Techniques for positioning reference signal measurements with measurement gaps

Abstract

Various embodiments herein provide techniques for configuring and / or using measurement gaps (MGs) for positioning reference signal (PRS) measurements. For example, a user equipment (UE) may receive a pre-configured measurement gap configuration; determine that measurement gaps are required for positioning reference signal (PRS) measurements and that the UE has not previously notified the network of PRS measurements prior to receiving the configuration; and encode a location measurement indication based on the determination to send to a network entity to indicate that PRS measurements are to be performed.

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63 / 311,409, filed February 17, 2022.

[0002] Technical Field Various embodiments may relate generally to the field of wireless communications. For example, some embodiments may relate to techniques for positioning reference signal measurements involving measurement gaps. [Background technology]

[0003] According to 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP®) Technical Specification (TS) 38.331, V16.7.0, Section 5.5.6, when a user equipment (UE) is requested by the location management function (LMF) to perform positioning reference signal (PRS) measurements, the UE can send a “Location Measurement Indication” information element (IE) to indicate to the network (next generation serving Node B (gNB) that it requires a measurement gap (MG). However, the conditions under which the UE should send the IE are not clearly defined, which may lead to inefficient signaling. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0004] BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The embodiments will be readily understood by the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which: FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device according to the present invention; [Figure 1] FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a Location Measurement Indication according to various embodiments. [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 illustrates a schematic diagram of a wireless network according to various embodiments. [Diagram 3] FIG. 3 illustrates generally components of a wireless network according to various embodiments. [Figure 4] FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating components capable of reading instructions from a machine-readable or computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium) and performing any one or more of the methodologies described herein in accordance with some example embodiments. [Diagram 5] FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary process for implementing various embodiments herein. [Figure 6] FIG. 6 illustrates another exemplary process for implementing various embodiments herein. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0005] The following detailed description refers to the accompanying drawings. The same reference numbers may be used in different drawings to identify the same or similar elements. In the following description, for purposes of explanation and not limitation, specific details are set forth, such as particular structures, architectures, interfaces, techniques, etc., in order to provide a thorough understanding of various aspects of the various embodiments. However, it will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of this disclosure that various aspects of the various embodiments may be implemented in other examples that depart from these specific details. In certain instances, descriptions of well-known devices, circuits, and methods have been omitted so as not to obscure the description of the various embodiments with unnecessary detail. For purposes of this specification, the phrases "A or B" and "A / B" mean (A), (B), or (A and B).

[0006] Various embodiments herein may relate to configuring and / or using a measurement gap (MG) for positioning reference signal (PRS) measurements. For example, embodiments may define a user equipment (UE) behavior when a network (NW) converts a preconfigured MG to another MG.

[0007] In some embodiments, the UE may receive a configuration or setting of a pre-configured measurement gap. The UE may determine that the pre-configured measurement gap is required for PRS measurements and that the UE has not previously notified the network of the PRS measurements prior to receiving the configuration. Based on the determination, the UE may send a location measurement indication to the network to send to a network entity to indicate that PRS measurements are to be performed.

[0008] As mentioned above, according to 3GPP TS38.331, V16.7.0 ("TS38.331"), Section 5.5.6, when the UE is requested by the Location Management Function (LMF) to perform Positioning Reference Signal (PRS) measurements, the UE can send a "LocationMeasurementIndication" information element (IE) to indicate to the network (next generation Serving Node B (gNB) that it requests a Measurement Gap (MG). However, it is up to the NW which type of MG (e.g. pre-configured MG or legacy MG) is to be configured for the UE.

[0009] Figure 1 shows the Location Measurement Indication IE, which corresponds to Figure 5.5.5.1-1 of TS 38.331. TS 38.331, Section 5.5.6.1 specifies: The purpose of this procedure is to indicate to the network that the UE intends to start / stop location related measurements for E-UTRA or NR (eutra-RSTD, nr-RSTD, nr-UE-RxTxTimeDiff, nr-PRS-RSRP) requiring measurement gaps or to start / stop subframe and slot timing detection for E-UTRA (eutra-FineTimingDetection) requiring measurement gaps. The UE shall initiate this procedure only after successful AS security activation. NOTE: The setting of measurement gaps is at the discretion of the network.

[0010] There are several possible scenarios as discussed below regarding whether the UE needs to inform the NW about PRS measurements (eg, not due to a synchronisation gap).

[0011] ●Case 1: If the UE has not been configured with any measurement gap before it is requested by the LMF to provide PRS measurements, the UE shall send a “LocationMeasurementIndication” IE to request a measurement gap (either a legacy gap due to activation or a pre-MG gap).

[0012] ● Case 2: If a legacy measurement gap (e.g., legMG1) was configured in the UE before the UE was requested by the LMF to provide PRS measurements, the UE does not need to transmit the “LocationMeasurementIndication” IE to request the measurement gap, i.e., the UE can perform PRS measurements using the legacy measurement gap legMG1.

[0013] ● Case 3: If the UE had a pre-configured measurement gap configured in it that was activated (e.g., preMG1-ON) before it was requested by the LMF to provide PRS measurements, the UE does not need to forward the “LocationMeasurementIndication” IE to request another legacy MG, i.e., the UE can perform PRS measurements using the pre-configured measurement gap preMG1-ON.

[0014] ● Case 4-1: If the UE is deactivated (e.g., preMG2-OFF) before being requested by the LMF to provide PRS measurements and there is a preconfigured measurement gap configured in the UE (preMG2), the UE can send a “LocationMeasurementIndication” IE to request the measurement gap. The network may configure another legacy MG (legMG2) for the UE, and the UE can use the legacy MG legMG2 to perform the PRS measurements.

[0015] ● Case 4-2: If the UE was deactivated (e.g., preMG2-OFF) before being requested by the LMF to provide PRS measurements and there is a preconfigured measurement gap configured for the UE (preMG2), the UE can send a “LocationMeasurementIndication” IE to request the measurement gap. The NW can reconfigure the preconfigured measurement gap preMG2 as activated (preMG2-OFF-ON) for the UE and the UE can perform PRS measurements with preMG2-OFF-ON.

[0016] Thus, in various embodiments herein, the UE may inform the network that the UE will perform PRS using the configured Pre-MG only if the UE has not notified the NW prior to the Pre-MG configuration. In embodiments, it may be up to the network to decide whether to activate / deactivate the current Pre-MG or configure another MG (e.g., legacy MG) for the UE.

[0017] Some exemplary modifications to the 3GPP standard according to various embodiments are presented below. It will be apparent that these are merely examples for implementing the embodiments herein, and other modifications to the standard may be made according to various embodiments herein.

[0018] TS 38.133 Some examples of changes to TS 38.133, Section 9.1.2A.3 are shown below (underlined):

[0019] 9.1.2A.3 Requirements Any measurement gap pattern defined in Table 9.1.2-1 can be configured as a Pre-MG pattern.

[0020] The UE functions for the autonomous activation / deactivation mechanism [1] and can autonomously change the Pre-MG status from active to inactive or vice versa based on any of the following trigger conditions: -DCI or timer based activated BWP switching, -Activation / deactivation of SCell(s)

[0021] If a per-UE Pre-MG pattern is activated, the UE is not required to receive / transmit from / to the corresponding serving cell, following the same principles as described for per-UE measurement gaps in subclause 9.1.2. Otherwise the UE can be scheduled for reception / transmission of signals in all serving cells.

[0022] If a per-FR Pre-MG pattern is activated, the UE is not required to receive / transmit from / to the corresponding serving cell for the same FR, following the same principles as described for per-FR measurement gaps in subclause 9.1.2. Otherwise, the UE can be scheduled for reception / transmission of signals in all serving cells within the same FR.

[0023] The UE shall autonomously assume the status of the per-UE Pre-MG pattern as deactivated immediately after configuration of the per-UE Pre-MG pattern, provided that all configured measurements can be performed without measurement gaps.The UE shall autonomously assume the status of the per-FR Pre-MG pattern as deactivated immediately after configuration of the per-FR Pre-MG pattern, provided that all configured measurements within the same FR can be performed without measurement gaps.

[0024] Measurements can be performed by the UE without measurement gaps if any of the following conditions are met: - the UE is configured with SSB-based intra-frequency measurements and the conditions defined for gapless SSB-based intra-frequency measurements in subclause 9.2.1 are met, or - the UE is configured with SSB-based inter-frequency measurements and the conditions defined for gapless SSB-based inter-frequency measurements in subclause 9.3.1 are met, or The UE is configured with CSI-RS based intra-frequency measurements.

[0025] The UE shall autonomously assume the status of the per-UE Pre-MG pattern as activated immediately after configuration of the per-UE Pre-MG pattern, provided that at least one of the configured measurements cannot be performed without a measurement gap. The UE shall autonomously assume the status of a per FR Pre-MG pattern as activated immediately after configuration of the per FR Pre-MG pattern, provided that at least one of the configured measurements within the same FR cannot be performed without a measurement gap.

[0026] Measurements cannot be performed by the UE without measurement gaps if any of the following conditions are met: - the UE is configured with SSB-based intra-frequency measurements and the conditions defined for gapless SSB-based intra-frequency measurements in subclause 9.2.1 are not met, or - the UE is configured with SSB-based inter-frequency measurements and the conditions defined for gapless SSB-based inter-frequency measurements in subclause 9.3.1 are not met, or - the UE is configured with one of the following measurements:

[0027] CSI-RS based inter-frequency measurements, or -NR PRS based positioning measurements, or -E-UTRA inter-RAT measurements, or - E-UTRA Inter-RAT RSTD and E-CID measurements, or -UTRA Inter-RAT measurement.

[0028] When a Pre-MG is configured in the UE for NR PRS measurement, the UE shall inform the network that the UE intends to perform PRS using the configured Pre-MG only if the UE has not informed the NW before the Pre-MG configuration.

[0029] A UE function that supports the Pre-MG pattern using network control mechanisms shall deactivate the Pre-MG pattern if any of the following conditions are met:

[0030] TS 38.331 Some examples of changes to TS 38.331, Section 5.5.6.1 are shown below (underlined):

[0031] 5.5.6.1 Overview The purpose of this procedure is to indicate to the network that the UE intends to start / stop location related measurements for E-UTRA or NR (eutra-RSTD, nr-RSTD, nr-UE-RxTxTimeDiff, nr-PRS-RSRP) which require a measurement gap or that it intends to start / stop subframe and slot timing detection for E-UTRA (eutra-Fine Timing Detection) which requires a measurement gap. If the UE is configured to a pre-configured MG and has not notified the NW of this pre-configured MG in advance, the UE shall inform the network that it can use the configured Pre-MG to perform PRS, and it is up to the network to decide whether to activate / deactivate the current Pre-MG or configure another legacy MG for the UE. The UE shall initiate this procedure only after successful AS security activation. NOTE: The setting of measurement gaps is at the discretion of the network.

[0032] System and Implementation 2-4 illustrate various systems, devices and components that may implement aspects of the disclosed embodiments.

[0033] 2 illustrates a network 200 in accordance with various embodiments. Network 200 may operate in a manner consistent with 3GPP technical specifications for LTE or 5G / NR systems. However, example embodiments are not limited in this respect and the described embodiments may be applied to other networks that would benefit from the principles described herein, such as future 3GPP systems, etc.

[0034] The network 200 may include a UE 202, which may include any mobile or non-mobile computing device designed to communicate with the RAN 204 via an over-the-air connection. The UE 202 may be communicatively coupled to the RAN 204 by a Uu interface. The UE 202 may be, but is not limited to, a smartphone, a tablet computer, a wearable computing device, a desktop computer, a laptop computer, an in-vehicle infotainment, an in-vehicle entertainment device, an instrument cluster, a heads-up display device, an in-vehicle diagnostic device, a dash-top mobile device, a mobile data terminal, an electronic engine management system, an electronic / engine control unit, an electronic / engine control module, an embedded system, a sensor, a microcontroller, a control module, an engine management system, a networked device, a machine type communication device, an M2M or D2D device, an IoT device, and the like.

[0035] In some embodiments, the network 200 may include multiple UEs directly coupled to each other via a sidelink interface. The UEs may be M2M / D2D devices that communicate using physical sidelink channels, such as, but not limited to, PSBCH, PSDCH, PSSCH, PSCCH, PSFCH, etc.

[0036] In some embodiments, the UE 202 may further communicate with the AP 202 via an over-the-air connection. The AP 202 may manage a WLAN connection, which may function to offload all / part of the network traffic from the RAN 204. The connection between the UE 202 and the AP 202 may conform to any IEEE 802.11 protocol, where the AP 202 may be a Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) router. In some embodiments, the UE 202, the RAN 204, and the AP 202 may utilize cellular WLAN aggregation (e.g., LWA / LWIP). Cellular WLAN aggregation may include the UE 202 being configured by the RAN 204 to utilize both cellular radio resources and WLAN resources.

[0037] The RAN 204 may include one or more access nodes, such as the AN 208. The AN 208 may terminate air interface protocols for the UE 202 by providing access stratum protocols including RRC, PDCP, RLC, MAC, and L1 protocols. In this manner, the AN 208 may enable data / voice connectivity between the CN 220 and the UE 202. In some embodiments, the AN 208 may be implemented in a separate device or as one or more software entities running on a server computer, for example, as part of a virtual network that may be referred to as a CRAN or virtual baseband unit pool. The AN 208 may be referred to as a BS, gNB, RAN node, eNB, ng-eNB, NodeB, RSU, TRxP, TRP, etc. AN 208 may be a macrocell base station, or may be a low power base station providing a femtocell, picocell, or other similar cell having a smaller coverage area, smaller user capacity, or higher bandwidth as compared to a macrocell.

[0038] In embodiments where RAN 204 includes multiple ANs, they may be coupled to each other via an X2 interface (if RAN 204 is an LTE RAN) or an Xn interface (if RAN 204 is a 5G RAN). The X2 / Xn interface may be separated into a control / user plane interface in some embodiments, and the X2 / Xn interface may allow the ANs to communicate information related to handover, data / context transfer, mobility, load management, interference coordination, etc.

[0039] Each AN of the RAN 204 may manage one or more cells, cell groups, component carriers, etc., to provide the UE 202 with an air interface for network access. The UE 202 may be simultaneously connected to multiple cells provided by the same or different ANs of the RAN 204. For example, the UE 202 and the RAN 204 may use carrier aggregation to allow the UE 202 to connect to multiple component carriers, each corresponding to a Pcell or an Scell. In a dual connectivity scenario, the first AN may be a master node providing an MCG, and the second AN may be a secondary node providing an SCG. The first / second ANs may be any combination of eNBs, gNBs, ng-eNBs, etc.

[0040] The RAN 204 may provide an air interface over a licensed or unlicensed spectrum. To operate in the unlicensed spectrum, a node may use LAA, eLAA, and / or feLAA mechanisms based on CA techniques using PCell / SCell. Before accessing the unlicensed spectrum, the node may perform medium / carrier sensing operations, for example, based on a Listen-Before-Talk (LBT) protocol.

[0041] In a V2X scenario, the UE 202 or AN 208 may be or operate as an RSU, which may refer to any transportation infrastructure entity used for V2X communications. The RSU may be implemented in or by a suitable AN or a stationary (or relatively stationary) UE. An "RSU implemented in or by" may be: an RSU implemented in or by a UE may be referred to as a "UE type RSU"; an RSU implemented in or by an eNB may be referred to as an "eNB type RSU"; an RSU implemented in or by a gNB may be referred to as a "gNB type RSU" and so on. In one example, the RSU is a computing device coupled to radio frequency circuits located on the roadside that provide connectivity support to passing vehicular UEs. The RSU may also include internal data storage circuits for storing intersection map geometry, traffic statistics, media, and applications / software for sensing and controlling ongoing vehicular and pedestrian traffic. The RSU may provide very low latency communications necessary for high speed events such as collision avoidance, traffic alerts, etc. Additionally or alternatively, the RSU may provide other cellular / WLAN communication services. The RSU components may be packaged in a weatherproof enclosure suitable for outdoor installation and may include a network interface controller to provide a wired connection (e.g., Ethernet) to a traffic signal controller or backhaul network.

[0042] In some embodiments, the RAN 204 may be an LTE RAN 210 having an eNB, such as eNB 212. The LTE RAN 210 may provide an LTE air interface with the following characteristics: 15 kHz SCS; CP-OFDM waveform for DL ​​and SC-FDMA waveform for US; turbo codes for data and TBCC for control; and so on. The LTE air interface may rely on CSI-RS for CSI acquisition and beam management; PDSCH / PDCCH DMRS for PDSCH / PDCCH demodulation; CRS for cell search and initial acquisition; channel quality measurements, and channel estimation for coherent demodulation / detection at the UE. The LTE air interface may operate in sub-6 GHz bands.

[0043] In some embodiments, the RAN 204 may be an NG-RAN 214 having a gNB, e.g., gNB 216, or an ng-eNB, e.g., ng-eNB 218. The gNB 216 may connect with a 5G-capable UE using a 5G NR interface. The gNB 216 may connect with a 5G core via an NG interface, which may include an N2 interface or an N3 interface. The ng-eNB 218 may also connect with a 5G core via an NG interface, but may also connect with a UE via an LTE air interface. The gNB 216 and the ng-eNB 218 may connect with each other via an Xn interface.

[0044] In some embodiments, the NG interface may be split into two parts: an NG User Plane (NG-U) interface (e.g., N3 interface), which carries traffic data between the NG-RAN 214 nodes and the UPF 248, and an NG Control Plane (NG-C) interface (e.g., N2 interface), which is the signaling interface between the NG-RAN 214 nodes and the AMF 244.

[0045] The NG-RAN 214 may provide a 5G-NR air interface with the following characteristics: variable SCS; CP-OFDM for DL, CP-OFDM and DFT-s-OFDM for UL; polar, repetitive, simplex, and Reed-Muller codes for control, and LDPC for data. The 5G-NR air interface may rely on CSI-RS, PDSCH / PDCCH DMRS, similar to the LTE air interface. The 5G-NR air interface may not use CRS, but may use PBCH DMRS for PBCH demodulation, PTRS for phase tracking to the PDSCH, and tracking reference signals for time tracking. The 5G-NR air interface may operate in the FR1 band, which includes sub-6 GHz bands, or the FR2 band, which includes bands from 24.25 GHz to 52.6 GHz. The 5G-NR air interface may include SSB, which is the area of ​​the downlink resource grid that includes PSS / SSS / PBCH.

[0046] In some embodiments, the 5G-NR air interface may utilize BWPs for various purposes. For example, BWPs may be used for dynamic adaptation of the SCS. For example, a UE 202 may be configured with multiple BWPs, where each BWP configuration has a different SCS. When a change in BWP is indicated to the UE 202, the SCS of the transmission is also changed. Another example use case of BWPs relates to power saving. In particular, multiple BWPs may be configured for a UE 202 with different amounts of frequency resources (e.g., PRBs) to support data transmission under different traffic load scenarios. A BWP with a smaller number of PRBs may be used for data transmission with a small traffic load while enabling power saving at the UE 202 and possibly at the gNB 216. A BWP with a larger number of PRBs may be used for scenarios with a higher traffic load.

[0047] The RAN 204 is communicatively coupled to the CN 220, which includes network elements for providing various functions to customers / subscribers (e.g., users of UEs 202) to support data and telecommunication services. The components of the CN 220 may be implemented in one physical node or separate physical nodes. In some embodiments, NFV may be used to virtualize any or all of the functions provided by the network elements of the CN 220 onto physical computing / storage resources, such as servers and switches. A logical instantiation of the CN 220 may be referred to as a network slice, and a logical instantiation of a portion of the CN 220 may be referred to as a network sub-slice.

[0048] In some embodiments, the CN 220 may be an LTE CN 222, sometimes referred to as an EPC. The LTE CN 222 may include an MME 224, an SGW 226, an SGSN 228, an HSS 230, a PGW 232, and a PCRF 234, which are coupled together via interfaces (or "reference points") as shown. The following is a brief description of the functionality of the elements of the LTE CN 222.

[0049] The MME 224 may implement mobility management functions to track the current location of the UE 202 to facilitate paging, bearer activation / deactivation, handover, gateway selection, authentication, and the like.

[0050] The SGW 226 terminates the S1 interface towards the RAN and may route data packets between the RAN and the LTE CN 222. The SGW 226 may be a local mobility anchor point for inter-RAN node handovers and may provide an anchor for inter-3GPP mobility. Other responsibilities may include lawful interception, charging, and some policy enforcement.

[0051] The SGSN 228 can track the location of the UE 202 and perform security functions and access control. Furthermore, the SGSN 228 can perform EPC inter-node signaling for mobility between different RAT networks; PDN and S-GW selection specified by the MME 224; MME selection for handover, etc. An S3 reference point between the MME 224 and the SGSN 228 can enable user and bearer information exchange for inter-3GPP access network mobility in idle / active state.

[0052] The HSS 230 may include a database for network users containing subscription related information to support network entity handling of communication sessions. The HSS 230 may provide support for routing / roaming, authentication, authorization, naming / address resolution, location dependency, etc. An S6a reference point between the HSS 230 and the MME 224 may enable transfer of subscription and authentication data to authenticate / authorize user access to the LTE CN 220.

[0053] The PGW 232 may terminate an SGi interface towards a data network (DN) 236, which may include an application / content server 238. The PGW 232 may route data packets between the LTE CN 222 and the data network 236. The PGW 232 may be coupled to the SGW 226 by an S5 reference point to facilitate user plane tunneling and tunnel management. The PGW 232 may further include a node for policy enforcement and charging data collection (e.g., PCEF). Furthermore, the SGi reference point between the PGW 232 and the data network 236 may be an operator external public, private PDN, or intra-operator packet data network, e.g., for the provision of IMS services. The PGW 232 may be coupled to the PCRF 234 via a Gx reference point.

[0054] The PCRF 234 is the policy and charging control element of the LTE CN 222. The PCRF 234 may be communicatively coupled to an application / content server 238 to determine appropriate QoS and charging parameters for a service flow. The PCRF 232 may provision the PCEF (via the Gx reference point) with the appropriate TFT and QCI and associated rules.

[0055] In some embodiments, the CN 220 may be a 5GC 240. The 5GC 240 may include an AUSF 242, an AMF 244, an SMF 246, a UPF 248, an NSSF 250, an NEF 252, an NRF 254, a PCF 256, a UDM 258, and an AF 260, coupled together via interfaces (or "reference points") as shown. The functions of the elements of the 5GC 240 are briefly described below.

[0056] The AUSF 242 may store data and process authentication related functions for authentication of the UE 202. The AUSF 242 may facilitate a common authentication framework for various access types. In addition to communicating with other elements of the 5GC 240 via reference points as shown, the AUSF 242 may present a Nausf service based interface.

[0057] The AMF 244 may enable other functions of the 5GC 240 to communicate with the UE 202 and the RAN 204 and to subscribe to notifications about mobility events related to the UE 202. The AMF 244 may be responsible for registration management (e.g., for registering the UE 202), connection management, reachability management, mobility management, lawful interception of AMF related events, and access authentication and authorization. The AMF 244 may provide forwarding for SM messages between the UE 202 and the SMF 246 and act as a transparent proxy for routing SM messages. The AMF 244 may also provide forwarding for SMS messages between the UE 202 and the SMSF. The AMF 244 may interact with the AUSF 242 and the UE 202 to perform various security anchor and context management functions. Additionally, the AMF 244 may be a termination point of the RAN CP interface, which may be or include an N2 reference point between the RAN 204 and the AMF 244; the AMF 244 may be a termination point of NAS (N1) signaling and may perform NAS ciphering and integrity protection. The AMF 244 may also support NAS signaling with the UE 202 over an N3 IWF interface.

[0058] The SMF 246 may be responsible for SM (e.g., session establishment, tunnel management between the UPF 248 and the AN 208); UE IP address allocation and management (including optional authorization); selection and control of the UP function; configuration of traffic steering in the UPF 248 to route traffic to the appropriate destination; termination of the interface to the policy control function; control of policy enforcement, charging, and QoS portions; lawful interception (for SM events, and the interface to the L1 system); termination of the SM portion of NAS messages; downlink data notification; initiation of AN-specific SM information sent via the AMF 244 over the N2 to the AN 208; and determination of the SSC mode of the session. SM may refer to management of a PDU session, and a PDU session or "session" may refer to a PDU connection service that provides or enables the exchange of PDUs between the UE 202 and the data network 236.

[0059] The UPF 248 may act as an anchor point for intra-RAT and inter-RAT mobility, an external PDU session point of interconnection to the data network 236, and a branching point to support multi-homed PDU sessions. The UPF 248 may also perform packet routing and forwarding, perform packet inspection, enforce the user plane portion of policy rules, lawfully intercept packets (UP collection), perform traffic usage reporting, perform user plane QoS processing (e.g., packet filtering, gating, UL / DL rate enforcement), perform uplink traffic validation (e.g., SDF-to-QoS flow mapping), perform transport level packet marking in the uplink and downlink, downlink packet buffering, and downlink data notification triggering. The UPF 248 may include an uplink classifier to support routing of traffic flows to the data network.

[0060] The NSSF 250 may select a set of network slice instances to serve the UE 202. The NSSF 250 may also determine the allowed NSSAIs and mapping to subscribed S-NSSAIs, if necessary. The NSSF 250 may also determine the AMF set, or a list of candidate AMFs, to be used to serve the UE 202 based on an appropriate configuration, possibly by querying the NRF 254. The selection of a set of network slice instances for the UE 202 may be triggered by the AMF 244, to which the UE 202 is registered by interacting with the NSSF 250, which may cause an AMF change. The NSSF 250 may interact with the AMF 244 via the N22 reference point; it may communicate with another NSSF in a visited network via the N31 reference point (not shown). Furthermore, the NSSF 250 may indicate an Nnssf service-based interface.

[0061] The NEF 252 can securely expose services and capabilities offered by 3GPP network functions for third parties, internal exposure / re-exposure, AFs (e.g., AF 260), edge computing or fog computing systems, etc. In such an embodiment, the NEF 252 can authenticate, authorize, or throttle the AFs. The NEF 252 can also translate information exchanged with the AF 260 and with internal network functions. For example, the NEF 252 can translate between AF service identifiers and internal 5GC information. The NEF 252 can also receive information from other NFs based on the exposed capabilities of the other NFs. This information can be stored in the NEF 252 as structured data or in a data storage NF using a standardized interface. The stored information can then be re-exposed by the NEF 252 to other NFs and AFs, or used for other purposes, such as analytics. Additionally, NEF 252 is capable of presenting Nnef service-based interfaces.

[0062] The NRF 254 may support service discovery functionality, receive NF discovery requests from NF instances, and provide information of discovered NF instances to the NF instances. The NRF 254 also maintains information of available NF instances and their supported services. As used herein, terms such as "instantiate" and "instantiation" may refer to the creation of an instance, and an "instance" may refer to a specific occurrence of an object that may occur, for example, during the execution of program code. Additionally, the NRF 254 may expose an Nnrf service-based interface.

[0063] The PCF 256 can provide policy rules to the control plane functions to enforce them and can also support a unified policy framework to manage network behavior. The CF 256 can also implement a front end to access subscription information related to policy decisions in the UDRs of the UDM 258. In addition to communicating with functions through reference points as shown, the PCF 256 also exhibits an NPCF service-based interface.

[0064] The UDM 258 may process subscription related information to support network entity processing of communication sessions and may store subscription data of the UE 202. For example, the subscription data may be communicated via the N8 reference point between the UDM 258 and the AMF 244. The UDM 258 may include two parts, an application front end and a UDR. The UDR may store subscription data and policy data for the UDM 258 and the PCF 256, and / or structured data for publishing and application data for the NEF 252 (including PFD for application discovery, application request information for multiple UEs 202). The Nudr service-based interface, represented by the UDR 221, may enable the UDM 258, the PCF 256, and the NEF 252 to access a particular set of stored data, as well as to read, update (e.g., add, modify), delete, and subscribe to notifications of relevant data changes in the UDR. The UDM may include a UDM-FE responsible for authentication information processing, location management, subscription management, etc. Several different front ends may serve the same user in different transactions. The UDM-FE accesses the subscription information stored in the UDR and performs authentication information processing, user identification processing, access authorization, registration / mobility management, and subscription management. In addition to communicating with other NFs through reference points as shown, the UDM 258 may expose a Nudm service-based interface.

[0065] The AF 260 provides application influence over traffic routing, provides access to the NEF, and is capable of interacting with the policy framework for policy control.

[0066] In some embodiments, the 5GC 240 subscribes to the operator / 32 so that it is geographically closer to the point where the UE 202 attaches to the network.rd By selecting a third-party service, edge computing can be enabled. This can reduce latency and load in the network. To provide edge computing implementation, the 5GC 240 can select a UPF 248 close to the UE 202 and perform traffic steering from the UPF 248 to the data network 236 over the N6 interface. This can be based on UE subscription data, UE location, and information provided by the AF 260. In this way, the AF 260 can influence the UPF (re)selection and traffic routing. If the AF 260 is considered a trusted entity based on the operator's deployment, the network operator can allow the AF 260 to directly interact with the associated NFs. Furthermore, the AF 260 can present a Naf service-based interface.

[0067] The data network 236 may represent various network operator services, Internet access, or third party services, which may be provided by one or more servers, including, for example, an application / content server 238.

[0068] 3 illustrates a schematic of a wireless network 300 in accordance with various embodiments. The wireless network 300 may include a UE 302 in wireless communication with an AN 304. The UE 302 and the AN 304 may be similar to similarly named components described elsewhere herein and may be substantially interchangeable.

[0069] The UE 302 may be communicatively coupled to the AN 304 via a connection 306. The connection 306 is shown as an air interface for enabling the communicative coupling and may conform to a cellular communication protocol, such as an LTE protocol or a 5G NR protocol operating at millimeter wave (mmWave) or sub-6 GHz frequencies.

[0070] The UE 302 may include a host platform 308 coupled to a modem platform 310. The host platform 308 may include an application processing circuit 312 that may be coupled to a protocol processing circuit 314 of the modem platform 310. The application processing circuit 312 may execute various applications for the UE 302 to source / sink application data. The application processing circuit 312 may further perform one or more layer operations to transmit / receive application data to / from a data network. These layer operations may include transport (e.g., UDP) and Internet (e.g., IP) operations.

[0071] The protocol processing circuitry 314 may perform one or more of the layer operations to facilitate transmission or reception of data over the connection 306. The layer operations performed by the protocol processing circuitry 314 may include, for example, MAC, RLC, PDCP, RRC, and NAS operations.

[0072] The modem platform 310 may further include digital baseband circuitry 316, which may perform one or more layer operations that are "lower" layer operations in the network protocol stack performed by the protocol processing circuitry 314. These operations may include PHY operations including, for example, HARQ-ACK functions, scrambling / descrambling, encoding / decoding, layer mapping / de-mapping, modulation symbol mapping, received symbol / bit metric determination, multi-antenna port precoding / decoding, which may include one or more of space-time, space-frequency, or spatial coding, reference signal generation / detection, preamble sequence generation and / or decoding, synchronization sequence generation / detection, control channel signal blind decoding, and other related functions.

[0073] The modem platform 310 may further include transmit circuitry 318, receive circuitry 320, RF circuitry 322, and an RF front end (RFFE) 324 that may include or be connected to one or more antenna panels 326. Briefly, the transmit circuitry 318 may include digital-to-analog converters, mixers, intermediate frequency (IF) elements, etc.; the receive circuitry 320 may include analog-to-digital converters, mixers, IF elements, etc.; the RF circuitry 322 may include low noise amplifiers, power amplifiers, power tracking elements, etc.; the RFFE 324 may include filters (e.g., surface / bulk acoustic wave filters), switches, antenna tuners, beamforming elements (e.g., phased array antenna elements), etc. The selection and arrangement of components of the transmit circuitry 318, receive circuitry 320, RF circuitry 322, RFFE 324, and antenna panel 326 (collectively referred to as "transmit / receive elements") may be specific to the details of a particular implementation, such as, for example, whether communications are at mmWave or sub-6 GHz frequencies, TDM or FDM, etc. In some embodiments, the transmit / receive elements may be arranged into multiple parallel transmit / receive chains, located on the same or different chips / modules, etc.

[0074] In some embodiments, the protocol processing circuitry 314 may include one or more instances of control circuitry (not shown) to provide control functions for the transmit / receive elements.

[0075] UE reception may be established by and through the antenna panel 326, the RFFE 324, the RF circuitry 322, the receive circuitry 320, the digital baseband circuitry 316, and the protocol processing circuitry 314. In some embodiments, the antenna panel 326 may receive transmissions from the AN 304 by receive beamforming signals received by multiple antennas / antenna elements of one or more of the antenna panels 326.

[0076] UE transmissions may be established by and through protocol processing circuitry 314, digital baseband circuitry 316, transmit circuitry 318, RF circuitry 322, RFFE 324, and antenna panel 326. In some embodiments, the transmit elements of UE 304 may apply spatial filters to data to be transmitted to form transmit beams emitted by antenna elements of antenna panel 326.

[0077] Similar to the UE 302, the AN 304 may include a host platform 328 coupled to a modem platform 330. The host platform 328 may include an application processing circuit 332 coupled to a protocol processing circuit 334 of the modem platform 330. The modem platform may further include a digital baseband circuit 336, a transmit circuit 338, a receive circuit 340, an RF circuit 342, an RFFE circuit 344, and an antenna panel 346. The components of the AN 304 may be similar to, and substantially interchangeable with, similarly named components of the UE 302. In addition to performing data transmission / reception as described above, the components of the AN 308 may perform various logical functions including RNC functions such as radio bearer management, uplink and downlink dynamic radio resource management, and data packet scheduling.

[0078] 4 is a block diagram illustrating components capable of reading instructions from a machine-readable or computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium) and performing any one or more of the methodologies described herein, according to some example embodiments. Specifically, FIG. 4 illustrates a diagrammatic representation of hardware resources 400 including one or more processors (or processor cores) 410, one or more memory / storage devices 420, and one or more communication resources 430, each of which may be communicatively coupled via a bus 440 or other interface circuitry. In embodiments in which node virtualization (e.g., NFV) is utilized, a hypervisor 402 may be implemented to provide an execution environment for one or more network slices / sub-slices to utilize the hardware resources 400.

[0079] Processor 410 may include, for example, processor 412 and processor 414. Processor 410 may be, for example, a central processing unit (CPU), a reduced instruction set computing (RISC) processor, a complex instruction set computing (CISC) processor, a graphics processing unit (GPU), a DSP such as a baseband processor, an ASIC, an FPGA, a radio frequency integrated circuit (RFIC), another processor (including those described herein), or any suitable combination thereof.

[0080] The memory / storage device 420 may include main memory, disk storage, or any suitable combination thereof. The memory / storage device 420 may include any type of volatile, non-volatile, or semi-volatile memory, such as, but not limited to, dynamic random access memory (DRAM), static random access memory (SRAM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory, solid state storage, etc.

[0081] Communications resources 430 may include interconnect or network interface controllers, components, or other suitable devices capable of communicating with one or more peripheral devices 404 or one or more databases 406 or other network elements over network 408. For example, communications resources 430 may include wired communications elements (e.g., those coupled via USB, Ethernet, etc.), cellular communications elements, NFC elements, Bluetooth (or Bluetooth Low Energy) elements, Wi-Fi elements, and other communications elements.

[0082] The instructions 450 may include software, programs, applications, applets, apps, or other executable code that causes at least one of the processors 410 to perform any one or more of the methods described herein. The instructions 450 may reside, completely or partially, within at least one of the processors 410 (e.g., in a cache memory of the processor), the memory / storage device 420, or any suitable combination thereof. Furthermore, any portion of the instructions 450 may be transferred to the hardware resources 400 from any combination of the peripheral device 404 or the database 406. Thus, the memory of the processor 410, the memory / storage device 420, the peripheral device 404, and the database 406 are examples of computer-readable and machine-readable media.

[0083] Step-by-step example In some embodiments, an electronic device, network, system, chip, or component of FIG. 2-4 or any other figures herein, or a portion or implementation thereof, may be configured to perform one or more processes, techniques, or methods described herein, or portions thereof. One such process 500 is illustrated in FIG. 5. The process 500 may be performed by a UE or a portion thereof. At 502, the process 500 may include receiving a configuration of a pre-configured measurement gap. At 504, the process 500 may further include verifying that a measurement gap is required for positioning reference signal (PRS) measurements and that the UE has not pre-notified the network of the PRS measurements prior to receiving the configuration. At 506, the process 500 may further include encoding a location measurement indication to send to a network entity based on the verification to indicate that the PRS measurements are to be performed. In some embodiments, the network entity may be a gNB.

[0084] In some embodiments, the UE may use a pre-configured measurement gap for the PRS measurements. Additionally or alternatively, the UE may receive a message from the gNB to activate or deactivate the pre-configured measurement gap for the PRS measurements or to configure another measurement gap (e.g., a legacy measurement gap) for the PRS measurements.

[0085] FIG. 6 illustrates another example process 600 according to various embodiments. Process 600 may be performed by a gNB or a portion thereof. At 602, process 600 may include encoding a configuration of a pre-configured measurement gap for transmission to a user equipment (UE). At 604, process 600 may further include receiving a location measurement indication from the UE indicating that the UE will perform a positioning reference signal (PRS) measurement requiring a gap, where the location measurement indication is sent if the UE has not previously notified the gNB of the PRS measurement prior to the configuration of the pre-configured measurement gap. At 606, process 600 may further include determining based on the location measurement indication to activate or deactivate the pre-configured measurement gap for the PRS measurement or to configure another measurement gap for the PRS measurement.

[0086] For one or more embodiments, at least one of the components described in one or more of the preceding drawings may be configured to perform one or more operations, techniques, processes, and / or methods as described in the example sections below. For example, the baseband circuitry described above in connection with one or more of the preceding drawings may be configured to operate according to one or more of the examples described below. For another example, the circuitry associated with a UE, base station, network element, etc. described above in connection with one or more of the preceding drawings may be configured to operate according to one or more of the examples described in the example sections below.

[0087] Working Example A first embodiment may include one or more non-transitory computer-readable media (NTCRM) having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by one or more processors of a user equipment (UE), perform the following: receiving a pre-configured measurement gap configuration; determining that a measurement gap is required for positioning reference signal (PRS) measurements and that the UE has not previously signaled PRS measurements to the network prior to receiving the configuration; encoding a location measurement indication based on the confirmation for transmission to a network entity to indicate that PRS measurements are to be performed; The UE is constructed to perform the above.

[0088] Example 2 may include one or more NTCRMs of Example 1 or any other example herein, in which the instructions, when executed, further configure the UE to perform PRS measurements using pre-configured measurement gaps.

[0089] Example 3 may include one or more NTCRMs of Example 1 or any other example herein, in which the instructions, when executed, further configure the UE to receive a message to activate or deactivate a pre-configured measurement gap for PRS measurements after sending a location measurement instruction.

[0090] Example 4 may include one or more NTCRMs of Example 1 or any other example herein, in which the instructions, when executed, further configure the UE to receive a message to set a legacy measurement gap for PRS measurements after sending a location measurement instruction.

[0091] Example 5 may include one or more NTCRMs of Example 1 or any other example herein, in which case the pre-configured measurement gap is in a deactivated state when a location measurement indication is encoded for transmission.

[0092] Example 6 may include one or more NTCRMs of Example 1 or any other example herein, in which the instructions, when executed, further configure the UE to receive a request from a Location Management Function (LMF) to perform PRS measurements.

[0093] Example 7 may include one or more NTCRMs of any of Examples 1-6 or any other example herein, in which case the network entity is a next generation NodeB (gNB).

[0094] Example 8 can include one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media (NTCRM) having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by one or more processors of a next generation Node B (gNB), can: encoding a pre-configured measurement gap configuration for transmission to a user equipment (UE); receiving a location measurement indication indicating that the UE will perform measurements of a positioning reference signal (PRS) that require a gap, the location measurement indication being sent if the UE has not previously notified the gNB of the PRS measurements prior to configuration of the pre-configured measurement gap; and determining whether to activate or deactivate a pre-configured measurement gap for PRS measurements or setting another measurement gap for PRS measurements based on the location measurement indication; Build gNB to do this.

[0095] Example 9 may include one or more NTCRMs of Example 8 or any other example herein, in which the instructions, when executed, further configure the gNB to encode for transmission to the UE a message activating or deactivating a preconfigured measurement gap for PRS measurements.

[0096] Example 10 may include one or more NTCRMs of Example 8 or any other example herein, in which the instructions, when executed, further configure the gNB to encode a message that sets another measurement gap for PRS measurements after sending the location measurement indication.

[0097] Example 11 may include one or more NTCRMs of Example 10 or any other example herein, in which case the separate measurement gap is a legacy measurement gap.

[0098] Example 12 may include one or more NTCRMs of any of Examples 8-11 or any other example herein, in which the pre-configured measurement gap is in a deactivated state when a location measurement indication is received.

[0099] Example 13 can include an apparatus implemented in a user equipment (UE), the apparatus including a memory that stores a configuration related to a pre-set measurement gap, and a processor circuit coupled to the memory. The processor circuit can: receiving a request for positioning measurement from a location management function (LMF); determining that the UE has not previously notified the network of positioning measurements prior to receipt of the preconfigured measurement gap configuration; and A step of encoding an indication based on the confirmation to be transmitted to a next generation Node B (gNB) to indicate that positioning measurements are to be performed and that a measurement gap is required for the positioning measurements.

[0100] Example 14 may include the apparatus of example 13 or any other example herein, in which the processor circuitry further obtains positioning measurements using a pre-defined measurement gap.

[0101] Example 15 may include the apparatus of example 13 or any other example herein, in which the processor circuitry receives a message from the gNB after sending an indication that the positioning measurements are to be performed to activate or deactivate a pre-configured measurement gap for the positioning measurements.

[0102] Example 16 may include the apparatus of example 13 or any other example herein, in which the processor circuitry is configured to receive a message from the gNB after sending an indication that the positioning measurement is to be performed and configure another measurement gap for the positioning measurement.

[0103] Example 17 may include the apparatus of example 13 or any other example herein, in which the indication that a positioning measurement is to be performed is encoded for transmission further based on the pre-configured measurement gap being in a deactivated state.

[0104] Example 18 may include the apparatus of any of Examples 13-17 or any other example herein, in which the positioning measurement is a positioning reference signal measurement.

[0105] Example Z01 may include an apparatus including means for performing one or more elements of the method described or associated with any of Examples 1-18 or any other method or process described herein.

[0106] Example Z02 may include one or more non-transitory computer-readable media containing instructions that, upon execution by one or more processors of an electronic device, cause the electronic device to perform one or more elements of a method described or associated with any of Examples 1-18, or any other method or process described herein.

[0107] Example Z03 may include an apparatus including logic, modules, or circuitry that performs one or more elements of the method described or associated with any of Examples 1-18 or any other method or process described herein.

[0108] Example Z04 may include any method, technique, or process described or associated with any of Examples 1-18 or any portion or part thereof.

[0109] Example Z05 may include one or more processors and one or more computer-readable media containing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform a method, technique, or process described in or associated with any of Examples 1-18 or a portion thereof.

[0110] Example Z06 may include signals described or associated with any of Examples 1-18 or any portion or part thereof.

[0111] Example Z07 may include a datagram, packet, frame, segment, protocol data unit (PDU), or message described or associated with any of Examples 1-18 or any portion or part thereof, or otherwise described in this disclosure.

[0112] Example Z08 may include a signal encoded with data described or associated with any of Examples 1-18 or any portion or part thereof, or otherwise described in this disclosure.

[0113] Example Z09 may include a signal encoded using a datagram, packet, frame, segment, protocol data unit (PDU), or message described or associated with any of Examples 1-18 or any portion or part thereof, or otherwise described in this disclosure.

[0114] Example Z10 may include an electromagnetic signal carrying computer-readable instructions, which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform a method, technique, or process described in or associated with any of Examples 1-18 or a portion thereof.

[0115] Example Z11 may include a computer program including instructions, the execution of which by a processing element causes the processing element to perform a method, technique, or process described in or associated with any of Examples 1-18 or a portion thereof.

[0116] Example Z12 may include signals in a wireless network as shown and described herein.

[0117] Example Z13 may include a method of communication in a wireless network as shown and described herein.

[0118] Example Z14 may include a system for providing wireless communication as shown and described herein.

[0119] Example Z15 may include a device providing wireless communication as shown and described herein.

[0120] Any of the above examples can be combined with any other example (or combination of examples) unless expressly stated otherwise. The above description of one or more implementations has been provided to illustrate and explain the invention, but is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the scope of the embodiments to the precise form disclosed. Modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings or may be acquired from practice of various embodiments.

[0121] Abbreviation Unless otherwise used herein, the terms, definitions, and abbreviations may be consistent with those defined in 3GPP TR21.905 v16.0.0(2019-06). For purposes of this specification, the following abbreviations may apply to the examples and embodiments described herein:

[0122] 3GPP:Third Generation Partnership Project 4G: Fourth Generation 5G: Fifth Generation 5GC: 5G Core network AC: Application Client ACR: Application Context Relocation ACK: Acknowledgement; delivery confirmation ACID: Application Client Identification AF: Application Function AM: Acknowledged Mode AMBR: Aggregate Maximum Bit Rate AMF: Access and Mobility Management Function AN: Access Network ANR: Automatic Neighbor Relation AOA:Angle of Arrival;Angle of Arrival AP: Application Protocol, Antenna Port, Access Point API: Application Programming Interface APN: Access Point Name ARP: Allocation and Retention Priority ARQ:Automatic Repeat Request AS: Access Stratum ASP: Application Service Provider ASN.1: Abstract Syntax Notation One AUSF:Authentication Server Function AWGN: Additive White Gaussian Noise BAP: Backhaul Adaptation Protocol BCH:Broadcast Channel BER:Bit Error Ratio BFD: Beam Failure Detection BLER: Block Error Rate BPSK: Binary Phase Shift Keying BRAS: Broadband Remote Access Server BSS:Business Support System BS:Base Station BSR: Buffer Status Report BW: Bandwidth BWP: Bandwidth Part C-RNTI: Cell Radio Network Temporary Identity CA: Carrier Aggregation, Certification Authority CAPEX:CAPital Expenditure;Capital Expenditure CBRA: Contention Based Random Access CC: Component Carrier, Country Code, Cryptographic Checksum; Component Carrier, Country Code, Cryptographic Checksum CCA:Clear Channel Assessment CCE: Control Channel Element CCCH: Common Control Channel CE: Coverage Enhancement CDM: Content Delivery Network CDMA:Code-Division Multiple Access;Code-Division Multiple Access CDR: Charging Data Request CDR: Charging Data Response CFRA: Contention Free Random Access CG:Cell Group; Cell Group CGF: Charging Gateway Function CHF: Charging Function CI: Cell Identity CID: Cell-ID (e.g., positioning method) CIM: Common Information Model CIR: Carrier to Interference Ratio CK: Cipher Key CM:Connection Management, Conditional Mandatory;Connection Management, Conditional Mandatory CMAS: Commercial Mobile Alert Service CMD:Command; CMS: Cloud Management System CO: Conditional Optional CoMP: Coordinated Multi-Point CORESET: Control Resource Set COTS: Commercial Off-The-Shelf CP: Control Plane, Cyclic Prefix, Connection Point CPD: Connection Point Descriptor CPE: Customer Premise Equipment CPICH: Common Pilot Channel CQI: Channel Quality Indicator CPU: CSI processing unit, Central Processing Unit C / R: Command / Response field bit CRAN: Cloud Radio Access Network, Cloud RAN; Cloud Radio Access Network, Cloud RAN CRB: Common Resource Block CRC:Cyclic Redundancy Check CRI: Channel-State Information Resource Indicator, CSI-RS Resource Indicator C-RNTI: Cell RNTI CS: Circuit Switched CSCF: call session control function CSAR: Cloud Service Archive CSI: Channel-State Information CSI-IM:CSI Interference Measurement CSI-RS: CSI Reference Signal CSI-RSRP: CSI reference signal received power CSI-RSRQ: CSI reference signal received quality CSI-SINR: CSI signal-to-noise and interference ratio CSMA: Carrier Sense Multiple Access CSMA / CA:CSMA with collision avoidance ;Collision avoidance type CSMA CSS:Common Search Space, Cell-specific Search Space;Common Search Space, Cell-specific Search Space CTF: Charging Trigger Function CTS: Clear-to-Send CW: Codeword CWS: Contention Window Size D2D: Device-to-Device DC: Dual Connectivity, Direct Current DCI: Downlink Control Information DF: Deployment Flavour DL: Downlink DMTF: Distributed Management Task Force DPDK: Data Plane Development Kit DM-RS, DMRS: Demodulation Reference Signal DN:Data network;Data network DNN:Data Network Name DNAI: Data Network Access Identifier DRB: Data Radio Bearer DRS: Discovery Reference Signal DRX:Discontinuous Reception DSL: Domain Specific Language. Digital Subscriber Line DSLAM: DSL Access Multiplexer DwPTS: Downlink Pilot Time Slot E-LAN: Ethernet Local Area Network E2E: End-to-End EAS: Edge Application Server ECCA: extended clear channel assessment, extended CCA ECCE: Enhanced Control Channel Element, Enhanced CCE ED:Energy Detection EDGE: Enhanced Datarates for GSM Evolution (GSM Evolution); Enhanced Database for GSM Evolution (GMS Evolution) EAS: Edge Application Server EASID: Edge Application Server Identification ECS: Edge Configuration Server ECSP: Edge Computing Service Provider EDN: Edge Data Network EEC: Edge Enabler Client EECID: Edge Enabler Client Identification EES: Edge Enabler Server EESID: Edge Enabler Server Identification EHE: Edge Hosting Environment EGMF: Exposure Governance Management Function EGPRS: Enhanced GPRS EIR: Equipment Identity Register eLAA: enhanced Licensed Assisted Access, enhanced LAA EM: Element Manager eMBB: Enhanced Mobile Broadband EMS:Element Management System eNB:evolved NodeB, E-UTRAN Node B;Evolved NodeB EN-DC: E-UTRA-NR Dual Connectivity EPC: Evolved Packet Core EPDCCH: enhanced PDCCH, enhanced Physical Downlink Control Channel EPRE: Energy per resource element EPS: Evolved Packet System EREG: enhanced REG, enhanced resource element groups ETSI:European Telecommunications Standards Institute ETWS: Earthquake and Tsunami Warning System eUICC: embedded UICC, embedded Universal Integrated Circuit Card E-UTRA: Evolved UTRA E-UTRAN: Evolved UTRAN EV2X: Enhanced V2X F1AP: F1 Application Protocol F1-C: F1 Control plane interface; F1 control plane interface F1-U: F1 User plane interface; F1 user plane interface FACCH: Fast Associated Control Channel FACCH / F: Fast Associated Control Channel / Full rate FACCH / H: Fast Associated Control Channel / Half rate FACH: Forward Access Channel FAUSCH: Fast Uplink Signalling Channel FB: Functional Block FBI:Feedback Information FCC: Federal Communications Commission FCCH: Frequency Correction Channel FDD: Frequency Division Duplex FDM: Frequency Division Multiplex FDMA: Frequency Division Multiple Access FE: Front End; Front End FEC: Forward Error Correction FFS: For Further Study FFT: Fast Fourier Transformation feLAA: further enhanced Licensed Assisted Access, further enhanced LAA; further enhanced licensed assisted access, further enhanced LAA FN: Frame Number; Frame name FPGA: Field-Programmable Gate Array FR: Frequency Range FQDN: Fully Qualified Domain Name G-RNTI: GERAN Radio Network Temporary Identity GERAN: GSM EDGE RAN, GSM EDGE Radio Access Network; GSM Edge RAN, GSM Edge Radio Access Network GGSN: Gateway GPRS Support Node GLONASS: Global Navigation Satellite System (Engl.: Global Navigation Satellite System); gNB:Next Generation NodeB;Next Generation NodeB gNB-CU: gNB-centralized unit, Next Generation NodeB centralized unit; gNB central unit, next generation NodeB central unit gNB-DU: gNB-distributed unit, Next Generation NodeB distributed unit; gNB distributed unit, Next Generation NodeB distributed unit GNSS: Global Navigation Satellite System GPRS: General Packet Radio Service GPSI: Generic Public Subscription Identifier GSM: Global System for Mobile Communications, Groupe Special Mobile; Global System for Mobile Communications, Groupe Special Mobile GTP: GPRS Tunneling Protocol GTP-U: GPRS Tunnelling Protocol for User Plane GTS: Go To Sleep Signal (related to WUS); GUMMEI: Globally Unique MME Identifier GUTI: Globally Unique Temporary UE Identity HARQ: Hybrid ARQ, Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request HANDO: Handover HFN: HyperFrame Number; HyperFrame number HHO:Hard Handover HLR: Home Location Register HN:Home Network;Home Network HO: Handover HPLMN: Home Public Land Mobile Network HSDPA: High Speed ​​Downlink Packet Access HSN: Hopping Sequence Number HSPA: High Speed ​​Packet Access HSS: Home Subscriber Server HSUPA: High Speed ​​Uplink Packet Access HTTP: Hyper Text Transfer Protocol HTTPS: Hyper Text Transfer Protocol Secure (http is SSL, i.e. http / 1.1 on port 443) https is http / 1.1 over SSL, ie port 443) I-BlockInformation Block; HyperText Transfer Protocol Secure ICCID: Integrated Circuit Card Identification IAB: Integrated Access and Backhaul ICIC: Inter-Cell Interference Coordination ID: Identity, identifier IDFT: Inverse Discrete Fourier Transform IE:Information element; IBE: In-Band Emission IEEE:Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers IEI: Information Element Identifier IEIDL: Information Element Identifier Data Length IETF: Internet Engineering Task Force IF:Infrastructure IIOT: Industrial Internet of Things IM: Interference Measurement, Intermodulation, IP Multimedia IMC: IMS Credentials IMEI: International Mobile Equipment Identity IMGI: International mobile group identity IMPI: IP Multimedia Private Identity IMPU: IP Multimedia PUblic identity IMS: IP Multimedia Subsystem IMSI: International Mobile Subscriber Identity IoT: Internet of Things IP: Internet Protocol Ipsec: IP Security, Internet Protocol Security; IP Security, Internet Protocol Security IP-CAN: IP-Connectivity Access Network IP-M: IP Multicast IPv4: Internet Protocol Version 4 IPv6: Internet Protocol Version 6 IR: Infrared IS: In Sync IRP: Integration Reference Point ISDN: Integrated Services Digital Network ISIM: IM Services Identity Module ISO: International Organisation for Standardisation ISP: Internet Service Provider IWF: Interworking Function I-WLAN: Interworking WLAN Convolutional code, USIM individual key length limit kB: Kilobyte (1000 bytes); kbps: kilo-bits per second Kc: Ciphering key Ki: Individual subscriber authentication key KPI:Key Performance Indicator KQI: Key Quality Indicator KSI: Key Set Identifier ksps: kilo-symbols per second KVM: Kernel Virtual Machine L1: Layer 1 (physical layer) L1-RSRP:Layer 1 reference signal received power L2: Layer 2 (data link layer) L3: Layer 3 (network layer) LAA: Licensed Assisted Access LAN: Local Area Network LADN:Local Area Data Network LBT: Listen Before Talk LCM: LifeCycle Management LCR: Low Chip Rate LCS: Location Services LCID: Logical Channel ID LI:Layer Indicator LLC: Logical Link Control, Low Layer Compatibility LMF: Location Management Function LOS: Line of Sight LPLMN: Local PLMN LPP: LTE Positioning Protocol LSB: Least Significant Bit LTE: Long Term Evolution LWA: LTE-WLAN aggregation LWIP: LTE / WLAN Radio Level Integration with IPsec Tunnel; LTE / WLAN Radio Level Integration with IPsec Tunnel LTE: Long Term Evolution M2M: Machine-to-Machine MAC: Medium Access Control (protocol layering context) MAC: Message authentication code (security / encryption context); MAC-A: MAC used for authentication and key agreement (TSG T WG3 context); MAC-IMAC used for data integrity of signalling messages (TSG T WG3 context); MANO: Management and Orchestration MBMS: Multimedia Broadcast and Multicast Service MBSFN: Multimedia Broadcast multicast service Single Frequency Network MCC:Mobile Country Code MCG:Master Cell Group MCOT: Maximum Channel Occupancy Time MCS: Modulation and coding scheme MDAF: Management Data Analytics Function MDAS: Management Data Analytics Service MDT:Minimization of Drive Tests ME: Mobile Equipment MeNB: master eNB; master eNB MER: Message Error Ratio MGL: Measurement Gap Length MGRP: Measurement Gap Repetition Period MIB: Master Information Block, Management Information Base MIMO: Multiple Input Multiple Output MLC:Mobile Location Centre MM: Mobility Management MME: Mobility Management Entity MN: Master Node MNO:Mobile Network Operator MO: Measurement Object, Mobile Originated MPBCH: MTC Physical Broadcast Channel MPDCCH: MTC Physical Downlink Control Channel MPDSCH: MTC Physical Downlink Shared Channel MPRACH: MTC Physical Random Access Channel MPUSCH: MTC Physical Uplink Shared Channel MPLS: MultiProtocol Label Switching MS:Mobile Station MSB: Most Significant Bit MSC: Mobile Switching Centre MSI: Minimum System Information, MCH Scheduling Information MSID: Mobile Station Identifier MSIN: Mobile Station Identification Number MSISDN: Mobile Subscriber ISDN Number MT: Mobile Terminated, Mobile Termination MTC: Machine-Type Communications mMTC: massive MTC, massive Machine-Type Communications MU-MIMO: Multi User MIMO MWUS: MTC wake-up signal, MTC WUS; MTC wake-up signal NACK: Negative Acknowledgement NAI:Network Access Identifier NAS: Non-Access Stratum, Non-Access Stratum layer NCT: Network Connectivity Topology NC-JT: Non-Coherent Joint Transmission NEC:Network Capability Exposure NE-DC: NR-E-UTRA Dual Connectivity NEF: Network Exposure Function NF: Network Function NFP: Network Forwarding Path NFPD: Network Forwarding Path Descriptor NFV: Network Functions Virtualization NFVI: NFV Infrastructure NFVO: NFV Orchestrator NG: Next Generation, Next Gen; Next Generation NGEN-DC: NG-RAN E-UTRA-NR Dual Connectivity NM:Network Manager NMS: Network Management System N-PoP: Network Point of Presence NMIB, N-MIB Narrowband MIB NPBCH: Narrowband Physical Broadcast Channel NPDCCH: Narrowband Physical Downlink Control Channel NPDSCH: Narrowband Physical Downlink Shared Channel NPRACH: Narrowband Physical Random Access Channel NPUSCH: Narrowband Physical Uplink Shared Channel NPSS: Narrowband Primary Synchronization Signal NSSS: Narrowband Secondary Synchronization Signal NR: New Radio, Neighbour Relation; New Radio, Neighbour Relation NRF:NF Repository Function NRS: Narrowband Reference Signal NS: Network Service NSA: Non-Standalone operation mode NSD: Network Service Descriptor NSR:Network Service Record NSSAI: Network Slice Selection Assistance Information S-NNSAI: Single-NSSAI; Single NSSAI NSSF: Network Slice Selection Function NW:Network NWUS: Narrowband wake-up signal, Narrowband WUS; Narrowband wake-up signal, Narrowband WUS NZP: Non-Zero Power O&M: Operation and Maintenance ODU2: Optical channel Data Unit -type 2 OFDM: Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing OFDMA: Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access OOB: Out-of-band OOS: Out of Sync OPEX:OPErating Expense;Operating Expense OSI: Other System Information OSS: Operations Support System OTA: over-the-air PAPR: Peak-to-Average Power Ratio PAR: Peak to Average Ratio PBCH: Physical Broadcast Channel PC:Power Control, Personal Computer PCC: Primary Component Carrier, Primary CC P-CSCF: Proxy CSCF PCell: Primary Cell PCI: Physical Cell ID, Physical Cell Identity PCEF: Policy and Charging Enforcement Function PCF: Policy Control Function PCRF: Policy Control and Charging Rules Function PDCP:Packet Data Convergence Protocol, Packet Data Convergence Protocol layer; Packet Data Convergence Protocol, Packet Data Convergence Protocol layer PDCCH: Physical Downlink Control Channel PDCP:Packet Data Convergence Protocol PDN:Packet Data Network, Public Data Network;Packet Data Network, Public Data Network PDSCH: Physical Downlink Shared Channel PDU: Protocol Data Unit PEI: Permanent Equipment Identifiers PFD:Packet Flow Description P-GW: PDN Gateway PHICH: Physical hybrid-ARQ indicator channel PHY: Physical layer PLMN: Public Land Mobile Network PIN: Personal Identification Number PM: Performance Measurement PMI: Precoding Matrix Indicator PNF: Physical Network Function PNFD: Physical Network Function Descriptor PNFR: Physical Network Function Record POC: PTT over Cellular PP, PTP: Point-to-Point PPP: Point-to-Point Protocol PRACH:Physical RACH;Physical RACH PRB:Physical resource block PRG:Physical resource block group ProSe: Proximity Services, Proximity-Based Service; Proxy Services, Proxy-Based Services PRS: Positioning Reference Signal PRR: Packet Reception Radio PS:Packet Services PSBCH: Physical Sidelink Broadcast Channel PSDCH: Physical Sidelink Downlink Channel PSCCH: Physical Sidelink Control Channel PSSCH: Physical Sidelink Shared Channel PSCell: Primary SCell PSS: Primary Synchronization Signal PSTN: Public Switched Telephone Network PT-RS: Phase-tracking reference signal PTT: Push-to-Talk PUCCH: Physical Uplink Control Channel PUSCH: Physical Uplink Shared Channel QAM: Quadrature Amplitude Modulation QCI: QoS class of identifier; QoS class of indicator QCL: Quasi co-location QFI: QoS Flow ID, QoS Flow Identifier QoS: Quality of Service QPSK: Quadrature (Quaternary) Phase Shift Keying QZSS: Quasi-Zenith Satellite System RA-RNTI: Random Access RNTI RAB: Radio Access Bearer, Random Access Burst RACH: Random Access Channel RADIUS: Remote Authentication Dial In User Service RAN: Radio Access Network RAND: RANDom number (used for authentication); RAR: Random Access Response RAT: Radio Access Technology RAU: Routing Area Update RB: Resource block, Radio Bearer RBG: Resource block group REG: Resource Element Group; Resource Element Group Rel:Release; Release REQ:REQuest;Request RF: Radio Frequency RI:Rank Indicator RIV:Resource indicator value;Resource indicator value RL:Radio Link RLC: Radio Link Control, Radio Link Control layer RLC AM: RLC Acknowledged Mode RLC UM: RLC Unacknowledged Mode RLF: Radio Link Failure RLM:Radio Link Monitoring RLM-RS: Reference Signal for RLM RM: Registration Management RMC: Reference Measurement Channel RMSI: Remaining MSI, Remaining Minimum System Information RN: Relay Node RNC: Radio Network Controller RNL: Radio Network Layer RNTI: Radio Network Temporary Identifier ROHC: RObust Header Compression RRC: Radio Resource Control, Radio Resource Control layer RRM:Radio Resource Management RS: Reference Signal RSRP: Reference Signal Received Power RSRQ: Reference Signal Received Quality RSSI: Received Signal Strength Indicator RSU: Road Side Unit RSTD: Reference Signal Time Difference RTP: Real Time Protocol RTS: Ready-To-Send RTT: Round Trip Time Rx: Reception, Receiving, Receiver S1AP: S1 Application Protocol S1-MME: S1 for the control plane S1-U: S1 for the user plane; S1 for the user plane S-CSCF: serving CSCF S-GW: Serving Gateway S-RNTI: SRNC Radio Network Temporary Identity; SYNC Radio Network Temporary Identity S-TMSI: SAE Temporary Mobile Station Identifier SA: Standalone operation mode SAE: System Architecture Evolution SAP:Service Access Point SAPD: Service Access Point Descriptor SAPI: Service Access Point Identifier SCC: Secondary Component Carrier, Secondary CC SCell: Secondary Cell; Secondary Cell SCEF: Service Capability Exposure Function SC-FDMA: Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access SCG: Secondary Cell Group SCM: Security Context Management; Secondary Context Management SCS: Subcarrier Spacing SCTP: Stream Control Transmission Protocol SDAP: Service Data Adaptation Protocol, Service Data Adaptation Protocol layer SDL: Supplementary Downlink SDNF: Structured Data Storage Network Function SDP: Session Description Protocol SDSF:Structured Data Storage Function SDT: Small Data Transmission SDU: Service Data Unit SEAF:Security Anchor Function SeNB: secondary eNB SEPP: Security Edge Protection Proxy SFI: Slot format indication SFTD: Space-Frequency Time Diversity, SFN and frame timing difference SFN: System Frame Number SgNB: Secondary gNB SGSN: Serving GPRS Support Node S-GW: Serving Gateway SI: System Information SI-RNTI: System Information RNTI SIB: System Information Block SIM: Subscriber Identity Module SIP: Session Initiated Protocol SiP: System in Package SL: Sidelink SLA: Service Level Agreement SM: Session Management SMF: Session Management Function SMS: Short Message Service SMSF: SMS Function SMTC: SSB-based Measurement Timing Configuration SN: Secondary Node, Sequence Number; Secondary node, sequence number SoC: System on Chip SON: Self-Organizing Network SpCell: Special Cell; Special Cell SP-CSI-RNTI: Semi-Persistent CSI RNTI SPS: Semi-Persistent Scheduling SQN: Sequence number SR: Scheduling Request SRB: Signalling Radio Bearer SRS: Sounding Reference Signal SS:Synchronization Signal SSB: Synchronization Signal Block SSID: Service Set Identifier SS / PBCH Block SSBRI: SS / PBCH Block Resource Indicator, Synchronization Signal Block Resource Indicator SSC: Session and Service Continuity SS-RSRP: Synchronization Signal based Reference Signal Received Power SS-RSRQ: Synchronization Signal based Reference Signal Received Quality SS-SINR: Synchronization Signal based Signal to Noise and Interference Ratio SSS: Secondary Synchronization Signal SSSG: Search Space Set Group SSSIF: Search Space Set Indicator SST: Slice / Service Types SU-MIMO: Single User MIMO SUL: Supplementary Uplink TA: Timing Advance, Tracking Area TAC:Tracking Area Code TAG:Timing Advance Group;Timing Advance Group TAI: Tracking Area Identity TAU: Tracking Area Update TB: Transport Block TBS: Transport Block Size TBD:To Be Defined; Checking TCI: Transmission Configuration Indicator TCP: Transmission Communication Protocol TDD: Time Division Duplex TDM:Time Division Multiplexing TDMA: Time Division Multiple Access TE: Terminal Equipment TEID: Tunnel End Point Identifier TFT:Traffic Flow Template TMSI: Temporary Mobile Subscriber Identity TNL: Transport Network Layer TPC: Transmit Power Control TPMI: Transmitted Precoding Matrix Indicator TR: Technical Report TRP, TRxP: Transmission Reception Point TRS: Tracking Reference Signal TRx: Transceiver TS: Technical Specifications, Technical Standard TTI: Transmission Time Interval Tx: Transmission, Transmitting, Transmitter U-RNTI: UTRAN Radio Network Temporary Identity UART: Universal Asynchronous Receiver and Transmitter UCI:Uplink Control Information UE: User Equipment UDM: Unified Data Management UDP: User Datagram Protocol UDSF:Unstructured Data Storage Network Function UICC: Universal Integrated Circuit Card UL:Uplink UM: Unacknowledged Mode UML: Unified Modelling Language UMTS: Universal Mobile Telecommunications System UP: User Plane UPF: User Plane Function URI: Uniform Resource Identifier URL: Uniform Resource Locator URLLC: Ultra-Reliable and Low Latency USB: Universal Serial Bus USIM: Universal Subscriber Identity Module USS:UE-specific search space;UE-specific search space UTRA: UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access UTRAN: Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network UwPTS:Uplink Pilot Time Slot V2I: Vehicle-to-Infrastruction V2P: Vehicle-to-Pedestrian V2V: Vehicle-to-Vehicle V2X: Vehicle-to-everything VIM: Virtualized Infrastructure Manager VL: Virtual Link VLAN: Virtual LAN, Virtual Local Area Network VM: Virtual Machine VNF: Virtualized Network Function VNFFG: VNF Forwarding Graph VNFFGD: VNF Forwarding Graph Descriptor VNFM: VNF Manager VoIP: Voice-over-IP, Voice-over-Internet Protocol VPLMN: Visited Public Land Mobile Network VPN: Virtual Private Network VRB: Virtual Resource Block WiMAX: Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access WLAN: Wireless Local Area Network WMAN: Wireless Metropolitan Area Network WPAN: Wireless Personal Area Network X2-C: X2-Control plane X2-U: X2-User plane; X2 user plane XML: eXtensible Markup Language XRES: EXpected user RESponse XOR:eXclusive OR;exclusive OR ZC:Zadoff-Chu; ZP:Zero Power

[0123] term For purposes of this specification, the following terms and definitions may apply to the examples and embodiments described herein.

[0124] The term "circuitry" as used herein refers to, is a part of, or includes hardware components such as electronic circuits, logic circuits, processors (shared, dedicated, or groups) and / or memories (shared, dedicated, or groups), application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), field programmable devices (FPDs) (e.g., field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), programmable logic devices (PLDs), complex PLDs (CPLDs), high capacity PLDs (HCPLDs), structured ASICs, or programmable SoCs), digital signal processors (DSPs), etc., that are configured to provide the described functionality. In some embodiments, a circuitry is capable of executing one or more software or firmware programs to provide at least some of the described functionality. The term "circuitry" may also refer to a combination of one or more hardware elements with program code (or a combination of circuits used in an electrical or electronic system) that are used to perform the functions of the program code. In these embodiments, the combination of hardware elements and program code may be referred to as a particular type of circuitry.

[0125] The term "processor circuitry" as used herein refers to, is a part of, or includes circuitry capable of continuously and automatically performing a series of arithmetic or logical operations, or recording, storing, and / or transmitting digital data. The processing circuitry may include one or more processing cores for executing instructions and one or more memory structures for storing program and data information. The term "processor circuitry" may refer to one or more application processors, one or more baseband processors, physical central processing units (CPUs), single-core processors, dual-core processors, triple-core processors, quad-core processors, and / or any other device capable of executing or otherwise operating computer-executable instructions such as program code, software modules, and / or functional processes. The processing circuitry may include more hardware accelerators, which may be microprocessors, programmable processing devices, and the like. The one or more hardware accelerators may include, for example, computer vision (CV) and / or deep learning (DL) accelerators. The terms "application circuitry" and / or "baseband circuitry" may be considered synonymous with "processor circuitry" and may be referred to as "processor circuitry."

[0126] As used herein, the term "interface circuitry" refers to, is a part of, or includes circuitry that enables the exchange of information between two or more components or devices. The term "interface circuitry" can refer to one or more hardware interfaces, such as a bus, an I / O interface, a peripheral device interface, a network interface card, and / or the like.

[0127] The term "user equipment" or "UE" as used herein refers to a device having wireless communication capabilities and may describe a remote user of network resources in a communications network. The term "user equipment" or "UE" may be considered synonymous with and may be referred to as client, mobile, mobile device, mobile terminal, user terminal, mobile unit, mobile station, mobile user, subscriber, user, remote station, access agent, user agent, receiver, wireless device, reconfigurable wireless device, reconfigurable mobile device, etc. Additionally, the term "user equipment" or "UE" may include any type of wireless / wired device or any computing device that includes a wireless communication interface.

[0128] As used herein, the term "network element" refers to physical or virtual equipment and / or infrastructure used to provide wired or wireless communication network services. The term "network element" may be considered synonymous with and / or may be referred to as a networked computer, networking hardware, network equipment, network node, router, switch, hub, bridge, radio network controller, RAN device, RAN node, gateway, server, virtualized VNF, NFVI, and / or the like.

[0129] As used herein, the term "computer system" refers to any type of interconnected electronic device, computing device, or components thereof. Additionally, the terms "computer system" and / or "system" may refer to various components of a computer that are communicatively coupled to each other. Additionally, the terms "computer system" and / or "system" may refer to multiple computing devices and / or multiple computing systems that are communicatively coupled to each other and configured to share computing and / or networking resources.

[0130] As used herein, the terms "appliance," "computer appliance," and like terms refer to a computing device or system having program code (e.g., software or firmware) specifically designed to provide specific computing resources. A "virtual appliance" is a virtual machine image implemented by a hypervisor-enabled device that is dedicated to virtualizing or emulating a computing appliance or otherwise providing specific computing resources.

[0131] The term "resources" as used herein refers to physical or virtual devices, physical or virtual components in a computing environment, and / or physical or virtual components in a particular device, such as computer devices, mechanical devices, memory space, processor / CPU time, processor / CPU usage, processor and accelerator load, hardware time or usage, power, input / output operations, ports or network sockets, channel / link allocation, throughput, memory usage, storage, network, databases and applications, workload units, and / or the like. "Hardware resources" may refer to compute, storage, and / or network resources provided by physical hardware elements. "Virtualized resources" may refer to compute, storage, and / or network resources provided by a virtual infrastructure to an application, device, system, etc. The term "network resources" or "communication resources" may refer to resources accessible by a computer device / system over a communication network. The term "system resources" may refer to any kind of shared entity for providing services and may include compute and / or network resources. A system resource may be considered to be a set of coherent functions, network data objects, or services accessible through a server, where such a system resource resides on a single host or on multiple hosts and is clearly identifiable.

[0132] The term "channel" as used herein refers to any transmission medium, either tangible or intangible, used to communicate data or data streams. The term "channel" may be synonymous and / or equivalent to "communications channel," "data communications channel," "transmission channel," "data transmission channel," "access channel," "data access channel," "link," "data link," "carrier," "radio frequency carrier," and / or any other similar terminology indicating the path or medium over which data is communicated. Furthermore, the term "link" as used herein refers to the connection between two devices through a RAT for the purpose of transmitting and receiving information.

[0133] As used herein, the terms "instantiate," "instantiation," and like terms refer to the creation of an instance. An "instance" may also refer to a specific occurrence of an object that may occur, for example, during the execution of program code.

[0134] The terms "coupled" and "communicatively coupled," along with their derivatives, are used herein. The term "coupled" may mean that two or more elements are in direct physical or electrical contact with each other, may mean that two or more elements are in indirect contact with each other but still cooperate or interact with each other, and / or may mean that one or more other elements are coupled or connected between the elements referred to as being "coupled with each other." The term "directly coupled" may mean that two or more elements are in direct contact with each other. The term "communicatively coupled" may mean that two or more elements can be in contact with each other by any means of communication, including through a wire or other interconnect, through a wireless communication channel or link, and / or the like.

[0135] The term "information element" refers to a structural element that contains one or more fields. The term "field" refers to the individual contents of an information element or the data element that contains the contents.

[0136] The term "SMTC" refers to the SSB-based measurement timing configuration configured by SSB-MeasurementTimingConfiguration.

[0137] The term "SSB" refers to SS / PBCH block.

[0138] The term "primary cell" refers to an MCG cell operating on a primary frequency on which a UE performs an initial connection establishment procedure or initiates a connection re-establishment procedure.

[0139] The term "primary SCG cell" refers to an SCG cell to which the UE performs random access when performing reconfiguration via a synchronization procedure for DC operation.

[0140] The term "secondary cell" refers to a cell that provides additional radio resources on a special cell for a UE configured with CA.

[0141] The term "secondary cell group" refers to a subset of serving cells that includes a PSCell and zero or more secondary cells for a UE configured with a DC.

[0142] The term "serving cell" refers to the primary cell for a UE in RRC_CONNECTED state that is not configured with CA / DC, and there is only one serving cell that constitutes the primary cell.

[0143] The term "serving cell" or "serving cells" refers to the set of cells including the special cell and all secondary cells for a UE in RRC_CONNECTED state that is configured using CA / .

[0144] The term "special cell" refers to a PCell of an MCG or a PSCell of an SCG for DC operation; alternatively, the term "special cell" refers to a Pcell.

Claims

1. One or more non-transitory computer readable storage media (NTCRM) having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by one or more processors of a user equipment (UE), perform the following: receiving a pre-defined measurement gap configuration; determining that a measurement gap is required for positioning reference signal (PRS) measurements and that the UE has not previously notified a network of the PRS measurements prior to receiving the configuration; encoding, based on the confirmation, a location measurement indication for sending to a network entity to indicate that the PRS measurements are to be performed; The UE is configured to perform the NTCRM.

2. 2. The NTCRM of claim 1, wherein the instructions, when executed, further configure the UE to perform the PRS measurements using the pre-configured measurement gap.

3. 2. The NTCRM of claim 1, wherein the instructions, when executed, further configure the UE to receive a message to activate or deactivate the pre-configured measurement gap for the PRS measurement after sending the location measurement instruction.

4. 2. The NTCRM of claim 1, wherein the instructions, when executed, further configure the UE to receive a message setting a legacy measurement gap for the PRS measurement after sending the location measurement indication.

5. 2. The NTCRM of claim 1, wherein the pre-configured measurement gap is in a deactivated state when the location measurement indication is encoded for transmission.

6. 2. The NTCRM of claim 1, wherein the instructions, when executed, further configure the UE to receive a request from a Location Management Function (LMF) to perform the PRS measurements.

7. The NTCRM according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the network entity is a next generation NodeB (gNB).

8. One or more non-transitory computer readable storage media (NTCRM) storing instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a next generation Node B (gNB), can: encoding a pre-configured measurement gap configuration for transmission to a user equipment (UE); receiving a location measurement indication from the UE indicating that the UE will perform measurements of a positioning reference signal (PRS) that requires a gap, the location measurement indication being sent if the UE has not previously notified the gNB of the PRS measurements prior to configuration of the pre-configured measurement gap; determining whether to activate or deactivate the pre-configured measurement gap for the PRS measurements or setting another measurement gap for the PRS measurements based on the location measurement indication; The gNB is configured to perform NTCRM.

9. 9. The NTCRM of claim 8, wherein the instructions, when executed, further configure the gNB to encode for transmission to the UE a message activating or deactivating the pre-configured measurement gap for the PRS measurement.

10. 9. The NTCRM of claim 8, wherein the instructions, when executed, further configure the gNB to encode a message that sets the another measurement gap for the PRS measurement after transmitting the location measurement indication.

11. The NTCRM of claim 10, wherein the another measurement gap is a legacy measurement gap.

12. An NTCRM as claimed in any one of claims 8-11, wherein the pre-configured measurement gap is in a deactivated state when the location measurement indication is received.

13. An apparatus implemented in a user equipment (UE), comprising: a memory for storing a configuration relating to a preset measurement gap; and a processor circuit coupled to the memory; the processor circuit comprising: receiving a request for positioning measurement from a Location Management Function (LMF); determining that the UE has not previously notified the network of positioning measurements prior to receiving the pre-configured measurement gap configuration; and encoding, based on the confirmation, an indication for transmission to a next generation Node B (gNB) to indicate that the positioning measurements are to be performed and that a measurement gap is required for the positioning measurements; An apparatus for performing the above.

14. 14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the processor circuitry is adapted to perform the positioning measurements using the predefined measurement gaps.

15. 14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the processor circuitry is configured to receive a message from the gNB after sending an indication that the positioning measurements are to be performed to activate or deactivate the pre-configured measurement gap for the positioning measurements.

16. 14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the processor circuitry is configured to receive a message from the gNB after sending an indication that the positioning measurement is to be performed to configure another measurement gap for the positioning measurement.

17. 14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the indication that a positioning measurement is to be performed is encoded for transmission further based on the pre-configured measurement gap being in a deactivated state.

18. 18. An apparatus according to any one of claims 13 to 17, wherein said positioning measurements are measurements of positioning reference signals.

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