Methods for automatic neighbor relation function with on-demand SIB1

Abstract

Embodiments of a method in a user equipment and base station for implementing an Automatic Neighbor Relation (ANR) procedure. In some embodiments, the method in a user equipment includes: reporting to a network node that SIB1 is currently unavailable from a neighbor cell but can be obtained on demand; requesting the neighbor cell's SIB1 on demand, based at least in part on a configuration / indication received from the network node; and performing the ANR procedure for the neighbor cell based on an On-Demand SIB1 (OD-SIB1) received from the neighbor cell in response to the request. The method in the base station includes: configuring the UE to report that SIB1 currently unavailable from a neighbor cell but can be obtained on-demand; and configuring the UE to perform the ANR procedure for the neighbor cell based on an On-Demand SIB1 (OD- SIB1).

Description

Methods for Automatic Neighbor Relation function with On-Demand SIB1 Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates to network management, and in particular to methods for automatic neighbor relation function with on-demand SIB1. Background

[0002] The 3GPP Release 19 Work Item entitled “Enhancements of network energy savings for NR” includes the following objective related to on-demand SIB1 transmission (See: 3GPP RP-234065, New WID: Enhancements of network energy savings for NR, 3GPP TSG RAN Meeting #102, December 11-15, 2023): 2. Study procedures and signaling method(s) to support on-demand SIB1 for UEs in idle / inactive mode, including: [RAN1 / 2 / 3] • Triggering method by uplink wake-up-signal using an existing signal / channel. • Wake-up-signal configuration provisioning to UE - Note: No modification of SSB will be discussed under this objective • Information exchange between gNBs at least for the configuration of wake-up signal, if necessary. • Checkpoint for normative work in RAN#105

[0001] The purpose of this work item is to help the network to conserve energy by omitting SIB1 transmission in certain cells instead of periodically transmitting SIB1 in all NR cells. Rather, SIB1 is to be transmitted on-demand when a UE needs it. A cell implementing the on-demand SIB1 transmission is termed here a NES cell. If a UE needs SIB1 it will transmit an UL Wakeup Signal (WUS) which in turn triggers the SIB1 transmission by the network.

[0003] Two scenarios are mainly being discussed as options for implementing this objective and it is at the time of writing not yet clear which (or whether both) of the options will be adopted. Referring to FIG. 1, in the first scenario / option, the Network Energy Saving (NES) cell itself provides SIB1 upon request (i.e., via a WUS transmission) from the UE. However, the UE needs to have the WUS configuration (defining the signal characteristics and when it can transmit the WUS) before it can transmit the WUS and trigger the SIB1 transmission. As per ongoing 3GPP discussions, the idea in this scenario is that another cell (e.g. a coverage cell partly or fully overlapping the NES cell) called Cell Aherein, takes part in assisting such deployment by providing the WUS configuration to the UEs so that the UEs know how / when they can trigger the SIB1 transmission.

[0004] In the second scenario / option, it is Cell A that provides both the WUS configuration and the SIB1 on behalf of the NES cell. That is, the NES cell is not providing SIB1, but used by the UE for network access. This scenario is depicted in FIG.2.

[0005] Note that the figures above illustrate simple deployments where there is only one Cell A assisting the NES cell. However, as illustrated in FIG.3, there could be more complex deployments wherein the NES cell is covered by more than one Cell A assisting in the SIB1 provision.

[0006] According to 3GPP TS 38.300 (v18.1.0) Section 15.3.3, the purpose of the Automatic Neighbor Relation (ANR) function is to relieve the operator from the burden of manually managing Neighbor Cell Relations (NCRs). For NR, ANR relies on NR Cell Global Identifier (NCGI), which is constructed from the PLMN identity the cell belongs to and the NR Cell Identity (NCI) and used to identify NR cells globally.

[0007] When a UE sends a measurement report to its serving NG-RAN node (e.g., a gNB) regarding a certain cell, e.g., a neighbor NR cell, the measurement report contains the Physical Cell Identifier (PCI) of that cell, rather than the NCGI or the NCI. If the serving gNB, does not yet have an entry for this neighbor cell in its Neighbor Cell Relation Table (NCRT), it may trigger the UE to report CGI-InfoNR (see below) and decide to add this neighbor relation.

[0008] Excerpt From TS 38.331 (v18.1.0), Section 6.3.2: – CGI-InfoNR The IE CGI-InfoNR indicates cell access related information, which is reported by the UE as part of report CGI procedure. CGI-InfoNR information element -- ASN1START -- TAG-CGI-INFO-NR-START CGI-InfoNR ::= SEQUENCE { plmn-IdentityInfoList PLMN-IdentityInfoList OPTIONAL,cellReservedForOtherUse-r16 ENUMERATED {true} OPTIONAL ]] } -- TAG-CGI-INFO-NR-STOP -- ASN1STOP CGI-InfoNR field descriptions noSIB1 Contains ssb-SubcarrierOffset and pdcch-ConfigSIB1 fields acquired by the UE from MIB of the cell for which report CGI procedure was requested by the network in case SIB1 was not broadcast by the cell. cellReservedForOtherUse Contains cellReservedForOtherUse field acquired by the UE that supports nr-CGI-Reporting-NPN from SIB1 of the cell for which report CGI procedure was requested by the network.

[0009] End of Excerpt From TS 38.331 (v18.1.0), Section 6.3.2:

[0010] The IE PLMN-IdentityInfoList (in CGI-InfoNR IE above) includes a list of PLMN identity information, one or more of the IE PLMN-IdentityInfo, which in turn includes, among other things, a list of PLMN identities (one or more of the IE PLMN- Identity), a tracking area code, a RAN area code, a cell identity. The IE CellIdentity is used to unambiguously identify a cell within a PLMN. Based on this information, the serving gNB may identify a neighbor gNB towards which an Xn interface can be set up.

[0011] In NR, the CGI reporting procedure (re)uses the measurement reporting framework, where the IE ReportConfig, (e.g., reportConfigNR) provided to the UE can distinguish between different types of UE reports. If the IE reportType is set to reportCGI in the IE reportConfig associated with a certain measId, the UE is configured to report CGI information and starts timer T321 (see below) with the timer value set (prespecified) to a value depending on the type of UE (e.g., RedCap vs. non-RedCap), the characteristics of the found cell (e.g., FR1 cell vs FR2 cell), and whether the UE is allowed to use autonomous gaps for obtaining the neighbor cell’s CGI. The IE reportCGI indicates the cell for which to report CGI information, by specifying the cell’s PCI, and whether the UE is allowed to use autonomous gaps for acquiring System Information (SI), in this case System Information Block 1 (SIB1), from the NR (or E-UTRAN) neighbor cell.

[0012] Excerpt from TS 38.331 (v18.1.0), Section 7.1 “Timers”: Timer Start Stop At expiry T321 Upon receiving Upon acquiring the information Initiate the measurement measConfig including a needed to set all fields of cgi- reporting procedure, stop reportConfig with the info, upon receiving measConfig performing the related reportType set to that includes removal of the measurements. reportCGI reportConfig with the reportType set to reportCGI and upon detecting that a cell is not broadcasting SIB1.

[0013] End of Excerpt from TS 38.331 (v18.1.0), Section 7.1 “Timers”:

[0014] TS 38.300 (v18.1.0) further states that, if the detected NR cell does not broadcast SIB1, the UE may report the noSIB1 indication as specified in TS 38.331 (see above CGI-InfoNR, parts associated with “noS1B1”).

[0015] In addition, if a UE is not able to acquire SIB1 in a cell, the existing specifications (e.g., TS 38.331 v18.1.0) state that a UE shall treat a cell that is not providing SIB1 as barred. The UE shall: 1> if in RRC_IDLE or in RRC_INACTIVE or in RRC_CONNECTED while T311 is running: 2> if the UE is unable to acquire the MIB: … 2> else if the UE is unable to acquire the SIB1: 3> consider the cell as barred in accordance with TS 38.304

[0020] ;

[0016] There currently exist certain challenge(s). With the introduction of on-demand SIB1 procedures, several problems arise for the ANR function:

[0017] According to the existing technical specifications, the UE cannot report Cell Global Identity (CGI) information if the targeted NR cell (i.e., the cell for which to report CGI information) operates in on-demand SIB1 mode and thus, does not broadcast SIB1. Instead, the UE may only report the noSIB1 indication. Consequently, a Neighbor Cell Relation (NCR) to the said NR cell cannot be detected automatically.

[0018] Acquiring SIB1 on demand may take significantly more time than reading SIB1 that is broadcasted periodically, due to additional preceding steps of acquiring the WUS configuration, transmitting the WUS, and waiting for the SIB1 transmission.

[0019] The local node, serving the UE, does not know that the neighbor node is operating the neighbor NR cell in on-demand SIB1 mode. Hence the local node, e.g., gNB, cannot configure appropriate measurement gaps for the UE to acquire the requested CGI information in case of on-demand SIB1. The gNB could allow the UE to use autonomous gaps for acquiring SIB1 from the NR neighbor cell, as in legacy. However, due to the potentially long time required to acquire SIB1 on demand, the gNB may not be able to schedule the UE for an extended (and beforehand unknown) period, which may cause a significant impact to the UE performance.

[0020] To enable the operator to use the Rel-19 on-demand SIB1 provision NES feature without having to manually manage the NCRs toward NES cells (e.g., in neighbor nodes of nodes with NES cells), the above problems must be addressed.

[0021] In addition, according to the current RRC specification, 3GPP TS 38.331 (v18.1.0), when the UE is configured to acquire and report the CGI, if the UE detects that the neighboring cell does not broadcast the SIB1 (irrespective of whether acquisition of the SIB1 of that cell is enabled via OnDemand SIB1 procedure), the UE stops the supervision timer and terminates the CGI acquisition procedure. This leads to the situation that using the current ANR procedure, which relies on the CGI reporting procedure specified in 3GPP TS 38.331 (v18.1.0), it is not possible to acquire CGI of cells with OnDemand SIB1 broadcast feature hence the ANR feature is broken for CGI acquisition of OnDemand SIB1 cells. Timer Start Stop At expiry T321 Upon receiving Upon acquiring the information Initiate the measurement measConfig including a needed to set all fields of cgi- reporting procedure, stop reportConfig with the info, upon receiving measConfig performing the related reportType set to that includes removal of the measurements. reportCGI reportConfig with the reportType set to reportCGI and upon detecting that a cell is not broadcasting SIB1. Summary

[0022] Certain aspects of the disclosure and their embodiments may provide solutions to these or other challenges.

[0023] The present disclosure introduces means for the UE to indicate to the network that SIB1 of a neighbor (NR or 6G) cell is not broadcasted but can be acquired on demand. Moreover, UE can indicate to the network its preferred time duration to acquire the OD- SIB1.

[0024] Based on this information, the serving network node can expect that a potential SIB1 reading may take longer time than the regular case where SIB1 is always-broadcast. As such, longer gaps can be provided to the UE, or longer SIB1 acquisition time can be allowed for the UE during autonomous gaps.

[0025] Moreover, the present disclosure introduces means for the network to indicate to the UE whether to acquire SIB1 on demand, e.g., the network can instruct the UE not to acquire SIB1 if provided only on demand.

[0026] In some embodiments, the UE may omit the on-demand acquisition of SIB1 as such if it has the WUS configuration of the neighbor cell.

[0027] An aspect of the present disclosure provides a method performed by a user equipment for implementing an Automatic Neighbor Relation (ANR) procedure, the method comprising: ^ reporting to a network node that SIB1 is currently unavailable from a neighbor cell but can be obtained on demand; ^ requesting the neighbor cell’s SIB1 on demand, based at least in part on a configuration / indication received from the network node; and ^ performing the ANR procedure for the neighbor cell based on an On-Demand SIB1 (OD-SIB1) received from the neighbor cell in response to the request.

[0028] In some embodiments, the neighbor cell is a Network Energy Saving (NES) cell.

[0029] In some embodiments, performing the ANR procedure further comprises reporting to the network node details concerning a cell global identity (CGI) information of the neighbor cell. The CGI information may be contained in the WUS configuration for the neighbor cell.

[0030] Some embodiments further comprise reporting, in an ANR report, whether a failure to acquire the CGI is due to either one of: ^ lack of a Wake-Up Signal (WUS) configuration for the neighbor cell; and ^ not receiving the OD-SIB1 from the neighbor cell within a predetermined acquisition supervision time, after transmitting a WUS towards the neighbor cell in accordance with a WUS configuration for the neighbor cell.

[0031] In some embodiments, the predetermined acquisition supervision time is longer than a corresponding acquisition time for acquiring SIB1 from a cell where SIB1 is periodically transmitted.

[0032] In some embodiments, performing the ANR procedure for the neighbor cell comprises any one or more of: ^ starting a CGI acquisition supervision timer with a value that is larger than the corresponding acquisition timer value used for acquiring SIB1 from a cell where SIB1 is always transmitted;^ using an updated CGI acquisition supervision timer value which is in a pre- configured suggested value configured by the serving cell. ^ starting a first CGI acquisition supervision timer with a first timer value, and starting a second supervision timer upon expiry of the first supervision timer, if SIB1 acquisition from the neighboring cell is uses an on demand SIB1 broadcast mechanism; ^ restarting a CGI acquisition supervision timer for each one of N consecutive timer expirations, until the UE acquires the OD-SIB1 from the neighbor cell. ^ requesting to switch to autonomous gap to read the OD-SIB1 if the serving cell configures DRX based ANR.

[0033] In some embodiments, the CGI acquisition supervision timer is a T321 timer as defined in 3GPP TS 38.331.

[0034] In some embodiments, the first CGI acquisition supervision timer is a T321 timer as defined in 3GPP TS 38.331, and the second CGI acquisition supervision timer is a T321a timer as defined in 3GPP TS 38.331.

[0035] In some embodiments, starting the second supervision timer upon expiry of the first supervision timer comprises starting timer T321a timer if the UE fails to acquire the OD-SIB1 from the neighbor cell before expiry of Timer T321.

[0036] In some embodiments, the value of N is preconfigured by the network node.

[0037] In some embodiments, the value of N is suggested by the UE.

[0038] A further aspect of the present disclosure provides a method performed by a network node for implementing an ANR procedure, the method comprising: ^ configuring the UE to report that SIB1 currently unavailable from a neighbor cell but can be obtained on-demand; and ^ configuring the UE to perform the ANR procedure for the neighbor cell based on an On-Demand SIB1 (OD-SIB1).

[0039] In some embodiments, the neighbor cell is a Network Energy Saving (NES) cell.

[0040] Some embodiments further comprise configuring the UE to report any one or more of:^ whether it has a WUS configuration for the neighbor cell; ^ whether CGI information of the neighbor cell is available in the WUS configuration for the neighbor cell, and, if available, whether to report the CGI information without acquiring OD-SIB1 from the neighbor cell; ^ whether a failure to acquire CGI is due to lack of WUS configuration, or due to not receiving the OD-SIB1from the neighbor cell within a predetermined acquisition supervision time, after transmitting a WUS towards the neighbor cell in accordance with the WUS configuration for the neighbor cell; ^ details concerning the CGI information of the neighbor cell that may be contained in the WUS configuration for the neighbor cell.

[0041] Some embodiments further comprise configuring the UE to stop or postpone the ANR procedure for any one or more of: ^ a predetermined period; ^ an indefinite time period; and ^ until the neighbor cell reverts to transmitting SIB1 periodically.

[0042] Note: Through this disclosure, the terms “on-demand SIB1”, “OD-SIB1” and “OnDemand SIB1” are used interchangeably for SIB1 that is transmitted on-demand, i.e., that is not always-broadcast.

[0043] Certain embodiments may include configuring the UE to stop or postpone the ANR procedure for a certain period, indefinitely, or until the on-demand SIB1 cell reverts its legacy behavior of transmitting SIB1 periodically. This, for example, can be reasonable if obtaining the CGI information is not critical, e.g., if it can be postponed. If multiple UEs around the same time can obtain the CGI related information, the network can instruct only one UE to proceed with the ANR procedure. The decision about which UE should perform the ANR procedure can be based on different criteria known to the network (e.g., whether the UE is a power critical UE, what types of services are running, or other UE related information known to the network).

[0044] Certain embodiments may provide one or more of the following technical advantage(s). Using the proposed solution, the network can obtain CGI information for neighbor NR cells that are in on-demand SIB1 mode. Moreover, the network can control / contain the impact that acquisition of CGI information for such an NR neighbor cell has on the UE.Brief Description of the Drawings

[0045] The accompanying drawing figures incorporated in and forming a part of thisof the disclosure, and together with the description serve to explain principles of the disclosure.

[0046] FIG.1 is a schematic illustration of a first scenario for handling SIB1 on demand, known in the art;

[0047] FIG.2 is a schematic illustration of a second scenario for handling SIB1 on demand, known in the art;

[0048] FIG.3 is a schematic illustration of a network deployment known in the art;

[0049] FIG.4 is a flow chart illustrating principle steps in a method in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0050] FIG.5 is a flow chart illustrating principle steps in a method in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0051] FIG.6 shows an example of a communication system 600 in accordance with some embodiments;

[0052] FIG.7 shows a UE 700 in accordance with some embodiments;

[0053] FIG.8 shows a network node 800 in accordance with some embodiments; and

[0054] FIG.9 is a block diagram illustrating a virtualization environment 900 in which functions implemented by some embodiments may be virtualized. Detailed Description

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

[0056] At least some of the following abbreviations and terms may be used in this disclosure. ^ 2D Two Dimensional ^ 3GPP Third Generation Partnership Project^ 5G Fifth Generation ^ AAS Antenna Array System ^ AoA Angle of Arrival ^ AoD Angle of Departure ^ ASIC Application Specific Integrated Circuit ^ BF Beamforming ^ BLER Block Error Rate ^ BW Beamwidth ^ CPU Central Processing Unit ^ CSI Channel State Information ^ dB Decibel ^ DCI Downlink Control Information ^ DFT Discrete Fourier Transform ^ DSP Digital Signal Processor ^ eNB Enhanced or Evolved Node B ^ FIR Finite Impulse Response ^ FPGA Field Programmable Gate Array ^ gNB New Radio Base Station ^ ICC Information Carrying Capacity ^ IIR Infinite Impulse Response ^ LTE Long Term Evolution ^ MIMO Multiple Input Multiple Output ^ MME Mobility Management Entity ^ MMSE Minimum Mean Square Error ^ MTC Machine Type Communication ^ NR New Radio ^ OTT Over-the-Top ^ PBCH Physical Broadcast Channel ^ PDCCH Physical Downlink Control Channel ^ PDSCH Physical Downlink Shared Channel ^ P-GW Packet Data Network Gateway ^ RAM Random Access Memory^ ROM Read Only Memory ^ RRC Radio Resource Control ^ RRH Remote Radio Head ^ SCEF Service Capability Exposure Function ^ SINR Signal to Interference plus Noise Ratio ^ TBS Transmission Block Size ^ UE User Equipment ^ ULA Uniform Linear Array ^ URA Uniform Rectangular Array

[0057] Radio Node: As used herein, a “radio node” is either a radio access node or a wireless device.

[0058] Radio Access Node: As used herein, a “radio access node” or “radio network node” is any node in a radio access network of a cellular communications network that operates to wirelessly transmit and / or receive signals. Some examples of a radio access node include, but are not limited to, a base station (e.g., a New Radio (NR) base station (gNB) in a Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Fifth Generation (5G) NR network or an enhanced or evolved Node B (eNB) in a 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) network), a high-power or macro base station, a low-power base station (e.g., a micro base station, a pico base station, a home eNB, or the like), and a relay node.

[0059] Core Network Node: As used herein, a “core network node” is any type of node in a core network. Some examples of a core network node include, e.g., a Mobility Management Entity (MME), a Packet Data Network Gateway (P-GW), a Service Capability Exposure Function (SCEF), or the like.

[0060] Wireless Device: As used herein, a “wireless device” is any type of device that has access to (i.e., is served by) a cellular communications network by wirelessly transmitting (and / or receiving) signals to (and / or from) a radio access node. Some examples of a wireless device include, but are not limited to, a User Equipment device (UE) in a 3GPP network and a Machine Type Communication (MTC) device.

[0061] Network Node: As used herein, a “network node” is any node that is either part of the radio access network or the core network of a cellular communications network / system.

[0062] Cell: As used herein, a “cell” is a combination of radio resources (such as, for example, antenna port allocation, time and frequency) that a wireless device may use to exchange radio signals with a radio access node, which may be referred to as a host node or a serving node of the cell. However, it is important to note that beams may be used instead of cells, particularly with respect to 5G NR. As such, it should be appreciated that the techniques described herein are equally applicable to both cells and beams.

[0063] Note that references in this disclosure to various technical standards (such as 3GPP TS 38.211 V15.1.0 (2018-03) and 3GPP TS 38.214 V15.1.0 (2018-03), for example) should be understood to refer to the specific version(s) of such standard(s) that is(were) current at the time the present application was filed, and may also refer to applicable counterparts and successors of such versions.

[0064] The description herein focuses on a 3GPP cellular communications system and, as such, 3GPP terminology or terminology similar to 3GPP terminology is oftentimes used. However, the concepts disclosed herein are not limited to a 3GPP system.

[0065] Systems and methods are disclosed herein that provide methods for handling the ANR procedure. An aspect of the present disclosure provides a method in a UE for implementing an ANR procedure. Referring to FIG.4, embodiments of the disclosed methods comprise:

[0066] Step 1 (at 402): reporting to a network node that SIB1 is currently unavailable from a neighbor cell (for example, due to that it is currently not provided by the neighbor cell) but can be obtained on-demand.

[0067] Step 2 (at 404): Requesting the neighbor cell’s SIB1 on demand, based at least in part on a configuration / indication received from the network node.

[0068] Step 3 (at 406): performing the ANR procedure for the neighbor cell based on an On-Demand SIB1 (OD-SIB1) received from the neighbor cell in response to the request.

[0069] Optionally, the method may also include steps of:

[0070] Step 4 (at 408): Reporting in the ANR report whether a failure to acquire OD- SIB1 is due to either one of: lack of a Wake-Up Signal (WUS) configuration for the neighbor cell; and not receiving the OD-SIB1 from the neighbor cell within a predetermined acquisition supervision time, after transmitting a WUS towards the neighbor cell in accordance with a WUS configuration for the neighbor cell.

[0071] Step 5 (at 410): Reporting to the network node details concerning a cell global identity (CGI) information of the neighbor cell that may be contained in the WUS configuration for the neighbor cell. The report can have different levels of granularity. For example, the UE can report only whether it has the WUS configuration for the neighbor cell, or whether the WUS configuration contains / lacks the CGI information of the neighbor cell, or whether the WUS configuration contains full or reduced version of the CGI information of the neighbor cell, or, if available, the CGI information (full or reduced) of the neighbor cell itself.

[0072] In some embodiments, the predetermined acquisition supervision time may be longer than a corresponding acquisition time for acquiring SIB1 from a cell where SIB1 is periodically transmitted. In an embodiment performing the ANR procedure may include starting a CGI acquisition supervision timer (e.g., T321) with a larger value than the normal value of the supervision timer.

[0073] In another embodiment performing the ANR procedure may include using an updated CGI acquisition supervision timer value which is in the pre-configured suggested value set by the network.

[0074] In another embodiment performing the ANR procedure may include starting a second supervision timer (e.g., T321a) if the CGI acquisition of the neighboring cell is uses OnDemand SIB1 broadcast mechanism. In an example the T321a starts if the UE did not succeed to acquire the SIB1 of an OnDemand SIB1 cell within the running time of timer T321.

[0075] In another embodiment, performing the ANR procedure may include restarting a CGI acquisition supervision timer (e.g., T321 or T321a) for each one of N consecutive timer expirations, until the UE acquires the OD-SIB1 from the neighbor cell. Restarting of the timer may stop either if N is reached or if the SIB1 and relevant information are obtained. The set of possible values for N can be preconfigured or the value can be suggested by the UE.

[0076] In some embodiments the UE may request to switch to autonomous gap to read the OD-SIB1 if the network node configures DRX based ANR.

[0077] A further aspect of the present disclosure provides a method in a network node for implementing an ANR procedure. Referring to FIG. 5, embodiments of the disclosed method comprise:

[0078] Step 1 (at 502): Configuring the UE to report that SIB1 currently unavailable from a neighbor cell but can be obtained on-demand. In an embodiment the network configures the UE as part of RRM measurement configuration.

[0079] Step 2 (at 504): Optionally, determining whether the neighbor cell, for which the CGI is required (e.g., for ANR procedure), uses on demand SIB1 procedure or not, based on the report received from the UE. The network node may store the information that the neighboring cell supports on-demand SIB1 and using this information when deciding about later actions that concern the same cell.

[0080] Step 3 (at 506): Configuring the UE to perform the ANR procedure for the neighbor cell based on an On-Demand SIB1 (OD-SIB1). This may comprise Cconfiguring the UE to acquire the SIB of the neighboring cell (which uses OnDemand SIB1 procedure) using ANR mechanism considering that the neighboring cell is not broadcasting the SIB1.

[0081] In some embodiments, the network node may indicate to switch to autonomous gap if not configured.

[0082] In some embodiments, the network node may indicate a longer time / updates a new timer for OD-SIB1 acquisition / or allows requests for resetting a timer for OD-SIB1 acquisition.

[0083] In some embodiments, the network node may indicate an indication / flag instructing the UE to acquire SIB1 of the cells with OnDemand SIB1. Hence UE does not stop the timer T321 if the neighboring cells SIB1 is not broadcasted and continues the acquisition of OnDemand SIB1 if the network instructed with such an indication / flag.

[0084] In an embodiment, the UE may start a CGI acquisition supervision timer with a longer time value in case of existing OnDemand SIB1 cells in the requested frequencies or in a configured cell ForWhichToReportCGI IE.

[0085] In another embodiment the network node may configure the UE with a second supervision timer which the UE starts running if the neighboring cell for which the CGI is requested uses OnDemand SIB1 procedure.

[0086] In another embodiment, the network node may configure the UE to reset a timer for on-demand SIB1 upon its expiration either until it obtains the OnDemand SIB1 and the required information or until the maximum number N of allowed timer resets is reached.

[0087] Optionally, the method may also include steps of:

[0088] Step 4 (at 508): Configuring the UE to report, in an ANR report, whether it has the WUS configuration for the neighbor cell and / or whether the CGI information of the neighbor cell is available in the WUS configuration, and, if available, whether to report the full or reduced version of the CGI information (i.e., without acquiring on-demand SIB1 of neighbor cell.

[0089] Step 5 (at 510): Configuring the UE to report, in an ANR report, whether a failure to acquire OD-SIB1 is due to lack of WUS configuration, or due to not receiving SIB1 despite having WUS configuration and having transmitted WUS towards the neighbor cell. In some embodiments, this may include configuring the UE to report to the network node whether it has the WUS configuration for the neighbor cell and / or whether the CGI information of the neighbor cell is available in the WUS configuration, and, if available, whether to report the full or reduced version of the CGI information (i.e., without acquiring on-demand SIB1 of the neighbor cell.

[0090] Step 6 (at 512): Configuring the UE to report to the serving network node details concerning the CGI information of the neighbor cell that may be contained in the WUS configuration for the neighbor cell. In some embodiments, this may include configuring the UE to report the full or reduced version of the CGI information (i.e., without acquiring on-demand SIB1 of the neighbor cell).

[0002] To allow the network node to understand that an NR neighbor cell, or a 6G neighbor cell, provides SIB1 on demand and thus, that the Cell Global Identity (CGI) information for the cell can be acquired by the UE if needed.

[0003] The scenario comprises at least one UE, which is operating in a first cell (e.g., cell1) served by a network (network) node, requested to perform the ANR procedure (involving the CGI reporting procedure) to acquire CGI information of a second / target cell (e.g., cell2), which is an on demand SIB1 cell (i.e. an NES cell). The UE and network node embodiments comprise at least the following: ^ Step 1: UE detects the target / second cell is an OD-SIB1 cell (also referred to as neighbor cell) and reports such information to the network (first cell). ^ Step 2: The network (first cell) indicates whether to continue the CGI reading procedure. ^ Step 3: UE acquires the CGI information by reading OD-SIB1 if indicated by network (first cell) or from the WUS configuration for the target / second cellthat the UE is provided with for the purpose of on-demand SIB1 operation, e.g., by a third cell. Step 1: UE reporting / requesting for OD-SIB1 acquisition

[0001] In one embodiment, the UE indicates to the network that SIB1 of the target / second cell is not broadcasted but can be acquired on demand. Said indication may either be done explicitly or implicitly. Implicit indication that SIB1 of the target / second cell is not broadcasted may be based on the contents of the ssb-SubcarrierOffset / pdcch-ConfigSIB1 received in CGI-InfoNR, the serving network node (e.g., gNB) understands that the SIB1 is provided on demand in the neighbor cell (see Section 0) For example, for a cell not providing SIB1 a UE can be informed that OnDemand SIB1 signaling is supported / allowed. In some cases, the UE can be informed about other carriers / cells from which the UE may acquire the wake-up signal (OnDemand signaling) configuration. This may include information in a cell’s SSB MIB based on which the UE can deduce whether OnDemand SIB1 request (Wake-up Signaling) is supported by the cell. For example, the information about the SIB1 OnDemand signaling support may be provided as part of the master information block (MIB). The OnDemand SIB1 support may be indicated via any one or more of ssb-SubcarrierOffset (incl Kssb deduced from it), and / or a spare bit of the MIB. In some embodiments, a value for Kssb (deduced from SubcarrierOffset) above 23 in FR1, and above 11 in FR2 is used for indicating support for OnDemand SIB1. In particular embodiments, a Kssb reserved value (e.g. 30 in FR1, and 14 in FR2) may be used for indicating OnDemand SIB1 support.

[0004] Explicit indication that SIB1 of the target / second cell is not broadcasted may be based on newly introduced indicators in the CGI-InfoNR, e.g., the UE can indicate noSIB1_OD-SIB1. In one example, the explicit indication that SIB1 of a certain cell is not broadcasted but can be acquired on demand (e.g., noSIB1_OD-SIB1) can be included in a CGI information report from the UE to the network, e.g., by means of an extension of the noSIB1 indication. In one example, the indication that SIB1 of a cell is not broadcasted but can be acquired on demand (e.g., noSIB1_OD-SIB1) can be further extended by information related to whether the UE has a WUS configuration for requesting SIB1 (e.g., noSIB1_OD- SIB1_WusConfigAcquired vs. noSIB1_OD-SIB1_WusConfigNotAcquired).

[0005] For example, the CGI-InfoNR information element can be extended to contain the reason for noSIB1 as exemplified below.CGI-InfoNR information element -- ASN1START -- TAG-CGI-INFO-NR-START CGI-InfoNR ::= SEQUENCE { plmn-IdentityInfoList PLMN-IdentityInfoList OPTIONAL, frequencyBandList MultiFrequencyBandListNR OPTIONAL, noSIB1 SEQUENCE { ssb-SubcarrierOffset INTEGER (0..15), pdcch-ConfigSIB1 PDCCH-ConfigSIB1 } OPTIONAL, ..., [[ npn-IdentityInfoList-r16 NPN-IdentityInfoList-r16 OPTIONAL ]], [[ cellReservedForOtherUse-r16 ENUMERATED {true} OPTIONAL ]], [[ noSIB1-cause-r19 ENUMERATED { noSIB1_OD-SIB1, noSIB1_OD-SIB1_WusConfigAcquired, noSIB1_OD-SIB1_WusConfigNotAcquired, noSIB1_OD-SIB1_WusConfigNotFound, noSIB1_OD-SIB1_noResponseToWus } OPTIONAL odSIB1timer { ms5, ms10, ... } ]] } -- TAG-CGI-INFO-NR-STOP -- ASN1STOP

[0006] In an embodiment, in case the UE cannot acquire on-demand SIB1 despite that the network configured / indicated to the UE to acquire SIB1 on-demand, the UE informs the network. The UE could, for example, indicate noSIB1. Alternately, the UE could provide a finer granular reporting with the reason behind the failure to acquire on-demand SIB1. For example, if the reason of the failure is that the UE could not obtain WUS configuration it could then report e.g., noSIB1_OD-SIB1_WusConfigNotFound. Or, for example, if the reason for the failure is that the on-demand SIB1 was not provided despite UE’s request, the UE could report e.g., noSIB1_OD-SIB1_noResponseToWus.

[0007] In an embodiment, the serving network node (e.g., gNB) may, based on the received report including the CGI of the neighbor cell / node, inform the neighbor node that it can assist in WUS configuration provision to the UEs in the area. As such, the servinggNB may then become a “Cell A” (see any of the Figures 1-3) to a NES cell, without manual configuration by the operator.

[0008] In another embodiment, UE can report / request the expected / preferred time / r value to acquire the OD-SIB1 together with the CGI reporting. In a typical example, UE will indicate the preferred timer value within the OD-SIB1 acquisition duration set configured by the network. The UE could know this based on, for example, the WUS configuration, where the WUS (and possibly the OD-SIB1) transmit occasion timeline is configured, or based on historical OD-SIB1 acquisition experience. As such, the network could then decide (for example, considering the expected impact to the ongoing services) whether the UE should proceed to capture SIB1 considering the time the UE would be away (e.g., not schedulable) during the OD-SIB1 acquisition procedure. Moreover, the network could use such information from the UE to set appropriate values for related timers or whether and how many times the UE can reset the timer while attempting to obtain a SIB1 and related relevant information.

[0009] In another embodiment, UE could report / request to switch the CGI reading measurement type to autonomous gap if network configured using DRX to measure CGI and detected on-demand SIB1 in the target cell. The request / reporting signalling can be also included such as by preferAutonomousGaps.

[0010] In another embodiment, the UE may indicate to the network that the SIB1 acquisition is OnDemand for one or more neighboring cells when sending RRM measurement report to the network i.e., the UE does not need to be configured with CGI reporting configuration, but it can use normal RRM measurements framework e.g., measResultNR (according to the RRC TS 38.331 version 18.1.0) to flag the cells in which the SIB broadcast is OnDemand. The network can use this information to take actions for configuring the UE to report CGI of such cells or any other actions for which the information is relevant. Step 2: network indicates whether to continue CGI reading procedure

[0011] In some embodiments, the network can configure / indicate to the UE whether to acquire SIB1 on demand. In one example, when configuring the UE to report CGI information for a first time, the network can configure the UE to acquire or not acquire SIB1 if not currently broadcasted, e.g., if provided only on demand. In another example, the network can configure the UE to report CGI information for / at a second time, instructingthe UE to acquire SIB1, after being made aware that SIB1 is not broadcasted, e.g., via a first CGI information report including e.g., noSIB1_OD-SIB1.

[0012] The network can configure the UE to acquire or not acquire SIB1 if the contents of the PBCH / MIB of the neighbor cell comprise a pointer to Cell A (provide a hint where to find Cell A) or not, and / or if the UE already has the WUS configuration of the neighbor cell or not. This allows the network to control / limit the resulting impact to the ongoing services of the UE, if any. For example, the network can configure the UE to not acquire SIB1 if the PBCH / MIB of the neighbor cell does not comprise a pointer to Cell A, so that the UE would need to search for Cell A, which may consume much more time and thus cause much more impact to the ongoing services.

[0013] Furthermore, the network can configure the UE to acquire or not acquire SIB1 depending on whether there are other UEs which can provide the ANR relevant / related information for the same neighbor cell. In this case, the network can decide which UE is the most suitable to proceed with the ANR procedure (e.g., the network can make this decision based on the information related to the power consumption of the candidate UEs, their ongoing services or other UE related information known to the network). Step 3: UE acquires CGI information by reading OD-SIB1 if indicated by network

[0014] In some embodiments, when the network indicates to the UE to acquire OD- SIB1 of target cell, e.g., in the context of CGI information reporting, the UE starts a certain timer T with the timer value set to a certain value V. The timer T can be an existing timer or a new timer. There may be separate timers for obtaining the WUS configuration of the cell and requesting SIB1 of the cell.

[0015] In a related embodiment, in the case where the UEs does not yet have the WUS configuration of the cell (e.g., noSIB1_OD-SIB1_WusConfigNotAcquired), the UE starts a first timer T1 with value V1 when / before acquiring the WUS configuration of the cell (or once / after being configured to report CGI information for the cell) and a second timer T2 with value V2 when / before requesting SIB1 of the cell (or once / after the UE has successfully obtained the WUS configuration of the cell). In an example, the second timer is the existing supervision timer of obtaining WUS configuration or the existing supervision timer of obtaining OnDemand SIB1 so the network does not need to configure an explicit second timer for the CGI acquisition of an OnDemand SIB1 cell i.e., the UE runs two existing timers (T321 timer and the timer for obtaining WUS configuration or existingsupervision timer for obtaining OnDemand SIB1) successively when the neighboring cells uses OnDemand SIB1.

[0016] In another related embodiment, values V, V1 and / or V2 are indicated by the network, to control, e.g., limit, the impact the on-demand SIB1 acquisition may have on the UE, e.g., in terms of UE performance and energy consumption. The network could consider knowledge on whether the PBCH / MIB of the neighbor cell includes a pointer to (i.e., a hint where to find) Cell A when setting values for such timers. Alternatively, the 3GPP specifications could define appropriate values for such timers depending on whether the PBCH / MIB of the neighbor cell includes a pointer to Cell A or not.

[0017] In another related embodiment, the network could configure the UE to reset the timer for obtaining the WUS configuration and / or the timer for obtaining on-demand SIB1 of a NES cell. The maximum number of times the UE is allowed to reset the timer(s) can be set to the values decided by the network or indicated by the UE. The UE stops resetting the timer either upon acquiring the relevant information (i.e., the WUS configuration in the case of a timer defined for WUS configuration or on-demand SIB1 in the case of a timer defined for on-demand SIB1) or when the limit on the number of resets is reached.

[0018] In another embodiment, the WUS configuration of a NES cell comprises all information required by the UE to report CGI information of the NES cell to the network, or comprises a subset of information required by the UE to report CGI information, so that the UE can, e.g., report a light / reduced version of the CGI information, the reduced version of the CGI information comprising a subset of the CGI information.

[0019] In a related embodiment, the network may have, in a preceding step, configured the UE to report a reduced version of the CGI information if SIB1 of the cell is provided only on demand. In these cases, the UE may omit obtaining SIB1 as such and complete the CGI reporting procedure by reporting the requested CGI information available in the WUS configuration, full or reduced version, to the network, e.g., to the serving gNB.

[0020] In an embodiment the UE indicates its capability of reporting CGI of the cells which use OnDemand SIB1 mechanism. The network can use such capability indication to configure the UEs with proper CGI reporting configuration according to the methods described above.

[0021] In another embodiment, if Cell A is involved in the process of acquiring the CGI information of a neighbor cell (i.e., the scenario in which Cell A assists neighbor cell in on-demand SIB1 acquisition), the UE can provide the CGI information not only for a neighbor cell, but also for Cell A that assists the neighbor cell.

[0022] FIG. 6 shows an example of a communication system 600 in accordance with some embodiments.

[0023] In the example, the communication system 600 includes a telecommunication network 602 that includes an access network 604, such as a radio access network (RAN), and a core network 606, which includes one or more core network nodes 608. The access network 604 includes one or more access network nodes, such as network nodes 610a and 610b (one or more of which may be generally referred to as network nodes 610), or any other similar 3rdGeneration Partnership Project (3GPP) access nodes or non-3GPP access points. Moreover, as will be appreciated by those of skill in the art, a network node is not necessarily limited to an implementation in which a radio portion and a baseband portion are supplied and integrated by a single vendor. Thus, it will be understood that network nodes include disaggregated implementations or portions thereof. For example, in some embodiments, the telecommunication network 602 includes one or more Open-RAN (ORAN) network nodes. An ORAN network node is a node in the telecommunication network 602 that supports an ORAN specification (e.g., a specification published by the O- RAN Alliance, or any similar organization) and may operate alone or together with other nodes to implement one or more functionalities of any node in the telecommunication network 602, including one or more network nodes 610 and / or core network nodes 608.

[0024] Examples of an ORAN network node include an open radio unit (O-RU), an open distributed unit (O-DU), an open central unit (O-CU), including an O-CU control plane (O-CU-CP) or an O-CU user plane (O-CU-UP), a RAN intelligent controller (near- real time or non-real time) hosting software or software plug-ins, such as a near-real time control application (e.g., xApp) or a non-real time control application (e.g., rApp), or any combination thereof (the adjective “open” designating support of an ORAN specification). The network node may support a specification by, for example, supporting an interface defined by the ORAN specification, such as an A1, F1, W1, E1, E2, X2, Xn interface, an open fronthaul user plane interface, or an open fronthaul management plane interface. Moreover, an ORAN access node may be a logical node in a physical node. Furthermore, an ORAN network node may be implemented in a virtualization environment (described further below) in which one or more network functions are virtualized. For example, the virtualization environment may include an O-Cloud computing platform orchestrated by aService Management and Orchestration Framework via an O-2 interface defined by the O- RAN Alliance or comparable technologies. The network nodes 610 facilitate direct or indirect connection of user equipment (UE), such as by connecting UEs 612a, 612b, 612c, and 612d (one or more of which may be generally referred to as UEs 612) to the core network 606 over one or more wireless connections.

[0025] Example wireless communications over a wireless connection include transmitting and / or receiving wireless signals using electromagnetic waves, radio waves, infrared waves, and / or other types of signals suitable for conveying information without the use of wires, cables, or other material conductors. Moreover, in different embodiments, the communication system 600 may include any number of wired or wireless networks, network nodes, UEs, and / or any other components or systems that may facilitate or participate in the communication of data and / or signals whether via wired or wireless connections. The communication system 600 may include and / or interface with any type of communication, telecommunication, data, cellular, radio network, and / or other similar type of system.

[0026] The UEs 612 may be any of a wide variety of communication devices, including wireless devices arranged, configured, and / or operable to communicate wirelessly with the network nodes 610 and other communication devices. Similarly, the network nodes 610 are arranged, capable, configured, and / or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with the UEs 612 and / or with other network nodes or equipment in the telecommunication network 602 to enable and / or provide network access, such as wireless network access, and / or to perform other functions, such as administration in the telecommunication network 602.

[0027] In the depicted example, the core network 606 connects the network nodes 610 to one or more host computing systems, such as host 616. These connections may be direct or indirect via one or more intermediary networks or devices. In other examples, network nodes may be directly coupled to hosts. The core network 606 includes one more core network nodes (e.g., core network node 608) that are structured with hardware and software components. Features of these components may be substantially similar to those described with respect to the UEs, network nodes, and / or hosts, such that the descriptions thereof are generally applicable to the corresponding components of the core network node 608. Example core network nodes include functions of one or more of a Mobile Switching Center (MSC), Mobility Management Entity (MME), Home Subscriber Server (HSS),Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF), Session Management Function (SMF), Authentication Server Function (AUSF), Subscription Identifier De-concealing function (SIDF), Unified Data Management (UDM), Security Edge Protection Proxy (SEPP), Network Exposure Function (NEF), and / or a User Plane Function (UPF).

[0028] The host 616 may be under the ownership or control of a service provider other than an operator or provider of the access network 604 and / or the telecommunication network 602. The host 616 may host a variety of applications to provide one or more service. Examples of such applications include live and pre-recorded audio / video content, data collection services such as retrieving and compiling data on various ambient conditions detected by a plurality of UEs, analytics functionality, social media, functions for controlling or otherwise interacting with remote devices, functions for an alarm and surveillance center, or any other such function performed by a server.

[0029] As a whole, the communication system 600 of FIG.6 enables connectivity between the UEs, network nodes, and hosts. In that sense, the communication system may be configured to operate according to predefined rules or procedures, such as specific standards that include, but are not limited to: Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM); Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS); Long Term Evolution (LTE), and / or other suitable 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G standards, or any applicable future generation standard (e.g., 6G); wireless local area network (WLAN) standards, such as the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standards (WiFi); and / or any other appropriate wireless communication standard, such as the Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMax), Bluetooth, Z-Wave, Near Field Communication (NFC) ZigBee, LiFi, and / or any low-power wide-area network (LPWAN) standards such as LoRa and Sigfox.

[0030] In some examples, the telecommunication network 602 is a cellular network that implements 3GPP standardized features. Accordingly, the telecommunications network 602 may support network slicing to provide different logical networks to different devices that are connected to the telecommunication network 602. For example, the telecommunications network 602 may provide Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communication (URLLC) services to some UEs, while providing Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) services to other UEs, and / or Massive Machine Type Communication (mMTC) / Massive IoT services to yet further UEs.

[0031] In some examples, the UEs 612 are configured to transmit and / or receive information without direct human interaction. For instance, a UE may be designed to transmit information to the access network 604 on a predetermined schedule, when triggered by an internal or external event, or in response to requests from the access network 604. Additionally, a UE may be configured for operating in single- or multi-RAT or multi-standard mode. For example, a UE may operate with any one or combination of Wi-Fi, NR (New Radio) and LTE, i.e. being configured for multi-radio dual connectivity (MR-DC), such as E-UTRAN (Evolved-UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network) New Radio – Dual Connectivity (EN-DC).

[0032] In the example, the hub 614 communicates with the access network 604 to facilitate indirect communication between one or more UEs (e.g., UE 612c and / or 612d) and network nodes (e.g., network node 610b). In some examples, the hub 614 may be a controller, router, content source and analytics, or any of the other communication devices described herein regarding UEs. For example, the hub 614 may be a broadband router enabling access to the core network 606 for the UEs. As another example, the hub 614 may be a controller that sends commands or instructions to one or more actuators in the UEs. Commands or instructions may be received from the UEs, network nodes 610, or by executable code, script, process, or other instructions in the hub 614. As another example, the hub 614 may be a data collector that acts as temporary storage for UE data and, in some embodiments, may perform analysis or other processing of the data. As another example, the hub 614 may be a content source. For example, for a UE that is a VR device, display, loudspeaker, or other media delivery device, the hub 614 may retrieve VR assets, video, audio, or other media or data related to sensory information via a network node, which the hub 614 then provides to the UE either directly, after performing local processing, and / or after adding additional local content. In still another example, the hub 614 acts as a proxy server or orchestrator for the UEs, in particular if one or more of the UEs are low energy IoT devices.

[0033] The hub 614 may have a constant / persistent or intermittent connection to the network node 610b. The hub 614 may also allow for a different communication scheme and / or schedule between the hub 614 and UEs (e.g., UE 612c and / or 612d), and between the hub 614 and the core network 606. In other examples, the hub 614 is connected to the core network 606 and / or one or more UEs via a wired connection. Moreover, the hub 614 may be configured to connect to an M2M service provider over the access network 604and / or to another UE over a direct connection. In some scenarios, UEs may establish a wireless connection with the network nodes 610 while still connected via the hub 614 via a wired or wireless connection. In some embodiments, the hub 614 may be a dedicated hub – that is, a hub whose primary function is to route communications to / from the UEs from / to the network node 610b. In other embodiments, the hub 614 may be a non-dedicated hub – that is, a device which is capable of operating to route communications between the UEs and network node 610b, but which is additionally capable of operating as a communication start and / or end point for certain data channels.

[0034] FIG. 7 shows a UE 700 in accordance with some embodiments. The UE 700 presents additional details of some embodiments of the UE 612 of FIG.1. As used herein, a UE refers to a device capable, configured, arranged and / or operable to communicate wirelessly with network nodes and / or other UEs. Examples of a UE include, but are not limited to, a smart phone, mobile phone, cell phone, voice over IP (VoIP) phone, wireless local loop phone, desktop computer, personal digital assistant (PDA), wireless cameras, gaming console or device, music storage / playback device, wearable terminal device, wireless endpoint, mobile station, tablet, laptop, laptop-embedded equipment (LEE), laptop-mounted equipment (LME), an Augmented Reality (AR) or Virtual Reality (VR) device, wireless customer-premise equipment (CPE), vehicle, vehicle-mounted or vehicle embedded / integrated wireless device, etc. Other examples include any UE identified by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), including a narrow band internet of things (NB- IoT) UE, a machine type communication (MTC) UE, and / or an enhanced MTC (eMTC) UE.

[0035] A UE may support device-to-device (D2D) communication, for example by implementing a 3GPP standard for sidelink communication, Dedicated Short-Range Communication (DSRC), vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I), or vehicle-to-everything (V2X). In other examples, a UE may not necessarily have a user in the sense of a human user who owns and / or operates the relevant device. Instead, a UE may represent a device that is intended for sale to, or operation by, a human user but which may not, or which may not initially, be associated with a specific human user (e.g., a smart sprinkler controller). Alternatively, a UE may represent a device that is not intended for sale to, or operation by, an end user but which may be associated with or operated for the benefit of a user (e.g., a smart power meter).

[0036] The UE 700 includes processing circuitry 702 that is operatively coupled via a bus 704 to an input / output interface 706, a power source 708, a memory 710, a communication interface 712, and / or any other component, or any combination thereof. Certain UEs may utilize all or a subset of the components shown in FIG. 7. The level of integration between the components may vary from one UE to another UE. Further, certain UEs may contain multiple instances of a component, such as multiple processors, memories, transceivers, transmitters, receivers, etc.

[0037] The processing circuitry 702 is configured to process instructions and data and may be configured to implement any sequential state machine operative to execute instructions stored as machine-readable computer programs in the memory 710. The processing circuitry 702 may be implemented as one or more hardware-implemented state machines (e.g., in discrete logic, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), etc.); programmable logic together with appropriate firmware; one or more stored computer programs, general-purpose processors, such as a microprocessor or digital signal processor (DSP), together with appropriate software; or any combination of the above. For example, the processing circuitry 702 may include multiple central processing units (CPUs).

[0038] In the example, the input / output interface 706 may be configured to provide an interface or interfaces to an input device, output device, or one or more input and / or output devices. Examples of an output device include a speaker, a sound card, a video card, a display, a monitor, a printer, an actuator, an emitter, a smartcard, another output device, or any combination thereof. An input device may allow a user to capture information into the UE 700. Examples of an input device include a touch-sensitive or presence-sensitive display, a camera (e.g., a digital camera, a digital video camera, a web camera, etc.), a microphone, a sensor, a mouse, a trackball, a directional pad, a trackpad, a scroll wheel, a smartcard, and the like. The presence-sensitive display may include a capacitive or resistive touch sensor to sense input from a user. A sensor may be, for instance, an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a tilt sensor, a force sensor, a magnetometer, an optical sensor, a proximity sensor, a biometric sensor, etc., or any combination thereof. An output device may use the same type of interface port as an input device. For example, a Universal Serial Bus (USB) port may be used to provide an input device and an output device.

[0039] In some embodiments, the power source 708 is structured as a battery or battery pack. Other types of power sources, such as an external power source (e.g., an electricityoutlet), photovoltaic device, or power cell, may be used. The power source 708 may further include power circuitry for delivering power from the power source 708 itself, and / or an external power source, to the various parts of the UE 700 via input circuitry or an interface such as an electrical power cable. Delivering power may be, for example, for charging of the power source 708. Power circuitry may perform any formatting, converting, or other modification to the power from the power source 708 to make the power suitable for the respective components of the UE 700 to which power is supplied.

[0040] The memory 710 may be or be configured to include memory such as random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), magnetic disks, optical disks, hard disks, removable cartridges, flash drives, and so forth. In one example, the memory 710 includes one or more application programs 714, such as an operating system, web browser application, a widget, gadget engine, or other application, and corresponding data 716. The memory 710 may store, for use by the UE 700, any of a variety of various operating systems or combinations of operating systems.

[0041] The memory 710 may be configured to include a number of physical drive units, such as redundant array of independent disks (RAID), flash memory, USB flash drive, external hard disk drive, thumb drive, pen drive, key drive, high-density digital versatile disc (HD-DVD) optical disc drive, internal hard disk drive, Blu-Ray optical disc drive, holographic digital data storage (HDDS) optical disc drive, external mini-dual in-line memory module (DIMM), synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), external micro-DIMM SDRAM, smartcard memory such as tamper resistant module in the form of a universal integrated circuit card (UICC) including one or more subscriber identity modules (SIMs), such as a USIM and / or ISIM, other memory, or any combination thereof. The UICC may for example be an embedded UICC (eUICC), integrated UICC (iUICC) or a removable UICC commonly known as ‘SIM card.’ The memory 710 may allow the UE 700 to access instructions, application programs and the like, stored on transitory or non- transitory memory media, to off-load data, or to upload data. An article of manufacture, such as one utilizing a communication system may be tangibly embodied as or in the memory 710, which may be or comprise a device-readable storage medium.

[0042] The processing circuitry 702 may be configured to communicate with an access network or other network using the communication interface 712. The communicationinterface 712 may comprise one or more communication subsystems and may include or be communicatively coupled to an antenna 722. The communication interface 712 may include one or more transceivers used to communicate, such as by communicating with one or more remote transceivers of another device capable of wireless communication (e.g., another UE or a network node in an access network). Each transceiver may include a transmitter 718 and / or a receiver 720 appropriate to provide network communications (e.g., optical, electrical, frequency allocations, and so forth). Moreover, the transmitter 718 and receiver 720 may be coupled to one or more antennas (e.g., antenna 722) and may share circuit components, software or firmware, or alternatively be implemented separately.

[0043] In the illustrated embodiment, communication functions of the communication interface 712 may include cellular communication, Wi-Fi communication, LPWAN communication, data communication, voice communication, multimedia communication, short-range communications such as Bluetooth, near-field communication, location-based communication such as the use of the global positioning system (GPS) to determine a location, another like communication function, or any combination thereof. Communications may be implemented in according to one or more communication protocols and / or standards, such as IEEE 802.11, Code Division Multiplexing Access (CDMA), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), GSM, LTE, New Radio (NR), UMTS, WiMax, Ethernet, transmission control protocol / internet protocol (TCP / IP), synchronous optical networking (SONET), Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), QUIC, Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), and so forth.

[0044] Regardless of the type of sensor, a UE may provide an output of data captured by its sensors, through its communication interface 712, via a wireless connection to a network node. Data captured by sensors of a UE can be communicated through a wireless connection to a network node via another UE. The output may be periodic (e.g., once every 15 minutes if it reports the sensed temperature), random (e.g., to even out the load from reporting from several sensors), in response to a triggering event (e.g., when moisture is detected an alert is sent), in response to a request (e.g., a user initiated request), or a continuous stream (e.g., a live video feed of a patient).

[0045] As another example, a UE comprises an actuator, a motor, or a switch, related to a communication interface configured to receive wireless input from a network node via a wireless connection. In response to the received wireless input the states of the actuator, the motor, or the switch may change. For example, the UE may comprise a motor that adjuststhe control surfaces or rotors of a drone in flight according to the received input or to a robotic arm performing a medical procedure according to the received input.

[0046] A UE, when in the form of an Internet of Things (IoT) device, may be a device for use in one or more application domains, these domains comprising, but not limited to, city wearable technology, extended industrial application and healthcare. Non-limiting examples of such an IoT device are a device which is or which is embedded in: a connected refrigerator or freezer, a TV, a connected lighting device, an electricity meter, a robot vacuum cleaner, a voice controlled smart speaker, a home security camera, a motion detector, a thermostat, a smoke detector, a door / window sensor, a flood / moisture sensor, an electrical door lock, a connected doorbell, an air conditioning system like a heat pump, an autonomous vehicle, a surveillance system, a weather monitoring device, a vehicle parking monitoring device, an electric vehicle charging station, a smart watch, a fitness tracker, a wearable for tactile augmentation or sensory enhancement, a water sprinkler, an animal- or item-tracking device, a sensor for monitoring a plant or animal, an industrial robot, an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), and any kind of medical device, like a heart rate monitor or a remote controlled surgical robot. A UE in the form of an IoT device comprises circuitry and / or software in dependence of the intended application of the IoT device in addition to other components as described in relation to the UE 700 shown in FIG. 7.

[0047] As yet another specific example, in an IoT scenario, a UE may represent a machine or other device that performs monitoring and / or measurements, and transmits the results of such monitoring and / or measurements to another UE and / or a network node. The UE may in this case be an M2M device, which may in a 3GPP context be referred to as an MTC device. As one particular example, the UE may implement the 3GPP NB-IoT standard. In other scenarios, a UE may represent a vehicle, such as a car, a bus, a truck, a ship and an airplane, or other equipment that is capable of monitoring and / or reporting on its operational status or other functions associated with its operation.

[0048] In practice, any number of UEs may be used together with respect to a single use case. For example, a first UE might be or be integrated in a drone and provide the drone’s speed information (obtained through a speed sensor) to a second UE that is a remote controller operating the drone. When the user makes changes from the remote controller, the first UE may adjust the throttle on the drone (e.g. by controlling an actuator) to increase or decrease the drone’s speed. The first and / or the second UE can also include more than one of the functionalities described above. For example, a UE might comprise the sensorand the actuator, and handle communication of data for both the speed sensor and the actuators.

[0049] FIG. 8 shows a network node 800 in accordance with some embodiments. As used herein, network node refers to equipment capable, configured, arranged and / or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with a UE and / or with other network nodes or equipment, in a telecommunication network. Examples of network nodes include, but are not limited to, access points (APs) (e.g., radio access points), base stations (BSs) (e.g., radio base stations, Node Bs, evolved Node Bs (eNBs) and NR NodeBs (gNBs)), O-RAN nodes or components of an O-RAN node (e.g., O-RU, O-DU, O-CU).

[0050] Base stations may be categorized based on the amount of coverage they provide (or, stated differently, their transmit power level) and so, depending on the provided amount of coverage, may be referred to as femto base stations, pico base stations, micro base stations, or macro base stations. A base station may be a relay node or a relay donor node controlling a relay. A network node may also include one or more (or all) parts of a distributed radio base station such as centralized digital units, distributed units (e.g., in an O-RAN access node) and / or remote radio units (RRUs), sometimes referred to as Remote Radio Heads (RRHs). Such remote radio units may or may not be integrated with an antenna as an antenna integrated radio. Parts of a distributed radio base station may also be referred to as nodes in a distributed antenna system (DAS).

[0051] Other examples of network nodes include multiple transmission point (multi- TRP) 5G access nodes, multi-standard radio (MSR) equipment such as MSR BSs, network controllers such as radio network controllers (RNCs) or base station controllers (BSCs), base transceiver stations (BTSs), transmission points, transmission nodes, multi- cell / multicast coordination entities (MCEs), Operation and Maintenance (O&M) nodes, Operations Support System (OSS) nodes, Self-Organizing Network (SON) nodes, positioning nodes (e.g., Evolved Serving Mobile Location Centers (E-SMLCs)), and / or Minimization of Drive Tests (MDTs).

[0052] The network node 800 includes a processing circuitry 802, a memory 804, a communication interface 806, and a power source 808. The network node 800 may be composed of multiple physically separate components (e.g., a NodeB component and a RNC component, or a BTS component and a BSC component, etc.), which may each have their own respective components. In certain scenarios in which the network node 800comprises multiple separate components (e.g., BTS and BSC components), one or more of the separate components may be shared among several network nodes. For example, a single RNC may control multiple NodeBs. In such a scenario, each unique NodeB and RNC pair, may in some instances be considered a single separate network node. In some embodiments, the network node 800 may be configured to support multiple radio access technologies (RATs). In such embodiments, some components may be duplicated (e.g., separate memory 804 for different RATs) and some components may be reused (e.g., a same antenna 810 may be shared by different RATs). The network node 800 may also include multiple sets of the various illustrated components for different wireless technologies integrated into network node 800, for example GSM, WCDMA, LTE, NR, WiFi, Zigbee, Z-wave, LoRaWAN, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) or Bluetooth wireless technologies. These wireless technologies may be integrated into the same or different chip or set of chips and other components within network node 800.

[0053] The processing circuitry 802 may comprise a combination of one or more of a microprocessor, controller, microcontroller, central processing unit, digital signal processor, application-specific integrated circuit, field programmable gate array, or any other suitable computing device, resource, or combination of hardware, software and / or encoded logic operable to provide, either alone or in conjunction with other network node 800 components, such as the memory 804, to provide network node 800 functionality.

[0054] In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 802 includes a system on a chip (SOC). In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 802 includes one or more of radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry 812 and baseband processing circuitry 814. In some embodiments, the radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry 812 and the baseband processing circuitry 814 may be on separate chips (or sets of chips), boards, or units, such as radio units and digital units. In alternative embodiments, part or all of RF transceiver circuitry 812 and baseband processing circuitry 814 may be on the same chip or set of chips, boards, or units.

[0055] The memory 804 may comprise any form of volatile or non-volatile computer- readable memory including, without limitation, persistent storage, solid-state memory, remotely mounted memory, magnetic media, optical media, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), mass storage media (for example, a hard disk), removable storage media (for example, a flash drive, a Compact Disk (CD) or a Digital Video Disk (DVD)), and / or any other volatile or non-volatile, non-transitory device-readable and / or computer-executable memory devices that store information, data, and / or instructions that may be used by the processing circuitry 802. The memory 804 may store any suitable instructions, data, or information, including a computer program, software, an application including one or more of logic, rules, code, tables, and / or other instructions capable of being executed by the processing circuitry 802 and utilized by the network node 800. The memory 804 may be used to store any calculations made by the processing circuitry 802 and / or any data received via the communication interface 806. In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 802 and memory 804 is integrated.

[0056] The communication interface 806 is used in wired or wireless communication of signaling and / or data between a network node, access network, and / or UE. As illustrated, the communication interface 806 comprises port(s) / terminal(s) 816 to send and receive data, for example to and from a network over a wired connection. The communication interface 806 also includes radio front-end circuitry 818 that may be coupled to, or in certain embodiments a part of, the antenna 810. Radio front-end circuitry 818 comprises filters 820 and amplifiers 822. The radio front-end circuitry 818 may be connected to an antenna 810 and processing circuitry 802. The radio front-end circuitry may be configured to condition signals communicated between antenna 810 and processing circuitry 802. The radio front-end circuitry 818 may receive digital data that is to be sent out to other network nodes or UEs via a wireless connection. The radio front-end circuitry 818 may convert the digital data into a radio signal having the appropriate channel and bandwidth parameters using a combination of filters 820 and / or amplifiers 822. The radio signal may then be transmitted via the antenna 810. Similarly, when receiving data, the antenna 810 may collect radio signals which are then converted into digital data by the radio front-end circuitry 818. The digital data may be passed to the processing circuitry 802. In other embodiments, the communication interface may comprise different components and / or different combinations of components.

[0057] In certain alternative embodiments, the network node 800 does not include separate radio front-end circuitry 818, instead, the processing circuitry 802 includes radio front-end circuitry and is connected to the antenna 810. Similarly, in some embodiments, all or some of the RF transceiver circuitry 812 is part of the communication interface 806. In still other embodiments, the communication interface 806 includes one or more ports or terminals 816, the radio front-end circuitry 818, and the RF transceiver circuitry 812, aspart of a radio unit (not shown), and the communication interface 806 communicates with the baseband processing circuitry 814, which is part of a digital unit (not shown).

[0058] The antenna 810 may include one or more antennas, or antenna arrays, configured to send and / or receive wireless signals. The antenna 810 may be coupled to the radio front-end circuitry 818 and may be any type of antenna capable of transmitting and receiving data and / or signals wirelessly. In certain embodiments, the antenna 810 is separate from the network node 800 and connectable to the network node 800 through an interface or port.

[0059] The antenna 810, communication interface 806, and / or the processing circuitry 802 may be configured to perform any receiving operations and / or certain obtaining operations described herein as being performed by the network node. Any information, data and / or signals may be received from a UE, another network node and / or any other network equipment. Similarly, the antenna 810, the communication interface 806, and / or the processing circuitry 802 may be configured to perform any transmitting operations described herein as being performed by the network node. Any information, data and / or signals may be transmitted to a UE, another network node and / or any other network equipment.

[0060] The power source 808 provides power to the various components of network node 800 in a form suitable for the respective components (e.g., at a voltage and current level needed for each respective component). The power source 808 may further comprise, or be coupled to, power management circuitry to supply the components of the network node 800 with power for performing the functionality described herein. For example, the network node 800 may be connectable to an external power source (e.g., the power grid, an electricity outlet) via an input circuitry or interface such as an electrical cable, whereby the external power source supplies power to power circuitry of the power source 808. As a further example, the power source 808 may comprise a source of power in the form of a battery or battery pack which is connected to, or integrated in, power circuitry. The battery may provide backup power should the external power source fail.

[0061] Embodiments of the network node 800 may include additional components beyond those shown in FIG. 8 for providing certain aspects of the network node’s functionality, including any of the functionality described herein and / or any functionality necessary to support the subject matter described herein. For example, the network node800 may include user interface equipment to allow input of information into the network node 800 and to allow output of information from the network node 800. This may allow a user to perform diagnostic, maintenance, repair, and other administrative functions for the network node 800. In some embodiments providing a core network node, such as core network node 108 of FIG. 6, some components, such as the radio front-end circuitry 818 and the RF transceiver circuitry 812 may be omitted.

[0062] FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating a virtualization environment 900 in which functions implemented by some embodiments may be virtualized. In the present context, virtualizing means creating virtual versions of apparatuses or devices which may include virtualizing hardware platforms, storage devices and networking resources. As used herein, virtualization can be applied to any device described herein, or components thereof, and relates to an implementation in which at least a portion of the functionality is implemented as one or more virtual components. Some or all of the functions described herein may be implemented as virtual components executed by one or more virtual machines (VMs) implemented in one or more virtual environments 900 hosted by one or more of hardware nodes, such as a hardware computing device that operates as a network node, UE, core network node, or host. Further, in embodiments in which the virtual node does not require radio connectivity (e.g., a core network node or host), then the node may be entirely virtualized. In some embodiments, the virtualization environment 900 includes components defined by the O-RAN Alliance, such as an O-Cloud environment orchestrated by a Service Management and Orchestration Framework via an O-2 interface. Virtualization may facilitate distributed implementations of a network node, UE, core network node, or host.

[0063] Applications 902 (which may alternatively be called software instances, virtual appliances, network functions, virtual nodes, virtual network functions, etc.) are run in the virtualization environment Q400 to implement some of the features, functions, and / or benefits of some of the embodiments disclosed herein.

[0064] Hardware 904 includes processing circuitry, memory that stores software and / or instructions executable by hardware processing circuitry, and / or other hardware devices as described herein, such as a network interface, input / output interface, and so forth. Software may be executed by the processing circuitry to instantiate one or more virtualization layers 906 (also referred to as hypervisors or virtual machine monitors (VMMs)), provide VMs 908a and 908b (one or more of which may be generally referred to as VMs 908), and / or perform any of the functions, features and / or benefits described in relation with someembodiments described herein. The virtualization layer 906 may present a virtual operating platform that appears like networking hardware to the VMs 908.

[0065] The VMs 908 comprise virtual processing, virtual memory, virtual networking or interface and virtual storage, and may be run by a corresponding virtualization layer 906. Different embodiments of the instance of a virtual appliance 902 may be implemented on one or more of VMs 908, and the implementations may be made in different ways. Virtualization of the hardware is in some contexts referred to as network function virtualization (NFV). NFV may be used to consolidate many network equipment types onto industry standard high volume server hardware, physical switches, and physical storage, which can be located in data centers, and customer premise equipment.

[0066] In the context of NFV, a VM 908 may be a software implementation of a physical machine that runs programs as if they were executing on a physical, non- virtualized machine. Each of the VMs 908, and that part of hardware 904 that executes that VM, be it hardware dedicated to that VM and / or hardware shared by that VM with others of the VMs, forms separate virtual network elements. Still in the context of NFV, a virtual network function is responsible for handling specific network functions that run in one or more VMs 908 on top of the hardware 904 and corresponds to the application 902.

[0067] Hardware 904 may be implemented in a standalone network node with generic or specific components. Hardware 904 may implement some functions via virtualization. Alternatively, hardware 904 may be part of a larger cluster of hardware (e.g. such as in a data center or CPE) where many hardware nodes work together and are managed via management and orchestration 910, which, among others, oversees lifecycle management of applications 902. In some embodiments, hardware 904 is coupled to one or more radio units that each include one or more transmitters and one or more receivers that may be coupled to one or more antennas. Radio units may communicate directly with other hardware nodes via one or more appropriate network interfaces and may be used in combination with the virtual components to provide a virtual node with radio capabilities, such as a radio access node or a base station. In some embodiments, some signaling can be provided with the use of a control system 912 which may alternatively be used for communication between hardware nodes and radio units.

[0068] Although the computing devices described herein (e.g., UEs, network nodes) may include the illustrated combination of hardware components, other embodiments maycomprise computing devices with different combinations of components. It is to be understood that these computing devices may comprise any suitable combination of hardware and / or software needed to perform the tasks, features, functions and methods disclosed herein. Determining, calculating, obtaining or similar operations described herein may be performed by processing circuitry, which may process information by, for example, converting the obtained information into other information, comparing the obtained information or converted information to information stored in the network node, and / or performing one or more operations based on the obtained information or converted information, and as a result of said processing making a determination. Moreover, while components are depicted as single boxes located within a larger box, or nested within multiple boxes, in practice, computing devices may comprise multiple different physical components that make up a single illustrated component, and functionality may be partitioned between separate components. For example, a communication interface may be configured to include any of the components described herein, and / or the functionality of the components may be partitioned between the processing circuitry and the communication interface. In another example, non-computationally intensive functions of any of such components may be implemented in software or firmware and computationally intensive functions may be implemented in hardware.

[0069] In certain embodiments, some or all of the functionality described herein may be provided by processing circuitry executing instructions stored on in memory, which in certain embodiments may be a computer program product in the form of a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. In alternative embodiments, some or all of the functionality may be provided by the processing circuitry without executing instructions stored on a separate or discrete device-readable storage medium, such as in a hard-wired manner. In any of those particular embodiments, whether executing instructions stored on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium or not, the processing circuitry can be configured to perform the described functionality. The benefits provided by such functionality are not limited to the processing circuitry alone or to other components of the computing device, but are enjoyed by the computing device as a whole, and / or by end users and a wireless network generally. EMBODIMENTS

[0091] Based on the foregoing description, the ordinarily skilled reader will appreciate that the following embodiments are disclosed.Group A Embodiments

[0092] Embodiment A1: A method performed by a user equipment for implementing an ANR procedure, the method comprising: reporting to the NW whether the SIB1 is not currently available from a neighbor cell but can be obtained on-demand; requesting the neighbor cell’s SIB1 on demand based on serving cell’s configuration / indication; and performing the ANR procedure for the neighbor cell with OD-SIB1.

[0093] Embodiment A2: The method of embodiment A1 further comprising steps of reporting in the ANR report whether a failure to acquire OD-SIB1 is due to lack of WUS configuration, or due to not receiving SIB1 despite having WUS configuration and having transmitted WUS towards the neighbor cell; and reporting to the serving NW node details concerning the CGI information of the neighbor cell that may be contained in the WUS configuration for the neighbor cell

[0094] Embodiment A3: The method of embodiment A1 further comprising using a longer time than a corresponding time for acquiring SIB1 from a cell where SIB1 is always transmitted.

[0095] Embodiment A4: The method of embodiment A3 wherein using a longer time comprises any one of: starting a CGI acquisition supervision timer (e.g., T321) with a larger value than the normal value of the supervision timer. using an updated CGI acquisition supervision timer value which is in the pre- configured suggested value set by the NW. starting a second supervision timer (e.g., T321a) if the CGI acquisition of the neighboring cell is uses OnDemand SIB1 broadcast mechanism. In an example the T321a starts if the UE did not succeed to acquire the SIB1 of an OnDemand SIB1 cell within the running time of timer T321. resetting the ongoing supervision timer (e.g., T321 or T321a) upon the next N timer expirations. Resetting of the timer stops either if N is reached or if the SIB1and relevant information are obtained. The set of possible values for N can be preconfigured or the value can be suggested by the UE. requesting to switch to autonomous gap to read the OD-SIB1 if the NW configures DRX based ANR. Group B Embodiments

[0096] Embodiment B1: A method performed by a network node for implementing an ANR procedure, the method comprising: configuring the UE to report to the NW whether SIB1 is not obtained due to that it is currently not provided by the neighbor cell but can be obtained on-demand; and configuring the UE to perform the ANR procedure for the neighbor cell with OD- SIB1;

[0097] Embodiment B2: The method of embodiment B1, further comprising: configuring the UE to report to the NW whether it has the WUS configuration for the neighbor cell and / or whether the CGI information of the neighbor cell is available in the WUS configuration, and, if available, whether to report the full or reduced version of the CGI information (i.e., without acquiring on- demand SIB1 of the neighbor cell; configuring the UE to report, in an ANR report, whether a failure to acquire OD- SIB1 is due to lack of WUS configuration, or due to not receiving SIB1 despite having WUS configuration and having transmitted WUS towards the neighbor cell; configuring the UE to report to the serving NW node details concerning the CGI information of the neighbor cell that may be contained in the WUS configuration for the neighbor cell.

[0098] Embodiment B3: The method of embodiment B1, further comprising configuring the UE to stop or postpone the ANR procedure for any one or more of: a predetermined period; an indefinite time period; anduntil the on-demand SIB1 cell reverts its legacy behavior of transmitting SIB1 periodically. Group C Embodiments

[0099] Embodiment C1: A user equipment for implementing an ANR procedure, comprising: processing circuitry configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group A embodiments; and power supply circuitry configured to supply power to the processing circuitry.

[0100] Embodiment C2: A network node for implementing an ANR procedure, the network node comprising: processing circuitry configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group B embodiments; power supply circuitry configured to supply power to the processing circuitry.

[0101] Embodiment C3: A user equipment (UE) for implementing an ANR procedure, the UE comprising: an antenna configured to send and receive wireless signals; radio front-end circuitry connected to the antenna and to processing circuitry, and configured to condition signals communicated between the antenna and the processing circuitry; the processing circuitry being configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group A embodiments; an input interface connected to the processing circuitry and configured to allow input of information into the UE to be processed by the processing circuitry; an output interface connected to the processing circuitry and configured to output information from the UE that has been processed by the processing circuitry; and a battery connected to the processing circuitry and configured to supply power to the UE.

Claims

Claims What is claimed is:

1. A method performed by a user equipment for implementing an Automatic Neighbor Relation (ANR) procedure, the method comprising: reporting to a network node that SIB1 is currently unavailable from a neighbor cell but can be obtained on demand; requesting the neighbor cell’s SIB1 on demand, based at least in part on a configuration / indication received from the network node; and performing the ANR procedure for the neighbor cell based on an On-Demand SIB1 (OD-SIB1) received from the neighbor cell in response to the request.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the neighbor cell is a Network Energy Saving (NES) cell.

3. The method of claim 4, wherein performing the ANR procedure further comprises reporting to the network node details concerning a cell global identity (CGI) information of the neighbor cell.

4. The method of claim 4 further comprising a step of reporting in an ANR report whether a failure to acquire the CGI is due to either one of: lack of a Wake-Up Signal (WUS) configuration for the neighbor cell; and not receiving the OD-SIB1 from the neighbor cell within a predetermined acquisition supervision time, after transmitting a WUS towards the neighbor cell in accordance with a WUS configuration for the neighbor cell.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the predetermined acquisition supervision time is longer than a corresponding acquisition time for acquiring SIB1 from a cell where SIB1 is periodically transmitted.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein performing the ANR procedure for the neighbor cell comprises any one or more of:starting a CGI acquisition supervision timer with a value that is larger than the corresponding acquisition timer value used for acquiring SIB1 from a cell where SIB1 is always transmitted; using an updated CGI acquisition supervision timer value which is in a pre- configured suggested value configured by the serving cell. starting a first CGI acquisition supervision timer with a first timer value, and starting a second supervision timer upon expiry of the first supervision timer, if SIB1 acquisition from the neighboring cell is uses an on demand SIB1 broadcast mechanism; restarting a CGI acquisition supervision timer for each one of N consecutive timer expirations, until the UE acquires the OD-SIB1 from the neighbor cell. requesting to switch to autonomous gap to read the OD-SIB1 if the serving cell configures DRX based ANR.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the CGI acquisition supervision timer is a T321 timer as defined in 3GPP TS 38.

331.

8. The method of claim 6 wherein the first CGI acquisition supervision timer is a T321 timer as defined in 3GPP TS 38.331, and the second CGI acquisition supervision timer is a T321a timer as defined in 3GPP TS 38.

331.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein starting the second supervision timer upon expiry of the first supervision timer comprises starting timer T321a timer if the UE fails to acquire the OD-SIB1 from the neighbor cell before expiry of Timer T321.

10. The method of claim 6 wherein the value of N is preconfigured by the network node.

11. The method of claim 6 wherein the value of N is suggested by the UE.

12. A method performed by a network node for implementing an ANR procedure, the method comprising: configuring the UE to report that SIB1 currently unavailable from a neighbor cell but can be obtained on-demand; andconfiguring the UE to perform the ANR procedure for the neighbor cell based on an On-Demand SIB1 (OD-SIB1).

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the neighbor cell is a Network Energy Saving (NES) cell.

14. The method of claim 12, further comprising configuring the UE to report any one or more of: whether it has a WUS configuration for the neighbor cell; whether CGI information of the neighbor cell is available in the WUS configuration for the neighbor cell, and, if available, whether to report the CGI information without acquiring OD-SIB1 from the neighbor cell; whether a failure to acquire CGI is due to lack of WUS configuration, or due to not receiving the OD-SIB1from the neighbor cell within a predetermined acquisition supervision time, after transmitting a WUS towards the neighbor cell in accordance with the WUS configuration for the neighbor cell; details concerning the CGI information of the neighbor cell.

15. The method of claim 12, further comprising configuring the UE to stop or postpone the ANR procedure for any one or more of: a predetermined period; an indefinite time period; and until the neighbor cell reverts to transmitting SIB1 periodically.

16. A user equipment for implementing an ANR procedure, comprising: processing circuitry configured to steps of: reporting to a network node that SIB1 is currently unavailable from a neighbor cell but can be obtained on-demand; requesting the neighbor cell’s SIB1 on demand based at least in part on a configuration / indication received from the network node; andperforming the ANR procedure for the neighbor cell based on an On-Demand SIB1 (OD-SIB1) received from the neighbor cell in response to the request; and power supply circuitry configured to supply power to the processing circuitry.

17. A network node for implementing an ANR procedure, the network node comprising: processing circuitry configured to perform steps of: configuring the UE to report that SIB1 currently unavailable from a neighbor cell but can be obtained on-demand; and configuring the UE to perform the ANR procedure for the neighbor cell based on an On-Demand SIB1 (OD-SIB1); and power supply circuitry configured to supply power to the processing circuitry.

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