Enhancement to relax measurement gaps scheduling restrictions

Abstract

A user equipment (UE) receives, from a radio access network (RAN), an indication that the UE is permitted to communicate with the RAN during at least one measurement gap configured to the UE; communicates with the RAN during the at least one measurement gap; and suspends communication with the RAN during a second measurement gap to perform one or more signal measurements, in accordance with the indication.

Description

ENHANCEMENT TO RELAX MEASUREMENT GAPS SCHEDULING RESTRICTIONSREFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] This application claims priority to and the benefit of the filing dates of provisional U.S. Patent Application No. 63 / 623,805 entitled “Enhancement to Relax Measurement Gaps Scheduling Restrictions,” filed on January 22, 2024, provisional U.S. Patent Application No. 63 / 558,663 entitled “Enhancement to Relax Measurement Gaps Scheduling Restrictions,” filed on February 27, 2024, and provisional U.S. Patent Application No. 63 / 686,149 entitled “Enhancement to Relax Measurement Gaps Scheduling Restrictions,” filed on August 22, 2024. The entire content of the provisional applications is hereby expressly incorporated herein by reference.FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

[0002] This disclosure relates to wireless communications and, more particularly, to measurement gap scheduling.BACKGROUND

[0003] This background description is provided for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work of the presently named inventors, to the extent it is described in this background section, as well as aspects of the description that may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the present disclosure.

[0004] Some of the services fifth-generation systems (5GS) require a high data rate and low-latency transmissions. One example of such services is extended Reality (XR), which includes Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR) and Mixed Reality (MR). In virtual reality applications, the user is fully immersed in a virtual environment, that fully replaces the physical environment, typically by wearing a head-mounted device. In augmented reality, an application augments the perception of the real environment by overlaying virtual elements onto the perception of the real environment. Augmented reality recently became the foundation of a widely popular game in which players seek out and interact with virtual creatures superimposed onto a real-time video stream of the real world. Finally, Mixed reality is an extension of AR, where the real and virtual elements can interact in real time.

[0005] XR games and other applications often run on cloud platforms that include remote servers, and generally do not require gaming consoles or a high-spec CPUs or GPUs. Cloud gaming involves streaming a game similar to streaming a video, and the game generally responds to the gamer’s commands and controls in real time.

[0006] Wireless AR / VR and wireless Cloud gaming offer better freedom of movement, as wireless connections eliminate many geographic and behavioral restrictions. Moreover, wireless AR / VR supports additional technologies such as XR conferencing, remote education in an immersive environment, offline sharing of 3D objects such as 3D models in 3D mixed reality scenes (e.g., using a phone equipped with a depth camera to capture an image in 3D).

[0007] Generally speaking, XR traffic is quasi-periodic. The periodicity of XR traffic is equal to the inverse of the XR frame rate. Thus, if the frame rate is 60 frames per second (fps), the periodicity is 16.67 milliseconds (ms). The XR traffic can create jitter due to the delay variations in encoding video frames at the codec. The Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) statistically modeled the jitter as truncated Gaussian distribution, with a 2 ms standard deviation and a + / -4 ms range. The sizes of XR packet also vary due to the variability in the video frame content. These sizes also conform to a truncated Gaussian distribution according to 3GPP modeling.

[0008] One of the factors that affects the ability of a user equipment (UE) to support high- data-rate, low-latency traffic is measurement gaps. Generally speaking, a measurement gap is a periodic pause in transmission and reception, which the network can configure in a cell to facilitate inter-frequency handover measurements, intra-frequency measurements, channel state information (CSI) measurements, and positioning reference signal (PRS) measurements. During a measurement gap, a UE temporarily ceases communications with the serving cell and performs procedures such as (i) conducting inter-frequency measurements, which are necessary for a handover from one frequency band to another, (ii) conducting inter-RAT measurements, which allow the UE to evaluate the quality of a different RATs (Radio Access Technology) and facilitate a handover to another RAT, (iii) performing a Frequency Range 2 (FR2) receive (Rx) beam search, to optimize the reception performance of the UE within the same frequency band for an intra-frequency handover, (iv) performing CSI measurements which provide insights into the downlink channel quality for intra-frequency and interfrequency scenarios, allowing the UE to apply adaptive modulation and coding schemes, or (v) perform PRS measurements for localization services.

[0009] Network-initiated measurement gaps take precedence over PDSCH (Physical Downlink Shared Channel) and PUSCH (Physical Uplink Shared Channel) transmissions, with the exception of Msg2 / 3 / 4 / A / B associated with random access procedures. Further, during a measurement gap, a UE cannot transmit uplink (UE) data, neither dynamically scheduled nor scheduled for transmission using Configured Grant (CG) resources. A base station configures a UE with measurement gaps using RRC (Radio Resource Control) signaling.

[0010] Thus, measurement gaps allow the UE to perform measurements that the UE cannot complete while connected to the current serving cell. The network should use measurement gaps judiciously, as measurement gaps can impact system performance and system capacity.

[0011] Today, some of the scheduling restrictions listed in TS 38.133 vl7.11 include the following: (i) is not required to conduct reception / transmission from / to the corresponding E- UTRAN PCell, E-UTRAN SCell(s) and NR serving cells for E-UTRA-NR dual connectivity except the reception of signals used for Radio Resource Management (RRM) measurement(s) and the signals used for random access procedure according to TS38.321, (ii) is not required to conduct reception / transmission from / to the corresponding NR serving cells for SA (with single carrier or CA configured) except the reception of signals used for RRM measurement(s), PRS measurement s) and the signals used for random access procedure according to TS38.321; (iii) is not required to conduct reception / transmission from / to the corresponding PCell, SCell(s) and E-UTRAN serving cells for NR-E-UTRA dual connectivity except the reception of signals used for RRM measurement s), PRS measurements) and the signals used for random access procedure according to TS38.321;(iv) is not required to conduct reception / transmission from / to the corresponding NR serving cells for NR-DC except the reception of signals used for RRM measurements), PRS measurements) and the signals used for random access procedure according to TS38.321.

[0012] According to TS 38.331, event A2, which indicates the weakening of the signal in the current serving cell, serves as a common trigger for initiating measurement gaps. This event indicates the need for an inter-frequency or an inter-RAT handover, prompting the UE to gather the necessary information for a seamless network transition.

[0013] Long-Term Evolution (LTE) systems use measurement gaps primarily for interfrequency and inter-RAT measurements. During a measurement gap, a UE reconfigures the transceiver for the target carrier, performs the required measurements, and tunes back to theoriginal carrier. New Radio (NR) systems use measurement gaps with an expanded scope that includes intra-frequency measurements, particularly in FR2. The UEs are expected to utilize analog receiver beamforming. When the UE needs to measure a neighboring cell, the UE retunes its beam towards that cell. The retuning process necessitates the UE halting (suspending) transmission or reception on the serving cell.

[0014] Further, the measurement gaps are also necessary when the active Bandwidth Part (BWP) in which the UE operates does not contain intra-frequency System Synchronization (SS) / Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH) blocks. In this case, the UE must retune the transceiver to receive these blocks, similar to the re-tuning involved in inter-frequency measurements.

[0015] To signal a configuration for a measurement gap, a base station can use the RRC parameter MeasGapConfig. Different patterns, namely gapFRl and gapFR2, can be defined for FR1 and FR2 respectively, or a single pattern, gapUE, can apply to both FR1 and FR2. 3GPP TS 38.133 specifies 24 Gap patterns, offering a range of periodicity and gap duration combinations.

[0016] The fields in the measurement gap configuration specify such parameters as mgrp, which is a measurement gap repetition period in (ms) of the measurement gap; mg / , which is the measurement gap length in ms of the measurement gap; gapOffset, which is the gap offset of the gap pattern with MGRP indicated in the field mgrp mgla, which is the measurement gap timing advance in ms; gapPriority, which indicates the priority of this measurement gap; gapType, which indicates the type of this measurement gap (in particular, value perUE indicates that the measurement gap is a per-UE measurement gap, value perFRl indicates that the measurement gap is an FR1 measurement gap, and value perFR indicates that the measurement gap is an FR2 measurement gap).

[0017] The 3 GPP recently introduced the gap priority for concurrent gaps (MGE gaps), to define the UE behavior when multiple gap configurations overlap in the time domain. A more recent proposal is to provide gap priority for non-MGE gaps (i.e., MUSIM gap, preconfigured positioning gap, and NTN gaps).

[0018] More particularly, to address collisions between concurrent measurement gaps, the 3 GPP proposes to introduce a priority rule for resolving collisions between measurement gap occasions: during each collision, the UE will perform only measurements associated with the measurement gap with the highest priority; the priority of the measurement gap can be RRC-configurable; do not consider the equal-priorities case. The NR measurement gap enhancements work item, known as “NR_MG_enh,” requires only two levels, but it has been proposed to include five levels in view of forward compatibility on inter-working with other features such Multi-Universal Subscriber Identification Modules (MUSIM), non-terrestrial networks (NTN), positioning, etc. To signal measurement gap priorities, 3 GPP defined RRC parameter GapPriority-rl7 ::= INTEGER (l..maxNrOfGapPri-rl7), where maxNrOfGapPri- rl7 INTEGER ::= 16 (i.e., the maximum number of a gap priority level is 16).

[0019] The currently available UE procedures for RRM measurement (which facilitate mobility and network management tasks), measurement gaps for positioning (e.g., PRS reference signal acquisition for localization services), CSI acquisition (for measurements that monitor downlink channel quality for intra-frequency and inter-frequency scenarios), MUSIM, NTN, etc. include scheduling constraints that impact the latency, reliability, and overall system capacity for high-priority traffic such as XR traffic.

[0020] For example, the network configures a UE to measure Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) on Synchronization Signal blocks (SSBs) via an RRC configuration of the SS / PBCH Block Measurement Timing Configuration (SMTC) window, as described in TS 38.331. The granularity of the SMTC window time is at the subframe level, and the SMTC window specifies when the UE is allowed to measure RSRP. These measurements impose significant scheduling restrictions, as discussed further below.

[0021] Moreover, for RRM, scheduling restrictions apply to the SSBs which the UE measures, starting one symbol before and ending one symbol after each SSB. This restricts scheduling in every slot with SSBs are to be measured, according to 3GPP RAN4 restrictions. In some cases, and if for example an SMTC windows of a 5 ms-duration occurs every 20 ms, this restriction can make a UE unavailable for scheduling by the network for nearly 25% of the time. 3 GPP RANI evaluations indicate that capacity loss can range from 5% to over 50%, depending on the SMTC configuration and the particular scenario.SUMMARY

[0022] An example embodiment of the techniques of this disclosure is a method in a UE, the method comprising: receiving, from a radio access network (RAN), receiving, a downlink control indicator (DCI) to schedule a transmission, the DCI including an indication that the UE is permitted to communicate with the RAN during at least one measurement gapconfigured to the UE; communicating with the RAN during the at least one measurement gap; and suspending communication with the RAN during a second measurement gap to perform one or more signal measurements.

[0023] Another example embodiment of these techniques is a method in a radio access network (RAN), the method comprising: configuring a user equipment (UE) with a plurality of measurement gaps during which the UE suspends communication with the RAN to perform one or more signal measurements; transmitting, to the UE, a downlink control indicator (DCI) to schedule a transmission, the DCI including an indication that the UE is permitted to communicate with the RAN during at least one measurement gap configured to the UE; and communicating with the UE during the at least one measurement gap.

[0024] Another example embodiment of these techniques is a device comprising: a transceiver; and processing hardware configured to implement one of the methods above.BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0025] Fig. 1 A is a block diagram of an example system in which a radio access network (RAN) and a user device can implement the techniques of this disclosure for managing measurement gap scheduling;

[0026] Fig. IB is a block diagram of an example base station including a centralized unit (CU) and a distributed unit (DU) that can operate in the system of Fig. 1 A;

[0027] Fig. 2A is a block diagram of an example protocol stack according to which the UE of Fig. 1 A communicates with base stations;

[0028] Fig. 2B is a block diagram of an example protocol stack according to which the UE of Fig. 1 A communicates with a CU and a DU;

[0029] Fig. 3 A illustrates a scenario in which a RAN transmits a CG configuration to a UE and activates measurement gap skipping for an uplink transmission during an CG resource;

[0030] Fig. 3B illustrates a scenario in which a RAN transmits a semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) configuration to a UE and activates measurement gap skipping for a downlink transmission during an SPS occasion;

[0031] Fig. 3C illustrates a scenario in which a RAN activates measurement gap skipping for a UE and subsequently transmits, to the UE, a downlink control indicator (DCI) with an uplink grant for a period that overlaps with a measurement gap;

[0032] Fig. 3D illustrates a scenario in which a RAN activates measurement gap skipping for a UE, and the UE subsequently transmits a scheduling request during a measurement gap, to receive a DCI with a dynamic grant;

[0033] Fig. 3E illustrates a scenario in which a RAN activates measurement gap skipping for a UE and subsequently transmits, to the UE, a DCI with a downlink assignment for a period that overlaps with a measurement gap;

[0034] Fig. 3F illustrates a scenario in which a RAN activates measurement gap skipping for a UE, and the UE transmits Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) feedback during a measurement gap, for a downlink transmission received during a period that does not overlap with a measurement gap;

[0035] Fig. 4 is a flow diagram of an example method for determining whether to transmit data during a period that overlaps with a measurement gap, based on a time remaining before the expiry of a discard timer associated with the data, which can be implement in a UE of this disclosure;

[0036] Fig. 5 is a flow diagram of a method for determining whether to transmit data during a period that overlaps with a measurement gap, based on a metric of importance of the data, which can be implement in a UE of this disclosure;

[0037] Fig. 6 is a flow diagram of a method for determining whether to transmit data during a period that overlaps with a measurement gap, based on a priority of the measurement gap, which can be implement in a UE of this disclosure;

[0038] Fig. 7 is a flow diagram of a method for determining whether to transmit data during a period that overlaps with a measurement gap, based on whether the data is associated with a high-priority logical channel, which can be implement in a UE of this disclosure;

[0039] Fig. 8A is a block diagram illustrating an example scenario illustrating arrival of traffic during a measurement gap;

[0040] Fig. 8B is a flow diagram of an example method for using a measurement gap to transmit uplink data or a scheduling request for uplink dynamic scheduling, which can be implement in a UE of this disclosure;

[0041] Fig. 9A is a block diagram illustrating an implicit indication that a UE should communicate with the network during a measurement gap, which a RAN can provide to the UE;

[0042] Fig. 9B is a flow diagram of an example method for providing an implicit indication that the UE should communicate with the network during a measurement gap, which can be implemented in a UE of this disclosure;

[0043] Fig. 10A is a block diagram illustrating operation of a timer that limits application of measurement gap skipping for a certain period of time;

[0044] Fig. 10B is a flow diagram of an example method for operating a timer that limits application of measurement gap skipping for a certain period of time, which can be implemented in a UE of this disclosure;

[0045] Fig. 11 A is a block diagram illustrating how previous Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) measurement can inform a decision to skip a measurement gap;

[0046] Fig. 1 IB is a flow diagram of an example method for determining whether to skip a measurement gap based on previous RSRP measurements, which can be implemented in a UE of this disclosure;

[0047] Fig. 12 illustrates an example structure of a DCI a RAN can use to provision measurement gap skipping;

[0048] Fig. 13 is a block diagram illustrating how a UE need not skip a measurement gap when an overlapping occasion of a multi-PUSCH CG is cancelled;

[0049] Figs. 14-16 illustrate example structures of a measurement gap configuration information element (IE), which the RAN and the UE of this disclosure can use to configure measurement gap skipping;

[0050] Fig. 17 illustrates an example structure of a measurement gap configuration IE, which the RAN and the UE of this disclosure can use to configure measurement gap skipping;

[0051] Fig. 18 illustrates an example structure of a logical channel configuration IE, which the RAN and the UE of this disclosure can use to configure measurement gap skipping; and

[0052] Fig. 19 is a block diagram illustrating quasi-periodic XR traffic.DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0053] Fig. 1 A depicts an example wireless communication system 100 in which communication devices can implement techniques for measurement gap scheduling. The wireless communication system 100 includes a UE 102, a base station (BS) 104, a base station 106 and a core network (CN) 110. The UE 102 initially connects to the base station 104. In some scenarios, the base station 104 can perform an SN addition to configure the UE 102 to operate in dual connectivity (DC) with the base station 104 and the base station 106. The base stations 104 and 106 operate as an MN and an SN for the UE 102, respectively.

[0054] In various configurations of the wireless communication system 100, the base station 104 can be implemented as a master eNB (MeNB) or a master gNB (MgNB), and the base station 106 can be implemented as a secondary gNB (SgNB). The UE 102 can communicate with the base station 104 and the base station 106 via the same RAT such as EUTRA or NR, or different RATs. When the base station 104 is an MeNB and the base station 106 is a SgNB, the UE 102 can be in EUTRA-NR DC (EN-DC) with the MeNB and the SgNB.

[0055] In some cases, an MeNB or an SeNB is implemented as an ng-eNB rather than an eNB. When the base station 104 is a Master ng-eNB (Mng-eNB) and the base station 106 is a SgNB, the UE 102 can be in next generation (NG) EUTRA-NR DC (NGEN-DC) with the Mng-eNB and the SgNB. When the base station 104 is an MgNB and the base station 106 is an SgNB, the UE 102 may be in NR-NR DC (NR-DC) with the MgNB and the SgNB. When the base station 104 is an MgNB and the base station 106 is a Secondary ng-eNB (Sng-eNB), the UE 102 may be in NR-EUTRA DC (NE-DC) with the MgNB and the Sng-eNB.

[0056] In the scenarios where the UE 102 hands over from the base station 104 to the base station 106, the base stations 104 and 106 operate as the source base station (S-BS) and a target base station (T-BS), respectively. The UE 102 can operate in DC with the base station 104 and an additional base station (not shown in Fig. 1 A) for example prior to the handover. The UE 102 can continue to operate in DC with the base station 106 and the additional base station or operate in single connectivity (SC) with the base station 106, after completing the handover. The base stations 104 and 106 in this case operate as a source MN (S-MN) and a target MN (T-MN), respectively.

[0057] A core network (CN) 110 can be an evolved packet core (EPC) 111 or a fifthgeneration core (5GC) 160, both of which are depicted in Fig. 1 A. The base station 104 can be an eNB supporting an SI interface for communicating with the EPC 111, an ng-eNBsupporting an NG interface for communicating with the 5GC 160, or a gNB that supports an NR radio interface as well as an NG interface for communicating with the 5GC 160. To directly exchange messages with each other during the scenarios discussed below, the base stations 104 and 106 can support an X2 or Xn interface. Among other components, the EPC 111 can include a Serving Gateway (SGW) 112, a Mobility Management Entity (MME) 114, and a Packet Data Network Gateway (PGW) 116. The SGW 112 is generally configured to transfer user-plane packets related to audio calls, video calls, Internet traffic, etc., and the MME 114 is configured to manage authentication, registration, paging, and other related functions. The PGW 116 provides connectivity from the UE to one or more external packet data networks, e.g., an Internet network and / or an Internet Protocol (IP) Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) network. The 5GC 160 includes a User Plane Function (UPF) 162 and an Access and Mobility Management (AMF) 164, and / or Session Management Function (SMF) 166. The UPF 162 is generally configured to transfer user-plane packets related to audio calls, video calls, Internet traffic, etc., the AMF 164 is configured to manage authentication, registration, paging, and other related functions, and the SMF 166 is configured to manage PDU sessions.

[0058] As illustrated in Fig. 1 A, the base station 104 supports cell 124A, and the base station 106 supports a cell 126. The cells 124A and 126 can partially overlap, so that the UE 102 can communicate in DC with the base station 104 and the base station 106, where one of the base stations 104 and 106 is an MN and the other is an SN. The base station 104 can support additional cell(s) such as cells 124B and 124C, and the base station 106 can support additional cell(s) (not shown in Fig. 1 A). The cells 124A, 124B and 124C can partially overlap, so that the UE 102 can communicate in carrier aggregation (CA) with the base station 104. The base station 104 can operate the cells 124A, 124B and 124C via one or more transmit and receive points (TRPs). More particularly, when the UE 102 is in DC with the base station 104 and the base station 106, one of the base stations 104 and 106 operates as an MeNB, an Mng-eNB or an MgNB, and the other operates as an SgNB or an Sng-eNB.

[0059] In general, the wireless communication network 100 can include any suitable number of base stations supporting NR cells and / or EUTRA cells. More particularly, the EPC 111 or the 5GC 160 can be connected to any suitable number of base stations supporting NR cells and / or EUTRA cells. Although the examples below refer specifically to specific CN types (EPC, 5GC) and RAT types (5GNR and EUTRA), in general the techniques of thisdisclosure also can apply to other suitable radio access and / or core network technologies such as sixth generation (6G) radio access and / or 6G core network or 5GNR-6G DC.

[0060] With continued reference to Fig. 1A, the base station 104 is equipped with processing hardware 130 that can include one or more general-purpose processors (e.g., CPUs) and a non-transitory computer-readable memory storing instructions that the one or more general-purpose processors execute. Additionally or alternatively, the processing hardware 130 can include special-purpose processing units. The processing hardware 130 can include a PHY controller 132 configured to transmit data and control signal on physical downlink (DL) channels and DL reference signals with one or more user devices (e.g. UE 102) via one or more cells (e.g., the cell(s) 124A, 124B and / or 124C) and / or one or more TRPs. The PHY controller 132 is also configured to receive data and control signal on physical uplink (UL) channels and / or UL reference signals with the one or more user devices via one or more cells (e.g., the cell(s) 124A, 124B and / or 124C) and / or one or more TRPs. The processing hardware 130 in an example implementation includes a Medium Access Control (MAC) controller 134 configured to perform MAC functions with one or more user devices. The MAC functions include a random access (RA) procedure, managing UL timing advance (TA) for the one or more user devices, and / or communicating UL / DL MAC PDUs with the one or more user devices. The MAC functions include lower triggered mobility (LTM) related functions as described below. The processing hardware 130 can further include an RRC controller 136 to implement procedures and messaging at the RRC sublayer of the protocol communication stack. For example, the RRC controller 132 may be configured to support RRC messaging associated with handover procedures, and / or to support the necessary operations when the base station 104 operates as an MN relative to an SN or as an SN relative to an MN. The base station 106 can include processing hardware 140 that is similar to processing hardware 130. In particular, components 142, 144, and 146 can be similar to the components 132, 134, and 136, respectively.

[0061] The UE 102 is equipped with processing hardware 150 that can include one or more general-purpose processors such as CPUs and non-transitory computer-readable memory storing machine-readable instructions executable on the one or more general-purpose processors, and / or special-purpose processing units. The PHY controller 152 is also configured to receive data and control signal on physical DL channels and / or DL reference signals with the base station 104 or 106 via one or more cells (e.g., the cell(s) 124A, 124B, 124C and / or 126) and / or one or more TRPs. The PHY controller 152 is also configured totransmit data and control signal on physical UL channels and / or UL reference signals with the base station 104 or 106 via one or more cells (e.g., the cell(s) 124A, 124B, 124C and / or 126) and / or one or more TRPs. The processing hardware 150 in an example implementation includes a MAC controller 154 configured to perform MAC functions with base station 104 or 106. For example, the MAC functions includes a random access procedure, managing UL timing advance for the one or more user devices, and communicating UL / DL MAC PDUs with the base station 104 or 106. In another example, the MAC functions includes LTM related functions as described below. The processing hardware 150 can further include an RRC controller 156 to implement procedures and messaging at the RRC sublayer of the protocol communication stack.

[0062] In operation, the UE 102 in DC can use a radio bearer (e.g., a DRB or an SRB) that at different times terminates at the MN 104 or the SN 106. The UE 102 can apply one or more security keys when communicating on the radio bearer, in the uplink (UL) (from the UE 102 to a base station) and / or downlink (from a base station to the UE 102) direction.

[0063] Fig. IB depicts an example distributed implementation of a base station such as the base station 104 or 106. The base station in this implementation can include a centralized unit (CU) 172 and one or more distributed units (DUs) 174. The CU 172 is equipped with processing hardware that can include one or more general -purpose processors such as CPUs and non-transitory computer-readable memory storing machine-readable instructions executable on the one or more general-purpose processors, and / or special-purpose processing units. In one example, the CU 172 is equipped with the processing hardware 130. In another example, the CU 172 is equipped with the processing hardware 140. The processing hardware 140 in an example implementation includes an SN RRC controller 142 configured to manage or control one or more RRC configurations and / or RRC procedures when the base station 106 operates as an SN. The DU 174 is also equipped with processing hardware that can include one or more general-purpose processors such as CPUs and non-transitory computer-readable memory storing machine-readable instructions executable on the one or more general-purpose processors, and / or special-purpose processing units. In some examples, the processing hardware in an example implementation includes a medium access control (MAC) controller configured to manage or control one or more MAC operations or procedures (e.g., a random access procedure) and a radio link control (REC) controller configured to manage or control one or more RLC operations or procedures when the base station 106 operates as an MN or an SN. The process hardware may include further aphysical layer controller configured to manage or control one or more physical layer operations or procedures.

[0064] Fig. 2A illustrates, in a simplified manner, an example protocol stack 200 according to which the UE 102 can communicate with an eNB / ng-eNB or a gNB (e.g., one or more of the base stations 104, 106).

[0065] In the example stack 200, a physical layer (PHY) 202 A of EUTRA provides transport channels to the EUTRA MAC sublayer 204A, which in turn provides logical channels to the EUTRA RLC sublayer 206A. The EUTRA RLC sublayer 206A in turn provides RLC channels to an EUTRA PDCP sublayer 208 and, in some cases, to an NR PDCP sublayer 210. Similarly, the NR PHY 202B provides transport channels to the NR MAC sublayer 204B, which in turn provides logical channels to the NR RLC sublayer 206B. The NR RLC sublayer 206B in turn provides data transfer services to the NR PDCP sublayer 210. The NR PDCP sublayer 210 in turn can provide data transfer services to Service Data Adaptation Protocol (SDAP) 212 or a radio resource control (RRC) sublayer (not shown in Fig. 2A). The UE 102, in some implementations, supports both the EUTRA and the NR stack as shown in Fig. 2A, to support handover between EUTRA and NR base stations and / or to support DC over EUTRA and NR interfaces. Further, as illustrated in Fig. 2A, the UE 102 can support layering of NR PDCP 210 over EUTRA RLC 206 A, and SDAP sublayer 212 over the NR PDCP sublayer 210.

[0066] The EUTRA PDCP sublayer 208 and the NR PDCP sublayer 210 receive packets (e.g., from an Internet Protocol (IP) layer, layered directly or indirectly over the PDCP layer 208 or 210) that can be referred to as service data units (SDUs), and output packets (e.g., to the RLC layer 206A or 206B) that can be referred to as protocol data units (PDUs). Except where the difference between SDUs and PDUs is relevant, this disclosure for simplicity refers to both SDUs and PDUs as “packets.”

[0067] On a control plane, the EUTRA PDCP sublayer 208 and the NR PDCP sublayer 210 can provide signaling radio bearers (SRBs) or RRC sublayer (not shown in Fig. 2 A) to exchange RRC messages or non-access-stratum (NAS) messages, for example. On a user plane, the EUTRA PDCP sublayer 208 and the NR PDCP sublayer 210 can provide Data Radio Bearers (DRBs) to support data exchange. Data exchanged on the NR PDCP sublayer 210 can be SDAP PDUs, Internet Protocol (IP) packets or Ethernet packets.

[0068] Fig. 2B illustrates, in a simplified manner, an example protocol stack 250, which the UE 102 can communicate with a DU (e.g., DU 174) and a CU (e.g., CU 172). The radio protocol stack 200 is functionally split as shown by the radio protocol stack 250 in Fig. 2B. The CU at any of the base stations 104 or 106 can hold all the control and upper layer functionalities (e.g., RRC 214, SDAP 212, NR PDCP 210), while the lower layer operations (e.g., NR RLC 206B, NR MAC 204B, and NR PHY 202B) are delegated to the DU. To support connection to a 5GC, NR PDCP 210 provides SRBs to RRC 214, and NR PDCP 210 provides DRBs to SDAP 212 and SRBs to RRC 214.

[0069] Referring generally to Figs. 3A-3F, the RAN 105 can activate the skipping of measurement gaps / restriction feature (for simplicity, the “MG skipping feature”) per a CG configuration, per LCH Configuration, per MG configuration, per cell, per cell group, or per scheduling type. Generally speaking, similar events in Figs. 3 A-3F are labeled with similar reference numbers that share two least significant digits, with differences discussed below where appropriate.

[0070] As illustrated in Fig. 3A, the BS 104 in a scenario 300A activates the MG skipping feature per a Configured Grant configuration. The BS 104 optionally queries 304 the UE 102 for UE capability, and the UE 102 responds 406 with an indication that the UE 102 supports the MG skipping feature. The BS 104 configures 308 the UE 102 with a CG configuration, which in this case includes an indication that the MG skipping feature is now active. To this end, the BS 104 can transmit a “new” (i.e., special-purpose, dedicated) RRC parameter. The BS 104 can include this dedicated RRC parameter in the configured Grant Configuration Information Element (IE) as discussed with reference to Fig. 17, for example. The UE 102 responds 310 with an RRC reconfiguration complete message.

[0071] Additionally or alternatively, the BS 104 configures 312 the UE 102 with the measurement gap / restrictions skipping feature via a Logical Channel (LCH) configuration with the MG skipping feature activated for that specific LCH in 308. The BS 104 in this case also can transmit special-purpose, dedicated RRC parameter in an LCH Configuration IE, discussed with reference to Fig. 18 for example. As another alternative, the BS 104 configures 308 (or 312) the UE 102 with the MG skipping feature via a Measurement Gap configuration, which can include for example a GapConfig, a GapConfig-rl7, or a PosGapConfig-rl7 IE. The BS 104 in this case also can include a special -purpose, dedicated RRC parameter in the measurement Gap Configuration IE as illustrated in Fig. 14 for thelegacy measurement Gap configuration, in Fig. 15 for the Rel-17 measurement Gap configuration, and in Fig. 16 for the positioning measurement Gap configuration.

[0072] Based on the RRC configuration, the UE 102 determines 316 to activate the MG skipping feature. The UE 102 detects 318 arrival of UL data packets, which can include XR traffic or other high-priority data. When the UL CG resource for carrying the high priority data overlaps the measurement gap, the UE 102 skips the measurement gap and the associated restriction(s) and transmits 324, 326 the data to the base station 104. The UE 102 also transmits 320, 322, 328, 330 UL data during the CG occasions that do not overlap with the measurement gap.

[0073] The UE 102 can activate 316 the MG skipping feature for a certain CG configuration, a certain LCH, a certain Quality of Service (QoS) flow, a certain logical cell group (LCG), or a certain measurement gap configuration. Further, the BS 104 and / or the UE 102 can activate 316 the MG skipping feature for a frequency band, a bandwidth part (BWP), for the UE 102, for a particular transmission direction (UL / DL), for a particular scheduling type (dynamic scheduling, semi-static scheduling). The BS 104 can activate or deactivate the MG skipping feature dynamically (e.g., via DCI) or / and semi-statically (e.g., via RRC).

[0074] The BS 104 can enable the MG skipping feature for a certain CG Configuration and disable the MG skipping feature for another CG Configuration (e.g., via the RRC configuration or via the activation / deactivation DCI for CG configuration type 2). In some implementations, the BS 104 uses a bitmap to activate / deactivate measurement gaps / restrictions for different CG configurations. Further, the base station 104 can configure the UE 102 to skip measurement gaps / restrictions only for the CG Configuration that will carry the XR traffic. Still further, the base station 104 can configure the UE 102 with the MG skipping feature for a multi -PUSCH CG configuration, defined to better support XR traffic. The UE 102 thus can skip the measurement gap only when the UL CG transmission occurs in a CG occasion of the multi -PUSCH CG resource and overlaps with the measurement gap / restriction. The BS 104 can specify that that the MG skipping feature is supported only for multi -PUSCH CG configurations.

[0075] Fig. 3B illustrates a scenarios 300B similar to that of Fig. 3A, but here the BS 104 configures 309 the UE 102 with an SPS configuration. The BS 104 can activate the MG skipping feature per cell, cell group, LCH, or SPS configuration. The BS 104 can include, in the SPS configuration, an RRC parameter to enable or disable data reception in the SPSoccasions that overlap with the measurement gaps / restrictions. The BS 104 can use a DCI in the existing format or a new format specifically defined to support the MG skipping feature to dynamically enable or disable data reception at the UE 102 during SPS occasions overlapping with the measurement gaps / restrictions. In some cases, the BS 104 uses a DCI bit-field defined for the purpose of controlling the MG skipping feature. When a DL data arrives 344, 346 at the UE 102 during an SPS occasion, and the SPS occasion overlaps with a measurement gap / restriction, the UE 102 is allowed to receive the DL SPS data during the SPS occasion and skip the measurement gap / restriction.

[0076] Next, Fig. 3C illustrates a scenario 300C, in which the UE 102 can transmit 364, 366 UL data using UL resources which the BS 104 schedules 359, 363 via an UL grant, and the scheduled UL resources overlap with a measurement gap / restriction. The UE 102 transmits 364, 366 the UL data to the base station 104 and skips the measurement gap / restriction. The UE 102 can also monitor the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) and receive 365 a DCI when the PDCCH overlaps with the measurement gap / restriction. The BS 104 and the UE 102 can use an RRC parameter could be defined to enable or disable the UE reception of UL data scheduled dynamically via PDCCH. The BS 104 and the UE 102 can use another RRC parameter to enable or disable the monitoring of PDCCH at the UE 102, when the PDCCH overlaps with a measurement gap or restriction.

[0077] In a scenario 300D illustrated in Fig. 3D, the UE 102 is allowed to send 372 a scheduling request (SR) to the base station 104, when the PUCCH occasion overlaps with a measurement gap / restriction. The UE 102 can use a dedicated, special-purpose RRC parameter to enable or disable, at the UE 102, transmission of an SR during the measurement gap / restriction. The BS 104 can include the RRC parameter in the SR configuration. The BS 104 can configure the UE 102 with the MG skipping feature per SR configuration and / or per PUCCH configuration. In some cases, the base station 104 configures the UE 102 with the MG skipping feature for a high-priority SR configuration.

[0078] Referring to Fig. 3E, the BS 104 in a scenario 300E schedules 383, for the UE 102, a DCI 383 outside the measurement gap, so that the UE 102 can receive 384 data in a transmission that overlaps the measurement gap / restriction. The UE 102 skips the measurement gap / restriction and receives 384 the scheduled data. The BS 102 can allow this functionality for specific DCI formats, for specific PDCCH configurations, or specific search spaces. The BS 104 can use a dedicated, special-purpose RRC parameter to enable or disablethis feature. The BS 104 can include this RRC parameter in the PDCCH configuration or the search space configuration to enable or disable the MG skipping feature.

[0079] Now referring to Fig. 3F, in a scenario 300F, the UE 102 transmits 392 HARQ feedback even if this transmission overlaps with a measurement gap / restriction. The UE 102 skips the measurement gap / restriction and sends 392 the HARQ feedback to the base station 104. The BS 104 can enable or disable the MG skipping feature per PUCCH configuration or for specific PUCCH configurations. The BS 104 can allow the skipping of measurement gap / restriction to transmit high-priority HARQ feedback, e.g., HARQ feedback associated with the XR traffic. For example, a HARQ feedback carrying feedback for PDU-Set(s) can have sufficient priority for the UE 102 to cancel a measurement gap / restriction and instead transmit HARQ feedback during this period.

[0080] Next, an example technique for skipping a measurement gap depending on the remaining delay is discussed with reference to Fig. 4.

[0081] As block 402, a UE (e.g., the UE 102) receives a measurement configuration from the network (e.g., the base station 104). At block 404, the UE receives a measurement gap configuration. Next, at block 406, the UE receives a delay threshold Delay Thrshold (e.g., via RRC). After the UE at block 408 detects availability of high-priority UL data (e.g., XR traffic) for transmission, at block 410 the UE determines whether the UL transmission overlaps with a measurement gap / restriction. If so, the flow proceeds to block 412, where the UE checks whether the remaining time of the transmission is equal to, or is less than, a specific configured delay threshold DelayThrshold. If the remaining delay is less than or equal to the threshold amount, the flow proceeds to block 414, where the UE skips the measurement gap / restriction and transmits, at block 416, the UL data. Otherwise, if the remaining delay is greater than the threshold amount, the flow proceeds to block 418, where the UE carries out the measurement.

[0082] The remaining time of the transmission can be the time remaining for the PDU before the expiry of its associated PDCP discard timer. The UE can subtract, from the remaining delay, a constant p. This constant can be the duration of the measurement gap window. In another example scenario, constant P is equal to 0, and the UE considers only the remaining time when comparing with the configured threshold DelayThrshold. The unit of DelayThrshold can be milliseconds, OFDM symbols, or slots.

[0083] Now referring to Fig. 5, a UE can implement a method 500 to determine whether to skip a measurement gap in view of data priority, particularly in view of the PDU Set Importance (PSI) value. Generally speaking, the PSI indicates the importance of a PDU Set. At block 502, a UE (e.g., the UE 102) receives a measurement configuration from the network (e.g., the base station 104). At block 504, the UE receives a measurement gap configuration. Next, at block 506, the UE receives a PSI threshold PSIThreshold. The base station can transmit the PSI threshold using RRC signaling, for example. After the UE at block 508 detects availability of high-priority UL data (e.g., XR traffic) for transmission, at block 510 the UE determines whether the UL transmission overlaps with a measurement gap / restriction. If so, the flow proceeds to block 512, where the UE checks whether the PSI of the data to be transmitted in the uplink direction is equal to, or greater than, the configured PSI threshold value PSIThreshold. If so, the flow proceeds to block 514, where the UE skips the measurement gap and transmits, at block 516, the UL data. Otherwise, if the PSI is lower than PSIThreshold, the flow proceeds to block 518, where the UE carries out the measurement. Depending on the implementation, the UE can drop or delay the UL data transmission at block 518.

[0084] Next, Fig. 6 illustrates an example method 600 a UE can implement to determine whether to skip a measurement gap in view of the priority of the measurement gap. At block 602, a UE receives a measurement configuration from the network. At block 604, the UE receives a measurement gap configuration. This configuration can be for example a GapConfig-rl7 \ that includes an indication of the priority of the measurement gap, e.g., GapPriority-rl7. The purpose of the priority field GapPriority-rl7 field is to address a potential overlap between different measurement gaps / restrictions and allow the UE to prioritize the measurement gap / restriction having a high priority, when multiple measurement gaps / restrictions overlap. Here, however, the UE uses the priority field to resolve an overlap between a high-priority transmission (e.g., XR traffic and a measurement gap / restriction.

[0085] Next, at block 606, the UE receives a measurement gap threshold GapPriorityThrshld. The base station can transmit the measurement gap threshold using RRC signaling, for example. After the UE at block 608 detects availability of high-priority UL data (e.g., XR traffic) for transmission, at block 610 the UE determines whether the UL transmission overlaps with a measurement gap / restriction. If so, the flow proceeds to block 612, where the UE checks whether the priority of the measurement gap is equal to, or greater than, GapPriorityThrshld. If so, the flow proceeds to block 614, where the UE skips themeasurement gap and transmits, at block 616, the UL data. Otherwise, if the gap priority is lower than GapPriorityThrshld, the flow proceeds to block 618, where the UE carries out the measurement. Depending on the implementation, the UE can drop or delay the UL data transmission at block 518. Although in this example the UE uses the existing priority indication for a measurement gap / restriction to determine whether to skip the measurement gap, in other implementations the UE can use another priority indication specifically defined for the purpose of comparing to GapPriorityThrshld, and the network can signal this new indication as a new RRC parameter.

[0086] Next, Fig. 7 illustrates an example method 700 which a UE can implement to determine to skip a measurement gap to transmit an SR, in view of SR priority. At block 702, a UE receives a measurement configuration from the network. At block 704, the UE receives a measurement gap configuration. Next, at block 706, the UE receives one or more SR configurations. The SR configuration can be associated with a higher priority than some or all measurement gaps / restrictions. At block 708, the UE detects an SR for transmission. Next, at block 710, the UE determines whether the PUCCH resource for the SR transmission overlaps with a measurement gap / restriction. If so, the flow proceeds to block 712, where the UE checks whether the SR is associated with a high-priority logical channel (LCH). If so, the flow proceeds to block 714, where the UE skips the measurement gap and transmits, at block 716, the SR. Otherwise, if the SR is not associated with a high-priority LCH, the flow proceeds to block 718, where the UE carries out the measurement.

[0087] In some implementations, the UE uses a certain prohibit timer to avoid recurrent skipping of measurement gaps / restrictions due to high-priority SR. The network can configure the prohibit timer via RRC messaging, for example.

[0088] Next, Fig. 8A illustrates an example scenario 800 in which traffic interrupts measurement gaps / restrictions. Traffic 810 can arrive, or can be scheduled to be transmitted, in the middle of a measurement gap / restriction. Alternatively, a configured grant resource carrying the data 810 starts in the middle of the measurement gap / restriction 812. The measurement gap / restriction could be interrupted if the data traffic or an SR or a PUCCH (e.g., carrying HARQ-ACK feedback) must be transmitted during the measurement gap / restriction.

[0089] The UE can apply certain priority rules to determine whether the UE should transmit the traffic (e.g., PUSCH PUCCH, SR, SRS, . . .), or comply with the measurementgap / restriction, when the traffic overlaps with a measurement gap / restriction or interrupts a measurement gap / restriction. The UE can take into consideration one or multiple of the following factors to decide whether to prioritize the traffic transmission or the measurement gap / restriction: (i) the remaining time of the PDCP discard timer, (ii) the importance / priority of the traffic (e.g., PSI of PDU Sets), (iii) the duration of the traffic, (iv) the type of the traffic (e.g., PUSCH, PUCCH, SR, SRS, . . .), (v) whether the grant is a dynamic grant or a configured grant, (vi) the direction of the traffic (e.g., DL or UL), (vii) the Time Division Duplex (TDD) UL / DL configuration, (viii) the start or / and the length of the measurement gap / restriction, (ix) the priority of the measurement gap / restriction, (xi) the purpose of the measurement gap / restriction (e.g., PRS, CSI, SSB / PBCH), (xii) the type of the measurement gap / restriction (e.g., intra-frequency, inter-frequency, inter-RATs), or (xiii) previous measurements results (e.g., previous LI RSRP measurements).

[0090] Fig. 8B is a flow diagram of an example method 850 for using a measurement gap to transmit uplink data or a scheduling request for uplink dynamic scheduling, which can be implement in a UE (e.g., the UE 102). At block 852, the UE receives, from a network, a measurement gap configuration. At block 854, the UE uses the measurement gap for RRM / CSI / PRS measurement. At block 856, and during the measurement gap, the UE receives UL data to be transmitted, such as XR traffic for example. The UE can receive the UL data from another layer into a buffer, for example. At block 858, the UE interrupts the measurement gap to send the UL data using a configured grant (using the resource of the configured grant), or to send an SR to the network for UL dynamic scheduling. The UE interrupting the measurement gap can be conditioned on the priority of the UL data or the SR.

[0091] Fig. 9A is a block diagram of a scenario 900 including an implicit indication that a UE should communicate with the network during a measurement gap, which a RAN (e.g., the RAN 105) can provide to a UE (e.g., the UE 102). Here, the network scheduling data overlapping with the measurement gap operates as an implicit indication to the UE to skip the measurement gap.

[0092] In the scenario 900A, the base station can configure the UE with the MG skipping feature, i.e., to skip a measurement gap / restriction, for a situation where the UE receives a dynamic UL / DL scheduling, and the scheduled data overlaps the measurement gap / restriction. The base station can provide this configuration via RRC signaling, for example. The base station can configure (e.g., via RRC) a specific PDCCH configuration ora specific search space, or a specific CORESET, or a specific (existing or new, special- purpos / dedicated) DCI format. The associated PDCCH 902 schedules data 904 which overwrites / cancels the measurement gap / restriction 906.

[0093] The UE can also receive a configuration to monitor PDCCH during measurement gaps / restrictions. For example, the UE can be configured to monitor a specific control occasion (e.g., a search space, a PDCCH configuration, or a specific CORESET carrying DL / UL scheduling for high-priority data such as XR data), even if the specific control occasion overlaps with the measurement gaps / restrictions.

[0094] Fig. 9B illustrates an example method 950 for providing an implicit indication that the UE should communicate with the network during a measurement gap, which can be implemented in a RAN. At block 952, the UE receives, from a network, a measurement gap configuration. At block 954, the UE receives an indication that the UE should skip a measurement gap (or multiple measurement gaps), if the measurement gap overlaps with UL / DL data scheduling. At block 956, the UE receives a PDCCH scheduling UL / DL data, such that the scheduling overlaps with a measurement gap. At block 958, the UE skips the measurement gap and transmits or receives the scheduled data, at the overlapping time.

[0095] Next, Fig. 10A illustrates example operation of a timer that limits application of measurement gap skipping for a certain period of time. In a scenario 1000, the UE receives a configuration with a prohibit timer to control the number of measurement gaps / restrictions the UE can skip, so as to avoid impact on the RRM performance. The base station can provide the configuration to the UE via RRC for example. The configuration can include a measurement gap / restriction skipping prohibit timer 1020. After the UE skips a measurement gap / restriction 1002 to transmit data 1010, the UE triggers (activates) the prohibit timer 1002. While the timer 1002 is running, the UE is not allowed to skip any other measurement gaps / restrictions such as the measurement gap 1004 or the measurement gap 1006. As a result, the UE cannot transmit at least some of the data 1012 and 1016 that partially overlaps with the measurement gaps 1004 and 1006, respectively. The UE can still transmit data 1014 because, although the data arrives (into the buffer for UL transmission or from the network) while the timer 1020 is running, the scheduling of the data 1014 does not overlap with any measurement gaps. After the timer 1020 expires, the UE 102 can resume skipping measurement gaps / restrictions if needed. For example, the UE can skip the measurement gap 1008 to transmit data 1030 after the expiry of the prohibit timer 1020. The base station canconfigure the measurement gap / restriction skipping prohibit timer 1020 per measurement gap configuration and / or per UE, for example.

[0096] Referring to Fig. 10B, example method 1050 begins at block 1052, where the UE receives a measurement gap configuration. At block 1054, the UE skips a measurement gap for RRM / CSI / PRS measurement to transmit or receive data. At block 1056, the UE starts a timer that limits application of measurement gap skipping for a certain period of time. The UE can resume skipping time measurement gaps after the expiration of the timer.

[0097] Fig. 11 A illustrates a scenario 1100 in which a previous RSRP measurement can inform a decision to skip a measurement gap. In other words, here the measurement gap / restriction skipping is dependent on previous LI RSRP measurements. The base station configures the UE with an indication to skip a measurement gap / restriction that overlaps with some specific data and under certain conditions, e.g., conditions on the previous L1 / L3 RSRP measurements such as 1120 and 1122.

[0098] For example, if the previous LI RSRP measurements are relatively stable, and there is no significant fluctuation in the measurements, the UE and / or the network can determine that skipping one measurement gap / restriction is unlikely to have a significant impact, and thus the UE can skip the measurement gap. The UE can receive, pre-store, or otherwise be configured with a formula such as: fN(RSRPk-N+l,...,RSRPk)< Q (Eq. 1), where RSRPk-N+1,... , RSRPk are L1 / L3 RSRP measurements, > is an RSRP fluctuation threshold (other conditions on f are not excluded).An example of fNwith N = 2 is f2(RSRPk-l, RSRPk) =|RSRPk - RSRPk-1 | (Eq. 2)

[0099] Using fN, the UE can determine whether to skip a certain measurement gap in view of the previously observed L1 / L3 RSRP measurements. In general, the base station can specify different formulas or rules for different measurement gap configurations.

[0100] Thus, in this scenario, the UE does not transmit at least portions of data 1102 and 1104, because the corresponding scheduling partially overlaps with the measurement gaps 1112 and 1114, respectively. The UE can still transmit data 1106 because the scheduling of the data 1106 does not overlap with any measurement gaps. The UE skips the measurement gap 1116 to transmit data 1108, in view of the measurements RSRPk-1 and RSRPk.

[0101] Referring to Fig. 1 IB, an example method 1150 for determining whether to skip a measurement gap based on previous RSRP measurements begins at block 1152, where the UE receives a measurement gap configuration. At block 1154, the UE measures a certain number of RSRPs during measurement gaps. At block 1156, the UE determines that a UL / DL data transmission overlaps with a measurement gap. The UE skips the measurement gap if the previous RSRP measurement(s) satisfy a certain condition. For example, the UE can skip the measurement gap if the fluctuations of previous RSRPs within a specified / configured window are within a certain margin.

[0102] Next, Fig. 12 illustrates an example DCI bit-field structure 1200 a RAN can use to provision measurement gap skipping. In particular, the RAN can add bit-fields 1202, 1204, and / or 1204 to a UL / DL scheduling DCI, to instruct to the UE to skip a measurement gap / restriction Field 1202 can be an MG skip field indicating, to the UE, whether the UE can / should skip a measurement gap / restriction. Field 1204 can be an MG ID field that includes an ID of the measurement gap / restriction that the UE can skip. In general, different IDs can be associated with different types of measurement gaps for SSB, PRS, CSI, etc. Field 1206 can be aK MG field that includes an offset pointing to the measurement gap / restriction that the UE can skip. The units of this offset can be milliseconds, slots, or OFDM symbols, for example. The reference for the offset could be the slot or the OFDM symbol carrying the indication.

[0103] The bit-field structure 1200 can be added to one or more one or multiple DCI formats. Alternatively, the RAN and the UE can use a new (special-purpose, dedicated) MAC control element (MAC-CE) indicate MG skipping.

[0104] Further, the DCI can include other bit-fields to indicate and locate the measurement gap / restriction which the UE can skip. The bit-field structure 1200 (or another bit-field structure that includes information for identifying a measurement gap) can be introduced into DL scheduling DCI format 1 1 and / or DCI format 1 0. In some implementations, the bitfield structure 1200 is restricted to DCIs in which the cyclic redundancy check (CRC) is scrambled with a Cell Radio Network Temporary Identifier (C-RNTI). Still further, the bitfield structure 1200 can be introduced into the UL scheduling DCI format 0 1 and / or DCI format 0 0. These bit-fields also can be restricted to DCIs in which the CRC scrambled is with C-RNTI. Alternatively, the RAN and the UE can use a special-purpose DCI format to signal the skipping of the measurement gap / restriction.

[0105] In some implementations, the DCI that is signaling the skipping of the measurement gap / restriction also includes a bit-field to indicate the carrier on which the skipping is taking place, and / or indicate whether the skipping is applicable to gapFRl, gapFR2, or gapUE.

[0106] In some implementations, the UE can implicitly derive the indication to skip a measurement gap / restriction from another signaling bit-field in the DCI. For example, if a DCI includes a priority bit-field, and if this bit-field is signaling a high-priority PDSCH / PUSCH, the UE can interpret the priority bit-field as an indication to activate the MG skipping feature.

[0107] Fig. 13 is a block diagram illustrating how a UE need not skip a measurement gap when an overlapping occasion of a multi-PUSCH CG is cancelled. In a scenario 1300, a multi- PUSCH CG configuration includes CG PUSCH occasions 1302, 1304, 1306, 1308, and 1310. If the CG PUSCH occasions 1302-1310 have priority, and if the CG PUSCH occasion 1310 overlapping with a measurement gap 1312 is cancelled by an Unused Transmit Occasion - UCI (UTO-UCI), then the measurement gap 1312 no longer has any overlap with the CG PUSCH occasions. The UE in this case does not skip the measurement gap 1312 and performs the measurement.

[0108] Fig. 14 illustrates an example RRC parameter 1400 that can be introduced to enable the skipping of a measurement gap. This RRC parameter can be included in the GapConfig information element specified in TS 38.331, for example. This parameter indicates to the UE that skipping is activated / deactivated for this measurement gap configuration. If skipMG is set to “true,” the UE autonomously skips the measurement gap / restriction, or the base station indicates to the UE explicitly (e.g., via a DCI or a MAC-CE) or implicitly (e.g., by scheduling resources overlapping with measurement gaps / restrictions) to skip a measurement gap / restriction.

[0109] Fig. 15 illustrates an example RRC parameter 1500 that can be introduced to enable the skipping of a measurement gap for a Rel-17 Gap configuration. As illustrated in Fig. 15, t the new RRC parameter can be added to the GapConfig-rl7 \ specified in TS 38.331. This parameter indicates to the UE that skipping is activated / deactivated for this Rel-17 measurement gap configuration. If skipMG is set to “true,” the UE can autonomously skip the measurement gap / restriction, or the base station can indicate to the UE explicitly (e.g., viaDCI or a MAC-CE) or implicitly (e.g., by scheduling resources overlapping with measurement gaps / restrictions) to skip a measurement gap / restriction.

[0110] Fig. 16 illustrates an example RRC parameter 1600 that can be introduced to enable the skipping of a measurement gap for a Rel-17 Positioning Gap configuration. As illustrated in Fig. 16, the RRC parameter 1600 can be added to the PosGapConfig-rl7 E specified in TS 38.331. This parameter indicates to the UE that skipping is activated / deactivated for this Rel-17 positioning measurement gap configuration. If skipMG is set to “true,” the UE can autonomously skip the measurement gap / restriction, or the base station can indicate to the UE explicitly (e.g., via DCI or a MAC-CE) or implicitly (e.g., by scheduling resources overlapping with measurement gaps / restrictions) to skip a measurement gap / restriction.

[0111] Fig. 17 illustrates an example RRC parameter 1700 that can be introduced to enable the skipping of a measurement gap for a Configured Grant configuration. As illustrated in Fig. 17, the RRC parameter 1700 can be added to the ConfiguredGrantConfig IE specified in TS 38.331. This parameter indicates to the UE that skipping is activated / deactivated for this configured grant configuration. If skipMG is set to “true,” the UE can autonomously skip the measurement gap / restriction, or the base station can indicate to the UE explicitly (e.g., via DCI or a MAC-CE) or implicitly (e.g., by scheduling resources overlapping with measurement gaps / restrictions) to skip a measurement gap / restriction.

[0112] Fig. 18 illustrates an example RRC parameter 1800 that can be introduced to enable the skipping of a measurement gap for a Logical Channel configuration. As illustrated in Fig. 18, the RRC parameter 1700 can be added to the LogicalChannelConfig information element in TS 38.331. This parameter indicates to the UE that skipping is activated / deactivated for this logical channel configuration. If skipMG is set to “true,” the UE can autonomously skip the measurement gap / restriction, or the base station can indicate to the UE explicitly (e.g., via DCI or a MAC-CE) or implicitly (e.g., by scheduling resources overlapping with measurement gaps / restrictions) to skip a measurement gap / restriction.

[0113] Fig. 19 is a block diagram illustrating quasi-periodic XR traffic. Here, jitter corresponds to a truncated Gaussian distribution with the mean of 0 ms, the STD of 2m, and the range of [-4 ms, 4 ms]. The frame size corresponds to a truncated Gaussian distribution with the mean equal to (average data rate) / (fps for the video stream) / 8 [bytes]. Here, [STD, Max, Min] = [10.5, 150, 50 % of the mean. For example, for a data rate of 30 Mbps and 60 fps, the mean is 64 Kbytes.

[0114] The following addition discussion applies to the embodiments discussed above.Network assisted by DSR for measurement gap / restriction skipping

[0115] For UL, if the reported remaining time in the DSR is not enough for the base station 104 to schedule the data and also to keep the measurement gap / restriction then the measurement gap / restriction could be cancelled by the network.

[0116] The BS 104 can configure the UE 102 (e.g., via RRC) with a threshold on the remaining time (e.g., for the XR traffic) to allow the UE 102 to autonomously determine whether a measurement gap / restriction should be skipped or maintained. If the remaining time is larger than a timing threshold the UE 102 can maintain the measurement gap / restriction. If the remaining time is smaller than a timing threshold the UE 102 has to skip the measurement gap / restriction and transmit the data.The measurement gap / restriction skipping feature

[0117] The feature “UE skipping of measurement gaps / restrictions” could be configured and activated / deactivated by RRC or / and by MAC / CE. The feature “UE skipping of measurement gaps / restrictions” is configured and activated / deactivated for gapFRl separately from gapFR2 or gapUE. “UE skipping of measurement gaps / restrictions” could be configured for gapUE only if a per UE measurement gap configuration is already supported / configured and / or activated.

[0118] A new field under MeasGapConfig information element or under GapConfig in TS 38.331 can be defined to activate / deactivate “UE skipping of measurement gaps / restrictions” for FR1 or FR2 or a UE specific.UE Assistance information for measurement gaps / restrictions skipping

[0119] UE 102 can provide the base station 104 with its preference to enable measurement gaps / restrictions skipping, e.g., as assistance information. In another embodiment, the UE can indicate its preference in terms of which measurement gaps / restrictions should be skipped (e.g., based on its UE awareness about the UL traffic and the buffered data to be transmitted). The UE 102 can indicate the measurement gaps / restrictions to be skipped by the UE 102 or its preference in terms of measurement gaps / restrictions skipping in the UCI or in MAC-CE. The UE 102 can also indicate on which carrier the UE 102 prefers to skip the measurement gaps / restrictions (e.g. an indication of which carrier in the UCI or in MAC-CE). The UE 102can indicate to the base station 104 which measurement gap / restriction configuration it prefers to skip.Multiple Measurement gaps / restrictions skipping

[0120] To indicate the parameters of the measurement gaps / restrictions skipping, like the starting point of the skipping and the duration of the skipping one of the following options could be adopted.

[0121] The start offset a of the measurement gaps / restrictions skipping and the duration 0 of the measurement gaps / restrictions skipping is indicated. In DL, a can be interpreted as the duration from the end of the slot, or the DCI or the MAC-CE carrying the skipping indication till when the skipping will be applied can be in unit of milliseconds, OFDM symbols, subframes, measurement gaps / restrictions configured periodicity. In DL, 0 the duration of the skipping, and can be applied after the a offset. The a offset can be specified to be equal to zero (and in that case the 0, the duration of the skipping, is applied straight away after the end of the slot, or the DCI or the MAC-CE carrying the skipping indication). 0 the duration of the skipping can be in unit of milliseconds, OFDM symbols, subframes, measurement gaps / restrictions configured periodicity.

[0122] In DL, a can be interpreted as the duration from the end of the slot, or the DCI or the MAC-CE carrying the skipping indication till when the skipping will be applied, a can be in unit of milliseconds, OFDM symbols, subframes, measurement gaps / restrictions configured periodicity.

[0123] In DL, 0 the duration of the skipping, and can be applied after the a offset. The a offset can be specified to be equal to zero (and in that case the 0, the duration of the skipping, is applied straight away after the end of the slot, or the DCI or the MAC-CE carrying the skipping indication). 0 the duration of the skipping can be in unit of milliseconds, OFDM symbols, subframes, measurement gaps / restrictions configured periodicity.

[0124] In UL, a can be interpreted as the duration from the end of the slot, or the UCI or the MAC-CE carrying the skipping indication till when the skipping has to be applied, a can be in unit of milliseconds, OFDM symbols, subframes, measurement gaps periodicity.

[0125] In UL, 0 the duration of the skipping, and can be applied after the a offset. The a offset can be specified to be equal to zero (and in that case the 0, the duration of the skipping,is applied straight away after the end of the slot, or the UCI or the MAC-CE carrying the skipping indication). 0 the duration of the skipping can be in unit of milliseconds, OFDM symbols, subframes, measurement gaps configured periodicity. The values a and / or 0 in UL / DL can be specified, or RRC configured or indicated in the UCI / DCI or MAC-CE. If the values a and / or 0 are RRC-configured, the dynamic indication in the UCI / DCI or MAC-CE activate / deactivate the skipping based on the semi-static configured parameters a and / or 0.

[0126] In another embodiment, the indication of the skipping applies only for the next measurement gap occasion coming after the reception of the indication and the UE needs to resume to normal after skipping the next measurement gap. Similarly, in UL, the UE 102 indication to the base station 104 to skip the measurement gap, applies only to the next measurement gap occasion coming after the transmission of the indication by the UE.Measurement skipping per carrier for intra-frequency measurement

[0127] XR traffic could be on one carrier and other types of traffic (e.g., audio, web browsing, . . .) could be on different carriers.

[0128] For intra-frequency measurements, the feature "UE skipping of measurement gaps / restrictions" could be activated / deactivated by the network per carrier. A carrier index could be included in the DCI / UCI / MAC-CE similar to the CIF (Carrier Indicator Field) which indicates on which carrier the "UE skipping of measurement gaps / restrictions" is activated / deactivated.

[0129] The base station 104 can signal an RRC parameter, to the UE 102, to indicate on which carrier or which BWP the "UE skipping of measurement gaps / restrictions" is allowed. On another embodiment, a bitmap could be indicated to the UE 102 to indicate on which carriers the "UE skipping of measurement gaps / restrictions" is allowed. A value of "1" in the bitmap can indicate that the feature "UE skipping of measurement gaps / restrictions" is allowed on the corresponding carrier and a value of "0" in the bitmap can indicate that the feature "UE skipping of measurement gaps / restrictions" is not allowed on the corresponding carrier

[0130] An additional field can be introduced into a CA-ParametersNR IE, specified in TS 38.331, to indicate the activation / deactivation of "UE skipping of measurement gaps / restrictions" for some / all of the aggregated carrier.

[0131] XR traffic could be on one BWP and other types of traffic (e.g., audio, web browsing, . . .) could be on different BWPs.

[0132] It is further contemplated that the “UE skipping of measurement gaps / restrictions" can be activated / deactivated per BWP. A BWP index can be included in the DCI / UCI / MAC- CE, similar to BWP-Id which indicates on which carrier the "UE skipping of measurement gaps / restrictions" is activated / deactivated.An upper bound on the allowed number of skipped measurement gaps / restrictions

[0133] A number of Measurement gaps / restrictions skipping is allowed in a specific window in order to not impact the RRM performance. A Threshold number N could be specified / configured (e.g., via RRC). UE 102 can skip the current measurement gap / restriction if the number of the skips is below N during a specified / configured window. The length of the window L could be equal to L3N + N where L3N is the length of the L3 RSRP filter and N is the maximum number of skips.Non-integer SSBs periodicities

[0134] New non-integer SSB periodicities could be defined and used for the measurements of UEs supporting XR traffic. The non-integer SSB periodicities could include the periodicities defined for the C-DRX non-integer periodicities defined in Release-18. The UE 102 can indicate to the base station 104 its capability to support non-integer SSB periodicities and could be configured to monitor those specific SSBs. The support of non-integer SSB periodicities could be defined as a UE feature / capability. The UE 102 could be configured by the base station 104 with non-integer measurement gaps periodicities to monitor SSBs for RRM measurements. The support of non-integer Measurement gaps periodicities could be defined as a UE feature / capability.Measurements gaps / restrictions and mobility events

[0135] A new event could be specified in 3GPP for the triggering of measurement with measurement gaps / restrictions skipping. For example, a new mobility event similar to A2 could be defined / specified. The new event could mean to trigger a mobility procedure while there is a high priority traffic (e.g., XR traffic) and hence measurement gaps / restrictions skipping is allowed. New parameters for this new mobility event could be specified / configured.

[0136] The base station 104 can configure the UE 102 with a ? delay to extend the event triggering condition TimeToTrigger by a 5 or a 5 x q, where r| is the number of skipped measurements in a window to account for the skipped measurement gaps / restrictions. For example, if the UE has skipped 2 measurement gaps / restrictions during the TimeToTrigger duration, the UE 102 should extend the TimeToTrigger duration with 2 ?. In another embodiment, the UE 102 can be configured with multiple TimeToTrigger values and can be configured or can autonomously select the timer to use depending on the existence of a high priority traffic (e.g., XR traffic, PDU-Set based traffic, . . .). The UE 102 can indicate which TimeToTrigger has been used to trigger the event.UE Specific Measurement gaps / restrictions

[0137] UE specific SSBs can be introduced. The base station 104 can trigger the UE 102 to measure some UE specific SSBs to measure and report RRM measurements. The UE specific SSBs can be indicated via a dedicated or via existing DCI. A measurement gap / restriction can also be indicated to allow the UE 102 to measure the UE specific SSBs.

[0138] The UE specific Measurements gaps / restrictions or / and SSBs allow the base station 104 to have flexibility in triggering the RRM measurements when required and to not impact the UE UL / DL traffic.

[0139] Existing DCI bit-fields or new DCI bit-fields could be introduced to request the UE 102 to carry the RRM measurements on some specific SSBs. The DCI can signal information about the SSBs and / or about the measurement gap / restriction.Overlapping of Measurement gaps / restrictions with C-DRX On-durations of non-integer C- DRX cycles

[0140] Non-integer C-DRX cycles are introduced in Rel-18 specifically to accommodate XR traffic. In one embodiment, if a measurement gap / restriction overlaps (fully or partially) with C-DRX On-Duration of non-integer C-DRX configuration, the measurement gap / restriction is skipped by the UE and priority is given to UL / DL transmission and reception in the C-DRX On-Duration. In one embodiment, if a measurement gap / restriction overlaps (fully or partially) with C-DRX inactivity timer of a non-integer C-DRX configuration, the measurement gap / restriction is skipped by the UE and priority is given to UL / DL transmission and reception.

[0141] Measurement gaps / restrictions are allowed only during the inactivity time of the non-integer C-DRX cycles. Measurement gaps skipping could be activated / deactivated per DRX configuration / cycle. Skipping measurement gaps / restrictions when overlapping with C- DRX On-Duration could be defined as a UE feature / capability. The UE 102 can report to the base station 104 its support for this feature / capability. The base station 104 can configure the UE 102 with this feature.DL explicit Signaling to skip measurement gap / restriction

[0142] The UE 102 can report its capability to skip measurement gaps / restrictions. The base station 104 configures the UE 102 with measurement gaps and enables the functionality of skipping measurement gaps when needed (e.g., when requested by the UE 102 or when high priority traffic arrives at the network or at the UE). The base station 104 starts transmitting DL high priority traffic to the UE 102 (e.g., XR traffic). The base station 104 can activate / deactivate the Measurement gap / restriction skipping functionality. For example, the base station 104 can activate the measurement gap / restriction skipping functionality when it configures measurement gaps and inter-frequency or inter-system measurements after event A2 has been triggered. When the base station 104 schedules DL / UL traffic (e.g., high priority XR traffic) which is overlapping with a measurement gap, the base station 104 can indicate to the UE 102 to skip the measurement gap / restriction. The base station 104 can also schedule other types of traffic (e.g., low priority eMBB traffic) and can dynamically indicate to the UE not to skip the measurement gap / restriction. The base station 104 will have the flexibility and the control to instruct the UE 102 to skip a measurement gap / restriction or not. The network indication can be through DCI signalling or through MAC-CE. A new or an existing DCI bitfield can be used to signal the skipping of a measurement gap / restriction. The new DCI bitfield can be introduced for one or more of the DCI formats: DCI format 0 0, DCI format 0 1, DCI format 1 0, DCI format 1 1, DCI format 2 0. The network can activate / deactivate the measurement gap / restriction skipping functionality (e.g., via RRC signalling or through MAC-CE signalling) depending on the existence or not of some specific traffic types to be scheduled (e.g., XR traffic). The measurement gap / restriction skipping can be defined as a new UE capability. The UE 102 can indicate to the base station 104 if it supports the measurement gap / restriction skipping. The capability can be defined per FR1 or / and per FR2 or / and per UE. The UE 102 can report its support of this capability per FR1 or / and per FR2 or / and per UE. The base station 104 can configure the UE 102 with measurement gap / restriction skipping per FR1 or / and per FR2 or / and per UE.UL explicit Signaling to skip measurement gaps / restrictions for Configured Grant transmissions.

[0143] The UE 102 can report its capability to skip measurement gaps / restrictions to the base station 104. The indication could be related to the UE capability to skip measurement gaps / restrictions when overlapping with some / all configured grant transmissions. The base station 104 can configure the UE 102 to skip measurement gaps / restrictions and configure the UE 102 with the measurement gaps / restrictions skipping parameters. The base station 104 can activate / deactivate the measurement gaps / restrictions skipping by the UE 102. This can be signalled following a request sent by UE 102 to the base station 104. For example, upon the arrival of UL data in the UE buffer (e.g., high priority XR traffic), the UE 102 can request the base station 104 to activate the measurement gaps / restrictions skipping and the base station 104 can activate this feature following the request from the UE 102. The UE 102 can start its UL transmissions on Configured Grant resources. Once some type of UL traffic (e.g., high priority XR traffic) to be scheduled on CG resources which are overlapping with a measurement gap / restriction, the UE 102 can skip the measurement gap. The UE 102 can indicate the skipping to the base station 104 in a UCI piggy -backed on PUSCH or on a MAC- CE.Measurement gaps / restrictions skipping enabled for certain durations

[0144] The base station 104 can use dynamic signalling (e.g., DCI signalling or MAC-CE) or semi-static signalling (e.g., RRC) to enable measurement gap / restriction skipping temporarily, for example during the transmission of high priority traffic (e.g., an I-Frame with high importance PSI or during few video frames) and then the network can disable the skipping using similar signalling. The activation / deactivation of the skipping could be done per CG.Non-Skipping Indication

[0145] In order to maintain essential RRM functionalities while accommodating XR traffic, the base station can explicitly indicate to the UE which measurement gaps (MGs) are not allowed to be skipped. This indication, conveyed through either semi-static signaling (like RRC) or dynamic signaling (like DCI), offers flexibility in managing network resource utilization.

[0146] Flexible Indication Formats'. The non-skipping indication can take various forms: (i) Periodic Pattern: Defined by periodicity, offset, and duration, providing a recurringwindow where MG skipping is prohibited; (ii) Bitmap: A bitmap with a configured length, where each bit represents a specific MG occasion. A bit set to 'O' allows skipping, while '1' prohibits it; (iii) Consecutive MGs: A set of consecutive MGs, with their start and / or length indicated, preventing skipping within that specific duration. This is particularly useful when the network anticipates a need for continuous measurements, such as during handover procedures.

[0147] RRC Parameter Introduction'. To facilitate this functionality, one or more new RRC parameters can be introduced to explicitly signal the non-skippable MGs to the UE.

[0148] Dynamic Triggering'. Dynamic signaling, such as through DCI, can be employed to trigger the non-skipping duration, providing the network with the ability to adapt to real-time changes in network conditions or UE behavior. The DCI can specify the start time and duration of the non-skipping period, allowing for precise control over measurement gap skipping.

[0149] Priority Handling'. The interaction between DCI indications to skip a measurement gap and the non-skipping indication can be managed through priority mechanisms: (i) DCI Overwrites Non-Skipping: In one scenario, the DCI indication can override the non-skipping indication, allowing the UE to skip a measurement gap even if it was previously marked as non-skippable. This prioritizes the potential XR traffic transmission over the configured measurement needs; (ii) Non-Skipping Overrides DCI: Alternatively, the non-skipping indication can take precedence over the DCI indication, ensuring that critical measurements are not skipped even if the DCI suggests otherwise. This prioritizes RRM performance over potential XR capacity gains.

[0150] Timeline', to ensure seamless operation and account for UE processing time, a time offset is crucial. It defines the duration between: 1) The end of the PDCCH carrying the DCI indicating MG skipping. 2) The start of the first MG to be skipped. Numerology-Specific Timelines: The minimum timeline or time offset can be pre-defined or specified per numerology, acknowledging the varying processing requirements of different numerologies. UE Capability Reporting: To further enhance adaptability, the minimum timeline can be defined as a UE capability per numerology. The UE can then report its supported minimum time offset per numerology to the base station, enabling the network to tailor its scheduling decisions accordingly.The DCI Indication:

[0151] The DCI indication plays a pivotal role in dynamically controlling MG skipping.

[0152] One-Bit Indication for First MG'. In one embodiment, a single-bit indication in the DCI signals the UE to skip the first measurement gap immediately following the end of the PDCCH carrying the indication.

[0153] One-Bit Indication with Time Offset', to account for UE processing time, the one-bit indication can instead trigger skipping of the first measurement gap occurring after end of the PDCCH carrying the indication + the minimum time offset (pre-defined or signalled by the UE as a UE capability). This offset can be pre-defined or reported by the UE based on its capabilities, ensuring that the UE has sufficient time to process the DCI and prepare for data transmission / reception during the skipped MG.

[0154] One-Bit Indication with pre-configured delta time ', a delta time can be configured by the network (e.g., based on reported UE capability time offset and based on the XR traffic pattern). The network can configure the delta time via RRC signaling. The UE considers the first measurement gap to skip as the first measurement gap after the end of the PDCCH carrying the skipping indication + the delta time.

[0155] A measurement gap offset'. A pre-configured offset can be defined / specified / configured. The UE needs to skip the measurement gap given by the measurement gap offset. For example, if the measurement gap offset is set to 3, the UE should skip the 3rd measurement gap after the end of the PDCCH indicating the skipping.

[0156] UE interpretation of the one-Bit Indication', the UE can interpret the indication as the first measurement gap which will overlap with the next burst of the XR traffic.

[0157] Measurement Gap Configuration Indication". To provide additional flexibility, the network can indicate the specific measurement gap configuration to be considered for skipping. This allows the network to prioritize certain types of measurements. The indication be through RRC signaling or through DCI indication.Miscellaneous observations

[0158] The UE 102 to send a request to skip the measurement gap / restriction (e.g., in the UCI, MAC-CE or some specific new signalling like the SR). The base station 104 to send an acknowledgment / confirmation to confirm to the UE 102 the possibility of skipping the measurement gap / restriction.

[0159] The Base station 104 can configure the UE 102 (e.g., via RRC) to autonomously skip measurement gap / restriction for high priority UL traffic (e.g., PDU-set based traffic) if to be transmitted on a configured grant overlapping (fully or partially) with a measurement gap / restriction.

[0160] The base station 104 can configure the UE 102 (e.g., via RRC) to autonomously skip measurement gap for SR transmission associated with high priority UL traffic (e.g., PDU-set based traffic) if to be transmitted on a configured grant overlapping (fully or partially) with a measurement gap. In another embodiment, the UE 102 can skip measurement gap / restriction for the transmission of an SR associated with a specific SR configuration (e.g., an SR configuration to which a high priority logical channel is associated)

[0161] It can be specified or configured by the base station 104 to the UE 102 (e.g., via RRC) for the UE 102 to skip measurement gaps / restrictions when using multi -PUSCH Configured Grant and when a PUSCH CG occasion overlaps (fully or partially) with a measurement gap / restriction.

[0162] New measurement gaps periodicities (e.g., aligned with the XR traffic periodicities) could be introduced specifically for XR UEs and configured to the UEs with some offsets to avoid overlapping with the XR traffic. Hence, avoiding that the RRM performance of UEs having XR traffic are impacted by skipping measurements.

[0163] A UE capability for the skipping of measurement gaps / restrictions when overlapping with UL transmissions can be defined. The UE 102 can report to the base station 104 its capability to skip measurement gaps / restrictions when overlapping with specific UL transmissions. The base station 104 can configure the UE 102 (e.g., via RRC) with the skipping of measurement gaps / restrictions for UL transmissions.

[0164] A UE capability for the skipping of measurement gaps / restrictions when overlapping with data reception can be defined. The UE 102 can report to the base station 104 its capability to skip measurement gaps / restrictions when overlapping with specific data reception. The base station 104 can configure the UE 102 (e.g., via RRC) with the skipping of measurement gaps / restrictions for data reception.

[0165] The skipping of measurement gaps / restrictions can be enabled / disabled (e.g., via RRC) per cell (e.g., per E-UTRAN PCell, per E-UTRAN SCell, per NR PCell, per NR SCell).

[0166] The skipping of measurement gaps / restrictions by the UE 102 can be defined to be fully controlled by the base station 104, i.e., UE initiated UL transmissions (e.g., SR transmissions, UL CG transmissions, PUCCH transmissions, SRS, . . .) are not allowed. E.g., Data transmission / reception in the measurement gaps / restrictions are allowed if scheduled by the base station 104.

[0167] In some implementations, the UE is configured to implement the following: identifying an overlap between the measurement gap and a scheduled transmission / reception of an XR packet. Cancelling RRM measurements during the overlap period; and resuming RRM measurements for at least a portion of the measurement gap after the overlap period, optionally including a guard time / interval.

[0168] Part of the measurement gap / restriction can be skipped, and the other part can still be used for RRM measurements. For example, if the length of the measurement gap is 5 ms and the XR packet overlaps with the measurement gap in the first 1 ms of the measurement gap, the measurement is canceled in the first 1 ms and then resumed on the remaining duration of the measurement gap or part of the remaining duration of the measurement gap. A guard time / interval can be defined between the end of the data and resuming the measurement to allow the UE to prepare and retune its configuration.

[0169] Establishing a threshold duration; and enabling RRM measurements after the overlap period only if the remaining measurement gap duration exceeds the threshold duration. If the remaining time of the measurement gap after the end of the overlapping transmission / reception of the data is above a specific threshold (e.g., a threshold configured by the network via RRC signalling, or signalled via MAC-CE or DCI), the measurement can be carried out by the UE. For example, if the threshold is set to 3 ms and the measurement gap is 5 ms, with the transmission of the XR packet overlapping the measurement gap in the first 1 ms, the remaining 4 ms exceeds the 3 ms threshold, allowing the UE to perform the measurement.

[0170] In another embodiment, the UE can transmit and / or receive during the measurement gap in addition to doing the RRM measurements. This can be allowed for some scenarios like intra-frequency measurements. This can be defined as a UE capability and the UE reports if it can support this feature. The network can configure the UE with this feature (e.g., via RRC). For example, the UE can transmit / receive on symbols other than the SSB symbols.

[0171] The cancellation / skipping of the RRM measurement gap / restriction can be done using MAC CE signalled from the network to the UE. A new MAC CE can be introduced for the indication of the skipping / cancellation or partial skipping. In other words, a certain MAC CE can be defined for, and specifically / exclusively dedicated to, indicating of the skipping / cancellation or partial skipping. The MAC CE indication can contain the Measurement Gap configuration ID. The MAC CE indication can carry an offset pointing to the measurement gap occasion to be skipped, for example the last symbol of the PDSCH carrying the MAC can be the reference for the offset. The offset can be in unit of slots or symbols. The new MAC CE can be identified by MAC sub-header with a new or existing eLCID.

[0172] The UE can send a request to the network to skip a measurement gap. The request can be sent in the UCI or via MAC CE. A new MAC CE can be introduced for the sending of the request by the UE. In other words, a certain MAC CE can be defined for, and specifically / exclusively dedicated to, requesting of the skipping / cancellation or partial skipping. The new MAC CE indication can contain the Measurement Gap configuration ID. The MAC CE indication can carry an offset pointing to the measurement gap occasion to be skipped, for example the last symbol of the PDSCH carrying the MAC can be the reference for the offset. The offset can be in unit of slots or symbols. The new MAC CE can be identified by MAC sub-header with a new or existing eLCID. The new UL MAC CE can be sent together with SR or BSR.

[0173] Network can adapt the measurement gap configuration via DCI signalling or via MAC-CE. New DCI bit-fields could be defined to indicate new measurement periodicity, offset, measurement gap length, . . . Existing / new DCI formats could be used to indicate the new measurement gap configuration (e.g., DCI format 1 1 or / and DCI format 1 0.). In another example, a new MAC CE could be defined to indicate, new measurement periodicity, offset, measurement gap length. The new MAC CE indication can contain the Measurement Gap configuration ID. The new MAC CE can be identified by MAC sub-header with a new or existing eLCID.

[0174] The UE can be configured with multiple measurement gap configurations simultaneously but not all of them are active at the same time. Network can switch between different measurement gap configurations, for example depending on the traffic. The activation / deactivation of a measurement gap can be via DCI or via MAC CE. The DCI orthe MAC CE can carry the measurement gap ID and indication to activate / deactivate that specific measurement gap.

[0175] The following list of examples reflects a variety of the embodiments explicitly contemplated by the present disclosure.

[0176] Example 1. A method in a UE, the method comprising: receiving, from a radio access network (RAN), an indication that the UE is permitted to communicate with the RAN during at least one measurement gap configured to the UE; communicating with the RAN during the at least one measurement gap; and suspending communication with the RAN during a second measurement gap to perform one or more signal measurements, in accordance with the indication.

[0177] Example 2. The method of example 1, further comprising: reporting a capability of the UE to communicate during measurement gaps.

[0178] Example 3. The method of example 2, wherein: the reporting is in response to receiving, from the RAN, a UE capability enquiry.

[0179] Example 4. The method of any of the preceding examples, wherein: the indication is included in a configuration for a configured grant (CG).

[0180] Example 5. The method of any of examples 1-3, wherein: the indication is included in a configuration for a logical channel (LCH).

[0181] Example 6. The method of any of examples 1-3, wherein: the indication is included in a configuration for a measurement gap.

[0182] Example 7. The method of any of examples 1-3, wherein: the indication is included in a configuration for a quality of service (QoS) flow.

[0183] Example 8. The method of any of examples 1-3, wherein: the indication is included in a configuration for semi-persistent scheduling (SPS).

[0184] Example 9. The method of any of examples 1-3, wherein: the indication is included in a configuration for a cell.

[0185] Example 10. The method of any of examples 1-3, wherein: the indication is included in a configuration for a cell group.

[0186] Example 11. The method of any of examples 1-3, wherein: the indication applies to only one of uplink (UL) or downlink (DL) transmissions.

[0187] Example 12. The method of any of examples 1-3, wherein: the indication applies only to a certain frequency band.

[0188] Example 13. The method of any of examples 1-3, wherein: the indication applies only to a certain bandwidth part (BWP).

[0189] Example 14. The method of any of the preceding examples, wherein the indication is an information element (IE) dedicated exclusively to conveying information related to measurement gap skipping.

[0190] Example 15. The method of example 1, wherein the indication is a bitmap specifies, for each of a plurality of carriers, a respective permission or prohibition for measurement gap skipping.

[0191] Example 16. The method of any of the preceding examples, wherein the indication is received in a radio resource control (RRC) reconfiguration message.

[0192] Example 17. The method of any of the preceding examples, wherein: the communicating with the RAN during the at least one measurement gap incudes transmitting UL data on a UL CG resource that overlaps the at least one measurement gap.

[0193] Example 18. The method of any of examples 1-16, wherein: the communicating with the RAN during the at least one measurement gap incudes receiving DL data during an semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) occasion that overlaps the at least one measurement gap.

[0194] Example 19. The method of any of examples 1-16, wherein: the communicating with the RAN during the at least one measurement gap incudes transmitting UL data on a UL resource scheduled by a UL grant.

[0195] Example 20. The method of example 19, further comprising: receiving, during a time period that does not overlap with any measurement gaps allocated to the UE, a downlink control indicator (DCI) including the UL grant.

[0196] Example 21. The method of example 19 or 20, further comprising: monitoring a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) during the measurement gap to detect another DCI.

[0197] Example 22. The method of any of examples 1-16, wherein: the communicating with the RAN during the at least one measurement gap incudes transmitting a scheduling request.

[0198] Example 23. The method of example 22, further comprising: receiving, in response to the scheduling request, a DCI with a dynamic grant for a transmitting UL data.

[0199] Example 24. The method of example 23, further comprising: transmitting the UL data in a UL resource scheduled by the dynamic grant.

[0200] Example 25. The method of any of examples 1-16, wherein: the communicating with the RAN during the at least one measurement gap incudes receiving DL data on a DL resource scheduled by a DL assignment.

[0201] Example 26. The method of example 25, further comprising: receiving, during a time period that does not overlap with any measurement gaps allocated to the UE, the DL assignment.

[0202] Example 27. The method of any of examples 1-16, wherein: the communicating with the RAN during the at least one measurement gap incudes transmitting a Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) positive or negative acknowledgement for a prior DL transmission.

[0203] Example 28. The method of any of examples 1-17, 19-24, or 27, further comprising: determining that the UE has data for potential transmission during the at least one measurement gap; wherein the communicating with the RAN during the at least one measurement gap includes: determining to transmit the data based on at least one of (i) a property of the data or (ii) a priority of the at least one measurement gap.

[0204] Example 29. The method of 28, wherein: the property of the data is a remaining time corresponding to an amount of time that remans for the data before an expiry of a discard timer associated with the data; the transmitting of the data is based on comparing the remaining time to a threshold value.

[0205] Example 30. The method of 28, wherein: the property of the data is a metric of importance; the transmitting of the data is based on comparing the metric of importance to a threshold value.

[0206] Example 31. The method of example 30, wherein the metric of importance is a Packet Data Unit (PDU) Set Importance (PSI).

[0207] Example 32. The method of 30, wherein: the transmitting of the data is based on comparing the priority of the measurement gap to a threshold value.

[0208] Example 33. The method of any of examples 29-32, further comprising: receiving the threshold value from the RAN.

[0209] Example 34. The method of 28, wherein: the transmitting of the data is based on determining whether the data is associated with a high-priority logical channel.

[0210] Example 35. The method of any of examples 1-27, further comprising: determining whether to communicate the during the at least one measurement gap based on one or more of: (i) an amount of time that remans for the data before an expiry of a discard timer associated with the data, (ii) a priority of a traffic to which the data belongs, (iii) a duration of the traffic, (iv) a type of traffic, (v) whether a grant for communicating during the at least one measurement gap is a dynamic grant or a configured grant, (vi) a direction of the traffic, (vii) a time division duplex (TDD) UL or DL configuration, (viii) a start and / or a length of the at least one measurement gap, (ix) a priority of the at least one measurement gap, (x) a purpose of the at least one measurement gap, wherein the purpose is one of PRS, CSI, SSB, or PBCH, (xi) a type of measurement associated with the at least one measurement gap, or (xii) results of previous measurements associated with a measurement the UE is configured to perform during the at least one measurement gap.

[0211] Example 36. The method of any of the preceding examples, further comprising: subsequently to the communicating during the at least one measurement gap, activating a timer that delimits a period of time during which the UE refrains from communicating with the RAN within time periods that overlap with any measurement gaps allocated to the UE.

[0212] Example 37. A user equipment (UE) comprising: a transceiver; and processing hardware configured to implement a method of any of the preceding examples.

[0213] Example 38. A method in a radio access network (RAN), the method comprising: configuring a user equipment (UE) with a plurality of measurement gaps during which the UE suspends communication with the RAN to perform one or more signal measurements; transmitting, to the UE, an indication that the UE is permitted to communicate with the RAN during at least one of the plurality of measurement gaps; and communicating with the UE during the at least one measurement gap.

[0214] Example 39. The method of example 38, further comprising: receiving, from the UE, a report of a capability of the UE to communicate during measurement gap.

[0215] Example 40. The method of example 39, wherein the receiving of the report is in response to transmitting, to the UE, a capability enquiry.

[0216] Example 41. The method of any of examples 38-40, wherein: the indication is included in a configuration for a configured grant (CG).

[0217] Example 42. The method of any of examples 38-40, wherein: the indication is included in a configuration for a logical channel (LCH).

[0218] Example 43. The method of any of examples 38-40, wherein: the indication is included in a configuration for a measurement gap.

[0219] Example 44. The method of any of examples 38-40, wherein: the indication is included in a configuration for a quality of service (QoS) flow.

[0220] Example 45. The method of any of examples 38-40, wherein: the indication is included in a configuration for semi-persistent scheduling (SPS).

[0221] Example 46. The method of any of examples 38-40, wherein: the indication is included in a configuration for a cell.

[0222] Example 47. The method of any of examples 38-40, wherein: the indication is included in a configuration for a cell group.

[0223] Example 48. The method of any of examples 38-40, wherein: the indication applies to only one of uplink (UL) or downlink (DL) transmissions.

[0224] Example 49. The method of any of examples 38-40, wherein: the indication applies only to a certain frequency band.

[0225] Example 50. The method of any of examples 38-40, wherein: the indication applies only to a certain bandwidth part (BWP).

[0226] Example 51. A node in a radio access network (RAN), comprising: a transceiver; and processing hardware configured to implement a method of any of examples 38-

[0227] Example 50.

[0228] Example 52. The method of any of examples 1-16, further comprising: determining (i) an overlap period in which the at least one measurement gap and a scheduled transmission or reception of a data packet overlap, and (ii) a non-overlap period in which the least one measurement gap and the scheduled transmission or reception of the data packet do notoverlap; cancelling Radio Resource Management (RRM) measurements during the overlap period; and resuming the RRC measurements during the non-overlap period.

[0229] Example 53. The method of example 52, further comprising extending the overlap period by a guard interval.

[0230] Example 54. The method of any of examples 1-16, further comprising: determining (i) an overlap period in which the at least one measurement gap and a scheduled transmission or reception of a data packet overlap, and (ii) a non-overlap period in which the least one measurement gap and the scheduled transmission or reception of the data packet do not overlap; cancelling RRM measurements during the overlap period; and resuming the RRC measurements during the non-overlap period only if a duration of the non-overlap period exceeds a threshold value.

[0231] Example 55. The method of example 54, further comprising: receiving the threshold value from the RAN via RRC signaling.

[0232] Example 56. The method of example 54, further comprising: receiving the threshold value from the RAN in a Medium Access Control (MAC) control element (MAC- CE).

[0233] Example 57. The method of example 54, further comprising: receiving the threshold value from the RAN in a DCI.

[0234] Example 58. The method of any of examples 1-16, wherein the communicating with the RAN during the at least one measurement gap includes: performing RRM measurements along with receiving or transmitting data during the at least one measurement gap-

[0235] Example 59. The method of example 58, wherein the RRM measurements are intrafrequency measurements.

[0236] Example 60. The method of example 58, wherein the receiving or transmitting of the data along with the performing of the RRM measurements occurs on symbols other than synchronization signal block (SSB) symbols.

[0237] Example 61. The method of any of examples 58-60, further comprising: reporting, to the RAN, a capability of the UE to perform the RRM measurements along with the receiving or transmitting data.

[0238] Example 62. The method of any of examples 58-61, further comprising: receiving, from the RAN, a configuration for the performing of the RRM measurements along with the receiving or transmitting the data.

[0239] Example 63. The method of any of examples 1-3, wherein: the indication is included in MAC CE.

[0240] Example 64. The method of example 63, wherein the MAC CE is dedicated exclusively to conveying information related to measurement gap skipping.

[0241] Example 65. The method of example 63 of 64, wherein the MAC CE includes a measurement gap configuration identifier (ID).

[0242] Example 66. The method of any of examples 63-65, wherein the MAC CE includes an offset to identify the at least one measurement gap.

[0243] Example 67. The method of example 66, wherein the offset is specified in time slots.

[0244] Example 68. The method of example 66, wherein the offset is specified in symbols.

[0245] The following description may be applied to the description above.

[0246] Generally speaking, description for one of the above figures can apply to another of the above figures. Examples, implementations and methods described above can be combined, if there is no conflict. An event or block described above can be optional or omitted. For example, an event or block with dashed lines in the figures can be optional. The description described from the perspective of the receiving node also applies to the sending node. For example, a description that a receiving node (e.g., DU) receives a message from a sending node (e.g., CU) may be replaced by the sending node sending a message to the receiving node. Similarly, a description that a receiving node (e.g., CU) receives a message from a sending node (e.g., DU) may be replaced by the sending node sending a message to the receiving node.

[0247] In some implementations, “message” is used and can be replaced by “information element (IE)”, and vice versa. In some implementations, “IE” is used and can be replaced by “field”, and vice versa. In some implementations, “configuration” can be replaced by “configurations” or “configuration parameters”, and vice versa. In some implementations, the “LTM command” can be replaced by “serving cell change command”, “Layer 1 / Layer 2 LTM cell switch command”, “lower layer switching command” or “lower layer serving cellchange command”. In some implementations, “some” means “one or more”. In some implementations, “at least one” means “one or more”. In some implementations, the “DU configuration” can be replaced by “cell group configuration”. In some implementations, the “cell index” can be replaced with “serving cell index”, “LTM cell index”, “special cell (SpCell) index”, “PCell index” or “PSCell index”. In some implementations, the “serving” can be replaced by “source”. In some implementations, the “measurement report” can be replaced by “measurement result(s)” or “CSI report”. In some implementations, the “early TA acquisition” can be replaced by “early UL timing synchronization” or “early UL synchronization”. In some implementations, the “early TA acquisition on a / the candidate cell” can be replaced by “early UL timing synchronization with a / the candidate cell” or “early UL synchronization with a / the candidate cell”.

[0248] A user device in which the techniques of this disclosure can be implemented (e.g., the UE 102) can be any suitable device capable of wireless communications such as a smartphone, a tablet computer, a laptop computer, a mobile gaming console, a point-of-sale (POS) terminal, a health monitoring device, a drone, a camera, a media-streaming dongle or another personal media device, a wearable device such as a smartwatch, a wireless hotspot, a femtocell, or a broadband router. Further, the user device in some cases may be embedded in an electronic system such as the head unit of a vehicle or an advanced driver assistance system (ADAS). Still further, the user device can operate as an internet-of-things (loT) device or a mobile-internet device (MID). Depending on the type, the user device can include one or more general-purpose processors, a computer-readable memory, a user interface, one or more network interfaces, one or more sensors, etc.

[0249] Certain embodiments are described in this disclosure as including logic or a number of components or modules. Modules may can be software modules (e.g., code, or machine- readable instructions stored on non-transitory machine-readable medium) or hardware modules. A hardware module is a tangible unit capable of performing certain operations and may be configured or arranged in a certain manner. A hardware module can comprise dedicated circuitry or logic that is permanently configured (e.g., as a special-purpose processor, such as a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a digital signal processor (DSP), etc.) to perform certain operations. A hardware module may also comprise programmable logic or circuitry (e.g., as encompassed within a general-purpose processor or other programmable processor) that is temporarily configured by software to perform certain operations. The decision to implementa hardware module in dedicated and permanently configured circuitry, or in temporarily configured circuitry (e.g., configured by software) may be driven by cost and time considerations.

[0250] The term “or” as used herein is to be interpreted as an inclusive or meaning any one or any combination, unless expressly indicated otherwise, mutually exclusive, or indicated otherwise by context. Therefore, herein, the expression “A or B” means “A, B, or both A and B.”

[0251] When implemented in software, the techniques can be provided as part of the operating system, a library used by multiple applications, a particular software application, etc. The software can be executed by one or more general-purpose processors or one or more special-purpose processors.

[0252] Upon reading this disclosure, those of skill in the art will appreciate still additional and alternative structural and functional designs for handling mobility between base stations through the principles disclosed herein. Thus, while particular embodiments and applications have been illustrated and described, it is to be understood that the disclosed embodiments are not limited to the precise construction and components disclosed herein. Various modifications, changes and variations, which will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art, may be made in the arrangement, operation and details of the method and apparatus disclosed herein without departing from the spirit and scope defined in the appended claims.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A method in a UE, the method comprising: receiving, from a radio access network (RAN), receiving, a downlink control indicator (DCI) to schedule a transmission, the DCI including an indication that the UE is permitted to communicate with the RAN during at least one measurement gap configured to the UE; communicating with the RAN during the at least one measurement gap; and suspending communication with the RAN during a second measurement gap to perform one or more signal measurements.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the DCI has a format 0 1 .

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the DCI has a format 1 1.

4. The method of any of claims 1-3, wherein the indication is a one-bit indicator.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving of the DCI including the indication is allowed for a particular DCI format.

6. The method of any of the preceding claims, wherein the DCI identifies the at least one measurement gap to which the indication applies.

7. The method of any of the preceding claims, wherein the DCI includes an indication of a carrier to which the indication that the UE is permitted to communicate with the RAN during the at least one measurement gap applies.

8. The method of any of the preceding claims, wherein the DCI includes an indication of a start offset of the at least one measurement gap, relative to the DCI.

9. A method in a radio access network (RAN), the method comprising:configuring a user equipment (UE) with a plurality of measurement gaps during which the UE suspends communication with the RAN to perform one or more signal measurements; transmitting, to the UE, a downlink control indicator (DCI) to schedule a transmission, the DCI including an indication that the UE is permitted to communicate with the RAN during at least one measurement gap configured to the UE; and communicating with the UE during the at least one measurement gap.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the DCI has a format 0 1 or 1 1.

11. The method of claim 9 or 10, wherein the indication is a one-bit indicator.

12. The method of any of claims 9-11, wherein the DCI identifies the at least one measurement gap to which the indication applies.

13. The method of any of claims 9-12, wherein the DCI includes an indication of a carrier to which the indication that the UE is permitted to communicate with the RAN during the at least one measurement gap applies.

14. The method of any of claims 9-13, wherein the DCI includes an indication of a start offset of the at least one measurement gap, relative to the DCI.

15. A device comprising: a transceiver; and processing hardware configured to implement a method of any of the preceding claims.

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