Method and apparatus for controlling cell measurement result prediction operation in wireless communication system

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a 5G or 6G communication system for supporting a higher data transmission rate. A control signal processing method in a wireless communication system, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, comprises the steps of: receiving a first control signal transmitted from a base station; processing the received first control signal; and transmitting, to the base station, a second control signal generated on the basis of the processing.

Description

Method and apparatus for controlling cell measurement result prediction operation in a wireless communication system

[0001] The present disclosure relates to the operation of a terminal and a base station in a wireless communication system. More specifically, the present disclosure relates to a method and apparatus for controlling the prediction operation of a cell measurement result of a terminal.

[0002] 5G mobile communication technology defines a wide frequency band to enable fast transmission speeds and new services, and can be implemented not only in frequency bands below 6 GHz ('Sub 6 GHz'), such as 3.5 gigahertz (3.5 GHz), but also in ultra-high frequency bands called millimeter waves (mmWave), such as 28 GHz and 39 GHz ('Above 6 GHz'). In addition, for 6G mobile communication technology, which is referred to as a system beyond 5G, implementation in the terahertz band (e.g., the 3 terahertz (3 THz) band at 95 GHz) is being considered to achieve transmission speeds 50 times faster and ultra-low latency reduced to one-tenth compared to 5G mobile communication technology.

[0003] In the early stages of 5G mobile communication technology, aiming to satisfy service support and performance requirements for enhanced Mobile BroadBand (eMBB), Ultra-Reliable Low-Latency Communications (URLLC), and Massive Machine-Type Communications (mMTC), technologies such as beamforming and Massive MIMO to mitigate path loss and increase transmission distance in ultra-high frequency bands, support for various numerologies (such as the operation of multiple subcarrier spacing) and dynamic operation of slot formats for the efficient utilization of ultra-high frequency resources, initial access techniques to support multi-beam transmission and broadband, definition and operation of Band-Width Parts (BWP), Low Density Parity Check (LDPC) codes for high-volume data transmission, new channel coding methods such as Polar Codes for the reliable transmission of control information, and L2 pre-processing (L2 Standardization has been carried out for pre-processing, network slicing which provides a dedicated network specialized for specific services, and other methods.

[0004] Currently, discussions are underway to improve and enhance the performance of the initial 5G mobile communication technology, taking into account the services that the 5G mobile communication technology was intended to support. Additionally, standardization of the physical layer is in progress for technologies such as V2X (Vehicle-to-Everything), which helps autonomous vehicles make driving decisions and enhance user convenience based on their own location and status information transmitted by the vehicle; NR-U (New Radio Unlicensed), which aims for system operation in unlicensed bands to comply with various regulatory requirements; NR terminal low power consumption technology (UE Power Saving); Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN), which is direct terminal-satellite communication for securing coverage in areas where communication with the terrestrial network is impossible; and positioning.

[0005] In addition, standardization is underway in the field of wireless interface architecture / protocols for technologies such as the Industrial Internet of Things (IoT) to support new services through linkage and convergence with other industries, Integrated Access and Backhaul (IAB) which provides nodes to expand network service areas by integrating wireless backhaul links and access links, Mobility Enhancement including Conditional Handover (CHO) and Dual Active Protocol Stack (DAPS) handover, and 2-step Random Access (2-step RACH for NR) which simplifies random access procedures. Standardization is also underway in the field of system architecture / services for 5G baseline architectures (e.g., Service based Architecture, Service based Interface) for the integration of Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) and Software-Defined Networking (SDN) technologies, and Mobile Edge Computing (MEC), which provides services based on the location of the terminal.

[0006] When such 5G mobile communication systems are commercialized, connected devices, which are increasing explosively, will be connected to communication networks. Accordingly, it is expected that there will be a need to enhance the functionality and performance of 5G mobile communication systems and to integrate the operation of connected devices. To this end, new research is planned to be conducted on 5G performance improvement and complexity reduction, support for AI services, support for metaverse services, and drone communication using eXtended Reality (XR), Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Machine Learning (ML) to efficiently support Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR), and Mixed Reality (MR).

[0007] Furthermore, the advancement of these 5G mobile communication systems encompasses multi-antenna transmission technologies such as new waveforms, Full Dimensional MIMO (FD-MIMO), array antennas, and large-scale antennas to guarantee coverage in the terahertz band of 6G mobile communication technology; metamaterial-based lenses and antennas; high-dimensional spatial multiplexing technology using Orbital Angular Momentum (OAM); and Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface (RIS) technology to improve terahertz band signal coverage; as well as full-duplex technology for enhancing frequency efficiency and system networks in 6G mobile communication technology; AI-based communication technologies that realize system optimization by utilizing satellites and Artificial Intelligence (AI) from the design stage and internalizing end-to-end AI support functions; and the realization of services of complexity exceeding the limits of terminal computing capabilities by utilizing ultra-high-performance communication and computing resources. It could serve as a foundation for the development of next-generation distributed computing technologies.

[0008] As a result of the aforementioned developments and advancements in mobile communication systems, it has become possible to provide a variety of services, and thus measures to effectively provide these services are required.

[0009] Based on the discussion described above, the present disclosure aims to provide an apparatus and method capable of effectively providing a cell measurement result prediction operation in a next-generation wireless communication system.

[0010] The technical problems to be solved in the embodiments of the present disclosure are not limited to those mentioned above, and other technical problems not mentioned will be clearly understood by those skilled in the art to which the present disclosure belongs from the description below.

[0011] The present invention, for solving the above-mentioned problems, comprises a method performed by a terminal in a wireless communication system, the method comprising: receiving radio resource management (RRM) measurement prediction setting information from a base station; transmitting a measurement report related to cell measurement result prediction to the base station based on the RRM measurement prediction setting information, wherein the measurement report related to cell measurement result prediction includes either a measurement result of a cell and a predicted result of a cell, or a monitoring result of a cell generated based on the measurement result and the predicted result of a cell; and receiving cell measurement result prediction control information for changing a cell measurement result prediction operation from the base station based on the measurement report.

[0012] The present invention, for solving the above-mentioned problems, comprises a method performed by a base station in a wireless communication system, the method comprising: transmitting radio resource management (RRM) measurement prediction setting information to a terminal; receiving a measurement report related to cell measurement result prediction from the terminal based on the prediction setting information, wherein the measurement report related to cell measurement result prediction includes either a measurement result of a cell and a predicted result of a cell, or a monitoring result of a cell generated based on the measurement result and the predicted result of a cell; determining whether to change the cell measurement result prediction operation based on the measurement report; and transmitting cell measurement result prediction control information for changing the cell measurement result prediction operation to the terminal.

[0013] The present invention, for solving the above-mentioned problems, comprises in a terminal of a wireless communication system: a transceiver that transmits and receives a signal; and a control unit connected to the transceiver; wherein the control unit receives radio resource management (RRM) measurement prediction setting information from a base station and transmits a measurement report related to cell measurement result prediction to the base station based on the RRM measurement prediction setting information, wherein the measurement report related to cell measurement result prediction includes either a measurement result of a cell and a predicted result of a cell, or a monitoring result of a cell generated based on the measurement result and the predicted result of a cell; and wherein, based on the measurement report, the control unit receives cell measurement result prediction control information for changing the cell measurement result prediction operation from the base station.

[0014] The present invention, for solving the above-mentioned problems, comprises in a base station of a wireless communication system: a transceiver that transmits and receives signals; and a control unit connected to the transceiver. The control unit transmits Radio Resource Management (RRM) measurement prediction setting information to a terminal, and receives a measurement report related to cell measurement result prediction from the terminal based on the RRM measurement prediction setting information. The measurement report related to cell measurement result prediction includes either a measurement result of a cell and a predicted result of a cell, or a monitoring result of a cell generated based on the measurement result and the predicted result of a cell. Based on the measurement report, the control unit determines whether to change the cell measurement result prediction operation to the terminal, and transmits cell measurement result prediction control information for changing the cell measurement result prediction operation.

[0015] The present disclosure provides an apparatus and method capable of effectively performing cell measurement result prediction in a next-generation wireless communication system.

[0016] The effects obtainable in the present disclosure are not limited to those mentioned in the various embodiments, and other unmentioned effects will be clearly understood by those skilled in the art to which the present disclosure pertains from the description below.

[0017] FIG. 1a is a drawing illustrating the structure of a new radio (NR) system according to one embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0018] FIG. 1b is a diagram illustrating a wireless protocol structure in a long term evolution (LTE) and new radio (NR) system according to one embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0019] FIG. 1c is a drawing illustrating a use case utilizing an Artificial Intelligence (AI) / Machine Learning (ML) model for predicting cell measurement results in a next-generation mobile communication system according to one embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0020] FIG. 1d is a diagram illustrating a specific method of utilizing an Artificial Intelligence (AI) / Machine Learning (ML) model for predicting cell measurement results in a next-generation mobile communication system according to one embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0021] FIG. 1e is a flowchart illustrating the process of a base station according to one embodiment of the present disclosure determining whether to perform a cell measurement result prediction operation based on the predicted performance monitoring results.

[0022] FIG. 1f is a flowchart of a process in which a terminal determines whether to perform a cell measurement result prediction operation based on a prediction performance monitoring result, according to one embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0023] FIG. 1g is a drawing illustrating a method for a terminal to monitor the performance (or accuracy) of a cell measurement result prediction operation according to one embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0024] FIG. 2 is a drawing illustrating a terminal device according to one embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0025] FIG. 3 is a drawing illustrating a base station device according to one embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0026] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Furthermore, in describing the present disclosure, if it is determined that a detailed description of related known functions or configurations may unnecessarily obscure the essence of the present invention, such detailed description will be omitted. Additionally, the terms described below are defined considering their functions in the present disclosure, and these may vary depending on the intentions or conventions of the user or operator. Therefore, their definitions should be based on the content throughout this specification.

[0027] The advantages and features of the present disclosure and the methods for achieving them will become clear by referring to the embodiments described below in detail together with the accompanying drawings. However, the present disclosure is not limited to the embodiments disclosed below but may be implemented in various different forms. The embodiments provided are merely to ensure that the disclosure is complete and to fully inform those skilled in the art of the scope of the invention, and the present disclosure is defined only by the scope of the claims. Throughout the specification, the same reference numerals refer to the same components.

[0028] At this point, it will be understood that each block of the process flow diagrams and combinations of the flow diagrams can be executed by computer program instructions. Since these computer program instructions can be loaded into the processor of a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, or other programmable data processing equipment, the instructions executed through the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing equipment create means to perform the functions described in the flow diagram block(s). Since these computer program instructions can also be stored in computer-available or computer-readable memory that can be directed toward the computer or other programmable data processing equipment to implement the function in a specific way, the instructions stored in computer-available or computer-readable memory can also produce a manufactured item containing instruction means to perform the function described in the flow diagram block(s). Since computer program instructions can be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing equipment, instructions that perform a series of operation steps on the computer or other programmable data processing equipment to create a process executed by the computer can also provide steps for executing the functions described in the flowchart block(s).

[0029] Additionally, each block may represent a module, segment, or part of code containing one or more executable instructions for executing a specific logical function(s). It should also be noted that in some alternative execution examples, the functions mentioned in the blocks may occur out of order. For example, two blocks described in succession may actually be executed substantially simultaneously, or the blocks may sometimes be executed in reverse order according to their corresponding functions.

[0030] In this embodiment, the term "part" refers to a software or hardware component such as an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) or an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), and the "part" performs certain roles. However, the meaning of "part" is not limited to software or hardware. The "part" may be configured to reside in an addressable storage medium or configured to run one or more processors. Accordingly, as an example, the "part" includes components such as software components, object-oriented software components, class components, and task components, as well as processes, functions, attributes, procedures, subroutines, segments of program code, drivers, firmware, microcode, circuits, data, databases, data structures, tables, arrays, and variables. The functions provided within the components and "parts" may be combined into a smaller number of components and "parts" or further separated into additional components and "parts." In addition, the components and '~parts' may be implemented to utilize one or more CPUs within the device or secure multimedia card. Also, in the embodiment, the '~part' may include one or more processors.

[0031] In describing the present disclosure below, if it is determined that a detailed description of related known functions or configurations could unnecessarily obscure the essence of the present disclosure, such detailed description will be omitted. Embodiments of the present disclosure will be described below with reference to the attached drawings.

[0032] Terms used in the following description to identify connection nodes, terms referring to network entities, terms referring to messages, terms referring to interfaces between network entities, terms referring to various identification information, etc., are examples provided for the convenience of explanation. Accordingly, the present disclosure is not limited to the terms described below, and other terms referring to objects having equivalent technical meanings may be used.

[0033] In the following description, the terms "physical channel" and "signal" may be used interchangeably with "data" or "control signal." For example, PDSCH (physical downlink shared channel) is a term referring to a physical channel through which data is transmitted, but PDSCH may also be used to refer to data. That is, in this disclosure, the expression "transmits a physical channel" may be interpreted as equivalent to the expression "transmits data or a signal through a physical channel."

[0034] In the present disclosure, upper signaling refers to a signal transmission method transmitted from a base station to a terminal using a physical layer downlink data channel, or from a terminal to a base station using a physical layer uplink data channel. Upper signaling may be understood as radio resource control (RRC) signaling or a media access control (MAC) control element (CE).

[0035] For convenience of explanation, the present disclosure uses terms and names defined in the 3GPP NR (3rd Generation Partnership Project NR (New Radio)) or 3GPP LTE (3rd Generation Partnership Project Long Term Evolution) standards. However, the present disclosure is not limited by the above terms and names and may be applied equally to systems conforming to other standards. In the present disclosure, gNB may be used interchangeably with eNB for convenience of explanation. That is, a base station described as an eNB may represent a gNB. Additionally, the term terminal may refer to mobile phones, MTC devices, NB-IoT devices, sensors, as well as other wireless communication devices.

[0036] Hereinafter, the base station is an entity that performs resource allocation for terminals and may be at least one of a gNodeB (gNB), eNode B (eNB), NodeB, BS (Base Station), wireless access unit, base station controller, or a node on a network. The terminal may include a UE (User Equipment), MS (Mobile Station), cellular phone, smartphone, computer, or a multimedia system capable of performing communication functions. Of course, it is not limited to the above examples.

[0037] FIG. 1a is a drawing illustrating the structure of a new radio (NR) system according to one embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0038] Referring to FIG. 1a, a wireless communication system may be composed of multiple base stations (e.g., gNB (105), ng-eNB (110), ng-eNB (115), gNB (120)), an Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) (125), and a User Plane Function (UPF) (130). A user terminal (User Equipment, hereinafter UE or terminal) (135) may connect to an external network through the base stations (e.g., gNB (105), ng-eNB (110), ng-eNB (115), gNB (120)) and the UPF (130).

[0039] In FIG. 1a, base stations (e.g., gNB (105), ng-eNB (110), ng-eNB (115), gNB (120)) can provide wireless access to terminals connected to the network as access nodes of a cellular network. That is, the base stations (e.g., gNB (105), ng-eNB (110), ng-eNB (115), gNB (120)) can support a connection between the terminals and the core network (CN, Core network; in particular, the CN of NR is referred to as 5GC) by collecting state information such as the buffer state, available transmission power state, and channel state of the terminals to service the traffic of the users and scheduling. Meanwhile, in communication, the User Plane (UP), which is related to the transmission of actual user data, and the Control Plane (CP), which is related to connection management, can be configured separately. In this drawing, gNB (105) and gNB (120) use the UP and CP technologies defined in NR technology, and ng-eNB (110) and ng-eNB (115), although connected to 5GC, can use the UP and CP technologies defined in LTE technology.

[0040] The above AMF (125) is a device responsible for various control functions as well as mobility management functions for the terminal and is connected to multiple base stations, and the UPF (130) may refer to a type of gateway device that provides data transmission. Although not shown in FIG. 1a, the NR wireless communication system may include a Session Management Function (SMF). The SMF can manage packet data network connections, such as protocol data unit (PDU) sessions provided to the terminal.

[0041] FIG. 1b is a diagram illustrating a wireless protocol structure in a long term evolution (LTE) and new radio (NR) system according to one embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0042] Referring to FIG. 1b, the wireless protocol of the LTE system can be composed of PDCP (Packet Data Convergence Protocol) (105)(140), RLC (Radio Link Control) (110)(135), and MAC (Medium Access Control) (115)(130) at the terminal and eNB, respectively.

[0043] PDCP (Packet Data Convergence Protocol) (105) (140) is responsible for operations such as IP header compression / recovery, and Radio Link Control (hereinafter referred to as RLC) (110) (135) can reconfigure PDCP PDU (Protocol Data Unit) to an appropriate size.

[0044] MAC (115)(130) is connected to multiple RLC layer devices configured in one terminal and can perform the operation of multiplexing RLC PDUs into MAC PDUs and demultiplexing RLC PDUs from MAC PDUs.

[0045] The physical (PHY) layer (120) (125) can channel code and modulate upper layer data, create OFDM symbols, and transmit them over a wireless channel, or demodulate and channel decode OFDM symbols received through the wireless channel and transmit them to the upper layer. In addition, the physical layer also uses HARQ (Hybrid ARQ) for additional error correction, and the receiving end transmits a 1-bit indicating whether the packet transmitted by the transmitting end has been received. This is called HARQ ACK / NACK information.

[0046] In the case of LTE, downlink HARQ ACK / NACK information for uplink data transmission is transmitted through the physical channel of PHICH (Physical Hybrid-ARQ Indicator Channel), while in the case of NR, it is possible to determine whether retransmission is required or if a new transmission can be performed through the scheduling information of the terminal in the PDCCH (Physical Dedicated Control Channel), which is the channel where downlink / uplink resource allocation is transmitted. This is because asynchronous HARQ is applied in NR. Uplink HARQ ACK / NACK information for downlink data transmission can be transmitted through the physical channels of PUCCH (Physical Uplink Control Channel) or PUSCH (Physical Uplink Shared Channel). The above PUCCH is generally transmitted in the uplink of the PCell described later, but if the terminal supports it, the base station may additionally transmit it to the SCell described later to the terminal, which is referred to as the PUCCH SCell.

[0047] Although not shown in this drawing, an RRC (Radio Resource Control) layer exists above the PDCP layer of the terminal and the base station, respectively, and the RRC layer can exchange connection and measurement-related setting control messages for wireless resource control.

[0048] Meanwhile, the above PHY layer can be composed of one or more frequencies / carriers, and the technology of setting and using multiple frequencies simultaneously is called carrier aggregation (hereinafter referred to as CA). CA technology allows for a significant increase in transmission capacity by the number of secondary carriers by using one or more secondary carriers in addition to the primary carrier, whereas previously only one carrier was used for communication between a terminal (or User Equipment, UE) and a base station (E-UTRAN NodeB, eNB). Meanwhile, in LTE, a cell within a base station that uses the primary carrier is called a primary cell or PCell (Primary Cell), and a cell within a base station that uses a secondary carrier is called a secondary cell or SCell (Secondary Cell).

[0049] FIG. 1c is a drawing illustrating a use case utilizing an Artificial Intelligence (AI) / Machine Learning (ML) model for predicting cell measurement results in a next-generation mobile communication system according to one embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0050] Referring to Fig. 1c, an Artificial Intelligence (AI) / Machine Learning (ML) model can be used to predict cell measurement results in the time domain.

[0051] For reference, the above cell measurement results may refer to the Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) / Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ) / Signal to Interference Noise Ratio (SINR) values ​​measured by the terminal for each cell.

[0052] In addition, the cell measurement result may include RSRP / RSRQ / SINR values ​​measured by the terminal for each beam when there are multiple beams transmitted by the cell for each cell.

[0053] Additionally, the aforementioned RSRP / RSRQ / SINR values ​​may mean any one of the following four values.

[0054] - RSRP and / or RSRQ and / or SINR measured at Layer 1

[0055] - RSRP and / or RSRQ and / or SINR measured / acquired at Layer 3

[0056] - Values ​​obtained by filtering RSRP and / or RSRQ and / or SINR measured at Layer 1 (e.g., a (weighted) average value using measurements over a specified period)

[0057] - Values ​​obtained by filtering RSRP and / or RSRQ and / or SINR measured / acquired at Layer 3 (e.g., a (weighted) average value using measurements over a specified period)

[0058] The meaning (or definition) of the cell measurement results above can be applied equally to the embodiments of FIG. 1d, FIG. 1e, and FIG. 1f described later.

[0059] When predicting cell measurement results in the time domain, the AI / ML model can be trained such that when past cell measurement results (105) (e.g., Mt cell measurement results measured during the time period t_k-Mt ~ t_k) are input to the AI / ML model (100), future cell measurement result prediction results (110) (e.g., Pt cell measurement results predicted during the time period t_k+1 ~ t_k+Pt) are output to the model.

[0060] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, an AI / ML model for predicting cell measurement results in the aforementioned time domain can be used at a terminal or base station.

[0061] When an AI / ML model for predicting cell measurement results is used (or inferred) at the base station, the base station may instruct the terminal to report the necessary past cell measurement results (105) as input to the AI / ML model (100) for predicting cell measurement results.

[0062] Afterwards, the base station performs a model inference operation using the input data received from the terminal, and can obtain a prediction result (110) of future cell measurement results as the output of the model.

[0063] Conversely, when an AI / ML model for predicting cell measurement results is used (or inferred) at the terminal, the terminal can independently obtain (or acquire) the necessary past cell measurement results (105) as input to the AI / ML model (100) for predicting cell measurement results. Subsequently, the terminal can perform a model inference operation using the input data and obtain (or acquire) future cell measurement result prediction results (110) as output to the model. The base station can set and / or instruct the terminal to perform the cell measurement result prediction operation and report the result value.

[0064] Predicted future cell measurement results in the time domain can be used for two main purposes.

[0065] The first objective is to improve the handover performance of the terminal. The base station can predict the optimal cell for a rapidly moving terminal in advance based on predicted future cell measurement results, and can hand over the terminal to the optimal cell at an appropriate time based on the prediction results.

[0066] More specifically, the base station periodically receives a measurement report from the terminal to receive cell measurement results, and can hand over the terminal to the optimal cell based on the received cell measurement results.

[0067] However, due to changes in the actual channel environment based on the cell measurement result reporting cycle (measurement report transmission cycle), a delay may occur between the time the optimal cell changes and the time the actual base station receives the measurement report from the terminal and identifies it. Furthermore, if the terminal moves rapidly, the delay in changing the cell measurement result can cause the terminal to fail to hand over. For example, due to the delay between the base station receiving the measurement report from the terminal, deciding to hand over the terminal, requesting a handover from the adjacent base station corresponding to the target handover cell, and receiving approval, the terminal may not be handed over in a timely manner, and the terminal may fall into a Radio Link Failure (RLF) state.

[0068] To improve these problems, the base station can predict the optimal cell change of the terminal in advance based on the predicted cell measurement results in the time domain and prevent handover failure by handing over the terminal at an appropriate time.

[0069] The second objective is to reduce the measurement overhead of the terminal. The terminal can reduce the cell measurement overhead while maintaining handover performance by skipping (or omitting) the cell measurement performed at every synchronization signal block (SSB) period (Tper) and replacing the cell measurement value at that point with the predicted cell measurement result.

[0070] More specifically, the terminal can measure cell signal strength at every SSB cycle and perform RRM (Radio Resource Management) related operations based on the measured value. The RRM operations may include operations such as detecting and reporting RRM measurement events and detecting RLF (Radio Link Failure).

[0071] Instead of using the result value measured every SSB cycle Tper for the above RRM operation, the terminal may skip SSB measurements once in a while and use the result value measured every 2*Tper. If the RRM operation is performed using only the result value measured every 2*Tper as described above, the cell measurement load of the terminal is reduced by 50%, but the accuracy of the RRM operation may decrease. For example, measurement events and RLF may not be detected in time. Furthermore, if the accuracy of the RRM operation decreases, it may eventually lead to a degradation of the terminal's handover performance. Therefore, to prevent handover performance degradation while reducing the cell measurement burden, the terminal may predict the cell measurement result at the point where the measurement was skipped and use that result for the RRM operation. By doing so, the terminal can reduce the cell measurement load without degrading the terminal's handover performance.

[0072] In FIGS. 1e and 1f to be described later, in order to achieve the two aforementioned objectives, we propose a specific method and procedure for a base station to instruct a terminal to predict cell measurement results, monitor the prediction performance / accuracy in real time, and control the operation in a scenario where a cell measurement result prediction AI / ML model is used at the terminal end.

[0073] FIG. 1d is a diagram illustrating a specific method of utilizing an Artificial Intelligence (AI) / Machine Learning (ML) model for predicting cell measurement results in a next-generation mobile communication system according to one embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0074] Referring to Fig. 1d, the following methods may be considered as specific ways to utilize Artificial Intelligence (AI) / Machine Learning (ML) models to predict cell measurement results.

[0075] ● Method 1 (100, without measurement reduction): The terminal can use an AI / ML model to predict future Pt measurement results (115) in the prediction window based on Mt measurement results (110) measured in the observation window.

[0076] At this time, the terminal can perform cell measurements every Tper through the SSB or channel state information-reference signal (CSI-RS) transmitted every Tper. Every Tper, the terminal can predict cell measurement results by shifting (or sliding) the observation window and the prediction window by 1 Tper. That is, the terminal performs cell measurements every Tper and can predict future cell measurement results.

[0077] In the case of Method 1, there is no effect of reducing the measurement load at the terminal end, but the effect of optimizing HO performance based on future cell measurement results can be expected. Since the terminal can obtain (or acquire) actual measured cell measurement results every Tper as in the conventional method and use them for RRM operation, the aforementioned cell measurement result prediction operation may not affect RRM operation.

[0078] ● Method 2-1 (200, with measurement reduction): The terminal can use an AI / ML model to predict future Pt measurement results (215) in the prediction window based on Mt measurement results (210) measured in the observation window. At this time, the terminal can measure the SSB or CSI-RS transmitted every Tper only in the observation window. Unlike the aforementioned Method 1, the terminal can perform cell measurements only in the observation window and predict cell measurement results in the prediction window without actual cell measurements. That is, in the time domain, the observation window and the prediction window can alternate and cross each other without being pushed (or sliding) every Tper.

[0079] In the case of Method 2-1, the measurement load at the terminal can be reduced because the terminal does not perform actual cell measurements within the prediction window. At this time, the measurement reduction rate of the terminal can be calculated and / or expressed as 'Pt / Mt+Pt'. However, unlike conventional methods, since the terminal does not perform cell measurements within the prediction window instead of measuring cells every Tper, this cell measurement result prediction operation may affect the existing RRM operation. In other words, the operation according to Method 2-1 may degrade the handover performance of the terminal. Therefore, the terminal can prevent the degradation of handover performance caused by the reduction in cell measurement load by using the predicted cell measurement results within the prediction window, where actual cell measurements were not performed, in the existing RRM operation.

[0080] ● Method 2-2 (300, with measurement reduction): A terminal can predict cell measurement results at Tper intervals based on the results of performing cell measurements at Tper' intervals using an AI / ML model. At this time, the terminal can reduce the cell measurement load by measuring the SSB or CSI-RS transmitted every Tper at intervals of Tper', which is a multiple of Tper. At this time, the measurement reduction rate of the terminal can be calculated and / or expressed as Tper / Tper'.

[0081] However, unlike the existing method, the terminal measures cells every Tper' instead of every Tper, so this may affect the RRM operation that was previously performed based on the results measured every Tper. In other words, the operation of Method 2-2 may degrade the handover performance of the terminal. Therefore, the terminal can prevent the degrade in handover performance caused by the reduction in cell measurement load by using the predicted cell measurement results in the existing RRM operation when actual cell measurement has not been performed.

[0082] FIGS. 1e and FIG. 1f, which illustrate an embodiment of the present disclosure, describe specific embodiments of a method and procedure for a base station to instruct and control a terminal to predict a cell measurement result in a scenario in which a cell measurement result prediction AI / ML model is used at a terminal to perform a cell measurement result prediction operation using any one of the aforementioned methods.

[0083] FIG. 1e is a flowchart illustrating the process of a base station according to one embodiment of the present disclosure determining whether to perform a cell measurement result prediction operation based on the predicted performance monitoring results.

[0084] Referring to FIG. 1e, a terminal (user equipment, UE, 100) reports to a base station (gNB, 105) whether it supports a cell measurement result prediction function, and if the terminal supports a cell measurement result prediction function, the base station may instruct the terminal to predict the cell measurement result. Subsequently, the terminal may perform a cell measurement result prediction operation in accordance with the base station's instructions.

[0085] A terminal or a base station may continuously check (monitor) the accuracy (or performance) of the cell measurement result prediction being performed by the terminal. Subsequently, the base station may determine whether the terminal should continue to perform the cell measurement result prediction operation based on the results of monitoring the terminal's prediction accuracy (or performance). If the base station decides to disable the terminal's cell measurement result prediction operation, the base station may instruct the terminal to disable the operation. Below, specific signaling and operations between the terminal and the base station for performing the aforementioned operations will be described.

[0086] In step 110, the terminal (100) and the base station (105) may exchange terminal capability information related to cell measurement result prediction. The terminal may transmit to the base station at least one (or a combination) of the following indicators representing terminal capability information related to cell measurement prediction (i.e., RRM measurement prediction) within a radio resource control (RRC) message (e.g., UECapabilityInformation message).

[0087] - Indicator indicating whether RRM measurement prediction (without measurement reduction) is supported: If the terminal supports the cell measurement result prediction operation according to method 1 (100) of FIG. 1d described above, it may include the corresponding indicator (or an indicator related to whether the cell measurement result prediction operation according to method 1 is supported) in the RRC message (e.g., UECapabilityInformation message) (or set to a True / Supported value) and transmit it to the base station.

[0088] For reference, the above cell measurement result prediction operation may refer to an operation that predicts RSRP / SINR / RSRQ measurement results by cell and / or beam. More specifically, the above indicator may indicate whether the terminal can predict future cell measurement results and report them to the base station.

[0089] - Indicator indicating whether RRM measurement prediction (with measurement reduction) is supported: If the terminal supports cell measurement result prediction operations corresponding to method 2-1 (100) and method 2-2 (200) of FIG. 1d described above, it may include the corresponding indicator (or an indicator related to whether it supports cell measurement result prediction operations according to method 2-1 or method 2-2) in the RRC message (e.g., UECapabilityInformation message) and transmit it to the base station (or set to a True / Supported value).

[0090] For reference, the cell measurement result prediction operation mentioned above may refer to an operation that predicts RSRP / SINR / RSRQ measurement results per cell and / or beam. More specifically, the indicator may indicate whether the terminal can predict future cell measurement results and use them in existing RRM operations.

[0091] Additionally, a single common indicator may be used to indicate whether the operation of predicting future cell measurement results and reporting them to the base station, and the operation of using the predicted results in existing RRM operations are supported by combining the terminal capabilities indicated by the two indicators above.

[0092] - Indicator indicating whether performance monitoring is supported for the RRM measurement prediction operation: If the terminal performs cell measurement result prediction and supports a monitoring operation that continuously checks the performance (or accuracy) of the prediction operation, it may include the corresponding indicator (or set it to a True / Supported value) in the RRC message and transmit it to the base station. More specifically, the indicator may indicate whether the terminal operation required to perform the NW-side monitoring procedure (130) and the UE-side monitoring procedure (140) described below is supported. Additionally, the indicator may be defined separately for each procedure to indicate whether support is provided for each of the NW-side monitoring procedure (130) and the UE-side monitoring procedure (140).

[0093] For reference, the above terminal (100) can report the above terminal capability information to the base station (105) in units of terminal (UE), frequency range, frequency band, or feature set combination.

[0094] In step 121, the base station (106) can be configured to perform a cell measurement result prediction operation (e.g., RRM prediction configuration) on the terminal (100).

[0095] More specifically, the terminal (100) may transmit an (initial) configuration to the terminal to instruct it to perform a cell measurement result prediction operation in one of the methods described in FIG. 1d.

[0096] The above settings (or RRM prediction configuration) may include settings for target cells to be used to predict cell measurement results, reporting settings for cell measurement prediction results, and the length of the prediction window. The reporting settings for cell measurement prediction results may include at least one of a reporting period and content, or a reporting type (periodical, event-triggered).

[0097] Additionally, the base station (105) may set multiple measurement result prediction operations for multiple cells / MOs (measurement objects). In this case, setting information such as the reporting settings for the cell measurement prediction results and the prediction window length described above may be provided for each measurement prediction operation, and each measurement prediction operation may be connected (or linked) to a specific ID value (e.g., predictId).

[0098] Additionally, the base station (105) may be configured to report applicability information (123) indicating whether the terminal can perform a cell measurement result prediction operation according to the initial settings. More specifically, the base station (105) may provide the terminal with the initial settings an indicator to instruct the terminal to report the applicability information (123) via a UEAssistanceInformation or RRCReconfigurationComplete message. If multiple measurement result prediction operations are configured for the terminal (100), the terminal (100) may be configured to report applicability information separately for each measurement result prediction operation (i.e., for each predictId).

[0099] Additionally, the base station (105) may transmit the configuration information required by the terminal (100) along with the initial configuration to perform the NW-side monitoring procedure (130) and UE-side monitoring procedure (140) described below.

[0100] Specific configuration information required for the monitoring procedure is described together in the description of the NW-side monitoring procedure (130) and UE-side monitoring procedure (140) below. For the above configuration, a specific RRC message (e.g., RRCReconfiguration) may be used.

[0101] In step 123, the terminal (100) may report to the base station (105) whether it can perform a cell measurement result prediction operation according to the cell prediction setting in step 121.

[0102] The above terminal may use a 1-bit indicator (e.g., Applicability related information) to indicate whether a cell measurement result prediction operation can be performed in order to report whether a cell measurement result prediction operation can be performed.

[0103] More specifically, if the terminal (100) has a model available for predicting cell measurement results according to the base station (105) setting in step 121 and can perform cell measurement result prediction using said model, it may report to the base station (105) by including a 1-bit indicator to indicate whether the cell measurement result prediction operation can be performed (or set to 'True' / 'Available' / 'Supported').

[0104] If the terminal (100) cannot perform cell measurement result prediction using the model due to the base station (105) setting in step 121, or due to the terminal (100) constraints (e.g., insufficient memory, heat, or insufficient battery), it may report to the base station (105) by omitting (or setting to 'False' / 'NotAvailable' / 'NotSupported') a 1-bit indicator to indicate whether the cell measurement result prediction operation can be performed.

[0105] If, in step 121 above, a plurality of measurement result prediction operations are set for the terminal (100), the terminal (100) can individually report applicability information (the 1-bit indicator) for each measurement result prediction operation (in other words, for each predictId).

[0106] For the above report, a specific RRC message (e.g., UEAssistanceInformation or RRCReconfigurationComplete) may be used.

[0107] Additionally, if the terminal (100) reports that the cell measurement result prediction operation cannot be performed, the base station (105) may return to step 121 and provide a new cell measurement result prediction setting to the terminal (100). Subsequently, the terminal (100) may determine whether the cell measurement result prediction can be performed again based on the new cell measurement result prediction setting and report the result to the base station (105). Thus, the base station (105) and the terminal (100) may repeat the operations in steps 121 and 123 and discuss an appropriate model (or option) available for the cell measurement result prediction operation.

[0108] In step 125, the base station (105) may set and / or activate a cell measurement result prediction operation to reduce the cell measurement load for the terminal (100) based on the information reported by the terminal (100) in step 123. To this end, an indicator for activating the cell measurement result prediction operation (or cell measurement load reduction operation) may be included and / or set in a message transmitted by the base station (105) to the terminal (100).

[0109] Additionally, if the base station (105) does not transmit the configuration information required by the terminal (100) to perform the NW-side monitoring procedure (130) and the UE-side monitoring procedure (140) in step 121, the base station (105) may transmit the information together in step 125. A predetermined RRC message (e.g., RRCReconfiguration) or a media access control (MAC) control element (CE) may be used to set / activate the cell measurement result prediction operation. When the terminal (100) is instructed to activate the cell measurement result prediction operation, the terminal (100) may start the cell measurement result prediction operation and simultaneously perform the necessary operations to perform the NW-side monitoring procedure (130) and the UE-side monitoring procedure (140) as described below.

[0110] As described above in FIG. 1d, the terminal can predict cell measurement information, and the terminal and base station can utilize the prediction results to improve the handover performance of the terminal or reduce the measurement load of the terminal. However, if the accuracy of AI / ML-based cell measurement result prediction is not guaranteed above a certain level, the handover performance of the terminal may actually deteriorate.

[0111] For example, if a terminal predicts that the signal strength for a specific cell A will improve over time, the base station may instruct the terminal to hand over to cell A based on the prediction result. However, if the accuracy (or performance) of the prediction is low and the actual signal strength for cell A does not improve, the terminal may fail to hand over to cell A. Therefore, the terminal and the base station can continuously check (or monitor) the performance (or accuracy) of the cell measurement result prediction performed by the terminal. If the performance (or accuracy) of the cell measurement result prediction falls below a certain level, the base station (105) may decide to disable the cell measurement result prediction operation of the terminal (100) and instruct the terminal (100) to disable the operation.

[0112] For reference, the performance (or accuracy) of cell measurement result prediction can be calculated as the difference between the predicted result value and the actual measured result value. More specifically, when RSRP / RSRQ / SINR for each cell is predicted and measured in dB units, the RSRP / RSRQ / SINR difference between the predicted value and the measured value can be calculated in dB units and used as the performance (or accuracy) of the prediction. At least one of the following two methods may be used to monitor the performance (or accuracy) of this cell measurement result prediction operation.

[0113] ● Method 1 (NW-side monitoring, NW-side decision) (130): The base station (105) can directly monitor the cell measurement result prediction operation performance (accuracy) of the terminal (100) and determine whether to enable or disable the cell measurement result prediction operation. The specific signaling procedure between the terminal (100) and the base station (105) for this purpose is as described below.

[0114] In step 131, the terminal (100) periodically transmits a measurement (or monitoring) report to the base station (105), and the report may include both the measurement result and the prediction result in a specific time domain. This is to help the base station (105) calculate the prediction accuracy (e.g., RSRP / RSRQ / SINR difference) value through the measurement result and the prediction result. A specific RRC message (e.g., MeasurementReport, MonitoringReport, PredictionReport, etc.) may be used for the report.

[0115] The terminal (100) may report result values ​​measured at one or more multiple points in time and predicted result values ​​together within the report message. More specifically, result values ​​measured at the same point in time and predicted result values ​​may be connected as pairs, and multiple pairs may be reported together for multiple points in time. Two options may be considered to configure the terminal (100) to periodically report measurement results and predicted results together as described above.

[0116] * Option 1 (Setting a separate reporting procedure for monitoring): In steps 121 and 125, the base station (105) may be configured to have the terminal (100) report both the cell measurement value and the predicted value within the monitoring window that occurs at each monitoring interval while performing a cell measurement result prediction operation. To this end, the base station (105) may set the monitoring interval and the monitoring window length to the terminal (100). At this time, the monitoring interval and the monitoring window length may be set in units of frame, slot, symbol, second, mille second, or microsecond. The terminal (100) may perform both actual measurement and prediction within the monitoring window set by the base station (105) and report the result value to the base station (105) at the monitoring interval.

[0117] * Option 2 (Reuse of prediction reporting procedure settings): In steps 121 and 125, the base station (105) may be configured so that the terminal (100) periodically reports the predicted result value within the prediction window at each prediction report interval while performing a cell measurement result prediction operation (in other words, to report including the predicted result value in the prediction or measurement report). At this time, for the monitoring procedure, the base station (105) may be configured so that the terminal (100) reports the actual measured result value together with the predicted result value within the prediction window. To this end, the base station (105) may include a 1-bit indicator to instruct the terminal (100) to report the predicted result value and the measured result value together within the prediction window.

[0118] Additionally, to improve the inefficiency of reporting both the predicted result and the measured result together every time a prediction report is transmitted, the base station (105) may include a measurement value reporting period 'N' in the setting so that the measured result is reported together only once every N prediction reports. However, if the prediction reporting procedure setting is reused for the monitoring procedure setting, a constraint may be added that the type of the prediction reporting procedure setting must be 'periodical'. This is because if the terminal (100) is configured not to perform prediction reporting periodically but only when a specific event occurs, the base station (105) cannot periodically monitor the accuracy of the cell measurement result prediction performed by the terminal (100).

[0119] When a cell measurement result prediction operation is performed to obtain cell measurement result values ​​for the distant future, as in Method 1 of FIG. 1d above, when the terminal (100) reports prediction results for points in time within a future prediction window to the base station (105), the terminal (100) cannot have actual measurement result values ​​for those points in time. Therefore, the terminal (100) can report the prediction value within a specific prediction window through the transmission of a measurement / prediction report, and together report the measurement result value corresponding to the prediction value within the previous prediction window included in the previous report. In this case, the base station (105) can calculate the accuracy of the cell measurement result prediction operation performed by the terminal (100) (e.g., RSRP / RSRQ / SINR difference) by comparing the prediction value for the previous prediction window included in the previous prediction report with the measurement value for the previous prediction window included in the next prediction report.

[0120] In step 133, the base station (105) can continuously monitor the performance (or accuracy) (e.g., RSRP / RSRQ / SINR difference) of the cell measurement result prediction operation being performed by the terminal (100) based on the actual measurement value and the predicted value for the same point in time reported by the terminal (100) in step 131.

[0121] In step 135, the base station (105) may decide to disable the cell measurement result prediction operation of the terminal (100) based on the monitoring results from step 133. Alternatively, the base station (105) may decide to change the model used for predicting the cell measurement result, or to disable the cell measurement result prediction operation and return to (or fallback to) the existing cell measurement operation.

[0122] In step 137, the base station (105) may instruct the terminal (100) to disable the cell measurement result prediction operation (or change the model used for the cell measurement result, or fallback to the existing cell measurement operation). To this end, a predetermined RRC message (e.g., RRCReconfiguration) or MAC CE may be used. At this time, the base station (105) may also instruct and / or provide the terminal (100) with information indicating the reason / cause of the disable instruction. The field indicating the reason / cause may be set to at least one of the following values.

[0123] - 'Normal': This means that the base station normally disables the cell measurement result prediction operation of the terminal. When the cell measurement result prediction operation of the terminal (100) is no longer needed from the perspective of the base station (105), the base station (105) instructs the disablement of the operation and may set the cause value to 'normal'. When the terminal (100) is instructed to disable the cell measurement result prediction operation along with the cause value set to 'normal', it may apply the disablement and not perform any additional operations.

[0124] - 'Performance degradation': This means that the base station detects a performance degradation (in other words, a decrease in accuracy) of the terminal's cell measurement result prediction operation and disables the operation. When the base station (105) detects a performance degradation of the terminal's (100) cell measurement result prediction operation, the base station (105) may instruct the deactivation of the operation and set the cause value to 'performance degradation'. When the terminal (100) receives the instruction to deactivate the cell measurement result prediction operation and also receives the cause value set to 'performance degradation', the terminal (100) may report to the base station (105) that the cell measurement result prediction operation has become possible again, as in step 123, after preparing a new model to be used for the cell measurement result prediction operation.

[0125] ● Method 2 (UE-side monitoring, NW-side decision) (140): The terminal (100) can directly monitor the performance / accuracy of the cell measurement result prediction operation of the terminal (100) and report the result (in other words, performance metric) to the base station (105). The base station (105) can decide whether to enable or disable the cell measurement result prediction operation based on the monitoring result reported by the terminal (100). The specific signaling procedure between the terminal (100) and the base station (105) for this purpose will be described later.

[0126] In step 141, the terminal (100) can continuously monitor the performance / accuracy (e.g., RSRP / RSRQ / SINR difference) of the cell measurement result prediction operation being performed.

[0127] In step 143, the terminal (100) transmits a measurement (or monitoring) report to the base station (105) in a periodic manner or by event triggering, and the report may include an indicator (e.g., RSRP / RSRQ / SINR difference value) indicating the performance / accuracy of the cell measurement result prediction operation.

[0128] Additionally, the terminal (100) may include an indicator in the report requesting the base station (105) to disable the cell measurement result prediction operation or to fallback to the existing measurement operation. In another embodiment, the terminal (100) may include an indicator in the report indicating that the requirements for prediction accuracy defined in the prediction performance monitoring result specifications have not been satisfied (or have not been satisfied). A predetermined RRC message (e.g., MeasurementReport, MonitoringReport, PredictionReport, etc.) may be used for the report. More specifically, as described below, the terminal (100) may report the monitoring results to the base station (105) in a periodic manner or an event-triggering manner.

[0129] * Periodic method: In steps 121 and 125, the base station (105) may be configured to report the performance (or accuracy) of the cell measurement result prediction operation calculated within a monitoring window that occurs at each monitoring interval while the terminal (100) performs the cell measurement result prediction operation. To this end, the base station (105) may set the monitoring interval and monitoring window length to the terminal (100). At this time, the monitoring interval and monitoring window length may be set in units of frame, slot, symbol, second, mille second, or microsecond.

[0130] The terminal (100) can perform both actual measurement and prediction within the monitoring window set by the base station (105), calculate an indicator value (e.g., RSRP / RSRQ / SINR difference value) representing the performance (or accuracy) of the prediction operation, and report the value to the base station (105) at a monitoring interval.

[0131] * Event Triggering Method: In steps 121 and 125, the base station (105) may be configured to continuously monitor the performance / accuracy of the cell measurement result prediction operation while the terminal (100) performs the cell measurement result prediction operation, and to transmit a measurement (or monitoring) report to the base station (105) when a specific event condition is satisfied. The terminal (100) may include an indicator value (e.g., RSRP / RSRQ / SINR difference value) indicating the cell measurement result prediction performance (or accuracy) along with an indicator indicating that a specific event has occurred within the report.

[0132] To this end, the base station (105) may be configured so that the terminal (100) monitors the performance (or accuracy) of the cell measurement result prediction operation (e.g., RSRP / RSRQ / SINR difference value) within a monitoring window that occurs at each monitoring interval and checks whether the reporting event condition is satisfied. To this end, the base station (105) may set the monitoring interval and the monitoring window length to the terminal (100). At this time, the monitoring interval and the monitoring window length may be set in units of frame, slot, symbol, second, mille second, or microsecond. Alternatively, the values ​​for the period during which the terminal must perform performance monitoring (i.e., the monitoring window interval) and the length of the monitoring period (i.e., the monitoring window length) may be defined in the specifications. Alternatively, the terminal may continuously monitor the performance (or accuracy) of the cell measurement result prediction operation (e.g., RSRP / RSRQ / SINR difference value) and check whether the reporting event condition is satisfied without a separate monitoring interval / window setting (i.e., in a sliding window manner). The above terminal (100) can transmit a measurement (or monitoring) report to the base station (105) when at least one of the events described below is satisfied.

[0133] - Event 1: When the average (or filtered) RSRP / RSRQ / SINR difference value (calculated within the monitoring window) becomes greater than a specific difference threshold, the terminal (100) may transmit a measurement (or monitoring) report to the base station (105). To this end, the base station (105) may set a threshold value required to verify whether the event condition is satisfied in steps 121 and 125 to the terminal (100). More specifically, the threshold value may be set to the terminal (100) in dB units.

[0134] According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, an RSRP / RSRQ / SINR difference threshold may be defined in the standard. In this case, if the average (or filtered) RSRP / RSRQ / SINR difference value (within a monitoring window) is greater than (or greater than or equal to) the RSRP / RSRQ / SINR difference threshold defined in the standard without separate base station settings, the terminal may determine that the accuracy of the terminal's prediction operation does not satisfy (or meet) the accuracy requirements defined in the standard and report this to the base station.

[0135] - Event M2: If the average (or filtered) RSRP / RSRQ / SINR difference value (calculated within the monitoring window) is consistently greater than a specific difference threshold for a specific time to trigger, the terminal (100) may transmit a measurement (or monitoring) report to the base station (105). To this end, the base station (105) may set the difference threshold and the time to trigger required to verify whether the event condition is satisfied in steps 121 and 125 to the terminal (100).

[0136] According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, an RSRP / RSRQ / SINR difference threshold and / or a specific threshold time value (TimeToTrigger) may be defined in the standard. In this case, the terminal may determine that the accuracy of the terminal's prediction operation does not satisfy (or meet) the accuracy requirements defined in the standard and report this to the base station if, without separate base station settings (within a monitoring window), the average (or filtered or real-time) RSRP / RSRQ / SINR difference value is consistently greater (or greater than or equal to) the RSRP / RSRQ / SINR difference threshold defined in the standard for a specific threshold time (TimeToTrigger).

[0137] - Event M3: When the frequency (number of times per unit time) of a real-time / instantaneous RSRP / RSRQ / SINR difference value (calculated within the monitoring window) is higher than a specific difference threshold, the terminal (100) may transmit a measurement (or monitoring) report to the base station. To this end, the base station may set the difference threshold and frequency threshold required to verify whether the event condition is satisfied in steps 121 and 125 to the terminal (100). According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, an RSRP / RSRQ / SINR difference threshold and / or a specific frequency threshold may be defined in the specification. In this case, the terminal may determine that the accuracy of the terminal's prediction operation does not satisfy (or meet) the accuracy requirements defined in the standard and report this to the base station if, without separate base station settings, the frequency (number of times per unit time) of the average (or filtered or real-time) RSRP / RSRQ / SINR difference value (within the monitoring window) is higher than the RSRP / RSRQ / SINR difference threshold value defined in the standard and is higher than the specific frequency threshold.

[0138] - Event M4: The terminal can count a real-time / instantaneous RSRP / RSRQ / SINR difference value (within the monitoring window) as a success (success / pass) if it is lower than a specific difference threshold, and as a failure if it is higher. And if the ratio of the number of successes to the total number of counts (success rate) is lower than (or lower than or equal to) a specific success rate threshold (e.g., 95%), the terminal (100) can transmit a measurement (or monitoring) report to the base station. To this end, the base station can set a difference threshold and / or a specific success rate threshold required to verify whether the event condition is satisfied in step 121 and / or step 125 to the terminal (100).

[0139] According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, an RSRP / RSRQ / SINR difference threshold and / or a specific success rate threshold may be defined in the standard. In this case, the terminal may count a real-time / instantaneous RSRP / RSRQ / SINR difference value as a success (success / pass) if it is lower than the specific threshold (difference threshold) (within a monitoring window) without separate base station settings, and count a failure if it is higher. Furthermore, if the ratio of the number of successes to the total number of counts (success rate) is lower than (or lower than or equal to) the specific success rate threshold (e.g., 95%), it is determined that the accuracy of the terminal's prediction operation does not satisfy (or meet) the accuracy requirements defined in the standard, and this may be reported to the base station.

[0140] In step 145, the base station (105) may decide to disable the cell measurement result prediction operation of the terminal (100) based on the monitoring results included in the measurement / prediction / monitoring report transmitted by the terminal (100) in step 143. Alternatively, it may decide to change the model used for predicting the cell measurement result, or to disable the cell measurement result prediction operation and fallback to the existing cell measurement operation.

[0141] In step 147, the base station (105) may instruct the terminal (100) to disable the cell measurement result prediction operation (or change the model used for the cell measurement result, or fallback to the existing cell measurement operation). To this end, a predetermined RRC message (e.g., RRCReconfiguration) or MAC CE may be used. At this time, the base station (105) may also instruct / provide information to the terminal (100) indicating the reason / cause of the disable instruction. The field indicating the reason / cause may be set to at least one of the following values.

[0142] - 'Normal': This means that the base station normally disables the cell measurement result prediction operation of the terminal. When the cell measurement result prediction operation of the terminal (100) is no longer needed from the perspective of the base station (105), the base station (105) instructs the disablement of the operation and may set the cause value to 'normal'. When the terminal (100) is instructed to disable the cell measurement result prediction operation along with the cause value set to 'normal', it may apply the disablement and not perform any additional operations.

[0143] - 'Performance degradation': This means that the base station detects a performance degradation (in other words, a decrease in accuracy) of the cell measurement result prediction operation of the terminal and disables the operation. When the base station (105) detects a performance degradation of the cell measurement result prediction operation of the terminal (100), the base station (105) disables the operation and can set the cause value to 'performance degradation'. When the terminal (100) receives a cause value set to 'performance degradation' along with the instruction to disable the cell measurement result prediction operation, the terminal (100) can report to the base station (105) that the cell measurement result prediction operation has become possible again, as in step 123, after preparing a new model to be used for the cell measurement result prediction operation.

[0144] FIG. 1f is a flowchart of a process in which a terminal determines whether to perform a cell measurement result prediction operation based on a prediction performance monitoring result, according to one embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0145] Referring to FIG. 1f, a terminal (user equipment, UE, 100) reports to a base station (gNB, 105) whether it supports a cell measurement result prediction function, and if the terminal (100) supports the function, the base station (105) may instruct the terminal (100) to predict the cell measurement result. Subsequently, the terminal (100) may perform a cell measurement result prediction operation in accordance with the instructions of the base station (105). The terminal (100) may continuously check (monitor) the performance / accuracy of the cell measurement result prediction being performed. Subsequently, the terminal (100) may determine whether to continue performing the cell measurement result prediction operation based on the results of monitoring the prediction performance / accuracy. To this end, the base station (105) may provide the terminal (100) with configuration information necessary for the terminal (100) to determine whether to perform the cell measurement result prediction operation based on the monitoring results. If the terminal (100) decides to disable the cell measurement result prediction operation, the terminal (100) may disable the operation and report the result to the base station (105). Specific step-by-step signaling and operations between the terminal (100) and the base station (105) for the operations described above may be described as follows.

[0146] In step 110, the base station (105) and the terminal (100) can exchange capability information of the terminal (100) related to cell measurement result prediction. The terminal (100) can transmit to the base station at least one combination of the following indicators representing capability information of the terminal (100) related to cell measurement prediction (i.e., RRM measurement prediction) within an RRC message (e.g., UECapabilityInformation message).

[0147] - Indicator indicating whether RRM measurement prediction (without measurement reduction) is supported: If the terminal (100) supports a cell measurement result prediction operation corresponding to Method 1 (100) of FIG. 1d, it may include the corresponding indicator (or an indicator related to whether it supports a cell measurement result prediction operation according to Method 1) in the RRC message (or UECapabilityInformation message) (or set to a True / Supported value) and transmit it to the base station. For reference, the cell measurement result prediction operation may refer to an operation that predicts RSRP / SINR / RSRQ measurement results by cell and / or beam. More specifically, the indicator may indicate whether the terminal can predict future cell measurement results and report them to the base station.

[0148] - Indicator indicating whether RRM measurement prediction (with measurement reduction) is supported: If the terminal (100) supports the cell measurement result prediction operation corresponding to method 2-1 (100) and method 2-2 (200) of FIG. 1d, it may include the corresponding indicator (or an indicator related to whether it supports the cell measurement result prediction operation according to method 2-1 or method 2-2) within the RRC message (or UECapabilityInformation message) (or set to a True / Supported value) and transmit it to the base station (105). For reference, the cell measurement result prediction operation may refer to an operation that predicts RSRP / SINR / RSRQ measurement results by cell / beam. More specifically, the indicator may indicate whether the terminal can predict future cell measurement results and use them in existing RRM operations.

[0149] Additionally, a single common indicator may be used to indicate whether the terminal capabilities represented by the two indicators above are combined to support the operation of predicting future cell measurement results and reporting them to the base station, and the operation of using the predicted results in existing RRM operations.

[0150] - An indicator indicating whether performance monitoring and management of RRM measurement prediction operations are supported: If the terminal (100) performs cell measurement result prediction and supports monitoring operations that continuously check the performance / accuracy of the prediction operations and control of the prediction operations based on the monitoring results (e.g., deactivation of the prediction operations), it may include the indicator (or set to a True / Supported value) in the RRC message and transmit it to the base station (105). More specifically, the indicator may indicate whether the terminal (100) operations required to perform the monitoring procedure (126), control procedure (127) (e.g., deactivation of the prediction operations), and control result reporting procedure (129) described in steps 126 to 129 below are supported.

[0151] For reference, the above terminal (100) (100) can report the above-described terminal (100) capability information to the base station (105) (105) in the unit of the terminal (100) (UE), the unit of the frequency range, the unit of the frequency band, or the unit of the feature set combination.

[0152] In step 121, the terminal (100) can be configured to perform a cell measurement result prediction operation (e.g., RRM prediction configuration).

[0153] More specifically, the base station (105) can transmit an (initial) setting to the terminal (100) to instruct the terminal (100) to perform a cell measurement result prediction operation in one of the methods described in FIG. 1d.

[0154] The above settings may include target cell settings for predicting cell measurement results, reporting settings for cell measurement prediction results, and prediction window length. The reporting settings for cell measurement prediction results may include at least one of a reporting period and content, and a reporting type.

[0155] Additionally, the base station (105) may set multiple measurement result prediction operations for multiple cells / MOs (measurement objects). In this case, setting information such as the reporting settings for the cell measurement prediction results and the prediction window length described above may be provided for each measurement prediction operation, and each measurement prediction operation may be associated with a specific ID value (e.g., predictId).

[0156] Additionally, the base station (105) may be configured to report applicability information (123) indicating whether the terminal (100) can perform a cell measurement result prediction operation according to the initial setting. More specifically, the base station (105) may provide the terminal (100) with the initial setting an indicator to instruct the terminal (100) to report the applicability information (123) via a UEAssistanceInformation or RRCReconfigurationComplete message. If multiple measurement result prediction operations are configured for the terminal (100), the terminal (100) may be configured to report applicability information separately for each measurement result prediction operation (i.e., for each predictId).

[0157] Additionally, the base station (105) may transmit configuration information required by the terminal (100) along with the initial configuration to perform the monitoring procedure (126) and control procedure (127) described below. Specific configuration information required for the monitoring and control procedures is described together in the description of the monitoring procedure (126) and control procedure (127) below. A predetermined RRC message (e.g., RRCReconfiguration) may be used for the configuration.

[0158] In step 123, the terminal (100) may report to the base station (105) whether it can perform a cell measurement result prediction operation according to the cell prediction setting in step 121.

[0159] To this end, a 1-bit indicator may be used to indicate whether a cell measurement result prediction operation can be performed. More specifically, if the terminal (100) has a model available for cell measurement result prediction according to the base station (105) setting in step 121 and can perform cell measurement result prediction using said model, it may report to the base station (105) by including (or setting to 'True' / 'Available' / 'Supported') a 1-bit indicator (e.g., Applicability related information may be used) to indicate whether a cell measurement result prediction operation can be performed.

[0160] If the terminal (100) cannot perform cell measurement result prediction using the model due to the base station (105) setting in step 121, or due to the terminal (100) constraints (e.g., insufficient memory, heat generation, insufficient battery, etc.), it may report to the base station (105) by omitting (or setting to 'False' / 'NotAvailable' / 'NotSupported') a 1-bit indicator to indicate whether the cell measurement result prediction operation can be performed. If multiple measurement result prediction operations are set for the terminal (100) in step 121, the terminal (100) may individually report applicability information (the 1-bit indicator) for each measurement result prediction operation (in other words, for each predictId).

[0161] For the above report, a predetermined RRC message (e.g., UEAssistanceInformation or RRCReconfigurationComplete) may be used. Additionally, if the terminal (100) reports that the cell measurement result prediction operation cannot be performed, the base station (105) may return to step 121 and provide a new cell measurement result prediction setting to the terminal (100). Subsequently, the terminal (100) may determine whether the cell measurement result prediction can be performed again based on the setting and report the result to the base station (105). Thus, the base station (105) and the terminal (100) may repeat the operations in steps 121 and 123 and discuss an appropriate model (or option) available for the cell measurement result prediction operation.

[0162] In step 125, the base station (105) can set / activate a cell measurement result prediction operation to reduce the cell measurement load for the terminal (100) based on the information reported by the terminal (100) in step 123.

[0163] To this end, an indicator for activating a cell measurement result prediction operation (or cell measurement load reduction operation) may be included / set in the message transmitted by the base station (105) to the terminal (100).

[0164] Additionally, if the base station (105) does not transmit the configuration information required for the terminal (100) to perform the monitoring procedure (126) and management procedure (127) in step 121, the base station (105) may transmit the information together in step 125. A predetermined RRC message (e.g., RRCReconfiguration) or a media access control (MAC) control element (CE) may be used to set / activate the cell measurement result prediction operation. When the terminal (100) is instructed to activate the cell measurement result prediction operation, it may start the cell measurement result prediction operation and simultaneously perform the necessary operations to perform the monitoring procedure (126) and management procedure (127) as described below.

[0165] As described above in FIG. 1d, by having the terminal predict cell measurement information and the terminal and base station utilize the prediction results, the handover performance of the terminal can be improved or the measurement load of the terminal can be reduced.

[0166] However, if the accuracy of AI / ML-based cell measurement result predictions is not guaranteed above a certain level, the handover performance of the terminal may actually deteriorate. For example, if a terminal predicts that the signal strength for a specific cell A will improve over time, the base station may instruct the terminal to hand over to cell A based on that prediction. However, if the accuracy (or performance) of the prediction is low and the actual signal strength for cell A does not improve, the terminal may fail to hand over to cell A. Therefore, the terminal can continuously check (or monitor) the performance (or accuracy) of the cell measurement result predictions it performs.

[0167] If the performance (or accuracy) of the cell measurement result prediction falls below a certain level, the terminal may decide to disable the cell measurement result prediction operation and report the disablement of said operation to the base station. For reference, the performance (or accuracy) of the cell measurement result prediction can be calculated as the difference between the predicted result value and the actual measured result value. More specifically, when RSRP / RSRQ / SINR for each cell is predicted and measured in dB units, the RSRP / RSRQ / SINR difference between the predicted value and the measured value is calculated in dB units and can be used as the performance (or accuracy) of the prediction.

[0168] In step 126, the terminal (100) can continuously monitor the performance (or accuracy) (e.g., RSRP / RSRQ / SINR difference) of the cell measurement result prediction operation being performed.

[0169] Alternatively, in steps 121 and 125, the base station (105) may be configured to monitor the performance (or accuracy) of the cell measurement result prediction operation calculated within a monitoring window that occurs at each monitoring interval while the terminal (100) performs the cell measurement result prediction operation. The monitoring interval and monitoring window length may be set in units of frame, slot, symbol, second, mille second, or microsecond.

[0170] Alternatively, the specifications may define values ​​for the period during which the terminal must perform performance monitoring (in other words, the monitoring window interval) and the length of the monitoring period (in other words, the monitoring window length).

[0171] Alternatively, the terminal (100) may continuously monitor the performance (or accuracy) (e.g., RSRP / RSRQ / SINR difference value) of the cell measurement result prediction operation (in other words, in a sliding window manner) without a separate monitoring interval / window setting. If a separate monitoring window is set, the terminal (100) may monitor the performance (or accuracy) of the cell measurement result prediction operation only within the monitoring window determined by the base station (105) setting. For monitoring within the monitoring window, the terminal (100) may obtain both the measurement result value and the prediction result value at specific time points included within the monitoring window, calculate the difference between the two values ​​(e.g., RSRP / RSRQ / SINR difference), and use it as an indicator of the performance (or accuracy) of the measurement operation.

[0172] The above terminal (100) may use an instantaneous value or a filtered value of the performance (or accuracy) indicator (e.g., RSRP / RSRQ / SINR difference) for the control procedure in step 127 below. In this case, the instantaneous value refers to an indicator calculated at a single point in time, and the filtered value may refer to the average value of an indicator calculated at multiple points in time included within a specific time interval.

[0173] When a filtered value is used, the base station (105) can set the filtering window length (or the number of points in time to be used to calculate the average value) and the filtering coefficient (in other words, a value indicating how much weight to give to the value measured at each point in time when calculating the average value of indicators measured at multiple points in time) required for filtering to the terminal (100) in steps 121 and 125.

[0174] In step 127, the terminal (100) may stop / disable the cell measurement result prediction operation when a specific event occurs while performing monitoring as in step 126. To this end, in steps 121 and 125, the base station (105) may be configured so that the terminal (100) continuously monitors the performance (or accuracy) of the cell measurement result prediction operation, and when a specific event condition is satisfied, stops / disables the cell measurement result prediction operation and reports the result to the base station (105). The terminal (100) may stop / disable the cell measurement result prediction operation and report the result to the base station (105) when at least one of the events described below is satisfied according to the settings of the base station (105).

[0175] - Event 1: When the average (or filtered) RSRP / RSRQ / SINR difference value (calculated within the monitoring window) becomes greater than a specific difference threshold, the terminal (100) may stop / disable the cell measurement result prediction operation and report the result to the base station (105) in step 129 below. To this end, the base station (105) may set a threshold value required to verify whether the event condition is satisfied in steps 121 and 125 for the terminal (100). More specifically, the threshold value may be set for the terminal (100) in dB units.

[0176] According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, an RSRP / RSRQ / SINR difference threshold may be defined in the standard. In this case, if the average (or filtered) RSRP / RSRQ / SINR difference value (within a monitoring window) is greater than (or greater than or equal to) the RSRP / RSRQ / SINR difference threshold defined in the standard without a separate base station setting, the terminal may determine that the accuracy of the prediction operation of the terminal does not satisfy (or meet) the accuracy requirements defined in the standard, stop / disable the cell measurement result prediction operation, and report the result to the base station (105) in step 129 below.

[0177] - Event M2: If the average (or filtered) RSRP / RSRQ / SINR difference value (calculated within the monitoring window) is consistently greater than a specific difference threshold for a specific time to trigger, the terminal (100) may stop / disable the cell measurement result prediction operation and report the result to the base station (105) in step 129 below. To this end, the base station (105) may set the difference threshold and the time to trigger required to check whether the event condition is satisfied in steps 121 and 125 to the terminal (100).

[0178] According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, an RSRP / RSRQ / SINR difference threshold and / or a specific threshold time value (TimeToTrigger) may be defined in the standard. In this case, if the average (or filtered or real-time) RSRP / RSRQ / SINR difference value (within a monitoring window) is consistently greater (or greater than or equal to) the RSRP / RSRQ / SINR difference threshold defined in the standard for a specific threshold time (TimeToTrigger) without separate base station settings, the terminal may determine that the accuracy of the prediction operation of the terminal does not satisfy (or meet) the accuracy requirements defined in the standard, stop / disable the cell measurement result prediction operation, and report the result to the base station (105) in step 129 below.

[0179] - Event M3: When the frequency (number of times per unit time) of the real-time / instantaneous RSRP / RSRQ / SINR difference value (calculated within the monitoring window) is higher than a specific difference threshold, the terminal (100) may stop / disable the cell measurement result prediction operation and report the result to the base station (105) in step 129 below. To this end, the base station (105) may set the difference threshold and frequency threshold required to verify whether the event condition is satisfied in steps 121 and 125 to the terminal (100).

[0180] According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, an RSRP / RSRQ / SINR difference threshold and / or a specific frequency threshold may be defined in the standard. In this case, the terminal may determine that the accuracy of the prediction operation of the terminal does not satisfy (or meet) the accuracy requirements defined in the standard when the average (or filtered or real-time) RSRP / RSRQ / SINR difference value (within a monitoring window) is higher than the RSRP / RSRQ / SINR difference threshold defined in the standard (number of times per unit time) and is higher than the specific frequency threshold without separate base station settings, stop / disable the cell measurement result prediction operation, and report the result to the base station (105) in step 129 below.

[0181] - Event M4: The terminal can count a real-time / instantaneous RSRP / RSRQ / SINR difference value (within the monitoring window) as a success (success / pass) if it is lower than a specific difference threshold, and as a failure if it is higher. And if the ratio of the number of successes to the total number of counts (success rate) is lower than (or lower than or equal to) a specific success rate threshold (e.g., 95%), it is determined that the accuracy of the terminal's prediction operation does not satisfy the accuracy requirements defined in the standard, and the cell measurement result prediction operation is stopped / disabled and the result is reported to the base station (105) in step 129 below. To this end, the base station can set the difference threshold and the specific success rate threshold required to verify whether the event conditions are satisfied in steps 121 and 125 to the terminal (100).

[0182] According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, an RSRP / RSRQ / SINR difference threshold and / or a specific success rate threshold may be defined in the standard. In this case, the terminal may count a real-time / instantaneous RSRP / RSRQ / SINR difference value as a success (success / pass) if it is lower than the specific threshold (difference threshold) without separate base station settings (within the monitoring window), and count a failure if it is higher. And if the ratio of the number of successes to the total number of counts (success rate) is lower than (or lower than or equal to) the specific success rate threshold (e.g., 95%), it is determined that the accuracy of the terminal's prediction operation does not satisfy (or meet) the accuracy requirements defined in the standard, and the cell measurement result prediction operation may be stopped / disabled and the result reported to the base station (105) in step 129 below.

[0183] In step 129, the terminal (100) may report to the base station (105) the deactivation of the cell measurement result prediction operation (or fallback to the existing cell measurement operation). To do this, a predetermined RRC message (e.g., RRCReconfiguration) or MAC CE may be used. At this time, the terminal (100) may report to the base station (105) including an indicator that indicates which of the events was satisfied to deactivate / fallback the cell measurement result prediction operation.

[0184] Additionally, the terminal (100) can report to the base station (105) the measured / calculated monitoring result values ​​(RSRP / RSRQ / SINR difference values) together.

[0185] Additionally, the terminal (100) may report including applicability information indicating whether the cell measurement result prediction operation can be performed again.

[0186] Additionally, the terminal (100) may also provide information to the base station (105) indicating the reason / cause of the deactivation. The reason the terminal (100) provides this information to the base station (105) is to help the base station (105) make a necessary decision later (e.g., a decision on whether to reset / reactivate the cell measurement result prediction operation). The field indicating the reason / cause may be set to at least one of the following values.

[0187] - 'Normal': This means that the terminal normally disables the cell measurement result prediction operation of the terminal. When the cell measurement result prediction operation of the terminal (100) is no longer needed from the perspective of the terminal (100), the terminal (100) can disable the operation and set the cause value to 'normal'.

[0188] - 'Performance degradation': This means that the terminal detects performance degradation (in other words, a decrease in accuracy) of the cell measurement result prediction operation and disables the operation. When the terminal (100) detects performance degradation of the cell measurement result prediction operation, the terminal (100) disables the operation and can set the cause value to 'performance degradation'.

[0189] Additionally, a method for indirectly monitoring and controlling the performance of the cell measurement result prediction operation based on the mobility of the terminal (100) may be considered. In reality, the faster the terminal (100) moves, the more the result value measured by the terminal (100) for a specific cell(s) may change significantly over the time axis. In this case, the cell measurement result prediction performance (or accuracy) of the terminal (100) is bound to degrade. Therefore, the terminal or the base station (105) may disable the cell measurement result prediction operation when the mobility of the terminal increases. To this end, at least one of the two methods described below may be used.

[0190] - Method 1 (Base station determination method): The base station (105) can be configured to report when the terminal detects a high mobility event in steps 121 and 125 of FIG. 1e. The terminal can detect that the high mobility event has occurred when the actual movement speed of the terminal exceeds a specific threshold (speed threshold) or when the amount of change in RSRP of a serving cell (e.g., Pcell, Scell, PScell, etc.) (e.g., amount of change per unit time) exceeds a specific threshold (RSRP threshold), and can report the event to the base station (105) as in step 131 of FIG. 1e. To this end, the base station (105) can set the speed threshold and RSRP threshold values ​​for the terminal in steps 121 and 125 of FIG. 1e. When the terminal reports a high mobility event to the base station (105) as in step 143 of FIG. 1e, the base station (105) may instruct the terminal to disable the cell measurement result prediction operation or fallback to the existing measurement operation as in step 147 of FIG. 1e.

[0191] - Method 2 (Terminal Determination Method): The base station (105) may be configured to disable the cell measurement result prediction operation or fallback to the existing measurement operation when the terminal (100) detects a high mobility event in steps 121 and 125 of FIG. 1f. The terminal (100) may detect that the high mobility event has occurred and disable the cell measurement result prediction operation or fallback to the existing measurement operation when the actual movement speed of the terminal (100) exceeds a specific speed threshold or when the RSRP change amount of a serving cell (e.g., Pcell, Scell, PScell, etc.) exceeds a specific RSRP threshold. Afterward, the result may be reported to the base station (105) as in step 129 of FIG. 1f. To this end, the base station (105) can set the speed threshold and RSRP threshold values ​​to the terminal (100) in steps 121 and 125 of FIG. 1f.

[0192] FIG. 1g is a drawing illustrating a method for a terminal to monitor the performance (or accuracy) of a cell measurement result prediction operation according to one embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0193] Referring to FIG. 1g, the terminal may need to have both the measurement result value and the prediction result value at the same point in time to measure and / or calculate the performance (or accuracy) (e.g., RSRP / RSRQ / SINR difference) of the cell measurement result prediction operation.

[0194] As in method 1 of FIG. 1d (100 of FIG. 1d) above, when a terminal performs cell measurement every SSB transmission cycle (Tper) and predicts future cell measurement results, the terminal can naturally obtain (or acquire) measurement result values ​​and predicted result values ​​at all points in time without any special requirements.

[0195] However, as in method 2-1 (200 in FIG. 1d) and method 2-2 (300 in FIG. 1d) above, when a terminal measures the SSB or CSI-RS transmitted every Tper1 (105, 205) at intervals of Tper' (103, 203), which is a multiple of Tper, and predicts cell measurement results at Tper intervals based on the measured values, the terminal may obtain (or acquire) only the predicted result values ​​at specific points in time (106, 206) and may not obtain (or acquire) the actual measurement result values.

[0196] Accordingly, when a terminal predicts cell measurement results by skipping without actually performing a measurement at a specific point in time, as in Method 2-1 and Method 2-2 of FIG. 1d above, the standard may specify an operation requiring both the measurement result value and the prediction result value to be obtained at a specific point in time in order to measure and / or calculate the performance (or accuracy) of the operation. More specifically, the terminal may be required to obtain (or acquire) both the measurement result value and the prediction result value at a specific point in time for performance monitoring in either of the two options described below.

[0197] - Option 1 (measurement at the prediction timing): The terminal can perform actual cell measurements even at the time of predicting cell measurement results within a specific monitoring window (107) set by the base station. Therefore, at specific times (109) within the monitoring window, the terminal can have both measured values ​​and predicted values.

[0198] To this end, the base station may set a monitoring interval and a monitoring window length, etc., for the terminal as described in FIGS. 1e and FIGS. 1f above.

[0199] When a monitoring window is configured, the terminal can perform measurement and prediction operations together at all measurement and prediction points within the window, and can have both measured and predicted values. The terminal can monitor the performance (or accuracy) of the cell measurement result prediction operation based on the measured and predicted values ​​obtained (or acquired) within the monitoring window.

[0200] - Option 2 (prediction at the measurement timing): The terminal can perform a prediction of the cell measurement result even at the time when the actual measurement is performed. Therefore, at the time of the cell measurement (207), the terminal can have both the measured value and the predicted value. The terminal can monitor the performance (or accuracy) of the cell measurement result prediction operation based on the measured value and the predicted value obtained at a specific time as described above.

[0201] If both of the above two options are supported, the method of satisfying the above requirements can be left to the terminal implementation.

[0202] Alternatively, the base station may be configured to satisfy the above requirements in a specific manner. For example, the base station may be configured to allow the terminal to obtain both measured and predicted values ​​at specific points in time in the manner of Option 1 by providing the terminal with the monitoring window-related settings required in Option 1.

[0203] The cell measurement results described in the embodiments of FIGS. 1c, 1d, 1e, 1f, and 1g above may mean at least one (or a combination of one or more) of the following values ​​measured at the cell unit or at the beam unit of a specific cell.

[0204] - RSRP and / or RSRQ and / or SINR measured at Layer 1

[0205] - RSRP and / or RSRQ and / or SINR measured / acquired at Layer 3

[0206] - Values ​​obtained by filtering RSRP and / or RSRQ and / or SINR measured at Layer 1 (e.g., a (weighted) average value using measurements over a specified period)

[0207] - Values ​​obtained by filtering RSRP and / or RSRQ and / or SINR measured / acquired at Layer 3 (e.g., a (weighted) average value using measurements over a specified period)

[0208] FIG. 2 is a drawing illustrating a terminal device according to one embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0209] Referring to FIG. 2, the terminal may include an RF (Radio Frequency) processing unit (2-10), a baseband processing unit (2-20), a storage unit (2-30), and a control unit (2-40). The configuration of the terminal is not limited to the exemplary configuration shown in FIG. 2 and may include fewer or more configurations than the configuration shown in FIG. 2.

[0210] The RF processing unit (2-10) can perform functions for transmitting and receiving signals through a wireless channel, such as signal band conversion and amplification. For example, the RF processing unit (2-10) can up-convert a baseband signal provided by the baseband processing unit (2-20) into an RF band signal and then transmit it through an antenna, and can down-convert an RF band signal received through the antenna into a baseband signal. For example, the RF processing unit (2-10) may include a transmission filter, a reception filter, an amplifier, a mixer, an oscillator, a DAC (digital to analog converter), an ADC (analog to digital converter), etc., but is not limited to these examples.

[0211] In FIG. 2, only one antenna is shown, but the terminal may be equipped with multiple antennas. Additionally, the RF processing unit (2-10) may include multiple RF chains. Furthermore, the RF processing unit (2-10) may perform beamforming. For beamforming, the RF processing unit (2-10) may adjust the phase and magnitude of each of the signals transmitted and received through multiple antennas or antenna elements. Additionally, the RF processing unit (2-10) may perform MIMO and may receive multiple layers when performing MIMO operation.

[0212] The baseband processing unit (2-20) can perform conversion functions between baseband signals and bit sequences according to the physical layer specifications of the system. For example, when transmitting data, the baseband processing unit (2-20) can generate complex symbols by encoding and modulating the transmitted bit sequence. Additionally, when receiving data, the baseband processing unit (2-20) can restore the received bit sequence by demodulating and decoding the baseband signal provided by the RF processing unit (2-10). For example, in the case of following the OFDM (orthogonal frequency division multiplexing) method, when transmitting data, the baseband processing unit (2-20) can generate complex symbols by encoding and modulating the transmitted bit sequence, map the generated complex symbols to subcarriers, and then construct OFDM symbols through IFFT (inverse fast Fourier transform) operation and CP (cyclic prefix) insertion. Additionally, upon receiving data, the baseband processing unit (2-20) can divide the baseband signal provided by the RF processing unit (2-10) into OFDM symbol units, restore the signals mapped to subcarriers through a fast Fourier transform (FFT) operation, and then restore the received bit sequence through demodulation and decoding.

[0213] The baseband processing unit (2-20) and the RF processing unit (2-10) can transmit and receive signals as described above. Accordingly, the baseband processing unit (2-20) and the RF processing unit (2-10) may be referred to as a transmitting unit, a receiving unit, a transmitting and receiving unit, or a communication unit. Furthermore, at least one of the baseband processing unit (2-20) and the RF processing unit (2-10) may include a plurality of communication modules to support a plurality of different wireless access technologies. Additionally, at least one of the baseband processing unit (2-20) and the RF processing unit (2-10) may include different communication modules to process signals of different frequency bands. For example, different wireless access technologies may include wireless LAN (e.g., IEEE 802.11), a cellular network (e.g., LTE), etc. In addition, different frequency bands may include super high frequency (SHF) bands (e.g., 2 NRHz, NRHz) and millimeter wave (e.g., 60 GHz) bands. The terminal can transmit and receive signals with the gNB using the baseband processing unit (2-20) and the RF processing unit (2-10), and the signals may include control information and data.

[0214] The storage unit (2-30) can store data such as basic programs, application programs, and setting information for the operation of the terminal. For example, the storage unit (2-30) can store data information such as basic programs, application programs, and setting information for the operation of the terminal. In addition, the storage unit (2-30) can provide the stored data upon a request from the control unit (2-40).

[0215] The storage unit (2-30) may be composed of a storage medium or a combination of storage media such as ROM, RAM, hard disk, CD-ROM, and DVD. Additionally, the storage unit (2-30) may be composed of multiple memories. According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, the storage unit (2-30) may store a program for performing a handover method according to the present disclosure.

[0216] The control unit (2-40) can control the overall operations of the terminal. For example, the control unit (2-40) can transmit and receive signals through the baseband processing unit (2-20) and the RF processing unit (2-10).

[0217] Additionally, the control unit (2-40) can write and read data to and from the storage unit (2-30). To this end, the control unit (2-40) may include at least one processor. For example, the control unit (2-40) may include a communication processor (CP) that performs control for communication and an application processor (AP) that controls upper layers such as applications. Additionally, according to one embodiment of the present disclosure, the control unit (2-40) may include a multi-connection processing unit (2-42) configured to process a process operating in a multi-connection mode. Additionally, at least one component within the terminal may be implemented as a single chip.

[0218] FIG. 3 is a drawing illustrating a base station device according to one embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0219] The base station of Fig. 3 may be included in the aforementioned network.

[0220] As illustrated in FIG. 3, the base station may include an RF processing unit (3-10), a baseband processing unit (3-20), a backhaul communication unit (3-30), a storage unit (3-40), and a control unit (3-50). The configuration of the base station is not limited to the exemplary configuration illustrated in FIG. 3, and the base station may include fewer or more configurations than the configuration illustrated in FIG. 3.

[0221] The RF processing unit (3-10) can perform functions for transmitting and receiving signals through a wireless channel, such as signal band conversion and amplification. For example, the RF processing unit (3-10) can up-convert a baseband signal provided by the baseband processing unit (3-20) into an RF band signal and then transmit it through an antenna, and can down-convert an RF band signal received through an antenna into a baseband signal. For example, the RF processing unit (3-10) may include a transmit filter, a receive filter, an amplifier, a mixer, an oscillator, a DAC, an ADC, etc. Although only one antenna is shown in FIG. 3, the RF processing unit (3-10) may be equipped with multiple antennas. Additionally, the RF processing unit (3-10) may include multiple RF chains. Furthermore, the RF processing unit (3-10) may perform beamforming. For beamforming, the RF processing unit (3-10) can adjust the phase and magnitude of each of the signals transmitted and received through a plurality of antennas or antenna elements. The RF processing unit (3-10) can perform down-to-down MIMO operation by transmitting one or more layers.

[0222] The baseband processing unit (3-20) can perform conversion functions between baseband signals and bit sequences according to physical layer specifications. For example, when transmitting data, the baseband processing unit (3-20) can generate complex symbols by encoding and modulating the transmitted bit sequence. Additionally, when receiving data, the baseband processing unit (3-20) can restore the received bit sequence by demodulating and decoding the baseband signal provided by the RF processing unit (3-10). For example, in the case of an OFDM method, when transmitting data, the baseband processing unit (3-20) can generate complex symbols by encoding and modulating the transmitted bit sequence, map the generated complex symbols to subcarriers, and then construct OFDM symbols through IFFT operations and CP insertion. Additionally, upon receiving data, the baseband processing unit (3-20) can divide the baseband signal provided by the RF processing unit (3-10) into OFDM symbol units, restore the signals mapped to subcarriers through FFT operations, and then restore the received bit sequence through demodulation and decoding. The baseband processing unit (3-20) and the RF processing unit (3-10) can transmit and receive signals as described above. Accordingly, the baseband processing unit (3-20) and the RF processing unit (3-10) may be referred to as a transmitting unit, a receiving unit, a transmitting and receiving unit, a communication unit, or a wireless communication unit. A base station can transmit and receive signals with a terminal using the baseband processing unit (3-20) and the RF processing unit (3-10), and the signal may include control information and data.

[0223] The backhaul communication unit (3-30) can provide an interface for communicating with other nodes within the network. For example, the backhaul communication unit (3-30) can convert a bit sequence transmitted from the main base station to another node, e.g., an auxiliary base station, a core network, etc., into a physical signal, and convert a physical signal received from another node into a bit sequence.

[0224] The storage unit (3-40) can store data such as basic programs, application programs, and configuration information for the operation of the main station. For example, the storage unit (3-40) can store information about a bearer assigned to a connected terminal, measurement results reported from the connected terminal, etc. Additionally, the storage unit (3-40) can store information that serves as a criterion for determining whether to provide or disconnect multiple connections to the terminal. Furthermore, the storage unit (3-40) can provide the stored data upon a request from the control unit (3-50). The storage unit (3-40) may be composed of a storage medium or a combination of storage media such as ROM, RAM, hard disk, CD-ROM, and DVD. Additionally, the storage unit (3-40) may be composed of multiple memories. According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, the storage unit (3-40) may store a program for performing a handover according to the present disclosure.

[0225] The control unit (3-50) can control the overall operations of the main station. For example, the control unit (3-50) can transmit and receive signals through the baseband processing unit (3-20) and the RF processing unit (3-10) or through the backhaul communication unit (3-30). Additionally, the control unit (3-50) can write and read data to and from the storage unit (3-40). To this end, the control unit (3-50) may include at least one processor. Additionally, according to one embodiment of the present disclosure, the control unit (3-50) may include a multi-connection processing unit (3-52) configured to process a process operating in a multi-connection mode.

[0226] Methods according to the embodiments described in the claims or specification of the present disclosure may be implemented in the form of hardware, software, or a combination of hardware and software.

[0227] When implemented in software, a computer-readable storage medium may be provided for storing one or more programs (software modules). One or more programs stored in the computer-readable storage medium are configured for execution by one or more processors within an electronic device. One or more programs include instructions that cause the electronic device to execute methods according to the embodiments described in the claims or specification of this disclosure.

[0228] Such programs (software modules, software) may be stored in random access memory, non-volatile memory including flash memory, ROM (Read Only Memory), Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory (EEPROM), magnetic disc storage devices, Compact Disc-ROM (CD-ROM), Digital Versatile Discs (DVDs), or other forms of optical storage devices, magnetic cassettes. Alternatively, they may be stored in memory composed of some or all of these. Additionally, each constituent memory may include multiple units.

[0229] Additionally, the above program may be stored on an attachable storage device that can be accessed via a communication network such as the Internet, Intranet, Local Area Network (LAN), Wide LAN (WLAN), or Storage Area Network (SAN), or a combination thereof. Such a storage device may be connected to a device performing an embodiment of the present disclosure through an external port. Additionally, a separate storage device on a communication network may be connected to a device performing an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0230] In the present disclosure, the terms “computer program product” or “computer readable medium” are used to collectively refer to media such as memory, a hard disk installed in a hard disk drive, and signals. These “computer program product” or “computer readable medium” are configurations provided in a method for reporting terminal capability in a wireless communication system according to the present disclosure.

[0231] A device-readable storage medium may be provided in the form of a non-transitory storage medium. Here, 'non-transitory storage medium' simply means that it is a tangible device and does not contain a signal (e.g., electromagnetic waves), and the term does not distinguish between cases where data is stored semi-permanently and cases where it is stored temporarily. For example, a 'non-transitory storage medium' may include a buffer in which data is stored temporarily.

[0232] According to one embodiment, the method according to the various embodiments disclosed herein may be provided by being included in a computer program product. The computer program product may be traded between a seller and a buyer as a product. The computer program product may be distributed in the form of a device-readable storage medium (e.g., compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM)), or distributed online (e.g., download or upload) through an application store (e.g., Play Store™) or directly between two user devices (e.g., smartphones). In the case of online distribution, at least a portion of the computer program product (e.g., downloadable app) may be temporarily stored or temporarily created on a device-readable storage medium, such as the memory of a manufacturer's server, an application store's server, or a relay server.

[0233] In the specific embodiments of the present disclosure described above, the components included in the disclosure are expressed in a singular or plural form according to the specific embodiments presented. However, the singular or plural expression is selected to suit the situation presented for convenience of explanation, and the present disclosure is not limited to singular or plural components; even if a component is expressed in the plural form, it may be composed of a singular form, or even if a component is expressed in the singular form, it may be composed of a plural form.

[0234] Meanwhile, the embodiments of the present disclosure disclosed in this specification and drawings are merely specific examples provided to facilitate the explanation of the technical content of the present disclosure and to aid in understanding the present disclosure, and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure. That is, it is obvious to those skilled in the art that other variations based on the technical concept of the present disclosure are possible. Furthermore, each of the above embodiments may be combined and operated as needed. For example, parts of one embodiment of the present disclosure and another embodiment may be combined to operate a base station and a terminal. In addition, the embodiments of the present disclosure are applicable to other communication systems, and other variations based on the technical concept of the embodiments may also be possible. For example, the embodiments may be applied to LTE systems, 5G, NR systems, or 6G systems, etc. Therefore, the scope of the present disclosure should not be limited to the described embodiments, but should be defined by the claims set forth below as well as equivalents thereof.

Claims

1. A method performed by a terminal in a wireless communication system, A step of receiving Radio Resource Management (RRM) measurement prediction setting information from a base station; A step of transmitting a measurement report related to cell measurement result prediction to the base station based on the above RRM measurement prediction setting information, wherein the measurement report related to cell measurement result prediction includes either a measurement result of the cell and a predicted result of the cell, or any one of cell monitoring performance information generated based on the measurement result and predicted result of the cell; and A method characterized by including the step of receiving cell measurement result prediction control information for changing the cell measurement result prediction operation from the base station based on the above measurement report.

2. In the case of Paragraph 1, where the measurement report includes the measurement results of the cell and the prediction results of the cell, The above measurement report is reported periodically, The measurement result of the cell above includes at least one of the Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP), Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ), or Signal-to-Interference-plus-Noise Ratio (SINR) measured at a first time point, and A method characterized in that the above prediction result includes at least one of the RSRP, RSRQ, and SINR values ​​predicted for the first time point at the second time point.

3. In the case of Paragraph 1, where the measurement report includes predicted performance information, The above measurement report is reported periodically or when event conditions are met, The above predicted performance information is generated based on the difference between the measurement result of the cell and the prediction result of the cell, and A method characterized by the above events including when the predicted performance information is greater than a first threshold value, when the predicted performance information is greater than a second threshold value for a threshold time, when the predicted performance information is greater than a third threshold value, when the occurrence of the occurrence of the predicted performance information being greater than a threshold frequency or higher, and when the rate of the predicted performance information being lower than a specific threshold value is lower than or equal to a success rate threshold.

4. In Paragraph 1, The above RRM measurement prediction setting information includes at least one of setting information for a cell to be predicted, measurement report setting information related to cell measurement result prediction, and a prediction window length. The measurement report related to the prediction of the cell measurement results above includes at least one of information regarding the reporting period, the subject of the report, or the type of report, and A method characterized by comprising at least one of the cell measurement result prediction control information including information instructing the deactivation of the cell measurement result prediction, information on changing the cell measurement result prediction model, or information instructing the deactivation of the cell measurement result prediction and the fallback of the cell measurement operation.

5. In a method performed by a base station in a wireless communication system, A step of transmitting Radio Resource Management (RRM) measurement prediction setting information to a terminal; Based on the RRM measurement prediction setting information, the method comprises the step of receiving a measurement report related to cell measurement result prediction from the terminal, wherein the measurement report related to cell measurement result prediction includes either a measurement result of the cell and a predicted result of the cell, or any one of cell monitoring performance information generated based on the measurement result and predicted result of the cell; A step of determining whether to change the cell measurement result prediction behavior based on the above measurement report; and A method characterized by including the step of transmitting cell measurement result prediction control information for changing the cell measurement result prediction operation to the terminal.

6. In Paragraph 5, where the above measurement report includes the measurement results of the cell and the prediction results of the cell, The above measurement report is received periodically, and The measurement result of the cell above includes at least one of the Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP), Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ), or Signal-to-Interference-plus-Noise Ratio (SINR) measured at a first time point, and A method characterized in that the above prediction result includes at least one of the RSRP, RSRQ, and SINR values ​​predicted for the first time point at the second time point.

7. In the case of Paragraph 5, where the above measurement report includes predicted performance information, The above measurement report is received periodically or when event conditions are met, The above predicted performance information is generated based on the difference between the measurement result of the cell and the prediction result of the cell, and A method characterized by the above events including when the predicted performance information is greater than a first threshold value, when the predicted performance information is greater than a second threshold value for a threshold time, when the predicted performance information is greater than a third threshold value, when the occurrence of the occurrence of the predicted performance information being greater than a threshold frequency or higher, and when the rate of the predicted performance information being lower than a specific threshold value is lower than or equal to a success rate threshold.

8. In Paragraph 5, The above RRM measurement prediction setting information includes at least one of setting information for a cell to be predicted, measurement report setting information related to cell measurement result prediction, and a prediction window length. The measurement report related to the prediction of the cell measurement results above includes at least one of information regarding the reporting period, the subject of the report, or the type of report, and A method characterized by comprising at least one of the cell measurement result prediction control information including information instructing the deactivation of the cell measurement result prediction, information on changing the cell measurement result prediction model, or information instructing the deactivation of the cell measurement result prediction and the fallback of the cell measurement operation.

9. In a terminal of a wireless communication system, A transceiver for transmitting and receiving signals; and It includes a control unit connected to the above-mentioned transmitting and receiving unit, and the control unit, Receive Radio Resource Management (RRM) measurement prediction setting information from the base station, and Based on the above RRM measurement prediction setting information, a measurement report related to cell measurement result prediction is transmitted to the base station, wherein the measurement report related to cell measurement result prediction includes either the cell's measurement result and the cell's predicted result, or the cell's predicted performance information (monitoring result) generated based on the cell's measurement result and predicted result, and A terminal characterized by receiving cell measurement result prediction control information for changing a cell measurement result prediction operation from the base station based on the above measurement report.

10. In Paragraph 9, where the above measurement report includes the measurement results of the cell and the prediction results of the cell, The above measurement report is reported periodically, The measurement result of the cell above includes at least one of the Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP), Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ), or Signal-to-Interference-plus-Noise Ratio (SINR) measured at a first time point, and A terminal characterized by the above prediction result including at least one of RSRP, RSRQ, and SINR values ​​predicted for the first time point at the second time point.

11. In Clause 9, where the above measurement report includes predicted performance information, The above measurement report is reported periodically or when event conditions are met, The above predicted performance information is generated based on the difference between the measurement result of the cell and the prediction result of the cell, and A terminal characterized by the above event including when the predicted performance information is greater than a first threshold value, when the predicted performance information is greater than a second threshold value for a threshold time, when the predicted performance information is greater than a third threshold value, when the occurrence of the occurrence of the occurrence of the occurrence of the predicted performance information being greater than a threshold frequency or higher, and when the rate of the predicted performance information being lower than a specific threshold value is lower than or equal to a success rate threshold value.

12. In Paragraph 9, The above RRM measurement prediction setting information includes at least one of setting information for a cell to be predicted, measurement report setting information related to cell measurement result prediction, and a prediction window length. The measurement report related to the prediction of the cell measurement results above includes at least one of information regarding the reporting period, the subject of the report, or the type of report, and A terminal characterized by including at least one of the cell measurement result prediction control information, which includes information instructing the deactivation of the cell measurement result prediction, information on changing the cell measurement result prediction model, or information instructing the deactivation of the cell measurement result prediction and the fallback of the cell measurement operation.

13. In a base station of a wireless communication system, A transceiver for transmitting and receiving signals; and It includes a control unit connected to the above-mentioned transmitting and receiving unit, and the control unit, Transmit Radio Resource Management (RRM) measurement prediction setting information to the terminal, and Based on the above RRM measurement prediction setting information, a measurement report related to cell measurement result prediction is received from the terminal, and the measurement report related to cell measurement result prediction includes either the cell's measurement result and the cell's predicted result, or the cell's predicted performance information (monitoring result) generated based on the cell's measurement result and predicted result. Based on the above measurement report, determine whether to change the cell measurement result prediction behavior, and A base station characterized by transmitting cell measurement result prediction control information for changing the cell measurement result prediction operation to the above terminal.

14. In Paragraph 13, In cases where the above measurement report includes a measurement result of a cell and a prediction result of a cell, the measurement report including the measurement result of a cell and the prediction result of a cell is received periodically, and the measurement result of the cell includes at least one of a Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP), a Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ), or a Signal-to-Interference-plus-Noise Ratio (SINR) measured at a first time point, and the prediction result includes at least one of RSRP, RSRQ, and SINR values ​​predicted for the first time point at a second time point. A base station characterized in that, when the above measurement report includes predictive performance information, the measurement report including the predictive performance information is received periodically or when an event condition is met, the predictive performance information is generated based on the difference between the measurement result of the cell and the prediction result of the cell, and the event includes cases where the predictive performance information is greater than a first threshold value, cases where the predictive performance information is greater than a second threshold value for a threshold time, cases where the predictive performance information is greater than a third threshold value occur more than a threshold frequency, and cases where the rate of the predictive performance information being lower than a specific threshold value is lower than or equal to a success rate threshold.

15. In Paragraph 13, The above RRM measurement prediction setting information includes at least one of setting information for a cell to be predicted, measurement report setting information related to cell measurement result prediction, and a prediction window length. The measurement report related to the prediction of the cell measurement results above includes at least one of information regarding the reporting period, the subject of the report, or the type of report, and A base station characterized by including at least one of the cell measurement result prediction control information, which includes information instructing the deactivation of the cell measurement result prediction, information on changing the cell measurement result prediction model, or information instructing the deactivation of the cell measurement result prediction and the fallback of the cell measurement operation.

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