Method for Handling Logging of Different Types of Measurements in a SON Report

Abstract

An example method in a wireless device includes selecting (510) a plurality of first wireless quality measurements based on a first type of at least two types of reference signals used by the wireless device to measure wireless quality for inclusion in a report stored by the wireless device. The selecting includes selecting a plurality of wireless quality measurements for a neighboring cell that reflects a best wireless quality among available wireless quality measurements based on the first type of reference signals. The method further includes including (520) the selected plurality of first wireless quality measurements in the report and including (530) one or more available wireless quality measurements that correspond to a cell identifier associated with the selected plurality of wireless quality measurements and that are based on a second type of reference signal of the at least two types of reference signals with the selected plurality of first wireless quality measurements in the report.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure generally relates to wireless communication systems, and more particularly to the collection of measurements used in self-organizing networks.

Background Art

[0002] Currently, the 5th generation (“5G”) cellular system, also referred to as New Radio (NR), is being standardized in the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP (registered trademark)). NR has been developed for maximum flexibility to support a variety of different use cases. These include enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), machine type communication (MTC), ultra-reliable low latency communication (URLLC), sidelink device-to-device (D2D), and several other use cases. Although the present disclosure mainly describes some technologies in the context of 5G / NR systems, the following description of the 4th generation (4G) system, often referred to as the Long Term Evolution (LTE) system, is provided to introduce various terms, concepts, architectures, etc. that are also used in 5G / NR.

[0003] LTE is a general term referring to a radio access technology that was first standardized in Releases 8 (Rel-8) and 9 (Rel-9) within the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) and is also known as evolved UTRAN (E-UTRAN). LTE targets various licensed frequency bands and involves improvements in non-radio aspects, generally referred to as System Architecture Evolution (SAE), including an evolved packet core (EPC) network. LTE has continued to evolve through subsequent releases.

[0004] FIG. 1 shows an exemplary overall architecture of a network including LTE and SAE. The E-UTRAN 100 includes one or more evolved Node Bs (eNBs) such as eNBs 105, 110, and 115, which provide access to the network and ultimately provide access to a data network such as a public land mobile network and / or the Internet. These access nodes (e.g., eNBs 105, 110, and 115) serve or "serve" one or more UEs such as user equipment (UE) 120. As used within the 3GPP specifications, a "user equipment" or "UE" , one commonly known First means any wireless communication device (e.g., a smartphone or computing device) that can use 3GPP-compliant network equipment, including E-UTRAN as well as UTRAN and / or GERAN, as the 3GPP RAN of the third generation ("3G") and second generation ("2G").

[0005] As defined by 3GPP, the E-UTRAN 100 is responsible for all radio-related functions in the network, including radio bearer control, radio admission control, radio mobility control, scheduling, and dynamic allocation of resources to the UE in the uplink (UL, i.e., from the UE to the network) and downlink (DL, i.e., from the network to the UE), as well as the security of communication with the UE. These functions belong to eNBs such as eNBs 105, 110, and 115. Each eNB can serve a geographic coverage area including one or more cells such as cells 106, 111, and 115, which are served by eNBs 105, 110, and 115, respectively, in the exemplary system shown in FIG. 1.

[0006] As shown in FIG. 1, eNBs within E-UTRAN communicate with each other via the X2 interface. The eNBs are further responsible for the E-UTRAN interface to the EPC 130, specifically the S1 interface (not shown in FIG. 1) to the Mobility Management Entity (MME) and Serving Gateway (SGW) within the EPC 130. Generally, the MME / S-GW handles both the overall control of the UE and the data flow between the UE and the rest of the EPC. More specifically, the MME processes the signaling (e.g., control plane) protocol between the UE and the EPC, known as the Non-Access Stratum (NAS) protocol. The S-GW handles all Internet Protocol (IP) data packets (e.g., data or user plane) between the UE and the EPC and functions as a local mobility anchor for the data bearer when the UE moves between eNBs (such as eNBs 105, 110, and 115).

[0007] The 5th Generation (「5G」) cellular system, also referred to as New Radio (NR), was first standardized by 3GPP in Rel-15 and has continued to evolve through subsequent releases. NR has been developed for maximum flexibility to support multiple substantially different use cases. These include enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB), Machine Type Communication (MTC), Ultra-Reliable Low Latency Communication (URLLC), sidelink Device-to-Device (D2D), and several other use cases.

[0008] 5G / NR technology shares many similarities with LTE. For example, NR uses CP-OFDM (Cyclic Prefix Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) in DL and both CP-OFDM and DFT-s-OFDM (DFT-S-OFDM) in UL. As another example, in the time domain, NR DL and UL physical resources are organized into 1 ms subframes of equal size. The subframe is further divided into multiple slots of equal duration, and each slot contains multiple OFDM-based symbols. However, the time-frequency resources can be configured much more flexibly in an NR cell than in an LTE cell. For example, instead of a fixed 15 kHz OFDM subcarrier spacing (SCS) as in LTE, the NR SCS can range from 15 to 240 kHz and has even larger SCSs considered for future NR releases.

[0009] Figure 2 shows an exemplary high-level view of a 5G network architecture consisting of a Next Generation RAN (NG-RAN) 299 and a 5G Core (5GC) 298. The NG-RAN 299 may include a set of gNodeBs (gNBs) connected to the 5GC via one or more NG interfaces, such as gNBs 200, 250 connected via interfaces 202, 252 respectively. These gNBs are the 5G version of radio access nodes. The gNBs may be connected to each other via one or more Xn interfaces, such as the Xn interface 240 between gNB 200 and gNB 250. With respect to the NR interface to the UE, each of the gNBs may support frequency division duplexing (FDD), time division duplexing (TDD), or a combination thereof.

[0010] NG-RAN is hierarchically divided into a Radio Network Layer (RNL) and a Transport Network Layer (TNL). The NG-RAN architecture, i.e., the NG-RAN logical nodes and the interfaces between them, is defined as part of the RNL. For each NG-RAN interface (NG, Xn, F1), the associated TNL protocol and functions are specified. The TNL provides services for user plane transport and signaling transport.

[0011] The NG-RAN logical nodes shown in Figure 2 include a central (or centralized) unit (CU or Gnb-CU) and one or more distributed (or decentralized) units (DU or Gnb-DU). For example, Gnb 200 includes Gnb-CU 210, and Gnb-DUs 220 and 230. The CU is a logical node that hosts upper layer protocols and performs various Gnb functions such as controlling the operation of the DUs. The DU is a logical node that hosts lower layer protocols and may include various subsets of Gnb functions depending on the function split. Therefore, each of the CU and DU may include various circuits required to perform their respective functions, including a processing circuit, a transceiver and / or communication interface circuit, a power Source circuit, etc. The terms "central unit" and "centralized unit" are used interchangeably herein, and the same applies to the terms "distributed unit" and "decentralized unit".

[0012] The gNB-CU is connected to the gNB-DU via respective F1 logical interfaces such as interfaces 222 and 232 shown in FIG. 2. The gNB-CU and the connected gNB-DU appear only as a gNB to other gNBs and the 5GC. In other words, the F1 interface is not visible beyond the gNB-CU.

[0013] In addition to providing coverage via cells, like in LTE, the NR network further provides coverage via "beams". Generally, a downlink (DL, i.e., from the network to the UE) "beam" is the coverage area of a network transmission reference signal (RS) that can be measured or monitored by the UE. Examples of NR RS include synchronization signal / PBCH block (SSB), channel state information RS (CSI-RS), positioning RS (PRS), demodulation RS (DM-RS), phase-tracking reference signal (PTRS), etc. Generally, the SSB is available to all UEs regardless of the RRC state, while other RSs (e.g., CSI-RS, DM-RS, PTRS) are associated with specific UEs having a network connection (i.e., in the RRC_CONNECTED state). Note that the terms "SS block", "SSB", and "SS / PBCH block" all refer to the same thing in the context of NR.

[0014] To support high-speed mobility between NR and LTE and avoid core network changes, the LTE eNB can also be connected to the 5G-CN via NG-U / NG-C and support the Xn interface. An eNB connected to the 5GC is referred to as a next-generation eNB (NG-eNB) and is considered part of the NG-RAN. Although LTE connected to the 5GC will not be further discussed in this document, it should be noted that most of the solutions / features described for LTE and NR in this document also apply to LTE connected to the 5GC. In this document, when the term LTE is used without further specification, it refers to LTE-EPC.

[0015] A self-organizing network (SON: Self-Organizing Network) is a network that uses automation technologies designed to make the planning, configuration, management, optimization, and recovery of mobile radio access networks easier and faster. The functions and operations of SON are defined and specified by generally accepted mobile industry recommendations created by organizations such as 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project) and NGMN (Next Generation Mobile Networks).

[0016] In 3GPP, the processes within the SON area are classified into a self-configuration process and a self-optimization process. The self-configuration process is a process in which newly deployed nodes are configured by an automatic installation procedure to obtain the basic settings necessary for system operation.

[0017] This process functions in a pre-operational state. The pre-operational state is understood as the state from when the eNB is powered on and has backbone connectivity until the RF transmitter is switched on.

[0018] As shown in FIG. 3, the functions handled in the pre-operation state include a basic setup 310 and an initial radio setting 320, which are covered by the self-configuration process.

[0019] The self-optimization process is defined as a process in which measurement values and performance measurement values of the UE and the access node are used to automatically tune the network. This process functions in the operational state. The operational state is understood as the state in which the RF interface is additionally switched on. As seen in FIG. 3, the functions handled in the operational state, such as optimization / adaptation 330, are covered by the self-optimization process.

[0020] In LTE, support for self-configuration and self-optimization is specified as described in Section 22.2 of 3GPP TS 36.300, including functions such as dynamic configuration, Automatic Neighbor Relation (ANR), mobility load balancing, Mobility Robustness Optimization (MRO), RACH optimization, and support for energy saving.

[0021] In NR, support for self-configuration and self-optimization is also specified, starting from self-configuration functions such as dynamic configuration and Automatic Neighbor Relation (ANR) in Rel-15, as described in Section 15 of 3GPP TS 38.300. In NR Rel-16, more SON functions are specified, including self-optimization functions such as Mobility Robustness Optimization (MRO).

[0022] Seamless handover is an important function of 3GPP technology. The success of handover ensures that the UE can move within the coverage areas of different cells without causing too many interruptions in data transmission. However, there are scenarios where the network fails to hand over the UE to the "correct" neighboring cell in a timely manner. In such scenarios, the UE declares a radio link failure (RLF) or a handover failure (HOF).

[0023] In response to HOF and RLF, the UE may attempt autonomous actions, i.e., select a cell and try to initiate a re-establishment procedure, thereby ensuring that it tries to return as soon as possible so that it can be reachable again. RLF causes an insufficient user experience because it is only declared by the UE when it recognizes that there is no reliable communication channel (radio link) available between itself and the network. Also, the re-establishment of the connection requires signaling with the newly selected cell (random access procedure, RRC re-establishment request, RRC re-establishment, RRC re-establishment complete, RRC reconfiguration, and RRC reconfiguration complete), resulting in a certain delay until the UE can exchange data with the network again.

[0024] Possible causes of radio link failure may include, according to the NR specification, for example, the following: Expiration of the radio link monitoring related timer T310; Expiration of the measurement report related timer T312 (failure to receive a handover command from the network within the duration of this timer despite transmitting a measurement report while T310 is running); Reaching the maximum number of RLC retransmissions; Receiving a random access problem indication from the MAC entity; Declaring a consistent LBT failure in the SpCell operating in the unlicensed spectrum; or Failure in the beam failure recovery procedure.

[0025] On the other hand, a handover failure (HOF) is due to the expiration of timer T304 while performing a handover to a target cell.

[0026] Since RLF or HOF results in re-establishment that degrades performance and user experience, it is of interest to the network to understand the reasons for RLF and attempt to optimize mobility-related parameters (e.g., trigger conditions for measurement reports) to avoid later RLF. Before the standardization of MRO-related report processing in the network, only the UE was aware of some information associated with the radio quality at the time of RLF, the actual reasons for declaring RLF, etc. To identify the reasons for RLF, the network needs further information from both the UE and even neighboring base stations.

[0027] After an RLF or handover failure (HOF) is declared, the RLF report is logged and included in VarRLF-Report. When the UE selects a cell and successfully completes the re-establishment procedure, the UE includes an RLF report availability indication in the RRC re-establishment complete message to make the target cell aware of the availability of the RLF report. Subsequently, when receiving a UEInformationResponse message with the flag "rlf-ReportReq", the UE includes the RLF report (stored in the UE variable VarRLF-Report as described above) in the UEInformationResponse message and sends it to the network. The UE needs to store the information in VarRLF-Report for a maximum of 48 hours. Therefore, the network can retrieve the RLF-Report even hours after the RLF / HOF event. varRLF-Report can only contain one instance of RLF-Repo. Therefore, if a new RLF / HOF occurs before the network fetches the old one, the UE clears the information previously stored in VarRLF-Report.

[0028] RLF from UE Report Based on the RLF from the UE and the knowledge of which cell the UE was able to re-establish the connection in, the original source cell can estimate whether the RLF was due to a coverage hole or due to mobility control parameter settings. If the RLF is considered to be due to handover-related parameter settings, the original serving cell can further classify the handover-related failure as a handover that is too early, too late, or to the wrong cell class. These handover failure classes are briefly described below.

[0029] 1) Whether a handover failure occurred due to the case of "too late handover" a. If the original serving cell fails to send a handover command to a UE associated with a handover to a specific target cell, and the UE re-establishes itself in this target cell after RLF, the handover failure can be classified as a "too-late handover". b. An exemplary corrective action from the original serving cell could be to start the handover procedure towards this target cell slightly earlier by reducing the CIO (cell individual offset) towards the target cell, which controls the timing at which the IE sends an event-triggered measurement report leading to a handover decision.

[0030] 2) Whether a handover failure occurred due to a case of "too-early handover" a. If the original serving cell successfully sends a handover command to a UE associated with a handover, but the UE fails to perform a random access towards this target cell, the handover failure can be classified as a "too-early handover". b. An exemplary corrective action from the original serving cell could be to start the handover procedure towards this target cell slightly later by increasing the CIO (cell individual offset) towards the target cell, which controls the timing at which the IE sends an event-triggered measurement report leading to a handover decision.

[0031] 3) Whether a handover failure occurred due to a case of "handover-to-wrong-cell" a. If the original serving cell attempts to perform a handover for this UE towards a specific target cell, but the UE declares RLF and re-establishes itself in a third cell, the handover failure can be classified as a "handover-to-wrong-cell". b. The modification action from the original serving cell may be to start the handover procedure towards the target cell a little later by reducing the CIO (Cell Individual Offset) towards the target cell or increasing the CIO towards the re-establishment cell, or by initiating a handover towards the cell to which the UE re-established a little earlier through increasing the CIO towards the re-establishment cell.

[0032] The above classification can further lead to better handover decisions. The UE is required to include, for example, the measurement results of neighboring cells and the latest serving cell (if available) as part of the RLF report in both cases of handover failure and RLF. In particular, up to eight neighboring cells can be included as part of the neighboring measurement result list. This means that the UE can include the eight best neighboring cells, ordered such that the cell with the best radio conditions is listed first, in the RLF report. These measurement results can include both SS / PBCH block-based measurement quantities and CSI-RS-based measurement quantities.

[0033] As an extension of MRO in Release 17, 3GPP has introduced the successful HO report (SHR). As described above, the RLF used to report the RLF or handover failure experienced by the UE Report Unlike this, the SHR is used by the UE to report various information associated with a successful HO. A successful HO is not always reported in all HOs and is reported only when specific trigger conditions are met. For example, if the T310 / T312 / T304 timer exceeds a specific threshold during an HO, the UE must save the information associated with this HO. Similarly, if the HO is a DAPS HO and the UE has successfully completed the handover but experienced an RLF in the source cell while performing the DAPS HO, the UE saves the information associated with this DAPS HO. When saving a successful handover report, the UE may include various information to assist the network in optimizing the handover, such as measurement values of neighboring cells, the conditions satisfied (e.g., the threshold when T310 is exceeded, specific RLF problems in the source during DAPS HO) that triggered the successful handover report.

[0034] The SHR can be set by a serving cell, and when the trigger conditions for SHR logging are met, the UE saves this information until the NW requests it. In particular, the UE may indicate the availability of SHR information in specific RRC messages such as RRCReconfigurationComplete, RRCReestablishmentComplete, RRCSetupComplete, RRCResumeComplete, etc., and the network may request such information via the UEInformationRequest message. In response to this message, the UE transmits the saved SHR in the UEInformationResponse message.

[0035] As detailed below, problems occur when measurement results of SS / PBCH block-based measurement results and CSI-RS-based measurement results are available. Summary of the Invention

[0036] The techniques described herein are a plurality of methods performed by a wireless terminal, or a so-called user equipment (UE), where when the UE is configured to perform measurements on a frequency, and when both SS / PBCH block-based measurement results and CSI-RS-based measurement results are available on that frequency, a plurality of methods for collecting and logging measurement results of neighboring cells on that frequency are provided.

[0037] The collected neighboring measurement results can be included in any of several types of reports, such as an RLF report (generated according to HOF or RLF), a random access report, a successful HO report, etc.

[0038] In a first method according to some embodiments of the techniques described in more detail below, the UE first includes, in a neighboring cell measurement result list, measurement results for a first set of "best" cells, considering a first type of reference signal-based measurement (e.g., SS / PBCH block-based measurement). The measurement results for the cells included in the first set of best cells are ordered in a list of neighboring measurement results starting from the best measured cell, based on the measurement of the first reference signal type. For each cell in the first set, the UE can include a plurality of information, such as the PCI and ARFCN of the cell, the CGI of the cell, the measurement results based on the first type of measurement, and, if available, the measurement results based on a second type of measurement (e.g., CSI-RS-based measurement).

[0039] In some embodiments of the first method summarized above, as per the first method, in response to including a first set of best cells considering a first type of measurement and if the maximum number of entries in the list of neighbor measurement results has not yet been reached, the UE may further include a second set of best cells in the same list of neighbor cell measurement results, considering a second type of reference signal-based measurement. These cells included in the second set of best cells are not included in the first set of best cells, and their corresponding measurement values are ordered in the list of neighbor measurement results to start from the best measured cell based on the second reference signal type-based measurement. Associated with each cell in the second set, the UE may include a plurality of information such as the PCI and ARFCN of the cell, the CGI of the cell, measurement results based on the second type of measurement (e.g., CSI-RS-based measurement).

[0040] In embodiments according to the second method described herein, independently of the first method, the UE includes the measurement results for a first set of best cells measured based on a first type of reference signal-based measurement and a second set of best cells based on a second type of reference signal-based measurement in separate lists of neighbor measurement results (i.e., one list for cells measured based on a first type of reference signal-based measurement and one separate list for cells measured based on a second type of reference signal-based measurement). For a cell, if the UE has available both a first type and a second type of reference signal-based measurement for this cell, the UE may include this cell in only one list of neighbor measurement results and may include the corresponding measurement values associated with both the first type of reference signal-based measurement and the second type of reference signal-based measurement for this cell.

[0041] In a third method independent of the first and second methods, the UE includes in the list of neighbor measurement results the measurement results for the first set of best cells considering the first measurement quantity (e.g., RSRP), regardless of whether the measurement result for the measurement quantity is based on the first type of measurement or the second type of measurement. The measurement results for the cells included in the first set of best cells are ordered based on the first measurement quantity to start from the best measured cell in the list of neighbor measurement results. Associated with each cell included in the first set, the UE may include a plurality of information such as the PCI of the cell, the CGI of the cell, the second (or third, etc.) measurement quantity if available, and an indication of whether the measurement quantity is based on the first type of measurement or the second type of measurement.

[0042] In response to including the first set of best cells considering the first measurement quantity and if the maximum number of entries in the list of neighbor measurement results has not yet been reached, the UE may further include the second set of best cells considering the second measurement quantity (e.g., RSRQ), regardless of whether the measurement quantity is based on the first type of measurement or the second type of measurement. The cells included in the second set of best cells are not included in the first set of best cells and they are ordered starting from the best measured cell in the list of neighbor measurement results based on the second measurement quantity. Associated with each cell included in the second set, the UE may include a plurality of information such as the PCI of the cell, the CGI of the cell, the measurement result based on the second measurement quantity, the measurement result based on the third (and similar) measurement quantity, and an indication of whether the measurement quantity is based on the first type of measurement or the second type of measurement.

[0043] Depending on the first and second sets of best cells, the UE may include the third (and similar) set of best cells based on the third (and similar) measurement quantity, regardless of whether the measurement quantity is based on the first type of measurement considered or the second type of measurement considered.

[0044] In some embodiments of these and other methods, which is the first type of measurement and which is the second type of measurement are defined herein. For example, the first type of reference signal-based measurement may be an SS / PBCH-based measurement, and the second type of reference signal-based measurement may be a CSI-RS-based measurement.

[0045] In other embodiments, which is the first type of reference signal-based measurement and which is the second type of reference signal-based measurement are set by the network, and the UE applies this setting when collecting measurement results into a list of neighboring cell measurement results.

[0046] In still other embodiments, the first type of reference signal-based measurement and the second type of reference signal-based measurement selected by the UE when collecting measurement results into a list are indicated to the network by the UE in a report (i.e., the UE indicates that it has ordered cells in the list of neighboring measurements considering first the SS / PBCH block-based measurement (or CSI-RS-based measurement)).

[0047] Similarly, in some embodiments, which is the first measurement quantity and which is the second measurement quantity (etc.) are defined herein. For example, the RSRP may be the first measurement quantity, and the RSRQ may be the second measurement quantity. In other embodiments, which is the first measurement quantity and which is the second measurement quantity (etc.) are set by the network, and the UE applies this setting when collecting measurement results into a list of neighboring cell measurement results. In still other embodiments, the first measurement quantity and the second measurement quantity (etc.) selected by the UE when collecting measurement results into a list are indicated to the network by the UE in a report (i.e., the UE indicates that it has ordered cells in the list of neighboring measurements considering first the RSRP (or RSRQ, or RSSI, etc.)).

[0048] Embodiments of the disclosed technology include a method in a wireless device for collecting measurement results, the method including selecting, for inclusion in a report stored by the wireless device, a plurality of first radio quality measurement results based on a first type of reference signal out of at least two types of reference signals used by the wireless device to measure radio quality. This selection includes, for neighboring cells, selecting a plurality of radio quality measurement results that reflect the best radio quality among the available radio quality measurement results based on the first type of reference signal. The method further includes including the selected plurality of first radio quality measurement results in the report and including, together with the selected plurality of first radio quality measurement results, one or more available radio quality measurement results corresponding to a cell identifier associated with the selected plurality of radio quality measurement results and based on a second type of reference signal out of at least two types of reference signals.

[0049] According to some of the embodiments of the present disclosure, a corresponding wireless device is adapted to execute the method summarized immediately above. For this purpose, an exemplary wireless device comprises a transmitter and a receiver configured to communicate with a wireless network, and a processing circuit operatively coupled to the transmitter and the receiver, the processing circuit being configured to select, for inclusion in a report stored by the wireless device, a plurality of first radio quality measurement results based on a first type of reference signal out of at least two types of reference signals used by the wireless device to measure radio quality. Also in this case, the selecting may include, for neighboring cells, selecting a plurality of radio quality measurement results that reflect the best radio quality among the available radio quality measurement results based on the first type of reference signal. The processing circuit further is configured to further include the selected plurality of first radio quality measurement results in the report and include, together with the selected plurality of first radio quality measurement results, one or more available radio quality measurement results corresponding to a cell identifier associated with the selected plurality of radio quality measurement results and based on a second type of reference signal out of at least two types of reference signals.

[0050] The methods, apparatuses, and systems disclosed in this specification thus provide procedures for a UE to include measurement results for two or more cells when both SS / PBCH block-based measurements and CSI-RS-based measurements are available.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0051]

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[0052] In this document, unless otherwise specified, the term "type of measurement" is used to distinguish between measurements based on different kinds of reference signals. Thus, a measurement based on SS / PBCH blocks is one type of measurement, and a measurement based on CSI-RS is another type of measurement. Unless otherwise specified, the term "measured quantity" or "measurement quantity" refers to a measurement using a given reference signal.

[0053] Refers to a certain result that is obtained, e.g., R

[0054] These are SRP, RSRQ, SINR, RSSI, channel occupancy, CLI measurements, and SL measurements. The term "measurement results" refers to a numerical result obtained for a measurement quantity from a measurement of a certain measurement type. It should be noted that in some cases generally identified in the following description, a "measurement quantity" may refer to a measurement result (i.e., a determined value) corresponding to a measurement of a certain type and of a certain measurement quantity. In these cases, for example, the term "available measurement quantities" may mean a measurement result corresponding to any of one or more measurement quantities. The terms "cell-level quantity" and "beam-level quantity" refer to a measurement result of any of one or more measurement quantities, the result being specific to either a given cell or a given beam, respectively.

[0055] This document may refer to "best cell" or "best" measurement results. "Best cell" refers to a cell having the "best" measurement results for a given measurement type and / or a given measurement quantity, for example. "Best" measurement results are those that reflect the best signal quality. These can be measurement results having the highest values for some measurement quantities such as RSRP, RSRQ, and SINR. In other cases, the "best" measurement results can be measurement results having the lowest values for, e.g., BER.

[0056] The methods disclosed herein are applicable to any radio access technology (RAT), even if NR technology is considered by way of example for simplicity.

[0057] According to the current specification, measurement results for both neighboring cell SS / PBCH block-based measurement quantities and CSI-RS-based measurement quantities (if available) can be included by the UE as part of the measurement results when generating an RLF report, either after an HO failure or after an RLF. If SS / PBCH block RSRP measurement results are available, neighboring cells and corresponding measurement results are included in a sorted list such that the cell having the highest measurement result for SS / PBCH block RSRP is listed first; otherwise, if SS / PBCH block RSRQ measurement results are available, the cell having the highest SS / PBCH block RSRQ is listed first; otherwise, the cell having the highest SS / PBCH block SINR is listed first.

[0058] The same applies if measurement results for CSI-RS-based measurement quantities are available, i.e., if CSI-RS RSRP measurement results are available, cells are sorted within the list of neighboring cell measurement results such that the cell having the highest measurement result for CSI-RS RSRP is listed first; otherwise, if CSI-RS RSRQ measurement results are available, the cell having the highest CSI-RS RSRQ is listed first; otherwise, the cell having the highest CSI-RS RS SINR is listed first.

[0059] Up to eight cells can be included in the measResultListNR information element (IE) in measResultNeighCells.

[0060] The above legacy method is captured in the following procedure text taken from 3GPP TS 38.331: TIFF0007699299000001.tif151160

[0061] However, in the current legacy procedure, the UE uses the same measResultListNR list to collect measurement results for both SS / PBCH block-based measurements and CSI-RS-based measurements. Therefore, if both SS / PBCH block-based measurements and CSI-RS-based measurements are available for neighboring cells on the frequency, it is impossible for the UE to properly order the entries in this list according to the actual measurement results. This is because when different types of measurements are performed, the measurement results for a cell can be different. For example, if SS / PBCH block-based measurements are performed for cell "x", cell "x" classified among the eight best cells on the frequency may not be classified among the eight best cells on the same frequency if CSI-RS-based measurements are performed for cell "x". Therefore, in such an example, it is not clear from the current legacy procedure whether the UE should include this cell "x" in the measurement results of neighboring cells.

[0062] In addition, the network configuration may be such that the UE has to perform only SS / PBCH block-based measurements in one cell and only CSI-RS-based measurements in other cells. According to legacy procedures, the UE has to include these different measurements for different cells in the same list of neighbor cell measurement results. If there are more than eight cells in which the UE has to perform measurements, the UE cannot include all of them in the list of neighbor cell measurement results, and it is not clear which cells the UE has to include in this list. For example, if the UE is configured to perform only SS / PBCH block-based measurements in eight cells and only CSI-RS-based measurements in another three cells, it is not clear from the current procedures which cells the UE should select to include in the list.

[0063] A first category of techniques for the UE includes the following, which should be read in conjunction with the flow diagram shown in FIG. 4:

[0064] ● Include, in the list of neighboring measurement results, measurement results for a first set of best cells, taking into account a first type of reference signal-based measurement (410), where the first type of reference signal-based measurement can be an SS / PBCH block-based measurement or a CSI-RS-based measurement. The cells included in the first set are ordered within the list of neighboring measurement results according to their respective measurement quantities and starting from the cell having the highest or best value for the first type of measurement (first type of measurement) and measurement results based on the first measurement quantity. For each cell included in the first set, the UE can include, if any are available, the PCI of the cell, the CGI of the cell, cell-level quantities resulting as one or more results measured based on the first type of measurement, beam-level quantities resulting as one or more results measured based on the first type of reference signal-based measurement, cell-level quantities resulting as a result measured based on the second type of reference signal-based measurement, and beam-level quantities resulting as a result measured based on the second type of measurement.

[0065] ● After performing step 410, add a second set of best cells to the list of neighboring measurement results, taking into account a second type of reference signal-based measurement (420), where the cells of the second set include only cells not included in the first set. The cells included in the second set are ordered within this extended list of neighboring measurement results according to their measurement quantities and starting from the cell having the highest (or best) measurement result value for each measurement quantity, based on the second type of reference signal-based measurement. For each cell included in the second set, the UE can include the PCI of the cell, the CGI of the cell, cell-level quantities resulting as one or more results measured based on the second type of reference signal-based measurement, and beam-level quantities resulting as one or more results measured based on the second type of reference signal-based measurement.

[0066] FIG. 5 is a process flow diagram showing a method corresponding to the same technology with steps more detailedly decomposed. This exemplary method for collecting measurement results in a wireless device includes, as shown in block 510, selecting a plurality of first radio quality measurement results (i.e., the “measurement values based on the first type of reference signal” described above) based on the first type of reference signal among at least two types of reference signals used by the wireless device to measure radio quality, for inclusion in a report stored by the wireless device. This selection includes, for neighboring cells, selecting a plurality of radio quality measurement results that reflect the best radio quality among the available radio quality measurement results based on the first type of reference signal. Thus, these selected plurality of radio quality measurement results are, as described above, the “measurement results for the first set of best cells considering the measurement based on the first type of reference signal”. The method further includes, as shown in block 520, including the selected plurality of first radio quality measurement results in a report (i.e., in the “list” described above). The method further includes, as shown in block 530, including, in the report together with the selected plurality of radio quality measurement results, one or more available radio quality measurement results corresponding to the cell identifiers associated with the selected plurality of radio quality measurement results and based on the second type of reference signal among at least two types of reference signals. These radio quality measurement results are the measurement results for the “first set” of the above-described cells, but are the measurement results based on the measurement of the second type of reference signal.

[0067] As shown in block 540, the method may further include including in the report up to a certain number of additional radio quality measurement results based on a second type of reference signal, such that the total number of a selected plurality of first radio quality measurement results and the certain number of additional radio quality measurement results is equal to a predetermined maximum number. Here, the additional radio quality measurement results include radio quality measurement values that reflect the best radio quality among the available radio measurement values for neighboring cells based on the second type of reference signal and for cells that do not correspond to the cell identifiers associated with the selected plurality of first radio quality measurement results. In other words, these cell identifiers correspond to the "second set" of cells described above. This step directly corresponds to step 420 in FIG. 4 and may be performed, for example, after steps 520 and 530 are executed, in situations where the number of measurement results included in the report is less than the maximum number.

[0068] As an example, when a list of measurement results is included in an RLF report (RLF-Report), the first embodiment may be at least partially implemented in the specifications of 3GPP TS 38.331 as follows. Additions to previous versions of 3GPP are shown in bold. Here, in this excerpt example, "measurement quantity" refers to any available measurement result of one or more measurement quantities. TIFF0007699299000002.tif141160

[0069] In the above example, the first type of measurement is an SS / PBCH block-based measurement, and the second type of measurement is a CSI-RS-based measurement.

[0070] The second category of techniques for the UE includes the following, which should be read in conjunction with the flowchart shown in FIG. 6:

[0071] ● Include the measurement results for the first set of "best" cells (i.e., the cells with the "best" corresponding measurement results) measured based on the first type of reference signal-based measurement in the first list of neighboring measurement results (610). The cells included in the first set are ordered within the list of neighboring measurement results such that they start from the cell with the highest measurement result for the first measurement quantity, according to the measurement quantity and based on the first type of reference signal-based measurement. For each cell included in the first set, the UE may include at least any one of the PCI of the cell, the CGI of the cell, the cell-level quantity resulting as one or more results measured based on the first type of reference signal-based measurement, and the beam-level quantity resulting as one or more results measured based on the first type of reference signal-based measurement.

[0072] ● Include the measurement results for the second set of best cells measured based on the second type of reference signal-based measurement in the second list of neighboring measurement results (620). The measurement results for the cells included in the second set are ordered within the list of neighboring measurement results such that they start from the cell with the highest measurement result for the measurement quantity, according to the measurement quantity and based on the second type of reference signal-based measurement. For each cell included in the second set, the UE may include at least any one of the PCI of the cell, the CGI of the cell, the cell-level quantity resulting as one or more results measured based on the second type of reference signal-based measurement, and the beam-level quantity resulting as one or more results measured based on the second type of reference signal-based measurement.

[0073] For a cell, if the UE has available measurement results based on each of both the first type and the second type of reference signals, in some embodiments or instances, the UE may include the cell in only one list (i.e., the first list or the second list), and for this cell in the selected list, may include measurement values based on each of both the first type and the second type of reference signals. In other embodiments or instances, for a cell, if the UE has available measurement values based on each of both the first type of reference signal and the second type of reference signal, the UE may include the cell in each of both the first list and the second list.

[0074] As an example, if the list of measurement results is included in the RLF report (RLF-Report), the first embodiment may be at least partially implemented in the specification of 3GPP TS 38.331 as follows. Here, the additions to the previous existing versions of 3GPP are shown in bold and deletions have been made. Note that in this excerpt example, "measurement quantity" refers to any available measurement result of one or more measurement quantities. TIFF0007699299000003.tif150160

[0075] In the above example, the measurement of the first type is an SS / PBCH block-based measurement, and the measurement of the second type is a CSI-RS-based measurement. The first list including the first set of best cells is measResultListSSB, and the second list including the second set of best cells is measResultListCSI.

[0076] The third category of techniques for the UE includes the following to be read in conjunction with the flowchart shown in FIG. 7:

[0077] ● Include the measurement results for the first set of "best" cells regarding the first measurement quantity in the list of neighboring measurement results (710), where the first measurement quantity can be any of the measured RSRP, or RSRQ, or RSSI, or SINR, etc., and can be obtained based on any type of measurement. The cells included in the first set are ordered within the list of neighboring measurement results so as to start from the cell having the highest measurement result for the first measurement quantity according to the first measurement quantity and based on any type of measurement. For each cell included in the first set, the UE can include the PCI of the cell, the CGI of the cell, the measurement result resulting as the first measurement quantity of the cell regardless of the type of measurement, and / or the measurement result for the first measurement quantity regarding the beam associated with the cell regardless of the type of measurement result. For each included cell, if available, the measurement results for the second (or third, etc.) measurement quantity and the indication of whether the measurement results for each of these additional measurement quantities are based on the first type of measurement or the second type of measurement can also be included.

[0078] ● When step 710 is executed, add the measurement results for the second set of best cells regarding the second measurement quantity to the list of neighboring measurement results (720). The cells included in the second set are ordered within the list of neighboring measurement results so as to start from the cell having the best measurement result for the second measurement quantity according to the second measurement quantity and based on any type of measurement. For each cell included in the second set, the UE can include the PCI of the cell, the CGI of the cell, the measurement result for the second measurement quantity of the cell regardless of the type of measurement, and / or the (one or more) measurement results for the second measurement quantity regarding the beam associated with the cell regardless of the type of measurement result. For each included cell, if available, the measurement results for the third (or fourth, etc.) measurement quantity and the indication of whether the measurement results for each of these additional measurement quantities are based on the first type of measurement or the second type of measurement can also be included.

[0079] In some embodiments or instances of the above-described technology, the specification (e.g., 3GPP specification) specifies which is the "first" type of measurement and which is the "second" type of measurement. In other embodiments or instances, the network may configure the UE with information indicating which is the first type of measurement and which is the second type of measurement, and the UE applies this configuration when collecting measurement results into a list of neighbor cell measurement results. In still other embodiments or instances, when the UE collects measurement results into a list or multiple lists of measurement results, the UE indicates to the network the first type of measurement and the second type of measurement that the UE has selected. This can be done in a report that includes (one or more) lists, such that the report indicates, for example, whether the cells in the list of neighbor measurements have been ordered considering, first, measurement values based on SS / PBCH blocks or CSI-RS based measurement values.

[0080] Similarly, system specifications such as 3GPP specifications may indicate which is the first measurement quantity and which is the second type of measurement quantity (etc.) employed in the foregoing embodiments. Alternatively, this may be configured by the network such that the UE applies this configuration when collecting measurement results into a list of neighbor cell measurement results. In still other cases, the UE may select this order and indicate it to the network, for example, in the report itself, such that the UE indicates that it has ordered the cells first in the list of neighbor measurements considering, for example, RSRP, or RSRQ, or RSSI, etc.

[0081] In various instances of the above method, the list of neighbor measurement results can be a measurement report included in, for example, an RLF report, or a random access report, or a successful handover report (e.g., at the time of RLF or handover failure) and transmitted by the UE to the network.

[0082] Although various embodiments have been described above herein with respect to methods, techniques, etc., those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that such methods can be implemented by hardware and software in various systems, communication devices, computing devices, control devices, apparatuses, non-transitory computer-readable media, etc., or by various combinations thereof.

[0083] FIG. 8 shows an example of a communication system 800 according to some embodiments. In this example, the communication system 800 includes a communication network 802 that includes an access network 804 such as a radio access network (RAN), and a core network 806 that includes one or more core network nodes 808. The access network 804 includes one or more access network nodes, such as network nodes 810a and 810b (one or more of which may generally be referred to as network node 810), or any other similar 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) access node or non-3GPP access point. The network node 810 enables direct or indirect connections of the user equipment (UE) by connecting the UE 812a, 812b, 812c, and 812d (one or more of which may generally be referred to as UE 812) to the core network 806 via one or more wireless connections.

[0084] Exemplary wireless communication via a wireless connection includes transmitting and / or receiving a wireless signal using electromagnetic waves, radio waves, infrared rays, and / or other types of signals suitable for carrying information without using wires, cables, or other conductors. Further, in various embodiments, the communication system 800 can include any number of wired or wireless networks, network nodes, UEs, and / or any other components or systems that can facilitate or be involved in the communication of data and / or signals, whether via a wired connection or a wireless connection. The communication system 800 can include and / or interface with any type of communication, telecommunications, data, cellular, wireless network, and / or other similar types of systems.

[0085] UE 812 can be any of a variety of communication devices, including a wireless device configured, set, and / or operable to communicate wirelessly with network node 810 and other communication devices. Similarly, network node 810 can be configured, set, and / or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with UE 812 and / or other network nodes or devices within communication network 802 so as to enable and / or provide network access such as wireless network access and / or to perform other functions such as management within communication network 802.

[0086] In the illustrated example, the core network 806 connects the network node 810 to one or more hosts such as host 816. These connections can be direct or indirect via one or more intermediate networks or devices. In other examples, the network node can be directly coupled to the host. The core network 806 includes one or more core network nodes (e.g., core network node 808) composed of hardware components and software components. The functions of these components may be substantially similar to those described with respect to the UE, network node, and / or host, and thus their descriptions are widely applicable to the corresponding components of the core network node 808. Exemplary core network nodes include one or more of a Mobile Switching Center (MSC), a Mobility Management Entity (MME), a Home Subscriber Server (HSS), an Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF), a Session Management Function (SMF), an Authentication Server Function (AUSF), a Subscription Identifier De-concealing function (SIDF), a Unified Data Management (UDM), a Security Edge Protection Proxy (SEPP), a Network Exposure Function (NEF), and / or a User Plane Function (UPF).

[0087] Host 816 may be under the ownership or control of a service provider other than an operator or provider of access network 804 and / or communication network 802 and may be operated by or on behalf of a service provider. Host 816 may host various applications for providing one or more services. Examples of such applications include live and pre-recorded audio / video content, data collection services such as searching for and compiling data regarding various ambient conditions detected by a plurality of UEs, analytical functions, social media, functions for controlling or otherwise interacting with remote devices, functions for alarm and monitoring centers, or any other such functions performed by a server.

[0088] Overall, the communication system 800 of FIG. 8 realizes connectivity between a UE, a network node, and a host. In that sense, the communication system may be configured to operate according to certain rules or procedures, such as, but not limited to, Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), Long Term Evolution (LTE) and / or other suitable 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G standards, or any applicable future generation standards (e.g., 6G), Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standards (WiFi) and other wireless local area network (WLAN) standards, and / or any other suitable wireless communication standards such as Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMax), Bluetooth, Z-Wave, Near Field Communication (NFC), ZigBee, LiFi and / or any low-power wide-area network (LPWAN) standards such as LoRa and Sigfox.

[0089] In some examples, the communication network 802 is a cellular network implementing 3GPP standardization functions. Thus, the communication network 802 may support network slicing to provide different logical networks for different devices connected to the communication network 802. For example, the communication network 802 may provide ultra-reliable low-latency communication (URLLC) services for some UEs, while providing enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) services for other UEs and / or massive machine type communication (mMTC) / massive IoT services for further UEs.

[0090] In some examples, the UE 812 is configured to transmit and / or receive information without direct human interaction. For example, the UE may be designed to transmit information to the access network 804 at a predetermined schedule, when triggered by an internal or external event, or in response to a request from the access network 804. Further, the UE may be configured to operate in single RAT mode, multi-RAT mode, or multi-standard mode. For example, the UE may operate in any one or combination of Wi-Fi, NR (New Radio), and LTE, i.e., be configured for E-UTRAN (Evolved-UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network) new radio-dual connectivity (EN-DC).

[0091] In this example, the hub 814 enables indirect communication between one or more UEs (e.g., UEs 812c and / or 812d) and a network node (e.g., network node 810b) by communicating with the access network 804. In some examples, the hub 814 can be any of a controller, a router, a content source and analytics, or other communication devices described herein with respect to the UE. For example, the hub 814 can be a broadband router that enables access to the core network 806 for the UE. As another example, the hub 814 can be a controller that sends commands or instructions to one or more actuators within the UE. The commands or instructions can be received from the UE, the network node 810, or executable code, scripts, processes, or other instructions within the hub 814. As another example, the hub 814 can be a data collector that operates as a temporary storage for UE data and, in some embodiments, can perform analysis or other processing of the data. As another example, the hub 814 can be a content source. For example, in the case of a UE that is a VR headset, a display, a loudspeaker, or other media delivery device, the hub 814 can retrieve VR assets, video, audio, or other media or data related to sensory information via the network node and then provide it directly to the UE, either after performing local processing and / or after adding additional local content. In yet another example, the hub 814 operates as a proxy server or orchestrator for the UE, particularly when one or more of the UEs are low-energy IoT devices.

[0092] The hub 814 may have a constant / permanent connection or an intermittent connection to the network node 810b. The hub 814 may further enable various different communication methods and / or schedules between the hub 814 and the UEs (e.g., UEs 812c and / or 812d), and between the hub 814 and the core network 806. In other examples, the hub 814 is connected to the core network 806 and / or one or more UEs via a wired connection. Further, the hub 814 may be configured to connect to an M2M service provider via the access network 804 and / or to another UE via a direct connection. In some scenarios, a UE may establish a wireless connection with the network node 810 while still being connected via the hub 814 by a wired or wireless connection. In some embodiments, the hub 814 may be a dedicated hub, i.e., a hub whose main function is to route communications between the network node 810b and the UEs. In other embodiments, the hub 814 may be a non-dedicated hub, i.e., a device that can operate to route communications between the UEs and the network node 810b, but can further operate as a communication start point and / or end point for a specific data channel.

[0093] Figure 9 shows a UE 900 according to some embodiments. This UE may be configured to execute one or more of the methods or techniques described herein. As used herein, a UE refers to a device that is set up to communicate, configured to communicate, and / or operable to communicate wirelessly with a network node and / or another UE. Examples of UEs include, but are not limited to, smartphones, mobile phones, voice over IP (VoIP) phones, wireless local loop phones, desktop computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), wireless cameras, game consoles or devices, music storage devices, playback devices, wearable terminal devices, wireless endpoints, mobile stations, tablets, laptops, laptop-embedded equipment (LEE), laptop-mounted equipment (LME), smart devices, wireless customer-premise equipment (CPE), in-vehicle or embedded / integrated wireless devices, and the like. Other examples include any UE identified by the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), including narrow band internet of things (NB-IoT) UEs, machine type communication (MTC) UEs, and / or enhanced MTC (eMTC) UEs.

[0094] The UE may support device-to-device (D2D) communication, for example, by implementing 3GPP specifications for sidelink communication, dedicated short range communications (DSRC), vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I), or vehicle-to-everything (V2X). In other examples, the UE may not necessarily have a human user in the sense of a human user who owns and / or operates the associated device. Instead, the UE may represent a device (e.g., a smart sprinkler controller) that is intended for sale to or operation by a human user but is not associated with or initially associated with a particular human user. As an alternative, the UE may represent a device that is not intended for sale to or operation by an end user but may be associated with or operated for the benefit of a user (e.g., a smart power meter).

[0095] UE 900 includes a processing circuit 902 operably coupled via a bus 904 to an input / output interface 906, a power supply 908, a memory 910, a communication interface 912, and / or any other components, or any combination thereof. A particular UE may utilize all or a subset of the components shown in FIG. 9. The level of integration between components may vary from UE to UE. Further, a particular UE may include multiple instances of components, such as multiple processors, memories, transceivers, transmitters, receivers, etc.

[0096] The processing circuit 902 is configured to process instructions and data and may be configured to implement any sequential state machine operable to execute instructions stored as a machine-readable computer program in the memory 910. The processing circuit 902 may be implemented as one or more hardware-implemented state machines (e.g., discrete logic, field programmable gate array (FPGA), application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), etc.), programmable logic in conjunction with appropriate firmware, a microprocessor or digital Signal processor (DSP), etc. of one or more stored computer programs, a general purpose processor, or any combination of the foregoing. For example, the processing circuit 902 may include a plurality of central processing units (CPUs).

[0097] In this example, the input / output interface 906 may be configured to provide an interface to an input device, an output device, or one or more input devices and / or output devices. Examples of output devices include speakers, sound cards, video cards, displays, monitors, printers, actuators, emitters, smart cards, other output devices, or any combination thereof. The input device may enable a user to capture information into the UE 900. Examples of input devices include touch-sensitive or presence-sensitive displays, cameras (e.g., digital cameras, digital video cameras, webcams, etc.), microphones, sensors, mice, trackballs, directional keys, trackpads, scroll wheels, smart cards, etc. The presence-sensitive display may include capacitive or resistive touch sensors for sensing input from a user. The sensors may be, for example, accelerometers, gyroscopes, tilt sensors, force sensors, magnetometers, light sensors, proximity sensors, biometric sensors, etc., or any combination thereof. The output device may use the same type of interface port as the input device. For example, a universal serial bus (USB) port may be used to provide both input and output devices.

[0098] In some embodiments, power source 908 is configured as a battery or a battery pack. Other types of power sources such as an external power source (e.g., an electrical outlet), a photovoltaic device, or a power cell may be used. Power source 908 may further include a power circuit for sending power from power source 908 itself and / or from an external power source to various parts of UE 900 via an interface such as an input circuit or a power cable. Sending power may be for, for example, charging power source 908. The power circuit may perform any formatting, conversion, or other modification to the power from power source 908 to create power suitable for the individual components of UE 900 to which the power is supplied.

[0099] Memory 910 may be or may be configured to include memories such as random access memory (RAM), read only memory (ROM), programmable gate array read only memory (PROM), erasable programmable gate array read only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable gate array read only memory (EEPROM), magnetic disk, optical disk, hard disk, removable cartridge, flash drive, etc. In one example, memory 910 includes one or more application programs 914 such as an operating system, a web browser application, a widget, a gadget engine, or other applications, and corresponding data 916. Memory 910 may store any one or combination of various operating systems for use by UE 900.

[0100] The memory 910 can be configured to include several physical drive units, such as a redundant array of independent disks (RAID), flash memory, a USB flash drive, an external hard disk drive, a thumb drive, a pen drive, a key drive, a high-definition digital versatile disc (HD-DVD) optical disc drive, an internal hard disk drive, a Blu-ray optical disc drive, a holographic digital data storage (HDDS) optical disc drive, an external mini dual in-line memory module (DIMM), synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), an external micro DIMM SDRAM, a universal integrated circuit card (UICC) in the form of one or more subscriber identity modules (SIMs) such as a USIM and / or an ISIM, a smart card memory such as a tamper-resistant module, other memories, or any combination thereof. The UICC can be, for example, an embedded UICC (eUICC), an integrated UICC (iUICC), or a removable UICC commonly known as a "SIM card". The memory 910 can enable the UE 900 to access instructions, application programs, etc. stored in a temporary or non-temporary memory medium, offload data, or upload data. Products such as those using a communication system may be a device-readable storage medium, or may be tangibly embodied as the memory 910 with a device-readable storage medium or within the memory 1510.

[0101] The processing circuit 902 may be configured to communicate with an access network or other network using the communication interface 912. The communication interface 912 may comprise one or more communication subsystems and may include an antenna 922 or may be communicatively coupled to an antenna 1522. The communication interface 912 may include one or more transceivers used for communication by communicating with one or more remote transceivers of another device capable of wireless communication (e.g., another UE or network node within the access network). Each transceiver may include a transmitter 918 and / or a receiver 920 suitable for providing network communication (e.g., optical, electrical, frequency allocation, etc.). Further, the transmitter 918 and the receiver 920 may be coupled to one or more antennas (e.g., antenna 922) and may share circuit components, software, or firmware, or may be implemented separately.

[0102] In the illustrated embodiment, the communication functions of the communication interface 912 may include cellular communication, Wi-Fi communication, LPWAN communication, data communication, voice communication, multimedia communication, short-range communication such as Bluetooth, near-field communication, and location-based communication such as the use of the Global Positioning System (GPS) for determining location, another similar communication function, or any combination thereof. The communication may be implemented according to one or more communication protocols and / or standards such as IEEE 802.11, Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA (registered trademark)), GSM, LTE, New Radio (NR), UMTS, WiMax, Ethernet, Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol (TCP / IP), Synchronous Optical Networking (SONET), Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), QUIC, Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), etc.

[0103] Regardless of the type of sensor, the UE can provide an output of the data captured by its sensor through its communication interface 912 via a wireless connection to a network node. The data captured by the UE's sensor can be transmitted through a wireless connection to a network node via another UE. The output can be in response to a trigger event (e.g., when moisture is detected, when a warning is sent), a request (e.g., a user-initiated request), or a continuous stream (e.g., a live video feed of a patient), and can be periodic (e.g., when reporting the sensed temperature, once every 15 minutes), random (e.g., to equalize the load from reports from several sensors).

[0104] As another example, the UE comprises an actuator, a motor, or a switch associated with a communication interface configured to receive a wireless input from a network node via a wireless connection. In response to the received wireless input, the state of the actuator, motor, or switch can change. For example, the UE can comprise a motor that adjusts the control surfaces or rotors of a drone (unmanned aerial vehicle) in flight according to the received input, or that adjusts a robotic arm performing a medical procedure according to the received input.

[0105] When the UE is in the form of an Internet of Things (IoT) device, it may be a device for use in one or more application domains, which may include, but are not limited to, urban wearable technologies, extended industrial applications, and healthcare. Non-limiting examples of such IoT devices are or are incorporated into the following: connected refrigerators or freezers, TVs, connected lighting devices, electricity meters, robotic vacuum cleaners, voice-controlled smart speakers, home security cameras, motion detectors, thermostats, smoke detectors, door / window sensors, flood / moisture sensors, electric door locks, connected doorbells, air conditioning systems such as heat pumps, self-driving vehicles, surveillance systems, weather monitoring devices, vehicle parking monitoring devices, electric vehicle charging stations, smartwatches, fitness trackers, head-mounted displays for augmented reality (AR) or virtual reality (VR), wearables for tactile or sensory enhancement, sprinklers, animal or item tracking devices, sensors for monitoring plants or animals, industrial robots, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), and any type of medical device such as a heart rate monitor or a remotely controlled surgical robot. The UE in the form of an IoT device, as described in relation to the UE 900 shown in FIG. 9, includes, in addition to other components, circuits and / or software that depend on the intended application of the IoT device.

[0106] As yet another specific example, in an IoT scenario, the UE may represent a machine or other device that performs monitoring and / or measurement and transmits the results of such monitoring and / or measurement to another UE and / or network node. In this case, the UE may be an M2M device and may be referred to as an MTC device in the 3GPP context. As one specific example, the UE may implement the 3GPP NT-IoT standard. In other scenarios, the UE may represent a vehicle such as a car, bus, truck, ship, and aircraft, or other devices capable of monitoring and / or reporting the operating state or other functions associated with its operation.

[0107] In practice, any number of UEs can be used together for a single use case. For example, the first UE may be a drone or may be integrated into a drone and may provide speed information of the drone (obtained through a speed sensor) to a second UE that is a remote controller for operating the drone. When the user makes a change from the remote controller, the first UE may adjust the throttle on the drone (e.g., by controlling an actuator) to increase or decrease the speed of the drone. The first and / or second UE may further comprise two or more of the above-described functions. For example, the UE may comprise a sensor and an actuator and may handle the communication of data for both the speed sensor and the actuator.

[0108] FIG. 10 shows a network node 1000 according to some embodiments. The network node 1000 can be configured to perform one or more of the methods, techniques, steps, operations, etc., herein attributed to a network node, a radio access node, or a base station in various embodiments. As used herein, a network node is a device that is configured, arranged, and / or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with a UE and / or with other network nodes or devices in a communication network. Examples of network nodes include, but are not limited to, access points (APs) (e.g., wireless access points), base stations (BSs) (e.g., radio base stations, Node B, evolved Node B (eNB), and NR Node B (gNB)). Composition As used herein, a network node is a device that is configured, arranged, and / or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with a UE and / or with other network nodes or devices in a communication network. Examples of network nodes include, but are not limited to, access points (APs) (e.g., wireless access points), base stations (BSs) (e.g., radio base stations, Node B, evolved Node B (eNB), and NR Node B (gNB)).

[0109] Base stations may be classified based on the amount of coverage they provide (or, put differently, their transmission power levels), and may thus be referred to as femto base stations, pico base stations, micro base stations, or macro base stations, depending on the amount of coverage provided. A base station may be a relay node or a relay donor node that controls relays. The network node may further include one or more (or all) parts of a distributed radio base station, such as a centralized digital unit and / or a remote radio unit (RRU), sometimes referred to as a remote radio head (RRH). Such a remote radio unit may or may not be integrated with an antenna as an antenna-integrated radio. A part of a distributed radio base station may sometimes be referred to as a node in a distributed antenna system (DAS).

[0110] Other examples of network nodes include multi-TRP (multi-transmission point) 5G access nodes, multi-standard radio (MSR) devices such as MSR BS, network controllers such as radio network controllers (RNCs) or base station controllers (BSCs), base transceiver stations (BTSs), transmission points, transmission nodes, multi-cell / multicast coordination entities (MCEs), operation and maintenance (O&M) nodes, operations support system (OSS) nodes, self-organizing network (SON) nodes, positioning nodes (e.g., evolved serving mobile location centers (E-SMLCs)), and / or minimization of drive test (MDT).

[0111] Network node 1000 comprises a processing circuit 1002, a memory 1004, a communication interface 1006, and a power supply 1008. Network node 1000 may be composed of a plurality of physically separate components (e.g., a Node B component and an RNC component, or a BTS component and a BSC component, etc.), and they may each have their own individual components. In some scenarios where network node 1000 comprises a plurality of separate components (e.g., BTS and BSC components), one or more of the separate components may be shared among several network nodes. For example, a single RNC may control a plurality of Node Bs. In such scenarios, each unique Node B and RNC pair may be regarded as a single separate network node in some instances. In some embodiments, network node 1000 may be configured to support a plurality of radio access technologies (RATs). In such embodiments, some components may overlap (e.g., separate memories 1004 for different RATs), and some components may be reused (e.g., the same antenna 1010 may be shared by different RATs). Network node 1000 may further include a plurality of sets of various illustrated components for different radio technologies (e.g., GSM, WCDMA, LTE, NR, WiFi, Zigbee, Z-Wave, LoRaWAN, radio frequency identification (RFID), or Bluetooth radio technology) integrated into network node 1000. These radio technologies may be integrated into the same or different chips or sets of chips and other components within network node 1000.

[0112] The processing circuit 1002 is a microprocessor, a controller, a microcontroller, medium Central Office It may include one or more combinations of a processing device, a digital signal processor, an application-specific integrated circuit, a field programmable gate array, or any other suitable computing device, resource, or combination of hardware, software, and / or encoded logic. These can operate, either alone or in conjunction with other network node 1000 components such as memory 1004, to provide the functionality of network node 1000.

[0113] In some embodiments, processing circuit 1002 includes a system-on-chip (SOC). In some embodiments, processing circuit 1002 includes one or more of radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuit 1012 and baseband processing circuit 1014. In some embodiments, radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuit 1012 and baseband processing circuit 1014 may be on separate chips (or sets of chips), boards, or units, such as a radio unit and a digital unit. In alternative embodiments, some or all of RF transceiver circuit 1012 and baseband processing circuit 1014 may be on the same chip or set of chips, board, or unit.

[0114] Memory 1004 can include any form of volatile or non-volatile computer-readable memory. The computer-readable memory includes, without limitation, persistent storage, solid-state memory, remotely mounted memory, magnetic media, optical media, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), mass storage media (e.g., hard disk), removable storage media (e.g., flash drive, compact disk (CD) or digital video disk (DVD)), and / or any other volatile or non-volatile, non-transitory device-readable and / or computer-executable memory device that can store information, data, and / or instructions used by processing circuit 1002. Memory 1004 can store any suitable instructions, data, or information, including applications, computer programs, software, including one or more of logic, rules, code, tables, and / or other instructions that can be executed by processing circuit 1002 and utilized by network node 1000. Memory 1004 can be used to store any operations performed by processing circuit 1002 and / or any data received via communication interface 1006. In some embodiments, processing circuit 1002 and memory 1004 are integrated.

[0115] The communication interface 1006 is used for wired or wireless communication of signaling and / or data between network nodes, access networks, and / or UEs. As shown in the figure, the communication interface 1006 includes, for example, (one or more) ports / (one or more) terminals 1016 for transmitting and receiving data to and from a network via a wired connection. The communication interface 1006 further includes a radio front-end circuit 1018, which can be coupled to the antenna 1010 or, in some embodiments, can be part of the antenna 1610. The radio front-end circuit 1018 includes a filter 1020 and an amplifier 1022. The radio front-end circuit 1018 can be connected to the antenna 1010 and the processing circuit 1002. The radio front-end circuit can be configured to condition the signals communicated between the antenna 1010 and the processing circuit 1002. The radio front-end circuit 1018 can receive digital data to be sent to other network nodes or UEs via a wireless connection. The radio front-end circuit 1018 can use a combination of the filter 1020 and / or the amplifier 1022 to convert the digital data into a radio signal having appropriate channel and bandwidth parameters. The radio signal can then be transmitted via the antenna 1010. Similarly, when receiving data, the antenna 1010 can collect radio signals that are converted into digital data by the radio front-end circuit 1018. The digital data can be passed to the processing circuit 1002. In other embodiments, the communication interface can include a different plurality of components and / or different combinations of components.

[0116] In certain alternative embodiments, network node 1000 does not include a separate radio front-end circuit 1018. Instead, processing circuit 1002 includes a radio front-end circuit and is connected to antenna 1010. Similarly, in some embodiments, all or part of RF transceiver circuit 1012 is part of communication interface 1006. In still other embodiments, communication interface 1006 includes one or more ports or terminals 1016, radio front-end circuit 1018, and RF transceiver circuit 1012 as part of a wireless unit (not shown), and communication interface 1006 communicates with baseband processing circuit 1014, which is part of a digital unit (not shown).

[0117] Antenna 1010 may include one or more antennas or antenna arrays configured to transmit and / or receive wireless signals. Antenna 1010 may be coupled to radio front-end circuit 1018 and can be any type of antenna capable of wirelessly transmitting and receiving data and / or signals. In certain embodiments, antenna 1010 is separate from network node 1000 and can be connected to network node 1000 via an interface or port.

[0118] Antenna 1010, communication interface 1006, and / or processing circuit 1002 can be configured to perform any receiving operations and / or certain acquisition operations described herein as being performed by a network node. Any information, data, and / or signals can be received from a UE, another network node, and / or any other network device. Similarly, antenna 1010, communication interface 1006, and / or processing circuit 1002 can be configured to perform any transmission operations described herein as being performed by a network node. Any information, data, and / or signals can be transmitted to a UE, another network node, and / or any other network device.

[0119] Power supply 1008 provides power to the various components of network node 1000 in a form suitable for the individual components (e.g., at the voltage and current levels required for the individual components). The power supply 1008 may further comprise or be coupled to a power management circuit for supplying power to the components of the network node 1000 for performing the functions described herein. For example, the network node 1000 may be connectable to an external power source (e.g., a power grid, an electrical outlet) via an input circuit or interface such as an electrical cable, whereby the external power source supplies power to the power circuit of the power supply 1008. As a further example, the power supply 1008 may comprise a power source in the form of a battery or battery pack that is connected to or integrated into the power circuit. In the event of a failure of the external power source, the battery may supply backup power.

[0120] Embodiments of the network node 1000 may include additional components beyond those shown in FIG. 10 for providing some aspects of the functionality of a network node, including any of the functions described herein and / or any functions necessary to support the subject matter described herein. For example, the network node 1000 may include a user interface device that enables the input of information to the network node 1000 and the output of information from the network node 1000. This may enable a user to perform diagnostics, maintenance, repair, and other management functions on the network node 1000.

[0121] FIG. 11 is a block diagram of a host 1100, and the host 1700 may be an embodiment of the host 816 of FIG. 8 according to various aspects described herein. As used herein, the host 1100 may be or comprise various combinations of hardware and / or software including a stand-alone server, a blade server, a cloud-implemented server, a distributed server, a virtual machine, a container, or processing resources within a server farm, and may provide one or more services to one or more UEs.

[0122] Host 1100 includes a processing circuit 1102 that is operably coupled via a bus 1104 to an input / output interface 1106, a network interface 1108, a power supply 1110, and a memory 1112. Other components may be included in other embodiments. The functions of these components may be substantially similar to those described with respect to the devices in the previous figures (such as FIGS. 9 and 10) insofar as the description is generally applicable to the corresponding components of host 1100.

[0123] Memory 1112 may include one or more host application programs 1114 and data 1116 that may include user data (e.g., data generated by the UE for host 1100 or data generated by host 1100 for the UE). Embodiments of host 1100 may utilize only a subset or all of the components shown. Host application program 1114 may be implemented in a container-based architecture and may provide support for (e.g., Versatile Video Coding (VVC), High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC), Advanced Video Coding (AVC), MPEG, VP9) and audio codecs (e.g., FLAC, Advanced Audio Coding (AAC), MPEG, G.711), and may include transcoding for multiple different classes, types, or implementations of UEs (e.g., handsets, desktop computers, wearable display systems, head-up display systems). Host application program 1114 may further provide user authentication and licensing checks and may periodically report health, root, and content availability to a central node such as a device within the core network or at the edge of the core network. Thus, host 1100 may select and / or indicate different hosts for over-the-top services for the UE. Host application program 1114 may support various protocols such as the HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) protocol, Real-Time Messaging Protocol (RTMP), Real-Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP), Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP (MPEG-DASH), etc.

[0124] FIG. 12 is a block diagram showing a virtualization environment 1200 in which functions implemented by some embodiments can be virtualized. In this context, virtualization means creating a virtual version of a device or device that may include a virtualization hardware platform, storage device, and network resources. As used herein, virtualization can be applied to any device described herein, or its components, and is related to an implementation in which at least a portion of the function is implemented as one or more virtual components. Some or all of the functions described herein are implemented as virtual components executed by one or more virtual machines (VMs) implemented in one or more virtualization environments 1200 hosted by one or more of the hardware nodes such as a network node, UE, core network node, or hardware computing device operating as a host. Further, in embodiments where the virtual node does not require wireless connectivity (e.g., a core network node or host), the node can be fully virtualized.

[0125] Application 1202 (alternatively, may be referred to as a software instance, virtual appliance, network function, virtual node, virtual network function, etc.) is executed in the virtualization environment 1200 to implement some of the features, functions, and / or advantages of some of the embodiments disclosed herein.

[0126] Hardware 1204 includes a processing circuit, a memory storing software and / or instructions executable by the hardware processing circuit, and / or other hardware devices described herein such as a network interface, an input / output interface, etc. The software, when executed by the processing circuit, can instantiate one or more virtualization layers 1206 (also referred to as a hypervisor or a virtual machine monitor (VMM)), and / or provide VMs 1208a and 1208b (one or more of which can generally be referred to as VMs 1208), and / or perform any of the functions, features, and / or benefits described in connection with some of the embodiments described herein. The virtualization layer 1206 can present a virtual operating platform that appears like networking hardware to the VMs 1208.

[0127] The VMs 1208 include virtual processing, virtual memory, virtual networking or interfaces, and virtual storage, and can be executed by the corresponding virtualization layer 1206. Various embodiments of instances of the virtual appliance 1202 can be implemented in one or more of the VMs 1208, and the implementation can be done in various ways. The virtualization of hardware is called network function virtualization (NFV) in some contexts. NFV can be used to integrate many network device types into industry-standard high-volume server hardware, physical switches, and physical storage (which can be placed in a data center), as well as customer premise equipment.

[0128] In the context of NFV, VM 1208 can be a software implementation of a physical machine that executes programs as if they were running on a physical non-virtualized machine. Each of the VMs 1208, and that part of the hardware 1204 that executes that VM, is hardware dedicated to that VM and / or hardware shared by that VM with other VMs, forming separate virtual network elements. Further, in the context of NFV, virtual network functions are executed in one or more VMs 1208 on the hardware 1204 and are responsible for handling specific network functions corresponding to the application 1202.

[0129] The hardware 1204 can be implemented in a stand-alone network node having general-purpose or specific components. The hardware 1204 can implement some functions via virtualization. Alternatively, the hardware 1204 can be part of a larger class of hardware (such as in a data center or CPE, etc.) where multiple hardware nodes cooperate and are managed, inter alia, via a management and orchestration 1210 that monitors the lifecycle management of the application 1202. In some embodiments, the hardware 1204 is coupled to one or more radio units, each radio unit including one or more transmitters and one or more receivers that can be coupled to one or more antennas. The radio unit may communicate directly with other hardware nodes via one or more suitable network interfaces and may be used in combination with virtual components to provide radio functions such as a radio access node or base station to a virtual node. In some embodiments, some signaling may be provided with the use of a control system 1212 and can alternatively be used for communication between the hardware node and the radio unit.

[0130] FIG. 13 shows a communication diagram of host 1302 communicating via network node 1304 with UE 1306 via a partial wireless connection, according to some embodiments. Next, exemplary implementations according to various embodiments of a UE (such as UE 812a of FIG. 8 and / or UE 900 of FIG. 9), a network node (such as network node 810a of FIG. 8 and / or network node 1000 of FIG. 10), and a host (such as host 816 of FIG. 8 and / or host 1100 of FIG. 11) will be described with reference to FIG. 13.

[0131] Similar to host 1100, embodiments of host 1302 include hardware such as a communication interface, a processing circuit, and a memory. Host 1302 further includes software that is stored in host 1302 or accessible by host 1902 and executable by the processing circuit. The software may include a host application that is operable to provide services to remote users such as UE 1306 that connect via an over-the-top (OTT) connection 1350 that extends between UE 1306 and host 1302. When providing services to a remote user, the host application may provide user data transmitted using OTT connection 1350.

[0132] Network node 1304 includes hardware that enables it to communicate with host 1302 and UE 1306. Connection 1360 may be direct or may pass through a core network (such as core network 806 of FIG. 8) and / or one or more other intermediate networks such as one or more public, private, or hosted networks. For example, the intermediate network may be a backbone network or the Internet.

[0133] UE 1306 includes hardware and software, which is stored in or accessible by UE 1306 and executable by the processing circuitry of the UE. The software can be operable to provide services to a human or non-human user via UE 1306 using the support of host 1302, and includes client applications such as a web browser or an operator-specific "app". On host 1302, the running host application can communicate with the running client application via the OTT connection 1350 that terminates at UE 1306 and host 1302. When providing services to the user, the client application of the UE can receive request data from the host application of the host and provide user data in response to the request data. The OTT connection 1350 can transfer both the request data and the user data. The client application of the UE can interact with the user to generate the user data provided to the host application via the OTT connection 1350.

[0134] The OTT connection 1350 can provide a connection between host 1302 and UE 1306 by extending via the connection 1360 between host 1302 and network node 1304 and via the wireless connection 1370 between network node 1304 and UE 1306. The connection 1360 and the wireless connection 1370 through which the OTT connection 1350 can be provided are abstractly depicted to show the communication between host 1302 and UE 1306 via network node 1304, and no intermediate device and exact routing of messages through these devices are explicitly referenced.

[0135] As an example of transmitting data via the OTT connection 1350, at step 1308, the host 1302 provides user data, which may be performed by executing a host application. In some embodiments, the user data is associated with a particular human user who interacts with the UE 1306. In other embodiments, the user data is associated with the UE 1306 that shares data with the host 1302 without explicit human interaction. At step 1310, the host 1302 initiates a transmission to convey the user data towards the UE 1306. The host 1302 may initiate the transmission in response to a request sent by the UE 1306. The request may occur by human interaction with the UE 1306 or by the operation of a client application running on the UE 1306. The transmission may pass through the network node 1304 according to the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure. Thus, at step 1312, the network node 1304 transmits the user data carried in the transmission initiated by the host 1302 to the UE 1306 according to the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure. At step 1314, the UE 1306 receives the user data carried in the above transmission, which may be executed by a client application running on the UE 1306 associated with a host application executed by the host 1302.

[0136] In some examples, the UE 1306 runs a client application that provides user data to the host 1302. The user data may be provided in response to or in reaction to data received from the host 1302. Thus, at step 1316, the UE 1306 may provide user data. This may be done by running the client application. When providing the user data, the client application may further consider user input received from the user via the input / output interface of the UE 1306. Regardless of the particular way the user data is provided, at step 1318, the UE 1306 begins transmitting the user data to the host 1302 via the network node 1304. At step 1320, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure, the network node 1304 receives the user data from the UE 1306 and begins transmitting the received user data towards the host 1302. At step 1322, the host 1302 receives the user data carried in the transmission initiated by the UE 1306.

[0137] One or more of the various embodiments improve the performance of OTT services provided to the UE 1306 using an OTT connection 1350 where the wireless connection 1370 forms the last segment. More precisely, the embodiments described herein can provide novel, flexible, and efficient signaling and procedures for supporting the dynamic adaptation of the DL transmission (TX) power used by a base station within a cell, at least for the transmission of SSBs. These techniques facilitate predictable and / or correct UE behavior when the base station reduces base station energy consumption by dynamically adapting the DL TX power. Thus, the embodiments facilitate improved energy efficiency of the wireless network while maintaining predictable and / or correct UE behavior. When used in a UE and a base station (or network node), including the wireless network, the embodiments increase the value of OTT services delivered (e.g., to the UE) via the wireless network to be an end user and a service provider.

[0138] In an exemplary scenario, factory status information can be collected and analyzed by host 1302. As another example, host 1302 can process audio and video data that may have been retrieved from a UE for use in creating a map. As another example, host 1302 can collect and analyze real-time data to assist in controlling vehicle congestion (e.g., traffic signal control). As another example, host 1302 can store surveillance videos uploaded by a UE. As another example, host 1302 can store media content such as video, audio, VR, or AR that can be broadcast, multicast, or unicast to a UE, or can control access to the media content. As another example, host 1302 can be used for energy pricing, remote control of non-time-critical electrical loads to balance power generation needs, location services, presentation services (such as compiling diagrams, etc. from data collected from remote devices), or any other function of collecting, extracting, storing, analyzing, and / or transmitting data.

[0139] In some examples, measurement procedures may be provided for the purpose of monitoring data rates, latency, and other factors that one or more embodiments improve. Depending on changes in the measurement results, there may further be optional network functions for reconfiguring the OTT connection 1350 between the host 1302 and the UE 1306. The measurement procedures and / or network functions for reconfiguring the OTT connection may be implemented in the software and hardware of the host 1302 and / or the UE 1306. In some embodiments, a sensor (not shown) may be disposed within or associated with other devices through which the OTT connection 1350 passes. The sensor may be involved in the measurement procedure by providing values of the monitored quantities exemplified above, or by providing values of other physical quantities that the software can calculate or estimate the monitored quantities. The reconfiguration of the OTT connection 1350 may include message format, retransmission settings, preferred routing, etc. Such reconfiguration does not necessarily require directly changing the operation of the network node 1304. Such procedures and functions are known in the art and can be implemented. In one embodiment, the measurement may involve unique UE signaling by the host 1302 to facilitate measurement of throughput, propagation time, latency, etc. The measurement may be performed by having the software transmit messages (especially empty messages or "dummy" messages) using the OTT connection 1350 while monitoring propagation time, errors, etc.

[0140] The foregoing merely illustrates the principles of the present disclosure. Various modifications and changes to the described embodiments will be apparent to those skilled in the art in view of the teachings herein. Accordingly, those skilled in the art will appreciate that many systems, arrangements, and procedures, although not explicitly shown or described herein, embody the principles of the present disclosure and are thus within the spirit and scope of the present disclosure. As will be understood by those skilled in the art, the various embodiments may be used together with each other and may be used compatibly with them.

[0141] As used herein, the term "unit" may have its conventional meaning in the field of electronic devices, electrical devices, and / or electronic devices, for example, an electrical circuit and / or an electronic circuit, a device, a module, a processor, a memory, a logic solid state and / or discrete device, a computer program or instructions for performing respective tasks, procedures, calculations, output and / or display functions, etc., as described herein.

[0142] Any suitable step, method, feature, function, or effect disclosed herein may be performed through one or more functional units or modules of one or more virtual devices. Each virtual device may include several of these functional units. These functional units may be implemented using a processing circuit that may include one or more microprocessors or microcontrollers, and other digital hardware that may include a digital signal processor (DSP), dedicated digital logic, etc. The processing circuit may be configured to execute program code stored in a memory, which may include one or more types of memory such as read-only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), cache memory, flash memory devices, optical storage devices, etc. The program code stored in the memory includes program instructions for executing one or more remote communication and / or data communication protocols and instructions for executing one or more of the techniques described herein. In some implementations, the processing circuit may be used to cause individual functional units to perform corresponding functions according to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0143] As described herein, a device and / or apparatus may be represented by a semiconductor chip, chipset, or (hardware) module that includes such a chip or chipset, but this does not exclude the possibility that the functionality of the device or apparatus may be implemented as a software module, such as a computer program or computer program product that includes an executable software code portion for execution or to be executed on a processor, instead of being implemented in hardware. Further, the functionality of the device or apparatus may be implemented by any combination of hardware and software. The device or apparatus may further be considered an assembly of multiple devices and / or apparatuses, whether they cooperate functionally with each other or are independent of each other. Also, the device and apparatus may be implemented distributed throughout the system as long as the functionality of the device or apparatus is maintained. Such principles and similar principles are considered to be known to those skilled in the art.

[0144] Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this disclosure belongs. The terms used herein should be interpreted to have a meaning that is consistent with their meaning in the context of this specification and the relevant art, and it is further understood that they should not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unless explicitly defined herein.

[0145] In addition, specific terms used in this disclosure, including but not limited to, for example, data and information, may be used synonymously in certain instances. It is to be understood that these words and / or other words that may be synonymous with each other may be used synonymously herein, but there may be cases where it is intended that such words are not used synonymously. Further, unless the knowledge of the prior art is explicitly incorporated by reference into the above specification, the whole of it is not explicitly incorporated herein. All publications mentioned are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

[0146] Embodiments of the above technology include, but are not limited to, the examples listed below. Note that these examples are intended to include at least a part of the above specific technology. Therefore, if the terms used in the following examples are different from the terms used above, the terms in these examples should be interpreted to correspond to the similar terms or themes described above.

[0147] <Embodiments of Group A> 1. A method in a wireless device for collecting measurement results, the method comprising: selecting, for inclusion in a report stored by the wireless device, a plurality of first radio quality measurement results based on a first type (the "first measurement type") of at least two types of reference signals used by the wireless device to measure radio quality, the selecting including, for neighboring cells, selecting a plurality of radio quality measurement results that reflect the best radio quality among the available radio quality measurement results based on the first type of reference signal; including the selected plurality of first radio quality measurement results in the report; including, in the report together with the selected plurality of first radio quality measurement results, one or more available radio quality measurement results corresponding to a cell identifier associated with the selected plurality of radio quality measurement results and based on a second type of reference signal among the at least two types of reference signals; A method comprising.

[0148] 2. The method of Embodiment 1, wherein the selecting is performed up to a predetermined maximum number of radio quality measurement results.

[0149] 3. The method of Embodiment 2, wherein the number of the selected plurality of first radio quality measurement results is less than the predetermined maximum number, and the method comprises: Including further, up to the maximum number of said additional radio quality measurement results, including one or more additional radio quality measurement results based on said second type of reference signal in said report, such that the total number of said selected plurality of first radio quality measurement results and a certain number of additional radio quality measurement results is equal to said predetermined maximum number, wherein said additional radio quality measurement results include radio quality measurement values that reflect the best radio quality among available radio measurement values for neighboring cells based on said second type of reference signal and for cells that do not correspond to said cell identifier associated with said selected plurality of first radio quality measurement results, method.

[0150] 4. A method according to any one of embodiments 1 to 3, wherein said plurality of first radio quality measurement results are ordered in said report such that for said corresponding measurement quantities, they are grouped according to said measurement quantity for each radio quality measurement result and ordered such that the best radio quality measurement value for each measurement quantity appears first.

[0151] 5. A method according to any one of embodiments 1 to 4, wherein each of said plurality of first radio quality measurement results is associated in said report with an individual cell identifier corresponding to said selected plurality of first radio quality measurement results.

[0152] 6. A method according to any one of embodiments 1 to 5, wherein each of one or more of said plurality of radio quality measurement results is associated with one or more additional measurement results of different measurement quantities according to said first measurement type.

[0153] 7. A method in a wireless device for collecting measurement results, the method comprising: Selecting to include in a first list in a report stored by said wireless device a plurality of first radio quality measurement results based on a first measurement type, said selecting including selecting, for neighboring cells, radio quality measurement results that reflect the best radio quality among available radio quality measurement results based on said first measurement type. selecting a plurality of second radio quality measurement results based on a second measurement type to include in the list in the report stored by the wireless device, the selecting including, for neighboring cells, selecting a radio quality measurement result that reflects the best radio quality among available radio quality measurement results based on the second measurement type; 2 and a method including the above.

[0154] 8. The method of embodiment 7, wherein the selecting of the plurality of first radio quality measurement results and the selecting of the plurality of second radio quality measurement results are performed up to a predetermined total number of radio quality measurement results at most.

[0155] 9. The method of embodiment 7, wherein the selecting of the plurality of first radio quality measurement results and the selecting of the plurality of second radio quality measurement results are each performed up to an individual predetermined total number of radio quality measurement results for each of the first and second lists at most.

[0156] 10. The method according to any one of embodiments 7 to 9, wherein the selecting of the plurality of second radio quality measurement results includes omitting any radio quality measurement result corresponding to a cell in which the radio quality measurement result for the first measurement type is among the selected plurality of first radio quality measurement results.

[0157] 11. The method according to any one of embodiments 7 to 10, wherein the plurality of first radio quality measurement results are ordered in the report such that, for the corresponding measurement quantity, the plurality of first radio quality measurement results are grouped according to the measurement quantity for each radio quality measurement result and the best radio quality measurement value for each measurement quantity appears first.

[0158] ​12. A method according to any one of Embodiments 7 to 11, wherein each of the plurality of first radio quality measurement results is associated in the report with an individual cell identifier corresponding to the selected plurality of first radio quality measurement results.

[0159] 13. A method according to any one of Embodiments 7 to 12, wherein each of one or more of the plurality of radio quality measurement results is associated with one or more additional measurement results of different measurement amounts according to the first measurement type.

[0160] 14. A method in a wireless device for collecting measurement results, the method comprising: selecting a plurality of first radio quality measurement results for neighboring cells for inclusion in a report stored by the wireless device, the selecting including selecting, regardless of whether the selected radio quality measurement values are of a specific measurement type, a plurality of radio quality measurement results that reflect the best radio quality among the available radio quality measurement results for a first measurement amount; including the selected plurality of first radio quality measurement results in the report; including, in the report, with each of one or more of the selected plurality of first radio quality measurement results, one or more available radio quality measurement results corresponding to cell identifiers associated with the selected plurality of radio quality measurement results and based on a measurement type different from the measurement type for the selected plurality of radio quality measurement results; including.

[0161] 15. The method of Embodiment 14, wherein: selecting a plurality of second radio quality measurement results for neighboring cells for inclusion in the report, the selecting including selecting, regardless of whether the selected radio quality measurement values are of a specific measurement type, a radio quality measurement result that reflects the best radio quality among the available radio quality measurement results for a second measurement amount; including the selected plurality of second radio quality measurement results in the report; A method further comprising.

[0162] 16. The method of embodiment 15, wherein selecting the plurality of first radio quality measurement results and selecting the plurality of second radio quality measurement results are performed up to a predetermined total number of radio quality measurement results at most.

[0163] 17. The method of embodiment 15, wherein selecting the plurality of first radio quality measurement results and selecting the plurality of second radio quality measurement results are each performed up to an individual predetermined total number of radio quality measurement results at most.

[0164] 18. The method according to any one of embodiments 14 to 18, wherein selecting the plurality of second radio quality measurement results includes omitting any radio quality measurement results corresponding to cells in which the radio quality measurement results for the first measurement type are among the selected plurality of first radio quality measurement results.

[0165] 19. The method according to any one of embodiments 14 to 18, wherein the plurality of first radio quality measurement results are grouped in the report according to the measured quantity for each radio quality measurement result for the corresponding measured quantity, and are ordered such that the best radio quality measurement value for each measured quantity appears first.

[0166] 20. The method according to any one of embodiments 14 to 19, wherein each of the plurality of first radio quality measurement results is associated in the report with an individual cell identifier corresponding to the selected plurality of first radio quality measurement results.

[0167] 21. The method according to any one of embodiments 1 to 20, further comprising transmitting the report to a network node serving the wireless device.

[0168] 22. The method of Embodiment 21, wherein the report is a wireless link failure report, a successful handover report, or a random access report.

[0169] 23. The method according to any one of Embodiments 1 to 22, providing user data; transferring the user data to the network node via the transmission; further comprising.

[0170] <Embodiments of Group B> 24. The method according to any one of Embodiments 1 to 22, wherein the method receives any one of the reports according to any one of Embodiments 1 to 13; further comprising.

[0171] 25. The method of Embodiment B1, acquiring user data; transferring the user data to a host or a user device; further comprising.

[0172] <Embodiments of Group C> 26. A user device for collecting measurement results, comprising a processing circuit configured to execute any one of the steps of any one of the embodiments of Group A; a power supply circuit configured to supply power to the processing circuit; and comprising.

[0173] 27. A network node for collecting measurement results, wherein the network node comprises a processing circuit configured to execute any one of the steps of any one of the embodiments of Group B; a power supply circuit configured to supply power to the processing circuit; and comprising.

[0174] 28. A user equipment (UE) for collecting measurement results, wherein the UE comprises: an antenna configured to transmit and receive radio signals; a radio front-end circuit connected to the antenna and the processing circuit and configured to condition signals communicated between the antenna and the processing circuit; the processing circuit configured to execute any of the steps of any of the embodiments of Group A; an input interface connected to the processing circuit and configured to enable input of information to the UE to be processed by the processing circuit; an output interface connected to the processing circuit and configured to output information from the UE processed by the processing circuit; a battery connected to the processing circuit and configured to supply power to the UE; The UE comprising the above components.

[0175] 29. A host configured to operate in a communication system to provide an over-the-top (OTT) service, wherein the host comprises: a processing circuit configured to provide user data; a network interface configured to initiate transmission of the user data to a cellular network for transmission to a user equipment (UE), wherein the UE comprises a communication interface and a processing circuit, and the communication interface and processing circuit of the UE are configured to execute any of the steps of any of the embodiments of Group A to receive the user data from the host.

[0176] 30. The host of embodiment 29, wherein the cellular network further comprises a network node configured to communicate with the UE to transmit the user data from the host to the UE.

[0177] 31. A host according to Embodiment 29 or 30, wherein the processing circuit of the host is configured to provide the user data by executing a host application, the host application is configured to interact with a client application executed on the UE, and the client application is associated with the host application.

[0178] 32. A method executed by a host operating in a communication system further including a network node and a user equipment (UE), the method including: providing user data for the UE; and initiating a transmission to carry the user data to the UE via a cellular network including the network node, wherein the UE receives the user data from the host by executing any of the operations of any of the Embodiments in Group A.

[0179] 33. The method according to Embodiment 32, further including: receiving, at the host, the user data from the UE by executing a host application associated with a client application executed on the UE.

[0180] 34. The method according to Embodiment 33, further including: transmitting, at the host, input data to the client application executed on the UE, the input data being provided by executing the host application; and the user data is provided by the client application in response to the input data from the host application.

[0181] 35. A host configured to operate in a communication system to provide an over-the-top (OTT) service, the host including: A processing circuit configured to provide user data, and a network interface configured to initiate transmission of the user data to a cellular network for transmission to a user equipment (UE). The UE includes a communication interface and a processing circuit, and the communication interface and processing circuit of the UE are configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group A embodiments to receive the user data from the host.

[0182] 36. The host of embodiment 35, wherein the cellular network further includes a network node configured to communicate with the UE to transmit the user data from the host to the UE.

[0183] 37. The host of embodiment 35 or 36, wherein the processing circuit of the host is configured to provide the user data by executing a host application, and the host application is configured to interact with a client application executed on the UE, and the client application is associated with the host application.

[0184] 38. A method executed by a host configured to operate in a communication system further including a network node and a user equipment (UE), the method including: receiving, at the host, user data transmitted to the host by the UE via the network node, wherein the UE transmits the user data to the host by performing any of the steps of any of the Group A embodiments.

[0185] 39. The method of embodiment 38, The method further includes, at the host, receiving the user data from the UE by executing a host application associated with a client application executed on the UE.

[0186] 40. The method of embodiment 39, further including, at the host, transmitting input data to the client application executed on the UE, the input data being provided by executing the host application, wherein the user data is provided by the client application in response to the input data from the host application.

[0187] 41. A host configured to operate in a communication system to provide an over-the-top (OTT) service, the host comprising: a processing circuit configured to provide user data; and a network interface configured to initiate transmission of the user data to a network node of a cellular network for transmission to a user equipment (UE), wherein the processing circuit of the network node is configured to perform any of the operations of any of the Group B embodiments to transmit the user data from the host to the UE.

[0188] 42. The host of embodiment 41, wherein the processing circuit of the host is configured to execute a host application that provides the user data, and the UE comprises a processing circuit configured to receive the transmission of the user data from the host by executing a client application associated with the host application.

[0189] 43. A method executed by a host configured to operate in a communication system further including a network node and a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: providing user data for the UE; initiating a transmission to carry the user data to the UE via a cellular network including the network node, wherein the network node is configured to transmit the user data from the host to the UE by performing any of the operations of any of the embodiments of Group B.

[0190] 44. The method of embodiment 43, further comprising, at the network node, transmitting the user data provided by the host for the UE.

[0191] 45. The method of embodiment 43 or 44, wherein the user data is provided at the host by executing a host application that interacts with a client application executed on the UE, and the client application is associated with the host application.

[0192] 46. A communication system configured to provide an over-the-top service, the communication system comprising: a host including: a processing circuit configured to provide user data for a user equipment (UE), the user data being associated with the over-the-top service; and a network interface configured to initiate transmission of the user data towards a cellular network node for transmission to the UE, wherein the network node has a communication interface and a processing circuit, and the processing circuit of the network node is configured to transmit the user data from the host to the UE by performing any of the operations of any of the embodiments of Group B.

[0193] 47. In the communication system of Embodiment 46, the network node, and / or the user equipment, A communication system further comprising.

[0194] 48. Over-the-top (OTT) A host configured to operate in a communication system to provide a service, the host comprising: a processing circuit configured to start receiving user data; a network interface configured to receive the user data from a network node in a cellular network, the network node having a communication interface and a processing circuit, the processing circuit of the network node being configured to receive the user data from a user equipment (UE) for the host by performing any of the operations of any of the embodiments of Group B. A host.

[0195] 49. The host of Embodiment 48, wherein the processing circuit of the host is configured to provide the user data by executing a host application, the host application is configured to interact with a client application executed on the UE, the client application being associated with the host application. A host.

[0196] 50. The host of Embodiment 48 or 49, wherein starting to receive the user data includes requesting the user data. A host.

[0197] 51. A method executed by a host configured to operate in a communication system further including a network node and a user equipment (UE), wherein In the host, starting to receive user data from the UE, where the user data is derived from transmissions received by the network node from the UE, and the network node receives user data from the UE for the host by performing any of the steps of any of the Group B embodiments, method.

[0198] 52. The method of embodiment 51, further comprising, in the network node, transmitting the received user data to the host.

[0199] Some abbreviations: CU Centralized Unit (Aggregation Unit) DAPS Dual Active Protocol Stack (Dual Active Protocol Stack) DU Distributed Unit (Distributed Unit) HO Handover (Handover) HOF Handover Failure (Handover Failure) NW Network (Network) RLF Radio Link Failure (Radio Link Failure) SON Self-Organizing Network (Self-Organizing Network) UE User Equipment (User Equipment) RRC Radio Resource Control (Radio Resource Control) RA Random Access (Random Access) SHR Successful HO Report (Successful HO Report) CSI-RS Channel State Information Reference Signal (Channel State Information Reference Signal) SSB Synchronization Signal Block (Synchronization Signal Block) PBCH Physical Broadcast Channel(Physical Broadcast Channel) RSRP Reference Signal Received Power(Reference Signal Received Power) RSRQ Reference Signal Received Quality(Reference Signal Received Quality) RSSI Received Signal Strength Indicator(Received Signal Strength Indicator) SINR signal-to-interference plus noise ratio(Signal-to-interference plus noise ratio)

Claims

1. A method in a wireless device for collecting measurement results, the method comprising: selecting (510) a plurality of first radio quality measurement results based on a first type of at least two types of reference signals used by the wireless device to measure radio quality for inclusion in a report stored by the wireless device, the selecting including, for neighboring cells, selecting a plurality of radio quality measurement results that reflect the best radio quality among the available radio quality measurement results based on the first type of reference signal; including (520) the selected plurality of first radio quality measurement results in the report; including (530) in the report, one or more available radio quality measurement results corresponding to cell identifiers associated with the selected plurality of first radio quality measurement results and based on a second type of reference signal of the at least two types of reference signals, together with the selected plurality of first radio quality measurement results; and wherein the number of the selected plurality of first radio quality measurement results is less than a predetermined maximum number of radio quality measurement results, and the method further includes including (540) in the report, up to a certain number of additional radio quality measurement results based on the second type of reference signal, such that the total number of the selected plurality of first radio quality measurement results and the certain number of additional radio quality measurement results equals the predetermined maximum number, the additional radio quality measurement results including radio quality measurement values that reflect the best radio quality among the available radio measurement values for neighboring cells based on the second type of reference signal and for cells not corresponding to the cell identifiers associated with the selected plurality of first radio quality measurement results.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of first radio quality measurement results are ordered within the report such that, for a corresponding measurement quantity, the plurality of first radio quality measurement results are grouped according to the measurement quantity for each radio quality measurement result and ordered such that the best radio quality measurement value for each measurement quantity appears first.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein A method, wherein each of the plurality of first radio quality measurement results is associated in the report with an individual cell identifier corresponding to the selected plurality of first radio quality measurement results.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein each of one or more of the plurality of radio quality measurement results is associated with one or more additional measurement results of different measurement quantities according to a first measurement type.

5. A wireless device (900), selecting, for inclusion in a report stored by the wireless device, a plurality of first radio quality measurement results based on a first type of at least two types of reference signals used by the wireless device to measure radio quality, the selecting including selecting, for neighboring cells, a plurality of radio quality measurement results that reflect the best radio quality among the available radio quality measurement results based on the reference signals of the first type, including the selected plurality of first radio quality measurement results in the report, corresponding to cell identifiers associated with the selected plurality of first radio quality measurement results and including, in the report together with the selected plurality of first radio quality measurement results, one or more available radio quality measurement results based on a second type of reference signal among the at least two types of reference signals, wherein the number of the selected plurality of first radio quality measurement results is less than a predetermined maximum number of radio quality measurement results, and the wireless device is further configured to include in the report, up to the certain number of additional radio quality measurement results, one or more additional radio quality measurement results based on the second type of reference signal such that the total number of the selected plurality of first radio quality measurement results and a certain number of additional radio quality measurement results equals the predetermined maximum number, the additional radio quality measurement results including radio quality measurement values that reflect the best radio quality among the available radio measurement values for neighboring cells based on the second type of reference signal and for cells not corresponding to the cell identifiers associated with the selected plurality of first radio quality measurement results.

6. The wireless device (900) according to claim 5, further configured to execute the method according to any one of claims 2 to 4. **Claim 7** A computer program comprising instructions for execution by a processing circuit of a wireless device, the instructions being configured to cause the wireless device to execute the method according to any one of claims 1 to 4. **Claim 8** A computer-readable medium comprising the computer program according to claim 7.

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