Priority handling between multiple random access channel procedures

Abstract

A method for operating a UE is provided. The method includes determining that a first trigger condition for initiating a first random access (RA) procedure has been satisfied. The method further includes, after determining that the first trigger condition has been satisfied and before the first RA occasion, determining that a second trigger condition that initiates a second RA process has been satisfied. Finally, the method includes, in response to determining that the second trigger condition has been satisfied, preferentially processing the first RA process or the second RA process. The priority processing is based on one or more priority processing rules. Related UEs, computer programs, computer program products, and non-transitory computer readable media are also provided.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This disclosure relates to wireless communication systems, and more specifically, to the prioritization of multiple random access channel (“RACH”) procedures. Background Technology

[0002] The network can instruct the UE to initiate an early uplink (“UL”) synchronization procedure, in which a random access preamble is sent to the lower-layer triggered mobility (“LTM”) candidate cell indicated in the received physical downlink control channel (“PDCCH”) command. Currently, there is no consensus on how to handle scenarios where the UE needs to perform both a random access (“RA”) procedure to the serving cell and an RA procedure to the candidate cell (e.g., due to an early UL synchronization procedure triggering). In some examples, which RA procedure is prioritized depends on the UE implementation.

[0003] In some examples, all Radio Resource Control (“RRC”) configurations associated with early RACH are specific to each LTM candidate cell and are transmitted signaled independently of the candidate cell configuration (i.e., the LTM candidate configuration). In supplementary or alternative examples, the early RACH procedure shares the Media Access Control (“MAC”) entity with the traditional RACH procedure (e.g., early RACH does not require an additional MAC entity). In supplementary or alternative examples, the handling of RACH initiation conflicts involving early RACH depends on the UE implementation. No specification changes are anticipated. Summary of the Invention

[0004] Certain aspects of this disclosure and its embodiments may provide solutions to these or other challenges. To address the aforementioned challenges, various embodiments herein propose a procedure to be performed by a UE configured with one or more serving cells and one or more LTM candidate cells, and to be triggered to perform multiple RA procedures (e.g., for an early UL synchronization procedure) on the serving cell and / or one or more LTM candidate cells.

[0005] A method for operating a UE is provided. The method includes determining that a first triggering condition for initiating a first random access (RA) procedure has been met. The method further includes: after determining that the first triggering condition has been met and before the first RA timing, determining that a second triggering condition for initiating a second RA procedure has been met. Finally, the method includes: in response to determining that the second triggering condition has been met, prioritizing either the first RA procedure or the second RA procedure. The prioritization is based on one or more priority rules, which include at least one of the following:

[0006] Prioritize processing RA procedures associated with the serving cell;

[0007] Prioritize handling RA processes triggered by fault events;

[0008] Prioritize handling RA processes triggered by early UL synchronization processes;

[0009] The RA process is processed in priority based on the order in which the instruction to initiate the RA process is received;

[0010] Prioritize the RA process based on L1 measurement;

[0011] Prioritize the RA process based on L3 measurements;

[0012] The RA process is prioritized based on the strongest cell among "N" cells according to the measured value.

[0013] Based on the time of the last random access procedure performed with the cell, the RA procedure associated with that cell is processed first.

[0014] Prioritize processing the RA procedure where the UE has initiated a random access procedure and will perform random access preamble retransmission;

[0015] Prioritize processing the RA procedure during the first random access preamble transmission performed by the UE;

[0016] Prioritize processing RA procedures that will transmit random access at the highest power;

[0017] Prioritize processing RA procedures that transmit random access at the lowest power;

[0018] Prioritize the RA process based on link budget;

[0019] Prioritize the RA process based on the characteristics of random access.

[0020] Prioritize handling RA procedures where random access is a 2-step random access process;

[0021] Prioritize handling RA procedures where random access is a 4-step random access process;

[0022] Prioritize handling RA procedures where random access is contention-free random access;

[0023] Prioritize random access procedures (RA) that are contention-based random access.

[0024] Prioritize the RA process based on random access resource selection;

[0025] Prioritize handling RA processes that are running or not running the beam fault recovery timer;

[0026] Prioritize the RA process based on random selection;

[0027] Prioritize the RA process based on cyclic selection;

[0028] Prioritize the RA process based on access denial or access control;

[0029] When the UE has received a RACH transmission to an LTM candidate cell triggered in response to a PDCCH command, the RA procedure associated with the LTM candidate cell is processed first, rather than the RA to the serving cell, where the PDCCH command is received in response to a lower-layer measurement; and

[0030] When the RA to the first LTM candidate cell is triggered for LTM cell handover, while the RA to the second LTM candidate cell is triggered for other events, the RA to the first LTM candidate cell is executed first, and the RA to the second LTM candidate cell is executed instead.

[0031] In some embodiments, determining that the second triggering condition has been met includes: determining that the second triggering condition has been met before the first RA timing.

[0032] In some embodiments, the first RA timing is a available first RA timing during which the first RA preamble can be scheduled to be transmitted as part of the first RA process.

[0033] In some embodiments, in response to a first triggering condition for initiating an RA procedure to the serving cell and at least one second triggering condition for initiating an RA procedure to one or more LTM candidate cells, the UE prioritizes one of the triggered RA procedures. The UE prioritizes the cell (e.g., one of the LTM candidate cells or the serving cell) for continuing the RA procedure according to one or more rules. In additional or alternative embodiments, once the UE determines which cell to continue the RA procedure to, the UE sends an RA preamble to the selected cell.

[0034] In an additional or alternative embodiment, the UE triggers an RA procedure to the serving cell (e.g., declares BFD followed by BFR, or receives a PDCCH command for the serving cell from the network) while an RA procedure is in progress with the LTM candidate cell. For example, the UE has received a PDCCH command to send a preamble to the LTM candidate cell, but it has not yet sent the preamble and / or it has not yet performed the necessary measurements required for RA resource selection (e.g., SSB and / or CSI-RS based on the LTM candidate cell).

[0035] In an additional or alternative embodiment, the UE triggers an RA procedure to the LTM candidate cell (e.g., upon receiving a PDCCH command for establishing early UL synchronization / timing advance (TA), or upon receiving an LTM cell handover command requiring RA), while an RA procedure is in progress with the serving cell, for example, the UE has declared BFD followed by beam fault recovery (BFR), but it has not yet sent a preamble and / or it has not yet performed the necessary measurements required for RA resource selection (e.g., synchronization signal / PBCH block (SSB) and / or channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) based on the LTM candidate cell), and / or it has not yet received a random access response (“RAR”).

[0036] In some examples, when the RA procedure to the LTM candidate cell is triggered, the UE does not expect a random access response (“RAR”) in the case of early UL synchronization.

[0037] In additional or alternative examples, the terms "first triggering condition" and "second triggering condition" do not necessarily mean that the first triggering condition always occurs before the second triggering condition, even if this may be an example. The terms "first" and "second" are, in principle, used to distinguish between different RA procedures and different triggering conditions for the serving cell and / or LTM candidate cells.

[0038] A user interface (UE) is provided. The UE includes processing circuitry and a memory coupled to the processing circuitry. The memory has instructions stored therein, which can be executed by the processing circuitry to cause the UE to perform any operation including the methods disclosed herein.

[0039] A computer program including program code is provided, which is to be executed by the processing circuitry of a UE, thereby causing the UE to perform any operation including the methods disclosed herein.

[0040] A computer program product is provided that includes a non-transitory storage medium comprising program code to be executed by a processing circuitry of a UE, wherein execution of the program code causes the UE to perform any operation including the methods disclosed herein.

[0041] A non-transitory computer-readable medium is provided having instructions stored therein, which are executable by processing circuitry of a UE to cause the UE to perform any operation including the methods disclosed herein.

[0042] Certain aspects of these embodiments can provide technical advantages. In some embodiments, cell priority processing can avoid interruptions (or even failures) to the serving cell. In additional or alternative embodiments, transmission and reception with the serving cell will not be out of sync for extended periods. In additional or alternative embodiments, cell priority processing can allow the UE to avoid or reduce delays in random access procedures (e.g., early UL synchronization procedures) that might otherwise result in insufficient time for the network to calculate the TA value before triggering an LTM cell handover procedure at the UE. In this situation, since the LTM cell handover command sent to the UE to initiate the LTM cell handover procedure may include the TA value, the only solution for the UE if the network cannot calculate the TA value is to perform an LTM cell handover procedure that includes initiating a random access procedure.

[0043] Since there may be different scenarios for triggering RA for the serving cell and LTM candidate cells, the UE prioritizes the RA process depending on the specific circumstances and the severity of one of the RA processes being delayed, suspended, or suspended. Attached Figure Description

[0044] The accompanying drawings illustrate certain non-limiting embodiments of the inventive concept. These drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the disclosure and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this application. In the drawings:

[0045] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a fifth-generation (“5G”) network;

[0046] Figure 2 This is a signal flow diagram illustrating an example of the signaling flow in early UL synchronization;

[0047] Figure 3 This is an example diagram showing the timeline of the UE triggering the second RA process before completing the first RA process;

[0048] Figure 4 This is an example diagram showing the timeline of the UE triggering the second RA process before completing the first RA process;

[0049] Figure 5 This is an example diagram showing the timeline of the UE triggering the second RA process before completing the first RA process;

[0050] Figure 6 This is a flowchart illustrating examples of operations performed by a UE according to some embodiments.

[0051] Figure 7 This is a block diagram of a communication system according to some embodiments;

[0052] Figure 8 This is a block diagram of a user equipment according to some embodiments;

[0053] Figure 9 This is a block diagram of network nodes according to some embodiments;

[0054] Figure 10 This is a block diagram of a host according to some embodiments, the host may be Figure 7 An example of a host computer;

[0055] Figure 11 This is a block diagram of a virtualized environment according to some embodiments; and

[0056] Figure 12 A communication diagram is shown, illustrating a host communicating with a user equipment via a network node through a partial wireless connection, according to some embodiments. Detailed Implementation

[0057] Some embodiments contemplated herein will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings. Embodiments are provided by way of example to convey the scope of the subject matter to those skilled in the art, wherein examples of embodiments of the inventive concept are shown. However, the inventive concept can be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as being limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the inventive concept to those skilled in the art. It should also be noted that these embodiments are not mutually exclusive. Components from one embodiment may be assumed by default to be present / used in another embodiment.

[0058] In 3GPP Release 18, a work item entitled “Further NR Mobility Enhancement” has been agreed upon. This work item includes a technical area called L1 / L2-based inter-cell mobility. According to the work item description (“WID”), when a UE moves from the coverage area of ​​one cell to another, a serving cell change needs to be performed at some point in time. Currently, serving cell changes are triggered by L3 measurements and accomplished through synchronized reconfiguration (for changes to PCell and PSCell) triggered by RRC signaling and the addition of SCell release when applicable. All cases involve a full L2 (and L1) reset, resulting in longer latency, greater overhead, and longer downtime than beam-switching mobility. The goal of L1 / L2-based inter-cell mobility is to achieve serving cell changes via L1 / L2 signaling in order to reduce latency, overhead, and downtime.

[0059] The basic principle of L1 / L2 triggered mobility (also known as L1 / L2 triggered mobility (“LTM”)) is as follows: The network pre-configures the RRC configuration for each LTM candidate cell for the UE, sometimes referred to as the LTM candidate cell configuration. This LTM candidate cell configuration can be an RRCReconfiguration message or one or more IE / fields / parameters, such as CellGroupConfig stored when the UE is configured with LTM. The UE sends the lower-layer measurements (e.g., L1-RSRP) on these candidate LTM candidate cells to the network. In response, the UE receives from the network a lower-layer signal (e.g., MACCE or DCI) to trigger an LTM cell handover in the UE, sometimes referred to as an LTM cell handover command: In response, the UE accesses the LTM candidate cell indicated in the LTM cell handover command and switches to the LTM candidate cell configuration. When a UE is configured with multiple LTM candidate cells, the UE receives multiple LTM candidate cell configurations to be stored (e.g., multiple RRCReconfiguration messages). Each LTM candidate cell configuration is associated with an LTM candidate ID, which can later be referenced in LTM cell handover commands that the UE can receive to indicate which LTM candidate cell the UE needs to perform an LTM cell handover to.

[0060] In version 18, a UE configured with LTM and having one or more LTM candidate cells can be triggered to perform a so-called "early UL synchronization" (or time alignment establishment). In this case, the network instructs the UE (by providing a PDCCH command after random access configuration) to send a preamble to the LTM candidate cell, so that the network node associated with the LTM candidate cell (e.g., gNodeB), upon receiving the preamble, can calculate the timing advance (TA) value and send it to the network node associated with the UE's serving cell (e.g., serving DU, S-DU). Then, when the LTM cell handover procedure is triggered, the network node associated with the serving cell can include the TA value in the LTM cell handover command (e.g., MAC CE for LTM cell handover).

[0061] Figure 1 An example of a new radio ("NR") network (e.g., a fifth-generation ("5G") network) is shown, including a 5G core ("5GC") network 130, network nodes 120a to 120b (e.g., 5G base stations ("gNB")), and multiple communication devices 110 (also referred to as user equipment ("UE")).

[0062] Figure 2An example of an early TA acquisition (early UL synchronization) procedure triggered by the network is shown. In box 1, the gNB to which cell A belongs provides the TA acquisition configuration to the UE within an RRCReconfiguration message. For example, in the case of performing an LTM cell handover procedure to cell B, the TA acquisition configuration includes the RRC configuration information required to send a random access preamble to cell B, enabling the gNB to which cell B belongs to calculate the TA value to be used by the UE. The TA acquisition configuration may include information about one or more cells to which the UE can perform the TA acquisition procedure.

[0063] In box 2, the UE responds with an RRCReconfigurationComplete message.

[0064] In box 3, the gNB of cell A sends a PDCCH command message to the UE to initiate a TA acquisition procedure with cell B. [The PDCCH command includes the information required to send the random access preamble to cell B.]

[0065] At box 4, for example, if an LTM cell handover procedure to cell B is triggered, the UE sends a random access preamble to cell B, enabling the gNB to which cell B belongs to calculate the TA value to be used by the UE. In some examples, the gNB to which cell A belongs may instruct the retransmission of the preamble used for TA acquisition if the TA is not obtained, possibly accompanied by a power ramp.

[0066] In box 5, the gNB to which cell A belongs provides, for example, the TA value calculated by the gNB to which cell B belongs during the TA acquisition process in the LTM cell handover command MAC CE. The LTM cell handover command MAC CE initiates a cell handover process to cell B if an LTM cell handover process to cell B is triggered.

[0067] In some examples, when the UE is configured by the network, a UE in RRC_CONNECTED state can perform UL synchronization with an LMT candidate cell that is different from the current serving cell, so that in this case, it may not be necessary to trigger the "early UL synchronization" process.

[0068] Currently, a UE can be instructed to perform a random access (“RA”) procedure (e.g., including sending an RA preamble) to the serving cell and / or one or more LTM candidate cells within a short time interval. For example, a second RA procedure can be triggered when the first RA procedure is still in progress and / or has not yet been completed. This can occur in various scenarios.

[0069] In the first scenario, after a time instance of RA to an LTM candidate cell has been triggered, but before the UE sends an RA preamble to the LTM candidate cell, the UE is triggered to execute an RA to the serving cell (e.g., triggered by beam fault detection (“BFD”) in the primary cell (“PCell”). This is because the new triggering condition for RA in the serving cell occurs before the actual RA resource in the time domain of the LTM candidate cell and / or before the UE has time to perform measurements on the synchronization signal block (“SSB”) of the LTM candidate cell to select the RA resource. The handling of RACH initiation conflicts involving early RACH depends on the UE implementation. Therefore, when RA to one or more LTM candidate cells and / or the serving cell is triggered for early RACH, it is not obvious which criteria the UE implementation should use to handle RA initiation (or RA channel-RACH procedure initiation, as described in the RAN2 protocol) conflicts, especially considering the various scenarios that may trigger RA, such as beam fault recovery in response to beam fault detection in the serving cell, or UL transmission to the serving cell when the time alignment timer has expired.

[0070] RA resources or RA timings are regions in the time and frequency domains that can be used to receive the RACH preamble. Throughout the embodiments, RA resources or RA timings can be used interchangeably.

[0071] Figure 3 An example of a first scenario is shown where the UE triggers a second RA procedure (e.g., BFD at the serving cell) before completing the first RA (e.g., to an LTM candidate cell).

[0072] In another scenario, when the network receives a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) command, it triggers the UE to perform a RA (Range Assist) to an LTM candidate cell at time t1. However, before the UE receives the PDCCH command, it has already declared a BFD (Band Failure Dictation) for the serving cell (e.g., PCell), but the UE has not yet sent a preamble (because the first RA timing for beam failure recovery in the serving cell occurs at t0+T, which is before t1). In this case, when the network sends the trigger condition to the UE to perform an RA to an LTM candidate cell (e.g., for early UL synchronization), the network is not actually aware that the ongoing RA process has been initiated.

[0073] Figure 4 An example of this scenario is shown, where the UE receives a command at t1 to trigger (e.g., to an LTM candidate cell) a second RA procedure, but at t0, the UE has already initiated an RA procedure that has not yet been completed (e.g., BFD at the serving cell) because the first RA resource available in the serving cell for the first RA procedure appears after t1.

[0074] In another scenario, after the UE has already been triggered to perform an RA to an LTM candidate cell, but before the UE has sent the RA preamble to the LTM candidate cell, the UE is triggered to perform an RA to the serving cell (e.g., triggered by BFD in the PCell). This is because the new triggering conditions for the RA in the serving cell occur before the actual RA resources in the time domain of the LTM candidate cell and / or before the UE has time to perform measurements on the SSB of the LTM candidate cell in order to select RA resources. The difference from the first scenario is that the UE receives the PDCCH from the network before it has completed another RA procedure also triggered by the network.

[0075] Figure 5 An example of this scenario is shown, where the UE receives a PDCCH command at t0 that triggers the RA to the LTM candidate cell, but before the first RA resource in the LTM candidate cell and / or before the UE has time to perform SSB measurements in the LTM candidate cell to select the RA resource, the UE receives another PDCCH command at t1 that triggers the RA in the serving cell, for example, to reacquire UL synchronization.

[0076] This document describes various embodiments for prioritizing among multiple RA procedures. A UE (also referred to herein as a communication device) may be configured with at least one serving cell and at least one LTM candidate cell. In response to a first triggering condition for initiating a first RA procedure and at least one second triggering condition for initiating a second RA procedure, the UE may continue executing an RA procedure by prioritizing one of the triggered RA procedures according to one or more rules. In some examples, the first RA procedure is performed on the serving cell, while the second RA procedure is performed on the LTM candidate cell. In additional or alternative examples, the first RA procedure is performed on the LTM candidate cell, while the second RA procedure is performed on the serving cell. In additional or alternative examples, the first RA procedure is performed on the first LTM candidate cell, while the second RA procedure is performed on the second LTM candidate cell.

[0077] In additional or alternative embodiments, prioritizing one of the triggered RA processes includes: suspending or stopping the first RA process and executing the second RA process. In some examples, the second RA process is triggered while the first RA process is in progress (e.g., the first RA process has been initiated and / or has not yet completed).

[0078] In additional or alternative embodiments, prioritizing one of the triggered RA processes includes pausing, suspending, delaying, or postponing the first RA process and executing the second RA process. In some examples, the second RA process is triggered while the first RA process is in progress (e.g., the first RA process has been initiated and / or has not yet completed).

[0079] In additional or alternative embodiments, one of the priority processing triggering RA procedures includes aborting or stopping the second RA procedure and executing the first RA procedure. In some examples, the second RA procedure is triggered while the first RA procedure is in progress (e.g., the first RA procedure has been initiated and / or has not yet completed).

[0080] In additional or alternative embodiments, prioritizing one of the triggered RA processes includes pausing, suspending, delaying, or postponing the second RA process and continuing the execution of the first RA process. In some examples, the second RA process is triggered while the first RA process is in progress (e.g., the first RA process has been initiated and / or has not yet completed).

[0081] In additional or alternative embodiments, in response to suspending, delaying or postponing the first RA procedure and executing the second RA procedure, the UE resumes or initiates the first RA procedure when the second RA procedure is completed or successfully completed.

[0082] In additional or alternative embodiments, in response to suspending, delaying or postponing the second RA procedure and executing the first RA procedure, the UE resumes or initiates the second RA procedure when the first RA procedure is completed or successfully completed.

[0083] In an additional or alternative embodiment, in response to suspending the first RA procedure and executing the second RA procedure, the UE re-initiates the first RA procedure when the second RA procedure is completed or successfully completed.

[0084] In an additional or alternative embodiment, in response to suspending the second RA procedure and executing the first RA procedure, the UE re-initiates the first RA procedure when the second RA procedure is completed or successfully completed.

[0085] In additional or alternative embodiments, prioritizing the triggered RA process includes: prioritizing the RA process on the serving cell, ignoring the RA process on at least one LTM candidate cell; prioritizing the RA process on the first LTM candidate cell, ignoring the RA process on one or more other LTM candidate cells (not the first LTM candidate cell); and prioritizing the LTM candidate cell, ignoring the serving cell or serving cell type (e.g., SCell, SCell of MCG, SCell of SCG).

[0086] In an additional or alternative embodiment, the second triggering condition for initiating the second RA procedure occurs after the first triggering condition for initiating the first RA procedure and before the completion of the first RA procedure and / or before the successful completion of the first RA procedure and / or before the UE has sent the preamble associated with the first RA procedure.

[0087] In additional or alternative embodiments, the UE prioritizes the first RA process or the second RA process according to one or more of the following rules.

[0088] In some examples, when a random access procedure to a serving cell is triggered, the UE prioritizes that serving cell (regardless of whether a random access procedure to one or more LTM candidate cells is triggered).

[0089] In additional or alternative examples, the UE prioritizes cells where a random access procedure is triggered due to a fault event (e.g., radio link failure, beam failure detection).

[0090] In additional or alternative examples, the UE prioritizes cells that trigger a random access procedure due to an early UL synchronization process.

[0091] In additional or alternative examples, if the network instructs the UE to initiate more than one random access procedure to multiple cells, the UE prioritizes cells based on the order in which the instructions to initiate random access procedures have been received.

[0092] In additional or alternative examples, the UE prioritizes cells based on L1 measurements (e.g., SS-RSRP).

[0093] In additional or alternative examples, the UE prioritizes cells based on L3 measurements (e.g., based on the cell's RSRP).

[0094] In additional or alternative examples, the UE prioritizes the strongest cell among “N” cells based on a measurement, where the measurement may correspond to RSRP, RSRQ, or SINR.

[0095] In additional or alternative examples, the UE prioritizes the cell in which it has recently performed the most random access.

[0096] In additional or alternative examples, the UE prioritizes the cell from which it has recently performed the least random access.

[0097] In additional or alternative examples, the UE prioritizes cells where it has initiated a random access procedure and will perform a random access preamble retransmission.

[0098] In additional or alternative examples, the UE prioritizes the cell in which it performs the first random access preamble transmission.

[0099] In additional or alternative examples, the UE prioritizes cells that will transmit random access at the highest power.

[0100] In additional or alternative examples, the UE prioritizes cells that will transmit random access at the lowest power.

[0101] In additional or alternative examples, the UE prioritizes cells based on link budget.

[0102] In additional or alternative examples, the UE prioritizes cells based on the characteristics of random access.

[0103] In additional or alternative examples, the UE prioritizes cells with 2-step random access.

[0104] In additional or alternative examples, the UE prioritizes cells with 4-step random access.

[0105] In additional or alternative examples, the UE prioritizes cells with contention-free random access.

[0106] In additional or alternative examples, the UE prioritizes random access to cells with contention-based random access.

[0107] In additional or alternative examples, U prioritizes cells based on random access resource selection (e.g., preamble index, SSB, CSI-RS, or random access preamble group).

[0108] In additional or alternative examples, the UE prioritizes cells where the beam fault recovery timer is running or not.

[0109] In additional or alternative examples, the UE prioritizes cells based on random selection.

[0110] In the additional or alternative examples, the UE prioritizes cells based on round-robin selection.

[0111] In additional or alternative examples, the UE prioritizes cells based on access denial or access control.

[0112] In additional or alternative examples, when the UE has already received a triggering condition for a RACH transmission to an LTM candidate cell in response to a PDCCH command, the LTM candidate cell is processed first, rather than the RA to the serving cell, where the PDCCH command is received in response to a lower-layer measurement; and

[0113] In additional or alternative examples, when the RA to the first LTM candidate cell is triggered for LTM cell handover, while the RA to the second LTM candidate cell is triggered for other events (e.g., early uplink synchronization), the UE prioritizes the RA to the first LTM candidate cell over the RA to the second LTM candidate cell.

[0114] In additional or alternative embodiments, the UE may use a combination of two or more rules to prioritize cells. For example, it may prioritize cells based on a first rule X and a second rule Y, or based on a first rule X, a second rule Y, and a third rule Z, etc.

[0115] The term "L1 / L2-based inter-cell mobility" used in this document refers to the work item description in 3GPP, but this document also uses the terms L1 / L2 mobility, L1 mobility, L1-based mobility, L1 / L2-centric inter-cell mobility, L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility, L1 / L2-triggered mobility, or lower-layer triggered mobility. The basic principle is: the UE receives lower-layer signaling from the network, which instructs the UE on changes (or handovers or activations) to its serving cell (e.g., changing the PCell from the source Pcell to the target Pcell). The lower-layer signaling can be a message / signaling from a lower-layer protocol, which can be referred to as an L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility execution command or an LTM cell handover command. For example, if this command triggers the UE to change to a different cell group configuration of the same type (e.g., another MCG configuration), the change of the serving cell (e.g., a change of the Pcell) can also lead to a change of the Scell ​​within the same cell group. Before the UE receives an LTM cell handover command, the network can configure one or more LTM candidate cell configurations for the UE (e.g., upon receiving an RRC reconfiguration message with at least one LTM candidate cell configuration). The LTM candidate cell configuration may include parameters in the IE CellGroupConfig of each candidate cell and / or the embedded RRC reconfiguration of each LTM candidate cell.

[0116] The term LTM cell handover process, as used herein, refers to the process by which a UE uses L1 / L2 triggered mobility (aLTM) to hand over (or change) its cell from a source cell to a target cell (which may be referred to herein as an LTM candidate cell or neighboring cell). In the context of L1 / L2 triggered mobility (LTM), the LTM cell handover process is sometimes also referred to as L1 / L2-based inter-cell mobility execution, LTM execution, dynamic handover, LTM handover, (LTM) cell handover, (LTM) serving cell change, or (LTM) cell change. In this document, handover to an LTM candidate cell configuration includes: the UE considering that, if LTM is configured for a primary cell group (MCG), the LTM candidate cell becomes its new special cell (SpCell) (e.g., Pcell), and / or, if LTM is configured for a secondary cell group (SCG), the LTM candidate cell becomes its new PSCell; or, changing its SpCell from the current Pcell to the LTM candidate cell.

[0117] Even when using the term cell change, it can include changes to the entire cell group configuration, including changes to SpCells (e.g., changes to Pcells or PSCells) and changes to the Scells of the cell group (e.g., the addition, modification, and / or release of one or more Scells).

[0118] As a result of recovery from radio link failure or handover failure, the LTM cell handover process can be triggered in the UE by receiving an LTM cell handover command, or alternatively, by the satisfaction of some other event (e.g., a condition, such as a triggering condition for condition configuration (e.g., condition handover)).

[0119] In this document, LTM candidate cells refer to cells configured by the UE when L1 / L2 triggered mobility is configured. These are cells that the UE can move to during LTM cell handover when it receives an LTM cell handover command. These cells may also be referred to as candidate cells, candidates, mobility candidates, non-serving cells, supplementary cells, target candidate cells, target candidates, etc. An LTM candidate cell is a cell on which the UE performs measurements (e.g., CSI measurements), enabling the UE to report these measurement results and allowing the network to make informed decisions about which beam (e.g., TCI state) and / or cell the UE should hand over to. An LTM candidate cell can be a candidate to become a target Pcell or PSCell, or an Scell ​​of a cell group (e.g., MCG Scell).

[0120] In some embodiments, the UE has received at least one LTM candidate cell configuration. This at least one LTM candidate cell configuration, sometimes also referred to as the LTM candidate cell configuration, can be an RRC configuration, for example, encapsulated in an RRC reconfiguration message received by the UE when L1 / L2 mobility is configured. The LTM candidate cell configuration includes the configuration that the UE needs to initiate operations accordingly when performing an LTM cell handover procedure to that LTM candidate cell, for example, when receiving an LTM cell handover command instructing the UE to perform an LTM cell handover procedure to that LTM candidate cell (where the LTM candidate cell becomes the target cell and the current (new) SpCell or SCell at the serving frequency). The LTM candidate cell configuration includes parameters for the serving cell (or multiple serving cells, such as a cell group), including one or more sets of parameters, such as an RRC reconfiguration message, IECellGroupConfig, or IESCellConfig (or IESCellConfig in the case of a secondary cell). In one example, an LTM candidate cell configuration may include one or more of the following: (i) a PCell configuration and one or more SCell configurations for the primary cell group (MCG); and (ii) a PSCell configuration and one or more SCell configurations for the secondary cell group (SCG). When referring to LTM candidate cell configurations, the terms (LTM) candidate configuration, LTM configuration, (LTM) candidate target cell configuration, and (LTM) target candidate (cell) configuration are used interchangeably. An LTM candidate cell configuration is associated with an identifier used in signaling to refer to a particular LTM candidate cell configuration, such as when the UE receives the LTM candidate cell configuration, and when the UE receives an LTM cell handover command instructing the UE to perform an LTM cell handover procedure to that LTM candidate cell. This identifier is sometimes referred to as the LTM candidate cell configuration identifier or the LTM candidate configuration index (or similar names).

[0121] The actual LTM candidate cell configuration, its exact content, and / or the structure of the IE and / or embedded messages can be referred to as the RRC model for the candidate configuration, or simply the RRC model. The LTM candidate cell configuration includes the configuration that the UE needs to perform when performing L1 / L2-based inter-cell mobility to the LTM candidate cell, either when it receives a low-layer signaling (MAC CE) indicating L1 / L2-based inter-cell mobility to the LTM candidate cell (which becomes the target cell and the current (new) PCell or SCell under the serving frequency), or when the UE receives a low-layer signaling (MAC CE) indicating L1 / L2-based inter-cell mobility to the LTM candidate cell (indicated by the candidate configuration index (sometimes also represented as the candidate configuration ID)). The UE can have multiple LTM candidate cell configurations configured, therefore the candidate DU generates multiple configurations and sends them to the CU. The actual LTM candidate cell configuration received by the UE during LTM configuration can be incremental signaling to be applied on top of the reference configuration, so that the actual configuration that the UE will use in the candidate cell during LTM cell handover is a combination of the LTM candidate cell configuration and the reference configuration (e.g., sent to the UE by the network separately via signaling).

[0122] The text mentions that the UE has a stored LTM candidate cell configuration. This stored LTM candidate cell configuration may have been received when L1 / L2-triggered mobility is configured (e.g., in an RRC reconfiguration message that includes the LTM candidate cell configuration). The stored LTM candidate cell configuration can be a combination of a received LTM candidate cell configuration (using incremental signaling) and a reference configuration (e.g., signaled separately to the UE by the network). Alternatively, the stored LTM candidate cell configuration can be obtained by the UE through other means (e.g., pre-configured, default, or specified configuration), restored after exiting idle mode or UE power-saving state (e.g., transitioning from RRC_INACTIVE to RRC_CONNECTED state), read from a memory card, or provided out-of-band outside of 3GPP-specified interfaces, or provided as user data.

[0123] The text mentions prioritizing cells that initiate random access procedures. In this case, the random access procedure can be triggered autonomously by the UE or by the network instructing the UE to initiate the random access procedure.

[0124] An example of a UE initiating a random access procedure to a serving cell (e.g., PCell) is when the UE detects a radio link failure (RLF) in the PCell. When the UE triggers an RRC reconstruction procedure, this means at least one of the following: the UE detects a failure event; the UE selects a suitable cell to which it initiates a random access procedure; the UE initiates a random access procedure to the selected cell; the UE sends an RRC reconstruction request to the network; the network sends an RRC reconstruction request to the UE; and the UE sends an RRC reconstruction completion request to the network.

[0125] In some embodiments, the triggering condition for initiating an RA procedure to the serving cell includes declaring beam fault detection (BFD) at the serving cell (e.g., PCell, SCG SpCell, MCG SpCell), thereby triggering the UE to perform beam fault recovery (BFR), which in turn triggers the RA procedure to the serving cell. In some examples, this can be considered a UE-triggered RA procedure (autonomous) because it is not a network command that triggers the RA.

[0126] In additional or alternative embodiments, the triggering conditions for initiating an RA procedure to the serving cell include: the need to send uplink (UL) data in a serving cell (e.g., PCell) where the UE has not performed UL synchronization (e.g., the UE does not have valid time alignment and / or the serving cell's time alignment timer has expired); this may be referred to as UL data arrival during an RRC connection. In some examples, this may be considered a UE-triggered RA procedure (autonomous) because it is not a network command that triggers the RA.

[0127] In additional or alternative embodiments, the triggering conditions for initiating a RA procedure to the serving cell include receiving a message from the network that performs a reconfiguration procedure with synchronization (e.g., intra-cell handover / intra-cell reconfiguration with synchronization) (e.g., RRCReconfiguration). In some examples, this can be considered a network-triggered RA procedure because it is triggered by a message received by the UE from the network.

[0128] In additional or alternative embodiments, the triggering condition for initiating an RA procedure to the serving cell includes receiving a command (e.g., a PDCCH command) from the network to perform an RA procedure to regain UL synchronization when the network detects a loss of UL synchronization with the UE. In some examples, this can be considered a network-triggered RA procedure because it is triggered by a message received by the UE from the network.

[0129] In additional or alternative embodiments, the triggering conditions for initiating the RA procedure to the serving cell include: needing to send a request to obtain system information as needed.

[0130] In additional or alternative embodiments, the triggering conditions for initiating the RA procedure to the serving cell include: during the RRC_CONNECTED period when RA is required (e.g., when UE positioning requires advance timing) for positioning purposes.

[0131] An example of a network instructing a UE to initiate a random access procedure to an LTM candidate cell is when the network triggers the UE to perform an early UL synchronization procedure, which means at least one of the following: the network sends a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) command to the UE indicating an LTM candidate cell; the UE initiates a random access procedure to the indicated LTM candidate cell and sends a random access preamble; and the network calculates a timing advance (TA) value and stores it until it sends an LTM cell handover command to the UE (which includes the calculated TA).

[0132] In additional or alternative examples, the triggering condition for initiating an RA procedure to an LTM candidate cell may be one or more of the following: 1) receiving a command (e.g., a MAC CE for LTM cell handover including an LTM configuration identifier) ​​to perform an LTM cell handover to an LTM candidate cell (e.g., a cell where the UE has not performed UL synchronization), which requires an RA procedure to be performed during the LTM cell handover; 2) receiving a command (PDCCH command) to perform an RA preamble transmission to the LTM cell handover to establish UL synchronization, for example, so that the network can calculate the timing advance (TA) value; 3) receiving a command (PDCCH command) to perform an RA preamble retransmission (with or without power ramp) to establish UL synchronization, for example, so that the network can calculate the timing advance (TA) value; or 4) receiving a command (PDCCH command) to perform an RA preamble transmission or retransmission (with or without power ramp) to re-establish UL synchronization, so that the network can recalculate the timing advance (TA) value.

[0133] Furthermore, these innovations target scenarios including: when instructing or determining that the UE simultaneously triggers a second RA procedure for more than one random access procedure in more than one cell; and / or when instructing or determining that the UE triggers a second RA procedure for more than one random access procedure in more than one cell while the first RA procedure has been initiated but not yet completed. In these cases, since the UE can only process one random access procedure at a given time, priority processing is required.

[0134] In some embodiments, innovation includes the process implemented by the UE. For simplicity, "network" may refer to a network entity or network node from which the UE receives one or more configurations and / or parameters (e.g., LTM candidate configurations).

[0135] In some embodiments, the UE is configured with at least one serving cell and at least one LTM candidate cell. Then, in response to a first triggering condition for initiating a first RA procedure and at least one second triggering condition for initiating a second RA procedure, the UE continues to execute the RA procedure by prioritizing one of the triggered RA procedures according to one or more rules.

[0136] In additional or alternative embodiments, the first RA procedure is performed on the serving cell, while the second RA procedure is performed on the LTM candidate cell. In some examples, the UE initiates the first RA procedure on the serving cell (e.g., PCell) and triggers the second RA to the LTM candidate cell before completing the first RA procedure (e.g., before the UE sends the RA preamble and / or before the UE receives the random access response and / or before the UE receives msg4 for contention resolution), for example, when the UE receives a PDCCH command for performing early UL synchronization to that LTM candidate cell.

[0137] In additional or alternative embodiments, the first RA procedure is performed on the LTM candidate cell, while the second RA procedure is performed on the serving cell. In some examples, the UE initiates the first RA procedure on the LTM candidate cell (e.g., by receiving a PDCCH command for performing early UL synchronization to that LTM candidate cell), and triggers the second RA to the serving cell before completing the first RA procedure (e.g., before the UE sends the RA preamble, and / or before the UE receives the TA value, and / or before the UE receives the LTM cell handover command and / or random access response, and / or before the UE receives msg4 for contention resolution).

[0138] In additional or alternative embodiments, the first RA procedure is performed on the first LTM candidate cell, while the second RA procedure is performed on the second LTM candidate cell. In some examples, the UE initiates the first RA procedure on the first LTM candidate cell (e.g., by receiving a PDCCH command for performing early UL synchronization to that LTM candidate cell), and before completing the first RA procedure (e.g., before the UE sends the RA preamble, and / or before the UE receives the TA value, and / or before the UE receives the LTM cell handover command and / or random access response, and / or before the UE receives msg4 for contention resolution), triggers the second RA to the second LTM candidate cell (e.g., by receiving a PDCCH command for performing early UL synchronization to that second LTM candidate cell).

[0139] In additional or alternative embodiments, the UE prioritizes one of the triggered RA procedures by suspending or stopping the first RA procedure and executing the second RA procedure. In some examples, the second RA procedure is triggered while the first RA procedure is in progress and / or it has been initiated but not yet completed. In an additional or alternative example, when the UE has already triggered the execution of an RA to cell X at t0 and the first RA resources available for cell X appear at t0+T, and before t0+T, the UE receives another triggering condition to execute an RA to cell Y (which should be prioritized according to one or more rules), the UE suspends the first RA procedure initiated at the UE, causing the UE to suspend the first RA procedure with cell X (i.e., it suspends sending the RA preamble to cell X) and initiate an RA procedure to cell Y.

[0140] Consider the following example: the first RA procedure is performed on the LTM candidate cell, while the second RA procedure is performed on the serving cell. In this example, the UE receives a PDCCH command for performing early UL synchronization (the first RA procedure) with the LTM candidate cell, which triggers the first RA procedure. Before the UE sends a preamble to the LTM candidate cell (based on the RA configuration of the LTM candidate cell), and / or even before the UE performs measurements for RA resource selection (e.g., SSB measurements, such as SS-RSRP or L1-RSRP measurements) (see TS 38.321 for further details), the UE may declare a BFD for the PCell (which results in a BFR and requires RA for the PCell), which triggers the second RA procedure before the first RA procedure is completed. In this example, the UE prioritizes the second RA procedure. This means the UE aborts the first RA to the LTM candidate cell (which is less critical than BFD in the PCell). The priority rule in this example is: when the first RA to the LTM candidate cell is triggered for early UL synchronization, and before that synchronization is completed, the UE triggers the second RA to the PCell due to BFD (which leads to BFR and RA), the UE prioritizes the second RA to the PCell by aborting the first RA procedure to the LTM candidate cell. One consequence is that the UE will be able to restore connection to the PCell as quickly as possible, preventing radio link failure (RLF) and RRC re-establishment with the PCell. If the RLF has already occurred in the PCell, early UL synchronization with the LTM candidate cell might be wasted because the UE will release the LTM configuration when performing the RRC re-establishment procedure. After the UE successfully executes the BFR due to BFD, the UE can re-initiate the first RA procedure or wait for an action from the network: for example, after the network sends a PDCCH command to trigger the first RA procedure and fails to detect the expected preamble (because the UE has not yet sent the preamble for the first RA procedure), the network can trigger the retransmission of the preamble or restart the procedure by sending another PDCCH command.

[0141] Consider the following additional or alternative example: the first RA procedure is performed on the serving cell, while the second RA procedure is performed on the LTM candidate cell. In this example, the UE declares a BFD for the PCell, which results in a BFR and a first RA procedure (this is an internal UE process, i.e., the first RA procedure is not triggered by the network). Then, before the first RA procedure is completed (e.g., before sending the RA preamble to the PCell for BFR), the UE receives a PDCCH command to trigger the second RA procedure on the LTM candidate cell. However, since the first RA procedure to the PCell is triggered by BFD and BFR and has not yet been completed, the second RA procedure is aborted; that is, the UE does not send a preamble for the second RA procedure and can receive another PDCCH command from the network later, after it has completed the first RA procedure. In this example, the UE prioritizes the first RA procedure, which means that the UE suspends the second RA to the LTM candidate cell (which is less critical than BFD in the PCell). This means that the priority rule in this example is: when the first RA to the serving cell (e.g., PCell) is triggered due to BFD and BFR, and the UE triggers the second RA to the LTM candidate cell for early UL synchronization before completing the first RA, the UE prioritizes the first RA to the PCell by suspending the second RA procedure to the LTM candidate cell.

[0142] Consider the following additional or alternative example: the first RA procedure is performed on the serving cell, while the second RA procedure is performed on the LTM candidate cell. In this example, the UE declares a BFD for the PCell, which results in a BFR and a first RA procedure (this is an internal UE event, i.e., the first RA procedure is not triggered by the network). Then, before completing the first RA procedure (e.g., before sending the RA preamble to the PCell for BFR), the UE receives lower-layer signaling for LTM cell handover (e.g., a MAC CE including the LTM candidate identifier of the LTM candidate cell), which triggers the second RA procedure (or an RRC message for reconfiguration with synchronization) on the indicated LTM candidate cell. In this example, the UE aborts the first RA procedure to the PCell triggered by the BFD and BFR, and prioritizes the second RA procedure to the LTM candidate cell for LTM cell handover. In this example, the rule for prioritization is: when the first RA to the serving cell (e.g., PCell) is triggered (due to BFD and BFR), and before that process is completed, the UE triggers a second RA to the LTM candidate cell to trigger an LTM cell handover (or an RRC message for reconfiguration with synchronization), the UE prioritizes the second RA to the LTM candidate cell process by aborting the first RA process to PCell.

[0143] Consider the following additional or alternative example: the first RA procedure is performed on the first LTM candidate cell, while the second RA procedure is performed on the second LTM candidate cell. In this example, the UE initiates the first RA procedure on the first LTM candidate cell (e.g., by receiving a PDCCH command for performing early UL synchronization to that LTM candidate cell), and before completing the first RA procedure (e.g., before the UE sends the RA preamble, and / or before the UE receives the TA value, and / or before the UE receives the LTM cell handover command and / or random access response, and / or before the UE receives msg4 for contention resolution), triggers the second RA to the second LTM candidate cell (e.g., by receiving a MAC CE for LTM cell handover), in response, the UE aborts the first RA procedure and performs the second RA procedure.

[0144] In additional or alternative embodiments, the UE prioritizes one of the triggered RA procedures by suspending, suspending, or postponing the first RA procedure and executing the second RA procedure. The second RA procedure may be triggered while the first RA procedure is in progress, and / or when the first RA procedure has been initiated but not yet completed. Suspending, suspending, or postponing (rather than aborting) includes subsequent actions for the procedure, such as re-initiating, resuming, or later initiating the procedure. In other words, in response to suspending, postponing, or delaying the first RA procedure and executing the second RA procedure, the UE may resume or initiate the first RA procedure after the second RA procedure has been completed or successfully completed. In some examples, when the UE has already triggered the execution of the RA to cell X at t0 and the first RA resources available for cell X appear at t0+T, and before t0+T (i.e., between t0 and t0+T), the UE receives another triggering condition to execute the RA to cell Y (which should be prioritized according to one or more rules), the UE postpones, suspends, or delays the first RA procedure initiated at the UE (and may resume it later), causing the UE to suspend / pause the first RA procedure with cell X, initiate the RA procedure to cell Y, and after completing these procedures, the UE resumes the first RA procedure to cell X by sending a preamble to the available RA resources of cell X after the UE has already sent a preamble to cell Y.

[0145] Consider the following additional or alternative example: the first RA procedure is performed on the LTM candidate cell, while the second RA procedure is performed on the serving cell. In this example, the UE receives a PDCCH command for performing early UL synchronization (the first RA procedure) to the LTM candidate cell, which triggers the first RA procedure. Before the UE sends a preamble to the LTM candidate cell (based on the LTM candidate cell's RA configuration), and / or even before the UE performs measurements for RA resource selection (e.g., SSB measurements, such as SS-RSRP or L1-RSRP measurements) (see TS 38.321 for further details), the UE can declare a BFD for the PCell (which results in a BFR and requires an RA to the PCell), triggering the second RA procedure before the first RA procedure completes. Based on this, the UE prioritizes the second RA procedure, meaning the UE suspends (puts on or postpones) the first RA to the LTM candidate cell. The UE will be able to restore connectivity to the PCell as quickly as possible, preventing radio link failures (RLFs) and RRC re-initiation with the PCell. After the UE successfully performs BFR due to BFD (e.g., receiving RAR and / or msg4 for contention resolution), the UE resumes the first RA procedure by sending an RA preamble to the LTM candidate cell, for example, in the next available RA resource of the LTM candidate cell. In one option, the procedure is aborted if no resources are available after the completion of the first RA procedure.

[0146] Consider the following additional or alternative example: the first RA procedure is performed on the serving cell, while the second RA procedure is performed on the LTM candidate cell. In this example, the UE declares a BFD for the PCell, which results in a BFR and a first RA procedure (this is an internal UE process, i.e., the first RA procedure is not triggered by the network). Then, before the first RA procedure completes (e.g., before sending the RA preamble to the PCell for BFR), the UE receives a PDCCH command to trigger the second RA procedure on the LTM candidate cell. However, since the first RA procedure to the PCell is triggered due to BFD and BFR and has not yet completed, the second RA procedure is suspended or halted; that is, the UE suspends sending the preamble for the second RA procedure until the UE has completed the first RA procedure, provided that the LTM candidate cell still has RA resources available for the second RA procedure after the first RA procedure has completed.

[0147] In additional or alternative embodiments, prioritizing triggered RA procedures by the UE includes prioritizing RA procedures on the serving cell, disregarding RA procedures on at least one LTM candidate cell. As disclosed in previous examples, the UE may prioritize RA procedures in the PCell (e.g., BFR due to BFD, due to PDCCH commands for re-acquiring UL synchronization), which are triggered when an RA procedure is in progress with an LTM candidate cell (e.g., before the UE sends a preamble for that RA procedure).

[0148] In additional or alternative embodiments, RA procedures on the first LTM candidate cell are processed preferentially, while RA procedures on one or more other LTM candidate cells (not the first LTM candidate cell) are disregarded. In some examples, when the RA procedure in the first LTM candidate cell is for LTM cell handover (upon receiving lower-layer signaling including the LTM candidate identifier (e.g., MACCE)) and / or reconfiguration with synchronization (upon receiving RRC reconfiguration including reconfigurationWithSync), the UE may prioritize this RA procedure, disregarding RA procedures in the second LTM candidate cell for early UL synchronization. In additional or alternative examples, the UE may prioritize RA procedures triggered for early UL synchronization in the first LTM candidate cell at the same frequency (or subcarrier spacing) as the PCell, disregarding RA procedures triggered for early UL synchronization in the second LTM candidate cell at a different frequency (or subcarrier spacing) than the PCell.

[0149] In additional or alternative embodiments, LTM candidate cells are processed first, regardless of the serving cell or serving cell type (e.g., SCell, SCell of MCG, SCell of SCG). In some examples, when the serving cell is an SCell, the UE may process the RA procedure in the LTM candidate cell first, regardless of the RA procedure in the serving cell.

[0150] In additional or alternative embodiments, in response to a triggering condition for initiating a random access procedure to the serving cell and one or more LTM candidate cells, the UE prioritizes the random access procedure to be initiated, wherein the UE prioritizes the cell (one of the LTM candidate cells or the serving cell) to which the random access procedure should be initiated according to one or more rules. Once it is determined which cell to which the random access procedure needs to be initiated, the UE sends a random access preamble to the selected cell, and in response, it can receive a random access response.

[0151] In additional or alternative embodiments, the UE prioritizes the serving cell that initiates the random access procedure to it and one or more LTM candidate cells according to one or more rules.

[0152] The following describes an example of a rule.

[0153] Example Rule 1: When a random access procedure to the serving cell is triggered, the UE prioritizes the serving cell (regardless of whether a random access procedure to one or more LTM candidate cells is triggered). In some embodiments, if one of the cells to which a random access procedure needs to be initiated is the serving cell, the UE prioritizes initiating a random access procedure to the serving cell. This rule applies regardless of the conditions or criteria for triggering a random access procedure to a cell that is not the serving cell. In some examples, the UE initiates a random access procedure on the serving cell and, before completing the procedure, triggers a second random access procedure in an LTM candidate cell, and in response, the UE prioritizes the random access procedure in the serving cell, for example, by pausing, aborting, or suspending the random access procedure in the LTM candidate cell. In additional or alternative examples, the UE initiates a random access procedure on an LTM candidate cell and, before completing the procedure, triggers a second random access procedure in the serving cell, and in response, the UE prioritizes the random access procedure in the serving cell, for example, by pausing, aborting, or suspending the random access procedure in the LTM candidate cell.

[0154] In some embodiments, the UE receives a PDCCH command for performing early UL synchronization (first RA procedure) to an LTM candidate cell. This PDCCH command triggers the first RA procedure, and before the UE sends a preamble to the LTM candidate cell (based on the RA configuration of the LTM candidate cell), and / or even before the UE performs measurements for RA resource selection (e.g., SSB measurements, such as SS-RSRP or L1-RSRP measurements) (see TS 38.321 for further details), the UE triggers a second RA procedure in the serving cell (e.g., UL data transmission in the PCell when the time alignment timer expires, BFD leading to BFR, intra-cell handover, etc.) before the first RA procedure is completed. In response, the UE prioritizes the second RA procedure (considering that the procedure in the serving cell is more critical to the UE's performance). In this case, the rule for priority processing can be expressed as follows: when the first RA to the LTM candidate cell is triggered for early UL synchronization, and before the process is completed, the UE triggers the second RA in the serving cell (e.g., PCell, SCell of the primary cell group, SCell of the secondary cell group), the UE prioritizes the second RA process to the serving cell (e.g., by suspending the first RA process to the LTM candidate cell).

[0155] One benefit of Example Rule 1 is that the RA procedure in the serving cell is often more critical to overall UE performance. For example, when the UE fails to perform UL synchronization (time alignment timer expires), it requests UL resources for UL data transmission in the serving cell, regains UL synchronization with the serving cell, and restores the connection with the PCell in the case of BFD / BFR (preventing RLF and RRC reconstruction). Another benefit is that prioritizing the serving cell is straightforward, regardless of the event that triggers the RA in the serving cell and / or the type of serving cell (e.g., whether the RA procedure is in a PCell, PSCell, MCG's SCell, or SCG's SCell).

[0156] Example Rule 2: The UE prioritizes cells where a random access procedure was triggered due to a fault event (e.g., radio link failure, beam failure). In some embodiments, if a random access procedure has already been triggered due to a recovery process from a fault event, the UE prioritizes initiating a random access procedure to the cell. In this case, the fault event may be related to, for example, a radio link failure, LTM cell handover failure, BFD leading to BFR, handover failure, or CHO failure. In the case of a radio link failure, one or more of the following criteria may trigger the fault: timer (e.g., timer T310) expires; maximum retransmission (e.g., RLC retransmission) count is reached; maximum asynchronous indication count is reached; or reconfiguration fails.

[0157] In some examples, the UE initiates a fault-triggered RA procedure (e.g., BFD and BFR) and, before completing the procedure, the UE triggers a second RA procedure (non-fault-triggered, e.g. for early UL synchronization), and in response, the UE prioritizes the fault-triggered RA procedure by pausing, aborting, or suspending the non-fault-triggered RA procedure.

[0158] In the additional or alternative examples, the UE initiates a non-fault-triggered RA procedure, and before completing the procedure, the UE triggers a fault-triggered second RA, and in response, the UE prioritizes the fault-triggered RA procedure by pausing, aborting, or suspending the non-fault-triggered RA procedure.

[0159] In some embodiments, the UE receives a PDCCH command for performing early UL synchronization (first RA procedure) to an LTM candidate cell. This PDCCH command triggers the first RA procedure, and before the UE sends a preamble to the LTM candidate cell (according to the RA configuration of the LTM candidate cell), and / or even before the UE performs measurements for RA resource selection (e.g., SSB measurements, such as SS-RSRP or L1-RSRP measurements) (see TS 38.321 for further details), before the first RA procedure is completed, the UE triggers a second RA procedure in the serving cell due to BFR caused by BFD. In response, considering that BFR in the PCell is more critical to the UE's performance, the UE prioritizes the second RA procedure. In this case, the rule for prioritization can be expressed as follows: when the first RA to the LTM candidate cell is triggered for early UL synchronization, and before that procedure is completed, the UE triggers the second RA in the PCell for BFR, the UE prioritizes the second RA procedure to the PCell for BFR, for example, by aborting the first RA procedure to the LTM candidate cell, so that the UE can restore the connection as quickly as possible.

[0160] In an additional or alternative embodiment, the UE detects a fault (e.g., BFD and BFR) in the PCell and triggers a first RA procedure. Before completing or successfully completing this procedure (e.g., before preamble transmission), the UE receives a PDCCH command for performing early UL synchronization to the LTM candidate cell, which triggers a second RA procedure. In response, considering that the BFR in the PCell is more critical to the UE's performance, the UE prioritizes the first RA procedure by suspending, pausing, or postponing the second RA procedure to the LTM candidate cell and continues executing the first RA procedure so that the UE can restore the connection as quickly as possible.

[0161] The benefit of Example Rule 2 is that fault-triggered RA procedures (especially in PCells) are more critical to overall UE performance, and the primary connection is restored as quickly as possible. Establishing early UL synchronization to the LTM candidate cell is meaningless when the UE triggers an RLF against the PCell, as this would result in an RRC reconstruction, in which the UE would delete the LTM-related configuration anyway.

[0162] Example Rule 3: UEs prioritize cells that have triggered a random access procedure due to an early UL synchronization process. In some embodiments, if a random access procedure has already been triggered to initiate an early UL synchronization process, the UE prioritizes initiating a random access procedure to the cell. This rule applies regardless of the conditions or criteria that trigger a random access procedure to the cell (rather than for an early UL synchronization process).

[0163] In an additional or alternative embodiment where this rule benefits the UE, the UE initiates a RA procedure (e.g., via receiving a PDCCH command) to the LTM candidate cell for early UL synchronization. Before completing this procedure, the UE triggers a second RA procedure (e.g., triggered internally by a fault event in the PCell, such as BFD and BFR). In response, the UE prioritizes the first RA procedure for early UL synchronization by suspending, aborting, or suspending the second RA procedure. This is reasonable and beneficial, especially when the UE has already switched its transceiver to the LTM candidate cell to send a preamble and / or has already performed SSB measurements for RA resource selection (even if the UE has not yet sent a preamble). This makes switching back to the PCell and aborting the RA procedure with the LTM candidate cell potentially expensive. In contrast, prioritizing the RA preamble transmission to the LTM candidate cell and quickly returning to the PCell after the preamble transmission is more sensible because the expected RAR does not exist in the LTM candidate cell (another reason to continue the RA procedure with the LTM candidate cell).

[0164] Here, the additional sub-rule could be: when the UE triggers the second RA procedure, if the UE has already initiated and switched to sending a preamble to the LTM candidate cell, the UE shall prioritize processing the RA to the LTM candidate cell for early UL synchronization.

[0165] Additional or alternative sub-rules may be: when the UE triggers the second RA procedure, if the RA to the LTM candidate cell has been initiated, but the UE has not yet switched to the LTM candidate cell to send the preamble to the LTM candidate cell, the UE shall give priority to processing the RA to the serving cell.

[0166] Additional or alternative sub-rules may be as follows: If an RA has been initiated to the LTM candidate cell and the number of time units required for the UE to wait to send the RA preamble to the LTM candidate cell is less than a threshold (e.g., X radio frames, X subframes, X OFDM symbols, X seconds, X milliseconds, etc.), the UE shall prioritize processing the RA for early UL synchronization. The number of time units to wait is counted from the time instance when the UE triggers the second RA process to the serving cell.

[0167] Example Rule 4: If the network instructs the UE to initiate more than one random access procedure to multiple cells, the UE prioritizes cells based on the order in which instructions to initiate random access procedures have been received. In some embodiments, the UE prioritizes initiating random access procedures according to the order in which they have been received or determined. For example, if the network instructs the UE to initiate random access procedures to cells A and B, and the UE receives the instruction to cell B before receiving the instruction to cell A, the UE prioritizes initiating the random access procedure to cell B.

[0168] In some examples, the network may send indications to initiate random access procedures to cell A and cell B within the same message or in different messages. In the case of two indications sent in the same message, the UE prioritizes the indication that is decoded first, or the indication that appears first in the notification list, or the indication whose field first appears in the RRC ASN.1 structure that is part of that message.

[0169] In an additional or alternative example, when the network (e.g., a PDCCH command) has already triggered both the nth and (n+1)th RA procedures, the UE completes the nth RA procedure that was triggered before it initiated the (n+1)th RA procedure. In one example, this operation is performed for multiple RA procedures of the same type. For example, when the UE receives multiple PDCCH commands that trigger early UL synchronization of an LTM candidate cell, the UE executes the RA procedure for the LTM candidate cell in the order in which the PDCCH commands associated with the LTM candidate cell are received. For example, when the UE receives a PDCCH command for LTM candidate cell (A) at t0 and a PDCCH command for LTM candidate cell (B) at t1, the UE initiates and completes the RA procedure at t0, after which it initiates the RA procedure for LTM candidate cell (B).

[0170] In some embodiments, an exception to this rule (i.e., where the UE does not follow the order in which the RA procedures have been triggered) is when the triggering is for different cell types (e.g., LTM candidate cell and serving cell). For example, the UE receives a PDCCH command at t0 for early UL synchronization with the LTM candidate cell, and before completing that procedure, the UE receives a PDCCH command at t1 for re-establishing UL synchronization with the PCell. In response, the UE aborts the first RA procedure with the LTM candidate cell to initiate an RA procedure for the PCell, even if that procedure is triggered later.

[0171] Example Rule 5: The UE prioritizes cells based on L1 measurements (e.g., SS-RSRP). In some embodiments, the UE prioritizes cells for which it has sent the latest (most recent) L1 measurement report. The benefits are: the UE prioritizes cells with good radio conditions, which speeds up access, saves power, and increases the probability of a no-failure random access procedure. In some examples, so-called L1 measurements and / or lower-layer measurements (e.g., SS-RSRP (as defined in TS 38.215) or L1-RSRP) may be associated with a first RA procedure and / or a second RA procedure.

[0172] In additional or alternative embodiments, when a first RA procedure is triggered for a PCell, the UE performs one or more SSB measurements on the PCell (to map the SSBs to RA resources in the RACH configuration) before performing RA resource selection. In a sub-rule, the UE prioritizes the RA procedure for that PCell when the measured value of at least one SSB of the PCell (e.g., SS-RSRP, L1-RSRP) is higher than the SSB threshold in the RACH configuration of the PCell associated with the first RA procedure (e.g., the RACH configuration for BFR in the case where the first RA procedure is triggered due to BFR).

[0173] In an additional or alternative embodiment, when the PCell does not meet the preceding condition, but the LTM candidate cell does meet the preceding condition, i.e., the UE performs one or more SSB measurements on the LTM candidate cell before it performs RA resource selection (in order to map the SSB to RA resources in the RACH configuration), and at least one SSB of the LTM candidate cell is higher than the SSB threshold in the RACH configuration of the LTM candidate cell associated with the second RA procedure (e.g., the RACH configuration for early UL synchronization), then the UE prioritizes the RA procedure with the LTM candidate cell.

[0174] The benefits of Example Rule 5 may include: UEs prioritizing RA procedures that are more likely to complete successfully faster because when a UE prioritizes RA procedures whose RA resources are selected based on SSB measurements (e.g., SS-RSRP, L1-RSRP) that are higher than the threshold configured for that RA procedure, it is more likely that preamble retransmission and / or power ramping will not be required. That is, the procedure is likely to finish faster than RA procedures whose RA resources are selected based on SSB (whose SSB measurements are not higher than the SSB threshold in the corresponding RACH configuration).

[0175] In an additional or alternative embodiment, when the PCell does not meet the conditions in embodiment (a) and the LTM candidate cell does not meet the conditions of one of the above embodiments, the UE prioritizes processing the RA with the PCell.

[0176] In additional or alternative embodiments, when a first RA procedure is triggered for a PCell, the UE performs one or more SSB measurements on the PCell (to map the SSBs to RA resources in the RACH configuration) before performing RA resource selection. The UE prioritizes the RA procedure with the PCell when the SSB with the strongest measurement (e.g., strongest SS-RSRP, strongest L1-RSRP) is stronger than the SSB with the strongest measurement (e.g., strongest SS-RSRP, strongest L1-RSRP) of the LTM candidate cell. In other words, when the UE triggers an RA procedure with the LTM candidate cell, and before completing that procedure, the UE triggers a second RA procedure with the PCell, and the strongest SSB of the PCell is stronger than the strongest SSB of the LTM candidate cell, the UE prioritizes the PCell.

[0177] In an additional or alternative embodiment, when a first RA procedure is triggered for a first LTM candidate cell, the UE performs one or more SSB measurements on the first LTM candidate cell (in order to map the SSB to RA resources in the RACH configuration) before performing RA resource selection. If the SSB of the first LTM candidate cell with the strongest measurement value (e.g., strongest SS-RSRP, strongest L1-RSRP) is stronger than the SSB of the second LTM candidate cell that has also initiated RA before completing the first RA procedure, the UE prioritizes processing the RA procedure of the LTM candidate cell with the strongest SSB measurement value.

[0178] Example Rule 6: The UE prioritizes cells based on L3 measurements (e.g., cell-based RSRP). In some embodiments, the UE prioritizes cells for which the latest L3 measurement has been performed. The benefits are: the UE prioritizes cells with good radio conditions, which speeds up access, saves power, and increases the probability of a successful random access procedure. In some examples, the so-called L3 measurement may correspond to cell-based RSRP, cell-based RSRQ, or cell-based SINR (as defined in TS 38.331), where cell quality is derived from one or more SSB measurements of the cell, for example by averaging multiple SSB measurements and / or treating the strongest SSB measurement as the cell-based measurement.

[0179] In some embodiments, when the first RA procedure for a PCell is triggered, the UE derives the cell-based measurement (e.g., RSRP) of the PCell before sending the RA preamble for the first RA procedure in the PCell. In a sub-rule, the UE prioritizes the RA procedure with the PCell when the cell-based measurement is higher than a threshold.

[0180] In additional or alternative embodiments, the UE prioritizes the cell with the strongest cell-based measurement, such as the cell with the strongest RSRP. For example, when a first RA procedure is triggered for PCell, and before completing that procedure, the UE triggers a second RA with an LTM candidate cell, and the LTM candidate cell measurement is stronger than that of PCell, the UE prioritizes the RA procedure with the LTM candidate cell, for example, by suspending, postponing, and / or suspending the first RA procedure with PCell and sending an RA preamble for the second RA procedure to the LTM candidate cell.

[0181] Example Rule 7: The UE prioritizes the strongest cell out of "N" cells based on measurements, where measurements can correspond to RSRP, RSRQ, and SINR. The benefits of Example Rule 7 include: the UE prioritizes cells with good radio conditions, which speeds up access because the probability of successful random access is higher when a cell has stronger measurements. This is because stronger cells in the DL (Deep Path) may have stronger UL (Ultimate Length) signals; that is, a preamble transmitted at the initial power configured in the RACH configuration has a higher probability of success on its first transmission compared to a preamble transmission in a cell with less favorable measurements (e.g., RSRP) (e.g., which may require power-boosting retransmissions, potentially leading to longer delays in completing the random access process).

[0182] Additionally, Example Rule 7 can save UE power because the need for preamble retransmission with power spikes is lower. Furthermore, the reduced need for preamble retransmission increases the probability of a successful random access procedure.

[0183] Sub-options may include predefined measurements, such as the UE using RSRP; or the UE using L1-RSRP; or the UE using SINR. In some examples, the UE prioritizes the appropriate LTM candidate cell with the strongest measurement (e.g., RSRP), where the measurement used is one that has been configured in the lower-layer measurement report (e.g., set in a report quantity parameter such as reportQuantity).

[0184] In the additional or alternative sub-options, the UE first prioritizes one or more suitable cells, and among the suitable selected cells, the UE selects the cell with the highest measurement (e.g., highest RSRP, highest RSRQ, highest SINR).

[0185] In some examples, when a UE prioritizes one cell among multiple cells based on one or more rules, it can use a combination of two or more rules to prioritize the cell. For example, it can prioritize a cell based on a first rule X and a second rule Y, or based on a first rule X, a second rule Y, and a third rule Z, and so on. Referring to the rules above, the UE can, for example, prioritize a cell based on a first rule. Corresponding combinations of other rules can be executed, and these corresponding combinations will generate new rules.

[0186] Example Rule 8: The UE prioritizes the cell in which it has most recently performed a random access procedure. In some embodiments, the UE prioritizes the cell in which it has most recently sent a random access preamble. The benefit is that for that cell, there is already an ongoing random access procedure, so the transmission can be retransmitted. If the UE does not perform such a retransmission of the preamble, the random access procedure is more likely to fail due to expiration or exceeding a certain number of attempts.

[0187] In additional or alternative embodiments, the UE prioritizes retransmission of the preamble during the first RA procedure, disregarding the initial preamble transmission during the second RA procedure. In one example, the UE receives a PDCCH command at t0 that triggers an RA procedure for early UL synchronization with an LTM candidate cell and transmits the preamble associated with that RA procedure. The UE then triggers the second RA procedure and, before transmitting the preamble for that second RA procedure, triggers retransmission of the preamble associated with the first RA procedure. In this case, the UE prioritizes retransmission of preambles (e.g., those with power ramp and / or new RA resource selection, possibly for different beams, SSBs, or CSI-RS) by transmitting (or retransmitting) the preamble for the first RA procedure and deferring (suspending, delaying, suspending) the transmission of the preamble for the second RA procedure, for example.

[0188] Example Rule 9: The UE prioritizes the cell with the fewest recent random access operations. In some embodiments, the UE prioritizes the cell with the fewest recent random access operations. One example is that this random access will correspond to the first preamble transmission, or alternatively, another example is that the interval between the retransmission of the random access procedure and that particular cell is longer than the interval between the retransmission of the random access procedure and that cell. The benefit of prioritizing this cell is that if multiple retransmissions will be required (including possible power ramps), earlier initiation will increase the likelihood of success before a certain time limit (e.g., for LTM candidate cells, random access that establishes early UL synchronization (which takes longer) may delay LTM cell handover or may force the network to use random access-based LTM).

[0189] Example Rule 10: The UE prioritizes cells where it has already initiated a random access procedure and will perform a retransmission of the random access preamble. In some embodiments, the UE prioritizes cells where it has already initiated a random access procedure and therefore the transmission is a retransmission. The benefit is that for that cell, a random access procedure is already in progress, so the transmission can be a retransmission. If the UE does not perform such a retransmission of the preamble, the random access procedure is more likely to fail due to expiration or exceeding a certain number of attempts.

[0190] Example Rule 11: The UE prioritizes the cell in which it performs the first random access preamble transmission. In some embodiments, the UE prioritizes the cell in which it performs the first preamble transmission. The benefit of prioritizing this cell is that if multiple retransmissions will be required (including possible power ramps), an earlier start will increase its likelihood of success before a certain time limit (e.g., for LTM candidate cells, establishing early UL synchronization through random access (which takes longer) may delay LTM cell handover or may force the network to use random access-based LTM).

[0191] Example Rule 12: The UE prioritizes cells that will transmit random access at the highest power. In some embodiments, the UE prioritizes cells where the UE will use the highest preamble transmission power. One example is: a power ramp has been performed, so such a transmission is more likely to succeed than a transmission at lower power.

[0192] Example Rule 13: The UE prioritizes cells that will transmit random access at the lowest power. In some embodiments, the UE prioritizes cells that the UE will use to transmit with the lowest preamble power. One benefit is that the UE saves power and reduces overall interference in the system. Another benefit of prioritizing this cell is that if multiple retransmissions will be required (including possible power ramp-ups), earlier initiation will increase its likelihood of success before a certain time limit (e.g., for LTM candidate cells, establishing early UL synchronization for random access (which takes longer) may delay LTM cell handover or may force the network to use random access-based LTM).

[0193] Example Rule 14: The UE prioritizes cells based on link budget. In some embodiments, the UE prioritizes cells based on the link budget determined by the UE for preamble transmission. For example, the UE prioritizes cells with the lowest power consumption. The benefits are: less power will be used, and overall interference in the system will be reduced.

[0194] Example Rule 15: The UE prioritizes cells based on the characteristics of random access. In some embodiments, the UE prioritizes cells associated with random access resources and the priority of characteristics (e.g., RedCap, slice, SDT, and priority of MSG3 repetition for coverage enhancement).

[0195] Example Rule 16: The UE prioritizes cells with 2-step random access. In some embodiments, the UE prioritizes cells with 2-step random access. The benefit is that 2-step random access is faster, so any other random access can likely begin earlier.

[0196] Example Rule 17: The UE prioritizes cells with 4-step random access. In some embodiments, the UE prioritizes cells with 4-step random access. The advantage is that 4-step random access takes longer to complete and may result in delays.

[0197] Example Rule 18: The UE prioritizes cells with contention-free random access. In some embodiments, the UE prioritizes cells with contention-free random access. The benefit is that contention-free random access is faster, so any other random access may start earlier.

[0198] Example Rule 19: The UE prioritizes cells with contention-based random access. In some embodiments, the UE prioritizes cells with contention-based random access. The advantage is that contention-based random access takes longer to complete and may result in delays.

[0199] Example Rule 20: The UE prioritizes cells based on random access resource selection (e.g., preamble index, SSB, CSI-RS, random access preamble group). In some embodiments, the UE prioritizes cells based on resources used for random access. For example, which preamble index to use (the UE can choose a cell with the highest or lowest index), which SSB to use (e.g., using a cell with the highest or lowest SSB index), which preamble group to use (the UE can use preamble group A instead of preamble group B, and vice versa), etc. The benefit is that UE behavior is deterministic, and the network can control it in some way via the assigned resources.

[0200] Example Rule 21: The UE prioritizes cells where the beam fault recovery timer is running or not. In some embodiments, the UE prioritizes a cell based on its beam fault recovery status. For example, the UE may prioritize cells without an ongoing beam fault, which has the benefit of making random access more likely to succeed. For example, the UE may prioritize cells where beam fault recovery is about to occur or is even in progress and could lead to the restoration of connectivity with that cell.

[0201] Example Rule 22: The UE prioritizes cells based on random selection. In some embodiments, the UE prioritizes cells based on a random number. For example, the UE draws a random number X that is uniformly distributed between 0 and 1. If X is higher than a certain threshold (e.g., 0.5), the UE prioritizes the serving cell; otherwise, the UE prioritizes the non-serving cell. In this method, all cells can be treated equally.

[0202] Example Rule 23: The UE prioritizes cells based on round-robin selection. In some embodiments, the UE prioritizes cells in a round-robin manner. For example, the UE prioritizes the serving cell every other time and prioritizes non-serving cells (e.g., LTM candidate cells) every other time. In another example, the UE prioritizes between serving and non-serving cells based on a strict order to ensure that all cells are treated equally in the long run.

[0203] Example Rule 24: The UE prioritizes cells based on access denial or access control. In some embodiments, the UE prioritizes cells based on access denial or access control (e.g., Unified Access Control (UAC)), access category, access identifier, and denial factor associated with the access attempt to which the random access belongs. The benefit is that access attempts that have not been denial or have already undergone access denial checks are allowed, and attempts with a higher probability of passing the access denial check are also prioritized over attempts with a lower probability.

[0204] Example Rule 25: When the time required for the UE to wait to send the preamble for the RA procedure is less than a threshold, the UE prioritizes processing the already initiated RA procedure. In some embodiments, when the UE has already initiated the first RA procedure, and the number of time units the UE needs to wait to send the RA preamble to the LTM candidate cell is less than the number of time units "X" (e.g., X radio frames, X subframes, X OFDM symbols, X seconds, X milliseconds, etc.), the UE prioritizes processing the first RA procedure to the LTM candidate cell for early UL synchronization (instead of initiating the second RA procedure to the serving cell before completing the first RA procedure), wherein the number of time units to wait is counted from the time instance when the UE triggers the second RA procedure to the serving cell.

[0205] Example Rule 26: The UE prioritizes RA procedures based on the frequency of the cell to which the RA procedure is to be performed. In some embodiments, when an LTM candidate cell has the same frequency as the PCell (e.g., SSB frequency, point A frequency, subcarrier spacing), the UE prioritizes RA procedures to the LTM candidate cell. This means the UE prioritizes in-frequency procedures because the handover time required in the UE's transceiver will be shorter. For example, if the UE triggers a first RA procedure to the LTM candidate cell at a non-PCell frequency, and before sending the preamble for that procedure, the UE triggers a second RA procedure to the LTM candidate cell at the same PCell frequency, the UE prioritizes the second RA procedure. In one sub-example, the UE prioritizes the second RA procedure only if it has not yet switched its transceiver to an LTM candidate frequency different from the PCell frequency.

[0206] Reference will now be made to embodiments based on some inventive concepts. Figure 6 To discuss using flowcharts (using) Figure 8 The operation of the QQ200 communication device is implemented using its structure. For example, the module can be stored in... Figure 8 The memory QQ210 contains these modules, and these modules can provide instructions such that when the instructions of the modules are executed by the corresponding communication device processing circuit QQ202, the communication device QQ200 performs the corresponding operation in the flowchart.

[0207] Figure 6 An example of an operation performed by a communication device to prioritize multiple RA processes is shown.

[0208] At box 610, the processing circuit QQ202 determines that the first trigger condition for initiating the first RA process has been met.

[0209] At block 620, processing circuit QQ202 determines that a second triggering condition for initiating a second RA process has been met. In some embodiments, the communication device determines that the second triggering condition has been met after determining that the first triggering condition has been met and before completing the first RA process.

[0210] At box 630, the processing circuit QQ202 prioritizes processing either the first RA process or the second RA process.

[0211] The processing circuit QQ202 prioritizes either the first RA process or the second RA process based on one or more priority processing rules. The one or more priority processing rules include at least one of the following: prioritizing the RA process associated with the serving cell;

[0212] Prioritize handling RA processes triggered by fault events;

[0213] Prioritize handling RA processes triggered by early UL synchronization processes;

[0214] The RA process is processed in priority based on the order in which the instruction to initiate the RA process is received;

[0215] Prioritize the RA process based on L1 measurement;

[0216] Prioritize the RA process based on L3 measurements;

[0217] Prioritize processing the RA process of the strongest cell among "N" cells based on the measurement;

[0218] Based on the time of the last random access procedure performed with the cell, the RA procedure associated with that cell is processed first.

[0219] Prioritize processing RA procedures where the communication device has initiated a random access procedure and will perform random access preamble retransmission;

[0220] Prioritize processing the RA procedure during the first random access preamble transmission performed by the UE;

[0221] Prioritize processing RA procedures that will transmit random access at the highest power;

[0222] Prioritize processing RA procedures that transmit random access at the lowest power;

[0223] Prioritize the RA process based on link budget;

[0224] Prioritize the RA process based on the characteristics and priorities of random access.

[0225] Prioritize handling RA procedures where random access is a 2-step random access process;

[0226] Prioritize handling RA procedures where random access is a 4-step random access process;

[0227] Prioritize handling RA procedures where random access is contention-free random access;

[0228] Prioritize random access procedures (RA) that are contention-based random access.

[0229] Prioritize the RA process based on random access resource selection;

[0230] Prioritize handling RA processes that are running or not running the beam fault recovery timer;

[0231] Prioritize the RA process based on random selection;

[0232] Prioritize the RA process based on cyclic selection;

[0233] Prioritize the RA process based on access denial or access control;

[0234] When the UE has received a triggering condition for RACH transmission to an LTM candidate cell in response to a PDCCH command (which is received in response to a lower-layer measurement), the RA procedure associated with the LTM candidate cell is processed first, rather than the RA to the serving cell; and

[0235] When an RA (Automatic Relay) is triggered for an LTM cell handover to the first LTM candidate cell, rather than for an RA to the second LTM candidate cell triggered by other events, the RA to the first LTM candidate cell is executed first, rather than the RA to the second LTM candidate cell.

[0236] From Figure 6 The various operations in the flowchart may be optional for some embodiments of the communication device and related methods.

[0237] In some embodiments, determining that the second triggering condition has been met includes: determining that the second triggering condition has been met before the first RA timing.

[0238] In some embodiments, the first RA timing is a available first RA timing during which the first RA preamble can be scheduled to be transmitted as part of the first RA process.

[0239] Figure 7 An example of a communication system QQ100 according to some embodiments is shown.

[0240] In this example, the communication system QQ100 includes a telecommunications network QQ102 and a core network QQ106. The telecommunications network QQ102 includes an access network QQ104, such as a radio access network (RAN), and the core network QQ106 includes one or more core network nodes QQ108. The access network QQ104 includes one or more access network nodes, such as network nodes QQ110a and QQ110b (one or more of which may generally be referred to as network node QQ110), or any other similar 3GPP access node or non-3GPP access point. Furthermore, those skilled in the art will understand that network node QQ110 is not necessarily limited to an implementation provided by a single vendor and integrating the radio and baseband portions. Therefore, it will be understood that network node QQ110 may include a decomposed implementation or portions thereof. For example, in some embodiments, the telecommunications network QQ102 includes one or more Open RAN (ORAN) network nodes. An ORAN network node is a node in the QQ102 telecommunications network that supports ORAN specifications (e.g., specifications published by the O-RAN Alliance or any similar organization) and can operate independently or together with other nodes to perform one or more functions of any node in the QQ102 telecommunications network (including one or more network nodes QQ110 and / or core network nodes QQ108).

[0241] Examples of ORAN network nodes include Open Radio Units (O-RUs), Open Distributed Units (O-DUs), Open Central Units (O-CUs), including O-CU control planes (O-CU-CPs) or O-CU user planes (O-CU-UPs), managed software or software plug-ins (e.g., near real-time RAN control applications (e.g., xApps) or non-real-time RAN automation applications (e.g., rApps)), RAN intelligent controllers (near real-time or non-real-time), or any combination thereof (the adjective "open" indicates support for the ORAN specification). Network nodes can support the specification by, for example, supporting interfaces defined by the ORAN specification (e.g., A1, F1, W1, E1, E2, X2, Xn interfaces), open fronthaul user plane interfaces, or open fronthaul management plane interfaces. The intent and content-aware notifications described herein can be transmitted from 3GPP network nodes or O-RAN network nodes through 3GPP-defined interfaces (e.g., N2, N3) and / or O-RAN Alliance-defined interfaces (e.g., A1, O1). Furthermore, an O-RAN network node can be a logical node within a physical node. Furthermore, ORAN network nodes can be implemented in a virtualized environment (described further below) where one or more network functions are virtualized. For example, the virtualized environment may include an O-Cloud computing platform orchestrated by a service management and orchestration framework via the O-2 interface defined by the O-RAN Consortium. Network node QQ110 facilitates direct or indirect connections for user equipment (UEs), such as connecting wireless devices QQ112a, QQ112b, QQ112c, and QQ112d (one or more of which may generally be referred to as UE QQ112) to the core network QQ106 via one or more wireless connections.

[0242] Examples of wireless communication via wireless connection include transmitting and / or receiving wireless signals using electromagnetic waves, radio waves, infrared waves, and / or other types of signals suitable for transmitting information without using wiring, cables, or other conductors. Furthermore, in different embodiments, the communication system QQ100 may include any number of wired or wireless networks, network nodes, UEs, and / or any other components or systems that can facilitate or participate in communication of data and / or signals (whether via wired or wireless connections). The communication system QQ100 may include any type of communication, telecommunications, data, cellular, radio network, and / or other similar system, and / or interface with any type of communication, telecommunications, data, cellular, radio network, and / or other similar system.

[0243] UE QQ112 can be any of a wide variety of communication devices, including wireless devices that are deployed, configured, and / or operable to communicate wirelessly with network node QQ110 and other communication devices. Similarly, network node QQ110 is deployed, capable of, configured, and / or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with UE QQ112 and / or with other network nodes or devices in telecommunication network QQ102 to achieve and / or provide network access (e.g., wireless network access) and / or to perform other functions (e.g., management) in telecommunication network QQ102.

[0244] In the depicted example, core network QQ106 connects network node QQ110 to one or more hosts (e.g., host QQ116). These connections can be direct or indirect via one or more intermediate networks or devices. In other examples, network nodes can be directly coupled to hosts. Core network QQ106 includes one or more core network nodes (e.g., core network node QQ108) that are formed together with hardware and software components. The characteristics of these components can be substantially similar to those described with respect to UE, network nodes, and / or hosts, such that the description is generally applicable to the corresponding components of core network node QQ108. Example core network nodes include one or more of the following functions: Mobile Switching Center (MSC), Mobility Management Entity (MME), Home Subscriber Server (HSS), Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF), Session Management Function (SMF), Authentication Server Function (AUSF), Subscription Identifier Unhiding Function (SIDF), Unified Data Management (UDM), Security Edge Protection Agent (SEPP), Network Open Function (NEF), and / or User Plane Function (UPF).

[0245] The host QQ116 may be owned or controlled by a service provider other than the operator or provider of the access network QQ104 and / or the telecommunications network QQ102, and may be operated by or on behalf of that service provider. The host QQ116 may host various applications to provide one or more services. Examples of such applications include real-time and pre-recorded audio / video content, data collection services (e.g., retrieving and compiling data about various environmental conditions detected by multiple UEs), analytics functions, social media, functions for controlling or otherwise interacting with remote devices, functions for alarm and monitoring centers, or any other such functions performed by the server.

[0246] As a whole, Figure 7 The QQ100 communication system enables connections between the UE, network nodes, and the host. In this sense, the communication system can be configured to operate according to predefined rules or procedures, such as specific standards, including but not limited to: Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM); Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS); Long Term Evolution (LTE) and / or other suitable 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G standards, or any applicable future generation standard (e.g., 6G); Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) standards, such as the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standard (WiFi); and / or any other suitable wireless communication standards, such as Global Microwave Access Interoperability (WiMax), Bluetooth, Z-Wave, Near Field Communication (NFC) ZigBee, LiFi, and / or any Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN) standards such as LoRa and Sigfox.

[0247] In some examples, the QQ102 telecommunications network is a cellular network implementing 3GPP standardized features. Therefore, the QQ102 network can support network slicing to provide different logical networks to different devices connected to it. For example, the QQ102 network can provide Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communication (URLLC) services to some UEs while providing enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) services to other UEs, and / or massive machine-type communication (mMTC) / massive IoT services to yet another set of UEs.

[0248] In some examples, UE QQ112 is configured to send and / or receive information without direct human interaction. For example, the UE can be designed to send information to access network QQ104 according to a predetermined schedule when triggered by internal or external events or in response to a request from access network QQ104. Additionally, the UE can be configured to operate in single-RAT mode, multi-RAT mode, or multi-standard mode. For example, the UE can operate using any one or a combination of Wi-Fi, NR (New Radio), and LTE, i.e., configured for multi-radio dual connectivity (MR-DC), such as E-UTRAN (Evolved UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network) New Radio Dual Connectivity (EN-DC).

[0249] In this example, the central QQ114 communicates with the access network QQ104 to facilitate indirect communication between one or more UEs (e.g., UE QQ112c and / or QQ112d) and a network node (e.g., network node QQ110b). In some examples, the central QQ114 may be a controller, router, content source and analyzer, or any other communication device described herein relating to the UE. For example, the central QQ114 may be a broadband router that enables the UE to access the core network QQ106. As another example, the central QQ114 may be a controller that sends commands or instructions to one or more actuators in the UE. Commands or instructions may be received from the UE, network node QQ110, or via executable code, scripts, processes, or other instructions in the central QQ114. As another example, the central QQ114 may be a data collector that acts as a temporary storage device for UE data, and in some embodiments, may perform data analysis or other processing. As another example, the central QQ114 may be a content source. For example, for a UE acting as a VR headset, display, speaker, or other media delivery device, the central QQ114 can retrieve VR assets, videos, audio, or other media or data related to perception information via network nodes, and then provide them directly to the UE after performing local processing and / or adding additional local content. In yet another example, the central QQ114 acts as a proxy server or orchestrator for the UE, particularly if one or more of these UEs are low-power IoT devices.

[0250] The central hub QQ114 may have a continuous / persistent or intermittent connection with the network node QQ110b. The central hub QQ114 may also allow different communication schemes and / or scheduling between the central hub QQ114 and the UE (e.g., UE QQ112c and / or QQ112d) and between the central hub QQ114 and the core network QQ106. In other examples, the central hub QQ114 is connected to the core network QQ106 and / or one or more UEs via a wired connection. Furthermore, the central hub QQ114 may be configured to connect to an M2M service provider via the access network QQ104, and / or to another UE via a direct connection. In some scenarios, the UE may establish a wireless connection with the network node QQ110 while still being connected via the central hub QQ114 via a wired or wireless connection. In some embodiments, the central hub QQ114 may be a dedicated hub—that is, a hub whose primary function is to route communication from the network node QQ110b to the UE / to the network node QQ110b. In other embodiments, the central hub QQ114 may be a non-dedicated hub—that is, a device capable of operating to route communication between the UE and network node QQ110b, but additionally capable of operating as a communication start point and / or endpoint for certain data channels.

[0251] Figure 8 A UE QQ200 according to some embodiments is illustrated. As used herein, a UE refers to a device capable of, configured, positioned, and / or operable to wirelessly communicate with network nodes and / or other UEs. Examples of UEs include, but are not limited to, smartphones, mobile phones, cellular phones, Voice over IP (VoIP) phones, wireless local loop phones, desktop computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), wireless cameras, gaming consoles or devices, music storage devices, playback devices, wearable terminal devices, wireless endpoints, mobile stations, tablet computers, laptop computers, laptop embedded devices (LEEs), laptop-mounted devices (LMEs), smart devices, wireless client devices (CPEs), vehicle-mounted or vehicle-embedded / integrated wireless devices, etc. Other examples include any UE identified by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), including Narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT) UEs, Machine Type Communication (MTC) UEs, and / or Enhanced MTC (eMTC) UEs.

[0252] The UE can support device-to-device (D2D) communication, for example, by implementing 3GPP standards for sidelink communication, Dedicated Short-Range Communication (DSRC), vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I), or vehicle-to-everything (V2X). In other examples, the UE may not necessarily be a user in the sense of a human user who owns and / or operates the associated device. Alternatively, the UE may represent a device intended to be sold to or operated by a human user but which may not or initially may not be associated with a particular human user (e.g., a smart sprinkler controller). Alternatively, the UE may represent a device not intended to be sold to or operated by an end user but which may be associated with or operated for the benefit of the user (e.g., a smart power meter).

[0253] UE QQ200 includes processing circuitry QQ202, which is operatively coupled via bus QQ204 to input / output interface QQ206, power supply QQ208, memory QQ210, communication interface QQ212, and / or any other component, or any combination thereof. Some UEs may utilize Figure 8 The components shown may be all or a subset. The level of integration between components can vary depending on the UE. Furthermore, some UEs may include multiple instances of components, such as multiple processors, memories, transceivers, transmitters, receivers, etc.

[0254] The processing circuit QQ202 is configured to process instructions and data and can be configured to implement any sequential state machine operable to execute instructions stored as a machine-readable computer program in memory QQ210. The processing circuit QQ202 can be implemented as: one or more hardware-implemented state machines (e.g., implemented with discrete logic, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), etc.); programmable logic together with appropriate firmware; one or more stored computer programs, general-purpose processors (e.g., microprocessors or digital signal processors (DSPs)) together with appropriate software; or any combination of the foregoing. For example, the processing circuit QQ202 may include multiple central processing units (CPUs).

[0255] In this example, the input / output interface QQ206 can be configured to provide one or more interfaces to input devices, output devices, or one or more input and / or output devices. Examples of output devices include speakers, sound cards, video cards, displays, monitors, printers, actuators, transmitters, smart cards, other output devices, or any combination thereof. Input devices can allow users to capture information into the UE QQ200. Examples of input devices include touch-sensitive or presence-sensitive displays, cameras (e.g., digital cameras, digital camcorders, webcams, etc.), microphones, sensors, mice, trackballs, directional keys, touchpads, scroll wheels, smart cards, etc. Presence-sensitive displays may include capacitive or resistive touch sensors to sense input from the user. Sensors may be, for example, accelerometers, gyroscopes, tilt sensors, force sensors, magnetometers, optical sensors, proximity sensors, biometric sensors, etc., or any combination thereof. Output devices can use the same type of interface port as input devices. For example, a Universal Serial Bus (USB) port can be used to provide both input and output devices.

[0256] In some embodiments, the power supply QQ208 is configured as a battery or battery pack. Other types of power sources can be used, such as external power sources (e.g., power outlets), photovoltaic devices, or batteries. The power supply QQ208 may also include power circuitry for delivering power from the power supply QQ208 itself and / or an external power source to various parts of the UEQQ200 via input circuitry or an interface such as a power cable. Power delivery can be used, for example, for charging the power supply QQ208. The power circuitry can perform any formatting, conversion, or other modifications on the power from the power supply QQ208 to suit the power for the various components of the UE QQ200 to which it is supplied power.

[0257] The memory QQ210 can be or is configured to include memory such as random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), disk, optical disk, hard disk, removable magnetic tape, flash drive, etc. In one example, the memory QQ210 includes one or more application programs QQ214, such as an operating system, web browser application, widget, utility engine, or other application, and corresponding data QQ216. The memory QQ210 can store any one or a combination of various operating systems used by the UE QQ200.

[0258] The QQ210 memory can be configured to include multiple physical drive units, such as a Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID), flash memory, a USB flash drive, an external hard drive, a thumb drive, a pen drive, a key drive, a high-density digital multifunction optical disc (HD-DVD) drive, an internal hard drive, a Blu-ray disc drive, a holographic digital data storage (HDDS) disc drive, an external mini dual in-line memory module (DIMM), synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), external micro DIMM SDRAM, smart card memory (e.g., a tamper-proof module in the form of a Universal Integrated Circuit Card (UICC), including one or more Subscriber Identification Modules (SIMs), such as USIM and / or ISIM), other memory, or any combination thereof. The UICC can be, for example, an embedded UICC (eUICC), an integrated UICC (iUICC), or a removable UICC commonly referred to as a "SIM card." The QQ210 memory allows the UE QQ200 to access instructions, applications, etc., stored on transient or non-transient storage media to unload or upload data. Articles such as those utilizing communication systems may be tangibly embodied in or contained in memory QQ210, which may be or include a device-readable storage medium.

[0259] The processing circuitry QQ202 can be configured to communicate with an access network or other network using a communication interface QQ212. The communication interface QQ212 may include one or more communication subsystems and may include an antenna QQ222 or be communicatively coupled to the antenna QQ222. The communication interface QQ212 may include one or more transceivers for communication (e.g., via one or more remote transceivers capable of wireless communication with another device (e.g., another UE or a network node in the access network). Each transceiver may include a transmitter QQ218 and / or a receiver QQ220 suitable for providing network communication (e.g., optical, electrical, frequency assignment, etc.). Furthermore, the transmitter QQ218 and receiver QQ220 may be coupled to one or more antennas (e.g., antenna QQ222) and may share circuit components, software, or firmware, or alternatively, be implemented separately.

[0260] In the illustrated embodiment, the communication functions of the communication interface QQ212 may include cellular communication, Wi-Fi communication, LPWAN communication, data communication, voice communication, multimedia communication, short-range communication such as Bluetooth, near-field communication, location-based communication (e.g., using a Global Positioning System (GPS) to determine location), another type of communication function, or any combination thereof. Communication may be implemented according to one or more communication protocols and / or standards (e.g., IEEE 802.11, Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), GSM, LTE, New Radio (NR), UMTS, WiMax, Ethernet, Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol (TCP / IP), Synchronous Optical Network (SONET), Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), QUIC, Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), etc.).

[0261] Regardless of the sensor type, the UE can provide the output of data captured by its sensors via its communication interface QQ212 through a wireless connection with a network node. Data captured by the UE's sensors can be transmitted via another UE through the same wireless connection. The output can be periodic (e.g., every 15 minutes if it reports the sensed temperature), random (e.g., to balance the load of reports from several sensors), responsive to a triggered event (e.g., sending an alarm when humidity is detected), responsive to a request (e.g., a user-initiated request), or a continuous stream (e.g., real-time video feed of a patient).

[0262] As another example, the UE includes actuators, motors, or switches associated with a communication interface configured to receive wireless input from a network node via a wireless connection. The state of the actuator, motor, or switch can change in response to the received wireless input. For example, the UE may include a motor that adjusts the control surfaces or rotors of a flying drone based on the received input, or adjusts a robotic arm performing a medical procedure based on the received input.

[0263] When the UE is in the form of an Internet of Things (IoT) device, the UE can be a device used in one or more application areas, including but not limited to urban wearable technology, extended industrial applications, and healthcare. Non-limiting examples of such IoT devices include or embedded in the following devices: connected refrigerators or freezers, televisions, connected lighting devices, electricity meters, robotic vacuum cleaners, voice-controlled smart speakers, home security cameras, motion detectors, thermostats, smoke detectors, door and window sensors, flood / humidity sensors, electronic door locks, connected doorbells, air conditioning systems (such as heat pumps), autonomous vehicles, surveillance systems, weather monitoring devices, vehicle parking monitoring devices, electric vehicle charging stations, smartwatches, fitness trackers, head-mounted displays for augmented reality (AR) or virtual reality (VR), wearable devices for haptic or sensory enhancement, sprinklers, animal or item tracking devices, sensors for monitoring plants or animals, industrial robots, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), and any kind of medical device (such as heart rate monitors or remote-controlled surgical robots). In addition to the above... Figure 8 In addition to the other components described in the UE QQ200 shown, UEs in the form of IoT devices also include circuitry and / or software depending on the intended application of the IoT device.

[0264] As another specific example, in an IoT scenario, a UE can represent a machine or other device that performs monitoring and / or measurement and sends the results of such monitoring and / or measurement to another UE and / or network node. In this case, the UE can be an M2M device, which can be referred to as an MTC device in the 3GPP context. As a specific example, this UE can implement the 3GPP NB-IoT standard. In other scenarios, a UE can represent a vehicle (e.g., a car, bus, truck, ship, and aircraft) or other device capable of monitoring and / or reporting its operational status or other functions associated with its operation.

[0265] In practice, any number of UEs can be used together for a single use case. For example, the first UE can be a drone or integrated into a drone, and provides the drone's speed information (obtained via a speed sensor) to a second UE, which is a remote controller for operating the drone. When the user makes a change from the remote controller, the first UE can adjust the throttle on the drone (e.g., by controlling the actuators) to increase or decrease the drone's speed. The first UE and / or the second UE can also include more than one of the functions described above. For example, the UE can include sensors and actuators, and handle data communication between both the speed sensor and the actuators.

[0266] Figure 9A network node QQ300 according to some embodiments is illustrated. As used herein, a network node refers to a device that is capable of, configured, arranged, and / or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with a UE and / or with other network nodes or devices in a telecommunications network. Examples of network nodes include, but are not limited to, access points (APs) (e.g., radio access points), base stations (BSs) (e.g., radio base stations, NodeBs, evolved NodeBs (eNBs), NR NodeBs (gNBs)), O-RAN nodes, or components of O-RAN nodes (e.g., intelligent controllers, O-RUs, O-DUs, O-CUs).

[0267] Base stations can be classified based on the coverage they provide (or, in other words, their transmission power levels); therefore, depending on the coverage provided, a base station can be called a femtobase, picobase, microbase, or macrobase. A base station can be a relay node or a relay donor for control relays. Network nodes can also include one or more (or all) portions of a distributed radio base station, such as centralized digital units and / or remote radio units (RRUs), sometimes referred to as remote radio headends (RRHs). These remote radio units can be integrated with antennas to form an antenna-integrated radio, or they can be independent of antenna integration. A portion of a distributed radio base station can also be referred to as a node in a distributed antenna system (DAS).

[0268] Other examples of network nodes include multi-transmitter point (multi-TRP) 5G access nodes, multi-standard radio (MSR) devices (e.g., MSR BS), network controllers (e.g., radio network controllers (RNC) or base station controllers (BSC)), base transceiver stations (BTS), transmitter points, transmitter nodes, multi-cell / multicast coordination entities (MCE), operations and maintenance (O&M) nodes, operations support system (OSS) nodes, self-organizing network (SON) nodes, location nodes (e.g., evolved Serving Mobility Location Center (E-SMLC)) and / or minimized drive test (MDT).

[0269] Network node QQ300 includes processing circuitry QQ302, memory QQ304, communication interface QQ306, and power supply QQ308. Network node QQ300 can consist of multiple physically separate components (e.g., NodeB and RNC components, BTS and BSC components, etc.), each with its own corresponding components. In some scenarios where network node QQ300 includes multiple separate components (e.g., BTS and BSC components), one or more separate components can be shared among several network nodes. For example, a single RNC can control multiple NodeBs. In such scenarios, each unique "NodeB and RNC pair" can be considered a single network node in some cases. In some embodiments, network node QQ300 can be configured to support multiple Radio Access Technologies (RATs). In such embodiments, some components can be replicated (e.g., separate memory QQ304 exists for different RATs), and some components can be reused (e.g., the same antenna QQ310 can be shared by different RATs). The network node QQ300 may also include multiple sets of various components shown for different wireless technologies (e.g., GSM, WCDMA, LTE, NR, WiFi, Zigbee, Z-wave, LoRaWAN, RFID, or Bluetooth wireless technologies). These wireless technologies may be integrated into the same or different chips or chipsets and other components within the network node QQ300.

[0270] The processing circuitry QQ302 may include one or more of the following: a microprocessor, a controller, a central processing unit, a digital signal processor, an application-specific integrated circuit, a field-programmable gate array, or any other suitable computing device, resource, or combination of hardware, software and / or coding logic, operable to provide network node QQ300 functionality, either alone or in combination with other network node QQ300 components (e.g., memory QQ304).

[0271] In some embodiments, the processing circuit QQ302 includes a system-on-a-chip (SOC). In some embodiments, the processing circuit QQ302 includes one or more of a radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuit QQ312 and a baseband processing circuit QQ314. In some embodiments, the RF transceiver circuit QQ312 and the baseband processing circuit QQ314 may be on separate chips (or chipsets), boards, or units (e.g., radio units and digital units). In alternative embodiments, some or all of the RF transceiver circuit QQ312 and the baseband processing circuit QQ314 may be on the same chip or chipset, board, or unit group.

[0272] The memory QQ304 may include any form of volatile or non-volatile computer-readable memory, including but not limited to permanent storage devices, solid-state memory, remotely mounted memory, magnetic media, optical media, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), mass storage media (e.g., hard disk), removable storage media (e.g., flash drives, optical discs (CDs), or digital video discs (DVDs)) and / or any other volatile or non-volatile, non-transitory device-readable and / or computer-executable memory device that stores information, data, and / or instructions usable by the processing circuitry QQ302. The memory QQ304 may store any suitable instructions, data, or information, including computer programs, software, applications including logic, rules, codes, tables, and / or other instructions executable by the processing circuitry QQ302 and usable by the network node QQ300. The memory QQ304 may be used to store any calculations performed by the processing circuitry QQ302 and / or any data received via the communication interface QQ306. In some embodiments, the processing circuitry QQ302 and the memory QQ304 are integrated together.

[0273] Communication interface QQ306 is used for wired or wireless communication of signaling and / or data between network nodes, access networks, and / or UEs. As shown, communication interface QQ306 includes a port / terminal QQ316 for transmitting and receiving data to and from the network, for example, via a wired connection. Communication interface QQ306 also includes radio front-end circuitry QQ318, which may be coupled to antenna QQ310, or in some embodiments, to a portion of antenna QQ310. Radio front-end circuitry QQ318 includes a filter QQ320 and an amplifier QQ322. Radio front-end circuitry QQ318 may be connected to antenna QQ310 and processing circuitry QQ302. Radio front-end circuitry QQ318 can be configured to modulate the signal transmitted between antenna QQ310 and processing circuitry QQ302. Radio front-end circuitry QQ318 can receive digital data to be transmitted to other network nodes or UEs via a wireless connection. Radio front-end circuitry QQ318 can use a combination of filter QQ320 and / or amplifier QQ322 to convert the digital data into a radio signal with appropriate channel and bandwidth parameters. The radio signal can then be transmitted via antenna QQ310. Similarly, when data is received, the antenna QQ310 can collect radio signals, which are then converted into digital data by the radio front-end circuit QQ318. The digital data can then be passed to the processing circuit QQ302. In other embodiments, the communication interface may include different components and / or different combinations of components.

[0274] In some alternative embodiments, network node QQ300 does not include a separate radio front-end circuit QQ318; instead, processing circuitry QQ302 includes radio front-end circuitry and is connected to antenna QQ310. Similarly, in some embodiments, all or some of the RF transceiver circuitry QQ312 is part of communication interface QQ306. In yet another embodiment, communication interface QQ306 includes one or more ports or terminals QQ316, radio front-end circuitry QQ318, and RF transceiver circuitry QQ312 as part of a radio unit (not shown), and communication interface QQ306 communicates with baseband processing circuitry QQ314, which is part of a digital unit (not shown).

[0275] Antenna QQ310 may include one or more antennas or antenna arrays configured to transmit and / or receive wireless signals. Antenna QQ310 may be coupled to radio front-end circuitry QQ318 and may be any type of antenna capable of wirelessly transmitting and receiving data and / or signals. In some embodiments, antenna QQ310 is decoupled from network node QQ300 and may be connected to network node QQ300 via an interface or port.

[0276] Antenna QQ310, communication interface QQ306, and / or processing circuitry QQ302 can be configured to perform any receive operation and / or certain acquire operation described herein by a network node. Any information, data, and / or signals can be received from the UE, another network node, and / or any other network device. Similarly, antenna QQ310, communication interface QQ306, and / or processing circuitry QQ302 can be configured to perform any transmit operation described herein by a network node. Any information, data, and / or signals can be transmitted to the UE, another network node, and / or any other network device.

[0277] Power supply QQ308 provides power to the various components of network node QQ300 in a manner suitable for each component (e.g., at the voltage and current levels required by each respective component). Power supply QQ308 may also include or be coupled to power management circuitry to supply power to the components of network node QQ300 for performing the functions described herein. For example, network node QQ300 may be connected to an external power source (e.g., mains, power outlet) via input circuitry or an interface (e.g., cable), thereby supplying power to the power circuitry of power supply QQ308. As another example, power supply QQ308 may include a power source in the form of a battery or battery pack, which is connected to or integrated into the power circuitry. The battery can provide backup power if the external power source fails.

[0278] Implementations of the network node QQ300 may include more than Figure 9 The components shown are additional components used to provide certain aspects of the functionality of the network node (including any functionality described herein and / or any functionality required to support the topics described herein). For example, the network node QQ300 may include a user interface device to allow information to be input into and output from the network node QQ300. This allows users to perform diagnostic, maintenance, repair, and other management functions on the network node QQ300.

[0279] Figure 10 This is a block diagram of the QQ400 host based on the various aspects described in this article. The QQ400 host can be... Figure 7 The embodiment of host QQ116. As used herein, host QQ400 can be or include various combinations of hardware and / or software (including processing resources in a standalone server, blade server, cloud-implemented server, distributed server, virtual machine, container, or server cluster). Host QQ400 can provide one or more services to one or more UEs.

[0280] The host QQ400 includes processing circuitry QQ402, which is operatively coupled via bus QQ404 to input / output interface QQ406, network interface QQ408, power supply QQ410, and memory QQ412. Other components may be included in other embodiments. The features of these components may be substantially similar to those described with respect to the device in the previous figures (e.g., Figures QQ2 and QQ3), such that the description is generally applicable to the corresponding components of the host QQ400.

[0281] The memory QQ412 may include one or more computer programs, including data QQ416 and one or more host applications QQ414. The data QQ416 may include user data, such as data generated by the UE for the host QQ400, or data generated by the host QQ400 for the UE. Embodiments of the host QQ400 may utilize only a subset or all of the illustrated components. The host application QQ414 may be implemented in a container-based architecture and may provide support for video codecs (e.g., Universal Video Coding (VVC), High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC), Advanced Video Coding (AVC), MPEG, VP9) and audio codecs (e.g., FLAC, Advanced Audio Coding (AAC), MPEG, G.711), including transcoding for various categories, types, or implementations of UEs (e.g., mobile phones, desktop computers, wearable display systems, head-up display systems). The host application QQ414 may also provide user authentication and authorization checks and may periodically report health status, routing, and content availability to a central node (e.g., a device in the core network or a device at the edge of the core network). Therefore, the host QQ400 can select and / or indicate different hosts for the UE to use for overhead services. The host application QQ414 can support various protocols, such as HTTP Live Streaming (HLS), Real-time Messaging Protocol (RTMP), Real-time Streaming Protocol (RTSP), Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP (MPEG-DASH), etc.

[0282] Figure 11 This is a block diagram illustrating a virtualization environment QQ500 capable of virtualizing functionality implemented by some embodiments. In this context, virtualization means creating a virtual version of an apparatus or device that may include a virtualized hardware platform, storage devices, and network resources. As used herein, virtualization can be applied to any device or component thereof described herein, and involves at least a portion of its functionality being implemented as an implementation of one or more virtual components. Some or all of the functionality described herein can be implemented as virtual components executed by one or more virtual machines (VMs) in one or more virtual environments QQ500 hosted by one or more hardware nodes (e.g., hardware computing devices operating as network nodes, UEs, core network nodes, or hosts). Furthermore, in embodiments where virtual nodes do not require radio connectivity (e.g., core network nodes or hosts), the nodes can be fully virtualized. In some embodiments, the virtualization environment QQ500 includes components defined by the O-RAN Alliance, such as an O-Cloud environment orchestrated via an O-2 interface by a service management and orchestration framework.

[0283] The application QQ502 (which may alternatively be referred to as a software instance, virtual device, network function, virtual node, virtual network function, etc.) is run in the virtualization environment QQ400 to implement some of the features, functions and / or benefits of some of the embodiments disclosed herein.

[0284] The hardware QQ504 includes processing circuitry, memory storing software and / or instructions executable by the hardware processing circuitry, and / or other hardware devices described herein (e.g., network interfaces, input / output interfaces, etc.). The software can be executed by the processing circuitry to instantiate one or more virtualization layers QQ506 (also referred to as hypervisors or virtual machine monitors (VMMs)), provide VMs QQ508a and QQ508b (one or more of which may generally be referred to as VM QQ508), and / or perform any functions, features, and / or benefits described in relation to some embodiments described herein. The virtualization layer QQ506 can present a virtual operating platform to the VM QQ508, which appears as network hardware.

[0285] VM QQ508 includes virtual processing, virtual memory, virtual network or interface, and virtual storage, and can be run by a corresponding virtualization layer QQ506. Different embodiments of instances of virtual device QQ502 can be implemented on one or more VM QQ508, and these implementations can be made in different ways. In some contexts, hardware virtualization is referred to as Network Functions Virtualization (NFV). NFV can be used to unify numerous network device types onto industry-standard high-capacity server hardware, physical switches, and physical storage devices that can reside in data centers and customer premises equipment (CPE).

[0286] In the context of NFV, a VM QQ508 can be a software implementation of a physical machine, and its program runs as if it were running on a physical, non-virtualized machine. Each VM QQ508, along with the portion of the hardware QQ504 that executes for that VM (whether it is hardware dedicated to that VM and / or hardware shared by that VM with other VMs), forms a separate virtual network element. Still within the context of NFV, the virtual network function is responsible for handling the specific network functions running on one or more VM QQ508s above the hardware QQ504 and corresponding to the application of QQ502.

[0287] The hardware QQ504 can be implemented in a standalone network node with general or specific components. Some functions of the hardware QQ504 can be implemented via virtualization. Alternatively, the hardware QQ504 can be part of a larger hardware cluster (e.g., in a data center or CPE) where many hardware nodes work together and are managed by a management and orchestration QQ510, which in particular oversees the lifecycle management of the application QQ502. In some embodiments, the hardware QQ504 is coupled to one or more radio units, each radio unit including one or more transmitters and one or more receivers that can be coupled to one or more antennas. The radio units can communicate directly with other hardware nodes via one or more suitable network interfaces and can be used in conjunction with virtual components to provide radio capabilities to virtual nodes (e.g., radio access nodes or base stations). In some embodiments, some signaling can be provided by using a control system QQ512, which can alternatively be used for communication between the hardware nodes and the radio units.

[0288] Figure 12 A communication diagram is shown showing a host QQ602 communicating with a UE QQ606 via a partial wireless connection through a network node QQ604, according to some embodiments. Reference will now be made to... Figure 12 To describe the UE discussed in the preceding paragraphs (e.g., Figure 7 UEQQ112a and / or Figure 8 UE QQ200), network nodes (e.g., Figure 7 Network node QQ110a and / or Figure 9 The network node QQ300) and the host (e.g., Figure 7 The host QQ116 and / or Figure 10 Example implementations of the host QQ400 according to various embodiments.

[0289] Similar to host QQ400, embodiments of host QQ602 include hardware such as a communication interface, processing circuitry, and memory. Host QQ602 also includes software stored in or accessible by host QQ602 and executable by the processing circuitry. This software includes a host application operable to provide services to remote users, such as UEQQ606 connected via an over-the-top (OTT) connection QQ650 extending between UE QQ606 and host QQ602. When providing services to remote users, the host application can provide user data sent using the OTT connection QQ650.

[0290] Network node QQ604 includes hardware that enables it to communicate with host QQ602 and UE QQ606. Connection to QQ604 can be a direct connection or via a core network (such as...). Figure 7 The connection is to the core network (QQ106) and / or one or more other intermediate networks (e.g., one or more public, private, or hosted networks). For example, an intermediate network could be a backbone network or the Internet.

[0291] UE QQ606 includes hardware and software stored within or accessible by UE QQ606 and executable by the UE's processing circuitry. The software includes client applications (e.g., web browsers or operator-specific "applications") operable to provide services to human or non-human users via UE QQ606, supported by host QQ602. In host QQ602, the executing host application can communicate with the executing client application via OTT connection QQ650, which terminates between UE QQ606 and host QQ602. When providing services to a user, the UE's client application can receive request data from the host application of the host and, in response to the request data, provide user data. OTT connection QQ650 can transmit both request data and user data. The UE's client application can interact with the user to generate user data provided to the host application via OTT connection QQ650.

[0292] The OTT connection QQ650 can be extended via connection QQ660 between host QQ602 and network node QQ604, and via wireless connection QQ670 between network node QQ604 and UE QQ606, to provide connectivity between host QQ602 and UE QQ606. Connection QQ660 and wireless connection QQ670, which provide OTT connection QQ650, have been abstractly drawn to illustrate communication between host QQ602 and UE QQ606 via network node QQ604, without explicitly involving any intermediate devices or the precise routing of messages via these devices.

[0293] As an example of sending data via an OTT connection QQ650, in step QQ608, host QQ602 provides user data, which can be performed by executing a host application. In some embodiments, the user data is associated with a specific human user interacting with UE QQ606. In other embodiments, the user data is associated with UE QQ606, which shares data with host QQ602 without explicit human interaction. In step QQ610, host QQ602 initiates a transmission to UE QQ606 carrying user data. Host QQ602 may initiate the transmission in response to a request sent by UE QQ606. This request may be caused by human interaction with UE QQ606 or by the operation of a client application executed on UE QQ606. Based on the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure, this transmission may be delivered via network node QQ604. Therefore, in step QQ612, based on the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure, network node QQ604 sends the user data carried in the transmission initiated by host QQ602 to UE QQ606. In step QQ614, UE QQ606 receives the user data carried in the transmission, which can be performed by a client application running on UE QQ606, which is associated with a host application running by host QQ602.

[0294] In some examples, UE QQ606 executes a client application that provides user data to host QQ602. User data can be provided as a response to data received from host QQ602. Therefore, in step QQ616, UE QQ606 can provide user data, which can be done by executing the client application. When providing user data, the client application may also consider user input received from the user via the input / output interface of UE QQ606. Regardless of the specific manner in which user data is provided, in step QQ618, UE QQ606 initiates the transmission of user data to host QQ602 via network node QQ604. In step QQ620, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure, network node QQ604 receives user data from UE QQ606 and initiates the transmission of the received user data to host QQ602. In step QQ622, host QQ602 receives the user data carried in the transmission initiated by UE QQ606.

[0295] One or more embodiments in various examples improve the performance of OTT services provided to UE QQ606 using OTT connection QQ650, in which radio connection QQ670 forms the final part. More specifically, the teachings of these embodiments enable priority processing among multiple Random Access Channel (RACH) procedures. In some embodiments, priority processing among multiple RACH procedures can avoid interruption (or even failure) to the serving cell. In additional or alternative embodiments, transmission and reception with the serving cell are not out of sync for extended periods. In additional or alternative embodiments, cell priority processing can allow the UE to avoid or reduce delays in random access procedures (e.g., early UL synchronization procedures) that might otherwise result in insufficient time for the network to calculate the TA value before triggering an LTM cell handover procedure at the UE. In this case, since the LTM cell handover command sent to the UE to initiate the LTM cell handover procedure may include the TA value, the only solution for the UE if the network cannot calculate the TA value is to perform the LTM cell handover procedure, which includes initiating a random access procedure.

[0296] In the example scenario, host QQ602 can collect and analyze plant status information. As another example, host QQ602 can process audio and video data that may have been retrieved from the UE for creating mappings. As another example, host QQ602 can collect and analyze real-time data to assist in controlling vehicle congestion (e.g., controlling traffic lights). As another example, host QQ602 can store surveillance video uploaded by the UE. As another example, host QQ602 can store or control access to media content such as video, audio, VR, or AR, which can be broadcast, multicast, or unicast to the UE. As other examples, host QQ602 can be used for energy pricing, remote control of non-time-critical power loads to balance generation demand, location services, presentation services (e.g., compiling charts based on data collected from remote devices), or any other function that collects, retrieves, stores, analyzes, and / or transmits data.

[0297] In some examples, a measurement process may be provided for the purpose of monitoring improved data rates, latency, and other factors of one or more embodiments. Optional network functions may also be present for reconfiguring the OTT connection QQ650 between host QQ602 and UE QQ606 in response to changes in measurement results. The measurement process and / or the network functions for reconfiguring the OTT connection may be implemented in the software and hardware of host QQ602 and / or UE QQ606. In some embodiments, sensors (not shown) may be deployed in or associated with other devices traversed by the OTT connection QQ650; the sensors may participate in the measurement process by providing values ​​of the monitored quantities exemplified above or by providing values ​​of other physical quantities from which the software can calculate or estimate the monitored quantities. Reconfiguration of the OTT connection QQ650 may include message formatting, retransmission settings, preferred routing, etc.; reconfiguration does not require a direct change in the operation of network node QQ604. Such processes and functions may be known and practiced in the art. In some embodiments, the measurement may involve proprietary UE signaling that facilitates host QQ602's measurement of throughput, propagation time, latency, etc. Measurement can be achieved by having the software use an OTT connection to QQ650 to send messages (especially empty or "virtual" messages) while monitoring propagation time, errors, etc.

[0298] While the computing devices described herein (e.g., UE, network node, host) may include combinations of the hardware components shown, other embodiments may include computing devices with different combinations of components. It should be understood that these computing devices may include any suitable combination of hardware and / or software required to perform the tasks, features, functions, and methods disclosed herein. The determination, calculation, acquisition, or similar operations described herein may be performed by processing circuitry that processes information in ways such as: converting acquired information into other information, comparing the acquired or converted information with information stored in a network node, and / or performing one or more operations based on the acquired or converted information, and making determinations based on the results of said processing. Furthermore, although components are depicted as single boxes located within larger boxes or nested within multiple boxes, in practice, a computing device may include multiple different physical components constituting a single illustrated component, and functionality may be partitioned between individual components. For example, a communication interface may be configured to include any of the components described herein, and / or the functionality of a component may be partitioned between processing circuitry and the communication interface. In another example, the non-computationally intensive functions of any such component may be implemented in software or firmware, and the computationally intensive functions may be implemented in hardware.

[0299] In some embodiments, some or all of the functions described herein may be provided by processing circuitry that executes instructions stored in memory, which in some embodiments may be a computer program product in the form of a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. In alternative embodiments, some or all of the functions may be provided by the processing circuitry, for example, in a hard-wired manner, without executing instructions stored on a separate or discrete device-readable storage medium. In any of these particular embodiments, the processing circuitry may be configured to perform the described functions regardless of whether instructions stored on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium are executed. The benefits provided by such functions are not limited to the individual processing circuitry or other components of the computing device, but are enjoyed holistically by the computing device and / or generally by the end user and wireless network.

[0300] Example

[0301] 1. A method for operating a communication device (QQ200), the method comprising:

[0302] It is determined (610) that the first triggering condition for initiating the first random access (RA) procedure has been met;

[0303] After determining that the first triggering condition has been met and before completing the first RA process, determine (620) that the second triggering condition for initiating the second RA process has been met;

[0304] In response to determining that the second triggering condition has been met, determine (630) which of the first RA process and the second RA process should be processed first; and

[0305] In response to determining which of the first RA process and the second RA process should be processed first, process (640) or process (2) should be processed first.

[0306] 2. According to the method of embodiment 1, determining that the second triggering condition has been met includes: determining that the second triggering condition has been met before the communication device sends the RA preamble as part of the first RA process.

[0307] The first RA process or the second RA process includes sending the RA preamble as part of the first RA process or the second RA process.

[0308] 3. The method according to any one of Embodiments 1 to 2, wherein the first RA process includes an RA process for the serving cell, and

[0309] The second RA process includes an RA process for lower-layer triggered mobility (LTM) candidate cells.

[0310] 4. The method according to any one of Embodiments 1 to 2, wherein the first RA process includes an RA process for triggering mobility (LTM) candidate cells at the lower layer, and

[0311] The second RA process includes the RA process for the serving cell.

[0312] 5. The method according to any one of Embodiments 1 to 2, wherein the first RA process includes an RA process for a first lower-layer triggered mobility (LTM) candidate cell, and

[0313] The second RA process includes the RA process for the second LTM candidate cell.

[0314] 6. The method according to any one of embodiments 1 to 5, wherein determining which of the first RA process and the second RA process to prioritize processing includes: determining which of the first RA process and the second RA process to prioritize processing based on configuration information.

[0315] 7. The method according to embodiment 6, wherein the configuration information includes one or more priority processing rules, and these priority processing rules include at least one of the following:

[0316] Prioritize processing RA procedures associated with the serving cell;

[0317] Prioritize handling RA processes triggered by fault events;

[0318] Prioritize handling RA processes triggered by early UL synchronization processes;

[0319] The RA process is processed in priority based on the order in which the instruction to initiate the RA process is received;

[0320] Prioritize the RA process based on L1 measurement;

[0321] Prioritize the RA process based on L3 measurements;

[0322] Prioritize processing the RA process of the strongest cell among "N" cells based on the measurement;

[0323] Based on the time of the last random access procedure performed with the cell, the RA procedure associated with that cell is processed first.

[0324] Prioritize processing RA procedures where the communication device has initiated a random access procedure and will perform random access preamble retransmission;

[0325] Prioritize processing the RA procedure during the first random access preamble transmission performed by the UE;

[0326] Prioritize processing RA procedures that will transmit random access at the highest power;

[0327] Prioritize processing RA procedures that transmit random access at the lowest power;

[0328] Prioritize the RA process based on link budget;

[0329] Prioritize the RA process based on the characteristics of random access.

[0330] Prioritize handling RA procedures where random access is a 2-step random access process;

[0331] Prioritize handling RA procedures where random access is a 4-step random access process;

[0332] Prioritize handling RA procedures where random access is contention-free random access;

[0333] Prioritize random access procedures (RA) that are contention-based random access.

[0334] Prioritize the RA process based on random access resource selection;

[0335] Prioritize handling RA processes that are running or not running the beam fault recovery timer;

[0336] Prioritize the RA process based on random selection;

[0337] Prioritize the RA process based on cyclic selection;

[0338] Prioritize the RA process based on access denial or access control;

[0339] When the UE has received a triggering condition for RACH transmission to an LTM candidate cell in response to a PDCCH command (which is received in response to a lower-layer measurement), the RA procedure associated with the LTM candidate cell is processed first, rather than the RA to the serving cell; and

[0340] When an RA (Automatic Relay) is triggered for an LTM cell handover to the first LTM candidate cell, rather than for an RA to the second LTM candidate cell triggered by other events, the RA to the first LTM candidate cell is executed first, rather than the RA to the second LTM candidate cell.

[0341] 8. The method according to any one of embodiments 1 to 7, wherein determining which of the first RA process and the second RA process to prioritize processing comprises: determining which of the first RA process and the second RA process to prioritize processing based on the cell type associated with the first RA process and the cell type associated with the second RA process.

[0342] 9. The method according to any one of embodiments 1 to 8, wherein determining which of the first RA process and the second RA process to prioritize processing includes: determining that the first RA process should be prioritized.

[0343] The priority processing of the first RA process or the second RA process includes at least one of the following operations:

[0344] Execute the first RA procedure before executing the second RA procedure;

[0345] Initiate the first RA process before initiating the second RA process;

[0346] Suspend the second RA process until the first RA process is completed; and

[0347] The second RA process was terminated.

[0348] 10. The method according to any one of embodiments 1 to 9, wherein determining which of the first RA process and the second RA process to prioritize processing includes: determining that the second RA process should be prioritized.

[0349] The priority processing of the first RA process or the second RA process includes at least one of the following operations:

[0350] Execute the second RA procedure before executing the first RA procedure;

[0351] Initiate the second RA process before initiating the first RA process;

[0352] Suspend the first RA process until the second RA process is completed; and

[0353] The first RA process was terminated.

[0354] 11. A communication device (QQ200), the communication device comprising:

[0355] Processing circuit (QQ202); and

[0356] The memory (QQ210) is coupled to the processing circuitry and has instructions stored therein, which can be executed by the processing circuitry to cause the communication device to perform operations including any of the operations described in embodiments 1 to 10.

[0357] 12. A computer program comprising program code to be executed by a processing circuit (QQ202) of a communication device (QQ200), wherein execution of the program code causes the communication device to perform operations including any of the operations described in embodiments 1 to 10.

[0358] 13. A computer program product including a non-transitory storage medium (QQ210) comprising program code to be executed by a processing circuit (QQ202) of a communication device (QQ200), wherein execution of the program code causes the communication device to perform operations including any of the operations described in embodiments 1 to 10.

[0359] 14. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions stored therein, which are executable by a processing circuit (QQ202) of a communication device (QQ200) to cause the communication device to perform operations including any of the operations described in embodiments 1 to 10.

[0360] 15. A user equipment for prioritizing processing among multiple random access channel (RACH) procedures, comprising:

[0361] The processing circuitry is configured to perform any of the steps described in any embodiment of Group A; and

[0362] The power supply circuit is configured to supply power to the processing circuit.

[0363] 16. A user equipment (UE) for prioritizing among multiple random access channel (RACH) procedures, the UE comprising:

[0364] The antenna is configured to transmit and receive wireless signals;

[0365] A radio front-end circuit, connected to the antenna and processing circuitry, and configured to modulate the signal transmitted between the antenna and processing circuitry;

[0366] The processing circuitry is configured to perform any of the operations described in embodiments 1 to 10;

[0367] An input interface is connected to the processing circuitry and is configured to allow information to be input into the UE for processing by the processing circuitry.

[0368] An output interface, connected to the processing circuitry, is configured to output information already processed by the processing circuitry from the UE; and

[0369] The battery is connected to the processing circuitry and is configured to supply power to the UE.

[0370] 17. A host configured to operate in a communication system to provide over-the-top (OTT) services, the host comprising:

[0371] Processing circuitry is configured to provide user data; and

[0372] A network interface is configured to initiate the transmission of user data to a cellular network for transmission to a user equipment (UE), wherein the UE includes a communication interface and processing circuitry, and the UE's communication interface and processing circuitry are configured to perform any of the operations described in embodiments 1 to 10 to receive user data from a host.

[0373] 18. The host according to the foregoing embodiments, wherein the cellular network further includes a network node configured to communicate with the UE to send user data from the host to the UE.

[0374] 19. The host according to the foregoing two embodiments, wherein:

[0375] The host's processing circuitry is configured to execute host applications, thereby providing user data; and

[0376] The host application is configured to interact with a client application running on the UE, which is associated with the host application.

[0377] 20. A method implemented by a host operating in a communication system, the communication system further comprising a network node and a user equipment (UE), the method comprising:

[0378] Provide user data to the UE; and

[0379] A transmission to the UE is initiated via a cellular network including network nodes, the transmission carrying user data, wherein the UE performs any of the operations described in Embodiments 1 to 10 to receive user data from the host.

[0380] 21. The method according to the foregoing embodiments further includes:

[0381] At the host, a host application associated with the client application running on the UE is executed to receive user data from the host application.

[0382] 22. The method according to the foregoing embodiments further includes:

[0383] At the host, input data provided by executing the host application is sent to the client application running on the UE.

[0384] User data is provided by the client application in response to input data from the host application.

[0385] 23. A host configured to operate in a communication system to provide over-the-top (OTT) services, the host comprising:

[0386] Processing circuitry is configured to provide user data; and

[0387] A network interface configured to initiate the transmission of user data to a cellular network for transmission to a user equipment (UE), wherein the UE includes a communication interface and processing circuitry configured to perform any of the operations according to embodiments 1 to 10 to transmit user data to a host.

[0388] 24. The host according to the foregoing embodiments, wherein the cellular network further includes a network node configured to communicate with the UE to send user data from the UE to the host.

[0389] 25. The host according to the foregoing two embodiments, wherein:

[0390] The host's processing circuitry is configured to execute host applications, thereby providing user data; and

[0391] The host application is configured to interact with a client application running on the UE, which is associated with the host application.

[0392] 26. A method implemented by a host configured to operate in a communication system, the communication system further comprising a network node and a user equipment (UE), the method comprising:

[0393] At the host, user data sent by the UE to the host via a network node is received, wherein the UE performs any of the steps described in Embodiments 1 to 10 to send user data to the host.

[0394] 27. The method according to the foregoing embodiments further includes:

[0395] At the host, a host application associated with the client application running on the UE is executed to receive user data from the UE.

[0396] 28. The method according to the foregoing two embodiments further includes:

[0397] At the host, input data provided by executing the host application is sent to the client application running on the UE.

[0398] User data is provided by the client application in response to input data from the host application.

[0399] abbreviation

[0400] At least some of the following abbreviations may be used in this disclosure. In the event of inconsistencies between abbreviations, the usage above shall prevail. If listed multiple times below, the first listing shall take precedence over any subsequent listing.

[0401] 3GPP Third Generation Partnership Project

[0402] BSR Buffer Status Report

[0403] BWP bandwidth portion

[0404] CBRA (Contest-Based Random Access)

[0405] CCCH Common Control Channel

[0406] C-RNTI community RNTI

[0407] CG is already licensed.

[0408] CORESET Control Resource Set

[0409] CRC Cyclic Redundancy Check

[0410] CSI Channel Status Information

[0411] CSS Public Search Space

[0412] DCI downlink control information

[0413] DG Dynamic Licensing

[0414] DL downlink

[0415] DL-SCH downlink shared channel

[0416] DMRS demodulation reference signal

[0417] eMBB Enhanced Mobile Broadband

[0418] eRedCap Enhanced Reduced Capability NR Device

[0419] IE Information Elements

[0420] I-RNTI Inactive RNTI

[0421] LCH logical channel

[0422] LCID Logical Channel ID

[0423] LPWA (Low Power Wide Area)

[0424] LTE Long Term Evolution

[0425] MAC Media Access Control

[0426] MAC CE Media Access Control - Control Elements

[0427] MICO is limited to mobile-initiated communications.

[0428] MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output)

[0429] mMTC (Mass Machine Type Communication)

[0430] Msg1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 Messages from the four-step random access process 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5

[0431] MsgA / B2 messages in the random access procedure A / B

[0432] MTC Machine Type Communication

[0433] MT-SDT mobile termination small data transmission

[0434] NB-IoT Narrowband Internet of Things

[0435] NR New Radio

[0436] UL normal uplink

[0437] NW Network

[0438] OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing)

[0439] PC power control

[0440] PDCCH Physical Downlink Control Channel

[0441] PDSCH Physical Downlink Shared Channel

[0442] PDU Protocol Data Unit

[0443] PRACH Physical Random Access Channel

[0444] PRB Physical Resource Block

[0445] SCG Power Saving Mode

[0446] PUCCH (Physical Uplink Control Channel)

[0447] PUSCH Physical Uplink Shared Channel

[0448] RA Random Access

[0449] RACH Random Access Channel

[0450] RAI releases auxiliary information

[0451] RAPID random access preamble identifier

[0452] RAR Random Access Response

[0453] RACH Random Access Channel

[0454] RedCap reduces the capability of NR devices

[0455] RNTI Radio Network Temporary Identifier

[0456] RRC Radio Resource Control

[0457] RSRP Received Signal Reference Power

[0458] SDT Small Data Transmission

[0459] SCS subcarrier spacing

[0460] SI System Information

[0461] SIB System Information Block

[0462] SRISRS Resource Indicator

[0463] SRS detection reference signal

[0464] SSB Synchronization Signal Block

[0465] SUL supplements uplink

[0466] TC-RNTI Temporary Cell RNTI

[0467] UAIUE Assistance Information

[0468] UCI uplink control information

[0469] UE User Equipment

[0470] UL uplink

[0471] UL-SCH uplink shared channel

[0472] 5GC or 5GCN 5G core network

[0473] ACK confirmation

[0474] Automatic Gain Control (AGC)

[0475] AMF access and mobility management functions

[0476] AP Application Protocol

[0477] ARQ Automatic Repeat Request

[0478] BFD Beam Fault Monitoring

[0479] BFR beam fault recovery

[0480] BSR Buffer Status Report

[0481] BWP bandwidth portion

[0482] C-RNTI Cell Radio Network Temporary Identifier

[0483] CA carrier aggregation

[0484] CE control elements

[0485] CGI Cell Global Identifier

[0486] CHO condition switching

[0487] CN Core Network

[0488] CPA conditions added to PSCell

[0489] CPC condition PSCell change

[0490] CP Control Panel

[0491] CQI Channel Quality Indicator

[0492] C-RNTI Cell Radio Network Temporary Identifier

[0493] CSI Channel Status Information

[0494] CU Central Unit

[0495] DC Dual Connection

[0496] DCI downlink control information

[0497] DL downlink

[0498] DRB Data Radio Bearer

[0499] DU Distributed Unit

[0500] eNB (EUTRAN) base station

[0501] E-RABEUTRAN Radio Access Bearer

[0502] E-UTRA Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access

[0503] E-UTRAN Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network

[0504] The interface between the F1 central unit and distributed units

[0505] FDD Frequency Division Duplex

[0506] gNBNR base station

[0507] GTP-UGPRS Tunneling Protocol - User Plane

[0508] HARQ Hybrid ARQ

[0509] IE Information Elements

[0510] Internet Protocol (IP)

[0511] LTE Long Term Evolution

[0512] TML1 / L2 triggers mobility

[0513] MCG main cell group

[0514] MAC Media Access Control

[0515] MAC CEMAC control element

[0516] MN master node

[0517] MR-DC Multi-Radio Dual-Connection

[0518] NACK (Negative Response)

[0519] NAS Non-Access Layer

[0520] NG-RAN Next Generation Radio Access Network

[0521] Ng-eNB Next Generation Evolution Node B

[0522] NR New Radio

[0523] PDCP Packet Data Convergence Protocol

[0524] Pcell main cell

[0525] PCI Physical Cell Identifier

[0526] PDCCH Physical Downlink Control Channel

[0527] PHR Power Margin Report

[0528] PSCell primary / secondary cell (in LTE) or primary SCG cell (in NR)

[0529] PUCCH (Physical Uplink Control Channel)

[0530] PUSCH Physical Uplink Shared Channel

[0531] RACH Random Access Channel

[0532] RAT radio access technology

[0533] RAB Radio Access Bearer

[0534] RLC Radio Link Control

[0535] RLF radio link failure

[0536] RRC Radio Resource Control

[0537] RSRP reference signal received power

[0538] RSRQ reference signal reception quality

[0539] Scell ​​secondary community

[0540] SCG auxiliary community group

[0541] SCTP Stream Control Transport Protocol

[0542] SeNB auxiliary eNB

[0543] SgNB auxiliary gNB

[0544] SINR signal versus interference plus noise ratio

[0545] SN auxiliary node

[0546] SR scheduling request

[0547] SRB signaling radio bearer

[0548] SSB Synchronization Signal Block

[0549] SUL supplements uplink

[0550] SpCell special cells, primary or secondary cell group's primary cell

[0551] TAT Time Alignment Timer

[0552] TA timed alignment

[0553] TCI transmission configuration indication

[0554] TDD Time Division Duplex

[0555] TEID tunnel endpoint identifier

[0556] TNL Transport Network Layer

[0557] T-SN target auxiliary node

[0558] UCI uplink control information

[0559] UDP User Datagram Protocol

[0560] UPF User Plane Functions

[0561] UE User Equipment

[0562] UL uplink

[0563] UL-SCH uplink shared channel

[0564] UP User Plane

[0565] URLLC Ultra-Reliable Low-Latency Communication

[0566] Interface between X2 base stations

[0567] Interface between Xn base stations.

Claims

1. A method for operating a user equipment (UE) (110, QQ200), the method comprising: It is determined that (610) has met the first triggering condition for initiating the first random access RA procedure; After determining that the first triggering condition has been met and before the first RA timing, it is determined (620) that the second triggering condition for initiating the second RA process has been met; In response to determining that the second triggering condition has been met, the first RA process or the second RA process is preferentially processed (630), wherein the preferential processing of the first RA process or the second RA process is based on one or more preferential processing rules, the preferential processing rules including at least one of the following: Prioritize processing RA procedures associated with the serving cell; Prioritize handling RA processes triggered by fault events; Prioritize handling RA processes triggered by early UL synchronization processes; The RA process is processed in priority based on the order in which the instruction to initiate the RA process is received; Prioritize the RA process based on L1 measurement; Prioritize the RA process based on L3 measurements; The RA process is prioritized based on the strongest cell among "N" cells according to the measured value. Based on the time of the last random access procedure performed with the cell, the RA procedure associated with the cell is processed first. Prioritize processing the RA procedure where the UE has initiated a random access procedure and will perform random access preamble retransmission; Prioritize processing the RA procedure during the first random access preamble transmission performed by the UE; Prioritize processing RA procedures that will transmit random access at the highest power; Prioritize processing RA procedures that transmit random access at the lowest power; Prioritize the RA process based on link budget; Prioritize the RA process based on the characteristics of random access. Prioritize handling RA procedures where random access is a 2-step random access process; Prioritize handling RA procedures where random access is a 4-step random access process; Prioritize handling RA procedures where random access is contention-free random access; Prioritize random access procedures (RA) that are contention-based random access. Prioritize the RA process based on random access resource selection; Prioritize handling RA processes that are running or not running the beam fault recovery timer; Prioritize the RA process based on random selection; Prioritize the RA process based on cyclic selection; Prioritize the RA process based on access denial or access control; When the UE has received a triggering condition for RACH transmission to a mobility LTM candidate cell in response to a PDCCH command, the RA procedure associated with the LTM candidate cell is processed first, rather than the RA to the serving cell, wherein the PDCCH command is received in response to a lower-layer measurement; and When the RA to the first LTM candidate cell is triggered for LTM cell handover, while the RA to the second LTM candidate cell is triggered for other events, the RA to the first LTM candidate cell is executed first, rather than the RA to the second LTM candidate cell.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein, Determining that the second triggering condition has been met includes: determining that the second triggering condition has been met before the first RA timing.

3. The method according to claims 1 to 2, wherein, The first RA timing is a first RA timing during which the first RA preamble can be scheduled to be transmitted as part of the first RA process.

4. The method according to claims 1 to 3, wherein, The first RA process includes transmitting the first RA preamble as part of the first RA process, and / or wherein the second RA process includes transmitting the second RA preamble as part of the second RA process.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein, Determining (610) that the first triggering condition for initiating the first random access RA procedure has been met includes: receiving a PDCCH command that triggers the UE to initiate the first random access RA procedure.

6. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein, Determining (610) that the first triggering condition for initiating the first random access RA procedure has been met includes: triggering the beam fault detection (BFD) of the UE to initiate the first random access RA procedure.

7. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein, Determining (620) that the second triggering condition for initiating the second random access RA procedure has been met includes: receiving a PDCCH command that triggers the UE to initiate the second random access RA procedure.

8. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein, Determining (620) that the second triggering condition for initiating the second random access RA procedure has been met includes: receiving a beam fault detection (BFD) that triggers the UE to initiate the second random access RA procedure.

9. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein, The first RA procedure includes the RA procedure with the serving cell, and The second RA process includes the RA process with the lower-layer trigger mobility LTM candidate cell.

10. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein, The first RA procedure includes the RA procedure with the lower-layer trigger mobility LTM candidate cell, and The second RA process includes the RA process with the serving cell.

11. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein, The first RA procedure includes the RA procedure with the first lower-layer triggered mobility LTM candidate cell, and The second RA process includes the RA process with the second LTM candidate cell.

12. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 11, wherein, Determining which of the first RA process and the second RA process to prioritize includes: determining which of the first RA process and the second RA process to prioritize based on configuration information.

13. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 12, wherein, Determining which of the first RA process and the second RA process to prioritize includes: determining which of the first RA process and the second RA process to prioritize based on the cell type associated with the first RA process and the cell type associated with the second RA process.

14. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 13, in, Prioritizing the first RA process or the second RA process includes at least one of the following operations: The first RA procedure is executed before the second RA procedure is executed; Initiate the first RA process before initiating the second RA process; Suspend the second RA process until the first RA process is completed; as well as The second RA process is terminated.

15. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 14, wherein, Performing the first RA procedure before performing the second RA procedure includes: sending the first RA preamble during the first RA timing period.

16. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 13, in, Prioritizing the first RA process or the second RA process includes at least one of the following operations: The second RA procedure is executed before the first RA procedure is executed. Initiate the second RA process before initiating the first RA process; Suspend the first RA process until the second RA process is completed; as well as Abort the first RA process.

17. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 16, wherein, Performing the second RA procedure before performing the first RA procedure includes sending the second RA preamble during the first RA timing.

18. A user equipment (UE) (QQ200), the UE comprising: Processing circuit (QQ202); as well as A memory (QQ210) is coupled to the processing circuit and has instructions stored therein, which can be executed by the processing circuit to cause the UE to perform operations including any of the operations described in claims 1 to 17.

19. A computer program comprising program code to be executed by a processing circuitry (QQ202) of a UE (QQ200), wherein execution of the program code causes the UE to perform an operation including any of the operations described in claims 1 to 17.

20. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory storage medium (QQ210), said non-transitory storage medium (QQ210) comprising program code to be executed by a processing circuitry (QQ202) of a UE (QQ200), wherein execution of said program code causes the UE to perform an operation comprising any of the operations described in claims 1 to 17.

21. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions stored therein, the instructions being executable by a processing circuitry (QQ202) of a UE (QQ200) to cause the UE to perform an operation including any of the operations described in claims 1 to 17.

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