Filtering configuration for user equipment initiated beam report

Abstract

Methods and systems are described for facilitating user equipment initiated reporting. The method comprises receiving a measurement configuration comprising a reference signal configuration and a reporting configuration comprising a set of layer 1, L1, filtering parameters. A set of unfiltered measurements is then filtered based on the measurement configuration, wherein the filtering comprises applying a L1 filter to the set of unfiltered measurements based on the set of L1 filtering parameters. Then, based on the filtering, a set of filtered measurements is generated.

Description

FILTERING CONFIGURATION FOR USER EQUIPMENT INITIATED BEAM REPORTCROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED INFORMATION

[0001] This application claims the benefit of United States of America priority application No. 63 / 632,910 filed on April 11, 2024, titled “Filtering Configuration for User Equipment Initiated Beam Report.”TECHNICAL FIELD

[0002] The present disclosure generally relates to systems and methods for performing user equipment initiated beam reporting.BACKGROUND

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

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

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

[0006] In addition to SSB beams, the NW may also be able to serve a UE with a set of narrower beams with higher antenna gains than the SSBs. For this purpose, the NW mayconfigure and transmit a set of CSI-RS (channel state information reference signal) for the UE to measure and report Ll-RSRP or Ll-SINR. Again, the report can be periodic, semi-persistent, or aperiodic. The UE may be requested to report N best L1-RSRP / L1-SINR and the associated CSI- RS resource indices. Based on the report, the NW can decide whether it is better to switch to a CSI-RS beam for serving the UE, or if the current serving beam is a CSI-RS beam, whether to switch to a new CSI-RS beam. In the following, the general term DL-RS is used, because in 6thgeneration (6G) new RSs may be defined other than SSBs and CSI-RSs.

[0007] In 5G New Radio (NR), to support beam management operation, a UE is configured by the NW with a Channel State Information (CSI) measurement configuration, e.g., IE (information element) CSI-MeasConfig received within an RRCReconfiguration message that is configured per Serving Cell (within ServingCellConfig, e.g., of an SpCell), to associate a serving cell in which CSI reports are to be transmitted, e.g., Uplink (UL) channels of that serving cell. The signaling is defined in technical specification (TS) 38.331 (https: / / www.3gpp.org / ftp / Specs / archive / 38 series / 38, 331 / 38331-fhO.zip), which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

[0008] For each type of CSI report the UE needs to transmit, the network indicates an explicit list of CSI resources (also called CSI resource configuration(s)), comprising a list of RSs to be measured, such as CSI-RSs sets (nzp-CSI-RS-ResourceSetList, IE SEQUENCE (SIZE (E.maxNrofNZP-CSI-RS-ResourceSetsPerConfig)) OF NZP-CSI-RS-ResourceSetld) and / or SSBs sets (csi-SSB-ResourceSetList, IE SEQUENCE (SIZE (E.maxNrofCSI-SSB- ResourceSetsPerConfig)) OF CSI-SSB-ResourceSetld) for a given serving cell the UE is configured with, e.g., the SpCell of a cell group, or an SCell. Notice that the UE may measure CSI resources of a first serving cell and report in another serving cell.

[0009] CSI resources to be measured (or resource set with one or more RSs, indicated by SSB indexes and / or CSI-RS resource identifiers) are associated in the configuration to a CSI reporting configuration (CSI-ReportConfig), which configures an instance of a CSI report. A CSI report from the UE assists the network to perform beam management operations, such as the activation (and / or deactivation) of a beam to transmit data and / or control channels to the UE (or a beam switching). In 5G NR terminology, the activation of a beam may be referred as the activation of a Transmission Configuration Indication (TCI) state, which is associated to a Quasi- Co-Location (QCL) source, corresponding to a RS such as an SSB and / or CSI-RS, transmitted ina spatial direction (beam) correlated to the same spatial direction (beam) in which the network may transmit a control (e.g., physical downlink control channel (PDCCH)) and / or data channel (e.g., physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH)).

[0010] The CSI reporting configuration is used to configure a periodic or semipersistent report sent on a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) on the serving cell in which the CSI-ReportConfig is included, or to configure a semi-persistent or aperiodic report sent on a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) triggered by a CSI request field in a Downlink Control Indication (DCI) received on the cell in which the CSI-ReportConfig is included (in this case, the cell on which the report is sent is determined by the received DCI).

[0011] An example of a CSI-ReportConfig information element which could be used in this context is provided below in Table 1.Table 1 : Example CSLReportConfig information element

[0012] As shown in Table 1, the field reportConfigType within CSLReportConfig indicates to the UE the uplink (UL) channel to transmit the report and the time domain behavior for reporting the CSI measurements, which may also be called beam reporting in case it includes measurements used for beam management. The configuration indicates whether the report is periodic, aperiodic or semi-persistent, and associated configurations such as periodicity.

[0013] For aperiodic CSI reporting, a UE is also configured with a list of aperiodic CSI trigger states, each associated to one or more CSI report configurations. If multiple RS (nonzero power (NZP) CSLRS or SSB) resource sets are configured in a CSI resource configuration in an associated CSI report configuration, one set is selected in the corresponding trigger state.

[0014] An aperiodic CSI report is triggered when the CSI request field in a downlink control indication (DCI) indicating an aperiodic trigger state is associated to the corresponding aperiodic CSI report configuration.

[0015] A PDSCH may be transmitted to a UE from multiple transmission reception points (TRPs). Since different TRPs may be located in different physical locations and have different beams, the propagation channels can be different. To facilitate receiving PDSCH datafrom different TRPs or beams, a UE may be configured via radio resource control (RRC) with multiple transmission configuration indicator (TCI) states. A TCI state contains quasi co-located (QCL) information between the demodulation reference signal (DMRS) for PDSCH and one or two DL-RSs such as NZP CSI-RS or SSB. Different NZP CSI-RS or SSB may be associated with different TRPs or beams. The QCL information can be used by a UE to apply large scale channel properties associated with the DL-RSs (NZP CSI-RS or SSB) to DMRS of PDSCH for channel estimation and PDSCH reception.

[0016] The supported QCL types in NR are: 'QCL-TypeA': {Doppler shift, Doppler spread, average delay, delay spread}; 'QCL-TypeB': {Doppler shift, Doppler spread}; 'QCL- TypeC: {Doppler shift, average delay}; and 'QCL-TypeD': {Spatial Rx parameter}.

[0017] A subset of the RRC configured TCI states may be activated by medium access control (MAC) control elements (CE) for PDSCH. From the activated TCI states, one or two of them may be dynamically selected and indicated in the DCI scheduling a PDSCH depending on over which TRP(s) or beam(s) the PDSCH is transmitted. Each codepoint of the TCI field in DCI can indicate either 1 TCI state or 2 TCI state. A TCI field codepoint indicating 1 TCI state can be used to transmit PDSCH from a single TRP or single beam. If a TCI field codepoint indicates 2 TCI states, then PDSCH can be transmitted from two TRPs or two beams. Note that in 6G this concept may be extended to the cases with more than two TRPs or two beams.

[0018] Fig. 1 illustrates the UE measurement Model in NR. In RRC connected mode, the UE measures multiple beams of a cell and the measurement results in terms of power values are averaged to determine the cell and / or the beam quality. The Layer 1 beam filtering is up to UE implementation, while the Layer 3 filtering for cell and / or beam quality is standardized, and the Layer 3 filter parameters are RRC configured. Then, a Layer 3 measurement report may contain the measurement results of the X best beams.

[0019] The Layer 3 filtering follows the formula:Fn= (l-a)Fn-i + aMn, whereMnis the latest received measurement result from the physical layerFnis the updated filtered measurement resultFn-1is the previous filtered measurement result(fc / ) a = / 24, where k is the RRC configured filterCoefficient.

[0020] The information element (IE) FilterCoefficient specifies the measurement filtering coefficient. Value fcO corresponds to k = Q,fcl corresponds to k = 1, and so on.

[0021] A potential FilterConfiguration information element which may be used in this context is provided below in Table 2.Table 2: Example FilterCoefficient information element.

[0022] A QuantityConfig information element, such as that shown below in Table 3, specifies the measurement quantities and layer 3 filtering coefficients for NR and inter-radio access technology (RAT) measurements.Table 3 : Example QuantityConfig information element

[0023] In legacy, the CSI / beam reporting is always NW-initiated. The NW explicitly requests a certain report from the UE, by including a pointer to a certain CSL ReportConfig in DCI. In the NR Rel-19 multiple input multiple output (MIMO) work item, UE initiated beam reporting is supported to reduce beam reporting overhead and / or latency. This would imply that it is the UE that initiates the reporting. Particularly, the following objective has been defined in Rel-19 MIMO work item description (WID), RP-234007, New WID: NR MIMO Phase 5, Dec. 2023:Specify enhancement to facilitate UE-initiated / event-driven beam management for reducing overhead and / or latency, assuming the unified TCI while leveraging (as much as possible) legacy CSI measurement and reporting configuration frameworks, targeting FR2 and sTRP with intra- and inter- cell beam management. a. UL signaling content(s) (and procedure(s) as required) for UE-initiated / event-driven beam reporting facilitating fast beam switching b. UL signaling medium / container considering the UE-initiated / event-driven nature of the UL transmission, designed primarily for the purpose of beam reporting.

[0024] Such UE-initiated processes are expected to become more important as we move towards 6G. For instance, it is quite likely that even enhancements of UE-initiated reports will be discussed in Rel-20 or 6G.SUMMARY

[0025] A first embodiment of the disclosed technology includes a method performed by a user equipment, UE, for facilitating user equipment initiated reporting. The method comprises receiving a measurement configuration comprising a reference signal configuration and a reporting configuration comprising a set of layer 1, LI, filtering parameters. The method also comprises filtering a set of unfiltered measurements based on the measurement configuration, wherein the filtering comprises applying a LI filter to the set of unfiltered measurements based on the set of LI filtering parameters, and generating, based on the filtering, a set of filtered measurements.

[0026] A second embodiment is the method of the first embodiment, wherein the LI filter is a first order auto-regressive filter, wherein the unfiltered measurements are LI measurements.

[0027] A third embodiment is the method of the first or second embodiments, wherein the method further comprises triggering, based on the set of filtered measurements and the reporting configuration, an event triggered measurement report.

[0028] A fourth embodiment is the method of the first or second embodiments, wherein the method further comprises triggering, based on the set of unfiltered measurements and the reporting configuration, an event triggered measurement report.

[0029] A fifth embodiment is the method of the third or fourth embodiments, wherein the event triggered measurement report comprises one or more filtered measurements from the set of filtered measurements, and one or more unfiltered measurements from the set of unfiltered measurements.

[0030] A sixth embodiment is the method of any of the third through fifth embodiments, wherein the event triggered measurement report comprises an indication of a downlink reference signal, DL-RS, and a filtered performance metric for the DL-RS.

[0031] A seventh embodiment is the method of the sixth embodiment, wherein the filtered performance metric for the DL-RS comprises a filtered reference received signal power, RSRP, associated with the DL-RS, or a filtered signal to interference plus noise ratio, SINR, associated with the DL-RS.

[0032] An eight embodiment is the method of any of the third through seventh embodiments, wherein the event triggered measurement report is triggered when measurements of a reference signal exceed a threshold, Th, at least a number of times, N, within a time window, T.

[0033] A ninth embodiment is the method of the eight embodiment, wherein the set of LI filtering parameters comprises the threshold, Th, the number of times, N, and the time window, T.

[0034] A tenth embodiment is the method of any of the first through ninth embodiments, wherein the method further comprises receiving a set of higher layer parameters via radio resource control, RRC, signaling, wherein the higher layer parameters are provided by an information element, IE, from a group consisting of a UE-initiated-QuantityConfig IE, a Filtercoefficient IE, and a UE-initiated-Filtercoefficient IE.

[0035] An eleventh embodiment is the method of any of the first through tenth embodiments, wherein the set of LI filtering parameters comprises a set of subsets of LI filtering parameters, wherein each subset of LI filtering parameters is associated with one or more of: a type of downlink, DL, reference signal, RS, a DL RS resource identification, ID, time domain resources, frequency domain resources, an LI metric type, an event type, a set of trigger conditions associated with an event, a channel state information, CSI, resource configuration, a serving cell, a serving carrier, a frequency range, a set of serving cells, and a reporting configuration.

[0036] A twelfth embodiment is the method of the eleventh embodiment, wherein the set of LI filtering parameters further comprises one or more subsets of LI filtering parameters associated with a type of DL RS, and wherein each of the one or more subsets of LI filtering parameters associated with the type of DL RS is associated with a DL RS type from a group consisting of synchronization signal, SS, and physical broadcast channel, PBCH, block, and channel state information reference signal, CSLRS.

[0037] A thirteenth embodiment is the method of the eleventh or twelfth embodiment, wherein the set of LI filtering parameters further comprises one or more subsets of LI filtering parameters associated with a DL RS resource ID, and wherein each of the one or more subsets of LI filtering parameters associated with the DL RS resource ID is associated with the DL RS resource ID from a group consisting of SSB resource indicator, SSBRI, and CSLRS resource indicator, CRI.

[0038] A fourteenth embodiment is the method of any of the eleventh through thirteenth embodiments, wherein the set of LI filtering parameters further comprises one or more subsets of LI filtering parameters associated with a LI metric type, and wherein each of the one or more subsets of LI filtering parameters associated with the LI metric type is associated with the LI metric type from a group consisting of: LI reference received signal power, Ll-RSRP, LI reference signal received quality, Ll-RSRQ, and LI signal to interference plus noise ratio, Ll- SINR.

[0039] A fifteenth embodiment is the method of any of the eleventh through fourteenth embodiments, wherein the set of LI filtering parameters further comprises one or more subsets of LI filtering parameters associated with a set of serving cells, each serving cell associated with a frequency in the same frequency band.

[0040] A sixteenth embodiment is the method of any of the eleventh through fifteenth embodiments, wherein the set of LI filtering parameters further comprises two or more subsets of LI filtering parameters that are associated with a single carrier.

[0041] A seventeenth embodiment is the method of the sixteenth embodiment, wherein the two or more subsets of LI filtering parameters which are associated with the single carrier comprise a subset of LI filtering parameters associated with a first frequency range, and a subset of LI filtering parameters associated with a second frequency range.

[0042] An eighteenth embodiment is the method of any of the previous embodiments, wherein the method comprises receiving a maximum number of LI filters via RRC signaling.

[0043] A nineteenth embodiment is the method of any of the previous embodiments, wherein the method further comprises receiving a dynamic indication to deactivate the LI filter.

[0044] A twentieth embodiment is the method of any of the previous embodiments, wherein the method further comprises receiving a dynamic indication to activate the LI filter.

[0045] A twenty-first embodiment is the method of any of the previous embodiments, wherein: the LI filter is a time domain filter, the set of unfiltered measurements comprises one or more of: a synchronization signal, SS, RSRP measurement, a SS RSRQ measurement, and a SS SINR measurement, and the LI filter is applied based on SSBs of a cell.

[0046] A twenty-second embodiment is the method of any of the first through twentieth embodiments, wherein: the LI filter is a time domain filter, wherein the set of unfiltered measurements comprises one or more of: a channel state information, CSI, RSRP measurement, a CSI RSRQ measurement, and a CSI SINR measurement, and the LI filter is applied based on CSL RS resources of a cell.

[0047] A twenty-third embodiment is the method of any of the previous embodiments, wherein the method further comprises sending a report associated with a downlink reference signal, DL-RS, and indicating one or both of a number of time samples and / or frequency resources over which the UE has performed filtering for the DL-RS associated with the report.

[0048] A twenty-fourth embodiment is the method of any of the first through twenty-second embodiments, wherein the method further comprises receiving information about one or both of a minimum number of time samples and / or frequency resources over which the UE should perform filtering for a DL-RS before sending a user initiated beam report associated with the DL-RS.

[0049] A twenty-fifth embodiment is a method performed by a network node for user equipment, UE, initiated reporting. The method comprises sending a measurement configuration to a UE. The measurement configuration comprises a reference signal configuration and a reporting configuration comprising a set of layer 1, LI, filtering parameters.

[0050] A twenty-sixth embodiment is the method of the twenty-fifth embodiment, further comprising receiving, from the UE, an event triggered measurement report.

[0051] A twenty-seventh embodiment is the method of the twenty-sixth embodiment, wherein the event triggered measurement report comprises one or more unfiltered measurements, and one or more filtered measurements.

[0052] A twenty-eighth embodiment is the method of the twenty-sixth or twentyseventh embodiments, wherein the event triggered measurement report comprises an indication of a downlink reference signal, DL-RS, and a filtered performance metric for the DL-RS.

[0053] A twenty-ninth embodiment is the method of the twenty-eighth embodiment, wherein the filtered performance metric for the DL-RS comprises a filtered reference received signal power, RSRP, associated with the DL-RS, or a filtered signal to interference plus noise ratio, SINR, associated with the DL-RS.

[0054] A thirtieth embodiment is the method of any of the twenty-fifth through twenty-ninth embodiments, wherein the set of LI filtering parameters comprises: a threshold, Th, a number of times, N, and a time window, T.

[0055] A thirty-first embodiment is the method of any of the twenty-fifth through thirtieth embodiments, wherein the method further comprises sending the UE a set of higher layer parameters via radio resource control, RRC, signaling, wherein the higher layer parameters are sent in an information element, IE, from a group consisting of a UE-initiated-QuantityConfig IE, a Filtercoefficient IE, and a UE-initiated-Filtercoefficient IE.

[0056] A thirty-second embodiment is the method of any of the twenty-fifth through thirty-first embodiments, wherein the set of LI filtering parameters comprises a set of subsets of LI filtering parameters, wherein each subset of LI filtering parameters is associated with one or more of: a type of downlink, DL, reference signal, RS, a DL RS resource identification, ID, time domain resources, frequency domain resources, an LI metric type, an event type, a set of trigger conditions associated with an event, a channel state information, CSI, resource configuration, a serving cell, a serving carrier, a frequency range, a set of serving cells, and a reporting configuration.

[0057] A thirty -third embodiment is the method of the thirty-second embodiment, wherein the set of LI filtering parameters further comprises one or more subsets of LI filtering parameters associated with a type of DL RS, and wherein each of the one or more subsets of LI filtering parameters associated with the type of DL RS is associated with a DL RS type from a group consisting of synchronization signal, SS, and physical broadcast channel, PBCH, blocks, and channel state information reference signal, CSLRS.

[0058] A thirty-fourth embodiment is the method of any of the thirty-second or thirty -third embodiments, wherein the set of LI filtering parameters further comprises one or more subsets of LI filtering parameters associated with a DL RS resource ID, and wherein each of the one or more subsets of LI filtering parameters associated with the DL RS resource ID is associated with the DL RS resource ID from a group consisting of SSB resource indicator, SSBRI, and CSL RS resource indicator, CRI.

[0059] A thirty-fifth embodiment is the method of any of the thirty-second through thirty-fourth embodiments, wherein the set of LI filtering parameters further comprises one or more subsets of LI filtering parameters associated with a LI metric type, and wherein each of theone or more subsets of LI filtering parameters associated with the LI metric type is associated with the LI metric type from a group consisting of LI reference received signal power, Ll-RSRP, LI reference signal received quality, Ll-RSRQ, and LI signal to interference plus noise ratio, Ll- SINR.

[0060] A thirty-sixth embodiment is the method of any of the thirty-second through thirty-fifth embodiments, wherein the set of LI filtering parameters further comprises one or more subsets of LI filtering parameters associated with a set of serving cells, each serving cell associated with a frequency in the same frequency band.

[0061] A thirty-seventh embodiment is the method of any of the thirty-second through thirty-sixth embodiments, wherein the set of LI filtering parameters further comprises two or more subsets of LI filtering parameters that are associated with a single carrier.

[0062] A thirty-eighth embodiment is the method of the thirty-seventh embodiment, wherein the two or more subsets of LI filtering parameters which are associated with the single carrier comprise a subset of LI filtering parameters associated with a first frequency range, and a subset of LI filtering parameters associated with a second frequency range.

[0063] A thirty-ninth embodiment is the method of any of the twenty-fifth through thirty-eighth embodiments, wherein the method further comprises sending the UE a maximum number of LI filters via RRC signaling.

[0064] A fortieth embodiment is the method of any of the twenty-fifth through thirty-ninth embodiments, wherein the method further comprises sending the UE a dynamic indication to deactivate an LI filter.

[0065] A forty-first embodiment is the method of any of the twenty-fifth through fortieth embodiments, wherein the method further comprises sending the UE a dynamic indication to activate an LI filter.

[0066] A forty-second embodiment is the method of the fortieth or forty-first embodiments, wherein the LI filter is a time domain filter.

[0067] A forty-third embodiment is the method of any of the twenty-fifth through forty-second embodiments, wherein the event triggered measurement report is associated with a beam, and wherein the method further comprises receiving an indication about one or both of a number of time samples and / or frequency resources over which the UE performed filtering for the beam associated with the event triggered measurement report.

[0068] A forty-fourth embodiment is the method of any of the twenty-fifth through forty-second embodiments, wherein the method further comprises sending the UE information about one or both of a minimum number of time samples and / or frequency resources over which the UE should perform filtering for a DL-RS before sending a user initiated beam report associated with the DL-RS.

[0069] A forty-fifth embodiment is a user equipment for user equipment initiated reporting, comprising processing circuitry configured to perform any of the steps of the first through twenty-fourth embodiments, and power supply circuitry configured to supply power to the processing circuitry.

[0070] A forty-sixth embodiment is a network node for user equipment initiated reporting, the network node comprising processing circuitry configured to perform any of the steps of claims the twenty-fifth through forty-fourth embodiments, power supply circuitry configured to supply power to the processing circuitry.

[0071] A forty-seventh embodiment is a user equipment, UE, for user initiated reporting, the UE comprising an antenna configured to send and receive wireless signals, radio front-end circuitry connected to the antenna and to processing circuitry, and configured to condition signals communicated between the antenna and the processing circuitry, an input interface connected to the processing circuitry and configured to allow input of information into the UE to be processed by the processing circuitry, an output interface connected to the processing circuitry and configured to output information from the UE that has been processed by the processing circuitry, and a battery connected to the processing circuitry and configured to supply power to the UE. The processing circuitry being configured to perform any of the steps of the first through twenty-fourth embodiments.

[0072] This summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the detailed description. This summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used as an indication of the scope of the claimed subject matter.BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0073] For a more complete understanding of the present disclosure, reference is now made to the following descriptions taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

[0074] Fig. 1 illustrates a UE measurement model from TS 38.300 Figure 9.2.4-1;

[0075] Fig. 2 illustrates an example 2D hierarchal beam management where narrow gNB beams are confined in semi-wide gNB beams of an embodiment under the present disclosure;

[0076] Fig. 3 illustrates periodically transmitted DL-RS (SSB) with wide beams and CSI-RS with narrow beams of an embodiment under the present disclosure;

[0077] Fig. 4 illustrates a flow-chart of a method embodiment under the present disclosure;

[0078] Fig. 5 depicts a graph illustrating a threshold for an unfiltered RS measurement according to an embodiment under the present disclosure;

[0079] Fig. 6 depicts a graph illustrating a threshold for a filtered RS measurement according to an embodiment under the present disclosure;

[0080] Fig. 7 depicts a graph illustrating another threshold for an unfiltered RS measurement according to an embodiment under the present disclosure;

[0081] Fig. 8 illustrates a flow-chart of a method embodiment under the present disclosure;

[0082] Fig. 9 illustrates a flow-chart of a method embodiment under the present disclosure;

[0083] Fig. 10 shows a schematic of a communication system embodiment under the present disclosure;

[0084] Fig. 11 shows a schematic of a user equipment embodiment under the present disclosure;

[0085] Fig. 12 shows a schematic of a network node embodiment under the present disclosure; and

[0086] Fig. 13 shows a schematic of a virtualization environment embodiment under the present disclosure.DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0087] Before describing various embodiments of the present disclosure in detail, it is to be understood that this disclosure is not limited to the parameters of the particularly exemplified systems, methods, apparatus, products, processes, and / or kits, which may, of course, vary. Thus, while certain embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail, with reference to specific configurations, parameters, components, elements, etc., the descriptions are illustrative and are not to be construed as limiting the scope of the claimed embodiments. In addition, the terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing the embodiments and is not necessarily intended to limit the scope of the claimed embodiments.

[0088] There currently exist certain challenge(s). In Rel-19, UE initiated beam report is introduced for the purpose of reducing UL signaling overhead while maintaining the purpose of beam management. Here, the UE may continuously check if some of the candidate beams become better than the current serving beam, and report accordingly. Then, the UE initiated beam report should accurately result in an update of active TCI states or a switch of the serving beam. This is particularly because, as a rule of thumb, each UE initiated report is expected to result in a beam change, e.g., the gNB would trust that the report is accurate and correct. To achieve this, spurious reports, which may result in a so-called ping-pong effect, must be avoided. There are two main reasons for such spurious reports.

[0089] The first main reason for spurious reports is fast fading. TCI states should not be updated based on fast fading, since such path-loss changes are not persistent. If the TCI state is updated based on fast fading, there is a large risk that the TCI state must be reverted more or less immediately. For instance, it is quite well known that the reference signal received power (RSRP) measurements may fluctuate a lot due to, e.g., fast fading, frequency-selective fading, etc., especially for SSBs.

[0090] The second main reason for spurious reports is measurement errors. The beam measurements are associated with measurement errors. Acting on a single (erroneous) beam measurement should be avoided. Note that the RAN4 requirements on LI -RSRP and Ll-SINR (3GPP TS 38.133, NR; Requirements for support of radio resource management, RAN#101, Bangalore, India, V18.3.0, September 2023, section 10.1.19) can be within ±6.5dB. If the ideal value of the e.g., Ll-RSRP is XI at two measurement instances, with measurement error, it can be reported as Xl+6.5dB at one time or Xl-6.5 dB. at another time.

[0091] Without proper consideration of these two aspects, there is a clear risk for unnecessary beam reports, and subsequent ping-pong TCI state updates, which should be avoided. With this respect, we have the following agreement in RANI #116 (Chair notes, RANI #116, Athens, Greece, February 26th - March 1st, 2024):On UE-initiated / event- driven beam reporting, at least support Ll-RSRP as a measurement quantity on SSB for intra-cell and inter-cell, and periodic CSI-RS for beam managementNotes: measurement results may be contained in the beam report and / or used as quality metric(s) to initiate / trigger the reporting.For further study (FFS): Semi-persistent CSI-RS and aperiodic CSI-RS.FFS: Whether / how to support Ll-SINR measurement, assuming legacy RS or RS combination (e.g., CMR only, CMR+ZP / NZP-IMR) for Rel-16 SINR is reused.FFS: Whether / how to specify filtering operation for Ll-RSRP.

[0092] Moreover, frequent and inaccurate beam reports may increase the UE power consumption, because a large number of UE initiated beam measurement reports would be transmitted, compared to the cases with few but accurate beam reports. Thus, in order to enable standardized layer 1 beam filtering, how to configure filter parameters for beam measurement associated to the user equipment initiated report is an open problem.

[0093] Certain embodiments may provide one or more of the following technical advantages. With filtering as described herein, the event is not necessarily triggered on a single measurement sample; instead, multiple measurement samples can be considered, which reduces the risk to trigger an event, and send a UE-initiated report based on an erroneous measurement sample. Considering UE-initiated / event-driven beam reporting, embodiments of the described technology may provide the UE with information related to Layer 1 beam filter configuration and filtering parameters. This can enable the UE to apply standardized Layer 1 filtering on beam measurement which can reduce spurious RSRP measurement and avoid unnecessary beam switching (ping-pong effect). Particularly, beam selection becomes more reliable and, thereby, the gNB may not need to change the beams back and forth. This may also result in less signaling overhead in UE initiated beam reports. Another advantage is the reduction in UE power consumption, because fewer UE initiated beam measurement reports would be transmitted, compared to the cases with multiple ping-pong like beam reports. In this way, the disclosed technology is of interest to reliable UE initiated beam report. Accordingly, the teachings of certainembodiments may improve the power consumption and overhead associated with sending event reporting.

[0094] Some of the embodiments contemplated herein will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings. Embodiments are provided by way of example to convey the scope of the subject matter to those skilled in the art.

[0095] In some embodiments, a UE is configured by the NW with one or more Layer 1 filtering parameters, associated with, e.g., different triggering events, for beam measurement which is associated to a UE initiated beam report.

[0096] With filtering as described herein, in some embodiments, an event is not necessarily triggered on a single measurement sample; instead, multiple measurement samples can be considered, which reduces the risk to trigger an event, as well as the risk of sending a UE- initiated report based on an erroneous measurement sample.

[0097] Considering UE-initiated / event-driven beam reporting, embodiments based on this disclosure may provide the UE with information related to Layer 1 beam filter configuration and filtering parameters. This can enable the UE to apply standardized Layer 1 filtering on beam measurement which can reduce spurious RSRP measurement and avoid unnecessary beam switching (ping-pong effect). Particularly, beam selection may become more reliable and, thereby, the gNB may not need to change the beams back and forth. This may also result in less signaling overhead in UE initiated beam reports.

[0098] The disclosed technology may be used to implement methods of UE initiated, or event triggered beam reporting. The reporting will be used to assist the network to perform beam management i.e., in response to UE initiated beam reporting, the UE receives a command (e.g., MAC CE) to activate at least one new TCI state of a serving cell and / or deactivate at least one existing TCI state of the serving cell.

[0099] In some embodiments, a beam is identified by a UE via a RS transmitted with the beam. Thus, the RS is associated to the beam. To indicate to a UE which beam is used for a downlink transmission, the UE is indicated with a TCI state containing a RS associated to the beam as the QCL source RS for QCL type D. In the context of this disclosure, the terms beam, RS, and TCI state may be used interchangeably.[000100] In this disclosure, a beam associated to an activated TCI state is also referred to as an activated beam. A RS associated to an activated beam is also referred to as an activatedRS. In the context of this disclosure, activated TCI state, activated beam, and activated RS are used interchangeably.[000101] Sometimes, the indicated TCI state may be referred herein to as the serving beam or the current beam. In other words, the UE assumes that signals received using the indicated TCI state are transmitted by the serving beam. In this disclosure, indicated TCI state, serving beam, and current beam are used interchangeably. Also, the terms, "candidate beam", "inactivated or non-activated beam" or "new beam" may be used interchangeably. Finally, by RS this disclosure may refer to SSB, CSI-RS or any other RS which is used for beam measurement and report purpose.[000102] The transmission of UE-initiated or event triggered beam report may comprise one or more of following steps:(1) sending an indication to NW node indicating that a configured event or trigger condition is met. That is, the UE may indicate the NW node that it needs to report a measurement associated with the UE initiated measurements.(2) Receiving request for transmission of measurement report / Receiving UL grant for transmission of measurement report.(3) Transmitting a UE initiated, or event triggered beam report in either uplink control information (UCI) or MAC CE.[000103] In response to the UE initiated or event triggered beam report, the UE may receive an indication (e.g., DCI) indicating a switching from a current indicated TCI state to another activated TCI state, or UE may receive a MAC CE command to update the activated TCI states (e.g., activate or deletion of TCI states in the activated TCI state list) based on the beam report.[000104] Fig. 2 illustrates exemplary 2D hierarchal beam management, where narrow gNB beams (210) are confined in semi- wide gNB beams (220), e.g., the narrow beams with IDs 0,1,2,3,12,13,14,15, collectively narrow beams (212), are confined in the wide beam (222) WB1. The wide beams (WB) (220) are typically used by periodic SSBs to provide cell coverage, whilst the narrow beams (NB) (210) can provide better array gain and are typically used to transmit DL control and data channels (PDCCH and PDSCH respectively) in RRC connected mode. The determination of the “serving beams” for PDCCH / PDSCH transmission is based on measurement of narrow beams transmitted in CSI-RS resources, since the narrow beams within a semi-widebeam only need to be sounded if a UE is located in that semi-wide beam. In the subsequent description, SSBs are associated to wide beams and CSI-RS resources are associated to narrow beams.[000105] Fig. 3 depicts an example illustrating periodically transmitted DL-RS (SSB) with wide beams (302a, 302b, 302c, 302d) and periodically transmitted DL-RS (CSI-RS) with narrow beams (304a 304b, 304c). The monitoring of periodic SSBs (302a, 302b, 302c, 302d) is useful to evaluate the conditions of TCI states, e.g., the need to activate or deactivate TCI states via MAC CE, or the need to indicate a new TCI state via DCI. The monitoring of narrow CSI-RS beams (304a 304b, 304c) is useful to evaluate the conditions of the serving beams, e.g., the need to switch the serving narrow beams. As illustrated in Fig. 3, the SSB beams (302a, 302b, 302c, 302d) have a fixed mapping to the physical beams and are transmitted every 20 slots. The CSI RS resource set 1 contains 3 CSI-RS resources and the transmission is also periodic but with longer periodicity, e.g., every 40 slots.[000106] Fig. 4 depicts a flowchart of a method 400 which may be implemented using the disclosed technology from the UE perspective. The dashed-line box in Fig. 4 shows a step which may be omitted when implementing the illustrated method 400. In summary, the method 400 of Fig. 4 comprises the following steps at UE (please note that not all steps are needed for all embodiments described in the disclosure, hence one or more steps can be removed from the flowchart depending on the embodiment):[000107] In a Step 410, the UE receives the higher layer configurations on Layer 1 beam filtering.[000108] In a Step 420, the UE performs beam measurement and potentially applies the Layer 1 beam filtering based on the configuration information from Step 410.[000109] In a Step 430, the UE evaluates the triggering conditions associated to the UE initiated beam report. The evaluation is based (at least partly) on the filtered beam measurement.[000110] In a Step 440, potentially, the UE sends the UE initiated beam report including the filtered beam measurement upon the fulfillment of the triggering conditions.[000111] In one embodiment, the higher layer parameters of the LI beam filtering are provided in a legacy RRC IE (e.g., QuantityConfig IE), or a new RRC IE. In some embodiments, the new RRC IE may be similar to the legacy Quantityconfig IE, referred to as UE-initiated- 1QuantityConfig IE, containing a list of measurement quantities for UE initiated report (e.g., quantityConfigUEinitiated) and the associated Layer 1 filter coefficients.[000112] In one embodiment, there are different types of measurement quantities and associated filtering coefficients. In some embodiments, the measurement quantity and filtering parameters are configured based on the type of DL RS, e.g., SSB, CSI-RS etc. The filtering configuration can be a part of the CSI resource set or CSI resource configuration(s) of NZP CSI RS resource and or CSI-SSB resource. In some embodiments, the measurement quantity and filtering parameters are configured based on DL RS resource ID, e.g., SSB index, CRI etc. In some embodiments, the measurement quantity and filtering parameters are configured based on the type of CSI RS report quantity, e.g., Ll-RSRP, LI reference signal received quality (Ll-RSRQ), Ll- SINR etc. In some embodiments, the measurement quantity and filtering parameters are configured based on an “Event type” and / or the associated trigger conditions. In some embodiments, the measurement quantity and filtering parameters are configured with periodic time and frequency resources. This approach can be useful in cases where the NW uses the same physical beam to transmit different DL RSs and requires the UE to apply the same LI beam filter to the different DL RSs. In some embodiments, the filtering parameters are configured based on the measurement reporting configuration (e.g., event triggered beam report may have one filter configuration, periodic beam report may have other type of filtering configuration, etc.).[000113] In some implementations, the filtered LI measurement may be used to trigger a UE-initiated beam report based on some pre-configured event(s). In some embodiments, the event is triggered based on filtered beam measurement on the reference signal, for instance, the filtered beam measurement being above a threshold (Th) a number of times (N) within a time window (T). In a related embodiment, the filter configuration comprises one or more following parameters such as filterCoefficient (k), a number of filtered measurements during a time window (N), the time measurement of the time window (T), a threshold (Thl) related to unfiltered RS measurement, and a threshold Th2 related to filtered RS measurement.[000114] In some embodiments, the Layer 1 (LI) beam filter is a first order autoregressive filter, and the filter parameters are provided by the legacy Eiltercoefficent IE, and apply the legacy formula from technical specification TS 38.331 Ln = (1 - a)En-l + aMn. In that formula, Mn is the latest received measurement result from the physical layer, Ln is the updatedfiltered measurement result, Fn-1 is the previous filtered measurement result, and a= [ 1 / 2]A((k / 4)) where k is the RCC configured filterCoefficient from the IE FilterCoeffieicent.[000115] In some embodiments, the filter parameters are provided by a new Filtercoefficient IE (in NR or 6G) with some filter coefficients other than in the IE FilterCoefficient, and are applied following a new formula.[000116] In some embodiments, the filter parameters include a threshold (Thl) for unfiltered RS measurement. As illustrated in Fig. 5, which shows an example illustrating a threshold (Thl) 502 for unfiltered RS measurement 500, the UE may only apply LI filtering to RS measurements above the threshold Thl.[000117] In some embodiments, the filter parameters include a threshold (Th2) for filtered RS measurement. As illustrated in Fig. 6, which shows an example illustrating a threshold (Th2) 602 for filtered RS measurement 600, the UE may only evaluate the trigger conditions for beam report based on the filtered RS measurements 600 above the threshold (Th2) 602. Fig. 6 illustrates also that besides the trigger threshold Th2 602, the UE may only send the UE initiated beam report where there are at least N(=3) filtered RS measurements above Th2 within the time window T.[000118] Fig. 7 depicts another example that the filter parameters comprise of a time window T, a threshold Th3 702 and the number of measurement N (N=3 in Fig. 7). As shown in the figure, the UE will trigger the UE-initiated report if the number of unfiltered measurement 500 above Th3 is at least N=3 within the time window T. In this example, the filter coefficient k is not configured / provided.[000119] In some related embodiments, the time window T is a timer in terms of e.g., number of seconds, or milliseconds (ms), etc. In some embodiments, the timer / counter T is reset to 0, or restarts, when it is expired according to a configured value, or immediately when a UE- initiated report is sent.[000120] In some embodiments, a Layer 1 beam filter configuration can be shared by a group of DL-RS resources. In some of these types of embodiments, the Layer 1 beam filter configuration is defined per CSI resource configuration (or resource set), associated to a given reporting configuration in which the UE-initiated beam reporting is configured. In that sense, the same LI beam filtering parameters are applied to the measurements on the DL RSs in that CSI resource configuration (associated to the indicated serving cell of the DL RSs). As anotherexample, in some embodiments the Layer 1 beam filter configuration is defined per carrier and / or serving cell. In other words, DL RSs in one or more CSI resource configurations within a given serving cell configuration would have the same LI beam filtering parameters.[000121] In some embodiments, a Layer 1 beam filter configuration can be shared by a group of carriers. In some cases, a set of LI beam filtering parameters is applied to one or more DL RSs of a first frequency range (e.g., FR1) while another set of LI beam filtering parameters is applied to one or more DL RSs of a second frequency range (e.g., FR2).[000122] In some embodiments, the configuration of the UE initiated report may include information on reporting with or without filtered beam measurement. In the example in Fig. 3, the UE is asked to report the filtered SSB RSRP if the triggering conditions related to TCI update are fulfilled. Similarly, the UE is asked to report the filtered CSLRS RSRP and SSB RSRP if the triggering conditions related to serving beam switching are fulfilled.[000123] In some embodiments, the LI beam filter is a time domain filter, i.e., in the LI measurement M_n, n is a time index. In some embodiments, the LI beam filter is a frequency domain filter, i.e., in the LI measurement M_n, n is a frequency domain index. In some embodiments, the LI beam filter is a combined time-frequency domain filter, where the LI measurement M_(nl,n2), has both time and frequency domain indexing, n_l,n_2, respectively. In the time domain, the index n_l can be in terms of symbols, slots, transmission occasions etc. In the frequency domain, the index n_2 can be in terms of subcarriers, PRBs, etc.[000124] In some embodiment, NW may send a dynamic message (e.g., MAC CE, or DCI) to update one or more filter parameters as described above. In some embodiments, the LI beam filtering has a default configuration. In some embodiments, the default configuration can be the same as the default configuration of L3 filtering, alternatively, the default configuration may be different from the default configuration of L3 filtering.[000125] In some embodiments the UE should discard measurements of DL-RSs received before a certain time window relative a later reception of the same DL-RS (e.g. if a first DL-RS is received at two time instances, the first time instance at TO and the second time instance at Tl, and T1-T0 is larger than a time window, the UE should discard the measurements done during TO when calculating a filtered performance metric of the DL-RS). In some related embodiments, the time window used to determine when to discard previous measurements of a DL-RS is related to when the UE evaluates a trigger condition or when the UE transmits the UEinitiated beam report. In some other embodiments, the measurements that only fall within a certain time window are considered for filter input and the filter parameters are applicable only when the measurements samples fall within the defined window. In those examples, where the measurements do not fall within the defined window, UE may not apply the filtering.[000126] In some embodiments, NW can send a dynamic indication to the UE to activate / deactivate the LI beam filtering for periodic or semi-persistent LI beam measurement. Introducing filtering may lead to the beam report being delayed. In some cases, it will be beneficial that the NW can choose to apply or not apply filtering, depending on the deployment scenarios, propagation conditions, traffic conditions, etc. In one example the NW may deactivate the network indicated LI beam filtering if UE indicates to the NW that a UE implemented filtering is applied. In some embodiments, the NW can control the application of the LI beam filter by sending a dynamic message (e.g., MAC CE, or DCI) to UE to enable or disable the application of the filter. For instance, NW may include a flag indication in the MAC CE which activate the semi-persistent NZP CSI-RS resources to inform the application of the Layer 1 beam filter: the value “0” indicates the Layer 1 beam filter is applied, and the value “1” indicates the Layer 1 beam filter is not applied.[000127] In one approach the LI -filter configurations are pre-defined in the specifications (for instance in TS 38.331) for UE initiated beam report with multiple types and choices of the filter parameter values. The UE selects the corresponding filter configuration as signaled by the NW via RRC messaging. This approach allows enabling an adaptive filter configuration for LI -filtering.[000128] In some embodiments, when a UE is configured with filtering for UE initiated beam reports, the UE includes a filtered performance metric (e.g. filtered RSRP or filtered SINR) associated with a beam indicated in the UE initiated beam report.[000129] In some embodiments, the UE indicates if a performance metric included in a UE initiated beam report is filtered or not.[000130] In some embodiments, the UE indicates to the network the number of time samples the UE has performed filtering over for a beam associated with a UE initiated beam report (e.g., the number of occasions a DL-RS has been received by the UE and used to determine the filtered performance metric of that DL-RS or beam).[000131 ] In some embodiments, where the UE includes both filtered and non-filtered performance metrics in a beam report.[000132] In some embodiments, one or more filtered measurement(s), filtered according to the LI filtering configuration(s), are used as input to trigger conditions, wherein when the triggering conditions are fulfilled the UE transmit a UE-initiated report. In some cases, the LI filtered beam measurements are also included in the beam reporting. In some cases, the latest unfiltered beam measurement(s) are included in the beam reporting. In other words, filtered measurements are used as input to the trigger conditions, but only the latest unfiltered measurements are included in the report by the UE.[000133] In some embodiments, unfiltered measurement(s) are used as input to the trigger conditions based on which the UE-initiated beam reporting is transmitted, wherein when the triggering condition for the report is fulfilled the UE transmit a UE-initiated report. In some cases, the LI filtered beam measurement(s) are also included in the beam reporting.[000134] In some embodiments, the LI filtered beam measurements are subjected to a LI time-domain filtering operation on one or more SS-RSRP, SS-RSRQ, SS-SINR measurements, based on SSBs of a cell.[000135] In some embodiments, the LI filtered beam measurements are subjected to a LI time-domain filtering operation on one or more CSLRSRP, CSLRSRQ, CSLSINR measurements, based on CSLRS resources of a cell.[000136] In some embodiments, the UE indicates to the network the number of time samples and / or frequency resources the UE has performed filtering over for a beam associated with a UE initiated beam report (e.g., the number of occasions a DL-RS has been received by the UE and used to determine the filtered performance metric on that DL-RS or beam).[000137] In some embodiments, the UE is provided with information about a minimum number of time samples and / or frequency resources the UE should perform filtering over for a beam associated with a UE initiated beam report.[000138] An example of a method 800 for user equipment initiated beam reporting which could be performed by a UE based on this disclosure is illustrated in Fig. 8. In that figure, step 810 is receiving a measurement configuration from a network node. For example, the measurement configuration comprises a reference signal configuration and a reporting configuration. The reporting configuration comprises a set of LI filtering parameters. Examples of LI filtering parameters are discussed above include, for example, with reference to Figs. 4-7. Step 820 is filtering a set of unfiltered measurements. The filtering comprises applying a LI filterto the set of unfiltered measurements based on the set of LI filtering parameters. The set of unfiltered measurements may be obtained (e.g., based on measuring one or more reference signal(s) indicated in the reference signal configuration) at step 820 or may be obtained in another step (not shown), and may comprise multiple unfiltered reference signal measurement samples. Step 830 is generating a set of filtered measurements. Multiple filtered reference signal measurement samples may be collected as part of the generating step to make up the set of filtered measurements. Method 800 may optionally, at step 840, trigger an event triggered measurement report. The triggering may be based at least in part on the reporting configuration received in step 810. In an embodiment, the triggering occurs when the set of filtered measurements generated in step 830 satisfies a trigger condition, such as at least (N) number of measurements exceeding a threshold, Th, within a time window, T. In another embodiment, the triggering occurs when the set of unfiltered measurements satisfies a trigger condition. The triggering step triggers sending the event triggered measurement report to the network node. An example of a method 900 for user equipment beam reporting which could be performed by a network node based on this disclosure is illustrated in Fig. 9. In that figure, step 910 is sending a measurement configuration to a UE, and step 920 is receiving, from the UE, an event triggered measurement report.Additional Embodiments[000139] Fig. 10 shows an example of a communication system 2100 in accordance with some embodiments.[000140] In the example, the communication system 2100 includes a telecommunication network 2102 that includes an access network 2104, such as a radio access network (RAN), and a core network 2106, which includes one or more core network nodes 2108. The access network 2104 includes one or more access network nodes, such as network nodes 2110a and 2110b (one or more of which may be generally referred to as network nodes 2110), or any other similar 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) access nodes or non-3GPP access points. Moreover, as will be appreciated by those of skill in the art, a network node is not necessarily limited to an implementation in which a radio portion and a baseband portion are supplied and integrated by a single vendor. Thus, it will be understood that network nodes include disaggregated implementations or portions thereof. For example, in some embodiments, the telecommunication network 2102 includes one or more Open-RAN (ORAN) network nodes. An ORAN network nodeis a node in the telecommunication network 2102 that supports an ORAN specification (e.g., a specification published by the O-RAN Alliance, or any similar organization) and may operate alone or together with other nodes to implement one or more functionalities of any node in the telecommunication network 2102, including one or more network nodes 2110 and / or core network nodes 2108.[000141] Examples of an ORAN network node include an open radio unit (O-RU), an open distributed unit (O-DU), an open central unit (O-CU), including an O-CU control plane (O-CU-CP) or an O-CU user plane (O-CU-UP), a RAN intelligent controller (near-real time or non-real time) hosting software or software plug-ins, such as a near-real time control application (e.g., xApp) or a non-real time control application (e.g., rApp), or any combination thereof (the adjective “open” designating support of an ORAN specification). The network node may support a specification by, for example, supporting an interface defined by the ORAN specification, such as an Al, Fl, Wl, El, E2, X2, Xn interface, an open fronthaul user plane interface, or an open fronthaul management plane interface. Moreover, an ORAN access node may be a logical node in a physical node. Furthermore, an ORAN network node may be implemented in a virtualization environment (described further below) in which one or more network functions are virtualized. For example, the virtualization environment may include an O-Cloud computing platform orchestrated by a Service Management and Orchestration Framework via an O-2 interface defined by the O-RAN Alliance or comparable technologies. The network nodes 2110 facilitate direct or indirect connection of user equipment (UE), such as by connecting UEs 2112a, 2112b, 2112c, and 2112d (one or more of which may be generally referred to as UEs 2112) to the core network 2106 over one or more wireless connections.[000142] Example wireless communications over a wireless connection include transmitting and / or receiving wireless signals using electromagnetic waves, radio waves, infrared waves, and / or other types of signals suitable for conveying information without the use of wires, cables, or other material conductors. Moreover, in different embodiments, the communication system 2100 may include any number of wired or wireless networks, network nodes, UEs, and / or any other components or systems that may facilitate or participate in the communication of data and / or signals whether via wired or wireless connections. The communication system 2100 may include and / or interface with any type of communication, telecommunication, data, cellular, radio network, and / or other similar type of system.[000143] The UEs 2112 may be any of a wide variety of communication devices, including wireless devices arranged, configured, and / or operable to communicate wirelessly with the network nodes 2110 and other communication devices. Similarly, the network nodes 2110 are arranged, capable, configured, and / or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with the UEs 2112 and / or with other network nodes or equipment in the telecommunication network 2102 to enable and / or provide network access, such as wireless network access, and / or to perform other functions, such as administration in the telecommunication network 2102.[000144] In the depicted example, the core network 2106 connects the network nodes 2110 to one or more host computing systems, such as host 2116. These connections may be direct or indirect via one or more intermediary networks or devices. In other examples, network nodes may be directly coupled to hosts. The core network 2106 includes one more core network nodes (e.g., core network node 2108) that are structured with hardware and software components. Features of these components may be substantially similar to those described with respect to the UEs, network nodes, and / or hosts, such that the descriptions thereof are generally applicable to the corresponding components of the core network node 2108. Example core network nodes include functions of one or more of a Mobile Switching Center (MSC), Mobility Management Entity (MME), Home Subscriber Server (HSS), Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF), Session Management Function (SMF), Authentication Server Function (AUSF), Subscription Identifier De-concealing function (SIDF), Unified Data Management (UDM), Security Edge Protection Proxy (SEPP), Network Exposure Function (NEF), and / or a User Plane Function (UPF).[000145] The host 2116 may be under the ownership or control of a service provider other than an operator or provider of the access network 2104 and / or the telecommunication network 2102. The host 2116 may host a variety of applications to provide one or more service. Examples of such applications include live and pre-recorded audio / video content, data collection services such as retrieving and compiling data on various ambient conditions detected by a plurality of UEs, analytics functionality, social media, functions for controlling or otherwise interacting with remote devices, functions for an alarm and surveillance center, or any other such function performed by a server.[000146] As a whole, the communication system 2100 of Fig. 10 enables connectivity between the UEs, network nodes, and hosts. In that sense, the communication system may be configured to operate according to predefined rules or procedures, such as specific standards thatinclude, but are not limited to: Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM); Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS); Long Term Evolution (LTE), and / or other suitable 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G standards, or any applicable future generation standard (e.g., 6G); wireless local area network (WLAN) standards, such as the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standards (WiFi); and / or any other appropriate wireless communication standard, such as the Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMax), Bluetooth, Z-Wave, Near Field Communication (NFC) ZigBee, LiFi, and / or any low-power wide-area network (LPWAN) standards such as LoRa and Sigfox.[000147] In some examples, the telecommunication network 2102 is a cellular network that implements 3GPP standardized features. Accordingly, the telecommunications network 2102 may support network slicing to provide different logical networks to different devices that are connected to the telecommunication network 2102. For example, the telecommunications network 2102 may provide Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communication (URLLC) services to some UEs, while providing Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) services to other UEs, and / or Massive Machine Type Communication (mMTC)ZMassive loT services to yet further UEs.[000148] In some examples, the UEs 2112 are configured to transmit and / or receive information without direct human interaction. For instance, a UE may be designed to transmit information to the access network 2104 on a predetermined schedule, when triggered by an internal or external event, or in response to requests from the access network 2104. Additionally, a UE may be configured for operating in single- or multi-RAT or multi-standard mode. For example, a UE may operate with any one or combination of Wi-Fi, NR (New Radio) and LTE, i.e. being configured for multi-radio dual connectivity (MR-DC), such as E-UTRAN (Evolved-UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network) New Radio - Dual Connectivity (EN-DC).[000149] In the example, the hub 2114 communicates with the access network 2104 to facilitate indirect communication between one or more UEs (e.g., UE 2112c and / or 2112d) and network nodes (e.g., network node 2110b). In some examples, the hub 2114 may be a controller, router, content source and analytics, or any of the other communication devices described herein regarding UEs. For example, the hub 2114 may be a broadband router enabling access to the core network 2106 for the UEs. As another example, the hub 2114 may be a controller that sends commands or instructions to one or more actuators in the UEs. Commands or instructions may bereceived from the UEs, network nodes 2110, or by executable code, script, process, or other instructions in the hub 2114. As another example, the hub 2114 may be a data collector that acts as temporary storage for UE data and, in some embodiments, may perform analysis or other processing of the data. As another example, the hub 2114 may be a content source. For example, for a UE that is a VR device, display, loudspeaker, or other media delivery device, the hub 2114 may retrieve VR assets, video, audio, or other media or data related to sensory information via a network node, which the hub 2114 then provides to the UE either directly, after performing local processing, and / or after adding additional local content. In still another example, the hub 2114 acts as a proxy server or orchestrator for the UEs, in particular if one or more of the UEs are low energy loT devices.[000150] The hub 2114 may have a constant / persistent or intermittent connection to the network node 2110b. The hub 2114 may also allow for a different communication scheme and / or schedule between the hub 2114 and UEs (e.g., UE 2112c and / or 2112d), and between the hub 2114 and the core network 2106. In other examples, the hub 2114 is connected to the core network 2106 and / or one or more UEs via a wired connection. Moreover, the hub 2114 may be configured to connect to an M2M service provider over the access network 2104 and / or to another UE over a direct connection. In some scenarios, UEs may establish a wireless connection with the network nodes 2110 while still connected via the hub 2114 via a wired or wireless connection. In some embodiments, the hub 2114 may be a dedicated hub - that is, a hub whose primary function is to route communications to / from the UEs from / to the network node 2110b. In other embodiments, the hub 2114 may be a non-dedicated hub - that is, a device which is capable of operating to route communications between the UEs and network node 2110b, but which is additionally capable of operating as a communication start and / or end point for certain data channels.[000151] Fig. 11 shows a UE 2200 in accordance with some embodiments. The UE 2200 presents additional details of some embodiments of the UE 2112 of Fig. 10. As used herein, a UE refers to a device capable, configured, arranged and / or operable to communicate wirelessly with network nodes and / or other UEs. Examples of a UE include, but are not limited to, a smart phone, mobile phone, cell phone, voice over IP (VoIP) phone, wireless local loop phone, desktop computer, personal digital assistant (PDA), wireless cameras, gaming console or device, music storage / playback device, wearable terminal device, wireless endpoint, mobile station, tablet,laptop, laptop-embedded equipment (LEE), laptop-mounted equipment (LME), an Augmented Reality (AR) or Virtual Reality (VR) device, wireless customer-premise equipment (CPE), vehicle, vehicle-mounted or vehicle embedded / integrated wireless device, etc. Other examples include any UE identified by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3 GPP), including a narrow band internet of things (NB-IoT) UE, a machine type communication (MTC) UE, and / or an enhanced MTC (eMTC) UE.[000152] A UE may support device-to-device (D2D) communication, for example by implementing a 3 GPP standard for sidelink communication, Dedicated Short-Range Communication (DSRC), vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I), or vehicle-to- everything (V2X). In other examples, a UE may not necessarily have a user in the sense of a human user who owns and / or operates the relevant device. Instead, a UE may represent a device that is intended for sale to, or operation by, a human user but which may not, or which may not initially, be associated with a specific human user (e.g., a smart sprinkler controller). Alternatively, a UE may represent a device that is not intended for sale to, or operation by, an end user but which may be associated with or operated for the benefit of a user (e.g., a smart power meter).[000153] The UE 2200 includes processing circuitry 2202 that is operatively coupled via a bus 2204 to an input / output interface 2206, a power source 2208, a memory 2210, a communication interface 2212, and / or any other component, or any combination thereof. Certain UEs may utilize all or a subset of the components shown in Fig. 11. The level of integration between the components may vary from one UE to another UE. Further, certain UEs may contain multiple instances of a component, such as multiple processors, memories, transceivers, transmitters, receivers, etc.[000154] The processing circuitry 2202 is configured to process instructions and data and may be configured to implement any sequential state machine operative to execute instructions stored as machine- readable computer programs in the memory 2210. The processing circuitry 2202 may be implemented as one or more hardware-implemented state machines (e.g., in discrete logic, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), etc.); programmable logic together with appropriate firmware; one or more stored computer programs, general-purpose processors, such as a microprocessor or digital signal processor (DSP), together with appropriate software; or any combination of the above. For example, the processing circuitry 2202 may include multiple central processing units (CPUs).[000155] In the example, the input / output interface 2206 may be configured to provide an interface or interfaces to an input device, output device, or one or more input and / or output devices. Examples of an output device include a speaker, a sound card, a video card, a display, a monitor, a printer, an actuator, an emitter, a smartcard, another output device, or any combination thereof. An input device may allow a user to capture information into the UE 2200. Examples of an input device include a touch-sensitive or presence-sensitive display, a camera (e.g., a digital camera, a digital video camera, a web camera, etc.), a microphone, a sensor, a mouse, a trackball, a directional pad, a trackpad, a scroll wheel, a smartcard, and the like. The presencesensitive display may include a capacitive or resistive touch sensor to sense input from a user. A sensor may be, for instance, an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a tilt sensor, a force sensor, a magnetometer, an optical sensor, a proximity sensor, a biometric sensor, etc., or any combination thereof. An output device may use the same type of interface port as an input device. For example, a Universal Serial Bus (USB) port may be used to provide an input device and an output device.[000156] In some embodiments, the power source 2208 is structured as a battery or battery pack. Other types of power sources, such as an external power source (e.g., an electricity outlet), photovoltaic device, or power cell, may be used. The power source 2208 may further include power circuitry for delivering power from the power source 2208 itself, and / or an external power source, to the various parts of the UE 2200 via input circuitry or an interface such as an electrical power cable. Delivering power may be, for example, for charging of the power source 2208. Power circuitry may perform any formatting, converting, or other modification to the power from the power source 2208 to make the power suitable for the respective components of the UE 2200 to which power is supplied.[000157] The memory 2210 may be or be configured to include memory such as random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), magnetic disks, optical disks, hard disks, removable cartridges, flash drives, and so forth. In one example, the memory 2210 includes one or more application programs 2214, such as an operating system, web browser application, a widget, gadget engine, or other application, and corresponding data 2216. The memory 2210 may store, for use by the UE 2200, any of a variety of various operating systems or combinations of operating systems.[000158] The memory 2210 may be configured to include a number of physical drive units, such as redundant array of independent disks (RAID), flash memory, USB flash drive, external hard disk drive, thumb drive, pen drive, key drive, high-density digital versatile disc (HD- DVD) optical disc drive, internal hard disk drive, Blu-Ray optical disc drive, holographic digital data storage (HDDS) optical disc drive, external mini-dual in-line memory module (DIMM), synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), external micro-DIMM SDRAM, smartcard memory such as tamper resistant module in the form of a universal integrated circuit card (UICC) including one or more subscriber identity modules (SIMs), such as a USIM and / or ISIM, other memory, or any combination thereof. The UICC may for example be an embedded UICC (eUICC), integrated UICC (iUICC) or a removable UICC commonly known as ‘SIM card.’ The memory 2210 may allow the UE 2200 to access instructions, application programs and the like, stored on transitory or non-transitory memory media, to off-load data, or to upload data. An article of manufacture, such as one utilizing a communication system may be tangibly embodied as or in the memory 2210, which may be or comprise a device-readable storage medium.[000159] The processing circuitry 2202 may be configured to communicate with an access network or other network using the communication interface 2212. The communication interface 2212 may comprise one or more communication subsystems and may include or be communicatively coupled to an antenna 2222. The communication interface 2212 may include one or more transceivers used to communicate, such as by communicating with one or more remote transceivers of another device capable of wireless communication (e.g., another UE or a network node in an access network). Each transceiver may include a transmitter 2218 and / or a receiver 2220 appropriate to provide network communications (e.g., optical, electrical, frequency allocations, and so forth). Moreover, the transmitter 2218 and receiver 2220 may be coupled to one or more antennas (e.g., antenna 2222) and may share circuit components, software or firmware, or alternatively be implemented separately.[000160] In the illustrated embodiment, communication functions of the communication interface 2212 may include cellular communication, Wi-Fi communication, LPWAN communication, data communication, voice communication, multimedia communication, short-range communications such as Bluetooth, near-field communication, location-based communication such as the use of the global positioning system (GPS) to determine a location, another like communication function, or any combination thereof. Communicationsmay be implemented in according to one or more communication protocols and / or standards, such as IEEE 802.11, Code Division Multiplexing Access (CDMA), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), GSM, LIE, New Radio (NR), UMTS, WiMax, Ethernet, transmission control protocol / internet protocol (TCP / IP), synchronous optical networking (SONET), Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), QUIC, Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), and so forth.[000161] Regardless of the type of sensor, a UE may provide an output of data captured by its sensors, through its communication interface 2212, via a wireless connection to a network node. Data captured by sensors of a UE can be communicated through a wireless connection to a network node via another UE. The output may be periodic (e.g., once every 15 minutes if it reports the sensed temperature), random (e.g., to even out the load from reporting from several sensors), in response to a triggering event (e.g., when moisture is detected an alert is sent), in response to a request (e.g., a user initiated request), or a continuous stream (e.g., a live video feed of a patient).[000162] As another example, a UE comprises an actuator, a motor, or a switch, related to a communication interface configured to receive wireless input from a network node via a wireless connection. In response to the received wireless input the states of the actuator, the motor, or the switch may change. For example, the UE may comprise a motor that adjusts the control surfaces or rotors of a drone in flight according to the received input or to a robotic arm performing a medical procedure according to the received input.[000163] A UE, when in the form of an Internet of Things (loT) device, may be a device for use in one or more application domains, these domains comprising, but not limited to, city wearable technology, extended industrial application and healthcare. Non-limiting examples of such an loT device are a device which is or which is embedded in: a connected refrigerator or freezer, a TV, a connected lighting device, an electricity meter, a robot vacuum cleaner, a voice controlled smart speaker, a home security camera, a motion detector, a thermostat, a smoke detector, a door / window sensor, a flood / moisture sensor, an electrical door lock, a connected doorbell, an air conditioning system like a heat pump, an autonomous vehicle, a surveillance system, a weather monitoring device, a vehicle parking monitoring device, an electric vehicle charging station, a smart watch, a fitness tracker, a wearable for tactile augmentation or sensory enhancement, a water sprinkler, an animal- or item-tracking device, a sensor for monitoring a plant or animal, an industrial robot, an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), and any kind of medicaldevice, like a heart rate monitor or a remote controlled surgical robot. A UE in the form of an loT device comprises circuitry and / or software in dependence of the intended application of the loT device in addition to other components as described in relation to the UE 2200 shown in Figure 22.[000164] As yet another specific example, in an loT scenario, a UE may represent a machine or other device that performs monitoring and / or measurements, and transmits the results of such monitoring and / or measurements to another UE and / or a network node. The UE may in this case be an M2M device, which may in a 3 GPP context be referred to as an MTC device. As one particular example, the UE may implement the 3 GPP NB-IoT standard. In other scenarios, a UE may represent a vehicle, such as a car, a bus, a truck, a ship and an airplane, or other equipment that is capable of monitoring and / or reporting on its operational status or other functions associated with its operation.[000165] In practice, any number of UEs may be used together with respect to a single use case. For example, a first UE might be or be integrated in a drone and provide the drone’s speed information (obtained through a speed sensor) to a second UE that is a remote controller operating the drone. When the user makes changes from the remote controller, the first UE may adjust the throttle on the drone (e.g. by controlling an actuator) to increase or decrease the drone’s speed. The first and / or the second UE can also include more than one of the functionalities described above. For example, a UE might comprise the sensor and the actuator, and handle communication of data for both the speed sensor and the actuators.[000166] Fig. 12 shows a network node 2300 in accordance with some embodiments. As used herein, network node refers to equipment capable, configured, arranged and / or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with a UE and / or with other network nodes or equipment, in a telecommunication network. Examples of network nodes include, but are not limited to, access points (APs) (e.g., radio access points), base stations (BSs) (e.g., radio base stations, Node Bs, evolved Node Bs (eNBs) and NR NodeBs (gNBs)), 0-RAN nodes or components of an 0-RAN node (e.g., 0-RU, 0-DU, O-CU).[000167] Base stations may be categorized based on the amount of coverage they provide (or, stated differently, their transmit power level) and so, depending on the provided amount of coverage, may be referred to as femto base stations, pico base stations, micro base stations, or macro base stations. A base station may be a relay node or a relay donor node31controlling a relay. A network node may also include one or more (or all) parts of a distributed radio base station such as centralized digital units, distributed units (e.g., in an O-RAN access node) and / or remote radio units (RRUs), sometimes referred to as Remote Radio Heads (RRHs). Such remote radio units may or may not be integrated with an antenna as an antenna integrated radio. Parts of a distributed radio base station may also be referred to as nodes in a distributed antenna system (DAS).[000168] Other examples of network nodes include multiple transmission point (multi-TRP) 5G access nodes, multi-standard radio (MSR) equipment such as MSRBSs, network controllers such as radio network controllers (RNCs) or base station controllers (BSCs), base transceiver stations (BTSs), transmission points, transmission nodes, multi-cell / multicast coordination entities (MCEs), Operation and Maintenance (O&M) nodes, Operations Support System (OSS) nodes, Self-Organizing Network (SON) nodes, positioning nodes (e.g., Evolved Serving Mobile Location Centers (E-SMLCs)), and / or Minimization of Drive Tests (MDTs).[000169] The network node 2300 includes a processing circuitry 2302, a memory 2304, a communication interface 2306, and a power source 2308. The network node 2300 may be composed of multiple physically separate components (e.g., a NodeB component and a RNC component, or a BTS component and a BSC component, etc.), which may each have their own respective components. In certain scenarios in which the network node 2300 comprises multiple separate components (e.g., BTS and BSC components), one or more of the separate components may be shared among several network nodes. For example, a single RNC may control multiple NodeBs. In such a scenario, each unique NodeB and RNC pair, may in some instances be considered a single separate network node. In some embodiments, the network node 2300 may be configured to support multiple radio access technologies (RATs). In such embodiments, some components may be duplicated (e.g., separate memory 2304 for different RATs) and some components may be reused (e.g., a same antenna 2310 may be shared by different RATs). The network node 2300 may also include multiple sets of the various illustrated components for different wireless technologies integrated into network node 2300, for example GSM, WCDMA, LTE, NR, WiFi, Zigbee, Z-wave, LoRaWAN, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) or Bluetooth wireless technologies. These wireless technologies may be integrated into the same or different chip or set of chips and other components within network node 2300.[000170] The processing circuitry 2302 may comprise a combination of one or more of a microprocessor, controller, microcontroller, central processing unit, digital signal processor, application-specific integrated circuit, field programmable gate array, or any other suitable computing device, resource, or combination of hardware, software and / or encoded logic operable to provide, either alone or in conjunction with other network node 2300 components, such as the memory 2304, to provide network node 2300 functionality.[000171] In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 2302 includes a system on a chip (SOC). In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 2302 includes one or more of radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry 2312 and baseband processing circuitry 2314. In some embodiments, the radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry 2312 and the baseband processing circuitry 2314 may be on separate chips (or sets of chips), boards, or units, such as radio units and digital units. In alternative embodiments, part or all of RF transceiver circuitry 2312 and baseband processing circuitry 2314 may be on the same chip or set of chips, boards, or units.[000172] The memory 2304 may comprise any form of volatile or non-volatile computer-readable memory including, without limitation, persistent storage, solid-state memory, remotely mounted memory, magnetic media, optical media, random access memory (RAM), readonly memory (ROM), mass storage media (for example, a hard disk), removable storage media (for example, a flash drive, a Compact Disk (CD) or a Digital Video Disk (DVD)), and / or any other volatile or non-volatile, non-transitory device-readable and / or computer-executable memory devices that store information, data, and / or instructions that may be used by the processing circuitry 2302. The memory 2304 may store any suitable instructions, data, or information, including a computer program, software, an application including one or more of logic, rules, code, tables, and / or other instructions capable of being executed by the processing circuitry 2302 and utilized by the network node 2300. The memory 2304 may be used to store any calculations made by the processing circuitry 2302 and / or any data received via the communication interface 2306. In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 2302 and memory 2304 is integrated.[000173] The communication interface 2306 is used in wired or wireless communication of signaling and / or data between a network node, access network, and / or UE. As illustrated, the communication interface 2306 comprises port(s) / terminal(s) 2316 to send and receive data, for example to and from a network over a wired connection. The communication interface 2306 also includes radio front-end circuitry 2318 that may be coupled to, or in certainembodiments a part of, the antenna 2310. Radio front-end circuitry 2318 comprises filters 2320 and amplifiers 2322. The radio front-end circuitry 2318 may be connected to an antenna 2310 and processing circuitry 2302. The radio front-end circuitry may be configured to condition signals communicated between antenna 2310 and processing circuitry 2302. The radio front-end circuitry 2318 may receive digital data that is to be sent out to other network nodes or UEs via a wireless connection. The radio front-end circuitry 2318 may convert the digital data into a radio signal having the appropriate channel and bandwidth parameters using a combination of filters 2320 and / or amplifiers 2322. The radio signal may then be transmitted via the antenna 2310. Similarly, when receiving data, the antenna 2310 may collect radio signals which are then converted into digital data by the radio front-end circuitry 2318. The digital data may be passed to the processing circuitry 2302. In other embodiments, the communication interface may comprise different components and / or different combinations of components.[000174] In certain alternative embodiments, the network node 2300 does not include separate radio front-end circuitry 2318, instead, the processing circuitry 2302 includes radio frontend circuitry and is connected to the antenna 2310. Similarly, in some embodiments, all or some of the RF transceiver circuitry 2312 is part of the communication interface 2306. In still other embodiments, the communication interface 2306 includes one or more ports or terminals 2316, the radio front-end circuitry 2318, and the RF transceiver circuitry 2312, as part of a radio unit (not shown), and the communication interface 2306 communicates with the baseband processing circuitry 2314, which is part of a digital unit (not shown).[000175] The antenna 2310 may include one or more antennas, or antenna arrays, configured to send and / or receive wireless signals. The antenna 2310 may be coupled to the radio front-end circuitry 2318 and may be any type of antenna capable of transmitting and receiving data and / or signals wirelessly. In certain embodiments, the antenna 2310 is separate from the network node 2300 and connectable to the network node 2300 through an interface or port.[000176] The antenna 2310, communication interface 2306, and / or the processing circuitry 2302 may be configured to perform any receiving operations and / or certain obtaining operations described herein as being performed by the network node. Any information, data and / or signals may be received from a UE, another network node and / or any other network equipment. Similarly, the antenna 2310, the communication interface 2306, and / or the processing circuitry 2302 may be configured to perform any transmitting operations described herein as beingperformed by the network node. Any information, data and / or signals may be transmitted to a UE, another network node and / or any other network equipment.[000177] The power source 2308 provides power to the various components of network node 2300 in a form suitable for the respective components (e.g., at a voltage and current level needed for each respective component). The power source 2308 may further comprise, or be coupled to, power management circuitry to supply the components of the network node 2300 with power for performing the functionality described herein. For example, the network node 2300 may be connectable to an external power source (e.g., the power grid, an electricity outlet) via an input circuitry or interface such as an electrical cable, whereby the external power source supplies power to power circuitry of the power source 2308. As a further example, the power source 2308 may comprise a source of power in the form of a battery or battery pack which is connected to, or integrated in, power circuitry. The battery may provide backup power should the external power source fail.[000178] Embodiments of the network node 2300 may include additional components beyond those shown in Fig. 12 for providing certain aspects of the network node’s functionality, including any of the functionality described herein and / or any functionality necessary to support the subject matter described herein. For example, the network node 2300 may include user interface equipment to allow input of information into the network node 2300 and to allow output of information from the network node 2300. This may allow a user to perform diagnostic, maintenance, repair, and other administrative functions for the network node 2300. In some embodiments providing a core network node, such as core network node 2108 of Fig. 10, some components, such as the radio front-end circuitry 2318 and the RF transceiver circuitry 2312 may be omitted.[000179] Fig. 13 is a block diagram illustrating a virtualization environment 2400 in which functions implemented by some embodiments may be virtualized. In the present context, virtualizing means creating virtual versions of apparatuses or devices which may include virtualizing hardware platforms, storage devices and networking resources. As used herein, virtualization can be applied to any device described herein, or components thereof, and relates to an implementation in which at least a portion of the functionality is implemented as one or more virtual components. Some or all of the functions described herein may be implemented as virtual components executed by one or more virtual machines (VMs) implemented in one or more virtualenvironments 2400 hosted by one or more of hardware nodes, such as a hardware computing device that operates as a network node, UE, core network node, or host. Further, in embodiments in which the virtual node does not require radio connectivity (e.g., a core network node or host), then the node may be entirely virtualized. In some embodiments, the virtualization environment 2400 includes components defined by the O-RAN Alliance, such as an O-Cloud environment orchestrated by a Service Management and Orchestration Framework via an 0-2 interface. Virtualization may facilitate distributed implementations of a network node, UE, core network node, or host.[000180] Applications 2402 (which may alternatively be called software instances, virtual appliances, network functions, virtual nodes, virtual network functions, etc.) are run in the virtualization environment Q400 to implement some of the features, functions, and / or benefits of some of the embodiments disclosed herein.[000181] Hardware 2404 includes processing circuitry, memory that stores software and / or instructions executable by hardware processing circuitry, and / or other hardware devices as described herein, such as a network interface, input / output interface, and so forth. Software may be executed by the processing circuitry to instantiate one or more virtualization layers 2406 (also referred to as hypervisors or virtual machine monitors (VMMs)), provide VMs 2408a and 2408b (one or more of which may be generally referred to as VMs 2408), and / or perform any of the functions, features and / or benefits described in relation with some embodiments described herein. The virtualization layer 2406 may present a virtual operating platform that appears like networking hardware to the VMs 2408.[000182] The VMs 2408 comprise virtual processing, virtual memory, virtual networking or interface and virtual storage, and may be run by a corresponding virtualization layer 2406. Different embodiments of the instance of a virtual appliance 2402 may be implemented on one or more of VMs 2408, and the implementations may be made in different ways. Virtualization of the hardware is in some contexts referred to as network function virtualization (NFV). NFV may be used to consolidate many network equipment types onto industry standard high volume server hardware, physical switches, and physical storage, which can be located in data centers, and customer premise equipment.[000183] In the context of NFV, a VM 2408 may be a software implementation of a physical machine that runs programs as if they were executing on a physical, non-virtualizedmachine. Each of the VMs 2408, and that part of hardware 2404 that executes that VM, be it hardware dedicated to that VM and / or hardware shared by that VM with others of the VMs, forms separate virtual network elements. Still in the context of NFV, a virtual network function is responsible for handling specific network functions that run in one or more VMs 2408 on top of the hardware 2404 and corresponds to the application 2402.[000184] Hardware 2404 may be implemented in a standalone network node with generic or specific components. Hardware 2404 may implement some functions via virtualization. Alternatively, hardware 2404 may be part of a larger cluster of hardware (e.g. such as in a data center or CPE) where many hardware nodes work together and are managed via management and orchestration 2410, which, among others, oversees lifecycle management of applications 2402. In some embodiments, hardware 2404 is coupled to one or more radio units that each include one or more transmitters and one or more receivers that may be coupled to one or more antennas. Radio units may communicate directly with other hardware nodes via one or more appropriate network interfaces and may be used in combination with the virtual components to provide a virtual node with radio capabilities, such as a radio access node or a base station. In some embodiments, some signaling can be provided with the use of a control system 2412 which may alternatively be used for communication between hardware nodes and radio units.[000185] Although the computing devices described herein (e.g., UEs, network nodes) may include the illustrated combination of hardware components, other embodiments may comprise computing devices with different combinations of components. It is to be understood that these computing devices may comprise any suitable combination of hardware and / or software needed to perform the tasks, features, functions and methods disclosed herein. Determining, calculating, obtaining or similar operations described herein may be performed by processing circuitry, which may process information by, for example, converting the obtained information into other information, comparing the obtained information or converted information to information stored in the network node, and / or performing one or more operations based on the obtained information or converted information, and as a result of said processing making a determination. Moreover, while components are depicted as single boxes located within a larger box, or nested within multiple boxes, in practice, computing devices may comprise multiple different physical components that make up a single illustrated component, and functionality may be partitioned between separate components. For example, a communication interface may beconfigured to include any of the components described herein, and / or the functionality of the components may be partitioned between the processing circuitry and the communication interface. In another example, non-computationally intensive functions of any of such components may be implemented in software or firmware and computationally intensive functions may be implemented in hardware.[000186] In certain embodiments, some or all of the functionality described herein may be provided by processing circuitry executing instructions stored on in memory, which in certain embodiments may be a computer program product in the form of a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. In alternative embodiments, some or all of the functionality may be provided by the processing circuitry without executing instructions stored on a separate or discrete device-readable storage medium, such as in a hard-wired manner. In any of those particular embodiments, whether executing instructions stored on a non-transitory computer- readable storage medium or not, the processing circuitry can be configured to perform the described functionality. The benefits provided by such functionality are not limited to the processing circuitry alone or to other components of the computing device, but are enjoyed by the computing device as a whole, and / or by end users and a wireless network generally.Abbreviations and Defined Terms[000187] To assist in understanding the scope and content of this written description and the appended claims, a select few terms are defined directly below. Unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which the present disclosure pertains.[000188] The terms “approximately,” “about,” and “substantially,” as used herein, represent an amount or condition close to the specific stated amount or condition that still performs a desired function or achieves a desired result. For example, the terms “approximately,” “about,” and “substantially” may refer to an amount or condition that deviates by less than 10%, or by less than 5%, or by less than 1%, or by less than 0.1%, or by less than 0.01% from a specifically stated amount or condition.[000189] Various aspects of the present disclosure, including devices, systems, and methods may be illustrated with reference to one or more embodiments or implementations, which are exemplary in nature. As used herein, the term “exemplary” means “serving as an example,instance, or illustration,” and should not necessarily be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments disclosed herein. In addition, reference to an “implementation” of the present disclosure or embodiments includes a specific reference to one or more embodiments thereof, and vice versa, and is intended to provide illustrative examples without limiting the scope of the present disclosure, which is indicated by the appended claims rather than by the present description.[000190] As used in the specification, a word appearing in the singular encompasses its plural counterpart, and a word appearing in the plural encompasses its singular counterpart, unless implicitly or explicitly understood or stated otherwise. Thus, it will be noted that, as used in this specification and the appended claims, the singular forms “a,” “an” and “the” include plural referents unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. For example, reference to a singular referent (e.g., “a widget”) includes one, two, or more referents unless implicitly or explicitly understood or stated otherwise. Similarly, reference to a plurality of referents should be interpreted as comprising a single referent and / or a plurality of referents unless the content and / or context clearly dictate otherwise. For example, reference to referents in the plural form (e.g., “widgets”) does not necessarily require a plurality of such referents. Instead, it will be appreciated that independent of the inferred number of referents, one or more referents are contemplated herein unless stated otherwise.[000191] References in the specification to "one embodiment," "an embodiment," "an example embodiment," and the like indicate that the embodiment described may include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, but it is not necessary that every embodiment includes the particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Moreover, such phrases are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment. Further, when a particular feature, structure, or characteristic is described in connection with an embodiment, it is submitted that it is within the knowledge of one skilled in the art to affect such feature, structure, or characteristic in connection with other embodiments whether or not explicitly described.[000192] It shall be understood that although the terms "first" and "second" etc. may be used herein to describe various elements, these elements should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element from another. For example, a first element could be termed a second element, and similarly, a second element could be termed a first element,without departing from the scope of example embodiments. As used herein, the term "and / or" includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed terms.[000193] It will be further understood that the terms "comprises", "comprising", "has", "having", "includes" and / or "including", when used herein, specify the presence of stated features, elements, and / or components etc., but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, elements, components and / or combinations thereof.Conclusion[000194] The present disclosure includes any novel feature or combination of features disclosed herein either explicitly or any generalization thereof. Various modifications and adaptations to the foregoing exemplary embodiments of this disclosure may become apparent to those skilled in the relevant arts in view of the foregoing description, when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. However, any and all modifications will still fall within the scope of the non-limiting and exemplary embodiments of this disclosure.[000195] It is understood that for any given component or embodiment described herein, any of the possible candidates or alternatives listed for that component may generally be used individually or in combination with one another, unless implicitly or explicitly understood or stated otherwise. Additionally, it will be understood that any list of such candidates or alternatives is merely illustrative, not limiting, unless implicitly or explicitly understood or stated otherwise.[000196] In addition, unless otherwise indicated, numbers expressing quantities, constituents, distances, or other measurements used in the specification and claims are to be understood as being modified by the term “about,” as that term is defined herein. Accordingly, unless indicated to the contrary, the numerical parameters set forth in the specification and attached claims are approximations that may vary depending upon the desired properties sought to be obtained by the subject matter presented herein. At the very least, and not as an attempt to limit the application of the doctrine of equivalents to the scope of the claims, each numerical parameter should at least be construed in light of the number of reported significant digits and by applying ordinary rounding techniques. Notwithstanding that the numerical ranges and parameters setting forth the broad scope of the subject matter presented herein are approximations, the numerical values set forth in the specific examples are reported as precisely as possible. Any numericalvalues, however, inherently contain certain errors necessarily resulting from the standard deviation found in their respective testing measurements.[000197] Any headings and subheadings used herein are for organizational purposes only and are not meant to be used to limit the scope of the description or the claims. The terms and expressions which have been employed herein are used as terms of description and not of limitation, and there is no intention in the use of such terms and expressions of excluding any equivalents of the features shown and described or portions thereof, but it is recognized that various modifications are possible within the scope of the present disclosure. Thus, it should be understood that although the present disclosure has been specifically disclosed in part by certain embodiments, and optional features, modification and variation of the concepts herein disclosed may be resorted to by those skilled in the art, and such modifications and variations are considered to be within the scope of this present description.[000198] It will also be appreciated that systems, devices, products, kits, methods, and / or processes, according to certain embodiments of the present disclosure may include, incorporate, or otherwise comprise properties or features (e.g., components, members, elements, parts, and / or portions) described in other embodiments disclosed and / or described herein. Accordingly, the various features of certain embodiments can be compatible with, combined with, included in, and / or incorporated into other embodiments of the present disclosure. Thus, disclosure of certain features relative to a specific embodiment of the present disclosure should not be construed as limiting application or inclusion of said features to the specific embodiment. Rather, it will be appreciated that other embodiments can also include said features, members, elements, parts, and / or portions without necessarily departing from the scope of the present disclosure.[000199] Moreover, unless a feature is described as requiring another feature in combination therewith, any feature herein may be combined with any other feature of a same or different embodiment disclosed herein. Furthermore, various well-known aspects of illustrative systems, methods, apparatus, and the like are not described herein in particular detail in order to avoid obscuring aspects of the example embodiments. Such aspects are, however, also contemplated herein.[000200] It will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that methods, devices, device elements, materials, procedures, and techniques other than those specifically described herein can be applied to the practice of the described embodiments as broadly disclosed hereinwithout resort to undue experimentation. All art-known functional equivalents of methods, devices, device elements, materials, procedures, and techniques specifically described herein are intended to be encompassed by this present disclosure.[000201] When a group of materials, compositions, components, or compounds is disclosed herein, it is understood that all individual members of those groups and all subgroups thereof are disclosed separately. When a Markush group or other grouping is used herein, all individual members of the group and all combinations and sub-combinations possible of the group are intended to be individually included in the disclosure.[000202] The above-described embodiments are examples only. Alterations, modifications, and variations may be effected to the particular embodiments by those of skill in the art without departing from the scope of the description, which is defined solely by the appended claims.

Claims

CLAIMSWhat is claimed is:

1. A method (800) performed by a user equipment, UE, (2112, 2200) for facilitating user equipment initiated reporting, the method comprising: receiving (810) a measurement configuration comprising: a reference signal configuration, and a reporting configuration comprising a set of layer 1, LI, filtering parameters; filtering (820) a set of unfiltered measurements based on the measurement configuration, wherein the filtering comprises applying a LI filter to the set of unfiltered measurements based on the set of LI filtering parameters; and generating (830), based on the filtering, a set of filtered measurements.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the LI filter is a first order auto-regressive filter, wherein the unfiltered measurements are LI measurements.

3. The method of any of claims 1-2, wherein the method further comprises triggering (840), based on the set of filtered measurements and the reporting configuration, an event triggered measurement report.

4. The method of any of claims 1- 2, wherein the method further comprises triggering (840), based on the set of unfiltered measurements and the reporting configuration, an event triggered measurement report.

5. The method of claims 3 or 4, wherein the event triggered measurement report comprises: one or more filtered measurements from the set of filtered measurements; and one or more unfiltered measurements from the set of unfiltered measurements.

6. The method of any of claims 3-5, wherein the event triggered measurement report comprises: an indication of a downlink reference signal, DL-RS; anda filtered performance metric for the DL-RS.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the filtered performance metric for the DL-RS comprises: a filtered reference received signal power, RSRP, associated with the DL-RS; or a filtered signal to interference plus noise ratio, SINR, associated with the DL-RS.

8. The method of any of claims 3-7, wherein the event triggered measurement report is triggered when measurements of a reference signal exceed a threshold, Th, at least a number of times, N, within a time window, T.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the set of LI filtering parameters comprises: the threshold, Th; the number of times, N; and the time window, T.

10. The method of any of claims 1-9, wherein the method further comprises receiving a set of higher layer parameters via radio resource control, RRC, signaling, wherein the higher layer parameters are provided by an information element, IE, from a group consisting of: a UE-initiated-QuantityConfig IE; a Filtercoefficient IE; and a UE-initiated-Filtercoefficient IE.

11. The method of any of claims 1-10, wherein the set of LI filtering parameters comprises a set of subsets of LI filtering parameters, wherein each subset of LI filtering parameters is associated with one or more of: a type of downlink, DL, reference signal, RS; a DL RS resource identification, ID; time domain resources; frequency domain resources; an LI metric type; an event type;a set of trigger conditions associated with an event; a channel state information, CSI, resource configuration; a serving cell; a serving carrier; a frequency range; a set of serving cells; and a reporting configuration.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the set of LI filtering parameters further comprises one or more subsets of LI filtering parameters associated with a type of DL RS, and wherein each of the one or more subsets of LI filtering parameters associated with the type of DL RS is associated with a DL RS type from a group consisting of: synchronization signal, SS, and physical broadcast channel, PBCH, blocks; and channel state information reference signal, CSLRS.

13. The method of claims 11 or 12, wherein the set of LI filtering parameters further comprises one or more subsets of LI filtering parameters associated with a DL RS resource ID, and wherein each of the one or more subsets of LI filtering parameters associated with the DL RS resource ID is associated with the DL RS resource ID from a group consisting of:SSB resource indicator, SSBRI; andCSLRS resource indicator, CRI.

14. The method of any of claims 11-13, wherein the set of LI filtering parameters further comprises one or more subsets of LI filtering parameters associated with a LI metric type, and wherein each of the one or more subsets of LI filtering parameters associated with the LI metric type is associated with the LI metric type from a group consisting of:LI reference received signal power, Ll-RSRP;LI reference signal received quality, Ll-RSRQ; andLI signal to interference plus noise ratio, Ll-SINR.

15. The method of any of claims 11-14, wherein the set of LI filtering parameters furthercomprises one or more subsets of LI filtering parameters associated with a set of serving cells, each serving cell associated with a frequency in the same frequency band.

16. The method of any of claims 11-15, wherein the set of LI filtering parameters further comprises two or more subsets of LI filtering parameters that are associated with a single carrier.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the two or more subsets of LI filtering parameters which are associated with the single carrier comprise: a subset of LI filtering parameters associated with a first frequency range; and a subset of LI filtering parameters associated with a second frequency range.

18. The method of any of claims 1-17, wherein the method comprises receiving a maximum number of LI filters via RRC signaling.

19. The method of any of claims 1-18, wherein the method further comprises receiving a dynamic indication to deactivate the LI filter.

20. The method of any of claims 1-19, wherein the method further comprises receiving a dynamic indication to activate the LI filter.

21. The method of any of claims 1-20, wherein: the LI filter is a time domain filter; the set of unfiltered measurements comprises one or more of: a synchronization signal, SS, RSRP measurement; a SS RSRQ measurement; and a SS SINR measurement; and the LI filter is applied based on SSBs of a cell.

22. The method of any of claims 1-20, wherein: the LI filter is a time domain filter; the set of unfiltered measurements comprises one or more of:a channel state information, CSI, RSRP measurement; a CSI RSRQ measurement; and a CSI SINR measurement; and the LI filter is applied based on CSLRS resources of a cell.

23. The method of any of claims 1-22, wherein the method further comprises: sending a report associated with a downlink reference signal, DL-RS; and indicating one or both of a number of time samples and / or frequency resources over which the UE has performed filtering for the DL-RS associated with the report.

24. The method of any of claims 1-22, wherein the method further comprises receiving information about one or both of a minimum number of time samples and / or frequency resources over which the UE should perform filtering for a DL-RS before sending a user initiated beam report associated with the DL-RS.

25. A method (900) performed by a network node (2110) for user equipment, UE, initiated reporting, the method comprising: sending (910) a measurement configuration to a UE (2112, 2200), wherein the measurement configuration comprises: a reference signal configuration; and a reporting configuration comprising a set of layer 1, LI, filtering parameters.

26. The method of claim 25, further comprising: receiving (920), from the UE, an event triggered measurement report.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein the event triggered measurement report comprises: one or more unfiltered measurements; and one or more filtered measurements.

28. The method of any of claims 26-27, wherein the event triggered measurement report comprises an indication of a downlink reference signal, DL-RS, and a filtered performance metricfor the DL-RS.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein the filtered performance metric for the DL-RS comprises: a filtered reference received signal power, RSRP, associated with the DL-RS; or a filtered signal to interference plus noise ratio, SINR, associated with the DL-RS.

30. The method of any of claims 25-29, wherein the set of LI filtering parameters comprises: a threshold, Th; a number of times, N; and a time window, T.

31. The method of any of claims 25-30, wherein the method further comprises sending the UE a set of higher layer parameters via radio resource control, RRC, signaling, wherein the higher layer parameters are sent in an information element, IE, from a group consisting of: a UE-initiated-QuantityConfig IE; a Filtercoefficient IE; and a UE-initiated-Filtercoefficient IE.

32. The method of any of claims 25-31, wherein the set of LI filtering parameters comprises a set of subsets of LI filtering parameters, wherein each subset of LI filtering parameters is associated with one or more of: a type of downlink, DL, reference signal, RS; a DL RS resource identification, ID; time domain resources; frequency domain resources; an LI metric type; an event type; a set of trigger conditions associated with an event; a channel state information, CSI, resource configuration; a serving cell; a serving carrier;a frequency range; a set of serving cells; and a reporting configuration.

33. The method of claim 32, wherein the set of LI filtering parameters further comprises one or more subsets of LI filtering parameters associated with a type of DL RS, and wherein each of the one or more subsets of LI filtering parameters associated with the type of DL RS is associated with a DL RS type from a group consisting of: synchronization signal, SS, and physical broadcast channel, PBCH, blocks; and channel state information reference signal, CSLRS.

34. The method of any of claims 32-33, wherein the set of LI filtering parameters further comprises one or more subsets of LI filtering parameters associated with a DL RS resource ID, and wherein each of the one or more subsets of LI filtering parameters associated with the DL RS resource ID is associated with the DL RS resource ID from a group consisting of:SSB resource indicator, SSBRI; and CSLRS resource indicator, CRI.

35. The method of any of claims 32-34, wherein the set of LI filtering parameters further comprises one or more subsets of LI filtering parameters associated with a LI metric type, and wherein each of the one or more subsets of LI filtering parameters associated with the LI metric type is associated with the LI metric type from a group consisting of:LI reference received signal power, Ll-RSRP;LI reference signal received quality, Ll-RSRQ; and LI signal to interference plus noise ratio, Ll-SINR.

36. The method of any of claims 32-35, wherein the set of LI filtering parameters further comprises one or more subsets of LI filtering parameters associated with a set of serving cells, each serving cell associated with a frequency in the same frequency band.

37. The method of any of claims 32-36, wherein the set of LI filtering parameters furthercomprises two or more subsets of LI filtering parameters that are associated with a single carrier.

38. The method of claim 37, wherein the two or more subsets of LI filtering parameters which are associated with the single carrier comprise: a subset of LI filtering parameters associated with a first frequency range; and a subset of LI filtering parameters associated with a second frequency range.

39. The method of any of claims 25-38, wherein the method further comprises sending the UE a maximum number of LI filters via RRC signaling.

40. The method of any of claims 25-39, wherein the method further comprises sending the UE a dynamic indication to deactivate an LI filter.

41. The method of any of claims 25-40, wherein the method further comprises sending the UE a dynamic indication to activate an LI filter.

42. The method of any of claims 40 and 41, wherein the LI filter is a time domain filter.

43. The method of any of claims 25-42, wherein the event triggered measurement report is associated with a beam, and wherein the method further comprises receiving an indication about one or both of a number of time samples and / or frequency resources over which the UE performed filtering for the beam associated with the event triggered measurement report.

44. The method of any of claims 25-42, wherein the method further comprises sending the UE information about one or both of a minimum number of time samples and / or frequency resources over which the UE should perform filtering for a DL-RS before sending a user initiated beam report associated with the DL-RS.

45. A user equipment (2112, 2200) for user equipment initiated reporting, comprising: processing circuitry (2202) configured to perform any of the steps of claims 1-24; and power supply circuitry (2208) configured to supply power to the processing circuitry.

46. A network node (2300) for user equipment initiated reporting, the network node comprising: processing circuitry (2302) configured to perform any of the steps of claims 25-44; power supply circuitry (2308) configured to supply power to the processing circuitry.

47. A user equipment, UE, (2112, 2200) for user initiated reporting, the UE comprising: an antenna (2222) configured to send and receive wireless signals; radio front-end circuitry (2212) connected to the antenna and to processing circuitry (2202), and configured to condition signals communicated between the antenna and the processing circuitry; the processing circuitry being configured to perform any of the steps of claims 1-24; an input interface (2206) connected to the processing circuitry and configured to allow input of information into the UE to be processed by the processing circuitry; an output interface (2206) connected to the processing circuitry and configured to output information from the UE that has been processed by the processing circuitry; and a battery (2208) connected to the processing circuitry and configured to supply power to the UE.

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