Devices and techniques for beam sweeping factor reduction in measurement delay for wireless communications

Abstract

This disclosure describes systems, methods, and devices related to reducing the beam sweeping factor in neighboring cell measurements may reduce user equipment measuring time. A user equipment may detect that criteria for reducing a beam sweeping factor of measurements neighboring cells has been satisfied; measure the neighboring cells using a reduced beam sweeping factor, based on detecting that the criteria has been satisfied, by simultaneously receiving multiple synchronization signal block (SSB) beams; and report measurement results of measuring the neighboring cells to a radio access network (RAN).

Description

[0001] DEVICES AND TECHNIQUES FOR BEAM SWEEPING FACTOR REDUCTION IN MEASUREMENT DELAY FOR WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS

[0002] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED PATENT APPLICATIONS )

[0003] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 63 / 755,910, filed February 7, 2025, and U.S. Provisional Application No. 63 / 646,413, filed May 13, 2024, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference as if set forth in full.

[0004] BACKGROUND

[0005] Wireless networks are essential formodem communication, supporting diverse devices and applications. As data demands grow, these networks must enhance performance and reliability. Key advancements focus on optimizing data handling and network management.

[0006] BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0007] FIG. 1 is a network diagram illustrating an example network environment, in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0008] FIG. 2 illustrates a network, in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0009] FIG. 3 schematically illustrates a wireless network, in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0010] FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating components able to read instructions from a machine-readable or computer-readable medium, in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0011] FIG. 5 illustrates a network, in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0012] FIG. 6 is a flow for an example process for beam sweeping factor reduction, in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0013] DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0014] The following description and the drawings sufficiently illustrate specific embodiments to enable those skilled in the art to practice them. Other embodiments may incorporate structural, logical, electrical, process, algorithm, and other changes. Portions and features of some embodiments may be included in, or substituted for, those of other embodiments. Embodiments set forth in the claims encompass all available equivalents of those claims. The 3GPP technical standards define cellular communications, including for UE measurements used in mobility situations, such as handover (HO) and information reporting to the network, and the like. In 3 GPP, a measurement delay refers to the time the UE takes to report its measurements to the network. 3 GPP also defines a beam sweeping factor referring to the number of beams that the UE measures during beam sweeping (e.g., to identify a best beam), both for reception and transmission beams. In 3GPP, UEs may be implemented with simultaneous Rx capabilities, meaning the UE may receive multiple candidate Rx beams simultaneously.

[0015] When the UE is implemented with simultaneous multiple Rx capabilities, the UE can receive SSB-s from different transmit beams at the same time. This benefits to the total delay when the UE needs to go over all the possible SSB beams in a roll. This case specifies the method to guarantee fair performance when the UE enables multiple simultaneous reception on the SSB beams to carry out fast RRM measurements targeting bursts of SSB-s. Criteria to trigger the enabling of the multi-Rx reception is defined.

[0016] The beam sweeping factor is used to calculate measurement delay requirements for FR2 target measurement objects. Measurement delay requirements guarantee the UE performance and correct behaviours specified in the standards. For a UE that is capable of simultaneously receive signals using multiple Rx beam directions, beam sweeping factor can be reduced under a certain set of conditions.

[0017] The present disclosure specifies the possible conditions considering different UE implementations, and enhances the measurement delay requirements by assuming that the UE can receive and process correctly multiple SSB-s within the duration of one measurement periodicity. The present disclosure also reduces the delay assuming that the UE is capable of receiving two Rx beams at the same time.

[0018] The present disclosure specifies the method to guarantee fair performance when the UE enables multiple simultaneous reception on the SSB beams to carry out fast RRM measurements targeting bursts of SSB-s. Criteria to trigger the enabling of the multi-Rx reception is defined. When the serving cell quality is above a defined threshold, the UE needs to reduce the beam sweeping factor of measurements on neighboring cells.

[0019] Conditions to trigger reduced beam sweepins factor in UE L3 measurements

[0020] In the context of CONNECTED mode measurements, serving cell quality is a critical factor in determining whether to trigger measurement relaxation. The serving cell quality is typically assessed based on certain criteria such as RSRP and RSRQ. When the serving cell quality is deemed to be good or above a certain threshold, the network may decide to enhance the measurement requirements for the UE. This means that the UE can reduce the beam sweeping factor of measurements it performs on neighbouring cells, which is particularly beneficial in scenarios where the serving cell provides a strong and stable connection.

[0021] Regarding reduced sweeping factor in L3 measurements, specification of criteria over good cell quality should describe the conditions under which the UE can enhance its measurement activities based on the quality of the serving cell. This include the specific thresholds and criteria that the network can configure to determine when measurement relaxation is appropriate. o The network configures the UE with specific thresholds for RSRP (Reference Signal Received Power) and / or RSRQ (Reference Signal Received Quality) to assess the quality of the serving cell (e.g., above or below a quality threshold for good / bad quality). o When the serving cell's RSRP and / or RSRQ are above (or below) the configured thresholds, the UE needs to reduce the beam sweeping factor of measurements on neighboring cells. o The configuration for reduced BSF and measurement enhancements is provided through specific information elements [goodServingCellEvaluationReducedBSF] or others (e.g., the criteria is met when the quality is about this threshold). These IES include parameters like [rsrp-ThresholdBSFreduction] and [rsrq- ThresholdBSFreduction] which define the quality thresholds for the serving cell. This is specified in TS 38.331. o To avoid frequent toggling between measurement states, hysteresis and time-to-trigger parameters can be configured. Hysteresis adds a margin to the threshold to prevent rapid changes in measurement reporting. Time-to-trigger specifies the duration for which the condition must be met before triggering the event. o In case good serving cell criterion is configured, the UE is required to perform L3 measurements with reduced beam sweeping factor (e.g., cut in half or reduced another amount), when the good serving cell quality criterion is met, and the measurements enhancement is specified in TS 38.133. o When the criterion is met, the Tidentify. intra without index = (Tpss / sss_ sync intra + T SSB ineasurement period mtra “I" T SSB processing) HIS, and Tidentify_ inter without index — (Tpss / sss_ sync inter + T SSB_measurement_pe riod_inter +TsSB_processing) SJ where TsSB_processing — 2 IDS, where Tpss / sss_sync + TssB_measurement_Period is reduced (e.g., based on UE capability regarding how many Rx beams may be received simultaneously). Exitins reduced beam sweeping factor state

[0022] The reduced beam sweeping factor state continues to apply until the UE reports the measurement results to the network. And the UE makes another exam on the criteria that are configured for the good serving cell quality. If the criteria are met, the UE continues to use reduced beam sweeping factor while the UE exits the state when the good quality criteria are no longer met.

[0023] At the same time, UE is allowed to use UE assistance information to indicate to the network its status in the context of reduced BSF.

[0024] The reduced beam sweeping factor state continues to apply until the UE reports the measurement results to the network. And the UE makes another exam on the criteria that are configured for the good serving cell quality. If the criteria are met, the UE continues to use reduced beam sweeping factor while the UE exits the state when the good quality criteria are no longer met.

[0025] Additional objectives of the present disclosure include:

[0026] • FR2-1 SSB based L3 measurement delay reduction for connected mode

[0027] For UE supporting multiple-Rx simultaneous reception on single carrier: o Study suitable scenarios and conditions and, if feasible, introduce methods to reduce FR2-1 L3 measurement delay by optimizing:

[0028] Rx beam sweeping factor.

[0029] The UE is considered activated in multi-Rx simultaneous reception mode when the UE is configured with group-based beam reporting. The UE is considered activated for L3 reporting when the GBBR is configured not long prior to the expected L3 reporting.

[0030] L3 measurements are different than LI in terms of baseband processing

[0031] For FR2 L3 measurements the UE processes all the SSB-s configured on the serving frequency within a SMTC period. In a typical 120kHz SCS deployment, 64 SSB-s are configured within a SMTC window for all the cells on the same frequency. How each SSB is linked to the network Tx beam is up to implementation of the network, as the UE is only expected to use one single Rx beam to receive and process correctly one SSB out of all Tx beams during one whole SMTC period long.

[0032] We enhance the measurement delay requirements by assuming that the UE can receive and process correctly multiple SSB-s in that period. And it is natural that we reduce the delay and cut it in half assuming that the UE is capable of receiving two Rx beams at the same time. But when considering the UE has to process all the results during one measurement period (even within the SMTC / gap occasion), we should allow reasonable margins on the reduction to accommodate different UE categories.

[0033] In the original design of LI measurements, the main purpose is for UE to manage beams for serving cells. The L3 measurements however, aim to support mobility among cells. This difference results in that the major targets for LI and L3 measurements are fundamentally different: LI measurements target on serving cells (neighbour cells added in target list in recent releases for LTM) while L3 measurements target on neighbour cells and on inter-frequencies.

[0034] When LI procedures are carried out, the UE focuses on measurement results on a single cell at a time for processing. However for L3 measurements, the UE processes with all the possible cell ID-s in each of the measurement results per Rx beam per SSB index (Tx beam). This is to say that the baseband resources consumed by LI procedures and L3 measurements are largely different. Even that the UE apply the same ability to either LI or L3 measurements in terms of simultaneous receptions of the reference signals, processing the obtained results within the measurement period for L3 in FR2 with large bandwidth (not to mention CA) and many indexes is much more challenging compared to L 1.

[0035] We consider UE baseband processing capabilities when specifying the L3 delay reduction for simultaneous receptions on multiple FR2 SSB-s.

[0036] Under the simultaneous multi-Rx reception delay reduction scope, UE baseband processing capabilities are the bottle neck against stretching on the amount of reduction applied, considering the existing UE implementation.

[0037] Configurations that impact baseband processing

[0038] Having these said, the group needs to examine the configurations of the reference signals when specifying the preconditions for reduced delay to apply since different configurations of carrier / MO / SSB / SMTC / gap can have great impact on how fast the UE processes the reference signals.

[0039] Regarding the number of carriers configured to the UE, it should be considered since usually the UE is assumed to have two parallel searchers for measurements and processing. The number of searchers represent the available set of baseband resources available to UE processing. Thus when single carrier is configured to the UE both searchers can be applied at the same time which makes possible that we can cut the delay in half.

[0040] The L3 measurement delay Beam Sweeping Factor can be cut half for simultaneous reception UE when only single carrier is configured. Regarding the SSB / SMTC / gap periodicities, it should not be configured too short if we expect the UE to successfully process all the results within a single measurement period. The configured SSB / SMTC / gap periodicity is considered as one of the preconditions for the UE to apply reduction on the delays: reduced delay applies only when the measurement periodicity is configured larger than a threshold. And this is also related to the SSB number within the configured SSB burst. So literally it is the ratio between the SSB number of the burst and the periodicity time duration of the measurement that matters.

[0041] Different (or whether or not) delay reduction applies when the ratio of number of SSB within a burst and time duration of the measurement periodicity varies.

[0042] Conditions for reduced Beam Sweeping Factor to apply in L3 delay

[0043] To summary here, we need to combine the preconditions for multi-Rx simultaneous reception and for successful parallel processing to apply at the same time. The considered preconditions are:

[0044] Multi-Rx simultaneous reception active, following Rel-18 definitions as much as reasonable, including, o Group based beam reporting is configured for the UE not long ago prior to the expected L3 reporting,

[0045] Measurement configurations meet processing limitations, including, o Single carrier is configured, o Measurement periodicity is large enough compared to the number of SSB to be measured in a burst,

[0046] Existing side conditions for L3 measurements.

[0047] Other proposed embodiments include: mobility status should not be considered as a limitation for UE delay reduction since the purpose of the reduction is to have greater mobility in general so we are not suppose to compromise on mobility status; power consumption is not a issue in the scope since the total power consumption for a handover stays roughly the same even delay is reduced; whether UE has prior knowledge or cell center / edge conditions do not affect reduction in BSF but they are addressed in legacy side conditions.

[0048] The above descriptions are for purposes of illustration and are not meant to be limiting. Numerous other examples, configurations, processes, algorithms, etc., may exist, some of which are described in greater detail below. Example embodiments will now be described with reference to the accompanying figures. FIG. 1 is a network diagram illustrating an example network environment 100, in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0049] Wireless network 100 may include one or more UEs 120 and one or more RANs 102 (e.g., gNBs), which may communicate in accordance with 3GPP communication standards. The UE(s) 120 may be mobile devices that are non-stationary (e.g., not having fixed locations) or may be stationary devices.

[0050] In some embodiments, the UEs 120 and the RANs 102 may include one or more computer systems similar to that of FIGs. 3-5.

[0051] One or more illustrative UE(s) 120 and / or RAN(s) 102 may be operable by one or more user(s) 110. A UE may take on multiple distinct characteristics, each of which shape its function. For example, a single addressable unit might simultaneously be a portable UE, a quality-of-service (QoS) UE, a dependent UE, and a hidden UE. The UE(s) 120 (e.g., 124, 126, or 128) and / or RAN(s) 102 may include any suitable processor-driven device including, but not limited to, a mobile device or a non-mobile, e.g., a static device. For example, UE(s) 120 may include, a software enabled AP (SoftAP), a personal computer (PC), a wearable wireless device (e.g., bracelet, watch, glasses, ring, etc.), a desktop computer, a mobile computer, a laptop computer, an ultrabookTM computer, a notebook computer, a tablet computer, a server computer, a handheld computer, a handheld device, an internet of things (loT) device, a sensor device, a PDA device, a handheld PDA device, an on-board device, an off-board device, a hybrid device (e.g., combining cellular phone functionalities with PDA device functionalities), a consumer device, a vehicular device, a non-vehicular device, a mobile or portable device, a non-mobile or non-portable device, a mobile phone, a cellular telephone, a PCS device, a PDA device which incorporates a wireless communication device, a mobile or portable GPS device, a DVB device, a relatively small computing device, a non-desktop computer, a “carry small live large” (CSLL) device, an ultra mobile device (UMD), an ultra mobile PC (UMPC), a mobile internet device (MID), an “origami” device or computing device, a device that supports dynamically composable computing (DCC), a context-aware device, a video device, an audio device, an A / V device, a set-top-box (STB), a blu-ray disc (BD) player, a BD recorder, a digital video disc (DVD) player, a high definition (HD) DVD player, a DVD recorder, a HD DVD recorder, a personal video recorder (PVR), a broadcast HD receiver, a video source, an audio source, a video sink, an audio sink, a stereo tuner, a broadcast radio receiver, a flat panel display, a personal media player (PMP), a digital video camera (DVC), a digital audio player, a speaker, an audio receiver, an audio amplifier, a gaming device, a data source, a data sink, a digital still camera (DSC), a media player, a smartphone, a television, a music player, or the like. Other devices, including smart devices such as lamps, climate control, car components, household components, appliances, etc. may also be included in this list.

[0052] As used herein, the term “Internet of Things (loT) device” is used to refer to any object (e.g., an appliance, a sensor, etc.) that has an addressable interface (e.g., an Internet protocol (IP) address, a Bluetooth identifier (ID), a near-field communication (NFC) ID, etc.) and can transmit information to one or more other devices over a wired or wireless connection. An loT device may have a passive communication interface, such as a quick response (QR) code, a radio-frequency identification (RFID) tag, an NFC tag, or the like, or an active communication interface, such as a modem, a transceiver, a transmitter-receiver, or the like. An loT device can have a particular set of attributes (e.g., a device state or status, such as whether the loT device is on or off, open or closed, idle or active, available for task execution or busy, and so on, a cooling or heating function, an environmental monitoring or recording function, a lightemitting function, a sound-emitting function, etc.) that can be embedded in and / or controlled / monitored by a central processing unit (CPU), microprocessor, ASIC, or the like, and configured for connection to an loT network such as a local ad-hoc network or the Internet. For example, loT devices may include, but are not limited to, refrigerators, toasters, ovens, microwaves, freezers, dishwashers, dishes, hand tools, clothes washers, clothes dryers, furnaces, air conditioners, thermostats, televisions, light fixtures, vacuum cleaners, sprinklers, electricity meters, gas meters, etc., so long as the devices are equipped with an addressable communications interface for communicating with the loT network. loT devices may also include cell phones, desktop computers, laptop computers, tablet computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), etc. Accordingly, the loT network may be comprised of a combination of “legacy” Internet-accessible devices (e.g., laptop or desktop computers, cell phones, etc.) in addition to devices that do not typically have Internet-connectivity (e.g., dishwashers, etc.).

[0053] Any of the UE(s) 120 (e.g., UEs 124, 126, 128), and UE(s) 120 may be configured to communicate with each other via one or more communications networks 130 and / or 135 wirelessly or wired. The UE(s) 120 may also communicate peer-to-peer or directly with each other with or without the RAN(s) 102. Any of the communications networks 130 and / or 135 may include, but not limited to, any one of a combination of different types of suitable communications networks such as, for example, broadcasting networks, cable networks, public networks (e.g., the Internet), private networks, wireless networks, cellular networks, or any other suitable private and / or public networks. Further, any of the communications networks 130 and / or 135 may have any suitable communication range associated therewith and may include, for example, cellular networks. In addition, any of the communications networks 130 and / or 135 may include any type of medium over which network traffic may be carried including, but not limited to, coaxial cable, twisted-pair wire, optical fiber, a hybrid fiber coaxial (HFC) medium, microwave terrestrial transceivers, radio frequency communication mediums, white space communication mediums, ultra-high frequency communication mediums, satellite communication mediums, or any combination thereof.

[0054] Any of the UE(s) 120 (e.g., UE 124, 126, 128) and RAN(s) 102 may include one or more communications antennas. The one or more communications antennas may be any suitable type of antennas corresponding to the communications protocols used by the UE(s) 120 (e.g., UEs 124, 126 and 128), and RAN(s) 102. Some non-limiting examples of suitable communications antennas include cellular antennas, 3GPP family of standards compatible antennas, directional antennas, non-directional antennas, dipole antennas, folded dipole antennas, patch antennas, multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antennas, omnidirectional antennas, quasi-omnidirectional antennas, or the like. The one or more communications antennas may be communicatively coupled to a radio component to transmit and / or receive signals, such as communications signals to and / or from the UEs 120 and / or RAN(s) 102.

[0055] Any of the UE(s) 120 (e.g., UE 124, 126, 128), and RAN(s) 102 may be configured to perform directional transmission and / or directional reception in conjunction with wirelessly communicating in a wireless network. Any of the UE(s) 120 (e.g., UE 124, 126, 128), and RAN(s) 102 may be configured to perform such directional transmission and / or reception using a set of multiple antenna arrays (e.g., DMG antenna arrays or the like). Each of the multiple antenna arrays may be used for transmission and / or reception in a particular respective direction or range of directions. Any of the UE(s) 120 (e.g., UE 124, 126, 128), and RAN(s) 102 may be configured to perform any given directional transmission towards one or more defined transmit sectors. Any of the UE(s) 120 (e.g., UE 124, 126, 128), and RAN(s) 102 may be configured to perform any given directional reception from one or more defined receive sectors.

[0056] MIMO beamforming in a wireless network may be accomplished using RF beamforming and / or digital beamforming. In some embodiments, in performing a given MIMO transmission, UE 120 and / or RAN(s) 102 may be configured to use all or a subset of its one or more communications antennas to perform MIMO beamforming.

[0057] Any of the UE 120 (e.g., UE 124, 126, 128), and RAN(s) 102 may include any suitable radio and / or transceiver for transmitting and / or receiving radio frequency (RF) signals in the bandwidth and / or channels corresponding to the communications protocols utilized by any of the UE(s) 120 and RAN(s) 102 to communicate with each other. The radio components may include hardware and / or software to modulate and / or demodulate communications signals according to pre-established transmission protocols. The radio components may further have hardware and / or software instructions to communicate via one or more 3 GPP protocols and using 3GPP bandwidths. The radio component may include any known receiver and baseband suitable for communicating via the communications protocols. The radio component may further include a low noise amplifier (LNA), additional signal amplifiers, an analog-to-digital (A / D) converter, one or more buffers, and digital baseband.

[0058] In one or more embodiments, and with reference to FIG. 1 , one or more of the UE 120 may exchange frames 140 with the RANs 102. The frames 140 may include measurement frames and related signaling and reporting as described herein.

[0059] FIG. 2 illustrates a network 200 in accordance with various embodiments. The network 200 may operate in a manner consistent with 3GPP technical specifications for LTE or 5G / NR systems. However, the example embodiments are not limited in this regard and the described embodiments may apply to other networks that benefit from the principles described herein, such as future 3GPP systems, or the like.

[0060] The network 200 may include a UE 202, which may include any mobile or non-mobile computing device designed to communicate with a RAN 204 via an over-the-air connection. The UE 202 may be communicatively coupled with the RAN 204 by a Uu interface. The UE 202 may be, but is not limited to, a smartphone, tablet computer, wearable computer device, desktop computer, laptop computer, in-vehicle infotainment, in-car entertainment device, instrument cluster, head-up display device, onboard diagnostic device, dashtop mobile equipment, mobile data terminal, electronic engine management system, electronic / engine control unit, electronic / engine control module, embedded system, sensor, microcontroller, control module, engine management system, networked appliance, machine-type communication device, M2M or D2D device, loT device, etc.

[0061] In some embodiments, the network 200 may include a plurality of UEs coupled directly with one another via a sidelink interface. The UEs may be M2M / D2D devices that communicate using physical sidelink channels such as, but not limited to, PSBCH, PSDCH, PSSCH, PSCCH, PSFCH, etc.

[0062] In some embodiments, the UE 202 may additionally communicate with an AP 206 via an over-the-air connection. The AP 206 may manage a WLAN connection, which may serve to offload some / all network traffic from the RAN 204. The connection between the UE 202 and the AP 206 may be consistent with any IEEE 802. 11 protocol, wherein the AP 206 could be a wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi®) router. In some embodiments, the UE 202, RAN 204, and AP 206 may utilize cellular- WLAN aggregation (for example, LWA / LWIP). Cellular- WLAN aggregation may involve the UE 202 being configured by the RAN 204 to utilize both cellular radio resources and WLAN resources.

[0063] The RAN 204 may include one or more access nodes, for example, AN 208. AN 208 may terminate air-interface protocols for the UE 202 by providing access stratum protocols including RRC, PDCP, RLC, MAC, and LI protocols. In this manner, the AN 208 may enable data / voice connectivity between CN 220 and the UE 202. In some embodiments, the AN 208 may be implemented in a discrete device or as one or more software entities running on server computers as part of, for example, a virtual network, which may be referred to as a CRAN or virtual baseband unit pool. The AN 208 be referred to as a BS, gNB, RAN node, eNB, ng- eNB, NodeB, RSU, TRxP, TRP, etc. The AN 208 may be a macrocell base station or a low power base station for providing femtocells, picocells or other like cells having smaller coverage areas, smaller user capacity, or higher bandwidth compared to macrocells.

[0064] In embodiments in which the RAN 204 includes a plurality of ANs, they may be coupled with one another via an X2 interface (if the RAN 204 is an LTE RAN) or an Xn interface (if the RAN 204 is a 5G RAN). The X2 / Xn interfaces, which may be separated into control / user plane interfaces in some embodiments, may allow the ANs to communicate information related to handovers, data / context transfers, mobility, load management, interference coordination, etc.

[0065] The ANs of the RAN 204 may each manage one or more cells, cell groups, component carriers, etc. to provide the UE 202 with an air interface for network access. The UE 202 may be simultaneously connected with a plurality of cells provided by the same or different ANs of the RAN 204. For example, the UE 202 and RAN 204 may use carrier aggregation to allow the UE 202 to connect with a plurality of component carriers, each corresponding to a Pcell or Scell. In dual connectivity scenarios, a first AN may be a master node that provides an MCG and a second AN may be secondary node that provides an SCG. The first / second ANs may be any combination of eNB, gNB, ng-eNB, etc.

[0066] The RAN 204 may provide the air interface over a licensed spectrum or an unlicensed spectrum. To operate in the unlicensed spectrum, the nodes may use LAA, eLAA, and / or feLAA mechanisms based on CA technology with PCells / Scells. Prior to accessing the unlicensed spectrum, the nodes may perform medium / carrier-sensing operations based on, for example, a listen-before-talk (LBT) protocol.

[0067] In V2X scenarios the UE 202 or AN 208 may be or act as a RSU, which may refer to any transportation infrastructure entity used for V2X communications. An RSU may be implemented in or by a suitable AN or a stationary (or relatively stationary) UE. An RSU implemented in or by: a UE may be referred to as a “UE-type RSU’"; an eNB may be referred to as an “eNB-type RSU”; a gNB may be referred to as a “gNB-type RSU”; and the like. In one example, an RSU is a computing device coupled with radio frequency circuitry located on a roadside that provides connectivity support to passing vehicle UEs. The RSU may also include internal data storage circuitry to store intersection map geometry, traffic statistics, media, as well as applications / software to sense and control ongoing vehicular and pedestrian traffic. The RSU may provide very low latency communications required for high speed events, such as crash avoidance, traffic warnings, and the like. Additionally or alternatively, the RSU may provide other cellular / WLAN communications services. The components of the RSU may be packaged in a weatherproof enclosure suitable for outdoor installation, and may include a network interface controller to provide a wired connection (e.g., Ethernet) to a traffic signal controller or a backhaul network.

[0068] In some embodiments, the RAN 204 may be an LTE RAN 210 with eNBs, for example, eNB 212. The LTE RAN 210 may provide an LTE air interface with the following characteristics: SCS of 15 kHz; CP-OFDM waveform for DL and SC-FDMA waveform for UL; turbo codes for data and TBCC for control; etc. The LTE air interface may rely on CSL RS for CSI acquisition and beam management; PDSCH / PDCCH DMRS for PDSCH / PDCCH demodulation; and CRS for cell search and initial acquisition, channel quality measurements, and channel estimation for coherent demodulation / detection at the UE. The LTE air interface may operating on sub- 6 GHz bands.

[0069] In some embodiments, the RAN 204 may be an NG-RAN 214 with gNBs, for example, gNB 216, or ng-eNBs, for example, ng-eNB 218. The gNB 216 may connect with 5G-enabled UEs using a 5G NR interface. The gNB 216 may connect with a 5G core through an NG interface, which may include an N2 interface or an N3 interface. The ng-eNB 218 may also connect with the 5G core through an NG interface, but may connect with a UE via an LTE air interface. The gNB 216 and the ng-eNB 218 may connect with each other over an Xn interface.

[0070] In some embodiments, the NG interface may be split into two parts, an NG user plane (NG-U) interface, which carries traffic data between the nodes of the NG-RAN 214 and a UPF 248 (e.g., N3 interface), and an NG control plane (NG-C) interface, which is a signaling interface between the nodes of the NG-RAN214 and an AMF 244 (e.g., N2 interface).

[0071] The NG-RAN 214 may provide a 5G-NR air interface with the following characteristics: variable SCS; CP-OFDM for DL, CP-OFDM and DFT-s-OFDM for UL; polar, repetition, simplex, and Reed-Muller codes for control and LDPC for data. The 5G-NR air interface may rely on CSI-RS, PDSCH / PDCCH DMRS similar to the LTE air interface. The 5G-NR air interface may not use a CRS, but may use PBCH DMRS for PBCH demodulation; PTRS for phase tracking for PDSCH; and tracking reference signal for time tracking. The 5G- NR air interface may operating on FR1 bands that include sub-6 GHz bands or FR2 bands that include bands from 24.25 GHz to 52.6 GHz. The 5G-NR air interface may include an SSB that is an area of a downlink resource grid that includes PSS / SSS / PBCH.

[0072] In some embodiments, the 5G-NR air interface may utilize BWPs for various purposes. For example, BWP can he used for dynamic adaptation of the SCS. For example, the UE 202 can be configured with multiple BWPs where each BWP configuration has a different SCS. When a BWP change is indicated to the UE 202, the SCS of the transmission is changed as well. Another use case example of BWP is related to power saving. In particular, multiple BWPs can be configured for the UE 202 with different amount of frequency resources (for example, PRBs) to support data transmission under different traffic loading scenarios. A BWP containing a smaller number of PRBs can be used for data transmission with small traffic load while allowing power saving at the UE 202 and in some cases at the gNB 216. A BWP containing a larger number of PRBs can be used for scenarios with higher traffic load.

[0073] The RAN 204 is communicatively coupled to CN 220 that includes network elements to provide various functions to support data and telecommunications services to customers / subscribers (for example, users of UE 202). The components of the CN 220 may be implemented in one physical node or separate physical nodes. In some embodiments, NFV may be utilized to virtualize any or all of the functions provided by the network elements of the CN 220 onto physical compute / storage resources in servers, switches, etc. A logical instantiation of the CN 220 may be referred to as a network slice, and a logical instantiation of a portion of the CN 220 may be referred to as a network sub-slice.

[0074] In some embodiments, the CN 220 may be an LTE CN 222, which may also be referred to as an EPC. The LTE CN 222 may include MME 224, SGW 226, SGSN 228, HSS 230, PGW 232, and PCRF 234 coupled with one another over interfaces (or “reference points”) as shown. Functions of the elements of the LTE CN 222 may be briefly introduced as follows.

[0075] The MME 224 may implement mobility management functions to track a current location of the UE 202 to facilitate paging, bearer activation / deactivation, handovers, gateway selection, authentication, etc.

[0076] The SGW 226 may terminate an SI interface toward the RAN and route data packets between the RAN and the LTE CN 222. The SGW 226 may be a local mobility anchor point for inter-RAN node handovers and also may provide an anchor for inter-3GPP mobility. Other responsibilities may include lawful intercept, charging, and some policy enforcement.

[0077] The SGSN 228 may track a location of the UE 202 and perform security functions and access control. In addition, the SGSN 228 may perform inter-EPC node signaling for mobility between different RAT networks; PDN and S-GW selection as specified by MME 224; MME selection for handovers; etc. The S3 reference point between the MME 224 and the SGSN 228 may enable user and bearer information exchange for inter-3GPP access network mobility in idle / active states.

[0078] The HSS 230 may include a database for network users, including subscription-related information to support the network entities’ handling of communication sessions. The HSS 230 can provide support for routing / roaming, authentication, authorization, naming / addressing resolution, location dependencies, etc. An S6a reference point between the HSS 230 and the MME 224 may enable transfer of subscription and authentication data for authenticating / authorizing user access to the LTE CN 220.

[0079] The PGW 232 may terminate an SGi interface toward a data network (DN) 236 that may include an application / content server 238. The PGW 232 may route data packets between the LTE CN 222 and the data network 236. The PGW 232 may be coupled with the SGW 226 by an S5 reference point to facilitate user plane tunneling and tunnel management. The PGW 232 may further include a node for policy enforcement and charging data collection (for example, PCEF). Additionally, the SGi reference point between the PGW 232 and the data network 236 may be an operator external public, a private PDN, or an intra-operator packet data network, for example, for provision of IMS services. The PGW 232 may be coupled with a PCRF 234 via a Gx reference point.

[0080] The PCRF 234 is the policy and charging control element of the LTE CN 222. The PCRF 234 may be communicatively coupled to the app / content server 238 to determine appropriate QoS and charging parameters for service flows. The PCRF 232 may provision associated rules into a PCEF (via Gx reference point) with appropriate TFT and QCI.

[0081] In some embodiments, the CN 220 may be a 5GC 240. The 5GC 240 may include an AUSF 242, AMF 244, SMF 246, UPF 248, NSSF 250, NEF 252, NRF 254, PCF 256, UDM 258, and AF 260 coupled with one another over interfaces (or “reference points”) as shown. Functions of the elements of the 5GC 240 may be briefly introduced as follows.

[0082] The AUSF 242 may store data for authentication of UE 202 and handle authentication- related functionality. The AUSF 242 may facilitate a common authentication framework for various access types. In addition to communicating with other elements of the 5GC 240 over reference points as shown, the AUSF 242 may exhibit an Nausf service-based interface. The AMF 244 may allow other functions of the 5GC 240 to communicate with the UE 202 and the RAN 204 and to subscribe to notifications about mobility events with respect to the UE 202. The AMF 244 may be responsible for registration management (for example, for registering UE 202), connection management, reachability management, mobility management, lawful interception of AMF-related events, and access authentication and authorization. The AMF 244 may provide transport for SM messages between the UE 202 and the SMF 246, and act as a transparent proxy for routing SM messages. AMF 244 may also provide transport for SMS messages between UE 202 and an SMSF. AMF 244 may interact with the AUSF 242 and the UE 202 to perform various security anchor and context management functions. Furthermore, AMF 244 may be a termination point of a RAN CP interface, which may include or be an N2 reference point between the RAN 204 and the AMF 244; and the AMF 244 may be a termination point of NAS (Nl) signaling, and perform NAS ciphering and integrity protection. AMF 244 may also support NAS signaling with the UE 202 over an N3 IWF interface.

[0083] The SMF 246 may be responsible for SM (for example, session establishment, tunnel management between UPF 248 and AN 208); UE IP address allocation and management (including optional authorization); selection and control of UP function; configuring traffic steering at UPF 248 to route traffic to proper destination; termination of interfaces toward policy control functions; controlling part of policy enforcement, charging, and QoS; lawful intercept (for SM events and interface to LI system); termination of SM parts of NAS messages; downlink data notification; initiating AN specific SM information, sent via AMF 244 over N2 to AN 208; and determining SSC mode of a session. SM may refer to management of a PDU session, and a PDU session or “session” may refer to a PDU connectivity service that provides or enables the exchange of PDUs between the UE 202 and the data network 236.

[0084] The UPF 248 may act as an anchor point for intra-RAT and inter-RAT mobility, an external PDU session point of interconnect to data network 236, and a branching point to support multi-homed PDU session. The UPF 248 may also perform packet routing and forwarding, perform packet inspection, enforce the user plane part of policy rules, lawfully intercept packets (UP collection), perform traffic usage reporting, perform QoS handling for a user plane (e.g., packet filtering, gating, UL / DL rate enforcement), perform uplink traffic verification (e.g., SDF-to-QoS flow mapping), transport level packet marking in the uplink and downlink, and perform downlink packet buffering and downlink data notification triggering. UPF 248 may include an uplink classifier to support routing traffic flows to a data network.

[0085] The NSSF 250 may select a set of network slice instances serving the UE 202. The NSSF 250 may also determine allowed NSSAI and the mapping to the subscribed S-NSSAIs, if needed. The NSSF 250 may also determine the AMF set to be used to serve the UE 202, or a list of candidate AMFs based on a suitable configuration and possibly by querying the NRF 254. The selection of a set of network slice instances for the UE 202 may be triggered by the AMF 244 with which the UE 202 is registered by interacting with the NSSF 250, which may lead to a change of AMF. The NSSF 250 may interact with the AMF 244 via an N22 reference point; and may communicate with another NSSF in a visited network via an N31 reference point (not shown). Additionally, the NSSF 250 may exhibit an Nnssf service-based interface.

[0086] The NEF 252 may securely expose services and capabilities provided by 3 GPP network functions for third party, internal exposure / re-exposure, AFs (e.g., AF 260), edge computing or fog computing systems, etc. In such embodiments, the NEF 252 may authenticate, authorize, or throttle the AFs. NEF 252 may also translate information exchanged with the AF 260 and information exchanged with internal network functions. For example, the NEF 252 may translate between an AF-Service-Identifier and an internal 5GC information. NEF 252 may also receive information from other NFs based on exposed capabilities of other NFs. This information may be stored at the NEF 252 as structured data, or at a data storage NF using standardized interfaces. The stored information can then be re-exposed by the NEF 252 to other NFs and AFs, or used for other purposes such as analytics. Additionally, the NEF 252 may exhibit an Nnef service-based interface.

[0087] The NRF 254 may support service discovery functions, receive NF discovery requests from NF instances, and provide the information of the discovered NF instances to the NF instances. NRF 254 also maintains information of available NF instances and their supported services. As used herein, the terms “instantiate,” “instantiation,” and the like may refer to the creation of an instance, and an “instance” may refer to a concrete occurrence of an object, which may occur, for example, during execution of program code. Additionally, the NRF 254 may exhibit the Nnrf service-based interface.

[0088] The PCF 256 may provide policy rules to control plane functions to enforce them, and may also support unified policy framework to govern network behavior. The PCF 256 may also implement a front end to access subscription information relevant for policy decisions in a UDR of the UDM 258. In addition to communicating with functions over reference points as shown, the PCF 256 exhibit an Npcf service-based interface.

[0089] The UDM 258 may handle subscription-related information to support the network entities’ handling of communication sessions, and may store subscription data of UE 202. For example, subscription data may be communicated via an N8 reference point between the UDM 258 and the AMF 244. The UDM 258 may include two parts, an application front end and a UDR. The UDR may store subscription data and policy data for the UDM 258 and the PCF 256, and / or structured data for exposure and application data (including PFDs for application detection, application request information for multiple UEs 202) for the NEF 252. The Nudr service-based interface may be exhibited by the UDR 221 to allow the UDM 258, PCF 256, and NEF 252 to access a particular set of the stored data, as well as to read, update (e.g., add, modify), delete, and subscribe to notification of relevant data changes in the UDR. The UDM may include a UDM-FE, which is in charge of processing credentials, location management, subscription management and so on. Several different front ends may serve the same user in different transactions. The UDM-FE accesses subscription information stored in the UDR and performs authentication credential processing, user identification handling, access authorization, registration / mobility management, and subscription management. In addition to communicating with other NFs over reference points as shown, the UDM 258 may exhibit the Nudm service-based interface.

[0090] The AF 260 may provide application influence on traffic routing, provide access to EF, and interact with the policy framework for policy control.

[0091] In some embodiments, the 5GC 240 may enable edge computing by selecting operator / 3rdparty services to be geographically close to a point that the UE 202 is attached to the network. This may reduce latency and load on the network. To provide edge-computing implementations, the 5GC 240 may select a UPF 248 close to the UE 202 and execute traffic steering from the UPF 248 to data network 236 via the N6 interface. This may be based on the UE subscription data, UE location, and information provided by the AF 260. In this way, the AF 260 may influence UPF (re)selection and traffic routing. Based on operator deployment, when AF 260 is considered to be a trusted entity, the network operator may permit AF 260 to interact directly with relevant NFs. Additionally, the AF 260 may exhibit an Naf service-based interface.

[0092] The data network 236 may represent various network operator services, Internet access, or third party services that may be provided by one or more servers including, for example, application / content server 238.

[0093] FIG. 3 schematically illustrates a wireless network 300 in accordance with various embodiments. The wireless network 300 may include a UE 302 in wireless communication with an AN 304. The UE 302 and AN 304 may be similar to, and substantially interchangeable with, like-named components described elsewhere herein.

[0094] The UE 302 may be communicatively coupled with the AN 304 via connection 306. The connection 306 is illustrated as an air interface to enable communicative coupling, and can be consistent with cellular communications protocols such as an LTE protocol or a 5G NR protocol operating at mmWave or sub-6GHz frequencies.

[0095] The UE 302 may include a host platform 308 coupled with a modem platform 310. The host platform 308 may include application processing circuitry 312, which may be coupled with protocol processing circuitry 314 of the modem platform 310. The application processing circuitry 312 may run various applications for the UE 302 that source / sink application data. The application processing circuitry 312 may further implement one or more layer operations to transmit / receive application data to / from a data network. These layer operations may include transport (for example UDP) and Internet (for example, IP) operations.

[0096] The protocol processing circuitry 314 may implement one or more of layer operations to facilitate transmission or reception of data over the connection 306. The layer operations implemented by the protocol processing circuitry 314 may include, for example, MAC, RLC, PDCP, RRC and NAS operations.

[0097] The modem platform 310 may further include digital baseband circuitry 316 that may implement one or more layer operations that are “below” layer operations performed by the protocol processing circuitry 314 in a network protocol stack. These operations may include, for example, PHY operations including one or more of HARQ-ACK functions, scrambling / descrambling, encoding / decoding, layer mapping / de-mapping, modulation symbol mapping, received symbol / bit metric determination, multi-antenna port precoding / decoding, which may include one or more of space-time, space- frequency or spatial coding, reference signal generation / detection, preamble sequence generation and / or decoding, synchronization sequence generation / detection, control channel signal blind decoding, and other related functions.

[0098] The modem platform 310 may further include transmit circuitry 318, receive circuitry 320, RF circuitry 322, and RF front end (RFFE) 324, which may include or connect to one or more antenna panels 326. Briefly, the transmit circuitry 318 may include a digital-to-analog converter, mixer, intermediate frequency (IF) components, etc.; the receive circuitry 320 may include an analog-to-digital converter, mixer, IF components, etc.; the RF circuitry 322 may include a low-noise amplifier, a power amplifier, power tracking components, etc.; RFFE 324 may include filters (for example, surface / bulk acoustic wave filters), switches, antenna tuners, beamforming components (for example, phase-array antenna components), etc. The selection and arrangement of the components of the transmit circuitry 318, receive circuitry 320, RF circuitry 322, RFFE 324, and antenna panels 326 (referred generically as “transmit / receive components”) may be specific to details of a specific implementation such as, for example, whether communication is TDM or FDM, in mmWave or sub-6 gHz frequencies, etc. In some embodiments, the transmit / receive components may be arranged in multiple parallel transmit / receive chains, may be disposed in the same or different chips / modules, etc.

[0099] In some embodiments, the protocol processing circuitry 314 may include one or more instances of control circuitry (not shown) to provide control functions for the transmit / receive components.

[0100] A UE reception may be established by and via the antenna panels 326, RFFE 324, RF circuitry 322, receive circuitry 320, digital baseband circuitry 316, and protocol processing circuitry 314. In some embodiments, the antenna panels 326 may receive a transmission from the AN 304 by receive-beamforming signals received by a plurality of antennas / antenna elements of the one or more antenna panels 326.

[0101] A UE transmission may be established by and via the protocol processing circuitry 314, digital baseband circuitry 316, transmit circuitry 318, RF circuitry 322, RFFE 324, and antenna panels 326. In some embodiments, the transmit components of the UE 304 may apply a spatial filter to the data to be transmitted to form a transmit beam emitted by the antenna elements of the antenna panels 326.

[0102] Similar to the UE 302, the AN 304 may include a host platform 328 coupled with a modem platform 330. The host platform 328 may include application processing circuitry 332 coupled with protocol processing circuitry 334 of the modem platform 330. The modem platform may further include digital baseband circuitry 336, transmit circuitry 338, receive circuitry 340, RF circuitry 342, RFFE circuitry 344, and antenna panels 346. The components of the AN 304 may be similar to and substantially interchangeable with like-named components of the UE 302. In addition to performing data transmission / reception as described above, the components of the AN 308 may perform various logical functions that include, for example, RNC functions such as radio bearer management, uplink and downlink dynamic radio resource management, and data packet scheduling.

[0103] FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating components, according to some example embodiments, able to read instructions from a machine-readable or computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium) and perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein. Specifically, Figure 4 shows a diagrammatic representation of hardware resources 400 including one or more processors (or processor cores) 410, one or more memory / storage devices 420, and one or more communication resources 430, each of which may be communicatively coupled via a bus 440 or other interface circuitry. For embodiments where node virtualization (e.g., NFV) is utilized, a hypervisor 402 may be executed to provide an execution environment for one or more network slices / sub-slices to utilize the hardware resources 400.

[0104] The processors 410 may include, for example, a processor 412 and a processor 414. The processors 410 may be, for example, a central processing unit (CPU), a reduced instruction set computing (RISC) processor, a complex instruction set computing (CISC) processor, a graphics processing unit (GPU), a DSP such as a baseband processor, an ASIC, an FPGA, a radio-frequency integrated circuit (RFIC), another processor (including those discussed herein), or any suitable combination thereof.

[0105] The memory / storage devices 420 may include main memory, disk storage, or any suitable combination thereof. The memory / storage devices 420 may include, but are not limited to, any type of volatile, non-volatile, or semi-volatile memory such as dynamic random access memory (DRAM), static random access memory (SRAM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), Flash memory, solid-state storage, etc.

[0106] The communication resources 430 may include interconnection or network interface controllers, components, or other suitable devices to communicate with one or more peripheral devices 404 or one or more databases 406 or other network elements via a network 408. For example, the communication resources 430 may include wired communication components (e.g., for coupling via USB, Ethernet, etc.), cellular communication components, NFC components, Bluetooth® (or Bluetooth® Low Energy) components, Wi-Fi® components, and other communication components.

[0107] Instructions 450 may comprise software, a program, an application, an applet, an app, or other executable code for causing at least any of the processors 410 to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein. The instructions 450 may reside, completely or partially, within at least one of the processors 410 (e.g., within the processor’s cache memory), the memory / storage devices 420, or any suitable combination thereof. Furthermore, any portion of the instructions 450 may be transferred to the hardware resources 400 from any combination of the peripheral devices 404 or the databases 406. Accordingly, the memory of processors 410, the memory / storage devices 420, the peripheral devices 404, and the databases 406 are examples of computer-readable and machine-readable media.

[0108] FIG. 5 illustrates a network 500 in accordance with various embodiments. The network 500 may operate in a matter consistent with 3 GPP technical specifications or technical reports for 6G systems. In some embodiments, the network 500 may operate concurrently with network 200. For example, in some embodiments, the network 500 may share one or more frequency or bandwidth resources with network 200. As one specific example, a UE (e.g., UE 502) may be configured to operate in both network 500 and network 200. Such configuration may be based on a UE including circuitry configured for communication with frequency and bandwidth resources of both networks 200 and 500. In general, several elements of network 500 may share one or more characteristics with elements of network 200. For the sake of brevity and clarity, such elements may not be repeated in the description of network 500.

[0109] The network 500 may include a UE 502, which may include any mobile or non-mobile computing device designed to communicate with a RAN 508 via an over-the-air connection. The UE 502 may be similar to, for example, UE 202. The UE 502 may be, but is not limited to, a smartphone, tablet computer, wearable computer device, desktop computer, laptop computer, in-vehicle infotainment, in-car entertainment device, instrument cluster, head-up display device, onboard diagnostic device, dashtop mobile equipment, mobile data terminal, electronic engine management system, electronic / engine control unit, electronic / engine control module, embedded system, sensor, microcontroller, control module, engine management system, networked appliance, machine-type communication device, M2M or D2D device, loT device, etc.

[0110] Although not specifically shown in Figure 5, in some embodiments the network 500 may include a plurality of UEs coupled directly with one another via a sidelink interface. The UEs may be M2M / D2D devices that communicate using physical sidelink channels such as, but not limited to, PSBCH, PSDCH, PSSCH, PSCCH, PSFCH, etc. Similarly, although not specifically shown in Figure 5, the UE 502 may be communicatively coupled with an AP such as AP 206 as described with respect to Figure 2. Additionally, although not specifically shown in Figure 5, in some embodiments the RAN 508 may include one or more ANss such as AN 208 as described with respect to Figure 2. The RAN 508 and / or the AN of the RAN 508 may be referred to as a base station (BS), a RAN node, or using some other term or name.

[0111] The UE 502 and the RAN 508 may be configured to communicate via an air interface that may be referred to as a sixth generation (6G) air interface. The 6G air interface may include one or more features such as communication in a terahertz (THz) or sub-THz bandwidth, or joint communication and sensing. As used herein, the term “joint communication and sensing” may refer to a system that allows for wireless communication as well as radar-based sensing via various types of multiplexing. As used herein, THz or sub-THz bandwidths may refer to communication in the 80 GHz and above frequency ranges. Such frequency ranges may additionally or alternatively be referred to as “millimeter wave” or “mmWave” frequency ranges.

[0112] The RAN 508 may allow for communication between the UE 502 and a 6G core network (CN) 510. Specifically, the RAN 508 may facilitate the transmission and reception of data between the UE 502 and the 6G CN 510. The 6G CN 510 may include various functions such as NSSF 250, NEF 252, NRF 254, PCF 256, UDM 258, AF 260, SMF 246, and AUSF 242. The 6G CN 510 may additional include UPF 248 and DN 236 as shown in Figure 5.

[0113] Additionally, the RAN 508 may include various additional functions that are in addition to, or alternative to, functions of a legacy cellular network such as a 4G or 5G network. Two such functions may include a Compute Control Function (Comp CF) 524 and a Compute Service Function (Comp SF) 536. The Comp CF 524 and the Comp SF 536 may be parts or functions of the Computing Service Plane. Comp CF 524 may be a control plane function that provides functionalities such as management of the Comp SF 536, computing task context generation and management (e.g., create, read, modify, delete), interaction with the underlying computing infrastructure for computing resource management, etc. Comp SF 536 may be a user plane function that serves as the gateway to interface computing service users (such as UE 502) and computing nodes behind a Comp SF instance. Some functionalities of the Comp SF 536 may include: parse computing service data received from users to compute tasks executable by computing nodes; hold service mesh ingress gateway or service API gateway; service and charging policies enforcement; performance monitoring and telemetry collection, etc. In some embodiments, a Comp SF 536 instance may serve as the user plane gateway for a cluster of computing nodes. A Comp CF 524 instance may control one or more Comp SF 536 instances.

[0114] Two other such functions may include a Communication Control Function (Comm CF) 528 and a Communication Service Function (Comm SF) 538, which may be parts of the Communication Service Plane. The Comm CF 528 may be the control plane function for managing the Comm SF 538, communication sessions creation / configuration / releasing, and managing communication session context. The Comm SF 538 may be a user plane function for data transport. Comm CF 528 and Comm SF 538 may be considered as upgrades of SMF 246 and UPF 248, which were described with respect to a 5G system in Figure 2. The upgrades provided by the Comm CF 528 and the Comm SF 538 may enable service-aware transport. For legacy (e.g., 4G or 5G) data transport, SMF 246 and UPF 248 may still be used.

[0115] Two other such functions may include a Data Control Function (Data CF) 522 and Data Service Function (Data SF) 532 may be parts of the Data Service Plane. Data CF 522 may be a control plane function and provides functionalities such as Data SF 532 management, Data service creation / configuration / releasing, Data service context management, etc. Data SF 532 may be a user plane function and serve as the gateway between data service users (such as UE 502 and the various functions of the 6G CN 510) and data service endpoints behind the gateway. Specific functionalities may include include: parse data service user data and forward to corresponding data service endpoints, generate charging data, report data service status.

[0116] Another such function may be the Service Orchestration and Chaining Function (SOCF) 520, which may discover, orchestrate and chain up communication / computing / data services provided by functions in the network. Upon receiving service requests from users, SOCF 520 may interact with one or more of Comp CF 524, Comm CF 528, and Data CF 522 to identify Comp SF 536, Comm SF 538, and Data SF 532 instances, configure service resources, and generate the service chain, which could contain multiple Comp SF 536, Comm SF 538, and Data SF 532 instances and their associated computing endpoints. Workload processing and data movement may then be conducted within the generated service chain. The SOCF 520 may also responsible for maintaining, updating, and releasing a created service chain.

[0117] Another such function may be the service registration function (SRF) 514, which may act as a registry for system services provided in the user plane such as services provided by service endpoints behind Comp SF 536 and Data SF 532 gateways and services provided by the UE 502. The SRF 514 may be considered a counterpart of NRF 254, which may act as the registry for network functions.

[0118] Other such functions may include an evolved service communication proxy (eSCP) and service infrastructure control function (SICF) 526, which may provide service communication infrastructure for control plane services and user plane services. The eSCP may be related to the service communication proxy (SCP) of 5G with user plane service communication proxy capabilities being added. The eSCP is therefore expressed in two parts: eCSP-C 512 and eSCP- U 534, for control plane service communication proxy and user plane service communication proxy, respectively. The SICF 526 may control and configure eCSP instances in terms of service traffic routing policies, access rules, load balancing configurations, performance monitoring, etc.

[0119] Another such function is the AMF 544. The AMF 544 may be similar to 244, but with additional functionality. Specifically, the AMF 544 may include potential functional repartition, such as move the message forwarding functionality from the AMF 544 to the RAN 508.

[0120] Another such function is the service orchestration exposure function (SOEF) 518. The SOEF may be configured to expose service orchestration and chaining services to external users such as applications.

[0121] The UE 502 may include an additional function that is referred to as a computing client service function (comp CSF) 504. The comp CSF 504 may have both the control plane functionalities and user plane functionalities, and may interact with corresponding network side functions such as SOCF 520, Comp CF 524, Comp SF 536, Data CF 522, and / or Data SF 532 for service discovery, request / response, compute task workload exchange, etc. The Comp CSF 504 may also work with network side functions to decide on whether a computing task should be run on the UE 502, the RAN 508, and / or an element of the 6G CN 510.

[0122] The UE 502 and / or the Comp CSF 504 may include a service mesh proxy 506. The service mesh proxy 506 may act as a proxy for service-to-service communication in the user plane. Capabilities of the service mesh proxy 506 may include one or more of addressing, security, load balancing, etc.

[0123] FIG. 6 is a flow for an example process 600 for beam sweeping factor reduction, in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0124] At block 602, a UE device (e.g., the UE 120 of FIG. 1, the UE 202 of FIG. 2) may detect criteria for reducing a beam sweeping factor of measuring neighboring cells has been satisfied.

[0125] At block 604, the UE device may measure the neighboring cells using a reduced beam sweeping factor when the criteria has been satisfied.

[0126] At block 606, the UE device may report measurement results of measuring the neighboring cells to a RAN.

[0127] For one or more embodiments, at least one of the components set forth in one or more of the preceding figures may be configured to perform one or more operations, techniques, processes, and / or methods as set forth in the example section below. For example, the baseband circuitry as described above in connection with one or more of the preceding figures may be configured to operate in accordance with one or more of the examples set forth below. For another example, circuitry associated with a UE, base station, network element, etc. as described above in connection with one or more of the preceding figures may be configured to operate in accordance with one or more of the examples set forth below in the example section.

[0128] Additional examples of the presently described embodiments include the following, non-limiting implementations. Each of the following non-limiting examples may stand on its own or may be combined in any permutation or combination with any one or more of the other examples provided below or throughout the present disclosure. For one or more embodiments, at least one of the components set forth in one or more of the preceding figures may be configured to perform one or more operations, techniques, processes, and / or methods as set forth in the example section below. For example, the baseband circuitry as described above in connection with one or more of the preceding figures may be configured to operate in accordance with one or more of the examples set forth below. For another example, circuitry associated with a UE, base station, network element, etc. as described above in connection with one or more of the preceding figures may be configured to operate in accordance with one or more of the examples set forth below.

[0129] The following examples pertain to further embodiments.

[0130] Example 1 may include an apparatus of a user equipment (UE) device for beam sweeping factor reduction, the apparatus comprising memory coupled to processing circuitry, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to: detect that criteria for reducing a beam sweeping factor of measurements neighboring cells has been satisfied; measure the neighboring cells using a reduced beam sweeping factor, based on detecting that the criteria has been satisfied, by simultaneously receiving multiple synchronization signal block (SSB) beams; and report measurement results of measuring the neighboring cells to a radio access network (RAN).

[0131] Example 2 may include the apparatus of example 1 and / or any other example herein, wherein to detect that the criteria has been satisfied comprises to detect that a serving cell’s Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) or Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ) satisfies a threshold provided by the RAN.

[0132] Example 3 may include the apparatus of example 1 or example 2 and / or any other example herein, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to: decode one or more information elements received from the RAN, wherein the one or more information elements signal the criteria.

[0133] Example 4 may include the apparatus of example 1 or example 2 and / or any other example herein, wherein the criteria comprises a hysteresis and a time-to-trigger each signaled by the RAN.

[0134] Example 5 may include the apparatus of example 1 and / or any other example herein, wherein to report the measurement results is based on a SSB processing time in addition to the measuring of the neighboring cells.

[0135] Example 6 may include the apparatus of example 1 and / or any other example herein, wherein to detect that the criteria has been satisfied comprises to detect that a multi-receive simultaneous reception operation of the UE device is active. Example 7 may include the apparatus of example 6 and / or any other example herein, wherein to detect that the multi-receive simultaneous reception operation of the UE device is active is based on a group-based beam reporting configuration of the UE device.

[0136] Example 8 may include the apparatus of example 1 and / or any other example herein, wherein the reduced beam sweeping factor is based on processing capabilities of the UE device for the results of measuring the neighboring cells.

[0137] Example 9 may include a computer-readable medium comprising storing computerexecutable instructions which when executed by one or more processors of a user equipment (UE) device result in performing operations comprising: detecting that criteria for reducing a beam sweeping factor of measurements neighboring cells has been satisfied; measuring the neighboring cells using a reduced beam sweeping factor, based on detecting that the criteria has been satisfied, by simultaneously receiving multiple synchronization signal block (SSB) beams; and reporting measurement results of measuring the neighboring cells to a radio access network (RAN).

[0138] Example 10 may include the computer-readable medium of example 9 and / or any other example herein, wherein detecting that the criteria has been satisfied comprises detecting that a serving cell’s Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) or Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ) satisfies a threshold provided by the RAN.

[0139] Example 11 may include the computer-readable medium of example 9 or example 10 and / or any other example herein, the operations further comprising: decoding one or more information elements received from the RAN, wherein the one or more information elements signal the criteria.

[0140] Example 12 may include the computer-readable medium of example 9 or example 10 and / or any other example herein, wherein the criteria comprises a hysteresis and a time-to- trigger each signaled by the RAN.

[0141] Example 13 may include the computer-readable medium of example 9 and / or any other example herein, wherein reporting the measurement results is based on a SSB processing time in addition to the measuring of the neighboring cells.

[0142] Example 14 may include the computer-readable medium of example 9 and / or any other example herein, wherein detecting that the criteria has been satisfied comprises detecting that a multi-receive simultaneous reception operation of the UE device is active.

[0143] Example 15 may include the computer-readable medium of example 14 and / or any other example herein, wherein detecting that the multi-receive simultaneous reception operation of the UE device is active is based on a group-based beam reporting configuration of the UE device.

[0144] Example 16 may include the computer-readable medium of example 9 and / or any other example herein, wherein the reduced beam sweeping factor is based on processing capabilities of the UE device for the results of measuring the neighboring cells.

[0145] Example 17 may include a method for beam sweeping factor reduction, the method comprising: detecting, by processing circuitry of a user equipment (UE) device, that criteria for reducing a beam sweeping factor of measurements neighboring cells has been satisfied; measuring, by the processing circuitry, the neighboring cells using a reduced beam sweeping factor, based on detecting that the criteria has been satisfied, by simultaneously receiving multiple synchronization signal block (SSB) beams; and reporting, by the processing circuitry, measurement results of measuring the neighboring cells to a radio access network (RAN).

[0146] Example 18 may include the method of example 17 and / or any other example herein, wherein detecting that the criteria has been satisfied comprises detecting that a serving cell’s Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) or Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ) satisfies a threshold provided by the RAN.

[0147] Example 19 may include the method of example 17 or example 18 and / or any other example herein, further comprising: decoding one or more information elements received from the RAN, wherein the one or more information elements signal the criteria.

[0148] Example 20 may include the method of example 17 or example 18 and / or any other example herein, wherein the criteria comprises a hysteresis and a time-to-trigger each signaled by the RAN.

[0149] Example 21 may include the method of example 17 and / or any other example herein, wherein reporting the measurement results is based on a SSB processing time in addition to the measuring of the neighboring cells.

[0150] Example 22 may include the method of example 17 and / or any other example herein, wherein detecting that the criteria has been satisfied comprises detecting that a multi-receive simultaneous reception operation of the UE device is active.

[0151] Example 23 may include the method of example 22 and / or any other example herein, wherein detecting that the multi-receive simultaneous reception operation of the UE device is active is based on a group-based beam reporting configuration of the UE device.

[0152] Example 24 may include an apparatus including means for: detecting that criteria for reducing a beam sweeping factor of measurements neighboring cells has been satisfied; measuring the neighboring cells using a reduced beam sweeping factor, based on detecting that the criteria has been satisfied, by simultaneously receiving multiple synchronization signal block (SSB) beams; and reporting measurement results of measuring the neighboring cells to a radio access network (RAN).

[0153] Example 25 may include one or more non-transitory computer-readable media comprising instructions to cause an electronic device, upon execution of the instructions by one or more processors of the electronic device, to perform one or more elements of a method described in or related to any of examples 1-24, or any other method or process described herein.

[0154] Example 26 may include an apparatus comprising logic, modules, and / or circuitry to perform one or more elements of a method described in or related to any of examples 1-24, or any other method or process described herein.

[0155] Example 27 may include a method, technique, or process as described in or related to any of examples 1-21, or portions or parts thereof.

[0156] Example 28 may include an apparatus comprising: one or more processors and one or more computer readable media comprising instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform the method, techniques, or process as described in or related to any of examples 1 -24, or portions thereof.

[0157] Example 29 may include a method of communicating in a wireless network as shown and described herein.

[0158] Example 30 may include a system for providing wireless communication as shown and described herein.

[0159] Example 31 may include a device for providing wireless communication as shown and described herein.

[0160] An example implementation is an edge computing system, including respective edge processing devices and nodes to invoke or perform the operations of the examples above, or other subject matter described herein. Another example implementation is a client endpoint node, operable to invoke or perform the operations of the examples above, or other subject matter described herein. Another example implementation is an aggregation node, network hub node, gateway node, or core data processing node, within or coupled to an edge computing system, operable to invoke or perform the operations of the examples above, or other subject matter described herein. Another example implementation is an access point, base station, road-side unit, street-side unit, or on-premise unit, within or coupled to an edge computing system, operable to invoke or perform the operations of the examples above, or other subject matter described herein. Another example implementation is an edge provisioning node, service orchestration node, application orchestration node, or multi-tenant management node, within or coupled to an edge computing system, operable to invoke or perform the operations of the examples above, or other subject matter described herein. Another example implementation is an edge node operating an edge provisioning service, application or service orchestration service, virtual machine deployment, container deployment, function deployment, and compute management, within or coupled to an edge computing system, operable to invoke or perform the operations of the examples above, or other subject matter described herein. Another example implementation is an edge computing system operable as an edge mesh, as an edge mesh with side car loading, or with mesh-to-mesh communications, operable to invoke or perform the operations of the examples above, or other subject matter described herein. Another example implementation is an edge computing system including aspects of network functions, acceleration functions, acceleration hardware, storage hardware, or computation hardware resources, operable to invoke or perform the use cases discussed herein, with use of the examples above, or other subject matter described herein. Another example implementation is an edge computing system adapted for supporting client mobility, vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), vehicle-to-everything (V2X), or vehicle-to-infrastructure (V21) scenarios, and optionally operating according to ETSI MEC specifications, operable to invoke or perform the use cases discussed herein, with use of the examples above, or other subject matter described herein. Another example implementation is an edge computing system adapted for mobile wireless communications, including configurations according to an 3GPP 4G / LTE or 5G network capabilities, operable to invoke or perform the use cases discussed herein, with use of the examples above, or other subject matter described herein. Another example implementation is a computing system adapted for network communications, including configurations according to an O-RAN capabilities, operable to invoke or perform the use cases discussed herein, with use of the examples above, or other subject matter described herein.

[0161] Any of the above-described examples may be combined with any other example (or combination of examples), unless explicitly stated otherwise. The foregoing description of one or more implementations provides illustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the scope of embodiments to the precise form disclosed. Modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings or may be acquired from practice of various embodiments. TERMINOLOGY

[0162] The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the disclosure. As used herein, the singular forms “a,” “an” and “the” are intended to include plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises” and / or “comprising,” when used in this specification, specific the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and / or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operation, elements, components, and / or groups thereof.

[0163] For the purposes of the present disclosure, the phrase “A and / or B” means (A), (B), or (A and B). For the purposes of the present disclosure, the phrase “A, B, and / or C” means (A), (B), (C), (A and B), (A and C), (B and C), or (A, B and C). The description may use the phrases “in an embodiment,” or “In some embodiments,” which may each refer to one or more of the same or different embodiments. Furthermore, the terms “comprising,” “including,” “having,” and the like, as used with respect to embodiments of the present disclosure, are synonymous.

[0164] The terms “coupled,” “communicatively coupled,” along with derivatives thereof are used herein. The term “coupled” may mean two or more elements are in direct physical or electrical contact with one another, may mean that two or more elements indirectly contact each other but still cooperate or interact with each other, and / or may mean that one or more other elements are coupled or connected between the elements that are said to be coupled with each other. The term “directly coupled” may mean that two or more elements are in direct contact with one another. The term “communicatively coupled” may mean that two or more elements may be in contact with one another by a means of communication including through a wire or other interconnect connection, through a wireless communication channel or ink, and / or the like.

[0165] The term “circuitry” as used herein refers to, is part of, or includes hardware components such as an electronic circuit, a logic circuit, a processor (shared, dedicated, or group) and / or memory (shared, dedicated, or group), an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), a field-programmable device (FPD) (e.g., a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), a programmable logic device (PLD), a complex PLD (CPLD), a high-capacity PLD (HCPLD), a structured ASIC, or a programmable SoC), digital signal processors (DSPs), etc., that are configured to provide the described functionality. In some embodiments, the circuitry may execute one or more software or firmware programs to provide at least some of the described functionality. The term “circuitry” may also refer to a combination of one or more hardware elements (or a combination of circuits used in an electrical or electronic system) with the program code used to carry out the functionality of that program code. In these embodiments, the combination of hardware elements and program code may be referred to as a particular type of circuitry.

[0166] The term “processor circuitry” as used herein refers to, is part of, or includes circuitry capable of sequentially and automatically carrying out a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations, or recording, storing, and / or transferring digital data. Processing circuitry may include one or more processing cores to execute instructions and one or more memory structures to store program and data information. The term “processor circuitry” may refer to one or more application processors, one or more baseband processors, a physical central processing unit (CPU), a single-core processor, a dual-core processor, a triple-core processor, a quad-core processor, and / or any other device capable of executing or otherwise operating computer-executable instructions, such as program code, software modules, and / or functional processes. Processing circuitry may include more hardware accelerators, which may be microprocessors, programmable processing devices, or the like. The one or more hardware accelerators may include, for example, computer vision (CV) and / or deep learning (DL) accelerators. The terms “application circuitry” and / or “baseband circuitry” may be considered synonymous to, and may be referred to as, “processor circuitry.”

[0167] The term “memory” and / or “memory circuitry” as used herein refers to one or more hardware devices for storing data, including RAM, MRAM, PRAM, DRAM, and / or SDRAM, core memory, ROM, magnetic disk storage mediums, optical storage mediums, flash memory devices or other machine readable mediums for storing data. The term “computer-readable medium” may include, but is not limited to, memory, portable or fixed storage devices, optical storage devices, and various other mediums capable of storing, containing or carrying instructions or data.

[0168] The term “interface circuitry” as used herein refers to, is part of, or includes circuitry that enables the exchange of information between two or more components or devices. The term “interface circuitry” may refer to one or more hardware interfaces, for example, buses, I / O interfaces, peripheral component interfaces, network interface cards, and / or the like.

[0169] The term “user equipment” or “UE” as used herein refers to a device with radio communication capabilities and may describe a remote user of network resources in a communications network. The term “user equipment” or “UE” may be considered synonymous to, and may be referred to as, client, mobile, mobile device, mobile terminal, user terminal, mobile unit, mobile station, mobile user, subscriber, user, remote station, access agent, user agent, receiver, radio equipment, reconfigurable radio equipment, reconfigurable mobile device, etc. Furthermore, the term “user equipment’- or “UE” may include any type of wireless / wired device or any computing device including a wireless communications interface.

[0170] The term “network element” as used herein refers to physical or virtualized equipment and / or infrastructure used to provide wired or wireless communication network services. The term “network element” may be considered synonymous to and / or referred to as a networked computer, networking hardware, network equipment, network node, router, switch, hub, bridge, radio network controller, RAN device, RAN node, gateway, server, virtualized VNF, NFVI, and / or the like.

[0171] The term “computer system” as used herein refers to any type interconnected electronic devices, computer devices, or components thereof. Additionally, the term “computer system” and / or “system” may refer to various components of a computer that are communicatively coupled with one another. Furthermore, the term “computer system” and / or “system” may refer to multiple computer devices and / or multiple computing systems that are communicatively coupled with one another and configured to share computing and / or networking resources.

[0172] The term “appliance,” “computer appliance,” or the like, as used herein refers to a computer device or computer system with program code (e.g., software or firmware) that is specifically designed to provide a specific computing resource. A “virtual appliance” is a virtual machine image to be implemented by a hypervisor-equipped device that virtualizes or emulates a computer appliance or otherwise is dedicated to provide a specific computing resource. The term “element” refers to a unit that is indivisible at a given level of abstraction and has a clearly defined boundary, wherein an element may be any type of entity including, for example, one or more devices, systems, controllers, network elements, modules, etc., or combinations thereof. The term “device” refers to a physical entity embedded inside, or attached to, another physical entity in its vicinity, with capabilities to convey digital information from or to that physical entity. The term “entity” refers to a distinct component of an architecture or device, or information transferred as a payload. The term “controller” refers to an element or entity that has the capability to affect a physical entity, such as by changing its state or causing the physical entity to move.

[0173] The term “cloud computing” or “cloud” refers to a paradigm for enabling network access to a scalable and elastic pool of shareable computing resources with self-service provisioning and administration on-demand and without active management by users. Cloud computing provides cloud computing services (or cloud services), which are one or more capabilities offered via cloud computing that are invoked using a defined interface (e.g., an API or the like). The term “computing resource” or simply “resource” refers to any physical or virtual component, or usage of such components, of limited availability within a computer system or network. Examples of computing resources include usage / access to, for a period of time, servers, processor(s), storage equipment, memory devices, memory areas, networks, electrical power, input / output (peripheral) devices, mechanical devices, network connections (e.g., channels / links, ports, network sockets, etc.), operating systems, virtual machines (VMs), software / applications, computer files, and / or the like. A “hardware resource” may refer to compute, storage, and / or network resources provided by physical hardware element(s). A “virtualized resource” may refer to compute, storage, and / or network resources provided by virtualization infrastructure to an application, device, system, etc. The term “network resource” or “communication resource” may refer to resources that are accessible by computer devices / systems via a communications network. The term “system resources” may refer to any kind of shared entities to provide services, and may include computing and / or network resources. System resources may be considered as a set of coherent functions, network data objects or services, accessible through a server where such system resources reside on a single host or multiple hosts and are clearly identifiable. As used herein, the term “cloud service provider” (or CSP) indicates an organization which operates typically large-scale “cloud” resources comprised of centralized, regional, and edge data centers (e.g., as used in the context of the public cloud). In other examples, a CSP may also be referred to as a Cloud Service Operator (CSO). References to “cloud computing” generally refer to computing resources and services offered by a CSP or a CSO, at remote locations with at least some increased latency, distance, or constraints relative to edge computing.

[0174] As used herein, the term “data center” refers to a purpose-designed structure that is intended to house multiple high-performance compute and data storage nodes such that a large amount of compute, data storage and network resources are present at a single location. This often entails specialized rack and enclosure systems, suitable heating, cooling, ventilation, security, fire suppression, and power delivery systems. The term may also refer to a compute and data storage node in some contexts. A data center may vary in scale between a centralized or cloud data center (e.g., largest), regional data center, and edge data center (e.g., smallest).

[0175] As used herein, the term “edge computing” refers to the implementation, coordination, and use of computing and resources at locations closer to the “edge” or collection of “edges” of a network. Deploying computing resources at the network’s edge may reduce application and network latency, reduce network backhaul traffic and associated energy consumption, improve service capabilities, improve compliance with security or data privacy requirements (especially as compared to conventional cloud computing), and improve total cost of ownership). As used herein, the term “edge compute node” refers to a real-world, logical, or virtualized implementation of a compute-capable element in the form of a device, gateway, bridge, system or subsystem, component, whether operating in a server, client, endpoint, or peer mode, and whether located at an “edge” of an network or at a connected location further within the network. References to a “node” used herein are generally interchangeable with a “device”, “component”, and “sub-system”; however, references to an “edge computing system” or “edge computing network” generally refer to a distributed architecture, organization, or collection of multiple nodes and devices, and which is organized to accomplish or offer some aspect of services or resources in an edge computing setting.

[0176] Additionally or alternatively, the term “Edge Computing” refers to a concept, as described in [6], that enables operator and 3rd party services to be hosted close to the UE's access point of attachment, to achieve an efficient service delivery through the reduced end-to- end latency and load on the transport network. As used herein, the term “Edge Computing Service Provider” refers to a mobile network operator or a 3rd party service provider offering Edge Computing service. As used herein, the term “Edge Data Network” refers to a local Data Network (DN) that supports the architecture for enabling edge applications. As used herein, the term “Edge Hosting Environment” refers to an environment providing support required for Edge Application Server's execution. As used herein, the term “Application Server” refers to application software resident in the cloud performing the server function.

[0177] The term “Internet of Things” or “loT” refers to a system of interrelated computing devices, mechanical and digital machines capable of transferring data with little or no human interaction, and may involve technologies such as real-time analytics, machine learning and / or Al, embedded systems, wireless sensor networks, control systems, automation (e.g., smarthome, smart building and / or smart city technologies), and the like. loT devices are usually low-power devices without heavy compute or storage capabilities. “Edge loT devices” may be any kind of loT devices deployed at a network’ s edge.

[0178] As used herein, the term “cluster” refers to a set or grouping of entities as part of an edge computing system (or systems), in the form of physical entities (e.g., different computing systems, networks or network groups), logical entities (e.g., applications, functions, security constructs, containers), and the like. In some locations, a “cluster” is also referred to as a “group” or a “domain”. The membership of cluster may be modified or affected based on conditions or functions, including from dynamic or property-based membership, from network or system management scenarios, or from various example techniques discussed below which may add, modify, or remove an entity in a cluster. Clusters may also include or be associated with multiple layers, levels, or properties, including variations in security features and results based on such layers, levels, or properties.

[0179] The term “application” may refer to a complete and deployable package, environment to achieve a certain function in an operational environment. The term “AI / ML application” or the like may be an application that contains some AI / ML models and application-level descriptions. The term “machine learning” or “ML” refers to the use of computer systems implementing algorithms and / or statistical models to perform specific task(s) without using explicit instructions, but instead relying on patterns and inferences. ML algorithms build or estimate mathematical model(s) (referred to as “ML models” or the like) based on sample data (referred to as “training data,” “model training information,” or the like) in order to make predictions or decisions without being explicitly programmed to perform such tasks. Generally, an ML algorithm is a computer program that learns from experience with respect to some task and some performance measure, and an ML model may be any object or data structure created after an ML algorithm is trained with one or more training datasets. After training, an ML model may be used to make predictions on new datasets. Although the term “ML algorithm” refers to different concepts than the term “ML model,” these terms as discussed herein may be used interchangeably for the purposes of the present disclosure.

[0180] The term “machine learning model,” “ML model,” or the like may also refer to ML methods and concepts used by an ML-assisted solution. An “ML-assisted solution” is a solution that addresses a specific use case using ML algorithms during operation. ML models include supervised learning (e.g., linear regression, k- nearest neighbor (KNN), decision tree algorithms, support machine vectors, Bayesian algorithm, ensemble algorithms, etc.) unsupervised learning (e.g., K-means clustering, principle component analysis (PCA), etc.), reinforcement learning (e.g., Q- learning, multi-armed bandit learning, deep RL, etc.), neural networks, and the like. Depending on the implementation a specific ML model could have many sub-models as components and the ML model may train all sub-models together. Separately trained ML models can also be chained together in an ML pipeline during inference. An “ML pipeline” is a set of functionalities, functions, or functional entities specific for an ML-assisted solution; an ML pipeline may include one or several data sources in a data pipeline, a model training pipeline, a model evaluation pipeline, and an actor. The “actor” is an entity that hosts an ML assisted solution using the output of the ML model inference). The term “ML training host” refers to an entity, such as a network function, that hosts the training of the model. The term “ML inference host” refers to an entity, such as a network function, that hosts model during inference mode (which includes both the model execution as well as any online learning if applicable). The ML-host informs the actor about the output of the ML algorithm, and the actor takes a decision for an action (an “action” is performed by an actor as a result of the output of an ML assisted solution). The term “model inference information” refers to information used as an input to the ML model for determining inference(s); the data used to train an ML model and the data used to determine inferences may overlap, however, “training data” and “inference data” refer to different concepts.

[0181] The terms “instantiate,” “instantiation,” and the like as used herein refers to the creation of an instance. An “instance” also refers to a concrete occurrence of an object, which may occur, for example, during execution of program code. The term “information element” refers to a structural element containing one or more fields. The term “field” refers to individual contents of an information element, or a data element that contains content. As used herein, a “database object”, “data structure”, or the like may refer to any representation of information that is in the form of an object, attribute-value pair (A VP), key-value pair (KVP), tuple, etc., and may include variables, data structures, functions, methods, classes, database records, database fields, database entities, associations between data and / or database entities (also referred to as a “relation”), blocks and links between blocks in block chain implementations, and / or the like.

[0182] An “information object,” as used herein, refers to a collection of structured data and / or any representation of information, and may include, for example electronic documents (or “documents”), database objects, data structures, files, audio data, video data, raw data, archive files, application packages, and / or any other like representation of information. The terms “electronic document” or “document,” may refer to a data structure, computer file, or resource used to record data, and includes various file types and / or data formats such as word processing documents, spreadsheets, slide presentations, multimedia items, webpage and / or source code documents, and / or the like. As examples, the information objects may include markup and / or source code documents such as HTML, XML, JSON, Apex®, CSS, JSP, MessagePack™, Apache® Thrift™, ASN. l, Google® Protocol Buffers (protobuf), or some other document(s) / format(s) such as those discussed herein. An information object may have both a logical and a physical structure. Physically, an information object comprises one or more units called entities. An entity is a unit of storage that contains content and is identified by a name. An entity may refer to other entities to cause their inclusion in the information object. An information object begins in a document entity, which is also referred to as a root element (or "root"). Logically, an information object comprises one or more declarations, elements, comments, character references, and processing instructions, all of which are indicated in the information object (e.g., using markup).

[0183] The term “data item” as used herein refers to an atomic state of a particular object with at least one specific property at a certain point in time. Such an object is usually identified by an object name or object identifier, and properties of such an object are usually defined as database objects (e.g., fields, records, etc.), object instances, or data elements (e.g., mark-up language elements / tags, etc.). Additionally or alternatively, the term “data item” as used herein may refer to data elements and / or content items, although these terms may refer to difference concepts. The term “data element” or “element” as used herein refers to a unit that is indivisible at a given level of abstraction and has a clearly defined boundary. A data element is a logical component of an information object (e.g., electronic document) that may begin with a start tag (e.g., “<element>”) and end with a matching end tag (e.g., “< / element>”), or only has an empty element tag (e.g., “<element / >”). Any characters between the start tag and end tag, if any, are the element’s content (referred to herein as “content items” or the like).

[0184] The content of an entity may include one or more content items, each of which has an associated datatype representation. A content item may include, for example, attribute values, character values, URIs, qualified names (qnames), parameters, and the like. A qname is a fully qualified name of an element, attribute, or identifier in an information object. A qname associates a URI of a namespace with a local name of an element, attribute, or identifier in that namespace. To make this association, the qname assigns a prefix to the local name that corresponds to its namespace. The qname comprises a URI of the namespace, the prefix, and the local name. Namespaces are used to provide uniquely named elements and attributes in information objects. Content items may include text content (e.g., “<element>content item< / element>”), attributes (e.g., “<element attribute="attributeValue">”), and other elements referred to as “child elements” (e.g., “<elementl><element2>content item< / element2>< / elementl >”). An “attribute” may refer to a markup construct including a name-value pair that exists within a start tag or empty element tag. Attributes contain data related to its element and / or control the element’ s behavior.

[0185] The term “resource” as used herein refers to a physical or virtual device, a physical or virtual component within a computing environment, and / or a physical or virtual component within a particular device, such as computer devices, mechanical devices, memory space, processor / CPU time, processor / CPU usage, processor and accelerator loads, hardware time or usage, electrical power, input / output operations, ports or network sockets, channel / link allocation, throughput, memory usage, storage, network, database and applications, workload units, and / or the like. A “hardware resource” may refer to compute, storage, and / or network resources provided by physical hardware element(s). A “virtualized resource” may refer to compute, storage, and / or network resources provided by virtualization infrastructure to an application, device, system, etc. The term “network resource” or “communication resource” may refer to resources that are accessible by computer devices / systems via a communications network. The term “system resources” may refer to any kind of shared entities to provide services, and may include computing and / or network resources. System resources may he considered as a set of coherent functions, network data objects or services, accessible through a server where such system resources reside on a single host or multiple hosts and are clearly identifiable.The term “channel” as used herein refers to any transmission medium, either tangible or intangible, which is used to communicate data or a data stream. The term “channel” may be synonymous with and / or equivalent to “communications channel,” “data communications channel,” “transmission channel,” “data transmission channel,” “access channel,” “data access channel,” “link,” “data link,” “carrier,” “radiofrequency carrier,” and / or any other like term denoting a pathway or medium through which data is communicated. Additionally, the term “link” as used herein refers to a connection between two devices through a RAT for the purpose of transmitting and receiving information. As used herein, the term “radio technology” refers to technology for wireless transmission and / or reception of electromagnetic radiation for information transfer. The term “radio access technology” or “RAT” refers to the technology used for the underlying physical connection to a radio based communication network. As used herein, the term “communication protocol” (either wired or wireless) refers to a set of standardized rules or instructions implemented by a communication device and / or system to communicate with other devices and / or systems, including instructions for packetizing / depacketizing data, modulating / demodulating signals, implementation of protocols stacks, and / or the like.

[0186] As used herein, the term “radio technology” refers to technology for wireless transmission and / or reception of electromagnetic radiation for information transfer. The term “radio access technology” or “RAT” refers to the technology used for the underlying physical connection to a radio based communication network. As used herein, the term “communication protocol” (either wired or wireless) refers to a set of standardized rules or instructions implemented by a communication device and / or system to communicate with other devices and / or systems, including instructions for packetizing / depacketizing data, modulating / demodulating signals, implementation of protocols stacks, and / or the like. Examples of wireless communications protocols may be used in various embodiments include a Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) radio communication technology, a General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) radio communication technology, an Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE) radio communication technology, and / or a Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) radio communication technology including, for example, 3GPP Fifth Generation (5G) or New Radio (NR), Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), Freedom of Multimedia Access (FOMA), Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE- Advanced (LTE Advanced), LTE Extra, LTE-A Pro, cdmaOne (2G), Code Division Multiple Access 2000 (CDMA 2000), Cellular Digital Packet Data (CDPD), Mobitex, Circuit Switched Data (CSD), High-Speed CSD (HSCSD), Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (W-CDM), High Speed Packet Access (HSPA), HSPA Plus (HSPA+), Time Division-Code Division Multiple Access (TD-CDMA), Time Division-Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access (TD-SCDMA), LTE LAA, MuLTEfire, UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA), Evolved UTRA (E-UTRA), Evolution- Data Optimized or Evolution-Data Only (EV-DO), Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS), Digital AMPS (D-AMPS), Total Access Communication System / Extended Total Access Communication System (TACS / ETACS), Push-to-talk (PTT), Mobile Telephone System (MTS), Improved Mobile Telephone System (IMTS), Advanced Mobile Telephone System (AMTS), Cellular Digital Packet Data (CDPD), DataTAC, Integrated Digital Enhanced Network (iDEN), Personal Digital Cellular (PDC), Personal Handy-phone System (PHS), Wideband Integrated Digital Enhanced Network (WiDEN), iBurst, Unlicensed Mobile Access (UMA), also referred to as also referred to as 3GPP Generic Access Network, or GAN standard), Bluetooth®, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), IEEE 802.15.4 based protocols (e.g., IPv6 over Low power Wireless Personal Area Networks (6L0WPAN), WirelessHART, MiWi, Thread, 802.11a, etc.) WiFi-direct, ANT / ANT+, ZigBee, Z-Wave, 3GPP device-to-device (D2D) or Proximity Services (ProSe), Universal Plug and Play (UPnP), Low-Power Wide- Area-Network (LPWAN), Long Range Wide Area Network (LoRA) or LoRaWAN™ developed by Semtech and the LoRa Alliance, Sigfox, Wireless Gigabit Alliance (WiGig) standard, Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX), mmWave standards in general (e.g., wireless systems operating at 10-300 GHz and above such as WiGig, IEEE 802.11ad, IEEE 802. Hay, etc.), V2X communication technologies (including 3GPP C-V2X), Dedicated Short Range Communications (DSRC) communication systems such as Intelligent- Transport-Systems (ITS) including the European ITS-G5, ITS-G5B, ITS-G5C, etc. In addition to the standards listed above, any number of satellite uplink technologies may be used for purposes of the present disclosure including, for example, radios compliant with standards issued by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), or the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI), among others. The examples provided herein are thus understood as being applicable to various other communication technologies, both existing and not yet formulated.

[0187] The term “access network” refers to any network, using any combination of radio technologies, RATs, and / or communication protocols, used to connect user devices and service providers. In the context of WLANs, an “access network” is an IEEE 802 local area network (LAN) or metropolitan area network (MAN) between terminals and access routers connecting to provider services. The term “access router” refers to router that terminates a medium access control (MAC) service from terminals and forwards user traffic to information servers according to Internet Protocol (IP) addresses.

[0188] The term “SMTC” refers to an SSB-based measurement timing configuration configured by SSB-MeasurementTimingConfiguration. The term “SSB” refers to a synchronization signal / Physical Broadcast Channel (SS / PBCH) block, which includes a Primary Syncrhonization Signal (PSS), a Secondary Syncrhonization Signal (SSS), and a PBCH. The term “a “Primary Cell” refers to the MCG cell, operating on the primary frequency, in which the UE either performs the initial connection establishment procedure or initiates the connection re-establishment procedure. The term “Primary SCG Cell” refers to the SCG cell in which the UE performs random access when performing the Reconfiguration with Sync procedure for DC operation. The term “Secondary Cell” refers to a cell providing additional radio resources on top of a Special Cell for a UE configured with CA. The term “Secondary Cell Group” refers to the subset of serving cells comprising the PSCell and zero or more secondary cells for a UE configured with DC. The term “Serving Cell” refers to the primary cell for a UE in RRC_CONNECTED not configured with CA / DC there is only one serving cell comprising of the primary cell. The term “serving cell” or “serving cells” refers to the set of cells comprising the Special Cell(s) and all secondary cells for a UE in RRC_CONNECTED configured with CA. The term “Special Cell” refers to the PCell of the MCG or the PSCell of the SCG for DC operation; otherwise, the term “Special Cell” refers to the Pcell.

[0189] The term “Al policy” refers to a type of declarative policies expressed using formal statements that enable the non-RT RIC function in the SMO to guide the near-RT RIC function, and hence the RAN, towards better fulfilment of the RAN intent. The term “Al Enrichment information” refers to information utilized by near-RT RIC that is collected or derived at SMO / non-RT RIC either from non-network data sources or from network functions themselves.

[0190] The term “Al -Policy Based Traffic Steering Process Mode” refers to an operational mode in which the Near-RT RIC is configured through Al Policy to use Traffic Steering Actions to ensure a more specific notion of network performance (for example, applying to smaller groups of E2 Nodes and UEs in the RAN) than that which it ensures in the Background Traffic Steering.

[0191] The term “Background Traffic Steering Processing Mode” refers to an operational mode in which the Near-RT RIC is configured through 01 to use Traffic Steering Actions to ensure a general background network performance which applies broadly across E2 Nodes and UEs in the RAN.

[0192] The term “Baseline RAN Behavior” refers to the default RAN behavior as configured at the E2 Nodes by SMO.

[0193] The term “E2” refers to an interface connecting the Near-RT RIC and one or more O- CU-CPs, one or more O-CU-UPs, one or more O-DUs, and one or more O-eNBs.

[0194] The term “E2 Node” refers to a logical node terminating E2 interface. In this version of the specification, ORAN nodes terminating E2 interface are: for NR access: O-CU-CP, O- CU-UP, 0-DU or any combination; and for E-UTRA access: 0-eNB.

[0195] The term “Intents”, in the context of 0-RAN systems / implementations, refers to declarative policy to steer or guide the behavior of RAN functions, allowing the RAN function to calculate the optimal result to achieve stated objective.

[0196] The term “0-RAN non-real-time RAN Intelligent Controller” or “non-RT RIC” refers to a logical function that enables non-real-time control and optimization of RAN elements and resources, AI / ML workflow including model training and updates, and policy-based guidance of applications / features in Near-RT RIC.

[0197] The term “Near-RT RIC” or “0-RAN near-real-time RAN Intelligent Controller” refers to a logical function that enables near-real-time control and optimization of RAN elements and resources via fine-grained (e.g., UE basis, Cell basis) data collection and actions over E2 interface.

[0198] The term “0-RAN Central Unit” or “0-CU” refers to a logical node hosting RRC, SDAP and PDCP protocols.

[0199] The term “0-RAN Central Unit - Control Plane” or “O-CU-CP” refers to a logical node hosting the RRC and the control plane part of the PDCP protocol. The term “O-RAN Central Unit - User Plane” or “O-CU-UP” refers to a logical node hosting the user plane part of the PDCP protocol and the SDAP protocol.

[0200] The term “O-RAN Distributed Unit” or “O-DU” refers to a logical node hosting RLC / MAC / High-PHY layers based on a lower layer functional split.

[0201] The term “O-RAN eNB” or “O-eNB” refers to an eNB or ng-eNB that supports E2 interface.

[0202] The term “O-RAN Radio Unit” or “O-RU” refers to a logical node hosting Low-PHY layer and RF processing based on a lower layer functional split. This is similar to 3GPP’s “TRP” or “RRH” but more specific in including the Low-PHY layer (FFT / iFFT, PRACH extraction).

[0203] The term “01” refers to an interface between orchestration & management entities (Orchestration / NMS) and O-RAN managed elements, for operation and management, by which FCAPS management, Software management, File management and other similar functions shall be achieved.

[0204] The term “RAN UE Group” refers to an aggregations of UEs whose grouping is set in the E2 nodes through E2 procedures also based on the scope of Al policies. These groups can then be the target of E2 CONTROL or POLICY messages.

[0205] The term “Traffic Steering Action” refers to the use of a mechanism to alter RAN behavior. Such actions include E2 procedures such as CONTROL and POLICY.

[0206] The term “Traffic Steering Inner Loop” refers to the part of the Traffic Steering processing, triggered by the arrival of periodic TS related KPM (Key Performance Measurement) from E2 Node, which includes UE grouping, setting additional data collection from the RAN, as well as selection and execution of one or more optimization actions to enforce Traffic Steering policies.

[0207] The term “Traffic Steering Outer Loop” refers to the part of the Traffic Steering processing, triggered by the near-RT RIC setting up or updating Traffic Steering aware resource optimization procedure based on information from Al Policy setup or update, Al Enrichment Information (El) and / or outcome of Near-RT RIC evaluation, which includes the initial configuration (preconditions) and injection of related Al policies, Triggering conditions for TS changes.

[0208] The term “Traffic Steering Processing Mode” refers to an operational mode in which either the RAN or the Near-RT RIC is configured to ensure a particular network performance. This performance includes such aspects as cell load and throughput, and can apply differently to different E2 nodes and UEs. Throughout this process, Traffic Steering Actions are used to fulfill the requirements of this configuration.

[0209] The term “Traffic Steering Target” refers to the intended performance result that is desired from the network, which is configured to Near-RT RIC over 01.

[0210] Furthermore, any of the disclosed embodiments and example implementations can be embodied in the form of various types of hardware, software, firmware, middleware, or combinations thereof, including in the form of control logic, and using such hardware or software in a modular or integrated manner. Additionally, any of the software components or functions described herein can be implemented as software, program code, script, instructions, etc., operable to be executed by processor circuitry. These components, functions, programs, etc., can be developed using any suitable computer language such as, for example, Python, PyTorch, NumPy, Ruby, Ruby on Rails, Scala, Smalltalk, Java™, C++, C#, “C”, Kotlin, Swift, Rust, Go (or “Golang”), EMCAScript, JavaScript, TypeScript, Jscript, ActionScript, Server- Side JavaScript (SSJS), PHP, Pearl, Lua, Torch / Lua with Just-In Time compiler (LuaJIT), Accelerated Mobile Pages Script (AMPscript), VBScript, JavaServer Pages (JSP), Active Server Pages (ASP), Node.js, ASP.NET, JAMscript, Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), extensible HTML (XHTML), Extensible Markup Language (XML), XML User Interface Language (XUL), Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG), RESTful API Modeling Language (RAML), wiki markup or Wikitext, Wireless Markup Language (WML), Java Script Object Notion (JSON), Apache® MessagePack™, Cascading Stylesheets (CSS), extensible stylesheet language (XSL), Mustache template language, Handlebars template language, Guide Template Language (GTL), Apache® Thrift, Abstract Syntax Notation One (ASN.l), Google® Protocol Buffers (protobuf), Bitcoin Script, EVM® bytecode, Solidity™, Vyper (Python derived), Bamboo, Lisp Like Language (LLL), Simplicity provided by Blockstream™, Rholang, Michelson, Counterfactual, Plasma, Plutus, Sophia, Salesforce® Apex®, and / or any other programming language or development tools including proprietary programming languages and / or development tools. The software code can be stored as a computer- or processorexecutable instructions or commands on a physical non-transitory computer-readable medium. Examples of suitable media include RAM, ROM, magnetic media such as a hard-drive or a floppy disk, or an optical medium such as a compact disk (CD) or DVD (digital versatile disk), flash memory, and the like, or any combination of such storage or transmission devices. ABBREVIATIONS

[0211] Unless used differently herein, terms, definitions, and abbreviations may be consistent with terms, definitions, and abbreviations defined in 3GPP TR 21.905 V16.0.0 (2019-06). For the purposes of the present document, the following abbreviations may apply to the examples and embodiments discussed herein.

[0212] Table 1 Abbreviations:

[0213] The foregoing description provides illustration and description of various example embodiments, but is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the scope of embodiments to the precise forms disclosed. Modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings or may be acquired from practice of various embodiments. Where specific details are set forth in order to describe example embodiments of the disclosure, it should be apparent to one skilled in the art that the disclosure can be practiced without, or with variation of, these specific details. It should be understood, however, that there is no intent to limit the concepts of the present disclosure to the particular forms disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives consistent with the present disclosure and the appended claims.

Claims

CLAIMSWhat is claimed is:

1. An apparatus of a user equipment (UE) device for beam sweeping factor reduction, the apparatus comprising memory coupled to processing circuitry, wherein the memory stores instructions for beam sweeping factor reduction, and wherein the processing circuitry is configured to execute the instructions to: detect that criteria for reducing a beam sweeping factor of measurements of neighboring cells has been satisfied; measure the neighboring cells using a reduced beam sweeping factor, based on detecting that the criteria has been satisfied, by simultaneously receiving multiple synchronization signal block (SSB) beams; and report measurement results of measuring the neighboring cells to a radio access network (RAN).

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein to detect that the criteria has been satisfied comprises to detect that a serving cell’s Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) or Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ) satisfies a threshold provided by the RAN.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to: decode one or more information elements received from the RAN, wherein the one or more information elements signal the criteria.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the criteria comprises a hysteresis and a time-to-trigger each signaled by the RAN.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein to report the measurement results is based on a SSB processing time in addition to the measuring of the neighboring cells.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein to detect that the criteria has been satisfied comprises to detect that a multi-receive simultaneous reception operation of the UE device is active.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein to detect that the multi-receive simultaneous reception operation of the UE device is active is based on a group-based beam reporting configuration of the UE device.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the reduced beam sweeping factor is based on processing capabilities of the UE device for the results of measuring the neighboring cells.

9. A computer-readable medium comprising storing computer-executable instructions which when executed by one or more processors of a user equipment (UE) device result in performing operations comprising: detecting that criteria for reducing a beam sweeping factor of measurements of neighboring cells has been satisfied; measuring the neighboring cells using a reduced beam sweeping factor, based on detecting that the criteria has been satisfied, by simultaneously receiving multiple synchronization signal block (SSB) beams; and reporting measurement results of measuring the neighboring cells to a radio access network (RAN).

10. The computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein detecting that the criteria has been satisfied comprises detecting that a serving cell’s Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) or Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ) satisfies a threshold provided by the RAN.

11. The computer-readable medium of claim 9 or claim 10, the operations further comprising: decoding one or more information elements received from the RAN, wherein the one or more information elements signal the criteria.

12. The computer-readable medium of claim 9 or claim 10, wherein the criteria comprises a hysteresis and a time-to-trigger each signaled by the RAN.

13. The computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein reporting the measurement results is based on a SSB processing time in addition to the measuring of the neighboring cells.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein detecting that the criteria has been satisfied comprises detecting that a multi-receive simultaneous reception operation of the UE device is active.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein detecting that the multi -receive simultaneous reception operation of the UE device is active is based on a group-based beam reporting configuration of the UE device.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the reduced beam sweeping factor is based on processing capabilities of the UE device for the results of measuring the neighboring cells.

17. A method for beam sweeping factor reduction, the method comprising: detecting, by processing circuitry of a user equipment (UE) device, that criteria for reducing a beam sweeping factor of measurements of neighboring cells has been satisfied; measuring, by the processing circuitry, the neighboring cells using a reduced beam sweeping factor, based on detecting that the criteria has been satisfied, by simultaneously receiving multiple synchronization signal block (SSB) beams; and reporting, by the processing circuitry, measurement results of measuring the neighboring cells to a radio access network (RAN).

18. The method of claim 17, wherein detecting that the criteria has been satisfied comprises detecting that a serving cell’s Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) or Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ) satisfies a threshold provided by the RAN.

19. The method of claim 17, further comprising: decoding one or more information elements received from the RAN, wherein the one or more information elements signal the criteria.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein the criteria comprises a hysteresis and a time-to- trigger each signaled by the RAN.

21. The method of claim 17, wherein reporting the measurement results is based on a SSB processing time in addition to the measuring of the neighboring cells.

22. The method of claim 17, wherein detecting that the criteria has been satisfied comprises detecting that a multi-receive simultaneous reception operation of the UE device is active.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein detecting that the multi -receive simultaneous reception operation of the UE device is active is based on a group-based beam reporting configuration of the UE device.

24. A computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions to perform the method of any of claims 17-23.

25. An apparatus comprising means for performing the method of any of claims 17-23.

Images