Measurement gap handling in wireless communications

Abstract

The present disclosure is related to measurement gap handling in wireless communications. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, a method performed by a communication device adapted to operate in a wireless communication system comprises: receiving a configuration for a measurement gap and a configuration for a scheduling gap associated with the measurement gap, wherein the measurement gap includes the scheduling gap; performing a measurement on one or more neighbor cells during the measurement gap before the scheduling gap; monitoring a downlink control channel addressed to the communication device during the scheduling gap; and upon detecting the downlink control channel addressed to the communication device, stopping performing the measurement on the one or more neighbor cells during the measurement gap.

Description

MEASUREMENT GAP HANDLING IN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS

[0001] The present disclosure is related to measurement gap handling in wireless communications.

[0002] 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Long-Term Evolution (LTE) is a technology for enabling high-speed packet communications. Many schemes have been proposed for the LTE objective including those that aim to reduce user and provider costs, improve service quality, and expand and improve coverage and system capacity. The 3GPP LTE requires reduced cost per bit, increased service availability, flexible use of a frequency band, a simple structure, an open interface, and adequate power consumption of a terminal as an upper-level requirement.

[0003] Work has started in International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and 3GPP to develop requirements and specifications for New Radio (NR) systems. 3GPP has to identify and develop the technology components needed for successfully standardizing the new RAT timely satisfying both the urgent market needs, and the more long-term requirements set forth by the ITU Radio communication sector (ITU-R) International Mobile Telecommunications (IMT)-2020 process. Further, the NR should be able to use any spectrum band ranging at least up to 100 GHz that may be made available for wireless communications even in a more distant future.

[0004] The NR targets a single technical framework addressing all usage scenarios, requirements and deployment scenarios including enhanced Mobile BroadBand (eMBB), massive Machine Type Communications (mMTC), Ultra-Reliable and Low Latency Communications (URLLC), etc. The NR shall be inherently forward compatible.

[0005] In wireless communications, a communication device may perform measurements on neighbor cells during a measurement gap. However, while performing measurements during the measurement gap, the communication device is not able to transmit / receive data via serving cell, even though the data is urgent data.

[0006] An aspect of the present disclosure is to provide method and apparatus for measurement gap handling in a wireless communication system.

[0007] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, a method performed by a communication device adapted to operate in a wireless communication system comprises: receiving a configuration for a measurement gap and a configuration for a scheduling gap associated with the measurement gap, wherein the measurement gap includes the scheduling gap; performing a measurement on one or more neighbor cells during the measurement gap before the scheduling gap; monitoring a downlink control channel addressed to the communication device during the scheduling gap; and upon detecting the downlink control channel addressed to the communication device, stopping performing the measurement on the one or more neighbor cells during the measurement gap.

[0008] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, method performed by a network node configured to operate in a wireless communication system comprises: transmitting, to a communication device, a configuration for a measurement gap and a configuration for a scheduling gap associated with the measurement gap, wherein the measurement gap includes the scheduling gap; and transmitting, to the communication device, information for a length of a first duration to be deactivated within the measurement gap, wherein the communication device is configured to perform operations comprising: performing a measurement on one or more neighbor cells during the measurement gap before the scheduling gap; monitoring a downlink control channel addressed to the communication device during the scheduling gap; and upon detecting the downlink control channel addressed to the communication device, stopping performing the measurement on the one or more neighbor cells during the first duration within the measurement gap.

[0009] According to various embodiments, apparatuses to implement the above methods are provided.

[0010] The present disclosure may have various advantageous effects.

[0011] For example, UE may deactivate a part / fraction of the measurement gap duration and use the deactivated measurement gap duration (i.e., scheduling gap) to monitor DL control channel. This allows scheduling of urgent traffic even during the measurement gap. In addition, compensation of the deactivated measurement gap duration allows UE to perform necessary measurements.

[0012] Advantageous effects which can be obtained through specific embodiments of the present disclosure are not limited to the advantageous effects listed above. For example, there may be a variety of technical effects that a person having ordinary skill in the related art can understand and / or derive from the present disclosure. Accordingly, the specific effects of the present disclosure are not limited to those explicitly described herein, but may include various effects that may be understood or derived from the technical features of the present disclosure.

[0013] FIG. 1 shows an example of a communication system to which implementations of the present disclosure is applied.

[0014] FIG. 2 shows an example of wireless devices to which implementations of the present disclosure is applied.

[0015] FIG. 3 shows an example of UE to which implementations of the present disclosure is applied.

[0016] FIGs. 4 and 5 show an example of protocol stacks in a 3GPP based wireless communication system to which implementations of the present disclosure is applied.

[0017] FIG. 6 shows a frame structure in a 3GPP based wireless communication system to which implementations of the present disclosure is applied.

[0018] FIG. 7 shows a data flow example in the 3GPP NR system to which implementations of the present disclosure is applied.

[0019] FIG. 8 shows an example of a measurement gap configuration procedure.

[0020] FIG. 9 shows an example of measurement gaps according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0021] FIG. 10 shows an example of a method performed by a communication device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0022] FIG. 11 shows an example of a signal flow between a communication device and a network node according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0023] FIG. 12 shows an example of scheduling gap(s) within measurement gap(s) according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0024] FIG. 13 shows an example of deactivating the remaining measurement gap duration according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0025] FIG. 14 shows an example of deactivating a fraction of the remaining measurement gap duration according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0026] FIG. 15 shows an example of prolonging a measurement gap duration according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0027] The following techniques, apparatuses, and systems may be applied to a variety of wireless multiple access systems. Examples of the multiple access systems include a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) system, a Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) system, a Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) system, an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) system, a Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA) system, and a Multi Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access (MC-FDMA) system. CDMA may be embodied through radio technology such as Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA) or CDMA2000. TDMA may be embodied through radio technology such as Global System for Mobile communications (GSM), General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), or Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE). OFDMA may be embodied through radio technology such as Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 (Wi-Fi), IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX), IEEE 802.20, or Evolved UTRA (E-UTRA). UTRA is a part of a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS). 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Long-Term Evolution (LTE) is a part of Evolved UMTS (E-UMTS) using E-UTRA. 3GPP LTE employs OFDMA in downlink (DL) and SC-FDMA in uplink (UL). Evolution of 3GPP LTE includes LTE-Advanced (LTE-A), LTE-A Pro, and / or 5G New Radio (NR).

[0028] For convenience of description, implementations of the present disclosure are mainly described in regards to a 3GPP based wireless communication system. However, the technical features of the present disclosure are not limited thereto. For example, although the following detailed description is given based on a mobile communication system corresponding to a 3GPP based wireless communication system, aspects of the present disclosure that are not limited to 3GPP based wireless communication system are applicable to other mobile communication systems.

[0029] For terms and technologies which are not specifically described among the terms of and technologies employed in the present disclosure, the wireless communication standard documents published before the present disclosure may be referenced.

[0030] In the present disclosure, "A or B" may mean "only A", "only B", or "both A and B". In other words, "A or B" in the present disclosure may be interpreted as "A and / or B". For example, "A, B or C" in the present disclosure may mean "only A", "only B", "only C", or "any combination of A, B and C".

[0031] In the present disclosure, slash ( / ) or comma (,) may mean "and / or". For example, "A / B" may mean "A and / or B". Accordingly, "A / B" may mean "only A", "only B", or "both A and B". For example, "A, B, C" may mean "A, B or C".

[0032] In the present disclosure, "at least one of A and B" may mean "only A", "only B" or "both A and B". In addition, the expression "at least one of A or B" or "at least one of A and / or B" in the present disclosure may be interpreted as same as "at least one of A and B".

[0033] In addition, in the present disclosure, "at least one of A, B and C" may mean "only A", "only B", "only C", or "any combination of A, B and C". In addition, "at least one of A, B or C" or "at least one of A, B and / or C" may mean "at least one of A, B and C".

[0034] Also, parentheses used in the present disclosure may mean "for example". In detail, when it is shown as "control information (PDCCH)", "PDCCH" may be proposed as an example of "control information". In other words, "control information" in the present disclosure is not limited to "PDCCH", and "PDCCH" may be proposed as an example of "control information". In addition, even when shown as "control information (i.e., PDCCH)", "PDCCH" may be proposed as an example of "control information".

[0035] Technical features that are separately described in one drawing in the present disclosure may be implemented separately or simultaneously.

[0036] Although not limited thereto, various descriptions, functions, procedures, suggestions, methods and / or operational flowcharts of the present disclosure disclosed herein can be applied to various fields requiring wireless communication and / or connection (e.g., 5G) between devices.

[0037] Hereinafter, the present disclosure will be described in more detail with reference to drawings. The same reference numerals in the following drawings and / or descriptions may refer to the same and / or corresponding hardware blocks, software blocks, and / or functional blocks unless otherwise indicated.

[0038] FIG. 1 shows an example of a communication system to which implementations of the present disclosure is applied.

[0039] The 5G usage scenarios shown in FIG. 1 are only exemplary, and the technical features of the present disclosure can be applied to other 5G usage scenarios which are not shown in FIG. 1.

[0040] Three main requirement categories for 5G include (1) a category of enhanced Mobile BroadBand (eMBB), (2) a category of massive Machine Type Communication (mMTC), and (3) a category of Ultra-Reliable and Low Latency Communications (URLLC).

[0041] Referring to FIG. 1, the communication system 1 includes wireless devices 100a to 100f, Base Stations (BSs) 200, and a network 300. Although FIG. 1 illustrates a 5G network as an example of the network of the communication system 1, the implementations of the present disclosure are not limited to the 5G system, and can be applied to the future communication system beyond the 5G system.

[0042] The BSs 200 and the network 300 may be implemented as wireless devices and a specific wireless device may operate as a BS / network node with respect to other wireless devices.

[0043] The wireless devices 100a to 100f represent devices performing communication using Radio Access Technology (RAT) (e.g., 5G NR or LTE) and may be referred to as communication / radio / 5G devices. The wireless devices 100a to 100f may include, without being limited to, a robot 100a, vehicles 100b-1 and 100b-2, an eXtended Reality (XR) device 100c, a hand-held device 100d, a home appliance 100e, an Internet-of-Things (IoT) device 100f, and an Artificial Intelligence (AI) device / server 400. For example, the vehicles may include a vehicle having a wireless communication function, an autonomous driving vehicle, and a vehicle capable of performing communication between vehicles. The vehicles may include an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) (e.g., a drone). The XR device may include an Augmented Reality (AR) / Virtual Reality (VR) / Mixed Reality (MR) device and may be implemented in the form of a Head-Mounted Device (HMD), a Head-Up Display (HUD) mounted in a vehicle, a television, a smartphone, a computer, a wearable device, a home appliance device, a digital signage, a vehicle, a robot, etc. The hand-held device may include a smartphone, a smartpad, a wearable device (e.g., a smartwatch or a smartglasses), and a computer (e.g., a notebook). The home appliance may include a TV, a refrigerator, and a washing machine. The IoT device may include a sensor and a smartmeter.

[0044] In the present disclosure, the wireless devices 100a to 100f may be called User Equipments (UEs). A UE may include, for example, a cellular phone, a smartphone, a laptop computer, a digital broadcast terminal, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a Portable Multimedia Player (PMP), a navigation system, a slate Personal Computer (PC), a tablet PC, an ultrabook, a vehicle, a vehicle having an autonomous traveling function, a connected car, an UAV, an AI module, a robot, an AR device, a VR device, an MR device, a hologram device, a public safety device, an MTC device, an IoT device, a medical device, a FinTech device (or a financial device), a security device, a weather / environment device, a device related to a 5G service, or a device related to a fourth industrial revolution field.

[0045] The wireless devices 100a to 100f may be connected to the network 300 via the BSs 200. An AI technology may be applied to the wireless devices 100a to 100f and the wireless devices 100a to 100f may be connected to the AI server 400 via the network 300. The network 300 may be configured using a 3G network, a 4G (e.g., LTE) network, a 5G (e.g., NR) network, and a beyond-5G network. Although the wireless devices 100a to 100f may communicate with each other through the BSs 200 / network 300, the wireless devices 100a to 100f may perform direct communication (e.g., sidelink communication) with each other without passing through the BSs 200 / network 300. For example, the vehicles 100b-1 and 100b-2 may perform direct communication (e.g., Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) / Vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication). The IoT device (e.g., a sensor) may perform direct communication with other IoT devices (e.g., sensors) or other wireless devices 100a to 100f.

[0046] Wireless communication / connections 150a, 150b and 150c may be established between the wireless devices 100a to 100f and / or between wireless device 100a to 100f and BS 200 and / or between BSs 200. Herein, the wireless communication / connections may be established through various RATs (e.g., 5G NR) such as uplink / downlink communication 150a, sidelink communication (or Device-to-Device (D2D) communication) 150b, inter-base station communication 150c (e.g., relay, Integrated Access and Backhaul (IAB)), etc. The wireless devices 100a to 100f and the BSs 200 / the wireless devices 100a to 100f may transmit / receive radio signals to / from each other through the wireless communication / connections 150a, 150b and 150c. For example, the wireless communication / connections 150a, 150b and 150c may transmit / receive signals through various physical channels. To this end, at least a part of various configuration information configuring processes, various signal processing processes (e.g., channel encoding / decoding, modulation / demodulation, and resource mapping / de-mapping), and resource allocating processes, for transmitting / receiving radio signals, may be performed based on the various proposals of the present disclosure.

[0047] NR supports multiples numerologies (and / or multiple Sub-Carrier Spacings (SCS)) to support various 5G services. For example, if SCS is 15 kHz, wide area can be supported in traditional cellular bands, and if SCS is 30 kHz / 60 kHz, dense-urban, lower latency, and wider carrier bandwidth can be supported. If SCS is 60 kHz or higher, bandwidths greater than 24.25 GHz can be supported to overcome phase noise.

[0048] The NR frequency band may be defined as two types of frequency range, i.e., Frequency Range 1 (FR1) and Frequency Range 2 (FR2). The numerical value of the frequency range may be changed. For example, the frequency ranges of the two types (FR1 and FR2) may be as shown in Table 1 below. For ease of explanation, in the frequency ranges used in the NR system, FR1 may mean "sub 6 GHz range", FR2 may mean "above 6 GHz range," and may be referred to as millimeter Wave (mmW).

[0049] Frequency Range designationCorresponding frequency rangeSubcarrier SpacingFR1450MHz - 6000MHz15, 30, 60kHzFR224250MHz - 52600MHz60, 120, 240kHz

[0050] As mentioned above, the numerical value of the frequency range of the NR system may be changed. For example, FR1 may include a frequency band of 410MHz to 7125MHz as shown in Table 2 below. That is, FR1 may include a frequency band of 6GHz (or 5850, 5900, 5925 MHz, etc.) or more. For example, a frequency band of 6 GHz (or 5850, 5900, 5925 MHz, etc.) or more included in FR1 may include an unlicensed band. Unlicensed bands may be used for a variety of purposes, for example for communication for vehicles (e.g., autonomous driving).

[0051] Frequency Range designationCorresponding frequency rangeSubcarrier SpacingFR1410MHz - 7125MHz15, 30, 60kHzFR224250MHz - 52600MHz60, 120, 240kHz

[0052] Here, the radio communication technologies implemented in the wireless devices in the present disclosure may include NarrowBand IoT (NB-IoT) technology for low-power communication as well as LTE, NR and 6G. For example, NB-IoT technology may be an example of Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN) technology, may be implemented in specifications such as LTE Cat NB1 and / or LTE Cat NB2, and may not be limited to the above-mentioned names. Additionally and / or alternatively, the radio communication technologies implemented in the wireless devices in the present disclosure may communicate based on LTE-M technology. For example, LTE-M technology may be an example of LPWAN technology and be called by various names such as enhanced MTC (eMTC). For example, LTE-M technology may be implemented in at least one of the various specifications, such as 1) LTE Cat 0, 2) LTE Cat M1, 3) LTE Cat M2, 4) LTE non-bandwidth limited (non-BL), 5) LTE-MTC, 6) LTE Machine Type Communication, and / or 7) LTE M, and may not be limited to the above-mentioned names. Additionally and / or alternatively, the radio communication technologies implemented in the wireless devices in the present disclosure may include at least one of ZigBee, Bluetooth, and / or LPWAN which take into account low-power communication, and may not be limited to the above-mentioned names. For example, ZigBee technology may generate Personal Area Networks (PANs) associated with small / low-power digital communication based on various specifications such as IEEE 802.15.4 and may be called various names.FIG. 2 shows an example of wireless devices to which implementations of the present disclosure is applied.

[0053] In FIG. 2, The first wireless device 100 and / or the second wireless device 200 may be implemented in various forms according to use cases / services. For example, {the first wireless device 100 and the second wireless device 200} may correspond to at least one of {the wireless device 100a to 100f and the BS 200}, {the wireless device 100a to 100f and the wireless device 100a to 100f} and / or {the BS 200 and the BS 200} of FIG. 1. The first wireless device 100 and / or the second wireless device 200 may be configured by various elements, devices / parts, and / or modules.

[0054] The first wireless device 100 may include at least one transceiver, such as a transceiver 106, at least one processing chip, such as a processing chip 101, and / or one or more antennas 108.

[0055] The processing chip 101 may include at least one processor, such a processor 102, and at least one memory, such as a memory 104. Additional and / or alternatively, the memory 104 may be placed outside of the processing chip 101.

[0056] The processor 102 may control the memory 104 and / or the transceiver 106 and may be adapted to implement the descriptions, functions, procedures, suggestions, methods and / or operational flowcharts described in the present disclosure. For example, the processor 102 may process information within the memory 104 to generate first information / signals and then transmit radio signals including the first information / signals through the transceiver 106. The processor 102 may receive radio signals including second information / signals through the transceiver 106 and then store information obtained by processing the second information / signals in the memory 104.

[0057] The memory 104 may be operably connectable to the processor 102. The memory 104 may store various types of information and / or instructions. The memory 104 may store a firmware and / or a software code 105 which implements codes, commands, and / or a set of commands that, when executed by the processor 102, perform the descriptions, functions, procedures, suggestions, methods and / or operational flowcharts disclosed in the present disclosure. For example, the firmware and / or the software code 105 may implement instructions that, when executed by the processor 102, perform the descriptions, functions, procedures, suggestions, methods and / or operational flowcharts disclosed in the present disclosure. For example, the firmware and / or the software code 105 may control the processor 102 to perform one or more protocols. For example, the firmware and / or the software code 105 may control the processor 102 to perform one or more layers of the radio interface protocol.

[0058] Herein, the processor 102 and the memory 104 may be a part of a communication modem / circuit / chip designed to implement RAT (e.g., LTE or NR). The transceiver 106 may be connected to the processor 102 and transmit and / or receive radio signals through one or more antennas 108. Each of the transceiver 106 may include a transmitter and / or a receiver. The transceiver 106 may be interchangeably used with Radio Frequency (RF) unit(s). In the present disclosure, the first wireless device 100 may represent a communication modem / circuit / chip.

[0059] The second wireless device 200 may include at least one transceiver, such as a transceiver 206, at least one processing chip, such as a processing chip 201, and / or one or more antennas 208.

[0060] The processing chip 201 may include at least one processor, such a processor 202, and at least one memory, such as a memory 204. Additional and / or alternatively, the memory 204 may be placed outside of the processing chip 201.

[0061] The processor 202 may control the memory 204 and / or the transceiver 206 and may be adapted to implement the descriptions, functions, procedures, suggestions, methods and / or operational flowcharts described in the present disclosure. For example, the processor 202 may process information within the memory 204 to generate third information / signals and then transmit radio signals including the third information / signals through the transceiver 206. The processor 202 may receive radio signals including fourth information / signals through the transceiver 106 and then store information obtained by processing the fourth information / signals in the memory 204.

[0062] The memory 204 may be operably connectable to the processor 202. The memory 204 may store various types of information and / or instructions. The memory 204 may store a firmware and / or a software code 205 which implements codes, commands, and / or a set of commands that, when executed by the processor 202, perform the descriptions, functions, procedures, suggestions, methods and / or operational flowcharts disclosed in the present disclosure. For example, the firmware and / or the software code 205 may implement instructions that, when executed by the processor 202, perform the descriptions, functions, procedures, suggestions, methods and / or operational flowcharts disclosed in the present disclosure. For example, the firmware and / or the software code 205 may control the processor 202 to perform one or more protocols. For example, the firmware and / or the software code 205 may control the processor 202 to perform one or more layers of the radio interface protocol.

[0063] Herein, the processor 202 and the memory 204 may be a part of a communication modem / circuit / chip designed to implement RAT (e.g., LTE or NR). The transceiver 206 may be connected to the processor 202 and transmit and / or receive radio signals through one or more antennas 208. Each of the transceiver 206 may include a transmitter and / or a receiver. The transceiver 206 may be interchangeably used with RF unit. In the present disclosure, the second wireless device 200 may represent a communication modem / circuit / chip.

[0064] Hereinafter, hardware elements of the wireless devices 100 and 200 will be described more specifically. One or more protocol layers may be implemented by, without being limited to, one or more processors 102 and 202. For example, the one or more processors 102 and 202 may implement one or more layers (e.g., functional layers such as Physical (PHY) layer, Media Access Control (MAC) layer, Radio Link Control (RLC) layer, Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer, Radio Resource Control (RRC) layer, and Service Data Adaptation Protocol (SDAP) layer). The one or more processors 102 and 202 may generate one or more Protocol Data Units (PDUs), one or more Service Data Unit (SDUs), messages, control information, data, or information according to the descriptions, functions, procedures, suggestions, methods and / or operational flowcharts disclosed in the present disclosure. The one or more processors 102 and 202 may generate signals (e.g., baseband signals) including PDUs, SDUs, messages, control information, data, or information according to the descriptions, functions, procedures, suggestions, methods and / or operational flowcharts disclosed in the present disclosure and provide the generated signals to the one or more transceivers 106 and 206. The one or more processors 102 and 202 may receive the signals (e.g., baseband signals) from the one or more transceivers 106 and 206 and acquire the PDUs, SDUs, messages, control information, data, or information according to the descriptions, functions, procedures, suggestions, methods and / or operational flowcharts disclosed in the present disclosure.

[0065] The one or more processors 102 and 202 may be referred to as controllers, microcontrollers, microprocessors, or microcomputers. The one or more processors 102 and 202 may be implemented by hardware, firmware, software, or a combination thereof. As an example, one or more Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), one or more Digital Signal Processors (DSPs), one or more Digital Signal Processing Devices (DSPDs), one or more Programmable Logic Devices (PLDs), or one or more Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) may be included in the one or more processors 102 and 202. For example, the one or more processors 102 and 202 may be configured by a set of a communication control processor, an Application Processor (AP), an Electronic Control Unit (ECU), a Central Processing Unit (CPU), a Graphic Processing Unit (GPU), and a memory control processor.

[0066] The one or more memories 104 and 204 may be connected to the one or more processors 102 and 202 and store various types of data, signals, messages, information, programs, code, instructions, and / or commands. The one or more memories 104 and 204 may be configured by Random Access Memory (RAM), Dynamic RAM (DRAM), Read-Only Memory (ROM), electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EPROM), flash memory, volatile memory, non-volatile memory, hard drive, register, cash memory, computer-readable storage medium, and / or combinations thereof. The one or more memories 104 and 204 may be located at the interior and / or exterior of the one or more processors 102 and 202. The one or more memories 104 and 204 may be connected to the one or more processors 102 and 202 through various technologies such as wired or wireless connection.

[0067] The one or more transceivers 106 and 206 may transmit user data, control information, and / or radio signals / channels, mentioned in the descriptions, functions, procedures, suggestions, methods and / or operational flowcharts disclosed in the present disclosure, to one or more other devices. The one or more transceivers 106 and 206 may receive user data, control information, and / or radio signals / channels, mentioned in the descriptions, functions, procedures, suggestions, methods and / or operational flowcharts disclosed in the present disclosure, from one or more other devices. For example, the one or more transceivers 106 and 206 may be connected to the one or more processors 102 and 202 and transmit and receive radio signals. For example, the one or more processors 102 and 202 may perform control so that the one or more transceivers 106 and 206 may transmit user data, control information, or radio signals to one or more other devices. The one or more processors 102 and 202 may perform control so that the one or more transceivers 106 and 206 may receive user data, control information, or radio signals from one or more other devices.

[0068] The one or more transceivers 106 and 206 may be connected to the one or more antennas 108 and 208. Additionally and / or alternatively, the one or more transceivers 106 and 206 may include one or more antennas 108 and 208. The one or more transceivers 106 and 206 may be adapted to transmit and receive user data, control information, and / or radio signals / channels, mentioned in the descriptions, functions, procedures, suggestions, methods and / or operational flowcharts disclosed in the present disclosure, through the one or more antennas 108 and 208. In the present disclosure, the one or more antennas 108 and 208 may be a plurality of physical antennas or a plurality of logical antennas (e.g., antenna ports).

[0069] The one or more transceivers 106 and 206 may convert received user data, control information, radio signals / channels, etc., from RF band signals into baseband signals in order to process received user data, control information, radio signals / channels, etc., using the one or more processors 102 and 202. The one or more transceivers 106 and 206 may convert the user data, control information, radio signals / channels, etc., processed using the one or more processors 102 and 202 from the base band signals into the RF band signals. To this end, the one or more transceivers 106 and 206 may include (analog) oscillators and / or filters. For example, the one or more transceivers 106 and 206 can up-convert OFDM baseband signals to OFDM signals by their (analog) oscillators and / or filters under the control of the one or more processors 102 and 202 and transmit the up-converted OFDM signals at the carrier frequency. The one or more transceivers 106 and 206 may receive OFDM signals at a carrier frequency and down-convert the OFDM signals into OFDM baseband signals by their (analog) oscillators and / or filters under the control of the one or more processors 102 and 202.

[0070] Although not shown in FIG. 2, the wireless devices 100 and 200 may further include additional components. The additional components 140 may be variously configured according to types of the wireless devices 100 and 200. For example, the additional components 140 may include at least one of a power unit / battery, an Input / Output (I / O) device (e.g., audio I / O port, video I / O port), a driving device, and a computing device. The additional components 140 may be coupled to the one or more processors 102 and 202 via various technologies, such as a wired or wireless connection.

[0071] In the implementations of the present disclosure, a UE may operate as a transmitting device in Uplink (UL) and as a receiving device in Downlink (DL). In the implementations of the present disclosure, a BS may operate as a receiving device in UL and as a transmitting device in DL. Hereinafter, for convenience of description, it is mainly assumed that the first wireless device 100 acts as the UE, and the second wireless device 200 acts as the BS. For example, the processor(s) 102 connected to, mounted on or launched in the first wireless device 100 may be adapted to perform the UE behavior according to an implementation of the present disclosure or control the transceiver(s) 106 to perform the UE behavior according to an implementation of the present disclosure. The processor(s) 202 connected to, mounted on or launched in the second wireless device 200 may be adapted to perform the BS behavior according to an implementation of the present disclosure or control the transceiver(s) 206 to perform the BS behavior according to an implementation of the present disclosure.

[0072] In the present disclosure, a BS is also referred to as a node B (NB), an eNode B (eNB), or a gNB.

[0073] FIG. 3 shows an example of UE to which implementations of the present disclosure is applied.

[0074] Referring to FIG. 3, a UE 100 may correspond to the first wireless device 100 of FIG. 2.

[0075] A UE 100 includes a processor 102, a memory 104, a transceiver 106, one or more antennas 108, a power management module 141, a battery 142, a display 143, a keypad 144, a Subscriber Identification Module (SIM) card 145, a speaker 146, and a microphone 147.

[0076] The processor 102 may be adapted to implement the descriptions, functions, procedures, suggestions, methods and / or operational flowcharts disclosed in the present disclosure. The processor 102 may be adapted to control one or more other components of the UE 100 to implement the descriptions, functions, procedures, suggestions, methods and / or operational flowcharts disclosed in the present disclosure. Layers of the radio interface protocol may be implemented in the processor 102. The processor 102 may include ASIC, other chipset, logic circuit and / or data processing device. The processor 102 may be an application processor. The processor 102 may include at least one of DSP, CPU, GPU, a modem (modulator and demodulator). An example of the processor 102 may be found in SNAPDRAGONTMseries of processors made by Qualcomm®, EXYNOSTMseries of processors made by Samsung®, A series of processors made by Apple®, HELIOTMseries of processors made by MediaTek®, ATOMTMseries of processors made by Intel®or a corresponding next generation processor.

[0077] The memory 104 is operatively coupled with the processor 102 and stores a variety of information to operate the processor 102. The memory 104 may include ROM, RAM, flash memory, memory card, storage medium and / or other storage device. When the embodiments are implemented in software, the techniques described herein can be implemented with modules (e.g., procedures, functions, etc.) that perform the descriptions, functions, procedures, suggestions, methods and / or operational flowcharts disclosed in the present disclosure. The modules can be stored in the memory 104 and executed by the processor 102. The memory 104 can be implemented within the processor 102 or external to the processor 102 in which case those can be communicatively coupled to the processor 102 via various means as is known in the art.

[0078] The transceiver 106 is operatively coupled with the processor 102, and transmits and / or receives a radio signal. The transceiver 106 includes a transmitter and a receiver. The transceiver 106 may include baseband circuitry to process radio frequency signals. The transceiver 106 controls the one or more antennas 108 to transmit and / or receive a radio signal.

[0079] The power management module 141 manages power for the processor 102 and / or the transceiver 106. The battery 142 supplies power to the power management module 141.

[0080] The display 143 outputs results processed by the processor 102. The keypad 144 receives inputs to be used by the processor 102. The keypad 144 may be shown on the display 143.

[0081] The SIM card 145 is an　integrated circuit　that is intended to　securely store the　International Mobile Subscriber Identity　(IMSI) number and its related　key, which are used to identify and authenticate subscribers on　mobile telephony　devices (such as　mobile phones　and　computers). It is also possible to store contact information on many SIM cards.

[0082] The speaker 146 outputs sound-related results processed by the processor 102. The microphone 147 receives sound-related inputs to be used by the processor 102.

[0083] FIGs. 4 and 5 show an example of protocol stacks in a 3GPP based wireless communication system to which implementations of the present disclosure is applied.

[0084] In particular, FIG. 4 illustrates an example of a radio interface user plane protocol stack between a UE and a BS and FIG. 5 illustrates an example of a radio interface control plane protocol stack between a UE and a BS. The control plane refers to a path through which control messages used to manage call by a UE and a network are transported. The user plane refers to a path through which data generated in an application layer, for example, voice data or Internet packet data are transported. Referring to FIG. 4, the user plane protocol stack may be divided into Layer 1 (L1, for example PHY layer) and Layer 2 (L2, for example MAC / RLC / PDCP layer). Referring to FIG. 5, the control plane protocol stack may be divided into Layer 1 (L1, for example PHY layer), Layer 2 (L2, for example MAC / RLC / PDCP layer), Layer 3 (L3, for example an RRC layer), and a non-access stratum (NAS) layer. Layer 1, Layer 2 and Layer 3 are referred to as an access stratum (AS).

[0085] In the 3GPP LTE system, the Layer 2 is split into the following sublayers: MAC, RLC, and PDCP. In the 3GPP NR system, the Layer 2 is split into the following sublayers: MAC, RLC, PDCP and SDAP. The PHY layer offers to the MAC sublayer transport channels, the MAC sublayer offers to the RLC sublayer logical channels, the RLC sublayer offers to the PDCP sublayer RLC channels, the PDCP sublayer offers to the SDAP sublayer radio bearers. The SDAP sublayer offers to 5G core network quality of service (QoS) flows.

[0086] In the 3GPP NR system, the main services and functions of the MAC sublayer include: mapping between logical channels and transport channels; multiplexing / de-multiplexing of MAC SDUs belonging to one or different logical channels into / from transport blocks (TB) delivered to / from the physical layer on transport channels; scheduling information reporting; error correction through hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) (one HARQ entity per cell in case of carrier aggregation (CA)); priority handling between UEs by means of dynamic scheduling; priority handling between logical channels of one UE by means of logical channel prioritization; padding. A single MAC entity may support multiple numerologies, transmission timings and cells. Mapping restrictions in logical channel prioritization control which numerology(ies), cell(s), and transmission timing(s) a logical channel can use.

[0087] Different kinds of data transfer services are offered by MAC. To accommodate different kinds of data transfer services, multiple types of logical channels are defined, i.e., each supporting transfer of a particular type of information. Each logical channel type is defined by what type of information is transferred. Logical channels are classified into two groups: control channels and traffic channels. Control channels are used for the transfer of control plane information only, and traffic channels are used for the transfer of user plane information only. Broadcast control channel (BCCH) is a downlink logical channel for broadcasting system control information, paging control channel (PCCH) is a downlink logical channel that transfers paging information, system information change notifications and indications of ongoing public warning service (PWS) broadcasts, common control channel (CCCH) is a logical channel for transmitting control information between UEs and network and used for UEs having no RRC connection with the network, and dedicated control channel (DCCH) is a point-to-point bi-directional logical channel that transmits dedicated control information between a UE and the network and used by UEs having an RRC connection. Dedicated traffic channel (DTCH) is a point-to-point logical channel, dedicated to one UE, for the transfer of user information. A DTCH can exist in both uplink and downlink. In downlink, the following connections between logical channels and transport channels exist: BCCH can be mapped to broadcast channel (BCH); BCCH can be mapped to downlink shared channel (DL-SCH); PCCH can be mapped to paging channel (PCH); CCCH can be mapped to DL-SCH; DCCH can be mapped to DL-SCH; and DTCH can be mapped to DL-SCH. In uplink, the following connections between logical channels and transport channels exist: CCCH can be mapped to uplink shared channel (UL-SCH); DCCH can be mapped to UL-SCH; and DTCH can be mapped to UL-SCH.

[0088] The RLC sublayer supports three transmission modes: transparent mode (TM), unacknowledged mode (UM), and acknowledged node (AM). The RLC configuration is per logical channel with no dependency on numerologies and / or transmission durations. In the 3GPP NR system, the main services and functions of the RLC sublayer depend on the transmission mode and include: transfer of upper layer PDUs; sequence numbering independent of the one in PDCP (UM and AM); error correction through ARQ (AM only); segmentation (AM and UM) and re-segmentation (AM only) of RLC SDUs; reassembly of SDU (AM and UM); duplicate detection (AM only); RLC SDU discard (AM and UM); RLC re-establishment; protocol error detection (AM only).

[0089] In the 3GPP NR system, the main services and functions of the PDCP sublayer for the user plane include: sequence numbering; header compression and decompression using robust header compression (ROHC); transfer of user data; reordering and duplicate detection; in-order delivery; PDCP PDU routing (in case of split bearers); retransmission of PDCP SDUs; ciphering, deciphering and integrity protection; PDCP SDU discard; PDCP re-establishment and data recovery for RLC AM; PDCP status reporting for RLC AM; duplication of PDCP PDUs and duplicate discard indication to lower layers. The main services and functions of the PDCP sublayer for the control plane include: sequence numbering; ciphering, deciphering and integrity protection; transfer of control plane data; reordering and duplicate detection; in-order delivery; duplication of PDCP PDUs and duplicate discard indication to lower layers.

[0090] In the 3GPP NR system, the main services and functions of SDAP include: mapping between a QoS flow and a data radio bearer; marking QoS flow ID (QFI) in both DL and UL packets. A single protocol entity of SDAP is configured for each individual PDU session.

[0091] In the 3GPP NR system, the main services and functions of the RRC sublayer include: broadcast of system information related to AS and NAS; paging initiated by 5GC or NG-RAN; establishment, maintenance and release of an RRC connection between the UE and NG-RAN; security functions including key management; establishment, configuration, maintenance and release of signaling radio bearers (SRBs) and data radio bearers (DRBs); mobility functions (including: handover and context transfer, UE cell selection and reselection and control of cell selection and reselection, inter-RAT mobility); QoS management functions; UE measurement reporting and control of the reporting; detection of and recovery from radio link failure; NAS message transfer to / from NAS from / to UE.

[0092] FIG. 6 shows a frame structure in a 3GPP based wireless communication system to which implementations of the present disclosure is applied.

[0093] The frame structure shown in FIG. 6 is purely exemplary and the number of subframes, the number of slots, and / or the number of symbols in a frame may be variously changed. In the 3GPP based wireless communication system, OFDM numerologies (e.g., subcarrier spacing (SCS), transmission time interval (TTI) duration) may be differently configured between a plurality of cells aggregated for one UE. For example, if a UE is configured with different SCSs for cells aggregated for the cell, an (absolute time) duration of a time resource (e.g., a subframe, a slot, or a TTI) including the same number of symbols may be different among the aggregated cells. Herein, symbols may include OFDM symbols (or CP-OFDM symbols), SC-FDMA symbols (or discrete Fourier transform-spread-OFDM (DFT-s-OFDM) symbols).

[0094] Referring to FIG. 6, downlink and uplink transmissions are organized into frames. Each frame has Tf= 10ms duration. Each frame is divided into two half-frames, where each of the half-frames has 5ms duration. Each half-frame consists of 5 subframes, where the duration Tsfper subframe is 1ms. Each subframe is divided into slots and the number of slots in a subframe depends on a subcarrier spacing. Each slot includes 14 or 12 OFDM symbols based on a cyclic prefix (CP). In a normal CP, each slot includes 14 OFDM symbols and, in an extended CP, each slot includes 12 OFDM symbols. The numerology is based on exponentially scalable subcarrier spacing βf = 2u*15 kHz.

[0095] Table 3 shows the number of OFDM symbols per slot Nslotsymb, the number of slots per frameNframe,uslot, and the number of slots per subframe Nsubframe,uslotfor the normal CP, according to the subcarrier spacing βf = 2u*15 kHz.

[0096] uNslotsymbNframe,uslotNsubframe,uslot01410111420221440431480841416016

[0097] Table 4 shows the number of OFDM symbols per slot Nslotsymb, the number of slots per frameNframe,uslot, and the number of slots per subframe Nsubframe,uslotfor the extended CP, according to the subcarrier spacing βf = 2u*15 kHz.

[0098] uNslotsymbNframe,uslotNsubframe,uslot212404

[0099] A slot includes plural symbols (e.g., 14 or 12 symbols) in the time domain. For each numerology (e.g., subcarrier spacing) and carrier, a resource grid ofNsize,ugrid,x*NRBscsubcarriers andNsubframe,usymbOFDM symbols is defined, starting at common resource block (CRB)Nstart,ugridindicated by higher-layer signaling (e.g., RRC signaling), whereNsize,ugrid,xis the number of resource blocks (RBs) in the resource grid and the subscript x is DL for downlink and UL for uplink.NRBscis the number of subcarriers per RB. In the 3GPP based wireless communication system,NRBscis 12 generally. There is one resource grid for a given antenna portp, subcarrier spacing configurationu, and transmission direction (DL or UL). The carrier bandwidthNsize,ugridfor subcarrier spacing configurationuis given by the higher-layer parameter (e.g., RRC parameter). Each element in the resource grid for the antenna portpand the subcarrier spacing configurationuis referred to as a resource element (RE) and one complex symbol may be mapped to each RE. Each RE in the resource grid is uniquely identified by an indexkin the frequency domain and an indexlrepresenting a symbol location relative to a reference point in the time domain. In the 3GPP based wireless communication system, an RB is defined by 12 consecutive subcarriers in the frequency domain. As shown in FIG. 6, as SCS doubles, the slot length and symbol length are halved. For example, when SCS is 15kHz, the slot length is 1ms, which is the same as the subframe length. When SCS is 30kHz, the slot length is 0.5ms (=500us), and the symbol length is half of that when the SCS is 15kHz. When SCS is 60kHz, the slot length is 0.25ms (=250us), and the symbol length is half of that when the SCS is 30kHz. When SCS is 120kHz, the slot length is 0.125ms (=125us), and the symbol length is half of that when the SCS is 60kHz. When SCS is 240kHz, the slot length is 0.0625ms (=62.5us), and the symbol length is half of that when the SCS is 120kHz.

[0100] In the 3GPP NR system, RBs are classified into CRBs and physical resource blocks (PRBs). CRBs are numbered from 0 and upwards in the frequency domain for subcarrier spacing configurationu. The center of subcarrier 0 of CRB 0 for subcarrier spacing configurationucoincides with 'point A' which serves as a common reference point for resource block grids. In the 3GPP NR system, PRBs are defined within a bandwidth part (BWP) and numbered from 0 toNsizeBWP,i-1, where i is the number of the bandwidth part. The relation between the physical resource block nPRBin the bandwidth part i and the common resource block nCRBis as follows: nPRB= nCRB+NsizeBWP,i, whereNsizeBWP,iis the common resource block where bandwidth part starts relative to CRB 0. The BWP includes a plurality of consecutive RBs. A carrier may include a maximum of N (e.g., 5) BWPs. A UE may be configured with one or more BWPs on a given component carrier. Only one BWP among BWPs configured to the UE can active at a time. The active BWP defines the UE's operating bandwidth within the cell's operating bandwidth.

[0101] In the present disclosure, the term "cell" may refer to a geographic area to which one or more nodes provide a communication system, or refer to radio resources. A "cell" as a geographic area may be understood as coverage within which a node can provide service using a carrier and a "cell" as radio resources (e.g., time-frequency resources) is associated with bandwidth which is a frequency range configured by the carrier. The "cell" associated with the radio resources is defined by a combination of downlink resources and uplink resources, for example, a combination of a DL component carrier (CC) and a UL CC. The cell may be configured by downlink resources only, or may be configured by downlink resources and uplink resources. Since DL coverage, which is a range within which the node is capable of transmitting a valid signal, and UL coverage, which is a range within which the node is capable of receiving the valid signal from the UE, depends upon a carrier carrying the signal, the coverage of the node may be associated with coverage of the "cell" of radio resources used by the node. Accordingly, the term "cell" may be used to represent service coverage of the node sometimes, radio resources at other times, or a range that signals using the radio resources can reach with valid strength at other times.

[0102] In CA, two or more CCs are aggregated. A UE may simultaneously receive or transmit on one or multiple CCs depending on its capabilities. CA is supported for both contiguous and non-contiguous CCs. When CA is configured, the UE only has one RRC connection with the network. At RRC connection establishment / re-establishment / handover, one serving cell provides the NAS mobility information, and at RRC connection re-establishment / handover, one serving cell provides the security input. This cell is referred to as the primary cell (PCell). The PCell is a cell, operating on the primary frequency, in which the UE either performs the initial connection establishment procedure or initiates the connection re-establishment procedure. Depending on UE capabilities, secondary cells (SCells) can be configured to form together with the PCell a set of serving cells. An SCell is a cell providing additional radio resources on top of special cell (SpCell). The configured set of serving cells for a UE therefore always consists of one PCell and one or more SCells. For dual connectivity (DC) operation, the term SpCell refers to the PCell of the master cell group (MCG) or the primary SCell (PSCell) of the secondary cell group (SCG). An SpCell supports PUCCH transmission and contention-based random access, and is always activated. The MCG is a group of serving cells associated with a master node, comprised of the SpCell (PCell) and optionally one or more SCells. The SCG is the subset of serving cells associated with a secondary node, comprised of the PSCell and zero or more SCells, for a UE configured with DC. For a UE in RRC_CONNECTED not configured with CA / DC, there is only one serving cell comprised of the PCell. For a UE in RRC_CONNECTED configured with CA / DC, the term "serving cells" is used to denote the set of cells comprised of the SpCell(s) and all SCells. In DC, two MAC entities are configured in a UE: one for the MCG and one for the SCG.

[0103] FIG. 7 shows a data flow example in the 3GPP NR system to which implementations of the present disclosure is applied.

[0104] Referring to FIG. 7, "RB" denotes a radio bearer, and "H" denotes a header. Radio bearers are categorized into two groups: DRBs for user plane data and SRBs for control plane data. The MAC PDU is transmitted / received using radio resources through the PHY layer to / from an external device. The MAC PDU arrives to the PHY layer in the form of a transport block.

[0105] In the PHY layer, the uplink transport channels UL-SCH and random access channel (RACH) are mapped to their physical channels physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) and physical random access channel (PRACH), respectively, and the downlink transport channels DL-SCH, BCH and PCH are mapped to physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), physical broadcast channel (PBCH) and PDSCH, respectively. In the PHY layer, uplink control information (UCI) is mapped to physical uplink control channel (PUCCH), and downlink control information (DCI) is mapped to physical downlink control channel (PDCCH). A MAC PDU related to UL-SCH is transmitted by a UE via a PUSCH based on an UL grant, and a MAC PDU related to DL-SCH is transmitted by a BS via a PDSCH based on a DL assignment.

[0106] Hereinafter, measurement gap related features are described.

[0107] A UE may need measurement gaps to perform measurements when the UE cannot measure the target carrier frequency while simultaneously transmitting / receiving on the serving cell. During the measurement gap, RF may need to be (re)tuned from the serving cell (frequency) to the target (carrier) frequency.

[0108] The measurements that the UE performs can be gap-assisted (i.e., network configures measurement gap) or　non-gap-assisted.

[0109] The need for measurement gap may depend on the capability of the UE, the active BWP of the UE and / or the current operating frequency.

[0110] The measurements gaps might be required for intra-frequency, inter-frequency and / or inter-RAT measurements.

[0111] Intra-frequency measurements might require a measurement gap in cases for example, if the intra-frequency measurements are to be done outside of the active BWP.

[0112] Measurement gap lengths of 1.5, 3, 3.5, 4, 5.5, and 6 ms with measurement gap repetition periodicities of 20, 40, 80, and 160 ms may be defined.

[0113] The RF　re-tuning time may be 0.5 ms for carrier frequency measurements in FR1 range and 0.25 ms for FR2 range. For example, a gap length of 4 ms for FR1 measurements would allow 3 ms for actual measurements and a gap length of 3.5 ms for FR2 measurements would allow 3 ms for actual measurements.

[0114] During the measurement gaps, the measurements are to be performed on SSBs of the neighbour cells. The network may provide the timing of neighbour cell SSBs using SS / PBCH block measurement timing configuration (SMTC).

[0115] - The measurement gap and SMTC duration may be configured such that the UE can identify and / or measure the SSBs within the SMTC window i.e., the SMTC duration should be sufficient enough to accommodate all SSBs that are being transmitted.

[0116] For SSB based　intra-frequency　measurements, the network may always configure the measurement gap if any of the UE configured BWPs　do not contain the frequency domain resources of the SSB associated to the initial DLBWP.

[0117] For SSB based　inter-frequency　measurements, the network may always configure measurement gap　if:

[0118] - the UE supports　per-FR　measurement gaps and if the carrier frequency to be measured is in the same frequency range (FR) as any of the serving cells; and / or

[0119] - the UE only supports　per-UE　measurement gaps. In this case, the measurement object can be configured on any frequency range (e.g., FR1 or FR2) but the gap will anyway be configured by the network.

[0120] Inter-RAT　measurements may be limited to E-UTRA. For a UE configured with E-UTRA inter-RAT measurements, a measurement gap configuration may be always provided when:

[0121] - the UE only supports per-UE measurement gaps; and / or

[0122] - the UE supports per-FR measurement gaps and at least one of the serving cells is in FR1.

[0123] FIG. 8 shows an example of a measurement gap configuration procedure.

[0124] Referring to FIG. 8, in step S801, UE may receive one or more measurement gap configurations from a network. The one or more measurement gap configurations may be included in a measurement configuration.

[0125] For example, each measurement gap configuration (i.e.,GapConfig) may comprise one or more elements as shown in table 5:

[0126] GapConfig-r17 ::= SEQUENCE {measGapId-r17 MeasGapId-r17,gapType-r17 ENUMERATED {perUE, perFR1, perFR2}gapOffset-r17 INTEGER (0..159),mgl-r17 ENUMERATED {ms1, ms1dot5, ms2, ms3, ms3dot5, ms4, ms5, ms5dot5, ms6, ms10, ms20},mgrp-r17 ENUMERATED Ems20, ms40, ms80, ms160},mgta-r17 ENUMERATED {msO, msOdot25, msodot5, msodot75},refServCellIndicator-r17 ENUMERATED {pCell, pscell, mcg-FR2} OPTIONAL, -- Cond NEDCorNRDCrefFR2-ServCellAsyncCA-r17 ServCellIndex OPTIONAL, - Cond AsyncCApreConfigInd-r17 ENUMERATED {true} OPTIONAL, - Need RncsgInd-r17 ENUMERATED {true} OPTIONAL, Need RgapAssociationPRS-r17 ENUMERATED {true} OPTIONAL, - Need RgapSharing-r17 MeasGapSharingScheme OPTIONAL, -- Need RgapPriority-r17 GapPriority-r17 OPTIONAL, -- Need R...｝

[0127] In table 5:-measGapIdindicates the ID of this measurement gap configuration;

[0128] -gapTypeindicates the type of this measurement gap. ValueperUEindicates that it is a per UE measurement gap, valueperFR1indicates that it is an FR1 measurement gap, and valueperFR2indicates that it is an FR2 measurement gap;

[0129] -gapOffsetindicates the gap offset of the gap pattern with measurement gap repetition period (MGRP) indicated in the fieldmgrp. The value range is from 0 tomgrp-1. IfncsgInd-r17is present, this offset value refers to the starting point of VIL1 (i.e., the visible interruption length before the ML);

[0130] -mglindicates the measurement gap length in ms of the measurement gap. IfncsgInd-r17is not present, the measurement gap length is determined based on a gap pattern ID. IfncsgInd-r17is present, this field indicates the measurement length (ML) in network controlled small gap (NCSG) pattern and is determined based on NCSG pattern ID. Valuems1dot5corresponds to 1.5 ms,ms3corresponds to 3 ms and so on. Ifmgl-r17is present, UE shall ignore themgl(without suffix). Value ms1, ms2, and ms5 can only be configured ifncsgIndis present;

[0131] -mgrpindicates measurement gap repetition period. IfncsgInd-r17is not present, themgrpfield indicates the measurement gap repetition period in (ms) of the measurement gap based on a gap pattern ID. IfncsgInd-r17is present, themgrpfield indicates the Visible Interruption Repetition Period (VIRP) of NCSG pattern and is configured based on NCSG pattern ID;

[0132] -mgtaindicates the measurement gap timing advance in ms. Valuems0corresponds to 0 ms,ms0dot25corresponds to 0.25 ms,ms0dot5corresponds to 0.5 ms andms0dot75corresponds to 0.75 ms. For FR2, the network only configures 0 ms and 0.25 ms ifncsgIndis not present. IfncsgIndis present, the network only configures 0ms for per-UE NCSG and FR1 NCSG and only configures 0ms or 0.75ms for FR2 NCSG. Valuems0dot75can only be configured ifncsgIndis present;

[0133] -refServCellIndicatorindicates the serving cell whose system frame number (SFN) and subframe are used for gap calculation for this gap pattern. ValuepCellcorresponds to the PCell,pSCellcorresponds to the PSCell, andmcg-FR2corresponds to a serving cell on FR2 frequency in MCG;

[0134] -refFR2ServCellAsyncCAindicates the FR2 serving cell identifier whose SFN and subframe is used for FR2 gap calculation for this gap pattern with asynchronous CA involving FR2 carrier(s);

[0135] -preConfigIndindicates whether the measurement gap is a pre-configured measurement gap;

[0136] -ncsgIndindicates that the measurement gap is a NCSG;

[0137] -gapAssociationPRSindicates that PRS measurement is associated with this measurement gap. The network only includes this field for one per-UE gap or for one per-FR gap. If concurrent gap is configured and no gap is configured with this field, the PRS measurement is associated with the gap configured viaGapConfig(without suffix), if available. If both per-UE gap and per-FR gap are configured viaGapConfigand / orGapConfig-r17, the PRS measurement is always associated with the per-UE gap;

[0138] - gapSharingindicates the measurement gap sharing scheme that applies to thisGapConfig. Valuescheme00corresponds to scheme "00", valuescheme01corresponds to scheme "01", and so on; and

[0139] -gapPriorityindicates the priority of this measurement gap. Value 1 indicates highest priority, value 2 indicates second level priority, and so on.

[0140] In step S803, the UE may setup one or more measurement gaps configured by a corresponding measurement gap configuration. The first / initial subframe of each measurement gap may occur at an SFN and subframe meeting the following condition as shown in table 6:

[0141] SFN mod T = FLOOR(gapOffset / 10);subframe =gapOffsetmod 10;with T = MGRP / 10;

[0142] The one or more measurement gaps may be applied as per UE measurement gap, FR1 measurement gap, or FR2 measurement gap according to thegapTypeconfigured by the corresponding measurement gap configuration.In step S805, the UE may perform measurements during the one or more measurement gaps, each having a measurement gap length (i.e.,mgl) configured by the corresponding measurement gap configuration. The UE may start the measurementsmgtams before the measurement gap subframe occurrences determined according to table 6.

[0143] FIG. 9 shows an example of measurement gaps according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0144] For example, when gap offset is 24 ms (or, 24 subframes), MGRP is 40 ms and measurement gap length is 4 ms, measurement gaps may occur in SFNs 22 and 26 starting from subframe #4, each for the measurement gap length = 4ms = 4 subframes (i.e., subframes #4, #5, #6 and #7) as shown in FIG. 9.

[0145] During a measurement gap, UE does not monitor DL control channel. If UL / DL data arrives during or immediately before the measurement gap duration, the traffic cannot be successfully transmitted due to the measurement gap. In case the data is urgent, time critical, and / or critical to QoS of the data flow, unsuccessful transmission of the data due to the measurement gap may result in non-trivial or severe QoS degradation.

[0146] Therefore, the present disclosure provides various embodiments for configuring a scheduling gap inside a measurement gap.

[0147] FIG. 10 shows an example of a method performed by a communication device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0148] Referring to FIG. 10, in step S1001, the communication device may receive a configuration for a measurement gap and a configuration for a scheduling gap associated with the measurement gap. The measurement gap may include the scheduling gap.

[0149] In step S1003, the communication device may perform a measurement on one or more neighbor cells during the measurement gap before the scheduling gap.

[0150] In step S1005, the communication device may monitor a downlink control channel addressed to the communication device during the scheduling gap.

[0151] In step S1007, upon detecting the downlink control channel addressed to the communication device, the communication device may stop performing the measurement on the one or more neighbor cells during the measurement gap.

[0152] According to various embodiments, the configuration for the measurement gap may comprise the configuration for the scheduling gap.

[0153] According to various embodiments, the configuration for the scheduling gap may comprise at least one of: information for an offset to a start of the scheduling gap from a start of the measurement gap; information for a length of the scheduling gap; information for a number of scheduling gaps within the measurement gap; or information for an interval between the scheduling gaps.

[0154] According to various embodiments, the communication device may deactivate a first duration of a remaining measurement gap after the downlink control channel addressed to the communication device is detected, within the measurement gap. The communication device may stop performing the measurement on the one or more neighbor cells during the first duration of the remaining measurement gap.

[0155] According to various embodiments, the communication device may monitor a downlink control channel addressed to the communication device during the deactivated first duration of the remaining measurement gap.

[0156] According to various embodiments, the communication device may receive information for a length of the first duration to be deactivated within the measurement gap.

[0157] According to various embodiments, the first duration may be a whole duration of the remaining measurement gap.

[0158] According to various embodiments, the first duration may be a part of the remaining measurement gap.

[0159] According to various embodiments, after the first duration terminates, the communication device may perform the measurement on the one or more neighbor cells during a second duration which is another part of the remaining measurement gap.

[0160] According to various embodiments, after the remaining measurement gap terminates, the communication device may perform the measurement on the one or more neighbor cells during a third duration.

[0161] According to various embodiments, a length of the third duration may be equal to a length of the deactivated first duration.

[0162] According to various embodiments, the third duration may start immediately after the remaining measurement gap, or immediately before a next measurement gap with respect to the measurement gap.

[0163] According to various embodiments, the communication device may receive a configuration related to a measurement gap and a scheduling gap. Zero or more scheduling gap may be configured inside each measurement gap. The communication device may perform measurements of measurement resource(s) at time that is contained within a measurement gap but outside the scheduling gap associated with the measurement gap. The communication device may monitor downlink control channel at time that is contained within the scheduling gap associated with the measurement gap. Upon detecting the downlink control channel / DCI addressed to an identifier of the communication device (e.g., C-RNTI of the communication device), the communication device may deactivate the measurement gap and monitor DL control channel.

[0164] FIG. 11 shows an example of a signal flow between a communication device and a network node according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The network node may comprise a base station (BS).

[0165] Referring to FIG. 11, in step S1101, the network node may transmit, to a communication device, a configuration for a measurement gap and a configuration for a scheduling gap associated with the measurement gap. The measurement gap may include the scheduling gap.

[0166] In step S1103, the communication device may perform a measurement on one or more neighbor cells during the measurement gap before the scheduling gap.

[0167] In step S1105, the communication device may monitor a downlink control channel addressed to the communication device during the scheduling gap.

[0168] In step S1107, upon detecting the downlink control channel addressed to the communication device, the communication device may stop performing the measurement on the one or more neighbor cells during the measurement gap.

[0169] According to various embodiments, the communication device may stop performing the measurement on the one or more neighbor cells during a first duration within the measurement gap. The network node may transmit, to the communication device, information for a length of the first duration to be deactivated within the measurement gap.

[0170] Hereinafter, detailed implementations for configuring a scheduling gap inside a measurement gap are described.

[0171] FIG. 12 shows an example of scheduling gap(s) within measurement gap(s) according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0172] UE may be configured with one or more measurement gap configurations. UE may receive one or more measurement gap configurations from network. The measurement gap configuration may configure one or more measurement gaps used to perform measurement. According to the measurement gap configuration, measurement gap may appear / occur in a periodic manner to allow UE to perform measurements during the measurement gap, or measurement gap may appear / occur in aperiodic manner via dynamically controlled (e.g., added / released) manner to allow UE to perform / disable measurements during the measurement gap when necessary.

[0173] UE may be configured with one or more scheduling gap configurations. UE may receive one or more scheduling gap configurations from network. The scheduling gap configuration may be associated with a measurement gap configuration. The scheduling gap configuration may configure zero or more short time duration, called scheduling gap(s), within each measurement gap.

[0174] To configure the scheduling gap, an offset relative to the associated measurement gap timing may be used. For example, the offset may indicate the time after the start of the associated measurement gap, at which the scheduling gap starts. A duration of the scheduling gap may be used to configure a length of the scheduling gap. To configure multiple disjoint scheduling gaps, inter-scheduling gap interval and / or the number of scheduling gaps may also be configured.

[0175] During the measurement gap duration, UE can skip monitoring DL control channel and perform measurements if the current time is outside the scheduling gap associated with the measurement gap. UE may perform neighbor cell measurements during the measurement gap duration. UE may perform inter-frequency measurements during the measurement gap duration. UE may perform measurements of neighbor cells associated with the measurement gap.

[0176] During the measurement gap duration, UE may monitor DL control channel (e.g., PDCCH) if the current time is included in the scheduling gap associated with the measurement gap. UE may monitor DL control channel for receiving DL or UL scheduling or for receiving network command received via the control channel (e.g., DCI / MAC CE / RRC siginaling).

[0177] FIG. 13 shows an example of deactivating the remaining measurement gap duration according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0178] During the scheduling gap inside the concerned / associated measurement gap, if UE detects a DCI addressed to the identifier of the UE (e.g., C-RNTI of the UE), UE may deactivate the remaining measurement gap duration of the measurement gap. That is, UE may consider that the remaining measurement gap duration of the measurement gap is deactivated, and UE may monitor DL control channel during the remaining measurement gap duration.

[0179] FIG. 14 shows an example of deactivating a fraction of the remaining measurement gap duration according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0180] During the scheduling gap inside the concerned / associated measurement gap, if UE detects a DCI addressed to the identifier of the UE (e.g., C-RNTI of the UE), UE may deactivate a fraction / part of the remaining measurement gap duration of the measurement gap. That is, UE may consider that the fraction / part of the remaining measurement gap duration of the measurement gap is deactivated, and UE may monitor DL control channel during the fraction / part of the remaining measurement gap duration.

[0181] The fraction of the remaining measurement gap duration to be deactivated can be determined in various ways. For example, a length for deactivating a measurement gap duration can be configured by network. For example, the network may dynamically indicate, via L1 / L2 signalling during the deactivated measurement gap duration, the end / termination of the measurement gap deactivation. If the measurement gap deactivation terminates during the measurement gap, UE may apply the measurement gap and scheduling gap(s), if any, associated with the measurement gap.

[0182] FIG. 15 shows an example of prolonging a measurement gap duration according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0183] UE may add / prolong measurement gap and / or measurement gap duration once a measurement gap duration is deactivated, to compensate the missed measurement opportunities. The addition / prolonging of the measurement gap duration may be done based on network indication. For example, network may indicate the addition / prolonging of the measurement gap duration during the deactivated measurement gap duration. For example, network may indicate the addition / prolonging of the measurement gap duration at the end of the deactivated measurement gap duration. For example, network may configure UE via e.g., RRC signalling, to perform addition / prolonging of the measurement gap duration in case the measurement gap duration is deactivated.

[0184] Network may deactivate scheduling gap via L1 / L2 control signalling or L3 / RRC signalling. Network may deactivate / activate a particular scheduling gap via L1 / L2 control signalling. Network may deactivate / activate a particular scheduling gap associated with a certain measurement gap group (i.e., one or more measurement gaps) via L1 / L2 control signalling. Network may deactivate / activate all subsequent scheduling gaps. Network may deactivate / activate all subsequent scheduling gaps associated with a certain measurement gap group (i.e., one or more measurement gaps).

[0185] Furthermore, the method in perspective of the communication device described in the present disclosure (e.g., in FIG. 10) may be performed by the first wireless device 100 shown in FIG. 2 and / or the UE 100 shown in FIG. 3.

[0186] More specifically, the communication device comprises at least one transceiver, at least processor, and at least one computer memory operably connectable to the at least one processor and storing instructions that, based on being executed by the at least one processor, perform operations.

[0187] The operations comprise: receiving a configuration for a measurement gap and a configuration for a scheduling gap associated with the measurement gap, wherein the measurement gap includes the scheduling gap; performing a measurement on one or more neighbor cells during the measurement gap before the scheduling gap; monitoring a downlink control channel addressed to the communication device during the scheduling gap; and upon detecting the downlink control channel addressed to the communication device, stopping performing the measurement on the one or more neighbor cells during the measurement gap.

[0188] Furthermore, the method in perspective of the communication device described in the present disclosure (e.g., in FIG. 10) may be performed by a software code 105 stored in the memory 104 included in the first wireless device 100 shown in FIG. 2.

[0189] More specifically, at least one computer readable medium (CRM) stores instructions that, based on being executed by at least one processor, perform operations comprising: receiving a configuration for a measurement gap and a configuration for a scheduling gap associated with the measurement gap, wherein the measurement gap includes the scheduling gap; performing a measurement on one or more neighbor cells during the measurement gap before the scheduling gap; monitoring a downlink control channel addressed to the communication device during the scheduling gap; and upon detecting the downlink control channel addressed to the communication device, stopping performing the measurement on the one or more neighbor cells during the measurement gap.

[0190] Furthermore, the method in perspective of the communication device described in the present disclosure (e.g., in FIG. 10) may be performed by control of the processor 102 included in the first wireless device 100 shown in FIG. 2 and / or by control of the processor 102 included in the UE 100 shown in FIG. 3.

[0191] More specifically, an apparatus configured to / adapted to operate in a wireless communication system (e.g., communication device / UE) comprises at least processor, and at least one computer memory operably connectable to the at least one processor. The at least one processor is configured to / adapted to perform operations comprising: receiving a configuration for a measurement gap and a configuration for a scheduling gap associated with the measurement gap, wherein the measurement gap includes the scheduling gap; performing a measurement on one or more neighbor cells during the measurement gap before the scheduling gap; monitoring a downlink control channel addressed to the communication device during the scheduling gap; and upon detecting the downlink control channel addressed to the communication device, stopping performing the measurement on the one or more neighbor cells during the measurement gap.

[0192] Furthermore, the method in perspective of a network node described in the present disclosure (e.g., in FIG. 11) may be performed by the second wireless device 200 shown in FIG. 2. The network node may be related to a serving cell.

[0193] More specifically, the network node comprises at least one transceiver, at least processor, and at least one computer memory operably connectable to the at least one processor and storing instructions that, based on being executed by the at least one processor, perform operations.

[0194] The operations comprise: transmitting, to a communication device, a configuration for a measurement gap and a configuration for a scheduling gap associated with the measurement gap, wherein the measurement gap includes the scheduling gap; and transmitting, to the communication device, information for a length of a first duration to be deactivated within the measurement gap, wherein the communication device is configured to perform operations comprising: performing a measurement on one or more neighbor cells during the measurement gap before the scheduling gap; monitoring a downlink control channel addressed to the communication device during the scheduling gap; and upon detecting the downlink control channel addressed to the communication device, stopping performing the measurement on the one or more neighbor cells during the first duration within the measurement gap.

[0195] The present disclosure may have various advantageous effects.

[0196] For example, UE may deactivate a part / fraction of the measurement gap duration and use the deactivated measurement gap duration (i.e., scheduling gap) to monitor DL control channel. This allows scheduling of urgent traffic even during the measurement gap. In addition, compensation of the deactivated measurement gap duration allows UE to perform necessary measurements.

[0197] Advantageous effects which can be obtained through specific embodiments of the present disclosure are not limited to the advantageous effects listed above. For example, there may be a variety of technical effects that a person having ordinary skill in the related art can understand and / or derive from the present disclosure. Accordingly, the specific effects of the present disclosure are not limited to those explicitly described herein, but may include various effects that may be understood or derived from the technical features of the present disclosure.

[0198] Claims in the present disclosure can be combined in a various way. For instance, technical features in method claims of the present disclosure can be combined to be implemented or performed in an apparatus, and technical features in apparatus claims can be combined to be implemented or performed in a method. Further, technical features in method claim(s) and apparatus claim(s) can be combined to be implemented or performed in an apparatus. Further, technical features in method claim(s) and apparatus claim(s) can be combined to be implemented or performed in a method. Other implementations are within the scope of the following claims.

Claims

1.A method performed by a communication device adapted to operate in a wireless communication system, the method comprising:receiving a configuration for a measurement gap and a configuration for a scheduling gap associated with the measurement gap, wherein the measurement gap includes the scheduling gap;performing a measurement on one or more neighbor cells during the measurement gap before the scheduling gap;monitoring a downlink control channel addressed to the communication device during the scheduling gap; andupon detecting the downlink control channel addressed to the communication device, stopping performing the measurement on the one or more neighbor cells during the measurement gap.2.The method of claim 1, wherein the configuration for the measurement gap comprises the configuration for the scheduling gap.3.The method of claim 1, wherein the configuration for the scheduling gap comprises at least one of:information for an offset to a start of the scheduling gap from a start of the measurement gap;information for a length of the scheduling gap;information for a number of scheduling gaps within the measurement gap; orinformation for an interval between the scheduling gaps.4.The method of claim 1, wherein the stopping of performing the measurement on the one or more neighbor cells during the measurement gap comprises:deactivating a first duration of a remaining measurement gap after the downlink control channel addressed to the communication device is detected, within the measurement gap; andstopping performing the measurement on the one or more neighbor cells during the first duration of the remaining measurement gap.5.The method of claim 4, further comprising:monitoring a downlink control channel addressed to the communication device during the deactivated first duration of the remaining measurement gap.6.The method of claim 4, further comprising:receiving information for a length of the first duration to be deactivated within the measurement gap.7.The method of claim 4, wherein the first duration is a whole duration of the remaining measurement gap.8.The method of claim 4, wherein the first duration is a part of the remaining measurement gap.9.The method of claim 8, further comprising:after the first duration terminates, performing the measurement on the one or more neighbor cells during a second duration which is another part of the remaining measurement gap.10.The method of claim 4, further comprising:after the remaining measurement gap terminates, performing the measurement on the one or more neighbor cells during a third duration.11.The method of claim 10, wherein a length of the third duration is equal to a length of the deactivated first duration.12.The method of claim 10, wherein the third duration starts immediately after the remaining measurement gap, or immediately before a next measurement gap with respect to the measurement gap.13.The method of claims 1, wherein the communication device is in communication with at least one of a user equipment (UE), a mobile device, a network, or autonomous vehicles.14.A communication device configured to operate in a wireless communication system, the UE comprising:at least one transceiver;at least one processor; andat least one memory operatively coupled to the at least one processor and storing instructions that, based on being executed by the at least one processor, perform operations comprising:receiving a configuration for a measurement gap and a configuration for a scheduling gap associated with the measurement gap, wherein the measurement gap includes the scheduling gap;performing a measurement on one or more neighbor cells during the measurement gap before the scheduling gap;monitoring a downlink control channel addressed to the communication device during the scheduling gap; andupon detecting the downlink control channel addressed to the communication device, stopping performing the measurement on the one or more neighbor cells during the measurement gap.15.The communication device of claim 14, wherein the communication device is adapted to implement a method of one of claims 2 to 13.16.A network node configured to operate in a wireless communication system, the network node comprising:at least one transceiver;at least one processor; andat least one memory operatively coupled to the at least one processor and storing instructions that, based on being executed by the at least one processor, perform operations comprising:transmitting, to a communication device, a configuration for a measurement gap and a configuration for a scheduling gap associated with the measurement gap, wherein the measurement gap includes the scheduling gap; andtransmitting, to the communication device, information for a length of a first duration to be deactivated within the measurement gap,wherein the communication device is configured to perform operations comprising:performing a measurement on one or more neighbor cells during the measurement gap before the scheduling gap;monitoring a downlink control channel addressed to the communication device during the scheduling gap; andupon detecting the downlink control channel addressed to the communication device, stopping performing the measurement on the one or more neighbor cells during the first duration within the measurement gap.17.A method performed by a network node configured to operate in a wireless communication system, the method comprising:transmitting, to a communication device, a configuration for a measurement gap and a configuration for a scheduling gap associated with the measurement gap, wherein the measurement gap includes the scheduling gap; andtransmitting, to the communication device, information for a length of a first duration to be deactivated within the measurement gap,wherein the communication device is configured to perform operations comprising:performing a measurement on one or more neighbor cells during the measurement gap before the scheduling gap;monitoring a downlink control channel addressed to the communication device during the scheduling gap; andupon detecting the downlink control channel addressed to the communication device, stopping performing the measurement on the one or more neighbor cells during the first duration within the measurement gap.18.The method of claim 17, wherein the communication device is adapted to implement a method of one of claims 1 to 13.19.An apparatus adapted to operate in a wireless communication system, the apparatus comprising:at least processor; andat least one memory operatively coupled to the at least one processor and storing instructions that, based on being executed by the at least one processor, perform operations comprising:receiving a configuration for a measurement gap and a configuration for a scheduling gap associated with the measurement gap, wherein the measurement gap includes the scheduling gap;performing a measurement on one or more neighbor cells during the measurement gap before the scheduling gap;monitoring a downlink control channel addressed to the communication device during the scheduling gap; andupon detecting the downlink control channel addressed to the communication device, stopping performing the measurement on the one or more neighbor cells during the measurement gap.20.A non-transitory computer readable medium (CRM) having stored thereon a program code implementing instructions that, based on being executed by at least one processor, perform operations comprising:receiving a configuration for a measurement gap and a configuration for a scheduling gap associated with the measurement gap, wherein the measurement gap includes the scheduling gap;performing a measurement on one or more neighbor cells during the measurement gap before the scheduling gap;monitoring a downlink control channel addressed to the communication device during the scheduling gap; andupon detecting the downlink control channel addressed to the communication device, stopping performing the measurement on the one or more neighbor cells during the measurement gap.

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