L1-RSRP measurement for LTM

Abstract

An apparatus and system are described for performing L1-reference signal received power (L1-RSRP) measurements and reporting results for L1 / L2 triggered mobility (LTM). After transmitting an L3 measurement report to a fifth-generation NodeB (gNB), a user equipment (UE) receives a radio resource control (RRC) reconfiguration message from the gNB. The RRC reconfiguration message includes a configuration for a Layer 1 / Layer 2 (L1 / L2) triggered mobility (LTM) target cell. The UE receives a medium access control (MAC) control element (MAC CE) including a cell switch command to switch to the LTM target cell. After switching to the LTM target cell using a coarse beam, the UE performs L1-RSRP measurements on the LTM target cell.

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] [Priority claim] This application claims the benefit of priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63 / 485,762, filed February 17, 2023, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. [Background technology]

[0002] Mobile communications have evolved significantly from early voice systems to highly sophisticated, integrated communications platforms. Next-generation (NG) wireless communications systems, including fifth-generation (5G) and sixth-generation (6G) or new radio (NR) systems, will provide access to information and sharing of data by various users (e.g., user equipment (UE)) and applications. NR will be an integrated network / system that satisfies the vastly different, and sometimes conflicting, performance characteristics and services driven by different services and applications. As such, the complexity of such communications systems is increasing. As expected, with the emergence of any new system, many issues arise, including the complexities associated with mobility procedures. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0003] [Figure 1A] FIG. 1 illustrates a network architecture in accordance with some aspects.

[0004] [Figure 1B] FIG. 1 illustrates a non-roaming 5G system architecture according to some aspects.

[0005] [Figure 1C] FIG. 1 illustrates a non-roaming 5G system architecture according to some aspects.

[0006] [Figure 2] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a communication device according to some aspects.

[0007] [Figure 3] FIG. 1 illustrates a Layer 1 / Layer 2 (L1 / L2) triggered mobility (LTM) framework according to some aspects.

[0008] [Figure 4] FIG. 1 illustrates performance of L1-Reference Signal Received Power (L1-RSRP) before a cell switch command in accordance with some aspects.

[0009] [Figure 5] FIG. 10 illustrates performance of L1-RSRP after a cell switch command in accordance with some aspects.

[0010] [Figure 6] FIG. 1 illustrates a method for reporting L1-RSRP according to some aspects.

[0011] [Figure 7] FIG. 1 illustrates an LTM decision-making process according to some embodiments. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0012] The drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale, and in the drawings, like numerals may refer to like components in different views. Like numerals with different subscripts may represent different instances of like components. The drawings illustrate generally, by way of example, but not by way of limitation, various embodiments discussed in the present specification.

[0013] The following description and drawings sufficiently illustrate particular embodiments to enable those skilled in the art to practice them. Other embodiments may incorporate structural, logical, electrical, process, and other changes. Portions and features of some embodiments may be included in, or substituted for, portions and features of other embodiments. Embodiments set forth in the claims encompass all available equivalents of those claims.

[0014] 1A is a diagram illustrating a network architecture according to some aspects. Network 140A includes 3GPP® Long Term Evolution (LTE), fourth-generation (4G), and fifth-generation (5G) (or next-generation (NG)) network functions, which may be extended to 6G functions. Thus, while reference is made to 5G, it should be understood that this can be extended to 6G structures, systems, and functions. Network functions may be implemented as individual network elements on dedicated hardware, as software instances running on dedicated hardware, and / or as virtualized functions instantiated on a suitable platform, e.g., dedicated hardware or cloud infrastructure.

[0015] Network 140A is shown as including user equipment (UE) 101 and UE 102. UE 101 and 102 are shown as smartphones (e.g., handheld touchscreen mobile computing devices capable of connecting to one or more cellular networks), but may also include any mobile or non-mobile computing device, such as a portable (laptop) or desktop computer, a wireless handset, a drone, or any other computing device that includes a wired and / or wireless communication interface. UE 101 and 102 may be collectively referred to herein as UE 101, which may be used to perform one or more of the techniques disclosed herein.

[0016] Any of the radio links described herein (e.g., as used in network 140A or any other illustrated network) may operate according to any example wireless communication technology and / or standard, including dedicated licensed spectrum, unlicensed spectrum, (licensed) shared spectrum (such as Licensed Shared Access (LSA) in 2.3-2.4 GHz, 3.4-3.6 GHz, 3.6-3.8 GHz, and other frequencies, and Spectrum Access System (SAS) in 3.55-3.7 GHz and other frequencies), and any spectrum management scheme, including CP-OFDM, SC-FDMA, SC-OFDM, filter bank-based multicarrier (FBMC), OFDMA, and 3GPP NR in particular. Different single-carrier or orthogonal frequency domain multiplexing (OFDM) modes (such as CP-OFDM, SC-FDMA, SC-OFDM, filter bank-based multicarrier (FBMC), OFDMA, and 3GPP NR in particular) may be used by allocating OFDM carrier data bit vectors to corresponding symbol resources.

[0017] In some aspects, either of the UEs 101 and 102 may comprise an Internet-of-Things (IoT) UE or a Cellular IoT (CIoT) UE, which may include a network access layer designed for low-power IoT applications that utilize short-lived UE connections. In some aspects, either of the UEs 101 and 102 may comprise a Narrowband (NB) IoT UE (e.g., an enhanced NB-IoT (eNB-IoT) UE and a Further Enhanced (FeNB-IoT) UE). The IoT UE may utilize technologies such as machine-to-machine (M2M) or machine-type communication (MTC) to exchange data with an MTC server or device via a public land mobile network (PLMN), proximity-based service (ProSe) or device-to-device (D2D) communication, a sensor network, or an IoT network. The M2M or MTC data exchange may be a machine-initiated data exchange. An IoT network includes interconnecting IoT UEs, which may include uniquely identifiable embedded computing devices (within the Internet infrastructure), with temporary connections. The IoT UEs may run background applications (e.g., keep-alive messages, status updates, etc.) to facilitate IoT network connectivity. In some aspects, either of the UEs 101 and 102 may include enhanced MTC (eMTC) UEs or further enhanced MTC (FeMTC) UEs.

[0018] The UEs 101 and 102 may be configured to connect, e.g., communicatively couple, with a radio access network (RAN) 110. The RAN 110 may be, for example, an Evolved Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN), a NextGen RAN (NG RAN), or some other type of RAN.

[0019] UEs 101 and 102 may utilize connections 103 and 104, respectively, each of which includes a physical communication interface or layer (discussed in further detail below), which in this example are illustrated as air interfaces for enabling a communicative coupling and may correspond to cellular communication protocols such as Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) protocol, Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) network protocol, Push-to-Talk (PTT) protocol, PTT over Cellular (POC) protocol, UMTS protocol, 3GPP LTE protocol, 5G protocol, 6G protocol, etc.

[0020] In one aspect, the UEs 101 and 102 may further directly exchange communication data via the ProSe interface 105. The ProSe interface 105 may alternatively be referred to as a sidelink (SL) interface, which includes one or more logical channels, including, but not limited to, a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH), a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH), a physical sidelink discovery channel (PSDCH), a physical sidelink broadcast channel (PSBCH), and a physical sidelink feedback channel (PSFCH).

[0021] UE 102 is shown configured to access access point (AP) 106 via connection 107. Connection 107 may include a local wireless connection, such as a connection conforming to any IEEE 802.11 protocol, whereby AP 106 may include a Wireless Fidelity (WiFi) router. In this example, AP 106 is shown connected to the Internet without connecting to a core network of a wireless system (described in more detail below).

[0022] The RAN 110 may include one or more access nodes that enable the connections 103 and 104. These access nodes (ANs) may be referred to as base stations (BSs), NodeBs, evolved NodeBs (eNBs), fifth-generation NodeBs (gNBs), RAN nodes, etc., and may include earth stations (e.g., terrestrial access points) or satellite stations that provide coverage within a geographic area (e.g., a cell). In some aspects, the communication nodes 111 and 112 may be transmit / receive points (TRPs). When the communication nodes 111 and 112 are NodeBs (e.g., eNBs or gNBs), one or more TRPs may function within the communication cell of the NodeB. The RAN 110 may include one or more RAN nodes for providing a macrocell, e.g., a macro RAN node 111, and one or more RAN nodes for providing a femtocell or picocell (e.g., a cell having a smaller coverage area, smaller user capacity, or higher bandwidth compared to a macrocell), e.g., a low-power (LP) RAN node 112.

[0023] Either of the RAN nodes 111 and 112 may terminate air interface protocols and may be the first point of contact for the UEs 101 and 102. In some aspects, either of the RAN nodes 111 and 112 may perform various logical functions for the RAN 110, including, but not limited to, radio bearer management, uplink and downlink dynamic radio resource management and data packet scheduling, and radio network controller (RNC) functions such as mobility management. In one example, either of the nodes 111 and / or 112 may be a gNB, eNB, or other type of RAN node.

[0024] The RAN 110 is shown communicatively coupled to a core network (CN) 120 via an S1 interface 113. In an aspect, the CN 120 may be an evolved packet core (EPC) network, a next-generation packet core (NPC) network, or some other type of CN (e.g., as shown with reference to FIGS. 1B-1C ). In this aspect, the S1 interface 113 is divided into two parts: an S1-U interface 114 that carries traffic data between the RAN nodes 111 and 112 and a serving gateway (S-GW) 122, and an S1-mobility management entity (MME) interface 115 that is a signaling interface between the RAN nodes 111 and 112 and the MME 121.

[0025] In this aspect, the CN 120 includes an MME 121, an S-GW 122, a packet data network (PDN) gateway (P-GW) 123, and a home subscriber server (HSS) 124. The MME 121 may be similar in function to the control plane of a legacy Serving General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) Support Node (SGSN). The MME 121 may manage mobility aspects in access, such as gateway selection and tracking area list management. The HSS 124 may include a database for network users, including subscription-related information to support network entity processing of communication sessions. The CN 120 may include one or several HSSs 124s, depending on the number of mobile subscribers, equipment capabilities, network organization, etc. For example, the HSS 124 may provide support for routing / roaming, authentication, authorization, naming / addressing resolution, location dependency, etc.

[0026] The S-GW 122 may terminate the S1 interface 113 toward the RAN 110 and route data packets between the RAN 110 and the CN 120. Additionally, the S-GW 122 may be a local mobility anchor point for inter-RAN node handovers and may also provide an anchor for inter-3GPP mobility. Other responsibilities of the S-GW 122 may include lawful interception, charging, and some policy enforcement.

[0027] The P-GW 123 may terminate the SGi interface toward the PDN. The P-GW 123 may route data packets between the CN 120 and external networks, such as networks including application servers 184 (alternatively referred to as application functions (AFs)), via an Internet Protocol (IP) interface 125. The P-GW 123 may also communicate data to other external networks 131A, which may include the Internet, IP Multimedia Subsystem (IPS) networks, and other networks. In general, the application servers 184 may be elements that provide applications (e.g., UMTS packet service (PS) domains, LTE PS data services, etc.) that use IP bearer resources in conjunction with the core network. In this aspect, the P-GW 123 is shown communicatively coupled to the application servers 184 via the IP interface 125. The application server 184 may also be configured to support one or more communication services (e.g., Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) sessions, PTT sessions, group communication sessions, social networking services, etc.) for the UEs 101 and 102 via the CN 120.

[0028] The P-GW 123 may further be a node for policy enforcement and charging data collection. The Policy and Charging Rules Function (PCRF) 126 is the policy and charging control element of the CN 120. In a non-roaming scenario, in some aspects, there may be a single PCRF in a Home Public Land Mobile Network (HPLMN) associated with the UE's Internet Protocol Connectivity Access Network (IP-CAN) session. In a roaming scenario with local breakout of traffic, there may be two PCRFs associated with the UE's IP-CAN session: a Home PCRF (H-PCRF) in the HPLMN and a Visited PCRF (V-PCRF) in a Visited Public Land Mobile Network (VPLMN). The PCRF 126 may be communicatively coupled to the application server 184 via the P-GW 123.

[0029] In some aspects, the communications network 140A may be a 5G or 6G network, including an IoT network or a 5G New Radio network that uses communications in licensed (5G NR) and unlicensed (5G NR-U) spectrum. One of the current enablers of IoT is narrowband IoT (NB-IoT). Operation in the unlicensed spectrum may include dual connectivity (DC) operation and standalone LTE systems in the unlicensed spectrum, whereby LTE-based technologies operate solely in the unlicensed spectrum without using an "anchor" in the licensed spectrum, referred to as MultiFire. Further enhanced operation of LTE systems in licensed and unlicensed spectrum is expected in future releases and 5G systems. Such enhanced operation may include techniques for sidelink resource allocation and UE processing behavior for NR sidelink V2X communications.

[0030] The NG system architecture (or 6G system architecture) may include a RAN 110 and a 5G Core Network (5GC) 120. The NG-RAN 110 may include multiple nodes such as a gNB and an NG-eNB. The CN 120 (e.g., the 5G Core Network / 5GC) may include an Access and Mobility Function (AMF) and / or a User Plane Function (UPF). The AMF and UPF may be communicatively coupled to the gNB and the NG-eNB via an NG interface. More specifically, in some aspects, the gNB and the NG-eNB may be connected to the AMF by an NG-C interface and to the UPF by an NG-U interface. The gNB and the NG-eNB may be coupled to each other via an Xn interface.

[0031] In some aspects, the NG system architecture may use reference points between various nodes. In some aspects, each of the gNB and NG-eNB may be implemented as a base station, a mobile edge server, a small cell, a home eNB, etc. In some aspects, in a 5G architecture, the gNB may be a primary node (MN) and the NG-eNB may be a secondary node (SN).

[0032] 1B illustrates a non-roaming 5G system architecture according to some aspects. In particular, FIG. 1B illustrates a 5G system architecture 140B in a reference point representation that may be extended to a 6G system architecture. More specifically, a UE 102 may communicate with a RAN 110 as well as one or more other 5G network entities. The 5G system architecture 140B includes multiple network functions (NFs), such as an AMF 132, a session management function (SMF) 136, a policy control function (PCF) 148, an application function (AF) 150, a UPF 134, a network slice selection function (NSSF) 142, an authentication server function (AUSF) 144, and a unified data management (UDM) / home subscriber server (HSS) 146.

[0033] The UPF 134 may provide connectivity to a data network (DN) 152, which may include, for example, operator services, Internet access, or third-party services. The AMF 132 may be used to manage access control and mobility and may also include a network slice selection function. The AMF 132 may provide UE-based authentication, authorization, mobility management, etc., and may be independent of access technology. The SMF 136 may be configured to set up and manage various sessions according to network policies. Thus, the SMF 136 may be responsible for session management and allocation of IP addresses to UEs. The SMF 136 may also select and control the UPF 134 for data forwarding. The SMF 136 may be associated with a single session of the UE 101 or with multiple sessions of the UE 101. That is, the UE 101 may have multiple 5G sessions. Each session may be assigned a different SMF. Using different SMFs allows each session to be managed separately. As a result, the functionality of each session may be independent of each other.

[0034] The UPF 134 may be deployed in one or more configurations according to the desired service type and may be connected to a data network. The PCF 148 may be configured to provide a policy framework using network slicing, mobility management, and roaming (similar to a PCRF in a 4G communication system). The UDM may be configured to store subscriber profiles and data (similar to an HSS in a 4G communication system).

[0035] The AF 150 may provide information about the packet flow to the PCF 148, which is responsible for policy control, to support the desired QoS. The PCF 148 may configure mobility and session management policies for the UE 101. To this end, the PCF 148 may use the packet flow information to determine appropriate policies for the appropriate operation of the AMF 132 and SMF 136. The AUSF 144 may store data for UE authentication.

[0036] In some aspects, the 5G system architecture 140B includes multiple IP Multimedia Core Network subsystem entities, such as an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) 168B and a Call Session Control Function (CSCF). More specifically, the IMS 168B includes a CSCF that can function as a Proxy CSCF (P-CSCF) 162B, a Serving CSCF (S-CSCF) 164B, an Emergency CSCF (E-CSCF) (not shown in FIG. 1B), or an Interrogating CSCF (I-CSCF) 166B. The P-CSCF 162B may be configured to be the first point of contact for the UE 102 within the IM Subsystem (IMS) 168B. The S-CSCF 164B may be configured to handle session state within the network, and the E-CSCF may be configured to handle some aspects of the emergency session, such as routing the emergency request to the correct emergency center or PSAP. The I-CSCF 166B may be configured to serve as a contact point within the network of the network operator for all IMS connections destined for the network operator's subscribers or roaming subscribers currently located within the network operator's service area. In some aspects, the I-CSCF 166B may be connected to other IP multimedia networks 170B, e.g., IMSs operated by different network operators.

[0037] In some aspects, UDM / HSS 146 may be coupled to an application server 160, which may include a telephony application server (TAS) or other application server (AS) 104B. AS 160B may be coupled to IMS 168B via S-CSCF 164B or I-CSCF 166B.

[0038] The reference point representation indicates that interactions may exist between the corresponding NF services. For example, FIG. 1B illustrates the following reference points: N1 (between the UE 102 and the AMF 132), N2 (between the RAN 110 and the AMF 132), N3 (between the RAN 110 and the UPF 134), N4 (between the SMF 136 and the UPF 134), N5 (between the PCF 148 and the AF 150, not shown), N6 (between the UPF 134 and the DN 152), N7 (between the SMF 136 and the PCF 148, not shown), N8 (between the UDM 146 and the AMF 132, not shown), N9 (between two UPFs 134, not shown), N10 (between the UDM 146 and the SMF 136, not shown), N11 (between the AMF 132 and the SMF 136, not shown), N12 (between the AMF 132 and the SMF 136, not shown), N13 (between the AMF 132 and the SMF 136, not shown), N14 (between the AMF 132 and the SMF 136, not shown), N15 (between the AMF 132 and the SMF 136, not shown), N16 (between the AMF 132 and the SMF 136, not shown), N17 (between the AMF 132 and the SMF 136, not shown), N18 (between the AMF 132 and the SMF 136, not shown), N19 (between the AMF 132 and the SMF 136, not shown), N20 (between the AMF 132 and the SMF 136, not shown), N21 (between the 1B shows reference point representations N144 and N22 (between the AMF 132 and the NSSF 142, not shown), N13 (between the AUSF 144 and the UDM 146, not shown), N14 (between two AMFs 132, not shown), N15 (between the PCF 148 and the AMF 132 in a non-roaming scenario, or between the PCF 148, the visited network, and the AMF 132 in a roaming scenario, not shown), N16 (between two SMFs, not shown), and N22 (between the AMF 132 and the NSSF 142, not shown). Other reference point representations not shown in FIG. 1B may also be used.

[0039] 1C shows a 5G system architecture 140C and a service-based representation. In addition to the network entities shown in FIG. 1B, the system architecture 140C may also include a network publication function (NEF) 154 and a network repository function (NRF) 156. In some aspects, the 5G system architecture may be service-based, and interactions between network functions may be represented by corresponding point-to-point reference points N i or as service-based interfaces.

[0040] In some aspects, as shown in FIG. 1C, a service-based representation may be used to represent network functions in the control plane that allow other authorized network functions to access those services. In this regard, the 5G system architecture 140C may include the following service-based interfaces: Namf 158H (a service-based interface indicated by the AMF 132), Nsmf 158I (a service-based interface indicated by the SMF 136), Nnef 158B (a service-based interface indicated by the NEF 154), Npcf 158D (a service-based interface indicated by the PCF 148), Nudm 158E (a service-based interface indicated by the UDM 146), Naf 158F (a service-based interface indicated by the AF 150), Nnrf 158C (a service-based interface indicated by the NRF 156), Nnssf 158A (a service-based interface indicated by the NSSF 142), Nausf 158G (a service-based interface indicated by the AUSF 144). Other service-based interfaces not shown in FIG. 1C (e.g., Nudr, N5g-eir, and Nudsf) may also be used.

[0041] The NR-V2X architecture may support reliable, low-latency sidelink communications with a variety of traffic patterns, including periodic and aperiodic communications with random packet arrival times and sizes. The techniques disclosed herein may be used to support high reliability in distributed communication systems with dynamic topologies, including sidelink NR V2X communication systems.

[0042] FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of a communications device according to some embodiments. Communications device 200 may be a dedicated computer, a UE such as a personal or laptop computer (PC), a tablet PC, or a smartphone, dedicated network equipment such as an eNB, a server running software to configure a server to operate as a network device, a virtual device, or any machine capable of executing instructions (sequential or otherwise) that specify actions to be taken by the machine. For example, communications device 200 may be implemented as one or more of the devices shown in FIGS. 1A-1C. Note that communications described herein may be encoded prior to transmission by a transmitting entity (e.g., UE, gNB) for reception by the receiving entity (e.g., gNB, UE) and decoded after receipt by the receiving entity.

[0043] Examples described herein may include or operate on logic or multiple components, modules, or mechanisms. Modules and components are tangible entities (e.g., hardware) that can perform specified operations and may be configured or arranged in a certain manner. In one example, a circuit may be arranged (e.g., internally or relative to external entities such as other circuits) in a specified manner as a module. In one example, all or part of one or more computer systems (e.g., standalone, client, or server computer systems) or one or more hardware processors may be configured as modules that operate to perform specified operations via firmware or software (e.g., instructions, application portions, or applications). In one example, the software may reside on a machine-readable medium. In one example, the software, when executed by the underlying hardware of the module, causes the hardware to perform the specified operations.

[0044] Accordingly, the term "module" (and "component") is understood to encompass tangible entities, that is physically constructed, specifically configured (e.g., hardwired), or temporarily (e.g., temporarily) configured (e.g., programmed) to operate in a specified manner or to perform some or all of any of the operations described herein. Considering examples in which modules are temporarily configured, each of the modules need not be instantiated at any one time. For example, if the modules include a general-purpose hardware processor configured using software, the general-purpose hardware processor may be configured as each different module at different times. The software may thus configure the hardware processor, for example, to configure a particular module at one instance of time and a different module at a different instance of time.

[0045] The communication device 200 may include a hardware processor (or equivalently, processing circuitry) 202 (e.g., a central processing unit (CPU), a GPU, a hardware processor core, or any combination thereof), a main memory 204, and a static memory 206, some or all of which may communicate with each other via an interlink (e.g., a bus) 208. The main memory 204 may include any or all of removable and non-removable storage, volatile or non-volatile memory. The communication device 200 may further include a display unit 210, such as a video display, an alphanumeric input device 212 (e.g., a keyboard), and a user interface (UI) navigation device 214 (e.g., a mouse). In one example, the display unit 210, the input device 212, and the UI navigation device 214 may be touchscreen displays. Communications device 200 may further include a storage device (e.g., a drive unit) 216, a signal generating device 218 (e.g., a speaker), a network interface device 220, and one or more sensors, such as a global positioning system (GPS) sensor, a compass, an accelerometer, or other sensor. Communications device 200 may further include an output controller, such as a serial (e.g., Universal Serial Bus (USB)), parallel, or other wired or wireless (e.g., infrared (IR), near field communication (NFC), etc.) connection, to communicate with or control one or more peripheral devices (e.g., a printer, a card reader, etc.).

[0046] The storage device 216 may include a non-transitory machine-readable medium 222 (hereinafter simply referred to as machine-readable medium) on which is stored one or more sets of data structures or instructions 224 (e.g., software) that embody or are utilized by any one or more of the techniques or functions described herein. The non-transitory machine-readable medium 222 is a tangible medium. The instructions 224 may also reside, completely or at least partially, within the main memory 204, within the static memory 206, and / or within the hardware processor 202 during execution thereof by the communications device 200. Although the machine-readable medium 222 is depicted as a single medium, the term "machine-readable medium" may include a single medium or multiple media (e.g., a centralized or distributed database, and / or associated caches and servers) configured to store one or more instructions 224.

[0047] The term "machine-readable medium" may include any medium capable of storing, encoding, or carrying instructions for execution by communications device 200, causing communications device 200 to perform any one or more of the techniques of this disclosure, or capable of storing, encoding, or carrying data structures used by or related to such instructions. Non-limiting examples of machine-readable media may include solid-state memory, as well as optical and magnetic media. Specific examples of machine-readable media may include non-volatile memory, such as semiconductor memory devices (e.g., electrically programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM)) and flash memory devices, magnetic disks, such as internal hard disks and removable disks, magneto-optical disks, random access memory (RAM), and CD-ROM and DVD-ROM disks.

[0048] The instructions 224 may further be transmitted or received over a communications network using a transmission medium 226 via a network interface device 220 utilizing any one of several wireless local area network (WLAN) transport protocols (e.g., frame relay, Internet Protocol (IP), Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), User Datagram Protocol (UDP), Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), etc.). Exemplary communications networks may include local area networks (LANs), wide area networks (WANs), packet data networks (e.g., the Internet), mobile phone networks (e.g., cellular networks), Plain Old Telephone (POTS) networks, and wireless data networks. Communications over the network may include one or more different protocols, such as the IEEE 802.11 family of standards known as Wi-Fi, the IEEE 802.16 family of standards known as WiMax, the IEEE 802.15.4 family of standards, and the LTE family of standards, the UMTS family of standards, peer-to-peer (P2P) networks, and 5G standards, among others. In one example, the network interface device 220 may include one or more physical jacks (eg, Ethernet, coaxial, or telephone jacks) or one or more antennas for connecting to the transmission medium 226.

[0049] It should be noted that the term “circuitry” as used herein refers to, is a part of, or includes hardware components, such as electronic circuits, logic circuits, processors (shared, dedicated, or groups) and / or memories (shared, dedicated, or groups), application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), field programmable devices (FPDs) (e.g., field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), programmable logic devices (PLDs), complex PLDs (CPLDs), high-capacity PLDs (HCPLDs), structured ASICs, or programmable SoCs), digital signal processors (DSPs), etc., configured to provide a described functionality. In some embodiments, a circuitry may execute one or more software or firmware programs to provide at least a portion of the described functionality. The term “circuitry” can also refer to a combination of one or more hardware elements (or a combination of circuitry used in an electrical or electronic system) together with program code used to perform the functions of that program code. In these embodiments, the combination of hardware elements and program code may be referred to as a particular type of circuit.

[0050] Thus, as used herein, the term "processor circuitry" or "processor" refers to, is a part of, or includes circuitry capable of sequentially and automatically performing a series of arithmetic or logical operations, or the recording, storage, and / or transfer of digital data. The term "processor circuitry" or "processor" may refer to one or more application processors, one or more baseband processors, physical central processing units (CPUs), single or multi-core processors, and / or any other device capable of executing or otherwise operating computer-executable instructions, such as program code, software modules, and / or functional processes.

[0051] Any of the wireless links described herein may operate according to any one or more of the following wireless communication technologies and / or standards, including, but not limited to, GSM wireless communication technologies, GPRS wireless communication technologies, Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE) wireless communication technologies, and / or Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) wireless communication technologies, such as UMTS, Freedom of Multimedia Access (FOMA), 3GPP LTE, 3GPP Long Term Evolution Advanced (LTE), etc. Advanced), Code Division Multiple Access 2000 (CDMA2000), Cellular Digital Packet Data (CDPD), Mobitex, Third Generation (3G), Circuit Switched Data (CSD), High Speed ​​Circuit Switched Data (HSCSD), UMTS (3G), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (UMTS) (W-CDMA (UMTS)), High Speed ​​Packet Access (HSPA), High Speed ​​Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA), High Speed ​​Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA), High Speed ​​Packet Access Plus (HSPA+), UMTS-Time-Division Duplex (UMTS-TDD), TD-CDMA, Time Division Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access, Third Generation Partnership Project Release 8 (Pre-4G) (3GPP Rel. 8 (Pre-4G)), 3GPP Rel. 9 (Third Generation Partnership Project Release 9), 3GPP Rel. 10 (Third Generation Partnership Project Release 10), 3GPP Rel. 11 (3rd Generation Partnership Project Release 11), 3GPP Rel. 12 (3rd Generation Partnership Project Release 12), 3GPP Rel. 13 (3rd Generation Partnership Project Release 13), 3GPP Rel. 14 (3rd Generation Partnership Project Release 14), 3GPP Rel. 15 (3rd Generation Partnership Project Release 15), 3GPP Rel. 16 (3rd Generation Partnership Project Release 16), 3GPP Rel. 17 (3rd Generation Partnership Project Release 17) and (Rel. 18, Rel.19, etc. and subsequent releases, 3GPP 5G, 5G, 5G New Radio (5G NR), 3GPP 5G New Radio, 3GPP LTE Extra, LTE-Advanced Pro, LTE Licensed-Assisted Access (LAA), MuLTEfire, UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA), E-UTRA, LTE Advanced (4G), cdmaOne (2G), Code Division Multiple Access 2000 (3rd Generation) (CDMA2000(3G)), Evolution-Data Optimized or Evolution-Data Only (EV-DO), Advanced Mobile Phone System (1st Generation) (AMPS(1G)), Total Access Communication System / Extended Total Access Communication System (TACS / ETACS), Digital AMPS (2nd Generation) (D-AMPS(2G)), PTT, Mobile Telephone System (MTS), Improved Mobile Telephone System (IMTS), Advanced Mobile Telephone System (AMTS), OLT (Offentlig Landmobil Telefoni, Norwegian for Public Land Mobile Telephony), MTD (short for Swedish Mobiltelefonisystem D, or Mobile telephony system D), Public Automated Land Mobile (Autotel / PALM), ARP (Finnish for Autoradiopuhelin, "automobile radiotelephone"), NMT (Nordic Mobile Telephony), NTT (Nippon Telegraph and Telephone) high-capacity version (Hicap), Cellular Digital Packet Data (CDPD), Mobitex, DataTAC, Integrated Digital Enhanced Network (iDEN), Personal Digital Cellular (PDC), CircuitUnlicensed Mobile Access (UMA), also known as Common Switched Data (CSD), Personal Handy-phone System (PHS), Wideband Integrated Digital Enhanced Network (WIDeS), iBurst, 3GPP Generic Access Network, or GAN standards; Zigbee, Bluetooth, Wireless Gigabit Alliance (WiGig) standards; millimeter wave band standards in general (wireless systems operating from 10 to 300 GHz or higher, such as WiGig, IEEE 802.11ad, IEEE 802.11ay); technologies operating above 300 GHz and in the THz bands; vehicle-to-vehicle (3GPP / LTE-based, or IEEE 802.11p or IEEE 802.11bd, etc.) Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) and Vehicle-to-X (V2X) and Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I) and Infrastructure-to-Vehicle (I2V) communication technologies, Dedicated Short Range Communications (DSRC) communication systems such as 3GPP cellular V2X, intelligent transportation systems, etc. (typically operating in the frequency range from 5850 MHz to 5925 MHz or higher (typically up to 5935 MHz following the proposed changes in CEPT Report 71)), European ITS-G5 systems (i.e., the European version of IEEE 802.11p-based DSRC, including ITS-G5A (i.e., ITS-G5 operation in the European ITS frequency bands dedicated for safety-related applications in the frequency range 5875 GHz to 5905 GHz), ITS-G5B (i.e., the frequency range 5855 GHz to 5875 GHz), and ITS-G5C (i.e., the frequency range 5855 GHz to 5905 GHz). These include ITS-G5C (i.e., operation in the European ITS frequency bands dedicated to ITS non-safety applications in the 5470 GHz to 5725 GHz frequency range), DSRC in the 700 MHz band (including 715 MHz to 725 MHz) in Japan, and IEEE 802.11 bd-based systems.

[0052] The embodiments described herein may be used in the context of any spectrum management scheme, including dedicated licensed spectrum, unlicensed spectrum, license-exempt spectrum, (licensed) shared spectrum (such as LSA = Licensed Shared Access in the 2.3-2.4 GHz, 3.4-3.6 GHz, 3.6-3.8 GHz and further frequencies, and SAS = Spectrum Access System / CBRS = Citizens Broadband Radio System in the 3.55-3.7 GHz and further frequencies).Applicable spectrum bands include the international mobile communications spectrum, as well as bands with national allocations (450-470 MHz, 902-928 MHz (Note: allocated, for example, in the United States (FCC Part 15)), 863-868.6 MHz (Note: allocated, for example, in the European Union (ETSI EN 300 220)), 915.9-929.7 MHz (Note: allocated, for example, in Japan), 917-923.5 MHz (Note: allocated, for example, in South Korea), 755-779 MHz and 779-787 MHz (Note: allocated, for example, in China), 790-960 MHz, 1710-2025 MHz, 2110-2200 MHz, 3800-4200 MHz, 2.4-2.4835 MHz). GHz (Note: This is an ISM band available worldwide and is also used by the Wi-Fi technology family (11b / g / n / ax) and Bluetooth), 2500-2690 MHz, 698-790 MHz, 610-790 MHz, 3400-3600 MHz, 3400-3800 MHz, 3800-4200 MHz, 3.55-3.7 GHz (Note: This is allocated, for example, in the US to the Citizens Broadband Wireless Service), 5.15-5.25 GHz, 5.25-5.35 GHz, 5.47-5.725 GHz, and 5.725-5.85 GHz bands (Note: This is allocated, for example, in the US (FCC part 15), and consists of four U-NII bands totaling 500 MHz of spectrum), 5.725-5.85 GHz (Note: This is allocated, for example, in the EU (ETSI EN 301 893), 5.47-5.65 GHz (Note: for example, allocated in South Korea, 5925-7125 MHz and 5925-6425 MHz bands (Note: under consideration in the US and EU, respectively). It is noted that next-generation Wi-Fi systems are expected to include 6 GHz spectrum as an operating band, but as of December 2017, Wi-Fi systems are not yet permitted in this band.The regulations are expected to be completed in the 2019-2020 timeframe), IMT-advanced spectrum, IMT-2020 spectrum (expected to include 3600-3800 MHz, 3800-4200 MHz, the 3.5 GHz band, the 700 MHz band, and bands within the 24.25-86 GHz range, among others), spectrum made available under the FCC's "Spectrum Frontier" 5G initiative (including 27.5-28.35 GHz, 29.1-29.25 GHz, 31-31.3 GHz, 37-38.6 GHz, 38.6-40 GHz, 42-42.5 GHz, 57-64 GHz, 71-76 GHz, 81-86 GHz, and 92-94 GHz, among others), 5.9 GHz (typically 5.85-5.925 GHz) and 63-64 GHz. The bands currently allocated to WiGig, such as the 57.24 GHz to 59.40 GHz ITS (Intelligent Transport Systems) band, WiGig Band 1 (57.24 GHz to 59.40 GHz), WiGig Band 2 (59.40 GHz to 61.56 GHz), WiGig Band 3 (61.56 GHz to 63.72 GHz), and WiGig Band 4 (63.72 GHz to 65.88 GHz), 57-64 / 66 GHz (Note: This band has a near-universal designation for Multi-Gigabit Wireless Systems (MGWS) / WiGig. The US (FCC part 15) allocates a total of 14 GHz of spectrum, while the EU (ETSI EN 302 567 and ETSI EN 301 217-2 for fixed P2P) allocates a total of 9 GHz of spectrum), 70.2 GHz to 71 GHz, and 65.88 GHz to 71 GHz. This includes any band between 100 MHz and 120 GHz, bands currently allocated for automotive radar applications such as 76-81 GHz, and future bands including 94-300 GHz and above. Additionally, schemes may be used secondary to bands such as TV white space bands (typically below 790 MHz), with the 400 MHz and 700 MHz bands being particularly promising candidates. In addition to cellular applications, specific applications for vertical markets may be addressed, such as programming and special events (PMSE), medical, health, surgery, automotive, low latency, drones, etc.

[0053] As mentioned above, LTM was introduced in Rel. 18. In LTM, cell switching can be triggered by lower layer commands (L1 is the physical layer and L3 is the RRC layer). This allows for faster cell changes compared to legacy cellular systems where higher layer control is used for cell handover. In LTM, beam-level measurements (L1-RSRP measurements) are performed and reported. The reported results can be used by the network to trigger L1 / L2-based cell switching while maintaining higher layer configurations and / or minimizing changes to lower layer configurations. The UE procedures for performing L1-RSRP measurements and reporting are described herein.

[0054] L1 measurements are useful for procedures that react with minimal delay, such as beam management procedures where the UE switches between beams quickly. Beam-level measurements are filtered at L1 to help remove the effects of noise and improve measurement accuracy. L3 measurements are useful for radio resource management decisions that use a long-term view of the channel conditions; for example, handover procedures are triggered after L3 filtering to reduce the risk of ping-pong between cells. L3 measurements are filtered to remove the effects of fast fading and to help reduce short-term fluctuations in the results, and can be either beam-level or cell-level (which can be reported within RRC messages). For example, an L3 measurement can be the average of two or more L1 measurements. Beam-level measurements are generated directly from L1 measurements by applying L3 filtering, and cell-level measurements are derived from L1 measurements.

[0055] FIG. 3 illustrates an LTM framework according to some aspects. The procedure illustrated in FIG. 3 includes four operations: LTM preparation, early synchronization, LTM execution, and LTM completion. In the first operation (LTM preparation), an L3 measurement report is provided from the UE to the gNB. The gNB may determine an LTM candidate cell and prepare the LTM candidate cell for UE transfer. Based on the L3 measurement report, the gNB may then send a configuration for the LTM candidate cell to the UE in a radio resource control (RRC) reconfiguration message. The UE may respond to the RRC reconfiguration message with an RRC reconfiguration complete message to the gNB to indicate that reconfiguration preparation is complete.

[0056] In the second operation (early synchronization), the UE synchronizes with a candidate cell determined by the gNB and indicated in the RRC configuration message. The UE may achieve downlink (DL) synchronization and timing advance (TA) acquisition with the LTM candidate cell before receiving the LTM cell switch command.

[0057] In the third operation (LTM decision), the UE performs L1 measurements on configured LTM candidate cells and sends L1 measurement reports to the gNB, which then makes an LTM decision based on the L1 measurement reports. If the gNB determines that the UE will move to another (target) cell, a cell switch command is triggered and sent to the UE in a media access control (MAC) control element (MAC CE). The UE detaches from the source cell and applies the configuration associated with the target cell before engaging in a random access channel (RACH) procedure with the target cell.

[0058] In a fourth action (LTM complete), the UE indicates successful completion of the LTM cell switch towards the target cell. In LTM, the UE may perform a partial or full MAC reset, re-establish Radio Link Control (RLC), and perform data recovery using Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) during the cell switch.

[0059] From the RAN2 signaling procedure, L3 measurement results are reported by the UE for LTM preparation. L3 measurement reports are sent before L1 measurements are configured. That is, the UE provides L3 measurement results to the gNB for LTM candidate preparation. L1 measurements are not configured for unknown cells for which L3 measurements are not performed.

[0060] Before considering how L1-RSRP measurements are performed for LTM, the motivation for L1 measurements and reporting for LTM (i.e., whether the L1 measurements are for beam management and / or mobility) is discussed. The method for performing L1-RSRP measurements may depend, for example, on the synchronization signal / physical broadcast channel (SS / PBCH) block measurement timing configuration (SMTC), receive (Rx) beam assumption, timing offset, bandwidth portion (BWP), etc.

[0061] The motivation for L1 measurements and reporting impacts the overall L1-RSRP requirements. For example, if the L1 measurements and reporting are for mobility, a coarse beam may be assumed and the L1 measurements and reporting may be performed within the SMTC, as in legacy procedures. If the L1 measurements and reporting are for beam management, a fine beam may be assumed and the L1 measurements and reporting may be performed outside the SMTC as in legacy Rel-17 inter-cell beam management (BM) procedures.

[0062] However, in LTM, L1-RSRP reporting is used for both beam management and mobility purposes. The UE may perform beam-level measurements, and the beam index may be applied directly after a cell switch from the source cell to the target cell. Since the motivation for L1 measurements is the combination of mobility and beam management, there are two options for the baseline L1 measurement framework: an L3 measurement framework for mobility, or L1 measurements for beam management. Therefore, any analysis should approach L1 measurements from these two perspectives.

[0063] Beam management perspective

[0064] One difference in the beam assumptions for mobility and beam management is the granularity, i.e., whether the beam is a coarse beam (as defined by 3GPP) or a fine beam. If intermediate results of L3 measurements can be reused for L1 reporting, the beam index is derived based on the coarse beam. After cell switching, the coarse beam is used for reception at the UE side. However, the UE can continue to perform fine beam acquisition later.

[0065] Using the intermediate L3 results, the UE may still be able to report the beam index. After a cell switch, data may still be initially received by the coarse beam and may be further updated by L1-RSRP measurements.

[0066] The measurement delay can be analyzed for thin beam acquisition before and after cell switching. We first consider the case of intra-frequency measurements, where there are two options for acquiring the thin beam. In the first option, the thin beam is identified before the cell switching, and in the second option, the thin beam is identified after the cell switching. The coarse beam is the basis for both options. Therefore, only the extra delay for thin beam acquisition is compared.

[0067] In option 1, legacy Rel-17 L1 measurements for inter-cell beam management (ICBM) can be used as a baseline, provided that thin beam acquisition for the candidate cell is performed before the cell switch command. For simplicity, SMTC and measurement gaps (MG) are not considered. For intra-frequency scenarios, the delay is scaled by the number of mobility candidate cells plus the serving cell, since sharing is applied between cells with overlapped synchronization signal blocks (SSB). The delay to acquire a thin beam is T SSB *8*(N+1), where N is the number of mobility candidate cells (1 is the serving cell).

[0068] In option 2, the coarse beam-based beam index is reported before the cell switch based on the intermediate L3 result, i.e., the thin beam acquisition is performed after the cell switch. Since the candidate cell becomes the serving cell, sharing can be avoided. Since the channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) can have a shorter periodicity compared to SSB, the delay can be further reduced if CSI-RS is configured for L1-RSRP measurement after the cell switch. Although L1-RSRP can be performed before the cell switch, only SSB-based measurements are currently supported. Therefore, the delay for acquiring the thin beam is T SSB *8*1 or T CSI-RS It is given as *8*1.

[0069] In the intra-frequency case, if the L1-RSRP measurement is performed before the cell switch, a measurement delay of at least N times is used compared to the L1-RSRP measurement performed after the cell switch. In effect, the LTM delay is extended by the L1 measurement latency.

[0070] FIG. 4 illustrates the performance of L1-RSRP before a cell switch command according to some aspects. FIG. 5 illustrates the performance of L1-RSRP after a cell switch command according to some aspects. The LTM delay from L1 measurement shown in FIG. 4 is configured to the UE's reception or transmission time. Typically, the endpoint of a cell switch is the time at which the UE can receive or transmit data, which does not limit whether a coarse beam or a narrow beam is used. For a fair comparison, the endpoint is considered to be the time at which narrow beam-based data transmission is available for both cases. As shown in FIG. 4, for Option 1, the network configures the cell switch later because the L1 measurement delay is long. On the other hand, in FIG. 5, the network can trigger the cell switch more quickly, and therefore, the narrow beam is acquired in a shorter time than in FIG. 4. That is, if thin beam acquisition occurs after the cell switch, the total LTM delay is reduced.

[0071] Mobility perspective

[0072] On the other hand, from a mobility perspective, more stable results are desirable. RAN1 also identifies issues when L1 measurements are used for mobility, namely, frequent cell switching or ping-pong between cells. In Rel-17, one-shot or three-shot L1-RSRP measurements are performed for beam management. However, if mobility decisions are based on L1-RSRP measurements for LTM, it may be difficult for the network to make appropriate mobility decisions based on rapidly changing measurement results. Filtering can be applied to event-triggered reports (such as L1 reports) at the network or UE side to improve stability. A coarse beam (or wide beam) can function as a filter because the coarse beam width is larger than that of a narrow beam (or narrow beam). Therefore, coarse beams are a type of filtering for narrow beams. SSBs are typically transmitted via coarse beams, while data (e.g., physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH)) can be transmitted using narrow beams. Note that beam switching is not the same as cell switching, i.e., additional tasks are involved with each handover (at least a partial MAC CE reset is expected, which may cause disruption). Therefore, for L1-RSRP measurements, a coarse beam is used.

[0073] Therefore, intermediate L3 measurements can be used for L1 reporting in LTM with multiple benefits. Namely, rather than taking new narrow-beam measurements of the target cell, previously acquired L1 measurements can be used for L3 measurements (the L1 and L3 measurements can have different formats). The L1 measurements can be wide-beam measurements rather than searching for a narrow beam and using the narrow beam to acquire new L1 measurements. Such benefits include reduced UE implementation complexity without updating the current Rel-17 ICBM framework; reduced L1 measurement latency for narrow-beam acquisition of the candidate cell; little impact on the serving cell's L1 or L3 measurement latency; a solution to the timing offset problem of the Rel-17 ICBM framework; and a solution to the inter-frequency L1 measurement problem (i.e., avoiding the introduction of a new MG or sharing with L3 in legacy MGs, reducing disruption and latency).

[0074] If intermediate L3 measurements can be used for L1 reporting, other issues should be resolved. If L1-RSRP reporting is configured for beam management, the UE can fill in the thin-beam-based results. However, if L1-RSRP reporting is configured for LTM, the UE fills in the intermediate L3 results. Therefore, the UE must distinguish whether the L1 RSRP reporting configuration is for beam management or LTM and decide which action to take. For example, in the reporting configuration for LTM, a new field can be added to inform the UE of the L1-RSRP measurement type.

[0075] In the current L3 measurement procedure, five samples are used to average both the time domain and the beam domain. For LTM, this result is not filtered across the beam domain. For the time domain, a single-shot or three-sample filtered result can be used for L1 reporting; therefore, the measurement time differs from legacy L3 measurements. The measurement period is reduced as shown in Table 1. [Table 1]

[0076] In legacy procedures, for UEs that support Frequency Range 2 (FR2)-2 Power Class 1, M meas_period_w / o_gaps CCA=60, where 60=5*12, where 5 is averaging over 5 samples, and the Rx beam sweep factor is 12. By reducing the number of measurement samples, only 12 or 24 samples may be used.

[0077] Thus, wide-beam L3 measurements for the target cell (known to the UE) can be performed before narrow-beam L1 measurements are triggered by the gNB. Coarse-beam selection can also reduce the time for subsequent narrow-beam measurements (as shown in Figure 5) because the number of narrow beams to be selected for the UE is limited to the already selected coarse beam (rather than refining among multiple coarse beams). This reduces timing because only four or so narrow beams in one of 16, 32, or 64 coarse beams are used for BM, rather than searching 64 or 128 narrow-beam directions for BM. The measurements can be used in FR1 or FR2-1 for LTM, along with L3 measurement reports containing L1-RSRP measurements over SSB.

[0078] FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a method for reporting L1-RSRP according to some aspects. In some embodiments, an electronic device, network, system, chip, or component of a drawing herein, or portions or implementations thereof, may be configured to perform one or more processes, techniques, or methods, or portions thereof, as described herein. One such process is shown in FIG. 6 and, in some embodiments, may be implemented using a UE or portion thereof. For example, process 600 may include, at operation 602, performing L3 measurements. Process 600 may also include, at operation 604, generating an L1-RSRP report related to the LTM based on the L3 measurements. Process 600 may also include, at operation 606, transmitting the L1-RSRP report to a base station (e.g., a gNB).

[0079] Another such process is shown in FIG. 7, which illustrates an LTM decision-making process according to some aspects. Process 700 of FIG. 7 may include or relate to a method to be performed by a base station, one or more elements of a base station, and / or one or more electronic devices that include and / or implement a base station. Process 700 may include, at operation 702, identifying an L1-RSRP report from a UE that pertains to LTM. The L1-RSRP report is based on L3 measurements made by the UE. At operation 704, the base station makes an LTM decision based on the L1-RSRP report.

[0080] example

[0081] Incorrect numbering: 1

[0082] Example 1 is an apparatus configured to operate as a user equipment (UE), the apparatus including: a processing circuit that configures the UE to: receive a radio resource control (RRC) reconfiguration message from a fifth generation NodeB (gNB), the RRC reconfiguration message including a configuration for a Layer 1 / Layer 2 (L1 / L2) Triggered Mobility (LTM) target cell; receive a trigger from the gNB to measure an L1 reference signal received power (L1-RSRP) of the LTM target cell; and in response to the trigger, send a previous L1-RSRP of the LTM target cell to the gNB, the previous L1-RSRP being previously used in Layer 3 (L3) measurements; and a memory configured to store the previous L1-RSRP.

[0083] In Example 2, the subject matter of Example 1 includes configuring the processing circuitry to: receive, from the gNB after the RRC reconfiguration message, a media access control (MAC) control element (MAC CE) including a cell switch command to switch to the LTM target cell; and, after receiving the MAC CE, perform other L1-RSRP measurements on the LTM target cell for inter-cell beam management (BM).

[0084] In Example 3, the subject matter of Example 2 includes the processing circuitry configuring the UE to obtain narrow beam acquisition of the LTM target cell based on other L1-RSRP measurements.

[0085] In Example 4, the subject matter of Examples 1 to 3 includes that the previous L1-RSRP measurements were obtained using a coarse beam.

[0086] In Example 5, the subject matter of Examples 1-4 includes the processing circuitry configuring the UE to perform the previous L1-RSRP measurement within a synchronization signal / physical broadcast channel (SS / PBCH) block measurement timing configuration (SMTC).

[0087] In Example 6, the subject matter of Examples 1 through 5 includes the L3 measurements including unfiltered L1-RSRP measurements across the beam area.

[0088] In Example 7, the subject matter of Examples 1-6 includes the processing circuitry configuring the UE to perform downlink (DL) synchronization and timing advance (TA) acquisition with the LTM target cell in response to receiving the MAC CE.

[0089] In Example 8, the subject matter of Examples 1-7 includes the processing circuitry configuring the UE to engage in a random access channel (RACH) procedure with the LTM target cell in response to receiving the MAC CE.

[0090] In Example 9, the subject matter of Examples 1 through 8 includes the L1-RSRP measurement including a field indicating a type of the L1-RSRP measurement, the type of the L1-RSRP measurement being selected from among an L1-RSRP measurement for LTM and an L1-RSRP measurement for inter-cell beam management (BM).

[0091] In Example 10, the subject matter of Examples 1-9 includes the processing circuitry configuring the UE to use 1 or 3 samples for L1-RSRP measurements during a measurement period Mmeas_period_w / o_gaps CCA of 12 or 24 samples.

[0092] Example 11 is an apparatus configured to operate as a fifth-generation NodeB (gNB), the apparatus including: a processing circuit that configures the gNB to: receive a Layer 3 (L3) measurement report for a Layer 1 / Layer 2 (L1 / L2) Triggered Mobility (LTM) target cell from a user equipment (UE), where the L3 measurement report is based on an L1 Reference Signal Received Power (L1-RSRP) measurement of the LTM target cell; send a trigger for another L1-RSRP measurement of the LTM target cell to the UE after receiving the L3 measurement report; receive an L1-RSRP measurement from the UE after sending the trigger in a format different from the L3 measurement report; and send a media access control (MAC) control element (MAC CE) to the UE after receiving the L1-RSRP measurement, the media access control (MAC CE) including a cell switch command to switch to the LTM target cell; and a memory configured to store a configuration.

[0093] In Example 12, the subject matter of Example 11 includes the L1-RSRP measurement being based on data obtained by a coarse beam, and the processing circuitry configuring the gNB to receive, after transmitting the MAC CE, from the UE, another L1-RSRP measurement for the LTM target cell based on data obtained by the fine beam.

[0094] In Example 13, the subject matter of Example 12 includes the L1-RSRP measurements being performed within a synchronization signal / physical broadcast channel (SS / PBCH) block measurement timing configuration (SMTC), and other L1-RSRP measurements being performed for inter-cell beam management (BM).

[0095] In Example 14, the subject matter of Examples 11 to 13 includes the L3 measurement report including a field indicating a type of L1-RSRP measurement, and the type of L1-RSRP measurement being selected from among an L1-RSRP measurement for LTM and an L1-RSRP measurement for inter-cell beam management (BM).

[0096] Example 15 is a computer-readable storage medium storing instructions for execution by one or more processors of a user equipment (UE), which, when executed, cause the one or more processors to configure the UE to: receive a radio resource control (RRC) reconfiguration message from a fifth generation NodeB (gNB), where the RRC reconfiguration message includes a configuration for a Layer 1 / Layer 2 (L1 / L2) Triggered Mobility (LTM) target cell; receive a trigger from the gNB to measure an L1-reference signal received power (L1-RSRP) of the LTM target cell; and, in response to the trigger, send a previous L1-RSRP of the LTM target cell to the gNB, where the previous L1-RSRP was previously used in Layer 3 (L3) measurements.

[0097] In Example 16, the subject matter of Example 15 includes the one or more processors configuring the instructions, when executed, the UE to: receive, from the gNB after an RRC reconfiguration message, a media access control (MAC) control element (MAC CE) including a cell switch command to switch to the LTM target cell; and, after receiving the MAC CE, perform other L1-RSRP measurements to the LTM target cell for inter-cell beam management (BM).

[0098] In Example 17, the subject matter of Example 16 includes one or more processors, when the instructions are executed, configuring the UE to perform previous L1-RSRP measurements within a synchronization signal / physical broadcast channel (SS / PBCH) block measurement timing configuration (SMTC).

[0099] In Example 18, the subject matter of Examples 15-17 includes the one or more processors configuring the UE to perform downlink (DL) synchronization and timing advance (TA) acquisition with the LTM target cell in response to receiving the MAC CE, when the instructions are executed.

[0100] In Example 19, the subject matter of Examples 15 to 18 includes the L1-RSRP measurement including a field indicating a type of the L1-RSRP measurement, the type of the L1-RSRP measurement being selected from among an L1-RSRP measurement for LTM and an L1-RSRP measurement for inter-cell beam management (BM).

[0101] In Example 20, the subject matter of Examples 15-19 includes the one or more processors, when the instructions are executed, configuring the UE to use 1 or 3 samples for L1-RSRP measurements during a measurement period Mmeas_period_w / o_gaps CCA of 8 or 24 samples.

[0102] Example 21 is at least one machine-readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed by a processing circuit, cause the processing circuit to perform operations to implement any of Examples 1-20.

[0103] Example 22 is an apparatus including means for carrying out any of Examples 1 to 20.

[0104] Example 23 is a system that implements any of Examples 1 to 20.

[0105] Example 24 is a method of carrying out any of Examples 1 to 20.

[0106] While the embodiments have been described with reference to certain exemplary embodiments, it will be apparent that various modifications and changes can be made to these embodiments without departing from the broader scope of the present disclosure. Accordingly, the specification and drawings are to be regarded in an illustrative and not a restrictive sense. The accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification, show, by way of example, and not of limitation, specific embodiments in which the subject matter may be practiced. The illustrated embodiments are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the teachings disclosed herein. Other embodiments may be utilized and derived therefrom, such that structural and logical substitutions and changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. Accordingly, this detailed description is not to be construed in a limiting sense, and the scope of various embodiments is defined only by the appended claims, along with the full range of equivalents to which such claims are entitled.

[0107] The subject matter of the present invention may be referred to herein, individually and / or collectively, by the term "embodiment" for convenience only, and is not intended to voluntarily limit the scope of the present application to any single inventive concept when, in fact, multiple inventive concepts are disclosed. Accordingly, while specific embodiments have been illustrated and described herein, it should be understood that any configuration calculated to achieve the same purpose may be substituted for the specific embodiment shown. The present disclosure is intended to cover any and all adaptations or variations of the various embodiments. Combinations of the above embodiments, as well as other embodiments not specifically described herein, will be apparent to those skilled in the art upon reviewing the above description.

[0108] As used herein, the terms "a" or "an" are used to indicate one or more, as is common in patent documents, regardless of any other instance or usage of "at least one" or "one or more." As used herein, the term "or" is used to refer to non-exclusiveness, such that "A or B" includes "A but not B," "B but not A," and "A and B," unless otherwise indicated. As used herein, the terms "including" and "in which" are used as the plain English equivalents of the terms "comprising" and "wherein," respectively. Also, in the following claims, the terms "including" and "comprising" are open-ended, i.e., a system, UE, article, composition, formulation, or process that includes elements in addition to those recited after such term in a claim is still considered to be within the scope of that claim. Furthermore, in the following claims, terms such as "first," "second," and "third" are used merely as labels and are not intended to impose numerical requirements on their objects. As indicated herein, although the term "a" is used herein, one or more of the associated elements may be used in different embodiments. For example, the term "processor" configured to perform certain operations includes both a single processor configured to perform all of the operations and multiple processors individually configured to perform some or all (which may overlap) of the operations, such that a combination of processors performs all of the operations. Furthermore, the term "comprising" may be considered to be interpreted as "comprising at least" the following elements:

[0109] This Abstract of the Disclosure is submitted with the understanding that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims. Moreover, in the foregoing Detailed Description, various features may be grouped together in a single embodiment for the purpose of streamlining the disclosure. This method of disclosure is not to be interpreted as reflecting an intention that the claimed embodiments require more features than are expressly recited in each claim. Rather, as the following claims reflect, inventive subject matter lies in less than all features of a single disclosed embodiment. Accordingly, the following claims are hereby incorporated into the Detailed Description, with each claim standing on its own as a separate embodiment.

Claims

1. 1. An apparatus configured to operate as a user equipment (UE), the apparatus comprising: The UE, receiving a radio resource control (RRC) reconfiguration message from a fifth generation NodeB (gNB), the RRC reconfiguration message including a configuration for a Layer 1 / Layer 2 (L1 / L2) triggered mobility (LTM) target cell; and receiving a trigger from the gNB to measure a L1 reference signal received power (L1-RSRP) of the LTM target cell; In response to the trigger, sending a previous L1-RSRP measurement of the LTM target cell to the gNB, the previous L1-RSRP measurement having been previously used in Layer 3 (L3) measurements; and and processing circuitry configured to: a memory configured to store the previous L1-RSRP measurements; 1. An apparatus comprising:

2. The processing circuitry controls the UE to: receiving, after the RRC reconfiguration message, from the gNB, a media access control (MAC) control element (MAC CE) including a cell switch command to switch to the LTM target cell; performing another L1-RSRP measurement to the LTM target cell for inter-cell beam management (BM) after receiving the MAC CE; The apparatus of claim 1 configured to:

3. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the processing circuitry configures the UE to obtain narrow beam acquisition of the LTM target cell based on the other L1-RSRP measurements.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the previous L1-RSRP measurement was obtained using a coarse beam.

5. 2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processing circuitry configures the UE to perform the previous L1-RSRP measurement within a synchronization signal / physical broadcast channel (SS / PBCH) block measurement timing configuration (SMTC).

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the L3 measurements include unfiltered L1-RSRP measurements across a beam area.

7. 3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the processing circuitry configures the UE to perform downlink (DL) synchronization and timing advance (TA) acquisition with the LTM target cell in response to receiving the MAC CE.

8. 3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the processing circuitry configures the UE to engage in a random access channel (RACH) procedure with the LTM target cell in response to receiving the MAC CE.

9. 2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the previous L1-RSRP measurement includes a field indicating a type of the previous L1-RSRP measurement, and the type of the previous L1-RSRP measurement is selected from among an L1-RSRP measurement for LTM and an L1-RSRP measurement for inter-cell beam management (BM).

10. The processing circuitry may be configured to measure the UE over a measurement period M of 12 or 24 samples. meas_period_w / o_gaps CCA 2. The apparatus of claim 1, configured to use one or three samples for the previous L1-RSRP measurement during

11. 1. An apparatus configured to operate as a fifth generation NodeB (gNB), the apparatus comprising: the gNB, receiving, from a user equipment (UE), a Layer 3 (L3) measurement report for a Layer 1 / Layer 2 (L1 / L2) triggered mobility (LTM) target cell, the L3 measurement report based on an L1 reference signal received power (L1-RSRP) measurement of the LTM target cell; After receiving the L3 measurement report, sending a trigger to the UE for another L1-RSRP measurement of the LTM target cell; receiving, after sending the trigger, the L1-RSRP measurement from the UE in a format different from the L3 measurement report; sending, after receiving the L1-RSRP measurements, to the UE a Medium Access Control (MAC) Control Element (MAC CE) including a cell switch command to switch to the LTM target cell; and processing circuitry configured to: a memory configured to store the L1-RSRP measurements; 1. An apparatus comprising:

12. the L1-RSRP measurement is based on data acquired by a coarse beam; The processing circuitry configures the gNB to, after transmitting the MAC CE, receive from the UE another L1-RSRP measurement for the LTM target cell based on data acquired by a narrow beam.

12. The apparatus of claim 11.

13. the L1-RSRP measurements are performed within a synchronization signal / physical broadcast channel (SS / PBCH) block measurement timing configuration (SMTC); The other L1-RSRP measurements are performed for inter-cell beam management (BM), 13. The apparatus of claim 12.

14. 12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the L3 measurement report includes a field indicating a type of the L1-RSRP measurement, and the type of the L1-RSRP measurement is selected from among an L1-RSRP measurement for LTM and an L1-RSRP measurement for inter-cell beam management (BM).

15. 1. A computer-readable storage medium storing instructions for execution by one or more processors of a user equipment (UE), the instructions, when executed, causing the one or more processors to: receiving a radio resource control (RRC) reconfiguration message from a fifth generation NodeB (gNB), the RRC reconfiguration message including a configuration for a Layer 1 / Layer 2 (L1 / L2) triggered mobility (LTM) target cell; and receiving a trigger from the gNB to measure a L1 reference signal received power (L1-RSRP) of the LTM target cell; In response to the trigger, sending a previous L1-RSRP measurement of the LTM target cell to the gNB, the previous L1-RSRP measurement having been previously used in Layer 3 (L3) measurements; and A computer-readable storage medium configured to perform the steps of:

16. The one or more processors, when the instructions are executed, cause the UE to: receiving, after the RRC reconfiguration message, from the gNB, a media access control (MAC) control element (MAC CE) including a cell switch command to switch to the LTM target cell; performing another L1-RSRP measurement to the LTM target cell for inter-cell beam management (BM) after receiving the MAC CE; configure to perform 16. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15.

17. 17. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the one or more processors, when the instructions are executed, configure the UE to perform the previous L1-RSRP measurement within a synchronization signal / physical broadcast channel (SS / PBCH) block measurement timing configuration (SMTC).

18. 17. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the one or more processors, when the instructions are executed, configure the UE to perform downlink (DL) synchronization and timing advance (TA) acquisition with the LTM target cell in response to receiving the MAC CE.

19. 16. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the previous L1-RSRP measurement includes a field indicating a type of the previous L1-RSRP measurement, and the type of the previous L1-RSRP measurement is selected from among an L1-RSRP measurement for LTM and an L1-RSRP measurement for inter-cell beam management (BM).

20. When the instructions are executed, the one or more processors may: meas_period_w / o_gaps CCA 16. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, configured to use one or three samples for the L1-RSRP measurement during

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