Conditional layer 1 / layer 2 triggered mobility (LTM) configuration

Abstract

Embodiments described herein relate to conditional Layer1 / Layer2 Triggered Mobility, LTM, configuration. A method performed by a User Equipment, UE, is provided. The method comprises receiving, from a radio access network, RAN, node, a first indication that indicates whether a candidate cell Transmission Configuration Indicator, TCI, State is for a Conditional L1 / L2 triggered mobility, LTM, candidate configuration or for a non-Conditional LTM candidate configuration. The candidate cell TCI State is for activation or deactivation in a LTM procedure.

Description

[0001] CONDITIONAL LAYER 1 / LAYER 2 TRIGGERED MOBILITY (LTM) CONFIGURATION

[0002] TECHNICAL FIELD

[0003] Embodiments described herein relate to methods and apparatus for conditional Layer 1 / Layer 2 Triggered Mobility (LTM) configuration.

[0004] BACKGROUND

[0005] Transmission configuration indication (TCI) States in New Radio (NR)

[0006] The definition of antenna port is such that the channel conveying a symbol on a given antenna port can be inferred from the channel conveying another symbol on the same port. Two antenna ports are considered quasi co-located (QCL) if the large-scale properties of the channel conveying a symbol on the given antenna port can be inferred from the channel conveying a symbol on the other antenna port. These large-scale properties include one or more of the following: delay spread, Doppler spread, Doppler shift, average gain, average delay, and spatial Receive (Rx) parameters. Since reference signals are used in the channel estimation, two reference signals can also be considered as quasi co-located (QCLed) if they experience similar large-scale channel characteristics.

[0007] The network can communicate to the User Equipment (UE) that two antenna ports are QCLed. If the UE knows that two antenna ports are QCLed regarding a certain parameter, e.g., average delay, it can estimate that parameter using one of the antenna ports and apply that estimate when receiving signals from the other antenna port. For example, the UE estimates the average delay from the signal received from antenna port A and assumes that the signal received from antenna port B has an identical average delay, if antenna ports A and B are QCLed in terms of average delay. The UE can then use this estimated average delay when demodulating signals at antenna port B.

[0008] The network configures the UE with the QCL information related to a set of antenna ports. In NR, four types of QCL relations between a transmitted source reference signal and a transmitted target reference signal are defined:

[0009] • Type A: {Doppler shift, Doppler spread, average delay, delay spread}

[0010] • Type B: {Doppler shift, Doppler spread}

[0011] • Type C: {average delay, Doppler shift}

[0012] • Type D: {Spatial Rx parameter} (Reference [1])

[0013] The QCL information is provided to the UE via Transmission configuration indication (TCI) state configuration using Radio Resource Control (RRC) signalling, as shown in Table 1 below:

[0014] Table 1 : Information Element (IE) for TCI state configuration.

[0015] Table 1 presents an example of a TCI state configuration IE from Third Generation Partnership Group, 3GPP, Technical Specification, TS 38.331 , V18.0.0, (2023-12); 3rd Generation Partnership Project; Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; NR; Radio Resource Control (RRC) protocol specification (Release 18).

[0016] The UE is configured with TCI states, and each TCI state carries the QCL information the UE utilizes to receive a target reference signal, e.g., a Physical Downlink Common Channel (PDCCH) DeModulation Reference Signal (DMRS) or a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) DMRS. In other words, the uplink (UL) and / or downlink (DL) transmissions are associated with certain TCI states, as configured by the network, to inform a UE that a given reference signal, e.g., synchronization signal block (SSB) or Channel State Information - Reference Signal (CSI-RS), is QCLed with the other UL / DL transmission channels, e.g., PDCCH, PDSCH. The reference signals in the TCI state are called QCL sources, and sometimes the TCI state itself is called a QCL source.

[0017] The UE can be configured with as many as 64 TCI states by the network. A subset of these TCI states can be activated or deactivated using Medium Access Control Element (MAC CE) signalling. Once a TCI state is activated, the UE should be prepared to receive any reference signal that has the activated TCI state as QCL source. This may mean that the UE estimates the Doppler shift, Doppler spread, average delay, delay spread, or spatial Receive (Rx) parameter based on the reference signals in the activated TCI state. Early TCI State Activation / Deactivation in Layer l (L1) / Layer 2 (L2) Triggered Mobility (LTM)

[0018] Layer 1 (L1) / Layer 2 (L2) Triggered Mobility (LTM), introduced in 3rdGeneration Partnership Project (3GPP) Rel-18, is an inter-cell mobility procedure designed to decrease handover latency by using lower layer signalling. The UE receives the RRC configuration for one or more LTM candidate cell(s). The UE then performs L1-reference signal received power (RSRP) measurements on the synchronization signal blocks (SSBs), or beams, of these configured LTM candidate cells and reports these measurements over user control information (UCI) via the physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) or the physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH). In 3GPP TS 38.300, V18.0.0 (2023-12); 3rd Generation Partnership Project; Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; NR; NR and NG-RAN Overall Description; Stage 2 (Release 18), handover interruption is minimized through early uplink (UL) and downlink (DL) synchronization with the target cell, which occurs before the transmission of the LTM cell switch MAC CE command.

[0019] DL pre-synchronization involves pre-activating specific transmission configuration indicator (TCI) states in the LTM candidate cells before any of these cells becomes a new source cell for the UE. This process reduces the overall time needed for cell search, fine tracking, and acquisition of the SSB-based Radio Resource Management (RRM) Measurement Timing Configuration window (SMTC), as well as the time spent on SSB post-processing. DL presynchronization is performed by the network, while the UE is still in the source cell, by transmitting a Candidate Cell TCI state Activation / Deactivation MAC CE to the UE, as shown in Table 2 below:

[0020] Table 2: Candidate Cell TCI State Activation / Deactivation MAC CE.

[0021] Table 2 presents an example of a Candidate Cell TCI State Activate / Deactivation MAC CE from 3GPP TS 38.321 , V18.0.0 (2023-12); 3rd Generation Partnership Project; Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; NR; Medium Access Control (MAC) protocol specification (Release 18). The Candidate Cell TCI state activation MAC CE contains the LTM candidate cell identifier (ID), to which the activated TCI state belongs, and the information about the activated TCI state, e.g., TCI state ID, whether it is UL, DL, or joint TCI state etc. The Candidate Cell ID field carries the ID of the LTM candidate cell for which the TCI state(s) are to be activated. The TCI state ID field(s) indicate which TCI state(s) that shall be activated for the indicated LTM candidate cell. The information about the UL and / or DL activated TCI state(s) in the target cell, which are suitable for data transmission and reception in the target cell, are provided to the UE via LTM cell switch MAC CE command.

[0022] As defined in 3GPP TS 38.401 , V18.2.0, (2024-06); 3rd Generation Partnership Project; Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; NR; NG-RAN; Architecture Description (Release 18), once the network node, e.g., Source-Distributed Unit (S-DU), decides sending the LTM cell switch notification for an LTM candidate cell with pre-activated TCI states, it sends the Distributed Unit-Central Unit (DU-CU) CELL SWITCH NOTIFICATION message to the base station (gNB)-Central Unit (gNB-CU) to indicate the transmission of the Cell Switch Command to the UE. This message includes the LTM candidate cell ID (or target cell ID), the TCI state I D(s) of the pre-activated TCI states in the target cell, and the timing advance (TA) values for subsequent LTM, as described for example in 3GPP TS 38.473, V18.2.0, (2024-06); 3rd Generation Partnership Project; Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; NR; NG- RAN; F1 Application Protocol (Release 18). The gNB-CU forwards this information, i.e., target cell ID, the TCI state I D(s), and the TA values for subsequent LTM, to the other network node, e.g., Candidate-Distributed Unit (C-DU) using the CU-DU CELL SWITCH NOTIFICATION message. This way the C-DU is already informed about the TCI state(s) in UL and / or DL which were pre-activated by the S-DU before the UE executes cell switch to the corresponding target cell.

[0023] SUMMARY

[0024] Conditional LTM in Rel-19

[0025] Conditional handover (CHO) and the related conditional mobility procedures were introduced in NR for improving the mobility robustness by preparing the UE (and the CHO candidate cells) in advance before there are any radio link outages. The UE is provided with the RRC configuration of the candidate CHO cells, similar to LTM, and some CHO execution conditions, which, once fulfilled, lead the UE to directly perform the handover without sending any measurement report to the network, unlike in LTM. However, there are other differences between the legacy CHO and LTM. For example, the CHO does not include the procedures of early UL and DL synchronization in LTM Rel-18. T o facilitate both the advantages of short handover interruption as well as better robustness, Rel-19 aims at introducing Conditional LTM (CLTM) as part of the mobility-related enhancements. The following Conditional LTM-related objectives have been agreed upon in NR mobility enhancements phase 4 Work Item (Wl) (as mentioned in RP-241515, New WID: NR mobility enhancements Phase 4, 3GPP TSG RAN Meeting #105, Melbourne, Australia, September, 2024):

[0026] • Specify support of Conditional LTM [RAN2, RAN3, RAN1]

[0027] • Specify UE evaluated conditions for triggering LTM.

[0028] • Aim to support Conditional LTM including subsequent LTM.

[0029] In Conditional LTM, the UE is configured with the Conditional LTM execution conditions along with the LTM candidate cell configuration. The UE may perform early UL and DL synchronization procedures before the cell switch and shall execute LTM cell switch upon the fulfilment of the provided execution conditions.

[0030] There currently exist certain challenge(s). According to the revised WID for mobility in 3GPP TS 38.214, V18.2.0 (2024-03); 3rd Generation Partnership Project; Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; NR; Physical Layer Procedures for Data (Release 18), the following objective has been introduced for conditional LTM:

[0031] • Specify support of conditional Intra-CU LTM [RAN2, RAN3, RAN1] o Specify UE evaluated conditions for triggering LTM o Aim to support conditional LTM including subsequent LTM o Limit specifying the conditional LTM to the scenario where the UE is in non-Dual Connectivity (non-DC) o Checkpoint at RAN#107 to review the objective on whether Intra-CU conditional LTM can be specified to DC scenarios and if so, to which cases. RAN Working Group (WG) work to not start before this checkpoint

[0032] According to the first indented bullet point above, only conditions for the UE to trigger an LTM cell switch procedure will be specified in 3GPP, whereas how the early synchronization procedures are triggered will rely on what has been done during Rel-18, which is the network (NW) indicates to the UE when to trigger the early UL or early DL synchronization procedure.

[0033] One problem with the early DL synchronization procedure, also called Candidate Cell TCI State Activation / Deactivation, is that the MAC CE has been designed by taking into account only the “normal” LTM candidate cell configurations (i.e. LTM candidate configurations which are not “conditional”). According to this, there is no possibility for the network to indicate to the UE that a candidate cell TCI State for a conditional LTM candidate cell should be activated or deactivated. Therefore, according to the current standard the early DL synchronization procedure for a conditional LTM candidate cell is not possible and this means that the conditional LTM cell switch procedure executed by the UE will be longer, with a longer connectivity interruption and increased power consumption at the UE.

[0034] According to a first aspect of the invention, there is provided a method performed by a UE. The method comprises receiving, from a RAN node, a first indication that indicates whether a candidate cell TCI State is for Conditional LTM candidate configuration or for a non-Conditional LTM candidate configuration. The candidate cell TCI State is for activation or deactivation in a LTM procedure.

[0035] According to a second aspect of the invention, there is provided a method performed by a RAN node. The method comprises transmitting, to a UE, a first indication that indicates whether a candidate cell TCI State is for a Conditional LTM candidate configuration or for a nonConditional LTM candidate configuration. The candidate cell TCI State is for activation or deactivation in a LTM procedure.

[0036] According to a third aspect of the invention, there is provided a computer program product. The computer program product comprises a computer readable medium having computer readable code embodied therein. The computer readable code is configured such that, on execution by a suitable computer or processor, the computer or processor is caused to perform the method according to the first aspect of the invention, and / or the method according to the second aspect of the invention.

[0037] According to a fourth aspect of the invention, there is provided a UE. The UE is configured to perform the method according to the first aspect of the invention.

[0038] According to a fifth aspect of the invention, there is provided a UE. The UE comprises a processor and a memory. Said memory contains instructions executable by said processor whereby said UE is operative to perform the method according to the first aspect of the invention.

[0039] According to a sixth aspect of the invention, there is provided a RAN node. The RAN node is configured to perform the method according to the second aspect of the invention.

[0040] According to a seventh aspect of the invention, there is provided a RAN node. The RAN node comprises a processor and a memory. Said memory contains instructions executable by said processor whereby said RAN node is operative to perform the method according to the second aspect of the invention. According to an eighth aspect of the invention, there is provided a UE. The UE comprises processing circuitry configured to cause the UE to perform any of the steps of the method according to the first aspect of the invention, and power supply circuitry configured to supply power to the processing circuitry.

[0041] According to a ninth aspect of the invention, there is provided a RAN node. The RAN node comprises processing circuitry configured to cause the RAN node to perform any of the steps of the method according to the second aspect of the invention, and power supply circuitry configured to supply power to the processing circuitry.

[0042] According to a tenth aspect of the invention, there is provided a UE. The UE comprises an antenna configured to send and receive wireless signals. The UE comprises radio front-end circuitry connected to the antenna and to processing circuitry, and configured to condition signals communicated between the antenna and the processing circuitry. The processing circuitry is configured to perform any of the steps of the method according to the first aspect of the invention. The UE comprises an input interface connected to the processing circuitry and configured to allow input of information into the UE to be processed by the processing circuitry. The UE comprises an output interface connected to the processing circuitry and configured to output information from the UE that has been processed by the processing circuitry. The UE comprises a battery connected to the processing circuitry and configured to supply power to the UE.

[0043] Certain aspects of the disclosure and their embodiments may provide solutions to these or other challenges. The methods and solutions proposed in this disclosure aim at allowing the network to indicated whether a candidate cell TCI State to be activated / deactivated in advance by the UE is for a normal LTM candidate configuration or for a conditional LTM candidate configuration.

[0044] Certain embodiments may provide one or more of the following technical advantage(s). The proposed methods and solutions enable the conditional LTM cell switch procedure executed by the UE to be faster, with a consequent lower connectivity interruption and lower energy consumption by the UE.

[0045] BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0046] Some of the embodiments contemplated herein will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

[0047] Fig. 1 is a flow chart illustrating a method performed by a user equipment in accordance with some embodiments;

[0048] Fig. 2 is a flow chart illustrating a method performed by a Radio Access Network (RAN) network node in accordance with some embodiments;

[0049] Fig. 3 is a signalling diagram illustrating an exchange of messages according to some embodiments;

[0050] Fig. QQ1 shows an example of a communication system in accordance with some embodiments;

[0051] Fig. QQ2 shows a UE in accordance with some embodiments;

[0052] Fig. QQ3 shows a RAN network node in accordance with some embodiments;

[0053] DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0054] Some of the embodiments contemplated herein will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings. Embodiments are provided by way of example to convey the scope of the subject matter to those skilled in the art.

[0055] Conditional LTM (CLTM), as used herein, may be viewed as a form of conditional reconfiguration. In CLTM, the UE is configured with at least one LTM candidate cell (denoted as a CLTM candidate cell), by receiving an LTM candidate cell configuration, as in legacy LTM, and called herein a “Conditional LTM candidate cell configuration”, and an associated execution condition, denoted as “CLTM execution condition”. The evaluation of the CLTM execution condition associated to a CLTM candidate cell is performed by the assessment of lower layer measurements, such as Layer 1 reference signal received power (L1-RSRP) and / or Synchronization Signal based Reference Signal Received Power (SS-RSRP), derived from SSBs and / or CSI-RSs of either the source cell and / or an LTM candidate cell. Lower layer measurements, in this context, are measurements reported to support lower layer procedures like beam management, candidate cell TCI state activation / deactivation, early timing advance (TA) acquisition, and link adaptation, and they aren't filtered based on Layer 3 (L3) parameters, though there may or may not be some filtering of these measurements based on the other lower layer parameters. The reception of a CLTM execution condition may also involve receiving an indication of the condition and / or configuring it with parameters such as event identifier(s), offset(s), threshold(s), reference signal (RS) type, trigger quantity such as RSRP, reference signal received quality (RSRQ) or signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR), time-to-trigger (TTT), and so forth.

[0056] In the context of CLTM, the UE relies on evaluating one or two condition(s), interchangeably referred to as CLTM execution condition(s), LTM execution condition(s), triggering condition(s), or a combination thereof. When the condition(s) for a CLTM candidate cell is fulfilled, the UE performs a cell switch, which may be seen as a kind of LTM execution which is not triggered by the reception of an LTM cell switch command; this may also be considered as a kind of LTM cell switch, or LTM cell switch execution, or Conditional LTM cell switch, or Conditional LTM execution, or CLTM execution, or simply cell switch. According to the methods outlined in this disclosure, upon satisfaction of the execution condition(s), the UE initiates an LTM cell switch. The term “LTM cell switch” refers to the process of a UE changing its cell from a source cell to a target cell, using L1 / L2 triggered mobility (LTM). In the context of Conditional LTM execution, the serving cell before the LTM cell switch may be referred to as source cell, old source cell, or previous source cell.

[0057] The term “conditional LTM” or “conditional LTM candidate configuration” is used herein to identify a configuration for which the UE is provided with certain criteria which the UE needs to evaluate by itself. Upon the fulfilment of the one or more criteria, the UE executes autonomously a conditional LTM cell switch procedure and applies the provided conditional LTM candidate configuration without the network indicating to do so.

[0058] The term “normal LTM” or “normal LTM candidate configuration” is used herein to identify a LTM candidate configuration which the UE applies only upon an indication from the network to trigger an LTM cell switch execution. The terms “normal LTM” and “normal LTM candidate configuration” are used interchangeably herein with “non-conditional LTM” (or non-CLTM) and “non-conditional LTM candidate configuration” respectively.

[0059] In a “normal LTM” or “non-Conditional LTM”, the UE is configured with at least one LTM candidate configuration and later on receives a lower layer command to trigger an LTM cell switch execution procedure. The lower layer command can be a MAC CE.

[0060] This disclosure refers to the concept of an LTM candidate cell within the framework of Conditional LTM. The candidate cell may be referred to as any of a CLTM candidate cell, CLTM cell, candidate cell, candidate target cell, target cell, LTM candidate cell, LTM cell, or L1 / L2 intercell mobility candidate cell, depending on the context or terminology used in particular embodiments. Essentially, a CLTM candidate cell denotes a cell to which the UE is directed or switches to in the event of executing a conditional L1 / L2 inter-cell mobility procedure after meeting the associated execution condition(s) and may also be termed as “new source cell” or “next source cell” after the LTM cell switch. These cells may also be termed as candidate cells, mobility candidates, non-serving cells, additional cells, candidate target cell, simply target cell or deactivated cells. An LTM candidate cell might also pertain to a candidate cell in a 5thGeneration (5G) Radio Access Technology (RAT) like NR or a future 6thGeneration (6G) Radio Access Technology.

[0061] A UE may receive an LTM candidate cell configuration for Conditional LTM, typically through an RRC Reconfiguration message, which is stored in the UE and applied upon fulfilment of the associated CLTM execution conditions. An LTM candidate cell configuration comprises the configuration which the UE needs to start to operate accordingly when it performs a Conditional LTM execution to that LTM candidate cell e.g., upon the fulfilment of CLTM execution conditions. A candidate cell configuration may include parameters in the information element (IE) CellGroupConfig per LTM candidate cell and / or an embedded RRC Reconfiguration per candidate cell. An LTM candidate cell configuration is associated with an identifier which is used in the signalling when referring to a certain LTM candidate cell configuration, such as when performing the early UL or DL synchronization with that LTM cell. This identifier is sometimes known as the LTM candidate cell configuration identifier (ID) or LTM candidate configuration index (or similar).

[0062] The overall architecture for Conditional LTM (CLTM) includes a Centralized Unit (CU) and a Distributed Unit (DU) in a Radio Access Network (RAN). The RAN is a Next-Generation RAN (NG-RAN), which may be referred to as the 5G RAN, however, the method is applicable to any RAN such as a 6G RAN architecture. The RAN (e.g., NG-RAN) consists of a set of RAN nodes (e.g., gNBs) connected to a Core Network (e.g., a 5G Core (5GC)) through a RAN / CN interface (e.g., NG interface). A gNB may consist of a gNB-CU and one or more gNB-DU(s). A gNB-CU and a gNB-DU is connected via a F1 or F1 Application Protocol (F1AP) interface. F1 is an interface between a CU and DU. As used herein, the source cell belongs to the source RAN node, i.e. , S-DU, whereas the candidate target cell is associated to the candidate RAN node, i.e. , C-DU. The source and target cells in CLTM execution may be controlled by the same gNB, which can be referred to as the “intra-gNB" case, or, when the gNB uses a distributed CU-DU RAN architecture, the “intra-CU inter-DU” case or the “intra-CU intra-DU” case (depending on whether the cells are controlled by the same DU or different DUs). The source and target cells in CLTM execution may be controlled by the different gNBs, which can be referred to as the “inter-gNB" scenario, or the “inter-CU inter-DU” scenario, in which case the two gNBs are connected via an Xn orXn Application Protocol (XnAP) interface. Xn is an interface between base stations (gNBs). The method is presented as applicable to the NG-RAN as an example, however, the method is also applicable to any RAN architecture, such as a 6G RAN.

[0063] The term “beam” may correspond to a spatial direction in which a Reference signal (RS), such as Synchronization Signal Block-RS (SSB-RS), Mobility Reference Signal (MRS), a Channel State Information-RS (CSI-RS), or a RS defined for a 6G radio interface, is transmitted (e.g., by a network node) or received (e.g. by the UE), or a spatial filter applied to a signal which is transmitted or received. Thus, transmitting signals in different beams corresponds to transmitting signals in different spatial directions. The beam measurement corresponds to a measurement on an RS transmitted in that beam e.g., an SSB measurement and involves determining a measurement quantity value such as a Synchronization Signal based Reference Signal Received Power (SS-RSRP), Synchronization Signal based Reference Signal Received Quality (SS- RSRQ) and / or Synchronization Signal based Signal to Noise and Interference Ratio (SS-SINR). A beam can be identified by beam index and / or a Reference Signal (RS) index or identifier (ID), such as an SSB index, or a CSI-RS resource identifier (ID).

[0064] A beam or RS may be linked to a TCI state, for example, by configuring the RS (e.g., SSB) as the QCL (Quasi Co-Located) source of a TCI state configuration. An activated TCI state of an LTM candidate cell could also be termed as a “pre-activated TCI state”. This is because the UE receives the TCI state activation MAC CE command for one or more beam(s) (e.g., SSBs) within the LTM candidate cell before the CLTM execution. This is done to activate the LTM candidate cell before the UE receives the command to perform an LTM Cell Switch or before fulfilment of the CLTM execution condition(s) in the case of Conditional LTM.

[0065] The term “early DL synchronization” is used herein to describe the action performed by the UE of pre-activating a TCI state of at least one LTM candidate cell configuration before performing an LTM cell switch to that LTM cell. In this case, the TCI state on a given LTM candidate cell is “activated in advance”, or “pre-activated”. Therefore, the terms “early DL synchronization”, or “DL pre-synchronization”, or “early TCI state activation”, or “TCI state pre-activation” can be exchanged in the methods without any loss of meaning. The terms “start downlink synchronization” and “TCI state activation” are used interchangeably, and “stop downlink synchronization” and “TCI state deactivation” are also used interchangeably.

[0066] The term “cell” may identify a location (or coverage) on which the UE is located. However, the term “cell” can also be exchanged without any loss of meaning with the terms “radio resources”, “beams”, “TCI state”, or “Tracking Reference Signal (TRS)”. It should be noted that this disclosure does not just target scenarios where there is a cell, but rather scenarios in which a UE uses a set of source radio resources and needs to switch to a target set of radio resources. In such a case, “radio resource” can also identify a set of configurations, field, parameters, or ASN.1 structures or lEs.

[0067] The terms “first network node” and “second network node” are used herein to refer to a source cell / serving cell / source gNB-DU / S-DU and a candidate cell / candidate gNB-DU / C-DU respectively.

[0068] Fig. 3 depicts a method 300 performed by a UE in accordance with particular embodiments. The method 300 in Fig. 3 may be performed by a User Equipment (UE) or wireless device (e.g. the UE QQ112 or UE QQ200 as described later with reference to Figs. QQ1 and QQ2 respectively). The User Equipment (UE) or wireless device may perform the method 300 in response to executing suitably formulated computer readable code. The computer readable code may be embodied or stored on a computer readable medium, such as a memory chip, optical disc, or other storage medium. The computer readable medium may be part of a computer program product.

[0069] The method 300 begins at step 302 with the UE receiving, from a RAN node, a first indication that indicates whether a candidate cell TCI State is for a Conditional LTM candidate configuration or for a non-Conditional LTM candidate configuration. The candidate cell TCI State may be for activation or deactivation in a LTM procedure.

[0070] The first indication may be received by the UE in a MAC CE, for example a Candidate Cell TCI state activation / deactivation MAC CE.

[0071] The first indication may be a first candidate cell identifier that is received in one of a first field for identifying a candidate cell for a Conditional LTM candidate configuration and a second field for identifying a candidate cell for a non-Conditional LTM candidate configuration. Tables 4 and 8 below relating to the exemplary Technical Standard implementation options 1 and 3 illustrate exemplary first and second fields. In particular, the “Conditional Candidate cell ID” field in Tables 4 and 8 is an example of the “first field”, and the “Candidate cell ID” field in Tables 4 and 8 is an example of the “second field”.

[0072] In some embodiments, the other one of the first field and the second field comprises a null candidate cell identifier value (e.g. FFF in embodiments where the field is a 3-bit value). The first indication may indicate that the candidate cell TCI State is for Conditional LTM if the first indication is received in the first field, and the first indication may indicate that the candidate cell TCI State is for a non-Conditional LTM if the first indication is received in the second field.

[0073] In some embodiments, the method 300 in Fig. 1 may further comprise the UE receiving a second indication from the RAN node. The second indication may be a second candidate cell identifier received in the other one of the first field and the second field. That is, both the first field and the second field may include a respective candidate cell identifier. In some cases, the second indication may be a null candidate cell identifier value (e.g. FFF).

[0074] In some embodiments, the method 300 in Fig. 1 may further comprise the UE receiving one or more further indications from the RAN node. Each further indication may indicate whether a respective candidate cell TCI State relates to the candidate cell for the Conditional LTM candidate configuration or to the candidate cell for the non-Conditional LTM candidate configuration. Table 8 below relating to Option 3 illustrates exemplary further indications in the form of the Ci bits in Octet 3.

[0075] In some embodiments, for example as illustrated by the C field in Table 6 relating to Option 2 of the Technical Standard implementations, the first indication may indicate that the candidate cell TCI State is for Conditional LTM if the first indication has a first value (e.g. 1), and may indicate that the candidate cell TCI State is for a non-Conditional LTM if the first indication has a second value (e.g. 0). The first indication may be a flag or one-bit indicator. In some embodiments, the method may further comprise the UE receiving, from the RAN node, information identifying one or more candidate TCI states to be activated or deactivated. This information can correspond to the TCI state IDs in the Candidate Cell TCI state activation / deactivation MAC CEs shown in any of Tables 3-8.

[0076] In some embodiments, the method further comprises initiating activation or deactivation of the one or more candidate cell TCI states according to the first indication.

[0077] In some embodiments, the RAN node may be any of a DU; a serving DU; a target DU; and / or a network node controlling any of: a Master Cell Group (MCG), a Secondary Cell Group (SCG), a Primary Cell (PCell), a Primary Secondary Cell (PSCell), a Secondary Cell (SCell), and a Special Cell (SpCell).

[0078] Fig. 2 depicts a method 400 performed by a network node in accordance with particular embodiments. The method in Fig. 2 may be performed by a RAN network node (e.g. the RAN network node QQ110 or RAN network node QQ300 as described later with reference to Fig. QQ1 and QQ3 respectively). The RAN network node may perform the method 400 in response to executing suitably formulated computer readable code. The computer readable code may be embodied or stored on a computer readable medium, such as a memory chip, optical disc, or other storage medium. The computer readable medium may be part of a computer program product.

[0079] The method 400 begins at step 402 with the RAN node transmitting a first indication to a UE that indicates whether a candidate cell TCI State is for a Conditional LTM candidate configuration or for a non-Conditional LTM candidate configuration. The candidate cell TCI State may be for activation or deactivation in a LTM procedure.

[0080] The first indication may be transmitted by the RAN node in a MAC CE, for example a Candidate Cell TCI state activation / deactivation MAC CE.

[0081] The first indication may be a first candidate cell identifier that is transmitted in one of a first field for identifying a candidate cell for a Conditional LTM candidate configuration and a second field for identifying a candidate cell for a non-Conditional LTM candidate configuration. Tables 4 and 8 below relating to the exemplary Technical Standard implementation options 1 and 3 illustrate exemplary first and second fields. In particular, the “Conditional Candidate cell ID” field in Tables 4 and 8 is an example of the “first field”, and the “Candidate cell ID” field in Tables 4 and 8 is an example of the “second field”.

[0082] In some embodiments, the other one of the first field and the second field comprises a null candidate cell identifier value (e.g. FFF in embodiments where the field is a 3-bit value). The first indication may indicate that the candidate cell TCI State is for Conditional LTM if the first indication is transmitted in the first field, and the first indication may indicate that the candidate cell TCI State is for a non-Conditional LTM if the first indication is transmitted in the second field.

[0083] In some embodiments, the method may further comprise transmitting a second indication to the UE. The second indication may be a second candidate cell identifier received in the other one of the first field and the second field. That is, both the first field and the second field may include a respective candidate cell identifier. In some cases, the second indication may be a null candidate cell identifier value (e.g. FFF).

[0084] In some embodiments, the method 400 in Fig. 2 may further comprise transmitting one or more further indications to the UE. Each further indication may indicate whether a respective candidate cell TCI State relates to the candidate cell for the Conditional LTM candidate configuration or to the candidate cell for the non-Conditional LTM candidate configuration. Table 8 below relating to Option 3 illustrates exemplary further indications in the form of the Ci bits in Octet 3.

[0085] In some embodiments, for example as illustrated by the C field in Table 6 relating to Option 2 of the Technical Standard implementations, the first indication may indicate that the candidate cell TCI State is for Conditional LTM if the first indication has a first value (e.g. 1), and may indicate that the candidate cell TCI State is for a non-Conditional LTM if the first indication has a second value (e.g. 0). The first indication may be a flag or one-bit indicator.

[0086] In some embodiments, the method may further comprise the RAN node transmitting information identifying one or more candidate TCI states to be activated or deactivated to the UE.

[0087] In some embodiments, the RAN node may be any of a DU; a serving DU; a target DU; and / or a network node controlling any of: a MCG, a SCG, a PCell, a PSCell, a SCell, and a SpCell.

[0088] The following section shows different Options for implementing the techniques included in this disclosure into the 3GPP standards. Each option is presented as a modified version of Section 6.1.3.76 in 3GPP TS 38.321 v18.2.0. The bold and underlined parts below show the modifications required to implement the techniques.

[0089] Option 1 : The conditional LTM candidate configuration identifier is added in the MAC CE

[0090] 6.1.3.76 Candidate Cell TCI States Activation / Deactivation MAC CE

[0091] The Candidate Cell TCI States Activation / Deactivation MAC CE or Enhanced Candidate Cell TCI States Activation / Deactivation MAC CE is identified by a MAC subheader with eLCID as specified in Table 6.2.1 - lb. It has a variable size consisting of following fields:

[0092] - Candidate Cell ID: This field indicates the identity of an LTM candidate cell for which the MAC CE applies, corresponding to the Itm-Candidateld minus 1 as specified in TS 38.331 [5], If the value of this field is set to FFF, the UE should ignore this field. The length of the field is 3 bits;

[0093] - Conditional Candidate Cell ID: This field indicates the identity of a Conditional LTM candidate cell for which the MAC CE applies, corresponding to the Itm-CondCandidateld minus 1 as specified in TS 38.331 [51. If the value of this field is set to FFF, the UE should ignore this field. The length of the field is 3 bits;

[0094] - Pi: This field indicates whether each TCI codepoint has multiple TCI states or a single TCI state. If the Pi field is set to 1, the i,hTCI codepoint includes the DL TCI state and the UL TCI state. If the Pi field is set to 0, the i,hTCI codepoint includes only the DL / joint TCI state or the UL TCI state. The codepoint to which a TCI state is mapped is determined by its ordinal position among all the TCI state ID fields;

[0095] - D / U: This field indicates whether the TCI state ID in the same octet is for a joint / downlink or an uplink TCI state. If this field is set to 1, the TCI state ID in the same octet is for joint / downlink TCI state. If this field is set to 0, the TCI state ID in the same octet is for uplink TCI state;

[0096] - TCI state ID: This field indicates the TCI state identified by TCI-Stateld in Itm-DL-OrJointTCI- StateToAddModList or TCI-UL-Stateld in Itm-UL-TCI-StatesToAddModList as specified in TS 38.331 [5], If D / U is set to 1, 7-bits length TCI state ID i.e. TCI-Stateld as specified in TS 38.331 [5] is used. If D / U is set to 0, the most significant bit of TCI state ID is considered as the reserved bit and remaining 6 bits indicate the TCI-UL-Stateld as specified in TS 38.331 [5], The maximum number of activated TCI states is 16;

[0097] - R: Reserved bit, set to 0.

[0098] Table 3: Figure 6.1.3.76-1 : Candidate Cell TCI state activation / deactivation MAC CE

[0099] Oct 1

[0100] Oct 2

[0101] Oct 3

[0102] Oct 4

[0103] Oct NL

[0104] Table 4: 6.1.3.76-2: Enhanced Candidate Cell TCI state activation / deactivation MAC CE

[0105] Option 2: 1 bit is added to indicate whether Candidate cell ID is for normal LTM or conditional

[0106] LTM

[0107] 6.1 .3.76 Candidate Cell TCI States Activation / Deactivation MAC CE

[0108] The Candidate Cell TCI States Activation / Deactivation MAC CE or Enhanced Candidate Cell TCI States Activation / Deactivation MAC CE is identified by a MAC subheader with eLCID as specified in Table 6.2.1 - lb. It has a variable size consisting of following fields:

[0109] - Candidate Cell ID: This field indicates the identity of an LTM candidate cell for which the MAC CE applies, corresponding to the Itm-Candidateld minus 1 as specified in TS 38.331 [5], The length of the field is 3 bits;

[0110] - C: This field indicates whether the field Candidate Cell ID refer to a Conditional LTM candidate cell, corresponding to the Itm-CondCandidateld minus 1 as specified in TS 38.331 [51. The length of the field is 1 bits;

[0111] - Pi: This field indicates whether each TCI codepoint has multiple TCI states or a single TCI state. If the Pi field is set to 1, the i,hTCI codepoint includes the DL TCI state and the UL TCI state. If the Pi field is set to 0, the i,hTCI codepoint includes only the DL / joint TCI state or the UL TCI state. The codepoint to which a TCI state is mapped is determined by its ordinal position among all the TCI state ID fields;

[0112] - D / U : This field indicates whether the TCI state ID in the same octet is for a joint / downlink or an uplink TCI state. If this field is set to 1, the TCI state ID in the same octet is for joint / downlink TCI state. If this field is set to 0, the TCI state ID in the same octet is for uplink TCI state;

[0113] - TCI state ID: This field indicates the TCI state identified by TCI-Stateld in Itm-DL-OrJointTCI- StateToAddModList or TCI-UL-Stateld in Itm-UL-TCI-StatesToAddModList as specified in TS 38.331 [5], If D / U is set to 1, 7-bits length TCI state ID i.e. TCI-Stateld as specified in TS 38.331 [5] is used. If D / U is set to 0, the most significant bit of TCI state ID is considered as the reserved bit and remaining 6 bits indicate the TCI-UL-Stateld as specified in TS 38.331 [5], The maximum number of activated TCI states is 16;

[0114] R: Reserved bit, set to 0.

[0115] Oct 1

[0116] Oct 2

[0117] Oct 3

[0118] Oct 4

[0119] Table 5: Figure 6.1.3.76-1 : Candidate Cell TCI state activation / deactivation MAC CE

[0120] Oct 1

[0121] Oct 2

[0122] Oct 3

[0123] Oct 4

[0124] Oct NT2

[0125] Table 6: Figure 6.1.3.76-2: Enhanced Candidate Cell TCI state activation / deactivation MAC CE

[0126] Option 3: Indication whether a TCI state ID is for normal LTM or conditional LTM

[0127] 6.1 .3.76 Candidate Cell TCI States Activation / Deactivation MAC CE

[0128] The Candidate Cell TCI States Activation / Deactivation MAC CE or Enhanced Candidate Cell TCI States Activation / Deactivation MAC CE is identified by a MAC subheader with eLCID as specified in Table 6.2.1-lb. It has a variable size consisting of following fields: - Candidate Cell ID: This field indicates the identity of an LTM candidate cell for which the MAC CE applies, corresponding to the Itm-Candidateld minus 1 as specified in TS 38.331 [5], If the value of this field is set to FFF, the UE should ignore this field. The length of the field is 3 bits;

[0129] - Conditional Candidate Cell ID: This field indicates the identity of a Conditional LTM candidate cell for which the MAC CE applies, corresponding to the Itm-CondCandidateld minus 1 as specified in TS 38.331 [51. If the value of this field is set to FFF, the UE should ignore this field. The length of the field is 3 bits;

[0130] - C;: This field indicates whether the ithTCI codepoint is TCI condepoint of a LTM candidate cell or a Conditional LTM candidate cell. If the field Ci is set to 1, the ithTCI codepoint is TCI condepoint belongs to te Conditional LTM candidate cell indicated by the field Conditional Candidate Cell ID. If the field Ci is set to 0, the ithTCI codepoint is TCI condepoint belongs to the LTM candidate cell indicated by the field Candidate Cell ID. If the value of field Candidate Cell ID is FFF, the UE considers all the indicated TCI codepoints to belong to the Conditional LTM candidate cell indicated by the field Conditional Candidate Cell ID. If the value of field Conditional Candidate Cell ID is FFF, the UE considers all the indicated TCI codepoints to belong to the LTM candidate cell indicated by the field Candidate Cell ID. The length of the field is 8 bits;

[0131] - Pi: This field indicates whether each TCI codepoint has multiple TCI states or a single TCI state. If the Pi field is set to 1, the i,hTCI codepoint includes the DL TCI state and the UL TCI state. If the Pi field is set to 0, the i,hTCI codepoint includes only the DL / joint TCI state or the UL TCI state. The codepoint to which a TCI state is mapped is determined by its ordinal position among all the TCI state ID fields;

[0132] - D / U: This field indicates whether the TCI state ID in the same octet is for a joint / downlink or an uplink TCI state. If this field is set to 1, the TCI state ID in the same octet is for joint / downlink TCI state. If this field is set to 0, the TCI state ID in the same octet is for uplink TCI state;

[0133] - TCI state ID: This field indicates the TCI state identified by TCI-Stateld in Itm-DL-OrJointTCI- StateToAddModList or TCI-UL-Stateld in Itm-UL-TCI-StatesToAddModList as specified in TS 38.331 [5], If D / U is set to 1, 7-bits length TCI state ID i.e. TCI-Stateld as specified in TS 38.331 [5] is used. If D / U is set to 0, the most significant bit of TCI state ID is considered as the reserved bit and remaining 6 bits indicate the TCI-UL-Stateld as specified in TS 38.331 [5], The maximum number of activated TCI states is 16;

[0134] - R: Reserved bit, set to 0. Table 7: Figure 6.1.3.76-1 : Candidate Cell TCI state activation / deactivation MAC CE

[0135] Oct 1

[0136] Oct 2

[0137] Oct 3

[0138] Oct 4

[0139] Oct 5

[0140] Oct +3

[0141] Table 8: Figure 6.1.3.76-2: Enhanced Candidate Cell TCI state activation / deactivation MAC CE

[0142] Fig. 3 depicts a signalling diagram between a UE 520 and a network node 510. The network node 510 is the network node implementing method 400, as described above. The UE 520 is the UE implementing the method 300, as described above.

[0143] The network node 510 transmits to the UE 520 a first indication 530. The first indication 530 correspond to the first indication according to method 300 step 302, and method 400 step 402.

[0144] The network node 510 may transmits to the UE 520 one or more further indications 540. The one or more further indications 540 correspond to the one or more further indications according to the method 300, and method 400.

[0145] Fig. QQ1 shows an example of a communication system QQ100 in accordance with some embodiments.

[0146] In the example, the communication system QQ100 includes a telecommunication network QQ102 that includes an access network QQ104, such as a radio access network (RAN), and a core network QQ106, which includes one or more core network nodes QQ108. The access network QQ104 includes one or more access network nodes, such as access network nodes QQ110a and QQ110b (one or more of which are also referred to as RAN network nodes or RAN nodes QQ110 herein), or any other similar 3rdGeneration Partnership Project (3GPP) access nodes or non-3GPP access points (AP). Moreover, as will be appreciated by those of skill in the art, a network node is not necessarily limited to an implementation in which a radio portion and a baseband portion are supplied and integrated by a single vendor. Thus, it will be understood that network nodes include disaggregated implementations or portions thereof. For example, in some embodiments, the telecommunication network QQ102 includes one or more Open-RAN (ORAN) network nodes. An ORAN network node is a node in the telecommunication network QQ102 that supports an ORAN specification (e.g., a specification published by the O-RAN Alliance, or any similar organization) and may operate alone or together with other nodes to implement one or more functionalities of any node in the telecommunication network QQ102, including one or more network nodes QQ110 and / or core network nodes QQ108.

[0147] Examples of an ORAN network node include an open radio unit (0-Rll), an open distributed unit (O-DU), an open central unit (O-CU), including an O-CU control plane (O-CU-CP) or an O- Cll user plane (O-CU-UP), a RAN intelligent controller (RIC) (near-real time or non-real time) hosting software or software plug-ins, such as a near-real time control application (e.g., xApp) or a non-real time control application (e.g., rApp), or any combination thereof (the adjective “open” designating support of an ORAN specification). The network node may support a specification by, for example, supporting an interface defined by the ORAN specification, such as an A1 , F1 , W1 , E1 , E2, X2, Xn interface, an open fronthaul user plane interface, or an open fronthaul management plane interface. Moreover, an ORAN access node may be a logical node in a physical node. Furthermore, an ORAN network node may be implemented in a virtualization environment (described further below) in which one or more network functions are virtualized. For example, the virtualization environment may include an O-Cloud computing platform orchestrated by a Service Management and Orchestration (SMO) Framework via an 0-2 interface defined by the O-RAN Alliance or comparable technologies.

[0148] The network nodes QQ110 facilitate direct or indirect connection of wireless devices (also referred to interchangeably herein as user equipment (UE)), such as by connecting UEs QQ112a, QQ112b, QQ112c, and QQ112d (one or more of which may be generally referred to as UEs QQ112) to the core network QQ106 over one or more wireless connections. The access network nodes QQ110 may be, for example, access points (APs) (e.g. radio access points), base stations (BSs) (e.g. radio base stations, Node Bs, evolved Node Bs (eNBs) and New Radio (NR) NodeBs (gNBs)).

[0149] Example wireless communications over a wireless connection include transmitting and / or receiving wireless signals using electromagnetic waves, radio waves, infrared waves, and / or other types of signals suitable for conveying information without the use of wires, cables, or other material conductors. Moreover, in different embodiments, the communication system QQ100 may include any number of wired or wireless networks, network nodes, UEs, and / or any other components or systems that may facilitate or participate in the communication of data and / or signals whether via wired or wireless connections. The communication system QQ100 may include and / or interface with any type of communication, telecommunication, data, cellular, radio network, and / or other similar type of system.

[0150] The wireless devices / UEs QQ112 may be any of a wide variety of communication devices, including wireless devices arranged, configured, and / or operable to communicate wirelessly with the network nodes QQ110 and other communication devices. Similarly, the access network nodes QQ110 are arranged, capable, configured, and / or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with the UEs QQ112 and / or with other network nodes or equipment in the telecommunication network QQ102 to enable and / or provide network access, such as wireless network access, and / or to perform other functions, such as administration in the telecommunication network QQ102.

[0151] In the depicted example, the core network QQ106 connects the access network nodes QQ110 to one or more host computing systems, such as host QQ116. These connections may be direct or indirect via one or more intermediary networks or devices. In other examples, network nodes may be directly coupled to hosts. The core network QQ106 includes one more core network nodes (e.g. core network node QQ108) that are structured with hardware and software components. Features of these components may be substantially similar to those described with respect to the wireless devices / UEs, access network nodes, and / or hosts, such that the descriptions thereof are generally applicable to the corresponding components of the core network node QQ108. Example core network nodes include functions of one or more of a Mobile Switching Center (MSC), Mobility Management Entity (MME), Home Subscriber Server (HSS), Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF), Session Management Function (SMF), Authentication Server Function (AUSF), Subscription Identifier De-concealing function (SIDF), Unified Data Management (UDM), Security Edge Protection Proxy (SEPP), Network Exposure Function (NEF), and / or a User Plane Function (UPF).

[0152] The host QQ116 may be under the ownership or control of a service provider other than an operator or provider of the access network QQ104 and / or the telecommunication network QQ102. The host QQ116 may host a variety of applications to provide one or more service. Examples of such applications include live and pre-recorded audio / video content, data collection services such as retrieving and compiling data on various ambient conditions detected by a plurality of UEs, analytics functionality, social media, functions for controlling or otherwise interacting with remote devices, functions for an alarm and surveillance center, or any other such function performed by a server.

[0153] As a whole, the communication system QQ100 of Figure QQ1 enables connectivity between the wireless devices / UEs, network nodes, and hosts. In that sense, the communication system may be configured to operate according to predefined rules or procedures, such as specific standards that include, but are not limited to: Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM); Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS); Long Term Evolution (LTE), and / or other suitable 2ndGeneration (2G), 3rdGeneration (3G), 4thGeneration (4G), 5thGeneration (5G) standards, or any applicable future generation standard (e.g. 6thGeneration (6G)); wireless local area network (WLAN) standards, such as the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standards (WiFi); and / or any other appropriate wireless communication standard, such as the Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMax), Bluetooth, Z-Wave, Near Field Communication (NFC), ZigBee, LiFi, and / or any low-power wide-area network (LPWAN) standards such as LoRa and Sigfox.

[0154] In some examples, the telecommunication network QQ102 is a cellular network that implements 3GPP standardized features. Accordingly, the telecommunications network QQ102 may support network slicing to provide different logical networks to different devices that are connected to the telecommunication network QQ102. For example, the telecommunications network QQ102 may provide Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communication (URLLC) services to some UEs, while providing Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) services to other UEs, and / or Massive Machine Type Communication (mMTC) / Massive loT services to yet further UEs.

[0155] In some examples, the UEs QQ112 are configured to transmit and / or receive information without direct human interaction. For instance, a UE may be designed to transmit information to the access network QQ104 on a predetermined schedule, when triggered by an internal or external event, or in response to requests from the access network QQ104. Additionally, a UE may be configured for operating in single- or multi-Radio Access Technology (RAT) or multistandard mode. For example, a UE may operate with any one or combination of Wi-Fi, NR (New Radio) and LTE, i.e. being configured for multi-radio dual connectivity (MR-DC), such as E- UTRAN (Evolved-UTRA (UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access) Network) New Radio - Dual Connectivity (EN-DC).

[0156] In the example, the hub QQ114 communicates with the access network QQ104 to facilitate indirect communication between one or more UEs (e.g., UE QQ112c and / or QQ112d) and network nodes (e.g., network node QQ110b). In some examples, the hub QQ114 may be a controller, router, content source and analytics, or any of the other communication devices described herein regarding UEs. For example, the hub QQ114 may be a broadband router enabling access to the core network QQ106 for the UEs. As another example, the hub QQ114 may be a controller that sends commands or instructions to one or more actuators in the UEs. Commands or instructions may be received from the UEs, network nodes QQ110, or by executable code, script, process, or other instructions in the hub QQ114. As another example, the hub QQ114 may be a data collector that acts as temporary storage for UE data and, in some embodiments, may perform analysis or other processing of the data. As another example, the hub QQ114 may be a content source. For example, for a UE that is a VR device, display, loudspeaker, or other media delivery device, the hub QQ114 may retrieve VR assets, video, audio, or other media or data related to sensory information via a network node, which the hub QQ114 then provides to the UE either directly, after performing local processing, and / or after adding additional local content. In still another example, the hub QQ114 acts as a proxy server or orchestrator for the UEs, in particular if one or more of the UEs are low energy Internet of Things (loT) devices.

[0157] The hub QQ114 may have a constant / persistent or intermittent connection to the network node QQ110b. The hub QQ114 may also allow for a different communication scheme and / or schedule between the hub QQ114 and UEs (e.g., UE QQ112c and / or QQ112d), and between the hub QQ114 and the core network QQ106. In other examples, the hub QQ114 is connected to the core network QQ106 and / or one or more UEs via a wired connection. Moreover, the hub QQ114 may be configured to connect to a machine-to-machine (M2M) service provider over the access network QQ104 and / or to another UE over a direct connection. In some scenarios, UEs may establish a wireless connection with the network nodes QQ110 while still connected via the hub QQ114 via a wired or wireless connection. In some embodiments, the hub QQ114 may be a dedicated hub - that is, a hub whose primary function is to route communications to / from the UEs from / to the network node QQ110b. In other embodiments, the hub QQ114 may be a nondedicated hub - that is, a device which is capable of operating to route communications between the UEs and network node QQ110b, but which is additionally capable of operating as a communication start and / or end point for certain data channels.

[0158] Fig. QQ2 shows a wireless device or UE QQ200 in accordance with some embodiments. The UE QQ200 presents additional details of some embodiments of the UE QQ112 of Fig. QQ1. As used herein, a wireless device / UE refers to a device capable, configured, arranged and / or operable to communicate wirelessly with network nodes and / or other UEs. Examples of a wireless device / UE include, but are not limited to, a smart phone, mobile phone, cell phone, voice over IP (VoIP) phone, wireless local loop phone, desktop computer, personal digital assistant (PDA), wireless cameras, gaming console or device, music storage / playback device, wearable terminal device, wireless endpoint, mobile station, tablet, laptop, laptop-embedded equipment (LEE), laptop-mounted equipment (LME), an Augmented Reality (AR) or Virtual Reality (VR) device, wireless customer-premise equipment (CPE), vehicle, vehicle-mounted or vehicle embedded / integrated wireless device, etc. Other examples include any UE identified by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), including a narrow band internet of things (NB-loT) UE, a machine type communication (MTC) UE, and / or an enhanced MTC (eMTC) UE.

[0159] A wireless device / UE may support device-to-device (D2D) communication, for example by implementing a 3GPP standard for sidelink communication, Dedicated Short-Range Communication (DSRC), vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I), or vehicle-to- everything (V2X). In other examples, a UE may not necessarily have a user in the sense of a human user who owns and / or operates the relevant device. Instead, a UE may represent a device that is intended for sale to, or operation by, a human user but which may not, or which may not initially, be associated with a specific human user (e.g., a smart sprinkler controller). Alternatively, a UE may represent a device that is not intended for sale to, or operation by, an end user but which may be associated with or operated for the benefit of a user (e.g., a smart power meter).

[0160] The UE QQ200 includes processing circuitry QQ202 that is operatively coupled via a bus QQ204 to an input / output interface QQ206, a power source QQ208, a memory QQ210, a communication interface QQ212, and / or any other component, or any combination thereof. Certain UEs may utilize all or a subset of the components shown in Fig. QQ2. The level of integration between the components may vary from one UE to another UE. Further, certain UEs may contain multiple instances of a component, such as multiple processors, memories, transceivers, transmitters, receivers, etc.

[0161] The processing circuitry QQ202 is configured to process instructions and data and may be configured to implement any sequential state machine operative to execute instructions stored as machine-readable computer programs in the memory QQ210. The processing circuitry QQ202 may be implemented as one or more hardware-implemented state machines (e.g., in discrete logic, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), etc.); programmable logic together with appropriate firmware; one or more stored computer programs, general-purpose processors, such as a microprocessor or digital signal processor (DSP), together with appropriate software; or any combination of the above. For example, the processing circuitry QQ202 may include multiple central processing units (CPUs). The processing circuitry QQ202 may be configured to cause the UE QQ202 to perform the methods as described with reference to Fig. 1.

[0162] In the example, the input / output interface QQ206 may be configured to provide an interface or interfaces to an input device, output device, or one or more input and / or output devices. Examples of an output device include a speaker, a sound card, a video card, a display, a monitor, a printer, an actuator, an emitter, a smartcard, another output device, or any combination thereof. An input device may allow a user to capture information into the UE QQ200. Examples of an input device include a touch-sensitive or presence-sensitive display, a camera (e.g., a digital camera, a digital video camera, a web camera, etc.), a microphone, a sensor, a mouse, a trackball, a directional pad, a trackpad, a scroll wheel, a smartcard, and the like. The presencesensitive display may include a capacitive or resistive touch sensor to sense input from a user. A sensor may be, for instance, an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a tilt sensor, a force sensor, a magnetometer, an optical sensor, a proximity sensor, a biometric sensor, etc., or any combination thereof. An output device may use the same type of interface port as an input device. For example, a Universal Serial Bus (USB) port may be used to provide an input device and an output device.

[0163] In some embodiments, the power source QQ208 is structured as a battery or battery pack. Other types of power sources, such as an external power source (e.g., an electricity outlet), photovoltaic device, or power cell, may be used. The power source QQ208 may further include power circuitry for delivering power from the power source QQ208 itself, and / or an external power source, to the various parts of the UE QQ200 via input circuitry or an interface such as an electrical power cable. Delivering power may be, for example, for charging of the power source QQ208. Power circuitry may perform any formatting, converting, or other modification to the power from the power source QQ208 to make the power suitable for the respective components of the UE QQ200 to which power is supplied.

[0164] The memory QQ210 may be or be configured to include memory such as random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), magnetic disks, optical disks, hard disks, removable cartridges, flash drives, and so forth. In one example, the memory QQ210 includes one or more application programs QQ214, such as an operating system, web browser application, a widget, gadget engine, or other application, and corresponding data QQ216. The memory QQ210 may store, for use by the UE QQ200, any of a variety of various operating systems or combinations of operating systems.

[0165] The memory QQ210 may be configured to include a number of physical drive units, such as redundant array of independent disks (RAID), flash memory, USB flash drive, external hard disk drive, thumb drive, pen drive, key drive, high-density digital versatile disc (HD-DVD) optical disc drive, internal hard disk drive, Blu-Ray optical disc drive, holographic digital data storage (HDDS) optical disc drive, external mini-dual in-line memory module (DIMM), synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), external micro-DIMM SDRAM, smartcard memory such as tamper resistant module in the form of a universal integrated circuit card (UICC) including one or more subscriber identity modules (SIMs), such as a Universal SIM (USIM) and / or Integrated SIM (ISIM), other memory, or any combination thereof. The UICC may for example be an embedded UICC (eUlCC), integrated UICC (iUICC) or a removable UICC commonly known as ‘SIM card’. The memory QQ210 may allow the UE QQ200 to access instructions, application programs and the like, stored on transitory or non-transitory memory media, to off-load data, or to upload data. An article of manufacture, such as one utilizing a communication system may be tangibly embodied as or in the memory QQ210, which may be or comprise a device-readable storage medium. The processing circuitry QQ202 may be configured to communicate with an access network or other network using the communication interface QQ212. The communication interface QQ212 may comprise one or more communication subsystems and may include or be communicatively coupled to an antenna QQ222. The communication interface QQ212 may include one or more transceivers used to communicate, such as by communicating with one or more remote transceivers of another device capable of wireless communication (e.g., another UE or a network node in an access network). Each transceiver may include a transmitter QQ218 and / or a receiver QQ220 appropriate to provide network communications (e.g., optical, electrical, frequency allocations, and so forth). Moreover, the transmitter QQ218 and receiver QQ220 may be coupled to one or more antennas (e.g., antenna QQ222) and may share circuit components, software or firmware, or alternatively be implemented separately.

[0166] In the illustrated embodiment, communication functions of the communication interface QQ212 may include cellular communication, Wi-Fi communication, LPWAN communication, data communication, voice communication, multimedia communication, short-range communications such as Bluetooth, near-field communication, location-based communication such as the use of the global positioning system (GPS) or other Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) to determine a location, another like communication function, or any combination thereof. Communications may be implemented in according to one or more communication protocols and / or standards, such as IEEE 802.11 , Code Division Multiplexing Access (CDMA), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), GSM, LTE, New Radio (NR), UMTS, WiMax, Ethernet, transmission control protocol / internet protocol (TCP / IP), synchronous optical networking (SONET), Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), QUIC, Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), and so forth.

[0167] Regardless of the type of sensor, a UE may provide an output of data captured by its sensors, through its communication interface QQ212, via a wireless connection to a network node. Data captured by sensors of a UE can be communicated through a wireless connection to a network node via another UE. The output may be periodic (e.g., once every 15 minutes if it reports the sensed temperature), random (e.g., to even out the load from reporting from several sensors), in response to a triggering event (e.g., when moisture is detected an alert is sent), in response to a request (e.g., a user initiated request), or a continuous stream (e.g., a live video feed of a patient).

[0168] As another example, a UE comprises an actuator, a motor, or a switch, related to a communication interface configured to receive wireless input from a network node via a wireless connection. In response to the received wireless input the states of the actuator, the motor, or the switch may change. For example, the UE may comprise a motor that adjusts the control surfaces or rotors of a drone in flight according to the received input or to a robotic arm performing a medical procedure according to the received input.

[0169] A UE, when in the form of an Internet of Things (loT) device, may be a device for use in one or more application domains, these domains comprising, but not limited to, city wearable technology, extended industrial application and healthcare. Non-limiting examples of such an loT device are a device which is or which is embedded in: a connected refrigerator or freezer, a TV, a connected lighting device, an electricity meter, a robot vacuum cleaner, a voice controlled smart speaker, a home security camera, a motion detector, a thermostat, a smoke detector, a door / window sensor, a flood / moisture sensor, an electrical door lock, a connected doorbell, an air conditioning system like a heat pump, an autonomous vehicle, a surveillance system, a weather monitoring device, a vehicle parking monitoring device, an electric vehicle charging station, a smart watch, a fitness tracker, a wearable for tactile augmentation or sensory enhancement, a water sprinkler, an animal- or item-tracking device, a sensor for monitoring a plant or animal, an industrial robot, an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), and any kind of medical device, like a heart rate monitor or a remote controlled surgical robot. A UE in the form of an loT device comprises circuitry and / or software in dependence of the intended application of the loT device in addition to other components as described in relation to the UE QQ200 shown in Figure QQ2.

[0170] As yet another specific example, in an loT scenario, a UE may represent a machine or other device that performs monitoring and / or measurements, and transmits the results of such monitoring and / or measurements to another UE and / or a network node. The UE may in this case be an M2M device, which may in a 3GPP context be referred to as an MTC device. As one particular example, the UE may implement the 3GPP NB-loT standard. In other scenarios, a UE may represent a vehicle, such as a car, a bus, a truck, a ship and an airplane, or other equipment that is capable of monitoring and / or reporting on its operational status or other functions associated with its operation.

[0171] In practice, any number of UEs may be used together with respect to a single use case. For example, a first UE might be or be integrated in a drone and provide the drone’s speed information (obtained through a speed sensor) to a second UE that is a remote controller operating the drone. When the user makes changes from the remote controller, the first UE may adjust the throttle on the drone (e.g. by controlling an actuator) to increase or decrease the drone’s speed. The first and / or the second UE can also include more than one of the functionalities described above. For example, a UE might comprise the sensor and the actuator, and handle communication of data for both the speed sensor and the actuators.

[0172] Fig. QQ3 shows a network node, access network node or RAN node QQ300 in accordance with some embodiments. As used herein, access network node or RAN network node refers to equipment capable, configured, arranged and / or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with a UE and / or with other RAN network nodes or equipment, or core network nodes, in a telecommunication network. Examples of access network nodes include, but are not limited to, access points (APs) (e.g. radio access points), base stations (BSs) (e.g. radio base stations, Node Bs, evolved Node Bs (eNBs) and NR NodeBs (gNBs)), Open-RAN (O-RAN) nodes or components of an O-RAN node (e.g., O- RU, O-DU, O-CU).

[0173] Base stations may be categorized based on the amount of coverage they provide (or, stated differently, their transmit power level) and so, depending on the provided amount of coverage, may be referred to as femto base stations, pico base stations, micro base stations, or macro base stations. A base station may be a relay node or a relay donor node controlling a relay. A network node may also include one or more (or all) parts of a distributed radio base station such as centralized digital units, distributed units (e.g., in an O-RAN access node) and / or remote radio units (RRUs), sometimes referred to as Remote Radio Heads (RRHs). Such remote radio units may or may not be integrated with an antenna as an antenna integrated radio. Parts of a distributed radio base station may also be referred to as nodes in a distributed antenna system (DAS).

[0174] Other examples of network nodes include multiple transmission point (multi-TRP) 5G access nodes, multi-standard radio (MSR) equipment such as MSR BSs, network controllers such as radio network controllers (RNCs) or base station controllers (BSCs), base transceiver stations (BTSs), transmission points, transmission nodes, multi-cell / multicast coordination entities (MCEs), Operation and Maintenance (O&M) nodes, Operations Support System (OSS) nodes, Self-Organizing Network (SON) nodes, positioning nodes (e.g. Evolved Serving Mobile Location Centers (E-SMLCs)), and / or Minimization of Drive Tests (MDTs).

[0175] The RAN network node QQ300 includes a processing circuitry QQ302, a memory QQ304, a communication interface QQ306, and a power source QQ308. The RAN network node QQ300 may be composed of multiple physically separate components (e.g., a NodeB component and a RNC component, or a BTS component and a BSC component, etc.), which may each have their own respective components. In certain scenarios in which the RAN network node QQ300 comprises multiple separate components (e.g., BTS and BSC components), one or more of the separate components may be shared among several network nodes. For example, a single RNC may control multiple NodeBs. In such a scenario, each unique NodeB and RNC pair, may in some instances be considered a single separate network node. In some embodiments, the RAN network node QQ300 may be configured to support multiple radio access technologies (RATs). In such embodiments, some components may be duplicated (e.g., separate memory QQ304 for different RATs) and some components may be reused (e.g., a same antenna QQ310 may be shared by different RATs). The RAN network node QQ300 may also include multiple sets of the various illustrated components for different wireless technologies integrated into network node QQ300, for example GSM, WCDMA, LTE, NR, WiFi, Zigbee, Z-wave, LoRaWAN, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) or Bluetooth wireless technologies. These wireless technologies may be integrated into the same or different chip or set of chips and other components within RAN network node QQ300.

[0176] The processing circuitry QQ302 may comprise a combination of one or more of a microprocessor, controller, microcontroller, central processing unit, digital signal processor, application-specific integrated circuit, field programmable gate array, or any other suitable computing device, resource, or combination of hardware, software and / or encoded logic operable to provide, either alone or in conjunction with other network node QQ300 components, such as the memory QQ304, to provide RAN network node QQ300 functionality. For example, the processing circuitry QQ302 may be configured to cause the RAN network node to perform the methods as described with reference to Fig. 2.

[0177] In some embodiments, the processing circuitry QQ302 includes a system on a chip (SOC). In some embodiments, the processing circuitry QQ302 includes one or more of radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry QQ312 and baseband processing circuitry QQ314. In some embodiments, the radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry QQ312 and the baseband processing circuitry QQ314 may be on separate chips (or sets of chips), boards, or units, such as radio units and digital units. In alternative embodiments, part or all of RF transceiver circuitry QQ312 and / baseband processing circuitry QQ314 may be on the same chip or set of chips, boards, or units.

[0178] The memory QQ304 may comprise any form of volatile or non-volatile computer-readable memory including, without limitation, persistent storage, solid-state memory, remotely mounted memory, magnetic media, optical media, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), mass storage media (for example, a hard disk), removable storage media (for example, a flash drive, a Compact Disk (CD) or a Digital Video Disk (DVD)), and / or any other volatile or non-volatile, non-transitory device-readable and / or computer-executable memory devices that store information, data, and / or instructions that may be used by the processing circuitry QQ302. The memory QQ304 may store any suitable instructions, data, or information, including a computer program, software, an application including one or more of logic, rules, code, tables, and / or other instructions capable of being executed by the processing circuitry QQ302 and utilized by the RAN node QQ300. The memory QQ304 may be used to store any calculations made by the processing circuitry QQ302 and / or any data received via the communication interface QQ306. In some embodiments, the processing circuitry QQ302 and memory QQ304 is integrated. The communication interface QQ306 is used in wired or wireless communication of signalling and / or data between network nodes, the access network, the core network, and / or UE. As illustrated, the communication interface QQ306 comprises port(s) / terminal(s) QQ316 to send and receive data, for example to and from a network over a wired connection. The communication interface QQ306 also includes radio front-end circuitry QQ318 that may be coupled to, or in certain embodiments a part of, the antenna QQ310. Radio front-end circuitry QQ318 comprises filters QQ320 and amplifiers QQ322. The radio front-end circuitry QQ318 may be connected to an antenna QQ310 and processing circuitry QQ302. The radio front-end circuitry may be configured to condition signals communicated between antenna QQ310 and processing circuitry QQ302. The radio front-end circuitry QQ318 may receive digital data that is to be sent out to other network nodes or UEs via a wireless connection. The radio front-end circuitry QQ318 may convert the digital data into a radio signal having the appropriate channel and bandwidth parameters using a combination of filters QQ320 and / or amplifiers QQ322. The radio signal may then be transmitted via the antenna QQ310. Similarly, when receiving data, the antenna QQ310 may collect radio signals which are then converted into digital data by the radio front-end circuitry QQ318. The digital data may be passed to the processing circuitry QQ302. In other embodiments, the communication interface may comprise different components and / or different combinations of components.

[0179] In certain alternative embodiments, the RAN node QQ300 does not include separate radio front-end circuitry QQ318, instead, the processing circuitry QQ302 includes radio front-end circuitry and is connected to the antenna QQ310. Similarly, in some embodiments, all or some of the RF transceiver circuitry QQ312 is part of the communication interface QQ306. In still other embodiments, the communication interface QQ306 includes one or more ports or terminals QQ316, the radio front-end circuitry QQ318, and the RF transceiver circuitry QQ312, as part of a radio unit (not shown), and the communication interface QQ306 communicates with the baseband processing circuitry QQ314, which is part of a digital unit (not shown).

[0180] The antenna QQ310 may include one or more antennas, or antenna arrays, configured to send and / or receive wireless signals. The antenna QQ310 may be coupled to the radio front-end circuitry QQ318 and may be any type of antenna capable of transmitting and receiving data and / or signals wirelessly. In certain embodiments, the antenna QQ310 is separate from the network node QQ300 and connectable to the network node QQ300 through an interface or port.

[0181] The antenna QQ310, communication interface QQ306, and / or the processing circuitry QQ302 may be configured to perform any receiving operations and / or certain obtaining operations described herein as being performed by the network node. Any information, data and / or signals may be received from a UE, another network node and / or any other network equipment. Similarly, the antenna QQ310, the communication interface QQ306, and / or the processing circuitry QQ302 may be configured to perform any transmitting operations described herein as being performed by the network node. Any information, data and / or signals may be transmitted to a UE, another network node and / or any other network equipment.

[0182] The power source QQ308 provides power to the various components of network node QQ300 in a form suitable for the respective components (e.g., at a voltage and current level needed for each respective component). The power source QQ308 may further comprise, or be coupled to, power management circuitry to supply the components of the network node QQ300 with power for performing the functionality described herein. For example, the network node QQ300 may be connectable to an external power source (e.g., the power grid, an electricity outlet) via an input circuitry or interface such as an electrical cable, whereby the external power source supplies power to power circuitry of the power source QQ308. As a further example, the power source QQ308 may comprise a source of power in the form of a battery or battery pack which is connected to, or integrated in, power circuitry. The battery may provide backup power should the external power source fail.

[0183] Embodiments of the network node QQ300 may include additional components beyond those shown in Fig. QQ3 for providing certain aspects of the network node’s functionality, including any of the functionality described herein and / or any functionality necessary to support the subject matter described herein. For example, the network node QQ300 may include user interface equipment to allow input of information into the network node QQ300 and to allow output of information from the network node QQ300. This may allow a user to perform diagnostic, maintenance, repair, and other administrative functions for the network node QQ300. In some embodiments providing a core network node, such as core network node 108 of Fig. QQ1 , some components, such as the radio front-end circuitry QQ318 and the RF transceiver circuitry QQ312 may be omitted.

[0184] Although the computing devices described herein (e.g., UEs, network nodes) may include the illustrated combination of hardware components, other embodiments may comprise computing devices with different combinations of components. It is to be understood that these computing devices may comprise any suitable combination of hardware and / or software needed to perform the tasks, features, functions and methods disclosed herein. Determining, calculating, obtaining or similar operations described herein may be performed by processing circuitry, which may process information by, for example, converting the obtained information into other information, comparing the obtained information or converted information to information stored in the network node, and / or performing one or more operations based on the obtained information or converted information, and as a result of said processing making a determination. Moreover, while components are depicted as single boxes located within a larger box, or nested within multiple boxes, in practice, computing devices may comprise multiple different physical components that make up a single illustrated component, and functionality may be partitioned between separate components. For example, a communication interface may be configured to include any of the components described herein, and / or the functionality of the components may be partitioned between the processing circuitry and the communication interface. In another example, non-computationally intensive functions of any of such components may be implemented in software or firmware and computationally intensive functions may be implemented in hardware.

[0185] In certain embodiments, some or all of the functionality described herein may be provided by processing circuitry executing instructions stored on in memory, which in certain embodiments may be a computer program product in the form of a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. In alternative embodiments, some or all of the functionality may be provided by the processing circuitry without executing instructions stored on a separate or discrete device- readable storage medium, such as in a hard-wired manner. In any of those particular embodiments, whether executing instructions stored on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium or not, the processing circuitry can be configured to perform the described functionality. The benefits provided by such functionality are not limited to the processing circuitry alone or to other components of the computing device, but are enjoyed by the computing device as a whole, and / or by end users and a wireless network generally.

[0186] The foregoing merely illustrates the principles of the disclosure. Various modifications and alterations to the described embodiments will be apparent to those skilled in the art in view of the teachings herein. It will thus be appreciated that those skilled in the art will be able to devise numerous systems, arrangements, and procedures that, although not explicitly shown or described herein, embody the principles of the disclosure and can be thus within the scope of the disclosure. Various exemplary embodiments can be used together with one another, as well as interchangeably therewith, as should be understood by those having ordinary skill in the art.

[0187] The following statements represent some exemplary embodiments of the techniques included in this disclosure.

[0188] A1. A method in a User Equipment (UE), which is configured with at least one LTM candidate configuration which include one or more candidate TCI state to be activated / deactivate in advance, the method comprising:

[0189] • Receiving an indication from a network node about which candidate TCI state the UE should activate / deactivate for a conditional LTM candidate configuration

[0190] • Activating / deactivating the one or more candidate TCI states for the one or more conditional LTM candidate configurations indicated by the network node.

[0191] A2. The method in A1 , wherein the indication includes one or more of the following information:

[0192] • An explicit conditional LTM candidate configuration identifier

[0193] • A indication on whether the included LTM candidate configuration identifier is for “conditional LTM” or “normal LTM”

[0194] • Both an explicit conditional LTM candidate configuration identifier and a normal LTM candidate configuration identifier

[0195] • One or more candidate TCI states to be activated / deactivated

[0196] • An indication on whether a candidate TCI state is related to a conditional LTM candidate configuration or a normal LTM candidate configuration.

[0197] A2a. The method in A1 and A2, wherein the explicit conditional LTM candidate configuration identifier and the explicit LTM candidate configuration identifier are not received at the same time in the indication.

[0198] A3. The method in A1 , wherein the indication received by the network node is a MAC CE.

[0199] A4. The method in A1 , wherein the indication is received by a serving DU of the network node

[0200] A5. The method in A1 , wherein the indication is received by a target DU of the network node.

[0201] • In one example, the target DU is part of a network node (which is a first network node)

[0202] • In one example, the target DU is part of a different network node (which is a second network node)

[0203] • In one example, the target DU belongs to a first CU

[0204] • In one example, the target DU belongs to the same CU as the serving DU

[0205] A6. The method in A1 , wherein the indication is received by a network node which is an MCG, and SCG, a PCell, a PSCell, an SCell, an SpCell.

[0206] B1. A method in a network node, acting as a serving DU, or target DU, which has configured (or provided) the UE with at least one LTM candidate configuration which include one or more candidate TCI state to be activated / deactivate in advance, the method comprising:

[0207] • Transmitting an indication to the UE about which candidate TCI state the UE should activate / deactivate for a conditional LTM candidate configuration.

[0208] B2. The method in B1 , wherein the indication includes one or more of the following information:

[0209] • An explicit conditional LTM candidate configuration identifier

[0210] • A indication on whether the included LTM candidate configuration identifier is for “conditional LTM” or “normal LTM”

[0211] • Both an explicit conditional LTM candidate configuration identifier and a normal LTM candidate configuration identifier • One or more candidate TCI states to be activated / deactivated

[0212] • An indication on whether a candidate TCI state is related to a conditional LTM candidate configuration or a normal LTM candidate configuration.

[0213] B2a. The method in B1 and B2, wherein the explicit conditional LTM candidate configuration identifier and the explicit LTM candidate configuration identifier are not included at the same time in the indication.

[0214] B3. The method in B1 , wherein the indication transmitted by the network node is a MAC CE.

[0215] B4. The method in B1 , wherein the indication is transmitted by a serving DU of the network node

[0216] B5. The method in B1 , wherein the indication is transmitted by a target DU of the network node.

[0217] • In one example, the target DU is part of a network node (which is a first network node)

[0218] • In one example, the target DU is part of a different network node (which is a second network node)

[0219] • In one example, the target DU belongs to a first CU

[0220] • In one example, the target DU belongs to the same CU as the serving DU

[0221] B6. The method in B1 , wherein the indication is transmitted by a network node which is an MCG, and SCG, a PCell, a PSCell, an SCell, an SpCell.

[0222] EMBODIMENTS

[0223] A Embodiments

[0224] 1 . A method performed by a user equipment, UE, the method comprising: receiving, from a radio access network, RAN, node, a first indication that indicates whether a candidate cell Transmission Configuration Indicator, TCI, State is for a Conditional L1 / L2 triggered mobility, LTM, candidate configuration or for a non-Conditional LTM candidate configuration, wherein the candidate cell TCI State is for activation or deactivation in a LTM procedure.

[0225] 2. The method of embodiment 1 , wherein the first indication is a first candidate cell identifier that is received in one of: a first field for identifying a candidate cell for a Conditional LTM candidate configuration; and a second field for identifying a candidate cell for a non-Conditional LTM candidate configuration.

[0226] 3. The method of embodiment 2, wherein the other one of the first field and the second field comprises a null candidate cell identifier value.

[0227] 4. The method of embodiment 2 or 3, wherein the first indication indicates that the candidate cell TCI State is for Conditional LTM if the first indication is received in the first field, and the first indication indicates that the candidate cell TCI State is for a non-Conditional LTM if the first indication is received in the second field.

[0228] 5. The method of embodiment 2, wherein the method further comprises: receiving, from the RAN node, a second indication, wherein the second indication is a second candidate cell identifier received in the other one of the first field and the second field.

[0229] 6. The method of embodiment 5, wherein the method further comprises: receiving, from the RAN node, one or more further indications, wherein each further indication indicates whether a respective candidate cell TCI State relates to the candidate cell for the Conditional LTM candidate configuration or to the candidate cell for the non-Conditional LTM candidate configuration. 7. The method of embodiment 5 or 6, wherein the second indication is a null candidate cell identifier value.

[0230] 8. The method of embodiment 1 , wherein the first indication indicates that the candidate cell TCI State is for Conditional LTM if the first indication has a first value, and indicates that the candidate cell TCI State is for a non-Conditional LTM if the first indication has a second value.

[0231] 9. The method of embodiment 8, wherein the first indication is a flag or one-bit indicator.

[0232] 10. The method of any previous embodiment, wherein the method further comprises: receiving, from the RAN node, information identifying one or more candidate TCI states to be activated or deactivated.

[0233] 11. The method of embodiment 10, wherein the method further comprises: initiating activation or deactivation of the one or more candidate cell TCI states according to the first indication.

[0234] 12. The method of any previous embodiment, wherein the first indication is received by the UE in a Medium Access Control, MAC, Control Element, CE.

[0235] 13. The method of embodiment 12, wherein the MAC CE is a Candidate Cell TCI state activation / deactivation MAC CE.

[0236] 14. The method of any one of embodiments 1-13, wherein the RAN node is any of: a distributed unit, DU, of a network node; a serving DU of a network node; a target DU of a network node; a network node controlling any of: a Master Cell Group, MCG, a Secondary Cell Group, SCG, a Primary Cell, PCell, a Primary Secondary Cell, PSCell, a Secondary Cell, SCell, and a Special Cell, SpCell.

[0237] Group B Embodiments

[0238] 15. A method performed by a radio access network, RAN, node, the method comprising: transmitting, to a User Equipment, UE, a first indication that indicates whether a candidate cell Transmission Configuration Indicator, TCI, State is for a Conditional L1 / L2 triggered mobility, LTM, candidate configuration or for a non-Conditional LTM candidate configuration, wherein the candidate cell TCI State is for activation or deactivation in a LTM procedure. 16. The method of embodiment 15, wherein the first indication is a first candidate cell identifier that is transmitted to the UE in one of: a first field for identifying a candidate cell for a Conditional LTM candidate configuration; and a second field for identifying a candidate cell for non-Conditional LTM candidate configuration.

[0239] 17. The method of embodiment 16, wherein the other one of the first field and the second field comprises a null candidate cell identifier value.

[0240] 18. The method of embodiment 16 or 17, wherein the first indication indicates that the candidate cell TCI State is for Conditional LTM if the first indication is transmitted to the UE in the first field, and the first indication indicates that the candidate cell TCI State is for a non-Conditional LTM if the first indication is transmitted to the UE in the second field.

[0241] 19. The method of embodiment 16, wherein the method further comprises: transmitting, to the UE, a second indication, wherein the second indication is a second candidate cell identifier transmitted in the other one of the first field and the second field.

[0242] 20. The method of embodiment 19, wherein the method further comprises: transmitting, to the UE, one or more further indications, wherein each further indication indicates whether a respective candidate cell TCI State relates to the candidate cell for the Conditional LTM candidate configuration or to the candidate cell for the non-Conditional LTM candidate configuration.

[0243] 21. The method of embodiment 19 or 20, wherein the second indication is a null candidate cell identifier value.

[0244] 22. The method of embodiment 15, wherein the first indication has a first value to indicate that the candidate cell TCI State is for Conditional LTM, and the first indication has a second value to indicate that the candidate cell TCI State is for a non-Conditional LTM.

[0245] 23. The method of embodiment 22, wherein the first indication is a flag or one-bit indicator.

[0246] 24. The method of any of embodiments 15-23, wherein the method further comprises: transmitting, to the UE, information identifying one or more candidate TCI states to be activated or deactivated.

[0247] 25. The method of any of embodiments 15-24, wherein the first indication is transmitted by the RAN node in a Medium Access Control, MAC, Control Element, CE.

[0248] 26. The method of embodiment 25, wherein the MAC CE is a Candidate Cell TCI state activation / deactivation MAC CE.

[0249] 27. The method of any of embodiments 15-26, wherein the RAN node is any of: a distributed unit, DU, of a network node; a serving DU of a network node; a target DU of a network node; a network node controlling any of: a Master Cell Group, MCG, a Secondary Cell Group, SCG, a Primary Cell, PCell, a Primary Secondary Cell, PSCell, a Secondary Cell, SCell, and a Special Cell, SpCell.

[0250] Group C Embodiments

[0251] 28. A computer program product comprising a computer readable medium having computer readable code embodied therein, the computer readable code being configured such that, on execution by a suitable computer or processor, the computer or processor is caused to perform the method of any of the Group A embodiments and the Group B embodiments.

[0252] 29. A user equipment, UE, configured to perform the method of any of the Group A embodiments.

[0253] 30. A user equipment, UE, comprising a processor and a memory, said memory containing instructions executable by said processor whereby said UE is operative to perform the method of any of the Group A embodiments.

[0254] 31. A radio access network, RAN, node, configured to perform the method of any of the Group B embodiments.

[0255] 32. A radio access network, RAN, node comprising a processor and a memory, said memory containing instructions executable by said processor whereby said RAN node is operative to perform the method of any of the Group B embodiments.

[0256] 33. A user equipment, UE, comprising: processing circuitry configured to cause the user equipment to perform any of the steps of any of the Group A embodiments; and power supply circuitry configured to supply power to the processing circuitry.

[0257] 34. A radio access network, RAN, node, comprising: processing circuitry configured to cause the RAN node to perform any of the steps of any of the Group B embodiments; power supply circuitry configured to supply power to the processing circuitry.

[0258] 35. A user equipment, UE, comprising: an antenna configured to send and receive wireless signals; radio front-end circuitry connected to the antenna and to processing circuitry, and configured to condition signals communicated between the antenna and the processing circuitry; the processing circuitry being configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group A embodiments; an input interface connected to the processing circuitry and configured to allow input of information into the UE to be processed by the processing circuitry; an output interface connected to the processing circuitry and configured to output information from the UE that has been processed by the processing circuitry; and a battery connected to the processing circuitry and configured to supply power to the UE.

Claims

CLAIMS1. A method (300) performed by a user equipment, UE, the method (300) comprising:Receiving (302), from a radio access network, RAN, node, a first indication that indicates whether a candidate cell Transmission Configuration Indicator, TCI, State is for a Conditional L1 / L2 triggered mobility, LTM, candidate configuration or for a non-Conditional LTM candidate configuration, wherein the candidate cell TCI State is for activation or deactivation in a LTM procedure.

2. The method (300) of claim 1 , wherein the first indication is a first candidate cell identifier that is received in one of: a first field for identifying a candidate cell for a Conditional LTM candidate configuration; and a second field for identifying a candidate cell for a non-Conditional LTM candidate configuration.

3. The method (300) of claim 2, wherein the other one of the first field and the second field comprises a null candidate cell identifier value.

4. The method (300) of claims 2 or 3, wherein the first indication indicates that the candidate cell TCI State is for Conditional LTM if the first indication is received in the first field, and the first indication indicates that the candidate cell TCI State is for a non-Conditional LTM if the first indication is received in the second field.

5. The method(300) of claim 2, wherein the method further comprises: receiving, from the RAN node, a second indication, wherein the second indication is a second candidate cell identifier received in the other one of the first field and the second field.

6. The method (300) of claim 5, wherein the method further comprises: receiving, from the RAN node, one or more further indications, wherein each further indication indicates whether a respective candidate cell TCI State relates to the candidate cell for the Conditional LTM candidate configuration or to the candidate cell for the non-Conditional LTM candidate configuration.

7. The method (300) of claims 5 or 6, wherein the second indication is a null candidate cell identifier value.

8. The method (300) of claim 1, wherein the first indication indicates that the candidate cell TCI State is for Conditional LTM if the first indication has a first value, and indicates that the candidate cell TCI State is for a non-Conditional LTM if the first indication has a second value.

9. The method (300) of claim 8, wherein the first indication is a flag or one-bit indicator.

10. The method (300) of any previous embodiment, wherein the method (300) further comprises: receiving, from the RAN node, information identifying one or more candidate TCI states to be activated or deactivated.

11. The method (300) of claim 10, wherein the method (300) further comprises: initiating activation or deactivation of the one or more candidate cell TCI states according to the first indication.

12. The method (300) of any previous embodiment, wherein the first indication is received by the UE in a Medium Access Control, MAC, Control Element, CE.

13. The method (300) of claim 12, wherein the MAC CE is a Candidate Cell TCI state activation / deactivation MAC CE.

14. The method (300) of any one of claims 1-13, wherein the RAN node is any of: a distributed unit, DU, of a network node; a serving DU of a network node; a target DU of a network node; a network node controlling any of: a Master Cell Group, MCG, a Secondary Cell Group, SCG, a Primary Cell, PCell, a Primary Secondary Cell, PSCell, a Secondary Cell, SCell, and a Special Cell, SpCell.

15. A method (400) performed by a radio access network, RAN, node, the method (400) comprising: transmitting, to a User Equipment, UE, a first indication that indicates whether a candidate cell Transmission Configuration Indicator, TCI, State is for a Conditional L1 / L2 triggered mobility, LTM, candidate configuration or for a non-Conditional LTM candidate configuration, wherein the candidate cell TCI State is for activation or deactivation in a LTM procedure.

16. The method (400) of claim 15, wherein the first indication is a first candidate cell identifier that is transmitted to the UE in one of: a first field for identifying a candidate cell for a Conditional LTM candidate configuration; and a second field for identifying a candidate cell for non-Conditional LTM candidate configuration.

17. The method (400) of claim 16, wherein the other one of the first field and the second field comprises a null candidate cell identifier value.

18. The method (400) of claim 16 or 17, wherein the first indication indicates that the candidate cell TCI State is for Conditional LTM if the first indication is transmitted to the UE in the first field, and the first indication indicates that the candidate cell TCI State is for a non-Conditional LTM if the first indication is transmitted to the UE in the second field.

19. The method (400) of claim 16, wherein the method (400) further comprises: transmitting, to the UE, a second indication, wherein the second indication is a second candidate cell identifier transmitted in the other one of the first field and the second field.

20. The method (400) of claim 19, wherein the method (400) further comprises: transmitting, to the UE, one or more further indications, wherein each further indication indicates whether a respective candidate cell TCI State relates to the candidate cell for the Conditional LTM candidate configuration or to the candidate cell for the non-Conditional LTM candidate configuration.

21. The method (400) of claims 19 or 20, wherein the second indication is a null candidate cell identifier value.

22. The method (400) of claim 15, wherein the first indication has a first value to indicate that the candidate cell TCI State is for Conditional LTM, and the first indication has a second value to indicate that the candidate cell TCI State is for a non-Conditional LTM.

23. The method (400) of claim 22, wherein the first indication is a flag or one-bit indicator.

24. The method (400) of any of claims 15-23, wherein the method (400) further comprises:transmitting, to the UE, information identifying one or more candidate TCI states to be activated or deactivated.

25. The method (400) of any of claims 15-24, wherein the first indication is transmitted by the RAN node in a Medium Access Control, MAC, Control Element, CE.

26. The method (400) of claim 25, wherein the MAC CE is a Candidate Cell TCI state activation / deactivation MAC CE.

27. The method (400) of any of claims 15-26, wherein the RAN node is any of: a distributed unit, DU, of a network node; a serving DU of a network node; a target DU of a network node; a network node controlling any of: a Master Cell Group, MCG, a Secondary Cell Group, SCG, a Primary Cell, PCell, a Primary Secondary Cell, PSCell, a Secondary Cell, SCell, and a Special Cell, SpCell.

28. A computer program product comprising a computer readable medium having computer readable code embodied therein, the computer readable code being configured such that, on execution by a suitable computer or processor, the computer or processor is caused to perform the method (300) of any of the claims 1-14 and the method (400) of any of the claims 15-27.

29. A user equipment, UE, configured to perform the method (300) of any of the claims 1-14.

30. A user equipment, UE, comprising a processor and a memory, said memory containing instructions executable by said processor whereby said UE is operative to perform the method (300) of any of the claims 1-14.

31. A radio access network, RAN, node, configured to perform the method (400) of any of the claims 15-27.

32. A radio access network, RAN, node comprising a processor and a memory, said memory containing instructions executable by said processor whereby said RAN node is operative to perform the method (400) of any of the claims 15-27.

33. A user equipment, UE, comprising: processing circuitry configured to cause the user equipment to perform any of the steps of the method (300) of any of the claims 1-14; andpower supply circuitry configured to supply power to the processing circuitry.

34. A radio access network, RAN, node, comprising: processing circuitry configured to cause the RAN node to perform any of the steps of the method (400) of any of the claims 15-27; power supply circuitry configured to supply power to the processing circuitry.

35. A user equipment, UE, comprising: an antenna configured to send and receive wireless signals; radio front-end circuitry connected to the antenna and to processing circuitry, and configured to condition signals communicated between the antenna and the processing circuitry; the processing circuitry being configured to perform any of the steps of the method (300) of any of the claims 1-14; an input interface connected to the processing circuitry and configured to allow input of information into the UE to be processed by the processing circuitry; an output interface connected to the processing circuitry and configured to output information from the UE that has been processed by the processing circuitry; and a battery connected to the processing circuitry and configured to supply power to the UE.

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