Network node, user equipment, and methods performed therein for handling handovers

Abstract

Embodiments herein relate to, for example, a method performed by a user equipment, UE, (10) for handling communication in a wireless communication network. The UE (10) is configured with a list of configurations, and wherein respective configuration relates to CHO with candidate SCG procedure. The UE (10) sends information to a network node (150), wherein the information is related to one or more of the configurations out of the list of configurations, but not to all configurations and / or sub-configurations of the list of configurations.

Description

[0001] NETWORK NODE, USER EQUIPMENT, AND METHODS PERFORMED THEREIN

[0002] TECHNICAL FIELD

[0003] Embodiments herein relate to a user equipment (UE), a network node, and methods performed therein regarding wireless communication. Furthermore, a computer program product and a computer readable storage medium are also provided herein. In particular, embodiments herein relate to handling communication, such as handovers (HO), in a wireless communication network.

[0004] BACKGROUND

[0005] In a typical communication network, UEs, also known as wireless communication devices, mobile stations, stations (ST A) and / or wireless devices, communicate via a Radio Access Network (RAN) with one or more core networks (CN). The RAN covers a geographical area which is divided into service areas or cells, with each service area or cell being served by a radio network node such as an access node e.g. a Wi-Fi access point or a radio base station (RBS), which in some networks may also be called, for example, a NodeB, a gNodeB, or an eNodeB. The service area or cell is a geographical area where radio coverage is provided by the radio network node. The radio network node operates on radio frequencies to communicate over an air interface with the UEs within range of the radio network node. The radio network node communicates over a downlink (DL) to the UE and the UE communicates over an uplink (UL) to the radio network node.

[0006] A Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) is a third generation (3G) telecommunication network, which evolved from the second generation (2G) Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM). The UMTS terrestrial radio access network (UTRAN) is essentially a RAN using wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA) and / or High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA) for communication with user equipment. In a forum known as the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), telecommunications suppliers propose and agree upon standards for present and future generation networks and investigate e.g. enhanced data rate and radio capacity. In some RANs, e.g., as in UMTS, several radio network nodes may be connected, e.g., by landlines or microwave, to a controller node, such as a radio network controller (RNC) or a base station controller (BSC), which supervises and coordinates various activities of the plural radio network nodes connected thereto. The RNCs are typically connected to one or more CNs.

[0007] Specifications for the Evolved Packet System (EPS) have been completed within the 3GPP and coming 3GPP releases, such as New Radio (NR), are worked on. The EPS comprises the Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN), also known as the Long-Term Evolution (LTE) radio access network, and the Evolved Packet Core (EPC), also known as System Architecture Evolution (SAE) core network. E-UTRAN / LTE is a 3GPP radio access technology wherein the radio network nodes are directly connected to the EPC core network. As such, the Radio Access Network (RAN) of an EPS has an architecture comprising radio network nodes connected directly to one or more core networks.

[0008] With the emerging 5G technologies such as NR, the use of very many transmit- and receive-antenna elements may be of great interest as it makes it possible to utilize beamforming, such as transmit-side and receive-side beamforming. Transmit-side beamforming means that the transmitter can amplify the transmitted signals in a selected direction or directions, while suppressing the transmitted signals in other directions. Similarly, on the receive-side, a receiver can amplify signals from a selected direction or directions, while suppressing unwanted signals from other directions. NR is connected to the 5G Core Network (5GC) which comprises a number of Network Functions (NF) such as Session Management Function (SMF), Access Management Function (AMF), Authentication Service Function (AUSF), Policy Control Function (PCF), Unified Data Manager (UDM), Network Repository Function (NRF), Network Exposure Function (NEF), just to mention some. In the 5GC, NFs can discover other NFs by using a discovery service provided by the NRF.

[0009] An overall 5G RAN, also referred to as NG-RAN, architecture is depicted in Fig. 1.

[0010] A conditional handover (CHO) is defined as a HO that is executed by the UE when one or more execution conditions are met. Upon receiving a CHO configuration, the UE starts evaluating the one or more conditions and stops once the HO is executed.

[0011] In CHO with candidate secondary cell group (SCG), the UE is configured with two configurations, one for performing primary cell (PCell) HO and another for primary secondary cell (PSCell) change. Upon receiving such configuration, the UE evaluates both conditions of the two configurations and attempts to perform HO once both execution conditions are satisfied.

[0012] Self-Organizing Networks (SON) is a collection of functions for automatic configuration, optimization, and healing of networks. The aim of the SON framework is to perform routine maintenance and optimization where necessary without additional configuration. To enable this functionality, multiple reports are defined and collected from the UE. Some relevant ones are introduced in the following:

[0013] Radio Link Failure (RLF) report: If a radio resource control (RRC) connected UE declares RLF the UE creates an RLF report and the network can fetch it from the UE. In an RLF report, the UE includes necessary information and measurements for the network to analyze the radio condition and also possibly a physical location of the UE. Network can thus take an appropriate action upon analyzing the RLF report. There are multiple scenarios where the UE may declare RLF; details may be found in TS 38.300 V18.1.0 and TS 38.331 V18.1.0.

[0014] SCG Failure Information message: A UE operating in dual connectivity may encounter problems in the SCG and may declare failure on the SCG leg. If the connection to the Master Cell Group (MCG) leg is active, the UE does not declare RLF, and instead sends a SCGFailurelnformation message to the master node (MN). Upon receiving the SCGFailurelnformation message, the MN may take necessary actions to solve the problems.

[0015] In 3GPP, work on SON enhancements of CHO with candidate SCG is ongoing. One proposal and agreement is to include the time information regarding the fulfillment of execution condition evaluation in cases of failure declared by the UE. In previous work, different options of logging different information into different reports according to events were outlined. Furthermore, some enhancements of the RLF report have been introduced, such that the UE may send an enhanced RLF report containing a list of cells for which the execution condition was satisfied.

[0016] SUMMARY

[0017] As part of developing embodiments herein one or more issues have been identified.

[0018] The discussion in previous work, see 63 / 570247 US application, is regarding different information logging in different SON reports based on events executed by the UE. Furthermore, previous work, see 63 / 575475 US application, introduces additional enhancements of the RLF report. However, a UE can be configured with up to eight simultaneous CHO with candidate SCG configurations, i.e., in practice a CHO configuration with associated Conditional PSCell Addition / Change (CPC) configuration(s), and is required to monitor them until execution of one of the configurations or some other event. However, information regarding which of the possible eight configurations should be included remains unclear.

[0019] For example, consider the information logged in RLF report mentioned in previous work, see 63 / 575475 US application, wherein the UE logs a list of relevant parameters and information related to a CHO with candidate SCG procedure execution in a RLF report upon experiencing an RLF. However, since there can be eight simultaneous configurations to the UE, the UE may need to log up to eight such lists of information. However, this is not optimal for the UE. Namely, previous disclosures assume that the UE may monitor, store and report any information concerning any CHO configuration for potential CHO target cells, as well as monitor, store and report any information concerning any CHO execution process the UE is subjected to. This may not be possible because of limitations at the UE side in terms of, e.g., memory and processing power as well as limitation at the network side in terms of, e.g., signaling load required for such reporting.

[0020] Therefore, an issue addressed herein is how to efficiently and effectively select the information concerning CHO configurations and execution processes that are most valuable to the network for troubleshooting problems, while limiting the impact, e.g., on memory, processing and / or signaling side, at the UE and network.

[0021] An object of embodiments herein is to handle handover or cell change in a wireless communication network in an efficient manner.

[0022] According to an aspect the object is achieved, according to some embodiments herein, by providing a method performed by a UE for handling communication, such as mobility management, in a wireless communication network. The UE, configured with a list of configurations wherein the respective configuration is related to a CHO with candidate SCG procedure, sends information to a network node. The information is related to one or more of the configurations out of the list of configurations, but not to all configurations and / or sub-configurations of the list of configurations.

[0023] According to another aspect the object is achieved, according to some embodiments herein, by providing a method performed by a network node, such as a radio network node, for handling communication in a wireless communication network. The network node receives information or a report of information from a UE, wherein the information comprises information related to one or more of the configurations out of a list of configurations wherein respective configuration relates to CHO with candidate SCG procedure, and wherein the information is related to one or more of the configurations but not to all configurations and / or sub-configurations of the list of configurations. The network node performs an operation based on the report and / or information.

[0024] It is furthermore provided herein a computer program product comprising instructions, which, when executed on at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to carry out the methods herein, as performed by the network node and the UE, respectively. It is additionally provided herein a computer-readable storage medium, having stored thereon a computer program product comprising instructions which, when executed on at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to carry out the methods herein, as performed by the network node and the UE, respectively.

[0025] Furthermore, according to another aspect the object is achieved, according to some embodiments herein, by providing a network node and a UE configured to perform the methods herein, respectively.

[0026] Thus, according to an aspect the object is achieved, according to some embodiments herein, by providing a UE for handling communication, such as mobility management, in a wireless communication network. The UE is configured with a list of configurations wherein the respective configuration is related to a CHO with candidate SCG procedure. The UE is configured to send information to a network node, wherein the information is related to one or more of the configurations out of the list of configurations, but not to all configurations and / or subconfigurations of the list of configurations.

[0027] According to another aspect the object is achieved, according to some embodiments herein, by providing a network node, such as a radio network node, for handling communication in a wireless communication network. The network node is configured to receive information or a report of information from a UE, wherein the information comprises information related to one or more of the configurations out of a list of configurations wherein respective configuration relates to CHO with candidate SCG procedure, and wherein the information is related to one or more of the configurations but not to all configurations and / or sub-configurations of the list of configurations. The network node is configured to perform an operation based on the report and / or information.

[0028] Embodiments herein enable UEs that are configured with a list of CHO with candidate SCG configurations and, for example, have declared RLF, such as an MCG or an SCG failure, to select configuration using which it was evaluating execution conditions and to log and report to the network, information regarding the target cells for such specific configurations.

[0029] An advantage of embodiments herein is that, when a UE is configured with multiple CHO with candidate SCG configurations, the UE may determine for which configuration the UE needs to store and provide information to the network upon an occurrence of an event, such as declaring failure in MCG or SCG. This implies that the UE is not forced to report information about all the CHO with candidate SCG configurations the UE had been configured with. As a consequence, there is a lower demand for the UE in terms of memory storage and processing, while there is a lower signaling load for the network. Thus, embodiments herein handle handover or cell change in the wireless communication network in an efficient manner.

[0030] BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0031] Embodiments will now be described in more detail in relation to the enclosed drawings, in which:

[0032] Fig. 1 shows an overview depicting a 5G architecture;

[0033] Fig. 2 shows an overview depicting a wireless communication network according to embodiments herein;

[0034] Fig. 3 is a combined flowchart and signaling scheme according to some embodiments herein;

[0035] Fig. 4 shows a flowchart depicting embodiments of a method performed by a UE according to embodiments herein;

[0036] Fig. 5 shows a flowchart depicting embodiments of a method performed by a network node according to embodiments herein;

[0037] Fig. 6 shows a block diagram depicting embodiments of a UE according to embodiments herein;

[0038] Fig. 7 shows a block diagram depicting embodiments of a network node according to embodiments herein;

[0039] Fig. 8 schematically illustrates embodiments of a communication system,

[0040] Fig. 9 is a generalized block diagram of embodiments of a UE,

[0041] Fig. 10 is a generalized block diagram of embodiments of a network node, and

[0042] Fig. 11 is a generalized block diagram of embodiments of a virtualization environment.

[0043] DETAILED DESCRIPTION Embodiments herein relate to communication networks in general. Fig. 2 is a schematic overview depicting a wireless communication network 1. The wireless communication network 1 comprises one or more RANs and one or more CNs. The wireless communication network 1 may use one or a number of different technologies. Embodiments herein relate to recent technology trends that are of particular interest in a New Radio (NR) context, however, embodiments are also applicable in further development of existing wireless communications systems such as e.g. LTE or Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA).

[0044] In the wireless communication network 1 , a user equipment (UE) 10 exemplified herein as a wireless device such as a mobile station, a non-access point (non-AP) station (STA), a STA and / or a wireless terminal, is comprised communicating via e.g. one or more Access Networks (AN), e.g. RAN) to one or more CNs. It should be understood by the skilled in the art that “UE” is a non-limiting term which means any terminal, wireless communications terminal, user equipment, narrowband internet of things (NB-loT) device, Machine Type Communication (MTC) device, Device to Device (D2D) terminal, or node e.g. smart phone, laptop, mobile phone, sensor, relay, mobile tablets or even a small base station capable of communicating using radio communication with a radio network node within an area served by the radio network node.

[0045] The wireless communication network 1 comprises a first radio network node 12 or just radio network node, providing radio coverage over a geographical area, a first service area 11 or first cell, of a first radio access technology (RAT), such as NR, LTE, or similar. The radio network node 12 may be a transmission and reception point such as an access node, an access controller, a base station, e.g. a radio base station such as a gNodeB (gNB), an evolved Node B (eNB, eNode B), a NodeB, a base transceiver station, a radio remote unit, an Access Point Base Station, a base station router, a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) access point or an Access Point Station (AP STA), a transmission arrangement of a radio base station, a stand-alone access point or any other network unit or node capable of communicating with a UE within the area served by the first radio network node 12 depending e.g. on the first radio access technology and terminology used. The first radio network node 12 may be referred to as a serving radio network node wherein the service area may be referred to as a serving cell, and the serving network node communicates with the UE 10 in form of DL transmissions to the UE 10 and UL transmissions from the UE 10. It should be noted that a service area may be denoted as cell, beam, beam group or similar to define an area of radio coverage.

[0046] The wireless communication network 1 comprises a second radio network node 13 providing radio coverage over a geographical area, a second service area 14 or second cell, of a second RAT, such as NR, LTE, or similar. The second radio network node 13 may be a transmission and reception point such as an access node, an access controller, a base station, e.g. a radio base station such as a gNB, an eNB, a NodeB, a base transceiver station, a radio remote unit, an Access Point Base Station, a base station router, a WLAN access point or an AP STA, a transmission arrangement of a radio base station, a stand-alone access point or any other network unit or node capable of communicating with a wireless device within the area served by the second radio network node 13 depending e.g. on the first radio access technology and terminology used. The second radio network node 13 may be referred to as a visiting radio network node or target radio network node, wherein the service area may be referred to as a visiting cell or target cell, and the second radio network node 13 communicates with the UE 10 in form of DL transmissions to the UE 10 and UL transmissions from the UE 10. It should be noted that a service area may be denoted as cell, beam, beam group or similar to define an area of radio coverage.

[0047] The first RAT may be the same RAT as the second RAT or the first RAT may be a different RAT than the second RAT.

[0048] The wireless communication network 1 may further comprise a number of core network nodes providing, e.g. in NR, network functions (NF) or actually instantiations of NFs also referred to as NF instances, such as a first network node 16 providing, for example, an instantiation of a AMF, or mobility management entity (MME), and a second network node 17 providing an instantiation of an AMF or an SMF; or any other NF instances in the communication network 1 . The different NF instances may have different tasks of same or different technologies such as NR and / or LTE.

[0049] The respective node may be a standalone server, a cloud-implemented server, a distributed server or processing resources in a server farm or same node. Embodiments herein may be implemented as physical bare metal, virtual or cloud native such as Kubernetes environment in, e.g., hyper-cloud networks.

[0050] According to embodiments herein a network node 150 is provided for communicating with the UE 10. The network node 150 may comprise the first radio network node 12, the second radio network node 13, the first network node 16 and / or the second network node 17.

[0051] According to embodiments herein, the UE 10, configured with a list of configurations wherein the respective configuration is related to a CHO with candidate SCG procedure sends information to the network node 150, wherein the information is related to one or more of the configurations out of the list of configurations. The information is related to one or more of the configurations but not to all configurations and / or sub-configurations of the list of configurations. The information may be included in reports from the UE 10 to the network node 150, such as SON report(s), if the UE 10 is configured with a list of configurations related to CHO with candidate SCG procedure and the UE 10 may log an event based on a configuration out of the list of configurations. The respective configuration may comprise configuration information, such as timer related information, measurement results and / or some other form of indication based on different scenarios. The UE 10 may succeed to perform a handover based on the configuration and include the information in a given set of reports, or the UE 10 may declare RLF or SCG failure and include the information in another set of reports. Upon reception of the report from the UE 10, the network node 150 receiving the report may identify a node where the optimization is required and forward the report to that node.

[0052] Thus, it is herein provided a method performed by the UE 10 in the wireless communication network where the UE 10 configured with a list of configurations; where each configuration in the list is a CHO with candidate SCG configuration, may declare SCG failure or RLF. The UE 10 may then select one or more of the configurations for which it includes information in a SCGFailurelnformation message or an RLF report and the UE 10 reports to the network node 150 information concerning such configurations, as part of the reports, as well as, optionally, information about the existence of other configurations for which information have been omitted.

[0053] The method may comprise one or more of the following:

[0054] • The UE 10 receives a list of configurations where each configuration is a CHO with candidate SCG configuration for one or more target cells.

[0055] • For the one or more target cells in each configuration, the UE 10 monitors the execution conditions.

[0056] • The UE 10 may declare RLF in the MCG and / or in SCG and may include some information in the respective report as mentioned in previous work. However, the UE 10 selects from the list of configurations using a configuration from which the UE 10 was evaluating execution conditions and the UE 10 logs the relevant information.

[0057] • Additionally, or optionally, the UE 10 may include information concerning the existence of one or more other configurations for which no information is reported in the reports.

[0058] • The UE 10 transmits the report with the information to the network node 150 according to the standard procedure.

[0059] • The network node 150 takes actions based on the received information such as to optimize the configuration of CHO with candidate SCG based on the information reported for the selected one or more configurations.

[0060] In the context of embodiments herein, a configuration is a CHO with candidate SCG configuration. According to current standard, up to eight such configurations may be configured in a UE, which may be referred to as the list of configurations.

[0061] Moreover, in the context of the embodiments herein, a configuration may comprise two subconfigurations; where one sub-configuration denotes a CHO or a CPC configuration. Hence, a subconfiguration comprises an execution condition for a PCell handover or an execution condition of a PSCell change.

[0062] Furthermore, an execution condition may be made of one or two triggering events. In other words, a CHO execution condition may comprise two triggering events and a CPC execution condition may comprise two triggering events. Hence, fulfillment of all triggering events, i.e., execution conditions of both sub-configuration leads to UE 10 attempting a CHO and CPC execution. The UE 10 does not attempt any handover if all conditions are not satisfied.

[0063] Fig. 3 is a combined flow chart and signaling scheme according to some embodiments herein. Actions performed in some embodiments are marked with dashed lines.

[0064] Action 301. The network node 150 may transmit to the UE 10 the configurations related to the CHO with candidate SCG procedure. Thus, the UE 10 may receive the configurations from one or more network nodes.

[0065] Action 302. The UE 10 may execute an event taking one of the configurations into account. Examples of the event may be one or more of the following: UE 10 may declare radio link failure before executing the CHO with candidate SCG configuration; UE 10 may declare handover failure during execution of the CHO with candidate SCG configuration; UE 10 may declare RLF upon successful execution of CHO with candidate SCG configuration; UE 10 may declare RLF in the SCG leg before execution of CHO with candidate SCG configuration; UE 10 may declare handover failure for the secondary leg during execution of CHO with candidate SCG configuration; UE 10 may declare RLF in the secondary leg upon execution of CHO with candidate SCG configuration; and / or UE 10 may perform PCell handover and PSCell change based on the CHO with candidate SCG configuration. The UE 10 may, for example, succeed to perform a handover based on the configuration.

[0066] Action 303. The UE 10, configured with the list of configurations, wherein the respective configuration is related to a CHO with candidate SCG procedure, sends information to the network node 150, wherein the information is related to one or more of the configurations out of the list of configurations. The information is related to one or more of the configurations but not to all configurations and / or sub-configurations of the list of configurations. The information may comprise signal measurements, difference values, Cell IDs, timer values, and / or similar. Thus, the UE 10 may log and / or send information upon execution of an event, wherein the event is associated or based on a configuration of the list of configurations. Information may be included in SON report or reports if the UE 10 is configured with CHO with candidate SCG configuration and performs an event based on it. The information may consist of timer related information, measurement results or some other form of indication based on different scenarios. The information may further indicate RLF or SCG failure.

[0067] Action 304. The network node 150 receives the report and / or information from the UE 10, wherein the information comprises information related to the configuration out of the list of configurations related to CHO with candidate SCG procedure. It is noted that either or both of the source network node and the candidate target network node of the PCell change, i.e. the CHO part of the CHO with candidate SCG procedure, may receive the report, since the source network node configures the CHO while the candidate target network node provides configuration related to the PSCell change part of the CHO with candidate SCG procedure. Note also that if the source network node controlling the source PCell, receives an RLF report, it may forward it to the candidate target network node, i.e., the gNB controlling the candidate target PCell. Similarly, if the candidate target network node, i.e., the gNB controlling the candidate target PCell, receives the RLF report, it may forward it to the source network node, i.e., the gNB controlling the source PCell.

[0068] Action 305. The network node 150 may in some embodiments analyze the report and / or information reported by the UE 10.

[0069] Action 306. The network node 150 performs an operation based on the received report and / or information. The UE 10 may include the information in a given set of reports or the UE 10 may declare RLF or SCG failure and include the information in another set of reports. Upon reception of the report from UE 10, the network node 150 receiving the report may identify the node where the optimization is required and forward the report to that node. The network node 150 may optimize one or more parameters related to mobility and / or an event based on the received report and / or information. The network node 150 may determine the reason for the failure and decide on possible corrective and / or improving actions, e.g., modifications of subsequent configurations of CHO with candidate SCG.

[0070] Fig. 4 is a flowchart depicting a method performed by the UE 10 for handling communication, such as mobility management, in the wireless communication network, according to some embodiments herein. The action may be performed in any suitable order and actions performed in some embodiments are marked with dashed lines.

[0071] Action 401. The UE 10 may obtain, such as receive, the list of configurations related to the CHO with candidate SCG procedure. Thus, the UE 10 may receive the list of configurations from one or more network nodes. The UE 10 may be preconfigured with the list of configurations.

[0072] Action 402. The UE 10 may execute an event taking one of the configurations into account. Examples of the event may be one or more of the following: the UE 10 may declare RLF before executing the CHO with candidate SCG configuration; the UE 10 may declare handover failure during execution of the CHO with candidate SCG configuration; the UE 10 may declare radio link failure upon successful execution of CHO with candidate SCG configuration; the UE 10 may declare radio link failure in the SCG leg before execution of CHO with candidate SCG configuration; the UE 10 may declare handover failure for the secondary leg during execution of CHO with candidate SCG configuration; the UE 10 may declare RLF in the secondary leg upon execution of CHO with candidate SCG configuration; and / or the UE 10 may perform PCell handover and PSCell change based on the CHO with candidate SCG configuration.

[0073] Action 403. The UE 10 may log and store information at the UE 10, wherein the information is related to one or more of the configurations out of the list of configurations. The UE 10 may log information upon execution of the event, wherein the event is associated or based on the configuration out of the list of configurations.

[0074] Action 404. The UE 10, configured with the list of configurations, wherein the respective configuration is related to a CHO with candidate SCG procedure, sends the information to the network node 150, wherein the information is related to one or more of the configurations out of the list of configurations. The information is related to one or more of the configurations but not to all configurations and / or sub-configurations of the list of configurations. Thus, the UE 10 may log and / or send information upon execution of an event, wherein the event is associated or based on a configuration of the list of configurations. Information may be included in one or more SON reports if the UE 10 is configured with CHO with candidate SCG configuration and performs an event based on it. The information may consist of timer related information, measurement results or some other form of indication based on different scenarios. The information sent may be information for one or more configurations for which at least one of execution conditions was fulfilled, while not including information for one or more configurations where none of the execution conditions was fulfilled. The information may further indicate RLF or SCG failure. The information sent may be information for the configuration for which at least one of the CHO or CPC execution conditions was fulfilled, and other execution condition was not fulfilled by a small threshold, while not including information in the sent information for other configurations. For example, if the UE 10 is configured with N configurations and for all N configurations the CHO condition is fulfilled but the CPC condition remains unfulfilled, the UE 10 may include information regarding all N configurations in the report regarding one sub-configuration.

[0075] Fig. 5 is a flowchart depicting a method performed by the network node 150 for handling communication, such as mobility management, in the wireless communication network, according to some embodiments herein. The action may be performed in any suitable order and actions performed in some embodiments are marked with dashed lines.

[0076] Action 501. The network node 150 may transmit to the UE 10 the configurations related to the CHO with candidate SCG procedure. Thus, the network node 150 may transmit the configurations related to the CHO with candidate SCG procedure. The network node 150 may transmit the list of configurations from one or more network nodes, or indices indicating configurations.

[0077] Action 502. The network node 150 receives the report of information and / or the information from the UE 10, wherein the information comprises information related to one or more of the configurations out of the list of configurations. The respective configuration relates to CHO with candidate SCG procedure. The information is related to one or more of the configurations but not to all configurations and / or sub-configurations of the list of configurations. The information received may be information for one or more configurations for which at least one of execution conditions was fulfilled, while not including information for one or more configurations where none of the execution conditions was fulfilled. The information received may be information for the configuration for which at least one of the CHO or CPC execution conditions was fulfilled, and other execution condition was not fulfilled by a small threshold, while not including information in the sent information for other configurations. It is noted that either or both of the source network node and the candidate target network node of the PCell change, i.e. the CHO part of the CHO with candidate SCG procedure, may receive the RLF report, since the source gNB configures the CHO while the candidate target gNB provides configuration related to the PSCell change part of the CHO with candidate SCG procedure. Note also that if the source MN, i.e., the gNB controlling the source PCell, receives the RLF report, it may forward it to the candidate target MN, i.e., the gNB controlling the candidate target PCell. Similarly, if the candidate target MN, i.e., the gNB controlling the candidate target PCell, receives the RLF report, it may forward it to the source MN, i.e., the gNB controlling the source PCell.

[0078] Action 503. The network node 150 may in some embodiments analyze the report and / or information reported by the UE 10.

[0079] Action 504. The network node 150 performs an operation based on the report and / or information. The UE 10 may include the information in a given set of reports or it may declare RLF or SCG failure and include the information in another set of reports. Upon reception of the report from the UE 10, the network node 150 receiving the report may identify the node where the optimization is required and forward the report to that node. The network node 150 may optimize one or more parameters related to mobility and / or an event based on the report and / or information. The network node 150 may determine the reason for the failure and decide on possible corrective / improving actions, e.g. modifications of subsequent configurations of CHO with candidate SCG.

[0080] The embodiments herein may be described in the context of a scenario where the UE 10 that is configured with the list of configurations; where respective configuration comprises a CHO with candidate SCG configuration, may declare a RLF in MCG and / or SCG. Upon declaration of RLF, the UE 10 may log information in respective RLF report or SCGFailurelnformation message. During logging, the UE 10 may select for which configuration it logs the information. Here, the information refers to different types of information as explained in previous work, such as timer related information, measurement results or some other form of indication based on different scenarios. Furthermore, each configuration may comprise two sub-configurations, a CHO configuration containing execution condition for PCell and a CPC configuration containing execution condition of a PSCell. The UE 10 may include information regarding both PCell and PSCell while logging. In one embodiment, the UE 10 logs information regarding all configurations in the received list of configurations configured by the network using which it was evaluating CHO and CPC execution conditions. The information depends on the status of the execution condition evaluation as explained in previous work. In another embodiment, the UE 10 may include information for the configurations for which at least one of the execution conditions was fulfilled, while not including information for the configurations where none of the execution conditions were fulfilled.

[0081] • In a variant of the embodiment, if the UE 10 is generating a RLF report, the UE 10 includes information for the configurations for which CHO execution conditions were fulfilled, while not including information for the configurations where none of the execution conditions were fulfilled.

[0082] • In another variant of the embodiment, if the UE 10 is generating a SCGFailurelnformation message, the UE 10 includes information for the candidate configurations for which CPC execution conditions were fulfilled, while not including information for the configurations where none of the execution conditions were fulfilled.

[0083] • In another embodiment, the UE 10 may include information for only the latest configuration for which at least one of the execution conditions was fulfilled, while not including information for other configurations.

[0084] • In a variant of the embodiment, if the UE 10 is generating RLF report, the UE 10 includes information for the configuration for which CHO execution conditions were fulfilled.

[0085] • In a variant of the embodiment, if the UE 10 is generating SCGFailurelnformation message, the UE 10 includes information for the configuration for which CPC execution conditions were fulfilled.

[0086] • In another embodiment, the UE 10 may include information for only the configuration for which at least one of the execution conditions was the first to be fulfilled among all configured execution conditions.

[0087] • In a variant of the embodiment, if the UE 10 is generating an RLF report, the UE 10 includes information for the configuration for which CHO execution conditions were fulfilled. Network may use this information to realize the need for a CHO only configuration.

[0088] • In a variant of the embodiment, if the UE 10 is generating SCGFailurelnformation message, the UE 10 includes information for the configuration for which CPC execution conditions were fulfilled.

[0089] • In another embodiment, the UE 10 may include information for the configuration for which at least one execution condition was fulfilled, and the other execution condition was closest to be fulfilled, while not including information for other configurations

[0090] • In another embodiment where two trigger events within a sub-configuration per candidate target cell are assumed, the UE 10 may include information for the cell for which one trigger event was fulfilled and the trigger event was the closest to being fulfilled. In one variant of this embodiment, the determination of which cell to include information for is applied separately for candidate target CHO cells and candidate target CPC cells. That is, the UE 10 may compare how close the trigger event was to being fulfilled for the candidate target CHO cells separately from the corresponding comparison between candidate target CPC cells.

[0091] • In another variant of this embodiment, the UE 10 first compares how close the trigger event was to being met for the candidate target CHO cells and then selects that “CHO with candidate SCG” configuration. The UE 10 then performs the corresponding comparison of the trigger event fulfillment for the candidate target CPC cells within that CHO with candidate SCG configuration. Finally, the UE 10 logs and reports information for the determined candidate target CHO cell and the determined candidate target SCG cell.

[0092] • In another variant of this embodiment, the UE 10 first compares how close the trigger event was to being met for the candidate target CHO cells and then selects that CHO with candidate SCG configuration. The UE 10 then logs and reports information for the determined target CHO cell and the target CPC cell in the same CHO with candidate SCG configuration.

[0093] • As one option, in this embodiment and any of the above listed variants of the embodiment, the UE 10 may also include information for any candidate target cell for which both trigger events were fulfilled.

[0094] In another embodiment, the UE 10 may include information for the configuration for which at least one of the CHO or CPC execution condition was fulfilled, and other execution condition was not fulfilled by a small threshold, while not including information for other configurations. Namely, the difference between the measured value of the execution condition quantity and the execution condition threshold value was smaller than a certain threshold offset, wherein the threshold may be hardcoded in the specification as a fixed value, or configured by the network. For example, if the CHO execution conditions are fulfilled and measurement results show that the reference signal received power (RSRP) value is 1 dB less than the configured CPC execution condition RSRP, the UE 10 includes those cells. In a variant of this embodiment, the UE 10 logs and reports information for up to a maximum number of N cells, i.e. if more than N cells fulfill the above-described condition for logging and reporting information, information is still logged and reported for only N cells. These N cells may be the ones for which the conditions for logging and reporting information are fulfilled first. As another option, the N cells may be the N cells which were the closest to having the second execution condition fulfilled. As a yet another option, the N cells may be the ones which were the latest to have their above-described condition for logging and reporting information fulfilled. The value of N may be configurable by the network to the UE 10 or hardcoded by standard specification, or according to UE 10 implementation.

[0095] • In another embodiment, the UE 10 may include information for the configurations for which no execution condition was fulfilled; but the condition was close to being fulfilled, while not including information for other configurations. Namely, the difference between the measured value of the execution condition quantity and the execution condition threshold value was smaller than a certain threshold offset. In a variant of this embodiment, the UE

[0096] 10 logs and reports information for up to a maximum number of N cells, i.e. if more than N cells fulfill the above-described condition for logging and reporting information, information is still logged and reported for only N cells. These N cells may be the ones for which the conditions for logging and reporting information are fulfilled first. As another option, the N cells may be the N cells which were the closest to having the second execution condition fulfilled. As a yet another option, the N cells may be the ones which were the latest to have their above-described condition for logging and reporting information fulfilled. The value of N may be configurable by the network to the UE 10 or hardcoded by standard specification, or according to UE implementation.

[0097] • As an option for the above embodiment, if a sub-configuration, e.g., CHO or CPC, had two trigger events which both have to be fulfilled for the execution conditions to be fulfilled) then the one that was the furthest from being fulfilled is the one the UE 10 uses in the abovedescribed determination of which cells for which to log and report information.

[0098] • In variants of any of the above embodiments, only CHO configurations are considered when determining which cells to log and report information for. In other variants of any of the above embodiments, only CPC configurations are considered when determining which cells to log and report information for. In yet other variants of any of the above embodiments, both CHO configurations and CPC configurations are considered when determining which cells to log and report information for. Furthermore, in some variants of the above embodiments, different ones of the above embodiments and / or options are applied respectively when selecting candidate target cells for CHO to log and report information for and when selecting candidate target cells for CPC to log and report information for.

[0099] • In one embodiment, when the UE 10 is configured with N “CHO with candidate SCG” configurations where N is greater than 1 , and in case an RLF or an SCG failure occurs, and none of the execution conditions for any of the “CHO with candidate SCG” were fulfilled, the UE 10 is instructed or configured, or implemented in accordance with standard specification or specifications), to log and report an indication, e.g., a binary flag, indicating this. • In one embodiment, when the UE 10 is configured with N “CHO with candidate SCG” configurations where N is greater than 1 , and in case an RLF or an SCG failure occurs, the UE 10 is instructed to log and report one or more of:

[0100] - identities of candidate PCell included in more than one “CHO with candidate SCG” configuration, for which at least one of the “CHO execution conditions” of one “CHO with candidate SCG” configuration was fulfilled, but the candidate SCG execution conditions were not fulfilled, and for which at least another “CHO with candidate SCG” configuration had at least one of the CHO execution conditions associated to the same candidate PCell not fulfilled, valid for the cases when the candidate SCG execution conditions were fulfilled or not fulfilled. This can aid the network to understand which CHO execution condition is more suitable for a certain candidate PCell, particularly when used in combination with a candidate PSCell for which SCG execution condition was fulfilled. In a variant of this embodiment, the UE 10 does not only log and report an indication of the concerned cell, but also the previously described and / or indicated feedback information, or selected parts thereof, related to the cell.

[0101] - information related to candidate PCell included in more than one “CHO with candidate SCG” configuration, for which at least one of the “CHO execution condition(s)” of one “CHO with candidate SCG” configuration was fulfilled, but the candidate SCG execution conditions were not fulfilled, and for which at least another “CHO with candidate SCG” configuration had at least one of the CHO execution conditionsassociated to the same candidate PCell not fulfilled, valid for the cases when the candidate SCG execution conditions were fulfilled or not fulfilled. o such information may be e.g. radio quality measurements, RSRP, reference signal received quality (RSRQ), signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR), and / or the like., of the concerned candidate PCell(s)

[0102] - identities of candidate PSCell included in more than one “CHO with candidate SCG” configuration, for which at least one of the “candidate SCG execution conditions” of one “CHO with candidate SCG” configuration was not fulfilled but the CHO execution conditions were fulfilled, and for which at least another “CHO with candidate SCG” configuration had at least one of the “candidate SCG execution conditions” associated to the same PSCell fulfilled, valid for the cases when the candidate CHO execution conditions were fulfilled or not fulfilled. This may aid the network to understand which SCG execution conditions are more suitable for a certain candidate PSCell i.e., particularly when used in combination with a candidate PCell for which CHO execution conditions were fulfilled. In a variant of this embodiment, the UE 10 does not only log and report an indication of the concerned cell, but also the previously described and / or indicated feedback information or selected parts thereof related to the cell. - information related to candidate PSCell for which at least one of the “candidate SCG execution conditions” of one “CHO with candidate SCG” configuration was not fulfilled but the CHO execution conditions were fulfilled, and for which at least another “CHO with candidate SCG” configuration had at least one of the two candidate SCG execution conditions associated to the same PSCell fulfilled. such information may be e.g. radio quality measurements, such as RSRP, RSRQ, SINR, and / or the like., of the concerned candidate PCells.

[0103] • In one embodiment, when the UE 10 is configured with C “CHO with candidate SCG” configurations where C is greater than 1 , and in case an RLF or an SCG failure occurs, the UE 10 is instructed to log and report in an RLF report or in an SCGFailurelnformation message the cells included in maximum R<=C “CHO with candidate SCG configurations”. For example, R<=C means that the UE may be instructed to report in RLF a number of cells which can be less than or equal to the number “C” of “CHO with candidate SCG” configuration, with C being > 1.

[0104] • The UE 10 should log / report: 1) as first priority, cells pertaining to “CHO with candidate SCG” configurations for which only one CHO execution condition was configured, 2) as second priority, cells pertaining to “CHO with candidate SCG” configurations for which only one candidate SCG execution condition was configured; 3) as third priority, cells pertaining to “CHO with candidate SCG” configuration where two CHO execution conditions were configured and one SCG execution condition was configured; 4) as fourth priority, cells pertaining to “CHO with candidate SCG” configurations where two CHO execution conditions were configured and two SCG execution conditions were configured.

[0105] • For each one of the R reported “CHO with candidate SCG” configurations, the UE may be configured to indicate one or more of the following information:

[0106] - all the cells comprised in that specific “CHO with candidate SCG” configuration

[0107] - whether for that specific “CHO with candidate SCG” configuration, only the CHO execution condition(s)) was(were) fulfilled and not the candidate SCG execution conditions

[0108] - whether for that specific “CHO with candidate SCG” configuration, only the candidate SCG execution condition(s)) was(were) fulfilled and not the CHO execution conditions

[0109] - whether for that specific “CHO with candidate SCG” configuration, the CHO execution condition(s)) was(were) fulfilled, and an RSRP, or RSRQ, or reference signal strength indicator (RSSI), candidate SCG execution condition was not fulfilled, with an offset to fulfilling the RSRP or RSRQ, or RSSI condition of X dBm orX dB

[0110] - whether for that specific “CHO with candidate SCG” configuration, when at least one of the CHO execution conditions was not fulfilled, whether it was a conditional A3 event that was not fulfilled, or it was a conditional A5 event that was not fulfilled. - whether for that specific “CHO with candidate SCG” configuration, when at least one of the candidate SCG execution conditions was not fulfilled, whether it was a conditional A3 event that was not fulfilled, or it was a conditional A5 event that was not fulfilled.

[0111] - whether for that specific “CHO with candidate SCG” configuration, the candidate SCG execution condition(s)) was(were) fulfilled, and a CHO execution condition related to RSRP or RSRQ, or RSSI related was not fulfilled with an offset to fulfilling the RSRP or RSRQ, or RSSI condition of X dBm or X dB

[0112] - whether for that specific “CHO with candidate SCG” configuration, the CHO execution condition(s)) was(were) fulfilled, and at least one of two candidate SCG execution conditions, related to RSRP or RSRQ, or RSSI was not fulfilled by at least X dBm or by at least Y dB

[0113] - whether for that specific “CHO with candidate SCG” configuration, the candidate SCG execution condition(s)) was(were) fulfilled, and at least one of two CHO execution conditions related to RSRP or RSRP, or RSSI was not fulfilled by at least X dBm or by at least Y dB

[0114] - whether for that specific “CHO with candidate SCG” configuration, at least once before the RLF, the CHO execution conditions were fulfilled while the candidate SCG conditions were not fulfilled

[0115] - whether for that specific “CHO with candidate SCG” configuration, at least once before the RLF, the candidate SCG execution conditions were fulfilled while the CHO execution conditions were not fulfilled

[0116] • In one embodiment, when the UE 10 is configured with C>1 “CHO with candidate SCG” configurations, and in case an RLF or an SCG failure occurs, the UE 10 is instructed to log and report information in an RLF report or in an SCGFailurelnformation message a maximum number N of cells included in maximum R<=C “CHO with candidate SCG configurations”. The same criteria described in previous embodiment may apply to this as well i.e.,UE logging and / or reporting cells in priority order, and including one or more of the indications listed above.

[0117] • In an example of implementation of the embodiments above, when the UE 10 is configured with C>1 “CHO with candidate SCG” configurations, and in case an RLF or an SCG failure occurs, the UE 10 is instructed to log and report the following for the cells comprised of “CHO with candidate SCG” configuration that fulfil the criteria detailed in the embodiments e.g., “all the cells”, or “the cells for which at least one execution condition was fulfilled, and the other execution condition was closest to be fulfilled”, or “only cells for which no execution condition was fulfilled; but the condition was close to being fulfilled” and / or the like: - a tuple of identities and / or identifiers, the tuple containing: a cell identity and / or identifier, identities and / or identifiers of CHO execution conditions e.g., in the form of a Measld IE or an indication of a Measld IE associated with the CHO execution condition, which were not fulfilled, identityies and / or identifiers of the conditional event associated to the candidate SCG execution conditions e.g., in the form of a Measld IE or an indication of a Measld IE associated with the CHO execution condition, which were not fulfilled o for instance, a cell whose cell global identity (CGI)=CGI_A is a candidate PCell and a cell whose CGI=CGI_B is a candidate PSCell are comprised in a CHO with candidate SCG configuration, and the UE is configured with a conditional event A3 identified by condEventld=X used as CHO execution condition, and a conditional event A3 identified by condEventld=Y used as SCG execution condition. If the event A3 for CHO was fulfilled and the event A3 for SCG was not fulfilled, then UE 10 may log and report the following in any order: CGI_A, CGI_B, condEventld=Y

[0118] • In all of the above embodiments where the UE 10 is configured to, or is mandated by standard specifications, or there is a need to, indicate a certain CHO configuration i.e., either a stand-alone CHO configuration or a CHO configuration that is part of a CHO with candidate SCG configuration, e.g., when there is more than one CHO configuration i.e., stand-alone and / or part of “CHO with candidate SCG” configuration for the same candidate PCell, or where the UE 10 is configured to, or is mandated by standard specifications, or there is a need to, indicate a certain CPC configuration either a stand-alone CPC configuration or a CPC configuration that is part of a “CHO with candidate SCG” configuration, e.g., when there is more than one CPC configuration, e.g., stand-alone and / or part of “CHO with candidate SCG” configuration, for the same candidate PSCell, the UE 10 may do this by including in a SON report e.g., an RLF report or in an SCGFailurelnformation message, the CondReconfigld-r16 associated with the CHO or CPC configuration, optionally combined with none, one or more of:

[0119] - An indication of whether the CondReconfigld-r16 is associated with a CHO configuration or a CPC configuration.

[0120] - If the CondReconfigld-r16 is associated with a CPC configuration: an indication of whether the CPC configuration is a stand-alone CPC configuration or a part of a “CHO with candidate SCG” configuration. o If the CPC configuration is a part of a “CHO with candidate SCG” configuration, then the CondReconfigld-r16 of this “CHO with candidate SCG” configuration or the CondReconfigld-r16 of the CHO configuration in the “CHO with candidate SCG” configuration may also be indicated in the SON report or SCGFailurelnformation message. - An indication of whether the CondReconfigld-r16 is associated with a CHO configuration or a CPC configuration and, if the CondReconfigld-r16 is associated with a CPC configuration, an indication of whether the CPC configuration is a stand-alone CPC configuration or a part of a “CHO with candidate SCG” configuration. o If the CondReconfigld-r16 is associated with a CPC configuration that is part of a “CHO with candidate SCG” configuration, the UE may also include in the SON report or SCGFailurelnformation message, the CondReconfigld-r16 of this “CHO with candidate SCG” configuration or the CondReconfigld-r16 of the CHO configuration in the “CHO with candidate SCG” configuration.

[0121] A certain “CHO with candidate SCG” configuration may be indicated by the CondReconfigld-r16 associated with the “CHO with candidate SCG” configuration or the CondReconfigld-r16 associated with the CHO configuration in the “CHO with candidate SCG” configuration.

[0122] A certain cell, e.g. a candidate target PCell or a candidate target PSCell may be indicated by a cell ID, e.g. an NR CGI (NCGI) or a combination of a physical cell identity (PCI) and an Absolute Radio Frequency Channel Number (ARFCN), or by information indicating the CHO configuration or CPC configuration as described above or a combination of a cell ID, e.g. an NCGI or a combination of a PCI and an ARFCN, and information indicating the CHO configuration or CPC configuration as described above.

[0123] A certain CHO execution condition or CPC execution condition may be indicated by an indication of the CHO and / or CPC execution condition e.g., in the form of a Measld, or by information indicating the CHO configuration or CPC configuration as described above or a combination of an indication of a CHO and / or CPC execution condition e.g., in the form of a Measld and information indicating the CHO configuration or CPC configuration as described above.

[0124] In all of the above embodiments where the UE 10 is configured to, or is mandated by standard specification or specifications, or there is a need to, indicate a certain CHO configuration i.e., either a stand-alone CHO configuration or a CHO configuration that is part of a “CHO with candidate SCG” configuration, e.g., when there is more than one CHO configuration, stand-alone and / or part of “CHO with candidate SCG” configuration, for the same candidate PCell, or where the UE 10 is configured to, or is mandated by standard specification or specifications, or there is a need to, indicate a certain CPC configuration, either a “stand-alone” CPC configuration or a CPC configuration that is part of a “CHO with candidate SCG” configuration, e.g., when there is more than one CPC configuration, stand-alone and / or part of “CHO with candidate SCG” configuration, for the same candidate PSCell, and where the UE 10 is configured to report information as part of the SON reports, e.g. an RLF report or an SCGFailurelnformation message, information only for a subset of the configurations received, the UE 10 may include in the reports also one or more of the following information:

[0125] - An indication that the information reported is for some of the configurations, e.g. CHO configurations or CPC configurations, active at the UE 10 at the time of the report generation

[0126] - An indication that other configurations of a specific type are active at the UE 10 but for which no information was reported o In one embodiment, the UE 10 includes information stating that CHO configurations are active at the time of the report generation, but no information is reported for them o In one embodiment, the UE 10 includes information stating that CHO with candidate PSCell configurations are active at the time of the report generation, but no information is reported for them o In one embodiment the UE 10 includes information stating that CPC configurations are active at the time of the report generation, but no information is reported for them

[0127] - An indication of how many configurations for which no information is reported by the UE 10 are active at the UE 10 o In one embodiment, the UE 10 may report the number of active configurations per configuration type, e.g. the number of active CHO configurations for which no information is reported, the number of active CPC configuration for which no information is reported, the number of CHO with candidate SCG configuration for which no information is reported.

[0128] In any of the embodiments above, if the UE 10 is configured with limitations in the number of cells that can be reported, given that certain conditions for the reporting of such cells are established in the configuration given to the UE 10, the UE 10 may report to the network node 150, as part of the SON reports, one or more of the following information:

[0129] - An indication that more cells fulfilling the established condition for information reporting exist and for which information has not been reported.

[0130] - For each group of cells for which information is reported according to certain reporting conditions, the number of cells for which the reporting conditions were fulfilled but for which no information was reported.

[0131] Fig. 6 is a block diagram depicting the UE 10 for handling communication in the wireless communication network 1 according to embodiments herein. The UE 10 may comprise processing circuitry 601 , e.g. one or more processors, configured to perform the methods herein.

[0132] The UE 10 and / or the processing circuitry 601 may be configured to obtain the configurations related to the CHO with candidate cell, such as SCG, procedure. Thus, the UE 10 and / or the processing circuitry 601 may be configured to receive the list of configurations from one or more network nodes. The UE 10 may be preconfigured with the list of configurations.

[0133] The UE 10 and / or the processing circuitry 601 may be configured to execute the event taking one of the configurations into account. Examples of the event may be one or more of the following: the UE 10 may declare RLF before executing the CHO with candidate SCG configuration; the UE 10 may declare handover failure during execution of the CHO with candidate SCG configuration; the UE 10 may declare RLF upon successful execution of CHO with candidate SCG configuration; the UE 10 may declare RLF in the SCG leg before execution of CHO with candidate SCG configuration; the UE 10 may declare handover failure for the secondary leg during execution of CHO with candidate SCG configuration; the UE 10 may declare RLF in the secondary leg upon execution of CHO with candidate SCG configuration; and / or the UE 10 may perform PCell handover and PSCell change based on the CHO with candidate cell configuration.

[0134] The UE 10 and / or the processing circuitry 601 may be configured to log and store information at the UE 10, wherein the information is related to one or more of the configurations out of the list of configurations. The UE 10 and / or the processing circuitry 601 may be configured to log information upon execution of the event, wherein the event is associated or based on the configuration out of the list of configurations.

[0135] The UE 10 and / or the processing circuitry 601 , configured with the list of configurations, wherein the respective configuration is related to a CHO with candidate cell, such as SCG, procedure, is configured to send the information to the network node 150, wherein the information is related to one or more of the configurations out of the list of configurations. The information may be related to one or more of the configurations but not to all configurations and / or subconfigurations of the list of configurations. Information may be included in SON reports if the UE 10 is configured with CHO with candidate SCG configuration and performs an event based on it. The information may comprise timer related information, measurement results or some other form of indication based on different scenarios. The information may indicate RLF or SCG failure.

[0136] The UE 10 may comprise a memory 605. The memory 605 comprises one or more units to be used to store data on, such as data packets, indications, measurements, configurations, messages, support information, events and applications to perform the methods disclosed herein when being executed, and similar. Furthermore, the UE 10 may comprise a communication interface 606 such as comprising a transmitter, a receiver, a transceiver and / or one or more antennas. The methods according to the embodiments described herein for UE 10 are respectively implemented by means of e.g. a computer program product 607 or a computer program, comprising instructions, i.e., software code portions, which, when executed on at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to carry out the actions described herein, as performed by the UE 10. The computer program product 607 may be stored on a computer- readable storage medium 608, e.g., a disc, a universal serial bus (USB) stick or similar. The computer-readable storage medium 608, having stored thereon the computer program product, may comprise the instructions which, when executed on at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to carry out the actions described herein, as performed by the UE 10. In some embodiments, the computer-readable storage medium may be a transitory or a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. Thus, embodiments herein may disclose the UE 10 for handling communication in a communication network, wherein the UE 10 comprises processing circuitry and a memory, said memory comprising instructions executable by said processing circuitry whereby said UE 10 is operative to perform any of the methods herein.

[0137] Fig. 7 is a block diagram depicting the network node 150, such as the first radio network node 12 or the second radio network node 13, for handling communication in the wireless communication network 1 according to embodiments herein.

[0138] The network node 150 may comprise processing circuitry 701 , e.g. one or more processors, configured to perform the methods herein.

[0139] The network node 150 and / or the processing circuitry 701 may be configured to transmit to the UE 10 the configurations related to the CHO with candidate cell, such as SCG, procedure. Thus, the network node 150 and / or the processing circuitry 701 may be configured to transmit the configurations related to the CHO with candidate cell, such as SCG, procedure. The network node 150 and / or the processing circuitry 701 may be configured to transmit the list of configurations from one or more network nodes, or indices indicating configurations.

[0140] The network node 150 and / or the processing circuitry 701 is configured to receive information or a report of information from the UE 10, wherein the information comprises information related to one or more of the configurations out of the list of configurations. The information may be related to one or more of the configurations but not to all configurations and / or sub-configurations of the list of configurations.

[0141] The network node 150 and / or the processing circuitry 701 may be configured to analyze the report and / or information reported by the UE 10.

[0142] The network node 150 and / or the processing circuitry 701 is configured to perform the operation based on the report and / or information. The UE 10 may include the information in a given set of reports or it may declare RLF or SCG failure and include the information in another set of reports. Upon reception of the report from the UE 10, the network node 150 and / or the processing circuitry 701 , receiving the report, may be configured to identify the node where the optimization is required and forward the report to that node. The network node 150 and / or the processing circuitry 701 may be configured to optimize one or more parameters related to mobility and / or an event based on the report and / or information. The network node 150 and / or the processing circuitry 701 may be configured to determine the reason for the failure and decide on possible corrective / improving actions, e.g. modifications of subsequent configurations of CHO with candidate SCG.

[0143] The network node 150 may comprise a memory 705. The memory 705 comprises one or more units to be used to store data on, such as data packets, indications, configurations, messages, support information, events and applications to perform the methods disclosed herein when being executed, and similar. Furthermore, the network node 150 may comprise a communication interface 706 such as comprising a transmitter, a receiver, a transceiver and / or one or more antennas.

[0144] The methods according to the embodiments described herein for the network node 150 are respectively implemented by means of e.g. a computer program product 707 or a computer program, comprising instructions, i.e., software code portions, which, when executed on at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to carry out the actions described herein, as performed by the network node 150. The computer program product 707 may be stored on a computer-readable storage medium 708, e.g., a disc, a universal serial bus (USB) stick or similar. The computer-readable storage medium 708, having stored thereon the computer program product, may comprise the instructions which, when executed on at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to carry out the actions described herein, as performed by the network node 150. In some embodiments, the computer-readable storage medium may be a transitory or a non- transitory computer-readable storage medium. Thus, embodiments herein may disclose the network node 150 for handling communication in a communication network, wherein the network node 150 comprises processing circuitry and a memory, said memory comprising instructions executable by said processing circuitry whereby said network node 150 is operative to perform any of the methods herein.

[0145] In some embodiments a more general term “network node” is used and it can correspond to any type of radio-network node or any network node, which communicates with a UE and / or with another network node.

[0146] In some embodiments the non-limiting term wireless device or user equipment (UE) is used and it refers to any type of wireless device communicating with a network node and / or with another wireless device in a cellular or mobile communication system. Examples of UE are target device, device to device (D2D) UE, proximity capable UE (aka ProSe UE), loT capable device, machine type UE or UE capable of machine to machine (M2M) communication, Tablet, mobile terminals, smart phone, laptop embedded equipped (LEE), laptop mounted equipment (LME), USB dongles etc.

[0147] Embodiments are applicable to any RAT or multi-RAT systems, where the wireless device receives and / or transmit signals (e.g. data) e.g. NR, Wi-Fi, LTE, LTE-Advanced, Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), Global System for Mobile communications / enhanced Data rate for GSM Evolution (GSM / EDGE), Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMax), or Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB), just to mention a few possible implementations.

[0148] Fig. 8 shows an example of a communication system 15100 in accordance with some embodiments.

[0149] In the example, the communication system 15100 includes a telecommunication network 15102 that includes an access network 15104, such as a radio access network (RAN), and a core network 15106, which includes one or more core network nodes 15108. The access network 15104 includes one or more access network nodes, such as network nodes 15110a and 15110b (one or more of which may be generally referred to as network nodes 15110, or radio network node 12, 13 or network node 150), or any other similar 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) access nodes or non-3GPP access points. Moreover, as will be appreciated by those of skill in the art, a network node is not necessarily limited to an implementation in which a radio portion and a baseband portion are supplied and integrated by a single vendor. Thus, it will be understood that network nodes include disaggregated implementations or portions thereof. For example, in some embodiments, the telecommunication network 15102 includes one or more Open-RAN (ORAN) network nodes. An ORAN network node is a node in the telecommunication network 15102 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 15102, including one or more network nodes 15110 and / or core network nodes 15108.

[0150] 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 a Service Management and Orchestration Framework via an 0-2 interface defined by the O-RAN Alliance or comparable technologies. The network nodes 15110, such as the first radio network node 12 or the second radio network node 13, facilitate direct or indirect connection of user equipment (UE), such as by connecting UEs 15112a, 15112b, 15112c, and 15112d (one or more of which may be generally referred to as UEs 15112 or UE 10) to the core network 15106 over one or more wireless connections.

[0151] 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 15100 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 15100 may include and / or interface with any type of communication, telecommunication, data, cellular, radio network, and / or other similar type of system.

[0152] The UEs 15112 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 15110 and other communication devices. Similarly, the network nodes 15110 are arranged, capable, configured, and / or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with the UEs 15112 and / or with other network nodes or equipment in the telecommunication network 15102 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 15102.

[0153] In the depicted example, the core network 15106 connects the network nodes 15110 to one or more host computing systems, such as host 15116. 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 15106 includes one more core network nodes (e.g., core network node 15108) 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 15108. 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 Deconcealing function (SIDF), Unified Data Management (UDM), Security Edge Protection Proxy (SEPP), Network Exposure Function (NEF), and / or a User Plane Function (UPF).

[0154] The host 15116 may be under the ownership or control of a service provider other than an operator or provider of the access network 15104 and / or the telecommunication network 15102. The host 15116 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.

[0155] As a whole, the communication system 15100 of Figure 8 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.

[0156] In some examples, the telecommunication network 15102 is a cellular network that implements 3GPP standardized features. Accordingly, the telecommunications network 15102 may support network slicing to provide different logical networks to different devices that are connected to the telecommunication network 15102. For example, the telecommunications network 15102 may provide Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communication (URLLC) services to some UEs, while providing Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) services to other UEs, and / or Massive Machine Type Communication (mMTC)ZMassive loT services to yet further UEs.

[0157] In some examples, the UEs 15112 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 15104 on a predetermined schedule, when triggered by an internal or external event, or in response to requests from the access network 15104. 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).

[0158] In the example, the hub 15114 communicates with the access network 15104 to facilitate indirect communication between one or more UEs (e.g., UE 15112c and / or 15112d) and network nodes (e.g., network node 15110b). In some examples, the hub 15114 may be a controller, router, content source and analytics, or any of the other communication devices described herein regarding UEs. For example, the hub 15114 may be a broadband router enabling access to the core network 15106 for the UEs. As another example, the hub 15114 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 15110, or by executable code, script, process, or other instructions in the hub 15114. As another example, the hub 15114 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 15114 may be a content source. For example, for a UE that is a VR device, display, loudspeaker, or other media delivery device, the hub 15114 may retrieve VR assets, video, audio, or other media or data related to sensory information via a network node, which the hub 15114 then provides to the UE either directly, after performing local processing, and / or after adding additional local content. In still another example, the hub 15114 acts as a proxy server or orchestrator for the UEs, in particular if one or more of the UEs are low energy loT devices.

[0159] The hub 15114 may have a constant / persistent or intermittent connection to the network node 15110b. The hub 15114 may also allow for a different communication scheme and / or schedule between the hub 15114 and UEs (e.g., UE 15112c and / or 15112d), and between the hub 15114 and the core network 15106. In other examples, the hub 15114 is connected to the core network 15106 and / or one or more UEs via a wired connection. Moreover, the hub 15114 may be configured to connect to an M2M service provider over the access network 15104 and / or to another UE over a direct connection. In some scenarios, UEs may establish a wireless connection with the network nodes 15110 while still connected via the hub 15114 via a wired or wireless connection. In some embodiments, the hub 15114 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 15110b. In other embodiments, the hub 15114 may be a non-dedicated hub - that is, a device which is capable of operating to route communications between the UEs and network node 15110b, but which is additionally capable of operating as a communication start and / or end point for certain data channels.

[0160] Fig. 9 shows a UE 15300 in accordance with some embodiments. The UE 15300 presents additional details of some embodiments of the UE 15112 of Figure 8. 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-loT) UE, a machine type communication (MTC) UE, and / or an enhanced MTC (eMTC) UE.

[0161] 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).

[0162] The UE 15300 includes processing circuitry 15302 that is operatively coupled via a bus 15304 to an input / output interface 15306, a power source 15308, a memory 15310, a communication interface 15312, and / or any other component, or any combination thereof. Certain UEs may utilize all or a subset of the components shown in Fig. 9. 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.

[0163] The processing circuitry 15302 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 15310. The processing circuitry 15302 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 15302 may include multiple central processing units (CPUs).

[0164] In the example, the input / output interface 15306 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 15300. 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.

[0165] In some embodiments, the power source 15308 is structured as a battery or battery pack. Other types of power sources, such as an external power source (e.g., an electricity outlet), photovoltaic device, or power cell, may be used. The power source 15308 may further include power circuitry for delivering power from the power source 15308 itself, and / or an external power source, to the various parts of the UE 15300 via input circuitry or an interface such as an electrical power cable. Delivering power may be, for example, for charging of the power source 15308. Power circuitry may perform any formatting, converting, or other modification to the power from the power source 15308 to make the power suitable for the respective components of the UE 15300 to which power is supplied.

[0166] The memory 15310 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 15310 includes one or more application programs 15314, such as an operating system, web browser application, a widget, gadget engine, or other application, and corresponding data 15316. The memory 15310 may store, for use by the UE 15300, any of a variety of various operating systems or combinations of operating systems.

[0167] The memory 15310 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 (eUlCC), integrated UICC (iUICC) or a removable UICC commonly known as ‘SIM card.’ The memory 15310 may allow the UE 15300 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 15310, which may be or comprise a device-readable storage medium.

[0168] The processing circuitry 15302 may be configured to communicate with an access network or other network using the communication interface 15312. The communication interface 15312 may comprise one or more communication subsystems and may include or be communicatively coupled to an antenna 15322. The communication interface 15312 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 15318 and / or a receiver 15320 appropriate to provide network communications (e.g., optical, electrical, frequency allocations, and so forth). Moreover, the transmitter 15318 and receiver 15320 may be coupled to one or more antennas (e.g., antenna 15322) and may share circuit components, software or firmware, or alternatively be implemented separately.

[0169] In the illustrated embodiment, communication functions of the communication interface 15312 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.

[0170] Regardless of the type of sensor, a UE may provide an output of data captured by its sensors, through its communication interface 15312, 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).

[0171] As another example, a UE comprises an actuator, a motor, or a switch, related to a communication interface configured to receive wireless input from a network node via a wireless connection. In response to the received wireless input the states of the actuator, the motor, or the switch may change. For example, the UE may comprise a motor that adjusts the control surfaces or rotors of a drone in flight according to the received input or to a robotic arm performing a medical procedure according to the received input.

[0172] A UE, when in the form of an Internet of Things (loT) device, may be a device for use in one or more application domains, these domains comprising, but not limited to, city wearable technology, extended industrial application and healthcare. Non-limiting examples of such an loT device are a device which is or which is embedded in: a connected refrigerator or freezer, a TV, a connected lighting device, an electricity meter, a robot vacuum cleaner, a voice controlled smart speaker, a home security camera, a motion detector, a thermostat, a smoke detector, a door / window sensor, a flood / moisture sensor, an electrical door lock, a connected doorbell, an air conditioning system like a heat pump, an autonomous vehicle, a surveillance system, a weather monitoring device, a vehicle parking monitoring device, an electric vehicle charging station, a smart watch, a fitness tracker, a wearable for tactile augmentation or sensory enhancement, a water sprinkler, an animal- or item-tracking device, a sensor for monitoring a plant or animal, an industrial robot, an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), and any kind of medical device, like a heart rate monitor or a remote controlled surgical robot. A UE in the form of an loT device comprises circuitry and / or software in dependence of the intended application of the loT device in addition to other components as described in relation to the UE 15300 shown in Fig. 9.

[0173] As yet another specific example, in an loT scenario, a UE may represent a machine or other device that performs monitoring and / or measurements, and transmits the results of such monitoring and / or measurements to another UE and / or a network node. The UE may in this case be an M2M device, which may in a 3GPP context be referred to as an MTC device. As one particular example, the UE may implement the 3GPP NB-loT 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.

[0174] In practice, any number of UEs may be used together with respect to a single use case. For example, a first UE might be or be integrated in a drone and provide the drone’s speed information (obtained through a speed sensor) to a second UE that is a remote controller operating the drone. When the user makes changes from the remote controller, the first UE may adjust the throttle on the drone (e.g. by controlling an actuator) to increase or decrease the drone’s speed. The first and / or the second UE can also include more than one of the functionalities described above. For example, a UE might comprise the sensor and the actuator, and handle communication of data for both the speed sensor and the actuators.

[0175] Fig. 10 shows a network node 15400 in accordance with some embodiments, such as the first radio network node 12 or the second radio network node 13. 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).

[0176] 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).

[0177] 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, SelfOrganizing Network (SON) nodes, positioning nodes (e.g., Evolved Serving Mobile Location Centers (E-SMLCs)), and / or Minimization of Drive Tests (MDTs).

[0178] The network node 15400 includes a processing circuitry 15402, a memory 15404, a communication interface 15406, and a power source 15408. The network node 15400 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 15400 comprises multiple separate components (e.g., BTS and BSC components), one or more of the separate components may be shared among several network nodes. For example, a single RNC may control multiple NodeBs. In such a scenario, each unique NodeB and RNC pair, may in some instances be considered a single separate network node. In some embodiments, the network node 15400 may be configured to support multiple radio access technologies (RATs). In such embodiments, some components may be duplicated (e.g., separate memory 15404 for different RATs) and some components may be reused (e.g., a same antenna 15410 may be shared by different RATs). The network node 15400 may also include multiple sets of the various illustrated components for different wireless technologies integrated into network node 15400, 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 15400.

[0179] The processing circuitry 15402 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 15400 components, such as the memory 15404, to provide network node 15400 functionality. In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 15402 includes a system on a chip (SOC). In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 15402 includes one or more of radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry 15412 and baseband processing circuitry 15414. In some embodiments, the RF transceiver circuitry 15412 and the baseband processing circuitry 15414 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 15412 and baseband processing circuitry 15414 may be on the same chip or set of chips, boards, or units.

[0180] The memory 15404 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 nonvolatile, 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 15402. The memory 15404 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 15402 and utilized by the network node 15400. The memory 15404 may be used to store any calculations made by the processing circuitry 15402 and / or any data received via the communication interface 15406. In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 15402 and memory 15404 is integrated.

[0181] The communication interface 15406 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 15406 comprises port(s) / terminal(s) 15416 to send and receive data, for example to and from a network over a wired connection. The communication interface 15406 also includes radio front-end circuitry 15418 that may be coupled to, or in certain embodiments a part of, the antenna 15410. Radio front-end circuitry 15418 comprises filters 15420 and amplifiers 15422. The radio front-end circuitry 15418 may be connected to an antenna 15410 and processing circuitry 15402. The radio front-end circuitry may be configured to condition signals communicated between antenna 15410 and processing circuitry 15402. The radio front-end circuitry 15418 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 15418 may convert the digital data into a radio signal having the appropriate channel and bandwidth parameters using a combination of filters 15420 and / or amplifiers 15422. The radio signal may then be transmitted via the antenna 15410. Similarly, when receiving data, the antenna 15410 may collect radio signals which are then converted into digital data by the radio front-end circuitry 15418. The digital data may be passed to the processing circuitry 15402. In other embodiments, the communication interface may comprise different components and / or different combinations of components. In certain alternative embodiments, the network node 15400 does not include separate radio front-end circuitry 15418, instead, the processing circuitry 15402 includes radio front-end circuitry and is connected to the antenna 15410. Similarly, in some embodiments, all or some of the RF transceiver circuitry 15412 is part of the communication interface 15406. In still other embodiments, the communication interface 15406 includes one or more ports or terminals 15416, the radio front-end circuitry 15418, and the RF transceiver circuitry 15412, as part of a radio unit (not shown), and the communication interface 15406 communicates with the baseband processing circuitry 15414, which is part of a digital unit (not shown).

[0182] The antenna 15410 may include one or more antennas, or antenna arrays, configured to send and / or receive wireless signals. The antenna 15410 may be coupled to the radio front-end circuitry 15418 and may be any type of antenna capable of transmitting and receiving data and / or signals wirelessly. In certain embodiments, the antenna 15410 is separate from the network node 15400 and connectable to the network node 15400 through an interface or port.

[0183] The antenna 15410, communication interface 15406, and / or the processing circuitry 15402 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 15410, the communication interface 15406, and / or the processing circuitry 15402 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.

[0184] The power source 15408 provides power to the various components of network node 15400 in a form suitable for the respective components (e.g., at a voltage and current level needed for each respective component). The power source 15408 may further comprise, or be coupled to, power management circuitry to supply the components of the network node 15400 with power for performing the functionality described herein. For example, the network node 15400 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 15408. As a further example, the power source 15408 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.

[0185] Embodiments of the network node 15400 may include additional components beyond those shown in Fig. 10 for providing certain aspects of the network node’s functionality, including any of the functionality described herein and / or any functionality necessary to support the subject matter described herein. For example, the network node 15400 may include user interface equipment to allow input of information into the network node 15400 and to allow output of information from the network node 15400. This may allow a user to perform diagnostic, maintenance, repair, and other administrative functions for the network node 15400. In some embodiments providing a core network node, such as core network node 15108 of Fig. 8, some components, such as the radio front-end circuitry 15418 and the RF transceiver circuitry 15412 may be omitted.

[0186] Fig. 11 is a block diagram illustrating a virtualization environment 15500 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 15500 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 15500 includes components defined by the O-RAN Alliance, such as an O-Cloud environment orchestrated by a Service Management and Orchestration Framework via an 0-2 interface. Virtualization may facilitate distributed implementations of a network node, UE, core network node, or host.

[0187] Applications 15502 (which may alternatively be called software instances, virtual appliances, network functions, virtual nodes, virtual network functions, etc.) are run in the virtualization environment Q500 to implement some of the features, functions, and / or benefits of some of the embodiments disclosed herein.

[0188] Hardware 15504 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 15506 (also referred to as hypervisors or virtual machine monitors (VMMs)), provide VMs 15508a and 15508b (one or more of which may be generally referred to as VMs 15508), and / or perform any of the functions, features and / or benefits described in relation with some embodiments described herein. The virtualization layer 15506 may present a virtual operating platform that appears like networking hardware to the VMs 15508.

[0189] The VMs 15508 comprise virtual processing, virtual memory, virtual networking or interface and virtual storage, and may be run by a corresponding virtualization layer 15506. Different embodiments of the instance of a virtual appliance 15502 may be implemented on one or more of VMs 15508, 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.

[0190] In the context of NFV, a VM 15508 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 15508, and that part of hardware 15504 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 15508 on top of the hardware 15504 and corresponds to the application 15502.

[0191] Hardware 15504 may be implemented in a standalone network node with generic or specific components. Hardware 15504 may implement some functions via virtualization. Alternatively, hardware 15504 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 15510, which, among others, oversees lifecycle management of applications 15502. In some embodiments, hardware 15504 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 15512 which may alternatively be used for communication between hardware nodes and radio units.

[0192] Although the computing devices described herein (e.g., UEs, network nodes) may include the illustrated combination of hardware components, other embodiments may comprise computing devices with different combinations of components. It is to be understood that these computing devices may comprise any suitable combination of hardware and / or software needed to perform the tasks, features, functions and methods disclosed herein. Determining, calculating, obtaining or similar operations described herein may be performed by processing circuitry, which may process information by, for example, converting the obtained information into other information, comparing the obtained information or converted information to information stored in the network node, and / or performing one or more operations based on the obtained information or converted information, and as a result of said processing making a determination. Moreover, while components are depicted as single boxes located within a larger box, or nested within multiple boxes, in practice, computing devices may comprise multiple different physical components that make up a single illustrated component, and functionality may be partitioned between separate components. For example, a communication interface may 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.

[0193] 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.

[0194] It will be appreciated that the foregoing description and the accompanying drawings represent non-limiting examples of the methods and apparatus taught herein. As such, the apparatus and techniques taught herein are not limited by the foregoing description and accompanying drawings. Instead, the embodiments herein are limited only by the following claims and their legal equivalents.

[0195] Some example embodiments of the present disclosure are as follows: A1.

[0196] A method performed by a UE for handling communication in a wireless communication network, the method comprising: when the UE being configured with a list of configurations, wherein respective configuration relates to CHO with candidate cell procedure, sending information to a network node, wherein the information is related to one or more of the configurations out of the list of configurations.

[0197] A2.

[0198] The method according to embodiment A1 , wherein the information is related to one or more of the configurations but not to all configurations and / or sub-configurations of the list of configurations. B1.

[0199] A method performed by a network node for handling communication in a wireless communication network, the method comprising: receiving a report of information and / or information from a UE, wherein the information comprises information related to one or more of the configurations out of a list of configurations, wherein respective configuration relates to CHO with candidate cell procedure; and performing an operation based on the report and / or information.

[0200] B2. The method according to embodiment B1 , wherein the information is related to one or more of the configurations but not to all configurations and / or sub-configurations of the list of configurations. C1.

[0201] A UE for handling communication in a wireless communication network, wherein the UE is configured to: when the UE being configured with a list of configurations, wherein respective configuration relates to CHO with candidate cell procedure, send information to a network node, wherein the information is related to one or more of the configurations out of the list of configurations.

[0202] D1.

[0203] A network node for handling communication in a wireless communication network, wherein the network node is configured to: receive a report of information and / or information from a UE, wherein the information comprises information related to one or more of the configurations out of a list of configurations, wherein respective configuration relates to CHO with candidate cell procedure; and perform an operation based on the report and / or information.

[0204] E1.

[0205] A computer program product comprising instructions, which, when executed on at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to carry out the method according to any of the embodiments A1-A2 or B1-B2, as performed by the network node and the UE, respectively. F1.

[0206] A computer-readable storage medium, having stored thereon a computer program product comprising instructions which, when executed on at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to carry out the method according to any of the embodiments A1-A2 or B1-B2, as performed by the network node and the UE, respectively.

Claims

CLAIMS1 . A method performed by a user equipment, UE, (10) for handling communication in a wireless communication network, the method comprising: wherein the UE (10) is configured with a list of configurations, and wherein respective configuration relates to conditional handover, CHO, with candidate secondary cell group, SCG, procedure, sending (404) information to a network node (150), wherein the information is related to one or more of the configurations out of the list of configurations, but not to all configurations and / or sub-configurations of the list of configurations.

2. The method according to claim 1 , comprising logging and storing (403) the information upon execution of an event, wherein the event is associated with or based on the configuration out of the list of configurations.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the event comprises one or more of the following: UE (10) declares radio link failure before executing the CHO with candidate SCG configuration; UE (10) declares handover failure during execution of the CHO with candidate SCG configuration; UE (10) declares radio link failure upon successful execution of CHO with candidate SCG configuration; UE (10) declares radio link failure in the SCG leg before execution of CHO with candidate SCG configuration; UE (10) declares handover failure for the secondary leg during execution of CHO with candidate SCG configuration; UE (10) declares radio link failure in the secondary leg upon execution of CHO with candidate SCG configuration; and / or UE (10) performs PCell handover and PSCell change based on the CHO with candidate SCG configuration.

4. The method according to any of the claims 1-3, wherein the information sent is information for one or more configurations for which at least one execution condition was fulfilled, while not including information for one or more configurations where none of the execution conditions was fulfilled.

5. The method according to any of the claims 1-4, wherein the information sent is information for the configuration for which at least one of the CHO or Conditional PSCell Addition / Change, CPC, execution conditions was fulfilled, and other execution condition was not fulfilled by a small threshold, while not including information in the sent information for other configurations.

6. The method according to any of the claims 1-5, comprisingobtaining (401) the list of configurations related to the CHO with candidate SCG procedure.

7. The method according to any of the claims 1-6, wherein, when the UE (10) is configured with N configurations and for all N configurations the CHO condition is fulfilled but the CPC condition remains unfulfilled, the UE (10) sends the information regarding all N configurations in a report regarding one sub-configuration.

8. The method according to any of the claims 1-7, wherein the information comprises timer related information, measurement results, and / or some other form of indication based on different scenarios.

9. A method performed by a network node (150) for handling communication in a wireless communication network, the method comprising: receiving (502) a report of information and / or information from a user equipment, UE, (10), wherein the information comprises information related to one or more configurations out of a list of configurations, wherein respective configuration relates to conditional handover, CHO, with candidate secondary cell group, SCG, procedure, wherein the information is related to one or more of the configurations but not to all configurations and / or sub-configurations of the list of configurations; and performing (504) an operation based on the report and / or information.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein the information received is information for one or more configurations for which at least one execution condition was fulfilled, while not including information for one or more configurations where none of the execution conditions was fulfilled.

11. The method according to any of the claims 9-10, wherein the information received is information for the configuration for which at least one of the CHO or Conditional PSCell Addition / Change, CPC, execution conditions was fulfilled, and other execution condition was not fulfilled by a small threshold, while not including information in the sent information for other configurations.

12. The method according to any of the claims 9-11 , wherein the operation comprises optimizing one or more parameters related to mobility and / or an event based on the report and / or information.

13. A computer program product comprising instructions, which, when executed on at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to carry out the method according to any of the claims 1-12, as performed by the network node (150) and the UE (10), respectively.

14. A computer-readable storage medium, having stored thereon a computer program product comprising instructions which, when executed on at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to carry out the method according to any of the claims 1-12, as performed by the network node (150) and the UE (10), respectively.

15. A user equipment, UE, (10) for handling communication in a wireless communication network, wherein the UE (10) is configured with a list of configurations, and wherein respective configuration relates to conditional handover, CHO, with candidate secondary cell group, SCG, procedure, and wherein the UE (10) is configured to: send information to a network node (150), wherein the information is related to one or more of the configurations out of the list of configurations, but not to all configurations and / or sub-configurations of the list of configurations.

16. The UE (10) according to claim 15, wherein the UE (10) is configured to: log and store the information upon execution of an event, wherein the event is associated or based on the one or more of the configurations out of the list of configurations.

17. The UE (10) according to claim 16, wherein the event comprises one or more of the following: UE (10) declares radio link failure before executing the CHO with candidate SCG configuration; UE (10) declares handover failure during execution of the CHO with candidate SCG configuration; UE (10) declares radio link failure upon successful execution of CHO with candidate SCG configuration; UE (10) declares radio link failure in the SCG leg before execution of CHO with candidate SCG configuration; UE (10) declares handover failure for the secondary leg during execution of CHO with candidate SCG configuration; UE (10) declares radio link failure in the secondary leg upon execution of CHO with candidate SCG configuration; and / or UE (10) performs primary cell, PCell, handover and primary secondary cell, PSCell, change based on the CHO with candidate SCG configuration.

18. The UE (10) according to any of the claims 15-17, wherein the information sent is information for one or more configurations for which at least one execution conditionwas fulfilled, while not including information for one or more configurations where none of the execution conditions was fulfilled.

19. The UE (10) according to any of the claims 15-18, wherein the information sent is information for the configuration for which at least one of the CHO or Conditional PSCell Addition / Change, CPC, execution conditions was fulfilled, and other execution condition was not fulfilled by a small threshold, while not including information in the sent information for other configurations.

20. The UE (10) according to any of the claims 15-19, wherein the UE (10) is further configured to obtain the list of configurations related to the CHO with candidate SCG procedure.

21. The UE (10) according to any of the claims 15-20, wherein, when the UE (10) is configured with N configurations and for all N configurations the CHO condition is fulfilled but the CPC condition remains unfulfilled, the UE (10) is configured to send the information regarding all N configurations in a report regarding one subconfiguration.

22. The UE (10) according to any of the claims 15-21 , wherein the information comprises timer related information, measurement results, and / or some other form of indication based on different scenarios.

23. A network node (150) for handling communication in a wireless communication network, wherein the network node (150) is configured to: receive a report of information and / or information from a user equipment, UE, (10), wherein the information comprises information related to one or more configurations out of a list of configurations, wherein respective configuration relates to conditional handover, CHO, with candidate secondary cell group, SCG, procedure, wherein the information is related to one or more of the configurations but not to all configurations and / or sub-configurations of the list of configurations; and perform an operation based on the report and / or information.

24. The network node (150) according to claim 23, wherein the information received is information for one or more configurations for which at least one execution condition was fulfilled, while not including information for one or more configurations where none of the execution conditions was fulfilled.

25. The network node (150) according to any of the claims 23-24, wherein the information received is information for the configuration for which at least one of the CHO or Conditional PSCell Addition / Change, CPC, execution conditions was fulfilled, and other execution condition was not fulfilled by a small threshold, while not including information in the sent information for other configurations26. The network node (150) according to any of the claims 23-25, wherein the operation comprises optimizing one or more parameters related to mobility and / or an event based on the report and / or information.

Images