NTN hand-over using beam-hopping patterns

Abstract

In the present disclosure, systems and methods are described based on an exchange of beam pattern information between RAN nodes. By means of exchanging such information, RAN nodes can make better mobility decisions concerning how to select mobility target cells for a given UE.

Description

NTN HAND-OVER USING BEAM-HOPPING PA TTERNSRelated Applications

[0001] This application claims the benefit of Greek patent application serial number 20240100032, filed January 19, 2024, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.Technical Field

[0002] The present disclosure relates to a wireless network having Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN) components and, more specifically, to beam-hopping in such a wireless network.Background

[0003] Figure 1 illustrates a Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN) system. An NTN system is wireless network that has an NTN component. The NTN component uses a constellation of several satellites (e.g., Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites, Medium-Earth Orbit (MEO) satellites, Geosynchronous Orbit (GEO) satellites, etc.) that orbit Earth using one or more orbit planes. Each satellite provides wireless network access to User Equipments (UEs) positioned on, or near, the Earth's surface via a respective service link. This is done by satellites having on-board antennas that can radiate beams towards (multiple) centers of Earth-Fixed Cells (EFCs). These can be transmitter beams for the downlink (DL) and receiver beams for the uplink (UL). Notice that in the downlink the total power of the satellite antenna is shared between simultaneous DL beams, something which is not true for the UL. This setup is depicted in Figure 1.

[0004] The satellite antenna is connected to a Radio Access Network (RAN) node, e.g., a gNB in the case of 3GPP New Radio (NR). Depending on the architecture, components of the node can be located either on the ground, or onboard the satellite. The ground components and the onboard components are connected through a satellite gateway via a feeder link.

[0005] Like the terrestrial network, each node is expected to provide coverage to a specific territory by dividing the area into coverage sectors. In the case of NTN, the nodes are using the satellites as mediums to transmit the corresponding radio signals through the beams towards those areas.

[0006] NTNs were studied in 3GPP within 3GPP Technical Report (TR) 38.811 "Study on New Radio (NR) to support non-terrestrial networks (Rel-15)" and 3GPP TR 38.821 "Solutions for NR to support non-terrestrial networks (NTN) (Rel-16)". While not essential for understanding the present disclosure, the interested reader is directed to those documents for additional details.

[0007] In the case of non-geostationary satellite orbits (NGEO) where the satellite orbit speed does not match the earth rotation speed, different EFCs will be served by different beams at different times. The transition from one beam to another is called a beam-switch, or beam hand-over. This can be caused due to the service link switch, i.e., beams come from a different satellite, or a feeder link switch, i.e., beams come from the same satellite, but the data carried within the beams are from gateways located in different geographic areas. During the beam-switch, there is a period where beams overlap in time to allow UEs to hand-over from one beam to another. A beamswitch due to service link hand-over is shown in Figure 2.

[0008] The entity that controls the beam-switch procedure is referred to herein as "beam manager", and it should have the information of the position of the satellites, the gateways, and the EFCs. The actual implementation and location of the beam manager is irrelevant within present disclosure. The end receiver of the beam activation / de- activation commands is the satellite antenna which needs to comply with these commands. Figure 3 illustrates an example of beam activation / de-activation time evolution for a specific EFC.

[0009] Beam time-division multiplexing, which is also known as beam-hopping, is a method where a satellite can focus its beam (e.g., a transmit or downlink beam or an receive uplink beam) towards different EFCs in different time slots. Each time slot is assigned with a specific beam illumination pattern that specifies which EFCs will be served via the satellite beams for that time slot. There are various benefits of performing beam-hopping such as beam interference avoidance, satellite coverage extension, reduction of the number of simultaneous beams that leads to more power per beam and less capacity requirements in the feeder link, enabling low layer split (LLS), and load balancing. In fact, not performing beam-hopping would significantly limit the NTN component in providing a high level of coverage and service continuity. Figure 4 illustrates an example of beam time division multiplexing (beam-hopping). Each beam-hopping pattern is applied in different time slots over different cells.

[0010] Contrary to Terrestrial Network (TN) nodes, NTN nodes and satellite antennas are required to provide coverage over an area of thousands of square kilometers (km2). This means that the population spread of cells covered by the same satellite can be extreme, going from almost no users (e.g., remote areas such as sea, mountains, forests, etc.) up to thousands of users (e.g., urban areas when NTN is required to provide coverage in emergency scenarios). This population imbalance between NTN cells will result in a similar traffic load imbalance.

[0011] Beam-hopping is a method that can reduce this load imbalance by assigning more DL / UL beam illumination time slots to cells that require more traffic, and less time slots to cells with limited traffic.Summary

[0012] Systems and methods related to handover in a wireless network including one or more Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN) components using beam pattern information are disclosed. In one embodiment, a method performed by a node, the node being either a User Equipment (UE) or a first a Radio Access Network (RAN) node of a wireless network comprising one or more NTN components comprising receiving, from a second RAN node of the wireless network, beam pattern information for one or more cells or beams and performing one or more actions based on the beam pattern information. In this manner, by using beam pattern information, situations where a UE is moved to target cells or beams that are not active or that are sub-optimal can be avoided.

[0013] In one embodiment, for each cell or beam of the one or more cells or beams, the beam pattern information comprises information that indicates an on / off schedule of the cell or beam.

[0014] In one embodiment, the node is a first RAN node and the first RAN node is a target RAN node for a handover of a UE, and the second RAN node is a source RAN node for handover of the UE. In one embodiment, the one or more cells or beams for which the beam pattern information is received comprise one or more cells operated by the second RAN node. In one embodiment, receiving the beam pattern information comprises receiving the beam pattern information from the second RAN node within a handover request, during handover preparation, or before handover preparation.

[0015] In one embodiment, the method further comprises receiving, from the second RAN node, neighbor cell relation information comprising information that indicatescell(s) or beam(s) operated by the first RAN node that are neighbors to the one or more cells or beams operated by the second RAN node for which the beam pattern information is received.

[0016] In one embodiment, performing the one or more actions based on the beam pattern information comprises performing one or more mobility related actions based on the beam pattern information.

[0017] In one embodiment, performing the one or more actions based on the beam pattern information comprises selecting a target cell or beam operated by the first RAN node for a handover of a UE from one of the one or more cells or beams operated by the second RAN node.

[0018] In one embodiment, the one or more actions further comprise applying a new beam pattern to a selected target cell or beam operated by the first RAN node, the selected target cell or beam being a target cell or beam for handover of a UE from one of the one or more cells operated by the second RAN node.

[0019] In one embodiment, the one or more actions further comprising sending a handover command for the UE to the second RAN node, the handover command comprising information that indicates the target cell or beam and beam pattern information for the target cell or beam.

[0020] In one embodiment, the node is a first RAN node, the first RAN node is a source RAN node for a handover of a UE, and the second RAN node is a target RAN node for handover of the UE. Further, the one or more cells or beams for which the beam pattern information is received comprise one or more cells operated by the second RAN node. In one embodiment, the one or more actions comprise selecting a target cell or beam for the handover of the UE from among the one or more cells operated by the second RAN node, based on the beam pattern information. In one embodiment, the one or more actions further comprises generating and sending a handover request to the second RAN node, the handover request comprising information that identifies the selected target cell or beam operated by the second RAN node.

[0021] In one embodiment, the node is a UE, and the one or more cells or beams for which the beam pattern information is received comprise one or more cells operated by the second RAN node. In one embodiment, the second RAN node is a target RAN node that operates a target cell or beam for a handover of the UE. In one embodiment, theone or more actions comprise delaying execution of the handover command until a time at which the target beam or cell is active, as indicated by the beam pattern information. In another embodiment, the second RAN node is a serving RAN node of the UE. In one embodiment, the beam pattern information further comprises beam pattern information for one or more neighbor cells or beams of a serving cell or beam of the UE. In one embodiment, the method further comprises receiving, from the second RAN node, measurement configuration information that configures the UE to perform measurements on at least one of the one or more neighbor cells or beams, wherein performing the one or more actions comprises performing at least one measurement on the at least one of the one or more neighbor cells or beams in accordance with the measurement configuration information and taking into consideration the beam pattern information for the at least one of the one or more neighbor cells or beams.

[0022] In one embodiment, the one or more actions further comprises sending a measurement report to the second RAN node, the measurement report comprising the at least one measurement performed on the at least one of the one or more neighbor cells or beams.

[0023] In one embodiment, the method further comprises receiving, from the second RAN node, measurement configuration information that configures the UE to perform measurements on at least one of the one or more neighbor cells or beams, the measurement configuration information comprising at least one timing aspect aligned with an on / off schedule of the at least one of the one or more neighbor cells or beams, wherein performing the one or more actions comprises performing at least one measurement on the at least one of the one or more neighbor cells or beams in accordance with the measurement configuration information. In one embodiment, the one or more actions further comprise sending a measurement report to the second RAN node, the measurement report comprising the at least one measurement performed on the at least one of the one or more neighbor cells or beams.

[0024] In one embodiment, the node is a UE, the second RAN node is a conditional target RAN node for a conditional handover, and receiving the beam pattern information comprises receiving a conditional handover command, wherein the beam pattern information comprises beam pattern information for a conditional target cell or beam comprised in the conditional handover command.

[0025] Corresponding embodiments of a node, being either a UE or a first a RAN node of a wireless network, are also disclosed. In one embodiment, the node is adapted to receive, from a second RAN node of the wireless network, beam pattern information for one or more cells or beams and perform one or more actions based on the beam pattern information.

[0026] Embodiments of a method performed by a RAN node of a wireless network are also disclosed. In one embodiment, the method performed by the RAN node comprises sending, to either a UE or another RAN node of the wireless network, beam pattern information for one or more cells or beams.

[0027] Corresponding embodiments of a RAN node are also disclosed. In one embodiment, a RAN node of a wireless network is adapted to send, to either a UE or another RAN node of the wireless network, beam pattern information for one or more cells or beams.

[0028] In one embodiment, a method performed by a RAN node of a wireless network comprises sending to a UE measurement configuration information that configures the UE to perform measurements on one or more neighbor cells or beams, the measurement configuration information comprising one or more time-based aspects related to on / off schedules of the one or more neighbor cells or beams.

[0029] Corresponding embodiments of a RAN node are also disclosed. In one embodiment, a RAN node for a wireless network is adapted to send to a UE measurement configuration information that configures the UE to perform measurements on one or more neighbor cells or beams, the measurement configuration information comprising one or more time-based aspects related to on / off schedules of the one or more neighbor cells or beams.

[0030] Embodiments of a method performed by a UE are also disclosed. In one embodiment, a method performed by a UE comprises receiving, from a RAN node, measurement configuration information that configures the UE to perform measurements on one or more neighbor cells or beams, the measurement configuration information comprising one or more time-based aspects related to on / off schedules of the one or more neighbor cells or beams, and performing measurements on the one or more neighbor cells or beams, in accordance with the measurement configuration information.

[0031] Corresponding embodiments of a UE are also disclosed. In one embodiment, a UE is adapted to receive, from a RAN node, measurement configuration information that configures the UE to perform measurements on one or more neighbor cells or beams, the measurement configuration information comprising one or more time-based aspects related to on / off schedules of the one or more neighbor cells or beams, and perform measurements on the one or more neighbor cells or beams, in accordance with the measurement configuration information.Brief Description of the Drawings

[0032] The accompanying drawing figures incorporated in and forming a part of this specification illustrate several aspects of the disclosure, and together with the description serve to explain the principles of the disclosure.

[0033] Figure 1 illustrates a Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN) system;

[0034] Figure 2 illustrates a beam-switch due to service link hand-over;

[0035] Figure 3 illustrates an example of beam activation / de-activation time evolution for a specific Earth-Fixed Cell (EFC);

[0036] Figure 4 illustrates an example of beam time division multiplexing (beamhopping);

[0037] Figure 5 illustrates one example of an NTN system 500 in which embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented

[0038] Figure 6 is a block diagram of the derivation of the beam-hopping matrix P, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0039] Figure 7 illustrates transmission of the beam-hopping patterns from matrix P to the corresponding NTN cells through different gateways and satellites;

[0040] Figure 8A is a flow chart that illustrates the operation of a node (i.e., a UE or a RAN node) in accordance with at least some of the embodiments described herein;

[0041] Figures 8B, 8C, 8D, and 8E illustrate further details regarding example embodiments of step 802 of Figure 8A;

[0042] Figure 9 illustrates the operation of a RAN node (e.g., a source or target RAN node or a serving RAN node) in accordance with at least some of the embodiments described herein;

[0043] Figure 10 illustrates the operation of a serving RAN node of a UE in accordance with related embodiments described herein;

[0044] Figure 11 illustrates the operation of a LIE in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0045] Figure 12 shows an example of a communication system in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0046] Figure 13 shows a User Equipment device (UE) in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0047] Figure 14 shows a network node in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0048] Figure 15 is a block diagram of a host, which may be an embodiment of the host of Figure 12, in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure described herein;

[0049] Figure 16 is a block diagram illustrating a virtualization environment in which functions implemented by some embodiments of the present disclosure may be virtualized; and

[0050] Figure 17 shows a communication diagram of a host communicating via a network node with a UE over a partially wireless connection in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.Detailed Description

[0051] The embodiments set forth below represent information to enable those skilled in the art to practice the embodiments and illustrate the best mode of practicing the embodiments. Upon reading the following description in light of the accompanying drawing figures, those skilled in the art will understand the concepts of the disclosure and will recognize applications of these concepts not particularly addressed herein. It should be understood that these concepts and applications fall within the scope of the disclosure.

[0052] Note that the description given herein focuses on a 3GPP cellular communications system and, as such, 3GPP terminology or terminology similar to 3GPP terminology is oftentimes used. However, the concepts disclosed herein are not limited to a 3GPP system.

[0053] Note that, in the description herein, reference may be made to the term "cell"; however, particularly with respect to 5G NR concepts, beams may be usedinstead of cells and, as such, it is important to note that the concepts described herein are equally applicable to both cells and beams.

[0054] There exist certain challenges with respect to the existing beam-hopping scheme for a Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN) system. The existing beam-hopping scheme for a NTN system described in the Background section above has consequences resulting from the fact that beams are turned on and off, and consequently the connectivity / service in a certain area comes and goes. In the context of the present disclosure, a particularly problematic consequence is the impact of the intermittent connectivity / service on handover of a User Equipment (UE) between cells served by different beams. In a typical scenario, the source cell and the target cell of a beam hop or handover will not be on / active simultaneously, and there may be a non-negligible time gap between the time that the source cell is turned off and the time that the target cell is turned on. This has significant negative impacts on the performance of the handover, e.g., in terms of connectivity / service interruption time.

[0055] Systems and methods that provide a solution(s) to the aforementioned and / or other challenges are disclosed herein. In the present disclosure, systems and methods are described based on an exchange of beam pattern information between RAN nodes. By means of exchanging such information, RAN nodes can make better mobility decisions concerning how to select mobility target cells for a given UE.

[0056] Embodiments of systems and methods disclosed herein enable RAN nodes to be aware of the beam pattern information (i.e., information indicating when in time a beam or cell (also referred to as "beam / cell") is active or not active) of each neighbor cell. With this information, RAN nodes can determine which cell is likely to be active at the time of a handover execution and, by that, they can better select mobility target cells for a UE.

[0057] While not being limited to or by any particular advantage, embodiments of the present disclosure may provide certain advantages over existing solutions. For example, in systems where beam hopping techniques are used, embodiments of the present disclosure may avoid situations where a UE is moved to target cells that are not active or that are sub-optimal (e.g., due to excessive interference or due to delayed access to the cell due to initial cell deactivation). Therefore, in beam hopping use cases, mobility is performed in full awareness of beam pattern information and can be configured towards cells that will be timely available and in optimal radio conditions atthe time of handover execution. By improving the functioning of systems where beam hopping is adopted, embodiments of the solutions described herein may enable beam hopping configurations that lead to considerable energy saving both on network and UEs.

[0058] In this regard, Figure 5 illustrates one example of an NTN system 500 in which embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented. As illustrated, the NTN system 500 includes NTN nodes 502-S and 502-T (e.g., satellites), which are also referred to herein as a source NTN node 502-S and a target NTN node 502-T when referred to within the context of a beam switch or handover. The NTN node 502-S provides wireless network access to UEs 504 within a cell 506-S (e.g., an Earth-Fixed Cell (EFC)) via a service link provided over a respective NTN node (e.g., satellite) beam(s) (e.g., transmitter beam(s) for downlink (DL) and a receiver beam(s) for uplink (UL)). The cell 506-S is also referred to herein as a source cell 506-S with referred to within the context of a beam switch or handover. The NTN node 502-T provides wireless network access to UEs 504 within a cell 506-T (e.g., an EFC) via a service link provided over a respective NTN node (e.g., satellite) beam(s) (e.g., transmitter beam(s) for downlink (DL) and a receiver beam(s) for uplink (UL)). The cell 506-T is also referred to herein as a target cell 506-T with referred to within the context of a beam switch or handover. The NTN node 502-S is connected to a gateway 508-S, and the NTN node 502-T is connected to a gateway 508-T.

[0059] The NTN system 500 also includes RAN nodes 510-S and 510-T, which are also referred to herein as a source RAN node 510-S and a target RAN node 510-T when referred to within the context of a beam switch or handover. The RAN node 510-S may be implemented at the NTN node 502-S, at the gateway 508-S, as a separate network node that is external to and connected to the gateway 508-S. Alternatively, the RAN node 510-S may be implemented in a distributed manner where part of the functionality of the RAN node 510-S is implemented at the NTN node 502-S and part of the RAN node 510-S is implemented at the gateway 508-S and / or at a separate node that is external to and connected to the gateway 508-S. Likewise, the RAN node 510-T may be implemented at the NTN node 502-T, at the gateway 508-T, as a separate network node that is external to and connected to the gateway 508-T. Alternatively, the RAN node 510-T may be implemented in a distributed manner where part of the functionality of the RAN node 510-T is implemented at the NTN node 502-T and part of the RANnode 510-T is implemented at the gateway 508-T and / or at a separate node that is external to and connected to the gateway 508-T. In one example embodiment of the present disclosure, the RAN nodes 510-S and 510-T are base stations of a cellular communications system (e.g., gNodeBs (gNBs) in the case of 3GPP New Radio (NR)).

[0060] Now, a more detailed description of some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure will be described. When suitable, references are sometimes made to the example NTN system 500 of Figure 5.

[0061] Embodiments of the present disclosure are particularly well-suited to a scenario where two areas are so close to each other that harmful interference would occur if transmissions would occur to / from the areas at the same time. Such an area may be a cell or the footprint of a beam (e.g., the two cells 506-S and 506-T of Figure 5). The 3GPP standard allows a cell to be served (i.e., covered) by one or more beams. However, for NTN, so far, the scenario with one beam per cell has been the main focus (which does not preclude multiple beams per cell). Hence, for simplicity, the terms "beam" and "cell" are used almost interchangeably in the description provided herein, e.g., sometimes mentioning "cell" when it strictly speaking should be "beam".

[0062] In the description provided herein, the term "beam-hopping pattern / schedule" is often mentioned. This may be seen as a time schedule indicating when a beam / cell will be turned on and when it will be turned off.

[0063] First, embodiments where the beam hopping pattern (i.e., beam hopping schedule) is used to select the target cell of a handover are described.

[0064] In this regard, in some embodiments, an NTN system (e.g., the NTN system 500 of Figure 5) is able to derive beam-hopping patterns for each cell / beam (e.g., cells 506-S and 506-T or respective beams) and time slot, constructing a two-dimensional beam-hopping matrix of size NxM, where / Vis the number of beams or cells (sometimes referred to herein as "beams / cells") and M\s the number of time slots. Element ( / ) j) of the matrix indicates whether cell / will be illuminated (beam-on) or not (beam-off) during time slot j Beam-on is indicated by a logical one, and beam-off is indicated by a logical zero, or vice versa.

[0065] The system derives the elements of the matrix by applying any kind of beam Time-Division Multiplexing (TDM) management algorithm, as shown in Figure 6. Figure 6 is a block diagram of the derivation of the beam-hopping matrix P. The cells / beams considered are those in a list of serving cells, and cells / beams belong to a cluster inwhich any two cells / beams would interfere harmfully (e.g., above a level deemed as acceptable) if they were active / on at the same time. However, the construction of matrix P is not the subject of the present disclosure. P is considered herein to be an arbitrary matrix of logical zeros and ones.

[0066] Each row of matrix P represents the beam on / off decisions for a respective cell / beam for the next M time slots. Once matrix P is designed for all N cells / beams and for the next M time slots, then each bitstream (each matrix row) is signaled to the corresponding cell, e.g., via the gateway (e.g., gateway 508-S or 508-T) and NTN node or satellite (e.g., NTN node 502-S or NTN 502-T) that this cell is connected to the network, as shown in Figure 7. In other words, Figure 7 illustrates transmission of the beam-hopping patterns from matrix Pto the corresponding NTN cells through different gateways and satellites. Note that different beam on / off indicators are required for DL and for UL, i.e., the system designs two P matrices, one for DL and one for UL.

[0067] In one embodiment of the present disclosure, each RAN node (e.g., each of the RAN nodes 510-S and 510-T of Figure 5), e.g., a gNB, supporting an NTN component signals to another RAN node beam pattern information via a direct node-to- node interface or via an indirect node-to-node interface. Examples of such interface can be a peer-to-peer interface such as the Xn interface or an indirect interface that may, for example, involve forwarding of the information via the core network (e.g., via the 5thGeneration Core (5GC) in the case of a 5thGeneration (5G) system) before reaching the target RAN node, or involving forwarding via an Operations, Administration, and Maintenance (0AM) node or a satellite control center.

[0068] When signaling the beam pattern information from a first RAN node (RAN node 1) to a second RAN node (RAN node 2), the RAN node 1 signaling beam pattern information to the RAN node 2 will associate each row of the P matrix to a beam / cell (where each matrix row represents the beam / cell on / off schedule of the beam / cell), which can be identified with a beam / cell identifier, such as a cell global identity (CGI), e.g. a cell global identity of an NR cell (NCGI / NR CGI). The RAN node 1 signals the per beam / cell beam pattern information (i.e., the per beam / cell on / off schedule) to RAN node 2 and additionally it may signal the neighbor cell relation between NTN cells served by RAN node 1 and NTN cells served by RAN node 2, wherein the information may, for example, be represented as the following:

[0069] It should be pointed out that the information about beam patterns described above, as well as the neighbor cell relation, may be signaled from RAN node 2 to RAN node 1 as well, before or during a handover procedure. In one embodiment, the first position of the beam pattern corresponds to subframe 0 in a radio frame where System Frame Number (SFN) = 0.

[0070] It should also be clarified that the Beam Pattern Information may be signaled repetitively. In this case, one way to interpret the information above would be that the first bit of the beam pattern information corresponds to subframe 0 in a radio frame where SFN = 0.

[0071] The patterns / schedules in the above table representation example should be applied repetitively, i.e., when the subframes represented by a bitmap have elapsed, the same pattern / schedule is repeated without any gap in between.

[0072] The information described in the table above can be signaled between two RAN nodes at any point in time. As an example, this information may be signaled during the setup of an interface between RAN node 1 and RAN node 2, or when the information is updated, or it can be signaled in a message that updates information about RAN node 1 or RAN node 2 configuration, or it can be signaled as part of messages that handle LIE associated signaling, such as the Handover preparation messages.

[0073] In the example above RAN node 1 signals to RAN node 2 information about the beam patterns adopted by beam(s) / cell(s) of RAN node 1. This enables RAN node 2 to understand at which point in time beams will be illuminated for cells of RAN node 1 (i.e., when the cells of RAN node 1 will be on / active). In the same example, RAN node 1 optionally signals to RAN node 2 information about which cells are neighbors of the cell for which beam pattern information is provided, as well as the beam patterns for such cells. The latter may be useful if such neighbor relations are not known for RAN node 1 and RAN node 2.

[0074] If the information is signaled as part of the Handover Preparation signaling, and in particular as part of a Handover Request message from source RAN node (e.g., source RAN node 510-S) to target RAN node (e.g., target RAN node 510-T), theinformation may be signaled together with information concerning which of the cells of RAN node 1, for which beam pattern information is provided, is the source cell of the UE handover.

[0075] RAN node 2 is able to receive from RAN node 1 information concerning the UE measurements collected by a UE before the triggering of the Handover Preparation signaling. This information may include measurements reporting the signal levels of neighbor cells detected by the UE. An example of how this information is received by RAN node 2 is via the Ha ndoverPrepa rationinformation Information Element (IE) signaled from RAN node 1 to RAN node 2 in the Xn: Handover Request message. Therefore, by receiving such UE measurements, RAN node 2 is able to determine which of its own cells is within range of the UE and which is a good candidate mobility target cell. However, a cell of RAN node 2 may be reported in the UE measurements received by RAN node 2 as a strong candidate handover target cell, but it may not be suitable as the handover (HO) target because e.g. such cell will not be a neighbor cell of the source RAN node 1 cell at the time the handover will be executed, due to beam patterns followed by the source RAN node 1 cell and the target RAN node 2 cell. For this reason, RAN node 2 uses the information described above received from RAN node 1 to determine, if not known already, to which cell of RAN node 2 the UE will be handed over. This can be done by comparing the beam pattern information for the source cell of RAN node 1 with the beam pattern information of cells at RAN node 2 (which are known by RAN node 2). RAN node 2 will deduce which of RAN node 2 cells will be serving the area where the UE will be at the time of handover execution. Namely, the cell serving the area where the UE will be at the time of handover execution depends on the beam pattern of all cells in that neighborhood (namely cells of RAN node 1 and RAN node 2) and RAN node 2 is aware of such beam patterns. This calculation can be done also by taking into account the neighbor relations signaled by RAN node 1 to RAN node 2 and concerning the source cell at RAN node 1. As an extra piece of information RAN node 1 may signal to RAN node 2 an estimated handover time, namely, a time, calculated in e.g., number of time slots or time in milliseconds or similar, after which the UE will start handover execution towards RAN node 2 target cell(s). This allows RAN node 2 to better determine which cell of RAN node 2 will be active at the time the UE will be in coverage of RAN node 2. With this information, RAN node 2 can communicate towards RAN node 1 which cell is the handover target cell. This information can also beincluded in the HO command generated by RAN node 2 and signaled to the LIE via RAN node 1.

[0076] In one embodiment, based on the information received from RAN node 1, RAN node 2 is able to determine the cell that will be less interfered at RAN node 2 at the time of handing over the UE to RAN node 2. This is in virtue of knowing the beam pattern information of cells of RAN node 1 and their neighbor relation with the cells of RAN node 2. Hence RAN node 2 can make a decision of which cell to select as handover target cell also based on the interference between cells of RAN node 1 and RAN node 2.

[0077] In another embodiment, upon receiving the per cell beam pattern information from RAN node 1 in the Handover Request message for a given UE, RAN node 2 may decide to apply a new beam pattern to the target cell, which takes the beam pattern of the source cell into account. As an example, the beam pattern of the target cell may ensure that the target cell is active at the time the source cell is active or shortly after the source cell becomes inactive, so to guarantee that a mobility procedure from source cell to target cell would never incur in having the target cell inactive at the time of UE handover execution. When applying the new pattern to the target cell, RAN node 2 may also decide to reconfigure the beam patterns of the target cell's neighboring cells in order to reduce inter beam interference.

[0078] In another embodiment, the beam pattern information and optionally the neighbor cell relations between cells of RAN node 1 and RAN node 2 can be exchanged between RAN node 1 and RAN node 2 before the HO preparation. In this embodiment, the source RAN node (RAN node 1) knows a priori which of RAN node 2 cells will be active in time. If RAN node 1 knows in advance at what time the UE will hand over from a cell of RAN node 1 to an area covered by cells of RAN node 2, then by knowing the beam pattern information of RAN node 2 's cells and by knowing the UE measurements on neighbor cells (indicating which of the detected neighbor cells is the strongest candidate for mobility), RAN node 1 can also determine the target RAN node 2 cells that will be active at the time of handover execution. This would allow RAN node 1 to formulate a complete Handover Request message towards RAN node 2, including the target cell CGI and / or PCI for the HO. Determining which cell is the target cell would be based at least on information coming from UE measurements, i.e., information revealing which cell is the strongest target cell, and information revealing which RAN2 target cell will be active at the time of handover execution. If RAN node 1 does not know the exacttime of handover execution, RAN node 1 can estimate when the handover will be executed and knowing the beam pattern of cells at RAN node 2, RAN node 1 may determine the correct target cell for the UE handover. The target cell can be communicated to RAN node 2 at Handover preparation signaling, so that RAN node 2 generates a correct handover command to be signaled to the UE via RAN node 1 and including the target RAN node 2 cell identity.

[0079] In another embodiment, RAN node 2 will signal to the UE, as part of the handover command sent to the source RAN node 1 and then forwarded to the UE by RAN node 1, the beam pattern information of the target cells that RAN node 2 has selected as handover target cells. This enables the UE to understand at which time slot the handover target cell is active. When RAN node 2 includes beam pattern information for the target cells in the handover command message signaled to the UE, the UE is able to power up and receive / transmit only during the time slots when the handover target cells are active. As a consequence of this method, the UE may for example delay handover execution (e.g., RACH access to the target cell) until the target cell is active. The latter would avoid potential handover failure issues caused by the UE trying to access a cell that is not active. This greatly reduces UE power consumption while allowing for seamless handovers.

[0080] Next, embodiments where the beam hopping pattern / schedule is used to determine the timing of the handover execution will be described. In these embodiments, neighbor RAN nodes (e.g., neighbor gNBs) (e.g., RAN node 510-S and 510-T) exchange cell on / off schedules with each other (or are configured with this knowledge), e.g., between RAN nodes serving a certain cluster of cells (and possibly also over cluster borders).Embodiment A

[0081] The UE's serving RAN node (as well as any other RAN node) signals (e.g., in the system information (SI), to the UE, the on / off schedule of the serving cell as well as the on / off schedules of the neighbor cells (potentially all the cells in the cluster). The on / off schedules of the cells are an example of beam pattern information as described herein. The latter is possible as a consequence of previous embodiments where neighbor nodes signal to each other the beam pattern of neighboring cells.

[0082] The serving RAN node configures the LIE with neighbor cell measurements, and the UE, knowing the on / off schedules of the neighbor cells, measures on each of the neighbor cells (which are part of the measurement configuration) when the neighbor cell is on (according to its on / off schedule) and sends the measurement report (when triggered be a fulfilled condition or in accordance with a configured reporting periodicity) to the serving cell when the serving cell is on (according to the serving cell's on / off schedule). It is possible that the UE measures signals levels of neighbor cells without the configuration of measurement gaps by the source node. In this case the beam patterns for cells of the neighbor RAN node can be used by the UE to decide when to measure neighbor cells. For cases where the neighbor cell measurements are carried out within specific measurement gaps allocated by the source RAN node, the source RAN node takes into account the beam pattern information signaled to it by the target node, so that measurement gaps are allocated in a way to maximize the number of potential target cells the UE can measure in one measurement gap.

[0083] The serving / source RAN node decides to handover the UE (e.g., based on the measurement report) to one of the neighbor cells, prepares the HO, and forwards the HO command from the target RAN node to the UE. The UE accesses the target cell the first chance it gets according to the on / off schedule of the target cell. As one option, the UE releases its connection in the source cell immediately upon receiving the HO command, as in legacy, even if the target cell is off at the moment. As another option, the UE keeps its source cell connection until the target cell is turned on (there may be a time gap between the time when the source cell is turned off and the time when the target cell is turned on). As yet another option, if the target cell is turned off when the UE receives the HO command (or will be turned off before the UE will have time to finish the HO execution towards the target cell) and the source cell is turned off before the target cell is turned on again, the UE keeps its source cell connection until the source cell is turned off.

[0084] In one embodiment, the target RAN node knows the on / off schedule of the source cell from previous exchange of such beam pattern information (e.g., by inclusion of this information in the HANDOVER REQUEST XnAP message as an option). Being aware of the on / off schedules of the source cell and the target cell allows the target RAN node to determine the length of a possible time gap between the HO command and when the UE has its first chance to access the target cell, and the target RAN nodecan adapt the handover supervision timer T304 accordingly (e.g. add the time gap duration to T304's "normal" value).Embodiment B

[0085] The LIE'S serving RAN node (as well as any other RAN node) signals in the system information (SI) to the UE, the on / off schedule of the serving cell, but not the on / off schedule of any other cells (in order to save SI overhead).

[0086] The serving RAN node configures the UE with time-based neighbor cell measurements. The time-based aspects may be realized through a repetitive time window indicated in the Measurement Object matching the on-periods of the concerned neighbor cell. As one option, there may be a separate Measurement Object for each neighbor cell the UE should measure on. As another option, a single Measurement Object could cover multiple neighbor cells, each with its own time window. As part of this embodiment, the source RAN node may allocate measurement gaps that match the on-period of the neighbor cells to be measured or the source RAN node may not allocate such measurement gaps and simply indicate to the UE when such on-periods are available, so that the UE can measure the neighbor cells of interest at its earliest occasion and while the neighbor cells are active.

[0087] The UE measures on the neighbor cells, in accordance with the configuration and with the configured time windows, and sends a measurement report (e.g., when triggered by a fulfilled condition or in accordance with a configured reporting periodicity) to the serving RAN node when the serving cell is on (according to the serving cell's on / off schedule). The serving / source RAN node decides to handover the UE (e.g., based on the measurement report) to one of the neighbor cells, and prepares the HO for such neighbor cell. The UE executes the HO towards the target cell. The UE may take into account the on-period of the target cell received from the source RAN node when deciding when to perform handover execution.

[0088] In one embodiment, the source RAN node may prepare a time-based Conditional Handover (CHO), wherein the CHO execution time window indicated by the time-based condition (e.g., indicated by the tl-Threshold-rl7 and duration-rl7i s in the ReportConfigNR E) match a suitable on-period (e.g., the next / nearest or currently ongoing on-period) of the (candidate) target cell. The UE executes the CHO towards the(candidate) target cell when the time condition (and any other configured condition) is fulfilled (as in legacy NR NTN).Embodiment C (CHO)

[0089] In the description of Embodiment B above, it is described that the serving / source RAN node prepares the HO in the form of a time-based CHO, wherein the CHO execution time window indicated by the time-based condition (e.g. indicated by the tl-Threshold-rl7 and duration-rl 7 IES in the ReportConfigNR VE match a suitable on-period (e.g. the next / nearest or currently ongoing on-period) of the (candidate) target cell

[0090] Embodiment 3, however, involves that during a CHO, the candidate target RAN node may include the on / off schedule of the candidate target cell in a Conditional Handover Command (i.e., the conditional reconfiguration (e.g., the condRRCReconfig- rl6l ). The UE could use this to adapt the timing of the CHO execution (provided that the CHO execution condition(s) is(are) fulfilled), e.g., refine the CHO execution timing within a CHO execution time window defined by the time-based condition (e.g., configured by the tl-Thresho / d-17 and duration-rl 7 IEs in the ReportConfig NR IE) in a time-based CHO configuration.

[0091] Next, embodiments related to neighbor cell measurements are described. According to a basic principle of the beam-hopping scheme, when a UE's serving cell is on, the neighbor cells will be off. Consequently, neighbor cell measurements will have to occur when the UE's serving cell is switched off. The UE should be informed properly of how to perform the neighbor cell measurements.

[0092] To this end, the UE's serving RAN node may configure the UE with time-based neighbor cell measurements. In one embodiment, the time-based aspect is realized through an indication of a repetitively recurring time window in the Measurement Object (e.g., the MeasObjectNR IE) matching the on-periods of the concerned neighbor cell. As one option, this would mean that there would have to be one Measurement Object for each neighbor cell / beam the UE should measure on. As another option, a single Measurement Object could cover multiple neighbor cells, each with its own time window. Such multiple time windows in a Measurement Object could, as one option, be realized as a common periodicity and on-period duration, but with a neighbor cellspecific offset for each neighbor cell covered by the MO, wherein the offset indicates an offset to the start of the series of repetitively recurring time windows. As another option, each of the multiple time windows in the Measurement Object could have a full set of time window definition parameters.

[0093] The UE would measure on the neighbor cells, in accordance with the neighbor cell measurement configuration and the configured time windows and send the measurement report (when triggered by a fulfilled condition or in accordance with a configured reporting periodicity) to the serving RAN node when the serving beam / cell is on.

[0094] This way, the UE can avoid trying to measure on neighbor beams / cells which are not turned on. For instance, with a strict time division beam-hopping pattern / schedule (where two neighbor beams / cells are never active / on simultaneously, i.e., where the on-periods of neighbor cells never overlap with each other), neighbor cell measurements would be useless all the time while the serving beam / cell is on.

[0095] Such time window(s) in the Measurement Object would in a sense serve as an overlay schedule on top of the Synchronization Signal Block (SSB) Measurement Timing Configuration(s) (SMTC(s)) included in the Measurement Object.

[0096] As another alternative, the serving RAN node may indicate to the UE, as part of a measurement object, a time window within which measurements can be collected and a list of cells, e.g., identified by their CGI or PCI, for which measurements have to be taken. The UE is free to search for the listed cells within the time window indicated by the source RAN node, and when the UE finds any of the listed cells, the UE can measure that cell(s). Measurement reports can occur from the UE to the source RAN node when the serving cell at the serving RAN node is active.

[0097] As an alternative to letting the network configure time-based neighbor cell measurements, the network, e.g., the serving RAN node, only provides regular neighbor cell measurement configurations and signals the on / off patterns / schedules of the neighbor cells, e.g., as part of the beam-hopping pattern / schedule, as previously described. Knowing the on / off schedules of the neighbor cells, the UE then measures on each of the neighbor cells (which are covered by the neighbor cell measurement configuration) when the neighbor cell is on (according to the on / off pattern / schedule) and sends the measurement report (when triggered by a fulfilled condition or inaccordance with a configured reporting periodicity) to the serving RAN node when the serving beam / cell is on.

[0098] In another embodiment, the source RAN node, namely RAN node 1, which has received beam pattern information for cells of RAN node 2, is able to efficiently configure the UE to perform measurements of RAN node 2 cells for the purpose of deciding whether a handover should be initiated. Such measurements can be performed considering whether the cells of RAN node 2 are active or not at the time of measuring them by the UE. To achieve that, RAN node 1 may configure measurement gaps for the UE to measure cells of RAN node 2, which occur at times when some or all of the RAN node 2 cells in range of the UE are active. The UE will therefore be able to measure such cells and report their signal levels so that a handover decision towards any of those cells can be made. In an alternative embodiment, RAN node 1 signals to the UE the beam pattern information of the cells of RAN node 2 that are in range of the UE. With this information the UE is able to measure such cells only at times when they are active. Such enhancement is particularly beneficial in case of gap-less measurements, namely measurements where the UE measures neighbor cells without the need for gaps.

[0099] The above embodiments have focused on mobility procedures, where the RAN node 2 is a target node serving the mobility target cell. However, the embodiments above can be mapped also to the case of dual connectivity and secondary node addition. Namely, in the case of dual connectivity, RAN node 2 (previously also named "target RAN node") is a secondary node serving cells of which one may be a potential Secondary Group Cell (SCG). In this case, the methods above describing how a UE performs measurements towards a neighbor cell can be applied to UE measurements towards a neighbor cell that may be added as an SCG. Equivalently, the methods described above describing how the UE reports such measurements to the source node and triggers a handover execution towards the target cell may be applied to measurement reporting and triggering of access to an SCG by the UE.

[0100] Next, example procedures related to the embodiments described above are described. In this regard, Figure 8A is a flow chart that illustrates the operation of a node (i.e., a UE or a RAN node) in accordance with at least some of the embodiments described above. As illustrated, the node receives, from a RAN node of a wireless network, beam pattern information for one or more cells or beams (step 800). In oneembodiment, the wireless network includes one or more NTN components (e.g., the wireless network is the NTN system 500 or a similar NTN system). In one embodiment, for each cell or beam, the beam pattern information for the cell or beam includes information that indicates an on / off schedule of the cell or beam (e.g., information that indicates one or more on-periods (i.e., periods of time in which the cell or beam is on or active and / or information that indicates one or more off-periods (i.e., periods of time in which the cell or beam is off or inactive). The node performs one or more actions based on the beam pattern information (step 802). Further information described above related to the receiving of such beam pattern information, the beam pattern information, and actions performed by the receiving node of the beam pattern information are equally applicable here to Figure 8A (as well as the related Figures 8B- 8E described below). .Some further examples are described below.

[0101] In one embodiment, the node performing the process of Figure 8A is a target RAN node for a handover of a UE, and the RAN node from which the beam pattern information is received in step 800 is a source RAN node for the handover of the UE. The one or more cells or beams for which the beam pattern information is received in step 800 include one or more cells or beams operated by the source RAN node. In one embodiment, the beam pattern information is received in step 800 within a handover request, during handover preparation (e.g., as part of handover preparation information), or prior to handover preparation. In one embodiment, the process of Figure 8 further includes receiving neighbor cell relation information from the source RAN node (step 801). This neighbor cell relation information includes information that indicates cell(s) or beam(s) operated by the target RAN node that are neighbors to the one or more cells or beams operated by the source RAN for which the beam pattern information is received in step 800. In one embodiment, the one or more actions performed in step 802 include any one or more one or more actions related to mobility (e.g., handover). More specifically, as illustrated in Figure 8B, in one embodiment, the one or more actions performed in step 802 include any one or more of the following:• selecting a target cell or beam operated by the target RAN node for handover of the UE from a source cell or beam operated by the source RAN node, where the source cell or beam is one of the one or more cells or beams for each the target RAN node received beam pattern information in step 800 (step 802- 1A);• applying a new beam pattern (e.g., adapting the beam pattern) for the selected target beam or cell operated by the target RAN node based on the beam pattern information received in step 800 for the source beam or cell (step 802- IB);• sending a handover (HO) command to the UE (e.g., via the source RAN node), where the HO command includes information that indicates the selected target cell or beam for the handover and beam pattern information for the selected target cell or beam for the handover (step 802-1C).

[0102] In another embodiment, the node performing the process of Figure 8A is a source RAN node for a handover of a UE, and the RAN node from which the beam pattern information is received in step 800 is a target RAN node for the handover of the UE. The one or more cells or beams for which the beam pattern information is received in step 800 include one or more cells or beams operated by the target RAN node. As illustrated in Figure 8C, in one embodiment, the one or more actions performed in step 802 include either or both of the following:• selecting a target cell or beam from among the one or more cells or beams operated by the target RAN node and for which the beam pattern information is received in step 800 (step 802-2A). This selection may take into consideration the beam pattern information received in step 800 for the one or more cells or beams operated by the target RAN node and, optionally, beam pattern information for a source cell or beam for the handover, which is operated by the source RAN node.• Generating and sending a HO request to the target RAN node, where the HO request includes information that identifies the selected target cell or beam (step 802-2B).

[0103] In another embodiment, the node performing the process of Figure 8A is a UE, and the RAN node from which the beam pattern information is received in step 800 is either a target RAN node for a handover of the UE or a serving RAN node of the UE. The one or more cells or beams for which the beam pattern information is received in step 800 include one or more cells or beams operated by the RAN node from which the beam pattern information is received in step 800.

[0104] In one embodiment, the RAN node from which the UE receives the beam pattern information in step 800 is a target RAN node that operates a target cell or beamfor a handover of the LIE. In one embodiment, the beam pattern information is received in step 800 as part of a HO command received by the UE. In one embodiment, as illustrated in Figure 8D, the one or more actions performed by the UE in step 802 include, for example, delaying execution of the HO command based on the beam pattern information for the target cell or beam (step 802-3A).

[0105] In one embodiment, the RAN node from which the UE receives the beam pattern information in step 800 is a serving RAN node that operates a target cell or beam for a handover of the UE. As illustrated in Figure 8E, the one or more actions performed in step 802 include any one or more of the following:• The UE receives, from the serving RAN node, measurement configuration information that configures the UE to perform measurements on at least one of one or more neighbor cells or beams of the serving cell or beam of the UE (step 802-4A). Note that this step is shown as part of step 802; however, this step may also be considered as being separate from step 802. o In one embodiment ("Embodiment A"), the beam pattern information received in step 800 includes beam pattern information for one or more neighbor cells or beams of a serving cell or beam of the UE (802-4A(l)). In this embodiment, the measurement configuration information may include, for each neighbor cell or beam for which measurements are configured, information that indicates one or more time windows that are time-aligned with on-periods of the neighbor cell or beam during which the UE is to perform the measurement(s) on that neighbor cell or beam. In other words, these configured time windows for the neighbor cells may be the beam pattern information of step 800, in which case the beam pattern information of step 800 can be part of the measurement configuration information of step 802-4A(l). o In another embodiment ("Embodiment B"), the beam pattern information received in step 800 does not include beam pattern information for the one or more neighbor cells or beams of the serving cell or beam of the UE (802-4A(2)). Rather, the measurement configuration information configures one or more time windows in which the UE is to perform measurements on any of the neighbor beam or cell for which measurements are configured.• The LIE performs measurements on the at least one of the neighbor cells or beams, in accordance with the measurement configuration information (step 802-4B). o In one embodiment ("Embodiment A"), for each neighbor cell or beam for which measurements are configured, the UE performs the measurements taking into consideration the beam pattern information for that neighbor cell or beam (802-4B(l)). o In another embodiment ("Embodiment B"), in a given time window configured by the measurement configuration information, the UE performs measurements on any one or more of the neighbor cells or beams for which measurements are configured that are detected by the UE during that time window (802-4B(2)).• The UE sends a measurement report including the performed measurements to the serving RAN node (step 802-4C).

[0106] Figure 9 illustrates the operation of a RAN node (e.g., a source or target RAN node or a serving RAN node) in accordance with at least some of the embodiments described above. As illustrated, the RAN node sends, to a node (e.g., a UE or another RAN node), beam pattern information for one or more cells or beams (step 900). In one embodiment, the RAN node is a RAN node in a wireless network that includes one or more NTN components (e.g., the wireless network is the NTN system 500 or a similar NTN system). In one embodiment, for each cell or beam, the beam pattern information for the cell or beam includes information that indicates an on / off schedule of the cell or beam (e.g., information that indicates one or more on-periods (i.e., periods of time in which the cell or beam is on or active and / or information that indicates one or more off- periods (i.e., periods of time in which the cell or beam is off or inactive). Further information described above related to the sending of such beam pattern information and the beam pattern information itself are equally applicable here to Figure 9.

[0107] Figure 10 illustrates the operation of a serving RAN node of a UE in accordance with related embodiments described above. As illustrated, the serving RAN node sends, to the UE, measurement configuration information that configures the UE to perform measurements on one or more neighbor cells or beams, where the measurement configuration information includes one or more time-based aspects that are aligned, in time, with on-periods of the one or more neighbor cells or beams (step1000). In one embodiment, the one or more time-based aspects related to the on / off schedules of the one or more neighbor cells or beams comprise, for each neighbor cell or beam of the one or more neighbor cells or beams, information that configures one or more time windows that are aligned with on-periods of the neighbor cell or beam. In one embodiment, the one or more time-based aspects related to the on / off schedules of the one or more neighbor cells or beams comprise information that configures one or more measurement gaps for the UE to measure the one or more neighbor cells, the one or more measurement gaps comprising, for each neighbor cell or beam of the one or more neighbor cell or beams, one or more measurement gaps that are aligned, in time, with one or more on-periods of the neighbor cell or beam.

[0108] Figure 11 illustrates the operation of a UE in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. As illustrated, the UE receives, from a serving RAN node of the UE, measurement configuration information that configures the UE to perform measurements on one or more neighbor cells or beams, where the measurement configuration information includes one or more time-based aspects that are aligned, in time, with on-periods of the one or more neighbor cells or beams (step 1100). In one embodiment, the one or more time-based aspects related to the on / off schedules of the one or more neighbor cells or beams comprise, for each neighbor cell or beam of the one or more neighbor cells or beams, information that configures one or more time windows that are aligned with on-periods of the neighbor cell or beam. In one embodiment, the one or more time-based aspects related to the on / off schedules of the one or more neighbor cells or beams comprise information that configures one or more measurement gaps for the UE to measure the one or more neighbor cells, the one or more measurement gaps comprising, for each neighbor cell or beam of the one or more neighbor cell or beams, one or more measurement gaps that are aligned, in time, with one or more on-periods of the neighbor cell or beam.

[0109] The UE may optionally perform measurements on the one or more neighbor cells or beams in accordance with the received measurement configuration information (step 1102). The UE may further optionally send a measurement report including the performed measurements to the serving RAN node (step 1104).

[0110] Although the embodiments described herein are primarily described in terms of NR NTN, they are also applicable (sometimes with some adaptation) to other wireless telecommunication systems - primarily satellite based wireless communication systems(e.g., NTN) - especially wireless communication systems in which the beam-hopping concept may be applied. This may include e.g., the LTE based loT NTN and future 6G NTN.

[0111] Furthermore, most of the embodiments described herein are described in the context of handover (or conditional handover), but they are also applicable to other mobility procedures, such as reconfiguration with sync (which is the more formal term for handover in NR), PCell change, PSCell addition, SCell addition, PSCell change, conditional PCell addition, conditional PCell change, conditional PSCell addition and conditional PSCell change.

[0112] Figure 12 shows an example of a communication system 1200 in which embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented.

[0113] In the example, the communication system 1200 includes a telecommunication network 1202 that includes an access network 1204, such as a Radio Access Network (RAN), and a core network 1206, which includes one or more core network nodes 1208. The access network 1204 includes one or more access network nodes, such as network nodes 1210A and 1210B (one or more of which may be generally referred to as network nodes 1210), or any other similar Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) access nodes or non-3GPP Access Points (APs). Within the context of the embodiments of the present disclosure described above, one or more of the network nodes 1210 are RAN nodes including NTN components (e.g., a RAN node implemented at an NTN node such as, e.g., a satellite, a RAN node implemented at a gateway having a feeder link to a NTN node such as, e.g., a satellite, a RAN node having part of its functionality implemented at an NTN node and part of its functionality implemented at a gateway connected to the NTN node via a feeder link, or the like). Such RAN nodes (and respective UEs) may operate in accordance with any of the embodiments described above.

[0114] 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 1202 includes one or more Open-RAN (ORAN) network nodes. An ORAN network node is a node in the telecommunication network 1202 that supports an ORAN specification (e.g., aspecification 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 1202, including one or more network nodes 1210 and / or core network nodes 1208.

[0115] 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 access node 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 O-2 interface defined by the O-RAN Alliance or comparable technologies. The network nodes 1210 facilitate direct or indirect connection of User Equipment (UE), such as by connecting UEs 1212A, 1212B, 1212C, and 1212D (one or more of which may be generally referred to as UEs 1212) to the core network 1206 over one or more wireless connections.

[0116] 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 1200 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 1200 may include and / or interface with any type of communication, telecommunication, data, cellular, radio network, and / or other similar type of system.

[0117] The UEs 1212 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 1210 and other communication devices. Similarly, the network nodes 1210 are arranged, capable, configured, and / or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with the UEs 1212 and / or with other network nodes or equipment in the telecommunication network 1202 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 1202.

[0118] In the depicted example, the core network 1206 connects the network nodes 1210 to one or more hosts, such as host 1216. 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 1206 includes one more core network nodes (e.g., core network node 1208) 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 1208. 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).

[0119] The host 1216 may be under the ownership or control of a service provider other than an operator or provider of the access network 1204 and / or the telecommunication network 1202, and may be operated by the service provider or on behalf of the service provider. The host 1216 may host a variety of applications to provide one or more service. Examples of such applications include live and prerecorded 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.

[0120] As a whole, the communication system 1200 of Figure 12 enables connectivity between the UEs, network nodes, and hosts. In that sense, the communication system 1200 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 Second, Third, Fourth, or Fifth Generation (2G, 3G, 4G, or 5G) standards, or any applicable future generation standard (e.g., Sixth Generation (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.

[0121] In some examples, the telecommunication network 1202 is a cellular network that implements 3GPP standardized features. Accordingly, the telecommunication network 1202 may support network slicing to provide different logical networks to different devices that are connected to the telecommunication network 1202. For example, the telecommunication network 1202 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) / massive Internet of Things (loT) services to yet further UEs.

[0122] In some examples, the UEs 1212 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 1204 on a predetermined schedule, when triggered by an internal or external event, or in response to requests from the access network 1204. Additionally, a UE may be configured for operating in single- or multiRadio Access Technology (RAT) or multi-standard mode. For example, a UE may operate with any one or combination of WiFi, New Radio (NR), and LTE, i.e. being configured for Multi-Radio Dual Connectivity (MR-DC), such as Evolved UMTS Terrestrial RAN (E-UTRAN) NR - Dual Connectivity (EN-DC).

[0123] In the example, a hub 1214 communicates with the access network 1204 to facilitate indirect communication between one or more UEs (e.g., UE 1212C and / or 1212D) and network nodes (e.g., network node 1210B). In some examples, the hub1214 may be a controller, router, content source and analytics, or any of the other communication devices described herein regarding UEs. For example, the hub 1214 may be a broadband router enabling access to the core network 1206 for the UEs. As another example, the hub 1214 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 1210, or by executable code, script, process, or other instructions in the hub 1214. As another example, the hub 1214 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 1214 may be a content source. For example, for a UE that is a Virtual Reality (VR) headset, display, loudspeaker or other media delivery device, the hub 1214 may retrieve VR assets, video, audio, or other media or data related to sensory information via a network node, which the hub 1214 then provides to the UE either directly, after performing local processing, and / or after adding additional local content. In still another example, the hub 1214 acts as a proxy server or orchestrator for the UEs, in particular if one or more of the UEs are low energy loT devices.

[0124] The hub 1214 may have a constant / persistent or intermittent connection to the network node 1210B. The hub 1214 may also allow for a different communication scheme and / or schedule between the hub 1214 and UEs (e.g., UE 1212C and / or 1212D), and between the hub 1214 and the core network 1206. In other examples, the hub 1214 is connected to the core network 1206 and / or one or more UEs via a wired connection. Moreover, the hub 1214 may be configured to connect to a Machine-to- Machine (M2M) service provider over the access network 1204 and / or to another UE over a direct connection. In some scenarios, UEs may establish a wireless connection with the network nodes 1210 while still connected via the hub 1214 via a wired or wireless connection. In some embodiments, the hub 1214 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 1210B. In other embodiments, the hub 1214 may be a nondedicated hub - that is, a device which is capable of operating to route communications between the UEs and the network node 1210B, but which is additionally capable of operating as a communication start and / or end point for certain data channels.

[0125] Figure 13 shows a UE 1300 in accordance with some embodiments. As used herein, a UE refers to a device capable, configured, arranged, and / or operable tocommunicate 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 Internet Protocol (VoIP) phone, wireless local loop phone, desktop computer, Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), wireless camera, 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 Narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT) UE, a Machine Type Communication (MTC) UE, and / or an enhanced MTC (eMTC) UE.

[0126] 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), or Vehicle-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).

[0127] The UE 1300 includes processing circuitry 1302 that is operatively coupled via a bus 1304 to an input / output interface 1306, a power source 1308, memory 1310, a communication interface 1312, and / or any other component, or any combination thereof. Certain UEs may utilize all or a subset of the components shown in Figure 13. 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.

[0128] The processing circuitry 1302 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 1310. The processing circuitry 1302 may be implemented as one or more hardware-implemented state machines (e.g., in discrete logic, Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), etc.); programmable logic together withappropriate firmware; one or more stored computer programs, general purpose processors, such as a microprocessor or Digital Signal Processor (DSP), together with appropriate software; or any combination of the above. For example, the processing circuitry 1302 may include multiple Central Processing Units (CPUs).

[0129] In the example, the input / output interface 1306 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 1300. 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.

[0130] In some embodiments, the power source 1308 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 1308 may further include power circuitry for delivering power from the power source 1308 itself, and / or an external power source, to the various parts of the UE 1300 via input circuitry or an interface such as an electrical power cable. Delivering power may be, for example, for charging of the power source 1308. Power circuitry may perform any formatting, converting, or other modification to the power from the power source 1308 to make the power suitable for the respective components of the UE 1300 to which power is supplied.

[0131] The memory 1310 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 oneexample, the memory 1310 includes one or more application programs 1314, such as an operating system, web browser application, a widget, gadget engine, or other application, and corresponding data 1316. The memory 1310 may store, for use by the UE 1300, any of a variety of various operating systems or combinations of operating systems.

[0132] The memory 1310 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 Inline Memory Module (DIMM), Synchronous Dynamic RAM (SDRAM), external microDIMM SDRAM, smartcard memory such as a tamper resistant module in the form of a Universal Integrated Circuit Card (UICC) including one or more Subscriber Identity Modules (SIMs), such as a Universal SIM (USIM) and / or Internet Protocol Multimedia Services Identity Module (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 a 'SIM card.' The memory 1310 may allow the UE 1300 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 1310, which may be or comprise a device-readable storage medium.

[0133] The processing circuitry 1302 may be configured to communicate with an access network or other network using the communication interface 1312. The communication interface 1312 may comprise one or more communication subsystems and may include or be communicatively coupled to an antenna 1322. The communication interface 1312 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 access network). Each transceiver may include a transmitter 1318 and / or a receiver 1320 appropriate to provide network communications (e.g., optical, electrical, frequency allocations, and so forth). Moreover, the transmitter 1318 and receiver 1320may be coupled to one or more antennas (e.g., the antenna 1322) and may share circuit components, software, or firmware, or alternatively be implemented separately.

[0134] In the illustrated embodiment, communication functions of the communication interface 1312 may include cellular communication, WiFi communication, LPWAN communication, data communication, voice communication, multimedia communication, short-range communications such as Bluetooth, NFC, 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 according to one or more communication protocols and / or standards, such as IEEE 802.11, Code Division Multiplexing Access (CDMA), Wideband CDMA (WCDMA), GSM, LTE, NR, UMTS, WiMax, Ethernet, Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol (TCP / IP), Synchronous Optical Networking (SONET), Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), Quick User Datagram Protocol Internet Connection (QUIC), Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), and so forth.

[0135] Regardless of the type of sensor, a UE may provide an output of data captured by its sensors, through its communication interface 1312, 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).

[0136] 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.

[0137] 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 ofsuch an loT device are a device which is or which is embedded in: a connected refrigerator or freezer, a television, a connected lighting device, an electricity meter, a robot vacuum cleaner, a voice controlled smart speaker, a home security camera, a motion detector, a thermostat, a smoke detector, a door / window sensor, a flood / moisture sensor, an electrical door lock, a connected doorbell, an air conditioning system like a heat pump, an autonomous vehicle, a surveillance system, a weather monitoring device, a vehicle parking monitoring device, an electric vehicle charging station, a smart watch, a fitness tracker, a head-mounted display for Augmented Reality (AR) or 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 1300 shown in Figure 13.

[0138] 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 in this 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 3GPP NB-IoT standard. In other scenarios, a UE may represent a vehicle, such as a car, a bus, a truck, a ship, an airplane, or other equipment that is capable of monitoring and / or reporting on its operational status or other functions associated with its operation.

[0139] 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.

[0140] Figure 14 shows a network node 1400 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, APs (e.g., radio APs), Base Stations (BSs) (e.g., radio BSs, Node Bs, evolved Node Bs (eNBs), NR Node Bs (gNBs)), and O-RAN nodes or components of an O-RAN node (e.g., O-RU, 0-Dll, O-CU).

[0141] 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 RRUs 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).

[0142] 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 BS Controllers (BSCs), Base Transceiver Stations (BTSs), transmission points, transmission nodes, Multi- Cell / Multicast Coordination Entities (MCEs), Operation and Maintenance (O&M) nodes, Operations Support System (OSS) nodes, Self-Organizing Network (SON) nodes, positioning nodes (e.g., Evolved Serving Mobile Location Centers (E-SMLCs)), and / or Minimization of Drive Tests (MDTs).

[0143] The network node 1400 includes processing circuitry 1402, memory 1404, a communication interface 1406, and a power source 1408. The network node 1400 may be composed of multiple physically separate components (e.g., a NodeB component and an 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 1400 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 NodeBs. In such a scenario, each uniqueNodeB and RNC pair may in some instances be considered a single separate network node. In some embodiments, the network node 1400 may be configured to support multiple RATs. In such embodiments, some components may be duplicated (e.g., separate memory 1404 for different RATs) and some components may be reused (e.g., a same antenna 1410 may be shared by different RATs). The network node 1400 may also include multiple sets of the various illustrated components for different wireless technologies integrated into network node 1400, for example GSM, WCDMA, LTE, NR, WiFi, Zigbee, Z-wave, Long Range Wide Area Network (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 the network node 1400.

[0144] The processing circuitry 1402 may comprise a combination of one or more of a microprocessor, controller, microcontroller, CPU, DSP, ASIC, FPGA, 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 1400 components, such as the memory 1404, to provide network node 1400 functionality.

[0145] In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 1402 includes a System on a Chip (SOC). In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 1402 includes one or more of Radio Frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry 1412 and baseband processing circuitry 1414. In some embodiments, the RF transceiver circuitry 1412 and the baseband processing circuitry 1414 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 the RF transceiver circuitry 1412 and the baseband processing circuitry 1414 may be on the same chip or set of chips, boards, or units.

[0146] The memory 1404 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, 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 1402. The memory 1404 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 1402 and utilized by the network node 1400. The memory 1404 may be used to store any calculations made by the processing circuitry 1402 and / or any data received via the communication interface 1406. In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 1402 and the memory 1404 are integrated.

[0147] The communication interface 1406 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 1406 comprises port(s) / terminal(s) 1416 to send and receive data, for example to and from a network over a wired connection. The communication interface 1406 also includes radio front-end circuitry 1418 that may be coupled to, or in certain embodiments a part of, the antenna 1410. The radio frontend circuitry 1418 comprises filters 1420 and amplifiers 1422. The radio front-end circuitry 1418 may be connected to the antenna 1410 and the processing circuitry 1402. The radio front-end circuitry 1418 may be configured to condition signals communicated between the antenna 1410 and the processing circuitry 1402. The radio front-end circuitry 1418 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 1418 may convert the digital data into a radio signal having the appropriate channel and bandwidth parameters using a combination of the filters 1420 and / or the amplifiers 1422. The radio signal may then be transmitted via the antenna 1410. Similarly, when receiving data, the antenna 1410 may collect radio signals which are then converted into digital data by the radio front-end circuitry 1418. The digital data may be passed to the processing circuitry 1402. In other embodiments, the communication interface 1406 may comprise different components and / or different combinations of components.

[0148] In certain alternative embodiments, the network node 1400 does not include separate radio front-end circuitry 1418; instead, the processing circuitry 1402 includes radio front-end circuitry and is connected to the antenna 1410. Similarly, in some embodiments, all or some of the RF transceiver circuitry 1412 is part of the communication interface 1406. In still other embodiments, the communication interface 1406 includes the one or more ports or terminals 1416, the radio front-end circuitry 1418, and the RF transceiver circuitry 1412 as part of a radio unit (not shown), and thecommunication interface 1406 communicates with the baseband processing circuitry 1414, which is part of a digital unit (not shown).

[0149] The antenna 1410 may include one or more antennas, or antenna arrays, configured to send and / or receive wireless signals. The antenna 1410 may be coupled to the radio front-end circuitry 1418 and may be any type of antenna capable of transmitting and receiving data and / or signals wirelessly. In certain embodiments, the antenna 1410 is separate from the network node 1400 and connectable to the network node 1400 through an interface or port.

[0150] The antenna 1410, the communication interface 1406, and / or the processing circuitry 1402 may be configured to perform any receiving operations and / or certain obtaining operations described herein as being performed by the network node 1400. Any information, data, and / or signals may be received from a UE, another network node, and / or any other network equipment. Similarly, the antenna 1410, the communication interface 1406, and / or the processing circuitry 1402 may be configured to perform any transmitting operations described herein as being performed by the network node 1400. Any information, data, and / or signals may be transmitted to a UE, another network node, and / or any other network equipment.

[0151] The power source 1408 provides power to the various components of the network node 1400 in a form suitable for the respective components (e.g., at a voltage and current level needed for each respective component). The power source 1408 may further comprise, or be coupled to, power management circuitry to supply the components of the network node 1400 with power for performing the functionality described herein. For example, the network node 1400 may be connectable to an external power source (e.g., the power grid or an electricity outlet) via input circuitry or an interface such as an electrical cable, whereby the external power source supplies power to power circuitry of the power source 1408. As a further example, the power source 1408 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.

[0152] Embodiments of the network node 1400 may include additional components beyond those shown in Figure 14 for providing certain aspects of the network node's functionality, including any of the functionality described herein and / or any functionality necessary to support the subject matter described herein. For example, the networknode 1400 may include user interface equipment to allow input of information into the network node 1400 and to allow output of information from the network node 1400. This may allow a user to perform diagnostic, maintenance, repair, and other administrative functions for the network node 1400.

[0153] Figure 15 is a block diagram of a host 1500, which may be an embodiment of the host 1216 of Figure 12, in accordance with various aspects described herein. As used herein, the host 1500 may be or comprise various combinations of hardware and / or software including a standalone server, a blade server, a cloud-implemented server, a distributed server, a virtual machine, container, or processing resources in a server farm. The host 1500 may provide one or more services to one or more UEs.

[0154] The host 1500 includes processing circuitry 1502 that is operatively coupled via a bus 1504 to an input / output interface 1506, a network interface 1508, a power source 1510, and memory 1512. Other components may be included in other embodiments. Features of these components may be substantially similar to those described with respect to the devices of previous figures, such as Figures 13 and 14, such that the descriptions thereof are generally applicable to the corresponding components of the host 1500.

[0155] The memory 1512 may include one or more computer programs including one or more host application programs 1514 and data 1516, which may include user data, e.g. data generated by a UE for the host 1500 or data generated by the host 1500 for a LIE. Embodiments of the host 1500 may utilize only a subset or all of the components shown. The host application programs 1514 may be implemented in a container-based architecture and may provide support for video codecs (e.g., Versatile Video Coding (WC), High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC), Advanced Video Coding (AVC), Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG), VP9) and audio codecs (e.g., Free Lossless Audio Codec (FLAC), Advanced Audio Coding (AAC), MPEG, G.711), including transcoding for multiple different classes, types, or implementations of UEs (e.g., handsets, desktop computers, wearable display systems, and heads-up display systems). The host application programs 1514 may also provide for user authentication and licensing checks and may periodically report health, routes, and content availability to a central node, such as a device in or on the edge of a core network. Accordingly, the host 1500 may select and / or indicate a different host for Over-The-Top (OTT) services for a UE. The host application programs 1514 may support various protocols, such as the HTTP LiveStreaming (HLS) protocol, Real-Time Messaging Protocol (RTMP), Real-Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP), Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP (DASH or MPEG-DASH), etc.

[0156] Figure 16 is a block diagram illustrating a virtualization environment 1600 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 1600 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 1600 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.

[0157] Applications 1602 (which may alternatively be called software instances, virtual appliances, network functions, virtual nodes, virtual network functions, etc.) are run in the virtualization environment 1600 to implement some of the features, functions, and / or benefits of some of the embodiments disclosed herein.

[0158] Hardware 1604 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 1606 (also referred to as hypervisors or VM Monitors (VMMs)), provide VMs 1608A and 1608B (one or more of which may be generally referred to as VMs 1608), and / or perform any of the functions, features, and / or benefits described in relation with some embodiments described herein. The virtualization layer 1606 may present a virtual operating platform that appears like networking hardware to the VMs 1608.

[0159] The VMs 1608 comprise virtual processing, virtual memory, virtual networking, or interface and virtual storage, and may be run by a corresponding virtualization layer 1606. Different embodiments of the instance of a virtual appliance 1602 may be implemented on one or more of the VMs 1608, 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.

[0160] In the context of NFV, a VM 1608 may be a software implementation of a physical machine that runs programs as if they were executing on a physical, nonvirtualized machine. Each of the VMs 1608, and that part of the hardware 1604 that executes that VM, be it hardware dedicated to that VM and / or hardware shared by that VM with others of the VMs 1608, 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 1608 on top of the hardware 1604 and corresponds to the application 1602.

[0161] The hardware 1604 may be implemented in a standalone network node with generic or specific components. The hardware 1604 may implement some functions via virtualization. Alternatively, the hardware 1604 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 1610, which, among others, oversees lifecycle management of the applications 1602. In some embodiments, the hardware 1604 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 RAN or a base station. In some embodiments, some signaling can be provided with the use of a control system 1612 which may alternatively be used for communication between hardware nodes and radio units.

[0162] Figure 17 shows a communication diagram of a host 1702 communicating via a network node 1704 with a UE 1706 over a partially wireless connection in accordancewith some embodiments. Example implementations, in accordance with various embodiments, of the UE (such as the UE 1212A of Figure 12 and / or the UE 1300 of Figure 13), the network node (such as the network node 1210A of Figure 12 and / or the network node 1400 of Figure 14), and the host (such as the host 1216 of Figure 12 and / or the host 1500 of Figure 15) discussed in the preceding paragraphs will now be described with reference to Figure 17.

[0163] Like the host 1500, embodiments of the host 1702 include hardware, such as a communication interface, processing circuitry, and memory. The host 1702 also includes software, which is stored in or is accessible by the host 1702 and executable by the processing circuitry. The software includes a host application that may be operable to provide a service to a remote user, such as the UE 1706 connecting via an OTT connection 1750 extending between the UE 1706 and the host 1702. In providing the service to the remote user, a host application may provide user data which is transmitted using the OTT connection 1750.

[0164] The network node 1704 includes hardware enabling it to communicate with the host 1702 and the UE 1706. The connection 1760 may be direct or pass through a core network (like the core network 1206 of Figure 12) and / or one or more other intermediate networks, such as one or more public, private, or hosted networks. For example, an intermediate network may be a backbone network or the Internet.

[0165] The UE 1706 includes hardware and software, which is stored in or accessible by the UE 1706 and executable by the UE's processing circuitry. The software includes a client application, such as a web browser or operator-specific "a pp" that may be operable to provide a service to a human or non-human user via the UE 1706 with the support of the host 1702. In the host 1702, an executing host application may communicate with the executing client application via the OTT connection 1750 terminating at the UE 1706 and the host 1702. In providing the service to the user, the UE's client application may receive request data from the host's host application and provide user data in response to the request data. The OTT connection 1750 may transfer both the request data and the user data. The UE's client application may interact with the user to generate the user data that it provides to the host application through the OTT connection 1750.

[0166] The OTT connection 1750 may extend via the connection 1760 between the host 1702 and the network node 1704 and via a wireless connection 1770 between thenetwork node 1704 and the LIE 1706 to provide the connection between the host 1702 and the UE 1706. The connection 1760 and the wireless connection 1770, over which the OTT connection 1750 may be provided, have been drawn abstractly to illustrate the communication between the host 1702 and the UE 1706 via the network node 1704, without explicit reference to any intermediary devices and the precise routing of messages via these devices.

[0167] As an example of transmitting data via the OTT connection 1750, in step 1708, the host 1702 provides user data, which may be performed by executing a host application. In some embodiments, the user data is associated with a particular human user interacting with the UE 1706. In other embodiments, the user data is associated with a UE 1706 that shares data with the host 1702 without explicit human interaction. In step 1710, the host 1702 initiates a transmission carrying the user data towards the UE 1706. The host 1702 may initiate the transmission responsive to a request transmitted by the UE 1706. The request may be caused by human interaction with the UE 1706 or by operation of the client application executing on the UE 1706. The transmission may pass via the network node 1704 in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure. Accordingly, in step 1712, the network node 1704 transmits to the UE 1706 the user data that was carried in the transmission that the host 1702 initiated, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure. In step 1714, the UE 1706 receives the user data carried in the transmission, which may be performed by a client application executed on the UE 1706 associated with the host application executed by the host 1702.

[0168] In some examples, the UE 1706 executes a client application which provides user data to the host 1702. The user data may be provided in reaction or response to the data received from the host 1702. Accordingly, in step 1716, the UE 1706 may provide user data, which may be performed by executing the client application. In providing the user data, the client application may further consider user input received from the user via an input / output interface of the UE 1706. Regardless of the specific manner in which the user data was provided, the UE 1706 initiates, in step 1718, transmission of the user data towards the host 1702 via the network node 1704. In step 1720, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure, the network node 1704 receives user data from the UE 1706 andinitiates transmission of the received user data towards the host 1702. In step 1722, the host 1702 receives the user data carried in the transmission initiated by the UE 1706.

[0169] One or more of the various embodiments improve the performance of OTT services provided to the UE 1706 using the OTT connection 1750, in which the wireless connection 1770 forms the last segment.

[0170] In an example scenario, factory status information may be collected and analyzed by the host 1702. As another example, the host 1702 may process audio and video data which may have been retrieved from a UE for use in creating maps. As another example, the host 1702 may collect and analyze real-time data to assist in controlling vehicle congestion (e.g., controlling traffic lights). As another example, the host 1702 may store surveillance video uploaded by a UE. As another example, the host 1702 may store or control access to media content such as video, audio, VR, or AR which it can broadcast, multicast, or unicast to UEs. As other examples, the host 1702 may be used for energy pricing, remote control of non-time critical electrical load to balance power generation needs, location services, presentation services (such as compiling diagrams etc. from data collected from remote devices), or any other function of collecting, retrieving, storing, analyzing, and / or transmitting data.

[0171] In some examples, a measurement procedure may be provided for the purpose of monitoring data rate, latency, and other factors on which the one or more embodiments improve. There may further be an optional network functionality for reconfiguring the OTT connection 1750 between the host 1702 and the UE 1706 in response to variations in the measurement results. The measurement procedure and / or the network functionality for reconfiguring the OTT connection 1750 may be implemented in software and hardware of the host 1702 and / or the UE 1706. In some embodiments, sensors (not shown) may be deployed in or in association with other devices through which the OTT connection 1750 passes; the sensors may participate in the measurement procedure by supplying values of the monitored quantities exemplified above, or by supplying values of other physical quantities from which software may compute or estimate the monitored quantities. The reconfiguring of the OTT connection 1750 may include message format, retransmission settings, preferred routing, etc.; the reconfiguring need not directly alter the operation of the network node 1704. Such procedures and functionalities may be known and practiced in the art. Incertain embodiments, measurements may involve proprietary LIE signaling that facilitates measurements of throughput, propagation times, latency, and the like by the host 1702. The measurements may be implemented in that software causes messages to be transmitted, in particular empty or 'dummy' messages, using the OTT connection 1750 while monitoring propagation times, errors, etc.

[0172] 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 the obtained 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.

[0173] In certain embodiments, some or all of the functionality described herein may be provided by processing circuitry executing instructions stored 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 hardwired manner. In any of those particular embodiments, whether executinginstructions 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.

[0174] 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 performed by a node, the node being either a User Equipment, UE, or a first a Radio Access Network, RAN, node of a wireless network comprising one or more Non-Terrestrial Network, NTN, components, the method comprising: receiving (800), from a second RAN node of the wireless network, beam pattern information for one or more cells or beams; and performing (802) one or more actions based on the beam pattern information.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein, for each cell or beam of the one or more cells or beams, the beam pattern information comprises information that indicates an on / off schedule of the cell or beam.

3. The method of any of claims 1 to 2, wherein the node is a first RAN node and the first RAN node is a target RAN node for a handover of a UE, and the second RAN node is a source RAN node for handover of the UE.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the one or more cells or beams for which the beam pattern information is received comprise one or more cells operated by the second RAN node.

5. The method of claim 3 or 4, wherein receiving (800) the beam pattern information comprises receiving (800) the beam pattern information from the second RAN node within a handover request, during handover preparation, or before handover preparation.

6. The method of any of claims 3 to 5, further comprising receiving (801), from the second RAN node, neighbor cell relation information comprising information that indicates cell(s) or beam(s) operated by the first RAN node that are neighbors to the one or more cells or beams operated by the second RAN node for which the beam pattern information is received.

7. The method of any of claims 3 to 6, wherein performing (802) the one or more actions based on the beam pattern information comprises performing (802) one or more mobility related actions based on the beam pattern information.

8. The method of any of claims 3 to 6, wherein performing (802) the one or more actions based on the beam pattern information comprises selecting (802-1A) a target cell or beam operated by the first RAN node for a handover of a UE from one of the one or more cells or beams operated by the second RAN node.

9. The method of any of claims 3 to 8, wherein the one or more actions further comprise applying (802-1B) a new beam pattern to a selected target cell or beam operated by the first RAN node, the selected target cell or beam being a target cell or beam for handover of a UE from one of the one or more cells operated by the second RAN node.

10. The method of any of claims 3 to 8, wherein the one or more actions further comprising sending (802-1C) a handover command for the UE to the second RAN node, the handover command comprising information that indicates the target cell or beam and beam pattern information for the target cell or beam.

11. The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein: the node is a first RAN node, the first RAN node is a source RAN node for a handover of a UE, and the second RAN node is a target RAN node for handover of the UE; and the one or more cells or beams for which the beam pattern information is received comprise one or more cells operated by the second RAN node.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the one or more actions comprise selecting (802-2A) a target cell or beam for the handover of the UE from among the one or more cells operated by the second RAN node, based on the beam pattern information.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the one or more actions further comprises generating and sending (802-2B) a handover request to the second RAN node, thehandover request comprising information that identifies the selected target cell or beam operated by the second RAN node.

14. The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein the node is a UE, and the one or more cells or beams for which the beam pattern information is received comprise one or more cells operated by the second RAN node.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the second RAN node is a target RAN node that operates a target cell or beam for a handover of the UE.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the one or more actions comprise delaying (802-3A) execution of the handover command until a time at which the target beam or cell is active, as indicated by the beam pattern information.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein the second RAN node is a serving RAN node of the UE.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the beam pattern information further comprises beam pattern information for one or more neighbor cells or beams of a serving cell or beam of the UE.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising: receiving (802-4A), from the second RAN node, measurement configuration information that configures the UE to perform measurements on at least one of the one or more neighbor cells or beams; wherein performing (802) the one or more actions comprises performing (802- 4B) at least one measurement on the at least one of the one or more neighbor cells or beams in accordance with the measurement configuration information and taking into consideration the beam pattern information for the at least one of the one or more neighbor cells or beams.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the one or more actions further comprises sending (802-4C) a measurement report to the second RAN node, the measurementreport comprising the at least one measurement performed on the at least one of the one or more neighbor cells or beams.

21. The method of claim 19, further comprising: receiving (802-4A), from the second RAN node, measurement configuration information that configures the UE to perform measurements on at least one of the one or more neighbor cells or beams, the measurement configuration information comprising at least one timing aspect aligned with an on / off schedule of the at least one of the one or more neighbor cells or beams; wherein performing (802) the one or more actions comprises performing at least one measurement on the at least one of the one or more neighbor cells or beams in accordance with the measurement configuration information.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the one or more actions further comprise sending (802-4C) a measurement report to the second RAN node, the measurement report comprising the at least one measurement performed on the at least one of the one or more neighbor cells or beams.

23. The method of claim 18, wherein the node is a UE, the second RAN node is a conditional target RAN node for a conditional handover, and receiving (800) the beam pattern information comprises receiving a conditional handover command, wherein the beam pattern information comprises beam pattern information for a conditional target cell or beam comprised in the conditional handover command.

24. A node, being either a User Equipment, UE, or a first a Radio Access Network, RAN, node of a wireless network, adapted to: receive (800), from a second RAN node of the wireless network, beam pattern information for one or more cells or beams; and perform (802) one or more actions based on the beam pattern information.

25. The node of claim 24, further adapted to perform the method of any of claims 126. A node, being either a User Equipment, UE, or a first a Radio Access Network, RAN, node of a wireless network, comprising processing circuitry configured to cause the node to: receive (800), from a second RAN node of the wireless network, beam pattern information for one or more cells or beams; and perform (802) one or more actions based on the beam pattern information.

27. The node of claim 33, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to cause the node to perform the method of any of claims 2 to 23.

28. A method performed by a Radio Access Network, RAN, node of a wireless network, the method comprising: sending (900), to either a User Equipment, UE, or another RAN node of the wireless network, beam pattern information for one or more cells or beams.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein the wireless network comprises one or more Non -Terrestrial Network, NTN, components.

30. The method of claim 28 or 29, wherein, for each of cell or beam of the one or more cells or beams, the beam pattern information comprises information that indicates an on / off schedule of the cell or beam.

31. A Radio Access Network, RAN, node of a wireless network, the RAN node adapted to: send (900), to either a User Equipment, UE, or another RAN node of the wireless network, beam pattern information for one or more cells or beams.

32. The RAN node of claim 31, further adapted to perform the method of any of claims 29 to 30.

33. A Radio Access Network, RAN, node of a wireless network, the RAN node comprising processing circuitry configured to cause the RAN node to:send (900), to either a User Equipment, UE, or another RAN node of the wireless network, beam pattern information for one or more cells or beams.

34. The RAN node of claim 33, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to cause the RAN node perform the method of any of claims 29 to 30.

35. A method performed by a Radio Access Network, RAN, node, of a wireless network, the method comprising: sending (1000) to a User Equipment, UE, measurement configuration information that configures the UE to perform measurements on one or more neighbor cells or beams, the measurement configuration information comprising one or more time-based aspects related to on / off schedules of the one or more neighbor cells or beams.

36. The method of claim 35, wherein the one or more time-based aspects related to the on / off schedules of the one or more neighbor cells or beams comprise, for each neighbor cell or beam of the one or more neighbor cells or beams, information that configures one or more time windows that are aligned with on-periods of the neighbor cell or beam.

37. The method of claim 35 or 36, wherein the one or more time-based aspects related to the on / off schedules of the one or more neighbor cells or beams comprise information that configures one or more measurement gaps for the UE to measure the one or more neighbor cells, the one or more measurement gaps comprising, for each neighbor cell or beam of the one or more neighbor cell or beams, one or more measurement gaps that are aligned, in time, with one or more on-periods of the neighbor cell or beam.

38. The method of claim 35, wherein the one or more time-based aspects related to the on / off schedules of the one or more neighbor cells or beams comprise beam pattern information for at least one of the one or more neighbor cells or beams.

39. A Radio Access Network, RAN, node of a wireless network, the RAN node adapted to:send (1000) to a User Equipment, UE, measurement configuration information that configures the UE to perform measurements on one or more neighbor cells or beams, the measurement configuration information comprising one or more time-based aspects related to on / off schedules of the one or more neighbor cells or beams.

40. The RAN node of claim 39, further adapted to perform the method of any of claims 34 to 38.

41. A Radio Access Network, RAN, node of a wireless network, the RAN node comprising processing circuitry configured to cause the RAN node to: send (1000) to a User Equipment, UE, measurement configuration information that configures the UE to perform measurements on one or more neighbor cells or beams, the measurement configuration information comprising one or more time-based aspects related to on / off schedules of the one or more neighbor cells or beams.

42. The RAN node of claim 41, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to cause the RAN node to perform the method of any of claims 36 to 38.

43. A method performed by a User Equipment, UE, the method comprising: receiving (1100), from a RAN node, measurement configuration information that configures the UE to perform measurements on one or more neighbor cells or beams, the measurement configuration information comprising one or more time-based aspects related to on / off schedules of the one or more neighbor cells or beams; and performing (1102) measurements on the one or more neighbor cells or beams, in accordance with the measurement configuration information.

44. The method of claim 43, wherein the one or more time-based aspects related to the on / off schedules of the one or more neighbor cells or beams comprise, for each neighbor cell or beam of the one or more neighbor cells or beams, information that configures one or more time windows that are aligned with on-periods of the neighbor cell or beam.

45. The method of claim 43 or 44, wherein the one or more time-based aspects related to the on / off schedules of the one or more neighbor cells or beams comprise information that configures one or more measurement gaps for the LIE to measure the one or more neighbor cells, the one or more measurement gaps comprising, for each neighbor cell or beam of the one or more neighbor cell or beams, one or more measurement gaps that are aligned, in time, with one or more on-periods of the neighbor cell or beam.

46. The method of claim 43, wherein the one or more time-based aspects related to the on / off schedules of the one or more neighbor cells or beams comprise beam pattern information for at least one of the one or more neighbor cells or beams.

47. A User Equipment, UE, adapted to: receive (1100), from a RAN node, measurement configuration information that configures the UE to perform measurements on one or more neighbor cells or beams, the measurement configuration information comprising one or more time-based aspects related to on / off schedules of the one or more neighbor cells or beams; and perform (1102) measurements on the one or more neighbor cells or beams, in accordance with the measurement configuration information.

48. The UE of claim 47, further adapted to perform the method of any of claims 44 to 46.

49. A User Equipment, UE, comprising processing circuitry configured to cause the UE to: receive (1100), from a RAN node, measurement configuration information that configures the UE to perform measurements on one or more neighbor cells or beams, the measurement configuration information comprising one or more time-based aspects related to on / off schedules of the one or more neighbor cells or beams; and perform (1102) measurements on the one or more neighbor cells or beams, in accordance with the measurement configuration information.

50. The LIE of claim 49, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to cause the UE to perform the method of any of claims 44 to 46.

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