Methods and apparatuses for on demand system information configuration and acquisition

Abstract

Methods and apparatuses for on demand system information (SI) (e.g., secondary information block or SIB) configuration and acquisition in wireless communications are provided. A wireless transmit / receive unit (WTRU) determines that a cell is in a network energy saving (NES) state. The WTRU receives a wake-up signal (WUS) configuration from a non-NES cell. The WTRU determines whether one or more trigger conditions are satisfied. The WTRU transmits a request for an on-demand system information block 1 (OD-SIB1) based on the WUS configuration when the one or more trigger conditions are satisfied. Thereafter, the WTRU receives the OD-SIB1 in response to transmitting the request for the OD- SIB1.

Description

METHODS AND APPARATUSES FOR ON DEMAND SYSTEM INFORMATION CONFIGURATION AND ACQUISITIONCROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 63 / 572,865, filed April 1 , 2024 the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.BACKGROUND

[0002] Current standards (e.g., fifth generation (5G) new radio (NR)) allow various devices to operate without synchronization signal block (SSB) / SIB1 for intra-band carrier aggregation. In this setup, a device may gather system information and achieve synchronization through another cell within the same band that does transmit SSB and SIB1. These standards also permit setting the SSB periodicity up to 160 milliseconds. In a context of non-carrier aggregation and in IDLE / INACTIVE states, SIB 1 -less operation facilitates that a device has the flexibility to collect system information and achieve synchronization by using signals from other associated cells. This allows a network to apply longer durations of cell dormancy to help save network energy. This means the transmission of SSB / SIB1 in a primary cell may be initiated as needed, for instance, by a request from the device. Therefore, there is a need for network energy savings to enable such SIB1 -less operation, and to allow the devices to request on demand SIB1 when needed.SUMMARY

[0003] This disclosure relates to communication networks, wireless and / or wired. For example, one or more embodiments disclosed herein are related to methods and apparatus for on demand system information (SI) (e.g., secondary information block (SIB)) configuration and acquisition in wireless communications.

[0004] In one or more embodiments, a method for use in a wireless transmit / receive unit (WTRU) is provided. The method comprises determining that a first cell is in a network energy saving (NES) state. The method comprises receiving, from the first cell or a second cell, a wakeup signal (WUS) configuration associated with the first cell. The method comprises determining whether the WUS configuration is valid. The method comprises, on a condition that the WUS configuration is valid, transmitting, to the first cell, a request for an on-demand system information block 1 (OD-SIB1) based on the WUS configuration. The method comprises receiving, from the first cell, the OD-SIB1 in response to the request for the OD-SIB1. The method comprises, on a condition that the WUS configuration is not valid, performing cell reselection.

[0005] In an embodiment, the first cell does not transmit a SIB1 periodically in the NES state.

[0006] In an embodiment, the first cell transmits a SIB1 with a reduced periodicity in the NES state.

[0007] In an embodiment, determining whether the WUS configuration is valid comprises one or more of: determining whether the second cell is included in a list of cells indicated in the WUS configuration; or determining whether the WUS configuration has expired.

[0008] In an embodiment, receiving the OD-SIB1 comprises: monitoring a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) for a message indicative of one or more resources carrying the OD-SIB1 ; and receiving the OD-SIB1 based on the one or more resources.

[0009] In an embodiment, the transmitting a request for an OD-SIB1 is further based on one or more trigger conditions being satisfied.

[0010] In an embodiment, the one or more trigger conditions include: detecting one or more reference signals; performing one or more channel measurements; or receiving a request from a higher layer.

[0011] In an embodiment, the request for the OD-SIB1 is transmitted using a random access channel (RACH) procedure.

[0012] In an embodiment, the RACH procedure is performed using one or more RACH resources associated with the WUS configuration.

[0013] In an embodiment, the message is received after a time gap following completion of the RACH procedure.

[0014] In an embodiment, the method further comprises transmitting a feedback in response to receiving the OD-SIB1.

[0015] In an embodiment, the WUS configuration is received using radio resource control (RRC) signaling.

[0016] In one or more embodiments, a WTRU is comprises. The WTRU includes a transceiver and a processor. The transceiver and the processor are configured to determine that a first cell is in a NES state. The transceiver and the processor are configured to receive, from the first cell or a second cell, a WUS configuration associated with the first cell. The transceiver and the processor are configured to determine whether the WUS configuration is valid. The transceiver and the processor are configured to, on a condition that the WUS configuration is valid, transmit, to the first cell, a request for an OD-SIB1 based on the WUS configuration, and receive, from the first cell, the OD-SIB1 in response to the request for the OD-SIB1. The transceiver and the processor are configured to, on a condition that the WUS configuration is not valid, perform cell reselection.

[0017] In an embodiment, the first cell does not transmit a SIB1 periodically in the NES state.

[0018] In an embodiment, the first cell transmits a SIB1 with a reduced periodicity in the NES state.

[0019] In an embodiment, determining whether the WUS configuration is valid comprises one or more of: determining whether the second cell is included in a list of cells indicated in the WUS configuration; or determining whether the WUS configuration has expired.

[0020] In an embodiment, receiving the OD-SIB1 comprises: monitoring a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) for a message indicative of one or more resources carrying the OD-SIB1 ; and receiving the OD-SIB1 based on the one or more resources.

[0021] In an embodiment, the transmitting a request for an OD-SIB1 is further based on one or more trigger conditions being satisfied.

[0022] In an embodiment, the one or more trigger conditions include: detecting one or more reference signals; performing one or more channel measurements; or receiving a request from a higher layer.

[0023] In an embodiment, the transceiver and the processor are further configured to: transmit the request for the OD-SIB1 using a RACH procedure. The transceiver and the processor are configured to perform the RACH procedure using one or more RACH resources associated with the WUS configuration. The transceiver and the processor are configured to receive the message after a time gap following completion of the RACH procedure.BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0024] A more detailed understanding may be had from the detailed description below, given by way of example in conjunction with drawings appended hereto. Figures in such drawings, like the detailed description, are examples. As such, the Figures (FIGs.) and the detailed description are not to be considered limiting, and other equally effective examples are possible and likely. Furthermore, like reference numerals (''ref.1') in the FIGs. indicate like elements, and wherein:

[0025] FIG. 1A is a system diagram illustrating an example communications system in which one or more disclosed embodiments may be implemented;

[0026] FIG. 1 B is a system diagram illustrating an example wireless transmit / receive unit (WTRU) that may be used within the communications system illustrated in FIG. 1A according to an embodiment;

[0027] FIG. 1C is a system diagram illustrating an example radio access network (RAN) and an example core network (CN) that may be used within the communications system illustrated in FIG. 1A according to an embodiment; and

[0028] FIG. 1 D is a system diagram illustrating a further example RAN and a further example CN that may be used within the communications system illustrated in FIG. 1A according to an embodiment.DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0029] As discussed herein, one or more abbreviations in the following (non-exhaustive) list, shown in Table 1, may be used herein.Table 1

[0030] In the following detailed description, numerous specific details are set forth to provide a thorough understanding of embodiments and / or examples disclosed herein. However, it will be understood that such embodiments and examples may be practiced without some or all of the specific details set forth herein. In other instances, well-known methods, procedures, components and circuits have not been described in detail, so as not to obscure the following description. Further, embodiments and examples not specifically described herein may be practiced in lieu of, or in combination with, the embodiments and other examples described,disclosed or otherwise provided explicitly, implicitly and / or inherently (collectively ''provided1') herein. Although various embodiments are described and / or claimed herein in which an apparatus, system, device, etc. and / or any element thereof carries out an operation, process, algorithm, function, etc. and / or any portion thereof, it is to be understood that any embodiments described and / or claimed herein assume that any apparatus, system, device, etc. and / or any element thereof is configured to carry out any operation, process, algorithm, function, etc. and / or any portion thereof.

[0031] The methods, apparatuses and systems provided herein are well-suited for communications involving both wired and wireless networks. An overview of various types of wireless devices and infrastructure is provided with respect to FIGs. 1A-1 D, where various elements of the network may utilize, perform, be arranged in accordance with and / or be adapted and / or configured for the methods, apparatuses and systems provided herein.

[0032] FIG. 1A is a system diagram illustrating an example communications system 100 in which one or more disclosed embodiments may be implemented. The communications system 100 may be a multiple access system that provides content, such as voice, data, video, messaging, broadcast, etc., to multiple wireless users. The communications system 100 may enable multiple wireless users to access such content through the sharing of system resources, including wireless bandwidth. For example, the communications systems 100 may employ one or more channel access methods, such as code division multiple access (CDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA), orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA), singlecarrier FDMA (SC-FDMA), zero-tail (ZT) unique-word (UW) discreet Fourier transform (DFT) spread OFDM (ZT UW DTS-s OFDM), unique word OFDM (UW-OFDM), resource block-filtered OFDM, filter bank multicarrier (FBMC), and the like.

[0033] As shown in FIG. 1A, the communications system 100 may include wireless transmit / receive units (WTRUs) 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d, a radio access network (RAN) 104 / 113, a core network (ON) 106 / 115, a public switched telephone network (PSTN) 108, the Internet 110, and other networks 112, though it will be appreciated that the disclosed embodiments contemplate any number of WTRUs, base stations, networks, and / or network elements. Each of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d may be any type of device configured to operate and / or communicate in a wireless environment. By way of example, the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d, any of which may be referred to as a ''station1' and / or a "STA", may be configured to transmit and / or receive wireless signals and may include (or be) a user equipment (UE), a mobile station, a fixed or mobile subscriber unit, a subscription-based unit, a pager, a cellular telephone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a smartphone, a laptop, a netbook, a personal computer, a wireless sensor, a hotspot or Mi-Fi device, an Internet of Things (loT) device, a watch or other wearable, a head-mounted display (HMD), a vehicle, a drone, a medical device and applications (e.g., remote surgery), an industrial device and applications (e.g., a robot and / or other wireless devices operating in an industrial and / or an automated processing chain contexts), a consumer electronics device, a device operating on commercial and / or industrial wireless networks, and the like. Any of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c and 102d may be interchangeably referred to as a UE.

[0034] The communications systems 100 may also include a base station 114a and / ora base station 114b. Each of the base stations 114a, 114b may be any type of device configured to wirelessly interface with at least one of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d, e.g., to facilitate access to one or more communication networks, such as the CN 106 / 115, the Internet 110, and / or the networks 112. By way of example, the base stations 114a, 114b may be any of a base transceiver station (BTS), a Node-B (NB), an eNode-B (eNB), a Home Node- B (HNB), a Home eNode-B (HeNB), a gNode-B (gNB), a NR Node-B (NR NB), a site controller, an access point (AP), a wireless router, and the like. While the base stations 114a, 114b are each depicted as a single element, it will be appreciated that the base stations 114a, 114b may include any number of interconnected base stations and / or network elements.

[0035] The base station 114a may be part of the RAN 104 / 113, which may also include other base stations and / or network elements (not shown), such as a base station controller (BSC), a radio network controller (RNC), relay nodes, etc. The base station 114a and / or the base station 114b may be configured to transmit and / or receive wireless signals on one or more carrier frequencies, which may be referred to as a cell (not shown). These frequencies may be in licensed spectrum, unlicensed spectrum, or a combination of licensed and unlicensed spectrum. A cell may provide coverage for a wireless service to a specific geographical area that may be relatively fixed or that may change over time. The cell may further be divided into cell sectors. For example, the cell associated with the base station 114a may be divided into three sectors. Thus, in an embodiment, the base station 114a may include three transceivers, i.e., one for each sector of the cell. In an embodiment, the base station 114a may employ multiple-input multiple output (MIMO) technology and may utilize multiple transceivers for each or any sector of the cell. For example, beamforming may be used to transmit and / or receive signals in desired spatial directions.

[0036] The base stations 114a, 114b may communicate with one or more of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d over an air interface 116, which may be any suitable wireless communication link (e.g., radio frequency (RF), microwave, centimeter wave, micrometer wave, infrared (IR), ultraviolet (UV), visible light, etc.). The air interface 116 may be established using any suitable radio access technology (RAT).

[0037] More specifically, as noted above, the communications system 100 may be a multiple access system and may employ one or more channel access schemes, such as CDMA, TDMA, FDMA, OFDMA, SC-FDMA, and the like. For example, the base station 114a in the RAN 104 / 113 and the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may implement a radio technology such as Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA), which may establish the air interface 116 using wideband CDMA (WCDMA). WCDMA may include communication protocols such as High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA) and / or Evolved HSPA (HSPA+). HSPA may include High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) and / or High-Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA).

[0038] In an embodiment, the base station 114a and the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may implement a radio technology such as Evolved UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA), which may establish the air interface 116 using Long Term Evolution (LTE) and / or LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) and / or LTE-Advanced Pro (LTE-A Pro).

[0039] In an embodiment, the base station 114a and the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may implement a radio technology such as NR Radio Access, which may establish the air interface 116 using New Radio (NR).

[0040] In an embodiment, the base station 114a and the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may implement multiple radio access technologies. For example, the base station 114a and the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may implement LTE radio access and NR radio access together, for instance using dual connectivity (DC) principles. Thus, the air interface utilized by WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may be characterized by multiple types of radio access technologies and / or transmissions sent to / from multiple types of base stations (e.g., an eNB and a gNB).

[0041] In an embodiment, the base station 114a and the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may implement radio technologies such as IEEE 802.11 (i.e., Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi), IEEE 802.16 (i.e., Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX)), CDMA2000, CDMA2000 1 X, CDMA2000 EV-DO, Interim Standard 2000 (IS- 2000), Interim Standard 95 (IS-95), Interim Standard 856 (IS-856), Global System for Mobile communications (GSM), Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE), GSM EDGE (GERAN), and the like.

[0042] The base station 114b in FIG. 1A may be a wireless router, Home Node-B, Home eNode-B, or access point, for example, and may utilize any suitable RAT for facilitating wireless connectivity in a localized area, such as a place of business, a home, a vehicle, a campus, an industrial facility, an air corridor (e.g., for use by drones), a roadway, and the like. In an embodiment, the base station 114b and the WTRUs 102c, 102d may implement a radio technology such as IEEE 802.11 to establish a wireless local area network (WLAN). In an embodiment, the base station 114b and the WTRUs 102c, 102d may implement a radio technology such as IEEE 802.15 to establish a wireless personal area network (WPAN). In an embodiment, the base station 114b and the WTRUs 102c, 102d may utilize a cellular-based RAT (e.g., WCDMA, CDMA2000, GSM, LTE, LTE-A, LTE-A Pro, NR, etc.) to establish any of a small cell, picocell or femtocell. As shown in FIG. 1A, the base station 114b may have a direct connection to the Internet 110. Thus, the base station 114b may not be required to access the Internet 110 via the CN 106 / 115.

[0043] The RAN 104 / 113 may be in communication with the CN 106 / 115, which may be any type of network configured to provide voice, data, applications, and / or voice over internet protocol (VoIP) services to one or more of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d. The data may have varying quality of service (QoS) requirements, such as differing throughput requirements, latency requirements, error tolerance requirements, reliability requirements, data throughput requirements, mobility requirements, and the like. The CN 106 / 115 may provide call control, billing services, mobile location-based services, pre-paid calling, Internet connectivity, video distribution, etc., and / or perform high-level security functions, such as user authentication. Although not shown in FIG. 1A, it will be appreciated that the RAN 104 / 113 and / or the CN 106 / 115 may be in direct or indirect communication with other RANs that employ the same RAT as the RAN 104 / 113 or a different RAT. For example, in addition to being connected to the RAN 104 / 113, which may be utilizing an NR radio technology, the CN 106 / 115 may also be in communication with another RAN (not shown) employing any of a GSM, UMTS, CDMA 2000, WiMAX, E-UTRA, or Wi-Fi radio technology.

[0044] The CN 106 / 115 may also serve as a gateway for the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d to access the PSTN 108, the Internet 110, and / or other networks 112. The PSTN 108 may include circuit-switched telephone networks that provide plain old telephone service (POTS). The Internet 110 may include a global system of interconnected computer networks and devices that use common communication protocols, such as the transmission control protocol (TCP), user datagram protocol (UDP) and / or the internet protocol (IP) in the TCP / IP internet protocol suite. The networks 112 may include wired and / or wireless communications networks owned and / or operated by other service providers. For example, the networks 112 may include another CN connected to one or more RANs, which may employ the same RAT as the RAN 104 / 114 or a different RAT.

[0045] Some or all of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d in the communications system 100 may include multi-mode capabilities (e.g., the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d may include multiple transceivers for communicating with different wireless networks over different wireless links). For example, the WTRU 102c shown in FIG. 1A may be configured to communicate with the base station 114a, which may employ a cellularbased radio technology, and with the base station 114b, which may employ an IEEE 802 radio technology.

[0046] FIG. 1B is a system diagram illustrating an example WTRU 102. As shown in FIG. 1 B, the WTRU 102 may include a processor 118, a transceiver 120, a transmit / receive element 122, a speaker / microphone 124, a keypad 126, a display / touchpad 128, non-removable memory 130, removable memory 132, a power source 134, a global positioning system (GPS) chipset 136, and / or other elements / peripherals 138, among others. It will be appreciated that the WTRU 102 may include any sub-combination of the foregoing elements while remaining consistent with an embodiment.

[0047] The processor 118 may be a general purpose processor, a special purpose processor, a conventional processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in association with a DSP core, a controller, a microcontroller, Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) circuits, any other type of integrated circuit (IC), a state machine, and the like. The processor 118 may perform signal coding, data processing, power control, input / output processing, and / or any other functionality that enables the WTRU 102 to operate in a wireless environment. The processor 118 may be coupled to the transceiver 120, which may be coupled to the transmit / receive element 122. While FIG. 1B depicts the processor 118 and the transceiver 120 as separate components, it will be appreciated that the processor 118 and the transceiver 120 may be integrated together, e.g., in an electronic package or chip.

[0048] The transmit / receive element 122 may be configured to transmit signals to, or receive signals from, a base station (e.g., the base station 114a) over the air interface 116. For example, in an embodiment, the transmit / receive element 122 may be an antenna configured to transmit and / or receive RF signals. In an embodiment, the transmit / receive element 122 may be an emitter / detector configured to transmit and / or receive IR, UV, or visible light signals, for example. In an embodiment, the transmit / receive element 122 may be configured to transmit and / or receive both RF and light signals. It will be appreciated that the transmit / receive element 122 may be configured to transmit and / or receive any combination of wireless signals.

[0049] Although the transmit / receive element 122 is depicted in FIG. 1B as a single element, the WTRU 102 may include any number of transmit / receive elements 122. For example, the WTRU 102 may employ MIMO technology. Thus, in an embodiment, the WTRU 102 may include two or more transmit / receive elements 122 (e.g., multiple antennas) for transmitting and receiving wireless signals over the air interface 116.

[0050] The transceiver 120 may be configured to modulate the signals that are to be transmitted by the transmit / receive element 122 and to demodulate the signals that are received by the transmit / receive element 122. As noted above, the WTRU 102 may have multi-mode capabilities. Thus, the transceiver 120 may include multiple transceivers for enabling the WTRU 102 to communicate via multiple RATs, such as NR and IEEE 802.11 , for example.

[0051] The processor 118 of the WTRU 102 may be coupled to, and may receive user input data from, the speaker / microphone 124, the keypad 126, and / or the display / touchpad 128 (e.g., a liquid crystal display (LCD) display unit or organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display unit). The processor 118 may also output user data to the speaker / microphone 124, the keypad 126, and / or the display / touchpad 128. In addition, the processor 118 may access information from, and store data in, any type of suitable memory, such as the non-removable memory 130 and / or the removable memory 132. The non-removable memory 130 may include random-access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), a hard disk, or any other type of memory storage device. The removable memory 132 may include a subscriber identity module (SIM) card, a memory stick, a secure digital (SD) memory card, and the like. In other embodiments, the processor 118 may access information from, and store data in, memory that is not physically located on the WTRU 102, such as on a server or a home computer (not shown).

[0052] The processor 118 may receive power from the power source 134, and may be configured to distribute and / or control the power to the other components in the WTRU 102. The power source 134 may be any suitable device for powering the WTRU 102. For example, the power source 134 may include one or more dry cell batteries (e.g., nickel-cadmium (NiCd), nickel-zinc (NiZn), nickel metal hydride (NiMH), lithium-ion (Li- ion), etc.), solar cells, fuel cells, and the like.

[0053] The processor 118 may also be coupled to the GPS chipset 136, which may be configured to provide location information (e.g., longitude and latitude) regarding the current location of the WTRU 102. In addition to, or in lieu of, the information from the GPS chipset 136, the WTRU 102 may receive location information over the air interface 116 from a base station (e.g., base stations 114a, 114b) and / or determine its location based on the timing of the signals being received from two or more nearby base stations. It will be appreciated that the WTRU 102 may acquire location information by way of any suitable location-determination method while remaining consistent with an embodiment.

[0054] The processor 118 may further be coupled to other elements / peripherals 138, which may include one or more software and / or hardware modules / units that provide additional features, functionality and / or wired or wireless connectivity. For example, the elements / peripherals 138 may include an accelerometer, an e- compass, a satellite transceiver, a digital camera (e.g., for photographs and / or video), a universal serial bus(USB) port, a vibration device, a television transceiver, a hands free headset, a Bluetooth® module, a frequency modulated (FM) radio unit, a digital music player, a media player, a video game player module, an Internet browser, a virtual reality and / or augmented reality (VR / AR) device, an activity tracker, and the like. The elements / peripherals 138 may include one or more sensors, the sensors may be one or more of a gyroscope, an accelerometer, a hall effect sensor, a magnetometer, an orientation sensor, a proximity sensor, a temperature sensor, a time sensor; a geolocation sensor; an altimeter, a light sensor, a touch sensor, a magnetometer, a barometer, a gesture sensor, a biometric sensor, and / or a humidity sensor.

[0055] The WTRU 102 may include a full duplex radio for which transmission and reception of some or all of the signals (e.g., associated with particular subframes for both the uplink (e.g., for transmission) and downlink (e.g., for reception) may be concurrent and / or simultaneous. The full duplex radio may include an interference management unit to reduce and or substantially eliminate self-interference via either hardware (e.g., a choke) or signal processing via a processor (e.g., a separate processor (not shown) or via processor 118). In an embodiment, the WTRU 102 may include a half-duplex radio for which transmission and reception of some or all of the signals (e.g., associated with particular subframes for either the uplink (e.g., for transmission) or the downlink (e.g., for reception)).

[0056] FIG. 1C is a system diagram illustrating the RAN 104 and the CN 106 according to an embodiment. As noted above, the RAN 104 may employ an E-UTRA radio technology to communicate with the WTRUs 102a, 102b, and 102c over the air interface 116. The RAN 104 may also be in communication with the CN 106.

[0057] The RAN 104 may include eNode-Bs 160a, 160b, 160c, though it will be appreciated that the RAN 104 may include any number of eNode-Bs while remaining consistent with an embodiment. The eNode-Bs 160a, 160b, 160c may each include one or more transceivers for communicating with the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c over the air interface 116. In an embodiment, the eNode-Bs 160a, 160b, 160c may implement MIMO technology. Thus, the eNode-B 160a, for example, may use multiple antennas to transmit wireless signals to, and receive wireless signals from, the WTRU 102a.

[0058] Each of the eNode-Bs 160a, 160b, and 160c may be associated with a particular cell (not shown) and may be configured to handle radio resource management decisions, handover decisions, scheduling of users in the uplink (UL) and / or downlink (DL), and the like. As shown in FIG. 10, the eNode-Bs 160a, 160b, 160c may communicate with one another over an X2 interface.

[0059] The CN 106 shown in FIG. 1C may include a mobility management entity (MME) 162, a serving gateway (SGW) 164, and a packet data network (PDN) gateway (PGW) 166. While each of the foregoing elements are depicted as part of the CN 106, it will be appreciated that any one of these elements may be owned and / or operated by an entity other than the CN operator.

[0060] The MME 162 may be connected to each of the eNode-Bs 160a, 160b, and 160c in the RAN 104 via an S1 interface and may serve as a control node. For example, the MME 162 may be responsible for authenticating users of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, bearer activation / deactivation, selecting a particular serving gateway during an initial attach of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, and the like. The MME 162 mayprovide a control plane function for switching between the RAN 104 and other RANs (not shown) that employ other radio technologies, such as GSM and / or WCDMA.

[0061] The SGW 164 may be connected to each of the eNode-Bs 160a, 160b, 160c in the RAN 104 via the S1 interface. The SGW 164 may generally route and forward user data packets to / from the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c. The SGW 164 may perform other functions, such as anchoring user planes during inter-eNode-B handovers, triggering paging when DL data is available for the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, managing and storing contexts of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, and the like.

[0062] The SGW 164 may be connected to the PGW 166, which may provide the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c with access to packet-switched networks, such as the Internet 110, to facilitate communications between the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c and IP-enabled devices.

[0063] The CN 106 may facilitate communications with other networks. For example, the CN 106 may provide the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c with access to circuit-switched networks, such as the PSTN 108, to facilitate communications between the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c and traditional land-line communications devices. For example, the CN 106 may include, or may communicate with, an IP gateway (e.g., an IP multimedia subsystem (IMS) server) that serves as an interface between the CN 106 and the PSTN 108. In addition, the CN 106 may provide the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c with access to the other networks 112, which may include other wired and / or wireless networks that are owned and / or operated by other service providers.

[0064] Although the WTRU is described in FIGs. 1A-1 D as a wireless terminal, it is contemplated that in certain representative embodiments that such a terminal may use (e.g., temporarily or permanently) wired communication interfaces with the communication network.

[0065] In representative embodiments, the other network 112 may be a WLAN.

[0066] A WLAN in infrastructure basic service set (BSS) mode may have an access point (AP) for the BSS and one or more stations (STAs) associated with the AP. The AP may have an access or an interface to a distribution system (DS) or another type of wired / wireless network that carries traffic into and / or out of the BSS. Traffic to STAs that originates from outside the BSS may arrive through the AP and may be delivered to the STAs. Traffic originating from STAs to destinations outside the BSS may be sent to the AP to be delivered to respective destinations. T raffic between STAs within the BSS may be sent through the AP, for example, where the source STA may send traffic to the AP and the AP may deliver the traffic to the destination STA. The traffic between STAs within a BSS may be considered and / or referred to as peer-to-peer traffic. The peer-to-peer traffic may be sent between (e.g., directly between) the source and destination STAs with a direct link setup (DLS). In certain representative embodiments, the DLS may use an 802.11e DLS or an 802.11z tunneled DLS (TDLS). A WLAN using an Independent BSS (IBSS) mode may not have an AP, and the STAs (e.g., all of the STAs) within or using the IBSS may communicate directly with each other. The IBSS mode of communication may sometimes be referred to herein as an ''ad-hoc1' mode of communication.

[0067] When using the 802.11ac infrastructure mode of operation or a similar mode of operations, the AP may transmit a beacon on a fixed channel, such as a primary channel. The primary channel may be a fixedwidth (e.g., 20 MHz wide bandwidth) or a dynamically set width via signaling. The primary channel may be the operating channel of the BSS and may be used by the STAs to establish a connection with the AP. In certain representative embodiments, Carrier sense multiple access with collision avoidance (CSMA / CA) may be implemented, for example in in 802.11 systems. For CSMA / CA, the STAs (e.g., every STA), including the AP, may sense the primary channel. If the primary channel is sensed / detected and / or determined to be busy by a particular STA, the particular STA may back off. One STA (e.g., only one station) may transmit at any given time in a given BSS.

[0068] High throughput (HT) STAs may use a 40 MHz wide channel for communication, for example, via a combination of the primary 20 MHz channel with an adjacent or nonadjacent 20 MHz channel toform a 40 MHz wide channel.

[0069] Very high throughput (VHT) STAs may support 20 MHz, 40 MHz, 80 MHz, and / or 160 MHz wide channels. The 40 MHz, and / or 80 MHz, channels may be formed by combining contiguous 20 MHz channels. A 160 MHz channel may be formed by combining 8 contiguous 20 MHz channels, or by combining two noncontiguous 80 MHz channels, which may be referred to as an 80+80 configuration. For the 80+80 configuration, the data, after channel encoding, may be passed through a segment parser that may divide the data into two streams. Inverse fast fourier transform (IFFT) processing, and time domain processing, may be done on each stream separately. The streams may be mapped on to the two 80 MHz channels, and the data may be transmitted by a transmitting STA. At the receiver of the receiving STA, the above-described operation for the 80+80 configuration may be reversed, and the combined data may be sent to a medium access control (MAC) layer, entity, etc.

[0070] Sub 1 GHz modes of operation are supported by 802.11af and 802.11ah. The channel operating bandwidths, and carriers, are reduced in 802.11af and 802.11ah relative to those used in 802.11n, and 802.11ac. 802.11 af supports 5 MHz, 10 MHz and 20 MHz bandwidths in the TV white space (TVWS) spectrum, and 802.11ah supports 1 MHz, 2 MHz, 4 MHz, 8 MHz, and 16 MHz bandwidths using non-TVWS spectrum. According to a representative embodiment, 802.11ah may support meter type control / machine-type communications (MTC), such as MTC devices in a macro coverage area. MTC devices may have certain capabilities, for example, limited capabilities including support for (e.g., only support for) certain and / or limited bandwidths. The MTC devices may include a battery with a battery life above a threshold (e.g., to maintain a very long battery life).

[0071] WLAN systems, which may support multiple channels, and channel bandwidths, such as 802.11 n, 802.11ac, 802.11af, and 802.11ah, include a channel which may be designated as the primary channel. The primary channel may have a bandwidth equal to the largest common operating bandwidth supported by all STAs in the BSS. The bandwidth of the primary channel may be set and / or limited by a STA, from among all STAs in operating in a BSS, which supports the smallest bandwidth operating mode. In the example of 802.11ah, the primary channel may be 1 MHz wide for STAs (e.g., MTC type devices) that support (e.g., only support) a 1 MHz mode, even if the AP, and other STAs in the BSS support 2 MHz, 4 MHz, 8 MHz, 16 MHz,and / or other channel bandwidth operating modes. Carrier sensing and / or network allocation vector (NAV) settings may depend on the status of the primary channel. If the primary channel is busy, for example, due to a STA (which supports only a 1 MHz operating mode), transmitting to the AP, the entire available frequency bands may be considered busy even though a majority of the frequency bands remains idle and may be available.

[0072] In the United States, the available frequency bands, which may be used by 802.11ah, are from 902 MHz to 928 MHz. In Korea, the available frequency bands are from 917.5 MHz to 923.5 MHz. In Japan, the available frequency bands are from 916.5 MHz to 927.5 MHz. The total bandwidth available for 802.11ah is 6 MHz to 26 MHz depending on the country code.

[0073] FIG. 1 D is a system diagram illustrating the RAN 113 and the CN 115 according to an embodiment. As noted above, the RAN 113 may employ an NR radio technology to communicate with the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c over the air interface 116. The RAN 113 may also be in communication with the CN 115.

[0074] The RAN 113 may include gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c, though it will be appreciated that the RAN 113 may include any number of gNBs while remaining consistent with an embodiment. The gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c may each include one or more transceivers for communicating with the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c over the air interface 116. In an embodiment, the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c may implement MIMO technology. For example, gNBs 180a, 180b may utilize beamforming to transmit signals to and / or receive signals from the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c. Thus, the gNB 180a, for example, may use multiple antennas to transmit wireless signals to, and / or receive wireless signals from, the WTRU 102a. In an embodiment, the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c may implement carrier aggregation technology. For example, the gNB 180a may transmit multiple component carriers to the WTRU 102a (not shown). A subset of these component carriers may be on unlicensed spectrum while the remaining component carriers may be on licensed spectrum. In an embodiment, the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c may implement Coordinated Multi-Point (CoMP) technology. For example, WTRU 102a may receive coordinated transmissions from gNB 180a and gNB 180b (and / or gNB 180c).

[0075] The WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may communicate with gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c using transmissions associated with a scalable numerology. For example, OFDM symbol spacing and / or OFDM subcarrier spacing may vary for different transmissions, different cells, and / or different portions of the wireless transmission spectrum. The WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may communicate with gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c using subframe or transmission time intervals (TTIs) of various or scalable lengths (e.g., including a varying number of OFDM symbols and / or lasting varying lengths of absolute time).

[0076] The gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c may be configured to communicate with the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c in a standalone configuration and / or a non-standalone configuration. In the standalone configuration, WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may communicate with gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c without also accessing other RANs (e.g., such as eNode-Bs 160a, 160b, 160c). In the standalone configuration, WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may utilize one or more of gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c as a mobility anchor point. In the standalone configuration, WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may communicate with gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c using signals in an unlicensed band. In anon-standalone configuration WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may communicate with / connect to gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c while also communicating with / connecting to another RAN such as eNode-Bs 160a, 160b, 160c. For example, WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may implement DC principles to communicate with one or more gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c and one or more eNode-Bs 160a, 160b, 160c substantially simultaneously. In the non- standalone configuration, eNode-Bs 160a, 160b, 160c may serve as a mobility anchor for WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c and gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c may provide additional coverage and / or throughput for servicing WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c.

[0077] Each of the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c may be associated with a particular cell (not shown) and may be configured to handle radio resource management decisions, handover decisions, scheduling of users in the UL and / or DL, support of network slicing, dual connectivity, interworking between NR and E-UTRA, routing of user plane data towards user plane functions (UPFs) 184a, 184b, routing of control plane information towards access and mobility management functions (AMFs) 182a, 182b, and the like. As shown in FIG. 1D, the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c may communicate with one another over an Xn interface.

[0078] The CN 115 shown in FIG. 1 D may include at least one AMF 182a, 182b, at least one UPF 184a, 184b, at least one session management function (SMF) 183a, 183b, and at least one Data Network (DN) 185a, 185b. While each of the foregoing elements are depicted as part of the CN 115, it will be appreciated that any of these elements may be owned and / or operated by an entity other than the CN operator.

[0079] The AMF 182a, 182b may be connected to one or more of the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c in the RAN 113 via an N2 interface and may serve as a control node. For example, the AMF 182a, 182b may be responsible for authenticating users of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, support for network slicing (e.g., handling of different protocol data unit (PDU) sessions with different requirements), selecting a particular SMF 183a, 183b, management of the registration area, termination of NAS signaling, mobility management, and the like. Network slicing may be used by the AMF 182a, 182b, e.g., to customize CN support for WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c based on the types of services being utilized WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c. For example, different network slices may be established for different use cases such as services relying on ultra-reliable low latency (URLLC) access, services relying on enhanced massive mobile broadband (eMBB) access, services for MTC access, and / or the like. The AMF 162 may provide a control plane function for switching between the RAN 113 and other RANs (not shown) that employ other radio technologies, such as LTE, LTE-A, LTE-A Pro, and / or non-3GPP access technologies such as Wi-Fi.

[0080] The SMF 183a, 183b may be connected to an AMF 182a, 182b in the CN 115 via an N11 interface. The SMF 183a, 183b may also be connected to a UPF 184a, 184b in the CN 115 via an N4 interface. The SMF 183a, 183b may select and control the UPF 184a, 184b and configure the routing of traffic through the UPF 184a, 184b. The SMF 183a, 183b may perform other functions, such as managing and allocating UE IP address, managing PDU sessions, controlling policy enforcement and QoS, providing downlink data notifications, and the like. A PDU session type may be IP-based, non-IP based, Ethernet-based, and the like.

[0081] The UPF 184a, 184b may be connected to one or more of the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c in the RAN 113 via an N3 interface, which may provide the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c with access to packet-switched networks, such as the Internet 110, e.g., to facilitate communications between the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c and IP-enabled devices. The UPF 184, 184b may perform other functions, such as routing and forwarding packets, enforcing user plane policies, supporting multi-homed PDU sessions, handling user plane QoS, buffering downlink packets, providing mobility anchoring, and the like.

[0082] The CN 115 may facilitate communications with other networks. For example, the CN 115 may include, or may communicate with, an IP gateway (e.g., an IP multimedia subsystem (IMS) server) that serves as an interface between the CN 115 and the PSTN 108. In addition, the CN 115 may provide the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c with access to the other networks 112, which may include other wired and / or wireless networks that are owned and / or operated by other service providers. In an embodiment, the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may be connected to a local Data Network (DN) 185a, 185b through the UPF 184a, 184b via the N3 interface to the UPF 184a, 184b and an N6 interface between the UPF 184a, 184b and the DN 185a, 185b.

[0083] In view of FIGs. 1A-1 D, and the corresponding description of FIGs. 1A-1 D, one or more, or all, of the functions described herein with regard to any of: WTRUs 102a-d, base stations 114a-b, eNode-Bs 160a-c, MME 162, SGW 164, PGW 166, gNBs 180a-c, AMFs 182a-b, UPFs 184a-b, SMFs 183a-b, DNs 185a-b, and / or any other element(s) / device(s) described herein, may be performed by one or more emulation elements / devices (not shown). The emulation devices may be one or more devices configured to emulate one or more, or all, of the functions described herein. For example, the emulation devices may be used to test other devices and / or to simulate network and / or WTRU functions.

[0084] The emulation devices may be designed to implement one or more tests of other devices in a lab environment and / or in an operator network environment. For example, the one or more emulation devices may perform the one or more, or all, functions while being fully or partially implemented and / or deployed as part of a wired and / or wireless communication network in order to test other devices within the communication network. The one or more emulation devices may perform the one or more, or all, functions while being temporarily implemented / deployed as part of a wired and / or wireless communication network. The emulation device may be directly coupled to another device for purposes of testing and / or may performing testing using over-the-air wireless communications.

[0085] The one or more emulation devices may perform the one or more, including all, functions while not being implemented / deployed as part of a wired and / or wireless communication network. For example, the emulation devices may be utilized in a testing scenario in a testing laboratory and / or a non-deployed (e.g., testing) wired and / or wireless communication network in order to implement testing of one or more components. The one or more emulation devices may be test equipment. Direct RF coupling and / or wireless communications via RF circuitry (e.g., which may include one or more antennas) may be used by the emulation devices to transmit and / or receive data.

[0086] As disclosed herein, “a” and “an” and similar phrases are to be interpreted as “one or more” and / or “at least one”. Similarly, any term which ends with the suffix “(s)” is to be interpreted as “one or more” and / or “at least one”. The term “may” is to be interpreted as “may, for example” or “for example”. A symbol ‘I’ (e.g., forward slash) may be used herein to represent “and / or”, where for example, “A / B” may imply “A and / or B”.

[0087] In wireless communication networks, system information (SI) is categorized into a master information block (MIB) and several secondary information blocks (SIBs), essential for enabling multiple WTRUs access and navigate the network (NW). The MIB, critical for acquiring SIB1 , is consistently broadcast over a broadcast channel (BCH) every 80 milliseconds (ms), aligning its repetition schedule with a synchronization signal block (SSB) period when necessary. The SIB1 , carrying key information for further SIBs scheduling and availability, is transmitted over a downlink shared channel (DL-SCH) with a default periodicity of 160 ms and variable repetition periods, depending on network implementation and multiplexing patterns. Other SIBs are delivered through SI messages on the DL-SCH, with specific periodicity and non-overlapping Sl-windows designated for each SI message, ensuring organized dissemination. These SIBs can be cellspecific or area-specific, directed by SIB1 indications.

[0088] To save NW energy, the network may turn off periodic SIB1 transmission. The SIB1 may be transmitted on the PDSCH at a base periodicity of 160 ms and typically repeated every 20 ms in-between. Such periodic broadcast signaling may consume NW energy, especially when other common signals are muted during a sleep duration.

[0089] One way to allow adaptability of SIB transmission is to allow the WTRU to request for reception of an on demand SIB1 when needed (e.g., if the WTRU camps on the cell). To request on demand SIB, the WTRU may transmit a UL wake-up signal to the cell when it is in a NES state, in an IDLE or inactive state, which is expected to be RACH-based.

[0090] In an implementation, a stand-alone network energy saving (NES) cell may be used. In an example, on demand SIB1 (OD-SIB1) request and / or wake-up signal (WUS) configuration reception is received on DL from the NES cell. The OD-SIB1 request and / or WUS is transmitted by the WTRU to the NES cell on UL. The OD-SIB1 is received by the WTRU on DL following the request.

[0091] In an implementation, the NES cell may be assisted by another cell (e.g., an anchor cell). In an example, on demand SIB1 (OD-SIB1) request and / or WUS configuration reception is received on DL from a cell other than the NES cell (e.g. anchor cell, coverage cell, and / or an associated cell etc.). The anchor cell may be connected to the NES cell via backhaul for exchange of the SIB1 configuration and / or the OD-SIB1 and / or the WUS request information. The OD-SIB1 request and / or the WUS is transmitted by the WTRU to the NES cell on UL after acquisition of the OD-SIB1 request configuration from the anchor cell. The OD-SIB1 is received by the WTRU on DL from the NES cell following the request. An association between the cells may be signaled (e.g. from a non-NES cell) and / or determined (e.g., from a property of the SSB of the NES cell, a DC configuration, etc.).

[0092] In some implementations, the WTRU needs to know whether a camped cell is SIB1-less or not. Further, without the SIB1 , the WTRU does not have common RACH configurations, such as configuration of ROs, mapping between SSBs and ROs, and / or other initial access parameters etc. In one deployment scenario, the NES cell may be associated with another anchor cell, which may help with providing the WUS configuration. In another deployment scenario, the NES cell may be a standalone cell, and the WTRU may acquire WUS configuration from the sleeping cell. As such, new or enhanced methods and procedures may be desired (e.g., by the WTRU) to determine that the cell is SIB 1 -less, and / or to acquire configurations for the cell WUS when the cell is sleeping.

[0093] In an example, the channel conditions include but are not limited to any conditions relating to the state of the radio and / or channel, which may be determined by the WTRU from one or more of: a WTRU measurement (e.g., L1 , a signal to interference and noise ratio (SINR),a reference signal received power (RSRP), a channel quality indicator (CQI), a modulation and coding scheme (MCS), channel occupancy, received signal strength indicator (RSSI), a power headroom, and / or an exposure headroom etc.), L3 and / or mobility-based measurements (e.g. the RSRP, a reference signal received quality (RSRQ), and / or s-measure etc.), a radio link monitoring (RLM) state, and / or a channel availability in an unlicensed spectrum (e.g. whether the channel is occupied based on determination of a listen before talk (LBT) procedure or whether the channel is deemed to have experienced a consistent LBT failure) etc.

[0094] In an example, a physical random access channel (PRACH) resource includes but is not limited to: a PRACH resource (e.g., in frequency), a PRACH occasion (RO) (e.g., in time), a preamble format (e.g., in terms of total preamble duration, sequence length, guard time duration and / or in terms of length of cyclic prefix etc.) and / or a certain preamble sequence used for the transmission of a preamble in a random access procedure etc.

[0095] In an example, a property of scheduling information (e.g., an uplink grant or a downlink assignment) includes but it not limited to at least one of the following: a frequency allocation; an aspect of time allocation, such as time instance or / and a time duration; a priority; a modulation and coding scheme; a transport block size; a number of spatial layers; a number of transport blocks to be carried; a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state and / or SRS resource indicator (SRI); a number of repetitions; and / or whether the grant is a configured grant type 1 (i.e., WTRU immediately uses the configured UL resources after receiving the configuration information), type 2 (i.e., WTRU waits until an explicit MAC control element (CE) indication before using the configured UL resources) and / or a dynamic grant etc.

[0096] In an example, an indication by DCI, or an indication, may include but is not limited to at least one of the following: an explicit indication by a DCI field or by a radio network temporary identifier (RNTI used to mask cyclic redundancy check (CRC) of the PDCCH; an implicit indication by a property such as but not limited to downlink control information (DCI) format, DCI size, control resource set (Coreset) or search space, aggregation level, identity of first control channel resource (e.g., index of first CCE) for a DCI, where themapping between the property and the value may be signaled by RRC or MAC; and / or an explicit indication by a DL MAC CE etc.

[0097] In an example, a NES state and / or an availability state may refer to a cell state in which the cell or a transmission and reception point (TRP) has activated at least one NES technique, such as but not limited to: reduced SIB1 transmission (periodic or existence), reduced SSB transmission (periodic or existence), cell discontinuous transmission (DTX), cell discontinuous reception (DRX), spatial domain adaptation (where a subset of antenna ports and / or elements are turned off), power domain adaptation (where a subset of channels are transmitted with reduced power and / or muted), and / or the cell or TRP has turned off etc.

[0098] The WTRU may determine whether the WTRU can transmit and / or receive on certain resources depending on a network availability state, which implies a power savings status of the gNB. The availability state may correspond to a network energy savings state, a cell DTX mode, a cell DRX mode, and / or a gNB activity level etc. The availability state may be uplink or downlink specific, and may change from symbol to symbol, slot to slot, frame to frame, or on longer duration granularity etc. The availability state may be determined by the WTRU and / or indicated by the network. The availability state may be, for example, “On”, “DL and UL active”, “UL only active”, “off, “reduced Tx power”, “dormant”, “sleep (de)-activated”, “micro sleep”, “light sleep”, “deep sleep”, the active period of a sleep pattern, and / or the de-active period of a sleep pattern etc. In the sleep pattern, the active period may correspond to the time when the NW may actively transmit DL signals and / or channels and / or the time when the NW may blind decode for UL signals and / or channels. Such states may be abstracted by NW configuration parameters and / or values, and dynamic indication may point to the active availability state (e.g. by the DCI and / or the MAC CE signaling etc.). The “Off” availability state or the non-active period of sleep pattern may imply that the baseband hardware of the gNB is turned off. The “sleep” availability state may imply that the gNB wakes up periodically to transmit certain signals (e.g. presence signals, synchronization, and / or reference signals etc.) or receive certain UL signals. In some availability states, some DL or UL resources are not available during certain periods of time, and this enables the network to turn off baseband processing and other activities. For example, the WTRU may be configured by RRC with periodic active and inactive periods per availability. Some measurement resources (e.g. SSBs or CSI-RS) may only be made available in certain availability states, including: RLM, beam failure detection (BFD), RRM measurements, CSI-RS feedback configuration, and / or a different power offset for CSI feedback etc.

[0099] Under certain conditions, the WTRU may further transmit a request to the network (e.g., a wake-up request) to modify the availability state to a state for which the resources that would satisfy WTRU requirements are available. The WTRU determines an availability state from reception of availability state indication from, e.g., by L1 / L2 signaling (e.g., a group common DCI or indication), or implicitly determine it form the reception of periodic DL signaling (or lack thereof).

[0100] The WTRU determines if a resource is available for transmission and / or reception and / or measurements for the determined network availability state if it is applicable in the active availability state. In addition, the WTRU may also adapt its active C-DRX cycle, active spatial elements (e.g. antenna or logicalports), active TRPs, and / or paging occasions etc. as a function of the signaled or determined availability state. The WTRU may be configured with one or more sets of NES transmission and / or reception parameters per availability state, e.g. by broadcast or dedicated configuration signaling. The WTRU may apply the NES parameter set according to the determined or signaled availability state. The WTRU may apply one or more applicable configurations depending on the determined NES state. A set of NES parameters may include but is not limited to one or more of: a number of antenna ports, a C-DRX configuration, a measurement configuration (e.g. for the RRM, the RLM, and / or BFD etc.), a CSI feedback, a CSI-RS configuration, an SSB configuration, a conditional handover (CHO) or mobility candidates, and / or a set of active TRPs etc.

[0101] The availability state may be applicable to at least one transmission, reception, and / or measurement resource etc. The availability state may be applicable to at least one time period such as a time slot or time symbol. The availability state may be applicable to a serving cell, a cell group, a frequency band, a bandwidth part, a TRP, a set of spatial elements, and / or a range of frequencies within a bandwidth part etc. For example, when the NES state changes in the cell, the WTRU may receive an availability state change indication indicating that the change is just for that cell, for all cells at the same frequency, or / and same RAT etc..

[0102] The WTRU may consider the active availability state associated with a cell, carrier, TRP, or frequency band to be “Off’, “deep sleep”, and / or “micro sleep” etc. after reception of a DL signaling that changes the availability state of the cell or the TRP. For example, the WTRU may receive a turn off command on the broadcast signaling, the RRC signaling, the DCI (e.g., a group common DCI), and / or the DL MAC CE (e.g., indication part of PDSCH) etc. The WTRU may determine an availability state from reception of availability state indication from e.g. by L1 / L2 signaling (e.g., a group common DCI or indication) or broadcast signaling associated with an availability state.

[0103] For example, the availability state change indication could also be part of SI update or SIB signaling (e.g. in a separate SIB that is not read by legacy WTRUs). There may be a common time for all WTRUs in the cell to determine the availability state status.

[0104] In an example, the WTRU may determine a change of NES state change from the reception of a group common command L1 signaling (e.g., a group common DCI, a multi-stage DCI, a specific DCI format, or a DCI scrambled by a configured or specified NES-specific RNTI). The L1 signaling may indicate one of the configured NES parameters sets to apply or may determine a delta configuration from the current set of parameters upon determining the NES state change. The WTRU may transmit feedback and / or acknowledgment to the gNB, possibly multiplexed with UL data (e.g., part of an UL TB as a MAC CE and / or a sub-header indication etc.), following the reception of NES state change indication.

[0105] In an example, the WTRU may determine a change of NES state change from the reception of the broadcast signaling associated with NES state indication or change, including signaling in one or more SIBs or part of a broadcast or multicast PDSCH. The WTRU may be indicated the NES state explicitly in the SIB. The WTRU may be configured with the one or more SIBs exclusively associated with configuration of one or more NES parameters. The WTRU may be configured to receive such broadcast or multicast indication periodically;the WTRU may determine an indication is mis-detected if not received on one or more expected periodic occasions, if a number of misdetections is counted, and / or if a timer has elapsed since the last reception of the NES state indication. The WTRU may start inter-cell, inter-frequency, and / or inter-RAT measurements, start a mobility procedure, and / or start evaluating configured CHO candidates following the determination of a misdetection of the NES state indication.

[0106] In an example, the WTRU may implicitly assume a certain availability state associated with a cell, carrier, TRP, and / or frequency band (e.g., “Off, “deep sleep”, “micro sleep” or dormant”) from at least one of the following, for example, reception of a command or signal indicating a change in the availability state, e.g., the group common DCI in the connected mode and / or RRC signaling or and / or a presence signal. The WTRU may determine an availability state implicitly form the reception of the periodic DL signaling. The WTRU may be configured and / or specified to associate the availability state with one or more DL signal type (e.g., the SSB, a partial SSB, and / or one or more periodicity etc.).

[0107] In an example, the WTRU may implicitly assume a certain availability state based on reception of a paging message, a paging DCI, a paging PDSCH, and / or a paging related signal (e.g., an early paging indication (PEI)), possibly on a subset of paging occasions (POs) (e.g., those aligned with an NES DRX cycle and / or a configured subset of PDCCH resources etc.). The WTRU may assume a certain availability state after reception of an indication part of the DCI or PDCCH scheduling paging (e.g., as a function of the P-RNTI, the NES-RNTI or based on receiving an explicit indication e.g., on a reserved bit). The WTRU may assume a certain availability state after the reception of the paging message with a certain P-RNTI, a separately configured NES P-RNTI, and / or the NES group RNTI etc. The WTRU may assume a certain availability state after the reception of the paging message with a certain P-RNTI. The WTRU may be configured with one more PEI subgroup for the NES, where a subgroup may be associated with one or more availability state. The WTRU may assume a certain availability state after reception of a PEI with an NES subgroup, possibly if that subgroup is configured and / or associated with the availability state. The indication of the availability state and / or the availability state switch may be indicated in the paging payload, e.g., as a flag part of the paging message and / or the short message etc. Such paging indication may further indicate an alternative cell to monitor paging on while the cell from which the signaling was received is off, sleep, and / or in NES state etc. Such paging indication may further indicate and / or signal one or more applicable reconfiguration parameters (e.g., for initial access, one or more applicable PRACH resources, one or more applicable SSB and / or RS occasions, an applicable SI cycle, and / or one or more applicable cells and associated availability states etc.).

[0108] In an example, the WTRU may implicitly assume a certain availability state based on the gNB DTX status (whether the gNB is in active time or an associated activity timer is running) etc.

[0109] In an example, the WTRU may implicitly assume a certain availability state based on lack of detection of a presence indication. The WTRU may determine an availability state associated with the cell (e.g., “off” or “deep sleep”) if the presence indication was not detected on one or more presence indication occasions. The WTRU may assume or change the availability state of the cell after a number of consecutivemisdetections and / or after a timer expires following no detection of a presence signal. The WTRU may determine an availability state is active or de-active after expiry of a timer associated with the availability state. Such timer may be configured and / or maintained in connected mode only, or also in other states (e.g., idle and inactive states). The WTRU may determine the availability state implicitly form the lack of reception of periodic DL signaling. For example, the WTRU may be configured with a signal quality threshold (e.g., an RSRP threshold) and if the WTRU does not detect a signal associated with the availability state (e.g., a presence signal and / or an SSB) with a signal strength above the threshold, the WTRU may assume that the availability state is not active and may assume a different availability state. This criterion may be also coupled with lack of detection of an identifying sequence of the presence signal (e.g., detection of the PSS sequence).

[0110] In an example, the WTRU may implicitly assume a certain availability state based on a time in the day. For instance, the WTRU may be configured to automatically assume a certain availability state (e.g. off, sleep, and / or dormant etc.) for a configured subset of cells (e.g. capacity boosting cells) based on the time in the day. For example, the WTRU may determine that a capacity boosting cell has an availability state as “on” in certain hours of the day, “deep sleep” in other configured hours, and “off” in a third set of configured hours of the day or night.

[0111] In an example, the WTRU may implicitly assume a certain availability state based on the availability state of an associated cell (e.g. another carrier of the same MAC entity, another carrier in the same cell group, another carrier in the same gNB, another sector in the same gNB, and / or a configured associated cell or capacity boosting cell etc.).

[0112] In an example, the WTRU may implicitly assume a certain availability state based on detection of a PSS only signal or a simplified and / or stripped down SSB signal.

[0113] In an example, the WTRU may implicitly assume a certain availability state based on detection of an RS signal (e.g. the CSI-RS, the PRS, and / or the TRS etc.) or the lack thereof.

[0114] In an example, the WTRU may implicitly assume a certain availability state based on the RRC state (Idle, inactive, and / or connected mode etc.) of the WTRU.

[0115] In an example, the WTRU may implicitly assume a certain availability state based on whether paging has been received, possibly within a configured time window.

[0116] In an example, the WTRU may implicitly assume a certain availability state based on whether system information (e.g. periodic SI ora subset of SI Bs) have been received, possiblywithin a configured time window.

[0117] In an example, the WTRU may implicitly assume a certain availability state based on one or more measured channel conditions being below (or above) a threshold. The WTRU may assume the change of NES state based on a change of the one or more measured channel conditions and / or making a channel measurement below or above a threshold. For example, the WTRU may use degradation in the one or more measurements of the SSBs and / or CSI-RS (possibly in combination with other signaling) to determine the NES state. For example, a configured window following the DCI reception may be used to measure SSBs and / or CSI-RS for degradation, and if a delta of SSB-RSRP drop is measured the WTRU may determine that the NESstate has changed and may assume associated actions for such NES state (e.g., trigger for CHO candidate selection and / or for group scheduling for a mobility command etc.).

[0118] In an example, the WTRU may be configured to monitor an indication that may characterize the level of network activity (e.g. the availability state). The network activity may be associated with the gNB and / or the cell. The WTRU may assume the same availability state for all cells part of the same gNB, e.g., cells of the same MAC entity. The network activity indication (e.g. the presence indication) may include but is not limited to a channel (e.g., the PDCCH) and / or a signal (e.g., a sequence). The activity indication and / or the NES state change indication and / or the command may indicate the level of activity the WTRU may expect from the associated gNB and / or cell, e.g., reduced activity. The activity indication may contain activity information of other gNBs and / or cells. The activity indication may be a PDCCH containing group common signaling. For example, the NW may transmit the group common DCI to a group of WTRUs (e.g., one or more WTRUs in the serving cell) indicating a change of an activity state and / or activity level in the UL and / or the DL. The CRC of the PDCCH may be scrambled with a dedicated “activity indication RNTI or an NES-RNTI”. The WTRU may be configured with at least one search space associated with one or more monitoring occasions of the activity indication PDCCH. The indication may include but is not limited to a go-to-sleep signal, e.g., a predefined sequence. When the WTRU detects this sequence, WTRU may expect a reduced activity level over a specific time duration. The WTRU may activate the C-DRX for the period of time indicated. Alternatively, two sequences may be used to indicate regular activity and reduced activity.

[0119] In an example, the signaling within the PDCCH or the activity indication may include but is not limited to at least one of the following, for e.g., an expected activity level of the associated gNBs and / or cells over a specific time interval (e.g. the availability state). The activity levels may be predetermined and / or configured and may, for example, include regular and / or reduced activity. The signaling may indicate the activity level. For example, bit “1” may indicate regular activity and bit "0" may indicate reduced activity. For each activity level (e.g. the availability state), one or more transmission and reception attributes may be defined. In an example, during reduced activity, the WTRU may not be expected to monitor certain PDCCH search spaces (including all SSs), and / or receive a certain type of PDSCH (including all the PDSCH), and / or transmit PUCCH and / or PUSCH, and / or perform certain measurements. The WTRU may start or stop monitoring PDCCH and / or one or more TCI states associated with a determined NES state, including one or more PDCCH resources and / or the one or more TCI states associated with deactivated TRPs or spatial elements.

[0120] A set of configurations may be associated with an activity level and may be used and / or applied when that activity level is indicated (e.g. an NES parameter set). For example, one or more SS configurations, CSI reporting configurations, indices of transmitted SSBs, etc. Each set of configurations may have an attribute associated with an activity level. For example, a tag that may be set to “reduced activity”.

[0121] The time interval over which the activity level is assumed may be signaled in the PDCCH and / or part of the activity indication. For example, the time interval may be indicated using a bitmap where each bit in the bitmap may be associated with a specific duration, e.g., a slot and / or a frame. For example, bit “1 ” may indicateregular activity and bit “0” may indicate reduced activity on an associated frame. The time interval may be indicated with a start time and a length of interval. The start time may be determined, for example the start time may be determined by adding a fixed offset to the time the indication is received. The length of the interval may be configured and / or signaled in the indication PDCCH.

[0122] The time interval over which the activity level is assumed may be predetermined. The WTRU may assume an interruption delay (or more generally a time till the NES state changes) after the NES state change command reception (e.g., after the last symbol or slot on which the command was received). The interruption time may be in absolute time, a number of symbols, and / or a number of slots etc.

[0123] In an example, the WTRU may determine that the uplink and / or the downlink resource and / or signal is available for transmission and / or reception and / or measurements for the determined network availability state if it is applicable in the active availability state. The WTRU may determine that a subset of measurement resources and / or signals (e.g. the SSBs, the CSI-RS, the TRS, and / or the PRS etc.) are not applicable in certain availability states. The WTRU may determine that a subset of uplink and / or downlink resources (e.g. the PRACH, the PUSCH, and / or the PUCCH) are not applicable in certain availability states. The WTRU may transmit some one or more signals only in a subset of NW availability states (e.g. the SRS, the pSRS, the PRACH, and / or the UCI etc.).

[0124] In various embodiments, the terms network NES state and cell NES state may be used interchangeably. The WTRU may know the cell NES state for one or more cells, e.g., through network configuration and indication. When used as the network NES state, it means the NES states of one or more cells which could be serving cells and / or neighbor cells etc. A NES state may imply an activation state only for a NES state, while another NES state may correspond to the deactivation state. The terms network availability state, cell turned off, SIB1 -less operation, reduced SIB1 and / or SSB periodicity state, active (or de-active) cell DTX mode and / or configuration, and / or the NES state may be used interchangeably. The WTRU may determine the SSB and / or the SIB1 transmission state (whether they are transmitted and / or periodicity) implicitly from the determined active availability state, and vice-versa. Herein, the NES cell may refer to the cell that is applying at least one NES technique, is in the NES state (e.g. an activated NES state), and / or is capable and / or configured to apply the NES technique at some point. Therefore, the non-NES cell may be used to refer to any cell that is not designated as the NES cell per this definition (e.g. not in the NES state or cannot and / or does not apply a NES technique etc.). In an example, the designation of which cell may be NES cells may be configured (e.g. by broadcast or dedicated signaling).

[0125] In various embodiments, the SIB1 transmission assumption may indicate whether the cell is transmitting SIB1 , if so, the SIB1 transmission periodicity, the SSB transmission assumption, and / or whether the cell is in a given NES state etc. In some examples, the SIB1 may be used as a general term to refer to a specific SIB typically broadcast by the cell for system information delivery. For example, in a 6G system, the SIB1 may refer to an alternative SIB channel that delivers some of SI messages (e.g. essential systeminformation). Therefore, herein, the SIB1 may be replaced by essential system information (e.g. minimum system information, master information block, and / or SI Bx etc.).

[0126] In one or more NES states, the WTRU may transmit a wake up signal (e.g., the PRACH, a scheduling request (SR), the PUCCH, an uplink control information (UCI) on the PUCCH, the MAC CE and / or a WTRU assistance information etc.) to request a change in the NES state, one or more additional UL or DL resources, reception of on demand SSB, reception of on demand SIB1 and / or SI, or an activation of a given cell (e.g. on that is in the NES state). Examples of the triggers for the WTRU to transmit a wake-up signal and / or request reception of the on demand SSB include but are not limited to: detection of the reference signal, making a channel measurement on the cell and / or an associated cell less than and / or greater than the threshold, an arrival of new data (possibly for a given logical channel (LCH) and / or a logical channel group (LCG) etc.), an amount of buffered data exceeding a threshold (possibly for the given LCH and / or LCG etc.), based on positioning being within a given range, based on triggering BSR and / or SR, based on triggering a L3 mobility events, based on the WTRU or cell DTX and / or DRX status, based on expiry of a timer, and / or the WTRU receiving request from higher layers to transmit on-demand SSB request etc.

[0127] In some examples, the WTRU may transmit and / or receive a physical channel and / or reference signal according to at least one spatial domain filter. The term “beam” may be used to refer to a spatial domain filter. The WTRU may transmit a physical channel and / or signal using the same spatial domain filter as the spatial domain filter used for receiving the RS (such the CSI-RS etc.) and / or the SS block etc. The WTRU transmission may be referred to as “target”, and the received RS and / or SS block may be referred to as “reference” and / or “source”. In such case, the WTRU may be said to transmit the target physical channel and / or signal according to a spatial relation with a reference to such RS and / or SS block etc.

[0128] The WTRU may transmit a first physical channel and / or signal according to the same spatial domain filter as the spatial domain filter used for transmitting a second physical channel and / or signal. The first and second transmissions may be referred to as “target” and “reference” (or “source”), respectively. In such case, the WTRU may be said to transmit the first (target) physical channel and / or signal according to a spatial relation with a reference to the second (reference) physical channel or signal. A spatial relation may be implicit, configured by the RRC and / or signaled by MAC CE and / or DCI. For example, the WTRU may implicitly transmit the PUSCH and the DM-RS of the PUSCH according to the same spatial domain filter as the SRS indicated by an SRI indicated in the DCI and / or configured by the RRC. In another example, the spatial relation may be configured by the RRC for the SRS SRI and / or signaled by the MAC CE for the PUCCH. Such spatial relation may also be referred to as a “beam indication”.

[0129] The WTRU may receive a first (target) downlink channel and / or signal according to the same spatial domain filter or spatial reception parameter as a second (reference) downlink channel and / or signal. For example, such association may exist between a physical channel such as PDCCH or PDSCH and its respective DM-RS. At least when the first and second signals are reference signals, such association may exist when the WTRU is configured with a quasi-colocation (QCL) assumption type D between corresponding antenna ports.Such association may be configured as a TCI state. The WTRU may be indicated an association between the CSI-RS and / or the SS block and the DM-RS by an index to a set of TCI states configured by the RRC and / or signaled by the MAC CE. Such indication may also be referred to as a “beam indication”.

[0130] In some examples, the SSB may refer to one or more SSB beams (e.g., a spatial relation) within a collection of SSBs (e.g., an SSB burst). The SSB may refer to a beam and vice-versa or a CSI-RS resource related to the beam. The SSB, the SSBs, and / or the SSB burst may loosely refer to one or more beams transmitted from a TRP or a TRP.

[0131] In some examples, the cells are categorized according to which services they offer.

[0132] In an example, an acceptable cell is the cell on which the WTRU may camp to obtain limited service (originate emergency calls and / or receive one or more public warning system (PWS) services such as one or more earthquake and tsunami warning system (ETWS) and / or one or more commercial mobile alert system (CMAS) notifications etc.). Such a cell shall fulfil the following requirements, which is a minimum set of requirements to initiate an emergency call and to receive the one or more ETWS and / or CMAS notification in an NR network, e.g., the cell is not barred; and / or the cell selection criteria are fulfilled.

[0133] In an example, a suitable cell may include, for the WTRU not operating in a standalone non-public network (SNPN) access mode, a cell is considered as suitable if one or more of the following conditions are fulfilled: the cell is part of either the selected PLMN or the registered PLMN or PLMN of the equivalent PLMN list, and for that PLMN, either the PLMN-ID of that PLMN is broadcast by the cell with no associated CAG-IDs and CAG-only indication in the WTRU for that PLMN is absent or false; an allowed CAG list in the WTRU for that PLMN includes a CAG-ID broadcast by the cell for that PLMN; and / or the cell selection criteria are fulfilled.; and / or according to the latest information provided by the NAS, the cell is not barred; and / or the cell is part of at least one TA that is not part of the list of "forbidden tracking areas for roaming", which belongs to a PLMN that fulfils the first bullet above etc.

[0134] For the WTRU operating in the SNPN access mode, the cell is considered as suitable if one or more of the following conditions are fulfilled: the cell is part of either the selected SNPN and / or the registered SNPN of the WTRU; and / or the cell selection criteria are fulfilled; according to the latest information provided by NAS: the cell is not barred; and / or the cell is part of at least one TA that is not part of the list of "forbidden tracking areas for roaming" which belongs to either the selected SNPN or the registered SNPN of the WTRU.

[0135] In one embodiment, the WTRU may determine that the camped cell is SIB 1 -less or is transmitting SIB1 with a modified periodicity (e.g. longer, or different compared to legacy period or a predefined period in a non-NES state) as function of at least one of the following, for example, reception of an alternative message on the PDSCH that scheduled for the SIB1 indicating SI B 1 -less or an alternate periodicity, where the scheduling is masked by a SI-RNTI or a NES-RNTI. For example, the NES WTRU may decode the PDSCH that is scheduled typically for reception of the SIB1 using a multitude of RNTIs. If the scheduling is done using a different RNTI (e.g. the NES-RNTI) from the SI-RNTI, the WTRU may assume that the cell is SIB1-less or receive an alternative payload for the PDSCH carrying information about the SIB1 transmission status of thecell (e.g. whether the SI B 1 transmitted or not, periodicity, and / or SI messages that are broadcast, etc.). This is helpful to avoid collisions with one or more legacy WTRUs, where the one or more legacy WTRUs monitor legacy SIB 1 ; for example, and / or the one or more legacy WTRUs assume 160 ms period without repetition of SIB1 etc.

[0136] In an example, the WTRU may determine that the camped cell is SIB1 -less or is transmitting SIB1 with the modified periodicity based on reception of an indication in broadcast signaling in the MIB form the NES cell.

[0137] In an example, the WTRU may determine that the camped cell is SIB1 -less or is transmitting SIB1 with the modified periodicity based on reception of an indication received from another cell (e.g. anchor, an associated cell, a cell in the same SIBIAreaScope) etc. Such indication can be part of broadcast SI messages from such cell, part of the RRC message (e.g., part of common control channel (CCCH) and / or dedicated control channel (DCCH) messages etc.), and / or in a PDSCH etc.

[0138] In an example, the WTRU may determine that the camped cell is SIB1 -less or is transmitting SIB1 with the modified periodicity based on reception of an indication in a paging occasion indicating the cell has become SIB1-less or a change in SIB1 and / or WUS configuration (e.g. in short message, PDSCH, and / or RRC signaling etc.). The WTRU may monitor a subset of paging occasions and / or frames for reception such indication. The WTRU may monitor the P-RNTI, the SI-RNTI, the NES-RNTI, and / or a specific RNTI in such paging occasions for the reception of such notification, possibly in addition to P-RNTI etc.

[0139] In an example, the WTRU may determine that the camped cell is SIB1 -less or is transmitting SIB1 with the modified periodicity based on an SSB property (e.g. slim SSB, PBCH-less, PSS-only, sequence type, and / or SSB periodicity etc.). For example, the WTRU may determine that the cell is SI B 1 -less or determine a given SIB1 periodicity as a function of the PSS and / or SSS sequence received; a given sequence or combination thereof can indicate the NES state or given SIB1 transmission assumption etc. The WTRU may determine the SIB1 transmission assumption of the cell as a function of whether PSS, SSS, and / or PBCH is received (i.e. whether a slim or full SSB is received etc.). The WTRU may determine the SIB1 transmission assumption of the cell as a function of the SSB periodicity or number of transmitted SSBs etc. The WTRU may determine the SIB1 transmission assumption of the cell as a function of the determined active NES state.

[0140] In an example, the WTRU may determine that the camped cell is SIB1 -less or is transmitting SIB1 with the modified periodicity based on from a property of coreset 0 or its contents; where coreset 0 is used to refer to the control resource set pointed to by the systems MSI and is used for fundamental configuration of DL control in IDLE mode at least. A property may include: the frequency allocation (e.g. the number of RBs), the time duration of the CORESET, the starting OFDM symbol, the CCE to REG Mapping, the precoding used, the PDCCH candidate location, and / or the search space used to provide the notification etc.

[0141] In an example, the WTRU may determine that the camped cell is SIB1 -less or is transmitting SIB1 with the modified periodicity based on one or more channel conditions measurement (associated with the SIB channel and / or the SSB etc.). For example, the WTRU may assume a certain SIB1 and / or SSB transmissionassumption if a measurement on the one or more channel conditions of the cell is made above or less than a predefined or configured threshold etc.

[0142] In an example, the WTRU may determine that the camped cell is SIB1 -less or is transmitting SIB1 with the modified periodicity based on reception of a PDCCH with a given property of scheduling information or an indication by the DCI. If the one or more legacy WTRUs are not expected in the cell, an explicit indication in the PDCCH (e.g. in coreset 0) may be used to provide the notification on the SI B 1 and / or SSB transmission assumption of the cell. For example, one existing bit may be used to indicate the SIB1 , and / or SSB transmission assumption and / or configuration etc.

[0143] In a typical system, the WTRU considers the cell as barred if the WTRU is unable to acquire the MIB and / or the SIB1 and may also perform cell re-selection. In NES state, the WTRU should be able to remain camped on the cell while the cell is SI B 1 -less, Ml B-less, transmitting some SIBs with longer periodicities, and / or when the cell is not transmitting one or more SIBs. If WTRU cannot detect the SIB1 on a cell activating SIB1- less operation, it should not automatically assume its barred (as in legacy) and should not perform cell reselection. The WTRU may check configuration of the SIB status of the selected cell prior to performing cell resection.

[0144] In one embodiment, if the WTRU is unable to acquire and / or detect a given SIB, MSI, and / or MIB etc., the WTRU may start a timer. Upon expiry of the timer and not detecting the missing MIB and / or SIB that caused the timer to start, the WTRU may then perform cell reselection (and / or selection) and / or consider the cell as barred. If the WTRU is unable to acquire or detect a given periodic SIB, MSI, and / or MIB, the WTRU may increment a counter. When the counter reaches a given count and / or threshold, the WTRU may then perform cell reselection (and / or selection) and / or consider the cell as barred.

[0145] In one embodiment, if the WTRU is unable to acquire and / or detect a given SIB, MSI, and / or MIB, the WTRU may then perform cell reselection (and / or selection) and / or consider the cell as barred if the WTRU has one or more of the following satisfied (i.e.. the WTRU may remain camped on the cell if any of the following conditions are not met), e.g., has not determined that the camped cell is in a given NES state; if the WTRU determines that the cell is in a given NES state, the WTRU may remain camped on the cell, e.g., until the next known MIB and / or SIBx transmission occasion.

[0146] In an example, the WTRU may remain camped on the cell if the WTRU has not received the SSB, possibly with a certain SSB property. For example, the WTRU may remain camped on the cell if it detects the SSB associated with the NES state (e.g. slim SSB, PSS only, SSB without PBCH, SSB coded with NES sequence or a certain sequence, and / or low power SSB etc.).

[0147] In an example, the WTRU may remain camped on the cell if the WTRU has detected a cell barring bit set to “barred”, possibly only for a given NES technique or NES state. For example, the WTRU may first read the barring bit associated with NES (e.g. for the cell DTX and / or DRX etc.) or for another NES technique (e.g. for SIB1 -less operation, SSB adaptation in the time domain etc.). If that bit is set barred, then the WTRU may proceed with cell re-selection (and / or selection) and consider the cell barred. If the bit is not set to barred(e.g. even if the overall barring bit is set to “barred”, which the one or more legacy WTRUs will read), then the WTRU may remain camped on the cell, possibly for N periods of not detecting SIBx and / or MIB. After missing SIBx and / or MIB for N periods and not being able to acquire system information (e.g. the SIB1 and / or the MIB etc.), then the WTRU may perform cell re-selection (and / or selection).

[0148] In an example, the WTRU may remain camped on the cell if the WTRU has not made a measurement for the one or more channel conditions of the cell below a given threshold (predefined or configured), where the measurement may be made from one or more common DL signals and / or one or more channels (e.g. the SSB of the cell, a discovery signal, or a cell presence signal and / or indication etc.). For example, if the measured channel condition exceeds a first threshold (e.g., the measured (channel condition) > threshold 1), the WTRU may remain camped on the cell, even if the WTRU does not acquire the MIS and / or the SIB1. If the measured channel condition is less than a second threshold (e.g., the measured (channel condition) < threshold 2), then the WTRU may perform cell reselection. If the measured channel condition is less than the first threshold and greater than a third threshold (e.g., the measured (channel condition) < threshold 1 and > threshold 3), the WTRU may remain camped on the cell.

[0149] In an example, the WTRU may remain camped on the cell if the WTRU has not received the indication from an associated (e.g. anchor) cell. For example, if the WTRU does not detect SIB1 and / or the MIB and / or the MSI at an expected occasion, the WTRU may attempt to acquire SI (e.g. the MIB, the MSI, the SIB1 , and / or the SIBx etc.) from another cell in the coverage area (e.g. an anchor cell), possibly without performing cell re-selection (and / or selection). The WTRU may then determine the SIB1 transmission assumption for the NES cell and / or camped cell, based on the acquired SI from the associated cell and / or the anchor cell. If the WTRU then does not detect the SIB1 and / or the MIB from the NES cell and / or camped cell following acquisition of the SIB1 transmission assumptions associated with the camped cell from another cell (possibly after N misdetections and / or acquisition failures etc.), then the WTRU may perform cell reselection.

[0150] In an example, the WTRU may remain camped on the cell if the WTRU has not been able to acquire configuration for requesting the on demand SIB 1 on the camped cell, either from the cell itself or from an associated cell (e.g. the anchor cell).

[0151] In an example, the WTRU may remain camped on the cell if the WTRU has not received the indication on the PDCCH (e.g. part of coreset 0), form a property of scheduling SIB1 and / or PDCCH, an indication by DCI, and / or a given property of coreset 0 that schedules SIB1 has not been detected or detected etc.

[0152] In an example, the WTRU may be predefined with a new barring flag and / or one or more bits to indicate whether the cell may support SIB1 -less operation, an SSB time domain adaptation, an SSB-less operation, and / or any of the NES techniques etc. If such barring flag for SIB and / or MIB adaptation is configured, the WTRU may ignore other barring bits (e.g. from legacy releases).

[0153] In one embodiment, the WTRU may be provided with a pre-defined signaling configuration (e.g., a default configuration) to request the OD-SIB1 transmission from the SIB1 -less cell.

[0154] In an example, the network may be ensuring the provisioning of a network wide configuration which the WTRU can use to request the OD-SIB1 from the SIB1-less cell. This configuration may be a single configuration and / or a set of configurations where the WTRU may determine a suitable configuration to request the OD-SIB1.

[0155] In an example, a set of configurations are specified (and / or pre-specified) known to the WTRUs for use as the OD-SB11 request, and the WTRU may determine one suitable configuration to use in a given SIB1- less cell. The WTRU determination of a suitable configuration for a given cell may depend upon one of the physical properties of the sync signals received from the SIB1 -less cell or through explicit indication from the SIB1-less cell.

[0156] In an example, the default configuration for requesting the on demand SIB1 on a given cell (e.g. by transmitting the WUS and / or the RACH etc.) may include one or more of the following, for example, the PRACH configuration for requesting the on demand SIB1 , including, for example, PRACH partition, PRACH resource (e.g. RACH occasions and / or preamble indices), power control parameters, PRACH transmit power; and / or a subset of parameters typically in common RACH configuration etc.

[0157] In an example, the default configuration for requesting the on demand SI B 1 may include one or more SSB-to RO mapping tables for the cells performing beam sweep with more than one SSB beam, WUS repetition configuration if not known.

[0158] In an example, the default configuration for requesting the on demand SIB1 may include whether is SIB1 repeated (e.g. per SSB), relation between WUS / RA transmission occasions and beams. The OD-SIB1 request signaling may have a cell level or beam level granularity, thus the WTRU may be selecting a specific configuration from the specified configuration table based upon the SSB and / or beam index that it detects from the SIB1-less cell.

[0159] For OD-SIB1 request signaling, the WTRU may determine a number of repetitions based upon the configuration and / or based upon the one or more measurements on the SIB 1 -less cells itself, e.g., measured RSRP of the SSB of the SIB1-less cell in a given range may lead the WTRU determining N1 repetitions to be transmitted, and measured RSRP in a 2ndrange leading to the WTRU determining N2 repetitions to be transmitted for an OD-SIB1 request signaling. A delta configuration for a specific cell (which is specific to the number of beams for e.g.) can be acquired after using a configuration from another cell. The configuration for an OD-SIB1 request signaling may be specific to an SIB index and / or an SSB index, e.g. subset of SSBs for which the config is valid for.

[0160] The WTRU may be provided a configuration for default uplink BWP and a timing for initial access and / or WUS transmission.

[0161] In an example, the default configuration for requesting the on demand SIB1 may include conditions for a WUS transmission triggering (e.g. a channel measurement to the NES cell, the anchor cell, and / or relative measurements of both cells etc.).

[0162] In an example, the default configuration for requesting the on demand SIB1 may include for the inactive state, a configuration related to transmission of the OD-SIB1 request using one or more small data transmission (SDT resources) (e.g. RA / CG-SDT resources to use). Such configuration may be delivered by an RRC release message. The configuration may be limited and / or associated with a SIB1 AreaScope (e.g., a list of cells) or just the same cell from which the RRC release was received from.

[0163] In an example, the default configuration for requesting the on demand SIB1 may include the cell, UL carrier, and / or a bandwidth part (BWP) on which the WUS and / or request for the OD-SIB1 is transmitted on.

[0164] In one embodiment, the WTRU may determine to transmit an uplink signal (e.g., an UL WUS and / or RACH etc.) requesting the on-demand SIB1 from a cell if one or more of the following pre-conditions are fulfilled, for example, the WTRU has determined that the cell is SIB-less through any of the conditions disclosed earlier.

[0165] In an example, the WTRU may determine to transmit the uplink signal if / when the WTRU has determined that the cell is allowed for the SIB1 transmissions resume through any of the conditions disclosed earlier.

[0166] In an example, the WTRU may determine to transmit the uplink signal if / when the WTRU has determined that the cell is not barred for camping purpose.

[0167] In an example, the WTRU may determine to transmit the uplink signal if / when the WTRU has valid configuration to transmit the uplink signal (e.g., the UL WUS and / or RACH etc.) to request the on-demand SIB1 from this cell.

[0168] For the SIB1-less cell satisfying all the configurational aspects related to the on-demand SIB1 transmission, the WTRU may be configured to validate the cell suitability for the on-demand SIB1 based upon the one or more signal measurements from the SIB 1 -less cell. The WTRU may be configured to validate if the signal quality of the cell is better than a configured and / or specified threshold, i.e., the cell is good enough for the WTRU in case the network wakes up the cell in response to the WTRU transmitted signal.

[0169] In one embodiment, the WTRU may be configured with one or more signal measurement conditions for the SIB1 -less and for another cell (e.g., the anchor cell etc.) to determine if the WTRU may transmit a request for the on-demand SIB1 transmission from the SIB1-less cell. In an example, the WTRU will determine to transmit a request for the on-demand SIB1 transmission if the signal quality of the SIB1 -less cell is better than a first threshold, and the signal quality of the other cell (e.g., an anchor cell) is worse than a second threshold.

[0170] For the signal measurements over the SIB1-less cell and another cell (e.g., the anchor cell), the WTRU may be configured to measure the signal quality of the cell through one or more of the RSRP measurements, RSRRQ measurements, SI NR measurements, and / or RSSI measurements etc. The WTRU may be configured (and / or preconfigured) or provided different thresholds for different measurement types, e.g., an RSRP threshold to use for RSRP based measurements, an RSRQ threshold to be used for RSRQ measurements etc. The RSRP (or in general signal quality) may be computed over the SSB received from thetarget cell. In an alternative design, the WTRU may estimate RSRP of the cell through a modified form of cell sync transmissions. In an example, the modified sync transmissions may be PSS only, a combination of PSS and SSS, a different grouping of PSS, SSS and / or PBCH. In an alternative design, the WTRU may estimate the cell RSRP through a different set of DL synchronization sequences that the cell may transmit. In yet another example, the WTRU may estimate the cell RSRP from a keep-alive signal transmitted by the cell where the WTRU may have known the physical properties of the keep-alive signal from another cell, such as the anchor cell. In an example, the WTRU may determine the keep-alive signal properties based upon some information provided by another cell, e.g. the anchor cell. In an example, the modified sync signals and / or the keep-alive signal transmissions from the SI B 1 -less cell may be pre-specified and the WTRU will use these known signals and sequences to estimate the RSRP of the SIB1 -less cell. The WTRU may be provided different offsets for different signals over which the WTRU measures the signal quality. For example, the WTRU may be provided with an SSB related offset, OJSSB, when the WTRU makes measurements over SSB, and O_slim_SSB for a slim (shorter) version of SSB and so on. The thresholds and offsets to be used for signal quality measurements may be different for the SI B 1 -less cell and another cell (e.g., an anchor cell). For the cells in one of the NES states, the thresholds and offsets may be related to the NES state of the SIB1-less cell when known or configured. As an example, one set of thresholds and offsets are to be applied for a 1stNES state, and / or another set of thresholds and offsets are to be applied for a 2ndNES state, etc.

[0171] In an example, the WTRU may determine to transmit the on-demand SIB1 transmission request if the cell selection (and / or reselection) conditions to the SIB 1 -less cell are satisfied. The parameters and offsets required to evaluate cell selection and / or re-selection conditions for the SIB1-less cell may be known to the WTRU through configuration and / or pre-configuration, provided through another cell, e.g., by the anchor cell and / or because the default values may be known a-priori, etc.

[0172] In an example, the WTRU will determine to transmit the on-demand SIB1 transmission request to the SIB1-less cell based upon the signal quality measurements of the SIB1-less cell and if the WTRU detects any other cells. In one example, the WTRU may transmit the on-demand SIB1 transmission request to the SIB1 -less cell if the signal quality of the SIB-less cell is better than a 1stthreshold and the WTRU does not detect any other suitable cell where the suitable cell is according to the 3GPP defined criterion.

[0173] In another example, the WTRU may transmit the on-demand SIB1 transmission request to the SI B1- less cell if the signal quality of the SIB-less cell is better than a threshold and the WTRU has detected at least one other suitable cell, and the signal quality difference between the SI B 1 -less cell and the strongest of the cell is larger than another threshold. In an example of this comparative condition is in the following:RSRP_of_SIB1 -less_Cell - RSRP_of_the_Strongest_Suitable_Cell > Threshold

[0174] In an example, this condition is to expose the comparative example. Other relative signal strength conditions with different offsets, thresholds, over different signal measurements or different measurement quantities may be specified for the WTRU to determine if it transmits on-demand SIB1 transmission request. Specific events comparing the relative strengths of the cells may be provided, for example.

[0175] The WTRU may transmit the request for the on demand SIB1 , using the RACH and / or the WUS, once a configuration is available and valid.

[0176] In one embodiment, the WTRU may perform transmission of the WUS indication to request for the OD-SIB1 using a resource (e.g. a PRACH preamble and / or a RACH occasion etc.) associated with a valid WUS configuration when any of the triggering conditions are met. Such transmission of the WUS indication may be done with or without using a Tx beam based on the received and / or pre-defined WUS configuration. When operating in INACTIVE state, the WTRU may transmit the request for the OD-SIB1 using SDT resources, which may be preconfigured and / or received when transitioning to the INACTIVE state.

[0177] In an example, when configured with at least a mapping configuration corresponding to the association between the WUS resources (e.g. one or more PRACH preambles, and / or one or more ROs) and / or SSB beams, the WTRU may transmit the WUS indication using the resources in time, frequency, and / or spatial domains associated with the one or more SSB beams. In an example, the WTRU may apply an UL Tx spatial filter for the Tx beam when transmitting the WUS indication using one or more ROs in the time and frequency domains. Such spatial relation and / or filter for the Tx beam may be determined based on the SSB associated with the resources.

[0178] In another example, when configured with one or more WUS repetition parameters and / or when not configured with WUS resource-to-SSB association info, the WTRU may transmit the WUS indication using the same resource (e.g. a PRACH preamble) in multiple transmission instances according to the repetition parameters. Such parameters associated with WUS repetitions may include enabling and / or disabling of repetitions, a number of repetitions, and repetitions in time, frequency, and / or spatial domains, for example. In a scenario where the WTRU may detect multiple SSB beams and a condition for triggering WUS indication for OD-SIB1 is met, the WTRU may transmit the WUS indication using the same resource using multiple Tx beams corresponding to the detected SSB beams. In another example, when detecting multiple SSB beams, the WTRU may determine the best SSB beam based on the RSRP measurements of the beams. The WTRU may indicate the best SSB beam with WUS by transmitting the WUS indication using an UL Tx spatial filter determined based on the best SSB beam and / or in a transmission resource and / or occasion associated with the best SSB beam, for example.

[0179] In an example, corresponding to the case after transmitting the WUS indication and / or after receiving the OD-SIB1 , the WTRU may indicate the best SSB beam (e.g. beam with the highest RSRP among one or more detected SSB beams) by transmitting the PRACH preamble associated with the determined best beam using the PRACH resources received via the OD-SIB1. When transmitting the PRACH preamble, the WTRU may use the one or more ROs and / or UL Tx spatial filter for the Tx beam, which may be determined based on the best SSB beam.

[0180] The WTRU may monitor for the demand SIB1 reception following transmission of the RACH and / or the WUS.

[0181] Following the transmission of the WUS and / or the request for the on demand SI B 1 (e.g., using the RAC), the WTRU may monitor for reception of the on demand SIB1. The WTRU may monitor the PDCCH and / or the PDSCH for reception of the requested OD-SIB1. For the reception of scheduling of the on demand SI B 1 , the WTRU may monitor the PDCCH addressed to the SI-RNTI, the C-RNTI (if known or provided part of the RA procedure), the NES-RNTI, the temporary C-RNTI provided part of the RA initiated for the OD-SIB1 request, the RA-RNTI of the selected RO, or a new RNTI provided in Msg2 / B / 4. For example, multiple WTRUs may initiate RA for requesting the on demand SI B 1 , the network may reply to all requesting WTRUs using the common RNTI (e.g. the TC-RNTI, the RA-RNTI, and / or the SI-RNTI etc.). The received on-demand SIB may be scheduled on the DL-SCH (e.g. PDSCH).

[0182] In an example, the RAR or the MsgB or the Msg4 may provide the resource allocation for the PDSCH resource on which the on demand SIB1 is to be received and / or monitored by the WTRU. For example, a special or new type of RAR MAC CE may be defined for the response of the Msg1 preamble transmitted to request the on demand SIB1. The WTRU may be configured for an alternative RAR window for reception of the response to the request of the OD-SIB1. The alternative RAR window may be started with an alternative (e.g. predefined and / or configured) value and may start right after the request (e.g. the preamble and / or the WUS) transmission or a certain time gap after the preamble transmission (e.g. where the gap is predefined and / or configured). Such alternative RAR may be differentiated by a certain MAC subheader. The WTRU may keep the window running and monitor the PDCCH addressed to the RA-RNTI, the SI-RNTI, and / or the NES- RNTI while the window is running. The WTRU may stop such RAR window upon reception of the RAR and / or upon reception of the OD-SIB1. The resource allocation of the PDSCH may point to frequency allocation, a time domain allocation (e.g. a number of slots, start slot, duration), and / or other scheduling properties. The response to the OD-SIB1 request (e.g. the RAR) may not contain given OD-SIB1 allocation, but rather may be understood by the WTRU that the OD-SIB1 will be scheduled at the next SIB1 transmission period that is provisioned in legacy systems or during the non-NES state.

[0183] The response to the OD-SIB1 request (e.g. the msg1) may include a repetition associated with the received OD-SIB1 and / or a periodicity associated with the SIB1 or the SIB1 repetitions. Such can be indicated in the payload of the RAR, the MsgB, and / or the Msg4 etc. The response to the OD-SIB1 request (e.g. the msg1) may include a backoff indicator, upon reception of which, the WTRU may refrain from retransmitting the request (e.g. the msg1) for a predefined or configured period of timer or for a random period selected between 0 and the indicated backoff value. The backoff value may be predefined instead. In one example, when the NW does not want to wish to disrupt its sleep, the response to the transmitted request may indicate a termination or a reject indication to the request. Upon reception of such reject indication, the WTRU may refrain from retransmitting the msg1 and / or the WUS, and the WTRU may perform cell re-selection, and / or acquire (and / or re-acquire) the on demand SIB1 or the WUS configuration from another cell.

[0184] In one example, the resource allocation for the OD-SIB1 may not be explicitly indicated in the RAR. The WTRU may be predefined to the implicitly determine the timing of reception of the OD-SIB1 (including thestart and duration). For example, a time gap between the Msg1 , the request, and / or the WUS transmission slot and the OD-SIB 1 start slot may be predefined and assumed by the WTRU following transmitting the OD-SIB1 request (e.g. the msg1). The payload of RAR alternatively may point to one gap among a predefined number of possibilities. The WTRU may assume that the time gap starts instead following the reception of the Msg2, the MsgB, and / or the Msg4 or after it determines that the RA procedure for requesting the OD-SIB1 is successful.

[0185] In one embodiment, if the request for the OD-SIB1 is transmitted using the SDT resources, the WTRU may monitor DL SDT resources and / or paging for mobile terminated (MT-SDT) triggering the MT-SDT procedure. If the WTRU is configured with MO-SDT, the WTRU may prioritize transmitting the OD-SIB1 request using such resource (e.g. over other RA resources). If the WTRU is configured with the MT-SDT, the WTRU may monitor paging for the MT-SDT for the reception of the WUS configuration for requesting the OD-SIB1 , e.g. instead of acquiring the configuration using an alternative method.

[0186] In one embodiment, the WTRU may transmit a feedback indication based on the reception of the OD-SIB1. Such feedback indication may be transmitted using any of the resource provided via the OD-SIB1 (e.g. the PRACH resources, the PUCCH, and / or the PUSCH etc.) or resource in the WUS configuration.

[0187] The feedback indication may be triggered for the following purposes, for example, the OD-SIB1 reception confirmation. For example, the WTRU may transmit an ACK indication (e.g. HARQ ACK) for confirming the successful reception of the OD-SIB1 in PDSCH.

[0188] In an example, the feedback indication may be triggered for requesting for additional SI messages (e.g., additional SI messages, SIBx, and / or other SI etc.). For example, the WTRU may transmit a request indication for additional information elements and / or messages associated with the SIB1 (e.g. scheduling info for the NES adaptations, request for resources, and / or cell barring info etc.), which may not be provided with the OD-SIB1.

[0189] In an example, the feedback indication may be triggered for requesting the SSBs. For example, the WTRU may send a request indication for additional and / or adjacent SSBs when any of the received and / or detected SSBs are unsuitable for establishing connectivity (e.g. the RSRP measurements of the SSB beams are less than the RSRP threshold).

[0190] In an example, the feedback indication may be triggered for the measurements of channel conditions. For example, the WTRU may send the measurements report (e.g. RSRP and / or RSRQ) made on the SSBs and / or the DMRS associated with the PDSCH containing the OD-SIB1.

[0191] In an example, the feedback indication may be triggered for requesting to transition to CONNECTED state. For example, the WTRU may initiate the RACH procedure by transmitting the Msg1 and / or the MsgA when any conditions for requesting to transition to CONNECTED state from IDLE and / or INACTUVE state are met. The WTRU may initiate an RRC establishment (or re-establishment) procedure (e.g. from the IDLE mode) or the RRC resume procedure (e.g. form Inactive state). The WTRU may multiplex such RRC message (e.g.establishment, re-establishment or resume) in a PUSCH payload (e.g. in the msg3 or the msg5). The WTRU may initiate another random access procedure for such purpose.

[0192] In an example, the WTRU may provide such feedback on resources provided part of the RA procedure, or the WTRU may initiate another RA procedure to provide such feedback. The feedback may be part of the MAC CE, the RRC message, or the PUSCH payload (e.g. the Msg 3, the Msg5, the MsgA, and / or the part of an SDT payload etc.). The WTRU may provide such feedback in a subset of the RRC states (e.g. inactive and / or connected state).

[0193] In an embodiment, the WTRU may camp on the cell that is the SIB1-less. There may be two possibilities for using the configuration to request the on demand SIB1 on such cell: in the first is the WTRU has the stored configuration and the WTRU may have determined that that this NES cell can be the SIB1 -less. In the other case, the WTRU does not have a stored valid configuration for requesting the on demand SI B 1 on the NES cell, then needs to read the SI from another cell and potentially perform cell re-selection.

[0194] The WTRU may receive configuration for requesting the on demand SIB1 from the non-NES cell.

[0195] In an example, the WTRU may receive the configuration of an “SIBIAreaScope” for requesting the OD-SIB1 (e.g. the WUS configuration) from a first cell (e.g. the anchor cell) for requesting and receiving the OD-SIB1 on a second cell (e.g. the NES cell). The configuration within the SIBIAreaScop may include a list of associated cells (e.g. a list PCIs), a PLMN ID, an applicable tracking area, an applicable RAN paging area, and / or value tag etc. The SIBIAreaScope defines the validity of the OD-SIB1 request configuration within an area or the list of cells configured. The WTRU may assume that the configuration is valid only with the configured list of cells, the configured PLMN, and / or the configured RAN paging area or tracking etc. The WTRU may assume that outside the configured RAN paging area or tracking area, the WTRU may monitor paging for the reception of the SIB1 and / or the SIB1 request configuration etc. The WTRU may assume that inside the configured RAN paging area, the WTRU may monitor paging for the reception of the SIB1 and / or the SIB1 request configuration. Upon crossing a TA boundary and / or RAN paging area boundary, the WTRU may transmit a TA update to a cell that is not SIB1-less, not SSB-less, and / or not applying SSB time domain adaptation (more generally not in the NES state), possibly only after acquiring the SIBIAreaScope configuration of the newly re-selected cell in the new tracking and / or RAN paging area etc.

[0196] In an example, the anchor cell can broadcast in the SIBIAreaScope a list of associated cells (e.g. PCIs) for the SIB1 acquisition and for the WUS configuration. The SIBIAreaScope may be configured part of si-Schedulinglnfo. The configuration may indicate which subset of SIBs, SI messages, and / or SI configurations etc. are common between the cells. There may a be a subset of the default WUS and / or the OD-SIB1 request configuration that is not common and needs to be determined or a cell specific basis, including but not limited to: RO-to-SSB mapping, of any of the configuration parameters listed under the default WUS configuration section. In such case, the WTRU may only apply the common configuration when requesting the OD-SIB1 on another cell (e.g. the NES cell). For example, some configuration may be applied for a subset of SSBs (e.g. if they are selected during the RA procedure). For example, the WTRU may select a subset of available SSBswhen requesting the 0D-SIB1 as a part of the RA procedure, where the selectable SSBs may be configured in the SIBIAreaScope. The system information from a given cell or specification may point to which subset of a common configuration is applicable, which configuration SIBs are applicable from the common configuration, which lEs from the common configuration is applicable, or whether configurations are shared between the cells or broadcast separately. The WTRU may determine whether the configuration in the SIBIAreaScope is applicable form a property of SSB transmitted in the NES cell, an indication in the SI (e.g. in the MIB and / or the PBCH etc.) in the camped and / or NES cell, an indication in coreset 0, the NES state of the NES cell, a paging indication from the NES cell, and / or from an in dictation in PDSCH from the NES cell.

[0197] In an example, the WTRU determines whether the received configuration for requesting the OD- SIB1 is valid or not.

[0198] In one embodiment, the WTRU may determine if it has valid configuration for signal transmission requesting the OD-SIB1 prior to transmitting the signal. The conditions to validate may be pre-specified and can be known to the WTRU, or they may be provided to the WTRU as part of the configuration (or preconfiguration) or configuration of the signal transmission.

[0199] In an example, the WTRU may determine the validity of the OD-SIB1 request signaling configuration based upon time-based conditions. The WTRU may validate with respect to a reference time, e.g., UTC time, if the configuration is valid or not. The reference time can be the system time of the cell, e.g., the cell providing the signal configuration. In another example, the reference time can be the time of the SI B 1 -less cell.

[0200] In an example, the WTRU may determine the validity of the OD-SIB1 request signaling configuration based upon the coverage area. In one example, the WTRU may determine the configuration to be valid as a function of the best measured cell and / or camped cell being part of the area scope provided with the configuration. The configuration may apply for a number of cells, but within a cell there can be a subset of information elements that are applicable as a function of the camped cell (e.g., as a function of the PCI and / or the SSB etc.).

[0201] In an example, the WTRU may determine the validity of the OD-SIB1 request signaling configuration based upon a stored value tag being the same as the measured value tag. The WTRU is provided with one value of the value tag as part of the configuration and the WTRU computes a 2ndvalue tag based upon the signals received from the SIB1 -less cell. The value tag computation may follow known method and / or steps based upon a set of received signals. In one example the value tag may be computed based upon the received SSB, e.g. by using certain information elements from the SSB and / or the PBCH. The examples of value tag computation may include computation based upon a cell identity, a cell timing, a cell barring, and / or a cell CORESET 0 information etc.

[0202] In an example, the WTRU may determine the validity of the OD-SIB1 request signaling configuration based upon the WTRU location. The WTRU may be provided with a reference location as part of the configuration and if the WTRU determines its location within a distance threshold from the reference location, the WTRU will consider the configuration valid. The reference location and the distance threshold can beprovided to the WTRU as part of the configuration for the 0D-SIB1 signaling configuration. In one example, the WTRU may determine its location from one or more GNSS signals, from Bluetooth points, and / or from RF tags etc.

[0203] In an example, the WTRU may determine the validity of the OD-SIB1 request signaling configuration based upon RAN paging area and / or tracking area. With the configuration for the OD-SIB1 request signaling, the WTRU may be provided with a list of paging areas and / or tracking areas where the configuration is assumed valid. Prior to transmitting the OD-SIB1 request, the WTRU will validate whether the current paging area and / or tracking area is part of the areas provided as part of the configuration.

[0204] In an example, the WTRU may determine the validity of the OD-SIB1 request signaling configuration based upon one or more physical properties of the received SSB from the SI B 1 -less cell. The properties may include the structure of the SSB, e.g., a PSS alone, a PSS plus SSS, or a slim version of SSB etc. is being transmitted by the SIB1 -less cell. The properties may include the periodicity of the SSB transmission. The WTRU may be allowed to use the OD-SIB1 request signal transmission configuration for one range of SSB periodicities from the SI B 1 -less cell, for example. In an example, the WTRU may determine the validity of the OD-SIB1 request signaling based upon one or more of the synchronization sequences. As an example, the WTRU may be configured to use the configuration only for cells applying a special sync sequence for the PSS, and / or for the SSS, or for the DMRS of the PBCH etc. In another example, the WTRU may be configured to determine the validity of the configuration based upon a special scrambling and / or operation that the SIB1 -less cell is applying to the synchronization sequences.

[0205] In an example, the WTRU may determine the validity of the OD-SIB1 request signaling configuration based upon the NES state or the cell DTX activation status of the SIB1 -less cell or the anchor cell. In one example, the WTRU may be configured with configuration which is valid if the WTRU is currently camped on the anchor cell, but the anchor cell is moving to the NES state. In another example, the WTRU may determine the configuration valid if the SIB1 -less cell is in one of the allowed NES states where the configuration may provide a list of states in which the WTRU will treat the configuration valid.

[0206] In an example, the WTRU may determine the validity of the OD-SIB1 request signaling configuration based upon whether it is obtained from same cell or a different cell. This may for example be the case when the WTRU is configured with restrictions as to only the anchor cell may provide the configuration. In another example, the restriction could be such that only the configurations received from the same SIB1 -less cell itself are valid. For this case, the WTRU may need to acquire other SI (SIBs) from the SIB 1 -less cell. In an example, the WTRU may determine the validity of the OD-SIB1 request signaling configuration based upon whether other SI need to be required (for which ever reason).

[0207] In an example, the WTRU may determine the validity of the OD-SIB1 request signaling based upon information received from the SIB1 -less cell itself. In one example, the MIB information from the SIB1 -less cell may include a value flag and / or validity information etc. The WTRU may determine the configuration valid if the MIB provides a value true in one example. In another example, the MIB from the SIB 1 -less cell may providean indication which the WTRU will compare with the configuration to determine if the configuration for the OD- SIB1 is valid or not.

[0208] In an example, the WTRU may determine the validity of the OD-SIB1 request signaling configuration based upon an indication of change of the system information. In one example, the WTRU will determine the OD-SIB1 request signaling configuration to be valid if after receiving the configuration, it has not received any indication of change of system information. In another example, the WTRU may consider the configuration to be valid if it has not received paging indication of the SI configuration, e.g. during the DRX.

[0209] In an example, the WTRU may determine the validity of the OD-SIB1 request signaling configuration based upon the measurements over its currently camped cell. As an example, the WTRU will determine the OD-SIB1 configurations valid only if the measurements on the current cell fall below a configured threshold. In another example, the validity for the OD-SIB1 configuration may be related to the camped cell not being suitable cell anymore.

[0210] In an example, the WTRU may determine the validity of the OD-SIB1 request signaling configuration based upon if the WTRU has performed cell reselection to the cell outside and / or inside of the list defined in the SIBIAreaScope. (i.e. otherwise, the WTRU monitors paging for notification of the SIB1 delivery). In one example, the WTRU may determine the configuration to be valid if after receiving the configuration the WTRU has not re-selected to any cell outside of the paging area of the cell providing the configuration, or if the WTRU has not re-selected to any cell outside of the listed paging areas or tracking areas which are provided as part of the SIBIAreaScope.

[0211] In an example, if the WTRU does not have the valid WUS configuration, e.g., the received OD-SIB1 request and / or the WUS configuration from the first cell is not valid for the second, camped, and / or NES cell (e.g. the second cell PCI is not in the list configured in the SIBIAreaScope, value tag isn’t matching, or the WUS configuration has expired, and / or at least one of the conditions in the previous section is not satisfied etc.), the WTRU may perform one or more of the following, for example, the WTRU may attempt to acquire a valid WUS configuration from another cell and, if successful, transmits the WUS (e.g. the PRACH) to the second cell based on the acquired WUS configuration, for example, by acquisition of the SI from another cell in the same area, if possible; where success implies that the second cell PCI is included in the SIBIAreaScope broadcast by the other cell; and / or the other cell may be the first cell (e.g. if the received WUS configuration has expired after a period has elapsed) and / or a third cell (e.g. if the second cell PCI is not included in the SIBIAreaScope of the first cell) etc.

[0212] If the WTRU is in the connected mode, the WTRU may request the configuration using a dedicated request message and / or the WUS from the serving cell, possibly if the serving cell is in the same SIBIAreaScope as the capacity cell or when the WTRU determines that the stored configuration is not valid anymore, and / or when the WTRU is about to transition to Inactive state. The WTRU may request the configuration upon mobility to the NES cell.

[0213] If stored configuration is not valid on the camped cell, the WTRU may monitor during the DRX on durations for the WUS and / or the SIB1 configuration reception or modification notification of stored configuration (e.g. an indication in short message, the CCCH, the DCCH, and / or the RRC message etc.).

[0214] In an example, the WTRU may fall back to the idle mode (e.g., from the inactive state).

[0215] In an example, the WTRU may perform the RRC establishment procedure (or RRC re-establishment procedure).

[0216] In an example, if the WTRU does not have a valid OD-SIB1 request and / or the WUS configuration, e.g., the received WUS configuration from the first cell is not valid (e.g. second cell PCI is not in the list configured in the SI B 1 AreaScope or the WUS configuration has expired or at least one of the conditions in the previous section is not satisfied) and / or the WTRU is not able to acquire system information and / or the OD- SIB1 request configuration from any other cell valid for the camped cell (e.g. the NES cell), the WTRU may perform cell re-selection if it cannot acquire a valid WUS configuration for the second cell. The WTRU may further consider the cell as barred, e.g., if such condition is met. The WTRU may further perform the RRC establishment procedure (or RRC re-establishment procedure), e.g. if such condition is met. The WTRU may further fallback to the idle mode, if not already there, e.g. if such condition is met.

[0217] The WTRU may perform a temporary cell reselection to another cell to acquire configuration for the OD-SIB1 then reselect back to the NES one it has a valid WUS configuration for it. For example, if the WTRU needs to transmit the uplink request to receive the applicable WUS configuration, the WTRU may perform a temporary cell reselection. The WTRU may transmit the WUS on such cell, then monitor the response to the WUS on the NES cell and / or monitor paging on the NES cell, to receive the OD-SIB1 or applicable configuration for transmission of OD-SIB1 etc. In such case, the WTRU may not consider the NES cell as barred.

[0218] In an example, the WTRU may be predefined or configured with a multitude of periodicities associated with broadcast reception of the SIB1, the MIB, the MSI, the PBCH, the SIBx -where x is >1-, a subset of SI messages, and / or a subset of the SI configurations, where the periodicity may be applicable in a given: NES state, if the cell is in SIB1-less operation or normal operation, if the cell is in SSB-less operation or normal operation, if the cell is in SSB adaptation in the time domain with a different periodicity, whether the cell has an associated cell (e.g. anchor cell) from which the WTRU can acquire the SIB1 and / or the OD-SIB1 request configuration etc.

[0219] The WTRU may determine the periodicity associated with one lower level of SI and / or SIB from reading a higher level configuration. For example, the PBCH or the MSI may indicate the periodicity of the SIB1 ; The SIB1 may indicate the periodicity of SIBx and so on.

[0220] In an implementation, the WTRU may be predefined with one or more of: the SIB 1 , the MSI, and / or the PBCH periodicity 1 , where the SIB1 is transmitted by a reduced periodicity and / or repetition during the NES state (e.g. as a function of the received SSB and / or indication of the NES state in the MSI etc.); Periodicity 2, where subset of the SI messages and / or the WUS configuration within the SIB1 are transmitted in the NESstate, e.g., essential SI, MSI transmitted at periodic 1 , the SIB1 transmitted at periodicity 2; and / or Periodicity 3, where full SI B 1 is transmitted in the non-NES state (e.g. legacy) with legacy repetition number.

[0221] The WTRU may be configured or predefined with a periodicity per SIBx, where x belongs to {1 ,2,3, ... etc}. The WTRU may be configured or predefined with a periodicity per SI message within a given SIBx periodicity. Such periodicities may be configured by SIB and / or SI messages from higher number SIBs or from the MSI.

[0222] The WTRU may be configured or predefined to determine the SIBx periodicity from the SSB periodicity and / or a property of the SSB, from an indication in the MIB, an indication or a scheduling property of coreset 0, an indication and / or scheduling property of the PBCH. The WTRU may determine the SIBx periodicity and the SI content based on received SSB structure and / or property (e.g. slim SSB and full SSBs are transmitted at different periodicities, and how that impact SIB and / or MSI acquisition etc.). For example, based on active SSBs and / or a property of the SSB, WTRU can figure out when and / or which SI is transmitted and / or which information elements and / or which SIBs are transmitted. For example, the SSB tx assumption 1 may be mapped to SIBx tx assumption A, SSB tx assumption 2 may be mapped to SIBx tx assumption B, and so on. The NES state 1 may be mapped to SIBx tx assumption A, NES state 2 may be mapped to SIBx tx assumption B, and so on.

[0223] The WTRU may determine the SIBx periodicity and / or the SI content based on the index of the SIB for which the WTRU is monitoring. The WTRU may determine the SIBx periodicity and / or the SI content based on reception of a notification (e.g. in paging, short message, etc) indicating a given periodicity or pointing to a given periodicity from a predefined table / configuration. The WTRU may assume that repetitions of the SIBx or given SI message may only be applicable in a non-NES state. The WTRU may be predefined or configured with a number of SIBx, or a subset of its configuration, with a given repetition or period, e.g. per NES state.

[0224] The WTRU may acquire a pre-defined OD-SIB1 request signaling configuration from a preconfiguration with or without additional signaling.

[0225] In an embodiment, the WTRU may use a known or pre-defined signaling configuration to request the OD-SIB1 transmission from the SIB 1 -less cell.

[0226] In an example, the network may be ensuring the provisioning of network wide configuration which WTRUs may use to request the OD-SIB1 from the SIB 1 -less cell.

[0227] In an example, a set of configurations are specified (or pre-specified) known to the WTRUs for use as the OD-SBI1 request, and the WTRU may determine one suitable configuration to use in the given SIB1- less cell. The WTRU determination of a suitable configuration for a given cell may depend upon one of the physical properties of the sync signals received from the SIB1 -less cell or through explicit indication from the SIB1 -less cell. One of the physical properties of the sync signals or explicit indication may be in the form a row index to a mapping table of the OD-SIB1 request signaling configurations. One or more mapping tables may be pre-defined as a function of the type of the signal the WTRU is configured and / or instructed to transmit to request the OD-SIB1. In one example, there could be one mapping table for the RACH and / or one mappingtable for the UL WUS signal transmission. The pre-specified mapping tables may provide the time, the frequency resource, the transmission occasion, the periodicity, a nature, a type, and / or a sequence of the signal to be transmitted as a request for the OD-SIB1.

[0228] In an example, the pre-defined configuration (e.g., the mapping tables) may provide the WTRU the UL PRBs and / or a reference point to transmit the OD-SIB1 signaling. The mapping tables may provide the UL resource and / or UL resource reference with respect to the DL reference and / or the DL SSB location in frequency domain.

[0229] In an example, the WTRU may determine the UL resource (and / or PRBs) or a UL reference to determine the frequency location for the OD-SBI1 request transmission based upon an indication from the SI B 1 -less cell where the SI B 1 -less cell may transmit this indication as part of the SSB or some limited broadcast signaling. In another example, the WTRU may determine the UL resource or UL frequency reference based upon one of the physical properties of the signals transmitted from the SI B 1 -less cell. These signals may include the SSB, the slim SSB, and / or the DL keep-alive signals etc. In one example, the explicit or implicit indication may provide the frequency reference (and / or PRB). In another example, the WTRU may determine the cell to be TDD when no explicit or implicit indication is transmitted.

[0230] In an example, the WTRU may determine a default WUS configuration mapping table based upon the cell NES state, or periodicity of the sync signals transmitted from the SIB 1 -less cell.

[0231] The WTRU may monitor for an indication in the paging occasion to receive the DCI and / or the PDSCH for the SIB1 or to receive a change in the current SIB1 configuration including other SIB messages (e.g., the SIB2 and / or the SIB3, etc.). The WTRU may monitor for an updated WUS and / or SIB1 configuration (e.g., an indication in short message, the CCCH, the DCCH and / or the RRC message etc.) during the DRX on durations.

[0232] The WTRU may change the SIB1 monitoring periodicity based on the received notification. This may include a change in periodicity, repetition (e.g., increased SIB1 periodicity and / or repetition periodicity for the NES state SIB1.)

[0233] The WTRU may be configured with a more that one (or a set) of SI modification periods (e.g., modificationPeriodCoeff , where each SI modification period may be applicable to specific types of SI (e.g., one for the SIB1 , and another for remining SIBs etc.) Alternately, network may configure the SI modification period based on cells NES state - e.g., one modificationPeriodCoeff for the non-NES state, other ones for specific NES states. The SI modification period may depend on the specific NES state configuration (e.g., periodicity of NES state).

[0234] In an example, the WTRU may request a change in its DRX cycle based on received indication of change in the SIB1 configuration so as to better align with the new SIB1 configuration (e.g., new SIB1 periodicity and / or repetition periodicity etc.)

[0235] The WTRU may transmit a request for on demand SIB1 , using RACH, without a valid configuration.

[0236] In the absence of a valid configuration for requesting OD-SIB1 (e.g., RACH configuration provided by the anchor cell), the WTRU may initiate the RACH procedure using a common RACH configuration and / or a predefined WUS configuration (e.g., derived from received SSB property), possibly on the same or a different (e.g. associated) cell. In an example, the common RACH configuration may be an area specific configuration, properties of the SSB, slim-SIB (including active or muted SSB patterns, MIB information etc.) which may be used to map to (contention free or contention based) PRACH resource and / or preamble sequence based on some predefined table. The PRACH resource configuration may include additional parameters (e.g., initial transmit power and power control parameters, ROs, preamble format, timing and / or frequency domain resource information etc.).

[0237] The network may configure the WTRU with RACH resources for an SI request (CF resources). The WTRU may use these resources to request the SIB1 when cell is in the NES state.

[0238] The WTRU may be configured with multiple RACH partitions which the WTRU may then use to request the SI. In one example, the WTRU may be configured with specific RACH partition (and RACH resources etc.) specifically for indicating request for various SI, for e.g., specific partitions to indicate the SIB1 plus other SI, SIB1 only, and / or WUS only etc.

[0239] In one embodiment, the WTRU may only request other SI (e.g., SIB2, SIB3, ..., SIB9) using one or more RACH resources within a subset of available ROs (e.g., those overlapping with the SIB1 transmission or WUS occasions etc.).

[0240] In an embodiment, the WTRU may wait for a random access response (e.g., the Msg 2) before providing an indication to request other Sis ( e.g., in the Msg3 transmission). The WTRU may multiplex an indication of WUS as part of the Msg 3. The network may provide the WTRU with the WUS configuration as part of the RA response (e.g., Msg2 and / or MsgB etc.).

[0241] The WTRU may perform one or more procedures for the on demand SIB1 acquisition from assistance by the anchor cell.

[0242] The WTRU receives configuration of the SIBIAreaScope for the WUS configuration from the first cell, with an associated list of cells (e.g. the PCIs), and value tag. The SIBIAreaScope defines the validity of the configuration within an area. For example, the anchor cell may broadcast in the SIBIAreaScope a list of associated cells (e.g. the PCIs) for the SIB1 acquisition and for WUS configuration.

[0243] The WTRU camps on a second cell and determines that it is SI B 1 -less, e.g., as a function of one or more of, reception of an alternative message (e.g. the MAC CE, the CCCH, and / or the DCCH message etc.) on the PDSCH that is scheduled by the PDCCH for the SIB1 which indicates that the second cell is SI B 1 -less, where the scheduling is masked by a SI-RNTI or a NES-RNTI; reception of an indication received from another cell (e.g. the anchor and / or an associated cell etc.); and / or reception of an indication in a paging occasion indicating the cell has become the SIB1 -less or a change in the SIB1 and / or the WUS configuration (e.g. in short message, PDSCH, and / or RRC signaling etc.).

[0244] The WTRU does not have a valid WUS configuration, e.g., the received WUS configuration from the first cell is not valid (e.g. second cell PCI is not in the list configured in the SIBIAreaScope or the WUS configuration has expired), the WTRU performs one or more of the following, in an example, the WTRU may attempt to acquire the valid WUS configuration from another cell and, if successful, transmits the WUS (e.g. the PRACH) to the second cell based on the acquired WUS configuration. For example, where success implies that the second cell PCI is included in the SIBIAreaScope broadcast by the other cell. For example, the other cell may be the first cell (e.g. if the received WUS configuration has expired after a period has elapsed) and / or a third cell (e.g. if the second cell PCI is not included in the SIBIAreaScope of the first cell).

[0245] The WTRU may perform cell re-selection if the WTRU cannot acquire the valid WUS configuration for the second cell.

[0246] In an example, if the WUS configuration received from the first cell is valid (e.g. based on the camped cell PCI, the received SSB property, the SIBIAreaScope, a value tag associated with the SIBIAreaScope, and / or time since SI has been stored etc.). The WTRU may transmit the WUS (e.g. the PRACH) to second cell based on the received WUS configuration from the first cell, e.g. upon satisfying at least one trigger (e.g. channel measurement to the NES cell, the anchor cell, and / or relative measurements of both cells).

[0247] The WTRU may perform one or more procedures for the on demand SIB1 acquisition from the standalone NES cell.

[0248] In one embodiment, a WTRU determines the camped cell is SIB1 -less (and / or reduced periodicity) as function of one or more of: reception of an alternative message on the PDSCH that scheduled for the SIB1 indicating the SIB1-less or an alternate periodicity, where the scheduling is masked by the SI-RNTI and / or the NES-RNTI etc., e.g., coreset 0 points to when and / or if the PDSCH for the SIB1 is scheduled; reception of an indication in broadcast signaling in MIB form the NES cell; reception of an indication received from another cell (e.g. the anchor and / or the associated cell etc.); reception of an indication in a paging occasion indicating the cell has become SIB 1 -less and / or a change in the SIB1 and / or the WUS configuration (e.g. in short message, PDSCH, and / or RRC signaling etc.); an SSB property (e.g. the slim SSB, the PBCH-less, the PSS-only, the sequence type, and / or the SSB periodicity etc.).

[0249] The WTRU may be predefined with one or more of: SIB1 periodicity 1 , where the SIB1 is transmitted by a reduced periodicity and / or repetition during the NES state (e.g. as a function of the received SSB and / or indication of the NES state in the MSI); Periodicity 2, where subset of the SI messages (e.g. the WUS configuration) within the SIB1 are transmitted in the NES state e.g., a default WUS configuration mapping table mapping is specified and / or an indication in the MSI bits (explicit) or from SSB property (implicit) point to a row in the table for the WUS configuration, the SIB1 periodicity, the modification period, and / or the SIB1 repetition number and / or period etc.; Periodicity 3, where full SIB1 is transmitted in the non-NES state (e.g. legacy) with legacy repetition number.

[0250] The WTRU monitors for an indication in the paging occasion to receive scheduling for the PDSCH for the SIB1 or to receive a change in the SIB1 configuration (e.g., the periodicity, the repetition, and / or the SI messages etc.).

[0251] The WTRU has acquired a valid WUS configuration, the WTRU may transmit the WUS upon satisfying at least one trigger is met. Otherwise, the WTRU initiates the RACH using the RACH configure common configuration and / or determines a predefined WUS configuration from the received SSB property. In some cases, the WTRU may multiplex an indication of WUS part of the Msg3.

[0252] In an example, if the WTRU transmitted the WUS, the WTRU monitors for and / or receives the PDCCH scheduling for the on demand SIB1 on the PDSCH after successful reception of a response to the transmitted WUS (e.g. the RAR, the Msg2, the Msg4, and / or the MsgB etc.). The WTRU may monitor the Sl- RNTI or the NES-RNTI, the PRNTI, or the TC-RNTI for such scheduling etc.

[0253] In another example, the WTRU receives the on demand SIB1 scheduled by the NW, possibly after a predefined time gap following successful completion of the RA.

[0254] In an example, the WTRU provides feedback based on the on-demand SIB1 reception (e.g. the ACK, the channel condition measurements, the best SSB, and / or the request for other SI etc.).

[0255] In one embodiment, the WTRU uses the configuration received from the first cell for initiating the RACH to request the on demand SIB1 on the second cell that is SIB 1 -less. If configuration is not valid for the second cell, the WTRU acquires a valid configuration from another cell. If no configuration is possible to acquire, the WTRU performs cell re-selection. If configuration is valid for the second cell, the WTRU initiates the RACH on the second cell (e.g. the WUS) and receives an on demand SIB1 from the second cell.

[0256] The WTRU receives configuration of the SIBIAreaScope for the WUS configuration from the first cell, with an associated list of cells (e.g. the PCIs), and value tag. This the SIBIAreaScope defines the validity of the configuration within an area. For example, one anchor cell can broadcast in the SIBIAreaScope a list of associated cells (e.g. the PCIs) for the SIB1 acquisition and for the WUS configuration.

[0257] The WTRU camps on the second cell and determines that it is SIB1 -less, e.g. as a function of one or more of: reception of an alternative message (e.g. the MAC CE, the CCCH, or the DCCH message etc.) on the PDSCH that is scheduled by the PDCCH for the SIB1 which indicates that the second cell is SIB1 -less, where the scheduling is masked by the SI-RNTI and / or the NES-RNTI; reception of an indication received from another cell (e.g. the anchor and / or the associated cell etc.); reception of an indication in a paging occasion indicating the cell has become the SIB1 -less or a change in the SIB1 and / or the WUS configuration (e.g., in short message, PDSCH, and / or RRC signaling etc.).

[0258] If the WTRU does not have the valid WUS configuration, e.g., the received WUS configuration from the first cell is not valid (e.g. second cell PCI is not in the list configured in the SIBIAreaScope or the WUS configuration has expired), the WTRU performs one or more of the following: WTRU attempts to acquire a valid WUS configuration from another cell and, if successful, transmits the WUS (e.g. PRACH) to the second cell based on the acquired WUS configuration, e.g., where success implies that the second cell PCI is included inthe SIBIAreaScope broadcast by the other cell, e.g., the other cell may be the first cell (e.g. if the received WUS configuration has expired after a period has elapsed) and / or a third cell (e.g. if the second cell PCI is not included in the SIBIAreaScope of the first cell). The WTRU performs cell re-selection if the WTRU cannot acquire the valid WUS configuration for the second cell, e.g. if another cell satisfied a cell reselection legacy criterion.

[0259] If the WUS configuration received from the first cell is valid (e.g. based on the camped cell PCI, the received SSB property, the SIBIAreaScope, a value tag associated with the SIBIAreaScope, or time since SI has been stored etc.), the WTRU transmits the WUS (e.g. the PRACH) to the second cell based on the received WUS configuration from the first cell, e.g. upon satisfying at least one trigger where the trigger may be based on one or more measurements (e.g., the channel measurements) determined by the WTRU for the second cell (e.g., the NES cell), the first cell (e.g., the anchor cell), and / or relative measurements of both cells etc.

[0260] In an example, if the WTRU transmitted the WUS, the WTRU monitors for and / or receives the PDCCH scheduling for the on demand SIB1 on the PDSCH after successful reception of a response to the transmitted WUS (e.g. the RAR, the Msg2, the Msg4, and / or the MsgB etc.). The WTRU can monitor the Sl- RNTI or the NES-RNTI, the PRNTI, and / or the TC-RNTI for such scheduling.

[0261] In another example, the WTRU receives the on demand SIB1 scheduled by the NW, possibly after a predefined time gap following successful completion of the RA.

[0262] The WTRU provides feedback based on the on-demand SIB1 reception (e.g. the ACK, the channel condition measurements, a best SSB, and / or a request for other SI etc.).

[0263] In various embodiments, the WTRU may transmit the RACH, the WUS, the request for the on demand SIB1 on a sleeping cell (applying the NES) without requiring the cell to broadcast system information and / or configuration required to transmit the RACH, as such, allowing greater energy savings on a capacity cell. It may be helpful when a capacity cell (e.g., a small cell) is overlapped with coverage of a coverage cell (e.g. a macro cell), and the capacity cell applies the NES.

[0264] Although features and elements are provided above in particular combinations, one of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that each feature or element can be used alone or in any combination with the other features and elements. The present disclosure is not to be limited in terms of the particular embodiments described in this application, which are intended as illustrations of various aspects. Many modifications and variations may be made without departing from its spirit and scope, as will be apparent to those skilled in the art. No element, act, or instruction used in the description of the present application should be construed as critical or essential to the invention unless explicitly provided as such. Functionally equivalent methods and apparatuses within the scope of the disclosure, in addition to those enumerated herein, will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the foregoing descriptions. Such modifications and variations are intended to fall within the scope of the appended claims. The present disclosure is to be limited only by the terms of the appended claims, along with the full scope of equivalents to which such claims are entitled. It is to be understood that this disclosure is not limited to particular methods or systems.

[0265] The foregoing embodiments are discussed, for simplicity, with regard to the terminology and structure of infrared capable devices, i.e., infrared emitters and receivers. However, the embodiments discussed are not limited to these systems but may be applied to other systems that use other forms of electromagnetic waves or non-electromagnetic waves such as acoustic waves.

[0266] It is also to be understood that the terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only, and is not intended to be limiting. As used herein, the term ''video1' or the term ''imagery1' may mean any of a snapshot, single image and / or multiple images displayed over a time basis. As another example, when referred to herein, the terms ''user equipment" and its abbreviation "UE", the term "remote" and / or the terms "head mounted display" or its abbreviation "HMD" may mean or include (i) a wireless transmit and / or receive unit (WTRU); (ii) any of a number of embodiments of a WTRU; (iii) a wireless-capable and / or wired-capable (e.g., tetherable) device configured with, inter alia, some or all structures and functionality of a WTRU; (iii) a wireless-capable and / or wired-capable device configured with less than all structures and functionality of a WTRU; or (iv) the like. Details of an example WTRU, which may be representative of any WTRU recited herein, are provided herein with respect to FIGs. 1 A-1 D. As another example, various disclosed embodiments herein supra and infra are described as utilizing a head mounted display. Those skilled in the art will recognize that a device other than the head mounted display may be utilized and some or all of the disclosure and various disclosed embodiments can be modified accordingly without undue experimentation. Examples of such other device may include a drone or other device configured to stream information for providing the adapted reality experience.

[0267] In addition, the methods provided herein may be implemented in a computer program, software, or firmware incorporated in a computer-readable medium for execution by a computer or processor. Examples of computer-readable media include electronic signals (transmitted over wired or wireless connections) and computer-readable storage media. Examples of computer-readable storage media include, but are not limited to, a read only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), a register, cache memory, semiconductor memory devices, magnetic media such as internal hard disks and removable disks, magneto-optical media, and optical media such as CD-ROM disks, and digital versatile disks (DVDs). A processor in association with software may be used to implement a radio frequency transceiver for use in a WTRU, UE, terminal, base station, RNC, or any host computer.

[0268] Variations of the method, apparatus and system provided above are possible without departing from the scope of the invention. In view of the wide variety of embodiments that can be applied, it should be understood that the illustrated embodiments are examples only, and should not be taken as limiting the scope of the following claims. For instance, the embodiments provided herein include handheld devices, which may include or be utilized with any appropriate voltage source, such as a battery and the like, providing any appropriate voltage.

[0269] Moreover, in the embodiments provided above, processing platforms, computing systems, controllers, and other devices that include processors are noted. These devices may include at least oneCentral Processing Unit (''CPU1') and memory. In accordance with the practices of persons skilled in the art of computer programming, reference to acts and symbolic representations of operations or instructions may be performed by the various CPUs and memories. Such acts and operations or instructions may be referred to as being ''executed,1' "computer executed" or "CPU executed."

[0270] One of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the acts and symbolically represented operations or instructions include the manipulation of electrical signals by the CPU. An electrical system represents data bits that can cause a resulting transformation or reduction of the electrical signals and the maintenance of data bits at memory locations in a memory system to thereby reconfigure or otherwise alter the CPU's operation, as well as other processing of signals. The memory locations where data bits are maintained are physical locations that have particular electrical, magnetic, optical, or organic properties corresponding to or representative of the data bits. It should be understood that the embodiments are not limited to the above-mentioned platforms or CPUs and that other platforms and CPUs may support the provided methods.

[0271] The data bits may also be maintained on a computer readable medium including magnetic disks, optical disks, and any other volatile (e.g., Random Access Memory (RAM)) or non-volatile (e.g., Read-Only Memory (ROM)) mass storage system readable by the CPU. The computer readable medium may include cooperating or interconnected computer readable medium, which exist exclusively on the processing system or are distributed among multiple interconnected processing systems that may be local or remote to the processing system. It should be understood that the embodiments are not limited to the above-mentioned memories and that other platforms and memories may support the provided methods.

[0272] In an illustrative embodiment, any of the operations, processes, etc. described herein may be implemented as computer-readable instructions stored on a computer-readable medium. The computer- readable instructions may be executed by a processor of a mobile unit, a network element, and / or any other computing device.

[0273] There is little distinction left between hardware and software implementations of aspects of systems. The use of hardware or software is generally (but not always, in that in certain contexts the choice between hardware and software may become significant) a design choice representing cost versus efficiency tradeoffs. There may be various vehicles by which processes and / or systems and / or other technologies described herein may be affected (e.g., hardware, software, and / or firmware), and the preferred vehicle may vary with the context in which the processes and / or systems and / or other technologies are deployed. For example, if an implementer determines that speed and accuracy are paramount, the implementer may opt for a mainly hardware and / or firmware vehicle. If flexibility is paramount, the implementer may opt for a mainly software implementation. Alternatively, the implementer may opt for some combination of hardware, software, and / or firmware.

[0274] The foregoing detailed description has set forth various embodiments of the devices and / or processes via the use of block diagrams, flowcharts, and / or examples. Insofar as such block diagrams, flowcharts, and / or examples include one or more functions and / or operations, it will be understood by those within the art that each function and / or operation within such block diagrams, flowcharts, or examples may beimplemented, individually and / or collectively, by a wide range of hardware, software, firmware, or virtually any combination thereof. In an embodiment, several portions of the subject matter described herein may be implemented via Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), digital signal processors (DSPs), and / or other integrated formats. However, those skilled in the art will recognize that some aspects of the embodiments disclosed herein, in whole or in part, may be equivalently implemented in integrated circuits, as one or more computer programs running on one or more computers (e.g., as one or more programs running on one or more computer systems), as one or more programs running on one or more processors (e.g., as one or more programs running on one or more microprocessors), as firmware, or as virtually any combination thereof, and that designing the circuitry and / or writing the code for the software and or firmware would be well within the skill of one of skill in the art in light of this disclosure. In addition, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the mechanisms of the subject matter described herein may be distributed as a program product in a variety of forms, and that an illustrative embodiment of the subject matter described herein applies regardless of the particular type of signal bearing medium used to actually carry out the distribution. Examples of a signal bearing medium include, but are not limited to, the following: a recordable type medium such as a floppy disk, a hard disk drive, a CD, a DVD, a digital tape, a computer memory, etc., and a transmission type medium such as a digital and / or an analog communication medium (e.g., a fiber optic cable, a waveguide, a wired communications link, a wireless communication link, etc.).

[0275] Those skilled in the art will recognize that it is common within the art to describe devices and / or processes in the fashion set forth herein, and thereafter use engineering practices to integrate such described devices and / or processes into data processing systems. That is, at least a portion of the devices and / or processes described herein may be integrated into a data processing system via a reasonable amount of experimentation. Those having skill in the art will recognize that a typical data processing system may generally include one or more of a system unit housing, a video display device, a memory such as volatile and nonvolatile memory, processors such as microprocessors and digital signal processors, computational entities such as operating systems, drivers, graphical user interfaces, and applications programs, one or more interaction devices, such as a touch pad or screen, and / or control systems including feedback loops and control motors (e.g., feedback for sensing position and / or velocity, control motors for moving and / or adjusting components and / or quantities). A typical data processing system may be implemented utilizing any suitable commercially available components, such as those typically found in data computing / communication and / or network computing / communication systems.

[0276] The herein described subject matter sometimes illustrates different components included within, or connected with, different other components. It is to be understood that such depicted architectures are merely examples, and that in fact many other architectures may be implemented which achieve the same functionality. In a conceptual sense, any arrangement of components to achieve the same functionality is effectively ''associated1' such that the desired functionality may be achieved. Hence, any two components herein combined to achieve a particular functionality may be seen as "associated with" each other such that the desiredfunctionality is achieved, irrespective of architectures or intermedial components. Likewise, any two components so associated may also be viewed as being "operably connected", or "operably coupled", to each other to achieve the desired functionality, and any two components capable of being so associated may also be viewed as being "operably couplable" to each other to achieve the desired functionality. Specific examples of operably couplable include but are not limited to physically mateable and / or physically interacting components and / or wirelessly interactable and / or wirelessly interacting components and / or logically interacting and / or logically interactable components.

[0277] With respect to the use of substantially any plural and / or singular terms herein, those having skill in the art can translate from the plural to the singular and / or from the singular to the plural as is appropriate to the context and / or application. The various singular / pl u ral permutations may be expressly set forth herein for sake of clarity.

[0278] It will be understood by those within the art that, in general, terms used herein, and especially in the appended claims (e.g., bodies of the appended claims) are generally intended as "open" terms (e.g., the term "including" should be interpreted as "including but not limited to," the term "having" should be interpreted as "having at least," the term "includes" should be interpreted as "includes but is not limited to," etc.). It will be further understood by those within the art that if a specific number of an introduced claim recitation is intended, such an intent will be explicitly recited in the claim, and in the absence of such recitation no such intent is present. For example, where only one item is intended, the term "single" or similar language may be used. As an aid to understanding, the following appended claims and / or the descriptions herein may include usage of the introductory phrases "at least one" and "one or more" to introduce claim recitations. However, the use of such phrases should not be construed to imply that the introduction of a claim recitation by the indefinite articles "a" or "an" limits any particular claim including such introduced claim recitation to embodiments including only one such recitation, even when the same claim includes the introductory phrases "one or more" or "at least one" and indefinite articles such as "a" or "an" (e.g., "a" and / or "an" should be interpreted to mean "at least one" or "one or more"). The same holds true for the use of definite articles used to introduce claim recitations. In addition, even if a specific number of an introduced claim recitation is explicitly recited, those skilled in the art will recognize that such recitation should be interpreted to mean at least the recited number (e.g., the bare recitation of "two recitations," without other modifiers, means at least two recitations, or two or more recitations). Furthermore, in those instances where a convention analogous to "at least one of A, B, and C, etc." is used, in general such a construction is intended in the sense one having skill in the art would understand the convention (e.g., "a system having at least one of A, B, and C" would include but not be limited to systems that have A alone, B alone, C alone, A and B together, A and C together, B and C together, and / or A, B, and C together, etc.). In those instances where a convention analogous to "at least one of A, B, or C, etc." is used, in general such a construction is intended in the sense one having skill in the art would understand the convention (e.g., "a system having at least one of A, B, or C" would include but not be limited to systems that have A alone, B alone, C alone, A and B together, A and C together, B and C together, and / or A, B, and C together, etc.). It willbe further understood by those within the art that virtually any disjunctive word and / or phrase presenting two or more alternative terms, whether in the description, claims, or drawings, should be understood to contemplate the possibilities of including one of the terms, either of the terms, or both terms. For example, the phrase "A or B" will be understood to include the possibilities of ''A1' or "B" or "A and B." Further, the terms ''any of' followed by a listing of a plurality of items and / or a plurality of categories of items, as used herein, are intended to include ''any of,1' ''any combination of,1' ''any multiple of,1' and / or ''any combination of multiples of' the items and / or the categories of items, individually or in conjunction with other items and / or other categories of items. Moreover, as used herein, the term ''set1' is intended to include any number of items, including zero. Additionally, as used herein, the term ''number1' is intended to include any number, including zero. And the term ''multiple1', as used herein, is intended to be synonymous with ''a plurality1'.

[0279] In addition, where features or aspects of the disclosure are described in terms of Markush groups, those skilled in the art will recognize that the disclosure is also thereby described in terms of any individual member or subgroup of members of the Markush group.

[0280] As will be understood by one skilled in the art, for any and all purposes, such as in terms of providing a written description, all ranges disclosed herein also encompass any and all possible subranges and combinations of subranges thereof. Any listed range can be easily recognized as sufficiently describing and enabling the same range being broken down into at least equal halves, thirds, quarters, fifths, tenths, etc. As a non-limiting example, each range discussed herein may be readily broken down into a lower third, middle third and upper third, etc. As will also be understood by one skilled in the art all language such as ''up to,1' ''at least,1' ''greater than,1' ''less than,1' and the like includes the number recited and refers to ranges which can be subsequently broken down into subranges as discussed above. Finally, as will be understood by one skilled in the art, a range includes each individual member. Thus, for example, a group having 1-3 cells refers to groups having 1 , 2, or 3 cells. Similarly, a group having 1-5 cells refers to groups having 1 , 2, 3, 4, or 5 cells, and so forth.

[0281] Moreover, the claims should not be read as limited to the provided order or elements unless stated to that effect. In addition, use of the terms ''means for" in any claim is intended to invoke 35 U.S.C. §112, 6 or means-plus-function claim format, and any claim without the terms ''means for1' is not so intended.

Claims

CLAIMSWhat is claimed is:

1. A method for use in a wireless transmit / receive unit (WTRU), the method comprising: determining that a first cell is in a network energy saving (NES) state; receiving, from a second cell, a wakeup signal (WUS) configuration associated with the first cell; determining whether the WUS configuration is valid; on a condition that the WUS configuration is valid; transmitting, to the first cell, a request for an on-demand system information block 1 (OD-SIB 1 ) based on the WUS configuration; and receiving, from the first cell, the OD-SIB1 in response to the request for the OD-SIB1 ; and on a condition that the WUS configuration is not valid, performing cell reselection.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether the WUS configuration is valid comprises one or more of: determining whether the second cell is included in a list of cells indicated in the WUS configuration; or determining whether the WUS configuration has expired.

3. The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein receiving the OD-SIB1 comprises: monitoring a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) for a message indicative of one or more resources carrying the OD-SIB1 ; and receiving the OD-SIB1 based on the one or more resources.

4. The method of any of claims 1 to 3, wherein transmitting the request for an OD-SIB1 is further based on one or more trigger conditions being satisfied.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the one or more trigger conditions include: detecting one or more reference signals; performing one or more channel measurements; or receiving a request from a higher layer.

6. The method of any of claims 1 to 5, wherein the request for the OD-SIB1 is transmitted using a random access channel (RACH) procedure.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the RACH procedure is performed using one or more RACH resources associated with the WUS configuration.

8. The method of claim 6 or 7, wherein the message is received after a time gap following completion of the RACH procedure.

9. The method of any of claims 1 to 8, further comprising: transmitting a feedback in response to receiving the OD-SIB1.

10. The method of any of claims 1 to 9, wherein the WUS configuration is received using radio resource control (RRC) signaling.

11. A wireless transmit / receive unit (WTRU) comprising: a transceiver; and a processor, wherein the transceiver and the processor are configured to: determine that a first cell is in a network energy saving (NES) state, receive, from a second cell, a wakeup signal (WUS) configuration associated with the first cell, determine whether the WUS configuration is valid, on a condition that the WUS configuration is valid, transmit, to the first cell, a request for an on-demand system information block 1 (OD-SIB1) based on the WUS configuration, and receive, from the first cell, the OD-SIB1 in response to the request for the OD- SIB1; and on a condition that the WUS configuration is not valid, perform cell reselection.

12. The WTRU of claim 11, wherein determining whether the WUS configuration is valid comprises one or more of: determining whether the second cell is included in a list of cells indicated in the WUS configuration, or determining whether the WUS configuration has expired.

13. The WTRU of claim 11 or 12, wherein receiving the OD-SIB1 comprises: monitoring a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) for a message indicative of one or more resources carrying the OD-SIB1 , andreceiving the OD-SIB1 based on the one or more resources.

14. The WTRU of any of claims 11 to 13, wherein transmitting the request for an 0D-SIB1 is further based on one or more trigger conditions being satisfied.

15. The WTRU of claim 14, wherein the one or more trigger conditions include: detecting one or more reference signals, performing one or more channel measurements, or receiving a request from a higher layer.

16. The WTRU of any of claims 11 to 15, wherein the transceiver and the processor are further configured to: transmit the request for the OD-SIB1 using a random access channel (RACH) procedure.

17. The WTRU of claim 16, wherein the transceiver and the processor are further configured to: perform the RACH procedure using one or more RACH resources associated with the WUS configuration.

18. The WTRU of claim 16 or 17, wherein the transceiver and the processor are further configured to: receive the message after a time gap following completion of the RACH procedure.

19. The WTRU of any of claims 11 to 18, wherein the transceiver and the processor are further configured to: transmit a feedback in response to receiving the OD-SIB1.

20. The WTRU of any of claims 11 to 19, wherein the WUS configuration is received using radio resource control (RRC) signaling.

Images