Method and device for predicting cell measurement result in wireless communication system

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a 5G or 6G communication system for supporting a higher data transmission rate. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, a method performed by a terminal in a wireless communication system comprises the steps of: receiving, from a base station, configuration information for a cell measurement result prediction operation; transmitting, to the base station, a cell measurement result value and a cell measurement prediction value for a specific time point, on the basis of the configuration information; and receiving, from the base station, a message for deactivating the cell measurement result prediction operation.

Description

Method and apparatus for predicting cell measurement results in a wireless communication system

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a wireless communication system. More specifically, the present disclosure relates to a method and apparatus for predicting cell measurement results in a wireless communication system.

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

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

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

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

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

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

[0008] Based on the discussion described above, the present disclosure provides an apparatus and method capable of effectively providing services in a next-generation wireless communication system.

[0009] According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, a method is provided to be performed by a terminal of a wireless communication system. The method comprises the step of receiving setting information for a cell measurement result prediction operation from a base station, wherein the setting information includes information for a time offset representing the difference between a first measurement time point for deriving a cell measurement result prediction value and a second measurement time point for deriving an actual measurement result value corresponding to the cell measurement result prediction value; the step of transmitting a report message to the base station based on the setting information, the report message including information on a pair of the cell measurement result prediction value and the actual measurement result value or information on the performance monitoring result of the cell measurement prediction operation; and the step of receiving a control message from the base station for deactivating the cell measurement prediction operation.

[0010] According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, a method is provided to be performed by a base station of a wireless communication system. The method comprises the step of transmitting setting information for a cell measurement result prediction operation to a terminal, wherein the setting information includes information for a time offset representing the difference between a first measurement time point for deriving a cell measurement result prediction value and a second measurement time point for deriving an actual measurement result value corresponding to the cell measurement result prediction value; the step of receiving a report message from the terminal that includes information regarding a pair of the cell measurement result prediction value and the actual measurement result value or a performance monitoring result of the cell measurement prediction operation; the step of deciding to disable the cell measurement prediction operation based on the report message; and the step of transmitting a control message to the terminal for disabling the cell measurement prediction operation.

[0011] According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, a terminal of a wireless communication system is provided. The terminal comprises at least one transceiver; at least one processor connected to the at least one transceiver so as to be able to communicate with the at least one transceiver; and a memory connected to the at least one processor so as to be able to communicate with the at least one processor. The memory is capable of executing the at least one processor individually or in any combination thereof, so as to allow the terminal to receive setting information for a cell measurement result prediction operation from a base station, wherein the setting information includes information on a time offset representing the difference between a first measurement time point for deriving a cell measurement result prediction value and a second measurement time point for deriving an actual measurement result value corresponding to the cell measurement result prediction value, and stores an instruction to transmit to the base station a report message containing information on a pair of the cell measurement result prediction value and the actual measurement result value or a performance monitoring result of the cell measurement prediction operation based on the setting information, and to receive a control message from the base station for deactivating the cell measurement prediction operation.

[0012] According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, a base station of a wireless communication system is provided. The base station comprises at least one transceiver; at least one processor connected to the at least one transceiver so as to be able to communicate with it; and a memory connected to the at least one processor so as to be able to communicate with it. The memory is capable of executing the at least one processor individually or in any combination thereof, so as to enable the base station to transmit setting information for a cell measurement result prediction operation to a terminal, wherein the setting information includes information on a time offset representing the difference between a first measurement time point for deriving a cell measurement result prediction value and a second measurement time point for deriving an actual measurement result value corresponding to the cell measurement result prediction value; receive a report message from the terminal that includes information on a pair of the cell measurement result prediction value and the actual measurement result value or information on the performance monitoring result of the cell measurement prediction operation; and store an instruction to determine to disable the cell measurement prediction operation based on the report message and to transmit a control message to the terminal for disabling the cell measurement prediction operation.

[0013] The present disclosure provides an apparatus and method capable of effectively providing services in a next-generation wireless communication system.

[0014] FIG. 1 is a drawing illustrating the structure of an NR system according to one embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0015] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a wireless protocol structure in an LTE and NR system according to one embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0016] FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a use case utilizing an AI / ML model for predicting frequency domain cell measurement results in a next-generation mobile communication system according to one embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0017] FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a use case utilizing an AI / ML model for predicting time domain cell measurement results in a next-generation mobile communication system according to one embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0018] FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a specific method for utilizing an AI / ML model to predict frequency domain cell measurement results in a next-generation mobile communication system and evaluating the performance of the AI / ML model according to one embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0019] FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a process in which a base station determines whether to perform a cell measurement result prediction operation based on a frequency domain prediction performance monitoring result, according to one embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0020] FIG. 7 is a flowchart of a process in which a terminal determines whether to perform a cell measurement result prediction operation based on a frequency domain prediction performance monitoring result, according to one embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0021] FIG. 8 is a flowchart of a process in which a base station determines whether to perform a cell measurement result prediction operation based on a time domain prediction performance monitoring result, according to one embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0022] FIG. 9 is a drawing illustrating a terminal device according to one embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0023] FIG. 10 is a drawing illustrating a base station device according to one embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0024] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Furthermore, in describing the present disclosure, if it is determined that a detailed description of related known functions or configurations may unnecessarily obscure the essence of the present invention, such detailed description will be omitted. Additionally, the terms described below are defined considering their functions in the present disclosure, and these may vary depending on the intentions or conventions of the user or operator. Therefore, their definitions should be based on the content throughout this specification.

[0025] The advantages and features of the present disclosure and the methods for achieving them will become clear by referring to the embodiments described below in detail together with the accompanying drawings. However, the present disclosure is not limited to the embodiments disclosed below but may be implemented in various different forms. The embodiments provided are merely to ensure that the disclosure is complete and to fully inform those skilled in the art of the scope of the invention, and the present disclosure is defined only by the scope of the claims. Throughout the specification, the same reference numerals refer to the same components.

[0026] At this point, it will be understood that each block of the process flow diagrams and combinations of the flow diagrams can be executed by computer program instructions. Since these computer program instructions can be loaded into the processor of a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, or other programmable data processing equipment, the instructions executed through the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing equipment create means to perform the functions described in the flow diagram block(s). Since these computer program instructions can also be stored in computer-available or computer-readable memory that can be directed toward the computer or other programmable data processing equipment to implement the function in a specific way, the instructions stored in computer-available or computer-readable memory can also produce a manufactured item containing the means of instruction to perform the function described in the flow diagram block(s). Since computer program instructions can be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing equipment, instructions that perform a series of operation steps on the computer or other programmable data processing equipment to create a process executed by the computer can also provide steps for executing the functions described in the flowchart block(s).

[0027] Additionally, each block may represent a module, segment, or part of code containing one or more executable instructions for executing a specific logical function(s). It should also be noted that in some alternative execution examples, the functions mentioned in the blocks may occur out of order. For example, two blocks described in succession may actually be executed substantially simultaneously, or the blocks may sometimes be executed in reverse order according to their corresponding functions.

[0028] In this embodiment, the term "part" refers to a software or hardware component such as an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) or an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), and the "part" performs certain roles. However, the meaning of "part" is not limited to software or hardware. The "part" may be configured to reside in an addressable storage medium or configured to run one or more processors. Thus, as an example, the "part" includes components such as software components, object-oriented software components, class components, and task components, as well as processes, functions, attributes, procedures, subroutines, segments of program code, drivers, firmware, microcode, circuits, data, databases, data structures, tables, arrays, and variables. The functions provided within the components and "parts" may be combined into a smaller number of components and "parts" or further separated into additional components and "parts." In addition, the components and 'parts' may be implemented to utilize one or more CPUs within the device or secure multimedia card. Also, in the embodiments, 'parts' may include one or more processors.

[0029] In describing the present disclosure below, specific descriptions of related known functions or configurations will be omitted if it is determined that such detailed descriptions would unnecessarily obscure the essence of the present disclosure. Embodiments of the present disclosure will be described below with reference to the attached drawings.

[0030] Terms used in the following description to identify connection nodes, terms referring to network entities, terms referring to messages, terms referring to interfaces between network entities, terms referring to various identification information, etc., are examples provided for the convenience of explanation. Accordingly, the present disclosure is not limited to the terms described below, and other terms referring to objects having equivalent technical meanings may be used.

[0031] In the following description, the terms "physical channel" and "signal" may be used interchangeably with "data" or "control signal." For example, PDSCH (physical downlink shared channel) is a term referring to a physical channel through which data is transmitted, but PDSCH may also be used to refer to data. That is, in this disclosure, the expression "transmits a physical channel" may be interpreted as equivalent to the expression "transmits data or a signal through a physical channel."

[0032] In the present disclosure, upper signaling refers to a signal transmission method transmitted from a base station to a terminal using a physical layer downlink data channel, or from a terminal to a base station using a physical layer uplink data channel. Upper signaling may be understood as radio resource control (RRC) signaling or a media access control (MAC) control element (CE).

[0033] For convenience of explanation, the present disclosure uses terms and names defined in the 3GPP NR (3rd Generation Partnership Project NR (New Radio)) or 3GPP LTE (3rd Generation Partnership Project Long Term Evolution) standards. However, the present disclosure is not limited by the above terms and names and may be applied equally to systems conforming to other standards. In the present disclosure, gNB may be used interchangeably with eNB for convenience of explanation. That is, a base station described as an eNB may represent a gNB. Additionally, the term terminal may refer to mobile phones, MTC devices, NB-IoT devices, sensors, as well as other wireless communication devices.

[0034] Hereinafter, the base station is an entity that performs resource allocation for terminals and may be at least one of a gNodeB (gNB), eNode B (eNB), NodeB, BS (Base Station), wireless access unit, base station controller, or a node on a network. The terminal may include a UE (User Equipment), MS (Mobile Station), cellular phone, smartphone, computer, or a multimedia system capable of performing communication functions. Of course, it is not limited to the above examples.

[0035] FIG. 1 is a drawing illustrating the structure of an NR system according to one embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0036] Referring to FIG. 1, a wireless communication system may be composed of multiple base stations (e.g., gNB (105), ng-eNB (110), ng-eNB (115), gNB (120)), an Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) (125), and a User Plane Function (UPF) (130). A user terminal (User Equipment, hereinafter UE or terminal) (135) can connect to an external network through the base stations (e.g., gNB (105), ng-eNB (110), ng-eNB (115), gNB (120)) and the UPF (130).

[0037] In FIG. 1, base stations (e.g., gNB (105), ng-eNB (110), ng-eNB (115), gNB (120)) can provide wireless access to terminals connected to the network as access nodes of a cellular network. That is, the base stations (e.g., gNB (105), ng-eNB (110), ng-eNB (115), gNB (120)) can support a connection between the terminals and the core network (CN, Core network; specifically, the CN of NR is referred to as 5GC) by collecting state information such as the buffer state, available transmission power state, and channel state of the terminals to service the traffic of the users and scheduling. Meanwhile, in communication, the User Plane (UP), which is related to the transmission of actual user data, and the Control Plane (CP), which is related to connection management, can be configured separately. In this drawing, gNB (105) and gNB (120) use the UP and CP technologies defined in NR technology, and ng-eNB (110) and ng-eNB (115), although connected to 5GC, can use the UP and CP technologies defined in LTE technology.

[0038] The above AMF (125) is a device that is responsible for various control functions as well as mobility management functions for the terminal and is connected to multiple base stations, and the UPF (130) may refer to a type of gateway device that provides data transmission. Although not shown in FIG. 1, the NR wireless communication system may include a Session Management Function (SMF). The SMF can manage packet data network connections, such as protocol data unit (PDU) sessions provided to the terminal.

[0039] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a wireless protocol structure in an LTE and NR system according to one embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0040] Referring to FIG. 2, the wireless protocol of the LTE system may consist of a PDCP (Packet Data Convergence Protocol) (205)(240), RLC (Radio Link Control) (210)(235), MAC (Medium Access Control) (215)(230), and a physical (PHY) layer (220)(225) at the terminal and eNB, respectively.

[0041] The PDCP (Packet Data Convergence Protocol) (205)(240) is responsible for operations such as IP header compression / decompression, and the Radio Link Control (hereinafter referred to as RLC) (210)(235) can reconfigure the PDCP PDU (Protocol Data Unit) to an appropriate size. The MAC (215)(230) is connected to multiple RLC layer devices configured in a terminal and can perform operations to multiplex RLC PDUs into MAC PDUs and demultiplex RLC PDUs from MAC PDUs. The physical (PHY) layer (220)(225) can perform operations to channel code and modulate upper layer data, create OFDM symbols to transmit over the wireless channel, or demodulate OFDM symbols received through the wireless channel, channel decode them, and transmit them to the upper layer.

[0042] In addition, HARQ (Hybrid ARQ) is used at the physical layer for additional error correction, and the receiver can transmit a 1-bit indication of whether the packet sent by the transmitter has been received. This can be referred to as HARQ ACK / NACK information. In the case of LTE, downlink HARQ ACK / NACK information regarding uplink data transmission is transmitted via the PHICH (Physical Hybrid-ARQ Indicator Channel) physical channel; in the case of NR, it is possible to determine whether retransmission is required or if a new transmission can be performed through the terminal's scheduling information on the PDCCH (Physical Downlink Control Channel), which is the channel where downlink / uplink resource allocation is transmitted. This is because asynchronous HARQ is applied in NR.

[0043] Uplink HARQ ACK / NACK information for downlink data transmission can be transmitted via a physical channel such as PUCCH (Physical Uplink Control Channel) or PUSCH (Physical Uplink Shared Channel). The PUCCH is generally transmitted in the uplink of the PCell described below, but if the base station supports it, it may additionally transmit it to the SCell described below to the terminal, which can be referred to as the PUCCH SCell.

[0044] Although not shown in this drawing, an RRC (Radio Resource Control) layer may exist above the PDCP layer of the terminal and the base station, respectively, and the RRC layer may exchange connection and measurement-related setting control messages for wireless resource control.

[0045] Meanwhile, the above PHY layer can be composed of one or more frequencies / carriers, and the technology of setting and using multiple frequencies simultaneously is called carrier aggregation (hereinafter referred to as CA). CA technology allows for a significant increase in transmission capacity by the number of secondary carriers by using one or more secondary carriers in addition to the primary carrier, whereas previously only one carrier was used for communication between a terminal (or User Equipment, UE) and a base station (E-UTRAN NodeB, eNB). Meanwhile, in LTE, a cell within a base station that uses the primary carrier can be referred to as a primary cell or PCell (Primary Cell), and a cell within a base station that uses a secondary carrier can be referred to as a secondary cell or SCell (Secondary Cell).

[0046] FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a use case utilizing an AI / ML model for predicting frequency domain cell measurement results in a next-generation mobile communication system according to one embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0047] Referring to FIG. 3, an AI / ML (artificial intelligence / machine learning) model can be utilized to predict cell measurement results in the frequency domain. For reference, the cell measurement results may refer to the RSRP (reference signal received power), RSRQ (reference signal received quality), and SINR (signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio) values ​​measured by the terminal for each cell. Additionally, for each cell, if there are multiple beams transmitted by the cell, the cell measurement results may include the RSRP / RSRQ / SINR values ​​measured by the terminal for each beam. The RSRP / RSRQ / SINR values ​​may refer to one of the following values.

[0048] - RSRP and / or RSRQ and / or SINR measured at Layer 1

[0049] - RSRP and / or RSRQ and / or SINR measured / acquired at Layer 3

[0050] - Values ​​obtained by filtering RSRP and / or RSRQ and / or SINR measured at Layer 1 (e.g., (weighted) average values ​​using measurements over a specified period)

[0051] - Values ​​obtained by filtering RSRP and / or RSRQ and / or SINR measured / acquired at Layer 3 (e.g., (weighted) average values ​​using measurements over a specified period)

[0052] The meaning (or definition) of the cell measurement results above can be applied equally to all embodiments of Figures 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 below.

[0053] When predicting cell measurement results in the frequency domain, the AI / ML model (300) can be trained such that when cell measurement results obtained in the past (e.g., Mt cell measurement results measured during the time period from t_k-Mt to t_k) (305) are input to the AI / ML model, the model outputs a prediction result (310) of a measurement of a different frequency band for the same period (from t_k-Mt to t_k) as the time at which the input was obtained. However, the output does not necessarily have to be limited to the same period as the time at which the input was obtained, and may include a prediction result for a time point before t_k-Mt or a prediction result for a time point after t_k.

[0054] According to an embodiment of the present invention, an AI / ML model for predicting cell measurement results in the aforementioned frequency domain may be used at a terminal or a base station. When the AI / ML model for predicting cell measurement results is used (or inferred) at a base station, the base station may instruct the terminal to report the necessary past cell measurement results as the input to the AI / ML model for predicting cell measurement results. Subsequently, the base station may perform a model inference operation using the input data and obtain a predicted cell measurement result for a different frequency band in the same time interval (or future) as the past cell measurement result as the output of the model.

[0055] Conversely, when an AI / ML model for predicting cell measurement results is used (or inferred) at the terminal end, the terminal can independently obtain the necessary historical cell measurement results as input to the AI / ML model. Subsequently, the terminal performs a model inference operation using the input data and can obtain predicted cell measurement results for a different frequency band within the same time interval (or future) as the historical cell measurement results as the model output. The base station can configure or instruct the terminal to perform the cell measurement result prediction operation and report the result value.

[0056] Predicted future cell measurement results in the frequency domain can be used for the following purposes.

[0057] If the first terminal (335) requires measurement for an inter-band frequency and does not have dual-band reception capability, the base station (330) may generally set a measurement gap to instruct the terminal to attempt cell measurement at another frequency (320, f2) while temporarily suspending data transmission and reception at the frequency (325, f1) currently connected. If the AI / ML model (300) described above is used, the base station may utilize the terminal's AI / ML model to instruct the terminal to replace the cell measurement result for another frequency with the cell measurement prediction result of the AI / ML model without setting a measurement gap.

[0058] Alternatively, if the base station utilizes an AI / ML model, the base station may instruct the terminal to report the measurement results of the currently connected cell, and based on this information, replace the cell measurement results for other frequencies with the cell measurement prediction results of the AI / ML model. In the above example, a decrease in the terminal's data transmission rate caused by the measurement gap setting and operation can be prevented.

[0059] If a second terminal requires measurement for an inter-band frequency and the terminal has dual-band reception capability, the base station may instruct the terminal to attempt cell measurement at a different frequency (320, f2) without setting a measurement gap. However, in this case, the terminal may need to operate additional hardware (e.g., an antenna) to attempt cell measurement at the different frequency, which may increase the terminal's energy consumption. On the other hand, if the terminal predicts cell measurement values ​​at the different frequency through the AI / ML model described above, it can operate without the need to operate additional hardware, thereby saving energy.

[0060] In the above example, it is described that a cell result for one frequency band (f2) is predicted based on a cell result for one frequency band (f1) at a single base station (330) operating two frequencies; however, it is also possible to derive cell prediction results for multiple frequency bands based on cell results for multiple frequency bands, and cell measurement results operated by a surrounding base station may also be used as input or predicted as output. Hereinafter, the term 'measurement result' mentioned in this disclosure may be used interchangeably with terms such as 'measurement', 'measurement value', or 'measurement value', and the term 'prediction result' may be used interchangeably with terms such as 'prediction', 'prediction value', or 'prediction value'.

[0061] FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a use case utilizing an AI / ML model for predicting time domain cell measurement results in a next-generation mobile communication system according to one embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0062] Referring to FIG. 4, an AI / ML model can be used to predict cell measurement results in the time domain. When predicting cell measurement results in the time domain, the AI / ML model can be trained such that when a cell measurement result (405) obtained in the past (e.g., Mt cell measurement results measured during the time period from t_k-Mt to t_k) is input to the AI / ML model (400), the output of the model is a prediction result (410) of future cell measurement results (e.g., Pt cell measurement results predicted during the time period from t_k+1 to t_k+Pt).

[0063] According to an embodiment of the present invention, an AI / ML model for predicting cell measurement results in the aforementioned time domain may be used at a terminal or base station. When an AI / ML model for predicting cell measurement results is used (or inferred) at a base station, the base station may instruct the terminal to report past cell measurement results required as input to the AI / ML model for predicting cell measurement results. Subsequently, the base station may perform a model inference operation using the input data and obtain a predicted result of future cell measurement results as the output of the model.

[0064] Conversely, when an AI / ML model for predicting cell measurement results is used (or inferred) at the terminal end, the terminal can independently obtain the necessary past cell measurement results as input to the AI / ML model. Subsequently, the terminal can perform a model inference operation using the input data and obtain a predicted result of future cell measurement results as the output of the model. The base station can configure or instruct the terminal to perform the cell measurement result prediction operation and report the result value.

[0065] Predicted future cell measurement results in the time domain can be used for two main purposes.

[0066] The first objective is to improve the handover performance of the terminal. Based on predicted future cell measurement results, the base station can predict the optimal cell for a rapidly moving terminal in advance and hand over the terminal to the optimal cell at an appropriate time. More specifically, the base station can receive cell measurement results by periodically receiving a measurement report from the terminal and hand over the terminal to the optimal cell based on this.

[0067] However, due to changes in the actual channel environment based on the cell measurement result reporting cycle (measurement report transmission cycle), a delay may occur between the time the optimal cell changes and the time the base station receives the measurement report from the terminal and identifies it. Furthermore, if the terminal moves rapidly, this delay in the change of cell measurement results can cause the terminal to fail the handover.

[0068] For example, when a base station receives a measurement report from a terminal and decides to hand over the terminal, it may fail to hand over the terminal in a timely manner due to the delay time from requesting a handover from an adjacent base station corresponding to the target handover cell and receiving approval, causing the terminal to fall into a Radio Link Failure (RLF) state. To improve this problem, the base station can prevent handover failure by predicting the optimal cell change of the terminal in advance based on predicted cell measurement results in the time domain and handing over the terminal at an appropriate time.

[0069] The second objective is to reduce the measurement overhead of the terminal. The terminal can reduce the cell measurement overhead while maintaining handover performance by skipping the cell measurement performed every SSB cycle (Tper) and replacing the cell measurement value at that point with a predicted cell measurement result. More specifically, the terminal can measure the cell signal strength every SSB cycle and perform RRM (Radio Resource Management) related operations based on the measured value.

[0070] The above RRM operation may include operations such as detecting and reporting RRM measurement events and detecting RLF (Radio Link Failure). For the above RRM operation, instead of using the result value measured every SSB cycle Tper, the terminal may skip an SSB measurement once in a while and use the result value measured every 2*Tper. If the RRM operation is performed using only the result value measured every 2*Tper as described above, the cell measurement load of the terminal is reduced by 50%, but the accuracy of the RRM operation may decrease. For example, measurement events and RLF may not be detected in time.

[0071] Furthermore, this can eventually lead to a degradation in the terminal's handover performance. Therefore, to prevent handover performance degradation while reducing the cell measurement load, the terminal can predict the cell measurement result at the point where the measurement was skipped and use that result in the RRM operation. By doing so, the terminal can reduce the cell measurement load without degrading the terminal's handover performance.

[0072] FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a specific method for utilizing an AI / ML model to predict frequency domain cell measurement results in a next-generation mobile communication system and evaluating the performance of the AI / ML model according to one embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0073] In the case where an AI / ML model is utilized as described in Fig. 3, the terminal can derive Mt cell prediction results at different frequencies (f2) at the same time point by utilizing Mt samples measured at the currently connected frequency (f1) in the prediction mode (500).

[0074] However, cases where the performance of an AI / ML model is evaluated based on the dual-band simultaneous reception capability of the currently used terminal can be classified into three categories as follows.

[0075] Performance monitoring method 1 (505): If the terminal has dual band reception capability, the base station may instruct the terminal to simultaneously collect (1) Mt cell prediction results at another frequency (f2) at the same time and (2) Mt cell measurement results at another frequency (f2) at the same time by utilizing Mt samples measured at the currently connected frequency (f1).

[0076] Performance monitoring method 2 (510): When a terminal does not have dual band reception capability, the base station may instruct the terminal to collect (1) Mt cell prediction results at a different frequency (f2) at the same time point and (2) Mt cell measurement results at a different frequency (f2) at a time point with a time difference of time offset by utilizing Mt samples measured at the currently connected frequency (f1). At this time, the base station may share information regarding the time offset with the terminal in advance so that the terminal can collect the information only for the time offset value agreed upon in advance, and the method of determining the time offset value will be explained in detail later.

[0077] Performance monitoring method 3 (515): If a terminal does not have dual band reception capability but can perform time domain prediction using the AI / ML model (400) described in FIG. 4, the base station may have the terminal predict cell measurement results for a future time point after Mt samples using Mt samples measured at the currently connected frequency (f1). In addition, in this case, the base station may have the terminal predict Mt cell measurement results of the frequency (f2) at the same time point as the time domain prediction using the time domain prediction (using the frequency domain AI / ML model), and may also instruct the terminal to collect the measured results at that time point. In this method, the terminal or the base station may already be aware of the performance regarding the accuracy of the time domain AI / ML model, and if the terminal is aware of the performance regarding the accuracy of the AI / ML model, the base station may request the terminal to report the relevant information. Through this, when the terminal or the base station compares the measured performance and the predicted performance using the relevant information, the error in the time domain prediction can be corrected.

[0078] In FIGS. 6 and 7 of the present invention, specific embodiments of a method and procedure for a base station to instruct and control a terminal to predict a frequency domain cell measurement result are described in a scenario where a frequency domain cell measurement result prediction AI / ML model is used at the terminal end for predicting a cell measurement result as one of the methods described above.

[0079] FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a process in which a base station determines whether to perform a cell measurement result prediction operation based on a frequency domain prediction performance monitoring result, according to one embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0080] Referring to FIG. 6, the terminal (600) reports to the base station (605) whether it supports a frequency domain cell measurement result prediction function, and the base station may instruct the terminal to predict the cell measurement result if the terminal supports the function. Subsequently, the terminal may perform a cell measurement result prediction operation in accordance with the base station's instructions. The terminal or the base station may continuously check (monitor) the accuracy (or performance) of the cell measurement result prediction being performed by the terminal. Subsequently, the base station may determine whether the terminal will continue to perform the frequency domain cell measurement result prediction operation based on the results of monitoring the terminal's prediction accuracy (or performance). If the base station decides to disable the terminal's frequency domain cell measurement result prediction operation, the base station may instruct the terminal to disable the operation. Specific step-by-step signaling and operations between the terminal and the base station for the operations described above are described in more detail below. However, each step described below is not necessarily required to be performed, and some steps may be omitted.

[0081] In step 610, the base station (605) and the terminal (600) may exchange terminal capability information related to cell measurement result prediction. More specifically, the base station may transmit an RRC message requesting terminal capability (e.g., a UECapabilityEnquiry message) to the terminal, and the terminal may transmit to the base station an RRC message reporting terminal capability (e.g., a UECapabilityInformation message) containing at least one of the following indicators or a combination thereof representing terminal capability information related to cell measurement prediction (i.e., RRM measurement prediction).

[0082] - Indicator indicating whether RRM measurement prediction for inter-band frequency is supported: If the terminal supports the cell measurement result prediction operation described in FIG. 5 above, it may include the corresponding indicator in the RRC message (or set it to a True / Supported value) and transmit it to the base station. For reference, the cell measurement result prediction operation may refer to an operation that predicts RSRP / SINR / RSRQ measurement results for each cell / beam. More specifically, the indicator may indicate whether the terminal can predict cell measurement results existing at different frequencies and report them to the base station.

[0083] - Indicator indicating whether dual reception for inter-band frequency is supported: The terminal can indicate through the indicator whether it can operate in performance monitoring method 1 of FIG. 5. The indicator can help the base station determine the terminal's performance monitoring method. If the value of the indicator is 'false', the base station can recognize that the terminal cannot operate in performance monitoring method 1 and can instruct the terminal to operate in performance monitoring method 2 or 3 of FIG. 5.

[0084] - Indicator indicating whether RRM measurement temporal prediction is supported: If the terminal cannot operate in the performance monitoring method 1 of FIG. 5, the terminal may additionally use the said indicator to determine whether to operate in the performance monitoring method 2 or 3 of FIG. 5. If the value of the said indicator is 'false', the base station may recognize that the terminal cannot operate in the performance monitoring method 3 of FIG. 5 and may instruct the terminal to operate in the performance monitoring method 2 of FIG. 5.

[0085] For reference, the terminal (600) may report the above-described terminal capability information to the base station (605) in units of terminal (UE), frequency range, frequency band, band combination, feature set, feature set combination, or feature set per component carrier.

[0086] In step 621, the base station may transmit (initial) settings to the terminal to instruct the terminal to perform a cell measurement result prediction operation in one of the methods described in FIG. 5 above. The settings may include a target cell setting for which the cell measurement result is to be predicted, a reporting setting for the cell measurement prediction result (e.g., reporting period and content, reporting type (periodical, event-triggered), etc.).

[0087] If the performance monitoring method 2 or 3 of FIG. 5 is configured to be used, information related to the time offset may be included through step 621. The base station may specify a single time offset value so that cell measurement at a time corresponding to that time offset may be performed, as described in performance monitoring method 2 or 3 of FIG. 5. The signal that can be measured at this time may be a periodic / non-periodic reference signal already in operation in the cell, such as SSB / CSI-RS, or a newly defined signal to support performance monitoring methods 1, 2, and 3 of FIG. 5.

[0088] Due to the allocation patterns of the aforementioned signals and the influence of the switching delay for the terminal's frequency change, accurate measurements may not be taken at a time point corresponding to the time offset. To address this, the base station may define an allowable time error before and after the time offset, which can be set by considering the SSB / CSI-RS period and the maximum value of the switching delay. Alternatively, the base station may designate a group of multiple time offset values, and the terminal may attempt cell measurement by applying the time offset with the highest priority among the candidates that is measurable. In this case as well, an allowable time error can be defined for each time offset value.

[0089] Additionally or optionally, the base station may set multiple measurement result prediction operations for multiple cells / MOs (measurement objects). In this case, setting information such as the reporting settings for the cell measurement prediction results and the prediction window length described above may be provided for each measurement prediction operation, and each measurement prediction operation may be associated with a specific ID value (e.g., predictId). Additionally or optionally, the base station may be configured to report applicability-related information indicating whether the terminal can perform the cell measurement result prediction operation according to the initial settings.

[0090] More specifically, the base station may provide the terminal with the initial settings an indicator to instruct the terminal to report applicability-related information via the UEAssistanceInformation or RRCReconfigurationComplete message. If multiple measurement result prediction operations are configured for the terminal, the terminal may be configured to report applicability-related information separately for each measurement result prediction operation (i.e., for each predictId). Additionally, or optionally, the base station may provide the terminal with the initial settings configuration information required to perform the NW-side monitoring procedure (630) and UE-side monitoring procedure (640) described below. The specific configuration information required for the monitoring procedure is described together in the description of the NW-side monitoring procedure (630) and UE-side monitoring procedure (640) below. A specific RRC message (e.g., RRCReconfiguration) may be used for the configuration.

[0091] In step 623, the terminal may report to the base station, through applicability-related information, whether it can perform a cell measurement result prediction operation according to the cell prediction setting in step 621. To this end, a 1-bit indicator may be used to indicate whether the cell measurement result prediction operation can be performed.

[0092] More specifically, if the terminal has a model available for predicting cell measurement results according to the base station settings in step 621 and can perform cell measurement result prediction using said model, it may report to the base station by including a 1-bit indicator to indicate whether the cell measurement result prediction operation can be performed (or set to 'True' / 'Available' / 'Supported'). If the terminal does not have a model available for predicting cell measurement results according to the base station settings in step 621, or if it cannot perform cell measurement result prediction using said model due to terminal constraints (e.g., insufficient memory, overheating, insufficient battery, etc.), it may report to the base station by omitting a 1-bit indicator to indicate whether the cell measurement result prediction operation can be performed (or set to 'False' / 'NotAvailable' / 'NotSupported').

[0093] If multiple measurement result prediction operations are set for the terminal in step 621 above, the terminal can individually report applicability-related information (the above 1-bit indicator) for each measurement result prediction operation (in other words, for each predictId).

[0094] For the above report, a specific RRC message (e.g., UEAssistanceInformation or RRCReconfigurationComplete) may be used. If the terminal reports that the cell measurement result prediction operation cannot be performed, the base station may return to step 621 and provide the terminal with a new cell measurement result prediction setting. Subsequently, the terminal may determine whether the cell measurement result prediction can be performed again based on the setting and report the result to the base station. Thus, the base station and the terminal may repeat the operations in steps 621 and 623 to discuss an appropriate model (or option) available for the cell measurement result prediction operation.

[0095] In step 625, the base station may set / activate a cell measurement result prediction operation that reduces the cell measurement load to the terminal based on the information reported by the terminal in step 623. To this end, an indicator for activating the cell measurement result prediction operation (or cell measurement load reduction operation) may be included / set in a message transmitted by the base station to the terminal.

[0096] Additionally or optionally, if the base station in step 621 does not transmit the configuration information required by the terminal to perform the NW-side monitoring procedure (630) and the UE-side monitoring procedure (640), the base station may transmit the information together in step 625.

[0097] A predetermined RRC message (e.g., RRCReconfiguration) or MAC CE may be used to set / activate the cell measurement result prediction operation. When the terminal is instructed to activate the cell measurement result prediction operation, the terminal may start the cell measurement result prediction operation and simultaneously perform the necessary operations to execute the NW-side monitoring procedure (630) and the UE-side monitoring procedure (640) as described below.

[0098] As described in Figure 3 above, by having the terminal predict cell measurement information and the terminal and base station utilize the prediction results, it is possible to prevent a drop in data transmission rate caused by the measurement gap setting or to reduce the energy consumption of the terminal. However, if the accuracy of the AI / ML-based cell measurement result prediction is not guaranteed above a certain level, the prediction performance of the terminal may actually deteriorate.

[0099] For example, if a terminal predicts that the signal strength for cell A on a different frequency is good, the base station may instruct the terminal to hand over to cell A based on the prediction result. However, if the accuracy (or performance) of the prediction is poor and the actual signal strength for cell A is poor, the terminal may fail to hand over to cell A. Therefore, the terminal and the base station need to continuously check (or monitor) the performance / accuracy of the cell measurement result predictions made by the terminal.

[0100] If the performance / accuracy of the cell measurement result prediction falls below a certain level, the base station may decide to disable the terminal's cell measurement result prediction operation and instruct the terminal to disable said operation. For reference, the performance / accuracy of the cell measurement result prediction can be calculated as the difference between the predicted result value and the actual measured result value. More specifically, when predicting and measuring RSRP / RSRQ / SINR for each cell in dB units, the RSRP / RSRQ / SINR difference between the predicted value and the measured value is calculated in dB units and can be used to determine the performance / accuracy of the prediction.

[0101] To monitor the performance / accuracy of the prediction behavior of these cell measurement results, at least one of the following two methods or a combination thereof may be used.

[0102] <Method 1: (NW-side monitoring, NW-side decision)(630)>

[0103] The base station can directly monitor the performance (accuracy) of the terminal's cell measurement result prediction operation and determine whether to enable or disable the cell measurement result prediction operation. The specific signaling procedure between the terminal and the base station for this purpose is as described below.

[0104] In step 631, the terminal periodically transmits a measurement (or monitoring) report to the base station, and may include both the measurement results and the prediction results for a specific time domain within the report. This is to help the base station calculate the prediction accuracy (e.g., RSRP / RSRQ / SINR difference) value through the measurement results and the prediction results. A specific RRC message (e.g., MeasurementReport, MonitoringReport, PredictionReport, etc.) may be used for the above report.

[0105] The terminal may report result values ​​measured at one or more points in time and predicted result values ​​together within the above-mentioned report message. More specifically, result values ​​measured at the same point in time and predicted result values ​​may be linked together as pairs, and multiple pairs may be reported together for multiple points in time.

[0106] As described above, two options can be considered to configure the terminal to periodically report measurement results and prediction results together.

[0107] * Option 1 (Setting up a separate reporting procedure for performance monitoring):

[0108] In the above steps 621 and / or 625, the base station may be configured to have the terminal report both the cell measurement value and the predicted value within the monitoring window that occurs at each monitoring interval while performing a cell measurement result prediction operation. To this end, the base station may set the monitoring interval and / or monitoring window length to the terminal. In this case, the monitoring interval and / or monitoring window length may be set in units of frame, slot, symbol, second, millisecond, or microsecond. The terminal may perform both actual measurement and prediction within the monitoring window set by the base station and report the result value to the base station at the monitoring interval.

[0109] As mentioned in step 621, when time offset-related information is set (i.e., when performance monitoring method 2 or 3 of FIG. 5 is used), the terminal may report the relevant information together. For example, if multiple available time offset values ​​are set, the terminal may specify the time offset value used from the value measured for the current report. Also, when performance monitoring method 3 of FIG. 5 is used and it is necessary to report the time offset value, the terminal may report the accuracy of the known time prediction (e.g., RSRP difference) for the corresponding time offset instead of reporting the time offset value. For example, since the terminal can compare the two results by performing an actual measurement after a time offset from the time when the time prediction was performed, the terminal may know and / or store the accuracy of the time prediction (e.g., RSRP difference) for each time offset based on the time prediction results performed in the past and the corresponding actual measurement results. In addition, even when performance monitoring method 3 of Fig. 5 is used and there is no need to report the time offset value (i.e., when the base station has instructed measurement and prediction for a single time offset), the terminal can report the known time prediction accuracy for the time offset.

[0110] If the base station can use an AI / ML model identical to that of the terminal, or if it can use an AI / ML model that performs the same function as the terminal (in this case, there may be a difference in performance compared to the model possessed by the terminal), the terminal may be instructed to omit the prediction result value when reporting. In this case, the base station may verify the terminal's prediction performance by running the AI / ML model possessed by the base station based on the measurement result value sent by the terminal.

[0111] * Option 2 (Recycle forecast reporting procedure settings):

[0112] In the above steps 621 and / or 625, the base station may configure the terminal to periodically report the predicted result value within the prediction window at each prediction report interval while performing a cell measurement result prediction operation (in other words, to report the predicted result value including it in the prediction or measurement report). At this time, for the monitoring procedure, the base station may configure the terminal to report the actual measured result value together with the predicted result value within the prediction window. To this end, the base station may include a 1-bit indicator to instruct the terminal to report the predicted result value and the measured result value together within the prediction window.

[0113] As mentioned in step 621, when time offset-related information is set (i.e., when performance monitoring method 2 or 3 of FIG. 5 is used), the terminal may report the relevant information together. For example, if multiple available time offset values ​​are set, the terminal may specify the time offset value used from the value measured for the current report. Also, when performance monitoring method 3 of FIG. 5 is used and there is a need to report the time offset value, the terminal may report the accuracy of the known time prediction (e.g., RSRP difference) for the corresponding time offset instead of reporting the time offset value. For example, since the terminal can compare the two results by performing an actual measurement after a time offset from the time when the time prediction was performed, the terminal may know or store the accuracy of the time prediction (e.g., RSRP difference) for each time offset based on the time prediction results performed in the past and the corresponding actual measurement results. In addition, even when performance monitoring method 3 of Fig. 5 is used and there is no need to report the time offset value (i.e., when the base station has instructed measurement and prediction for a single time offset), the terminal can report the known time prediction accuracy for the time offset.

[0114] If the base station can use an AI / ML model identical to that of the terminal, or if it can use an AI / ML model that performs the same function as the terminal (in this case, there may be a difference in performance compared to the model possessed by the terminal), the terminal may be instructed to omit the prediction result value when reporting. In this case, the base station may verify the terminal's prediction performance by running the AI / ML model possessed by the base station based on the measurement result value sent by the terminal.

[0115] Additionally, or optionally, to improve the inefficiency of the terminal reporting both the predicted result and the measured result together with every prediction report transmission, the base station may include a measurement value reporting period 'N' in the above settings so that the measured result is reported together only once every N prediction reports. However, if such prediction reporting procedure settings are reused for monitoring procedure settings, there may be a constraint that the type of the prediction reporting procedure settings must be 'periodical'. This is because if the terminal is configured not to perform prediction reporting periodically but only when a specific event occurs, the base station cannot periodically monitor the accuracy of the cell measurement result predictions performed by the terminal.

[0116] As described in Figure 4 above, when a cell measurement result prediction operation is performed to obtain future cell measurement result values, when the terminal reports prediction results for time points within a future prediction window to the base station, the terminal cannot have actual measurement result values ​​for those time points. Therefore, the terminal can report the measurement result value corresponding to the prediction value within the previous prediction window included in the previous report while reporting the prediction value within a specific prediction window through the transmission of a measurement / prediction report. In this case, the base station can calculate the accuracy of the cell measurement result prediction operation performed by the terminal (e.g., RSRP / RSRQ / SINR difference) by comparing the prediction value for the previous prediction window included in the previous prediction report with the measurement value for the previous prediction window included in the next prediction report.

[0117] In step 633, the base station can continuously monitor the performance / accuracy (e.g., RSRP / RSRQ / SINR difference) of the cell measurement result prediction operation being performed by the terminal based on the actual measurement value and the predicted value for the same point in time reported by the terminal in step 631.

[0118] In step 635, the base station may decide to disable the cell measurement result prediction operation of the terminal based on the monitoring results from step 633. Alternatively, it may decide to change the model used for predicting the cell measurement result, or to disable the cell measurement result prediction operation and fallback to the existing cell measurement operation.

[0119] In step 637, the base station may instruct the terminal to disable the cell measurement result prediction operation (or change the model used for the cell measurement result, or fallback to the existing cell measurement operation). To this end, a predetermined RRC message (e.g., RRCReconfiguration) or MAC CE may be used. At this time, the base station may also instruct / provide the terminal with information indicating the reason / cause of the disable instruction. The field indicating the reason / cause may be set to at least one of the following values ​​or a combination thereof.

[0120] - 'Normal': This may mean that the base station normally disables the terminal's cell measurement result prediction operation. If the terminal's cell measurement result prediction operation is no longer needed from the base station's perspective, the base station may instruct the deactivation of the operation and set the cause value to 'Normal'. If the terminal is instructed to disable the cell measurement result prediction operation along with a cause value set to 'Normal', it may disable the cell measurement result prediction operation and not perform any separate additional actions.

[0121] - 'Performance degradation': This may mean that the base station detects performance degradation (in other words, a decrease in accuracy) of the terminal's cell measurement result prediction operation and disables the operation. When the base station detects performance degradation of the terminal's cell measurement result prediction operation, the base station may instruct the disablement of the operation and set the cause value to 'performance degradation'. When the terminal receives the instruction to disable the cell measurement result prediction operation along with the cause value set to 'performance degradation', the terminal may report to the base station that the cell measurement result prediction operation has become possible again, as in step 623 above, after preparing a new model to be used for the cell measurement result prediction operation.

[0122] <Method 2: (UE-side monitoring, NW-side decision)(640)>

[0123] The terminal can directly monitor the performance / accuracy of the terminal's cell measurement result prediction operation and report the results (in other words, performance metrics) to the base station. The base station can determine whether to enable or disable the cell measurement result prediction operation based on the monitoring results reported by the terminal. The specific signaling procedure between the terminal and the base station for this purpose is described below.

[0124] In step 641, the terminal can continuously monitor the performance / accuracy (e.g., RSRP / RSRQ / SINR difference) of the cell measurement result prediction operation being performed.

[0125] In step 643, the terminal transmits a measurement (or monitoring) report to the base station in a periodic manner or by event triggering, and may include an indicator (e.g., RSRP / RSRQ / SINR difference value) representing the performance / accuracy of the cell measurement result prediction operation within the report. Additionally, or optionally, the terminal may include an indicator in the report requesting the base station to disable the cell measurement result prediction operation or to fallback to the existing measurement operation. A specific RRC message (e.g., MeasurementReport, MonitoringReport, PredictionReport, etc.) may be used for the report. More specifically, as described below, the terminal may report the monitoring results to the base station in a periodic manner or by event triggering.

[0126] * Periodic method:

[0127] In the above steps 621 and / or 625, the base station may be configured to report the performance / accuracy of the cell measurement result prediction operation calculated within a monitoring window that occurs at each monitoring interval while the terminal performs the cell measurement result prediction operation. To this end, the base station may set the monitoring interval and / or monitoring window length to the terminal. At this time, the monitoring interval and / or monitoring window length may be set in units of frame, slot, symbol, second, millisecond, or microsecond. Within the monitoring window set by the base station, the terminal may perform both actual measurement and prediction, calculate an indicator value (e.g., RSRP / RSRQ / SINR difference value) representing the performance / accuracy of the prediction operation, and report the value to the base station at the monitoring interval.

[0128] Additionally, when a time offset value is applied for performance monitoring method 2 or 3 of FIG. 5, the terminal may perform a preliminary step of pre-selecting a time offset to be reported, and may operate by applying a predetermined time offset value to the time of performing the actual measurement and prediction mentioned above.

[0129] * Event Triggering Method:

[0130] In the above steps 621 and / or 625, the base station may be configured to continuously monitor the performance / accuracy of the cell measurement result prediction operation while the terminal performs the cell measurement result prediction operation, and to transmit a measurement (or monitoring) report to the base station when a specific event condition is satisfied. The terminal may include an indicator value (e.g., RSRP / RSRQ / SINR difference value) representing the performance / accuracy of the cell measurement result prediction, along with an indicator indicating that a specific event has occurred, within the report.

[0131] To this end, the base station may configure the terminal to monitor the performance / accuracy of the cell measurement result prediction operation (e.g., RSRP / RSRQ / SINR difference value) within a monitoring window that occurs at each monitoring interval and to check whether the reporting event conditions are satisfied. To this end, the base station may set the monitoring interval and / or monitoring window length to the terminal. In this case, the monitoring interval and / or monitoring window length may be set in units of frame, slot, symbol, second, millisecond, or microsecond. Alternatively, the terminal may continuously monitor the performance / accuracy of the cell measurement result prediction operation (e.g., RSRP / RSRQ / SINR difference value) and to check whether the reporting event conditions are satisfied (i.e., in a sliding window manner) without setting a separate monitoring interval / window.

[0132] The terminal may transmit a measurement (or monitoring) report to the base station when at least one of the events described below is satisfied. Additionally, when a time offset value is applied for performance monitoring method 2 or 3 of FIG. 5, the terminal may perform a preliminary step of pre-selecting the time offset to be reported, and may operate by applying a predetermined time offset value to the time of performing the actual measurement and prediction mentioned above.

[0133] - Event 1: When the average (or filtered) RSRP / RSRQ / SINR difference value (calculated within the monitoring window) exceeds a specific difference threshold, the terminal may transmit a measurement (or monitoring) report to the base station. To this end, the base station may set a threshold value for the terminal required to verify whether the event condition is satisfied in steps 621 and / or 625. More specifically, the threshold value may be set for the terminal in dB units.

[0134] - Event M2: If the average (or filtered) RSRP / RSRQ / SINR difference value (calculated within the monitoring window) is consistently greater than a specific difference threshold for a specific time to trigger, the terminal may transmit a measurement (or monitoring) report to the base station. To this end, the base station may set the difference threshold and the time to trigger required to verify whether the event condition is satisfied in step 621 and / or step 625 for the terminal.

[0135] - Event M3: When the frequency (number of times per unit time) of the real-time / instantaneous RSRP / RSRQ / SINR difference value (calculated within the monitoring window) being higher than a specific difference threshold becomes higher than a specific frequency threshold, the terminal may transmit a measurement (or monitoring) report to the base station. To this end, the base station may set the difference threshold and frequency threshold required to verify whether the event condition is satisfied in step 621 and / or step 625 for the terminal.

[0136] In step 645, the base station may decide to disable the terminal's cell measurement result prediction operation based on the monitoring results included in the measurement / prediction / monitoring report transmitted by the terminal in step 643. Alternatively, it may decide to change the model used for predicting cell measurement results, or to disable the cell measurement result prediction operation and fallback to the existing cell measurement operation.

[0137] In step 647, the base station may instruct the terminal to disable the cell measurement result prediction operation (or change the model used for the cell measurement result, or fallback to the existing cell measurement operation). To this end, a predetermined RRC message (e.g., RRCReconfiguration) or MAC CE may be used. At this time, the base station may also instruct / provide the terminal with information indicating the reason / cause of the disable instruction. The field indicating the reason / cause may be set to at least one of the following values ​​or a combination thereof.

[0138] - 'Normal': This may mean that the base station normally disables the terminal's cell measurement result prediction operation. If the terminal's cell measurement result prediction operation is no longer needed from the base station's perspective, the base station instructs the deactivation of the operation and may set the cause value to 'Normal'. If the terminal is instructed to disable the cell measurement result prediction operation along with a cause value set to 'Normal', it may disable the cell measurement result prediction operation and not perform any separate additional actions.

[0139] - 'Performance degradation': This may mean that the base station detects performance degradation (in other words, a decrease in accuracy) of the terminal's cell measurement result prediction operation and disables the operation. When the base station detects performance degradation of the terminal's cell measurement result prediction operation, the base station disables the operation and may set the cause value to 'performance degradation'. When the terminal receives the cause value set to 'performance degradation' along with the instruction to disable the cell measurement result prediction operation, the terminal may report to the base station that the cell measurement result prediction operation has become possible again, as in step 623 above, after preparing a new model to be used for the cell measurement result prediction operation.

[0140] FIG. 7 is a flowchart of a process in which a terminal determines whether to perform a cell measurement result prediction operation based on a frequency domain prediction performance monitoring result, according to one embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0141] Referring to FIG. 7, the terminal (700) reports to the base station (705) whether it supports a cell measurement result prediction function, and the base station may instruct the terminal to predict the cell measurement result if the terminal supports the function. Subsequently, the terminal may perform a cell measurement result prediction operation in accordance with the base station's instructions. The terminal may continuously check (monitor) the performance / accuracy of the cell measurement result prediction being performed. Subsequently, the terminal may determine whether to continue performing the cell measurement result prediction operation based on the results of monitoring the prediction performance / accuracy. To this end, the base station may provide the terminal with configuration information necessary for the terminal to determine whether to perform the cell measurement result prediction operation based on the monitoring results. If the terminal decides to disable the cell measurement result prediction operation, the terminal may disable the operation and report the result to the base station. Specific step-by-step signaling and operations between the terminal and the base station for the operations described above are described in more detail below. However, each step described below is not necessarily required to be performed, and some steps may be omitted.

[0142] In step 710, the base station (705) and the terminal (700) may exchange terminal capability information related to cell measurement result prediction. More specifically, the base station may transmit an RRC message requesting terminal capability (e.g., a UECapabilityEnquiry message) to the terminal, and the terminal may transmit to the base station an RRC message reporting terminal capability (e.g., a UECapabilityInformation message) containing at least one of the following indicators or a combination thereof representing terminal capability information related to cell measurement prediction (i.e., RRM measurement prediction).

[0143] - Indicator indicating whether RRM measurement prediction for inter-band frequency is supported: If the terminal supports the cell measurement result prediction operation described in FIG. 5 above, it may include the corresponding indicator in the RRC message (or set it to a True / Supported value) and transmit it to the base station. For reference, the cell measurement result prediction operation may refer to an operation that predicts RSRP / SINR / RSRQ measurement results for each cell / beam. More specifically, the indicator may indicate whether the terminal can predict cell measurement results existing at different frequencies and report them to the base station.

[0144] - Indicator indicating whether dual reception for inter-band frequency is supported: The terminal can indicate through the indicator whether it can operate in performance monitoring method 1 of FIG. 5. The indicator can help the base station determine the terminal's performance monitoring method. If the value of the indicator is 'false', the base station can recognize that the terminal cannot operate in performance monitoring method 1 and can instruct the terminal to operate in performance monitoring method 2 or 3 of FIG. 5.

[0145] - Indicator indicating whether RRM measurement temporal prediction is supported: If the terminal cannot operate in the performance monitoring method 1 of FIG. 5, the terminal may additionally use the said indicator to determine whether to operate in the performance monitoring method 2 or 3 of FIG. 5. If the value of the said indicator is 'false', the base station may recognize that the terminal cannot operate in the performance monitoring method 3 of FIG. 5 and may instruct the terminal to operate in the performance monitoring method 2 of FIG. 5.

[0146] For reference, the terminal (700) may report the terminal capability information described above to the base station (705) in units of terminal (UE), frequency range, frequency band, band combination, feature set, feature set combination, or feature set per component carrier.

[0147] In step 721, the base station may transmit (initial) settings to the terminal to instruct the terminal to perform a cell measurement result prediction operation in one of the methods described in FIG. 5 above. The settings may include a target cell setting for which the cell measurement result is to be predicted, a reporting setting for the cell measurement prediction result (e.g., reporting period and content, reporting type (periodical, event-triggered), etc.), a prediction window length, etc.

[0148] Additionally or optionally, the base station may set multiple measurement result prediction operations for multiple cells / MOs (measurement objects). In this case, setting information such as the reporting settings for the cell measurement prediction results and the prediction window length described above may be provided for each measurement prediction operation, and each measurement prediction operation may be associated with a specific ID value (e.g., predictId). Additionally or optionally, the base station may be configured to report applicability-related information indicating whether the terminal can perform the cell measurement result prediction operation according to the initial settings.

[0149] More specifically, the base station may provide the terminal with the initial settings an indicator to instruct the terminal to report applicability-related information via the UEAssistanceInformation or RRCReconfigurationComplete message. If multiple measurement result prediction operations are configured for the terminal, the terminal may be configured to report applicability-related information separately for each measurement result prediction operation (i.e., for each predictId).

[0150] If the performance monitoring method 2 or 3 of FIG. 5 is configured to be used, information related to the time offset may be included through step 721. The base station may specify a single time offset value, and cell measurement at a point in time corresponding to that time offset may be performed as described in performance monitoring method 2 or 3 of FIG. 5. The signal that can be measured at this time may be a periodic / non-periodic reference signal already in operation in the cell, such as SSB / CSI-RS, or a newly defined signal to support performance monitoring methods 1, 2, and 3 of FIG. 5.

[0151] Due to the allocation patterns of the aforementioned signals and the influence of the switching delay for the terminal's frequency change, accurate measurements may not be taken at a time point corresponding to the time offset. To address this, the base station may define an allowable time error before and after the time offset, which can be set by considering the SSB / CSI-RS period and the maximum value of the switching delay. Alternatively, the base station may designate a group of multiple time offset values, and the terminal may attempt cell measurement by applying the time offset with the highest priority among the candidates that is measurable. In this case as well, an allowable time error can be defined for each time offset value.

[0152] Additionally or optionally, the base station may transmit configuration information required by the terminal to perform the monitoring procedure (726) and control procedure (727) described below, along with the initial configuration. Specific configuration information required for the monitoring and control procedures is described together in the description of the monitoring procedure (726) and control procedure (727) below. A specific RRC message (e.g., RRCReconfiguration) may be used for the configuration.

[0153] In step 723, the terminal may report to the base station, through applicability-related information, whether it can perform a cell measurement result prediction operation according to the cell prediction setting in step 721. To this end, a 1-bit indicator may be used to indicate whether the cell measurement result prediction operation can be performed.

[0154] More specifically, if the terminal has a model available for predicting cell measurement results according to the base station settings in step 721 and can perform cell measurement result prediction using said model, it may report to the base station by including a 1-bit indicator to indicate whether the cell measurement result prediction operation can be performed (or set to 'True' / 'Available' / 'Supported'). If the terminal does not have a model available for predicting cell measurement results according to the base station settings in step 721, or if it cannot perform cell measurement result prediction using said model due to terminal constraints (e.g., insufficient memory, overheating, insufficient battery, etc.), it may report to the base station by omitting a 1-bit indicator to indicate whether the cell measurement result prediction operation can be performed (or set to 'False' / 'NotAvailable' / 'NotSupported').

[0155] If multiple measurement result prediction operations are set for the terminal in step 721 above, the terminal can individually report applicability-related information (the above 1-bit indicator) for each measurement result prediction operation (in other words, for each predictId).

[0156] For the above report, a specific RRC message (e.g., UEAssistanceInformation or RRCReconfigurationComplete) may be used. If the terminal reports that the cell measurement result prediction operation cannot be performed, the base station may return to step 721 and provide a new cell measurement result prediction setting to the terminal. Subsequently, the terminal may determine whether the cell measurement result prediction can be performed again based on the setting and report the result to the base station. Thus, the base station and the terminal may repeat the operations in steps 721 and 723 and discuss an appropriate model (or option) available for the cell measurement result prediction operation.

[0157] In step 725, the base station may set / activate a cell measurement result prediction operation that reduces the cell measurement load for the terminal based on the information reported by the terminal in step 723. To this end, an indicator for activating the cell measurement result prediction operation (or cell measurement load reduction operation) may be included / set in a message transmitted by the base station to the terminal.

[0158] Additionally or optionally, if the base station in step 721 does not transmit the configuration information required for the terminal to perform the monitoring procedure (726) and the control (Management) procedure (727), the base station may transmit the information together in step 725.

[0159] A predetermined RRC message (e.g., RRCReconfiguration) or MAC CE may be used to set / activate the cell measurement result prediction operation. When the terminal is instructed to activate the cell measurement result prediction operation, it may start the cell measurement result prediction operation and simultaneously perform the necessary operations to perform the monitoring procedure (726) and the control (Management) procedure (727) as described below.

[0160] As described in Figure 3 above, by having the terminal predict cell measurement information and the terminal and base station utilize the prediction results, it is possible to prevent a drop in data transmission rate caused by the measurement gap setting or to reduce the energy consumption of the terminal. However, if the accuracy of the AI / ML-based cell measurement result prediction is not guaranteed above a certain level, the prediction performance of the terminal may actually deteriorate.

[0161] For example, if a terminal predicts that the signal strength for a specific cell A will improve over time, the base station may instruct the terminal to hand over to cell A based on the prediction result. However, if the accuracy (or performance) of the prediction is poor and the actual signal strength for cell A does not improve, the terminal may fail to hand over to cell A. Therefore, the terminal needs to continuously check (or monitor) the performance / accuracy of the cell measurement result prediction it performs.

[0162] If the performance / accuracy of the cell measurement result prediction falls below a certain level, the terminal may decide to disable the cell measurement result prediction operation and report the disablement of said operation to the base station. For reference, the performance / accuracy of the cell measurement result prediction can be calculated as the difference between the predicted result value and the actual measured result value. More specifically, when predicting and measuring RSRP / RSRQ / SINR for each cell in dB units, the RSRP / RSRQ / SINR difference between the predicted value and the measured value is calculated in dB units and can be used to determine the performance / accuracy of the prediction.

[0163] In step 726, the terminal may continuously monitor the performance / accuracy of the cell measurement result prediction operation being performed (e.g., RSRP / RSRQ / SINR difference). Alternatively, in steps 721 and / or 725, the base station may be configured to monitor the performance / accuracy of the cell measurement result prediction operation calculated within a monitoring window that occurs at each monitoring interval while the terminal is performing the cell measurement result prediction operation.

[0164] At this time, the monitoring interval and / or monitoring window length can be set in units of frame, slot, symbol, second, millisecond, or microsecond. Alternatively, the terminal can continuously monitor the performance / accuracy of the cell measurement result prediction operation (e.g., RSRP / RSRQ / SINR difference values) without a separate monitoring interval / window setting (i.e., in a sliding window manner).

[0165] If a separate monitoring window is configured, the terminal can monitor the performance / accuracy of the cell measurement result prediction operation only within the monitoring window determined by the base station settings. To monitor within the said monitoring window, the terminal can obtain both the measurement result value and the prediction result value at specific time points included within the monitoring window, calculate the difference between the two values ​​(e.g., RSRP / RSRQ / SINR difference), and use it as an indicator of the performance / accuracy of the cell measurement result prediction operation.

[0166] When the terminal uses performance monitoring method 2 or 3 of FIG. 5, the terminal can perform the aforementioned monitoring procedure on a specific time offset value set by the base station in step 721. If multiple time offset values ​​are set, the terminal can perform the procedure on the time offset with the highest priority. On the other hand, if no priority is assigned to multiple time offset values, the terminal can perform operations such as performing the procedure on the lowest possible value among the possible time offset values.

[0167] For the control procedure in step 727 below, the terminal may use the instantaneous value or the filtered value of the performance / accuracy indicator (e.g., RSRP / RSRQ / SINR difference). In this case, the instantaneous value refers to an indicator calculated at a single point in time, and the filtered value may refer to the average value of an indicator calculated at multiple points in time included within a specific time interval. When the filtered value is used, the base station may set the filtering window length (or the number of points in time to be used for calculating the average value) and the filtering coefficient (in other words, a value indicating how much weight to give to the value measured at each point in time when calculating the average value of indicators measured at multiple points in time) required for filtering to the terminal in steps 721 and / or 725.

[0168] In step 727, the terminal may stop / disable the cell measurement result prediction operation if a specific event occurs while performing monitoring as in step 726. To this end, the base station may configure the terminal in steps 721 and / or 725 to continuously monitor the performance / accuracy of the cell measurement result prediction operation, and to stop / disable the cell measurement result prediction operation and report the result to the base station when a specific event condition is satisfied. The terminal may stop / disable the cell measurement result prediction operation and report the result to the base station if at least one of the events described below is satisfied according to the base station settings.

[0169] - Event 1: If the average (or filtered) RSRP / RSRQ / SINR difference value (calculated within the monitoring window) exceeds a specific difference threshold, the terminal may stop / disable the cell measurement result prediction operation and report the result to the base station in step 729 below. To this end, the base station may set a threshold value for the terminal required to verify whether the event condition is satisfied in steps 721 and / or 725. More specifically, the threshold value may be set for the terminal in dB units.

[0170] - Event M2: If the average (or filtered) RSRP / RSRQ / SINR difference value (calculated within the monitoring window) is consistently greater than a specific difference threshold for a specific time to trigger, the terminal may stop / disable the cell measurement result prediction operation and report the result to the base station in step 729 below. To this end, the base station may set the difference threshold and time to trigger required to verify whether the event condition is satisfied in step 721 and / or step 725 for the terminal.

[0171] - Event M3: When the frequency (number of times per unit time) of the real-time / instantaneous RSRP / RSRQ / SINR difference value (calculated within the monitoring window) being higher than a specific difference threshold becomes higher than a specific frequency threshold, the terminal may stop / disable the cell measurement result prediction operation and report the result to the base station in step 729 below. To this end, the base station may set the difference threshold and frequency threshold required to verify whether the event condition is satisfied in step 721 and / or step 725 for the terminal.

[0172] In step 729, the terminal may report to the base station the deactivation of the cell measurement result prediction operation (or fallback to the existing cell measurement operation). To this end, a specific RRC message (e.g., RRCReconfiguration) or MAC CE may be used. At this time, the terminal may report to the base station including an indicator that indicates which of the above events was satisfied to deactivate / fallback the cell measurement result prediction operation. Additionally, or optionally, the terminal may report to the base station including the measured / calculated monitoring result values ​​(RSRP / RSRQ / SINR difference values). Additionally, or optionally, the terminal may report including applicability information indicating whether the cell measurement result prediction operation can be performed again. Additionally, or optionally, the terminal may indicate / provide to the base station information indicating the reason / cause of the deactivation. The motivation for the terminal to provide this information to the base station is to assist the base station in making necessary decisions in the future (e.g., decisions regarding whether to reset / reactivate the cell measurement result prediction operation). The field indicating the reason / cause above may be set to at least one of the following values ​​or a combination thereof.

[0173] - 'Normal': This may mean that the terminal normally disables the cell measurement result prediction operation. If the terminal's cell measurement result prediction operation is no longer needed from the terminal's perspective, the terminal can disable the operation and set the cause value to 'Normal'.

[0174] - 'Performance degradation': This may mean that the terminal detects performance degradation (in other words, a decrease in accuracy) of the cell measurement result prediction operation and disables the corresponding operation. If the terminal detects performance degradation of the cell measurement result prediction operation, the terminal disables the corresponding operation and can set the cause value to 'performance degradation'.

[0175] FIG. 8 is a flowchart of a process in which a base station determines whether to perform a cell measurement result prediction operation based on a time domain prediction performance monitoring result, according to one embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0176] In FIG. 8, specific embodiments of a method and procedure are described for a scenario in which a cell measurement result prediction AI / ML model is used at a terminal for the two purposes described in FIG. 4, in which a base station instructs the terminal to predict the cell measurement result, monitors the prediction performance / accuracy in real time, and controls the operation.

[0177] Referring to FIG. 8, the terminal (800) reports to the base station (805) whether it supports a cell measurement result prediction function, and if the terminal supports the function, the base station may instruct the terminal to predict the cell measurement result. Subsequently, the terminal may perform a cell measurement result prediction operation in accordance with the base station's instructions. The terminal or the base station may continuously check (monitor) the accuracy (or performance) of the cell measurement result prediction being performed by the terminal. Subsequently, the base station may determine whether the terminal should continue to perform the cell measurement result prediction operation based on the results of monitoring the terminal's prediction accuracy (or performance). If the base station decides to disable the terminal's cell measurement result prediction operation, the base station may instruct the terminal to disable the operation. Specific step-by-step signaling and operations between the terminal and the base station for the operations described above are described in more detail below. However, each step described below is not necessarily required to be performed, and some steps may be omitted.

[0178] In step 810, the base station (805) and the terminal (800) may exchange terminal capability information related to cell measurement result prediction. More specifically, the base station may transmit an RRC message requesting terminal capability (e.g., a UECapabilityEnquiry message) to the terminal, and the terminal may transmit to the base station an RRC message reporting terminal capability (e.g., a UECapabilityInformation message) containing the following indicators representing terminal capability information related to cell measurement prediction (i.e., RRM measurement prediction).

[0179] - Indicator indicating whether RRM measurement prediction is supported: If the terminal supports time-domain cell measurement result prediction operation, it may include the corresponding indicator within the RRC message (or set it to a True / Supported value) and transmit it to the base station. For reference, the cell measurement result prediction operation may refer to an operation that predicts RSRP / SINR / RSRQ measurement results by cell / beam. More specifically, the indicator may indicate whether the terminal can predict future cell measurement results and report them to the base station.

[0180] For reference, the terminal (800) may report the terminal capability information described above to the base station (805) in units of terminal (UE), frequency range, frequency band, band combination, feature set, feature set combination, or feature set per component carrier.

[0181] In step 821, the base station may transmit (initial) settings to the terminal to instruct the terminal to perform a time-domain cell measurement result prediction operation. The settings may include a target cell setting for which the cell measurement result is to be predicted, a reporting setting for the cell measurement prediction result (e.g., reporting period and content, reporting type (periodical, event-triggered), etc.), a prediction window length, etc.

[0182] Additionally or optionally, the base station may set multiple measurement result prediction operations for multiple cells / MOs (measurement objects). In this case, setting information such as the reporting settings for the cell measurement prediction results and the prediction window length described above may be provided for each measurement prediction operation, and each measurement prediction operation may be associated with a specific ID value (e.g., predictId). Additionally or optionally, the base station may be configured to report applicability-related information indicating whether the terminal can perform the cell measurement result prediction operation according to the initial settings.

[0183] More specifically, the base station may provide the terminal with the initial configuration an indicator to instruct the terminal to report applicability-related information via the UEAssistanceInformation or RRCReconfigurationComplete message. If multiple measurement result prediction operations are configured for the terminal, the terminal may be configured to report applicability-related information separately for each measurement result prediction operation (i.e., for each predictId). Additionally, or optionally, the base station may provide the terminal with the initial configuration information required to perform the NW-side monitoring procedure (830) and UE-side monitoring procedure (840) described below. The specific configuration information required for the monitoring procedure is described together in the description of the NW-side monitoring procedure (830) and UE-side monitoring procedure (840) below. A specific RRC message (e.g., RRCReconfiguration) may be used for the configuration.

[0184] In step 823, the terminal may report to the base station, through applicability-related information, whether it can perform a cell measurement result prediction operation according to the cell prediction setting in step 821. To this end, a 1-bit indicator may be used to indicate whether the cell measurement result prediction operation can be performed.

[0185] More specifically, if the terminal has a model available for predicting cell measurement results according to the base station settings in step 821 and can perform cell measurement result prediction using said model, it may report to the base station by including a 1-bit indicator to indicate whether the cell measurement result prediction operation can be performed (or set to 'True' / 'Available' / 'Supported'). If the terminal does not have a model available for predicting cell measurement results according to the base station settings in step 821, or if it cannot perform cell measurement result prediction using said model due to terminal constraints (e.g., insufficient memory, overheating, insufficient battery, etc.), it may report to the base station by omitting a 1-bit indicator to indicate whether the cell measurement result prediction operation can be performed (or set to 'False' / 'NotAvailable' / 'NotSupported').

[0186] If multiple measurement result prediction operations are set for the terminal in step 821 above, the terminal can individually report applicability-related information (the above 1-bit indicator) for each measurement result prediction operation (in other words, for each predictId).

[0187] For the above report, a specific RRC message (e.g., UEAssistanceInformation or RRCReconfigurationComplete) may be used. If the terminal reports that the cell measurement result prediction operation cannot be performed, the base station may return to step 821 and provide a new cell measurement result prediction setting to the terminal. Subsequently, the terminal may determine whether the cell measurement result prediction can be performed again based on the setting and report the result to the base station. Thus, the base station and the terminal may repeat the operations in steps 821 and 823 and discuss an appropriate model (or option) available for the cell measurement result prediction operation.

[0188] In step 825, the base station may set / activate a cell measurement result prediction operation that reduces the cell measurement load to the terminal based on the information reported by the terminal in step 823. To this end, an indicator for activating the cell measurement result prediction operation (or cell measurement load reduction operation) may be included / set in a message transmitted by the base station to the terminal.

[0189] Additionally or optionally, if the base station does not transmit the configuration information required by the terminal to perform the NW-side monitoring procedure (830) and the UE-side monitoring procedure (840) in step 821, the base station may transmit the information together in step 825.

[0190] A predetermined RRC message (e.g., RRCReconfiguration) or MAC CE may be used to set / activate the cell measurement result prediction operation. When the terminal is instructed to activate the cell measurement result prediction operation, the terminal may start the cell measurement result prediction operation and simultaneously perform the necessary operations to execute the NW-side monitoring procedure (830) and the UE-side monitoring procedure (840) as described below.

[0191] By having the terminal predict time-domain cell measurement information and the terminal and base station utilize the prediction results, the terminal's handover performance can be improved or the terminal's measurement load can be reduced. However, if the accuracy of AI / ML-based cell measurement result prediction is not guaranteed above a certain level, the terminal's handover performance may actually deteriorate.

[0192] For example, if a terminal predicts that the signal strength for a specific cell A will improve over time, the base station may instruct the terminal to hand over to cell A based on the prediction result. However, if the accuracy (or performance) of the prediction is poor and the actual signal strength for cell A does not improve, the terminal may fail to hand over to cell A. Therefore, the terminal and the base station need to continuously check (or monitor) the performance / accuracy of the cell measurement result predictions made by the terminal.

[0193] If the performance / accuracy of the cell measurement result prediction falls below a certain level, the base station may decide to disable the terminal's cell measurement result prediction operation and instruct the terminal to disable said operation. For reference, the performance / accuracy of the cell measurement result prediction can be calculated as the difference between the predicted result value and the actual measured result value. More specifically, when predicting and measuring RSRP / RSRQ / SINR for each cell in dB units, the RSRP / RSRQ / SINR difference between the predicted value and the measured value is calculated in dB units and can be used to determine the performance / accuracy of the prediction.

[0194] To monitor the performance / accuracy of the prediction behavior of these cell measurement results, at least one of the following two methods or a combination thereof may be used.

[0195] <Method 1: (NW-side monitoring, NW-side decision)(830)>

[0196] The base station can directly monitor the performance (accuracy) of the terminal's cell measurement result prediction operation and determine whether to enable or disable the cell measurement result prediction operation. The specific signaling procedure between the terminal and the base station for this purpose is as described below.

[0197] In step 831, the terminal periodically transmits a measurement (or monitoring) report to the base station, and may include both the measurement results and the prediction results for a specific time domain within the report. This is to help the base station calculate the prediction accuracy (e.g., RSRP / RSRQ / SINR difference) value through the measurement results and the prediction results. A specific RRC message (e.g., MeasurementReport, MonitoringReport, PredictionReport, etc.) may be used for the above report.

[0198] The terminal may report result values ​​measured at one or more points in time and predicted result values ​​together within the above-mentioned report message. More specifically, result values ​​measured at the same point in time and predicted result values ​​may be linked together as pairs, and multiple pairs may be reported together for multiple points in time.

[0199] In this case, if multiple predicted results exist for a single measured result, a time offset value—which is the difference between the measured result and the time at which the result was predicted—may be reported together. For example, if a terminal sends information predicting multiple measurement results for a single measured result, it may include the time offset in each piece of information during transmission. To this end, the base station may specify multiple time offset values ​​to be reported, and the terminal may report all predicted results for each of the specified multiple time offsets (including cases where there is only one) for a single measured result.

[0200] Alternatively, the base station may specify a range of time offset values, and the terminal may attempt to predict all measurable cases within that range and report the information. Alternatively, the base station may instruct the terminal to compare the predicted result and the actual measurement result for each time offset and report the largest (or smallest) time offset value that satisfies specific conditions. For example, the base station may specify multiple time offsets to the terminal and configure it to report the largest time offset among them, where the difference between the predicted result and the actual result (e.g., RSRP difference) is within k dB.

[0201] Reports including such time offsets can help base stations set parameters related to time-domain AI / ML models. Generally, since the difference between measurements and predictions can increase as the time offset grows, reports based on time offsets can help base stations determine how far into the future (e.g., x ms) the terminal's predicted information will remain valid.

[0202] As described above, two options can be considered to configure the terminal to periodically report measurement results and prediction results together.

[0203] * Option 1 (Setting up a separate reporting procedure for performance monitoring):

[0204] In the above steps 821 and / or 825, the base station may be configured to have the terminal report both the cell measurement value and the predicted value within the monitoring window that occurs at each monitoring interval while performing a cell measurement result prediction operation. To this end, the base station may set the monitoring interval and / or monitoring window length to the terminal. In this case, the monitoring interval and monitoring window length may be set in units of frame, slot, symbol, second, millisecond, or microsecond. The terminal may perform both actual measurement and prediction within the monitoring window set by the base station and report the result value to the base station at the monitoring interval.

[0205] * Option 2 (Recycle forecast reporting procedure settings):

[0206] In the above steps 821 and / or 825, the base station may be configured so that, while the terminal performs a cell measurement result prediction operation, it periodically reports the predicted result value within the prediction window at each prediction report interval (in other words, reports the predicted result value including it in the prediction or measurement report). At this time, for the monitoring procedure, the base station may be configured so that the terminal reports the actual measured result value together with the predicted result value within the prediction window. To this end, the base station may include a 1-bit indicator to instruct the terminal to report the predicted result value and the measured result value together within the prediction window.

[0207] Additionally, or optionally, to improve the inefficiency of the terminal reporting both the predicted result and the measured result together with every prediction report transmission, the base station may include a measurement value reporting period 'N' in the above settings so that the measured result is reported together only once every N prediction reports. However, if such prediction reporting procedure settings are reused for monitoring procedure settings, there may be a constraint that the type of the prediction reporting procedure settings must be 'periodical'. This is because if the terminal is configured not to perform prediction reporting periodically but only when a specific event occurs, the base station cannot periodically monitor the accuracy of the cell measurement result predictions performed by the terminal.

[0208] As described in Figure 4 above, when a cell measurement result prediction operation is performed to obtain future cell measurement result values, when the terminal reports prediction results for time points within a future prediction window to the base station, the terminal cannot have actual measurement result values ​​for those time points. Therefore, the terminal can report the measurement result value corresponding to the prediction value within the previous prediction window included in the previous report while reporting the prediction value within a specific prediction window through the transmission of a measurement / prediction report. In this case, the base station can calculate the accuracy of the cell measurement result prediction operation performed by the terminal (e.g., RSRP / RSRQ / SINR difference) by comparing the prediction value for the previous prediction window included in the previous prediction report with the measurement value for the previous prediction window included in the next prediction report.

[0209] In step 833, the base station can continuously monitor the performance / accuracy (e.g., RSRP / RSRQ / SINR difference) of the cell measurement result prediction operation being performed by the terminal based on the actual measurement value and the predicted value for the same point in time reported by the terminal in step 831.

[0210] In step 835, the base station may decide to disable the cell measurement result prediction operation of the terminal based on the monitoring results from step 833. Alternatively, it may decide to change the model used for predicting the cell measurement result, or to disable the cell measurement result prediction operation and fallback to the existing cell measurement operation.

[0211] In step 837, the base station may instruct the terminal to disable the cell measurement result prediction operation (or change the model used for the cell measurement result, or fallback to the existing cell measurement operation). To this end, a predetermined RRC message (e.g., RRCReconfiguration) or MAC CE may be used. At this time, the base station may also instruct / provide the terminal with information indicating the reason / cause of the disable instruction. The field indicating the reason / cause may be set to at least one of the following values ​​or a combination thereof.

[0212] - 'Normal': This may mean that the base station normally disables the terminal's cell measurement result prediction operation. If the terminal's cell measurement result prediction operation is no longer needed from the base station's perspective, the base station may instruct the deactivation of the operation and set the cause value to 'Normal'. If the terminal is instructed to disable the cell measurement result prediction operation along with a cause value set to 'Normal', it may disable the cell measurement result prediction operation and not perform any separate additional actions.

[0213] - 'Performance degradation': This may mean that the base station detects performance degradation (in other words, a decrease in accuracy) of the terminal's cell measurement result prediction operation and disables the operation. When the base station detects performance degradation of the terminal's cell measurement result prediction operation, the base station may instruct the disablement of the operation and set the cause value to 'performance degradation'. When the terminal receives the instruction to disable the cell measurement result prediction operation along with the cause value set to 'performance degradation', the terminal may report to the base station that the cell measurement result prediction operation has become possible again, as in step 823 above, after preparing a new model to be used for the cell measurement result prediction operation.

[0214] <Method 2: (UE-side monitoring, NW-side decision)(840)>

[0215] The terminal can directly monitor the performance / accuracy of the terminal's cell measurement result prediction operation and report the results (in other words, performance metrics) to the base station. The base station can determine whether to enable or disable the cell measurement result prediction operation based on the monitoring results reported by the terminal. The specific signaling procedure between the terminal and the base station for this purpose is described below.

[0216] In step 841, the terminal can continuously monitor the performance / accuracy (e.g., RSRP / RSRQ / SINR difference) of the cell measurement result prediction operation being performed.

[0217] In step 843, the terminal transmits a measurement (or monitoring) report to the base station in a periodic manner or via event triggering, and may include an indicator (e.g., RSRP / RSRQ / SINR difference value) representing the performance / accuracy of the cell measurement result prediction operation within the report. Additionally, or optionally, the terminal may include an indicator in the report requesting the base station to disable the cell measurement result prediction operation or to fallback to the existing measurement operation. A specific RRC message (e.g., MeasurementReport, MonitoringReport, PredictionReport, etc.) may be used for the report. More specifically, as described below, the terminal may report the monitoring results to the base station in a periodic manner or via event triggering.

[0218] In this case, if multiple predicted result values ​​exist for a single measured result, a time offset value, which is the difference between the measured result and the time at which the result was predicted, may be reported together. When a terminal transmits multiple indicator values ​​(e.g., RSRP / RSRQ / SINR difference values) calculated for a single measured result, it may include the time offset in each piece of information during transmission. To this end, the base station may specify multiple time offset values ​​to be reported, and the terminal may report all predicted result and / or indicator values ​​for each of the specified multiple time offsets (including cases where there is only one) for a single measured result.

[0219] Alternatively, the base station may specify a range of time offset values, and the terminal may attempt to predict all measurable cases within that time offset range and report all collected indicator values. Alternatively, the base station may instruct the terminal to calculate indicator values ​​for each time offset and then report the largest (or smallest) time offset value that satisfies specific conditions. For example, the base station may specify multiple time offsets to the terminal and configure it to report the largest time offset among them, where the difference between the predicted result and the actual result (e.g., RSRP difference) is within k dB.

[0220] Reports including such time offsets can help base stations set parameters related to time-domain AI / ML models. Generally, since the difference between measurements and predictions can increase as the time offset grows, reports based on time offsets can help base stations determine how far into the future (e.g., x ms) the terminal's predicted information will remain valid.

[0221] More specifically, as described below, the terminal can report to the base station an indicator representing the performance / accuracy of the cell measurement result prediction operation in a periodic manner or an event triggering manner.

[0222] * Periodic method:

[0223] In the above steps 821 and / or 825, the base station may be configured to report the performance / accuracy of the cell measurement result prediction operation calculated within a monitoring window that occurs at each monitoring interval while the terminal performs the cell measurement result prediction operation. To this end, the base station may set the monitoring interval and / or monitoring window length to the terminal. At this time, the monitoring interval and / or monitoring window length may be set in units of frame, slot, symbol, second, millisecond, or microsecond. Within the monitoring window set by the base station, the terminal may perform both actual measurement and prediction, calculate an indicator value (e.g., RSRP / RSRQ / SINR difference value) representing the performance / accuracy of the prediction operation, and report the value to the base station at the monitoring interval.

[0224] * Event Triggering Method:

[0225] In the above steps 821 and / or 825, the base station may be configured to continuously monitor the performance / accuracy of the cell measurement result prediction operation while the terminal performs the cell measurement result prediction operation, and to transmit a measurement (or monitoring) report to the base station when a specific event condition is satisfied. The terminal may include an indicator value (e.g., RSRP / RSRQ / SINR difference value) representing the performance / accuracy of the cell measurement result prediction, along with an indicator indicating that a specific event has occurred, within the report.

[0226] To this end, the base station may configure the terminal to monitor the performance / accuracy of the cell measurement result prediction operation (e.g., RSRP / RSRQ / SINR difference value) within a monitoring window that occurs at each monitoring interval and to check whether the reporting event conditions are satisfied. To this end, the base station may set the monitoring interval and / or monitoring window length to the terminal. In this case, the monitoring interval and / or monitoring window length may be set in units of frame, slot, symbol, second, millisecond, or microsecond. Alternatively, the terminal may continuously monitor the performance / accuracy of the cell measurement result prediction operation (e.g., RSRP / RSRQ / SINR difference value) and to check whether the reporting event conditions are satisfied (i.e., in a sliding window manner) without setting a separate monitoring interval / window.

[0227] The terminal may transmit a measurement (or monitoring) report to the base station when at least one of the events described below is satisfied. In this case, if there are multiple predicted result values ​​for a single measured result value, the base station may specify multiple time offset values ​​to be used when monitoring the event, and the terminal may calculate indicator values ​​(e.g., RSRP / RSRQ / SINR difference values) for each of the specified multiple (including cases where there is only one) time offsets for a single measured result value. In this case, the terminal may receive different conditions from the base station for event triggering depending on the time offset. For example, for a time offset of 40 ms, if an RSRP difference of 0.5 dB or more is calculated as an indicator value, the condition for that time offset may be set to be satisfied, and for a time offset of 80 ms, if an RSRP difference of 1 dB or more is calculated as an indicator value, the condition for that time offset may be set to be satisfied. To confirm that an event has occurred, the base station may instruct the terminal to finally trigger the event when conditions for at least n time offset values ​​are satisfied.

[0228] - Event 1: When the average (or filtered) RSRP / RSRQ / SINR difference value (calculated within the monitoring window) exceeds a specific difference threshold, the terminal may transmit a measurement (or monitoring) report to the base station. To this end, the base station may set a threshold value for the terminal required to verify whether the event condition is satisfied in steps 821 and / or 825. More specifically, the threshold value may be set for the terminal in dB units.

[0229] - Event M2: If the average (or filtered) RSRP / RSRQ / SINR difference value (calculated within the monitoring window) is consistently greater than a specific difference threshold for a specific time to trigger, the terminal may transmit a measurement (or monitoring) report to the base station. To this end, the base station may set the difference threshold and the time to trigger required to verify whether the event condition is satisfied in step 821 and / or step 825 for the terminal.

[0230] - Event M3: When the frequency (number of times per unit time) of the real-time / instantaneous RSRP / RSRQ / SINR difference value (calculated within the monitoring window) being higher than a specific difference threshold becomes higher than a specific frequency threshold, the terminal may transmit a measurement (or monitoring) report to the base station. To this end, the base station may set the difference threshold and frequency threshold required to verify whether the event condition is satisfied in step 821 and / or step 825 for the terminal.

[0231] In step 845, the base station may decide to disable the terminal's cell measurement result prediction operation based on the monitoring results included in the measurement / prediction / monitoring report transmitted by the terminal in step 843. Alternatively, it may decide to change the model used for predicting cell measurement results, or to disable the cell measurement result prediction operation and fallback to the existing cell measurement operation.

[0232] In step 847, the base station may instruct the terminal to disable the cell measurement result prediction operation (or change the model used for the cell measurement result, or fallback to the existing cell measurement operation). To this end, a specific RRC message (e.g., RRCReconfiguration) or MAC CE may be used. At this time, the base station may also instruct / provide information to the terminal indicating the reason / cause of the disable instruction. The field indicating the reason / cause may be set to at least one of the following values ​​or a combination thereof.

[0233] - 'Normal': This may mean that the base station normally disables the terminal's cell measurement result prediction operation. If the terminal's cell measurement result prediction operation is no longer needed from the base station's perspective, the base station instructs the deactivation of the operation and may set the cause value to 'Normal'. If the terminal is instructed to disable the cell measurement result prediction operation along with a cause value set to 'Normal', it may disable the cell measurement result prediction operation and not perform any separate additional actions.

[0234] - 'Performance degradation': This may mean that the base station detects performance degradation (in other words, a decrease in accuracy) of the terminal's cell measurement result prediction operation and disables the operation. When the base station detects performance degradation of the terminal's cell measurement result prediction operation, the base station disables the operation and may set the cause value to 'performance degradation'. When the terminal receives the cause value set to 'performance degradation' along with the instruction to disable the cell measurement result prediction operation, the terminal may report to the base station that the cell measurement result prediction operation has become possible again, as in step 823 above, after preparing a new model to be used for the cell measurement result prediction operation.

[0235] FIG. 9 is a drawing illustrating a terminal device according to one embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0236] Referring to FIG. 9, the terminal may include an RF (Radio Frequency) processing unit (910), a baseband processing unit (920), a storage unit (930), and a control unit (940). The configuration of the terminal is not limited to the exemplary configuration shown in FIG. 9 and may include fewer or more configurations than the configuration shown in FIG. 9.

[0237] The RF processing unit (910) can perform functions for transmitting and receiving signals through a wireless channel, such as signal band conversion and amplification. For example, the RF processing unit (910) can up-convert a baseband signal provided by the baseband processing unit (920) into an RF band signal and then transmit it through an antenna, and can down-convert an RF band signal received through an antenna into a baseband signal. For example, the RF processing unit (910) may include a transmission filter, a reception filter, an amplifier, a mixer, an oscillator, a DAC (digital to analog converter), an ADC (analog to digital converter), etc., but is not limited to these examples. Although only one antenna is shown in FIG. 9, the terminal may be equipped with multiple antennas. Additionally, the RF processing unit (910) may include multiple RF chains. Furthermore, the RF processing unit (910) may perform beamforming. For beamforming, the RF processing unit (910) can adjust the phase and magnitude of each of the signals transmitted and received through multiple antennas or antenna elements. Additionally, the RF processing unit (910) can perform MIMO and can receive multiple layers when performing MIMO operation.

[0238] The baseband processing unit (920) can perform conversion functions between baseband signals and bit sequences according to the physical layer specifications of the system. For example, when transmitting data, the baseband processing unit (920) can generate complex symbols by encoding and modulating the transmitted bit sequence. Additionally, when receiving data, the baseband processing unit (920) can restore the received bit sequence by demodulating and decoding the baseband signal provided by the RF processing unit (910). For example, in the case of following the orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) method, when transmitting data, the baseband processing unit (920) can generate complex symbols by encoding and modulating the transmitted bit sequence, map the generated complex symbols to subcarriers, and then construct OFDM symbols through inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT) operations and cyclic prefix (CP) insertion. Additionally, upon receiving data, the baseband processing unit (920) can divide the baseband signal provided by the RF processing unit (910) into OFDM symbol units, restore the signals mapped to subcarriers through a fast Fourier transform (FFT) operation, and then restore the received bit sequence through demodulation and decoding.

[0239] The baseband processing unit (920) and the RF processing unit (910) can transmit and receive signals as described above. Accordingly, the baseband processing unit (920) and the RF processing unit (910) may be referred to as a transmitting unit, a receiving unit, a transmitting and receiving unit, or a communication unit. Furthermore, at least one of the baseband processing unit (920) and the RF processing unit (910) may include a plurality of communication modules to support a plurality of different wireless access technologies. Additionally, at least one of the baseband processing unit (920) and the RF processing unit (910) may include different communication modules to process signals of different frequency bands. For example, different wireless access technologies may include wireless LAN (e.g., IEEE 802.11), cellular network (e.g., LTE), etc. In addition, different frequency bands may include super high frequency (SHF) bands (e.g., 2.5 GHz, 5 GHz) and millimeter wave (e.g., 60 GHz) bands. The terminal can transmit and receive signals with the gNB using the baseband processing unit (920) and the RF processing unit (910), and the signals may include control information and data.

[0240] The storage unit (930) can store data such as basic programs, application programs, and setting information for the operation of the terminal. For example, the storage unit (930) can store data information such as basic programs, application programs, and setting information for the operation of the terminal. In addition, the storage unit (930) can provide the stored data upon a request from the control unit (940).

[0241] The storage unit (930) may be composed of a storage medium or a combination of storage media such as ROM, RAM, hard disk, CD-ROM, and DVD. Additionally, the storage unit (930) may be composed of multiple memories. According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, the storage unit (930) may store a program for performing a cell measurement result prediction operation according to the present disclosure.

[0242] The control unit (940) can control the overall operations of the terminal. For example, the control unit (940) can transmit and receive signals through the baseband processing unit (920) and the RF processing unit (910).

[0243] Additionally, the control unit (940) can write and read data to and from the storage unit (930). To this end, the control unit (940) may include at least one processor. For example, the control unit (940) may include a communication processor (CP) that performs control for communication and an application processor (AP) that controls upper layers such as applications. Additionally, according to one embodiment of the present disclosure, the control unit (940) may include a multi-connection processing unit (942) configured to process a process operating in a multi-connection mode. Additionally, at least one component within the terminal may be implemented as a single chip.

[0244] FIG. 10 is a drawing illustrating a base station device according to one embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0245] The base station of Fig. 10 may be included in the aforementioned network.

[0246] As illustrated in FIG. 10, the base station may include an RF processing unit (1010), a baseband processing unit (1020), a backhaul communication unit (1030), a storage unit (1040), and a control unit (1050). The configuration of the base station is not limited to the exemplary configuration illustrated in FIG. 10, and the base station may include fewer or more configurations than the configuration illustrated in FIG. 10. The RF processing unit (1010) may perform functions for transmitting and receiving signals through a wireless channel, such as signal band conversion and amplification. For example, the RF processing unit (1010) may up-convert a baseband signal provided by the baseband processing unit (1020) into an RF band signal and then transmit it through an antenna, and may down-convert an RF band signal received through an antenna into a baseband signal. For example, the RF processing unit (1010) may include a transmission filter, a reception filter, an amplifier, a mixer, an oscillator, a DAC, an ADC, etc. In FIG. 10, only one antenna is shown, but the RF processing unit (1010) may be equipped with multiple antennas. Additionally, the RF processing unit (1010) may include multiple RF chains. Furthermore, the RF processing unit (1010) may perform beamforming. For beamforming, the RF processing unit (1010) may adjust the phase and magnitude of each of the signals transmitted and received through multiple antennas or antenna elements. The RF processing unit (1010) may perform down-to-down MIMO operation by transmitting one or more layers.

[0247] The baseband processing unit (1020) can perform conversion functions between baseband signals and bit sequences according to physical layer specifications. For example, when transmitting data, the baseband processing unit (1020) can generate complex symbols by encoding and modulating the transmitted bit sequence. Additionally, when receiving data, the baseband processing unit (1020) can restore the received bit sequence by demodulating and decoding the baseband signal provided by the RF processing unit (1010). For example, in the case of an OFDM method, when transmitting data, the baseband processing unit (1020) can generate complex symbols by encoding and modulating the transmitted bit sequence, map the generated complex symbols to subcarriers, and then construct OFDM symbols through IFFT operations and CP insertion. Additionally, upon receiving data, the baseband processing unit (1020) can divide the baseband signal provided by the RF processing unit (1010) into OFDM symbol units, restore the signals mapped to subcarriers through FFT operations, and then restore the received bit sequence through demodulation and decoding. The baseband processing unit (1020) and the RF processing unit (1010) can transmit and receive signals as described above. Accordingly, the baseband processing unit (1020) and the RF processing unit (1010) may be referred to as a transmitting unit, a receiving unit, a transmitting and receiving unit, a communication unit, or a wireless communication unit. A base station can transmit and receive signals with a terminal using the baseband processing unit (1020) and the RF processing unit (1010), and the signal may include control information and data.

[0248] The backhaul communication unit (1030) can provide an interface for communicating with other nodes within the network. For example, the backhaul communication unit (1030) can convert a bit sequence transmitted from the main base station to another node, e.g., an auxiliary base station, a core network, etc., into a physical signal, and convert a physical signal received from another node into a bit sequence.

[0249] The storage unit (1040) can store data such as basic programs, application programs, and configuration information for the operation of the main station. For example, the storage unit (1040) can store information about a bearer assigned to a connected terminal, measurement results reported from the connected terminal, etc. Additionally, the storage unit (1040) can store information that serves as a criterion for determining whether to provide or discontinue multiple connections to the terminal. Furthermore, the storage unit (1040) can provide the stored data upon a request from the control unit (1050). The storage unit (1040) may be composed of a storage medium or a combination of storage media such as ROM, RAM, hard disk, CD-ROM, and DVD. Additionally, the storage unit (1040) may be composed of multiple memories. According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, the storage unit (1040) may store a program for performing a cell measurement result prediction operation according to the present disclosure.

[0250] The control unit (1050) can control the overall operations of the main station. For example, the control unit (1050) can transmit and receive signals through the baseband processing unit (1020) and the RF processing unit (1010) or through the backhaul communication unit (1030). Additionally, the control unit (1050) can write and read data to and from the storage unit (1040). To this end, the control unit (1050) may include at least one processor. Also, according to one embodiment of the present disclosure, the control unit (1050) may include a multi-connection processing unit (1052) configured to process a process operating in a multi-connection mode.

[0251] Methods according to the embodiments described in the claims or specification of the present disclosure may be implemented in the form of hardware, software, or a combination of hardware and software.

[0252] When implemented in software, a computer-readable storage medium may be provided for storing one or more programs (software modules). One or more programs stored in the computer-readable storage medium are configured for execution by one or more processors within an electronic device. One or more programs include instructions that cause the electronic device to execute methods according to the embodiments described in the claims or specification of this disclosure.

[0253] Such programs (software modules, software) may be stored in random access memory, non-volatile memory including flash memory, ROM (Read Only Memory), Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory (EEPROM), magnetic disc storage devices, Compact Disc-ROM (CD-ROM), Digital Versatile Discs (DVDs), or other forms of optical storage devices, magnetic cassettes. Alternatively, they may be stored in memory composed of some or all of these. Additionally, each constituent memory may include multiple units.

[0254] Additionally, the above program may be stored on an attachable storage device that can be accessed via a communication network such as the Internet, Intranet, Local Area Network (LAN), Wide LAN (WLAN), or Storage Area Network (SAN), or a combination thereof. Such a storage device may be connected to a device performing an embodiment of the present disclosure through an external port. Additionally, a separate storage device on a communication network may be connected to a device performing an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0255] In the present disclosure, the terms “computer program product” or “computer readable medium” are used to collectively refer to media such as memory, a hard disk installed in a hard disk drive, and signals. These “computer program product” or “computer readable medium” are configurations provided in a method for reporting terminal capability in a wireless communication system according to the present disclosure.

[0256] A device-readable storage medium may be provided in the form of a non-transitory storage medium. Here, 'non-transitory storage medium' simply means that it is a tangible device and does not contain a signal (e.g., electromagnetic waves), and the term does not distinguish between cases where data is stored semi-permanently and cases where it is stored temporarily. For example, a 'non-transitory storage medium' may include a buffer in which data is stored temporarily.

[0257] According to one embodiment, the method according to the various embodiments disclosed herein may be provided by being included in a computer program product. The computer program product may be traded between a seller and a buyer as a product. The computer program product may be distributed in the form of a device-readable storage medium (e.g., compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM)), or distributed online (e.g., download or upload) through an application store (e.g., Play Store™) or directly between two user devices (e.g., smartphones). In the case of online distribution, at least a portion of the computer program product (e.g., downloadable app) may be temporarily stored or temporarily created on a device-readable storage medium, such as the memory of a manufacturer's server, an application store's server, or a relay server.

[0258] In the specific embodiments of the present disclosure described above, the components included in the invention are expressed in a singular or plural form according to the specific embodiments presented. However, the singular or plural expression is selected to suit the situation presented for convenience of explanation, and the present disclosure is not limited to singular or plural components; even if a component is expressed in the plural form, it may be composed of a singular form, or even if a component is expressed in the singular form, it may be composed of a plural form.

[0259] Meanwhile, the embodiments of the present disclosure disclosed in this specification and drawings are merely specific examples provided to facilitate the explanation of the technical content of the present disclosure and to aid in understanding the present disclosure, and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure. That is, it is obvious to those skilled in the art that other variations based on the technical concept of the present disclosure are possible. Furthermore, each of the above embodiments may be combined and operated together as needed. For example, parts of one embodiment of the present disclosure and another embodiment may be combined to operate a base station and a terminal. In addition, the embodiments of the present disclosure are applicable to other communication systems, and other variations based on the technical concept of the embodiments may also be possible. For example, the embodiments may be applied to LTE systems, 5G, NR systems, or 6G systems, etc. Therefore, the scope of the present disclosure should not be limited to the described embodiments, but should be defined by the claims set forth below as well as equivalents thereof.

Claims

1. A method performed by a terminal of a wireless communication system, A step of receiving setting information for a cell measurement result prediction operation from a base station, wherein the setting information includes information on a time offset representing the difference between a first measurement time point for deriving a cell measurement result prediction value and a second measurement time point for deriving an actual measurement result value corresponding to the cell measurement result prediction value; Based on the above setting information, the step of transmitting to the base station a report message including information on a pair of the cell measurement result prediction value and the actual measurement result value or information on the performance monitoring result of the cell measurement prediction operation; and A method comprising the step of receiving a control message from the base station to disable the cell measurement prediction operation.

2. In Paragraph 1, If the information regarding the above time offset includes a plurality of time offset values, the report message further includes a time offset value used by the terminal among the plurality of time offset values, and A method characterized in that, when information regarding the time offset includes a single time offset value, the information regarding the pair of the cell measurement result prediction value and the actual measurement result value or the performance monitoring result of the cell measurement prediction operation corresponds to the single time offset value.

3. In Paragraph 1, The method further includes the step of transmitting capability information of the above terminal to the above base station, A method characterized by including at least one of the above capability information, a first indicator indicating whether the terminal supports a frequency domain cell measurement result prediction operation, a second indicator indicating whether the terminal supports a time domain cell measurement result prediction operation, or a third indicator indicating whether the terminal supports inter-band frequency duplex reception.

4. In Paragraph 3, If the third indicator indicates that the terminal supports the inter-band frequency duplex reception, the setting information instructs the terminal to perform a performance monitoring method to which the time offset is not applied, and A method characterized in that, when the third indicator indicates that the terminal does not support the inter-band frequency duplex reception, the setting information instructs the terminal to perform a performance monitoring method to which the time offset is applied.

5. A method performed by a base station of a wireless communication system, A step of transmitting setting information for a cell measurement result prediction operation to a terminal, wherein the setting information includes information on a time offset representing the difference between a first measurement time point for deriving a cell measurement result prediction value and a second measurement time point for deriving an actual measurement result value corresponding to the cell measurement result prediction value; A step of receiving from the terminal a report message containing information about a pair of the cell measurement result prediction value and the actual measurement result value, or the performance monitoring result of the cell measurement prediction operation; A step of deciding to disable the cell measurement prediction operation based on the above report message; and A method comprising the step of transmitting a control message to the terminal to disable the cell measurement prediction operation.

6. In Paragraph 5, If the information regarding the above time offset includes a plurality of time offset values, the report message further includes a time offset value used by the terminal among the plurality of time offset values, and A method characterized in that, when information regarding the time offset includes a single time offset value, the information regarding the pair of the cell measurement result prediction value and the actual measurement result value or the performance monitoring result of the cell measurement prediction operation corresponds to the single time offset value.

7. In Paragraph 5, The method further includes the step of receiving capability information of the above terminal from the above terminal, A method characterized by including at least one of the above capability information, a first indicator indicating whether the terminal supports a frequency domain cell measurement result prediction operation, a second indicator indicating whether the terminal supports a time domain cell measurement result prediction operation, or a third indicator indicating whether the terminal supports inter-band frequency duplex reception.

8. In Paragraph 7, If the third indicator indicates that the terminal supports the inter-band frequency duplex reception, the setting information instructs the terminal to perform a performance monitoring method to which the time offset is not applied, and A method characterized in that, when the third indicator indicates that the terminal does not support the inter-band frequency duplex reception, the setting information instructs the terminal to perform a performance monitoring method to which the time offset is applied.

9. In a terminal of a wireless communication system, At least one transceiver; At least one processor connected to the above at least one transceiver so as to be able to communicate; and Connected to communicate with at least one processor and capable of executing individually or in any combination of the at least one processor, the terminal: Receives setting information for a cell measurement result prediction operation from a base station, wherein the setting information includes information for a time offset representing the difference between a first measurement time point for deriving a cell measurement result prediction value and a second measurement time point for deriving an actual measurement result value corresponding to the cell measurement result prediction value. Based on the above setting information, a report message including information on a pair of the cell measurement result prediction value and the actual measurement result value or the performance monitoring result of the cell measurement prediction operation is transmitted to the base station, and A memory storing a command to receive a control message from the base station for disabling the cell measurement prediction operation; A terminal including 10. In Paragraph 9, If the information regarding the above time offset includes a plurality of time offset values, the report message further includes a time offset value used by the terminal among the plurality of time offset values, and A terminal characterized in that, when information regarding the above time offset includes a single time offset value, the information regarding the pair of the cell measurement result prediction value and the actual measurement result value or the performance monitoring result of the cell measurement prediction operation corresponds to the single time offset value.

11. In Paragraph 9, An instruction executable individually or in any combination of the above-mentioned at least one processor causes the terminal to transmit capability information of the terminal to the base station, and A terminal characterized by including at least one of the above capability information, a first indicator indicating whether the terminal supports a frequency domain cell measurement result prediction operation, a second indicator indicating whether the terminal supports a time domain cell measurement result prediction operation, or a third indicator indicating whether the terminal supports inter-band frequency duplex reception.

12. In Paragraph 11, If the third indicator indicates that the terminal supports the inter-band frequency duplex reception, the setting information instructs the terminal to perform a performance monitoring method to which the time offset is not applied, and A terminal characterized in that, when the third indicator indicates that the terminal does not support the inter-band frequency duplex reception, the setting information instructs the terminal to perform a performance monitoring method to which the time offset is applied.

13. In a base station of a wireless communication system, At least one transceiver; At least one processor connected to the above at least one transceiver so as to be able to communicate; and Connected to communicate with at least one processor and capable of executing individually or in any combination of the at least one processor, the base station: Setting information for a cell measurement result prediction operation is transmitted to a terminal, wherein the setting information includes information for a time offset representing the difference between a first measurement time point for deriving a cell measurement result prediction value and a second measurement time point for deriving an actual measurement result value corresponding to the cell measurement result prediction value. A report message is received from the terminal that includes information regarding a pair of the cell measurement result prediction value and the actual measurement result value, or the performance monitoring result of the cell measurement prediction operation. Based on the above report message, it was decided to disable the cell measurement prediction operation, and A memory storing a command to transmit a control message to the terminal for disabling the cell measurement prediction operation; Base station including 14. In Paragraph 13, If the information regarding the above time offset includes a plurality of time offset values, the report message further includes a time offset value used by the terminal among the plurality of time offset values, and A base station characterized in that, when information regarding the above time offset includes a single time offset value, the information regarding the pair of the cell measurement result prediction value and the actual measurement result value or the performance monitoring result of the cell measurement prediction operation corresponds to the single time offset value.

15. In Paragraph 13, An instruction executable individually or in any combination of the above-mentioned at least one processor enables the base station to receive capability information of the terminal from the terminal, and The above capability information includes at least one of a first indicator indicating whether the terminal supports a frequency domain cell measurement result prediction operation, a second indicator indicating whether the terminal supports a time domain cell measurement result prediction operation, or a third indicator indicating whether the terminal supports inter-band frequency duplex reception. If the third indicator indicates that the terminal supports the inter-band frequency duplex reception, the setting information instructs the terminal to perform a performance monitoring method to which the time offset is not applied, and A base station characterized in that, when the third indicator indicates that the terminal does not support the inter-band frequency duplex reception, the setting information instructs the terminal to perform a performance monitoring method to which the time offset is applied.

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