User equipment prioritization of different access technologies on shared band

Abstract

Apparatus and method for user equipment (UE) prioritization of different radio access technologies (RATs) on shared bands comprises, in accordance with a determination that a first RAT and a second RA

Description

17117 1 DC Jr

[0001] Various example embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to the field of telecommunication and in particular, to methods, devices, apparatuses and computer readable storage medium for user equipment (UE) prioritization of different radio access technologies (RATs) on shared bands. BACKGROUND

[0002] Due to scarcity of clean spectrum, spectrum sharing is being considered the new approach for enabling new bands for wireless communications. In this new spectrum sharing paradigm the sharing may not only need to be enabled with incumbents of the band (for example fixed services), but also between services (for example, wireless fidelity, Wi-Fi, service and the 3rd generation partnership project, 3GPP, service) These types of approaches are actively being explored to unlock the upper 6 GHz band. SUMMARY

[0003] In a first aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a first apparatus. The first apparatus comprises at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the first apparatus at least to: in accordance with a determination that a first radio access technology, RAT, and a second RAT are available for the first apparatus and there is an overlapped frequency range between the first and the second RATs, determine whether multiple access protocol data unit, MA-PDU, is supported by the first or the second RATs; and in accordance with a determination that the MA-PDU is supported by the first or the second RATs, use one of the first and the second RATs on the overlapped frequency range.

[0004] In a second aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a third apparatus. The third apparatus comprises at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the third apparatus at least to: receive, from a first apparatus, an indication that a transmission related to a RAT supported by the third apparatus is to be ceased on a specific band and / or a duration for ceasing the transmission, wherein the RAT is supported on the specific band which is overlapped with an available band of a further RAT; and cease the transmission of the specific band based on the indication.

[0005] In a third aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a first apparatus. The first apparatus comprises at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the first apparatus at least to: in accordance with a determination that a first radio access technology, RAT, and a second RAT are available for the first apparatus and there is an overlapped frequency range between the first and the second RATs, determine a service type and / or a usage condition required by the first apparatus related to a radio access; and use one of the first and the second RATs on the overlapped frequency range based on the determination.

[0006] In a fourth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a first apparatus. The first apparatus comprises at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the first apparatus at least to: determine that a first radio access technology, RAT, and a second RAT are available for the first apparatus and there is an overlapped frequency range between the first and the second RATs; and in accordance with a determination that an indication, that a third apparatus supporting the second RAT is requested to be suspended within a time interval, is received by the first apparatus, use the first RAT on the overlapped frequency range based on the determination.

[0007] In a fifth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a third apparatus. The third apparatus comprises at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the third apparatus at least to: receive, from a first apparatus, an indication that a transmission related to a RAT supported by the third apparatus is to be ceased on a specific band and / or a duration for ceasing the transmission, wherein the RAT is supported on the specific band which is overlapped with an available band of a further RAT; and cease the transmission of the specific band based on the indication.

[0008] In a sixth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method. The method comprises: in accordance with a determination that a first radio access technology, RAT and a second RAT are available for the first apparatus and there is an overlapped frequency range between the first and the second RATs, determining whether multiple access protocol data unit, MA-PDU, is supported by the first or the second RATs; and in accordance with a determination that the MA-PDU is supported by the first or the second RATs, using one of the first and the second RATs on the overlapped frequency range.

[0009] In a seventh aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method. The method comprises: receiving, from a first apparatus, an indication that a transmission related to a RAT supported by the third apparatus is to be ceased on a specific band and / or a duration for ceasing the transmission, wherein the RAT is supported on the specific band which is overlapped with an available band of a further RAT; and ceasing the transmission of the specific band based on the indication.

[0010] In an eighth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method. The method comprises: in accordance with a determination that a first radio access technology, RAT and a second RAT are available for the first apparatus and there is an overlapped frequency range between the first and the second RATs, determining a service type and / or a usage condition required by the first apparatus related to a radio access; and using one of the first and the second RATs on the overlapped frequency range based on the determination.

[0011] In a ninth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method. The method comprises: determining that a first radio access technology, RAT, and a second RAT are available for the first apparatus and there is an overlapped frequency range between the first and the second RATs; and in accordance with a determination that an indication, that a third apparatus supporting the second RAT is requested to be suspended within a time interval, is received by the first apparatus, using the first RAT on the overlapped frequency range based on the determination.

[0012] In a tenth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method. The method comprises: receiving, from a first apparatus, an indication that a transmission related to a RAT supported by the third apparatus is to be ceased on a specific band and / or a duration for ceasing the transmission, wherein the RAT is supported on the specific band which is overlapped with an available band of a further RAT; and ceasing the transmission of the specific band based on the indication.

[0013] In an eleventh aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a first apparatus. The first apparatus comprises means for in accordance with a determination that a first radio access technology, RAT and a second RAT are available for the first apparatus and there is an overlapped frequency range between the first and the second RATs, determining whether multiple access protocol data unit, MA-PDU, is supported by the first or the second RATs; and means for in accordance with a determination that the MA-PDU is supported by the first or the second RATs, using one of the first and the second RATs on the overlapped frequency range.

[0014] In a twelfth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a third apparatus. The third apparatus comprises means for receiving, from a first apparatus, an indication that a transmission related to a RAT supported by the third apparatus is to be ceased on a specific band and / or a duration for ceasing the transmission, wherein the RAT is supported on the specific band which is overlapped with an available band of a further RAT; and means for ceasing the transmission of the specific band based on the indication.

[0015] In a thirteenth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a first apparatus. The first apparatus comprises means for in accordance with a determination that a first radio access technology, RAT and a second RAT are available for the first apparatus and there is an overlapped frequency range between the first and the second RATs, determining a service type and / or a usage condition required by the first apparatus related to a radio access; and means for using one of the first and the second RATs on the overlapped frequency range based on the determination.

[0016] In a fourteenth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a first apparatus. The fourth apparatus comprises means for determining that a first radio access technology, RAT, and a second RAT are available for the first apparatus and there is an overlapped frequency range between the first and the second RATs; and means for in accordance with a determination that an indication, that a third apparatus supporting the second RAT is requested to be suspended within a time interval, is received by the first apparatus, using the first RAT on the overlapped frequency range based on the determination.

[0017] In a fifteenth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a third apparatus. The third apparatus comprises means for receiving, from a first apparatus, an indication that a transmission related to a RAT supported by the third apparatus is to be ceased on a specific band and / or a duration for ceasing the transmission, wherein the RAT is supported on the specific band which is overlapped with an available band of a further RAT; and means for ceasing the transmission of the specific band based on the indication.

[0018] In a sixteenth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a computer readable medium. The computer readable medium comprises instructions stored thereon for causing an apparatus to perform at least the method according to the sixth aspect.

[0019] In a seventeenth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a computer readable medium. The computer readable medium comprises instructions stored thereon for causing an apparatus to perform at least the method according to the seventh aspect.

[0020] In an eighteenth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a computer readable medium. The computer readable medium comprises instructions stored thereon for causing an apparatus to perform at least the method according to the eighth aspect.

[0021] In a nineteenth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a computer readable medium. The computer readable medium comprises instructions stored thereon for causing an apparatus to perform at least the method according to the ninth aspect.

[0022] In a twentieth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a computer readable medium. The computer readable medium comprises instructions stored thereon for causing an apparatus to perform at least the method according to the tenth aspect.

[0023] It is to be understood that the Summary section is not intended to identify key or essential features of embodiments of the present disclosure, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the present disclosure. Other features of the present disclosure will become easily comprehensible through the following description. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0024] Some example embodiments will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, where:

[0025] FIG. 1 illustrates an example diagram of a 3GPP structure for supporting Access Traffic Steering Switching and Splitting (ATSSS);

[0026] FIG. 2 illustrates an example communication environment in which example embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented;

[0027] FIG. 3 illustrates a signaling flow of communication in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0028] FIG. 4 illustrates a signaling flow of communication in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0029] FIG. 5 illustrates a signaling flow of communication in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0030] FIG. 6 illustrates an example of shared band in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0031] FIG. 7 illustrates a flowchart of a method implemented at a first apparatus in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0032] FIG. 8 illustrates a flowchart of a method implemented at a third apparatus in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0033] FIG. 9 illustrates a flowchart of a method implemented at a first apparatus in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0034] FIG. 10 illustrates a flowchart of a method implemented at a first apparatus in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0035] FIG. 11 illustrates a flowchart of a method implemented at a third apparatus in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0036] FIG. 12 illustrates a simplified block diagram of a device that is suitable for implementing example embodiments of the present disclosure; and

[0037] FIG. 13 illustrates a block diagram of an example computer readable medium in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0038] Throughout the drawings, the same or similar reference numerals represent the same or similar element. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0039] Principle of the present disclosure will now be described with reference to some example embodiments. It is to be understood that these embodiments are described only for the purpose of illustration and help those skilled in the art to understand and implement the present disclosure, without suggesting any limitation as to the scope of the disclosure. Embodiments described herein can be implemented in various manners other than the ones described below.

[0040] In the following description and claims, unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skills in the art to which this disclosure belongs.

[0041] References in the present disclosure to “one embodiment,” “an embodiment,” “an example embodiment,” and the like indicate that the embodiment described may include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, but it is not necessary that every embodiment includes the particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Moreover, such phrases are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment. Further, when a particular feature, structure, or characteristic is described in connection with an embodiment, it is submitted that it is within the knowledge of one skilled in the art to affect such feature, structure, or characteristic in connection with other embodiments whether or not explicitly described.

[0042] It shall be understood that although the terms “first,” “second” and the like may be used herein to describe various elements, these elements should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element from another. For example, a first element could be termed a second element, and similarly, a second element could be termed a first element, without departing from the scope of example embodiments. As used herein, the term “and / or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the listed terms.

[0043] As used herein, “at least one of the following: ” and “at least one of ” and similar wording, where the list of two or more elements are joined by “and” or “or”, mean at least any one of the elements, or at least any two or more of the elements, or at least all the elements.

[0044] As used herein, unless stated explicitly, performing a step “in response to A” does not indicate that the step is performed immediately after “A” occurs and one or more intervening steps may be included.

[0045] The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of example embodiments. As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises”, “comprising”, “has”, “having”, “includes” and / or “including”, when 5 used herein, specify the presence of stated features, elements, and / or components etc., but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, elements, components and / or combinations thereof.

[0046] As used in this application, the term “circuitry” may refer to one or more or all of the following: (a) hardware-only circuit implementations (such as implementations in only analog and / or digital circuitry) and (b) combinations of hardware circuits and software, such as (as applicable): (i) a combination of analog and / or digital hardware circuit(s) with soft ware / fi rm ware and (ii) any portions of hardware processor(s) with software (including digital signal processor(s)), software, and memory(ies) that work together to cause an apparatus, such as a mobile phone or server, to perform various functions) and (c) hardware circuit(s) and or processor(s), such as a microprocessor(s) or a portion of a microprocessor(s), that requires software (e.g., firmware) for operation, but the software may not be present when it is not needed for operation. 10

[0047] This definition of circuitry applies to all uses of this term in this application, including in any claims. As a further example, as used in this application, the term circuitry also covers an implementation of merely a hardware circuit or processor (or multiple processors) or portion of a hardware circuit or processor and its (or their) accompanying software and / or firmware. The term circuitry also covers, for example and 15 if applicable to the particular claim element, a baseband integrated circuit or processor integrated circuit for a mobile device or a similar integrated circuit in server, a cellular network device, or other computing or network device.

[0048] As used herein, the term “communication network” refers to a network following any suitable communication standards, such as New Radio (NR), Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE-Advanced (LTE-A), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA), Narrow Band Internet of Things (NB-IoT) and so on. Furthermore, the communications between a terminal device and a network device in the communication network may be performed according to any suitable generation communication protocols, including, but not limited to, the first generation (1G), the second generation (2G), 2.5G, 2.75G, the third generation (3G), the fourth generation (4G), 4.5G, the fifth generation (5G) communication protocols, the sixth generation (6G) communication protocols, and / or any other protocols either currently known or to be developed in the future. Embodiments of the present disclosure may be applied in various communication systems. Given the rapid development in communications, there will of course also be future type communication technologies and systems with which the present disclosure may be embodied. It should not be seen as limiting the scope of the present disclosure to only the aforementioned system.

[0049] As used herein, the term “network device” refers to a node in a communication network via which a terminal device accesses the network and receives services therefrom. The network device may refer to a base station (BS) or an access point (AP), for example, a node B (NodeB or NB), an evolved NodeB (eNodeB or eNB), an NR NB (also referred to as a gNB), a Remote Radio Unit (RRU), a radio header (RH), a remote radio head (RRH), a relay, an Integrated Access and Backhaul (IAB) node, a low power node such as a femto, a pico, a non-terrestrial network (NTN) or non-ground network device such as a satellite network device, a low earth orbit (LEO) satellite and a geosynchronous earth orbit (GEO) satellite, an aircraft network device, and so forth, depending on the applied terminology and technology. In some example embodiments, radio access network (RAN) split architecture comprises a Centralized Unit (CU) and a Distributed Unit (DU) at an IAB donor node. An IAB node comprises a Mobile Terminal (IAB-MT) part that behaves like a UE toward the parent node, and a DU part of an IAB node behaves like a base station toward the next-hop IAB node.

[0050] The term “terminal device” refers to any end device that may be capable of wireless communication. By way of example rather than limitation, a terminal device may also be referred to as a communication device, user equipment (UE), a Subscriber Station (SS), a Portable Subscriber Station, a Mobile Station (MS), or an Access Terminal (AT). The terminal device may include, but not limited to, a mobile phone, a cellular phone, a smart phone, voice over IP (VoIP) phones, wireless local loop phones, a tablet, a wearable terminal device, a personal digital assistant (PDA), portable computers, desktop computer, image capture terminal devices such as digital cameras, gaming terminal devices, music storage and playback appliances, vehicle-mounted wireless terminal devices, wireless endpoints, mobile stations, laptop-embedded equipment (LEE), laptop-mounted equipment (LME), USB dongles, smart devices, wireless customer-premises equipment (CPE), an Internet of Things (loT) device, a watch or other wearable, a head-mounted display (HMD), a vehicle, a drone, a medical device and applications (e.g., remote surgery), an industrial device and applications (e.g., a robot and / or other wireless devices operating in an industrial and / or an automated processing chain contexts), a consumer electronics device, a device operating on commercial and / or industrial wireless networks, and the like. The terminal device may also correspond to a Mobile Termination (MT) part of an IAB node (e.g., a relay node). In the following description, the terms “terminal device”, “communication device”, “terminal”, “user equipment” and “UE” may be used interchangeably.

[0051] As used herein, the term “resource,” “transmission resource,” “resource block,” “physical resource block” (PRB), “uplink resource,” or “downlink resource” may refer to any resource for performing a communication, for example, a communication between a terminal device and a network device, such as a resource in time domain, a resource in frequency domain, a resource in space domain, a resource in code domain, or any other resource enabling a communication, and the like.

[0052] As discussed above, due to scarcity of clean spectrum, spectrum sharing is being considered the new approach for enabling new bands for wireless communications.

[0053] The current sharing of spectrum between 3GPP radio access technology (RAT) and Wi-Fi RAT is implemented by enforcing channel access contention-based procedures. These procedures are natively specified and implemented for Wi-Fi however they typically require substantial efforts from implementation specification point of view for 3GPP RATs. NR unlicensed operation was specified in 3GPP Rei 16. It should also be noted in the past where these contention-based methods were adopted, Wi-Fi and 3GPP RATs were considered to have the same level of priority in the band.

[0054] The ATSSS feature is an optional feature that may be supported by the UE and the 5GC network. The ATSSS feature may enable a multi-access Protocol data unit (MA-PDU) Connectivity Service, which can exchange PDUs between the UE and a data network by simultaneously using one 3GPP access network and one non-3GPP access network and two independent N3 / N9 tunnels between the PSA and RAN / AN. The multiaccess PDU Connectivity Service is realized by establishing a MA PDU Session, i.e. a PDU Session that may have user-plane resources on two access networks.

[0055] FIG. 1 shows an example of 3GPP structure for supporting the ATSSS. As shown in FIG. 1, the UE 110 supports one or more of the steering functionalities, e.g. Multi-path Transmission Control Protocol (MPTCP) functionality 111 and / or ATSSS-lower layer (LL) functionality 112. Each steering functionality in the UE 110 enables traffic steering, switching and splitting across 3 GPP access 121 and non-3GPP access 122, in accordance with the ATSSS rules provided by the network. The ATSSS-LL functionality 112 is mandatory in the UE 110 for MA PDU Session of type Ethernet.

[0056] The user plane function (UPF) 130 may support MPTCP Proxy functionality 131, which communicates with the MPTCP functionality 111 in the UE 110 by using the MPTCP protocol. The UPF 130 may support ATSSS-LL functionality 132, which is similar to the ATSSS-LL functionality 112 defined for the UE 110. There is no user plane protocol defined between the ATSSS-LL functionality 112 in the UE 110 and the ATSSS-LL functionality 132 in the UPF 130. In addition, the UPF 130 supports Performance Measurement Functionality (PMF) 132, which may be used by the UE 110 to obtain access performance measurements over the user-plane of 3GPP access and / or over the user-plane of non-3GPP access. The AMF 140, SMF 150 and PCF 160 are extended with new functionality.

[0057] When an MA PDU Session is established, the network may provide the UE with measurement requests which may be employed by the ATSSS for: • Traffic steering, based on e.g. best network selection, where best e.g. least delay. • Traffic switching, based on e.g. availability of the networks to ensure service continuity. • Traffic splitting which would e.g. enable to aggregate the network capacities.

[0058] For the steering mode, the following options are defined in 3GPP: • Active-Standby: only one access is active at a given time; the data flow is switched by UE and / or UPF to the standby access if the active access becomes unavailable (based on measurements in UE and UPF) • Smallest Delay: a data flow is steered to the access with the smallest delay resp. Round-Trip-Time (RTT); if one access becomes unavailable (based on measurements in UE and UPF), all traffic is switched to the other access • Load-Balancing: a data flow is split across both accesses based on given percentage values; if one access becomes unavailable, all traffic is switched to the other access. • Priority-based: a data flow is steered to the access configured as “high priority” until this access is congested (based on measurements in UE and UPF); in this case traffic is also sent to the low priority access; when the high priority access becomes unavailable, all traffic is switched to the low priority access

[0059] If 3GPP UE Assistance Information is configured, the UE can signal the network through UEAssistancelnformation: • If it prefers an adjustment in the connected mode Discontinuous Reception (DRX) cycle length, for the purpose of delay budget reporting; • If it is experiencing internal overheating; • If it prefers certain DRX parameter values, and / or a reduced maximum number of secondary component carriers, and / or a reduced maximum aggregated bandwidth and / or a reduced maximum number of Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) layers and / or minimum scheduling offsets K0 and K2 for power saving purpose; • If it expects not to send or receive any more data in the near future, and in this case, it can provide its preference to transition out of RRCCONNECTED where this indication may express its preferred RRC state, or alternately, it may cancel an earlier indicated preference to transition out of RRC CONNECTED; • If it prefers (not) to be provisioned with reference time information; - • If it prefers to transition out of RRCCONNECTED state for multiple universal subscriber identity modules (MUSIM) operation; • If it wants to include assistance information for setup or release of gaps for MUSIM operation; • The list of frequencies affected by IDC problems; - • Its RRM measurement relaxation status indicating whether RRM measurements relaxation criteria is met or not.

[0060] Regarding to Spectrum Management Services specified in IEEE 802.11, two services specified are to satisfy regulatory requirements for operation in the 5 GHz band. The services supported are Transmit Power Control (TPC) and Dynamic Frequency Selection (DFS).

[0061] TPC is employed to ensure Radio Local Access Networks (RLANs) operating in the 5GHz band use transmit power control to e.g., meet regulatory maximum transmit power levels.

[0062] DFS requires RLANs operating in the 5 GHz band to avoid co-channel operation with radar systems and to provide utilization of available channels.

[0063] When 3GPP RATs have higher priority than Wi-Fi APs within the band or portions of the band. For example, for the U6 GHz one could assume that 3GPP RATs are the primary (or higher priority) service and Wi-Fi is the secondary (or lower priority) service.

[0064] Some proposals for sharing in the upper 6GHz band (U6 GHz) are based on allowing low power indoor Wi-Fi Access points together with 3GPP in at least parts of the band. It is normally assumed that 3GPP signals may cause Wi-Fi AP to determine the channel is occupied and initiate their backoff procedures, however there could be hidden node cases. For example, a Wi-Fi AP located indoors which cannot sense the outdoor 3GPP macro signal on the shared band but a UE located indoors being able to detect both signals (Wi-Fi and 3GPP).

[0065] In these cases, one could assume that the lower priority service (Wi-Fi) should be informed to at least temporarily cease transmission in the shared band, however this may not be the most efficient solution if e.g. the level of the signal measured from the WiFi AP is much larger than the 3GPP macro due to e.g. building entry losses.

[0066] Therefore, a method is expected for selecting the optimal RAT, either 3GPP or non-3GPP of a shared band when both are available.

[0067] According to the example of the present discourse, if a first RAT and a second RAT are available for a UE and there is an overlapped frequency range between the first and the second RATs, the UE may determine which RAT is to be used on the overlapped frequency range and use one of the first and the second RATs on the overlapped frequency range based on the determination.

[0068] In some example embodiments, the first RAT used hereinafter may be referred to as a radio access technology supported by 3GPP and the second RAT used hereinafter may be referred to as Wi-Fi technology. It is noted that such example embodiments described are only for the purpose of illustration without suggesting any limitations. The second RAT used hereinafter may also be referred to as other non-3GPP supported radio access technologies or 3GPP supported radio access technologies same or different than the first RAT. For example, if the first RAT is 6G-based radio access technology, the second RAT may be a 6G- based, 5G-based or 4G-based radio access technology.

[0069] In the context of the present disclosure, “a band” is as an example resource for describing some specific example embodiments of the present disclosure. It is noted that such example embodiments described are only for the purpose of illustration without suggesting any limitations. In the other words, the term “band” used herein may be replaced by any suitable resource, including but not limited to, time resource, frequency resource (including both inband resource and out-of-band resource), spatial resource and / or code resource. Example Environment

[0070] FIG. 2 shows an example communication environment 200 in which example embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented. The network communication 200 includes a first apparatus 210, a second apparatus 220 and a third apparatus 230.

[0071] In the example of FIG. 2, the second apparatus 220 is operated in the first RAT and the third apparatus 230 is operated in the second RAT. Further, the second apparatus 220 and the third apparatus 230 may provide one or more coverage areas, also called as cells. For ease of discussion, the cell provided by the second apparatus 220 is called as the first RAT cell and the cell provided by the second RAT node is call as the second RAT cell. As illustrated in FIG. 2, the second apparatus 220 provide the first RAT cell 220-2 and the third apparatus 230 provided the second RAT cell 230-2.

[0072] It is note that although the second apparatus 220 and the third apparatus 230 are illustrated as two separate apparatuses in FIG. 2, in some other cases, the second apparatus 220 and the third apparatus 230 may be integrated as a single apparatus.

[0073] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus 210 may be comprised in a terminal device / apparatus, e.g., UE, and the second apparatus 220 may be comprised in a network device / apparatus serving the terminal device / apparatus. The network device may be e.g., gNB. The third apparatus 230 may be comprised in a terminal or network device / apparatus, e.g., a Wi-Fi device including a Wi-Fi AP or Wi-Fi STA.

[0074] In the following, for the purpose of illustration, some example embodiments are described with the first apparatus 210 operating as a terminal apparatus, the second apparatus 220 operating as a network apparatus and the third apparatus 230 operating as a terminal or a network apparatus. However, in some example embodiments, operations described in connection with a terminal apparatus may be implemented at a network apparatus or other apparatus, and operations described in connection with a network apparatus may be implemented at a terminal apparatus or other apparatus.

[0075] In some example embodiments, if the first apparatus 210 is a terminal apparatus and the second apparatus 220 is a network apparatus, a link from the second apparatus 220 to the first apparatus 210 is referred to as a downlink (DL), while a link from the first apparatus 210 to the second apparatus 220 is referred to as an uplink (UL). In DL, the second apparatus 220 is a transmitting (TX) apparatus (or a transmitter) and the first apparatus 210 is a receiving (RX) apparatus (or a receiver). In UL, the first apparatus 210 is a TX apparatus (or a transmitter) and the second apparatus 220 is a RX apparatus (or a receiver).

[0076] It is to be understood that the number of devices and their connections shown in first apparatus 210 are only for the purpose of illustration without suggesting any limitation. The communication environment 200 may include any suitable number of devices configured to implementing example embodiments of the present disclosure. Although not shown, it would be appreciated that one or more additional devices may be located in the cell, and one or more additional cells may be deployed in the communication environment 200. It is noted that although illustrated as a network device, the second apparatus 220 may be another device than a network device. Although illustrated as a terminal device, the first apparatus 210 may be another device than a terminal device.

[0077] Communications in the communication environment 200 may be implemented according to any proper communication protocol(s), comprising, but not limited to, cellular communication protocols of the first generation (1G), the second generation (2G), the third generation (3G), the fourth generation (4G), the fifth generation (5G), 5.5G, the sixth generation (6G), and the like, wireless local network communication protocols such as Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 and the like, and / or any other protocols currently known or to be developed in the future. Moreover, the communication may utilize any proper wireless communication technology, comprising but not limited to: Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA), Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), Frequency Division Duplex (FDD), Time Division Duplex (TDD), Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO), Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple (OFDM), Discrete Fourier Transform spread OFDM (DFT-s-OFDM) and / or any other technologies currently known or to be developed in the future. Work Principle and Example Signaling for Communication

[0078] In embodiments of the present disclosure, the UE is allowed to select the RAT to be used on the shared band based on different scenarios. Different options will be described with reference to FIGS. 3-6 as below.

[0079] The reference is now made to FIG. 3, which illustrates a signaling flow 300 of communication in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 3, the signaling chart 300 involves a first apparatus 210, a second apparatus 220 and the third apparatus 230. For the purpose of discussion, reference is made to FIG. 1 to describe the signaling chart 300.

[0080] The first apparatus 210 may support (302) a first RAT and a second RAT. In the following description, the first RAT refers to the 3GPP-based on RAT and the second RAT refers to Wi-Fi-based RAT. It is to be understood that other RATs may also be used in the scope of the present disclosure.

[0081] A band supported by the first RAT and a band supported by the second RAT may have an overlapped frequency range, e.g., upper 6 (U6) GHz may be available for both Wi-Fi and 3GPP. It is to be understood that the overlapped frequency range may be referred to at least part of the U6 GHz.

[0082] FIG. 6 shows an example of how the U6 GHz could be shared between the first RAT (e.g., a 3GPP-based radio access technology) and the second RAT (e.g., Wi-Fi radio access technology). A portion 610 of the band 630 may be shared between the two RATS with 3GPP having higher priority and the remaining part 620 of the band 630 may be for exclusive use of 3GPP. In these types of scenarios where the first apparatus 210 may use a segment of the band for Wi-Fi and another segment for 3GPP, the first apparatus 210 may prioritize parts of the shared band for 3GPP which are contiguous to the 3GPP only part of the band.

[0083] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus 210 is camping on one of the first and the second RATs and detects the other. For example, the first apparatus 210 may camp on 3GPP U 6GHz and detect the Wi-Fi U6 GHz.

[0084] If the first apparatus 210 detects that both first and the second RATs are available and / or the presence of both the first and the second RATs, the first apparatus 210 may determine (304) which RAT is to be used on the overlapped frequency range. For example, the first apparatus 210 may determine with which RAT the maximize spectral efficiency can be achieved.

[0085] As an option, the first apparatus 210 may determine (304) whether the MA-PDU is supported by the first RAT and the second apparatus, i.e., whether the first RAT and the second RAT has a capability for supporting the MA-PDU.

[0086] For example, if the first apparatus 230 determines that MA-PDU is supported via the ATSSS network feature which has been described with reference to FIG. 1, the first apparatus 110 may determine that the second RAT is to be used on the overlapped frequency range. More specifically, in a case where MA-PDU is supported via the ATSSS network feature, the first apparatus 230 may select the Wi-Fi U6 GHz to be employed if e.g. it is not limited by the number of component carriers and MIMO layers configured by the 3GPP network or if higher aggregate throughputs, capacity or performance can be achieved for UL and / or DL if the U6 GHz were employed via the Wi-Fi device, e.g., a Wi-Fi AP.

[0087] Upon a determination of a usage of the second RAT on the overlapped frequency range, e.g., the first apparatus 210 decides to prioritize the usage of Wi-Fi in the U 6GHz band, the first apparatus 210 may transmit (312), to the second apparatus 220, an indication that the overlapped frequency range is temporarily not supported by the first RAT. For example, the indication may be transmitted from the first apparatus 210 to the second apparatus 220 via an RRC UE Assistance Information procedure to the second apparatus 220 (e.g., a 3GPP Node) informing it of its temporal change in capabilities related to at least parts of the U6 GHz band and potentially an estimated duration for this change in capabilities. The duration for the change in capabilities may be based on an estimation of the Wi-Fi connection for the service and type to be transferred.

[0088] It is also possible that the indication may be transmitted from the first apparatus 210 to the second apparatus 220 via performance management function (PMF) protocol, if the MA-PDU is supported via the ATSSS network feature. In this scenario, the second apparatus 220 may be referred to as a UPF (e.g., the UPF 130 shown in FIG. 1).

[0089] Based on the indication received from the first apparatus 210, the second apparatus 220 may cease (314) the scheduling of the first apparatus 210 on the overlapped frequency range. That is, the second apparatus 220 may employ the information of the temporal change in capabilities to adequately schedule / configure the first apparatus 210 within the overlapped frequency range. If the transitions for the U6 GHz band usage are expected to be more dynamic than MAC-CE, physical layer indications may be used by the first apparatus 210 to inform the second apparatus 220 of its changes with respect to support of the overlapped frequency range. The physical layer signaling may be based on, for example, CSI reports where sub-bands not to be scheduled are indicated via CQI values of 0 or other special values.

[0090] In some example embodiments, if the first apparatus 230 determines that the MA-PDU is not supported by the second RAT, the first apparatus 210 may determine that the first RAT is to be used on the overlapped frequency range.

[0091] Alternatively, if the first apparatus 230 determines that a measurement associated with the second RAT does not satisfy a threshold level, the first apparatus 210 may determine that the first RAT is to be used on the overlapped frequency range. The measurement may be a received signal strength or a received signal quality, such as RSRP, RSSI, SINR, CSI and / or RSRQ. The threshold may be configured by an apparatus supporting the first RAT, e.g., the second apparatus 220.

[0092] Alternatively, the first apparatus 210 may determine whether to employ the first RAT or the second RAT on the overlapped frequency range based on its 3 GPP RF filter capabilities or 3GPP carrier aggregation combinations supported or configured by the second apparatus 220.

[0093] In some other embodiments, if the MA-PDU is supported by the first RAT, the first apparatus 210 may transmit (not shown), to a second apparatus 220, an indication for measuring a received signal quality associated with the second RAT. The first apparatus 210 may select, from the first and the second RATs, a RAT to be used on the overlapped frequency range based on the a measurement result obtained from the second apparatus 220. For example, if the measurement result satisfies a threshold level, the first apparatus 210 may determine that the first RAT is to be used on the overlapped frequency range. If not, the first apparatus 210 may determine that the second RAT is to be used on the overlapped frequency range.

[0094] Upon a determination of a usage of the first RAT on the overlapped frequency range, e.g., the first apparatus 210 determines to employ the U 6GHz via the 3GPP RAT, the first apparatus 210 may transmit (306), to the third apparatus 230 (e.g., a Wi-Fi AP), an indication that a second RAT based transmission is to be ceased on the overlapped frequency range and / or a duration for ceasing the second RAT based transmission.

[0095] For example, the indication may be sent from the first apparatus 210 to the third apparatus 230 via a Spectrum Management Action Frame. This Spectrum Management Action Frame may include the overlapped frequency range for which transmissions need to be ceased and duration for which first apparatus 210 requests / estimates the cease of transmissions should last.

[0096] As an example, the first apparatus 210 may determine the duration based on e.g., its average RRC connection duration which can be service-specific, e.g., for voice calls, it may last 3 minutes and for data only sessions, it may last 30 seconds.

[0097] The first apparatus 210 may transmit additional Spectrum Management Action Frames to the third apparatus 230, to cease the transmission on the Wi-Fi U 6GHz, whenever it detects Wi-Fi activity in the U 6GHz, or a Wi-Fi device broadcasts its intention to use the overlapped frequency range. In this case, the indication for ceasing the transmission of Wi-Fi device may be sent from the first apparatus 210 to the third apparatus 230 via a public action frame.

[0098] Upon receiving the indication for ceasing the transmission, the third apparatus 230 may determine (308) a transmission ceasing duration based on the indication and / or one or more requests for ceasing the transmission received from at least one other device.

[0099] The third apparatus 230 may be e.g., configured with max duration for ceased transmissions in overlapped frequency range and hence may apply the duration of the ceased transmissions to be the minimum of the value requested by the first apparatus 210 and its configured max value. It is to be understood that the parts of the 6GHz sub-band in which to cease transmission requested per UE may be different (e.g., when UEs are measuring different radio conditions or using different criterions for selection) hence the Wi-Fi AP must combine the requests to determine its allowed transmissions in the U6 GHz band.

[0100] The third apparatus 230 may also broadcast (310), e.g., to its associated devices, on a band outside the overlapped frequency range where the transmission has ceased temporarily, an indication of the overlapped frequency range and / or a duration for ceasing the transmissions via e.g., a beacon frame.

[0101] Then the first apparatus 210 may operate (316) on the overlapped frequency range by using the selected RAT. The first apparatus 210, independently of the decision taken for the use of the overlapped frequency range, may also continue to monitor the other RAT.

[0102] For example, If the second RAT (e.g., a Wi-Fi access) was selected for the overlapped frequency range usage, the first apparatus 210 may monitor the radio conditions of the second apparatus 220 (e.g., a 3GPP node), in case it wants to change its prioritization for the overlapped frequency range usage. The first apparatus 210 may also use its U 6GHz 3GPP receiver for interference cancellation. As an example, the first apparatus 210 may cancel out U 6GHz 3GPP SSB transmissions to improve the performance of its Wi-Fi connectivity.

[0103] If the first RAT (e.g., the 3GPP access) was selected for usage in the overlapped frequency range usage, the first apparatus 210 may continue to monitor the third apparatus 230 (e.g., a Wi-Fi AP) to ensure they have ceased transmission for the duration of time the first apparatus 210 is employing U6 GHz on via the 3GPP access.

[0104] The reference is now made to FIG. 4, which illustrates a signaling flow 400 of communication in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 4, the signaling chart 400 involves a first apparatus 210, a second apparatus 220 and the third apparatus 230. For the purpose of discussion, reference is made to FIG. 1 to describe the signaling chart 400.

[0105] The first apparatus 210 may support (402) a first RAT and a second RAT. In the following description, the first RAT refers to the 3GPP-based on RAT and the second RAT refers to Wi-Fi-based RAT. It is to be understood that other RATs may also be used in the scope of the present disclosure.

[0106] A band supported by the first RAT and a band supported by the second RAT may have an overlapped frequency range, e.g., U6 GHz may be available for both Wi-Fi and 3GPP. It is to be understood that the overlapped frequency range may be referred to at least part of the U6 GHz.

[0107] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus 210 is camping on one of the first and the second RATs and detects the other. For example, the first apparatus 210 may camp on 3GPP U 6GHz and detect the Wi-Fi U6 GHz.

[0108] If the first apparatus 210 detects that both first and the second RATs are available and / or the presence of both the first and the second RATs, the first apparatus 210 may determine (404) which RAT is to be used on the overlapped frequency range. For example, the first apparatus 210 may determine with which RAT the maximize spectral efficiency can be achieved.

[0109] As another option, the first apparatus 210 may determine (404) a service type and / or a usage condition required by the first apparatus 210 related to a radio access.

[0110] For example, if the service type required by the first apparatus 210 is not supported by accessing a network supported by the second RAT, e.g., if Wi-Fi does not support VoWiFi, the first apparatus 210 may use the first RAT on the overlapped frequency range.

[0111] By contrast, if the service type required by the first apparatus 210 is supported by accessing a network supported by the second RAT, the first apparatus 210 may use the second RAT on the overlapped frequency range, e.g., to achieve the maximize spectral efficiency.

[0112] As another example, if a security level required by the service type is not supported by accessing a network supported by the second RAT, the first apparatus 210 may use the first RAT on the overlapped band.

[0113] By contrast, if the security level required by the service type is supported by accessing a network supported by the second RAT, the first apparatus 210 may use the first RAT on the overlapped band.

[0114] It is also possible that if the service type is prioritized for the radio access via the second RAT, the first apparatus 210 may use the second RAT on the overlapped band. For example, the prioritization may be provided by a second apparatus 220.

[0115] As still another example, during a usage time interval of the radio access, if a transmission throughput achievable by using the second RAT is higher than a transmission throughput achievable by using the first RAT, the first apparatus 210 may use the second RAT on the overlapped frequency range. For example, during office hours, the higher security of the 3GPP network is preferred over maybe the higher throughputs available via the Wi-Fi network. This can be configured by the end user in the device and / or some guidance could be provided by the 3GPP network to the first apparatus 210 to prefer the Wi-Fi U6 GHz during the periods and therefore the benefits of network energy savings may be achieved at 3GPP node.

[0116] Upon a determination of a usage of the second RAT on the overlapped frequency range, e.g., the first apparatus 210 decides to prioritize the usage of Wi-Fi in the U 6GHz band, the first apparatus 210 may transmit (412), to the second apparatus 220, an indication that the overlapped frequency range is temporarily not supported by the first RAT. For example, the indication may be transmitted from the first apparatus 210 to the second apparatus 220 via an RRC UE Assistance Information procedure to the second apparatus 220 (e.g., a 3GPP Node) informing it of its temporal change in capabilities related to at least parts of the U6 GHz band and potentially an estimated duration for this change in capabilities. The duration for the change in capabilities may be based on an estimation of the Wi-Fi connection for the service and type to be transferred.

[0117] Based on the indication received from the first apparatus 210, the second apparatus 220 may cease (414) the scheduling of the first apparatus 210 on the overlapped frequency range. That is, the second apparatus 220 may employ the information of the temporal change in capabilities to adequately schedule / configure the first apparatus 210 within the overlapped frequency range. If the transitions for the U6 GHz band usage are expected to be more dynamic than MAC-CE, physical layer indications may be used by the first apparatus 210 to inform the second apparatus 220 of its changes with respect to support of the overlapped frequency range. The physical layer signaling may be based on, for example, CSI reports where sub-bands not to be scheduled are indicated via CQI values of 0 or other special values.

[0118] Upon a determination of a usage of the first RAT on the overlapped frequency range, e.g., the first apparatus 210 determines to employ the U 6GHz via the 3GPP RAT, the first apparatus 210 may transmit (406), to the third apparatus 230 (e.g., a Wi-Fi AP), an indication that a second RAT based transmission is to be ceased on the overlapped frequency range and / or a duration for ceasing the second RAT based transmission.

[0119] For example, the indication may be sent from the first apparatus 210 to the third apparatus 230 via a Spectrum Management Action Frame. This Spectrum Management Action Frame may include the overlapped frequency range for which transmissions need to be ceased and duration for which first apparatus 210 requests / estimates the cease of transmissions should last.

[0120] As an example, the first apparatus 210 may determine the duration based on e.g., its average RRC connection duration which can be service-specific, e.g., for voice calls, it may last 3 minutes and for data only sessions, it may last 30 seconds.

[0121] The first apparatus 210 may transmit additional Spectrum Management Action Frames to the third apparatus 230, to cease the transmission on the Wi-Fi U 6GHz, whenever it detects Wi-Fi activity in the U 6GHz, or a Wi-Fi device broadcasts its intention to use the overlapped frequency range. In this case, the indication for ceasing the transmission of Wi-Fi device may be sent from the first apparatus 210 to the third apparatus 230 via a public action frame.

[0122] Upon receiving the indication for ceasing the transmission, the third apparatus 230 may determine (408) a transmission ceasing duration based on the indication and / or one or more requests for ceasing the transmission received from at least one other device.

[0123] The third apparatus 230 may be e.g., configured with max duration for ceased transmissions in overlapped frequency range and hence may apply the duration of the ceased transmissions to be the minimum of the value requested by the first apparatus 210 and its configured max value. It is to be understood that the parts of the 6GHz sub-band in which to cease transmission requested per UE may be different (e.g., when UEs are measuring different radio conditions or using different criterions for selection) hence the Wi-Fi AP must combine the requests to determine its allowed transmissions in the U6 GHz band.

[0124] The third apparatus 230 may also broadcast (410), e.g., to its associated devices, on a band outside the overlapped frequency range where the transmission has ceased temporarily, an indication of the overlapped frequency range and / or a duration for ceasing the transmissions via e.g., a beacon frame.

[0125] Then the first apparatus 210 may operate (416) on the overlapped frequency range by using the selected RAT. The first apparatus 210, independently of the decision taken for the use of the overlapped frequency range, may also continue to monitor the other RAT.

[0126] For example, If the second RAT (e.g., a Wi-Fi access) was selected for the overlapped frequency range usage, the first apparatus 210 may monitor the radio conditions of the second apparatus 220 (e.g., a 3GPP node), in case it wants to change its prioritization for the overlapped frequency range usage. The first apparatus 210 may also use its U 6GHz 3GPP receiver for interference cancellation. As an example, the first apparatus 210 may cancel out U 6GHz 3GPP SSB transmissions to improve the performance of its Wi-Fi connectivity.

[0127] If the first RAT (e.g., the 3GPP access) was selected for usage in the overlapped frequency range usage, the first apparatus 210 may continue to monitor the third apparatus 230 (e.g., a Wi-Fi AP) to ensure they have ceased transmission for the duration of time the first apparatus 210 is employing U6 GHz on via the 3GPP access.

[0128] The reference is now made to FIG. 5, which illustrates a signaling flow 500 of communication in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 5, the signaling chart 500 involves a first apparatus 210, a second apparatus 220 and the third apparatus 230. For the purpose of discussion, reference is made to FIG. 1 to describe the signaling chart 500.

[0129] The first apparatus 210 may support (502) a first RAT and a second RAT. In the following description, the first RAT refers to the 3GPP-based on RAT and the second RAT refers to Wi-Fi-based RAT. It is to be understood that other RATs may also be used in the scope of the present disclosure.

[0130] A band supported by the first RAT and a band supported by the second RAT may have an overlapped frequency range, e.g., U6 GHz may be available for both Wi-Fi and 3GPP. It is to be understood that the overlapped frequency range may be referred to at least part of the U6 GHz.

[0131] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus 210 is camping on one of the first and the second RATs and detects the other. For example, the first apparatus 210 may camp on 3GPP U 6GHz and detect the Wi-Fi U6 GHz.

[0132] If the first apparatus 210 detects that both first and the second RATs are available and / or the presence of both the first and the second RATs, the first apparatus 210 may determine (504) which RAT is to be used on the overlapped frequency range. For example, the first apparatus 210 may determine with which RAT the maximize spectral efficiency can be achieved.

[0133] As still another option, if the first apparatus 210 receives (504), from at least one other apparatus, an indication that a third apparatus 230 is requested to be suspended within a time interval, the first apparatus 210 may use the first RAT on the overlapped frequency range based on the indication. The at least one other apparatus used herein may be referred to as other devices having an association with the third apparatus 230.

[0134] For example, if other devices have requested the third apparatus 230 (e.g., a WiFi AP) for a temporary suspension of its U 6GHz transmissions, the first apparatus 210 may prefer the U 6GHz to be employed by the first RAT (e.g., a 3GPP based RAT) at least temporarily, the first apparatus 210 may receive this information via e.g., the beacon signal or broadcast signal of the third apparatus 230.

[0135] Upon a determination of a usage of the first RAT on the overlapped frequency range, e.g., the first apparatus 210 determines to employ the U 6GHz via the 3GPP RAT, the first apparatus 210 may transmit (506), to the third apparatus 230 (e.g., a Wi-Fi AP), an indication that a second RAT based transmission is to be ceased on the overlapped frequency range and / or a duration for ceasing the second RAT based transmission.

[0136] For example, the indication may be sent from the first apparatus 210 to the third apparatus 230 via a Spectrum Management Action Frame. This Spectrum Management Action Frame may include the overlapped frequency range for which transmissions need to be ceased and duration for which first apparatus 210 requests / estimates the cease of transmissions should last.

[0137] As an example, the first apparatus 210 may determine the duration based on e.g., its average RRC connection duration which can be service-specific, e.g., for voice calls, it may last 3 minutes and for data only sessions, it may last 30 seconds.

[0138] The first apparatus 210 may transmit additional Spectrum Management Action Frames to the third apparatus 230, to cease the transmission on the Wi-Fi U 6GHz, whenever it detects Wi-Fi activity in the U 6GHz, or a Wi-Fi device broadcasts its intention to use the overlapped frequency range. In this case, the indication for ceasing the transmission of Wi-Fi device may be sent from the first apparatus 210 to the third apparatus 230 via a public action frame.

[0139] Upon receiving the indication for ceasing the transmission, the third apparatus 230 may determine (508) a transmission ceasing duration based on the indication and / or one or more requests for ceasing the transmission received from at least one other device.

[0140] The third apparatus 230 may be e.g., configured with max duration for ceased transmissions in overlapped frequency range and hence may apply the duration of the ceased transmissions to be the minimum of the value requested by the first apparatus 210 and its configured max value. It is to be understood that the parts of the 6GHz sub-band in which to cease transmission requested per UE may be different (e.g., when UEs are measuring different radio conditions or using different criterions for selection) hence the Wi-Fi AP must combine the requests to determine its allowed transmissions in the U6 GHz band.

[0141] The third apparatus 230 may also broadcast (510), e.g., to its associated devices, on a band outside the overlapped frequency range where the transmission has ceased temporarily, an indication of the overlapped frequency range and / or a duration for ceasing the transmissions via e.g., a beacon frame.

[0142] Then the first apparatus 210 may operate (512) on the overlapped frequency range by using the selected RAT. The first apparatus 210, independently of the decision taken for the use of the overlapped frequency range, may also continue to monitor the other RAT.

[0143] For example, If the second RAT (e.g., a Wi-Fi access) was selected for the overlapped frequency range usage, the first apparatus 210 may monitor the radio conditions of the second apparatus 220 (e.g., a 3GPP node), in case it wants to change its prioritization for the overlapped frequency range usage. The first apparatus 210 may also use its U 6GHz 3GPP receiver for interference cancellation. As an example, the first apparatus 210 may cancel out U 6GHz 3GPP SSB transmissions to improve the performance of its Wi-Fi connectivity.

[0144] If the first RAT (e.g., the 3GPP access) was selected for usage in the overlapped frequency range usage, the first apparatus 210 may continue to monitor the third apparatus 230 (e.g., a Wi-Fi AP) to ensure they have ceased transmission for the duration of time the first apparatus 210 is employing U6 GHz on via the 3GPP access.

[0145] In this way, better sharing with Wi-Fi and 3GPP is enabled by allowing UE to determine which RAT to employ in each scenario and therefore maximize spectral efficiency and spectrum usage can be better than other schemes which are based on just one RAT having higher priority. Furthermore, complex listen before talk procedures on 3GPP side to enable the sharing can be avoided. Example Method

[0146] FIG. 7 shows a flowchart of an example method 700 implemented at a first apparatus in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, the method 700 will be described from the perspective of the first apparatus 210 in FIG. 1.

[0147] At block 710, in accordance with a determination that a first RAT and a second RAT are available for the first apparatus and there is an overlapped frequency range between the first and the second RATs, at block 720, if the first apparatus determines whether MA-PDU is supported by the first or the second RATs, at block 730, the first apparatus uses one of the first and the second RATs on the overlapped frequency range.

[0148] In some example embodiments, the method 700 further comprises: in accordance with a determination that the MA-PDU is supported via ATSSS, using the second RAT on the overlapped frequency range.

[0149] In some example embodiments, the method 700 further comprises: transmitting, to a second apparatus supporting the first RAT, an indication that the overlapped frequency range is temporarily not supported by the first RAT.

[0150] In some example embodiments, the indication is transmitted as a user equipment, UE, assistance information or by using performance management function, PMF, protocol.

[0151] In some example embodiments, the method 700 further comprises: in accordance with a determination that the MA-PDU is not supported by the second RAT, using the first RAT on the overlapped frequency range.

[0152] In some example embodiments, the method 700 further comprises: in accordance with a determination that the MA-PDU is supported by the second RAT but a measurement associated with the second RAT does not satisfy a threshold level, using the first RAT on the overlapped frequency range, wherein the measurement is a received signal strength or a received signal quality, and wherein the threshold is configured by an apparatus of the first RAT.

[0153] In some example embodiments, the method 700 further comprises: in accordance with a determination that at least one of radio frequency filter capability or carrier aggregation capability of the first apparatus associated with the first RAT satisfies a threshold level, using the first RAT on the overlapped frequency range.

[0154] In some example embodiments, the method 700 further comprises: in accordance with a determination that the MA-PDU is supported by the first RAT, transmitting to a second apparatus supporting the first RAT, an indication for measuring a received signal quality associated with the second RAT; and using one of the first and the second RATs on the overlapped frequency range based on a measurement result obtained from the second apparatus.

[0155] In some example embodiments, the method 700 further comprises: in accordance with a determination that the first RAT is to be used on the overlapped frequency range, transmitting to a third apparatus supporting the second RAT, an indication that a second RAT based transmission is to be ceased on the overlapped frequency range and / or a duration for ceasing the second RAT based transmission.

[0156] In some example embodiments, the indication is transmitted via a spectrum management action frame.

[0157] In some example embodiments, the method 700 further comprises: in accordance with a determination that an activity of the third apparatus supporting the second RAT is detected after determining the first RAT is to be used on the overlapped frequency range, transmitting the indication via a public action frame.

[0158] In some example embodiments, the overlapped frequency range is within the bands employed by the first RAT and second RAT.

[0159] In some example embodiments, the overlapped frequency range is part of at least the first or second RATs out band emission range.

[0160] In some example embodiments, the overlapped frequency range belongs to an upper 6 gigahertz band.

[0161] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus comprises a terminal device.

[0162] FIG. 8 shows a flowchart of an example method 800 implemented at a third apparatus in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, the method 800 will be described from the perspective of the third apparatus 230 in FIG. 1.

[0163] At block 810, third apparatus 230 receives, from a first apparatus, an indication that a transmission related to a RAT supported by the third apparatus is to be ceased on a specific band and / or a duration for ceasing the transmission, wherein the RAT is supported on the specific band which is overlapped with an available band of a further RAT.

[0164] At block 820, third apparatus 230 ceases the transmission of the specific band based on the indication.

[0165] In some example embodiments, the method 800 further comprises: determining a transmission ceasing duration based on the indication and / or one or more requests for ceasing the transmission received from at least one other device.

[0166] In some example embodiments, the method 800 further comprises: broadcasting, on a band outside an overlapped frequency range between the RAT and the further RAT where the transmission has ceased temporarily, at least one of the following: an indication of the overlapped frequency range; or a duration for ceasing the transmissions.

[0167] In some example embodiments, the indication is received via a spectrum management action frame or a public action frame.

[0168] In some example embodiments, the third apparatus comprises a Wi-Fi device.

[0169] FIG. 9 shows a flowchart of an example method 900 implemented at a first apparatus in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, the method 900 will be described from the perspective of the first apparatus 210 in FIG. 1.

[0170] At block 910, in accordance with a determination that a first RAT and a second RAT are available for the first apparatus and there is an overlapped frequency range between the first and the second RATs, at block 920, the first apparatus determines a service type and / or a usage condition required by the first apparatus related to a radio access.

[0171] At block 930, the first apparatus uses one of the first and the second RATs on the overlapped frequency range based on the determination.

[0172] In some example embodiments, the method 900 further comprises: in accordance with a determination that the service type required by the first apparatus is not supported by accessing a network supported by the second RAT, using the first RAT on the overlapped frequency range.

[0173] In some example embodiments, the method 900 further comprises: in accordance with a determination that the service type required by the first apparatus is supported by accessing a network supported by the second RAT, using the second RAT on the overlapped frequency range.

[0174] In some example embodiments, the method 900 further comprises: in accordance with a determination that the security level required by the service type is not supported by accessing a network supported by the second RAT, using the first RAT on the overlapped band.

[0175] In some example embodiments, the method 900 further comprises: in accordance with a determination that the security level required by the service type is not supported by accessing a network supported by the first RAT, using the second RAT on the overlapped band.

[0176] In some example embodiments, the method 900 further comprises: in accordance with a determination that the service type is prioritized for the radio access via the second RAT, using the second RAT on the overlapped band, wherein the prioritization is provided by a second apparatus supporting the first RAT.

[0177] In some example embodiments, the method 900 further comprises: in accordance with a determination that, during a usage time interval of the radio access, a transmission throughput achievable by using the second RAT is higher than a transmission throughput achievable by using the first RAT, using the second RAT on the overlapped frequency range.

[0178] In some example embodiments, the first RAT is the third-generation partnership project, 3GPP, based RAT and the second RAT is Wi-Fi based RAT.

[0179] In some example embodiments, the method 900 further comprises: in accordance with a determination that the second RAT is to be used on the overlapped frequency range, transmitting to a second apparatus supporting the first RAT, an indication that the overlapped frequency range is temporarily not supported by the first RAT.

[0180] In some example embodiments, the indication is transmitted as a user equipment, UE, assistance information.

[0181] In some example embodiments, the method 900 further comprises: in accordance with a determination that the first RAT is to be used on the overlapped frequency range, transmitting to a third apparatus supporting the second RAT, an indication that a second RAT based transmission is to be ceased on the overlapped frequency range and / or a duration for ceasing the second RAT based transmission.

[0182] In some example embodiments, the indication is transmitted via a spectrum management action frame.

[0183] In some example embodiments, the method 900 further comprises: in accordance with a determination that an activity of the third apparatus supporting the second RAT is detected after determining the first RAT is to be used on the overlapped frequency range, transmitting the indication via a public action frame.

[0184] In some example embodiments, the overlapped frequency range is within the bands employed by the first RAT and second RAT.

[0185] In some example embodiments, the overlapped frequency range is part of at least the first or second RATs out band emission range.

[0186] In some example embodiments, the overlapped frequency range belongs to an upper 6 gigahertz band.

[0187] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus comprises a terminal device.

[0188] FIG. 10 shows a flowchart of an example method 1000 implemented at a first apparatus in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, the method 1000 will be described from the perspective of the first apparatus 210 in FIG. 1.

[0189] At block 1010, the first apparatus determines that a first radio access technology, RAT, and a second RAT are available for the first apparatus and there is an overlapped frequency range between the first and the second RATs.

[0190] At block 1020, in accordance with a determination that an indication, that a third apparatus supporting the second RAT is requested to be suspended within a time interval, is received by the first apparatus, at block 1030, the first apparatus uses the first RAT on the overlapped frequency range based on the determination.

[0191] In some example embodiments, the method 1000 further comprises: transmitting, to the second apparatus supporting the second RAT, an indication that a second RAT based transmission is to be ceased on the overlapped frequency range and / or a duration for ceasing the second RAT based transmission.

[0192] In some example embodiments, the indication is transmitted via a spectrum management action frame.

[0193] In some example embodiments, the method 1000 further comprises: in accordance with a determination that an activity of the third apparatus supporting the second RAT is detected after determining the first RAT is to be used on the overlapped frequency range, transmitting the indication via a public action frame.

[0194] In some example embodiments, the overlapped frequency range is within the bands employed by the first RAT and second RAT.

[0195] In some example embodiments, the overlapped frequency range is part of at least the first or second RATs out band emission range.

[0196] In some example embodiments, the overlapped frequency range belongs to an upper 6 gigahertz band.

[0197] In some example embodiments, the first RAT is the third-generation partnership project, 3GPP, based RAT and the second RAT is Wi-Fi based RAT.

[0198] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus comprises a terminal device and the third apparatus comprises a Wi-Fi device.

[0199] FIG. 11 shows a flowchart of an example method 1100 implemented at a third apparatus in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, the method 1100 will be described from the perspective of the third apparatus 230 in FIG. 1.

[0200] At block 1110, the third apparatus 230 receives, from a first apparatus, an indication that a transmission related to a RAT supported by the third apparatus is to be ceased on a specific band and / or a duration for ceasing the transmission, wherein the RAT is supported on the specific band which is overlapped with an available band of a further RAT.

[0201] At block 1120, third apparatus 230 ceases the transmission of the specific band based on the indication.

[0202] In some example embodiments, the method 1100 further comprises: determining a transmission ceasing duration based on the indication and / or one or more requests for ceasing the transmission received from at least one other device.

[0203] In some example embodiments, the method 1100 further comprises: broadcasting, on a band outside an overlapped frequency range between the RAT and the further RAT where the transmission has ceased temporarily, at least one of the following: an indication of the overlapped frequency range; or a duration for ceasing the transmissions.

[0204] In some example embodiments, the indication is received via a spectrum management action frame or a public action frame.

[0205] In some example embodiments, the third apparatus comprises a Wi-Fi device.

[0206] In some example embodiments, a first apparatus capable of performing any of the method 700 (for example, the first apparatus 210 in FIG. 1) may comprise means for performing the respective operations of the method 700. The means may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the means may be implemented in a circuitry or software module. The first apparatus may be implemented as or included in the first apparatus 210 in FIG. 1.

[0207] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus comprises means for in accordance with a determination that a first RAT and a second RAT are available for the first apparatus and there is an overlapped frequency range between the first and the second RATs, determining whether multiple access protocol data unit, MA-PDU, is supported by the first or the second RATs; and means for in accordance with a determination that the MA-PDU is supported by the first or the second RATs, using one of the first and the second RATs on the overlapped frequency range.

[0208] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for in accordance with a determination that the MA-PDU is supported via ATSSS, using the second RAT on the overlapped frequency range.

[0209] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for transmitting, to a second apparatus supporting the first RAT, an indication that the overlapped frequency range is temporarily not supported by the first RAT.

[0210] In some example embodiments, the indication is transmitted as a user equipment, UE, assistance information or by using performance management function, PMF, protocol.

[0211] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for in accordance with a determination that the MA-PDU is not supported by the second RAT, using the first RAT on the overlapped frequency range.

[0212] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for in accordance with a determination that the MA-PDU is supported by the second RAT but a measurement associated with the second RAT does not satisfy a threshold level, using the first RAT on the overlapped frequency range, wherein the measurement is a received signal strength or a received signal quality, and wherein the threshold is configured by an apparatus of the first RAT.

[0213] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for in accordance with a determination that at least one of radio frequency filter capability or carrier aggregation capability of the first apparatus associated with the first RAT satisfies a threshold level, using the first RAT on the overlapped frequency range.

[0214] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for in accordance with a determination that the MA-PDU is supported by the first RAT, transmitting to a second apparatus supporting the first RAT, an indication for measuring a received signal quality associated with the second RAT; and means for using one of the first and the second RATs on the overlapped frequency range based on a measurement result obtained from the second apparatus.

[0215] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for in accordance with a determination that the first RAT is to be used on the overlapped frequency range, transmitting to a third apparatus supporting the second RAT, an indication that a second RAT based transmission is to be ceased on the overlapped frequency range and / or a duration for ceasing the second RAT based transmission.

[0216] In some example embodiments, the indication is transmitted via a spectrum management action frame.

[0217] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for in accordance with a determination that an activity of the third apparatus supporting the second RAT is detected after determining the first RAT is to be used on the overlapped frequency range, transmitting the indication via a public action frame.

[0218] In some example embodiments, the overlapped frequency range is within the bands employed by the first RAT and second RAT.

[0219] In some example embodiments, the overlapped frequency range is part of at least the first or second RATs out band emission range.

[0220] In some example embodiments, the overlapped frequency range belongs to an upper 6 gigahertz band.

[0221] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus comprises a terminal device.

[0222] In some example embodiments, a third apparatus capable of performing any of the method 800 (for example, the third apparatus 230 in FIG. 1) may comprise means for performing the respective operations of the method 1100. The means may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the means may be implemented in a circuitry or software module. The third apparatus may be implemented as or included in the third apparatus 230 in FIG. 1.

[0223] In some example embodiments, the third apparatus comprises means for receiving, from a first apparatus, an indication that a transmission related to a RAT supported by the third apparatus is to be ceased on a specific band and / or a duration for ceasing the transmission, wherein the RAT is supported on the specific band which is overlapped with an available band of a further RAT; and means for ceasing the transmission of the specific band based on the indication.

[0224] In some example embodiments, the third apparatus further comprises: means for determining a transmission ceasing duration based on the indication and / or one or more requests for ceasing the transmission received from at least one other device.

[0225] In some example embodiments, the third apparatus further comprises: means for broadcasting, on a band outside an overlapped frequency range between the RAT and the further RAT where the transmission has ceased temporarily, at least one of the following: an indication of the overlapped frequency range; or a duration for ceasing the transmissions.

[0226] In some example embodiments, the indication is received via a spectrum management action frame or a public action frame.

[0227] In some example embodiments, the third apparatus comprises a Wi-Fi device.

[0228] In some example embodiments, a first apparatus capable of performing any of the method 900 (for example, the first apparatus 210 in FIG. 1) may comprise means for performing the respective operations of the method 700. The means may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the means may be implemented in a circuitry or software module. The first apparatus may be implemented as or included in the first apparatus 210 in FIG. 1.

[0229] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus comprises means for in accordance with a determination that a first RAT and a second RAT are available for the first apparatus and there is an overlapped frequency range between the first and the second RATs, determine a service type and / or a usage condition required by the first apparatus related to a radio access; and means for using one of the first and the second RATs on the overlapped frequency range based on the determination.

[0230] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for in accordance with a determination that the service type required by the first apparatus is not supported by accessing a network supported by the second RAT, using the first RAT on the overlapped frequency range.

[0231] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for in accordance with a determination that the service type required by the first apparatus is supported by accessing a network supported by the second RAT, using the second RAT on the overlapped frequency range

[0232] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for in accordance with a determination that the security level required by the service type is not supported by accessing a network supported by the second RAT, using the first RAT on the overlapped band.

[0233] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for in accordance with a determination that the security level required by the service type is not supported by accessing a network supported by the first RAT, using the second RAT on the overlapped band.

[0234] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for in accordance with a determination that the service type is prioritized for the radio access via the second RAT, using the second RAT on the overlapped band, wherein the prioritization is provided by a second apparatus supporting the first RAT.

[0235] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for in accordance with a determination that, during a usage time interval of the radio access, a transmission throughput achievable by using the second RAT is higher than a transmission throughput achievable by using the first RAT, using the second RAT on the overlapped frequency range.

[0236] In some example embodiments, the first RAT is the third-generation partnership project, 3GPP, based RAT and the second RAT is Wi-Fi based RAT.

[0237] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for in accordance with a determination that the second RAT is to be used on the overlapped frequency range, transmitting to a second apparatus supporting the first RAT, an indication that the overlapped frequency range is temporarily not supported by the first RAT.

[0238] In some example embodiments, the indication is transmitted as a user equipment, UE, assistance information.

[0239] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for in accordance with a determination that the first RAT is to be used on the overlapped frequency range, transmitting to a third apparatus supporting the second RAT, an indication that a second RAT based transmission is to be ceased on the overlapped frequency range and / or a duration for ceasing the second RAT based transmission.

[0240] In some example embodiments, the indication is transmitted via a spectrum management action frame.

[0241] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for in accordance with a determination that an activity of the third apparatus supporting the second RAT is detected after determining the first RAT is to be used on the overlapped frequency range, transmitting the indication via a public action frame.

[0242] In some example embodiments, the overlapped frequency range is within the bands employed by the first RAT and second RAT.

[0243] In some example embodiments, the overlapped frequency range is part of at least the first or second RATs out band emission range.

[0244] In some example embodiments, the overlapped frequency range belongs to an upper 6 gigahertz band.

[0245] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus comprises a terminal device.

[0246] In some example embodiments, a first apparatus capable of performing any of the method 1000 (for example, the first apparatus 210 in FIG. 1) may comprise means for performing the respective operations of the method 700. The means may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the means may be implemented in a circuitry or software module. The first apparatus may be implemented as or included in the first apparatus 210 in FIG. 1.

[0247] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus comprises means for determining that a first radio access technology, RAT, and a second RAT are available for the first apparatus and there is an overlapped frequency range between the first and the second RATs; and means for in accordance with a determination that an indication, that a third apparatus supporting the second RAT is requested to be suspended within a time interval, is received by the first apparatus, use the first RAT on the overlapped frequency range based on the determination.

[0248] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for transmitting, to the second apparatus supporting the second RAT, an indication that a second RAT based transmission is to be ceased on the overlapped frequency range and / or a duration for ceasing the second RAT based transmission.

[0249] In some example embodiments, the indication is transmitted via a spectrum management action frame.

[0250] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for in accordance with a determination that an activity of the third apparatus supporting the second RAT is detected after determining the first RAT is to be used on the overlapped frequency range, transmitting the indication via a public action frame.

[0251] In some example embodiments, the overlapped frequency range is within the bands employed by the first RAT and second RAT.

[0252] In some example embodiments, the overlapped frequency range is part of at least the first or second RATs out band emission range.

[0253] In some example embodiments, the overlapped frequency range belongs to an upper 6 gigahertz band.

[0254] In some example embodiments, the first RAT is the third-generation partnership project, 3GPP, based RAT and the second RAT is Wi-Fi based RAT.

[0255] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus comprises a terminal device and the third apparatus comprises a Wi-Fi device.

[0256] In some example embodiments, a third apparatus capable of performing any of the method 1100 (for example, the third apparatus 230 in FIG. 1) may comprise means for performing the respective operations of the method 1100. The means may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the means may be implemented in a circuitry or software module. The third apparatus may be implemented as or included in the third apparatus 230 in FIG. 1.

[0257] In some example embodiments, the third apparatus comprises means for receiving, from a first apparatus, an indication that a transmission related to a RAT supported by the third apparatus is to be ceased on a specific band and / or a duration for ceasing the transmission, wherein the RAT is supported on the specific band which is overlapped with an available band of a further RAT; and means for ceasing the transmission of the specific band based on the indication.

[0258] In some example embodiments, the third apparatus further comprises: means for determining a transmission ceasing duration based on the indication and / or one or more requests for ceasing the transmission received from at least one other device.

[0259] In some example embodiments, the third apparatus further comprises: means for broadcasting, on a band outside an overlapped frequency range between the RAT and the further RAT where the transmission has ceased temporarily, at least one of the following: an indication of the overlapped frequency range; or a duration for ceasing the transmissions.

[0260] In some example embodiments, the indication is received via a spectrum management action frame or a public action frame.

[0261] In some example embodiments, the third apparatus comprises a Wi-Fi device.

[0262] FIG. 12 is a simplified block diagram of a device 1200 that is suitable for implementing example embodiments of the present disclosure. The device 1200 may be provided to implement a communication device, for example, the first apparatus 210 or the third apparatus 230 as shown in FIG. 1. As shown, the device 1200 includes one or more processors 1210, one or more memories 1220 coupled to the processor 1210, and one or more communication modules 1240 coupled to the processor 1210.

[0263] The communication module 1240 is for bidirectional communications. The communication module 1240 has one or more communication interfaces to facilitate communication with one or more other modules or devices. The communication interfaces may represent any interface that is necessary for communication with other network elements. In some example embodiments, the communication module 1240 may include at least one antenna.

[0264] The processor 1210 may be of any type suitable to the local technical network and may include one or more of the following: general purpose computers, special purpose computers, microprocessors, digital signal processors (DSPs) and processors based on multicore processor architecture, as non-limiting examples. The device 1200 may have multiple processors, such as an application specific integrated circuit chip that is slaved in time to a clock which synchronizes the main processor.

[0265] The memory 1220 may include one or more non-volatile memories and one or more volatile memories. Examples of the non-volatile memories include, but are not limited to, a Read Only Memory (ROM) 1224, an electrically programmable read only memory (EPROM), a flash memory, a hard disk, a compact disc (CD), a digital video disk (DVD), an optical disk, a laser disk, and other magnetic storage and / or optical storage. Examples of the volatile memories include, but are not limited to, a random-access memory (RAM) 1222 and other volatile memories that will not last in the power-down duration.

[0266] A computer program 1230 includes computer executable instructions that are executed by the associated processor 1210. The instructions of the program 1230 may include instructions for performing operations / acts of some example embodiments of the present disclosure. The program 1230 may be stored in the memory, e.g., the ROM 1224. The processor 1210 may perform any suitable actions and processing by loading the program 1230 into the RAM 1222.

[0267] The example embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented by means of the program 1230 so that the device 1200 may perform any process of the disclosure as discussed with reference to FIG. 2 to FIG. 11. The example embodiments of the present disclosure may also be implemented by hardware or by a combination of software and hardware.

[0268] In some example embodiments, the program 1230 may be tangibly contained in a computer readable medium which may be included in the device 1200 (such as in the memory 1220) or other storage devices that are accessible by the device 1200. The device 1200 may load the program 1230 from the computer readable medium to the RAM 1222 for execution. In some example embodiments, the computer readable medium may include any types of non-transitory storage medium, such as ROM, EPROM, a flash memory, a hard disk, CD, DVD, and the like. The term “non-transitory,” as used herein, is a limitation of the medium itself (i.e., tangible, not a signal) as opposed to a limitation on data storage persistency (e g., RAM vs. ROM).

[0269] FIG. 13 shows an example of the computer readable medium 1300 which may be in form of CD, DVD or other optical storage disk. The computer readable medium 1300 has the program 1230 stored thereon.

[0270] Generally, various embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented in hardware or special purpose circuits, software, logic or any combination thereof. Some aspects may be implemented in hardware, and other aspects may be implemented in firmware or software which may be executed by a controller, microprocessor or other computing device. Although various aspects of embodiments of the present disclosure are illustrated and described as block diagrams, flowcharts, or using some other pictorial representations, it is to be understood that the block, apparatus, system, technique or method described herein may be implemented in, as non-limiting examples, hardware, software, firmware, special purpose circuits or logic, general purpose hardware or controller or other computing devices, or some combination thereof.

[0271] Some example embodiments of the present disclosure also provide at least one computer program product tangibly stored on a computer readable medium, such as a non-transitory computer readable medium. The computer program product includes computerexecutable instructions, such as those included in program modules, being executed in a device on a target physical or virtual processor, to carry out any of the methods as described above. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, libraries, objects, classes, components, data structures, or the like that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. The functionality of the program modules may be combined or split between program modules as desired in various embodiments. Machine-executable instructions for program modules may be executed within a local or distributed device. In a distributed device, program modules may be located in both local and remote storage media.

[0272] Program code for carrying out methods of the present disclosure may be written in any combination of one or more programming languages. The program code may be provided to a processor or controller of a general-purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus, such that the program code, when executed by the processor or controller, cause the functions / operations specified in the flowcharts and / or block diagrams to be implemented. The program code may execute entirely on a machine, partly on the machine, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the machine and partly on a remote machine or entirely on the remote machine or server.

[0273] In the context of the present disclosure, the computer program code or related data may be carried by any suitable carrier to enable the device, apparatus or processor to perform various processes and operations as described above. Examples of the carrier include a signal, computer readable medium, and the like.

[0274] The computer readable medium may be a computer readable signal medium or a computer readable storage medium. A computer readable medium may include but not limited to an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. More specific examples of the computer readable storage medium would include an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a random-access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing.

[0275] Further, although operations are depicted in a particular order, this should not be understood as requiring that such operations be performed in the particular order shown or in sequential order, or that all illustrated operations be performed, to achieve desirable results. In certain circumstances, multitasking and parallel processing may be advantageous. Likewise, although several specific implementation details are contained in the above discussions, these should not be construed as limitations on the scope of the present disclosure, but rather as descriptions of features that may be specific to particular embodiments. Unless explicitly stated, certain features that are described in the context 5 of separate embodiments may also be implemented in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, unless explicitly stated, various features that are described in the context of a single embodiment may also be implemented in a plurality of embodiments separately or in any suitable sub-combination.

[0276] Although the present disclosure has been described in languages specific to 10 structural features and / or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the present disclosure defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above. Rather, the specific features and acts described above are disclosed as example forms of implementing the claims. 15

Claims

1. A first apparatus comprising:at least one processor; andat least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the first apparatus at least to:in accordance with a determination that a first radio access technology, RAT, and a second RAT are available for the first apparatus and there is an overlapped frequency range between the first and the second RATs, determine whether multiple access protocol data unit, MA-PDU, is supported by the first or the second RATs; andin accordance with a determination that the MA-PDU is supported by the first or the second RATs, use one of the first and the second RATs on the overlapped frequency range.

2. The first apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first RAT is the third-generation partnership project, 3GPP, based RAT and the second RAT is Wi-Fi based RAT, wherein the first apparatus is caused to:in accordance with a determination that the MA-PDU is supported via access traffic steering switching and splitting, ATSSS, use the second RAT on the overlapped frequency range.

3. The first apparatus of claim 2, wherein the first apparatus is caused to:transmit, to a second apparatus supporting the first RAT, an indication that the overlapped frequency range is temporarily not supported by the first RAT.

4. The first apparatus of claim 3, wherein the indication is transmitted as a user equipment, UE, assistance information or by using performance management function, PMF, protocol.

5. The first apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first RAT is the third-generation partnership project, 3GPP, based RAT and the second RAT is Wi-Fi based RAT, wherein the first apparatus is caused to:in accordance with a determination that the MA-PDU is not supported by the secondRAT, use the first RAT on the overlapped frequency range.

6. The first apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first RAT is the third-generation partnership project, 3GPP, based RAT and the second RAT is Wi-Fi based RAT, wherein the first apparatus is caused to:in accordance with a determination that the MA-PDU is supported by the second RAT but a measurement associated with the second RAT does not satisfy a threshold level, use the first RAT on the overlapped frequency range, wherein the measurement is a received signal strength or a received signal quality, and wherein the threshold is configured by an apparatus of the first RAT.

7. The first apparatus of claim 6, wherein the first apparatus is caused to:in accordance with a determination that at least one of radio frequency filter capability or carrier aggregation capability of the first apparatus associated with the first RAT satisfies a threshold level, use the first RAT on the overlapped frequency range.

8. The first apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first RAT is the third-generation partnership project, 3GPP, based RAT and the second RAT is Wi-Fi based RAT, wherein the first apparatus is caused to:in accordance with a determination that the MA-PDU is supported by the first RAT, transmit, to a second apparatus supporting the first RAT, an indication for measuring a received signal quality associated with the second RAT; anduse one of the first and the second RATs on the overlapped frequency range based on a measurement result obtained from the second apparatus.

9. The first apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first apparatus is caused to:in accordance with a determination that the first RAT is to be used on the overlapped frequency range, transmit, to a third apparatus supporting the second RAT, an indication that a second RAT based transmission is to be ceased on the overlapped frequency range and / or a duration for ceasing the second RAT based transmission.

10. The first apparatus of claim 9, wherein the indication is transmitted via a spectrum management action frame.

11. The first apparatus of claim 9, wherein the first apparatus is further caused to:in accordance with a determination that an activity of the third apparatus supporting the second RAT is detected after determining the first RAT is to be used on the overlapped frequency range, transmit the indication via a public action frame.

12. The first apparatus of any of claims 1-11, wherein the overlapped frequency range is within the bands employed by the first RAT and second RAT.

13. The first apparatus of any of claims 1-12, wherein the overlapped frequency range is part of at least the first or second RATs out band emission range.

14. The first apparatus of any of claims 1-13, wherein the overlapped frequency range belongs to an upper 6 gigahertz band.

15. The first apparatus of any of claims 1-14, wherein the first apparatus comprises a terminal device.

16. A third apparatus comprising:at least one processor; andat least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the third apparatus at least to:receive, from a first apparatus, an indication that a transmission related to a RAT supported by the third apparatus is to be ceased on a specific band and / or a duration for ceasing the transmission, wherein the RAT is supported on the specific band which is overlapped with an available band of a further RAT; andcease the transmission of the specific band based on the indication.

17. The third apparatus of claim 15, wherein the third apparatus is caused to:determine a transmission ceasing duration based on the indication and / or one or more requests for ceasing the transmission received from at least one other device.

18. The third apparatus of claim 17, wherein the third apparatus is caused to:broadcast, on a band outside an overlapped frequency range between the RAT and the further RAT where the transmission has ceased temporarily, at least one of the following:-an indication of the overlapped frequency range; or-a duration for ceasing the transmissions.

19. The third apparatus of claim 16, wherein the indication is received via a spectrum management action frame or a public action frame.

20. The third apparatus of any of claims 16-19, wherein the third apparatus comprises a Wi-Fi device.

21. A method comprising:in accordance with a determination that a first radio access technology, RAT, and a second RAT are available for the first apparatus and there is an overlapped frequency range between the first and the second RATs, determining whether multiple access protocol data unit, MA-PDU, is supported by the first or the second RATs; andin accordance with a determination that the MA-PDU is supported by the first or the second RATs, using one of the first and the second RATs on the overlapped frequency range.

22. A method comprising:receiving, from a first apparatus, an indication that a transmission related to a RAT supported by the third apparatus is to be ceased on a specific band and / or a duration for ceasing the transmission, wherein the RAT is supported on the specific band which is overlapped with an available band of a further RAT; andceasing the transmission of the specific band based on the indication.

23. A first apparatus comprising:means for in accordance with a determination that a first radio access technology, RAT, and a second RAT are available for the first apparatus and there is an overlapped frequency range between the first and the second RATs, determine whether multiple access protocol data unit, MA-PDU, is supported by the first or the second RATs; andmeans for in accordance with a determination that the MA-PDU is supported bythe first or the second RATs, using one of the first and the second RATs on the overlapped frequency range.

24. A second apparatus comprising:5 means for receiving, from a first apparatus, an indication that a transmission relatedto a RAT supported by the third apparatus is to be ceased on a specific band and / or a duration for ceasing the transmission, wherein the RAT is supported on the specific band which is overlapped with an available band of a further RAT; andmeans for ceasing the transmission of the specific band based on the indication.1025. A computer readable medium comprising instructions stored thereon for causing an apparatus at least to perform the method of claim 21 or the method of claim 22.

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