Terminal

The terminal autonomously prioritizes 6G cell transitions by applying relaxed conditions and enhanced measurement settings, addressing the challenge of preferential handover in 5G to 6G migration, ensuring efficient 6G cell connectivity.

WO2025158586A1PCT designated stage Publication Date: 2025-07-31NTT DOCOMO INC

Patent Information

Application Number
PCT/JP2024/002081
Authority / Receiving Office
WO · WO
Patent Type
Applications
Current Assignee / Owner
Filing Date
2024-01-24
Publication Date
2025-07-31

AI Technical Summary

Technical Problem

In the migration from 5G to 6G, existing technologies face challenges in preferentially transitioning User Equipment (UE) to 6G cells when 5G and 6G cells have similar quality and overlap in coverage, particularly in scenarios involving Conditional Handover (CHO) and Lower layer Triggered Mobility (LTM), where network control is limited.

Method used

A terminal (UE) is equipped with a control unit that initiates cell transitions autonomously when conditions are met, receiving network indications for preferred radio access technology and applying relaxed execution conditions to prioritize 6G cell transitions, along with enhanced measurement settings for cell quality assessment.

Benefits of technology

Enables efficient and preferential transition of UE to desired 6G cells, meeting operator needs by ensuring maximum connection to 6G cells, minimizing call drops, and optimizing handover processes.

✦ Generated by Eureka AI based on patent content.

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Abstract

This terminal executes a terminal-initiated cell transition regardless of an instruction from a network, and receives, from the network, a message including display of wireless access technologies used by candidate cells of a transition destination satisfying an execution condition. The terminal preferentially executes the cell transition to the candidate cell that uses the specific wireless access technology on the basis of the display.
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Description

Terminal

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a terminal that performs cell transitions between different radio access technologies (RATs).

[0002] The 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP: registered trademark) is developing specifications for the 5th generation mobile communication system (5G, also known as New Radio (NR) or Next Generation (NG)), and is also developing specifications for the next generation, known as Beyond 5G, 5G Evolution, or 6G.

[0003] In the migration from 4G to 5G, a method has been applied in which E-UTRA-NR Dual Connectivity (EN-DC) is used to prioritize transition of terminals (User Equipment, UE) to 5G cells by making cells conforming to the 5G radio access technology (RAT) a secondary cell (see Non-Patent Document 1).

[0004] On the other hand, in the migration from 5G to 6G, the application of Multi-RAT spectrum sharing (MRSS) is being considered (Non-Patent Document 2). MRSS, sometimes called Dynamic Spectrum Sharing (DSS), is not as complex as EN-DC and allows 5G and 6G cells to coexist in the same frequency band, ensuring operational flexibility.

[0005] 3GPP TS 37.340 V17.6.0, 3rd Generation Partnership Project; Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA) and NR; Multi-connectivity; Stage 2 (Release 17), 3GPP, September 2023 "Simplifying spectrum migration from 5G to 6G", [online], Internet <https: / / onestore.nokia.com / asset / 213378?_ga=2.6559474.1515144551.1704442826-1176884820.1704442825>

[0006] While MRSS has the advantages described above, when the coverage of a 5G cell overlaps with that of a 6G cell and both cells have similar quality, the question arises of how to prioritize transition of UEs to a 6G cell (or a 5G cell).

[0007] In particular, in the case of Conditional Handover (CHO), which allows UE-initiated handover to be performed when a specific execution condition is met, and Lower layer Triggered Mobility (UE-based LTM), which is mobility control of Layer 1 or Layer 2 by the UE, the network cannot control the cell to which the UE will transition, making it difficult to prioritize transition of the UE to a 6G cell (or 5G cell).

[0008] Therefore, the following disclosure has been made in consideration of this situation, and aims to provide a terminal that can achieve transition to a desired cell even when MRSS (DSS) or the like is applied, which allows 5G cells and 6G cells to coexist within the same frequency band.

[0009] One aspect of the present disclosure is a terminal (UE) that includes a control unit (control unit 270) that performs terminal-initiated cell transition without instructions from the network when an execution condition is met, and a receiving unit (control signal / reference signal processing unit 240) that receives from the network a message including an indication of the radio access technology used by a candidate cell to which the execution condition is to be transitioned that satisfies the execution condition, and the control unit is a terminal (UE) that prioritizes performing the cell transition to the candidate cell that uses a specific radio access technology based on the indication.

[0010] One aspect of the present disclosure is a terminal (UE) that includes a control unit (control unit 270) that performs terminal-initiated cell transition without instructions from the network when an execution condition is satisfied, and a transmission unit (control signal / reference signal processing unit 240) that transmits a message regarding the cell transition to a candidate cell to which the execution condition is satisfied, and the control unit is a terminal (UE) that applies the execution condition to the candidate cell that uses a specific radio access technology that is more lenient than to candidate cells that use other radio access technologies.

[0011] One aspect of the present disclosure is a terminal (UE200) that includes a receiving unit (control signal / reference signal processing unit 240) that receives a message including a cell quality measurement setting, and a control unit (control unit 270) that performs cell quality measurements of candidate cells that use the same frequency band but a different radio access technology, preferentially over other cells, based on the measurement setting.

[0012] FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an overall schematic configuration of a wireless communication system 10. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example configuration of a wireless frame, subframe, and slot used in the wireless communication system 10. FIG. 3 is a functional block configuration diagram of a gNB 100 and a UE 200. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example configuration of a 5G cell and a 6G cell assuming the application of MRSS. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example basic communication sequence of CHO. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of setting information of a candidate cell. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of relaxing the execution condition of a candidate cell. FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of the hardware configuration of a gNB 100 and a UE 200. FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example configuration of a vehicle 2001.

[0013] Hereinafter, embodiments will be described with reference to the drawings. Note that the same or similar reference numerals are used to designate the same functions or configurations, and descriptions thereof will be omitted as appropriate.

[0014] (1) Overall Schematic Configuration of Wireless Communication System Fig. 1 is a diagram showing the overall schematic configuration of a wireless communication system 10 according to this embodiment. The wireless communication system 10 is a wireless communication system conforming to a standard called Beyond 5G, 5G Evolution, or 6G (hereinafter referred to as 6G), and includes a Radio Access Network 20 (hereinafter referred to as RAN 20) and a terminal 200 (User Equipment 200, hereinafter referred to as UE 200). Note that the wireless communication system 10 may include a wireless communication system conforming to 5G New Radio (NR), and may use both 5G and 6G radio access technologies (RATs).

[0015] The RAN 20 includes a radio base station 100 (hereinafter, gNB 100). Note that the specific configuration of the radio communication system 10, including the number of gNBs (or eNBs, etc.) and UEs, is not limited to the example shown in FIG. 1 .

[0016] The gNB 100 may also employ a fronthaul (FH) interface defined by the Open Radio Access Network Alliance (O-RAN). The gNB 100 may include an O-RAN Distributed Unit (O-DU) and an O-RAN Radio Unit (O-RU). The gNB 100 can function as a type of NG-RAN node.

[0017] The RAN 20 actually includes multiple NG-RAN nodes, specifically, gNBs (or ng-eNBs), and is connected to a 5G-compliant core network (not shown). The RAN 20 and the core network may be simply referred to as a "network."

[0018] The gNB100 is a radio base station conforming to 6G and performs radio communication with the UE200 conforming to 6G. The gNB100 may be configured to include a CU (Central Unit) and a DU (Distributed Unit), and the DU may be separated from the CU and installed in a different geographical location. One or more DUs may be connected to the CU. The gNB100 (gNB-CU) may be connected to each other via an Xn interface, and the CU and DU may be connected to each other via an F1 interface (such as an F1-AP).

[0019] The gNB 100 and the UE 200 can support Massive MIMO, which generates more directional beams by controlling radio signals transmitted from multiple antenna elements, Carrier Aggregation (CA), which aggregates multiple component carriers (CCs), and Dual Connectivity (DC), which simultaneously communicates between a UE and two or more RAN nodes. For example, one of the gNBs may serve as a Master Node (MN), and one or more other gNBs may serve as Secondary Nodes (SNs).

[0020] The wireless communication system 10 may also support multiple frequency ranges (FR) as follows:

[0021] ・FR1: 410 MHz to 7.125 GHz ・FR2-1: 24.25 GHz to 52.6 GHz FR1 may use a sub-carrier spacing (SCS) of 15, 30, or 60 kHz and a bandwidth (BW) of 5 to 100 MHz. FR2-1 is a higher frequency than FR1 and may use a sub-carrier spacing (SCS) of 60 or 120 kHz (including 240 kHz) and a bandwidth (BW) of 50 to 400 MHz.

[0022] Note that SCS may be interpreted as numerology, which is defined in 3GPP TS38.300 and corresponds to one subcarrier spacing in the frequency domain.

[0023] Furthermore, the wireless communication system 10 also supports a frequency band higher than the FR2-1 frequency band. Specifically, the wireless communication system 10 supports a frequency band exceeding 52.6 GHz up to 71 GHz. Such a high frequency band may be referred to as FR2-2.

[0024] When using bands above 52.6 GHz, Cyclic Prefix-Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (CP-OFDM) / Discrete Fourier Transform - Spread (DFT-S-OFDM) with larger Sub-Carrier Spacing (SCS) may be applied.

[0025] Additionally, as mentioned above, in high frequency bands such as FR2-2, increased inter-carrier phase noise becomes an issue, which may necessitate the application of a larger (wider) SCS or a single-carrier waveform.

[0026] The larger the SCS, the shorter the symbol / cyclic prefix (CP) period and slot period (assuming a 14 symbol / slot configuration is maintained). Figure 2 shows an example of the configuration of radio frames, subframes, and slots used in the wireless communication system 10.

[0027] If the 14-symbol / slot configuration is maintained, the larger (wider) the SCS, the shorter the symbol period (and slot period). The symbol period may also be called the symbol length, time direction, or time domain. The frequency direction may also be called the frequency domain, resource block, subcarrier, BWP (Bandwidth part), etc.

[0028] The frequency resources may include component carriers (CCs), subcarriers, resource blocks (RBs), resource block groups (RBGs), bandwidth parts (BWPs), etc. The time resources may include symbols, slots, minislots, subframes, radio frames, discontinuous reception (DRX) periods, etc.

[0029] The number of symbols constituting one slot does not necessarily have to be 14 (for example, 28 or 56 symbols). Also, the number of slots per subframe may differ depending on the SCS.

[0030] Furthermore, the wireless communication system 10 may support a conditional handover (CHO). In the CHO, a candidate cell for handover and a condition for executing a handover (which may also be called a transition) to the candidate cell are set in advance for the UE 200.

[0031] This allows the UE 200 to perform handover to the target radio base station (which may also be referred to as the target cell) without waiting for a handover instruction from the network.

[0032] CHO may be interpreted as a handover that is executed by the UE 200 when one or more execution conditions are satisfied. The UE 200 may start evaluating the execution conditions when it receives the CHO configuration and may stop evaluating the execution conditions when a handover (legacy handover or conditional handover) is executed.

[0033] A candidate gNB or a potential target gNB may provide a CHO configuration to the UE 200. The source gNB may provide execution conditions, such as the timing for triggering the CHO, to the UE 200. The execution conditions may consist of one or more trigger conditions.

[0034] In addition, two or more different triggers, such as RSRP (Reference Signal Received Power), RSRQ (Reference Signal Received Quality), and SINR (Signal-to-Interference plus Noise power Ratio), may be set simultaneously to evaluate the CHO execution conditions of a candidate cell.

[0035] It should be noted that if CHO is configured in UE200 and UE200 receives another handover (HO) command from the gNB before the CHO execution condition is met, UE200 may trigger handover based on the received HO command and may not wait for the CHO condition to be met. In other words, the legacy HO configuration may take precedence over the CHO configuration (if configured).

[0036] In addition, in the wireless communication system 10, in addition to mobility management of the UE 200 at layer 3 (which may include, for example, a radio resource control layer (RRC)) (which may be called L3 mobility), mobility management at layer 1 / layer 2 (which may include, for example, a medium access control layer (MAC)) (which may be called LTM or L1 / L2 mobility) may be applied.

[0037] L3 Mobility may be interpreted as mobility control at the Radio Resource Control layer (RRC), while LTM may be interpreted as mobility control at the Physical layer (PHY), Medium Access Control layer (MAC), Radio Link Control layer (RLC), and Packet Data Convergence Protocol layer (PDCP).

[0038] In addition, in UE-based LTM, like conditional handover (CHO), the UE receives a specific execution condition from the radio base station (gNB), monitors the status according to the execution condition, and if the execution condition is satisfied, it may execute LTM.

[0039] In a broad sense, the mobility of UE200 may mean the ease of movement and maneuverability of UE200, but in this embodiment, it may also mean minimizing call drops, radio link (including beam) failures, unnecessary handovers, ping-pong states, etc.

[0040] The UE 200 transmits a measurement report (hereinafter, referred to as a Measurement report) including reception qualities for cells including a serving cell and neighboring cells to the network. The procedure by which the UE 200 transmits the Measurement report may be referred to as Measurement reporting. The reception qualities for the cells may include reception qualities of beams from the cells, or may include reception qualities of cells based on beams from the cells.

[0041] The UE 200 may perform measurement reporting periodically. The UE 200 may perform measurement reporting for each event. An entering condition for starting measurement reporting and a leaving condition for ending measurement reporting may be defined for each event. Existing events may include the following events (see 3GPP TS38.331):

[0042] (i) Event A1 Event A1 is an event in which the reception quality of the serving cell becomes better than a threshold. For example, the entering condition is Ms - Hys > Thresh, and the leaving condition is Ms + Hys < Thresh.

[0043] Here, Ms is the reception quality of the serving cell, Hys is a hysteresis parameter, and Thresh is a threshold value.

[0044] (ii) Event A2 Event A2 is an event in which the reception quality of the serving cell becomes worse than a threshold. For example, the entering condition is Ms + Hys < Thresh, and the leaving condition is Ms - Hys > Thresh.

[0045] Here, Ms is the reception quality of the serving cell, Hys is a hysteresis parameter, and Thresh is a threshold value.

[0046] (iii) Event A3 Event A3 is an event in which the reception quality of a neighboring cell is better than the reception quality of the serving cell by an offset. For example, the entering condition is Mn + Ofn + Ocn - Hys > Mp + Ofp + Ocp + Off, and the leaving condition is Mn + Ofn + Ocn + Hys < Mp + Ofp + Ocp + Off.

[0047] where Mn is the reception quality of the neighboring cell, Ofn is the offset specific to the measurement object, and Ocn is the offset specific to the cell. Mp is the reception quality of the serving cell, Ofp is the offset specific to the measurement object, and Ocp is the offset specific to the cell. Hys is the hysteresis parameter, and Off is the parameter used in Event A3.

[0048] (iv) Event A4 Event A4 is an event in which the reception quality of a neighboring cell becomes better than a threshold. For example, the entering condition is Mn + Ofn + Ocn - Hys > Thresh, and the leaving condition is Mn + Ofn + Ocn + Hys < Thresh.

[0049] where Mn is the reception quality of the neighboring cell, Ofn is an offset specific to the measurement object, Ocn is an offset specific to the cell, Hys is a hysteresis parameter, and Thresh is a threshold value.

[0050] (v) Event A5 Event A5 is an event in which the reception quality of the serving cell becomes worse than a threshold and the reception quality of a neighboring cell becomes better than a threshold. For example, the entering condition is Mp + Hys < Thresh1 and Mn + Ofn + Ocn - Hys > Thresh2, and the leaving condition is Mp - Hys > Thresh1 and Mn + Ofn + Ocn + Hys < Thresh2.

[0051] where Ms is the receiving quality of the serving cell, Hys is a hysteresis parameter, Thresh1 is a threshold, Mn is the receiving quality of the neighboring cell, Ofn is a measurement object-specific offset, and Ocn is a cell-specific offset, Hys is a hysteresis parameter, and Thresh2 is a threshold.

[0052] (vi) Event A6 Event A6 is an event in which the reception quality of a neighboring cell is better than the reception quality of a SCell (Secondary Cell) by an offset. For example, the entering condition is Mn + Ocn - Hys > Ms + Ocs + Off, and the leaving condition is Mn + Ocn + Hys < Ms + Ocs + Off.

[0053] In addition to the events described above, events related to RATs (Radio Access technologies) (e.g., B1 (Inter RAT neighbor becomes better than threshold), B2 (Serving becomes worse than threshold1 and inter RAT neighbor becomes better than threshold2)) may be included.

[0054] Here, Mn is the reception quality of the neighboring cell, Ocn is a cell-specific offset, Ms is the reception quality of the SCell, Ocs is a cell-specific offset, Hys is a hysteresis parameter, and Off is a parameter used in Event A6.

[0055] Furthermore, in the wireless communication system 10, as described above, 5G and 6G RATs may be used together, and Multi-RAT spectrum sharing (MRSS) may be applied in migration from 5G to 6G. MRSS may also be called Dynamic Spectrum Sharing (DSS), and allows 5G cells and 6G cells to coexist within the same frequency band. Note that a 5G cell may be interpreted as a cell formed by a radio base station (gNB) in accordance with the 5G RAT, and a 6G cell may be interpreted as a cell formed by a radio base station in accordance with the 6G RAT.

[0056] According to MRSS, 5G and 6G cells can share spectrum resources, which has the advantage of being able to transmit and receive using a common radio unit (RU).

[0057] (2) Functional Block Configuration of Wireless Communication System Next, a functional block configuration of the wireless communication system 10 will be described. Specifically, a functional block configuration of the UE 200 will be described. Fig. 3 is a functional block configuration diagram of the gNB 100 and the UE 200.

[0058] As shown in FIG. 3 , the UE 200 includes a radio signal transmitting / receiving unit 210, an amplifier unit 220, a modulation / demodulation unit 230, a control signal / reference signal processing unit 240, an encoding / decoding unit 250, a data transmitting / receiving unit 260, and a control unit 270.

[0059] It should be noted that Fig. 3 shows only the main functional blocks relevant to the description of the embodiment, and that the UE 200 (gNB 100) has other functional blocks (e.g., a power supply unit, etc.). Fig. 3 shows the functional block configuration of the UE 200, and for the hardware configuration, please refer to Fig. 9.

[0060] The radio signal transmitting / receiving unit 210 transmits and receives radio signals conforming to 6G or 5G (NR). The radio signal transmitting / receiving unit 210 can support Massive MIMO, which generates a more directional beam by controlling radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted from multiple antenna elements, Carrier Aggregation (CA), which aggregates and uses multiple component carriers (CCs), and Dual Connectivity (DC), which simultaneously communicates between a UE and two NG-RAN nodes.

[0061] The amplifier unit 220 is configured by a PA (Power Amplifier) / LNA (Low Noise Amplifier), etc. The amplifier unit 220 amplifies the signal output from the modulation / demodulation unit 230 to a predetermined power level. The amplifier unit 220 also amplifies the RF signal output from the radio signal transmission / reception unit 210.

[0062] The modem unit 230 performs data modulation / demodulation, transmission power setting, resource block allocation, etc. for each predetermined communication destination (e.g., gNB 100). The modem unit 230 may apply Cyclic Prefix-Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (CP-OFDM) / Discrete Fourier Transform - Spread (DFT-S-OFDM). Furthermore, DFT-S-OFDM may be used not only for the uplink (UL) but also for the downlink (DL).

[0063] The control signal and reference signal processor 240 executes processing related to various control signals transmitted and received by the UE 200 and processing related to various reference signals transmitted and received by the UE 200 .

[0064] Specifically, the control signal / reference signal processing unit 240 receives various control signals, for example, control signals of a radio resource control layer (RRC), transmitted via a predetermined control channel from the gNB 100. In addition, the control signal / reference signal processing unit 240 transmits various control signals to the gNB 100 via a predetermined control channel.

[0065] The control signal and reference signal processor 240 performs processing using reference signals (RS) such as a Demodulation Reference Signal (DMRS) and a Tracking Reference Signal (TRS).

[0066] The DMRS is a reference signal (pilot signal) known between the base station and the terminal for estimating the fading channel used for data demodulation, while the TRS is a reference signal used to track time and frequency fluctuations in the downlink.

[0067] In addition to DMRS and TRS, the reference signals may also include Channel State Information-Reference Signal (CSI-RS), Sounding Reference Signal (SRS), and Positioning Reference Signal (PRS) for position information.

[0068] The channels include a control channel and a data channel. The control channels may include a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH), a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH), a Random Access Channel (RACH, Downlink Control Information (DCI) including a Random Access Radio Network Temporary Identifier (RA-RNTI)), a Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH), etc.

[0069] Furthermore, the data channel includes a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) and a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), etc. Data may refer to data transmitted via a data channel.

[0070] Furthermore, the control signal and reference signal processor 240 may perform processing related to transmission and reception of messages and commands related to CHO and LTM. Specifically, the control signal and reference signal processor 240 may receive a message including an execution condition for cell transition (handover) according to CHO or LTM from the network.

[0071] More specifically, the control signal and reference signal processing unit 240 may receive an RRC Reconfiguration including the execution condition from the network (gNB100). Furthermore, the control signal and reference signal processing unit 240 may receive from the network a message (e.g., an RRC Reconfiguration) including an indication of the radio access technology (RAT) used by a candidate cell (candidate target cell) that satisfies the execution condition of CHO or LTM. In this embodiment, the control signal and reference signal processing unit 240 may constitute a receiving unit. The message may be another message of the RRC layer or a message of a lower layer (PHY or MAC).

[0072] Furthermore, the control signal and reference signal processor 240 may receive a message including a cell quality measurement configuration. Specifically, the control signal and reference signal processor 240 may receive an RRC message or system information (SIB: System Information Block) including measConfig, which is a type of information element (IE) defined in 3GPP TS38.331.

[0073] The network can configure measurement reporting to cause the UE to report measurement results for each SS / PBCH block. The network may configure measurement reporting to cause the UE to report measurement results for each SS / PBCH block(s), or may configure measurement reporting to cause the UE to report measurement results for each cell based on the SS / PBCH block(s). The network may configure measurement reporting to cause the UE to report measurement results for each CSI-RS resource, or may configure measurement reporting to cause the UE to report measurement results for each cell based on the CSI-RS resource.

[0074] The control signal and reference signal processing unit 240 may transmit a message regarding cell transition to a candidate cell of the transition destination that satisfies the execution condition of CHO or LTM. In this embodiment, the control signal and reference signal processing unit 240 may configure a transmission unit.

[0075] Specifically, the control signal / reference signal processing unit 240 may send a message (which may also be called a command) to the gNB 100 to perform a handover (cell switch) in accordance with CHO or LTM.

[0076] The control signal and reference signal processor 240 may transmit to the network capability information of the UE 200. For example, the control signal and reference signal processor 240 may transmit to the gNB 100 UE capability information regarding trigger conditions for CHO, LTM, and measurement reporting.

[0077] The encoding / decoding unit 250 performs data division / concatenation and channel coding / decoding for each predetermined communication destination (gNB 100 or another gNB).

[0078] Specifically, the encoding / decoding unit 250 divides the data output from the data transmitting / receiving unit 260 into pieces of a predetermined size, performs channel coding on the divided data, decodes the data output from the modem unit 230, and concatenates the decoded data.

[0079] The data transmitter / receiver 260 transmits and receives Protocol Data Units (PDUs) and Service Data Units (SDUs). Specifically, the data transmitter / receiver 260 assembles and disassembles PDUs / SDUs in multiple layers (such as a Medium Access Control layer (MAC), a Radio Link Control layer (RLC), and a Packet Data Convergence Protocol layer (PDCP)). The data transmitter / receiver 260 also performs data error correction and retransmission control based on Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (Hybrid ARQ).

[0080] The control unit 270 controls each functional block constituting the UE 200. In particular, in this embodiment, the control unit 270 executes control related to CHO, LTM, and NES.

[0081] Specifically, the control unit 270 controls the cell transition (handover) of the UE 200 in accordance with LTM (lower layer mobility control). Also, the control unit 270 controls the cell transition (handover) in accordance with conditional handover (CHO). In the LTM and CHO, an execution condition used to determine whether or not to execute the cell transition (handover) may be applied.

[0082] As described above, LTM may be interpreted as cell transition due to processing in the lower layer (L1 / L2), and CHO may be interpreted as cell transition due to processing in the upper layer (L3).

[0083] In this way, when the execution condition of CHO or LTM is satisfied, the control unit 270 may execute a terminal (UE)-initiated cell transition without an instruction from the network. Furthermore, the control unit 270 may preferentially execute a cell transition to a candidate cell that uses a specific radio access technology (e.g., 6G) based on an indication of the RAT (6G or 5G) used by the candidate cell. The cell type to be prioritized (e.g., a 6G cell) may be set in advance in the UE 200 or may be instructed by the network.

[0084] The display of the RAT may target all candidate cells (candidate target cells) or only candidate cells of one of the RATs. Instead of displaying the RAT itself, a display may be provided that preferentially selects transition to a candidate cell (inter-RAT cell) of a RAT different from the transition source cell. Instead of or in addition to displaying the RAT itself, a display indicating the priority of transition to the candidate cell may be applied.

[0085] The control unit 270 may preferentially execute cell transition to a candidate cell that uses a specific radio access technology based on an indication of cell reselection priority included in the system information (SIB). Specifically, the control unit 270 may reuse the cellReselectionPriority of each frequency (band) / RAT among the parameters for inter-freq cell reselection and inter-RAT cell reselection included in SIB4 or SIB5. In other words, the control unit 270 may preferentially select a candidate cell of a frequency (band) / RAT with a high cellReselectionPriority.

[0086] Furthermore, the control unit 270 may measure the cell quality based on measurement information of the cell quality associated with the indication of the RAT, etc. Specifically, the indication of the RAT, etc. may be associated with a measId (measurement identifier) ​​or a measObject (measurement object) defined in 3GPP TS38.331. The control unit 270 may determine the measurement object, etc. based on the associated measurement information, and instruct the control signal / reference signal processing unit 240 to perform measurements (RSRP, etc.) of the cell quality (wireless communication quality).

[0087] The control unit 270 may preferentially monitor the execution conditions applied to candidate cells that use a specific RAT. Specifically, the control unit 270 can set priorities for the execution conditions to be monitored. For example, the control unit 270 may start monitoring the execution conditions of candidate cells that have a high priority according to the above display, preferentially (earlier) than other candidate cells.

[0088] Furthermore, the control unit 270 may apply a more relaxed execution condition to a candidate cell using a specific RAT (for example, 6G) than to a candidate cell using another RAT (for example, 5G). Specifically, the control unit 270 may set low the thresholds (Thresh) of Events A3, A4, A5, B1, and B2 related to the above-mentioned Measurement reporting (or may assume that they are set low).

[0089] Alternatively, the control unit 270 may shorten the time until measurement reporting starts (timeToTrigger) for a candidate cell that uses a specific RAT, or may make the execution condition more likely to be satisfied by adding an offset value. The control unit 270 may assume that the timeToTrigger is set to be short for a candidate cell that uses a specific RAT, or may assume that the execution condition is set to be more likely to be satisfied.

[0090] The control unit 270 may perform cell quality measurements of a candidate cell using the same frequency band but a different RAT with priority over other cells based on the cell quality measurement configuration (measConfig) of the candidate cell. Specifically, the control unit 270 may perform intra-freq & inter-RAT measurement with priority. More specifically, the control unit 270 may instruct the control signal / reference signal processing unit 240 to perform intra-freq & inter-RAT measurement with priority.

[0091] Furthermore, the gNB100 (control signal and reference signal processor 240) may have a function corresponding to the above-described UE200. For example, the gNB100 may instruct the UE200 of thresholds (Thresh) for Events A3, A4, A5, B1, and B2 for a candidate cell using a specific RAT (e.g., 6G), a timeToTrigger until Measurement reporting, or an offset value. Furthermore, the gNB100 (control signal and reference signal processor 240) may instruct the UE200 to perform cell quality measurements (intra-freq & inter-RAT measurement) of a candidate cell using a different RAT in the same frequency band with priority over other cells in radio resource management (RRM)-related settings.

[0092] (3) Operation of the Wireless Communication System Next, a description will be given of the operation of the wireless communication system 10. Specifically, a description will be given of an example of operation regarding cell transition of the UE 200 between a 5G cell and a 6G cell.

[0093] (3.1) Assumptions and Issues Fig. 4 shows an example of the configuration of a 5G cell and a 6G cell assuming the application of MRSS. As described above, in the wireless communication system 10, 5G and 6G RATs may be used together, and Multi-RAT spectrum sharing (MRSS) may be applied in migration from 5G to 6G.

[0094] When MRSS is applied in migration from 5G to 6G, as shown in Figure 4, 5G cells and 6G cells (which may also be called coverage) may exist simultaneously in the same area, and the coverage and cell quality of the 5G cells and the 6G cells may be similar.

[0095] When the quality of the 5G cell from which UE200 is being handed over deteriorates and UE200 is handed over to a candidate cell (5G cell or 6G cell) to which UE200 is being handed over, if both candidate cells satisfy the conditions (handover event) and the cell qualities of both cells are similar, the gNB from which UE200 is being handed over must decide which candidate cell to hand over UE200 to.

[0096] In a conventional handover (legacy handover), depending on the network implementation, UE200 can transition to the candidate cell with the best cell quality. Furthermore, RRM measurement can prioritize measurements within the same frequency band (intra-freq), between frequency bands (inter-freq), and between RATs (inter-RAT). Therefore, in a conventional handover, UE200 is likely to transition to a 5G cell.

[0097] On the other hand, in the migration phase from 5G to 6G, it is assumed that the operator wants to connect UE 200 supporting 6G RAT to 6G cell as much as possible. In the case of conventional handover, as described above, the network side can transition UE 200 to the 6G cell if the quality of cell C and cell B satisfied the handover event is similar.

[0098] However, in the case of CHO and LTM (which may also be referred to as UE-based LTM or UE-triggered LTM), the UE 200 triggers the handover, so the UE 200 cannot be preferentially transitioned to the 6G cell.

[0099] (3.2) Operation Example Figure 5 shows an example of a basic communication sequence for CHO. Specifically, the sequence shown in Figure 5 is described in 3GPP TS38.300, Chapter 9.2.3.4. As shown in Figure 5, UE 200 may evaluate the execution conditions for CHO and determine whether to execute CHO. Although not shown, UE 200 may also evaluate the execution conditions for LTM (UE-based LTM) and determine whether to execute LTM.

[0100] The network (gNB100) can set an indication to preferentially access (connect to) an inter-RAT cell (e.g., a 6G cell) among candidate cells to transition to that satisfy the execution condition.

[0101] Alternatively, the network can set an indication to preferentially access (connect to) a cell of the same RAT as the source cell (e.g., a 5G cell) among the candidate cells to which the user is to transition that satisfy the CHO or LTM execution condition.

[0102] The indication may indicate a cell type (for example, a 5G cell or a 6G cell) or a priority. For example, the priority may be set to one of priorities (0, 1, 2, 3, ... 7) for each candidate cell. The priority may be "7" as the highest and "0" as the lowest, or vice versa.

[0103] 6 shows an example of the configuration information of the candidate cell. As shown in FIG. 6, the candidate target cell config that can be included in a message such as RRC Reconfiguration may include an indication of the cell type (Patterns 1 and 2). Alternatively, the candidate target cell config may include an indication of the priority of the candidate cell as a target cell (Pattern 3).

[0104] Furthermore, the network may use an SIB to indicate the priority to the UE 200. Specifically, among the parameters for inter-freq cell reselection and inter-RAT cell reselection included in SIB4 or SIB5, the cellReselectionPriority of each frequency (band) / RAT may be reused. That is, the UE 200 may preferentially access candidate cells of frequencies (bands) / RATs with a high cellReselectionPriority.

[0105] The UE 200 may preferentially access a candidate cell (for example, a 6G cell) having a high priority according to the above-described indication among candidate cells that satisfy the execution condition of CHO or LTM. In the case of CHO, the execution condition may be any of condEventA3, A4, A5, condEventB1, condEventD1, and condEventT1, and in the case of LTM, the execution condition may be the execution condition of L1.

[0106] Alternatively, the network may relax the execution condition of a candidate cell that the network wants the UE 200 to preferentially access. Fig. 7 shows an example of relaxing the execution condition of a candidate cell.

[0107] As shown in Figure 7, for example, if UE200 wants to preferentially access a 6G cell, the network may set low thresholds for events A3, A4, A5, and events B1 and B2 for measuring the candidate cells that the network wants to preferentially access.

[0108] The network may also shorten the time until measurement reporting begins (timeToTrigger) or add an offset value to make it easier for the execution condition to be satisfied.

[0109] The indication indicating the priority (or cell type) may be associated with measId or measObject. That is, a priority may be assigned to measId or measObject according to the indication.

[0110] Furthermore, measObject and / or measId may be separated for frequencies for 5G and frequencies for 6G. In this case, the measObject and measId for frequencies for 6G may be set to have a higher priority.

[0111] The UE 200 may preferentially monitor the execution condition of a particular candidate cell. For example, the UE 200 may preferentially start monitoring the execution condition of a candidate cell with a high priority.

[0112] Furthermore, the network (gNB100) may configure the UE 200 to prioritize intra-freq & inter-RAT measurement when configuring RRM, specifically, when configuring measConfig, including conventional handover (legacy handover) as well as CHO or LTM. That is, the UE 200 may prioritize performing intra-freq & inter-RAT measurement. This causes the UE 200 to prioritize reporting the results of the intra-freq & inter-RAT measurement to the network, thereby enabling the UE 200 to be handed over to an inter-RAT cell (e.g., a 6G cell) with priority.

[0113] According to the operation example described above, even when MRSS (DSS) or the like is applied, which allows 5G cells and 6G cells to coexist within the same frequency band, UE200 can be preferentially transitioned to a desired cell (e.g., a 6G cell) according to an indication indicating the type or priority of a specific cell.

[0114] In addition, by applying a more relaxed execution condition to a candidate cell using a specific RAT (e.g., 6G) than to a candidate cell using another RAT (e.g., 5G), the UE 200 can be preferentially transitioned to a desired cell. Furthermore, by preferentially executing intra-freq & inter-RAT measurement, the UE 200 can be preferentially handed over to an inter-RAT cell (e.g., 6G cell).

[0115] This allows operators to connect UEs 200 that support 6G RAT to 6G cells as much as possible, meeting the needs of the 5G to 6G migration phase.

[0116] In addition, in the above-described operation example, among the parameters for inter-freq cell reselection and inter-RAT cell reselection included in SIB4 or SIB5, the cellReselectionPriority of each frequency (band) / RAT can be reused. Alternatively, the indication indicating the priority (or cell type) may be associated with measId or measObject, and monitoring of the execution condition can be preferentially started for candidate cells with high priority. This allows UE200 to transition more proactively to specific cells such as 6G cells, thereby meeting the needs of operators in the migration phase from 5G to 6G.

[0117] (4) Other Embodiments Although the embodiments have been described above, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that the present invention is not limited to the description of the embodiments, and that various modifications and improvements are possible.

[0118] For example, in the above-described embodiment, CHO and LTM are described as examples, but similar operation examples may be applied as long as the technology realizes UE-driven cell transition without instructions from the network.

[0119] Also, in the above description, configure, activate, update, indicate, enable, specify, and select may be interchangeable. Similarly, link, associate, correspond, and map may be interchangeable, and allocate, assign, monitor, and map may be interchangeable.

[0120] Furthermore, specific, dedicated, UE-specific, and UE-dedicated may be interchangeable. Similarly, common, shared, group-common, UE-common, and UE-shared may be interchangeable.

[0121] In this disclosure, terms such as "precoding," "precoder," "weight (precoding weight)," "Quasi-Co-Location (QCL)," "Transmission Configuration Indication state (TCI state)," "spatial relation," "spatial domain filter," "transmit power," "phase rotation," "antenna port," "antenna port group," "layer," "number of layers," "rank," "resource," "resource set," "resource group," "beam," "beam width," "beam angle," "antenna," "antenna element," "panel," etc. may be used interchangeably.

[0122] The block diagram ( FIG. 3 ) used to explain the above-described embodiment shows functional blocks. These functional blocks (components) are realized by any combination of hardware and / or software. Furthermore, the method for realizing each functional block is not particularly limited. That is, each functional block may be realized using a single device that is physically or logically coupled, or may be realized using two or more physically or logically separated devices that are connected directly or indirectly (e.g., via wire, wireless, etc.) and these multiple devices. The functional block may be realized by combining the single device or multiple devices with software.

[0123] Functions include, but are not limited to, judgment, determination, judgment, calculation, computation, processing, derivation, investigation, search, confirmation, reception, transmission, output, access, resolution, selection, selection, establishment, comparison, assumption, expectation, consideration, broadcasting, notifying, communicating, forwarding, configuring, reconfiguring, allocating, mapping, and assignment. For example, a functional block (component) that performs transmission is called a transmitting unit or transmitter. As mentioned above, there are no particular limitations on how each is implemented.

[0124] Furthermore, the above-described gNB100 and UE200 (the devices) may function as a computer that performs processing of the wireless communication method of the present disclosure. Figure 8 is a diagram showing an example of the hardware configuration of the devices. As shown in Figure 8, the devices may be configured as a computer device including a processor 1001, a memory 1002, a storage 1003, a communication device 1004, an input device 1005, an output device 1006, a bus 1007, etc.

[0125] In the following description, the term "apparatus" can be interpreted as a circuit, a device, a unit, etc. The hardware configuration of the apparatus may be configured to include one or more of the apparatuses shown in the drawings, or may be configured to exclude some of the apparatuses.

[0126] Each functional block of the device (see FIG. 3) is realized by any hardware element of the computer device or a combination of the hardware elements.

[0127] In addition, each function of the device is realized by loading specified software (programs) onto hardware such as processor 1001 and memory 1002, causing processor 1001 to perform calculations, control communication via communication device 1004, and control at least one of reading and writing data in memory 1002 and storage 1003.

[0128] The processor 1001 controls the entire computer by running, for example, an operating system, and may be configured as a central processing unit (CPU) including an interface with peripheral devices, a control unit, an arithmetic unit, and registers.

[0129] The processor 1001 also reads programs (program codes), software modules, data, etc. from at least one of the storage 1003 and the communication device 1004 into the memory 1002 and executes various processes in accordance with these. The programs used are those that cause a computer to execute at least some of the operations described in the above-described embodiments. Furthermore, the various processes described above may be executed by a single processor 1001, or may be executed simultaneously or sequentially by two or more processors 1001. The processor 1001 may be implemented by one or more chips. The programs may be transmitted from a network via a telecommunications line.

[0130] The memory 1002 is a computer-readable recording medium and may be configured by at least one of, for example, a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable ROM (EPROM), an electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM), a random access memory (RAM), etc. The memory 1002 may also be called a register, a cache, a main memory (primary storage device), etc. The memory 1002 may store a program (program code), a software module, etc., capable of executing a method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0131] Storage 1003 is a computer-readable recording medium, and may be, for example, at least one of an optical disk such as a Compact Disc ROM (CD-ROM), a hard disk drive, a flexible disk, a magneto-optical disk (e.g., a compact disk, a digital versatile disk, a Blu-ray disc), a smart card, a flash memory (e.g., a card, a stick, a key drive), a floppy disk, a magnetic strip, etc. Storage 1003 may also be referred to as an auxiliary storage device. The above-mentioned recording medium may be, for example, a database, a server, or other suitable medium including at least one of memory 1002 and storage 1003.

[0132] The communication device 1004 is hardware (transmission / reception device) for communicating between computers via at least one of a wired network and a wireless network, and is also called, for example, a network device, a network controller, a network card, or a communication module.

[0133] The communication device 1004 may be configured to include a high-frequency switch, a duplexer, a filter, a frequency synthesizer, etc. to realize, for example, at least one of Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) and Time Division Duplex (TDD).

[0134] The input device 1005 is an input device (e.g., a keyboard, a mouse, a microphone, a switch, a button, a sensor, etc.) that receives input from the outside. The output device 1006 is an output device (e.g., a display, a speaker, an LED lamp, etc.) that outputs to the outside. Note that the input device 1005 and the output device 1006 may be integrated into one device (e.g., a touch panel).

[0135] Furthermore, each device such as the processor 1001 and the memory 1002 is connected to a bus 1007 for communicating information. The bus 1007 may be configured using a single bus, or may be configured using different buses between each device.

[0136] Furthermore, the device may be configured to include hardware such as a microprocessor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a programmable logic device (PLD), or a field programmable gate array (FPGA), and some or all of the functional blocks may be realized by the hardware. For example, the processor 1001 may be implemented using at least one of these pieces of hardware.

[0137] Furthermore, the notification of information is not limited to the aspects / embodiments described in the present disclosure, and may be performed using other methods. For example, the notification of information may be performed by physical layer signaling (e.g., Downlink Control Information (DCI), Uplink Control Information (UCI)), higher layer signaling (e.g., RRC signaling, Medium Access Control (MAC) signaling, broadcast information (Master Information Block (MIB), System Information Block (SIB))), other signals, or a combination thereof. Furthermore, the RRC signaling may be referred to as an RRC message, and may be, for example, an RRC Connection Setup message, an RRC Connection Reconfiguration message, or the like.

[0138] Each aspect / embodiment described in the present disclosure may be applied to at least one of a system using Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE-Advanced (LTE-A), SUPER 3G, IMT-Advanced, a 4th generation mobile communication system (4G), a 5th generation mobile communication system (5G), a 6th generation mobile communication system (6G), an xth generation mobile communication system (xG) (where x is, for example, an integer or a decimal), Future Radio Access (FRA), New Radio (NR), W-CDMA (registered trademark), GSM (registered trademark), CDMA2000, Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB), IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi (registered trademark)), IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX (registered trademark)), IEEE 802.20, Ultra-WideBand (UWB), Bluetooth (registered trademark), or other suitable system, and a next-generation system extended based on these. Furthermore, a combination of multiple systems (e.g., a combination of at least one of LTE and LTE-A with 5G) may also be applied.

[0139] The order of the procedures, sequences, flowcharts, etc. of each aspect / embodiment described in this disclosure may be changed unless it is consistent. For example, the methods described in this disclosure present elements of various steps using an example order, and are not limited to the particular order presented.

[0140] In the present disclosure, a specific operation described as being performed by a base station may also be performed by its upper node in some cases. In a network consisting of one or more network nodes having a base station, it is clear that various operations performed for communication with a terminal may be performed by at least one of the base station and another network node other than the base station (e.g., MME or S-GW, etc., but are not limited to these). Although the above example illustrates a case where there is one other network node other than the base station, a combination of multiple other network nodes (e.g., MME and S-GW) may also be used.

[0141] Information, signals (information, etc.) may be output from a higher layer (or a lower layer) to a lower layer (or a higher layer), or may be input and output via multiple network nodes.

[0142] The input and output information may be stored in a specific location (for example, a memory) or may be managed using a management table. The input and output information may be overwritten, updated, or added to. The output information may be deleted. The input information may be transmitted to another device.

[0143] The determination may be made based on a value represented by one bit (0 or 1), a Boolean value (true or false), or a numerical comparison (e.g., comparison with a predetermined value).

[0144] The aspects / embodiments described in this disclosure may be used alone, in combination, or switched depending on the implementation. Notification of predetermined information (e.g., notification that "X is true") is not limited to explicit notification, but may be implicit (e.g., not notifying the predetermined information).

[0145] Software shall be construed broadly to mean instructions, instruction sets, code, code segments, program code, programs, subprograms, software modules, applications, software applications, software packages, routines, subroutines, objects, executable files, threads of execution, procedures, functions, etc., whether referred to as software, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware description language, or otherwise.

[0146] Software, instructions, information, etc. may also be transmitted or received over a transmission medium. For example, if software is transmitted from a website, server, or other remote source using wired technologies (such as coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, Digital Subscriber Line (DSL)), and / or wireless technologies (such as infrared, microwave), then these wired and / or wireless technologies are included within the definition of transmission media.

[0147] The information, signals, etc. described in this disclosure may be represented using any of a variety of different technologies. For example, data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, chips, etc. that may be referred to throughout the above description may be represented by voltages, currents, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or magnetic particles, optical fields or photons, or any combination thereof.

[0148] Note that terms described in this disclosure and terms necessary for understanding this disclosure may be replaced with terms having the same or similar meanings. For example, at least one of a channel and a symbol may be a signal (signaling). Furthermore, a signal may be a message. Furthermore, a component carrier (CC) may be called a carrier frequency, a cell, a frequency carrier, etc.

[0149] As used in this disclosure, the terms "system" and "network" are used interchangeably.

[0150] Furthermore, the information, parameters, etc. described in the present disclosure may be expressed using absolute values, may be expressed using relative values ​​from a predetermined value, or may be expressed using other corresponding information. For example, a radio resource may be indicated by an index.

[0151] The names used for the above-described parameters are not intended to be limiting in any way. Furthermore, the mathematical expressions using these parameters may differ from those explicitly disclosed in this disclosure. The various channels (e.g., PUCCH, PDCCH, etc.) and information elements may be identified by any suitable names, and therefore the various names assigned to these various channels and information elements are not intended to be limiting in any way.

[0152] In this disclosure, terms such as "base station (BS)," "radio base station," "fixed station," "NodeB," "eNodeB (eNB)," "gNodeB (gNB)," "access point," "transmission point," "reception point," "transmission / reception point," "cell," "sector," "cell group," "carrier," and "component carrier" may be used interchangeably. Base stations may also be referred to by terms such as macrocell, small cell, femtocell, and picocell.

[0153] A base station can accommodate one or more (e.g., three) cells (also called sectors). When a base station accommodates multiple cells, the overall coverage area of ​​the base station can be divided into multiple smaller areas, and each smaller area can be provided with communication services by a base station subsystem (e.g., a small indoor base station (Remote Radio Head: RRH)).

[0154] The terms "cell" or "sector" refer to part or all of the coverage area of ​​a base station and / or base station subsystem that provides communication services within that coverage area.

[0155] In the present disclosure, the base station transmitting information to a terminal may be interpreted as the base station instructing the terminal to control or operate based on the information.

[0156] In this disclosure, the terms "Mobile Station (MS)," "user terminal," "User Equipment (UE)," "terminal," etc. may be used interchangeably.

[0157] A mobile station may also be referred to by those skilled in the art as a subscriber station, mobile unit, subscriber unit, wireless unit, remote unit, mobile device, wireless device, wireless communication device, remote device, mobile subscriber station, access terminal, mobile terminal, wireless terminal, remote terminal, handset, user agent, mobile client, client, or some other suitable terminology.

[0158] At least one of the base station and the mobile station may be referred to as a transmitting device, a receiving device, a communication device, etc. At least one of the base station and the mobile station may be a device mounted on a mobile object, the mobile object itself, etc. The mobile object refers to a movable object, and may move at any speed. Naturally, this also includes cases where the mobile object is stationary. Examples of the mobile object include, but are not limited to, vehicles, transport vehicles, automobiles, motorcycles, bicycles, connected cars, excavators, bulldozers, wheel loaders, dump trucks, forklifts, trains, buses, handcars, rickshaws, ships and other watercraft, airplanes, rockets, satellites, drones (registered trademark), multicopters, quadcopters, balloons, and objects mounted thereon. The mobile object may also be a mobile object that moves autonomously based on an operational command. It may be a vehicle (e.g., a car, an airplane, etc.), an unmanned mobile object (e.g., a drone, an autonomous vehicle, etc.), or a robot (manned or unmanned). At least one of the base station and the mobile station may be a device that does not necessarily move during communication operations. For example, at least one of the base station and the mobile station may be an IoT (Internet of Things) device such as a sensor.

[0159] Furthermore, a base station in the present disclosure may be read as a mobile station (user terminal, the same applies hereinafter). For example, the aspects / embodiments of the present disclosure may be applied to a configuration in which communication between a base station and a mobile station is replaced with communication between multiple mobile stations (which may be called, for example, Device-to-Device (D2D) or Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X)). In this case, the mobile station may be configured to have the functions of a base station. Furthermore, terms such as "uplink" and "downlink" may be read as terms corresponding to terminal-to-terminal communication (for example, "side"). For example, terms such as an uplink channel and a downlink channel may be read as a side channel (or sidelink).

[0160] Similarly, a mobile station in the present disclosure may be interpreted as a base station, in which case the base station may have the functions of a mobile station.

[0161] A radio frame may be composed of one or more frames in the time domain. Each of the one or more frames in the time domain may be called a subframe. A subframe may further be composed of one or more slots in the time domain. A subframe may have a fixed time length (e.g., 1 ms) that is independent of numerology.

[0162] Numerology may be communication parameters that apply to the transmission and / or reception of a signal or channel, such as subcarrier spacing (SCS), bandwidth, symbol length, cyclic prefix length, transmission time interval (TTI), number of symbols per TTI, radio frame structure, specific filtering operations performed by the transceiver in the frequency domain, and specific windowing operations performed by the transceiver in the time domain.

[0163] A slot may consist of one or more symbols in the time domain (such as an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) symbol, a Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA) symbol, etc.) A slot may be a numerology-based time unit.

[0164] A slot may include multiple minislots. Each minislot may consist of one or more symbols in the time domain. A minislot may also be called a subslot. A minislot may consist of fewer symbols than a slot. A PDSCH (or PUSCH) transmitted in a time unit larger than a minislot may be called PDSCH (or PUSCH) mapping type A. A PDSCH (or PUSCH) transmitted using a minislot may be called PDSCH (or PUSCH) mapping type B.

[0165] The radio frame, subframe, slot, minislot, and symbol all represent time units for transmitting signals, and may be referred to by other names corresponding to the radio frame, subframe, slot, minislot, and symbol.

[0166] For example, one subframe may be referred to as a transmission time interval (TTI), multiple consecutive subframes may be referred to as a TTI, or one slot or one minislot may be referred to as a TTI. That is, at least one of the subframe and the TTI may be a subframe (1 ms) in existing LTE, a period shorter than 1 ms (e.g., 1-13 symbols), or a period longer than 1 ms. Note that the unit representing the TTI may be called a slot, minislot, etc., instead of a subframe.

[0167] Here, TTI refers to, for example, the smallest time unit for scheduling in wireless communication. For example, in an LTE system, a base station schedules each user terminal to allocate radio resources (such as frequency bandwidth and transmission power that can be used by each user terminal) in TTI units. Note that the definition of TTI is not limited to this.

[0168] The TTI may be a transmission time unit for a channel-encoded data packet (transport block), a code block, a code word, etc., or may be a processing unit for scheduling, link adaptation, etc. When a TTI is given, the time interval (e.g., the number of symbols) to which a transport block, a code block, a code word, etc. is actually mapped may be shorter than the TTI.

[0169] In addition, when one slot or one minislot is called a TTI, one or more TTIs (i.e., one or more slots or one or more minislots) may be the minimum time unit for scheduling, and the number of slots (minislots) constituting the minimum time unit for scheduling may be controlled.

[0170] A TTI having a time length of 1 ms may be referred to as a regular TTI (TTI in LTE Rel. 8-12), normal TTI, long TTI, regular subframe, normal subframe, long subframe, slot, etc. A TTI shorter than a regular TTI may be referred to as a shortened TTI, short TTI, partial or fractional TTI, shortened subframe, short subframe, minislot, subslot, slot, etc.

[0171] In addition, a long TTI (e.g., a normal TTI, a subframe, etc.) may be interpreted as a TTI having a time length of more than 1 ms, and a short TTI (e.g., a shortened TTI, etc.) may be interpreted as a TTI having a TTI length shorter than the TTI length of a long TTI and equal to or greater than 1 ms.

[0172] A resource block (RB) is a resource allocation unit in the time domain and the frequency domain, and may include one or more consecutive subcarriers in the frequency domain. The number of subcarriers included in an RB may be the same regardless of numerology, for example, 12. The number of subcarriers included in an RB may be determined based on numerology.

[0173] The time domain of an RB may include one or more symbols and may have a length of one slot, one minislot, one subframe, or one TTI, each of which may consist of one or more resource blocks.

[0174] Note that one or more RBs may also be called a physical resource block (PRB), a sub-carrier group (SCG), a resource element group (REG), a PRB pair, an RB pair, etc.

[0175] Furthermore, a resource block may be composed of one or more resource elements (REs). For example, one RE may be a radio resource region of one subcarrier and one symbol.

[0176] A Bandwidth Part (BWP) (which may also be referred to as a fractional bandwidth) may represent a subset of contiguous common resource blocks (RBs) for a given numerology on a given carrier, where the common RBs may be identified by their index relative to a common reference point of the carrier. PRBs may be defined in a given BWP and numbered within that BWP.

[0177] The BWP may include a BWP for UL (UL BWP) and a BWP for DL ​​(DL BWP). One or more BWPs may be configured for a UE within one carrier.

[0178] At least one of the configured BWPs may be active, and the UE may not expect to transmit or receive a given signal / channel outside the active BWP. Note that the terms "cell," "carrier," etc. in this disclosure may be read as "BWP."

[0179] The above-described structures of the radio frame, subframe, slot, minislot, and symbol are merely examples. For example, the number of subframes included in a radio frame, the number of slots per subframe or radio frame, the number of minislots included in a slot, the number of symbols and RBs included in a slot or minislot, the number of subcarriers included in an RB, the number of symbols in a TTI, the symbol length, the cyclic prefix (CP) length, and other configurations may be changed in various ways.

[0180] The terms "connected," "coupled," or any variation thereof, refer to any direct or indirect connection or coupling between two or more elements, and may include the presence of one or more intermediate elements between two elements that are "connected" or "coupled" to each other. The coupling or connection between elements may be physical, logical, or a combination thereof. For example, "connected" may be read as "access." As used in this disclosure, two elements may be considered to be "connected" or "coupled" to each other using one or more wires, cables, and / or printed electrical connections, as well as electromagnetic energy having wavelengths in the radio frequency range, microwave range, and optical (both visible and invisible) range, as some non-limiting and non-exhaustive examples.

[0181] The reference signal may also be abbreviated as Reference Signal (RS) and may be called a pilot depending on the applicable standard.

[0182] As used in this disclosure, the phrase "based on" does not mean "based only on," unless expressly stated otherwise. In other words, the phrase "based on" means both "based only on" and "based at least on."

[0183] The "means" in the configuration of each of the above devices may be replaced with "part," "circuit," "device," etc.

[0184] As used in this disclosure, any reference to an element using a designation such as "first," "second," etc. does not generally limit the quantity or order of those elements. These designations may be used in this disclosure as a convenient method of distinguishing between two or more elements. Thus, a reference to a first and a second element does not imply that only two elements may be employed therein or that the first element must precede the second element in some way.

[0185] When the terms "include," "including," and variations thereof are used in this disclosure, these terms are intended to be inclusive, similar to the term "comprising." Furthermore, when the term "or" is used in this disclosure, it is not intended to be an exclusive or.

[0186] In this disclosure, where articles are added by translation, such as a, an, and the in English, the disclosure may include that the nouns following these articles are in the plural form.

[0187] As used in this disclosure, the terms "determining" and "determining" may encompass a wide variety of actions. "Determining" and "determining" may include, for example, judging, calculating, computing, processing, deriving, investigating, looking up, searching, inquiring (e.g., searching in a table, database, or other data structure), ascertaining, and the like. "Determining" and "determining" may also include receiving (e.g., receiving information), transmitting (e.g., sending information), input, output, accessing (e.g., accessing data in memory), and the like. Furthermore, "judgment" and "decision" can include regarding resolving, selecting, choosing, establishing, comparing, etc. as having been "judged" or "decided." In other words, "judgment" and "decision" can include regarding some action as having been "judged" or "decided." Furthermore, "judgment (decision)" can be interpreted as "assuming," "expecting," "considering," etc.

[0188] In the present disclosure, the term "A and B are different" may mean "A and B are different from each other." The term may also mean "A and B are each different from C." Terms such as "separate" and "coupled" may also be interpreted in the same way as "different."

[0189] 9 shows an example of the configuration of a vehicle 2001. As shown in Fig. 9, the vehicle 2001 includes a drive unit 2002, a steering unit 2003, an accelerator pedal 2004, a brake pedal 2005, a shift lever 2006, left and right front wheels 2007, left and right rear wheels 2008, an axle 2009, an electronic control unit 2010, various sensors 2021 to 2029, an information service unit 2012, and a communication module 2013.

[0190] The drive unit 2002 is composed of, for example, an engine, a motor, or a hybrid of an engine and a motor. The steering unit 2003 includes at least a steering wheel (also called a handle) and is configured to steer at least one of the front wheels and the rear wheels based on the operation of the steering wheel operated by the user. The electronic control unit 2010 is composed of a microprocessor 2031, memory (ROM, RAM) 2032, and a communication port (IO port) 2033. Signals from various sensors 2021 to 2027 provided in the vehicle are input to the electronic control unit 2010. The electronic control unit 2010 may also be called an ECU (Electronic Control Unit).

[0191] The signals from the various sensors 2021 to 2028 include a current signal from a current sensor 2021 that senses the current of the motor, a rotation speed signal of the front and rear wheels obtained by a rotation speed sensor 2022, an air pressure signal of the front and rear wheels obtained by an air pressure sensor 2023, a vehicle speed signal obtained by a vehicle speed sensor 2024, an acceleration signal obtained by an acceleration sensor 2025, an accelerator pedal depression amount signal obtained by an accelerator pedal sensor 2029, a brake pedal depression amount signal obtained by a brake pedal sensor 2026, a shift lever operation signal obtained by a shift lever sensor 2027, and a detection signal for detecting obstacles, vehicles, pedestrians, etc. obtained by an object detection sensor 2028.

[0192] The information service unit 2012 is composed of various devices, such as a car navigation system, an audio system, speakers, a television, and a radio, for providing (outputting) various types of information, such as driving information, traffic information, and entertainment information, and one or more ECUs for controlling these devices. The information service unit 2012 uses information acquired from external devices via the communication module 2013, etc., to provide various types of multimedia information and multimedia services to the occupants of the vehicle 1.

[0193] The information service unit 2012 may include input devices (e.g., keyboards, mice, microphones, switches, buttons, sensors, touch panels, etc.) that accept input from the outside, and may also include output devices (e.g., displays, speakers, LED lamps, touch panels, etc.) that output to the outside.

[0194] The driving assistance system unit 2030 is composed of various devices that provide functions for preventing accidents and reducing the driver's driving burden, such as millimeter-wave radar, LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging), cameras, positioning locators (e.g., GNSS, etc.), map information (e.g., high-definition (HD) maps, autonomous vehicle (AV) maps, etc.), gyro systems (e.g., IMU (Inertial Measurement Unit), INS (Inertial Navigation System), etc.), AI (Artificial Intelligence) chips, and AI processors, as well as one or more ECUs that control these devices. The driving assistance system unit 2030 also transmits and receives various information via the communication module 2013 to realize driving assistance functions or autonomous driving functions.

[0195] The communication module 2013 can communicate with the microprocessor 2031 and components of the vehicle 1 via the communication port. For example, the communication module 2013 transmits and receives data via the communication port 2033 to and from a driving unit 2002, a steering unit 2003, an accelerator pedal 2004, a brake pedal 2005, a shift lever 2006, left and right front wheels 2007, left and right rear wheels 2008, an axle 2009, a microprocessor 2031 and memory (ROM, RAM) 2032 in the electronic control unit 2010, and sensors 2021 to 2028, which are provided in the vehicle 2001.

[0196] The communication module 2013 is a communication device that can be controlled by the microprocessor 2031 of the electronic control unit 2010 and can communicate with an external device. For example, it transmits and receives various information to and from the external device via wireless communication. The communication module 2013 may be located either inside or outside the electronic control unit 2010. The external device may be, for example, a base station, a mobile station, or the like.

[0197] The communication module 2013 may transmit at least one of signals from the above-mentioned various sensors 2021 to 2028 input to the electronic control unit 2010, information obtained based on the signals, and information based on input from the outside (user) obtained via the information service unit 2012 to an external device via wireless communication. The electronic control unit 2010, the various sensors 2021 to 2028, the information service unit 2012, etc. may be referred to as input units that accept input. For example, the PUSCH transmitted by the communication module 2013 may include information based on the above-mentioned input.

[0198] The communication module 2013 receives various information (traffic information, traffic signal information, vehicle-to-vehicle information, etc.) transmitted from external devices and displays it on an information service unit 2012 provided in the vehicle. The information service unit 2012 may also be called an output unit that outputs information (for example, outputs information to a device such as a display or speaker based on the PDSCH (or data / information decoded from the PDSCH) received by the communication module 2013). The communication module 2013 also stores the various information received from external devices in a memory 2032 that can be used by the microprocessor 2031. Based on the information stored in the memory 2032, the microprocessor 2031 may control the drive unit 2002, steering unit 2003, accelerator pedal 2004, brake pedal 2005, shift lever 2006, left and right front wheels 2007, left and right rear wheels 2008, axles 2009, sensors 2021 to 2028, and the like provided in the vehicle 2001.

[0199] (Additional Note) The above disclosure may be expressed as follows: A first feature is a terminal including: a control unit that performs terminal-initiated cell transition without an instruction from a network when an execution condition is satisfied; and a receiving unit that receives from the network a message including an indication of a radio access technology used by a transition destination candidate cell that satisfies the execution condition, wherein the control unit preferentially performs the cell transition to the candidate cell that uses a specific radio access technology based on the indication.

[0200] A second feature is, in the first feature, the control unit preferentially performs the cell transition to the candidate cell that uses a specific radio access technology, based on the indication indicating a cell reselection priority included in system information.

[0201] A third feature based on the first or second feature is that the control unit performs the measurement of the cell quality based on measurement information of the cell quality associated with the display.

[0202] A fourth feature is the first to third features, wherein the control unit preferentially monitors the execution condition applied to the candidate cell that uses a specific radio access technology.

[0203] A fifth feature is a terminal that includes a control unit that performs terminal-initiated cell transition without instructions from the network when an execution condition is satisfied, and a transmission unit that transmits a message regarding the cell transition to a candidate cell to which the execution condition is satisfied, and the control unit applies the execution condition to the candidate cell that uses a specific radio access technology that is more lenient than to candidate cells that use other radio access technologies.

[0204] A sixth feature is a terminal that includes a receiving unit that receives a message including a cell quality measurement setting, and a control unit that, based on the measurement setting, performs cell quality measurements of a candidate cell that uses the same frequency band but a different radio access technology, with priority over other cells.

[0205] 10 Wireless communication system 20 NG-RAN 100 gNB 200 UE 210 Wireless signal transceiver 220 Amplifier 230 Modulation / demodulation unit 240 Control signal / reference signal processing unit 250 Encoding / decoding unit 260 Data transceiver 270 Control unit 1001 Processor 1002 Memory 1003 Storage 1004 Communication device 1005 Input device 1006 Output device 1007 Bus 2001 Vehicle 2002 Drive unit 2003 Steering unit 2004 Accelerator pedal 2005 Brake pedal 2006 Shift lever 2007 Left and right front wheels 2008 Left and right rear wheels 2009 Axle 2010 Electronic control unit 2012 Information service unit 2013 Communication module 2021 Current sensor 2022 RPM sensor 2023 Air pressure sensor 2024 Vehicle speed sensor 2025 Acceleration sensor 2026 Brake pedal sensor 2027 Shift lever sensor 2028 Object detection sensor 2029 Accelerator pedal sensor 2030 Driving assistance system section 2031 Microprocessor 2032 Memory (ROM, RAM) 2033 Communication port

Claims

1. A terminal comprising: a control unit that performs a terminal-initiated cell transition regardless of an instruction from a network when execution conditions are satisfied; and a reception unit that receives from the network a message including an indication of a radio access technology used by a candidate cell as a transition destination that satisfies the execution conditions, wherein the control unit preferentially performs the cell transition to the candidate cell that uses a specific one of the radio access technologies based on the indication.

2. The terminal according to claim 1, wherein the control unit preferentially performs the cell transition to the candidate cell that uses a specific one of the radio access technologies based on the indication indicating a cell reselection priority included in system information.

3. The terminal according to claim 1, wherein the control unit performs measurement of the cell quality based on measurement information of the cell quality associated with the indication.

4. The terminal according to claim 1, wherein the control unit preferentially monitors the execution conditions applied to the candidate cell that uses a specific one of the radio access technologies.

5. A terminal comprising: a control unit that performs a terminal-initiated cell transition regardless of an instruction from a network when execution conditions are satisfied; and a transmission unit that transmits a message regarding the cell transition to a candidate cell as a transition destination that satisfies the execution conditions, wherein the control unit applies, to the candidate cell that uses a specific radio access technology, execution conditions that are more relaxed than those applied to the candidate cells that use other radio access technologies.

6. A terminal comprising: a reception unit that receives a message including a measurement setting of cell quality; and a control unit that preferentially performs measurement of the cell quality of candidate cells that use different radio access technologies in the same frequency band based on the measurement setting, over other cells.

Citation Information

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