Entry configuration for low-power related operation

Abstract

Example embodiments of the present disclosure are directed to entry configuration for a low-power related operation A method comprises receiving, from a second apparatus, configuration information indicating at least one condition associated with at least one synchronization signal block (SSB) for triggering a low-power related operation for the at least one SSB; performing a radio quality measurement; and determining that the at least one condition is satisfied based on at least one of: the configuration information and the radio quality measurement.

Description

ENTRY CONFIGURATION FOR LOW-POWER RELATED OPERATIONCROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

[0001] This application claims priority from, and the benefit of, US Provisional Application No. 63 / 717729, filed November 7, 2024, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.FIELD

[0002] Various example embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to the field of telecommunication and in particular, to methods, devices, apparatuses and computer readable storage medium for entry configuration for a low-power related operation.BACKGROUND

[0003] 5-th generation (5G) systems are designed and developed targeting for both mobile telephony and vertical use cases. Besides latency, reliability, and availability, UE energy efficiency is also critical to 5G. Currently, 5G devices may have to be recharged per week or day, depending on individual’s usage time. In general, 5G devices consume tens of milliwatts in RRC idle / inactive state and hundreds of milliwatts in RRC connected state. Designs to prolong battery life is a necessity for improving energy efficiency as well as for better user experience.SUMMARY

[0004] In a first aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a first apparatus. The first apparatus comprises at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the first apparatus to: receive, from a second apparatus, configuration information indicating at least one condition associated with at least one synchronization signal block (SSB) for triggering a low-power related operation for the at least one SSB; perform a radio quality measurement; and determine that the at least one condition is satisfied based on at least one of: the configuration information and the radio quality measurement.

[0005] In a second aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a second apparatus. The second apparatus comprises at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the second apparatus to: transmit, to a first apparatus, configuration information indicating at least one condition associated with at least one synchronization signal block (SSB) for triggering a low-power related operation for the at least one SSB.

[0006] In a third aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method. The method comprises: receiving, from a second apparatus, configuration information indicating at least one condition associated with at least one synchronization signal block (SSB) for triggering a low-powerrelated operation for the at least one SSB; performing a radio quality measurement; and determining that the at least one condition is satisfied based on at least one of: the configuration information and the radio quality measurement.

[0007] In a fourth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method. The method comprises: transmitting, to a first apparatus, configuration information indicating at least one condition associated with at least one synchronization signal block (SSB) for triggering a low-power related operation for the at least one SSB.

[0008] In a fifth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a first apparatus. The first apparatus comprises means for receiving, from a second apparatus, configuration information indicating at least one condition associated with at least one synchronization signal block (SSB) for triggering a low-power related operation for the at least one SSB; means for performing a radio quality measurement; and means for determining that the at least one condition is satisfied based on at least one of: the configuration information and the radio quality measurement.

[0009] In a sixth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a second apparatus. The second apparatus comprises means for transmitting, to a first apparatus, configuration information indicating at least one condition associated with at least one synchronization signal block (SSB) for triggering a low-power related operation for the at least one SSB.

[0010] In a seventh aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a computer readable medium. The computer readable medium comprises instructions stored thereon for causing an apparatus to perform at least the method according to the third aspect.

[0011] I n an eighth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a computer readable medium. The computer readable medium comprises instructions stored thereon for causing an apparatus to perform at least the method according to the fourth aspect.

[0012] It is to be understood that the Summary section is not intended to identify key or essential features of embodiments of the present disclosure, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the present disclosure. Other features of the present disclosure will become easily comprehensible through the following description.BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0013] Some example embodiments will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, where:

[0014] FIG. 1 illustrates an example communication environment in which example embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented;

[0015] FIG. 2 illustrates a signaling flow of communication between a first apparatus and second apparatus in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0016] FIG. 3 illustrates a flowchart of a method implemented at a first apparatus in accordancewith some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0017] FIG. 4 illustrates a flowchart of a method implemented at a second apparatus in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0018] FIG. 5 illustrates a simplified block diagram of a device that is suitable for implementing example embodiments of the present disclosure; and

[0019] FIG. 6 illustrates a block diagram of an example computer readable medium in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0020] Throughout the drawings, the same or similar reference numerals represent the same or similar element.DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0021] Principle of the present disclosure will now be described with reference to some example embodiments. It is to be understood that these embodiments are described only for the purpose of illustration and help those skilled in the art to understand and implement the present disclosure, without suggesting any limitation as to the scope of the disclosure. Embodiments described herein can be implemented in various manners other than the ones described below.

[0022] In the following description and claims, unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skills in the art to which this disclosure belongs.

[0023] References in the present disclosure to “one embodiment,” “an embodiment,” “an example embodiment,” and the like indicate that the embodiment described may include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, but it is not necessary that every embodiment includes the particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Moreover, such phrases are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment. Further, when a particular feature, structure, or characteristic is described in connection with an embodiment, it is submitted that it is within the knowledge of one skilled in the art to affect such feature, structure, or characteristic in connection with other embodiments whether or not explicitly described.

[0024] It shall be understood that although the terms “first,” “second,”..., etc. in front of noun(s) and the like may be used herein to describe various elements, these elements should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element from another and they do not limit the order of the noun(s). For example, a first element could be termed a second element, and similarly, a second element could be termed a first element, without departing from the scope of example embodiments. As used herein, the term “and / or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the listed terms.

[0025] As used herein, “at least one of the following: ” and “at least one of ” and similar wording, where the list of two or more elementsare joined by “and” or “or”, mean at least any one of the elements, or at least any two or more of the elements, or at least all the elements.

[0026] As used herein, unless stated explicitly, performing a step “in response to A” does not indicate that the step is performed immediately after “A” occurs and one or more intervening steps may be included.

[0027] The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of example embodiments. As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises”, “comprising”, “has”, “having”, “includes” and / or “including”, when used herein, specify the presence of stated features, elements, and / or components etc., but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, elements, components and / or combinations thereof.

[0028] As used in this application, the term “circuitry” may refer to one or more or all of the following:(a) hardware-only circuit implementations (such as implementations in only analog and / or digital circuitry) and(b) combinations of hardware circuits and software, such as (as applicable):(i) a combination of analog and / or digital hardware circuit(s) with software / firmware and(ii) any portions of hardware processor(s) with software (including digital signal processor(s)), software, and memory(ies) that work together to cause an apparatus, such as a mobile phone or server, to perform various functions) and(c) hardware circuit(s) and or processor(s), such as a microprocessor(s) or a portion of a microprocessor(s), that requires software (e.g., firmware) for operation, but the software may not be present when it is not needed for operation.

[0029] This definition of circuitry applies to all uses of this term in this application, including in any claims. As a further example, as used in this application, the term circuitry also covers an implementation of merely a hardware circuit or processor (or multiple processors) or portion of a hardware circuit or processor and its (or their) accompanying software and / or firmware. The term circuitry also covers, for example and if applicable to the particular claim element, a baseband integrated circuit or processor integrated circuit for a mobile device or a similar integrated circuit in server, a cellular network device, or other computing or network device.

[0030] As used herein, the term “communication network” refers to a network following any suitable communication standards, such as New Radio (NR), Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE-Advanced (LTE- A), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA), Narrow Band Internet of Things (NB-loT) and so on. Furthermore, the communications between a terminaldevice and a network device in the communication network may be performed according to any suitable generation communication protocols, including, but not limited to, the first generation (1 G), the second generation (2G), 2.5G, 2.75G, the third generation (3G), the fourth generation (4G), 4.5G, the fifth generation (5G), the sixth generation (6G) communication protocols, and / or any other protocols either currently known or to be developed in the future. Embodiments of the present disclosure may be applied in various communication systems. Given the rapid development in communications, there will of course also be future type communication technologies and systems with which the present disclosure may be embodied. It should not be seen as limiting the scope of the present disclosure to only the aforementioned system.

[0031] As used herein, the term “network device” refers to a node in a communication network via which a terminal device accesses the network and receives services therefrom. The network device may refer to a base station (BS) or an access point (AP), for example, a node B (NodeB or NB), an evolved NodeB (eNodeB or eNB), an NR NB (also referred to as a gNB), a Remote Radio Unit (RRU), a radio header (RH), a remote radio head (RRH), a relay, an Integrated Access and Backhaul (I AB) node, a low power node such as a femto, a pico, a non-terrestrial network (NTN) or non-ground network device such as a satellite network device, a low earth orbit (LEO) satellite and a geosynchronous earth orbit (GEO) satellite, an aircraft network device, and so forth, depending on the applied terminology and technology. In some example embodiments, radio access network (RAN) split architecture comprises a Centralized Unit (CU) and a Distributed Unit (DU) at an IAB donor node. An IAB node comprises a Mobile Terminal (IAB-MT) part that behaves like a UE toward the parent node, and a DU part of an IAB node behaves like a base station toward the next-hop IAB node.

[0032] The term “terminal device” refers to any end device that may be capable of wireless communication. By way of example rather than limitation, a terminal device may also be referred to as a communication device, user equipment (UE), a Subscriber Station (SS), a Portable Subscriber Station, a Mobile Station (MS), or an Access Terminal (AT). The terminal device may include, but not limited to, a mobile phone, a cellular phone, a smart phone, voice over IP (VoIP) phones, wireless local loop phones, a tablet, a wearable terminal device, a personal digital assistant (PDA), portable computers, desktop computer, image capture terminal devices such as digital cameras, gaming terminal devices, music storage and playback appliances, vehicle-mounted wireless terminal devices, wireless endpoints, mobile stations, laptop-embedded equipment (LEE), laptop-mounted equipment (LME), USB dongles, smart devices, wireless customer-premises equipment (CPE), an Internet of Things (loT) device, a watch or other wearable, a head-mounted display (HMD), a vehicle, a drone, a medical device and applications (e.g., remote surgery), an industrial device and applications (e.g., a robot and / or other wireless devices operating in an industrial and / or an automated processing chain contexts), a consumer electronics device, a device operating on commercial and / or industrial wirelessnetworks, and the like. The terminal device may also correspond to a Mobile Termination (MT) part of an IAB node (e.g., a relay node). In the following description, the terms “terminal device”, “communication device”, “terminal”, “user equipment” and “UE” may be used interchangeably.

[0033] As used herein, the term “resource,” “transmission resource,” “resource block,” “physical resource block” (PRB), “uplink resource,” or “downlink resource” may refer to any resource for performing a communication, for example, a communication between a terminal device and a network device, such as a resource in time domain, a resource in frequency domain, a resource in space domain, a resource in code domain, or any other combination of the time, frequency, space and / or code domain resource enabling a communication, and the like. In the following, unless explicitly stated, a resource in both frequency domain and time domain will be used as an example of a transmission resource for describing some example embodiments of the present disclosure. It is noted that example embodiments of the present disclosure are equally applicable to other resources in other domains.

[0034] As used herein, the term “LP-SS” refers to a low-power synchronization signal, which is designed to operate with low power consumption, making it suitable for low-power or energy- constrained devices. The LP-SS allows devices to maintain timing accuracy and network synchronization without significantly draining power resources, enabling efficient operation in environments where preserving battery life is critical.

[0035] As used herein, the term “LP-WUS” refers to a low-power wake-up signal. LP-WUS is especially used in a scenario where devices are often in deep sleep modes to conserve energy. By using LP-WUS, these devices can remain in low-power states until they need to perform specific tasks, reducing the need for constant active operation and thereby extending battery life or optimizing energy harvesting resources.

[0036] As used herein, the term “SSB” refers to a synchronization signal block, which includes essential synchronization and broadcast signals for user equipment (UE). The SSB enables devices to establish initial network connections by providing information such as cell identity, timing, and physical layer parameters.

[0037] FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic diagram of an example communication environment 100 in which example embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented. In the communication environment 100, a plurality of communication devices, including a first apparatus 110 and a second apparatus 120, can communicate with each other.

[0038] In the example of FIG. 1 , the first apparatus 110 may be a terminal device, such as a UE, and the second apparatus 120 may be a network device, such as a base station serving the UE. The serving area of the second apparatus 120 may be called a cell 102. The second apparatus 120 is operating in a radio access network (RAN) and thus is also referred to as a RAN network device.

[0039] In some example embodiments, the RAN architecture will include a centralized part, orcentral unit (CU), and a distributed part, or distributed unit (DU). The CU and the DU will be connected to one another by a so-called Fl interface. In some example embodiments, the CU may be split into a CU-UP (central unit-user plane) and a CU-CP (central unit-control plane). The CU-UP and the CU-CP will be connected to one another by a so-called El interface, and the Fl interface will be split between Fl-c and Fl-u interfaces for the control and user planes, respectively.

[0040] It is to be understood that the number of devices and their connections shown in FIG. 1 are only for the purpose of illustration without suggesting any limitation. The communication environment 100 may include any suitable number of devices configured to implementing example embodiments of the present disclosure. Although not shown, it would be appreciated that one or more additional devices may be located in the cell 102, and one or more additional cells may be deployed in the communication environment 100. It is noted that although illustrated as a network device, the second apparatus 120 may be another device than a network device. Although illustrated as a terminal device, the first apparatus 110 may be another device than a terminal device.

[0041] In the following, for the purpose of illustration, some example embodiments are described with the first apparatus 110 operating as a UE and the second apparatus 120 operating as a base station, e.g., gNB. However, in some example embodiments, operations described in connection with a terminal device may be implemented at a network device or other device, and operations described in connection with a network device may be implemented at a terminal device or other device.

[0042] In some example embodiments, a link from the second apparatus 120 to the first apparatus 110 is referred to as a downlink (DL), while a link from the first apparatus 110 to the second apparatus 120 is referred to as an uplink (UL). In DL, the second apparatus 120 is a transmitting (TX) device (or a transmitter) and the first apparatus 110 is a receiving (RX) device (or a receiver). In UL, the first apparatus 110 is a TX device (or a transmitter) and the second apparatus 120 is a RX device (or a receiver).

[0043] Communications in the communication environment 100 may be implemented according to any proper communication protocol(s), comprising, but not limited to, cellular communication protocols of the first generation (1 G), the second generation (2G), the third generation (3G), the fourth generation (4G), the fifth generation (5G), the sixth generation (6G), and the like, wireless local network communication protocols such as Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 and the like, and / or any other protocols currently known or to be developed in the future. Moreover, the communication may utilize any proper wireless communication technology, comprising but not limited to: Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA), Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), Frequency Division Duplex (FDD), Time Division Duplex (TDD), Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO), Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple (OFDM), Discrete Fourier Transform spread OFDM (DFT-s-OFDM) and / or any other technologies currently known or tobe developed in the future.

[0044] As mentioned above, designs to prolong battery life is a necessity for improving energy efficiency as well as for better user experience. Energy efficiency is even more critical for UEs without a continuous energy source, for example, UEs using small rechargeable and single coin cell batteries. Among vertical use cases, sensors and actuators are deployed extensively for monitoring, measuring, charging, etc. Generally, their batteries are not rechargeable and expected to last at least few years. Wearables include smart watches, rings, eHealth related devices, and medical monitoring devices. With typical battery capacity, it is challenging to sustain up to 1-2 weeks as required.

[0045] The power consumption depends on the configured length of wake-up periods, for example, paging cycle. To meet the battery life requirements above, long extended discontinues reception (DRX) cycle may be used, resulting in high latency, which is not suitable for such services with requirements of both long battery life and low latency. For example, in fire detection and extinguishment use case, fire shutters may be closed and fire sprinklers may be turned on by the actuators within 1 to 2 seconds from the time the fire is detected by sensors, long extended DRX (eDRX) cycle cannot meet the delay requirements. eDRX may not be suitable for latency-critical use cases.

[0046] According to some solutions, low-power wake up signal (LP-WUS) and low-power wake up receiver (LP-WUR) for new radio (NR) are proposed. The studying aspects of the LP-WUS and LP- WUR include: the low-power wake-up signal and receiver, including power saving benefit, coverage, system overhead impact, network energy impact and other related aspects; the receiver architecture for low-power wake-up receiver and providing analysis for power consumption, noise figure and etc; Layer 1 ( L1) design and procedure changes needed to support the low-power wake-up signal and evaluations for the link performances; higher layer protocol changes needed to support the low-power wake-up signals.

[0047] In radio resource control (RRC) I DLE / I NACTI VE modes, significant UE power saving gain is obtained by using LP-WUS / WUR to trigger UE main receiver (MR) paging monitoring, if sufficient relaxation to MR radio resource management (RRM) measurement is applied. Further, compared with existing eDRX operation, significant paging latency reduction and moderate UE power saving gain is observed, if LP-WUS monitoring and the corresponding paging monitoring after MR wake-up is performed not restricted within paging time window (PTW) of eDRX.

[0048] In RRC CONNECTED mode, moderate UE power saving gain is obtained with marginal impact to capacity by using LP-WUS / WUR to trigger UE MR physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) monitoring compared with conventional UE power saving techniques, across different types of traffic and system load scenarios. It’s also observed that significant UE power saving gain and moderate UPT improvement is obtained for FTP and IM traffic, when the UE MR enters deep sleep state during LR LP-WUS monitoring. Furthermore, the feasibility on serving cell RRM measurementoffloading from UE MR to LP-WUR by reasonable evaluation methodology is proposed.

[0049] Moreover, the objectives include several aspects, which are described in the followings. One of the objectives is to specify an LP-WUS design commonly applicable to both IDLE / INACTIVE modes and CONNECTED modes. In this case, on-off keying (OOK) (OOK-1 and / or OOK-4) based LP- WUS with overlaid OFDM sequence(s) over OOK symbol is to be specified. As for IDLE / INACTIVE operation, the LP-WUS design ensures that the same information is delivered irrespective of LP-WUR type. In addition, the OFDM sequence may carry information. Furthermore, at least duty-cycled monitoring of LP-WUS may be supported.

[0050] The objectives for IDLE / INACTIVE modes include specifying procedure and configuration of LP-WUS indicating paging monitoring triggered by LP-WUS, which includes at least configuration, sub-grouping and entry / exit condition for LP-WUS monitoring. Furthermore, the objectives include specifying LP-SS with periodicity with Yms for LP-WUR, for synchronization and / or RRM for serving cell. In this case, LP-SS is based on OOK-1 and / or OOK-4 waveform with or without overlaid OFDM sequences. Further down selection between with and without overlaid OFDM sequences needs to be studied. It is noted that for LP-WUR that may receive conventional primary synchronization signal (PSS) / secondary synchronization signal (SSS), the conventional PSS / SSS may be used for synchronization and RRM instead of LP-SS. In addition, Y will be decided later. 320ms is the start point. Moreover, the objectives include specifying further RRM relaxation of UE MR for both serving and neighbor cell measurements, and UE serving cell RRM measurement offloaded from MR to LP- WUR, which includes the necessary conditions.

[0051] The objectives for CONNECTED modes include specifying procedures to allow UE MR PDCCH monitoring triggered by LP-WUS which includes activation and deactivation procedure of LP- WUS monitoring, for example, for potential TU adjustment. It is noted that in CONNECTED mode, UE MR ultra-deep sleep is not considered, and UE RRM / radio link monitoring (RLM) / beam failure detection (BFD) / channel state information (CSI) measurements are performed by MR. In addition, a target coverage of LP-WUS and LP-SS may be the coverage of PUSCH for messages, and the optimization of LP-WUS signal design for IDLE / INACTIVE mode is prioritized over the optimization for connected mode. Furthermore, the objectives for CONNECTED modes include specifying the necessary core requirement(s) to support the feature, which is to be further refined.

[0052] LP-SS may be used for low power receiver (LR) synchronization maintenance and for serving cell measurements. In some solutions, LR measurement quantities are provided. Some metrics are supported for RRM serving cell measurement performed by OOK-based receiver based on LP-SS. For example, LP-reference signal received power (RSRP) is the linear average of received power of LP-SS in OOK ON symbols. LP-reference signal receiving quality (RSRQ) equals to LP- RSRP / LP- received signal strength indication (RSSI), and LP-RSSI is used for the determination ofLP-RSRQ. In some examples, LP-RSSI may be the linear average of total received power in all LP- SS OOK symbols. In some other examples, LP-RSSI may be the linear average of total received power in LP-SS OOK OFF symbols. Alternatively, LP-RSSI may be the linear average of total received power in LP-SS OOK ON symbols.

[0053] In some solutions, for LP-SS based LP-RSRQ, LP-RSRP and LP-RSSI are measured within the same bandwidth. For LP-RSRQ, LP-RSSI may be the linear average of total received power in ON and OFF LP-SS OOK symbols, which does not constrain LP-SS sequence design for OOK. In some solutions, for the RRM measurement metrics based on SSS for OFDM-based LP-WUR, SS-RSRP and SS-RSRQ are used for LP-SSS-RSRP and LP-SSS-RSRQ, respectively, which are applicable for both time-domain processing or frequency-domain processing.

[0054] In some embodiments, there may be two types of LP-WUR. A first type of LP-WUR may include envelope-only detector (ED). The LP-WUR may support only envelope detector (ED), e.g., ON / OFF keying, and have no in-phase quadrature (IQ) branch to perform coherent / sequence detection. A second type of LP-WUR may support sequence-only detectors (SD). The LP-WUR with sequence detector may use IQ branches to perform coherent detection. It may consume more power due to the better accuracy of crystal oscillators (XO) used to drive the phase-locked loops (PLLs). For LP-WUR, a low power synchronization signal (LP-SS) may be specified for LR synchronization and / or radio resource measurement (RRM) for a cell.

[0055] In RRM, synchronization signal (SS) blocks may be configured to be measured. SS-RSRP may be defined as the linear average over the power contributions (in [W]) of the resource elements that carry secondary synchronization signals. The measurement time resource(s) for SS-RSRP are confined within SS / physical broadcast channel (PBCH) Block Measurement Time Configuration (SMTC) window duration. If SS-RSRP is used for L1-RSRP as configured by reporting configurations, the measurement time resources(s) restriction by SMTC window duration is not applicable.

[0056] For SS-RSRP determination demodulation reference signals for physical broadcast channel (PBCH) and, if indicated by higher layers, channel state information (CSI) reference signals in addition to secondary synchronization signals may be used. SS-RSRP using demodulation reference signal for PBCH or CSI reference signal may be measured by linear averaging over the power contributions of the resource elements that carry corresponding reference signals taking into account power scaling for the reference signals. If SS-RSRP is not used for layer 1 (L1 )-RSRP, the additional use of CSI reference signals for SS-RSRP determination may not be applicable.

[0057] SS-RSRP may be measured only among the reference signals corresponding to SS / PBCH blocks with the same SS / PBCH block index and the same physical-layer cell identity. If SS-RSRP may not be used for L1-RSRP and higher-layers indicate certain SS / PBCH blocks for performing SS-RSRP measurements, then SS-RSRP is measured only from the indicated set of SS / PBCH block(s).

[0058] For frequency range 1 (FR1 ), the reference point for the SS-RSRP may be the antenna connector of the UE. For frequency range 2 (FR2), the SS-RSRP may be measured based on the combined signal from antenna elements corresponding to a given receiver branch. For frequency range 1 and 2, if receiver diversity may be in use by the UE, the reported SS-RSRP value may not be lower than the corresponding SS-RSRP of any of the individual receiver branches.

[0059] If SS-RSRP is used for L1-RSRP, at least one of the followings is applicable: RRC_CONNECTED intra-frequency, RRCJDLE intra-frequency, RRCJDLE inter-frequency, RRCJNACTIVE intra-frequency, RRCJNACTIVE inter-frequency, RRC_CONNECTED intra- frequency, RRC_CONNECTED inter-frequency. It is noted that, the number of resource elements within the measurement period that are used by the UE to determine SS-RSRP is left up to the UE implementation with the limitation that corresponding measurement accuracy requirements have to be fulfilled. Furthermore, the power per resource element is determined from the energy received during the useful part of the symbol, excluding the CP.

[0060] In some solutions, the SSB configuration information may configure a pattern of SSBs. For example, the SSB configuration information associated with SSB measurements may be carried in an information element (IE) referred to as “SSB-ToMeasure" which may be defined as follows:

[0061] In some examples, the “SSB-ToMeasure" IE, “longBitmap" may indicate a bitmap when the maximum number of SS / PBCH blocks per half frame equals to 64, “mediumBitmap" may indicate a bitmap when the maximum number of SS / PBCH blocks per half frame equals to 8. “shortBitmap" may indicate a bitmap when the maximum number of SS / PBCH blocks per half frame equals to 4. It would be appropriated that the configuration information for SSB measurement may be defined in other ways which are not limited in the present disclosure.

[0062] In some solutions, a parameter is proposed to define whether a particular LP-SS associated to a certain beam / SSB is to be used in measurements, which is used to derive LP-RSRP or LP-RSRQ and define the interaction between the LP-SS and SSB related parameter to define the referencesignals to be used for measurements. Moreover, two types of LP-WUR are considered, one is the LP- WUR supporting only envelope detector (ED), that is, only ON / OFF keying is supported by the receiver. In this case, the low power receiver (LR) has no IQ branch to perform coherent or sequence detection, and this receiver type is assumed to be only capable to do measurements based on OOK signals, such as LP-SS and LP-WUS. The other type of the LP-WUR includes the OFDM detector. In this case, LR uses IQ branches to perform coherent detection, and it consumes more power due to the better accuracy of crystal oscillators (XO) used to drive the PLLs. In addition, this LR type is assumed to be capable do measurements based on SSB, i.e., SS-RSRP.

[0063] In some solutions, LP-RSRP may be the linear average of received power of LP-SS in OOK ON symbols over the frequency resources defined by the number of REs that carry LP-SS. Furthermore, LP-RSSI may be the linear average of total received power in ON and OFF LP-SS OOK symbols over the frequency resources defined by the number of REs that carry LP-SS. In some solutions, at least 1 :1 association between LP-WUS monitoring occasion(s) (MO(s)) / LP-SS transmissions and SSB beams is supported.

[0064] In some solutions, the relation between LP-SS, LP-WUS and SSB is provided, which includes that each LP-WUS is quasi collocated (QCLed) with one SSB, and each LP-SS is QCLed with one SSB. In this case, QCL Type A or Type C and / or Type D needs to be studied, and QCL determination or some signaling is required. Furthermore, the number of beams for LP-SS is the same as the number of beams for the LP-WUS MOs in a LP-WUS occasion (LO).

[0065] In some solutions, for entry or exit conditions for LP-WUS monitoring in I DLE / INACTIVE mode, the followings are provided. In some examples, if the serving cell measurement performed by the MR is above the entry threshold, and is configured by the gNB, the UE may start LP-WUS monitoring. In addition, other conditions need further studies. In some examples, if UE starts LP-WUS monitoring, it may stop the legacy paging occasion (PO) monitoring before UE receives LP-WUS indicating wake-up. In some other examples, if the serving cell measurement performed by the LR is below the exit threshold, and is configured by the gNB, the UE monitors the legacy PO and may monitor permanent equipment identifier (PEI), and may stop LP-WUS monitoring. In addition, other conditions need further studies. Furthermore, the serving cell measurement metrics need further studies. In some examples, entry or exit thresholds may be configured separately for different types of LR. Moreover, whether the thresholds are always configured by the gNB needs further studies.

[0066] In some solutions, for RRM offloading or relaxation, the followings are provided. For serving cell measurement offloading, that is, serving cell measurement fully offloaded to LR and no serving cell measurement via MR is required, it is to specify the offloading criterion for serving cell for UEs supporting LP-WUS, and the measurement offloading requirements for serving cell is to be defined. In addition, the RRM measurement of the neighboring cell may only be performed by MR. Furthermore,the neighbor cell measurement relaxation criteria including whether the UE is using LR to measure the serving cell needs further studies. For example, it may include using criteria for “not at cell edge” and “low mobility”.

[0067] In some solutions, for LP-WUS entry or exit, the followings are proposed. The LP-WUS related configuration in SIB at least includes the following information for IDLE / INACTIVE: LP-SS configuration, LP-WUS configuration, or entry / exit condition for LP-WUS monitoring. In addition, whether the entry / exit condition is always configured needs to be studied. Furthermore, for entry condition definition, it is proposed that if the serving cell quality such as RSRP, RSRQ from MR is above the threshold which is configured, UE may start to monitor LP-WUS, if UE monitors LP-WUS, it may stop monitoring the legacy PO. In addition, if any measurement from LR is needed is to be studied. Moreover, for exit condition definition, it is proposed that if the serving cell measurement result based on LR is below a threshold which is configured, UE may monitor PO as in legacy and it may stop monitoring the LP-WUS.

[0068] For LP-SS based measurements, the handling and interaction with the SSB related parameter need to be defined. In some solutions, whether it is possible to configure LP-SS or LP- WUS only to sub-set of SSB beams is proposed, and whether the coverage of LP-WUS or LP-SS is smaller than that of SSB may be further studied. In this case, if vertical beam is used for SSB, some SSB index may correspond to cell edge, which is not the target LP-WUS or LP-SS coverage. Therefore, mapping or configuring LP-WUS or LP-SS to all SSB beams may be wasting resource, for example, LP-WUS or LP-SS for cell edge beams may be transmitted but may not be received successfully.

[0069] It is a problem that UE may be based on not detecting LP-SS determine that there is no LP- WUS transmission, that is, as LP-SS based measurements fall below exit threshold, UE may cease LP-WUS monitoring and resume normal paging monitoring. The foregoing aspect may be problematic for OFDM-LR that evaluates the entry and exit conditions for LP-WUS monitoring based on the SSB, which may not be able to determine whether LP-WUS is present or not based on LP-SS, as it is not measured.

[0070] In the present disclosure, a parameter is provided to enable adjusting the entry threshold for LP-WUS monitoring. In this case, the application of LP-WUS monitoring can be controlled for each SSB beam individually.

[0071] Example embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0072] FIG. 2 illustrates a signaling flow 200 for communication between the first apparatus 110 and the second apparatus 120 in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure. In some example embodiments, the first apparatus 110 may be a terminal device, and the second apparatus 120 may be a network device. For the purposes of discussion, the signaling flow200 will be discussed with reference to FIG. 1. The signaling flow 200 may involve the first apparatus 110 and the second apparatus 120 in FIG. 1.

[0073] The second apparatus 120 transmits (2010) configuration information to the first apparatus 110. In this case, the configuration information indicates at least one condition which is associated with at least one synchronization signal block (SSB) for triggering a low-power related operation for the at least one SSB. For example, the at least one condition may be associated with entering or existing the LP-WUS monitoring on the at least one SSB. Alternatively, or in addition, the at least one condition may be associated with entering or existing the relaxation of MR measurement on the at least one SSB. In some other example embodiments, the at least one condition may be associated with entering or existing the measurement offload from the MR to the LR.

[0074] In some example embodiments, the configuration information is received from the second apparatus 120 via a system information block (SIB), for example, as a part of the SIB. Alternatively, the configuration information is received via broadcast signaling. After receiving (2010) the configuration information, the first apparatus 110 performs (2020) a radio quality measurement. In some example embodiments, the radio quality measurement may include measuring a reference signal receiving power (RSRP)based on one or more reference signals. Alternatively, the radio quality measurement may include measuring a received signal strength indication (RSSI) based on one or more reference signals. In some other example embodiments, the radio quality measurement may include measuring reference signal receiving quality (RSRQ) based on one or more reference signals. In some example embodiments, the radio quality measurement may be performed on at least one of: a main receiver (MR) or a low power receiver (LR).

[0075] In some example embodiments, the configuration information may indicate a threshold value associated with the at least one SSB. In some example embodiments, the configuration information may include an absolute value of the threshold value, that is, the threshold value may be an absolute threshold. For example, a first group of SSBs including a first SSB and a second SSB apply a first absolute threshold, and a second group of SSBs including a third SSB and a fourth SSB apply a second absolute threshold. Alternatively, the configuration information may include a common threshold value and an offset value, that is, the threshold value may be a relative threshold. In this case, the common threshold may be common to one or more SSBs. In some example embodiments, the offset value may be specific to the at least one SSB, for example, the beam specific offset may be provided individual for each SSB to be applied to the common entry threshold. In some other example embodiments, the offset value may be common to one or more SSBs, for example, the offset value may be applied for a group of SSBs.

[0076] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus 110 may determine (2030) whether the offset value is associated to the at least one SSB. In some example embodiments, the first apparatus110 may determine the threshold value by adding or subtracting the offset value to the common threshold value, if the offset value is associated to the at least one SSB. For example, the offset value for a first SSB may be a first offset value, then the threshold value for the first SSB may equal to the sum of the common value which is common and the first offset value. In some other example embodiments, the first apparatus 110 may determine the common threshold as the threshold value, if the offset value is not associated to the at least one SSB.

[0077] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus 110 may determine (2030) whether the offset value is associated to the at least one SSB based on an indication in the configuration information. For example, the indication in the configuration information that indicates the offset is applied to the at least one SSB is used to determine whether the offset is applied. In other words, the offset for the entry threshold may be provided together with an indication to which SSB beams it applies to. In some examples, if a SSB is not provided with the offset, the common threshold value which is common may be applied.

[0078] In some example embodiments, an indication received from the second apparatus that indicates an index of the at least one SSB is used to determine (2030) whether the offset is applied. In some example embodiments, the offset may be provided individual for each SSB. In some other example embodiments, the offset value may be applied for a group of SSBs. In some example embodiments, if a SSB is not provided with a signaled offset, the common threshold value which is common may be applied.

[0079] In some example embodiments, a bitmap received from the second apparatus 120 that indicates the offset is applied to the at least one SSB is used to determine (2030) whether the offset is applied. In some example embodiments, the bitmap may have the length based on the maximum number of SSBs on the cell. For example, if the maximum number of SSBs is 8, the maximum length may be 8. In this case, each bit position in the bitmap may correspond to a certain SSB time location or a SSB index. In some example embodiments, if the bit in the bitmap is set to a first value, such as “1 ”, the offset value is applied to the SSB, that is, the sum of the common value and the offset value. In some other example embodiments, if the bit in the bitmap is set to a second value, such as “0”, the offset value is not applied to the SSB, that is, the common value is determined to be the threshold value. In some example embodiments, the bit position in a bitmap may map to a set of SSBs, for example, the first bit position may map to a first SSB and a second SSB. As an example, the first bit is set to “1 ”, then the offset value is applied to both the first SSB and the second SSB, and the sum of the common value and the offset value is determined to be the threshold value for both the first SSB and the second SSB. In some other example embodiments, if the bitmap is not present, the common threshold value which is common may be applied for the at least one SSB.

[0080] In some example embodiments, a common threshold value and a second threshold valueare configured. In some examples, the second threshold value may be the offset value with respect to the common threshold value. Alternatively, the second threshold value may have an independent value.

[0081] The first apparatus 110 determines (2040) that the at least one condition is satisfied based on at least one of: the configuration information and the radio quality measurement. In some example embodiments, the first apparatus 110 may determine whether a value of the radio quality measurement is above the threshold value. In addition, if the value of the radio quality measurement is above the threshold value, the first apparatus 110 determines (2040) that the at least one condition is satisfied. For example, if the value of the radio quality measurement is above the threshold value, the condition for entry of the LP-WUS mode is satisfied. In some other example embodiments, the first apparatus 110 may determine whether a value of the radio quality measurement is below the threshold value. In addition, based on the determination that the value of the radio quality measurement is below the threshold value, the first apparatus 110 determines (2040) that the at least one condition is satisfied. For example, if the value of the radio quality measurement is below the threshold value, the condition for existing the LP-WUS mode is satisfied.

[0082] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus 110 may apply (2050) the low-power related operation on the at least one SSB, if the at least one condition is satisfied. For example, the lower-power related operation may include at least one of: a low-power wake-up signal (LP-WUS) monitoring, relaxation of MR measurements, or a measurement offload from a main receiver (MR) to a low power receiver (LR).

[0083] In some other example embodiments, by adjusting the evaluation or measurement period for different SSBs, the threshold may be set higher together with longer evaluation or measurement time, which enables stationary terminal devices in good conditions to use the LP-WUS in the edge beams. If the second apparatus 120 does not configure LP-SS threshold for the entry condition, or for OFDM-LR, LP-SS based mechanism (i.e., omitting LP-SS transmission) may not be able to ensure that the first apparatus 110 does not attempt to LP-WUS monitoring in at least one SSB beam. In some example embodiments, for both, sector edge and cell edge scenarios which need more flexible adaptation, if there are stationary UEs (loT devices) that benefit from low power operation in paging monitoring, SSB beam specific offset may be considered, which may be applied to the entry thresholds. Effectively setting the offset to the entry threshold high enough may prevent the first apparatus 110 to attempt LP-WUS monitoring under the coverage of the given SSB beam but may be also set so that terminal devices even in cell edge region are allowed to do LP-WUS monitoring if the evaluated or measured quality based on SSB is good enough. This may be further enhanced by setting the evaluation or measurement period correspondingly, possibly also in beam specific manner, so that only stationary or low mobile terminal devices are expected to meet the entry threshold, for example,by multiplying the common evaluation period for specific beams. The foregoing may also be applied for RRM relaxations, which may be allowed in SSB spatial beams that cover the centre region of the cell. Furthermore, the cell edge regions offset may be applied to the relaxation or offloading thresholds so that UEs satisfies the conditions may apply the relaxation.

[0084] In some example embodiments, the configuration information may indicate an evaluation period value associated with the at least one SSB. In some example embodiments, the configuration information may include an absolute value of the evaluation period, that is, the evaluation period may be an absolute evaluation period. For example, a first group of SSBs including a first SSB and a second SSB apply a first absolute evaluation period, and a second group of SSBs including a third SSB and a fourth SSB apply a second absolute evaluation period. Alternatively, the configuration information may include a common evaluation period value and a first operation for the common evaluation period, that is, the evaluation period may be a relative evaluation period. In this case, the common evaluation period may be common to one or more SSBs. In some example embodiments, the first operation for the common evaluation period may be specific to the at least one SSB. In some other example embodiments, the first operation for the common evaluation period may be common to one or more SSBs, for example, first operation for the common evaluation period may be applied for a group of SSBs.

[0085] In some example embodiments, the first operation for the common evaluation period may include extending the common evaluation period. For example, the first operation may include adding a first value to the evaluation period, where the first value can be any suitable value and may be configured by the second apparatus 120 or determined by the first apparatus 110. Alternatively, or in addition, the first operation for the common evaluation period may include scaling the common evaluation period. For example, the first operation may include multiplying the evaluation period with a second value, where the second value can be any suitable value and may be configured by the second apparatus 120 or determined by the first apparatus 110.

[0086] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus 110 may determine (2030) whether the first operation is applied to the at least one SSB. In some example embodiments, the first apparatus 110 may update the common evaluation period based on the first operation based on the determination that the first operation is applied to the at least one SSB, and the first apparatus 110 may determine the updated common evaluation period as the evaluation period value. For example, the first operation for the common evaluation period for a first SSB may be multiplying the common evaluation period with a first value. In some other example embodiments, the first apparatus 110 may determine the common evaluation period as the evaluation period value based on the determination that the first operation is not applied to the at least one SSB.

[0087] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus 110 may determine (2030) whether thefirst operation is applied to the at least one SSB in a similar as the foregoing aspect. For example, an indication in the configuration information that indicates the first operation is applied to the at least one SSB is used to determine whether the first operation is applied. In some other example embodiments, an indication received from the second apparatus 120 that indicates an index of the at least one SSB is used to determine whether the first operation is applied. Alternatively, a bitmap received from the second apparatus 120 that indicates the first operation is applied to the at least one SSB is used to determine whether the first operation is applied.

[0088] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus 110 may determine (2040) whether a value of the radio quality measurement is above the threshold value based on the evaluation period value. In addition, if the value of the radio quality measurement is above the threshold value, the first apparatus 110 determines (2040) that the at least one condition is satisfied. For example, if the value of the radio quality measurement is above the threshold value, the condition for entry of the LP-WUS mode is satisfied. In some other example embodiments, the first apparatus 110 may determine whether a value of the radio quality measurement is below the threshold value based on the evaluation period value. In addition, based on the determination that the value of the radio quality measurement is below the threshold value, the first apparatus 110 determines (2040) that the at least one condition is satisfied. For example, if the value of the radio quality measurement is below the threshold value, the condition for existing the LP-WUS mode is satisfied.

[0089] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus 110 may apply (2050) the low-power related operation on the at least one SSB, if the at least one condition is satisfied. For example, the lower-power related operation may include at least one of: a low-power wake-up signal (LP-WUS) monitoring, relaxation of MR measurements, or a measurement offload from a main receiver (MR) to a low power receiver (LR). In some example embodiments, if the at least one condition associated with entering the LP-WUS monitoring is satisfied, the first apparatus 110 may monitor the LP-WUS. Alternatively, if the at least one condition associated with entering the relaxation measurement is satisfied, the first apparatus 110 may perform the MR measurement based on a relaxation factor. In some other example embodiments, if the at least one condition associated with the measurement offload is satisfied, the first apparatus 110 may perform the measurement offload from the MR to the LR.

[0090] FIG. 3 shows a flowchart of an example method 300 implemented at a first apparatus in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, the method 300 will be described from the perspective of the first apparatus 110 in FIG. 1.

[0091] At block 310, the first apparatus receives, from a second apparatus, configuration information indicating at least one condition associated with at least one synchronization signal block (SSB) for triggering a low-power related operation for the at least one SSB.

[0092] At block 320, the first apparatus performs a radio quality measurement.

[0093] At block 330, the first apparatus determines that the at least one condition is satisfied based on at least one of: the configuration information and the radio quality measurement.

[0094] In some example embodiments, the method 300 further comprises: based on a determination that the at least one condition is satisfied, applying the low-power related operation on the at least one SSB.

[0095] In some example embodiments, the low-power related operation comprises at least one of: a low-power wake-up signal (LP-WUS) monitoring, relaxation of main receiver (MR) measurements, or a measurement offload from a main receiver (MR) to a low power receiver (LR).

[0096] In some example embodiments, the configuration information indicates a threshold value associated with the at least one SSB.

[0097] In some example embodiments, the configuration information comprises an absolute value of the threshold value. Alternatively, the configuration information comprises a common threshold value and an offset value.

[0098] In some example embodiments, the method 300 further comprises: determining that the offset value is associated to the at least one SSB; and determining the threshold value by adding or subtracting the offset value to the common threshold value.

[0099] In some example embodiments, the method 300 further comprises: determining that the offset value is not associated to the at least one SSB; and determining the common threshold value as the threshold value.

[0100] In some example embodiments, the method 300 further comprises: determining whether the offset value is associated to the at least one SSB based on at least one of: an indication received from the second apparatus that indicates an index of the at least one SSB, a bitmap received from the second apparatus that indicates the offset is applied to the at least one SSB, or an indication in the configuration information that indicates the offset is applied to the at least one SSB.

[0101] In some example embodiments, the offset is specific to the at least one SSB. Alternatively, the offset is common to one or more SSBs.

[0102] In some example embodiments, the method 300 further comprises: determining whether a value of the radio quality measurement is above or below the threshold value; and based on a determination that the value of the radio quality measurement is above or below the threshold value, determining that the at least one condition is satisfied.

[0103] In some example embodiments, the configuration information indicates an evaluation period value associated with the at least one SSB.

[0104] In some example embodiments, the configuration information comprises an absolute value of the evaluation period. Alternatively, the configuration information comprises a common evaluationperiod value and a first operation for the common evaluation period.

[0105] In some example embodiments, the first operation for the common evaluation period comprises at least one of: extending the common evaluation period or scaling the common evaluation period.

[0106] In some example embodiments, the method 300 further comprises: determining that the first operation for the common evaluation period is applied to the at least one SSB; updating the common evaluation period based on the first operation; and determining the updated common evaluation period as the evaluation period value.

[0107] In some example embodiments, the method 300 further comprises: determining that the first operation for the common evaluation period is not applied to the at least one SSB; and determining the common evaluation period value as the evaluation period value.

[0108] In some example embodiments, the method 300 further comprises: determining that the evaluation period value is applied to the at least one SSB based on one of: an indication received from the second apparatus that indicates an index of the at least one SSB, a bitmap received from the second apparatus that indicates the first operation is applied to the at least one SSB, or an indication in the configuration information that indicates the first operation is applied to the at least one SSB.

[0109] In some example embodiments, the first operation for the common evaluation period is specific to the at least one SSB. Alternatively, the first operation for the common evaluation period is common to one or more SSBs.

[0110] In some example embodiments, the method 300 further comprises: determining whether a value of the radio quality measurement is above or below a threshold value based on the evaluation period value; and based on a determination that the value of the radio quality measurement is above or below the threshold value, determining that the at least one condition is satisfied.

[0111] In some example embodiments, the radio quality measurement comprises at least one of: a reference signal receiving power (RSRP) for reference signal receiving quality (RSRQ), or a received signal strength indication (RSSI) for reference signal receiving quality (RSRQ).

[0112] In some example embodiments, the radio quality measurement is performed on at least one of: the main receiver (MR) or the low power receiver (LR).

[0113] FIG. 4 shows a flowchart of an example method 400 implemented at a second apparatus in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, the method 400 will be described from the perspective of the second apparatus 120 in FIG. 1.

[0114] At block 410, the second apparatus transmits, to a first apparatus, configuration information indicating at least one condition associated with at least one synchronization signal block (SSB) for triggering a low-power related operation for the at least one SSB.

[0115] In some example embodiments, the low-power related operation comprises at least one of:a low-power wake-up signal (LP-WUS) monitoring, relaxation of main receiver (MR) measurements, or a measurement offload from a main receiver (MR) to a low power receiver (LR).

[0116] In some example embodiments, the configuration information indicates a threshold value associated with the at least one SSB.

[0117] In some example embodiments, the configuration information comprises an absolute value of the threshold value. Alternatively, the configuration information comprises a common threshold value and an offset value.

[0118] In some example embodiments, the method 400 further comprises: transmitting, to the first apparatus, at least one of: an indication that indicates an index of the at least one SSB, a bitmap that indicates the offset is applied to the at least one SSB, or an indication in the configuration information that indicates the offset is applied to the at least one SSB.

[0119] In some example embodiments, the offset is specific to the at least one SSB. Alternatively, the offset is common to one or more SSBs.

[0120] In some example embodiments, the configuration information indicates an evaluation period value corresponding to the at least one SSB.

[0121] In some example embodiments, the configuration information comprises an absolute value of the evaluation period. Alternatively, the configuration information comprises a common evaluation period value and a first operation for the common evaluation period.

[0122] In some example embodiments, the first operation for the common evaluation period comprises at least one of: extending the common evaluation period or scaling of the common evaluation period.

[0123] In some example embodiments, the method 400 further comprises: transmitting, to the first apparatus, at least one of: an indication that indicates an index of the at least one SSB, a bitmap that indicates the first operation is applied to the at least one SSB, or an indication in the configuration information that indicates the first operation is applied to the at least one SSB.

[0124] In some example embodiments, the first operation for the common evaluation period is specific to the at least one SSB. Alternatively, the first operation for the common evaluation period is common to one or more SSBs.

[0125] In some example embodiments, a first apparatus capable of performing any of the method 300 (for example, the first apparatus 110 in FIG. 1 ) may comprise means for performing the respective operations of the method 300. The means may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the means may be implemented in a circuitry or software module. The first apparatus may be implemented as or included in the first apparatus 110 in FIG. 1 .

[0126] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus comprises means for receiving, from a second apparatus, configuration information indicating at least one condition associated with at leastone synchronization signal block (SSB) for triggering a low-power related operation for the at least one SSB; means for performing a radio quality measurement; and means for determining that the at least one condition is satisfied based on at least one of: the configuration information and the radio quality measurement.

[0127] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for based on a determination that the at least one condition is satisfied, applying the low-power related operation on the at least one SSB.

[0128] In some example embodiments, the low-power related operation comprises at least one of: a low-power wake-up signal (LP-WUS) monitoring, relaxation of main receiver (MR) measurements, or a measurement offload from a main receiver (MR) to a low power receiver (LR).

[0129] In some example embodiments, the configuration information indicates a threshold value associated with the at least one SSB.

[0130] In some example embodiments, the configuration information comprises an absolute value of the threshold value. Alternatively, the configuration information comprises a common threshold value and an offset value.

[0131] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for determining that the offset value is associated to the at least one SSB; and means for determining the threshold value by adding or subtracting the offset value to the common threshold value.

[0132] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for determining that the offset value is not associated to the at least one SSB; and means for determining the common threshold value as the threshold value.

[0133] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for determining whether the offset value is associated to the at least one SSB based on at least one of: an indication received from the second apparatus that indicates an index of the at least one SSB, means for a bitmap received from the second apparatus that indicates the offset is applied to the at least one SSB, or means for an indication in the configuration information that indicates the offset is applied to the at least one SSB.

[0134] In some example embodiments, the offset is specific to the at least one SSB. In some other example embodiments, the offset is common to one or more SSBs.

[0135] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for determining whether a value of the radio quality measurement is above or below the threshold value; and means for based on a determination that the value of the radio quality measurement is above or below the threshold value, determining that the at least one condition is satisfied.

[0136] In some example embodiments, the configuration information indicates an evaluation period value associated with the at least one SSB.

[0137] In some example embodiments, the configuration information comprises an absolute value of the evaluation period. Alternatively, the configuration information comprises a common evaluation period value and a first operation for the common evaluation period.

[0138] In some example embodiments, the first operation for the common evaluation period comprises at least one of: extending the common evaluation period or scaling the common evaluation period.

[0139] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for determining that the first operation for the common evaluation period is applied to the at least one SSB; means for updating the common evaluation period based on the first operation; and means for determining the updated common evaluation period as the evaluation period value.

[0140] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for determining that the first operation for the common evaluation period is not applied to the at least one SSB; and means for determining the common evaluation period value as the evaluation period value.

[0141] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for determining that the evaluation period value is applied to the at least one SSB based on one of: an indication received from the second apparatus that indicates an index of the at least one SSB, a bitmap received from the second apparatus that indicates the first operation is applied to the at least one SSB, or an indication in the configuration information that indicates the first operation is applied to the at least one SSB.

[0142] In some example embodiments, the first operation for the common evaluation period is specific to the at least one SSB. In some other example embodiments, the first operation for the common evaluation period is common to one or more SSBs.

[0143] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for determining whether a value of the radio quality measurement is above or below a threshold value based on the evaluation period value; and means for based on a determination that the value of the radio quality measurement is above or below the threshold value, determining that the at least one condition is satisfied.

[0144] In some example embodiments, the radio quality measurement comprises at least one of: a reference signal receiving power (RSRP) for reference signal receiving quality (RSRQ), or a received signal strength indication (RSSI) for reference signal receiving quality (RSRQ).

[0145] In some example embodiments, the radio quality measurement is performed on at least one of: the main receiver (MR) or the low power receiver (LR).

[0146] In some example embodiments, a second apparatus capable of performing any of the method 400 (for example, the second apparatus 120 in FIG. 1 ) may comprise means for performing the respective operations of the method 400. The means may be implemented in any suitable form.For example, the means may be implemented in a circuitry or software module. The second apparatus may be implemented as or included in the second apparatus 120 in FIG. 1.

[0147] In some example embodiments, the second apparatus comprises means for transmitting, to a first apparatus, configuration information indicating at least one condition associated with at least one synchronization signal block (SSB) for triggering a low-power related operation for the at least one SSB.

[0148] In some example embodiments, the low-power related operation comprises at least one of: a low-power wake-up signal (LP-WUS) monitoring, relaxation of main receiver (MR) measurements, or a measurement offload from a main receiver (MR) to a low power receiver (LR).

[0149] In some example embodiments, the configuration information indicates a threshold value associated with the at least one SSB.

[0150] In some example embodiments, the configuration information comprises an absolute value of the threshold value. Alternatively, the configuration information comprises a common threshold value and an offset value.

[0151] In some example embodiments, the second apparatus further comprises: means for transmitting, to the first apparatus, at least one of: an indication that indicates an index of the at least one SSB, a bitmap that indicates the offset is applied to the at least one SSB, or an indication in the configuration information that indicates the offset is applied to the at least one SSB.

[0152] In some example embodiments, the offset is specific to the at least one SSB. In some other example embodiments, the offset is common to one or more SSBs.

[0153] In some example embodiments, the configuration information indicates an evaluation period value corresponding to the at least one SSB.

[0154] In some example embodiments, the configuration information comprises an absolute value of the evaluation period. Alternatively, the configuration information comprises a common evaluation period value and a first operation for the common evaluation period.

[0155] In some example embodiments, the first operation for the common evaluation period comprises at least one of: extending the common evaluation period or scaling of the common evaluation period.

[0156] In some example embodiments, the second apparatus further comprises: means for transmitting, to the first apparatus, at least one of: an indication that indicates an index of the at least one SSB, a bitmap that indicates the first operation is applied to the at least one SSB, or an indication in the configuration information that indicates the first operation is applied to the at least one SSB.

[0157] In some example embodiments, the first operation for the common evaluation period is specific to the at least one SSB. Alternatively, the first operation for the common evaluation period is common to one or more SSBs.

[0158] FIG. 5 is a simplified block diagram of a device 500 that is suitable for implementing example embodiments of the present disclosure. The device 500 may be provided to implement a communication device, for example, the first apparatus 110 or the second apparatus 120 as shown in FIG. 1. As shown, the device 500 includes one or more processors 510, one or more memories 520 coupled to the processor 510, and one or more communication modules 540 coupled to the processor 510.

[0159] The communication module 540 is for bidirectional communications. The communication module 540 has one or more communication interfaces to facilitate communication with one or more other modules or devices. The communication interfaces may represent any interface that is necessary for communication with other network elements. In some example embodiments, the communication module 540 may include at least one antenna.

[0160] The processor 510 may be of any type suitable to the local technical network and may include one or more of the following: general purpose computers, special purpose computers, microprocessors, digital signal processors (DSPs) and processors based on multicore processor architecture, as non-limiting examples. The device 500 may have multiple processors, such as an application specific integrated circuit chip that is slaved in time to a clock which synchronizes the main processor.

[0161] The memory 520 may include one or more non-volatile memories and one or more volatile memories. Examples of the non-volatile memories include, but are not limited to, a Read Only Memory (ROM) 524, an electrically programmable read only memory (EPROM), a flash memory, a hard disk, a compact disc (CD), a digital video disk (DVD), an optical disk, a laser disk, and other magnetic storage and / or optical storage. Examples of the volatile memories include, but are not limited to, a random-access memory (RAM) 522 and other volatile memories that will not last in the power-down duration.

[0162] A computer program 530 includes computer executable instructions that are executed by the associated processor 510. The instructions of the program 530 may include instructions for performing operations / acts of some example embodiments of the present disclosure. The program 530 may be stored in the memory, e.g., the ROM 524. The processor 510 may perform any suitable actions and processing by loading the program 530 into the RAM 522.

[0163] The example embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented by means of the program 530 so that the device 500 may perform any process of the disclosure as discussed with reference to FIG. 2 to FIG. 4. The example embodiments of the present disclosure may also be implemented by hardware or by a combination of software and hardware.

[0164] In some example embodiments, the program 530 may be tangibly contained in a computer readable medium which may be included in the device 500 (such as in the memory 520) or otherstorage devices that are accessible by the device 500. The device 500 may load the program 530 from the computer readable medium to the RAM 522 for execution. In some example embodiments, the computer readable medium may include any types of non-transitory storage medium, such as ROM, EPROM, a flash memory, a hard disk, CD, DVD, and the like. The term “non-transitory,” as used herein, is a limitation of the medium itself (i.e. , tangible, not a signal) as opposed to a limitation on data storage persistency (e.g., RAM vs. ROM).

[0165] FIG. 6 shows an example of the computer readable medium 600 which may be in form of CD, DVD or other optical storage disk. The computer readable medium 600 has the program 530 stored thereon.

[0166] Generally, various embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented in hardware or special purpose circuits, software, logic or any combination thereof. Some aspects may be implemented in hardware, and other aspects may be implemented in firmware or software which may be executed by a controller, microprocessor or other computing device. Although various aspects of embodiments of the present disclosure are illustrated and described as block diagrams, flowcharts, or using some other pictorial representations, it is to be understood that the block, apparatus, system, technique or method described herein may be implemented in, as non-limiting examples, hardware, software, firmware, special purpose circuits or logic, general purpose hardware or controller or other computing devices, or some combination thereof.

[0167] Some example embodiments of the present disclosure also provide at least one computer program product tangibly stored on a computer readable medium, such as a non-transitory computer readable medium. The computer program product includes computer-executable instructions, such as those included in program modules, being executed in a device on a target physical or virtual processor, to carry out any of the methods as described above. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, libraries, objects, classes, components, data structures, or the like that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. The functionality of the program modules may be combined or split between program modules as desired in various embodiments. Machineexecutable instructions for program modules may be executed within a local or distributed device. In a distributed device, program modules may be located in both local and remote storage media.

[0168] Program code for carrying out methods of the present disclosure may be written in any combination of one or more programming languages. The program code may be provided to a processor or controller of a general-purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus, such that the program code, when executed by the processor or controller, cause the functions / operations specified in the flowcharts and / or block diagrams to be implemented. The program code may execute entirely on a machine, partly on the machine, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the machine and partly on a remote machineor entirely on the remote machine or server.

[0169] In the context of the present disclosure, the computer program code or related data may be carried by any suitable carrier to enable the device, apparatus or processor to perform various processes and operations as described above. Examples of the carrier include a signal, computer readable medium, and the like.

[0170] The computer readable medium may be a computer readable signal medium or a computer readable storage medium. A computer readable medium may include but not limited to an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. More specific examples of the computer readable storage medium would include an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a random-access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing.

[0171] Further, although operations are depicted in a particular order, this should not be understood as requiring that such operations be performed in the particular order shown or in sequential order, or that all illustrated operations be performed, to achieve desirable results. In certain circumstances, multitasking and parallel processing may be advantageous. Likewise, although several specific implementation details are contained in the above discussions, these should not be construed as limitations on the scope of the present disclosure, but rather as descriptions of features that may be specific to particular embodiments. Unless explicitly stated, certain features that are described in the context of separate embodiments may also be implemented in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, unless explicitly stated, various features that are described in the context of a single embodiment may also be implemented in a plurality of embodiments separately or in any suitable subcombination.

[0172] Although the present disclosure has been described in languages specific to structural features and / or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the present disclosure defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above. Rather, the specific features and acts described above are disclosed as example forms of implementing the claims.

Claims

WHAT IS CLAIMED IS:1 . A first apparatus comprising: at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the first apparatus to: receive, from a second apparatus, configuration information indicating at least one condition associated with at least one synchronization signal block (SSB) for triggering a low-power related operation for the at least one SSB; perform a radio quality measurement; and determine that the at least one condition is satisfied based on at least one of: the configuration information and the radio quality measurement.

2. The first apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first apparatus is caused to: based on a determination that the at least one condition is satisfied, apply the low-power related operation on the at least one SSB.

3. The first apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the low-power related operation comprises at least one of: a low-power wake-up signal (LP-WUS) monitoring, relaxation of main receiver (MR) measurements, or a measurement offload from a main receiver (MR) to a low power receiver (LR).

4. The first apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the configuration information indicates a threshold value associated with the at least one SSB.

5. The first apparatus of claim 4, wherein the configuration information comprises an absolute value of the threshold value, or wherein the configuration information comprises a common threshold value and an offset value.

6. The first apparatus of claim 5, wherein the first apparatus is caused to: determine that the offset value is associated to the at least one SSB; and determine the threshold value by adding or subtracting the offset value to the common threshold value.

7. The first apparatus of claim 5, wherein the first apparatus is caused to:determine that the offset value is not associated to the at least one SSB; and determine the common threshold value as the threshold value.

8. The first apparatus of claim 6 or 7, wherein the first apparatus is caused to: determine whether the offset value is associated to the at least one SSB based on at least one of: an indication received from the second apparatus that indicates an index of the at least one SSB, a bitmap received from the second apparatus that indicates the offset is applied to the at least one SSB, or an indication in the configuration information that indicates the offset is applied to the at least one SSB.

9. The first apparatus of claim 5, wherein the offset is specific to the at least one SSB, or wherein the offset is common to one or more SSBs.

10. The first apparatus of claim 4, wherein the first apparatus is caused to: determine whether a value of the radio quality measurement is above or below the threshold value; and based on a determination that the value of the radio quality measurement is above or below the threshold value, determine that the at least one condition is satisfied.11 . The first apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the configuration information indicates an evaluation period value associated with the at least one SSB.

12. The first apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the configuration information comprises an absolute value of the evaluation period, or wherein the configuration information comprises a common evaluation period value and a first operation for the common evaluation period.

13. The first apparatus of claim 12, wherein the first operation for the common evaluation period comprises at least one of: extending the common evaluation period or scaling the common evaluation period.

14. The first apparatus of claim 13, wherein the first apparatus is caused to: determine that the first operation for the common evaluation period is applied to the at least one SSB;update the common evaluation period based on the first operation; and determine the updated common evaluation period as the evaluation period value.

15. The first apparatus of claim 13, wherein the first apparatus is caused to: determine that the first operation for the common evaluation period is not applied to the at least one SSB; and determine the common evaluation period value as the evaluation period value.

16. The first apparatus of claim 14 or 15, wherein the first apparatus is caused to: determine whether the first operation is applied to the at least one SSB based on one of: an indication received from the second apparatus that indicates an index of the at least one SSB, a bitmap received from the second apparatus that indicates the first operation is applied to the at least one SSB, or an indication in the configuration information that indicates the first operation is applied to the at least one SSB.

17. The first apparatus of claim 12, wherein the first operation for the common evaluation period is specific to the at least one SSB, or wherein the first operation for the common evaluation period is common to one or more SSBs.

18. The first apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the first apparatus is caused to: determine whether a value of the radio quality measurement is above or below a threshold value based on the evaluation period value; and based on a determination that the value of the radio quality measurement is above or below the threshold value, determine that the at least one condition is satisfied.

19. The first apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the radio quality measurement comprises at least one of: a reference signal receiving power (RSRP) for reference signal receiving quality (RSRQ), or a received signal strength indication (RSSI) for reference signal receiving quality (RSRQ).

20. The first apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the radio quality measurement is performed on at least one of: the main receiver (MR) or the low power receiver (LR).21 . A second apparatus comprising: at least one processor; andat least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the second apparatus to: transmit, to a first apparatus, configuration information indicating at least one condition associated with at least one synchronization signal block (SSB) for triggering a low-power related operation for the at least one SSB.

22. The second apparatus of claim 21 , wherein the low-power related operation comprises at least one of: a low-power wake-up signal (LP-WUS) monitoring, relaxation of main receiver (MR) measurements, or a measurement offload from a main receiver (MR) to a low power receiver (LR).

23. The second apparatus of claim 21 , wherein the configuration information indicates a threshold value associated with the at least one SSB.

24. The second apparatus of claim 23, wherein the configuration information comprises an absolute value of the threshold value, or wherein the configuration information comprises a common threshold value and an offset value.

25. The second apparatus of claim 24, wherein the second apparatus is caused to: transmit, to the first apparatus, at least one of: an indication that indicates an index of the at least one SSB, a bitmap that indicates the offset is applied to the at least one SSB, or an indication in the configuration information that indicates the offset is applied to the at least one SSB.

26. The second apparatus of claim 24, wherein the offset is specific to the at least one SSB, or wherein the offset is common to one or more SSBs.

27. The second apparatus of claim 21 , wherein the configuration information indicates an evaluation period value corresponding to the at least one SSB.

28. The second apparatus of claim 27, wherein the configuration information comprises an absolute value of the evaluation period, orwherein the configuration information comprises a common evaluation period value and a first operation for the common evaluation period.

29. The second apparatus of claim 28, wherein the first operation for the common evaluation period comprises at least one of: extending the common evaluation period or scaling of the common evaluation period.

30. The second apparatus of claim 29, wherein the second apparatus is caused to: transmit, to the first apparatus, at least one of: an indication that indicates an index of the at least one SSB, a bitmap that indicates the first operation is applied to the at least one SSB, or an indication in the configuration information that indicates the first operation is applied to the at least one SSB.31 . The second apparatus of claim 28, wherein the first operation for the common evaluation period is specific to the at least one SSB, or wherein the first operation for the common evaluation period is common to one or more SSBs.

32. A method comprising: receiving, at a first apparatus and from a second apparatus, configuration information indicating at least one condition associated with at least one synchronization signal block (SSB) for triggering a low-power related operation for the at least one SSB; performing a radio quality measurement; and determining that the at least one condition is satisfied based on at least one of: the configuration information and the radio quality measurement.

33. A method comprising: transmitting, at a second apparatus and to a first apparatus, configuration information indicating at least one condition associated with at least one synchronization signal block (SSB) for triggering a low-power related operation for the at least one SSB.

34. A first apparatus comprising: means for receiving, from a second apparatus, configuration information indicating at least one condition associated with at least one synchronization signal block (SSB) for triggering a low-power related operation for the at least one SSB;means for performing a radio quality measurement; and means for determining that the at least one condition is satisfied based on at least one of: the configuration information and the radio quality measurement.

35. A second apparatus comprising: means for transmitting, to a first apparatus, configuration information indicating at least one condition associated with at least one synchronization signal block (SSB) for triggering a low-power related operation for the at least one SSB.

36. A computer readable medium comprising instructions stored thereon for causing an apparatus at least to perform the method of claim 32 or the method of claim 33.

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