Wireless base station and wireless communication method

Abstract

This wireless base station includes a first device and one or more second devices connected to the first device. The first device controls transition of a terminal to a candidate cell in accordance with mobility control by a lower layer. The first device transmits, to the second device, information on flight paths traveled by the terminal.

Description

Radio base station and radio communication method

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a radio base station and a radio communication method that support LTM (L1 / L2 mobility).

[0002] The 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP: registered trademark) is developing specifications for the 5th generation mobile communication system (5G, also known as New Radio (NR) or Next Generation (NG)), and is also developing specifications for the next generation, known as Beyond 5G, 5G Evolution, or 6G.

[0003] 3GPP Release 18 specifies events based on the altitude of a terminal (User Equipment, UE) for triggering measurement reports (see Non-Patent Document 1). Specifically, Event H1 and Event H2 are specified. In addition, Event A3H1, Event A4H1, Event A5H1, etc. are specified as events that combine the UE altitude and cell quality.

[0004] Furthermore, taking into consideration that the UE may be mounted on a small unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV: Uncrewed Aerial Vehicle or Unmanned Aerial Vehicle), the standard specifies that the UE can transmit a UEInformationResponse message containing the UE's flight path information (flightPathInfoReport) to the radio base station (gNB).

[0005] In addition, 3GPP Release 19 is considering extending functions related to Layer 1 / Layer 2 mobility (L1 / L2 mobility), specifically, Lower layer Triggered Mobility (LTM) (Non-Patent Document 2).

[0006] 3GPP TS 38.331 V18.2.0, 3rd Generation Partnership Project; Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; NR; Radio Resource Control (RRC) protocol specification (Release 18), 3GPP, June 2024 “Revised Work Item: NR mobility enhancements Phase 4”, RP-240299, 3GPP TSG RAN meeting #103, 3GPP, March 2024

[0007] UEs mounted on UAVs (which may also be called drone UEs) tend to stay in the sky where visibility is good, and are therefore more likely to attempt to connect to cells further away. As a result, such UE behavior makes it difficult to maintain stable wireless communication quality, and handover to the cell is likely to fail.

[0008] In particular, when a radio base station is composed of a CU (Central Unit, first device) and a DU (Distributed Unit, second device), in LTM, the Source DU decides to switch to a candidate cell (beam) (LTM cell switch) based solely on a Layer 1 measurement report (L1 measurement report) from the UE.

[0009] In the case of a drone UE, it is desirable to use the above-mentioned flight path information (flightPathInfoReport) from the viewpoint of increasing the success rate of handover. However, the Source DU cannot use the flightPathInfoReport to determine the candidate cell (which may also be called the target cell) to which the UE will be transferred.

[0010] Therefore, the following disclosure has been made in consideration of this situation, and aims to provide a radio base station and a radio communication method that can determine a more appropriate LTM candidate cell (beam) by utilizing route information when a CU-DU separation configuration is applied.

[0011] One aspect of the present disclosure is a radio base station (gNB100) including a first device and one or more second devices connected to the first device, wherein the first device is a radio base station (gNB100) including a control unit (control unit 140) that controls the transition of a terminal to a candidate cell in accordance with mobility control by a lower layer, and a transmission unit (measurement setting unit 130) that transmits route information traveled by the terminal to the second device.

[0012] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of the overall configuration of a wireless communication system 10. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of control using LTM (L1 / L2 mobility). FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram of a gNB 100. FIG. 4 is a functional block diagram of a UE 200. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the relationship between a flight path (waypoint) of a drone UE and candidate cells. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a transmission sequence of a flightPathInfoReport according to an operation example. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a transmission sequence of a flightPathInfoReport according to an operation example. FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of a cell switching sequence according to LTM according to an operation example. FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of the hardware configuration of a gNB 100 and a UE 200. FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a vehicle 2001.

[0013] Hereinafter, embodiments will be described with reference to the drawings. Note that the same or similar reference numerals are used to designate the same functions or configurations, and descriptions thereof will be omitted as appropriate.

[0014] (1) Overall Schematic Configuration of Wireless Communication System Fig. 1 is an overall schematic configuration diagram of a wireless communication system 10 according to this embodiment. The wireless communication system 10 is a wireless communication system conforming to 5G New Radio (NR) and includes a Next Generation-Radio Access Network 20 (hereinafter, NG-RAN 20) and a terminal 200 (User Equipment 200, hereinafter, UE 200).

[0015] The wireless communication system 10 may be a wireless communication system conforming to a method called Beyond 5G, 5G Evolution, or 6G, or may include a wireless communication system conforming to a method called Long Term Evolution (LTE) or 4G. The wireless communication system 10 may support functions related to the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and Ultra-Reliable and Low Latency Communications (URLLC).

[0016] The NG-RAN 20 includes a radio base station 100 (hereinafter, gNB 100). Note that the specific configuration of the radio communication system 10, including the number of gNBs (or eNBs, etc.) and UEs, is not limited to the example shown in FIG. 1 .

[0017] The gNB 100 may also employ a fronthaul (FH) interface defined by the Open Radio Access Network Alliance (O-RAN). The gNB 100 may include an O-RAN Distributed Unit (O-DU) and an O-RAN Radio Unit (O-RU). The gNB 100 can function as a type of NG-RAN node.

[0018] The NG-RAN 20 actually includes multiple NG-RAN nodes, specifically, gNBs (or ng-eNBs), and is connected to a 5G core network (5GC, not shown). The NG-RAN 20 and the 5GC may be simply referred to as a "network." The 5GC may introduce the concept of CUPS (Control and User Plane Separation), which clearly separates the functions of the user plane and the control plane.

[0019] The gNB100 is a radio base station conforming to NR and performs radio communication conforming to NR with the UE200. The gNB100 may be configured to include a CU (Central Unit, first device) and a DU (Distributed Unit, second device), and the DU may be separated from the CU and installed in a different geographical location. One or more DUs may be connected to the CU. The gNB100 (gNB-CU) may be connected to each other via an Xn interface, and the CU and DU may be connected to each other via an F1 interface (such as an F1-AP).

[0020] The gNB100 and UE200 are capable of supporting Massive MIMO, which generates more directional beams by controlling radio signals transmitted from multiple antenna elements; Carrier Aggregation (CA), which aggregates and uses multiple component carriers (CCs); and Dual Connectivity (DC), which enables simultaneous communication between the UE and multiple NG-RAN nodes.

[0021] The UE 200 may be a UE mounted on a small unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV: Uncrewed Aerial Vehicle or Unmanned Aerial Vehicle). The UE 200 mounted on a UAV or a UAV may be referred to as an NR drone. The UE 200 may include a normal UE, an aerial UE, a vehicle UE, an IAB (Integrated Access and Backhaul) UE (including an airborne IAB UE), a HAPS (High Altitude Platform Station) UE, an NTN (Non Terrestrial Network) UE, etc.

[0022] The type of DC may be Multi-RAT Dual Connectivity (MR-DC) that uses multiple radio access technologies, or NR-NR Dual Connectivity (NR-DC) that uses only NR. For example, one gNB may constitute a master node (MN), and one or more other gNBs may constitute secondary nodes (SNs).

[0023] The wireless communication system 10 may also support a conditional handover (CHO). The CHO can execute a handover initiated by the UE 200 when a specific execution condition is met. If the CHO is not applicable, a normal handover (which may be called a CHO recovery) may be executed.

[0024] Furthermore, the wireless communication system 10 may support conditional addition or change (CPAC) of a Primary SCell (PSCell). A PSCell is a type of secondary cell. A PSCell means a Primary SCell (secondary cell), and may be interpreted as corresponding to any one of a plurality of SCells.

[0025] In the wireless communication system 10, not only mobility control of the UE 200 at layer 3 (which may be referred to as L3 Mobility), but also mobility control at layer 1 and / or layer 2 (which may be referred to as L1 / L2 Mobility or LTM) may be applied. L3 Mobility may be interpreted as mobility control at the Radio Resource Control layer (RRC). On the other hand, L1 / L2 Mobility may be interpreted as mobility control at the physical layer (PHY), medium access control layer (MAC), radio link control layer (RLC), and packet data convergence protocol layer (PDCP) (mobility control by a lower layer).

[0026] In addition, in UE-based LTM, like conditional handover (CHO), the UE receives a specific execution condition from the radio base station (gNB), monitors the status according to the execution condition, and executes LTM if the execution condition is satisfied. Such LTM may be called Conditional LTM.

[0027] It should be noted that LTM may include LTM fast failure recovery (LTM fast recovery). LTM fast recovery is a mechanism in which, in the event of an LTM failure, UE 200 performs cell selection, and if the selected cell is an LTM candidate cell, the UE 200 directly applies the configuration of the candidate cell (LTM cell switch) without transmitting an RRC Reestablishment Request to gNB 100. It should be noted that LTM fast recovery may be applied only to Intra-CU LTM, but does not exclude application to Inter-CU LTM.

[0028] In a broad sense, the mobility of UE200 may mean the ease of movement and maneuverability of UE200, but in this embodiment, it may also mean minimizing call drops, radio link (including beam) failures, unnecessary handovers, ping-pong states, etc.

[0029] Figure 2 shows an example of control by LTM (L1 / L2 mobility). As shown in Figure 2, MAC included in a lower layer (Layer 1 / Layer 2), rather than RRC included in Layer 3, can perform measurement reporting, handover (HO) decision from a source cell to a target cell (which may include candidates), and timer management for determining whether HO is successful.

[0030] The MAC may report information related to the measurement report, the HO decision, and the timer to a higher layer (RRC). The RRC may manage the state of radio resources associated with the cell transition of the UE 200 based on the report.

[0031] The UE 200 may periodically perform measurement reporting. The UE 200 may perform measurement reporting for each event. An entering condition for starting measurement reporting and a leaving condition for ending measurement reporting may be defined for each event. The existing events may include the following events (see 3GPP TS38.331). Note that the entering condition may be interpreted as a condition for determining whether or not to include a measurement report target, and the leaving condition may be interpreted as a condition for determining whether or not to exclude a measurement report target.

[0032] (i) Event A1 (Serving becomes better than threshold) Event A1 is an event in which the reception quality of the serving cell becomes better than a threshold. For example, the entering condition is Ms - Hys > Thresh, and the leaving condition is Ms + Hys < Thresh.

[0033] Here, Ms is the reception quality of the serving cell, Hys is a hysteresis parameter, and Thresh is a threshold value.

[0034] (ii) Event A2 (Serving Becomes Worse Than Threshold) Event A2 is an event in which the reception quality of the serving cell becomes worse than a threshold. For example, the entering condition is Ms + Hys < Thresh, and the leaving condition is Ms - Hys > Thresh.

[0035] Here, Ms is the reception quality of the serving cell, Hys is a hysteresis parameter, and Thresh is a threshold value.

[0036] (iii) Event A3 (Neighbor becomes offset better than SpCell) Event A3 is an event in which the reception quality of a neighboring cell becomes offset better than the reception quality of the serving cell. For example, the entering condition is Mn + Ofn + Ocn - Hys > Mp + Ofp + Ocp + Off, and the leaving condition is Mn + Ofn + Ocn + Hys < Mp + Ofp + Ocp + Off.

[0037] where Mn is the reception quality of the neighboring cell, Ofn is the offset specific to the measurement object, and Ocn is the offset specific to the cell. Mp is the reception quality of the serving cell, Ofp is the offset specific to the measurement object, and Ocp is the offset specific to the cell. Hys is the hysteresis parameter, and Off is the parameter used in Event A3.

[0038] (iv) Event A4 (Neighbor becomes better than threshold) Event A4 is an event in which the reception quality of a neighboring cell becomes better than a threshold. For example, the entering condition is Mn + Ofn + Ocn - Hys > Thresh, and the leaving condition is Mn + Ofn + Ocn + Hys < Thresh.

[0039] where Mn is the reception quality of the neighboring cell, Ofn is an offset specific to the measurement object, Ocn is an offset specific to the cell, Hys is a hysteresis parameter, and Thresh is a threshold value.

[0040] (v) Event A5 (SpCell becomes worse than threshold1 and neighbor becomes better than threshold2) Event A5 is an event in which the reception quality of the serving cell becomes worse than a threshold and the reception quality of the neighboring cell becomes better than a threshold. For example, the entering condition is Mp + Hys < Thresh1 and Mn + Ofn + Ocn - Hys > Thresh2, and the leaving condition is Mp - Hys > Thresh1 and Mn + Ofn + Ocn + Hys < Thresh2.

[0041] where Ms is the receiving quality of the serving cell, Hys is a hysteresis parameter, Thresh1 is a threshold, Mn is the receiving quality of the neighboring cell, Ofn is a measurement object-specific offset, and Ocn is a cell-specific offset, Hys is a hysteresis parameter, and Thresh2 is a threshold.

[0042] (vi) Event A6 (Neighbor becomes offset better than SCell) Event A6 is an event in which the reception quality of a neighboring cell becomes offset better than the reception quality of an SCell (Secondary Cell). For example, the entering condition is Mn + Ocn - Hys > Ms + Ocs + Off, and the leaving condition is Mn + Ocn + Hys < Ms + Ocs + Off.

[0043] In addition to the events described above, events related to RATs (Radio Access technologies) (e.g., B1 (Inter RAT neighbor becomes better than threshold), B2 (Serving becomes worse than threshold1 and inter RAT neighbor becomes better than threshold2)) may be included.

[0044] Here, Mn is the reception quality of the neighboring cell, Ocn is a cell-specific offset, Ms is the reception quality of the SCell, Ocs is a cell-specific offset, Hys is a hysteresis parameter, and Off is a parameter used in Event A6.

[0045] In this embodiment, to accommodate the case where the UE 200 is mounted on a UAV and is located at various altitudes, an event based on the altitude of the UE 200 may be defined. Specifically, Event H1 and Event H2 may be defined as triggers for a measurement report. Furthermore, Event A3H1, Event A4H1, Event A5H1, etc. may be defined as events combining the UE altitude and cell quality.

[0046] Event H1, Event H2, Event A3H1, Event A4H1, Event A5H1, etc. may be defined as follows:

[0047] Event H1: The Aerial UE altitude becomes higher than a threshold. Event H2: The Aerial UE altitude becomes lower than a threshold. Event A3H1: Neighbor becomes offset better than SpCell and the Aerial UE altitude becomes higher than a threshold. Event A3H2: Neighbor becomes offset better than SpCell and the Aerial UE altitude becomes lower than a threshold. Event A4H1: Neighbor becomes better than threshold1 and the Aerial UE altitude becomes higher than a threshold2. Event A4H2: Neighbor becomes better than threshold1 and the Aerial UE altitude becomes lower than a threshold2 (neighboring cell becomes better than threshold1, and aerial UE altitude becomes lower than threshold2) Event A5H1: SpCell becomes worse than threshold1 and neighbor becomes better than threshold2, and the aerial UE altitude becomes higher than athreshold3 (SpCell becomes worse than threshold 1, neighbor cell becomes better than threshold 2, and the aerial UE altitude becomes higher than threshold 3) Event A5H2: SpCell becomes worse than threshold 1 and neighbor becomes better than threshold 2 and the aerial UE altitude becomes lower than a threshold 3 (SpCell becomes worse than threshold 1, neighbor cell becomes better than threshold 2, and the aerial UE altitude becomes lower than threshold 3) Furthermore, in this embodiment, events dedicated to LTM may be defined. For example, the following events dedicated to LTM may be defined.

[0048] - Event LTM2: Beam of serving cell becomes worse than absolute threshold (The beam of the serving cell becomes worse than the absolute threshold) - Event LTM3: Beam of candidate cell becomes amount of offset better than beam of serving cell (The beam of the candidate cell becomes better than the offset amount of the beam of the serving cell) - Event LTM4: Beam of candidate cell becomes better than absolute threshold (The beam of the candidate cell becomes better than the absolute threshold) - Event LTM5: Beam of serving cell becomes worse than absolute threshold1 AND Beam of candidate cell becomes better than another absolute threshold2 (The beam of the serving cell becomes worse than absolute threshold1 and the beam of the candidate cell becomes better than absolute threshold2) Note that events exclusive to LTM are not limited to the above-mentioned Event LTM2 to Event LTM5, and for example, events related to the beam of the serving cell or candidate cell may be added.

[0049] Furthermore, considering that the UE200 is mounted on a UAV, the UE200 can send a UEInformationResponse message including the UE's flight path information (flightPathInfoReport) to the gNB100.

[0050] The fields of the flightPathInfoReport may provide the UE's flight path information (which may also be called enroute information) as a list of waypoints. A list of size 0 may indicate that the previously provided flight path information is no longer valid.

[0051] The number of waypoints may be one or more. An upper limit may be set on the number of waypoints. The configuration of the flightPathInfoReport may be set by FlightPathInfoReportConfig. FlightPathInfoReportConfig may be included in the UEInformationRequest message sent to the UE 200.

[0052] In this embodiment, the channels include a control channel and a data channel, such as a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH), a physical random access channel (PRACH), and a physical broadcast channel (PBCH).

[0053] The data channels include a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) and a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH).

[0054] The reference signal includes a Demodulation Reference Signal (DMRS), a Sounding Reference Signal (SRS), a Phase Tracking Reference Signal (PTRS), and a Channel State Information-Reference Signal (CSI-RS), and the signal includes a channel and a reference signal. Furthermore, the data may refer to data transmitted via a data channel.

[0055] (2) Functional Block Configuration of Wireless Communication System Next, the functional block configuration of the wireless communication system 10 will be described. Specifically, the functional block configuration of the gNB 100 and the UE 200 will be described. Fig. 3 is a functional block configuration diagram of the gNB 100. Fig. 4 is a functional block configuration diagram of the UE 200.

[0056] (2.1) gNB100 As shown in FIG. 3, the gNB100 includes a radio communication unit 110, a handover processing unit 120, a measurement setting unit 130, and a control unit 140.

[0057] The wireless communication unit 110 transmits downlink signals (DL signals) conforming to NR, and also receives uplink signals (UL signals) conforming to NR.

[0058] The handover processing unit 120 executes handover of the UE 200. Specifically, the handover processing unit 120 executes handover of the UE 200 from a serving cell to another nearby cell.

[0059] In particular, in this embodiment, the handover processing unit 120 can handle mobility control by a lower layer of the UE 200, specifically, handover (cell transition) according to LTM. Furthermore, the handover processing unit 120 can handle candidate cell selection and switching (LTM cell switch) according to LTM fast recovery of the UE 200.

[0060] The serving cell may be simply interpreted as a cell to which the UE 200 is connected, but more precisely, in the case of an RRC_CONNECTED UE in which carrier aggregation (CA) is not configured, there is only one serving cell that constitutes the primary cell. In the case of an RRC_CONNECTED UE configured using CA, the serving cell may be interpreted as indicating a set of one or more cells including the primary cell and all secondary cells.

[0061] The handover may also include a conditional handover (CHO) and / or a dual active protocol stack (DAPS) handover. CHO can execute a handover initiated by the UE 200 when a specific execution condition is met. If CHO is not applicable, a normal handover may be executed (which may be called CHO recovery). In CHO recovery, the UE 200 executes cell selection after a CHO failure. If a CHO candidate cell is selected, the UE 200 can directly apply conditional RRCReconfiguration of the selected cell to reconnect without transmitting an RRC Reestablishment Request to the candidate target cell.

[0062] The execution condition may consist of one or two trigger conditions (e.g., CHO event A3 / A5 specified in 3GPP TS38.331). A single reference signal (RS) type may be triggered, and up to two different trigger quantities (e.g., Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) and Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ), RSRP and Signal-to-Interference plus Noise power Ratio (SINR)) may be simultaneously set for evaluation of the CHO execution condition for a single candidate cell.

[0063] The measurement configuration unit 130 performs configuration (measurement configuration) of quality measurements of the serving cell and neighboring cells by the UE 200. Specifically, the measurement configuration unit 130 may perform measurement configuration in layer 3, or may perform measurement configuration in layer 1 and / or layer 2.

[0064] The measurement configuration unit 130 can notify the UE 200 of the contents of the measurement configuration. The UE 200 can measure the quality of the serving cell and / or neighboring cells based on the notified measurement configuration. The measurement configuration unit 130 can receive a measurement report from the UE 200 indicating the measurement result of the cell quality.

[0065] Furthermore, the measurement setting unit 130 (which may mean operation as a CU (first device)) may transmit route information traveled by the UE 200 to a DU (second device). In this embodiment, the measurement setting unit 130 may constitute a transmitting unit. Specifically, the measurement setting unit 130 may transmit a flightPathInfoReport, which is information about waypoints on the route traveled (flew) by the UE 200 mounted on a UAV such as a drone, to the Source DU. Note that the flightPathInfoReport may also be transmitted to the Target DU.

[0066] The flightPathInfoReport may include multiple combinations of waypoint location information (which may be latitude and longitude, etc.) and timestamps indicating the time at which the course was changed.

[0067] The measurement configuration unit 130 may transmit a flightPathInfoReport associated with the UE 200. Specifically, the measurement configuration unit 130 may transmit a flightPathInfoReport associated with identification information of the UE 200 (for example, a gNB-CU UE F1AP ID).

[0068] When the flightPathInfoReport is updated, the measurement configuration unit 130 may transmit the flightPathInfoReport to the CU. Specifically, when the measurement configuration unit 130 receives a new flightPathInfoReport from the UE 200, the measurement configuration unit 130 may transmit the flightPathInfoReport to the CU.

[0069] The control unit 140 controls each functional block constituting the gNB 100. In particular, in this embodiment, the control unit 140 can perform mobility control with the UE 200. Specifically, the control unit 140 can perform not only mobility control according to L3 Mobility but also mobility control according to L1 / L2 Mobility (LTM).

[0070] In addition, the control unit 140 can perform control as a CU (source side or target side) or a DU (source side or target side) in a gNB100 having a CU-DU configuration.

[0071] In this embodiment, the control unit 140 (which may mean operation as a CU and a DU here) can control the transition of the UE 200 to a candidate cell in accordance with lower layer mobility management (LTM). Specifically, the control unit 140 can perform control as a CU (source side or target side) or a DU (source side or target side) in the gNB 100 having a CU-DU configuration.

[0072] The control unit 140 can perform measurement reports by the UE 200 and mobility control with the UE 200 .

[0073] Specifically, the control unit 140 may set the above-mentioned events (Event H1, Event H2, etc.) related to the altitude of the UE 200 in order to control the transmission of a measurement report from the UE 200 mounted on the UAV.

[0074] Furthermore, the control unit 140 may control the execution condition of the LTM (which may include Conditional LTM), and the triggering of a Measurement report based on an event dedicated to the LTM.

[0075] Furthermore, the control unit 140 (which may mean operation as a DU (second device)) can determine a candidate cell to which the UE 200 is to be transferred, based on a flightPathInfoReport (route information) and a measurement result (L1 measurement result) of the candidate cell in a lower layer received from the UE 200. In this embodiment, the control unit 140 may constitute another control unit.

[0076] Specifically, the control unit 140 may use the L1 measurement result and the L3 measurement result to comprehensively determine the quality of the candidate cell and determine the cell to which the UE 200 should be transferred. The comprehensive determination may simply mean applying the same weight to both the L1 measurement result and the L3 measurement result, or applying a higher (or lower) weight to either of them. A lower weight may be applied to the L1 measurement result, and a higher weight may be applied to the L3 measurement result.

[0077] (2.2) UE 200 As shown in FIG. 4, the UE 200 includes a radio communication unit 210, a measurement reporting unit 220, a handover execution unit 230, and a control unit 240.

[0078] The wireless communication unit 210 transmits an uplink signal (UL signal) conforming to NR. The wireless communication unit 210 also receives an uplink signal (DL signal) conforming to NR.

[0079] The measurement reporting unit 220 can measure the quality of the serving cell of the UE 200 and neighboring cells of the serving cell and report a measurement report indicating the measurement result to the network. The measurement reporting unit 220 can perform measurement reporting of the source cell and the target cell during handover. The measurement reporting unit 220 can transmit a measurement report including the quality of the serving cell and neighboring cells.

[0080] The quality to be measured may be, for example, the quality included in the Measurement Report specified in 3GPP TS38.331 (e.g., Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP), Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ)).

[0081] Furthermore, the measurement reporting unit 220 may support events (e.g., Event H1, Event H2, etc.) used to trigger measurement reports based on UE altitude, and events (e.g., Event LTM2, Event LTM3, etc.) used to trigger measurement reports according to lower layer mobility management (LTM). The UE altitude-related event may be referred to as a first event for convenience. The LTE-related event may be referred to as a second event for convenience.

[0082] The measurement reporting unit 220 may transmit a measurement report to the network when the content of at least one of the first event and the second event is satisfied. In this embodiment, the measurement reporting unit 220 may constitute a transmitting unit. In this manner, the measurement reporting unit 220 may transmit a measurement report to the network when the content of an event used to trigger the measurement report is satisfied.

[0083] The measurement reporting unit 220 may transmit the above-mentioned Measurement Report using a control element (MAC CE) of the Medium Access Control Layer or a PUCCH (uplink control channel). Note that the uplink control channel used to transmit the Measurement Report is not necessarily limited to the PUCCH, and may be any other channel for control information.

[0084] The measurement reporting unit 220 may transmit capability information (UE Capability Information) indicating whether the UE 200 supports a measurement report based on the terminal altitude (UE altitude) to the network. For example, the measurement reporting unit 220 may transmit altitudeMeasInLowerlayer, eventLTMxHy-r18, and condEventLTMxHy-r18 (all of which may be tentative names) to the gNB 100. The UE capability may indicate whether the UE 200 supports the terminal altitude. The specific meaning of each UE capability will be described later. Note that altitude may be expressed by other terms such as height or elevation.

[0085] Furthermore, the measurement reporting unit 220 may record a flight path of the UE 200 mounted on a UAV such as a drone and generate a flightPathInfoReport (route information). The measurement reporting unit 220 may transmit the generated flightPathInfoReport to the gNB 100. Specifically, the measurement reporting unit 220 may transmit a UEInformationResponse message including the flightPathInfoReport.

[0086] The handover execution unit 230 executes handover of the UE 200. Specifically, the handover execution unit 230 may execute handover to a transfer destination cell (NG-RAN node) based on control by the gNB 100.

[0087] Furthermore, the handover execution unit 230 can execute processes related to normal handover (legacy handover), conditional handover (CHO), and DAPS handover.

[0088] In the case of CHO, the handover execution unit 230 may transition to the candidate cell when an execution condition is satisfied. As described above, the execution condition may be determined based on the quality of the reference signal (RS), specifically, the value of RSRP, RSRQ, or SINR.

[0089] In addition, the destination of the CHO may or may not be accompanied by an SCG. In other words, the destination cell of the CHO may be a single cell or may be composed of multiple cells (which may be read as a cell group) according to the DC.

[0090] Furthermore, the handover execution unit 230 may execute handover based on not only L3 mobility but also L1 / L2 mobility. Handover may be interpreted as transition, cell transition, cell selection, etc. Specifically, the handover execution unit 230 may execute handover based on L1 / L2 mobility based on at least one command of layer 1 and / or layer 2.

[0091] The type of the command is not particularly limited, and may be, for example, an L1 / L2 Mobility command. The L1 / L2 Mobility command may be replaced with another command of the RRC layer or a control element (CE) of the MAC layer. The handover executing unit 230 may receive configuration information related to L1 / L2 Mobility (LTM). The configuration information may mean a configuration related to LTM (LTM-config). However, the information does not necessarily have to be LTM-config as long as it indicates a configuration related to LTM (which may include an execution condition, etc.).

[0092] The control unit 240 controls each functional block constituting the UE 200. Specifically, the control unit 240 may determine whether the terminal altitude exceeds a threshold or whether the terminal altitude falls below a threshold. Specifically, the control unit 240 may determine whether the altitude of the UE 200 exceeds or falls below a set threshold using the above-mentioned Event H1 and Event H2.

[0093] The control unit 240 may set, individually or in combination, in a lower layer (MAC, PHY), a first event (Event H1, Event H2, etc.) used to trigger a measurement report based on the terminal altitude (UE altitude) and a second event (Event LTM2, Event LTM3, etc.) used to trigger a measurement report in accordance with mobility control (LTM) by a lower layer, and determine whether the content of at least one of the first event and the second event is satisfied. In this way, the control unit 240 may set, in the lower layer, an event used to trigger a measurement report based on the terminal altitude, and determine in the lower layer whether the content of the event is satisfied.

[0094] As will be described later, the second event may include not only Event LTM2 and Event LTM3, but also an event combined with the terminal altitude (for example, Event LTM3H1, etc.). In other words, the control unit 240 may set a combination of the first event and the second event as an execution condition applied to the LTM.

[0095] In addition, the control unit 240 may perform a cell switch according to LTM (LTM cell switch) when the contents of a first event in which the terminal altitude and cell quality are combined, specifically, Event A3H1, Event A4H1, and Event A5H1, are satisfied.

[0096] (3) Operation of the Wireless Communication System Next, a description will be given of the operation of the wireless communication system 10. Specifically, a description will be given of the LTM-related operation in the case where the UE is mounted on a UAV or the like and can be located at various altitudes.

[0097] (3.1) Premise and Issues As described above, in the wireless communication system 10, Event H1, Event H2, etc. are defined for the terminal altitude (UE altitude), and Event LTM2 to Event LTM5 may be supported for the LTM.

[0098] Additionally, the wireless communication system 10 may support flightPathInfoReport. UEs mounted on UAVs (e.g., drone UEs) tend to stay in the sky with good visibility, and are therefore more likely to attempt to connect to a cell that is further away. Such UE behavior results in an inability to maintain stable wireless communication quality, and handover to the cell is likely to fail.

[0099] For drone UEs, it is desirable to use the flightPathInfoReport in order to increase the success rate of handover. However, the Source DU does not have the flightPathInfoReport and cannot use the flightPathInfoReport to determine a candidate cell (which may also be called a target cell) to which the UE should be transferred.

[0100] Figure 5 shows the relationship between the flight path (waypoints) of the drone UE and the candidate cells. As shown in Figure 5, the drone UE may fly over the candidate cells while changing its course (varying course) as appropriate. The flightPathInfoReport may be composed of the location information and timestamps of the waypoints.

[0101] (3.2) Operational Example Fig. 6 shows an example of a transmission sequence of a flightPathInfoReport according to an operational example. As shown in Fig. 6, the CU may transmit the flightPathInfoReport acquired from the UE to the Source DU using an F1-AP message (e.g., a UE context modification request).

[0102] When the CU sends a flightPathInfoReport to a Source DU using an F1-AP message, the CU may associate a UE ID (e.g., gNB-CU UE F1AP ID, gNB-DU UE F1AP ID) with the flightPathInfoReport.

[0103] 7 shows an example of a transmission sequence of a flightPathInfoReport according to an exemplary operation. As shown in FIG. 7, when the flightPathInfoReport in the UE is updated, the UE can notify the CU that an updated flightPathInfoReport exists by using a UEAssistanceInformation message. The CU can send a UEInformationRequest message to the UE, and the UE can send a UEInformationResponse message including the updated flightPathInfoReport to the CU.

[0104] In this case, the CU may send an F1-AP message (e.g., UE context modification request) including the updated flightPathInfoReport to the Source DU. Note that only a part of the flightPathInfoReport, such as only the modified part, may be sent.

[0105] 8 shows an example of a cell switching sequence according to LTM according to an operation example. As shown in FIG. 8, when determining cell switching by LTM, the Source DU checks both the flightPathInfoReport and the L1 measurement result (included in the L1 measurement report), and may determine a candidate cell (or beam) whose physical location information is along the position (flight path) indicated by the flightPathInfoReport (which may be interpreted as being physically close) and has good quality as a target cell (beam) to which the UE will be transferred.

[0106] According to the above-described operation example, in LTM, it is possible for the CU to share route information of UEs flying in the sky, such as drone UEs, with the DU. Therefore, when determining cell switching using LTM, the Source DU can determine a candidate cell that is close to the UE's flight path and has good quality as the target cell (beam) to which the UE will be transferred, based on both the flightPathInfoReport and the L1 measurement result (included in the L1 measurement report). This makes it possible to determine a more appropriate LTM candidate cell (beam) using the flightPathInfoReport when a CU-DU separation configuration is applied.

[0107] (4) Other Embodiments The contents of the present proposal have been described above in accordance with the examples, but it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that the present proposal is not limited to these descriptions and that various modifications and improvements are possible.

[0108] For example, in the above-described embodiment, event names such as Event LTM3H1 to EventLTM5H2, condEvent LTMA3H1 to condEvent LTMA5H2 were used, but at least some of these may be provisional names, and different names may be used as long as they have similar specifications.

[0109] In the above description, configure, activate, update, indicate, enable, specify, and select may be interchangeable. Similarly, link, associate, correspond, and map may be interchangeable, and allocate, assign, monitor, and map may be interchangeable.

[0110] Furthermore, specific, dedicated, UE-specific, and UE-dedicated may be interchangeable. Similarly, common, shared, group-common, UE-common, and UE-shared may be interchangeable.

[0111] In this disclosure, terms such as "precoding," "precoder," "weight (precoding weight)," "Quasi-Co-Location (QCL)," "Transmission Configuration Indication state (TCI state)," "spatial relation," "spatial domain filter," "transmit power," "phase rotation," "antenna port," "antenna port group," "layer," "number of layers," "rank," "resource," "resource set," "resource group," "beam," "beam width," "beam angle," "antenna," "antenna element," "panel," etc. may be used interchangeably.

[0112] Furthermore, the block diagrams (FIGS. 3 and 4) used to explain the above-described embodiments show functional blocks. These functional blocks (components) are realized by any combination of hardware and / or software. Furthermore, the method for realizing each functional block is not particularly limited. That is, each functional block may be realized using a single device that is physically or logically coupled, or may be realized using two or more physically or logically separated devices that are connected directly or indirectly (e.g., wired, wireless, etc.) and these multiple devices. The functional block may also be realized by combining software with the single device or multiple devices.

[0113] Functions include, but are not limited to, judgment, determination, judgment, calculation, computation, processing, derivation, investigation, search, confirmation, reception, transmission, output, access, resolution, selection, selection, establishment, comparison, assumption, expectation, consideration, broadcasting, notifying, communicating, forwarding, configuring, reconfiguring, allocating, mapping, and assignment. For example, a functional block (component) that performs transmission is called a transmitting unit or transmitter. As mentioned above, there are no particular limitations on how each is implemented.

[0114] Furthermore, the above-described gNB100 and UE200 (the devices) may function as a computer that performs processing of the wireless communication method of the present disclosure. Figure 9 is a diagram showing an example of the hardware configuration of the devices. As shown in Figure 9, the devices may be configured as a computer including a processor 1001, a memory 1002, a storage 1003, a communication device 1004, an input device 1005, an output device 1006, a bus 1007, etc.

[0115] In the following description, the term "apparatus" can be interpreted as a circuit, a device, a unit, etc. The hardware configuration of the apparatus may be configured to include one or more of the apparatuses shown in the drawings, or may be configured to exclude some of the apparatuses.

[0116] Each functional block of the device (see FIGS. 3 and 4) is realized by any hardware element of the computer device or a combination of the hardware elements.

[0117] In addition, each function of the device is realized by loading specified software (programs) onto hardware such as processor 1001 and memory 1002, causing processor 1001 to perform calculations, control communication via communication device 1004, and control at least one of reading and writing data in memory 1002 and storage 1003.

[0118] The processor 1001 controls the entire computer by running, for example, an operating system, and may be configured as a central processing unit (CPU) including an interface with peripheral devices, a control unit, an arithmetic unit, and registers.

[0119] The processor 1001 also reads programs (program codes), software modules, data, etc. from at least one of the storage 1003 and the communication device 1004 into the memory 1002 and executes various processes in accordance with these. The programs used are those that cause a computer to execute at least some of the operations described in the above-described embodiments. Furthermore, the various processes described above may be executed by a single processor 1001, or may be executed simultaneously or sequentially by two or more processors 1001. The processor 1001 may be implemented by one or more chips. The programs may be transmitted from a network via a telecommunications line.

[0120] The memory 1002 is a computer-readable recording medium and may be configured by at least one of, for example, a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable ROM (EPROM), an electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM), a random access memory (RAM), etc. The memory 1002 may also be called a register, a cache, a main memory (primary storage device), etc. The memory 1002 may store a program (program code), a software module, etc., capable of executing a method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0121] Storage 1003 is a computer-readable recording medium, and may be, for example, at least one of an optical disk such as a Compact Disc ROM (CD-ROM), a hard disk drive, a flexible disk, a magneto-optical disk (e.g., a compact disk, a digital versatile disk, a Blu-ray disc), a smart card, a flash memory (e.g., a card, a stick, a key drive), a floppy disk, a magnetic strip, etc. Storage 1003 may also be referred to as an auxiliary storage device. The above-mentioned recording medium may be, for example, a database, a server, or other suitable medium including at least one of memory 1002 and storage 1003.

[0122] The communication device 1004 is hardware (transmission / reception device) for communicating between computers via at least one of a wired network and a wireless network, and is also called, for example, a network device, a network controller, a network card, or a communication module.

[0123] The communication device 1004 may be configured to include a high-frequency switch, a duplexer, a filter, a frequency synthesizer, etc. to realize, for example, at least one of Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) and Time Division Duplex (TDD).

[0124] The input device 1005 is an input device (e.g., a keyboard, a mouse, a microphone, a switch, a button, a sensor, etc.) that receives input from the outside. The output device 1006 is an output device (e.g., a display, a speaker, an LED lamp, etc.) that outputs to the outside. Note that the input device 1005 and the output device 1006 may be integrated into one device (e.g., a touch panel).

[0125] Furthermore, each device such as the processor 1001 and the memory 1002 is connected to a bus 1007 for communicating information. The bus 1007 may be configured using a single bus, or may be configured using different buses between each device.

[0126] Furthermore, the device may be configured to include hardware such as a microprocessor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a programmable logic device (PLD), or a field programmable gate array (FPGA), and some or all of the functional blocks may be realized by the hardware. For example, the processor 1001 may be implemented using at least one of these pieces of hardware.

[0127] Furthermore, the notification of information is not limited to the aspects / embodiments described in the present disclosure, and may be performed using other methods. For example, the notification of information may be performed by physical layer signaling (e.g., Downlink Control Information (DCI), Uplink Control Information (UCI)), higher layer signaling (e.g., RRC signaling, Medium Access Control (MAC) signaling, broadcast information (Master Information Block (MIB), System Information Block (SIB))), other signals, or a combination thereof. Furthermore, the RRC signaling may be referred to as an RRC message, and may be, for example, an RRC Connection Setup message, an RRC Connection Reconfiguration message, or the like.

[0128] Each aspect / embodiment described in the present disclosure may be applied to at least one of a system using Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE-Advanced (LTE-A), SUPER 3G, IMT-Advanced, a 4th generation mobile communication system (4G), a 5th generation mobile communication system (5G), a 6th generation mobile communication system (6G), an xth generation mobile communication system (xG) (where x is, for example, an integer or a decimal), Future Radio Access (FRA), New Radio (NR), W-CDMA (registered trademark), GSM (registered trademark), CDMA2000, Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB), IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi (registered trademark)), IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX (registered trademark)), IEEE 802.20, Ultra-WideBand (UWB), Bluetooth (registered trademark), or other suitable system, and a next-generation system extended based on these. Furthermore, a combination of multiple systems (e.g., a combination of at least one of LTE and LTE-A with 5G) may also be applied.

[0129] The order of the procedures, sequences, flowcharts, etc. of each aspect / embodiment described in this disclosure may be changed unless it is consistent. For example, the methods described in this disclosure present elements of various steps using an example order, and are not limited to the particular order presented.

[0130] In the present disclosure, a specific operation described as being performed by a base station may also be performed by its upper node in some cases. In a network consisting of one or more network nodes having a base station, it is clear that various operations performed for communication with a terminal may be performed by at least one of the base station and another network node other than the base station (e.g., MME or S-GW, etc., but are not limited to these). Although the above example illustrates a case where there is one other network node other than the base station, a combination of multiple other network nodes (e.g., MME and S-GW) may also be used.

[0131] Information, signals (information, etc.) may be output from a higher layer (or a lower layer) to a lower layer (or a higher layer), or may be input and output via multiple network nodes.

[0132] The input and output information may be stored in a specific location (for example, a memory) or may be managed using a management table. The input and output information may be overwritten, updated, or added. The output information may be deleted. The input information may be transmitted to another device.

[0133] The determination may be made based on a value represented by one bit (0 or 1), a Boolean value (true or false), or a numerical comparison (e.g., comparison with a predetermined value).

[0134] The aspects / embodiments described in this disclosure may be used alone, in combination, or switched depending on the implementation. Notification of predetermined information (e.g., notification that "X is true") is not limited to explicit notification, but may be implicit (e.g., not notifying the predetermined information).

[0135] Software shall be construed broadly to mean instructions, instruction sets, code, code segments, program code, programs, subprograms, software modules, applications, software applications, software packages, routines, subroutines, objects, executable files, threads of execution, procedures, functions, etc., whether referred to as software, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware description language, or otherwise.

[0136] Software, instructions, information, etc. may also be transmitted or received over a transmission medium. For example, if software is transmitted from a website, server, or other remote source using wired technologies (such as coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, Digital Subscriber Line (DSL)), and / or wireless technologies (such as infrared, microwave), then these wired and / or wireless technologies are included within the definition of transmission media.

[0137] The information, signals, etc. described in this disclosure may be represented using any of a variety of different technologies. For example, data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, chips, etc. that may be referred to throughout the above description may be represented by voltages, currents, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or magnetic particles, optical fields or photons, or any combination thereof.

[0138] Note that terms described in this disclosure and terms necessary for understanding this disclosure may be replaced with terms having the same or similar meanings. For example, at least one of a channel and a symbol may be a signal (signaling). Furthermore, a signal may be a message. Furthermore, a component carrier (CC) may be called a carrier frequency, a cell, a frequency carrier, etc.

[0139] As used in this disclosure, the terms "system" and "network" are used interchangeably.

[0140] Furthermore, the information, parameters, etc. described in the present disclosure may be expressed using absolute values, may be expressed using relative values ​​from a predetermined value, or may be expressed using other corresponding information. For example, a radio resource may be indicated by an index.

[0141] The names used for the above-described parameters are not intended to be limiting in any way. Furthermore, the mathematical expressions using these parameters may differ from those explicitly disclosed in this disclosure. The various channels (e.g., PUCCH, PDCCH, etc.) and information elements may be identified by any suitable names, and therefore the various names assigned to these various channels and information elements are not intended to be limiting in any way.

[0142] In this disclosure, terms such as "base station (BS)," "radio base station," "fixed station," "NodeB," "eNodeB (eNB)," "gNodeB (gNB)," "access point," "transmission point," "reception point," "transmission / reception point," "cell," "sector," "cell group," "carrier," and "component carrier" may be used interchangeably. Base stations may also be referred to by terms such as macrocell, small cell, femtocell, and picocell.

[0143] A base station can accommodate one or more (e.g., three) cells (also called sectors). When a base station accommodates multiple cells, the overall coverage area of ​​the base station can be divided into multiple smaller areas, and each smaller area can be provided with communication services by a base station subsystem (e.g., a small indoor base station (Remote Radio Head: RRH)).

[0144] The terms "cell" or "sector" refer to part or all of the coverage area of ​​a base station and / or base station subsystem that provides communication services within that coverage area.

[0145] In the present disclosure, the base station transmitting information to a terminal may be interpreted as the base station instructing the terminal to control or operate based on the information.

[0146] In this disclosure, the terms "Mobile Station (MS)," "user terminal," "User Equipment (UE)," "terminal," etc. may be used interchangeably.

[0147] A mobile station may also be referred to by those skilled in the art as a subscriber station, mobile unit, subscriber unit, wireless unit, remote unit, mobile device, wireless device, wireless communication device, remote device, mobile subscriber station, access terminal, mobile terminal, wireless terminal, remote terminal, handset, user agent, mobile client, client, or some other suitable terminology.

[0148] At least one of the base station and the mobile station may be referred to as a transmitting device, a receiving device, a communication device, etc. At least one of the base station and the mobile station may be a device mounted on a mobile object, the mobile object itself, etc. The mobile object refers to a movable object, and may move at any speed. Naturally, this also includes cases where the mobile object is stationary. Examples of the mobile object include, but are not limited to, vehicles, transport vehicles, automobiles, motorcycles, bicycles, connected cars, excavators, bulldozers, wheel loaders, dump trucks, forklifts, trains, buses, handcars, rickshaws, ships and other watercraft, airplanes, rockets, satellites, drones (registered trademark), multicopters, quadcopters, balloons, and objects mounted thereon. The mobile object may also be a mobile object that moves autonomously based on an operational command. It may be a vehicle (e.g., a car, an airplane, etc.), an unmanned mobile object (e.g., a drone, an autonomous vehicle, etc.), or a robot (manned or unmanned). At least one of the base station and the mobile station may be a device that does not necessarily move during communication operations. For example, at least one of the base station and the mobile station may be an IoT (Internet of Things) device such as a sensor.

[0149] Furthermore, a base station in the present disclosure may be read as a mobile station (user terminal, the same applies hereinafter). For example, the aspects / embodiments of the present disclosure may be applied to a configuration in which communication between a base station and a mobile station is replaced with communication between multiple mobile stations (which may be called, for example, Device-to-Device (D2D) or Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X)). In this case, the mobile station may be configured to have the functions of a base station. Furthermore, terms such as "uplink" and "downlink" may be read as terms corresponding to terminal-to-terminal communication (for example, "side"). For example, terms such as an uplink channel and a downlink channel may be read as a side channel (or sidelink).

[0150] Similarly, a mobile station in the present disclosure may be interpreted as a base station, in which case the base station may have the functions of a mobile station.

[0151] A radio frame may be composed of one or more frames in the time domain. Each of the one or more frames in the time domain may be called a subframe. A subframe may further be composed of one or more slots in the time domain. A subframe may have a fixed time length (e.g., 1 ms) that is independent of numerology.

[0152] Numerology may be communication parameters that apply to the transmission and / or reception of a signal or channel, such as subcarrier spacing (SCS), bandwidth, symbol length, cyclic prefix length, transmission time interval (TTI), number of symbols per TTI, radio frame structure, specific filtering operations performed by the transceiver in the frequency domain, and specific windowing operations performed by the transceiver in the time domain.

[0153] A slot may consist of one or more symbols in the time domain (such as an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) symbol, a Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA) symbol, etc.) A slot may be a numerology-based time unit.

[0154] A slot may include multiple minislots. Each minislot may consist of one or more symbols in the time domain. A minislot may also be called a subslot. A minislot may consist of fewer symbols than a slot. A PDSCH (or PUSCH) transmitted in a time unit larger than a minislot may be called PDSCH (or PUSCH) mapping type A. A PDSCH (or PUSCH) transmitted using a minislot may be called PDSCH (or PUSCH) mapping type B.

[0155] The radio frame, subframe, slot, minislot, and symbol all represent time units for transmitting signals, and may be referred to by other names corresponding to the radio frame, subframe, slot, minislot, and symbol.

[0156] For example, one subframe may be referred to as a transmission time interval (TTI), multiple consecutive subframes may be referred to as a TTI, or one slot or one minislot may be referred to as a TTI. That is, at least one of the subframe and the TTI may be a subframe (1 ms) in existing LTE, a period shorter than 1 ms (e.g., 1-13 symbols), or a period longer than 1 ms. Note that the unit representing the TTI may be called a slot, minislot, etc., instead of a subframe.

[0157] Here, TTI refers to, for example, the smallest time unit for scheduling in wireless communication. For example, in an LTE system, a base station schedules each user terminal to allocate radio resources (such as frequency bandwidth and transmission power that can be used by each user terminal) in TTI units. Note that the definition of TTI is not limited to this.

[0158] The TTI may be a transmission time unit for a channel-encoded data packet (transport block), a code block, a code word, etc., or may be a processing unit for scheduling, link adaptation, etc. When a TTI is given, the time interval (e.g., the number of symbols) to which a transport block, a code block, a code word, etc. is actually mapped may be shorter than the TTI.

[0159] In addition, when one slot or one minislot is called a TTI, one or more TTIs (i.e., one or more slots or one or more minislots) may be the minimum time unit for scheduling, and the number of slots (minislots) constituting the minimum time unit for scheduling may be controlled.

[0160] A TTI having a time length of 1 ms may be referred to as a regular TTI (TTI in LTE Rel. 8-12), normal TTI, long TTI, regular subframe, normal subframe, long subframe, slot, etc. A TTI shorter than a regular TTI may be referred to as a shortened TTI, short TTI, partial or fractional TTI, shortened subframe, short subframe, minislot, subslot, slot, etc.

[0161] In addition, a long TTI (e.g., a normal TTI, a subframe, etc.) may be interpreted as a TTI having a time length of more than 1 ms, and a short TTI (e.g., a shortened TTI, etc.) may be interpreted as a TTI having a TTI length shorter than the TTI length of a long TTI and equal to or greater than 1 ms.

[0162] A resource block (RB) is a resource allocation unit in the time domain and the frequency domain, and may include one or more consecutive subcarriers in the frequency domain. The number of subcarriers included in an RB may be the same regardless of numerology, for example, 12. The number of subcarriers included in an RB may be determined based on numerology.

[0163] The time domain of an RB may include one or more symbols and may have a length of one slot, one minislot, one subframe, or one TTI, each of which may consist of one or more resource blocks.

[0164] Note that one or more RBs may also be called a physical resource block (PRB), a sub-carrier group (SCG), a resource element group (REG), a PRB pair, an RB pair, etc.

[0165] Furthermore, a resource block may be composed of one or more resource elements (REs). For example, one RE may be a radio resource region of one subcarrier and one symbol.

[0166] A Bandwidth Part (BWP) (which may also be referred to as a fractional bandwidth) may represent a subset of contiguous common resource blocks (RBs) for a given numerology on a given carrier, where the common RBs may be identified by their index relative to a common reference point of the carrier. PRBs may be defined in a given BWP and numbered within that BWP.

[0167] The BWP may include a BWP for UL (UL BWP) and a BWP for DL ​​(DL BWP). One or more BWPs may be configured for a UE within one carrier.

[0168] At least one of the configured BWPs may be active, and the UE may not expect to transmit or receive a given signal / channel outside the active BWP. Note that the terms "cell," "carrier," etc. in this disclosure may be read as "BWP."

[0169] The above-described structures of the radio frame, subframe, slot, minislot, and symbol are merely examples. For example, the number of subframes included in a radio frame, the number of slots per subframe or radio frame, the number of minislots included in a slot, the number of symbols and RBs included in a slot or minislot, the number of subcarriers included in an RB, the number of symbols in a TTI, the symbol length, the cyclic prefix (CP) length, and other configurations may be changed in various ways.

[0170] The terms "connected," "coupled," or any variation thereof, refer to any direct or indirect connection or coupling between two or more elements, and may include the presence of one or more intermediate elements between two elements that are "connected" or "coupled" to each other. The coupling or connection between elements may be physical, logical, or a combination thereof. For example, "connected" may be read as "access." As used in this disclosure, two elements may be considered to be "connected" or "coupled" to each other using one or more wires, cables, and / or printed electrical connections, as well as electromagnetic energy having wavelengths in the radio frequency range, microwave range, and optical (both visible and invisible) range, as some non-limiting and non-exhaustive examples.

[0171] The reference signal may also be abbreviated as Reference Signal (RS) and may be called a pilot depending on the applicable standard.

[0172] As used in this disclosure, the phrase "based on" does not mean "based only on," unless expressly stated otherwise. In other words, the phrase "based on" means both "based only on" and "based at least on."

[0173] The "means" in the configuration of each of the above devices may be replaced with "part," "circuit," "device," etc.

[0174] As used in this disclosure, any reference to an element using a designation such as "first," "second," etc. does not generally limit the quantity or order of those elements. These designations may be used in this disclosure as a convenient method of distinguishing between two or more elements. Thus, a reference to a first and a second element does not imply that only two elements may be employed therein or that the first element must precede the second element in some way.

[0175] When the terms "include," "including," and variations thereof are used in this disclosure, these terms are intended to be inclusive, similar to the term "comprising." Furthermore, when the term "or" is used in this disclosure, it is not intended to be an exclusive or.

[0176] In this disclosure, where articles are added by translation, such as a, an, and the in English, the disclosure may include that the nouns following these articles are in the plural form.

[0177] As used in this disclosure, the terms "determining" and "determining" may encompass a wide variety of actions. "Determining" and "determining" may include, for example, judging, calculating, computing, processing, deriving, investigating, looking up, searching, inquiring (e.g., searching in a table, database, or other data structure), ascertaining, and the like. "Determining" and "determining" may also include receiving (e.g., receiving information), transmitting (e.g., sending information), input, output, accessing (e.g., accessing data in memory), and the like. Furthermore, "judgment" and "decision" can include regarding resolving, selecting, choosing, establishing, comparing, etc. as having been "judged" or "decided." In other words, "judgment" and "decision" can include regarding some action as having been "judged" or "decided." Furthermore, "judgment (decision)" can be interpreted as "assuming," "expecting," "considering," etc.

[0178] In the present disclosure, the term "A and B are different" may mean "A and B are different from each other." The term may also mean "A and B are each different from C." Terms such as "separate" and "coupled" may also be interpreted in the same way as "different."

[0179] 10 shows an example of the configuration of a vehicle 2001. As shown in Fig. 10, the vehicle 2001 includes a drive unit 2002, a steering unit 2003, an accelerator pedal 2004, a brake pedal 2005, a shift lever 2006, left and right front wheels 2007, left and right rear wheels 2008, an axle 2009, an electronic control unit 2010, various sensors 2021 to 2029, an information service unit 2012, and a communication module 2013.

[0180] The drive unit 2002 is composed of, for example, an engine, a motor, or a hybrid of an engine and a motor. The steering unit 2003 includes at least a steering wheel (also called a handle) and is configured to steer at least one of the front wheels and the rear wheels based on the operation of the steering wheel operated by the user. The electronic control unit 2010 is composed of a microprocessor 2031, memory (ROM, RAM) 2032, and a communication port (IO port) 2033. Signals from various sensors 2021 to 2027 provided in the vehicle are input to the electronic control unit 2010. The electronic control unit 2010 may also be called an ECU (Electronic Control Unit).

[0181] The signals from the various sensors 2021 to 2028 include a current signal from a current sensor 2021 that senses the current of the motor, a rotation speed signal of the front and rear wheels obtained by a rotation speed sensor 2022, an air pressure signal of the front and rear wheels obtained by an air pressure sensor 2023, a vehicle speed signal obtained by a vehicle speed sensor 2024, an acceleration signal obtained by an acceleration sensor 2025, an accelerator pedal depression amount signal obtained by an accelerator pedal sensor 2029, a brake pedal depression amount signal obtained by a brake pedal sensor 2026, a shift lever operation signal obtained by a shift lever sensor 2027, and a detection signal for detecting obstacles, vehicles, pedestrians, etc. obtained by an object detection sensor 2028.

[0182] The information service unit 2012 is composed of various devices, such as a car navigation system, an audio system, speakers, a television, and a radio, for providing (outputting) various types of information, such as driving information, traffic information, and entertainment information, and one or more ECUs for controlling these devices. The information service unit 2012 uses information acquired from external devices via the communication module 2013, etc., to provide various types of multimedia information and multimedia services to the occupants of the vehicle 1.

[0183] The information service unit 2012 may include input devices (e.g., keyboards, mice, microphones, switches, buttons, sensors, touch panels, etc.) that accept input from the outside, and may also include output devices (e.g., displays, speakers, LED lamps, touch panels, etc.) that output to the outside.

[0184] The driving assistance system unit 2030 is composed of various devices that provide functions for preventing accidents and reducing the driver's driving burden, such as millimeter-wave radar, LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging), cameras, positioning locators (e.g., GNSS, etc.), map information (e.g., high-definition (HD) maps, autonomous vehicle (AV) maps, etc.), gyro systems (e.g., IMU (Inertial Measurement Unit), INS (Inertial Navigation System), etc.), AI (Artificial Intelligence) chips, and AI processors, as well as one or more ECUs that control these devices. The driving assistance system unit 2030 also transmits and receives various information via the communication module 2013 to realize driving assistance functions or autonomous driving functions.

[0185] The communication module 2013 can communicate with the microprocessor 2031 and components of the vehicle 1 via the communication port. For example, the communication module 2013 transmits and receives data via the communication port 2033 to and from a driving unit 2002, a steering unit 2003, an accelerator pedal 2004, a brake pedal 2005, a shift lever 2006, left and right front wheels 2007, left and right rear wheels 2008, an axle 2009, a microprocessor 2031 and memory (ROM, RAM) 2032 in the electronic control unit 2010, and sensors 2021 to 2028, which are provided in the vehicle 2001.

[0186] The communication module 2013 is a communication device that can be controlled by the microprocessor 2031 of the electronic control unit 2010 and can communicate with an external device. For example, it transmits and receives various information to and from the external device via wireless communication. The communication module 2013 may be located either inside or outside the electronic control unit 2010. The external device may be, for example, a base station, a mobile station, or the like.

[0187] The communication module 2013 may transmit at least one of signals from the above-mentioned various sensors 2021 to 2028 input to the electronic control unit 2010, information obtained based on the signals, and information based on input from the outside (user) obtained via the information service unit 2012 to an external device via wireless communication. The electronic control unit 2010, the various sensors 2021 to 2028, the information service unit 2012, etc. may be referred to as input units that accept input. For example, the PUSCH transmitted by the communication module 2013 may include information based on the above-mentioned input.

[0188] The communication module 2013 receives various information (traffic information, traffic signal information, vehicle-to-vehicle information, etc.) transmitted from external devices and displays it on an information service unit 2012 provided in the vehicle. The information service unit 2012 may also be called an output unit that outputs information (for example, outputs information to a device such as a display or speaker based on the PDSCH (or data / information decoded from the PDSCH) received by the communication module 2013). The communication module 2013 also stores the various information received from external devices in a memory 2032 that can be used by the microprocessor 2031. Based on the information stored in the memory 2032, the microprocessor 2031 may control the drive unit 2002, steering unit 2003, accelerator pedal 2004, brake pedal 2005, shift lever 2006, left and right front wheels 2007, left and right rear wheels 2008, axles 2009, sensors 2021 to 2028, and the like provided in the vehicle 2001.

[0189] (Additional Note) The above disclosure may be expressed as follows: A first feature is a radio base station including a first device and one or more second devices connected to the first device, wherein the first device is a radio base station including: a control unit that controls a terminal's transition to a candidate cell in accordance with mobility control by a lower layer; and a transmission unit that transmits route information traveled by the terminal to the second device.

[0190] In a second feature based on the first feature, the transmitting unit transmits the route information associated with the terminal.

[0191] A third feature is the first or second feature, wherein the transmitter transmits the route information to the second device when the route information is updated.

[0192] A fourth feature is that, in the first to third features, the second device includes another control unit that determines a candidate cell to which the terminal will transition based on the route information and measurement results of the candidate cell in the lower layer received from the terminal.

[0193] This patent application claims priority based on Japanese Patent Application No. 2024-143337, filed on August 23, 2024, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

[0194] 10 Wireless communication system 20 NG-RAN 100 gNB 110 Wireless communication unit 120 Handover processing unit 130 Measurement setting unit 140 Control unit 200 UE 210 Wireless communication unit 220 Measurement reporting unit 230 Handover execution unit 240 Control unit 1001 Processor 1002 Memory 1003 Storage 1004 Communication device 1005 Input device 1006 Output device 1007 Bus 2001 Vehicle 2002 Drive unit 2003 Steering unit 2004 Accelerator pedal 2005 Brake pedal 2006 Shift lever 2007 Left and right front wheels 2008 Left and right rear wheels 2009 Axle 2010 Electronic control unit 2012 Information service unit 2013 Communication module 2021 Current sensor 2022 RPM sensor 2023 Air pressure sensor 2024 Vehicle speed sensor 2025 Acceleration sensor 2026 Brake pedal sensor 2027 Shift lever sensor 2028 Object detection sensor 2029 Accelerator pedal sensor 2030 Driving assistance system section 2031 Microprocessor 2032 Memory (ROM, RAM) 2033 Communication port

Claims

1. A radio base station including a first device and one or more second devices connected to the first device, wherein the first device is equipped with a control unit that controls the transition of a terminal to a candidate cell in accordance with mobility control by a lower layer, and a transmission unit that transmits route information traveled by the terminal to the second device.

2. The radio base station according to claim 1, wherein the transmitting unit transmits the route information associated with the terminal.

3. The radio base station according to claim 1, wherein the transmitting unit transmits the route information to the second device when the route information is updated.

4. The radio base station according to claim 1, wherein the second device is provided with another control unit that determines a candidate cell to which the terminal will transition based on the route information and the measurement results of the candidate cell in the lower layer received from the terminal.

5. A wireless communication method using a wireless base station including a first device and one or more second devices connected to the first device, the wireless communication method including a step in which the first device controls the transition of a terminal to a candidate cell in accordance with mobility control by a lower layer, and a step in which the first device transmits route information traveled by the terminal to the second device.

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