Methods and apparatuses for cho related to a nes mode
Patent Information
- Authority / Receiving Office
- EP · EP
- Patent Type
- Applications
- Current Assignee / Owner
- LENOVO (BEIJING) LTD
- Filing Date
- 2023-07-17
- Publication Date
- 2026-05-27
Smart Images

Figure 1.1
Abstract
Description
METHODS AND APPARATUSES FOR CHO RELATED TO A NES MODETECHNICAL FIELD
[0001] The present disclosure relates to wireless communications, and more specifically to methods and apparatuses for an enhanced conditional handover (CHO) related to a network energy saving (NES) mode and a mobility robustness optimization (MRO) mechanism for CHO related to a NES mode during wireless communications.BACKGROUND
[0002] A wireless communications system may include one or multiple network communication devices, such as base stations, which may support wireless communications for one or multiple user communication devices, which may be otherwise known as user equipment (UE) , or other suitable terminology. The wireless communications system may support wireless communications with one or multiple user communication devices by utilizing resources of the wireless communication system (e.g., time-domain resources (e.g., symbols, slots, subframes, frames, or the like) or frequency-domain resources (e.g., subcarriers, carriers, or the like) . Additionally, the wireless communications system may support wireless communications across various radio access technologies including third generation (3G) radio access technology, fourth generation (4G) radio access technology, fifth generation (5G) radio access technology, among other suitable radio access technologies beyond 5G (e.g., sixth generation (6G) ) .SUMMARY
[0003] An article "a" before an element is unrestricted and understood to refer to "at least one" of those elements or "one or more" of those elements. The terms "a, " "at least one, " "one or more, " and "at least one of one or more" may be interchangeable. As used herein, including in the claims, "or" as used in a list of items (e.g., a list of items prefaced by a phrase such as "at least one of" or "one or more of" or "one or both of" ) indicates an inclusive list such that, for example, a list of at least one of A, B, or C means A or B or C or AB or AC or BC or ABC (i.e., A and B and C) . Also, as used herein, the phrase "based on" shall not be construed as a reference to a closed set of conditions. For example, an example step that is described as "based on condition A" may be based on both a condition A and a condition B without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. In other words, as used herein, the phrase "based on" shall be construed in the same manner as the phrase "based at least in part on. Further, as used herein, including in the claims, a "set" may include one or more elements.
[0004] Some implementations of the present disclosure provide a user equipment (UE) . The UE includes at least one memory; and at least one processor coupled to the at least one memory and configured to cause the UE to: receive, from a source network node associated with a source cell of the UE, conditional handover (CHO) configuration information associated with one or more candidate cells; receive a set of CHO execution conditions for the one or more candidate cells, wherein the set of CHO execution conditions is related to a network energy saving (NES) mode of the source cell; and determine whether to perform a CHO from the source cell to a candidate cell based on the set of CHO execution conditions.
[0005] In some implementations of the UE described herein, the set of CHO execution conditions comprises a measurement based event including one of the following: channel quality of a candidate cell within the one or more candidate cells becomes offset better than channel quality of the source cell; the channel quality of the candidate cell becomes better than a threshold; or the channel quality of the source cell becomes worse than one threshold and the channel quality of the candidate cell becomes better than another threshold.
[0006] In some implementations of the UE described herein, the set of CHO execution conditions comprises a NES mode based event, wherein the NES mode based event is fulfilled if the source cell enters into the NES mode.
[0007] In some implementations of the UE described herein, the at least one processor is configured to cause the UE to perform a CHO if both the NES mode based event and a measurement based event are fulfilled.
[0008] In some implementations of the UE described herein, the at least one processor is configured to cause the UE to receive, from the source network node, a first indication indicating that the CHO is allowed to be triggered if the source cell is the NES mode and a measurement based event is fulfilled.
[0009] In some implementations of the UE described herein, the at least one processor is configured to cause the UE to release the first indication or the NES mode based event if the CHO configuration information is released.
[0010] In some implementations of the UE described herein, the at least one processor is configured to cause the UE to: receive configuration information associated with a modification period related to a system information transmission; receive a second indication to indicate that the source cell will enter into the NES mode via system information; consider that the source cell is about to enter into the NES mode upon reception of the second indication; and consider that the source cell enters into the NES mode at a boundary of the modification period after receiving the second indication.
[0011] In some implementations of the UE described herein, the at least one processor is configured to cause the UE to: receive a parameter related to the NES mode from the source cell; store the parameter related to the NES mode; and receive a third indication to activate the parameter related to the NES mode, wherein the source cell enters into the NES mode upon reception of the third indication.
[0012] In some implementations of the UE described herein, the at least one processor is configured to cause the UE to: consider that a CHO execution condition within the set of CHO execution conditions is fulfilled, if the measurement based event is fulfilled and the source cell has entered into the NES mode or if the measurement based event is fulfilled and the source cell is about to enter into the NES mode.
[0013] In some implementations of the UE described herein, the at least one processor is configured to cause the UE to receive a second set of CHO execution conditions for the one or more candidate cells, wherein the second set of CHO execution conditions comprises a measurement based event.
[0014] In some implementations of the UE described herein, the at least one processor is configured to cause the UE to: if a radio link failure (RLF) occurs on the source cell or if a failure occurs during the CHO, initiate a re-establishment procedure to a selected cell of a target network node.
[0015] In some implementations of the UE described herein, the at least one processor is configured to cause the UE to transmit a failure report to the selected cell of the target network node.
[0016] In some implementations of the UE described herein, if the RLF occurs on the source cell, the failure report includes one of the following: whether the source cell is in the NES mode; a first cell identity (ID) list of a first set of candidate cells within the one or more candidate cells at occurrence time of the RLF; a second cell ID list of a second set of candidate cells within the one or more candidate cells, wherein the UE has measured channel quality of each candidate cell of the second set of candidate cells at the occurrence time of the RLF; or each indication for each cell ID to indicate whether a candidate cell included in the first set of candidate cells or the second set of candidate cells is configured with a CHO execution condition associated with a NES mode based event.
[0017] In some implementations of the UE described herein, if the failure occurs during the CHO, the failure report includes one of the following: whether the source cell is in the NES mode; time elapsed between reception of information indicating that the source cell is about to enter into the NES mode and fulfillment of a measurement based event within the set of CHO execution conditions; time elapsed between reception of information indicating that the source cell has entered into the NES mode and the fulfillment of the measurement based event; time elapsed between the source cell entering into the NES mode and the fulfillment of the measurement based event; time elapsed between reception of an activation indication related to the NES mode and the fulfillment of the measurement based event; time elapsed between fulfillment of a firstly fulfilled NES mode based event within the set of CHO execution conditions and fulfillment of a firstly fulfilled measurement based event within the set of CHO execution conditions; which one of a NES mode based event and the measurement based event is firstly fulfilled; or the CHO is triggered by the set of CHO execution conditions related to the NES mode or the second set of CHO execution conditions.
[0018] In some implementations of the UE described herein, the at least one processor is configured to cause the UE to: if a radio link failure (RLF) occurs on the source cell or if a failure occurs during a first CHO from the source cell to a first candidate cell, select a second candidate cell; if the second candidate cell belongs to the one or more candidate cells, perform a second CHO to the second candidate cell; and if a failure occurs during the second CHO, transmit a failure report after the UE is configured to transit to a radio resource control (RRC) connected state.
[0019] In some implementations of the UE described herein, the failure report includes one of the following: cell identity (ID) of the second candidate cell; or whether the second candidate cell is configured with a CHO execution condition associated with a NES mode based event.
[0020] In some implementations of the UE described herein, if the CHO from the source cell to the candidate cell succeed, the at least one processor is configured to cause the UE to transmit successful handover information to the candidate cell, and wherein the successful handover information includes one of the following: whether the source cell is in the NES mode; whether a CHO execution condition configured for the candidate cell triggering the CHO is associated with a NES mode based event; or the CHO is triggered by which one of a CHO execution condition associated with the NES mode based event and a CHO execution condition comprising a measurement based event.
[0021] Some implementations of the present disclosure provide a processor for wireless communication, comprising at least one controller coupled with at least one memory and configured to cause the processor to: receive, from a source network node associated with a source cell of a user equipment (UE) , conditional handover (CHO) configuration information associated with one or more candidate cells; receive a set of CHO execution conditions for the one or more candidate cells, wherein the set of CHO execution conditions is related to a network energy saving (NES) mode of the source cell; and determine whether to perform a CHO from the source cell to a candidate cell based on the set of CHO execution conditions.
[0022] Some implementations of the present disclosure provide a method performed by a user equipment (UE) . The method includes: receiving, from a source network node associated with a source cell of the UE, conditional handover (CHO) configuration information associated with one or more candidate cells; receiving a set of CHO execution conditions for the one or more candidate cells, wherein the set of CHO execution conditions is related to a network energy saving (NES) mode of the source cell; and determining whether to perform a CHO from the source cell to a candidate cell based on the set of CHO execution conditions.
[0023] Some implementations of the present disclosure provide a target network node. The target network node includes at least one memory; and at least one processor coupled to the at least one memory and configured to cause the target network node to: receive a report associated with a network energy saving (NES) mode from a user equipment (UE) ; and transmit the report to a source network node associated with a source cell of the UE.
[0024] In some implementations of the target network node described herein, the report is related to occurrence of a radio link failure (RLF) and includes one of the following: whether the source cell is in the NES mode; a first cell identity (ID) list of a first set of candidate cells configured for the UE at occurrence time of the RLF; a second cell ID list of a second set of candidate cells configured for the UE, wherein the UE has measured channel quality of each candidate cell of the second set of candidate cells at the occurrence time of the RLF; or each indication for each cell ID to indicate whether a candidate cell included in the first set of candidate cells or the second set of candidate cells is configured with a CHO execution condition associated with a NES mode based event.
[0025] In some implementations of the target network node described herein, the report is related to occurrence of a failure during a CHO from the source cell to a candidate cell, and wherein the report includes one of the following: whether the source cell is in the NES mode; time elapsed between reception of information indicating that the source cell is about to enter into the NES mode and fulfillment of a measurement based event associated with the candidate cell; time elapsed between reception of information indicating that the source cell has entered into the NES mode and the fulfillment of the measurement based event; time elapsed between the source cell entering into the NES mode and the fulfillment of the measurement based event; time elapsed between reception of an activation indication related to the NES mode and the fulfillment of the measurement based event; time elapsed between fulfillment of a firstly fulfilled NES mode based event and fulfillment of a firstly fulfilled measurement based event; which one of a NES mode based event and the measurement based event is firstly fulfilled; or the CHO is triggered by the set of CHO execution conditions related to the NES mode or the second set of CHO execution condition.
[0026] In some implementations of the target network node described herein, the report is related to occurrence of a second failure during a second CHO after a failure occurs in a CHO from the source cell to a candidate cell, and wherein the report includes one of the following: cell identity (ID) of a second candidate cell selected by the UE for the second CHO; or whether the second candidate cell is configured with a CHO execution condition associated with a NES mode based event.
[0027] In some implementations of the target network node described herein, the report is successful handover information and includes one of the following: whether the source cell is in the NES mode; whether a CHO execution condition configured for a candidate cell triggering a CHO is associated with a NES mode based event; or the CHO is triggered by which one of a CHO execution condition associated with the NES mode based event or a second CHO execution condition comprising a measurement based event.
[0028] In some implementations of the target network node described herein, the at least one processor is configured to cause the target network node to transmit a set of CHO execution conditions for one or more candidate cells via the source network node to the UE, wherein the set of CHO execution conditions is related to the NES mode.
[0029] In some implementations of the target network node described herein, the set of CHO execution conditions comprises a measurement based event including one of the following: channel quality of a candidate cell within the one or more candidate cells becomes better than channel quality of the source cell; the channel quality of the candidate cell becomes better than a threshold; or the channel quality of the source cell becomes worse than one threshold and the channel quality of the candidate cell becomes better than another threshold.
[0030] In some implementations of the target network node described herein, the set of CHO execution conditions comprises a NES mode based event, wherein the NES mode based event is fulfilled if the source cell enters into the NES mode, and a CHO is performed by the UE if both the NES mode based event and a measurement based event are fulfilled.
[0031] Some implementations of the present disclosure provide a processor for wireless communication, comprising at least one controller coupled with at least one memory and configured to cause the processor to: receive a report associated with a network energy saving (NES) mode from a user equipment (UE) ; and transmit the report to a source network node associated with a source cell of the UE.
[0032] Some implementations of the present disclosure provide a method performed by a target network node. The method includes: receiving a report associated with a network energy saving (NES) mode from a user equipment (UE) ; and transmitting the report to a source network node associated with a source cell of the UE.
[0033] Some implementations of the present disclosure provide a source network node. The source network node includes at least one memory; and at least one processor coupled to the at least one memory and configured to cause the source network node to: transmit conditional handover (CHO) configuration information associated with one or more candidate cells to a user equipment (UE) ; and transmit a set of CHO execution conditions for one or more candidate cells to the UE, wherein the set of CHO execution conditions is related to a network energy saving (NES) mode.
[0034] In some implementations of the source network node described herein, the set of CHO execution conditions comprises a measurement based event including one of the following: channel quality of a candidate cell within the one or more candidate cells becomes better than channel quality of the source cell; the channel quality of the candidate cell becomes better than a threshold; or the channel quality of the source cell becomes worse than one threshold and the channel quality of the candidate cell becomes better than another threshold.
[0035] In some implementations of the source network node described herein, the set of CHO execution conditions comprises a NES mode based event, wherein the NES mode based event is fulfilled if the source cell enters into the NES mode, and the CHO is performed if both the NES mode based event and a measurement based event are fulfilled.
[0036] In some implementations of the source network node described herein, the at least one processor is configured to cause the source network node to transmit, to the UE, a first indication indicating that a CHO is allowed to be triggered if a source cell of the UE is in the NES mode and a measurement based event is fulfilled.
[0037] In some implementations of the source network node described herein, the at least one processor is configured to cause the source network node to transmit, to the UE: configuration information associated with a modification period related to a system information transmission; and a second indication to indicate that the source cell will enter into the NES mode via system information.
[0038] In some implementations of the source network node described herein, the at least one processor is configured to cause the source network node to transmit, to the UE, a parameter related to the NES mode from the source cell and a third indication to activate the parameter related to the NES mode, wherein the source cell enters into the NES mode upon reception of the third indication.
[0039] In some implementations of the source network node described herein, the at least one processor is configured to cause the source network node to transmit a second set of CHO execution conditions for the one or more candidate cells to the UE, wherein the second set of CHO execution conditions comprises a measurement based event.
[0040] In some implementations of the source network node described herein, the at least one processor is configured to cause the source network node to receive a report associated with the NES mode from a target network node.
[0041] In some implementations of the source network node described herein, the report is related to occurrence of a radio link failure (RLF) and includes one of the following: whether the source cell is in the NES mode; a first cell identity (ID) list of a first set of candidate cells within the one or more candidate cells at occurrence time of the RLF; a second cell ID list of a second set of candidate cells within the one or more candidate cells, wherein the UE has measured channel quality of each candidate cell of the second set of candidate cells at the occurrence time of the RLF; or each indication for each cell ID to indicate whether a candidate cell included in the first set of candidate cells or the second set of candidate cells is configured with a CHO execution condition associated with a NES mode based event.
[0042] In some implementations of the source network node described herein, the report is related to occurrence of a failure during a CHO from the source cell to a candidate cell, and wherein the report includes one of the following: whether the source cell is in the NES mode; time elapsed between reception of information indicating that the source cell is about to enter into the NES mode and fulfillment of a measurement based event associated with the candidate cell; time elapsed between reception of information indicating that the source cell has entered into the NES mode and the fulfillment of the measurement based event; time elapsed between the source cell entering into the NES mode and the fulfillment of the measurement based event; time elapsed between reception of an activation indication related to the NES mode and the fulfillment of the measurement based event; time elapsed between fulfillment of a firstly fulfilled NES mode based event and fulfillment of a firstly fulfilled measurement based event; which one of a NES mode based event and the measurement based event is firstly fulfilled; or the CHO is triggered by the set of CHO execution conditions related to the NES mode or the second set of CHO execution condition.
[0043] In some implementations of the source network node described herein, the report is related to occurrence of a second failure during a second CHO after a failure occurs in a CHO from the source cell to a candidate cell, and wherein the report includes one of the following: cell identity (ID) of a second candidate cell selected by the UE for the second CHO; and whether the second candidate cell is configured with a CHO execution condition associated with the NES mode based event.
[0044] In some implementations of the source network node described herein, the report is successful handover information and includes one of the following: whether the source cell is in the NES mode; whether a CHO execution condition configured for a candidate cell triggering a CHO is associated with a NES mode based event; or the CHO is triggered by which one of a CHO execution condition associated with the NES mode based event and a second CHO execution condition comprising a measurement based event.
[0045] Some implementations of the present disclosure provide a processor for wireless communication, comprising at least one controller coupled with at least one memory and configured to cause the processor to: transmit conditional handover (CHO) configuration information associated with one or more candidate cells to a user equipment (UE) ; and transmit a set of CHO execution conditions for one or more candidate cells to the UE, wherein the set of CHO execution conditions is related to a network energy saving (NES) mode.
[0046] Some implementations of the present disclosure provide a method performed by a source network node. The method includes: transmitting conditional handover (CHO) configuration information associated with one or more candidate cells to a user equipment (UE) ; and transmitting a set of CHO execution conditions for one or more candidate cells to the UE, wherein the set of CHO execution conditions is related to a network energy saving (NES) mode.BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0047] Figure 1 illustrates an example of a wireless communications system 100 in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.
[0048] Figure 2 illustrates an example of a user equipment (UE) 200 in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.
[0049] Figure 3 illustrates an example of a processor 300 in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.
[0050] Figure 4 illustrates an example of a network equipment (NE) 400 in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.
[0051] Figure 5 illustrates an exemplary UE information procedure in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.
[0052] Figure 6 illustrates a flowchart of method for receiving CHO configuration in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.
[0053] Figure 7 illustrates a flowchart of a method for receiving a report associated with a NES mode in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.
[0054] Figure 8 illustrates a flowchart of method for transmitting CHO configuration in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.
[0055] Figures 9-13 illustrate examples of CHO related to a NES mode in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0056] As specified in 3GPP standard documents, CHO is defined as a handover that is executed by a user equipment (UE) when one or more CHO execution conditions are met. The UE starts evaluating the one or more CHO execution conditions upon receiving the CHO related configuration information (e.g., including one or more configurations associated with candidate PCell (s) and one or more CHO execution conditions) , and stops evaluating the CHO execution conditions during the CHO execution or once the one or more CHO execution conditions are met or fulfilled. The CHO execution means that when CHO execution condition (s) of a candidate PCell is satisfied or fulfilled ("candidate PCell" may also be named as "CHO candidate PCell" ) , the UE decides the candidate PCell as a target PCell, and executes a PCell change or handover procedure with the target PCell, e.g., the UE executes a random access (RA) procedure towards the target PCell.
[0057] In general, network energy saving (NES) is of great importance for environmental sustainability, to reduce environmental impact (e.g., greenhouse gas emissions) , and for operational cost savings. For instance, a NES mode could be one of the followings scenarios. (1) Scenario 1: gNB is expected to turn off all transmission and reception for data traffic and reference signal during Cell DTX / DRX (discontinuous transmission / discontinuous reception) non-active periods.
[0058] (2) Scenario 2: gNB is expected to turn off its transmission or reception only for data traffic during Cell DTX / DRX non-active periods (i.e., gNB will still transmit or receive reference signals) .
[0059] (3) Scenario 3: gNB is expected to turn off its dynamic data transmission or reception during Cell DTX / DRX non-active periods (i.e., gNB is expected to still perform transmission or reception in periodic resources, including semi persistent scheduling (SPS) , configured grant-physical uplink share channel (CG-PUSCH) , scheduling request (SR) , random access channel (RACH) , and sounding reference signal (SRS) ) .
[0060] (4) Scenario 4: gNB is expected to only transmit reference signals (e.g., CSI Reference Signal (CSI-RS) for measurement) .
[0061] During the switching of NES modes, it is possible to handover UE (s) with more robustness by enhancing the CHO framework. For example, evaluation of conditional handover conditions depending on the NES mode of source / target cell. A combination of measurement-based event (e.g., Event A3, Event A4, or Event A5 as specified in 3GPP TS 38.331) can be configured as a CHO execution condition together with a timer. For example, the UE starts the timer when the UE receives the condition. Once the timer expires, the UE starts to evaluate the measurement-based event.
[0062] As specified in 3GPP TS 38.331, a measurement based trigger condition includes events, e.g., Event A3, Event A4, Event A5 or combination of them. In an assumption that a source cell is a SpCell, 3GPP TS 38.331 defines entering conditions and leaving conditions of each of Events A3, A4 and A5, respectively.
[0063] (1) Event A3 (a neighbour cell becomes offset better than a SpCell)
[0064] (2) Event A4 (a neighbour cell becomes better than a threshold)
[0065] (3) Event A5 (a SpCell becomes worse than one threshold and neighbour becomes better than another threshold)
[0066] Mobility Robustness Optimization (MRO) is to detect connection failures that occur due to Too Early or Too Late Handovers, or Handover to Wrong Cell. The general procedure is that after an RLF or handover (HO) failure happen, a UE may access a new cell by re-establishment or connection setup. Once the UE enters the connected state, the UE transmits an RLF report and a RACH report to the serving cell. The serving cell will transmit Failure Indication including the RLF report to the last serving cell. Finally, the information is used to optimize the mobility. One of the functions of MRO is to detect connection failures that occur due to Too Early or Too Late Handovers, or Handover to Wrong Cell.
[0067] Currently, for analysis of connection failures, a UE may make an RLF Report available to the network. The UE stores the latest RLF Report, including both LTE and NR RLF report until the RLF report is fetched by the network or for 48 hours after the connection failure is detected. For example, the UE only indicates the RLF report availability and only provides the RLF report to the network if the current RPLMN is a PLMN that was present in the UE's EPLMN List or was the RPLMN at the time the connection failure was detected. In case an RLF happens in an E-UTRA cell, the UE makes the LTE RLF Report available to NG-RAN nodes and eNB (s) , and in case RLF happens in an NR cell the UE makes the NR RLF Report available to gNB (s) . If the LTE RLF Report is reported to a NG-RAN node, and the last serving node is an E-UTRAN node, the NG-RAN node may transfer it to the E-UTRAN node by triggering the Uplink RAN configuration transfer procedure over NG and the E-UTRAN node can take this into account as defined in 3GPP TS 36.300 [2] .
[0068] In 3GPP Rel-17, Successful Handover Report (SHR) is introduced for MRO of a PCell change procedure. The PCell change may be a legacy PCell change or a handover or a conditional PCell change or a condition handover (CHO) . In particular, a MRO function in NR could be enhanced to provide a more robust mobility via reporting failure events observed during successful handovers from source NG-RAN to target NG-RAN by a SHR. A SHR is a report associated with a successful handover comprising a set of measurements collected during the handover phase, i.e., measurement at the handover trigger, measurement at the end of handover execution or measurement after handover execution. For example, a UE could store successful PCell change related information or generates the VarSuccessHO-Report / SHR when at least one of the following trigger conditions is satisfied and / or a RA procedure to PCell is successful:
[0069] (1) The ratio between the value of the elapsed time of the timer T310 of source PCell and the configured value of the timer T310 configured for source PCell while the UE was connected to the source PCell before executing the last PCell change / HO procedure, is greater than a configured threshold (e.g., thresholdPercentageT310 configured by the source PCell before executing the last PCell change / HO procedure) .
[0070] (2) If the T312 associated with the measurement identity of the target PCell was running at the time of initiating the execution of the PCell change / HO procedure, and if the ratio between the value of the elapsed time of the timer T312 and the configured value of the timer T312 (which is configured while the UE was connected to the source PCell before executing the last PCell change / HO procedure) , is greater than a configured threshold (e.g., thresholdPercentageT312 configured by the source PCell before executing the last PCell change / HO procedure) .
[0071] (3) The ratio between the value of the elapsed time of the elapsed timer T304 of target PCell and the configured value of the timer T304 (i.e., which is included in the last applied RRC reconfiguration message including the reconfiguration WithSync for PCell change / HO procedure) , is greater than a configured threshold (e.g., thresholdPercentageT304 configured by the target PCell before executing the last PCell change / HO procedure) .
[0072] Successful PCell change related information is included in a SHR, for example, at least one of the following: cell information of the source PCell, cell information of the target PCell, cause value for SHR (e.g., t304-cause, t310-cause, or t312-cause) , measurement results of source PCell and / or target PCell when HO is executed or successful, and RA information (e.g., RACH configurations for target PCell) . In general, cell information includes global cell identity and tracking area code of the cell, or PCI and frequency information (e.g., ARFCN) .
[0073] The availability of a SHR may be indicated by the Handover Complete message (e.g., an RRC Reconfiguration Complete message) transmitted from UE to target NG-RAN node over RRC. The target NG-RAN node may fetch information of a successful handover report via UE Information Request / Response mechanism. In addition, the target NG-RAN node could then forward the SHR to the source NR-RAN node to indicate failures experienced during a successful handover event.
[0074] Upon reception of a SHR, the receiving node is able to analyze whether its mobility configuration needs adjustment. Such adjustments may result in changes of mobility configurations, such as changes of RLM configurations or changes of mobility thresholds between the source and the target. In addition, target NG-RAN node, in the executed handover, may further optimize the dedicated RACH resources based on the measurements reported upon successful handovers.
[0075] Currently, 3GPP RAN2 agree to make enhancement in a CHO procedure. However, the following issues need to be solved: how to make enhancement in a CHO procedure based on that a source cell enters into "NES mode" ; when to execute CHO related to a NES mode (e.g., which may be named as "NES CHO" or the like) if a NES indication is broadcasted, e.g., via system information block (SIB) ; how to handle a NES related condition when a UE removes CHO configuration for NES CHO; what is a MRO mechanism for a failure case related to NES CHO, e.g., an RLF case or a CHO failure case when NES CHO is configured; what is a MRO mechanism for SHR considering NES CHO. Embodiments of the present application aim to solve the abovementioned issues. More details will be illustrated in the following text in combination with the appended drawings.
[0076] Figure 1 illustrates an example of a wireless communications system 100 in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. The wireless communications system 100 may include one or more NE 102, one or more UE 104, and a core network (CN) 106. The wireless communications system 100 may support various radio access technologies. In some implementations, the wireless communications system 100 may be a 4G network, such as an LTE network or an LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) network. In some other implementations, the wireless communications system 100 may be a NR network, such as a 5G network, a 5G-Advanced (5G-A) network, or a 5G ultrawideband (5G-UWB) network. In other implementations, the wireless communications system 100 may be a combination of a 4G network and a 5G network, or other suitable radio access technology including Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 (Wi-Fi) , IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX) , IEEE 802.20. The wireless communications system 100 may support radio access technologies beyond 5G, for example, 6G. Additionally, the wireless communications system 100 may support technologies, such as time division multiple access (TDMA) , frequency division multiple access (FDMA) , or code division multiple access (CDMA) , etc.
[0077] The one or more NE 102 may be dispersed throughout a geographic region to form the wireless communications system 100. One or more of the NE 102 described herein may be or include or may be referred to as a network node, a base station, a network element, a network function, a network entity, a radio access network (RAN) , a NodeB, an eNodeB (eNB) , a next-generation NodeB (gNB) , or other suitable terminology. An NE 102 and a UE 104 may communicate via a communication link, which may be a wireless or wired connection. For example, an NE 102 and a UE 104 may perform wireless communication (e.g., receive signaling, transmit signaling) over a Uu interface.
[0078] An NE 102 may provide a geographic coverage area for which the NE 102 may support services for one or more UEs 104 within the geographic coverage area. For example, an NE 102 and a UE 104 may support wireless communication of signals related to services (e.g., voice, video, packet data, messaging, broadcast, etc. ) according to one or multiple radio access technologies. In some implementations, an NE 102 may be moveable, for example, a satellite associated with a non-terrestrial network (NTN) . In some implementations, different geographic coverage areas 112 associated with the same or different radio access technologies may overlap, but the different geographic coverage areas may be associated with different NE 102.
[0079] The one or more UE 104 may be dispersed throughout a geographic region of the wireless communications system 100. A UE 104 may include or may be referred to as a remote unit, a mobile device, a wireless device, a remote device, a subscriber device, a transmitter device, a receiver device, or some other suitable terminology. In some implementations, the UE 104 may be referred to as a unit, a station, a terminal, or a client, among other examples. Additionally, or alternatively, the UE 104 may be referred to as an Internet-of-Things (IoT) device, an Internet-of-Everything (IoE) device, or machine-type communication (MTC) device, among other examples.
[0080] A UE 104 may be able to support wireless communication directly with other UEs 104 over a communication link. For example, a UE 104 may support wireless communication directly with another UE 104 over a device-to-device (D2D) communication link. In some implementations, such as vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) deployments, vehicle-to-everything (V2X) deployments, or cellular-V2X deployments, the communication link 114 may be referred to as a sidelink. For example, a UE 104 may support wireless communication directly with another UE 104 over a PC5 interface.
[0081] An NE 102 may support communications with the CN 106, or with another NE 102, or both. For example, an NE 102 may interface with other NE 102 or the CN 106 through one or more backhaul links (e.g., S1, N2, N2, or network interface) . In some implementations, the NE 102 may communicate with each other directly. In some other implementations, the NE 102 may communicate with each other or indirectly (e.g., via the CN 106. In some implementations, one or more NE 102 may include subcomponents, such as an access network entity, which may be an example of an access node controller (ANC) . An ANC may communicate with the one or more UEs 104 through one or more other access network transmission entities, which may be referred to as a radio heads, smart radio heads, or transmission-reception points (TRPs) .
[0082] The CN 106 may support user authentication, access authorization, tracking, connectivity, and other access, routing, or mobility functions. The CN 106 may be an evolved packet core (EPC) , or a 5G core (5GC) , which may include a control plane entity that manages access and mobility (e.g., a mobility management entity (MME) , an access and mobility management functions (AMF) ) and a user plane entity that routes packets or interconnects to external networks (e.g., a serving gateway (S-GW) , a Packet Data Network (PDN) gateway (P-GW) , or a user plane function (UPF) ) . In some implementations, the control plane entity may manage non-access stratum (NAS) functions, such as mobility, authentication, and bearer management (e.g., data bearers, signal bearers, etc. ) for the one or more UEs 104 served by the one or more NE 102 associated with the CN 106.
[0083] The CN 106 may communicate with a packet data network over one or more backhaul links (e.g., via an S1, N2, N2, or another network interface) . The packet data network may include an application server. In some implementations, one or more UEs 104 may communicate with the application server. A UE 104 may establish a session (e.g., a protocol data unit (PDU) session, or the like) with the CN 106 via an NE 102. The CN 106 may route traffic (e.g., control information, data, and the like) between the UE 104 and the application server using the established session (e.g., the established PDU session) . The PDU session may be an example of a logical connection between the UE 104 and the CN 106 (e.g., one or more network functions of the CN 106) .
[0084] In the wireless communications system 100, the NEs 102 and the UEs 104 may use resources of the wireless communications system 100 (e.g., time resources (e.g., symbols, slots, subframes, frames, or the like) or frequency resources (e.g., subcarriers, carriers) ) to perform various operations (e.g., wireless communications) . In some implementations, the NEs 102 and the UEs 104 may support different resource structures. For example, the NEs 102 and the UEs 104 may support different frame structures. In some implementations, such as in 4G, the NEs 102 and the UEs 104 may support a single frame structure. In some other implementations, such as in 5G and among other suitable radio access technologies, the NEs 102 and the UEs 104 may support various frame structures (i.e., multiple frame structures) . The NEs 102 and the UEs 104 may support various frame structures based on one or more numerologies.
[0085] One or more numerologies may be supported in the wireless communications system 100, and a numerology may include a subcarrier spacing and a cyclic prefix. A first numerology (e.g., μ=0) may be associated with a first subcarrier spacing (e.g., 15 kHz) and a normal cyclic prefix. In some implementations, the first numerology (e.g., μ=0) associated with the first subcarrier spacing (e.g., 15 kHz) may utilize one slot per subframe. A second numerology (e.g., μ=1) may be associated with a second subcarrier spacing (e.g., 30 kHz) and a normal cyclic prefix. A third numerology (e.g., μ=2) may be associated with a third subcarrier spacing (e.g., 60 kHz) and a normal cyclic prefix or an extended cyclic prefix. A fourth numerology (e.g., μ=3) may be associated with a fourth subcarrier spacing (e.g., 120 kHz) and a normal cyclic prefix. A fifth numerology (e.g., μ=4) may be associated with a fifth subcarrier spacing (e.g., 240 kHz) and a normal cyclic prefix.
[0086] A time interval of a resource (e.g., a communication resource) may be organized according to frames (also referred to as radio frames) . Each frame may have a duration, for example, a 10 millisecond (ms) duration. In some implementations, each frame may include multiple subframes. For example, each frame may include 10 subframes, and each subframe may have a duration, for example, a 1 ms duration. In some implementations, each frame may have the same duration. In some implementations, each subframe of a frame may have the same duration.
[0087] Additionally or alternatively, a time interval of a resource (e.g., a communication resource) may be organized according to slots. For example, a subframe may include a number (e.g., quantity) of slots. The number of slots in each subframe may also depend on the one or more numerologies supported in the wireless communications system 100. For instance, the first, second, third, fourth, and fifth numerologies (i.e., μ=0, μ=1, μ=2, μ=3, μ=4) associated with respective subcarrier spacings of 15 kHz, 30 kHz, 60 kHz, 120 kHz, and 240 kHz may utilize a single slot per subframe, two slots per subframe, four slots per subframe, eight slots per subframe, and 16 slots per subframe, respectively. Each slot may include a number (e.g., quantity) of symbols (e.g., OFDM symbols) . In some implementations, the number (e.g., quantity) of slots for a subframe may depend on a numerology. For a normal cyclic prefix, a slot may include 14 symbols. For an extended cyclic prefix (e.g., applicable for 60 kHz subcarrier spacing) , a slot may include 12 symbols. The relationship between the number of symbols per slot, the number of slots per subframe, and the number of slots per frame for a normal cyclic prefix and an extended cyclic prefix may depend on a numerology. It should be understood that reference to a first numerology (e.g., μ=0) associated with a first subcarrier spacing (e.g., 15 kHz) may be used interchangeably between subframes and slots.
[0088] In the wireless communications system 100, an electromagnetic (EM) spectrum may be split, based on frequency or wavelength, into various classes, frequency bands, frequency channels, etc. By way of example, the wireless communications system 100 may support one or multiple operating frequency bands, such as frequency range designations FR1 (410 MHz –7.125 GHz) , FR2 (24.25 GHz –52.6 GHz) , FR3 (7.125 GHz –24.25 GHz) , FR4 (52.6 GHz –114.25 GHz) , FR4a or FR4-1 (52.6 GHz –71 GHz) , and FR5 (114.25 GHz –300 GHz) . In some implementations, the NEs 102 and the UEs 104 may perform wireless communications over one or more of the operating frequency bands. In some implementations, FR1 may be used by the NEs 102 and the UEs 104, among other equipment or devices for cellular communications traffic (e.g., control information, data) . In some implementations, FR2 may be used by the NEs 102 and the UEs 104, among other equipment or devices for short-range, high data rate capabilities.
[0089] FR1 may be associated with one or multiple numerologies (e.g., at least three numerologies) . For example, FR1 may be associated with a first numerology (e.g., μ=0) , which includes 15 kHz subcarrier spacing; a second numerology (e.g., μ=1) , which includes 30 kHz subcarrier spacing; and a third numerology (e.g., μ=2) , which includes 60 kHz subcarrier spacing. FR2 may be associated with one or multiple numerologies (e.g., at least 2 numerologies) . For example, FR2 may be associated with a third numerology (e.g., μ=2) , which includes 60 kHz subcarrier spacing; and a fourth numerology (e.g., μ=3) , which includes 120 kHz subcarrier spacing.
[0090] Figure 2 illustrates an example of a UE 200 in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. The UE 200 may include a processor 202, a memory 204, a controller 206, and a transceiver 208. The processor 202, the memory 204, the controller 206, or the transceiver 208, or various combinations thereof or various components thereof may be examples of means for performing various aspects of the present disclosure as described herein. These components may be coupled (e.g., operatively, communicatively, functionally, electronically, electrically) via one or more interfaces.
[0091] The processor 202, the memory 204, the controller 206, or the transceiver 208, or various combinations or components thereof may be implemented in hardware (e.g., circuitry) . The hardware may include a processor, a digital signal processor (DSP) , an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) , or other programmable logic device, or any combination thereof configured as or otherwise supporting a means for performing the functions described in the present disclosure.
[0092] The processor 202 may include an intelligent hardware device (e.g., a general-purpose processor, a DSP, a CPU, an ASIC, an FPGA, or any combination thereof) . In some implementations, the processor 202 may be configured to operate the memory 204. In some other implementations, the memory 204 may be integrated into the processor 202. The processor 202 may be configured to execute computer-readable instructions stored in the memory 204 to cause the UE 200 to perform various functions of the present disclosure.
[0093] The memory 204 may include volatile or non-volatile memory. The memory 204 may store computer-readable, computer-executable code including instructions when executed by the processor 202 cause the UE 200 to perform various functions described herein. The code may be stored in a non-transitory computer-readable medium such the memory 204 or another type of memory. Computer-readable media includes both non-transitory computer storage media and communication media including any medium that facilitates transfer of a computer program from one place to another. A non-transitory storage medium may be any available medium that may be accessed by a general-purpose or special-purpose computer.
[0094] In some implementations, the processor 202 and the memory 204 coupled with the processor 202 may be configured to cause the UE 200 to perform one or more of the functions described herein (e.g., executing, by the processor 202, instructions stored in the memory 204) . For example, the processor 202 may support wireless communication at the UE 200 in accordance with examples as disclosed herein. The UE 200 may be configured to support: a means for receiving, from a source network node associated with a source cell of the UE, conditional handover (CHO) configuration information associated with one or more candidate cells; a means for receiving a set of CHO execution conditions for the one or more candidate cells, wherein the set of CHO execution conditions is related to a network energy saving (NES) mode of the source cell; and a means for determining whether to perform a CHO from the source cell to a candidate cell based on the set of CHO execution conditions.
[0095] The controller 206 may manage input and output signals for the UE 200. The controller 206 may also manage peripherals not integrated into the UE 200. In some implementations, the controller 206 may utilize an operating system such as or other operating systems. In some implementations, the controller 206 may be implemented as part of the processor 202.
[0096] In some implementations, the UE 200 may include at least one transceiver 208. In some other implementations, the UE 200 may have more than one transceiver 208. The transceiver 208 may represent a wireless transceiver. The transceiver 208 may include one or more receiver chains 210, one or more transmitter chains 212, or a combination thereof. The means for receiving abovementioned in the processor 202 or the means for transmitting in the processor 202 may be implemented via at least one transceiver 208.
[0097] A receiver chain 210 may be configured to receive signals (e.g., control information, data, packets) over a wireless medium. For example, the receiver chain 210 may include one or more antennas for receive the signal over the air or wireless medium. The receiver chain 210 may include at least one amplifier (e.g., a low-noise amplifier (LNA) ) configured to amplify the received signal. The receiver chain 210 may include at least one demodulator configured to demodulate the receive signal and obtain the transmitted data by reversing the modulation technique applied during transmission of the signal. The receiver chain 210 may include at least one decoder for decoding the processing the demodulated signal to receive the transmitted data.
[0098] A transmitter chain 212 may be configured to generate and transmit signals (e.g., control information, data, packets) . The transmitter chain 212 may include at least one modulator for modulating data onto a carrier signal, preparing the signal for transmission over a wireless medium. The at least one modulator may be configured to support one or more techniques such as amplitude modulation (AM) , frequency modulation (FM) , or digital modulation schemes like phase-shift keying (PSK) or quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) . The transmitter chain 212 may also include at least one power amplifier configured to amplify the modulated signal to an appropriate power level suitable for transmission over the wireless medium. The transmitter chain 212 may also include one or more antennas for transmitting the amplified signal into the air or wireless medium.
[0099] Figure 3 illustrates an example of a processor 300 in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. The processor 300 may be an example of a processor configured to perform various operations in accordance with examples as described herein. The processor 300 may include a controller 302 configured to perform various operations in accordance with examples as described herein. The processor 300 may optionally include at least one memory 304, which may be, for example, an L1 / L2 / L3 cache. Additionally, or alternatively, the processor 300 may optionally include one or more arithmetic-logic units (ALUs) 306. One or more of these components may be in electronic communication or otherwise coupled (e.g., operatively, communicatively, functionally, electronically, electrically) via one or more interfaces (e.g., buses) .
[0100] The processor 300 may be a processor chipset and include a protocol stack (e.g., a software stack) executed by the processor chipset to perform various operations (e.g., receiving, obtaining, retrieving, transmitting, outputting, forwarding, storing, determining, identifying, accessing, writing, reading) in accordance with examples as described herein. The processor chipset may include one or more cores, one or more caches (e.g., memory local to or included in the processor chipset (e.g., the processor 300) or other memory (e.g., random access memory (RAM) , read-only memory (ROM) , dynamic RAM (DRAM) , synchronous dynamic RAM (SDRAM) , static RAM (SRAM) , ferroelectric RAM (FeRAM) , magnetic RAM (MRAM) , resistive RAM (RRAM) , flash memory, phase change memory (PCM) , and others) .
[0101] The controller 302 may be configured to manage and coordinate various operations (e.g., signaling, receiving, obtaining, retrieving, transmitting, outputting, forwarding, storing, determining, identifying, accessing, writing, reading) of the processor 300 to cause the processor 300 to support various operations in accordance with examples as described herein. For example, the controller 302 may operate as a control unit of the processor 300, generating control signals that manage the operation of various components of the processor 300. These control signals include enabling or disabling functional units, selecting data paths, initiating memory access, and coordinating timing of operations.
[0102] The controller 302 may be configured to fetch (e.g., obtain, retrieve, receive) instructions from the memory 304 and determine subsequent instruction (s) to be executed to cause the processor 300 to support various operations in accordance with examples as described herein. The controller 302 may be configured to track memory address of instructions associated with the memory 304. The controller 302 may be configured to decode instructions to determine the operation to be performed and the operands involved. For example, the controller 302 may be configured to interpret the instruction and determine control signals to be output to other components of the processor 300 to cause the processor 300 to support various operations in accordance with examples as described herein. Additionally, or alternatively, the controller 302 may be configured to manage flow of data within the processor 300. The controller 302 may be configured to control transfer of data between registers, arithmetic logic units (ALUs) , and other functional units of the processor 300.
[0103] The memory 304 may include one or more caches (e.g., memory local to or included in the processor 300 or other memory, such RAM, ROM, DRAM, SDRAM, SRAM, MRAM, flash memory, etc. In some implementations, the memory 304 may reside within or on a processor chipset (e.g., local to the processor 300) . In some other implementations, the memory 304 may reside external to the processor chipset (e.g., remote to the processor 300) .
[0104] The memory 304 may store computer-readable, computer-executable code including instructions that, when executed by the processor 300, cause the processor 300 to perform various functions described herein. The code may be stored in a non-transitory computer-readable medium such as system memory or another type of memory. The controller 302 and / or the processor 300 may be configured to execute computer-readable instructions stored in the memory 304 to cause the processor 300 to perform various functions. For example, the processor 300 and / or the controller 302 may be coupled with or to the memory 304, the processor 300, the controller 302, and the memory 304 may be configured to perform various functions described herein. In some examples, the processor 300 may include multiple processors and the memory 304 may include multiple memories. One or more of the multiple processors may be coupled with one or more of the multiple memories, which may, individually or collectively, be configured to perform various functions herein.
[0105] The one or more ALUs 306 may be configured to support various operations in accordance with examples as described herein. In some implementations, the one or more ALUs 306 may reside within or on a processor chipset (e.g., the processor 300) . In some other implementations, the one or more ALUs 306 may reside external to the processor chipset (e.g., the processor 300) . One or more ALUs 306 may perform one or more computations such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division on data. For example, one or more ALUs 306 may receive input operands and an operation code, which determines an operation to be executed. One or more ALUs 306 be configured with a variety of logical and arithmetic circuits, including adders, subtractors, shifters, and logic gates, to process and manipulate the data according to the operation. Additionally, or alternatively, the one or more ALUs 306 may support logical operations such as AND, OR, exclusive-OR (XOR) , not-OR (NOR) , and not-AND (NAND) , enabling the one or more ALUs 306 to handle conditional operations, comparisons, and bitwise operations.
[0106] The processor 300 may support wireless communication in accordance with examples as disclosed herein.
[0107] In some implementations, the processor 300 may be configured to support means for performing operations as described with respect to Figure 6. For example, the processor 300 may be configured to or operable to support: a means for receiving, from a source network node associated with a source cell of the UE, conditional handover (CHO) configuration information associated with one or more candidate cells; a means for receiving a set of CHO execution conditions for the one or more candidate cells, wherein the set of CHO execution conditions is related to a network energy saving (NES) mode of the source cell; and a means for determining whether to perform a CHO from the source cell to a candidate cell based on the set of CHO execution conditions.
[0108] In some further implementations, the processor 300 may be configured to support means for performing operations as described with respect to Figure 7. For example, the processor 300 may be configured to or operable to support: a means for receiving a report associated with a network energy saving (NES) mode from a user equipment (UE) ; and a means for transmitting the report to a source network node associated with a source cell of the UE.
[0109] In some additional implementations, the processor 300 may be configured to support means for performing operations as described with respect to Figure 8. For example, the processor 300 may be configured to or operable to support: a means for transmitting conditional handover (CHO) configuration information associated with one or more candidate cells to a user equipment (UE) ; and a means for transmitting a set of CHO execution conditions for one or more candidate cells to the UE, wherein the set of CHO execution conditions is related to a network energy saving (NES) mode.
[0110] It should be appreciated by persons skilled in the art that the components in exemplary processor 300 may be changed, for example, some of the components in exemplary processor 300 may be omitted or modified or new component (s) may be added to exemplary processor 300, without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure. For example, in some embodiments, the processor 300 may not include the ALUs 306.
[0111] Figure 4 illustrates an example of a NE 400 in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. The NE 400 may include a processor 402, a memory 404, a controller 406, and a transceiver 408. The processor 402, the memory 404, the controller 406, or the transceiver 408, or various combinations thereof or various components thereof may be examples of means for performing various aspects of the present disclosure as described herein. These components may be coupled (e.g., operatively, communicatively, functionally, electronically, electrically) via one or more interfaces.
[0112] The processor 402, the memory 404, the controller 406, or the transceiver 408, or various combinations or components thereof may be implemented in hardware (e.g., circuitry) . The hardware may include a processor, a digital signal processor (DSP) , an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) , or other programmable logic device, or any combination thereof configured as or otherwise supporting a means for performing the functions described in the present disclosure.
[0113] The processor 402 may include an intelligent hardware device (e.g., a general-purpose processor, a DSP, a CPU, an ASIC, an FPGA, or any combination thereof) . In some implementations, the processor 402 may be configured to operate the memory 404. In some other implementations, the memory 404 may be integrated into the processor 402. The processor 402 may be configured to execute computer-readable instructions stored in the memory 404 to cause the NE 400 to perform various functions of the present disclosure.
[0114] The memory 404 may include volatile or non-volatile memory. The memory 404 may store computer-readable, computer-executable code including instructions when executed by the processor 402 cause the NE 400 to perform various functions described herein. The code may be stored in a non-transitory computer-readable medium such the memory 404 or another type of memory. Computer-readable media includes both non-transitory computer storage media and communication media including any medium that facilitates transfer of a computer program from one place to another. A non-transitory storage medium may be any available medium that may be accessed by a general-purpose or special-purpose computer.
[0115] In some implementations, the processor 402 and the memory 404 coupled with the processor 402 may be configured to cause the NE 400 to perform one or more of the functions described herein (e.g., executing, by the processor 402, instructions stored in the memory 404) . For example, the processor 402 may support wireless communication at the NE 400 in accordance with examples as disclosed herein. For example, the NE 400 may be configured to support means for performing the operations as described with respect to Figures 7 and 8.
[0116] In some implementations, the NE 400 may be a target network node and configured to support: a means for receiving a report associated with a network energy saving (NES) mode from a user equipment (UE) ; and a means for transmitting the report to a source network node associated with a source cell of the UE.
[0117] In some implementations, the NE 400 may be a source network node and configured to support: a means for transmitting conditional handover (CHO) configuration information associated with one or more candidate cells to a user equipment (UE) ; and a means for transmitting a set of CHO execution conditions for one or more candidate cells to the UE, wherein the set of CHO execution conditions is related to a network energy saving (NES) mode.
[0118] The controller 406 may manage input and output signals for the NE 400. The controller 406 may also manage peripherals not integrated into the NE 400. In some implementations, the controller 406 may utilize an operating system such as or other operating systems. In some implementations, the controller 406 may be implemented as part of the processor 402.
[0119] In some implementations, the NE 400 may include at least one transceiver 408. In some other implementations, the NE 400 may have more than one transceiver 408. The transceiver 408 may represent a wireless transceiver. The transceiver 408 may include one or more receiver chains 410, one or more transmitter chains 412, or a combination thereof. The means for receiving or the means for transmitting abovementioned in the processor 402 may be implemented via at least one transceiver 408.
[0120] A receiver chain 410 may be configured to receive signals (e.g., control information, data, packets) over a wireless medium. For example, the receiver chain 410 may include one or more antennas for receive the signal over the air or wireless medium. The receiver chain 410 may include at least one amplifier (e.g., a low-noise amplifier (LNA) ) configured to amplify the received signal. The receiver chain 410 may include at least one demodulator configured to demodulate the receive signal and obtain the transmitted data by reversing the modulation technique applied during transmission of the signal. The receiver chain 410 may include at least one decoder for decoding the processing the demodulated signal to receive the transmitted data.
[0121] A transmitter chain 412 may be configured to generate and transmit signals (e.g., control information, data, packets) . The transmitter chain 412 may include at least one modulator for modulating data onto a carrier signal, preparing the signal for transmission over a wireless medium. The at least one modulator may be configured to support one or more techniques such as amplitude modulation (AM) , frequency modulation (FM) , or digital modulation schemes like phase-shift keying (PSK) or quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) . The transmitter chain 412 may also include at least one power amplifier configured to amplify the modulated signal to an appropriate power level suitable for transmission over the wireless medium. The transmitter chain 412 may also include one or more antennas for transmitting the amplified signal into the air or wireless medium.
[0122] It should be appreciated by persons skilled in the art that the components in exemplary NE 400 may be changed, for example, some of the components in exemplary NE 400 may be omitted or modified or new component (s) may be added to exemplary NE 400, without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure. For example, in some embodiments, the NE 400 may not include the controller 406.
[0123] Generally, in a UE information procedure, after an RLF or a HO failure occurs, a UE may execute an RRC re-establishment procedure in a cell. The UE will store some information related with the RLF failure and / or the HO failure. The UE stores the latest RLF Report, including both LTE and NR RLF report until the RLF report is fetched by the network or for 48 hours after the connection failure is detected. For analysis of connection failure (s) , the UE makes the RLF report available to the network.
[0124] Figure 5 illustrates an exemplary UE information procedure in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. The embodiments of Figure 5 show a procedure of a UE (e.g., UE 510) communicating with the network (e.g., network node 520) . As shown in Figure 5, in operation 501, network node 520 transmits a UE Information Request message to UE 510. Network node 520 may be a source base station (BS) which controls a serving cell of UE 510. In operation 502, US 510 transmits a UE Information Response message including an RLF report to network node 520. Network node 520 can optimize a mobility problem based on the response transmitted from UE 210.
[0125] Figure 6 illustrates a flowchart of method for receiving CHO configuration in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. The operations of the method may be implemented by a UE as described herein. In some implementations, the UE may execute a set of instructions to control the function elements of the UE to perform the described functions. In some implementations, aspects of operations 602, 604, and 606 may be performed by UE 200 as described with reference to Figure 2. Each of operations 602, 604, and 606 may be performed in accordance with examples as described herein.
[0126] At operation 602, the method may include receiving CHO configuration information associated with one or more candidate cells by a UE from a source network node associated with a source cell of the UE. For example, the CHO configuration information is for normal CHO and / or NES CHO.
[0127] At operation 604, the method may include receiving a set of CHO execution conditions for the one or more candidate cells by the UE. The set of CHO execution conditions is related to a network energy saving (NES) mode.
[0128] At operation 606, the method may include determining, by the UE, whether to perform a CHO from the source cell to a candidate cell based on the set of CHO execution conditions. In some implementations, the set of CHO execution conditions comprises a measurement based event, which may include one of the following:
[0129] (1) channel quality of a candidate cell becomes offset better than channel quality of the source cell, e.g., Event A3 as specified in 3GPP TS 38.331;
[0130] (2) channel quality of a candidate cell becomes better than a threshold, e.g., Event A4 as specified in 3GPP TS 38.331; or
[0131] (3) channel quality of the source cell becomes worse than one threshold and channel quality of a candidate cell becomes better than another threshold, e.g., Event A5 as specified in 3GPP TS 38.331.
[0132] In some implementations, the set of CHO execution conditions comprises a NES mode based event. The NES mode based event may be fulfilled if the source cell enters into a NES mode. In an implementation, the UE may perform a CHO if both the NES mode based event and a measurement based event are fulfilled. For example, one or more of following execution conditions may be configured to the CHO, i.e., Events A3-1 to A3-3.
[0133] (1) Event A3-1: a candidate cell becomes offset better than the source cell, e.g., PCell / PSCell.
[0134] (2) Event A3-2: a candidate cell becomes offset better than the source cell, when the source cell is in a NES mode and the candidate cell is in a normal mode (i.e., a non-NES mode) .
[0135] (3) Event A3-3: a candidate cell becomes offset better than the source cell, when the source cell is in a normal mode and the candidate cell is in a NES mode.
[0136] In particular, in an implementation, if the source cell enters into the NES mode, and if a candidate cell becomes offset better than the source cell while the candidate cell is in the normal mode, Event A3-2 is fulfilled, and then the UE may perform a CHO to the candidate cell.
[0137] In some implementations, the UE may consider that a CHO execution condition within the set of CHO execution conditions is fulfilled, if "the measurement based event is fulfilled and the source cell has entered into the NES mode" or if "the measurement based event is fulfilled and the source cell is about to enter into the NES mode" .
[0138] In some implementations, the UE may release the NES mode based event if the CHO configuration information is released.
[0139] In some implementations of the method described herein, the UE may receive another set of CHO execution conditions for the one or more candidate cells. This set of CHO execution conditions may comprise a measurement based event, for example, only comprises Events A3, A4, and / or A5 as specified in 3GPP TS 38.331, and may be named as "another set of CHO execution conditions not related to the NES mode" or the like. In particular, in an implementation, if a candidate cell becomes offset better than the source cell, Event A3 is fulfilled, and then the UE may perform a CHO to the candidate cell.
[0140] In some implementations of the method described herein, the UE may receive, from the source network node, an indication (denoted as indication#1 for simplicity) indicating that the CHO is allowed to be triggered if the source cell is the NES mode and a measurement based event is fulfilled. For instance, indication#1 may be received via dedicated signaling from the source network node associated with the source cell or via broadcasting signaling, e.g., system information block (SIB) .
[0141] In some implementations, the UE may release indication#1 if the CHO configuration information is released. A specific example is described in Figure 10 as follows.
[0142] In some implementations of the method described herein, the UE may receive configuration information associated with a modification period related to a system information transmission, receive an indication (denoted as indication#2) to indicate that the source cell will enter into the NES mode via system information, consider that the source cell is about to enter into the NES mode upon reception of the indication#2, and consider that the source cell enters into the NES mode at a boundary of the modification period after receiving indication#2. A specific example is described in Figure 9 as follows.
[0143] In some implementations of the method described herein, the UE may receive a parameter related to the NES mode from the source cell, store the parameter related to the NES mode, and receive an indication (denoted as indication#3) to activate the parameter related to the NES mode. The source cell may enter into the NES mode upon reception of indication#3. A specific example is described in Figure 11 as follows.
[0144] In some implementations of the method described herein, if an RLF occurs on the source cell or if a failure occurs during the CHO from the source cell to a candidate cell (i.e., which may be normal CHO or NES CHO configured at operation 602) , the UE may initiate a re-establishment procedure to a selected cell of a target network node. Then, the UE may transmit a failure report to the selected cell of the target network node.
[0145] In an implementation, if the RLF occurs on the source cell, the failure report includes one of the following:
[0146] (1) whether the source cell is in the NES mode;
[0147] (2) a cell ID list of a set of candidate cells (denoted as set#1) within the one or more candidate cells at occurrence time of the RLF; wherein the UE has not measured channel quality of each candidate cell of set#1 of candidate cells at the occurrence time of the RLF;
[0148] (3) a cell ID list of another set of candidate cells (denoted as set#2) within the one or more candidate cells, wherein the UE has measured channel quality of each candidate cell of set#2 of candidate cells at the occurrence time of the RLF; or
[0149] (4) each indication for each cell ID in the cell ID lists, to indicate whether a candidate cell included in set#1 or set#2 of candidate cells is configured with a CHO execution condition associated with a NES mode based event. A specific example is described in Figure 11 as follows.
[0150] In another implementation, if the failure occurs during the CHO from the source cell to a candidate cell, the failure report includes one of the following:
[0151] (1) whether the source cell is in the NES mode;
[0152] (2) time elapsed between "reception of information indicating that the source cell is about to enter into the NES mode" and "fulfillment of a measurement based event within the set of CHO execution conditions" ;
[0153] (3) time elapsed between "reception of information indicating that the source cell has entered into the NES mode" and "fulfillment of the measurement based event" ;
[0154] (4) time elapsed between "the source cell entering into the NES mode" and "fulfillment of the measurement based event" ;
[0155] (5) time elapsed between "reception of an activation indication related to the NES mode" and "fulfillment of the measurement based event" ;
[0156] (6) time elapsed between "fulfillment of a firstly fulfilled NES mode based event within the set of CHO execution conditions" and "fulfillment of a firstly fulfilled measurement based event within the set of CHO execution conditions" ;
[0157] (7) which one of a NES mode based event and the measurement based event is firstly fulfilled; or
[0158] (8) the CHO is triggered by "the set of CHO execution conditions related to the NES mode" receive at operation 604 or "the abovementioned another set of CHO execution conditions not related to the NES mode" . A specific example is described in Figure 12 as follows.
[0159] In some implementations of the method described herein, if an RLF occurs on the source cell or if a failure occurs during a CHO from the source cell to a candidate cell (denoted as cell#1) , the UE may select another candidate cell (denoted as cell#2) . If cell#2 belongs to the one or more candidate cells configured to the UE, the UE may perform a CHO to cell#2. If a failure occurs during the CHO to cell#2, the UE may transmit a failure report after the UE is configured to transit to an RRC connected state. For instance, the failure report includes one of the following: (1) cell ID of cell#2; or (2) whether cell#2 is configured with a CHO execution condition associated with a NES mode based event. A specific example is described in Figure 12 as follows.
[0160] In some implementations of the method described herein, if the CHO from the source cell to the candidate cell succeed, the UE may transmit successful handover information to the candidate cell. The successful handover information may include one of the following:
[0161] (1) whether the source cell is in the NES mode;
[0162] (2) whether a CHO execution condition configured for the candidate cell triggering the CHO is associated with a NES mode based event; or
[0163] (3) the CHO is triggered by which one of "a CHO execution condition associated with the NES mode based event" and "a CHO execution condition comprising a measurement based event" . A specific example is described in Figure 13 as follows.
[0164] It should be noted that the method described in Figure 6 describes possible implementations, and that the operations and the steps may be rearranged or otherwise eliminated or modified and that other implementations are possible, without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure.
[0165] Figure 7 illustrates a flowchart of a method for receiving a report associated with a NES mode in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. The operations of the method may be implemented by a target network node as described herein. In some implementations, the target network node may execute a set of instructions to control the function elements of the target network node to perform the described functions. In some implementations, aspects of operations 702 and 704 may be performed by NE 400 as described with reference to Figure 4. Each of operations 702 and 704 may be performed in accordance with examples as described herein.
[0166] At operation 702, the method may include receiving, by a target network node from a UE, a report associated with a NES mode. At operation 704, the method may include transmitting the report by the target network node to a source network node associated with a source cell of the UE.
[0167] In some implementations of the method described herein, the report is related to occurrence of an RLF. For example, the report includes one of the following:
[0168] (1) whether the source cell is in the NES mode;
[0169] (2) a cell ID list of a set of candidate cells configured for the UE at occurrence time of the RLF, wherein the UE has not measured channel quality of each candidate cell of this set of candidate cells at the occurrence time of the RLF;
[0170] (3) a cell ID list of another set of candidate cells configured for the UE, wherein the UE has measured channel quality of each candidate cell of this set of candidate cells at the occurrence time of the RLF; or
[0171] (4) each indication for each cell ID to indicate whether a candidate cell included in the abovementioned sets of candidate cells is configured with a CHO execution condition associated with a NES mode based event. A specific example is described in Figure 11 as follows.
[0172] In some implementations of the method described herein, the report is related to occurrence of a failure during a CHO from the source cell to a candidate cell. For instance, the report includes one of the following:
[0173] (1) whether the source cell is in the NES mode;
[0174] (2) time elapsed between "reception of information indicating that the source cell is about to enter into the NES mode" and "fulfillment of a measurement based event associated with the candidate cell" ;
[0175] (3) time elapsed between "reception of information indicating that the source cell has entered into the NES mode" and "fulfillment of the measurement based event" ;
[0176] (4) time elapsed between "the source cell entering into the NES mode" and "fulfillment of the measurement based event" ;
[0177] (5) time elapsed between "reception of an activation indication related to the NES mode" and "fulfillment of the measurement based event" ;
[0178] (6) time elapsed between "fulfillment of a firstly fulfilled NES mode based event" and "fulfillment of a firstly fulfilled measurement based event" ;
[0179] (7) which one of a NES mode based event and the measurement based event is firstly fulfilled; or
[0180] (8) the CHO is triggered by the set of CHO execution conditions related to the NES mode or another set of CHO execution condition. A specific example is described in Figure 12 as follows.
[0181] In some implementations of the method described herein, the report is related to occurrence of a failure during another CHO from the source cell to another candidate cell after a failure occurs in a CHO from the source cell to a candidate cell. The report may include one of the following:
[0182] (1) cell ID of another candidate cell selected by the UE for another CHO; or
[0183] (2) whether the selected another candidate cell is configured with a CHO execution condition associated with a NES mode based event.
[0184] In some implementations of the method described herein, the report is successful handover information and includes one of the following:
[0185] (1) whether the source cell is in the NES mode;
[0186] (2) whether a CHO execution condition configured for a candidate cell triggering a CHO is associated with a NES mode based event; or
[0187] (3) the CHO is triggered by which one of a CHO execution condition associated with the NES mode based event or another CHO execution condition comprising a measurement based event (e.g., not associated with the NES mode based event) . A specific example is described in Figure 13 as follows.
[0188] In some implementations of the method described herein, the target network node may transmit a set of CHO execution conditions for one or more candidate cells via the source network node to the UE. The set of CHO execution conditions is related to the NES mode.
[0189] In some implementations of the method described herein, the set of CHO execution conditions comprises a measurement based event, which may include one of the following:
[0190] (1) channel quality of a candidate cell within the one or more candidate cells becomes better than channel quality of the source cell;
[0191] (2) the channel quality of the candidate cell becomes better than a threshold; or
[0192] (3) the channel quality of the source cell becomes worse than one threshold and the channel quality of the candidate cell becomes better than another threshold.
[0193] In some implementations of the method described herein, the set of CHO execution conditions comprises a NES mode based event. The NES mode based event is fulfilled if the source cell enters into the NES mode. A CHO may be performed by the UE if both the NES mode based event and a measurement based event are fulfilled. Specific examples are described in Figures 9-13 as follows.
[0194] It should be noted that the method described in Figure 7 describes possible implementations, and that the operations and the steps may be rearranged or otherwise eliminated or modified and that other implementations are possible, without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure.
[0195] Figure 8 illustrates a flowchart of method for transmitting CHO configuration in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. The operations of the method may be implemented by a source network node as described herein. In some implementations, the source network node may execute a set of instructions to control the function elements of the source network node to perform the described functions. In some implementations, aspects of operations 802 and 804 may be performed by NE 400 or network node 520 as described with reference to Figure 4 or Figure 5. Each of operations 802 and 804 may be performed in accordance with examples as described herein.
[0196] At operation 802, the method may include transmitting CHO configuration information associated with one or more candidate cells by a source network node to a UE. At operation 804, the method may include transmitting a set of CHO execution conditions for one or more candidate cells by the source network node to the UE, wherein the set of CHO execution conditions is related to a NES mode.
[0197] In some implementations of the method described herein, the set of CHO execution conditions comprises a measurement based event, which may include one of the following:
[0198] (1) channel quality of a candidate cell within the one or more candidate cells becomes better than channel quality of the source cell;
[0199] (2) the channel quality of the candidate cell becomes better than a threshold; or
[0200] (3) the channel quality of the source cell becomes worse than one threshold and the channel quality of the candidate cell becomes better than another threshold.
[0201] In some implementations of the method described herein, the set of CHO execution conditions comprises a NES mode based event. The NES mode based event is fulfilled if the source cell enters into the NES mode. The CHO is performed if both the NES mode based event and a measurement based event are fulfilled.
[0202] In some implementations of the method described herein, the source network node may transmit, to the UE, an indication indicating that a CHO is allowed to be triggered if a source cell of the UE is in the NES mode and a measurement based event is fulfilled.
[0203] In some implementations of the method described herein, the source network node may transmit, to the UE, configuration information associated with a modification period related to a system information transmission, and an indication to indicate that the source cell will enter into the NES mode via system information.
[0204] In some implementations of the method described herein, the source network node may transmit, to the UE, a parameter related to the NES mode from the source cell and an indication to activate the parameter related to the NES mode. The source cell enters into the NES mode upon reception of this indication. A specific example is described in Figure 11 as follows.
[0205] In some implementations of the method described herein, the source network node may transmit, to the UE, another set of CHO execution conditions for the one or more candidate cells, which comprises a measurement based event.
[0206] In some implementations of the method described herein, the source network node may receive a report associated with the NES mode from a target network node.
[0207] In an implementation, the report is related to occurrence of an RLF and includes one of the following:
[0208] (1) whether the source cell is in the NES mode;
[0209] (2) a cell ID list of a set of candidate cells within the one or more candidate cells at occurrence time of the RLF, wherein the UE has not measured channel quality of each candidate cell of this set of candidate cells at the occurrence time of the RLF;
[0210] (3) a cell ID list of another set of candidate cells within the one or more candidate cells, wherein the UE has measured channel quality of each candidate cell of this set of candidate cells at the occurrence time of the RLF; or
[0211] (4) each indication for each cell ID, to indicate whether a candidate cell included in the abovementioned sets of candidate cells is configured with a CHO execution condition associated with a NES mode based event. A specific example is described in Figure 11 as follows.
[0212] In another implementation, the report is related to occurrence of a failure during a CHO from the source cell to a candidate cell. For example, the report includes one of the following:
[0213] (1) whether the source cell is in the NES mode;
[0214] (2) time elapsed between "reception of information indicating that the source cell is about to enter into the NES mode" and "fulfillment of a measurement based event associated with the candidate cell" ;
[0215] (3) time elapsed between "reception of information indicating that the source cell has entered into the NES mode" and "fulfillment of the measurement based event" ;
[0216] (4) time elapsed between "the source cell entering into the NES mode" and "fulfillment of the measurement based event" ;
[0217] (5) time elapsed between "reception of an activation indication related to the NES mode" and "fulfillment of the measurement based event" ;
[0218] (6) time elapsed between "fulfillment of a firstly fulfilled NES mode based event" and "fulfillment of a firstly fulfilled measurement based event" ;
[0219] (7) which one of a NES mode based event and the measurement based event is firstly fulfilled; or
[0220] (8) the CHO is triggered by the set of CHO execution conditions related to the NES mode or another set of CHO execution condition. A specific example is described in Figure 12 as follows.
[0221] In an additional implementation, the report is related to occurrence of a failure during another CHO from the source cell to another candidate cell after a failure occurs in a CHO from the source cell to a candidate cell. For example, the report includes one of the following:
[0222] (1) cell ID of another candidate cell selected by the UE for the another CHO; and
[0223] (2) whether the selected another candidate cell is configured with a CHO execution condition associated with the NES mode based event.
[0224] In yet an additional implementation, the report is successful handover information and includes one of the following:
[0225] (1) whether the source cell is in the NES mode;
[0226] (2) whether a CHO execution condition configured for a candidate cell triggering a CHO is associated with a NES mode based event; or
[0227] (3) the CHO is triggered by which one of "a CHO execution condition associated with the NES mode based event" and "a CHO execution condition comprising a measurement based event" . A specific example is described in Figure 13 as follows.
[0228] It should be noted that the method described in Figure 8 describes possible implementations, and that the operations and the steps may be rearranged or otherwise eliminated or modified and that other implementations are possible, without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure.
[0229] Figure 9 illustrates an example of CHO related to a NES mode in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. Details described in all other embodiments of the present disclosure are applicable for the embodiments shown in Figure 9.
[0230] In the exemplary flowchart 900 as shown in Figure 9, in operation 901, UE 910 stays at an RRC connected state, and receives CHO configuration (s) related to one or more candidate cells from source BS 920 (e.g., source gNB or serving gNB) . Source BS 920 is associated with the source cell (i.e., the serving cell) , e.g., PCell / PSCell.
[0231] In operation 902, UE 910 reports, to source BS 920, whether UE 910 supports the capability of a NES mode of the source cell or CHO related to the NES mode.
[0232] In operation 903, source BS 920 transmits a handover request to candidate BS 930 (e.g., a candidate gNB) . The handover request may include an indication to indicate that the prepared handover is related to CHO for the NES mode of the source cell.
[0233] In operation 904, if candidate BS 930 accepts the handover request, candidate BS 930 will prepare CHO configuration (s) for one or more candidate cells.
[0234] In operation 905, candidate BS 930 send the CHO configuration (s) for the one or more the candidate cells to source BS 920.
[0235] In operation 906, source BS 920 sends the CHO configuration (s) for the one or more candidate cell to UE 910. In some embodiments, source BS 920 may also send a set of CHO execution conditions for the one or more candidate cells for the CHO configuration. This set of CHO execution conditions may be related to the NES mode of the source cell. For example, a CHO execution condition may be that a candidate (neighbor) cell becomes offset better than the source cell and "the source cell enters the NES mode or the source cell is about to enter the NES mode" .
[0236] In operation 907, UE 910 receives information related to the NES mode via dedicated signaling from source BS 920 or via broadcasting signaling (e.g., SIB) . For example, the information (e.g., indication#2) indicates that the source cell will enter into the NES mode. In some embodiments, the information is configuration information associated with a modification period related to a system information transmission. The system information transmission is only allowed to be modified at each modification period boundary. UE 910 may consider that the source cell enters into the NES mode at a boundary of the modification period.
[0237] In some other embodiments, UE 910 receives an indication included in SIB to indicate that the source cell will enter into the NES mode.
[0238] In operation 908, after the network indicates to UE 910 that the NES mode is about to start via SIB, UE 910 may evaluate whether the measurement-based event is met or not upon reception of the indication via SIB in operation 907. There may be following two options in different embodiments, i.e., Option#1 or Option#2 as below.
[0239] (1) Option#1: UE 910 determines whether CHO condition (s) is met or not after the source cell enters into the NES mode. CHO is not allowed to be triggered if the source cell has not entered into the NES mode yet (e.g., before the modification period boundary) . Namely, in Option#1, if the source cell enters into the NES mode already and the corresponding measurement-based event is met, CHO can be triggered.
[0240] (2) Option#2: CHO can be triggered once the condition is met even the NES mode is not started yet. Namely, in Option#2, CHO can be triggered once the condition is met, no matter the source cell has entered into the NES mode or not.
[0241] Figure 10 illustrates another example of CHO related to a NES mode in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. Details described in all other embodiments of the present disclosure are applicable for the embodiments shown in Figure 10.
[0242] In the exemplary flowchart 1000 as shown in Figure 10, in operation 1001, UE 1010 stays at an RRC connected state, and receives CHO configuration (s) related to one or more candidate cells from source BS 1020 (e.g., source gNB or serving gNB) . Source BS 1020 is associated with the source cell (i.e., the serving cell) , e.g., PCell / PSCell.
[0243] In operation 1002, UE 1010 reports, to source BS 1020, whether UE 1010 supports the capability of a NES mode of the source cell or CHO related to the NES mode.
[0244] In operation 1003, source BS 1020 transmits a handover request to candidate BS 1030 (e.g., a candidate gNB) . The handover request may include an indication to indicate that the prepared handover is related to CHO for the NES mode of the source cell.
[0245] In operation 1004, if candidate BS 1030 accepts the handover request, candidate BS 1030 will prepare CHO configuration (s) for one or more candidate cells.
[0246] In operation 1005, candidate BS 1030 send the CHO configuration (s) for the one or more the candidate cells to source BS 1020.
[0247] In operation 1006, source BS 1020 sends the CHO configuration (s) for the one or more candidate cell to UE 1010. In some embodiments, source BS 1020 may also send a set of CHO execution conditions for the one or more candidate cells for the CHO configuration. This set of CHO execution conditions may be related to the NES mode of the source cell. For example, a CHO execution condition may be that a candidate (neighbor) cell becomes offset better than the source cell and "the source cell enters the NES mode or the source cell is about to enter the NES mode" .
[0248] In operation 1006, source BS 1020 may send information to indicate that CHO can be triggered only the source cell is about to enter into a NES mode or the source cell has entered into the NES mode already. In some embodiments, source BS 1020 sends an indication (e.g., indication#1) indicating that the CHO is allowed to be triggered if the source cell is the NES mode and a measurement based event is fulfilled.
[0249] In an implementation, the information in operation 1006 may be the following enteringNESmode information element (IE) . For example, the IE CondReconfigToAddModList concerns a list of conditional reconfigurations to add or modify, with for each entry the condReconfigId and the associated condExecutionCond / condExecutionCondSCG and condRRCReconfig. The IE CondReconfigToAddModList may include enteringNESmode IE as below,
[0250] CondReconfigToAddModList information element
[0251] In operation 1007, UE 1010 may remove CHO configuration (s) for the candidate cell (s) due to one of the following cases:
[0252] (1) UE 1010 receives an RRC reconfiguration message which configures UE 1010 to remove the CHO configuration (s) for the candidate cell (s) .
[0253] (2) UE 1010 receives an RRC release message which ask UE 1010 to enter into idle or inactive state.
[0254] (3) UE 1010 initiates a re-establishment procedure.
[0255] In operation 1008, UE 1010 may remove or release the CHO execution condition (s) related to the NES mode when UE 1010 removes the CHO configurations for the candidate cells. For example, UE 1010 may remove the information received in operation 1006 (e.g. indication#1 or the enteringNESmode IE) .
[0256] In some embodiments, a CHO execution condition for a cell selected for CHO recovery is not allowed to be related to the NES mode. Namely, NES CHO cannot be used for CHO recovery. In such case, UE 1010 may select, from the one or more candidate cells, a candidate cell configured with a CHO execution condition not related to the NES mode (i.e., not configured with NES purpose) , and initiate a re-establishment procedure to the selected candidate cell.
[0257] Figure 11 illustrates an additional example of CHO related to a NES mode in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. Details described in all other embodiments of the present disclosure are applicable for the embodiments shown in Figure 11.
[0258] In the exemplary flowchart 1100 as shown in Figure 11, in operation 1101, UE 110 stays at an RRC connected state, and receives CHO configuration (s) related to one or more candidate cells from source BS 120 (e.g., source gNB or serving gNB) . Source BS 120 is associated with the source cell (i.e., the serving cell) , e.g., PCell / PSCell.
[0259] In operation 1102, UE 110 reports, to source BS 120, whether UE 110 supports the capability of a NES mode of the source cell or CHO related to the NES mode.
[0260] In some embodiments, a set of CHO execution conditions for the one or more candidate cells may be configured to UE 110 for CHO configuration. This set of CHO execution conditions may be related to the NES mode of the source cell. For example, a CHO execution condition may be that a candidate (neighbor) cell becomes offset better than the source cell and "the source cell enters the NES mode or the source cell is about to enter the NES mode" .
[0261] In operation 1103, UE 110 receives information related to the NES mode via dedicated signaling from source BS 120 or via broadcasting signaling (e.g., SIB) . In some embodiments, the information could be an explicit indication to inform UE 110 that the source cell will enter into a NES mode. Alternatively, the source cell can implicitly indicate to UE 110 in operation 1103 that the source cell will enter into the NES mode. For example, source BS 120 configures parameters for cell DTX / DRX to UE 110. Then, source BS 120 activates the cell DTX / DRX by L1 or L2 message, e.g., L1 activation indication (e.g., indication#3) . In this example, UE 110 considers that the source cell enters into the NES mode upon reception of L1 activation indication from source BS 120.
[0262] In operation 1104, UE 110 detects an RLF on the source cell in the NES mode. In some embodiments, UE 110 may initiate re-establishment procedure upon RLF detection. UE 110 may store the state of the source cell, which is a NES mode or a non-NES mode (i.e., a normal mode) when the RLF occurs.
[0263] In operation 1105, UE 110 transmits an RRC reestablishment request message to one selected cell, e.g., of target BS 130 (e.g., target gNB) . After successfully re-establishing to the selected cell, UE 110 transmits an indication of assistant information available to the serving cell of target BS 130. The assistant information is associated with a failure report.
[0264] In operation 1106, target BS 130 transmits a UE information request message to UE 110 after receiving the indication from UE 110.
[0265] In operation 1107, UE 110 transmits a UE information response message to target BS 130. The UE information response message may be named as "a failure report" or the like. For instance, the following information may be included in the UE information response message:
[0266] (1) whether the source cell of source BS 120 is in the NES mode or the non-NES mode, when the RLF happens.
[0267] (2) A CHO candidate cell List: This field is used to indicate a set of CHO candidate (target) cells (e.g., set#1) for conditional handover included in the IE condRRCReconfig at the occurrence time of the connection failure. The field may be named as choCandidateCellList or the like. The field does not include candidate target cell (s) included in measResulNeighCells as described below. UE 110 has measured channel quality of each cell of measResulNeighCells at the occurrence time of the connection failure.
[0268] (3) Measurement result neighbour cell (s) : This field refers to a set of measured candidate cell (s) (e.g., set#2) when an RLF happens. Cell ID of the measured candidate cell (s) may be reported as well. Furthermore, an indication may be added to indicate whether the measured candidate cell (s) is in a NES mode or not. The field may be named as measResultNeighCells or the like.
[0269] (4) A NES CHO indication: This field is used to indicate whether a NES mode is a CHO execution condition for each CHO candidate cell included in choCandidateCellList and measResultNeighCells.
[0270] In operation 1108, after target BS 130 receives the UE information response message from UE 110, target BS 130 may transmit one Xn message (e.g., a failure indication message or a new Xn message) to source BS 120. For example, the UE information response message reported by UE 110 is transmitted as a container. The Xn message may include the indication of "an RLF" , to indicate that the RLF occurs on the source cell.
[0271] Figure 12 illustrates yet an additional example of CHO related to a NES mode in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. Details described in all other embodiments of the present disclosure are applicable for the embodiments shown in Figure 12.
[0272] In the exemplary flowchart 1200 as shown in Figure 12, in operation 1201, UE 210 stays at an RRC connected state, and receives CHO configuration (s) related to one or more candidate cells from source BS 220 (e.g., source gNB or serving gNB) . Source BS 220 is associated with the source cell (i.e., the serving cell) , e.g., PCell / PSCell.
[0273] In operation 1202, UE 210 reports, to source BS 220, whether UE 210 supports the capability of a NES mode of the source cell or CHO related to the NES mode.
[0274] In some embodiments, a set of CHO execution conditions for the one or more candidate cells may be configured to UE 210 for CHO configuration. This set of CHO execution conditions may be related to the NES mode of the source cell. For example, one or more of following CHO execution conditions may be configured to UE 210, i.e., Events A3-1 to A3-3.
[0275] (4) Event A3-1: a candidate cell becomes offset better than the source cell.
[0276] (5) Event A3-2: a candidate cell becomes offset better than the source cell, when the source cell is in a NES mode and the candidate cell is in a normal mode (i.e., a non-NES mode) .
[0277] (6) Event A3-3: a candidate cell becomes offset better than the source cell, when the source cell is in a normal mode and the candidate cell is in a NES mode.
[0278] In another example, the combination of measurement-based event (s) (e.g., Event A3, Event A4, and / or Event A5) can be configured as a CHO execution condition together with a timer. For example, UE 210 starts the timer when UE 210 receives the CHO execution condition. Once the timer expires, UE 210 starts to evaluate the measurement-based event (s) .
[0279] In operation 1203, UE 210 receives information related to the NES mode via dedicated signaling from source BS 220 or via broadcasting signaling (e.g., SIB) .
[0280] In some embodiments, the information could be an explicit indication to inform UE 210 that the source cell will enter into a NES mode. Alternatively, the source cell can implicitly indicate to UE 210 in operation 1203 that the source cell will enter into the NES mode. For example, source BS 220 configures parameters for cell DTX / DRX to UE 210. Then, source BS 220 activates the cell DTX / DRX by L1 or L2 message, e.g., L1 activation indication. In this example, UE 210 considers that the source cell enters into the NES mode upon reception of L1 activation indication from source BS 220.
[0281] In operation 1204, UE 210 performs CHO from the source cell to a candidate cell (e.g., cell#1) based on the condition related to NES and starts timer T304, T310, or T312. A CHO failure occurs when timer T304, T310, or T312 expires. In some embodiments, UE 210 may initiate re-establishment procedure upon expiry of timer T304, T310, or T312. UE 210 may store the state of the source cell which is a NES mode or a non-NES mode (i.e., a normal mode) when timer T304, T310, or T312 expires.
[0282] Optionally, in operation 1205, UE 210 initiates a re-establishment procedure due to the CHO failure. Firstly, UE 210 performs a cell selection in operation of the re-establishment procedure. If the selected cell (e.g., cell#2) is configured with CHO configuration (s) related or not related to a NES mode, UE 210 performs a CHO to the selected cell for CHO based recovery. Once this CHO also fails, UE 210 is expected to report failure information once UE 210 transits to an RRC connected state, e.g., in operation 1208 as below.
[0283] In operation 1206, UE 210 transmits an RRC reestablishment request message to one selected cell, e.g., of target BS 230 (e.g., target gNB) . After successfully re-establishing to one selected cell, UE 210 transmits an indication of assistant information available to the serving cell of target BS 230. The assistant information is associated with a failure report.
[0284] In operation 1207, target BS 230 transmits a UE information request message to UE 110 after receiving the indication of assistant information available from UE 210.
[0285] In operation 1208, UE 210 transmits a UE information response message to target BS 230. The UE information response message may be named as "a failure report" or the like. For instance, the following information may be included in the UE information response message:
[0286] (1) whether the source cell is in the NES mode or not when the CHO failure occurs;
[0287] (2) time elapsed between "reception of information indicating that the source cell is about to enter into the NES mode" and "fulfillment of a measurement based event associated with the candidate cell" ;
[0288] (3) time elapsed between "reception of information indicating that the source cell has entered into the NES mode" (i.e., NES mode indication) and "fulfillment of the measurement based event" ; for example, the serving cell configure the cell DTX / DRX to UE 210; then, the serving cell activate the cell DTX / DRX by L1 or L2 message. In this example, reception of the NES mode indication means the reception of L1 signalling of activating cell DTX / DRX;
[0289] (4) time elapsed between "the source cell entering into the NES mode" and "fulfillment of the measurement based event" ;
[0290] (5) time elapsed between "reception of an activation indication related to the NES mode" and "fulfillment of the measurement based event" ;
[0291] (6) time elapsed between "fulfillment of a firstly fulfilled NES mode based event" and "fulfillment of a firstly fulfilled measurement based event" ;
[0292] (7) which one of a NES mode based event and the measurement based event is firstly fulfilled; or
[0293] (8) the CHO is triggered by the set of CHO execution conditions related to the NES mode or another set of CHO execution condition not related to the NES mode, if CHO is triggered and a failure occurs during the CHO, in case that two separate sets of CHO execution conditions are configured for NES mode and non-NES mode, respectively. For example, the abovementioned another set of CHO execution condition only include a measurement based event.
[0294] If operation 1205 is performed, i.e., if a CHO to the selected cell (e.g., cell#2) also fails, the failure information in operation 1208 may include at least the following information:
[0295] (1) CHO cell ID: This field is used to indicate a candidate (target) cell for conditional handover included in condRRCReconfig that UE 210 selected for CHO based recovery while T311 is running, e.g., cell ID of cell#2.
[0296] (2) An indication to indicate whether the candidate (target) cell is configured for NES purpose, or whether NES is configured as trigger condition of candidate target cell for CHO, e.g., the indication indicates whether cell#2 is configured with a CHO execution condition associated with a NES mode based event.
[0297] In operation 1209, after target BS 230 receives the UE information response message from UE 210, target BS 230 may transmit one Xn message (e.g., a failure indication message or a new Xn message) to source BS 220. For example, the UE information response message reported by UE 210 is transmitted as a container. The Xn message may include the indication of "a CHO failure" , to indicate that a failure occurs during the CHO.
[0298] Figure 13 illustrates yet an additional example of CHO related to a NES mode in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. Details described in all other embodiments of the present disclosure are applicable for the embodiments shown in Figure 13.
[0299] In the exemplary flowchart 1300 as shown in Figure 13, in operation 1301, UE 310 stays at an RRC connected state, and receives CHO configuration (s) related to one or more candidate cells from source BS 320 (e.g., source gNB or serving gNB) . Source BS 320 is associated with the source cell (i.e., the serving cell) , e.g., PCell / PSCell.
[0300] In operation 1302, UE 310 reports, to source BS 320, whether UE 310 supports the capability of a NES mode of the source cell or CHO related to the NES mode.
[0301] In some embodiments, a set of CHO execution conditions for the one or more candidate cells may be configured to UE 310 for CHO configuration. This set of CHO execution conditions may be related to the NES mode of the source cell. For example, one or more of following CHO execution conditions may be configured to UE 310, i.e., Events A3-1 to A3-3.
[0302] (1) Event A3-1: a candidate cell becomes offset better than the source cell.
[0303] (2) Event A3-2: a candidate cell becomes offset better than the source cell, when the source cell is in a NES mode and the candidate cell is in a normal mode (i.e., a non-NES mode) .
[0304] (3) Event A3-3: a candidate cell becomes offset better than the source cell, when the source cell is in a normal mode and the candidate cell is in a NES mode.
[0305] In another example, the combination of measurement-based event (s) (e.g., Event A3, Event A4, and / or Event A5) can be configured as a CHO execution condition together with a timer. For example, UE 310 starts the timer when UE 310 receives the CHO execution condition. Once the timer expires, UE 310 starts to evaluate the measurement-based event (s) .
[0306] In some embodiments, a threshold of percentage related to timer T304, T310, or T312 is configured by the serving cell to UE 310 for triggering a SHR purpose. If timer T304, T310, or T312 based trigger condition (s) is met, e.g., the elapsed time for timer T304, T310, or T312 is greater than "a percentage* (timer length of T304, T310, or T312) " , a SHR should be reported. The reported SHR will be used to optimize the near-failure handover case.
[0307] In some other embodiments, a threshold of percentage related to timer T311 (or T312) is configured by the serving cell to UE 310 for triggering a SHR purpose. If timer T311 based trigger condition (s) is met, e.g., the elapsed time for timer T311 is greater than "a percentage* (timer length of T311) " , a SHR should be reported.
[0308] In operation 1303, UE 310 receives information related to the NES mode via dedicated signaling from source BS 320 or via broadcasting signaling (e.g., SIB) .
[0309] In some embodiments, the information could be an explicit indication to inform UE 310 that the source cell will enter into a NES mode. Alternatively, the source cell can implicitly indicate to UE 310 in operation 1303 that the source cell will enter into the NES mode. For example, source BS 320 configures parameters for cell DTX / DRX to UE 310. Then, source BS 320 activates the cell DTX / DRX by L1 or L2 message, e.g., L1 activation indication. In this example, UE 310 considers that the source cell enters into the NES mode upon reception of L1 activation indication from source BS 320.
[0310] In operation 1304, UE 310 performs CHO based on the condition related to NES and starts a timer (e.g., T304, T310, T312, or T311) . For example, UE 310 may store the state of the source cell which is a NES mode or a non-NES mode (i.e., a normal mode) when a SHR is triggered, e.g., the elapsed time for timer T304, T310 or T312 is greater than "a percentage* (timer length of T304, T310 or T312) " .
[0311] In operation 1305, UE 310 transmits an RRC reestablishment request message to one selected cell, e.g., of target BS 330 (e.g., target gNB) . After successfully re-establishing to one selected cell, UE 310 transmits an indication of assistant information available to the serving cell of target BS 330. The assistant information is associated with the SHR.
[0312] In operation 1306, target BS 330 transmits a UE information request message to UE 310 after receiving the indication of assistant information available from UE 310.
[0313] In operation 1307, UE 310 transmits a UE information response message to target BS 330. The UE information response message may be named as "a SHR" or the like. For instance, the following information may be included in the UE information response message:
[0314] (1) whether the source cell is in the NES mode or not when a SHR is triggered;
[0315] (2) whether a CHO execution condition configured for the candidate cell triggering the CHO is associated with a NES mode based event; or
[0316] (3) the CHO is triggered by which one of "a CHO execution condition associated with the NES mode based event" and "a CHO execution condition comprising a measurement based event" , if the SHR is triggered, in case that two separate sets of CHO execution conditions are configured for NES mode and non-NES mode, respectively.
[0317] In operation 1308, after target BS 330 receives the UE information response message from UE 310, target BS 330 may transmit one Xn message (e.g., a failure indication message or a new Xn message) to source BS 320. For example, the UE information response message reported by UE 310 is transmitted as a container. The Xn message may include the indication of "a SHR" , to indicate that the SHR is transferred.
[0318] The description herein is provided to enable a person having ordinary skill in the art to make or use the disclosure. Various modifications to the disclosure will be apparent to a person having ordinary skill in the art, and the generic principles defined herein may be applied to other variations without departing from the scope of the disclosure. Thus, the disclosure is not limited to the examples and designs described herein but is to be accorded the broadest scope consistent with the principles and novel features disclosed herein.
Claims
1.A user equipment (UE) , comprising:at least one memory; andat least one processor coupled to the at least one memory and configured to cause the UE to:receive, from a source network node associated with a source cell of the UE, conditional handover (CHO) configuration information associated with one or more candidate cells;receive a set of CHO execution conditions for the one or more candidate cells, wherein the set of CHO execution conditions is related to a network energy saving (NES) mode of the source cell; anddetermine whether to perform a CHO from the source cell to a candidate cell based on the set of CHO execution conditions.2.The UE of Claim 1, wherein the set of CHO execution conditions comprises a measurement based event including one of:channel quality of a candidate cell within the one or more candidate cells becomes offset better than channel quality of the source cell;the channel quality of the candidate cell becomes better than a threshold; orthe channel quality of the source cell becomes worse than one threshold and the channel quality of the candidate cell becomes better than another threshold.3.The UE of Claim 1, wherein the set of CHO execution conditions comprises a NES mode based event, wherein the NES mode based event is fulfilled if the source cell enters into the NES mode.4.The UE of Claim 3, wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the UE to perform a CHO if both the NES mode based event and a measurement based event are fulfilled.5.The UE of Claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the UE to receive, from the source network node, a first indication indicating that the CHO is allowed to be triggered if the source cell is the NES mode and a measurement based event is fulfilled.6.The UE of Claim 3 or Claim 5, wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the UE to release the first indication or the NES mode based event if the CHO configuration information is released.7.The UE of Claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the UE to:receive configuration information associated with a modification period related to a system information transmission;receive a second indication to indicate that the source cell will enter into the NES mode via system information;consider that the source cell is about to enter into the NES mode upon reception of the second indication; andconsider that the source cell enters into the NES mode at a boundary of the modification period after receiving the second indication.8.The UE of Claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the UE to:receive a parameter related to the NES mode from the source cell;store the parameter related to the NES mode; andreceive a third indication to activate the parameter related to the NES mode, wherein the source cell enters into the NES mode upon reception of the third indication.9.The UE of Claim 1 or Claim 2, wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the UE to:consider that a CHO execution condition within the set of CHO execution conditions is fulfilled, if the measurement based event is fulfilled and the source cell has entered into the NES mode or if the measurement based event is fulfilled and the source cell is about to enter into the NES mode.10.The UE of Claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the UE to:receive a second set of CHO execution conditions for the one or more candidate cells, wherein the second set of CHO execution conditions comprises a measurement based event.11.The UE of Claim 1 or Claim 10, wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the UE to:if a radio link failure (RLF) occurs on the source cell or if a failure occurs during the CHO, initiate a re-establishment procedure to a selected cell of a target network node.12.The UE of Claim 11, wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the UE to transmit a failure report to the selected cell of the target network node.13.The UE of Claim 12, if the RLF occurs on the source cell, the failure report includes one of the following:whether the source cell is in the NES mode;a first cell identity (ID) list of a first set of candidate cells within the one or more candidate cells at occurrence time of the RLF;a second cell ID list of a second set of candidate cells within the one or more candidate cells, wherein the UE has measured channel quality of each of the second set of candidate cells at the occurrence time of the RLF; oreach indication for each cell ID to indicate whether a candidate cell included in the first set of candidate cells or the second set of candidate cells is configured with a CHO execution condition associated with a NES mode based event.14.The UE of Claim 12, wherein if the failure occurs during the CHO, the failure report includes one of the following:whether the source cell is in the NES mode;time elapsed between reception of information indicating that the source cell is about to enter into the NES mode and fulfillment of a measurement based event within the set of CHO execution conditions;time elapsed between reception of information indicating that the source cell has entered into the NES mode and the fulfillment of the measurement based event;time elapsed between the source cell entering into the NES mode and the fulfillment of the measurement based event;time elapsed between reception of an activation indication related to the NES mode and the fulfillment of the measurement based event;time elapsed between fulfillment of a firstly fulfilled NES mode based event within the set of CHO execution conditions and fulfillment of a firstly fulfilled measurement based event within the set of CHO execution conditions;which one of a NES mode based event and the measurement based event is firstly fulfilled; orthe CHO is triggered by the set of CHO execution conditions related to the NES mode or the second set of CHO execution conditions.15.The UE of Claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the UE to:if a radio link failure (RLF) occurs on the source cell or if a failure occurs during a first CHO from the source cell to a first candidate cell, select a second candidate cell;if the second candidate cell belongs to the one or more candidate cells, perform a second CHO to the second candidate cell; andif a failure occurs during the second CHO, transmit a failure report after the UE is configured to transit to a radio resource control (RRC) connected state.16.The UE of Claim 15, wherein the failure report includes one of the following:cell identity (ID) of the second candidate cell; orwhether the second candidate cell is configured with a CHO execution condition associated with a NES mode based event.17.The UE of Claim 1, wherein if the CHO from the source cell to the candidate cell succeed, the at least one processor is configured to cause the UE to transmit successful handover information to the candidate cell, and wherein the successful handover information includes one of the following:whether the source cell is in the NES mode;whether a CHO execution condition configured for the candidate cell triggering the CHO is associated with a NES mode based event; orthe CHO is triggered by which one of a CHO execution condition associated with the NES mode based event and a CHO execution condition comprising a measurement based event.18.A target network node, comprising:at least one memory; andat least one processor coupled to the at least one memory and configured to cause the target network node to:receive a report associated with a network energy saving (NES) mode from a user equipment (UE) ; andtransmit the report to a source network node associated with a source cell of the UE.19.The target network node of Claim 18, wherein the report is related to occurrence of a radio link failure (RLF) and includes one of the following:whether the source cell is in the NES mode;a first cell identity (ID) list of a first set of candidate cells configured for the UE at occurrence time of the RLF;a second cell ID list of a second set of candidate cells configured for the UE, wherein the UE has measured channel quality of each of the second set of candidate cells at the occurrence time of the RLF; oreach indication for each cell ID to indicate whether a candidate cell included in the first set of candidate cells or the second set of candidate cells is configured with a CHO execution condition associated with a NES mode based event.20.A source network node, comprising:at least one memory; andat least one processor coupled to the at least one memory and configured to cause the source network node to:transmit conditional handover (CHO) configuration information associated with one or more candidate cells to a user equipment (UE) ; andtransmit a set of CHO execution conditions for one or more candidate cells to the UE, wherein the set of CHO execution conditions is related to a network energy saving (NES) mode.