User equipment (UE) selection of candidate cells to be measured for L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility

Abstract

An embodiment includes a method for a user equipment (UE) configured to communicate with a radio access network (RAN) node via a serving cell. Such a method includes obtaining a configuration that specifies one or more conditions that trigger lower layer measurements on one or more candidate cells for L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility. Such a method includes performing one or more of the following measurements: lower layer measurements on the serving cell, a first L3 measurement on the serving cell, and a second L3 measurement on at least one of the candidate cells. Such a method includes, based on detecting that the performed measurements satisfy at least one of the conditions, initiating lower layer measurements on at least one candidate cell associated with the satisfied at least one condition, and sending to the RAN node a lower layer measurement report including results of the performed lower layer measurements on the at least one candidate cell.

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present application relates generally to the field of wireless networks, and more particularly to improving mobility of user equipment (UE) across multiple cells in wireless networks, especially mobility based on Layer 1 (L1) and / or Layer 2 (L2) procedures that incur lower delays than conventional Layer 3 mobility procedures.

[0002] Introduction The fifth generation (5G) of cellular systems is currently being standardized within the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). 5G is being developed for maximum flexibility to support multiple and varied use cases, including, among others, enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), machine-based communications (MTC), ultra-reliable low-latency communications (URLLC), and sidelink device-to-device (D2D) communications.

[0003] FIG. 1 shows a high-level diagram of an exemplary 5G network architecture consisting of a Next Generation Radio Access Network (NG-RAN, 199) and a 5G Core (5GC, 198). The NG-RAN may include one or more gNodeBs (gNBs) connected to the 5GC via one or more NG interfaces, such as gNBs (100, 150) connected via respective interfaces (102, 152). More specifically, the gNBs may be connected to one or more Access and Mobility Management Functions (AMFs) in the 5GC via respective NG-C interfaces and to one or more User Plane Functions (UPFs) in the 5GC via respective NG-U interfaces. The 5GC may include various other Network Functions (NFs), such as one or more Session Management Functions (SMFs).

[0004] Although not shown, in some deployments, 5GC may be replaced by an Evolved Packet Core (EPC) traditionally used with Long-Term Evolution (LTE) Evolved UMTS RAN (E-UTRAN). In such deployments, gNBs (e.g., 100, 150) may connect to one or more Mobility Management Entities (MMEs) in the EPC 198 via respective S1-C interfaces. Similarly, gNBs may connect to one or more Serving Gateways (SGWs) in the EPC via respective NG-U interfaces.

[0005] Additionally, gNBs may be connected to one another via one or more Xn interfaces, such as an Xn interface (140) between gNBs (100, 150). The radio technology for NG-RAN is often referred to as "New Radio" (NR). With respect to the NR interface to the UE, each of the gNBs may support frequency division duplexing (FDD), time division duplexing (TDD), or a combination thereof. Each of the gNBs may serve a geographic coverage area including one or more cells.

[0006] The NG-RAN is layered into a Radio Network Layer (RNL) and a Transport Network Layer (TNL). The NG-RAN architecture, i.e., the NG-RAN logical nodes and the interfaces between the NG-RAN logical nodes, are specified as part of the RNL. For each NG-RAN interface (NG, Xn, F1), the related TNL protocols and functions are specified. The TNL provides services for user plane transport and signaling transport.

[0007] The NG RAN logical node shown in FIG. 1 includes a central unit (CU or gNB-CU, e.g., 110) and one or more distributed units (DU or gNB-DU, e.g., 120, 130). The CU is a logical node that hosts upper layer protocols and performs various gNB functions, such as controlling the operation of the DU. The DU is a distributed logical node that hosts lower layer protocols and can include various subsets of gNB functions depending on functional split options. Thus, each of the CU and DU can include various circuits required to perform their respective functions, including processing circuits, communication interface circuits (e.g., transceivers), and power supply circuits.

[0008] A gNB-CU connects to one or more gNB-DUs over respective F1 logical interfaces (e.g., 122 and 132 shown in FIG. 1). However, a gNB-DU can only be connected to a single gNB-CU. A gNB-CU and its connected gNB-DU(s) only appear as a gNB to other gNBs and 5GC. In other words, the F1 interface is not visible beyond the gNB-CU.

[0009] In addition to providing coverage via cells, as in LTE, NR networks also provide coverage via “beams.” Generally, a downlink (DL, i.e., network to UE) “beam” is a coverage area of ​​a network-transmitted reference signal (RS) that can be measured or monitored by the UE. To support beam management, a channel state information (CSI) measurement configuration can be configured in the UE, which instructs the UE to monitor the CSI-RS and send various CSI reports to the RAN (e.g., NG-RAN). For example, the RAN indicates an explicit list of CSI resources to be monitored by the UE for each type of CSI report the UE is configured to send. Similar techniques can be used for beam management based on the synchronization signal / PBCH block (SSB) RS transmitted by the network.

[0010] 3GPP Rel-17 includes an inter-cell beam management feature that allows a UE to have multiple active transmission configuration indicator (TCI) states, including one associated with the physical cell identity (PCI) of its serving cell and up to M other transmission configuration indicator (TCI) states associated with the PCIs of other cells. For example, different PCIs can represent different transmission reception points (TRPs). For each of the N additional TCI states, the UE can be configured with a CSI resource (or resource set) to monitor for inter-PCI (or inter-cell) beam management.

[0011] As specified in 3GPP document RP-213565, NR Rel-18 includes work items related to NR mobility enhancements, including those in the technical area of L1 / L2 based inter-cell mobility. When a UE moves between the coverage areas of two cells, a serving cell change needs to be performed at a certain point. Currently, serving cell changes are triggered by layer 3 (L3, e.g., RRC) measurements and involve radio resource control (RRC) signaling to change the PCell and / or PSCell (e.g., when dual connectivity is configured) and to release / add SCell (e.g., when CA is configured).

[0012] Currently, L3 inter-cell mobility involves a complete layer 2 (L2) and layer 1 (L1, i.e., PHY) reset, which leads to longer latency, increased signaling overhead, and longer interruptions compared to in-cell beam switching. Therefore, the goal of Rel-18 L1 / L2 mobility enhancements is to facilitate serving cell changes via L1 / L2 signaling in order to address these issues and / or difficulties.

Summary of the Invention

[0013] According to Rel-17, a UE may be configured with CSI resources to monitor in up to N = 7 additional PCI / TCI states for inter-cell beam management. However, due to complexity constraints, the UE may only be able to monitor CSI resources in a subset M < N of the configured TCI states of other PCI. This can cause various problems, issues, and / or difficulties for the UE and the RAN. Moreover, these problems, issues, and / or difficulties are expected to be more prominent for Rel-18 as the UE may need to measure a larger number of other (e.g., neighboring) beams / cells to support L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility.

[0014] An objective of embodiments of the present disclosure is to address these and related issues, problems, and / or difficulties, thereby facilitating UE inter-cell beam management and L1 / L2 mobility between cells in a RAN (e.g., NG-RAN).

[0015] Some embodiments of the present disclosure include a method (eg, a procedure) for a UE configured to communicate with a RAN node via a serving cell.

[0016] The exemplary methods include obtaining a configuration that specifies one or more conditions that trigger lower layer measurements on one or more candidate cells for L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility. The exemplary methods include performing one or more of the following measurements: a lower layer measurement on a serving cell, a first Layer 3 (L3) measurement on the serving cell, and a second L3 measurement on at least one of the candidate cells. The exemplary methods include initiating lower layer measurements on at least one candidate cell associated with the fulfilled at least one condition based on detecting that the performed measurements fulfill at least one of the conditions. The exemplary methods include sending, to the RAN node, a lower layer measurement report that includes results of the performed lower layer measurements on the at least one candidate cell.

[0017] In some embodiments, detecting that the performed measurement satisfies at least one of the conditions includes: ● the result of the lower layer measurement of the serving cell is below a first threshold; ● The result of the L3 measurement of the serving cell falls below a second threshold; ● The result of the L3 measurement of the candidate cell is below the third threshold; ● The L3 measurement result of the candidate cell is at least offset larger than the L3 measurement result of the serving cell; ● The result of the serving cell's L3 measurements is below a fourth threshold, and ● The highest of one or more of the serving cell's lower layer measurements is below the seventh threshold. The method includes detecting one or more of:

[0018] In some of these embodiments, the plurality of lower layer measurements of the serving cell are measurements of a plurality of beams associated with the serving cell, hi other of these embodiments, the offset is associated with a radio resource management (RRM) A3 event and / or the second threshold is an S-Measure RRM threshold.

[0019] In some embodiments, the exemplary method involves measuring: ● Lower layer measurements of at least one candidate cell; ● Lower layer measurements of the serving cell; ● The first L3 measurement of the serving cell, and a second L3 measurement of at least one of the candidate cells; may also include stopping or pausing lower layer measurements of the at least one candidate cell based on detecting that at least one of the conditions satisfies a further one or more of the conditions.

[0020] In some of these embodiments, detecting that the at least one measurement satisfies one or more additional of the conditions includes: ● The result of the serving cell's L3 measurement exceeds the fifth threshold; ● The result of the L3 measurement of at least one candidate cell is below the sixth threshold; ● The highest of one or more of the plurality of lower layer measurements of the serving cell exceeds an eighth threshold; and the highest one or more of the plurality of lower layer measurements of at least one candidate cell is below a ninth threshold; The method includes detecting either

[0021] In some variations, the multiple lower layer measurements of the at least one candidate cell (e.g., evaluated with respect to the ninth threshold) are measurements of multiple beams associated with the at least one candidate cell.

[0022] In some embodiments, the lower layer measurements of the serving cell and the lower layer measurements of the at least one candidate cell include one or more of: Synchronization Signal / PBCH (SSB) Reference Signal Received Power (SS-RSRP), SSB Reference Signal Received Quality (SS-RSRQ), SSB Signal-to-Noise-Interference Ratio (SS-SINR), Channel State Information (CSI) Reference Signal Received Power (CSI-RSRP), CSI Reference Signal Received Quality (CSI-RSRQ), CSI Signal-to-Noise-Interference Ratio (CSI-SINR), L1-RSRP, L1-RSRQ, and L1-SINR.

[0023] In some embodiments, one or more of the following applies: the L3 measurements of the serving cell and the L3 measurements of the at least one candidate cell are L3 Reference Signal Received Power (L3-RSRP) measurements; and the L3 measurements of the serving cell and the L3 measurements of the at least one candidate cell are related to an L3 inter-cell mobility procedure (e.g., handover).

[0024] In some embodiments, the one or more candidate cells for L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility include multiple candidate cells. In such embodiments, detecting that the performed measurements fulfill at least one of the conditions includes determining that multiple candidate cells are associated with the fulfilled at least one condition. Also, initiating lower layer measurements of the at least one candidate cell associated with the fulfilled at least one condition includes selecting a subset of the multiple candidate cells based on results of the second L3 measurements of each of the multiple candidate cells. In such cases, lower layer measurements are initiated for the selected subset.

[0025] In some embodiments, the lower layer measurement report is a beam measurement report and / or the lower layer measurement report is sent via a lower layer procedure on a PUCCH or PUSCH in the serving cell.

[0026] In some embodiments, obtaining the configuration includes receiving a message from a RAN node that includes the configuration or a portion of the configuration. In some of these embodiments, the message is an RRCReconfiguration message. In some embodiments, the configuration or a portion of the configuration is obtained from a UE memory.

[0027] In some embodiments, the example methods may also include receiving a lower layer message from the RAN node instructing the UE to perform an L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility procedure to one of the candidate cells, the measurement results of which are included in the lower layer measurement report. Based on the lower layer message, the UE may perform the L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility procedure.

[0028] Another embodiment includes a method (eg, a procedure) for a RAN node configured to provide a serving cell to a UE.

[0029] The example methods include sending, to a UE, a configuration that specifies one or more conditions that trigger lower layer measurements for one or more candidate cells for L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility. The condition is based on one or more of the lower layer measurements of a serving cell, a first L3 measurement of the serving cell, and a second L3 measurement of at least one of the candidate cells. The example methods also include receiving, from the UE, a lower layer measurement report that includes results of the lower layer measurements performed on the at least one candidate cell based on fulfillment of at least one of the conditions.

[0030] In various embodiments, the conditions can include any of the corresponding conditions summarized above for the UE embodiments. In various embodiments, the lower layer measurements of the serving cell and the lower layer measurements of at least one candidate cell can include any of the corresponding lower layer measurements summarized above for the UE embodiments.

[0031] In some embodiments, these exemplary methods can also include selecting one of the candidate cells for an L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility procedure for the UE based on the lower layer measurement report, and sending a lower layer message to the UE instructing the UE to perform an L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility procedure to the selected candidate cell.

[0032] Other embodiments include a UE (e.g., a wireless device) and a RAN node (e.g., a base station, eNB, gNB, ng-eNB, etc., or components thereof such as CU / DU) configured to perform operations corresponding to any of the exemplary methods described herein. Other embodiments also include a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions that configure such a UE and RAN node to perform operations corresponding to any of the exemplary methods described herein when executed by a processing circuit.

[0033] These and other embodiments described herein can provide various technical benefits and / or advantages. For example, compared to conventional techniques where the UE autonomously selects a subset M < N of the configured candidate cells for measurement and reporting, embodiments enable the UE to systematically select a subset of candidate cells that are optimal and / or preferable at a given time. In this way, the lower layer measurements reported by the UE are better and / or more relevant for beam management and / or L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility while avoiding excessive UE energy consumption due to unnecessary measurements. At a high level, embodiments can improve UE mobility in the RAN.

[0034] These and other objects, features, and advantages of the present disclosure will become apparent from a reading of the following detailed description in light of the drawings briefly described below. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0035] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a high-level diagram of an exemplary 5G network architecture. [Figure 2] A diagram showing an exemplary configuration of the NR UP and CP protocol stack. [Figure 3] FIG. 2 illustrates a logical architecture for a gNB configured in the split CU / DU architecture illustrated in FIG. 1. [Figure 4] FIG. 2 illustrates a logical architecture for a gNB configured in the split CU / DU architecture illustrated in FIG. 1. [Figure 5] FIG. 10 illustrates an example ASN.1 data structure for an RRC CSI-MeasConfig information element (IE) used to configure CSI-RS resources for UE monitoring. [Figure 6] FIG. 10 illustrates an example ASN.1 data structure for an RRC CSI-ReportConfig IE used to configure a UE for CSI reporting. [Figure 7] FIG. 10 illustrates an exemplary ASN.1 data structure of an RRC CSI-SSB-ResourceSet IE. [Figure 8] 1 illustrates an example method (e.g., procedure) for a UE, in accordance with various embodiments of the present disclosure. [Figure 9] FIG. 1 illustrates an example method (e.g., procedure) for a RAN node, in accordance with various embodiments of the present disclosure. [Figure 10] FIG. 1 illustrates a communication system in accordance with various embodiments of the present disclosure. [Figure 11]FIG. 1 illustrates a UE in accordance with various embodiments of the present disclosure. [Figure 12] FIG. 1 illustrates a network node according to various embodiments of the present disclosure. [Figure 13] FIG. 1 illustrates a host computing system in accordance with various embodiments of the present disclosure. [Figure 14] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a virtualization environment in which functionality implemented by some embodiments of the present disclosure may be virtualized. [Figure 15] FIG. 1 illustrates communication between a host computing system, a network node, and a UE over multiple connections, at least one of which is wireless, in accordance with various embodiments of the present disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0036] The embodiments briefly summarized above will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings. These descriptions are provided as examples to explain the subject matter to those skilled in the art and should not be construed as limiting the scope of the subject matter to only the embodiments described herein. More particularly, examples illustrating the operation of various embodiments in accordance with the advantages described above are provided below.

[0037] In general, all terms used herein should be interpreted according to their ordinary meaning to those skilled in the relevant art, unless a different meaning is expressly stated and / or implied from the context of use. All references to an element, apparatus, component, means, step, etc. should be openly interpreted as referring to at least one instance of that element, apparatus, component, means, step, etc., unless expressly stated otherwise or clearly implied from the context of use. The acts of any method and / or procedure disclosed herein need not be performed in the exact order disclosed, unless an act is expressly described as following or preceding another act and / or if it is implicit that an act must follow or precede another act. Any feature of any embodiment disclosed herein may be applied to any other disclosed embodiment, as appropriate. Similarly, any advantage of any embodiment described herein may be applied to any other disclosed embodiment, as appropriate.

[0038] Additionally, the following terms are used throughout the description provided below: ● Radio access node: As used herein, a "radio access node" (or equivalently, a "radio network node," "radio access network node," or "RAN node") may be any node in a radio access network (RAN) that operates to transmit and / or receive signals wirelessly. Some examples of radio access nodes include, but are not limited to, base stations (e.g., gNBs in a 3GPP 5G / NR network or enhanced or eNBs in a 3GPP LTE network), base station distribution elements (e.g., CUs and DUs), high-power or macro base stations, low-power base stations (e.g., micro base stations, pico base stations, femto base stations, or home base stations), integrated radio access backhaul (IAB) nodes, transmission points (TPs), transmit reception points (TRPs), remote radio units (RRUs or RRHs), and relay nodes. ● Core network node: As used herein, a "core network node" is any type of node in a core network. Some examples of core network nodes include, for example, a Mobility Management Entity (MME), a Serving Gateway (SGW), a PDN Gateway (P-GW), a Policy and Charging Rules Function (PCRF), an Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF), a Session Management Function (SMF), a User Plane Function (UPF), a Charging Function (CHF), a Policy Control Function (PCF), an Authentication Server Function (AUSF), a Location Management Function (LMF), etc. ● Wireless Device: As used herein, a "wireless device" (or "WD" for short) is any type of device that is capable of, set up, configured, and / or operable to communicate wirelessly with network nodes and / or other wireless devices. Communicating wirelessly may involve sending and / or receiving radio signals using electromagnetic waves, radio waves, infrared waves, and / or other types of signals suitable for conveying information over the air. Unless otherwise noted, the term "wireless device" is used interchangeably herein with "user equipment" (or "UE" for short), and both of these terms have a different meaning than the term "network node." ● Wireless node: As used herein, a "wireless node" may be either a "wireless access node" (or equivalent term) or a "wireless device." ● Network node: As used herein, a "network node" is any node that is part of either a radio access network (e.g., radio access node or equivalent term) or a core network (e.g., the core network node described above) of a cellular communications network. Functionally, a network node is equipment that is capable of, set up, configured, and / or operative to communicate, directly or indirectly, with wireless devices and / or other network nodes or equipment in the cellular communications network to enable and / or provide wireless access to wireless devices and / or to perform other functions (e.g., administration) in the cellular communications network. ● Node: As used herein, the term "node" (without a prefix) may be any type of node in or with a wireless network (including a RAN and / or core network), including a radio access node (or equivalent term), a core network node, or a wireless device. However, the term "node" may be limited to a particular type (e.g., radio access node, IAB node) based on the particular characteristics of the node in a given context.

[0039] The above definitions are not intended to be exclusive. In other words, various of the above terms may be explained and / or explained elsewhere in this disclosure using the same or similar terminology. Nevertheless, to the extent such other explanations and / or explanations contradict the above definitions, the above definitions shall control.

[0040] It should be noted that the description provided herein focuses on 3GPP cellular communication systems, and therefore 3GPP terminology or terminology similar to 3GPP terminology is generally used, however, the concepts disclosed herein are not limited to 3GPP systems and may be applied in any system that can benefit from the concepts, principles, and / or embodiments described herein.

[0041] Figure 2 shows an example configuration of the NR user plane (UP) and control plane (CP) protocol stack between the UE (210), gNB (220), and AMF (230). The physical (PHY) layer, medium access control (MAC) layer, radio link control (RLC) layer, and packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer between the UE and gNB are common to the UP and CP. The PDCP layer provides encryption / decryption, integrity protection, sequence numbering, reordering, and duplicate detection for both the CP and UP. Additionally, PDCP provides header compression and retransmission for UP data.

[0042] On the UP side, Internet Protocol (IP) packets arrive at the PDCP layer as service data units (SDUs), which then create protocol data units (PDUs) for delivery to the RLC. The Service Data Adaptation Protocol (SDAP) layer handles Quality of Service (QoS), including mapping between QoS flows and data radio bearers (DRBs) and marking QoS flow identifiers (QFIs) in UL and DL packets. The RLC forwards PDCP PDUs to the MAC through logical channels (LCHs). The RLC provides error detection / correction, concatenation, segmentation / reassembly, sequence numbering, and reordering of data forwarded to and from upper layers. The MAC provides mapping between LCHs and PHY transport channels, LCH prioritization, multiplexing to and demultiplexing from transport blocks (TBs), hybrid ARQ (HARQ) error correction, and dynamic scheduling (on the gNB side). The PHY provides transport channel services to the MAC and handles transmissions over the NR air interface, e.g., via modulation, coding, antenna mapping, and beamforming.

[0043] On the CP side, the Non-Access Stratum (NAS) layer resides between the UE and the AMF and handles UE / gNB authentication, mobility management, and security control. The RRC is below the NAS in the UE but terminates in the gNB rather than the AMF. The RRC controls communication between the UE and the gNB over the air interface and UE mobility between cells in the NG-RAN. The RRC also broadcasts system information (SI) and performs the establishment, configuration, maintenance, and release of DRBs and signaling radio bearers (SRBs) used by the UE. Furthermore, the RRC controls the addition, modification, and release of carrier aggregation (CA) and dual connectivity (DC) configurations for the UE and performs various security functions, such as key management.

[0044] After a UE is powered on, the UE will be in the RRC_IDLE state until an RRC connection with the network is established, at which time the UE will transition to the RRC_CONNECTED state (e.g., where data transfer can occur). To move from the RRC_IDLE state to the RRC_CONNECTED state, the UE must perform a random access (RA) procedure, where the cell serving the UE is known and an RRC context is established for the UE at the serving gNB so that the UE and the gNB can communicate. As part of (or along with) the RA procedure, the UE also sends an RRCSetupRequest message to the serving gNB.

[0045] Figure 3 shows a logical architecture for a gNB configured in a split CU / DU architecture, such as gNB 100 in Figure 1. This logical architecture separates the CU into CP and UP functions, referred to as CU-C and CU-U, respectively. Furthermore, each of the NG, Xn, and F1 interfaces is split into a CP interface (e.g., NG-C) and a UP interface (e.g., NG-U). Note that the terms "central entity" and "distributed entity" in Figure 3 refer to physical network nodes.

[0046] Figure 4 shows another example gNB logical architecture including two gNB-DUs, a gNB-CU-CP, and multiple gNB-CU-UPs. The gNB-CU-CP may be connected to the gNB-DU through an F1-C interface, and the gNB-CU-UP may be connected to the gNB-DU through an F1-U interface and to the gNB-CU-CP through an E1 interface. Each gNB-DU may be connected to only one gNB-CU-CP, and each gNB-CU-UP may be connected to only one gNB-CU-CP. One gNB-DU may be connected to multiple gNB-CU-UPs under the control of the same gNB-CU-CP. Also, one gNB-CU-UP may be connected to multiple DUs under the control of the same gNB-CU-CP. When referring to an operation performed by a "CU" herein, it should be understood that the operation may be performed by any entity within the CU (e.g., CU-CP, gNB-CU-CP) unless otherwise specified.

[0047] As briefly mentioned above, to support beam management, a UE may be configured with a channel state information (CSI) measurement configuration that instructs the UE to monitor CSI-RS and send various CSI reports to the NG-RAN. For example, the NG-RAN indicates an explicit list of CSI resources to be monitored by the UE for each type of CSI report the UE is configured to send. In a split gNB architecture, the UE is configured by the DU that serves the UE's serving cell and sends CSI reports to that DU. Similar techniques can be used for beam management based on SSBs transmitted by the DU in the serving cell.

[0048] Figure 5 shows an example ASN.1 data structure for the RRC CSI-MeasConfig information element (IE) used to configure RS resources for the UE to monitor / measure for CSI reporting. This IE is configured in the ServingCellConfig IE for each UE serving cell, which associates the serving cell with the corresponding CSI report. For each type of CSI report the UE needs to transmit, the network indicates an explicit list of CSI resources to monitor in the nzp-CSI-RS-ResourceSetList field shown in Figure 5. The network can provide a list of up to maxNrofNZP-CSI-RS-ResourceSetsPerConfig CSI resource sets for each of the UE's serving cells, including the UE's PCell / SpCell and any configured SCells. Table 1 below further defines some fields included in the data structure shown in Figure 5. TIFF2025529748000002.tif108170

[0049] The RS resources configured for UE monitoring in this manner may also be related to CSI reporting configuration. Figure 6 shows an example ASN.1 data structure for the RRC CSI-ReportConfig IE used to configure the UE for CSI reporting. The UE CSI reporting configured in this manner can support RAN beam management operations such as beam switching, activating / deactivating beams for transmitting data and / or control channels to the UE.

[0050] In 5G NR terminology, a beam is sometimes referred to as a transmission configuration indication (TCI) state. Each TCI state includes parameters that specify a quasi-co-location (QCL) relationship between one or more source DL reference signals (RSs, e.g., SSBs) and one or more other DL RSs, such as DM-RS ports of a physical DL shared channel (PDSCH) or physical DL control channel (PDCCH), or channel state information RS (CSI-RS) ports of a DL CSI-RS resource. Generally, different DL RSs can have a QCL relationship when their respective antenna ports in a base station transmitter satisfy the condition that the properties of the channel over which symbols on one antenna port are conveyed can be inferred from the channel over which symbols on the other antenna port are conveyed.

[0051] The CSI-ReportConfig IE in Figure 6 can configure periodic or semi-persistent CSI reporting to be sent on a PUCCH in the cell in which the CSI-ReportConfig IE is included, or can configure semi-persistent or aperiodic CSI reporting to be sent on a PUSCH triggered by downlink control information (DCI) received in the cell in which the CSI-ReportConfig IE is included (i.e., the cell to which the report is sent is determined by the received DCI). In particular, the field reportConfigType in Figure 6 indicates the UL channel on which the report and the time-domain reporting behavior should be transmitted (i.e., whether the report is periodic, aperiodic, or semi-persistent, as well as related parameters such as periodicity).

[0052] 3GPP Rel-17 includes an inter-cell beam management feature that allows a UE to have multiple active TCI states (or beams), including one associated with the Physical Cell Identity (PCI) of its serving cell and up to M other TCI states associated with the PCIs of other cells. For example, different PCIs can represent different transmit reception points (TRPs). For each of the N additional TCI states, the UE can be configured with an RS resource (or resource set) to monitor for inter-PCI (or inter-cell) beam management.

[0053] 7 shows an example ASN.1 data structure for the RRC CSI-SSB-ResourceSet IE used to configure a UE for multi-PCI CSI monitoring. The field servingAdditionalPCIList indicates the PCI of the SSB in the csi-SSB-ResourceList. If present, the list has the same number of entries as the csi-SSB-ResourceList. The first entry in the list indicates the PCI value for the first entry in the csi-SSB-ResourceList, the second entry in the list indicates the PCI value for the second entry in the csi-SSB-ResourceList, etc. If the value of a list entry is 0, the PCI is the PCI of the serving cell for which this CSI-SSB-ResourceSet is defined. Otherwise, the value is the additionalPCIIndex-r17 of the SSB-MTC-AdditionalPCI-r17 subfield in the additionalPCIList-r17 field of the ServingCellConfig IE (described above), and the PCI is the content of the additionalPCI-r17 field in this SSB-MTC-AdditionalPCI-r17 subfield.

[0054] Generally, the time-domain CSI reporting behavior for Rel-17 multi-TRP remains the same as in previous releases, i.e., CSI reporting can be periodic, aperiodic, or semi-persistent.

[0055] As specified in 3GPP document RP-213565, NR Rel-18 includes work items on NR mobility enhancements, including in the technical area of ​​L1 / L2-based inter-cell mobility. When a UE moves between the coverage areas of two cells, at some point a serving cell change needs to be performed. Currently, a serving cell change is triggered by Layer 3 (L3, e.g., RRC) measurements and involves RRC signaling to change the PCell and PSCell (e.g., when dual connectivity is configured) and to release / add an SCell (e.g., when CA is configured).

[0056] Currently, all inter-cell mobility involves a full Layer 2 (L2) and Layer 1 (L1, i.e., PHY) reset, which leads to longer latency, increased signaling overhead, and longer interruptions than for intra-cell beam switching. Therefore, a high-level goal of the Rel-18 L1 / L2 mobility enhancements is to facilitate serving cell change via L1 / L2 signaling to address these issues and / or difficulties. Some more specific goals are: Configuration and maintenance for multiple candidate cells to allow fast application of configuration for candidate cells; ● Dynamic switching mechanisms between candidate serving cells (including SpCells and SCells) for potential applicable scenarios based on L1 / L2 signaling; and L1 extensions for inter-cell beam management, including L1 measurement and reporting and beam direction; ● Timing advance management and ● CU-DU interface signaling and support for L1 / L2 mobility, if required. Includes.

[0057] These Rel-18 L1 / L2 mobility enhancements also need to consider the split CU / DU architecture shown in FIGS. 1 and 3 to 4, including those for in-DU cell change and inter-DU / intra-CU cell change. In the inter-DU / intra-CU scenario, candidate cells for L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility are cells served by neighboring DUs for the (serving or source) DU currently providing the UE's PCell (or PSCell in the case of SCG change in DC).

[0058] As briefly described above, in Rel-17, for beam management of serving cells (e.g., the PCell and SCell of a master cell group), up to N = 7 additional PCI in which CSI resources to be monitored can be configured for the UE in addition to the PCI associated with the serving cell. The value N corresponds to the maxNrofAdditionalPCI parameter in FIG. 7. However, due to complexity constraints, the UE may only be able to monitor CSI resources in a subset M < N of other PCI. In fact, in Rel-17, the UE may only be required to monitor CSI resources at M = 1 of other PCI at a given time.

[0059] Since the UE monitors only a subset M of N additional PCI at a given time, the RAN may need to frequently reconfigure the set of CSI resources to be monitored. This problem may become even worse in Rel-18, where more than N additional beams or cells may need to be configured for the UE for L1-L2 inter-cell mobility and / or inter-cell beam management. In such a case, the RAN needs to perform multiple RRC reconfigurations to configure N (N > M) additional beams or cells for the UE, which increases the RRC signaling overhead and processing requirements.

[0060] Furthermore, although N candidate cells are configured for the UE, it is not clear which subset M < N of them the UE should measure when it is only possible to measure a subset M < N at a given time. In other words, which M < 7 of the N = 7 configured additional PCIs the UE measures and reports to the RAN for L1-L2 inter-cell mobility and / or inter-cell beam management depends entirely on the UE implementation.

[0061] It is expected that this requirement will significantly increase UE energy consumption even when Rel-18 requires the UE to concurrently measure multiple beams (e.g., SSBs) from multiple L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cells to support L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility. Moreover, these measurements can often be unnecessary, such as when the beam of the serving cell used to transmit control and data channels is in an extremely good radio condition, i.e., when the QCL source RS (e.g., SSB) of the activated TCI state is in an extremely good radio condition.

[0062] Furthermore, generally, CSI measurements can be more costly from the UE's perspective than RRM measurements. This can be due to factors such as an increase in the number of samples, more stringent accuracy requirements, and the need to measure finer beams. Therefore, the number of cells for which the UE can perform concurrent CSI measurements can be smaller than the number of cells for which the UE can perform concurrent RRM measurements.

[0063] Embodiments of the present disclosure address these and other issues, difficulties, and / or problems by providing flexible and efficient techniques for a UE configured with one or more L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cells to limit the number of lower layer measurements (e.g., CSI measurements, L1 RSRP, SS-RSRP, etc.) for those L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cells. Various embodiments include different events, triggers, and / or conditions for initiating lower layer measurements for one or more L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cells, but the UE refrains from initiating such measurements while the relevant event, trigger, and / or condition is not fulfilled.

[0064] Embodiments may be summarized as follows: Some embodiments include a method for a UE configured to communicate with a RAN node via a serving cell. The UE may receive a message (e.g., an RRC message) from the RAN node including a configuration for lower layer (e.g., beam) measurements. The configuration includes one or more events, triggers, and / or thresholds (collectively referred to as "conditions") for initiating lower layer measurements for one or more first candidate cells (e.g., for L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility). The one or more conditions may be based on results of measurements performed by the UE for the serving cell and / or a second candidate cell. When the UE detects that the one or more conditions are fulfilled, the UE initiates lower layer measurements for the one or more first candidate cells and reports results of these lower layer measurements to the RAN node (e.g., in a measurement report based on a reporting configuration previously received from the RAN node).

[0065] Other embodiments include a method for a RAN node configured to provide a serving cell to one or more UEs. The RAN node transmits to the UE a message (e.g., an RRC message) including a configuration for lower layer (e.g., beam) measurements by the UE. The configuration includes one or more events, triggers, and / or thresholds (collectively referred to as "conditions") for initiating lower layer measurements on one or more first candidate cells (e.g., for L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility). The one or more conditions may be based on results of measurements performed by the UE on the serving cell and / or a second candidate cell. Thereafter, the RAN node can receive from the UE the results of lower layer measurements performed by the UE on one or more first candidate cells based on fulfillment of the one or more conditions. For example, the lower layer measurement results may be received in a measurement report based on reporting configurations previously sent to the UE.

[0066] Embodiments can provide various benefits and / or advantages. For example, compared to conventional techniques where the UE autonomously selects a subset M < N of the configured candidate cells for measurement and reporting, embodiments enable the UE to systematically select a subset of candidate cells that are optimal and / or preferable at a given time. In this way, the lower layer measurements reported by the UE are better and / or more relevant for beam management and / or L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility while avoiding excessive UE energy consumption due to unnecessary measurements. At a high level, embodiments can improve UE mobility in the RAN.

[0067] In this disclosure, the following terms (as used in 3GPP work items) may be used interchangeably: "L1 / L2-based inter-cell mobility," "L1 / L2 mobility," "L1 mobility," "L1-based mobility," "L1 / L2-centric inter-cell mobility," "L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility," "inter-cell beam management," and "inter-DU L1 / L2-based inter-cell mobility." These terms refer to a scenario in which a UE receives lower layer (i.e., under L3 / RRC, such as MAC or PHY) signaling from the network instructing the UE to change its serving cell (e.g., PCell) from a source cell to a target cell. Example lower layer signaling includes L1 DL control information (DCI) and an L2 MAC control element (CE). Compared to traditional RRC signaling, lower layer signaling may reduce processing and interruption times during mobility and may also increase mobility robustness as the network can respond more quickly to changes in the UE's channel conditions.

[0068] Another relevant aspect in L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility is that a cell may be associated with multiple SSBs (or beams), with different SSBs transmitted in different spatial directions during a half frame, thereby spanning the coverage area of ​​the cell. A cell may also be associated with multiple CSI-RS resources, which may be transmitted in different spatial directions. Thus, L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility involves the reception of lower layer signaling instructing the UE to change from one beam in its serving cell to another beam in a (candidate) neighboring cell, which also involves changing the serving cell.

[0069] In this disclosure, the term "L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell" refers to a non-serving cell configured for a UE that the UE may perform an L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility operation thereto upon receiving lower layer signaling instructing the UE to do so. The terms "candidate cell," "candidate," "mobility candidate," "non-serving cell," and "additional cell" may be used interchangeably with "L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell," etc.

[0070] Thus, when configured, the UE performs lower layer measurements (e.g., CSI measurements) in candidate cells and reports the results, at which time the RAN may make mobility decisions, such as selecting a beam (e.g., TCI state) and / or cell to switch the UE from its current serving cell / beam. A candidate cell may be a candidate for a primary cell (PCell) of a cell group or for a secondary cell (SCell) of a cell group, including a master cell group (MCG) or a secondary cell group (SCG). Thus, the configured RS resources for UE measurements and reporting may be for a candidate PCell or SCell of an MCG, or for a candidate PSCell or SCell of an SCG.

[0071] In this disclosure, the term "CSI resource configuration" refers to a configuration of, about, and / or associated with one or more RS resources to be measured by a UE for CSI reporting, particularly resources of an L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell. A "resource" may be one or more SSBs, one or more CSI-RSs, etc. A configured resource may be associated with a particular candidate cell by any suitable identifier, identification, index, etc. included in the CSI resource configuration.

[0072] In this disclosure, the term "reference signal" (abbreviated as "RS") includes any signal with known content or pattern that can be measured by a UE, including, but not limited to, CSI-RS, DM-RS, synchronization signals (SS, e.g., SSB), etc.

[0073] In this disclosure, the term "lower layer measurement" refers to a measurement performed at a lower layer (i.e., below L3 / RRC, such as MAC or PHY) of the UE protocol stack on an RS transmitted by a cell ("RS resource"). For example, if the measured RS is an SSB, the lower layer measurement may be one or more of: SSB reference signal received power (SS-RSRP), SSB reference signal received quality (SS-RSRQ), SSB signal-to-noise-and-interference ratio (SS-SINR), L1-RSRP, L1-RSRQ, and L1-SINR. Similarly, if the measured RS is a CSI-RS, the lower layer measurement may be one or more of: CSI reference signal received power (CSI-RSRP), CSI reference signal received quality (CSI-RSRQ), CSI signal-to-noise-and-interference ratio (CSI-SINR), L1-RSRP, L1-RSRQ, and L1-SINR. Other example lower layer measurements based on RS include a channel quality indicator (CQI), a precoding matrix indicator (PMI), a CSI-RS resource indicator (CRI), an SSB resource indicator (SSBRI), a layer indicator (LI), and a rank indicator (RI).

[0074] The RS used for lower layer measurements may be transmitted in a certain spatial direction (e.g., a beam) using beamforming techniques. Because the lower layer measurements are performed on the beam, the lower layer measurements may be referred to as "beam measurements." In that sense, the lower layer measurements may indicate, for example, the quality of a beam that may serve the UE before or after L1 / L2 mobility. In general, the lower layer measurements may be reported to the RAN in any suitable form (e.g., in a CSI report) that assists the RAN in making decisions regarding L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility or beam management for the UE, such as determining whether the UE needs to be switched to the beam (or TCI state) of a candidate cell in an L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility procedure.

[0075] In this context, lower layer measurements differ from RRM measurements reported in an RRC Measurement Report message, as specified in 3GPP TS38.331. For example, RRM measurements are configured by the RRC measurement configuration (MeasConfig IE in the RRCReconfiguration message), L3 filtered, used as input to trigger RRC measurement reporting, and, once reported, are typically used by the network (e.g., CU) to determine whether the UE needs to be handed over to another cell via an L3 (RRC) procedure called Reconfiguration with Synchronization. Thus, the term "L3 measurements" may be used interchangeably with "RRM measurements" herein. L3 measurements may be performed on the serving cell (e.g., PCell, PSCell, SCell) and / or candidate cells, including candidate cells for L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility.

[0076] Some embodiments include a method for a UE configured to communicate with a RAN node via a serving cell. The UE can receive a message (e.g., an RRC message) from the RAN node that includes a configuration for lower layer (e.g., beam) measurements. The configuration includes (e.g., by specifying) one or more events, triggers, and / or conditions (collectively referred to as "conditions") that trigger lower layer measurements for one or more candidate cells (e.g., for L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility). The one or more conditions can be based on results of RRM or lower layer measurements performed for the serving cell and / or results of RRM measurements performed for the candidate cells. When the UE detects that the one or more conditions are fulfilled, the UE initiates lower layer measurements for the one or more candidate cells and reports results of these lower layer measurements to the RAN node (e.g., in a measurement report based on a reporting configuration previously received from the RAN node).

[0077] In various embodiments, the one or more conditions are: ● Lower layer measurements performed on a serving cell (e.g., PCell, PSCell, SCell), such as L1-RSRP, on RSs (e.g., SSB and / or CSI-RS) configured as QCL sources in the active TCI state of that serving cell, or on beams used to transmit data and / or control channels in that serving cell; ● L3 measurements performed on the serving cell, such as L3-RSRP for PCell based on SSB, L3-RSRP for PCell based on CSI-RS, etc. ● L3 measurements performed on L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cells, such as L3-RSRP of candidate cells based on SSB and L3-RSRP of candidate cells based on CSI-RS. The present invention may be based on or relate to one or more of:

[0078] In various embodiments, the set conditions may be applicable to individual candidate cells (i.e., one set of conditions per candidate cell), to all candidate cells, or to a particular frequency (e.g., SSB frequency) for all candidate cells (i.e., one set of conditions per frequency).

[0079] In some embodiments, the set conditions may be applicable to a single type of RS (e.g., SSB or CSI-RS) or to all types of RS (e.g., SSB and CSI-RS). In the former case, different conditions may be set for each type of RS (e.g., a first set for SSB, a second set for CSI-RS, etc.).

[0080] In some embodiments, the configuration that specifies the one or more conditions may be a CSI measurement configuration (e.g., a CSI-MeasConfig IE) or an RRC measurement configuration (e.g., a MeasConfig IE). Alternatively, some of the conditions may be specified by a configuration stored in a UE memory. For example, one part of the configuration may be included in the message and another part of the configuration may be retrieved from the UE memory. In some embodiments, the message that includes the configuration (or part thereof) may be an RRCReconfiguration message.

[0081] Some embodiments are described below on the basis of exemplary conditions.

[0082] In some embodiments, the UE initiates lower layer measurements to L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cells when lower layer measurements performed to the serving cell are below a first threshold.

[0083] For example, the UE initiates lower layer measurements for a candidate cell when the SS-RSRP of an SSB used as a QCL source in an activated TCI state of the serving cell (e.g., PCell) is below a first threshold. As a more specific example, if the SSB used as a QCL source in the serving cell is on a first frequency (e.g., ARFCN), the UE may initiate lower layer measurements for the candidate cell on the first frequency. Alternatively, the UE may initiate lower layer measurements for the candidate cell on a second frequency different from the first frequency.

[0084] As another example, the UE performs lower layer measurements on all configured serving cells of a cell group (e.g., PCell and SCell of the MCG, PSCell and SCell of the SCG), but the condition for triggering lower layer measurements on an L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell is that the lower layer measurements for the PCell are below a first threshold. In either case, when the condition is triggered, the UE initiates lower layer measurements on the candidate cell on the same frequency as all cells in the cell group (e.g., the frequency of the PCell and SCell of the MCG).

[0085] In some embodiments, the UE initiates lower layer measurements for the L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell when the RRM measurements performed for the serving cell are below a second threshold. As an example, the second threshold may correspond to the s-Measure threshold conventionally used for measurements configured on the MCG. In these embodiments, the s-Measure threshold is also used as a condition for initiating lower layer measurements for the L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell.

[0086] As a more specific example, when the UE's RRM measurements (e.g., RSRP) of the serving PCell are below a second threshold, the UE initiates RRM measurements for neighbor cells on frequencies identified in the RRC measurement configuration and initiates lower layer measurements for one or more configured L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cells. In contrast, the UE does not initiate RRM measurements for neighbor cells or lower layer measurements for L1 / L2 mobility candidate cells when the PCell RSRP is above s-Measure.

[0087] As another specific example, when the UE's RRM measurements (e.g., RSRP) of the serving cell on frequency Fx fall below a second threshold, the UE initiates lower layer measurements to one or more configured L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cells on the same frequency Fx.

[0088] In some embodiments, the UE initiates lower layer measurements for the L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell when the RRM measurements performed for the L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell exceed a third threshold. In some variations, the candidate cell for which the lower layer measurements are initiated is the same candidate cell for which the RRM measurements exceeded the third threshold.

[0089] In one example, the UE performs RRM measurements (e.g., L3-RSRP) on L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cells. If the measured L3-RSRP exceeds a third threshold, the UE initiates lower layer measurements on the L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cells. In a variant, the second threshold described above may be used to initiate UE RRM measurements on the configured L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cells. In contrast, the third threshold is used to initiate lower layer measurements on the L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cells (which are more costly in processing and energy consumption than RRM measurements). In other words, the UE only performs lower layer measurements on L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cells with sufficiently good cell quality, and thus the RAN is only notified of beams of candidate cells that are sufficient for L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility.

[0090] In another embodiment, the UE initiates lower layer measurements on an L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell when the RRM measurements performed on the L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell are at least offset larger than the RRM measurements of the UE's serving cell (e.g., PCell, PSCell, or SCell). This may be considered an RRM "A3 event."

[0091] For example, the UE performs RRM measurements (e.g., RSRP based on SSB) on the L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell and the serving cell. If the RSRP value of the candidate cell is at least an offset greater than the RSRP value for the serving cell, the UE performs and reports lower layer measurements on the L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell. Conventionally, L3-based mobility (e.g., handover) is triggered in the RAN based on UE measurements related to an A3-type event. By initiating the performance and reporting of lower layer measurements based on an A3-type event, the UE will cause the RAN to trigger L1 / L2 mobility instead of L3 mobility.

[0092] In some embodiments, the UE initiates lower layer measurements to L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cells when the RRM measurements performed to the serving cell are below a fourth threshold.

[0093] In some embodiments, when the UE is configured with an s-Measure threshold in the RRC MeasConfig IE, the UE performs lower layer measurements on neighbor cells configured as L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidates even if the PCell L3-RSRP is above the s-Measure threshold.

[0094] In some embodiments, the UE stops or pauses ongoing lower layer measurements to L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cells when the RRM measurements performed on the serving cell exceed a fifth threshold.

[0095] In some embodiments, the UE stops or pauses ongoing lower layer measurements for an L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell when the RRM measurements performed for that candidate cell fall below a sixth threshold. In some variations, the UE may thus stop or pause lower layer measurements on that candidate cell and initiate lower layer measurements for another candidate cell.

[0096] In some embodiments, the UE initiates lower layer measurements (e.g., beam measurements) for L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cells when one or more of the highest (or most favorable) lower layer measurements (e.g., beam measurements) in the serving cell are below a seventh threshold. As an example, this may be done when the L1-RSRP measurement of the strongest beam is less than the seventh threshold. As another example, this may be done when the L1-RSRP measurements for K>1 strongest beams are less than the seventh threshold.

[0097] In some embodiments, the UE stops or suspends ongoing lower layer measurements for a candidate cell when one or more of the highest (or most favorable) lower layer measurements (e.g., beam measurements) in the L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell exceed an eighth threshold. As an example, this can be done when the L1-RSRP measurement of the strongest beam is greater than the eighth threshold. As another example, this can be done when the L1-RSRP measurements for K>1 of the strongest beams are greater than the eighth threshold.

[0098] In some embodiments, the UE stops or suspends ongoing lower layer measurements for a candidate cell when one or more of the highest (or most favorable) lower layer measurements (e.g., beam measurements) in the L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility candidate cell are below a ninth threshold. As an example, this can be done when the L1-RSRP measurement of the strongest beam is less than the ninth threshold. As another example, this can be done when the L1-RSRP measurements for K>1 of the strongest beams are less than the ninth threshold.

[0099] In some embodiments, when the conditions are met to start measurements in P>1 candidate cells, the UE starts measurements in a subset M<P of those candidate cells. The quantity M can be based on UE capabilities and UE performance requirements. The UE can select the subset M<P based on the respective L3 measurement results for the P candidate cells.

[0100] In some embodiments, the UE reports the results of lower layer measurements in a (one or more) candidate cell in a lower layer measurement report, such as a beam measurement report, to the RAN node. The lower layer measurement report can be sent via a lower layer (e.g., PHY) procedure on a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) or a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) in the serving cell. The lower layer measurement report can include a single measurement report in a single message or multiple measurement reports in corresponding multiple messages.

[0101] Another embodiment includes a method for a RAN node configured to provide a serving cell for one or more UEs. The RAN node sends a message (e.g., an RRC message) to the UE including a configuration for lower layer (e.g., beam) measurements by the UE. The configuration includes one or more conditions for triggering lower layer measurements for one or more candidate cells (e.g., for L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility). The one or more conditions may be based on results of RRM or lower layer measurements performed by the UE on the serving cell and / or results of RRM measurements performed by the UE on the candidate cells, including any of the conditions described above with respect to the UE embodiment.

[0102] The RAN node may then receive from the UE results of lower layer measurements performed by the UE on one or more candidate cells based on fulfillment of one or more conditions. For example, the lower layer measurement results may be received in a lower layer measurement report based on a reporting configuration previously provided to the UE. Based on the lower layer measurement report, the RAN node may determine to initiate an L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility procedure for the UE toward one of the candidate cells and send a lower layer message to the UE instructing the UE to perform an L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility procedure for the UE toward the selected candidate cell.

[0103] The above-described embodiments may be further illustrated by reference to FIGS. 8-9, which illustrate example methods (e.g., procedures) for a UE and a RAN node, respectively. In other words, various features of the operations described below correspond to the various embodiments described above. The example methods illustrated in FIGS. 8-9 may be used cooperatively to provide benefits, advantages, and / or solutions to problems described herein. Although FIGS. 8-9 illustrate the example methods with particular blocks in a particular order, the operations corresponding to the blocks may be performed in a different order than shown, and may be combined and / or divided into blocks and / or operations having different functionality than shown. Optional blocks or operations are indicated by dashed lines.

[0104] 8 illustrates an example method (e.g., procedure) for a UE configured to communicate with a RAN node via a serving cell, in accordance with various embodiments of the present disclosure. The example method illustrated in FIG. 8 may be performed by a UE (e.g., a wireless device) as described elsewhere herein.

[0105] The example method may include the operation of block 810, in which the UE may obtain a configuration that defines one or more conditions that trigger lower layer measurements for one or more candidate cells for L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility. The example method may also include the operation of block 820, in which the UE may perform one or more of the following measurements: lower layer measurements for the serving cell, first Layer 3 (L3) measurements for the serving cell, and second L3 measurements for at least one of the candidate cells. The example method may also include the operations of blocks 830-840, in which the UE may initiate lower layer measurements for at least one candidate cell associated with the at least one condition that has been satisfied based on detecting that the performed measurements satisfy at least one of the conditions. The example method may also include the operation of block 870, in which the UE may send, to the RAN node, a lower layer measurement report that includes results of the lower layer measurements performed for the at least one candidate cell.

[0106] In some embodiments, detecting that the performed measurements satisfy at least one of the conditions in block 830 includes: ● the result of the lower layer measurement of the serving cell is below a first threshold; ● The result of the L3 measurement of the serving cell falls below a second threshold; ● The result of the L3 measurement of the candidate cell is below the third threshold; ● The L3 measurement result of the candidate cell is at least offset larger than the L3 measurement result of the serving cell; ● The result of the serving cell's L3 measurements is below a fourth threshold, and ● The highest of one or more of the serving cell's lower layer measurements is below the seventh threshold. The method includes detecting one or more of:

[0107] In some of these embodiments, the plurality of lower layer measurements of the serving cell are measurements of a plurality of beams associated with the serving cell, hi other of these embodiments, the offset is associated with a radio resource management (RRM) A3 event and / or the second threshold is an S-Measure RRM threshold.

[0108] In some embodiments, the exemplary method involves the UE making the following measurements: ● Lower layer measurements of at least one candidate cell; ● Lower layer measurements of the serving cell; ● The first L3 measurement of the serving cell, and a second L3 measurement of at least one of the candidate cells;

[0047] The method may also include operations of blocks 850-860, which may stop or pause lower layer measurements of at least one candidate cell based on detecting that at least one of the conditions satisfies a further one or more of the conditions.

[0109] In some of these embodiments, detecting that the at least one measurement satisfies a further one or more of the conditions in block 850 includes: ● The result of the serving cell's L3 measurement exceeds the fifth threshold; ● The result of the L3 measurement of at least one candidate cell is below the sixth threshold; ● The highest of one or more of the plurality of lower layer measurements of the serving cell exceeds an eighth threshold; and the highest one or more of the plurality of lower layer measurements of at least one candidate cell is below a ninth threshold; The method includes detecting either

[0110] In some variations, the multiple lower layer measurements of the at least one candidate cell (e.g., evaluated with respect to the ninth threshold) are measurements of multiple beams associated with the at least one candidate cell.

[0111] In some embodiments, the lower layer measurements of the serving cell and the lower layer measurements of the at least one candidate cell include one or more of: Synchronization Signal / PBCH (SSB) Reference Signal Received Power (SS-RSRP), SSB Reference Signal Received Quality (SS-RSRQ), SSB Signal-to-Noise-Interference Ratio (SS-SINR), Channel State Information (CSI) Reference Signal Received Power (CSI-RSRP), CSI Reference Signal Received Quality (CSI-RSRQ), CSI Signal-to-Noise-Interference Ratio (CSI-SINR), L1-RSRP, L1-RSRQ, and L1-SINR.

[0112] In some embodiments, one or more of the following applies: the L3 measurements of the serving cell and the L3 measurements of the at least one candidate cell are L3 Reference Signal Received Power (L3-RSRP) measurements; and the L3 measurements of the serving cell and the L3 measurements of the at least one candidate cell are related to an L3 inter-cell mobility procedure (e.g., handover).

[0113] In some embodiments, the one or more candidate cells for L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility include multiple candidate cells. In such embodiments, detecting that the performed measurements satisfy at least one of the conditions in block 830 includes the operation of sub-block 831, where the UE may determine that multiple candidate cells are associated with the satisfied at least one condition. Also, initiating lower layer measurements of the at least one candidate cell associated with the satisfied at least one condition in block 840 includes the operation of sub-block 841, where the UE may select a subset of the multiple candidate cells based on results of the second L3 measurement of each of the multiple candidate cells. In such cases, lower layer measurements are initiated for the selected subset.

[0114] In some embodiments, the lower layer measurement report is a beam measurement report and / or the lower layer measurement report is sent via a lower layer procedure on a PUCCH or PUSCH in the serving cell.

[0115] In some embodiments, retrieving the configuration in block 810 includes operations in sub-block 811, in which the UE may receive a message from a RAN node that includes the configuration or a portion of the configuration. In some of these embodiments, the message is an RRCReconfiguration message. In some embodiments, the configuration or a portion of the configuration is retrieved from a UE memory.

[0116] In some embodiments, the example method may also include the operation of block 880, in which the UE may receive a lower layer message from the RAN node instructing the UE to perform an L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility procedure to one of the candidate cells, the measurement results of which were included in the lower layer measurement report. Based on the lower layer message, the UE may perform the L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility procedure.

[0117] 9 illustrates an example method (e.g., procedure) for a RAN node configured to provide a serving cell to one or more UEs, in accordance with various embodiments of the present disclosure. The example method illustrated in FIG. 9 may be performed by a CU, as described elsewhere herein.

[0118] The example method may include the operation of block 910, in which the RAN node may send to the UE a configuration that specifies one or more conditions that trigger lower layer measurements on one or more candidate cells for L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility. The condition is based on one or more of lower layer measurements of the serving cell, a first Layer 3 (L3) measurement of the serving cell, and a second L3 measurement of at least one of the candidate cells. The example method may also include the operation of block 920, in which the RAN node may receive from the UE a lower layer measurement report that includes results of the lower layer measurements performed on the at least one candidate cell based on fulfillment of at least one of the conditions.

[0119] In some embodiments, the condition is: ● the result of the lower layer measurement of the serving cell is below a first threshold; ● The result of the L3 measurement of the serving cell falls below a second threshold; ● The result of the L3 measurement of the candidate cell is below the third threshold; ● The L3 measurement result of the candidate cell is at least offset larger than the L3 measurement result of the serving cell; ● The result of the serving cell's L3 measurements is below a fourth threshold, and ● The highest of one or more of the serving cell's lower layer measurements is below the seventh threshold. Contains one or more of:

[0120] In some of these embodiments, the plurality of lower layer measurements of the serving cell are measurements of a plurality of beams associated with the serving cell, hi other of these embodiments, the offset is associated with an RRM A3 event and / or the second threshold is an S-Measure RRM threshold.

[0121] In some of these embodiments, the condition relates to stopping or pausing lower layer measurements of at least one candidate cell, such as: ● The result of the serving cell's L3 measurement exceeds the fifth threshold; ● The result of the L3 measurement of at least one candidate cell is below the sixth threshold; ● The highest of one or more of the plurality of lower layer measurements of the serving cell exceeds an eighth threshold; and the highest one or more of the plurality of lower layer measurements of at least one candidate cell is below a ninth threshold; Contains one or more of:

[0122] In some variations, the multiple lower layer measurements of the at least one candidate cell (e.g., evaluated with respect to the ninth threshold) are measurements of multiple beams associated with the at least one candidate cell.

[0123] In some embodiments, the lower layer measurements of the serving cell and the lower layer measurements of the at least one candidate cell include one or more of SS-RSRP, SS-RSRQ, SS-SINR, CSI-RSRP, CSI-RSRQ, CSI-SINR, L1-RSRP, L1-RSRQ, and L1-SINR.

[0124] In some embodiments, one or more of the following applies: the L3 measurements of the serving cell and the L3 measurements of the at least one candidate cell are L3 Reference Signal Received Power (L3-RSRP) measurements; and the L3 measurements of the serving cell and the L3 measurements of the at least one candidate cell are related to an L3 inter-cell mobility procedure (e.g., handover).

[0125] In some embodiments, the lower layer measurement report is a beam measurement report and / or the lower layer measurement report is received via a lower layer procedure on a PUCCH or a PUSCH in the serving cell. In some embodiments, the message including the configuration is an RRCReconfiguration message.

[0126] In some embodiments, the example method may also include operations of blocks 930-940, in which the RAN node may select, based on the lower layer measurement report, one of the candidate cells (i.e., the one having the measurement results in the lower layer measurement report) for the L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility procedure for the UE, and send a lower layer message to the UE instructing the UE to perform the L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility procedure to the selected candidate cell.

[0127] While various embodiments are described above in terms of methods, techniques, and / or procedures, those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that such methods, techniques, and / or procedures may be embodied in various combinations of hardware and software in a variety of systems, communication devices, computing devices, control devices, apparatuses, non-transitory computer-readable media, computer program products, and the like.

[0128] 10 illustrates an example of a communications system 1000 according to some embodiments. In this example, the communications system 1000 includes a communications network 1002 including an access network 1004 (e.g., a RAN) and a core network 1006 including one or more core network nodes 1008. The access network 1004 includes one or more access network nodes, such as network nodes 1010a-b (one or more of which may be generically referred to as network node 1010), or any other similar 3GPP access node or non-3GPP access point. The network node 1010 facilitates direct or indirect connection of UEs 1012a-d (one or more of which may be generically referred to as UEs 1012) to the core network 1006 over one or more wireless connections.

[0129] Exemplary wireless communication over a wireless connection includes sending and / or receiving wireless signals using electromagnetic waves, radio waves, infrared waves, and / or other types of signals suitable for conveying information without the use of wires, cables, or other material conductors. Moreover, in different embodiments, communication system 1000 may include any number of wired or wireless networks, network nodes, UEs, and / or any other components or systems that may facilitate or participate in the communication of data and / or signals, whether via a wired or wireless connection. Communication system 1000 may include and / or interface with any type of communication, telecommunication, data, cellular, wireless network, and / or other similar type systems.

[0130] The UE 1012 may be any of a wide variety of communication devices, including a wireless device configured, configured, and / or operable to communicate wirelessly with the network node 1010 and other communication devices. Similarly, the network node 1010 is configured, capable of, configured, and / or operable to communicate, directly or indirectly, with the UE 1012 and / or with other network nodes or equipment in the communications network 1002 to enable and / or provide network access, such as wireless network access, and / or to perform other functions, such as administration, in the communications network 1002.

[0131] In the illustrated example, the core network 1006 connects the network node 1010 to one or more hosts, such as the host 1016. These connections may be direct or indirect via one or more intermediate networks or devices. In other examples, the network node may be directly coupled to the host. The core network 1006 includes one or more core network nodes (e.g., 1008) structured with hardware and software components. Features of these components may be substantially similar to those described with respect to the UEs, network nodes, and / or hosts, and therefore, those descriptions are generally applicable to the corresponding components of the core network node 1008. Exemplary core network nodes include one or more of a Mobile Switching Center (MSC), a Mobility Management Entity (MME), a Home Subscriber Server (HSS), an Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF), a Session Management Function (SMF), an Authentication Server Function (AUSF), a Subscription Identifier De-concealing Function (SIDF), a Unified Data Management (UDM), a Security Edge Protection Proxy (SEPP), a Network Publishing Function (NEF), and / or a User Plane Function (UPF).

[0132] The host 1016 may be owned or under the control of, and operated by or on behalf of, a service provider other than the operator or provider of the access network 1004 and / or the communication network 1002. The host 1016 may host various applications to provide one or more services. Examples of such applications include live and pre-recorded audio / video content, data collection services such as retrieving and compiling data about various ambient conditions detected by multiple UEs, analytics functions, social media, functions for controlling or possibly interacting with remote devices, functions for an alarm and surveillance center, or any other such function performed by a server.

[0133] 10 enables connectivity between UEs, network nodes, and hosts. In that sense, the communication system may be configured to operate according to predefined rules or procedures, such as a particular standard, including, but not limited to, Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), Long Term Evolution (LTE), and / or other suitable 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G standards, or any applicable future generation standard (e.g., 6G), a wireless local area network (WLAN) standard such as the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standard (WiFi), and / or any other suitable wireless communication standard, such as Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMax), Bluetooth, Z-Wave, Near Field Communications (NFC) ZigBee, LiFi, and / or any low power wide area network (LPWAN) standard such as LoRa and Sigfox.

[0134] In some examples, the communication network 1002 is a cellular network that implements 3GPP standardized features. Thus, the communication network 1002 may support network slicing to provide different logical networks to different devices connected to the communication network 1002. For example, the communication network 1002 may provide Ultra-Reliable Low Latency Communication (URLLC) services to some UEs, while providing enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) services to other UEs and / or providing Massive Machine-Based Communication (mMTC) / Massive IoT services to still further UEs.

[0135] In some examples, the UE 1012 is configured to transmit and / or receive information without direct human interaction. For example, the UE may be designed to transmit information to the access network 1004 on a predetermined schedule, when triggered by an internal or external event, or in response to a request from the access network 1004. Furthermore, the UE may be configured to operate in a single or multi-RAT or multi-standard mode. For example, the UE may operate in any one or a combination of Wi-Fi, NR (New Radio), and LTE, i.e., configured for Multi-Radio Dual Connectivity (MR-DC), such as E-UTRAN (Enhanced UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network) New Radio-Dual Connectivity (EN-DC).

[0136] In this example, the hub 1014 communicates with the access network 1004 to facilitate indirect communication between one or more UEs (e.g., 1012c and / or 1012d) and a network node (e.g., 1010b). In some examples, the hub 1014 may be a controller, a router, a content source, a content analyzer, or any of the other communication devices described herein with respect to UEs. For example, the hub 1014 may be a broadband router that enables access to the core network 1006 for the UE. As another example, the hub 1014 may be a controller that sends commands or instructions to one or more actuators in the UE. The commands or instructions may be received from the UE, the network node 1010, or may be due to executable code, scripts, processes, or other instructions in the hub 1014. As another example, the hub 1014 may be a data collector that acts as temporary storage for UE data and, in some embodiments, may perform analysis or other processing of the data. As another example, the hub 1014 may be a content source. For example, for a UE that is a VR headset, display, loudspeaker, or other media distribution device, the hub 1014 may retrieve, via a network node, VR assets, video, audio, or other media or data related to sensory information, which the hub 1014 then provides to the UE either directly, after performing local processing, and / or after adding additional local content. In yet another example, the hub 1014 acts as a proxy server or orchestrator for the UEs, particularly in the case where one or more of the UEs are low-energy IoT devices.

[0137] The hub 1014 may have a constant / permanent or intermittent connection to the network node 1010b. The hub 1014 may also enable different communication schemes and / or schedules between the hub 1014 and the UEs (e.g., 1012c and / or 1012d) and between the hub 1014 and the core network 1006. In other examples, the hub 1014 is connected to the core network 1006 and / or one or more UEs via a wired connection. Additionally, the hub 1014 may be configured to connect to an M2M service provider over the access network 1004 and / or to another UE over a direct connection. In some scenarios, a UE may establish a wireless connection with the network node 1010 while still connected via a wired or wireless connection through the hub 1014. In some embodiments, the hub 1014 may be a dedicated hub, i.e., a hub whose primary function is to route communications from / to the UE to / from the network node 1010b. In other embodiments, the hub 1014 may be a non-dedicated hub, i.e., a device that is capable of operating to route communications between the UE and the network node 1010b, but that is further capable of operating as a communication initiation and / or termination point for some data channels.

[0138] 11 illustrates a UE 1100, according to some embodiments. Examples of a UE include, but are not limited to, a smartphone, a mobile phone, a cell phone, a voice-over-IP (VoIP) phone, a wireless local loop phone, a desktop computer, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a wireless camera, a gaming console or device, a music storage device, a playback appliance, a wearable terminal device, a wireless endpoint, a mobile station, a tablet, a laptop computer, a laptop embedded equipment (LEE), a laptop mounted equipment (LME), a smart device, a wireless customer premises equipment (CPE), a vehicle-mounted or vehicle-embedded / integrated wireless device, etc. Other examples include any UE identified by 3GPP, including a narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT) UE, a machine-type communication (MTC) UE, and / or an enhanced MTC (eMTC) UE.

[0139] A UE may support device-to-device (D2D) communications, for example, by implementing 3GPP standards for sidelink communications, dedicated short-range communications (DSRC), vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I), or vehicle-to-everything (V2X). In other examples, a UE does not necessarily have a user in the sense of a human user who owns and / or operates an associated device. Instead, a UE may represent a device (e.g., a smart sprinkler controller) that is intended for sale to or operation by a human user, but may not be associated with or initially associated with a particular human user. Alternatively, a UE may represent a device (e.g., a smart power meter) that is not intended for sale to or operation by an end user, but may be associated with or operated for the user's benefit.

[0140] The UE 1100 includes a processing circuit 1102 operably coupled to an input / output interface 1106, a power source 1108, a memory 1110, a communication interface 1112, and / or any other components, or any combination thereof, via a bus 1104. Some UEs may utilize all or a subset of the components shown in FIG. 11. The level of integration between components may vary from UE to UE. Additionally, some UEs may include multiple instances of a component, such as multiple processors, memories, transceivers, transmitters, receivers, etc.

[0141] The processing circuit 1102 is configured to process instructions and data and may be configured to implement any sequential state machine operable to execute instructions stored in the memory 1110 as a machine-readable computer program. The processing circuit 1102 may be implemented as one or more hardware-implemented state machines (e.g., in discrete logic, a field programmable gate array (FPGA), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), etc.), programmable logic together with appropriate firmware, one or more stored computer programs such as a microprocessor or digital signal processor (DSP) together with appropriate software, a general-purpose processor, or any combination of the above. For example, the processing circuit 1102 may include multiple central processing units (CPUs).

[0142] In this example, the input / output interface 1106 may be configured to provide one or more interfaces to an input device, an output device, or one or more input and / or output devices. Examples of output devices include a speaker, a sound card, a video card, a display, a monitor, a printer, an actuator, an emitter, a smart card, another output device, or any combination thereof. An input device may allow a user to capture information into the UE 1100. Examples of input devices include a touch-sensitive or presence-sensitive display, a camera (e.g., a digital camera, a digital video camera, a webcam, etc.), a microphone, a sensor, a mouse, a trackball, a directional pad, a trackpad, a scroll wheel, a smart card, etc. A presence-sensitive display may include a capacitive or resistive touch sensor for detecting input from a user. The sensor may be, for example, an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a tilt sensor, a force sensor, a magnetometer, a light sensor, a proximity sensor, a biometric sensor, etc., or any combination thereof. An output device may use the same type of interface port as the input device. For example, a universal serial bus (USB) port may be used to provide an input device and an output device.

[0143] In some embodiments, the power source 1108 is structured as a battery or battery pack. Other types of power sources may be used, such as an external power source (e.g., an electrical outlet), a photovoltaic device, or a battery. The power source 1108 may further include power circuitry for delivering power to various portions of the UE 1100 from the power source 1108 itself and / or from an external power source via an input circuit or an interface such as a power cable. Delivering power may be for charging the power source 1108, for example. The power circuitry may perform any formatting, conversion, or other modification on the power from the power source 1108 to make it suitable for the respective components of the UE 1100 being powered.

[0144] The memory 1110 may be or be configured to include memory, such as random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), magnetic disk, optical disk, hard disk, removable cartridge, flash drive, etc. In one example, the memory 1110 includes one or more application programs 1114, such as an operating system, a web browser application, a widget, a gadget engine, or other applications, and corresponding data 1116. The memory 1110 may store any of a variety of different operating systems or combinations of operating systems for use by the UE 1100.

[0145] The memory 1110 may be configured to include several physical drive units, such as a redundant array of independent disks (RAID), flash memory, a USB flash drive, an external hard disk drive, a thumb drive, a pen drive, a key drive, a high-density digital versatile disc (HD-DVD) optical disc drive, an internal hard disk drive, a Blu-ray optical disc drive, a holographic digital data storage (HDDS) optical disc drive, an external mini dual in-line memory module (DIMM), a synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), an external micro-DIMM SDRAM, a smart card memory such as a tamper-resistant module in the form of a universal integrated circuit card (UICC) containing one or more subscriber identity modules (SIMs), such as a USIM and / or ISIM, other memory, or any combination thereof. The UICC may be, for example, an embedded UICC (eUICC), an integrated UICC (iUICC), or a removable UICC, commonly known as a "SIM card." The memory 1110 may enable the UE 1100 to access, offload, or upload data, instructions, application programs, etc. stored on a temporary or non-transitory memory medium. An article of manufacture, such as an article of manufacture utilizing the communication system, may be tangibly embodied as or in the memory 1110, which may be or comprise a device-readable storage medium.

[0146] The processing circuit 1102 may be configured to communicate with an access network or other networks using a communication interface 1112. The communication interface 1112 may comprise one or more communication subsystems and may include or be communicatively coupled to an antenna 1122. The communication interface 1112 may include one or more transceivers used to communicate, such as by communicating with one or more remote transceivers of another device capable of wireless communication (e.g., another UE or a network node in the access network). Each transceiver may include a transmitter 1118 and / or a receiver 1120 suitable for providing network communication (e.g., optical, electrical, frequency allocation, etc.). Moreover, the transmitter 1118 and receiver 1120 may be coupled to one or more antennas (e.g., 1122) and may share circuit components, software, or firmware, or may alternatively be implemented separately.

[0147] In the illustrated embodiment, the communication capabilities of communication interface 1112 may include cellular communication, Wi-Fi communication, LPWAN communication, data communication, voice communication, multimedia communication, short-range communication such as Bluetooth, near-field communication, location-based communication such as using a Global Positioning System (GPS) to determine location, another similar communication capability, or any combination thereof. Communications may be implemented in accordance with one or more communication protocols and / or standards, such as IEEE 802.11, Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), GSM, LTE, New Radio (NR), UMTS, WiMax, Ethernet, Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol (TCP / IP), Synchronous Optical Networking (SONET), Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), QUIC, Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), etc.

[0148] Regardless of the type of sensor, the UE may provide an output of data captured by the UE's sensors to a network node via a wireless connection through the communications interface 1112. Data captured by the UE's sensors may be communicated to a network node via another UE via a wireless connection. The output may be periodic (e.g., once every 15 minutes when reporting detected temperature), in response to a triggering event (e.g., an alert is sent when humidity is detected), in response to a request (e.g., a user-initiated request), random (e.g., to even out the load from reporting from several sensors), or a continuous stream (e.g., a live video feed of a patient).

[0149] As another example, the UE may include an actuator, motor, or switch associated with a communications interface configured to receive wireless input from a network node via a wireless connection. In response to the received wireless input, the state of the actuator, motor, or switch may change. For example, the UE may include a motor that adjusts a control surface or rotor of a drone in flight according to the received input, or a robotic arm that performs a medical procedure according to the received input.

[0150] When in the form of an Internet of Things (IoT) device, the UE may be a device for use in one or more application domains, including, but not limited to, urban wearable technology, augmented industrial applications, and healthcare. Non-limiting examples of such IoT devices are devices that are or are embedded in a connected refrigerator or freezer, a TV, a connected lighting device, an energy meter, a robotic vacuum cleaner, a voice-controlled smart speaker, a home security camera, a motion detector, a thermostat, a smoke detector, a door / window sensor, a water inundation / humidity sensor, an electric door lock, a connected doorbell, an air conditioning system such as a heat pump, an autonomous vehicle, a surveillance system, a weather monitoring device, a vehicle parking monitoring device, an electric vehicle charging station, a smart watch, a fitness tracker, a head-mounted display for augmented reality (AR) or virtual reality (VR), a wearable for haptic augmentation or sensory augmentation, a water sprinkler, an animal or product tracking device, a sensor for monitoring plants or animals, an industrial robot, an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), and any type of medical device such as a heart rate monitor or a remote-controlled surgical robot. A UE in the form of an IoT device comprises, in addition to the other components described with respect to UE 1100 shown in FIG. 11, circuitry and / or software depending on the intended application of the IoT device.

[0151] As yet another particular example, in an IoT scenario, a UE may represent a machine or other device that performs monitoring and / or measurements and transmits results of such monitoring and / or measurements to another UE and / or network node. The UE, in this case, may be an M2M device, which may be referred to as an MTC device in a 3GPP context. As one particular example, the UE may implement the 3GPP NB-IoT standard. In other scenarios, a UE may represent a vehicle, such as a car, bus, truck, ship, and airplane, or other equipment capable of monitoring and / or reporting on its operating status or other functions related to its operation.

[0152] In practice, any number of UEs may be used together for a particular use case. For example, a first UE may be a drone or be integrated in a drone and provide the drone's speed information (obtained through a speed sensor) to a second UE that is a remote controller that operates the drone. When a user makes changes from the remote controller, the first UE may adjust a throttle on the drone (e.g., by controlling an actuator) to increase or decrease the drone's speed. The first and / or second UE may also include two or more of the functions described above. For example, a UE may include a sensor and an actuator and handle communication of data for both the speed sensor and the actuator.

[0153] 12 illustrates a network node 1200 according to some embodiments. Examples of network nodes include, but are not limited to, access points (e.g., wireless access points) and base stations (e.g., wireless base stations, Node Bs, eNBs, and gNBs).

[0154] Base stations may be categorized based on the amount of coverage they provide (or, stated another way, their transmit power level) and may therefore be referred to as femto, pico, micro, or macro base stations depending on the amount of coverage provided. A base station may be a relay node or a relay donor node that controls a relay. A network node may also include one or more (or all) parts of a distributed radio base station, such as a centralized digital unit and / or a remote radio unit (RRU), sometimes referred to as a remote radio head (RRH). Such remote radio units may or may not be integrated with an antenna, as in an antenna-integrated radio. Portions of a distributed radio base station may also be referred to as nodes in a distributed antenna system (DAS).

[0155] Other examples of network nodes include multiple transmission point (multi-TRP) 5G access nodes, MSR equipment such as a multi-standard radio (MSR) BS, a network controller such as a radio network controller (RNC) or base station controller (BSC), a base transceiver station (BTS), a transmission point, a transmitting node, a multi-cell / multicast coordination entity (MCE), an operation and maintenance (O&M) node, an operation support system (OSS) node, a self-organizing network (SON) node, a positioning node (e.g., an evolved serving mobile location center (E-SMLC)), and / or a minimization of drive test (MDT).

[0156] The network node 1200 includes a processing circuit 1202, a memory 1204, a communication interface 1206, and a power source 1208. The network node 1200 may be assembled from multiple physically separate components (e.g., a Node B component and an RNC component, or a BTS component and a BSC component, etc.), each of which may have their own respective components. In some scenarios in which the network node 1200 comprises multiple separate components (e.g., a BTS component and a BSC component), one or more of the separate components may be shared among several network nodes. For example, a single RNC may control multiple Node Bs. In such scenarios, each unique Node B and RNC pair may, in some instances, be considered a single separate network node. In some embodiments, the network node 1200 may be configured to support multiple radio access technologies (RATs). In such embodiments, some components may be duplicated (e.g., separate memory 1204 for different RATs) and some components may be reused (e.g., the same antenna 1210 may be shared by different RATs). Network node 1200 may also include multiple sets of the various shown components for different wireless technologies, e.g., GSM, WCDMA, LTE, NR, WiFi, Zigbee, Z-wave, LoRaWAN, radio frequency identification (RFID), or Bluetooth wireless technologies, integrated into network node 1200. These wireless technologies may be integrated into the same or different chips or sets of chips and other components within network node 1200.

[0157] The processing circuit 1202 may comprise one or more combinations of a microprocessor, controller, microcontroller, central processing unit, digital signal processor, application specific integrated circuit, field programmable gate array, or any other suitable computing device, resource, or combination of hardware, software, and / or coded logic operable to provide the network node 1200 functionality, either alone or in conjunction with other network node 1200 components such as memory 1204.

[0158] In some embodiments, the processing circuit 1202 comprises a system on a chip (SOC). In some embodiments, the processing circuit 1202 includes one or more of a radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuit 1212 and a baseband processing circuit 1214. In some embodiments, the RF transceiver circuit 1212 and the baseband processing circuit 1214 may be on separate chips (or sets of chips), boards, or units, such as a radio unit and a digital unit. In alternative embodiments, some or all of the RF transceiver circuit 1212 and the baseband processing circuit 1214 may be on the same chip or set of chips, board, or unit.

[0159] The memory 1204 may comprise any form of volatile or non-volatile computer-readable memory, including, but not limited to, persistent storage, solid-state memory, remotely mounted memory, magnetic media, optical media, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), mass storage media (e.g., hard disk), removable storage media (e.g., flash drive, compact disc (CD) or digital video disc (DVD)), and / or any other volatile or non-volatile, non-transitory device-readable and / or computer-executable memory device that stores information, data, and / or instructions that may be used by the processing circuit 1202. The memory 1204 may store any suitable instructions, data, or information, including applications including one or more of computer programs, software, logic, rules, code, tables, and / or other instructions (collectively denoted computer program 1204a, which may be in the form of a computer program product) that can be executed by the processing circuit 1202 and utilized by the network node 1200. The memory 1204 may be used to store calculations performed by the processing circuit 1202 and / or data received via the communication interface 1206. In some embodiments, the processing circuit 1202 and the memory 1204 are integrated.

[0160] The communications interface 1206 is used in wired or wireless communication of signaling and / or data between network nodes, access networks, and / or UEs. As shown, the communications interface 1206 comprises port(s) / terminal(s) 1216 for sending and receiving data to and from a network, e.g., over a wired connection. The communications interface 1206 also includes radio front-end circuitry 1218, which is coupled to an antenna 1210 or, in some embodiments, may be part of the antenna 1210. The radio front-end circuitry 1218 comprises a filter 1220 and an amplifier 1222. The radio front-end circuitry 1218 may be connected to the antenna 1210 and the processing circuit 1202. The radio front-end circuitry may be configured to condition signals communicated between the antenna 1210 and the processing circuit 1202. The radio front-end circuitry 1218 may receive digital data to be sent to another network node or UE via a wireless connection. The radio front-end circuitry 1218 may convert the digital data into radio signals having appropriate channel and bandwidth parameters using a combination of filters 1220 and / or amplifiers 1222. The radio signals may then be transmitted via the antenna 1210. Similarly, when receiving data, the antenna 1210 may collect the radio signals, which are then converted into digital data by the radio front-end circuitry 1218. The digital data may be passed to the processing circuitry 1202. In other embodiments, the communication interface may comprise different components and / or different combinations of components.

[0161] In some alternative embodiments, network node 1200 does not include a separate radio front-end circuit 1218; instead, processing circuit 1202 includes the radio front-end circuitry and is connected to antenna 1210. Similarly, in some embodiments, all or a portion of RF transceiver circuitry 1212 is part of communications interface 1206. In still other embodiments, communications interface 1206 includes one or more ports or terminals 1216, radio front-end circuitry 1218, and RF transceiver circuitry 1212 as part of a radio unit (not shown), and communications interface 1206 communicates with baseband processing circuitry 1214 that is part of a digital unit (not shown).

[0162] The antenna 1210 may include one or more antennas or an antenna array configured to send and / or receive wireless signals. The antenna 1210 may be coupled to the radio front-end circuitry 1218 and may be any type of antenna capable of wirelessly transmitting and receiving data and / or signals. In some embodiments, the antenna 1210 is separate from the network node 1200 and connectable to the network node 1200 through an interface or port.

[0163] The antenna 1210, the communication interface 1206, and / or the processing circuit 1202 may be configured to perform any receiving operation and / or some obtaining operation described herein as being performed by a network node. Any information, data, and / or signal may be received from a UE, another network node, and / or any other network equipment. Similarly, the antenna 1210, the communication interface 1206, and / or the processing circuit 1202 may be configured to perform any transmitting operation described herein as being performed by a network node. Any information, data, and / or signal may be transmitted to a UE, another network node, and / or any other network equipment.

[0164] The power source 1208 provides power to the various components of the network node 1200 in a form suitable for each component (e.g., at the voltage and current levels required for each respective component). The power source 1208 may further comprise, or be coupled to, power management circuitry for supplying the components of the network node 1200 with power for performing the functions described herein. For example, the network node 1200 may be connectable to an external power source (e.g., a power grid, an electrical outlet) via an input circuit or interface such as an electrical cable, whereby the external power source supplies power to the power circuitry of the power source 1208. As a further example, the power source 1208 may comprise a power source in the form of a battery or battery pack connected to or integrated in the power circuitry. The battery may provide backup power in the event that the external power source fails.

[0165] Embodiments of network node 1200 may include additional components other than those shown in Figure 12 to provide certain aspects of the network node's functionality, including any of the functionality described herein and / or functionality necessary to support the subject matter described herein. For example, network node 1200 may include user interface devices to enable input of information into network node 1200 and output of information from network node 1200. This may enable a user to perform diagnostic, maintenance, repair, and other administrative functions for network node 1200.

[0166] 13 is a block diagram of a host 1300, which may be an embodiment of the host 1016 of FIG. 10, in accordance with various aspects described herein. As used herein, the host 1300 may be or comprise various combinations of hardware and / or software, including a standalone server, a blade server, a cloud-implemented server, a distributed server, a virtual machine, a container, or processing resources in a server farm. The host 1300 may provide one or more services to one or more UEs.

[0167] Host 1300 includes a processing circuit 1302 operably coupled to an input / output interface 1306, a network interface 1308, a power supply 1310, and a memory 1312 via a bus 1304. In other embodiments, other components may be included. Features of these components may be substantially similar to those described with respect to the devices of previous figures, such as FIGS. 11 and 12, and therefore, those descriptions are generally applicable to the corresponding components of host 1300.

[0168] Memory 1312 may include one or more computer programs, including one or more host application programs 1314 and data 1316, which may include user data, e.g., data generated by a UE for host 1300 or data generated by host 1300 for the UE. Embodiments of host 1300 may utilize only a subset or all of the shown components. Host application program 1314 may be implemented in a container-based architecture and may provide support for video codecs (e.g., Versatile Video Coding (VVC), High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC), Advanced Video Coding (AVC), MPEG, VP9) and audio codecs (e.g., FLAC, Advanced Audio Coding (AAC), MPEG, G.711), including transcoding for multiple different classes, types, or implementations of UE (e.g., handsets, desktop computers, wearable display systems, heads-up display systems). The host application program 1314 may also provide user authentication and license checks, and may periodically report health, route, and content availability to a central node, such as a device in the core network or a device on the edge of the core network. Thus, the host 1300 may select and / or direct different hosts for over-the-top services for the UE. The host application program 1314 may support various protocols, such as HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) protocol, Real-Time Messaging Protocol (RTMP), Real-Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP), Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP (MPEG-DASH), etc.

[0169] FIG. 14 is a block diagram illustrating a virtualization environment 1400 in which functionality implemented by some embodiments may be virtualized. In this context, virtualizing means creating a virtual version of an apparatus or device, which may include virtualizing a hardware platform, storage devices, and networking resources. Virtualization, as used herein, may apply to any device described herein, or components thereof, and relates to implementations in which at least a portion of functionality is implemented as one or more virtual components. Some or all of the functionality described herein may be implemented as virtual components executed by one or more virtual machines (VMs) implemented in one or more virtual environments 1400 hosted by one or more of the hardware nodes, such as a network node, a UE, a core network node, or a hardware computing device acting as a host. Furthermore, in embodiments in which the virtual node does not require wireless connectivity (e.g., to a core network node or host), the node may be fully virtualized.

[0170] An application 1402 (which may alternatively be referred to as a software instance, a virtual appliance, a network function, a virtual node, a virtual network function, etc.) is run in the virtualized environment 1400 to implement some of the features, functions, and / or benefits of some of the embodiments disclosed herein.

[0171] The hardware 1404 includes processing circuitry, memory that stores software and / or instructions (collectively denoted as computer program 1404a, which may be in the form of a computer program product) executable by the hardware processing circuitry, and / or other hardware devices described herein, such as network interfaces, input / output interfaces, etc. Software is executed by the processing circuitry to instantiate one or more virtualization layers 1406 (also referred to as hypervisors or virtual machine monitors (VMMs)), provide VMs 1408a-b (one or more of which may be generally referred to as VMs 1408), and / or implement any of the functions, features, and / or benefits described with respect to some embodiments described herein. The virtualization layer 1406 may present to the VMs 1408 a virtual operating platform that appears to be networking hardware.

[0172] The VMs 1408 may comprise virtual processing, virtual memory, virtual networking or interfaces, and virtual storage and may be run by a corresponding virtualization layer 1406. Different embodiments of virtual appliances 1402 may be implemented on one or more of the VMs 1408, and the implementations may be done in different ways. Hardware virtualization is referred to in some contexts as network functions virtualization (NFV). NFV may be used to consolidate many network equipment types onto industry-standard high-volume server hardware, physical switches, and physical storage that may be located in data centers and customer premises equipment.

[0173] In the context of NFV, each VM 1408 may be a software implementation of a physical machine that runs programs as if those programs were running on a physical, non-virtualized machine. Each VM 1408 and the portion of the hardware 1404 on which it runs, whether hardware dedicated to that VM and / or hardware shared by that VM with other VMs, form a separate virtual network element. Further, in the context of NFV, a virtual network function is responsible for handling a particular network function running in one or more VMs 1408 on the hardware 1404 and corresponds to the application 1402.

[0174] The hardware 1404 may be implemented in a standalone network node with general or specific components. The hardware 1404 may implement some functions via virtualization. Alternatively, the hardware 1404 may be part of a larger cluster of hardware (e.g., as in a data center or CPE) where many hardware nodes cooperate and are managed via a management and orchestration 1410 that, among other things, oversees the lifecycle management of the application 1402. In some embodiments, the hardware 1404 is coupled to one or more radio units, each including one or more transmitters and one or more receivers, which may be coupled to one or more antennas. The radio units may communicate directly with other hardware nodes via one or more appropriate network interfaces and may be used in combination with virtual components to provide a virtual node with wireless capabilities, such as a wireless access node or base station. In some embodiments, some signaling may be provided using a control system 1412, which may alternatively be used for communication between the hardware nodes and the radio units.

[0175] 15 shows a communication diagram of a host 1502 communicating with a UE 1506 via a network node 1504 over a partial wireless connection, according to some embodiments. Exemplary implementations according to various embodiments of a UE (such as the UE 1012a of FIG. 10 and / or the UE 1100 of FIG. 11), a network node (such as the network node 1010a of FIG. 10 and / or the network node 1200 of FIG. 12), and a host (such as the host 1016 of FIG. 10 and / or the host 1300 of FIG. 13) described in the previous paragraphs will now be described with reference to FIG. 15.

[0176] Similar to the host 1300, an embodiment of the host 1502 includes hardware such as a communications interface, processing circuitry, and memory. The host 1502 also includes software stored on or accessible by the host 1502 and executable by the processing circuitry. The software includes a host application that may be operable to provide services to a remote user, such as a UE 1506 connecting via an over-the-top (OTT) connection 1550 extending between the UE 1506 and the host 1502. In providing services to the remote user, the host application may provide user data that is transmitted using the OTT connection 1550.

[0177] The network node 1504 includes hardware that enables the network node 1504 to communicate with the host 1502 and the UE 1506. The connection 1560 may be direct or may pass through one or more other intermediate networks, such as a core network (such as the core network 1006 of FIG. 10) and / or one or more public, private, or hosted networks. For example, the intermediate network may be a backbone network or the Internet.

[0178] The UE 1506 includes hardware and software stored on or accessible by the UE 1506 and executable by the UE's processing circuitry. The software includes a client application, such as a web browser or operator-specific "app," that may be operable to provide services to a human or non-human user via the UE 1506, with the support of the host 1502. An executing host application on the host 1502 may communicate with an executing client application via an OTT connection 1550 that terminates at the UE 1506 and the host 1502. In providing services to the user, the UE's client application may receive request data from the host application on the host and provide user data in response to the request data. The OTT connection 1550 may transfer both request data and user data. The UE's client application may interact with the user to generate user data that the UE's client application provides to the host application through the OTT connection 1550.

[0179] The OTT connection 1550 may extend via a connection 1560 between the host 1502 and a network node 1504 and via a wireless connection 1570 between the network node 1504 and the UE 1506 to provide connectivity between the host 1502 and the UE 1506. The connections 1560 and wireless connections 1570 over which the OTT connection 1550 may be provided are depicted abstractly to show communication between the host 1502 and the UE 1506 via the network node 1504, without explicit reference to intermediary devices and the precise routing of messages through these devices.

[0180] As an example of transmitting data over the OTT connection 1550, in step 1508, the host 1502 provides user data, which may be performed by executing a host application. In some embodiments, the user data is associated with a particular human user interacting with the UE 1506. In other embodiments, the user data is associated with the UE 1506 sharing data with the host 1502 without explicit human interaction. In step 1510, the host 1502 initiates a transmission carrying the user data toward the UE 1506. The host 1502 may initiate the transmission in response to a request sent by the UE 1506. The request may be caused by human interaction with the UE 1506 or by the operation of a client application executing on the UE 1506. The transmission may proceed via the network node 1504 in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure. Thus, in step 1512, the network node 1504 transmits the user data carried in the transmission initiated by the host 1502 to the UE 1506, in accordance with the teachings of embodiments described throughout this disclosure. In step 1514, the UE 1506 receives the user data carried in the transmission, which may be performed by a client application executing on the UE 1506 associated with the host application executed by the host 1502.

[0181] In some examples, UE1506 executes a client application that provides user data to host 1502. The user data may be provided in response or reaction to data received from host 1502. Thus, at step 1516, UE1506 may provide user data, which may be implemented by executing a client application. When providing the user data, the client application may further consider user input received from the user via the input / output interface of UE1506. Regardless of how the user data is provided, at step 1518, UE1506 initiates the transmission of the user data to host 1502 via network node 1504. At step 1520, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure, network node 1504 receives the user data from UE1506 and initiates the transmission of the received user data to host 1502. At step 1522, host 1502 receives the user data carried in the transmission initiated by UE1506.

[0182] One or more of various embodiments improve the performance of OTT services provided to UE1506 using OTT connection 1550 in which wireless connection 1570 forms the last segment. More precisely, compared to conventional techniques in which the UE autonomously selects a subset M < N of the configured candidate cells for measurement and reporting, embodiments enable the UE to systematically select a subset of the candidate cells that are optimal and / or preferred at a given time. In this way, the lower layer measurements reported by the UE are better and / or more relevant for beam management and / or L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility while avoiding excessive UE energy consumption due to unnecessary measurements. By thus improving the operation of the UE and the RAN, embodiments increase the value of the OTT services delivered to the UE via the RAN to both the end user and the service provider.

[0183] In an exemplary scenario, factory status information may be collected and analyzed by the host 1502. As another example, the host 1502 may process audio and video data that may have been retrieved from UEs for use in creating maps. As another example, the host 1502 may collect and analyze real-time data to assist in controlling vehicular congestion (e.g., controlling traffic signals). As another example, the host 1502 may store surveillance video uploaded by UEs. As another example, the host 1502 may store or control access to media content, such as video, audio, VR or AR, that the host 1502 may broadcast, multicast, or unicast to UEs. As other examples, the host 1502 may be used for energy pricing, remote control of non-time-critical electrical loads to balance power generation needs, location services, presentation services (such as compiling diagrams, etc. from data collected from remote devices), or any other function of collecting, retrieving, storing, analyzing, and / or transmitting data.

[0184] In some examples, measurement procedures may be provided for the purpose of monitoring data rates, latency, and other factors that one or more embodiments improve upon. There may further be optional network functionality for reconfiguring the OTT connection 1550 between the host 1502 and the UE 1506 in response to fluctuations in the measurement results. The measurement procedures and / or the network functionality for reconfiguring the OTT connection may be implemented in software and hardware in the host 1502 and / or the UE 1506. In some embodiments, sensors (not shown) may be deployed in or in association with other devices through which the OTT connection 1550 passes, and the sensors may participate in the measurement procedures by providing values ​​of the monitored quantities exemplified above or other physical quantities from which software can calculate or estimate the monitored quantities. Reconfiguring the OTT connection 1550 may include message formats, retransmission settings, preferred routing, etc., and the reconfiguration need not directly change the operation of the network node 1504. Such procedures and functionality may be known and practiced in the art. In some embodiments, the measurements may involve proprietary UE signaling that facilitates measurements of throughput, propagation time, latency, etc. by the host 1502. The measurements may be implemented in software causing messages, particularly empty or "dummy" messages, to be sent using the OTT connection 1550 while monitoring propagation time, errors, etc.

[0185] The foregoing merely illustrates the principles of the present disclosure. Various modifications and alterations to the described embodiments will be apparent to those skilled in the art in light of the teachings herein. It will thus be appreciated that those skilled in the art will be able to devise numerous systems, configurations, and procedures that are not explicitly shown or described herein, but which embody the principles of the present disclosure and therefore may be within the spirit and scope of the present disclosure. As should be understood by those skilled in the art, the various embodiments may be used in conjunction with, and interchangeably with, one another.

[0186] The term unit as used herein may have its usual meaning in the field of electronics, electrical devices, and / or electronic devices, and may include, for example, electrical and / or electronic circuits, devices, modules, processors, memories, logical solid and / or discrete devices, computer programs or instructions, etc., for performing respective tasks, procedures, calculations, output, and / or display functions, such as those described herein.

[0187] Any suitable step, method, feature, function, or benefit disclosed herein may be implemented through one or more functional units or modules of one or more virtual devices. Each virtual device may comprise several of these functional units. These functional units may be implemented via processing circuitry, which may include one or more microprocessors or microcontrollers, as well as other digital hardware, which may include digital signal processors (DSPs), dedicated digital logic, and the like. The processing circuitry may be configured to execute program code stored in memory, which may include one or several types of memory, such as read-only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), cache memory, flash memory devices, optical storage devices, and the like. The program code stored in memory includes program instructions for executing one or more communication and / or data communication protocols, as well as instructions for implementing one or more of the techniques described herein. In some implementations, the processing circuitry may be used to cause each functional unit to perform a corresponding function according to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0188] As described herein, devices and / or apparatus may be represented by semiconductor chips, chipsets, or (hardware) modules comprising such chips or chipsets, but this does not exclude the possibility that the functionality of a device or apparatus may be implemented as a software module, such as a computer program or computer program product comprising executable software code portions for execution on or running on a processor, instead of being implemented in hardware. Furthermore, the functionality of a device or apparatus may be implemented by any combination of hardware and software. A device or apparatus may also be considered an assembly of multiple devices and / or apparatus, whether functionally cooperating with each other or independent of each other. Moreover, devices and apparatus may be implemented in a distributed manner throughout a system, so long as the functionality of the device or apparatus is preserved. Such and similar principles are deemed to be known to those skilled in the art.

[0189] Furthermore, functionality described herein as being performed by a wireless device or network node may be distributed over multiple wireless devices and / or network nodes. In other words, it is contemplated that the functionality of the network nodes and wireless devices described herein is not limited to implementation by a single physical device, but may in fact be distributed among several physical devices.

[0190] Additionally, some terms used in this disclosure, including the specification and drawings, may be used synonymously in some instances (e.g., "data" and "information"). It is understood that although these terms (and / or other terms that may be synonymous with each other) may be used synonymously herein, there may be instances where it is not intended that such words be used synonymously.

[0191] The techniques and apparatus described herein include, but are not limited to, the following listed examples.

[0192] A1. A method for a user equipment (UE) configured to communicate with a radio access network (RAN) node via a serving cell, the method comprising: receiving a message from a RAN node including a configuration for lower layer measurements by the UE, the configuration including one or more conditions for the lower layer measurements on one or more candidate cells for L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility; performing one or more of the following measurements: lower layer measurements of the serving cell, first Layer 3 (L3) measurements of the serving cell, and second L3 measurements of at least one of the candidate cells; Based on detecting that the performed measurements satisfy at least one of the conditions, initiating lower layer measurements of at least one candidate cell associated with the satisfied at least one condition; sending to the RAN node a lower layer measurement report comprising results of lower layer measurements performed on at least one candidate cell; A method comprising:

[0193] A2. Detecting that the measurements performed fulfill at least one of the conditions the result of the lower layer measurement of the serving cell is below a first threshold; the serving cell's L3 measurements are below a second threshold; the result of the L3 measurement of the candidate cell is below a third threshold; The L3 measurement result of the candidate cell is at least offset larger than the L3 measurement result of the serving cell; The serving cell's L3 measurements are below a fourth threshold, and the highest of one or more of the plurality of lower layer measurements of the serving cell is below a seventh threshold. The method of embodiment A1, comprising detecting one or more of:

[0194] A3. The method of embodiment A2, in which the multiple lower layer measurements of the serving cell are measurements of multiple beams associated with the serving cell.

[0195] A3a. The offset is related to a Radio Resource Management (RRM) A3 event, and The second threshold is the S-Measure RRM threshold. The method of embodiment A2, wherein one or more of the following applies:

[0196] A4. Measurement of the following: lower layer measurements of at least one candidate cell; Lower layer measurements of the serving cell; the first L3 measurement of the serving cell, and a second L3 measurement of at least one of the candidate cells; The method of any one of embodiments A1 to A3a, further comprising stopping or pausing lower layer measurements of at least one candidate cell based on detecting that at least one of the conditions satisfies a further one or more of the conditions.

[0197] A5. Detecting that at least one measurement satisfies one or more of the conditions further comprises: The serving cell's L3 measurement results exceed the fifth threshold; the result of the L3 measurement of at least one candidate cell is below a sixth threshold; the highest of one or more of the plurality of lower layer measurements of the serving cell exceeds an eighth threshold; and the highest one or more of the plurality of lower layer measurements of at least one candidate cell is below a ninth threshold. The method of embodiment A4, comprising detecting any of:

[0198] A5a. The method of embodiment A5, wherein the plurality of lower layer measurements of the at least one candidate cell are measurements of a plurality of beams associated with the at least one candidate cell.

[0199] A6. The method of any one of embodiments A1 to A5a, wherein the lower layer measurements of the serving cell and the lower layer measurements of the at least one candidate cell include one or more of synchronization signal / PBCH (SSB) reference signal received power (SS-RSRP), SSB reference signal received quality (SS-RSRQ), SSB signal-to-noise-and-interference ratio (SS-SINR), channel state information (CSI) reference signal received power (CSI-RSRP), CSI reference signal received quality (CSI-RSRQ), CSI signal-to-noise-and-interference ratio (CSI-SINR), L1-RSRP, L1-RSRQ, and L1-SINR.

[0200] A7. The L3 measurement of the serving cell and the L3 measurement of the at least one candidate cell are L3 reference signal received power (L3-RSRP) measurements; and The L3 measurements of the serving cell and the L3 measurements of at least one candidate cell are related to an L3 inter-cell mobility procedure. The method of any one of embodiments A1 to A6, wherein one or more of:

[0201] A8. the one or more candidate cells for L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility include a plurality of candidate cells; The method is: determining that a plurality of candidate cells are associated with at least one condition that is fulfilled; selecting a subset of the plurality of candidate cells based on results of the second L3 measurement of each of the plurality of candidate cells; further comprising Lower layer measurements are initiated for the selected subset; The method of any one of embodiments A1 to A7.

[0202] A9. the lower layer measurement report is a beam measurement report, and Lower layer measurement reports are sent via lower layer procedures on the Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) or the Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) in the serving cell. The method of any one of embodiments A1 to A8, wherein one or more of:

[0203] A10. The method of any one of embodiments A1 to A9, wherein the message including the configuration is an RRCReconfiguration message.

[0204] A11. The method of any one of embodiments A1 to A10, further comprising receiving, from the RAN node, a lower layer message instructing the UE to perform an L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility procedure to one of the candidate cells, the measurement result being included in a lower layer measurement report.

[0205] B1. A method for a Radio Access Network (RAN) node configured to provide a serving cell to a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: sending, to the UE, a message including a configuration for lower layer measurements by the UE, the configuration including one or more conditions for the lower layer measurements on one or more candidate cells for L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility, the conditions being based on one or more of the lower layer measurements of a serving cell, a first Layer 3 (L3) measurement of the serving cell, and a second L3 measurement of at least one of the candidate cells; receiving, from the UE, a lower layer measurement report including results of lower layer measurements performed on at least one candidate cell based on fulfillment of at least one of the conditions; A method comprising:

[0206] B2. The conditions are: the result of the lower layer measurement of the serving cell is below a first threshold; the serving cell's L3 measurements are below a second threshold; the result of the L3 measurement of the candidate cell is below a third threshold; The L3 measurement result of the candidate cell is at least offset larger than the L3 measurement result of the serving cell; The serving cell's L3 measurements are below a fourth threshold, and the highest of one or more of the plurality of lower layer measurements of the serving cell is below a seventh threshold. The method of embodiment B1, comprising one or more of:

[0207] B3. The method of embodiment B2, wherein the plurality of lower layer measurements of the serving cell are measurements of a plurality of beams associated with the serving cell.

[0208] B4. The offset is relative to the A3 RRM event, and The second threshold is the S-Measure Radio Resource Management (RRM) threshold. The method of embodiment B2, wherein one or more of the following applies:

[0209] B5. The conditions relate to stopping or pausing lower layer measurements of at least one candidate cell, namely: The serving cell's L3 measurement results exceed the fifth threshold; the result of the L3 measurement of at least one candidate cell is below a sixth threshold; the highest of one or more of the plurality of lower layer measurements of the serving cell exceeds an eighth threshold; and the highest one or more of the plurality of lower layer measurements of at least one candidate cell is below a ninth threshold. The method of any one of embodiments B1 to B4, comprising one or more of:

[0210] B5a. The method of embodiment B5, wherein the plurality of lower layer measurements of the at least one candidate cell are measurements of a plurality of beams associated with the at least one candidate cell.

[0211] B6. The method of any one of embodiments B1 to B5a, wherein the lower layer measurements of the serving cell and the lower layer measurements of the at least one candidate cell include one or more of synchronization signal / PBCH (SSB) reference signal received power (SS-RSRP), SSB reference signal received quality (SS-RSRQ), SSB signal-to-noise-and-interference ratio (SS-SINR), channel state information (CSI) reference signal received power (CSI-RSRP), CSI reference signal received quality (CSI-RSRQ), CSI signal-to-noise-and-interference ratio (CSI-SINR), L1-RSRP, L1-RSRQ, and L1-SINR.

[0212] B7. The L3 measurement of the serving cell and the L3 measurement of the at least one candidate cell are L3 reference signal received power (L3-RSRP) measurements; and The L3 measurements of the serving cell and the L3 measurements of at least one candidate cell are related to an L3 inter-cell mobility procedure. The method of any one of embodiments B1 to B6, wherein one or more of:

[0213] B8. the lower layer measurement report is a beam measurement report, and Lower layer measurement reports are received via lower layer procedures on a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) or a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) in the serving cell. The method of any one of embodiments B1 to B7, wherein one or more of:

[0214] B9. The method of any one of embodiments B1 to B8, wherein the message including the configuration is an RRCReconfiguration message.

[0215] B10. selecting one of the candidate cells for an L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility procedure for the UE based on the lower layer measurement report; sending a lower layer message to the UE instructing the UE to perform an L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility procedure to the selected candidate cell; The method of any one of embodiments B1 to B9, further comprising:

[0216] C1. A user equipment (UE) configured to communicate with a radio access network (RAN) node via a serving cell, the UE comprising: a communications interface circuit configured to communicate with a RAN node via a serving cell; a processing circuit operably coupled to the communications interface circuit, the processing circuit and the communications interface circuit further configured to perform operations corresponding to any of the methods described in any one of embodiments A1 to A10; and A user equipment (UE) comprising:

[0217] C2. A user equipment (UE) configured to communicate with a radio access network (RAN) node via a serving cell, wherein the UE is further configured to perform an operation corresponding to any of the methods described in any one of embodiments A1 to A10.

[0218] C3. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by processing circuitry of a user equipment (UE) configured to communicate with a radio access network (RAN) node via a serving cell, configure the UE to perform operations corresponding to any of the methods described in any one of embodiments A1 to A10.

[0219] C4. A computer program product comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by processing circuitry of a user equipment (UE) configured to communicate with a radio access network (RAN) node via a serving cell, configure the UE to perform operations corresponding to any of the methods described in any one of embodiments A1 to A10.

[0220] D1. A Radio Access Network (RAN) node configured to provide a serving cell to a user equipment (UE), the RAN node comprising: a communication interface circuit configured to communicate with the UE via the serving cell; a processing circuit operably coupled to the communications interface circuit, whereby the processing circuit and the communications interface circuit are configured to perform operations corresponding to any of the methods described in any one of embodiments B1 to B8; and A radio access network (RAN) node comprising:

[0221] D2. A radio access network (RAN) node configured to provide a serving cell to a user equipment (UE), wherein the RAN node is further configured to perform an operation corresponding to any of the methods described in any one of embodiments B1 to B8.

[0222] D3. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by processing circuitry of a radio access network (RAN) node configured to provide a serving cell to a user equipment (UE), configure the RAN node to perform operations corresponding to any of the methods described in any one of embodiments B1 to B8.

[0223] D4. A computer program product comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by processing circuitry of a radio access network (RAN) node configured to provide a serving cell to a user equipment (UE), configure the RAN node to perform operations corresponding to any of the methods described in any one of embodiments B1 to B8.

Claims

1. 1. A method for a user equipment (UE) configured to communicate with a radio access network (RAN) node via a serving cell, the method comprising: Obtaining 810 a configuration that defines one or more conditions for triggering lower layer measurements on one or more candidate cells for Layer 1 / Layer 2 (L1 / L2) inter-cell mobility; performing (820) one or more of the following measurements: lower layer measurements of the serving cell, first Layer 3 (L3) measurements of the serving cell, and second L3 measurements of at least one of the candidate cells; Based on detecting that the performed measurements fulfill at least one of the conditions (830), initiating lower layer measurements of at least one candidate cell associated with the fulfilled at least one condition (840); sending (870) to the RAN node a lower layer measurement report including results of the lower layer measurements performed on the at least one candidate cell; A method comprising:

2. Detecting (830) that the performed measurements satisfy at least one of the conditions may include: the result of the lower layer measurement of the serving cell is below a first threshold; the result of the L3 measurement of the serving cell is below a second threshold; the result of the L3 measurement of the candidate cell is below a third threshold; the L3 measurement result of the candidate cell is at least an offset greater than the L3 measurement result of the serving cell; the result of the L3 measurement of the serving cell is below a fourth threshold; and the highest of one or more of the plurality of lower layer measurements of the serving cell is below a seventh threshold.

10. The method of claim 1, comprising detecting one or more of:

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the plurality of lower layer measurements of the serving cell are measurements of a plurality of beams associated with the serving cell.

4. the offset is associated with a radio resource management (RRM) A3 event; and The second threshold is an S-Measure RRM threshold. The method of claim 2 , wherein one or more of the following is applied:

5. The following measurements: the lower layer measurements of the at least one candidate cell; the lower layer measurements of the serving cell; the first L3 measurement of the serving cell; and the second L3 measurement of the at least one of the candidate cells 5. The method of claim 1, further comprising: stopping or pausing the lower layer measurements of the at least one candidate cell based on detecting that at least one of the following conditions fulfills one or more of the conditions:

6. Detecting (850) that at least one of the measurements satisfies one or more of the conditions further includes: the result of the L3 measurement of the serving cell exceeds a fifth threshold; the result of the L3 measurement of the at least one candidate cell is below a sixth threshold; the highest of one or more of the plurality of lower layer measurements of the serving cell exceeds an eighth threshold; and the highest of one or more of the plurality of lower layer measurements of the at least one candidate cell is below a ninth threshold.

6. The method of claim 5, comprising detecting either:

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the plurality of lower layer measurements of the at least one candidate cell are measurements of a plurality of beams associated with the at least one candidate cell.

8. 8. The method of claim 1, wherein the lower layer measurements of the serving cell and the lower layer measurements of the at least one candidate cell comprise one or more of: Synchronization Signal / PBCH (SSB) Reference Signal Received Power (SS-RSRP), SSB Reference Signal Received Quality (SS-RSRQ), SSB Signal-to-Noise and Interference Ratio (SS-SINR), Channel State Information (CSI) Reference Signal Received Power (CSI-RSRP), CSI Reference Signal Received Quality (CSI-RSRQ), CSI Signal-to-Noise and Interference Ratio (CSI-SINR), L1-RSRP, L1-RSRQ, and L1-SINR.

9. the L3 measurements of the serving cell and the L3 measurements of the at least one candidate cell are L3 reference signal received power (L3-RSRP) measurements; and the L3 measurements of the serving cell and the L3 measurements of the at least one candidate cell are associated with an L3 inter-cell mobility procedure; 9. The method according to claim 1 , wherein one or more of the following is applied:

10. the one or more candidate cells for L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility include a plurality of candidate cells; Detecting (830) that the performed measurements fulfill at least one of the conditions includes determining (831) that a plurality of candidate cells are associated with the fulfilled at least one condition; Initiating (840) lower layer measurements of at least one candidate cell associated with the fulfilled at least one condition includes selecting (841) a subset of the plurality of candidate cells based on a result of the second L3 measurement of each of the plurality of candidate cells, and the lower layer measurements are initiated for the selected subset.

10. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 9.

11. the lower layer measurement report is a beam measurement report; and The lower layer measurement report is sent via a lower layer procedure on a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) or a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) in the serving cell.

11. The method according to claim 1 , wherein one or more of the following is applied:

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein obtaining the configuration comprises receiving a message from the RAN node that includes the configuration or a portion of the configuration.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the message is an RRC Reconfiguration message.

14. The method of any one of claims 1 to 13, wherein the configuration, or a part of the configuration, is obtained from a UE memory.

15. 15. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving (880) from the RAN node a lower layer message instructing the UE to perform an L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility procedure to one of the candidate cells, with measurement results included in the lower layer measurement report.

16. 1. A method for a radio access network (RAN) node configured to provide a serving cell to a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: sending 910 to the UE a configuration specifying one or more conditions for triggering lower layer measurements to one or more candidate cells for Layer 1 / Layer 2 (L1 / L2) inter-cell mobility, the conditions comprising: lower layer measurements of the serving cell; a first Layer 3 (L3) measurement of the serving cell; and a second L3 measurement of at least one of the candidate cells; sending (910) a configuration based on one or more of: receiving, from the UE, a lower layer measurement report including results of the lower layer measurements performed on the at least one candidate cell based on fulfillment of at least one of the conditions (920); A method comprising:

17. The condition is: the result of the lower layer measurement of the serving cell is below a first threshold; the result of the L3 measurement of the serving cell is below a second threshold; the result of the L3 measurement of the candidate cell is below a third threshold; the L3 measurement result of the candidate cell is at least an offset greater than the L3 measurement result of the serving cell; the result of the L3 measurement of the serving cell is below a fourth threshold; and the highest of one or more of the plurality of lower layer measurements of the serving cell is below a seventh threshold.

17. The method of claim 16, comprising one or more of:

18. 18. The method of claim 17, wherein the plurality of lower layer measurements of the serving cell are measurements of a plurality of beams associated with the serving cell.

19. the offset is associated with a radio resource management (RRM) A3 event; and The second threshold is an S-Measure RRM threshold.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein one or more of the following is applied:

20. The conditions relate to stopping or pausing lower layer measurements of at least one candidate cell, namely: the result of the L3 measurement of the serving cell exceeds a fifth threshold; the result of the L3 measurement of the at least one candidate cell is below a sixth threshold; the highest of one or more of the plurality of lower layer measurements of the serving cell exceeds an eighth threshold; and the highest of one or more of the plurality of lower layer measurements of the at least one candidate cell is below a ninth threshold.

20. The method of any one of claims 16 to 19, comprising one or more of:

21. The method of claim 20 , wherein the plurality of lower layer measurements of the at least one candidate cell are measurements of a plurality of beams associated with the at least one candidate cell.

22. 22. The method of claim 16, wherein the lower layer measurements of the serving cell and the lower layer measurements of the at least one candidate cell comprise one or more of: Synchronization Signal / PBCH (SSB) Reference Signal Received Power (SS-RSRP), SSB Reference Signal Received Quality (SS-RSRQ), SSB Signal-to-Noise and Interference Ratio (SS-SINR), Channel State Information (CSI) Reference Signal Received Power (CSI-RSRP), CSI Reference Signal Received Quality (CSI-RSRQ), CSI Signal-to-Noise and Interference Ratio (CSI-SINR), L1-RSRP, L1-RSRQ, and L1-SINR.

23. the L3 measurements of the serving cell and the L3 measurements of the at least one candidate cell are L3 reference signal received power (L3-RSRP) measurements; and the L3 measurements of the serving cell and the L3 measurements of the at least one candidate cell are associated with an L3 inter-cell mobility procedure; 23. The method according to any one of claims 16 to 22, wherein one or more of the following applies:

24. the lower layer measurement report is a beam measurement report; and The lower layer measurement report is received via a lower layer procedure on a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) or a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) in the serving cell.

24. The method according to any one of claims 16 to 23, wherein one or more of the following applies:

25. 25. The method of any one of claims 16 to 24, wherein the configuration is included in an RRCReconfiguration message sent to the UE.

26. selecting (930) one of the candidate cells for an L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility procedure for the UE based on the lower layer measurement report; sending a lower layer message to the UE instructing the UE to perform the L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility procedure to the selected candidate cell (940); 26. The method of any one of claims 16 to 25, further comprising:

27. A user equipment (UE) (210, 1012, 1100, 1506) configured to communicate with a radio access network (RAN) node (100, 150, 220, 1010, 1200, 1402, 1504) via a serving cell, the UE comprising: a communication interface circuit (1112) configured to communicate with the RAN node via the serving cell; a processing circuit (1102) operably coupled to said communication interface circuit; whereby the processing circuit and the communication interface circuit comprise: obtaining a configuration that specifies one or more conditions for triggering lower layer measurements on one or more candidate cells for Layer 1 / Layer 2 (L1 / L2) inter-cell mobility; performing one or more of the following measurements: lower layer measurements of the serving cell, first Layer 3 (L3) measurements of the serving cell, and second L3 measurements of at least one of the candidate cells; based on detecting that the performed measurements fulfill at least one of the conditions, initiating lower layer measurements of at least one candidate cell associated with the fulfilled at least one condition; sending to the RAN node a lower layer measurement report including results of the lower layer measurements performed on the at least one candidate cell; A user equipment (UE) (210, 1012, 1100, 1506) configured to:

28. 28. The UE of claim 27, wherein the processing circuitry and the communications interface circuitry are further configured to perform operations corresponding to any of the methods of any one of claims 2 to 15.

29. A user equipment (UE) (210, 1012, 1100, 1506) configured to communicate with a radio access network (RAN) node (100, 150, 220, 1010, 1200, 1402, 1504) via a serving cell, the UE comprising: obtaining a configuration that specifies one or more conditions for triggering lower layer measurements on one or more candidate cells for Layer 1 / Layer 2 (L1 / L2) inter-cell mobility; performing one or more of the following measurements: lower layer measurements of the serving cell, first Layer 3 (L3) measurements of the serving cell, and second L3 measurements of at least one of the candidate cells; based on detecting that the performed measurements fulfill at least one of the conditions, initiating lower layer measurements of at least one candidate cell associated with the fulfilled at least one condition; sending to the RAN node a lower layer measurement report including results of the lower layer measurements performed on the at least one candidate cell; and a user equipment (UE) (210, 1012, 1100, 1506) further configured to:

30. 30. The UE of claim 29, further configured to perform operations corresponding to any of the methods of any one of claims 2 to 15.

31. 16. A non-transitory computer-readable medium (1110) storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a processing circuit (1102) of a user equipment (UE) (210, 1012, 1100, 1506) configured to communicate with a radio access network (RAN) node (100, 150, 220, 1010, 1200, 1402, 1504) via a serving cell, configure the UE to perform operations corresponding to any of the methods recited in any one of claims 1 to 15.

32. 16. A computer program product (1114) comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a processing circuit (1102) of a user equipment (UE) (210, 1012, 1100, 1506) configured to communicate with a radio access network (RAN) node (100, 150, 220, 1010, 1200, 1402, 1504) via a serving cell, configures the UE to perform operations corresponding to any of the methods recited in any one of claims 1 to 15.

33. A radio access network (RAN) node (100, 150, 220, 1010, 1200, 1402, 1504) configured to provide a serving cell to a user equipment (UE) (210, 1012, 1100, 1506), said RAN node comprising: a communication interface circuit (1206, 1404) configured to communicate with a UE via the serving cell; a processing circuit (1202, 1404) operably coupled to said communication interface circuit; whereby the processing circuit and the communication interface circuit comprise: sending, to the UE, a configuration specifying one or more conditions for triggering lower layer measurements to one or more candidate cells for Layer 1 / Layer 2 (L1 / L2) inter-cell mobility, the conditions comprising: lower layer measurements of the serving cell; a first Layer 3 (L3) measurement of the serving cell; and a second L3 measurement of at least one of the candidate cells; sending a configuration based on one or more of: receiving, from the UE, a lower layer measurement report including results of the lower layer measurements performed on the at least one candidate cell based on fulfillment of at least one of the conditions; a radio access network (RAN) node (100, 150, 220, 1010, 1200, 1402, 1504) configured to:

34. 34. The RAN node of claim 33, wherein the processing circuitry and the communications interface circuitry are further configured to perform operations corresponding to any of the methods defined in any one of claims 17 to 26.

35. A radio access network (RAN) node (100, 150, 220, 1010, 1200, 1402, 1504) configured to provide a serving cell to a user equipment (UE) (210, 1012, 1100, 1506), the RAN node comprising: sending, to the UE, a configuration specifying one or more conditions for triggering lower layer measurements to one or more candidate cells for Layer 1 / Layer 2 (L1 / L2) inter-cell mobility, the conditions comprising: lower layer measurements of the serving cell; a first Layer 3 (L3) measurement of the serving cell; and a second L3 measurement of at least one of the candidate cells; sending a configuration based on one or more of: receiving, from the UE, a lower layer measurement report including results of the lower layer measurements performed on the at least one candidate cell based on fulfillment of at least one of the conditions; a radio access network (RAN) node (100, 150, 220, 1010, 1200, 1402, 1504) further configured to:

36. 36. A RAN node according to claim 35, further configured to perform operations corresponding to any of the methods according to any one of claims 17 to 26.

37. 27. A non-transitory computer-readable medium (1204, 1404) storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a processing circuit (1202, 1404) of a radio access network (RAN) node (100, 150, 220, 1010, 1200, 1402, 1504) configured to provide a serving cell to a user equipment (UE) (210, 1012, 1100, 1506), configure the RAN node to perform operations corresponding to any of the methods recited in any one of claims 16 to 26.

38. 27. A computer program product (1204a, 1404a) comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a processing circuit (1202, 1404) of a radio access network (RAN) node (100, 150, 220, 1010, 1200, 1402, 1504) configured to provide a serving cell to a user equipment (UE) (210, 1012, 1100, 1506), configure the RAN node to perform operations corresponding to any of the methods set forth in any one of claims 16 to 26.

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