Apparatus, computer program, method, and computer-readable medium for facilitating channel state information reference signal measurement

Abstract

The present disclosure describes systems, methods, and devices related to channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) configuration. The device may establish a first measurement window for a first CSI-RS associated with a first type of measurement in a measurement object (MO). The device may identify a measurement gap associated with a second type of measurement. The device may perform adjustments to avoid collisions between the first measurement window and the measurement gap. The device may detect the first CSI-RS within the first measurement window.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] [Cross - Reference to Related Applications] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 63 / 186,433, filed May 10, 2021, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference in its entirety as if fully set forth herein.

[0002] This disclosure generally relates to systems and methods for wireless communication, and more specifically, to time - domain limitations for channel state information reference signal (CSI - RS) configurations.

Background Art

[0003] Wireless devices are widely prevalent, and the demand for access to wireless channels is increasing ever more. Channel state information reference signal (CSI - RS) is a reference signal (RS) in 5G New Radio (5G NR) for measuring the characteristics of a wireless channel.

Brief Description of the Drawings

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DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0013] The following detailed description refers to a plurality of accompanying drawings. The same reference numerals may be used to identify the same or similar elements in different drawings. In the following description, for purposes of explanation and not limitation, specific details such as specific structures, architectures, interfaces, techniques, etc. are described to provide a deep understanding of various aspects of various embodiments. However, it will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of the present disclosure that various aspects of various embodiments may be implemented in other examples that deviate from these specific details. In certain cases, descriptions of known devices, circuits, and methods are omitted so as not to obscure the description of various embodiments with unnecessary details. For the purposes of this document, the expressions "A or B" and "A / B" mean (A), (B), or (A and B).

[0014] The Channel State Information Reference Signal (CSI-RS) is a reference signal (RS) in 5G New Radio (5G NR) for measuring the characteristics of the radio channel. The UE uses these reference signals to measure the quality of the radio channel and reports the quality in UL through the CQI report. The next-generation radio access network (gNB) transmits the CSI reference signal and reports channel status information such as CSI-RSRP, CSI-RSRQ, CSI-SINR for mobility procedures. A specific instance of the CSI reference signal can be configured for time / frequency tracking and mobility measurements.

[0015] In RAN4 #98bis, there is an outstanding issue regarding the time-domain restriction of CSI-RS resource configuration. All CSI-RS resources configured in the same measurement object (MO) are either configured in the same 5 millisecond (ms) window or in different windows. However, there is currently no solution.

[0016] Various embodiments herein provide techniques for the time-domain restriction of CSI-RS resource configuration.

[0017] The above description is for illustrative purposes and not meant to be limiting. Many other examples, configurations, processes, algorithms, etc. may exist, some of which will be described in more detail below. Here, exemplary embodiments will be described with reference to the accompanying figures.

[0018] FIG. 1 shows an illustrative schematic diagram of CSI-RS configuration according to one or more exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0019] Referring to FIG. 1, a measurement window for CSI-RS measurement is shown.

[0020] In 5GS, there are time-domain restrictions on CSI-RS resource configuration. For example, in CSI-RS L3 measurement, unlike SSB-based measurement, CSI-RS resources can be configured more dynamically.

[0021] If the UE is configured with the higher layer parameter CSI-RS-Resource-Mobility, the UE shall perform measurements based on CSI-RS-Resource-Mobility, and for the UE, the timing of the CSI-RS resource may be based on the timing of the serving cell.

[0022] CSI-RS-Resource-Mobility is specified in 3GPP (registered trademark) TS38.331 as follows.

[0023] CSI-RS-Resource-Mobility ::= SEQUENCE { csi-RS-Index CSI-RS-Index, slotConfig CHOICE { ms4 INTEGER (0..31), ms5 INTEGER (0..39), ms10 INTEGER (0..79), ms20 INTEGER (0..159), ms40 INTEGER (0..319) } associatedSSB SEQUENCE { ssb-Index SSB-Index, isQuasiColocated BOOLEAN } OPTIONAL, -- Need R frequencyDomainAllocation CHOICE { row1 BIT STRING (SIZE (4)), row2 BIT STRING (SIZE (12)) } firstOFDMSymbolInTimeDomain INTEGER (0..13), sequenceGenerationConfig INTEGER (0..1023), ... }

[0024] As shown above, the period and the timing offset can be configured to be different for CSI-RS resources in one measurement object (MO).

[0025] To reduce the complexity of the network (NW) and the UE, a measurement window for CSI-RS L3 measurement is required. The window limits the UE CSI-RS L3 measurement positions in the time domain. The window time length is X ms, the period is Y ms, and X and Y are positive integers.

[0026] In one or more embodiments, a measurement window for CSI-RS L3 measurement is defined. The measurement window time lengths X and Y are configurable.

[0027] It is understood that the above description is for illustrative purposes and not meant to be limiting.

[0028] FIG. 2 shows an explanatory schematic diagram of a CSI-RS configuration according to one or more exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0029] Referring to FIG. 2, a conflict is shown between CSI-RS resources and measurement gaps with different timing offsets.

[0030] During the measurement window, due to limited time-frequency resource constraints, the number of CSI-RS resources is limited.

[0031] For measurements within neighboring cell frequencies, there are multiple cells. For each cell, there are multiple beams for which the quality of each beam needs to be measured. Therefore, the total number of measurements is large. There can be multiple CSI-RS resources configured in one MO. The maximum supported CSI-RS depends on the UE's capabilities as specified in 38.214.

[0032] UEs configured with higher layer parameter CSI-RS-Resource-Mobility may be expected to be configured as follows; · When all CSI-RS resources configured by the same higher layer parameter MeasObjectNR are configured with associatedSSB, for UEs that do not support [increasedNumberofCSIRSPerMO-r16], configured by 96 or fewer CSI-RS resources per higher layer parameter MeasObjectNR, or · When all CSI-RS resources configured by the same higher layer parameter MeasObjectNR are configured with associatedSSB, for UEs that support [increasedNumberofCSIRSPerMO-r16], configured by 192 or fewer CSI-RS resources per higher layer parameter MeasObjectNR, or · For one time window, it may not be possible to measure all CSI-RS resources configured in one MO. Therefore, it is necessary to consider defining multiple windows for one MO. As a benefit, this enables a flexible CSI-RS configuration. Considering that CSI-RS resources may need to be placed in the same window as SSB, it may be difficult to accommodate all CSI-RS resources in a single window. Instead, the NW may configure a larger resource period and distribute CSI-RS resources across multiple windows.

[0033] Multiple CSI-RS L3 measurement windows may be configured for one MO. However, there are several other scenarios where measurement gaps are used, for example, SSB-based inter-frequency measurements, positioning, etc. If CSI-RS resources are located in different windows, some of the resources may conflict with these measurement gaps and some others may not. This is shown in Figure 2.

[0034] Each CSI-RS resource is a periodic signal with a configured period and offset. In Figure 2, the periods of CSI-RS resource 1 and CSI-RS resource 2 are the same, for example, 20 ms. However, the timing offsets of CSI-RS resource 1 and resource 2 are different. Assume that 5 instances of CSI-RS are required for averaging and obtaining CSI-RS measurement results. For CSI-RS resource 1, the measurement period is 20 ms * 5 = 100 ms. For CSI-RS resource 2, it belongs to a different measurement window, and within the window, there is a measurement gap that conflicts with CSI-RS resource 2. Next, the measurement period for CSI-RS resource 2 is 20 ms * 5 * 2 = 200 ms. Since the position of the measurement gap cannot be used, more measurement periods are used. Therefore, the measurement periods are different for CSI-RS resources 1 and 2, making it impossible to define the measurement requirements. Therefore, more conditions are added for the CSI-RS timing configuration, and the NW needs to ensure that the measurement gap does not conflict with all CSI-RS resources. Otherwise, the requirements do not apply.

[0035] In one or more embodiments, the CSI-RS configuration system can facilitate the NW's need to ensure that the measurement gap does not conflict with all CSI-RS resources when the CSI-RS resources are configured in different timing windows. Otherwise, the requirements for CSI-RS measurement do not apply.

[0036] It is understood that the above description is for illustrative purposes and not meant to be limiting.

[0037] Figure 3 shows an explanatory schematic diagram of CSI-RS configuration according to one or more exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0038] Referring to Figure 3, the conflict between CSI-RS resources with different periods and measurement gaps is shown.

[0039] In one or more embodiments, the CSI-RS configuration system can facilitate that when CSI-RS resources have different periods, as shown in FIG. 3, some CSI-RS belong to the measurement gap and some others do not.

[0040] FIG. 4 shows an illustrative schematic diagram of CSI-RS configuration according to one or more exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0041] Referring to FIG. 4, the CSI-RS resource period in one MO is shown. In FIG. 2, the period of CSI-RS resource 2 = 20 ms, and in some cases, it belongs to the measurement gap and in some cases it does not. However, CSI-RS resource 1 does not collide with the measurement gap. Since CSI-RS1 and CSI-RS2 are configured in the same MO, it is difficult to define the requirements for this case. Because the resources in the same MO have different measurement periods. Therefore, it is preferable that all CSI-RS resources have the same period. FIG. 4 shows a possible configuration.

[0042] In one or more embodiments, the CSI-RS configuration system can facilitate that all CSI-RS resources in one MO have the same period.

[0043] In one or more embodiments, the CSI-RS period can be configured in one MO and can be, for example, 20 ms, 40 ms, and 80 ms.

[0044] FIG. 5 shows an illustrative schematic diagram of CSI-RS configuration according to one or more exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0045] Referring to FIG. 5, a measurement window having multiple CSI-RS resources on the same MO is shown.

[0046] It is necessary to determine whether the CSI-RS offsets are the same or not in the same MO. As proposed above, CSI-RS resources can be configured in different windows having the same period. Therefore, the CSI-RS resource offsets can be different. When CSI-RS resources are configured in the same MO, the timing offsets can also be different.

[0047] Regarding the relationship between the CSI-RS offset and the window start point, there can be different timing offsets for multiple CSI-RS resources in the MO.

[0048] In one or more embodiments, the NW can adjust these timing offsets of the CSI-RS resources to ensure that the first configured L3 CSI-RS resource corresponds to the minimum offset.

[0049] In one or more embodiments, the window start point corresponds to the minimum offset of the CSI-RS resources.

[0050] It is understood that the above description is for illustrative purposes and not in a limiting sense.

[0051] In some embodiments, an electronic device, network, system, chip, or component, or a portion or implementation thereof, of FIGS. 7-9 or some other figures in this specification, can be configured to execute one or more processes, techniques, or methods as described in this specification or a portion thereof. One such process is shown in FIG. 6.

[0052] For example, the process can include, at 602, establishing a first measurement window for a first CSI-RS associated with a first type of measurement in a measurement object (MO).

[0053] The process further includes, at 604, identifying a measurement gap associated with a second type of measurement.

[0054] The process further includes, at 606, performing an adjustment to avoid a collision between the first measurement window and the measurement gap.

[0055] The process further includes, at 608, detecting a first CSI-RS within the first measurement window.

[0056] For one or more embodiments, at least one of the components described in one or more of the above drawings may be configured to perform one or more operations, techniques, processes, and / or methods as described in the following exemplary sections. For example, the baseband circuitry described above in connection with one or more of the above drawings may be configured to operate in accordance with one or more of the examples described below. In another example, the circuitry associated with a UE, base station, network element, etc., described above in connection with one or more of the above drawings may be configured to operate in accordance with one or more of the examples described below in the exemplary section.

[0057] It is understood that the above description is for illustrative purposes and not meant to be limiting.

[0058] Figures 7-9 illustrate various systems, devices, and components that may implement aspects of the disclosed embodiments.

[0059] Figure 7 shows a network 700 according to various embodiments. Network 700 may operate in a manner consistent with 3GPP technical specifications for an LTE or 5G / NR system. However, the exemplary embodiments are not limited in this regard, and the described embodiments may apply to other networks that benefit from the principles described herein, such as future 3GPP systems or the like.

[0060] Network 700 may include a UE 702, which may include any mobile or non-mobile computing device designed to communicate with a RAN 704 via an over-the-air connection. The UE 702 may be communicatively coupled to the RAN 704 by a Uu interface. The UE 702 may be, but is not limited to, a smartphone, a tablet computer, a wearable computer device, a desktop computer, a laptop computer, an in-vehicle infotainment system, an in-vehicle entertainment device, an instrument cluster, a head-up display device, an on-board diagnostic device, a dash-top mobile device, a mobile data terminal, an electronic engine management system, an electronic / engine control unit, an electronic / engine control module, an embedded system, a sensor, a microcontroller, a control module, an engine management system, a network appliance, a machine type communication device, an M2M or D2D device, an IoT device, etc.

[0061] In some embodiments, network 700 may include a plurality of UEs directly coupled to each other via a sidelink interface. The UEs may be, but are not limited to, M2M / D2D devices that communicate using physical sidelink channels such as PSBCH, PSDCH, PSSCH, PSCCH, PSFCH, etc.

[0062] In some embodiments, UE702 may additionally communicate with AP706 via an over-the-air connection. AP706 may manage a WLAN connection that may function to offload some / all of the network traffic from RAN704. The connection between UE702 and AP706 may be consistent with any IEEE802.11 protocol, where AP706 may be a Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi (registered trademark)) router. In some embodiments, UE702, RAN704, and AP706 may utilize cellular-WLAN aggregation (e.g., LWA / LWIP). Cellular-WLAN aggregation may involve UE702 being configured by RAN704 to utilize both cellular radio resources and WLAN resources.

[0063] RAN704 may include one or more access nodes, e.g., AN708. AN708 may terminate the air interface protocol for UE702 by providing access layer protocols including RRC, PDCP, RLC, MAC, and L1 protocols. In this manner, AN708 may enable data / voice connectivity between CN720 and UE702. In some embodiments, AN708 may be implemented in a discrete device or as one or more software entities that run on a server computer, e.g., as part of a virtual network, that may be referred to as a Cloud RAN or a virtual baseband unit pool. AN708 may be referred to as a BS, gNB, RAN node, eNB, ng-eNB, NodeB, RSU, TRxP, TRP, etc. AN708 may be a macrocell base station or a low-power base station for providing a femtocell, picocell, or other similar cell that has a smaller coverage area, a smaller user capacity, or a higher bandwidth compared to a macrocell.

[0064] In embodiments where RAN704 includes multiple ANs, they may be coupled to each other via an X2 interface (when RAN704 is an LTE RAN) or an Xn interface (when RAN704 is a 5G RAN). The X2 / Xn interface, which may be separated into control / user plane interfaces in some embodiments, may enable the ANs to communicate information related to handover, data / context transfer, mobility, load management, interference coordination, etc.

[0065] Each AN of RAN704 may manage one or more cells, cell groups, component carriers, etc., to provide an air interface for network access to UE702. UE702 may be simultaneously connected to multiple cells provided by the same or different ANs of RAN704. For example, UE702 and RAN704 may use carrier aggregation to enable UE702 to connect to multiple component carriers corresponding to a Pcell or an SCell, respectively. In a dual connectivity scenario, the first AN may be a master node providing an MCG, and the second AN may be a secondary node providing an SCG. The first / second ANs may be any combination of eNB, gNB, ng-eNB, etc.

[0066] RAN704 may provide an air interface via a licensed spectrum or an unlicensed spectrum. To operate in an unlicensed spectrum, the node may use LAA, eLAA, and / or feLAA mechanisms based on CA technology using Pcell / Scell. Before accessing the unlicensed spectrum, the node may perform medium / carrier sensing operations based on, for example, the listen before talk (LBT) protocol.

[0067] In a V2X scenario, UE 702 or AN 708 can be, or can function as, a roadside unit (RSU) that can refer to any traffic infrastructure entity used for V2X communication. The RSU can be implemented in, or by, a suitable AN or a static (or relatively static) UE. The RSU implemented in or by a UE can be referred to as a "UE-type RSU", the eNB can be referred to as an "eNB-type RSU", the gNB can be referred to as a "gNB-type RSU", etc. In one example, the RSU is a computing device coupled to a radio frequency circuit located roadside that provides connectivity support to passing vehicle UEs. The RSU can also include an internal data storage circuit that stores intersection map geometry, traffic statistics, media, and applications / software for sensing and controlling ongoing traffic of vehicles and pedestrians. The RSU can provide very low latency communication required for high-speed events such as collision avoidance, traffic warnings, etc. Additionally or alternatively, the RSU can provide other cellular / WLAN communication services. The components of the RSU can be placed in a waterproof enclosure suitable for outdoor installation and can include a network interface controller for providing a wired connection (e.g., Ethernet (R)) to a traffic signal controller or a backhaul network.

[0068] In some embodiments, RAN 704 can be an LTE RAN 710 having an eNB, such as eNB 712. The LTE RAN 710 can provide an LTE air interface having the following characteristics, namely, 15 kHz SCS; CP-OFDM waveform for DL and SC-FDMA waveform for UL; turbo coding for data and TBCC for control, etc. The LTE air interface can utilize CSI-RS for CSI acquisition and beam management; PDSCH / PDCCH DMRS for PDSCH / PDCCH demodulation; and CRS for cell search and initial acquisition, channel quality measurement, and channel estimation for coherent demodulation / detection at the UE. The LTE air interface can operate in the sub 6 GHz band.

[0069] In some embodiments, RAN 704 may be an NG-RAN 714 that includes a gNB, such as gNB 716, or an ng-eNB, such as ng-eNB 718. gNB 716 may connect to 5G-capable UEs using a 5G NR interface. gNB 716 may connect to the 5G core through an NG interface that may include an N2 interface or an N3 interface. ng-eNB 718 may also connect to the 5G core through an NG interface, but may connect to UEs via an LTE air interface. gNB 716 and ng-eNB 718 may be connected to each other through an Xn interface.

[0070] In some embodiments, the NG interface may be split into two parts: an NG user plane (NG-U) interface (e.g., N3 interface) that holds traffic data between nodes of the NG-RAN 714 and the UPF 748, and an NG control plane (NG-C) interface (e.g., N2 interface) that is a signaling interface between nodes of the NG-RAN 714 and the AMF 744.

[0071] NG-RAN714 may provide the following features, namely, variable SCS, CP-OFDM for DL, and CP-OFDM and DFT-s-OFDM for UL, polar codes, repetition codes, simplex codes, and Reed-Muller codes for data control and LDPC, to the 5G NR air interface. The 5G NR air interface may utilize CSI-RS, PDSCH / PDCCH DMRS similar to the LTE air interface. The 5G NR air interface may not use CRS, but may use PBCH DMRS for PBCH demodulation; PTRS for phase tracking for PDSCH; and tracking reference signals for time tracking. The 5G NR air interface may operate in the FR1 band including the sub-6 GHz band, or the FR2 band including the band from 24.25 GHz to 52.6 GHz. The 5G NR air interface may include SSB, which is an area of the downlink resource grid including PSS / SSS / PBCH.

[0072] In some embodiments, the 5G NR air interface may utilize BWPs for various purposes. For example, the BWP may be used for dynamic adaptation of SCS. For example, UE702 may be configured using multiple BWPs each having a different SCS for the BWP configuration. When a BWP change is indicated to UE702, the SCS of the transmission is also changed. Another use case example of the BWP relates to power saving. In particular, multiple BWPs may be configured for UE702 using different amounts of frequency resources (e.g., PRBs) and support data transmission in different traffic load scenarios. A BWP including a smaller number of PRBs may be used for data transmission having a smaller traffic load, while enabling power saving in UE702 and, in some cases, in gNB716. A BWP including a larger number of PRBs may be used for scenarios having a higher traffic load.

[0073] RAN 704 is communicatively coupled to a CN 720 that includes network elements that provide various functions for supporting data and telecommunication services to a customer / subscriber (e.g., a user of the UE 702). Components of the CN 720 may be implemented in one physical node or separate physical nodes. In some embodiments, NFV may be utilized to virtualize any or all of the functions provided by the network elements of the CN 720 on physical computing / storage resources in servers, switches, etc. The logical instantiation of the CN 720 may be referred to as a network slice, and the logical instantiation of a portion of the CN 720 may be referred to as a network sub-slice.

[0074] In some embodiments, the CN 720 may be an LTE CN 722, which may also be referred to as an EPC. The LTE CN 722 may include an MME 724, an SGW 726, an SGSN 728, an HSS 730, a PGW 732, and a PCRF 734 that are coupled to each other through the interfaces (or reference points) shown. The functions of the elements of the LTE CN 722 may be briefly introduced below.

[0075] The MME 724 may implement a mobility management function that tracks the current location of the UE 702 and facilitates paging, bearer activation / deactivation, handover, gateway selection, authentication, etc.

[0076] The SGW 726 may terminate the S1 interface towards the RAN and route data packets between the RAN and the LTE CN 722. The SGW 726 may be a local mobility anchor point for inter-RAN node handover and may also provide an anchor for inter-3GPP mobility. Other roles may include lawful interception, charging, and any policy enforcement.

[0077] The SGSN 728 can track the location of the UE 702 and perform security functions and access control. Additionally, the SGSN 728 can perform inter-EPC node signaling for mobility between different RAT networks; PDN and S-GW selection specified by the MME 724; MME selection for handover, etc. The S3 reference point between the MME 724 and the SGSN 728 can enable user and bearer information exchange for inter-3GPP access network mobility in the idle / active state.

[0078] The HSS 730 may include a database for network users that contains subscription-related information to support the processing of communication sessions by network entities. The HSS 730 can provide support for routing / roaming, authentication, authorization, name / address resolution, location dependency, etc. The S6a reference point between the HSS 730 and the MME 724 can enable the transfer of subscription and authentication data to authenticate / authorize user access to the LTE CN 720.

[0079] The PGW 732 may terminate the SGi interface towards a data network (DN) 736 that may include an application / content server 738. The PGW 732 may route data packets between the LTE CN 722 and the data network 736. The PGW 732 may be coupled to the SGW 726 by an S5 reference point, facilitating user plane tunneling and tunnel management. The PGW 732 may further include nodes for policy enforcement and charging data collection (e.g., PCEF). Additionally, the SGi reference point between the PGW 732 and the data network 736 may be, for example, an operator-external public, private PDN, or intra-operator packet data network for the provisioning of IMS services. The PGW 732 may be coupled to the PCRF 734 via a Gx reference point. The PCRF 734 is a policy and charging control element of the LTE CN 722. The PCRF 734 may be communicatively coupled to the application / content server 738 to determine appropriate QoS and charging parameters for service flows. The PCRF 732 may provision relevant rules to the PCEF (via the Gx reference point) using appropriate TFTs and QCIs.

[0080] In some embodiments, the CN 720 may be the 5GC 740. The 5GC 740 may include, as shown, an AUSF 742, an AMF 744, an SMF 746, a UPF 748, an NSSF 750, a NEF 752, an NRF 754, a PCF 756, a UDM 758, and an AF 760 coupled to each other via interfaces (or "reference points"). The functions of the elements of the 5GC 740 may be briefly introduced as follows. The AUSF 742 may store data for the authentication of the UE 702 and process authentication-related functions. The AUSF 742 may facilitate a common authentication framework for various access types. In addition to communication with other elements of the 5GC 740 through the reference points as shown, the AUSF 742 may represent an Nausf service-based interface.

[0081] The AMF 744 may enable other functions of the 5GC 740 to communicate with the UE 702 and the RAN 704 and to subscribe to notifications about mobility events related to the UE 702. The AMF 744 may be responsible for registration management (e.g., registration of the UE 702), connection management, reachability management, mobility management, lawful interception of AMF-related events, and access authentication and authorization. The AMF 744 may provide transport for SM messages between the UE 702 and the SMF 746 and may act as a transparent proxy for routing SM messages. The AMF 744 may also provide transport for SM messages between the UE 702 and the SMSF. The AMF 744 may interact with the AUSF 742 and the UE 702 to perform various security anchor and context management functions. Further, the AMF 744 may include or be the N2 reference point between the RAN 704 and the AMF 744, or may be the termination point of the RAN CP interface; the AMF 744 is the termination point of the NAS (N1) signaling and may perform NAS encryption and integrity protection. The AMF 744 may also support NAS signaling with the UE 702 through the N3 IWF interface.

[0082] The SMF 746 may be responsible for SM (e.g., session establishment between the UPF 748 and the AN 708, tunnel management); UE IP address allocation and management (including optional authorization); selection and control of the UP function; configuration of traffic steering in the UPF 748 for routing traffic to the appropriate destination; termination of the interface to the policy control function; enforcement of policies, charging, and partial control of QoS; lawful interception (of SM events and the interface to the LI system); termination of the SM part of the NAS message; downlink data notification; initiation of AN-specific SM information sent to the AN 708 through N2 via the AMF 744; and determination of the SSC mode of the session. SM may refer to the management of the PDU session, and the PDU session or "session" may refer to the PDU connectivity service that provides or enables the exchange of PDUs between the UE 702 and the data network 736.

[0083] UPF748 can operate as an anchor point for intra-RAT and inter-RAT mobility, an external PDU session point of interconnect to the data network 736, and a branching point to support multi-home PDU sessions. UPF748 also performs packet routing and forwarding, performs packet inspection, enforces the user plane part of policy rules, lawfully intercepts packets (UP set), performs traffic utilization reporting, performs QoS processing for the user plane (e.g., packet filtering, gating, UL / DL rate enforcement), performs uplink traffic verification (e.g., SDF-QoS flow mapping), transports level packet marking in the uplink and downlink, and can perform downlink packet buffering and downlink data notification triggering. UPF748 may include an uplink classifier to support routing traffic flows to the data network.

[0084] NSSF750 can select a set of network slice instances that function for UE702. NSSF750 can also determine the mapping to the permitted NSSAI and the subscribed S-NSSAI if necessary. NSSF750 can also determine, based on a suitable configuration, and optionally by querying NRF754, a list of AMF sets or candidate AMFs used to serve UE702. The selection of a set of network slice instances for UE702 can be triggered by the AMF744 to which UE702 is registered by interacting with NSSF750, whereby a change in the AMF can be brought about. NSSF750 can interact with AMF744 via the N22 reference point; and communicate with another NSSF in the visited network via the N31 reference point (not shown). Further, NSSF750 can indicate an Nnssf service-based interface.

[0085] NEF752 can securely expose services and capabilities provided by 3GPP network functions for third parties, internal disclosure / re - disclosure, AF (e.g., AF760), edge computing or fog computing systems, etc. In such embodiments, NEF752 can authenticate, authorize, or throttle the AF. NEF752 can also transform information exchanged with AF760 and information exchanged with internal network functions. For example, NEF752 can transform between AF service identifiers and internal 5GC information. NEF752 can also receive information from other NFs based on the capabilities of other NFs that are exposed. This information can be stored in NEF752 as structured data or in a data storage NF using a standardized interface. The stored information can then be re - exposed by NEF752 to other NFs and AFs or used for other purposes such as analysis. Additionally, NEF752 can indicate an Nnef service - based interface.

[0086] NRF754 supports a service discovery function, can receive NF discovery requests from NF instances, and provide information on discovered NF instances to NF instances. NRF754 also maintains information on available NF instances and the services they support. As used herein, terms such as "instantiate", "instantiation", etc. can refer to the creation of an instance, and "instance" can refer to a specific occurrence of an object that can occur, for example, during the execution of program code. Additionally, NRF754 can indicate an Nnrf service - based interface.

[0087] The PCF756 can provide policy rules to the control plane function, enforce them, and support a unified policy framework for managing network behavior. The PCF756 can also implement a front end to access subscription information related to policy decisions in the UDR of the UDM758. In addition to communicating with functions through the reference points shown, the PCF756 represents an Npcf service-based interface.

[0088] The UDM758 can process subscription-related information to support network entities in handling communication sessions and can store the subscription data of the UE702. For example, the subscription data can be communicated between the UDM758 and the AMF744 via the N8 reference point. The UDM758 can include two parts, an application front end and a UDR. The UDR can store subscription data and policy data for the UDM758 and the PCF756, and / or structured data and application data for publication by the NEF752 (including PFDs for application detection, application request information for multiple UEs702). The Nudr service-based interface can be represented by the UDR221, enabling the UDM758, the PCF756, and the NEF752 to access a specific set of stored data, read, update (e.g., add, modify), delete, and subscribe to notifications of related data changes in the UDR. The UDM can include a UDM-FE responsible for processing such as certificates, location management, and subscription management. Multiple different front ends can serve the same user in different transactions. The UDM-FE accesses the subscription information stored in the UDR and performs authentication certificate processing, user identification processing, access authorization, registration / mobility management, and subscription management. In addition to communicating with other NFs through the reference points shown, the UDM758 can represent an Nudm service-based interface.

[0089] AF760 can provide the impact of the application on traffic routing, provide access to the NEF, and interact with the policy framework for policy control.

[0090] In some embodiments, the 5GC 740 can enable edge computing by selecting operator / third-party services that should be geographically close to the location where the UE 702 is connected to the network. Thereby, latency and the load on the network can be reduced. To provide an edge computing implementation, the 5GC 740 can select a UPF 748 close to the UE 702 and perform traffic steering from the UPF 748 to the data network 736 via the N6 interface. This can be based on UE subscription data, UE location, and information provided by the AF 760. In this way, the AF 760 can affect UPF (re)selection and traffic routing. Based on the operator's deployment, when the AF 760 is regarded as a trusted entity, the network operator can permit the AF 760 to interact directly with the relevant NF. Additionally, the AF 760 can indicate a Naf service-based interface.

[0091] The data network 736 can represent various network operator services, Internet access, or third-party services that can be provided by one or more servers including, for example, an application / content server 738.

[0092] FIG. 8 schematically shows a wireless network 800 according to various embodiments. The wireless network 800 can include a UE 802 that wirelessly communicates with an AN 804. The UE 802 and the AN 804 are similar to components of the same name described elsewhere in this specification and can be substantially interchangeable.

[0093] UE 802 can be communicatively coupled to AN 804 via connection 806. Connection 806 is shown as an air interface to enable a communicative coupling and can be compatible with a cellular communication protocol such as an LTE protocol or a 5G NR protocol operating at millimeter wave or sub-6 GHz frequencies.

[0094] UE 802 may include a host platform 808 coupled to a modem platform 810. The host platform 808 may include an application processing circuit 812 coupled to the protocol processing circuit 814 of the modem platform 810. The application processing circuit 812 may execute various applications for the UE 802 that are sources / sinks of application data. The application processing circuit 812 may further implement one or more layer operations for transmitting / receiving application data to / from a data network. These layer operations may include transport (e.g., UDP) and internet (e.g., IP) operations.

[0095] The protocol processing circuit 814 may implement one or more of the layer operations to facilitate the transmission or reception of data through connection 806. The layer operations implemented by the protocol processing circuit 814 may include, for example, MAC, RLC, PDCP, RRC, and NAS operations.

[0096] The modem platform 810 may further include a digital baseband circuit 816 that can implement one or more layer operations that are "lower" layer operations performed by the protocol processing circuit 814 in the network protocol stack. These operations may include, for example, PHY operations such as HARQ-ACK functions, scrambling / descrambling, encoding / decoding, layer mapping / demapping, modulation symbol mapping, received symbol / bit metric determination, multi-antenna port precoding / decoding (which may include one or more of space-time, space-frequency, or space coding), reference signal generation / detection, preamble sequence generation and / or decoding, synchronization sequence generation / detection, control channel signal blind decoding, and one or more of other related functions.

[0097] The modem platform 810 may further include a transmit circuit 818, a receive circuit 820, an RF circuit 822, and an RF front end (RFFE) 824 (which may include or be connected to one or more antenna panels 826). Briefly, the transmit circuit 818 may include a digital-to-analog converter, a mixer, an intermediate frequency (IF) component, etc.; the receive circuit 820 may include an analog-to-digital converter, a mixer, an IF component, etc.; the RF circuit 822 may include a low noise amplifier, a power amplifier, a power tracking component, etc.; the RFFE 824 may include filters (e.g., surface / bulk acoustic wave filters), switches, antenna tuners, beamforming components (e.g., phased array antenna components), etc. The selection and configuration of the components of the transmit circuit 818, receive circuit 820, RF circuit 822, RFFE 824, and antenna panel 826 (collectively referred to as "transmit / receive components") may be specific to the details of a particular implementation, such as whether the communication is TDM or FDM, or whether the frequency is millimeter wave or sub-6 GHz. In some embodiments, the transmit / receive components may be configured in multiple parallel transmit / receive chains, may be arranged on the same or different chip modules, etc.

[0098] In some embodiments, the protocol processing circuit 814 may include one or more instances of a control circuit (not shown) for providing control functions to the transmit / receive components.

[0099] UE reception can be established by and through the antenna panel 826, RFFE 824, RF circuit 822, receive circuit 820, digital baseband circuit 816, and protocol processing circuit 814. In some embodiments, the antenna panel 826 may receive transmissions from the AN 804 by receiving beamforming the signals received by the plurality of antennas / antenna elements of the one or more antenna panels 826.

[0100] UE transmission can be established by and through the protocol processing circuit 814, digital baseband circuit 816, transmit circuit 818, RF circuit 822, RFFE 824, and antenna panel 826. In some embodiments, the transmit component of the UE 804 may apply a spatial filter to the data to be transmitted to form a transmit beam radiated by the antenna elements of the antenna panel 826.

[0101] Similar to UE802, AN804 may include a host platform 828 coupled to a modem platform 830. The host platform 828 may include an application processing circuit 832 coupled to the protocol processing circuit 834 of the modem platform 830. The modem platform may further include a digital baseband circuit 836, a transmission circuit 838, a reception circuit 840, an RF circuit 842, an RFFE circuit 844, and an antenna panel 846. The components of AN804 may be similar to and substantially interchangeable with the components of UE802 having the same names. In addition to performing data transmission / reception as described above, the components of AN808 may perform various logical functions including, for example, radio bearer management, uplink and downlink dynamic radio resource management, and RNC functions such as data packet scheduling.

[0102] FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing components according to some exemplary embodiments capable of reading instructions from a machine-readable or computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium) and executing any one or more of the methodologies described herein. Specifically, FIG. 9 shows a graphical representation of a hardware resource 900 including one or more processors (or processor cores) 910, one or more memory / storage devices 920, and one or more communication resources 930, each of which may be communicatively coupled via a bus 940 or other interface circuit. In embodiments where node virtualization (e.g., NFV) is utilized, a hypervisor 902 may be executed to provide an execution environment for one or more network slices / sub-slices to utilize the hardware resource 900.

[0103] Processor 910 may include, for example, processor 912 and processor 914. Processor 910 may be, for example, a central processing unit (CPU), a reduced instruction set computing (RISC) processor, a complex instruction set computing (CISC) processor, a graphics processing unit (GPU), a digital signal processor (DSP) such as a baseband processor, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA), a radio frequency integrated circuit (RFIC), another processor (including those described herein), or any suitable combination thereof.

[0104] Memory / storage device 920 may include main memory, disk storage, or any suitable combination thereof. Memory / storage device 920 may include, but is not limited to, dynamic random access memory (DRAM), static random access memory (SRAM), erasable programmable read only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read only memory (EEPROM), flash memory, solid state storage, etc., in any type of volatile, non-volatile, or semi-volatile memory.

[0105] Communication resource 930 may include an interconnect or network interface controller, component, or other suitable device for communicating with one or more peripheral devices 904, or one or more databases 906, or other network elements via network 908. For example, communication resource 930 may include a wired communication component (for coupling via, e.g., USB, Ethernet, etc.), a cellular communication component, an NFC component, a Bluetooth® (or Bluetooth® low energy) component, a Wi-Fi® component, and other communication components.

[0106] Command 950 may include software, a program, an application, an applet, an app, or other executable code for causing at least any one of processors 910 to execute any one or more of the methodologies described herein. Command 950 may be wholly or partially present within at least one of processor 910 (e.g., the cache memory of the processor), memory / storage device 920, or any suitable combination thereof. Further, any portion of Command 950 may be transferred from any combination of peripheral devices 904 or database 906 to hardware resource 900. Accordingly, the memory of processor 910, memory / storage device 920, peripheral devices 904, and database 906 are examples of computer-readable and machine-readable media.

[0107] For one or more embodiments, at least one of the components described in one or more of the above-described drawings may be configured to perform one or more operations, techniques, processes, and / or methods as described in the following exemplary sections. For example, the baseband circuitry described above in connection with one or more of the above-described drawings may be configured to operate in accordance with one or more of the examples described below. In another example, the circuitry associated with a UE, a base station, a network element, etc., described above in connection with one or more of the above-described drawings may be configured to operate in accordance with one or more of the examples described below in the exemplary sections.

[0108] Additional examples of the presently described embodiments include the following non-limiting implementations. Each of the following non-limiting examples may be self-standing in itself or may be combined in any permutation or combination with any one or more of the other examples provided below or throughout the present disclosure.

[0109] For one or more embodiments, at least one of the components described in one or more of the above-described drawings may be configured to perform one or more operations, techniques, processes, and / or methods as described in the following exemplary sections. For example, the baseband circuitry described above in connection with one or more of the above-described drawings may be configured to operate according to one or more of the examples described below. In another example, circuitry associated with a UE, base station, network element, etc., described above in connection with one or more of the above-described drawings may be configured to operate according to one or more of the examples described below.

[0110] The following examples are further related to a plurality of embodiments.

[0111] Example 1 may include a device comprising a processing circuit coupled to a storage, the processing circuit establishing a first measurement window for a first channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) related to a first type of measurement in a measurement object (MO); identifying a measurement gap related to a second type of measurement; performing an adjustment to avoid a collision between the first measurement window and the measurement gap; and being configured to detect the first CSI-RS within the first measurement window.

[0112] Example 2 may include the device of Example 1 and / or some other example herein, where the first measurement window may have a first time duration that may be configurable.

[0113] Example 3 may include the device of Example 1 and / or some other example herein, where the first measurement window may have a first period that may be configurable.

[0114] Example 4 may include the device of Example 1 and / or some other example herein, where a plurality of CSI-RS measurement windows are configured for one MO.

[0115] Example 5 may include the device of Example 1 and / or some other examples in this specification, where the processing circuit further defines a second CSI-RS related to the measurement of the first type of MO; and may be configured to set the first CSI-RS and the second CSI-RS in the MO so as to have a CSI-RS period that may be the same for the first CSI-RS and the second CSI-RS.

[0116] Example 6 may include the device of Example 5 and / or some other examples in this specification, where the CSI-RS period may be at least one of 20 milliseconds (ms), 40 ms, or 80 ms.

[0117] Example 7 may include the device of Example 5 and / or some other examples in this specification, where the first timing offset of the first CSI-RS may be different from the second timing offset of the second CSI-RS.

[0118] Example 8 may include the device of Example 7 and / or some other examples in this specification, where the first timing offset of the first CSI-RS may be configured before the second timing offset of the second CSI-RS.

[0119] Example 9 may include the device of Example 7 and / or some other examples in this specification, where the first timing offset of the first CSI-RS may be a time offset smaller than the second timing offset of the second CSI-RS.

[0120] Example 10 may include a computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, result in the execution of operations including establishing a first measurement window for a first channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) related to a first type of measurement in a measurement object (MO); identifying a measurement gap related to a second type of measurement; performing an adjustment to avoid a collision between the first measurement window and the measurement gap; and detecting the first CSI-RS within the first measurement window.

[0121] Example 11 may include the computer-readable medium of Example 10 and / or some other examples in this specification, where the first measurement window has a first duration that may be configurable.

[0122] Example 12 may include the computer-readable medium of Example 10 and / or some other examples in this specification, where the first measurement window has a first period that may be configurable.

[0123] Example 13 may include the computer-readable medium of Example 10 and / or some other examples in this specification, where a plurality of CSI-RS measurement windows are configured for one MO.

[0124] Example 14 may include the computer-readable medium of Example 10 and / or some other examples in this specification, where the operation further includes defining a second CSI-RS related to a first type of measurement of the MO; and setting the first CSI-RS and the second CSI-RS in the MO to have a CSI-RS period that may be the same for the first CSI-RS and the second CSI-RS.

[0125] Example 15 may include the computer-readable medium of Example 14 and / or some other examples in this specification, where the CSI-RS period may be at least one of 20 milliseconds (ms), 40 ms, or 80 ms.

[0126] Example 16 may include the computer-readable medium of Example 14 and / or some other examples in this specification, where the first timing offset of the first CSI-RS may be different from the second timing offset of the second CSI-RS.

[0127] Example 17 may include the computer-readable medium of Example 16 and / or some other examples in this specification, where the first timing offset of the first CSI-RS may be configured before the second timing offset of the second CSI-RS.

[0128] Example 18 may include a computer-readable medium of Example 16 and / or some other examples herein, where the first timing offset of the first CSI-RS may be a time offset smaller than the second timing offset of the second CSI-RS.

[0129] Example 19 may include steps of establishing, by one or more processors, a first measurement window for a first channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) related to a first type of measurement in a measurement object (MO); identifying a measurement gap related to a second type of measurement; performing an adjustment to avoid a collision between the first measurement window and the measurement gap; and detecting the first CSI-RS within the first measurement window.

[0130] Example 20 may include the method of Example 19 and / or some other examples herein, where the first measurement window may have a first time length that is configurable.

[0131] Example 21 may include the method of Example 19 and / or some other examples herein, where the first measurement window may have a first period that is configurable.

[0132] Example 22 may include the method of Example 19 and / or some other examples herein, where a plurality of CSI-RS measurement windows are configured for one MO.

[0133] Example 23 may include the method of Example 19 and / or some other examples herein, further comprising defining a second CSI-RS related to a first type of measurement of an MO; and setting the first CSI-RS and the second CSI-RS in the MO to have a CSI-RS period that may be the same for the first CSI-RS and the second CSI-RS.

[0134] Example 24 may include the method of Example 23 and / or some other examples herein, where the CSI-RS period may be at least one of 20 milliseconds (ms), 40 ms, or 80 ms.

[0135] Example 25 may include the method of Example 23 and / or some other examples herein, where the first timing offset of the first CSI-RS may be different from the second timing offset of the second CSI-RS.

[0136] Example 26 may include the method of Example 25 and / or some other examples herein, where the first timing offset of the first CSI-RS may be configured before the second timing offset of the second CSI-RS.

[0137] Example 27 may include the method of Example 25 and / or some other examples herein, where the first timing offset of the first CSI-RS may be a time offset smaller than the second timing offset of the second CSI-RS.

[0138] Example 28 includes establishing a first measurement window for a first channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) related to a first type of measurement in a measurement object (MO); identifying a measurement gap related to a second type of measurement; performing an adjustment to avoid a collision between the first measurement window and the measurement gap; and detecting a first CSI-RS within the first measurement window and may include an apparatus comprising means for the above.

[0139] Example 29 may include the apparatus of Example 28 and / or some other examples herein, where the first measurement window may have a first time length that is configurable.

[0140] Example 30 may include the apparatus of Example 28 and / or some other examples herein, where the first measurement window may have a first period that is configurable.

[0141] Example 31 may include the apparatus of Example 28 and / or some other examples herein, where a plurality of CSI-RS measurement windows are configured for one MO.

[0142] Example 32 may include the apparatus of Example 28 and / or some other examples herein, defining a second CSI-RS related to the measurement of the first type of MO; and further may include setting the first CSI-RS and the second CSI-RS in the MO to have a CSI-RS period that may be the same for the first CSI-RS and the second CSI-RS.

[0143] Example 33 may include the apparatus of Example 32 and / or some other examples herein, and the CSI-RS period may be at least one of 20 milliseconds (ms), 40 ms, or 80 ms.

[0144] Example 34 may include the apparatus of Example 32 and / or some other examples herein, where the first timing offset of the first CSI-RS may be different from the second timing offset of the second CSI-RS.

[0145] Example 35 may include the apparatus of Example 34 and / or some other examples herein, where the first timing offset of the first CSI-RS may be configured before the second timing offset of the second CSI-RS.

[0146] Example 36 may include the apparatus of Example 34 and / or some other examples herein, where the first timing offset of the first CSI-RS may be a time offset smaller than the second timing offset of the second CSI-RS.

[0147] Example 37 may include an apparatus comprising means for performing any of the methods of Examples 1 to 36.

[0148] Example 38 may include a network node comprising a communication interface and a processing circuit connected thereto, configured to perform the methods of Examples 1 to 36.

[0149] Example 39 may include a method as described in or related to any of Examples 1 to 36, or an apparatus comprising means for performing one or more elements of any other method or process described herein.

[0150] Example 40 may include one or more non-transitory computer-readable media including instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of an electronic device, cause the electronic device to perform one or more elements of a method as described in or related to any of Examples 1 to 36, or any other method or process described herein.

[0151] Example 41 may include an apparatus comprising logic, modules, or circuitry for performing one or more elements of a method as described in or related to any of Examples 1 to 36, or any other method or process described herein.

[0152] Example 42 may include a method, technique, or process as described in or related to any of Examples 1 to 36, or a portion or part thereof.

[0153] Example 43 may include an apparatus comprising one or more processors and one or more computer-readable media including instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform a method, technique, or process as described in or related to any of Examples 1 to 36, or a portion thereof.

[0154] Example 44 may include a signal as described in or related to any of Examples 1 to 36, or a portion or part thereof.

[0155] Example 45 may include a datagram, packet, frame, segment, protocol data unit (PDU), or message as described in or related to any of Examples 1 to 36 or a portion or part thereof, or otherwise described in this disclosure.

[0156] Example 46 may include a signal encoded with data described in or related to any one or a portion or parts of Examples 1 to 36 or otherwise described in this disclosure.

[0157] Example 47 may include a signal encoded with a datagram, packet, frame, segment, protocol data unit (PDU), or message described in or related to any one or a portion or parts of Examples 1 to 36 or otherwise described in this disclosure.

[0158] Example 48 may include an electromagnetic signal holding computer-readable instructions, where execution of the computer-readable instructions by one or more processors causes the one or more processors to execute a method, technique, or process described in or related to any one or a portion of Examples 1 to 36.

[0159] Example 49 may include a computer program including instructions, where execution of the program by a processing element causes the processing element to execute a method, technique, or process described in or related to any one or a portion of Examples 1 to 36.

[0160] Example 50 may include a signal in the wireless network shown and described herein.

[0161] Example 51 may include a method of communication in the wireless network shown and described herein.

[0162] Example 52 may include a system for providing the wireless communication shown and described herein.

[0163] Example 53 may include a device for providing the wireless communication shown and described herein.

[0164] An exemplary implementation is an edge computing system that includes respective edge processing devices and nodes for invoking or executing the operations of the above examples or other subject matters described in this specification. Another exemplary implementation is a client endpoint node that is operable to invoke or execute the operations of the above examples or other subject matters described in this specification. Another exemplary implementation is an aggregation node, network hub node, gateway node, or core data processing node within or coupled to an edge computing system that is operable to invoke or execute the operations of the above examples or other subject matters described in this specification. Another exemplary implementation is an access point, base station, roadside unit, street side unit, or on-premises unit within or coupled to an edge computing system that is operable to invoke or execute the operations of the above examples or other subject matters described in this specification. Another exemplary implementation is an edge provisioning node, service orchestration node, application orchestration node, or multi-tenant management node within or coupled to an edge computing system that is operable to invoke or execute the operations of the above examples or other subject matters described in this specification. Another exemplary implementation is an edge node that operates edge provisioning services, applications or service orchestration services, virtual machine deployments, container deployments, function deployments, and computing management to invoke or execute the operations of the above examples or other subject matters described in this specification. Another exemplary implementation is an edge computing system that is operable as an edge mesh, an edge mesh with sidecar loading, or mesh-mesh intercommunication to invoke or execute the operations of the above examples or other subject matters described in this specification.Another exemplary implementation is an edge computing system that includes aspects of network functions, acceleration functions, acceleration hardware, storage hardware, or computational hardware resources that are operable to call or execute the use cases described herein using the above example or other subject matter described herein. Another exemplary implementation is an edge computing system adapted to support client mobility, vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), vehicle-to-everything (V2X), or vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) scenarios, optionally operating according to the ETSI MEC specification and using the above example or other subject matter described herein to be operable to call or execute the use cases described herein. Another exemplary implementation is an edge computing system adapted for mobile wireless communications that includes a configuration according to 3GPP 4G / LTE or 5G network functions that are operable to call or execute the use cases described herein using the above example or other subject matter described herein. Another exemplary implementation is a computing system adapted for network communications that includes a configuration according to O-RAN functions that are operable to call or execute the use cases described herein using the above example or other subject matter described herein.

[0165] Any of the above examples may be combined with any other example (or combination of examples) unless otherwise explicitly stated. The above description of one or more implementations provides explanation and description but is not exhaustive or intended to limit the scope of the embodiments to the exact form disclosed. Modifications and variations are possible in view of the above teachings or may be acquired from practice of various embodiments.

[0166] Unless otherwise used differently in this specification, terms, definitions, and abbreviations may be consistent with those defined in 3GPP TR 21.905 v16.0.0 (2019-06). For the purposes of this document, the following abbreviations may apply to the examples and embodiments described in this specification.

[0167] Table 1 Abbreviations

Table 1A

Table 1B

Table 1C

Table 1D

Table 1E

Table 1F

Table 1G

Table 1H

Table 1I

Table 1J

Table 1K

Table 1L

Table 1M

[0168] The terms used herein are for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and are not intended to be limiting of the disclosure. As used herein, unless the context clearly dictates otherwise, the singular forms "a", "an", and "the" are intended to include the plural forms. When used herein, the terms "comprises" and / or "comprising" specify the presence of the described features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and / or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and / or groups thereof.

[0169] For the purposes of the present disclosure, the expression "A and / or B" means (A), (B), or (A and B). For the purposes of the present disclosure, the expression "A, B, and / or C" means (A), (B), (C), (A and B), (A and C), (B and C), or (A, B, and C). The description may use the expressions "in an embodiment" or "in some embodiments", each of which may refer to one or more of the same or different embodiments. Further, when used with respect to embodiments of the present disclosure, the terms "comprises", "includes", "has", etc. are synonymous.

[0170] The terms "coupled," "communicatively coupled," and derivatives thereof are used herein. The term "coupled" can mean that two or more elements are in direct physical or electrical contact with each other, that two or more elements are in indirect contact with each other but still cooperate or interact with each other, and / or that one or more other elements are coupled or connected between elements that are said to be coupled to each other. The term "directly coupled" can mean that two or more elements are in direct contact with each other. The term "communicatively coupled" can mean that two or more elements can contact each other by means of communication, including wired or other interconnect connections, wireless communication channels or links, and / or the like.

[0171] As used herein, the term "circuit" refers to, is part of, or includes hardware components such as electronic circuits, logic circuits, processors (shared, dedicated, or group), and / or memories (shared, dedicated, or group), application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), field programmable devices (FPDs) (e.g., field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), programmable logic devices (PLDs), complex PLDs (CPLDs), high capacity PLDs (HCPLDs), structured ASICs, or programmable system on chips (SoCs)), digital signal processors (DSPs), etc. configured to provide the recited function. In some embodiments, a circuit can execute one or more software or firmware programs to provide at least some of the recited function. The term "circuit" can also refer to a combination of one or more hardware elements (or a combination of circuits used in an electrical or electronic system) having program code used to execute the functions of that program code. In these embodiments, the combination of hardware elements and program code can be referred to as a particular type of circuit.

[0172] As used herein, the term "processor circuit" refers to, is part of, or includes a circuit capable of continuously and automatically performing a series of arithmetic or logical operations, or recording, storing, and / or transferring digital data. The processing circuit may include one or more processing cores for executing instructions, and one or more memory structures for storing program and data information. The term "processor circuit" can execute or otherwise operate computer-executable instructions such as program code, software modules, and / or functional processes, and can refer to one or more application processors, one or more baseband processors, a physical central processing unit (CPU), a single-core processor, a dual-core processor, a triple-core processor, a quad-core processor, and / or any other device. The processing circuit may include more hardware accelerators, which may be, for example, a microprocessor, a programmable processing device, or the like. The one or more hardware accelerators may include, for example, computer vision (CV) and / or deep learning (DL) accelerators. The terms "application circuit" and / or "baseband circuit" may be considered synonyms of and may be referred to as "processor circuit". As used herein, the term "memory" and / or "memory circuit" refers to one or more hardware devices for storing data, including RAM, MRAM, PRAM, DRAM, and / or SDRAM, core memory, ROM, magnetic disk storage media, optical storage media, flash memory devices, or other machine-readable media for storing data. The term "computer-readable medium" may include, but is not limited to, memory, portable or fixed storage devices, optical storage devices, and various other media capable of storing, holding, or retaining instructions or data.

[0173] As used herein, the term "interface circuit" refers to, is part of, or includes a circuit that enables the exchange of information between two or more components or devices. The term "interface circuit" can refer to one or more hardware interfaces, such as a bus, I / O interface, peripheral component interface, network interface card, and / or the like.

[0174] As used herein, the term "user equipment" or "UE" refers to a device having wireless communication capabilities and can describe a remote user of network resources in a communication network. The term "user equipment" or "UE" can be regarded as synonymous with and can be referred to as client, mobile, mobile device, mobile terminal, user terminal, mobile unit, mobile station, mobile user, subscriber, user, remote station, access agent, user agent, receiver, wireless device, reconfigurable wireless device, reconfigurable mobile device, etc. Further, the term "user equipment" or "UE" can include any type of wireless / wired device or any computing device including a wireless communication interface.

[0175] As used herein, the term "network element" refers to physical or virtualized equipment and / or infrastructure used to provide wired or wireless communication network services. The term "network element" can be regarded as synonymous with and can be referred to as network computer, network hardware, network device, network node, router, switch, hub, bridge, wireless network controller, RAN device, RAN node, gateway, server, virtualized VNF, NFVI, and / or the like.

[0176] As used herein, the term "computer system" refers to any type of interconnected electronic device, computer device, or component thereof. Additionally, the terms "computer system" and / or "system" may refer to various components of a computer that are communicatively coupled to each other. Further, the terms "computer system" and / or "system" may refer to multiple computer devices and / or multiple computing systems that are communicatively coupled to each other and configured to share computing and / or network resources.

[0177] As used herein, terms such as "appliance" or "computer appliance" refer to a computer device or computer system that includes program code (e.g., software or firmware) specifically designed to provide a particular computing resource. A "virtual appliance" is a virtual machine image that virtualizes or emulates a computer appliance or, alternatively, is implemented by a hypervisor-based device specialized to provide a particular computing resource. The term "element" refers to a unit with a well-defined boundary that cannot be divided at a given level of abstraction, where the element can be any type of entity, including, for example, one or more devices, systems, controllers, network elements, modules, etc., or combinations thereof. The term "device" refers to a physical entity that is incorporated inside or attached to another nearby physical entity and has the function of carrying digital information between them. The term "entity" refers to a distinct component of an architecture or device or the information transferred as a payload. The term "controller" refers to an element or entity that has the function of affecting a physical entity, such as by changing its state or moving the physical entity.

[0178] The term "cloud computing" or "cloud" refers to a paradigm that enables network access to a scalable and elastic pool of sharable computing resources with on-demand self-service provisioning and administration and without active management by the user. Cloud computing provides cloud computing services (or cloud services), which are one or more functions provided via cloud computing that are invoked using a defined interface (e.g., an API or the like). The term "computing resource" or simply "resource" refers to any physical or virtual component within a computer system or network with limited availability, or the utilization of such components. Examples of computing resources include the utilization / access of servers, processors, storage, devices, memory, device, memory areas, networks, power, input / output (peripherals), devices, mechanical devices, network connections (e.g., channels / links, ports, network sockets, etc.), operating systems, virtual machines (VMs), software applications, computer files, and / or the like over a period of time. "Hardware resources" may refer to computing storage and / or network resources provided by physical hardware elements. "Virtualized resources" may refer to computing, storage, and / or network resources provided to applications, devices, systems, etc. by a virtualization infrastructure. The term "network resource" or "communication resource" may refer to resources accessible by computer devices / systems via a communication network. The term "system resource" may refer to any kind of shared entity for providing services and may include computing and / or network resources.System resources can be considered a set of consistent functions, network data objects, or services that are accessible through a server where such system resources exist on a single host or multiple hosts and are clearly identifiable. As used herein, the term "service cloud provider" (or CSP) refers to an organization that typically operates large-scale "cloud" resources, which are composed of centralized, local, and edge data centers (e.g., used in the context of public clouds). In other examples, a CSP may also be referred to as a cloud service operator (CSO). When referring to "cloud computing", generally, it refers to computing resources and services provided by a CSP or CSO at a remote location where there is at least some increase in latency, distance, or constraints compared to edge computing.

[0179] As used herein, the term "data center" refers to a structure designed to house multiple high-performance computing and data storage nodes such that a large amount of computing, data storage, and network resources exist in a single location. This often involves specialized rack and enclosure systems, suitable heating, cooling, ventilation, security, fire protection, and power supply systems. The term can also, in some contexts, refer to computing and data storage nodes. A data center can vary in scale between centralized or cloud data centers (e.g., largest), regional data centers, and edge data centers (e.g., smallest).

[0180] As used herein, the term "edge computing" refers to the implementation, coordination, and use of computing and resources at or near the "edge" or a collection of "edges" of a network. By deploying computing resources at the edge of a network, application and network latency can be reduced, network backhaul traffic and associated energy consumption can be reduced, service functionality can be improved, compliance with security or data privacy requirements can be improved (especially compared to traditional cloud computing), and the total cost of ownership can be improved. As used herein, the term "edge computing node" refers to a physical, logical, or virtualized implementation of a computable element in the form of a device, gateway, bridge, system or subsystem, component, regardless of whether it operates in server, client, endpoint, or peer mode, and regardless of whether it is located at the "edge" of the network or at a connection location further inside the network. As used herein, references to "nodes" are generally interchangeable with "devices", "components", and "subsystems". However, references to an "edge computing system" or "edge computing network" generally refer to a distributed architecture, organization, or collection of multiple nodes and devices organized to achieve or provide some aspect of a service or resource in an edge computing setting.

[0181] Additionally or alternatively, the term "edge computing" as described in [6] refers to the concept that enables operators and third - party services to be hosted near the access points of UE attachments and realizes efficient service provision through reducing end - to - end latency and load on the transport network. As used herein, the term "edge computing service provider" refers to a mobile network operator or a third - party service provider that provides edge computing services. As used herein, the term "edge data network" refers to a local data network (DN) that supports an architecture enabling edge applications. As used herein, the term "edge host environment" refers to an environment that provides the support necessary for the execution of edge application servers. As used herein, the term "application server" refers to resident application software in the cloud that executes server functions.

[0182] The term "Internet of Things" or "IoT" refers to a system of interconnected computing devices, mechanical, and digital machines capable of transferring data with little or no human interaction, and may involve technologies such as real - time analytics, machine learning and / or AI, embedded systems, wireless sensor networks, control systems, automation (e.g., smart home, smart building, and / or smart city technologies), and the like. IoT devices are typically low - power devices that do not have heavy computing or storage capabilities. An "edge IoT device" can be any type of IoT device deployed at the edge of the network.

[0183] As used herein, the term "cluster" refers to a set or group of entities that are part of an edge computing system (or systems) in the form of physical entities (e.g., different computing systems, networks, or network groups), logical entities (e.g., applications, functions, security constructs, containers), and the like. In some places, "cluster" is also referred to as "group" or "domain". Cluster membership can be modified or affected based on conditions or functions, including dynamic or property-based membership, network or system management scenarios, or examples of various techniques described below that can add, modify, or remove entities in the cluster. A cluster can also include or be related to multiple layers, levels, or characteristics, including variations in security characteristics and outcomes based on such layers, levels, or characteristics.

[0184] The term "application" may refer to a complete and deployable package, environment for realizing specific functions in an operating environment. The term "AI / ML application" or the like may be an application including several AI / ML models and application-level descriptions. The term "machine learning" or "ML" refers to the use of a computer system implementing algorithms and / or statistical models for performing a specific task without using explicit instructions, instead of using patterns and inferences. An ML algorithm constructs or estimates a mathematical model (referred to as an "ML model" or the like) based on sample data (referred to as "training data", "model training information" or the like) in order to make predictions or decisions without being explicitly programmed to perform such tasks. Generally, an ML algorithm is a computer program that learns from experience with respect to several tasks and several performance metrics, and an ML model can be any object or data structure generated after an ML algorithm is trained using one or more training data sets. After training, the ML model can be used to make predictions or create new data sets. The term "ML algorithm" refers to a concept different from the term "ML model", but these terms described in this specification may be used interchangeably for the purposes of this disclosure.

[0185] Terms such as "machine learning model", "ML model", or the like may also refer to ML methods and concepts used by ML-assisted solution means. "ML-assisted solution means" is a solution means that uses an ML algorithm during operation to address a specific use case. An ML model includes supervised learning (e.g., linear regression, k-nearest neighbor (KNN), decision tree algorithm, support vector machine, Bayesian algorithm, ensemble algorithm, etc.), unsupervised learning (e.g., K-means clustering, principal component analysis (PCA), etc.), reinforcement learning (e.g., Q-learning, multi-armed bandit learning, deep RL, etc.), neural networks, and the like. Depending on the implementation, a specific ML model may have many sub-models as components, and the ML model may train all the sub-models together. Individually trained ML models can also be concatenated together in an ML pipeline during inference. An "ML pipeline" is a set of functions, functions, or functional entities unique to ML-assisted solution means. An ML pipeline may include a data pipeline, a model training pipeline, a model evaluation pipeline, and one or more data sources in an actor. An "actor" is an entity that hosts ML-assisted solution means and uses the output of ML model inference. The term "ML training host" refers to an entity such as a network function that hosts the training of a model. The term "ML inference host" refers to an entity such as a network function that hosts a model during the inference mode (including both model execution and, if applicable, any online learning). The ML host notifies the actor about the output of the ML algorithm, and the actor makes a decision about an action (an "action" is executed by the actor as a result of the output of the ML-assisted solution means). The term "model inference information" refers to information used as input to an ML model to determine an inference. The data used to train an ML model and the data used to determine an inference may overlap. However, "training data" and "inference data" refer to different concepts.

[0186] As used herein, terms such as "instantiation" and "instantiate" refer to the creation of an instance. An "instance" also refers to a specific occurrence of an object, which may occur, for example, during the execution of program code. The term "information element" refers to a structural element that includes one or more fields. The term "field" refers to the individual content of an information element, or a data element that includes the content. As used herein, "database object", "data structure", or the like may refer to any representation of information in the form of an object, an attribute-value pair (AVP), a key-value pair (KVP), a tuple, etc., and may include variables, data structures, functions, methods, classes, database records, database fields, database entities, data and / or relationships between database entities (also referred to as "relationships"), blocks and links between blocks in a blockchain implementation, and / or the like.

[0187] As used herein, "information object" refers to a collection of structured data of information and / or any representation, and may include, for example, electronic documents (or "documents"), database objects, data structures, files, audio data, video data, raw data, archive files, application packages, and / or any other similar representation of information. The term "electronic document" or "document" may refer to a data structure, computer file, or resource used to record data, and may include various file types and / or data formats such as word processing documents, spreadsheets, slide presentations, multimedia items, web pages, and / or source code documents and the like. By way of example, an information object may include markup and / or source code documents such as HTML, XML, JSON, Apex (registered trademark), CSS, JSP, MessagePack (registered trademark), Apache (registered trademark) Thrift (registered trademark), ASN.1, Google (registered trademark) Protocol Buffers (protobuf), or some other document / formats described herein. An information object may have both logical and physical structures. Physically, an information object includes one or more units called entities. An entity is a unit of storage that contains content and is identified by a name. An entity may refer to other entities to be included in the information object. An information object starts with a document entity, also referred to as the root element (or "root"). Logically, an information object includes one or more declarations, elements, comments, character references, and processing instructions, all of which are indicated in the information object (e.g., using markup).

[0188] As used herein, the term "data item" refers to the atomic state of a particular object having at least one particular characteristic at a particular point in time. Such an object is typically identified by an object name or object identifier, and the characteristics of such an object are typically defined as database objects (e.g., fields, records, etc.), object instances, or data elements (e.g., markup language elements / tags, etc.). Additionally or alternatively, as used herein, the term "data item" may refer to data elements and / or content items, although these terms may refer to different concepts. As used herein, the term "data element" or "element" refers to a unit having a clearly defined boundary that cannot be divided at a given level of abstraction. A data element is a logical component of an information object (e.g., an electronic document) that can end with a start tag (e.g., <element>) starting, and the matching end tag (e.g., < / element> ) or have only an empty element tag (e.g., <element / > ). Any characters between the start tag and the end tag, if present, are the content of the element (referred to herein as a "content item" or the like).

[0189] The content of an entity can include one or more content items, each of which has an associated data type representation. Content items can include, for example, attribute values, literal values, URIs, qualified names (qnames), parameters, and the like. A qname is the fully qualified name of an element, attribute, or identifier in an information object. A qname associates the URI of a namespace with the local name of an element, attribute, or identifier in that namespace. To make this association, a qname assigns a prefix to the local name corresponding to that namespace. A qname includes the URI of the namespace, the prefix, and the local name. Namespaces are used to provide uniquely named elements and attributes in an information object. Content items can be text content (e.g., <element>Content item< / element> ), attributes (e.g., <element attribute="attributeValue">) and may include other elements referred to as "child elements" (e.g., <element1> <element2>Content item < / element1> ) "Attribute" may refer to a markup construct that includes name-value pairs present within a start tag or an empty element tag. Attributes contain data regarding the element and / or control the behavior of the element.

[0190] As used herein, the term "channel" refers to any tangible or intangible transmission medium used to communicate data or a data stream. The term "channel" may be synonymous and / or equivalent to any other similar terms such as "communication channel", "data communication channel", "transmission channel", "data transmission channel", "access channel", "data access channel", "link", "data link", "carrier", "radio frequency carrier", and / or any other path or medium through which data is communicated. Further, as used herein, the term "link" refers to a connection between two devices through a RAT for the purpose of transmitting and receiving information. As used herein, the term "wireless technology" refers to a technology for wireless transmission and / or reception of electromagnetic radiation for information transfer. The term "radio access technology" or "RAT" refers to a technology used for the underlying physical connection to a wireless-based communication network. As used herein, the term "communication protocol" (either wired or wireless) refers to a set of standardized rules or instructions implemented by a communication device and / or system to communicate with other devices and / or systems, including instructions for packetizing / depacketizing data, modulating / demodulating signals, implementing a protocol stack, and / or the like.

[0191] As used herein, the term "radio technology" refers to technologies for the wireless transmission and / or reception of electromagnetic radiation for information transfer. The term "radio access technology" or "RAT" refers to the technology used for the underlying physical connection to a wireless-based communication network. As used herein, the term "communication protocol" (either wired or wireless) refers to a set of standardized rules or instructions implemented by a communication device and / or system to communicate with other devices and / or systems, including instructions for packetizing / depacketizing data, modulating / demodulating signals, implementing a protocol stack, and / or the like. Examples of wireless communication protocols that may be used in various embodiments include Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM®) wireless communication technology, General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) wireless communication technology, Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE) wireless communication technology, and / or 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) wireless communication technology (e.g., 3GPP 5th Generation (5G) or New Radio (NR), Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), Freedom of Multimedia Access (FOMA), Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE Advanced, LTE Extra, LTE-A Pro, cdmaOne (2G), Code Division Multiple Access 2000 (CDMA 2000), Cellular Digital Packet Data (CDPD), Mobitex, Circuit Switched Data (CSD), High Speed CSD (HSCSD), Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (W-CDM), High Speed Packet Access (HSPA), HSPA Plus (HSPA+), Time Division Code Division Multiple Access (TD-CDMA), Time Division Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access (TD-SCDMA), LTE LAA, MuLTEfire, UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA), Evolved UTRA (E-UTRA), Evolution-Data Optimized or Evolution-DataOnly (EV-DO), Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS), Digital AMPS (D-AMPS), Total Access Communication System / Extended Total Access Communication System (TACS / ETACS), Push-to-Talk (PTT), Mobile Telephone System (MTS), Improved Mobile Telephone System (IMTS), Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMTS), Cellular Digital Packet Data (CDPD), DataTAC, Integrated Digital Enhanced Network (iDEN), Personal Digital Cellular (PDC), Personal Handyphone System (PHS (registered trademark)), Wideband Integrated Digital Enhanced Network (WiDEN), iBurst, Unapproved Mobile Access (UMA), also known as 3GPP Generic Access Network, or including GAN standards), Bluetooth (registered trademark), Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), IEEE802.15.4-based protocols (e.g., IPv6 over Low power Wireless Personal Area Networks (6LoWPAN), WirelessHART, MiWi, Thread, 802.11a, etc.), WiFi Direct, ANT / ANT+, ZigBee (registered trademark), Z-Wave (registered trademark), 3GPP Device-to-Device (D2D) or Proximity Services (ProSe), Universal Plug and Play (UPnP), Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN), Long Range Wide Area Network (LoRA), or LoRaWAN (registered trademark) developed by Semtech and LoRa Alliance, Sigfox, Wireless Gigabit Alliance (WiGig) standards, Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX (registered trademark)), millimeter wave standards in general (e.g., wireless systems operating at 10 - 300 GHz and above such as WiGig, IEEE802.11ad, IEEE802.11ay, etc.), V2X communication technology (3GPPincluding dedicated short-range communication (DSRC) communication systems such as intelligent transport systems (ITS) including C-V2X, ITS-G5, ITS-G5B, ITS-G5C, etc. in Europe. In addition to the standards listed above, any number of satellite uplink technologies can be used for the purposes of this disclosure, including, for example, radio that conforms to standards issued by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), or the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI), among others. Accordingly, the examples provided herein are understood to be applicable to various other communication technologies that are existing and not yet formulated.

[0192] The term "access network" refers to any network that uses any combination of radio technologies, RATs, and / or communication protocols to connect user devices and service providers. In the context of WLAN, the "access network" is the IEEE802 local area network (LAN) or metropolitan area network (MAN) between the access router that connects the terminal and the provider service. The term "access router" refers to a router that terminates the media access control (MAC) service from the terminal and forwards user traffic to the information server according to the Internet protocol (IP) address.

[0193] The term "SMTC" refers to the SSB-based measurement timing configuration configured by SSB-MeasurementTimingConfiguration. The term "SSB" refers to the Synchronization Signal / Physical Broadcast Channel (SS / PBCH) block including the Primary Synchronization Signal (PSS), Secondary Synchronization Signal (SSS), and PBCH. The term "primary cell" refers to the MCG cell operating on the primary frequency where the UE executes the initial connection establishment procedure or starts the connection re-establishment procedure. The term "primary SCG cell" refers to the SCG cell where the UE performs random access when executing the reconfiguration procedure by synchronization for DC operation. The term "secondary cell" refers to the cell that provides additional radio resources on top of the special cell for the UE configured using CA. The term "secondary cell group" refers to a subset including the serving cell containing the PSCell and zero or more secondary cells for the UE configured using DC. The term "serving cell" refers to the primary cell for the UE in RRC_CONNECTED not configured using CA / DC. Here, there is only one serving cell including the primary cell. The term "serving cell" or "multiple serving cells" refers to the set of cells including the special cell and all secondary cells for the UE in RRC_CONNECTED configured using CA. The term "special cell" refers to the Pcell of the MCG or the PSCell of the SCG for DC operation. Otherwise, the term "special cell" refers to the PCell.

[0194] The term "A1 policy" refers to a type of declarative policy expressed using a formal statement that enables the non-RT RIC function in SMO to induce the quasi-RT RIC function, and thus the RAN, towards a better realization of the RAN's intention.

[0195] The term "A1 enrichment information" refers to the information utilized by the quasi-RT RIC collected or derived by the SMO / non-RT RIC from non-network data sources or the network function itself.

[0196] The term "A1 policy-based traffic steering process mode" refers to an operation mode in which the quasi-RT RIC is configured to guarantee, through the A1 policy, more network performance than guaranteed in background traffic steering using traffic steering actions (e.g., applied to a smaller group of E2 nodes and UEs in the RAN).

[0197] The term "background traffic steering processing mode" refers to an operation mode in which the quasi-RT RIC is configured to ensure general background network performance that is widely applicable across E2 nodes and UEs in the RAN using traffic steering actions through O1.

[0198] The term "baseline RAN behavior" refers to the default RAN behavior configured by the SMO for E2 nodes. The term "E2" refers to the interface connecting the quasi-RT RIC and one or more O-CU-CP, one or more O-CU-UP, one or more O-DU, and one or more O-eNBs.

[0199] The term "E2 node" refers to the logical node that terminates the E2 interface. In this version of the specification, the ORAN node that terminates the E2 interface is, for NR access, the O-CU-CP, O-CU-UP, O-DU, or any combination thereof; and for E-UTRA access, the O-eNB.

[0200] In the context of an O-RAN system / implementation, the term "intention" refers to a declarative policy that guides or induces the behavior of RAN functions and enables the RAN functions to calculate optimal results to achieve the stated objectives.

[0201] The term "O-RAN Non-Real-Time RAN Intelligent Controller" or "non-RT RIC" refers to a logical function that enables non-real-time control and optimization of RAN elements and resources, AI / ML workflows including model training and updates, and policy-based steering of applications / features in the quasi-RT RIC.

[0202] The term "quasi-RT RIC" or "O-RAN quasi-real-time RAN Intelligent Controller" refers to a logical function that enables quasi-real-time control and optimization of RAN elements and resources via fine-grained (e.g., UE-based, cell-based) data collection and actions through the E2 interface.

[0203] The term "O-RAN Central Unit" or "O-CU" refers to a logical node that hosts the RRC, SDAP, and PDCP protocols.

[0204] The term "O-RAN Central Unit - Control Plane" or "O-CU-CP" refers to a logical node that hosts the control plane portions of the RRC and PDCP protocols.

[0205] The term "O-RAN Central Unit - User Plane" or "O-CU-UP" refers to a logical node that hosts the user plane portions of the PDCP protocol and the SDAP protocol. The term "O-RAN Distributed Unit" or "O-DU" refers to a logical node that hosts the RLC / MAC / High-PHY layers based on lower layer function splitting.

[0206] The term "O-RAN eNB" or "O-eNB" refers to an eNB or ng-eNB that supports the E2 interface.

[0207] The term "O-RAN Radio Unit" or "O-RU" refers to a logical node that hosts the low PHY layer and RF processing based on lower layer function splitting. This is similar to the 3GPP's "TRP" or "RRH", but more specifically includes the low PHY layer (FFT / iFFT, PRACH extraction). The term "O1" refers to the interface between the orchestration & management entity (orchestration / NMS) and the O-RAN management element for the operations and management where FCAPS management, software management, file management and other similar functions are realized.

[0208] The term "RAN UE group" refers to the aggregation of UEs whose groups are set to the E2 node through the E2 procedure also based on the scope of the A1 policy. These groups can then be the target of E2 control or policy messages.

[0209] The term "traffic steering action" refers to the use of mechanisms to change the RAN behavior. Such actions include E2 procedures such as control and policy.

[0210] The term "traffic steering inner loop" refers to part of the traffic steering process triggered by the arrival of periodic TS-related KPM (Key Performance Measurement) from the E2 node, which includes UE grouping, setting up additional data collection from the RAN, and selection and execution of one or more optimization actions to enforce the traffic steering policy.

[0211] The term "traffic steering outer loop" refers to part of the traffic steering process triggered by the quasi-RT RIC, which sets up or updates the traffic steering aware resource optimization procedure based on information from the A1 policy setup or update, A1 enrichment information (EI), and / or the results of the quasi-RT RIC evaluation including the injection of the initial configuration (preconditions) and related A1 policies, trigger conditions for TS changes.

[0212] The term "traffic steering processing mode" refers to an operating mode in which either the RAN or the quasi-RT RIC is configured to guarantee specific network performance. This performance includes aspects such as cell load and throughput, and can be applied differently to different E2 nodes and UEs. Throughout this process, traffic steering actions are used to achieve the requirements of this configuration.

[0213] The term "traffic steering target" refers to the desired, intended performance result from a network configured to quasi-RT RIC through O1.

[0214] Furthermore, any of the disclosed embodiments and exemplary implementations may be embodied in various types of hardware, software, firmware, middleware, or combinations thereof, including in the form of control logic, and such hardware or software may be used in a modular or integrated manner. Additionally, any software component or any of the functions described herein may be implemented as software, program code, script, instruction, etc., that is operable to be executed by a processor circuit. These components, functions, programs, etc. may be, for example, Python®, PyTorch, NumPy, Ruby, Ruby on Rails, Scala, Smalltalk®, Java®, C++, C#, "C", Kotlin, Swift®, Rust, Go (or "Golang"), ECMAScript, JavaScript®, TypeScript, Jscript, ActionScript, Server-Side JavaScript (SSJS), PHP, Pearl, Lua, Torch / Lua with Just-In Time compiler (LuaJIT), Accelerated Mobile Pages Script (AMPscript), VBScript, JavaServer Pages (JSP), Active Server Pages (ASP), Node.js, ASP.NET, JAMscript, Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), Extensible HTML (XHTML), Extensible Markup Language (XML), XML User Interface Language (XUL), Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG), RESTful API Modeling Language (RAML), wiki markup or Wikitext, Wireless Markup Language (WML), JavaScript Object Notion (JSON), Apache® MessagePack®, Cascading Stylesheets (CSS), Extensible Stylesheet Language (XSL), Mustache template language, Handlebars template language, Guide Template Language (GTL), Apache® Thrift, Abstract Syntax Notation One (ASN.1), Google® Protocol Buffers (protobuf), Bitcoin script, EVM® bytecode, Solidity®, Vyper (derived from Python), Bamboo, Lisp-like language (LLL), Simplicity provided by Blockstream®, Rholang, Michelson, Counterfactual, Plasma, Plutus, Sophia, Salesforce® Apex®, etc., any suitable computer language, and / or any other programming language or development tool including proprietary programming languages and / or development tools can be used for development. The software code can be stored as computer or processor-executable instructions or commands on a physical non-transitory computer-readable medium. Examples of suitable media include magnetic media such as RAM, ROM, hard drive or floppy disk, or optical media such as compact disc (CD) or digital versatile disc (DVD), flash memory, and the like, or any combination of such storage or transmission devices. [Other possible items] (Item 1) An apparatus for performing channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) L3 measurements, the device comprising a processing circuit coupled to storage, the processing circuit establishing a first measurement window for a first CSI-RS related to a first type of measurement in a measurement object (MO); identifying a measurement gap related to a second type of measurement; performing an adjustment to avoid a collision between the first measurement window and the measurement gap; detecting the first CSI-RS within the first measurement window configured to be Device. (Item 2) The apparatus according to item 1, wherein the first measurement window has a first time duration that is configurable. (Item 3) The apparatus according to item 1, wherein the first measurement window has a first period that is configurable. (Item 4) The apparatus according to item 1, wherein a plurality of CSI-RS measurement windows are configured for one MO. (Item 5) The processing circuit further defining a second CSI-RS related to the first type of measurement of the MO; configuring the first CSI-RS and the second CSI-RS in the MO to have the same CSI-RS period for the first CSI-RS and the second CSI-RS configured to be, the apparatus according to item 1. (Item 6) The apparatus according to item 5, wherein the CSI-RS period is at least one of 20 milliseconds (ms), 40 ms, or 80 ms. (Item 7) The apparatus according to item 5, wherein a first timing offset of the first CSI-RS is different from a second timing offset of the second CSI-RS. (Item 8) The apparatus according to item 7, wherein the first timing offset of the first CSI-RS is configured before the second timing offset of the second CSI-RS. (Item 9) The apparatus according to any one of items 7 to 8, wherein the first timing offset of the first CSI-RS is a time offset smaller than the second timing offset of the second CSI-RS. (Item 10) When executed by one or more processors, Establishing a first measurement window for a first channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) related to a first type of measurement in a measurement object (MO); Identifying a measurement gap related to a second type of measurement; Performing an adjustment to avoid a collision between the first measurement window and the measurement gap; and Detecting the first CSI-RS within the first measurement window A computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions that result in the execution of operations including the above. (Item 11) The computer-readable medium according to item 10, wherein the first measurement window has a first time duration that is configurable. (Item 12) The computer-readable medium according to item 10, wherein the first measurement window has a first period that is configurable. (Item 13) The computer-readable medium according to item 10, wherein a plurality of CSI-RS measurement windows are configured for one MO. (Item 14) The operations further include Defining a second CSI-RS related to the first type of measurement of the MO; and Setting the first CSI-RS and the second CSI-RS in the MO such that they have the same CSI-RS period The computer-readable medium according to item 10, including the above. (Item 15) The computer-readable medium according to item 14, wherein the CSI-RS period is at least one of 20 milliseconds (ms), 40 ms, or 80 ms. (Item 16) The computer-readable medium according to item 14, wherein a first timing offset of the first CSI-RS is different from a second timing offset of the second CSI-RS. (Item 17) The computer-readable medium according to item 16, wherein the first timing offset of the first CSI-RS is configured before the second timing offset of the second CSI-RS. (Item 18) The computer-readable medium according to any one of items 16 to 17, wherein the first timing offset of the first CSI-RS is a time offset smaller than the second timing offset of the second CSI-RS. (Item 19) Establishing, by one or more processors, a first measurement window for a first channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) related to a first type of measurement in a measurement object (MO); Identifying a measurement gap related to the second type of measurement; Performing an adjustment to avoid a collision between the first measurement window and the measurement gap; and Detecting the first CSI-RS within the first measurement window A method comprising. (Item 20) The method according to item 19, wherein the first measurement window has a first time length that is configurable. (Item 21) The method according to item 19, wherein the first measurement window has a first period that is configurable. (Item 22) The method according to item 19, wherein a plurality of CSI-RS measurement windows are configured for one MO. (Item 23) Defining a second CSI-RS related to the first type of measurement of the MO; and Setting the first CSI-RS and the second CSI-RS in the MO such that they have the same CSI-RS period for the first CSI-RS and the second CSI-RS The method according to item 19, further comprising. (Item 24) An apparatus comprising means for performing any of the methods of items 19 to 23. (Item 25) A network node comprising a communication interface and a processing circuit connected thereto and configured to perform the methods according to items 19 to 23. < / element>

Claims

1. An apparatus for facilitating Channel State Information Reference Signal (CSI-RS) measurement, the apparatus comprising a processing circuit coupled to a storage, the processing circuit identifying a Measurement Gap (MG) during which channel measurements are to be performed; constructing all CSI-RS resources for a Measurement Object (MO) of a frequency inner layer within one of up to two distinct time windows that do not fully overlap with the MG or partially overlap with the measurement gap; notifying a user equipment of all the constructed CSI-RS resources for performing CSI-RS measurement on the MO is configured to apparatus.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the up to two distinct time windows consist of two time windows.

3. The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein each of the two time windows is 5 milliseconds.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the periods of all the constructed CSI-RS resources are the same.

5. The apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the period is 20 milliseconds.

6. The apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein none of all the CSI-RS resources fully overlaps with the MG.

7. The apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein start points of the up to two distinct time windows correspond to minimum offsets of all the CSI-RS resources.

8. A computer program comprising computer-executable instructions for facilitating Channel State Information Reference Signal (CSI-RS) measurement, which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to identify a Measurement Gap (MG) during which channel measurements are to be performed; construct all CSI-RS resources for a Measurement Object (MO) of a frequency inner layer within one of up to two distinct time windows that do not fully overlap with the MG or partially overlap with the measurement gap; and notify a user equipment of all the constructed CSI-RS resources for performing CSI-RS measurement on the MO The computer program comprising the computer-executable instructions that result in execution of operations including.

9. The computer program according to claim 8, wherein the up to two distinct time windows consist of two time windows.

10. The computer program according to claim 9, wherein the two time windows are each 5 milliseconds.

11. The computer program according to claim 8, wherein the periods of all the configured CSI-RS resources are the same.

12. The computer program according to claim 11, wherein the period is 20 milliseconds.

13. The computer program according to claim 8, wherein all of the CSI-RS resources do not completely overlap with the MG.

14. The computer program according to claim 8, wherein the start points of the two largest separate time windows correspond to the minimum offset of all the CSI-RS resources.

15. A method for facilitating channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) measurement, comprising: identifying, by a processing circuit in a communication network, a measurement gap (MG) during which channel measurement is performed; configuring, by the processing circuit, all CSI-RS resources for a measurement object (MO) of one frequency inner layer within two largest separate time windows that do not completely overlap with the MG or partially overlap with the measurement gap; and notifying, by the processing circuit, all the configured CSI-RS resources to a user equipment to perform CSI-RS measurement on the MO. The method comprises the above steps.

16. The method according to claim 15, wherein the two largest separate time windows consist of two time windows.

17. The method according to claim 16, wherein the two time windows are each 5 milliseconds.

18. The method according to claim 15, wherein the periods of all the configured CSI-RS resources are the same.

19. The method according to claim 18, wherein the period is 20 milliseconds.

20. The method according to any one of claims 15 to 19, wherein all of the CSI-RS resources do not completely overlap with the MG.

21. The method according to any one of claims 15 to 19, wherein the start points of the two largest separate time windows correspond to the minimum offset of all the CSI-RS resources.

22. An apparatus comprising means for performing the method according to claim 15.

23. A network node comprising a communication interface and a processing circuit connected thereto and configured to execute the method according to claim 15. **Claim 24** A computer-readable medium storing a computer program according to any one of claims 8 to 14.

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