Enhanced activation of unknown secondary cells for wireless communications - Patents.com

Abstract

The present disclosure describes a system, method, and device for activation of a secondary cell (SCell). The device can decode a medium access control (MAC) control element received from a network node, the MAC control element including a request to activate the SCell, perform receiver beam sweeping with a beam sweep coefficient less than 8 in a frequency range before activation of the SCell, the receiver beam sweeping including automatic gain control and searching for the SCell using the beam sweep coefficient, encode a reference signal received power (RSRP) report to be transmitted, including a synchronization signal block (SSB), before activation of the SCell, perform channel status information measurements before activation of the SCell, encode a report indicating the channel status information measurements to be transmitted before activation of the SCell, and activate the SCell.

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present disclosure relates generally to systems and methods for wireless communication, and more particularly to activation of unknown secondary cells. [Background technology]

[0002] Wireless devices are becoming more prevalent and are increasingly using wireless channels. The 3rd Generation Partnership Program (3GPP®) is developing one or more standards for wireless communications. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0003] [Figure 1] 1 is a network diagram depicting an exemplary network environment in accordance with one or more exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure. [Figure 2] 10 illustrates an example process related to an SCell activation time delay for an unknown secondary cell (SCell) in frequency range 2, in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure. [Figure 3] 1 illustrates an example process related to an SCell activation time delay for an unknown SCell, in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure. [Figure 4] 1 illustrates a flow diagram of an example process for activation of an unknown SCell, in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure. [Figure 5] 1 illustrates a network in accordance with one or more exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure. [Figure 6] 1 illustrates a schematic representation of a wireless network in accordance with one or more exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure. [Figure 7] FIG. 1 is a block diagram representing components in accordance with one or more exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0004] The following description and drawings describe specific embodiments sufficiently to enable those skilled in the art to practice them. Other embodiments may incorporate structural, logical, electrical, process, algorithmic, and other changes. Portions and features of some embodiments may be included in or substituted for those of other embodiments. Embodiments set forth in the claims encompass all available equivalents of the claims.

[0005] Wireless devices may operate as defined by technical standards. For cellular telecommunications, the Third Generation Partnership Program (3GPP) defines communication technologies that include activation of secondary cells. In 3GPP, a primary cell may refer to a cell operating on a primary frequency on which a user equipment (UE) performs an initial connection establishment procedure or initiates a connection re-establishment procedure, or a cell designated as the primary cell in a handover procedure. A secondary cell may refer to a cell operating on a secondary frequency that is configured when an RRC connection is established and that can be used to provide additional radio resources.

[0006] Secondary cell (SCell) activation is used in 3GPP communications to activate or deactivate data transmission on an SCell. Upon receiving an SCell activation / deactivation command, the UE may activate / deactivate the SCell, although there may sometimes be a significant time delay associated with the multiple steps performed prior to SCell activation (e.g., in milliseconds, depending on whether the SCell is known and belongs to frequency range 1: 410-725 MHz, whether the SCell is unknown and belongs to frequency range 2: 24250-52600 MHz, and other conditions).

[0007] When the UE receives an SCell activation command (e.g., in a PDSCH sent by the network) for an SCell ending in slot n, the UE performs several actions that may be included in the time delay for SCell activation.

[0008] For unknown SCell activation in 3GPP® legacy Frequency Range 2 (FR2), the total delay may be large since both Layer 1 (L1) and Layer 3 (L3) measurements are involved, however, some schemes can be further improved to simplify the SCell activation procedure.

[0009] Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to enhancing L1 and L3 measurements, respectively. Specifically, embodiments of the present application relate to an improved method for SCell activation to reduce delays in L1 and L3 measurements.

[0010] Furthermore, in 3GPP RAN96, the WID for FR2 SCell activation delay reduction is given below: ●FR2 Scell ​​activation delay reduction: o Identify cases where FR2 SCell activation delay can be reduced (e.g., in the case of an unknown target cell) and specify delay reduction requirements for such cases, including but not limited to [RAN4]. Consider cell detection for unknown SCells and time / frequency tracking and enhance it where possible. Consider reducing L1-RSRP measurement latency on the target SCell and enhance it where possible. Note: Subject to RAN4 concurrence, the technical solution may be extended to other general RRM requirements, where applicable. o Specify reference signal extensions and / or signaling extensions to allow the UE to meet extended delay requirements [RAN4, RAN2], if required. Note: The activation of RAN1, i.e. the introduction of a new RS, is not planned. Note: Where applicable, technical solutions can be extended to FR1.

[0011] Therefore, a new FR2 SCell activation delay reduction method needs to be designed.

[0012] In one or more embodiments, for unknown FR2 SCell activation, the delay includes multiple steps: 1) Application of SCell activation Medium Access Control (MAC) Control Element (CE). 2) Cell detection to find the approximate timing of the SCell. 3) Automatic Gain Control (AGC) to determine the gain setting of the SCell. 4) Measuring and reporting L1 Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) to find a receive (Rx) beam for reception and enable the network to select a transmit (Tx) beam. 5) Application of a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) Transmission Configuration Indicator (TCI) Activation MAC CE or Channel State Information (CSI) Resource Activation Command. 6) Fine timing tracking. 7) Channel Quality Index (CQI) measurement and reporting.

[0013] The behavior of SCell activation can be improved. The L3 related procedure includes two steps: cell detection and AGC.

[0014] One SSB for cell search and two SSBs for AGC are assumed. During the L3 procedure, an Rx beam sweep is performed (i.e., N). Since the RC beam sweep factor is 8, a total of 3 x 8 = 24 SMTCs are assumed and the Rx beam sweep factor N can be improved. New UE functionality can be introduced to further reduce the FR2 Rx beam sweep factor N below 8, for example to {1, 2, 4, 6}.

[0015] Another aspect is to further reduce the number of samples used for AGC and cell search.

[0016] For the cell search part, 1x8 samples are used for FR2, but the rough timing corresponding to different Rx beams does not vary significantly. Therefore, a total of M samples is sufficient (e.g., M<8), where M is independent of the Rx beam sweep factor.

[0017] For the AGC part, the total delay can be scaled by the RBI since the beam powers can vary significantly, and with higher channel quality, two samples can be further reduced to one sample.

[0018] One option is that the cell search and AGC delays are defined separately and then summed: The cell search delay is M x Trs. The delay of the AGC is Nx2xTrs or Nx1xTrs. The total delay is M×Trs+N×2×Trs, or M×Trs+N×1×Trs, where N is the Rx beam sweep factor and Trs is the RS period.

[0019] Another option is that only the total delay is defined and it is the UE's responsibility to dynamically allocate the total time for cell search and AGC.

[0020] The L1 part has potential enhancements: in conventional unknown SCell activation, beam reporting is based on L1-RSRP measurements. There is the potential to skip L1-RSRP and use L3 measurements for beam reporting.

[0021] For known SCells, the reported SSB index is also based on L3 measurements, and the TCI state is selected based on one of the most recent reported SSB indices. The known conditions for FR2 are defined in TS 38.133 as follows: For the first SCell activation in the FR2 band, the SCell is known if it satisfies the following conditions: - The UE has sent a valid L3-RSRP measurement report containing an SSB index - The SCell activation command is received after the L3-RSRP report but before the UE receives the MAC-CE command for TCI activation - During the period between the L3-RSRP report and a valid CQI report, the indexed reported SSBs remain detectable according to the cell identification conditions specified in clauses 9.2 and 9.3 of TS38.133, and the TCI state is selected based on one of the most recent reported SSB indices.

[0022] It shows that in the known case, L3-RSRP measurements are reported along with the SSB index and the TCI state is selected based on the L3 report.

[0023] In the case of an unknown SCell, for cell detection and AGC steps, an Rx beam sweep may be subsequently applied to derive L3 measurements to determine the optimal Rx beam for reporting the SSB index.

[0024] Therefore, in the unknown SCell case, L1-RSRP measurements can be skipped and L3 measurement results can be used for beam-related measurement reporting, which is consistent with the known case procedure for SCell activation.

[0025] The next question is whether TCI activation and fine timing tracking are still necessary.

[0026] If the UE has already been informed of the best TX beam by the SSB index, the UE can assume that it will use the same reported beam assumption for subsequent PDCCH and CQI measurements. Therefore, the UE does not need to wait for TCI activation based on MAC CE. This does not prevent the network (NW) from sending a new TCI activation command to switch beams.

[0027] When the UE receives a new TCI activation command, it should change the beam and perform fine tracking plus a margin of 2 ms.

[0028] If TCI activation is skipped, fine timing tracking is still required even though the beam is not changed.

[0029] Similar to the 3GPP legacy process of adding a PSCell to a HO, after L3 measurements, fine timing tracking is applied to prepare for data transmission. Fine timing tracking may be skipped and timing may be derived from L3 measurements.

[0030] In summary, the procedure is as follows: 1) SCell activate MAC CE&&CSI configure / activate command. 2) AGC with reduced Rx beam sweep coefficient. 3) Cell detection with reduced Rx beam sweep coefficient. 4) L3-RSRP reporting by SSB index. 5) TCI activation (can be skipped). 6) Fine timing tracking (skippable). 7) Measuring and reporting CSI.

[0031] In one or more embodiments, beam-related enhancements to the L3 portion of SCell activation can address the issue of whether X1 (e.g., representing the number of candidate beams the UE measures) is zero. X1=1 is a candidate value for the beam sweep factor in the L3 portion for unknown SCell activation in FR2. Another option is for X1 to be greater than zero and less than 8. Another beam-related enhancement can address the beam sweep factor in the L3 and L1 portions of unknown SCell activation in FR2. X1 can be 1, 2, 4, or 6, and X2 can be an integer between 0 and 7. In the absence of X1, the beam sweep factor for cell detection is 8, and in the absence of X2, the beam sweep factor for SSB-based L1 measurements is 8.

[0032] Legacy Rel-15 FR2 SCell activation is based on four scenarios: activation_time is defined: Scenario 1: There is at least one active serving cell in that FR2 band and it provides SMTC for the target SCell. Scenario 2: There is at least one active serving cell in the FR2 band and SMTC is not provided. Scenario 3: There is no serving cell active in the FR2 band and the target SCell is known. Scenario 4: There is no serving cell active in the FR2 band and the target SCell is unknown.

[0033] The scenarios are shown below in Table 1. [Table 1]

[0034] In scenarios 1 and 2, the delay is short and no additional delay reduction is required.

[0035] In scenario 3, even if the UE sends L3 measurements before receiving the SCell activation command, the UE does not retain the results because the SCell is deactivated. Therefore, TCI activation is still required. There is no need to further reduce the delay for TCI activation. However, the total delay also depends on the maximum delay between the TCI activation delay and the CSI activation delay, i.e., max(T uncertainty_MAC +T FineTiming +2ms,T uncertainty_SP ), and for periodic CSI, max{(T HARQ +T uncertainty_MAC +5ms+T FineTiming ),(T uncertainty_RRC +T RRC_delay )}. Moreover, the CSI-RS activation / configuration delay also affects the case of an unknown SCell. Therefore, the CSI activation / configuration delay needs to be further reduced, for example, a semi-persistent CSI-RS activation or an RRC-based CSI configuration command can be sent together with the SCell activation command or within X ms after the SCell activation command is sent.

[0036] Therefore, for scenario 3, if a semi-persistent CSI-RS activation or RRC-based CSI configuration command can be sent together with the SCell activation command, the SCell activation delay when semi-persistent CSI-RS or periodic CSI-RS is used for CSI reporting is as follows: 3ms+T uncertainty_MAC +T FineTiming +2ms

[0037] For scenario 4, since the target SCell is unknown, a number of actions may be required, including: In the unknown case, the UE shall perform the following actions: 1) Applying SCell Activation MAC CE; 2) Cell discovery to find the rough timing of the SCell, and 3) AGC to determine the gain setting of the SCell, and 4) L1-RSRP measurement and reporting to find the Rx beam for reception and allow the network to select the Tx beam; 5) Applying PDCCH TCI activation MAC CE; 6) Fine timing tracking, and 7) CQI measurement and reporting.

[0038] For the above actions 2 and 3 by the UE, one SSB for cell search and two SSBs for AGC are assumed. Since the Rx beam sweep factor is 8, a total of 3 x 8 = 24 SMTCs are assumed.

[0039] For operation 4, the L-RSRP measurement also depends on the Rx beam sweep coefficient.

[0040] In case of DR2 SCell activation, if the SCell is unknown, the Rx beam sweep factor will have a significant impact on cell search time, AGC time and L1-RSRP measurement. In Rel-18, the Rx beam sweep factor can be reduced.

[0041] Actions 5 and 6 are related to TCI activation. In action 4, since the UE has already performed L1-RSRP measurement, if the UE reports the best TX beam by SSB index, the UE can assume that it will use the same beam assumption for subsequent PDCCH and CQI measurements. Therefore, the UE does not need to wait for TCI activation based on MAC CE to perform fine timing tracking.

[0042] In case of FR2 SCell activation, if the SCell is unknown, the UE can assume to use the reported best beam for subsequent PDCCH and CQI measurements to reduce delay. TCI activation delay is reduced.

[0043] Furthermore, the semi-persistent CSI-RS or RRC-based CSI configuration delay also affects the total delay. If TCI activation is skipped, the total delay includes the delay of SP CSI-RS activation or RRC-based CSI configuration. If the delay is too long, e.g., longer than the TCI activation delay, there is no delay reduction even if TCI activation is skipped.

[0044] Therefore, it may be desirable to reduce the semi-persistent CSI-RS activation or RRC-based CSI configuration latency. Similar to Scenario 3, one possible solution is that the semi-persistent CSI-RS activation or RRC-based CSI configuration command can be sent together with the SCell activation command, or this would require a signaling update in RAN2. Another option is that the semi-persistent CSI-RS activation or RRC-based CSI configuration command can be sent within X ms after the SCell activation command is sent.

[0045] If semi-persistent CSI-RS activation can be sent together with the SCell activation command and the TCI activation command is skipped, the delay is: 6ms+T FistSSB_MAX +15×T SMTC_MAX +8×T rs +T L1-RSRP,measure +T L1-RSRP,report +T HARQ is.

[0046] If the RRC-based CSI configuration command can be sent together with the SCell activation command and the TCI activation command is skipped, the delay is: 3ms+T FistSSB_MAX +15×T SMTC_MAX +8×T rs +T L1-RSRP,measure +T L1-RSRP,report

[0047] T FistSSB_MAX +15×T SMTC_MAX +8×T rs+T L1-RSRP,measure This component can be further reduced when the RX beam coefficient is reduced.

[0048] For an unknown target SCell in FR1, the UE similarly waits for TCI activation and timing tracking. The UE can still assume the TCI state by using the reported L1-RSRP result. The same method for FR2 can also be applied to FR1 if semi-persistent CSI-RS activation or RRC-based CSI configuration delay can be reduced.

[0049] The above description is for purposes of illustration and not limitation. Many other examples, configurations, processes, algorithms, etc. may exist, some of which are described in more detail below. Example embodiments will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0050] FIG. 1 is a network diagram illustrating an example network environment 100 in accordance with one or more exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0051] The wireless network 100 may include one or more UEs 120 and one or more RANs 102 (e.g., gNBs). The RANs 102 may communicate according to 3GPP® communications standards. The UEs 120 may be non-fixed mobile devices (e.g., not having a fixed location) or may be fixed devices.

[0052] In some embodiments, the UE 120 and the RAN 102 may include one or more computer systems similar to those in FIGS.

[0053] One or more illustrative UEs 120 and / or RAN 102 may be operable by one or more users. A UE may have multiple distinct characteristics, each of which contributes to its functionality. For example, a single addressable unit may simultaneously be a portable UE, a quality of service (QoS) UE, a dependent UE, and a hidden UE. UEs 120 (e.g., 124, 126, or 128) and / or RAN 102 may include any suitable processor-driven device, including, but not limited to, a mobile device or a non-mobile, e.g., stationary, device. For example, the UE 120 may be a software-enabled AP (SoftAP), a personal computer (PC), a wearable wireless device (e.g., a bracelet, a watch, glasses, a ring, etc.), a desktop computer, a mobile computer, a laptop computer, an ultrabook™ computer, a notebook computer, a tablet computer, a server computer, a handheld computer, a handheld device, an Internet of Things (IoT) device, a sensor device, a PDA device, a handheld PDA device, an on-board device, an off-board device, a hybrid device (e.g., a cellular phone combined with PDA device functionality), a consumer device, an in-vehicle device, a non-in-vehicle device, a mobile or portable device, a non-mobile or non-portable device, a mobile phone, a cellular phone, a PCS device, a PDA device incorporating a wireless communication device, a mobile or portable GPS device, a DVB device, a relatively small computing device, a non-desktop computer, a "cary small live" device, alarge (CSLL) device, ultra mobile device (UMD), ultra mobile PC (UMPC), mobile internet device (MID), "origami" device or computing device, device supporting dynamic composable computing (DCC), context-aware device, video device, audio device, A / V device, set-top box (STB), Blu-ray Disc (BD) player, BD recorder, digital video disc (DVD) player, high-definition (HD) DVD player, DVD recorder, HD These may include DVD recorders, personal video recorders (PVRs), broadcast HD receivers, video sources, audio sources, video sinks, audio sinks, stereo tuners, broadcast radio receivers, flat panel displays, personal media players (PMPs), digital video cameras (DVCs), digital audio players, speakers, audio receivers, audio amplifiers, game consoles, data sources, data sinks, digital still cameras (DSCs), media players, smartphones, televisions, music players, etc. Other devices may also be included in this list, including smart devices such as lighting, air conditioning, auto parts, household parts, appliances, etc.

[0054] As used herein, the term "Internet of Things (IoT)" is used to refer to any object (e.g., an appliance, a sensor, etc.) that has an addressable interface (e.g., an Internet Protocol (IP) address, a Bluetooth® identifier (ID), a near field communication (NFC) ID, etc.) and can transmit information to one or more other devices via a wired or wireless connection. IoT devices may have passive communication interfaces such as quick response (QR) codes, radio frequency identification (RFID) tags, NFC tags, etc., or active communication interfaces such as modems, transceivers, transmitters / receivers, etc. An IoT device may be embedded in and / or controlled / monitored by a central processing unit (CPU), microprocessor, ASIC, etc., and may have a particular set of attributes (e.g., device state or status, such as whether the IoT device is on or off, open or closed, idle or active, available for task execution or busy, cooling or heating capabilities, environmental monitoring or recording capabilities, light emission capabilities, acoustic emission capabilities, etc.) that can be configured for connection to an IoT network, such as a local ad hoc network or the Internet. For example, IoT devices may include refrigerators, toasters, ovens, microwave ovens, freezers, dishwashers, dishes, hand tools, clothes washers, clothes dryers, furnaces, air conditioners, thermostats, televisions, lighting fixtures, vacuum cleaners, sprinklers, electric meters, gas meters, etc., so long as the devices are equipped with addressable communication interfaces for communicating with the IoT device. IoT devices may also include cell phones, desktop computers, laptop computers, tablet computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), etc. Thus, an IoT network may consist of a combination of "legacy" internet-accessible devices (e.g., laptop or desktop computers, cell phones, etc.) in addition to devices that do not normally have internet connectivity (e.g., dishwashers, etc.).

[0055] Any of the UEs 120 (e.g., UEs 124, 126, 128) and UE 120 may be configured to communicate with each other wirelessly or wired via one or more communication networks 130 and / or 135. UEs 120 may also communicate with each other peer-to-peer or directly, with or without the RAN 102. Any of the communication networks 130 and / or 135 may include any one or combination of various types of suitable communication networks, such as, but not limited to, a broadcasting network, a cable network, a public network (e.g., the Internet), a private network, a wireless network, a cellular network, or any other suitable private and / or public network. Furthermore, any of the communication networks 130 and / or 135 may have any suitable communication range associated therewith and may include, for example, a cellular network. Additionally, either of communications networks 130 and / or 135 may include any type of medium over which network traffic may be carried, including, but not limited to, coaxial cable, twisted pair wire, optical fiber, hybrid fiber coaxial (HFC) medium, microwave terrestrial transceiver, radio frequency communications medium, white space communications medium, ultra-high frequency communications medium, satellite communications medium, or any combination thereof.

[0056] Any of the UEs 120 (e.g., UEs 124, 126, 128) and the RAN 102 may include one or more communication antennas. The one or more communication antennas may be any suitable type of antenna compatible with the communication protocols used by the UEs 120 (e.g., UEs 124, 126, and 128) and the RAN 102. Some non-limiting examples of suitable communication antennas include cellular antennas, antennas compliant with the 3GPP® family of standards, directional antennas, omnidirectional antennas, dipole antennas, folded dipole antennas, patch antennas, multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antennas, omnidirectional antennas, quasi-omnidirectional antennas, etc. The one or more communication antennas may be communicatively coupled to radio components to transmit and / or receive signals, such as communication signals to and / or from the UEs 120 and / or the RAN 102.

[0057] Any of the UEs 120 (e.g., UEs 124, 126, 128) and the RAN 102 may be configured to perform directional transmission and / or directional reception in connection with wireless communication within a wireless network. Any of the UEs 120 (e.g., UEs 124, 126, 128) and the RAN 102 may be configured to perform such directional transmission and / or directional reception using a set of multiple antenna arrays (e.g., DMG antenna arrays, etc.). Each of the multiple antenna arrays may be used for transmission and / or reception in a specific respective direction or range of directions. Any of the UEs 120 (e.g., UEs 124, 126, 128) and the RAN 102 may be configured to perform any given directional transmission toward one or more defined transmit sectors. Any of the UEs 120 (e.g., UEs 124, 126, 128) and the RAN 102 may be configured to perform any given directional reception from one or more defined receive sectors.

[0058] MIMO beamforming in a wireless network may be achieved using RF beamforming and / or digital beamforming. In some embodiments, in a given MIMO transmission, the UE 120 and / or the RAN 102 may be configured to use all or a portion of its one or more communication antennas to perform MIMO beamforming.

[0059] Any of the UEs 120 (e.g., UEs 124, 126, 128) and the RAN 102 may include any suitable radio and / or transceiver for transmitting and / or receiving radio frequency (RF) signals over a bandwidth and / or channel corresponding to a communication protocol utilized by the UE 120 and the RAN 102 to communicate with each other. The radio component may include hardware and / or software for modulating and / or demodulating communication signals according to a pre-established transmission protocol. The radio component may further include hardware and / or software instructions for communicating via one or more 3GPP® protocols and using a 3GPP® bandwidth. The radio component may include any known receiver and baseband suitable for communicating via the communication protocol. The radio component may further include a low noise amplifier (LNA), an additional signal amplifier, an analog-to-digital (A / D) converter, one or more buffers, and a digital baseband.

[0060] In one or more embodiments, referring to FIG. 1 , one or more UEs 120 may exchange frames 140 with the RAN 102. The frames 140 may include UL frames and DL frames. In some examples, the frames 140 may include commands (e.g., MAC CE or other) requesting SCell activation / deactivation by one or more UEs 120. The frames 140 may be part of an RX and / or TX beam sweep at the UE 120 and may include signaling to the RAN 102 instructing the SCell activation / deactivation (e.g., including the SCell to be activated / deactivated).

[0061] It is understood that the above description is intended to be illustrative and not limiting.

[0062] FIG. 2 illustrates an example process 200 associated with an SCell activation time delay for an unknown SCell in frequency range 2, in accordance with one or more embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0063] In step 202, the UE may decode MAC CE (e.g., received from the RAN / gNB). In step 204, the UE may perform RX beam sweep with N=8. Step 204 may include AGC 206 and cell search 208 (e.g., SCell search). Step 210 may include Layer 1 (L1) measurements by the UE. Step 212 may include encoding an L1 RSRP report for transmission. Step 214 may include CSI resource activation or resolving a TCI command (e.g., uncertainty). Step 216 may include TCI activation. Step 218 may include fine timing tracking. Step 220 may include the UE performing CSI measurements and encoding the CSI measurements into a report.

[0064] FIG. 3 illustrates an example process 300 associated with SCell activation time delay for an unknown SCell, in accordance with one or more embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0065] In step 302, the UE may decode an SCell activation command. In step 304, the UE may decode a CSI configuration / activation command. In step 306, the UE may decode MAC CE (e.g., received from the RAN / gNB). In step 308, the UE may perform RX beam sweep with N<8. Step 308 may include AGC 310 and cell search 312 (e.g., SCell search). Step 314 may include encoding an L3 RSRP report for transmission. Step 316 may include TCI activation (an optional step that may be skipped based on network configuration). Step 318 may include fine timing tracking (an optional step that may be skipped based on network configuration). Step 320 may include performing CSI measurements and encoding the CSI measurements into a report.

[0066] FIG. 4 illustrates a flow diagram of an example process 400 for activation of an unknown SCell, in accordance with one or more embodiments of the present application.

[0067] At block 402, a device (eg, UE 120 of FIG. 1) may decode a MAC CE requesting SCell activation by the UE.

[0068] At block 404, the device may perform an Rx beam sweep with a beam sweep factor less than 8 before activating the SCell.

[0069] At block 406, the device may encode an RSRP report to be transmitted prior to activating the SCell.

[0070] At block 408, the device may perform CSI measurements prior to activating the SCell.

[0071] At block 410, the device may encode a report indicating CSI measurements to be transmitted prior to activating the SCell.

[0072] At block 412, the device may activate the SCell.

[0073] These embodiments are not intended to be limiting.

[0074] 5 illustrates a network 500 according to various embodiments. Network 500 may operate in a manner consistent with 3GPP® technical specifications for LTE or 5G / NR systems. However, the 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.

[0075] The network 500 may include a UE 502, which may include any mobile or non-mobile computing device designed to communicate with the RAN 504 via an over-the-air connection. The UE 502 may be communicatively coupled to the RAN 504 by a Uu interface. The UE 502 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 device, an in-vehicle entertainment device, an instrument cluster, a head-up display device, an on-board diagnostic device, a dash-top mobile equipment, 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 network appliance, a machine-type communication device, an M2M or D2D device, an IoT device, etc.

[0076] In some embodiments, the network 500 may include multiple UEs directly coupled to each other via a sidelink interface. The UEs may be M2M / D2D devices communicating using physical sidelink channels such as, but not limited to, PSBCH, PSDCH, PSSCH, PSCCH, and PSFCH.

[0077] In some embodiments, the UE 502 may further communicate with the AP 506 via an over-the-air connection. The AP 506 may manage a WLAN connection, which may serve to offload some / all network traffic from the RAN 504. The connection between the UE 504 and the AP 506 may comply with any IEEE 802.11 standard, and the AP 506 may be a Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) router. In some embodiments, the UE 502, the RAN 504, and the AP 506 may utilize cellular-WLAN aggregation (e.g., LWA / LWIP). Cellular-WLAN aggregation may include the UE 502 being configured by the RAN 504 to utilize both cellular radio resources and WLAN resources.

[0078] The RAN 504 may include one or more access nodes, such as the AN 508. The AN 508 may terminate air interface protocols for the UE 502 by providing access stratum protocols, including RRC, PDCP, RLC, MAC, and L1 protocols. In this manner, the AN 508 may enable data / voice connectivity between the CN 520 and the UE 502. In some embodiments, the AN 508 may be implemented as one or more software entities running on a server computer or on a discrete device, for example, as part of a virtual network that may be referred to as a CRAN or virtual baseband unit pool. The AN 508 may be referred to as a BS, gNB, RAN node, eNB, ng-eNB, NodeB, RSU, TRxP, TRP, etc. The AN 508 may be a macrocell base station or a low-power base station providing a femtocell, picocell, or other similar cell having a smaller coverage area, smaller user capacity, or higher bandwidth compared to a macrocell.

[0079] In embodiments in which the RAN 504 includes multiple ANs, they may be coupled to each other via an X2 interface (if the RAN 504 is an LTE RAN) or an Xn interface (if the RAN 504 is a 5G RAN). The X2 / Xn interface, which in some embodiments may be separated into a control / user plane interface, may allow the ANs to communicate information regarding handover, data / context transfer, mobility, load management, interference coordination, etc.

[0080] Each AN in the RAN 504 may manage one or more cells, cell groups, component carriers, etc., to provide the UE 502 with an air interface for network access. The UE 502 may simultaneously connect to multiple cells provided by the same or different ANs in the RAN 504. For example, the UE 502 and the RAN 504 may use carrier aggregation to enable the UE 502 to connect to multiple component carriers, each corresponding to a Pcell or Scell. In a dual connectivity scenario, the first AN may be a master node providing an MCG, and the second AN 508 may be a secondary node providing an SCG. The first / second ANs may be any combination of eNBs, gNBs, ng-eNBs, etc.

[0081] The RAN 504 may provide an air interface over licensed or unlicensed spectrum. To operate in unlicensed spectrum, a node may use LAA, eLAA, and / or feLAA mechanisms based on CA techniques over the PCell / SCell. Before accessing the unlicensed spectrum, the node may perform a medium / carrier sensing operation, for example, based on a listen-before-talk (LBT) protocol.

[0082] In a V2X scenario, the UE 502 or AN 508 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 as an appropriate AN or a fixed (or relatively fixed) UE. An RSU implemented in or by a UE may be referred to as a “UE-type RSU,” an eNB may be referred to as an “eNB-type RSU,” a gNB may be referred to as a “gNB-type RSU,” etc. As an example, an RSU is a computing device coupled with radio frequency circuits on a side road that provide connectivity support to passing vehicular UEs. The RSU may also include internal data storage circuits that store intersection map geometry, traffic statistics, media, and applications / software for detecting and controlling moving vehicular and pedestrian traffic. Additionally or alternatively, the RSU may provide other cellular / WLAN communication services. The components of the RSU may be packaged in a weatherproof enclosure suitable for outdoor installation and may include a network interface controller that provides a wired connection (e.g., Ethernet) to a traffic signal controller or backhaul network.

[0083] In some embodiments, the RAN 504 may be an LTE RAN 510 including an eNB, such as eNB 512. The LTE RAN 510 may provide the LTE air interface with the following features: a 15 kHz SCS; a CP-OFDM waveform for DL ​​and an SC-FDMA waveform for UL; turbo coding for data and TBCC for control; etc. The LTE air interface may rely on a CSI-RS for CSI acquisition and beam management; a PDSCH / PDCCH DMRS for PDSCH / PDCCH demodulation; and a CRS for channel estimation for cell search and initial acquisition, channel quality measurements, and coherent demodulation / detection at the UE. The LTE air interface may operate in bands below 6 GHz.

[0084] In some embodiments, the RAN 504 may be an NG-RAN 514 including a gNB, e.g., a gNB 516, or an ng-eNB, e.g., an ng-eNB 518. The gNB 516 may connect to a 5G-capable UE using a 5G NR interface. The gNB 516 may connect to a 5G core through an NG interface, which may include an N2 interface or an N3 interface. The ng-eNB 518 may also connect to the 5G core through the NG interface, but may also connect to a UE through an LTE air interface. The gNB 516 and the ng-eNB 518 may connect to each other through an Xn interface.

[0085] In some embodiments, the NG interface may be divided into two parts: an NG User Plane (NG-U) interface (e.g., N3 interface), which carries traffic data between nodes in the NG-RAN 514 and the UPF 548, and an NG Control Plane (NG-C) interface (e.g., N2 interface), which is the signaling interface between nodes in the NG-RAN 514 and the AMF 544.

[0086] The NG-RAN 514 may provide the 5G-NR air interface with the following characteristics: variable SCS; CP-OFDM for DL, CP-OFDM and DFT-s-OFDM for UL; polarity, repetition, simplex, and Reed-Muller codes for control, and LDPC for data. The 5G-NR air interface may rely on CSI-RS and 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 PDSCH phase tracking; and tracking reference signals for timing tracking. The 5G-NR air interface may operate in the FR1 band, which includes bands below 6 GHz, or the FR2 band, which includes bands from 24.5 GHz to 52.6 GHz. The 5G-NR air interface may include SSB, which is an area of ​​the downlink resource grid that includes PSS / SSS / PBCH.

[0087] 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 502 may be configured with multiple BWPs, where each BWP configuration has a different SCS. When a BWP change is indicated to the UE 502, the SCS of the transmission also changes. Another example use case for BWPs relates to power conservation. In particular, multiple BWPs may be configured on the UE 502 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 can be used for data transmission with a lower traffic load, enabling power savings at the UE 502 and, in some cases, at the gNB 516. A BWP with a larger number of PRBs can be used for scenarios with a higher traffic load.

[0088] The RAN 504 is communicatively coupled to the CN 520, which includes network elements that provide various functions to support data and telecommunications services to customers / subscribers (e.g., users of UEs 502). The components of the CN 520 may be implemented on a single physical node or on separate physical nodes. In some embodiments, NFV may be utilized to virtualize any or all of the functions provided by the network elements of the CN 520 onto physical compute / storage resources such as servers, switches, etc. A logical instantiation of the CN 520 may be referred to as a network slice, and a logical instantiation of a portion of the CN 520 may be referred to as a network sub-slice.

[0089] In some embodiments, the CN 520 may be an LTE CN 522, which may also be referred to as an EPC. The LTE CN 522 may include an MME 524, an SGW 526, an SGSN 528, an HSS 530, a PGW 532, and a PCRF 534, which are coupled to each other via interfaces (or "reference points") as shown. The functionality of the elements of the LTE CN 522 may be briefly introduced as follows.

[0090] The MME 524 may perform mobility management functions that track the current location of the UE 502 to facilitate paging, bearer activation / deactivation, handover, gateway selection, authentication, and the like.

[0091] The SGW 526 terminates the S1 interface towards the RAN and may route data packets between the RAN and the LTE CN 522. The SGW 526 may be a local mobility anchor point for handovers between RAN nodes and may also provide an anchor for inter-3GPP mobility. Other responsibilities may include lawful interception, charging, and some policy enforcement.

[0092] The SGSN 528 may track the location of the UE 502 and perform security functions and access control. The SGSN 528 may also perform EPC inter-node signaling for mobility between different RAN networks; PDN and S-GW selection specified by the MME 524; MME selection for handover, etc. An S3 reference point between the MME 524 and the SGSN 528 may enable exchange of user and bearer information for mobility between 3GPP access networks in idle / active states.

[0093] The HSS 530 may include a database for network users containing subscription-related information to support processing of communication sessions by network entities. The HSS 530 may support routing / roaming, authentication, authorization, naming / addressing resolution, location dependency, etc. An S6a reference point between the HSS 530 and the MME 524 may enable transfer of subscription and authentication data for authenticating / authorizing user access to the LTE CN 522.

[0094] The PGW 532 may terminate an SGi interface toward a data network (DN) 536, which may include an application / content server 538. The PGW 532 may route data packets between the LTE CN 522 and the data network 536. The PGW 532 may be coupled to the SGW 526 by an S5 reference point to facilitate user plane tunneling and tunnel management. The PGW 532 may further include a node (e.g., PCEF) for policy enforcement and charging data collection. Furthermore, the SGi reference point between the PGW 532 and the data network 536 may be an operator-external public, private PDN, or intra-operator packet data network, e.g., for the provision of IMS services. The PGW 532 may be coupled to the PCRF 534 via a Gx reference point.

[0095] The PCRF 534 is the policy and charging control element of the LTE CN 522. The PCRF 534 may be communicatively coupled to an application / content server 538 to determine appropriate QoS and charging parameters for a service flow. The PCRF 534 may provision the relevant rules to the PCEF (via the Gx reference point) with the appropriate TFT and QCI.

[0096] In some embodiments, the CN 520 may be a 5GC 540. The 5GC 540 may include an AUSF 542, an AMF 544, an SMF 546, a UPF 548, an NSSF 550, an NEF 552, an NRF 554, a PCF 556, a UDM 558, and an AF 560, which are coupled to each other via interfaces (or "reference points") as shown. The functionality of the elements of the 5GC 540 may be briefly introduced as follows.

[0097] The AUSF 542 may store data for authentication of the UE 502 and handle authentication-related functions. The AUSF 542 may facilitate a common authentication framework for various access types. In addition to communicating with other elements of the 5GC 540 via reference points as shown, the AUSF 542 may have an interface based on Nausf services.

[0098] The AMF 544 may enable other functions of the 5GC 540 to communicate with the UE 502 and the RAN 504 and subscribe to notifications regarding mobility events for the UE 502. The AMF 544 may be involved in registration management (e.g., UE 502 registration), connection management, reachability management, mobility management, lawful interception of AMF-related events, and access authentication and authorization. The AMF 544 provides transport of SM messages between the UE 502 and the SMF 546 and may act as a transparent proxy for routing SM messages. The AMF 544 also provides transport of SMF messages between the UE 502 and the SMSF. The AMF 544 may interact with the AUSF 542 and the UE 502 to perform various security anchor and context management functions. Furthermore, the AMF 544 may be the termination point of the RAN CP interface, which may include or be an N2 reference point between the RAN 504 and the AMF 544, and the AMF 544 may be the termination point of the NAS (N1) signaling and may perform NAS ciphering and integrity protection. The AMF 544 may also support NAS signaling with the UE 502 via an N3 IWF interface.

[0099] The SMF 546 may be involved in SM (e.g., session establishment, tunnel management between the UPF 548 and the AN 508); UE IP address allocation and management (including optional authentication); selection and control of the UP function; configuration of traffic steering in the UPF 548 to route traffic to the appropriate destination; termination of the interface towards the policy control function; control of policy enforcement, charging, and parts of QoS; lawful intercept (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 544 over the N2 to the AN 508; and determination of the SSC mode of the session. SM can refer to the management of a PDU session, and a PDU session or "session" can refer to a PDU connectivity service that provides or enables the exchange of PDUs between the UE 502 and the data network 536.

[0100] The UPF 548 may act as an anchor point for inter-RAT or intra-RAT mobility, an external PDU session point for interconnection to the data network 536, and a branching point supporting multi-homed PDU sessions. The UPF 548 may also perform packet routing and forwarding, perform packet inspection, apply the user plane portion of policy rules, lawfully intercept packets (UP collection), perform traffic usage reporting, perform QoS processing for the user plane (e.g., packet filtering, gating, UL / DL rate enforcement), perform uplink traffic validation (e.g., mapping between SDF and QoS float), perform transport-level packet marking in the uplink and downlink, and perform downlink packet buffering and downlink data notification triggering. The UPF 548 may include an uplink classifier to support routing of traffic flows to the data network.

[0101] The NSSF 550 may select a set of network slice instances to serve the UE 502. The NSSF 550 may also determine the allowed NSSAIs and their mapping to subscribed S-NSSAIs, if necessary. The NSSF 550 may also determine the AMF set or list of candidate AMFs to be used to serve the UE 502 based on appropriate configuration, possibly by querying the NRF 554. The selection of the set of network slice instances for the UE 502 may be triggered by the AMF 544 to which the UE 502 is registered by interacting with the NSSF 550, which may result in an AMF change. The NRF 554 may interact with the AMF 544 via the N22 reference point and may communicate with another NSSF in the visited network via the N31 reference point (not shown). Furthermore, the NSSF 550 may have an interface based on the Nnssf service.

[0102] The NEF 552 may securely expose services and capabilities provided by 3GPP network functions to third parties, internal publication / republication, AFs (e.g., AF 560), edge computing, or fog computing systems. In such embodiments, the NEF 552 may authenticate, authorize, or throttle AFs. The NEF 552 may also translate information exchanged with the AF 560 and information exchanged with internal network functions. For example, the NEF 552 may translate between AF service identifiers and internal 5GC information. The NEF 552 may also receive information from other NFs based on the other NFs' published capabilities. This information may be stored in the NEF 552 as structured data or in a data storage NF using a standardized interface. The stored information may be republished by the NEF 552 to other NFs or AFs, or may be used for other purposes, such as analytics. Furthermore, the NEF 552 may have an interface based on NEF services.

[0103] The NRF 554 may support service discovery functionality, receive NF discovery requests from NF instances, and provide information about discovered NF instances to the NF instances. The NRF 554 also maintains information about 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, which may occur, for example, during the execution of program code. Additionally, the NRF 554 may have an interface based on Nnrf services.

[0104] The PCF 556 can provide and enforce policy rules to control plane functions and can also support a unified policy framework for managing network behavior. The PCF 556 can also implement a front end for accessing subscription information related to policy decisions within the UDRs of the UDM 558. As shown, in addition to communicating with functions through reference points, the PCF 556 has an interface based on the Npcf service.

[0105] The UDM 558 can process subscription-related information to support the processing of communication sessions by network entities and can store subscription data for the UE 502. For example, the subscription data can be communicated via the N8 reference point between the UDM 558 and the AMF 544. The UDM 558 can include two parts: an application front end and a UDR. The UDR can store structured data for subscription and policy data for the UDM 558 and PCF 556, and / or public and application data for the NEF 552 (including PFDs for application discovery and application requirement information for multiple UEs 502). A Nudr service-based interface can be provided by the UDR to enable the UDM 558, PCF 556, and NEF 552 to access specific sets of structured data and to read, update (e.g., add, modify), delete, and subscribe to notifications of changes to the associated data in the UDR. The UDM can include a UDM-FE, which is responsible for credential processing, location management, subscription management, etc. The UDM-FE accesses subscription information stored in the UFR and performs authentication credential processing, user identity processing, access authorization, registration / mobility management, and subscription management. In addition to communicating with other NFs via reference points as shown, the UDM 558 may have an interface based on Nudm services.

[0106] The AF 560 may provide application influence over traffic routing, provide access to the NEF, and interact with the policy framework for policy control.

[0107] In some embodiments, the 5GC 540 may enable edge computing by selecting an operator / third-party service that is geographically close to the point where the UE 502 is attached to the network. This can reduce latency and load on the network. To provide an edge computing implementation, the 5GC 540 may select a UPF 548 that is close to the UE 502 and perform traffic steering from the UPF 548 to the data network 536 via the N6 interface. This may be based on UE subscription data, UE location, and information provided by the AF 560. In this way, the AF 560 may influence UPF (re)selection and traffic routing. If the AF 560 is considered a trusted entity based on operator deployment, the network operator may allow the AF 560 to interact directly with the associated NF. Furthermore, the AF 560 may have an interface based on NAF services.

[0108] Data network 536 may represent various network operator services, internet access, or third party services that may be provided by one or more servers, including, for example, application / content server 538 .

[0109] 6 is a schematic representation of a wireless network 600 according to various embodiments. The wireless network 600 may include a UE 602 in wireless communication with an AN 604. The UE 602 and the AN 604 may be similar to and substantially interchangeable with components of the same name described elsewhere herein.

[0110] The UE 602 may be communicatively coupled to the AN 604 via a connection 606. The connection 606 is represented as an air interface that enables the communicative coupling and may follow a cellular communication protocol, such as mmWave or an LTE protocol operating at frequencies below 6 GHz or a 5G NR protocol.

[0111] The UE 602 may include a host platform 608 coupled to a modem platform 610. The host platform 608 may include an application processing circuit 612 that may be coupled to a protocol processing circuit 614 of the modem platform 610. The application processing circuit 612 may execute various applications for the UE 602 that source / sink application data. The application processing circuit 612 may further implement one or more layer operations that send and receive application data to and from a data network. These layer operations may include transport operations (e.g., UDP) and internet operations (e.g., IP).

[0112] The protocol processing circuitry 614 may implement one or more layer operations to facilitate transmission or reception of data over the connection 606. Layer operations implemented by the protocol processing circuitry 614 may include, for example, MAC, RLC, PDCP, RRC, and NAS operations.

[0113] The modem platform 610 may further include digital baseband circuitry 616 that may implement one or more layer operations in a network protocol stack "below" the layer operations performed by the protocol processing circuitry 614. These operations may include PHY operations including, for example, one or more of HARQ-ACK functions, scrambling / descrambling, encoding / decoding, layer mapping / demapping, modulation symbol mapping, received symbol / bit metric determination, multi-antenna port precoding / decoding that may include space-time, space-frequency, or spatial coding, reference signal generation / detection, preamble sequence generation and / or detection, synchronization sequence generation / detection, control channel signal blind decoding, and other related functions.

[0114] The modem platform 610 may further include transmit circuitry 618, receive circuitry 620, RF circuitry 622, and an RF front end (EFFE) 624. The RFFE 624 may include or connect to one or more antenna panels 626. Briefly, the transmit circuitry 618 may include digital-to-analog converters, mixers, intermediate frequency (IF) components, etc., the receive circuitry 620 may include analog-to-digital converters, mixers, IF components, etc., the RF circuitry 622 may include low-noise amplifiers, power amplifiers, power tracking components, etc., and the RFFE 624 may include filters (e.g., surface / bulk acoustic wave filters), switches, antenna tuners, beamforming components (e.g., phased array antenna components), etc. The selection and arrangement of the transmit circuitry 618, receive circuitry 620, RF circuitry 622, RFFE 624, and antenna panel 626 components (commonly referred to as "transmit / receive components") can be specific to the details of a particular implementation, such as, for example, whether the communication is TDM or FDM, whether mmWave or frequencies below 6 GHz, etc. In some embodiments, the transmit / receive components may be arranged in multiple parallel transmit / receive chains, may be located on the same or different chips / modules, etc.

[0115] In some embodiments, the protocol processing circuit 614 may include one or more instances of control circuitry (not shown) that provides control functions for the transmit / receive components.

[0116] UE reception may be established by and through the antenna panel 626, RFFE 624, RF circuitry 622, receive circuitry 620, digital baseband circuitry 616, and protocol processing circuitry 614. In some embodiments, the antenna panel 626 may receive transmissions from the AN 604 by receive beamforming signals that are received by multiple antennas / antenna elements of one or more antenna panels 626.

[0117] UE transmissions may be established by and through the protocol processing circuitry 614, the digital baseband circuitry 616, the transmit circuitry 618, the RF circuitry 622, the RFFE 624, and the antenna panel 626. In some embodiments, the transmit components of the UE 604 may apply spatial filters to data to be transmitted to form transmit beams emitted by the antenna elements of the antenna panel 626.

[0118] Similar to the UE 602, the AN 604 may include a host platform 628 coupled to a modem platform 630. The host platform 628 may include an application processing circuit 632 coupled to a protocol processing circuit 634 of the modem platform 630. The modem platform may further include a digital baseband circuit 636, a transmit circuit 638, a receive circuit 640, an RF circuit 642, an RFFE circuit 644, and an antenna panel 646. The components of the AN 604 may be similar to and substantially interchangeable with the components of the same name of the UE 602. In addition to performing data transmission / reception as described above, the components of the AN 608 may perform various logical functions, including RNC functions such as radio bearer management, uplink and downlink dynamic radio resource management, and data packet scheduling.

[0119] 7 is a block diagram illustrating components, according to some example embodiments, that can read instructions from a machine-readable or computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium) and perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein. Specifically, FIG. 7 shows a diagrammatic representation of hardware resources 700, including one or more processors (or processor cores) 710, one or more memory / storage devices 720, and one or more communication resources 730, each of which may be communicatively coupled via a bus 740 or other interface circuitry. For embodiments in which node virtualization (e.g., NFV) is utilized, a hypervisor 702 may execute to provide an execution environment for one or more network slices / sub-slices to utilize the hardware resources 700.

[0120] Processor 710 may include, for example, processor 712 and processor 714. Processor 710 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), other processors (including those discussed herein), or any suitable combination thereof.

[0121] The memory / storage device 720 may include main memory, disk storage, or any suitable combination thereof. The memory / storage device 720 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.

[0122] Communications resources 730 may include interconnect or network interface controllers, components, or other suitable devices to communicate with one or more peripherals 704 or one or more databases 706 or other network elements over network 708. For example, communications resources 730 may include wired communications components (e.g., for coupling via USB, Ethernet, etc.), cellular communications components, NFC components, Bluetooth (or Bluetooth Low Energy) components, Wi-Fi components, and other communications components.

[0123] The instructions 750 may include software, a program, an application, an applet, an APP, or other executable code that causes at least one of the processors 710 to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein. The instructions 750 may reside, completely or partially, within at least one of the processors 710 (e.g., a processor's cache memory), the memory / storage device 720, or any suitable combination thereof. Furthermore, any portion of the instructions 750 may be transferred to the hardware resources 700 from any combination of the peripherals 704 or the database 706. Accordingly, the memory of the processor 710, the memory / storage device 720, the peripherals 704, and the database 706 are examples of computer-readable and machine-readable media.

[0124] The following examples relate to further embodiments.

[0125] For one or more embodiments, at least one of the components shown in one or more of the above figures may be configured to perform one or more of the operations, techniques, processes, and / or methods shown in the Examples section below. For example, the baseband circuitry described above in connection with one or more of the above figures may be configured to operate according to one or more of the examples shown below. As another example, circuitry associated with a UE, a base station, a network element, etc. described above in connection with one or more of the above drawings may be configured to operate according to one or more of the examples shown below in the Examples section.

[0126] The word "exemplary" is used herein to mean "an example, instance, or illustrative." Any embodiment described herein as "exemplary" should not necessarily be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments. As used herein, the terms "computing device," "user device," "communication station," "station," "handheld device," "mobile device," "wireless device," and "user equipment (UE)" refer to a communication device such as a cellular phone, smartphone, tablet, netbook, wireless terminal, laptop computer, femtocell, high data rate (HDR) subscriber station, access point, printer, point of sale (PoS) device, access terminal, or other personal communications system (PCS) device. The device may be either mobile or stationary.

[0127] As used herein, the term "communicating" is intended to include transmitting, receiving, or both transmitting and receiving. This can be particularly useful in claims when describing the configuration of data being transmitted by one device and received by another device, although only one function of these devices is required to infringe a claim. Similarly, a two-way data exchange between two devices (both devices transmitting and receiving during the exchange) may be described as "communicating" when only one function of these devices is claimed. The term "communicating" as used herein with respect to wireless communication signals includes transmitting wireless communication signals and / or receiving wireless communication signals. For example, a wireless communication unit capable of communicating wireless communication signals may include a wireless transmitter that transmits wireless communication signals to at least one other wireless communication unit and / or a wireless communication receiver that receives wireless communication signals from at least one other wireless communication unit.

[0128] As used herein, unless otherwise specified, the use of ordinal adjectives "first," "second," "third," etc. to describe a common object merely indicates that different instances of the same object are being referred to and is not intended to imply that the objects so described must be in a given order, temporally or spatially, ranked, or in any other way.

[0129] As used herein, the term "access point (AP)" may refer to a fixed station. An access point may also be referred to as an access node, base station, evolved NodeB (eNodeB), or other similar terminology known in the art. An access terminal may also be referred to as a mobile station, user equipment (UE), wireless communication device, or other similar terminology known in the art. The embodiments disclosed herein relate generally to wireless networks. Some embodiments may relate to wireless networks that operate according to one of the IEEE 802.11 standards.

[0130] Some embodiments may be used with various devices and systems, such as personal computers (PCs), desktop computers, mobile computers, laptop computers, notebook computers, tablet computers, server computers, handheld computers, handheld devices, personal digital assistant (PDA) devices, handheld PDA devices, on-board devices, off-board devices, hybrid devices, in-vehicle devices, non-in-vehicle devices, mobile or portable devices, consumer devices, non-mobile or non-portable devices, wireless communication stations, wireless communication devices, wireless access points (APs), wired or wireless routers, wired or wireless modems, video devices, audio devices, audio-video (A / V) devices, wired or wireless networks, wireless area networks, wireless video area networks (WVANs), local area networks (LANs), wireless LANs (WLANs), personal area networks (PANs), wireless PANs (WPANs), and the like.

[0131] Some embodiments may be used with one-way and / or two-way wireless communication systems, cellular wireless telecommunications systems, mobile phones, cellular telephones, radiotelephones, personal communication system (PCS) devices, PDA devices incorporating wireless communication devices, mobile or portable global positioning system (GPS) devices, devices incorporating GPS receivers or transceivers or chips, devices incorporating RFID elements or chips, multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) transceivers or devices, single-input multiple-output (SIMO) transceivers or devices, multiple-input single-output (MISO) transceivers or devices, devices with one or more internal and / or external antennas, digital video broadcast (DVB) devices or systems, multi-standard wireless devices or systems, wired or wireless handheld devices such as smartphones, wireless application protocol (WAP) devices, etc.

[0132] Some embodiments may utilize one or more wireless communication protocols, such as radio frequency (RF), infrared (IR), frequency division multiplexing (FDM), orthogonal FDM (OFDM), time division multiplexing (TDM), time division multiple access (TDMA), enhanced TDMA (E-TDMA), general packet radio service (GPRS), enhanced GPRS, code division multiple access (COMA), wideband CDMA (WCDMA), CDMA 2000, single-carrier CDMA, multi-carrier CDMA, multi-carrier modulation (MDM), discrete multi-tone (DMT), Bluetooth, global positioning system (GPS), Wi-Fi, Wi-Max, ZigBee, ultra-wideband (UWB), Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), 2G, 2.5G, 3G, 3.5G, 4G, fifth-generation (5G) mobile networks, 3GPP®, Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE Advanced, Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE), etc. Other embodiments may be used in various other devices, systems, and / or networks.

[0133] Various embodiments are described below.

[0134] Example 1 is an apparatus for a user equipment device (UE) for activation of an unknown secondary cell, comprising: a processing circuit coupled to a storage that stores information related to activation of the unknown secondary cell, the processing circuit comprising: Decoding a Medium Access Control (MAC) control element received from a network node, the MAC control element including a request to activate an unknown secondary cell (SCell); performing a receiver beam sweep using a beam sweep coefficient less than 8 in a frequency range before activating the unknown SCell, the receiver beam sweep including automatic gain control using the beam sweep coefficient and searching for the unknown SCell using the beam sweep coefficient; before activating the unknown SCell, encoding a reference signal received power (RSRP) report to be transmitted, the report including a synchronization signal block (SSB); performing a channel status information measurement before activating the unknown SCell; encoding a report indicating the channel status information measurements to be transmitted before activating the unknown SCell; activating the unknown SCell; The device may include:

[0135] Example 2 can include the device of Example 1 and / or any other example herein, wherein the frequency range is 24250-52600 MHz.

[0136] Example 3 can include the device of Example 1 and / or any other example herein, wherein the frequency range is 410-725 MHz.

[0137] Example 4 can include the apparatus of Example 1 and / or any other example herein, wherein the beam sweep factor is 1, 2, 4, or 6.

[0138] Example 5 can include the apparatus of example 1 and / or any other example herein, wherein the receiver beam sweep consists of fewer than eight samples.

[0139] Example 6 may include the apparatus of example 5 and / or any other example herein, wherein the automatic gain control comprises one sample.

[0140] Example 7 may include the apparatus of Example 1 and / or any other example herein, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to determine to skip Layer-1 RSRP measurements before activating the unknown SCell, and wherein the RSRP report further includes an indication of Layer-3 measurements.

[0141] Example 8 may include the apparatus of Example 1 and / or any other example herein, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to determine to skip activating a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) before activating the unknown SCell.

[0142] Example 9 may include the apparatus of Example 8 and / or any other example herein, wherein there is no active serving cell in the frequency range and the MAC control element further includes a channel status information reference signal (CSI-RS).

[0143] Example 10 may include the apparatus of Example 1 and / or any other example herein, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to determine to skip fine timing tracking before activating the unknown SCell.

[0144] Example 11 may include the apparatus of Example 1 and / or any other example herein, wherein a time delay between decoding the MAC control element and activating the unknown SCell is based on a sum of a first time delay for the automatic gain control and a second time delay for the search for the unknown SCell.

[0145] Example 12 may include the apparatus of Example 1 and / or any other example herein, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to determine a total time delay between decoding the MAC Control element and activating the unknown SCell, and encode an indication of the total time delay to be transmitted.

[0146] Example 13 may include the apparatus of Example 1 and / or any other example herein, wherein the MAC control element further includes a semi-persistent channel status information reference signal (CSI-RS) or a radio resource control (RRC) based CSI-RS command.

[0147] Example 14 may include the apparatus of Example 1 and / or any other example herein, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to decode a semi-persistent channel status information reference signal (CSI-RS) or a radio resource control (RRC)-based CSI-RS command received from the network node after the request to activate the unknown SCell.

[0148] Example 15 may include the apparatus of example 1 and / or any other example herein, wherein the automatic gain control and the time for the search for the unknown SCell are based on the beam sweep coefficient.

[0149] Example 16 is a computer-readable storage medium containing instructions, The instructions, upon execution by a processing circuit of a user equipment device (UE) for activation of an unknown secondary cell, cause the processing circuit to: decoding a Medium Access Control (MAC) control element received from a network node, the MAC control element including a request to activate an unknown secondary cell (SCell); performing a receiver beam sweep using a beam sweep coefficient less than 8 in a frequency range before activating the unknown SCell, the receiver beam sweep including automatic gain control using the beam sweep coefficient and searching for the unknown SCell using the beam sweep coefficient; encoding a reference signal received power (RSRP) report to be transmitted, including a synchronization signal block (SSB), before activating the unknown SCell; performing a channel status information measurement before activating the unknown SCell; encoding a report indicating the channel status information measurements to be transmitted before activating the unknown SCell; activating the unknown SCell; Execute It may include a computer-readable storage medium.

[0150] Example 17 may include the computer-readable storage medium of Example 16 and / or any other example herein, wherein the beam sweep factor is 1, 2, 4, or 6.

[0151] Example 18 may include the computer-readable storage medium of Example 16 and / or any other example herein, wherein the receiver beam sweep consists of fewer than eight samples.

[0152] Example 19 may include the computer-readable storage medium of Example 18 and / or any other example herein, wherein the automatic gain control consists of one sample.

[0153] Example 20 may include the computer-readable storage medium of Example 16 and / or any other example herein, wherein execution of the instructions further causes the processing circuit to determine to skip Layer-1 RSRP measurements before activating the unknown SCell, and wherein the RSRP report further includes an indication of Layer-3 measurements.

[0154] Example 21 may include the computer-readable storage medium of Example 16 and / or any other example of the present application, wherein execution of the instructions further causes the processing circuitry to determine to skip activating a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) before activating the unknown SCell.

[0155] Example 22 may include the computer-readable storage medium of Example 21 and / or any other example herein, wherein there is no active serving cell in the frequency range and the MAC control element further includes a channel status information reference signal (CSI-RS).

[0156] Example 23 is a method for activation of an unknown secondary cell, comprising: decoding, by processing circuitry of a user equipment device (UE), a medium access control (MAC) control element received from a network node, the medium access control (MAC) control element including a request to activate an unknown secondary cell (SCell); performing, by the processing circuit, a receiver beam sweep using a beam sweep coefficient less than 8 in a frequency range before activating the unknown SCell, the receiver beam sweep including automatic gain control using the beam sweep coefficient and searching for the unknown SCell using the beam sweep coefficient; encoding, by the processing circuitry, a reference signal received power (RSRP) report to be transmitted, including a synchronization signal block (SSB), before activating the unknown SCell; performing, by the processing circuitry, channel status information measurements before activating the unknown SCell; encoding, by the processing circuitry, a report indicating the channel status information measurements to be transmitted before activating the unknown SCell; activating the unknown SCell by the processing circuitry; The method may include the steps of:

[0157] Example 24 is means for decoding, by a user equipment device (UE), a medium access control (MAC) control element received from a network node, the medium access control (MAC) control element including a request to activate an unknown secondary cell (SCell); means for performing a receiver beam sweep using a beam sweep coefficient less than 8 in a frequency range before activating the unknown SCell, the receiver beam sweep including automatic gain control using the beam sweep coefficient and searching for the unknown SCell using the beam sweep coefficient; means for encoding a Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) report to be transmitted, including a Synchronization Signal Block (SSB), before activating the unknown SCell; means for performing channel status information measurements before activating the unknown SCell; means for encoding a report indicating the channel status information measurements to be transmitted before activating the unknown SCell; means for activating the unknown SCell; The device may include an apparatus having:

[0158] Example 25 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 related to any of Examples 1-24, or any other method or process described herein.

[0159] Example 26 may include an apparatus including logic, modules, and / or circuitry for performing one or more elements of a method described or related to any of Examples 1-24, or any other method or process described herein.

[0160] Example 27 may include any method, technique, or process described in or related to any of Examples 1-24, or portions thereof.

[0161] Example 28 may include an apparatus having one or more processors and one or more computer-readable media having instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform a method, technique, or process, or portion thereof, described in or related to any of Examples 1-24.

[0162] Example 29 may include a method of communicating in a wireless network as shown or described herein.

[0163] Example 30 may include a system for providing wireless communication as shown or described herein.

[0164] Example 31 may include a device that provides wireless communication as shown or described herein.

[0165] Embodiments in accordance with the present disclosure are particularly disclosed in the appended claims as directed to methods, storage media, devices, and computer program products, and any feature recited in one claim category, e.g., a method, may also be claimed in other claim categories, e.g., a system. Dependencies or references in the appended claims have been selected for formality reasons only. However, subject matter resulting from intentional references (e.g., multiple dependencies) to earlier claims may also be claimed. Therefore, any combination of claims and their features may be disclosed and claimed regardless of the dependencies selected in the appended claims. Subject matter that may be claimed includes not only combinations of features recited in the appended claims, but also other combinations of features within the scope of the claims. In this case, each feature recited in a claim may be combined with other features or combinations of features within the scope of the claim. Furthermore, any of the embodiments and features described or illustrated herein may be claimed in a separate claim and / or claimed in any combination with any of the embodiments or features described or illustrated herein or any of the features of the appended claims.

[0166] The foregoing description of one or more implementations provides illustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the scope of the embodiments to the precise forms disclosed. Modifications and modifications are possible in light of the above teachings and may be acquired from practicing various embodiments.

[0167] Certain aspects of the present disclosure have been described above with reference to block diagrams and flow diagrams of systems, methods, apparatuses, and / or computer program products according to various implementations. It will be understood that one or more blocks of the block diagrams and flow diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and flow diagrams, respectively, can be implemented by computer-executable program instructions. Likewise, some blocks of the block diagrams and flow diagrams need not necessarily be executed in the order presented, or, in some implementations, need not be executed at all.

[0168] These computer-executable program instructions can be loaded into a special-purpose computer or other specific machine, processor, or other programmable data processing apparatus to create a specific machine, where the instructions executing on the computer, processor, or other programmable data processing apparatus create means for implementing one or more functions specified in one or more blocks of the flowchart. These computer program instructions are stored on a computer-readable storage medium or memory and direct the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particular manner, whereby the instructions stored on the computer-readable storage medium create an article of manufacture including instruction means for performing one or more functions specified in one or more blocks of the flowchart. By way of example, in certain implementations, a computer program product is provided that includes a computer-readable storage medium having computer-readable program code or program instructions embodied therein, the computer-readable program code adapted to be executed to perform one or more functions specified in one or more blocks of the flowchart. The computer program instructions are loaded into a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus and a series of operational elements or steps are executed on the computer or other programmable device to create a computer-implemented process, where the instructions executing on the computer or other programmable device provide elements or steps for performing the functions specified in one or more blocks of the flowchart.

[0169] Thus, the blocks in the block diagrams and flow diagrams represent combinations of means for performing the specified functions, combinations of elements or steps for performing the specified functions, and program instruction means for performing the specified functions. It is also understood that each block of the block diagrams and flow diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and flow diagrams, can be implemented by a dedicated hardware-based computer system that performs the specified functions, elements or steps, or combinations of dedicated hardware and computer instructions.

[0170] Conditional language such as "can," "may," "might," and "could," unless otherwise specified or understood within the context in which it is used, is intended to generally convey that certain implementations may include certain features, elements, and / or operations, but not others. Thus, such conditional language does not generally imply that the features, elements, and / or operations are in any way required for one or more implementations, nor does it imply that one or more implementations necessarily include logic that determines whether those features, elements, and / or operations are included or performed in a particular case, with or without user input or prompting.

[0171] Many modifications and other implementations of the disclosure set forth herein will be apparent to those skilled in the art having the benefit of the teachings presented in the foregoing descriptions and the associated drawings. It is to be understood, therefore, that the disclosure is not limited to the particular implementations disclosed, and that modifications and other implementations are intended to be included within the scope of the appended claims. Although specific terms are employed herein, they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation.

[0172] For purposes of this specification, the following terms and definitions are applicable to the examples and embodiments described herein.

[0173] As used herein, the term "circuitry" refers to, is a part of, or includes hardware components configured to provide a described functionality, 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-volume PLDs (HCPLDs), structured ASICs, or programmable SoCs), digital signal processors (DSPs), etc. In some embodiments, a circuitry can execute one or more software or firmware programs to provide at least some of the described functionality. The term "circuitry" can also refer to a combination of one or more hardware elements (or a combination of circuitry used in an electrical or electronic system) and program code used to perform the functions of that program code. In these embodiments, the combination of hardware elements and program code may be referred to as a particular type of circuit.

[0174] As used herein, the term "processor circuit" refers to, is a part of, or includes circuitry capable of sequentially and automatically performing a series of arithmetic or logical operations, or recording, storing, and / or transmitting digital data. A processing circuit includes one or more processing cores for executing instructions and one or more memory structures for storing program and data information. The term "processor circuit" refers 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 other devices capable of executing or manipulating computer-executable instructions, such as program code, software modules, and / or functional processes. A processing circuit includes more hardware accelerators, which may be microprocessors, programmable processing devices, etc. One or more hardware accelerators include, for example, computer vision (CV) accelerators and deep learning (DL) accelerators. The terms "application circuit" and / or "baseband circuit" are considered synonymous with "processor circuit" and may also be referred to as a processor circuit.

[0175] As used herein, the term "interface circuitry" refers to, is part of, or includes circuitry that enables the exchange of information between two or more components or devices. The term "interface circuitry" may refer to one or more hardware interfaces, such as a bus, an I / O interface, a peripheral component interface, a network interface card, etc.

[0176] As used herein, the term "user equipment" or "UE" refers to a device with wireless communication capabilities and may represent a remote user of network resources in a communications network. The term "user equipment" or "UE" is considered synonymous with, and may also 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, radio equipment, reconfigurable radio equipment, reconfigurable mobile device, etc. Furthermore, the term "user equipment" or "UE" may include any type of wireless / wired device or any computing device that includes a wireless communication interface.

[0177] As used herein, the term "network element" refers to physical or virtualized equipment and / or infrastructure used to provide wired or wireless communication network services. The term "network element" may be considered or referred to synonymously as a networked computer, network hardware, network equipment, network node, router, switch, hub, bridge, radio network controller, RAN device, RAN node, gateway, server, virtualized VNF, NFVI, etc.

[0178] As used herein, the term "computer system" refers to any type of interconnected electronic device, computing device, or component thereof. Additionally, the terms "computer system" and / or "system" may refer to various components of a computer that are communicatively connected 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 connected to each other and configured to share computing and / or network resources.

[0179] As used herein, the terms "appliance," "computer appliance," and like terms refer to a computing device or system that has program code (e.g., software and firmware) specifically designed to provide specific computing resources. A "virtual appliance" is a virtual machine image implemented by a hypervisor-equipped device specialized to virtualize or emulate a computing appliance or provide specific computing resources.

[0180] The term "resource" as used herein refers to a physical or virtual device, a physical or virtual component in a computing environment, and / or a physical or virtual component within a specific device, including computer devices, mechanical devices, memory space, processor / CPU time, processor / CPU utilization, processor and accelerator load, hardware time or utilization, power, input / output operations, ports or network sockets, channel / link allocation, throughput, memory utilization, storage, networks, databases and applications, workload units, etc. "Hardware resources" may refer to computing, storage, and / or network resources provided by physical hardware elements. "Virtualized resources" may refer to computing, storage, and / or network resources provided by a virtualization infrastructure to applications, devices, systems, etc. The terms "network resources" or "communications resources" may refer to resources accessible to a computing device / system via a communications network. The term "system resources" may refer to any type of shared entity that provides services and may include computing and / or network resources. A system resource can be considered a consistent set of functions, network data objects, or services accessible via a server. In this case, system resources may reside on a single host or multiple hosts and be clearly identifiable.

[0181] As used herein, the term "channel" refers to any tangible or intangible transmission medium used to communicate data or data streams. The term "channel" may be synonymous with 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 other similar terms indicating a path or medium over which data is communicated. Furthermore, as used herein, the term "link" refers to a connection between two devices over a RAT for the purpose of transmitting and receiving information.

[0182] As used herein, the terms "instantiation," "instantiating," and the like refer to the creation of an instance. An "instance" may also refer to a specific occurrence of an object, such as may occur during the execution of program code.

[0183] The terms "coupled" and "communicatively coupled," along with their derivatives, are used herein. The term "coupled" can mean that two or more elements are in direct physical or electrical contact with each other, or that two or more elements are in indirect contact but still cooperate or interact with each other, and / or that one or more other elements are coupled or connected between the elements that are said to be coupled to each other. The term "directly coupled" can mean that two or more elements are in direct contact with each other. The term "communicatively coupled" means that two or more elements may be in contact with each other by a communication means, including through wiring or other interconnections, wireless communication channels or links, etc.

[0184] 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.

[0185] Unless otherwise used herein, terms, definitions, and abbreviations may be consistent with those defined in 3GPP® TR 21.905 v16.0.0 (June 2019) and / or other 3GPP® standards. For purposes of this specification, the following abbreviations (shown in Table 2) may apply to the examples and embodiments described herein: [Table 2] TIFF2025528654000004.tif249156TIFF2025528654000005.tif240156TIFF202 5528654000006.tif249156TIFF2025528654000007.tif249156TIFF20255286540 00008.tif249156TIFF2025528654000009.tif249156TIFF2025528654000010.t if249156TIFF2025528654000011.tif249156TIFF2025528654000012.tif172156

[0186] [CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63 / 411,437, filed September 29, 2022, and U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63 / 394,910, filed August 2, 2022, the disclosures of which are incorporated by reference into this application as if set forth in full.

Claims

1. 1. An apparatus for a user equipment device (UE) for activation of an unknown secondary cell, comprising: a processing circuit coupled to a storage that stores information related to activation of the unknown secondary cell, the processing circuit comprising: Decoding a Medium Access Control (MAC) control element received from a network node, the MAC control element including a request to activate an unknown secondary cell (SCell); performing a receiver beam sweep using a beam sweep coefficient less than 8 in a frequency range before activating the unknown SCell, the receiver beam sweep including automatic gain control using the beam sweep coefficient and searching for the unknown SCell using the beam sweep coefficient; Before activating the unknown SCell, encode a reference signal received power (RSRP) report to be transmitted, including a synchronization signal block (SSB); performing channel status information measurements before activating the unknown SCell; encoding a report indicating the channel status information measurements to be transmitted before activating the unknown SCell; activating the unknown SCell; Device.

2. the frequency range is 24250 to 52600 MHz; 10. The apparatus of claim 1.

3. the frequency range is 410 to 725 MHz; 10. The apparatus of claim 1.

4. the beam sweep factor is 1, 2, 4, or 6; 10. The apparatus of claim 1.

5. the receiver beam sweep consists of fewer than eight samples; 10. The apparatus of claim 1.

6. the automatic gain control consists of one sample; 6. The apparatus of claim 5.

7. the processing circuitry is further configured to determine to skip Layer-1 RSRP measurements before activating the unknown SCell; The RSRP report further includes an indication of Layer-3 measurements.

10. The apparatus of claim 1.

8. The processing circuitry is further configured to determine to skip activating a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) before activating the unknown SCell.

10. The apparatus of claim 1.

9. there is no active serving cell in the frequency range; The MAC control element further includes a channel status information reference signal (CSI-RS).

9. The apparatus of claim 8.

10. The processing circuitry is further configured to determine to skip fine timing tracking before activating the unknown SCell.

10. The apparatus of claim 1.

11. a time delay between decoding the MAC control element and activating the unknown SCell is based on the sum of a first time delay for the automatic gain control and a second time delay for the search for the unknown SCell.

10. The apparatus of claim 1.

12. The processing circuitry determining a total time delay between decoding the MAC control element and activating the unknown SCell; and further configured to encode an indication of the total time delay to be transmitted.

10. The apparatus of claim 1.

13. The MAC control element further includes a semi-persistent channel status information reference signal (CSI-RS) or a radio resource control (RRC) based CSI-RS command.

10. The apparatus of claim 1.

14. the processing circuitry is further configured to decode a semi-persistent channel status information reference signal (CSI-RS) or a radio resource control (RRC)-based CSI-RS command received from the network node after the request to activate the unknown SCell.

10. The apparatus of claim 1.

15. the automatic gain control and the time for the search for the unknown SCell are based on the beam sweep coefficient.

10. The apparatus of claim 1.

16. A computer-readable storage medium containing instructions, The instructions, upon execution by a processing circuit of a user equipment device (UE) for activation of an unknown secondary cell, cause the processing circuit to: decoding a Medium Access Control (MAC) control element received from a network node, the MAC control element including a request to activate an unknown secondary cell (SCell); performing a receiver beam sweep using a beam sweep coefficient less than 8 in a frequency range before activating the unknown SCell, the receiver beam sweep including automatic gain control using the beam sweep coefficient and searching for the unknown SCell using the beam sweep coefficient; encoding a reference signal received power (RSRP) report to be transmitted, including a synchronization signal block (SSB), before activating the unknown SCell; performing channel status information measurements before activating the unknown SCell; encoding a report indicating the channel status information measurements to be transmitted before activating the unknown SCell; activating the unknown SCell; Execute A computer-readable storage medium.

17. the beam sweep factor is 1, 2, 4, or 6; 17. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 16.

18. 1. A method for activation of an unknown secondary cell, comprising: decoding, by processing circuitry of a user equipment device (UE), a medium access control (MAC) control element received from a network node, the medium access control (MAC) control element including a request to activate an unknown secondary cell (SCell); performing, by the processing circuitry, a receiver beam sweep using a beam sweep coefficient less than 8 in a frequency range before activating the unknown SCell, the receiver beam sweep including automatic gain control using the beam sweep coefficient and searching for the unknown SCell using the beam sweep coefficient; encoding, by the processing circuitry, a reference signal received power (RSRP) report to be transmitted, including a synchronization signal block (SSB), before activating the unknown SCell; performing, by the processing circuitry, channel status information measurements before activating the unknown SCell; encoding, by the processing circuitry, a report indicating the channel status information measurements to be transmitted before activating the unknown SCell; activating the unknown SCell by the processing circuitry; A method having the following.

19. A program that, when executed by a computer, causes the computer to carry out the method of claim 18.

20. 20. An apparatus having means for carrying out the method of claim 18.

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