Method and apparatus for enhancing power saving in paging procedures in cellular systems

Abstract

The present invention provides a method that can be implemented in a wireless transmitter / receiver unit (WTRU) and / or wireless access point. [Solution] In one typical method, the WTRU may be in an inactive or idle mode prior to a paging occasion (PO). The WTRU is configured to detect the transmission of some synchronous signal blocks or reference signals associated with early paging instruction (EPI) downlink control information (DCI), and based on the detected transmission, blind decoding can be performed on the transmitted EPI DCI or sequence set to determine whether the WTRU is being paged at the PO. The blind decoding may use a pattern relating the detected synchronous signal blocks or reference signals to the number of EPI DCI transmissions associated with the PO. Paging of the WTRU may be used to determine the write / deep sleep state.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] Cross - reference to Related Applications This application claims the benefit of U.S. Patent Provisional Application No. 63 / 147,077, filed on Feb. 8, 2021, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

[0002] Embodiments disclosed herein generally relate to wireless communication, and for example, to methods, apparatuses, and systems for early paging indications and paging assistance reference signals for idle and / or inactive user equipment.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0003] A more detailed understanding can be obtained from the following detailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, which are given by way of example. The figures in the description are examples. Therefore, the figures and the detailed description should not be considered limiting, and other equally effective examples are possible and likely. Also, like reference numbers in the figures indicate like elements. [Figure 1A] FIG. 1 is a system diagram illustrating an exemplary communication system in which one or more of the disclosed embodiments may be implemented. <0000​​​​​​​​​​This diagram shows a typical procedure for configuring Early Paging Information (EPI) and Downlink Control Information (DCI) that can be implemented in a WTRU. [Figure 3] This figure shows another typical procedure for configuring Early Paging Information (EPI) and Downlink Control Information (DCI) that can be implemented in a WTRU. [Figure 4] This diagram shows a typical procedure for configuring Early Paging Information (EPI) and Downlink Control Information (DCI) that can be implemented in a RAN (Range Area Network). [Figure 5] This figure shows typical EPI transmission schemes for paging occasions that can be implemented in WTRU. [Figure 6] This figure shows another typical EPI transmission scheme for paging occasions that can be implemented in WTRU. [Figure 7] A typical diagram of communication between WTRU and RAN is shown. [Figure 8] This figure shows a typical procedure for constructing a paging-specific reference signal (RS) that can be implemented in a WTRU. [Figure 9] This figure shows a typical EPI transmission scheme that uses RS for paging occasions, which can be implemented in WTRU. [Figure 10] This figure shows other typical EPI transmission schemes that use RS for paging occasions, which can be implemented in WTRU. [Figure 11] This diagram shows a typical procedure for constructing RS information that can be implemented in WTRU. [Figure 12] This figure shows another typical EPI transmission scheme for paging occasions that can be implemented in WTRU. [Figure 13] Another typical diagram of communication between WTRU and RAN is shown. [Figure 14] This figure shows another typical EPI transmission scheme for paging occasions that can be implemented in WTRU. [Figure 15]Another typical diagram of communication between the WTRU and RAN in idle mode and / or inactive mode, and between the WTRU and RAN in connected mode, is shown. [Figure 16] This figure shows a typical procedure for paging using the updated EPI configuration and / or updated RS configuration. [Figure 17] This figure shows a typical procedure for paging using an EPI configuration, a pseudo-collocation (QCL) configuration for RS, and an RS configuration that includes numerology. [Figure 18] This figure shows a typical procedure for paging using the effectiveness of the RS configuration, including the EPI configuration, the Pseudo-Collocation (QCL) setting for RS, and numerology. [Figure 19] This figure shows typical paging procedures using EPI configuration and the effectiveness of EPI configuration. [Figure 20] This figure shows another typical procedure for paging using EPI configuration and the effectiveness of EPI configuration. [Figure 21] This diagram shows a typical procedure for paging using an EPI configuration and first and second RS configurations. [Figure 22] This figure shows typical procedures for paging using EPI configuration, RS configuration, and the effectiveness of both EPI and / or RS configurations. [Figure 23] This figure shows another typical procedure for paging using the updated EPI configuration and / or updated RS configuration. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0004] Exemplary network for implementation of the embodiment Certain embodiments may be implemented in autonomous and / or semi-autonomous vehicles, robotic vehicles, cars, IoT gear, any mobile device, or WTRUs or other communication devices, which may be used in communication networks. The following sections provide descriptions of some exemplary WTRUs and / or other communication devices, as well as the networks in which they may be incorporated.

[0005] Figure 1A shows an exemplary communication system 100 in which one or more disclosed embodiments may be implemented. The communication system 100 may be a multiple access system that provides content such as voice, data, video, message transmission, and broadcast to multiple wireless users. The communication system 100 may enable multiple wireless users to access such content through the sharing of system resources, including wireless bandwidth. For example, the communication system 100 may employ one or more channel access methods, such as code division multiple access (CDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA), orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA), single-carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA), zero-tail unique-word DFT-Spread OFDM (ZT UW DTS-s OFDM), unique-word OFDM (UW-OFDM), resource block filtering OFDM, and filter bank multicarrier (FBMC).

[0006] As shown in Figure 1A, the communication system 100 may include radio transmit / receive units (WTRUs) 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d, RAN 104 / 113, CN 106 / 115, public switched telephone network (PSTN) 108, the Internet 110, and other networks 112, but it will be understood that the disclosed embodiments intend any number of WTRUs, base stations, networks, and / or network elements. Each of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d may be any type of device configured to operate and / or communicate in a radio environment. For example, WTRU102a, 102b, 102c, and 102d, any of which may be referred to as “station” and / or “STA”, may be configured to transmit and / or receive radio signals and may include user equipment (UE), mobile stations, fixed or mobile subscriber units, subscriber-based units, pagers, cellular phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), smartphones, laptops, netbooks, personal computers, wireless sensors, hotspots or Mi-Fi devices, Internet of Things (IoT) devices, watches or other wearables, head-mounted displays (HMDs), vehicles, drones, medical devices and applications (e.g., remote surgery), industrial devices and applications (e.g., robots and / or other wireless devices operating in an industrial and / or automated processing chain context), consumer electronics devices, and devices operating on commercial and / or industrial wireless networks. Any of WTRU102a, 102b, 102c, and 102d may interchangeably be referred to as UE.

[0007] The communication system 100 may also include base stations 114a and / or base stations 114b. Each of the base stations 114a and 114b may be any type of device configured to wirelessly interface with at least one of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, and 102d to facilitate access to one or more communication networks, such as CN 106 / 115, the Internet 110, and / or other networks 112. As an example, base stations 114a and 114b may be base transceiver stations (BTS), NodeBs, eNodeBs (end), home NodeBs (HNBs), home eNodeBs (HeNBs), gNBs, NR NodeBs, site controllers, access points (APs), wireless routers, etc. Although base stations 114a and 114b are shown as single elements, it will be understood that base stations 114a and 114b may include any number of interconnected base stations and / or network elements.

[0008] Base station 114a can be part of RAN 104 / 113 and can also include other base stations and / or network elements (not shown), such as a base station controller (BSC), a radio network controller (RNC), a relay node, etc. Base station 114a and / or base station 114b can be configured to transmit and / or receive radio signals at one or more carrier frequencies, which can be referred to as a cell (not shown). These frequencies can be licensed spectrum, unlicensed spectrum, or a combination of licensed and unlicensed spectrum. The cell can provide coverage of wireless services to a specific geographic area that can be relatively fixed or can change over time. The cell can be further divided into cell sectors. For example, the cell associated with base station 114a can be divided into three sectors. Thus, in one embodiment, base station 114a can include three transceivers, i.e., one transceiver for each sector of the cell. In one embodiment, base station 114a can use multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) technology and can utilize multiple transceivers for each sector of the cell. For example, beamforming can be used to transmit and / or receive signals in a desired spatial direction.

[0009] Base stations 114a, 114b can communicate with one or more of WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d via air interface 116, which can be any suitable wireless communication link (e.g., radio frequency (RF), microwave, centimeter wave, millimeter wave, infrared (IR), ultraviolet (UV), visible light, etc.). Air interface 116 can be established using any suitable radio access technology (RAT).

[0010] More specifically, as described above, the communication system 100 can be a multiple access system and can use one or more channel access schemes, such as CDMA, TDMA, FDMA, OFDMA, SC-FDMA, etc. For example, the base station 114a of RAN104 / 113 and WTRU102a, 102b, 102c can establish an air interface 116 using wideband CDMA (WCDMA), and can implement radio technologies such as Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA). WCDMA can include communication protocols such as High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA) and / or Evolved HSPA (HSPA+). HSPA can include High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) and / or High-Speed UL Packet Access (HSUPA).

[0011] In one embodiment, the base station 114a and WTRU102a, 102b, 102c can implement radio technologies such as Evolved UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA), which can establish an air interface 116 using Long Term Evolution (LTE) and / or LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) and / or LTE-Advanced Pro (LTE-A Pro).

[0012] In one embodiment, the base station 114a and WTRU102a, 102b, 102c can implement radio technologies such as NR radio access, and this technology can establish an air interface 116 using New Radio (NR).

[0013] In one embodiment, base station 114a and WTRU 102a, 102b, 102c may implement multiple radio access technologies. For example, base station 114a and WTRU 102a, 102b, 102c may implement LTE radio access and NR radio access together, for example, using the dual connectivity (DC) principle. Thus, the air interface utilized by WTRU 102a, 102b, 102c may be characterized by multiple types of radio access technologies and / or transmissions transmitted to and from multiple types of base stations (e.g., end and gNB).

[0014] In other embodiments, base stations 114a and WTRUs 102a, 102b, and 102c may implement wireless technologies such as IEEE 802.11 (i.e., Wireless Fidelity, WiFi), IEEE 802.16 (i.e., Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access, WiMAX), CDMA2000, CDMA2000 1X, CDMA2000 EV-DO, Provisional Standard 2000 (IS-2000), Provisional Standard 95 (IS-95), Provisional Standard 856 (IS-856), Global System for Mobile communications (GSM), Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE), and GSM EDGE (GERAN).

[0015] The base station 114b in Figure 1A may be, for example, a wireless router, home NodeB, home eNodeB, or access point, and may utilize any suitable RAT to facilitate wireless connectivity in local areas such as offices, homes, vehicles, campuses, industrial facilities, aerial corridors (for use by drones), roads, etc. In one embodiment, the base station 114b and WTRU 102c, 102d may implement wireless technologies such as IEEE 802.11 to establish a wireless local area network (WLAN). In one embodiment, the base station 114b and WTRU 102c, 102d may implement wireless technologies such as IEEE 802.15 to establish a wireless personal area network (WPAN). In yet another embodiment, base stations 114b and WTRUs 102c, 102d may establish picocells or femtocells using cellular-based RATs (e.g., WCDMA, CDMA2000, GSM, LTE, LTE-A, LTE-A Pro, NR, etc.). As shown in Figure 1A, base station 114b may have a direct connection to the internet 110. Therefore, base station 114b may not need to access the internet 110 via CN 106 / 115.

[0016] RAN104 / 113 can communicate with CN106 / 115, which may be any type of network configured to provide voice, data, applications, and / or Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services to one or more of WTRU102a, 102b, 102c, and 102d. The data may have various quality of service (QoS) requirements, such as different throughput requirements, latency requirements, error tolerance requirements, reliability requirements, data throughput requirements, and mobility requirements. CN106 / 115 may provide call control, billing services, mobile location-based services, prepaid calls, internet connectivity, video distribution, etc., and / or perform high-level security functions such as user authentication. Although not shown in Figure 1A, it will be understood that RAN104 / 113 and / or CN106 / 115 may communicate directly or indirectly with other RANs employing the same or different RATs as RAN104 / 113. For example, in addition to being connected to RAN104 / 113 which may utilize NR radio technology, CN106 / 115 may also communicate with another RAN (not shown) employing GSM, UMTS, CDMA2000, WiMAX, E-UTRA, or WiFi radio technology.

[0017] CN106 / 115 may also function as a gateway for WTRU102a, 102b, 102c, 102d to access PSTN108, the Internet 110, and / or other networks 112. PSTN108 may include a public switched telephone network providing plain old telephone service (POTS). The Internet 110 may include a global system of interconnected computer networks and devices, where these networks and devices use common communication protocols such as the transmission control protocol (TCP), the user datagram protocol (UDP), and / or the Internet protocol (IP) of the TCP / IP Internet Protocol suite. Network 112 may include wired and / or wireless networks owned and / or operated by other service providers. For example, network 112 may include another CN connected to one or more RANs, which may employ the same RAT as RAN104 / 113 or a different RAT.

[0018] Some or all of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, and 102d in the communication system 100 may include multimode capability (for example, WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, and 102d may include multiple transceivers for communicating with different radio networks via different radio links). For example, WTRU 102c shown in Figure 1A may be configured to communicate with base station 114a, which may use cellular-based radio technology, and base station 114b, which may use IEEE 802 radio technology.

[0019] Figure 1B is a system diagram showing an exemplary WTRU102. As shown in Figure 1B, the WTRU102 may include, among other things, a processor 118, a transceiver 120, a transmit / receive element 122, a speaker / microphone 124, a keypad 126, a display / touchpad 128, non-removable memory 130, removable memory 132, a power supply 134, a global positioning system (GPS) chipset 136, and / or other peripherals 138. It will be understood that the WTRU102 may include any partial combination of the aforementioned elements while maintaining consistency with one embodiment.

[0020] The processor 118 may be a general-purpose processor, a dedicated processor, a conventional processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), multiple microprocessors, one or more microprocessors associated with a DSP core, a controller, a microcontroller, an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) circuit, any other type of integrated circuit (IC), a state machine, etc. The processor 118 may perform signal coding, data processing, power control, input / output processing, and / or any other functionality that enables the WTRU 102 to operate in a wireless environment. The processor 118 may be coupled to a transceiver 120 which may be coupled to a transmit / receive element 122. Figure 1B shows the processor 118 and transceiver 120 as separate components, but it will be understood that the processor 118 and transceiver 120 may be integrated together in an electronic package or chip.

[0021] The transmit / receive element 122 may be configured to transmit signals to or receive signals from a base station (e.g., base station 114a) via the air interface 116. For example, in one embodiment, the transmit / receive element 122 may be an antenna configured to transmit and / or receive RF signals. In one embodiment, the transmit / receive element 122 may be an emitter / detector configured to transmit and / or receive, for example, IR, UV, or visible light signals. In yet another embodiment, the transmit / receive element 122 may be configured to transmit and / or receive both RF signals and optical signals. It will be understood that the transmit / receive element 122 may be configured to transmit and / or receive any combination of radio signals.

[0022] Although the transmit / receive element 122 is shown as a single element in Figure 1B, the WTRU 102 may include any number of transmit / receive elements 122. More specifically, the WTRU 102 may utilize MIMO technology. Thus, in one embodiment, the WTRU 102 may include two or more transmit / receive elements 122 (e.g., multiple antennas) for transmitting and receiving radio signals via the air interface 116.

[0023] The transceiver 120 may be configured to modulate the signal transmitted by the transmit / receive element 122 and demodulate the signal received by the transmit / receive element 122. As described above, the WTRU 102 may have multimode capability. Therefore, the transceiver 120 may include multiple transceivers to enable the WTRU 102 to communicate via multiple RATs, such as NR and IEEE 802.11.

[0024] The processor 118 of the WTRU102 may be coupled to a speaker / microphone 124, a keypad 126, and / or a display / touchpad 128 (e.g., a liquid crystal display (LCD) display unit or an organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display unit) and may receive user input from these. The processor 118 may also output user data to the speaker / microphone 124, the keypad 126, and / or the display / touchpad 128. In addition, the processor 118 may access information from any type of suitable memory, such as non-removable memory 130 and / or removable memory 132, and store data in such memory. The non-removable memory 130 may include random-access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), a hard disk, or any other type of memory storage device. The removable memory 132 may include a subscriber identity module (SIM) card, a memory stick, a secure digital (SD) memory card, and the like. In other embodiments, the processor 118 may access information from memory not physically located on the WTRU 102, such as on a server or home computer (not shown), and store data in such memory.

[0025] The processor 118 may receive power from the power supply 134, but may be configured to distribute and / or control power to other components in the WTRU 102. The power supply 134 may be any suitable device for supplying power to the WTRU 102. For example, the power supply 134 may include one or more dry cell batteries (e.g., nickel-cadmium (NiCd), nickel-zinc (NiZn), nickel metal hydride (NiMH), lithium-ion (Li-ion), etc.), a solar cell, a fuel cell, etc.

[0026] The processor 118 may also be coupled to a GPS chipset 136, which may be configured to provide location information (e.g., longitude and latitude) about the current location of the WTRU 102. In addition to or instead of the information from the GPS chipset 136, the WTRU 102 may receive location information from base stations (e.g., base stations 114a, 114b) via the air interface 116 and / or determine its location based on the timing of signals received from two or more nearby base stations. It will be understood that the WTRU 102 may acquire location information by any preferred location determination method while maintaining consistency with one embodiment.

[0027] The processor 118 may be further coupled to other peripherals 138, which may include one or more software and / or hardware modules that provide additional features, functions, and / or wired or wireless connectivity. For example, peripherals 138 may include an accelerometer, an electronic compass, a satellite transceiver, a digital camera (for photos and / or videos), a universal serial bus (USB) port, a vibration device, a television transceiver, a hands-free headset, a Bluetooth® module, a frequency modulated (FM) radio unit, a digital music player, a media player, a video game player module, an internet browser, a virtual reality and / or augmented reality (VR / AR) device, an activity tracker, and the like. The peripheral device 138 may include one or more sensors, which may be one or more of the following: gyroscope, accelerometer, Hall effect sensor, magnetometer, compass sensor, proximity sensor, temperature sensor, time sensor, geolocation sensor, altimeter, light sensor, touch sensor, magnetometer, barometer, gesture sensor, biometric sensor, and / or humidity sensor.

[0028] The processor 118 of WTRU 102 can operately communicate with various peripheral devices 138, including, for example, one or more accelerometers, one or more gyroscopes, a USB port, other communication interfaces / ports, a display and / or other visual / audio indicators, in order to implement a typical embodiment disclosed herein.

[0029] WTRU102 may include a full-duplex radio in which the transmission and reception of some or all of the signals (e.g., associated with specific subframes for both UL (e.g., transmission) and downlink (e.g., reception) may be in parallel and / or simultaneous. The full-duplex radio may include an interference management unit for reducing and / or substantially eliminating self-interference via hardware (e.g., chokes) or signal processing via a processor (e.g., via a separate processor (not shown) or processor 118). In one embodiment, WTRU102 may include a half-duplex radio for the transmission and reception of any of the signals (e.g., associated with specific subframes for either UL (e.g., transmission) or downlink (e.g., reception)).

[0030] Figure 1C is a system diagram illustrating RAN104 and CN106 according to one embodiment. As described above, RAN104 can communicate with WTRU102a, 102b, and 102c via the air interface 116 using E-UTRA wireless technology. RAN104 can also communicate with CN106.

[0031] RAN104 may include eNodeB160a, 160b, and 160c, but it will be understood that RAN104 may include any number of eNodeB while maintaining consistency with one embodiment. Each of eNodeB160a, 160b, and 160c may include one or more transceivers for communicating with WTRU102a, 102b, and 102c via the air interface 116. In one embodiment, eNodeB160a, 160b, and 160c may implement MIMO technology. Thus, eNodeB160a may, for example, use multiple antennas to transmit radio signals to and / or receive radio signals from WTRU102a.

[0032] Each of the eNodeB160a, 160b, and 160c may be associated with a specific cell (not shown) and may be configured to handle wireless resource management decisions, handover decisions, user scheduling, etc., in UL and / or DL. As shown in Figure 1C, the eNodeB160a, 160b, and 160c may communicate with each other via the X2 interface.

[0033] The CN106 shown in Figure 1C may include a mobility management entity (MME) 162, a serving gateway (SGW) 164, and a packet data network (PDN) gateway (or PGW) 166. Although each of the aforementioned elements is depicted as part of CN106, it will be understood that any of these elements may be owned and / or operated by an entity other than the CN operator.

[0034] The MME162 can be connected to each of the eNodeB160a, 160b, and 160c within RAN104 via the S1 interface and can function as a control node. For example, the MME162 may perform roles such as authenticating users of WTRU102a, 102b, and 102c, activating / deactivating bearers, and selecting a specific serving gateway during the initial attachment of WTRU102a, 102b, and 102c. The MME162 may provide control plane functionality for switching between RAN104 and other RANs (not shown) employing other radio technologies such as GSM and / or WCDMA.

[0035] The SGW164 can be connected to each of the eNode-B160a, 160b, and 160c in RAN104 via the S1 interface. The SGW164 can generally route and forward user data packets to and from WTRU102a, 102b, and 102c. The SGW164 can perform other functions, such as anchoring the user plane during eNode-B handovers, triggering paging when DL data is available to WTRU102a, 102b, and 102c, and managing and remembering the context of WTRU102a, 102b, and 102c.

[0036] SGW164 may be connected to PGW166, which may provide WTRU102a, 102b, and 102c with access to a packet-switched network such as the Internet 110 to facilitate communication between WTRU102a, 102b, and 102c and IP-enabled devices.

[0037] CN106 can facilitate communication with other networks. For example, CN106 can provide WTRU102a, 102b, and 102c with access to a circuit-switched network such as PSTN108 to facilitate communication between WTRU102a, 102b, and 102c and conventional terrestrial line communication devices. For example, CN106 may include, or communicate with, an IP gateway (e.g., an IP multimedia subsystem (IMS) server) that acts as an interface between CN106 and PSTN108. In addition, CN106 may provide WTRU102a, 102b, and 102c with access to another network 112, which may include other wired and / or wireless networks owned and / or operated by other service providers.

[0038] Although the WTRU is shown as a wireless terminal in Figures 1A to 1D, in certain representative embodiments, such a terminal is intended to be able to use a wired communication interface (e.g., temporary or permanent) with a communication network.

[0039] In a typical embodiment, the other network 112 may be a WLAN.

[0040] A WLAN in Basic Service Set (BSS) mode may have access points (APs) of the BSS and one or more stations (STAs) associated with the APs. APs may have access to or interfaces with another type of wired / wireless network that carries traffic entering and / or leaving the Distribution System (DS) or BSS. Traffic originating outside the BSS and destined for the STAs may reach and be delivered to the STAs via the APs. Traffic originating from the STAs and destined for destinations outside the BSS may be sent to the APs and then delivered to their respective destinations. Traffic between STAs within the BSS may be transmitted, for example, via APs; a source STA may send traffic to the AP, and the AP may deliver the traffic to the destination STA. Traffic between STAs within the BSS may be considered and / or referred to as peer-to-peer traffic. Peer-to-peer traffic may be transmitted between a source STA and a destination STA (for example, directly between them) via a direct link setup (DLS). In certain representative embodiments, the DLS may use 802.11e DLS or 802.11z tunneled DLS (TDLS). A WLAN using Independent BSS (IBSS) mode may not have APs, and STAs within or using IBSS (e.g., all STAs) may communicate directly with each other. The IBSS mode of communication may be referred to herein as “ad hoc” communication mode.

[0041] When using the 802.11ac infrastructure operating mode or a similar operating mode, an AP may transmit beacons on a fixed channel, such as the primary channel. The primary channel may be of a fixed width (e.g., a 20 MHz bandwidth) or a width dynamically set via signaling. The primary channel may be the operating channel of the BSS and may be used by the STA to establish a connection with the AP. In certain typical embodiments, for example, in an 802.11 system, Carrier Sense Multiple Access / Collision Avoidance (CSMA / CA) may be implemented. In the case of CSMA / CA, the STA, including the AP (e.g., all STAs), may sense the primary channel. If the primary channel is sensed / detected and / or determined to be busy by a particular STA, that STA may be backed off. A single STA (e.g., only one station) may transmit at any given time on a given BSS.

[0042] High-throughput (HT) STAs may use a 40 MHz wide channel for communication, which may be formed, for example, through a combination of a primary 20 MHz channel and adjacent or non-adjacent 20 MHz channels.

[0043] Very High Throughput (VHT) STAs can support channels with widths of 20 MHz, 40 MHz, 80 MHz, and / or 160 MHz. The 40 MHz and / or 80 MHz channels can be formed by combining consecutive 20 MHz channels. A 160 MHz channel can be formed by combining eight consecutive 20 MHz channels, or by combining two non-contiguous 80 MHz channels, which may be referred to as an 80+80 configuration. In the 80+80 configuration, after channel coding, the data can pass through a segment parser that can split the data into two streams. Inverse Fast Fourier Transform (IFFT) and time-domain processing can be performed separately for each stream. The streams may be mapped to two 80 MHz channels, and the data can be transmitted by a transmitting STA. At the receiver of a receiving STA, the operation described above for the 80+80 configuration may be reversed, and the combined data may be transmitted to Medium Access Control (MAC).

[0044] Sub-1 GHz operating modes are supported by 802.11af and 802.11ah. Channel operating bandwidth and carrier are reduced in 802.11af and 802.11ah compared to those used in 802.11n and 802.11ac. 802.11af supports 5 MHz, 10 MHz, and 20 MHz bandwidths in the TV White Space (TVWS) spectrum, while 802.11ah supports 1 MHz, 2 MHz, 4 MHz, 8 MHz, and 16 MHz bandwidths using the non-TVWS spectrum. According to a typical embodiment, 802.11ah may support meter-type control / machine-type communications, such as MTC devices in a macro coverage area. MTC devices may have certain capabilities, including support for specific and / or limited bandwidths (e.g., support only for that). MTC devices may include batteries with battery life exceeding a threshold (e.g., to maintain very long battery life).

[0045] A WLAN system capable of supporting multiple channels and channel bandwidths such as 802.11n, 802.11ac, 802.11af, and 802.11ah includes a channel that can be designated as the primary channel. The primary channel may have a bandwidth equal to the maximum common operating bandwidth supported by all STAs in the BSS. The bandwidth of the primary channel may be set and / or limited by an STA from among all STAs operating in a BSS that support the minimum bandwidth operating mode. In the 802.11ah example, the primary channel may be 1 MHz wide for an STA (e.g., an MTC type device) that supports (e.g., only) the 1 MHz mode, even if other STAs in the AP and BSS support 2 MHz, 4 MHz, 8 MHz, 16 MHz, and / or other channel bandwidth operating modes. Carrier sensing and / or Network Allocation Vector (NAV) settings may depend on the state of the primary channel. For example, if the primary channel is busy due to an STA (which only supports 1MHz operating mode) transmitting to the AP, a large portion of the frequency band may remain idle and could be considered busy, even if it were available.

[0046] In the United States, the available frequency band that can be used by 802.11ah is 902MHz to 928MHz. In South Korea, the available frequency band is 917.5MHz to 923.5MHz. In Japan, the available frequency band is 916.5MHz to 927.5MHz. The total bandwidth available for 802.11ah is 6MHz to 26MHz, depending on the country code.

[0047] Figure 1D is a system diagram illustrating RAN113 and CN115 according to one embodiment. As described above, RAN113 can communicate with WTRU102a, 102b, and 102c via the air interface 116 using NR radio technology. RAN113 can also communicate with CN115.

[0048] RAN113 may include gNB180a, 180b, and 180c, but it will be understood that RAN113 may include any number of gNBs while maintaining consistency with one embodiment. Each of gNB180a, 180b, and 180c may include one or more transceivers for communicating with WTRU102a, 102b, and 102c via the air interface 116. In one embodiment, gNB180a, 180b, and 180c may implement MIMO technology. For example, gNB180a and 180b may transmit and / or receive signals to and from gNB180a, 180b, and 180c using beamforming. Thus, gNB180a may, for example, use multiple antennas to transmit and / or receive radio signals from WTRU102a. In one embodiment, gNB180a, 180b, and 180c may implement carrier aggregation technology. For example, gNB180a may transmit multiple component carriers to WTRU102a (not shown). A subset of these component carriers may be on the unauthorized spectrum, and the remaining component carriers may be on the authorized spectrum. In one embodiment, gNB180a, 180b, and 180c may implement coordinated multi-point (CoMP) technology. For example, WTRU102a may receive coordinated transmissions from gNB180a and gNB180b (and / or gNB180c).

[0049] WTRU102a, 102b, and 102c may communicate with gNB180a, 180b, and 180c using transmissions associated with scalable numerology. For example, OFDM symbol intervals and / or OFDM subcarrier intervals may vary for different transmissions, different cells, and / or different portions of the radio transmission spectrum. WTRU102a, 102b, and 102c may communicate with gNB180a, 180b, and 180c using subframes or transmission time intervals (TTIs) of varying or scalable lengths (e.g., containing varying numbers of OFDM symbols and / or having varying absolute time durations).

[0050] gNB180a, 180b, and 180c can be configured to communicate with WTRU102a, 102b, and 102c in standalone and / or non-standalone configurations. In a standalone configuration, WTRU102a, 102b, and 102c can communicate with gNB180a, 180b, and 180c without accessing other RANs (e.g., eNodeB160a, 160b, and 160c). In a standalone configuration, WTRU102a, 102b, and 102c can utilize one or more of gNB180a, 180b, and 180c as mobility anchor points. In a standalone configuration, WTRU102a, 102b, and 102c can communicate with gNB180a, 180b, and 180c using signals in unlicensed bands. In a non-standalone configuration, WTRU102a, 102b, and 102c can communicate with and connect to gNB180a, 180b, and 180c, while also communicating with and connecting to other RANs such as eNodeB160a, 160b, and 160c. For example, WTRU102a, 102b, and 102c can implement DC principles for substantially simultaneous communication with one or more gNB180a, 180b, and 180c and one or more eNodeB160a, 160b, and 160c. In a non-standalone configuration, eNodeB160a, 160b, and 160c can function as mobility anchors for WTRU102a, 102b, and 102c, while gNB180a, 180b, and 180c can provide additional coverage and / or throughput to service WTRU102a, 102b, and 102c.

[0051] Each of the gNB180a, 180b, and 180c may be associated with a specific cell (not shown) and may be configured to handle wireless resource management decisions, handover decisions, user scheduling in UL and / or DL, support for network slicing, dual connectivity, interworking between NR and E-UTRA, routing of user plane data to User Plane Functions (UPFs) 184a and 184b, routing of control plane information to Access and Mobility Management Functions (AMFs) 182a and 182b, and so on. As shown in Figure 1D, the gNB180a, 180b, and 180c may communicate with each other via the Xn interface.

[0052] The CN115 shown in Figure 1D may include at least one AMF182a, 182b, at least one UPF184a, 184b, at least one Session Management Function (SMF)183a, 183b, and possibly a Data Network (DN)185a, 185b. Although each of the aforementioned elements is depicted as part of the CN115, it will be understood that any of these elements may be owned and / or operated by entities other than the CN operator.

[0053] AMF182a and 182b can be connected to one or more of gNB180a, 180b, and 180c in RAN113 via the N2 interface and can function as control nodes. For example, AMF182a and 182b can play roles such as user authentication for WTRU102a, 102b, and 102c, support for network slicing (e.g., handling different protocol data unit (PDU) sessions with different requirements), selection of SMF183a and 183b for registration, management of registration areas, termination of non-access stratum (NAS) signaling, and mobility management. Network slicing can be used by AMF182a and 182b to customize CN support for WTRU102a, 102b, and 102c based on the type of service utilizing WTRU102a, 102b, and 102c. For example, different network slices may be established for different use cases, such as services relying on ultra-reliable low latency (URLLC) access, services relying on enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) access, services for machine type communication (MTC) access, and / or similar. The AMF162 may provide control plane functionality for switching between RAN113 and other RANs (not shown) employing other radio technologies such as LTE, LTE-A, LTE-A Pro, and / or non-3GPP access technologies such as WiFi.

[0054] SMF183a and 183b can be connected to AMF182a and 182b in CN115 via the N11 interface. SMF183a and 183b can also be connected to UPF184a and 184b in CN115 via the N4 interface. SMF183a and 183b can select and control UPF184a and 184b and configure the routing of traffic through UPF184a and 184b. SMF183a and 183b can perform other functions such as managing and allocating IP addresses for WTRU102, managing PDU sessions, controlling policy enforcement and QoS, and providing downlink data notifications. PDU session types can be IP-based, non-IP-based, Ethernet-based, etc.

[0055] UPF184a and 184b may be connected via the N3 interface to one or more gNB180a, 180b, and 180c in RAN113, thereby providing WTRU102a, 102b, and 102c with access to a packet-switched network such as the Internet 110 to facilitate communication between WTRU102a, 102b, and 102c and IP-enabled devices. UPF184 and 184b may perform other functions such as routing and forwarding packets, enforcing user plane policies, supporting multi-homed PDU sessions, handling user plane QoS, buffering downlink packets, and providing mobility anchoring.

[0056] CN115 can facilitate communication with other networks. For example, CN115 may include, or communicate with, an IP gateway (e.g., an IP multimedia subsystem (IMS) server) that functions as an interface between CN115 and PSTN108. In addition, CN115 may provide WTRU102a, 102b, 102c with access to other networks 112, which may include other wired and / or wireless networks owned and / or operated by other service providers. In one embodiment, WTRU102a, 102b, 102c may be connected to local data networks (DNs) 185a, 185b via UPF184a, 184b through an N3 interface to UPF184a, 184b, and an N6 interface between UPF184a, 184b and DN185a, 185b.

[0057] In view of the corresponding descriptions in Figures 1A to 1D, with respect to one or more of the WTRU102a-d, base stations 114a-b, eNodeB160a-c, MME162, SGW164, PGW166, gNB180a-c, AMF182a-b, UPF184a-b, SMF183a-b, DN185a-b, and / or any other devices described herein, one or more of the functions described herein may be performed by one or more emulation devices (not shown). An emulation device may be one or more devices configured to emulate one or more of the functions described herein. For example, an emulation device may be used to test other devices and / or simulate network and / or WTRU functions.

[0058] Emulation devices may be designed to implement testing of one or more other devices in a laboratory and / or operator network environment. For example, one or more emulation devices may perform one or more or all functions while fully or partially implemented and / or deployed as part of a wired and / or wireless network to test other devices in a communications network. One or more emulation devices may perform one or more or all functions while temporarily implemented / deployed as part of a wired and / or wireless network. Emulation devices may be directly coupled to another device for testing purposes and / or may perform testing using terrestrial radio communication.

[0059] One or more emulation devices may perform one or more functions, including all of the above, while not implemented / deployed as part of a wired and / or wireless communication network. For example, an emulation device may be used in a test laboratory test scenario, and / or in a wired and / or wireless communication network that is not deployed (e.g., for testing purposes), to implement testing of one or more components. One or more emulation devices may be test equipment. Direct RF coupling and / or wireless communication via RF circuitry (e.g., which may include one or more antennas) may be used by the emulation device to transmit and / or receive data.

[0060] The following acronyms may be used in connection with the descriptions provided herein. RRC (Radio Resource Control) SSB Synchronization signal block SINR (Signal-to-interference noise ratio) DCI Downlink Control Information RAN (Radio Access Network) PDCCH Physical Downlink Control Channel PDSCH (Physical Downlink Shared Data Channel) CORESET Control resource set BWP Bandwidth Part Early paging indication (EPI) RS reference signal CSI-RS Channel State Information Reference Signal TRS (Tracking Reference Signal) PO Paging Occasion SIB System Information (System information block) CE control element QCL (Quasi-colocation)

[0061] In certain representative embodiments, methods, apparatus, and systems may be implemented for flexible early paging frequency indication and paging capability for idle and / or inactive mode UEs.

[0062] In certain representative embodiments, methods, apparatus, and systems may be implemented for flexible early paging frequency indication and paging capability for idle and / or inactive mode UEs.

[0063] In certain representative embodiments, the UE may transmit multiple (e.g., a minimum and / or required number) (e.g., consecutive) SSB bursts and / or downlink sequences to achieve complete synchronization (as otherwise referred herein) with the radio interface.

[0064] In a particular representative embodiment, the UE may receive either the following upper-layer or lower-layer configurations, namely, EPI downlink control information, validity and / or availability information, idle and / or inactive paging-specific RS, patterns and / or resource sets, and availability duration indications (e.g., information), and / or any connection mode paging-specific RS, patterns and / or resource sets, numerology, QCL information and / or availability duration indications.

[0065] In certain representative embodiments, once the UE determines idle and / or connected RS availability, it may perform skip detection and / or sleep over all or part of the SSB burst before any (e.g., each) paging occasion.

[0066] In certain representative embodiments, the UE may detect any of the available connection mode RS occasions, idle and / or inactive RS occasions, and / or a portion of the SSB bursts, and / or synchronize with them (e.g., fully synchronized or partially synchronized).

[0067] In certain representative embodiments, the UE can perform monitoring and / or blind decoding of various indicated occasions of the EPI DCI according to idle and / or inactive RS-specific EPI and / or connection mode EPI frequency information.

[0068] In certain representative embodiments, the UE may assume (e.g., determine) that the configured idle-specific RS and / or connection mode-specific CSI-RS, TRS and / or RS occasions are no longer available when the corresponding validity and / or availability directive has expired. For example, an idle and / or inactive UE (otherwise used herein to refer to either a UE operating in IDLE mode or a UE operating in INACTIVE mode) may perform monitoring and / or detection of SSB bursts and / or downlink sequences for synchronization and paging DCI prior to each paging occasion.

[0069] This specification describes a specific example of the energy efficiency of a UE in the context of cellular communications, but it should be understood that similar energy efficiency improvements can be achieved when such an example is applied to other wireless systems, such as WLAN (e.g., IEEE 802.11 Wi-Fi) systems.

[0070] Wireless resource control status The early stages of the 5G NR specification in Release 15 include several improvements to the Radio Resource Control (RRC) layer. One of these enhancements is the introduction of the INACTIVE RRC state to minimize power consumption and latency for UEs attempting to access the radio interface. There are three (e.g., primary) RRC states, as follows: RRC Idle: The network RAN ​​and core network are unaware of UE status and mobility. Measurement, reporting, and mobility control may not be required. UE context information does not need to be stored in any gNB on the network. The UE location can only be known to the access and mobility function entity (AMF) at the RAN notification area level, and it may include a set of neighboring gNBs in the surrounding geographic area. The idle-mode UE may continuously (e.g., periodically) monitor the experienced coverage levels of the currently selected cell and adjacent cells, and therefore the idle-mode UE may perform cell reselection operations. RRC Inactive: The network RAN ​​portion is not fully aware of the UE status and mobility. However, the network core entity retains UE context information such as its own subscription information, access priority, and encryption keys. The network core is still fully aware of the UE information. Therefore, when an inactive mode UE attempts to transition to a connected state (e.g., for payload transmission and / or reception), only the RAN portion needs to be established. In this way, a faster and less energy-intensive transition to a connected state is achieved. The Release 15 specification defines several triggers and methods for a UE to roll back to an RRC inactive state. RRC Connectivity: UE full status is fully known and controlled by the network. The exact serving cell of a connected UE is determined, measured, and activated for its ongoing transmission. UE mobility is also fully controlled by the network.

[0071] Paging procedure in 5G NR systems Ideally, UEs in idle and inactive modes should be in a deep sleep state (e.g., shutting down their transceiver ends) unless there is incoming traffic for them. However, in order for those UEs to notify and / or recognize incoming downlink payloads, the network may configure idle and / or inactive UEs using a periodic set of paging occasions within a particular frame (e.g., a set of frames), and idle and inactive UEs should periodically wake up, monitor, and determine if there is a paging instruction. Specifically, in RRC idle and / or inactive mode, UEs wake up sequentially according to a configured paging cycle to check whether one and / or more UEs are being paged in the current paging occasion. Before transitioning to the RRC connected state to be paged, UEs may follow three steps as follows: 1. Due to long sleep periods, the UE may not be synchronized with the radio interface. Therefore, the UE may first attempt to resynchronize with the NR radio interface by detecting at least a single synchronization signal block (SSB). Different UEs with different implementations (e.g., from various UE vendors) may require different numbers of SSBs and / or radio sequences before achieving full synchronization with the network. For example, a UE with good signal-to-noise ratio (SINR) conditions may be able to resynchronize with the radio network by detecting a single SSB and / or sequence signal. A UE with poor SINR conditions may require additional SSB instances to resynchronize. 2. After the UE is fully synchronized with the RAN, the UE may attempt to blindly decode paging downlink control information (DCI) transmitted over possible physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) occasions (e.g., occasions pre-configured by the upper layer). Paging DCI indicates to idle and / or inactive UEs that there is at least one UE with incoming traffic in the downlink direction. If no paging DCI is detected on a PDCCH resource, the idle and / or inactive UE may assume there is no paging in the current paging opportunity and therefore can continue to sleep until the next paging occasion. 3. If an idle and / or inactive UE detects the presence of a paging DCI during a paging occasion, the UE can decode a subsequent physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) data resource to read the paging record. The paging record is an indication of one or more IDs of any idle and / or inactive UE being paged. From the UE's perspective, if the paging record contains its own temporary ID, the corresponding UE may trigger a random access procedure to switch to the RRC CONNECTED state.

[0072] Typically, there can be several trade-offs to achieve adequate paging performance. The frequency of paging occasions and paging DCIs can affect paging performance. For example, more frequent paging occasions and paging DCIs may lead to less packet buffering delay. However, more frequent (e.g., more frequent) paging may wake up the UE more often, affecting battery consumption performance and / or PDCCH capacity consumption. More frequent paging DCIs may suggest a larger PDCCH coreset, and therefore less remaining PDCCH resources for other control and scheduling information, as well as less bandwidth portion data resources overall for data transmission over the PDCCH. More flexible procedures for delivering paging information may be essential to achieve improved paging performance and power saving gains in the UE, while also avoiding overloading (e.g., excessive consumption) of network resources by DCIs. Certain representative embodiments disclosed herein can achieve such advantageous effects.

[0073] Power saving extensions for idle and / or inactive UEs Improving the battery consumption performance (e.g., power saving capability) of idle and / or inactive UE paging is essential for current and future cellular networks such as 5G NR and beyond. In certain representative embodiments, improvements may be made that can improve procedures involving early paging instructions and / or assisted paging-specific RS. Such improvements may be applicable to 5G NR systems and / or next-generation systems.

[0074] Idle and / or inactive mode UEs can be woken up during a paging occasion (e.g., always) to detect paging DCI by blind decoding possible PDCCH opportunities. If there is no paging instruction (e.g., during DCI), the UE can return to sleep until the next paging occasion. Such blind decoding procedures can draw a considerable amount of battery life from the UE and / or may be unnecessary if the UE is not actually paging.

[0075] An Early Paging Instruction (EPI) DCI may be given prior to a paging occasion. The EPI DCI can indicate whether a paging DCI is present (e.g., transmitted) over a PDCCH opportunity. If there is a false EPI and / or no EPI DCI, the UE can assume that at least its paging group is not being paged and can return to sleep (e.g., deep sleep) until the next paging occasion. Dynamic EPI activation procedures are described herein that can favorably achieve normal UE-specific and / or paging group-specific battery performance gains (e.g., power savings) and / or favorably avoid the transmission of unnecessary and / or excessive control information (e.g., EPI DCI) by the network.

[0076] Idle and / or inactive mode UEs can wake up earlier before each paging occasion to enter full synchronization with the network. Without being fully synchronized with the RAN, idle and / or inactive mode UEs may not be able to detect any of the EPI DCI, paging DCI, and / or paging records. For example, different UEs (e.g., from different vendors and / or under different SINR conditions) may require detecting a varying number of synchronization signal blocks (SSBs) before each paging occasion. SSB transmissions can generally have a large, fixed periodicity (e.g., minimum 20ms). This may cause idle and / or inactive mode UEs to wake up for the duration of multiple SSBs before each paging occasion, which can result in significant power saving limitations at the UE.

[0077] A network (e.g., a gNB) may transmit an assisting paging-specific RS (sometimes referred to herein as assisting paging-specific RS) that may be temporally close to each paging occasion, where an idle and / or inactive mode UE may wake up (e.g., only) just a short time before. Semistatic, dynamic, and / or hybrid procedures with paging-specific reference signals are described herein and may be applicable to 5G NR systems and / or future generation systems.

[0078] Firstly, idle and / or inactive mode UEs (e.g., in IDLE or INACTIVE RRC mode) may have specific requirements for synchronizing with the radio interface before detecting paging occasions. For high-quality UEs and / or UEs with good SINR conditions, a single SSB and / or sequence detection may be sufficient to achieve full synchronization with the network before subsequent paging occasions can be read. For other low-quality UEs and / or UEs with poor SINR conditions, multiple SSBs and / or sequence detections may be required before subsequent paging occasions can be read.

[0079] The DCI for an Early Paging Instruction (EPI) may be sent after each SSB and / or sequence burst (e.g., immediately after). This can improve paging performance at the expense of the default bandwidth portion (BWP) through which the paging instruction is sent and / or the PDCCH and / or CORESET capacity overwhelmed by the BWP. This impact on PDCCH and / or CORESET capacity may be undesirable, as the default and / or paging BWP capacity is essential for all other idle and / or inactive UEs, as well as connected UEs that share the same BWP for ongoing transmissions.

[0080] The DCI for an Early Paging Instruction (EPI) may be transmitted before a paging occasion, after a single SSB burst (e.g., immediately after), and / or using a fixed pattern of multiple SSB bursts in an SSB group. This can alleviate the PDCCH capacity of the associated BWP. However, this may also degrade the paging power saving performance of idle and / or inactive UEs, as some low SINR and / or low-quality UEs may not be able to blind-decode the EPI DCI because the UE is still not synchronized with the radio interface. In such cases, those (e.g., unsynchronized) UEs may generally proceed by assuming the worst-case scenario and reading the maximum number of SSB bursts before a paging occasion, and therefore reading the paging DCI and / or paging record. Such a procedure may prevent any power saving gain from being realized.

[0081] In short, a framework with a fixed (e.g., fixed pattern) EPI delivery structure may limit the power saving gains in any idle and / or inactive mode UEs and / or negatively impact the PDCCH and / or CORESET capacity of the BWP used for paging. Therefore, a flexible EPI DCI delivery procedure is needed that allows the network to dynamically trade off between the PDCCH and / or CORESET capacity of the paging BWP and the time-varying paging performance of any idle and / or inactive UEs.

[0082] Secondly, idle and / or inactive mode UEs (e.g., in IDLE or INACTIVE RRC mode) may need to be woken up before each paging DCI occasion, for example, to synchronize with the radio interface. Idle and / or inactive mode UEs may generally rely on detecting one or more SSB bursts and / or sequences transmitted prior to the paging occasion for that purpose. In such cases, these UEs may be woken up too early before the actual paging occasion in order to detect periodic SSB signals. For example, an idle UE (e.g., in idle RRC mode) that needs to detect three SSBs before the paging occasion may wake up 80ms before the paging DCI occasion, assuming a 20ms periodicity (e.g., standardized periodicity) of the SSB block transmission. This may prevent idle and / or inactive mode UEs from remaining in deep sleep for extended periods. Significant power saving losses can be expected when a low SINR and / or low-quality idle UE wakes up for 80ms (e.g., the duration of three SSBs) but does not actually page and may skip paging records. For example, using an 80ms wake-up period may be unnecessary, providing an opportunity to improve UE power savings in light of the above.

[0083] A connection mode channel status information reference signal (CSI-RS), tracking reference signal (TRS), and / or another (e.g., general-purpose) reference signal (RS) (referred to herein, as may be, CSI-RS / TRS / RS or CSI-RS, TRS, and / or RS) can be considered an alternative to using SSB to resync (e.g., resynchronize) idle mode UEs and / or inactive mode UEs before the paging occasion. Power saving gains can primarily arise from identifying CSI-RS / TRS / RS occasions that are temporally close (e.g., as close as possible) to the actual paging occasion. This allows idle and / or inactive UEs to avoid waking up too early before the paging occasion. However, several considerations may need to be addressed to achieve such a design.

[0084] For example, idle and / or inactive UEs may need to quickly and / or efficiently recognize the presence of CSI-RS / TRS / RS signals. This could allow the UE to reliably enter deep sleep (e.g., state) over a certain SSB before a paging occasion, assuming that the presence of CSI-RS / TRS / RS signals can be guaranteed to be transmitted before the paging DCI. Otherwise, from the UE's perspective, if the presence of CSI-RS / TRS / RS signals is dynamically configured and not necessarily guaranteed, the UE may always assume the worst-case scenario because there are no available CSI-RS / TRS / RS signals. Thus, the UE may wake up over an SSB burst before each paging occasion. Such behavior may limit the power saving gains achievable at the UE, even though (e.g., nevertheless) the network transmits (e.g., notifies) CSI-RS / TRS / RS occasions for idle and / or inactive UEs.

[0085] Sharing CSI-RS / TRS / RS signals of a connected mode UE with idle and / or inactive mode UEs may primarily depend on the availability of CSI-RS / TRS / RS signals and / or configuration compatibility of available CSI-RS / TRS / RS signals with the BWP where paging takes place. For example, the availability of CSI-RS / TRS / RS signals may depend on when the idle and / or inactive UE is expected to resynchronize with the radio interface (e.g., before a paging occasion). For example, available CSI-RS / TRS / RS signals of a connected mode UE may come from a BWP different from the default and / or paging BWP. Therefore, those BWPs may be configured with different numerology settings (e.g., subcarrier spacing configuration) and / or different pseudo-collocation (QCL) settings than the default and / or paging BWP. Consequently, idle and / or inactive UEs may skip such CSI-RS / TRS / RS occasions because the UE may not be able to process multiple signals with different numerology immediately after each other. This could lead to CSI-RS / TRS / RS sharing being of little use to any idle and / or inactive UE, and most dangerously, if such knowledge is not passed to idle and / or inactive UE with sufficient prior notice (e.g., sufficiently early), idle and / or inactive UE may completely miss subsequent paging occasions, as they may rely on the presence of inconsistent CSI-RS / TRS / RS occasions.

[0086] In short, transmitting a fixed pattern and / or periodic (e.g., always-on) paging-specific RS before each paging occasion can impose (e.g., significant) limitations on the PDSCH capacity of the paging BWP. Furthermore, sharing connection-mode CSI-RS / TRS / RS signals with idle and / or inactive UEs can lead to further challenges, or conversely, further degradation of UE battery consumption performance, such as when the UE configuration is incompatible with the paging BWP. Providing flexible procedures for delivering paging-specific RS and / or sharing connection-mode CSI-RS / TRS / RS with idle and / or inactive UEs may be important to achieve adequate power saving gains in idle and / or inactive UEs.

[0087] In certain representative embodiments, methods, apparatus, and systems can implement flexible procedures for early paging instructions (EPI). These procedures can enable the network to manage paging performance and / or UE power performance using the PDCCH and / or CORESET capabilities of the paging BWP (e.g., dynamically trade off). In certain representative embodiments, methods, apparatus, and systems can implement signaling procedures for paging-specific reference signals (e.g., with idle and / or inactive UEs). Such reference signals may include, but are not limited to, CSI-RS and / or tracking reference signals (TRS). Such procedures may provide extensions for achieving power savings in any idle and / or inactive UEs.

[0088] As used herein, the paging bandwidth portion (BWP) may refer to a radio BWP (e.g., general-purpose or specific) on which paging procedures and corresponding signaling can be performed (e.g., transmitted and / or received). For example, in 5G NR, the paging BWP may be a configured BWP of a radio interface.

[0089] As used herein, QCL may refer to a QCL configuration that defines how different transmitted signals relate to each other. For example, a first signal may be indicated to be QCL-converted into a second signal, suggesting that a UE receiving such a second signal may, knowing their QCL configuration, be able to infer and / or deduce channel conditions (e.g., channel estimation) from receiving the first signal. Without losing generalization, in current 5G NR, QCL may be defined by multiple QCL types, each type indicating that at least two signals are QCL-converted with respect to channel Doppler shift, Doppler spread, mean delay, and / or delay spread. For example, a PDCCH-controlled transmit may be QCL-converted along with the preceding SSB signal. The UE can then use a similar channel estimation of the SSB to decode the PDCCH. From the UE's perspective, both the PDCCH transmit and the SSB transmit may be assumed to have been transmitted from the same antenna port at the serving RAN node (e.g., gNB).

[0090] As used herein, PDCCH capacity may refer to the fact that within each BWP, the PDCCH is defined by a control resource set (CORESET), which may consist of various physical resource block (PRB) sizes and the duration of one or more OFDM symbols. For example, a BWP may have up to three CORESETs, and the gNB may determine the PDCCH size according to the size of the US control information transmitted to the UE, the UE SINR conditions (e.g., unknown to the gNB for idle and / or inactive UEs), and / or the size of the downlink allocation. PDCCH capacity can be a bottleneck in a radio system. Increasing the number of control information elements transmitted suggests a larger CORESET size within the BWP, and accordingly reduces the CORESET size available for other data allocation information. Furthermore, always utilizing the maximum CORESET size of each BWP suggests that fewer resources are available for data transmission, and therefore reduces useful spectral efficiency.

[0091] As used herein, blind decoding (e.g., PDCCH blind decoding) may refer to a channel (e.g., PDCCH) used to indicate the next downlink or uplink assignment and the corresponding radio configuration to the UE. PDCCH transmissions, and their respective downlink control information (DCI), have a wide set of bitwise formats and sizes. For example, a network may, in some cases, need to transmit a large number of DCI bits (e.g., long DCI format). In some other cases, a network may need to transmit a small number of DCI bits (e.g., short DCI format). In both cases, the format and / or structure of the PDCCH transmission, as well as the corresponding size, may change dynamically over time. However, as a common problem, the UE may not be aware of such dynamic adaptations. Therefore, the UE may configure multiple common and UE-specific resource candidates for PDCCH transmissions (e.g., by high-level signaling), and the UE may use their assigned RNTI IDs to perform continuous monitoring and blind decoding attempts. Blind decoding suggests that the UE does not truly know, at the time of decoding, whether any such PDCCH transmission is targeted at them. For example, if the UE detects a CRC error after a decoding operation, the UE may skip such a PDCCH candidate. Generally, blind decoding is not energy efficient, and therefore, to improve UE battery consumption, the number of UE blind decoding operations may be minimized.

[0092] As used herein, CSI-RS, TRS, and / or RS may refer to (e.g., general or specific) reference signals transmitted from a RAN node (e.g., gNB) used in a UE to estimate their channel conditions and / or to enter a synchronized state with the network (e.g., full synchronization). CSI-RS / TRS / RS may be dynamically scheduled and transmitted in the downlink direction. Reference signal transmissions as used herein include, but are not limited to, channel state information reference signals (CSI-RS) and / or tracking reference signals (TRS).

[0093] As used herein, idle and / or inactive RS may refer to any connection mode RS and any paging-specific RS unless otherwise stated.

[0094] As used herein, idle and / or inactive UE may refer to any UE in idle mode and any UE in inactive mode.

[0095] The timing resources used herein may refer to continuous or discontinuous portions of a time domain.

[0096] As used herein, frequency resources may refer to continuous or discontinuous portions of the frequency domain.

[0097] Early paging information distribution procedure Dynamic procedures may be implemented for EPI DCI delivery to idle and / or inactive UEs under different SINR conditions. For example, a UE may determine and transmit the minimum number of SSB bursts and / or sequence detections (e.g., required) prior to paging occasions to fully synchronize with the network. The indication of this information (e.g., number) may be UE-specific and / or depend on UE-specific channel conditions and / or transceiver capabilities. The network (e.g., gNB) may dynamically configure idle and / or inactive UEs with flexible EPI DCI generation and / or signaling frequencies based on either actual paging performance, time-varying paging rates, and / or the available PDCCH and / or CORESET capacity of the BWP (e.g., the BWP on which paging is performed). For example, under very degraded SINR conditions, the network (e.g., gNB) may transmit EPI DCI after each SSB / sequence block (e.g., trading off PDCCH / CORESET capacity to improve paging and power consumption performance). Under good and / or ideal SINR conditions, the EPI DCI may be transmitted after a subset of nSSB / sequences prior to a paging occasion (e.g., only transmitted). The network (e.g., gNB) may dynamically configure idle and / or inactive UEs using an EPI frequency configuration (e.g., an EPI frequency indicator). For example, an EPI frequency indicator may be configured for each paging occasion and / or each set of paging occasions.

[0098] Figure 2 shows a typical procedure for configuring Early Paging Information (EPI) Downlink Control Information (DCI) in WTRU 102 (e.g., UE). As shown in Figure 2, this procedure may be implemented in the UE when the UE is in inactive mode and / or idle mode (e.g., after receiving an RRC connection release message). The procedure for idle and / or inactive UEs can then proceed in 202 to receive any upper-layer configuration (e.g., from the gNB) of EPI DCI frequency and / or availability / validity information (e.g., via system information and / or RRC signaling). For example, this information may be received with respect to multiple EPI configuration sets, EPI DCI periodicity, default EPI configuration set, and / or configuration availability duration. For example, the information may be scrambled using either a common paging RNTI (e.g., paging ID) and / or a paging group RNTI (e.g., group-based ID). The UE may then proceed in 204 to determine the current (e.g., active) EPI configuration set based on the received (e.g., latest) EPI DCI. The UE may then perform (e.g., arbitrary) EPI DCI occasion detection and blind decoding therein according to the active EPI DCI configuration set. The UE may then determine in 206 whether the active (e.g., current) EPI configuration set is still valid (e.g., expired). If the active (e.g., current) EPI configuration set is still valid (e.g., not expired), the procedure may continue in 208 to determine whether there is a lower-layer (e.g., DCI) EPI configuration update and / or whether there is a complete or partial overwrite of the active EPI configuration. For example, the UE may reconfigure the current active EPI DCI configuration by lower-layer (e.g., DCI) signaling to update it. If there is no lower-layer EPI configuration, the procedure can return to detecting and blind decoding EPI DCI occasions according to the active EPI configuration set (for example, using it).If the active (e.g., current) EPI configuration set is no longer valid (e.g., expired), the UE may proceed at 210 to activate the default EPI configuration set (e.g., if a default EPI configuration set is configured) and attempt to detect and decode any EPI DCI occasions corresponding to the default EPI DCI configuration set. If the active (e.g., current) EPI configuration set is no longer valid (e.g., expired), the UE may proceed to decode any paging DCI, either additionally or as an alternative, when it is assumed or determined that there are no further EPI DCI occasions available for detection at 210. The UE may then return to receiving any higher-layer configuration (e.g., system information and / or updates via RRC signaling) of EPI DCI frequency and / or availability / validity information (e.g., updates via system information and / or RRC signaling) (e.g., from the gNB), as described herein.

[0099] A UE may be reconfigured by lower-tier (e.g., DCI) signaling to update the current active EPI DCI configuration. As described herein, a UE may be configured with multiple EPI configuration sets, EPI DCI periodicity, a default EPI configuration set, and / or configuration availability duration. For example, a UE may use lower-tier signaling to deactivate the current EPI DCI configuration and / or activate another EPI DCI configuration from any configured EPI configuration set.

[0100] Figure 3 shows another typical procedure for configuring EPI DCI that may be implemented in a WTRU (e.g., UE). As shown in Figure 3, this procedure may be implemented in a UE when the UE is in inactive mode and / or idle mode. For idle and / or inactive UEs, the procedure can then proceed in 302 to transmit multiple (e.g., the minimum required number) consecutive SSB bursts and / or downlink sequences to achieve synchronization (e.g., full synchronization) with the radio interface. For idle and / or inactive UEs, the procedure can then proceed in 304 to receive and / or update any higher-layer configuration (e.g., via system information and / or RRC signaling) of EPI DCI frequencies and / or any corresponding availability / validity information from the network (e.g., gNB). For example, this information may be received with respect to multiple EPI configuration sets, EPI DCI periodicity, default EPI configuration set, and / or configuration availability duration. For example, information may be scrambled using either a common paging RNTI (e.g., paging ID) and / or a paging group RNTI (e.g., group-based ID). The UE may then wait in 306 until the next paging occasion. The UE may then determine in 308 whether the received (e.g., current) EPI DCI frequency information is valid. If the current EPI DCI frequency information is not valid, the UE may then assume in 310 that there are no further available EPI DCI occasions and / or activate the default EPI configuration set. For example, the UE may activate the default EPI configuration set, provided that the default EPI configuration set has been previously configured (e.g., pre-configured). The UE may then proceed to perform blind decoding of any paging DCI of the paging occasion (e.g., without sleeping). The RACH procedure may be triggered in the UE (e.g., by the UE) if the UE determines that it is being paged (e.g., based on the blind decoding results).Otherwise, if it is determined that the UE will not be paged, the UE may be triggered in 312 to sleep until the next paging occasion.

[0101] In Figure 3, provided that the current EPI DCI frequency information is determined to be valid in 308, the UE may proceed to detect multiple (e.g., the minimum required number) consecutive SSB bursts and / or downlink sequences before any (e.g., each) paging occasion. The UE may also perform monitoring and blind decoding of any indicated EPI DCI occasion in 314. Monitoring and blind decoding may be performed over the indicated EPI availability duration. The UE may then determine in 316 whether the EPI indication is true or false. For example, the presence of EPI DCI information resulting from blind decoding may indicate to the UE that the UE, the UE group to which the UE belongs, and / or all idle and / or inactive UEs are being paged.

[0102] Given that the EPI instruction is not true (e.g., does not exist), the UE may proceed in 318 to determine whether any lower-layer (e.g., DCI) EPI configuration update has been received (e.g., by DCI signaling). The UE may also determine whether the lower-layer EPI configuration update is a complete or partial overwrite of the EPI frequency instruction and / or EPI DCI availability / validity information (e.g., any of the higher-layer configurations). If a lower-layer (e.g., DCI) EPI configuration update has not been received by the UE, the procedure may wait (e.g., sleep) until the next paging occasion. If a lower-layer (e.g., DCI) EPI configuration update has been received, the UE may proceed with updating either the upper-layer and / or lower-layer configuration of the EPI DCI frequency information and / or the corresponding validity / availability information (e.g., a complete or partial overwrite of the previous configuration).

[0103] If the EPI instruction is true (e.g., exists), the UE may proceed to perform blind decoding of any paging DCI for the paging occasion (e.g., without sleeping). If the UE determines that it is being paged (e.g., based on the blind decoding results), the RACH procedure may be triggered in the UE (e.g., by the UE). Otherwise, if the UE determines that it is not being paged, the UE may be triggered to sleep until the next paging occasion.

[0104] The UE may be reconfigured by lower-layer (e.g., DCI) signaling to update the currently active EPI DCI configuration. For example, the UE can use lower-layer signaling to deactivate and / or activate EPI DCI configurations among any configured set of EPI configurations.

[0105] In certain representative embodiments, an idle and / or inactive UE may transmit multiple (e.g., a minimum required number) consecutive SSB bursts and / or downlink sequences (e.g., to the RAN) to be fully synchronized with the radio interface. Such signaling is in the uplink direction and may (e.g., shown) be included in the uplink control channel and / or uplink data channel during, but not limited to, cell camping, connection establishment and / or connection reactivation and / or random access to the radio interface.

[0106] In certain representative embodiments, an idle and / or inactive UE may receive one or more EPI DCI configurations. For example, the UE may be configured with higher-layer (e.g., SIB, RRC) and / or lower-layer (e.g., DCI) configurations of EPI DCI frequency information and / or corresponding validity / availability information from a network (e.g., gNB) in the downlink direction.

[0107] EPI frequency information can indicate to idle and / or inactive UEs when to expect to monitor and blind-decode EPI DCI transmissions in comparison to SSB burst groups prior to each single paging occasion and / or set of paging occasions. For example, multiple EPI configuration sets may be predefined, such as each set suggesting a specific DCI EPI frequency and / or periodicity prior to each paging occasion. The UE may be configured with EPI DCI configuration sets and / or default sets to activate and / or expect (e.g., for the next paging occasion). As another example, the UE may be shown a vector or set of bits sized to correspond to the number of SSB bursts / sequences monitored for EPI DCI prior to a paging occasion.

[0108] Effectiveness / availability information can be provided to the UE regarding how long the EPI frequency information (used in the UE) should remain valid. Effectiveness / availability information may also be provided regarding the number of future paging occasions, paging frames, system frame numbers, and / or expiration times.

[0109] For example, the EPI DCI, EPI DCI frequency information, and / or corresponding validity / availability information (or indications thereof) may be scrambled by a paging group-specific RNTI, as a result, idle and / or inactive UEs may be able to blind decode such DCI (e.g., by itself) (e.g., without CRC errors) on the condition that the scrambled RNTI is the same as that of the UE configuration paging group. The advantage of such arrangement is that UEs that were unable to decode the EPI DCI information can assume (e.g., decide) that they and / or the paging group UEs are not being paged. The UEs may then enter deep sleep and may not blind decode the paging DCI. However, such arrangement may require additional bits of the EPI DCI to indicate the paging group information.

[0110] As another example, the EPI DCI, EPI DCI frequency information, and / or corresponding validity / availability information (or indications thereof) may be scrambled by a common paging RNTI so that idle and / or inactive UEs may be able to decode the EPI DCI. The advantage of this configuration is that the EPI DCI is smaller in size because EPI DCI group information may not be required. In some cases, this arrangement may lead to an increase in the number of paging false alarms.

[0111] In certain representative embodiments, idle and / or inactive UEs may detect one and / or multiple SSB burst / downlink sequences until they are fully synchronized with the network.

[0112] In certain representative embodiments, idle and / or inactive UEs may anticipate (e.g., determine) decoding paging common and / or paging group specific EPI DCI occasions according to indicated EPI frequency information over availability periods and / or timers, which may be signaled by higher and / or lower-tier configurations.

[0113] In certain representative embodiments, an idle and / or inactive UE can blind-decode available EPI DCI occasions and identify whether they or their respective paging groups are being paged.

[0114] In certain representative embodiments, idle and / or inactive UEs may skip detection and / or sleep over portions of the paging DCI, such as during paging occasions, based on the indicated EPI DCI.

[0115] In certain representative embodiments, idle and / or inactive UEs may be reconfigured by lower-layer DCI signaling procedures, for example (e.g., by receiving a different EPI DCI configuration). Reconfiguration may preemptively update and / or override previous higher-layer configurations of EPI frequency indication and / or EPI DCI availability.

[0116] In certain representative embodiments, an idle and / or inactive UE can satisfy the availability of the previous EPI DCI frequency configuration. The UE can assume (e.g., determine) that no further EPI DCI occasions are available and / or return to the legacy paging procedure. The UE can then perform monitoring and / or detection of SSB and paging DCI occasions before each paging occasion (e.g., without EPI DCI monitoring). For example, the UE may be pre-configured to anticipate (e.g., activate) a default EPI DCI configuration set. The UE can then proceed to detect any subsequent EPI DCI occasions following the default EPI configuration set.

[0117] On the network side, a network access point (NAP) (e.g., gNB) can perform procedures to configure idle and / or inactive UEs using EPI information, as described herein. In certain representative embodiments, the NAP (e.g., gNB) can receive from idle and / or inactive UEs a number of SSB bursts and / or sequences (e.g., the minimum number required for each UE) that are necessary for the UE to synchronize with the network (e.g., fully synchronize) before any or each paging occasion.

[0118] In certain representative embodiments, a NAP (e.g., a gNB) may transmit EPI frequency information in the downlink direction (e.g., to one or more UEs). For example, the EPI frequency information may be transmitted with respect to (e.g., including and / or indicating) a plurality of EPI configuration sets having various (e.g., different) EPI frequencies and / or periodicities, a default EPI configuration set, and / or an indication of the current active EPI configuration set for any inactive and / or idle mode UEs. The EPI frequency information may be transmitted via higher-layer signaling such as system information or RRC configuration, or via lower-layer signaling such as DCI-based signaling, but is not limited to these.

[0119] For example, an EPI configuration set may indicate or include the EPI DCI frequency and / or periodicity prior to (e.g., any or each) paging occasion. A particular EPI DCI frequency may indicate or suggest a vector and / or a set of bits of a size corresponding to the number of SSB bursts / sequences monitored for EPI DCI prior to the paging occasion. For example, the EPI frequency indication in

[0101] indicates that the gNB transmits DCI for EPI immediately after the third and first SSBs / sequences prior to each paging occasion.

[0120] In certain representative embodiments, a NAP (e.g., gNB) may transmit EPI DCI validity / availability indicators to any idle and / or inactive mode UE. Such information may be transmitted by higher-layer signaling such as system information or RRC configuration, and / or by lower-layer signaling such as DCI-based signaling, but is not limited to these. The validity / availability information may indicate the validity period of the current EPI DIC information. The validity period may be configured and / or determined with respect to a certain number of consecutive paging occasions, paging frames, system frame numbers, and / or expiration timers.

[0121] Figure 4 shows a typical procedure for configuring Early Paging Information (EPI) Downlink Control Information (DCI) that may be implemented in a RAN (e.g., gNB). As shown in Figure 4, the procedure may begin in 402 with the RAN (e.g., gNB) receiving multiple (e.g., the minimum required number) consecutive SSB bursts and / or downlink sequences prior to (e.g., any or each) paging occasion. For example, the RAN may receive this information from any idle UE and / or inactive UE, and this information may be UE-specific. The RAN may then proceed in 404 to transmit EPI frequency information in the downlink direction (e.g., to any one or more UEs) and / or enable or disable (e.g., activate or deactivate) any previously configured EPI frequency information, for example, by using system information, RRC configuration, and / or DCI-based signaling. For example, EPI frequency information may be transmitted with respect to (e.g., including and / or indicating) indications of multiple EPI configuration sets having various (e.g., different) EPI frequencies and / or periodicities, a default EPI configuration set, and / or the current active EPI configuration set for any inactive and / or idle mode UEs. The RAN may also transmit EPI DCI validity / availability indications in the downlink direction (e.g., to any one or more UEs) by using system information, RRC configuration, and / or DCI-based signaling, etc., in 406. The RAN may then proceed in 408 to determine whether any UE's EPI DCI configuration set needs to be updated. For example, the RAN may decide to update any UE's (e.g., active and / or default) EPI DCI configuration set based on either a paging performance metric and / or a PDCCH / CORESET capacity metric.The procedure in Figure 4 can be terminated (for example, until the next UE-specific number of SSBs and / or sequences are received) on the condition that no EPI DCI configuration set (for example, of any UE) needs to be updated. On the condition that any EPI DCI configuration set (for example, of any UE) is updated and / or reconfigured, the RAN can proceed to send updated EPI frequency instructions and / or updated EPI validity / availability instructions. For example, the updated information may be sent to any UE using the DCI signaling procedure. As another example, the EPI frequency information may be invalidated by the RAN at any time, and the UE can switch to the legacy paging procedure (for example, fall back).

[0122] Figure 5 shows a typical EPI transmission scheme for paging occasions that can be implemented in a WTRU. Figure 5 shows a typical example of a WTRU operating according to a first condition (e.g., good SINR conditions and / or high-quality UE). In Figure 5, assume that the EPI frequency indication (e.g., EPI pattern) of [1,0,0] is configured in an idle and / or inactive UE (e.g., showing EPI DCI occasion 504 following the first SSB 502a in a group of three SSB bursts 502a, 502b, and 502c preceding paging occasion 506). Upon detecting a single SSB burst / sequence 502a, a UE operating according to the first set of conditions can be fully synchronized with the network after detecting a single SSB burst / sequence 502a. This suggests either a high SINR UE and / or a high-quality transceiver end of the UE. For example, the network / gNB transmits a single EPI DCI occasion 504 immediately after the first SSB burst 502a, prior to the paging occasion 506. Any position of the EPI may be indicated to the UE by a proposed EPI frequency indication (e.g., by upper-layer signaling or lower-layer signaling). The UE can then expect to blind-decode the DCI associated with the EPI after the indicated SSB burst. Given that there is a true EPI indication (e.g., early paging indication bit = 1), the UE can enter a sleep state (e.g., a light sleep) until the paging occasion 506, and then wake up to decode the paging DCI. After waking, the UE can also decode the paging record 508 (e.g., received on a subsequent PDSCH resource). Given the presence of a false EPI instruction (e.g., early paging instruction bit = 0), the UE may enter a sleep state (e.g., deep sleep) until the next paging occasion, assuming that it and / or its paging group are not being paged in the current paging occasion.However, please understand that SINR conditions and UE capabilities are variable, and it may be advantageous to flexibly provide EPI according to SINR conditions and / or UE capabilities.

[0123] Figure 6 shows another typical EPI transmission scheme for paging occasions that may be implemented in a WTRU. Figure 6 shows a typical example of a WTRU operating according to a second condition (e.g., low SINR condition, and / or low-quality UE and / or legacy UE). In Figure 6, it is assumed that the EPI frequency indication (e.g., EPI pattern) of {1,1,0} is configured in an idle and / or inactive UE (e.g., showing EPI DCI occasions following the first and second SSBs 602a and 602b). In certain cases, it may be necessary for the UE to detect multiple SSBs 602a, 602b, 602c and / or sequences before the DCI of the EPI can be decoded. As shown in Figure 6, a UE operating according to the second set of conditions may require the detection of multiple (e.g., two) SSB bursts 602a and 602b so that it can be fully synchronized with the network before paging occasion 606. Because the UE may not synchronize with the network after detecting the first SSB602a, the first EPI DCI occasion 604a may not be decrypted (indicated by "X"). After detecting the second SSB 602b, the second EPI DCI occasion 604b may be decoded by the UE as shown by the EPI procedure described herein. The UE can then expect to blind decode the DCI associated with the EPI after the second SSB burst 602b. Given that there is a true EPI instruction (e.g., early paging instruction bit = 1), the UE can enter a sleep state (e.g., light sleep) until paging occasion 606 and then wake up to decode the paging DCI. After waking, the UE can also decode the paging record 608 (e.g., received on a subsequent PDSCH resource). Given that there is a false EPI instruction (e.g., early paging instruction bit = 0), the UE can enter a sleep state (e.g., deep sleep) until the next paging occasion, assuming that it and / or its paging group are not paging in the current paging occasion. Here, the representative UE in Figure 6 can enter a sleep state in a shorter time than the representative UE in Figure 5.

[0124] Under the condition that the DCI EPI occasion is not repeated after a second SSB burst, the UE can assume a worst-case scenario (e.g., that it is being paged). For example, the UE may wake up to decode the paging DCI and paging record. This behavior can significantly increase the occurrence of false paging alarms, as one or more UEs may assume that the absence of EPI DCI means they will be paged, wake up for the paging occasion, and attempt to decode the paging record. Depending on where the UE can decode the EPI DCI, the network's identification of the EPI DCI may result in battery performance gains at the UE and / or reduce and / or prevent false paging alarms.

[0125] Figure 7 shows a typical diagram of communication between a WTRU (e.g., UE) and a RAN (e.g., gNB). As described herein, the communication in Figure 7 can be initiated at 702 by a UE in an inactive and / or idle mode. At 704, the UE may send multiple (e.g., the minimum and / or required number) (e.g., consecutive) SSB bursts and / or downlink sequences to the RAN (e.g., before the next paging occasion) to achieve synchronization. Subsequently, at 706, the RAN can dynamically configure the UE by sending higher-layer signaling (e.g., a system information block and / or RRC message) along with one or more EPI DCI configuration sets, an index of the default set, and / or an indication of the currently active EPI DCI configuration set. For example, the RAN may thus configure one or more idle and / or inactive UEs. (e.g., each) idle and / or inactive UE can detect the EPI DCI occasion following the currently activated EPI configuration set. For example, after receiving EPI DCI frequency information and / or EPI DCI validity / availability information at 708, the UE may, at 710, perform monitoring and blind decoding of any EPI DCI occasion based on the configured EPI DCI frequency information. The UE can monitor and / or blind decode EPI DCI occasions for a certain length of time (e.g., duration) based on the validity / availability information. Subsequently, idle and / or inactive UEs may be dynamically reconfigured at 712 to update any information in the EPI DCI configuration set at 714, for example, by sending faster lower-layer signaling such as DCI signaling. After the update (e.g., reconfiguration), the UE can determine whether the active EPI DCI configuration has expired. At 716, assuming that the default EPI DCI configuration set has been configured in the UE, the default EPI DCI configuration set may be activated, provided that the active EPI DCI configuration has expired.As another example, under the condition that the active EPI DCI configuration has expired, the UE can switch between constantly monitoring the SSBs (e.g., each SSB) and decoding the paging DCIs (e.g., each one).

[0126] Signaling extension for EPI delivery In certain representative embodiments, signaling extensions may be applied in the uplink direction from the UE to the RAN. For example, the UE may transmit multiple (e.g., the minimum and / or required number) (e.g., consecutive) SSB bursts and / or downlink sequence detections in the uplink direction (e.g., to the gNB) prior to a paging occasion. The number of detected SSB bursts and / or downlink sequences may be a UE-specific parameter and / or depend on the UE's transceiver design (e.g., capability) and / or SINR conditions. Under high interference conditions, this parameter may indicate a worst-case scenario (e.g., the UE would need to detect each SSB for synchronization purposes). For example, the detection count may be transmitted via PUSCH and / or PUCCH transmissions and / or included as an informational element as part of an RRCSetupRequest message and / or RRCResumeRequest message.

[0127] In certain representative embodiments, signaling extensions may be applied in the downlink direction from the RAN to the UE. For example, the UE may receive EPI information which may include (1) one or more EPI DCI configuration sets, (2) an index of a default EPI configuration set, and / or (3) an indication of the current EPI set (e.g., which should be active for at least the next paging occasion). Each EPI set may be represented as a vector of size corresponding to the number of SSB bursts monitored for possible (e.g., present / absent) EPIs prior to the paging occasion. For example, the EPI frequency vector

[0101] indicates that the RAN (e.g., gNB) will or may be transmitting EPI DCI after (e.g., immediately following) the first and third SSBs prior to the paging occasion. Examples of other EPI frequency vectors are shown in Figures 5 and 6.

[0128] As another example, the validity / availability of the current EPI frequency configuration set may be indicated to the UE as one of the following: the number of consecutive paging occasions, the number of paging frames, the system frame number, and / or a timer value (e.g., in milliseconds). Validity / availability information may be transmitted via PBCH, PDCCH, and PDSCH transmissions. Validity / availability information may be included as part of any of the following: (1) system information (e.g., SIB1), (2) RRCReconfiguration message, (3) RRCConnectionRelease message, (4) RRC interrupt instruction message, (5) EPI DCI, and / or (6) paging DCI (e.g., applicable to the next paging occasion or group-specific paging occasion for a particular PO), where the number of paging occasions may be indicated by validity IE, etc.

[0129] Paging-specific reference signaling procedure Semi-static idle and / or inactive reference signal procedure One or more patterns of idle and / or inactive RS can be predefined, where the network (e.g., gNB) can semi-statically adapt the overhead from sending idle and / or inactive RS (e.g., PDSCH capacity of the default / paging BWP) to the paging and / or power saving performance of any UE (e.g., idle and / or inactive UE). Improved battery consumption can be achieved by monitoring paging-specific RS occasions for any idle and / or inactive UE. Monitoring paging-specific RS occasions (e.g., instead of SSB bursts) may allow for a larger sleep period before each paging occasion.

[0130] In certain representative embodiments, an idle and / or inactive UE may receive any of the following upper-layer and / or lower-layer configurations: (1) the presence of idle and / or inactive (e.g., paging-specific) RSs, (2) patterns of idle and / or inactive (e.g., paging-specific) RS occasions (e.g., indexes), (3) idle and / or inactive RS-specific validity / availability information (e.g., duration) of the idle and / or inactive (e.g., paging-specific) RSs, and / or (4) EPI DCI frequencies.

[0131] For example, a UE may receive an indication of the presence of (e.g., guaranteed) idle and / or inactive paging-specific RSs in the downlink direction. Such indications may be received using MAC control elements (CEs) as part of broadcast system information, lower-layer signaling and / or upper-layer signaling, and / or when the UE last connected to the network.

[0132] For example, a UE may receive pattern indications (e.g., indices) of idle and / or inactive (e.g., paging-specific) RS occasions in the downlink direction from a set of predefined configurations of idle and / or inactive (e.g., paging-specific) RSs. A particular pattern indication can identify a predefined set of timing and / or frequency resources / occasions for idle and / or inactive RS occasions preceding each paging occasion. As another example, a UE may receive a dynamic resource set (e.g., time and / or frequency resources) for idle and / or inactive (e.g., paging-specific) RSs.

[0133] For example, the UE may receive idle and / or inactive (e.g., paging-specific) RS-specific validity / availability information (e.g., duration) for idle and / or inactive (e.g., paging-specific) RSs in the downlink direction. The validity / availability information may be indicated to the UE (e.g., an instruction) and may relate to any of the following: some future paging occasions, paging frames, system frame numbers, and / or expiration timers (e.g., in milliseconds).

[0134] For example, the UE may receive EPI DCI frequency instructions and correspond to the last updated idle and / or inactive (e.g., paging-specific) RS instruction patterns and / or resource sets.

[0135] In certain representative embodiments, an idle and / or inactive UE may skip the detection of all or part of an SSB burst before each paging occasion, such as after determining idle and / or inactive RS availability. For example, the UE may enter a sleep state for all or part of an SSB burst before each paging occasion, such as after determining idle and / or inactive RS availability.

[0136] In certain representative embodiments, idle and / or inactive UEs can perform detection and synchronization with available idle and / or inactive (e.g., paging-specific) RSs.

[0137] In certain representative embodiments, an idle and / or inactive UE can perform monitoring and / or blind decoding of EPI DCI occasions according to idle and / or inactive RS-specific EPI frequency information, etc.

[0138] In certain representative embodiments, under conditions such as the expiration of the validity / availability duration, an idle and / or inactive UE may determine that there are no further idle and / or inactive RSs available and may switch to detecting any (e.g., each) SSB burst and paging DCI. As another example, an idle and / or inactive UE may, assuming defaults are given, activate a default idle and / or inactive RS configuration set and continue monitoring and blind detection using the default idle and / or inactive RS configuration set.

[0139] Dynamic idle and / or inactive reference signal procedure A network (e.g., a gNB) can advertise any available connection mode CSI-RS, TRS, and / or other RS ​​occasions with any idle and / or inactive UEs. Connection mode CSI-RS, TRS, and / or other RS ​​occasions can be advertised along with any corresponding numerology and / or any QCL configuration for the connection mode RS (e.g., CSI-RS, TRS, and / or other RS). Idle and / or inactive can determine whether to process the available connection mode CSI-RS, TRS, and / or other RS ​​prior to the paging occasion. Procedures using CSI-RS, TRS, and / or other RS ​​can reduce and / or eliminate the radio overhead associated with transmitting paging-specific (e.g., idle and / or inactive-specific) RS.

[0140] Hybrid idle and / or inactive reference signal The network (e.g., gNB) can dynamically switch between semi-static (e.g., paging-specific) RS procedures and dynamic RS procedures. Hybrid procedure schemes can provide additional radio flexibility, such as when connected mode RS (e.g., CSI-RS, TRS, and / or other RS) occasions are not available at the time of each paging occasion. Idle and / or inactive UEs may be notified of the available paging RS types and information.

[0141] As described herein, idle and / or inactive RS may include either paging-specific RS and / or connected-mode RS (e.g., CSI-RS, TRS and / or other RS).

[0142] In certain representative embodiments, an idle and / or inactive UE may receive one or more of the following upper-layer and / or lower-layer configurations, namely: (1) the presence of a connection mode RS, (2) a resource set for any available connection mode RS (e.g., resource set information), (3) numerology information, (4) QCL information, (5) validity / availability information, and / or (4) EPI DCI frequencies.

[0143] For example, a UE may receive an indication of the presence of a connection mode RS (e.g., CSI-RS, TRS, and / or other RS) in the downlink direction. Such an indication may be received as part of broadcast system information, lower-layer signaling and / or upper-layer signaling, and / or using MAC CE.

[0144] For example, a UE may receive resource sets (e.g., time and / or frequency domain resources) for any available connection mode RS (e.g., CSI-RS, TRS, and / or other RS). Such information may be provided as a standardized resource set formulation for the connection mode UE and may be dynamically relayed (e.g., transmitted) to any idle and / or inactive UE.

[0145] For example, a UE may receive numerology information for connection mode RS (e.g., CSI-RS, TRS, and / or other RS) that may be available for an idle and / or inactive mode UE. The numerology may include or indicate subcarrier settings. For example, if the numerology settings for available connection mode RS may differ from the numerology configuration of the default (e.g., paging) BWP, the UE may determine whether to process multiple signals of different numerologies.

[0146] For example, a UE may receive QCL information for connection mode RS (e.g., CSI-RS, TRS, and / or other RS) that may be available for an idle and / or inactive mode UE. For example, if the QCL settings for any available connection mode RS may differ from the QCL configuration of the default (e.g., paging) BWP, the UE may determine whether to process multiple signals with different QCL configurations.

[0147] For example, the UE may receive the validity / availability duration of available connection mode RS in the downlink direction. The connection mode validity / availability duration may be indicated to the UE (e.g., by instruction) and may be given with respect to any of the following: some future paging occasion paging frames, system frame numbers and / or expiration timers (e.g., in milliseconds).

[0148] For example, a UE may receive EPI DCI frequency instructions, accommodate connection mode RS (e.g., CSI-RS, TRS, and / or other RS) occasions, and / or be shared with any inactive and / or idle mode UEs.

[0149] In certain representative embodiments, an idle and / or inactive UE may skip the detection of all or part of an SSB burst before each paging occasion, such as after determining idle and / or inactive RS availability. For example, the UE may enter a sleep state for all or part of an SSB burst before each paging occasion, such as after determining idle and / or inactive RS availability.

[0150] In certain representative embodiments, an idle and / or inactive UE can perform detection and synchronization (e.g., entirely or partially) with any of the available connected mode RS occasions and / or any idle and / or inactive RS occasions and / or any portion of an SSB burst.

[0151] In certain representative embodiments, an idle and / or inactive UE may perform monitoring and / or blind decoding of various indicated occasions of the EPI DCI according to idle and / or inactive RS-specific EPI and / or connection mode EPI frequency information, etc.

[0152] In certain representative embodiments, idle and / or inactive UEs may be dynamically reconfigured, such as by upper and / or lower-layer signaling, for hybrid presences of idle and / or inactive-specific RS occasions and connection-mode-specific RS occasions prior to any paging occasion and / or set of paging occasions. For example, a UE may be notified of the type of each available RS occasion for paging (e.g., paging-specific RS or connection-mode shared RS). Transmitting RS type information may be used to indicate to the UE that any connection-mode RS is configured with a different numerology and / or QCL setting than the paging BWP. In certain representative embodiments, a UE may decide to skip processing RS occasions that are different from the paging BWP and / or count their presence for synchronization prior to each paging occasion. For example, a RAN may provide (e.g., transmit) a shared RS for use in signaling EPI DCI to idle and / or inactive UEs, and any provided RS may have a different numerology configuration than the paging BWP. Based on this difference, the UE may skip processing the shared RS and / or assume that the shared RS is not sent by the RAN (for example, it may fall back to a legacy paging procedure and / or monitor each SSB burst). As another example, the UE may determine that there is a numerology difference but the shared RS can be processed, and instead of skipping processing the shared RS, it may use the shared RS to monitor the EPI DCI occasion.

[0153] In certain representative embodiments, an idle and / or inactive UE may determine (e.g., assume) that any configured idle-specific RS and / or any connection mode-specific RS occasions are no longer available when the corresponding validity / availability instruction has expired. Conditional on the expiration of the validity / availability information, the UE may switch to detecting any (e.g., each) SSB burst and paging DCI before each paging occasion. As another example, an idle and / or inactive UE may, assuming defaults are given, activate a default idle and / or inactive RS configuration set and proceed with monitoring and blind detection using the default idle and / or inactive RS configuration set.

[0154] Figure 8 shows a typical procedure for configuring a paging-specific reference signal (RS) that may be implemented in a WTRU. This procedure may be performed by an inactive and / or idle UE. As shown in Figure 8, the UE may perform in 802 to receive any upper-layer and / or lower-layer configurations of any connection mode RS and / or paging-specific RS. The UE may then wait in 804 until the next paging occasion. The UE may then determine in 806 whether an active (e.g., current) RS configuration is valid. If an active (e.g., current) RS configuration is not valid, the UE may then assume in 810 that there are no further available paging-assisted RS occasions and / or activate the default RS configuration. For example, the UE may activate the default RS configuration on the condition that the default RS configuration has been previously configured (e.g., pre-configured). The UE may then proceed in 812 to perform monitoring and / or blind decoding of any paging DCI for the paging occasion (e.g., without sleeping). If the UE determines that it is being paged (for example, based on the blind decoding results), the RACH procedure may be triggered in the UE (for example, by the UE). Otherwise, if the UE determines that it is not being paged, the UE may be triggered to sleep until the next paging occasion.

[0155] In Figure 8, given that an active (e.g., current) RS configuration is enabled in 806, the UE may proceed in 814 to skip the detection of all or part of the SSB bursts before each paging occasion, such as after determining idle and / or inactive RS availability. The UE may perform detection of any connected mode RS and / or paging-specific RS in 816 (e.g., for available occasions). The UE may also proceed in 818 to perform monitoring and blind decoding of any indicated EPI DCI occasions. Monitoring and blind decoding of any indicated EPI DCI occasions may be performed with respect to any (e.g., each) connected mode RS and / or paging-specific RS.

[0156] The procedure allows the UE to continue determining at 820 whether any RS configuration update (e.g., a lower-layer configuration update via DCI signaling) has been received. If not, the UE can proceed to wait (e.g., sleep) until the next paging occasion by returning to 804. For example, an RS configuration update may deactivate and / or activate another RS ​​configuration.

[0157] In certain representative embodiments, the RAN (e.g., gNB) can transmit information relating to either the connection mode RS and / or paging-specific RS configuration as IE in one or more information objects to any idle and / or inactive UE (e.g., in the downlink direction). For example, the information may be transmitted in a single configuration block (e.g., SIB1), EPI DCI, paging DCI, etc.

[0158] For example, RAN may transmit an indication of the presence of any paging-specific RS. Such indications may be transmitted by slower upper-layer signaling such as SIB and RRC, or by faster lower-layer signaling such as DCI.

[0159] For example, the RAN may transmit any paging-specific RS pattern indication and / or time / frequency resource set.

[0160] For example, the RAN may transmit corresponding validity and / or availability information for any paging-specific RS. Such information may be given in relation to a specific number of paging occasions, the number of paging frames, the system frame number, the radio slot, and / or the expiration timer.

[0161] For example, the RAN may transmit group-specific EPI DCI frequency instructions. Such information may conform to the indicated paging-specific RS pattern and / or paging-specific RS resource set.

[0162] For example, the RAN may transmit an indication of the presence of any connected mode RS that may be shared and / or available for any inactive and / or idle mode UE. Such indications may be transmitted by slower upper-layer signaling such as SIB and RRC, or by faster lower-layer signaling such as DCI.

[0163] For example, the RAN may send a resource set in connection mode RS to any inactive and / or idle mode UE.

[0164] For example, the RAN may transmit numerology and / or QCL information for connection mode RS that should be shared with and / or available to any inactive and / or idle mode UE.

[0165] For example, the RAN may send a validity / availability instruction for a connected mode RS that should be shared and / or available to any inactive and / or idle mode UE.

[0166] For example, the RAN may transmit the group-specific EPI DCI frequency following the indicated connection mode RS resource set.

[0167] Figure 9 shows a typical EPI transmission scheme that uses RS in relation to paging occasions, which may be implemented in a WTRU. Figure 9 shows a typical example of a WTRU configured with an RS configuration that can include three idle and / or inactive RS occasions 902 and time and / or frequency resources associated with the RS occasions 902. The RS configuration may also be associated with an EPI frequency (e.g., an EPI pattern) of [1,1,1]. The associated EPI frequency indication may be configured such that there is an EPI DCI opportunity 904 transmitted after each idle and / or inactive RS occasion 902. This makes it possible to achieve reliable paging power saving gains in idle and / or inactive UEs. In Figure 9, idle and / or inactive UEs may skip any (e.g., all) SSB burst occasions 906 prior to the paging occasion 908. For example, the UE may remain in a sleep state (e.g., deep sleep 910 for the duration of the SSB and / or until the first RS occasion indicated by the EPI frequency). The UE can wake from sleep before paging occasion 908 and monitor and detect idle and / or inactive RS for any of the configured RS occasions. Following the detection of idle and / or inactive RS 902, the UE can proceed to blind decode the EPI DCI transmission 904 as can be described herein. Provided there is a true EPI instruction (e.g., early paging instruction bit = 1), the UE can enter sleep (e.g., light sleep) until paging occasion 506 and then wake up to decode the paging DCI. After waking, the UE can also decode the paging record 912 (e.g., received on a subsequent PDSCH resource). Such a paging scheme can improve power consumption performance in the UE.As another example, the UE may receive information indicating the offset of idle and / or inactive RS occasions from paging occasions, in addition to or as an alternative to the explicit time and / or frequency resources associated with RS occasions.

[0168] Figure 10 shows other typical EPI transmission schemes that use RS for paging occasions that can be implemented in a WTRU. Figure 10 shows a typical example of a WTRU configured with an RS configuration that may include three RS occasions 1002 (e.g., idle and / or inactive RS occasions) and time and / or frequency resources associated with the RS occasions 1002. The transmission and processing associated with the scheme shown in Figure 10 can provide further flexibility. The RAN (e.g., gNB) can initially configure the idle and / or inactive UE using the paging-specific RS sets of the three RS occasions 1002, as well as the corresponding EPI DCI frequencies (e.g., [1,0,1]) and availability / validity information of the EPI 1004. The EPI 1004 may indicate paging in a paging occasion (PO) 1006 associated with a paging record 1008. For example, following an increase in traffic volume on the paging BWP, the RAN may dynamically and / or preemptively configure (e.g., reconfigure, update, or activate) any idle and / or inactive UEs of another RS ​​pattern with fewer available RS occasions 1010 and / or fewer EPI DCI frequencies. The RAN may send a release instruction within the paging DCI associated with the first paging occasion 1006 in Figure 10. As another example, the RAN may instruct the UE to dynamically and / or preemptively return to SSB-based paging synchronization, and therefore the RAN may not send any idle and / or inactive RSs over the next paging occasion 1014 or set of paging occasions, and the UE may not monitor any idle and / or inactive RSs. The new (e.g., other RS ​​pattern) configuration may be forward-looking, and the UE may expect the current paging occasion to follow the old (e.g., prior to the update) configuration for paging stability. EPI1012 can show paging in PO1014 associated with paging record 101016.In certain representative embodiments, the network may have the option to predefine RS pattern configurations and can dynamically indicate to any UE that it is changing (e.g., mitigating) time and / or frequency resources for idle and / or inactive RS, such as reverting to a typical (e.g., legacy) SSB-based paging procedure and / or controlling (e.g., always controlling) the PDSCH capacity of the paging BWP.

[0169] Figure 11 shows a typical procedure for configuring RS information that may be implemented in a WTRU. The procedure in Figure 11 can be initiated in any idle and / or inactive UE, and the UE may, at 1102, perform the reception and / or updating of one or more higher-layer configurations (e.g., via system information and / or RRC signaling) of one or more predefined idle and / or inactive RS configuration sets for idle and / or inactive RS, any corresponding validity / availability information (e.g., duration), and any idle and / or inactive RS EPI DCI frequency information. At 1104, the UE may proceed to detect any idle RS occasions in the current active RS configuration set and blind decode any associated signaled EPI DCI occasions. For example, monitoring and / or blind decoding may be performed during the indicated validity period. In 1106, provided that the active idle and / or inactive RS configuration set is no longer valid (e.g., expired), the UE may, in 1108, proceed to use (e.g., activate) the default RS configuration set and perform monitoring and blind decoding of any RS occasion according to the default RS configuration set, and / or the UE may assume that no further idle and / or inactive RS occasions are available. Provided that the active idle and / or inactive RS configuration set is valid (e.g., not expired), the idle and / or inactive UE may, in 1110, receive a configuration update (e.g., reconfigured by lower layer (DCI) signaling) to update the active idle-RS configuration set. For example, the configuration update may be a complete or partial overwrite of either the idle and / or inactive RS configuration set. Provided that no configuration update is received, the procedure may proceed to the UE using the active RS configuration set to perform detection and decoding as described herein.Given that a configuration update is received, the UE may proceed to update (e.g., partially or completely overwrite) any of the upper-layer RS ​​configuration sets and / or related information before continuing to perform detection and decoding using the active RS configuration set as described herein.

[0170] Figure 12 shows another typical EPI transmission scheme for paging occasions that may be implemented in a WTRU. For example, an idle and / or inactive UE may require at least three consecutive SSB1202s to fully synchronize with the radio interface before a paging occasion. In the case of a first paging occasion 1204, there may be no available CSI-RS transmissions for the connected mode UE, and the idle and / or inactive UE uses (e.g., relies on) an SSB burst 1202 prior to paging occasion 1204 to synchronize or resynchronize with the radio interface. Here, the idle and / or inactive UE wakes up for at least three SSB periods. For a second (e.g., next) paging occasion, the RAN (e.g., gNB) can make any CSI-RS, TRS, and / or RS transmissions for the (e.g., new) connected mode UE. The RAN can also preemptively indicate the future presence of any CSI-RS, TRS, and / or RS transmissions that may be available by inactive and / or idle UEs over the next paging occasion 1206. The EPI 1208 may be transmitted using a first periodicity prior to paging occasion 1204 associated with the paging record 1210.

[0171] As shown in Figure 12, the RAN (e.g., gNB) may transmit a paging DCI in the first paging occasion 1204. The paging DCI may include information that the UE indicates to activate idle and / or inactive RS configurations, as described herein. For example, the RAN may transmit information indicating any of the following: idle and / or inactive RS (e.g., connection mode CSI-RS and / or TRS) availability, numerology settings, QCL settings, and / or corresponding EPI DCI frequency indicators. In Figure 12, for illustrative purposes, it is assumed that there are two connection mode CSI-RS, TRS, and / or RS occasions (e.g., only) indicated as available. For example, a particular UE (e.g., a UE experiencing insufficient SINR conditions) may require at least three downlink sequences for downlink synchronization before paging DCI detection. Therefore, an idle and / or inactive UE can wake up from a sleep state (e.g., deep sleep 1212) (e.g., only) during one SSB burst 1202 and two consecutive connection modes CSI-RS, TRS, and / or RS occasions 1214. As can be seen from Figure 12, the wake-up time period is significantly reduced compared to legacy SSB-based paging synchronization. In Figure 12, the UE can decode an EPI 1208 transmitted with connection mode CSI-RS, TRS, and / or RS occasion 1214. The EPI 1208 can indicate whether the UE is being paged in paging occasion 1206 associated with paging record 1216.

[0172] Figure 13 shows another typical diagram relating to communication between the WTRU and the RAN. As shown in Figure 13, the communication is shown to begin at 1302 with the WTRU 102 (e.g., UE) transitioning to RRC idle and / or inactive mode, and then the WTRU 102 may proceed at 1304 to transmit some (e.g., a minimum and / or required number) (e.g., consecutive) SSB bursts and / or downlink sequences to achieve full synchronization (as otherwise referred to herein) with the RAN 113 (e.g., gNB 180). The RAN may transmit one or more upper-layer RS ​​configurations to the UE at 1306 indicating that idle and / or inactive RSs are unavailable (e.g., no paging-specific RSs will be transmitted during the duration of validity / availability information for active configurations, etc.). The idle and / or inactive UE may then proceed at 1308 to perform n SSB detections before each paging occasion, and can always decode the paging DCI for each paging occasion. After a while, the RAN may transmit lower-layer configuration updates at 1310 (e.g., EPI DCI frequency information updates and / or validity / availability information updates). The configuration update may indicate that one or more idle and / or inactive RSs are available (e.g., will be transmitted for at least the next paging occasion). For example, a lower-layer configuration update may be received by DCI signaling and may indicate the presence of a connected-mode RS, corresponding numerology information, corresponding QCL information, connected-mode RS EPI DCI frequency information, and / or their respective validity / availability. Any idle and / or inactive UE can then proceed to detect connected-mode paging RSs on the signaled resource set prior to each paging occasion.

[0173] As shown in Figure 13, the UE may proceed at 1312 to perform detection of idle RS and / or inactive RS, such as connection mode paging RS, using time and / or frequency resources that may be provided in either the upper-layer or lower-layer configuration. The UE may then at 1314 attempt blind decoding of the EPI DCI information (e.g., following the detected and / or inactive RS) to make an early determination as to whether or not the UE is paging. For example, blind decoding may be performed for a first available EPI DCI occasion after the UE has synchronized with the RAN. Blind decoding can use signaled connection-mode RS EPI DCI frequency information. In certain representative embodiments, one or more idle and / or inactive UEs may be reconfigured by lower-layer DCI signaling having a hybrid set of idle RS availability and connection RS availability.

[0174] If the UE determines, based on the EPI DCI information, that it or its paging group is being paged, in 1316, the UE may proceed to decode the paging DCI (e.g., transmitted during a paging occasion). If the UE determines that it or its paging group is not being paged, the UE may enter a sleep state (e.g., deep sleep) as shown in Figure 12, which may lead to improved battery consumption in the UE, as described herein. When the availability of an idle and / or inactive RS configuration expires, the UE may assume, in 1318, that no further idle and / or inactive RS (e.g., connected mode RS) are available. Additionally or alternatively, when the availability of an idle and / or inactive RS configuration expires, the UE may switch to detecting idle and / or inactive RS (e.g., paging-specific RS) occasions belonging to the default idle and / or inactive RS configuration set (e.g., default idle RS configuration set).

[0175] In certain representative embodiments, the UE can switch between a semi-static (e.g., dedicated) idle and / or inactive RS transmission procedure and a connected mode CSI-RS, TRS, and / or RS procedure (e.g., sharing connected mode CSI-RS, TRS, and / or RS transmission with any idle and / or inactive UE). In certain representative embodiments, the UE can switch between a semi-static (e.g., dedicated) idle and / or inactive RS paging procedure, a connected mode CSI-RS, TRS, and / or RS paging procedure (e.g., sharing connected mode CSI-RS, TRS, and / or RS transmission with any idle and / or inactive UE), and / or a legacy SSB-based paging procedure, as described herein. For example, a network (e.g., gNB) may trigger a switch (e.g., dynamic switch) between such procedures at any idle UE and / or inactive UE by using upper-layer signaling and / or lower-layer signaling, and / or by making idle RS transmissions and / or inactive RS transmissions available to any idle UE and / or inactive UE. The benefit of such a switch may be that it can improve battery consumption at the idle and / or inactive UE, by giving the idle and / or inactive UE an extended sleep duration. Another benefit of such a switch may be that it can dynamically control channel capacity by controlling the presence of (e.g., dedicated) idle RSs and / or inactive RSs.

[0176] Figure 14 shows another typical EPI transmission scheme for paging occasions that may be implemented in a WTRU. As shown in Figure 14, the RAN 113 can configure idle and / or inactive UEs to detect any connection mode RS 1402 (e.g., CSI-RS in Figure 14 at configured time and / or frequency location) in some (e.g., three) RS occasions preceding the first EPI DCI transmission 1404 with respect to the first paging occasion 1406 associated with the first paging record 1408. For example, not all previously available connection mode RS 1402 may be available for the next (e.g., second) paging occasion 1410 associated with the second paging record 1412, such as when one or more connected UEs terminate communication with the RAN. To achieve power saving gains in any idle and / or inactive UEs, the RAN can preemptively configure and / or indicate within the paging DCI of the first paging occasion 1406 that any idle and / or inactive UE will switch to utilizing the combined presence of any remaining connected mode RS1402 (e.g., CSI-RS, TRS, and / or other RSs) along with some additional (e.g., dedicated) idle and / or inactive RS1414 (e.g., paging-specific RSs) prior to the second paging occasion. As can be seen from Figure 14, the idle and / or inactive UE remains in a sleep state (e.g., deep sleep 1416) during the SSB burst 1418 and can be woken up to perform RS detection during the configured idle and / or inactive RS occasion and connected mode RS occasion, preceding the transmission of the EPI DCI 1420 related to the second paging occasion 1410.

[0177] Figure 15 shows another typical diagram of communication between WTRU102a and RAN113 in idle and / or inactive mode, and communication between WTRU102b and RAN113 in connected mode. As shown in Figure 15, the communication is shown to begin at 1502 with WTRU102a (e.g., UE) transitioning to RRC idle and / or inactive, and then the idle and / or inactive UE receives a higher layer configuration at 1504. For example, the higher layer configuration may configure the idle and / or inactive UE using one or more RS configuration sets which may include idle and / or inactive RS presence information, idle and / or inactive RS pattern information, idle and / or inactive RS availability / validity information, and / or idle and / or inactive RS EPI frequency information. The idle and / or inactive UE can then perform idle and / or inactive RS (e.g., RS sequence) detection on the configured idle and / or inactive RS resources corresponding to the current (e.g., active) RS configuration set at 1506. An idle and / or inactive UE may, at 1508, proceed to perform blind decoding of the EPI DCI according to the idle and / or inactive RS EPI frequency information corresponding to the current (e.g., active) RS configuration set. As shown in Figure 15, the RAN 113 (e.g., gNB 180) may, at 1510, transmit the idle and / or inactive RS and the corresponding EPI DCI for the current paging occasion 1512. As described herein, the RAN may then transmit lower-layer signaling to idle and / or inactive UEs that may reconfigure and / or update the UE using the connected-mode RS resource set at 1514 during the current paging occasion 1516. The connected-mode RS resource set may include any of the following: numerology settings, QCL settings, connected-mode RS availability / validity information, and / or connected-mode RS EPI frequency information.For example, a connection mode RS resource set may be provided to idle and / or inactive UEs within the paging DCI of the current paging occasion, as shown in Figure 14. Meanwhile, WTRU102b may transition to an RRC connection at 1518, and RAN may perform one or more PDSCH and / or PDCCH transmissions with one or more connected UEs (e.g., WTRU102b) at 1520. RAN may transmit a connection mode RS (e.g., CSI-RS) occasion resource set to one or more connected UEs at 1522. For example, part or all of a connection mode RS (e.g., CSI-RS) occasion resource set may be provided to idle and / or inactive UEs via a lower layer signaling a connection mode RS (e.g., CSI-RS) configuration set at 1514. After an idle and / or inactive UE is configured with a connection mode RS (e.g., CSI-RS) configuration set, the idle and / or inactive UE may, at 1524, perform connection mode RS (e.g., CSI-RS sequence) detection on the configured connection mode RS resource corresponding to the connection mode RS configuration set transmitted at 1526. The idle and / or inactive UE may then proceed to perform blind decoding of the EPI DCI transmitted at 1530 at 1528, according to the connection mode RS EPI frequency information (e.g., EPI pattern) corresponding to the current (e.g., active) RS configuration set. As shown in Figure 15, the RAN (e.g., gNB) can transmit a connection mode RS for the current paging occasion. The connection mode RS transmit (e.g., CSI-RS) may be received by both the connected UE and the idle and / or inactive UE prior to the current (e.g., third) paging occasion 1532.

[0178] In certain representative embodiments, an idle and / or inactive UE may perform connection mode RS detection, as shown in Figure 15. In certain other representative embodiments, an idle and / or inactive UE may perform connection mode RS detection in addition to the idle and / or inactive (e.g., paging-specific) RS shown in Figure 14.

[0179] Signaling extension for idle and / or inactive RS In certain representative embodiments, the network may transmit any of the following informational elements about idle RS and / or inactive RS to the UE in the downlink direction (e.g., from the gNB to the idle UE and / or inactive UE):

[0180] For example, a UE may receive information (e.g., an indication) of the presence of (e.g., guaranteed) idle and / or inactive RSs (e.g., CSI-RS, TRS, and / or other RSs). This information may indicate and / or notify the UE that such RS transmissions are guaranteed (e.g., by a gNB). Based on this information, the UE can avoid performing the procedures described herein as if there were no EPI paging RSs for idle and / or inactive mode UEs.

[0181] For example, a UE may receive information (e.g., an index) of any (e.g., guaranteed) idle and / or inactive RS (e.g., CSI-RS, TRS, and / or other RS) patterns. This information may indicate and / or notify the UE to anticipate a particular pattern of the corresponding idle and / or inactive RS. The pattern may relate to a timing offset prior to the paging occasion (e.g., a timing resource), and / or the frequency resource on which the idle and / or inactive RS will be transmitted.

[0182] For example, the UE may receive information (e.g., instructions) regarding the effectiveness / availability of the corresponding idle and / or inactive RS. This effectiveness / availability may relate to the number of subsequent paging occasions, the number of subsequent paging frames, and / or timers (e.g., in milliseconds) for which the corresponding idle and / or inactive RS (e.g., pattern) is expected.

[0183] For example, the UE may receive information (e.g., instructions) about the idle and / or inactive RS EPI frequencies. The idle and / or inactive RS EPI frequencies may be represented by a vector relating to the iteration order of the EPI DCI and may be associated with idle and / or inactive RS (e.g., CSI-RS, TRS, and / or other RS) occasions. The idle and / or inactive RS EPI frequencies may be set for any (e.g., each) idle and / or inactive RS pattern and / or idle and / or inactive RS configuration set, respectively.

[0184] For example, the above may be received in an information element (IE) as part of any of the following: (1) system information (e.g., SIB1 via PBCH), (2) RRCReconfiguration message (e.g., via PDCCH / PDSCH), (3) RRCConnectionRelease message (e.g., via PDCCH / PDSCH), (4) RRC interruption instruction message (e.g., via PDCCH / PDSCH), (5) EPI DCI (e.g., via PDCCH channel), and / or (6) paging DCI (e.g., via PDCCH channel, and / or applied for a specific PO and / or for the following group-specific paging occasions, where the number of paging occasions may be indicated by validity / availability information).

[0185] In certain representative embodiments, the network may transmit any of the following informational elements in the downlink direction to the UE (e.g., from the gNB to the idle and / or inactive UE) as informational elements for sharing the connection mode RS (e.g., CSI-RS, TRS, and / or other RS):

[0186] For example, a UE may receive information (e.g., an instruction) about the presence of a connected mode RS for an idle and / or inactive UE.

[0187] For example, a UE may receive information (e.g., instructions) regarding connection mode RS numerology settings for idle and / or inactive UEs.

[0188] For example, the UE may receive information (e.g., instructions) about the connection mode RS QCL setting (e.g., type).

[0189] For example, the UE may receive information (e.g., instructions) regarding the validity / availability of the corresponding connection mode RS. This validity / availability may relate to the number of subsequent paging occasions, the number of subsequent paging frames, and / or a timer (e.g., in milliseconds) that the corresponding connection mode RS is expected to have.

[0190] For example, the UE may receive information (e.g., instructions) about the connection mode RS EPI frequency. The connection mode RS EPI frequency may be represented by a vector relating to the repeating order of the EPI DCI and may be related to the connection mode RS occasion. The connection mode RS EPI frequency may be set for each (e.g., each) connection mode RS pattern and / or connection mode RS configuration set.

[0191] For example, the above (e.g., as a connection mode RS resource set) may be received in an information element (IE) as part of any of the following: (1) system information (e.g., SIB1 via PBCH), (2) RRCReconfiguration message (e.g., via PDCCH / PDSCH), (3) RRCConnectionRelease message (e.g., via PDCCH / PDSCH), (4) RRC interruption instruction message (e.g., via PDCCH / PDSCH), (5) EPI DCI (e.g., via PDCCH channel), and / or (6) paging DCI (e.g., via PDCCH channel, and / or applied for a specific PO and / or for the following group-specific paging occasions, where the number of paging occasions may be indicated by validity / availability information).

[0192] Figure 16 shows a typical procedure for paging using the updated EPI configuration and / or updated RS configuration. For example, WTRU102 may implement the procedure shown in Figure 16. At 1602, WTRU102 may proceed to receive information indicating the EPI configuration, including (1) a first pattern of EPI downlink control information (DCI) or EPI DL sequence, and (2) information indicating the RS configuration, including a first time / frequency resource for the RS associated with the EPI DCI. After 1602, WTRU102 may receive an RRC connection release message at 1604. At 1606, WTRU102 may proceed to receive information indicating the updated EPI configuration, including (1) a second pattern of EPI DCI or EPI DL sequence, and / or (2) information indicating the updated RS configuration, including a second time / frequency resource for the RS associated with the EPI DCI. After 1606, WTRU102 may, at 1608, detect one or more RS transmissions using a second time / frequency resource prior to a first paging occasion (PO). At 1610, WTRU102 may decode one or more EPI DCI transmissions associated with the first PO using one or more detected RS transmissions and / or a second pattern. Provided that the decoded EPI DCI associated with the first PO contains information indicating paging by WTRU102, WTRU102 may, at 1612, receive a paging DCI during the first PO.

[0193] In a particular representative embodiment, after receiving an RRC connection release message at 1604 and before receiving information indicating (1) an updated EPI configuration and / or (2) an updated RS configuration at 1606, WTRU 102 may detect one or more RS transmissions using the first time / frequency resource before the second PO (for example, before the first PO at 1608). Furthermore, WTRU 102 may use the one or more detected RS transmissions and the first pattern to decode one or more EPI DCI transmissions associated with the second PO. As an example, the EPI DCI associated with the second PO may include information indicating (1) an updated EPI configuration and / or (2) an updated RS configuration.

[0194] In a particular representative embodiment, WTRU102 may receive a paging DCI during the second PO, provided that the decoded EPI DCI associated with the second PO includes information indicating paging of WTRU102. For example, the paging DCI received during the second PO includes (1) information indicating the updated EPI configuration, and / or (2) information indicating the updated RS configuration.

[0195] In certain representative embodiments, (1) information indicating the updated EPI configuration and / or (2) information indicating the updated RS configuration may be received in system information (e.g., from SIB).

[0196] In certain representative embodiments, (1) information indicating the updated EPI configuration and / or (2) information indicating the updated RS configuration may be received in the RRC message.

[0197] In certain representative embodiments, the second pattern can use a second time / frequency resource to associate one or more EPI DCI transmissions associated with a first (e.g., later) PO with one or more RS transmissions.

[0198] In certain representative embodiments, the first pattern can use a first time / frequency resource to associate one or more EPI DCI transmissions associated with a second (e.g., earlier) PO with one or more RS transmissions.

[0199] In certain representative embodiments, the WTRU102 may receive information indicating the effective interval and / or activation time of the EPI configuration. For example, the activation time may be specified in units of the transmission time interval.

[0200] In a particular representative embodiment, the WTRU102 may receive information indicating the validity interval and / or activation time of the updated EPI configuration. For example, the activation time may be specified in units of the transmission time interval.

[0201] In certain representative embodiments, receiving (1) information indicating the EPI configuration and (2) information indicating the RS configuration may further include receiving (3) information indicating the default EPI configuration, including the default pattern of the EPI DCI, and / or (4) information indicating the default RS configuration, including the default time / frequency resources for the RS associated with the EPI DCI, and / or numerology and QCL information associated with the RS.

[0202] In a particular representative embodiment, the WTRU102 may transmit information indicating the minimum number of synchronization signal block (SSB) transmissions or RS transmissions to maintain network synchronization before receiving (1) information indicating the EPI configuration and (2) information indicating the RS configuration.

[0203] Figure 17 shows a typical procedure for paging using an EPI configuration and an RS configuration including a pseudo-collocation (QCL) setting and numerology for the RS. For example, WTRU102 may implement the procedure shown in Figure 17. In 1702, WTRU102 may proceed to receive (1) information indicating an EPI configuration including a first pattern of an EPI DCI or EPI DL sequence, and (2) information indicating an RS configuration including a QCL setting for the RS associated with the EPI DCI and numerology of time / frequency resources for the RS. After 1702, WTRU102 may, in 1704, detect one or more RS transmissions using the QCL setting and the first time / frequency resource numerology before the first PO. In 1706, WTRU102 may decode one or more EPI DCI transmissions associated with the first PO using the one or more detected RS transmissions and the first pattern. After 1706, WTRU102 may proceed to receive a paging DCI during the first PO, provided that the decoded EPI DCI associated with the first PO contains information indicating paging for WTRU102.

[0204] In certain representative embodiments, WTRU 102 may receive RRC messages (e.g., RRC connection release messages) before 1702 or between 1702 and 1704, for example. For example, EPI configuration and / or RS configuration may be received via system information, RRC signaling, EPI DCI, and / or paging DCI.

[0205] In certain representative embodiments, the EPI configuration and / or RS configuration may be received at a previous PO (e.g., a second PO prior to the first PO) (e.g., in between).

[0206] In certain representative embodiments, the EPI configuration and / or RS configuration may be received using (e.g., a second) time / frequency resources that have or are associated with a QCL setting different from the QCL setting for RS, and / or have or are associated with a numerology different from the numerology for RS. For example, the information received in 1702 may use resources associated with a BWP different from the BWP from which RS is transmitted.

[0207] In certain representative embodiments, one or more transmissions of EPI DCI may be received using (e.g., a second) time / frequency resources that have or are associated with a QCL setting different from the QCL setting for RS, and / or a numerology different from the numerology for RS. For example, EPI DCI decoded at 1706 may use resources associated with a first BWP (e.g., a paging BWP) different from a second BWP (e.g., an active BWP of another WTRU) on which RS is transmitted. The first and second BWPs may overlap in frequency.

[0208] In certain representative embodiments, the EPI configuration and / or RS configuration may include, or be associated with, a validity period during which the configuration may be applied (e.g., active). For example, the EPI configuration may be used to decode EPI DCI transmissions during its validity period. For example, the RS configuration may be used to detect RS transmissions during their validity period. As another example, the default EPI configuration and / or default RS configuration may be used outside of their validity period.

[0209] Figure 18 shows a typical procedure for paging using the validity of the RS configuration, including the EPI configuration and the pseudo-collocation (QCL) settings and numerology for the RS. For example, WTRU102 may implement the procedure shown in Figure 18. At 1802, WTRU102 may proceed to receive (1) information indicating the EPI configuration, including a first pattern of the EPI DCI or EPI DL sequence, and (2) information indicating the RS configuration, including the QCL settings for the first RS associated with the EPI DCI and the numerology of the time / frequency resources for the first RS. After 1802, WTRU102 may receive an RRC connection release message at 1804. At 1806, provided that the validity of the RS configuration has expired, WTRU102 may detect one or more transmissions of the second RS using the default time / frequency resources for the second RS before the PO. In 1808, WTRU102 may proceed to decode one or more transmissions of EPI DCI associated with PO using one or more detected transmissions of the second RS and / or default patterns of EPI DCI or EPI DL sequences. For example, WTRU102 may use the first pattern after the RS configuration has expired. For example, WTRU102 may use the default pattern after the RS configuration or EPI configuration has expired. In 1810, WTRU102 may proceed to receive a paging DCI during PO, provided that the decoded EPI DCI associated with PO contains information indicating paging of WTRU102.

[0210] In certain representative embodiments, the EPI configuration and / or RS configuration may be received in the system information block and / or RRC signaling.

[0211] In certain representative embodiments, the EPI configuration and / or RS configuration may be received using (e.g., a second) time / frequency resources that have or are associated with a QCL setting different from the QCL setting for the RS, and / or have or are associated with a numerology different from the numerology for the RS. For example, the information received in 1702 may use resources associated with a BWP different from the BWP to which the first RS and / or the second RS are transmitted.

[0212] In certain representative embodiments, one or more transmissions of EPI DCI may be received using (e.g., a second) time / frequency resources that have or are associated with a QCL setting different from the QCL setting for the first and / or second RS, and / or have or are associated with a numerology different from the numerology for the first and / or second RS. For example, EPI DCI decoded at 1706 may use resources associated with a first BWP (e.g., a paging BWP) different from a second BWP (e.g., an active BWP of another WTRU) on which the first and / or second RS are transmitted. For example, the second RS may be a default RS associated with paging. The first and second BWPs may overlap in frequency.

[0213] In certain representative embodiments, the EPI configuration and / or RS configuration may include, or be associated with, a validity period during which the configuration may be applied (e.g., active). For example, the EPI configuration may be used to decode EPI DCI transmissions during its validity period. For example, the RS configuration may be used to detect the first RS transmission during the validity period. As another example, the default EPI configuration and / or default RS configuration (e.g., default time / frequency resources) may be used outside of the validity period.

[0214] Figure 19 shows a typical procedure for paging using an EPI configuration and the effectiveness of the EPI configuration. For example, WTRU102 may implement the procedure shown in Figure 19. At 1902, WTRU102 may receive (1) information indicating an EPI configuration including a first pattern of an EPI DCI or EPI DL sequence, and (2) information indicating the effectiveness of the EPI configuration. After 1902, WTRU102 may receive an RRC connection release message at 1904. At 1906, WTRU102 may detect one or more RS transmissions before a paging occasion (PO), provided that the effectiveness of the EPI configuration has expired. At 1908, WTRU102 may decode one or more EPI DCI transmissions associated with the PO using the one or more detected RS transmissions and the default pattern of an EPI DCI or EPI DL sequence. After 1908, in 1910, a paging DCI is received during the PO, provided that the decoded EPI DCI associated with the PO contains information indicating paging of the WTRU.

[0215] In a particular representative embodiment, if an RRC connection release message is received before 1902, WTRU102 may receive the EPI configuration via system information or RRC signaling, or via EPI DCI or paging DCI.

[0216] In certain representative embodiments, the EPI configuration may be received in the previous PO (for example, during the previous PO).

[0217] In certain representative embodiments, the EPI configuration may include information demonstrating the effectiveness of the EPI configuration.

[0218] In certain representative embodiments, the EPI configuration may be received using (e.g., a second) time / frequency resources that have or are associated with a QCL setting different from the QCL setting for RS, and / or have or are associated with a numerology different from the numerology for RS. For example, the information received in 2002 may use resources associated with a BWP different from the BWP from which RS is transmitted.

[0219] In certain representative embodiments, one or more transmissions of EPI DCI may be received using (e.g., a second) time / frequency resources that have or are associated with a QCL setting different from the QCL setting for RS, and / or a numerology different from the numerology for RS. For example, EPI DCI decoded at 1706 may use resources associated with a first BWP (e.g., a paging BWP) different from a second BWP (e.g., an active BWP of another WTRU) on which RS is transmitted. The first and second BWPs may overlap in frequency.

[0220] In certain representative embodiments, the first pattern may be used to decode an EPI DCI transmission during its validity period (for example, before the validity of the EPI configuration expires).

[0221] Figure 20 shows other typical procedures for paging using EPI configuration and the validity of the EPI configuration. For example, WTRU102 may implement the procedure shown in Figure 20. In 2002, WTRU102 may receive (1) information indicating an EPI configuration including a first pattern of EPI DCI or EPI DL sequence, and (2) information indicating the validity of the EPI configuration. After 2002, WTRU102 may receive an RRC connection release message in 2004. In 2006, WTRU102 may detect one or more SSB transmissions before a paging occasion (PO), provided that the validity of the EPI configuration has expired. In 2008, WTRU102 may decode one or more EPI DCI transmissions associated with the PO using the one or more detected SSB transmissions and the default pattern of the EPI DCI or EPI DL sequence. In 2010, paging DCIs are received during PO, provided that the decoded EPI DCI associated with PO contains information indicating WTRU paging.

[0222] In a particular representative embodiment, if an RRC connection release message is received before 2002, the WTRU102 may receive the EPI configuration via system information or RRC signaling, or via the EPI DCI or paging DCI.

[0223] In certain representative embodiments, the EPI configuration may be received in the previous PO (for example, during the previous PO).

[0224] In certain representative embodiments, the EPI configuration may include information demonstrating the effectiveness of the EPI configuration.

[0225] In certain representative embodiments, the EPI configuration may be received using (e.g., a second) time / frequency resources that have or are associated with a QCL setting different from the QCL setting for RS, and / or have or are associated with a numerology different from the numerology for RS. For example, the information received in 2002 may use resources associated with a BWP different from the BWP from which RS is transmitted.

[0226] In certain representative embodiments, one or more transmissions of EPI DCI may be received using (e.g., a second) time / frequency resources that have or are associated with a QCL setting different from the QCL setting for RS, and / or a numerology different from the numerology for RS. For example, EPI DCI decoded at 1706 may use resources associated with a first BWP (e.g., a paging BWP) different from a second BWP (e.g., an active BWP of another WTRU) on which RS is transmitted. The first and second BWPs may overlap in frequency.

[0227] In certain representative embodiments, the first pattern may be used to decode an EPI DCI transmission during its validity period (for example, before the validity of the EPI configuration expires).

[0228] Figure 21 shows a typical procedure for paging using an EPI configuration and first and second RS configurations. For example, WTRU 102 may implement the procedure shown in Figure 21. In 2102, WTRU 102 may receive information indicating an Early Paging Instruction (EPI) configuration, including EPI Downlink Control Information (DCI) or a first pattern of an EPI DL sequence; (2) information indicating a first Reference Signal (RS) configuration, including a first time / frequency resource for a first RS associated with the EPI DCI; and (3) information indicating a second RS configuration, including a second time / frequency resource for a second RS. In 2104, WTRU may receive an RRC connection release message. After 2104, WTRU 102 may, in 2106, detect one or more transmissions of the first RS using the first time / frequency resource and one or more transmissions of the second RS using the second time / frequency resource before the first PO. In 2108, WTRU102 can decode one or more transmissions of EPI DCI associated with the first PO using the detected transmissions of the first RS and the second RS, as well as the first pattern. In 2110, WTRU102 can receive a paging DCI during the first PO, provided that the decoded EPI DCI associated with the first PO contains information indicating paging of the WTRU.

[0229] In a particular representative embodiment, (1) information indicating the EPI configuration, (2) information indicating the first RS configuration, and / or (3) information indicating the second RS configuration are received in either a System Information Block (SIB), a Radio Resource Control (RRC) message, an EPI DCI associated with a second PO preceding the first PO, and / or a paging DCI in the second PO.

[0230] In certain representative embodiments, the first pattern may relate one or more transmissions of EPI DCI associated with a first PO to transmissions of a first RS and a second RS, or indicate an association between them.

[0231] In certain representative embodiments, WTRU102 can receive information indicating the validity of the EPI configuration. For example, WTRU102 may decode one or more transmissions of EPI DCI associated with the first PO using a first pattern, provided that validity (e.g., validity interval) has not elapsed. Alternatively, WTRU102 may decode one or more transmissions of EPI DCI associated with the first PO using a default pattern for the EPI DCI or EPI DL sequence, provided that validity (e.g., validity interval) has elapsed.

[0232] In certain representative embodiments, WTRU102 may receive information indicating the activation of the EPI configuration. For example, WTRU102 may, on the condition that the activation of the EPI configuration has been received, decode one or more transmissions of EPI DCI associated with the first PO using the first pattern.

[0233] In certain representative embodiments, WTRU102 can receive information indicating the validity of the first RS configuration. For example, WTRU102 may use the first time / frequency resources to detect one or more transmissions of the first RS before the first PO, provided that the valid interval has not elapsed. Alternatively, WTRU102 may use the default time / frequency resources to detect one or more transmissions of the default RS before the first PO, provided that the valid interval has elapsed.

[0234] In certain representative embodiments, WTRU102 may receive information indicating the activation of a first RS configuration. For example, WTRU102 may use a first time / frequency resource to detect one or more transmissions of the first RS prior to the first PO, provided that the activation of the first RS configuration has been received.

[0235] In certain representative embodiments, similar processing may be applied to a second RS configuration. For example, WTRU102 may use a second time / frequency resource to detect one or more transmissions of the second RS before the first PO, provided that the effective interval has not elapsed. As another example, WTRU102 can detect one or more transmissions of the default RS using the default time / frequency resources, provided that the valid interval has elapsed prior to the first PO. As yet another example, WTRU102 can detect one or more transmissions of the second RS using the second time / frequency resources, provided that the activation of the second RS configuration has been received prior to the first PO.

[0236] In certain representative embodiments, the first time / frequency resource may be associated with a paging BWP. In certain representative embodiments, the second time / frequency resource may be associated with a BWP different from the paging BWP.

[0237] In certain representative embodiments, WTRU102 detection of one or more transmissions of a first RS using a first time / frequency resource, and / or one or more transmissions of a second RS using a second time / frequency resource, may be based on the WTRU capability and / or minimum wake-up period associated with the first PO (e.g., associated with paging of WTRU102).

[0238] Figure 22 shows a typical procedure for paging using the EPI configuration, RS configuration, and the validity of the EPI configuration and / or RS configuration. For example, WTRU102 may implement the procedure shown in Figure 22. At 2202, WTRU102 may receive information indicating the EPI configuration, including (1) a first pattern of the EPI DCI or EPI DL sequence, and (2) information indicating the RS configuration, including a first time / frequency resource for the RS associated with the EPI DCI. After 2202, WTRU102 may receive an RRC connection release message at 2204. At 2206, WTRU may detect one or more transmissions of default RS using the default time / frequency resource before PO, provided that the validity of the EPI configuration and / or RS configuration has expired. At 2208, WTRU102 may decode one or more transmissions of EPI DCI associated with PO using one or more detected transmissions of default RS and / or the default pattern of the EPI DCI or EPI DL sequence. In 2210, WTRU102 can receive a paging DCI during PO, provided that the decoded EPI DCI associated with PO contains information indicating paging of the WTRU.

[0239] Figure 23 shows another typical procedure for paging using the updated EPI configuration and / or updated RS configuration. For example, WTRU102 may implement the procedure shown in Figure 23. At 2302, WTRU102 may receive information indicating the default EPI configuration, including the default pattern of the EPI DCI or EPI DL sequence, and (2) information indicating the RS configuration, including time / frequency resources for the default RS associated with the EPI DCI. At 2304, WTRU102 may receive an RRC connection release message. After 2304, WTRU102 may receive at 2306 information indicating the updated EPI configuration, including the updated pattern of the EPI DCI or EPI DL sequence, and / or (2) information indicating the updated RS configuration, including a second time / frequency resource for the RS associated with the EPI DCI. In 2308, provided that the validity of the updated EPI configuration and / or updated RS configuration has expired, WTRU102 may, prior to PO, detect one or more transmissions of the default RS using the time / frequency resources for the default RS. After 2308, in 2310, WTRU102 may decode one or more transmissions of the EPI DCI associated with PO using one or more detected transmissions of the default RS and / or default pattern. In 2312, provided that the decoded EPI DCI associated with PO contains information indicating WTRU paging, WTRU102 may receive a paging DCI during PO.

[0240] In certain representative embodiments, the validity of the updated EPI configuration and / or updated RS configuration may not have expired (e.g., it is valid and / or activated). For example, WTRU102 may, in 2308, use a second time / frequency resource to detect one or more RS transmissions before the PO, provided that the validity of the updated EPI configuration and / or updated RS configuration has not expired (e.g., it is valid and / or activated). As another example, WTRU102 may, in 2310, use one or more detected RS transmissions and / or updated patterns to decode one or more EPI DCI transmissions associated with the PO.

[0241] In any of the procedures described above in Figures 16 to 23, WTRU102 may transmit information indicating WTRU capability associated with paging before receiving the EPI configuration. For example, WTRU capability may be information indicating the minimum number of SSB bursts and / or DL ​​sequences (e.g., consecutive RS transmissions) required to maintain RAN synchronization. For example, a base station (e.g., gNB) may transmit an EPI configuration to WTRU102, where the EPI DCI pattern may be selected by the network (e.g., base station) based on WTRU capability.

[0242] In certain representative embodiments, the EPI DL sequence can indicate an association between the transmission of the EPI DCI and the transmission of the RS preceding the paging occasion.

[0243] In certain representative embodiments, the method may be implemented by WTRU102 in an inactive mode or idle mode (e.g., after transitioning to such a mode), and the method may include receiving one or more transmissions of one or more SSBs or one or more reference signals (RS) associated with a paging occasion (PO), and receiving one or more transmissions of EPI DCI preceding the PO based on the received one or more transmissions of one or more SSBs or one or more RS. Based on the EPI DCI, WTRU102 may proceed to determine whether the WTRU is being paged in the PO. Based on whether the WTRU is being paged in the PO, WTRU102 may proceed to switch to a first sleep state, at least until after the PO has ended.

[0244] In certain representative embodiments, the method may be implemented by WTRU102 in an inactive or idle mode (e.g., after transitioning to such a mode), and the method may include receiving one or more transmissions of one or more SSBs or one or more reference signals (RS) associated with a paging occasion (PO), and receiving one or more transmissions of EPI DCI preceding the PO based on the received one or more transmissions of one or more SSBs or one or more RS. Based on the EPI DCI, WTRU102 may proceed to determine whether the WTRU is being paged in the PO. Based on whether the WTRU is being paged in the PO, WTRU102 may proceed to switch to a second sleep state until the PO begins.

[0245] In a particular representative embodiment, the method may include the WTRU waking from a second sleep state when the PO begins, and, after waking from the second sleep state, receiving a transmission of paging DCI in the PO and / or a transmission of paging record following the PO.

[0246] In a typical embodiment, the EPI may be received during the transmission of the DCI. For example, the EPI may be a single bit field within the DCI.

[0247] In a typical embodiment, a WTRU may also receive information indicating the active configuration set involved in paging the WTRU in a PO. For example, the configuration set may include any of the following: the correspondence between the number of transmissions of one or more SSBs or one or more RSs and the number of transmissions of an EPI; the duration to which the configuration set should apply; numerology information for the RS transmissions; pseudo-collocation (QCL) information for the RS transmissions; the default configuration set index; and / or resource sets of one or more RSs. As an example, the duration may be any of the following: the number of consecutive POs; the number of paging frames; the number of system frame numbers; the number of slots; and / or expiration timer information.

[0248] In a typical embodiment, upon the expiration of a duration, the WTRU may activate a default set of configurations related to paging the WTRU and / or deactivate an active set of configurations.

[0249] In a typical embodiment, the WTRU may receive information indicating an update regarding the active configuration set, provided that the duration has not elapsed. For example, the active configuration set may be received via one or more information elements in the system information and / or radio resource control messaging. For example, an update for the active configuration set may be received via one or more information elements in the DCI signaling.

[0250] In a typical embodiment, one or more reference signals (RS) associated with a PO may include at least one RS for another WTRU.

[0251] In a typical embodiment, the WTRU may receive information indicating that the number of RSs transmitted in a later (e.g., the next) PO will increase and / or decrease.

[0252] In a typical embodiment, the WTRU may receive information indicating that there is no RS to be transmitted at the next PO.

[0253] A system and method for processing data according to a typical embodiment may be executed by one or more processors that execute a sequence of instructions contained in a memory device. Such instructions may be read into the memory device from another computer-readable medium, such as a secondary data storage device. By executing the sequence of instructions contained in the memory device, the processor operates, for example, as described above. In alternative embodiments, hardwired circuits may be used instead of, or in combination with, software instructions to implement the present invention. Such software may be executed on a processor remotely housed in a vehicle and / or another mobile device. In the latter case, data may be transferred between the vehicle and the other mobile device via wired or wireless connections.

[0254] While the features and elements are described above in specific combinations, those skilled in the art will understand that each feature or element can be used alone or in any combination with other features and elements. Furthermore, the methods described herein can be implemented in computer programs, software, or firmware embedded on computer-readable media for execution by a computer or processor. Examples of non-temporary computer-readable storage media include, but are not limited to, read-only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), registers, cache memory, semiconductor memory devices, magnetic media such as internal hard disks and removable disks, magneto-optical media, and optical media such as CD-ROM disks and digital versatile disks (DVDs). A radio frequency transceiver can be implemented using a software-associated processor for use in a WTRU, UE, terminal, base station, RNC, or any host computer.

[0255] Furthermore, the embodiments described above include other devices, including processing platforms, computing systems, controllers, and processors. These devices may include at least one central processing unit ("CPU") and memory. According to the convention of those skilled in the art in the field of computer programming, references to operations and symbolic representations of arithmetic or instructions may be performed by various CPUs and memories. Such operations and arithmetic or instructions may be referred to as "executed," "executed by the computer," or "executed by the CPU."

[0256] Those skilled in the art will understand that operations and symbolically represented arithmetic or instructions involve the manipulation of electrical signals by the CPU. The electrical system represents data bits that can cause a resulting transformation or reduction of electrical signals, and maintains these data bits in memory locations in the memory system, thereby reconfiguring or otherwise modifying the CPU's operations and processing of other signals. The memory locations where the data bits are maintained are physical locations having specific electrical, magnetic, optical, or organic properties that correspond to or represent the data bits. It should be understood that typical embodiments are not limited to the platforms or CPUs described above, and other platforms and CPUs may support the methods provided.

[0257] Data bits may also be maintained on computer-readable media, including magnetic disks, optical disks, and any other volatile (e.g., Random Access Memory ("RAM")) or CPU-readable non-volatile (e.g., Read-Only Memory ("ROM")) mass storage systems. The computer-readable media may include cooperative or interconnected computer-readable media distributed across multiple interconnected processing systems, which may reside exclusively on a processing system or be local or remote to the processing system. Typical embodiments are not limited to the memory described above, and other platforms and memories may support the methods described. Typical embodiments are not limited to the platform or CPU described above, and other platforms and CPUs may support the methods provided.

[0258] In exemplary embodiments, any of the operations, processes, etc., described herein may be implemented as computer-readable instructions stored on a computer-readable medium. These computer-readable instructions may be executed by processors in mobile devices, network elements, and / or any other computing devices.

[0259] There is little distinction between hardware and software implementations of a system configuration. The use of hardware or software is generally (though not always, in certain situations the choice between hardware and software may be significant) a design choice involving a cost-effectiveness trade-off. There may be various vehicles (e.g., hardware, software, and / or firmware) that may affect the processes and / or systems and / or other technologies described herein, and the preferred vehicle may vary depending on the context in which the processes and / or systems and / or other technologies are deployed. For example, if the implementer determines that speed and accuracy are paramount, the implementer may choose a vehicle that is primarily hardware and / or firmware. If flexibility is paramount, the implementer may choose a vehicle that is primarily software. Alternatively, the implementer may choose any combination of hardware, software, and / or firmware.

[0260] The detailed description above illustrates various embodiments of devices and / or processes through the use of block diagrams, flowcharts, and / or examples. Those skilled in the art will understand that, insofar as such block diagrams, flowcharts, and / or examples include one or more functions and / or operations, each function and / or operation in such block diagrams, flowcharts, or examples may be implemented individually and / or collectively by a wide range of hardware, software, firmware, or substantially any combination thereof. Suitable processors include, by example, general-purpose processors, dedicated processors, conventional processors, digital signal processors (DSPs), multiple microprocessors, one or more microprocessors associated with a DSP core, controllers, microcontrollers, application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), application-specific standard products (ASSPs), field-programmable gate array (FPGA) circuits, any other type of integrated circuit (IC), and / or state machines.

[0261] While features and elements are provided above in specific combinations, those skilled in the art will understand that each feature or element may be used individually or in any combination with other features and elements. This disclosure is not limited in terms of the specific embodiments described in this application, which are intended to be illustrative of various aspects. As will be apparent to those skilled in the art, many modifications and variations can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. No element, operation, or command used in the description of this application should be construed as important or essential to the invention unless expressly presented as such. In addition to those enumerated herein, functionally equivalent methods and apparatus within the scope of this disclosure will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the above specification. Such modifications and variations are intended to fall within the scope of the appended claims. This disclosure is limited only by the terms of the appended claims, and together with the full scope of equivalents to which such claims are entitled. It should be understood that this disclosure is not limited to any particular method or system.

[0262] It should also be understood that the terms used herein are for the purpose of describing only specific embodiments and are not intended to limit them. Where used herein, and referred to herein, “Station” and its abbreviation “STA,” “User Equipment” and its abbreviation “UE” may mean (i) a radio transmit and / or receive unit (WTRU) such as the infrastructure described herein, (ii) any of several embodiments of a WTRU such as the infrastructure described herein, (iii) a radio-enabled and / or wired (e.g., tetherable) device configured to have some or all of the structure and functions of a WTRU such as the infrastructure described herein, (iii) a radio-enabled and / or wired device configured to have less than all of the structure and functions of a WTRU such as the infrastructure described herein, or (iv) the same. Details of exemplary WTRUs that may represent any UE enumerated herein are provided below with respect to Figures 1A to 1D.

[0263] In certain representative embodiments, several parts of the subject matter described herein may be implemented via application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), digital signal processors (DSPs), and / or other integrated formats. However, it will be recognized by those skilled in the art that some aspects of the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented uniformly in integrated circuits, in whole or in part, as one or more computer programs running on one or more computers (e.g., as one or more programs running on one or more computer systems), as one or more programs running on one or more processors (e.g., as one or more programs running on one or more microprocessors), as firmware, or substantially any combination thereof, and that designing circuits and / or writing software and / or firmware code is within the scope of the art of those skilled in the art in light of this disclosure. In addition, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that mechanisms of the subject matter described herein may be distributed as various forms of program products, and that exemplary embodiments of the subject matter described herein are applicable regardless of the specific type of signal-carrying medium used to actually carry out the distribution. Examples of signal-carrying media include, but are not limited to, recordable media such as floppy disks, hard disk drives, CDs, DVDs, digital tapes, and computer memory, as well as transmission media such as digital and / or analog communication media (e.g., optical fiber cables, waveguides, wired communication links, wireless communication links, etc.).

[0264] The subject matter described in this specification may, in some cases, depict different components that are included within or connected to different other components. It should be understood that such illustrated architectures are merely examples, and in practice, many other architectures that achieve the same functionality may be implemented. Conceptually, any arrangement of components for achieving the same functionality is effectively "associated" so that the desired functionality can be achieved. Thus, any two components combined herein to achieve a particular functionality can be viewed as "associated" with each other such that the desired functionality is achieved, regardless of the architecture or intermediate components. Similarly, any two components so associated can also be considered to be "operably connected" or "operably coupled" to each other for achieving the desired functionality, and any two components that can be so associated can also be considered to be "operably couplable" to each other for achieving the desired functionality. Specific examples of operably couplable include, but are not limited to, components that are physically mating and / or physically interacting, and / or wirelessly interacting and / or wirelessly interacting, and / or logically interacting and / or logically interactable components.

[0265] Regarding the use of substantially any plural and / or singular terms herein, one of ordinary skill in the art can convert from plural to singular and / or from singular to plural as appropriate for the context and / or application. In this specification, various singular / plural permutations may be explicitly recited for clarity purposes.

[0266] In general, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the terms used herein, and in particular in the appended claims (e.g., the body of the appended claims), are generally intended to be “non-limiting” terms (for example, the term “contains” should be interpreted as “contains but not limited to,” the term “has” should be interpreted as “has at least,” and the term “contains” should be interpreted as “contains but not limited to.”). It will further be understood by those skilled in the art that if a particular number of claims introduced are intended to be described, such intention is explicitly stated in the claim, and if such statement is not present, such intention does not exist. For example, if only one item is intended, the term “single” or similar wording may be used. For the sake of understanding, the following description of the appended claims and / or herein may include the use of the introductory phrases “at least one” and “one or more” to introduce the description of a claim. However, the use of such phrases should not be interpreted as meaning that the introduction of a claim description with the indefinite article "a" or "an" limits any particular claim containing such introduced description to embodiments containing only one such description, even if the same claim contains the introductory phrase "one or more" or "at least one" and an indefinite article such as "a" or "an" (for example, "a" and / or "an" should be interpreted as meaning "at least one" or "one or more"). The same applies to the use of the definite article used to introduce a claim description. In addition, even if a particular number of descriptions in an introduced claim are explicitly stated, it will be recognized by those skilled in the art that such a statement should be interpreted as meaning at least the number stated (for example, the simple statement "two descriptions" without other modifiers means at least two descriptions or two or more descriptions).Furthermore, when notations similar to “at least one of A, B, and C” are used, generally, such structures are intended to mean what a person skilled in the art would understand from such notations (e.g., “a system having at least one of A, B, and C” includes a system having only A, only B, only C, A and B together, A and C together, B and C together, and / or A, B, and C together, but is not limited thereto). When notations similar to “at least one of A, B, or C” are used, generally, such structures are intended to mean what a person skilled in the art would understand from such notations (e.g., “a system having at least one of A, B, or C” includes a system having only A, only B, only C, A and B together, A and C together, B and C together, and / or A, B, and C together, but is not limited thereto). It will be further understood by those skilled in the art that in any of the specification, claims, or drawings, substantially any disjunctive word and / or phrase presenting two or more alternative terms is to be understood as contemplating the possibility of including one of the terms, any of the terms, or both terms. For example, the phrase “A or B” is to be understood as including the possibilities of “A” or “B” or “A and B”. Further, as used herein, the term “any of” following a list of multiple items and / or a list of multiple categories of items is intended to include “any of”, “any combination of”, “any plurality of”, and / or “any plurality of combinations of” the items and / or categories of items, individually or in combination with other items and / or other categories of items. Further, as used herein, the terms “set / group” or “group” are intended to include any number of items including zero. Additionally, as used herein, the term “number” is intended to include any number including zero.

[0267] In addition, if any feature or aspect of the present disclosure is described from the perspective of the Markush group, a person skilled in the art will recognize that the present disclosure is also described from the perspective of any individual member or subgroup of a member of the Markush group.

[0268] For all purposes, including providing written explanations, as will be understood by those skilled in the art, all scopes disclosed herein also encompass any possible sub-scopes and combinations of sub-scopes. Any enumerated scope can be readily recognized as sufficiently explainable and enable the same scope to be broken down into at least equal 1 / 2, 1 / 3, 1 / 4, 1 / 5, 1 / 10, etc. As a non-limiting example, each scope considered herein can readily be broken down into the lower third, the middle third, the upper third, etc. Also, as will be understood by those skilled in the art, all words such as “up to,” “at least,” “greater than,” and “less than” include the number mentioned and mean a scope that can be further broken down into sub-scopes as considered above. Finally, as will be understood by those skilled in the art, a scope includes each individual element. Thus, for example, a group having 1 to 3 cells refers to a group having 1, 2, or 3 cells. Similarly, a group having 1 to 5 cells refers to a group having 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 cells, and so on.

[0269] Furthermore, unless otherwise specifically stated, the claims should not be interpreted as being limited to the order or elements provided. In addition, the use of the term “means for” in any claim is intended to appeal to Section 112, paragraph 6 of the U.S. Patent Act, or the means-plus-function claim format, and no claim that does not contain the term “means for” is intended to appeal to that purpose.

[0270] Using software and associated processors, radio frequency transceivers can be implemented for use in wireless transceiver units (WTRUs), user equipment (UEs), terminals, base stations, mobility management entities (MMEs), or evolved packet cores (EPCs), or any host computer. A WTRU may be used in conjunction with hardware and / or software-implemented modules such as software-defined radio (SDR), and may also be implemented in other components such as cameras, video camera modules, video phones, speakerphones, vibration devices, speakers, microphones, television transceivers, hands-free headsets, keyboards, Bluetooth® modules, frequency modulation (FM) radio units, near-field communication (NFC) modules, LCD display units, organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display units, digital music players, media players, video game player modules, internet browsers, and / or wireless local area network (WLAN) or ultra-wideband (UWB) modules.

[0271] Through this disclosure, those skilled in the art will understand that certain representative embodiments may be used in combination with alternative or other representative embodiments.

[0272] Furthermore, the methods described herein may be implemented in computer programs, software, or firmware embedded in computer-readable media for execution by a computer or processor. Examples of non-temporary computer-readable storage media include, but are not limited to, read-only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), registers, cache memory, semiconductor memory devices, magnetic media such as internal hard disks and removable disks, magneto-optical media, and optical media such as CD-ROM disks and digital versatile disks (DVDs). A processor associated with the software may be used to implement a radio frequency transceiver for use in a WTRU, UE, terminal, base station, RNC, or any host computer.

Claims

1. A method implemented by a wireless transmit / receive unit (WTRU), the method comprising: (1) information indicating an EPI configuration including an early paging instruction (EPI) downlink control information (DCI) or a first pattern of an EPI downlink sequence; and (2) information indicating an RS configuration including a first time / frequency resource for a reference signal (RS) associated with the EPI DCI. After receiving the RRC connection release message, (1) information indicating an updated EPI configuration including a second pattern of the EPI DCI or EPI downlink sequence, and / or (2) information indicating an updated RS configuration including a second time / frequency resource for the RS associated with the EPI DCI, Detecting one or more transmissions of the RS using the second time / frequency resource before the first paging occasion (PO), Decode one or more transmissions of the EPI DCI associated with the first PO using the one or more detected transmissions of the RS and / or the second pattern of the EPI DCI, A method comprising receiving a paging DCI during the first PO, provided that the decoded EPI DCI associated with the first PO contains information indicating paging of the WTRU.

2. After receiving the RRC connection release message, and before receiving (1) the information indicating the updated EPI configuration and / or (2) the information indicating the updated RS configuration, Detecting one or more transmissions of the RS using the first time / frequency resource before a second PO occurs before the first PO, Decode one or more transmissions of the EPI DCI associated with the second PO using the one or more detected transmissions of the RS and the first pattern, The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the EPI DCI associated with the second PO includes (1) the information indicating the updated EPI configuration, and / or (2) the information indicating the updated RS configuration.

4. The process further includes receiving a paging DCI during the second PO, provided that the decoded EPI DCI associated with the second PO includes information indicating paging of the WTRU. The method according to claim 2, wherein the paging DCI received during the second PO includes (1) the information indicating the updated EPI configuration, and / or (2) the information indicating the updated RS configuration.

5. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein (1) the information indicating the updated EPI configuration and / or (2) the information indicating the updated RS configuration are received in the system information.

6. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein (1) the information indicating the updated EPI configuration and / or (2) the information indicating the updated RS configuration are received in a radio resource control (RRC) message.

7. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the second pattern relates the one or more transmissions of the EPI DCI associated with the first PO to the one or more transmissions of the RS using the second time / frequency resource.

8. The method according to any one of claims 2 to 6, wherein the first pattern relates the one or more transmissions of the EPI DCI associated with the second PO to the one or more transmissions of the RS using the first time / frequency resource.

9. Receiving information indicating the effective interval of the EPI configuration and / or the activation timing of the EPI configuration, The method according to any one of claims 1 to 8, further comprising:

10. Receiving information indicating the effective interval and / or activation timing of the updated EPI configuration, The method according to any one of claims 1 to 9, further comprising:

11. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 10, wherein the receiving of (1) the information indicating the EPI configuration and (2) the information indicating the RS configuration further comprises receiving (3) information indicating a default EPI configuration including a default pattern of the EPI DCI, and / or (4) information indicating a default RS configuration including default time / frequency resources for the RS associated with the EPI DCI, and / or numerology and pseudo-collocation information associated with the RS.

12. (1) Before receiving the information indicating the EPI configuration and (2) the information indicating the RS configuration, transmit information indicating the minimum number of synchronization signal blocks (SSB) transmissions or RS transmissions to maintain network synchronization. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 11, further comprising:

13. A wireless transmitter / receiver unit (WTRU), A processor and a transceiver are provided, and the processor and the transceiver are (1) Information indicating an EPI configuration including an Early Paging Instruction (EPI) Downlink Control Information (DCI) or a first pattern of an EPI Downlink Sequence, and (2) Information indicating an RS configuration including a first time / frequency resource for a Reference Signal (RS) associated with the EPI DCI, After receiving the RRC connection release message, (1) Information indicating an updated EPI configuration including a second pattern of the EPI DCI, and / or (2) Information indicating an updated RS configuration including a second time / frequency resource for the RS associated with the EPI DCI, Before the first paging occasion (PO), one or more transmissions of the RS using the second time / frequency resource are detected, Using the one or more detected transmissions of the RS and / or the second pattern of the EPI DCI, decode one or more transmissions of the EPI DCI associated with the first PO, and A WTRU configured to receive a paging DCI during a second PO, provided that the decoded EPI DCI associated with the first PO contains information indicating paging of the WTRU.

14. After receiving the RRC connection release message, and before receiving (1) the information indicating the updated EPI configuration and / or (2) the information indicating the updated RS configuration, Detecting one or more transmissions of the RS using the first time / frequency resource before a second PO occurs before the first PO, Decode one or more transmissions of the EPI DCI associated with the second PO using the one or more detected transmissions of the RS and the first pattern, The WTRU according to claim 13, further comprising:

15. The WTRU according to claim 14, wherein the EPI DCI associated with the second PO includes (1) the information indicating the updated EPI configuration, and / or (2) the information indicating the updated RS configuration.

16. The process further includes receiving a paging DCI during the second PO, provided that the decoded EPI DCI associated with the second PO includes information indicating paging of the WTRU. The WTRU according to claim 14, wherein the paging DCI received during the second PO includes (1) the information indicating the updated EPI configuration, and / or (2) the information indicating the updated RS configuration.

17. The WTRU according to claim 13 or 14, wherein (1) the information indicating the updated EPI configuration and / or (2) the information indicating the updated RS configuration are received in the system information.

18. The WTRU according to claim 13 or 14, wherein (1) the information indicating the updated EPI configuration and / or (2) the information indicating the updated RS configuration are received in a radio resource control (RRC) message.

19. The WTRU according to any one of claims 13 to 18, wherein the second pattern relates the one or more transmissions of the EPI DCI associated with the first PO to the one or more transmissions of the RS using the second time / frequency resource.

20. The WTRU according to any one of claims 13 to 18, wherein the first pattern relates the one or more transmissions of the EPI DCI associated with the second PO to the one or more transmissions of the RS using the first time / frequency resources.

21. Receiving information indicating the effective interval of the EPI configuration and / or the activation timing of the EPI configuration, A WTRU according to any one of claims 13 to 20, further comprising:

22. Receiving information indicating the effective interval and / or activation timing of the updated EPI configuration, A WTRU according to any one of claims 13 to 21, further comprising:

23. The WTRU according to any one of claims 13 to 21, further comprising receiving (1) the information indicating the EPI configuration and (2) the information indicating the RS configuration, (3) information indicating a default EPI configuration including a default pattern of EPI downlink control information (DCI), and / or (4) information indicating a default RS configuration including default time / frequency resources for the RS associated with the EPI DCI, and / or numerology and pseudo-collocation information associated with the RS.

24. (1) Before receiving the information indicating the EPI configuration and (2) the information indicating the RS configuration, transmit information indicating the minimum number of synchronization signal blocks (SSB) transmissions or RS transmissions to maintain network synchronization. A WTRU according to any one of claims 13 to 23, further comprising:

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