User equipmemt initiated beam reporting based on beam prediction

Abstract

Systems and methods are disclosed that relate to user equipment initiated beam reporting. A method performed by a User Equipment (UE) includes receiving from the network (NW) a configuration of a plurality of DL RSs (or beams) for beam measurements and predictive beam reporting, determining at least one candidate target beam among the plurality of DL RSs (or beams) based on measurements on the plurality of DL RSs (or beams), sending a message to the NW about the at least one candidate beam (and, its related measurement values) when one or more events occur, receiving a beam switch indication from the NW to switch to one of the candidate beams. Corresponding embodiments of a UE and network node and network node method are also disclosed.

Description

USER EQUIPMEMT INITIATED BEAM REPORTING BASED ON BEAM PREDICTIONTECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a wireless communications system and, more particularly, to beam management in a wireless communications system.BACKGROUND

[0002] Beam Management

[0003] Beam management was introduced in 3gpp Rel-15 for the 5th generation (5G) or new radio (NR) mobile network operating at frequency range two (FR2), i.e., above 24.250GHz, where multiple analog antenna beams are typically used for both transmitting and receiving at the network (NW) or gNB side as well as the user equipment (UE) side.

[0004] In the NR downlink (DL), from gNB to UE, the NW performs beam sweeping in a serving cell by periodically transmitting reference signals (RSs), each via a different DL beam. One such RS is SSB (Synchronization Signal (SS) and Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH) block), SSBs with different indices are transmitted via different DL beams, also referred to as SSB beams. A UE monitors and latches to one of SSB beams for initial access to the NW.

[0005] After initial access, the UE may be configured by the NW to measure and report Ll- RSRP (layer one reference received signal power) or Ll-SINR (layer one signal to interference plus noise ratio) for multiple SSB beams for beam maintenance purpose. The report can be periodic, semi-persistent, or aperiodic. The UE may be configured to report N best L1-RSRP / L1- SINR and the associated SSB indices. Based on the report, the NW can decide whether it is better to switch to a new SSB beam for serving the UE.

[0006] In addition to SSB beams, the NW may also be able to serve a UE with a set of narrower beams with higher antenna gains than the SSBs. For this purpose, the NW may configure and transmit a set of CSLRS (channel state information reference signal) for the UE to measure and report Ll-RSRP or Ll-SINR. Again, the report can be periodic, semi-persistent, or aperiodic. The UE may be requested to report N best L-l-RSRP / Ll-SINR and the associated CSLRS resource indices. Based on the report, the NW can decide whether it is better to switch to a CSL RS beam for serving the UE, or if the current serving beam is a CSLRS beam, whether to switch to a new CSLRS beam.

[0007] CSI measurement configuration for beam management (BM)

[0008] In 5G New Radio (NR), to support beam management operation, a UE is configured by the network with a Channel State Information (CSI) measurement configuration e.g. IE (information element) CSI-MeasConfig received within an RRCReconfiguration message. That is configured per Serving Cell (within ServingCellConfig e.g. of an SpCell), to associate a serving cell in which CSI reports are to be transmitted, e.g., Uplink (UL) channels of that serving cell. The signaling is defined in TS 38.331 https: / / www.3gpp.org / ftp / Specs / archive / 38_series / 38.331 / 38331-fh0.zip.

[0009] For each type of CSI report the UE needs to transmit, the network indicates an explicit list of CSI resources (also called CSI resource configuration(s)), comprising a list of reference signals to be measured, such as CSI-RSs sets (nzp-CSI-RS-ResourceSetList, IE SEQUENCE (SIZE (E.maxNrofNZP-CSI-RS-ResourceSetsPerConfig)) OF NZP-CSI-RS-ResourceSetld) and / or SSBs sets (csi-SSB-ResourceSetList, IE SEQUENCE (SIZE (E.maxNrofCSI-SSB- ResourceSetsPerConfig)) OF CSI-SSB-ResourceSetld) for a given serving cell the UE is configured with e.g. the SpCell of a cell group, or an SCell. Notice that the UE may measure CSI resources of a first serving cell and report in another serving cell.

[0010] CSI resources to be measured (or resource set with one or more RSs, indicated by SSB indexes and / or CSI-RS resource identifiers) are associated in the configuration to a CSI reporting configuration (CSI-ReportConfig), which configures an instance of a CSI report. A CSI report from the UE assists the network to perform beam management operations, such as the activation (and / or deactivation) of a beam to transmit data and / or control channels to the UE (or a beam switching). In 5G NR terminology, the activation of a beam may be referred as the activation of a Transmission Configuration Indication (TCI) state, which is associated to a Quasi-Co-Location (QCL) source, corresponding to a Reference Signal (RS) such as an SSB and / or CSI-RS, transmitted in a spatial direction (beam) correlated to the same spatial direction (beam) in which the network may transmit a control (e.g., PDCCH) and / or data channel (e.g., PDSCH).

[0011] The CSI reporting configuration is used to configure a periodic or semi-persistent report sent on PUCCH on the serving cell in which the CSI-ReportConfig is included, or to configure a semi-persistent or aperiodic report sent on PUSCH triggered by a CSI request field in Downlink Control Indication (DCI) received on the cell in which the CSI-ReportConfig is included (in this case, the cell on which the report is sent is determined by the received DCI).

[0012] CSI-ReportConfig information element- ASN1 START- TAG-CSI-REPORTCONFIG-STARTCSI-ReportConfig ::= SEQUENCE ) reportConfigld CSI-ReportConfigld, carrier ServCelllndex OPTIONAL, — Need S resourcesF orChannelMeasurement C SI-ResourceConfigld, csi-IM-ResourcesForlnterference C SI-ResourceConfigld OPTIONAL, — Need R nzp-CSI-RS-ResourcesForlnterference C SI-ResourceConfigld OPTIONAL, — NeedR reportConfigType CHOICE { periodic SEQUENCE { reportSlotConfig CSI-ReportPeriodicityAndOffset, pucch-C SI-ResourceLi st SEQUENCE (SIZE (E.maxNrofflWPs)) OF PUCCH-C Si-Resource}, semiPer si stentOnPU C CH SEQUENCE { reportSlotConfig CSI-ReportPeriodicityAndOffset, pucch-C SI-ResourceLi st SEQUENCE (SIZE (E.maxNrofflWPs)) OF PUCCH-C Si-Resource semiPer si stentOnPU S CH SEQUENCE { reportSlotConfig ENUMERATED {sl5, sllO, sl20, sl40, sl80, sll60, sl320}, reportSlotOffsetList SEQUENCE (SIZE (1.. maxNrofUL- Allocations)) OFINTEGER(0..32), pOalpha PO-PUSCH-AlphaSetld }, aperiodic SEQUENCE { reportSlotOffsetList SEQUENCE (SIZE (1.. maxNrofUL- Allocations)) OFINTEGER(0..32) }}, reportQuantity CHOICE { none NULL, cri-RI-PMI-CQI NULL, cri-RI-il NULL, cri-RI-il-CQI SEQUENCE {pdsch-Bundle SizeF orC SI ENUMERATED {n2, n4}OPTIONAL - Need S}, cri-RI-CQI NULL, cri-RSRP NULL, ssb-Index-RSRP NULL, cri-RI-LI-PMI-CQI NULL groupBasedBeamReporting CHOICE { enabled NULL, disabled SEQUENCE { nrofReportedRS ENUMERATED {nl, n2, n3, n4{ OPTIONAL— Need S}},[...] csi-ReportMode-rl7 ENUMERATED {model, mode2}OPTIONAL, — Need R numberOfSingleTRP-CSI-Mode 1 -r 17 ENUMERATED {nO, nl, n2{OPTIONAL, - Need R}- TAG-CSI-REPORTCONFIG-STOP- ASN1STOP

[0013] As shown above, the field reportConfigType within CSI-ReportConfig indicates to the UE the UL channel to transmit the report and the time domain behavior for reporting the CSI measurements, which may also be called beam reporting in case it includes measurements used for beam management. The configuration indicates whether the report is periodic, aperiodic or semi-persistent, and associated configurations such as periodicity.

[0014] For aperiodic CSI reporting, a UE is also configured with a list of aperiodic CSI trigger states, each associated to one or more CSI report configurations. If multiple reference signal (NZP CSLRS or SSB) resource sets are configured in a CSI resource configuration in an associated CSI report configuration, one set is selected in the corresponding trigger state.

[0015] An aperiodic CSI report is triggered when the CSI request field in DCI indicating an aperiodic trigger state is associated to the corresponding aperiodic CSI report configuration.

[0016] UE-initiated / event-driven beam management

[0017] In legacy, the CSI / beam reporting is always NW-initiated. The NW explicitly requests a certain report from the UE, by including a pointer to a certain CSI-ReportConfig in DCI.

[0018] In the NR Rel-19 MIMO work item, UE initiated beam reporting will be supported to reduce beam reporting overhead and / or latency. This would imply that it is the UE that initiates the reporting.SUMMARY

[0019] Systems and methods are disclosed that relate to user equipment initiated beam reporting. In one embodiment, a method performed by a User Equipment (UE) comprises any one or more of the following: receiving from the network (NW) a configuration of a plurality of DL RSs (or beams) for beam measurements and predictive beam reporting (Step 1), determining at least one candidate target beam among the plurality of DL RSs (or beams) based on measurements on the plurality of DL RSs (or beams) (Step 2), sending a message to the NW about the at least one candidate beam (and, its related measurement values) when one or more events occur (Step 3), receiving a beam switch indication from the NW to switch to one of the candidate beams (Step 4).

[0020] In one embodiment, the plurality of DL RSs (or beams) comprises at least a current serving beam.

[0021] In one embodiment, the plurality of DL RSs (or beams) are transmitted periodically or semi-persistently, and, optionally, a report is sent periodically or semi-persistently after an event is triggered a first time.

[0022] In one embodiment, the beam measurements comprises Ll-RSRP and / or Ll-SINR measurement.

[0023] In one embodiment, the configuration further comprises a reporting type indicating a UE initiated beam reporting of candidate beams for beam switching.

[0024] In one embodiment, the configuration further indicates the number or the maximum number of candidate beams to be reported.

[0025] In one embodiment, a UE initiated reporting configuration indicates the evaluation time period, for comparison between the current serving and the candidate beams.

[0026] In one embodiment, a reporting type indicating the UE initiated beam reporting includes information about at least an event and one or more thresholds associated to the event (e.g., the Ll-RSRP, Ll-SINR thresholds).

[0027] In one embodiment, a candidate beam at a given time is a beam with increasing Ll- RSRP and / or Ll-SINR values over a most recent evaluation time period prior to the given time, wherein, optionally, an evaluation time period comprises at least two consecutive Ll-RSRP or Ll- SINR measurements, wherein, optionally, the most recent evaluation time period comprises the most recent Ll-RSRP or Ll-SINR measurement prior to the given time.

[0028] In one embodiment, the event can be a combination of one or more of the following sub-events:• Event Al : The Ll-RSRP value of the current serving beam is decreasing and the most recent L 1 -RSRP of a candidate beam is greater than the most recent L 1 -RSRP of the current serving beam minus a XdB offset;• Event A2: The Ll-RSRP value of the current serving beam is decreasing over last N1 measurement occasions and, optionally, where N1 can be configured by network or determined by UE based on UE implementation;• Event B : The L 1 -SINR value of the current serving beam is decreasing and the most recent Ll-SINR of a candidate beam is greater than the most recent respective Ll-SINR of the current serving beam minus aY dB offset; and• Event C: The most recent Ll-RSRP or Ll-SINR of the current serving beam is below a threshold, wherein the threshold can be configured by the NW, wherein, optionally, the offset (i.e., XdB, Y dB, Z dB) can be predefined or configured by the NW as part of the configuration in Step 1.

[0029] In one embodiment, the method further includes: performing a time-domain filtering on the beam measurements such as L1-RSRP / L1-SINR before the event evaluation, so that, optionally, the filtered measurement value of a beam (e.g. current beam and possible candidate beam) is used as input to the event evaluation, and, wherein, optionally, the UE considers a filter parameter ‘a’ so that a filtered value at time instance (n) is defined as follows: F(n) = (l-a)*F(n-l) + a*M(n), wherein M(n) is the latest beam measurement results at Layer 1; F(n) is the updated filtered beam measurement result, to be used for evaluation of the event; F(n-l) is the old filtered beam measurement result (F(0) is initialized with M(l)); ‘a’ is a filter related parameter (e.g. configured by the network, or derived based on a filter coefficient configured by the network), wherein, optionally, the parameter ‘a’ or a parameter used to derive ‘a’ is configured per serving cell and / or per frequency and / or per UE, per frequency range.

[0030] In one embodiment, for some of the events, the time difference between the most recent measurement occasion of the serving beam and the most recent measurement occasion of the candidate beam is smaller than and / or equal to a preconfigured or predefined required time difference value in Step 1.

[0031] In one embodiment, the message can contain one or more of information about an identifier of a best candidate beam. In one embodiment, the best candidate beam can be, e.g., the candidate beam having the largest LI -RSRP / L1-SINR value among all the candidate beams in the most recently measurement period, identifiers of multiple candidate beams and their most recent L1-RSRP / L1-SINR values, Identifier(s) of the event(s) occurred if multiple events are configured.

[0032] The most recent LI -RSRP / L1-SINR values of the current serving beam

[0033] wherein, optionally, the message can be carried in UL control information (UCI) in a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) or in a Medium Access Control, MAC, control Element, CE, or, the message can contain just an indication or a flag indicating the occurrence of the one or more events, wherein optionally, the NW may request the UE to provide further information such as a beam report comprising one or more of an identifier of the event(s) occurred, an identifier of the best candidate beam and its L1-RSRP / L1-SINR, identifiers of multiple candidate beams and their most recent L1-RSRP / L1-SINR values, and most recent L1-RSRP / L1-SINR of the current serving beam

[0034] In one embodiment, the method further includes one or more of the following:• once a message is sent to the NW, staring a timer;• while the timer is running, refraining from sending another message to the NW;• once the timer expires, sending another message to the NW if the condition of one or more events is fulfilled;• upon determining that the Ll-RSRP value of the current serving beam is decreasing and the most recent Ll-RSRP of a candidate beam is greater than the most recent Ll-RSRP of the current serving beam minus a XdB offset, sending a message and start the timer;• while the timer is running, refraining from sending another report, even if the condition is fulfilled;• once the timer expires, sending another message to the NW, if the condition is still fulfilled; and / or• configuring a timer value in the reporting configuration (e.g. in CSI-ReportConfig).

[0035] In one embodiment, the beam switch indication comprises a beam activation command to activate one or more of the candidate beams and / or a beam indication in DCI (Downlink Control Information) indicating a new beam for data transmission and / or reception.

[0036] In one embodiment, the method further includes receiving an acknowledgement from the NW on whether the UE initiated beam report has been received, and, optionally, if the beam report has been received, refraining from sending another indication for the same event / events.

[0037] In one embodiment, an event is based (at least partly) on if the beam measurements (e.g., L1-RSRP / L1-SINR associated with a UE initiated beam report) have changed since the last transmitted UE initiated beam report.

[0038] In one embodiment, the method further includes determining if an event for a UE initiated beam report has occurred based on one or more of the following criteria:• A new best beam has been detected since the last transmitted UE initiated beam report.• The performance of the serving beam has changed (increase and / or decreased) more than a certain threshold since the last transmitted UE initiated beam report.• The same beam as included as best beam in the last UE initiated beam report is still the best beam, but the performance for this beam has changed (increase and / or decreased) with more than a threshold.• The difference in performance between the serving beam and the best beam reported in the last UE initiated beam report has changed (increase and / or decreased) more than a threshold.

[0039] In one embodiment, the method further includes providing user data; and forwarding the user data to a host via the transmission to the network node.

[0040] Corresponding embodiments of a UE are also disclosed. In one embodiment, a UE is adapted to receive from the network (NW) a configuration of a plurality of DL RSs (or beams) for beam measurements and predictive beam reporting. The UE is further adapted to determine at least one candidate target beam among the plurality of DL RSs (or beams) based on measurements on the plurality of DL RSs (or beams). The UE is further adapted to send a message to the NW about the at least one candidate beam (and, its related measurement values) when one or more events occur. The UE is further adapted to receive a beam switch indication from the NW to switch to one of the candidate beams.

[0041] Embodiments of a method performed by a network node are also disclosed. In one embodiment, a method performed by a network node comprises transmitting to a UE a configuration of a plurality of DL RSs (or beams) for beam measurements and UE initiated beam reporting. The method further comprises receiving information about at least one candidate target beam and its related measurements when one or more events have occurred. The method further comprises receiving information about at least one candidate target beam and its related measurements when one or more events have occurred.

[0042] Corresponding embodiments of a network node are also disclosed. In one embodiment, a network node is adapted to transmitting to a UE a configuration of a plurality of DL RSs (or beams) for beam measurements and UE initiated beam reporting. The network node is further adapted receive information about at least one candidate target beam and its related measurements when one or more events have occurred. The network node is further adapted to receive information about at least one candidate target beam and its related measurements when one or more events have occurred.BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0043] The accompanying drawing figures incorporated in and forming a part of this specification illustrate several aspects of the disclosure, and together with the description serve to explain the principles of the disclosure.

[0044] Figure 1 illustrates an example of L1-RSRP / L1-SINR associated to two beams as a function of time at a UE and the transition time period during a beam switching.

[0045] Figure 2 illustrates a process performed by a User Equipment (UE) for reporting of delay(s) and / or delay difference(s) for CJT with TRP subset selection, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0046] Figure 3A illustrates an example of predictive beam reporting / switching with two beams where a beam switching occurs before the link performance of the current serving beam is worse than the other beam, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0047] Figure 3B illustrates an example of predictive beam reporting / switching with two beams where a beam switching occurs before the link performance of the current serving beam is worse than the other beam, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0048] Figure 4 illustrates a flow chart that illustrates a process performed by a network node for triggering the transmission of lower layer measurement reports to assist beam management, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0049] Figure 5 shows an example of a communication system in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0050] Figure 6 shows a User Equipment device (UE) in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0051] Figure 7 shows a network node in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0052] Figure 8 is a block diagram of a host, which may be an embodiment of the host of Figure 5, in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure described herein;

[0053] Figure 9 is a block diagram illustrating a virtualization environment in which functions implemented by some embodiments of the present disclosure may be virtualized; and

[0054] Figure 10 shows a communication diagram of a host communicating via a network node with a UE over a partially wireless connection in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0055] The embodiments set forth below represent information to enable those skilled in the art to practice the embodiments and illustrate the best mode of practicing the embodiments. Upon reading the following description in light of the accompanying drawing figures, those skilled in the art will understand the concepts of the disclosure and will recognize applications of these concepts not particularly addressed herein. It should be understood that these concepts and applications fall within the scope of the disclosure.

[0056] 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.

[0057] There currently exist certain challenge(s) in regards to beam management in wireless communication systems. In existing beam management, a serving beam’s performance is monitored / evaluated via beam measurement report. A current serving beam is not switched until a new beam with better Ll-RSRP or Ll-SINR is identified. To prevent the ‘ping-pong’ effect, i.e., a beam being switched back and forth, the current beam is not switched until a new beam’s Ll-RSRP or Ll-SINR is XdB better than that of the current beam.

[0058] An example is shown in Figure 1, where there are two beams and L1-RSRP / L1-SINR associated to the two beams observed at a UE over time is shown. Beam #1 is the current serving beam. At time t2, the L1-RSRP / L1-SINR of beam #2 is XdB better than that of beam #1. For both legacy NR beam reporting and UE initiated beam reporting with a triggering condition that “a new beam is XdB better than the current beam”, the NW will not switch to beam #2 until a beam report received after time t2. Considering processing and signaling delays, the beam switching from beam #1 to beam #2 will occur at t3. During this transition period from tl to t3, the wireless link over the serving beam (beam #1) is further degraded and the communication during this period may not be reliable.

[0059] For legacy NR beam reporting, the time period from t2 to t3 can be long if the configured reporting periodicity is large. For UE initiated beam reporting, the time period from t2 to t3 could be reduced if there is frequent uplink resource available for sending the report or anindication indicating the condition. In any case, link degradation from tl to t3 is may not be avoidable and thus be a problem.

[0060] Certain aspects of the disclosure and their embodiments may provide solutions to these or other challenges. A UE initiated beam reporting method based on beam prediction is proposed in which a UE is configured to measure and store multiple L 1 -RSRP / L 1 -SINR values over a period time for each beam configured for beam measurement. Based on the measurements, if the Ll- RSRP / L1-SINR values of a beam (other than the current serving beam) is increasing over the period of time, then the beam becomes a candidate beam for beam switching. If the LI -RSRP / L 1- SINR values of the serving beam is decreasing, while the L 1 -RSRP / L 1- SINR of a candidate beam is equal to or greater than the L 1 -RSRP / L 1- SINR of the current serving beam minus a XdB offset, the UE may initiate a beam report.

[0061] Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to methods comprising the following steps:• UE is configured with a plurality of beams or DL RSs for UE initiated beam reporting. The plurality of beams can include the current serving beam.• UE determines at least one candidate beam among the configured beams for beam switching based on a recent history of measured L 1 -RSRP / L 1- SINR of each of the configured beams (rather than based on a single measurement of each beam). o A candidate beam is determined when the LI -RSRP / L 1 -SINR value of the candidate beam is increasing over time.• UE is further configured to send a message to the NW when one or more events occurs. o The one or more events can be one or more of- Event A: The Ll-RSRP value of the current serving beam is decreasing and the most recent Ll-RSRP of a candidate beam is equal to or greater than the most recent Ll-RSRP of the current serving beam minus a XdB offset, where the ‘X’dB can be configured.- Event B: The LI -SINR value of the current serving beam is decreasing and the most recent Ll-SINR of a candidate beam is equal to or greater than the most recent Ll-SINR of the current serving beam minus a YdB offset.Event C: The most recent Ll-RSRP or Ll-SINR of the current serving beam is below a threshold, wherein the threshold can be configured by the NW. o the message can contain one or more ofan identifier of the best candidate beam and optionally its most recent Ll- RSRP / L1-SINR.- identifiers of a subset of the candidate beams and their most recent Ll- RSRP / L1-SINR.- Identifier of the events occurred.- Most recent L1-RSRP / L1-SINR of the current serving beam• UE receives a beam switch indication from the NW to switch to one of the candidate beams.

[0062] Certain embodiments may provide one or more of the following technical advantage(s). Embodiments of the disclosure may reduce the beam switching transition period and thus, avoid large link degradation during a beam switch.

[0063] Now, a more detailed description of embodiments of the present disclosure will be provided.

[0064] As illiustrated in Figure 2, a method performed by a UE for predictive beam management is proposed, the method comprising oner or more of the following steps:• Step 1 : receiving from the NW a configuration of a plurality of DL RSs (or beams) for beam measurements and predictive beam reporting.• Step 2: determining at least one candidate target beam among the plurality of DL RSs (or beams) based on measurements on the plurality of DL RSs (or beams).• Step 3 : sending a message to the NW about the at least one candidate beam (and, its related measurement values) when one or more events occur.• Step 4: receiving a beam switch indication from the NW to switch to one of the candidate beams.

[0065] In Step 1, the plurality of DL RSs (or beams) comprises at least a current serving beam.

[0066] In Step 1, the plurality of DL RSs (or beams) are transmitted periodically or semi- persistently. In one option, the report is sent periodically or semi-persistently after the event is triggered a first time.

[0067] In Step 1, the beam measurements comprises LI -RSRP and / or Ll-SINR measurement.

[0068] In Step 1, the configuration further comprises a reporting type indicating a UE initiated beam reporting of candidate beams for beam switching.

[0069] In one embodiment of Step 1, the configuration further indicates the number or the maximum number of candidate beams to be reported.

[0070] In one embodiment of Step 1 and where the UE initiated reporting configuration indicates the evaluation time period, for comparison between the current serving and the candidate beams.

[0071] In Step 1 and where the reporting type indicating the UE initiated beam reporting includes information about at least an event and one or more thresholds associated to the event (e.g., the Ll-RSRP, Ll-SINR thresholds).

[0072] In Step 2, a candidate beam at a given time is a beam with increasing Ll-RSRP and / or Ll-SINR values over a most recent evaluation time period prior to the given time. An evaluation time period may comprise at least two consecutive Ll-RSRP or Ll-SINR measurements. The most recent evaluation time period may comprise the most recent Ll-RSRP or Ll-SINR measurement prior to the given time.

[0073] An example is illustrated in Figure 3 A, where beam#l is the current serving beam and beam#2 is determined to be a candidate beam sometime after three measurements at times tl, t2 and t3 ( tl’< t2’ < t3’ ) because the LI -RSRP / L1-SINR of the serving beam P(t) is decreasing, i.e., P(t’ l)>P(t’2)>P(t’3), while the L1-RSRP / L1-SINR of beam #2 Q(t) is increasing, i.e., Q(t’ l)< Q(t’2)< Q(t’3). Note that each L1-RSRP / L1-SINR itself can be based on measurements over one or more periods of the DL RS.

[0074] According to some embodiments, a candidate beam is determined prior to the time when the link quality of the candidate beam is better than the serving beam. This is herein referred to as candidate beam prediction.

[0075] In Step 3, the event can be a combination of one or more of the following sub-events:• Event Al : The Ll-RSRP value of the current serving beam is decreasing and the most recent L 1 -RSRP of a candidate beam is greater than the most recent L 1 -RSRP of the current serving beam minus a XdB offset.• Event A2: The Ll-RSRP value of the current serving beam is decreasing over last N1 measurement occasions. Where N1 can be configured by network or determined by UE based on UE implementation.• Event B : The L 1 -SINR value of the current serving beam is decreasing and the most recent Ll-SINR of a candidate beam is greater than the most recent respective Ll-SINR of the current serving beam minus aY dB offset.• Event C: The most recent Ll-RSRP or Ll-SINR of the current serving beam is below a threshold, wherein the threshold can be configured by the NW.

[0076] The offset (i.e., XdB, Y dB, Z dB) can be predefined or configured by the NW as part of the configuration in Step 1. The above events are just some examples, other events are also possible.

[0077] On some embodiments, the UE can further perform a time-domain filtering on the beam measurements such as L1-RSRP / L1-SINR before the event evaluation, so that the filteredmeasurement value of a beam (e.g. current beam and possible candidate beam) is used as input to the event evaluation. For example, the UE considers a filter parameter ‘a’ so that a filtered value at time instance (n) is defined as follows:

[0078] F(n) = (l-a)*F(n-l) + a*M(n), wherein

[0079] M(n) is the latest beam measurement results at Layer 1; F(n) is the updated filtered beam measurement result, to be used for evaluation of the event; F(n-l) is the old filtered beam measurement result (F(0) is initialized with M(l)); ‘a’ is a filter related parameter (e.g. configured by the network, or derived based on a filter coefficient configured by the network).

[0080] In one option, the parameter ‘a’ or a parameter used to derive ‘a’ is configured per serving cell and / or per frequency and / or per UE, per frequency range.

[0081] In one embodiment, for some of the events, the time difference between the most recent measurement occasion of the serving beam and the most recent measurement occasion of the candidate beam is smaller than and / or equal to a preconfigured or predefined required time difference value in Step 1.

[0082] In Step 3, the message can contain one or more of• information about an identifier of a best candidate beam. The best candidate beam can be, e.g., the candidate beam having the largest L1-RSRP / L1-SINR value among all the candidate beams in the most recently measurement period.• identifiers of multiple candidate beams and their most recent L1-RSRP / L1-SINR values.• Identifier(s) of the event(s) occurred if multiple events are configured.• The most recent L 1 -RSRP / L 1 -SINR values of the current serving beam• The message can be carried in UL control information (UCI) in a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) or in a Medium Access Control, MAC, control Element, CE.

[0083] Alternatively, the message can contain just an indication or a flag indicating the occurrence of the one or more events. In this case, the NW may request the UE to provide further information such as• a beam report comprising one or more of an identifier of the event(s) occurred, an identifier of the best candidate beam and its LI -RSRP / L 1 -SINR, identifiers of multiple candidate beams and their most recent L 1 -RSRP / L 1- SINR values, and most recent L1-RSRP / L1- SINR of the current serving beam

[0084] In other embodiments, once a message is sent to the NW, the UE starts a timer. While the timer is running, the UE does not send another message to the NW. Once the timer expires, the UE can send another message to the NW if the condition of one or more events is fulfilled. Such a timer may be called a prohibit timer. For example, the UE may determine that the Ll-RSRPvalue of the current serving beam is decreasing and the most recent Ll-RSRP of a candidate beam is greater than the most recent Ll-RSRP of the current serving beam minus a XdB offset, send a message and start the timer. While the timer is running, the UE will not send another report, even if the condition is fulfilled. Once the timer expires, the UE would send another message to the NW, if the condition is still fulfilled. A timer value may be configured for that purpose in the reporting configuration (e.g. in CSI-ReportConfig).

[0085] In Step 4, the beam switch indication can comprise a beam activation command to activate one or more of the candidate beams and / or a beam indication in DCI (Downlink Control Information) indicating a new beam for data transmission and / or reception.

[0086] In Step 4, the UE can further receive an acknowledgement from the NW on whether the UE initiated beam report has been received. If the beam report has been received, the UE does not send another indication for the same event / events.

[0087] The idea is further illustrated using the example in Figure 3B. In this example, the UE measures L1-RSRP / L1-SINR at time instances t_lA',t_2A',t_3A', resulting in three L1-RSRP / L1- SINR measurements values: P(t’ l),P(t’2), P(t’3) for beam #1 and Q(f 1), Q(t’2), Q(t’3) for beam #2.

[0088] Since Q(t’ I)< Q(t’2)< Q(t’3), i.e., L1-RSRP / L1-SINR values for beam #2 are increasing, Beam #2 is determined as a candidate beam.

[0089] An event is detected att’3 because the LI -RSRP / L1-SINR values P(t’ l)>P(t’2)>P(t’3) are decreasing and Q(t’3) + XdB > P(t’3).

[0090] After the event detection, the UE sends an indication to the NW after f 3. A beam switch indication from beam #1 to beam #2 is received sometime later, hopefully before t’4. During the time period between t3’ and t4’, there is still a reliable communication link with the current serving beam #1 for carrying both the event indication in the UL and the beam switching indication in the DL, and therefore, a reliable beam switching is achieved.

[0091] In another embodiment, an event is based (at least partly) on if the beam measurements (e.g., L1-RSRP / L1-SINR associated with a UE initiated beam report) have changed since the last transmitted UE initiated beam report. In one related embodiment, the UE takes one or more of the following criteria into account when determining if an event for a UE initiated beam report has occurred:• A new best beam has been detected since the last transmitted UE initiated beam report.• The performance of the serving beam has changed (increase and / or decreased) more than a certain threshold since the last transmitted UE initiated beam report.• The same beam as included as best beam in the last UE initiated beam report is still the best beam, but the performance for this beam has changed (increase and / or decreased) with more than a threshold.• The difference in performance between the serving beam and the best beam reported in the last UE initiated beam report has changed (increase and / or decreased) more than a threshold.

[0092] Figure 4 is a flow chart that illustrates a method performed by a network node (e.g., a gNB in this example embodiment) in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. Note that this process is complementary to the process performed by the UE described above, e.g., with respect to Figure 1. As such, details above provided in relation to Figures 1-3 are equally applicable to Figure 4. As illustrated, the gNB performs one or more of the following steps: transmitting to a UE a configuration of a plurality of DL RSs (or beams) for beam measurements and UE initiated beam reporting. (Step A, 410); receiving information about at least one candidate target beam and its related measurements when one or more events have occurred. (Step B. 420); receiving information about at least one candidate target beam and its related measurements when one or more events have occurred. (Step C, 430).

[0093] Figure 5 shows an example of a communication system 500 in which embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented.

[0094] In the example, the communication system 500 includes a telecommunication network 502 that includes an access network 504, such as a Radio Access Network (RAN), and a core network 506, which includes one or more core network nodes 508. The access network 504 includes one or more access network nodes, such as network nodes 510A and 510B (one or more of which may be generally referred to as network nodes 510), or any other similar Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) access nodes or non-3GPP Access Points (APs). Moreover, as will be appreciated by those of skill in the art, a network node is not necessarily limited to an implementation in which a radio portion and a baseband portion are supplied and integrated by a single vendor. Thus, it will be understood that network nodes include disaggregated implementations or portions thereof. For example, in some embodiments, the telecommunication network 502 includes one or more Open-RAN (ORAN) network nodes. An ORAN network node is a node in the telecommunication network 502 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 502, including one or more network nodes 510 and / or core network nodes 508.

[0095] Examples of an ORAN network node include an Open Radio Unit (O-RU), an Open Distributed Unit (O-DU), an Open Central Unit (O-CU), including an O-CU Control Plane (O- CU-CP) or an O-CU User Plane (O-CU-UP), a RAN intelligent controller (near-real time or non- real time) hosting software or software plug-ins, such as a near-real time control application (e.g., xApp) or a non-real time control application (e.g., rApp), or any combination thereof (the adjective “open” designating support of an ORAN specification). The network node may support a specification by, for example, supporting an interface defined by the ORAN specification, such as an Al, Fl, Wl, El, E2, X2, Xn interface, an open fronthaul user plane interface, or an open fronthaul management plane interface. Moreover, an ORAN access node may be a logical node in a physical node. Furthermore, an ORAN network node may be implemented in a virtualization environment (described further below) in which one or more network functions are virtualized. For example, the virtualization environment may include an O-Cloud computing platform orchestrated by a Service Management and Orchestration Framework via an 0-2 interface defined by the 0-RAN Alliance or comparable technologies. The network nodes 510 facilitate direct or indirect connection of User Equipment (UE), such as by connecting UEs 512A, 512B, 512C, and 512D (one or more of which may be generally referred to as UEs 512) to the core network 506 over one or more wireless connections.

[0096] Example wireless communications over a wireless connection include transmitting and / or receiving wireless signals using electromagnetic waves, radio waves, infrared waves, and / or other types of signals suitable for conveying information without the use of wires, cables, or other material conductors. Moreover, in different embodiments, the communication system 500 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 500 may include and / or interface with any type of communication, telecommunication, data, cellular, radio network, and / or other similar type of system.

[0097] The UEs 512 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 510 and other communication devices. Similarly, the network nodes 510 are arranged, capable, configured, and / or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with the UEs 512 and / or with other network nodes or equipment in the telecommunication network 502 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 502.

[0098] Note that the functionality of the network node or gNB described above (e.g., with respect to Figures 1-4) may be implemented in any one of the network nodes 510, and the functionality of the UE described above (e.g., with respect to Figures 1-4) may be implemented in any one of the UEs 512. In this regard, the network node 510 may be a multi-TRP network node (e.g., a gNB having multiple TRPs).

[0099] In the depicted example, the core network 506 connects the network nodes 510 to one or more hosts, such as host 516. 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 506 includes one more core network nodes (e.g., core network node 508) 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 508. 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).

[0100] The host 516 may be under the ownership or control of a service provider other than an operator or provider of the access network 504 and / or the telecommunication network 502, and may be operated by the service provider or on behalf of the service provider. The host 516 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.

[0101] As a whole, the communication system 500 of Figure 5 enables connectivity between the UEs, network nodes, and hosts. In that sense, the communication system 500 may be configured to operate according to predefined rules or procedures, such as specific standards that include, but are not limited to: Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM); Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS); Long Term Evolution (LTE), and / or other suitable Second, Third, Fourth, or Fifth Generation (2G, 3G, 4G, or 5G) standards, or any applicable future generation standard (e.g., Sixth Generation (6G)); Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) standards, such as the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standards(WiFi); and / or any other appropriate wireless communication standard, such as the Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMax), Bluetooth, Z-Wave, Near Field Communication (NFC) ZigBee, LiFi, and / or any Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN) standards such as LoRa and Sigfox.

[0102] In some examples, the telecommunication network 502 is a cellular network that implements 3GPP standardized features. Accordingly, the telecommunication network 502 may support network slicing to provide different logical networks to different devices that are connected to the telecommunication network 502. For example, the telecommunication network 502 may provide Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communication (URLLC) services to some UEs, while providing enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) services to other UEs, and / or massive Machine Type Communication (mMTC) / massive Internet of Things (loT) services to yet further UEs.

[0103] In some examples, the UEs 512 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 504 on a predetermined schedule, when triggered by an internal or external event, or in response to requests from the access network 504. Additionally, a UE may be configured for operating in single- or multi -Radio Access Technology (RAT) or multi -standard mode. For example, a UE may operate with any one or combination of WiFi, New Radio (NR), and LTE, i.e. being configured for Multi -Radio Dual Connectivity (MR-DC), such as Evolved UMTS Terrestrial RAN (E-UTRAN) NR - Dual Connectivity (EN-DC).

[0104] In the example, a hub 514 communicates with the access network 504 to facilitate indirect communication between one or more UEs (e.g., UE 512C and / or 512D) and network nodes (e.g., network node 510B). In some examples, the hub 514 may be a controller, router, content source and analytics, or any of the other communication devices described herein regarding UEs. For example, the hub 514 may be a broadband router enabling access to the core network 506 for the UEs. As another example, the hub 514 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 510, or by executable code, script, process, or other instructions in the hub 514. As another example, the hub 514 may be a data collector that acts as temporary storage for UE data and, in some embodiments, may perform analysis or other processing of the data. As another example, the hub 514 may be a content source. For example, for a UE that is a Virtual Reality (VR) headset, display, loudspeaker or other media delivery device, the hub 514 may retrieve VR assets, video, audio, or other media or data related to sensory information via a network node, which the hub 514 then provides to the UE either directly, after performing local processing, and / orafter adding additional local content. In still another example, the hub 514 acts as a proxy server or orchestrator for the UEs, in particular if one or more of the UEs are low energy loT devices.

[0105] The hub 514 may have a constant / persistent or intermittent connection to the network node 510B. The hub 514 may also allow for a different communication scheme and / or schedule between the hub 514 and UEs (e.g., UE 512C and / or 512D), and between the hub 514 and the core network 506. In other examples, the hub 514 is connected to the core network 506 and / or one or more UEs via a wired connection. Moreover, the hub 514 may be configured to connect to a Machine-to-Machine (M2M) service provider over the access network 504 and / or to another UE over a direct connection. In some scenarios, UEs may establish a wireless connection with the network nodes 510 while still connected via the hub 514 via a wired or wireless connection. In some embodiments, the hub 514 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 510B. In other embodiments, the hub 514 may be a non-dedicated hub - that is, a device which is capable of operating to route communications between the UEs and the network node 510B, but which is additionally capable of operating as a communication start and / or end point for certain data channels.

[0106] Figure 6 shows a UE 600 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 Internet Protocol (VoIP) phone, wireless local loop phone, desktop computer, Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), wireless camera, gaming console or device, music storage device, playback appliance, wearable terminal device, wireless endpoint, mobile station, tablet, laptop, Laptop Embedded Equipment (LEE), Laptop Mounted Equipment (LME), smart device, wireless Customer Premise Equipment (CPE), vehicle, vehicle-mounted or vehicle embedded / integrated wireless device, etc. Other examples include any UE identified by the 3 GPP, including a Narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT) UE, a Machine Type Communication (MTC) UE, and / or an enhanced MTC (eMTC) UE.

[0107] A UE may support Device-to-Device (D2D) communication, for example by implementing a 3 GPP standard for sidelink communication, Dedicated Short-Range Communication (DSRC), Vehi cl e-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).

[0108] The UE 600 includes processing circuitry 602 that is operatively coupled via a bus 604 to an input / output interface 606, a power source 608, memory 610, a communication interface 612, and / or any other component, or any combination thereof. Certain UEs may utilize all or a subset of the components shown in Figure 6. 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.

[0109] The processing circuitry 602 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 610. The processing circuitry 602 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 602 may include multiple Central Processing Units (CPUs).

[0110] In the example, the input / output interface 606 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 600. Examples of an input device include a touch-sensitive or presence-sensitive display, a camera (e.g., a digital camera, a digital video camera, a web camera, etc.), a microphone, a sensor, a mouse, a trackball, a directional pad, a trackpad, a scroll wheel, a smartcard, and the like. The presence-sensitive display may include a capacitive or resistive touch sensor to sense input from a user. A sensor may be, for instance, an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a tilt sensor, a force sensor, a magnetometer, an optical sensor, a proximity sensor, a biometric sensor, etc., or any combination thereof. An output device may use the same type of interface port as an input device. For example, a Universal Serial Bus (USB) port may be used to provide an input device and an output device.[OHl] In some embodiments, the power source 608 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 608 may further include powercircuitry for delivering power from the power source 608 itself, and / or an external power source, to the various parts of the UE 600 via input circuitry or an interface such as an electrical power cable. Delivering power may be, for example, for charging of the power source 608. Power circuitry may perform any formatting, converting, or other modification to the power from the power source 608 to make the power suitable for the respective components of the UE 600 to which power is supplied.

[0112] The memory 610 may be or be configured to include memory such as Random Access Memory (RAM), Read Only Memory (ROM), Programmable ROM (PROM), Erasable PROM (EPROM), Electrically EPROM (EEPROM), magnetic disks, optical disks, hard disks, removable cartridges, flash drives, and so forth. In one example, the memory 610 includes one or more application programs 614, such as an operating system, web browser application, a widget, gadget engine, or other application, and corresponding data 616. The memory 610 may store, for use by the UE 600, any of a variety of various operating systems or combinations of operating systems.

[0113] The memory 610 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 RAM (SDRAM), external micro-DIMM SDRAM, smartcard memory such as a tamper resistant module in the form of a Universal Integrated Circuit Card (UICC) including one or more Subscriber Identity Modules (SIMs), such as a Universal SIM (USIM) and / or Internet Protocol Multimedia Services Identity Module (ISIM), other memory, or any combination thereof. The UICC may for example be an embedded UICC (eUICC), integrated UICC (iUICC) or a removable UICC commonly known as a ‘SIM card.’ The memory 610 may allow the UE 600 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 610, which may be or comprise a device-readable storage medium.

[0114] The processing circuitry 602 may be configured to communicate with an access network or other network using the communication interface 612. The communication interface 612 may comprise one or more communication subsystems and may include or be communicatively coupled to an antenna 622. The communication interface 612 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 networknode in an access network). Each transceiver may include a transmitter 618 and / or a receiver 620 appropriate to provide network communications (e.g., optical, electrical, frequency allocations, and so forth). Moreover, the transmitter 618 and receiver 620 may be coupled to one or more antennas (e.g., the antenna 622) and may share circuit components, software, or firmware, or alternatively be implemented separately.

[0115] In the illustrated embodiment, communication functions of the communication interface 612 may include cellular communication, WiFi communication, LPWAN communication, data communication, voice communication, multimedia communication, short- range communications such as Bluetooth, NFC, location-based communication such as the use of the Global Positioning System (GPS) to determine a location, another like communication function, or any combination thereof. Communications may be implemented according to one or more communication protocols and / or standards, such as IEEE 802.11, Code Division Multiplexing Access (CDMA), Wideband CDMA (WCDMA), GSM, LTE, NR, UMTS, WiMax, Ethernet, Transmission Control Protocol / Intemet Protocol (TCP / IP), Synchronous Optical Networking (SONET), Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), Quick User Datagram Protocol Internet Connection (QUIC), Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), and so forth.

[0116] Regardless of the type of sensor, a UE may provide an output of data captured by its sensors, through its communication interface 612, 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).

[0117] As another example, a UE comprises an actuator, a motor, or a switch related to a communication interface configured to receive wireless input from a network node via a wireless connection. In response to the received wireless input the states of the actuator, the motor, or the switch may change. For example, the UE may comprise a motor that adjusts the control surfaces or rotors of a drone in flight according to the received input or to a robotic arm performing a medical procedure according to the received input.

[0118] A UE, when in the form of an loT device, may be a device for use in one or more application domains, these domains comprising, but not limited to, city wearable technology, extended industrial application, and healthcare. Non-limiting examples of such an loT device are a device which is or which is embedded in: a connected refrigerator or freezer, a television, a connected lighting device, an electricity meter, a robot vacuum cleaner, a voice controlled smartspeaker, a home security camera, a motion detector, a thermostat, a smoke detector, a door / window sensor, a flood / moisture sensor, an electrical door lock, a connected doorbell, an air conditioning system like a heat pump, an autonomous vehicle, a surveillance system, a weather monitoring device, a vehicle parking monitoring device, an electric vehicle charging station, a smart watch, a fitness tracker, a head-mounted display for Augmented Reality (AR) or VR, a wearable for tactile augmentation or sensory enhancement, a water sprinkler, an animal- or item-tracking device, a sensor for monitoring a plant or animal, an industrial robot, an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), and any kind of medical device, like a heart rate monitor or a remote controlled surgical robot. A UE in the form of an loT device comprises circuitry and / or software in dependence of the intended application of the loT device in addition to other components as described in relation to the UE 600 shown in Figure 6.

[0119] 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 3 GPP NB-IoT standard. In other scenarios, a UE may represent a vehicle, such as a car, a bus, a truck, a ship, an airplane, or other equipment that is capable of monitoring and / or reporting on its operational status or other functions associated with its operation.

[0120] 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.

[0121] Figure 7 shows a network node 700 in accordance with some embodiments. As used herein, network node refers to equipment capable, configured, arranged, and / or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with a UE and / or with other network nodes or equipment in a telecommunication network. Examples of network nodes include, but are not limited to, APs (e.g., radio APs), Base Stations (BSs) (e.g., radio BSs, Node Bs, evolved Node Bs (eNBs), NR Node Bs (gNBs)), and 0-RAN nodes or components of an 0-RAN node (e.g., O-RU, O-DU, O-CU).

[0122] Base stations may be categorized based on the amount of coverage they provide (or, stated differently, their transmit power level) and so, depending on the provided amount of coverage, may be referred to as femto base stations, pico base stations, micro base stations, or macro base stations. A base station may be a relay node or a relay donor node controlling a relay. A network node may also include one or more (or all) parts of a distributed radio base station such as centralized digital units, distributed units (e.g., in an O-RAN access node), and / or Remote Radio Units (RRUs), sometimes referred to as Remote Radio Heads (RRHs). Such RRUs may or may not be integrated with an antenna as an antenna integrated radio. Parts of a distributed radio base station may also be referred to as nodes in a Distributed Antenna System (DAS).

[0123] Other examples of network nodes include multiple Transmission Point (multi-TRP) 5G access nodes, Multi -Standard Radio (MSR) equipment such as MSR BSs, network controllers such as Radio Network Controllers (RNCs) or BS Controllers (BSCs), Base Transceiver Stations (BTSs), transmission points, transmission nodes, Multi-Cell / Multicast Coordination Entities (MCEs), Operation and Maintenance (O&M) nodes, Operations Support System (OSS) nodes, Self-Organizing Network (SON) nodes, positioning nodes (e.g., Evolved Serving Mobile Location Centers (E-SMLCs)), and / or Minimization of Drive Tests (MDTs).

[0124] The network node 700 includes processing circuitry 702, memory 704, a communication interface 706, and a power source 708. The network node 700 may be composed of multiple physically separate components (e.g., aNodeB component and an RNC component, or a BTS component and a BSC component, etc.), which may each have their own respective components. In certain scenarios in which the network node 700 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 700 may be configured to support multiple RATs. In such embodiments, some components may be duplicated (e.g., separate memory 704 for different RATs) and some components may be reused (e.g., a same antenna 710 may be shared by different RATs). The network node 700 may also include multiple sets of the various illustrated components for different wireless technologies integrated into network node 700, for example GSM, WCDMA, LTE, NR, WiFi, Zigbee, Z-wave, Long Range Wide Area Network (LoRaWAN), Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), or Bluetooth wireless technologies. These wireless technologies may be integrated into the same or different chip or set of chips and other components within the network node 700.

[0125] The processing circuitry 702 may comprise a combination of one or more of a microprocessor, controller, microcontroller, CPU, DSP, ASIC, FPGA, or any other suitable computing device, resource, or combination of hardware, software, and / or encoded logic operable to provide, either alone or in conjunction with other network node 700 components, such as the memory 704, to provide network node 700 functionality.

[0126] In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 702 includes a System on a Chip (SOC). In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 702 includes one or more of Radio Frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry 712 and baseband processing circuitry 714. In some embodiments, the RF transceiver circuitry 712 and the baseband processing circuitry 714 may be on separate chips (or sets of chips), boards, or units, such as radio units and digital units. In alternative embodiments, part or all of the RF transceiver circuitry 712 and the baseband processing circuitry 714 may be on the same chip or set of chips, boards, or units.

[0127] The memory 704 may comprise any form of volatile or non-volatile computer-readable memory including, without limitation, persistent storage, solid state memory, remotely mounted memory, magnetic media, optical media, RAM, ROM, mass storage media (for example, a hard disk), removable storage media (for example, a flash drive, a Compact Disk (CD), or a Digital Video Disk (DVD)), and / or any other volatile or non-volatile, non-transitory device-readable, and / or computer-executable memory devices that store information, data, and / or instructions that may be used by the processing circuitry 702. The memory 704 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 702 and utilized by the network node 700. The memory 704 may be used to store any calculations made by the processing circuitry 702 and / or any data received via the communication interface 706. In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 702 and the memory 704 are integrated.

[0128] The communication interface 706 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 706 comprises port(s) / terminal(s) 716 to send and receive data, for example to and from a network over a wired connection. The communication interface 706 also includes radio front-end circuitry 718 that may be coupled to, or in certain embodiments a part of, the antenna 710. The radio front-end circuitry 718 comprises filters 720 and amplifiers 722. The radio front-end circuitry 718 may be connected to the antenna 710 and the processing circuitry 702. The radio front-end circuitry 718 may be configured to condition signals communicated between the antenna 710 and the processing circuitry 702. The radio front-end circuitry 718 mayreceive digital data that is to be sent out to other network nodes or UEs via a wireless connection. The radio front-end circuitry 718 may convert the digital data into a radio signal having the appropriate channel and bandwidth parameters using a combination of the filters 720 and / or the amplifiers 722. The radio signal may then be transmitted via the antenna 710. Similarly, when receiving data, the antenna 710 may collect radio signals which are then converted into digital data by the radio front-end circuitry 718. The digital data may be passed to the processing circuitry 702. In other embodiments, the communication interface 706 may comprise different components and / or different combinations of components.

[0129] In certain alternative embodiments, the network node 700 does not include separate radio front-end circuitry 718; instead, the processing circuitry 702 includes radio front-end circuitry and is connected to the antenna 710. Similarly, in some embodiments, all or some of the RF transceiver circuitry 712 is part of the communication interface 706. In still other embodiments, the communication interface 706 includes the one or more ports or terminals 716, the radio front-end circuitry 718, and the RF transceiver circuitry 712 as part of a radio unit (not shown), and the communication interface 706 communicates with the baseband processing circuitry 714, which is part of a digital unit (not shown).

[0130] The antenna 710 may include one or more antennas, or antenna arrays, configured to send and / or receive wireless signals. The antenna 710 may be coupled to the radio front-end circuitry 718 and may be any type of antenna capable of transmitting and receiving data and / or signals wirelessly. In certain embodiments, the antenna 710 is separate from the network node 700 and connectable to the network node 700 through an interface or port.

[0131] The antenna 710, the communication interface 706, and / or the processing circuitry 702 may be configured to perform any receiving operations and / or certain obtaining operations described herein as being performed by the network node 700. Any information, data, and / or signals may be received from a UE, another network node, and / or any other network equipment. Similarly, the antenna 710, the communication interface 706, and / or the processing circuitry 702 may be configured to perform any transmitting operations described herein as being performed by the network node 700. Any information, data, and / or signals may be transmitted to a UE, another network node, and / or any other network equipment.

[0132] The power source 708 provides power to the various components of the network node 700 in a form suitable for the respective components (e.g., at a voltage and current level needed for each respective component). The power source 708 may further comprise, or be coupled to, power management circuitry to supply the components of the network node 700 with power for performing the functionality described herein. For example, the network node 700 may beconnectable to an external power source (e.g., the power grid or an electricity outlet) via input circuitry or an interface such as an electrical cable, whereby the external power source supplies power to power circuitry of the power source 708. As a further example, the power source 708 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.

[0133] Embodiments of the network node 700 may include additional components beyond those shown in Figure 7 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 700 may include user interface equipment to allow input of information into the network node 700 and to allow output of information from the network node 700. This may allow a user to perform diagnostic, maintenance, repair, and other administrative functions for the network node 700.

[0134] Figure 8 is a block diagram of a host 800, which may be an embodiment of the host 516 of Figure 5, in accordance with various aspects described herein. As used herein, the host 800 may be or comprise various combinations of hardware and / or software including a standalone server, a blade server, a cloud-implemented server, a distributed server, a virtual machine, container, or processing resources in a server farm. The host 800 may provide one or more services to one or more UEs.

[0135] The host 800 includes processing circuitry 802 that is operatively coupled via a bus 804 to an input / output interface 806, a network interface 808, a power source 810, and memory 812. Other components may be included in other embodiments. Features of these components may be substantially similar to those described with respect to the devices of previous figures, such as Figures 6 and 7, such that the descriptions thereof are generally applicable to the corresponding components of the host 800.

[0136] The memory 812 may include one or more computer programs including one or more host application programs 814 and data 816, which may include user data, e.g. data generated by a UE for the host 800 or data generated by the host 800 for a UE. Embodiments of the host 800 may utilize only a subset or all of the components shown. The host application programs 814 may be implemented in a container-based architecture and may provide support for video codecs (e.g., Versatile Video Coding (VVC), High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC), Advanced Video Coding (AVC), Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG), VP9) and audio codecs (e.g., Free Lossless Audio Codec (FLAC), Advanced Audio Coding (AAC), MPEG, G.711), including transcoding for multiple different classes, types, or implementations of UEs (e.g., handsets, desktop computers,wearable display systems, and heads-up display systems). The host application programs 814 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 800 may select and / or indicate a different host for Over-The-Top (OTT) services for a UE. The host application programs 814 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 (DASH or MPEG-DASH), etc.

[0137] Figure 9 is a block diagram illustrating a virtualization environment 900 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 900 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 900 includes components defined by the 0-RAN Alliance, such as an O-Cloud environment orchestrated by a Service Management and Orchestration Framework via an O-2 interface.

[0138] Applications 902 (which may alternatively be called software instances, virtual appliances, network functions, virtual nodes, virtual network functions, etc.) are run in the virtualization environment 900 to implement some of the features, functions, and / or benefits of some of the embodiments disclosed herein.

[0139] Hardware 904 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 906 (also referred to as hypervisors or VM Monitors (VMMs)), provide VMs 908A and 908B (one or more of which may be generally referred to as VMs 908), and / or perform any of the functions, features, and / or benefits described in relation with some embodiments described herein. The virtualizationlayer 906 may present a virtual operating platform that appears like networking hardware to the VMs 908.

[0140] The VMs 908 comprise virtual processing, virtual memory, virtual networking, or interface and virtual storage, and may be run by a corresponding virtualization layer 906. Different embodiments of the instance of a virtual appliance 902 may be implemented on one or more of the VMs 908, 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.

[0141] In the context of NFV, a VM 908 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 908, and that part of the hardware 904 that executes that VM, be it hardware dedicated to that VM and / or hardware shared by that VM with others of the VMs 908, 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 908 on top of the hardware 904 and corresponds to the application 902.

[0142] The hardware 904 may be implemented in a standalone network node with generic or specific components. The hardware 904 may implement some functions via virtualization. Alternatively, the hardware 904 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 910, which, among others, oversees lifecycle management of the applications 902. In some embodiments, the hardware 904 is coupled to one or more radio units that each include one or more transmitters and one or more receivers that may be coupled to one or more antennas. Radio units may communicate directly with other hardware nodes via one or more appropriate network interfaces and may be used in combination with the virtual components to provide a virtual node with radio capabilities, such as a RAN or a base station. In some embodiments, some signaling can be provided with the use of a control system 912 which may alternatively be used for communication between hardware nodes and radio units.

[0143] Figure 10 shows a communication diagram of a host 1002 communicating via a network node 1004 with a UE 1006 over a partially wireless connection in accordance with some embodiments. Example implementations, in accordance with various embodiments, of the UE (such as the UE 512A of Figure 5 and / or the UE 600 of Figure 6), the network node (such as the network node 510A of Figure 5 and / or the network node 700 of Figure 7), and the host (such asthe host 516 of Figure 5 and / or the host 800 of Figure 8) discussed in the preceding paragraphs will now be described with reference to Figure 10.

[0144] Like the host 800, embodiments of the host 1002 include hardware, such as a communication interface, processing circuitry, and memory. The host 1002 also includes software, which is stored in or is accessible by the host 1002 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 1006 connecting via an OTT connection 1050 extending between the UE 1006 and the host 1002. In providing the service to the remote user, a host application may provide user data which is transmitted using the OTT connection 1050.

[0145] The network node 1004 includes hardware enabling it to communicate with the host 1002 and the UE 1006. The connection 1060 may be direct or pass through a core network (like the core network 506 of Figure 5) 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.

[0146] The UE 1006 includes hardware and software, which is stored in or accessible by the UE 1006 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 the UE 1006 with the support of the host 1002. In the host 1002, an executing host application may communicate with the executing client application via the OTT connection 1050 terminating at the UE 1006 and the host 1002. 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 1050 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 1050.

[0147] The OTT connection 1050 may extend via the connection 1060 between the host 1002 and the network node 1004 and via a wireless connection 1070 between the network node 1004 and the UE 1006 to provide the connection between the host 1002 and the UE 1006. The connection 1060 and the wireless connection 1070, over which the OTT connection 1050 may be provided, have been drawn abstractly to illustrate the communication between the host 1002 and the UE 1006 via the network node 1004, without explicit reference to any intermediary devices and the precise routing of messages via these devices.

[0148] As an example of transmitting data via the OTT connection 1050, in step 1008, the host 1002 provides user data, which may be performed by executing a host application. In someembodiments, the user data is associated with a particular human user interacting with the UE 1006. In other embodiments, the user data is associated with a UE 1006 that shares data with the host 1002 without explicit human interaction. In step 1010, the host 1002 initiates a transmission carrying the user data towards the UE 1006. The host 1002 may initiate the transmission responsive to a request transmitted by the UE 1006. The request may be caused by human interaction with the UE 1006 or by operation of the client application executing on the UE 1006. The transmission may pass via the network node 1004 in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure. Accordingly, in step 1012, the network node 1004 transmits to the UE 1006 the user data that was carried in the transmission that the host 1002 initiated, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure. In step 1014, the UE 1006 receives the user data carried in the transmission, which may be performed by a client application executed on the UE 1006 associated with the host application executed by the host 1002.

[0149] In some examples, the UE 1006 executes a client application which provides user data to the host 1002. The user data may be provided in reaction or response to the data received from the host 1002. Accordingly, in step 1016, the UE 1006 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 1006. Regardless of the specific manner in which the user data was provided, the UE 1006 initiates, in step 1018, transmission of the user data towards the host 1002 via the network node 1004. In step 1020, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure, the network node 1004 receives user data from the UE 1006 and initiates transmission of the received user data towards the host 1002. In step 1022, the host 1002 receives the user data carried in the transmission initiated by the UE 1006.

[0150] One or more of the various embodiments improve the performance of OTT services provided to the UE 1006 using the OTT connection 1050, in which the wireless connection 1070 forms the last segment. More precisely, the teachings of these embodiments may improve, e.g., data rate, latency, and / or power consumption and thereby provide benefits such as, e.g., reduced user waiting time, related restriction on file size, improved content resolution, better responsiveness, and / or extended battery lifetime.

[0151] In an example scenario, factory status information may be collected and analyzed by the host 1002. As another example, the host 1002 may process audio and video data which may have been retrieved from a UE for use in creating maps. As another example, the host 1002 may collect and analyze real-time data to assist in controlling vehicle congestion (e.g., controllingtraffic lights). As another example, the host 1002 may store surveillance video uploaded by a UE. As another example, the host 1002 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 1002 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.

[0152] 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 1050 between the host 1002 and the UE 1006 in response to variations in the measurement results. The measurement procedure and / or the network functionality for reconfiguring the OTT connection 1050 may be implemented in software and hardware of the host 1002 and / or the UE 1006. In some embodiments, sensors (not shown) may be deployed in or in association with other devices through which the OTT connection 1050 passes; the sensors may participate in the measurement procedure by supplying values of the monitored quantities exemplified above, or by supplying values of other physical quantities from which software may compute or estimate the monitored quantities. The reconfiguring of the OTT connection 1050 may include message format, retransmission settings, preferred routing, etc.; the reconfiguring need not directly alter the operation of the network node 1004. 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 1002. The measurements may be implemented in that software causes messages to be transmitted, in particular empty or ‘dummy’ messages, using the OTT connection 1050 while monitoring propagation times, errors, etc.

[0153] 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 theobtained information or converted information, and as a result of said processing making a determination. Moreover, while components are depicted as single boxes located within a larger box or nested within multiple boxes, in practice computing devices may comprise multiple different physical components that make up a single illustrated component, and functionality may be partitioned between separate components. For example, a communication interface may be configured to include any of the components described herein, and / or the functionality of the components may be partitioned between the processing circuitry and the communication interface. In another example, non-computationally intensive functions of any of such components may be implemented in software or firmware and computationally intensive functions may be implemented in hardware.

[0154] In certain embodiments, some or all of the functionality described herein may be provided by processing circuitry executing instructions stored in memory, which in certain embodiments may be a computer program product in the form of a non-transitory computer- readable storage medium. In alternative embodiments, some or all of the functionality may be provided by the processing circuitry without executing instructions stored on a separate or discrete device-readable storage medium, such as in a hardwired manner. In any of those particular embodiments, whether 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.

[0155] Those skilled in the art will recognize improvements and modifications to the embodiments of the present disclosure. All such improvements and modifications are considered within the scope of the concepts disclosed herein.

[0156] Some example embodiments of the present disclosure are as follows:

[0157] Group A EmbodimentsEmbodiment 1. A method performed by a User Equipment, UE, the method comprising any one or more of the following: receiving (Step 1, 110) from the network (NW) a configuration of a plurality of DL RSs (or beams) for beam measurements and predictive beam reporting. determining (Step 2, 120) at least one candidate target beam among the plurality of DL RSs (or beams) based on measurements on the plurality of DL RSs (or beams). sending (Step 3, 130) a message to the NW about the at least one candidate beam (and, its related measurement values) when one or more events occur.receiving (Step 4, 140) a beam switch indication from the NW to switch to one of the candidate beams.Embodiment 2. The method of embodiment 1, wherein the plurality of DL RSs (or beams) comprises at least a current serving beam.Embodiment 3. The method of any of the previous embodiments, wherein the plurality of DL RSs (or beams) are transmitted periodically or semi-persistently, and, optionally, a report is sent periodically or semi-persistently after an event is triggered a first time.Embodiment 4. The method of any of the previous embodiments, wherein the beam measurements comprises Ll-RSRP and / or Ll-SINR measurement.Embodiment 5. The method of any of the previous embodiments, wherein the configuration further comprises a reporting type indicating a UE initiated beam reporting of candidate beams for beam switching.Embodiment 6. The method of any of the previous embodiments, wherein the configuration further indicates the number or the maximum number of candidate beams to be reported. Embodiment 7. The method of any of the previous embodiments, wherein a UE initiated reporting configuration indicates the evaluation time period, for comparison between the current serving and the candidate beams.Embodiment 8. The method of any of the previous embodiments, wherein a reporting type indicating the UE initiated beam reporting includes information about at least an event and one or more thresholds associated to the event (e.g., the Ll-RSRP, Ll-SINR thresholds).Embodiment 9. The method of any of the previous embodiments, wherein a candidate beam at a given time is a beam with increasing Ll-RSRP and / or Ll-SINR values over a most recent evaluation time period prior to the given time, wherein, optionally, an evaluation time period comprises at least two consecutive Ll-RSRP or Ll-SINR measurements, wherein, optionally, the most recent evaluation time period comprises the most recent Ll-RSRP or Ll-SINR measurement prior to the given time.Embodiment 10. The method of any of the previous embodiments, wherein the event can be a combination of one or more of the following sub-events:- Event Al : The Ll-RSRP value of the current serving beam is decreasing and the most recent Ll-RSRP of a candidate beam is greater than the most recent Ll-RSRP of the current serving beam minus a XdB offset;Event A2: The Ll-RSRP value of the current serving beam is decreasing over last N1 measurement occasions and, optionally, where N1 can be configured by network or determined by UE based on UE implementation;- Event B: The Ll-SINR value of the current serving beam is decreasing and the most recent Ll-SINR of a candidate beam is greater than the most recent respective Ll-SINR of the current serving beam minus aY dB offset; and- Event C: The most recent Ll-RSRP or Ll-SINR of the current serving beam is below a threshold, wherein the threshold can be configured by the NW, wherein, optionally, The offset (i.e., XdB, Y dB, Z dB) can be predefined or configured by the NW as part of the configuration in Step 1.Embodiment 11. The method of any of the previous embodiments, further comprising: performing a time-domain filtering on the beam measurements such as L1-RSRP / L1- SINR before the event evaluation, so that, optionally, the filtered measurement value of a beam (e.g. current beam and possible candidate beam) is used as input to the event evaluation, and, wherein, optionally, the UE considers a filter parameter ‘a’ so that a filtered value at time instance (n) is defined as follows:F(n) = (l-a)*F(n-l) + a*M(n), whereinM(n) is the latest beam measurement results at Layer 1; F(n) is the updated filtered beam measurement result, to be used for evaluation of the event; F(n-l) is the old filtered beam measurement result (F(0) is initialized with M(l)); ‘a’ is a filter related parameter (e.g. configured by the network, or derived based on a filter coefficient configured by the network), wherein, optionally, the parameter ‘a’ or a parameter used to derive ‘a’ is configured per serving cell and / or per frequency and / or per UE, per frequency range.Embodiment 12. The method of any of the previous embodiments, for some of the events, the time difference between the most recent measurement occasion of the serving beam and the most recent measurement occasion of the candidate beam is smaller than and / or equal to a preconfigured or predefined required time difference value in Step 1.Embodiment 13. The method of any of the previous embodiments, wherein, optionally, the message can contain one or more of- information about an identifier of a best candidate beam. The best candidate beam can be, e.g., the candidate beam having the largest LI -RSRP / L1-SINR value among all the candidate beams in the most recently measurement period.- identifiers of multiple candidate beams and their most recent L1-RSRP / L1-SINR values.- Identifier(s) of the event(s) occurred if multiple events are configured.The most recent L 1 -RSRP / L 1 -SINR values of the current serving beam wherein, optionally, the message can be carried in UL control information (UCI) in a physicaluplink control channel (PUCCH) or in a Medium Access Control, MAC, control Element, CE, or, the message can contain just an indication or a flag indicating the occurrence of the one or more events, wherein optionally, the NW may request the UE to provide further information such as a beam report comprising one or more of an identifier of the event(s) occurred, an identifier of the best candidate beam and its L1-RSRP / L1-SINR, identifiers of multiple candidate beams and their most recent L1-RSRP / L1-SINR values, and most recent LI -RSRP / L1-SINR of the current serving beamEmbodiment 14. The method of any of previous embodiments, further comprising one or more of the following: once a message is sent to the NW, staring a timer; while the timer is running, refraining from sending another message to the NW; once the timer expires, sending another message to the NW if the condition of one or more events is fulfilled; upon determining that the Ll-RSRP value of the current serving beam is decreasing and the most recent LI -RSRP of a candidate beam is greater than the most recent Ll-RSRP of the current serving beam minus a XdB offset, sending a message and start the timer; while the timer is running, refraining from sending another report, even if the condition is fulfilled; once the timer expires, sending another message to the NW, if the condition is still fulfilled; and / or configuring a timer value in the reporting configuration (e.g. in CSI-ReportConfig).Embodiment 15. The method of any of previous embodiments, wherein the beam switch indication comprises a beam activation command to activate one or more of the candidate beams and / or a beam indication in DCI (Downlink Control Information) indicating a new beam for data transmission and / or reception.Embodiment 16. The method of any of previous embodiments, further comprising receiving an acknowledgement from the NW on whether the UE initiated beam report has been received, and, optionally, if the beam report has been received, refraining from sending another indication for the same event / events.Embodiment 17. The method of any of previous embodiments, wherein an event is based (at least partly) on if the beam measurements (e.g., L1-RSRP / L1-SINR associated with a UE initiated beam report) have changed since the last transmitted UE initiated beam report. Embodiment 18. The method of any of previous embodiments, wherein further comprising determining if an event for a UE initiated beam report has occurred based on one or more of thefollowing criteria:- A new best beam has been detected since the last transmitted UE initiated beam report.The performance of the serving beam has changed (increase and / or decreased) more than a certain threshold since the last transmitted UE initiated beam report.The same beam as included as best beam in the last UE initiated beam report is still the best beam, but the performance for this beam has changed (increase and / or decreased) with more than a threshold.The difference in performance between the serving beam and the best beam reported in the last UE initiated beam report has changed (increase and / or decreased) more than a threshold.Embodiment 19. The method of any of the previous embodiments, further comprising: providing user data; and forwarding the user data to a host via the transmission to the network node.Group B EmbodimentsEmbodiment 20. A method performed by a network node, the method comprising one or more of the following: transmitting to a UE a configuration of a plurality of DL RSs (or beams) for beam measurements and UE initiated beam reporting. (Step A, 410); receiving information about at least one candidate target beam and its related measurements when one or more events have occurred. (Step B, 420); receiving information about at least one candidate target beam and its related measurements when one or more events have occurred. (Step C, 430).Embodiment 21. The method of any of the previous embodiments, further comprising: obtaining user data; and forwarding the user data to a host or a user equipment.Group C EmbodimentsEmbodiment 22. A user equipment comprising: processing circuitry configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group A embodiments; and power supply circuitry configured to supply power to the processing circuitry.Embodiment 23. A network node comprising: processing circuitry configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group Bembodiments; and power supply circuitry configured to supply power to the processing circuitry. Embodiment 24. A user equipment (UE) comprising: an antenna configured to send and receive wireless signals; radio front-end circuitry connected to the antenna and to processing circuitry, and configured to condition signals communicated between the antenna and the processing circuitry; the processing circuitry being configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group A embodiments; an input interface connected to the processing circuitry and configured to allow input of information into the UE to be processed by the processing circuitry; an output interface connected to the processing circuitry and configured to output information from the UE that has been processed by the processing circuitry; and a battery connected to the processing circuitry and configured to supply power to the UE. Embodiment 25. A host configured to operate in a communication system to provide an over- the-top (OTT) service, the host comprising: processing circuitry configured to provide user data; and a network interface configured to initiate transmission of the user data to a network node in a cellular network for transmission to a user equipment (UE), the network node having a communication interface and processing circuitry, the processing circuitry of the network node configured to perform any of the operations of any of the Group B embodiments to transmit the user data from the host to the UE.Embodiment 26. The host of the previous embodiment, wherein: the processing circuitry of the host is configured to execute a host application that provides the user data; and the UE comprises processing circuitry configured to execute a client application associated with the host application to receive the transmission of user data from the host.Embodiment 27. A method implemented in a host configured to operate in a communication system that further includes a network node and a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: providing user data for the UE; and initiating a transmission carrying the user data to the UE via a cellular network comprising the network node, wherein the network node performs any of the operations of any of the Group B embodiments to transmit the user data from the host to the UE.Embodiment 28. The method of the previous embodiment, further comprising, at the network node, transmitting the user data provided by the host for the UE.Embodiment 29. The method of any of the previous 2 embodiments, wherein the user data is provided at the host by executing a host application that interacts with a client application executing on the UE, the client application being associated with the host application.Embodiment 30. A communication system configured to provide an over-the-top (OTT) service, the communication system comprising: a host comprising: processing circuitry configured to provide user data for a user equipment (UE), the user data being associated with the over-the-top service; and a network interface configured to initiate transmission of the user data toward a cellular network node for transmission to the UE, the network node having a communication interface and processing circuitry, the processing circuitry of the network node configured to perform any of the operations of any of the Group B embodiments to transmit the user data from the host to the UE.Embodiment 31. The communication system of the previous embodiment, further comprising: the network node; and / or the UE.Embodiment 32. A host configured to operate in a communication system to provide an over- the-top (OTT) service, the host comprising: processing circuitry configured to initiate receipt of user data; and a network interface configured to receive the user data from a network node in a cellular network, the network node having a communication interface and processing circuitry, the processing circuitry of the network node configured to perform any of the operations of any of the Group B embodiments to receive the user data from a user equipment (UE) for the host. Embodiment 33. The host of the previous 2 embodiments, wherein: the processing circuitry of the host is configured to execute a host application that receives the user data; and the host application is configured to interact with a client application executing on the UE, the client application being associated with the host application.Embodiment 34. The host of the any of the previous 2 embodiments, wherein the initiating receipt of the user data comprises requesting the user data.Embodiment 35. A method implemented by a host configured to operate in a communication system that further includes a network node and a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: at the host, initiating receipt of user data from the UE, the user data originating from a transmission which the network node has received from the UE, wherein the network nodeperforms any of the steps of any of the Group B embodiments to receive the user data from the UE for the host.Embodiment 36. The method of the previous embodiment, further comprising at the network node, transmitting the received user data to the host.Embodiment 37. A host configured to operate in a communication system to provide an over- the-top (OTT) service, the host comprising: processing circuitry configured to provide user data; and a network interface configured to initiate transmission of the user data to a cellular network for transmission to a user equipment (UE), wherein the UE comprises a communication interface and processing circuitry, the communication interface and processing circuitry of the UE being configured to perform any of the operations of any of the Group A embodiments to receive the user data from the host.Embodiment 38. The host of the previous embodiment, wherein the cellular network further includes a network node configured to communicate with the UE to transmit the user data to the UE from the host.Embodiment 39. The host of the previous 2 embodiments, wherein: the processing circuitry of the host is configured to execute a host application, thereby providing the user data; and the host application is configured to interact with a client application executing on the UE, the client application being associated with the host application.Embodiment 40. A method implemented by a host operating in a communication system that further includes a network node and a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: providing user data for the UE; and initiating a transmission carrying the user data to the UE via a cellular network comprising the network node, wherein the UE performs any of the operations of any of the Group A embodiments to receive the user data from the host.Embodiment 41. The method of the previous embodiment, further comprising: at the host, executing a host application associated with a client application executing on the UE to receive the user data from the host application.Embodiment 42. The method of the previous embodiment, further comprising: at the host, transmitting input data to the client application executing on the UE, the input data being provided by executing the host application, wherein the user data is provided by the client application in response to the input data from the host application.Embodiment 43. A host configured to operate in a communication system to provide an over- the-top (OTT) service, the host comprising: processing circuitry configured to provide user data; and a network interface configured to initiate transmission of the user data to a cellular network for transmission to a user equipment (UE), wherein the UE comprises a communication interface and processing circuitry, the communication interface and processing circuitry of the UE being configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group A embodiments to transmit the user data to the host.Embodiment 44. The host of the previous embodiment, wherein the cellular network further includes a network node configured to communicate with the UE to transmit the user data from the UE to the host.Embodiment 45. The host of the previous 2 embodiments, wherein: the processing circuitry of the host is configured to execute a host application, thereby providing the user data; and the host application is configured to interact with a client application executing on the UE, the client application being associated with the host application.Embodiment 46. A method implemented by a host configured to operate in a communication system that further includes a network node and a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: at the host, receiving user data transmitted to the host via the network node by the UE, wherein the UE performs any of the steps of any of the Group A embodiments to transmit the user data to the host.Embodiment 47. The method of the previous embodiment, further comprising: at the host, executing a host application associated with a client application executing on the UE to receive the user data from the UE.Embodiment 48. The method of the previous 2 embodiments, further comprising: at the host, transmitting input data to the client application executing on the UE, the input data being provided by executing the host application, wherein the user data is provided by the client application in response to the input data from the host application.

[0158] Those skilled in the art will recognize improvements and modifications to the embodiments of the present disclosure. All such improvements and modifications are considered within the scope of the concepts disclosed herein.

Claims

CLAIMSClaim 1. A method performed by a User Equipment, UE, the method comprising any one or more of the following: a. receiving (Step 1, 110) from the network (NW) a configuration of a plurality of DL RSs (or beams) for beam measurements and predictive beam reporting. b. determining (Step 2, 120) at least one candidate target beam among the plurality of DL RSs (or beams) based on measurements on the plurality of DL RSs (or beams). c. sending (Step 3, 130) a message to the NW about the at least one candidate beam (and, its related measurement values) when one or more events occur. d. receiving (Step 4, 140) a beam switch indication from the NW to switch to one of the candidate beams.Claim 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of DL RSs (or beams) comprises at least a current serving beam.Claim 3. The method of any of the previous claims, wherein the plurality of DL RSs (or beams) are transmitted periodically or semi-persistently, and, optionally, a report is sent periodically or semi-persistently after an event is triggered a first time.Claim 4. The method of any of the previous claims, wherein the beam measurements comprises Ll-RSRP and / or Ll-SINR measurement.Claim 5. The method of any of the previous claims, wherein the configuration further comprises a reporting type indicating a UE initiated beam reporting of candidate beams for beam switching.Claim 6. The method of any of the previous claims, wherein the configuration further indicates the number or the maximum number of candidate beams to be reported.Claim 7. The method of any of the previous claims, wherein a UE initiated reporting configuration indicates the evaluation time period, for comparison between the current serving and the candidate beams.Claim 8. The method of any of the previous claims, wherein a reporting type indicating the UE initiated beam reporting includes information about at least an event and one or more thresholds associated to the event (e.g., the Ll-RSRP, Ll-SINR thresholds).Claim 9. The method of any of the previous claims, wherein a candidate beam at a given time is a beam with increasing Ll-RSRP and / or Ll-SINR values over a most recent evaluation time period prior to the given time, wherein, optionally, an evaluation time period comprises at least two consecutive Ll-RSRP or Ll-SINR measurements, wherein, optionally, the most recent evaluation time period comprises the most recent Ll-RSRP or Ll-SINR measurement prior to the given time.Claim 10. The method of any of the previous claims, wherein the event can be a combination of one or more of the following sub-events:Event Al : The Ll-RSRP value of the current serving beam is decreasing and the most recent Ll-RSRP of a candidate beam is greater than the most recent Ll-RSRP of the current serving beam minus a XdB offset;Event A2: The Ll-RSRP value of the current serving beam is decreasing over last N1 measurement occasions and, optionally, where N1 can be configured by network or determined by UE based on UE implementation;Event B: The Ll-SINR value of the current serving beam is decreasing and the most recent Ll-SINR of a candidate beam is greater than the most recent respective Ll-SINR of the current serving beam minus a Y dB offset; andEvent C: The most recent Ll-RSRP or Ll-SINR of the current serving beam is below a threshold, wherein the threshold can be configured by the NW, wherein, optionally, the offset (i.e., XdB, Y dB, Z dB) can be predefined or configured by the NW as part of the configuration in Step 1.Claim 11. The method of any of the previous claims, further comprising: a. performing a time-domain filtering on the beam measurements such as Ll- RSRP / L1-SINR before the event evaluation, so that, optionally, the filtered measurement value of a beam (e.g. current beam and possible candidate beam) is used as input to the event evaluation, and, wherein, optionally, the UE considers a filter parameter ‘a’ so that a filtered value at time instance (n) is defined as follows: b. F(n) = (l-a)*F(n-l) + a*M(n), wherein M(n) is the latest beam measurement results at Layer 1; F(n) is the updated filtered beam measurement result, to be used forevaluation of the event; F(n-l) is the old filtered beam measurement result (F(0) is initialized with M(l)); 'a' is a filter related parameter (e.g. configured by the network, or derived based on a filter coefficient configured by the network), wherein, optionally, the parameter 'a' or a parameter used to derive 'a' is configured per serving cell and / or per frequency and / or per UE, per frequency range.Claim 12. The method of any of the previous claims, for some of the events, the time difference between the most recent measurement occasion of the serving beam and the most recent measurement occasion of the candidate beam is smaller than and / or equal to a preconfigured or predefined required time difference value in Step 1.Claim 13. The method of any of the previous claims, wherein, optionally, the message can contain one or more of• information about an identifier of a best candidate beam. The best candidate beam can be, e.g., the candidate beam having the largest L1-RSRP / L1-SINR value among all the candidate beams in the most recently measurement period.• identifiers of multiple candidate beams and their most recent L1-RSRP / L1-SINR values.• Identifier(s) of the event(s) occurred if multiple events are configured.• The most recent L 1 -RSRP / L 1 -SINR values of the current serving beam wherein, optionally, the message can be carried in UL control information (UCI) in a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) or in a Medium Access Control, MAC, control Element, CE, or, the message can contain just an indication or a flag indicating the occurrence of the one or more events, wherein optionally, the NW may request the UE to provide further information such as a beam report comprising one or more of an identifier of the event(s) occurred, an identifier of the best candidate beam and its L 1 -RSRP / L 1- SINR, identifiers of multiple candidate beams and their most recent L 1 -RSRP / L 1- SINR values, and most recent L 1 -RSRP / L 1- SINR of the current serving beamClaim 14. The method of any of previous claims, further comprising one or more of the following:• once a message is sent to the NW, starting a timer;• while the timer is running, refraining from sending another message to the NW;• once the timer expires, sending another message to the NW if the condition of one or more events is fulfilled;• upon determining that the Ll-RSRP value of the current serving beam is decreasing and the most recent Ll-RSRP of a candidate beam is greater than the most recent Ll-RSRP of the current serving beam minus a XdB offset, sending a message and start the timer;• while the timer is running, refraining from sending another report, even if the condition is fulfilled;• once the timer expires, sending another message to the NW, if the condition is still fulfilled; and / or• configuring a timer value in the reporting configuration (e.g. in CSI- ReportConfig).Claim 15. The method of any of previous claims, wherein the beam switch indication comprises a beam activation command to activate one or more of the candidate beams and / or a beam indication in DCI (Downlink Control Information) indicating a new beam for data transmission and / or reception.Claim 16. The method of any of previous claims, further comprising receiving an acknowledgement from the NW on whether the UE initiated beam report has been received, and, optionally, if the beam report has been received, refraining from sending another indication for the same event / events.Claim 17. The method of any of previous claims, wherein an event is based (at least partly) on if the beam measurements (e.g., L1-RSRP / L1-SINR associated with a UE initiated beam report) have changed since the last transmitted UE initiated beam report.Claim 18. The method of any of previous claims, wherein further comprising determining if an event for a UE initiated beam report has occurred based on one or more of the following criteria:• A new best beam has been detected since the last transmitted UE initiated beam report.• The performance of the serving beam has changed (increase and / or decreased) more than a certain threshold since the last transmitted UE initiated beam report.The same beam as included as best beam in the last UE initiated beam report is still the best beam, but the performance for this beam has changed (increase and / or decreased) with more than a threshold.The difference in performance between the serving beam and the best beam reported in the last UE initiated beam report has changed (increase and / or decreased) more than a threshold.Claim 19. The method of any of the previous claims, further comprising: a. providing user data; and b. forwarding the user data to a host via the transmission to the network node.Claim 20. A method performed by a network node, the method comprising one or more of the following: a. transmitting to a UE a configuration of a plurality of DL RSs (or beams) for beam measurements and UE initiated beam reporting. (Step A, 410); b. receiving information about at least one candidate target beam and its related measurements when one or more events have occurred. (Step B, 420); c. receiving information about at least one candidate target beam and its related measurements when one or more events have occurred. (Step C, 430).Claim 21. The method of any of the previous claims, further comprising: a. obtaining user data; and b. forwarding the user data to a host or a user equipment.Claim 22. A user equipment comprising: processing circuitry configured to perform any of the steps of any of claims 1-20; and power supply circuitry configured to supply power to the processing circuitry.Claim 23. A network node comprising: processing circuitry configured to perform any of the steps of any of claims 21-22; and power supply circuitry configured to supply power to the processing circuitry.Claim 24. A user equipment (UE) comprising:• an antenna configured to send and receive wireless signals;• radio front-end circuitry connected to the antenna and to processing circuitry, and configured to condition signals communicated between the antenna and the processing circuitry;• the processing circuitry being configured to perform any of the steps of any of claims 1-20;• n input interface connected to the processing circuitry and configured to allow input of information into the UE to be processed by the processing circuitry;• an output interface connected to the processing circuitry and configured to output information from the UE that has been processed by the processing circuitry; anda battery connected to the processing circuitry and configured to supply power to the UE.Claim 25. A host configured to operate in a communication system to provide an over- the-top (OTT) service, the host comprising: processing circuitry configured to provide user data; and a network interface configured to initiate transmission of the user data to a network node in a cellular network for transmission to a user equipment (UE), the network node having a communication interface and processing circuitry, the processing circuitry of the network node configured to perform any of the operations of any of claims 21- 22 to transmit the user data from the host to the UE.Claim 26. The host of the previous claim, wherein: the processing circuitry of the host is configured to execute a host application that provides the user data; and the UE comprises processing circuitry configured to execute a client application associated with the host application to receive the transmission of user data from the host.Claim 27. A method implemented in a host configured to operate in a communication system that further includes a network node and a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: providing user data for the UE; and initiating a transmission carrying the user data to the UE via a cellular network comprising the network node, wherein the network node performs any of the operations of any of claims 21-22 to transmit the user data from the host to the UE.Claim 28. The method of the previous claim, further comprising, at the network node, transmitting the user data provided by the host for the UE.Claim 29. The method of any of the previous 2 claims, wherein the user data is provided at the host by executing a host application that interacts with a client application executing on the UE, the client application being associated with the host application.Claim 30. A communication system configured to provide an over-the-top (OTT) service, the communication system comprising: a host comprising: processing circuitry configured to provide user data for a user equipment (UE), the user data being associated with the over-the-top service; and a network interface configured to initiate transmission of the user data toward a cellular network node for transmission to the UE, the network node having a communicationinterface and processing circuitry, the processing circuitry of the network node configured to perform any of the operations of any of claims 21-22 to transmit the user data from the host to the UE.Claim 31. The communication system of the previous claim, further comprising: the network node; and / or the UE.Claim 32. A host configured to operate in a communication system to provide an over- the-top (OTT) service, the host comprising: processing circuitry configured to initiate receipt of user data; and a network interface configured to receive the user data from a network node in a cellular network, the network node having a communication interface and processing circuitry, the processing circuitry of the network node configured to perform any of the operations of any of claims 21-22 to receive the user data from a user equipment (UE) for the host.Claim 33. The host of the previous 2 claims, wherein: the processing circuitry of the host is configured to execute a host application that receives the user data; and the host application is configured to interact with a client application executing on the UE, the client application being associated with the host application.Claim 34. The host of the any of the previous 2 claims, wherein the initiating receipt of the user data comprises requesting the user data.Claim 35. A method implemented by a host configured to operate in a communication system that further includes a network node and a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: at the host, initiating receipt of user data from the UE, the user data originating from a transmission which the network node has received from the UE, wherein the network node performs any of the steps of any of claims 21-22 to receive the user data from the UE for the host.Claim 36. The method of the previous claim, further comprising at the network node, transmitting the received user data to the host.Claim 37. A host configured to operate in a communication system to provide an over- the-top (OTT) service, the host comprising: processing circuitry configured to provide user data; and a network interface configured to initiate transmission of the user data to a cellular network for transmission to a user equipment (UE), wherein the UE comprises acommunication interface and processing circuitry, the communication interface and processing circuitry of the UE being configured to perform any of the operations of any of claims 1-20 to receive the user data from the host.Claim 38. The host of the previous claim, wherein the cellular network further includes a network node configured to communicate with the UE to transmit the user data to the UE from the host.Claim 39. The host of the previous 2 claims, wherein: the processing circuitry of the host is configured to execute a host application, thereby providing the user data; and the host application is configured to interact with a client application executing on the UE, the client application being associated with the host application.Claim 40. A method implemented by a host operating in a communication system that further includes a network node and a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: providing user data for the UE; and initiating a transmission carrying the user data to the UE via a cellular network comprising the network node, wherein the UE performs any of the operations of any of claims 1-20 to receive the user data from the host.Claim 41. The method of the previous claim, further comprising: at the host, executing a host application associated with a client application executing on the UE to receive the user data from the host application.Claim 42. The method of the previous claim, further comprising: at the host, transmitting input data to the client application executing on the UE, the input data being provided by executing the host application, wherein the user data is provided by the client application in response to the input data from the host application.Claim 43. A host configured to operate in a communication system to provide an over- the-top (OTT) service, the host comprising: processing circuitry configured to provide user data; and a network interface configured to initiate transmission of the user data to a cellular network for transmission to a user equipment (UE), wherein the UE comprises a communication interface and processing circuitry, the communication interface and processing circuitry of the UE being configured to perform any of the steps of any of claims 1-20 to transmit the user data to the host.Claim 44. The host of the previous claim, wherein the cellular network further includes a network node configured to communicate with the UE to transmit the user data from the UE to the host.Claim 45. The host of the previous 2 claims, wherein: the processing circuitry of the host is configured to execute a host application, thereby providing the user data; and the host application is configured to interact with a client application executing on the UE, the client application being associated with the host application.Claim 46. A method implemented by a host configured to operate in a communication system that further includes a network node and a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: at the host, receiving user data transmitted to the host via the network node by the UE, wherein the UE performs any of the steps of any of claims 1-20 to transmit the user data to the host.Claim 47. The method of the previous claim, further comprising: at the host, executing a host application associated with a client application executing on the UE to receive the user data from the UE.Claim 48. The method of the previous 2 claims, further comprising: at the host, transmitting input data to the client application executing on the UE, the input data being provided by executing the host application, wherein the user data is provided by the client application in response to the input data from the host application.

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