Control of user equipment identifier in an open radio access network with reference signal beamforming

Abstract

A network node in a communications network can be configured to provide a radio unit, RU The RU can receive (1230) an indication from a distributed unit, DU, of whether one or more symbols of a current slot associated with a user equipment identifier, ueId, are from a same user equipment, UE, as one or more symbols of a previous slot associated with the ueId. The RU can determine (1240) data associated with the current slot based on the indication of whether the one or more symbols of the current slot are from the same UE as the one or more symbols of the previous slot.

Description

CONTROL OF USER EQUIPMENT IDENTIFIER IN AN OPEN RADIO ACCESS NETWORK WITH REFERENCE SIGNAL BEAMFORMINGTECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present disclosure is related to wireless communication systems and more particularly to control of user equipment identifier (“ueld”) in an open radio access network (“O-RAN”) with reference signal beamforming (“RS-BF”).BACKGROUND

[0002] FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a new radio (“NR”) network (e.g., a 5th Generation (“5G”) network) including a 5G core (“5GC”) network 130, network nodes 120a-b (e.g., 5G base station (“gNB”)), multiple communication devices 110 (also referred to as user equipment (“UE”)).

[0003] Massive multiple-input-multiple-output (“MIMO”) techniques have been first adopted to practice in long term evolution (“LTE”). In 5G, it becomes a key technology component, which can be deployed in a much larger scale than in LTE. It features a large number of antennas used on the base-station side, where the number of antennas is typically much larger than the number of user-layers, for example, 64 antennas serving 8 or 16 userlayers in frequency range 1 (“FR1”), which includes sub-6 GHz frequency bands, and 256 / 512 antennas serving 2 or 4 layers in frequency range 2 (“FR2”), which includes frequency bands from 24.25 GHz to 52.6 GHz.

[0004] A user layer can be used herein to refer to an independent downlink or uplink data stream intended for one user. One user or UE may have one or multiple user layers. A user layer can also be referred to as a layer in the 3rdgeneration partnership project (“3GPP”) terminology. Massive MIMO can also be referred to as massive beamforming, which is able to form narrow beams focusing on different directions to counteract against the increased path loss at higher frequency bands. It also benefits multi-user MIMO which allows for transmissions from / to multiple users simultaneously over separate spatial channels resolved by the massive MIMO technologies, while keeping high capacity for each user. Therefore, it can significantly increase the spectrum efficiency and cell capacity.

[0005] At the base-station side, the interface between the distributed unit (“DU”) and the radio unit (RU) is the fronthaul interface, as shown in FIG. 2. The great benefits of massive MIMO at the air-interface also introduce new challenges at the base-station side. The legacy common public radio interface (“CPRI”)-type fronthaul transports time-domain in-phase and quadrature (“IQ”) samples per antenna branch. As the number of antennas scales up in massive MIMO systems, the required fronthaul capacity also increases proportionally, whichsignificantly drives up the fronthaul costs. To address this challenge, the fronthaul interface evolves from CPRI to enhance CPRI (“eCPRI”), a packet-based fronthaul interface. In eCPRI, other functional split options between a distributed unit (“DU”) and a radio unit (“RU”) are supported, referred to as different lower-layer split (“LLS”) options. In the eCPRI standard specification, the terms eCPRI Radio Equipment Control (“eREC”) and (eCPRI Radio Equipment (“eRE”) are used instead of DU and RU. The basic idea is to move the frequencydomain beamforming function from DU to RU so that frequency samples or data of user-layers are transported over the fronthaul interface. Note that the frequency -domain beamforming is sometimes also referred to as precoding in the downlink (“DL”) direction and equalizing or preequalizing in uplink (“UL”) direction. By doing this, the required fronthaul capacity and thereby the fronthaul costs are significantly reduced, as the number of user layers is typically much fewer than the number of antennas in massive MIMO. In open radio access network (“O- RAN”), DU is referred to as O-DU while RU is referred to as O-RU.SUMMARY

[0006] According to some embodiments, a method of operating a network node in a communications network is provided. The network node is configured to provide a radio unit, RU. The method includes receiving an indication from a distributed unit, DU, of whether one or more symbols of a current slot associated with a user equipment identifier, ueld, are from a same user equipment, UE, as one or more symbols of a previous slot associated with the ueld. The method further includes determining data associated with the current slot based on the indication of whether the one or more symbols of the current slot are from the same UE as the one or more symbols of the previous slot.

[0007] According to other embodiments, a method of operating a first network node in a communications network is provided. The network node is configured to provide a distributed unit, DU. The method includes determining whether a user equipment identifier, ueld, is assigned to a same user equipment, UE, as it was during a previous slot. The method includes transmitting an indication to a radio unit, RU, of whether the ueld is assigned to the same UE as it was during the previous slot.

[0008] According to other embodiments, a network entity (e.g., a O-RAN distributed unit (“O-DU”), an O-RAN radio unit (“O-RU”), a DU, a RU, or a RAN node), a computer program, computer program product, or non-transitory computer readable medium is provided to perform one of the above methods.

[0009] Certain embodiments may provide one or more of the following technical advantages. In some embodiments, the O-RU is able to perform measurement (calculatemeasurement value) based on the received symbols of multiple slots which are scheduled for the same UE. Measurement quality can be improved because more data are used. Examples of such measurements are frequency offset, TAE, AoA,BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0010] The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of the disclosure and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this application, illustrate certain non-limiting embodiments of inventive concepts. In the drawings:

[0011] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a 5thgeneration (“5G”) network;

[0012] FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a fronthaul interface between a radio unit (“RU”) and a distributed unit (“DU”);

[0013] FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a weight based dynamic beamforming (“WDBF”) implementation;

[0014] FIG. 4 is a signal flow diagram illustrating an example of an UL control-plane (“C- plane”) and user-plane (“U-plane”);

[0015] FIG. 5 is a table illustrating an example of a C-plane Section Type 5 (“ST5”) including a ueld field;

[0016] FIGS. 6-7 are block diagrams illustrating examples of subvariants of demodulation reference signal beamforming with equalization (“DMRS-BF-EQ”) implementations;

[0017] FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a DMRS-BF-NEQ implementation;

[0018] FIG. 9 is a table illustrating an example of RRM measurements;

[0019] FIG. 10 is a signal flow diagram illustrating an example of an UL control-plane (“C- plane”) and user-plane (“U-plane”) for a DMRS-BF implementation;

[0020] FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a uelD;

[0021] FIG. 12 is a flow chart illustrating an example of operations performed by a radio unit, RU, in accordance with some embodiments;

[0022] FIG. 13 is a flow chart illustrating an example of operations performed by a distributed unit, DU, in accordance with some embodiments;

[0023] FIG. 14 is a block diagram of a communication system in accordance with some embodiments;

[0024] FIG. 15 is a block diagram of a user equipment in accordance with some embodiments

[0025] FIG. 16 is a block diagram of a network node in accordance with some embodiments;

[0026] FIG. 17 is a block diagram of a host computer communicating with a user equipment in accordance with some embodiments;

[0027] FIG. 18 is a block diagram of a virtualization environment in accordance with some embodiments; and

[0028] FIG. 19 is a block diagram of a host computer communicating via a base station with a user equipment over a partially wireless connection in accordance with some embodiments in accordance with some embodiments.DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0029] Some of the embodiments contemplated herein will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings. Embodiments are provided by way of example to convey the scope of the subject matter to those skilled in the art, in which examples of embodiments of inventive concepts are shown. Inventive concepts may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of present inventive concepts to those skilled in the art. It should also be noted that these embodiments are not mutually exclusive. Components from one embodiment may be tacitly assumed to be present / used in another embodiment.

[0030] Herein the term user layer can refer to an independent downlink (“DL”) or uplink (“UL”) data stream intended for one user. One user or communication devices (also referred to herein as a user equipment (“UE”)) may have one or multiple user layers. Massive MIMO can also be referred to as massive beamforming, which is able to form narrow beams focusing on different directions to counteract against the increased path loss at higher frequency bands. It also benefits multi-user MIMO which allows for transmissions from / to multiple users simultaneously over separate spatial channels resolved by the massive MIMO technologies, while keeping high capacity for each user. Therefore, it can significantly increase the spectrum efficiency and cell capacity.

[0031] At the base-station side, the interface between the baseband unit (“BBU”) and the radio unit (“RU”) is the fronthaul interface, whereas the interface between the BBU and the core network (“CN”) is the backhaul interface. The great benefits of massive MIMO at the airinterface also introduce new challenges at the base-station side. The legacy common public radio interface (“CPRI”)-type fronthaul transports time-domain quadrature (“IQ”) samples per antenna branch. As the number of antennas scales up in massive MIMO systems, the requiredfronthaul capacity also increases proportionally, which significantly drives up the fronthaul costs. To address this challenge, the fronthaul interface evolves from CPRI to enhanced CPRI (“eCPRI”), a packet-based fronthaul interface. In eCPRI, other functional split options between a BBU and a RU are supported, referred to as different lower-layer split (“LLS”) options. The basic idea is to move the frequency -domain beamforming function from BBU to RU so that frequency samples or data of user-layers are transported over the fronthaul interface. Note that the frequency-domain beamforming is sometimes also referred to as precoding in the DL direction and equalizing or pre-equalizing in UL direction. By doing this, the required fronthaul capacity and thereby the fronthaul costs can be significantly reduced, as the number of user layers is typically much fewer than the number of antennas in massive MIMO.

[0032] The term radio unit (“RU”) can be used herein to refer to a network node (or a portion of a network node) that performs radio functions including a portion of physical layer (“PHY”) functions according to an LLS option. The RU can perform conversions between radio frequency (“RF”) signals and baseband signals. On the network side a RU can transmit and receive the frequency-domain IQ data (modulated user data) or unmodulated user data to and from BBU through a fronthaul interface (e.g. eCPRI). The RU can also transmit and receive the RF signals to and from UEs through its antennas.

[0033] The term baseband unit (“BBU”) can be used herein to refer to a network entity (e.g., a network node or a portion of a network node) that performs baseband processing. The BBU can communicatively couple to the CN via a backhaul interface or to a central unit (“CU”) via an Fl interface.

[0034] In an open radio access network (“O-RAN”) the BBU and RU can be referred to as O-DU and O-RU, respectively. In D-MIMO terminology, the RU can also be referred to as an access point (“AP”) and the BBU can be referred to as a central processing unit (“CPU”) or edge cloud processor. In some terminologies, the RU can also be referred to as remote radio unit (“RRU”) and the BBU can be referred to as a digital unit or distributed unit (“DU”). In eCPRI terminologies, the BBU and the RU are referred to as an eCPRI radio equipment control (“eREC”) and eCPRI radio equipment (“eRE”) respectively. In another terminology, a BBU and a RU may be referred to as a LLS-CU and a LLS-DU respectively. The BBU and its equivalence can also be softwarized or virtualized as Baseband Processing Function in a Cloud environment. Use of the terms BBU and RU herein are not intended to limit the application of the innovation, which can be used in any suitable wireless field.

[0035] The term desired cell / channel can be used herein to refer to the cell / channel which connects to the UEs of the K user-layers.

[0036] The term user-plane data can be used herein to mean, for example, frequencydomain user-layer data sent over fronthaul.

[0037] The term channel information can be used herein to mean, for example, information about channel properties carried by the channel values. The term channel value / data can also be used here to refer to, for example, one or a set of complex values representing the amplitude and phase of the channel coefficients in frequency domain. The channel values are related to the frequency response of the wireless channel.

[0038] The term beam can be used herein to refer to a directional beam formed by multiplying a signal with different weights, in frequency-domain, at multiple antennas such that the energy of the wanted signal is concentrated to a certain direction and / or the energy of the interreference signal is nulled at a certain direction.

[0039] As an example, FIG. 2 shows the block diagram of an 0-RAN LLS option in the DL direction for Cat-B radio. The PHY functional blocks above 0-RAN FH is hosted by an O-DU, whereas the PHY functional blocks below 0-RAN FH is hosted by an O-RU. In 0-RAN, the frequency-domain beamforming is referred to as “precoding and beamforming” as shown in FIG. 2, which may be referred to herein as frequency-domain beamforming or beamforming.

[0040] The term beamforming can be used herein to refer to a technique which multiplies a signal with different weights (in frequency-domain) at multiple antennas, which enables the signal energy to be sent in space with a desired beam pattern by forming a directional beam concentrating on certain direction or forming nulling in certain direction, or a combination of both.

[0041] The term beamforming weight (“BFW”) can be used herein to refer to a set of one or more complex weights, each set is multiplied with a signal of one user-layer at a subcarrier or a group of subcarriers. The weighted signals of different user layers towards the same antenna or transmit beam are combined linearly. As a result, different user-layer signals are beamformed to different directions. The wording beamforming performance when used herein may mean signal quality in DL at the UE side after the beamforming has been performed at the base-station side, measured by, for example, post-processing signal-to-interference-and-noise-power ratio (“SINR”) at a UE, resulted user throughput, bit rate, etc.

[0042] The term antenna array can be used herein to refer to a set of multiple antennas which are used collectively to transmit and / or receive signal. In some examples, an antenna array is one antenna panel on which multiple antennas are placed. In additional examples, among these multiple antennas, more than one antennas are connected together and used as one antenna, which is connected to one radio frequency (“RF”) component (e.g., a power amplifier or a low-noise amplifier). These connected antennas can be referred to as a subarray. From abaseband processing perspective, one subarray can act as one antenna. In this example, an antenna array is composed of multiple subarrays, each of which is composed of multiple antennas. In general, the size of a subarray is 1 when each subarray is composed of only one antenna. In some other terminologies, antennas in an antenna array are referred to as antenna elements. In O-RAN terminology, subarray can be referred to as array element and an antenna array can be referred to as an antenna. In O-RAN terminology, each antenna can include multiple array elements.

[0043] The term antenna ports can be used herein to refer to subarrays of an antenna array. When a subarray size is 1, each antenna port can correspond to each antenna. In O-RAN terminology, an antenna port can refer to an array element. In some examples, an antenna port is also referred to as a digital antenna port, where each digital antenna port corresponds to one antenna seen from baseband processing. In downlink, the output signals of beamforming in the frequency domain can be sent to the corresponding antenna ports.

[0044] Various embodiments herein focuses on the uplink (“UL”) direction of the fronthaul interface. FIG. 3 illustrates an example of the UL Weight-based Dynamic Beamforming (“WDBF”) implementation supported by the current O-RAN WG4 specification. By having the beamforming function in the O-RU, the number of streams going through the fronthaul interface becomes smaller than the number of antenna branches. However, the beamforming weights are calculated in the O-DU based on the sounding reference signal (“SRS”) sent back from the O- RU. Since the SRS channel estimates correspond to an earlier channel, the required number of streams is still much larger than the number of layers to avoid performance loss, compared to that using CPRI-based fronthaul. There is a tradeoff between the number of streams used and the performance.

[0045] FIG. 4 illustrates an example of the control-plane (“C-plane”) and user-plane (“U- plane”) data flow for WDBF. For every slot, the O-DU sends first C-plane messages to convey the scheduling information to the O-RU. The scheduling information includes the resource elements (“REs”) to be scheduled, the beam identifier (“ID”) (referred to herein as beamld) which represents the beamforming weights pre-stored in the O-RU, the beamforming weights (“BFWs”) to be used. The O-RU receives the scheduling information and then processes the scheduled REs according to the scheduling information received, e.g., perform beamforming (i.e., apply the beamforming weights received directly or indicated by the beam ID received) for the scheduled REs. Then the O-RU sends the processed REs (i.e., U-plane data) in U-plane messages to the O-DU.

[0046] There is another type of beamforming procedure defined in the current O-RAN WG4 specification, referred as Channel Information based Beamforming (“CIBF”). In CIBF,instead of transferring BFWs or beamld, the O-DU transfers to the O-RU the scheduled layers and the SRS channel estimates of the scheduled layers in the C-plane messages. The O-RU uses the received information (i.e., the scheduled REs, the scheduled layers and their channel estimates for the scheduled REs) to calculate the BFWs and perform beamforming to the scheduled REs using the calculated BFWs. Then the O-RU sends the processed REs (i.e., U- plane data) in U-plane messages to the O-DU. In the specification, each scheduled layer is conveyed by a field called “ueld” in C-plane message. Although the field name is “ueld”, the ueld represents a layer, not a UE. For a UE with multiple layers scheduled, it needs multiple ueld(s) where each ueld represent one layer of the UE.

[0047] FIG. 5 illustrates an example of a C-plane Section Type 5 (“ST5”) containing the ueld field that is 15 bits long. In addition to ST5, ueld is also used in Section Extension 10 (“SE10”) to group multiple UE layers in one section.

[0048] O-RAN WG4 has agreed to improve the current specification by introducing a new beamforming method referred to as demodulation reference signal based beamforming (“DMRS-BF”) to achieve the best performance using the minimum fronthaul bit rate, i.e. reducing the number of streams to the number of layers. There are two implementation variants of DMRS-BF solutions that are being standardized in O-RAN WG4. The first variant is referred to as DMRS based beamforming with equalization (“DMRS-BF-EQ”), where equalization is performed in O-RU. The second variant is referred to as DMRS based beamforming without equalization (“DMRS-BF-NEQ”), where equalization is not performed in O-RU.

[0049] In wireless communication, an equalizer performs an equalization operation on the input signal, which reverses the distortion caused by the end-to-end channel including the transmitter chain, the over-the-air channel (including the wanted channel and the interference channel), and the receiver chain. After the equalization, the equalized symbols can be demodulated by a demodulator. When the input signal is from multiple transmitters which send different data, the equalizer may also mitigate the interferences between them. Equalizers can be linear or non-linear. Examples of linear equalizers are zeroforcing equalizer, MMSE equalizer etc. Examples of non-linear equalizers are decision-feedback equalizer (“DFE”), successive interference cancellation (“SIC”) receiver etc.

[0050] The DMRS-BF-EQ variant has two implementation sub-variants. FIG. 6 illustrates an example of one of the sub-variants, in which the O-DU does not perform an additional equalization. In addition to the equalized data symbols, the O-RU sends the signal to interference and noise ratio (SINR) measurement from the O-RU to the O-DU which are used by the O-DU to demodulate the equalized symbols. The SINR measurement represents themeasured / estimated SINR values, e.g., per physical resource block (PRB) or finer frequency resolution per layer, which is used by the demodulator for demodulation of the symbols of each RE per layer, e.g., the demodulation algorithm based on LLR (log likelihood ratio). The equalized data symbols are often referred to as soft values in demodulation terminology.

[0051] FIG. 7 shows the second implementation sub-variant, in which the O-DU performs an additional equalization. This sub-variant is intended to support advanced receiver algorithms (e.g. SIC receiver, IRC-CoMP receiver) which need channel estimates in the O- DU. In this subvariant, the O-RU sends both equalized data symbols and equalized DMRS symbols which are equalized in the same way as the equalized data symbols. The O-DU will use the received equalized DMRS to estimate the effective channel including air interface channel and the O-RU processing (e.g. equalization done by the O-RU). Then, the effective channel estimates are used to further process the data symbols.

[0052] As shown in FIGS. 6-7, for both subvariants of DMRS-BF-EQ, O-RU will send RRM (Radio Resource Management) measurements which are calculated or measured before beamforming and equalization. These measurements can’t be calculated in the O-DU. That’s why these measurements are calculated by the O-RU and sent to the O-DU. Some examples of the RRM measurements are listed below.

[0053] Timing advance error (“TAE”): this is used for UE Timing Advance (TA). This measurement is one TAE value per UE.

[0054] Received signal power of UE: this is used for UE closed loop power control. This measurement is one value per UE layer.

[0055] Frequency offset of UE: O-RU reports the frequency offset measured. This measurement is one value per UE.

[0056] Interference plus noise (“IPN”) power measurement: O-RU calculates the power of received interference and noise per PRB. This is useful for the scheduler in the O-DU to optimize scheduling decisions. There are two kinds of IPN measurements, i.e., IPN for the allocated PRBs and the non-allocated PRBs, respectively. The allocated PRBs are the PRBs scheduled for UE traffic, while the non-allocated PRBs are the PRBs having not UE traffic scheduled. This measurement can be one value per PRB or one value per PRB per symbol.

[0057] In addition to the list above, other possible RRM measurements (such as delay spread, doppler shift, AoA (angle of arrival)) are also beneficial to support. These measurements are usually performed and reported in every slot. In some configurations, some measurements may be requested on demand by the O-DU.

[0058] FIG. 8 shows the implementation of DMRS-BF-NEQ. In this case, the O-RU only performs beamforming without doing equalization. The O-RU sends both beamformed datasymbols and beamformed DMRS symbols which are beamformed in the same way as the beamformed data symbols. The O-DU will use the received beamformed DMRS to estimate the effective channel including air interface channel and the O-RU processing (e.g., beamforming done by the O-RU). Then, the effective channel estimates are used to perform the equalization, the DMRS-BF-NEQ O-RU may perform some measurements, e.g., frequency offset, Rx signal power, TAE, Doppler shift, etc. But it may use these measurements by itself, not reporting them to the O-DU. It may also support measuring and reporting some measurements, e.g., IPN.

[0059] FIG. 9 illustrates an example of the granularity of the RRM measurements listed previously and whether they are supported mandatorily or optionally for DMRS-BF-EQ or DMRS-BF-NEQ.

[0060] The new beamforming method of DMRS-BF (i.e., DMRS-BF-EQ and DMRS-BF- NEQ variants) also has an impact to the UL C-plane and U-plane data flows, as shown in FIG.10 because of the support of measurement transferring. For DMRS-BF C-plane, new C-plane signaling between O-RU and O-DU is needed to provide the necessary information from O-DU to O-RU to perform DMRS-based beamforming (with or without equalization, i.e., DMRS-BF- EQ or DMRS-BF-NEQ) and the necessary measurements from O-RU to O-DU to assist O-DU PUSCH processing and RRM operations. From O-DU to O-RU, in addition to the information regarding the scheduled REs, the scheduling information need to contain DMRS configuration to be used and UE information representing the UEs and UE layers scheduled, as well as the measurement control. From O-RU to O-DU, the RRM measurements are transferred in C-plane messages, in addition to the U-plane messages.

[0061] In the coming specification of O-RAN WG4 specification supporting DMRS-BF, it has been agreed in O-RAN WG4 to use ST5 to convey the ueld to the O-RU from the O-DU and a new Section Extension that is attached to ST5 section to convey DMRS configuration. It is also agreed that Section Extension 10 is used to covey multiple uelds in one section if grouping of multiple UE layers is used. Then, the O-RU will know the DMRS configuration for each layer, represented by a ueld. As described above, some of the measurements are measured and reported per UE. The O-RU needs to know which layers belong to which UE. To address this, it is agreed that the 15 bits of ueld is split to the MSB (most significant bit) part and the LSB (least significant bit). The MSB part is used to represent different UEs and the LSB part is used to represent different layer of a UE. FIG. 11 shows an example of ueld where the 12 MSB bits represent different UEs and 3 LSB bits represent different layers of each UE. In this example, the ueld can represent 4096 UEs and 8 layers for each UE.

[0062] In some embodiments, when the O-DU doesn’t change the ueld assignment between an ueld and a UE in a slot, the O-DU sends an indication via a C-plane message that the O-RU can use the previous state data associated to the UE represented by the ueld to calculate the measurement value for this UE. If a UE has multiple layers and a measurement has multiple layers for one UE, the O-RU can use the previous state data of each layer to calculate the measurement value for each layer. In some examples, a traffic session of a UE lasts several slots. In this invention, the O-DU will not change the ueld assignment during these slots until the UE traffic ends.

[0063] In additional or alternative embodiments, when the O-DU changes the ueld assignment the ueld assignment between an ueld and a UE in a slot, the O-DU sends an indication via a C-plane message that the O-RU can not use the previous state data associated to the UE represented by the ueld to calculate the measurement value for this UE. In this case, the O-RU may clear the storge of the previous state data for this ueld. If the UE has multiple layers, the O-RU may clear the storage of the previous state data for all layers of this UE. The storage is released for storing the new state data or for other purposes. In some examples, when a traffic session of a UE is completed, the ueld can be assigned to a new UE scheduled.

[0064] In additional or alternative embodiments, when a UE assigned with a ueld is not used for certain time longer than a threshold, the O-DU sends an indication via a C-plane message that the O-RU can not use the previous state data associated to the UE represented by the ueld to calculate the measurement value for this UE. Like in the previous case, the O-RU may clear the storge of the previous state data for this ueld. If the UE has multiple layers, the O- RU may clear the storage of the previous state data for all layers of this UE. The storage is released for storing the new state data or for other purposes.

[0065] In additional or alternative embodiments, the indication can be formatted as a 1 -bit flag, e.g., ueldReset. For example, set ueldReset = 0, it indicates the O-RU can use the previous state data associated to the UE represented by the ueld to calculate the measurement value for this UE. Set ueldReset = 1, it indicates the O-RU can not use the previous state data associated to the UE represented by the ueld to calculate the measurement value for this UE.

[0066] In additional or alternative embodiments, the indication flag bit, e.g., ueidReset, can be added in the C-plane message from the O-DU to the O-RU conveying the scheduling information, DMRS configuration etc. for DMRS-BF. For example, the flag bit can be added in the corresponding Section Type and Section Extension of C-plane which are used for DMRS-BF to convey the scheduling information and DMRS configuration for different uelds. For the existing Section Type or Section Extension, one possibility is to use one bit in the reserved bits. If no reserved bits are available, it is also possible to take one bit from an existing field. For UEswith multiple layers, the indication flag bit can be added for one ueld or multiple uelds for these UEs.

[0067] The O-DU can be implemented as virtualized network functions running in a Cloud environment.

[0068] Operations of the network node 1600 (implemented using the structure of FIG. 16) will now be discussed with reference to the flow charts of FIGS. 12-13 according to some embodiments of inventive concepts. For example, modules may be stored in memory 1604 of FIG. 16, and these modules may provide instructions so that when the instructions of a module are executed by respective network node processing circuitry 1602, network node 1600 performs respective operations of the flow charts.

[0069] FIG. 12 illustrates an example of operations performed by a network node (e.g., a network node configured to provide a RU) to control user equipment identifier (“ueld”) in an open radio access network (“O-RAN”) with reference signal beamforming (“RS-BF”) (e.g., a demodulation RS-BF (“DMRS-BF”).

[0070] At block 1210, processing circuitry 1602 determines first data based on symbols received during the previous slot that are associated with a UE associated with a ueld.

[0071] At block 1220, processing circuitry 1602 stores the first data as associated with the ueld.

[0072] At block 1230, processing circuitry 1602 receives, via communication interface 1606, an indication from the DU of whether one or more symbols of a current slot associated with a user equipment identifier, ueld, are from a same user equipment, UE, as one or more symbols of a previous slot associated with the ueld. In additional or alternative embodiments, the indication is an indication of whether to use the first data to determine second data of a current slot associated with the ueld.

[0073] In some embodiments, receiving the indication of whether the one or more symbols of the current slot are from the same UE as the one or more symbols of the previous slot includes receiving an indication of whether the one or more symbols of the current slot are from a same layer of the same UE as the one or more symbols of the previous slot.

[0074] In some embodiments, the indication of whether to use the first data includes an indication of whether the RU can use the first data to determine second data of the current slot associated with the ueld. In some examples, the ueld identified a first user equipment, UE, during the previous slot. Receiving the indication from the DU of whether the RU can use the first data includes receiving an indication of whether the ueld identifies the first UE during the current slot. In additional or alternative examples, the ueld identified a first layer of the UE during the previous slot. Receiving the indication from the DU of whether the RU can use thefirst data includes receiving an indication of whether the ueld identifies the first layer of the first UE during the current slot.

[0075] In additional or alternative embodiments, the first data and the second data each include at least one of: measurement values; symbol data; and channel estimates.

[0076] In additional or alternative embodiments, receiving the indication from the DU of whether the RU can use the first data includes receiving a control-plane, C-plane, message from the DU including scheduling information, reference signal configuration, and the indication of whether the RU can use the first data of the previous slot associated with the ueld to determine the second data of the current slot associated with the ueld.

[0077] In additional or alternative embodiments, the communications network includes an open radio access network, O-RAN, that uses reference signal based beamforming, RS-BF. In additional or alternative embodiments, the RU includes an O-RAN RU, O-RU. In additional or alternative embodiments, the DU includes an O-RAN DU, O-DU. In additional or alternative embodiments, the first data includes first measurement data. In additional or alternative embodiments, the second data includes second measurement data.

[0078] At block 1240, processing circuitry 1602 determines the second data of the current slot associated with the ueld based on the indication of whether the one or more symbols of the current slot are from the same UE as the one or more symbols of the previous slot (and / or an indication to use the first data).

[0079] In some embodiments, receiving the indication from the DU of whether the RU can use the first data includes receiving an indication from the DU that the RU can use the first data of the previous slot associated with the ueld to determine the second data of the current slot associated with the ueld. Determining the second data of the current slot associated with the ueld includes determining the second data of the current slot associated with the ueld based on the first data and symbols received during the current slot.

[0080] In additional or alternative embodiments, receiving the indication from the DU of whether the RU can use the first data includes receiving an indication from the DU that the RU cannot use the first data of the previous slot associated with the ueld to determine the second data of the current slot associated with the ueld. Determining the second data of the current slot associated with the ueld includes determining the second data of the current slot associated with the ueld based on the symbols received during the current slot.

[0081] In additional or alternative embodiments, receiving the indication from the DU of whether the RU can use the first data includes receiving an indication of whether the RU can use a plurality of data each associated with one slot of a plurality of previous slots associated withthe ueld. Determining the second data includes determining the second data of the current slot associated with the ueld based on the indication of whether the RU can use the plurality of data.

[0082] At block 1250, processing circuitry 1602 releases the association between the first data and the ueld. In some embodiments, the RU releases the association between the first data and the ueld based on receiving the indication that the RU cannot use the first data to determine the second data (e.g., because the ueld no longer refers to the same UE and / or same layer as it did during the previous slot).

[0083] At block 1260, processing circuitry 1602 stores an indication of the second data as associated with the ueld.

[0084] At block 1270, processing circuitry 1602 transmits, via communication interface 1606, an indication of the second data to the DU.

[0085] FIG. 13 illustrates an example of operations performed by a network node (e.g., a network node configured to provide a DU) to control user equipment identifier (“ueld”) in an open radio access network (“O-RAN”) with reference signal beamforming (“RS-BF”) (e.g., demodulation RS-BF (“DMRS-BF”)).

[0086] At block 1310, processing circuitry 1602 determines whether a ueld is assigned to a same UE as it was during a previous slot.

[0087] At block 1320, processing circuitry 1602 transmits, via communication interface 1606, an indication to a RU of whether the ueld is assigned to the same UE as it was during the previous slot. In some examples, the indication can indicate that the RU can use first data of a previous slot associated with the ueld to determine second data of the current slot associated with the ueld.

[0088] In additional or alternative embedments, transmitting the indication to the RU of whether the ueld is assigned to the same UE as it was during the previous slot includes transmitting an indication to the RU of whether the RU can use data associated with a previous slot and the ueld to determine data associated with the current slot and the ueld.

[0089] In additional or alternative embodiments, determining whether the ueld assigned to the UE is valid includes determining not to change an assignment of the ueld to the UE. Transmitting the indication to the RU of whether the RU can use the first data includes transmitting an indication to the RU indicating that the RU can use the first data of the previous slot associated with the ueld to determine the second data of the current slot associated with the ueld based on determining not to change the assignment of the ueld to the UE.

[0090] In some examples, the ueld is a first ueld. The UE is a first UE. Determining to change the assignment of the ueld to the UE includes at least one of: determining to assign a second ueld to the first UE; and determining to assign the first ueld to a second UE.

[0091] In additional or alternative embodiments, determining whether the ueld assigned to the UE is valid includes determining that an amount of time since the UE became inactive to determine data by the RU exceeds a threshold amount of time. Transmitting the indication to the RU of whether the RU can use the first data includes transmitting an indication to the RU that the RU cannot use the first data of the previous slot associated with the ueld to determine the second data of the current slot associated with the ueld based on determining that the amount of time since the UE was used to determine the data by the RU exceeds the threshold amount of time.

[0092] In additional or alternative embodiments, determining whether the ueld assigned to the UE is valid includes determining that an amount of time since the first data was determined exceeds a threshold amount of time. Transmitting the indication to the RU of whether the RU can use the first data includes transmitting an indication to the RU that the RU cannot use the first data of the previous slot associated with the ueld to determine the second data of the current slot associated with the ueld based on determining that the amount of time since the first data was determined exceeds the threshold amount of time.

[0093] In additional or alternative embodiments, transmitting the indication to the RU that the RU cannot use the first data includes transmitting an instruction that the RU release the first data.

[0094] In additional or alterantiv embodiments, the first data and the second data each include at least one of: measurement values; symbol data; and channel estimates.

[0095] In additional or alternative embodiments, transmitting the indication to the RU of whether the RU can use the first data includes transmitting a control-plane, C-plane, message to the RU including scheduling information, reference signal configuration, and the indication of whether the RU can use the first data of the previous slot associated with the ueld to determine the second data of the current slot associated with the ueld.

[0096] In additional or alternative embodiments, transmitting the indication to the RU of whether the RU can use the first data includes transmitting an indication of whether the RU can use a plurality of data each associated with one slot of a plurality of previous slots associated with the ueld.

[0097] In additional or alternative embodiments, the communications network includes an open radio access network, 0-RAN, that uses demodulation reference signal based beamforming, RS-BF. In additional or alternative embodiments, the RU includes an O-RAN RU, O-RU. In additional or alternative embodiments, the DU includes an O-RAN DU, O-DU. In additional or alternative embodiments, the first data includes first measurement data. In additional or alternative embodiments, the second data includes second measurement data.

[0098] At block 1330, processing circuitry 1602 receives, via communication interface 1606, the second data of the current slot associated with the ueld.

[0099] Various operations from the flow charts of FIGS.12-13 may be optional with respect to some embodiments of network entities and related methods.

[0100] Example Embodiments are included below.

[0101] Embodiment 1. A method of operating a network node in a communications network, the network node configured to provide a radio unit, RU, the method comprising: receiving (1230) an indication from a distributed unit, DU, of whether to use first data of a previous slot associated with a user equipment identifier, ueld, to determine second data of a current slot associated with the ueld; and determining (1240) the second data of the current slot associated with the ueld based on the indication of whether to use the first data.

[0102] Embodiment 2. The method of any of Embodiments 1-2, further comprising: determining (1210) the first data based on symbols received during the previous slot that are associated with a user equipment, UE, associated with the ueld; and prior to receiving the indication from the DU of whether to use the first data, storing (1220) the first data as associated with the ueld.

[0103] Embodiment 3. The method of any of Embodiments 1-2, wherein receiving the indication from the DU of whether to use the first data comprises receiving an indication from the DU to use the first data of the previous slot associated with the ueld to determine the second data of the current slot associated with the ueld, and wherein determining the second data of the current slot associated with the ueld comprises determining the second data of the current slot associated with the ueld based on the first data and symbols received during the current slot.

[0104] Embodiment 4. The method of any of Embodiments 1-2, wherein receiving the indication from the DU of whether to use the first data comprises receiving an indication from the DU to not use the first data of the previous slot associated with the ueld to determine the second data of the current slot associated with the ueld, and wherein determining the second data of the current slot associated with the ueld comprises determining the second data of the current slot associated with the ueld based on the symbols received during the current slot.

[0105] Embodiment s. The method of Embodiment 4, further comprising: releasing (1250) an association between the first data and the ueld.

[0106] Embodiment 6. The method of any of Embodiments 1-5, further comprising:responsive to determining the second data, storing (1260) an indication of the second data as associated with the ueld.

[0107] Embodiment 7. The method of any of Embodiment 1-6, further comprising: responsive to determining the second data, transmitting (1270) an indication of the second data to the DU.

[0108] Embodiment 8. The method of any of Embodiments 1-7, wherein the first data and the second data each comprises at least one of: measurement values; symbol data; and channel estimates.

[0109] Embodiment 9. The method of any of Embodiments 1-8, wherein receiving the indication from the DU of whether to use the first data comprises receiving a control-plane, C- plane, message from the DU including scheduling information, demodulation reference signal configuration, and the indication of whether to use the first data of the previous slot associated with the ueld to determine the second data of the current slot associated with the ueld.

[0110] Embodiment 10. The method of any of Embodiments 1-9, wherein the ueld is a first ueld that includes an identifier of a user equipment, UE, and an identifier of a first layer associated with the UE, wherein receiving the indication from the DU of whether to use the first data comprises receiving an indication of a second ueld that includes an identifier of the UE and an identifier of a second layer associated with the UE.

[0111] Embodiment 11. The method of any of Embodiments 1-10, wherein receiving the indication from the DU of whether to use the first data comprises receiving an indication of whether to use a plurality of data each associated with one slot of a plurality of previous slots associated with the ueld, and wherein determining the second data comprises determining the second data of the current slot associated with the ueld based on the indication of whether to use the plurality of data.

[0112] Embodiment 12. The method of any of Embodiments 1-11, wherein the communications network comprises an open radio access network, O-RAN, that uses demodulation reference signal based beamforming, DMRS-BF, wherein the RU comprises an O-RAN RU, O-RU, wherein the DU comprises an O-RAN DU, O-DU, wherein the first data comprises first measurement data, and wherein the second data comprises second measurement data.

[0113] Embodiment 13. A method of operating a first network node in a communications network, the network node configured to provide a distributed unit, DU, the method comprising: determining (1310) whether a user equipment identifier, ueld, assigned to a user equipment, UE, is valid; and transmitting (1320) an indication to a radio unit, RU, of whether to use first data of a previous slot associated with the ueld to determine second data of a current slot associated with the ueld based on whether the ueld assigned to the UE is valid.

[0114] Embodiment 14. The method of Embodiment 13, wherein determining whether the ueld assigned to the UE is valid comprises determining not to change an assignment of the ueld to the UE, and wherein transmitting the indication to the RU of whether to use the first data comprises transmitting an indication to the RU to use the first data of the previous slot associated with the ueld to determine the second data of the current slot associated with the ueld based on determining not to change the assignment of the ueld to the UE.

[0115] Embodiment 15. The method of Embodiment 13, wherein determining whether the ueld assigned to the UE is valid comprises determining to change an assignment of the ueld to the UE, and wherein transmitting the indication to the RU of whether to use the first data comprises transmitting an indication to the RU to not use the first data of the previous slot associated with the ueld to determine the second data of the current slot associated with the ueld based on determining to change the assignment of the ueld to the UE.

[0116] Embodiment 16. The method of Embodiment 15, wherein the ueld is a first ueld, wherein the UE is a first UE, wherein determining to change the assignment of the ueld to the UE comprises at least one of: determining to assign a second ueld to the first UE; and determining to assign the first ueld to a second UE.

[0117] Embodiment 17. The method of Embodiment 13, wherein determining whether the ueld assigned to the UE is valid comprises determining that an amount of time since the UE became inactive to determine data by the RU exceeds a threshold amount of time, wherein transmitting the indication to the RU of whether to use the first data comprises transmitting an indication to the RU to not use the first data of the previous slot associated with the ueld to determine the second data of the current slot associated with the ueld based on determining that the amount of time since the UE was used to determine the data by the RU exceeds the threshold amount of time.

[0118] Embodiment 18. The method of Embodiment 13, wherein determining whether the ueld assigned to the UE is valid comprises determining that an amount of time since the first data was determined exceeds a threshold amount of time, wherein transmitting the indication to the RU of whether to use the first data comprises transmitting an indication to the RU to not use the first data of the previous slot associated with the ueld to determine the second data of the current slot associated with the ueld based on determining that the amount of time since the first data was determined exceeds the threshold amount of time.

[0119] Embodiment 19. The method of any of Embodiments 15-18, wherein transmitting the indication to the RU to not use the first data comprises transmitting an instruction that the RU release the first data.

[0120] Embodiment 20. The method of any of Embodiments 13-19, further comprising: receiving (1330) the second data of the current slot associated with the ueld.

[0121] Embodiment 21. The method of any of Embodiments 13-20, wherein the first data and the second data each comprises at least one of: measurement values; symbol data; and channel estimates.

[0122] Embodiment 22. The method of any of Embodiments 13-21, wherein transmitting the indication to the RU of whether to use the first data comprises transmitting a control-plane, C-plane, message to the RU including scheduling information, demodulation reference signal configuration, and the indication of whether to use the first data of the previous slot associated with the ueld to determine the second data of the current slot associated with the ueld.

[0123] Embodiment 23. The method of any of Embodiments 13-22, wherein the ueld is a first ueld that includes an identifier of the UE and an identifier of a first layer associated with the UE, wherein transmitting the indication to the RU of whether to use the first data comprises transmitting an indication of a second ueld that includes an identifier of the UE and an identifier of a second layer associated with the UE.

[0124] Embodiment 24. The method of any of Embodiments 13-23, wherein transmitting the indication to the RU of whether to use the first data comprises transmitting an indication of whether to use a plurality of data each associated with one slot of a plurality of previous slots associated with the ueld.

[0125] Embodiment 25. The method of any of Embodiments 13-24, wherein the communications network comprises an open radio access network, O-RAN, that uses demodulation reference signal based beamforming, DMRS-BF, wherein the RU comprises an O-RAN RU, O-RU, wherein the DU comprises an O-RAN DU, O-DU, wherein the first data comprises first measurement data, and wherein the second data comprises second measurement data.

[0126] Embodiment 26. A network node (QQ300) in a communications network, the network node comprising: processing circuitry (QQ302); and memory (QQ304) coupled to the processing circuitry and having instructions stored therein that are executable by the processing circuitry to cause the network node to perform operations comprising any of the operations of Embodiments 1-25.

[0127] Embodiment 27. A computer program comprising program code to be executed by processing circuitry (QQ302) of a network node (QQ300) in a communications network, whereby execution of the program code causes the first network entity to perform operations comprising any operations of Embodiments 1-25.

[0128] Embodiment 28. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory storage medium (QQ304) including program code to be executed by processing circuitry (QQ302) of a network node (QQ300) in a communications network, whereby execution of the program code causes the network node to perform operations comprising any operations of Embodiments 1-25.

[0129] Embodiment 29. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions stored therein that are executable by processing circuitry (QQ302) of a network node (QQ300) in a communications network, to cause the network node to perform operations comprising any of the operations of Embodiments 1-25.

[0130] FIG. 14 shows an example of a communication system 1400 in accordance with some embodiments.

[0131] In the example, the communication system 1400 includes a telecommunication network 1402 that includes an access network 1404, such as a radio access network (RAN), and a core network 1406, which includes one or more core network nodes 1408. The access network 1404 includes one or more access network nodes, such as network nodes 1410a and 1410b (one or more of which may be generally referred to as network nodes 1410), or any other similar 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) access node or non-3GPP access point. Moreover, as will be appreciated by those of skill in the art, the network nodes 1410 are not necessarily limited to an implementation in which a radio portion and a baseband portion are supplied and integratedby a single vendor. Thus, it will be understood that the network nodes 1410 may include disaggregated implementations or portions thereof. For example, in some embodiments, the telecommunication network 1402 includes one or more Open-RAN (ORAN) network nodes. An ORAN network node is a node in the telecommunication network 1402 that supports an ORAN specification (e.g., a specification published by the O-RAN Alliance, or any similar organization) and may operate alone or together with other nodes to implement one or more functionalities of any node in the telecommunication network 1402, including one or more network nodes 1410 and / or core network nodes 1408.

[0132] Examples of an ORAN network node include an open radio unit (O-RU), an open distributed unit (O-DU), an open central unit (O-CU), including an O-CU control plane (O-CU- CP) or an O-CU user plane (O-CU-UP), a RAN intelligent controller (near-real time or non-real time) hosting software or software plug-ins, such as a near-real time RAN control application (e.g., xApp) or a non-real time RAN automation application (e.g., rApp), or any combination thereof (the adjective “open” designating support of an ORAN specification). The network node may support a specification by, for example, supporting an interface defined by the ORAN specification, such as an Al, Fl, Wl, El, E2, X2, Xn interface, an open fronthaul user plane interface, or an open fronthaul management plane interface. Intents and content-aware notifications described herein may be communicated from a 3GPP network node or an ORAN network node over 3GPP-defined interfaces (e.g., N2, N3) and / or ORAN Alliance-defined interfaces (e.g., Al, 01). Moreover, an ORAN network node may be a logical node in a physical node. Furthermore, an ORAN network node may be implemented in a virtualization environment (described further below) in which one or more network functions are virtualized. For example, the virtualization environment may include an O-Cloud computing platform orchestrated by a Service Management and Orchestration Framework via an O-2 interface defined by the O-RAN Alliance. The network nodes 1410 facilitate direct or indirect connection of user equipment (UE), such as by connecting wireless devices 1412a, 1412b, 1412c, and 1412d (one or more of which may be generally referred to as UEs 1412) to the core network 1406 over one or more wireless connections. The network nodes 1410 facilitate direct or indirect connection of user equipment (UE), such as by connecting UEs 1412a, 1412b, 1412c, and 1412d (one or more of which may be generally referred to as UEs 1412) to the core network 1406 over one or more wireless connections.

[0133] Example wireless communications over a wireless connection include transmitting and / or receiving wireless signals using electromagnetic waves, radio waves, infrared waves, and / or other types of signals suitable for conveying information without the use of wires, cables, or other material conductors. Moreover, in different embodiments, the communication system1400 may include any number of wired or wireless networks, network nodes, UEs, and / or any other components or systems that may facilitate or participate in the communication of data and / or signals whether via wired or wireless connections. The communication system 1400 may include and / or interface with any type of communication, telecommunication, data, cellular, radio network, and / or other similar type of system.

[0134] The UEs 1412 may be any of a wide variety of communication devices, including wireless devices arranged, configured, and / or operable to communicate wirelessly with the network nodes 1410 and other communication devices. Similarly, the network nodes 1410 are arranged, capable, configured, and / or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with the UEs 1412 and / or with other network nodes or equipment in the telecommunication network 1402 to enable and / or provide network access, such as wireless network access, and / or to perform other functions, such as administration in the telecommunication network 1402.

[0135] In the depicted example, the core network 1406 connects the network nodes 1410 to one or more hosts, such as host 1416. These connections may be direct or indirect via one or more intermediary networks or devices. In other examples, network nodes may be directly coupled to hosts. The core network 1406 includes one more core network nodes (e.g., core network node 1408) that are structured with hardware and software components. Features of these components may be substantially similar to those described with respect to the UEs, network nodes, and / or hosts, such that the descriptions thereof are generally applicable to the corresponding components of the core network node 1408. Example core network nodes include functions of one or more of a Mobile Switching Center (MSC), Mobility Management Entity (MME), Home Subscriber Server (HSS), Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF), Session Management Function (SMF), Authentication Server Function (AUSF), Subscription Identifier De-concealing function (SIDF), Unified Data Management (UDM), Security Edge Protection Proxy (SEPP), Network Exposure Function (NEF), and / or a User Plane Function (UPF).

[0136] The host 1416 may be under the ownership or control of a service provider other than an operator or provider of the access network 1404 and / or the telecommunication network 1402, and may be operated by the service provider or on behalf of the service provider. The host 1416 may host a variety of applications to provide one or more service. Examples of such applications include live and pre-recorded audio / video content, data collection services such as retrieving and compiling data on various ambient conditions detected by a plurality of UEs, analytics functionality, social media, functions for controlling or otherwise interacting with remote devices, functions for an alarm and surveillance center, or any other such function performed by a server.

[0137] As a whole, the communication system 1400 of FIG. 14 enables connectivity between the UEs, network nodes, and hosts. In that sense, the communication system may be configured to operate according to predefined rules or procedures, such as specific standards that include, but are not limited to: Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM); Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS); Long Term Evolution (LTE), and / or other suitable 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G standards, or any applicable future generation standard (e.g., 6G); wireless local area network (WLAN) standards, such as the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standards (WiFi); and / or any other appropriate wireless communication standard, such as the Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMax), Bluetooth, Z-Wave, Near Field Communication (NFC) ZigBee, LiFi, and / or any low- power wide-area network (LPWAN) standards such as LoRa and Sigfox.

[0138] In some examples, the telecommunication network 1402 is a cellular network that implements 3GPP standardized features. Accordingly, the telecommunications network 1402 may support network slicing to provide different logical networks to different devices that are connected to the telecommunication network 1402. For example, the telecommunications network 1402 may provide Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communication (URLLC) services to some UEs, while providing Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) services to other UEs, and / or Massive Machine Type Communication (mMTC) / Massive loT services to yet further UEs.

[0139] In some examples, the UEs 1412 are configured to transmit and / or receive information without direct human interaction. For instance, a UE may be designed to transmit information to the access network 1404 on a predetermined schedule, when triggered by an internal or external event, or in response to requests from the access network 1404. Additionally, a UE may be configured for operating in single- or multi-RAT or multi-standard mode. For example, a UE may operate with any one or combination of Wi-Fi, NR (New Radio) and LTE, i.e. being configured for multi-radio dual connectivity (MR-DC), such as E-UTRAN (Evolved- UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network) New Radio - Dual Connectivity (EN-DC).

[0140] In the example, the hub 1414 communicates with the access network 1404 to facilitate indirect communication between one or more UEs (e.g., UE 1412c and / or 1412d) and network nodes (e.g., network node 1410b). In some examples, the hub 1414 may be a controller, router, content source and analytics, or any of the other communication devices described herein regarding UEs. For example, the hub 1414 may be a broadband router enabling access to the core network 1406 for the UEs. As another example, the hub 1414 may be a controller that sends commands or instructions to one or more actuators in the UEs. Commands or instructions may be received from the UEs, network nodes 1410, or by executable code, script, process, or other instructions in the hub 1414. As another example, the hub 1414 may be a data collector that actsas temporary storage for UE data and, in some embodiments, may perform analysis or other processing of the data. As another example, the hub 1414 may be a content source. For example, for a UE that is a VR headset, display, loudspeaker or other media delivery device, the hub 1414 may retrieve VR assets, video, audio, or other media or data related to sensory information via a network node, which the hub 1414 then provides to the UE either directly, after performing local processing, and / or after adding additional local content. In still another example, the hub 1414 acts as a proxy server or orchestrator for the UEs, in particular in if one or more of the UEs are low energy loT devices.

[0141] The hub 1414 may have a constant / persistent or intermittent connection to the network node 1410b. The hub 1414 may also allow for a different communication scheme and / or schedule between the hub 1414 and UEs (e.g., UE 1412c and / or 1412d), and between the hub 1414 and the core network 1406. In other examples, the hub 1414 is connected to the core network 1406 and / or one or more UEs via a wired connection. Moreover, the hub 1414 may be configured to connect to an M2M service provider over the access network 1404 and / or to another UE over a direct connection. In some scenarios, UEs may establish a wireless connection with the network nodes 1410 while still connected via the hub 1414 via a wired or wireless connection. In some embodiments, the hub 1414 may be a dedicated hub - that is, a hub whose primary function is to route communications to / from the UEs from / to the network node 1410b. In other embodiments, the hub 1414 may be a non-dedicated hub - that is, a device which is capable of operating to route communications between the UEs and network node 1410b, but which is additionally capable of operating as a communication start and / or end point for certain data channels.

[0142] FIG. 15 shows a UE 1500 in accordance with some embodiments. As used herein, a UE refers to a device capable, configured, arranged and / or operable to communicate wirelessly with network nodes and / or other UEs. Examples of a UE include, but are not limited to, a smart phone, mobile phone, cell phone, voice over IP (VoIP) phone, wireless local loop phone, desktop computer, personal digital assistant (PDA), wireless cameras, gaming console or device, music storage device, playback appliance, wearable terminal device, wireless endpoint, mobile station, tablet, laptop, laptop-embedded equipment (LEE), laptop-mounted equipment (LME), smart device, wireless customer-premise equipment (CPE), vehicle-mounted or vehicle embedded / integrated wireless device, etc. Other examples include any UE identified by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), including a narrow band internet of things (NB-IoT) UE, a machine type communication (MTC) UE, and / or an enhanced MTC (eMTC) UE.

[0143] A UE may support device-to-device (D2D) communication, for example by implementing a 3GPP standard for sidelink communication, Dedicated Short-RangeCommunication (DSRC), vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I), or vehicle- to-everything (V2X). In other examples, a UE may not necessarily have a user in the sense of a human user who owns and / or operates the relevant device. Instead, a UE may represent a device that is intended for sale to, or operation by, a human user but which may not, or which may not initially, be associated with a specific human user (e.g., a smart sprinkler controller). Alternatively, a UE may represent a device that is not intended for sale to, or operation by, an end user but which may be associated with or operated for the benefit of a user (e.g., a smart power meter).

[0144] The UE 1500 includes processing circuitry 1502 that is operatively coupled via a bus 1504 to an input / output interface 1506, a power source 1508, a memory 1510, a communication interface 1512, and / or any other component, or any combination thereof. Certain UEs may utilize all or a subset of the components shown in FIG. 15. The level of integration between the components may vary from one UE to another UE. Further, certain UEs may contain multiple instances of a component, such as multiple processors, memories, transceivers, transmitters, receivers, etc.

[0145] The processing circuitry 1502 is configured to process instructions and data and may be configured to implement any sequential state machine operative to execute instructions stored as machine-readable computer programs in the memory 1510. The processing circuitry 1502 may be implemented as one or more hardware-implemented state machines (e.g., in discrete logic, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), etc.); programmable logic together with appropriate firmware; one or more stored computer programs, general-purpose processors, such as a microprocessor or digital signal processor (DSP), together with appropriate software; or any combination of the above. For example, the processing circuitry 1502 may include multiple central processing units (CPUs).

[0146] In the example, the input / output interface 1506 may be configured to provide an interface or interfaces to an input device, output device, or one or more input and / or output devices. Examples of an output device include a speaker, a sound card, a video card, a display, a monitor, a printer, an actuator, an emitter, a smartcard, another output device, or any combination thereof. An input device may allow a user to capture information into the UE 1500. Examples of an input device include a touch-sensitive or presence-sensitive display, a camera (e.g., a digital camera, a digital video camera, a web camera, etc.), a microphone, a sensor, a mouse, a trackball, a directional pad, a trackpad, a scroll wheel, a smartcard, and the like. The presence-sensitive display may include a capacitive or resistive touch sensor to sense input from a user. A sensor may be, for instance, an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a tilt sensor, a force sensor, a magnetometer, an optical sensor, a proximity sensor, a biometric sensor, etc., or anycombination thereof. An output device may use the same type of interface port as an input device. For example, a Universal Serial Bus (USB) port may be used to provide an input device and an output device.

[0147] In some embodiments, the power source 1508 is structured as a battery or battery pack. Other types of power sources, such as an external power source (e.g., an electricity outlet), photovoltaic device, or power cell, may be used. The power source 1508 may further include power circuitry for delivering power from the power source 1508 itself, and / or an external power source, to the various parts of the UE 1500 via input circuitry or an interface such as an electrical power cable. Delivering power may be, for example, for charging of the power source 1508. Power circuitry may perform any formatting, converting, or other modification to the power from the power source 1508 to make the power suitable for the respective components of the UE 1500 to which power is supplied.

[0148] The memory 1510 may be or be configured to include memory such as random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable readonly memory (EEPROM), magnetic disks, optical disks, hard disks, removable cartridges, flash drives, and so forth. In one example, the memory 1510 includes one or more application programs 1514, such as an operating system, web browser application, a widget, gadget engine, or other application, and corresponding data 1516. The memory 1510 may store, for use by the UE 1500, any of a variety of various operating systems or combinations of operating systems.

[0149] The memory 1510 may be configured to include a number of physical drive units, such as redundant array of independent disks (RAID), flash memory, USB flash drive, external hard disk drive, thumb drive, pen drive, key drive, high-density digital versatile disc (HD-DVD) optical disc drive, internal hard disk drive, Blu-Ray optical disc drive, holographic digital data storage (HDDS) optical disc drive, external mini-dual in-line memory module (DIMM), synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), external micro-DIMM SDRAM, smartcard memory such as tamper resistant module in the form of a universal integrated circuit card (UICC) including one or more subscriber identity modules (SIMs), such as a USIM and / or ISIM, other memory, or any combination thereof. The UICC may for example be an embedded UICC (eUICC), integrated UICC (iUICC) or a removable UICC commonly known as ‘SIM card.’ The memory 1510 may allow the UE 1500 to access instructions, application programs and the like, stored on transitory or non-transitory memory media, to off-load data, or to upload data. An article of manufacture, such as one utilizing a communication system may be tangibly embodied as or in the memory 1510, which may be or comprise a device-readable storage medium.

[0150] The processing circuitry 1502 may be configured to communicate with an access network or other network using the communication interface 1512. The communication interface 1512 may comprise one or more communication subsystems and may include or be communicatively coupled to an antenna 1522. The communication interface 1512 may include one or more transceivers used to communicate, such as by communicating with one or more remote transceivers of another device capable of wireless communication (e.g., another UE or a network node in an access network). Each transceiver may include a transmitter 1518 and / or a receiver 1520 appropriate to provide network communications (e.g., optical, electrical, frequency allocations, and so forth). Moreover, the transmitter 1518 and receiver 1520 may be coupled to one or more antennas (e.g., antenna 1522) and may share circuit components, software or firmware, or alternatively be implemented separately.

[0151] In the illustrated embodiment, communication functions of the communication interface 1512 may include cellular communication, Wi-Fi communication, LPWAN communication, data communication, voice communication, multimedia communication, short- range communications such as Bluetooth, near-field communication, location-based communication such as the use of the global positioning system (GPS) to determine a location, another like communication function, or any combination thereof. Communications may be implemented in according to one or more communication protocols and / or standards, such as IEEE 802.11, Code Division Multiplexing Access (CDMA), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), GSM, LTE, New Radio (NR), UMTS, WiMax, Ethernet, transmission control protocol / intemet protocol (TCP / IP), synchronous optical networking (SONET), Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), QUIC, Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), and so forth.

[0152] Regardless of the type of sensor, a UE may provide an output of data captured by its sensors, through its communication interface 1512, via a wireless connection to a network node. Data captured by sensors of a UE can be communicated through a wireless connection to a network node via another UE. The output may be periodic (e.g., once every 15 minutes if it reports the sensed temperature), random (e.g., to even out the load from reporting from several sensors), in response to a triggering event (e.g., when moisture is detected an alert is sent), in response to a request (e.g., a user initiated request), or a continuous stream (e.g., a live video feed of a patient).

[0153] As another example, a UE comprises an actuator, a motor, or a switch, related to a communication interface configured to receive wireless input from a network node via a wireless connection. In response to the received wireless input the states of the actuator, the motor, or the switch may change. For example, the UE may comprise a motor that adjusts thecontrol surfaces or rotors of a drone in flight according to the received input or to a robotic arm performing a medical procedure according to the received input.

[0154] A UE, when in the form of an Internet of Things (loT) device, may be a device for use in one or more application domains, these domains comprising, but not limited to, city wearable technology, extended industrial application and healthcare. Non-limiting examples of such an loT device are a device which is or which is embedded in: a connected refrigerator or freezer, a TV, a connected lighting device, an electricity meter, a robot vacuum cleaner, a voice controlled smart speaker, a home security camera, a motion detector, a thermostat, a smoke detector, a door / window sensor, a flood / moisture sensor, an electrical door lock, a connected doorbell, an air conditioning system like a heat pump, an autonomous vehicle, a surveillance system, a weather monitoring device, a vehicle parking monitoring device, an electric vehicle charging station, a smart watch, a fitness tracker, a head-mounted display for Augmented Reality (AR) or Virtual Reality (VR), a wearable for tactile augmentation or sensory enhancement, a water sprinkler, an animal- or item-tracking device, a sensor for monitoring a plant or animal, an industrial robot, an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), and any kind of medical device, like a heart rate monitor or a remote controlled surgical robot. A UE in the form of an loT device comprises circuitry and / or software in dependence of the intended application of the loT device in addition to other components as described in relation to the UE 1500 shown in FIG. 15.

[0155] As yet another specific example, in an loT scenario, a UE may represent a machine or other device that performs monitoring and / or measurements, and transmits the results of such monitoring and / or measurements to another UE and / or a network node. The UE may in this case be an M2M device, which may in a 3GPP context be referred to as an MTC device. As one particular example, the UE may implement the 3GPP NB-IoT standard. In other scenarios, a UE may represent a vehicle, such as a car, a bus, a truck, a ship and an airplane, or other equipment that is capable of monitoring and / or reporting on its operational status or other functions associated with its operation.

[0156] In practice, any number of UEs may be used together with respect to a single use case. For example, a first UE might be or be integrated in a drone and provide the drone’s speed information (obtained through a speed sensor) to a second UE that is a remote controller operating the drone. When the user makes changes from the remote controller, the first UE may adjust the throttle on the drone (e.g. by controlling an actuator) to increase or decrease the drone’s speed. The first and / or the second UE can also include more than one of the functionalities described above. For example, a UE might comprise the sensor and the actuator, and handle communication of data for both the speed sensor and the actuators.

[0157] FIG. 16 shows a network node 1600 in accordance with some embodiments. As used herein, network node refers to equipment capable, configured, arranged and / or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with a UE and / or with other network nodes or equipment, in a telecommunication network. Examples of network nodes include, but are not limited to, access points (APs) (e.g., radio access points), base stations (BSs) (e.g., radio base stations, Node Bs, evolved Node Bs (eNBs), NRNodeBs (gNBs)), O-RAN nodes, or components of an O-RAN node (e.g., intelligent controller, O-RU, O-DU, O-CU).

[0158] Base stations may be categorized based on the amount of coverage they provide (or, stated differently, their transmit power level) and so, depending on the provided amount of coverage, may be referred to as femto base stations, pico base stations, micro base stations, or macro base stations. A base station may be a relay node or a relay donor node controlling a relay. A network node may also include one or more (or all) parts of a distributed radio base station such as centralized digital units and / or remote radio units (RRUs), sometimes referred to as Remote Radio Heads (RRHs). Such remote radio units may or may not be integrated with an antenna as an antenna integrated radio. Parts of a distributed radio base station may also be referred to as nodes in a distributed antenna system (DAS).

[0159] Other examples of network nodes include multiple transmission point (multi-TRP) 5G access nodes, multi-standard radio (MSR) equipment such as MSR BSs, network controllers such as radio network controllers (RNCs) or base station controllers (BSCs), base transceiver stations (BTSs), transmission points, transmission nodes, multi-cell / multicast coordination entities (MCEs), Operation and Maintenance (O&M) nodes, Operations Support System (OSS) nodes, Self-Organizing Network (SON) nodes, positioning nodes (e.g., Evolved Serving Mobile Location Centers (E-SMLCs)), and / or Minimization of Drive Tests (MDTs).

[0160] The network node 1600 includes a processing circuitry 1602, a memory 1604, a communication interface 1606, and a power source 1608. The network node 1600 may be composed of multiple physically separate components (e.g., aNodeB component and a RNC component, or a BTS component and a BSC component, etc.), which may each have their own respective components. In certain scenarios in which the network node 1600 comprises multiple separate components (e.g., BTS and BSC components), one or more of the separate components may be shared among several network nodes. For example, a single RNC may control multiple NodeBs. In such a scenario, each unique NodeB and RNC pair, may in some instances be considered a single separate network node. In some embodiments, the network node 1600 may be configured to support multiple radio access technologies (RATs). In such embodiments, some components may be duplicated (e.g., separate memory 1604 for different RATs) and some components may be reused (e.g., a same antenna 1610 may be shared by different RATs). Thenetwork node 1600 may also include multiple sets of the various illustrated components for different wireless technologies integrated into network node 1600, for example GSM, WCDMA, LTE, NR, WiFi, Zigbee, Z-wave, LoRaWAN, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) or Bluetooth wireless technologies. These wireless technologies may be integrated into the same or different chip or set of chips and other components within network node 1600.

[0161] The processing circuitry 1602 may comprise a combination of one or more of a microprocessor, controller, microcontroller, central processing unit, digital signal processor, application-specific integrated circuit, field programmable gate array, or any other suitable computing device, resource, or combination of hardware, software and / or encoded logic operable to provide, either alone or in conjunction with other network node 1600 components, such as the memory 1604, to provide network node 1600 functionality.

[0162] In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 1602 includes a system on a chip (SOC). In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 1602 includes one or more of radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry 1612 and baseband processing circuitry 1614. In some embodiments, the radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry 1612 and the baseband processing circuitry 1614 may be on separate chips (or sets of chips), boards, or units, such as radio units and digital units. In alternative embodiments, part or all of RF transceiver circuitry 1612 and baseband processing circuitry 1614 may be on the same chip or set of chips, boards, or units.

[0163] The memory 1604 may comprise any form of volatile or non-volatile computer- readable memory including, without limitation, persistent storage, solid-state memory, remotely mounted memory, magnetic media, optical media, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), mass storage media (for example, a hard disk), removable storage media (for example, a flash drive, a Compact Disk (CD) or a Digital Video Disk (DVD)), and / or any other volatile or non-volatile, non-transitory device-readable and / or computer-executable memory devices that store information, data, and / or instructions that may be used by the processing circuitry 1602. The memory 1604 may store any suitable instructions, data, or information, including a computer program, software, an application including one or more of logic, rules, code, tables, and / or other instructions capable of being executed by the processing circuitry 1602 and utilized by the network node 1600. The memory 1604 may be used to store any calculations made by the processing circuitry 1602 and / or any data received via the communication interface 1606. In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 1602 and memory 1604 is integrated.

[0164] The communication interface 1606 is used in wired or wireless communication of signaling and / or data between a network node, access network, and / or UE. As illustrated, the communication interface 1606 comprises port(s) / terminal(s) 1616 to send and receive data, for example to and from a network over a wired connection. The communication interface 1606 alsoincludes radio front-end circuitry 1618 that may be coupled to, or in certain embodiments a part of, the antenna 1610. Radio front-end circuitry 1618 comprises filters 1620 and amplifiers 1622. The radio front-end circuitry 1618 may be connected to an antenna 1610 and processing circuitry 1602. The radio front-end circuitry may be configured to condition signals communicated between antenna 1610 and processing circuitry 1602. The radio front-end circuitry 1618 may receive digital data that is to be sent out to other network nodes or UEs via a wireless connection. The radio front-end circuitry 1618 may convert the digital data into a radio signal having the appropriate channel and bandwidth parameters using a combination of filters 1620 and / or amplifiers 1622. The radio signal may then be transmitted via the antenna 1610. Similarly, when receiving data, the antenna 1610 may collect radio signals which are then converted into digital data by the radio front-end circuitry 1618. The digital data may be passed to the processing circuitry 1602. In other embodiments, the communication interface may comprise different components and / or different combinations of components.

[0165] In certain alternative embodiments, the network node 1600 does not include separate radio front-end circuitry 1618, instead, the processing circuitry 1602 includes radio front-end circuitry and is connected to the antenna 1610. Similarly, in some embodiments, all or some of the RF transceiver circuitry 1612 is part of the communication interface 1606. In still other embodiments, the communication interface 1606 includes one or more ports or terminals 1616, the radio front-end circuitry 1618, and the RF transceiver circuitry 1612, as part of a radio unit (not shown), and the communication interface 1606 communicates with the baseband processing circuitry 1614, which is part of a digital unit (not shown).

[0166] The antenna 1610 may include one or more antennas, or antenna arrays, configured to send and / or receive wireless signals. The antenna 1610 may be coupled to the radio front-end circuitry 1618 and may be any type of antenna capable of transmitting and receiving data and / or signals wirelessly. In certain embodiments, the antenna 1610 is separate from the network node 1600 and connectable to the network node 1600 through an interface or port.

[0167] The antenna 1610, communication interface 1606, and / or the processing circuitry 1602 may be configured to perform any receiving operations and / or certain obtaining operations described herein as being performed by the network node. Any information, data and / or signals may be received from a UE, another network node and / or any other network equipment. Similarly, the antenna 1610, the communication interface 1606, and / or the processing circuitry 1602 may be configured to perform any transmitting operations described herein as being performed by the network node. Any information, data and / or signals may be transmitted to a UE, another network node and / or any other network equipment.

[0168] The power source 1608 provides power to the various components of network node 1600 in a form suitable for the respective components (e.g., at a voltage and current level needed for each respective component). The power source 1608 may further comprise, or be coupled to, power management circuitry to supply the components of the network node 1600 with power for performing the functionality described herein. For example, the network node 1600 may be connectable to an external power source (e.g., the power grid, an electricity outlet) via an input circuitry or interface such as an electrical cable, whereby the external power source supplies power to power circuitry of the power source 1608. As a further example, the power source 1608 may comprise a source of power in the form of a battery or battery pack which is connected to, or integrated in, power circuitry. The battery may provide backup power should the external power source fail.

[0169] Embodiments of the network node 1600 may include additional components beyond those shown in FIG. 16 for providing certain aspects of the network node’s functionality, including any of the functionality described herein and / or any functionality necessary to support the subject matter described herein. For example, the network node 1600 may include user interface equipment to allow input of information into the network node 1600 and to allow output of information from the network node 1600. This may allow a user to perform diagnostic, maintenance, repair, and other administrative functions for the network node 1600.

[0170] FIG. 17 is a block diagram of a host 1700, which may be an embodiment of the host 1416 of FIG. 14, in accordance with various aspects described herein. As used herein, the host 1700 may be or comprise various combinations hardware and / or software, including a standalone server, a blade server, a cloud-implemented server, a distributed server, a virtual machine, container, or processing resources in a server farm. The host 1700 may provide one or more services to one or more UEs.

[0171] The host 1700 includes processing circuitry 1702 that is operatively coupled via a bus 1704 to an input / output interface 1706, a network interface 1708, a power source 1710, and a memory 1712. Other components may be included in other embodiments. Features of these components may be substantially similar to those described with respect to the devices of previous figures, such as FIGS. 15 and 16, such that the descriptions thereof are generally applicable to the corresponding components of host 1700.

[0172] The memory 1712 may include one or more computer programs including one or more host application programs 1714 and data 1716, which may include user data, e.g., data generated by a UE for the host 1700 or data generated by the host 1700 for a UE. Embodiments of the host 1700 may utilize only a subset or all of the components shown. The host application programs 1714 may be implemented in a container-based architecture and may provide supportfor video codecs (e.g., Versatile Video Coding (VVC), High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC), Advanced Video Coding (AVC), MPEG, VP9) and audio codecs (e.g., FLAC, Advanced Audio Coding (AAC), MPEG, G.711), including transcoding for multiple different classes, types, or implementations of UEs (e.g., handsets, desktop computers, wearable display systems, heads-up display systems). The host application programs 1714 may also provide for user authentication and licensing checks and may periodically report health, routes, and content availability to a central node, such as a device in or on the edge of a core network. Accordingly, the host 1700 may select and / or indicate a different host for over-the-top services for a UE. The host application programs 1714 may support various protocols, such as the HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) protocol, Real-Time Messaging Protocol (RTMP), Real-Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP), Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP (MPEG-DASH), etc.

[0173] FIG. 18 is a block diagram illustrating a virtualization environment 1800 in which functions implemented by some embodiments may be virtualized. In the present context, virtualizing means creating virtual versions of apparatuses or devices which may include virtualizing hardware platforms, storage devices and networking resources. As used herein, virtualization can be applied to any device described herein, or components thereof, and relates to an implementation in which at least a portion of the functionality is implemented as one or more virtual components. Some or all of the functions described herein may be implemented as virtual components executed by one or more virtual machines (VMs) implemented in one or more virtual environments 1800 hosted by one or more of hardware nodes, such as a hardware computing device that operates as a network node, UE, core network node, or host. Further, in embodiments in which the virtual node does not require radio connectivity (e.g., a core network node or host), then the node may be entirely virtualized. In some embodiments, the virtualization environment 1800 includes components defined by the O-RAN Alliance, such as an O-Cloud environment orchestrated by a Service Management and Orchestration Framework via an O-2 interface.

[0174] Applications 1802 (which may alternatively be called software instances, virtual appliances, network functions, virtual nodes, virtual network functions, etc.) are run in the virtualization environment Q400 to implement some of the features, functions, and / or benefits of some of the embodiments disclosed herein.

[0175] Hardware 1804 includes processing circuitry, memory that stores software and / or instructions executable by hardware processing circuitry, and / or other hardware devices as described herein, such as a network interface, input / output interface, and so forth. Software may be executed by the processing circuitry to instantiate one or more virtualization layers 1806 (also referred to as hypervisors or virtual machine monitors (VMMs)), provide VMs 1808a and 1808b(one or more of which may be generally referred to as VMs 1808), and / or perform any of the functions, features and / or benefits described in relation with some embodiments described herein. The virtualization layer 1806 may present a virtual operating platform that appears like networking hardware to the VMs 1808.

[0176] The VMs 1808 comprise virtual processing, virtual memory, virtual networking or interface and virtual storage, and may be run by a corresponding virtualization layer 1806. Different embodiments of the instance of a virtual appliance 1802 may be implemented on one or more of VMs 1808, and the implementations may be made in different ways. Virtualization of the hardware is in some contexts referred to as network function virtualization (NFV). NFV may be used to consolidate many network equipment types onto industry standard high volume server hardware, physical switches, and physical storage, which can be located in data centers, and customer premise equipment.

[0177] In the context of NFV, a VM 1808 may be a software implementation of a physical machine that runs programs as if they were executing on a physical, non-virtualized machine. Each of the VMs 1808, and that part of hardware 1804 that executes that VM, be it hardware dedicated to that VM and / or hardware shared by that VM with others of the VMs, forms separate virtual network elements. Still in the context of NFV, a virtual network function is responsible for handling specific network functions that run in one or more VMs 1808 on top of the hardware 1804 and corresponds to the application 1802.

[0178] Hardware 1804 may be implemented in a standalone network node with generic or specific components. Hardware 1804 may implement some functions via virtualization.Alternatively, hardware 1804 may be part of a larger cluster of hardware (e.g. such as in a data center or CPE) where many hardware nodes work together and are managed via management and orchestration 1810, which, among others, oversees lifecycle management of applications 1802. In some embodiments, hardware 1804 is coupled to one or more radio units that each include one or more transmitters and one or more receivers that may be coupled to one or more antennas. Radio units may communicate directly with other hardware nodes via one or more appropriate network interfaces and may be used in combination with the virtual components to provide a virtual node with radio capabilities, such as a radio access node or a base station. In some embodiments, some signaling can be provided with the use of a control system 1812 which may alternatively be used for communication between hardware nodes and radio units.

[0179] FIG. 19 shows a communication diagram of a host 1902 communicating via a network node 1904 with a UE 1906 over a partially wireless connection in accordance with some embodiments. Example implementations, in accordance with various embodiments, of the UE (such as a UE 1412a of FIG. 14 and / or UE 1500 of FIG. 15), network node (such as networknode 1410a of FIG. 14 and / or network node 1600 of FIG. 16), and host (such as host 1416 of FIG. 14 and / or host 1700 of FIG. 17) discussed in the preceding paragraphs will now be described with reference to FIG. 19.

[0180] Like host 1700, embodiments of host 1902 include hardware, such as a communication interface, processing circuitry, and memory. The host 1902 also includes software, which is stored in or accessible by the host 1902 and executable by the processing circuitry. The software includes a host application that may be operable to provide a service to a remote user, such as the UE 1906 connecting via an over-the-top (OTT) connection 1950 extending between the UE 1906 and host 1902. In providing the service to the remote user, a host application may provide user data which is transmitted using the OTT connection 1950.

[0181] The network node 1904 includes hardware enabling it to communicate with the host 1902 and UE 1906. The connection 1960 may be direct or pass through a core network (like core network 1406 of FIG. 14) and / or one or more other intermediate networks, such as one or more public, private, or hosted networks. For example, an intermediate network may be a backbone network or the Internet.

[0182] The UE 1906 includes hardware and software, which is stored in or accessible by UE 1906 and executable by the UE’s processing circuitry. The software includes a client application, such as a web browser or operator-specific “app” that may be operable to provide a service to a human or non-human user via UE 1906 with the support of the host 1902. In the host 1902, an executing host application may communicate with the executing client application via the OTT connection 1950 terminating at the UE 1906 and host 1902. In providing the service to the user, the UE's client application may receive request data from the host's host application and provide user data in response to the request data. The OTT connection 1950 may transfer both the request data and the user data. The UE's client application may interact with the user to generate the user data that it provides to the host application through the OTT connection 1950.

[0183] The OTT connection 1950 may extend via a connection 1960 between the host 1902 and the network node 1904 and via a wireless connection 1970 between the network node 1904 and the UE 1906 to provide the connection between the host 1902 and the UE 1906. The connection 1960 and wireless connection 1970, over which the OTT connection 1950 may be provided, have been drawn abstractly to illustrate the communication between the host 1902 and the UE 1906 via the network node 1904, without explicit reference to any intermediary devices and the precise routing of messages via these devices.

[0184] As an example of transmitting data via the OTT connection 1950, in step 1908, the host 1902 provides user data, which may be performed by executing a host application. In some embodiments, the user data is associated with a particular human user interacting with the UE1906. In other embodiments, the user data is associated with a UE 1906 that shares data with the host 1902 without explicit human interaction. In step 1910, the host 1902 initiates a transmission carrying the user data towards the UE 1906. The host 1902 may initiate the transmission responsive to a request transmitted by the UE 1906. The request may be caused by human interaction with the UE 1906 or by operation of the client application executing on the UE 1906. The transmission may pass via the network node 1904, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure. Accordingly, in step 1912, the network node 1904 transmits to the UE 1906 the user data that was carried in the transmission that the host 1902 initiated, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure. In step 1914, the UE 1906 receives the user data carried in the transmission, which may be performed by a client application executed on the UE 1906 associated with the host application executed by the host 1902.

[0185] In some examples, the UE 1906 executes a client application which provides user data to the host 1902. The user data may be provided in reaction or response to the data received from the host 1902. Accordingly, in step 1916, the UE 1906 may provide user data, which may be performed by executing the client application. In providing the user data, the client application may further consider user input received from the user via an input / output interface of the UE 1906. Regardless of the specific manner in which the user data was provided, the UE 1906 initiates, in step 1918, transmission of the user data towards the host 1902 via the network node 1904. In step 1920, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure, the network node 1904 receives user data from the UE 1906 and initiates transmission of the received user data towards the host 1902. In step 1922, the host 1902 receives the user data carried in the transmission initiated by the UE 1906.

[0186] One or more of the various embodiments improve the performance of OTT services provided to the UE 1906 using the OTT connection 1950, in which the wireless connection 1970 forms the last segment. More precisely, the teachings of these embodiments may enable the O- RU to perform measurement (calculate measurement value) based on the received symbols of multiple slots which are scheduled for the same UE. Measurement quality can be improved because more data are used. Examples of such measurements are frequency offset, TAE, and AoA,

[0187] In an example scenario, factory status information may be collected and analyzed by the host 1902. As another example, the host 1902 may process audio and video data which may have been retrieved from a UE for use in creating maps. As another example, the host 1902 may collect and analyze real-time data to assist in controlling vehicle congestion (e.g., controlling traffic lights). As another example, the host 1902 may store surveillance video uploaded by a UE.As another example, the host 1902 may store or control access to media content such as video, audio, VR or AR which it can broadcast, multicast or unicast to UEs. As other examples, the host 1902 may be used for energy pricing, remote control of non-time critical electrical load to balance power generation needs, location services, presentation services (such as compiling diagrams etc. from data collected from remote devices), or any other function of collecting, retrieving, storing, analyzing and / or transmitting data.

[0188] In some examples, a measurement procedure may be provided for the purpose of monitoring data rate, latency and other factors on which the one or more embodiments improve. There may further be an optional network functionality for reconfiguring the OTT connection 1950 between the host 1902 and UE 1906, in response to variations in the measurement results. The measurement procedure and / or the network functionality for reconfiguring the OTT connection may be implemented in software and hardware of the host 1902 and / or UE 1906. In some embodiments, sensors (not shown) may be deployed in or in association with other devices through which the OTT connection 1950 passes; the sensors may participate in the measurement procedure by supplying values of the monitored quantities exemplified above, or supplying values of other physical quantities from which software may compute or estimate the monitored quantities. The reconfiguring of the OTT connection 1950 may include message format, retransmission settings, preferred routing etc.; the reconfiguring need not directly alter the operation of the network node 1904. Such procedures and functionalities may be known and practiced in the art. In certain embodiments, measurements may involve proprietary UE signaling that facilitates measurements of throughput, propagation times, latency and the like, by the host 1902. The measurements may be implemented in that software causes messages to be transmitted, in particular empty or ‘dummy’ messages, using the OTT connection 1950 while monitoring propagation times, errors, etc.

[0189] Although the computing devices described herein (e.g., UEs, network nodes, hosts) may include the illustrated combination of hardware components, other embodiments may comprise computing devices with different combinations of components. It is to be understood that these computing devices may comprise any suitable combination of hardware and / or software needed to perform the tasks, features, functions and methods disclosed herein. Determining, calculating, obtaining or similar operations described herein may be performed by processing circuitry, which may process information by, for example, converting the obtained information into other information, comparing the obtained information or converted information to information stored in the network node, and / or performing one or more operations based on the obtained information or converted information, and as a result of said processing making a determination. Moreover, while components are depicted as single boxeslocated within a larger box, or nested within multiple boxes, in practice, computing devices may comprise multiple different physical components that make up a single illustrated component, and functionality may be partitioned between separate components. For example, a communication interface may be configured to include any of the components described herein, and / or the functionality of the components may be partitioned between the processing circuitry and the communication interface. In another example, non-computationally intensive functions of any of such components may be implemented in software or firmware and computationally intensive functions may be implemented in hardware.

[0190] In certain embodiments, some or all of the functionality described herein may be provided by processing circuitry executing instructions stored on in memory, which in certain embodiments may be a computer program product in the form of a non-transitory computer- readable storage medium. In alternative embodiments, some or all of the functionality may be provided by the processing circuitry without executing instructions stored on a separate or discrete device-readable storage medium, such as in a hard-wired manner. In any of those particular embodiments, whether executing instructions stored on a non-transitory computer- readable storage medium or not, the processing circuitry can be configured to perform the described functionality. The benefits provided by such functionality are not limited to the processing circuitry alone or to other components of the computing device, but are enjoyed by the computing device as a whole, and / or by end users and a wireless network generally.

Claims

CLAIMSWhat is claimed is:

1. A method of operating a network node in a communications network, the network node configured to provide a radio unit, RU, the method comprising: receiving (1230) an indication from a distributed unit, DU, of whether one or more symbols of a current slot associated with a user equipment identifier, ueld, are from a same user equipment, UE, as one or more symbols of a previous slot associated with the ueld; and determining (1240) data associated with the current slot based on the indication of whether the one or more symbols of the current slot are from the same UE as the one or more symbols of the previous slot.

2. The method of any of Claims 1, wherein receiving the indication of whether the one or more symbols of the current slot are from the same UE as the one or more symbols of the previous slot comprises receiving an indication of whether the one or more symbols of the current slot are from a same layer of the same UE as the one or more symbols of the previous slot.

3. The method of any of Claims 1-2, wherein receiving the indication of whether the one or more symbols of the current slot are from the same UE as the one or more symbols of the previous slot comprises receiving an indication of whether the RU can use data associated with a previous slot and the ueld to determine data associated with the current slot and the ueld.

4. The method of any of Claims 1-3, wherein the data is second data, the method further comprising: determining (1210) first data based on symbols received during the previous slot from a first UE associated with the ueld; and prior to receiving the indication from the DU of whether the one or more symbols of the current slot are from the same UE as the one or more symbols of the previous slot , storing (1220) the first data as associated with the ueld.

5. The method of any of Claims 1-4, wherein the data is second data, wherein receiving the indication of whether the one or more symbols of the current slot are from the same UE as the one or more symbols of the previous slot comprises receiving anindication from the DU that the one or more symbols of the current slot are from the same UE and / or a same layer of the same UE as the one or more symbols of the previous slot, and wherein determining the second data associated with the current slot comprises determining the second data based on first data that was determined based on the one or more symbols received during the previous slot.

6. The method of any of Claims 1-4, wherein receiving the indication from the DU of whether the one or more symbols of the current slot are from the same UE as the one or more symbols of the previous slot comprises receiving an indication from the DU that the one or more symbols of the current slot are from a different UE and / or a different layer of a same UE as the one or more symbols of the previous slot, and wherein determining the data associated with the current slot comprises determining the data based on the one or more symbols received during the current slot.

7. The method of Claim 6, wherein the data is second data, the method further comprising: releasing (1250) an association between first data and the ueld, the first data having been determined based on the one or more symbols received during the previous slot.

8. The method of any of Claims 1-7, further comprising: responsive to determining the data, storing (1260) an indication of the data as associated with the ueld.

9. The method of any of Claim 1-8, further comprising: responsive to determining the data, transmitting (1270) an indication of the data to the DU.

10. The method of any of Claims 1-9, wherein the data comprises at least one of: measurement values; symbol data; and channel estimates.

11. The method of any of Claims 1-10, wherein receiving the indication from the DU of whether the one or more symbols of the current slot are from the same UE as the one or more symbols of the previous slot comprises receiving a control-plane, C-plane, message from the DU including scheduling information, reference signal configuration, and the indication of whetherthe one or more symbols of the current slot are from the same UE as the one or more symbols of the previous slot.

12. The method of any of Claims 1-11, wherein receiving the indication from the DU of whether the one or more symbols of the current slot are from the same UE as the one or more symbols of the previous slot comprises receiving an indication of whether the one or more symbols of the current slot are from the same UE as the one or more symbols of a plurality of previous slots associated with the ueld, and wherein determining the data comprises determining the data associated with the current slot based on the indication of whether the one or more symbols of the current slot are from the same UE as the one or more symbols of the plurality of previous slots associated with the ueld.

13. The method of any of Claims 1-12, wherein the communications network comprises an open radio access network, O-RAN, that uses reference signal based beamforming, RS-BF, wherein the RU comprises an O-RAN RU, O-RU, wherein the DU comprises an O-RAN DU, O-DU, and wherein the data comprises first measurement data.

14. A method of operating a first network node in a communications network, the network node configured to provide a distributed unit, DU, the method comprising: determining (1310) whether a user equipment identifier, ueld, is assigned to a same user equipment, UE, as it was during a previous slot; and transmitting (1320) an indication to a radio unit, RU, of whether the ueld is assigned to the same UE as it was during the previous slot.

15. The method of Claim 14, wherein transmitting the indication to the RU of whether the ueld is assigned to the same UE as it was during the previous slot comprises transmitting an indication to the RU of whether the RU can use data associated with a previous slot and the ueld to determine data associated with the current slot and the ueld.

16. The method of any of Claims 14-15, wherein determining whether ueld is assigned to the same UE as it was during the previous slot comprises determining that the ueld is assigned to the same UE as it was during the previous slot, andwherein transmitting the indication to the RU of whether the ueld is assigned to the same UE as it was during the previous slot comprises transmitting an indication to the RU that the ueld is assigned to the same UE as it was during the previous slot.

17. The method of any of Claims 14-15, wherein determining whether the ueld is assigned to the same UE as it was during the previous slot comprises determining that the ueld is not assigned to the same UE as it was during the previous slot, and wherein transmitting the indication to the RU of whether the ueld is assigned to the same UE as it was during the previous slot comprises transmitting an indication to the RU that the ueld is not assigned to the same UE as it was during the previous slot.

18. The method of any of Claims 14-15, wherein determining whether the ueld is assigned to the same UE as it was during the previous slot comprises determining that an amount of time since a UE that was assigned the ueld during the previous slot became inactive exceeds a threshold amount of time, wherein transmitting the indication to the RU of whether the ueld is assigned to the same UE as it was during the previous slot comprises transmitting an indication to the RU that the ueld is not assigned to the same UE as it was during the previous slot.

19. The method of any of Claims 14-15, wherein determining whether the ueld is assigned to the same UE as it was during the previous slot comprises determining that an amount of time since data associated with the previous slot was determined exceeds a threshold amount of time, wherein transmitting the indication to the RU of whether the ueld is assigned to the same UE as it was during the previous slot comprises transmitting an indication to the RU that the ueld is not assigned to the same UE as it was during the previous slot.

20. The method of any of Claims 16-19, wherein transmitting the indication to the RU that the ueld is not assigned to the same UE as it was during the previous slot comprises transmitting an instruction that the RU release a connection between data associated with the previous slot and the ueld .

21. The method of any of Claims 14-20, further comprising: receiving (1330) data of the current slot associated with the ueld.

22. The method of any of Claims 14-21, wherein the data comprises at least one of:measurement values; symbol data; and channel estimates.

23. The method of any of Claims 14-22, wherein transmitting the indication to the RU of whether the ueld is assigned to the same UE as it was during the previous slot comprises transmitting a control-plane, C-plane, message to the RU including scheduling information, reference signal configuration, and the indication of whether the ueld is assigned to the same UE as it was during the previous slot.

24. The method of any of Claims 14-23, wherein transmitting the indication to the RU of whether the ueld is assigned to the same UE as it was during the previous slot comprises transmitting an indication of whether the ueld is assigned to the same UE as it was during the previous slot.

25. The method of any of Claims 14-24, wherein the communications network comprises an open radio access network, O-RAN, that uses reference signal based beamforming, RS-BF, wherein the RU comprises an O-RAN RU, O-RU, and wherein the DU comprises an O-RAN DU, O-DU.

26. A network node (1600) in a communications network, the network node comprising: processing circuitry (1602); and memory (1604) coupled to the processing circuitry and having instructions stored therein that are executable by the processing circuitry to cause the network node to perform operations comprising any of the operations of Claims 1-25.

27. A computer program comprising program code to be executed by processing circuitry (1602) of a network node (1600) in a communications network, whereby execution of the program code causes the first network entity to perform operations comprising any operations of Claims 1-25.

28. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory storage medium (1604) including program code to be executed by processing circuitry (1602) of a network node (1600) in a communications network, whereby execution of the program code causes the network node to perform operations comprising any operations of Claims 1-25.

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