Methods and apparatus for resuming a connection in a wireless system

Abstract

The disclosure relates to a 5G or 6G communication system for supporting a higher data transmission rate. According to an example of the present disclosure, there is provided a UE comprising: a transmitter; a receiver; a memory storing one or more instructions and at least one processor configured to execute the one or more instructions to: receive, from an AMF, S-NSSAI location validity information; and upon an uplink user data packet to be sent for a PDU session, in case that the UE is inside an area for a S-NSSAI which is associated with the PDU session, transmit, to a lower layer, a message requesting to transition to RRC CONNECTED state.

Description

METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR RESUMING A CONNECTION IN A WIRELESS SYSTEMOne embodiment of the present disclosure relate to methods, apparatus and / or systems for controlling the resuming of a connection at a UE. In particular, one embodiment of the present disclosure relates to determining whether to resume the connection under heterogeneous network slice support. Furthermore, one embodiment of the present disclosure relates to providing conditions by which a network entity, such as the UE or NG-RAN, may determine to resume the connection or not resume the connection.5G mobile communication technologies define broad frequency bands such that high transmission rates and new services are possible, and can be implemented not only in "Sub 6GHz" bands such as 3.5GHz, but also in "Above 6GHz" bands referred to as mmWave including 28GHz and 39GHz. In addition, it has been considered to implement 6G mobile communication technologies (referred to as Beyond 5G systems) in terahertz bands (for example, 95GHz to 3THz bands) in order to accomplish transmission rates fifty times faster than 5G mobile communication technologies and ultra-low latencies one-tenth of 5G mobile communication technologies.At the beginning of the development of 5G mobile communication technologies, in order to support services and to satisfy performance requirements in connection with enhanced Mobile BroadBand (eMBB), Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communications (URLLC), and massive Machine-Type Communications (mMTC), there has been ongoing standardization regarding beamforming and massive MIMO for mitigating radio-wave path loss and increasing radio-wave transmission distances in mmWave, supporting numerologies (for example, operating multiple subcarrier spacings) for efficiently utilizing mmWave resources and dynamic operation of slot formats, initial access technologies for supporting multi-beam transmission and broadbands, definition and operation of BWP (BandWidth Part), new channel coding methods such as a LDPC (Low Density Parity Check) code for large amount of data transmission and a polar code for highly reliable transmission of control information, L2 pre-processing, and network slicing for providing a dedicated network specialized to a specific service.Currently, there are ongoing discussions regarding improvement and performance enhancement of initial 5G mobile communication technologies in view of services to be supported by 5G mobile communication technologies, and there has been physical layer standardization regarding technologies such as V2X (Vehicle-to-everything) for aiding driving determination by autonomous vehicles based on information regarding positions and states of vehicles transmitted by the vehicles and for enhancing user convenience, NR-U (New Radio Unlicensed) aimed at system operations conforming to various regulation-related requirements in unlicensed bands, NR UE Power Saving, Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN) which is UE-satellite direct communication for providing coverage in an area in which communication with terrestrial networks is unavailable, and positioning.Moreover, there has been ongoing standardization in air interface architecture / protocol regarding technologies such as Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) for supporting new services through interworking and convergence with other industries, IAB (Integrated Access and Backhaul) for providing a node for network service area expansion by supporting a wireless backhaul link and an access link in an integrated manner, mobility enhancement including conditional handover and DAPS (Dual Active Protocol Stack) handover, and two-step random access for simplifying random access procedures (2-step RACH for NR). There also has been ongoing standardization in system architecture / service regarding a 5G baseline architecture (for example, service based architecture or service based interface) for combining Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) and Software-Defined Networking (SDN) technologies, and Mobile Edge Computing (MEC) for receiving services based on UE positions.As 5G mobile communication systems are commercialized, connected devices that have been exponentially increasing will be connected to communication networks, and it is accordingly expected that enhanced functions and performances of 5G mobile communication systems and integrated operations of connected devices will be necessary. To this end, new research is scheduled in connection with eXtended Reality (XR) for efficiently supporting AR (Augmented Reality), VR (Virtual Reality), MR (Mixed Reality) and the like, 5G performance improvement and complexity reduction by utilizing Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML), AI service support, metaverse service support, and drone communication.Furthermore, such development of 5G mobile communication systems will serve as a basis for developing not only new waveforms for providing coverage in terahertz bands of 6G mobile communication technologies, multi-antenna transmission technologies such as Full Dimensional MIMO (FD-MIMO), array antennas and large-scale antennas, metamaterial-based lenses and antennas for improving coverage of terahertz band signals, high-dimensional space multiplexing technology using OAM (Orbital Angular Momentum), and RIS (Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface), but also full-duplex technology for increasing frequency efficiency of 6G mobile communication technologies and improving system networks, AI-based communication technology for implementing system optimization by utilizing satellites and AI (Artificial Intelligence) from the design stage and internalizing end-to-end AI support functions, and next-generation distributed computing technology for implementing services at levels of complexity exceeding the limit of UE operation capability by utilizing ultra-high-performance communication and computing resources.It is an aim of the present disclosure to address, solve and / or mitigate, at least partly, at least one of the problems and / or disadvantages associated with the related art, for example at least one of the problems and / or disadvantages described herein. It is an aim of the present disclosure to provide at least one advantage over the related art, for example at least one of the advantages described herein.According to an aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a user equipment (UE) comprising: at least one processor configured to: while in 5GMM-CONNECTED mode with RRC_inactive indication, verify if a network slice (NS) is supported based on a location of the UE, wherein the NS is associated with data to be transmitted by the UE; and if the NS is supported, request lower layers to transition to RRC_CONNECTED state. Optionally, the UE comprises a receiver and / or a transmitter.According to an example, the at least one processor is configured to verify if the NS is supported in a current cell or in a current tracking area (TA).According to an example, the data is associated with a protocol data unit (PDU) session, wherein the PDU session is associated with the NS.According to an example, the PDU session has suspended user plane resources.According to an example, the UE is configured to have two PDU sessions including the PDU session associated with the NS and another PDU session associated with another NS.According to an example, the NS is identified by single network slice selection assistance information (S-NSSAI).According to an example, the at least one processor is further configured to: after transitioning to the RRC_CONNECTED state, transmit the data.According to an example, the data is uplink user data.According to another aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method of a user equipment (UE) in a wireless network, the method comprising: while in 5GMM-CONNECTED mode with RRC_inactive indication, verifying if a network slice (NS) is supported based on a location of the UE, wherein the NS is associated with data to be transmitted by the UE; and if the NS is supported, requesting lower layers to transition to RRC_CONNECTED state.According to an example, verifying if the NS is supported based on the location of the UE comprises verifying if the NS is supported in a current cell or in a current tracking area (TA).According to an example, the data is associated with a protocol data unit (PDU) session, wherein the PDU session is associated with the NS.According to an example, the PDU session has suspended user plane resources.According to an example, the UE is configured to have two PDU sessions including the PDU session associated with the NS and another PDU session associated with another NS.According to an example, the NS is identified by single network slice selection assistance information (S-NSSAI).According to an example, wherein the method further comprises: after transitioning to the RRC_CONNECTED state, transmitting the data.According to an example, the data is uplink user data.According to another aspect, there is provided a computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions which, when executed by at least one processor of a user equipment (UE), cause the UE to operate according to the method of any one of the above aspect or examples.According to another aspect, there is provided a network comprising a user equipment (UE) according to any one of the above aspect or examples.Other aspects, advantages, and salient features of the disclosure will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.Embodiments of the present disclosure are further described hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:Figure 1 is a flow diagram illustrating one or more methods according to various examples of the present disclosure;Figure 2 is a block diagram illustrating an UE in accordance with one embodiment of the present disclosure.Figure 3 is a flow diagram illustrating a method in accordance with various examples of the present disclosure.Figure 4 is a block diagram illustrating a network entity in accordance with one embodiment of the present disclosure.Figure 5 is a flow chart of a method for resuming the connection under heterogeneous network slice support, according to one embodiment of the present disclosure.Figure 6 is a flow chart of a method for resuming the connection under heterogeneous network slice support, according to one embodiment of the present disclosure.In one embodiment, a method performed by a UE in a wireless communication system is provided. The method comprising: receiving, from an AMF (access and mobility management function), S-NSSAI (single network slice selection assistance Information) location validity information; and upon an uplink user data packet to be sent for a PDU (protocol data unit) session, in case that the UE is inside an area for a S-NSSAI which is associated with the PDU session, transmitting, to a lower layer, a message requesting to transition to RRC (radio resource control) CONNECTED state.In one embodiment, the method, wherein the uplink user data packet to be sent is for the PDU session with suspended user-plane resources.In one embodiment, the method, wherein the UE is in 5GMM (5G Mobility Management) CONNECTED mode with RRC inactive indication.In one embodiment, the method, wherein the UE supports the S-NSSAI location validity information.In one embodiment, a method performed by a network entity in a wireless communication system is provided. The method comprising: transmitting, to a UE (user equipment), S-NSSAI (single network slice selection assistance Information) location validity information; and upon an uplink user data packet to be sent for a PDU (protocol data unit) session, in case that the UE is inside an area for a S-NSSAI which is associated with the PDU session, receiving, from the UE, a message requesting to transition to RRC (radio resource control) CONNECTED state.In one embodiment, the method, wherein the uplink user data packet to be sent is for the PDU session with suspended user-plane resources.In one embodiment, the method, wherein the UE is in 5GMM (5G Mobility Management) CONNECTED mode with RRC inactive indication.In one embodiment, the method, wherein the UE supports the S-NSSAI location validity information.In one embodiment, a UE (user equipment) in a wireless communication system is provided. The UE comprising: memory stored one or more instructions; and at least one processor configure to execute the one or more instructions to: receive, from an AMF (access and mobility management function), S-NSSAI (single network slice selection assistance Information) location validity information; and upon an uplink user data packet to be sent for a PDU (protocol data unit) session, in case that the UE is inside an area for a S-NSSAI which is associated with the PDU session, transmit, to a lower layer, a message requesting to transition to RRC (radio resource control) CONNECTED state.In one embodiment, the UE, wherein the uplink user data packet to be sent is for the PDU session with suspended user-plane resources.In one embodiment, the UE, wherein the UE is in 5GMM (5G Mobility Management) CONNECTED mode with RRC inactive indication.In one embodiment, the UE, wherein the UE supports the S-NSSAI location validity information.In one embodiment, a network entity in a wireless communication system is provided. The network entity comprising: memory stored one or more instructions; and at least one processor configure to execute the one or more instructions to: transmit, to a UE (user equipment), S-NSSAI (single network slice selection assistance Information) location validity information; and upon an uplink user data packet to be sent for a PDU (protocol data unit) session, in case that the UE is inside an area for a S-NSSAI which is associated with the PDU session, receive, from the UE, a message requesting to transition to RRC (radio resource control) CONNECTED state.In one embodiment, the network entity, wherein the uplink user data packet to be sent is for the PDU session with suspended user-plane resources.In one embodiment, the network entity, wherein the UE is in 5GMM (5G Mobility Management) CONNECTED mode with RRC inactive indication.The following description of examples of the present disclosure, with reference to the accompanying drawings, is provided to assist in a comprehensive understanding of one embodiment of the present disclosure. The description includes various specific details to assist in that understanding but these are to be regarded as merely exemplary. Accordingly, those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that various changes and modifications of the examples described herein can be made without departing from the scope of the invention or disclosure.The same or similar components may be designated by the same or similar reference numerals, although they may be illustrated in different drawings.Detailed descriptions of techniques, structures, constructions, functions or processes known in the art may be omitted for clarity and conciseness, and to avoid obscuring the subject matter of the present disclosure.The terms and words used herein are not limited to the bibliographical or standard meanings, but are merely used to enable a clear and consistent understanding of the disclosure.Throughout the description of this specification, the words "comprise", "include" and "contain" and variations of the words, for example "comprising" and "comprises", means "including but not limited to", and is not intended to (and does not) exclude other features, elements, components, integers, steps, processes, operations, functions, characteristics, properties and / or groups thereof.Throughout the description of this specification, the singular form, for example "a", "an" and "the", encompasses the plural unless the context otherwise requires. For example, reference to "an object" includes reference to one or more of such objects.Throughout the description, the expression "at least one of A, B and / or C" (or the like), the expression "and / or", and the expression "one or more of A, B and / or C" (or the like) should be seen to separately include all possible combinations, for example: A, B, C, A and B, A and C, A and B and C.Throughout the description of this specification, language in the general form of "X for Y" (where Y is some action, process, operation, function, activity or step and X is some means for carrying out that action, process, operation, function, activity or step) encompasses means X adapted, configured or arranged specifically, but not necessarily exclusively, to do Y.Features, elements, components, integers, steps, processes, operations, functions, characteristics, properties and / or groups thereof described or disclosed in conjunction with a particular aspect, embodiment or example are to be understood to be applicable to any other aspect, embodiment or example described herein unless incompatible therewith.One embodiment of the present disclosure relates to methods, apparatus and / or systems for controlling the resuming of a connection at a UE. In particular, one embodiment relates to determining whether to resume the connection under heterogeneous network slice support. Furthermore, one embodiment relates to providing conditions by which a network entity, such as the UE or NG-RAN, may determine to resume the connection or not resume the connection.The following examples are applicable to, and use terminology associated with, 3GPP 4G and 5G. However, the skilled person will appreciate that the techniques disclosed herein are not limited to these examples or to 3GPP 4G or 5G, and may be applied in any suitable system or standard, for example one or more existing and / or future generation wireless communication systems or standards. The skilled person will appreciate that the techniques disclosed herein may be applied in any existing or future releases of 3GPP 4G or 5G NR or any other relevant standard. For example, the functionality of the various network entities and other features disclosed herein may be applied to corresponding or equivalent entities or features in other communication systems or standards. Corresponding or equivalent entities or features may be regarded as entities or features that perform the same or similar role, function, operation or purpose within the network. In particular, the following disclosure should be considered at least in relation to 6G also, which is expected to use at least part of the 5G architecture, or equivalent, and to which the present disclosure also relates.A particular network entity may be implemented as a network element on a dedicated hardware, as a software instance running on a dedicated hardware, and / or as a virtualised function instantiated on an appropriate platform, e.g. on a cloud infrastructure.The skilled person will appreciate that the present disclosure is not limited to the specific examples disclosed herein. For example:The techniques disclosed herein are not limited to 3GPP 4G, 5G, B5G or 6G.● One or more entities in the examples disclosed herein may be replaced with one or more alternative entities performing equivalent or corresponding functions, processes or operations.● One or more of the messages in the examples disclosed herein may be replaced with one or more alternative messages, signals or other type of information carriers that communicate equivalent or corresponding information.● One or more further elements, entities and / or messages may be added to the examples disclosed herein.● One or more non-essential elements, entities and / or messages may be omitted in certain examples.● The functions, processes or operations of a particular entity in one example may be divided between two or more separate entities in an alternative example.● The functions, processes or operations of two or more separate entities in one example may be performed by a single entity in an alternative example.● Information carried by a particular message in one example may be carried by two or more separate messages in an alternative example.● Information carried by two or more separate messages in one example may be carried by a single message in an alternative example.● The order in which operations are performed may be modified, if possible, in alternative examples.● The transmission of information between network entities is not limited to the specific form, type and / or order of messages described in relation to the examples disclosed herein.One embodiment of the present disclosure may be provided in the form of an apparatus / device / network entity configured to perform one or more defined network functions and / or a method therefor. Such an apparatus / device / network entity may comprise one or more elements, for example one or more of receivers, transmitters, transceivers, processors, controllers, modules, units, and the like, each element configured to perform one or more corresponding processes, operations and / or method steps for implementing the techniques described herein. For example, an operation / function of X may be performed by a module configured to perform X (or an X-module). One embodiment of the present disclosure may be provided in the form of a system (e.g., a network) comprising one or more such apparatuses / devices / network entities, and / or a method therefor.It will be appreciated that examples of the present disclosure may be realized in the form of hardware, software or a combination of hardware and software. One embodiment of the present disclosure may provide a computer program comprising instructions or code which, when executed, implement a method, system and / or apparatus in accordance with any aspect, example and / or embodiment disclosed herein. One embodiment of the present disclosure provides a machine-readable storage storing such a program.The content of the following documents is referred to below and / or their content provides background information that the following disclosure should be considered in the context of:[1] 3GPP TS 23.501 - System architecture for the 5G System (5GS), (e.g. v18.2.1)[2] 3GPP TS 24.501 - Non-Access-Stratum (NAS) protocol for the 5G System (5GS), (e.g. v18.3.0).Note: the indicated version numbers are provided for illustrative purposes, other (including future) versions of these documents are considered also.Wireless or mobile (cellular) communications networks in which a mobile terminal (e.g., user equipment (UE), such as a mobile handset) communicates via a radio link with a network of base stations, or other wireless access points or nodes, have undergone rapid development through a number of generations. The 3rdGeneration Partnership Project (3GPP) design, specify and standardise technologies for mobile wireless communication networks. Fourth (4th) Generation (4G) and Fifth Generation (5G) systems (5GS) are now widely deployed, while beyond 5G (B5G) and 6G systems are being considered.3GPP standards for 4G systems include an Evolved Packet Core (EPC) and an Enhanced-UTRAN (E-UTRAN: an Enhanced Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network). The E-UTRAN uses Long Term Evolution (LTE) radio technology. LTE is commonly used to refer to the whole system including both the EPC and the E-UTRAN, and LTE is used in this sense in the remainder of this document. LTE should also be taken to include LTE enhancements such as LTE Advanced and LTE Pro, which offer enhanced data rates compared to LTE.In 5G systems a new air interface has been developed, which may be referred to as 5G New Radio (5G NR) or simply NR. NR is designed to support the wide variety of services and use case scenarios envisaged for 5G networks, though builds upon established LTE technologies. B5G systems, such as 6G, are currently being considered and developed, and are expected to at least partly build on 5G systems.New frameworks and architectures are being developed as part of 5G network (and beyond, such as 6G networks) in order to increase the range of functionality and use cases available through 5G networks.Support for slicing with heterogenous coverage / deploymentAs part of such frameworks and architectures, support is provided for network slicing. A Network Slice (NS), or slice, is defined as a logical network that provides specific network capabilities and network characteristics. A Network Slice Instance (NSI) is defined as a set of Network Function instances and the required resources (e.g. compute, storage and networking resources) which form a deployed NS. A Network Function (NF) is defined as a 3GPP adopted or 3GPP defined processing function in a network, which has defined functional behaviour and 3GPP defined interfaces. A NS may be identified by Single Network Slice Selection Assistance Information (S-NSSAI).Network slicing can be supported such that a NS may not be available in all the tracking areas (TAs) of a UE's registration area (RA), noting that an RA can include a list of TAs identified by TA Identities (TAIs). The description of this can be found in section 5.15.18 of 3GPP TS 23.501 [1] from which the following excerpt is provided:5.15.18.1 GeneralThe network support for a Network Slice is defined on a per Tracking Area granularity. It may be beneficial to deploy some Network Slices such that the Network Slice have a limited geographical availability that is not matching existing Tracking Area boundaries.The operator can in this case decide to change the topology of the Tracking Areas so they match the boundaries of the Network Slice, or the operator may configure resources for the Network Slices in the cells of TAs where the Network Slices are to be available, and in areas of the TAs where the network slice is defined to be not available the cells are configured with zero resources.The AMF receives from the OAM the information on availability of a network slice when the granularity is smaller than TA, i.e. if the NS-AoS includes TAs where the network slice is not available in some cells of the TA.In order to optimize the end-to-end behaviour, the AMF can, based on NS-AoS information received from OAM, configure supporting UEs with S-NSSAI location availability information, and the network may need to monitor the S-NSSAI usage and enforce the NS-AoS e.g. if the UE does not support the S-NSSAI location availability information.5.15.18.2 S-NSSAI location availability informationS-NSSAI location availability information defines additional restrictions to the usage of an S-NSSAI in TAs where the Network Slice availability does not match the TA boundaries. The AMF is configured per S-NSSAI whether to send the S-NSSAI location availability information to supporting UEs.The S-NSSAI location availability information sent to the UE includes, for each applicable S-NSSAI of the Configured NSSAI, Location information indicating the cells of TAs in the RA where the related S-NSSAI is available if the S-NSSAI is not available in all the cells of the TA.If the UE has indicated that the UE supports S-NSSAI location availability information in the 5GMM Core Network Capability (see clause　5.4.4a), the AMF may, based on OAM configuration, configure the UE with S-NSSAI location availability information for one or more S-NSSAIs when the AMF allocates an RA where the Network Slice availability does not match whole TAs, by including the S-NSSAI location availability information in the Registration Accept message or the UE Configuration Command message. A UE that receives S-NSSAI location availability information applies the information as follows.1. If the S-NSSAI is rejected in the RA or rejected partially in the RA or rejected with a cause code that allows attempting to register the S-NSSAI again, the UE can request the S-NSSAI only if the S-NSSAI location availability information indicates that the S-NSSAI is available at the cell where the UE is camping.2. If the S-NSSAI is in the Partially Allowed NSSAI or in the Allowed NSSAI, the UE shall not activate User Plane for any already established PDU Session with that S-NSSAI if the UE is in a cell within the RA but outside the Location information of the S-NSSAI. The UE and SMF shall not exchange user data as payload of a NAS message in both uplink and downlink directions.3. If the S-NSSAI is in the Partially Allowed NSSAI or in the Allowed NSSAI, and the UE in CM-IDLE mode is moved to a cell outside the Location information of the S-NSSAI, and the UE has an established PDU Session with that S-NSSAI, the PDU Session is kept.NOTE 1: By Radio Resource Management and existing mechanisms in NG-RAN, handover can be used to keep the UE in the NS-AoS or steer the UE to enter the NS-AoS as long as radio conditions allow it.NOTE 2: Since the S-NSSAI location availability information is not a used as a trigger for the UE to perform MRU due to mobility, i.e. the UE performs MRU due to mobility upon changing to a new TA outside the UE's Registration Area, the S-NSSAI remains registered and is included in the Allowed NSSAI when the UE exits the NS-AoS. If the S-NSSAI is subject for NSAC, the S-NSSAI is counted towards NSAC as described in clause　5.15.11 also when the UE is outside the NS-AoS.5.15.18.3 Network based monitoring and enforcement of Network Slice Area of Service not matching deployed Tracking AreasOAM may configure RRM policies for S-NSSAIs on a per cell basis as defined in TS　28.541

[0149] , i.e. cells outside the Network Slice Area of Service while in a TA supporting the S-NSSAI are allocated with no RRM resources for the S-NSSAI.The network may enforce the NS-AoS for an S-NSSAI as follows:1. The network may monitor the validity of the S-NSSAI for UE in CM-CONNECTED state, i.e. the AMF subscribes to the AoI using the Location information of the S-NSSAI location availability information as described in TS　38.413

[0034] .2. If the non-supporting UE makes a PDU Session establishment request with an S-NSSAI that is not valid as per the S-NSSAI location availability information, the AMF may reject the NAS Transport message with a back-off timer using S-NSSAI based congestion control as described in clause　5.19.7.4.3. If the AMF determines that the UE in CM-CONNECTED has moved outside the NS-AoS, the AMF performs the following logic:a) If the non-supporting UE has other S-NSSAI(s) in the Allowed NSSAI, then the AMF may update the UE with a UE Configuration Update by removing the S-NSSAI from the Allowed NSSAI (which causes the UE to locally release the PDU Sessions) and optionally removing the S-NSSAI from the Configured NSSAI and then, the AMF requests the SMF to locally release in the network any PDU Sessions with that S-NSSAI as per step　1f in clause　4.2.3.4 in TS　23.502　[3]. Alternatively, the AMF requests the SMF to release PDU Sessions with that S-NSSAI.b) If the non-supporting UE does not have any other S-NSSAI in the Allowed NSSAI, then the AMF may update the UE with a UE Configuration Update by removing the S-NSSAI from the Allowed NSSAI (which causes the UE to locally release the PDU Sessions) and optionally removing the S-NSSAI from the Configured NSSAI, and adding a default S-NSSAI to the Allowed NSSAI and then, the AMF requests the SMF to locally release in the network any PDU Sessions with the removed S-NSSAI as per step　1f in clause　4.2.3.4 in TS　23.502　[3]. Alternatively, the AMF requests the SMF to release PDU Sessions with that S-NSSAI.NOTE: Whether the AMF removes the S-NSSAI from Allowed NSSAI and Configured NSSAI or only releases the associated PDU Sessions when the AMF enforces the NS-AoS is up to AMF configuration.c) For a non-supporting UE that does not have any other S-NSSAI in the Allowed NSSAI nor in the Configured NSSAI, then the AMF indicates to the SMF to release the PDU Session.4. If the AMF determines that the S-NSSAI becomes valid e.g. the UE has moved into the NS-AoS, the AMF may update the UE with a UCU e.g. including the S-NSSAI in the Configured NSSAI.From the above, it can be seen that the UE may be provided with location information regarding the applicability of a slice (or an S-NSSAI) in a cell of a TA. According to the requirements from TS 23.501 [1], the UE is only allowed to use a slice if the cell supports the slice in question. In particular, if the slice (or S-NSSAI) is in the Partially Allowed NSSAI or in the Allowed NSSAI (this being the set or list of NSSAI allowed by the 5GN operator for a particular NS), the UE shall not activate User Plane for any already established protocol data unit (PDU) Session with that S-NSSAI if the UE is in a cell within the RA but outside the location information of the S-NSSAI.5GMM-CONNECTED mode with RRC-inactive indicationIn addition, 5GS defines the 5GMM-CONNECTED mode with RRC-inactive indication as a state in which the UE is considered to be in 5GMM-CONNECTED mode from a NAS perspective but in RRC-inactive state from the RRC perspective. The detailed UE behavior in this mode can be found in section 5.3.1.4 of 3GPP TS 24.501 [2], an excerpt of which is provided below:This subclause is only applicable for UE's 5GMM mode over 3GPP access. The 5GMM-CONNECTED mode with RRC inactive indication is not supported when the UE is in NB-N1 mode.The UE is in 5GMM-CONNECTED mode with RRC inactive indication when the UE is in:a) 5GMM-CONNECTED mode over 3GPP access at the NAS layer; andb) RRC_INACTIVE state at the AS layer (see 3GPP　TS　38.300

[0027] ).Unless stated otherwise, the UE behaviour in 5GMM-CONNECTED mode with RRC inactive indication follows the UE behaviour in 5GMM-CONNECTED over 3GPP access, except that:a) the UE shall apply the mobility restrictions; andb) the UE shall perform the PLMN selection proceduresas in 5GMM-IDLE mode over 3GPP access.The UE shall transition from 5GMM-CONNECTED mode over 3GPP access to 5GMM-CONNECTED mode with RRC inactive indication upon receiving an indication from the lower layers that the RRC connection has been suspended.NOTE　1: Any pending procedure or uplink data packet when receiving an indication from the lower layers that the RRC connection has been suspended, triggers a request to the lower layers to transition to RRC_CONNECTED state. This is also the case when the pending procedure or uplink data packet triggered a previous request to the lower layers to transition to RRC_CONNECTED state.If the UE in 3GPP access is configured for eCall only mode as specified in 3GPP　TS　31.102

[0022] then:- if the UE with the N1 NAS signalling connection established for eCall over IMS moved to 5GMM-CONNECTED mode with RRC inactive indication, the UE shall start timer T3444; and- if the UE with the N1 NAS signalling connection established for a call to an HPLMN designated non-emergency MSISDN or URI for test or terminal reconfiguration service moved to 5GMM-CONNECTED mode with RRC inactive indication, the UE shall start timer T3445.Upon:a) a trigger of a procedure which requires sending of a NAS message different from a REGISTRATION REQUEST message with the NG-RAN-RCU bit of the 5GS update type IE set to "UE radio capability update needed";b) an uplink user data packet to be sent for a PDU session with suspended user-plane resources;c) a trigger to request resources for 5G ProSe direct discovery over PC5 or 5G ProSe direct communication over PC5;d) a trigger to request resources for V2X communication over PC5 (see 3GPP　TS　23.287　[6C]); ore) a trigger to request resources for A2X communication over PC5 (see 3GPP　TS　23.256　[6AB]);the UE in 5GMM-CONNECTED mode with RRC inactive indication over 3GPP access shall request the lower layers to transition to RRC_CONNECTED state (see 3GPP　TS　38.300

[0027] ).NOTE　2: If the UE supports Small Data Transmission (SDT) (see 3GPP　TS　38.300

[0027] ), the following applies:if the UE due to pending uplink NAS messages or user data packets is requesting the lower layers to transition to RRC_CONNECTED state, but has not received a response from the lower layers, the UE can send the pending NAS messages or user data packets to the lower layers, and can receive multiple downlink NAS messages or multiple downlink user data packets from the lower layers while the UE remains in 5GMM-CONNECTED mode with RRC inactive indication over 3GPP access (i.e., without transitioning to 5GMM-CONNECTED mode). When the NAS layer triggers the transmission of pending uplink NAS messages or user data packets, and if the SDT is ongoing, the NAS layer will receive the response from the lower layers only after the SDT session has completed or failed;the NAS layer is not aware of the classification of NAS messages or the user data packets as belonging to the SDT session at the lower layers; andthe setting of access category and the RRC establishment cause indicated to the lower layers when sending the pending uplink user data packets while the UE remains in 5GMM-CONNECTED mode with RRC inactive indication, is left to implementation.Upon a trigger to send a REGISTRATION REQUEST message with the NG-RAN-RCU bit of the 5GS update type IE set to "UE radio capability update needed", the UE in 5GMM-CONNECTED mode with RRC inactive indication shall move to 5GMM-IDLE mode over 3GPP access and proceed with the registration procedure for mobility and periodic registration update as specified in subclause　5.5.1.3.2.The UE shall transition from 5GMM-CONNECTED mode with RRC inactive indication to 5GMM-CONNECTED mode over 3GPP access upon receiving an indication from the lower layers that the UE has transitioned to RRC_CONNECTED state (see 3GPP　TS　38.300

[0027] ).NOTE　3: The AMF can be aware of the transition between 5GMM-CONNECTED mode and 5GMM-CONNECTED mode with RRC inactive indication for a UE (see 3GPP　TS　23.502　[9]).The UE shall trigger a transition from 5GMM-CONNECTED mode with RRC inactive indication to 5GMM-IDLE mode upon selection of a PLMN or SNPN that is not an equivalent PLMN or SNPN to the registered PLMN or SNPN. The UE shall not trigger a transition from 5GMM-CONNECTED mode with RRC inactive indication to 5GMM-IDLE mode upon entering a new PLMN or SNPN which is in the list of equivalent PLMNs or SNPNs.The UE shall trigger a transition from 5GMM-CONNECTED mode with RRC inactive indication to 5GMM-IDLE mode upon receiving REFRESH command from the UICC as specified in subclause　5.4.5.3.3.If the UE in 5GMM-CONNECTED mode with RRC inactive indication receives an indication from the lower layers that the RRC connection has been suspended, the UE shall stay in 5GMM-CONNECTED mode with RRC inactive indication. The UE shall re-initiate any pending procedure that had triggered the request to the lower layers to transition to RRC_CONNECTED state, if still needed.When the UE in 5GMM-CONNECTED mode with RRC inactive indication receives a fallback indication from lower layers, and the UE has no pending NAS procedure and no pending uplink user data for PDU session(s) with user-plane resources already established, the UE shall:a) enter 5GMM-IDLE mode; andb) initiate the registration procedure for mobility and periodic registration update as specified for case o) in subclause　5.5.1.3.2.If the UE requests the lower layers to transition to RRC_CONNECTED state at initiation of a registration procedure, a service request procedure or a de-registration procedure, upon fallback indication from lower layers, the UE shall:- enter 5GMM-IDLE mode;- proceed with the pending procedure; and- if the pending procedure is a service request or registration request procedure and the SERVICE REQUEST message, the CONTROL PLANE SERVICE REQUEST message or the REGISTRATION REQUEST message does not include UE request type IE with Request type value set to "NAS signalling connection release", the UE shall include the Uplink data status IE in the SERVICE REQUEST message, the CONTROL PLANE SERVICE REQUEST message or in the REGISTRATION REQUEST message, indicating the PDU session(s) without active user-plane resources for which the UE has pending user data to be sent, if any, and the PDU session(s) for which user-plane resources were active prior to receiving the fallback indication, if any (see subclauses　5.5.1.3 and 5.6.1 for further details).If the UE requests the lower layers to transition to RRC_CONNECTED state for other reason than initiation of a registration procedure, or for other reason than a service request procedure, or for other reason than a de-registration procedure, upon fallback indication from lower layers, the UE shall:1) enter 5GMM-IDLE mode;2) initiate the service request procedure and include the Uplink data status IE in the SERVICE REQUEST message or the CONTROL PLANE SERVICE REQUEST message indicating the PDU session(s) for which user-plane resources were active prior to receiving the fallback indication, if any (see subclause　5.6.1 for further details). If the procedure that triggered the request to the lower layers to transition to RRC_CONNECTED state is the UE-initiated NAS transport procedure and the UE had SMS, location services message, or CIoT user data to send, the UE shall also include the SMS, location services message, or CIoT user data in the CONTROL PLANE SERVICE REQUEST message as described in subclause　5.6.1.2.2; and3) upon successful service request procedure completion, proceed with any pending procedure.If the UE in 5GMM-CONNECTED mode with RRC inactive indication receives a fallback indication from lower layers, and the UE has pending uplink user data for PDU session(s) with user-plane resources already established but no pending NAS procedure, the UE shall:1) enter 5GMM-IDLE mode; and2) initiate the service request procedure and include the Uplink data status IE in the SERVICE REQUEST message or the CONTROL PLANE SERVICE REQUEST message indicating the PDU session(s) for which user-plane resources were active prior to receiving the fallback indication (see subclause　5.6.1 for further details).In the above cases when the UE receives a fallback indication from lower layers, if the UE is in non-allowed area or not in allowed area, the UE shall behave as specified in subclause　5.3.5.If the UE in 5GMM-CONNECTED mode with RRC inactive indication receives an indication from the lower layers that the resumption of the RRC connection has failed, and:a) if the lower layers indicate that access barring is applicable for all access categories except categories 0 and 2, or access barring is applicable for all access categories except category 0, the UE shall:1) stay in 5GMM-CONNECTED mode with RRC inactive indication;b) else, the UE shall:1) enter 5GMM-IDLE mode; and2) initiate the registration procedure for mobility and periodic registration update used for mobility (i.e. the 5GS registration type IE set to "mobility registration updating" in the REGISTRATION REQUEST message) for N1 NAS signalling connection recovery as specified for case f) in subclause　5.5.1.3.2.NOTE　4: An indication from the lower layer that the RRC connection has been released with cause "RRC resume failure" can be considered as an indication that the resumption of the RRC connection has failed.The UE shall transition from 5GMM-CONNECTED mode with RRC inactive indication to 5GMM-IDLE mode over 3GPP access upon receiving from the lower layers:a) indication of transition from RRC_INACTIVE state to RRC_IDLE state; orb) indication of cell selection to E-UTRAN or another RAT that the UE supports.If the UE in 5GMM-CONNECTED mode with RRC inactive indication receives an indication from the lower layers about the cell (re-)selection to different RAT that the UE supports, the UE shall initiate the registration procedure for mobility or periodic registration update used for mobility (i.e. the 5GS registration type IE set to "mobility registration updating" in the REGISTRATION REQUEST message) as specified in subclause　5.5.1.3.2.If the UE in 5GMM-CONNECTED mode with RRC inactive indication receives an indication from the lower layers of a transition from RRC_INACTIVE state to RRC_IDLE state and 5GMM-REGISTERED.LIMITED-SERVICE is entered, the UE shall subsequently upon entering state 5GMM-REGISTERED.NORMAL-SERVICE and if there is no uplink user data or signalling pending, initiate the registration procedure for mobility and periodic registration update used for mobility (i.e. the 5GS registration type IE set to "mobility registration updating" in the REGISTRATION REQUEST message) for N1 NAS signalling connection recovery as specified in subclause　5.5.1.3.2.If the UE in 5GMM-CONNECTED mode with RRC inactive indication receives an indication from the lower layers about RAN paging and the MUSIM UE decides not to initiate the service request procedure with service type set to "mobile terminated services" or control plane service type set to "mobile terminating request" to respond to the RAN paging, the UE may initiate the service request procedure and set request type to "NAS signalling connection release" in the UE request type IE and service type to "signalling" in the SERVICE REQUEST message or set request type to "NAS signalling connection release" in the UE request type IE and control plane service type set to "mobile originating request" in the CONTROL PLANE SERVICE REQUEST message to reject the RAN paging as specified in subclause　5.6.1.2 for case o of subclause　5.6.1.1. The UE may include its paging restriction preferences in the Paging restriction IE in the SERVICE REQUEST message or CONTROL PLANE SERVICE REQUEST message as specified in subclause　5.6.1.2 for case o of subclause　5.6.1.1.NOTE　5: The interworking between the NAS layer and the AS layer triggered by RAN paging is up to UE implementation.NOTE 6: As an implementation option, the MUSIM UE is allowed to not respond to RAN paging based on the information available in the paging message, e.g. voice service indication.Upon receiving AMF paging indication from the lower layers, the UE shall transition from 5GMM-CONNECTED mode with RRC inactive indication to 5GMM-IDLE mode over 3GPP access and handle the AMF paging same as the paging request received in the 5GMM-IDLE mode over 3GPP access as specified in subclause　5.6.1.If the UE supporting the reconnection to the network due to RAN timing synchronization status change has been requested to reconnect to the network upon receiving an indication of a change in the RAN timing synchronization status (see subclauses　5.4.4.2, 5.5.1.2.4, and 5.5.1.3.4) and the UE receives an indication of a change in the RAN timing synchronization status, the UE in 5GMM-CONNECTED mode with RRC inactive indication shall request the lower layers to transition to RRC_CONNECTED state.A main point to note from the above is that the UE may have already established user plane (UP) resources and then the UE transitions to 5GMM-CONNECTED mode with RRC inactive indication. From the NAS point of view, these resources have already been requested and therefore the UE will not send another NAS message (normally, this would be the Control Plane Service Request or the Service Request message) in order to request the re-establishment of these resources. These UP resources are considered to be suspended but available upon request. As such the UE, when it needs to send data on the suspended UP resources, would simply request the lower layers (i.e. RRC) to transition to RRC_CONNECTED state and then send the data. Therefore, it is noticeable that the NAS does not perform any further check in this scenario.As described above, a communication system such as 5GS may support network slicing such that a slice may not be available in all TAs of a UE's RA, and may define a 5GMM-CONNECTED mode (or state) with RRC-inactive indication.With respect to a slice not being available in all cells, referring to the details given above, the UE is not supposed to request the activation of UP resources when the UE is in a cell which does not support the corresponding slice for which the UP resources are associated with. However, the request for UP resources is normally done by means of a NAS message. Therefore this requirement means that the UE is not supposed to initiate the service request procedure (and send the corresponding NAS message) to request UP resources for the slice which is not part of the current cell on which the UE is camped. However, this requirement does not cover the case for which the UE is in 5GMM-CONNECTED mode with RRC inactive indication and for which the UE can simply request the lower layers to transition to RRC_CONNECTED state without verifying whether the slice is available or not in the current cell.Therefore, to summarize, for a UE in 5GMM-CONNECTED mode with RRC_inactive indication, the UE currently does not perform any check about the support of the slice for which the UP traffic is associated with. This becomes a missing and unaddressed scenario for which the UE may end up requesting the lower layers to transition to connected mode in order to use a slice which is actually not supported in the current cell (e.g. the current cell on which the UE is camped). The behaviour of the network in this case is also unpredictable.Accordingly, various examples of the present disclosure aim to address at least to some extent one or more of these issues. That is, various examples aim to provide behaviour for the UE and / or the network in the event of a situation corresponding to the above arising. Of course, other advantages may also arise from the examples described herein.It will be appreciated that the examples described herein may be provided in any order or in any combination with one another.According to various examples of the present disclosure (e.g. a first set of examples), the UE verifies (e.g., is configured to verify) if the data (e.g., data to be sent by the UE) is associated with a slice which is supported on the cell before requesting the lower layers (e.g., the RRC layer) to resume a connection. It should be noted that requesting the lower layers to resume a connection may also refer to requesting the lower layers to transition to RRC_CONNECTED state (optionally from RRC inactive state, or from 5GMM-CONNECTED mode with RRC_inactive indication). Some specific examples of this are provided below.In the following (e.g., with regards to the first set of examples), a UE may be in 5GMM-CONNECTED mode with RRC_inactive indication. The UE may have data to transmit, and this data (or at least a part thereof) may be associated with one or more PDU session which is in turn associated with a slice (e.g., a S-NSSAI, or corresponding to an S-NSSAI) or slices (e.g., S-NSSAIs).The UE may verify (e.g., determine, identify, check, detect etc.) if the data to be sent is associated with a slice (or slices) which is supported in the current cell or in the current TA. Note that all of the examples disclosed herein (e.g. those where the verification is based on location) may apply for any type of location check, where the location may be a cell, a TA, a registration area (or a list of TAs), or any type of geographic location e.g. coordinates, shapes, etc. For example, in general terms, the UE may perform a location-based verification as to whether the data to be sent is supported, such as supported in a location of the UE. For example, the UE has (e.g. stores and / or has been provided with) valid NS-AoS (network slice area of service) information. The verification or determination (e.g. as described in accordance with any of the examples herein) may be based on the valid NS-AoS of the UE.In various examples, if the UE determines that the slice is supported in the current cell (or in the current TA), the UE can then request the lower layers (e.g. the RRC layer) to transition to RRC_CONNECTED state.Here, in some examples, the UE may behave as described above when there is at least one slice which is supported in the cell and with which the data to be sent is associated.That is, the UE may determine or may be aware that (or it may be the case that) there is at least one slice supported in the current cell or in the current TA, where the data to be transmitted is associated with the at least one slice, and the UE may request the lower layers to transition to RRC_CONNECTED state as a result of, or based on, this determination.It will be appreciated that the UE may, in some examples, have two (or more) PDU sessions, and hence two (or more) slices, one slice per / for each PDU session and both of which have suspended user plane resources (i.e., both / each slice has associated user plane resources suspended for it). When the UE has data to send, the data may be associated with one of these PDU sessions, and hence one of the slices which is supported in the cell. It is also possible that the UE has data to send for the other slice but that slice is not supported in the current cell (or in the current TA).In some examples, the UE may behave as described above when the cell supports all the slices for which the UE has suspended UP resources even if the data to be sent is associated with one of the slices only. In this case, the UE may request to transition to RRC_CONNECTED state optionally only when all the slices (or PDU sessions) with suspended UP resources are actually supported (or are available) on the cell (which the UE is camping on, or in the current TA).That is, the UE may determine or may be aware that (or it may be the case that) all slices for which the UE has suspended UP resources are supported by the cell, regardless of whether the data to be transmitted is associated with only one of these slices or more than one of these slices. In response to, or based on, this determination or case, the UE may request the lower layers to transition to RRC_CONNECTED state. In some cases, the UE may make such a request to (the lower layers to) transition to RRC_CONNECTED state only when all the slices (or PDU sessions) with suspended UP resources are actually supported (or are available) on the cell (which the UE is camping on, or in the current TA).In various examples, if the UE determines or verifies that the slice is not supported in the current cell (or in the current TA), the UE may not request the lower layers (e.g. the RRC layer) to transition to RRC_CONNECTED state. The UE may resume to be in 5GMM-CONNECTED mode with RRC-inactive indication.In some examples, the UE may behave as described above if at least one slice is not supported in the cell and, optionally, for which the UE has data to send (optionally for which the UP resources are suspended).That is, the UE may determine or may be aware that (or it may be the case that) at least one slice, for which the UE has data to send and / or for which the UP resources are suspended, is not supported in the current cell or in the current TA. In response to, or based on, this determination or case, the UE may not request the lower layers (e.g. the RRC layer) to transition to RRC_CONNECTED state. The UE may resume to be in 5GMM-CONNECTED mode with RRC-inactive indication.In some examples, the UE may behave as above when the UE has more than one slice with suspended UP resources and all of the slices are not supported in the cell.That is, the UE may determine or may be aware that (or it may be the case that) all / each of a plurality of slices, for which UP resources are suspended, are / is not supported in the current cell or current TA. In response to, or based on, this determination or case, the UE may not request the lower layers (e.g. the RRC layer) to transition to RRC_CONNECTED state. For example, the UE may not request to transition to RRC_CONNECTED state only if all of the plurality of slices are not supported - if one or more of the slices are supported the UE may instead request to transition to RRC_CONNECTED, or perform an operation other than not requesting to transition to RRC_CONNECTED. The UE may resume to be in 5GMM-CONNECTED mode with RRC-inactive indication.In some examples, the UE may behave as above when the UE has more than one slice with suspended UP resources and the current cell (or TA) does not support all the slices for which UP resources are suspended, even if one of these slices has associated data to be sent and this slice is supported in the cell (or TA). In this case, the UE may only request the lower layers to transition to RRC_CONNECTED state if all the slices with suspended UP resources are supported in the cell (or TA) even if the UE does not have data to send for each and every slice (but may have data to send for at least one slice).In other words, the UE may determine or may be aware that (or it may be the case that) all of a plurality of slices, for which UP resources are suspended, are / is not supported in the current cell or current TA, even though one or more of the slices is supported and has associated data to be transmitted. In response to, or based on, this determination or case, the UE may not request the lower layers (e.g. the RRC layer) to transition to RRC_CONNECTED state. Instead, the UE may only request to transition to the RRC_CONNECTED state if all of the plurality of slices are supported, even if one or more of the (unsupported) slices does not have associated data to be sent and / or if one of the supported slices does have associated data to be sent.In various examples, if a UE determines (e.g., identifies, chooses, verifies etc.) not to transition to RRC_CONNECTED state (e.g., not to request lower layers to transition to RRC_CONNECTED state), where this determination may be based on any one or combination of the examples given above or may be based on other means / reasoning (i.e., the following may also be considered in isolation of the above examples), the UE may behave (e.g., be configured to act) according to one or more of the following examples:● In an example, the UE may inform the upper layer(s) (e.g. the 5GSM entity or the data layer) that data cannot be sent (e.g., the data associated with a slice for which UP resources are suspended). The UE may remain in 5GMM-CONNECTED mode with RRC_inactive indication.● In an example, the UE may transition from 5GMM-CONNECTED mode with RRC_CONNECTED state into 5GMM-IDLE mode. This may be in response to, or based on, the UE determining that it is outside a cell (or TA) where the slice(s) are supported for the PDU session(s) with suspended UP resources. Note that the UE may behave as described when the UE enters 5GMM-CONNECTED mode with RRC inactive indication (optionally from 5GMM-CONNECTED mode) even if the UE does not have data to send. Thus, the UE in 5GMM-CONNECTED mode with RRC inactive indication can constantly or periodically verify if the cell (or TA) supports the slices for which UP resources are suspended and then take any of the actions proposed herein even if there is no data to be sent. As such the trigger for any of the proposed UE (or network) behaviour need not be the availability of data to send but rather either the transition 5GMM-CONNECTED mode with RRC inactive indication (optionally from 5GMM-CONNECTED mode) or periodically while in 5GMM-CONNECTED mode with RRC inactive indication e.g. based on a preconfigured periodic time or interval to perform the check.● In an example, the UE may transition from 5GMM-CONNECTED mode with RRC_CONNECTED state into 5GMM-IDLE mode when at least one slice (associated to a PDU session for which UP resources are suspended) is not available in the cell (or in the TA). That is, in response to, or based on, the UE determining that it is outside a cell (or TA) where the slice(s) are supported for the PDU session(s) with suspended UP resources and / or when at least one slice (associated to a PDU session for which UP resources are suspended) is not available in the cell (or in the TA), the UE may transition from 5GMM-CONNECTED mode with RRC_CONNECTED state into 5GMM-IDLE mode. In some examples, the UE may behave as described either when there is data to send, or even if there is no data to send for the slice with suspended resources.● In an example, the UE may transition from 5GMM-CONNECTED mode with RRC_CONNECTED state into 5GMM-IDLE mode when all the slices, for which UP resources are suspended, are not supported in the cell (or in the TA). That is, in response to, or based on, the UE determining that it is outside a cell (or TA) where the slice(s) are supported for the PDU session(s) with suspended UP resources and / or when all the slices, for which UP resources are suspended, are not supported in the cell (or in the TA), the UE may transition from 5GMM-CONNECTED mode with RRC_CONNECTED state into 5GMM-IDLE mode. In some examples, the UE may behave as described either when there is data to send, or even if there is no data to send for the slice with suspended resources.● In an example, the UE may locally release the associated PDU session for which there is data but for which the slice (i.e., slice associated with the PDU session) is not supported in the cell. In some examples, the UE may behave as described either when there is data to send, or even if there is no data to send for the slice with suspended resources.l In an example, the UE may keep (or maintain) the PDU session for which there is data (e.g. data to be transmitted) but for which there is suspended UP resources. In some examples, the UE may behave as described either when there is data to send, or even if there is no data to send for the slice with suspended resources.● In an example, the UE may locally release the user plane resource for the PDU session (e.g., the PDU session for which there is data to be transmitted), but maintain the PDU session. In some examples, the UE may behave as proposed either when there is data to send, or even if there is no data to send for the slice with suspended resources.● In an example, the UE may remain in 5GMM-CONNECTED mode with RRC inactive indication as long as at least one slice is supported in the cell (or TA) for which the UE has suspended UP resources. The UE may behave as described here either when there is data to send, or even if there is no data to send for the slice with suspended resources. The UE may enter 5GMM-IDLE mode upon detection that all of the slices, for which UP resources are suspended, are not supported in the cell (or TA) while the UE is in 5GMM-CONNECTED mode with RRC inactive indication.In various examples, the UE may behave as described above (e.g., in accordance with any one or more of the examples given above, for instance any of the examples in the first set) when the slice (or S-NSSAI) is in the partially allowed NSSAI or when the slice (or S-NSSAI) is rejected in the RA or rejected partially in the RA or rejected with a cause code that allows attempting to register the S-NSSAI again or the slice (or S-NSSSAI) is not supported in the current cell (or TA). That is, the UE may behave above in the event of any one or more of: when the slice (or S-NSSAI) is in the partially allowed NSSAI; when the slice (or S-NSSAI) is rejected in the RA; when the slice (or S-NSSAI) is rejected partially in the RA; when the slice (or S-NSSAI) is rejected with a cause code that allows attempting to register the S-NSSAI again; or when the slice (or S-NSSSAI) is not supported in the current cell. Note that any one or more of these conditions may be verified (e.g., by the UE) in addition to those listed above (i.e., those described in the examples above) in order to determine (e.g., by the UE) if the UE may request the lower layers to resume a connection i.e. to transition to RRC_CONNECTED state.According to various examples of the present disclosure, e.g. a second set of examples, the UE may not verify if the cell or TA supports a slice but leaves it up to the network to enforce the policies regarding UE presence in an area of service. Some specific examples of this are provided below.In the following, a UE in 5GMM-CONNECTED mode with RRC_inactive indication may not need to verify if it is located in a cell or TA which supports the slice for which the UE needs to send data (and for which the UP resources are suspended). In this case, the UE may directly request the lower layers to transition to 5GMM-CONNECTED mode. In other words, the UE may request the lower layers to transition to 5GMM-CONNECTED mode regardless of whether the slice, for which there is associated data to be transmitted, is supported in the current cell or current TA, where the UE may be aware of the whether the slice is supported or unaware (e.g., having performed no determination relating to) of whether the slice is supported.In various examples (such as examples included in the second set of examples), the network, e.g. NG-RAN, may monitor (e.g., identify, check, consider etc.), or attempt to monitor, the UE's availability in a particular cell (e.g., the current cell) and also may verify (e.g., determine, check, identify etc.) if the connection can be resumed (e.g., if the UE can transition to RRC_CONNECTED state) as described in the following examples (but not limited to these examples). Here, the responsibility is on the network, e.g. the NG-RAN. The NG-RAN may verify the UE's context and determine which PDU session(s) (or data bearer(s)) have suspended UP resources and hence which slice(s) these PDU session(s) (or data bearer(s)) are associated with. The NG-RAN, once it has determined the slice(s) that the UE is requesting to use (e.g.: based on, or in response to, the UE requesting to enter RRC_CONNECTED state; based on, or in response to, the UE requesting to transition from RRC inactive (indication) to RRC_CONNECTED state; and / or based on, or in response to, determining which PDU session or bearer is suspended and hence the associated slice), the NG-RAN may then determine if it can grant the request or not based on any one or more of the following examples (these being the same "following examples" referred to earlier in this paragraph):● In an example, if the cell (or TA) on which the UE is requesting to transition to RRC_CONNECTED state supports at least one slice for which the UP resources are suspended, then the NG-RAN may process (i.e. continue to process) the UE's request to resume its connection (and hence enter RRC_CONNECTED state. For example, the NG_RAN may allow the request. Optionally, the NG-RAN may then release the resources for the other PDU session(s) (or bearer(s)) for which the associated slice is not supported in this cell.● In an example, which may be an alternative to the previous example, if all of the slices for which there are suspended UP resources are not supported in the cell (or TA), then the NG-RAN may reject the UE's request to resume the connection. The rejection may mean that the NG-RAN sends the RRCReject message (or other message indicating the rejection) to the UE and optionally includes a wait time (e.g. in the message). Optionally, the rejection may mean that the UE's RRC connection is released and hence the UE is put in RRC_IDLE state.● In an example, which may be an alternative to the previous examples, if the cell (or TA) on which the UE is attempting to transition to RRC_CONNECTED mode (based on or in response to the UE attempting to resume a / the connection) does not support any or all of the slices which have suspended UP resources, then the NG-RAN may reject the UE's request to resume the connection. The rejection may mean that the NG-RAN sends the RRCRelease message (or other message indicating the rejection) to the UE and optionally include a wait time (e.g. in the message). Optionally, the rejection may mean that the UE's RRC connection is released and hence the UE is put in RRC_IDLE state. Optionally, the RRCRelease message may include a suspend indication.● In an example, which may be an alternative to the previous examples, if at least one slice or if all the slices (for which the UE's PDU sessions or bearers have suspended bearers) are not supported in the cell where the UE is attempting to resume its connection, the NG-RAN may release and redirect the UE to another cell where the slices are supported. For instance, the NG-RAN may be configured with information of which target cell may be used as a target cell for the UE's redirection. Additionally or alternatively, the NG-RAN may determine, based on local information (e.g. based on local configuration in the NG-RAN node or based on operation and management procedures), which cell supports the desired slices (that have suspended UP resources and which the UE wants to use).In various examples, the core network may monitor the UE's presence in a cell or TA, and may determine what, if any, action needs to be taken based on availability (or not) of the slices. It will be appreciated that this, and the following examples which indicate one or more action(s) that may be taken by the network, may be combined with any of the above, may be combined with each other or may be considered separately.The network (e.g., NG-RAN, AMF, SMF, etc) may take any of the actions disclosed herein (e.g., in one or more of the examples where the network performs verification) when the UE transitions from 5GMM-CONNECTED mode with RRC inactive indication to 5GMM-CONNECTED mode. For example, the AMF may verify the UE's availability in an area (e.g. cell or TA) which supports the UE's desired slices upon a reception (e.g. from an NG-RAN) of a request to resume a UE's connection, or upon the AMF transitioning from 5GMM-CONNECTED mode with RRC inactive indication to 5GMM-CONNECTED mode. The network (e.g. AMF) may also behave as described above or herein after every transition from 5GMM-IDLE mode with suspend indication to 5GMM-CONNECTED mode, optionally after receiving a request from the lower layers (e.g. the NG-RAN) to resume a connection.In some examples, the network may also verify a condition of availability of a slice at a certain time, e.g. at the current time, instead of verifying slice availability in a UE's location (e.g. cell or TA level) and behave as described herein (e.g., in one or more of the examples where the network performs verification, such as those of the second set of examples). In some examples, the network may verify both condition of time and location. The network may perform / make a verification when the UE enters 5GMM-CONNECTED mode with RRC inactive indication, or when the UE enters 5GMM-IDLE mode with suspend indication, to give some non-limiting examples of triggers for performing a location-based or time-based (or both) verification.In some examples, upon determining a UE's location or an indication thereof, a Network Function Entity (e.g. AMF) may send a message (e.g. Nsmf_PDUSession_UpdateSMContext request message) to notify another NF (e.g. SMF) that the UE is currently outside of supported tracking area / cell or Network Slice Area of Service, and / or that the UE is currently outside of a validity timer (e.g., in the sense of the validity timer having expired or not be running), such as for a temporary Network Slice, for a current S-NSSAI (e.g. S-NSSAI-1).In some examples, a Network Function entity (e.g. UPF) may decide to either discard or buffer the data packets and may deactivate (or release) the user plane recourses (e.g. suspend data transmission) for the corresponding PDU Session(s) (e.g., PDU Session id -1) if user plane recourses have not been deactivated (or released) yet. Optionally, a Network Function Entity (e.g. SMF / AMF / UPF) may send a NAS message (e.g. PDU Session release request, or similar) to the UE, and / or may locally release the PDU Session or initiates the release of the user plane resources.In some examples, the SMF may indicate to NG-RAN (e.g. in N2 message - i.e. message over N2 interface) to release the user plane resources of the PDU session belonging to a slice which is not allowed or not supported in the current area (e.g. current cell, current TAI etc.). The NG-RAN may, e.g. based on or in response to the indication, trigger a RAN procedure to release the respective user plane resources.Note that monitoring of the UE's presence, as discussed in various examples herein, may refer to a verification of the UE's location compared to the area of service of at least one slice (or S-NSSAI).The UE and / or the network (NG-RAN, AMF, SMF, etc) may be configured to operate based on any of the examples given above, such as (but not limited to) any of the examples in the first set of examples, any of the examples in the second set of examples or a combination of any of these examples.The network may also, e.g. using NAS or RRC message, inform the UE which operation or which behaviour to adopt from those listed above. The UE may then behave as indicated by the network. In other words, for each of the examples given herein, the example may include a step of receiving, at the UE from the network, a message including information on a behaviour, where the information on the behaviour causes the UE to act in accordance with the example. Similarly, for each of the examples given herein, the example may include a step of transmitting, to the UE from the network, a message including information on a behaviour, where the information on the behaviour causes the UE to act in accordance with the example.The UE may apply the same behaviour as described in any of the examples above for the case when a slice is deemed to be available at a certain time period only. As such, any of the examples above would apply in such a case but where the UE may, instead of verifying whether a slice is available in its location (e.g. current cell or TA), the UE may verify if the slice is to be used within a validity time which is associated with the slice availability or validity (for use). As such, in various examples (such as relating to this case) the condition that the UE verifies is related to time instead of location. As such, all the examples disclosed herein may apply in this case as well, noting that the UE may now verify time (i.e. whether the slice is known to be available in the current time compared to e.g. a known time of slice (un)availability, instead of just location). Similarly, the network can behave according to any of the examples described herein but where the network may verify a condition related to time instead of location.For example, when the UE (which is optionally in 5GMM-CONNECTED mode with RRC inactive indication) wants to send data for a slice, which is associated to a PDU session, for which the UP resources are suspended, then the UE may behave in accordance with one or more of the following examples:● In an example, the UE may verify if the use of the slice is permitted at the current time, e.g. based on a known time (or duration) that defines or permits the use of a slice. If the UE determines that the slice can be used at the current time then the UE may request the lower layers to transition to RRC_CONNECTED state.● In an example, the UE may verify if the use of the slice is permitted at the current time, e.g. based on a known time (or duration) that defines or permits the use of a slice. If the UE determines that the slice cannot be used at the current time then the UE should not request the lower layers to transition to RRC_CONNECTED state. In this case, the UE may enter 5GMM-IDLE mode○ Note that for all the cases herein in which it is proposed that the UE may enter 5GMM-IDLE mode, in some examples this may also mean that the UE (or NAS layer) informs the lower layer (e.g. RRC) to enter RRC_IDLE state.● In an example, if the UE determines that the slice cannot be used at the current time, the UE may locally or autonomously enter 5GMM-IDLE mode (optionally from 5GMM-CONNECTED mode with RRC inactive indication).● In an example, if the UE determines that the slice cannot be used at the current time, the UE may remain (e.g., continue to remain) in 5GMM-CONNECTED mode with RRC inactive indication, and optionally the UE informs the upper layers that the data cannot be sent.● In an example, if the UE determines that the slice cannot be used at the current time, the UE may release the PDU session which is associated with the slice, or may locally release any data radio bearer configurations which are associated with the slice that has suspended UP resources but which cannot be used at the current time (or for which the UE cannot resume its connection).It will also be appreciated that the combination of time restriction and location restriction (regarding slice support on a cell or TA level) and all the related conditions listed herein (that is, any of the examples provided herein) may apply together, in any order and / or in any combination. As such, the UE may verify conditions related to time and / or location (e.g., a location-based verification and / or a time-based verification), and take any combination of the actions provided by the various examples herein. Similarly, the network can verify any condition related to slice support (on a cell or TA level) or time related conditions regarding the use of the slice and take any combination of the actions provided by the various examples herein. That is, the present disclosure also includes examples corresponding to those disclosed above (or elsewhere herein) where the condition the UE and / or network verifies is related to both time and location. For instance, such case(s) may relate to an amalgamation of the cases where a slice may or may not be available in a current cell or TA (i.e., current location) and cases where a slice may be available at a certain time period only.It should be noted that all of the examples provided herein may apply for a UE which supports the feature or for a UE which does not support the feature. For example, the UE supports S-NSSAI location information. For example, it may not be required for a UE to support (e.g., be able to make use of or perform) certain functionality relating to one of the examples disclosed herein even though the UE may be configured to perform / operate / act according to said one of the examples.It should also be noted that a slice for which there are suspended UP resources may refer to the PDU session which is associated with the slice and for which there are suspended UP resources. Similarly, a PDU session for which there are suspended UP resources may refer to the slice which is associated with the PDU session for which there are suspended UP resources. In other words, references in the examples disclosed herein to a slice for which there are suspended UP resources may also, or instead, be seen to refer to a PDU session associated with such a slice; while references in the examples disclosed herein to a PDU session for which there are suspended UP resources may also, or instead, be seen to refer to a slice associated with such a PDU session.It will also be appreciated that each / all of the examples given herein may also apply for the case when the UE is in 5GMM-IDLE mode with suspend indication. In other words, for each example the present disclosure includes a corresponding example where, instead of the UE being in 5GMM-CONNECTED with RRC inactive indication, the UE is in 5GMM-IDLE with suspend indication.It will also be appreciated that each / all of the examples give herein may apply regardless of whether slices are supported on a cell level or on a TA level. The example(s) would apply as the verifications can be extended to TA level.It will also be appreciated that, for all of the examples disclosed herein, the present disclosure includes corresponding examples where the UE or network may perform a verification for one or more slices (e.g., under a condition such as disclosed for any of the examples given herein) even if the UE does not have data to send. Thus, for instance, the UE in 5GMM-CONNECTED mode with RRC inactive indication may constantly or periodically verify if the cell (or TA) supports the slice(s) for which UP resources are suspended (or if use of the slice(s) for which UP resources are suspended is allowed at the current time) and then take any of the actions disclosed herein (e.g., any outcome of the position or negative verification as described for the examples given herein) even if there is no data to be sent. As such, in some examples the trigger for any of the proposed UE (or network) behaviour need not be the availability of data to send but rather either the transition 5GMM-CONNECTED mode with RRC inactive indication (optionally from 5GMM-CONNECTED mode) or periodically while in 5GMM-CONNECTED mode with RRC inactive indication e.g. based on a preconfigured periodic time or interval to perform the check.It will be understood that all of the examples described herein may also apply to EPS, or to S1 mode, where the corresponding states, or modes, or NAS / RRC messages may be used. The behaviour of the UE or the network would be the same regardless of the system being 5GS or EPS. Corresponding messages, states, modes, etc, can apply accordingly.Figure 1 illustrates one or more method in accordance with examples of the present disclosure.In 110, a UE is in 5GMM-CONNECTED mode with RRC inactive indication, where the UE has data to send for at least one slice (or at least one S-NSSAI) that is associated with a PDU session, wherein the UP resources for the at least one slice (or S-NSSAI) are suspended. It will be appreciated that 110 may define a state in which the UE is in, as opposed to an operation performed by the UE. Alternatively, 110 may refer to a UE determining that the situation described in 110 arises, for example by determining that there is data to transmit while the UE is in 5GMM-CONNECTED mode with RRC inactive indication, where the data is associated with a slice for which UP resources are suspended.In 120, the UE verifies (e.g., identifies, checks, determines, etc.) if the current cell (or TA) supports the slice(s) (or S-NSSAI(s)) for which the data is to be sent, and / or verifies (e.g., identifies, checks, determines, etc.) if the slice(s) (or S-NSSAI(s)) can be used at this time (i.e., the current time). For example, the condition (or factor, criterion etc.) for deciding whether or not to request to resume the connection or to enter RRC_CONNECTED state may be location based, time based or both location and time based.If the outcome of the verification in 120 is positive (e.g., the slice(s) (or S-NSSAI(s)) are supported in the current cell or TA and / or may be used at the current time), the method follows the path indicated by "YES" to 130, in which the UE requests the lower layers (e.g., RRC layer) to resume the connection or to enter RRC_CONNECTED state.If the outcome of the 120 is negative (e.g. the slice(s) (or S-NSSAI(s)) are not supported in the current cell or TA and / or may not be used at the current time), the method follows the path indicated by "NO" to 140, in which the UE remains in 5GMM-CONNECTED mode with RRC inactive indication or enters 5GMM-IDLE mode or the UE does not request the lower layers (e.g., RRC layer) to resume the connection or to enter RRC_CONNECTED state.It will be appreciated that the examples described earlier in the present disclosure provide other examples of cases / scenarios / conditions in which the outcome of 120 (i.e., the verification of whether the slice(s) are supported or may be used) is positive and / or is negative. These other examples may also be regarded in combination with the method of Fig. 1, so as to define individual methods based on each example.Similarly, the examples described earlier in the present disclosure provide other examples of UE behavior in the event that the outcome of the verification (i.e. of 120) is positive and / or is negative. These other examples may also be regarded in combination with the method of Fig. 1, so as to define individual methods based on each example.Of course, it will also be appreciated that the present disclosure envisages all combinations of such methods; e.g., any combination of a different condition for verifying that the slice(s) are supported in a current cell / TA or not, or for verifying that the slice(s) may be used in the current time or not, with a different UE behavior for a positive and / or negative outcome to such a verification.In accordance with a first example of the present disclosure, there is provided a network entity, wherein, in a case where a UE is in an initial state or mode in which UP resources, having been established for or otherwise associated with a network slice, are suspended and where the UE has data to transmit, where the data is associated with the slice, the network entity is configured to determine if the slice satisfies a condition and, if so, at least partly control transitioning the UE to a connected state or mode. Optionally, the initial state or mode may be 5GMM-CONNECTED mode with RRC-inactive indication.In accordance with a second example, there is provided the network entity of the first example, wherein the network entity is configured to determine the slice satisfies the condition: if the slice is supported in a current cell of the UE or a current TA of the UE; and / or if use of the slice is permitted for a current time.In accordance with a third example, there is provided the network entity of the second example, wherein the slice is one of a plurality of slices for which UP resources are suspended in the initial state or mode.In accordance with a fourth example, there is provided the network entity of the third example, wherein all of the plurality of slices are supported in the current cell or the current TA and / or use of all of the plurality of slices is permitted for the current time. Optionally, the data is only associated with the slice, not the other / remaining ones of the plurality of slices.In accordance with a fifth example, there is provided the network entity of the first example, wherein the network entity is configured to determine the slice does not satisfy the condition: if the slice is not supported in a current cell of the UE or a current TA of the UE, and / or if use of the slice is not permitted for a current time; if the slice is one of a plurality of slices for which UP resources are suspended in the initial state or mode, and all of the plurality of slices are not supported in the current cell or the current TA, and / or all of the plurality of slices are not permitted for the current time; and / or if the slice is one of a plurality of slices for which UP resources are suspended in the initial state or mode, the slice is supported in the current cell or the current TA and / or the slice is permitted for the current time, and the other / remaining ones of the plurality of slices are not supported in the current cell or the current TA, and / or the other / remaining ones of the plurality of slices are not permitted for the current time.In accordance with a sixth example, there is provided the network entity of the fifth example, wherein the data is only associated with the slice (i.e., the slice which is supported in the current cell or the current TA and / or permitted for the current time)In accordance with a seventh example, there is provided the network entity of the fifth or sixth examples, wherein the network entity is configured to, if the condition is not satisfied, request transition to an idle state or mode (Optionally, the request is a request to a lower layer, e.g., RRC layer), remain in the initial state or mode, release a PDU session associated with the slice associated with the data to be transmitted, maintain the PDU session, or release the UP resources and maintain the PDU session.In accordance with an eighth example, there is provided the network entity of any of the first to seventh examples, wherein the network entity is the UE and is configured to, if the condition is satisfied, request transition to the connected state or mode. Optionally, the request may be a request to a lower layer (e.g., RRC layer), and the connected state or mode may be RRC_CONNECTED state.In accordance with a ninth example, there is provided the network entity of any of the first to seventh examples, wherein the network entity is 5G-RAN and is configured to receive a request from the UE to transition to the connected state or mode.In accordance with a tenth example, there is provided the network entity of the ninth example, wherein the network entity is configured to: if the condition is satisfied, process the request to transition the UE to the connected state or mode.In accordance with an eleventh example, there is provided the network entity of the ninth example or the tenth example, wherein the network entity is configured to, if the condition is not satisfied: reject the request to transition the UE to the connected state or mode; or redirect the UE to another cell or TA where the slice is supported or in which use of the slice at the current time is permitted. Optionally, the network entity may be configured to transmit a reject message to the UE, such as RRCReject message.It will be appreciated that the above first to eleventh examples may also be provided in the form of a method performed by the network entity, and / or in the form of a set of computer-readable instructions (e.g., arranged to perform said method / operations when executed by at least one processor).Figure 2 is a block diagram of an UE according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The skilled person will appreciate said entity may be implemented, for example, as a element on a dedicated hardware, as a software instance running on a dedicated hardware, and / or as a virtualised function instantiated on an appropriate platform, e.g. on a cloud infrastructure.The UE 1000 comprises at least one processor (or controller) 1001, a transmitter 1003, a receiver 1005 and memory 1007. However, all of the illustrated components are not essential. The UE 1000 may be implemented by more or less components than those illustrated in Figure 2. In addition, the processor 1001 and the transceiver 1003, 1005 and the memory 1007 may be implemented as a single chip according to another embodiment.The receiver 1005 is configured for receiving one or more messages from one or more other network entities, for example as described above. The transmitter 1003 is configured for transmitting one or more messages to one or more other network entities, for example as described above.The at least one processor 1001 is configured for performing one or more operations, for example according to the operations as described above. The processor 1001 may execute one or more instructions stored in the memory 1007 to operation as described above.The at least one processor 1001 may include various processing circuitry and / or multiple processors. For example, as used herein, including the claims, the term "processor" may include various processing circuitry, including at least one processor, wherein one or more of at least one processor, individually and / or collectively in a distributed manner, may be configured to perform various functions described herein. As used herein, when "a processor", "at least one processor", and "one or more processors" are described as being configured to perform numerous functions, these terms cover situations, for example and without limitation, in which one processor performs some of recited functions and another processor(s) performs other of recited functions, and also situations in which a single processor may perform all recited functions. Additionally, the at least one processor may include a combination of processors performing various of the recited / disclosed functions, e.g., in a distributed manner. At least one processor may execute program instructions to achieve or perform various functions.The memory 1007 may store the control information or the data included in a signal obtained by the UE 1000. The memory 1007 may be connected to the processor 1001 and store at least one instruction or a protocol or a parameter for the proposed function, process, and / or method. The memory 1007 may include read-only memory (ROM) and / or random access memory (RAM) and / or hard disk and / or CD-ROM and / or DVD and / or other storage devices.Figure 3 is a flow diagram illustrating a method according to various examples of the present disclosure. The method is performed by a UE.In operation S310, while in 5GMM-CONNECTED mode with RRC_inactive indication, the UE verifies (e.g., identifies, checks, determines, etc) if a network slice (NS) is supported based on a location of the UE, wherein the NS is associated with data to be transmitted by the UE.In operation S320, if the NS is supported, the UE requests lower layers (e.g., RRC layer) to transition to RRC_CONNECTED state.Figure 4 is a block diagram of a network entity 2000 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.The network entity 2000 can be used to realize the DU, CU-UP, CU-CP, gNB, eNB source base station, destination station, source DU, source CU-UP, destination DU, destination CU-UP, destination CU-CP, master base station, secondary base station, OAM, UDM, AMF, SMF or UPF, etc. of the present disclosure.Referring to the Figure 4, the network entity 2000 may include at least one processor 2010, a transceiver 2020 and a memory 2030. However, all of the illustrated components are not essential. The network entity 2000 may be implemented by more or less components than those illustrated in Figure 4. In addition, the at least one processor 2010 and the transceiver 2020 and the memory 2030 may be implemented as a single chip according to another embodiment.The aforementioned components will now be described in detail.The at least one processor 2010 may include one or more processors or other processing devices that control the proposed function, process, and / or method. Operation of the network entity 2000 aforementioned in this disclosure may be implemented by the processor 2010. The processor 2010 may execute one or more instructions stored in the memory 2030 to operation as described above.The at least one processor 2010 may include various processing circuitry and / or multiple processors. For example, as used herein, including the claims, the term "processor" may include various processing circuitry, including at least one processor, wherein one or more of at least one processor, individually and / or collectively in a distributed manner, may be configured to perform various functions described herein. As used herein, when "a processor", "at least one processor", and "one or more processors" are described as being configured to perform numerous functions, these terms cover situations, for example and without limitation, in which one processor performs some of recited functions and another processor(s) performs other of recited functions, and also situations in which a single processor may perform all recited functions. Additionally, the at least one processor may include a combination of processors performing various of the recited / disclosed functions, e.g., in a distributed manner. At least one processor may execute program instructions to achieve or perform various functions.The transceiver 2020 may include a RF transmitter for up-converting and amplifying a transmitted signal, and a RF receiver for down-converting a frequency of a received signal. However, according to another embodiment, the transceiver 2020 may be implemented by more or less components than those illustrated in components.The transceiver 2020 may be connected to the processor 2010 and transmit and / or receive a signal. The signal may include control information and data. In addition, the transceiver 2020 may receive the signal through a wireless channel and output the signal to the processor 2010. The transceiver 2020 may transmit a signal output from the processor 2010 through the wireless channel.The memory 2030 may store the control information or the data included in a signal obtained by the network entity 2000. The memory 2030 may be connected to the processor 2010 and store at least one instruction or a protocol or a parameter for the proposed function, process, and / or method. The memory 2030 may include read-only memory (ROM) and / or random access memory (RAM) and / or hard disk and / or CD-ROM and / or DVD and / or other storage devices.Figure 5 is a flow chart a method 500 for resuming the connection under heterogeneous network slice support, according to embodiments as disclosed herein.Referring to Figure 5, in S510, according to an embodiment, the UE 1000 receives, from an AMF (access and mobility management function), S-NSSAI (single network slice selection assistance Information) location validity information.In S520, upon an uplink user data packet to be sent for a PDU (protocol data unit) session, in case that the UE is inside an area for a S-NSSAI which is associated with the PDU session, the UE 1000 transmits, to a lower layer, a message requesting to transition to RRC (radio resource control) CONNECTED state. That is, the UE 1000 may request he lower layers to transition to RRC_CONNECTED state only if the UE 1000 is inside the NS-AoS with respect to the S-NSSAI which is associated with the PDU session. The PDU session may be with suspended user-plane resources. In this case, the UE 1000 supports the S-NSSAI location validity information.Figure 6 is a flow chart a method 600 for resuming the connection under heterogeneous network slice support, according to embodiments as disclosed herein.The network entity 2000 can be used to realize the AMF, or lower layer (e.g., RRC layer) etc. of the present disclosure.Referring to Figure 6, in S610, according to an embodiment, the network entity 2000 transmits, to a UE (user equipment) 1000, S-NSSAI (single network slice selection assistance Information) location validity information.In S620, upon an uplink user data packet to be sent for a PDU (protocol data unit) session, in case that the UE is inside an area for a S-NSSAI which is associated with the PDU session, the network entity 2000 receives, from the UE, a message requesting to transition to RRC (radio resource control) CONNECTED state.It will be appreciated that, in each example / embodiment / aspect etc. described above, one or more features or operations may be omitted, modified or moved (e.g., to change the order of the features or the operations), if desired and appropriate. Additionally, one or more features or operations from any example / embodiment may be combined with features or operations from any other example / embodiment. In particular, regardless of whether or not a pointer towards a combination of features / examples is found herein, the present disclosure should be considered to include all combinations of two or more of the embodiments, examples etc. disclosed herein, and all combinations of two or more of the features disclosed herein.The techniques described herein may be implemented using any suitably configured apparatus and / or system. Such an apparatus and / or system may be configured to perform a method according to any aspect, embodiment or example disclosed herein. Such an apparatus may comprise one or more elements, for example one or more of receivers, transmitters, transceivers, processors, controllers, modules, units, and the like, each element configured to perform one or more corresponding processes, operations and / or method steps for implementing the techniques described herein. For example, an operation / function of X may be performed by a module configured to perform X (or an X-module). The one or more elements may be implemented in the form of hardware, software, or any combination of hardware and software.It will be appreciated that examples of the present disclosure may be implemented in the form of hardware, software or any combination of hardware and software. Any such software may be stored in the form of volatile or non-volatile storage, for example a storage device like a ROM, whether erasable or rewritable or not, or in the form of memory such as, for example, RAM, memory chips, device or integrated circuits or on an optically or magnetically readable medium such as, for example, a CD, DVD, magnetic disk or magnetic tape or the like.It will be appreciated that the storage devices and storage media are embodiments of machine-readable storage that are suitable for storing a program or programs comprising instructions that, when executed, implement one embodiment of the present disclosure. Accordingly, one embodiment provides a program comprising code for implementing a method, apparatus or system according to any example, embodiment and / or aspect disclosed herein, and / or a machine-readable storage storing such a program. Still further, such programs may be conveyed electronically via any medium, for example a communication signal carried over a wired or wireless connection.While the present disclosure has been shown, illustrated and described with reference to one embodiment, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and detail may be made therein without departing from the scope of the disclosure.The reader's attention is directed to all papers and documents which are filed concurrently with or previous to this specification in connection with this application and which are open to public inspection with this specification, and the contents of all such papers and documents are incorporated herein by reference.In addition, computer-readable storage media may be provided in the form of non-transitory storage media. The 'non-transitory storage medium' is a tangible device and only means that it does not contain a signal (e.g., electromagnetic waves). This term does not distinguish a case in which data is stored semi-permanently in a storage medium from a case in which data is temporarily stored. For example, the non-transitory recording medium may include a buffer in which data is temporarily stored.The specific examples provided to explain the embodiments according to the present disclosure are merely a combination of each standard, method, detail method, and operation, and the various embodiments described herein can be performed through a combination of at least two or more techniques among the various techniques described. In addition, at this time, it can be performed according to a method determined through a combination of one or at least two or more of the aforementioned techniques. For example, it may be possible to perform a combination of parts of the operation of one embodiment with parts of the operation of another embodiment.Acronyms and Definitions (as may be used herein)[Table 1]

Claims

1.A method of a UE (user equipment) in a wireless communication system, comprising:receiving, from an AMF (access and mobility management function), S-NSSAI (single network slice selection assistance Information) location validity information; andupon an uplink user data packet to be sent for a PDU (protocol data unit) session,in case that the UE is inside an area for a S-NSSAI which is associated with the PDU session, transmitting, to a lower layer, a message requesting to transition to RRC (radio resource control) CONNECTED state.2.The method of claim 1, wherein the uplink user data packet to be sent is for the PDU session with suspended user-plane resources.3.The method of claim 1, wherein the UE is in 5GMM (5G Mobility Management) CONNECTED mode with RRC inactive indication.4.The method of claim 1, wherein the UE supports the S-NSSAI location validity information.5.A method of a network entity in a wireless communication system, comprising:transmitting, to a UE (user equipment), S-NSSAI (single network slice selection assistance Information) location validity information; andupon an uplink user data packet to be sent for a PDU (protocol data unit) session,in case that the UE is inside an area for a S-NSSAI which is associated with the PDU session, receiving, from the UE, a message requesting to transition to RRC (radio resource control) CONNECTED state.6.The method of claim 5, wherein the uplink user data packet to be sent is for the PDU session with suspended user-plane resources.7.The method of claim 5, wherein the UE is in 5GMM (5G Mobility Management) CONNECTED mode with RRC inactive indication.8.The method of claim 5, wherein the UE supports the S-NSSAI location validity information.9.A UE (user equipment) in a wireless communication system, comprising:a memory storing one or more instructions; andat least one processor configured to executed the one or more instructions to:receive, from an AMF (access and mobility management function), S-NSSAI (single network slice selection assistance Information) location validity information; andupon an uplink user data packet to be sent for a PDU (protocol data unit) session,in case that the UE is inside an area for a S-NSSAI which is associated with the PDU session, transmit, to a lower layer, a message requesting to transition to RRC (radio resource control) CONNECTED state.10.The UE of claim 9, wherein the uplink user data packet to be sent is for the PDU session with suspended user-plane resources.11.The UE of claim 9, wherein the UE is in 5GMM (5G Mobility Management) CONNECTED mode with RRC inactive indication.12.The UE of claim 9, wherein the UE supports the S-NSSAI location validity information.13.A network entity in a wireless communication system, comprising:a memory storing one or more instructions; andat least one processor configured to executed the one or more instructions to:transmit, to a UE (user equipment), S-NSSAI (single network slice selection assistance Information) location validity information; andupon an uplink user data packet to be sent for a PDU (protocol data unit) session,in case that the UE is inside an area for a S-NSSAI which is associated with the PDU session, receive, from the UE, a message requesting to transition to RRC (radio resource control) CONNECTED state.14.The network entity of claim 13, wherein the uplink user data packet to be sent is for the PDU session with suspended user-plane resources.15.The network entity of claim 13, wherein the UE is in 5GMM (5G Mobility Management) CONNECTED mode with RRC inactive indication.

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