Reporting detection status of one or more cells

Abstract

Disclosed is a method performed by a user device, the method comprising: generating a report indicating a detection status of one or more cells different from a serving cell of the user device; and transmitting the report to a network device associated to the serving cell.

Description

REPORTING DETECTION STATUS OF ONE OR MORE CELLSFIELD

[0001] The following example embodiments relate to wireless communication.BACKGROUND

[0002] As energy resources are limited, it is desirable to optimize the power consumption of wireless communication devices.SUMMARY

[0003] The scope of protection sought for various example embodiments is set out by the claims. The example embodiments and features, if any, described in this specification that do not fall under the scope of the claims are to be interpreted as examples useful for understanding various embodiments.

[0004] According to a first aspect, there is provided a user device comprising: means for detecting one or more cells different from a serving cell of the user device; means for generating a report indicating the one or more detected cells; and means for transmitting the report to a network device associated to the serving cell, wherein the report comprises cell information associated with the one or more detected cells.

[0005] According to a second aspect, there is provided the user device of the first aspect, wherein the report does not comprise measurement result values associated with the one or more detected cells.

[0006] According to a third aspect, there is provided the user device of the first or second aspect, further comprising means for receiving, from the network device associated to the serving cell, a report configuration for reporting the one or more detected cells, wherein the report is transmitted according to the report configuration.

[0007] According to a fourth aspect, there is provided the user device of the third aspect, wherein the report configuration indicates one or more carriers on which the detection is to be performed.

[0008] According to a fifth aspect, there is provided the user device of the fourth aspect, further comprising: means for determining whether the one or more detected cells are detected on the one or more carriers indicated in the report configuration, wherein the means for transmitting the are configured to transmit the report in response to determining that the one or more detected cells are detected on the one or more carriers indicated in the report configuration.

[0009] According to a sixth aspect, there is provided the user device of any of the first to fifth aspects, wherein the means for detecting the one or more cells are configured to detect the one or more cells by detecting one or more synchronization signals of the one or more cells.

[0010] According to a seventh aspect, there is provided the user device of any of the first to sixth aspects, wherein the cell information comprises at least one of: detection status information of the one or more detected cells, one or more cell identities of the one or more detected cells, or one or more temporary cell identifiers derived from the one or more cell identities of the one or more detected cells.

[0011] According to an eighth aspect, there is provided the user device of any of the first to seventh aspects, wherein the report further indicates at least one of: one or more non-detected cells that have become undetectable after being reported as detected in a previous report, or one or more previously detected cells that continue to be detectable after being reported as detected in the previous report.

[0012] According to a ninth aspect, there is provided the user device of any of the first to eighth aspects, further comprising means for performing at least one reference signal measurement of at least one cell, wherein the report comprises at least one measurement result value obtained from the at least one reference signal measurement of the at least one cell, wherein the at least one cell is different from the one or more detected cells or comprised in the one or more detected cells.

[0013] According to a tenth aspect, there is provided the user device of any of the first to ninth aspects, wherein the means for transmitting the report are configured to transmit the report based on detecting that one or more pre-defined conditions are met.

[0014] According to an eleventh aspect, there is provided the user device of any of the first to tenth aspects, wherein the means for transmitting the report are configured to transmit the report based on a pre-configured reporting periodicity.

[0015] According to a twelfth aspect, there is provided the user device of any of the first to ninth aspects, further comprising means for receiving, from the network device associated to the serving cell, a request for reporting the one or more detected cells, wherein the means for transmitting the report are configured to transmit the report in response to the request.

[0016] According to a thirteenth aspect, there is provided the user device of any of the first to twelfth aspects, wherein the report is a radio resource control report, or a channel state information report, or a medium access control level report, or an in-band control signalling report, or an abstract syntax notation one, ASN.1 , message.

[0017] According to a fourteenth aspect, there is provided a network device comprising: means for receiving, from a user device, a report indicating one or more cells detected by the user device, the one or more cells being different from a serving cell of the user device, wherein the report comprises cell information associated with the one or more detected cells; and means for performing at least one of: storing the report, forwarding the report to a network entity, generating and transmitting, based on the report, a measurement configuration to the user device for at least one of the one or more detected cells, or setting up at least one of the one or more detected cells as a secondary cell for the user device.

[0018] According to a fifteenth aspect, there is provided the network device of the fourteenth aspect, wherein the report does not comprise measurement result values associated with the one or more detected cells.

[0019] According to a sixteenth aspect, there is provided the network device of the fourteenth or fifteenth aspect, further comprising means for transmitting, to the user device, a report configuration for reporting the one or more detected cells, wherein the report is based on the report configuration.

[0020] According to a seventeenth aspect, there is provided the network device of the sixteenth aspect, wherein the report configuration indicates one or more carriers on which the detection is to be performed.

[0021] According to an eighteenth aspect, there is provided the network device of any of the fourteenth to seventeenth aspects, wherein the cell information comprises at least one of: detection status information of the one or more detected cells, one or more cell identities of the one or more detected cells, or one or more temporary cell identifiers derived from the one or more cell identities of the one or more detected cells.

[0022] According to a nineteenth aspect, there is provided the network device of any of the fourteenth to eighteenth aspects, wherein the report further indicates at least one of: one or more nondetected cells that have become undetectable after being reported as detected in a previous report, or one or more previously detected cells that continue to be detectable after being reported as detected in the previous report.

[0023] According to a twentieth aspect, there is provided the network device of any of the fourteenth to nineteenth aspects, further comprising means for transmitting, to the user device, a request for reporting the one or more detected cells, wherein the means for receiving the report are configured to receive the report in response to the request.

[0024] According to a twenty-first aspect, there is provided the network device of any of the fourteenth to twentieth aspects, wherein the report is a radio resource control report, or a channel state information report, or a medium access control level report, or an in-band control signalling report, or an abstract syntax notation one, ASN.1 , message, or an uplink control information message.

[0025] According to a twenty-second aspect, there is provided a method performed by a user device, the method comprising: detecting one or more cells different from a serving cell of the user device; generating a report indicating the one or more detected cells; and transmitting the report to a network device associated to the serving cell, wherein the report comprises cell information associated with the one or more detected cells.

[0026] According to a twenty-third aspect, there is provided a method performed by a network device, the method comprising: receiving, from a user device, a report indicating one or more cells detectedby the user device, the one or more cells being different from a serving cell of the user device, wherein the report comprises cell information associated with the one or more detected cells; and performing at least one of: storing the report, forwarding the report to a network entity, generating and transmitting, based on the report, a measurement configuration to the user device for at least one of the one or more detected cells, or setting up at least one of the one or more detected cells as a secondary cell for the user device.

[0027] According to a twenty-fourth aspect, there is provided a computer program comprising instructions which, when executed by a user device, cause the user device to perform at least the following: detecting one or more cells different from a serving cell of the user device; generating a report indicating the one or more detected cells; and transmitting the report to a network device associated to the serving cell, wherein the report comprises cell information associated with the one or more detected cells.

[0028] According to a twenty-fifth aspect, there is provided a computer program comprising instructions which, when executed by a network device, cause the network device to perform at least the following: receiving, from a user device, a report indicating one or more cells detected by the user device, the one or more cells being different from a serving cell of the user device, wherein the report comprises cell information associated with the one or more detected cells; and performing at least one of: storing the report, forwarding the report to a network entity, generating and transmitting, based on the report, a measurement configuration to the user device for at least one of the one or more detected cells, or setting up at least one of the one or more detected cells as a secondary cell for the user device.

[0029] According to a twenty-sixth aspect, there is provided a non-transitory computer readable medium comprising program instructions which, when executed by a user device, cause the user device to perform at least the following: detecting one or more cells different from a serving cell of the user device; generating a report indicating the one or more detected cells; and transmitting the report to a network device associated to the serving cell, wherein the report comprises cell information associated with the one or more detected cells.

[0030] According to a twenty-seventh aspect, there is provided a non-transitory computer readable medium comprising program instructions which, when executed by a network device, cause the network device to perform at least the following: receiving, from a user device, a report indicating one or more cells detected by the user device, the one or more cells being different from a serving cell of the user device, wherein the report comprises cell information associated with the one or more detected cells; and performing at least one of: storing the report, forwarding the report to a network entity, generating and transmitting, based on the report, a measurement configuration to the user device for at least one of the one or more detected cells, or setting up at least one of the one or more detected cells as a secondary cell for the user device.

[0031] According to a twenty-eighth aspect, there is provided a user device comprising: means for receiving, from a network device associated to a serving cell of the user device, a report configuration forreporting a detection status of one or more cells different from the serving cell; means for generating a report indicating the detection status of the one or more cells; and means for transmitting the report to the network device according to the report configuration.

[0032] According to a twenty-ninth aspect, there is provided the user device of the twenty-eighth aspect, wherein the report does not comprise measurement result values associated with the one or more cells.

[0033] According to a thirtieth aspect, there is provided the user device of the twenty-eighth or twenty-ninth aspect, wherein the report comprises cell information associated with the one or more cells.

[0034] According to a thirty-first aspect, there is provided the user device of any of the twentyeighth to thirtieth aspects, wherein the report configuration indicates one or more carriers where a detection is to be performed for the one or more cells.

[0035] According to a thirty-second aspect, there is provided the user device of any of the twenty-eighth to thirty-first aspects, further comprising means for determining whether one or more predefined conditions for reporting the detection status are met, wherein the means for transmitting the report are configured to transmit the report based on determining that the one or more pre-defined conditions are met.

[0036] According to a thirty-third aspect, there is provided the user device of the thirty-second aspect, wherein the report configuration comprises information indicating the one or more pre-defined conditions for reporting the detection status.

[0037] According to a thirty-fourth aspect, there is provided the user device of the thirty-second or thirty-third aspect, wherein the one or more pre-defined conditions comprise at least one of: a cell becoming detectable, a cell on a carrier becoming detectable, a first cell on a carrier becoming detectable, a previously detected cell becoming undetectable, a last cell on a carrier becoming undetectable, a change of a radio resource control mode at the user device, or receiving a measurement configuration.

[0038] According to a thirty-fifth aspect, there is provided the user device of any of the twentyeighth to thirty-fourth aspects, wherein the means for transmitting the report are configured to transmit the report based on a pre-defined reporting periodicity.

[0039] According to a thirty-sixth aspect, there is provided the user device of the thirty-fifth aspect, wherein the report configuration comprises information indicating the pre-defined reporting periodicity.

[0040] According to a thirty-seventh aspect, there is provided the user device of any of the twenty-eighth to thirty-fourth aspects, further comprising means for receiving, from the network device associated to the serving cell, a request for reporting the detection status of the one or more cells, wherein the means for transmitting the report are configured to transmit the report in response to the request.

[0041] According to a thirty-eighth aspect, there is provided the user device of the thirty-seventh aspect, wherein the request is comprised in one of: a downlink control information message, a medium access control, MAC, control element, CE, or a radio resource control, RRC, message.

[0042] According to a thirty-ninth aspect, there is provided the user device of any of the twentyeighth to thirty-eighth aspects, wherein the report indicates at least one of: one or more previously detected cells that continue to be detectable after being reported as detected in a previous report, one or more newly detected cells that have become detectable after transmitting the previous report, or one or more nondetected cells that have become undetectable after being reported as detected in the previous report.

[0043] According to a fortieth aspect, there is provided a network device comprising: means for generating a report configuration for reporting a detection status of one or more cells; means for transmitting the report configuration to a user device; and means for receiving, from the user device, a report indicating the detection status of the one or more cells, the one or more cells being different from a serving cell of the user device.

[0044] According to a forty-first aspect, there is provided the network device of the fortieth aspect, further comprising means for performing at least one of: storing the report, forwarding the report to a network entity, generating and transmitting, based on the report, a measurement configuration to the user device for at least one detected cell of the one or more cells, or setting up at least one detected cell of the one or more cells as a secondary cell for the user device.

[0045] According to a forty-second aspect, there is provided the network device of the fortieth or forty-first aspect, wherein the report does not comprise measurement result values associated with the one or more cells.

[0046] According to a forty-third aspect, there is provided the network device of any of the fortieth to forty-second aspects, wherein the report comprises cell information associated with the one or more cells.

[0047] According to a forty-fourth aspect, there is provided the network device of any of the fortieth to forty-third aspects, wherein the report configuration indicates one or more carriers where a detection is to be performed for the one or more cells.

[0048] According to a forty-fifth aspect, there is provided the network device of any of the fortieth to forty-fourth aspects, wherein the report configuration comprises information indicating one or more predefined conditions for reporting the detection status.

[0049] According to a forty-sixth aspect, there is provided the network device of the forty-fifth aspect, wherein the one or more pre-defined conditions comprise at least one of: a cell becoming detectable, a cell on a carrier becoming detectable, a first cell on a carrier becoming detectable, a previously detectedcell becoming undetectable, a last cell on a carrier becoming undetectable, a change of a radio resource control mode at the user device, or receiving a measurement configuration.

[0050] According to a forty-seventh aspect, there is provided the network device of any of the fortieth to forty-sixth aspects, wherein the report configuration comprises information indicating a pre-defined reporting periodicity for reporting the detection status.

[0051] According to a forty-eighth aspect, there is provided the network device of any of the fortieth to forty-sixth aspects, further comprising means for transmitting, to the user device, a request for reporting the detection status of the one or more cells, wherein the means for receiving the report are configured to receive the report in response to the request.

[0052] According to a forty-ninth aspect, there is provided the network device of any of the fortieth to forty-eighth aspects, wherein the request is comprised in one of: a downlink control information message, a medium access control, MAC, control element, CE, or a radio resource control, RRC, message.

[0053] According to a fiftieth aspect, there is provided the network device of any of the fortieth to forty-ninth aspects, wherein the report indicates at least one of: one or more previously detected cells that continue to be detectable after being reported as detected in a previous report, one or more newly detected cells that have become detectable after transmitting the previous report, or one or more non-detected cells that have become undetectable after being reported as detected in the previous report.

[0054] According to a fifty-first aspect, there is provided a method performed by a user device, the method comprising: receiving, from a network device associated to a serving cell of the user device, a report configuration for reporting a detection status of one or more cells different from the serving cell; generating a report indicating the detection status of the one or more cells; and transmitting the report to the network device according to the report configuration.

[0055] According to a fifty-second aspect, there is provided a method performed by a network device, the method comprising: generating a report configuration for reporting a detection status of one or more cells; transmitting the report configuration to a user device; and receiving, from the user device, a report indicating the detection status of the one or more cells, the one or more cells being different from a serving cell of the user device.

[0056] According to a fifty-third aspect, there is provided a computer program comprising instructions which, when executed by a user device, cause the user device to perform at least the following: receiving, from a network device associated to a serving cell of the user device, a report configuration for reporting a detection status of one or more cells different from the serving cell; generating a report indicating the detection status of the one or more cells; and transmitting the report to the network device according to the report configuration.

[0057] According to a fifty-fourth aspect, there is provided a computer program comprising instructions which, when executed by a network device, cause the network device to perform at least the following: generating a report configuration for reporting a detection status of one or more cells; transmitting the report configuration to a user device; and receiving, from the user device, a report indicating the detection status of the one or more cells, the one or more cells being different from a serving cell of the user device.

[0058] According to a fifty-fifth aspect, there is provided a non-transitory computer readable medium comprising program instructions which, when executed by a user device, cause the user device to perform at least the following: receiving, from a network device associated to a serving cell of the user device, a report configuration for reporting a detection status of one or more cells different from the serving cell; generating a report indicating the detection status of the one or more cells; and transmitting the report to the network device according to the report configuration.

[0059] According to a fifty-sixth aspect, there is provided a non-transitory computer readable medium comprising program instructions which, when executed by a network device, cause the network device to perform at least the following: generating a report configuration for reporting a detection status of one or more cells; transmitting the report configuration to a user device; and receiving, from the user device, a report indicating the detection status of the one or more cells, the one or more cells being different from a serving cell of the user device.

[0060] According to a fifty-seventh aspect there is provided a user device comprising: means for generating a report indicating a detection status of one or more cells different from a serving cell of the user device; and means for transmitting the report to a network device associated to the serving cell.

[0061] According to a fifty-eighth aspect, there is provided the user device of the fifty-seventh aspect, wherein the detection status indicates whether or not the one or more cells have been detected by the user device, wherein the report further indicates at least one of: one or more cell identities of the one or more cells, or one or more temporary cell identifiers derived from the one or more cell identities of the one or more cells.

[0062] According to a fifty-ninth aspect, there is provided the user device of the fifty-seventh or fifty-eighth aspect, wherein the detection status is indicated as a binary value.

[0063] According to a sixtieth aspect, there is provided the user device of the fifty-seventh or fifty-eighth aspect wherein the detection status is indicated as an enumerator.

[0064] According to a sixty-first aspect, there is provided the user device of any of the fiftyseventh to sixtieth aspects, wherein the report comprises a bitmap, wherein each bit of the bitmap indicates a cell from a list of cell identities, the list of cell identities corresponding to cells comprising at least the one or more cells.

[0065] According to a sixty-second aspect, there is provided the user device of any of the fiftyseventh to sixty-first aspects, wherein the report indicates at least one of: one or more previously detected cells that continue to be detectable after being reported as detected in a previous report, one or more newly detected cells that have become detectable after transmitting the previous report, or one or more nondetected cells that have become undetectable after being reported as detected in the previous report.

[0066] According to a sixty-third aspect, there is provided the user device of any of the fiftyseventh to sixty-second aspects, wherein the report does not comprise measurement result values associated with the one or more cells.

[0067] According to a sixty-fourth aspect, there is provided the user device of any of the fiftyseventh to sixty-third aspects, further comprising means for performing at least one reference signal measurement of at least one cell, wherein the report comprises at least one measurement result value obtained from the at least one reference signal measurement of the at least one cell, wherein the at least one cell is different from the one or more cells for which the detection status is indicated in the report.

[0068] According to a sixty-fifth aspect, there is provided the user device of any of the fiftyseventh to sixty-second aspects, further comprising means for performing at least one reference signal measurement of at least one cell, wherein the report comprises at least one measurement result value obtained from the at least one reference signal measurement of the at least one cell, wherein the at least one cell is comprised in the one or more cells for which the detection status is indicated in the report.

[0069] According to a sixty-sixth aspect, there is provided the user device of any of the fiftyseventh to sixty-fifth aspects, wherein the report is an in-band control signalling report.

[0070] According to a sixty-seventh aspect, there is provided the user device of any of the fiftyseventh to sixty-sixth aspects, wherein the report is comprised in one of: a medium access control, MAC, control element, CE, a radio resource control, RRC, message, a radio link control, RLC, control header, a packet data convergence protocol, PDCP, control header, or a service data adaptation protocol, SDAP, control header.

[0071] According to a sixty-eighth aspect, there is provided the user device of any of the fiftyseventh to sixty-fifth aspects, wherein the report is comprised in an abstract syntax notation one, ASN.1 , message.

[0072] According to a sixty-ninth aspect, there is provided the user device of any of the fiftyseventh to sixty-fifth aspects, wherein the report is comprised in an uplink control information message.

[0073] According to a seventieth aspect, there is provided a network device comprising: means for receiving, from a user device, a report indicating a detection status of one or more cells, the one or more cells being different from a serving cell of the user device; and means for performing at least one of: storing the report, forwarding the report to a network entity, generating and transmitting, based on the report, ameasurement configuration to the user device for at least one detected cell of the one or more cells, or setting up at least one detected cell of the one or more cells as a secondary cell for the user device.

[0074] According to a seventy-first aspect, there is provided the network device of the seventieth aspect, wherein the detection status indicates whether or not the one or more cells have been detected, wherein the report further indicates at least one of: one or more cell identities of the one or more cells, or one or more temporary cell identifiers derived from the one or more cell identities of the one or more cells.

[0075] According to a seventy-second aspect, there is provided the network device of the seventieth or seventy-first aspect, wherein the detection status is indicated as a binary value or as an enumerator.

[0076] According to a seventy-third aspect, there is provided the network device of any of the seventieth to seventy-second aspects, wherein the report comprises a bitmap, wherein each bit of the bitmap indicates a cell from a list of cell identities, the list of cell identities corresponding to cells comprising at least the one or more cells.

[0077] According to a seventy-fourth aspect, there is provided the network device of any of the seventieth to seventy-third aspects, wherein the report indicates at least one of: one or more previously detected cells that continue to be detectable after being reported as detected in a previous report, one or more newly detected cells that have become detectable after transmitting the previous report, or one or more non-detected cells that have become undetectable after being reported as detected in the previous report.

[0078] According to a seventy-fifth aspect, there is provided the network device of any of the seventieth to seventy-fourth aspects, wherein the report does not comprise measurement result values associated with the one or more cells.

[0079] According to a seventy-sixth aspect, there is provided the network device of any of the seventieth to seventy-fifth aspects, wherein the report is an in-band control signalling report.

[0080] According to a seventy-seventh aspect, there is provided the network device of any of the seventieth to seventy-fifth aspects, wherein the report is comprised in one of: a medium access control, MAC, control element, CE, a radio resource control, RRC, message, a radio link control, RLC, control header, a packet data convergence protocol, PDCP, control header, or a service data adaptation protocol, SDAP, control header.

[0081] According to a seventy-eighth aspect, there is provided the network device of any of the seventieth to seventy-fifth aspects, wherein the report is comprised in an abstract syntax notation one, ASN.1 , message.

[0082] According to a seventy-ninth aspect, there is provided the network device of any of the seventieth to seventy-fifth aspects, wherein the report is comprised in an uplink control information message.

[0083] According to an eightieth aspect, there is provided a method performed by a user device, the method comprising: generating a report indicating a detection status of one or more cells different from a serving cell of the user device; and transmitting the report to a network device associated to the serving cell.

[0084] According to an eighty-first aspect, there is provided a method performed by a network device, the method comprising: receiving, from a user device, a report indicating a detection status of one or more cells, the one or more cells being different from a serving cell of the user device; and performing at least one of: storing the report, forwarding the report to a network entity, generating and transmitting, based on the report, a measurement configuration to the user device for at least one detected cell of the one or more cells, or setting up at least one detected cell of the one or more cells as a secondary cell for the user device.

[0085] According to an eighty-second aspect, there is provided a computer program comprising instructions which, when executed by a user device, cause the user device to perform at least the following: generating a report indicating a detection status of one or more cells different from a serving cell of the user device; and transmitting the report to a network device associated to the serving cell.

[0086] According to an eighty-third aspect, there is provided a computer program comprising instructions which, when executed by a network device, cause the network device to perform at least the following: receiving, from a user device, a report indicating a detection status of one or more cells, the one or more cells being different from a serving cell of the user device; and performing at least one of: storing the report, forwarding the report to a network entity, generating and transmitting, based on the report, a measurement configuration to the user device for at least one detected cell of the one or more cells, or setting up at least one detected cell of the one or more cells as a secondary cell for the user device.

[0087] According to an eighty-fourth aspect, there is provided a non-transitory computer readable medium comprising program instructions which, when executed by a user device, cause the user device to perform at least the following: generating a report indicating a detection status of one or more cells different from a serving cell of the user device; and transmitting the report to a network device associated to the serving cell.

[0088] According to an eighty-fifth aspect, there is provided a non-transitory computer readable medium comprising program instructions which, when executed by a network device, cause the network device to perform at least the following: receiving, from a user device, a report indicating a detection status of one or more cells, the one or more cells being different from a serving cell of the user device; and performing at least one of: storing the report, forwarding the report to a network entity, generating and transmitting, based on the report, a measurement configuration to the user device for at least one detected cell of the one or more cells, or setting up at least one detected cell of the one or more cells as a secondary cell for the user device.BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0089] In the following, various example embodiments will be described in greater detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, in whichFIG. 1 A illustrates an example of a wireless communication network;FIG. 1 B illustrates an example of a system;FIG. 2 illustrates a signal flow diagram;FIG. 3 illustrates an example of event-triggered detected cell reporting;FIG. 4 illustrates a signal flow diagram;FIG. 5 illustrates a signal flow diagram;FIG. 6 illustrates a flow chart;FIG. 7 illustrates a flow chart;FIG. 8 illustrates a flow chart;FIG. 9 illustrates a flow chart;FIG. 10 illustrates a flow chart;FIG. 11 illustrates a flow chart;FIG. 12 illustrates an example of an apparatus; andFIG. 13 illustrates an example of an apparatus.DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0090] The following embodiments are exemplifying. Although the specification may refer to “an”, “one”, or “some” embodiment(s) in several locations of the text, this does not necessarily mean that each reference is made to the same embodiment(s), or that a particular feature only applies to a single embodiment. Single features of different embodiments may also be combined to provide other embodiments within the scope of the claims. Furthermore, the words "comprising" and "including" should be understood as not limiting the described embodiments to consist of only those features that have been mentioned, and such embodiments may also contain features that have not been specifically mentioned. Reference numbers, in the description and / or in the claims, serve to illustrate the embodiments with reference to the drawings, without limiting the embodiments to these examples only.

[0091] Some example embodiments described herein may be implemented in a wireless communication network comprising a radio access network based on one or more of the following radio access technologies (RATs): global system for mobile communications (GSM) or any other second generation (2G) radio access technology, universal mobile telecommunication system (UMTS, 3G) based on basic wideband-code division multiple access (W-CDMA), high-speed packet access (HSPA), long term evolution (LTE), LTE-Advanced, fourth generation (4G), fifth generation (5G), 5G new radio (NR), 5G- Advanced (i.e., 3GPP NR Rel-18 and beyond), or sixth generation (6G). Some examples of radio accessnetworks include the universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS) radio access network (UTRAN), the evolved universal terrestrial radio access network (E-UTRA), or the next generation radio access network (NG-RAN). The wireless communication network may further comprise a core network, and some example embodiments may also be applied to network functions of the core network.

[0092] It should be noted that the embodiments are not restricted to the wireless communication network given as an example, but a person skilled in the art may also apply the solution to other wireless communication networks or systems provided with necessary properties. For example, some example embodiments may also be applied to a communication system based on IEEE 802.11 specifications, or a communication system based on IEEE 802.15 specifications. IEEE is an abbreviation for the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.

[0093] FIG. 1A depicts an example of a simplified wireless communication network showing some physical and logical entities. The connections shown in FIG. 1 A may be physical connections or logical connections. It is apparent to a person skilled in the art that the wireless communication network may also comprise other physical and logical entities than those shown in FIG. 1 A.

[0094] The example embodiments described herein are not, however, restricted to the wireless communication network given as an example but a person skilled in the art may apply the example embodiments described herein to other wireless communication networks provided with necessary properties.

[0095] The example wireless communication network shown in FIG. 1 A includes a radio access network (RAN) and a core network 110.

[0096] FIG. 1A shows user equipment (UE) 100, 102 configured to be in a wireless connection on one or more communication channels in a radio cell with an access node 104 of a radio access network.

[0097] The access node 104 may comprise a computing device configured to control the radio resources of the access node 104 and to be in a wireless connection with one or more UEs 100, 102. The access node 104 may also be referred to as a base station, a base transceiver station (BTS), an access point, a cell site, a network node, a radio access network node, a RAN node, or a network device.

[0098] The access node 104 may be, for example, an evolved NodeB (abbreviated as eNB or eNodeB), or a next generation evolved NodeB (abbreviated as ng-eNB), or a next generation NodeB (abbreviated as gNB or gNodeB), providing the radio cell. The access node 104 may include or be coupled to transceivers. From the transceivers of the access node 104, a connection may be provided to an antenna unit that establishes a bi-directional radio link to one or more UEs 100, 102. The antenna unit may comprise an antenna or antenna element, or a plurality of antennas or antenna elements.

[0099] The wireless connection (e.g., radio link) from a UE 100, 102 to the access node 104 may be called uplink (UL) or reverse link, and the wireless connection (e.g., radio link) from the access node104 to the UE 100, 102 may be called downlink (DL) or forward link. A UE 100 may also communicate directly with another UE 102, and vice versa, via a wireless connection generally referred to as a sidelink (SL). It should be appreciated that the access node 104 or its functionalities may be implemented by using any node, host, server, access point or other entity suitable for providing such functionalities.

[0100] The radio access network may comprise more than one access node 104, in which case the access nodes may also be configured to communicate with one another over wired or wireless links. These links between access nodes may be used for sending and / or receiving control plane signaling and also for routing data from one access node to another access node.

[0101] The access node 104 may further be connected to a core network (CN) 110. The core network 110 may comprise an evolved packet core (EPC) network and / or a 5thgeneration core network (5GC). The EPC may comprise network entities, such as a serving gateway (S-GW for routing and forwarding data packets), a packet data network gateway (P-GW) for providing connectivity of UEs to external packet data networks, and / or a mobility management entity (MME). The 5GC may comprise one or more network functions, such as at least one of: a user plane function (UPF), an access and mobility management function (AMF), a location management function (LMF), and / or a session management function (SMF).

[0102] The core network 110 may also be able to communicate with one or more external networks 113, such as a public switched telephone network or the Internet, or utilize services provided by them. For example, in 5G wireless communication networks, the UPF of the core network 110 may be configured to communicate with an external data network via an N6 interface. In LTE wireless communication networks, the P-GW of the core network 110 may be configured to communicate with an external data network.

[0103] It should also be understood that the distribution of functions between core network operations and access node operations may differ in future wireless communication networks compared to that of the LTE or 5G, or even be non-existent.

[0104] The illustrated UE 100, 102 is one type of an apparatus to which resources on the air interface may be allocated and assigned. The UE 100, 102 may also be called a wireless communication device, a subscriber unit, a mobile station, a remote terminal, an access terminal, a user terminal, a terminal device, or a user device, just to mention but a few names. In this description, the terms “user device” and “UE” may be used interchangeably.

[0105] The UE 100, 102 may be a computing device operating with or without a subscriber identification module (SIM), including, but not limited to, the following types of computing devices: a mobile phone, a smartphone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a handset, a computing device comprising a wireless modem (e.g., an alarm or measurement device, etc.), a laptop computer, a desktop computer, a tablet, a game console, a notebook, a multimedia device, a reduced capability (RedCap) device, a wearabledevice (e.g., a watch, earphones or eyeglasses) with radio parts, a sensor comprising a wireless modem, or a computing device comprising a wireless modem integrated in a vehicle.

[0106] It should be appreciated that the UE 100, 102 may also be a nearly exclusive uplink-only device, of which an example may be a camera or video camera loading images or video clips to a network. The UE 100, 102 may also be a device having capability to operate in an Internet of Things (loT) network, which is a scenario in which objects may be provided with the ability to transfer data over a network without requiring human-to-human or human-to-computer interaction.

[0107] The wireless communication network may also be able to support the usage of cloud services. For example, at least part of core network operations may be carried out as a cloud service (this is depicted in FIG. 1A by “cloud” 114). The UE 100, 102 may also utilize the cloud 114. In some applications, the computation for a given UE may be carried out in the cloud 114 or in another UE.

[0108] The wireless communication network may also comprise a central control entity, such as a network management system (NMS), or the like. The NMS is a centralized suite of software and hardware used to monitor, control, and administer the network infrastructure. The NMS is responsible for a wide range of tasks such as fault management, configuration management, security management, performance management, and accounting management. The NMS enables network operators to efficiently manage and optimize network resources, ensuring that the network delivers high performance, reliability, and security.

[0109] 5G enables using multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO) antennas in the access node 104 and / or the UE 100, 102, many more base stations or access nodes than an LTE network (a so- called small cell concept), including macro sites operating in co-operation with smaller stations and employing a variety of radio technologies depending on service needs, use cases and / or spectrum available. 5G wireless communication networks may support a wide range of use cases and related applications including video streaming, augmented reality, different ways of data sharing and various forms of machine-type applications, such as (massive) machine-type communications (mMTC), including vehicular safety, different sensors and real-time control.

[0110] In 5G wireless communication networks, access nodes and / or UEs may have multiple radio interfaces, such as below 6 gigahertz (GHz), centimeter wave (cmWave) and millimeter wave (mmWave), and also being integrable with legacy radio access technologies, such as LTE. Integration with LTE may be implemented, for example, as a system, where macro coverage may be provided by LTE, and 5G radio interface access may come from small cells by aggregation to LTE. In other words, a 5G wireless communication network may support both inter-RAT operability (such as interoperability between LTE and 5G) and inter-RI operability (inter-radio interface operability, such as between below 6GHz, cmWave, and mmWave).

[0111] 5G wireless communication networks may also apply network slicing, in which multiple independent and dedicated virtual sub-networks (network instances) may be created within the same physical infrastructure to run services that have different requirements on latency, reliability, throughput and mobility.

[0112] In one embodiment, an access node 104 may comprise: a radio unit (RU) 103 comprising a radio transceiver (TRX), i.e., a transmitter (Tx) and a receiver (Rx); one or more distributed units (DUs) 105 that may be used for the so-called Layer 1 (L1) processing and real-time Layer 2 (L2) processing; and a central unit (CU) 108 (also known as a centralized unit) that may be used for non-real-time L2 and Layer 3 (L3) processing. The CU 108 may be connected to the one or more DUs 105 for example via an F1 interface. Such an embodiment of the access node 104 may enable the centralization of CUs relative to the cell sites and DUs, whereas DUs may be more distributed and may even remain at cell sites. The CU and DU together may also be referred to as baseband or a baseband unit (BBU). The CU and DU may also be comprised in a radio access point (RAP).

[0113] The CU 108 may be a logical node hosting radio resource control (RRC), service data adaptation protocol (SDAP) and / or packet data convergence protocol (PDCP), of the NR protocol stack for an access node 104. The CU 108 may comprise a control plane (CU-CP), which may be a logical node hosting the RRC and the control plane part of the PDCP protocol of the NR protocol stack for the access node 104. The CU 108 may further comprise a user plane (CU-UP), which may be a logical node hosting the user plane part of the PDCP protocol and the SDAP protocol of the CU for the access node 104.

[0114] The DU 105 may be a logical node hosting radio link control (RLC), medium access control (MAC) and / or physical (PHY) layers of the NR protocol stack for the access node 104. The operations of the DU 105 may be at least partly controlled by the CU 108. It should also be understood that the distribution of functions between the DU 105 and the CU 108 may vary depending on the implementation.

[0115] Cloud computing systems may also be used to provide the CU 108 and / or DU 105. A CU provided by a cloud computing system may be referred to as a virtualized CU (vCU). In addition to the vCU, there may also be a virtualized DU (vDU) provided by a cloud computing system. Furthermore, there may also be a combination, where the DU may be implemented on so-called bare metal solutions, for example application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) or customer-specific standard product (CSSP) system- on-a-chip (SoC).

[0116] Edge cloud may be brought into the radio access network by utilizing network function virtualization (NFV) and software defined networking (SDN). Using edge cloud may mean access node operations to be carried out, at least partly, in a computing system operationally coupled to a remote radio head (RRH) or a radio unit (RU) 103 of an access node 104. It is also possible that access node operations may be performed on a distributed computing system or a cloud computing system located at the accessnode 104. Application of cloud RAN architecture enables RAN real-time functions being carried out at the radio access network (e.g., in a DU 105), and non-real-time functions being carried out in a centralized manner (e.g., in a CU 108).

[0117] 5G (or new radio, NR) wireless communication networks may support multiple hierarchies, where multi-access edge computing (MEC) servers may be placed between the core network 110 and the access node 104. It should be appreciated that MEC may be applied in LTE wireless communication networks as well.

[0118] A 5G wireless communication network (“5G network”) may also comprise a nonterrestrial communication network, such as a satellite communication network, to enhance or complement the coverage of the 5G radio access network. For example, satellite communication may support the transfer of data between the 5G radio access network and the core network 110, enabling more extensive network coverage. Possible use cases may include: providing service continuity for machine-to-machine (M2M) or Internet of Things (loT) devices or for passengers on board of vehicles, or ensuring service availability for critical communications, and future railway, maritime, or aeronautical communications. Satellite communication may utilize geostationary earth orbit (GEO) satellite systems, or low earth orbit (LEO) satellite systems, such as mega-constellations (i.e., systems in which hundreds of (nano)satellites are deployed). Alternatively, the satellites may be an airborne devices, such as an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), or a high-altitude platform system (HAPS). A given satellite 106 may provide communication services on Earth via one or more satellite beams. The one or more satellite beams create one or more cells over a given service area that may be bounded by the field of view of the satellite 106.

[0119] It is obvious for a person skilled in the art that the access node 104 depicted in FIG. 1A is just an example of a part of a radio access network, and in practice the radio access network may comprise a plurality of access nodes 104, the UEs 100, 102 may have access to a plurality of radio cells, and the radio access network may also comprise other apparatuses, such as physical layer relay access nodes or other entities. At least one of the access nodes may be a Home eNodeB or a Home gNodeB. A Home gNodeB or a Home eNodeB is a type of access node that may be used to provide indoor coverage inside a home, office, or other indoor environment.

[0120] Additionally, in a geographical area of a radio access network, a plurality of different kinds of radio cells as well as a plurality of radio cells may be provided. Radio cells may be macro cells (or umbrella cells) which may be large cells having a diameter of up to tens of kilometers, or smaller cells such as micro-, femto- or picocells. The access node(s) 104 of FIG. 1A may provide any kind of these cells. A cellular radio network may be implemented as a multilayer access networks including several kinds of radio cells. In multilayer access networks, one access node may provide one kind of a radio cell or radio cells, and thus a plurality of access nodes may be needed to provide such a multilayer access network.

[0121] For fulfilling the need for improving performance of radio access networks, the concept of “plug-and-play” access nodes may be introduced. A radio access network, which may be able to use “plug- and-play” access nodes, may include, in addition to Home eNodeBs or Home gNodeBs, a Home Node B gateway (HNB-GW) (not shown in FIG. 1 A). An HNB-GW, which may be installed within an operator’s radio access network, may aggregate traffic from a large number of Home eNodeBs or Home gNodeBs back to a core network 110 of the operator.

[0122] 6G wireless communication networks are expected to adopt flexible decentralized and / or distributed computing systems and architecture and ubiquitous computing, with local spectrum licensing, spectrum sharing, infrastructure sharing, and intelligent automated management underpinned by mobile edge computing, artificial intelligence, short-packet communication and blockchain technologies. Key features of 6G may include intelligent connected management and control functions, programmability, integrated sensing and communication, reduction of energy footprint, trustworthy infrastructure, scalability and affordability. In addition to these, 6G is also targeting new use cases covering the integration of localization and sensing capabilities into system definition to unifying user experience across physical and digital worlds.

[0123] FIG. 1 B illustrates an example of a system, to which some example embodiments may be applied. The system comprises at least a UE 100 and a plurality of access nodes 104, 104B, 104C controlling a plurality of cells 121 , 122, 123. Herein the term “cell” refers to a radio cell. The access nodes 104, 104B, 104C may also be referred to as network devices.

[0124] Although three cells 121 , 122, 123 and three access nodes 104, 104B, 104C are shown in FIG. 1 B, it should be noted that the number of cells and access nodes may also be higher or lower than three. Moreover, in FIG. 1 B, each of the cells is managed by a separate access node. However, it should be noted that one access node (e.g., 104, 104B, or 104C) may manage or control one or more cells 121 , 122, 123.

[0125] One of the cells (e.g., cell 121) may be referred to as a serving cell of the UE 100, while the other cells (e.g., cells 122, 123) may be referred to as neighboring cells or non-serving cells. Each cell 121 , 122, 123 covers a specific geographic area. The serving cell 121 is the cell that is currently providing network coverage and connectivity to the UE 100. The serving cell 121 (or the access node 104 controlling the serving cell 121) handles the communication between the UE 100 and the network. As UE 100 moves, it may transition from one cell to another. The process of switching from the current serving cell 121 to a new cell 122, 123 may be referred to as a handover, handoff, cell change or cell switch.

[0126] The UE 100 may perform measurements of the radio signals that the UE 100 receives from one or more cells 121 , 122, 123 (or from the corresponding access nodes 104, 104B, 104C), and the UE 100 may report these measurements to the access node 104 of the serving cell 121 . For example, thesemeasurements may be based on at least one of the following metrics: reference signal received power (RSRP), reference signal received quality (RSRQ), signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SI NR), or received signal strength indicator (RSSI).

[0127] For example, in NR, the UE measurements and reporting may be used for beam management, carrier aggregation and / or mobility purposes (e.g., handovers). The UE measurements may be performed and reported at Layer 1 (i.e., physical layer) and / or Layer 3 (i.e., RRC layer). The measurements may be based on a synchronization signal block (SSB) or, if configured in CSI-MeasConfig, also based on a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS).

[0128] L1 measurements are beam-level measurements that were originally introduced for the purpose of beam management (BM) and for the serving cell only. Later L1 measurement support for L1 RSRP for inter-cell BM was introduced (enabling measurements and reporting from a non-serving cell). Additionally, L1 measurements and reporting have been introduced for cell change or cell switch, such as L1 / L2 triggered mobility (LTM). L1 RSRP measurements may be reported by the UE 100 in channel state information (CSI) based on CSI-ReportConfig. L1 measurements and reporting may be configured for the serving cell for beam management purposes and for neighboring cells 122, 123 for example for lower-layer mobility purposes (e.g., LTM).

[0129] L3 measurements may be cell-level or SSB-level measurements. In frequency range one (FR1), SSB-level measurements may, in some cases, be generated from the L1 measurements by applying L3 filtering. Cell-level measurements may be derived from the L1 measurements using certain rules. L3 RSRP measurements may be reported in an RRC measurement report in the MeasResults information element.

[0130] Currently, L3 measurement reporting of synchronization signal reference signal received power (SS-RSRP) and channel state information reference signal received power (CSI-RSRP) may be defined, for example, from -156 decibel-milliwatts (dBm) to -31 dBm with 1 decibel (dB) resolution as defined in table 10.1.6.1-1 in TS 38.133, where the UE 100 may report the value corresponding to the L3 filtered measurement and fulfil the measurement accuracy requirement depending on frequency range and conditions as defined in section 10 of TS 38.133. L1 measurement reporting may follow the same table, but the range of reporting may be, for example, from -140 dBm to -44 dBm according to the specifications.

[0131] Differential reporting may be used for L1 reporting, where the UE 100 reports the best value (e.g., according to the mapping in table 10.1 .6.1-1 in TS 38.133), and reports other values as differential values compared to this first value, for example, with 0 dB to -30 dB with a 2 dB resolution as defined in table 10.1.6.1-2 in TS 38.133.

[0132] L3 measurement reporting may be done on RRC-level. L3 measurement reporting may be configured as periodic, event-triggered, or event-triggered periodic. The periodic reporting means that theUE transmits the reports with a configured periodicity. The event-triggered reporting means that the UE transmits the report when a configured condition for event-triggered reporting is fulfilled (multiple different events may be supported for mobility purposes). The event-triggered periodic reporting means that the UE starts periodic reporting once a configured condition for event-triggered periodic reporting is fulfilled.

[0133] L1 reporting may be done as CSI reporting on L1. Before NR Release 19, L1 measurement reporting for serving and neighboring cells may be configured as periodic, semi-persistent, or aperiodic. The periodic reporting means that the UE transmits the reports with a configured periodicity. The semi-persistent reporting means that the reporting is either activated by the network by a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) for the physical uplink control channel (PUCCH), or triggered by the network by downlink control information (DCI) for the physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH). The aperiodic reporting means that the reporting is triggered by the network by a DCI for one cell at a time on PUSCH.

[0134] In NR Release 19, event-triggered L1 reporting for beam management and LTM purposes may be defined.

[0135] TS 38.133 defines cell identification and measurement reporting delay for L1 and L3 measurements. For example, for L3 intra-frequency measurements defined in section 9.2 of TS 38.133, the UE shall be able to identify a new detectable intra-frequency cell within Tidentifyjntra_withoutjndex or Tidentify_intra_with_index depending on whether the reporting is configured to be with or without SSB index:T idem tify_intra_without_index - (T PSS / SSS_sync_intra+T SSB_measurement_period_intra) fTIS Tidentify_intra_with_index - (TpsS / SSS_sync_intra+T SSB_measurement_period_intra+TsSB_time_index_intra) fTIS

[0136] Where_sync_intra is the time period for detection of the primary synchronization signal (PSS) and / or the secondary synchronization signal (SSS), TssBjimejndexjntra is the time period used to acquire the index of the SSB being measured, and TssB_measurement_period_intra is the measurement period of SSB based measurement. The values of each of these parameters depend on multiple parameters and the number of carriers the UE is configured to measure, as defined in TS 38.133.

[0137] As an example, for idle-mode measurements, for low and equal priority carriers, the cell detection delay for inter-frequency (Tdetect.NRjnter) is defined as shown in Table 1 below. In Table 1 , DRX is an abbreviation for discontinuous reception. FR1 , FR2-1 and FR2-2 are specific frequency ranges used in 5G NR.Table i .

[0138] The UE may evaluate whether a newly detectable inter-frequency cell meets the cell reselection criteria within Kcarrier * Tdetect,NRjnter, if at least carrier frequency information is provided for interfrequency neighbour cells by the serving cells, when Treselection - 0 provided that the reselection criteria is met by a margin of at least 5 dB in FR1 or 6.5 dB in FR2 for cell reselections based on ranking or 6 dB in FR1 or 7.5 dB in FR2 for SS-RSRP. The parameter Kcarrier is the number of NR inter-frequency carriers indicated by the serving cell.

[0139] For an inter-frequency cell that has been already detected, but that has not been reselected to, the filtering may be such that the UE shall be capable of evaluating that the inter-frequency cell has met the cell reselection criterion within Kcarrier * Tevaiuate.NRjnter, when Treselection = 0.

[0140] The UE may measure SS-RSRP or SS-RSRQ at least every Kcarrier * Tmeasure,NR_lnter for identified lower or equal priority inter-frequency cells.

[0141] In the current specifications, the measurement delay consists of Tdetect.NRjnter, + Tmeasure,NR_ Inter+Tevaluate,NR_ Inter. Accordingly, the minimum (worst-case) delay requirement including cell detection and cell measurement times are:Inter-frequency cell detection + measurement time for FR2 carrier = 153.6 seconds Inter-frequency cell detection + measurement time for FR1 carrier = 19.26 seconds

[0142] The SSB index reading (i.e., beam detection via reading SSB contents) also imposes additional delays:SSB index reading for FR2 carrier = 46.08 secondsSSB index reading for FR1 carrier = 5.76 seconds

[0143] When the UE enters FR2 connected mode, the time duration of performing the measurements may be defined, for example, as follows:T(FR2)identify_inter_with_index - (TpsS / SSS_sync_inter+T SSB_measurement_period_inter+TsSB_time_index_inter) milliseconds= 40*40 + 40*40 + 24*40 = 4160 millisecondsWhere Tpss / sss_sync_inter, T SSB_measurement_period_inter, TsSB_time_index_inter are time Components defined in TS 38.133. In other words, for FR2 connected mode, it takes a relatively long time to perform the measurements.

[0144] In NR, there is no measurement reporting during idle (RRCJDLE) or inactive (RRCJNACTIVE) mode, but the UE may be configured to perform measurements during idle or inactive mode and report them as “early measurements” for carrier aggregation (CA) and / or dual connectivity (DC) setup purposes at the time of connection setup.

[0145] One of the main goals for 6G is to design a system that can provide more power savings (i.e. , reduced power consumption) on the system level, including both UE and network power savings. To enable proper UE and network power saving, it needs to be considered in the system design from the start.

[0146] One goal of 6G is also to reduce UE measurements and reporting, when there is no immediate need for full measurements and reporting. For example, if the UE is at the cell center and there is no immediate need for handover, there may not be a need for the UE to measure and report all (neighboring) cells (or carriers). Measuring more cells (or carriers) than needed, and even performing more intra-frequency measurements than needed, may cause interruptions to data transmission and / or reception (e.g., due to usage of measurement gaps or scheduling restrictions). Furthermore, some UE power may be consumed unnecessarily for measurement sampling, processing the measurement samples, detection of new cells and reporting, etc. Similarly, UE measurements in idle or inactive mode need to be considered, although the measurement results may not be reported to the network.

[0147] One way to ensure that UE is not measuring too much is to configure the UE to not measure and / or report in such conditions, but only when or if the need to measure and report would occur. However, the drawback of this approach is that, when measurements and measurement results become necessary, the UE would firstly need to be configured with the measurement configuration, after which the UE would start by initiating cell detection before performing the measurements and reporting the measurement results. This approach may lead to a long measurement reporting delay (e.g., in FR2). A long delay in providing measurement results and reporting to the network has a negative impact on the overall user experience and system performance. The network does not have any information about which cells or which carriers the UE is able to access or receive from, until the UE transmits the measurement report.

[0148] Therefore, in legacy systems, the only way for the network to know whether a cell has been detected is by a measurement report. However, in terms of power consumption, it is not efficient for the UE to report a large number of cells with a measurement report.

[0149] To address the above issue, some example embodiments introduce a new UE reportingtype, which may be called a detected cell report. In the detected cell report, the UE may report, to the network, one or more cells that the UE has currently detected, or one or more cells that have become detected or undetected since the last detected cell report transmitted by the UE. When the UE reports a cell as “detected”, it means that the UE is able to detect a signal of this cell (e.g., a synchronization signal such as PSS and / or SSS, or any other type of signal used to identify a cell). The UE may not be required to perform measurements of the detected cell before transmitting the detected cell report to the network.

[0150] The detected cell reporting may be used separately from or together with legacy measurement reporting. For example, the detected cell report may be separate from the measurement reporting, such that the detected cell report may only comprise an indication of the detection status of each cell or carrier that the network has configured the UE to report. In this case, the detected cell report may not include actual measurement result values for the cell(s) reported as detected, but it includes enough information of the cell identity for the network to understand the cell (s) detectable to the UE. In other words, the UE may transmit the detected cell report independently of the measurements (the UE may or may not perform measurements on the detected cell(s) before transmitting the detected cell report).

[0151] Alternatively, the detected cell report may be merged with the measurement reporting, for example such that the UE may report measurement results (e.g., RSRP values) for some cells that it has measured (e.g., for the serving cell), and only the detection status for other (e.g., non-serving) cells (but no measurement results). These two alternatives may also coexist.

[0152] Thus, the detected cell report may reduce the UE’s burden of performing and reporting measurements (and thus reduce the UE power consumption), while also providing information to the network about the UE’s current cell detection status of neighboring intra-frequency cells and / or inter-frequency cells. With the detected cell report, the reporting delay of informing the network about the detected cell (s) can be reduced in comparison to the legacy measurement report, since the UE 100 is not required to perform a full set of measurements on the detected cell(s). For example, based on the detected cell report, the network can select one or more carriers on which the UE 100 should perform a specific set of measurements (in a more focused manner compared to the legacy measurement configuration).

[0153] Keeping the cells detected and informing the network about the detection status helps the network to know which cell(s) the UE has already detected, and hence what kind of measurement reporting delay to expect when the measurement reporting is needed.

[0154] The detected cell report may be beneficial, for example, when the UE is in a low-mobility state (e.g., moving slowly) and there is no immediate need for a handover, and hence no need to report a full set of neighbor cell measurements. Additionally, the information of the detected cells can be used as an input for network algorithms that may benefit from such information. For example, upon receiving the detected cell report, the network (e.g., network device 104) may consider traffic load of a set of (detected) candidatecells and / or backhaul load, and decide to activate measurements for a cell that is able to provide high capacity for the UE (e.g., low cell and backhaul load). As another example, the network (e.g., network device 104) may select a frequency that is currently not highly scheduled and enable measurements on that cell. The detected cell report may be designed to be energy-efficient in terms of UE measurement effort as well as over-the-air signaling and the network processing side.

[0155] As another example, the detected cell report may be beneficial, when there is no need for carrier aggregation, and thus there is also no need for the UE to continuously measure the carriers or cells intended to be used for carrier aggregation.

[0156] Furthermore, for the case where the cells on a carrier are used for carrier aggregation, there may not be a need on the network side for detailed measurement results, but only for the detection status indicating whether the UE has detected a cell, i.e., a potential secondary cell (SCell), on the carrier or not.

[0157] Some example embodiments are described below using principles and terminology of 5G radio access technology without limiting the example embodiments to 5G radio access technology, however. For example, the example embodiments may be applied in 6G and beyond.

[0158] FIG. 2 illustrates a signal flow diagram according to an example embodiment for event- triggered reporting, where the UE 100 is configured to transmit the detected cell report based on an event or condition. The event-triggered reporting may have a dedicated configuration.

[0159] Although two non-serving cells (e.g., neighbor cells) 122, 123 are shown in FIG. 2, it should be noted that the number of non-serving cells may also be different than two. In other words, there may be one or more non-serving cells. In addition, the signaling procedure illustrated in FIG. 2 may be extended and applied according to the actual number of non-serving cells.

[0160] Referring to FIG. 2, at 201 , a network device associated to a serving cell 121 of the UE 100 generates and transmits, to the UE 100, a report configuration for detected cell reporting, i.e., for reporting one or more (non-serving) cells detected by the UE 100 (e.g., for reporting a detection status of the one or more cells). The UE 100 receives the report configuration.

[0161] For example, the network device may be an access node 104 (e.g., a gNB) or a DU 105 controlling the serving cell 121 . The network device 104 may transmit the report configuration to the UE 100. For example, the network device may transmit the report configuration when the UE 100 enters connected (RRC_CONNECTED) mode (i.e., is connected to the serving cell 121).

[0162] The report configuration indicates how the detected cell report should be transmitted by the UE 100.

[0163] For example, the report configuration may comprise information indicating one or more pre-defined conditions for reporting the one or more detected cells (or the detection status of the one or morecells). The one or more pre-defined conditions may also be referred to as one or more criteria or one or more events.

[0164] For example, the one or more pre-defined conditions may comprise at least one of: any (new) cell being detected, a cell on a specific carrier becoming detectable, a first cell on a carrier becoming detectable, a previously detected cell becoming undetectable, a last cell on a carrier becoming undetectable, a change of a radio resource control mode at the UE 100 (e.g., switching between RRC_CONNECTED mode, RRCJDLE mode, or RRCJNACTIVE mode), or receiving a (new) measurement configuration for measuring one or more cells or carriers.

[0165] The RRC mode refers to the state of the UE’s connection with the network, managed by the RRC protocol. Some examples of RRC modes include RRC_CONNECTED mode, RRCJDLE mode, and RRCJNACTIVE mode.

[0166] Alternatively, or additionally, the report configuration may indicate one or more carriers on which the detection is to be performed (i.e., one or more carriers on which the UE 100 should search for one or more cells 122, 123). In other words, the network device 104 may configure the UE 100 to report the detection status for certain cell(s) or carrier(s). Alternatively, the one or more carriers may be indicated in a separate detection configuration (separate from the report configuration). The detection configuration refers to a configuration that may be used for the detection of one or more cells. The detection configuration and the report configuration may be separate configurations, or they may both be included in a single configuration.

[0167] Herein the term “carrier” refers to a carrier frequency. In other words, the report configuration or detection configuration may indicate one or more carrier frequencies on which the one or more cells 122, 123 are deployed, and the UE 100 may search for the one or more cells 122, 123 (e.g., for one or more synchronization signals of the one or more cells 122, 123) on the one or more carrier frequencies. The one or more cells 122, 123 may be deployed on the same carrier frequency or on different carrier frequencies (i.e., there may be one or more cells on a given carrier).

[0168] At 202, a first non-serving cell 122 (or a network device 104B associated to the first nonserving cell 122) transmits or broadcasts one or more signals. For example, the one or more signals transmitted from the first non-serving cell 122 may comprise one or more synchronization signals, such as a primary synchronization signal (PSS) and / or a secondary synchronization signal (SSS), or any other type of signal used to identify the first non-serving cell 122. Even though FIG. 2 shows a single detected non-serving cell 122, it may represent one or more non-serving cells that have been detected.

[0169] At 203, a second non-serving cell 122 (or a network device 104C associated to the second non-serving cell 123) transmits or broadcasts one or more signals. For example, the one or more signals transmitted from the second non-serving cell 122 may comprise one or more synchronization signals,such as a primary synchronization signal (PSS) and / or a secondary synchronization signal (SSS), or any other type of signal used to identify the second non-serving cell 123.

[0170] A synchronization signal is a type of signal used in communication systems to align the timing of data transmission between devices, ensuring that the sender and receiver are synchronized. This helps in maintaining the integrity and accuracy of the transmitted data. The PSS may be used to help UEs identify and synchronize with the correct cell by providing timing information. The SSS complements the PSS by providing additional information for frame synchronization and cell identity.

[0171] Herein the terms “first non-serving cell” and “second non-serving cell” are used to distinguish the cells, and they do not necessarily mean a specific order or specific identifiers of the cells.

[0172] At 204, the UE 100 detects one or more (non-serving) cells (different from the serving cell 121) by detecting one or more signals (e.g., one or more synchronization signals) of the one or more cells (e.g., based on RSRP of the one or more signals being above a threshold). In other words, the one or more cells become detectable by the UE 100. The UE 100 may detect the one or more cells by periodically searching or monitoring the one or more carriers that may be indicated in the report configuration or detection configuration.

[0173] For example, the UE 100 may detect the first non-serving cell 122 by detecting the one or more signals (e.g., one or more synchronization signals) of the first non-serving cell 121 on one of the one or more carriers, but the UE 100 may not detect the second non-serving cell 123 (e.g., the received signal strength of the one or more signals of the second non-serving cell 123 may not be strong enough to be detectable by the UE 100). The one or more carriers on which the one or more (non-serving) cells are detected may be the same or different than the carrier of the serving cell 121 .

[0174] At 205, the UE 100 may optionally perform at least one reference signal measurement of at least one cell, wherein the at least one cell may be different from the one or more detected (non-serving) cells, or comprised in the one or more detected cells. In other words, the UE 100 may measure, for example, the serving cell 121 , and / or some of the detected (non-serving) cells (but not necessarily all of the detected non-serving cells).

[0175] The reference signal measurement means measuring a reference signal of the at least one cell (i.e., a reference signal transmitted from a network device associated to the at least one cell). Some examples of reference signals include, but are not limited to: a demodulation reference signal (DMRS), a synchronization signal block (SSB), a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS), a phase-tracking reference signal (PTRS), or a positioning reference signal (PRS).

[0176] At 206, the UE 100 determines or detects that the one or more pre-defined conditions are met (fulfilled). The one or more pre-defined conditions may be indicated in the report configuration received from the network device at 201 , or the one or more pre-defined conditions may be pre-configuredat the UE 100 prior to receiving the report configuration (e.g., hardcoded to the UE 100 or defined in the specifications).

[0177] At 207, based on detecting or determining that the one or more pre-defined conditions are met (fulfilled), the UE 100 generates or prepares a report (message) indicating the one or more detected cells (e.g., the first non-serving cell 122). For example, the report may comprise at least a detection status of the one or more cells 122, 123. In some cases, the report may also indicate the detection status of the serving cell 121. The UE 100 may generate the report according to the report configuration. The report may also be referred to as a detected cell report.

[0178] The report may comprise cell information associated with the one or more detected cells 122. For example, the cell information may comprise at least one of: detection status information of the one or more detected cells 122 and / or the one or more non-detected cells 123, one or more cell identities (cell I Ds) of the one or more detected cells 122 and / or the one or more non-detected cells 123, or one or more temporary cell identifiers derived from or based on the one or more cell identities of the one or more detected cells 122 and / or the one or more non-detected cells 123.

[0179] The cell identity may refer to, for example, a physical cell identity (PCI), which is a physical layer cell identifier that may be used to indicate the physical identity of a cell. A temporary cell identifier is a unique identifier assigned to a cell for a limited period. The temporary cell identifier may have a different value range than the physical cell identity. For example, the UE 100 may be assigned, in RRCReconfiguration, an identifier that is temporary for a certain time, e.g., for a time period, or until the next UE reconfiguration. In one example, the temporary cell identifier may be a scalar value starting from 0 or from an offset and is a running number with step size of one or more. In another example, the temporary cell identifier may be derived using a function, for instance a bitmap, applied to a cell identifier + offset. In another example, the detected cell configuration object identifier may be used as a temporary cell identifier.

[0180] The report may further indicate at least one of: one or more non-detected cells that have become undetectable after being reported as detected in a previous report, or one or more previously detected cells that continue to be detectable after being reported as detected in the previous report.

[0181] For example, the report may indicate that the second non-serving cell 123 is not detected (in addition to indicating that the first non-serving cell 122 is detected). For example, the UE 100 may have previously detected and identified the second non-serving cell 123, but later it may have become undetectable (e.g., due to UE mobility). As another example, the report configuration may comprise a list of cell IDs for which the UE 100 should report the detection status (detected or not detected). If the second nonserving cell 123 is included in the list, but the UE 100 does not detect the second non-serving cell 123, then the UE 100 may report the second non-serving cell 123 as not detected. However, based on the list of cellIDs (or based on the previous detection), the UE 100 can know about the existence of the second non-serving cell 123, even if it is not currently detected.

[0182] The detection status information indicates whether the one or more cells 122, 123 are detected by the UE 100. For example, the detection status of a given cell may be indicated as a bit indication associated to that cell (i.e., a binary value, such as ‘1’ for detected or ‘0’ for not detected, or vice versa, associated with the corresponding cell ID), or as an enumerator associated to that cell (e.g., ‘DETECTED’ or ‘NOTJDETECTED’ associated with the corresponding cell ID).

[0183] For example, the UE 100 may read the cell identity of a given cell from the one or more synchronization signals (e.g., PSS and / or SSS) or from a master information block (MIB) of that cell. Alternatively, or additionally, the report configuration may comprise a list of cell identities for cells for which the UE 100 should report the detection status. Alternatively, the report configuration may just indicate the one or more carriers on which to search for the one or more cells (but not any cell identities).

[0184] The detection status may be associated with a cell ID by a positional index in a list. For example, the report may comprise a bitmap, wherein each bit of the bitmap indicates a cell from the predefined list of cell identities, the list of cell identities corresponding to cells 122, 123 comprising at least the one or more cells.

[0185] The cell association of the detected cell reporting may be done prior to the report message transmission (e.g., the list of cell identities may be indicated in the report configuration of 201). When the network device 104 receives the detected cell report, the network may associate the report with the previously configured cell association information to form a cell identifier that is usable for the network.

[0186] The format of the detected cell report may be indicated in the report configuration, or otherwise pre-configured at the UE 100. For example, the report may be a radio resource control (RRC) report (i.e., L3 report), or a channel state information (CSI) report (i.e., L1 report), or a medium access control (MAC) level report (i.e., L2 report), or an in-band control signalling report (e.g., above or below the MAC layer), or an abstract syntax notation one (ASN.1) message, or an uplink control information (UCI) message.

[0187] An in-band control signalling report refers to the transmission of control information within the same channel or frequency band as the main data. For example, the in-band control signalling report may be comprised in one of: a MAC CE, an RRC message, a radio link control (RLC) control header, a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) control header, or a service data adaptation protocol (SDAP) control header.

[0188] The ASN. 1 message may be, for example, an RRC message delivered from the RRC layer of the UE 100 to the RRC layer of the network device 104. As another example, the ASN.1 message may be a short message (short ASN.1 message) delivered between the lower layer (below RRC) protocol entities (e.g., MAC to MAC, or a control layer associated with the MAC layer).

[0189] Alternatively, some other format than ASN.1 may be used for delivering the report. This other format may be, for example, text format or a format that is coded to a binary format by the transmitting entity (the UE 100) and decompiled by the receiving entity (the network device 104).

[0190] It should be noted that the above reporting formats are just examples, and any other suitable reporting format may alternatively be used.

[0191] At 208, based on detecting or determining that the one or more pre-defined conditions are met (fulfilled), the UE 100 transmits the generated report (message) to the network device 104 associated to the serving cell 121. After the one or more pre-defined conditions are fulfilled, the UE 100 may transmit the report once, or the UE 100 may transmit the report periodically (i.e., the fulfillment of the one or more predefined conditions may trigger periodic reporting of the cell detection status). The network device 104 associated to the serving cell 121 receives the report. This report may be valid until a new report is sent, or for a pre-defined time period after transmitting the report.

[0192] The report may be generated and / or transmitted according to the report configuration received at 201. For example, the UE 100 may determine whether the one or more detected cells are detected on the one or more carriers indicated in the report configuration, and the report may be generated and / or transmitted based on or in response to determining that the one or more detected cells are detected on the one or more carriers indicated in the report configuration. In other words, based on the report configuration, the UE 100 may evaluate whether a detected cell report needs to be triggered for the detected cell(s). If the UE 100 is configured to transmit a detected cell report for the carrier(s) on which the UE 100 detected the one or more cells, the UE 100 transmits the detected cell report. Otherwise, the UE 100 may not initiate the detected cell reporting, and the UE 100 may perform at least one of: continue searching for cells on a carrier on which the UE 100 previously detected a cell, perform one or more measurements on the detected cell, or both, or perform cell search and measurements on other configured carriers.

[0193] The report may be generated and / or transmitted regardless of whether any measurements on any reference signal (other than the one or more synchronization signals) of the one or more detected cells 122 have been performed by the UE 100.

[0194] The detected cell reporting may be configured together with legacy measurement reporting or separately from the legacy measurement reporting. Each of the reporting types may be associated with one or more reporting formats. In other words, the reporting types may be independent from the report format that the UE 100 transmits to the corresponding protocol entity (e.g. L1 / L2 / L3).

[0195] In case the report (detected cell report) is a separate report from the legacy measurement report, then the detected cell report may not comprise any measurement result values associated with any of the one or more detected cells 122. For example, the report may not comprise any RSRP, RSRQ, SI NR or RSSI values associated with the one or more detected cells 122. In other words, in this case, the reportmay only comprise an indication (e.g., detection status) of the one or more cells 122 that the UE 100 has detected (and / or a detection status of one or more non-detected cells 123), and the report may be transmitted during a time period when the UE 100 is not configured to measure any reference signals of the detected one or more cells 122 (the reference signals being different from the one or more synchronization signals).

[0196] Alternatively, the detected cell report may be merged or integrated into a measurement report. In this case, the (merged) report may comprise at least one measurement result value obtained from the at least one reference signal measurement of the at least one cell at 205, wherein the at least one cell may be different from the one or more detected cells. For example, in the report, the UE 100 may report one or more measurement result values (e.g., one or more RSRP values) for the serving cell 121 , and only the detection status for the one or more non-serving cells 122, 123 (i.e., no measurement results for the one or more non-serving cells).

[0197] In another example, the report may comprise at least one measurement result value obtained from the at least one reference signal measurement of the at least one cell at 205, wherein the at least one cell may be comprised in the one or more detected cells. In other words, in this case, the UE 100 may include, in the report, measurement result values for at least one of the one or more detected cells 122. For example, in the report, the UE 100 may report one or more measurement result values for the serving cell 121 and for a pre-defined number of detected non-serving cells 122, 123, where the pre-defined number of non-serving cells may be configured by the network device 104 (e.g., in the report configuration), or the UE may report measurement results for the best non-serving cell(s) with the highest received signal power and / or quality (but not for all of the detected non-serving cells). For the other detected non-serving cells, the UE 100 may include only the detection status (but no measurement results) in the report. In other words, in this case, the report may comprise measurement result values for some of the detected non-serving cells, but not for all of the detected non-serving cells.

[0198] The detected cell report may be associated with security information (e.g., a security header or a security key) used for decoding the detected cell report at the receiver (i.e., at the network device 104). For example, the UE 100 may transmit this security header or key to the network device 104 (e.g., via RRC signalling) prior to transmitting the detected cell report. As another example, the UE 100 may transmit a part of the security information to the network device 104 prior to transmitting the detected cell report, and the UE 100 may then transmit the rest of the security information with the detected cell report. Upon receiving this security information, the receiving entity (i.e., the network device 104) is capable of decoding the report.

[0199] At 209, the network device 104 associated to the serving cell 121 processes the received report. For example, the network device 104 may perform at least one of: storing the report with associated information (e.g., in an internal memory of the network device 104), forwarding the report to a network entity (e.g., another cell, or a network device associated with another cell), generate a measurement configurationfor the UE 100 based on the report, deconfigure measurements at the UE 100, or set up at least one of the one or more detected cells 122 as a secondary cell for the UE 100 for carrier aggregation and / or dual connectivity.

[0200] The measurement configuration may comprise instructions for performing and reporting one or more reference signal measurements of the one or more detected cells (e.g., the first non-serving cell 122).

[0201] A secondary cell (SCell) is a cell that provides additional resources to the UE 100 to improve data rates and / coverage. Thus, setting up a cell as a secondary cell for the UE 100 means adding additional resources to the UE from the secondary cell (in addition to the resources of the serving cell 121 , i.e., primary cell).

[0202] Alternatively, or additionally, the network device 104 may associate a time indication or a time stamp to the report to indicate the time when the report was received.

[0203] Alternatively, or additionally, the network device 104 may further process the received report and combine it with the report configuration to derive a cell identifier (e.g., map the temporary cell identifier with the real cell identity used by the network).

[0204] The forwarding may mean, for example, that the network device 104 associated to the serving cell 121 forwards the report (e.g., via inter-node signalling) to a network device associated with another cell in the same or different cell group as the serving cell 121 , wherein the report may be forwarded either transparently (without modification) or non-transparently (by making some modifications to the report, e.g., deriving values from or editing the headers, or inserting additional information to the report, such as the time when the report was received). The forwarded report may be an independent message or part of the UE context transfer. UE context transfer refers to the process of transferring the UE’s context, including its state and configuration, from one cell to another to ensure seamless connectivity and service continuity (e.g., during a handover).

[0205] At 210, the network device 104 associated to the serving cell 121 may transmit the measurement configuration to the UE 100 (if the measurement configuration was generated). Alternatively, the measurement configuration may be transmitted to the UE 100 in an earlier stage for performing the measurements at 205 (in this case, the measurement configuration may be based on a previous detected cell report, for example).

[0206] At 211 , the UE 100 may perform the one or more reference signal measurements of the one or more detected cells 122 either according to the measurement configuration, which may be received at 210 from the network device 104 associated to the serving cell 121 , or without receiving such measurement configuration. For example, the UE 100 may measure RSRP, RSRQ, RSSI and / or SI NR of one or more reference signals transmitted on the one or more detected cells 122.

[0207] At 212, the UE 100 may generate and transmit, to the network device 104 associated to the serving cell 121 , a measurement report comprising one or more measurement result values obtained from the one or more measurements performed at 211 . For example, the measurement report may comprise at least one of: one or more RSRP values of the one or more detected cells 122, one or more RSRQ values of the one or more detected cells 122, one or more RSSI values of the one or more detected cells 122, or one or more SINR values of the one or more detected cells 122.

[0208] FIG. 3 illustrates an example of the event-triggered detected cell reporting.

[0209] Referring to FIG. 3, at 301, the UE 100 may receive the report configuration for reporting the detection status of one or more cells (corresponding to 201 of FIG. 2). The report configuration may indicate one or more carriers on which the detection is to be performed (i.e., one or more carriers on which the UE 100 should search for the one or more cells). In this example, the one or more pre-defined conditions (for example, events) may comprise at least: a cell on a carrier becoming detectable, and a previously detected cell becoming undetectable.

[0210] At 302, based on detecting the second non-serving cell 123 on one of the one or more carriers (e.g., carrier 2 in FIG. 3), the UE 100 generates a first report indicating that the second non-serving cell 123 is detected, and the UE 100 transmits the first report to the network device 104 associated to the serving cell 121.

[0211] At 303, based on detecting the first non-serving cell 122 on one of the one or more carriers (e.g., carrier 1 in FIG. 3), while the second non-serving cell 123 remains detectable, the UE 100 generates a second report indicating that the first non-serving cell 122 and the second non-serving cell 123 are detected, and the UE 100 transmits the second report to the network device 104 associated to the serving cell 121.

[0212] At 304, based on the second non-serving cell 123 (carrier 2) becoming undetectable (while the first non-serving cell 122 remains detectable), the UE 100 generates a third report indicating that the first non-serving cell 122 (carrier 1) is detected, and the UE 100 transmits the third report to the network device 104 associated to the serving cell 121. The third report may further indicate that the second nonserving cell 123 (carrier 2) is not detected (after being previously indicated as detected in the first report and in the second report).

[0213] At 305, based on the first non-serving cell 122 (carrier 1) also becoming undetectable, the UE 100 generates a fourth report indicating that no non-serving cells are detected, and the UE 100 transmits the fourth report to the network device 104 associated to the serving cell 121 .

[0214] FIG. 4 illustrates a signal flow diagram according to an example embodiment for network- requested (network-triggered) reporting, where the UE 100 is configured to transmit the detected cell report in response to a request from the network. In other words, when needed, the network may request the UE100 to report which cells the UE 100 has detected (i.e., the detection status of one or more cells). The network-requested reporting may have a dedicated configuration.

[0215] Although two non-serving cells (e.g., neighbor cells) 122, 123 are shown in FIG. 4, it should be noted that the number of non-serving cells may also be different than two. In other words, there may be one or more non-serving cells. In addition, the signaling procedure illustrated in FIG. 4 may be extended and applied according to the actual number of non-serving cells.

[0216] Referring to FIG. 4, at 401 , a network device associated to a serving cell 121 of the UE 100 generates and transmits, to the UE 100, a report configuration for detected cell reporting, i.e., for reporting one or more (non-serving) cells detected by the UE 100 (e.g., for reporting a detection status of the one or more cells). The UE 100 receives the report configuration.

[0217] For example, the network device may be an access node 104 (e.g., a gNB) or a DU 105 controlling the serving cell 121. The network device 104 may transmit the report configuration to the UE 100, when the UE 100 enters connected (RRC_CONNECTED) mode (i.e., is connected to the serving cell 121).

[0218] For example, the report configuration may indicate a reporting type to be used for the detected cell reporting. In this example embodiment, the report configuration may indicate that the detected cell report is to be transmitted based on (or in response to) the UE 100 receiving a request for the detected cell report from the network device 104.

[0219] Alternatively, or additionally, the report configuration may indicate one or more carriers on which the detection is to be performed (i.e., one or more carriers on which the UE 100 should search for one or more cells 122, 123). In other words, the network device 104 may configure the UE 100 to report the detection status for certain cell(s) or carrier(s). Alternatively, the one or more carriers may be indicated in a separate detection configuration (separate from the report configuration). The detection configuration refers to a configuration that may be used for the detection of one or more cells. The detection configuration and the report configuration may be separate configurations, or they may both be included in a single configuration.

[0220] Herein the term “carrier” refers to a carrier frequency. In other words, the report configuration or detection configuration may indicate one or more carrier frequencies on which the one or more cells 122, 123 are deployed, and the UE 100 may search for the one or more cells 122, 123 (e.g., for one or more synchronization signals of the one or more cells 122, 123) on the one or more carrier frequencies. The one or more cells 122, 123 may be deployed on the same carrier frequency or on different carrier frequencies (i.e., there may be one or more cells on a given carrier).

[0221] At 402, a first non-serving cell 122 (or a network device 104B associated to the first nonserving cell 122) transmits, or broadcasts, one or more signals. For example, the one or more signals transmitted from the first non-serving cell 122 may comprise one or more synchronization signals, such as aprimary synchronization signal (PSS) and / or a secondary synchronization signal (SSS), or any other type of signal used to identify the first non-serving cell 122. Even though FIG. 2 shows a single detected non-serving cell 122, it may represent one or more non-serving cells that have been detected.

[0222] At 403, a second non-serving cell 122 (or a network device 104C associated to the second non-serving cell 123) transmits, or broadcasts, one or more signals. For example, the one or more signals transmitted from the second non-serving cell 122 may comprise one or more synchronization signals, such as a primary synchronization signal (PSS) and / or a secondary synchronization signal (SSS), or any other type of signal used to identify the second non-serving cell 123.

[0223] Herein the terms “first non-serving cell” and “second non-serving cell” are used to distinguish the cells, and they do not necessarily mean a specific order or specific identifiers of the cells.

[0224] At 404, the UE 100 detects one or more (non-serving) cells (different from the serving cell 121) by detecting one or more signals (e.g., one or more synchronization signals) of the one or more cells (e.g., based on RSRP of the one or more signals being above a threshold). In other words, the one or more cells become detectable by the UE 100. The UE 100 may detect the one or more cells by periodically searching or monitoring the one or more carriers that may be indicated in the report configuration. For example, the UE 100 may detect the first non-serving cell 122 by detecting the one or more signals (e.g., one or more synchronization signals) of the first non-serving cell 121 on one of the one or more carriers, but the UE 100 may not detect the second non-serving cell 123 (e.g., the received signal strength of the one or more signals of the second non-serving cell 123 may not be strong enough to be detectable by the UE 100). The one or more carriers on which the one or more (non-serving) cells are detected may be the same or different than the carrier of the serving cell 121 .

[0225] The UE 100 may store the detection status of the one or more detected cells and / or the one or more non-detected cells (e.g., in an internal memory of the UE 100).

[0226] At 405, the UE 100 may optionally perform at least one reference signal measurement of at least one cell, wherein the at least one cell may be different from the one or more detected (non-serving) cells, or comprised in the one or more detected cells. In other words, the UE 100 may measure, for example, the serving cell 121 , and / or some of the detected (non-serving) cells (but not necessarily all of the detected non-serving cells).

[0227] At 406, the network device 104 associated to the serving cell 121 transmits, to the UE 100, a request for reporting the one or more cells 122 detected by the UE 100 (e.g., for reporting the detection status of the one or more cells 122). In the request, the network device 104 may request the UE 100 to report all cells detected by the UE 100, orjust a subset of cells detected by the UE 100 (e.g., a certain number of detected cells). For example, the request may be comprised in one of: a downlink control information (DCI) message, a MAC CE, or an RRC message.

[0228] Based on receiving the request, the UE 100 may perform a new cell detection procedure (e.g., search the one or more carriers for detecting one or more cells) to report the cell(s) that the UE 100 can currently detect. Alternatively, the UE 100 may report the stored detection status of the one or more detected cells 122 detected at 404 (and / or the stored detection status of the one or more non-detected cells). In other words, the UE 100 may perform a new detection for the reporting, or report the stored detection status.

[0229] At 407, based on receiving the request, the UE 100 generates or prepares a report (message) indicating the one or more detected cells (e.g., the first non-serving cell 122 detected at 404, and / or one or more newly detected cells). For example, the report may comprise at least a detection status of the one or more (non-serving) cells 122, 123. In some cases, the report may also indicate the detection status of the serving cell 121 . The UE 100 may generate the report according to the report configuration. The report may also be referred to as a detected cell report.

[0230] The report may comprise cell information associated with the one or more detected cells 122. For example, the cell information may comprise at least one of: detection status information of the one or more detected cells 122 and / or the one or more non-detected cells 123, one or more cell identities (cell IDs) of the one or more detected cells 122 and / or the one or more non-detected cells 123, or one or more temporary cell identifiers derived from the one or more cell identities of the one or more detected cells 122 and / or the one or more non-detected cells 123.

[0231] The report may further indicate at least one of: one or more non-detected cells that have become undetectable after being reported as detected in a previous report, or one or more previously detected cells that continue to be detectable after being reported as detected in the previous report.

[0232] For example, the report may indicate that the second non-serving cell 123 is not detected (in addition to indicating that the first non-serving cell 122 is detected). For example, the UE 100 may have previously detected and identified the second non-serving cell 123, but later it may have become undetectable (e.g., due to UE mobility). As another example, the report configuration may comprise a list of cell IDs for which the UE 100 should report the detection status (detected or not detected). If the second nonserving cell 123 is included in the list, but the UE 100 does not detect the second non-serving cell 123, then the UE 100 may report the second non-serving cell 123 as not detected. However, based on the list of cell IDs (or based on the previous detection), the UE 100 can know about the existence of the second non-serving cell 123, even if it is not currently detected.

[0233] The detection status information indicates whether the one or more cells 122, 123 are detected by the UE 100. For example, the detection status of a given cell may be indicated as a bit indication associated to that cell (i.e., a binary value, such as ‘1’ for detected or ‘0’ for not detected, or vice versa,associated with the corresponding cell ID), or as an enumerator associated to that cell (e.g., ‘DETECTED’ or ‘NOTJDETECTED’ associated with the corresponding cell ID).

[0234] For example, the UE 100 may read the cell identity of a given cell from the one or more synchronization signals (e.g., PSS and / or SSS) or from a master information block (MIB) of that cell. Alternatively, or additionally, the report configuration may comprise a list of cell identities for cells for which the UE 100 should report the detection status. Alternatively, the report configuration may just indicate the one or more carriers on which to search for the one or more cells (but not any cell identities).

[0235] The detection status may be associated with a cell ID by a positional index in a list. For example, the report may comprise a bitmap, wherein each bit of the bitmap indicates a cell from the predefined list of cell identities, the list of cell identities corresponding to cells 122, 123 comprising at least the one or more cells.

[0236] The cell association of the detected cell reporting may be done prior to the report message transmission (e.g., the list of cell identities may be indicated in the report configuration of 401). When the network device 104 receives the detected cell report, the network may associate the report with the previously configured cell association information to form a cell identifier that is usable for the network.

[0237] The format of the detected cell report may be indicated in the report configuration, or otherwise pre-configured at the UE 100. For example, the report may be a radio resource control (RRC) report (i.e. , L3 report), or a channel state information (CSI) report (i.e., L1 report), or a medium access control (MAC) level report (i.e., L2 report), or an in-band control signalling report (e.g., above or below the MAC layer), or an abstract syntax notation one (ASN.1) message, or an uplink control information (UCI) message.

[0238] For example, the in-band control signalling report may be comprised in one of: a MAC CE, an RRC message, a radio link control (RLC) control header, a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) control header, or a service data adaptation protocol (SDAP) control header.

[0239] The ASN. 1 message may be, for example, an RRC message delivered from the RRC layer of the UE 100 to the RRC layer of the network device 104. As another example, the ASN.1 message may be a short message (short ASN.1 message) delivered between the lower layer (below RRC) protocol entities (e.g., MAC to MAC, or a control layer associated with the MAC layer).

[0240] Alternatively, some other format than ASN.1 may be used for delivering the report. This other format may be, for example, text format or a format that is coded to a binary format by the transmitting entity (the UE 100) and decompiled by the receiving entity (the network device 104).

[0241] It should be noted that the above reporting formats are just examples, and any other suitable reporting format may alternatively be used.

[0242] At 408, based on receiving the request (or in response to the request), the UE 100 transmits the generated report (message) to the network device 104 associated to the serving cell 121.

[0243] The report may be generated and / or transmitted according to the report configuration received at 401. For example, the UE 100 may determine whether the one or more detected cells are detected on the one or more carriers indicated in the report configuration, and the report may be generated and / or transmitted based on or in response to determining that the one or more detected cells are detected on the one or more carriers indicated in the report configuration. In other words, based on the report configuration, the UE 100 may evaluate whether a detected cell report needs to be triggered for the detected cell(s). If the UE 100 is configured to transmit a detected cell report for the carrier(s) on which the UE 100 detected the one or more cells, the UE 100 transmits the detected cell report. Otherwise, the UE 100 may not initiate the detected cell reporting, and the UE 100 may perform at least one of: continue searching for cells on a carrier on which the UE 100 previously detected a cell, perform one or more measurements on the detected cell, or perform cell search and measurements on other configured carriers.

[0244] The report may be generated and / or transmitted regardless of whether any measurements on any reference signal (other than the one or more synchronization signals) of the one or more detected cells 122 have been performed by the UE 100.

[0245] The detected cell reporting may be configured together with legacy measurement reporting or separately from the legacy measurement reporting. Each of the reporting types may be associated with one or more reporting formats. In other words, the reporting types may be independent from the report format that the UE 100 transmits to the corresponding protocol entity (e.g. L1 / L2 / L3).

[0246] In case the report (detected cell report) is a separate report from the legacy measurement report, then the detected cell report may not comprise any measurement result values associated with any of the one or more detected cells 122. For example, the report may not comprise any RSRP, RSRQ, SI NR or RSSI values associated with the one or more detected cells 122. In other words, in this case, the report may only comprise an indication (e.g., detection status) of the one or more cells 122 that the UE 100 has detected (and / or a detection status of one or more non-detected cells 123), and the report may be transmitted during a time period when the UE 100 is not configured to measure any reference signals of the detected one or more cells 122 (the reference signals being different from the one or more synchronization signals).

[0247] Alternatively, the detected cell report may be merged or integrated into a measurement report. In this case, the (merged) report may comprise at least one measurement result value obtained from the at least one reference signal measurement of the at least one cell at 405, wherein the at least one cell may be different from the one or more detected cells. For example, in the report, the UE 100 may report one or more measurement result values (e.g., one or more RSRP values) for the serving cell 121 , and only the detection status for the one or more non-serving cells 122, 123 (i.e., no measurement results for the one or more non-serving cells).

[0248] In another example, the report may comprise at least one measurement result value obtained from the at least one reference signal measurement of the at least one cell at 405, wherein the at least one cell may be comprised in the one or more detected cells. In other words, in this case, the UE 100 may include, in the report, measurement result values for at least one of the one or more detected cells 122. For example, in the report, the UE 100 may report one or more measurement result values for the serving cell 121 and for a pre-defined number of detected non-serving cells 122, 123, where the pre-defined number of non-serving cells may be configured by the network device 104 (e.g., in the report configuration), or the UE may report measurement results for the best non-serving cell(s) with the highest received signal power and / or quality (but not for all of the detected non-serving cells). For the other detected non-serving cells, the UE 100 may include only the detection status (but no measurement results) in the report. In other words, in this case, the report may comprise measurement result values for some of the detected non-serving cells, but not for all of the detected non-serving cells.

[0249] The detected cell report may be associated with security information (e.g., a security header or a security key) used for decoding the detected cell report at the receiver (i.e. , at the network device 104). For example, the UE 100 may transmit this security header or key to the network device 104 (e.g., via RRC signalling) prior to transmitting the detected cell report. As another example, the UE 100 may transmit a part of the security information to the network device 104 prior to transmitting the detected cell report, and the UE 100 may then transmit the rest of the security information with the detected cell report. Upon receiving this security information, the receiving entity (i.e., the network device 104) is capable of decoding the report.

[0250] At 409, the network device 104 associated to the serving cell 121 processes the received report. For example, the network device 104 may perform at least one of: store the report with associated information (e.g., in an internal memory of the network device 104), forward the report to a network entity (e.g., another cell), generate a measurement configuration for the UE 100 based on the report, deconfigure measurements at the UE 100, or set up at least one of the one or more detected cells 122 as a secondary cell for the UE 100 for carrier aggregation and / or dual connectivity. The measurement configuration may comprise instructions for performing and reporting one or more reference signal measurements of the one or more detected cells (e.g., the first non-serving cell 122).

[0251] Alternatively, or additionally, the network device 104 may associate a time indication or a time stamp to the report to indicate the time when the report was received.

[0252] Alternatively, or additionally, the network device 104 may further process the received report and combine it with the report configuration to derive a cell identifier (e.g., map the temporary cell identifier with the real cell identity used by the network).

[0253] The forwarding may mean, for example, that the network device 104 associated to the serving cell 121 forwards the report (e.g., via inter-node signalling) to a network device associated withanother cell in the same or different cell group as the serving cell 121 , wherein the report may be forwarded either transparently (without modification) or non-transparently (by making some modifications to the report, e.g., deriving values from or editing the headers, or inserting additional information to the report, such as the time when the report was received). The forwarded report may be an independent message or part of the UE context transfer. UE context transfer refers to the process of transferring the UE’s context, including its state and configuration, from one cell to another to ensure seamless connectivity and service continuity (e.g., during a handover).

[0254] At 410, the network device 104 associated to the serving cell 121 may transmit the measurement configuration to the UE 100 (if the measurement configuration was generated).

[0255] At 411, the UE 100 may perform the one or more reference signal measurements of the one or more detected cells 122 either according to the measurement configuration, which may be received at 210 from the network device 104 associated to the serving cell 121 , or without receiving such measurement configuration. For example, the UE 100 may measure RSRP, RSRQ, RSSI and / or SI NR of one or more reference signals transmitted on the one or more detected cells 122.

[0256] At 412, the UE 100 may generate and transmit, to the network device 104 associated to the serving cell 121 , a measurement report comprising one or more measurement result values obtained from the one or more measurements performed at 411 . For example, the measurement report may comprise at least one of: one or more RSRP values of the one or more detected cells 122, one or more RSRQ values of the one or more detected cells 122, one or more RSSI values of the one or more detected cells 122, or one or more SINR values of the one or more detected cells 122.

[0257] FIG. 5 illustrates a signal flow diagram according to an example embodiment for periodic reporting, where the UE 100 is configured to report the detection status of one or more non-serving cells periodically. The periodical reporting may have a dedicated configuration.

[0258] Although two non-serving cells (e.g., neighbor cells) 122, 123 are shown in FIG. 5, it should be noted that the number of non-serving cells may also be different than two. In other words, there may be one or more non-serving cells. In addition, the signaling procedure illustrated in FIG. 5 may be extended and applied according to the actual number of non-serving cells.

[0259] Referring to FIG. 5, at 501 , a network device associated to a serving cell 121 of the UE 100 generates and transmits, to the UE 100, a report configuration for detected cell reporting, i.e., for reporting one or more (non-serving) cells detected by the UE 100 (e.g., for reporting a detection status of the one or more cells). The UE 100 receives the report configuration.

[0260] For example, the network device may be an access node 104 (e.g., a gNB) or a DU 105 controlling the serving cell 121. The network device 104 may transmit the report configuration to the UE 100, when the UE 100 enters connected (RRC_CONNECTED) mode (i.e., is connected to the serving cell 121).

[0261] The report configuration indicates how the detected cell report should be transmitted by the UE 100.

[0262] For example, the report configuration may comprise information indicating a reporting periodicity according to which the detected cell reports are to be transmitted. The reporting periodicity may be indicated as a time component (e.g., as a certain number of seconds or milliseconds). The network device 104 may determine the reporting periodicity based on the reporting format used for the detected cell report. For instance, physical layer reporting periodicity may be faster than for ASN.1 reporting.

[0263] The reporting periodicity means that the UE 100 is configured to transmit the detected cell report at regular time intervals to keep the network updated of the detection status of the UE 100 as new cells become detected and / or previously detected cells become undetectable. As a non-limiting example, the UE 100 may be configured to transmit a detected cell report once every 10 seconds.

[0264] Alternatively, or additionally, the report configuration may indicate one or more carriers on which the detection is to be performed (i.e., one or more carriers on which the UE 100 should search for one or more cells 122, 123). In other words, the network device 104 may configure the UE 100 to report the detection status for certain cell(s) or carrier(s). Alternatively, the one or more carriers may be indicated in a separate detection configuration (separate from the report configuration). The detection configuration refers to a configuration that may be used for the detection of one or more cells. The detection configuration and the report configuration may be separate configurations, or they may both be included in a single configuration.

[0265] Herein the term “carrier” refers to a carrier frequency. In other words, the report configuration or detection configuration may indicate one or more carrier frequencies on which the one or more cells 122, 123 are deployed, and the UE 100 may search for the one or more cells 122, 123 (e.g., for one or more synchronization signals of the one or more cells 122, 123) on the one or more carrier frequencies. The one or more cells 122, 123 may be deployed on the same carrier frequency or on different carrier frequencies (i.e., there may be one or more cells on a given carrier).

[0266] At 502, a first non-serving cell 122 (or a network device 104B associated to the first nonserving cell 122) transmits, or broadcasts, one or more signals. For example, the one or more signals transmitted from the first non-serving cell 122 may comprise one or more synchronization signals, such as a primary synchronization signal (PSS) and / or a secondary synchronization signal (SSS), or any other type of signal used to identify the first non-serving cell 122.

[0267] At 503, a second non-serving cell 122 (or a network device 104C associated to the second non-serving cell 123) transmits, or broadcasts, one or more signals. For example, the one or more signals transmitted from the second non-serving cell 122 may comprise one or more synchronization signals, such as a primary synchronization signal (PSS) and / or a secondary synchronization signal (SSS), or anyother type of signal used to identify the second non-serving cell 123.

[0268] Herein the terms “first non-serving cell” and “second non-serving cell” are used to distinguish the cells, and they do not necessarily mean a specific order or specific identifiers of the cells.

[0269] At 504, the UE 100 detects one or more (non-serving) cells (different from the serving cell 121) by detecting one or more signals (e.g., one or more synchronization signals) of the one or more cells (e.g., based on RSRP of the one or more signals being above a threshold). In other words, the one or more cells become detectable by the UE 100. The UE 100 may detect the one or more cells by periodically searching or monitoring the one or more carriers that may be indicated in the report configuration. For example, the UE 100 may detect the first non-serving cell 122 by detecting the one or more signals (e.g., one or more synchronization signals) of the first non-serving cell 121 on one of the one or more carriers, but the UE 100 may not detect the second non-serving cell 123 (e.g., the received signal strength of the one or more signals of the second non-serving cell 123 may not be strong enough to be detectable by the UE 100). The one or more carriers on which the one or more (non-serving) cells are detected may be the same or different than the carrier of the serving cell 121 .

[0270] The UE 100 may store the detection status of the one or more detected cells and / or the one or more non-detected cells (e.g., in an internal memory of the UE 100).

[0271] At 505, the UE 100 may optionally perform at least one reference signal measurement of at least one cell, wherein the at least one cell may be different from the one or more detected (non-serving) cells, or comprised in the one or more detected cells. In other words, the UE 100 may measure, for example, the serving cell 121 , and / or some of the detected (non-serving) cells (but not necessarily all of the detected non-serving cells).

[0272] At 506, based on the pre-defined reporting periodicity (which may be indicated in the report configuration), the UE 100 generates or prepares a report (message) indicating the one or more detected cells. For example, the report may comprise at least a detection status of the one or more (nonserving) cells 122, 123. In some cases, the report may also indicate the detection status of the serving cell 121. The UE 100 may generate the report according to the report configuration. The report may also be referred to as a detected cell report.

[0273] The UE 100 may perform a new cell detection procedure (e.g., search the one or more carriers for detecting one or more cells) to report the cell(s) that the UE 100 can currently detect. Alternatively, the UE 100 may report the stored detection status of the one or more detected cells 122 detected at 504 (and / or the stored detection status of the one or more non-detected cells). In other words, the UE 100 may perform a new detection for the reporting, or report the stored detection status. For example, the UE 100 may perform the detection procedure periodically, or the detection procedure may be triggered by receiving the request from the network device 104.

[0274] The report may comprise cell information associated with the one or more detected cells 122. For example, the cell information may comprise at least one of: detection status information of the one or more detected cells 122 and / or the one or more non-detected cells 123, one or more cell identities (cell I Ds) of the one or more detected cells 122 and / or the one or more non-detected cells 123, or one or more temporary cell identifiers derived from the one or more cell identities of the one or more detected cells 122 and / or the one or more non-detected cells 123.

[0275] The report may further indicate at least one of: one or more non-detected cells that have become undetectable after being reported as detected in a previous report, or one or more previously detected cells that continue to be detectable after being reported as detected in the previous report.

[0276] For example, the report may indicate that the second non-serving cell 123 is not detected (in addition to indicating that the first non-serving cell 122 is detected). For example, the UE 100 may have previously detected and identified the second non-serving cell 123, but later it may have become undetectable (e.g., due to UE mobility). As another example, the report configuration may comprise a list of cell IDs for which the UE 100 should report the detection status (detected or not detected). If the second nonserving cell 123 is included in the list, but the UE 100 does not detect the second non-serving cell 123, then the UE 100 may report the second non-serving cell 123 as not detected. However, based on the list of cell IDs (or based on the previous detection), the UE 100 can know about the existence of the second non-serving cell 123, even if it is not currently detected.

[0277] The detection status information indicates whether the one or more cells 122, 123 are detected by the UE 100. For example, the detection status of a given cell may be indicated as a bit indication associated to that cell (i.e., a binary value, such as ‘1’ for detected or ‘0’ for not detected, or vice versa, associated with the corresponding cell ID), or as an enumerator associated to that cell (e.g., ‘DETECTED’ or ‘NOTJDETECTED’ associated with the corresponding cell ID).

[0278] For example, the UE 100 may read the cell identity of a given cell from the one or more synchronization signals (e.g., PSS and / or SSS) or from a master information block (MIB) of that cell. Alternatively, or additionally, the report configuration may comprise a list of cell identities for cells for which the UE 100 should report the detection status. Alternatively, the report configuration may just indicate the one or more carriers on which to search for the one or more cells (but not any cell identities).

[0279] The detection status may be associated with a cell ID by a positional index in a list. For example, the report may comprise a bitmap, wherein each bit of the bitmap indicates a cell from the predefined list of cell identities, the list of cell identities corresponding to cells 122, 123 comprising at least the one or more cells.

[0280] The cell association of the detected cell reporting may be done prior to the report message transmission (e.g., the list of cell identities may be indicated in the report configuration of 501).When the network device 104 receives the detected cell report, the network may associate the report with the previously configured cell association information to form a cell identifier that is usable for the network.

[0281] The format of the detected cell report may be indicated in the report configuration, or otherwise pre-configured at the UE 100. For example, the report may be a radio resource control (RRC) report (i.e. , L3 report), or a channel state information (CSI) report (i.e., L1 report), or a medium access control (MAC) level report (i.e., L2 report), or an in-band control signalling report (e.g., above or below the MAC layer), or an abstract syntax notation one (ASN.1) message, or an uplink control information (UCI) message.

[0282] For example, the in-band control signalling report may be comprised in one of: a MAC CE, an RRC message, a radio link control (RLC) control header, a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) control header, or a service data adaptation protocol (SDAP) control header.

[0283] The ASN. 1 message may be, for example, an RRC message delivered from the RRC layer of the UE 100 to the RRC layer of the network device 104. As another example, the ASN.1 message may be a short message (short ASN.1 message) delivered between the lower layer (below RRC) protocol entities (e.g., MAC to MAC, or a control layer associated with the MAC layer).

[0284] Alternatively, some other format than ASN.1 may be used for delivering the report. This other format may be, for example, text format or a format that is coded to a binary format by the transmitting entity (the UE 100) and decompiled by the receiving entity (the network device 104).

[0285] It should be noted that the above reporting formats are just examples, and any other suitable reporting format may alternatively be used.

[0286] At 507, based on the pre-defined reporting periodicity (which may be indicated in the report configuration), the UE 100 transmits the generated report (message) to the network device 104 associated to the serving cell 121 .

[0287] The report may be generated and / or transmitted according to the report configuration received at 501. For example, the UE 100 may determine whether the one or more detected cells are detected on the one or more carriers indicated in the report configuration, and the report may be generated and / or transmitted based on or in response to determining that the one or more detected cells are detected on the one or more carriers indicated in the report configuration. In other words, based on the report configuration, the UE 100 may evaluate whether a detected cell report needs to be triggered for the detected cell(s). If the UE 100 is configured to transmit a detected cell report for the carrier(s) on which the UE 100 detected the one or more cells, the UE 100 transmits the detected cell report. Otherwise, the UE 100 may not initiate the detected cell reporting, and the UE 100 may perform at least one of: continue searching for cells on a carrier on which the UE 100 previously detected a cell, perform one or more measurements on the detected cell, or perform cell search and measurements on other configured carriers.

[0288] The report may be generated and / or transmitted regardless of whether any measurements on any reference signal (other than the one or more synchronization signals) of the one or more detected cells 122 have been performed by the UE 100.

[0289] The detected cell reporting may be configured together with legacy measurement reporting or separately from the legacy measurement reporting. Each of the reporting types may be associated with one or more reporting formats. In other words, the reporting types may be independent from the report format that the UE 100 transmits to the corresponding protocol entity (e.g. L1 / L2 / L3).

[0290] In case the report (detected cell report) is a separate report from the legacy measurement report, then the detected cell report may not comprise any measurement result values associated with any of the one or more detected cells 122. For example, the report may not comprise any RSRP, RSRQ, SI NR or RSSI values associated with the one or more detected cells 122. In other words, in this case, the report may only comprise an indication (e.g., detection status) of the one or more cells 122 that the UE 100 has detected (and / or a detection status of one or more non-detected cells 123), and the report may be transmitted during a time period when the UE 100 is not configured to measure any reference signals of the detected one or more cells 122 (the reference signals being different from the one or more synchronization signals).

[0291] Alternatively, the detected cell report may be merged or integrated into a measurement report. In this case, the (merged) report may comprise at least one measurement result value obtained from the at least one reference signal measurement of the at least one cell at 505, wherein the at least one cell may be different from the one or more detected cells. For example, in the report, the UE 100 may report one or more measurement result values (e.g., one or more RSRP values) for the serving cell 121 , and only the detection status for the one or more non-serving cells 122, 123 (i.e., no measurement results for the one or more non-serving cells).

[0292] In another example, the report may comprise at least one measurement result value obtained from the at least one reference signal measurement of the at least one cell at 505, wherein the at least one cell may be comprised in the one or more detected cells. In other words, in this case, the UE 100 may include, in the report, measurement result values for at least one of the one or more detected cells 122. For example, in the report, the UE 100 may report one or more measurement result values for the serving cell 121 and for a pre-defined number of detected non-serving cells 122, 123, where the pre-defined number of non-serving cells may be configured by the network device 104 (e.g., in the report configuration), or the UE may report measurement results for the best non-serving cell(s) with the highest received signal power and / or quality (but not for all of the detected non-serving cells). For the other detected non-serving cells, the UE 100 may include only the detection status (but no measurement results) in the report. In other words, in this case, the report may comprise measurement result values for some of the detected non-serving cells, but not for all of the detected non-serving cells.

[0293] The detected cell report may be associated with security information (e.g., a security header or a security key) used for decoding the detected cell report at the receiver (i.e., at the network device 104). For example, the UE 100 may transmit this security header or key to the network device 104 (e.g., via RRC signalling) prior to transmitting the detected cell report. As another example, the UE 100 may transmit a part of the security information to the network device 104 prior to transmitting the detected cell report, and the UE 100 may then transmit the rest of the security information with the detected cell report. Upon receiving this security information, the receiving entity (i.e., the network device 104) is capable of decoding the report.

[0294] At 508, the network device 104 associated to the serving cell 121 processes the received report. For example, the network device 104 may perform at least one of: store the report with associated information (e.g., in an internal memory of the network device 104), forward the report to a network entity (e.g., another cell), generate a measurement configuration for the UE 100 based on the report, deconfigure measurements at the UE 100, or set up at least one of the one or more detected cells 122 as a secondary cell for the UE 100 for carrier aggregation and / or dual connectivity. The measurement configuration may comprise instructions for performing and reporting one or more reference signal measurements of the one or more detected cells (e.g., the first non-serving cell 122).

[0295] Alternatively, or additionally, the network device 104 may associate a time indication or a time stamp to the report to indicate the time when the report was received.

[0296] Alternatively, or additionally, the network device 104 may further process the received report and combine it with the report configuration to derive a cell identifier (e.g., map the temporary cell identifier with the real cell identity used by the network).

[0297] The forwarding may mean, for example, that the network device 104 associated to the serving cell 121 forwards the report (e.g., via inter-node signalling) to a network device associated with another cell in the same or different cell group as the serving cell 121 , wherein the report may be forwarded either transparently (without modification) or non-transparently (by making some modifications to the report, e.g., deriving values from or editing the headers, or inserting additional information to the report, such as the time when the report was received). The forwarded report may be an independent message or part of the UE context transfer. UE context transfer refers to the process of transferring the UE’s context, including its state and configuration, from one cell to another to ensure seamless connectivity and service continuity (e.g., during a handover).

[0298] At 509, the network device 104 associated to the serving cell 121 may transmit the measurement configuration to the UE 100 (if the measurement configuration was generated).

[0299] At 510, the UE 100 may perform the one or more reference signal measurements of the one or more detected cells 122 either according to the measurement configuration, which may be received at 210 from the network device 104 associated to the serving cell 121 , or without receiving such measurementconfiguration. For example, the UE 100 may measure RSRP, RSRQ, RSSI and / or SI NR of one or more reference signals transmitted on the one or more detected cells 122.

[0300] At 511 , the UE 100 may generate and transmit, to the network device 104 associated to the serving cell 121 , a measurement report comprising one or more measurement result values obtained from the one or more measurements performed at 510. For example, the measurement report may comprise at least one of: one or more RSRP values of the one or more detected cells 122, one or more RSRQ values of the one or more detected cells 122, one or more RSSI values of the one or more detected cells 122, or one or more SINR values of the one or more detected cells 122.

[0301] FIG. 6 illustrates a flow chart according to an example embodiment of a method for detected cell reporting. The method of FIG. 6 may be performed by an apparatus 1200 depicted in FIG. 12. For example, the apparatus 1200 may be, or comprise, or be comprised in, a user device (i.e., UE) 100, 102.

[0302] Referring to FIG. 6, in block 601 , the user device 100, 102 detects one or more cells 122 different from a serving cell of the user device 100, 102. For example, the one or more cells 122 may refer to one or more non-serving cells that are not serving the user device 100, 102 (e.g., one or more neighbor cells of the serving cell 121).

[0303] For example, the one or more cells 122 may be detected by detecting one or more synchronization signals of the one or more cells 122 (or any other type of signal used to identify the one or more cells).

[0304] In block 602, the user device 100, 102 generates a report (or a report message) indicating the one or more detected cells.

[0305] In block 603, the user device 100, 102 transmits the report (or the report message) to a network device 104 associated to the serving cell 121 , wherein the report (message) comprises cell information associated with the one or more detected cells 122.

[0306] For example, the report may be transmitted based on detecting that one or more predefined conditions are met.

[0307] As another example, the report may be transmitted based on (or according to) a preconfigured reporting periodicity.

[0308] As another example, the user device 100, 102 may receive, from the network device 104 associated to the serving cell 121 , a request for reporting the one or more detected cells 122, wherein the report may be transmitted in response to (or based on) the request.

[0309] The cell information may comprise at least one of: detection status information of the one or more detected cells, one or more cell identities of the one or more detected cells (e.g., a cell identity of each detected cell), or one or more temporary cell identifiers derived from the one or more cell identities of the one or more detected cells (e.g., a temporary cell identifier of each detected cell).

[0310] The report may further indicate at least one of: one or more non-detected cells 123 that have become undetectable after being reported as detected in a previous report, or one or more previously detected cells that continue to be detectable after being reported as detected in the previous report.

[0311] The report may not comprise measurement result values associated with (all of) the one or more detected cells.

[0312] The user device 100, 102 may receive, from the network device 104 associated to the serving cell 121 , a report configuration for reporting the one or more detected cells 122, wherein the report may be transmitted according to the report configuration.

[0313] The report configuration may indicate one or more carriers on which the detection is to be performed. The user device 100, 102 may determine whether the one or more detected cells are detected on the one or more carriers indicated in the report configuration, wherein the report may be transmitted in response to determining that the one or more detected cells are detected on the one or more carriers indicated in the report configuration.

[0314] The user device 100, 102 may perform at least one reference signal measurement of at least one cell, wherein the report may comprise at least one measurement result value obtained from the at least one reference signal measurement of the at least one cell, wherein the at least one cell is different from the one or more detected cells 122 or comprised in the one or more detected cells 122.

[0315] The report may be, for example, a radio resource control report, or a channel state information report, or a medium access control level report, or an in-band control signalling report, or an abstract syntax notation one (ASN.1) message.

[0316] FIG. 7 illustrates a flow chart according to an example embodiment of a method for receiving detected cell reporting. The method of FIG. 7 may be performed by an apparatus 1300 depicted in FIG. 13. For example, the apparatus 1300 may be, or comprise, or be comprised in, a network device 104 associated to a serving cell 121 of a user device 100, 102.

[0317] Referring to FIG. 7, in block 701 , the network device 104 receives, from the user device 100, 102, a report indicating one or more cells 122 detected by the user device 100, 102, the one or more cells 122 being different from a serving cell of the user device, wherein the report comprises cell information associated with the one or more detected cells 122. For example, the one or more cells 122 may refer to one or more non-serving cells that are not serving the user device 100, 102 (e.g., one or more neighbor cells of the serving cell 121).

[0318] In block 702, the network device 104 performs at least one of: stores the report, forwards the report to a network entity (e.g., another cell), generates and transmits, based on the report, a measurement configuration to the user device 100, 102 for measuring at least one of the one or moredetected cells, or sets up (configures) at least one of the one or more detected cells as a secondary cell for the user device 100, 102.

[0319] The report may not comprise measurement result values associated with (all of) the one or more detected cells.

[0320] Prior to receiving the report, the network device 104 may transmit, to the user device 100, 102, a report configuration for reporting the one or more detected cells 122, wherein the report may be based on (or received based on) the report configuration.

[0321] For example, the report configuration may indicate one or more carriers on which the detection of the one or more cells is to be performed.

[0322] The cell information may comprise at least one of: detection status information of the one or more detected cells 122, one or more cell identities of the one or more detected cells 122, or one or more temporary cell identifiers derived from the one or more cell identities of the one or more detected cells 122.

[0323] The report may further indicate at least one of: one or more non-detected cells 123 that have become undetectable after being reported as detected in a previous report, or one or more previously detected cells that continue to be detectable after being reported as detected in the previous report.

[0324] The network device 104 may transmit, to the user device 100, 102, a request for reporting the one or more detected cells, wherein the report may be received in response to the request.

[0325] The report may be, for example, a radio resource control report, or a channel state information report, or a medium access control level report, or an in-band control signalling report, or an abstract syntax notation one, ASN.1 , message, or an uplink control information message.

[0326] FIG. 8 illustrates a flow chart according to an example embodiment of a method for detected cell reporting. The method of FIG. 8 may be performed by an apparatus 1200 depicted in FIG. 12. For example, the apparatus 1200 may be, or comprise, or be comprised in, a user device (i.e., UE) 100, 102.

[0327] Referring to FIG. 8, in block 801 , the user device 100, 102 receives, from a network device 104 associated to a serving cell 121 of the user device 104, a report configuration for reporting a detection status of one or more cells 122, 123 different from the serving cell 121. For example, the one or more cells 122 may refer to one or more non-serving cells that are not serving the user device 100, 102 (e.g., one or more neighbor cells of the serving cell 121).

[0328] For example, the report configuration may indicate one or more carriers where a detection is to be performed for the one or more cells 122, 123 (i.e., the one or more cells 122, 123 are to be searched on the one or more carriers).

[0329] In block 802, the user device 100, 102 generates a report (or a report message) indicating the detection status of the one or more cells 122, 123.

[0330] In block 803, the user device 100, 102 transmits the report (or the report message) to the network device 104 according to the report configuration.

[0331] For example, the report may indicate at least one of: one or more previously detected cells that continue to be detectable after being reported as detected in a previous report, one or more newly detected cells that have become detectable after transmitting the previous report, or one or more nondetected cells that have become undetectable after being reported as detected in the previous report.

[0332] The report may not comprise measurement result values associated with (all of) the one or more cells 122, 123.

[0333] The report may comprise cell information associated with the one or more cells 122, 123.

[0334] As an example, the user device 100, 102 may determine whether one or more predefined conditions for reporting the detection status are met, wherein the report may be transmitted based on determining that the one or more pre-defined conditions are met. The report configuration may comprise information indicating the one or more pre-defined conditions for reporting the detection status.

[0335] For example, the one or more pre-defined conditions may comprise at least one of: a cell becoming detectable, a cell on a carrier becoming detectable, a first cell on a carrier becoming detectable, a previously detected cell becoming undetectable, a last cell on a carrier becoming undetectable, a change of a radio resource control mode at the user device, or receiving a measurement configuration.

[0336] Alternatively, or additionally, the report may be transmitted based on a pre-defined reporting periodicity. The pre-defined reporting periodicity may also be referred to as a configured reporting periodicity. For example, the report configuration may comprise information indicating the pre-defined reporting periodicity.

[0337] Alternatively, the user device 100, 102 may receive, from the network device 104 associated to the serving cell 121 , a request for reporting the detection status of the one or more cells 122, 123, wherein the report may be transmitted in response to the request.

[0338] For example, the request may be comprised in one of: a downlink control information message, a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE), or a radio resource control (RRC) message.

[0339] FIG. 9 illustrates a flow chart according to an example embodiment of a method for configuring detected cell reporting. The method of FIG. 9 may be performed by an apparatus 1300 depicted in FIG. 13. For example, the apparatus 1300 may be, or comprise, or be comprised in, a network device 104 associated to a serving cell 121 of a user device 100, 102.

[0340] Referring to FIG. 9, in block 901 , the network device 104 generates or determines a report configuration for reporting a detection status of one or more cells 122, 123.

[0341] For example, the report configuration may indicate one or more carriers where a detection is to be performed for the one or more cells 122, 123 (i.e., one or more carriers on which to search for the one or more cells 122, 123).

[0342] Alternatively, or additionally, the report configuration may comprise information indicating one or more pre-defined conditions for reporting the detection status of the one or more cells 122, 123. For example, the one or more pre-defined conditions may comprise at least one of: a cell becoming detectable, a cell on a carrier becoming detectable, a first cell on a carrier becoming detectable, a previously detected cell becoming undetectable, a last cell on a carrier becoming undetectable, a change of a radio resource control mode at the user device, or receiving a measurement configuration.

[0343] Alternatively, or additionally, the report configuration may comprise information indicating a pre-defined reporting periodicity for reporting the detection status of the one or more cells 122, 123.

[0344] In block 902, the network device 104 transmits the report configuration to the user device 100, 102.

[0345] In block 903, the network device 104 receives, from the user device 100, 102, a report indicating the detection status of the one or more cells 122, 123, the one or more cells being different from the serving cell 121 of the user device 100, 102. For example, the one or more cells 122 may refer to one or more non-serving cells that are not serving the user device 100, 102 (e.g., one or more neighbor cells of the serving cell 121).

[0346] The report may indicate at least one of: one or more previously detected cells that continue to be detectable after being reported as detected in a previous report, one or more newly detected cells that have become detectable after transmitting the previous report, or one or more non-detected cells that have become undetectable after being reported as detected in the previous report.

[0347] The network device 104 may perform at least one of: store the report, forward the report to a network entity, generate and transmit, based on the report, a measurement configuration to the user device 100, 102 for measuring at least one detected cell of the one or more cells, or set up (configure) at least one detected cell of the one or more cells as a secondary cell for the user device 100, 102 (based on the detection status indicating that the at least one cell is detected by the user device 100, 102).

[0348] The report may not comprise measurement result values associated with (all of) the one or more cells 122, 123.

[0349] The report may comprise cell information associated with the one or more cells.

[0350] The network device 104 may transmit, to the user device 100, 102, a request for reporting the detection status of the one or more cells 122, 123, wherein the report may be received in response to (or based on) the request.

[0351] For example, the request may be comprised in one of: a downlink control information message, a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE), or a radio resource control (RRC) message.

[0352] FIG. 10 illustrates a flow chart according to an example embodiment of a method for detected cell reporting. The method of FIG. 10 may be performed by an apparatus 1200 depicted in FIG. 12. For example, the apparatus 1200 may be, or comprise, or be comprised in, a user device (i.e., UE) 100, 102.

[0353] Referring to FIG. 10, in block 1001, the user device 100, 102 generates a report indicating a detection status of one or more cells 122, 123 different from a serving cell 121 of the user device 100, 102. For example, the one or more cells 122, 123 may refer to one or more non-serving cells that are not serving the user device 100, 102 (e.g., one or more neighbor cells of the serving cell 121).

[0354] In block 1002, the user device 100, 102 transmits the report to a network device 104 associated to the serving cell 121 .

[0355] The detection status indicates whether or not the one or more cells 122, 123 have been detected by the user device 100, 102.

[0356] The report may further indicate at least one of: one or more cell identities of the one or more cells 122, 123 (e.g., a cell identity of each of the one or more cells), or one or more temporary cell identifiers derived from the one or more cell identities of the one or more cells 122, 123 (e.g., a temporary cell identifier of each of the one or more cells).

[0357] For example, the report may indicate at least one of: one or more previously detected cells that continue to be detectable after being reported as detected in a previous report, one or more newly detected cells that have become detectable after transmitting the previous report, or one or more nondetected cells that have become undetectable after being reported as detected in the previous report.

[0358] The detection status may be indicated, for example, as a binary value or as an enumerator.

[0359] The report may comprise a bitmap, wherein each bit of the bitmap indicates a cell from a list of cell identities, the list of cell identities corresponding to cells comprising at least the one or more cells 122, 123.

[0360] The report may not comprise measurement result values associated with (all of) the one or more cells 122, 123.

[0361] In one embodiment, the user device 100, 102 may perform at least one reference signal measurement of at least one cell, wherein the report may comprise at least one measurement result value obtained from the at least one reference signal measurement of the at least one cell, wherein the at least one cell may be different from the one or more cells 122, 123 for which the detection status is indicated in the report.

[0362] In another embodiment, the user device 100, 102 may perform at least one reference signal measurement of at least one cell, wherein the report may comprise at least one measurement result value obtained from the at least one reference signal measurement of the at least one cell, wherein the at least one cell may be comprised in the one or more cells 122, 123 for which the detection status is indicated in the report.

[0363] In one embodiment, the report may be an in-band control signalling report. For example, the report may be comprised in one of: a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE), a radio resource control (RRC) message, a radio link control (RLC) control header, a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) control header, or a service data adaptation protocol (SDAP) control header.

[0364] In another embodiment, the report may be comprised in an abstract syntax notation one (ASN.1) message.

[0365] In another embodiment, the report may be comprised in an uplink control information message.

[0366] FIG. 11 illustrates a flow chart according to an example embodiment of a method for receiving detected cell reporting. The method of FIG. 11 may be performed by an apparatus 1300 depicted in FIG. 13. For example, the apparatus 1300 may be, or comprise, or be comprised in, a network device 104 associated to a serving cell 121 of a user device 100, 102.

[0367] Referring to FIG. 11 , in block 1101 , the network device 104 receives, from the user device 100, 102, a report indicating a detection status of one or more cells 122, 123, the one or more cells 122, 123 being different from the serving cell 121 of the user device 100, 102. For example, the one or more cells 122 may refer to one or more non-serving cells that are not serving the user device 100, 102 (e.g., one or more neighbor cells of the serving cell 121).

[0368] In block 1102, the network device 104 performs at least one of: stores the report, forwards the report to a network entity (e.g., to another cell), generates and transmits, based on the report, a measurement configuration to the user device 100, 102 for measuring at least one detected cell of the one or more cells, or sets up at least one detected cell of the one or more cells as a secondary cell for the user device 100, 102 (based on the detection status indicating that the at least one cell is detected by the user device 100, 102).

[0369] The detection status indicates whether or not the one or more cells 122, 123 have been detected by the user device 100, 102.

[0370] For example, the detection status may be indicated as a binary value or as an enumerator.

[0371] The report may further indicate at least one of: one or more cell identities of the one or more cells 122, 123, or one or more temporary cell identifiers derived from the one or more cell identities of the one or more cells 122, 123.

[0372] For example, the report may indicate at least one of: one or more previously detected cells that continue to be detectable after being reported as detected in a previous report, one or more newly detected cells that have become detectable after transmitting the previous report, or one or more nondetected cells that have become undetectable after being reported as detected in the previous report.

[0373] The report may comprise a bitmap, wherein each bit of the bitmap may indicate a cell from a list of cell identities, the list of cell identities corresponding to cells comprising at least the one or more cells 122, 123.

[0374] The report may not comprise measurement result values associated with (all of) the one or more cells 122, 123.

[0375] In one embodiment, the report may be an in-band control signalling report. For example, the report may be comprised in one of: a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE), a radio resource control (RRC) message, a radio link control (RLC) control header, a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) control header, or a service data adaptation protocol (SDAP) control header.

[0376] In another embodiment, the report may be comprised in an abstract syntax notation one (ASN.1) message.

[0377] In another embodiment, the report may be comprised in an uplink control information message.

[0378] The blocks, related functions, and information exchanges (messages) described above by means of FIGS. 2 to 11 are in no absolute chronological order, and some of them may be performed simultaneously or in an order differing from the described one. Other functions can also be executed between them or within them, and other information may be sent, and / or other rules applied. Some of the blocks or part of the blocks or one or more pieces of information can also be left out or replaced by a corresponding block or part of the block or one or more pieces of information.

[0379] As used herein, “at least one of the following: ” and “at least one of ” and similar wording, where the list of two or more elements are joined by “and” or “or”, mean at least any one of the elements, or at least any two or more of the elements, or at least all the elements.

[0380] FIG. 12 illustrates an example of an apparatus 1200 comprising means for performing one or more of the example embodiments (e.g., the method of FIG. 2, 4, 5, 6, 8 or 10) described above. For example, the apparatus 1200 may be an apparatus such as, or comprising, or comprised in, a user device 100, 102.

[0381] The apparatus 1200 may comprise a circuitry or a chipset applicable for realizing one or more of the example embodiments described above. For example, the apparatus 1200 may comprise at least one processor 1210. The at least one processor 1210 interprets instructions (e.g., computer program instructions) and processes data. The at least one processor 1210 may comprise one or more programmable processors. The at least one processor 1210 may comprise programmable hardware with embedded firmware and may, alternatively or additionally, comprise one or more application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs).

[0382] The at least one processor 1210 is coupled to at least one memory 1220. The at least one processor is configured to read and write data to and from the at least one memory 1220. The at least one memory 1220 may comprise one or more memory units. The memory units may be volatile or nonvolatile. It is to be noted that there may be one or more units of non-volatile memory and one or more units of volatile memory or, alternatively, one or more units of non-volatile memory, or, alternatively, one or more units of volatile memory. Volatile memory may be for example random-access memory (RAM), dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) or synchronous dynamic random-access memory (SDRAM). Non-volatile memory may be for example read-only memory (ROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), electronically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory, optical storage or magnetic storage. In general, memories may be referred to as non-transitory computer readable media. The term “non-transitory,” as used herein, is a limitation of the medium itself (i.e., tangible, not a signal) as opposed to a limitation on data storage persistency (e.g., RAM vs. ROM). The at least one memory 1220 stores computer readable instructions that are executed by the at least one processor 1210 to perform one or more of the example embodiments described above. For example, non-volatile memory stores the computer readable instructions, and the at least one processor 1210 executes the instructions using volatile memory for temporary storage of data and / or instructions. The computer readable instructions may refer to computer program code.

[0383] The computer readable instructions may have been pre-stored to the at least one memory 1220 or, alternatively or additionally, they may be received, by the apparatus, via an electromagnetic carrier signal and / or may be copied from a physical entity such as a computer program product. Execution of the computer readable instructions by the at least one processor 1210 causes the apparatus 1200 to perform one or more of the example embodiments described above. That is, the at least one processor and the at least one memory storing the instructions may provide the means for providing or causing the performance of any of the methods and / or blocks described above.

[0384] In the context of this document, a “memory” or “computer-readable media” or “computer- readable medium” may be any non-transitory media or medium or means that can contain, store, communicate, propagate or transport the instructions for use by or in connection with an instruction executionsystem, apparatus, or device, such as a computer. The term “non-transitory,” as used herein, is a limitation of the medium itself (i.e., tangible, not a signal) as opposed to a limitation on data storage persistency (e.g., RAM vs. ROM).

[0385] The apparatus 1200 may further comprise, or be connected to, an input unit 1230. The input unit 1230 may comprise one or more interfaces for receiving input. The one or more interfaces may comprise for example one or more temperature, motion and / or orientation sensors, one or more cameras, one or more accelerometers, one or more microphones, one or more buttons and / or one or more touch detection units. Further, the input unit 1230 may comprise an interface to which external devices may connect to.

[0386] The apparatus 1200 may also comprise an output unit 1240. The output unit may comprise or be connected to one or more displays capable of rendering visual content, such as a light emitting diode (LED) display, a liquid crystal display (LCD) and / or a liquid crystal on silicon (LCoS) display. The output unit 1240 may further comprise one or more audio outputs. The one or more audio outputs may be for example loudspeakers.

[0387] The apparatus 1200 further comprises a connectivity unit 1250. The connectivity unit 1250 enables wireless connectivity to one or more external devices. The connectivity unit 1250 comprises at least one transmitter and at least one receiver that may be integrated to the apparatus 1200 or that the apparatus 1200 may be connected to. The at least one transmitter comprises at least one transmission antenna, and the at least one receiver comprises at least one receiving antenna. The connectivity unit 1250 may comprise an integrated circuit or a set of integrated circuits that provide the wireless communication capability for the apparatus 1200. Alternatively, the wireless connectivity may be a hardwired applicationspecific integrated circuit (ASIC). The connectivity unit 1250 may also provide means for performing at least some of the blocks or functions of one or more example embodiments described above. The connectivity unit 1250 may comprise one or more components, such as: power amplifier, digital front end (DFE), analog- to-digital converter (ADC), digital-to-analog converter (DAC), frequency converter, (de)modulator, and / or encoder / decoder circuitries, controlled by the corresponding controlling units.

[0388] It is to be noted that the apparatus 1200 may further comprise various components not illustrated in FIG. 12. The various components may be hardware components and / or software components.

[0389] FIG. 13 illustrates an example of an apparatus 1300 comprising means for performing one or more of the example embodiments (e.g., the method of FIG. 2, 4, 5, 7, 9 or 11) described above. For example, the apparatus 1300 may be an apparatus such as, or comprising, or comprised in, a network device 104 associated to a serving cell 121 of the user device 100, 102.

[0390] The apparatus 1300 may comprise, for example, a circuitry or a chipset applicable for realizing one or more of the example embodiments described above. The apparatus 1300 may be anelectronic device comprising one or more electronic circuitries. The apparatus 1300 may comprise a communication control circuitry 1310 such as at least one processor, and at least one memory 1320 storing instructions 1322 which, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus 1300 to carry out one or more of the example embodiments described above. Such instructions 1322 may, for example, include computer program code (software). The at least one processor and the at least one memory storing the instructions may provide the means for providing or causing the performance of any of the methods and / or blocks described above.

[0391] The processor is coupled to the memory 1320. The processor is configured to read and write data to and from the memory 1320. The memory 1320 may comprise one or more memory units. The memory units may be volatile or non-volatile. It is to be noted that there may be one or more units of nonvolatile memory and one or more units of volatile memory or, alternatively, one or more units of non-volatile memory, or, alternatively, one or more units of volatile memory. Volatile memory may be for example randomaccess memory (RAM), dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) or synchronous dynamic random-access memory (SDRAM). Non-volatile memory may be for example read-only memory (ROM), programmable readonly memory (PROM), electronically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory, optical storage or magnetic storage. In general, memories may be referred to as non-transitory computer readable media. The term “non-transitory,” as used herein, is a limitation of the medium itself (i.e., tangible, not a signal) as opposed to a limitation on data storage persistency (e.g., RAM vs. ROM). The memory 1320 stores computer readable instructions that are executed by the processor. For example, non-volatile memory stores the computer readable instructions, and the processor executes the instructions using volatile memory for temporary storage of data and / or instructions.

[0392] The computer readable instructions may have been pre-stored to the memory 1320 or, alternatively or additionally, they may be received, by the apparatus, via an electromagnetic carrier signal and / or may be copied from a physical entity such as a computer program product. Execution of the computer readable instructions causes the apparatus 1300 to perform one or more of the functionalities described above.

[0393] The memory 1320 may be implemented using any suitable data storage technology, such as semiconductor-based memory devices, flash memory, magnetic memory devices and systems, optical memory devices and systems, fixed memory and / or removable memory. The memory may comprise a configuration database for storing configuration data, such as a current neighbour cell list, and, in some example embodiments, structures of frames used in the detected neighbour cells.

[0394] The apparatus 1300 may further comprise or be connected to a communication interface 1330, such as a radio unit, comprising hardware and / or software for realizing communication connectivity with one or more wireless communication devices according to one or more communication protocols. Thecommunication interface 1330 comprises at least one transmitter (Tx) and at least one receiver (Rx) that may be integrated to the apparatus 1300 or that the apparatus 1300 may be connected to. The communication interface 1330 may provide means for performing some of the blocks and / or functions (e.g., transmitting and receiving) for one or more example embodiments described above. The communication interface 1330 may comprise one or more components, such as: power amplifier, digital front end (DFE), analog-to-digital converter (ADC), digital-to-analog converter (DAC), frequency converter, (de)modulator, and / or encoder / decoder circuitries, controlled by the corresponding controlling units.

[0395] The communication interface 1330 provides the apparatus with radio communication capabilities to communicate in the wireless communication network. The communication interface may, for example, provide a radio interface to one or more UEs 100, 102. The apparatus 1300 may further comprise or be connected to another interface towards a core network 110, such as the network coordinator apparatus or AMF, and / or to other access nodes of the wireless communication network.

[0396] The apparatus 1300 may further comprise a scheduler 1340 that is configured to allocate radio resources. The scheduler 1340 may be configured along with the communication control circuitry 1310 or it may be separately configured.

[0397] It is to be noted that the apparatus 1300 may further comprise various components not illustrated in FIG. 13. The various components may be hardware components and / or software components.

[0398] As used in this application, the term “circuitry” may refer to one or more or all of the following: a) hardware-only circuit implementations (such as implementations in only analog and / or digital circuitry); and b) combinations of hardware circuits and software, such as (as applicable): i) a combination of analog and / or digital hardware circuit(s) with software / firmware and ii) any portions of hardware processor(s) with software (including digital signal processor(s), software, and memory(ies) that work together to cause an apparatus, such as a mobile phone, to perform various functions); and c) hardware circuit(s) and / or processor(s), such as a microprocessor(s) or a portion of a microprocessor(s), that requires software (for example firmware) for operation, but the software may not be present when it is not needed for operation.

[0399] This definition of circuitry applies to all uses of this term in this application, including in any claims. As a further example, as used in this application, the term circuitry also covers an implementation of merely a hardware circuit or processor (or multiple processors) or portion of a hardware circuit or processor and its (or their) accompanying software and / or firmware. The term circuitry also covers, for example and if applicable to the particular claim element, a baseband integrated circuit or processor integrated circuit for a mobile device or a similar integrated circuit in server, a cellular network device, or other computing or network device.

[0400] The techniques and methods described herein may be implemented by various means.For example, these techniques may be implemented in hardware (one or more devices), firmware (one ormore devices), software (one or more modules), or combinations thereof. For a hardware implementation, the apparatus(es) of example embodiments may be implemented within one or more application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), digital signal processors (DSPs), digital signal processing devices (DSPDs), programmable logic devices (PLDs), field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), graphics processing units (GPUs), processors, controllers, micro-controllers, microprocessors, other electronic units designed to perform the functions described herein, or a combination thereof. For firmware or software, the implementation can be carried out through modules of at least one chipset (for example procedures, functions, and so on) that perform the functions described herein. The software codes may be stored in a memory unit and executed by processors. The memory unit may be implemented within the processor or externally to the processor. In the latter case, it can be communicatively coupled to the processor via various means, as is known in the art. Additionally, the components of the systems described herein may be rearranged and / or complemented by additional components in order to facilitate the achievements of the various aspects, etc., described with regard thereto, and they are not limited to the precise configurations set forth in the given figures, as will be appreciated by one skilled in the art.

[0401] It will be obvious to a person skilled in the art that, as technology advances, the inventive concept may be implemented in various ways within the scope of the claims. The embodiments are not limited to the example embodiments described above, but may vary within the scope of the claims. Therefore, all words and expressions should be interpreted broadly, and they are intended to illustrate, not to restrict, the embodiments.

Claims

59CLAIMS1 . A user device comprising at least one processor, and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the user device at least to: generate a report indicating a detection status of one or more cells different from a serving cell of the user device; and transmit the report to a network device associated to the serving cell.

2. The user device of claim 1 , wherein the detection status indicates whether or not the one or more cells have been detected by the user device, wherein the report further indicates at least one of: one or more cell identities of the one or more cells, or one or more temporary cell identifiers derived from the one or more cell identities of the one or more cells.

3. The user device of any preceding claim, wherein the detection status is indicated as a binary value.

4. The user device of any of claims 1 to 2, wherein the detection status is indicated as an enumerator.

5. The user device of any preceding claim, wherein the report comprises a bitmap, wherein each bit of the bitmap indicates a cell from a list of cell identities, the list of cell identities corresponding to cells comprising at least the one or more cells.

6. The user device of any preceding claim, wherein the report indicates at least one of: one or more previously detected cells that continue to be detectable after being reported as detected in a previous report, one or more newly detected cells that have become detectable after transmitting the previous report, or one or more non-detected cells that have become undetectable after being reported as detected in the previous report.

607. The user device of any preceding claim, wherein the report does not comprise measurement result values associated with the one or more cells.

8. The user device of any preceding claim, further being caused to: perform at least one reference signal measurement of at least one cell, wherein the report comprises at least one measurement result value obtained from the at least one reference signal measurement of the at least one cell, wherein the at least one cell is different from the one or more cells for which the detection status is indicated in the report.

9. The user device of any of claims 1 to 6, further being caused to: perform at least one reference signal measurement of at least one cell, wherein the report comprises at least one measurement result value obtained from the at least one reference signal measurement of the at least one cell, wherein the at least one cell is comprised in the one or more cells for which the detection status is indicated in the report.

10. The user device of any preceding claim, wherein the report is an in-band control signalling report.11 . The user device of any preceding claim, wherein the report is comprised in one of: a medium access control, MAC, control element, CE, a radio resource control, RRC, message, a radio link control, RLC, control header, a packet data convergence protocol, PDCP, control header, or a service data adaptation protocol, SDAP, control header.

12. The user device of any of claims 1 to 9, wherein the report is comprised in an abstract syntax notation one, ASN.1, message.

13. The user device of any of claims 1 to 9, wherein the report is comprised in an uplink control information message.6114. A network device comprising at least one processor, and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the network device at least to: receive, from a user device, a report indicating a detection status of one or more cells, the one or more cells being different from a serving cell of the user device; and perform at least one of: store the report, forward the report to a network entity, generate and transmit, based on the report, a measurement configuration to the user device for at least one detected cell of the one or more cells, or set up at least one detected cell of the one or more cells as a secondary cell for the user device.

15. The network device of claim 14, wherein the detection status indicates whether or not the one or more cells have been detected, wherein the report further indicates at least one of: one or more cell identities of the one or more cells, or one or more temporary cell identifiers derived from the one or more cell identities of the one or more cells.

16. The network device of any of claims 14 to 15, wherein the detection status is indicated as a binary value or as an enumerator.

17. The network device of any of claims 14 to 16, wherein the report comprises a bitmap, wherein each bit of the bitmap indicates a cell from a list of cell identities, the list of cell identities corresponding to cells comprising at least the one or more cells.

18. The network device of any of claims 14 to 17, wherein the report indicates at least one of: one or more previously detected cells that continue to be detectable after being reported as detected in a previous report, one or more newly detected cells that have become detectable after transmitting the previous report, or one or more non-detected cells that have become undetectable after being reported as detected in the previous report.6219. The network device of any of claims 14 to 18, wherein the report does not comprise measurement result values associated with the one or more cells.

20. The network device of any of claims 14 to 19, wherein the report is an in-band control signalling report.21 . The network device of any of claims 14 to 20, wherein the report is comprised in one of: a medium access control, MAC, control element, CE, a radio resource control, RRC, message, a radio link control, RLC, control header, a packet data convergence protocol, PDCP, control header, or a service data adaptation protocol, SDAP, control header.

22. The network device of any of claims 14 to 19, wherein the report is comprised in an abstract syntax notation one, ASN.1, message.

23. The network device of any of claims 14 to 19, wherein the report is comprised in an uplink control information message.

24. A method performed by a user device, the method comprising: generating a report indicating a detection status of one or more cells different from a serving cell of the user device; and transmitting the report to a network device associated to the serving cell.

25. A method performed by a network device, the method comprising: receiving, from a user device, a report indicating a detection status of one or more cells, the one or more cells being different from a serving cell of the user device; and performing at least one of: storing the report, forwarding the report to a network entity, generating and transmitting, based on the report, a measurement configuration to the user device for at least one detected cell of the one or more cells, or setting up at least one detected cell of the one or more cells as a secondary cell for the user device.

26. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising program instructions which, when executed by a user device, cause the user device to perform at least the following: generating a report indicating a detection status of one or more cells different from a serving cell of the user device; and transmitting the report to a network device associated to the serving cell.

27. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising program instructions which, when executed by a network device, cause the network device to perform at least the following: receiving, from a user device, a report indicating a detection status of one or more cells, the one or more cells being different from a serving cell of the user device; and performing at least one of: storing the report, forwarding the report to a network entity, generating and transmitting, based on the report, a measurement configuration to the user device for at least one detected cell of the one or more cells, or setting up at least one detected cell of the one or more cells as a secondary cell for the user device.

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