Terminal
The terminal's advanced control unit manages cell transitions based on network-provided conditions, preventing coverage holes and ensuring network optimization even during hibernation states in cellular networks.
Patent Information
- Application Number
- PCT/JP2023/036613
- Authority / Receiving Office
- WO · WO
- Patent Type
- Applications
- Current Assignee / Owner
- Filing Date
- 2023-10-06
- Publication Date
- 2025-04-10
AI Technical Summary
The introduction of energy-saving technologies in cellular networks, such as NES, can lead to coverage holes as cells transition to a hibernation state, affecting communication and self-organizing network (SON) operations.
A terminal equipped with a control unit that manages cell transitions based on mobility control from lower layers and receives execution conditions for cell transitions from the network, allowing the terminal to execute transitions when the source or candidate cells meet specific suspension conditions during hibernation.
The solution effectively prevents coverage holes by ensuring seamless cell transitions even when cells enter a hibernation state, thereby enhancing network self-optimization and maintaining communication integrity.
Smart Images

Figure JP2023036613_10042025_PF_FP_ABST
Abstract
Description
Terminal
[0001] The present disclosure relates to a terminal that contributes to reducing energy consumption in a network.
[0002] The 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP: registered trademark) is developing specifications for the 5th generation mobile communication system (5G, also known as New Radio (NR) or Next Generation (NG)), and is also developing specifications for the next generation, known as Beyond 5G, 5G Evolution, or 6G.
[0003] For example, 3GPP Release 18 is studying a technology (NES: Network Energy Saving) to reduce the energy consumption of networks including radio base stations (gNBs) (Non-Patent Document 1). Specifically, studies are being conducted on transitioning cells formed by gNBs to a sleep state or applying DTX / DRX (Discontinuous Transmission / Discontinuous Reception), which performs intermittent transmission and reception by gNBs (Non-Patent Documents 2 and 3).
[0004] "New WID: Network energy savings for NR", RP-223540, 3GPP TSG RAN Meeting #98-e, 3GPP, December 2022 "Report of 3GPP TSG RAN WG2 meeting #123, Toulouse, France", 3GPP, August 2023 "Status Report to TSG", RP-231926, 3GPP TSG RAN meeting #101, 3GPP, September 2023
[0005] When a gNB cell goes into a dormant state due to NES, the terminal (User Equipment, UE) may not be able to communicate via that cell, which can easily result in coverage holes. This situation leaves room for improvement from the perspective of self-organizing networks (SON).
[0006] Therefore, the following disclosure has been made in consideration of this situation, and aims to provide a terminal that can contribute to avoiding coverage holes through network self-optimization (SON) even when technology for reducing network energy consumption (NES) is introduced.
[0007] One aspect of the present disclosure is a terminal (UE200) comprising a control unit (control unit 270) that controls cell transition of the terminal in accordance with mobility control by a lower layer, and a receiving unit (control signal / reference signal processing unit 240) that receives a message including an execution condition for the cell transition from a network, wherein the control unit executes the cell transition when a dormant execution condition that is applied when a source cell at the transition source or a candidate cell at the transition destination transitions to a dormant state is satisfied.
[0008] One aspect of the present disclosure is a terminal (UE200) that includes a receiving unit (control signal / reference signal processing unit 240) that receives a request to send terminal information from a network, and a transmitting unit (control signal / reference signal processing unit 240) that transmits the terminal information, including information about the cell, to the network based on the state of the radio link and handover in a dormant cell.
[0009] FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an overall schematic configuration of a wireless communication system 10. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example configuration of a radio frame, a subframe, and a slot used in the wireless communication system 10. FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram of a gNB 100 and a UE 200. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example transition of a cell to a dormant state according to the NES. FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example 1 sequence of an LTM when the NES is applied according to the first operation example. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example 2 sequence of an LTM when the NES is applied according to the first operation example. FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example 3 sequence of an LTM when the NES is applied according to the first operation example. FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example configuration of information elements (part) constituting an RRC Reconfiguration according to the first operation example. FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example 3 sequence of an LTM when the NES is applied according to the first operation example. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example 4 sequence of an LTM when the NES is applied according to the first operation example. FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an example 5 sequence of an LTM when the NES is applied according to the first operation example. FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating an example 6 sequence of an LTM when the NES is applied according to the first operation example. Fig. 13 is a diagram showing an example of an LTM sequence when NES is applied according to operation example 2. Fig. 14 is a diagram showing an example of the hardware configuration of the gNB 100 and the UE 200. Fig. 15 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a vehicle 2001.
[0010] Hereinafter, embodiments will be described with reference to the drawings. Note that the same or similar reference numerals are used to designate the same functions or configurations, and descriptions thereof will be omitted as appropriate.
[0011] (1) Overall Schematic Configuration of Wireless Communication System Fig. 1 is a diagram showing the overall schematic configuration of a wireless communication system 10 according to this embodiment. The wireless communication system 10 is a wireless communication system conforming to 5G New Radio (NR) and includes a Next Generation-Radio Access Network 20 (hereinafter, NG-RAN 20) and a terminal 200 (User Equipment 200, hereinafter, UE 200).
[0012] The wireless communication system 10 may be a wireless communication system conforming to a method called Beyond 5G, 5G Evolution, or 6G, or may include a wireless communication system conforming to a method called Long Term Evolution (LTE) or 4G. The wireless communication system 10 may support functions related to the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and Ultra-Reliable and Low Latency Communications (URLLC).
[0013] The NG-RAN 20 includes a radio base station 100 (hereinafter, gNB 100). Note that the specific configuration of the radio communication system 10, including the number of gNBs (or eNBs, etc.) and UEs, is not limited to the example shown in FIG. 1 .
[0014] The gNB 100 may also employ a fronthaul (FH) interface defined by the Open Radio Access Network Alliance (O-RAN). The gNB 100 may include an O-RAN Distributed Unit (O-DU) and an O-RAN Radio Unit (O-RU). The gNB 100 can function as a type of NG-RAN node.
[0015] The NG-RAN 20 actually includes multiple NG-RAN nodes, specifically, gNBs (or ng-eNBs), and is connected to a 5G core network (5GC, not shown). The NG-RAN 20 and the 5GC may be simply referred to as a "network." The 5GC may introduce the concept of CUPS (Control and User Plane Separation), which clearly separates the functions of the user plane and the control plane.
[0016] The gNB100 is a radio base station conforming to NR and performs radio communication with the UE200 conforming to NR. The gNB100 may be configured to include a CU (Central Unit) and a DU (Distributed Unit), and the DU may be separated from the CU and installed in a different geographical location. One or more DUs may be connected to the CU. The gNB100 (gNB-CU) may be connected to each other via an Xn interface, and the CU and DU may be connected to each other via an F1 interface (such as an F1-AP).
[0017] The gNB100 and UE200 are capable of supporting Massive MIMO, which generates more directional beams by controlling radio signals transmitted from multiple antenna elements; Carrier Aggregation (CA), which aggregates and uses multiple component carriers (CCs); and Dual Connectivity (DC), which enables simultaneous communication between the UE and multiple NG-RAN nodes.
[0018] The type of DC may be Multi-RAT Dual Connectivity (MR-DC) that uses multiple radio access technologies, or NR-NR Dual Connectivity (NR-DC) that uses only NR. For example, one gNB may constitute a master node (MN), and one or more other gNBs may constitute secondary nodes (SNs).
[0019] The wireless communication system 10 may also support multiple frequency ranges (FR) as follows:
[0020] ・FR1: 410 MHz to 7.125 GHz ・FR2-1: 24.25 GHz to 52.6 GHz FR1 may use a sub-carrier spacing (SCS) of 15, 30, or 60 kHz and a bandwidth (BW) of 5 to 100 MHz. FR2-1 is a higher frequency than FR1 and may use a sub-carrier spacing (SCS) of 60 or 120 kHz (including 240 kHz) and a bandwidth (BW) of 50 to 400 MHz.
[0021] Note that SCS may be interpreted as numerology, which is defined in 3GPP TS38.300 and corresponds to one subcarrier spacing in the frequency domain.
[0022] Furthermore, the wireless communication system 10 also supports a frequency band higher than the FR2-1 frequency band. Specifically, the wireless communication system 10 supports a frequency band exceeding 52.6 GHz up to 71 GHz. Such a high frequency band may be referred to as FR2-2.
[0023] When using bands above 52.6 GHz, Cyclic Prefix-Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (CP-OFDM) / Discrete Fourier Transform - Spread (DFT-S-OFDM) with larger Sub-Carrier Spacing (SCS) may be applied.
[0024] Additionally, as mentioned above, in high frequency bands such as FR2-2, increased inter-carrier phase noise becomes an issue, which may necessitate the application of a larger (wider) SCS or a single-carrier waveform.
[0025] The larger the SCS, the shorter the symbol / cyclic prefix (CP) period and slot period (assuming a 14 symbol / slot configuration is maintained). Figure 2 shows an example of the configuration of radio frames, subframes, and slots used in the wireless communication system 10.
[0026] If the 14-symbol / slot configuration is maintained, the larger (wider) the SCS, the shorter the symbol period (and slot period). The symbol period may also be called the symbol length, time direction, or time domain. The frequency direction may also be called the frequency domain, resource block, subcarrier, BWP (Bandwidth part), etc.
[0027] The frequency resources may include component carriers (CCs), subcarriers, resource blocks (RBs), resource block groups (RBGs), bandwidth parts (BWPs), etc. The time resources may include symbols, slots, minislots, subframes, radio frames, discontinuous reception (DRX) periods, etc.
[0028] The number of symbols constituting one slot does not necessarily have to be 14 (for example, 28 or 56 symbols). Also, the number of slots per subframe may differ depending on the SCS.
[0029] Furthermore, the wireless communication system 10 may support a conditional handover (CHO). In the CHO, a candidate cell for handover and a condition for executing a handover (which may also be called a transition) to the candidate cell are set in advance for the UE 200.
[0030] This allows the UE 200 to perform handover to the target radio base station (which may also be referred to as the target cell) without waiting for a handover instruction from the network.
[0031] CHO may be interpreted as a handover that is executed by the UE 200 when one or more execution conditions are satisfied. The UE 200 may start evaluating the execution conditions when it receives the CHO configuration and may stop evaluating the execution conditions when a handover (legacy handover or conditional handover) is executed.
[0032] A candidate gNB or a potential target gNB may provide a CHO configuration to the UE 200. The source gNB may provide execution conditions, such as the timing for triggering the CHO, to the UE 200. The execution conditions may consist of one or more trigger conditions.
[0033] In addition, two or more different triggers, such as RSRP (Reference Signal Received Power), RSRQ (Reference Signal Received Quality), and SINR (Signal-to-Interference plus Noise power Ratio), may be set simultaneously to evaluate the CHO execution conditions of a candidate cell.
[0034] It should be noted that if CHO is configured in UE200 and UE200 receives another handover (HO) command from the gNB before the CHO execution condition is met, UE200 may trigger handover based on the received HO command and may not wait for the CHO condition to be met. In other words, the legacy HO configuration may take precedence over the CHO configuration (if configured).
[0035] In addition, in the wireless communication system 10, in addition to mobility management of the UE 200 at layer 3 (which may include, for example, a radio resource control layer (RRC)) (which may be called L3 mobility), mobility management at layer 1 / layer 2 (which may include, for example, a medium access control layer (MAC)) (which may be called LTM or L1 / L2 mobility) may be applied.
[0036] L3 Mobility may be interpreted as mobility control at the Radio Resource Control layer (RRC), while LTM may be interpreted as mobility control at the Physical layer (PHY), Medium Access Control layer (MAC), Radio Link Control layer (RLC), and Packet Data Convergence Protocol layer (PDCP).
[0037] In addition, in UE-based LTM, like conditional handover (CHO), the UE receives a specific execution condition from the radio base station (gNB), monitors the status according to the execution condition, and if the execution condition is satisfied, it may execute LTM.
[0038] In a broad sense, the mobility of UE200 may mean the ease of movement and maneuverability of UE200, but in this embodiment, it may also mean minimizing call drops, radio link (including beam) failures, unnecessary handovers, ping-pong states, etc.
[0039] The wireless communication system 10 may use an SSB (SS / PBCH Block) that is configured from a synchronization signal (SS) and a downlink physical broadcast channel (PBCH).
[0040] SSBs are transmitted periodically from the network mainly to allow UE 200 to detect cell IDs and reception timings when starting communication. In NR, SSBs are also used to measure the reception quality of each cell. The SSB transmission periodicity may be specified as 5, 10, 20, 40, 80, 160 milliseconds, etc. Note that the initial access UE 200 may assume a transmission period of 20 milliseconds.
[0041] The UE 200 transmits a measurement report (hereinafter, referred to as a Measurement report) including reception qualities for cells including a serving cell and neighboring cells to the network. The procedure by which the UE 200 transmits the Measurement report may be referred to as Measurement reporting. The reception qualities for the cells may include reception qualities of beams from the cells, or may include reception qualities of cells based on beams from the cells.
[0042] The UE 200 may perform measurement reporting periodically. The UE 200 may perform measurement reporting for each event. An entering condition for starting measurement reporting and a leaving condition for ending measurement reporting may be defined for each event. Existing events may include the following events (see 3GPP TS38.331):
[0043] (i) Event A1 Event A1 is an event in which the reception quality of the serving cell becomes better than a threshold. For example, the entering condition is Ms - Hys > Thresh, and the leaving condition is Ms + Hys < Thresh.
[0044] Here, Ms is the reception quality of the serving cell, Hys is a hysteresis parameter, and Thresh is a threshold value.
[0045] (ii) Event A2 Event A2 is an event in which the reception quality of the serving cell becomes worse than a threshold. For example, the entering condition is Ms + Hys < Thresh, and the leaving condition is Ms - Hys > Thresh.
[0046] Here, Ms is the reception quality of the serving cell, Hys is a hysteresis parameter, and Thresh is a threshold value.
[0047] (iii) Event A3 Event A3 is an event in which the reception quality of a neighboring cell is better than the reception quality of the serving cell by an offset. For example, the entering condition is Mn + Ofn + Ocn - Hys > Mp + Ofp + Ocp + Off, and the leaving condition is Mn + Ofn + Ocn + Hys < Mp + Ofp + Ocp + Off.
[0048] where Mn is the reception quality of the neighboring cell, Ofn is the offset specific to the measurement object, and Ocn is the offset specific to the cell. Mp is the reception quality of the serving cell, Ofp is the offset specific to the measurement object, and Ocp is the offset specific to the cell. Hys is the hysteresis parameter, and Off is the parameter used in Event A3.
[0049] (iv) Event A4 Event A4 is an event in which the reception quality of a neighboring cell becomes better than a threshold. For example, the entering condition is Mn + Ofn + Ocn - Hys > Thresh, and the leaving condition is Mn + Ofn + Ocn + Hys < Thresh.
[0050] where Mn is the reception quality of the neighboring cell, Ofn is an offset specific to the measurement object, Ocn is an offset specific to the cell, Hys is a hysteresis parameter, and Thresh is a threshold value.
[0051] (v) Event A5 Event A5 is an event in which the reception quality of the serving cell becomes worse than a threshold and the reception quality of a neighboring cell becomes better than a threshold. For example, the entering condition is Mp + Hys < Thresh1 and Mn + Ofn + Ocn - Hys > Thresh2, and the leaving condition is Mp - Hys > Thresh1 and Mn + Ofn + Ocn + Hys < Thresh2.
[0052] where Ms is the receiving quality of the serving cell, Hys is a hysteresis parameter, Thresh1 is a threshold, Mn is the receiving quality of the neighboring cell, Ofn is a measurement object-specific offset, and Ocn is a cell-specific offset, Hys is a hysteresis parameter, and Thresh2 is a threshold.
[0053] (vi) Event A6 Event A6 is an event in which the reception quality of a neighboring cell is better than the reception quality of a SCell (Secondary Cell) by an offset. For example, the entering condition is Mn + Ocn - Hys > Ms + Ocs + Off, and the leaving condition is Mn + Ocn + Hys < Ms + Ocs + Off.
[0054] In addition to the events described above, events related to RATs (Radio Access technologies) (e.g., B1 (Inter RAT neighbor becomes better than threshold), B2 (Serving becomes worse than threshold1 and inter RAT neighbor becomes better than threshold2)) may be included.
[0055] Here, Mn is the reception quality of the neighboring cell, Ocn is a cell-specific offset, Ms is the reception quality of the SCell, Ocs is a cell-specific offset, Hys is a hysteresis parameter, and Off is a parameter used in Event A6.
[0056] Furthermore, a technology (NES: Network Energy Saving) for reducing energy consumption of a network including a gNB may be introduced in the wireless communication system 10. The method of reducing energy consumption by NES is not particularly limited, but may typically include transitioning a cell to a sleep state, transitioning a cell formed by the gNB to a sleep state, DTX / DRX (Discontinuous Transmission / Discontinuous Reception) for intermittently transmitting and receiving data by the gNB 100, and the like.
[0057] The sleep state of a cell may mean that at least one of downlink (DL) transmission and uplink (UL) reception is not performed for a certain period of time, and the cell is in a dormant state. The DTX state may be interpreted as DL transmission by the gNB 100 being performed discontinuously at regular intervals, and the DRX state may be interpreted as UL reception by the gNB 100 being performed discontinuously at regular intervals. DTX / DRX may be activated or deactivated by downlink control information (DCI).
[0058] The sleep state and DTX / DRX state of the cell may be interpreted as the dormant state of the cell. The NES may also be applied to the cases of CHO and LTM.
[0059] (2) Functional Block Configuration of Wireless Communication System Next, a functional block configuration of the wireless communication system 10 will be described. Specifically, a functional block configuration of the UE 200 will be described. Fig. 3 is a functional block configuration diagram of the gNB 100 and the UE 200.
[0060] As shown in FIG. 3 , the UE 200 includes a radio signal transmitting / receiving unit 210, an amplifier unit 220, a modulation / demodulation unit 230, a control signal / reference signal processing unit 240, an encoding / decoding unit 250, a data transmitting / receiving unit 260, and a control unit 270.
[0061] It should be noted that Fig. 3 shows only the main functional blocks relevant to the description of the embodiment, and that the UE 200 (gNB 100) has other functional blocks (e.g., a power supply unit, etc.). Fig. 3 shows the functional block configuration of the UE 200, and for the hardware configuration, please refer to Fig. 14.
[0062] The radio signal transmitting and receiving unit 210 transmits and receives radio signals conforming to NR. The radio signal transmitting and receiving unit 210 can support Massive MIMO, which generates a more directional beam by controlling radio (RF) signals transmitted from multiple antenna elements, Carrier Aggregation (CA), which aggregates and uses multiple component carriers (CCs), and Dual Connectivity (DC), which simultaneously communicates between a UE and two NG-RAN nodes.
[0063] The amplifier unit 220 is configured by a PA (Power Amplifier) / LNA (Low Noise Amplifier), etc. The amplifier unit 220 amplifies the signal output from the modulation / demodulation unit 230 to a predetermined power level. The amplifier unit 220 also amplifies the RF signal output from the radio signal transmission / reception unit 210.
[0064] The modem unit 230 performs data modulation / demodulation, transmission power setting, resource block allocation, etc. for each predetermined communication destination (e.g., gNB 100). The modem unit 230 may apply Cyclic Prefix-Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (CP-OFDM) / Discrete Fourier Transform - Spread (DFT-S-OFDM). Furthermore, DFT-S-OFDM may be used not only for the uplink (UL) but also for the downlink (DL).
[0065] The control signal and reference signal processor 240 executes processing related to various control signals transmitted and received by the UE 200 and processing related to various reference signals transmitted and received by the UE 200 .
[0066] Specifically, the control signal / reference signal processing unit 240 receives various control signals, for example, control signals of a radio resource control layer (RRC), transmitted via a predetermined control channel from the gNB 100. In addition, the control signal / reference signal processing unit 240 transmits various control signals to the gNB 100 via a predetermined control channel.
[0067] The control signal and reference signal processor 240 performs processing using reference signals (RS) such as a Demodulation Reference Signal (DMRS) and a Tracking Reference Signal (TRS).
[0068] The DMRS is a reference signal (pilot signal) known between the base station and the terminal for estimating the fading channel used for data demodulation, while the TRS is a reference signal used to track time and frequency fluctuations in the downlink.
[0069] In addition to DMRS and TRS, the reference signals may also include Channel State Information-Reference Signal (CSI-RS), Sounding Reference Signal (SRS), and Positioning Reference Signal (PRS) for position information.
[0070] The channels include a control channel and a data channel. The control channels may include a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH), a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH), a Random Access Channel (RACH, Downlink Control Information (DCI) including a Random Access Radio Network Temporary Identifier (RA-RNTI)), a Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH), etc.
[0071] Furthermore, the data channel includes a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) and a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), etc. Data may refer to data transmitted via a data channel.
[0072] Furthermore, the control signal and reference signal processor 240 may perform processing related to transmission and reception of messages and commands related to CHO, LTM, and NES. Specifically, the control signal and reference signal processor 240 may receive a message including an execution condition for cell transition (handover) according to LTM from the network. In this embodiment, the control signal and reference signal processor 240 may constitute a receiver.
[0073] More specifically, the control signal / reference signal processing unit 240 may receive an RRC Reconfiguration from the network (gNB100) that includes at least one of an execution condition associated with when NES is not applied (which may also be called a normal LTM execution condition) and an execution condition associated with when NES is applied (which may also be called an NES execution condition).
[0074] The NES execution condition may be interpreted as a sleep execution condition that is applied when a source cell or a candidate cell transitions to a sleep state according to the NES. The control signal / reference signal processor 240 can receive a message including such a sleep execution condition.
[0075] The control signal and reference signal processor 240 may receive a lower layer message indicating a transition of the cell (gNB 100) to a dormant state in accordance with the NES. For example, the control signal and reference signal processor 240 may receive Layer 1 signaling (which may include DCI) or MAC-CE (Control Element) indicating that the source cell (which may include the target cell) will transition to the dormant state.
[0076] Furthermore, the control signal and reference signal processing unit 240 may receive a cell switch command including information indicating the transition to the dormant state. Specifically, the control signal and reference signal processing unit 240 may receive a cell switch command including an NES mode activation trigger from the gNB 100. In this case, the control signal and reference signal processing unit 240 may report to the gNB 100 in advance by L1 measurement reporting that a trigger condition (which may be interpreted as an event) for L1 measurement according to the NES has been satisfied.
[0077] The control signal and reference signal processor 240 can receive an RRC Reconfiguration including the configuration of a candidate cell (which may include a cell targeted for NES). In this case, considering that the cell targeted for NES is included, the information elements (IEs) constituting the RRC Reconfiguration may include an information element (additional information element) indicating whether the candidate cell is in a dormant state, separate from the information element indicating the candidate cell configuration (Candidate target cell config). The control signal and reference signal processor 240 may receive an RRC Reconfiguration including an additional information element (NES cell or Non-NES cell) indicating whether the candidate cell is in a dormant state.
[0078] The control signal and reference signal processor 240 may receive a request for transmitting terminal information (UEInformationRequest) from the network. Furthermore, the control signal and reference signal processor 240 may transmit terminal information (UEInformationResponse) including information about the cell to the network based on the state of the radio link and handover in a cell in a dormant state according to the NES (which may also be referred to as an NES cell). In this embodiment, the control signal and reference signal processor 240 may constitute a transmitter.
[0079] Specifically, the control signal / reference signal processing unit 240 may send a UEInformationResponse to the gNB 100 indicating the state of the NES cell when a radio link failure (RLF) or handover failure (HOF) occurs.
[0080] More specifically, when a radio link failure (RLF) occurs, the transmitter may transmit a UEInformationResponse including at least one of an indication indicating that the cell is in a dormant state, a type of the dormant state, cell identification information, a discontinuous transmission / discontinuous reception (DTX / DRX) format of the cell, location information of the terminal, and information on the time when the failure occurred. Note that the time when the failure occurred may be the time when the UE 200 detected the RLF, or may include the duration of the RLF, the time when the RLF was recovered, etc.
[0081] Furthermore, if the handover fails (HOF), the control signal / reference signal processing unit 240 may transmit a UEInformationResponse that includes at least any of the identification information of the source cell from which the handover originates, the identification information of the target cell to which the handover is to be performed, the reception quality (RSRP, RSRQ, SINR) of the source cell, the reception quality of the target cell, an indication that the source cell is in a dormant state, an indication that the target cell is in a dormant state, an indication that the candidate cell to which the handover is to be performed is in a dormant state, the format of discontinuous transmission / discontinuous reception (DTX / DRX) of the source cell, the format of discontinuous transmission / discontinuous reception of the target cell, location information of the UE 200, and information on the time when the failure occurred.
[0082] When transmitting such a UEInformationResponse, the control signal / reference signal processor 240 may include at least one of an offset and a hysteresis parameter for measurement associated with the dormant state. That is, the control signal / reference signal processor 240 may transmit a UEInformationResponse including an offset and a hysteresis parameter applied at the time of NES as the offset (O) and the hysteresis parameter (Hys) applied to the above-mentioned Measurement reporting event.
[0083] The network can configure measurement reporting to cause the UE to report measurement results for each SS / PBCH block. The network may configure measurement reporting to cause the UE to report measurement results for each SS / PBCH block(s), or may configure measurement reporting to cause the UE to report measurement results for each cell based on the SS / PBCH block(s). The network may configure measurement reporting to cause the UE to report measurement results for each CSI-RS resource, or may configure measurement reporting to cause the UE to report measurement results for each cell based on the CSI-RS resource.
[0084] Furthermore, control signal / reference signal processing unit 240 may transmit UEInformationResponse including at least one of identification information of a cell related to cell transition of UE200 by CHO or LTM and an indication that the related cell is in a dormant state. Note that LTM may include LTM fast failure recovery. LTM fast failure recovery is a mechanism in which, in the event of an LTM failure, UE200 performs cell selection and, if the selected cell is an LTM candidate cell, directly applies the configuration of the candidate cell without transmitting an RRCReestablishmentRequest to gNB100.
[0085] Furthermore, when transmitting such a UEInformationResponse, the control signal / reference signal processing unit 240 may transmit a UEInformationResponse that includes the time from when the cell receives an instruction to transition to a dormant state (NES mode activation trigger) to when the handover starts, is completed, or fails.
[0086] Specifically, the control signal / reference signal processing unit 240 may transmit a UEInformationResponse that includes the time required from receiving the NES mode activation trigger from the source cell side until the handover is successful or unsuccessful, and the time required from receiving the NES mode activation trigger from the source cell side until the handover is executed (regardless of whether it is successful or unsuccessful).
[0087] The control signal and reference signal processor 240 may transmit to the network capability information of the UE 200. For example, the control signal and reference signal processor 240 may transmit to the gNB 100 UE Capability Information regarding trigger conditions for measurement reports, support for NES, and the like.
[0088] The encoding / decoding unit 250 performs data division / concatenation and channel coding / decoding for each predetermined communication destination (gNB 100 or another gNB).
[0089] Specifically, the encoding / decoding unit 250 divides the data output from the data transmitting / receiving unit 260 into pieces of a predetermined size, performs channel coding on the divided data, decodes the data output from the modem unit 230, and concatenates the decoded data.
[0090] The data transmitter / receiver 260 transmits and receives Protocol Data Units (PDUs) and Service Data Units (SDUs). Specifically, the data transmitter / receiver 260 assembles and disassembles PDUs / SDUs in multiple layers (such as a Medium Access Control layer (MAC), a Radio Link Control layer (RLC), and a Packet Data Convergence Protocol layer (PDCP)). The data transmitter / receiver 260 also performs data error correction and retransmission control based on Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (Hybrid ARQ).
[0091] The control unit 270 controls each functional block constituting the UE 200. In particular, in this embodiment, the control unit 270 executes control related to CHO, LTM, and NES.
[0092] Specifically, the control unit 270 controls the cell transition (handover) of the UE 200 according to LTM (lower layer mobility control). Also, the control unit 270 controls the cell transition (handover) according to conditional handover (CHO). In both LTM and CHO, an execution condition may be applied, which is used to determine whether or not to execute the cell transition (handover).
[0093] As described above, LTM may be interpreted as cell transition due to processing in the lower layer (L1 / L2), and CHO may be interpreted as cell transition due to processing in the upper layer (L3).
[0094] The control unit 270 may execute cell transition when the source cell or the candidate cell satisfies an execution condition (execution condition for dormancy) that is applied when transitioning to a dormant state according to the NES. The execution condition may be for LTM or for CHO. As described above, a unique measurement offset or hysteresis parameter different from that of the normal LTM (CHO) may be applied to the execution condition.
[0095] That is, the control unit 270 may execute a cell transition when at least one of the specific measurement offset, the specific measurement hysteresis parameter, and the specific time to NES trigger (timeToTrigger) associated with the cell's NES-based dormant state (which may include the DTX / DRX state, as described above) satisfies the applied dormant execution condition.
[0096] The control unit 270 may execute a cell transition (handover) according to the LTM (or CHO) when the execution condition for dormancy received by the control signal / reference signal processing unit 240 is satisfied. Note that the execution condition for dormancy does not necessarily need to be transmitted from the network, and may be pre-configured in the UE 200.
[0097] Furthermore, when the control signal / reference signal processor 240 receives a lower layer message indicating transition to a dormant state in accordance with the NES and the dormant execution condition is satisfied, the controller 270 may execute a cell transition. The lower layer message may be Layer 1 signaling or MAC-CE, as described above.
[0098] Alternatively, the control unit 270 may execute the cell change based on a cell switch command. Specifically, the control unit 270 may execute the cell change based on a Cell switch command including an NES mode activation trigger.
[0099] The control unit 270 may refer to an additional information element (NES cell or Non-NES cell) included in the candidate cell configuration (Candidate target cell config) to determine whether the cell is in a dormant state according to the NES. That is, the control unit 270 may refer to the additional information element to determine whether the candidate cell is in a dormant state. By referring to only the additional information element, the control unit 270 can quickly determine whether the candidate cell is in a dormant state without referring to (decoding) the Candidate target cell config.
[0100] (3) Operation of the Wireless Communication System Next, a description will be given of the operation of the wireless communication system 10. Specifically, a description will be given of an example of operation relating to mobility control of the UE 200 when the NES is applied, specifically, LTM or CHO.
[0101] (3.1) Premise Figure 4 shows an example of a cell transition to a dormant state according to NES. Figure 4 shows an example of a source cell transitioning from an active state to a dormant state according to NES. As described above, the dormant state may mean that the cell (gNB) is in a sleep state or a DTX / DRX state. Alternatively, a candidate cell (target cell) may be in the dormant state, rather than the source cell.
[0102] As shown in Figure 4, since the source cell enters the NES mode (dormant state), the UE needs to hand over to the target cell as quickly as possible. However, with the execution conditions of the existing LTM (or CHO), it is expected that it is difficult to quickly hand over to an appropriate target cell that meets the requirements when the NES is applied. For example, when the NES is applied, it is expected that it is difficult to execute the LTM (cell transition) at the appropriate timing and to the appropriate cell (Problem 1).
[0103] Furthermore, when a cell enters NES mode, coverage holes are likely to occur. This situation leaves room for improvement from the perspective of self-organizing networks (SON). For example, if a dormant cell (hereinafter referred to as an NES cell) in NES mode experiences RLF or HOF, or even if handover (HO) is successful due to the cell barely meeting the threshold, the UE cannot report information about the cell to the gNB (issue 2).
[0104] An example of an operation that can solve this problem will be described below.
[0105] (3.2) Operation Example 1 This operation example can solve the above-mentioned problem 1. Specifically, in the case of UE triggered LTM (UE based LTM), an NES-specific hysteresis parameter or an NES-specific offset may be set in the execution condition. The NES-specific offset may be specified for each cell, each measurement object (measObject), or each measurement frequency.
[0106] For example, if the source cell is an NES cell, a lower NES offset value may be specified than that of a normal cell to make handover easier. Alternatively, if the candidate target cell is an NES cell, a higher NES offset value may be specified to make handover more difficult than for other normal candidate cells. In other words, handover from an NES cell to a non-NES cell may be made easier, but handover to an NES cell may be made more difficult.
[0107] Also, a timeToTrigger dedicated to the NES may be provided. The timeToTrigger dedicated to the NES may be set to a time shorter than the timeToTrigger for normal handover, thereby making handover easier.
[0108] For example, the execution condition of the NES cell LTM may be defined as follows:
[0109] ・Neighbor cell's L1 RSRP / RSRQ / SINR becomes better than serving cell's L1 RSRP / RSRQ / SINR ・L1 Measurement result of neighbor + NES offset - NES Hysteresis > L1 Measurement result of serving cell + NES Offset ・Neighbor cell's L1 RSRP / RSRQ / SINR becomes better than a threshold ・L1 Measurement result of neighbor + NES Offset - NES Hysteresis > threshold ・Serving cell's L1 RSRP / RSRQ / SINR becomes worse than threshold1 and neighbor's L1 RSRP / RSRQ / SINR becomes better than threshold2 ・L1 Measurement result of serving cell + NES Offset + NES hysteresis < threshold1 and L1 measurement result of neighbor + NES offset - NES hysteresis > threshold2 Note that both NES hysteresis and NES offset may be specified, or only one of them may be specified. Such an execution condition may also be applied to the trigger condition of the NES's L1 measurement reporting.
[0110] Fig. 5 shows sequence example 1 of LTM when NES is applied according to operation example 1. Fig. 6 shows sequence example 2 of LTM when NES is applied according to operation example 1.
[0111] As shown in Figures 5 and 6, in the case of UE triggered LTM, the normal LTM execution condition and the NES LTM execution condition may be pre-configured by RRC. As a default (when there is no particular instruction from the gNB), the normal LTM execution condition or the NES LTM execution condition may be used.
[0112] Alternatively, the source cell (source gNB, S-gNB) may send an instruction to the UE to switch from the normal LTM execution condition to the NES LTM execution condition. The instruction may be performed by L1 group signaling, L1 signaling, or MAC CE.
[0113] Upon receiving the instruction, the UE may apply parameters for the NES LTM execution condition (e.g., NES hysteresis parameter, measurement offset, timerToTrigger) and monitor whether the execution condition is met. If the NES LTM execution condition is met, the UE may transmit a RACH to the target cell (or perform a RACH less HO).
[0114] In the case of UE triggered LTM, the UE may trigger LTM when it receives L1 group signaling or MAC CE (e.g., which may include an NES mode activation trigger) from the source cell and an LTM execution condition (e.g., neighbor cell's quality becomes better than serving cell's quality) is satisfied. Alternatively, the UE may receive L1 group signaling or MAC CE from the source cell and trigger evaluation (or monitoring) of the LTM execution condition.
[0115] Fig. 7 shows a sequence example 3 of LTM when NES is applied according to the operation example 1. In the case of NW-triggered LTM initiated by the network, as shown in Fig. 7, the Cell switch command may include an NES mode activation trigger instruction (indicating that the source cell enters the NES mode).
[0116] This instruction may be used as a trigger condition for LTM. When the target cell indicated by the Cell switch command is an NES cell, an indication indicating that the target cell is an NES cell may be included.
[0117] Fig. 8 shows a configuration example of information elements (part) constituting RRC Reconfiguration according to operation example 1. Fig. 9 shows sequence example 3 of LTM when NES according to operation example 1 is applied.
[0118] As shown in FIG. 8, when an NES cell is included as a candidate target cell of an LTM, the candidate cell may be indicated as an NES cell by an information element (IE) separate from the candidate cell configuration (Candidate target cell config).
[0119] Specifically, as described above, additional information elements for the NES cell or the non-NES cell may be specified. Note that the DTX / DRX pattern, cell sleep time, and time window for the NES cell may also be indicated.
[0120] Fig. 10 shows a sequence example 4 of LTM when NES is applied according to operation example 1. As shown in Fig. 10, in the case of UE triggered LTM, if both a non-NES cell and an NES cell exist as candidate target cells and the execution condition is satisfied at the same time, the UE may preferentially select the non-NES cell.
[0121] Fig. 11 shows a fifth sequence example of LTM when NES is applied according to the first operation example. Fig. 12 shows a sixth sequence example of LTM when NES is applied according to the first operation example.
[0122] As shown in Figures 11 and 12, if an LTM candidate target cell will soon enter NES mode, the target gNB (T-gNB) and target DU may notify the source cell (source gNB) of this via the Xn / F1 interface.
[0123] The Source gNB (Source DU) may notify the UE of the candidate target cell ID and that the candidate target cell will enter NES mode via an RRC message, MAC CE, or L1 signaling.
[0124] Furthermore, although this operation example is premised on cell transition (handover) by LTM, a similar operation (sequence) may be applied to cell transition (handover) by CHO (however, the example of NW triggered LTM may be excluded).
[0125] According to this operation example, an appropriate execution condition is defined in LTM or CHO taking NES into consideration, so that appropriate cell transition (handover) can be achieved even when a cell is put into a dormant state by NES.
[0126] (3.3) Operation Example 2 This operation example can solve the above-mentioned problem 2. Specifically, when a radio link failure (RLF) or handover failure (HOF) occurs in an NES cell, the UE may report information about the NES cell to the network (gNB). In addition, when the NES cell barely meets a threshold and handover (HO) is successful, the UE may also report information about the NES cell to the network (gNB).
[0127] 13 shows an example of an LTM sequence when NES is applied according to operation example 2. As shown in FIG. 13, the UE may transmit a UEInformationResponse in response to a UEInformationRequest transmitted from the gNB. The UEInformationResponse may include information about the RLF or HOF that occurred in the NES cell. The information may be included in an RLF report or a successful handover report, and the report may be included in the UEInformationResponse.
[0128] For example, when an RLF occurs, an indication that the cell has entered the NES mode, the NES mode (e.g., the cell has transitioned to a sleep state or DTX / DRX mode), the ID of the cell, the DTX / DRX pattern of the cell, etc. may be reported. The report may include the location information of the UE, the time information of the RLF occurrence, etc.
[0129] When HOF occurs, the ID of the source cell where handover failed (failed source cell ID), the ID of the target cell where handover failed (failed target cell ID), the ID of the candidate cell (candidate target cell ID), the quality of the cell (L1 / L3 RSRP / RSRQ / SINR), an indication that the source cell, target cell, or candidate cell has entered NES mode, and the DTX / DRX patterns of the source cell and target cell may be reported. The report may include UE location information, HOF occurrence time information, etc.
[0130] Additionally, the measurement offset, hysteresis parameter, and time to trigger (timeToTrigger) applied to the NES cell may be reported.
[0131] If the cell that has been reestablished in the RRC layer (RRC Reestablish) is an NES cell, the cell ID of the cell and the fact that it is an NES cell may be reported.
[0132] If CHO or LTM fast failure recovery is successful or if CHO / LTM fast failure recovery fails, the cell ID of the cell may be reported, and if the cell connected by fast failure recovery is an NES cell, it may be reported that the cell is an NES cell.
[0133] The UE may also report the time required from receiving the NES mode activation trigger from the source cell to the handover success or handover failure, or the time required from receiving the NES mode activation trigger from the source cell to the handover execution.
[0134] According to this operation example, when RLF / HOF occurs in the NES cell or when the handover (HO) is successful because the threshold is barely met, information about the NES cell can be reported to the network. Therefore, the network can avoid coverage holes even when NES is applied by using the self-optimization function (SON) that uses the information.
[0135] (4) Other Embodiments Although the embodiments have been described above, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that the present invention is not limited to the description of the embodiments, and that various modifications and improvements are possible.
[0136] For example, in the above-described embodiment, the name NES was used, but the technology for reducing energy consumption of a network as described above may be referred to by another name having a similar meaning.
[0137] Also, in the above description, configure, activate, update, indicate, enable, specify, and select may be interchangeable. Similarly, link, associate, correspond, and map may be interchangeable, and allocate, assign, monitor, and map may be interchangeable.
[0138] Furthermore, specific, dedicated, UE-specific, and UE-dedicated may be interchangeable. Similarly, common, shared, group-common, UE-common, and UE-shared may be interchangeable.
[0139] In this disclosure, terms such as "precoding," "precoder," "weight (precoding weight)," "Quasi-Co-Location (QCL)," "Transmission Configuration Indication state (TCI state)," "spatial relation," "spatial domain filter," "transmit power," "phase rotation," "antenna port," "antenna port group," "layer," "number of layers," "rank," "resource," "resource set," "resource group," "beam," "beam width," "beam angle," "antenna," "antenna element," "panel," etc. may be used interchangeably.
[0140] The block diagram ( FIG. 3 ) used to explain the above-described embodiment shows functional blocks. These functional blocks (components) are realized by any combination of hardware and / or software. Furthermore, the method for realizing each functional block is not particularly limited. That is, each functional block may be realized using a single device that is physically or logically coupled, or may be realized using two or more physically or logically separated devices that are connected directly or indirectly (e.g., via wire, wireless, etc.) and these multiple devices. The functional block may be realized by combining the single device or multiple devices with software.
[0141] Functions include, but are not limited to, judgment, determination, judgment, calculation, computation, processing, derivation, investigation, search, confirmation, reception, transmission, output, access, resolution, selection, selection, establishment, comparison, assumption, expectation, consideration, broadcasting, notifying, communicating, forwarding, configuring, reconfiguring, allocating, mapping, and assignment. For example, a functional block (component) that performs transmission is called a transmitting unit or transmitter. As mentioned above, there are no particular limitations on how each is implemented.
[0142] Furthermore, the above-described gNB 100 and UE 200 (the devices) may function as a computer that performs processing of the wireless communication method of the present disclosure. Figure 14 is a diagram showing an example of the hardware configuration of the devices. As shown in Figure 14, the devices may be configured as a computer including a processor 1001, a memory 1002, a storage 1003, a communication device 1004, an input device 1005, an output device 1006, a bus 1007, etc.
[0143] In the following description, the term "apparatus" can be interpreted as a circuit, a device, a unit, etc. The hardware configuration of the apparatus may be configured to include one or more of the apparatuses shown in the drawings, or may be configured to exclude some of the apparatuses.
[0144] Each functional block of the device (see FIG. 3) is realized by any hardware element of the computer device or a combination of the hardware elements.
[0145] In addition, each function of the device is realized by loading specified software (programs) onto hardware such as processor 1001 and memory 1002, causing processor 1001 to perform calculations, control communication via communication device 1004, and control at least one of reading and writing data in memory 1002 and storage 1003.
[0146] The processor 1001 controls the entire computer by running, for example, an operating system, and may be configured as a central processing unit (CPU) including an interface with peripheral devices, a control unit, an arithmetic unit, and registers.
[0147] The processor 1001 also reads programs (program codes), software modules, data, etc. from at least one of the storage 1003 and the communication device 1004 into the memory 1002 and executes various processes in accordance with these. The programs used are those that cause a computer to execute at least some of the operations described in the above-described embodiments. Furthermore, the various processes described above may be executed by a single processor 1001, or may be executed simultaneously or sequentially by two or more processors 1001. The processor 1001 may be implemented by one or more chips. The programs may be transmitted from a network via a telecommunications line.
[0148] The memory 1002 is a computer-readable recording medium and may be configured by at least one of, for example, a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable ROM (EPROM), an electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM), a random access memory (RAM), etc. The memory 1002 may also be called a register, a cache, a main memory (primary storage device), etc. The memory 1002 may store a program (program code), a software module, etc., capable of executing a method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.
[0149] Storage 1003 is a computer-readable recording medium, and may be, for example, at least one of an optical disk such as a Compact Disc ROM (CD-ROM), a hard disk drive, a flexible disk, a magneto-optical disk (e.g., a compact disk, a digital versatile disk, a Blu-ray disc), a smart card, a flash memory (e.g., a card, a stick, a key drive), a floppy disk, a magnetic strip, etc. Storage 1003 may also be referred to as an auxiliary storage device. The above-mentioned recording medium may be, for example, a database, a server, or other suitable medium including at least one of memory 1002 and storage 1003.
[0150] The communication device 1004 is hardware (transmission / reception device) for communicating between computers via at least one of a wired network and a wireless network, and is also called, for example, a network device, a network controller, a network card, or a communication module.
[0151] The communication device 1004 may be configured to include a high-frequency switch, a duplexer, a filter, a frequency synthesizer, etc. to realize, for example, at least one of Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) and Time Division Duplex (TDD).
[0152] The input device 1005 is an input device (e.g., a keyboard, a mouse, a microphone, a switch, a button, a sensor, etc.) that receives input from the outside. The output device 1006 is an output device (e.g., a display, a speaker, an LED lamp, etc.) that outputs to the outside. Note that the input device 1005 and the output device 1006 may be integrated into one device (e.g., a touch panel).
[0153] Furthermore, each device such as the processor 1001 and the memory 1002 is connected to a bus 1007 for communicating information. The bus 1007 may be configured using a single bus, or may be configured using different buses between each device.
[0154] Furthermore, the device may be configured to include hardware such as a microprocessor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a programmable logic device (PLD), or a field programmable gate array (FPGA), and some or all of the functional blocks may be realized by the hardware. For example, the processor 1001 may be implemented using at least one of these pieces of hardware.
[0155] Furthermore, the notification of information is not limited to the aspects / embodiments described in the present disclosure, and may be performed using other methods. For example, the notification of information may be performed by physical layer signaling (e.g., Downlink Control Information (DCI), Uplink Control Information (UCI)), higher layer signaling (e.g., RRC signaling, Medium Access Control (MAC) signaling, broadcast information (Master Information Block (MIB), System Information Block (SIB))), other signals, or a combination thereof. Furthermore, the RRC signaling may be referred to as an RRC message, and may be, for example, an RRC Connection Setup message, an RRC Connection Reconfiguration message, or the like.
[0156] Each aspect / embodiment described in the present disclosure may be applied to at least one of a system using Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE-Advanced (LTE-A), SUPER 3G, IMT-Advanced, a 4th generation mobile communication system (4G), a 5th generation mobile communication system (5G), a 6th generation mobile communication system (6G), an xth generation mobile communication system (xG) (where x is, for example, an integer or a decimal), Future Radio Access (FRA), New Radio (NR), W-CDMA (registered trademark), GSM (registered trademark), CDMA2000, Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB), IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi (registered trademark)), IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX (registered trademark)), IEEE 802.20, Ultra-WideBand (UWB), Bluetooth (registered trademark), or other suitable system, and a next-generation system extended based on these. Furthermore, a combination of multiple systems (e.g., a combination of at least one of LTE and LTE-A with 5G) may also be applied.
[0157] The order of the procedures, sequences, flowcharts, etc. of each aspect / embodiment described in this disclosure may be changed unless it is consistent. For example, the methods described in this disclosure present elements of various steps using an example order, and are not limited to the particular order presented.
[0158] In the present disclosure, a specific operation described as being performed by a base station may also be performed by its upper node in some cases. In a network consisting of one or more network nodes having a base station, it is clear that various operations performed for communication with a terminal may be performed by at least one of the base station and another network node other than the base station (e.g., MME or S-GW, etc., but are not limited to these). Although the above example illustrates a case where there is one other network node other than the base station, a combination of multiple other network nodes (e.g., MME and S-GW) may also be used.
[0159] Information, signals (information, etc.) may be output from a higher layer (or a lower layer) to a lower layer (or a higher layer), or may be input and output via multiple network nodes.
[0160] The input and output information may be stored in a specific location (for example, a memory) or may be managed using a management table. The input and output information may be overwritten, updated, or added. The output information may be deleted. The input information may be transmitted to another device.
[0161] The determination may be made based on a value represented by one bit (0 or 1), a Boolean value (true or false), or a numerical comparison (e.g., comparison with a predetermined value).
[0162] The aspects / embodiments described in this disclosure may be used alone, in combination, or switched depending on the implementation. Notification of predetermined information (e.g., notification that "X is true") is not limited to explicit notification, but may be implicit (e.g., not notifying the predetermined information).
[0163] Software shall be construed broadly to mean instructions, instruction sets, code, code segments, program code, programs, subprograms, software modules, applications, software applications, software packages, routines, subroutines, objects, executable files, threads of execution, procedures, functions, etc., whether referred to as software, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware description language, or otherwise.
[0164] Software, instructions, information, etc. may also be transmitted or received over a transmission medium. For example, if software is transmitted from a website, server, or other remote source using wired technologies (such as coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, Digital Subscriber Line (DSL)), and / or wireless technologies (such as infrared, microwave), then these wired and / or wireless technologies are included within the definition of transmission media.
[0165] The information, signals, etc. described in this disclosure may be represented using any of a variety of different technologies. For example, data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, chips, etc. that may be referred to throughout the above description may be represented by voltages, currents, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or magnetic particles, optical fields or photons, or any combination thereof.
[0166] Note that terms described in this disclosure and terms necessary for understanding this disclosure may be replaced with terms having the same or similar meanings. For example, at least one of a channel and a symbol may be a signal (signaling). Furthermore, a signal may be a message. Furthermore, a component carrier (CC) may be called a carrier frequency, a cell, a frequency carrier, etc.
[0167] As used in this disclosure, the terms "system" and "network" are used interchangeably.
[0168] Furthermore, the information, parameters, etc. described in the present disclosure may be expressed using absolute values, relative values from a predetermined value, or other corresponding information. For example, a radio resource may be indicated by an index.
[0169] The names used for the above-described parameters are not intended to be limiting in any way. Furthermore, the mathematical expressions using these parameters may differ from those explicitly disclosed in this disclosure. The various channels (e.g., PUCCH, PDCCH, etc.) and information elements may be identified by any suitable names, and therefore the various names assigned to these various channels and information elements are not intended to be limiting in any way.
[0170] In this disclosure, terms such as "base station (BS)," "radio base station," "fixed station," "NodeB," "eNodeB (eNB)," "gNodeB (gNB)," "access point," "transmission point," "reception point," "transmission / reception point," "cell," "sector," "cell group," "carrier," and "component carrier" may be used interchangeably. Base stations may also be referred to by terms such as macrocell, small cell, femtocell, and picocell.
[0171] A base station can accommodate one or more (e.g., three) cells (also called sectors). When a base station accommodates multiple cells, the overall coverage area of the base station can be divided into multiple smaller areas, and each smaller area can be provided with communication services by a base station subsystem (e.g., a small indoor base station (Remote Radio Head: RRH)).
[0172] The terms "cell" or "sector" refer to part or all of the coverage area of a base station and / or base station subsystem that provides communication services within that coverage area.
[0173] In the present disclosure, the base station transmitting information to a terminal may be interpreted as the base station instructing the terminal to control or operate based on the information.
[0174] In this disclosure, the terms "Mobile Station (MS)," "user terminal," "User Equipment (UE)," "terminal," etc. may be used interchangeably.
[0175] A mobile station may also be referred to by those skilled in the art as a subscriber station, mobile unit, subscriber unit, wireless unit, remote unit, mobile device, wireless device, wireless communication device, remote device, mobile subscriber station, access terminal, mobile terminal, wireless terminal, remote terminal, handset, user agent, mobile client, client, or some other suitable terminology.
[0176] At least one of the base station and the mobile station may be referred to as a transmitting device, a receiving device, a communication device, etc. At least one of the base station and the mobile station may be a device mounted on a mobile object, the mobile object itself, etc. The mobile object refers to a movable object, and may move at any speed. Naturally, this also includes cases where the mobile object is stationary. Examples of the mobile object include, but are not limited to, vehicles, transport vehicles, automobiles, motorcycles, bicycles, connected cars, excavators, bulldozers, wheel loaders, dump trucks, forklifts, trains, buses, handcars, rickshaws, ships and other watercraft, airplanes, rockets, satellites, drones (registered trademark), multicopters, quadcopters, balloons, and objects mounted thereon. The mobile object may also be a mobile object that moves autonomously based on an operational command. It may be a vehicle (e.g., a car, an airplane, etc.), an unmanned mobile object (e.g., a drone, an autonomous vehicle, etc.), or a robot (manned or unmanned). At least one of the base station and the mobile station may be a device that does not necessarily move during communication operations. For example, at least one of the base station and the mobile station may be an IoT (Internet of Things) device such as a sensor.
[0177] Furthermore, a base station in the present disclosure may be read as a mobile station (user terminal, the same applies hereinafter). For example, the aspects / embodiments of the present disclosure may be applied to a configuration in which communication between a base station and a mobile station is replaced with communication between multiple mobile stations (which may be called, for example, Device-to-Device (D2D) or Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X)). In this case, the mobile station may be configured to have the functions of a base station. Furthermore, terms such as "uplink" and "downlink" may be read as terms corresponding to terminal-to-terminal communication (for example, "side"). For example, terms such as an uplink channel and a downlink channel may be read as a side channel (or sidelink).
[0178] Similarly, a mobile station in the present disclosure may be interpreted as a base station, in which case the base station may have the functions of a mobile station.
[0179] A radio frame may be composed of one or more frames in the time domain. Each of the one or more frames in the time domain may be called a subframe. A subframe may further be composed of one or more slots in the time domain. A subframe may have a fixed time length (e.g., 1 ms) that is independent of numerology.
[0180] Numerology may be communication parameters that apply to the transmission and / or reception of a signal or channel, such as subcarrier spacing (SCS), bandwidth, symbol length, cyclic prefix length, transmission time interval (TTI), number of symbols per TTI, radio frame structure, specific filtering operations performed by the transceiver in the frequency domain, and specific windowing operations performed by the transceiver in the time domain.
[0181] A slot may consist of one or more symbols in the time domain (such as an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) symbol, a Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA) symbol, etc.) A slot may be a numerology-based time unit.
[0182] A slot may include multiple minislots. Each minislot may consist of one or more symbols in the time domain. A minislot may also be called a subslot. A minislot may consist of fewer symbols than a slot. A PDSCH (or PUSCH) transmitted in a time unit larger than a minislot may be called PDSCH (or PUSCH) mapping type A. A PDSCH (or PUSCH) transmitted using a minislot may be called PDSCH (or PUSCH) mapping type B.
[0183] The radio frame, subframe, slot, minislot, and symbol all represent time units for transmitting signals, and may be referred to by other names corresponding to the radio frame, subframe, slot, minislot, and symbol.
[0184] For example, one subframe may be referred to as a transmission time interval (TTI), multiple consecutive subframes may be referred to as a TTI, or one slot or one minislot may be referred to as a TTI. That is, at least one of the subframe and the TTI may be a subframe (1 ms) in existing LTE, a period shorter than 1 ms (e.g., 1-13 symbols), or a period longer than 1 ms. Note that the unit representing the TTI may be called a slot, minislot, etc., instead of a subframe.
[0185] Here, TTI refers to, for example, the smallest time unit for scheduling in wireless communication. For example, in an LTE system, a base station schedules each user terminal to allocate radio resources (such as frequency bandwidth and transmission power that can be used by each user terminal) in TTI units. Note that the definition of TTI is not limited to this.
[0186] The TTI may be a transmission time unit for a channel-encoded data packet (transport block), a code block, a code word, etc., or may be a processing unit for scheduling, link adaptation, etc. When a TTI is given, the time interval (e.g., the number of symbols) to which a transport block, a code block, a code word, etc. is actually mapped may be shorter than the TTI.
[0187] In addition, when one slot or one minislot is called a TTI, one or more TTIs (i.e., one or more slots or one or more minislots) may be the minimum time unit for scheduling, and the number of slots (minislots) constituting the minimum time unit for scheduling may be controlled.
[0188] A TTI having a time length of 1 ms may be referred to as a regular TTI (TTI in LTE Rel. 8-12), normal TTI, long TTI, regular subframe, normal subframe, long subframe, slot, etc. A TTI shorter than a regular TTI may be referred to as a shortened TTI, short TTI, partial or fractional TTI, shortened subframe, short subframe, minislot, subslot, slot, etc.
[0189] In addition, a long TTI (e.g., a normal TTI, a subframe, etc.) may be interpreted as a TTI having a time length of more than 1 ms, and a short TTI (e.g., a shortened TTI, etc.) may be interpreted as a TTI having a TTI length shorter than the TTI length of a long TTI and equal to or greater than 1 ms.
[0190] A resource block (RB) is a resource allocation unit in the time domain and the frequency domain, and may include one or more consecutive subcarriers in the frequency domain. The number of subcarriers included in an RB may be the same regardless of numerology, for example, 12. The number of subcarriers included in an RB may be determined based on numerology.
[0191] The time domain of an RB may include one or more symbols and may have a length of one slot, one minislot, one subframe, or one TTI, each of which may consist of one or more resource blocks.
[0192] Note that one or more RBs may also be called a physical resource block (PRB), a sub-carrier group (SCG), a resource element group (REG), a PRB pair, an RB pair, etc.
[0193] Furthermore, a resource block may be composed of one or more resource elements (REs). For example, one RE may be a radio resource region of one subcarrier and one symbol.
[0194] A Bandwidth Part (BWP) (which may also be referred to as a fractional bandwidth) may represent a subset of contiguous common resource blocks (RBs) for a given numerology on a given carrier, where the common RBs may be identified by their index relative to a common reference point of the carrier. PRBs may be defined in a given BWP and numbered within that BWP.
[0195] The BWP may include a BWP for UL (UL BWP) and a BWP for DL (DL BWP). One or more BWPs may be configured for a UE within one carrier.
[0196] At least one of the configured BWPs may be active, and the UE may not expect to transmit or receive a given signal / channel outside the active BWP. Note that the terms "cell," "carrier," etc. in this disclosure may be read as "BWP."
[0197] The above-described structures of the radio frame, subframe, slot, minislot, and symbol are merely examples. For example, the number of subframes included in a radio frame, the number of slots per subframe or radio frame, the number of minislots included in a slot, the number of symbols and RBs included in a slot or minislot, the number of subcarriers included in an RB, the number of symbols in a TTI, the symbol length, the cyclic prefix (CP) length, and other configurations may be changed in various ways.
[0198] The terms "connected," "coupled," or any variation thereof, refer to any direct or indirect connection or coupling between two or more elements, and may include the presence of one or more intermediate elements between two elements that are "connected" or "coupled" to each other. The coupling or connection between elements may be physical, logical, or a combination thereof. For example, "connected" may be read as "access." As used in this disclosure, two elements may be considered to be "connected" or "coupled" to each other using one or more wires, cables, and / or printed electrical connections, as well as electromagnetic energy having wavelengths in the radio frequency range, microwave range, and optical (both visible and invisible) range, as some non-limiting and non-exhaustive examples.
[0199] The reference signal may also be abbreviated as Reference Signal (RS) and may be called a pilot depending on the applicable standard.
[0200] As used in this disclosure, the phrase "based on" does not mean "based only on," unless expressly stated otherwise. In other words, the phrase "based on" means both "based only on" and "based at least on."
[0201] The "means" in the configuration of each of the above devices may be replaced with "part," "circuit," "device," etc.
[0202] As used in this disclosure, any reference to an element using a designation such as "first," "second," etc. does not generally limit the quantity or order of those elements. These designations may be used in this disclosure as a convenient method of distinguishing between two or more elements. Thus, a reference to a first and a second element does not imply that only two elements may be employed therein or that the first element must precede the second element in some way.
[0203] When the terms "include," "including," and variations thereof are used in this disclosure, these terms are intended to be inclusive, similar to the term "comprising." Furthermore, when the term "or" is used in this disclosure, it is not intended to be an exclusive or.
[0204] In this disclosure, where articles are added by translation, such as a, an, and the in English, the disclosure may include that the nouns following these articles are in the plural form.
[0205] As used in this disclosure, the terms "determining" and "determining" may encompass a wide variety of actions. "Determining" and "determining" may include, for example, judging, calculating, computing, processing, deriving, investigating, looking up, searching, inquiring (e.g., searching in a table, database, or other data structure), ascertaining, and the like. "Determining" and "determining" may also include receiving (e.g., receiving information), transmitting (e.g., sending information), input, output, accessing (e.g., accessing data in memory), and the like. Furthermore, "judgment" and "decision" can include regarding resolving, selecting, choosing, establishing, comparing, etc. as having been "judged" or "decided." In other words, "judgment" and "decision" can include regarding some action as having been "judged" or "decided." Furthermore, "judgment (decision)" can be interpreted as "assuming," "expecting," "considering," etc.
[0206] In the present disclosure, the term "A and B are different" may mean "A and B are different from each other." The term may also mean "A and B are each different from C." Terms such as "separate" and "coupled" may also be interpreted in the same way as "different."
[0207] 15 shows an example of the configuration of a vehicle 2001. As shown in Fig. 15, the vehicle 2001 includes a drive unit 2002, a steering unit 2003, an accelerator pedal 2004, a brake pedal 2005, a shift lever 2006, left and right front wheels 2007, left and right rear wheels 2008, an axle 2009, an electronic control unit 2010, various sensors 2021 to 2029, an information service unit 2012, and a communication module 2013.
[0208] The drive unit 2002 is composed of, for example, an engine, a motor, or a hybrid of an engine and a motor. The steering unit 2003 includes at least a steering wheel (also called a handle) and is configured to steer at least one of the front wheels and the rear wheels based on the operation of the steering wheel operated by the user. The electronic control unit 2010 is composed of a microprocessor 2031, memory (ROM, RAM) 2032, and a communication port (IO port) 2033. Signals from various sensors 2021 to 2027 provided in the vehicle are input to the electronic control unit 2010. The electronic control unit 2010 may also be called an ECU (Electronic Control Unit).
[0209] The signals from the various sensors 2021 to 2028 include a current signal from a current sensor 2021 that senses the current of the motor, a rotation speed signal of the front and rear wheels obtained by a rotation speed sensor 2022, an air pressure signal of the front and rear wheels obtained by an air pressure sensor 2023, a vehicle speed signal obtained by a vehicle speed sensor 2024, an acceleration signal obtained by an acceleration sensor 2025, an accelerator pedal depression amount signal obtained by an accelerator pedal sensor 2029, a brake pedal depression amount signal obtained by a brake pedal sensor 2026, a shift lever operation signal obtained by a shift lever sensor 2027, and a detection signal for detecting obstacles, vehicles, pedestrians, etc. obtained by an object detection sensor 2028.
[0210] The information service unit 2012 is composed of various devices, such as a car navigation system, an audio system, speakers, a television, and a radio, for providing (outputting) various types of information, such as driving information, traffic information, and entertainment information, and one or more ECUs for controlling these devices. The information service unit 2012 uses information acquired from external devices via the communication module 2013, etc., to provide various types of multimedia information and multimedia services to the occupants of the vehicle 1.
[0211] The information service unit 2012 may include input devices (e.g., keyboards, mice, microphones, switches, buttons, sensors, touch panels, etc.) that accept input from the outside, and may also include output devices (e.g., displays, speakers, LED lamps, touch panels, etc.) that output to the outside.
[0212] The driving assistance system unit 2030 is composed of various devices that provide functions for preventing accidents and reducing the driver's driving burden, such as millimeter-wave radar, LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging), cameras, positioning locators (e.g., GNSS, etc.), map information (e.g., high-definition (HD) maps, autonomous vehicle (AV) maps, etc.), gyro systems (e.g., IMU (Inertial Measurement Unit), INS (Inertial Navigation System), etc.), AI (Artificial Intelligence) chips, and AI processors, as well as one or more ECUs that control these devices. The driving assistance system unit 2030 also transmits and receives various information via the communication module 2013 to realize driving assistance functions or autonomous driving functions.
[0213] The communication module 2013 can communicate with the microprocessor 2031 and components of the vehicle 1 via the communication port. For example, the communication module 2013 transmits and receives data via the communication port 2033 to and from a driving unit 2002, a steering unit 2003, an accelerator pedal 2004, a brake pedal 2005, a shift lever 2006, left and right front wheels 2007, left and right rear wheels 2008, an axle 2009, a microprocessor 2031 and memory (ROM, RAM) 2032 in the electronic control unit 2010, and sensors 2021 to 2028, which are provided in the vehicle 2001.
[0214] The communication module 2013 is a communication device that can be controlled by the microprocessor 2031 of the electronic control unit 2010 and can communicate with an external device. For example, it transmits and receives various information to and from the external device via wireless communication. The communication module 2013 may be located either inside or outside the electronic control unit 2010. The external device may be, for example, a base station, a mobile station, or the like.
[0215] The communication module 2013 may transmit at least one of signals from the above-mentioned various sensors 2021 to 2028 input to the electronic control unit 2010, information obtained based on the signals, and information based on input from the outside (user) obtained via the information service unit 2012 to an external device via wireless communication. The electronic control unit 2010, the various sensors 2021 to 2028, the information service unit 2012, etc. may be referred to as input units that accept input. For example, the PUSCH transmitted by the communication module 2013 may include information based on the above-mentioned input.
[0216] The communication module 2013 receives various information (traffic information, traffic signal information, vehicle-to-vehicle information, etc.) transmitted from external devices and displays it on an information service unit 2012 provided in the vehicle. The information service unit 2012 may also be called an output unit that outputs information (for example, outputs information to a device such as a display or speaker based on the PDSCH (or data / information decoded from the PDSCH) received by the communication module 2013). The communication module 2013 also stores the various information received from external devices in a memory 2032 that can be used by the microprocessor 2031. Based on the information stored in the memory 2032, the microprocessor 2031 may control the drive unit 2002, steering unit 2003, accelerator pedal 2004, brake pedal 2005, shift lever 2006, left and right front wheels 2007, left and right rear wheels 2008, axles 2009, sensors 2021 to 2028, and the like provided in the vehicle 2001.
[0217] (Additional Note) The above disclosure may be expressed as follows: A first feature is a terminal including: a controller that controls cell transition of the terminal in accordance with mobility control by a lower layer; and a receiver that receives a message including an execution condition for the cell transition from a network, wherein the controller executes the cell transition when a dormancy execution condition that is applied when a source cell that is a transition source or a candidate cell that is a transition destination transitions to a dormant state is satisfied.
[0218] A second feature is that, in the first feature, the control unit executes the cell transition when at least one of a unique measurement offset, a unique measurement hysteresis parameter, and a unique time to trigger associated with the dormant state satisfies the applied dormant execution condition.
[0219] A third feature is, in the first or second feature, the receiving unit receives the message including the execution condition for sleep, and the control unit executes the cell transition when the received execution condition for sleep is satisfied.
[0220] A fourth feature is that, in the first to third features, the receiving unit receives a message from the lower layer indicating a transition to the dormant state, and the control unit executes the cell transition when the receiving unit receives the message from the lower layer and the dormant execution condition is satisfied.
[0221] A fifth feature is that in the first to fourth features, the receiving unit receives a cell switching command including information indicating a transition to the dormant state, and the control unit performs the cell transition based on the cell switching command.
[0222] A sixth feature is that, in the first to fifth features, the receiving unit receives the message including an additional information element indicating whether the candidate cell is in a dormant state, separately from an information element indicating the setting of the candidate cell, and the control unit refers to the additional information element to determine whether the candidate cell is in a dormant state.
[0223] A seventh feature is that the present invention includes a receiving unit that receives a request to send terminal information from a network, and a transmitting unit that transmits the terminal information, including information about the cell, to the network based on the state of a radio link and handover in a dormant cell.
[0224] An eighth feature is the terminal according to the seventh feature, wherein, when a failure occurs in the wireless link, the transmitter transmits the terminal information including at least any of an indication indicating that the cell is in the dormant state, a type of the dormant state, identification information of the cell, a format of discontinuous transmission / discontinuous reception of the cell, location information of the terminal, and information on a time when the failure occurred.
[0225] A ninth feature is, in the seventh or eighth feature, when the handover fails, the transmitter transmits the terminal information including at least any of identification information of a source cell from which handover originates, identification information of a target cell to which handover is to be performed, reception quality of the source cell, reception quality of the target cell, an indication that the source cell is in the dormant state, an indication that the target cell is in the dormant state, an indication that a candidate cell to which handover is to be performed is in the dormant state, a format of discontinuous transmission / discontinuous reception of the source cell, a format of discontinuous transmission / discontinuous reception of the target cell, location information of the terminal, and information on the time when the failure occurred.
[0226] According to a tenth feature of the present invention, in any one of the seventh to ninth features, the transmitter transmits the terminal information including at least one of a measurement offset and a hysteresis parameter associated with the hibernation state.
[0227] An eleventh feature is any one of the seventh to tenth features, wherein the transmitter transmits the terminal information including at least one of identification information of a cell related to a cell transition of the terminal due to a conditional handover or mobility control by a lower layer and an indication that the related cell is in the dormant state.
[0228] A twelfth feature is any one of the seventh to eleventh features, wherein the transmitter transmits the terminal information including a time from reception of an instruction for the cell to transition to the dormant state to start, completion, or failure of the handover.
[0229] 10 Wireless communication system 20 NG-RAN 100 gNB 200 UE 210 Wireless signal transceiver 220 Amplifier 230 Modulation / demodulation unit 240 Control signal / reference signal processing unit 250 Encoding / decoding unit 260 Data transceiver 270 Control unit 1001 Processor 1002 Memory 1003 Storage 1004 Communication device 1005 Input device 1006 Output device 1007 Bus 2001 Vehicle 2002 Drive unit 2003 Steering unit 2004 Accelerator pedal 2005 Brake pedal 2006 Shift lever 2007 Left and right front wheels 2008 Left and right rear wheels 2009 Axle 2010 Electronic control unit 2012 Information service unit 2013 Communication module 2021 Current sensor 2022 RPM sensor 2023 Air pressure sensor 2024 Vehicle speed sensor 2025 Acceleration sensor 2026 Brake pedal sensor 2027 Shift lever sensor 2028 Object detection sensor 2029 Accelerator pedal sensor 2030 Driving assistance system section 2031 Microprocessor 2032 Memory (ROM, RAM) 2033 Communication port
Claims
1. A terminal comprising: a receiving unit that receives a request to transmit terminal information from a network; and a transmitting unit that transmits the terminal information, including information about a cell, to the network based on a state of a radio link and handover in the dormant cell.
2. The terminal according to claim 1, wherein, when a failure occurs in the wireless link, the transmitting unit transmits the terminal information including at least one of an indication indicating that the cell is in the dormant state, a type of the dormant state, identification information of the cell, a format of discontinuous transmission / discontinuous reception of the cell, location information of the terminal, and information on the time when the failure occurred.
3. The terminal of claim 1, wherein, if the handover fails, the transmitting unit transmits the terminal information including at least any of the following: identification information of a source cell from which the handover originates, identification information of a target cell to which the handover destination occurs, the reception quality of the source cell, the reception quality of the target cell, an indication indicating that the source cell is in the dormant state, an indication indicating that the target cell is in the dormant state, an indication indicating that a candidate cell to which the handover destination is in the dormant state, a format of discontinuous transmission / discontinuous reception of the source cell, a format of discontinuous transmission / discontinuous reception of the target cell, location information of the terminal, and information on the time at which the failure occurred.
4. The terminal according to claim 1, wherein the transmitting unit transmits the terminal information including at least one of a measurement offset and a hysteresis parameter associated with the hibernation state.
5. The terminal according to claim 1, wherein the transmitting unit transmits the terminal information including at least one of identification information of a cell related to cell transition of the terminal due to conditional handover or mobility control by a lower layer and an indication that the related cell is in the dormant state.
6. The terminal according to claim 1, wherein the transmitting unit transmits the terminal information including the time from receipt of an instruction for the cell to transition to the dormant state to the start, completion or failure of the handover.
Citation Information
Patent Citations
Radio link failure reporting method and user equipment
EP4216597A1