Method for handling logging of different types of measurements in SON reports

Abstract

An example method in a wireless device includes selecting (510) a plurality of first wireless quality measurements based on a first type of at least two types of reference signals used by the wireless device to measure wireless quality for inclusion in a report stored by the wireless device. The selecting includes selecting a plurality of wireless quality measurements for a neighboring cell that reflects a best wireless quality among available wireless quality measurements based on the first type of reference signals. The method further includes including (520) the selected plurality of first wireless quality measurements in the report and including (530) one or more available wireless quality measurements that correspond to a cell identifier associated with the selected plurality of wireless quality measurements and that are based on a second type of reference signal of the at least two types of reference signals with the selected plurality of first wireless quality measurements in the report.

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE The present disclosure relates generally to wireless communication systems, and more particularly to measurement collection for use in self-organizing networks. [Background technology]

[0002] Currently, the fifth generation ("5G") cellular system, also referred to as New Radio (NR), is being standardized in the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). NR is being developed for maximum flexibility to support a variety of different use cases. These include enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB), Machine Type Communications (MTC), Ultra-Reliable Low Latency Communications (URLLC), Sidelink Device-to-Device (D2D), and several other use cases. Although this disclosure primarily describes some technologies in the context of a 5G / NR system, the following description of a fourth generation (4G) system, often referred to as a Long Term Evolution (LTE) system, is provided to introduce various terms, concepts, architectures, etc. that are also used in 5G / NR.

[0003] LTE is a collective term referring to radio access technologies developed within the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) and first standardized in Release 8 (Rel-8) and Release 9 (Rel-9), also known as Evolved UTRAN (E-UTRAN). LTE targets various licensed frequency bands and involves improvements in non-radio aspects, commonly referred to as System Architecture Evolution (SAE), including Evolved Packet Core (EPC) networks. LTE has continued to evolve through subsequent releases.

[0004] An example overall architecture of a network including LTE and SAE is shown in Figure 1. E-UTRAN 100 includes one or more evolved Node Bs (eNBs), such as eNBs 105, 110, and 115, which are access nodes that provide access to the network and ultimately to data networks, such as public land mobile networks and / or the Internet. These access nodes (e.g., eNBs 105, 110, and 115) provide services, or "serve," one or more UEs, such as User Equipment (UE) 120. As used within 3GPP standards, "user equipment" or "UE" refers to any wireless communication device (e.g., a smartphone or computing device) capable of using 3GPP standards-compliant network equipment, including E-UTRAN, as well as UTRAN and / or GERAN, commonly known as third generation ("3G") and second generation ("2G") 3GPP RANs.

[0005] As specified by 3GPP, E-UTRAN 100 is responsible for all radio related functions in the network, including radio bearer control, radio admission control, radio mobility control, scheduling, and dynamic allocation of resources to UEs in the uplink (UL, i.e., UE to network) and downlink (DL, i.e., network to UE), as well as security of communications with the UEs. These functions reside in eNBs, such as eNBs 105, 110, and 115. Each of the eNBs may serve a geographic coverage area that includes one or more cells, such as cells 106, 111, and 115, which are served by eNBs 105, 110, and 115, respectively, in the exemplary system shown in FIG. 1.

[0006] As shown in Figure 1, eNBs in the E-UTRAN communicate with each other via an X2 interface. The eNBs are also responsible for the E-UTRAN interface to the EPC 130, specifically the S1 interface (not shown in Figure 1) to the Mobility Management Entity (MME) and Serving Gateway (SGW) in the EPC 130. In general, the MME / S-GW handles both the overall control of the UE and the data flow between the UE and the rest of the EPC. More specifically, the MME handles the signaling (e.g., control plane) protocols between the UE and the EPC, known as the Non-Access Stratum (NAS) protocols. The S-GW handles all Internet Protocol (IP) data packets (e.g., data or user plane) between the UE and the EPC and serves as the local mobility anchor for data bearers when the UE moves between eNBs (e.g., eNBs 105, 110, and 115).

[0007] Fifth generation ("5G") cellular systems, also referred to as New Radio (NR), were first standardized by 3GPP in Rel-15 and have continued to evolve through subsequent releases. NR is being developed for maximum flexibility to support multiple substantially different use cases. These include enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB), Machine Type Communications (MTC), Ultra-Reliable Low Latency Communications (URLLC), Sidelink Device-to-Device (D2D), and several other use cases.

[0008] 5G / NR technology shares many similarities with LTE. For example, NR uses cyclic prefix orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (CP-OFDM) in the DL and both CP-OFDM and DFT-spread OFDM (DFT-S-OFDM) in the UL. As another example, in the time domain, NR DL and UL physical resources are organized into equal-sized 1 ms subframes. The subframes are further divided into multiple slots of equal duration, with each slot containing multiple OFDM-based symbols. However, the time-frequency resources can be configured much more flexibly for NR cells than for LTE cells. For example, instead of a fixed 15 kHz OFDM subcarrier spacing (SCS) as in LTE, the NR SCS can range from 15 to 240 kHz, with even larger SCS being considered for future NR releases.

[0009] 2 illustrates an example high-level view of a 5G network architecture consisting of a Next Generation RAN (NG-RAN) 299 and a 5G Core (5GC) 298. The NG-RAN 299 may include a set of gNodeBs (gNBs) connected to the 5GC via one or more NG interfaces, such as gNBs 200, 250 connected via interfaces 202, 252, respectively. These gNBs are 5G versions of radio access nodes. The gNBs may be connected to each other via one or more Xn interfaces, such as the Xn interface 240 between gNB 200 and gNB 250. With respect to the NR interface to the UE, each of the gNBs may support Frequency Division Duplexing (FDD), Time Division Duplexing (TDD), or a combination thereof.

[0010] NG-RAN 299 is layered into the Radio Network Layer (RNL) and the Transport Network Layer (TNL). The NG-RAN architecture, i.e. the NG-RAN logical nodes and the interfaces between them, are defined as part of the RNL. For each NG-RAN interface (NG, Xn, F1), the associated TNL protocols and functions are specified. The TNL provides services for user plane transport and signaling transport.

[0011] The NG-RAN logical node shown in FIG. 2 includes a central (or centralized) unit (CU or Gnb-CU) and one or more distributed (or decentralized) units (DU or Gnb-DU). For example, Gnb 200 includes Gnb-CU 210 and Gnb-DU 220 and 230. The CU is a logical node that hosts higher layer protocols and performs various Gnb functions such as controlling the operation of the DU. The DU is a logical node that hosts lower layer protocols and may include various subsets of Gnb functions depending on the functional division. Thus, each of the CU and DU may include various circuits required to perform their respective functions, including processing circuits, transceiver and / or communication interface circuits, power supply circuits, etc. The terms "central unit" and "centralized unit" are used interchangeably herein, as are the terms "distributed unit" and "decentralized unit."

[0012] The gNB-CU connects to the gNB-DU via respective F1 logical interfaces, such as interfaces 222 and 232 shown in Figure 2. The gNB-CU and the connected gNB-DU appear only as gNBs to other gNBs and 5GCs. In other words, the F1 interface is not visible beyond the gNB-CU.

[0013] In addition to providing coverage via cells, as in LTE, NR networks also provide coverage via "beams." In general, a downlink (DL, i.e., network to UE) "beam" is a coverage area of ​​a network-transmitted reference signal (RS) that can be measured or monitored by a UE. Examples of NR RS include synchronization signal / PBCH block (SSB), channel state information RS (CSI-RS), positioning RS (PRS), demodulation RS (DM-RS), phase-tracking reference signal (PTRS), etc. In general, SSBs are available to all UEs regardless of RRC state, while other RSs (e.g., CSI-RS, DM-RS, PTRS) are associated with a particular UE that has a network connection (i.e., is in RRC_CONNECTED state). Note that the terms “SS block,” “SSB,” and “SS / PBCH block” all refer to the same thing in the NR context.

[0014] To support fast mobility between NR and LTE and to avoid core network changes, LTE eNBs may further be connected to 5G-CN via NG-U / NG-C and may support the Xn interface. eNBs connected to 5GC are called Next Generation eNBs (NG-eNBs) and are considered part of the NG-RAN. Note that LTE connected to 5GC is not further discussed in this document, but most of the solutions / features described for LTE and NR in this document also apply to LTE connected to 5GC. In this document, when the term LTE is used without further specification, it refers to LTE-EPC.

[0015] A Self-Organizing Network (SON) is a network that uses automation techniques designed to make planning, configuration, management, optimization, and recovery of mobile radio access networks easier and faster. SON functions and operations are defined and specified in commonly accepted mobile industry recommendations produced by organizations such as 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project) and NGMN (Next Generation Mobile Networks).

[0016] In 3GPP, processes in the SON area are classified into self-configuration and self-optimization processes. The self-configuration process is a process in which a newly deployed node is configured by an automatic installation procedure to obtain the basic configuration required for system operation.

[0017] This process works in a pre-operational state, which is understood as the state after the eNB is powered up and has backbone connectivity, until the RF transmitter is switched on.

[0018] As shown in FIG. 3, functions handled in the pre-operational state include basic setup 310 and initial wireless configuration 320, which are covered by the self-configuration process.

[0019] The self-optimization process is defined as a process in which UE and access node measurements and performance measurements are used to auto-tune the network. This process works in an operational state. The operational state is understood as a state in which the RF interface is additionally switched on. As can be seen in Fig. 3, functions that are handled in the operational state, such as optimization / adaptation 330, are covered by the self-optimization process.

[0020] In LTE, support for self-configuration and self-optimization is specified as described in section 22.2 of 3GPP TS 36.300, including features such as dynamic configuration, Automatic Neighbor Relation (ANR), mobility load balancing, Mobility Robustness Optimization (MRO), RACH optimization, and support for energy savings.

[0021] Starting with self-regulation features such as dynamic configuration and automatic neighbor relations (ANR) in Rel-15, NR also specifies support for self-configuration and self-optimization as described in 3GPP TS 38.300, section 15. In NR Rel-16, more SON features are specified, including self-optimization features such as mobility robustness optimization (MRO).

[0022] Seamless handover is a key feature of 3GPP technology. A successful handover ensures that the UE moves within the coverage areas of different cells without causing too many interruptions in data transmission. However, there are scenarios in which the network fails to handover the UE to the "correct" neighboring cell in time, and in such scenarios the UE declares a radio link failure (RLF) or handover failure (HOF).

[0023] In response to HOF and RLF, the UE may take autonomous actions, i.e., select a cell and attempt to initiate a re-establishment procedure, so that the UE ensures that it is trying to return as soon as possible so that it is reachable again. RLF causes a poor user experience, because RLF is declared by the UE only when it realizes that there is no reliable communication channel (radio link) available between itself and the network. Also, re-establishment of the connection requires signaling with the newly selected cell (random access procedure, RRC re-establishment request, RRC re-establishment, RRC re-establishment complete, RRC reconfiguration, and RRC re-configuration complete), resulting in some delay before the UE can exchange data with the network again.

[0024] Possible causes of radio link failure, according to the NR specifications, could be, for example: expiry of radio link monitoring related timer T310; expiry of the measurement report related timer T312 (not receiving a handover command from the network within the duration of this timer despite having sent a measurement report when T310 is running); Reaching the maximum number of RLC retransmissions; having received a random access problem indication from the MAC entity; Declaring consistent LBT failures in SpCells operating in unlicensed spectrum; or Beam obstruction recovery procedures failed.

[0025] On the other hand, a handover failure (HOF) is due to the expiration of the T304 timer while performing a handover to a target cell.

[0026] Since RLF or HOF results in re-establishment, which degrades performance and user experience, it is in the interest of the network to understand the reason for RLF and try to optimize mobility related parameters (e.g., trigger conditions for measurement reports) to avoid later RLF. Before the standardization of MRO-related report processing in the network, only the UE knew some information associated with the radio quality during RLF, the actual reason for declaring RLF, etc. In order for the network to identify the reason for RLF, the network needs more information from both the UE and even from neighboring base stations.

[0027] After RLF or Handover Failure (HOF) is declared, the RLF report is logged and included in VarRLF-Report, and once the UE selects a cell and the re-establishment procedure is successful, the UE includes an RLF report availability indication in the RRC Re-establishment Complete message to make the target cell aware of the availability of the RLF report. After that, upon receiving a UEInformationResponse message with the flag "rlf-ReportReq", the UE includes the RLF report (stored in the UE variable VarRLF-Report as described above) in the UEInformationResponse message and sends it to the network. The UE should store the information in the VarRLF-Report for up to 48 hours, so that the network can retrieve the RLF-Report even hours after the RLF / HOF event. The varRLF-Report can contain only one instance of the RLF-Repo, so that if a new RLF / HOF occurs before the network fetches the old one, the UE clears the information previously stored in VarRLF-Report.

[0028] Based on the RLF report from the UE and knowledge of which cells the UE was able to re-establish the connection on, the original source cell can deduce whether the RLF is due to a coverage hole or to mobility control parameter settings. If the RLF is deemed to be due to handover related parameter settings, the original serving cell may further classify the handover related failure as handover too early, too late or to the wrong cell class. In the following, a brief description of these handover failure classes is given.

[0029] 1) Whether the handover failure occurred due to the "too late handover" case a. The original serving cell may classify the handover failure as "too late handover" if the original serving cell fails to send a handover command to a UE associated with handover to a particular target cell and the UE re-establishes itself in this target cell after the RLF. b. An example correction action from the original serving cell could be to start the handover procedure towards the target cell a little earlier by decreasing the CIO (cell individual offset) towards this target cell, which controls the timing of sending the event triggered measurement report IE that leads to the handover decision being made.

[0030] 2) Whether the handover failure occurred due to the “premature handover” case a. The original serving cell may classify the handover failure as "premature handover" if it successfully sends a handover command to the UE associated with the handover, but the UE fails to perform random access towards the target cell. b. An exemplary correction action from the original serving cell could be to initiate the handover procedure towards the target cell a little later by increasing the CIO (cell individual offset) towards this target cell, which controls the timing of the IE to send the event triggered measurement report that leads to the handover decision being made.

[0031] 3) Whether the handover failure occurred due to the "handover-to-wrong-cell" case a. The original serving cell may classify the handover failure as "handover to wrong cell" if the original serving cell attempts to perform a handover for this UE towards a particular target cell but the UE declares RLF and re-establishes itself in a third cell. b. A corrective action from the original serving cell could be to initiate a measurement reporting procedure a little later that results in a handover towards the target cell, either through the UE initiating a handover towards the re-established cell a little earlier by decreasing the CIO (Cell Individual Offset) towards the target cell or by increasing the CIO towards the re-established cell.

[0032] The above classification may further result in better handover decisions. The UE is required to include neighboring cell and latest serving cell measurements (if available) as part of the RLF report, for example in both handover failure and RLF cases. In particular, up to eight neighboring cells may be included as part of the neighbor measurement list. This means that the UE may include in the RLF report the best eight neighboring cells ordered such that the cell with the best radio conditions is listed first. These measurements may include both SS / PBCH block based measurement quantities and CSI-RS based measurement quantities.

[0033] As an extension of MRO in Release 17, 3GPP introduces successful HO Report (SHR). As mentioned above, unlike RLF report, which is used to report RLF or handover failure experienced by the UE, SHR is used by the UE to report various information associated with a successful HO. A successful HO is not always reported in every HO, but only if certain trigger conditions are met. For example, if the T310 / T312 / T304 timers exceed certain thresholds during HO, the UE must store the information associated with this HO. Similarly, if the HO is a DAPS HO and the UE has successfully handed over but experienced RLF in the source cell during the DAPS HO, the UE stores the information associated with this DAPS HO. When saving the successful handover report, the UE may include various information to assist the network in optimizing the handover, such as measurements of neighboring cells, the conditions met that triggered the successful handover report (e.g., the threshold when T310 was exceeded, specific RLF problems at the source while performing DAPS HO), etc.

[0034] The SHR may be configured by a serving cell, and the UE stores this information until the NW requests it when the trigger condition for SHR logging is met. In particular, the UE may indicate the availability of SHR information in certain RRC messages such as RRCReconfigurationComplete, RRCReestablishmentComplete, RRCSetupComplete, RRCResumeComplete, etc., and the network may request such information via a UEInformationRequest message, in response to which the UE sends the stored SHR in a UEInformationResponse message.

[0035] As will be explained in more detail below, a problem arises when SS / PBCH block-based measurements and CSI-RS-based measurements are available. Summary of the Invention

[0036] The techniques described herein provide methods performed by a wireless terminal, or so-called User Equipment (UE), for collecting and logging neighboring cell measurements on a frequency when the UE is configured to perform measurements on that frequency and when both SS / PBCH block-based and CSI-RS-based measurements are available on that frequency.

[0037] The collected neighborhood measurements may be included in any of several types of reports, such as an RLF report (generated in response to a HOF or an RLF), a random access report, or a successful HO report.

[0038] In a first method according to some embodiments of the techniques detailed below, the UE first includes in the neighbor cell measurement result list the measurement results for a first set of "best" cells considering a first type of reference signal based measurement (e.g., SS / PBCH block based measurement). The measurement results for the cells included in the first set of best cells are ordered in the list of neighbor measurement results starting from the best measured cell based on the measurement of the first reference signal type. Associated with each cell of the first set, the UE may include multiple pieces of information such as the PCI and ARFCN of the cell, the CGI of the cell, the measurement results based on the first type of measurement, and, if available, the measurement results based on the second type of measurement (e.g., CSI-RS based measurement).

[0039] In some embodiments of the first method summarized above, in response to including the first set of best cells considering the first type of measurement as per the first method, and if the maximum number of entries in the list of neighboring measurement results has not yet been reached, the UE may further include in the same list of neighboring cell measurement results a second set of best cells considering a second type of reference signal based measurement. Those cells included in the second set of best cells are not included in the first set of best cells, and their corresponding measurements are ordered starting from the best measured cell in the list of neighboring measurement results based on the second reference signal type based measurement. Associated with each cell of the second set, the UE may include a number of pieces of information, such as the PCI and ARFCN of the cell, the CGI of the cell, measurement results based on a second type of measurement (e.g., CSI-RS based measurements), etc.

[0040] In an embodiment according to the second method described herein, independent of the first method, the UE includes measurement results for a first set of best cells measured based on a first type of reference signal based measurement and a second set of best cells based on a second type of reference signal based measurement in separate lists of neighborhood measurement results (i.e., one list for cells measured based on the first type of reference signal based measurement and one separate list for cells measured based on the second type of reference signal based measurement). If the UE has both the first type and the second type of reference signal based measurement available for a cell, the UE may include this cell in only one list of neighborhood measurement results and may include corresponding measurements associated with both the first type of reference signal based measurement and the second type of reference signal based measurement for this cell.

[0041] In a third method, independent of the first and second methods, the UE includes in the list of neighboring measurement results measurement results for a first set of best cells taking into account a first measurement quantity (e.g., RSRP), regardless of whether the measurement result for the measurement quantity is based on a first type of measurement or a second type of measurement. The measurement results for the cells included in the first set of best cells are ordered in the list of neighboring measurement results starting from the best measured cell based on the first measurement quantity. Associated with each cell included in the first set, the UE may include multiple pieces of information, such as the PCI of the cell, the CGI of the cell, the second (or third, etc.) measurement quantity, if available, and an indication of whether the measurement quantity is based on the first type of measurement or the second type of measurement.

[0042] In response to including the first set of best cells considering the first measurement quantity, and if the maximum number of entries in the list of neighboring measurements has not yet been reached, the UE may further include a second set of best cells considering a second measurement quantity (e.g., RSRQ), regardless of whether the measurement quantity is based on a first type of measurement or a second type of measurement. Cells included in the second set of best cells are not included in the first set of best cells, and they are ordered starting from the best measured cell in the list of neighboring measurements based on the second measurement quantity. Associated with each cell included in the second set, the UE may include a number of pieces of information, such as the PCI of the cell, the CGI of the cell, a measurement result based on the second measurement quantity, a measurement result based on a third (and similar) measurement quantity, and an indication of whether the measurement quantity is based on the first type of measurement or the second type of measurement.

[0043] Depending on the first and second sets of best cells, the UE may include a third (and similar) set of best cells based on a third (and similar) measurement quantity, regardless of whether the measurement quantity is based on the first type of measurement considered or the second type of measurement considered.

[0044] In some embodiments of these and other methods, what are the first type measurements and what are the second type measurements are defined herein. For example, the first type of reference signal based measurements may be SS / PBCH based measurements and the second type of reference signal based measurements may be CSI-RS based measurements.

[0045] In another embodiment, which are the first type of reference signal based measurements and which are the second type of reference signal based measurements are configured by the network, and the UE applies this configuration when collecting the measurement results in the list of neighbor cell measurement results.

[0046] In yet another embodiment, the first type of reference signal based measurement and the second type of reference signal based measurement selected by the UE when the UE collected the measurement results in the list of measurement results are indicated to the network in the report by the UE (i.e., the UE indicates that it has ordered the cells in the list of neighboring measurements taking into account the SS / PBCH block based measurement (or CSI-RS based measurement) first).

[0047] Similarly, in some embodiments, which is the first measurement quantity and which is the second measurement quantity (etc.) are defined herein. For example, RSRP may be the first measurement quantity and RSRQ may be the second measurement quantity. In other embodiments, which is the first measurement quantity and which is the second measurement quantity (etc.) are configured by the network, and the UE applies this configuration when collecting the measurement results in the list of neighboring cell measurements. In yet other embodiments, the first measurement quantity and the second measurement quantity (etc.) selected by the UE when collecting the measurement results in the list of measurement results are indicated by the UE in the report to the network (i.e., the UE indicates that it has ordered the cells in the list of neighboring measurements taking into account RSRP (or RSRQ, or RSSI, etc.) first).

[0048] An embodiment of the disclosed technology includes a method in a wireless device for collecting measurements, the method including selecting a plurality of first wireless quality measurements based on a first type of reference signal of at least two types of reference signals used by the wireless device to measure wireless quality for inclusion in a report stored by the wireless device, the selection including selecting a plurality of wireless quality measurements reflecting a best wireless quality among available wireless quality measurements based on the first type of reference signal for a neighboring cell, the method further including in the report the selected plurality of first wireless quality measurements, and including in the report one or more available wireless quality measurements corresponding to a cell identifier associated with the selected plurality of wireless quality measurements and based on a second type of reference signal of the at least two types of reference signals with the selected plurality of first wireless quality measurements.

[0049] A corresponding wireless device according to some of the embodiments of the present disclosure is adapted to perform the method summarized immediately above. To this end, an exemplary wireless device comprises a transmitter and a receiver configured to communicate with a wireless network, and a processing circuit operatively coupled to the transmitter and the receiver, configured to select a plurality of first wireless quality measurements based on a first type of reference signal of at least two types of reference signals used by the wireless device to measure wireless quality for inclusion in a report stored by the wireless device. Again, the selecting may include selecting, for a neighboring cell, a plurality of wireless quality measurements reflecting a best wireless quality among the available wireless quality measurements based on the first type of reference signal. The processing circuit is further configured to include in the report the selected plurality of first wireless quality measurements, and to include in the report, together with the selected plurality of first wireless quality measurements, one or more available wireless quality measurements corresponding to a cell identifier associated with the selected plurality of wireless quality measurements and based on a second type of reference signal of the at least two types of reference signals.

[0050] The methods, apparatus, and systems disclosed herein thus provide procedures for a UE to include measurement results for more than one cell when both SS / PBCH block-based and CSI-RS-based measurements are available. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0051] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a high-level block diagram of an exemplary LTE network architecture. [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is a high-level block diagram of an example 5G / NR network architecture. [Diagram 3] Figure 3 shows the impact of the self-configuring / self-optimizing function (from Figure 22.1-1 of 3GPP TS 36.300). [Figure 4] , [Diagram 5] , [Figure 6] , [Figure 7] 4, 5, 6 and 7 illustrate methods for collecting measurements according to various embodiments of the techniques described herein. [Figure 8] FIG. 8 illustrates a communication system according to various embodiments of the present disclosure. [Figure 9] FIG. 9 illustrates a UE in accordance with various embodiments of the present disclosure. [Figure 10] FIG. 10 illustrates a network node according to various embodiments of the present disclosure. [Figure 11] FIG. 11 illustrates a host computing system according to various embodiments of the present disclosure. [Figure 12] FIG. 12 is a block diagram of a virtualization environment in which functionality implemented by some embodiments of the present disclosure may be virtualized. [Figure 13] FIG. 13 illustrates communication between a host computing system, a network node, and a UE over multiple connections, at least one of which is wireless, in accordance with various embodiments of the present disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0052] In this document, unless otherwise specified, the term "type of measurement" is used to distinguish between measurements based on different kinds of reference signals. Thus, a measurement based on SS / PBCH blocks is one type of measurement, and a measurement based on CSI-RS is another type of measurement. Unless otherwise specified, the term "measured quantity" or "measurement quantity" refers to a measurement using a given reference signal.

[0053] Refers to a certain result that is obtained, e.g., R

[0054] These are SRP, RSRQ, SINR, RSSI, channel occupancy, CLI measurements, and SL measurements. The term "measurement results" refers to a numerical result obtained for a measurement quantity from a measurement of a certain measurement type. It should be noted that in some cases generally identified in the following description, a "measurement quantity" may refer to a measurement result (i.e., a determined value) corresponding to a measurement of a certain type and of a certain measurement quantity. In these cases, for example, the term "available measurement quantities" may mean a measurement result corresponding to any of one or more measurement quantities. The terms "cell-level quantity" and "beam-level quantity" refer to a measurement result of any of one or more measurement quantities, the result being specific to either a given cell or a given beam, respectively.

[0055] This document may refer to the "best cell" or the "best" measurement result. The "best cell" refers to the cell having the "best" measurement result, for example, for a given measurement type and / or a given measurement quantity. The "best" measurement result is one that reflects the best signal quality. These may be the measurement results with the highest values ​​for some measurement quantities, such as RSRP, RSRQ, and SINR. In other cases, the "best" measurement result may be the measurement result with the lowest value for BER, etc.

[0056] The methods disclosed herein are applicable to any radio access technology (RAT), although NR technology is considered in the example for simplicity.

[0057] According to the current specification, measurement results for both SS / PBCH block based measurements and CSI-RS based measurements (if available) of neighboring cells may be included by the UE as part of the measurement results when generating an RLF report either after a HO failure or after an RLF. If SS / PBCH block RSRP measurements are available, the neighboring cells and corresponding measurements are included in an ordered list such that the cell with the highest measurement result for SS / PBCH block RSRP is listed first, otherwise if SS / PBCH block RSRQ measurements are available, the cell with the highest SS / PBCH block RSRQ is listed first, otherwise the cell with the highest SS / PBCH block SINR is listed first.

[0058] The same is true if measurement results for CSI-RS based measurements are available, i.e. if CSI-RS RSRP measurements are available, the cells are ordered in the list of neighboring cell measurements such that the cell with the highest measurement result for CSI-RS RSRP is listed first, otherwise if CSI-RS RSRQ measurements are available, the cell with the highest CSI-RS RSRQ is listed first, otherwise the cell with the highest CSI-RS RS SINR is listed first.

[0059] Up to eight cells may be included in the measResultListNR information element (IE) in measResultNeighCells.

[0060] The above legacy method is captured in the following procedure text, taken from 3GPP TS 38.331: TIFF2025503372000002.tif151160

[0061] However, in the current legacy procedures, the UE uses the same measResultListNR list to collect measurement results for both SS / PBCH block-based and CSI-RS-based measurements. Therefore, when both SS / PBCH block-based and CSI-RS-based measurements are available for neighboring cells on a frequency, it is not possible for the UE to properly order the entries in this list according to the actual measurement results. This is because the measurement results for a cell may be different when different types of measurements are performed. For example, a cell "x" that falls among the 8 best cells on a frequency when SS / PBCH block-based measurements are performed for that cell "x" may not be among the 8 best cells on the same frequency when CSI-RS-based measurements are performed for that cell "x". Therefore, in such an example, it is not clear from the current legacy procedures whether the UE should include this cell "x" in the measurement results of neighboring cells or not.

[0062] In addition, the network configuration may be such that the UE must perform only SS / PBCH block-based measurements in some cells and only CSI-RS-based measurements in other cells. According to the legacy procedure, the UE must include these different measurements for different cells in the same list of neighboring cell measurements. If there are more than eight cells for which the UE must perform measurements, the UE cannot include all of them in the list of neighboring cell measurements, and it is not clear which cells the UE must include in this list. For example, if the UE is configured to perform only SS / PBCH block-based measurements in eight cells and only CSI-RS-based measurements in another three cells, it is not clear from the current procedure which cells the UE should select for inclusion in the list.

[0063] The first category of techniques for the UE include the following, which should be read in conjunction with the flow diagram shown in FIG. 4:

[0064] ● Include (410) measurement results for a first set of best cells in a list of neighboring measurement results, where the first type of reference signal based measurement can be an SS / PBCH block based measurement or a CSI-RS based measurement. The cells included in the first set are ordered in the list of neighboring measurement results according to their respective measurement quantities and starting from the cell having the highest or best value for the first type of measurement and the measurement result based on the first measurement quantity. For each cell included in the first set, the UE may include the cell's PCI, the cell's CGI, one or more resulting cell level quantities measured based on the first type of measurement, one or more resulting beam level quantities measured based on the first type of reference signal based measurement, a resulting cell level quantity measured based on the second type of reference signal based measurement, and a resulting beam level quantity measured based on the second type of measurement, if any are available.

[0065] ● After execution of step 410, adding (420) a second set of best cells to the list of neighboring measurement results, taking into account the second type of reference signal based measurements, where the second set of cells includes only cells not included in the first set. The cells included in the second set are ordered in this extended list of neighboring measurement results according to the measurement quantities and starting from the cell having the highest (or best) measurement result value for each measurement quantity based on the second type of reference signal based measurements. For each cell included in the second set, the UE may include the cell's PCI, the cell's CGI, one or more resulting cell level quantities measured based on the second type of reference signal based measurements, and one or more resulting beam level quantities measured based on the second type of reference signal based measurements.

[0066] FIG. 5 is a process flow diagram showing a method corresponding to the same technique described above, with the steps broken down in more detail. This exemplary method for collecting measurements in a wireless device includes selecting (510) a plurality of first wireless quality measurements based on a first type of reference signal of at least two types of reference signals used by the wireless device to measure wireless quality (i.e., the above-mentioned "first type of reference signal-based measurements") for inclusion in a report stored by the wireless device, as shown in block 510. The selection includes selecting, for neighboring cells, a plurality of wireless quality measurements that reflect the best wireless quality among the available wireless quality measurements based on the first type of reference signal. Thus, these selected plurality of wireless quality measurements are, as described above, "measurements for a first set of best cells considering the first type of reference signal-based measurements." The method further includes including the selected plurality of first wireless quality measurements in a report (i.e., in the above-mentioned "list"), as shown in block 520. The method further includes including, in the report with the selected plurality of first radio quality measurements, one or more available radio quality measurements that correspond to cell identifiers associated with the selected plurality of radio quality measurements and that are based on a second type of reference signal of the at least two types of reference signals, as shown in block 530. These radio quality measurements are for the aforementioned "first set" of cells, but are based on the second type of reference signal-based measurements.

[0067] As shown in block 540, the method may further include including one or more additional radio quality measurements based on a reference signal of a second type in the report, up to a certain number of additional radio quality measurements, such that the total number of the selected first plurality of radio quality measurements and the certain number of additional radio quality measurements is equal to the predetermined maximum number, where the additional radio quality measurements include radio quality measurements reflecting the best radio quality among the available radio measurements for neighboring cells based on reference signals of the second type and for cells that do not correspond to the cell identifiers associated with the selected first plurality of radio quality measurements. In other words, these cell identifiers correspond to the "second set" of cells mentioned above. This step corresponds directly to step 420 of FIG. 4 and may be performed, for example, in situations where less than the maximum number of measurements are included in the report after steps 520 and 530 are performed.

[0068] As an example, when a list of measurement results is included in an RLF-Report, the first embodiment may be implemented at least in part in the 3GPP TS 38.331 specification as follows, where additions to a pre-existing version of 3GPP are shown in bold, and it should be noted that in this example excerpt, "measurement quantity" refers to any available measurement result of one or more measurement quantities. TIFF2025503372000003.tif141160

[0069] In the above example, the first type of measurement is a SS / PBCH block-based measurement and the second type of measurement is a CSI-RS-based measurement.

[0070] The second category of techniques for the UE includes the following, which should be read in conjunction with the flow diagram shown in FIG. 6:

[0071] ● Including (610) measurement results for a first set of "best" cells (i.e., cells having the "best" corresponding measurement results) measured based on the first type of reference signal-based measurement in the first list of neighboring measurement results. The cells included in the first set are ordered in the list of neighboring measurement results according to the measurement quantity and starting from the cell having the highest measurement result for the first measurement quantity based on the first type of reference signal-based measurement. For each cell included in the first set, the UE may include at least one of the following: the PCI of the cell, the CGI of the cell, one or more resulting cell-level quantities measured based on the first type of reference signal-based measurement, and one or more resulting beam-level quantities measured based on the first type of reference signal-based measurement.

[0072] ● Including measurement results for a second set of best cells measured based on a second type of reference signal-based measurement in a second list of neighboring measurement results (620). The measurement results for the cells included in the second set are ordered in the list of neighboring measurement results according to the measurement quantity and starting from the cell having the highest measurement result for the measurement quantity based on the second type of reference signal-based measurement. For each cell included in the second set, the UE may include at least one of the following: the PCI of the cell, the CGI of the cell, one or more resulting cell-level quantities measured based on the second type of reference signal-based measurement, and one or more resulting beam-level quantities measured based on the second type of reference signal-based measurement.

[0073] In some embodiments or instances, if the UE has available measurements based on both reference signals of the first and second types for a cell, the UE may include the cell in only one list (i.e., the first list or the second list) and may include measurements based on both reference signals of the first and second types for the cell in the selected list. In other embodiments or instances, if the UE has available measurements based on both reference signals of the first and second types for a cell, the UE may include the cell in both the first and second lists.

[0074] As an example, when the list of measurement results is included in the RLF-Report, the first embodiment may be implemented at least in part in the 3GPP TS 38.331 specification as follows, where additions to an earlier existing version of 3GPP are shown in bold and deletions have been made, and in this example excerpt, "measurement quantity" refers to any available measurement result of one or more measurement quantities. TIFF2025503372000004.tif150160

[0075] In the above example, the first type of measurement is a SS / PBCH block based measurement and the second type of measurement is a CSI-RS based measurement. The first list containing the first set of best cells is measResultListSSB and the second list containing the second set of best cells is measResultListCSI.

[0076] A third category of techniques for the UE include the following, which should be read in conjunction with the flow diagram shown in FIG. 7:

[0077] ● including (710) measurement results for a first set of "best" cells for a first measurement quantity in a list of neighboring measurements, where the first measurement quantity can be any of measured RSRP, or RSRQ, or RSSI, or SINR, etc., and can be obtained based on any type of measurement. The cells included in the first set are ordered in the list of neighboring measurements according to the first measurement quantity and based on any type of measurement, starting with the cell having the highest measurement result for the first measurement quantity. For each cell included in the first set, the UE may include the PCI of the cell, the CGI of the cell, the resulting measurement result for the first measurement quantity of the cell, regardless of the type of measurement, and / or the measurement result for the first measurement quantity for the beam associated with the cell, regardless of the type of measurement. For each included cell, it may also include measurement results for the second (or third, etc.) measurement quantity, if available, and an indication of whether the measurement results for each of these additional measurement quantities are based on the first type of measurement or the second type of measurement.

[0078] ● Executing step 710 includes adding (720) measurement results for a second set of best cells with respect to the second measurement quantity to the list of neighboring measurement results. The cells included in the second set are ordered in the list of neighboring measurement results according to the second measurement quantity and based on any type of measurement, starting with the cell having the best measurement result for the second measurement quantity. For each cell included in the second set, the UE may include the PCI of the cell, the CGI of the cell, a measurement result for the second measurement quantity of the cell regardless of the type of measurement, and / or (one or more) measurement results for the second measurement quantity for the beam associated with the cell regardless of the type of measurement. For each included cell, it may also include measurement results for a third (or fourth, etc.) measurement quantity, if available, and an indication of whether the measurement results for each of these additional measurement quantities are based on measurements of the first type or measurements of the second type.

[0079] In some embodiments or instances of the above techniques, the specifications (e.g., 3GPP specifications) specify which are the "first" type measurements and which are the "second" type measurements. In other embodiments or instances, the network may configure the UE with information indicating which are the first type measurements and which are the second type measurements, and applies this configuration when the UE collects the measurements in a list of neighboring cell measurements. In yet other embodiments or instances, the UE indicates to the network which first type measurements and which second type measurements it selected when collecting the measurements in a list or lists of measurements. This may be done in a report that includes the list(s) to indicate whether the report ordered the cells in the list of neighboring measurements, for example, by considering SS / PBCH block-based measurements or CSI-RS-based measurements first.

[0080] Similarly, system specifications such as 3GPP specifications may indicate which are the first measurement quantities, which are the second type of measurement quantities (etc.) adopted in the above embodiment. Alternatively, this may be configured by the network, so that the UE applies this configuration when collecting measurements into the list of neighboring cell measurements. In yet other cases, the UE may select this order and indicate it to the network, for example in the report itself, to indicate that the UE has ordered the cells first in the list of neighboring measurements, taking into account RSRP, or RSRQ, or RSSI, etc.

[0081] In various instances of the above method, the list of neighbor measurements may be sent by the UE to the network in a measurement report that is included, for example, in an RLF report (e.g., upon RLF or handover failure), or in a random access report, or in a successful handover report.

[0082] Although various embodiments are described herein above with respect to methods, techniques, and the like, those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that such methods may be implemented by hardware and software in a variety of systems, communication devices, computing devices, control devices, apparatus, non-transitory computer readable media, and the like, or in various combinations thereof.

[0083] 8 illustrates an example of a communications system 800 according to some embodiments. In this example, the communications system 800 includes a communications network 802 including an access network 804, such as a radio access network (RAN), and a core network 806 including one or more core network nodes 808. The access network 804 includes one or more access network nodes, such as network nodes 810a and 810b (one or more of which may be generally referred to as network nodes 810), or any other similar 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) access nodes or non-3GPP access points. The network nodes 810 enable direct or indirect connectivity of user equipment (UE) 812a, 812b, 812c, and 812d (one or more of which may be generally referred to as UE 812) to the core network 806 via one or more wireless connections.

[0084] Exemplary wireless communication over wireless connections includes transmitting and / or receiving wireless signals using electromagnetic waves, radio waves, infrared, and / or other types of signals suitable for carrying information without the use of wires, cables, or other conductors. Additionally, in various embodiments, communication system 800 may include any number of wired or wireless networks, network nodes, UEs, and / or any other components or systems that may potentially facilitate or be involved in the communication of data and / or signals, whether via wired or wireless connections. Communication system 800 may include and / or interface with any type of communication, telecommunication, data, cellular, wireless network, and / or other similar types of systems.

[0085] The UE 812 may be any of a wide variety of communications devices, including a wireless device configured, configured, and / or operable to wirelessly communicate with the network node 810 and other communications devices. Similarly, the network node 810 may be configured, capable, configured, and / or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with the UE 812 and / or other network nodes or apparatuses in the communications network 802 to enable and / or provide network access, such as wireless network access, and / or to perform other functions, such as management within the communications network 802.

[0086] In the depicted example, the core network 806 connects the network node 810 to one or more hosts, such as the host 816. These connections may be direct or indirect via one or more intermediate networks or devices. In other examples, the network nodes may be directly coupled to the hosts. The core network 806 includes one or more core network nodes (e.g., the core network node 808) comprised of hardware and software components. The functionality of these components may be substantially similar to that described with respect to the UEs, network nodes, and / or hosts, and therefore those descriptions are generally applicable to the corresponding components of the core network node 808. Exemplary core network nodes include one or more of the following functions: a Mobile Switching Center (MSC), a Mobility Management Entity (MME), a Home Subscriber Server (HSS), an Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF), a Session Management Function (SMF), an Authentication Server Function (AUSF), a Subscription Identifier De-concealing function (SIDF), a Unified Data Management (UDM), a Security Edge Protection Proxy (SEPP), a Network Exposure Function (NEF), and / or a User Plane Function (UPF).

[0087] The host 816 may be owned or under the control of, and operated by or on behalf of, a service provider other than an operator or provider of the access network 804 and / or the communication network 802. The host 816 may host various applications for providing one or more services. Examples of such applications include live and pre-recorded audio / video content, data collection services such as searching and compiling data regarding various ambient conditions detected by multiple UEs, analytics functions, social media, functions for controlling or otherwise interacting with remote devices, functions for alarm and monitoring centers, or any other such functions performed by a server.

[0088] In general, the communication system 800 of Figure 8 provides connectivity between UEs, network nodes, and hosts. In that sense, the communication system may be configured to operate according to predetermined rules or procedures, such as a particular standard, including, but not limited to, Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), Long Term Evolution (LTE), and / or other suitable 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G standards, or any applicable future generation standard (e.g., 6G), a wireless local area network (WLAN) standard, such as the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standard (WiFi), and / or any other suitable wireless communication standard, such as Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMax), Bluetooth, Z-Wave, Near Field Communication (NFC), ZigBee, LiFi, and / or any low-power wide-area network (LPWAN) standard, such as LoRa and Sigfox.

[0089] In some examples, the communication network 802 is a cellular network implementing 3GPP standardized features. Thus, the communication network 802 may support network slicing to provide different logical networks to different devices connected to the communication network 802. For example, the communication network 802 may provide Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communication (URLLC) services to some UEs, while providing Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) services to other UEs and / or Massive Machine Type Communication (mMTC) / Massive IoT services to additional UEs.

[0090] In some examples, the UE 812 is configured to transmit and / or receive information without direct human interaction. For example, the UE may be designed to transmit information to the access network 804 on a predefined schedule, when triggered by an internal or external event, or in response to a request from the access network 804. Furthermore, the UE may be configured to operate in a single-RAT mode, a multi-RAT mode, or a multi-standard mode. For example, the UE may operate in any one or combination of Wi-Fi, New Radio (NR), and LTE, i.e., configured for Evolved-UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN) New Radio-Dual Connectivity (EN-DC).

[0091] In this example, the hub 814 communicates with the access network 804 to enable indirect communication between one or more UEs (e.g., UEs 812c and / or 812d) and a network node (e.g., network node 810b). In some examples, the hub 814 may be a controller, a router, a content source, and analytics, or any of the other communication devices described herein with respect to a UE. For example, the hub 814 may be a broadband router that enables access to the core network 806 for the UE. As another example, the hub 814 may be a controller that sends commands or instructions to one or more actuators in the UE. The commands or instructions may be received from the UE, the network node 810, or by executable code, scripts, processes, or other instructions in the hub 814. As another example, the hub 814 may be a data collector that acts as a temporary storage for UE data and, in some embodiments, may perform analysis or other processing of the data. As another example, the hub 814 may be a content source. For example, for a UE that is a VR headset, display, loudspeaker, or other media distribution device, the hub 814 may retrieve, via a network node, VR assets, video, audio, or other media or data related to sensory information, which the hub 814 then provides directly to the UE, either after performing local processing and / or adding additional local content. In yet another example, the hub 814 acts as a proxy server or orchestrator for the UEs, particularly if one or more of the UEs are low energy IoT devices.

[0092] The hub 814 may have a constant / permanent connection to the network node 810b or an intermittent connection. The hub 814 may further enable a variety of different communication schemes and / or schedules between the hub 814 and the UEs (e.g., UEs 812c and / or 812d) and between the hub 814 and the core network 806. In other examples, the hub 814 is connected to the core network 806 and / or one or more UEs via a wired connection. The hub 814 may further be configured to connect to an M2M service provider via the access network 804 and / or to another UE via a direct connection. In some scenarios, a UE may establish a wireless connection with the network node 810 while still being connected through the hub 814 by a wired or wireless connection. In some embodiments, the hub 814 may be a dedicated hub, i.e., a hub whose primary function is to route communications to and from the UEs to and from the network node 810b. In other embodiments, the hub 814 may be a non-dedicated hub, i.e., a device that is operable to route communications between the UE and the network node 810b, but that is further operable as a communications initiation and / or termination point for particular data channels.

[0093] FIG. 9 illustrates a UE 900 according to some embodiments. The UE may be configured to perform one or more of the methods or techniques described herein. As used herein, a UE refers to a device capable of, configured to communicate, and / or operable to communicate wirelessly with a network node and / or other UEs. Examples of UEs include, but are not limited to, smartphones, mobile phones, cell phones, voice over IP (VoIP) phones, wireless local loop phones, desktop computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), wireless cameras, game consoles or devices, music storage devices, playback devices, wearable terminal devices, wireless endpoints, mobile stations, tablets, laptops, laptop-embedded equipment (LEE), laptop-mounted equipment (LME), smart devices, wireless customer-premise equipment (CPE), vehicle-mounted or embedded / integrated wireless devices, and the like. Other examples include any UE identified by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), including narrow band internet of things (NB-IoT) UE, machine type communication (MTC) UE, and / or enhanced MTC (eMTC) UE.

[0094] A UE may support device-to-device (D2D) communications, for example, by implementing 3GPP standards for sidelink communications, Dedicated Short Range Communications (DSRC), vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I), or vehicle-to-everything (V2X). In other examples, a UE may not necessarily have a user in the sense of a human user who owns and / or operates an associated device. Instead, a UE may represent a device (e.g., a smart sprinkler controller) that is intended for sale to or operation by a human user, but is not associated or initially associated with a particular human user. As an alternative, a UE may represent a device that is not intended for sale to or operation by an end user, but may be associated or operated for the benefit of a user (e.g., a smart electricity meter).

[0095] The UE 900 includes a processing circuit 902 operatively coupled to an input / output interface 906, a power source 908, a memory 910, a communication interface 912, and / or any other components, or any combination thereof, via a bus 904. A particular UE may utilize all or a subset of the components shown in FIG. 9. The level of integration between components may vary from UE to UE. Additionally, a particular UE may include multiple instances of a component, such as multiple processors, memories, transceivers, transmitters, receivers, etc.

[0096] The processing circuitry 902 is configured to process instructions and data, and may be configured to implement any sequential state machine operable to execute instructions stored as a machine-readable computer program in the memory 910. The processing circuitry 902 may be implemented as one or more hardware-implemented state machines (e.g., discrete logic, a field programmable gate array (FPGA), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), etc.), programmable logic in conjunction with appropriate firmware, one or more stored computer programs, such as a microprocessor or digital signal processor (DSP), in conjunction with appropriate software, a general-purpose processor, or any combination of the above. For example, the processing circuitry 902 may include multiple central processing units (CPUs).

[0097] In this example, the input / output interface 906 may be configured to provide an interface to an input device, an output device, or one or more input devices and / or output devices. Examples of output devices include a speaker, a sound card, a video card, a display, a monitor, a printer, an actuator, an emitter, a smart card, another output device, or any combination thereof. An input device may enable a user to capture information to the UE 900. Examples of input devices include a touch-sensitive or presence-sensitive display, a camera (e.g., a digital camera, a digital video camera, a webcam, etc.), a microphone, a sensor, a mouse, a trackball, directional keys, a trackpad, a scroll wheel, a smart card, etc. A presence-sensitive display may include a capacitive or resistive touch sensor to sense input from a user. The sensor may be, for example, an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a tilt sensor, a force sensor, a magnetometer, a light sensor, a proximity sensor, a biometric sensor, etc., or any combination thereof. An output device may use the same type of interface port as an input device. For example, a Universal Serial Bus (USB) port may be used to provide input and output devices.

[0098] In some embodiments, the power source 908 is configured as a battery or battery pack. Other types of power sources may be used, such as an external power source (e.g., an electrical outlet), a photovoltaic device, or a power cell. The power source 908 may further include power circuitry for transmitting power from the power source 908 itself and / or from the external power source to various portions of the UE 900 via an interface, such as an input circuit or a power cable. The transmitting power may be for charging the power source 908, for example. The power circuitry may perform any formatting, conversion, or other modification of the power from the power source 908 to make the power suitable for the individual components of the UE 900 being powered.

[0099] The memory 910 may be or may be configured to include memory such as random access memory (RAM), read only memory (ROM), programmable gate array read only memory (PROM), erasable programmable gate array read only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable gate array read only memory (EEPROM), magnetic disk, optical disk, hard disk, removable cartridge, flash drive, etc. In one example, the memory 910 includes one or more application programs 914, such as an operating system, a web browser application, widgets, gadget engine, or other applications, and corresponding data 916. The memory 910 may store any of a variety of operating systems or combinations of operating systems for use by the UE 900.

[0100] The memory 910 may be configured to include several physical drive units, such as a redundant array of independent disks (RAID), flash memory, a USB flash drive, an external hard disk drive, a thumb drive, a pen drive, a key drive, a high density digital versatile disk (HD-DVD) optical disk drive, an internal hard disk drive, a Blu-ray optical disk drive, a Holographic Digital Data Storage (HDDS) optical disk drive, an external mini dual in-line memory module (DIMM), a synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), an external micro-DIMM SDRAM, a smart card memory, such as a tamper-resistant module in the form of a Universal Integrated Circuit Card (UICC) including one or more Subscriber Identity Modules (SIMs), such as a USIM and / or an ISIM, other memory, or any combination thereof. The UICC may be, for example, an embedded UICC (eUICC), an integrated UICC (iUICC), or a removable UICC, commonly known as a "SIM card". The memory 910 may enable the UE 900 to access instructions, application programs, etc. stored on a temporary or non-transitory memory medium, offload data, or upload data. An article of manufacture, such as one that utilizes a communication system, may be tangibly embodied as the memory 910 or in the memory 1510, which may be or comprise a device readable storage medium.

[0101] The processing circuit 902 may be configured to communicate with an access network or other networks using a communication interface 912. The communication interface 912 may comprise one or more communication subsystems and may include an antenna 922 or may be communicatively coupled to an antenna 1522. The communication interface 912 may include one or more transceivers used to communicate, such as by communicating with one or more remote transceivers of another device capable of wireless communication (e.g., another UE or a network node in the access network). Each transceiver may include a transmitter 918 and / or a receiver 920 suitable for providing network communication (e.g., optical, electrical, frequency allocation, etc.). Additionally, the transmitter 918 and receiver 920 may be coupled to one or more antennas (e.g., antenna 922) and may share circuit components, software, or firmware or may be implemented separately.

[0102] In the illustrated embodiment, the communication capabilities of communication interface 912 may include cellular communication, Wi-Fi communication, LPWAN communication, data communication, voice communication, multimedia communication, short-range communication such as Bluetooth, close-range communication, and location-based communication such as using a Global Positioning System (GPS) to determine location, another similar communication capability, or any combination thereof. Communications may be implemented according to one or more communication protocols and / or standards, such as IEEE 802.11, Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), GSM, LTE, New Radio (NR), UMTS, WiMax, Ethernet, Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol (TCP / IP), Synchronous Optical Networking (SONET), Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), QUIC, Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), etc.

[0103] Regardless of the type of sensor, the UE may provide an output of data captured by its sensor through its communication interface 912 via a wireless connection to a network node. Data captured by a UE's sensor may be communicated through another UE via a wireless connection to a network node. The output may be periodic (e.g., once every 15 minutes when reporting sensed temperature), random (e.g., to even out the load from reporting from several sensors), in response to a trigger event (e.g., when moisture is detected, an alert is sent), on request (e.g., a user-initiated request), or a continuous stream (e.g., a live video feed of a patient).

[0104] As another example, the UE may include an actuator, motor, or switch associated with a communication interface configured to receive wireless input from a network node over a wireless connection. In response to the received wireless input, the actuator, motor, or switch may change state. For example, the UE may include a motor that adjusts a control surface or rotor of a drone in flight according to the received input, or adjusts a robotic arm that performs a medical procedure according to the received input.

[0105] When the UE is in the form of an Internet of Things (IoT) device, it may be a device for use in one or more application domains, including but not limited to urban wearable technology, augmented industry applications, and healthcare. Non-limiting examples of such IoT devices are or are integrated into the following: connected refrigerators or freezers, TVs, connected lighting devices, power meters, robotic vacuum cleaners, voice-controlled smart speakers, home security cameras, motion detectors, thermostats, smoke detectors, door / window sensors, flood / moisture sensors, electric door locks, connected doorbells, air conditioning systems such as heat pumps, autonomous cars, surveillance systems, weather monitoring devices, vehicle parking monitoring devices, electric vehicle charging stations, smart watches, fitness trackers, head mounted displays for augmented reality (AR) or virtual reality (VR), wearables for haptic or sensory augmentation, water sprinklers, animal or item tracking devices, sensors for monitoring plants or animals, industrial robots, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), and medical equipment of any kind such as heart rate monitors or remote controlled surgical robots. A UE in the form of an IoT device comprises circuitry and / or software depending on the intended application of the IoT device, in addition to other components, as described with reference to UE 900 shown in FIG.

[0106] As yet another particular example, in an IoT scenario, a UE may represent a machine or other device that performs monitoring and / or measurements and transmits results of such monitoring and / or measurements to another UE and / or a network node. The UE may then be an M2M device and may be referred to as an MTC device in the 3GPP context. As one particular example, the UE may implement the 3GPP NT-IoT standard. In other scenarios, the UE may represent a vehicle, such as a car, a bus, a truck, a ship, and an aircraft, or other equipment capable of monitoring and / or reporting an operating state or other functionality associated with its operation.

[0107] In practice, any number of UEs may be used together for a single use case. For example, a first UE may be a drone or may be integrated into a drone and may provide drone speed information (obtained through a speed sensor) to a second UE that is a remote controller that operates the drone. When a user makes a change from the remote controller, the first UE may adjust a throttle on the drone (e.g., by controlling an actuator) to increase or decrease the drone's speed. The first and / or second UE may further comprise two or more of the above-mentioned functions. For example, a UE may comprise a sensor and an actuator and may handle communication of data for both the speed sensor and the actuator.

[0108] FIG. 10 illustrates a network node 1000 according to some embodiments. The network node 1000 may be configured to perform one or more of the methods, techniques, steps, operations, etc., referred to herein as a network node, a radio access node, or a base station, in various embodiments. As used herein, a network node refers to a device that is capable of, configured to communicate, configured to communicate, and / or operable to communicate, directly or indirectly, with UEs and / or other network nodes or devices in a communications network. Examples of network nodes include, but are not limited to, access points (APs) (e.g., wireless access points), base stations (BSs) (e.g., radio base stations, Node Bs, evolved Node Bs (eNBs), and NR Node Bs (gNBs)).

[0109] Base stations may be classified based on the amount of coverage they provide (or, stated differently, their transmit power levels) and may therefore be referred to as femto, pico, micro, or macro base stations depending on the amount of coverage provided. A base station may be a relay node or a relay donor node that controls a relay. A network node may further include one or more (or all) parts of a distributed radio base station, such as a centralized digital unit, sometimes referred to as a remote radio head (RRH), and / or a remote radio unit (RRU). Such remote radio units may or may not be integrated with an antenna as an antenna-integrated radio. Some of the distributed radio base stations may also be referred to as nodes in a distributed antenna system (DAS).

[0110] Other examples of network nodes include multiple transmission point (multi-TRP) 5G access nodes, multi-standard radio (MSR) equipment such as an MSR BS, a network controller such as a radio network controller (RNC) or a base station controller (BSC), a base transceiver station (BTS), a transmission point, a transmitting node, a multi-cell / multicast coordination entity (MCE), an Operation and Maintenance (O&M) node, an Operations Support System (OSS) node, a Self-Organizing Network (SON) node, a positioning node (e.g., an Evolved Serving Mobile Location Center (E-SMLC)), and / or a Minimization of Drive Test (MDT).

[0111] The network node 1000 comprises a processing circuit 1002, a memory 1004, a communication interface 1006, and a power source 1008. The network node 1000 may be comprised of multiple physically separate components (e.g., a Node B component and an RNC component, or a BTS component and a BSC component, etc.), each of which may have its own separate components. In some scenarios where the network node 1000 comprises multiple separate components (e.g., a BTS and a BSC component), one or more of the separate components may be shared among several network nodes. For example, a single RNC may control several Node Bs. In such scenarios, each unique Node B and RNC pair may be considered as a single separate network node in some instances. In some embodiments, the network node 1000 may be configured to support several radio access technologies (RATs). In such embodiments, some components may overlap (e.g., separate memories 1004 for different RATs) and some components may be reused (e.g., the same antenna 1010 may be shared by different RATs). Network node 1000 may further include multiple sets of the various illustrated components for different wireless technologies (e.g., GSM, WCDMA, LTE, NR, WiFi, Zigbee, Z-wave, LoRaWAN, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) or Bluetooth wireless technologies) integrated into network node 1000. These wireless technologies may be integrated into the same or different chips or sets of chips and other components within network node 1000.

[0112] The processing circuitry 1002 may include one or more combinations of a microprocessor, controller, microcontroller, central processing unit, digital signal processor, application specific integrated circuit, field programmable gate array, or any other suitable computing device, resource, or combination of hardware, software, and / or coded logic that are operable, alone or in conjunction with other network node 1000 components, such as memory 1004, to provide the functionality of the network node 1000.

[0113] In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 1002 comprises a system on a chip (SOC). In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 1002 includes one or more of a radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry 1012 and a baseband processing circuitry 1014. In some embodiments, the radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry 1012 and the baseband processing circuitry 1014 may be on separate chips (or sets of chips), boards, or units, such as a radio unit and a digital unit. In alternative embodiments, some or all of the RF transceiver circuitry 1012 and the baseband processing circuitry 1014 may be on the same chip or set of chips, board, or unit.

[0114] The memory 1004 may include any form of volatile or non-volatile computer readable memory, including, without limitation, persistent storage, solid state memory, remotely mounted memory, magnetic media, optical media, random access memory (RAM), read only memory (ROM), mass storage media (e.g., hard disk), removable storage media (e.g., flash drive, compact disk (CD) or digital video disk (DVD)), and / or any other volatile or non-volatile, non-transitory device readable and / or computer executable memory device that stores information, data, and / or instructions that may be used by the processing circuit 1002. The memory 1004 may store any suitable instructions, data, or information, including applications, computer programs, software, including one or more of logic, rules, code, tables, and / or other instructions that may be executed by the processing circuit 1002 and utilized by the network node 1000. The memory 1004 may be used to store any operations performed by the processing circuit 1002 and / or any data received via the communications interface 1006. In some embodiments, the processing circuit 1002 and the memory 1004 are integrated.

[0115] The communication interface 1006 is used in wired or wireless communication of signaling and / or data between network nodes, access networks, and / or UEs. As shown, the communication interface 1006 comprises port(s) / terminal(s) 1016 for transmitting and receiving data to and from a network via a wired connection, for example. The communication interface 1006 further comprises a radio front-end circuit 1018, which may be coupled to the antenna 1010 or may be part of the antenna 1610 in some embodiments. The radio front-end circuit 1018 comprises a filter 1020 and an amplifier 1022. The radio front-end circuit 1018 may be connected to the antenna 1010 and the processing circuit 1002. The radio front-end circuit may be configured to condition signals communicated between the antenna 1010 and the processing circuit 1002. The radio front-end circuit 1018 may receive digital data to be sent to other network nodes or UEs via a wireless connection. The radio front-end circuitry 1018 may convert the digital data into a radio signal having appropriate channel and bandwidth parameters using a combination of filters 1020 and / or amplifiers 1022. The radio signal may then be transmitted via the antenna 1010. Similarly, in receiving data, the antenna 1010 may collect a radio signal that is converted into digital data by the radio front-end circuitry 1018. The digital data may be passed to the processing circuitry 1002. In other embodiments, the communication interface may include different components and / or different combinations of components.

[0116] In certain alternative embodiments, the network node 1000 does not include a separate radio front-end circuit 1018; instead, the processing circuit 1002 includes the radio front-end circuitry and is connected to the antenna 1010. Similarly, in some embodiments, all or a portion of the RF transceiver circuitry 1012 is part of the communications interface 1006. In yet other embodiments, the communications interface 1006 includes one or more ports or terminals 1016, the radio front-end circuitry 1018, and the RF transceiver circuitry 1012 as part of a radio unit (not shown), and the communications interface 1006 communicates with baseband processing circuitry 1014 that is part of a digital unit (not shown).

[0117] The antenna 1010 may include one or more antennas or an antenna array configured to transmit and / or receive wireless signals. The antenna 1010 may be coupled to a radio front-end circuit 1018 and may be any type of antenna capable of wirelessly transmitting and receiving data and / or signals. In an embodiment, the antenna 1010 is separate from the network node 1000 and connectable to the network node 1000 via an interface or port.

[0118] The antenna 1010, the communication interface 1006, and / or the processing circuit 1002 may be configured to perform any receiving operation and / or certain acquisition operations described herein as being performed by a network node. Any information, data, and / or signals may be received from a UE, another network node, and / or any other network equipment. Similarly, the antenna 1010, the communication interface 1006, and / or the processing circuit 1002 may be configured to perform any transmitting operation described herein as being performed by a network node. Any information, data, and / or signals may be transmitted to a UE, another network node, and / or any other network equipment.

[0119] The power source 1008 provides power to the various components of the network node 1000 in a form suitable for the individual components (e.g., at voltage and current levels required by the individual components). The power source 1008 may further comprise or be coupled to a power management circuit for providing power to the components of the network node 1000 to perform the functions described herein. For example, the network node 1000 may be connectable to an external power source (e.g., a power grid, an electrical outlet) via an input circuit or interface, such as an electrical cable, whereby the external power source provides power to the power circuit of the power source 1008. As a further example, the power source 1008 may comprise a power source in the form of a battery or battery pack connected to or integrated into the power circuit. In the event that the external power source fails, the battery may provide back-up power.

[0120] 10 to provide certain aspects of the network node's functionality, including any of the functionality described herein and / or any functionality necessary to support the subject matter described herein. For example, network node 1000 may include user interface devices that allow for the input of information into network node 1000 and the output of information from network node 1000. This may enable a user to perform diagnostics, maintenance, repair, and other administrative functions on network node 1000.

[0121] 11 is a block diagram of a host 1100, which may be an embodiment of the host 816 of FIG. 8 in accordance with various aspects described herein. As used herein, the host 1100 may be or comprise various combinations of hardware and / or software, including a standalone server, a blade server, a cloud-implemented server, a distributed server, a virtual machine, a container, or processing resources within a server farm. The host 1100 may provide one or more services to one or more UEs.

[0122] The host 1100 includes a processing circuit 1102 operably coupled to an input / output interface 1106, a network interface 1108, a power source 1110, and a memory 1112 via a bus 1104. Other components may be included in other embodiments. The functionality of these components may be substantially similar to those described with respect to the devices of the previous figures (e.g., Figures 9 and 10), such that the descriptions are generally applicable to the corresponding components of the host 1100.

[0123] The memory 1112 may include one or more computer programs, including one or more host application programs 1114 and data 1116, which may include user data (e.g., data generated by a UE for the host 1100 or data generated by the host 1100 for the UE). An embodiment of the host 1100 may utilize only a subset or all of the components shown. The host application programs 1114 may be implemented in a container-based architecture and may provide support for video codecs (e.g., Versatile Video Coding (VVC), High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC), Advanced Video Coding (AVC), MPEG, VP9) and audio codecs (e.g., FLAC, Advanced Audio Coding (AAC), MPEG, G.711), including transcoding for multiple different classes, types, or implementations of UE (e.g., handsets, desktop computers, wearable display systems, heads-up display systems). The host application program 1114 may further provide user authentication and licensing checks and may periodically report health, route, and content availability to a central node, such as a device in the core network or on the edge of the core network. Thus, the host 1100 may select and / or indicate different hosts for over-the-top services for the UE. The host application program 1114 may support various protocols, such as HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) protocol, Real-Time Messaging Protocol (RTMP), Real-Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP), Dynamic Adaptation Streaming over HTTP (MPEG-DASH), etc.

[0124] FIG. 12 is a block diagram illustrating a virtualization environment 1200 in which functionality implemented by some embodiments may be virtualized. In this context, virtualization means creating a virtual version of an apparatus or device, which may include virtualized hardware platforms, storage devices, and network resources. As used herein, virtualization may apply to any device described herein, or components thereof, and relates to implementations in which at least a portion of functionality is implemented as one or more virtual components. Some or all of the functionality described herein may be implemented as virtual components executed by one or more virtual machines (VMs) implemented in one or more virtualization environments 1200 hosted by one or more of the hardware nodes, such as a network node, a UE, a core network node, or a hardware computing device acting as a host. Furthermore, in embodiments in which the virtual node does not require wireless connectivity (e.g., a core network node or a host), the node may be fully virtualized.

[0125] An application 1202 (which may alternatively be referred to as a software instance, a virtual appliance, a network function, a virtual node, a virtual network function, etc.) executes in the virtualized environment 1200 to implement some of the features, functions, and / or advantages of some of the embodiments disclosed herein.

[0126] Hardware 1204 includes processing circuitry, memory that stores software and / or instructions executable by the hardware processing circuitry, and / or other hardware devices described herein, such as network interfaces, input / output interfaces, etc. Software executed by the processing circuitry may instantiate one or more virtualization layers 1206 (also referred to as a hypervisor or virtual machine monitor (VMM)), provide VMs 1208a and 1208b (one or more of which may be generally referred to as VMs 1208), and / or perform any of the functions, features, and / or benefits described in connection with some embodiments described herein. Virtualization layer 1206 may present a virtual operating platform to VMs 1208 that appears as networking hardware.

[0127] The VMs 1208 may include virtual processing, virtual memory, virtual networking or interfaces, and virtual storage, and may be executed by a corresponding virtualization layer 1206. Various embodiments of an instance of a virtual appliance 1202 may be implemented in one or more of the VMs 1208, and may be implemented in a variety of ways. Hardware virtualization is referred to in some contexts as network function virtualization (NFV). NFV may be used to consolidate many network equipment types with industry-standard high-volume server hardware, physical switches, and physical storage (which may be located in data centers), and customer premises equipment.

[0128] In the context of NFV, VMs 1208 may be software implementations of physical machines that execute programs as if they were running on a physical, non-virtualized machine. Each VM 1208, and the portion of hardware 1204 on which it runs, may be hardware dedicated to that VM and / or hardware shared by that VM with others of the VMs, forming a separate virtual network element. Furthermore, in the context of NFV, a virtual network function runs in one or more VMs 1208 on hardware 1204 and is responsible for handling specific network functions corresponding to applications 1202.

[0129] The hardware 1204 may be implemented in a standalone network node with generic or specific components. The hardware 1204 may implement some functions via virtualization. Alternatively, the hardware 1204 may be part of a larger cluster of hardware (e.g., in a data center or CPE) where many hardware nodes work together and are managed via a management and orchestration 1210 that oversees, among other things, the lifecycle management of the application 1202. In some embodiments, the hardware 1204 is coupled to one or more radio units, each of which includes one or more transmitters and one or more receivers that may be coupled to one or more antennas. The radio units may communicate directly with other hardware nodes via one or more appropriate network interfaces or may be used in combination with virtual components to provide radio functions to a virtual node, such as a radio access node or base station. In some embodiments, some signaling may be provided with the use of a control system 1212, which may alternatively be used for communication between the hardware nodes and the radio units.

[0130] Figure 13 illustrates a communication diagram of a host 1302 communicating via a network node 1304 with a UE 1306 over a partial wireless connection, according to some embodiments. Exemplary implementations of UEs (such as UE 812a of Figure 8 and / or UE 900 of Figure 9), network nodes (such as network node 810a of Figure 8 and / or network node 1000 of Figure 10), and hosts (such as host 816 of Figure 8 and / or host 1100 of Figure 11) according to various embodiments will now be described with reference to Figure 13.

[0131] Similar to the host 1100, an embodiment of the host 1302 includes hardware such as a communications interface, processing circuitry, and memory. The host 1302 further includes software stored on or accessible by the host 1302 and executable by the processing circuitry. The software includes a host application that may be operable to provide services to a remote user, such as a UE 1306 connecting via an over-the-top (OTT) connection 1350 extending between the UE 1306 and the host 1302. In providing services to the remote user, the host application may provide user data that is transmitted using the OTT connection 1350.

[0132] The network node 1304 includes hardware that enables it to communicate with the host 1302 and the UE 1306. The connection 1360 may be direct or may pass through a core network (such as the core network 806 in FIG. 8) and / or one or more other intermediate networks, such as one or more public, private, or hosted networks. For example, the intermediate network may be a backbone network or the Internet.

[0133] The UE 1306 includes hardware and software that is stored on or accessible by the UE 1306 and executable by the UE's processing circuitry. The software includes a client application, such as a web browser or an operator-specific "app," that may be operable to provide services to a human or non-human user via the UE 1306 with the support of the host 1302. An executing host application on the host 1302 may communicate with an executing client application via an OTT connection 1350 that terminates on the UE 1306 and the host 1302. In providing services to a user, the client application on the UE may receive request data from the host application on the host and provide user data in response to the request data. The OTT connection 1350 may transport both the request data and the user data. The client application on the UE may interact with the user to generate user data to provide to the host application via the OTT connection 1350.

[0134] The OTT connection 1350 may extend via a connection 1360 between the host 1302 and the network node 1304, and via a wireless connection 1370 between the network node 1304 and the UE 1306, thereby providing a connection between the host 1302 and the UE 1306. The connections 1360 and wireless connections 1370 over which the OTT connection 1350 may be provided are depicted abstractly to illustrate communication between the host 1302 and the UE 1306 via the network node 1304, without explicit reference to any intermediate devices and the precise routing of messages through these devices.

[0135] As an example of transmitting data over the OTT connection 1350, in step 1308, the host 1302 provides user data, which may be performed by executing a host application. In some embodiments, the user data is associated with a particular human user interacting with the UE 1306. In other embodiments, the user data is associated with the UE 1306 sharing data with the host 1302 without explicit human interaction. In step 1310, the host 1302 initiates a transmission conveying the user data toward the UE 1306. The host 1302 may initiate the transmission in response to a request sent by the UE 1306. The request may result from human interaction with the UE 1306 or from the operation of a client application executing on the UE 1306. The transmission may pass through the network node 1304 in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure. Thus, in step 1312, the network node 1304 transmits user data carried in the transmission initiated by the host 1302 to the UE 1306, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure. In step 1314, the UE 1306 receives the user data carried in said transmission, which may be executed by a client application executing on the UE 1306 that is associated with the host application executed by the host 1302.

[0136] In some examples, the UE 1306 executes a client application that provides user data to the host 1302. The user data may be provided in reaction or response to data received from the host 1302. Thus, in step 1316, the UE 1306 may provide the user data. This may be performed by executing the client application. In providing the user data, the client application may further take into account user input received from a user via an input / output interface of the UE 1306. Regardless of the particular manner in which the user data is provided, the UE 1306, in step 1318, initiates transmission of the user data to the host 1302 via the network node 1304. In step 1320, the network node 1304 receives the user data from the UE 1306 and initiates transmission of the received user data towards the host 1302, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure. In step 1322, the host 1302 receives the user data carried in the transmission initiated by the UE 1306.

[0137] One or more of the various embodiments improve the performance of OTT services provided to the UE 1306 using the OTT connection 1350, of which the wireless connection 1370 forms the final segment. More precisely, the embodiments described herein may provide novel, flexible, and efficient signaling and procedures to support dynamic adaptation of DL transmit (TX) power used by a base station in a cell for at least SSB transmission. These techniques facilitate predictable and / or correct UE behavior when the base station dynamically adapts DL TX power, thereby reducing base station energy consumption. Thus, the embodiments facilitate improved energy efficiency of the wireless network while maintaining predictable and / or correct UE behavior. When used in UEs and base stations (or network nodes) including the wireless network, the embodiments increase the value of OTT services delivered (e.g., to UEs) over the wireless network to end users and service providers.

[0138] In an example scenario, factory status information may be collected and analyzed by the host 1302. As another example, the host 1302 may process audio and video data that may have been retrieved from UEs for use in creating maps. As another example, the host 1302 may collect and analyze real-time data to assist in controlling vehicle congestion (e.g., controlling traffic lights). As another example, the host 1302 may store surveillance video uploaded by UEs. As another example, the host 1302 may store or control access to media content, such as video, audio, VR, or AR, that may be broadcast, multicast, or unicast to UEs. As another example, the host 1302 may be used for energy pricing, remote control of non-time-critical electrical loads to balance power generation needs, location services, presentation services (such as compiling diagrams, etc. from data collected from remote devices), or any other function that collects, extracts, stores, analyzes, and / or transmits data.

[0139] In some examples, measurement procedures may be provided for the purpose of monitoring data rates, latency, and other factors that one or more embodiments improve upon. There may further be optional network functionality to reconfigure the OTT connection 1350 between the host 1302 and the UE 1306 in response to changes in the measurement results. The measurement procedures and / or network functionality to reconfigure the OTT connection may be implemented in software and hardware of the host 1302 and / or the UE 1306. In some embodiments, sensors (not shown) may be located in or associated with other devices through which the OTT connection 1350 passes. Such sensors may participate in the measurement procedures by providing values ​​of monitored quantities, as exemplified above, or other physical quantities from which software may compute or estimate the monitored quantities. Reconfiguration of the OTT connection 1350 may include message formats, retransmission configurations, preferred routing, etc. Such reconfiguration need not directly change the operation of the network node 1304. Such procedures and functionality are known and may be implemented in the art. In one embodiment, the measurements may involve proprietary UE signaling to facilitate measurements by the host 1302 of throughput, propagation time, latency, etc. The measurements may be performed in having the software send messages (particularly null or "dummy" messages) using the OTT connection 1350 while monitoring propagation time, errors, etc.

[0140] The above merely illustrates the principles of the present disclosure. Various modifications and alterations to the described embodiments will be apparent to those skilled in the art in light of the teachings herein. Thus, it will be appreciated that those skilled in the art can devise numerous systems, arrangements, and procedures not explicitly shown or described herein, which embody the principles of the present disclosure and which therefore fall within the spirit and scope of the present disclosure. As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, the various embodiments can be used together and interchangeably with one another.

[0141] As used herein, the term unit may have its conventional meaning in the field of electronic equipment, electrical devices, and / or electronic devices, and may include, for example, electrical and / or electronic circuits, devices, modules, processors, memories, logic solid state and / or discrete devices, computer programs or instructions for performing respective tasks, procedures, calculations, output and / or display functions, etc., as described herein.

[0142] Any suitable step, method, feature, function, or effect disclosed herein may be performed through one or more functional units or modules of one or more virtual devices. Each virtual device may include several of these functional units. These functional units may be implemented using processing circuitry, which may include one or more microprocessors or microcontrollers, and other digital hardware, which may include digital signal processors (DSPs), dedicated digital logic, and the like. The processing circuitry may be configured to execute program code stored in memory, which may include one or more types of memory, such as read-only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), cache memory, flash memory devices, optical storage devices, and the like. The program code stored in memory includes program instructions for implementing one or more telecommunications and / or data communication protocols and instructions for implementing one or more of the techniques described herein. In some implementations, the processing circuitry may be used to cause individual functional units to perform corresponding functions in accordance with one or more embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0143] As described herein, a device and / or an apparatus may be represented by a semiconductor chip, chipset, or (hardware) module, including such chip or chipset, but this does not exclude that the functionality of the device or apparatus may instead be implemented as a software module, such as a computer program or computer program product including executable software code portions for execution or executed on a processor, instead of being implemented in hardware. Furthermore, the functionality of a device or apparatus may be implemented by any combination of hardware and software. A device or apparatus may further be considered as an assembly of multiple devices and / or apparatus, whether functionally cooperating with each other or independent of each other. Devices and apparatus may also be implemented distributed throughout a system, as long as the functionality of the device or apparatus is maintained. Such principles and similar principles are believed to be known to those skilled in the art.

[0144] Unless otherwise defined, all terms used herein (including technical and scientific terms) have the same meaning as commonly understood by those skilled in the art to which this disclosure belongs. Terms used herein should be interpreted to have a meaning consistent with their meaning in the context of the present specification and related art, and it will be further understood that they are not to be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unless expressly defined herein.

[0145] In addition, certain terms used in this disclosure, including the specification, drawings and embodiments thereof, may be used synonymously in certain instances, including but not limited to, for example, data and information. It should be understood that these and / or other words that may be synonymous with each other may be used synonymously herein, although it may be intended that such words are not used synonymously. Furthermore, to the extent that prior art knowledge is not expressly incorporated by reference in the above specification, it is expressly incorporated herein in its entirety. All publications mentioned are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

[0146] The embodiments of the above-mentioned technology include, but are not limited to, the examples listed below. It should be noted that these examples are intended to encompass at least some of the specific technologies described above. Therefore, if the terms used in the following examples are different from those used above, the terms in these examples should be interpreted to correspond to similar terms or themes described above.

[0147] <Embodiment of Group A> 1. A method in a wireless device for collecting measurements, the method comprising: selecting a plurality of first radio quality measurement results based on a first type ("first measurement type") of at least two types of reference signals used by the wireless device to measure radio quality for inclusion in a report stored by the wireless device, the selecting including selecting, for a neighboring cell, a plurality of radio quality measurement results reflecting a best radio quality among available radio quality measurement results based on the first type of reference signal; including the selected first wireless quality measurement results in the report; and including in the report, together with the selected plurality of first radio quality measurements, one or more available radio quality measurements corresponding to cell identifiers associated with the selected plurality of radio quality measurements and based on a second type of reference signal of the at least two types of reference signals; A method comprising:

[0148] 2. The method of embodiment 1, wherein the selecting is performed up to a predetermined maximum number of radio quality measurements.

[0149] 3. The method of embodiment 2, wherein the number of the selected first plurality of radio quality measurement results is less than the predetermined maximum number, and the method further comprises: and further comprising: including in the report one or more additional radio quality measurement results based on the second type of reference signal, up to a certain number of additional radio quality measurement results, such that a total number of the selected plurality of first radio quality measurement results and the certain number of additional radio quality measurement results is equal to the predetermined maximum number, wherein the additional radio quality measurement results include radio quality measurements reflecting a best radio quality among available radio measurement results for neighboring cells based on the second type of reference signal and for cells that do not correspond to the cell identifier associated with the selected plurality of first radio quality measurement results.

[0150] 4. A method according to any one of embodiments 1 to 3, wherein the plurality of first radio quality measurement results are grouped according to the measurement quantity for each radio quality measurement result for the corresponding measurement quantity, and are ordered within the report such that the best radio quality measurement value for each measurement quantity appears first.

[0151] 5. A method according to any one of embodiments 1 to 4, wherein each of the plurality of first radio quality measurement results is associated in the report with an individual cell identifier corresponding to the selected plurality of first radio quality measurement results.

[0152] 6. A method according to any one of embodiments 1 to 5, wherein each of one or more of the plurality of radio quality measurement results is associated with one or more additional measurement results of a different measurement quantity according to the first measurement type.

[0153] 7. A method in a wireless device for collecting measurements, the method comprising: selecting a plurality of first wireless quality measurements based on a first measurement type for inclusion in a first list in a report stored by the wireless device, the selecting including selecting, for a neighboring cell, a wireless quality measurement reflecting a best wireless quality among available wireless quality measurements based on the first measurement type; selecting a plurality of second wireless quality measurements based on a second measurement type for inclusion in a first list in the report stored by the wireless device, the selecting including selecting, for a neighboring cell, a wireless quality measurement reflecting a best wireless quality among available wireless quality measurements based on the second measurement type; A method comprising:

[0154] 8. A method according to embodiment 7, wherein selecting the plurality of first radio quality measurement results and selecting the plurality of second radio quality measurement results are performed up to a predetermined total number of radio quality measurement results.

[0155] 9. A method according to embodiment 7, wherein selecting the plurality of first radio quality measurement results and selecting the plurality of second radio quality measurement results are each performed up to a respective predetermined total number of radio quality measurement results for each of the first and second lists.

[0156] 10. A method according to any one of embodiments 7 to 9, wherein selecting the plurality of second radio quality measurement results includes omitting any radio quality measurement results for which the radio quality measurement results for the first measurement type correspond to a cell among the selected plurality of first radio quality measurement results.

[0157] 11. A method according to any one of embodiments 7 to 10, wherein the plurality of first radio quality measurement results are grouped according to the measurement quantity for each radio quality measurement result for the corresponding measurement quantity, and are ordered within the report such that the best radio quality measurement value for each measurement quantity appears first.

[0158] 12. A method according to any one of embodiments 7 to 11, wherein each of the plurality of first radio quality measurement results is associated in the report with an individual cell identifier corresponding to the selected plurality of first radio quality measurement results.

[0159] 13. A method according to any one of embodiments 7 to 12, wherein each of one or more of the plurality of radio quality measurement results is associated with one or more additional measurement results of a different measurement quantity according to the first measurement type.

[0160] 14. A method in a wireless device for collecting measurements, the method comprising: selecting a plurality of first radio quality measurements for neighboring cells for inclusion in a report stored by the wireless device, the selecting including selecting a plurality of radio quality measurements reflecting a best radio quality among available radio quality measurements for a first measurement quantity, regardless of whether the selected radio quality measurements are of a particular measurement type; including the selected first wireless quality measurement results in the report; and including in the report, together with each of one or more of the selected first plurality of radio quality measurements, one or more available radio quality measurements corresponding to a cell identifier associated with the selected plurality of radio quality measurements and based on a measurement type different from a measurement type for the selected plurality of radio quality measurements; A method comprising:

[0161] 15. The method of embodiment 14, comprising: selecting a plurality of second radio quality measurement results for neighboring cells for inclusion in the report, said selecting including selecting a radio quality measurement result reflecting a best radio quality among available radio quality measurement results for a second measurement quantity, regardless of whether the selected radio quality measurement result is of a particular measurement type; including the selected second wireless quality measurements in the report; and The method further comprises:

[0162] 16. The method of embodiment 15, wherein selecting the plurality of first radio quality measurement results and selecting the plurality of second radio quality measurement results are performed up to a predetermined total number of radio quality measurement results.

[0163] 17. A method according to embodiment 15, wherein selecting the plurality of first radio quality measurement results and selecting the plurality of second radio quality measurement results are each performed up to a separate predetermined total number of radio quality measurement results.

[0164] 18. A method according to any one of embodiments 14 to 18, wherein selecting the plurality of second radio quality measurement results includes omitting any radio quality measurement results for which the radio quality measurement results for the first measurement type correspond to a cell among the selected plurality of first radio quality measurement results.

[0165] 19. A method according to any one of embodiments 14 to 18, wherein the plurality of first radio quality measurement results are grouped according to the measurement quantity for each radio quality measurement result for the corresponding measurement quantity, and are ordered within the report such that the best radio quality measurement value for each measurement quantity appears first.

[0166] 20. A method according to any one of embodiments 14 to 19, wherein each of the plurality of first radio quality measurement results is associated in the report with an individual cell identifier corresponding to the selected plurality of first radio quality measurement results.

[0167] 21. The method of any one of embodiments 1 to 20, further comprising transmitting the report to a network node serving the wireless device.

[0168] 22. The method of embodiment 21, wherein the report is a radio link failure report, a successful handover report, or a random access report.

[0169] 23. The method of any one of claims 1 to 22, further comprising: Providing user data; forwarding said user data to said network node via said transmission; The method further comprises:

[0170] <Implementation of Group B> 24. The method of any one of the preceding claims, further comprising: Receiving the report according to any one of claims 1 to 13; The method further comprises:

[0171] 25. The method of embodiment B1, comprising: Obtaining user data; transferring said user data to a host or user device; The method further comprises:

[0172] <Embodiments of Group C> 26. A user device for collecting measurements, comprising: a processing circuit configured to perform any of the steps of any of the embodiments of Group A; a power supply circuit configured to supply power to the processing circuit; A user device comprising:

[0173] 27. A network node for collecting measurements, said network node comprising: a processing circuit configured to perform any of the steps of any of the embodiments of Group B; a power supply circuit configured to supply power to the processing circuit; A network node comprising:

[0174] 28. A user equipment (UE) for collecting measurements, the UE comprising: an antenna configured to transmit and receive wireless signals; a radio front-end circuit coupled to the antenna and to a processing circuit and configured to condition signals communicated between the antenna and the processing circuit; the processing circuitry configured to perform any of the steps of any of the embodiments of Group A; an input interface connected to the processing circuitry and configured to enable input of information into the UE to be processed by the processing circuitry; an output interface coupled to the processing circuit and configured to output information from the UE that has been processed by the processing circuit; a battery coupled to the processing circuit and configured to provide power to the UE; A UE equipped with the above.

[0175] 29. A host configured to operate in a communication system to provide an over-the-top (OTT) service, the host comprising: a processing circuit configured to provide user data; a network interface configured to initiate transmission of the user data to a cellular network for transmission to a user equipment (UE); A host, wherein the UE comprises a communications interface and processing circuitry, the communications interface and processing circuitry of the UE configured to perform any of the steps of any of the embodiments of group A to receive the user data from the host.

[0176] 30. The host of embodiment 29, wherein the cellular network further includes a network node configured to communicate with the UE to transmit the user data from the host to the UE.

[0177] 31. The host of embodiment 29 or 30, the processing circuitry of the host is configured to execute a host application to provide the user data; A host, wherein the host application is configured to interact with a client application running on the UE, the client application being associated with the host application.

[0178] 32. A method performed by a host operating in a communication system further comprising a network node and a user equipment (UE), comprising: providing user data for the UE; and and initiating a transmission carrying the user data to the UE via a cellular network including the network node, wherein the UE receives the user data from the host by performing any of the operations of any of the embodiments of Group A.

[0179] 33. The method of embodiment 32, comprising: The method further includes receiving the user data from the UE by executing, at the host, a host application associated with a client application executing on the UE.

[0180] 34. The method of embodiment 33, comprising: and transmitting, at the host, input data to the client application executing on the UE, the input data being provided by executing the host application; The method of claim 1, wherein the user data is provided by the client application in response to the input data from the host application.

[0181] 35. A host configured to operate in a communication system to provide an over-the-top (OTT) service, the host comprising: a processing circuit configured to provide user data; a network interface configured to initiate transmission of the user data to a cellular network for transmission to a user equipment (UE); A host, wherein the UE comprises a communications interface and processing circuitry, the communications interface and processing circuitry of the UE configured to perform any of the steps of any of the embodiments of group A to receive the user data from the host.

[0182] 36. The host of embodiment 35, wherein the cellular network further includes a network node configured to communicate with the UE to transmit the user data from the host to the UE.

[0183] 37. The host of embodiment 35 or 36, the processing circuitry of the host is configured to execute a host application to provide the user data; A host, wherein the host application is configured to interact with a client application executing on the UE, the client application being associated with the host application.

[0184] 38. A method performed by a host configured to operate in a communication system further comprising a network node and a user equipment (UE), comprising: receiving, at the host, user data transmitted by the UE to the host via the network node, wherein the UE transmits the user data to the host by performing any of the steps of any of the embodiments of Group A.

[0185] 39. The method of embodiment 38, comprising: The method further includes receiving the user data from the UE by executing, at the host, a host application associated with a client application executing on the UE.

[0186] 40. The method of embodiment 39, and transmitting, at the host, input data to the client application executing on the UE, the input data being provided by executing the host application; The method of claim 1, wherein the user data is provided by the client application in response to the input data from the host application.

[0187] 41. A host configured to operate in a communication system to provide an over-the-top (OTT) service, the host comprising: a processing circuit configured to provide user data; a network interface configured to initiate transmission of the user data to a network node of a cellular network for transmission to a user equipment (UE), wherein the processing circuitry of the network node is configured to perform any of the operations of any of the embodiments of Group B to transmit the user data from the host to the UE.

[0188] 42. The host of embodiment 41, the processing circuitry of the host is configured to execute a host application that provides the user data; A host, the UE comprising processing circuitry configured to receive the transmission of user data from the host by executing a client application associated with the host application.

[0189] 43. A method performed by a host configured to operate in a communication system further comprising a network node and a user equipment (UE), comprising: providing user data for the UE; and and initiating a transmission carrying the user data to the UE via a cellular network including the network node, the network node transmitting the user data from the host to the UE by performing any of the operations of any of the embodiments of Group B.

[0190] 44. The method of embodiment 43, further comprising transmitting, at the network node, the user data provided by the host for the UE.

[0191] 45. The method of embodiment 43 or 44, A method wherein the user data is provided at the host by executing a host application that interacts with a client application running on the UE, the client application being associated with the host application.

[0192] 46. ​​A communication system configured to provide over-the-top services, the communication system comprising: a host, the host comprising: a processing circuit configured to provide user data for a user equipment (UE), the user data being associated with the over-the-top service; and a network interface configured to initiate transmission of the user data towards a cellular network node for transmission to the UE, the network node having a communications interface and processing circuitry, the processing circuitry of the network node configured to transmit the user data from the host to the UE by performing any of the operations of any of the Group B embodiments.

[0193] 47. In the communication system of embodiment 46, said network node, and / or The user device, The communication system further comprises:

[0194] 48. A host configured to operate in a communication system to provide an over-the-top service, the host comprising: a processing circuit configured to initiate reception of user data; a network interface configured to receive the user data from a network node in a cellular network, the network node having a communications interface and processing circuitry, the processing circuitry of the network node configured to receive the user data from a user equipment (UE) for the host by performing any of the operations of any of the embodiments of Group B.

[0195] 49. The host of embodiment 48, the processing circuitry of the host is configured to execute a host application to provide the user data; A host, wherein the host application is configured to interact with a client application executing on the UE, the client application being associated with the host application.

[0196] 50. The host of embodiment 48 or 49, wherein initiating reception of the user data includes requesting the user data.

[0197] 51. A method performed by a host configured to operate in a communication system further comprising a network node and a user equipment (UE), comprising: initiating, at the host, reception of user data from the UE, the user data originating from a transmission received by the network node from the UE, the network node receiving the user data from the UE for the host by performing any of the steps of any of the embodiments of Group B.

[0198] 52. The method of embodiment 51, further comprising, at the network node, transmitting the received user data to the host.

[0199] Some abbreviations: CU Centralized Unit DAPS Dual Active Protocol Stack DU Distributed Unit HO Handover HOF Handover Failure NW Network RLF Radio Link Failure SON Self-Organizing Network UE User Equipment RRC Radio Resource Control RA Random Access SHR Successful HO Report CSI-RS Channel State Information Reference Signal SSB Synchronization Signal Block PBCH Physical Broadcast Channel RSRP Reference Signal Received Power RSRQ Reference Signal Received Quality RSSI Received Signal Strength Indicator SINR signal-to-interference plus noise ratio

Claims

1. 1. A method in a wireless device for collecting measurements, the method comprising: selecting (510) a plurality of first radio quality measurements based on a first type of at least two types of reference signals used by the wireless device to measure radio quality for inclusion in a report stored by the wireless device, the selecting including selecting, for a neighboring cell, a plurality of radio quality measurements reflecting a best radio quality among available radio quality measurements based on the first type of reference signal; including (520) the selected first plurality of wireless quality measurements in the report; and including (530) one or more available radio quality measurements in the report together with the selected plurality of first radio quality measurements, the one or more available radio quality measurements corresponding to cell identifiers associated with the selected plurality of radio quality measurements and based on a second type of reference signal of the at least two types of reference signals; A method comprising:

2. 2. The method of claim 1 , A method, wherein the selecting (510) is performed up to a predetermined maximum number of radio quality measurements.

3. 3. The method of claim 2, the number of the selected first wireless quality measurement results is less than the predetermined maximum number; The method further comprises including (540) one or more additional radio quality measurements based on the second type of reference signal in the report, up to the number of additional radio quality measurements, such that a total number of the selected first plurality of radio quality measurements and the number of additional radio quality measurements is equal to the predetermined maximum number; The method of claim 1, wherein the additional radio quality measurement results include radio quality measurements reflecting a best radio quality among available radio measurements for neighboring cells based on the second type of reference signal and for cells that do not correspond to a cell identifier associated with the selected plurality of first radio quality measurement results.

4. 4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of first radio quality measurement results are grouped according to the measurement quantity for each radio quality measurement result for the corresponding measurement quantity, and are ordered within the report such that the best radio quality measurement value for each measurement quantity appears first.

5. 5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, Each of the plurality of first wireless quality measurements is associated in the report with an individual cell identifier corresponding to the selected plurality of first wireless quality measurements.

6. 6. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, A method according to claim 1, wherein each of one or more of the plurality of radio quality measurements is associated with one or more additional measurements of a different measurement quantity according to the first measurement type.

7. A wireless device (900), selecting a plurality of first radio quality measurements based on a first type of at least two types of reference signals used by the wireless device to measure radio quality for inclusion in a report stored by the wireless device, the selecting including selecting, for a neighboring cell, a plurality of radio quality measurements reflecting a best radio quality among available radio quality measurements based on the first type of reference signal; including the selected first wireless quality measurement results in the report; and including in the report, together with the selected plurality of first radio quality measurements, one or more available radio quality measurements corresponding to cell identifiers associated with the selected plurality of radio quality measurements and based on a second type of reference signal of the at least two types of reference signals; 23. A wireless device configured to:

8. A wireless device (900) according to claim 7, further configured to perform the method according to any one of claims 2 to 6.

9. A wireless device (900), A transmitter (918) and a receiver (920) configured to communicate with a wireless network; a processing circuit (802) operatively coupled to the transmitter (918) and the receiver (920), the processing circuit comprising: selecting a plurality of first radio quality measurements based on a first type of at least two types of reference signals used by the wireless device to measure radio quality for inclusion in a report stored by the wireless device, the selecting including selecting, for a neighboring cell, a plurality of radio quality measurements reflecting a best radio quality among available radio quality measurements based on the first type of reference signal; including the selected first wireless quality measurement results in the report; and including in the report, together with the selected plurality of first radio quality measurements, one or more available radio quality measurements corresponding to cell identifiers associated with the selected plurality of radio quality measurements and based on a second type of reference signal of the at least two types of reference signals; 23. A wireless device configured to:

10. 10. The wireless device (900) of claim 9, comprising: The selecting is performed up to a predetermined maximum number of radio quality measurements.

11. 11. The wireless device (900) of claim 10, comprising: the number of the selected first wireless quality measurement results is less than the predetermined maximum number; The processing circuitry is further configured to include in the report one or more additional radio quality measurements based on the second type of reference signal, up to the number of additional radio quality measurements, such that a total number of the selected first plurality of radio quality measurements and the number of additional radio quality measurements is equal to the predetermined maximum number; The wireless device, wherein the additional wireless quality measurement results include wireless quality measurements reflecting a best wireless quality among available wireless measurements for neighboring cells based on the second type of reference signal and for cells that do not correspond to cell identifiers associated with the selected plurality of first wireless quality measurement results.

12. A wireless device (900) according to any one of claims 9 to 11, comprising: the plurality of first radio quality measurement results are grouped according to the measurement quantity for each radio quality measurement result for the corresponding measurement quantity, and are ordered within the report such that a best radio quality measurement value for each measurement quantity appears first.

13. A wireless device (900) according to any one of claims 9 to 12, comprising: Each of the plurality of first wireless quality measurements is associated in the report with an individual cell identifier corresponding to the selected plurality of first wireless quality measurements.

14. A wireless device (900) according to any one of claims 9 to 13, comprising: A wireless device, wherein each of one or more of the plurality of radio quality measurements is associated with one or more additional measurements of a different measurement quantity according to the first measurement type.

15. 1. A computer program product comprising instructions for execution by a processing circuit of a wireless device, the instructions causing the wireless device to: selecting a plurality of first radio quality measurements based on a first type of at least two types of reference signals used by the wireless device to measure radio quality for inclusion in a report stored by the wireless device, the selecting including selecting, for a neighboring cell, a plurality of radio quality measurements reflecting a best radio quality among available radio quality measurements based on the first type of reference signal; including the selected first wireless quality measurement results in the report; and including in the report, together with the selected plurality of first radio quality measurements, one or more available radio quality measurements corresponding to cell identifiers associated with the selected plurality of radio quality measurements and based on a second type of reference signal of the at least two types of reference signals; A computer program product configured to cause the computer to execute

16. 16. A computer program product according to claim 15, further comprising instructions configured to cause the wireless device to perform the method of any one of claims 2 to 6.

17. 16. A computer readable medium comprising the computer program product of claim 15.

Images