Coarse UE location information provisioning to ran

Abstract

Various embodiments described herein provide for a radio access network node requesting and providing coarse location information associated with a user equipment (UE) from a core network node in a Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN) communication system. In an embodiment, the radio access network node (e.g., an NTN node, or a base station in an NTN network) can provide, to the core network node (e.g., a Mobility Management Entity), a request for coarse location information of the UE. The core network node can then provide the coarse location information of the UE. In an embodiment, the request can be provided to the core network node via a first S1 Application Protocol (S1AP) message such as an Initial UE Message. The response that includes the coarse location information can be provided in a second S1AP message.

Description

COARSE UE LOCATION INFORMATION PROVISIONING TO RANRELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63 / 702,434, filed October 2, 2024, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.TECHNICAL FIELD

[0002] The present disclosure relates to a method for providing coarse User Equipment (UE) location information to a radio access network node in a Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN) communication system.BACKGROUND

[0003] In Third Generation Partnership Program (3GPP), 5G system (5GS) is a new generation’s radio access technology intended to serve use cases such as enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), ultra-reliable and low latency communication (URLLC), Narrowband (NB) Internet of Things (IOT) NB-IOT, and massive Machine Tupe Communication (mMTC). 5G includes the New Radio (NR) access stratum interface and the 5G Core Network (5GC). The NR physical and higher layers are reusing parts of the LTE specification, and to that add needed components when motivated by new use cases. There has been a lot of discussions in 3GPP in the last few years on how to specify technologies to cover / address use cases for Machine-to- Machine (M2M) and / or Internet of Things (loT). In Release 13, enhancements to support Machine-Type Communications (MTC) were specified introducing new UE categories Ml (Cat- Mi) and NB1 (Cat-NBl) to support reduced maximum bandwidth of up to 6 physical resource blocks (PRBs) in eMTC work item and narrowband carrier in NB-IoT work item specifying a new radio interface, respectively. loT 3GPP

[0004] There are multiple differences between “legacy” LTE and the procedures and channels defined for eMTC or NB-IoT. Some important differences include a new physical downlink control channel, i.e., MTC Physical Downlink Control Channel (MPDCCH) used in eMTC and NB PDCCH (NPDCCH) used in NB-IoT.

[0005] 3GPP Release 12 initiated the work on eMTC, also often referred to as LTE-M, and specified the first low-complexity UE category 0 (Cat-0). Cat-0 supports a reduced peak data rate of 1 Mbps, single antenna and half duplex frequency division duplex (HD FDD) operation.

[0006] In Release 13 the work accelerated with the introduction of the Cat-Mi UE category. It supports a further reduced complexity, and coverage enhanced (CE) operation. The additional cost reduction came from a reduced transmission and reception bandwidth of 1.08 MHz, equivalent to six 180 kHz physical resource blocks (PRBs). The introduction of a lower UE power class of 20 dBm, in addition to the 23 dBm power class, further facilitates a lower UE complexity.

[0007] In LTE Releases 14 and 15, eMTC was further enhanced to support a more diversified set of applications and services. A new UE category Cat-M2 was e.g., specified. The performance of eMTC Release 15 meets the IMT-2020 5G requirements for the massive loT use case.

[0008] The work in 3GPP on eMTC was continued in Release 16 and is further evolved also in Release 17 and Release 18.

[0009] At the 3GPP RAN#70 meeting, a new Release 13 work item named Narrowband loT (NB-IoT) was approved. The objective of the new loT related work items approved for release 13 was to specify a radio access for cellular internet of things (loT) that addresses improved indoor coverage, support for massive number of low throughput devices, not sensitive to delay, ultra-low device cost, low device power consumption and (optimized) network architecture.

[0010] NB-IoT can be described as a narrowband version of LTE. Similar to eMTC, NB-IoT makes use of increased acquisition times and time repetitions to extend the system coverage. The repetitions can be seen as a third level of retransmissions added at the physical layer as a complement to those at MAC HARQ and RLC ARQ. A NB-IoT downlink carrier is defined by 12 OFDM sub-carriers, each of 15 kHz, giving a total baseband bandwidth of 180 kHz. When multiple carriers are configured, several 180 kHz carriers can be used, e.g., for increasing the system capacity, inter-cell interference coordination, load balancing, etc. This design gives NB- loT a high deployment flexibility.Non-Terrestrial Networks

[0011] To benefit from the strong mobile ecosystem and economy of scale, the satellite network based on the terrestrial wireless access technologies including LTE and NR for satellite networks, is being specified in the 3GPP standard.

[0012] In 3GPP Release 15, the first release of the 5G system (5GS) was specified. This is a new generation’s radio access technology intended to serve use cases such as enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), ultra-reliable and low latency communication (URLLC) and massive machine type communication (mMTC). 5G includes the New Radio (NR) access stratuminterface and the 5G Core Network (5GC). The NR physical and higher layers are reusing parts of the LTE specification, and additional components are introduced when motivated by the new use cases.

[0013] In Release 15 3GPP also started the work to prepare NR for operation in a NonTerrestrial Network (NTN). The work was performed within the study item “NR to support NonTerrestrial Networks” and resulted in TR 38.811. In Release 16 the work to prepare NR for operation in an NTN network continues with the study item “Solutions for NR to support NonTerrestrial Network”. In parallel the interest to adapt LTE for operation in NTN is growing. As a consequence, 3GPP introduced support for NTN in both LTE and NR in Release 17. After the basic functionality was established, NTN enhancements continued in Release 18 for both LTE and NR.

[0014] A satellite radio access network usually includes the following components:• A satellite that refers to a space-borne platform.• An earth-based gateway that connects the satellite to a base station or a core network, depending on the choice of architecture.• Feeder link that refers to the link between a gateway and a satellite.• Access link that refers to the link between a satellite and a UE.A satellite network or satellite based mobile network may also be called as non-terrestrial network (NTN). On the other hand, mobile network with base stations on the group may also be called as terrestrial network (TN) or non-NTN network. A satellite within NTN may be called as NTN node, NTN satellite or simply a satellite.Depending on the orbit altitude, a satellite may be categorized as low earth orbit (LEO), medium earth orbit (MEO), or geostationary earth orbit (GEO) satellite.• LEO: typical heights ranging from 250 - 1,500 km, with orbital periods ranging from 90- 120 minutes.• MEO: typical heights ranging from 5,000 - 25,000 km, with orbital periods ranging from 3 - 15 hours.• GEO: height at about 35,786 km, with an orbital period of 24 hours.

[0015] The significant orbit height means that satellite systems are characterized by a path loss that is significantly higher than what is expected in terrestrial networks. To overcome the pathloss it is often required that the access and feeder links are operated in line-of-sight conditions, and that the UE is equipped with an antenna offering high beam directivity.

[0016] Two basic architectures can be distinguished for satellite communication networks, depending on the functionality of the satellites in the system:

[0017] Transparent payload (also referred to as bent pipe architecture). The satellite forwards the received signal between the terminal and the network equipment on the ground with only amplification and a shift from uplink frequency to downlink frequency. When applied to general 3GPP architecture and terminology, the transparent payload architecture means that the gNB is located on the ground and the satellite forwards signals / data between the gNB and the UE. Figure 1 shows an example architecture of a satellite network with bent pipe transponders (i.e., the transparent payload architecture). In Figure 1, a satellite or NTN node 102 forwards signals / data between a ground controller 106 (which is communicably coupled to a gNB or base station 108) and a UE 104. The UE 104 may also receive some communications from a neighboring gNB 110 on the ground.

[0018] Regenerative payload. The satellite includes on-board processing to demodulate and decode the received signal and regenerate the signal before sending it back to the earth. When applied to general 3GPP architecture and terminology, the regenerative payload architecture means that the gNB is located in the satellite.

[0019] In the work item for NR NTN and loT NTN in 3GPP Release 17 and Release 18, only the transparent payload architecture is considered.

[0020] A communication satellite 102 typically generates several beams over a given area. The footprint of a beam is usually in an elliptic shape, which has been traditionally considered as a cell. The footprint of a beam is also often referred to as a spotbeam. The spotbeam may move over the earth surface with the satellite movement or may be earth fixed with some beam pointing mechanism used by the satellite to compensate for its motion. The size of a spotbeam depends on the system design, which may range from tens of kilometers to a few thousands of kilometers. Figure 2 shows an example architecture of a satellite network with bent pipe transponders with a plurality of spot beams 202, 204, and 206 in which a UE 104 could be found in one or more of.

[0021] The NTN beam may in comparison to the beams observed in a terrestrial network be very wide and cover an area outside of the area defined by the served cell. Beam covering adjacent cells will overlap and cause significant levels of intercell interference. To overcome the large levels of interference a typical approach is an NTN to configure different cells with different carrier frequencies and polarization modes.

[0022] The 3GPP NTN work assumes that the UE is able to determine its position using a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS). An example of a GNSS is the Global Positioning System (GPS). The NTN capable shall acquire a valid GNSS position as well as the satellite ephemeris before connecting to an NTN cell. In addition, the 3GPP network can request the UEto provide coarse UE location information to the network (the coarse UE location corresponds to the most significant bits of the GNSS coordinates, ensuring an accuracy in the order of 2 km).

[0023] The way the network can request the coarse UE location differs between the RAT types. When AS security is established, as is the case e.g. with NR NTN, the RAN can request and receive the coarse UE location information via RRC. For scenarios where AS security is not established, such as NB-IoT NTN with data over NAS, the coarse UE location instead needs to be requested and received via the NAS protocol, which has security enabled. Also when AS security can be established e.g. in NB-IoT, the coarse UE location may be received via the NAS protocol. The NAS protocol runs between the UE and the Core Network (MME in case of NB-IoT) and is transparent to RAN

[0024] SUMMARY

[0025] Various embodiments described herein provide for a radio access network node requesting and providing coarse location information associated with a user equipment (UE) from a core network node in a Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN) communication system. In an embodiment, the radio access network node (e.g., an NTN node, or a base station in an NTN network) can provide, to the core network node (e.g., a Mobility Management Entity), a request for coarse location information of the UE. The core network node can then provide the coarse location information of the UE. In an embodiment, the request can be provided to the core network node via a first SI Application Protocol (S1AP) message such as an Initial UE Message. The response that includes the coarse location information can be provided in a second S1AP message.

[0026] In an embodiment, a method performed by a Radio Access Network (RAN) node for receiving coarse location information associated with a UE can include providing, to the core network node, a request for the coarse location information of the UE and receiving, from the core network node, the coarse location information of the UE.

[0027] In an embodiment, the request is provided to the core network node via a first S1AP message.

[0028] In an embodiment, the first S1AP message is an Initial UE Message.

[0029] In an embodiment, the request includes an indication that the coarse location information is requested at predefined intervals.

[0030] In an embodiment, the request includes an indication that the coarse location information is requested in response to a change in the coarse location information.

[0031] In an embodiment, the coarse location information is received via a second S1AP message.

[0032] In an embodiment, the second S 1 AP message is one or more of an Initial Context Setup Request Message; a Downlink NAS Transport Message; or a dedicated S1AP message.

[0033] In an embodiment, the core network node is a Mobility Management Entity.

[0034] In an embodiment, the radio access network node is an NTN node.

[0035] In an embodiment, the UE is a Narrowband (NB) Internet of Things (IOT) device.

[0036] In an embodiment, a RAN node can be provided for receiving coarse location information associated with a UE from a core network node where the RAN node includes processing circuitry configured to perform the methods and embodiments described above.

[0037] In an embodiment, a method performed by a core network node for providing coarse location information associated with a UE is provided, where the method includes receiving, from the radio access network, a request for the coarse location information of the UE and providing, to the radio access network node, the coarse location information of the UE.

[0038] In an embodiment, the request is received from the radio access network node via a first S1AP message.

[0039] In an embodiment, the request includes an indication that the coarse location information is requested at predefined intervals.

[0040] In an embodiment, the request includes an indication that the coarse location information is requested in response to a change in the coarse location information.

[0041] In an embodiment, the coarse location information is provided via a second S1AP message.

[0042] In an embodiment, the second S1AP message is one or more of an Initial Context Setup Request Message; a Downlink NAS Transport Message; or a dedicated S1AP message.

[0043] In an embodiment, the core network node is a Mobility Management Entity.

[0044] In an embodiment, the radio access network node is an NTN node.

[0045] In an embodiment, the UE is a NB-IOT device.

[0046] In an embodiment, a core network node can be provided for providing coarse location information associated with a UE and include processing circuitry that performs the methods and embodiments described above.BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0047] The accompanying drawing figures incorporated in and forming a part of this specification illustrate several aspects of the disclosure, and together with the description serve to explain the principles of the disclosure.

[0048] Figure 1 shows an example architecture of a satellite network with transparent payload architecture according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0049] Figure 2 shows an example of a satellite network with a plurality of spot beams

[0050] Figure 3 shows a message sequence chart of a method for requesting and providing coarse location information in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0051] Figure 4 shows an example of a communication system in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0052] Figure 5 shows a User Equipment device (UE) in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0053] Figure 6 shows a network node in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure; and

[0054] Figure 7 is a block diagram illustrating a virtualization environment in which functions implemented by some embodiments may be virtualized in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0055] The embodiments set forth below represent information to enable those skilled in the art to practice the embodiments and illustrate the best mode of practicing the embodiments.Upon reading the following description in light of the accompanying drawing figures, those skilled in the art will understand the concepts of the disclosure and will recognize applications of these concepts not particularly addressed herein. It should be understood that these concepts and applications fall within the scope of the disclosure.

[0056] Some of the embodiments contemplated herein will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings. Embodiments are provided by way of example to convey the scope of the subject matter to those skilled in the art.

[0057] There currently exist certain challenge(s). With NB-IoT there are scenarios when AS security will not be established (e.g. when CP CIoT optimizations are used, such as Data over NAS). For these cases, the coarse UE location needs to be requested and received via the NAS protocol, which has security enabled. The NAS protocol runs between the UE and the MME in the Core Network and is transparent to RAN.

[0058] In those cases, it is not clear whether and how RAN can learn the coarse UE location information. The RAN may e.g. need the coarse UE location information to support RAN load balancing mechanisms (between spot beams) or decide which spot beam to activate based on the location of UEs in different areas. Another motivation is that RAN can use the coarse UE location information to determine a so called “mapped Cell Identity”.

[0059] It has been proposed in 3GPP SA2 and 3GPP RAN3 groups to deliver the Coarse UE location information via the S1AP protocol Location Reporting Control message. However, this is an MME-triggered message and there is no way for the MME to know whether RAN can actually make use of the Coarse UE location information. The MME would thus send this message “blindly” and hope that RAN can use it. This causes unnecessary signaling load both when the MME requests the UE to provide the Coarse UE location information (via NAS) and when MME provide the Coarse UE location information to RAN (via S1AP).

[0060] Certain aspects of the disclosure and their embodiments may provide solutions to these or other challenges. In an embodiment, the RAN indicates to MME whether or not it would like MME to provide the Coarse UE location information to RAN. This can be indicated in existing S1AP signalling, such as the “Initial UE Message” or the “Uplink NAS Transport” message.

[0061] Various embodiments described herein provide for a radio access network node requesting and providing coarse location information associated with a user equipment (UE) from a core network node in a Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN) communication system. In an embodiment, the radio access network node (e.g., an NTN node, or a base station in an NTN network) can provide, to the core network node (e.g., a Mobility Management Entity), a request for coarse location information of the UE. The core network node can then provide the coarse location information of the UE. In an embodiment, the request can be provided to the core network node via an SI Application Protocol (S1AP) message such as an Initial UE Message or an Uplink Non Access Stratum (NAS) Transport Message. The response that includes the coarse location information can be provided in another S1AP message.

[0062] Certain embodiments may provide one or more of the following technical advantage(s). One of the advantages is avoiding unnecessary NAS and S1AP signaling. loT NTN UE location cannot be sent over Access Stratum from the UE to the serving eNB because there is no Access Stratum Security set up for such UE types. Therefore, it can only be sent from the UE to the MME over NAS (which is secured). But sending this information from the MME to the eNB, to aid the eNB in e.g. load balancing, cannot scale for large numbers of UEs (such isthe scenario for loT NTN, with massive numbers of users served by very few cells over an area as large as a whole continent).

[0063] The methods presented here also have the advantage of only applying to a single UE context over S1AP. This mitigates the scalability problems caused by e.g. configuring this type of reporting via 0AM (which would apply to all served UEs). Then the eNB can decide the amount of reporting it desires from the MME according to e.g. the severity of radio and load conditions it is facing.

[0064] Another advantage is that at a minimum it only happens at UE attach, i.e. only once. Given the unscalability of this problem, any additional reporting of UE location from the MME to the eNB (let alone e.g. periodic reporting) would make the signaling load even worse.

[0065] Figure 3 shows a message sequence chart of a method for requesting and providing coarse location information in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0066] In an embodiment, the method can begin at step 306 where the radio access network node 302 (e.g., the base station 108, ground controller 106, or satellite / NTN node 102) can send a request to the core network node (e.g., a Mobility Management Entity or the like) 304 for coarse location information of the UE 104. The UE could be for example a Narrowband (NB) Internet of Things (loT) (NB-IoT) device. Then, at step 308, the core network node 304 can provide the coarse location information (e.g., most significant bits of the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) coordinates) that can provide the location of the UE 104 to within 2km, allowing the radio access network node 302 to select the appropriate spotbeam for the UE 104.

[0067] In an embodiment, the request is provided to the core network node 304 via an SI Application Protocol (S1AP) message, where the S1AP message could be an Initial UE Message or an Uplink Non Access Stratum (NAS) Transport Message.

[0068] In an embodiment, the request includes an indication that the coarse location information is requested at predefined intervals, or in response to a change in coarse location information, or in response to a change in coarse location information exceeding a predefined amount.

[0069] The response at 308 can be received via another S1AP message, which could be one or more of a Location Reporting Control Message; an Initial Context Setup Request Message; a UE Context Modification Request Message; a Downlink NAS Transport Message; or a dedicated S1AP message.

[0070] The eNB will provide a new indication in the (UE-associated) INITIAL UE MESSAGE message to request MME to provide the Coarse UE location information.

[0071] This message could be enhanced as shown below (only a subset of the current IES are shown in the table, taken from TS 36.413 v. 18.2.0), with updates to the table shown in underlined form below:0072] If more reporting is desired from MME to the eNB and the operator is ready to accept the increase in related network signaling, the Coarse UE Location Information Requested IE can be extended with additional codepoints, e.g. ENUMERATED (true, once, multiple, . . .) in which case the MME shall include the requested information, if available and if changed since last known UE position, in other S1AP messages (see a non-exhaustive list below).The same enhancement can be done to other UE-associated S1AP messages, such as the UPLINK NAS TRANSPORT message.

[0073] When the MME receives a message from eNB with this indication, the MME should request the UE (via NAS) to provide its coarse UE location information. Once the UE has provided this information to the MME, the MME provides the information to RAN. The MME can provide the information via an existing UE-associated S1AP message such as LOCATION REPORTING CONTROL message or INITIAL CONTEXT SETUP REQUEST message or UE CONTEXT MODIFICATION REQUEST message or DOWNLINK NAS TRANSPORT message or via a dedicated S1AP message.

[0074] An example of such reporting in the INITIAL CONTEXT SETUP REQUEST message is shown below (TS 36.416 v.18.2.0). The added information element (IE) is underlined.

[0075] INITIAL CONTEXT SETUP REQUEST This message is sent by the MME to request the setup of a UE context.Direction: MME — > eNB0076] An advantage of using the INITIAL CONTEXT SETUP REQUEST message is that this message is typically sent from the MME to the eNB right after receiving the INITIAL UE MESSAGE message, hence the reporting will be very fast.

[0077] Figure 4 shows an example of a communication system 400 in accordance with some embodiments.

[0078] In the example, the communication system 400 includes a telecommunication network 402 that includes an access network 404, such as a Radio Access Network (RAN), and a core network 406, which includes one or more core network nodes 408. The access network 404 includes one or more access network nodes, such as network nodes 410A and 410B (one or more of which may be generally referred to as network nodes 410), or any other similar Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) access nodes or non-3GPP Access Points (APs).Moreover, as will be appreciated by those of skill in the art, a network node is not necessarilylimited to an implementation in which a radio portion and a baseband portion are supplied and integrated by a single vendor. Thus, it will be understood that network nodes include disaggregated implementations or portions thereof. For example, in some embodiments, the telecommunication network 402 includes one or more Open-RAN (ORAN) network nodes. An ORAN network node is a node in the telecommunication network 402 that supports an ORAN specification (e.g., a specification published by the O-RAN Alliance, or any similar organization) and may operate alone or together with other nodes to implement one or more functionalities of any node in the telecommunication network 402, including one or more network nodes 410 and / or core network nodes 408.

[0079] Examples of an ORAN network node include an Open Radio Unit (O-RU), an Open Distributed Unit (O-DU), an Open Central Unit (O-CU), including an O-CU Control Plane (O- CU-CP) or an O-CU User Plane (O-CU-UP), a RAN intelligent controller (near-real time or non- real time) hosting software or software plug-ins, such as a near-real time control application (e.g., xApp) or a non-real time control application (e.g., rApp), or any combination thereof (the adjective “open” designating support of an ORAN specification). The network node may support a specification by, for example, supporting an interface defined by the ORAN specification, such as an Al, Fl, Wl, El, E2, X2, Xn interface, an open fronthaul user plane interface, or an open fronthaul management plane interface. Moreover, an ORAN access node may be a logical node in a physical node. Furthermore, an ORAN network node may be implemented in a virtualization environment (described further below) in which one or more network functions are virtualized. For example, the virtualization environment may include an O-Cloud computing platform orchestrated by a Service Management and Orchestration Framework via an O-2 interface defined by the O-RAN Alliance or comparable technologies. The network nodes 410 facilitate direct or indirect connection of User Equipment (UE), such as by connecting UEs 412A, 412B, 412C, and 412D (one or more of which may be generally referred to as UEs 412) to the core network 406 over one or more wireless connections.

[0080] Example wireless communications over a wireless connection include transmitting and / or receiving wireless signals using electromagnetic waves, radio waves, infrared waves, and / or other types of signals suitable for conveying information without the use of wires, cables, or other material conductors. Moreover, in different embodiments, the communication system 400 may include any number of wired or wireless networks, network nodes, UEs, and / or any other components or systems that may facilitate or participate in the communication of data and / or signals whether via wired or wireless connections. The communication system 400 mayinclude and / or interface with any type of communication, telecommunication, data, cellular, radio network, and / or other similar type of system.

[0081] The UEs 412 may be any of a wide variety of communication devices, including wireless devices arranged, configured, and / or operable to communicate wirelessly with the network nodes 410 and other communication devices. Similarly, the network nodes 410 are arranged, capable, configured, and / or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with the UEs 412 and / or with other network nodes or equipment in the telecommunication network 402 to enable and / or provide network access, such as wireless network access, and / or to perform other functions, such as administration in the telecommunication network 402.

[0082] In the depicted example, the core network 406 connects the network nodes 410 to one or more hosts, such as host 416. These connections may be direct or indirect via one or more intermediary networks or devices. In other examples, network nodes may be directly coupled to hosts. The core network 406 includes one more core network nodes (e.g., core network node 408) that are structured with hardware and software components. Features of these components may be substantially similar to those described with respect to the UEs, network nodes, and / or hosts, such that the descriptions thereof are generally applicable to the corresponding components of the core network node 408. Example core network nodes include functions of one or more of a Mobile Switching Center (MSC), Mobility Management Entity (MME), Home Subscriber Server (HSS), Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF), Session Management Function (SMF), Authentication Server Function (AUSF), Subscription Identifier De-Concealing Function (SIDE), Unified Data Management (UDM), Security Edge Protection Proxy (SEPP), Network Exposure Function (NEF), and / or a User Plane Function (UPF).

[0083] The host 416 may be under the ownership or control of a service provider other than an operator or provider of the access network 404 and / or the telecommunication network 402, and may be operated by the service provider or on behalf of the service provider. The host 416 may host a variety of applications to provide one or more service. Examples of such applications include live and pre-recorded audio / video content, data collection services such as retrieving and compiling data on various ambient conditions detected by a plurality of UEs, analytics functionality, social media, functions for controlling or otherwise interacting with remote devices, functions for an alarm and surveillance center, or any other such function performed by a server.

[0084] As a whole, the communication system 400 of Figure 4 enables connectivity between the UEs, network nodes, and hosts. In that sense, the communication system 400 may beconfigured to operate according to predefined rules or procedures, such as specific standards that include, but are not limited to: Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM); Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS); Long Term Evolution (LTE), and / or other suitable Second, Third, Fourth, or Fifth Generation (2G, 3G, 4G, or 5G) standards, or any applicable future generation standard (e.g., Sixth Generation (6G)); Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) standards, such as the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standards (WiFi); and / or any other appropriate wireless communication standard, such as the Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMax), Bluetooth, Z-Wave, Near Field Communication (NFC) ZigBee, LiFi, and / or any Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN) standards such as LoRa and Sigfox.

[0085] In some examples, the telecommunication network 402 is a cellular network that implements 3GPP standardized features. Accordingly, the telecommunication network 402 may support network slicing to provide different logical networks to different devices that are connected to the telecommunication network 402. For example, the telecommunication network 402 may provide Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communication (URLLC) services to some UEs, while providing enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) services to other UEs, and / or massive Machine Type Communication (mMTC) / massive Internet of Things (loT) services to yet further UEs.

[0086] In some examples, the UEs 412 are configured to transmit and / or receive information without direct human interaction. For instance, a UE may be designed to transmit information to the access network 404 on a predetermined schedule, when triggered by an internal or external event, or in response to requests from the access network 404. Additionally, a UE may be configured for operating in single- or multi-Radio Access Technology (RAT) or multi-standard mode. For example, a UE may operate with any one or combination of WiFi, New Radio (NR), and LTE, i.e. being configured for Multi-Radio Dual Connectivity (MR-DC), such as Evolved UMTS Terrestrial RAN (E-UTRAN) NR - Dual Connectivity (EN-DC).

[0087] In the example, a hub 414 communicates with the access network 404 to facilitate indirect communication between one or more UEs (e.g., UE 412C and / or 412D) and network nodes (e.g., network node 410B). In some examples, the hub 414 may be a controller, router, content source and analytics, or any of the other communication devices described herein regarding UEs. For example, the hub 414 may be a broadband router enabling access to the core network 406 for the UEs. As another example, the hub 414 may be a controller that sends commands or instructions to one or more actuators in the UEs. Commands or instructions may be received from the UEs, network nodes 410, or by executable code, script, process, or otherinstructions in the hub 414. As another example, the hub 414 may be a data collector that acts as temporary storage for UE data and, in some embodiments, may perform analysis or other processing of the data. As another example, the hub 414 may be a content source. For example, for a UE that is a Virtual Reality (VR) headset, display, loudspeaker or other media delivery device, the hub 414 may retrieve VR assets, video, audio, or other media or data related to sensory information via a network node, which the hub 414 then provides to the UE either directly, after performing local processing, and / or after adding additional local content. In still another example, the hub 414 acts as a proxy server or orchestrator for the UEs, in particular if one or more of the UEs are low energy loT devices.

[0088] The hub 414 may have a constant / persistent or intermittent connection to the network node 41 OB. The hub 414 may also allow for a different communication scheme and / or schedule between the hub 414 and UEs (e.g., UE 412C and / or 412D), and between the hub 414 and the core network 406. In other examples, the hub 414 is connected to the core network 406 and / or one or more UEs via a wired connection. Moreover, the hub 414 may be configured to connect to a Machine-to-Machine (M2M) service provider over the access network 404 and / or to another UE over a direct connection. In some scenarios, UEs may establish a wireless connection with the network nodes 410 while still connected via the hub 414 via a wired or wireless connection. In some embodiments, the hub 414 may be a dedicated hub - that is, a hub whose primary function is to route communications to / from the UEs from / to the network node 410B. In other embodiments, the hub 414 may be a non-dedicated hub - that is, a device which is capable of operating to route communications between the UEs and the network node 410B, but which is additionally capable of operating as a communication start and / or end point for certain data channels.

[0089] Figure 5 shows a UE 500 in accordance with some embodiments. As used herein, a UE refers to a device capable, configured, arranged, and / or operable to communicate wirelessly with network nodes and / or other UEs. Examples of a UE include, but are not limited to, a smart phone, mobile phone, cell phone, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) phone, wireless local loop phone, desktop computer, Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), wireless camera, gaming console or device, music storage device, playback appliance, wearable terminal device, wireless endpoint, mobile station, tablet, laptop, Laptop Embedded Equipment (LEE), Laptop Mounted Equipment (LME), smart device, wireless Customer Premise Equipment (CPE), vehicle, vehicle-mounted or vehicle embedded / integrated wireless device, etc. Other examples include any UE identified by the 3GPP, including a Narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT) UE, a Machine Type Communication (MTC) UE, and / or an enhanced MTC (eMTC) UE.

[0090] A UE may support Device-to-Device (D2D) communication, for example by implementing a 3GPP standard for sidelink communication, Dedicated Short-Range Communication (DSRC), Vehicle-to- Vehicle (V2V), Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I), or Vehicle- to-Everything (V2X). In other examples, a UE may not necessarily have a user in the sense of a human user who owns and / or operates the relevant device. Instead, a UE may represent a device that is intended for sale to, or operation by, a human user but which may not, or which may not initially, be associated with a specific human user (e.g., a smart sprinkler controller).Alternatively, a UE may represent a device that is not intended for sale to, or operation by, an end user but which may be associated with or operated for the benefit of a user (e.g., a smart power meter).

[0091] The UE 500 includes processing circuitry 502 that is operatively coupled via a bus 504 to an input / output interface 506, a power source 508, memory 510, a communication interface 512, and / or any other component, or any combination thereof. Certain UEs may utilize all or a subset of the components shown in Figure 5. The level of integration between the components may vary from one UE to another UE. Further, certain UEs may contain multiple instances of a component, such as multiple processors, memories, transceivers, transmitters, receivers, etc.

[0092] The processing circuitry 502 is configured to process instructions and data and may be configured to implement any sequential state machine operative to execute instructions stored as machine-readable computer programs in the memory 510. The processing circuitry 502 may be implemented as one or more hardware-implemented state machines (e.g., in discrete logic, Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), etc.); programmable logic together with appropriate firmware; one or more stored computer programs, general purpose processors, such as a microprocessor or Digital Signal Processor (DSP), together with appropriate software; or any combination of the above. For example, the processing circuitry 502 may include multiple Central Processing Units (CPUs).

[0093] In the example, the input / output interface 506 may be configured to provide an interface or interfaces to an input device, output device, or one or more input and / or output devices. Examples of an output device include a speaker, a sound card, a video card, a display, a monitor, a printer, an actuator, an emitter, a smartcard, another output device, or any combination thereof. An input device may allow a user to capture information into the UE 500. Examples of an input device include a touch-sensitive or presence-sensitive display, a camera (e.g., a digital camera, a digital video camera, a web camera, etc.), a microphone, a sensor, a mouse, a trackball, a directional pad, a trackpad, a scroll wheel, a smartcard, and the like. Thepresence-sensitive display may include a capacitive or resistive touch sensor to sense input from a user. A sensor may be, for instance, an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a tilt sensor, a force sensor, a magnetometer, an optical sensor, a proximity sensor, a biometric sensor, etc., or any combination thereof. An output device may use the same type of interface port as an input device. For example, a Universal Serial Bus (USB) port may be used to provide an input device and an output device.

[0094] In some embodiments, the power source 508 is structured as a battery or battery pack. Other types of power sources, such as an external power source (e.g., an electricity outlet), photovoltaic device, or power cell, may be used. The power source 508 may further include power circuitry for delivering power from the power source 508 itself, and / or an external power source, to the various parts of the UE 500 via input circuitry or an interface such as an electrical power cable. Delivering power may be, for example, for charging of the power source 508. Power circuitry may perform any formatting, converting, or other modification to the power from the power source 508 to make the power suitable for the respective components of the UE 500 to which power is supplied.

[0095] The memory 510 may be or be configured to include memory such as Random Access Memory (RAM), Read Only Memory (ROM), Programmable ROM (PROM), Erasable PROM (EPROM), Electrically EPROM (EEPROM), magnetic disks, optical disks, hard disks, removable cartridges, flash drives, and so forth. In one example, the memory 510 includes one or more application programs 514, such as an operating system, web browser application, a widget, gadget engine, or other application, and corresponding data 516. The memory 510 may store, for use by the UE 500, any of a variety of various operating systems or combinations of operating systems.

[0096] The memory 510 may be configured to include a number of physical drive units, such as Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID), flash memory, USB flash drive, external hard disk drive, thumb drive, pen drive, key drive, High Density Digital Versatile Disc (HD- DVD) optical disc drive, internal hard disk drive, Blu-Ray optical disc drive, Holographic Digital Data Storage (HDDS) optical disc drive, external mini Dual In-line Memory Module (DIMM), Synchronous Dynamic RAM (SDRAM), external micro-DIMM SDRAM, smartcard memory such as a tamper resistant module in the form of a Universal Integrated Circuit Card (UICC) including one or more Subscriber Identity Modules (SIMs), such as a Universal SIM (USIM) and / or Internet Protocol Multimedia Services Identity Module (ISIM), other memory, or any combination thereof. The UICC may for example be an embedded UICC (eUICC), integrated UICC (iUICC) or a removable UICC commonly known as a ‘SIM card.’ The memory510 may allow the UE 500 to access instructions, application programs, and the like stored on transitory or non-transitory memory media, to off-load data, or to upload data. An article of manufacture, such as one utilizing a communication system, may be tangibly embodied as or in the memory 510, which may be or comprise a device-readable storage medium.

[0097] The processing circuitry 502 may be configured to communicate with an access network or other network using the communication interface 512. The communication interface 512 may comprise one or more communication subsystems and may include or be communicatively coupled to an antenna 522. The communication interface 512 may include one or more transceivers used to communicate, such as by communicating with one or more remote transceivers of another device capable of wireless communication (e.g., another UE or a network node in an access network). Each transceiver may include a transmitter 518 and / or a receiver 520 appropriate to provide network communications (e.g., optical, electrical, frequency allocations, and so forth). Moreover, the transmitter 518 and receiver 520 may be coupled to one or more antennas (e.g., the antenna 522) and may share circuit components, software, or firmware, or alternatively be implemented separately.

[0098] In the illustrated embodiment, communication functions of the communication interface 512 may include cellular communication, WiFi communication, LPWAN communication, data communication, voice communication, multimedia communication, short- range communications such as Bluetooth, NFC, location-based communication such as the use of the Global Positioning System (GPS) to determine a location, another like communication function, or any combination thereof. Communications may be implemented according to one or more communication protocols and / or standards, such as IEEE 802.11, Code Division Multiplexing Access (CDMA), Wideband CDMA (WCDMA), GSM, LTE, NR, UMTS, WiMax, Ethernet, Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol (TCP / IP), Synchronous Optical Networking (SONET), Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), Quick User Datagram Protocol Internet Connection (QUIC), Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), and so forth.

[0099] Regardless of the type of sensor, a UE may provide an output of data captured by its sensors, through its communication interface 512, via a wireless connection to a network node. Data captured by sensors of a UE can be communicated through a wireless connection to a network node via another UE. The output may be periodic (e.g., once every 15 minutes if it reports the sensed temperature), random (e.g., to even out the load from reporting from several sensors), in response to a triggering event (e.g., when moisture is detected, an alert is sent), in response to a request (e.g., a user initiated request), or a continuous stream (e.g., a live video feed of a patient).

[0100] As another example, a UE comprises an actuator, a motor, or a switch related to a communication interface configured to receive wireless input from a network node via a wireless connection. In response to the received wireless input the states of the actuator, the motor, or the switch may change. For example, the UE may comprise a motor that adjusts the control surfaces or rotors of a drone in flight according to the received input or to a robotic arm performing a medical procedure according to the received input.

[0101] A UE, when in the form of an loT device, may be a device for use in one or more application domains, these domains comprising, but not limited to, city wearable technology, extended industrial application, and healthcare. Non-limiting examples of such an loT device are a device which is or which is embedded in: a connected refrigerator or freezer, a television, a connected lighting device, an electricity meter, a robot vacuum cleaner, a voice controlled smart speaker, a home security camera, a motion detector, a thermostat, a smoke detector, a door / window sensor, a flood / moisture sensor, an electrical door lock, a connected doorbell, an air conditioning system like a heat pump, an autonomous vehicle, a surveillance system, a weather monitoring device, a vehicle parking monitoring device, an electric vehicle charging station, a smart watch, a fitness tracker, a head-mounted display for Augmented Reality (AR) or VR, a wearable for tactile augmentation or sensory enhancement, a water sprinkler, an animal- or item-tracking device, a sensor for monitoring a plant or animal, an industrial robot, an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), and any kind of medical device, like a heart rate monitor or a remote controlled surgical robot. A UE in the form of an loT device comprises circuitry and / or software in dependence of the intended application of the loT device in addition to other components as described in relation to the UE 500 shown in Figure 5.

[0102] As yet another specific example, in an loT scenario, a UE may represent a machine or other device that performs monitoring and / or measurements and transmits the results of such monitoring and / or measurements to another UE and / or a network node. The UE may in this case be an M2M device, which may in a 3GPP context be referred to as an MTC device. As one particular example, the UE may implement the 3GPP NB-IoT standard. In other scenarios, a UE may represent a vehicle, such as a car, a bus, a truck, a ship, an airplane, or other equipment that is capable of monitoring and / or reporting on its operational status or other functions associated with its operation.

[0103] In practice, any number of UEs may be used together with respect to a single use case. For example, a first UE might be or be integrated in a drone and provide the drone’s speed information (obtained through a speed sensor) to a second UE that is a remote controller operating the drone. When the user makes changes from the remote controller, the first UE mayadjust the throttle on the drone (e.g., by controlling an actuator) to increase or decrease the drone’s speed. The first and / or the second UE can also include more than one of the functionalities described above. For example, a UE might comprise the sensor and the actuator and handle communication of data for both the speed sensor and the actuators.

[0104] Figure 6 shows a network node 600 in accordance with some embodiments. As used herein, network node refers to equipment capable, configured, arranged, and / or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with a UE and / or with other network nodes or equipment in a telecommunication network. Examples of network nodes include, but are not limited to, APs (e.g., radio APs), Base Stations (BSs) (e.g., radio BSs, Node Bs, evolved Node Bs (eNBs), NR Node Bs (gNBs)), and O-RAN nodes or components of an O-RAN node (e.g., O-RU, O-DU, O- CU).

[0105] Base stations may be categorized based on the amount of coverage they provide (or, stated differently, their transmit power level) and so, depending on the provided amount of coverage, may be referred to as femto base stations, pico base stations, micro base stations, or macro base stations. A base station may be a relay node or a relay donor node controlling a relay. A network node may also include one or more (or all) parts of a distributed radio base station such as centralized digital units, distributed units (e.g., in an O-RAN access node), and / or Remote Radio Units (RRUs), sometimes referred to as Remote Radio Heads (RRHs). Such RRUs may or may not be integrated with an antenna as an antenna integrated radio. Parts of a distributed radio base station may also be referred to as nodes in a Distributed Antenna System (DAS).

[0106] Other examples of network nodes include multiple Transmission Point (multi-TRP) 5G access nodes, Multi-Standard Radio (MSR) equipment such as MSR BSs, network controllers such as Radio Network Controllers (RNCs) or BS Controllers (BSCs), Base Transceiver Stations (BTSs), transmission points, transmission nodes, Multi-Cell / Multicast Coordination Entities (MCEs), Operation and Maintenance (O&M) nodes, Operations Support System (OSS) nodes, Self-Organizing Network (SON) nodes, positioning nodes (e.g., Evolved Serving Mobile Location Centers (E-SMLCs)), and / or Minimization of Drive Tests (MDTs).

[0107] The network node 600 includes processing circuitry 602, memory 604, a communication interface 606, and a power source 608. The network node 600 may be composed of multiple physically separate components (e.g., a NodeB component and an RNC component, or a BTS component and a BSC component, etc.), which may each have their own respective components. In certain scenarios in which the network node 600 comprises multiple separate components (e.g., BTS and BSC components), one or more of the separate components may beshared among several network nodes. For example, a single RNC may control multiple NodeBs. In such a scenario, each unique NodeB and RNC pair may in some instances be considered a single separate network node. In some embodiments, the network node 600 may be configured to support multiple RATs. In such embodiments, some components may be duplicated (e.g., separate memory 604 for different RATs) and some components may be reused (e.g., a same antenna 610 may be shared by different RATs). The network node 600 may also include multiple sets of the various illustrated components for different wireless technologies integrated into network node 600, for example GSM, WCDMA, LTE, NR, WiFi, Zigbee, Z-wave, Long Range Wide Area Network (LoRaWAN), Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), or Bluetooth wireless technologies. These wireless technologies may be integrated into the same or different chip or set of chips and other components within the network node 600.

[0108] The processing circuitry 602 may comprise a combination of one or more of a microprocessor, controller, microcontroller, CPU, DSP, ASIC, FPGA, or any other suitable computing device, resource, or combination of hardware, software, and / or encoded logic operable to provide, either alone or in conjunction with other network node 600 components, such as the memory 604, to provide network node 600 functionality.

[0109] In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 602 includes a System on a Chip (SOC). In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 602 includes one or more of Radio Frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry 612 and baseband processing circuitry 614. In some embodiments, the RF transceiver circuitry 612 and the baseband processing circuitry 614 may be on separate chips (or sets of chips), boards, or units, such as radio units and digital units. In alternative embodiments, part or all of the RF transceiver circuitry 612 and the baseband processing circuitry 614 may be on the same chip or set of chips, boards, or units.

[0110] The memory 604 may comprise any form of volatile or non-volatile computer- readable memory including, without limitation, persistent storage, solid state memory, remotely mounted memory, magnetic media, optical media, RAM, ROM, mass storage media (for example, a hard disk), removable storage media (for example, a flash drive, a Compact Disk (CD), or a Digital Video Disk (DVD)), and / or any other volatile or non-volatile, non-transitory device-readable, and / or computer-executable memory devices that store information, data, and / or instructions that may be used by the processing circuitry 602. The memory 604 may store any suitable instructions, data, or information, including a computer program, software, an application including one or more of logic, rules, code, tables, and / or other instructions capable of being executed by the processing circuitry 602 and utilized by the network node 600. The memory 604 may be used to store any calculations made by the processing circuitry 602 and / orany data received via the communication interface 606. In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 602 and the memory 604 are integrated.

[0111] The communication interface 606 is used in wired or wireless communication of signaling and / or data between a network node, access network, and / or UE. As illustrated, the communication interface 606 comprises port(s) / terminal(s) 616 to send and receive data, for example to and from a network over a wired connection. The communication interface 606 also includes radio front-end circuitry 618 that may be coupled to, or in certain embodiments a part of, the antenna 610. The radio front-end circuitry 618 comprises filters 620 and amplifiers 622. The radio front-end circuitry 618 may be connected to the antenna 610 and the processing circuitry 602. The radio front-end circuitry 618 may be configured to condition signals communicated between the antenna 610 and the processing circuitry 602. The radio front-end circuitry 618 may receive digital data that is to be sent out to other network nodes or UEs via a wireless connection. The radio front-end circuitry 618 may convert the digital data into a radio signal having the appropriate channel and bandwidth parameters using a combination of the filters 620 and / or the amplifiers 622. The radio signal may then be transmitted via the antenna 610. Similarly, when receiving data, the antenna 610 may collect radio signals which are then converted into digital data by the radio front-end circuitry 618. The digital data may be passed to the processing circuitry 602. In other embodiments, the communication interface 606 may comprise different components and / or different combinations of components.

[0112] In certain alternative embodiments, the network node 600 does not include separate radio front-end circuitry 618; instead, the processing circuitry 602 includes radio front-end circuitry and is connected to the antenna 610. Similarly, in some embodiments, all or some of the RF transceiver circuitry 612 is part of the communication interface 606. In still other embodiments, the communication interface 606 includes the one or more ports or terminals 616, the radio front-end circuitry 618, and the RF transceiver circuitry 612 as part of a radio unit (not shown), and the communication interface 606 communicates with the baseband processing circuitry 614, which is part of a digital unit (not shown).

[0113] The antenna 610 may include one or more antennas, or antenna arrays, configured to send and / or receive wireless signals. The antenna 610 may be coupled to the radio front-end circuitry 618 and may be any type of antenna capable of transmitting and receiving data and / or signals wirelessly. In certain embodiments, the antenna 610 is separate from the network node 600 and connectable to the network node 600 through an interface or port.

[0114] The antenna 610, the communication interface 606, and / or the processing circuitry 602 may be configured to perform any receiving operations and / or certain obtaining operationsdescribed herein as being performed by the network node 600. Any information, data, and / or signals may be received from a UE, another network node, and / or any other network equipment. Similarly, the antenna 610, the communication interface 606, and / or the processing circuitry 602 may be configured to perform any transmitting operations described herein as being performed by the network node 600. Any information, data, and / or signals may be transmitted to a UE, another network node, and / or any other network equipment.

[0115] The power source 608 provides power to the various components of the network node 600 in a form suitable for the respective components (e.g., at a voltage and current level needed for each respective component). The power source 608 may further comprise, or be coupled to, power management circuitry to supply the components of the network node 600 with power for performing the functionality described herein. For example, the network node 600 may be connectable to an external power source (e.g., the power grid or an electricity outlet) via input circuitry or an interface such as an electrical cable, whereby the external power source supplies power to power circuitry of the power source 608. As a further example, the power source 608 may comprise a source of power in the form of a battery or battery pack which is connected to, or integrated in, power circuitry. The battery may provide backup power should the external power source fail.

[0116] Embodiments of the network node 600 may include additional components beyond those shown in Figure 6 for providing certain aspects of the network node’s functionality, including any of the functionality described herein and / or any functionality necessary to support the subject matter described herein. For example, the network node 600 may include user interface equipment to allow input of information into the network node 600 and to allow output of information from the network node 600. This may allow a user to perform diagnostic, maintenance, repair, and other administrative functions for the network node 600. In some embodiments providing a core network node, such as core network node 108 of FIG. 4, some components, such as the radio front-end circuitry 618 and the RF transceiver circuitry 612 may be omitted.

[0117] Figure 7 is a block diagram illustrating a virtualization environment 700 in which functions implemented by some embodiments may be virtualized. In the present context, virtualizing means creating virtual versions of apparatuses or devices which may include virtualizing hardware platforms, storage devices, and networking resources. As used herein, virtualization can be applied to any device described herein, or components thereof, and relates to an implementation in which at least a portion of the functionality is implemented as one or more virtual components. Some or all of the functions described herein may be implemented asvirtual components executed by one or more Virtual Machines (VMs) implemented in one or more virtualization environments 700 hosted by one or more of hardware nodes, such as a hardware computing device that operates as a network node, a UE, a core network node, or a host. Further, in embodiments in which the virtual node does not require radio connectivity (e.g., a core network node or host), then the node may be entirely virtualized. In some embodiments, the virtualization environment 700 includes components defined by the O-RAN Alliance, such as an O-Cloud environment orchestrated by a Service Management and Orchestration Framework via an 0-2 interface. Virtualization may facilitate distributed implementations of a network node, a UE, a core network node, or a host.

[0118] Applications 702 (which may alternatively be called software instances, virtual appliances, network functions, virtual nodes, virtual network functions, etc.) are run in the virtualization environment 700 to implement some of the features, functions, and / or benefits of some of the embodiments disclosed herein.

[0119] Hardware 704 includes processing circuitry, memory that stores software and / or instructions executable by hardware processing circuitry, and / or other hardware devices as described herein, such as a network interface, an input / output interface, and so forth. Software may be executed by the processing circuitry to instantiate one or more virtualization layers 706 (also referred to as hypervisors or Virtual Machine Monitors (VMMs)), provide VMs 708A and 708B (one or more of which may be generally referred to as VMs 708), and / or perform any of the functions, features, and / or benefits described in relation with some embodiments described herein. The virtualization layer 706 may present a virtual operating platform that appears like networking hardware to the VMs 708.

[0120] The VMs 708 comprise virtual processing, virtual memory, virtual networking, or interface and virtual storage, and may be run by a corresponding virtualization layer 706. Different embodiments of the instance of a virtual appliance 702 may be implemented on one or more of VMs 708, and the implementations may be made in different ways. Virtualization of the hardware is in some contexts referred to as Network Function Virtualization (NFV). NFV may be used to consolidate many network equipment types onto industry standard high volume server hardware, physical switches, and physical storage, which can be located in data centers and customer premise equipment.

[0121] In the context of NFV, a VM 708 may be a software implementation of a physical machine that runs programs as if they were executing on a physical, non-virtualized machine. Each of the VMs 708, and that part of the hardware 704 that executes that VM, be it hardware dedicated to that VM and / or hardware shared by that VM with others of the VMs, forms separatevirtual network elements. Still in the context of NFV, a virtual network function is responsible for handling specific network functions that run in one or more VMs 708 on top of the hardware 704 and corresponds to the application 702.

[0122] The hardware 704 may be implemented in a standalone network node with generic or specific components. The hardware 704 may implement some functions via virtualization. Alternatively, the hardware 704 may be part of a larger cluster of hardware (e.g., such as in a data center or CPE) where many hardware nodes work together and are managed via management and orchestration 710, which, among others, oversees lifecycle management of the applications 702. In some embodiments, the hardware 704 is coupled to one or more radio units that each include one or more transmitters and one or more receivers that may be coupled to one or more antennas. Radio units may communicate directly with other hardware nodes via one or more appropriate network interfaces and may be used in combination with the virtual components to provide a virtual node with radio capabilities, such as a radio access node or a base station. In some embodiments, some signaling can be provided with the use of a control system 712 which may alternatively be used for communication between hardware nodes and radio units.

[0123] Although the computing devices described herein (e.g., UEs, network nodes) may include the illustrated combination of hardware components, other embodiments may comprise computing devices with different combinations of components. It is to be understood that these computing devices may comprise any suitable combination of hardware and / or software needed to perform the tasks, features, functions, and methods disclosed herein. Determining, calculating, obtaining, or similar operations described herein may be performed by processing circuitry, which may process information by, for example, converting the obtained information into other information, comparing the obtained information or converted information to information stored in the network node, and / or performing one or more operations based on the obtained information or converted information, and as a result of said processing making a determination. Moreover, while components are depicted as single boxes located within a larger box, or nested within multiple boxes, in practice, computing devices may comprise multiple different physical components that make up a single illustrated component, and functionality may be partitioned between separate components. For example, a communication interface may be configured to include any of the components described herein, and / or the functionality of the components may be partitioned between the processing circuitry and the communication interface. In another example, non-computationally intensive functions of any of suchcomponents may be implemented in software or firmware and computationally intensive functions may be implemented in hardware.

[0124] In certain embodiments, some or all of the functionality described herein may be provided by processing circuitry executing instructions stored on in memory, which in certain embodiments may be a computer program product in the form of a non-transitory computer- readable storage medium. In alternative embodiments, some or all of the functionality may be provided by the processing circuitry without executing instructions stored on a separate or discrete device-readable storage medium, such as in a hard-wired manner. In any of those particular embodiments, whether executing instructions stored on a non-transitory computer- readable storage medium or not, the processing circuitry can be configured to perform the described functionality. The benefits provided by such functionality are not limited to the processing circuitry alone or to other components of the computing device, but are enjoyed by the computing device as a whole, and / or by end users and a wireless network generally.

[0125] Those skilled in the art will recognize improvements and modifications to the embodiments of the present disclosure. All such improvements and modifications are considered within the scope of the concepts disclosed herein.

[0126] Some of the References that provide background material are listed below:1. TR 38.811, Study on New Radio (NR) to support non-terrestrial networks2. TR 38.821, Solutions for NR to support non-terrestrial networks3. TR 36.763, Study on Narrow-Band Internet of Things (NB-IoT) / enhanced Machine Type Communication (eMTC) support for Non-Terrestrial Networks.4. RP-221806, Revised WID on loT NTN enhancements.5. RP-220208, Solutions for NR to support non-terrestrial networks (NTN).6. RP-223534, Revised WID: NR NTN (Non-Terrestrial Networks) enhancements.7. TS 38.331, Radio Resource Control (RRC), Protocol specification, V18.0.08. TS 36.331, Radio Resource Control (RRC), Protocol specification, V18.0.09. RP-234077, New WID: Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTN) for Internet of Things (loT) Phase 3.10. RP-234078, New WID: Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTN) for NR Phase 3.TS 23.401, General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) enhancements for Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN) access

[0127] Some of the embodiments described herein include the following embodiments:

[0128] Embodiment 1: A method, performed by a radio access network node (302), for receiving coarse location information associated with a user equipment, UE, from a core network node (304), the method comprising: providing (306), to the core network node (304), a requestfor the coarse location information of the UE; and receiving (308), from the core network node (304), the coarse location information of the UE.

[0129] Embodiment 2: The method of embodiment 1, wherein the request is provided to the core network node (304) via an SI Application Protocol, S1AP, message.

[0130] Embodiment 3: The method of embodiment 2, wherein the S1AP message is an Initial UE Message or an Uplink Non Access Stratum, NAS, Transport Message.

[0131] Embodiment 4: The method of any of embodiments 1 to 3, wherein the request includes an indication that the coarse location information is requested at predefined intervals.

[0132] Embodiment 5: The method of any of embodiments 1 to 3, wherein the request includes an indication that the coarse location information is requested in response to a change in the coarse location information.

[0133] Embodiment 6: The method of any of embodiments 1 to 5, wherein the coarse location information is received via another S1AP message.

[0134] Embodiment 7: The method of embodiment 6, wherein the other S1AP message is one or more of: a Location Reporting Control Message; an Initial Context Setup Request Message; a UE Context Modification Request Message; a Downlink NAS Transport Message; or a dedicated S1AP message.

[0135] Embodiment 8: The method of any of embodiments 1 to 7, wherein the core network node (304) is a Mobility Management Entity.

[0136] Embodiment 9: The method of any of embodiments 1 to 8, wherein the radio access network node (302) is a Non-Terrestrial Network, NTN, node.

[0137] Embodiment 10: The method of any of embodiments 1 to 9, wherein the UE is a Narrowband, NB, Internet of Things, IOT, device.

[0138] Embodiment 11 : A radio access network node (302) for receiving coarse location information associated with a user equipment, UE, from a core network node (304), the radio access network node (302) comprising processing circuitry configured to: provide (306), to the core network node (304), a request for the coarse location information of the UE; and receive (308), from the core network node (304), the coarse location information of the UE.

[0139] Embodiment 12: The radio access network node (302) of embodiment 11, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to perform any of embodiments 2 to 10.

[0140] Embodiment 13: A method, performed by a core network node (304), for providing coarse location information associated with a user equipment, UE, to a radio access network node (302), the method comprising: receiving (306), from the radio access network, a request forthe coarse location information of the UE; and providing (308), to the radio access network node (302), the coarse location information of the UE.

[0141] Embodiment 14: The method of embodiment 13, wherein the request is received from the radio access network node (302) via an SI Application Protocol, S1AP, message.

[0142] Embodiment 15: The method of embodiment 14, wherein the S1AP message is an Initial UE Message or an Uplink Non Access Stratum, NAS, Transport Message.

[0143] Embodiment 16: The method of any of embodiments 13 to 15, wherein the request includes an indication that the coarse location information is requested at predefined intervals.

[0144] Embodiment 17: The method of any of embodiments 13 to 15, wherein the request includes an indication that the coarse location information is requested in response to a change in the coarse location information.

[0145] Embodiment 18: The method of any of embodiments 13 to 17, wherein the coarse location information is provided via another S1AP message.

[0146] Embodiment 19: The method of embodiment 18, wherein the other S1AP message is one or more of: a Location Reporting Control Message; an Initial Context Setup Request Message; a UE Context Modification Request Message; a Downlink NAS Transport Message; or a dedicated S1AP message.

[0147] Embodiment 20: The method of any of embodiments 13 to 19, wherein the core network node (304) is a Mobility Management Entity.

[0148] Embodiment 21: The method of any of embodiments 13 to 20, wherein the radio access network node (302) is a Non-Terrestrial Network, NTN, node.

[0149] Embodiment 22: The method of any of embodiments 13 to 21, wherein the UE is a Narrowband, NB, Internet of Things, IOT, device.

[0150] Embodiment 23: A core network node (304) for providing coarse location information associated with a user equipment, UE, to a radio access network node (302), the core network node (304) comprising processing circuitry configured to: receive (306), from the radio access network node (302), a request for the coarse location information of the UE; and provide (308), to the radio access network node (302), the coarse location information of the UE.

[0151] Embodiment 24: The core network node (304) of embodiment 23, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to perform any of embodiments 14 to 22.

Claims

CLAIMS1. A method, performed by a radio access network node (302), for receiving coarse location information associated with a user equipment, UE, from a core network node (304), the method comprising: providing (306), to the core network node (304), a request for the coarse location information of the UE; and receiving (308), from the core network node (304), the coarse location information of the UE.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the request is provided to the core network node (304) via a first SI Application Protocol, S1AP, message.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the first S1AP message is an Initial UE Message.

4. The method of any of claims 1 to 3, wherein the request includes an indication that the coarse location information is requested at predefined intervals.

5. The method of any of claims 1 to 3, wherein the request includes an indication that the coarse location information is requested in response to a change in the coarse location information.

6. The method of any of claims 1 to 5, wherein the coarse location information is received via a second S1AP message.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the second S1AP message is one or more of: an Initial Context Setup Request Message; a Downlink NAS Transport Message; or a dedicated S1AP message.

8. The method of any of claims 1 to 7, wherein the core network node (304) is a Mobility Management Entity.

9. The method of any of claims 1 to 8, wherein the radio access network node (302) is aNon-Terrestrial Network, NTN, node.

10. The method of any of claims 1 to 9, wherein the UE is a Narrowband, NB, Internet of Things, IOT, device.

11. A radio access network node (302) for receiving coarse location information associated with a user equipment, UE, from a core network node (304), the radio access network node (302) comprising processing circuitry configured to: provide (306), to the core network node (304), a request for the coarse location information of the UE; and receive (308), from the core network node (304), the coarse location information of the UE.

12. The radio access network node (302) of claim 11, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to perform any of claims 2 to 10.

13. A method, performed by a core network node (304), for providing coarse location information associated with a user equipment, UE, to a radio access network node (302), the method comprising: receiving (306), from the radio access network, a request for the coarse location information of the UE; and providing (308), to the radio access network node (302), the coarse location information of the UE.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the request is received from the radio access network node (302) via a first SI Application Protocol, S1AP, message.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the first S1AP message is an Initial UE Message16. The method of any of claims 13 to 15, wherein the request includes an indication that the coarse location information is requested at predefined intervals.

17. The method of any of claims 13 to 15, wherein the request includes an indication that the coarse location information is requested in response to a change in the coarse locationinformation.

18. The method of any of claims 13 to 17, wherein the coarse location information is provided via a second S1AP message.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the second S1AP message is one or more of: an Initial Context Setup Request Message; a Downlink NAS Transport Message; or a dedicated S1AP message.

20. The method of any of claims 13 to 19, wherein the core network node (304) is a Mobility Management Entity.

21. The method of any of claims 13 to 20, wherein the radio access network node (302) is a Non-Terrestrial Network, NTN, node.

22. The method of any of claims 13 to 21, wherein the UE is a Narrowband, NB, Internet of Things, IOT, device.

23. A core network node (304) for providing coarse location information associated with a user equipment, UE, to a radio access network node (302), the core network node (304) comprising processing circuitry configured to: receive (306), from the radio access network node (302), a request for the coarse location information of the UE; and provide (308), to the radio access network node (302), the coarse location information of the UE.

24. The core network node (304) of claim 23, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to perform any of claims 14 to 22.

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