access network node to terminate the network energy saving mode and resume transmitting its own SSB and / or SIB1 message signals.

[0020] In another example embodiment, a non-transitory machine-readable medium may include executable instructions that, when executed by a processor of a first radio access network node, facilitate the performance of operations, including receiving a network power saving indication from a second radio access network node, the network power saving indication including minimum system information corresponding to the second radio access network node, the network power saving indication indicating a network power saving mode for the second radio access network node. The first radio access network node and the second radio access network node may be part of a configured group of radio access network nodes, the nodes being adjacent to each other, within a configured distance range, or providing communication signal coverage for a configured geographic area. The network power saving message or the network power saving indication may correspond to the second radio access network node that has determined to activate the network power saving mode. The network power saving message may include a configuration or an element. The first radio access network node may be a radio access network node that has not yet determined to activate the network power saving mode, or a radio access network node whose network power saving mode is inactive. In one embodiment, the first radio access network node may be a radio access network node that has determined to activate the network power saving mode, but may still assist or accommodate transmission of the minimum system information on behalf of the second radio access network node when the second radio access network node is in the network power saving mode corresponding to the network power saving message. In response to the network energy saving indication, during the network energy saving mode of the second radio access network node, the first radio access network node sends minimum system information corresponding to the second radio access network node to the user equipment on behalf of the second radio access network node.

[0021] In an embodiment of the non-transitory machine-readable medium, the operations may further include: in response to the network energy saving indication, sending, by the first radio access network node, a network energy saving mode assistance availability indication to the second radio access network node, the network energy saving mode assistance availability indication indicating an assistance period during which the first radio access network node can send minimum system information corresponding to the second radio access network node during the network energy saving mode. The operations may further include receiving, during the assistance period, a first radio resource control (RRC) connection establishment message from a user equipment via a provisioned beam, and sending, to the user equipment, minimum system information corresponding to the second radio access network node, the minimum system information to be sent by the user equipment to the second radio access network node in a second RRC connection establishment message. The operations may further include receiving, during the network energy saving mode, a radio resource control (RRC) connection establishment message from the user equipment via a non-provisioned beam; and establishing a connection with the user equipment in response to the RRC connection establishment message.

[0022] In yet another embodiment, a non-transitory machine-readable medium may include executable instructions that, when executed by a processor of a first radio access network node, facilitate execution of operations, the operations comprising receiving a network energy saving indication from a second radio access network node, the network energy saving indication including minimum system information corresponding to the second radio access network node indicating a network energy saving mode for the second radio access network node; and, in response to the network energy saving indication, transmitting, by the first radio access network node, the minimum system information corresponding to the second radio access network node to a user equipment on behalf of the second radio access network node. The operations may also include receiving a first radio resource control (RRC) connection establishment message corresponding to a provisioned beam from the user equipment. Based on the first RRC connection establishment message corresponding to the provisioned beam (e.g., the user equipment may have received an RRC message signal from the first radio access network node via a downlink beam designated as the provisioned beam by the first radio access network node during connection establishment with the first radio access network node), the operations may also include transmitting a second RRC connection establishment message to the user equipment, the second RRC connection establishment message requesting the user equipment to initiate establishment of a connection with the second radio access network node based on the minimum system information corresponding to the second radio access network node.

[0023] In an embodiment, the operations may further include receiving a radio resource control (RRC) connection setup message corresponding to the non-provisioned beam from the user equipment, and establishing a connection with the user equipment in response to the RRC connection setup message. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0024] Figure 1 A wireless communication system environment is shown.

[0025] Figure 2A Example embodiments of an inter-cell network energy saving mode coordinated and collaborated with radio access network node reselection are shown.

[0026] Figure 2B Example embodiments of inter-cell coordination and collaboration with user equipment connected to a currently selected radio access network node during a network energy saving mode period are shown.

[0027] Figure 2C Example embodiments of inter-cell coordination and collaboration during a network energy saving mode period with a user equipment suspending connection with a currently selected radio access network node and reselecting a radio access network node for which the network energy saving mode has been activated are shown.

[0028] Figure 3 Example sliding window period criteria for triggering a network power saving mode by a radio access network node are shown.

[0029] Figure 4A timing diagram of a radio access network node activating a network energy saving mode is shown.

[0030] Figure 5 A timing diagram illustrating an example embodiment of inter-cell network energy saving mode coordination and collaboration.

[0031] Figure 6 A flow chart illustrating an example embodiment method for inter-cell network energy saving mode coordination and collaboration.

[0032] Figure 7 A block diagram of an example method embodiment is shown.

[0033] Figure 8 A block diagram of an example radio access network node embodiment is shown.

[0034] Figure 9 A block diagram of an example non-transitory machine-readable medium embodiment is shown.

[0035] Figure 10 An example computer environment is shown.

[0036] Figure 11 A block diagram of an example wireless user equipment is shown.

[0037] Figure 12 An example idle mode NES configuration sent from the core network to the RAN is shown.

[0038] Figure 13 An example Activate NES Setup message is shown. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0039] As a preliminary explanation, it will be readily understood by those skilled in the art that the embodiments of the present invention allow for a wide range of utility and application. In addition to what is described in this specification, many methods, embodiments, and variations of the present application, as well as many variations, modifications, and equivalent arrangements, will be clearly or reasonably derived from the essence or scope of the various embodiments of the present application.

[0040] Therefore, although various embodiments have been described in detail in this application, it should be understood that this disclosure is an illustration of one or more concepts expressed by various exemplary embodiments and is only intended to provide a full and implementable disclosure. The following disclosure is not intended or to be interpreted as limiting this application or excluding any other embodiments, adaptations, variations, modifications, and equivalent arrangements. The embodiments described herein are limited only by the appended claims and their equivalents.

[0041] In this disclosure, in certain embodiments, the terms "component," "system," and the like are intended to refer to or include any entity associated with a computer or an operating device having one or more specific functions, where the entity can be hardware, a combination of hardware and software, software, or software in execution. For example, a component can be, but is not limited to, a process running on a processor, a processor, an object, an executable file, a thread of execution, computer-executable instructions, a program, and / or a computer. By way of illustration and not limitation, both an application running on a server and the server itself can be a component.

[0042] One or more components may reside within a process and / or execution thread, and a component may be located on a computer and / or distributed between two or more computers. In addition, these components may be executed from various computer-readable media having various data structures stored thereon. These components may communicate via local and / or remote processes, for example, based on signals having one or more data packets (e.g., data from another component that interacts with a local system, a distributed system, and / or other systems via a network such as the Internet). As another example, a component may be a device having a specific function provided by a mechanical component operated by an electrical or electronic circuit, which is operated by a software application or firmware application executed by a processor, wherein the processor may be inside or outside the device and execute at least a portion of the software or firmware application. In yet another example, a component may be a device that provides a specific function by an electronic component that does not have a mechanical component, and these electronic components may include a processor for executing software or firmware, thereby at least partially realizing the function of the electronic component. Although various components are shown as separate components, it should be understood that multiple components may be implemented as a single component, or a single component may be implemented as multiple components without departing from the exemplary embodiments.

[0043] In view of the nature of complex computing environments, in which multiple components and / or multiple devices may be involved in some computing operations, the term "facilitate" as used herein means "facilitating" one or more actions or operations in the context of a system, device, or component. Non-limiting examples of actions that may or may not involve multiple components and / or multiple devices include sending or receiving data, establishing a connection between devices, determining intermediate results to obtain a final result, etc. In this regard, a computing device or component may facilitate an operation by playing any role in implementing the operation. When the operation of a component is described herein, it should be understood that where an operation is described as being facilitated by a component, the operation may optionally be accomplished through the cooperation of one or more other computing devices or components, such as, but not limited to, sensors, antennas, audio and / or visual output devices, other devices, etc.

[0044] In addition, the various embodiments can be implemented as methods, devices, or articles of manufacture using standard programming and / or engineering techniques to produce software, firmware, hardware, or any combination thereof to control a computer to implement the disclosed subject matter. As used herein, the term "article of manufacture" is intended to encompass a computer program that can be accessed from any computer-readable (or machine-readable) device or computer-readable (or machine-readable) storage / communication medium. For example, computer-readable storage media can include, but are not limited to, magnetic storage devices (e.g., hard disks, floppy disks, magnetic strips), optical disks (e.g., compact disks (CDs), digital versatile disks (DVDs)), smart cards, and flash memory devices (e.g., cards, sticks, key drives). Of course, those skilled in the art will recognize that many modifications can be made to the present configuration without departing from the scope or spirit of the various embodiments.

[0045] Turning now to the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 An example of a wireless communication system 100 that supports blind decoding of PDCCH candidates or search spaces according to one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure is shown. The wireless communication system 100 may include one or more base stations 105, one or more user equipment ("UE") devices 115, and a core network 130. In some examples, the wireless communication system 100 may include a long-range wireless communication network, including, for example, a Long Term Evolution (LTE) network, an LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) network, an LTE-A Pro network, or a New Radio (NR) network. In some examples, the wireless communication system 100 may support enhanced broadband communications, ultra-reliable (e.g., mission-critical) communications, low-latency communications, communications with low-cost and low-complexity devices, or any combination thereof. As shown, examples of UE 115 may include a smartphone, a car or other vehicle, or a drone or other aircraft. Another example of a UE may be a virtual reality device 117, such as smart glasses, a virtual reality headset, an augmented reality headset, and other similar devices that can provide images, video, audio, touch, taste, or smell to the wearer. A UE such as VR device 117 may send or receive wireless signals with a RAN base station 105 via a long-range wireless link 125, or a UE / VR device may send or receive wireless signals via a short-range wireless link 137, which may include a wireless link with the UE device 115, such as a Bluetooth link, a Wi-Fi link, etc. A UE such as device 117 may communicate simultaneously via multiple wireless links, such as with a base station 105 via link 125 and via a short-range wireless link. The VR device 117 may also communicate with a wireless UE via a cable or other wired connection. The RAN or its components may be implemented by one or more computer components that may be implemented in a manner similar to that described in the accompanying drawings. Figure 12 Described in .

[0046] Continue the discussion Figure 1, base stations 105 may be dispersed throughout a geographic area to form the wireless communication system 100 and may be devices of different forms or with different capabilities. The base stations 105 and UEs 115 may communicate wirelessly via one or more communication links 125. Each base station 105 may provide a coverage area 110 over which a UE 115 and the base station 105 may establish one or more communication links 125. The coverage area 110 may be an example of a geographic area over which the base stations 105 and the UEs 115 may support communication of signals according to one or more radio access technologies.

[0047] UEs 115 may be dispersed throughout the coverage area 110 of the wireless communication system 100, and each UE 115 may be stationary, mobile, or both at different times. UEs 115 may be devices of different forms or capabilities. Figure 1 Some example UEs 115 are shown in FIG. 1 . The UEs 115 described herein may be capable of communicating with various types of devices, such as other UEs 115, base stations 105, or network devices (e.g., core network nodes, relay devices, integrated access and backhaul (IAB) nodes, or other network devices), such as Figure 1 shown.

[0048] The base stations 105 can communicate with the core network 130, or with each other, or both. For example, the base stations 105 can be connected to the core network 130 via one or more backhaul links 120 (e.g., via S1, N2, N3, or other interfaces). The base stations 105 can communicate with each other directly (e.g., directly between the base stations 105) or indirectly (e.g., via the core network 130), or both, via the backhaul links 120 (e.g., via X2, Xn, or other interfaces). In some examples, the backhaul links 120 may include one or more wireless links.

[0049] The one or more base stations 105 described herein may include or be referred to by those skilled in the art as a base station transceiver, a radio base station, an access point, a radio transceiver, a NodeB, an eNodeB (eNB), a next generation NodeB or a giga-NodeB (any of which may be referred to as a bNodeB or gNB), a Home NodeB, a Home eNodeB or other appropriate terminology.

[0050] UE 115 may include or be referred to as a mobile device, a wireless device, a remote device, a handheld device, or a subscriber device, or some other suitable terminology, where "device" may also be referred to as a unit, a station, a terminal, or a client, etc. UE 115 may also include or be referred to as a personal electronic device, such as a mobile phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a tablet computer, a notebook computer, a personal computer, or a router. In some examples, UE 115 may include or be referred to as a wireless local loop (WLL) station, an Internet of Things (IoT) device, an Internet of Everything (IoE) device, or a machine type communication (MTC) device, etc., which may be implemented in various objects, such as appliances, vehicles, or smart meters.

[0051] The UE 115 can communicate with various types of devices, such as other UEs 115, which can sometimes act as relays, as well as base stations 105 and network devices, including macro eNBs or gNBs, small cell eNBs or gNBs, relay base stations, etc. Figure 1 shown.

[0052] UE 115 and base station 105 can wirelessly communicate with each other over one or more carriers via one or more communication links 125. The term "carrier" may refer to a set of radio spectrum resources having a defined physical layer structure for supporting communication link 125. For example, a carrier used for communication link 125 may include a portion of a radio spectrum band (e.g., a bandwidth part (BWP)) operating in accordance with one or more physical layer channels of a given radio access technology (e.g., LTE, LTE-A, LTE-A Pro, NR). Each physical layer channel may carry acquisition signaling (e.g., synchronization signals, system information), control signaling to coordinate the operation of the carrier, user data, or other signaling. The wireless communication system 100 may use carrier aggregation or multi-carrier operation to support communications with UE 115. UE 115 may be configured with multiple downlink component carriers and one or more uplink component carriers according to a carrier aggregation configuration. Carrier aggregation may be used with both frequency division duplex (FDD) and time division duplex (TDD) component carriers.

[0053] In some examples (e.g., in a carrier aggregation configuration), a carrier may also have acquisition signaling or control signaling that coordinates the operation of other carriers. A carrier may be associated with a frequency channel (e.g., an Evolved Universal Mobile Telecommunications System Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA) Absolute Radio Frequency Channel Number (EARFCN)) and may be located based on a channel raster for discovery by UE 115. A carrier may operate in a standalone mode, where initial acquisition and connection may be performed by the UE 115 via the carrier, or a carrier may operate in a non-standalone mode, where a different carrier (e.g., with the same or different radio access technology) is used to anchor the connection.

[0054] The communication link 125 shown in the wireless communication system 100 may include an uplink transmission from the UE 115 to the base station 105, or a downlink transmission from the base station 105 to the UE 115. A carrier may carry downlink or uplink communications (e.g., in FDD mode) or may be configured to carry both downlink and uplink communications (e.g., in TDD mode).

[0055] A carrier may be associated with a particular bandwidth of a radio spectrum, and in some examples, the carrier bandwidth may be referred to as the "system bandwidth" of the carrier or wireless communication system 100. For example, the carrier bandwidth may be one of a plurality of determined bandwidths of a carrier for a particular radio access technology (e.g., 1.4, 3, 5, 10, 15, 20, 40, or 80 megahertz (MHz)). The devices of the wireless communication system 100 (e.g., base station 105, UE 115, or both) may have a hardware configuration that supports communication on a particular carrier bandwidth, or may be configured to support communication on one of a set of carrier bandwidths. In some examples, the wireless communication system 100 may include a base station 105 or UE 115 that supports simultaneous communication via carriers associated with multiple carrier bandwidths. In some examples, each served UE 115 may be configured to operate on a portion (e.g., a subband, BWP) or the entire carrier bandwidth.

[0056] The signal waveform transmitted on the carrier may be composed of multiple subcarriers (e.g., using multicarrier modulation (MCM) techniques such as orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) or discrete Fourier transform spread OFDM (DFT-S-OFDM)). In systems deploying MCM techniques, a resource element may be composed of a symbol period (e.g., the duration of a modulation symbol) and a subcarrier, where the symbol period and subcarrier spacing are inversely related. The number of bits carried by each resource element may depend on the modulation scheme (e.g., the order of the modulation scheme, the coding rate of the modulation scheme, or both). Therefore, the more resource elements received by the UE 115 and the higher the order of the modulation scheme, the higher the data rate of the UE. Wireless communication resources may refer to a combination of radio spectrum resources, time resources (e.g., search space), or spatial resources (e.g., spatial layers or beams), and the use of multiple spatial layers may further increase the data rate or data integrity used for communication with the UE 115.

[0057] One or more carrier values ​​may be supported, where the values ​​may include subcarrier spacing (Δf) and cyclic prefixes. A carrier may be divided into one or more BWPs with the same or different values. In some examples, a UE 115 may be configured with multiple BWPs. In some examples, a single BWP for a carrier may be active at a given time, and communications by the UE 115 may be limited to one or more active BWPs.

[0058] The time interval of the base station 105 or the UE 115 may be expressed as a multiple of a basic time unit, for example, the basic time unit may be T s =1 / (Δf max ·Nf) seconds sampling period, where Δf max Nf may represent the maximum supported subcarrier spacing, and Nf may represent the maximum supported discrete Fourier transform (DFT) size. Time intervals for communication resources may be organized according to radio frames, each having a specified duration (e.g., 10 milliseconds (ms)). Each radio frame may be identified by a system frame number (SFN) (e.g., ranging from 0 to 1023).

[0059] Each frame may include a plurality of consecutively numbered subframes or time slots, and each subframe or time slot may have the same duration. In some examples, the frame may be divided (e.g., in the time domain) into subframes, and each subframe may be further divided into a plurality of time slots. Alternatively, each frame may include a variable number of time slots, and the number of time slots may depend on the subcarrier spacing. Each time slot may include a plurality of symbol periods (e.g., depending on the length of a cyclic prefix prepended to each symbol period). In some wireless communication systems 100, a time slot may also be divided into a plurality of mini-slots including one or more symbols. In addition to the cyclic prefix, each symbol period may include one or more (e.g., N f The duration of a symbol period may depend on the subcarrier spacing or the operating frequency band.

[0060] A subframe, slot, mini-slot, or symbol may be the smallest scheduling unit (e.g., in the time domain) of the wireless communication system 100 and may be referred to as a transmission time interval (TTI). In some examples, the TTI duration (e.g., the number of symbol periods in a TTI) may be variable. Additionally or alternatively, the smallest scheduling unit of the wireless communication system 100 may be dynamically selected (e.g., in units of shortened TTIs (sTTIs)).

[0061] Physical channels can be multiplexed on a carrier using various techniques. For example, a physical control channel and a physical data channel can be multiplexed on a downlink carrier using one or more of time division multiplexing (TDM), frequency division multiplexing (FDM), or a hybrid TDM-FDM technique. A control region (e.g., a control resource set (CORESET)) of a physical control channel can be defined by multiple symbol periods and can extend across the system bandwidth of a carrier or a subset of the system bandwidth. One or more control regions (e.g., CORESETs) can be configured for a set of UEs 115. For example, one or more of UEs 115 can monitor or search a control region or space for control information based on one or more search space sets, and each search space set can include one or more control channel candidates in one or more aggregation levels arranged in a cascaded manner. The aggregation level of a control channel candidate can refer to the number of control channel resources (e.g., control channel elements (CCEs)) associated with coded information of a control information format having a given payload size. A search space set can include a common search space set configured for transmitting control information to multiple UEs 115 and a UE-specific search space set for transmitting control information to a specific UE 115. This document discloses novel and unconventional other search spaces and configurations for monitoring and decoding them.

[0062] The base station 105 may provide communication coverage via one or more cells, such as macro cells, small cells, hot spots, or other types of cells or any combination thereof. The term "cell" may refer to a logical communication entity used to communicate with the base station 105 (e.g., via a carrier) and may be associated with an identifier (e.g., a physical cell identifier (PCID), a virtual cell identifier (VCID), or other) used to distinguish adjacent cells. In some examples, a cell may also refer to a geographic coverage area 110 or a portion (e.g., a sector) of a geographic coverage area 110 on which the logical communication entity operates. Depending on various factors such as the capabilities of the base station 105, such a cell may range from a smaller area (e.g., a structure, a subset of a structure) to a larger area. For example, a cell may be or include a building, a subset of a building, or an external space between or overlapping geographic coverage areas 110, etc.

[0063] A macro cell typically covers a relatively large geographic area (e.g., a radius of several kilometers) and may allow unrestricted access by a UE 115 with a service subscription to a network provider that supports the macro cell. Compared to a macro cell, a small cell may be associated with a low-power base station 105, and the small cell may operate in the same or different (e.g., licensed, unlicensed) frequency band as the macro cell. A small cell may provide unrestricted access to a UE 115 using a service subscription with a network provider, or may provide restricted access to a UE 115 associated with the small cell (e.g., a UE 115 in a closed subscriber group (CSG), a UE 115 associated with a user in a home or office). A base station 105 may support one or more cells and may also support communications over one or more cells using one or more component carriers.

[0064] In some examples, a carrier can support multiple cells, and different cells can be configured according to different protocol types (e.g., MTC, narrowband IoT (NB-IoT), enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB)) that can provide access to different types of devices.

[0065] In some examples, base stations 105 can be mobile, and thus provide communication coverage for mobile geographic coverage areas 110. In some examples, different geographic coverage areas 110 associated with different technologies can overlap, but the different geographic coverage areas 110 can be supported by the same base station 105. In other examples, overlapping geographic coverage areas 110 associated with different technologies can be supported by different base stations 105. The wireless communication system 100 can include, for example, a heterogeneous network in which different types of base stations 105 provide coverage for various geographic coverage areas 110 using the same or different radio access technologies.

[0066] The wireless communication system 100 can support synchronous or asynchronous operation. For synchronous operation, the base stations 105 can have similar frame timing, and transmissions from different base stations 105 can be approximately aligned in time. For asynchronous operation, the base stations 105 can have different frame timing, and in some examples, transmissions from different base stations 105 may not be aligned in time. The techniques described herein can be used for either synchronous or asynchronous operation.

[0067] Some UEs 115, such as MTC or IoT devices, may be low-cost or low-complexity devices and may provide automated communication between machines (e.g., via machine-to-machine (M2M) communication). M2M communication or MTC may refer to data communication technology that allows devices to communicate with each other or with a base station 105 without human intervention. In some examples, M2M communication or MTC may include communications from devices that incorporate sensors or meters to measure or capture information and relay such information to a central server or application that utilizes or presents the information to a person interacting with the application. Some UEs 115 may be designed to collect information or implement automated behavior of machines or other devices. Examples of applications for MTC devices include smart metering, inventory monitoring, water level monitoring, equipment monitoring, healthcare monitoring, wildlife monitoring, weather and geological event monitoring, fleet management and tracking, remote security sensing, physical access control, and transaction-based billing for services.

[0068] Some UEs 115 may be configured to employ a reduced power consumption mode of operation, such as half-duplex communication (e.g., a mode that supports unidirectional communication via transmission or reception but not simultaneous transmission and reception). In some examples, half-duplex communication may be performed at a reduced peak rate. Other power conservation techniques for the UE 115 include entering a power-saving deep sleep mode when not engaged in active communications, operating over a limited bandwidth (e.g., in accordance with narrowband communications), or a combination of these techniques. For example, some UEs 115 may be configured to operate using a narrowband protocol type associated with a defined portion or range (e.g., a set of subcarriers or resource blocks (RBs)) within a carrier, within a guard band of a carrier, or outside a carrier.

[0069] The wireless communication system 100 can be configured to support ultra-reliable communication or low-latency communication or various combinations thereof. For example, the wireless communication system 100 can be configured to support ultra-reliable low-latency communication (URLLC) or mission-critical communication. The UE 115 can be designed to support ultra-reliable, low-latency or critical functions (e.g., mission-critical functions). Ultra-reliable communication can include dedicated communication or group communication and can be supported by one or more mission-critical services, such as mission-critical push-to-talk (MCPTT), mission-critical video (MCVideo), or mission-critical data (MCData). Support for mission-critical functions can include prioritization of services, and mission-critical services can be used for public safety or general business applications. The terms "ultra-reliable", "low latency", "mission-critical" and "ultra-reliable low latency" can be used interchangeably herein.

[0070] In some examples, UE 115 can also communicate directly with other UEs 115 via device-to-device (D2D) communication links 135 (e.g., using peer-to-peer (P2P) or D2D protocols). Communication links 135 may include sidelink communication links. One or more UEs 115 utilizing D2D communication (e.g., sidelink communication) may be within the geographic coverage area 110 of base station 105. Other UEs 115 in the group may be outside the geographic coverage area 110 of base station 105 or unable to receive transmissions from base station 105. In some examples, the group of UEs 115 communicating via D2D communication may utilize a one-to-many (1:M) system, in which a UE transmits to each other UE in the group. In some examples, base station 105 facilitates resource scheduling for D2D communication. In other cases, D2D communication is performed between UEs 115 without involving base station 105.

[0071] In some systems, the D2D communication link 135 can be an example of a communication channel (e.g., a sidelink communication channel) between vehicles (e.g., UE 115). In some examples, vehicles can communicate using vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communications, vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communications, or some combination of these. Vehicles can send information related to traffic conditions, signal scheduling, weather, safety, emergency situations, or any other information related to the V2X system. In some examples, vehicles in a V2X system can communicate with roadside infrastructure such as roadside units, or with the network, or both, via one or more RAN network nodes (e.g., base station 105) using vehicle-to-network (V2N) communications. Figure 1 In FIG, vehicle UE 116 is shown as being within the RAN coverage area, while vehicle UE 118 is shown as being outside the coverage area of ​​the same RAN. Vehicle UE 115 wirelessly connected to the RAN may be a sidelink relay to vehicle UE 116 within the RAN coverage area or vehicle UE 118 outside the RAN coverage area.

[0072] The core network 130 may provide user authentication, access authorization, tracking, Internet Protocol (IP) connectivity, and other access, routing, or mobility functions. The core network 130 may be an evolved packet core (EPC) or a 5G core (5GC), and may include at least one control plane entity (e.g., a mobility management entity (MME), an access and mobility management function (AMF)) that manages access and mobility, and at least one user plane entity (e.g., a serving gateway (S-GW), a packet data network (PDN) gateway (P-GW), or a user plane function (UPF)) that routes packets or interconnects to external networks. The control plane entities may manage non-access stratum (NAS) functions, such as mobility, authentication, and bearer management for UEs 115 served by base stations 105 associated with the core network 130. User IP packets may be transferred via the user plane entities, which may provide IP address allocation and other functions. The user plane entities may connect to IP services 150 of one or more network operators. The IP services 150 may include access to the Internet, intranet(s), an IP multimedia subsystem (IMS), or packet-switched streaming services.

[0073] Some network devices, such as base stations 105, may include subcomponents, such as access network entities 140, which may be examples of access node controllers (ANCs). Each access network entity 140 may communicate with the UE 115 through one or more other access network transport entities 145, which may be referred to as radio heads, smart radio heads, or transmission / reception points (TRPs). Each access network transport entity 145 may include one or more antenna panels. In some configurations, the various functions of each access network entity 140 or base station 105 may be distributed across various network devices (e.g., radio heads and ANCs) or consolidated into a single network device (e.g., base station 105).

[0074] The wireless communication system 100 can operate using one or more frequency bands typically in the range of 300 megahertz (MHz) to 300 gigahertz (GHz). Typically, the region from 300 MHz to 3 GHz is referred to as the ultra-high frequency (UHF) region or decimeter band because the wavelengths range from approximately 1 decimeter to 1 meter long. UHF waves can be blocked or redirected by buildings and environmental features, but the waves can penetrate the structures used for macro cells sufficiently to provide service to UEs 115 located indoors. Transmissions using UHF waves can be associated with smaller antennas and a shorter range (e.g., less than 100 kilometers) compared to transmissions using the lower frequencies and longer wavelengths of the high frequency (HF) or very high frequency (VHF) portions of the spectrum below 300 MHz.

[0075] The wireless communication system 100 may also operate in the super high frequency (SHF) region using frequency bands from 3 GHz to 30 GHz (also known as centimeter bands), or in the extremely high frequency (EHF) region of the spectrum (e.g., from 30 GHz to 300 GHz) (also known as millimeter bands). In some examples, the wireless communication system 100 may support millimeter wave (mmW) communications between the UE 115 and the base station 105, and the EHF antennas of each device may be smaller and more closely spaced than UHF antennas. In some examples, this may facilitate the use of antenna arrays within the device. However, the propagation of EHF transmissions may be subject to greater atmospheric attenuation and a shorter range than SHF or UHF transmissions. The techniques disclosed herein may be used in transmissions using one or more different frequency regions, and the designated use of frequency bands across these frequency regions may vary by country or regulatory agency.

[0076] The wireless communication system 100 can use licensed and unlicensed radio spectrum bands. For example, the wireless communication system 100 can employ license assisted access (LAA), LTE-unlicensed (LTE-U) radio access technology, or NR technology in an unlicensed band such as the 5 GHz industrial, scientific, and medical (ISM) band. When operating in an unlicensed radio spectrum band, devices such as the base station 105 and the UE 115 can employ carrier sensing for conflict detection and avoidance. In some examples, operations in the unlicensed band can be based on a carrier aggregation configuration in combination with component carriers operating in a licensed band (e.g., LAA). Operations in the unlicensed spectrum can include downlink transmissions, uplink transmissions, P2P transmissions, or D2D transmissions, among others.

[0077] The base station 105 or UE 115 may be equipped with multiple antennas that may be used to implement techniques such as transmit diversity, receive diversity, multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) communications, or beamforming. The antennas of the base station 105 or UE 115 may be located within one or more antenna arrays or antenna panels that may support MIMO operations or transmit or receive beamforming. For example, one or more base station antennas or antenna arrays may be co-located at an antenna assembly such as an antenna tower. In some examples, the antennas or antenna arrays associated with the base station 105 may be located at different geographical locations. The base station 105 may have an antenna array having multiple rows and columns of antenna ports that the base station 105 may use to support beamforming for communications with the UE 115. Similarly, the UE 115 may have one or more antenna arrays that may support various MIMO or beamforming operations. Additionally or alternatively, the antenna panels may support radio beamforming for signals transmitted via the antenna ports.

[0078] The base station 105 or UE 115 can use MIMO communication to take advantage of multipath signal propagation and improve spectral efficiency by sending or receiving multiple signals via different spatial layers. Such a technique may be referred to as spatial multiplexing. For example, multiple signals may be sent by a transmitting device via different antennas or different combinations of antennas. Similarly, a receiving device may receive multiple signals via different antennas or different combinations of antennas. Each of the multiple signals may be referred to as a separate spatial stream and may carry bits associated with the same data stream (e.g., the same codeword) or different data streams (e.g., different codewords). Different spatial layers may be associated with different antenna ports for channel measurement and reporting. MIMO technologies include single-user MIMO (SU-MIMO), in which multiple spatial layers are sent to the same receiving device, and multi-user MIMO (MU-MIMO), in which multiple spatial layers are sent to multiple devices.

[0079] Beamforming, which may also be referred to as spatial filtering, directional transmission, or directional reception, is a signal processing technique that may be used at a transmitting device or a receiving device (e.g., a base station 105, a UE 115) to shape or steer an antenna beam (e.g., a transmit beam, a receive beam) along a spatial path between the transmitting device and the receiving device. Beamforming may be achieved by combining signals transmitted via antenna elements of an antenna array such that some signals propagating in a particular orientation relative to the antenna array experience constructive interference, while other signals experience destructive interference. Adjustments to signals transmitted via antenna elements may include the transmitting device or the receiving device applying an amplitude shift, a phase shift, or both to signals transmitted via antenna elements associated with the device. The adjustments associated with each antenna element may be defined by a set of beamforming weights associated with a particular direction (e.g., relative to the antenna array of the transmitting device or the receiving device, or relative to some other direction).

[0080] The base station 105 or the UE 115 may use beam sweeping techniques as part of a beam forming operation. For example, the base station 105 may use multiple antennas or antenna arrays (e.g., antenna panels) to perform beam forming operations for directional communication with the UE 115. Some signals (e.g., synchronization signals, reference signals, beam selection signals, or other control signals) may be transmitted multiple times by the base station 105 in different directions. For example, the base station 105 may transmit signals according to different sets of beam forming weights associated with different transmit directions. Transmissions in different beam directions may be used to identify (e.g., by a transmitting device such as the base station 105 or by a receiving device such as the UE 115) the beam direction for later transmission or reception by the base station 105.

[0081] Base station 105 may transmit some signals (e.g., data signals associated with a particular receiving device) in a single beam direction (e.g., a direction associated with a receiving device (e.g., UE 115)). In some examples, the beam direction associated with the transmission along the single beam direction may be determined based on signals sent in one or more beam directions. For example, UE 115 may receive one or more signals sent by base station 105 in different directions and may report to the base station an indication of the signal received by UE 115 having the highest signal quality or otherwise acceptable signal quality.

[0082] In some examples, transmission by a device (e.g., base station 105 or UE 115) can be performed using multiple beam directions, and the device can use a combination of digital precoding or radio beamforming to generate a combined beam for transmission (e.g., from base station 105 to UE 115). UE 115 can report feedback indicating precoding weights for one or more beam directions, and the feedback can correspond to the number of beams over the system bandwidth or one or more subbands. Base station 105 can send reference signals (e.g., cell-specific reference signals (CRS), channel state information reference signals (CSI-RS)), which can be precoded or unprecoded. UE 115 can provide feedback for beam selection, which can be a precoding matrix indicator (PMI) or codebook-based feedback (e.g., multi-panel type codebook, linear combination type codebook, port selection type codebook). Although these techniques are described with reference to signals sent by base station 105 in one or more directions, UE 115 may employ similar techniques to send signals multiple times in different directions (e.g., to identify a beam direction for subsequent transmission or reception by UE 115) or to send signals in a single direction (e.g., to send data to a receiving device).

[0083] A receiving device (e.g., UE 115) may attempt multiple reception configurations (e.g., directional listening) when receiving various signals (e.g., synchronization signals, reference signals, beam selection signals, or other control signals) from a base station 105. For example, the receiving device may attempt multiple reception directions by receiving via different antenna subarrays, by processing received signals according to different antenna subarrays, by receiving according to different receive beamforming weight sets applied to signals received at multiple antenna elements of an antenna array (e.g., different directional listening weight sets), or by processing received signals according to different receive beamforming weight sets applied to signals received at multiple antenna elements of an antenna array, where any of the reception according to different reception configurations or reception directions may be referred to as "listening." In some examples, the receiving device may receive along a single beam direction using a single reception configuration (e.g., when receiving data signals). The single reception configuration may be aligned on a beam direction determined based on listening according to different reception configuration directions (e.g., a beam direction determined to have the highest signal strength, highest signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), or otherwise acceptable signal quality based on listening according to multiple beam directions).

[0084] The wireless communication system 100 can be a packet-based network that operates according to a layered protocol stack. In the user plane, the communication of the bearer layer or the packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer can be IP-based. The radio link control (RLC) layer can perform packet segmentation and reassembly to communicate on the logical channel. The medium access control (MAC) layer can perform priority processing and multiplexing of logical channels to transport channels. The MAC layer can also use error detection technology, error correction technology, or both to support retransmission of the MAC layer to improve link efficiency. In the control plane, the radio resource control (RRC) protocol layer can provide the establishment, configuration and maintenance of the RRC connection between the UE 115 and the base station 105 or the core network 130 that supports the radio bearer layer of the user plane data. At the physical layer, the transport channel can be mapped to the physical channel.

[0085] UE 115 and base station 105 can support retransmission of data to increase the likelihood of successfully receiving the data. Hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback is a technique for increasing the likelihood of correctly receiving data over communication link 125. HARQ can include a combination of error detection (e.g., using a cyclic redundancy check (CRC)), forward error correction (FEC), and retransmission (e.g., automatic repeat request (ARQ)). HARQ can improve the throughput of the MAC layer under poor radio conditions (e.g., low signal-to-noise ratio conditions). In some examples, a device can support HARQ feedback for the same time slot, wherein the device can provide HARQ feedback in a particular time slot for data received in a previous symbol in the time slot. In other cases, the device can provide HARQ feedback in a subsequent time slot or according to some other time interval.

[0086] Network energy saving.

[0087] In cellular networks, there is a need to conserve energy or power for both network equipment and user equipment. The purpose of a Network Energy Saving ("NES") mode is to facilitate a RAN node that may be experiencing high power consumption, limited battery capacity, or a power outage, to dynamically relax support of one or more radio functions or one or more radio services that the RAN node might otherwise support until an improvement in the power situation is achieved, e.g., off-site power to the RAN node is restored such that the RAN is no longer dependent on power from an on-site battery at the RAN, or until the capacity of the on-site battery is restored to a configured level. Implementing NES may facilitate cost efficiency or power efficiency at the RAN node (e.g., activating NES mode during lightly loaded periods for a RAN that experiences a high rate of change in traffic load within a given day), or may facilitate service continuity, particularly for emergency services / calls, in the event of a power outage / blackout.

[0088] Therefore, the RAN node of the cell can dynamically implement the NES mode to temporarily suspend support for high-energy consumption radio services or provide high-energy consumption radio services for a determined or configured time period. Non-limiting examples of high-power radio services or operations include ultra-fast scheduling associated with mini-slot scheduling for delay-critical services, data replication for enhanced radio reliability, etc. For user equipment that is already connected (for example, a user equipment that has an RRC connection with the RAN), the RAN may already know the services, service types and quality of service (QoS) targets corresponding to the service flows related to the already connected user equipment. Therefore, the RAN node can determine to avoid NES mode activation to avoid negatively impacting the critical services that the RAN is currently serving for the user equipment. However, even if the idle mode user equipment is within the coverage area or range of the RAN, the RAN node may not notice the user equipment in IDLE mode that is not actively connected to the RAN node, and when the user equipment later initiates a connection to the RAN node, the RAN node may not notice the target QoS targets or services that the idle user equipment may need or request. Therefore, according to the current embodiment, an idle mode user equipment device (which may reside on a RAN node with NES mode activated) can only be notified of the RAN's activation of NES mode and services not currently provided or supported by the RAN node when the user equipment initiates a connection establishment procedure with the RAN node. Initiation of such a connection procedure may include the user equipment device performing a random access procedure and a corresponding subsequent high-power and high-signaling load connection establishment procedure. Only after being initiated and connected to the RAN node does the user equipment become aware that the RAN node has activated NES mode and does not currently provide or support services or radio functions that the user equipment may need to request, which may cause the user equipment to abandon the established connection with the RAN and attempt to reselect another neighboring RAN node. Such a connection of the user equipment to the RAN node may result in energy inefficiency at both the RAN node and the user equipment, as well as wasted signaling overhead and network access delays for the affected idle devices.

[0089] Currently, several schemes can be implemented to achieve network energy savings. An example of a currently implemented NES mode procedure is Aggregated Paging Occasions ("APO"), in which user equipment devices are aggregated to monitor and blindly decode the same paging occasion. This reduces the total number of paging occasions that the RAN node must send, but at the expense of idle mode devices waking up and decoding the same paging occasion that may include paging information for only a single user equipment device (e.g., paging "false alarms"). With APO, the benefits of NES may be overshadowed by increased energy consumption at the aggregated user equipment devices due to paging false alarms.

[0090] Another example of a currently implemented NES mode procedure is where a cell / RAN node shuts down and does not accept new connection requests from user devices that are not currently connected to the cell / RAN. Turning off the acceptance of new connection requests, or even halting the current device's connection for all or part of one or more activated services, is a straightforward NES solution, but this may negatively impact the achievable quality of service for the user device. Furthermore, turning off the acceptance of new connection requests may result in gaps in coverage, and idle user devices may not notice or "ignore" the halt, resulting in the user device attempting to connect to the RAN (thereby consuming battery power and time resources of the user device) even though the RAN is not currently providing the service the user device requires. In situations where emergency services are needed (e.g., fire, rescue, law enforcement, etc.), the user device's lack of knowledge that a radio service has been deactivated by the RAN may impose a security risk on the user of the unaware user device.

[0091] Idle mode operations include several processes for user equipment devices in idle mode, such as: determining the coverage level / signal strength corresponding to surrounding cells; camping on or selecting a specific cell / RAN; or monitoring the detected coverage level / signal strength of a cell / RAN as the user equipment moves or radio conditions change. Idle mode devices can be considered active user equipment that is not connected to a cell / RAN, so the RAN network is unaware of the location of idle mode devices and the density of idle user equipment.

[0092] When a user equipment device is turned on, it searches for and attempts to decode the synchronization signal blocks ("SSBs") of surrounding cells—SSBs are typically the only signals always transmitted by 5G RAN nodes. SSBs enable idle-mode devices to, for example: synchronize with the downlink radio frequency ("RF") receivers of surrounding cells / RANs; determine cell identifiers of surrounding cells / RANs; and determine coverage levels using SSB downlink reference signals (e.g., the user equipment can determine signal strength based on the reference signal received power ("RSRP") corresponding to each detected cell / RAN).

[0093] Thus, based on the detected SSBs and the determined coverage levels of the surrounding cells / RANs corresponding to the determined cell / RAN identifier, the idle mode device selects a backup cell / RAN that provides the best coverage level / determined signal strength to camp on. When the user equipment needs to connect to the network, the user equipment initiates a connection (e.g., initiates an RRC connection) to the backup cell / RAN (e.g., for receiving a call or for initiating an uplink data session without taking time to perform cell selection because the cell / RAN selection has already been performed). Thus, the cell / RAN selection process is typically performed regularly, regardless of whether the idle mode device needs to connect to a cell / RAN.

[0094] An idle mode device may initiate cell reselection using the same process as cell selection, but periodically searches for a different cell than the previously selected / currently selected cell at a certain moment in time, according to an idle mode period configured at the user equipment or according to a configuration received from the cell / RAN. Cell / RAN reselection benefits the user equipment because a given selected cell / RAN that is optimal for the user equipment at one time may not provide the strongest signal strength at a later time, which may occur if the idle mode user equipment moves between cells or if channel radio conditions change. Therefore, an idle mode device may initiate idle mode reselection when coverage degradation of the currently selected cell is detected (based on a defined set of conditions being met). The cell / RAN node is generally unaware of the reselection determination made by the idle mode device.

[0095] For a given selected cell, the idle mode device monitors the SSB information sent from the cell / RAN and monitors the determined paging occasions corresponding to the cell / RAN. Monitoring the SSB information facilitates the idle mode device to maintain an up-to-date coverage level of the selected cell / RAN and trigger cell reselection if necessary to support an incoming call or data traffic transmission.

[0096] Therefore, while the cell / RAN sends SSB blocks to facilitate the user equipment's transition from low-power idle mode to higher-power connected mode, the transmission of SSB blocks is an energy-intensive operation at the cell / RAN. When an idle mode user equipment connects to a RAN node (e.g., transitions from idle mode to connected mode), the user equipment "assumes" that the service or QoS profile it is seeking or requesting is provided by the currently selected cell. If the idle mode user equipment transitions to connected mode and it is determined that the service the user equipment requires is not active at the RAN to which it is connected, the UE has consumed battery power and time resources while establishing a fruitless connection.

[0097] An SSB signal is a 5G signal that is always on, or always transmitted over the 5G radio interface, regardless of user device capabilities or battery status. User devices use SSBs to identify the presence of the cell / RAN transmitting the SSB, the coverage level received from the cell / RAN (e.g., a coverage bar on a mobile phone screen), and additional cell information used by the user device for cell connection establishment and access. Relaxing conventional SSB transmissions may be desirable to reduce cell / RAN power consumption, for example when the RAN can operate on battery power, or simply to reduce the cost paid to the electric utility company for off-site power provided to the RAN. However, without continuous, regular transmission of SSB signals, a user device in idle mode may be unable to identify the cell / RAN and may treat the lack of a sufficiently strong SSB signal as a coverage gap, even if the user device is actually within range of a RAN with strong coverage at the user device, thereby facilitating sufficient communication. In the absence of SSB reception from a cell / RAN, network communication service to an idle user device cannot be attributed to the lack of SSB transmissions from the cell / RAN, which may be power-limited due to operating on battery power, for example. Therefore, the user device may attempt to search for service from another cell / RAN. Therefore, SSB relaxation may come at the expense of degraded network access performance, especially in situations where the available neighboring cell coverage (e.g., available because a neighboring RAN is sending SSB signaling messages) is significantly worse than the coverage level of the RAN that has "relaxed" or suspended the transmission of SSB signaling messages. Camping on a RAN that provides poor coverage instead of a RAN that may actually be closer or potentially provide stronger signal strength is not optimal, and the user equipment may not notice the RAN that may provide stronger signal strength, perhaps simply due to the suspension of SSB signals from the other, better RAN.

[0098] Thus, utilizing the embodiments disclosed herein, an on-demand SSB transmission process can facilitate a power-constrained cell / RAN to temporarily suspend SSB transmissions because, for example, a user device is inactive or because an active user device can be served at a reasonable or comparable coverage level from one or more neighboring power-capable cells / RANs while avoiding coverage gaps and, therefore, negatively impacting network access performance for the user device. The SSB relaxation techniques disclosed herein can include on-demand SSB transmissions while avoiding the introduction of coverage gaps and, therefore, not impacting device access.

[0099] Network energy saving triggers dynamic cell reselection.

[0100] Embodiments disclosed herein may include facilitating on-demand transmission of energy-consuming SSBs and minimizing or eliminating coverage gaps. Figure 1The core network 130 shown configures one or more RAN nodes / gNBs with an idle mode NES setting configuration, which may include a minimum threshold number of user equipment devices transitioning from idle mode to connected mode during a configured time period to facilitate the RAN node to suspend SSB / idle mode transmission (e.g., idle mode of the user equipment). If the threshold is met (e.g., the RAN node does not have more than a configured number of idle mode devices in coverage, or the RAN does not cover more than a configured number of inactive idle mode user equipment), the RAN may activate NES mode for the configured NES period. As a result, power consumption can be significantly reduced at the RAN with NES mode activated, as periodically sending high-power SSBs is power inefficient when the user equipment within the RAN range is busy, or when a large number of user equipment within the RAN range is idle or inactive.

[0101] If the RAN determines that fewer than a configured threshold of active user devices are present, the RAN node may cease or suspend the transmission of regular, periodic SSBs potentially used by idle-mode devices. A RAN node that has activated or can activate an idle-mode NES, at least by suspending the transmission of SSB or SIB1 signaling messages, may exchange NES configurations with neighboring cells or RAN nodes and coordinate with other RANs regarding idle-mode coverage provisioning. This coordination facilitates the detection of the coordinating RAN by an assisting user device, by a RAN adjacent to the RAN that has suspended SSB signaling message transmission, and the potential request by the assisting neighboring RAN to resume SSB signaling message transmission, if not periodically or continuously, then at least several times, by the RAN that has suspended SSB signaling message transmission. Although resident idle-mode user devices on an assisting RAN that is transmitting SSB signaling messages may degrade service quality if the neighboring cell's received coverage level is significantly lower than the unusable coverage level of the NES cell / RAN, exchanging NES configurations may help the user device eventually establish a connection with the current NES-mode RAN without transmitting SSB information. The NES configuration may include an activation period for the NES mode and an indication of which idle mode signals are to be suspended during the activated NES period. The indication of the signals to be suspended may include a combined indication, such as: (SSB), (SSB, SIB1), or (SIB1). The NES mode configuration may facilitate coordination among neighboring RAN nodes on how to perform inter-cell NES deployment. For example, in the event that a NESRAN node suspends or pauses SIB1 signaling, a neighboring power-capable cell may transmit SIB1 information corresponding to an NES mode cell / RAN. In other words, the neighboring / secondary RAN may act as a proxy for the RAN that has suspended SSB signaling, thereby facilitating idle mode devices to not lose access to information that may facilitate user mode transition from idle mode to connected mode with the NES mode RAN, while the NES mode is still active at the power-restricted cell / RAN.

[0102] When an idle mode user equipment that may have transitioned from idle mode to connected mode on any neighboring cell transitions to the NES mode activated RAN, the secondary RAN may instruct the user equipment to perform access provisioning with the NES mode RAN and may instruct the user equipment to measure the signal strength of the SSB now being sent by the NES mode RAN.

[0103] Thus, the idle mode device can measure SSBs from the NES RAN. Based on the signal strength determined by analyzing the SSBs currently being transmitted from the NES mode RAN, and provided that the idle mode device receives better coverage from the NES cell than from the currently power-capable neighboring cell, the idle mode user device can send a connection termination request to the RAN of the secondary NES mode RAN to which it is currently connected, and establish a connection with the NES mode RAN. Thus, the embodiments disclosed herein facilitate the power-constrained cell / RAN to transmit SSB signals only when there is a possibility that an idle mode device is present within the RAN coverage area, and the idle mode device is actually attempting to connect to the core network 130 via the RAN. The RAN can operate with NES mode activated and can activate SSB signaling when requested by the secondary RAN to minimize the impact of coverage gaps that might otherwise exist if the RAN with better coverage relative to the user device continues to suspend the transmission of SSB signaling messages. From a signaling overhead perspective, the embodiments disclosed herein are efficient when secondary connections to a RAN running activated NES mode occur infrequently (e.g., when a user device connects to a power-capable RAN infrequently, measures on-demand SSBs from the NES RAN, aborts the first connection to the power-capable RAN, and establishes a connection towards the NES mode RAN).

[0104] Now go to Figure 2A , which shows an environment 200. In the environment 200, the RAN 105A may assist the RAN 105B, which may have activated or may be able to activate a network energy saving mode. The core network 130 may configure the RAN nodes 105A and 105B with corresponding idle mode NES configurations 1200A and 1200B. Figure 12As shown, the idle mode NES configuration 1200B may include network energy saving mode criteria, such as a minimum threshold number of idle mode devices that transition to connected mode within the configured coverage signal strength range 205 of the RAN 105B (e.g., the number of user devices attempting to establish a connection toward the RAN node). Under conditions where the criteria are met (e.g., fewer user devices attempt to connect to the RAN 105B, which may occur in sparsely populated areas or during nighttime hours when not many users use their user devices to access the RAN 105B), the RAN 105B node may activate the NES mode. Thus, under conditions where the actual number of idle mode devices transitioning from idle mode or attempting to transition from idle mode to connected mode is less than the configured network energy saving mode criteria threshold, the RAN 105B node may activate the network energy saving mode and, therefore, suspend the transmission of messages, such as SSB or SIB1 signals, that might otherwise be used by idle mode user devices to assist in performing connection establishment operations with the RAN 105B.

[0105] Configuration 1200 may also include rolling time periods 300, such as Figure 3 As shown, the idle mode NES threshold should be deployed and checked over this rolling time period 300. The time period 300 can be represented by milliseconds, time slots, subframes, or frames. The time period 300 can include repeated overlapping time periods 300A through 300n. If the number of user devices within the coverage area 305 attempting to connect to the RAN 105A during one of the windows 300A through 300n is less than the configured network energy saving mode criteria threshold, the RAN 105A can activate the network energy saving mode.

[0106] continue Figure 2A As described above, when a configured network energy saving mode criterion threshold is met (e.g., the number of idle to connected mode transition devices is less than the configured network energy saving mode criterion threshold), the RAN node 105B can activate the network energy saving mode. Consequently, the RAN node 105B suspends or halts the transmission of signaling messages that might otherwise send connection information to idle user equipment. For example, the RAN 105B can suspend the transmission of SSB and / or SIB1 message signals. Idle mode user equipment 115 will be unable to detect the coverage of the RAN 105B. Consequently, network energy saving coverage provisioning can be implemented to avoid coverage gaps "perceived" by the UE 115, thereby avoiding the accompanying negative impact on network access performance by the UE 115.

[0107] The NES mode activated cell / RAN 105B may exchange an NES activation setup configuration 1300B with the neighboring / secondary cell / RAN 105A over a backhaul link, and the RAN 105A may exchange a similar NES setup configuration 1300A with the RAN 105B. The NES setup configuration 1300 may include a network power saving message including a network power saving indication indicating a network power saving mode corresponding to the RAN node that is sending the setup configuration to the other RAN. Figure 13 The example NES setup configuration 1300 shown may include new information elements. The new information elements of setup configuration 1300 may include a pause signaling indication 1305, which indicates that one or more idle mode signal transmissions are to be suspended during the NES activation period. The pause signaling indication may include an index indicating a combination of configured signal sets—example combinations may include: (SSB), (SSB, SIB1), or (SIB1). For example, a pause signaling index indication of index 0 may indicate that the NES cell / RAN 105B will only suspend SSB transmissions during NES mode activation, but may continue to transmit SIB1 blocks.

[0108] Another new information element of configuration 1300 may include an NES mode activation period 1307. Another new information element of NES setup configuration 1300 may include the actual SIB1 content 1309 of the NES cell / RAN 105B, including the configuration for random access and the preamble configuration corresponding to RAN 105B. Providing the SIB1 content information 1309 corresponding to RAN 105B from RAN 105B to RAN 105A may facilitate RAN 105A making some SIB1 information 1309 corresponding to RAN 105B known to UE 115. Thus, a neighboring / secondary power-capable RAN 105A may have NES activated the SIB1 context of RAN 105B and, on behalf of RAN 105B, transmit the SIB1 information 1309 to an idle mode UE 115 during an RRC connection establishment operation with RAN 105B. The SIB1 information 1309 may be referred to as minimum system information.

[0109] like Figure 2AAs shown, to transition from idle mode to connected mode, UE 115 may attempt random access and establish a connection with secondary RAN 105A while RAN 105B is in active NES mode. RAN 105A may determine whether to perform NES coverage provisioning for UE 115. A power-capable cell / RAN 105A (e.g., a RAN not operating on battery power) may request that UE 115 perform coverage measurements (e.g., signal strength measurements) with respect to RAN 105B before accepting a connection request from the UE. Performing such coverage measurements facilitates RAN 105A's determination of whether UE 115 can be better served by RAN 105B (e.g., have better signal strength from RAN 105B). If UE 115 can obtain satisfactory coverage / signal strength from RAN 105B, RAN 105A may choose to refuse to establish or continue a connection with the UE if doing so would impact the performance of one or more connections between RAN 105A and other user equipment currently being served by RAN 105A that are better served by RAN 105A.

[0110] To determine whether to establish a connection in response to a connection request from the UE 115, the RAN 105A may determine whether the connection request from the UE corresponds to one of the provisioning beams 215A or 215B. The connection request may include a connection establishment message that includes connection information corresponding to the RAN 105A. The provisioning beam 215A or 215B may include a beam specifically designated (by the RAN 105A) as a provisioning beam among the beams 215A through 215n corresponding to the RAN 105A. (It will be appreciated that more than two or less than two beams corresponding to the RAN 105A may be designated as provisioning beams.) The RAN 105A may designate one or more beams pointing corresponding to directions within a configured angular range of the RAN 105A (which may have associated angular tolerance criteria) as provisioning beams. As Figure 2A As shown, beams 215A and 215B are deployed relative to RAN 105A generally in the direction of RAN 105B, or within an angular range 220 generally directed toward RAN 105B. (Beams 215A and 215B are generally directed in the direction of RAN 105B, while beams 215C through 215n are generally not directed from RAN 105A toward RAN 105B.)

[0111] If RAN 105A receives a connection request message corresponding to a provisioned beam (e.g., provisioned beam 215B) from UE 115, as indicated by a beam index that may accompany the connection request message, RAN 105A may send an on-demand synchronization signal block request message 225 to RAN 105B, which on-demand synchronization signal block request message 225 includes a request for RAN 105B to send a synchronization signal block message, which includes minimum system information corresponding to RAN 105B. (The minimum system information may include information required for the user equipment to initiate a random access procedure of the RAN corresponding to the minimum information, for example, information that may be included in an SSB message signal or a SIB1 message signal.) The RAN 105A may determine to perform NES coverage provisioning for the UE 115 based on a request received from the UE 115 via the downlink / provisioning beam 215B, the request including a beam index corresponding to the beam 215B, indicating that the UE has received the minimum system information or other connection information corresponding to the RAN 105A (for example, the SIB1 information received by the UE).

[0112] If RAN 105A determines that UE 115 is connected via provisioned beam 215B (or via Figure 2A 5A receives minimum system information corresponding to RAN 105A (e.g., beam 215A of the provisioned beam shown), then RAN 105A may perform NES coverage provisioning of UE 115 to NES mode RAN 105A. NES coverage provisioning may include RAN 105A sending an on-demand SSB request message 225 to RAN 105B requesting activation of transmission of SSBs and / or SIB1 for the requested idle mode UE 115. Signaling operations related to transmitting the on-demand SSB request message 225, also referred to as a synchronization signal block request message, may be sent via a backhaul interface link between RANs 105A and 105B. RAN 105A may also send an NES SSB measurement request message 230 to UE 115 requesting that the UE determine the signal strength corresponding to an SSB message signal transmitted by RAN 105B, which RAN 105B may have transmitted in response to the synchronization signal block request message 225 received from RAN 105A.

[0113] In an embodiment, instead of requesting the RAN 105A to transmit an SSB message signal for the RAN 105B to monitor and determine the signal strength corresponding to the SSB message signal, the RAN 105A may use the minimum system information (e.g., SIB1 information) received by the RAN 105A from the RAN 105B in configuration 1300B to transmit a request to the UE for the UE to initiate establishment of a connection with the RAN 105B (including the minimum system information corresponding to the RAN 105B), without transmitting a request to the RAN 105B requesting the RAN 105B to transmit the SSB message signal. Therefore, the UE 115 may use the minimum system information corresponding to the RAN 105B to establish a connection with the RAN 105B without the RAN 105B transmitting an SSB or SIB1 message signal including the minimum system information.

[0114] UE 115 may determine the signal strength of the on-demand SSB signal transmitted from RAN 105B and, based thereon, determine the corresponding coverage level of RAN 105B relative to the UE. If UE 115 determines that the coverage level corresponding to RAN 105B is better than the coverage level received corresponding to RAN 105A, the UE may send a connection termination request message to RAN 105A and attempt to establish a connection with RAN 105B. As part of NES coverage provisioning, and provided that SIB1 transmission corresponding to RAN 105B has been delegated to or performed by RAN 105A, RAN 105A may schedule SIB1 information (e.g., minimum system information) corresponding to RAN 105B upon receiving the connection termination request from the UE and transmit it to UE 115.

[0115] Now go to Figure 2B , which shows an environment 201. In the environment 201, RAN 105A can assist RAN 105B, which has implemented a network energy saving mode. Figure 2A In contrast to the illustrated environment 200, in environment 201, the UE 115 is not within the configured angular range 220 relative to the RAN 105A or within the coverage range 205 relative to the RAN 105B. Therefore, the connection request message received by the RAN 105A from the UE 115 will not include the beam index corresponding to the deployed beam 215A or 215B. Therefore, unlike the RAN 105A sending a synchronization signal block request message 225 to the RAN 105B requesting the RAN 105B to send the SSB message signal, as described in reference to FIG. Figure 2A Unlike the described embodiments, the RAN 105A operating in the environment 201 may establish a connection with the UE 115, and the RAN 105B may continue to suspend the connection with the UE 115. Figure 13Indication 1305 in the illustrated configuration 1300 indicates the transmission of an information signal.

[0116] Now go to Figure 2C , which shows an environment 202. In the environment 202, RAN 105A can assist RAN 105B, which has implemented a network energy saving mode. Figure 2B In contrast to the illustrated environment 201, in environment 202, UE 115 is not within the configured angular range 220 relative to RAN 105A, but is instead within the coverage range 205 relative to RAN 105B. Therefore, the connection request message received by RAN 105A from UE 115 will not include a beam index corresponding to deployed beam 215A or 215B. However, because UE 115 is within the coverage range 205 of RAN 105B, the UE can determine that the signal strength of the SSB signal received from RAN 105B is stronger than the signal strength corresponding to the SSB signal received from RAN 105A. If the UE 115 determines that the signal strength of the SSB signal received from the RAN 105B is stronger than the signal strength corresponding to the SSB signal received from the RAN 105A, the UE may send an abort connection request message 235 to the RAN 105A and perform an RRC establishment with the RAN 105B using the information corresponding to the RAN 105B received from the RAN 105A in the message 230. Upon receiving the abort connection request message 235, the RAN 105 may clear the connection information corresponding to the connection previously established with the UE 115 and terminate the connection with the UE.

[0117] Figure 4 A timing diagram of an example embodiment method 400 for activating a network energy saving mode at a radio access network node 115A is shown. At action 405, the RAN node 105B receives an idle mode network energy saving (NES) configuration from the core network 130 via a backhaul link, such as reference Figure 12 The configuration 1200 may include a maximum threshold for the number of idle to connected mode transitions of a user device and an associated rolling time period, or sliding time window, in milliseconds, frames, or time slots, such as Figure 3 At action 410, the RAN node 105B may monitor and determine whether Figure 3The number of idle mode user equipment devices that transitioned from idle / inactive mode to connected mode during the configured rolling time periods 300A to 300n shown. This may have been included in the NES configuration 1200 received from the core network 130 at action 405. At action 415, on the condition that the number of user equipment devices that transitioned from idle mode to connected mode during the determined rolling period is below a configured threshold, the RAN node 105B may shut down, suspend or otherwise stop allowing new connections to idle mode user equipment devices and suspend transmission of synchronization signal block (SSB) message signals and subsequent system information block 1 (SIB1) message signals. At action 420, the RAN node 105B may, as described in reference Figure 13 The message 1300 includes a message for sending an NES configuration update to the neighboring / secondary RAN node 105A via the XN / backhaul link, indicating an activated idle mode NES setup configuration including one or more of the following information elements: an NES setup indication 1305 from a combination of prohibited idle mode transmissions during an activated NES period as ([SSB], [SSB, SIB1], or [SIB1]), an activated period 1307 of the idle mode NES, or SIB1 content 1309 corresponding to the RAN 105B, sent by the RAN 105A when the RAN 105B does not send SIB1 information during the activated NES period (e.g., the period indicated by the information element 1307).

[0118] Figure 5 A timing diagram illustrating an example embodiment 500 of inter-cell network energy saving mode coordination and collaboration between RAN 105A and RAN 105B. At act 505, RAN 105B sends an NES configuration message 1300 to RAN 105A via an XN / backhaul link. RAN 105A receives the NES configuration information at act 510. At act 515, RAN node 105A may determine the NES configuration information as described in reference to FIG. Figure 2A If the RAN 105A receives RRC connection information from the UE 115 via one of the provisioned beams at action 520, the RAN 105A may send an on-demand SSB request message to the neighboring NES RAN 105B via an Xn or backhaul link at action 525, requesting the RAN 105B to send SSB and / or SIB1 message signals. At action 530, the RAN node 105B may send an on-demand SSB request message via a radio interface (e.g., Figure 1 The wireless communication link 125 shown in FIG. 1 sends one or more NES SSB and / or SIB1 measurement and decoding requests to the UE 115 transitioning from idle to connected mode, requesting the UE 115 to perform signal strength measurements and decode SSB message signals sent by the RAN 105B.

[0119] At act 535, RAN 105B may transmit an SSB and / or SIB1 message signal. At act 540, UE 115 may measure the signal strength of the signal transmitted by RAN 105B at act 535 and decode the connection information that may be included therein. At act 545, UE 115 may determine that the signal strength of the SSB signal transmitted by RAN 105B at act 535 may be stronger than the signal strength of the SSB signal transmitted by RAN node 105A during the connection establishment at act 520. If UE 115 determines that RAN node 105B, currently operating in activated NES mode, provides a stronger SSB signal at act 535 than the SSB signal provided by RAN 105A at act 520, UE 115 may transmit an RRC suspend request message to RAN 105A at act 550, requesting termination of the RRC connection established at act 520. At act 555, UE 115 may perform an RRC connection establishment procedure to establish a connection with RAN 105B based on the connection information received from RAN 105B at act 540 (or received from RAN 105A at act 530). The termination request message sent at act 550 may include an identifier corresponding to RAN 105B. At act 560, in response to the connection termination request message received at act 550, RAN 105A may clear the connection establishment configuration information corresponding to the connection established with UE 115 at act 520 and terminate the connection established at act 520.

[0120] If, at act 545 , UE 115 determines that the SSB signal strength corresponding to the SSB signal sent from RAN 105B at act 535 is not stronger than the SSB signal strength corresponding to the SSB signal sent for connection establishment at act 520 , RAN 105A may continue with the RRC connection establishment requested by UE 115 at act 520 .

[0121] Figure 6 A flow chart of an example embodiment method 600 for inter-cell network energy saving mode coordination and collaboration is shown. Method 600 begins at action 605. At action 610, one or more RAN nodes receive network energy saving configuration information. The network energy saving configuration information may be received from the core network, e.g. Figure 1 The core network 130 shown. The network energy saving configuration information may include Figure 12The information shown in the configuration 1200 in the example, such as the criteria for determining when the RAN enters the network energy saving mode. At action 615, RAN nodes that are adjacent to each other, or even if not necessarily adjacent to each other, can be within the configuration range of each other (these RAN nodes can be referred to as neighboring RAN nodes), can share the corresponding respective network energy saving messages with each other. The network energy saving messages shared at action 615 can be shared between RAN nodes via an Xn interface link or via other backhaul links. The network energy saving messages shared at action 615 can include Figure 13 Information elements 1305, 1307, or 1309 of the illustrated configuration 1300. At act 620, one of the neighboring or adjacent RAN nodes may activate a network energy saving mode based on the information shared at act 615 with one or more of the other neighboring or adjacent nodes.

[0122] In action 625, the user equipment may determine to transition from idle mode to connected mode, or from inactive mode to connected mode. The user equipment may determine to make such a transition to receive a service for which the user equipment has received an indication via a paging opportunity that can be transmitted to the user equipment. In action 630, the user equipment may receive RRC signaling from one or more of the neighboring / adjacent RAN nodes that have not yet activated the network energy saving mode. The user equipment may actually be closer to the RAN node that has activated the network energy saving mode, or in a location where the signal from the RAN node is stronger than the signal from the RAN node that has not activated the network energy saving mode. If the closer RAN node does not send minimum system information, such as SIB1 information, via SSB message signaling, the user equipment may not attempt to connect to the closer RAN node. Therefore, in action 635, the user equipment and the RAN node that has not activated the network energy saving mode may establish a connection.

[0123] At act 640, the RAN node that has not activated network energy saving mode may determine whether signaling associated with the connection established in act 635 is received from the user equipment, the signaling having an indication indicating a provisioning beam corresponding to the RAN node that has not activated network energy saving mode. The RAN node that has not activated network energy saving mode may designate one or more downlink beams as provisioning beams. Thus, when the RAN node that has not activated network energy saving mode receives RRC signaling from the user equipment, the RRC signaling indicating that the user equipment may have received connection information corresponding to the RAN node that has not activated network energy saving mode via one of the provisioning beams, the RAN node that has not activated network energy saving mode may determine that the user equipment may be better served by the RAN node that has activated network energy saving mode. The RAN node that has not activated network energy saving mode may designate one or more provisioning beams as provisioning beams based on the respective directional alignment of the beams relative to the RAN node that has activated network energy saving mode. For example, if a RAN node that has not activated network energy saving mode receives an RRC signaling message from a user equipment (UE) that includes an indication of a deployed beam directed along a line between a RAN node that has activated network energy saving mode on one end and a RAN node that has not activated network energy saving mode on the other end, the RAN node that has not activated network energy saving mode may determine that the UE should determine, based on, for example, signal strength, whether the UE can be better served by a RAN node that has activated network energy saving mode. On the other hand, the RAN node that has not activated network energy saving mode may not designate a downlink beam as a deployed beam that is not typically directed in a direction toward a RAN node that has activated network energy saving mode. For example, if a UE sends an RRC signaling message to a RAN node that has not activated network energy saving mode that includes an indication of a downlink beam that is perpendicular to a beam directed directly toward a RAN node that has activated network energy saving mode, the RAN node that has not activated network energy saving mode may infer that there is a high probability that the UE is closer to the RAN node that has not activated network energy saving mode than to the RAN node that has activated network energy saving mode. Thus, a RAN node that does not have the energy saving mode activated may use the beam index indication received from the user equipment during the connection establishment in action 635 to determine the likelihood that the user equipment is most likely to be served by a RAN node that does not have the network energy saving mode activated or by a RAN node that has the network energy saving mode activated.

[0124] If the determination made in action 640 is that the connection made in action 635 was not made via a provisioned beam, then at action 645, the RAN node that has not yet activated the network energy saving mode may determine at action 650 to continue the connection with the user equipment, and method 600 may proceed to action 685 and end.

[0125] Returning to the description of action 645, if it is determined in action 640 that the RRC signaling of action 635 corresponds to provisioning beams, method 600 proceeds to action 655. In action 655, the RAN node that has not yet activated the network energy saving mode may request the RAN node that has activated the network energy saving mode to transmit minimum system information corresponding to the RAN node that has activated the network energy saving mode, namely, SSB signals, SSB and SIB1 message signaling, or SIB1 message signaling. At action 660, the RAN node that has not yet activated the network energy saving mode requests the user equipment to monitor the SSB signals transmitted by the RAN node that has activated the network energy saving mode. The RAN node that has not activated the network energy saving mode may transmit information, which may have been received in a message from the RAN node that has activated the network energy saving mode in action 615, for use by the user equipment to monitor the SSB signals to be transmitted by the RAN node that has activated the network energy saving mode.

[0126] At act 665, the user equipment may monitor the SSB signal transmitted by the RAN node that has activated the network energy saving mode, decode information included in the SSB signal, and determine a signal strength corresponding to the SSB signal transmitted from the RAN node that has activated the network energy saving mode. If the user equipment determines at act 665 that the signal strength of the SSB signal received from the RAN node that has activated the network energy saving mode is not as strong as the signal strength of the signaling received from the RAN node that has not yet activated the network energy saving mode, then the method 600 proceeds to act 650, continues the connection between the user equipment and the RAN node that has not yet activated the network energy saving mode, and the method 600 proceeds to act 685 and ends.

[0127] Returning to the description of action 665, if the user equipment determines that the signal strength corresponding to the SSB signal received from the RAN node that has activated the network energy saving mode is stronger than the signal strength corresponding to the signal received from the radio access network node that has not activated the network energy saving mode, method 600 proceeds to action 670. In action 670, the user equipment establishes a connection with the RAN node that has activated the network energy saving mode, and in action 675, the user equipment sends a connection termination request to the RAN node that has not activated the network energy saving mode. In action 680, the RAN node that has not activated the network energy saving mode clears the connection information corresponding to the user equipment connection established in action 635. Method 600 proceeds to action 685 and ends.

[0128] In an embodiment, if it is determined in act 640 that the RRC signaling in act 635 corresponds to provisioning a beam, the RAN that is not in network energy saving mode activated may request the user equipment to establish a connection with the RAN that is in network energy saving mode activated using minimum system information corresponding to the information received from the RAN that is in network energy saving mode activated in act 615. Therefore, the RAN that is not in network energy saving mode activated may not request the RAN that is in network energy saving mode activated to send an SSB message signal, thereby bypassing acts 655, 660, and 665. Therefore, in an embodiment, method 600 may follow the 'N' path from block 645 and proceed to act 670, and acts 670, 675, and 680 may be performed as described above, thereby avoiding the RAN that is in network energy saving mode activated from sending an SSB.

[0129] Now go to Figure 7 , which illustrates an exemplary embodiment method 700, which includes, at block 705, receiving, by a first radio access network node including a processor, a network energy saving message from a second radio access network node, the network energy saving message including a network energy saving indication indicating a network energy saving mode corresponding to the second radio access network node; at block 710, in response to the network energy saving indication, sending, by the first radio access network node, a network energy saving mode assistance indication to the second radio access network node, the network energy saving mode assistance indication indicating that the first radio access network node is capable of assisting the second radio access network node during the network energy saving mode; at block 715, receiving, by the first radio access network node, a first connection establishment message from a user equipment, the first connection establishment message including connection information corresponding to the first radio access network node; at block 720, facilitating, by the first radio access network node, execution of a connection operation with respect to the user equipment based on the connection information; at block 725, where the connection information includes a beam index indication, the beam index indication indicating that the user equipment The device has received first minimum system information corresponding to the first radio access network node via the deployed downlink beam of the first radio access network node; in box 730, facilitating the execution of the connection operation may include facilitating, by the first radio access network node, sending a synchronization signal block request message to the second radio access network node, the synchronization signal block request message including a request for the second radio access network node to send a synchronization signal block message, the synchronization signal block message including the second minimum system information corresponding to the second radio access network node; in box 735, facilitating, by the first radio access network node, sending a synchronization signal block measurement request message to the user equipment, the synchronization signal block measurement request message including requesting the user equipment to: measure the signal strength of the synchronization signal block message to determine the first signal strength corresponding to the second radio access network node; and at box 740, based on the first signal strength being determined to meet the signal strength standard, sending a second connection establishment message to the second radio access network node according to the second minimum system information.

[0130] Now go to Figure 8 The figure illustrates an example first radio access network node, at block 805, the example first radio access network node including a processor configured to send a network energy saving message to a second radio access network node, the network energy saving message including a network energy saving indication indicating a network energy saving mode at the first radio access network node; at block 810, in response to the network energy saving message, receive a network energy saving mode assistance availability indication from the second radio access network node, the network energy saving mode assistance availability indication indicating availability of the second radio access network node to send minimum system information corresponding to the first radio access network node on behalf of the first radio access network node during the network energy saving mode; at block 815, activate the network energy saving mode based on determining that a configured network energy saving mode criterion is satisfied, wherein the second radio access network node sends minimum system information corresponding to the first radio access network node to the user equipment; at box 820, a connection establishment message is received from the user equipment based on the minimum system information corresponding to the first radio access network node; at box 825, a connection is established with the user equipment based on the minimum system information corresponding to the first radio access network node; at box 830, the number of user equipments that initiate a transition from idle mode to connected mode during a configured transition-monitoring period is determined; at box 835, the configured network energy saving mode criterion is met by determining that the number of transition user equipments determined during the configured transition-monitoring period is less than the configured number of transition user equipments, and wherein the configured transition-monitoring period includes a sliding time window.

[0131] Now go to Figure 9 , the figure shows a non-transitory machine-readable medium 900, which includes executable instructions at box 905 that, when executed by a processor of a first radio access network node, facilitate the performance of operations, including receiving a network energy saving indication from a second radio access network node, the network energy saving indication including minimum system information corresponding to the second radio access network node, the network energy saving indication indicating a network energy saving mode of the second radio access network node; at box 910, in response to the network energy saving indication, sending the minimum system information corresponding to the second radio access network node to a user equipment on behalf of the second radio access network node by the first radio access network node; at box 915, receiving a first radio resource control (RRC) connection establishment message corresponding to the provisioned beam from the user equipment; and at box 920, sending a second RRC connection establishment message to the user equipment based on the first RRC connection establishment message corresponding to the provisioned beam, the second RRC connection establishment message requesting the user equipment to initiate establishment of a connection with the second radio access network node according to the minimum system information corresponding to the second radio access network node.

[0132] To provide additional context for the various embodiments described herein, Figure 10 The following discussion is intended to provide a brief, general description of a suitable computing environment 1000 in which various embodiments described herein may be implemented. Although the embodiments have been described above in the general context of computer-executable instructions that may be executed on one or more computers, those skilled in the art will recognize that the embodiments may also be implemented in conjunction with other program modules and / or as a combination of hardware and software.

[0133] Generally speaking, program modules include routines, programs, components, data structures, etc. that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. Moreover, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the methods may be practiced with other computer system configurations, including single-processor or multi-processor computer systems, minicomputers, mainframe computers, Internet of Things devices, distributed computing systems, as well as personal computers, handheld computing devices, microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronics, etc., each of which may be operatively coupled to one or more associated devices.

[0134] The embodiments described herein can also be practiced in distributed computing environments where certain tasks are performed by remote processing devices that are linked through a communications network.In a distributed computing environment, program modules may be located in both local and remote memory storage devices.

[0135] Computing devices typically include various media, which may include computer-readable storage media, machine-readable storage media, and / or communication media, with the meanings of these two terms differing as follows. A computer-readable storage medium or machine-readable storage medium can be any available storage medium that can be accessed by a computer and includes both volatile and non-volatile media, and removable and non-removable media. By way of example and not limitation, a computer-readable storage medium or machine-readable storage medium can be implemented in conjunction with any method or technology for storing information, such as computer-readable or machine-readable instructions, program modules, structured data, or unstructured data.

[0136] Computer-readable storage media may include, but are not limited to, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory or other memory technology, compact disk read-only memory (CDROM), digital versatile disk (DVD), Blu-ray disk (BD) or other optical disk storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, solid-state drives or other solid-state storage devices, or other tangible and / or non-transitory media that can be used to store the desired information. In this regard, the terms "tangible" or "non-transitory" as applied to storage devices, memories or computer-readable media herein should be understood to exclude only propagating transient signals per se as a modifier, and do not disclaim all standard storage devices, memories or computer-readable media that do not propagate only transient signals per se.

[0137] Computer-readable storage media can be accessed by one or more local or remote computing devices, eg, through access requests, queries, or other data retrieval protocols, for various operations regarding the information stored on the media.

[0138] Communication media typically embodies computer-readable instructions, data structures, program modules, or other structured or unstructured data in a data signal, such as a modulated data signal such as a carrier wave or other transport mechanism, and includes any information delivery or transmission media. The term "modulated data signal" or "signal" refers to a signal that has one or more of its characteristics set or changed in such a manner as to encode information in the signal or signals. By way of example, and not limitation, communication media includes wired media, such as a wired network or direct-wired connection, and wireless media, such as acoustic, RF, infrared, and other wireless media.

[0139] Reference again Figure 10 , an example environment 1000 for implementing various embodiments described herein includes a computer 1002 including a processing unit 1004, a system memory 1006, and a system bus 1008. The system bus 1008 couples system components including, but not limited to, the system memory 1006 to the processing unit 1004. The processing unit 1004 can be any of various commercially available processors and can include cache memory. Dual microprocessors and other multi-processor architectures can also be used as the processing unit 1004.

[0140] The system bus 1008 can be any of several types of bus structures that can further interconnect to a memory bus (with or without a memory controller), a peripheral bus, and a local bus using any of a variety of commercially available bus architectures. The system memory 1006 includes ROM 1010 and RAM 1012. A basic input / output system (BIOS) including the basic routines that help to transfer information between elements within the computer 1002, such as during startup, can be stored in a nonvolatile memory such as ROM, erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), or EEPROM. RAM 1012 can also include high-speed RAM, such as static RAM, for caching data.

[0141] The computer 1002 also includes an internal hard disk drive (HDD) 1014 (e.g., EIDE, SATA), one or more external storage devices 1016 (e.g., a magnetic floppy disk drive (FDD) 1016, a memory stick or flash drive reader, a memory card reader, etc.), and an optical drive 1020 (e.g., which can read from or write to a CD-ROM disk, a DVD, a BD, etc.). Although the internal hard disk drive 1014 is shown as being located within the computer 1002, the internal hard disk drive 1014 can also be configured for external use in a suitable enclosure (not shown). Additionally, although not shown in the environment 1000, a solid-state drive (SSD) can be used in addition to or in place of the HDD 1010. The HDD 1014, the external storage device 1016, and the optical drive 1020 can be connected to the system bus 1008 via an HDD interface 1024, an external storage interface 1026, and an optical drive interface 1028, respectively. The interface 1024 for external drive implementations may include at least one or both of Universal Serial Bus (USB) and Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 1394 interface technologies. Other external drive connection technologies are also contemplated by the embodiments described herein.

[0142] The drives and their associated computer-readable storage media provide non-volatile storage of data, data structures, computer-executable instructions, and the like. For computer 1002, the drives and storage media accommodate the storage of any data in a suitable digital format. Although the above description of computer-readable storage media relates to corresponding types of storage devices, those skilled in the art will appreciate that other types of computer-readable storage media, whether currently existing or developed in the future, may also be used in the exemplary operating environment, and further, any such storage media may include computer-executable instructions for performing the methods described herein.

[0143] A number of program modules may be stored in the drives and RAM 1012, including an operating system 1030, one or more applications 1032, other program modules 1034, and program data 1036. All or portions of the operating system, applications, modules, and / or data may also be cached in RAM 1012. The systems and methods described herein may be implemented using various commercially available operating systems or combinations of operating systems.

[0144] The computer 1002 may optionally include emulation technology. For example, a hypervisor (not shown) or other intermediary may emulate the hardware environment of the operating system 1030, and the emulated hardware may optionally be different from the hardware of the operating system 1030. Figure 10 The hardware shown. In such an embodiment, the operating system 1030 may include one of multiple virtual machines (VMs) hosted at the computer 1002. In addition, the operating system 1030 may provide a runtime environment for the application 1032, such as the Java runtime environment or the .NET framework. The runtime environment is a consistent execution environment that allows the application 1032 to run on any operating system that includes a runtime environment. Similarly, the operating system 1030 may support containers, and the application 1032 may be in the form of a container, which is a lightweight, independent, executable software package that includes, for example, code, runtime, system tools, system libraries, and settings for the application.

[0145] Furthermore, computer 1002 may include a security module, such as a Trusted Processing Module (TPM). For example, when using a TPM, a boot component may hash subsequent boot components in chronological order and wait for the hash to match a security value before loading the next boot component. This process can be performed at any level of the computer 1002's code execution stack, such as at the application execution level or the operating system (OS) kernel level, thereby achieving security at any level of code execution.

[0146] A user may enter commands and information into the computer 1002 through one or more wired / wireless input devices, such as a keyboard 1038, a touch screen 1040, and a pointing device such as a mouse 1042. Other input devices (not shown) may include a microphone, an infrared (IR) remote control, a radio frequency (RF) remote control, or other remote control, a joystick, a virtual reality controller and / or a virtual reality headset, a game pad, a stylus, an image input device (e.g., a camera), a gesture sensor input device, a visual motion sensor input device, an emotion or facial detection device, a biometric input device (e.g., a fingerprint or iris scanner), and the like. These and other input devices are typically connected to the processing unit 1004 through an input device interface 1044, which may be coupled to the system bus 1008, but may also be connected through other interfaces, such as a parallel port, an IEEE 1394 serial port, a game port, a USB port, an IR port, a memory card, a memory card, a memory card, a graphics ... Interface, etc.

[0147] A monitor 1046 or other type of display device may also be connected to the system bus 1008 via an interface, such as a video adapter 1048. In addition to the monitor 1046, computers typically include other peripheral output devices (not shown) such as speakers, printers, and the like.

[0148] The computer 1002 can operate in a networked environment using logical connections to one or more remote computers (e.g., remote computer(s) 1050) via wired and / or wireless communications. The remote computer(s) 1050 can be a workstation, server computer, router, personal computer, portable computer, microprocessor-based entertainment device, peer device, or other common network node and typically include many or all elements associated with the computer 1002, but for simplicity, only memory / storage device 1052 is shown. The depicted logical connections include wired / wireless connections to a local area network (LAN) 1054 and / or a larger network (e.g., a wide area network (WAN) 1056). Such LAN and WAN networking environments are common in offices and companies and support enterprise-wide computer networks, such as intranets, all of which can be connected to a global communication network, such as the Internet.

[0149] When used in a LAN networking environment, the computer 1002 can be connected to the local network 1054 through a wired and / or wireless communication network interface or adapter 1058. The adapter 1058 can facilitate wired or wireless communication to the LAN 1054, which can also include a wireless access point (AP) provided thereon for communicating with the adapter 1058 in a wireless mode.

[0150] When used in a WAN networking environment, the computer 1002 may include a modem 1060 or may be connected to a communication server on the WAN 1056 via other means for establishing communications over the WAN 1056 (e.g., via the Internet). The modem 1060, which may be internal or external and a wired or wireless device, may be connected to the system bus 1008 via the input device interface 1044. In a networked environment, program modules described relative to the computer 1002 or portions thereof may be stored in the remote memory / storage device 1052. It will be appreciated that the network connections shown are examples and other means of establishing a communications link between the computers may be used.

[0151] When used in a LAN or WAN networking environment, the computer 1002 can access a cloud storage system or other network-based storage system in addition to or in place of the external storage devices 1016 described above. Typically, the connection between the computer 1002 and the cloud storage system can be established over the LAN 1054 or WAN 1056, for example, via an adapter 1058 or a modem 1060, respectively. When the computer 1002 is connected to the associated cloud storage system, the external storage interface 1026 can manage the storage provided by the cloud storage system, similar to other types of external storage, via the adapter 1058 and / or the modem 1060. For example, the external storage interface 1026 can be configured to provide access to cloud storage sources as if those sources were physically connected to the computer 1002.

[0152] The computer 1002 can be used to communicate with any wireless device or entity connected by wireless communication means, such as printers, scanners, desktop and / or portable computers, portable data assistants, communication satellites, any device or location associated with a wireless detectable tag (e.g., a kiosk, a newsstand, a store shelf, etc.), and telephones. This can include Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) and Wireless technology. Therefore, the communication can be a predetermined structure like a traditional network, or simply a point-to-point communication between at least two devices.

[0153] Now go to Figure 11 , which shows a block diagram of an example UE 1160. The UE 1160 may include a smartphone, a wireless tablet computer, a wireless-enabled laptop computer, a wearable device, a machine device that can facilitate vehicle telematics, etc. The UE 1160 includes a first processor 1130, a second processor 1132, and a shared memory 1134. The UE 1160 includes a radio front-end circuit 1162, which may be referred to herein as a transceiver, but is understood to generally include transceiver circuitry, separate filters, and a separate antenna to facilitate communication over a wireless link (e.g., Figure 1135, or 137). In addition, transceiver 1162 may include multiple sets of circuits or may be tuned to accommodate different frequency ranges, different modulation schemes, or different communication protocols to facilitate long-range wireless links, such as link 135, device-to-device links, such as link 135, and short-range wireless links, such as link 137.

[0154] continue Figure 11 1160 may also include a SIM 1164 or SIM profile, which may include information stored in memory (memory 34 or a separate memory portion) to facilitate communication with the user. Figure 1 The RAN 105 or core network 130 is shown for wireless communications. Figure 11 SIM 1164 is shown as a single component in the shape of a traditional SIM card, but it should be understood that SIM 1164 can represent multiple SIM cards, multiple SIM profiles, or multiple eSIMs, some or all of which can be implemented in hardware or software. It should be understood that a SIM profile can include, for example, security credentials (e.g., encryption keys, values ​​that can be used to generate encryption keys or to establish a secure connection between SIM 1164 and another device (which can be a Figure 1 The SIM profile 1164 may also include identification information unique to the SIM or SIM profile, such as an International Mobile Subscriber Identity ("IMSI") or information that may constitute an IMSI.

[0155] SIM 1164 is shown coupled to both first processor portion 1130 and second processor portion 1132. Such an embodiment may provide an advantage in that first processor portion 1130 may not need to request or receive information or data from SIM 1164 that second processor 1132 may request, thereby eliminating the need for the first processor to act as a "middleman" while the second processor uses information from the SIM in performing its functions and executing applications. First processor 1130 (which may be a modem processor or baseband processor) is shown smaller than processor 1132 (which may be a more complex application processor) to visually indicate the relative complexity (i.e., processing power and performance) between the two processor portions, as well as the corresponding relative operating power consumption levels. Keeping the second processor portion 1132 in a dormant / inactive / low power state when the UE 1160 does not need it to execute applications and process data associated with the applications provides the following advantages: reduced power consumption when the UE only needs to use the first processor portion 1130 in listening mode to monitor conventionally configured bearer management and mobility management / maintenance procedures, or to monitor the search space that the UE has been configured to monitor while the second processor portion remains inactive / dormant.

[0156] The UE 1160 may also include sensors 1166, such as temperature sensors, accelerometers, gyroscopes, barometers, humidity sensors, etc., which may provide signals to the first processor 1130 or the second processor 1132. The output devices 1168 may include, for example, one or more visual displays (e.g., computer monitors, VR devices, etc.), acoustic transducers such as speakers or microphones, vibration components, etc. The output devices 1168 may include software that interfaces with output devices external to the UE 1160 (e.g., visual displays, speakers, microphones, tactile devices, olfactory or taste devices, etc.).

[0157] The following glossary of terms, presented in Table 1, may be applicable to one or more descriptions of the embodiments disclosed herein.

[0158]

[0159]

[0160] Table 1

[0161] The above description includes non-limiting examples of various embodiments. Of course, it is not possible to describe every conceivable combination of components or methods for the purposes of describing the disclosed subject matter, and those skilled in the art will recognize that further combinations and permutations of the various embodiments are possible. The disclosed subject matter is intended to embrace all such alterations, modifications, and variations as fall within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

[0162] With respect to the various functions performed by the aforementioned components, devices, circuits, systems, and the like, unless otherwise specified, the terms used to describe these components (including references to "means") are intended to also include any structure (e.g., functional equivalents) that performs the specified functions of the described components, even if structurally different from the disclosed structures. In addition, although particular features of the disclosed subject matter may be disclosed with respect to only one of several embodiments, such features may be combined with one or more other features of the other embodiments, as may be desirable and advantageous for any given or particular application.

[0163] As used herein, the terms "exemplary" and / or "illustrative," or variations thereof, are intended to mean serving as an example, instance, or illustration. Furthermore, any aspect or design described herein as "exemplary" and / or "illustrative" is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other aspects or designs, nor is it intended to preclude equivalent structures and techniques known to those skilled in the art. Furthermore, to the extent that the terms "including," "having," "comprising," and other similar words are used in the detailed description or claims, these terms are intended to be inclusive—in a manner similar to the term "comprising" as an open transition word—and do not exclude any additional or other elements.

[0164] As used herein, the term "or" refers to an inclusive "or" rather than an exclusive "or." For example, the phrase "A or B" is intended to include instances of A, B, and both A and B. Additionally, the articles "a" and "an" used in this application and the appended claims should generally be construed to mean "one or more" unless otherwise specified or clear from context to indicate a singular form.

[0165] As used herein, the term "set" does not include an empty set, i.e., a set with no elements. Thus, a "set" in this disclosure includes one or more elements or entities. Likewise, the term "group" as used herein refers to a set of one or more entities.

[0166] The terms "first," "second," "third," etc., used in the claims are for clarity only and do not otherwise indicate or imply any temporal order, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. For example, "a first determination," "a second determination," and "a third determination" do not indicate or imply that the first determination will occur before the second determination, or vice versa, etc.

[0167] The description of the disclosed illustrative embodiments provided herein, including what is described in the abstract, is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the disclosed embodiments to the precise form disclosed. Although specific embodiments and embodiments are described herein for illustrative purposes, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that various modifications may be considered within the scope of these embodiments and embodiments. In this regard, although the subject matter has been described herein in conjunction with various embodiments and corresponding drawings, it will be understood that other similar embodiments may be used, or that the described embodiments may be modified and added to perform the same, similar, replacement, or alternative functions of the disclosed subject matter, without departing from the subject matter. Therefore, the subject matter disclosed should not be limited to any single embodiment described herein, but should be interpreted in accordance with the breadth and scope of the claims appended hereto.

Claims

1. A method comprising: receiving, by a first radio access network node including a processor, a network energy saving message from a second radio access network node, the network energy saving message including a network energy saving indication indicating a network energy saving mode corresponding to the second radio access network node; In response to the network energy saving indication, the first radio access network node sends a network energy saving mode assistance indication to the second radio access network node, the network energy saving mode assistance indication indicating that the first radio access network node is capable of assisting the second radio access network node during the network energy saving mode; receiving, by the first radio access network node from a user equipment, a first connection establishment message, wherein the first connection establishment message includes connection information corresponding to the first radio access network node; as well as Performance of a connection operation with respect to the user equipment is facilitated by the first radio access network node based on the connection information. 2 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the network energy saving message comprises minimum system information corresponding to the second radio access network node.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the minimum system information corresponding to the second radio access network node comprises information sent by the second radio access network node in a system information block 1 when the network energy saving mode is not activated at the second radio access network node.

4. The method according to claim 2, wherein the connection information comprises a beam index indication, wherein the beam index indication indicates that the user equipment has received first minimum system information corresponding to the first radio access network node via the provisioned downlink beam of the first radio access network node; Wherein facilitating the execution of the connection operation comprises: facilitating, by the first radio access network node, sending a synchronization signal block request message to the second radio access network node, the synchronization signal block request message comprising a request for the second radio access network node to send a synchronization signal block message, the synchronization signal block message comprising second minimum system information corresponding to the second radio access network node; as well as The first radio access network node facilitates sending a synchronization signal block measurement request message to the user equipment, where the synchronization signal block measurement request message includes a request for the user equipment to: measuring a signal strength of the synchronization signal block message to determine a first signal strength corresponding to the second radio access network node, and Based on the first signal strength satisfying a signal strength criterion, a second connection establishment message is sent to the second radio access network node according to the second minimum system information. 5 . The method according to claim 4 , wherein the deployed downlink beam is transmitted from the first radio access network node in a direction within a configured angular range relative to the first radio access network node.

6. The method according to claim 4, wherein the synchronization signal block request message comprises a request for the second radio access network node to send the synchronization signal block message a configured number of times.

7. The method according to claim 4, wherein sending the synchronization signal block request message to the second radio access network node comprises: The synchronization signal block request message is sent to the second radio access network node via a backhaul communication link.

8. The method of claim 4, wherein the signal strength criterion is determined by the user equipment by applying a function to a second signal strength corresponding to the first radio access network node, the second signal strength being measured at the user equipment.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the connection information comprises a beam index indication indicating that the user equipment has received minimum system information corresponding to the first radio access network node via a non-provisioned downlink beam of the first radio access network node, and wherein facilitating the connection operation comprises facilitating, by the first radio access network node, establishing a connection with the user equipment.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second radio access network node activates the network energy saving mode based on a determined number of user equipments camped on the second radio access network node and initiating a transition from idle mode to connected mode, satisfying configured transition mode criteria.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the second radio access network node determines whether the configured transition mode criteria are met over a time window.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the network energy saving indication comprises at least one of: a service inactivity indication indicating that at least one signaling message is inactive during the network energy saving mode, a network energy saving mode duration, or a random access and preamble configuration corresponding to the second radio access network node.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the at least one signaling message that is inactive during the network energy saving mode comprises at least one of the following: a synchronization signal block message or a system information block 1 message.

14. A first radio access network node, comprising: The processor is configured to: sending a network energy saving message to a second radio access network node, the network energy saving message including a network energy saving indication indicating a network energy saving mode at the first radio access network node; receiving, in response to the network energy saving message, a network energy saving mode assistance availability indication from the second radio access network node, the network energy saving mode assistance availability indication indicating availability of the second radio access network node to send minimum system information corresponding to the first radio access network node on behalf of the first radio access network node during the network energy saving mode; activating the network energy saving mode based on a configured network energy saving mode criterion being determined to be satisfied, wherein the second radio access network node sends the minimum system information corresponding to the first radio access network node to the user equipment; receiving a connection establishment message from the user equipment based on the minimum system information corresponding to the first radio access network node; as well as A connection is established with the user equipment according to the minimum system information corresponding to the first radio access network node.

15. The first radio access network node according to claim 14, wherein the processor is further configured to: determining a number of user equipments that initiated a transition from an idle mode to a connected mode during a configured transition-monitoring period to produce a determined number of transitioning user equipments; The configured network energy saving mode criterion is met by the determined number of transition user equipment being determined to be less than the configured number of transition user equipment during the configured transition-monitoring period, and wherein the configured transition-monitoring period includes a sliding time window.

16. The first radio access network node according to claim 14, wherein the configured network energy saving mode criteria are met by the network energy saving mode assistance availability indication, the network energy saving mode assistance availability indication indicating that the second radio access network node is available to send the minimum system information on behalf of the first radio access network node during the network energy saving mode.

17. The first radio access network node according to claim 14, wherein the processor is further configured to determine a number of times the first radio access network node receives a synchronization signal block request message from the second radio access network node to generate the determined number of received synchronization signal block request messages, and Wherein, the configured network energy saving mode standard is met by the determined number of received synchronization signal block request messages exceeding the configured received synchronization signal block request message threshold.

18. A non-transitory machine-readable medium comprising executable instructions that, when executed by a processor of a first radio access network node, facilitate performance of operations comprising: receiving a network energy saving indication from the second radio access network node, the network energy saving indication comprising minimum system information corresponding to the second radio access network node, the network energy saving indication indicating a network energy saving mode of the second radio access network node; as well as In response to the network energy saving indication, the first radio access network node sends the minimum system information corresponding to the second radio access network node to the user equipment on behalf of the second radio access network node.

19. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 18, the operations further comprising: receiving, from the user equipment, a first radio resource control (RRC) connection establishment message corresponding to a provisioned beam; as well as Based on the first RRC connection establishment message corresponding to the deployed beam, a second RRC connection establishment message is sent to the user equipment, requesting the user equipment to initiate establishment of a connection with the second radio access network node according to the minimum system information corresponding to the second radio access network node.

20. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 18, the operations further comprising: receiving a radio resource control (RRC) connection establishment message corresponding to a non-provisioned beam from the user equipment; In response to the RRC connection establishment message, a connection with the user equipment is established.

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