Methods and nodes for UE conditions for WUR operation

Abstract

There is provided a method performed by a user equipment (UE) / wireless device for selecting a wake up receiver (WUR) between a first WUR and a second WUR to use. The method comprises: receiving a configuration from a network node, the configuration comprising at least condition information regarding the first WUR; determining if the first WUR meets the condition information; and selecting the first WUR if the first WUR meets the condition information, for monitoring a downlink transmission, else selecting the second WUR, for monitoring a downlink transmission.

Description

Methods and nodes for UE Conditions for WUR OperationRELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] This application claims the benefits of priority of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63 / 606,923, entitled “UE Conditions for WUR Operation” and filed at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) on December 6, 2023, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.TECHNICAL FIELD

[0002] This disclosure relates to wireless network communications and in particular to the use of the Wake Up Receiver (WUR) in such communications.BACKGROUND

[0003] Wake-up receiver (WUR), sometimes also referred to as ‘wake-up radio’, is about enabling a low power receiver in User Equipments (UEs), which, in case of the detection of a wake-up signal (WUS), wakes up the main (baseband / higher power) receiver to detect an incoming message, typically paging (e.g. Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) in paging occasions (PO), scheduling the paging message on Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH)) . The main benefit of employing a WUR is lowering energy consumption and having longer device battery life, or at a fixed energy consumption, the downlink latency can be reduced (shorter Discontinuous reception (DRX)Zduty-cycles and more frequent checks for incoming transmissions).

[0004] WUSforNB-IoTandLTE-M

[0005] Release (Rel) 15

[0006] In Rel- 15, WUS was specified for NarrowBand- Internet of Things (NB-IoT) and Long Term Evolution- Machine communications (LTE-M). The main motivation was UE energy consumption reduction, since with the coverage enhancement, PDCCH could be repeated many times and the WUS is relatively much shorter and hence requires less reception time for the UE. The logic is that a UE would check for a WUS a certain time before its PO, and only if a WUS is detected the UE would continue to check for PDCCH in the PO, and if not, which is most of the time, the UE can go back to a sleep state to conserve energy. Due to the coverage enhancements, the WUS can be of variable length depending on the UE’s coverage, see Fig. 1. As illustrated in Fig. 1, the WUS 10 can be of any duration within the configured maximum WUS duration 12. Understandably, the WUS 10 has a minimum duration as well.

[0007] A WUS is based on the transmission of a short signal that indicates to the UE that it should continue to decode the downlink (DL) control channel, e.g. full NarrowBand PDCCH (NPDCCH) for NB-IoT. If such a signal is absent (DTX), i.e. the UE does not detect it, then the UE can go back to sleep without decoding the DL control channel. The decoding time for a WUS is considerably shorter than that of the full NPDCCH, since it essentially only needs to contain one bit of information, whereas the NPDCCH may contain up to 35 bits of information. This, in turn, reduces UE power consumption and leads to longer UE battery life. The WUS would be transmitted only when there is a paging for the UE. But if there is no paging for the UE, then the WUS will not be transmitted (i.e., implying a DTX) and the UE would go back to deep sleep, e.g. upon detecting DTX instead of WUS. This is illustrated in Fig. 2, where the white blocks indicate possible WUS and PO positions, and the black boxes indicate the actual WUS and PO positions.

[0008] The specification of Rel-15 WUS is spread out over several parts of the LTE 36- series standard, e.g., 36.211, 36.213, 36.304 and 36.331.

[0009] A UE will report its WUS capability and WUS gap capability (see below) to the network. Further, WUS information was added to the paging message / request from the Mobility Management Entity (MME) to an evolved Node B (eNB), e.g. see UE radio paging capabilities in 3GPP 38.306. The eNB will use the WUS for paging the UE if 1) the WUS is enabled in the cell (i.e. WUS-Config present in system information (SI)), and 2) the UE supports the WUS according to the wakeUpSignal-rl 5 UE capability (see also the description of the WUS gap below).

[0010] The WUS was introduced for both LTE-M and NB-IoT with support for both DRX and extended DRX (eDRX), the former with a 1-to-l mapping between the WUS and the PO, and for the latter with the addition of the possible configuration of 1-to-N (many) POs. The eNB can configure one WUS gap for UEs using DRX, and another one for UEs using eDRX [TS 36.331, examples are given for NB-IoT, LTE-M is similar]. An example of the WUS configuration is given in TS 36.331.

[0011] The UE capabilities can also indicate the minimum WUS gaps required for the UE to be able to decode the PDCCH in the associated PO, for DRX and eDRX, respectively [see TS 36.331],

[0012] At the end of Rel-15, a longer WUS gap of Is or 2s was introduced to enable the use of WUR. That is, starting up the main baseband receiver, if a WUR is used for the detection of WUS, may take longer time. If this is supported in the cell, the eNB would include timeOffset-eDRX-Long in the WUS-Config in SI. In TS 36.304, the UE behavior for monitoringpaging with WUS is specified, and in Table 7.4-1 it is indicated which WUS time gap the UE (and eNB) should apply depending on the reported UE capability. In essence, the UE will only use WUR, or timeOffset-eDRX-Long, if it is capable of starting up the main receiver as quickly as indicated by the value used in SI. If not, it will fall back to using timeOffset-eDRX-Short (without WUR). This is illustrated in Fig. 3.

[0013] Since UEs share PO, the eNB may, in the worst case, have to transmit up to 3 WUSs for one PO, i.e. corresponding to timeoffsetDRX, timeoffset-eDRX-Short, and timeoffset- eDRX-Long.

[0014] WUS UE grouping objective in Rel-16

[0015] In the Rel-16 Work Item Description (WID), it was agreed that WUS should be further developed to also include UE grouping, such that the number of UEs that are triggered by a WUS is further narrowed down to a smaller subset of the UEs that are associated with a specific paging occasion (PO).

[0016] The purpose is to reduce the false paging rate, i.e. avoid that a given UE is unnecessarily woken up by a WUS transmission intended for another UE. This feature is referred to as Rel-16 group WUS, or GWUS. However, this is not directly related to WUR and will not further be explained in this disclosure.

[0017] Rel-17 New Radio (NR) Paging Early Indication (PEI)

[0018] In Rel-17, discussions started on introducing a WUS for NR, called PEI. However, since at the time no coverage enhancement was specified for NR, the only gain for Rel-17 PEI was for scenarios where the small fraction of UEs is in bad coverage and with large synchronization error due to the use of longer DRX cycles. The gain for such UEs is that with the use of PEI they would typically only have to acquire one Synchronization Signal Block (SSB) before decoding PEI, instead of up to 3 SSBs if the PEI is not used (value according to UE vendors). So, for most UEs, Rel-17 PEI will result in gains or increased performance.

[0019] Rel-17 PEI will also support UE grouping for false paging reduction, similar to the Rel-16 GWUS case, which will have some gains at higher paging load.

[0020] In RAN#93e meeting, it was agreed that PEI will be PDCCH-based, as seen in the next subsection, making it much less interesting for WUR (i.e. the main baseband receiver is required for decoding PEI).

[0021] Rel-18 NR WUR

[0022] In Rel-18, there has been rather a large interest to introduce WUR for NR. As explained above, the only specification support needed to be able to use a WUR in the UE, is the specification of a WUS and a long enough time gap between the WUS and the PDCCH inthe PO (to allow the UE to start up the main receiver). Therefore, the main difference to Rel- 17 PEI is that the WUS in Rel-18 should not be PDCCH-based and allow for a simpler and low power receiver, i.e. WUR with simple modulation and detection techniques (e.g. using on-off keying (OOK) modulation and non-coherent detection).

[0023] In Rel-18, a study item on “low-power wake-up signal and receiver for NR” was approved, see for example from RP-213645):

[0024] For more details on, e.g. suggestions on WUR architecture and design, receiver power vs. sensitivity trade-off, see e.g. RP-212005, RP-212254. RP-212367. and RP-212427 which were submitted to RAN3#93-e.

[0025] The benefit of WUR is to reduce the energy consumption of the receiver, such that unless there is any paging and data for the UE, it can remain in a power saving state. This will extent the battery life of the device / UE, or alternatively enable shorter downlink latency (shorter DRX) at a fixed battery life. For short-range communications, the WUR power can be low enough (~3 uW) that this can even, in combination with energy harvesting, enable that the WUR is continuously on (i.e. DRX or duty-cycling is not used) without the need for a battery. This can be considered as a key enabler of battery-less devices towards 6G.

[0026] The Rel-18 study item on “low-power wake-up signal and receiver for NR” is completed and the technical report is provided in: TR. 3.8.869, VI.0.0, “Study on low-power Wake-up Signal and Receiver for NR”. According to the outcome of this study, one important aspect of designing WUR / WUS is synchronization (called low power sync signal, LP-SS) as highlighted below Error! Reference source not found.:RANI studied synchronization of LP-WUR. At least for LP -WUR that cannot receive existing PSS / SSS, periodic LP-SS signal is beneficial for the following functionalities: (a) RRM measurements by LP-WUR, if supported (b) At least coarse time synchronization of LP-WUR. (c) At least coarse frequency synchronization of LP-WUR. Additional periodic LP-SS system overhead depends on LP-SS periodicity, system BW, number of beams, and resource required to fulfill the target functionality, etc. Periodic signal if used for coarse synchronization may reduce the overhead of signal preceding LP-WUS, if any. LP-SS canbe designed to be common among UE groups (cell-specific) and further reduce system overhead. For LP-WUR that can receive existing PSS / SSS potentially assisted by PBCH DMRS / TRS for synchronization, existing PSS / SSS potentially assisted by PBCH DMRS / TRS may be used for above functionality. Periodic LP-SS coverage should be equal or better than that of LP-WUS. For fine time and frequency synchronization, a signal (e.g., preamble) preceding or part of LP-WUS may be used. OFDMA waveform can provide coverage for LP-WUS with lower resource overhead. LP-WUR receiving OFDMA waveform can reuse PSS / SSS to perform RRM measurement and synchronization avoiding the introduction of periodic LP-SS within the carrier. Timing error robustness canbe further improved using a sliding window at the receiver.

[0027] Unified WUS design background

[0028] The unified WUS design allows the WUS to be decoded by either an envelope detection based (e.g. OOK) WUR, or an OFDM-based WUR (see for example Fig. 4). That is, a gNB will always transmit a unified Low Power (LP)-WUS signal, where the On-periods for the OOK modulation means OFDM subcarriers are being transmitted and the Off-periods means nothing is being transmitted, but the LP-WUS signal can either be received by an OOK- based WUR or an OFDM-based WUR. In general, a UE can either implement one WUR type or both.

[0029] The OOK-based WUR can have somewhat lower energy consumption, but the OFDM-based WUR will have better link performance and coverage (see Fig. 5).

[0030] The OFDM-based WUS is also more efficient than the OOK-based WUS, allowing for a) a larger WUS payload, b) more redundancy bits for improved decoding performance, c) multiple WUS monitoring occasions during one WUS monitoring occasion for OOK-based WUS, etc. (see Fig. 6).SUMMARY

[0031] There currently exist certain challenge(s). Company like Vivo and several other companies in their contribution to RAN# 101 propose a ‘unified WU S ’ solution where a unified WUS could be received either by an OOK-based WUR or an OFDM-based WUR (see detailsThis option is supported in the Rel- 19 work item for EP-WU S / WUR However, the ‘unified WUS’ introduces several problems since the network may have to treat UEs with different modes of operation and WUR type differently.

[0032] Certain aspects of the disclosure and their embodiments may provide solutions to these or other challenges.

[0033] The present disclosure proposes conditions to be applied by the UE to determine if the OOK-based WUR operation or OFDM-based WUR operation is applicable in the cell under the UE’s current conditions.

[0034] For example, there is provided a method in a UE for selecting a WUR between a first WUR and a second WUR. The method comprises: receiving a configuration from a network node, the configuration comprising at least condition information regarding the first WUR, determining if the first WUR meets the condition information, and selecting the first WUR if the first WUR meets the condition information, for monitoring a downlink transmission, else selecting the second WUR, for monitoring a downlink transmission. A UE / wireless device for performing this method is also provided. Furthermore, there is provided a method in a network node. The method comprises: transmitting a configuration to the wireless device, the configuration comprising at least condition information regarding the first WUR;wherein the condition information is used by the wireless device to determine if the first WUR or the second WUR is used to monitor a downlink transmission and transmitting the downlink transmission. A network node is also provided to perform this method.

[0035] Certain embodiments may provide one or more of the following technical advantage(s). The solutions enable operations using a unified WUS design, and UE implementations supporting both OOK-based WUR and OFDM-based WUR.BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0036] Exemplary embodiments will be described in more detail with reference to the following figures, in which:

[0037] Fig. 1 illustrates an example of a WUS forNB-IoT and LTE-M.

[0038] Fig. 2 illustrates an example of locations of a WUS and the paging occasions to which they are associated.

[0039] Fig. 3 illustrates an example of the use of eDRX and DRX WUS gaps for NB-IoT and LTE-M.

[0040] Fig. 4 illustrates an example of a unified LP-WUS design.

[0041] Fig. 5 illustrates an example of a coverage that is different for OOK and OFDM parts of a unified LP-WUS.

[0042] Fig. 6 illustrates an example of unified LP-WUS contents.

[0043] Fig. 7 illustrates an example of a flow chart for determining which mode of WUR operation or type of WUR to use in a cell, according to an embodiment.

[0044] Fig. 8 illustrates another example of a flow chart for determining which mode of WUR operation or type of WUR to use in a cell, according to an embodiment.

[0045] Fig. 9 illustrates an example of a flow chart for determining which mode of WUR operation or type of WUR to use in a cell, with OFDM-based WUR prioritized, according to an embodiment.

[0046] Fig. 10 illustrates an example of WUR active power consumption and WUR ON duration.

[0047] Fig. 11 illustrates an example of battery-aware WUR mode selection process based on various criteria, according to an embodiment.

[0048] Fig. 12 illustrates an example of a flow chart of a method in a UE, according to an embodiment.

[0049] Fig. 13 illustrates an example of a flow chart of a method in a network node, according to an embodiment.

[0050] Fig. 14 shows an example of a communication system, according to an embodiment.

[0051] Fig. 15 shows a schematic diagram of a UE, according to an embodiment.

[0052] Fig. 16 shows a schematic diagram of a network node, according to an embodiment.

[0053] Fig. 17 illustrates a block diagram illustrating a virtualization environment.DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0054] Some of the embodiments contemplated herein will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings. Embodiments are provided by way of example to convey the scope of the subject matter to those skilled in the art.

[0055] UE conditions for WUR operation

[0056] In the unified WUR design, the gNB sends a unified WUS, which can be detected by an OOK-based WUR or an OFDM-based WUR. These 2 different WURs have different performances and limitations. As mentioned before, the OOK-based WUR has lower energy consumption, but the OFDM-based WUR will have better link performance and coverage. It is not clear which WUR the UE should choose in current systems. The present disclosure allows to mitigate this problem by providing, for example, conditions that a UE should apply to determine which mode of WUR operation, or type of WUR, it should apply in a cell. An example of this procedure 10 is outlined in Fig. 7. In this case, the UE is in communications with a network node that uses a unified WUS.

[0057] If the UE is capable of WUR operation and intends to monitor the downlink using the WUR in the cell, it shall apply the following steps and conditions. Here, a UE capable of both OOK-based WUR and OFDM-based WUR is considered, but for a UE capable of only one type, the selection of the steps / conditions below are still applicable. The UE checks to see, e.g., in system information (SI) or in other fields or signals, if the WUR operation is allowed / configured for the UE to use in the cell for monitoring DL signals / data. If the UE determines that the WUR operation is not allowed / configured for the UE to use in the cell, the WUR operation should not be applied by the UE. If the UE determines that the UE is configured to use the WUR operation for DL monitoring, then it follows procedure 13. The procedure 13 comprises:

[0058] In Step 15, the UE checks to see, e.g., in SI, if the OOK-based WUR operation is allowed / configured for the UE to use in the cell.

[0059] If not, the UE will apply the OFDM-based WUR operation in the cell, e.g. in step 40 (assuming that the UE supports (or is configured with) the OFDM-based WUR).

[0060] If the UE determines that the OOK-based WUR operation is allowed / configured for the UE to use in the cell in which the UE is located, then, in step 20, the UE checks if the measured reference signal received power (RSRP) is above an OOK-based WUR specific threshold, as configured by the gNB (either measured by the WUR itself or the main receiver, for which different thresholds would be configured). Measurements for determining coverage other than RSRP measurements can be also considered / used; they could be reference signal received quality (RSRQ), Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR), Channel Quality Indicator (CQI), etc. The UE can measure the strength or power of a received signal (e.g. reference signal) to determine the quality of the coverage, the quality of the signal, etc.

[0061] If the measured RSRP is not above the threshold, the UE applies the OFDM-based WUR operation in the cell, for example, as shown in step 40 (assuming that the OFDM-based WUR is supported by the UE in the cell).

[0062] If the measured RSRP is above the threshold, in step 25, the UE checks if the UE fulfills certain Radio Resource Management (RRM) measurement relaxation criteria, i.e., similar to the conditions in TS 38.304 or TS 36.304, such as the UE being stationary, of low mobility, not on the cell-edge, or the RedCap specific criteria, etc. (parameter value in general being different for WUR selection). Either the main receiver is applicable for e.g. serving cell measurements, or the low-power synchronization signal (LP-SS) periodicity is sufficient for serving cell measurement using LP-SS. If this is not the case, i.e. the UE does not fulfill any of the RRM measurement relaxation criteria, or the LP-SS is not present or is too infrequent to support the RRM measurements, the UE will instead apply the OFDM-based WUR operation (which case uses legacy Secondary SS (SSS) for RRM measurements), as shown in step 40 (assuming that the OFDM-based WUR is supported by the UE in the cell).

[0063] If all of the above conditions are met by the UE (or a subset of the conditions depending on the implementation), the UE is allowed to use the OOK-based WUR in the cell for DL monitoring, in step 35.

[0064] As mentioned above, if in any of steps 15, 20 or 25, the determination / check is negative, then the UE moves to step 30 to check if the UE supports the OFDM-based WUR in the cell.

[0065] If the UE supports the OFDM-based WUR in the cell, then, the UE uses the OFDMbased WUR in the cell, as illustrated in step 40.

[0066] If the UE determines that the UE does not support the OFDM-based WUR in the cell, then, the UE does not use the WUR, in step 45.

[0067] As a note, the expressions “the cell supports a type of WUR”, “the type of WUR is supported in the cell”, “the UE supports the type of WUR” are used interchangeably. For example, the type of WUR can be an OOK-based WUR or OFDM-based WUR.

[0068] Since the UE’s coverage, i.e., RSRP measurements, and the UE’s mobility may change over time, the UE may have to check at least some conditions periodically in the cell while in WUR operation. This can be controlled by a time period for evaluation (or evaluation period) 50, either hard-coded in the specification or informed to UEs as part of the WUS configuration, e.g., in SI or other signalling. The time period 50 for evaluation may be configured separately for the OOK and OFDM based WUR operations. For example, a UE that is capable of both OOK and OFDM based WURs may use a first time period for evaluation when using the OOK-based WUR and the UE may use a second time period for evaluation when using the OFDM-based WUR. The first and second time periods for evaluation may be informed to the UEs as part of the WUS configuration, e.g. in SI. The first and second time periods may be the same or different time periods.

[0069] Due to the better performance of the OFDM-based WUR, full coverage in the cell is expected, and the OFDM-based WUR can also use legacy Primary SS (PSS) / SSS broadcast and any other existing NR reference signals (e.g., Tracking Reference signal (TRS), Positioning TRS (PTRS), Channel State Information- reference signal (CSI-RS)) for synchronization and RRM measurements. Therefore, it may not be necessary to check the coverage nor the applicability of mobility measurement relaxation for the main receiver for OFDM-based WUR (e.g. as shown in Fig. 7). However, in general, these aspects could still be considered for the OFDM-based WUR, depending on the capabilities of the WUR, see e.g. the flow chart of Fig. 8.

[0070] In Fig. 8, an example of the flow chart for procedure 100 is illustrated. The lefthand side of the flow chart is the same as the left-hand side of Fig. 7, regarding the OOK-based WUR.

[0071] If the OOK-based WUR is not configured or not applicable, the UE moves to step 110, to check if the UE supports (or is configured with) the OFDM-based WUR in the cell. If the UE does support the OFDM-based WUR, in step 115, the UE checks if a measured RSRP is above a threshold for the OFDM-based WUR (denoted as ThresholdoFDM in Fig. 8). This threshold can be configured by the gNB for the UE. It should be noted that the threshold for the OFDM-based WUR may be the same or different from the threshold for the OOK-basedWUR (denoted as ThresholdooK in Fig. 8). The gNB can send a configuration to the UE, the configuration comprising ThresholdoFDM and / or ThresholdooK and other parameters for the OOK-based WUR and / or OFDM-based WUR.

[0072] If the UE determines that the measured RSRP is above the threshold (ThresholdoFDM), in step 120 the UE checks if the RRM measurement relaxation criteria are met. If so, in step 40, the UE uses the OFDM-based WUR.

[0073] If the determination is negative in any of steps 110, 115 and 120, the UE does not use the WUR, in step 45.

[0074] In some use cases, e.g., UEs with certain mobility level may prefer to use the OFDM-based WUR due to its better performance. In those use cases, a UE does not need to switch operation modes back and forth. Therefore, the OFDM-based WUR is of higher priority than the OOK-based WUR operation. In such cases, the flowchart of Fig. 8 could be adjusted to be the one as shown in Fig. 9. The flow chart of Fig. 9 is similar to Fig. 8 but with the lefthand side and right-hand side switched. Indeed, in Fig. 9, the procedure starts with the UE first checking if the UE supports OFDM-based WUR or not; and if not, then, the UE checks if the UE supports the OOK-based WUR.

[0075] The disclosure is intended for the WUR operation in RRC IDLE or RRC INACTIVE but some parts can also be applied to RRC CONNECTED (in Connected gNB, there is the possibility of UE-specific configuration at connection setup).

[0076] In some cases, when a UE supports both OOK based and OFDM based WUR operations, it can also be beneficial for a gNB to explicitly inform the UE to use a particular WUR operation (e.g. one of the OOK based and OFDM based WUR operation). This can be informed / indicated to the UEs as part of the WUS configuration, e.g. in SI or other signalling. This would allow the gNB to further optimize system performance for such UEs, e.g. by suitable settings of the WUS configuration parameters (e.g. relative offset of WUS occasions to PO, WUS resources, etc.).

[0077] Battery-aware WUR mode selection

[0078] In addition to the aforementioned conditions on coverage and measurement, the WUR operation mode can be selected based on the UE energy consumption. For example, the WUR power consumption depends on its operation mode (e.g., OOK-based or OFDM-based) and WUS monitoring duration / periodicity. In general, the active power consumption of the OOK-based WUR is lower than that of the OFDM-based WUR. Nevertheless, the OFDMbased WUR has a higher capability and superior detection performance compared to the OOK- based WUR. Hence, to meet a certain coverage performance, the WUS duration (or in generalthe WUR ON duration) for the OFDM-based WUR can be shorter compared to that of the OOK-based WUR (as illustrated in Fig. 10). Therefore, considering both active power consumption and WUR monitoring duration, depending on the scenario, the overall energy consumption of the OFDM-based WUR can be smaller than that of the OOK-based WUR.

[0079] In one example, the UE selects its WUR mode selection (among OOK-based or OFDM-based WUR) based on the WUR power consumption, WUR ON duration, WUS duration, and UE battery level. Specifically, if both OOK-based WUR and OFDM-based WUR satisfy conditions related to coverage and measurement, a battery-aware WUR mode selection provides additional benefits for the UE to have a more optimized operation.

[0080] For example, the WUR mode selection is done based on the following condition:

[0081] E ook=(WUR_ook active power) *(WUR_ook ON duration)

[0082] E_ofdm= (WUR ofdm active power) *(WUR_ofdm ON duration)

[0083] If (E ook < E ofdm), the UE selects the OOK-based WUR otherwise it selects the OFDM-based WUR; where E ook corresponds to the energy consumption for the OOK based WUR and E ofdm corresponds to the energy consumption for the OFDM based WUR.

[0084] In another example, the WUR mode selection is done based on UE (or WUR) battery level:

[0085] If (UE battery level <Threshold), the OOK-based WUR is selected, otherwise the OFDM-based WUR is selected.

[0086] Another aspect that can impact the WUR operation is the source of energy. In some cases, the WUR may rely on an energy harvesting source for its operation. Consequently, the energy availability and rate of energy harvesting become important. For example, the active power consumption of the WUR can be limited by the rate of energy availability. In one example, the WUR mode selection is done based on at least the energy availability, source of energy, and energy harvesting rate. For example,

[0087] If (energy availability (or energy harvesting) rate <Threshold) the OOK-based WUR is selected, otherwise the OFDM-based WUR is selected.

[0088] Fig. 11 shows a block diagram of battery-aware WUR mode selection process based on various criteria. For example, the battery-aware WUR mode selection can be based on one or more criteria, such as WUR active powers, WUR ON duration, WUS durations, UE battery level, WUR battery level, energy availability and energy harvesting rate, etc. Based on these criteria, the UE may select either the OOK-based WUR or the OFDM-based WUR.

[0089] Fig. 12 illustrates a flow chart of an example method 200 for selecting a WUR between an OOK-based WUR or an OFDM-based WUR, for example. The method isimplemented in a UE, such as UE 1412 of Fig. 14 and wireless device 1500 of Fig. 15. The UE comprises a first WUR and a second WUR, for example. The first WUR can be the OOK-based WUR and the second WUR can be the OFDM-based WUR or vice-versa. The network node supports the 2 kinds of WUR. Method 200 comprises:

[0090] Step 210: receiving a configuration from a network node, the configuration comprising at least condition information regarding the first WUR;

[0091] Step 220: determining if the first WUR meets the condition information; and

[0092] Step 230: selecting the first WUR if the first WUR meets the condition information, for monitoring a downlink transmission, else selecting the second WUR, for monitoring a downlink transmission.

[0093] In some examples, the condition information can comprise one or more of a coverage condition, a mobility condition, a type of WUR that is supported in a cell, an energy condition. In some examples, when the condition information comprises the coverage condition, determining if the first WUR meets the condition information comprises determining if RSRP measurements on a received reference signal are above a first threshold. In some examples, the configuration comprises an indication of the first threshold. In some examples, the configuration comprises an indication of a second threshold, wherein the second threshold is used to determine if RSRP measurements on a received reference signal are above the second threshold. In some examples, in response to determining that the RSRP measurements are above the second threshold, selecting the second WUR for monitoring a downlink transmission. In some examples, when the condition information comprises the WUR type condition, determining if the first WUR meets the condition information comprises determining if the first WUR corresponds to the WUR type that is supported by the UE. In some examples, when the condition information comprises the mobility condition, determining if the first WUR meets the condition information comprises determining if a low-power synchronization signal (LP-SS) is sufficient for the UE to perform radio resource management (RRM) measurements. In some examples, when the condition information comprises the mobility condition, determining if the first WUR meets the condition information comprises determining if the UE fulfills RRM measurement relaxation criteria, which comprise one or more of the UE being stationary, of low mobility, not on the cell-edge, and RedCap specific criteria, etc. In some examples, when the condition information comprises the energy condition, the energy condition comprises one or more of a WUR power consumption criteria, a WUR ON duration criterion, a WUS duration criteria and a UE battery level. In some examples, determining if the first WUR meets the condition information comprisesdetermining if the WUR energy consumption of the first WUR is inferior to that of the second WUR. In some examples, determining if the first WUR meets the condition information comprises determining if the UE battery level of the first WUR is below a threshold, otherwise the second WUR is selected. In some examples, determining if the first WUR meets the condition information comprises determining if an energy availability or energy harvesting rate of the first WUR is below a threshold, otherwise the second WUR is selected.

[0094] In some examples, the selection of the first WUR or second WUR is done periodically. In some examples, the periodic selection is given by a time period, which is provided in the configuration. In some examples, the first WUR is an OOK-based WUR and the second WUR is an OFDM based WUR. In some examples, the second WUR is an OOK- based WUR and the first WUR is an OFDM based WUR.

[0095] Fig. 13 illustrates a flow chart of an example method 300 in a network node in communication with a UE / wireless device. The network node may be the network node 1410 of Fig. 14 or network node 1600 of Fig. 16. The wireless device may be UE 1412 of Fig. 14 or wireless device 1500 of Fig. 15. The wireless device may comprise a first WUR and a second WUR. The network node supports the 2 types of WUR. Method 300 comprises:

[0096] Step 310: transmitting a configuration to the wireless device, the configuration comprising at least condition information regarding the first WUR; wherein the condition information is used by the wireless device to determine if the first WUR or the second WUR is used to monitor a downlink transmission; and

[0097] Step 320: transmitting the downlink transmission.

[0098] In some examples, the condition information comprises one or more of a coverage condition, a mobility condition, a type of WUR that is supported in a cell, and an energy condition. In some examples, the configuration comprises an indication of a first threshold, which is used by the wireless device to select the first WUR if RSRP measurements on a reference signal is above the first threshold. In some examples, the configuration comprises an indication of a second threshold, which is used by the wireless device to select the second WUR if RSRP measurements on a reference signal is above the second threshold. In some examples, when the condition information comprises the mobility condition, transmitting a low-power synchronization signal (LP-SS). In some examples, when the condition information comprises the mobility condition, the condition information further comprises one or more of the UE being stationary, of low mobility, not on the cell-edge, and RedCap specific criteria. In some examples, when the condition information comprises the energy condition, the energy condition comprises one or more of WUR power consumption criteria, a WUR ON durationcriterion, a WUS duration criteria and a UE battery level. In some examples, the first WUR is an OOK-based WUR and the second WUR is an OFDM based WUR, or vice-versa. In some examples, the network node may transmit an indication to use one of the first WUR and the second WUR. In some examples, the network node further transmits a signal in accordance with parameters related to the indicated WUR. In some examples, the configuration further comprises an indication of a period time for the wireless device to select the first WUR or second WUR periodically.

[0099] Fig. 14 shows an example of a communication system 1400 in accordance with some embodiments.

[0100] In the example, the communication system 1400 includes a telecommunication network 1402 that includes an access network 1404, such as a radio access network (RAN), and a core network 1406, which includes one or more core network nodes 1408. The access network 1404 includes one or more access network nodes, such as network nodes 1410a and 1410b (one or more of which may be generally referred to as network nodes 1410), or any other similar 3rdGeneration Partnership Project (3GPP) access nodes or non-3GPP access points. Moreover, as will be appreciated by those of skill in the art, a network node is not necessarily limited to an implementation in which a radio portion and a baseband portion are supplied and integrated by a single vendor. Thus, it will be understood that network nodes include disaggregated implementations or portions thereof. For example, in some embodiments, the telecommunication network 1402 includes one or more Open-RAN (ORAN) network nodes. An ORAN network node is a node in the telecommunication network 1402 that supports an ORAN specification (e.g., a specification published by the O-RAN Alliance, or any similar organization) and may operate alone or together with other nodes to implement one or more functionalities of any node in the telecommunication network 1402, including one or more network nodes 1410 and / or core network nodes 1408.

[0101] Examples of an ORAN network node include an open radio unit (O-RU), an open distributed unit (O-DU), an open central unit (O-CU), including an O-CU control plane (O- CU-CP) or an O-CU user plane (O-CU-UP), a RAN intelligent controller (near-real time or non-real time) hosting software or software plug-ins, such as a near-real time control application (e.g., xApp) or a non-real time control application (e.g., rApp), or any combination thereof (the adjective “open” designating support of an ORAN specification). The network node may support a specification by, for example, supporting an interface defined by the ORAN specification, such as an Al, Fl, Wl, El, E2, X2, Xn interface, an open fronthaul user plane interface, or an open fronthaul management plane interface. Moreover, an ORAN accessnode may be a logical node in a physical node. Furthermore, an ORAN network node may be implemented in a virtualization environment (described further below) in which one or more network functions are virtualized. For example, the virtualization environment may include an O-Cloud computing platform orchestrated by a Service Management and Orchestration Framework via an 0-2 interface defined by the 0-RAN Alliance or comparable technologies. The network nodes 1410 facilitate direct or indirect connection of UE, such as by connecting UEs 1412a, 1412b, 1412c, and 1412d (one or more of which may be generally referred to as UEs 1412) to the core network 1406 over one or more wireless connections.

[0102] Example wireless communications over a wireless connection include transmitting and / or receiving wireless signals using electromagnetic waves, radio waves, infrared waves, and / or other types of signals suitable for conveying information without the use of wires, cables, or other material conductors. Moreover, in different embodiments, the communication system 1400 may include any number of wired or wireless networks, network nodes, UEs, and / or any other components or systems that may facilitate or participate in the communication of data and / or signals whether via wired or wireless connections. The communication system 1400 may include and / or interface with any type of communication, telecommunication, data, cellular, radio network, and / or other similar type of system.

[0103] The UEs 1412 may be any of a wide variety of communication devices, including wireless devices arranged, configured, and / or operable to communicate wirelessly with the network nodes 1410 and other communication devices. Similarly, the network nodes 1410 are arranged, capable, configured, and / or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with the UEs 1412 and / or with other network nodes or equipment in the telecommunication network 1402 to enable and / or provide network access, such as wireless network access, and / or to perform other functions, such as administration in the telecommunication network 1402.

[0104] In the depicted example, the core network 1406 connects the network nodes 1410 to one or more hosts, such as host 1416. These connections may be direct or indirect via one or more intermediary networks or devices. In other examples, network nodes may be directly coupled to hosts. The core network 1406 includes one more core network nodes (e.g., core network node 1408) that are structured with hardware and software components. Features of these components may be substantially similar to those described with respect to the UEs, network nodes, and / or hosts, such that the descriptions thereof are generally applicable to the corresponding components of the core network node 1408. Example core network nodes include functions of one or more of a Mobile Switching Center (MSC), Mobility Management Entity (MME), Home Subscriber Server (HSS), Access and Mobility Management Function(AMF), Session Management Function (SMF), Authentication Server Function (AUSF), Subscription Identifier De-concealing function (SIDF), Unified Data Management (UDM), Security Edge Protection Proxy (SEPP), Network Exposure Function (NEF), and / or a User Plane Function (UPF).

[0105] The host 1416 may be under the ownership or control of a service provider other than an operator or provider of the access network 1404 and / or the telecommunication network 1402, and may be operated by the service provider or on behalf of the service provider. The host 1416 may host a variety of applications to provide one or more service. Examples of such applications include live and pre-recorded audio / video content, data collection services such as retrieving and compiling data on various ambient conditions detected by a plurality of UEs, analytics functionality, social media, functions for controlling or otherwise interacting with remote devices, functions for an alarm and surveillance center, or any other such function performed by a server.

[0106] As a whole, the communication system 1400 of Fig. 14 enables connectivity between the UEs, network nodes, and hosts. In that sense, the communication system may be configured to operate according to predefined rules or procedures, such as specific standards that include, but are not limited to: Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM); Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS); Long Term Evolution (LTE), and / or other suitable 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G standards, or any applicable future generation standard (e.g., 6G); wireless local area network (WLAN) standards, such as the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802. 11 standards (WiFi); and / or any other appropriate wireless communication standard, such as the Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMax), Bluetooth, Z-Wave, Near Field Communication (NFC) ZigBee, LiFi, and / or any low-power wide-area network (LPWAN) standards such as LoRa and Sigfox.

[0107] In some examples, the telecommunication network 1402 is a cellular network that implements 3GPP standardized features. Accordingly, the telecommunications network 1402 may support network slicing to provide different logical networks to different devices that are connected to the telecommunication network 1402. For example, the telecommunications network 1402 may provide Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communication (URLLC) services to some UEs, while providing Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) services to other UEs, and / or Massive Machine Type Communication (mMTC)ZMassive loT services to yet further UEs.

[0108] In some examples, the UEs 1412 are configured to transmit and / or receive information without direct human interaction. For instance, a UE may be designed to transmit information to the access network 1404 on a predetermined schedule, when triggered by aninternal or external event, or in response to requests from the access network 1404. Additionally, a UE may be configured for operating in single- or multi-RAT or multi-standard mode. For example, a UE may operate with any one or combination of Wi-Fi, NR and LTE, i.e. being configured for multi-radio dual connectivity (MR-DC), such as E-UTRAN (Evolved- UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network) NR - Dual Connectivity (EN-DC).

[0109] In the example, the hub 1414 communicates with the access network 1404 to facilitate indirect communication between one or more UEs (e.g., UE 1412c and / or 1412d) and network nodes (e.g., network node 1410b). In some examples, the hub 1414 may be a controller, router, content source and analytics, or any of the other communication devices described herein regarding UEs. For example, the hub 1414 may be a broadband router enabling access to the core network 1406 for the UEs. As another example, the hub 1414 may be a controller that sends commands or instructions to one or more actuators in the UEs. Commands or instructions may be received from the UEs, network nodes 1410, or by executable code, script, process, or other instructions in the hub 1414. As another example, the hub 1414 may be a data collector that acts as temporary storage for UE data and, in some embodiments, may perform analysis or other processing of the data. As another example, the hub 1414 may be a content source. For example, for a UE that is a VR headset, display, loudspeaker or other media delivery device, the hub 1414 may retrieve VR assets, video, audio, or other media or data related to sensory information via a network node, which the hub 1414 then provides to the UE either directly, after performing local processing, and / or after adding additional local content. In still another example, the hub 1414 acts as a proxy server or orchestrator for the UEs, in particular if one or more of the UEs are low energy loT devices.

[0110] The hub 1414 may have a constant / persistent or intermittent connection to the network node 1410b. The hub 1414 may also allow for a different communication scheme and / or schedule between the hub 1414 and UEs (e.g., UE 1412c and / or 1412d), and between the hub 1414 and the core network 1406. In other examples, the hub 1414 is connected to the core network 1406 and / or one or more UEs via a wired connection. Moreover, the hub 1414 may be configured to connect to an M2M service provider over the access network 1404 and / or to another UE over a direct connection. In some scenarios, UEs may establish a wireless connection with the network nodes 1410 while still connected via the hub 1414 via a wired or wireless connection. In some embodiments, the hub 1414 may be a dedicated hub - that is, a hub whose primary function is to route communications to / from the UEs from / to the network node 1410b . In other embodiments, the hub 1414 may be a non-dedicated hub - that is, a device which is capable of operating to route communications between the UEs and network node1410b, but which is additionally capable of operating as a communication start and / or end point for certain data channels.

[0111] Fig. 15 shows a UE 1500 in accordance with some embodiments. As used herein, a UE refers to a device capable, configured, arranged and / or operable to communicate wirelessly with network nodes and / or other UEs. Examples of a UE include, but are not limited to, a smart phone, mobile phone, cell phone, voice over IP (VoIP) phone, wireless local loop phone, desktop computer, personal digital assistant (PDA), wireless cameras, gaming console or device, music storage device, playback appliance, wearable terminal device, wireless endpoint, mobile station, tablet, laptop, laptop-embedded equipment (LEE), laptop-mounted equipment (LME), smart device, wireless customer-premise equipment (CPE), vehicle, vehicle-mounted or vehicle embedded / integrated wireless device, etc. Other examples include any UE identified by the 3GPP, including a narrow band internet of things (NB-IoT) UE, a machine type communication (MTC) UE, and / or an enhanced MTC (eMTC) UE.

[0112] A UE may support device-to-device (D2D) communication, for example by implementing a 3GPP standard for sidelink communication, Dedicated Short-Range Communication (DSRC), vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I), orvehicle- to-everything (V2X). In other examples, a UE may not necessarily have a user in the sense of a human user who owns and / or operates the relevant device. Instead, a UE may represent a device that is intended for sale to, or operation by, a human user but which may not, or which may not initially, be associated with a specific human user (e.g., a smart sprinkler controller). Alternatively, a UE may represent a device that is not intended for sale to, or operation by, an end user but which may be associated with or operated for the benefit of a user (e.g., a smart power meter).

[0113] The UE 1500 includes processing circuitry 1502 that is operatively coupled via a bus 1504 to an input / output interface 1506, a power source 1508, a memory 1510, a communication interface 1512, and / or any other component, or any combination thereof. Certain UEs may utilize all or a subset of the components shown in Fig. 15. The level of integration between the components may vary from one UE to another UE. Further, certain UEs may contain multiple instances of a component, such as multiple processors, memories, transceivers, transmitters, receivers, etc.

[0114] The processing circuitry 1502 is configured to process instructions and data and may be configured to implement any sequential state machine operative to execute instructions stored as machine-readable computer programs in the memory 1510. The processing circuitry 1502 may be implemented as one or more hardware -implemented state machines (e.g., indiscrete logic, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), etc.); programmable logic together with appropriate firmware; one or more stored computer programs, general-purpose processors, such as a microprocessor or digital signal processor, together with appropriate software; or any combination of the above. For example, the processing circuitry 1502 may include multiple central processing units (CPUs). Further, the processing circuitry 1502 is configured to perform any steps of method 200 of Fig. 12.

[0115] In the example, the input / output interface 1506 may be configured to provide an interface or interfaces to an input device, output device, or one or more input and / or output devices. Examples of an output device include a speaker, a sound card, a video card, a display, a monitor, a printer, an actuator, an emitter, a smartcard, another output device, or any combination thereof. An input device may allow a user to capture information into the UE 1500. Examples of an input device include a touch-sensitive or presence-sensitive display, a camera (e.g., a digital camera, a digital video camera, a web camera, etc.), a microphone, a sensor, a mouse, a trackball, a directional pad, a trackpad, a scroll wheel, a smartcard, and the like. The presence-sensitive display may include a capacitive or resistive touch sensor to sense input from a user. A sensor may be, for instance, an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a tilt sensor, a force sensor, a magnetometer, an optical sensor, a proximity sensor, a biometric sensor, etc., or any combination thereof. An output device may use the same type of interface port as an input device. For example, a Universal Serial Bus (USB) port may be used to provide an input device and an output device.

[0116] In some embodiments, the power source 1508 is structured as a battery or battery pack. Other types of power sources, such as an external power source (e.g., an electricity outlet), photovoltaic device, or power cell, may be used. The power source 1508 may further include power circuitry for delivering power from the power source 1508 itself, and / or an external power source, to the various parts of the UE 1500 via input circuitry or an interface such as an electrical power cable. Delivering power may be, for example, for charging of the power source 1508. Power circuitry may perform any formatting, converting, or other modification to the power from the power source 1508 to make the power suitable for the respective components of the UE 1500 to which power is supplied.

[0117] The memory 1510 may be or be configured to include memory such as random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), programmable ROM (PROM), erasable PROM (EPROM), electrically EPROM (EEPROM), magnetic disks, optical disks, hard disks, removable cartridges, flash drives, and so forth. In one example, the memory 1510 includes one or more application programs 1514, such as an operating system, web browser application,a widget, gadget engine, or other application, and corresponding data 1516. The memory 1510 may store, for use by the UE 1500, any of a variety of various operating systems or combinations of operating systems.

[0118] The memory 1510 may be configured to include a number of physical drive units, such as redundant array of independent disks (RAID), flash memory, USB flash drive, external hard disk drive, thumb drive, pen drive, key drive, high-density digital versatile disc (HD- DVD) optical disc drive, internal hard disk drive, Blu-Ray optical disc drive, holographic digital data storage (HDDS) optical disc drive, external mini-dual in-line memory module (DIMM), synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), external micro-DIMM SDRAM, smartcard memory such as tamper resistant module in the form of a universal integrated circuit card (UICC) including one or more subscriber identity modules (SIMs), such as a USIM and / or ISIM, other memory, or any combination thereof. The UICC may for example be an embedded UICC (eUICC), integrated UICC (iUICC) or a removable UICC commonly known as ‘SIM card.’ The memory 1510 may allow the UE 1500 to access instructions, application programs and the like, stored on transitory or non-transitory memory media, to off-load data, or to upload data. An article of manufacture, such as one utilizing a communication system may be tangibly embodied as or in the memory 1510, which may be or comprise a device-readable storage medium.

[0119] The processing circuitry 1502 may be configured to communicate with an access network or other network using the communication interface 1512. The communication interface 1512 may comprise one or more communication subsystems and may include or be communicatively coupled to an antenna 1522. The communication interface 1512 may include one or more transceivers used to communicate, such as by communicating with one or more remote transceivers of another device capable of wireless communication (e.g., another UE or a network node in an acce ss network) . Each transceiver may include a transmitter 1518 and / or a receiver 1520 appropriate to provide network communications (e.g., optical, electrical, frequency allocations, and so forth). Moreover, the transmitter 1518 and receiver 1520 may be coupled to one or more antennas (e.g., antenna 1522) and may share circuit components, software or firmware, or alternatively be implemented separately.

[0120] In the illustrated embodiment, communication functions of the communication interface 1512 may include cellular communication, Wi-Fi communication, LPWAN communication, data communication, voice communication, multimedia communication, short-range communications such as Bluetooth, near-field communication, location-based communication such as the use of the global positioning system (GPS) to determine a location,another like communication function, or any combination thereof. Communications may be implemented in according to one or more communication protocols and / or standards, such as IEEE 802.11, Code Division Multiplexing Access (CDMA), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), GSM, LTE, NR, UMTS, WiMax, Ethernet, transmission control protocol / intemet protocol (TCP / IP), synchronous optical networking (SONET), Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), QUIC, Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), and so forth.

[0121] Regardless of the type of sensor, a UE may provide an output of data captured by its sensors, through its communication interface 1512, via a wireless connection to a network node. Data captured by sensors of a UE can be communicated through a wireless connection to a network node via another UE. The output may be periodic (e.g., once every 15 minutes if it reports the sensed temperature), random (e.g., to even out the load from reporting from several sensors), in response to a triggering event (e.g., when moisture is detected an alert is sent), in response to a request (e.g., a user initiated request), or a continuous stream (e.g., a live video feed of a patient).

[0122] As another example, a UE comprises an actuator, a motor, or a switch, related to a communication interface configured to receive wireless input from a network node via a wireless connection. In response to the received wireless input the states of the actuator, the motor, or the switch may change. For example, the UE may comprise a motor that adjusts the control surfaces or rotors of a drone in flight according to the received input or to a robotic arm performing a medical procedure according to the received input.

[0123] A UE, when in the form of an loT device, may be a device for use in one or more application domains, these domains comprising, but not limited to, city wearable technology, extended industrial application and healthcare. Non-limiting examples of such an loT device are a device which is or which is embedded in: a connected refrigerator or freezer, a TV, a connected lighting device, a head-mounted display for Augmented Reality (AR) or Virtual Reality (VR), a wearable for tactile augmentation or sensory enhancement, a water sprinkler, an animal- or item-tracking device, a sensor for monitoring a plant or animal, an industrial robot, an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), and any kind of medical device, like a heart rate monitor or a remote controlled surgical robot. A UE in the form of an loT device comprises circuitry and / or software in dependence of the intended application of the loT device in addition to other components as described in relation to the UE 1500 shown in Fig. 15.

[0124] As yet another specific example, in an loT scenario, a UE may represent a machine or other device that performs monitoring and / or measurements, and transmits the results of such monitoring and / or measurements to another UE and / or a network node. The UE may inthis case be an M2M device, which may in a 3GPP context be referred to as an MTC device. As one particular example, the UE may implement the 3 GPP NB-IoT standard. In other scenarios, a UE may represent a vehicle, such as a car, a bus, a truck, a ship and an airplane, or other equipment that is capable of monitoring and / or reporting on its operational status or other functions associated with its operation.

[0125] In practice, any number of UEs may be used together with respect to a single use case. For example, a first UE might be or be integrated in a drone and provide the drone’s speed information (obtained through a speed sensor) to a second UE that is a remote controller operating the drone. When the user makes changes from the remote controller, the first UE may adjust the throttle on the drone (e.g. by controlling an actuator) to increase or decrease the drone’s speed. The first and / or the second UE can also include more than one of the functionalities described above. For example, a UE might comprise the sensor and the actuator, and handle communication of data for both the speed sensor and the actuators.

[0126] Fig. 16 shows a network node 1600 in accordance with some embodiments. As used herein, network node refers to equipment capable, configured, arranged and / or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with a UE and / or with other network nodes or equipment, in a telecommunication network. Examples of network nodes include, but are not limited to, access points (APs) (e.g., radio access points), base stations (BSs) (e.g., radio base stations, Node Bs (NBs), evolved NBs (eNBs) and NRNBs (gNBs)), O-RAN nodes or components of an O-RAN node (e.g., O-RU, O-DU, O-CU).

[0127] Base stations may be categorized based on the amount of coverage they provide (or, stated differently, their transmit power level) and so, depending on the provided amount of coverage, may be referred to as femto base stations, pico base stations, micro base stations, or macro base stations. A base station may be a relay node or a relay donor node controlling a relay. A network node may also include one or more (or all) parts of a distributed radio base station such as centralized digital units, distributed units (e.g., in an O-RAN access node) and / or remote radio units (RRUs), sometimes referred to as Remote Radio Heads (RRHs). Such remote radio units may or may not be integrated with an antenna as an antenna integrated radio. Parts of a distributed radio base station may also be referred to as nodes in a distributed antenna system (DAS).

[0128] Other examples of network nodes include multiple transmission point (multi-TRP) 5G access nodes, multi-standard radio (MSR) equipment such as MSR BSs, network controllers such as radio network controllers (RNCs) or base station controllers (BSCs), base transceiver stations (BTSs), transmission points, transmission nodes, multi-cell / multicastcoordination entities (MCEs), Operation and Maintenance (O&M) nodes, Operations Support System (OSS) nodes, Self-Organizing Network (SON) nodes, positioning nodes (e.g., Evolved Serving Mobile Location Centers (E-SMLCs)), and / or Minimization of Drive Tests (MDTs).

[0129] The network node 1600 includes a processing circuitry 1602, a memory 1604, a communication interface 1606, and a power source 1608. The network node 1600 may be composed of multiple physically separate components (e.g., a NB component and a RNC component, or a BTS component and a BSC component, etc.), which may each have their own respective components. In certain scenarios in which the network node 1600 comprises multiple separate components (e.g., BTS and BSC components), one or more of the separate components may be shared among several network nodes. For example, a single RNC may control multiple NBs. In such a scenario, each unique NB and RNC pair, may in some instances be considered a single separate network node. In some embodiments, the network node 1600 may be configured to support multiple radio access technologies (RATs). In such embodiments, some components may be duplicated (e.g., separate memory 1604 for different RATs) and some components may be reused (e.g., a same antenna 1610 may be shared by different RATs). The network node 1600 may also include multiple sets of the various illustrated components for different wireless technologies integrated into network node 1600, for example GSM, WCDMA, LTE, NR, WiFi, Zigbee, Z-wave, LoRaWAN, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) or Bluetooth wireless technologies. These wireless technologies may be integrated into the same or different chip or set of chips and other components within network node 1600.

[0130] The processing circuitry 1602 may comprise a combination of one or more of a microprocessor, controller, microcontroller, central processing unit, digital signal processor, application-specific integrated circuit, field programmable gate array, or any other suitable computing device, resource, or combination of hardware, software and / or encoded logic operable to provide, either alone or in conjunction with other network node 1600 components, such as the memory 1604, to provide network node 1600 functionality.

[0131] In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 1602 includes a system on a chip (SOC). In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 1602 includes one or more of radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry 1612 and baseband processing circuitry 1614. In some embodiments, the RF transceiver circuitry 1612 and the baseband processing circuitry 1614 may be on separate chips (or sets of chips), boards, or units, such as radio units and digital units. In alternative embodiments, part or all of RF transceiver circuitry 1612 and basebandprocessing circuitry 1614 may be on the same chip or set of chips, boards, or units. Further, the processing circuitry 1602 is configured to perform any steps of method 300 of Fig. 13.

[0132] The memory 1604 may comprise any form of volatile or non-volatile computer- readable memory including, without limitation, persistent storage, solid-state memory, remotely mounted memory, magnetic media, optical media, random access memory (RAM), ROM, mass storage media (for example, a hard disk), removable storage media (for example, a flash drive, a Compact Disk (CD) or a Digital Video Disk (DVD)), and / or any other volatile or non-volatile, non-transitory device-readable and / or computer-executable memory devices that store information, data, and / or instructions that may be used by the processing circuitry 1602. The memory 1604 may store any suitable instructions, data, or information, including a computer program, software, an application including one or more of logic, rules, code, tables, and / or other instructions capable of being executed by the processing circuitry 1602 and utilized by the network node 1600. The memory 1604 may be used to store any calculations made by the processing circuitry 1602 and / or any data received via the communication interface 1606. In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 1602 and memory 1604 is integrated.

[0133] The communication interface 1606 is used in wired or wireless communication of signaling and / or data between a network node, access network, and / or UE. As illustrated, the communication interface 1606 comprises port(s) / terminal(s) 1616 to send and receive data, for example to and from a network over a wired connection. The communication interface 1606 also includes radio front-end circuitry 1618 that may be coupled to, or in certain embodiments a part of, the antenna 1610. Radio front-end circuitry 1618 comprises filters 1620 and amplifiers 1622. The radio front-end circuitry 1618 may be connected to an antenna 1610 and processing circuitry 1602. The radio front-end circuitry may be configured to condition signals communicated between antenna 1610 and processing circuitry 1602. The radio front-end circuitry 1618 may receive digital data that is to be sent out to other network nodes or UEs via a wireless connection. The radio front-end circuitry 1618 may convert the digital data into a radio signal having the appropriate channel and bandwidth parameters using a combination of filters 1620 and / or amplifiers 1622. The radio signal may then be transmitted via the antenna 1610. Similarly, when receiving data, the antenna 1610 may collect radio signals which are then converted into digital data by the radio front-end circuitry 1618. The digital data may be passed to the processing circuitry 1602. In other embodiments, the communication interface may comprise different components and / or different combinations of components.

[0134] In certain alternative embodiments, the network node 1600 does not include separate radio front-end circuitry 1618, instead, the processing circuitry 1602 includes radio front-end circuitry and is connected to the antenna 1610. Similarly, in some embodiments, all or some of the RF transceiver circuitry 1612 is part of the communication interface 1606. In still other embodiments, the communication interface 1606 includes one or more ports or terminals 1616, the radio front-end circuitry 1618, and the RF transceiver circuitry 1612, as part of a radio unit (not shown), and the communication interface 1606 communicates with the baseband processing circuitry 1614, which is part of a digital unit (not shown).

[0135] The antenna 1610 may include one or more antennas, or antenna arrays, configured to send and / or receive wireless signals. The antenna 1610 may be coupled to the radio frontend circuitry 1618 and may be any type of antenna capable of transmitting and receiving data and / or signals wirelessly. In certain embodiments, the antenna 1610 is separate from the network node 1600 and connectable to the network node 1600 through an interface or port.

[0136] The antenna 1610, communication interface 1606, and / or the processing circuitry 1602 may be configured to perform any receiving operations and / or certain obtaining operations described herein as being performed by the network node. Any information, data and / or signals may be received from a UE, another network node and / or any other network equipment. Similarly, the antenna 1610, the communication interface 1606, and / or the processing circuitry 1602 may be configured to perform any transmitting operations described herein as being performed by the network node. Any information, data and / or signals may be transmitted to a UE, another network node and / or any other network equipment.

[0137] The power source 1608 provides power to the various components of network node 1600 in a form suitable for the respective components (e.g., at a voltage and current level needed for each respective component). The power source 1608 may further comprise, or be coupled to, power management circuitry to supply the components of the network node 1600 with power for performing the functionality described herein. For example, the network node 1600 may be connectable to an external power source (e.g., the power grid, an electricity outlet) via an input circuitry or interface such as an electrical cable, whereby the external power source supplies power to power circuitry of the power source 1608. As a further example, the power source 1608 may comprise a source of power in the form of a battery or battery pack which is connected to, or integrated in, power circuitry. The battery may provide backup power should the external power source fail.

[0138] Embodiments of the network node 1600 may include additional components beyond those shown in Fig. 16 for providing certain aspects of the network node’sfunctionality, including any of the functionality described herein and / or any functionality necessary to support the subject matter described herein. For example, the network node 1600 may include user interface equipment to allow input of information into the network node 1600 and to allow output of information from the network node 1600. This may allow a user to perform diagnostic, maintenance, repair, and other administrative functions for the network node 1600.

[0139] Fig. 17 is a block diagram illustrating a virtualization environment 1700 in which functions implemented by some embodiments may be virtualized. In the present context, virtualizing means creating virtual versions of apparatuses or devices which may include virtualizing hardware platforms, storage devices and networking resources. As used herein, virtualization can be applied to any device described herein, or components thereof, and relates to an implementation in which at least a portion of the functionality is implemented as one or more virtual components. Some or all of the functions described herein may be implemented as virtual components executed by one or more virtual machines (VMs) implemented in one or more virtual environments 1700 hosted by one or more of hardware nodes, such as a hardware computing device that operates as a network node, UE, core network node, or host. Further, in embodiments in which the virtual node does not require radio connectivity (e.g., a core network node or host), then the node may be entirely virtualized. In some embodiments, the virtualization environment 1700 includes components defined by the O-RAN Alliance, such as an O-Cloud environment orchestrated by a Service Management and Orchestration Framework via an O-2 interface.

[0140] Applications 1702 (which may alternatively be called software instances, virtual appliances, network functions, virtual nodes, virtual network functions, etc.) are run in the virtualization environment Q400 to implement some of the features, functions, and / or benefits of some of the embodiments disclosed herein.

[0141] Hardware 1704 includes processing circuitry, memory that stores software and / or instructions executable by hardware processing circuitry, and / or other hardware devices as described herein, such as a network interface, input / output interface, and so forth. Software may be executed by the processing circuitry to instantiate one or more virtualization layers 1706 (also referred to as hypervisors or virtual machine monitors (VMMs)), provide VMs 1708a and 1708b (one or more of which may be generally referred to as VMs 1708), and / or perform any of the functions, features and / or benefits described in relation with some embodiments described herein. The virtualization layer 1706 may present a virtual operating platform that appears like networking hardware to the VMs 1708.

[0142] The VMs 1708 comprise virtual processing, virtual memory, virtual networking or interface and virtual storage, and may be run by a corresponding virtualization layer 1706. Different embodiments of the instance of a virtual appliance 1702 may be implemented on one or more of VMs 1708, and the implementations may be made in different ways. Virtualization of the hardware is in some contexts referred to as network function virtualization (NFV). NFV may be used to consolidate many network equipment types onto industry standard high volume server hardware, physical switches, and physical storage, which can be located in data centers, and customer premise equipment.

[0143] In the context of NFV, a VM 1708 may be a software implementation of a physical machine that runs programs as if they were executing on a physical, non- virtualized machine. Each of the VMs 1708, and that part of hardware 1704 that executes that VM, be it hardware dedicated to that VM and / or hardware shared by that VM with others of the VMs, forms separate virtual network elements. Still in the context of NFV, a virtual network function is responsible for handling specific network functions that run in one or more VMs 1708 on top of the hardware 1704 and corresponds to the application 1702.

[0144] Hardware 1704 may be implemented in a standalone network node with generic or specific components. Hardware 1704 may implement some functions via virtualization. Alternatively, hardware 1704 may be part of a larger cluster of hardware (e.g. such as in a data center or CPE) where many hardware nodes work together and are managed via management and orchestration 1710, which, among others, oversees lifecycle management of applications 1702. In some embodiments, hardware 1704 is coupled to one or more radio units that each include one or more transmitters and one or more receivers that may be coupled to one or more antennas. Radio units may communicate directly with other hardware nodes via one or more appropriate network interfaces and may be used in combination with the virtual components to provide a virtual node with radio capabilities, such as a radio access node or a base station. In some embodiments, some signaling can be provided with the use of a control system 1712 which may alternatively be used for communication between hardware nodes and radio units.

[0145] Although the computing devices described herein (e.g., UEs, network nodes, hosts) may include the illustrated combination of hardware components, other embodiments may comprise computing devices with different combinations of components. It is to be understood that these computing devices may comprise any suitable combination of hardware and / or software needed to perform the tasks, features, functions and methods disclosed herein. Determining, calculating, obtaining or similar operations described herein may be performed by processing circuitry, which may process information by, for example, converting theobtained information into other information, comparing the obtained information or converted information to information stored in the network node, and / or performing one or more operations based on the obtained information or converted information, and as a result of said processing making a determination. Moreover, while components are depicted as single boxes located within a larger box, or nested within multiple boxes, in practice, computing devices may comprise multiple different physical components that make up a single illustrated component, and functionality may be partitioned between separate components. For example, a communication interface may be configured to include any of the components described herein, and / or the functionality of the components may be partitioned between the processing circuitry and the communication interface. In another example, non-computationally intensive functions of any of such components may be implemented in software or firmware and computationally intensive functions may be implemented in hardware.

[0146] In certain embodiments, some or all of the functionality described herein may be provided by processing circuitry executing instructions stored on in memory, which in certain embodiments may be a computer program product in the form of a non-transitory computer- readable storage medium. In alternative embodiments, some or all of the functionality may be provided by the processing circuitry without executing instructions stored on a separate or discrete device-readable storage medium, such as in a hard-wired manner. In any of those particular embodiments, whether executing instructions stored on a non-transitory computer- readable storage medium or not, the processing circuitry can be configured to perform the described functionality. The benefits provided by such functionality are not limited to the processing circuitry alone or to other components of the computing device, but are enjoyed by the computing device as a whole, and / or by end users and a wireless network generally.

[0147] Those skilled in the art will recognize improvements and modifications to the embodiments of the present disclosure. All such improvements and modifications are considered within the scope of the concepts disclosed herein.

Claims

CLAIMS1. A method (200) performed by a user equipment (UE) (1412, 1500) for selecting a wake up receiver (WUR) between a first WUR and a second WUR to use, the method comprising:- receiving (210) a configuration from a network node, the configuration comprising at least condition information regarding the first WUR;- determining (220) if the first WUR meets the condition information; and- selecting (230) the first WUR if the first WUR meets the condition information, for monitoring a downlink transmission, else selecting the second WUR, for monitoring a downlink transmission.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the condition information comprises one or more of a coverage condition, a mobility condition, a type of WUR that is supported in a cell, and an energy condition.

3. The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein, when the condition information comprises the coverage condition, determining if the first WUR meets the condition information comprises determining if Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) measurements on a received reference signal are above a first threshold.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the configuration comprises an indication of the first threshold.

5. The method of claim 3 or 4, wherein the configuration comprises an indication of a second threshold, wherein the second threshold is used to determine if RSRP measurements on a received reference signal are above the second threshold.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein, in response to determining that the RSRP measurements are above the second threshold, selecting the second WUR for monitoring a downlink transmission.

7. The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein, when the condition information comprises the WUR type condition, determining if the first WUR meets the condition information comprises determining if the first WUR corresponds to the WUR type that is supported by the UE.

8. The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein, when the condition information comprises the mobility condition, determining if the first WUR meets the condition information comprises determining if a low-power synchronization signal (LP-SS) is sufficient for the UE to perform radio resource management (RRM) measurements.

9. The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein, when the condition information comprises the mobility condition, determining if the first WUR meets the condition information comprisesdetermining if the UE fulfills RRM measurement relaxation criteria, which comprise one or more of the UE being stationary, of low mobility, not on the cell-edge, and RedCap specific criteria.

10. The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein, when the condition information comprises the energy condition, the energy condition comprises one or more of a WUR power consumption criteria, a WUR ON duration criterion, a WUS duration criteria and a UE battery level.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein determining if the first WUR meets the condition information comprises determining if the WUR energy consumption of the first WUR is inferior to that of the second WUR.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein determining if the first WUR meets the condition information comprises determining if the UE battery level of the first WUR is below a threshold, otherwise the second WUR is selected.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein determining if the first WUR meets the condition information comprises determining if an energy availability or energy harvesting rate of the first WUR is below a threshold, otherwise the second WUR is selected.

14. The method of any one of claims 1 to 13, wherein the selection of the first WUR or second WUR is done periodically.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the periodic selection is given by a time period, which is provided in the configuration.

16. The method of any one of claims 1 to 15, wherein the first WUR is an OOK-based WUR and the second WUR is an OFDM based WUR.

17. The method of any one of claimsl to 15, wherein the second WUR is an OOK-based WUR and the first WUR is an OFDM based WUR.

18. A method (300) performed by a network node (1410, 1600) in communication with a wireless device (1412, 1500), which comprises a first wake up received (WUR) and a second WUR, the method comprising:- transmitting (310) a configuration to the wireless device, the configuration comprising at least condition information regarding the first WUR; wherein the condition information is used by the wireless device to determine if the first WUR or the second WUR is used to monitor a downlink transmission; and- transmitting (320) the downlink transmission.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the condition information comprises one or more of a coverage condition, a mobility condition, a type of WUR that is supported in a cell, and an energy condition.

20. The method of claim 18 or 19, wherein the configuration comprises an indication of a first threshold, which is used by the wireless device to select the first WUR if Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) measurements on a reference signal is above the first threshold.

21. The method of any one of claims 18 to 20, wherein the configuration comprises an indication of a second threshold, which is used by the wireless device to select the second WUR if RSRP measurements on a reference signal is above the second threshold.

22. The method of claim 18 or 19, further comprising, when the condition information comprises the mobility condition, transmitting a low-power synchronization signal (LP-SS).

23. The method of claim 18 or 19, wherein, when the condition information comprises the mobility condition, the condition information further comprises one or more of the UE being stationary, of low mobility, not on the cell -edge, and RedCap specific criteria.

24. The method of claim 18 or 19, wherein, when the condition information comprises the energy condition, the energy condition comprises one or more of WUR power consumption criteria, a WUR ON duration criterion, a WUS duration criteria and a UE battery level.

25. The method of any one of claims 18 to 24, wherein the first WUR is an OOK-based WUR and the second WUR is an OFDM based WUR.

26. The method of any one of claims 18 to 24, wherein the second WUR is an OOK-based WUR and the first WUR is an OFDM based WUR.

27. The method of any one of claims 18 to 26, further comprising transmitting an indication to use one of the first WUR and the second WUR.

28. The method of any one of claims 18 to 27, wherein the configuration further comprises an indication of a period time for the wireless device to select the first WUR or second WUR periodically.

29. A wireless device (1412, 1500), comprising processing circuitry (1502) and a network interface (1512) connected thereto, the processing circuitry (1502) configured to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 17.

30. A network node (1410, 1600) comprising processing circuitry (1602) and a network interface (1606) connected thereto, the processing circuitry (1602) configured to perform the method of any one of claims 18 to 28.

31. A computer program product comprising a computer readable memory storing computer executable instructions thereon that when executed by a computer perform any one of the methods of any one of claims 1 to 28.

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