Method and apparatus for enhanced energy saving / over-temperature handling

Abstract

The present disclosure provides a method (300) in a digital unit, DU, or service management and orchestration, SMO. The method (300) comprises transmitting (310), to a radio unit, RU, an indication of a group of sleep modes for the RU to autonomously select a sleep mode from the group or switch from one sleep mode to another sleep mode within the group.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This disclosure relates to communication technologies, and more specifically, to methods and apparatus for enhancing energy efficiency / overheating (OTH) treatment. Background Technology

[0002] Today, to achieve greater capacity and high-performance deployments at higher frequency bands, the number of radio frequency (RF) channels has increased significantly with changes in radio types and layouts, from the initial 2 transmit / receive elements (2TRX) and 4TRX to later 32TRX, 64TRX, and even 128TRX. In terms of energy saving or OTH (Out-of-Heat), the diversity of RF channel management has also increased. "RF channel shutdown" (also known as tributary silence) has become a key technology for energy saving and OTH in the industry.

[0003] "RF channel shutdown" refers to the Digital Unit (DU) deciding to disable a portion of the RF channels in the RU, or to put them into a low-power mode, based on the current network conditions and the state of the Radio Unit (RU). Depending on which portion of the RF channels in the RU is disabled or placed in low-power mode, various "sleep modes" can be defined. Figure 1 An example of the 64TRX's sleep modes is shown. As shown, in sleep mode 1, the upper half of the RU is turned off (or placed in low power mode), while the lower half operates normally; in sleep mode 2, the left half of the RU is turned off (or placed in low power mode), while the right half operates normally. Summary of the Invention

[0004] Currently, the decision to shut down RF channels is entirely controlled by the DU (Dedicated Unit) or even by higher layers outside the Radio Access Network (RAN) (e.g., Service Management Orchestration (SMO)). The DU or SMO can only select one sleep mode for a given period of time, and only the DU or SMO itself has the ability to change the sleep mode.

[0005] For example, the DU or SMO may have multiple sleep modes hard-coded within it, or receive a report from the RU indicating multiple sleep modes supported by the RU. The DU or SMO can then select a sleep mode based on, for example, RAN information, and send a sleep request to the RU indicating the selected sleep mode. The RU can then enter that sleep mode based on the request.

[0006] From the perspective of the RU (Real-Time Utility), this leads to two problems. First, the sleep mode is predefined for the RU and cannot be selected based on its own state. Second, once a sleep mode is selected, it may not be able to switch to a sleep mode for a long time, resulting in some performance imbalances in the RF channel. For example, thermal / temperature imbalances may occur, or local components may be repeatedly turned on and off. For instance, if the RF branch does not switch sleep modes, its hotspot will remain fixed at a certain point, and some devices will be exposed to high temperatures for extended periods. Furthermore, between RF channel on and off, the power amplifier (PA) or application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) will experience undesirable large temperature variations. Figure 2 Laboratory test results for temperature variations in the PA and ASIC are shown separately. In the top figure, the upper curve "PaFinal: A" shows the temperature variation of the PA during normal operation, and the lower curve "PaFinal: B" shows the temperature variation of the PA when repeatedly turned on and off according to the sleep mode. In the bottom figure, the upper curve "Dra: A" shows the temperature variation of the ASIC during normal operation, and the lower curve "Dra: B" shows the temperature variation of the ASIC when repeatedly turned on and off according to the sleep mode. As shown, the temperature variation of the PA or ASIC between RF channel on and off can be as high as 15°C (at room temperature of 22°C). If the ambient temperature is higher, the variation will be much larger. In terms of lifespan reliability, if there is only one fixed sleep mode for vertical and horizontal branches, it will pose a significant challenge to the lifespan of certain components of the device (such as solder joints), because long-term exposure to hot spots or multiple significant temperature changes will greatly shorten their lifespan.

[0007] In other words, the sole decision-maker for the hibernation mode (i.e., DU / SMO) has limited information about the internal state of the RU (e.g., overheating). On the other hand, the RU cannot choose a hibernation mode or switch from one hibernation mode to another based on its own internal state.

[0008] The purpose of this disclosure is to provide methods and apparatus for enhancing energy efficiency / OTH, which can solve or at least alleviate the above-mentioned problems.

[0009] According to a first aspect of this disclosure, a method is provided in a DU or SMO. The method includes: sending an instruction to a RU of a group of hibernation modes, so that the RU can autonomously select a hibernation mode from the group or switch from one hibernation mode to another within the group.

[0010] In one embodiment, the group may be determined based on one or more of the following parameters of the sleep mode: transmit power, beamforming weight, and layer 2 (L2) information.

[0011] In one embodiment, the group can be determined such that the sleep modes in the group have the same transmit power, the same beamforming weights, and the same L2 information.

[0012] In one embodiment, the method may further include: receiving from the RU a report indicating multiple sleep modes supported by the RU. The group can be determined from the multiple sleep modes.

[0013] In one embodiment, the method may further include: receiving a report from the RU containing sleep information and / or temperature information of one or more radio frequency (RF) channels of the RU; updating the sleep mode grouping based on the report to obtain the updated sleep mode grouping; and sending an instruction to the RU of the updated grouping.

[0014] According to a second aspect of this disclosure, a method in an RU is provided. The method includes: receiving an indication of a group of hibernation modes from a DU or SMO, so that the RU can autonomously select a hibernation mode from the group or switch from one hibernation mode to another within the group.

[0015] In one embodiment, the sleep modes in this group can have the same transmit power, the same beamforming weights, and the same L2 information.

[0016] In one embodiment, the method may further include: when the RF channel of the RU is in a first sleep mode in the group, monitoring the temperature of the transceiver chip in the RF channel, the first cumulative number of times the RF channel is turned on and off within a predefined time period, the second cumulative number of times the RF channel is turned on and off since entering the first sleep mode, and / or the cumulative sleep time of the RF channel since entering the first sleep mode; and switching to a second sleep mode in the group based at least on the temperature, the first cumulative number of times, the second cumulative number of times, and / or the cumulative sleep time.

[0017] In one embodiment, the switching operation may include switching to a second hibernation mode when the temperature is higher than or equal to a temperature threshold, the first cumulative count reaches a first count threshold, the second cumulative count reaches a second count threshold, and / or the cumulative hibernation time reaches a time threshold.

[0018] In one embodiment, the switching operation may include: enabling another RF channel; switching the data path to the other RF channel; and disabling the RF channel.

[0019] In one embodiment, the data path can be switched at frame boundaries.

[0020] In one embodiment, the method may further include: sending a report to the DU or SMO containing sleep information and / or temperature information of one or more RF channels of the RU.

[0021] According to a third aspect of this disclosure, a communication device is provided. The communication device includes a communication interface, a processor, and a memory. The memory contains instructions executable by the processor, thereby enabling the communication device to: perform the method according to the first aspect when implementing a DU or SMO, or perform the method according to the second aspect when implementing a RU.

[0022] According to a fourth aspect of this disclosure, a computer-readable storage medium is provided. The computer-readable storage medium stores computer-readable instructions. When executed by a processor of a network device, the computer-readable instructions configure the network device to: perform the method according to the first aspect when implementing a DU or SMO, or perform the method according to the second aspect when implementing a RU.

[0023] According to a fifth aspect of this disclosure, a computer program product is provided. The computer program product includes computer-readable instructions that, when executed by a processor of a network device, configure the network device to: perform the method according to the first aspect when implementing a DU or SMO, or perform the method according to the second aspect when implementing a RU.

[0024] In certain embodiments of this disclosure, the DU or SMO can send an instruction to the RU for a group of sleep modes, allowing the RU to autonomously select a sleep mode from that group or switch from one sleep mode to another within that group. This allows the RU to autonomously select a sleep mode or switch from one sleep mode to another based on its own internal state, thereby, for example, avoiding prolonged exposure of the RF device to hot spots or frequent, significant temperature changes, and thus extending the device's lifespan. Attached Figure Description

[0025] The above and other objects, features and advantages will become more apparent from the following description of embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

[0026] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a hibernation mode;

[0027] Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram showing the laboratory test results of temperature changes in the PA and ASIC;

[0028] Figure 3 This is a flowchart illustrating a method for enhancing energy saving / OTH according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0029] Figure 4 This is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of hibernation mode grouping according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0030] Figure 5This is a flowchart illustrating a method for enhancing energy saving / OTH according to another embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0031] Figure 6 This is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of sleep mode switching according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0032] Figure 7 This is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of data path switching according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0033] Figure 8 This is a timing diagram illustrating an example of a process associated with a group of sleep modes in an Open RAN (O-RAN) implementation according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0034] Figure 9 This is a timing diagram illustrating an example of a process associated with a group of sleep modes in a conventional RAN implementation according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0035] Figure 10 This is a block diagram of a terminal device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0036] Figure 11 Examples of communication systems according to some embodiments of this disclosure are shown;

[0037] Figure 12 An exemplary user equipment (UE) according to some embodiments of the present disclosure is shown;

[0038] Figure 13 Exemplary network nodes according to some embodiments of this disclosure are shown; and

[0039] Figure 14 This is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary virtualized environment, some of which implement functionality that can be virtualized. Detailed Implementation

[0040] As used in this document, the term "Digital Unit" or "DU" refers to a component of the Centralized Radio Access Network (C-RAN) architecture used in mobile networks, particularly fifth-generation (5G) networks. A DU performs baseband processing functions, involving the processing of digital signals used for transmission and reception. A DU manages radio resources and interfaces with Radio Units (RUs) that handle wireless transmission and reception. In the context of 5G networks, the term "Distributed Unit" refers to a component that performs baseband processing and other functions similar to a DU. However, distributed units are typically deployed in a decentralized manner and may be located closer to the RUs at remote radio sites. Distributed units work in conjunction with RUs to process and manage radio resources, but they are deployed in a more decentralized manner compared to centralized DUs. In the C-RAN architecture, the term "Central Unit" or "CU" refers to a component that handles higher-level functions such as scheduling, coordinating, and controlling multiple DUs and RUs. A CU manages the overall operation of the base station and interfaces with the core network.

[0041] As used in this document, the term "radio unit" or "RU" refers to the component responsible for radio transmission and reception in a C-RAN architecture. The RU connects to the DU and handles the conversion of baseband signals to radio frequency signals for transmission via the air interface. RUs are located at radio sites (e.g., cell towers) and are typically connected to the DU via fiber optic links.

[0042] References to "an embodiment," "an example embodiment," etc., in the specification indicate that the described embodiment may include a specific feature, structure, or characteristic, but not every embodiment must include that specific feature, structure, or characteristic. Furthermore, these expressions do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment. Additionally, when a specific feature, structure, or characteristic is described in connection with an embodiment, it should be understood that, whether explicitly described or not, implementing that feature, structure, or characteristic in conjunction with other embodiments is within the knowledge of those skilled in the art.

[0043] It should be understood that although the terms “first” and “second” may be used herein to describe various elements, these elements should not be limited by these terms. These terms are used only to distinguish one element from another. For example, a first element may be referred to as a second element without departing from the scope of the exemplary embodiments, and similarly, a second element may be referred to as a first element. As used herein, the term “and / or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the listed items in association.

[0044] The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to limit the exemplary embodiments. As used herein, the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It should also be understood that the terms “comprising,” “including,” “having,” “possessing,” “containing,” and / or “owning” as used herein express the presence of the described features, elements, and / or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, elements, components, and / or combinations thereof.

[0045] In the following description and claims, unless otherwise defined, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this disclosure pertains.

[0046] Figure 3 This is a flowchart illustrating a method 300 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Method 300 may be performed by a DU or SMO.

[0047] At box 310, the DU or SMO sends an instruction to the RU for a group of hibernation modes, so that the RU can autonomously select a hibernation mode from the group or switch from one hibernation mode to another within the group.

[0048] In one example, the group can be determined based on one or more of the following parameters of the sleep mode: transmit power, beamforming weight, and L2 information. Specifically, the group can be determined such that the sleep modes in the group have the same transmit power, the same beamforming weight, and the same L2 information.

[0049] Figure 4 An example of sleep mode grouping is shown. In this example, the RU supports four modes, in which 50% of the RF channels are either turned off or placed in a low-power mode (i.e., sleep). As shown, sleep modes 1.1 and 1.2 have the same transmit power, beamforming weights, and L2 information, and are therefore grouped together as sleep mode group 1. Similarly, sleep modes 2.1 and 2.2 have the same transmit power, beamforming weights, and L2 information, and are therefore grouped together as sleep mode group 2.

[0050] Typically, once the RU performs RF channel reconfiguration (i.e., a portion of the TRX array is shut down), RAN performance will be affected, and the DU or SMO needs to make decisions regarding the following for each hibernation mode:

[0051] • Modify the number of synchronization signal and physical broadcast channel (PBCH) block (SSB) beams and / or the associated SSB beamforming weights;

[0052] • Modify the reference signal (e.g., the Channel State Information Reference Signal, i.e., CSI-RS) and the associated beamforming weights;

[0053] • Modify the transmit power to reduce coverage impact; and / or

[0054] • L2 information, such as modifying the number of single-user (SU) / multi-user (MU) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) data layers or spatial streams.

[0055] This decision can be primarily based on RAN measurements, such as user equipment (UE) distribution, UE traffic load and / or quality of service (QoS) requirements, and related RAN key performance indicators (KPIs), while the RU has limited knowledge of this information. Therefore, this decision can be made by the DU or SMO. However, some sleep modes may be symmetrical and have exactly the same impact on the decision. For example, in Figure 4 In this context, Sleep Mode 2.2 may be offset by 4 wavelengths compared to Sleep Mode 2.1. Therefore, from the perspective of the DU / SMO, Sleep Modes 2.1 and 2.2 can be considered as the same transmit / receive enabled scheme, but with a geometric offset of 4 wavelengths (assuming the entire antenna height is 8 wavelengths), which has no impact on the RAN. That is, both modes can use the same transmit power, CSI-RS mapping, SSB modification, and L2 information. In this case, once the RU is configured with Sleep Mode Group 2, it can flexibly select or switch between Sleep Modes 2.1 and 2.2 without further instructions from the DU or SMO. In other words, the switching of sleep modes can be performed by the RU without the knowledge of the DU or SMO.

[0056] In one example, such as before box 310, the DU or SMO can receive a report from the RU indicating multiple hibernation modes supported by the RU, and the group can be determined from these multiple hibernation modes.

[0057] Furthermore, the DU or SMO can receive reports from the RU containing sleep mode information and / or temperature information for one or more RF channels of the RU. The DU or SMO can then update the sleep mode grouping based on this report to obtain the updated sleep mode grouping and send an instruction for the updated grouping to the RU. Here, the DU or SMO may include, for example, artificial intelligence (AI) or machine learning (ML) functionality configured to update the model or inference for energy saving / OTH based on the sleep mode information and / or temperature information in the report.

[0058] Figure 5 This is a flowchart illustrating a method 500 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Method 500 can be performed by a RU.

[0059] At box 510, the RU receives an instruction from the DU or SMO regarding a group of hibernation modes, allowing the RU to autonomously select a hibernation mode from that group or switch from one hibernation mode to another within that group.

[0060] In one example, the sleep modes in this group can have the same transmit power, the same beamforming weights, and the same L2 information.

[0061] In one example, when the RF channel of the RU is in the first sleep mode of the group, the RU can monitor the temperature of the transceiver chip in the RF channel, the first cumulative number of times the RF channel has been turned on and off within a predefined time period (e.g., one day), the second cumulative number of times the RF channel has been turned on and off since entering the first sleep mode, and / or the cumulative sleep time of the RF channel since entering the first sleep mode. The RU can switch to the second sleep mode of the group based at least on the temperature, the first cumulative number of times, the second cumulative number of times, and / or the cumulative sleep time. Specifically, the RU can switch to the second sleep mode if the temperature is higher than or equal to a temperature threshold, the first cumulative number of times reaches a first count threshold, the second cumulative number of times reaches a second count threshold, and / or the cumulative sleep time reaches a time threshold.

[0062] For example, once the temperature sensor in the RU detects that the temperature of the transceiver chip in the RF channel is higher than or equal to a temperature threshold, the RU can switch to different sleep modes in that group, such as from... Figure 4 Switching from sleep mode 2.1 to sleep mode 2.2. Once the cumulative number of times the RF channel is turned on and off in a day reaches the predefined threshold `maximum_daily_allowed_times`, the RU can switch to a different sleep mode in that group. If the threshold `maximum_daily_allowed_times` has not yet been reached, but the cumulative number of times the RF channel has been turned on and off since entering a certain sleep mode reaches another threshold `sleep_times_for_force_switching` (which can be greater than `maximum_daily_allowed_times`), then the RU can switch to a different sleep mode in that group.

[0063] In addition, the operation of switching to hibernation mode can include: turning on another RF channel; switching the data path to that other RF channel; and turning off the RF channel. Figure 6 An example of hibernation mode switching is shown. This example uses, for example... Figure 1 The diagram shows a 64 TRX RU. It is assumed that initially, the hardware (HW) capacity of the left 32 TRXs (left half) is off, and the data resides in the right 32 TRXs (right half), as shown below. Figure 4The hibernation mode is shown in 1.1. Then, the RU decides to switch to, for example... Figure 4 The process involves switching to hibernation mode 1.2. Accordingly, the 32 TRX on the left are enabled, meaning their power capacity begins to recover. After a period of time, all 64 TRX become available, and the data path is then switched to the 32 TRX on the left. Afterward, the 32 TRX on the right are disabled. This process ensures alignment between data path switching and hibernation mode switching, thus achieving seamless switching between hibernation modes.

[0064] In addition, data path switching can occur at frame boundaries to ensure that the switching does not have an additional impact on RAN performance. Figure 7 An example of data path switching relative to a frame / symbol is shown. For example... Figure 7 As shown and referenced Figure 6 In the example, the left 32 TRXs are recovered in symbol 1 of frame i. In this case, the RU postpones the data path switching to the next frame boundary. This ensures that spatial processing can be completely coherent from the receiver's perspective.

[0065] In one example, the RU can send a report to the DU or SMO containing hibernation information and / or temperature information for one or more of the RU's RF channels. This allows the DU or SMO to update hibernation mode groups based on the report.

[0066] The following will refer to Figure 8 and Figure 9 Further explanation of methods 300 and 500 above.

[0067] Figure 8 An example of a process associated with a group of hibernation modes in an Open RAN (O-RAN) implementation is shown. As illustrated, the process includes the following steps.

[0068] 1. The O-RU reports its RF channel shutdown capability to the O-DU / SMO through the traditional O-RAN Information Element (IE) TRX control module capabilities. Among them, the O-RU discloses the ability to disable some or all of the RU's antenna array elements through the sub-IE trx-control-capability-info.

[0069] `trx-control-capability-info` is a container that contains capabilities specific to each hibernation mode. The parameters within this container include the following:

[0070] - supported-trx-control-masks: A list of TRX control configurations supported by the RU, which are reported along with their corresponding mask-name and antenna-mask values. (See the O-RAN standard O-RAN.WG4.CUS.0-R003-v13.00 from July 2023, cited below).

[0071]

[0072] 2. O-DU / SMO calculates transmit power (TxP), beamforming (BF) weights, and L2 information for each sleep mode (trx-control-mask).

[0073] 3. When certain sleep modes have the same TxP, BF weights, and L2 information (and optionally, the same wake-up-duration and wake-up-duration-guaranteed), O-DU / SMO groups these sleep modes into a sleep mode group.

[0074] 4. The O-DU / SMO triggers a specific hibernation mode group based on RAN information and notifies the O-RU via an updated message. This message does not indicate the triggered trx-control-masks, but rather the list of trx-control-masks to be triggered in the same hibernation mode group.

[0075] Figure 9 This example illustrates a process associated with sleep mode groups in a traditional RAN implementation (not conforming to the O-RAN specification). In this example, to illustrate the internal processing of the RU, the RU is divided into an Operation and Management (O&M) module, a tributary silencing handler configured to shut down one or more RF tributaries or channels, and an RF channel sleep mode switching determination module configured to monitor RF channel temperature, sleep time, etc., and determine the transition from one sleep mode to another. As shown in the figure, the process includes the following steps (signaling between the SMO and DU is omitted for simplicity).

[0076] 1. The DU / SMO sends a request for RU capabilities to the RU (Transmit-Receive Device Control Interface (TRDCI) message).

[0077] 2. The RU sends a capability report (TRDCI message) to the DU / SMO, which includes, for example, the trx-control-capability-info described above.

[0078] 3. The DU / SMO sends a SLEEP_MODE_GROUP_UPDATED message to the RU. This is a new message in the fronthaul between the DU / SMO and the RU, providing a set of sleep modes with the same TxP, BF weights, and L2 information. Upon receiving this message, the RU updates its local sleep mode group. Within the RU, the O&M module forwards this message to the tributary silence handler.

[0079] 4. The DU / SMO sends a power saving request (TRDCI message) to the RU, which contains, for example, an index of the hibernation mode group.

[0080] 5. The O&M module sends a branch silence request to the branch silence handler, indicating the index of the sleep mode group.

[0081] 6. The branch silence processing procedure selects a sleep mode from the group, executes the sleep mode, and notifies the RF channel sleep mode switching determination module to start monitoring / supervision.

[0082] 7. The branch silence handler sends a branch silence confirmation to the O&M module to acknowledge receipt of the branch silence request.

[0083] 8. The RU sends a power saving confirmation (TRDCI message) to the DU / SMO to acknowledge receipt of the power saving request.

[0084] 9. The tributary silence handler sends a tributary silence instruction to the O&M module, indicating the selected sleep mode.

[0085] 10. The RU sends a power saving instruction (TRDCI message) to the DU / SMO, indicating the selected hibernation mode.

[0086] 11. The RF channel sleep mode switching determination module monitors the temperature and / or sleep time of the RF channel, and determines to switch to another sleep mode in the group when one of the above conditions is met (e.g., temperature, maximum_daily_allowed_times, or sleep_times_for_force_switching).

[0087] 12. The RF channel sleep mode switching determination module sends a switching request to the tributary silence handler, indicating the sleep mode to which it wants to switch. The tributary silence handler replies with a switching confirmation.

[0088] 13. The tributary silence handler executes DATA_SWITCH_PROCESS with the physical layer (PHY or L1) of the baseband service controller (BBSC) through the sector carrier management interface (SCMI) to perform actions such as... Figure 6 The data path has been switched as shown.

[0089] 14. The branch silence processing procedure executes the sleep mode switch and notifies the RF channel sleep mode switch determination module to continue monitoring / supervising.

[0090] 15. The branch silence handler sends a branch silence instruction to the O&M module, indicating a new sleep mode.

[0091] 16. The RU sends a power saving instruction (TRDCI message) to the DU / SMO, indicating a new hibernation mode. Optionally, the RU periodically sends temperature information and / or hibernation information to the DU / SMO, which can update the hibernation mode grouping based on this information, for example, using an AI or ML model.

[0092] 17. The RF channel sleep mode switching determination module continues to monitor / supervise and determines to switch to another sleep mode in the group when a certain condition is met.

[0093] about Figure 9 For more details on certain steps, please refer to the O-RAN standard O-RAN.WG4.CUS.0-R003-v13.00 from July 2023.

[0094] The embodiments disclosed herein can significantly reduce device temperature while maintaining virtually no degradation in network KPIs.

[0095] Figure 10 This is a block diagram of a communication device 1000 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0096] The communication device 1000 includes a communication interface 1010, a processor 1020, and a memory 1030.

[0097] Memory 1030 may contain instructions executable by processor 1020, thereby enabling communication device 1000 to perform, for example, the instructions in conjunction with the preceding text when implementing DU or SMO. Figure 3 The described process involves actions. Specifically, memory 1030 may contain instructions executable by processor 1020, thereby enabling communication device 1000 to send an instruction to RU of a group of hibernation modes when implementing DU or SMO, so that RU can autonomously select a hibernation mode from the group or switch from one hibernation mode to another within the group.

[0098] In one embodiment, the group may be determined based on one or more of the following parameters of the sleep mode: transmit power, beamforming weight, and L2 information.

[0099] In one embodiment, the group can be determined such that the sleep modes in the group have the same transmit power, the same beamforming weights, and the same L2 information.

[0100] In one embodiment, the memory 1030 may further contain instructions executable by the processor 1020, thereby enabling the communication device 1000 to operate to receive reports from the RU indicating multiple sleep modes supported by the RU when implementing DU or SMO. This set may be determined from the multiple sleep modes.

[0101] In one embodiment, the memory 1030 may also contain instructions executable by the processor 1020, thereby enabling the communication device 1000 to: receive a report from the RU containing sleep information and / or temperature information of one or more RF channels of the RU when implementing DU or SMO; update the sleep mode grouping based on the report to obtain the updated sleep mode grouping; and send an instruction to the RU to the updated grouping.

[0102] Alternatively, memory 1030 may contain instructions executable by processor 1020, thereby enabling communication device 1000 to perform, for example, the instructions in the preceding context when implementing the RU. Figure 5 The described process involves actions. Specifically, memory 1030 may contain instructions executable by processor 1020, thereby enabling communication device 1000 to operate in implementing RU to: receive instructions from DU or SMO regarding a group of hibernation modes, allowing RU to autonomously select a hibernation mode from that group or switch from one hibernation mode to another within that group.

[0103] In one embodiment, the sleep modes in this group can have the same transmit power, the same beamforming weights, and the same L2 information.

[0104] In one embodiment, the memory 1030 may further contain instructions executable by the processor 1020, thereby enabling the communication device 1000 to, when implementing the RU: when the RF channel of the RU is in a first sleep mode in the group, monitor the temperature of the transceiver chip in the RF channel, the first cumulative number of times the RF channel has been turned on and off within a predefined time period, the second cumulative number of times the RF channel has been turned on and off since entering the first sleep mode, and / or the cumulative sleep time of the RF channel since entering the first sleep mode; and switch to a second sleep mode in the group based at least on the temperature, the first cumulative number of times, the second cumulative number of times, and / or the cumulative sleep time.

[0105] In one embodiment, the switching operation may include switching to a second hibernation mode when: the temperature is higher than or equal to a temperature threshold, the first cumulative count reaches a first count threshold, the second cumulative count reaches a second count threshold, and / or the cumulative hibernation time reaches a time threshold.

[0106] In one embodiment, the switching operation may include: enabling another RF channel; switching the data path to the other RF channel; and disabling the RF channel.

[0107] In one embodiment, the data path can be switched at frame boundaries.

[0108] In one embodiment, the memory 1030 may also contain instructions executable by the processor 1020, thereby enabling the communication device 1000 to, when implementing the RU, send a report to the DU or SMO containing sleep information and / or temperature information of one or more RF channels of the RU.

[0109] This disclosure also provides at least one computer program product in the form of non-volatile or volatile memory, such as a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory, and a hard disk drive. The computer program product includes a computer program. The computer program includes code / computer-readable instructions that, when executed by the processor 1020, cause the communication device 1000 to perform, for example, the actions described above. Figure 3 or Figure 5 The actions described in the process.

[0110] This computer program product can be configured as computer program code organized into computer program modules. These computer program modules are essentially executable. Figure 3 or Figure 5 The actions of the process shown.

[0111] The processor may be a single CPU (Central Processing Unit), but may also include two or more processing units. For example, the processor may include a general-purpose microprocessor; an instruction set processor and / or an associated chipset and / or a special-purpose microprocessor, such as an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC). The processor may also include onboard memory for caching purposes. The computer program may be carried in a computer program product connected to the processor. The computer program product may include a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium on which the computer program is stored. For example, the computer program product may be flash memory, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), or EEPROM, and in alternative embodiments, the computer program modules described above may be distributed across different computer program products employing memory forms.

[0112] Figure 11 An example of a communication system QQ100 according to some embodiments is shown.

[0113] In this example, the communication system QQ100 includes a telecommunications network QQ102, which includes an access network QQ104 such as a radio access network (RAN), and a core network QQ106, which 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 nodes are not necessarily limited to implementations that are provided by a single vendor and integrate the radio and baseband portions. Therefore, it will be understood that network nodes include decomposed implementations 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).

[0114] 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)), RAN intelligent controllers (near real-time or non-real-time) with managed software or software plug-ins (e.g., near real-time control applications (e.g., xApps) or non-real-time control applications (e.g., rApps)), 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. Furthermore, ORAN access nodes can be logical nodes within physical nodes. Additionally, ORAN network nodes can be implemented in a virtualized environment (further described 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 or similar technologies defined by the O-RAN Consortium. Network node QQ110 facilitates direct or indirect connections of user equipment (UE), such as connecting UE QQ112a, QQ112b, QQ112c and QQ112d (one or more of which may generally be referred to as UE QQ112) to core network QQ106 via one or more wireless connections.

[0115] Examples of wireless communication via wireless connection include sending and / or receiving wireless signals using electromagnetic waves, radio waves, infrared waves, and / or other types of signals suitable for transmitting information without the use of 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 data and / or signal communication (whether via wired or wireless connection). The communication system QQ100 may include and / or interface with any type of communication, telecommunications, data, cellular, radio network, and / or other similar type of system.

[0116] UE QQ112 can be any of a wide variety of communication devices, including wireless devices that are deployed, configured, and / or operable for wireless communication with network node QQ110 and other communication devices. Similarly, network node QQ110 is deployed, capable of, configured, and / or operable for communicating 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.

[0117] In the depicted example, core network QQ106 connects network node QQ110 to one or more host computing systems, such as 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 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).

[0118] 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. 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 alarms and monitoring centers, or any other such functions performed by the server.

[0119] Overall, Figure 11 The QQ100 communication system enables connections between the UE, network nodes, and hosts. In this sense, the communication system can be configured to operate according to predefined rules or procedures (e.g., 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 second-, third-, fourth-, or fifth-generation (2G, 3G, 4G, or 5G) standards, or any applicable future-generation standard (e.g., sixth-generation (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.

[0120] 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 Internet of Things (IoT) services to yet another set of UEs.

[0121] In some examples, UE QQ112 is configured to send and / or receive information without direct human interaction. For example, the UE may 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 may be configured to operate in a single RAT or multiple radio access technology (RAT) or multiple standards mode. For example, the UE may operate using any or a combination of WiFi, New Radio (NR), and LTE, i.e., configured for multiple radio dual connectivity (MR-DC), such as Evolved UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN) NR-Dual Connectivity (EN-DC).

[0122] 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 device, 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, especially if one or more of these UEs are low-power IoT devices.

[0123] The central hub QQ114 can have a constant / persistent connection or an intermittent connection with the network node QQ110b. The central hub QQ114 can 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 can be configured to connect to a machine-to-machine (M2M) service provider via the access network QQ104, and / or to another UE via a direct connection. In some scenarios, the UE can establish a wireless connection with the network node QQ110 while still connecting via the central hub QQ114 via a wired or wireless connection. In some embodiments, the central hub QQ114 can be a dedicated hub, i.e., a hub whose primary function is to route communication between the UE and the network node QQ110b. In other embodiments, the central hub QQ114 may be a non-dedicated hub, that is, a device capable of routing communication between the UE and the network node QQ110b, and also capable of functioning as the communication start point and / or end point of certain data channels.

[0124] Figure 12 A UE QQ200 according to some embodiments is shown. The UE QQ200 presents... Figure 11 Additional details regarding some embodiments of UE QQ112 are provided below. As used herein, UE refers to a device capable of, configured, positioned, and / or operable for wireless communication 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 / playback devices, wearable terminal devices, wireless endpoints, mobile stations, tablet computers, laptop computers, laptop embedded devices (LEEs), laptop-mounted devices (LMEs), augmented reality (AR) or virtual reality (VR) devices, wireless client devices (CPEs), vehicles, 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.

[0125] 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 for sale 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). Or, the UE may represent a device not intended for sale to or operated by an end user but which may be associated with or operated for the user's benefit (e.g., a smart meter).

[0126] 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 12 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.

[0127] 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).

[0128] 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, graphics 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 keyboards, 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.

[0129] 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.

[0130] 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.

[0131] 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 identity 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 can allow 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.

[0132] 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.

[0133] In the illustrated embodiment, the communication functions of the communication interface QQ212 may include cellular communication, WiFi 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.).

[0134] 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).

[0135] 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.

[0136] 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, 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 12 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.

[0137] 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, or aircraft) or other device capable of monitoring and / or reporting its operational status or other functions associated with its operation.

[0138] 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.

[0139] Figure 13A network node QQ300 according to some embodiments is illustrated. As used herein, a network node refers to a device 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 (e.g., radio access points), base stations (BSs) (e.g., radio BSs, NodeBs, evolved NodeBs (eNBs), NR NodeBs (gNBs)), and O-RAN nodes or components of O-RAN nodes (e.g., O-RUs, O-DUs, O-CUs).

[0140] 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, distributed units (e.g., in O-RAN access nodes), and / or remote radio units (RRUs), sometimes referred to as remote radio headends (RRHs). These remote radio units may or may not be integrated with antennas to form an antenna-integrated radio. A portion of a distributed radio base station can also be referred to as a node in a distributed antenna system (DAS).

[0141] 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).

[0142] 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 components and RNC components, BTS components 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, separate 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.

[0143] The processing circuitry QQ302 may include one or more of the following: a microprocessor, controller, microcontroller, central processing unit, digital signal processor, application-specific integrated circuit, 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 alone or in combination with other network node QQ300 components (e.g., memory QQ304).

[0144] 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.

[0145] 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 drive, optical disc (CD), or digital video disc (DVD)) 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 that can be used 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 that can be executed by the processing circuitry QQ302 and used 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.

[0146] 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, is part 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.

[0147] 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).

[0148] 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.

[0149] 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.

[0150] The power supply QQ308 supplies power to the various components of the network node QQ300 in a form suitable for each component (e.g., at the voltage and current levels required by each respective component). The power supply QQ308 may also include or be coupled to power management circuitry to supply power to the components of the network node QQ300 for performing the functions described herein. For example, the network node QQ300 may be connected to an external power source (e.g., the mains or a power outlet) via input circuitry or an interface (e.g., a cable), thereby supplying power to the power circuitry of the power supply QQ308. As another example, the 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.

[0151] Implementations of the network node QQ300 may include more than Figure 13Additional components shown are provided to offer 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. In some core network nodes (e.g., Figure 11 In the embodiment of the core network node 108, some components, such as the radio front-end circuit QQ318 and the RF transceiver circuit QQ312, may be omitted.

[0152] Figure 14 This is a block diagram illustrating a virtualized environment QQ400, some embodiments of which implement functionality that can be virtualized. 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. Virtualization as used herein 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 QQ400 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 the virtual node does not require radio connectivity (e.g., core network nodes or hosts), the node can be fully virtualized. In some embodiments, the virtualized environment QQ400 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. Virtualization can facilitate the distributed implementation of network nodes, UEs, core network nodes, or hosts.

[0153] The application QQ402 (which may also 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 embodiments disclosed herein.

[0154] Hardware QQ404 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 QQ406 (also referred to as hypervisors or virtual machine monitors (VMMs)), provide VM QQ408a and QQ408b (one or more of which may generally be referred to as VM QQ408), and / or perform any functions, features, and / or benefits described in relation to some embodiments described herein. Virtualization layer QQ406 can present a virtual operating platform to VM QQ408, which appears as network hardware.

[0155] VM QQ408 includes virtual processing, virtual memory, virtual network or interface, and virtual storage, and can be run by the corresponding virtualization layer QQ406. Different embodiments of instances of virtual device QQ402 can be implemented on one or more VM QQ408, 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).

[0156] In the context of NFV, a VM QQ408 can be a software implementation of a physical machine, whose runtime behaves as if it were running on a physical, non-virtualized machine. Each VM QQ408, along with the portion of the hardware QQ404 that executes for that VM (whether it's hardware dedicated to that VM and / or hardware shared by that VM with other VMs), forms a separate virtual network element. Still within the NFV context, the virtual network function is responsible for handling the specific network functions running on one or more VM QQ408s above the hardware QQ404 and corresponding to the application QQ402.

[0157] The hardware QQ404 can be implemented in a standalone network node with general or specific components. Some functions of the hardware QQ404 can be implemented via virtualization. Alternatively, the hardware QQ404 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 QQ410, which in particular oversees the lifecycle management of the application QQ402. In some embodiments, the hardware QQ404 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 QQ412, which can alternatively be used for communication between the hardware nodes and the radio units.

[0158] While the computing devices (e.g., UE, network node) described herein 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 the 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.

[0159] 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.

[0160] The present disclosure has been described above with reference to embodiments thereof. It should be understood that various modifications, alterations, and additions can be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure. Therefore, the scope of the present disclosure is not limited to the specific embodiments described above, but is defined only by the appended claims.

Claims

1. A method (300) in a Digital Unit (DU) or Service Management Orchestration (SMO), the method comprising: Send (310) an instruction to the radio unit RU for a group of sleep modes, so that the RU can autonomously select a sleep mode from the group or switch from one sleep mode to another within the group.

2. The method (300) according to claim 1, wherein, The group is determined based on one or more of the following parameters of the hibernation mode: Transmission power, Beamforming weights, and Layer 2 "L2" information.

3. The method (300) according to claim 2, wherein, The group was determined such that the sleep modes in the group have the same transmit power, the same beamforming weights, and the same L2 information.

4. The method (300) according to any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising: Receive reports from the RU indicating the various sleep modes supported by the RU. The group is determined from the multiple sleep modes.

5. The method (300) according to any one of claims 1 to 4, further comprising: Receive a report from the RU containing sleep information and / or temperature information of one or more radio frequency (RF) channels of the RU; The hibernation mode grouping is updated based on the report to obtain the updated hibernation mode grouping; as well as Send the updated group instruction to the RU.

6. A method (500) in a radio unit RU, the method comprising: The RU receives (510) an instruction for a group of hibernation modes from the Digital Unit (DU) or Service Management Orchestration (SMO) so that it can autonomously select a hibernation mode from the group or switch from one hibernation mode to another within the group.

7. The method (500) according to claim 6, wherein, The dormant modes in the group have the same transmit power, the same beamforming weights, and the same layer 2 "L2" information.

8. The method (500) according to claim 6 or 7, further comprising: When the RF channel of the RU is in the first sleep mode in the group, the temperature of the transceiver chip in the RF channel, the first cumulative number of times the RF channel is turned on and off within a predefined time period, the second cumulative number of times the RF channel is turned on and off since entering the first sleep mode, and / or the cumulative sleep time of the RF channel since entering the first sleep mode are monitored. as well as Based at least on the temperature, the first cumulative count, the second cumulative count, and / or the cumulative sleep time, switch to the second sleep mode in the group.

9. The method (500) according to claim 8, wherein, The switching includes: Switch to the second hibernation mode under the following conditions: The temperature is higher than or equal to the temperature threshold. The first cumulative count reaches the first threshold. The second cumulative count reaches the second threshold, and / or The cumulative sleep time reaches the time threshold.

10. The method (500) according to claim 8 or 9, wherein, The switching includes: Open another RF channel; Switch the data path to the other RF channel; and Shut down the RF channel.

11. The method (500) according to claim 10, wherein, The data path is switched at frame boundaries.

12. The method (500) according to any one of claims 6 to 11, further comprising: Send a report to the DU or SMO containing sleep information and / or temperature information of one or more RF channels of the RU.

13. A communication device (1000) comprising a communication interface (1010), a processor (1020), and a memory (1030), the memory (1030) including instructions executable by the processor (1020), thereby enabling the communication device (1000) to operate for performing the method according to any one of claims 1 to 5 when implementing a Digital Unit (DU) or Service Management Orchestration (SMO), or for performing the method according to any one of claims 6 to 12 when implementing a Radio Unit (RU).

14. A computer-readable storage medium storing computer-readable instructions that, when executed by a processor of a network device, configure the network device to: perform the method according to any one of claims 1 to 5 when implementing a Digital Unit (DU) or Service Management Orchestration (SMO), or perform the method according to any one of claims 6 to 12 when implementing a Radio Unit (RU).

15. A computer program product comprising computer-readable instructions that, when executed by a processor of a network device, configure the network device to: perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 5 when implementing a Digital Unit (DU) or Service Management Orchestration (SMO), or perform the method of any one of claims 6 to 12 when implementing a Radio Unit (RU).

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