Non-standalone cellular user equipment

Abstract

An apparatus configured to generate data for transmission to a base station via a direct cellular radio link in a cellular network and process data received from the base station via the direct cellular radio link, wherein the apparatus is configured to support a limited set of cellular functionalities, the limited set being less than a complete set of cellular functionalities for the cellular network, and wherein the apparatus or user of the apparatus does not have an active cellular subscription to enable cellular services with the cellular network.

Description

Non-Standalone Cellular User EquipmentInventors: Amr Abdelrahman Yousef A. Mostafa, Ahmed Mohamed Ibrahim Hassan, ChristianHofmann, Panagiotis Botsinis, Said Medjkouh, Sameh M Eldessoki and Tarik TabetPriority / Incorporation By Reference

[0001] This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application Serial No. 63 / 586,803 filed on September 29, 2023, and entitled “Non-Standalone Cellular User Equipment,” the entirety of which is incorporated by reference herein.Background

[0002] Wireless communication systems are rapidly growing in usage. In recent years, wireless devices such as smart phones and tablet computers have become increasingly sophisticated. In addition to supporting telephone calls, many mobile devices (i.e., user equipment devices or UEs) now provide access to the internet, email, text messaging, and navigation using the global positioning system (GPS) and are capable of operating sophisticated applications that utilize these functionalities. A current telecommunications standard moving beyond previous standards is called 5th generation mobile networks or 5th generation wireless systems, referred to as 3GPP NR (otherwise known as 5G-NR or NR-5G for 5G New Radio, also simply referred to as NR). NR proposes a higher capacity for a higher density of mobile broadband users, also supporting device-to-device, ultra-reliable, and massive machine communications, as well as lower latency and lower battery consumption, than LTE standards.

[0003] In certain situations, such as where there are multiple devices being used in a wide or large area (e.g., large farm, a remote education facility, factory, or a remote area), different devices requiring internet access could be scattered in different places that are relatively far from each other, such as up to several kilometers. Internet access could be required continuously or just temporarily (e.g., like in a farm example), while a user is performing a certain task within this area using multiple devices. Sometimes, Internet access is not available and / or is unreliable in these instances. It would be beneficial to provide access to external networks for devices in these situations via a cellular network.Summary

[0004] Some example embodiments are related to an apparatus having processing circuitry configured to generate data for transmission to a base station via a direct cellular radio link in a cellular network and process data received from the base station via the direct cellular radio link, wherein the apparatus is configured to support a limited set of cellular functionalities, the limited set being less than a complete set of cellular functionalities for the cellular network, and wherein the apparatus or user of the apparatus does not have an active cellular subscription to enable cellular services with the cellular network.

[0005] Other example embodiments are related to an apparatus having processing circuitry configured to support a complete set of cellular functionalities for a cellular network, establish a secure communication link with a non-standalone user equipment (UE), wherein the non-standalone UE is configured to support a limited set of cellular functionalities, the limited set being less than a complete set of cellular functionalities for the cellular network, establish a connection with a base station in the cellular network when a connection is not already established, and request a direct cellular radio link for the non-standalone UE, process, based on signaling from the cellular network over the connection, cellular configurations used for a data transfer between the non-standalone UE and the cellular network, generate, for transmission to the non-standalone UE, a message comprising the cellular configurations to be used by the non-standalone UE to exchange data with the cellular network via the direct cellular radio link.

[0006] Still further example embodiments are related to an apparatus having processing circuitry configured to support a complete set of cellular functionalities for a cellular network, establish a secure communication link with a user equipment (UE), wherein the UE is configured to support a limited set of cellular functionalities, the limited set being less than a complete set of cellular functionalities for the cellular network, establish a connection between with a base station in the cellular network when a connection is not already established, and request a direct cellular radio link for the UE, process, based on signaling from the cellular network over the connection, cellular configurations used for a data transfer between the UE and the cellular network and generate, for transmission to the UE, a message comprising thecellular configurations to be used by the UE to exchange data with the cellular network via the direct cellular radio link.Brief Description of the Drawings

[0007] To easily identify the discussion of any particular element or act, the most significant digit or digits in a reference number refer to the figure number in which that element is first introduced.

[0008] FIG. 1 shows an example network arrangement according to various example embodiments.

[0009] FIG. 2 shows an example user equipment (UE) according to various example embodiments.

[0010] FIG. 3 shows an example base station according to various example embodiments.

[0011] FIG. 4 shows an example UE cluster with at least one standalone UE (SA-UE) and one or more non-standalone UEs (NSA-UEs) for providing access to an external network through a cellular network according to various example embodiments.

[0012] FIG. 5 shows an example flow diagram for communication over a cellular network between a NSA-UE and an external network via an associated SA-UE according to various example embodiments.

[0013] FIG. 6A shows an example cellular network with one or more base stations configured to communicate via an example interface with a SA-UE and a NSA-UE according to various example embodiments.

[0014] FIG. 6B shows an example flow diagram for communication between the SA- UE and the NSA-UE in FIG. 6A via one or more base stations of an example cellular network according to various example embodiments.

[0015] FIG. 6C shows an example cellular signaling air-message for use in the flow diagram of FIG. 6B.

[0016] FIG. 7 shows an example security architecture for a SA-UE, a NSA-UE, and a cellular network according to various example embodiments.

[0017] FIG. 8 illustrates an example user plane data architecture for NSA-UE Cellular Bearer Management according to various example embodiments.

[0018] FIG. 9 shows an example configurations architecture for NSA-UE Cellular Bearer Management via an example serving SA-UE according to various example embodiments.

[0019] FIG. 10 shows an example method of establishing and managing a NSA-UE Cellular Data Exchange session according to various example embodiments.

[0020] FIG. 11 illustrates an example method for a NSA-UE to activate a cellular data exchange session according to various example embodiments.

[0021] FIG. 12 illustrates an example method where an example NSA-UE receives data from a cellular network according to various example embodiments.

[0022] FIG. 13 shows an example use of NSA-UEs as an access point to provide advanced cellular features according to various example embodiments.

[0023] FIG. 14 shows an example use of an example SA-UE and example NSA-UEs in a gaming environment according to various example embodiments.

[0024] FIG. 15 illustrates another example use of a SA-UE and multiple NSA-UEs in a wide area activity using multiple devices according to various example embodiments.

[0025] The example embodiments may be further understood with reference to the following description and the related appended drawings, wherein like elements are provided with the same reference numerals. The example embodiments relate to providing access to an external network through a cellular network according to various example embodiments. The access to the external network through the cellular network may be provided through the use of at least one standalone UE and one or more non-standalone UEs, as discussed in more detail below.

[0026] The example embodiments are described with regard to a user equipment (UE). However, reference to a UE is merely provided for illustrative purposes. The example embodiments may be utilized with any electronic component that may establish a connection to a network and is configured with the hardware, software, and / or firmware to exchange information and data with the network. Therefore, the UE as described herein is used to represent any appropriate type of electronic component.

[0027] The example embodiments are also described with regard to a fifth generation (5G) New Radio (NR) network and a next generation node B (gNB). However, reference to a 5G NR network and a gNB is merely provided for illustrative purposes. The example embodiments may be utilized with any appropriate type of network (e.g., 5G-advanced, 6g, etc.) and base station.

[0028] The example embodiments describe providing access to an external network (e.g., the Internet) via cellular networks by associating at least one standalone UE having full, complete cellular functionalities with one or more non-standalone UEs having only limited, required, or mandatory cellular capabilities. The single standalone UE may be associated with one or more non-standalone UEs in a UE cluster that is seen as a single UE entity to the cellular network.

[0029] Before discussion of the UE clusters comprising a standalone UE and one or more non-standalone UEs, an example network arrangement using one or more typical UEs will be described. Fig. 1 shows an example network arrangement 100 according to various exampleembodiments. The example network arrangement 100 includes a UE 110. Those skilled in the art will understand that the UE 110 may be any type of electronic component that is configured to communicate via a network, e.g., mobile phones, tablet computers, desktop computers, smartphones, phablets, embedded devices, wearables, Internet of Things (loT) devices, etc. It should also be understood that an actual network arrangement may include any number of UEs being used by any number of users. Thus, the example of a single UE 110 is merely provided for illustrative purposes.

[0030] The UE 110 may be configured to communicate with one or more networks. In the example of the network configuration 100, the network with which the UE 110 may wirelessly communicate is a 5G NR radio access network (RAN) 120. However, the UE 110 may also communicate with other types of networks (e.g., sixth generation (6G) RAN, 5G cloud RAN, a next generation RAN (NG-RAN), a long-term evolution (LTE) RAN, a legacy cellular network, a wireless local area network (WLAN), etc.) and the UE 110 may also communicate with networks over a wired connection. With regard to the example embodiments, the UE 110 may establish a connection with the 5G NR RAN 120. Therefore, the UE 110 may have at least a 5G NR chipset to communicate with the 5G NR RAN 120.

[0031] The 5G NR RAN 120 may be a portion of a cellular network that may be deployed by a network carrier (e.g., Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, etc.). The 5G NR RAN 120 may include base stations or access nodes (Node Bs, eNodeBs, HeNBs, eNBS, gNBs, gNodeBs, macrocells, microcells, small cells, femtocells, etc.) that are configured to send and receive traffic from UEs that are equipped with the appropriate cellular chip set.

[0032] In the network arrangement 100, the 5G NR RAN 120 deploys a gNB 120A. The gNB 120A may be configured with multiple transmission and reception points (TRPs). Throughout this description, a TRP generally refers to a set of components configured to transmit and / or receive a beam. TRPs. In some embodiments, multiple TRPs may be deployed locally at the gNB 120A. In other embodiments, multiple TRPs may be distributed at different locations and connected to the gNB 120A via a backhaul connection. For example, multiple small cells may be deployed at different locations and connected to the gNB 120A. However, these examples are merely provided for illustrative purposes. Those skilled in the art willunderstand that TRPs are configured to be adaptable to a wide variety of different conditions and deployment scenarios. Thus, any reference to a TRP being a particular network component or multiple TRPs being deployed in a particular arrangement is merely provided for illustrative purposes. The TRPs described herein may represent any type of network component configured to transmit and / or receive a beam.

[0033] Those skilled in the art will understand that any association procedure may be performed for the UE 110 to connect to the 5G NR RAN 120. For example, as discussed above, the 5G NR RAN 120 may be associated with a particular cellular provider where the UE 110 and / or the user thereof has a contract and credential information (e.g., stored on a subscriber identity module (SIM) card). Upon detecting the presence of the 5G NR RAN 120, the UE 110 may transmit the corresponding credential information to associate with the 5G NR RAN 120. More specifically, the UE 110 may associate with a specific base station, e.g., the gNB 120A.

[0034] The network arrangement 100 also includes a cellular core network 130, the Internet 140, an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) 150, and a network services backbone 160. The cellular core network 130 may refer to an interconnected set of components that manages the operation and traffic of the cellular network. It may include the evolved packet core (EPC) and / or the 5G core (5GC). The cellular core network 130 also manages the traffic that flows between the cellular network and the Internet 140. The IMS 150 may be generally described as an architecture for delivering multimedia services to the UE 110 using the IP protocol. The IMS 150 may communicate with the cellular core network 130 and the Internet 140 to provide the multimedia services to the UE 110. The network services backbone 160 is in communication either directly or indirectly with the Internet 140 and the cellular core network 130. The network services backbone 160 may be generally described as a set of components (e.g., servers, network storage arrangements, etc.) that implement a suite of services that may be used to extend the functionalities of the UE 110 in communication with the various networks.

[0035] Fig. 2 shows an example UE 110 according to various example embodiments. The UE 110 will be described with regard to the network arrangement 100 ofFig. 1. The UE 110 may include a processor 205, a memory arrangement 210, a display device 215, an input / output (I / O) device 220, a transceiver 225 and other components 230. The other components 230 may include, for example, an audio input device, an audio output device, a power supply, a data acquisition device, ports to electrically connect the UE 1 10 to other electronic devices, etc.

[0036] The processor 205 may be configured to execute a plurality of engines of the UE 110. For example, the engines may include a UE capability engine 235. The UE capability engine 235 may perform various operations related to the capabilities of the UE 110. To provide some general examples, the UE capability engine 235 may perform operations such as, but not limited to, determining the operating capabilities of the UE 110, determining when the capabilities of the UE 110 should change, informing the network of the capabilities of the UE 110, and the like. In addition, the UE capability engine 235 may perform operations such as initiating, setting up, and conducting voice calls and / or video sessions.

[0037] The plurality of engines of the UE 110 may also include an LI measurement reporting engine 245. The LI measurement reporting engine 245 may perform operations including performing measurements, such as LI measurements, and preparing measurement reports to be sent to a base station for performing beam management in reliance thereon.

[0038] The plurality of engines of the UE 110 may also include an enhanced 5G NR mobility engine 255. The enhanced 5G NR mobility engine 255 may perform various operations related to implementing the example mobility framework described herein. These operations may include, but are not limited to, receiving configuration information, performing measurements, transmitting measurement reports, receiving DCI, receiving a MAC CE, etc.

[0039] The above referenced engines 235, 245, and 255 each being an application (e.g., a program) executed by the processor 205 are merely provided for illustrative purposes. The functionality associated with each of the engines 235, 245, and 255 may also be represented as a separate incorporated component of the UE 110 or may be a modular component coupled to the UE 110, e.g., an integrated circuit with or without firmware. For example, the integrated circuit may include input circuitry to receive signals and processing circuitry to process thesignals and other information. The engine may also be embodied as one application or separate applications. In addition, in some UEs, the functionality described for the processor 205 is split among two or more processors such as a baseband processor and an applications processor. In particular, in some examples, it is the capabilities of the UE 110 typically handled by the baseband processor that may be reduced when the UE 110 is operating in the low battery mode. The example embodiments may be implemented in any of these or other configurations of a UE.

[0040] The memory arrangement 210 may be a hardware component configured to store data related to operations performed by the UE 110. The display device 215 may be a hardware component configured to show data to a user while the I / O device 220 may be a hardware component that enables the user to enter inputs. The display device 215 and the I / O device 220 may be separate components or integrated together such as a touchscreen. The transceiver 225 may be a hardware component configured to establish a connection with the 5G NR -RAN 120, an LTE-RAN (not pictured), a legacy RAN (not pictured), a WLAN (not pictured), etc. Accordingly, the transceiver 225 may operate on a variety of different frequencies or channels (e.g., set of consecutive frequencies).

[0041] The transceiver 225 includes circuitry configured to transmit and / or receive signals (e.g., control signals, data signals). Such signals may be encoded with information implementing any one of the methods described herein. The processor 205 may be operably coupled to the transceiver 225 and configured to receive from and / or transmit signals to the transceiver 225. The processor 205 may be configured to encode, decode and / or process signals (e.g., signaling from a base station of a network) for implementing any one of the methods described herein.

[0042] Fig. 3 shows an example base station 300 according to various example embodiments. The base station 300 may represent the gNB 120A or any other type of access node through which the UE 110 may establish a connection and manage network operations.

[0043] The base station 300 may include a processor 305, a memory arrangement 310, an input / output (I / O) device 315, a transceiver 320, other components 325 and one or moretransmission and reception points (TRPs) 330. The other components 325 may include, for example, an audio input device, an audio output device, a battery, a data acquisition device, ports to electrically connect the base station 300 to other electronic devices and / or power sources, TxRUs, transceiver chains, antenna elements, antenna panels, etc.

[0044] The processor 305 may be configured to execute a plurality of engines for the base station 300. For example, the engines may include a UE capability engine 335. The UE capability engine 335 may perform various operations for the base station 300 related to the capabilities of the UE 110. To provide some general examples, the UE capability engine 335 may perform operations such as, but not limited to, transmitting a signal to inquire as to the capabilities of the UE 110, trigger the UE 110 to dynamically switch to a different set of capabilities, transmitting configuration information to the UE 110 to perform operations based on the current capabilities of the UE 110, and the like. In addition, the UE capability engine 335 may perform operations such as initiating, setting up, and conducting voice calls and / or video sessions.

[0045] The plurality of engines for the base station 300 may also include an LI measurement processing engine 345. The LI measurement reporting engine 345 may perform operations including receiving and processing measurement reports from a UE and performing beam management in reliance thereon.

[0046] The plurality of engines may include an enhanced 5G NR mobility engine 355. The enhanced 5G NR mobility engine 355 may perform various operations related to the example mobility framework described herein. These operations may include, but are not limited to, transmitting a handover preparation request to another gNB, receiving capability information, transmitting configuration information, receiving measurement data, assigning resources, transmitting reference signals, transmitting DCI, transmitting a MAC CE, etc.

[0047] The above noted engines 335, 345, and 355 each being an application (e.g., a program) executed by the processor 305 is only example. The functionality associated with the engines 335, 345, and 355 may also be represented as a separate incorporated component of the base station 300 or may be a modular component coupled to the base station 300, e.g., anintegrated circuit with or without firmware. For example, the integrated circuit may include input circuitry to receive signals and processing circuitry to process the signals and other information. In addition, in some base stations, the functionality described for the processor 305 is split among a plurality of processors (e.g., a baseband processor, an applications processor, etc.). In particular, in some examples, it is the operations for communicating with the UE 110 that are typically handled by the baseband processor that may be reduced when the UE 110 is operating in the low battery mode. The example embodiments may be implemented in any of these or other configurations of a base station.

[0048] The memory 310 may be a hardware component configured to store data related to operations performed by the base station 300. The I / O device 315 may be a hardware component or ports that enable a user to interact with the base station 300. The transceiver 320 may be a hardware component configured to exchange data with the UE 110 and any other UEs in the network arrangement 100. The transceiver 320 may operate on a variety of different frequencies or channels (e.g., set of consecutive frequencies). Therefore, the transceiver 320 may include one or more components to enable the data exchange with the various networks and UEs.

[0049] The transceiver 320 includes circuitry configured to transmit and / or receive signals (e.g., control signals, data signals). Such signals may be encoded with information implementing any one of the methods described herein. The processor 305 may be operably coupled to the transceiver 320 and configured to receive from and / or transmit signals to the transceiver 320. The processor 305 may be configured to encode, decode and / or process signals (e.g., signaling from a UE) for implementing any one of the methods described herein.

[0050] In certain situations, such as where there are multiple devices (UEs) being used in a wide or large area (e.g., large farm, a remote education facility, factory, or a remote area), different devices requiring internet access could be scattered in different places that are relatively far from each other, such as up to several kilometers. Internet access could be required continuously or just temporarily (e.g., like in a farm example), while a user is performing a certain task within this area using multiple devices. Sometimes, Internet access is not available and / or is unreliable in these instances. In addition, some of the devices may nothave cellular capabilities. It would be beneficial to provide access to external networks for devices in these situations via a cellular network.

[0051] Various mechanisms have been proposed, but these often have disadvantages that decrease their desirability. For example, one option is to add a WiFi (or Bluetooth) access point in every cluster, where the WiFi access point is connected to the Internet via a cellular connection. However, this approach has several disadvantages. First, there would be a high establishment cost, because many WiFi access points would need to be introduced, with each having a cellular SIM card to be able to get Internet access via a cellular network. This would especially be true where access is only required temporarily, making this approach very cost inefficient for user. Second, there could be a latency issue, since data needs to be processed first by the WiFi access point and then transmitted over the cellular network. This would be a particular problem for latency-critical devices and / or applications. A third disadvantage is low flexibility and reliability for mobile devices, since if any device changes its location and moves outside the corresponding cluster coverage range, then a new cluster may need to be established.

[0052] Another approach is to have a cellular modem (i.e., UE) inside each device. This approach may have one or more of the following disadvantages. First, a large chip size may be required, as each device would need to have a standalone UE that supports full cellular modem functionality in order to exchange data with the cellular network. Although data exchange with the cellular network may only need a limited set of the cellular functionalities, there are still many of the control -plane and data-plane mandatory features that need to be supported by the device in order to be a standalone operating cellular device. This will result in the device having a large chip size, which may negatively impact device size, power consumption, and device cost. Second, there may be an issue with establishment cost, as each device would require a SIM card, which may have maintainability overhead on the user / owner of these devices and may result in extra cost per device. Third, there may be a high cellular network overhead, from the cellular network prospective, because the cellular network (especially the core network) needs to handle each device separately, including cellular activities like regi strati on / de-regi strati on, tracking area update, paging, connection establishment, maintaining UE context for each device, and the like. Considering the increasing number ofcellular devices connected to the network and how they are exponentially increasing with time, this may lead to a bottleneck in the cellular network resources, especially in non -urban areas, where acellular network base station may be covering a wide area and serving many UEs.

[0053] There may be other 6G emerging use cases for which the drawbacks of the above-mentioned options could be an issue. For example, smart glasses and XR devices have strict requirements, such as low latency. In addition, the size, cost, and power consumption of smart glasses and XR devices may be a drawback in the above cellular based approach since a full cellular UE modem would be required. Further, user maintainability overhead for these devices may be a drawback in the above cellular Based approach, as typically today users have to pay extra charges for every device (e.g., watch) added to their cellular subscription. For example, if a user has multiple wearable devices and a set of XR gaming devices (i.e., gloves, AR glasses, shoes), then maintaining a SIM card for each and every device could be a considerable overhead. In another scenario (hotspot use case), the user needs to intervene in order to enable the hotspot and to provide Internet access for the other devices.

[0054] In summary, the previous approaches for providing external network (e.g., Internet) access for devices have drawbacks. In the approach using short range wireless protocols (e.g., WiFi and Bluetooth), there is a small coverage range, potential mobility issues, limited Quality of Service (QoS) guarantee, comparably high latency, due to the need for an anchor device (e.g., Access Point), high establishment cost, and many anchor devices need to be introduced where each has a cellular SIM card to be able to get Internet access via the cellular network. In the cellular approach, there would be a comparably high cost due to the mandatory features of cellular protocols, which the devices may not need in all use cases but have to be supported. This negatively impacts the device size, cost, and power consumption. In addition, the cellular approach requires a Subscriber Identification Module inserted / loaded (e.g., SIM card, eSIM, or the like to represent the UE in the cellular network.

[0055] The disclosed embodiments herein avoid the disadvantages of the above approaches by providing access to external networks (e.g., Internet) via a cellular network using non-standalone cellular UEs. In particular, the disclosed embodiments herein allow a user having a group of devices equipped with cellular UEs, referred to as a UE cluster, toenable all UEs within the UE cluster to perform data transfer with an external network (e.g., Internet) simultaneously via direct radio link between each UE within the cluster and the cellular network (i.e., without any anchor in-between).

[0056] FIG. 4 shows an example arrangement 400 having an example UE cluster 405 having at least one standalone UE 410 and one to a number of non-standalone UEs 415. An example UE Cluster 405 may comprise the following: a single UE 410, referred to as a standalone UE (”SA-UE”), which is a normal UE such as a mobile telephone, an access point, or any other appropriate device) that supports all cellular functionalities (at least mandatory ones) and has an active cellular subscription (e.g., via SIM card, eSIM, or whatever similar that is required to enable cellular services on a cellular device; and one or more new types of UEs, referred to as non-standalone UEs 415 (“NSA-UE”). In one embodiment, the SA-UE 410 may be a UE like UE 110 in FIGS. 1 and 2. Direct radio links 420 exist between each of the SA-UE 410 and the NSA-UEs 415 to base stations 430 in a cellular network 435 to gain access to an external network 440 (e g., the Internet).

[0057] The NSA-UE 415 must be capable of performing data transfer with an external network via a direct radio link with the cellular network and thus should be associated with an SA-UE, referred to as a serving SA-UE. The NSA-UE 415 need not have a SIM card, eSIM, or the equivalent for enabling cellular services on a cellular device card. In some embodiments, the NSA-UE only exchanges real time data with a base station in the cellular network. An example serving SA-UE (such as 410) needs to have an active connection or active connection configurations (e g., 5G AS-Context) with the cellular network, or else the NSA-UE is not directly reachable (e.g., via paging) by the cellular network since NSA-SA cellular configuration is part of the serving SA-UE connection configurations. A NSA-UE could be served by the same cellular node (e.g., RAN-BS) serving the SA-UE or a different cellular node. The example NSA-UE does not require a cellular subscription, cellular plan, or whatever similar that is required to enable cellular services on the device. Instead, NSA-UE cellular services are associated with the serving SA-UE cellular subscription. The example NSA-UE need only support limited cellular functionalities required for transferring and / or receiving higher layers data payload over a cellular radio link to a cellular network entry node (e.g., 5G RAN-BS). Accordingly, the example NSA-UE does not need to support any of the cellularfunctionalities related to the cellular core network. For example, all 5G NAS layer services / functionalities are not required, such as regi strati on / de-regi strati on, Tracking Area Update, session and mobility management, and so on.

[0058] An example NSA-SA only needs to support the mandatory cellular control-plane functionalities related to radio access network access (e.g., 5G RAN), which are required for handling cellular configurations for cellular user-plane and physical layers. All other RAN control-plane functionalities need not be required, although they may be present. For example, up to 70% of 5G RRC layer functionalities are not mandated to be supported by NSA-UEs, such as RRC Idle and Inactive modes, paging, SIBs acquisition, RRC connection establishment, security management, measurements, mobility, connection re-establishment, connection release, and the like. The example NSA-UE may be configured to support the mandatory cellular user-plane and physical layers functionalities required for transferring and / or receiving higher layers data payload over a cellular radio link to a cellular network entry node (e.g., 5G gNB). In summary, a cellular network may consider the “SA-UE's UE Cluster” as a single logical UE where during connection this UE requires having data exchange with external network via direct cellular radio access from multiple physical devices, that is a SA-UE and one or more NSA-UEs.

[0059] Once a UE cluster is formed, communication on the cellular network is possible with the NSA-UE via the UE cluster. Referring to FIG. 5, an example flow diagram 500 for such communication is shown. A secure communication link may be established between a NSA-UE and a serving SA-UE (505). For example, this link may be via Bluetooth, WiFi, D2D cellular communication protocol, or other suitable mechanisms. At 510, when the NSA-UE requires user-plane data transfer with an external network (e.g., Internet) via a direct cellular radio link, the NSA-UE requests (520) the serving SA-UE to establish a Cellular Data Exchange Session via which data transfer can be performed via direct radio link with the cellular network (i.e., see step 580 below). When the serving SA-UE receives the NSA-UE request, the serving SA-UE establishes a connection with the cellular network if not already established (530) and requests a direct cellular radio link for the NSA-UE (540). The cellular network prepares any NSA-UE cellular configurations required for data transfer and provides the same back to the serving SA-UE (550). The serving SA-UE processes the NSA-UEconfigurations and sends the configurations back to the NSA-UE to enable cellular network access (560). At this point, in some embodiments, the serving SA-UE may enter power saving mode.

[0060] At 570, the NSA-UE applies the cellular configurations and may then initiate data transfer with the cellular network (580). No further pending data is required to be transferred to the serving SA-UE or any NAS-UE within the UE cluster (585). When the data transfer with all UEs within the UE cluster of the serving SA-UE is completed, the cellular network may release the connection with the serving SA-UE (590) and accordingly the direct data transfer session for the NSA-UE would also be terminated (595). It is noted that each action discussed with respect to FIG. 5 could be realized by one or more signals or messages.

[0061] Now, additional details will be discussed with respect to the architecture of a UE cluster according to the disclosed embodiments. As discussed above, the UE cluster may include at least one standalone UE and one or more NSA-UEs. An example SA-UE may be a cellular UE that is capable of supporting all cellular user -plane and control-plane functionalities (i.e., at least mandatory ones) and has an active cellular subscription (e.g., via a SIM card or the equivalent).

[0062] In addition to normal UE cellular functionalities, an example SA-UE may be associated with one or more NSA-UEs and would need to support the following new functionalities. The SA-UE may be configured to support establishment, maintenance (i.e., activation and deactivation), and release of a NSA-UE Cellular Data Exchange Session with one or more NSA-UEs. In one embodiment, this may be achieved over a SA-UE<->NSA-UE interface (IF) that could be realized via an appropriate secure communication protocol. Acceptable protocols may include Bluetooth, WiFi, or D2D cellular communication protocol, but are not limited to these. The SA-UE<->NSA-UE IF is configured to exchange information (e.g., NSA-UE data session management and configurations). In addition, there may be one or more interfaces between the cellular network and each of the SA-UE and the one or more NSA- UEs (referred to as UE<->CellularNW IF), which may be a radio interface between the cellular network (e.g., RAN) and the UEs that is configured for payload data transfer, signaling airmessages, and / or user-plane data.

[0063] The SA-UE may also be configured to support the addition, modification and release of one or more NSA-UEs with the cellular network. For example, this functionality may include activities like the serving SA-UE requesting, from the cellular core network, the addition / modification / release of one or more NSA-UE(s) to the SA-UE’s cluster of NSA-UEs. In the case that the SA-UE may maintain more than one cluster of NSA-UEs, an identification (ID) may be associated with every created UE cluster. The cellular network may also initiate a NSA-UE release, such as when no further data transfer is expected to that device.

[0064] In addition, the SA-UE is also responsible for the reception and processing of any NSA-UE's cellular configurations or reconfigurations and transferring them to the NSA- UEs. This may also include NSA-UE security context establishment, as discussed in more detail later.

[0065] The UE cluster architecture may also include one or more NSA-UEs, which may be cellular UEs that support a reduced number of functionalities as compared to the SA-UE. For example, the NSA-UE may only need to support Cellular Data Exchange Session-related new services, such as the establishment, maintenance (i.e., activation and deactivation) and release of a Cellular Data Exchange Session with the serving SA-UE. In other embodiments, the NSA-UE may also need to support limited mandatory cellular functionalities, such as cellular configurations handling, including application of cellular configurations or reconfigurations for user-plane and physical layer required for cellular radio access network (e g., 5G RAN).

[0066] The NSA-UE may also need to support cellular link failure detection (the detection of a cellular link failure with the cellular network, which could be as simple as data stall detection (e.g., 5G RLC Re-transmissions reach max). When the NSA-UE detects a cellular link failure, the NSA-UE may re-trigger the serving SA-UE for the Cellular Data Exchange Session activation. When the cellular network detects a cellular link failure with a NSA-UE, the cellular network may assume that cellular link NSA-UE is lost and accordingly either map back any NSA-UE data traffic to the serving SA-UE, or inform the serving SA-UEthat the NSA-UE is not reachable and accordingly the serving SA-UE may trigger NSA-UE Cellular Data Exchange Session re-establishment.

[0067] In some embodiments, the NSA-UE may also support Cellular data transfer functionalities, such as the cellular data-plane and physical layer functionalities required to transmit / receive a higher layer data payload to / from a cellular network entry node (e.g., RAN- BS).

[0068] There may be additional optional NSA-UE cellular functionalities. It is specifically noted that these functionalities are not essential for the NSA-UE of the disclosed embodiments to achieve the advantages of the disclosed embodiments. The optional functionalities of the NSA-UE may include the following functionalities that could be desirable in case of advanced categories of NSA-UE (e.g., a non-stationary NSA-UE that might be a great distance from the serving SA-UE):• Cellular cell search, detection and results reporting to the SA-UE may be required for preparing an initial NSA-UE cellular configuration necessary for cellular network access.• Performing cellular measurements and results reporting to the cellular network (e.g., similar to 5G L3 RRC measurements reporting)• Cellular reconfigurations updates received directly via the cellular network.• Advanced radio link failure detection services (e.g., similar to 5G Radio Link Monitoring)• When a NSA-UE detects a cellular link failure, the NSA-UE may re-establish the Cellular Data Exchange Session directly with the cellular NW.Could include activities like searching for a suitable cellular network cell and submitting Cellular Data Exchange Session reestablishment request indicating information like SA-UE Identifier (e.g., 5G gNB ID + SA-UE CRNTI), Cluster ID and NSA-UE ID.

[0069] Further additional optional NSA-UE cellular functionalities may include functionalities that could be required in case the NSA-UE user-plane traffic could be served by different cellular bearers (e.g., 5G different DRBs, QoS Flows, PDU Sessions), such as user-plane data traffic classification and mapping to different cellular network bearers (e.g., 5G QoS Flows). Basic NSA-UEs may not need to perform any traffic classification, since all data traffic (e.g., internet traffic) would be mapped to a single cellular network bearer.

[0070] In the UE cluster, the NSA-UE and the serving SA-UE may communicate via the cellular network. FIGS. 6A-C show how this communication works. FIG. 6A shows an example cellular network 635 with one or more base stations 630-1 and 630-2 (e.g., RAN-BS1 and RAN-BS2) configured to communicate via an interface 650 (referred to as SA-UE<->NSA- UE IF) with a SA-UE 610 and one or more NSA-UEs 615. The SA-UE<->NSA-UE IF 650 is an interface between the SA-UE 610 and the NSA-UE 615 that is configured to exchange information therebetween (e.g., NSA-UE data session management and configurations).

[0071] FIG. 6B shows an example flow diagram for communication between the serving SA-UE 610 and the NSA-UE 615 via the base stations 630-1 and 630-2 (RAN-NS1 and RAN- BS2) of the cellular network 635. While the NAS-UE Cellular Data Exchange Session is active (i.e. a direct cellular link exists between the NSA-UE and the cellular network is established and active) (660), the NSA-UE may exchange one or more payloads with the serving SA-UE (e.g., Cellular Data Exchange Session management messages) via / over the cellular network by sending a message to the RAN-BS1 associated with the serving SA-UE(665). This payload may be referred to as a UE Cluster Payload. The UE Cluster Payload may be needed if the NAS-UE and serving SA-UE become separated by a distance from each other that is beyond the communication link (e.g., Wi-Fi or Bluetooth) used for the initial Cellular Data Exchange Session establishment and activation. As seen in FIG. 6C, an example cellular signaling airmessage 670 may include an optional UE Cluster ID 672, a Source / Destination UE ID within the cluster (674), and the UE Cluster Payload 676. In some embodiments, a destination UE ID within the UE Cluster should be sufficient to enable the cellular network to route the data to the destination device. In case the serving SA-UE has multiple UE clusters, then the UE Cluster ID 672 could be associated with the payloads to be transmitted to identify which UE cluster is transmitting data. In addition, in some embodiments, the UE Cluster Payload could be piggy backed in the cellular signaling air-message(s) (e.g., RRC signaling air-message sent over signaling radio bearers).

[0072] Referring back to FIG. 6B, the base station RAN-BS1 is configured to route the data to the NSA-UE 615 through the RAN-BS2 serving the NSA-UE (675). The base station RAN-BS1 sends a message with the cluster ID (if present), the ID of the destination NSA-UE, and the UE Cluster Payload to the RAN-BS2 serving the NSA-UE (680). The base station RAN-BS2 then sends a message to the NSA-UE with the ID of the serving SA-UE that transmitted the data and the UE Cluster Payload (685). The NSA-UE is configured to process the UE Cluster Payload and send a response if required (690). If a message is required, the NSA-UE sends a message back to the serving RAN-BS2 (692) that includes the ID of the SA- UE and a UE Cluster Payload. The RAN-BS2 sends a message to the RAN-BS1 serving the SA-UE (694) that may include the cluster ID (if present), the ID of the destination SA-UE, and UE Cluster Payload. The RAN -B SI then transmits a message to the Serving SA-UE that may include the UE Cluster Payload and the ID of the NSA-UE that originally transmitted the data (695).

[0073] If required, the same scheme could be used to exchange data between various NSA-UEs, within the same or different serving SA-UE UE clusters.

[0074] In some embodiments, a security architecture for communication between the SA-UE and the NSA-UEs through a cellular network, as disclosed above, may be desired. FIG. 7 shows an example security architecture 700 for a SA-UE, a NSA-UE, and a cellular network (note that although only one NSA-UE is shown, there may be multiple NSA-UEs). In FIG. 7, at 710, the serving SA-UE and the cellular NW (e.g., both RAN and the core network) may perform procedures required for mutually authenticating and establishing a secure link between each other (e.g., via 5G NAS and AS security procedure). At 720, the NSA-UE and the serving SA-UE perform mutual authentication and establish a secure communication link via any suitable communication protocol (e.g., Bluetooth, WiFi, D2D cellular protocol, or the like). In the context of an NSA-UE addition between the serving SA-UE and the cellular network, the cellular network may provide, to the serving SA-UE, the security configurations for the NSA- UE that is required for protecting NSA-UE cellular network radio link access (i.e. NSA-UE- cellular network data transfer protection) (730). For example, in 5G this could be similar to AS security configurations including information like security algorithms (i.e., ciphering andintegrity protection algorithms), which are used for securing signaling, user-plane data and keys generation counter.

[0075] Based on the NSA-UE security configuration received from the cellular network, the serving SA-UE prepares a NSA-UE security context required by the NSA-UE to protect a data transfer exchange between the NSA-UE and the cellular network, which includes security parameters (e.g., security key(s), algorithms, and so on). The preparation may include activities like the serving SA-UE generating the NSA-UE cellular security key(s)(735) from the serving SA-UE cellular keys and the NSA-UE's security parameters received from the cellular network (e.g., NSA-UE Identity, key generation Counter). Since the NSA-UE does not perform any activity with the core network, the NSA-UE does not need to have any security context for signaling data exchange with the core network (e.g., no 5G NAS security context is required). In another embodiment, the serving SA-UE, from its cellular keys and the NSA-UE's security parameters, may generate secret NSA-UE keys that are then provided to the NSA-UE. The NSA-UE may use this secret key information for generating its cellular keys. The serving SA- UE then provides NSA-UE the prepared cellular security context (740).

[0076] At 750, the NSA-UE may apply the security configuration received from serving SA-UE in data transfer / exchange activities with the cellular network. In some embodiments, this may include further key derivations if everything is not already done by the serving SA- UE. Based on the NSA-UE capabilities, after the NAS-UE initial security configuration, the NSA-UE may optionally receive further security configuration updates directly from the cellular network, through which a new NSA-UE security context (e g., keys and algorithms) could be established. In this use case, the NSA-UE keys may be derived from the initially generated NSA-UE keys by the serving SA-UE.

[0077] FIG. 8 illustrates an example user plane data architecture 800 for NSA-UE Cellular Bearer Management. A UE Cluster 805 may include a SA-UE 810 and multiple NSA- UEs 815-1 to 815-n. A cellular RAN 820 and a cellular core network (CN) 825 may be configured to allow the UE cluster 805 to communicate with an external network 840 (i.e., the Internet). The cellular Ran 820 is associated with base stations 830-1 and 830-2 (BS 1 and BS2). Looking at FIG. 8, the serving SA-UE 810 may create a SA-UE Data Session(s) (e.g., 5GPDU session) and / or SA-UE cellular CN Bearer(s) (e.g., 5G QoS Flow) that would be required for serving NSA-UE data traffic, for example, as based on NSA-UE Cellular Data Exchange Session data transfer requirements. The serving SA-UE 810 associates the NSA-UE 815 with one or more of the SA-UE Data Session(s) (850-1 to 850-n) and / or one or more of the SA-UE cellular CN Bearer(s) (860-1 to 860-2) within a Data Session. The serving SA-UE 610 is configured to inform the cellular network about the SA-UE Data Session(s) and / or cellular CN Bearer(s) that are associated with the NSA-UE 815. If the SA-UE's serving cellular node (e.g., RAN-BS1) is different from the NSA-UE’s serving cellular node (e.g., RAN-BS2), the serving SA-UE’s cellular node (RAN-BS1) may update the cellular node routing NSA-UE’s traffic (e.g., 5G UPF) about the SA-UE’s cellular CN Bearers that shall be routed to the NSA-UE’s serving cellular node (RAN-BS2).

[0078] On the cellular radio interface (e.g., between the NSA-UE and RAN-BS2), each NSA-UE within the UE cluster may have its own radio bearers (e.g., 5G RAN Radio Bearers) with the cellular network entry node. While data transfer between the NSA-UEs and cellular network is ongoing, if the serving SA-UE does not need to perform any data transfer with the cellular network, then the serving SA-UE may enter into a state where it can save power, since the serving SA-UE is not involved in data transfer between the cellular network and the NSA- UEs. For example, a new RRC state could be introduced in 3GPP, or 5G RRC inactive could be extended to cover this scenario.

[0079] Based on traffic classification, the cellular network may map downlink (DL) data traffic received to one of the SA-UE’s cellular CN Bearer. If the SA-UE’s cellular CN Bearer is associated with the NSA-UE, then the DL data would be delivered directly to the NSA-UE’s serving cellular node (e.g., NSA-UE’s RAN-BS). The NSA-UE’s serving cellular node would deliver the data to the NSA-UE via the NSA-UE’s radio bearer (e.g., RAN AS layer Radio Bearer) associated with this SA-UE cellular CN Bearer. If the serving SA-UE receives DL data on a cellular CN Bearer that is associated with the NSA-UE (e.g., when the NSA-SA Cellular Data Exchange Session is not yet active or it was lost), then the serving SA-UE may forward the DL data to the NSA-UE via a D2D communication link. The same or similar applies in the uplink (UL) direction - the cellular network may route the received UL data on one of NSA-UEradio bearers to the corresponding SA-UE’ s cellular CN Bearer with which it was associated during the NSA-UE addition.

[0080] Still referring to FIG. 8, in one embodiment, the SA-UE 810 may be configured to inform its serving RAN-BS “RAN-BS1” 830-1 which cellular CN bearers (e.g., CN Bearerl in SA-UE Data Session 4) shall be mapped to the NSA-UE2 (815-2) (e.g., during NSA-UE addition). RAN-BS 1 may inform the CN (e.g., 5G AMF and UPF via PDU Session Path Update procedure) about the SA-UE’ s cellular network bearers that were assigned to NSA-UE2 (e.g., CN Bearerl in SA-UE Data Session 4) to the RAN-BS going to serve the NSA-UE (e.g., RAN- BS2). Accordingly, CN functions update the routing of traffic of SA-UE CN Bearerl in SA-UE Data Session 4 to RAN-BS2. When RAN-BS2 receives the DL data on CN Bearerl associated with SA-UE Data Session 4, which is assigned for NSA-UE2, the RAN-BS2 sends the DL data to NSA-UE2 via NSA-UE2 RAN Radio Bearerl. In the UL direction, when RAN-BS2 receives UL data from NSA-UE2 on NSA-UE2 RAN Radio Bearerl, the RAN-BS2 routes the UL data received to CN Bearerl associated with SA-UE Data Session 4.

[0081] FIG. 9 shows an example configurations architecture for NSA-UE Cellular Bearer Management via an example serving SA-UE. Arrangement 900 includes a SA-UE 910, a NSA-UE 915, and a cellular network 935. In one embodiment, the cellular network 935 communicates with the NSA-UE 915 through the SA-UE 910. For the initial cellular configuration of the NSA-UE 915, the NSA-UE 915 informs the serving SA-UE 910 that Cellular Data Exchange Session via direct radio link with cellular network is required. The serving SA-UE 910 requests from the cellular network 935 the addition of a NSA-UE. In one embodiment, this request may include information to support the cellular network 935 in preparing NSA-UE cellular configurations like NSA-UE cellular capabilities, information about SA-UE data sessions and / or cellular CN bearers to be mapped to NSA-UE, NSA-UE detected cellular cells and their power values, and the like. In another embodiment, the NSA- UE 915 may be assumed to have similar cellular radio conditions as the serving SA-UE 910 and accordingly serving SA-UE cellular measurements could be used to decide the best cellular serving cells for the NSA-UE. A list of candidate NSA-UE serving frequencies could be broadcasted by the cellular network or dedicatedly provided to the serving SA-UE.

[0082] Based on the information received from the serving SA-UE about the NSA-UE, the cellular network may prepare the NSA-UE's initial cellular configurations and provide them back to the serving SA-UE (950). This may include interaction with other cellular network nodes, such as with other RAN-BSs (e.g., 5G gNB) that should serve the NSA-UE to prepare the NSA-UE's cellular configuration, or with cellular nodes responsible for traffic routing (e g., 5G PCF) to update their traffic routing information based on the SA-UE data sessions and / or cellular CN bearers associated with the NAS-UE. At 960, the serving SA-UE 910 sends the configurations necessary for cellular network access to the NSA-UE 915.

[0083] For further modifications to the NSA-UE cellular configurations, the cellular network may send to the SA-UE the updated NSA-UE’s cellular configurations. In another embodiment, the cellular network may send the updated NSA-UE’s cellular configurations directly to the NSA-UE (970). The SA-UE 910 may perform any processing required for NSA- UE cellular configurations, such as SA-UE activities required for the NSA-UE's cellular security context, as previously discussed, or the SA-UE 910 may group configurations from different entities in the cellular network (e.g., CN and RAN) related to the NSA-UE 915 and provide them in a single message to the NSA-UE 915. After the SA-UE completes the NSA-UE cellular configurations processing, the SA-UE 910 may provide the configurations required for cellular network access to the NSA-UE 915 (960). The NSA-UE 915 may apply the configurations and start using the configurations for cellular network access and data transfer.

[0084] In another embodiment, the configurations for the NSA-UE 915 may be managed via the serving cellular network 935, depending on the capabilities of the NSA-UE 915. In one embodiment, the NSA-UE 915 can receive cellular configurations updates, other than initial configurations, directly from the cellular network 935 (970).

[0085] As disclosed herein, the NSA-UE cellular configurations may include one or more of the following:• Information related to cellular network radio access (e.g., RAN in 4G / 5G) like physical and data-plane layers configurations. For example, in 5G, this may include:• NSA-S A UE ID within the cluster, 1.. ,MAX_NS A_UE.• ID zero could be always reserved for serving SA-UE.• MAC / RLC / PDCP / SDAP entities configurations• Serving cells physical layer configurations• Security parameters required for establishing NSA-UE security context.• Information that can speed up the NSA-UE access to the cellular network, such as SA- UE serving cell(s) that would also serve the NSA-UE, information like frequency timing, power gain, and UL time advance information.• Information related to how NSA-UE user-plane traffic is served within the cellular network. This may include: information about the external network access (for example, the external network address (e.g., IP address)) assigned for the NSA-UE; optionally, information about the traffic classification the NSA-UE may perform to map the userplane traffic to the corresponding assigned cellular network bearers; the list of cellular network data sessions and CN bearers (e.g., similar to 5G PDU sessions and QoS flows) assigned to each NSA-UE and their corresponding configurations; traffic classification templates that may be used to map the user-plane traffic to the cellular network bearers; and the mapping of the NSA-UE RAN bearers (e.g., 5G Radio Bearers) and the assigned cellular network CN bearers.

[0086] FIG. 10 shows an example method 1000 of establishing and managing a NSA-UE Cellular Data Exchange session. The target is to establish flows / bearers in a cellular network (e.g., like 5G PDU session and QoS Flows), which are required for NSA-UE data transfer via the cellular network. Once a secure communication link is established between a SA-UE 1010 and an NSA-UE 1015 (1040), the NSA-UE 1015 requests the SA-UE 1010 to establish a cellular session, i.e. a Cellular Data Exchange Session, via which NSA-UE can perform data transfer directly via the cellular network 1035 (1050). The request may include information like the NSA-UE’ s data session quality of service requirements and the relevant capabilities of the NSA-UE 1015. The request may be as simple as “Internet connection required”, as all cellular protocol complexity is abstracted from the NSA-UE by the SA-UE 1010. The serving SA-UE 1010 processes the information received from NSA-UE 1015 (e.g., by mapping NSA-UE requirements to cellular QoS requirements) and either establishes a new data session for the NSA-UE and / or identifies bearer flows within existing data session ( 1060).

[0087] The serving SA-UE 1010 sends a request to the cellular network 1035 to establish data sessions and / or cellular flows (e.g., if the already established ones are not sufficient), or to modify existing data sessions and / or cellular flows ( 1070). The SA-UE 1010 may inform the cellular network 1035 that the reason for the request is for NSA-UE Data Exchange Establishment. The cellular network 1035 can accept or reject based on SA-UE supported services, such as the maximum allowed number of NSA-UEs that the SA-UE is allowed to support, or the maximum allowed number of SA-UE data sessions and / or cellular flows / bearers that can be established for the NSA-UEs. If accepted, the cellular network 1035 may send a confirmation message to the serving SA-UE 1010 (1080). Once confirmation is received from the cellular network, the SA-UE 1010 sends a confirmation message back to the NSA-UE 1015 that the Cellular Data Exchange Session establishment is completed (1090). The SA-UE 1010 may provide information to the NSA-UE 1015 about established data sessions and / or cellular flows / bearers, for example the NSA-UE IP address, and / or a Traffic Filtering Template (if any required). For basic NSA-UEs devices nothing special may be needed, as all traffic would be mapped to a single cellular network bearer. The data exchange session for the NSA-UE 1015 is established at this time (1095).

[0088] FIG. 11 illustrates an example method where a NSA-UE activates a cellular data exchange session. In method 1100, when a data exchange session is established (1105), and the NSA-UE has UL data to be transmitted via a direct cellular NW radio link (1110), the NSA-UE requests Cellular Data Exchange Session activation from the serving SA-UE by sending the serving SA-UE an activation message (1120), which may include information such as the detected cellular cells on the NSA-UE supported bands. The SA-UE establishes a connection with the cellular network (e.g., RAN-BS), and may indicate to the cellular network that NSA- UE addition is required (1130). During connection establishment, the cellular network may provide the SA-UE a list of candidate frequencies for NSA-UE cellular serving cells. In another embodiment, the cellular network may broadcast this information in a System Information Broadcast message. If the SA-UE has a list of candidate frequencies for NSA-UE cellular serving cells, in parallel to connection establishment, the SA-UE may request the NSA-UE to scan the list of candidate cellular frequencies for NSA-UE serving cells and report back results (1132). The NSA-UE performs a scan on the list of candidate frequencies for NSA-UE serving cells and provides results to the serving SA-UE (1134).

[0089] Once SA-UE connection establishment is complete, the SA-UE requests NSA- UE addition from the cellular network (1140). This request may include information like the NSA-UE cellular radio access capabilities, a list of NSA-UE detected cellular cells and their power values, and a list of SA-UE cellular network data session(s) and cellular NW bearer(s) (e.g., 5G PDU sessions and / or QoS Flows) that may be mapped to the NSA-UE. This information may be used by the cellular network to perform DL traffic mapping (1145). The cellular network may adjust DL traffic routing based on the NSA-UE associated cellular network data session(s) and cellular NW bearer(s). For example, if QoS Flow5 is associated with NSA-UE2, then when the DL data packet received and mapped to QoS Flow5, the cellular network will route the DL packet to NSA-UE2 (e.g., via corresponding RAN-BS associated to NSA-UE2. The cellular network prepares NSA-UE cellular configurations required for cellular NW radio access (e.g., RAN) and sends the configurations back to the SA-UE with or in a confirmation message (1150).

[0090] Still referring to FIG. 11, if the NSA-UE would be served by another cellular node (e.g., another RAN-BS than the one serving SA-UE), the cellular entities responsible for traffic routing (e.g., 5G UPF, PCF, SMF) may be updated to consider routing of SA-UE data session(s) and cellular NW bearer(s) traffic to cellular node serving NSA-UE. When cellular node (e.g., RAN-BS) serving the NSA-UE receives DL traffic on cellular network bearer(s) associated with the SA-UE, it sends the DL traffic to the NSA-UE via the corresponding RAN- bearer. The SA-UE performs any processing required for NSA-UE configurations, like NSA- UE cellular security keys generation, validation, building full NSA-UE cellular configuration (1160). The SA-UE then prepares and sends the NSA-UE Data Exchanges Session configurations to NSA-UE with or in a confirmation message to the NSA-UE (1170). The NSA-UE applies the received configurations (1 180) and then the data exchange session is active (1185). The NSA-UE then has access to the cellular network (1190) and may send and receive UL and DL data to and from the cellular network (1195).

[0091] FIG. 12 illustrates a method where an example NSA-UE receives data from a cellular network. In method 1200, when a data exchange session has been established (1205) and a cellular network receives DL data (1210), one of the SA-UE established data sessions(independent of whether it was established for the NSA-UE or the SA-UE (at this point, this is transparent to the cellular network)), the cellular network initiates connection to SA-UE (e.g., via a paging message) (1220). Since the SA-UE has an established NSA-UEs Cellular Data Exchange Session(s), the SA-UE may indicate during connection establishment that addition of a NSA-UE is needed. After connection establishment is completed, at 1230, the cellular network forwards DL data to the SA-UE. The SA-UE processes DL data and identifies that it is for one of the cellular network bearers associated with NSA-UE (1240) and accordingly forwards the DL data to the NSA-UE (1250).

[0092] When the NSA-UE receives the DL data, if the NSA-UE decides that data exchange session via direct cellular link is required, then the NSA-UE shall start Cellular Data Exchange Session activation procedure ( 1260, 1262, 1264, 1270) with the serving SA-UE, in a manner previously disclosed. Once the NSA-UE Cellular Data Exchange Session is activated, the cellular network stops forwarding NSA-UE DL Data traffic to the serving SA-UE (1275) and confirms the addition of the NSA-UE to the serving Sa-UE (1280).

[0093] The SA-UE sends a DL data forwarding end marker to the NSA-UE (1290). This enables the NSA-UE to start in-sequence processing of DL data that will be received from the cellular network directly. The SA-UE also sends an activation confirmation message to the NSA-UE, which may include the configurations for the NSA-UE (1291). The NSA-UE may apply the configurations (1292), making the data exchange session active (1293). The NSA- UE may initiate cell access procedure (e g. RA)(1294), which triggers the cellular network to resume forwarding DL data to the NSA-UE (1295). The NSA-UE may send and receive UL and DL data to and from the cellular network (1296).

[0094] The UE clusters and / or NSA-UEs disclosed herein may have numerous applications. In one embodiment, as shown in FIG. 13, NSA-UEs can be used as an access point to provide users a cost-efficient method to experience advanced cellular features. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 13, a user may have a number of UEs 1310, such as a 5G mobile phone (1310-1), a 4G device (such as a smart watch) (1310-2), or a laptop with no cellular capability (1310-3), and needs to experience 6G cellular protocol benefits (e.g., data throughputs) without paying additional money for renewing his devices (e.g., by buying newdevices). The 5G mobile phone may be configured to provide 5G services through a 5G cellular network having one or more base stations (1330-1).

[0095] The user can buy a 6G NSA-UE Access Point 1315 (i.e., a NSA-UE as disclosed herein), via which the user can use the disclosed embodiments to experience 6G data throughputs and cellular coverage anywhere by using the 6G access point as a NSA-UE as disclosed herein, and by using one or more of his old devices (e.g. old mobile phone, watch, laptop, etc.) as a SA-UE in accordance with the embodiments disclosed herein. The 6G NSA- UE Access Point is configured to provide 6G services (e.g., Internet access with high speeds) through a 6G network having one or more base stations (1330-2). The 6G NSA-UE Access Point should be cheaper than a normal 6G router since it need not support full 6G cellular modem functionalities. The user does not need to have a separate SIM card / cellular plan for the 6G NSA-UE Access Point, but rather only needs to have the old device (acting as the SA-UE) include a SIM card capable of allowing access to 6G services. In some embodiments, the devices 1310-1, 1310-2, and 1310-3 are configured to communicate with the 6G NSA-UE Access Point via wireless links, such as WiFi or Bluetooth.

[0096] In a similar fashion, using a SA-UE with a NSA-UE allows the accessing of cellular satellite services that are not supported by the user’s mobile phone or other wireless communication device, since the 6G NSA-UE Access Point shown in FIG. 13 may have a powerful battery that can better fit with cellular satellite communication. Further, accessing cellular networks via certain bands / FR ranges that are not supported by the user’s mobile phone or other wireless communication devices but are available at the NSA-UEs may be enabled through the use of the NSA-UE access point.

[0097] In an additional embodiment, as shown in FIG. 14, NSA-UEs can be used as a gaming station that may enable the user to have an improved gaming experience by providing a simple scheme for connecting all his gaming devices through a cellular network to the Internet with minimal possible latency and granted QoS requirements. FIG. 14 shows an example arrangement using a SA-UE and NSA-UEs in a gaming environment. The arrangement 1400 may include a cellular telephone or similar device 1410, which may act as a serving SA-UEaccording to the disclosure herein, and a number of gaming devices 1415 which can include NSA-UEs in this embodiment.

[0098] The SA-UE 1410 and the NSA-UEs can work together to communicate with an external gaming server 1420 through a cellular network 1435 over an external network 1440. In this use case, each gaming device (glove 1415-1, glasses 1415-2, shoe 1415-3, or similar devices) could be equipped with a NSA-UE and the user uses his mobile phone 1410 or other wireless communication device having complete cellular capabilities as a SA-UE to enable cellular services to access a gaming server 1420 on all of the gaming devices. Gaming data can be exchanged between the gaming devices 1415 and the gaming server 1420 through the cellular network 1435 using the SA-UE 1410. In some embodiments, the gaming devices 1415- 1, 1415-2, and 1415-3 are configured to communicate with the SA-UE 1410 via wireless links, such as WiFi or Bluetooth.

[0099] Accordingly, the arrangement 1400 could minimize latency, as the gaming devices could have access to the Internet via direct cellular radio link (no extra hop / anchor). Further, using the cellular QoS framework could guarantee certain QoS for the gaming devices. Another advantage of the arrangement in FIG. 14 is that there would not be an unacceptable cost for the gaming devices, since a full UE (i.e., full cellular modem) is not required to be equipped in each device, but only the NSA-UE functionality. The NSA-UEs need only support a sub-set of the mandatory cellular functionalities. Further, a single cellular / carrier plan may be used for enabling all devices’ NSA-UE access to the cellular network. Moreover, since all data traffic going to the NSA-UEs is served via serving SA-UE data pipes (e.g., 5G QoS flows), the serving data on these pipes could be easily synchronized if needed, like if XR different data packets are required to be processed by different devices at the same time. In a similar scenario, a gaming station with a group of XR Glasses that different players could wear while playing the same game would be enabled via the disclosed arrangement.

[0100] FIG. 15 illustrates another example use case for the example SA-UE and NSA- UEs. In this arrangement 1500 of FIG. 15, the NSA-UE concept may be used in a wide area activity using multiple devices. For example, a user having a mobile cellular phone 1510 at a large farm or other facility wants to perform an activity which requires input data from multipleUE devices 1515, such as drones (1510-1 and 1515-4) and other devices 1515-2 and 1515-3 (such as sensors) that are being processed by a server (1550) in an external network 1540 (e.g., Internet), and the output actions are directed back from the server 1550 to the drones and the devices performing farming or manufacturing related activities. In this scenario, latency may be an important factor so RTT for input data until output data is received from the processing server should be minimized as much as possible. As seen in FIG. 15, each device 1515 would be equipped with a NSA-UE having recued cellular functionality and cellular access could be enabled via a SA-UE 1510, which may be a mobile phone or other wireless communication device having full cellular functionality. In some embodiments, the SA-UE 1510 and the NSA- UEs 1515 may communicate through the same or different cellular networks 1535-1, 1535-2, 1535-3, and 1535-4 with the external server 1550. Accordingly, wide area internet coverage can be achieved via cellular radio links through the one or more cellular networks having one or more base stations 1535-1 through 1535-4.

[0101] Latency is minimized by having data directly exchanged between the devices having the NSA-UEs and the cellular network (with no anchor in-between). In addition, the desired QoS could be granted via using the cellular QoS framework. An additional benefit is that the user devices may be enabled for cellular access using a cost-effective version of UEs (NSA-UEs) and without the hassle of maintaining a cellular plan / SIM card for each device. Moreover, the NSA-UEs could support NSA-UE mobility service and accordingly secure smooth wireless internet coverage via the cellular network.

[0102] Thus, according to the disclosed embodiments, access to an external network (e.g., the Internet) may be provided via cellular networks by associating at least one standalone UE having full, complete cellular functionalities with one or more non -standalone UEs having only limited, required, or mandatory cellular capabilities. The single standalone UE may be associated with one or more non-standalone UEs in a UE cluster that is seen as a single UE entity to the cellular network.

[0103] There are other factors that may need to be considered when using a UE cluster with a SA-UE and one or more NSA-UEs. For example, a NSA-UE could be supporting different RATs / FR ranges than the SA-UE. The SA-UE might support only 4G / 5G networksand functionalities, and the NSA-UE could support 6G networks and functionalities, or vice versa. In addition, the SA-UE and the NSA-UE(s) could be served by the same or different network nodes (e.g., RAN-BSs).

[0104] It is noted that normal UEs with full and complete cellular capabilities (i.e., a stand-alone UE) could operate in an NSA-UE mode based on a user’s need.

[0105] With respect to a NSA-UE Cellular Data Exchange Session, different information could have different validity / life time. Information related to the Cellular Core Network (e.g., information similar to PDU session in 5G) could be maintained independent of the serving SA- UE’s RAN connection status, as long as the serving SA-UE is registered to the CN.

[0106] Information related to RAN (e.g., NSA-UE RBs configurations and serving cells configurations) could be valid as long as SA-UE AS-Context is established (e.g. 5G RRC Connected or Inactive). If the SA-UE moved to a state where Access Stratum UE Context is stored (e.g., 5G RRC Inactive), then NSA-UE Cellular Data Exchange Session configurations could be also retained and stored to be re-used in the next SA-UE connection.

[0107] A SA-UE associated with a UE Cluster could have special considerations on the cellular network side. For example, a RAN connection (e.g., 5G RRC connection) should not be released as long as data transfer is required by one or more NSA-UEs within the same UE cluster. Also, a RAN connection may be released after a long inactivity duration that started after the last NSA-UE data transfer is stopped. If mobility for the SA-UE is considered and SA- UE indicates that the UE Cluster are in close proximity, then the mobility for associated NSA- UEs should be also considered.

[0108] A serving SA-UE may send user-plane or signaling data to the cellular network via one of the associated NSA-UEs. The same applies in the other direction; the cellular network may send user-plane or signaling data to the SA-UE via one of the associated NSA- UEs, such as when the SA-UE is out of cellular coverage or is in low battery mode (and communication link with NSA-UE is more power efficient), or the NSA-UE has more powerful cellular capabilities (e.g., required for supporting high throughputs).Examples

[0109] In a first example, a method, comprising generating data for transmission to a base station via a direct cellular radio link in a cellular network and process data received from the base station via the direct cellular radio link, wherein a limited set of cellular functionalities is supported, the limited set being less than a complete set of cellular functionalities for the cellular network, and wherein a user does not have an active cellular subscription to enable cellular services with the cellular network.

[0110] In a second example, the method of the first example, wherein only cellular functionalities required for transmitting or receiving certain data payloads over the direct cellular radio link to the base station.[OHl] In a third example, the method of the first example, wherein there is no module storing cellular subscription information, wherein the module comprises a subscriber identity module (SIM) or an embedded SIM (eSIM).

[0112] In a fourth example, the method of the first example, wherein the apparatus is associated with a standalone UE, the standalone UE configured to support the complete set of cellular functionalities to enable establishment of the direct cellular radio link between the apparatus and the base station in the cellular network.

[0113] In a fifth example, the method of the fourth example, further comprising establishing a secure communication link between the apparatus and the standalone UE.

[0114] In a sixth example, the method of the fourth example, further comprising generating, for transmission to the standalone UE, a request to establish a Cellular Data Exchange Session via which data transfer is performed via the direct cellular radio link with the cellular network, processing, based on signaling from the standalone UE, cellular configurations used for the data transfer, wherein the cellular configurations are prepared by the cellular network and sent to the standalone UE and applying the cellular configurations to initiate the data transfer to the cellular network.

[0115] In a seventh example, the method of the sixth example, further comprising exchanging one or more management payloads with the standalone UE by sending a message to a base station serving the standalone UE, wherein the base station serving the standalone UE is configured to route data from the cellular network back through a base station serving the apparatus.

[0116] In an eighth example, the method of the seventh example, wherein the apparatus and the standalone UE are part of a UE cluster and the one or more management payloads are sent via a cellular signaling message comprising one or more of an identification of the UE cluster, a source / destination identification of the UE ID within the UE cluster, and a UE cluster payload.

[0117] In a ninth example, the method of the seventh example, wherein the method is performed by a non-standalone (NSA) UE, the NSA UE and the standalone UE are part of a UE cluster and one or more payloads are sent via a cellular signaling message comprising one or more of an identification of the UE cluster, a source / destination identification of the UE ID within the UE cluster, and a UE cluster payload.

[0118] In a tenth example, the method of the seventh example, wherein the method is performed by a non-standalone (NSA) UE, the NSA UE and the standalone UE are part of a UE cluster comprising at least one further NSA UE, and one or more payloads are sent via a cellular signaling message comprising one or more of an identification of the UE cluster, a source / destination identification of the UE ID within the UE cluster, and a UE cluster payload.

[0119] In an eleventh example, the method of the fourth example, further comprising processing, based on signaling received from the standalone UE, security configurations that were provided to the standalone UE by the cellular network over a secure link established via mutual authentication procedures by the standalone UE and the cellular network, wherein the security configurations protect cellular network radio link access for the apparatus to the cellular network and for protecting data exchange between the apparatus and the cellular network.

[0120] In a twelfth example, the method of the eleventh example, further comprising processing, based on signaling from the standalone UE, one or more cellular security key(s) generated by the standalone UE.

[0121] In a thirteenth example, the method of the eleventh example, further comprising processing, based on signaling from the standalone UE, secret cellular keys generated by the standalone UE based on cellular keys of the standalone UE and security parameters, generating one or more unique cellular keys for the apparatus based on the secret cellular key provided by the standalone UE and applying the secret cellular key received from the standalone UE or the one or more unique cellular keys to secure data exchanged with the cellular network.

[0122] In a fourteenth example, the method of the eleventh example, further comprising processing, based on signaling received directly from the cellular network after receiving an initial security configuration, further security configuration updates.

[0123] In a fifteenth example, the method of the fourth example, wherein communicating with the standalone UE is performed via local, non-cellular communication protocols for initial setup of the cellular data radio link.

[0124] In a sixteenth example, the method of the fourth example, further comprising generating, for transmission to the standalone UE, a request to establish a cellular session, through which the apparatus performs data transfer directly with the cellular network, wherein the request comprises quality of service requirements and relevant capabilities of the apparatus, processing, based on signaling from the standalone UE, a confirmation message indicating that the cellular session has been established and information about established data sessions, cellular flows or cellular bearers and exchanging data with the cellular network based on the information received from the standalone UE.

[0125] In a seventeenth example, the method of the sixteenth example, wherein the information received from the standalone UE comprises an IP address of the apparatus or a Traffic Filtering.

[0126] In an eighteenth example, the method of the fourth example, wherein, when uplink data is to be transmitted, further comprising generating, for transmission to the standalone UE, a Cellular Data Exchange Session activation request, processing, based on signaling from the standalone UE, a request to scan a list of candidate cellular frequencies for serving cells, scanning the list of candidate cellular frequencies and report back results to the standalone UE, processing, based on signaling from the standalone UE, configurations for data exchange sessions, applying the received configurations and exchanging data with the cellular network.

[0127] In a nineteenth example, the method of the fourth example, further comprising processing, based on signaling from the standalone UE, downlink (DL) data that was sent to the standalone UE from the cellular network and the standalone UE determined that the DL data was intended for the apparatus, determining a data exchange session via direct cellular link is to be used, generating, for transmission to the standalone UE, a request to establish a cellular session, through which data transfer is performed directly with the cellular network, processing, based on signaling from the standalone UE, a confirmation message indicating the cellular session has been established, processing, based on signaling from the standalone UE =a DL data forwarding end marker, and initiating in-sequence processing of DL data, wherein the DL data is received directly from the cellular network instead of from the cellular network through the standalone UE.

[0128] In a twentieth example, a processor configured to perform any of the methods of the first through nineteenth examples.

[0129] In a twenty first example, a user equipment (UE) configured to perform any of the methods of the first through nineteenth examples.

[0130] In a twenty second example, a method, comprising supporting a complete set of cellular functionalities for a cellular network, establishing a secure communication link with a non-standalone user equipment (UE), wherein the non -standalone UE is configured to support a limited set of cellular functionalities, the limited set being less than a complete set of cellularfunctionalities for the cellular network, establishing a connection with a base station in the cellular network when a connection is not already established, and request a direct cellular radio link for the non-standalone UE, processing, based on signaling from the cellular network over the connection, cellular configurations used for a data transfer between the non-standalone UE and the cellular network, and generating, for transmission to the non-standalone UE, a message comprising the cellular configurations to be used by the non-standalone UE to exchange data with the cellular network via the direct cellular radio link.

[0131] In a twenty third example, the method of the twenty second example, wherein an active cellular subscription enables cellular services on a cellular device.

[0132] In a twenty fourth example, the method of the twenty second example, wherein a subscriber identity module (SIM) or an electronic SIM (e-SIM) includes subscription information.

[0133] In a twenty fifth example, the method of the twenty second example, further comprising entering power saving mode after the cellular configurations have been transmitted to the non-standalone UE.

[0134] In a twenty sixth example, the method of the twenty second example, further comprising, establishing a secure communication link between the apparatus and the standalone UE.

[0135] In a twenty seventh example, the method of the twenty second example, further comprising exchanging a message including one or more management payloads with the non- standalone UE.

[0136] In a twenty eighth example, the method of the twenty seventh example, wherein the non-standalone UE is part of a UE cluster and the one or more management payloads are sent via a cellular signaling message comprising one or more of an identification of the UE cluster, a source / destination identification of the UE ID within the UE cluster, and a UE cluster payload.

[0137] In a twenty ninth example, the method of the twenty second example, further comprising performing procedures used for mutually authenticating and establishing a secure link between the apparatus and the cellular network.

[0138] In a thirtieth example, the method of the twenty ninth example, further comprising performing mutual authentication procedures with the non-standalone UE to establish a secure communication link.

[0139] In a thirty first example, the method of the thirtieth example, processing, based on signaling from the cellular network, security configurations for the non-standalone UE for protecting cellular network radio link access and data exchange for the non-standalone UE and forward the security configurations to the non-standalone UE.

[0140] In a thirty second example, the method of the thirty first example, further comprising generating one or more cellular security keys for the non-standalone UE, where the one or more cellular security keys are based on cellular security keys of the apparatus and the security parameters of the non-standalone UE.

[0141] In a thirty third example, the method of the thirty first example, further comprising generating secret keys to be provided to the non-standalone UE, where the secret keys are generated from cellular keys of the apparatus and the security parameters on the non- standalone UE.

[0142] In a thirty fourth example, the method of the twenty second example, further comprising communicating with the non-standalone UE via local, non-cellular communication protocols for initial setup of the cellular data radio link.

[0143] In a thirty fifth example, the method of the twenty second example, further comprising creating one or more data sessions or one or more cellular core network (CN) bearers for handling data traffic for the non-standalone UE.

[0144] In a thirty sixth example, the method of the thirty fifth example, further comprising associating the non-standalone UE with one or more of the data sessions or one or more of the cellular CN bearers within a data session and inform the cellular network about the data sessions or cellular CN bearers that are associated with the non-standalone UE.

[0145] In a thirty seventh example, the method of the thirty sixth example, further comprising updating the cellular node routing data traffic for the non-standalone UE if a serving cellular node for the apparatus is different from a serving cellular node for the non- standalone UE.

[0146] In a thirty eighth example, the method of the thirty sixth example, further comprising forwarding data to the non-standalone UE via a device to device (D2D) communication link if the UE receives downlink (DL) data on a cellular CN bearer that is associated with the non-standalone UE.

[0147] In a thirty ninth example, the method of the twenty second example, further comprising processing, based on signaling from the non-standalone UE, a request to establish a cellular session through which the non-standalone UE performs data transfer directly with the cellular network, wherein the request comprises quality of service requirements and relevant capabilities of the non-standalone UE, generating, for transmission to the cellular network, a request to add the non-standalone UE, the request comprising information to support the cellular network in preparing cellular configurations, processing, based on signaling from the cellular network, initial cellular configurations for the non-standalone UE and transmitting the initial cellular configurations to the non-standalone UE.

[0148] In a fortieth example, the method of the twenty second example, wherein, when the non-standalone UE has uplink data to be transmitted, the method further comprising processing, based on signaling from the non-standalone UE, a Cellular Data Exchange Session activation request, establishing a connection with the cellular network and indicate to the cellular network the addition of the non-standalone UE, processing, based on signaling from the cellular network, a list of candidate frequencies for cellular serving cells for the non- standalone UE, generating, for transmission to the non-standalone UE, a request to scan the listof candidate cellular frequencies for serving cells, processing scan results based on signaling from the non-standalone UE, generating, for transmission to the cellular network, a message comprising the scan results, processing, based on signaling from the cellular network, cellular configurations for the non-standalone UE based on the scan results and generating, for transmission to the non-standalone UE, a message comprising the cellular configurations to be used to exchange data with the cellular network.

[0149] In a forty first example, a processor configured to perform any of the methods of the twenty second through fortieth examples.

[0150] In a forty second example, a user equipment (UE) configured to perform any of the methods of the twenty second through fortieth examples.

[0151] In a forty third example, a method, comprising supporting a complete set of cellular functionalities for a cellular network, establishing a secure communication link with a user equipment (UE), wherein the UE is configured to support a limited set of cellular functionalities, the limited set being less than a complete set of cellular functionalities for the cellular network, establishing a connection between with a base station in the cellular network when a connection is not already established, and request a direct cellular radio link for the UE, processing, based on signaling from the cellular network over the connection, cellular configurations used for a data transfer between the UE and the cellular network and generating, for transmission to the UE, a message comprising the cellular configurations to be used by the UE to exchange data with the cellular network via the direct cellular radio link.

[0152] In a forty fourth example, the method of the forty third example, further comprising creating one or more data sessions or one or more cellular core network (CN) bearers for handling data traffic for the UE.

[0153] In a forty fifth example, the method of the forty fourth example, further comprising associating the UE with one or more of the data sessions or one or more of the cellular CN bearers within a data session and inform the cellular network about the data sessions or cellular CN bearers that are associated with the UE.

[0154] In a forty sixth example, the method of the forty fifth example, further comprising updating the cellular node routing data traffic for the UE when a serving cellular node for the apparatus is different from a serving cellular node for the UE.

[0155] In a forty seventh example, the method of the forty fifth example, further comprising forwarding data to the UE via a device to device (D2D) communication link when the apparatus receives downlink (DL) data on a cellular CN bearer that is associated with the UE.

[0156] In a forty eighth example, a processor configured to perform any of the methods of the forty second through forty seventh examples.

[0157] In a forty ninth example, a user equipment (UE) configured to perform any of the methods of the forty second through forty seventh examples.

[0158] Those skilled in the art will understand that the above -described example embodiments may be implemented in any suitable software or hardware configuration or combination thereof. An example hardware platform for implementing the example embodiments may include, for example, an Intel x86 based platform with compatible operating system, a Windows OS, a Mac platform and MAC OS, a mobile device having an operating system such as iOS, Android, etc. The example embodiments described above may be embodied as a program containing lines of code stored on a non -transitory computer readable storage medium that, when compiled, may be executed on a processor or microprocessor.

[0159] In some embodiments, a non-transitory computer-readable memory medium (e.g., a non-transitory memory element) may be configured so that it stores program instructions and / or data, where the program instructions, if executed by a computer system, cause the computer system to perform a method, e.g., any of a method embodiments described herein, or, any combination of the method embodiments described herein, or, any subset of any of the method embodiments described herein, or, any combination of such subsets.

[0160] In some embodiments, a device (e.g., a UE) may be configured to include a processor (or a set of processors) and a memory medium (or memory element), where the memory medium stores program instructions, where the processor is configured to read and execute the program instructions from the memory medium, where the program instructions are executable to implement any of the various method embodiments described herein (or, any combination of the method embodiments described herein, or, any subset of any of the method embodiments described herein, or, any combination of such subsets). The device may be realized in any of various forms.

[0161] Embodiments of the present invention may be realized in any of various forms. For example, in some embodiments, the present invention may be realized as a computer- implemented method, a computer-readable memory medium, or a computer system. In other embodiments, the present invention may be realized using one or more custom-designed hardware devices such as ASICs. In other embodiments, the present invention may be realized using one or more programmable hardware elements such as FPGAs.

[0162] Although this application described various embodiments each having different features in various combinations, those skilled in the art will understand that any of the features of one embodiment may be combined with the features of the other embodiments in any manner not specifically disclaimed or which is not functionally or logically inconsistent with the operation of the device or the stated functions of the disclosed embodiments.

[0163] It is well understood that the use of personally identifiable information should follow privacy policies and practices that are generally recognized as meeting or exceeding industry or governmental requirements for maintaining the privacy of users. In particular, personally identifiable information data should be managed and handled so as to minimize risks of unintentional or unauthorized access or use, and the nature of authorized use should be clearly indicated to users.

[0164] It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications may be made in the present disclosure, without departing from the spirit or the scope of the disclosure.Thus, it is intended that the present disclosure cover modifications and variations of this disclosure provided they come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalent.

Claims

CLAIMS1. An apparatus comprising processing circuitry configured to: generate data for transmission to a base station via a direct cellular radio link in a cellular network; and process data received from the base station via the direct cellular radio link, wherein the apparatus is configured to support a limited set of cellular functionalities, the limited set being less than a complete set of cellular functionalities for the cellular network, and wherein the apparatus or user of the apparatus does not have an active cellular subscription to enable cellular services with the cellular network.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatus does not have a module storing cellular subscription information, wherein the module comprises a subscriber identity module (SIM) or an embedded SIM (eSIM).

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatus is associated with a standalone UE, the standalone UE configured to support the complete set of cellular functionalities to enable establishment of the direct cellular radio link between the apparatus and the base station in the cellular network.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to: generate, for transmission to the standalone UE, a request to establish a Cellular Data Exchange Session via which data transfer is performed via the direct cellular radio link with the cellular network; process, based on signaling from the standalone UE, cellular configurations used for the data transfer, wherein the cellular configurations are prepared by the cellular network and sent to the standalone UE; and apply the cellular configurations to initiate the data transfer to the cellular network.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to exchange one or more management payloads with the standalone UE by sending a message to a basestation serving the standalone UE, wherein the base station serving the standalone UE is configured to route data from the cellular network back to the apparatus through a base station serving the apparatus.

6. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to: process, based on signaling received from the standalone UE, security configurations that were provided to the standalone UE by the cellular network over a secure link established via mutual authentication procedures by the standalone UE and the cellular network, wherein the security configurations protect cellular network radio link access for the apparatus to the cellular network and for protecting data exchange between the apparatus and the cellular network.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to: process, based on signaling from the standalone UE, secret cellular keys generated by the standalone UE based on cellular keys of the standalone UE and security parameters of the apparatus; generate one or more unique cellular keys for the apparatus based on the secret cellular key provided by the standalone UE; and apply the secret cellular key received from the standalone UE or the one or more unique cellular keys to secure data exchanged with the cellular network.

8. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to: generate, for transmission to the standalone UE, a request to establish a cellular session, through which the apparatus performs data transfer directly with the cellular network, wherein the request comprises quality of service requirements and relevant capabilities of the apparatus; process, based on signaling from the standalone UE, a confirmation message indicating that the cellular session has been established and information about established data sessions, cellular flows or cellular bearers; and exchange data with the cellular network based on the information received from the standalone UE.

9. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein, when the apparatus has uplink data to be transmitted, the processing circuitry is configured to: generate, for transmission to the standalone UE, a Cellular Data Exchange Session activation request; process, based on signaling from the standalone UE, a request to scan a list of candidate cellular frequencies for serving cells; scan the list of candidate cellular frequencies and report back results to the standalone UE; process, based on signaling from the standalone UE, configurations for data exchange sessions; apply the received configurations; and exchange data with the cellular network.

10. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to: process, based on signaling from the standalone UE, downlink (DL) data that was sent to the standalone UE from the cellular network and the standalone UE determined that the DL data was intended for the apparatus; determine a data exchange session via direct cellular link is to be used; generate, for transmission to the standalone UE, a request to establish a cellular session, through which data transfer is performed directly with the cellular network; process, based on signaling from the standalone UE, a confirmation message indicating the cellular session has been established; and process, based on signaling from the standalone UE =a DL data forwarding end marker; and initiate in-sequence processing of DL data, wherein the DL data is received directly from the cellular network instead of from the cellular network through the standalone UE.

11. An apparatus comprising processing circuitry configured to: support a complete set of cellular functionalities for a cellular network;establish a secure communication link with a non-standalone user equipment (UE), wherein the non-standalone UE is configured to support a limited set of cellular functionalities, the limited set being less than a complete set of cellular functionalities for the cellular network; establish a connection with a base station in the cellular network when a connection is not already established, and request a direct cellular radio link for the non-standalone UE; process, based on signaling from the cellular network over the connection, cellular configurations used for a data transfer between the non-standalone UE and the cellular network; and generate, for transmission to the non-standalone UE, a message comprising the cellular configurations to be used by the non-standalone UE to exchange data with the cellular network via the direct cellular radio link.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to enter power saving mode after the cellular configurations have been transmitted to the non-standalone UE.

13. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to exchange a message including one or more management payloads with the non-standalone UE.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the apparatus and the non-standalone UE are part of a UE cluster and the one or more management payloads are sent via a cellular signaling message comprising one or more of an identification of the UE cluster, a source / destination identification of the UE ID within the UE cluster, and a UE cluster payload.

15. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to perform procedures used for mutually authenticating and establishing a secure link between the apparatus and the cellular network.

16. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to create one or more data sessions or one or more cellular core network (CN) bearers for handling data traffic for the non-standalone UE.

17. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to:process, based on signaling from the non-standalone UE, a request to establish a cellular session through which the non-standalone UE performs data transfer directly with the cellular network, wherein the request comprises quality of service requirements and relevant capabilities of the non-standalone UE; generate, for transmission to the cellular network, a request to add the non- standalone UE, the request comprising information to support the cellular network in preparing cellular configurations; process, based on signaling from the cellular network, initial cellular configurations for the non-standalone UE; and transmit the initial cellular configurations to the non-standalone UE.

18. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to, when the non-standalone UE has uplink data to be transmitted: process, based on signaling from the non-standalone UE, a Cellular Data Exchange Session activation request; establish a connection with the cellular network and indicate to the cellular network the addition of the non-standalone UE; process, based on signaling from the cellular network, a list of candidate frequencies for cellular serving cells for the non-standalone UE; generate, for transmission to the non-standalone UE, a request to scan the list of candidate cellular frequencies for serving cells; process scan results based on signaling from the non-standalone UE; generate, for transmission to the cellular network, a message comprising the scan results; process, based on signaling from the cellular network, cellular configurations for the non-standalone UE based on the scan results; and generate, for transmission to the non-standalone UE, a message comprising the cellular configurations to be used to exchange data with the cellular network.

19. An apparatus comprising processing circuitry configured to: support a complete set of cellular functionalities for a cellular network;establish a secure communication link with a user equipment (UE), wherein the UE is configured to support a limited set of cellular functionalities, the limited set being less than a complete set of cellular functionalities for the cellular network; establish a connection between with a base station in the cellular network when a connection is not already established, and request a direct cellular radio link for the UE; process, based on signaling from the cellular network over the connection, cellular configurations used for a data transfer between the UE and the cellular network; and generate, for transmission to the UE, a message comprising the cellular configurations to be used by the UE to exchange data with the cellular network via the direct cellular radio link.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to create one or more data sessions or one or more cellular core network (CN) bearers for handling data traffic for the UE.

Images