Network node, second radio network node and methods therein in a wireless communications network

Abstract

A method performed by a network node is provided. The method is for handling a sensing request for an application associated with a User Equipment, UE, in a communications network. The UE is served by a first radio network node. The network node receives (501) a sensing request from a sensing control node. The sensing request comprises data related to sensing requirements to be fulfilled for the application associated with the UE. The network node evaluates (502) radio network nodes within radio coverage of the UE regarding sensing capability according to the sensing requirements. Based on the result of the evaluated radio network nodes, the network node identifies (503) a radio network node that fulfils the sensing requirements. In the case when the identified radio network node is represented by the first radio network node, the network node keeps (504) the first radio network node as a serving radio network node for the UE to perform the requested sensing. In the case when the identified radio network node is a second radio network node, the network node decides (505) to hand over the UE to the second radio network node as a serving radio network node for the UE to perform the requested sensing.

Description

[0001] NETWORK NODE, SECOND RADIO NETWORK NODE AND METHODS THEREIN IN A WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS NETWORK

[0002] TECHNICAL FIELD

[0003] Embodiments herein relate to a network node, a second radio network node and methods therein. In some aspects, they relate to handling a sensing request for an application associated with a User Equipment, UE in a communications network.

[0004] BACKGROUND

[0005] In a typical wireless communication network, wireless devices, also known as wireless communication devices, mobile stations, stations (STA) and / or UE, communicate via a Wide Area Network or a Local Area Network such as a Wi-Fi network or a cellular network comprising a Radio Access Network (RAN) part and a Core Network (CN) part. The RAN covers a geographical area which is divided into service areas or cell areas, which may also be referred to as a beam or a beam group, with each service area or cell area being served by a radio network node such as a radio access node e.g., a Wi-Fi access point, a Base Station (BS) or a radio base station (RBS), which in some networks may also be denoted, for example, a Base Station (BS), a NodeB, eNodeB (eNB), or gNodeB (gNB) as denoted in Fifth Generation (5G) telecommunications. A service area or cell area is a geographical area where radio coverage is provided by the radio network node. The radio network node communicates over an air interface operating on a radio frequency with the wireless devices within the range of the radio network node.

[0006] 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) is the standardization body for specifying the standards for the cellular system evolution, e.g., including 3G, 4G, 5G and the future evolutions. Specifications for Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E- UTRA) and Evolved Packet System (EPS) have been completed within the 3GPP. In 4G also called a Fourth Generation (4G) network, EPS is core network and E-UTRA is radio access network. In 5G, 5G Core (5GC) is core network, NR is radio access network. As a continued network evolution, the new release of 3GPP specifies a 5G network also referred to as 5G New Radio (NR) and 5GC. Frequency bands for 5G NR are being separated into two different frequency ranges, Frequency Range 1 (FR1) and Frequency Range 2 (FR2). FR1 comprises sub-6 GHz frequency bands. Some of these bands are bands traditionally used by legacy standards but have been extended to cover potential new spectrum offerings from 410 MHz to 7125 MHz. FR2 comprises frequency bands from 24.25 GHz to 52.6 GHz. Bands in this millimeter wave range have shorter range but higher available bandwidth than bands in the FR1.

[0007] Multi-antenna techniques may significantly increase the data rates and reliability of a wireless communication system. For a wireless connection between a single user, such as UE, and a base station (BS), the performance is in particular improved if both the transmitter and the receiver are equipped with multiple antennas, which results in a Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) communication channel. This may be referred to as Single-User (SU)-MIMO. In the scenario where MIMO techniques is used for the wireless connection between multiple users and the base station, MIMO enables the users to communicate with the base station simultaneously using the same time-frequency resources by spatially separating the users, which increases further the cell capacity. This may be referred to as Multi-User (MU)-MIMO. Note that MU-MIMO may benefit when each UE only has one antenna. The cell capacity can be increased linearly with respect to the number of antennas at the BS side. Due to that, more and more antennas are employed in BS. Such systems and / or related techniques are commonly referred to as massive MIMO.

[0008] Joint Communication and Sensing (JCAS )

[0009] JC&S also referred to as JC&S JCAS, or more recently ISAC (Integrated Sensing and Communication), is an idea of integrating and operating both communication and sensing together in a single system by sharing most of the hardware and signal processing modules. There are different levels of the integration of sensing and communication, such as coexistence, cooperation, co-design and collaboration.

[0010] Sensing service is envisioned to play an important role in the fulfillment of 5G- advanced and Sixth Generation (6G), also referred to as next generation, communication networks, particularly for environment-aware applications, e.g., traffic monitoring, dronemonitoring, connected vehicles, smart manufacturing, etc.

[0011] Other topics are related to identification and authentication, where a user, userdevices, large scale user-mobility as well as user’s biometric, e.g., face, body or gait, are subjects of assessment. A radio network node such as a base station, e.g. a gNB, is capable to support sensing operations characterized by the different frequencies that it is designed for. Depending on frequency, the resolution of the sensing image that may be obtained varies. Typically given the nature of radio wave propagation, there is a logarithmic increase of the propagation loss coming with an increased frequency. I.e. the antenna gain has to increase to overcome the increased path loss. With increased antenna gain comes increased angular resolution given the narrower beam design. So, all-in-all, with higher frequencies of 6G base stations, e.g. operating at 150 GHz, comes better sensing spatial resolution, both angular and radially, compared to traditional mid-band (3-5 GHz) radio solutions.

[0012] In an Ericsson paper titled: “Supporting Joint Communication and Sensing in 6G”. Accepted for EuCNC (European Conference on Networks and Communications) in Gothenburg 2023, a proposal for cellular based, presumably targeting 6G, architecture is disclosed. Here it is described how an application may send a sensing request to 6G JCAS system, see Figure 1. Figure 1 depicts a sensing request in a 6G JCAS context.

[0013] Typically, apart from expected cellular nodes such as RAN nodes, also referred to as radio network nodes, e.g., gNB and associated managing nodes, nodes specifically for sensing management are introduced. For example, Sensing Control Function (SCF) and Sensing Processing Function (SPF) and authorization functionality, e.g., sensing proxy towards application requests, that, depending on involvement receives, controls and dispatches inbound sensing requests from higher-layer applications. Here, applications may consider both requests from in-device UE application data requests, or other network-based application requests via network exposure functions.

[0014] In some typical steps associated with Figure 1 , the following may be derived:

[0015] - An Application request for certain sensing output is sent.

[0016] - A Network Function (NF) Sensing request and Authorization check handles the Sensing request and authorization; verifies if the client is trustworthy and identifies the area where sensing is to be performed.

[0017] - A Request from authorization NF is sent for privacy check; a privacy NF checks if the area where sensing is to be performed is in allowed list or forbidden list, if type of output is legitime, time of day, user ID, etc.

[0018] - Once the privacy check is done; the request is sent to sensing control which setup necessary processing pool and configuration for RAN nodes to perform sensing.

[0019] - RAN performs the sensing, and the results are provided to sensing processing NF to process the results. - The output is provided to privacy check to verify the content is safe to expose outside, e.g., if any anonymization or blurring is needed.

[0020] Mobility - ordinary handover procedure in 3GPP

[0021] A base station in 4G (LTE) is called an evolved node base station, shortened to E nodeB and eNB. A base station in 5G (NR) is called G nodeB, shortened to gNB.

[0022] Typically load balancing from a first eNB or gNB, too loaded > load threshold, tries to offload a specific and / or selected and / or identified heavy UE identity to a target eNB or gNB. This communication is catered for over the eNB or gNB to eNB or gNB communication interface X2 AP and / or Xn AP.

[0023] Figure 2 depicts an overview of general handover procedure. Typically, steps 2-8 in Figure 2 where target eNB or gNB requests capabilities and load situation evaluation (response) from vs. source eNB or gNB via:

[0024] - X2-AP: Resource Status Request,

[0025] - X2-AP: Resource Status Response,

[0026] - X2-AP: Resource Status Update, Resource block usage, S1 load, available capacity, hardware load, etc., are readily available from 3GPP TS documentation.

[0027] SUMMARY

[0028] As part of developing embodiments herein the inventors have identified a problem that first will be discussed.

[0029] In typical network deployments, it will likely not be the preferred solution to deploy sub-THz solutions all over the area, but a base grid of mid-band coverage potentially capacity-wise offloaded with high-band solutions. Given that, it cannot always be relied on the highest frequencies for sensing, and the frequency for sensing is to be selected depending on the application needs and the availability of resources.

[0030] In situations where a UE, served by a gNB, with capabilities that do not fulfil the sensing requirements, e.g. spatial resolution, from an application, then there is a need to identify and switch to another gNB that fulfils said requirements. An object of embodiments herein is to improve the evaluation and activation of available sensing resources in a wireless communications network.

[0031] According to an aspect of embodiments herein, the object is achieved by a method performed by a network node. The method is for handling a sensing request for an application associated with a User Equipment, UE, in a communications network. The UE is served by a first radio network node. The network node receives a sensing request from a sensing control node. The sensing request comprises data related to sensing requirements to be fulfilled for the application associated with the UE. The network node evaluates radio network nodes within radio coverage of the UE regarding sensing capability according to the sensing requirements. Based on the result of the evaluated radio network nodes, the network node identifies a radio network node that fulfils the sensing requirements.

[0032] In the case when the identified radio network node is represented by the first radio network node, the network node keeps the first radio network node as a serving radio network node for the UE to perform the requested sensing.

[0033] In the case when the identified radio network node is a second radio network node, the network node decides to hand over the UE to the second radio network node as a serving radio network node for the UE to perform the requested sensing.

[0034] According to another aspect of embodiments herein, the object is achieved by a method performed by a second radio network node. The method is for handling a sensing request for an application associated with a User Equipment, UE, in a communications network. The UE is served by a first radio network node. When sensing requirements for the application associated with the UE according to the sensing request, cannot be fulfilled by the first radio network node, the second radio network node receives a sensing Hand Over, HO, request from the network node. The sensing HO request regards a HO from the first radio network node to the second radio network node to at least perform sensing for the application associated with the UE according to the sensing request. The second radio network node has been identified by the network node to fulfil said sensing requirements for the application associated with the UE 120. The second radio network node takes over the UE from the first radio network node as a serving radio network node for the UE, at least for performing the sensing according to the sensing request. The second radio network node thereafter performs the requested sensing according to the requirements. When the requested sensing is completed, the second radio network node sends results of the performed sensing according to the sensing request to the application associated with the UE.

[0035] According to another aspect of embodiments herein, the object is achieved by a network node. The network node is configured to handle a sensing request for an application associated with a User Equipment, UE, in a communications network. The UE is adapted to be served by a first radio network node The network node is further being configured to:

[0036] - Receive from a sensing control node a sensing request comprising data related to sensing requirements to be fulfilled for the application associated with the UE.

[0037] - Evaluate radio network nodes within radio coverage of the UE regarding sensing capability according to the sensing requirements.

[0038] - Based on the result of the evaluated radio network nodes, identify a radio network node that is capable to fulfil the sensing requirements.

[0039] - In a case when the identified radio network node is adapted to be represented by the first radio network node, keep the first radio network node as a serving radio network node for the UE, to perform the requested sensing, and

[0040] - In a case when the identified radio network node is a second radio network node, decide to hand over the UE the second radio network node as a serving radio network node for the UE, to perform the requested sensing.

[0041] According to another aspect of embodiments herein, the object is achieved by a second radio network node configured to handle a sensing request for an application associated with a User Equipment, UE, in a communications network. The UE is adapted to be served by a first radio network node. The second radio network node is further being configured to:

[0042] - When sensing requirements for the application associated with the UE according to the sensing request cannot be fulfilled by the first radio network node, receive from a network node, a sensing Hand Over, HO, request, regarding a HO from the first radio network node to the second radio network node to at least perform sensing for the application associated with the UE according to the sensing request. The second radio network node is adapted to have been identified to fulfil said sensing requirements for the application associated with the UE.

[0043] - Take over the UE from the first radio network node as a serving radio network node for the UE, at least for performing the sensing according to the sensing request. - Perform the requested sensing according to the requirements, and

[0044] - When the requested sensing is being completed, send to the application associated with the UE results of the performed sensing according to the sensing request.

[0045] Embodiments herein may provide the advantages of enabling a network node to evaluate and activate available resources based on sensing request parameters, e.g. resolution, frequency, time, etc.

[0046] Embodiments herein may provide the advantages of enabling a sensing requirement to be fulfilled by redirecting a considered UE to be served by the second radio network node fulfilling sensing requested parameters.

[0047] BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0048] Examples of embodiments herein are described in more detail with reference to attached drawings in which:

[0049] Figure 1 is a sequence diagram illustrating prior art.

[0050] Figure 2 is a is a sequence diagram illustrating prior art.

[0051] Figure 3 is a schematic block diagram illustrating a communications network.

[0052] Figure 4a is a schematic block diagram illustrating embodiments herein.

[0053] Figure 4b is a schematic block diagram illustrating embodiments herein.

[0054] Figure 5 is a flowchart depicting an embodiment of a method in a network node.

[0055] Figure 6 is a flowchart depicting an embodiment of a method in a second radio network node.

[0056] Figure 7 is a sequence diagram depicting an example embodiment of a method herein. Figure 8 is a sequence diagram depicting an example embodiment of a method herein. Figure 9 is a sequence diagram illustrating an example embodiment of a method.

[0057] Figure 10 is a schematic block diagram of embodiments of a network node.

[0058] Figure 11 is a schematic block diagram of embodiments of a second radio network node.

[0059] Figure 12 schematically illustrates embodiments of a communication system.

[0060] Figure 13 is a generalized block diagram of embodiments of a UE.

[0061] Figure 14 is a generalized block diagram of embodiments of a network node.

[0062] Figure 15 is a generalized block diagram of embodiments of a virtualization environment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0063] Figure 3 is a schematic overview depicting a wireless communications network 100 wherein embodiments herein may be implemented. The communications network 100 comprises one or more RANs, and one or more CNs. The communications network 100 may use 5G NR but may further use a number of other different technologies, such as, 6G, Wi-Fi, Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE-Advanced, Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), Global System for Mobile communications and / or enhanced Data rate for GSM Evolution (GSM and / or EDGE) or Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB), just to mention a few possible implementations.

[0064] Radio network nodes such as e g. a first radio network node 111, a second radio network node 112 and a third radio network node 113 operate in the RAN of the wireless communications network 100. Each respective radio network node 111 , 112, 113 may be a transmission and reception point e.g. a radio access network node such as a base station, e.g. a radio base station such as a NodeB, an evolved Node B (eNB, eNode B), an NR Node B (gNB), a base transceiver station, a radio remote unit, an Access Point Base Station, a base station router, a transmission arrangement of a radio base station, a stand-alone access point, a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) access point or an Access Point Station (AP STA), an access controller, or any other network unit capable of communicating with UEs, such as a UE 120, within radio coverage of the base station 110 .

[0065] One or more UEs operate in the communication network 100, such as e.g. the UE 120. The UE 120 may e.g. be 5G-RG, an a 5G device, , a remote UE, a wireless device, an NR device, a mobile station, a wireless terminal, an NB-loT device, an MTC device, an eMTC device, a CAT-M device, a WiFi device, an LTE device and an a non-access point (non-AP) STA, a STA, that communicates via a base station such as e.g. a base station 105, one or more Access Networks (AN), e.g. a RAN, to one or more core network (CN) nodes, in one or more CNs, It should be understood by the skilled in the art that “UE” is a non-limiting term which means any terminal, client, mobile client, IMS client, wireless communication terminal, user equipment, Device to Device (D2D) terminal, or node e.g. smart phone, laptop, mobile phone, sensor, relay, mobile tablets or even a car or any small base station communicating within a cell. A network node 130 that is performing some methods herein, which e.g. may be an AMF, operates in the wireless communications network 100.

[0066] Further, a sensing control node 140, which e.g. may be a SCF, operates in the wireless communications network 100.

[0067] Methods according to embodiments herein are performed by the network node 130 and the second radio network node 112. These nodes may be Distributed Nodes (DN)s and functionality, e.g. comprised in a cloud 170 as shown in Figure 3.

[0068] Example of embodiments herein relate to sensing-requested triggered Handover (HO) in 6G JCAS, commonly referred to as Integrated Sensing And Communication (I SAC) context.

[0069] Examples of embodiments describe a method according to the following:

[0070] - The sensing control node 140, e.g., relating to an application of the UE 120 sends a request to the network node 130. The request comprises sensing requirements, e.g., certain resolution for sensing purposes, where

[0071] - the network node 130 receives said sensing request and compares it with available sensing node’s capabilities related to a serving radio network node such as the first radio network node 111.

[0072] - If the requirements of the request are fulfilled, then the first radio network node 111 performs sensing accordingly (See the Ericsson paper, “Supporting Joint Communication and Sensing in 6G”, mentioned above).

[0073] - Else, the network node 130 finds a target gNB, such as e.g. the second radio node 112 that fulfils said requirements and performs a sensing-based HO according as illustrated in Figures 4a - 4b, and that the network node 130 reverts HO back to the preferred gNB such as the first radio network node 111 when the sensing task is accomplished. Figure 4a depicts a HO initiated by a sensing request from the sensing control node 140. Figure 4b depicts the procedure of sensing-based HO.

[0074] A number of embodiments will now be described, some of which may be seen as alternatives, while some may be used in combination.

[0075] A method according to embodiments herein will first be described as seen from the view of the network node 130 together with Figure 5, then as seen from the view of the second radio network node 112 together with Figure 6. Figure 5 shows exemplary embodiments of a method performed by the network node 130. The method is for handling a sensing request for an application associated with the UE 120 in the communications network 100. The UE 120 is served by the first radio network node 111 , also referred to as a source gNB.

[0076] The method comprises the following actions, which actions may be taken in any suitable order.

[0077] According to an example scenario, an application of the UE 120 needs a sensing service.

[0078] Action 501

[0079] The network node 130 receives a sensing request from the sensing control node 140. The sensing request comprises data related to sensing requirements to be fulfilled for the application associated with the UE 120. A requested sensing when used herein, may e.g., relate to determining a location, a velocity, or similar, associated with a UE being served by a base station, e.g., related to a certain task specified by a part associated with the application.

[0080] In some embodiments, the sensing requirements to be fulfilled for the application in the UE 120, are relating to anyone or more out of:

[0081] - a sensing resolution to be above a first threshold,

[0082] - a frequency to be over a second threshold,

[0083] - a beam width to be below a third threshold,

[0084] - a number of beams deployed in certain horizontal and / or vertical dimensions of a beam grid being above a fourth threshold.

[0085] Action 502

[0086] The network node 130 evaluates radio network nodes 111 , 112, 113 within radio coverage of the UE 120 regarding sensing capability according to the sensing requirements.

[0087] Radio coverage when used herein, may e.g., comprise a reference symbol signal strength measure better than a threshold valued, or a combination of a reference symbol signal strength measure better than a threshold and a signal to interference and noise metric better than another threshold, or a metric including application coverage, also known as AppCoverage, where certain applications are determined fulfilling performance quality metrics, etc. The evaluation may e.g. be performed by comparing the data related to sensing requirements with sensing capabilities of available radio network nodes 111, 112, 113. This may e.g. be to find possible radio network node candidates capable of performing the requested sensing service.

[0088] Action 503

[0089] Based on the result of the evaluated radio network nodes 111, 112, 113, the network node 130 identifies a radio network node 111 , 112, 113 that fulfils the sensing requirements.

[0090] Action 504

[0091] When the identified radio network node is represented by the first radio network node 111 , the network node 130 keeps the first radio network node 111 as a serving radio network node for the UE 120, to perform the requested sensing.

[0092] Action 505

[0093] When the identified radio network node is a second radio network node 112, e.g., a target gNB, the network node 130 decides to hand over the UE 120 to the second radio network node 112 as a serving radio network node for the UE 120, to perform the requested sensing.

[0094] Action 506

[0095] In some embodiments, when the identified radio network node is the first radio network node 111 , the network node 130 sends a message to the sensing control node 140. The message indicates that the first radio network node 111 fulfils the sending requirements and will perform the requested sensing. This is an advantage since the sensing control node 140 may use this information to directly initiate measurements without having to look for additional radio network nodes.

[0096] Action 507

[0097] In some embodiments, when the identified radio network node is the second radio network node 112, the network node 130 sends a sensing HO request to the second radio network node 112 at least for performing the sensing according to the sensing request. This is an advantage since the second radio node may have capabilities for fulfilling the sensing task that the first radio node cannot fulfil, such as being capable of identifying a location for a UE associated with the sensing task with a sufficiently high spatial resolution, etc.

[0098] “At least for performing the sensing according to the sensing request” e.g. means that in some embodiments the second network node 112 performs the sensing but not the rest of the radio traffic which is still performed by the first network node 111 , also referred to as split HO. In some other embodiments, the second network node 112 performs both the sensing and the rest of the radio traffic.

[0099] Action 508

[0100] In some embodiments, when the sensing HO request is successful, the network node 130 sends a message to the sensing control node 140. The message indicates a progress success of a performed HO according to the sensing HO request. The sensing control node 140 may use this information for pursuing with e.g. the sensing task requested from the application associated with the UE, such as e.g. establishing a spatial location, a velocity, etc. associated with the UE.

[0101] Action 509

[0102] In some embodiments, when the sensing HO request is not successful, the network node 130 sends a message to the sensing control node 140, indicating no success of HO according to the sensing HO request. The sensing control node 140 may use this information for e.g. determining that sensing task from the application associated with the device cannot be fulfilled and that e.g. sensing capabilities associated with another radio network node may be required.

[0103] Figure 6 shows exemplary embodiments of a method performed by a second radio network node 112, also referred to as a target gNB. The method is for handling a sensing request for an application associated with the UE 120 in the communications network 100. The UE 120 is served by a first radio network node 111 , also referred to as a source gNB.

[0104] The method comprises the following actions, which actions may be taken in any suitable order.

[0105] Action 601

[0106] When sensing requirements for the application associated with the UE 120 according to the sensing request, cannot be fulfilled by the first radio network node 111 , the second radio network node 112 receives a sensing HO request from the network node 130. The sensing request regards a HO from the first radio network node 111, to the second radio network node 112 to at least perform sensing for the application associated with the UE 120 according to the sensing request. The second radio network node 112 has been identified to fulfil said sensing requirements for the application associated with the UE 120.

[0107] Action 602

[0108] The second radio network node 112 takes over the UE 120 from the first radio network node 111 as a serving radio network node for the UE 120, at least for performing the sensing according to the sensing request.

[0109] In some embodiments, the taking over of the UE 120 from the first radio network node 111 as a serving radio network node for the UE 120, further comprises taking over for radio services, such as e.g. complete HO, associated with the UE 120. This this may e.g., be performed in scenarios where capabilities required to fulfil the sensing request are not available at the first radio network node but at the second radio network node, or e.g. that the communication links towards the sensing control node may not fulfil capability requirements, or e.g. that sensing resources in the first radio network node may not be sufficient for the sensing request from the application associated with the UE.

[0110] Action 603

[0111] The second radio network node 112 then performs the requested sensing according to the requirements.

[0112] Action 604

[0113] In some embodiments, the second radio network node 112 hands over the UE 120 back to the first radio network node 111 as a serving radio network node for the UE 120. This is an advantage if the radio service is better provided by the first network node 111.

[0114] In some embodiments, the handing over of the UE 120 back to the first radio network node 111 is performed when any one or more out of the following conditions are met:

[0115] - after successful sending of the results of the performed sensing,

[0116] - a timer has expired,

[0117] - a sensing Acknowledgement, ACK, from the application associated with the UE (120) is received, and - allocated resources for sensing are depleted.

[0118] - allocated resources for communication are depleted

[0119] - the UE 120 has moved outside a preferred signal strength range, i.e. out of preferred cell coverage, in any spatial dimension, e.g. in altitude

[0120] - the UE 120 has adopted e.g. a velocity profile outside a preferred range

[0121] - the UE 120 has activated and / or terminated use of a certain application

[0122] Embodiments herein may provide the advantages of enabling an associated admission control for the cell issuing the sensing HO to be activated after said sensing HO being executed to provide the temporally moved UE 120 admission priority for its returning, given a sensing-HO revert request, handover back to its originally serving cell.

[0123] Action 605

[0124] When the requested sensing is completed, the second radio network node 112 sends results of the performed sensing according to the sensing request to the application associated with the UE 120.

[0125] In this way by using the methods above, the network node 130 is enabled to evaluate and activate available resources based on sensing request parameters, e.g. resolution, frequency, time, etc., which leads to a more efficient use of resources in a wireless communications network. For example, that the sensing task is more accurately and faster fulfilled by the another radio network node and by that making sensing and communication resources available for other tasks, or for example following that the user equipment, UE 120, sent to the second radio network node 112 is retrieved after completion of the sensing task would, if second radio network node 112 capabilities may be considered scarce, make said resources available also for other sensing and / or communications tasks.

[0126] Embodiments herein such as the embodiments mentioned above will now be further described and exemplified. The text below is applicable to and may be combined with any suitable embodiment described above. Data from an application sent in the sensing request may comprise, e.g. app_data, user_data, auth_requirements, etc., such as in the sensing request in Action 501 depicted in figure 5 and mentioned above.

[0127] A sensing request may also depend on a considered use case and may comprise requirements on “sensing, e.g., spatial, resolution”, “frequency > first threshold”, “beam width < second threshold”, “number of beams deployed in certain horizontal / vertical dimensions of beam grid, etc.

[0128] The sensing request may e.g. be a request acquired towards a cellular network from an internal platform, an internet platform, an application server, etc. or similar. It may be provided towards an intended control node Sensing Control Function (SCF) such as e.g. the sensing control node 140, and / or via required nodes managing user privacy and sensing authorization, where the SCF assesses authorized sensing requirements, and maps them to network elements or nodes and checks for available radio network resources.

[0129] In the examples below the radio network nodes 111 , 112, 113 mentioned earlier in the application is referred to as a gNBs 111, 112, 113, the network node 130 is referred to as AMF 130 and the sensing control node 140 is referred to as SCF 140.

[0130] For example, if the serving gNB 111 itself does not meet the requirement for e.g. spatial resolution or e.g. direction towards the target spot, then the communication network, more specifically the SCF node 140, initiates a sensing-based HO procedure to temporarily move the UE 120 to another gNB 112, that supports higher resolution, this is related to e.g. Action 501 described above. Wherein the UE 120 still perceives sufficient radio quality measures towards the temporarily visited gNB 112, e.g. 3GPP RRM measurement report Event B2 “PCell becomes worse than first thresholdl and inter-RAT neighbor becomes better than threshold ’, and where the “new temporally serving gNB 112“ then performs the sensing operation.

[0131] After the sensing operation is completed by the “temporally serving gNB 112“, the network node 130, or the “temporally serving gNB 112“, or the gNB 111 may perform a sensing-based HO revert operation, e.g. considering “after successful sensing”, “after timer expired” and / or explicit “sensing ACK from application”, back to the previous serving gNB 111 with the assumption that the previous gNB 111 was the preferred one with reference to ordinary operations. This is similar to and may be combined with Action 604 described above. An example is schematically illustrated in Figure 7 where a sensing application request towards the wireless communication network 100 is received by the SCF 140 and further communicated for evaluation towards sensing nodes, which may be towards gNBs 111 , 112, 113, e.g., via AMF 130.

[0132] Figure 7 depicts a sensing-initiated handover. The dot-line-dot outlined marked features is functionality added compared to considered baseline JCAS concept mentioned above in the Ericsson paper “Supporting Joint Communication and Sensing in 6G”.

[0133] Examples of embodiments herein describe a method for handling sensing-based HO in 6G JCAS context.

[0134] A sensing request that by a communication network node, such as network node 130, is evaluated into a corresponding sensing capability that a gNB 111 , 112, 113 may be evaluated to fulfil or not, and if not, that a target gNB 111 , 112, 113 is identified that fulfils said capabilities. Capabilities may include e.g. resolution, frequency, time, pointing direction, etc., used by a gNB to transmit a JCAS signal towards a certain object (UE in this case) in a specific area. This is related to e.g. Action 501 described above.

[0135] Embodiments herein describe an example method for initiating sensing-based HO towards a target gNB 111, 112, 113 determined fulfilling said requested capabilities, where said target gNB 111, 112, 113 is evaluated and identified out of a set of potential target gNBs 111 , 112, 113 with sufficient capabilities and where the UE furthermore is determined having sufficient signals quality towards. This is related to e.g. Actions 502 and 503 described above.

[0136] Embodiments herein describe an example method for initiating a sensing-based HO revert back to the issuing initial source gNB 111 , where the admission control at the issuing gNB 111, is provided a resource allocation setting associated with the temporarily moved UE 120 to guarantee said UE 120 to be admitted back to gNB 111 after sensing task is finished. This is related to e.g. Action 604 described above.

[0137] Sensing-handover related information communicated between respective source gNB 111 and target gNB 112 may be conveyed in new XnAP information entities.

[0138] It is known how an application may initiate sensing by sending a request in a 6G JCAS context. However, some embodiments add a method for sensing-requested handover if the currently serving radio network node, gNB, is not able to fulfil requirements of a sensing request.

[0139] Further details are disclosed in Figure 8. The UE 120 may continuously send signal strength measurement reports to its serving gNB which further considers these reports for e.g. HO procedures, which is known. An application, which can be located e.g. in a target UE 120 has initiated a sensing request, presumably over a sensing application layer, which is received by a SCF 140. The SCF 140 merges requests, performs sensing request authorization control which is known, and associated privacy management, which is known, and may evaluate capabilities, see below under “Separation of capability management and resource identification”, required to meet the sensing task as well as mapping said capabilities to network elements and check for available resources, etc. The SCF 140 may send a request, see below under Separation of capability management and resource identification”, towards the communication network, e.g., Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) in conjunction with an Operations and Maintenance node, O&M node, to further determine what gNBs 111 ,112, 113 hold sensing beam and / or sensing resources, including but not limited to necessary configuration data, radio level settings, such as e.g., sensing and communication reference symbols structure, power settings, beam info, etc.

[0140] Separation of capability management and resource identification

[0141] A separation of capability management and resource identification, allocation, activation, etc. between AMF 130 or O&M and SCF 140 may be done in several ways.

[0142] 1) In one approach, consider that the SCF 140 holds any required information associated with the sensing capabilities by respective gNBs 111 , 112, 113 and may execute sensing node selection and allocations by itself, formed corresponding to an external sensing application request-task. It may more or less only pass a sensing order or more or less explicit request on what to execute towards which nodes, i.e. towards the AMF which further passes the request message towards identified gNBs. However, some radio-near measurement reports are still, as of today, only available in serving gNB 111 and said evaluations is preferrable done there. SCF 140 may obtain cell-capability related information from O&M node.

[0143] 2) In another approach only parts of the sensing task capability evaluation, high- level such as of application layer task “this area A is requested to be resolved to an accuracy level AL1”, “this object B is requested to be resolved to an accuracy level AL2, “this UE C is requested to be resolved to an accuracy level AL3, etc., may be evaluated by SCF 140 and translated into radio network basic attributes. Such attributes and locality, etc., are then passed to the AMF 130 which in turn evaluates and identifies what network nodes that are suitable to fulfil the requested sensing task; then said sensing nodes, such as gNBs , 112, 113 are addressed and further requested for action by AMF 130. AMF 130 may obtain cell-capability related information from the O&M node.

[0144] In the forthcoming description, an approach similar to 2) is assumed as being the working assumption.

[0145] Figure 8 depicts an example embodiment wherein a SCF 140 sends a sensing request towards an AMF 130 operating in conjunction with an O&M node, in Actions 801- 808.

[0146] The SCF 140 merges requests, maps to network elements, checks resources, etc. It sends requests, see Action 801 towards RAN to activate gNBs 111 , 112, 113 “sensing beam and / or sensing resources” including but not limited to necessary configuration data, radio level settings, such as e.g. sensing and communication reference symbols structure, power settings, beam info, etc.

[0147] Action 801 : AMF 130 receives a sensing request and evaluates and / or selects what gNB IDs that are capable of resolving the sensing task. I.e. capabilities for all e / gNBs known by AMF node 130. This relates to e.g. Action 501 mentioned above, see fig. 5.

[0148] AMF 130 performs a gNB capability lookup for the assigned service area and / or coverage area, configuration data (frequency, resolution, etc.) for a given UE ID. It Uses network information acquired from O&M node. This relates to e.g. Action 502 mentioned above, see Figure 5.

[0149] Assuming the UE 120 is not served by gNB with desired capabilities (e.g. spatial resolution), it identifies other gNB(s) 111, 112, 113 possible for UE ID, the info is derivable from UE’s 120 measurement reports. This relates to e.g. Action 503 mentioned above, see fig. 5.

[0150] AMF 130 may signal towards source gNB 111 to initiate handover to any member of the set of target gNB 112, 113 that have been identified with enough capabilities. This relates to e.g. Action 505 mentioned above, see Figure 5.

[0151] With the assumption of work task separation between SCF 140, AMF 130 and O&M, as well as associated information split and / or availability, such as that SCF only has generic understanding of and capability to translate a sensing request into sensing-level radio attributes, but not specific per-gNB information of the respective gNBs’ capabilities, then according to “2)”, the AMF node 130 in RAN receives the sensing request from the SCF 140 (Action 801) and does a gNB capability lookup related to a target UE The capabilities refer to location, configuration data such as e.g., frequency, resolution, timer, interface load, etc. The look-up is performed by using information from O&M in respective gNB 111 , 112, 113 capabilities. If AMF 130 (in conjunction with O&M) determines that the gNB 111 currently serving the UE lacks the desired sensing capabilities required to fulfil the SCF 140-derived task, e.g. by having too low spatial resolution, range, wrong pointingdirection, etc., then the AMF 130 will try to find another suitable gNB 112, 113 holding required capabilities that the UE could be moved to. This relates to e.g. Actions 502 and 503 mentioned above, see Figure 5.

[0152] Action 802: Signal strength measurements report between the UE 120 and the gNB source 111 , where gN B 111 may determine that a serving first cell becomes worse than the first threshold and inter RAT neighbor becomes better than the second threshold. The Signal strength measurements reports may e.g. be used to trigger inter-RAT mobility procedures when the primary serving cell becomes weak. Inter-system neighbor cell measurements are used to ensure that the target cell provides adequate coverage.

[0153] 3GPP specifications have proposed a set of predefined set of measurement report mechanism to be performed by UE. These predefined measurement report type is called “Event". The type of “event” a UE has to report is specified by a RRC signaling message sent by the base station, gNB.

[0154] Action 803: A sensing-based HO request is initiated from the AMF 130. I.e. the currently serving gNB 111 is requested to perform a handover request to one of the gNBs 112, 113 in a set of capable gNBs 112, 113, and in that process for in a later step identified specific target gNB 112, supply said target gNB 112 with sensor-associated attributes. This relates to ,e.g., Actions 507 and 601 mentioned above, see figs. 5 and 6.

[0155] What specific target gNB 112, 113 that is selected from the set of potential target- gNB 111 , 112, 113 is based on assessment of e.g. UE 120 RRC Measurement Report Event B2, in which the specific cell shows a signal strength relation to the source cell equal to a threshold value, If that constraint is fulfilled, the UE may be moved to that cell with sufficiently good radio conditions maintained.

[0156] The sensing-based HO request from AMF 130 e.g. in the RAN, to the source gNB 111 may typically comprise:

[0157] - UE 120 identity

[0158] - Target gNB 112, 113 identity sensing beam and / or sensing resources, including but not limited to necessary configuration data, radio level settings, such as e.g., sensing and communication reference symbols structure, power settings, beam info, etc. for target gNB 112, 113

[0159] - Sensing-revert-HO attribute, i.e. configuration for how the target gNB 112, 113 should trigger and execute the revert-HO back to previous gNB 111 after timer and / or completion of sensing, etc.,

[0160] Said sensing-HO request and associated specific attributes may be conveyed over the new sensing-HO-related entries in XnAP, or provided in the target gNB’s RRC Reconfiguration Request after HO. Both is possible, and in both cases the information is provided by the initiative-taking gNB 111

[0161] Action 804: The target gNB 112 receives a sensing HO Request, associated sensing requirements, attributes, and performs admission control related to the considered UE service, gNB’s current interface load, configuration, etc. If the target gNB 112 evaluates and acknowledges the supplied request, then it responds with a sensing HO ACK back to the requesting source gNB 111. This relates to e.g. Action 506 mentioned above, see Figure 5.

[0162] It may further be considered that a sensing-handed over (HO’d) UE, such as e.g. the UE 120, is given some limitation and / or constrains with reference to service requirements and resource allocation while hosted at the temporary gNB 112 during the actual sensing activity.

[0163] Action 805: Upon a successful sensing HO event, the target gNB 112 initiates sensing measurements according to acquired sensing attributes conveyed in the sensing HO request and sends raw data to the SCF 140 in Action 806.

[0164] Optionally, after completion of the sensing task, it provides the previous gNB 111 with a sensing task OK response message for the previous gNB 111 to provide towards the AMF 130, see Action 808; any of, or both options possible. This relates to e.g. Actions 603 and 605 mentioned above, see Figure 6.

[0165] Action 807: When sensing according to the desired requirements are fulfilled, then a revert HO may be initiated based on the Sensing-revert-HO attributes. This relates to e.g. action 604 mentioned above, see Figure 6. Figure 9 depicts how AMF 130 may trigger a sensing-Handover if capabilities to fulfil an obtained sensing request cannot be fulfilled by the gNB 111 currently serving the UE.

[0166] As a note to the figure: The Sensing HO revert Request goes back to the initializing part of the sensing action, i.e. “previous serving cell” and should typically be given higher priority, compared to other HO events and cell admission evaluations, as to avoid that the “UE temporarily moved” to a sensing-capable eNB or gNB 112 is not stuck there as previous serving eNB or gNB 111 has admitted yet other users in the meantime the sensing was ongoing. This would be bad, i.e. the admission control, such as e.g. radio resource management, in the serving cell should not free the radio resources associated with the targeted UE 120 during in Sensing-HO session execution.

[0167] Further details with reference to selecting a target gNB for the sensing HO

[0168] Typically, O&M nodes may have information about what cells that are related and what cell a specific UE120 is served by. Hence it also knows what neighbouring cells a certain service cell has. Further, the O&M systems know what cell transitions that are allowed and / or barred. A certain gNB 111, 112, 113 also has its respective radio feature functionality such as beamforming capabilities, Tx-powers, frequency band combinations, etc. This information may typically also be assumed available for higher layers. Likewise, from a mobility management perspective source gNBs, such as gNB 111 and target gNBs, such as gNBs112, 113 have information of their neighbours’ capabilities so that they respectively could select a proper target cell for a mobility action; such capability- related information is conveyed between gNBs 111, 112, 113 overXn / Xn-AP interface.

[0169] Still, assuming that the O&M-node has identified a set of three cells neighboring a current source cell, then either the O&M node holds the updated UE 120 RRC measurement report of respective cell’s signals strengths and could, based on that, select one of the cell as the temporally cell for the sensing if that cell in the UE’s 120 measurement report is good-enough compared to the current serving cell. Perhaps more realistic is that the O&M node only has information of the set of cells radio and / or sensing capabilities and what cell relations that are relevant in that area; then, updated information of a specific UE’s signal strength relation between the serving and neighboring cells are available only in the cell receiving the UE’s measurement reports, such as measurement report events A1-A7, B1-Bn. Then it seems best practice that the O&M-node only provides the serving cell with a potential set of cells that holds required sensing capabilities, and that the serving cell based on a certain UE radio measurement report, selects a specific cell to move the UE 120 to. Where the final selection is based on that the selected cell in the one or more measurement report from the UE 120 should have a signal strength relation compared to the source cell better than some sensing-HO handover threshold and an offset where the offset potentially may be cell specific and / or specific related to other sensing-related attributes. Related to that, the source gNB 111 could apply certain filtering policies achieved and / or indicated from the O&M-node depending on the sensing task obtained from the SCF 140, etc.

[0170] To perform the method actions above, the network node 130 is configured to handle a sensing request for an application associated with a UE 120 in a communications network 100. The UE 120 is adapted to be served by a first radio network node 111.

[0171] The network node 130 may comprise an arrangement depicted in Figure 10. The network node 130 may comprise an input and output interface 1000 configured to communicate in the communications network 100, e.g., with second radio network node 112 and UE 120. The input and output interface 1000 may comprise a wireless receiver not shown, and a wireless transmitter not shown.

[0172] The network node 130 is further configured to receive from a sensing control node 140 a sensing request comprising data related to sensing requirements to be fulfilled for the application associated with the UE 120.

[0173] The network node 130 is further configured to evaluate radio network nodes 111, 112 and 113 within radio coverage of the UE 120 regarding their sensing capability according to the sensing requirements.

[0174] The network node 130 is further configured to identify a radio network node 111, 112, 113 that is capable of fulfilling the sensing requirements, based on the result of the evaluated radio network nodes 111 , 112, 113.

[0175] In the case when the identified radio network node is adapted to be represented by the first radio network node 111 , the network node 130 is further configured to keep the first radio network node 111 as a serving radio network node for the UE 120, to perform the requested sensing.

[0176] In the case when the identified radio network node is a second radio network node 112, the network node 130 is further configured to decide to hand over the UE 120 to the second radio network node 112 as a serving radio network node for the UE 120, to perform the requested sensing. The network node 130 is further configured to, in the case when the identified radio network node is the first radio network node 111, send a message to the sensing control node 140, indicating that the first radio network node 111 is configured to fulfil the sending requirements and will perform the requested sensing.

[0177] The network node 130 is further configured to, in the case when the identified radio network node is the second radio network node 112, send a sensing Hand Over, HO, request to the second radio network node 112, at least for performing the sensing according to the sensing request.

[0178] When the sensing HO request is successful, the network node 130 is further configured to send a message to the sensing control node 140, indicating a progress success of a performed HO according to the sensing HO request.

[0179] When the sensing HO request is not successful, the network node 130 is further configured to send a message to the sensing control node 140, indicating no success of HO according to the sensing HO request. The sensing requirements to be fulfilled for the application in the UE 120, are adapted to relate to anyone or more out of:

[0180] - a sensing resolution adapted to be above a first threshold,

[0181] - a frequency adapted to be over a second threshold,

[0182] - a beam width adapted to be below a third threshold, and

[0183] - a number of beams deployed in certain horizontal and / or vertical dimensions of a beam grid adapted to be above a fourth threshold.

[0184] To perform the method actions above, the second radio network node 112 is configured to handle a sensing request for an application associated with the UE 120 in a communications network 100. The UE 120 is adapted to be served by a first radio network node 111. The second radio network node 112 may comprise an arrangement depicted in Figure 11. The second radio network node 112maycomprise an input and output interface 1100 configured to communicate in the communications network 100, e.g., with network node 130 and UE 120. The input and output interface 1100 may comprise a wireless receiver not shown, and a wireless transmitter not shown.

[0185] The second radio network node 112 is further configured to, when sensing requirements for the application associated with the UE 120 according to the sensing request cannot be fulfilled by the first radio network node 111, receive from a network node 130, a sensing HO request. The HO request regards a HO from the first radio network node 111 to the second radio network node 112 to at least perform sensing for the application associated with the UE 120 according to the sensing request. The second radio network node 112 is adapted to have been identified to fulfil said sensing requirements for the application associated with the UE 120.

[0186] The second radio network node 112 is further configured to take over the UE 120 from the first radio network node 111 as a serving radio network node for the UE 120, at least for performing the sensing according to the sensing request.

[0187] The second radio network node 112 is further configured to perform the requested sensing according to the requirements.

[0188] The second radio network node 112 is further configured to, when the requested sensing is being completed, send to the application associated with the UE 120, results of the performed sensing according to the sensing request.

[0189] The second radio network node 112 is further configured to further take-over of the UE 120 from the first radio network node 111 for radio services associated with the UE 120.

[0190] The second radio network node 112 is further configured to hand over the UE 120 back to the first radio network node 111 as a serving radio network node for the UE 120.

[0191] The handover of the UE 120 back to the first radio network node 111 is adapted to be performed when any one or more out of the following conditions are met:

[0192] - after successful sending being made of the results of the performed sensing,

[0193] - a timer has been expired,

[0194] - a sensing Acknowledgement, ACK, from the application associated with the UE 120 has been received, and

[0195] - allocated resources for sensing are being depleted.

[0196] - allocated resources for communication are depleted

[0197] - the UE 120 has moved outside a preferred signal strength range, i.e. out of preferred cell coverage, in any spatial dimension, e.g. in altitude

[0198] - the UE 120 has adopted e.g. a velocity profile outside a preferred range

[0199] - the UE 120 has activated and / or terminated use of a certain application

[0200] Embodiments herein may be implemented through a respective processor one or more processors, such as the respective processor 1010 of a processing circuitry in the network node 130 depicted in Figure 10, and processor 1110 of a processing circuitry in the second radio network node 112 depicted in Figure 11 together with respective computer program code for performing the functions and actions of the embodiments herein. The program code mentioned above may also be provided as a computer program product, for instance in the form of a data carrier carrying computer program code for performing the embodiments herein when being loaded into the respective network node 130 and second radio network node 112. One such carrier may be in the form of a CD ROM disc. It is however feasible with other data carriers such as a memory stick. The computer program code may furthermore be provided as pure program code on a server and downloaded to the respective network node 130 and second radio network node 112.

[0201] The network node 130 and second radio network node 112 may further comprise a respective memory 1020 and memory 1120 comprising one or more memory units. The respective memory 1020 and memory 1120 comprises instructions executable by the processor in the respective network node 130 and second radio network node 112. The respective memory 1020 and memory 1120 are arranged to be used to store e.g., media functions, indications, tags, information, data, configurations, communication data, and applications to perform the methods herein when being executed in the respective network node 130 and second radio network node 112.

[0202] In some embodiments, a respective computer program 1030, computer program and computer program 1130 comprises instructions, which when executed by the respective at least one processor 1010 and processor 1110, cause the at least one processor of respective network node 130 and second radio network node 112 to perform the actions above.

[0203] In some embodiments, a respective carrier 1040 and carrier 1140 comprises the respective computer program 1030 and computer program 1130, wherein the respective carrier 1040 and carrier 1140 is one of an electronic signal, an optical signal, an electromagnetic signal, a magnetic signal, an electric signal, a radio signal, a microwave signal, or a computer-readable storage medium.

[0204] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that units in the respective network node 130 and second radio network node 112 described above may refer to a combination of analog and digital circuits, and and / or one or more processors configured with software and and / or firmware, e.g. stored in the respective network node 130 and second radio network node 112, that when executed by the respective one or more processors such as the processors described above. One or more of these processors, as well as the other digital hardware, may be included in a single Application-Specific Integrated Circuitry ASIC, or several processors and various digital hardware may be distributed among several separate components, whether individually packaged or assembled into a System-on-a-Chip (SoC). Figure 12 shows an example of a communication system QQ100 in accordance with some embodiments.

[0205] In the example, the communication system QQ100 includes a telecommunication network QQ102 that includes an access network QQ104, such as a radio access network (RAN), and a core network QQ106, which includes one or more core network nodes QQ108. The access network QQ104 includes one or more access network nodes, such as network nodes QQ110a and QQ110b (one or more of which may be generally referred to as network nodes QQ110), or any other similar 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) access nodes or non-3GPP access points. Moreover, as will be appreciated by those of skill in the art, a network node is not necessarily limited to an implementation in which a radio portion and a baseband portion are supplied and integrated by a single vendor. Thus, it will be understood that network nodes include disaggregated implementations or portions thereof. For example, in some embodiments, the telecommunication network QQ102 includes one or more Open-RAN (ORAN) network nodes. An ORAN network node is a node in the telecommunication network QQ102 that supports an ORAN specification (e.g., a specification published by the O-RAN Alliance, or any similar organization) and may operate alone or together with other nodes to implement one or more functionalities of any node in the telecommunication network QQ102, including one or more network nodes QQ110 and and / or core network nodes QQ108.

[0206] Examples of an ORAN network node include an open radio unit (0-Rll), an open distributed unit (0-Dll), an open central unit (O-CU), including an O-CU control plane (O- CLI-CP) or an O-CU user plane (O-CU-UP), a RAN intelligent controller (near-real time or non-real time) hosting software or software plug-ins, such as a near-real time control application (e.g., xApp) or a non-real time control application (e.g., rApp), or any combination thereof (the adjective “open” designating support of an ORAN specification). The network node may support a specification by, for example, supporting an interface defined by the ORAN specification, such as an A1, F1, W1 , E1, E2, X2, Xn interface, an open fronthaul user plane interface, or an open fronthaul management plane interface. Moreover, an ORAN access node may be a logical node in a physical node. Furthermore, an ORAN network node may be implemented in a virtualization environment (described further below) in which one or more network functions are virtualized. For example, the virtualization environment may include an O-Cloud computing platform orchestrated by a Service Management and Orchestration Framework via an 0-2 interface defined by the O-RAN Alliance or comparable technologies. The network nodes QQ110 facilitate direct or indirect connection of user equipment (UE), such as by connecting UEs QQ112a, QQ112b, QQ112c, and QQ112d (one or more of which may be generally referred to as UEs QQ112) to the core network QQ106 over one or more wireless connections.

[0207] Example wireless communications over a wireless connection include transmitting and and / or receiving wireless signals using electromagnetic waves, radio waves, infrared waves, and and / or other types of signals suitable for conveying information without the use of wires, cables, or other material conductors. Moreover, in different embodiments, the communication system QQ100 may include any number of wired or wireless networks, network nodes, UEs, and and / or any other components or systems that may facilitate or participate in the communication of data and and / or signals whether via wired or wireless connections. The communication system QQ100 may include and and / or interface with any type of communication, telecommunication, data, cellular, radio network, and and / or other similar type of system.

[0208] The UEs QQ112 may be any of a wide variety of communication devices, including wireless devices arranged, configured, and and / or operable to communicate wirelessly with the network nodes QQ110 and other communication devices. Similarly, the network nodes QQ110 are arranged, capable, configured, and and / or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with the UEs QQ112 and and / or with other network nodes or equipment in the telecommunication network QQ102 to enable and and / or provide network access, such as wireless network access, and and / or to perform other functions, such as administration in the telecommunication network QQ102.

[0209] In the depicted example, the core network QQ106 connects the network nodes QQ110 to one or more host computing systems, such as host QQ116. These connections may be direct or indirect via one or more intermediary networks or devices. In other examples, network nodes may be directly coupled to hosts. The core network QQ106 includes one more core network nodes (e.g., core network node QQ108) that are structured with hardware and software components. Features of these components may be substantially similar to those described with respect to the UEs, network nodes, and and / or hosts, such that the descriptions thereof are generally applicable to the corresponding components of the core network node QQ108. Example core network nodes include functions of one or more of a Mobile Switching Center (MSC), Mobility Management Entity (MME), Home Subscriber Server (HSS), Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF), Session Management Function (SMF), Authentication Server Function (AUSF), Subscription Identifier De-concealing function (SIDF), Unified Data Management (UDM), Security Edge Protection Proxy (SEPP), Network Exposure Function (NEF), and and / or a User Plane Function (UPF).

[0210] The host QQ116 may be under the ownership or control of a service provider other than an operator provider of the access network QQ104 and and / or the telecommunication network QQ102. The host QQ116 may host a variety of applications to provide one or more service. Examples of such applications include live and pre-recorded audio and / or video content, data collection services such as retrieving and compiling data on various ambient conditions detected by a plurality of UEs, analytics functionality, social media, functions for controlling or otherwise interacting with remote devices, functions for an alarm and surveillance center, or any other such function performed by a server.

[0211] As a whole, the communication system QQ100 of 9 enables connectivity between the UEs, network nodes, and hosts. In that sense, the communication system may be configured to operate according to predefined rules or procedures, such as specific standards that include, but are not limited to: Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM); Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS); Long Term Evolution (LTE), and and / or other suitable 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G standards, or any applicable future generation standard (e.g., 6G); wireless local area network (WLAN) standards, such as the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standards (WiFi); and and / or any other appropriate wireless communication standard, such as the Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMax), Bluetooth, Z-Wave, Near Field Communication (NFC) ZigBee, LiFi, and and / or any low-power wide-area network (LPWAN) standards such as LoRa and Sigfox.

[0212] In some examples, the telecommunication network QQ102 is a cellular network that implements 3GPP standardized features. Accordingly, the telecommunications network QQ102 may support network slicing to provide different logical networks to different devices that are connected to the telecommunication network QQ102. For example, the telecommunications network QQ102 may provide Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communication (URLLC) services to some UEs, while providing Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) services to other UEs, and and / or Massive Machine Type Communication (mMTC) and / or Massive loT services to yet further UEs.

[0213] In some examples, the UEs QQ112 are configured to transmit and and / or receive information without direct human interaction. For instance, a UE may be designed to transmit information to the access network QQ104 on a predetermined schedule, when triggered by an internal or external event, or in response to requests from the access network QQ104. Additionally, a UE may be configured for operating in single- or multi- RAT or multi-standard mode. For example, a UE may operate with any one or combination of Wi-Fi, NR (New Radio) and LTE, i.e. being configured for multi-radio dual connectivity (MR-DC), such as E-UTRAN (Evolved-UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network) New Radio - Dual Connectivity (EN-DC).

[0214] In the example, the hub QQ114 communicates with the access network QQ104 to facilitate indirect communication between one or more UEs (e.g., UE QQ112c and and / or QQ112d) and network nodes (e.g., network node QQ110b). In some examples, the hub QQ114 may be a controller, router, content source and analytics, or any of the other communication devices described herein regarding UEs. For example, the hub QQ114 may be a broadband router enabling access to the core network QQ106 for the UEs. As another example, the hub QQ114 may be a controller that sends commands or instructions to one or more actuators in the UEs. Commands or instructions may be received from the UEs, network nodes QQ110, or by executable code, script, process, or other instructions in the hub QQ114. As another example, the hub QQ114 may be a data collector that acts as temporary storage for UE data and, in some embodiments, may perform analysis or other processing of the data. As another example, the hub QQ114 may be a content source. For example, for a UE that is a VR device, display, loudspeaker, or other media delivery device, the hub QQ114 may retrieve VR assets, video, audio, or other media or data related to sensory information via a network node, which the hub QQ114 then provides to the UE either directly, after performing local processing, and and / or after adding additional local content. In still another example, the hub QQ114 acts as a proxy server orchestrator for the UEs, in particular if one or more of the UEs are low energy loT devices.

[0215] The hub QQ114 may have a constant and / or persistent or intermittent connection to the network node QQ110b. The hub QQ114 may also allow for a different communication scheme and and / or schedule between the hub QQ114 and UEs (e.g., UE QQ112c and and / or QQ112d) , and between the hub QQ114 and the core network QQ106. In other examples, the hub QQ114 is connected to the core network QQ106 and and / or one or more UEs via a wired connection. Moreover, the hub QQ114 may be configured to connect to an M2M service provider over the access network QQ104 and and / or to another UE over a direct connection. In some scenarios, UEs may establish a wireless connection with the network nodes QQ110 while still connected via the hub QQ114 via a wired or wireless connection. In some embodiments, the hub QQ114 may be a dedicated hub - that is, a hub whose primary function is to route communications to and / or from the UEs from and / or to the network node QQ110b. In other embodiments, the hub QQ114 may be a non-dedicated hub - that is, a device which is capable of operating to route communications between the UEs and network node QQ110b, but which is additionally capable of operating as a communication start and and / or end point for certain data channels.

[0216] Figure 13 shows a UE QQ200 in accordance with some embodiments. The UE QQ200 presents additional details of some embodiments of the UE QQ112 of Figure 12. As used herein, a UE refers to a device capable, configured, arranged and / or operable to communicate wirelessly with network nodes such as e.g. the network node 130 and the second radio network node 112 and / or other UEs such as e.g. UE 120. Examples of a UE include, but are not limited to, a smart phone, mobile phone, cell phone, voice over IP (VoIP) phone, wireless local loop phone, desktop computer, personal digital assistant (PDA), wireless cameras, gaming console or device, music storage and / or playback device, wearable terminal device, wireless endpoint, mobile station, tablet, laptop, laptop- embedded equipment (LEE), laptop-mounted equipment (LME), an Augmented Reality (AR) or Virtual Reality (VR) device, wireless customer-premise equipment (CPE), vehicle, vehicle-mounted or vehicle embedded and / or integrated wireless device, etc. Other examples include any UE identified by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), including a narrow band internet of things (NB-loT) UE, a machine type communication (MTC) UE, and and / or an enhanced MTC (eMTC) UE.

[0217] A UE may support device-to-device (D2D) communication, for example by implementing a 3GPP standard for sidelink communication, Dedicated Short-Range Communication (DSRC), vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I), or vehicle-to-everything (V2X). In other examples, a UE may not necessarily have a user in the sense of a human user who owns and and / or operates the relevant device. Instead, a UE may represent a device that is intended for sale to, or operation by, a human user but which may not, or which may not initially, be associated with a specific human user (e.g., a smart sprinkler controller). Alternatively, a UE may represent a device that is not intended for sale to, or operation by, an end user but which may be associated with or operated for the benefit of a user (e.g., a smart power meter).

[0218] The UE QQ200 includes processing circuitry QQ202 that is operatively coupled via a bus QQ204 to an input and / or output interface QQ206, a power source QQ208, a memory QQ210, a communication interface QQ212, and and / or any other component, or any combination thereof. Certain UEs may utilize all or a subset of the components shown in 10. The level of integration between the components may vary from one UE to another UE. Further, certain UEs may contain multiple instances of a component, such as multiple processors, memories, transceivers, transmitters, receivers, etc.

[0219] The processing circuitry QQ202 is configured to process instructions and data and may be configured to implement any sequential state machine operative to execute instructions stored as machine-readable computer programs in the memory QQ210. The processing circuitry QQ202 may be implemented as one or more hardware-implemented state machines (e.g., in discrete logic, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), etc.); programmable logic together with appropriate firmware; one or more stored computer programs, general-purpose processors, such as a microprocessor digital signal processor (DSP), together with appropriate software; or any combination of the above. For example, the processing circuitry QQ202 may include multiple central processing units (CPUs).

[0220] In the example, the input and / or output interface QQ206 may be configured to provide an interface or interfaces to an input device, output device, or one or more input and and / or output devices. Examples of an output device include a speaker, a sound card, a video card, a display, a monitor, a printer, an actuator, an emitter, a smartcard, another output device, or any combination thereof. An input device may allow a user to capture information into the UE QQ200. Examples of an input device include a touch- sensitive or presence-sensitive display, a camera (e.g., a digital camera, a digital video camera, a web camera, etc.), a microphone, a sensor, a mouse, a trackball, a directional pad, a trackpad, a scroll wheel, a smartcard, and the like. The presence-sensitive display may include a capacitive or resistive touch sensor to sense input from a user. A sensor may be, for instance, an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a tilt sensor, a force sensor, a magnetometer, an optical sensor, a proximity sensor, a biometric sensor, etc., or any combination thereof. An output device may use the same type of interface port as an input device. For example, a Universal Serial Bus (USB) port may be used to provide an input device and an output device.

[0221] In some embodiments, the power source QQ208 is structured as a battery or battery pack. Other types of power sources, such as an external power source (e.g., an electricity outlet), photovoltaic device, or power cell, may be used. The power source QQ208 may further include power circuitry for delivering power from the power source QQ208 itself, and and / or an external power source, to the various parts of the UE QQ200 via input circuitry or an interface such as an electrical power cable. Delivering power may be, for example, for charging of the power source QQ208. Power circuitry may perform any formatting, converting, or other modification to the power from the power source QQ208 to make the power suitable for the respective components of the UE QQ200 to which power is supplied.

[0222] The memory QQ210 may be or be configured to include memory such as random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), magnetic disks, optical disks, hard disks, removable cartridges, flash drives, and so forth. In one example, the memory QQ210 includes one or more application programs QQ214, such as an operating system, web browser application, a widget, gadget engine, or other application, and corresponding data QQ216. The memory QQ210 may store, for use by the UE QQ200, any of a variety of various operating systems or combinations of operating systems.

[0223] The memory QQ210 may be configured to include a number of physical drive units, such as redundant array of independent disks (RAID), flash memory, USB flash drive, external hard disk drive, thumb drive, pen drive, key drive, high-density digital versatile disc (HD-DVD) optical disc drive, internal hard disk drive, Blu-Ray optical disc drive, holographic digital data storage (HDDS) optical disc drive, external mini-dual in-line memory module (DIMM), synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), external micro-DIMM SDRAM, smartcard memory such as tamper resistant module in the form of a universal integrated circuit card (UICC) including one or more subscriber identity modules (SIMs), such as a USIM and and / or ISIM, other memory, or any combination thereof. The UICC may for example be an embedded UICC (eUlCC), integrated UICC (iUICC) or a removable UICC commonly known as ‘SIM card.’ The memory QQ210 may allow the UE QQ200 to access instructions, application programs and the like, stored on transitory or non-transitory memory media, to off-load data, or to upload data. An article of manufacture, such as one utilizing a communication system may be tangibly embodied as or in the memory QQ210, which may be or comprise a device-readable storage medium.

[0224] The processing circuitry QQ202 may be configured to communicate with an access network or other network using the communication interface QQ212. The communication interface QQ212 may comprise one or more communication subsystems and may include or be communicatively coupled to an antenna QQ222. The communication interface QQ212 may include one or more transceivers used to communicate, such as by communicating with one or more remote transceivers of another device capable of wireless communication (e.g., another UE or a network node in an access network). Each transceiver may include a transmitter QQ218 and and / or a receiver QQ220 appropriate to provide network communications (e.g., optical, electrical, frequency allocations, and so forth). Moreover, the transmitter QQ218 and receiver QQ220 may be coupled to one or more antennas (e.g., antenna QQ222) and may share circuit components, software or firmware, or alternatively be implemented separately.

[0225] In the illustrated embodiment, communication functions of the communication interface QQ212 may include cellular communication, Wi-Fi communication, LPWAN communication, data communication, voice communication, multimedia communication, short-range communications such as Bluetooth, near-field communication, location-based communication such as the use of the global positioning system (GPS) to determine a location, another like communication function, or any combination thereof. Communications may be implemented in according to one or more communication protocols and and / or standards, such as IEEE 802.11, Code Division Multiplexing Access (CDMA), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), GSM, LTE, New Radio (NR), UMTS, WiMax, Ethernet, transmission control protocol and / or internet protocol (TCP and / or IP), synchronous optical networking (SONET), Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), QUIC, Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), and so forth.

[0226] Regardless of the type of sensor, a UE may provide an output of data captured by its sensors, through its communication interface QQ212, via a wireless connection to a network node. Data captured by sensors of a UE can be communicated through a wireless connection to a network node via another UE. The output may be periodic (e.g., once every 15 minutes if it reports the sensed temperature), random (e.g., to even out the load from reporting from several sensors), in response to a triggering event (e.g., when moisture is detected an alert is sent), in response to a request (e.g., a user initiated request), or a continuous stream (e.g., a live video feed of a patient).

[0227] As another example, a UE comprises an actuator, a motor, or a switch, related to a communication interface configured to receive wireless input from a network node via a wireless connection. In response to the received wireless input the states of the actuator, the motor, or the switch may change. For example, the UE may comprise a motor that adjusts the control surfaces or rotors of a drone in flight according to the received input or to a robotic arm performing a medical procedure according to the received input.

[0228] A UE, when in the form of an Internet of Things (loT) device, may be a device for use in one or more application domains, these domains comprising, but not limited to, city wearable technology, extended industrial application and healthcare. Non-limiting examples of such an loT device are a device which is or which is embedded in: a connected refrigerator freezer, a TV, a connected lighting device, an electricity meter, a robot vacuum cleaner, a voice controlled smart speaker, a home security camera, a motion detector, a thermostat, a smoke detector, a door and / or window sensor, a flood and / or moisture sensor, an electrical door lock, a connected doorbell, an air conditioning system like a heat pump, an autonomous vehicle, a surveillance system, a weather monitoring device, a vehicle parking monitoring device, an electric vehicle charging station, a smart watch, a fitness tracker, a wearable for tactile augmentation or sensory enhancement, a water sprinkler, an animal- or item-tracking device, a sensor for monitoring a plant or animal, an industrial robot, an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), and any kind of medical device, like a heart rate monitor a remote controlled surgical robot. A UE in the form of an loT device comprises circuitry and and / or software in dependence of the intended application of the loT device in addition to other components as described in relation to the UE QQ200 shown in Figure 13.

[0229] As yet another specific example, in an loT scenario, a UE may represent a machine or other device that performs monitoring and and / or measurements, and transmits the results of such monitoring and and / or measurements to another UE and and / or a network node. The UE may in this case be an M2M device, which may in a 3GPP context be referred to as an MTC device. As one particular example, the UE may implement the 3GPP NB-loT standard. In other scenarios, a UE may represent a vehicle, such as a car, a bus, a truck, a ship and an airplane, or other equipment that is capable of monitoring and and / or reporting on its operational status or other functions associated with its operation.

[0230] In practice, any number of UEs may be used together with respect to a single use case. For example, a first UE might be or be integrated in a drone and provide the drone’s speed information (obtained through a speed sensor) to a second UE that is a remote controller operating the drone. When the user makes changes from the remote controller, the first UE may adjust the throttle on the drone (e.g. by controlling an actuator) to increase or decrease the drone’s speed. The first and and / or the second UE can also include more than one of the functionalities described above. For example, a UE might comprise the sensor and the actuator, and handle communication of data for both the speed sensor and the actuators.

[0231] Figure 14 shows a network node QQ300 in accordance with some embodiments. As used herein, network node refers to equipment capable, configured, arranged and and / or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with a UE and and / or with other network nodes or equipment, in a telecommunication network. Examples of network nodes include, but are not limited to, access points (APs) (e.g., radio access points), base stations (BSs) (e.g., radio base stations, Node Bs, evolved Node Bs (eNBs) and NR NodeBs (gNBs)), O-RAN nodes or components of an O-RAN node (e.g., 0-Rll, 0-Dll, O- CU).

[0232] Base stations may be categorized based on the amount of coverage they provide (or, stated differently, their transmit power level) and so, depending on the provided amount of coverage, may be referred to as femto base stations, pico base stations, micro base stations, or macro base stations. A base station may be a relay node or a relay donor node controlling a relay. A network node may also include one or more (or all) parts of a distributed radio base station such as centralized digital units, distributed units (e.g., in an O-RAN access node) and and / or remote radio units (RRUs), sometimes referred to as Remote Radio Heads (RRHs). Such remote radio units may or may not be integrated with an antenna as an antenna integrated radio. Parts of a distributed radio base station may also be referred to as nodes in a distributed antenna system (DAS).

[0233] Other examples of network nodes include multiple transmission point (multi-TRP) 5G access nodes, multi-standard radio (MSR) equipment such as MSR BSs, network controllers such as radio network controllers (RNCs) or base station controllers (BSCs), base transceiver stations (BTSs), transmission points, transmission nodes, multi-cell and / or multicast coordination entities (MCEs), Operation and Maintenance (O&M) nodes, Operations Support System (OSS) nodes, Self-Organizing Network (SON) nodes, positioning nodes (e.g., Evolved Serving Mobile Location Centers (E-SMLCs)), and and / or Minimization of Drive Tests (MDTs).

[0234] The network node QQ300 includes a processing circuitry QQ302, a memory QQ304, a communication interface QQ306, and a power source QQ308. The network node QQ300 may be composed of multiple physically separate components (e.g., a NodeB component and a RNC component, or a BTS component and a BSC component, etc.), which may each have their own respective components. In certain scenarios in which the network node QQ300 comprises multiple separate components (e.g., BTS and BSC components), one or more of the separate components may be shared among several network nodes. For example, a single RNC may control multiple NodeBs. In such a scenario, each unique NodeB and RNC pair, may in some instances be considered a single separate network node. In some embodiments, the network node QQ300 may be configured to support multiple radio access technologies (RATs). In such embodiments, some components may be duplicated (e.g., separate memory QQ304 for different RATs) and some components may be reused (e.g., a same antenna QQ310 may be shared by different RATs). The network node QQ300 may also include multiple sets of the various illustrated components for different wireless technologies integrated into network node QQ300, for example GSM, WCDMA, LTE, NR, WiFi, Zigbee, Z-wave, LoRaWAN, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) or Bluetooth wireless technologies. These wireless technologies may be integrated into the same or different chip or set of chips and other components within network node QQ300.

[0235] The processing circuitry QQ302 may comprise a combination of one or more of a microprocessor, controller, microcontroller, central processing unit, digital signal processor, application-specific integrated circuit, field programmable gate array, or any other suitable computing device, resource, or combination of hardware, software and and / or encoded logic operable to provide, either alone or in conjunction with other network node QQ300 components, such as the memory QQ304, to provide network node QQ300 functionality.

[0236] In some embodiments, the processing circuitry QQ302 includes a system on a chip (SOC). In some embodiments, the processing circuitry QQ302 includes one or more of radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry QQ312 and baseband processing circuitry QQ314. In some embodiments, the radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry QQ312 and the baseband processing circuitry QQ314 may be on separate chips (or sets of chips), boards, or units, such as radio units and digital units. In alternative embodiments, part or all of RF transceiver circuitry QQ312 and baseband processing circuitry QQ314 may be on the same chip or set of chips, boards, or units.

[0237] The memory QQ304 may comprise any form of volatile or non-volatile computer- readable memory including, without limitation, persistent storage, solid-state memory, remotely mounted memory, magnetic media, optical media, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), mass storage media (for example, a hard disk), removable storage media (for example, a flash drive, a Compact Disk (CD) or a Digital Video Disk (DVD)), and and / or any other volatile or non-volatile, non-transitory device- readable and and / or computer-executable memory devices that store information, data, and and / or instructions that may be used by the processing circuitry QQ302. The memory QQ304 may store any suitable instructions, data, or information, including a computer program, software, an application including one or more of logic, rules, code, tables, and and / or other instructions capable of being executed by the processing circuitry QQ302 and utilized by the network node QQ300. The memory QQ304 may be used to store any calculations made by the processing circuitry QQ302 and and / or any data received via the communication interface QQ306. In some embodiments, the processing circuitry QQ302 and memory QQ304 is integrated. The communication interface QQ306 is used in wired or wireless communication of signaling and and / or data between a network node, access network, and and / or UE. As illustrated, the communication interface QQ306 comprises port(s) and / or terminal(s) QQ316 to send and receive data, for example to and from a network over a wired connection. The communication interface QQ306 also includes radio front-end circuitry QQ318 that may be coupled to, or in certain embodiments a part of, the antenna QQ310. Radio front-end circuitry QQ318 comprises filters QQ320 and amplifiers QQ322. The radio front-end circuitry QQ318 may be connected to an antenna QQ310 and processing circuitry QQ302. The radio front-end circuitry may be configured to condition signals communicated between antenna QQ310 and processing circuitry QQ302. The radio frontend circuitry QQ318 may receive digital data that is to be sent out to other network nodes or UEs via a wireless connection. The radio front-end circuitry QQ318 may convert the digital data into a radio signal having the appropriate channel and bandwidth parameters using a combination of filters QQ320 and and / or amplifiers QQ322. The radio signal may then be transmitted via the antenna QQ310. Similarly, when receiving data, the antenna QQ310 may collect radio signals which are then converted into digital data by the radio front-end circuitry QQ318. The digital data may be passed to the processing circuitry QQ302. In other embodiments, the communication interface may comprise different components and and / or different combinations of components.

[0238] In certain alternative embodiments, the network node QQ300 does not include separate radio front-end circuitry QQ318, instead, the processing circuitry QQ302 includes radio front-end circuitry and is connected to the antenna QQ310. Similarly, in some embodiments, all or some of the RF transceiver circuitry QQ312 is part of the communication interface QQ306. In still other embodiments, the communication interface QQ306 includes one or more ports or terminals QQ316, the radio front-end circuitry QQ318, and the RF transceiver circuitry QQ312, as part of a radio unit (not shown), and the communication interface QQ306 communicates with the baseband processing circuitry QQ314, which is part of a digital unit (not shown).

[0239] The antenna QQ310 may include one or more antennas, or antenna arrays, configured to send and and / or receive wireless signals. The antenna QQ310 may be coupled to the radio front-end circuitry QQ318 and may be any type of antenna capable of transmitting and receiving data and and / or signals wirelessly. In certain embodiments, the antenna QQ310 is separate from the network node QQ300 and connectable to the network node QQ300 through an interface or port. The antenna QQ310, communication interface QQ306, and and / or the processing circuitry QQ302 may be configured to perform any receiving operations and and / or certain obtaining operations described herein as being performed by the network node. Any information, data and and / or signals may be received from a UE, another network node and and / or any other network equipment. Similarly, the antenna QQ310, the communication interface QQ306, and and / or the processing circuitry QQ302 may be configured to perform any transmitting operations described herein as being performed by the network node. Any information, data and and / or signals may be transmitted to a UE, another network node and and / or any other network equipment.

[0240] The power source QQ308 provides power to the various components of network node QQ300 in a form suitable for the respective components (e.g., at a voltage and current level needed for each respective component). The power source QQ308 may further comprise, or be coupled to, power management circuitry to supply the components of the network node QQ300 with power for performing the functionality described herein. For example, the network node QQ300 may be connectable to an external power source (e.g., the power grid, an electricity outlet) via an input circuitry or interface such as an electrical cable, whereby the external power source supplies power to power circuitry of the power source QQ308. As a further example, the power source QQ308 may comprise a source of power in the form of a battery or battery pack which is connected to, or integrated in, power circuitry. The battery may provide backup power should the external power source fail.

[0241] Embodiments of the network node QQ300 may include additional components beyond those shown in Figure 14 for providing certain aspects of the network node’s functionality, including any of the functionality described herein and and / or any functionality necessary to support the subject matter described herein. For example, the network node QQ300 may include user interface equipment to allow input of information into the network node QQ300 and to allow output of information from the network node QQ300. This may allow a user to perform diagnostic, maintenance, repair, and other administrative functions for the network node QQ300. In some embodiments providing a core network node, such as core network node QQ108 of FIG. 12, some components, such as the radio front-end circuitry QQ318 and the RF transceiver circuitry QQ312 may be omitted.

[0242] Figure 15 is a block diagram illustrating a virtualization environment QQ400 in which functions implemented by some embodiments may be virtualized. In the present context, virtualizing means creating virtual versions of apparatuses or devices which may include virtualizing hardware platforms, storage devices and networking resources. As used herein, virtualization can be applied to any device described herein, or components thereof, and relates to an implementation in which at least a portion of the functionality is implemented as one or more virtual components. Some or all of the functions described herein may be implemented as virtual components executed by one or more virtual machines (VMs) implemented in one or more virtual environments QQ400 hosted by one or more of hardware nodes, such as a hardware computing device that operates as a network node, UE, core network node, or host. Further, in embodiments in which the virtual node does not require radio connectivity (e.g., a core network node or host), then the node may be entirely virtualized. In some embodiments, the virtualization environment QQ400 includes components defined by the O-RAN Alliance, such as an O-Cloud environment orchestrated by a Service Management and Orchestration Framework via an 0-2 interface. Virtualization may facilitate distributed implementations of a network node, UE, core network node, or host.

[0243] Applications QQ402 (which may alternatively be called software instances, virtual appliances, network functions, virtual nodes, virtual network functions, etc.) are run in the virtualization environment Q400 to implement some of the features, functions, and and / or benefits of some of the embodiments disclosed herein.

[0244] Hardware QQ404 includes processing circuitry, memory that stores software and and / or instructions executable by hardware processing circuitry, and and / or other hardware devices as described herein, such as a network interface, input and / or output interface, and so forth. Software may be executed by the processing circuitry to instantiate one or more virtualization layers QQ406 (also referred to as hypervisors or virtual machine monitors (VMMs)), provide VMs QQ408a and QQ408b (one or more of which may be generally referred to as VMs QQ408), and and / or perform any of the functions, features and and / or benefits described in relation with some embodiments described herein. The virtualization layer QQ406 may present a virtual operating platform that appears like networking hardware to the VMs QQ408.

[0245] The VMs QQ408 comprise virtual processing, virtual memory, virtual networking or interface and virtual storage, and may be run by a corresponding virtualization layer QQ406. Different embodiments of the instance of a virtual appliance QQ402 may be implemented on one or more of VMs QQ408, and the implementations may be made in different ways. Virtualization of the hardware is in some contexts referred to as network function virtualization (NFV). NFV may be used to consolidate many network equipment types onto industry standard high volume server hardware, physical switches, and physical storage, which can be located in data centers, and customer premise equipment.

[0246] In the context of NFV, a VM QQ408 may be a software implementation of a physical machine that runs programs as if they were executing on a physical, non-virtualized machine. Each of the VMs QQ408, and that part of hardware QQ404 that executes that VM, be it hardware dedicated to that VM and and / or hardware shared by that VM with others of the VMs, forms separate virtual network elements. Still in the context of NFV, a virtual network function is responsible for handling specific network functions that run in one or more VMs QQ408 on top of the hardware QQ404 and corresponds to the application QQ402.

[0247] Hardware QQ404 may be implemented in a standalone network node with generic or specific components. Hardware QQ404 may implement some functions via virtualization. Alternatively, hardware QQ404 may be part of a larger cluster of hardware (e.g. such as in a data center or CPE) where many hardware nodes work together and are managed via management and orchestration QQ410, which, among others, oversees lifecycle management of applications QQ402. In some embodiments, hardware QQ404 is coupled to one or more radio units that each include one or more transmitters and one or more receivers that may be coupled to one or more antennas. Radio units may communicate directly with other hardware nodes via one or more appropriate network interfaces and may be used in combination with the virtual components to provide a virtual node with radio capabilities, such as a radio access node or a base station. In some embodiments, some signaling can be provided with the use of a control system QQ412 which may alternatively be used for communication between hardware nodes and radio units.

[0248] Although the computing devices described herein (e.g., UEs, network nodes) may include the illustrated combination of hardware components, other embodiments may comprise computing devices with different combinations of components. It is to be understood that these computing devices may comprise any suitable combination of hardware and and / or software needed to perform the tasks, features, functions and methods disclosed herein. Determining, calculating, obtaining or similar operations described herein may be performed by processing circuitry, which may process information by, for example, converting the obtained information into other information, comparing the obtained information or converted information to information stored in the network node, and and / or performing one or more operations based on the obtained information or converted information, and as a result of said processing making a determination. Moreover, while components are depicted as single boxes located within a larger box, or nested within multiple boxes, in practice, computing devices may comprise multiple different physical components that make up a single illustrated component, and functionality may be partitioned between separate components. For example, a communication interface may be configured to include any of the components described herein, and and / or the functionality of the components may be partitioned between the processing circuitry and the communication interface. In another example, non- computationally intensive functions of any of such components may be implemented in software or firmware and computationally intensive functions may be implemented in hardware.

[0249] In certain embodiments, some or all of the functionality described herein may be provided by processing circuitry executing instructions stored on in memory, which in certain embodiments may be a computer program product in the form of a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. In alternative embodiments, some or all of the functionality may be provided by the processing circuitry without executing instructions stored on a separate or discrete device-readable storage medium, such as in a hard-wired manner. In any of those particular embodiments, whether executing instructions stored on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium or not, the processing circuitry can be configured to perform the described functionality. The benefits provided by such functionality are not limited to the processing circuitry alone or to other components of the computing device, but are enjoyed by the computing device as a whole, and and / or by end users and a wireless network generally.

[0250] When using the word "comprise" or “comprising” it shall be interpreted as nonlimiting, i.e. meaning "consist at least of".

[0251] The embodiments herein are not limited to the preferred embodiments described above. Various alternatives, modifications and equivalents may be used.

Claims

CLAIMS1. A method performed by a network node for handling a sensing request for an application associated with a User Equipment, UE, (120) in a communications network (100), which UE (120) is served by a first radio network node (111), the method comprising: receiving (501) from a sensing control node (140) a sensing request comprising data related to sensing requirements to be fulfilled for the application associated with the UE (120), evaluating (502) radio network nodes (111 , 112, 113) within radio coverage of the UE (120) regarding sensing capability according to the sensing requirements, based on the result of the evaluated radio network nodes (111 , 112, 113), identifying (503) a radio network node (111, 112, 113) that fulfils the sensing requirements, when the identified radio network node is represented by the first radio network node (111), keeping (504) the first radio network node (111) as a serving radio network node for the UE (120), to perform the requested sensing, and when the identified radio network node is a second radio network node (112) deciding (505) to hand over the UE (120) to the second radio network node (112) as a serving radio network node for the UE (120), to perform the requested sensing.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising any one out of: when the identified radio network node is the first radio network node (111), sending (506) a message to the sensing control node (140) indicating that the first radio network node (111) fulfils the sending requirements and will perform the requested sensing, and when the identified radio network node is the second radio network node (112), sending (507) a sensing Hand Over, HO, request to the second radio network node (112), at least for performing the sensing according to the sensing request.

3. The method according to any of the claims 1-2, further comprising any one out of:when the sensing HO request is successful, sending (508) a message to the sensing control node (140) indicating a progress success of a performed HO according to the sensing HO request, or when the sensing HO request is not successful, sending (509) a message to the sensing control node (140) indicating no success of HO according to the sensing HO request.

4. The method according to any of the claims 1-3, wherein: the sensing requirements to be fulfilled for the application in the UE (120), are relating to anyone or more out of:- a sensing resolution to be above a first threshold,- a frequency to be over a second threshold,- a beam width to be below a third threshold,- a number of beams deployed in certain horizontal and / or vertical dimensions of a beam grid being above a fourth threshold.

5. A computer program (1030) comprising instructions, which when executed by a processor (1010), causes the processor (1010) to perform actions according to any of the claims 1-4.

6. A carrier (1040) comprising the computer program (1030) of claim 5, wherein the carrier (1040) is one of an electronic signal, an optical signal, an electromagnetic signal, a magnetic signal, an electric signal, a radio signal, a microwave signal, or a computer-readable storage medium.

7. A method performed by a second radio network node (112) for handling a sensing request for an application associated with a User Equipment, UE, (120) in a communications network (100), which UE (120) is served by a first radio network node (111), the method comprising: when sensing requirements for the application associated with the UE (120) according to the sensing request, cannot be fulfilled by the first radio network node (111), receiving (601) from a network node, a sensing Hand Over, HO, request, regarding a HO from the first radio network node (111) to the second radio network node (112), to at least perform sensing for the application associated with the UE (120) according to the sensing request, which second radio network node (112)has been identified to fulfil said sensing requirements for the application associated with the UE (120), taking over (602) the UE (120) from the first radio network node (111) as a serving radio network node for the UE (120), at least for performing the sensing according to the sensing request, performing (603) the requested sensing according to the requirements, and when the requested sensing is completed, sending (605) to the application associated with the UE (120), results of the performed sensing according to the sensing request.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein the taking over (602) of the UE (120) from the first radio network node (111) as a serving radio network node for the UE (120), further comprises taking over for radio services, e.g. complete HO, associated with the UE (120).

9. The method according to claim 8, further comprising: handing over (604) the UE (120) back to the first radio network node (111) as a serving radio network node for the UE (120).

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein the handing over(604) of the UE (120) back to the first radio network node (111) is performed when any one or more out of the following conditions are met: after successful sending (605) of the results of the performed sensing, a timer has expired, a sensing Acknowledgement, ACK, from the application associated with the UE (120) is received, and allocated resources for sensing are depleted. allocated resources for communication are depleted the UE (120) has moved outside a preferred signal strength range, i.e. out of preferred cell coverage, in any spatial dimension, e.g. in altitude the UE (120) has adopted e.g. a velocity profile outside a preferred range the UE (120) has activated and / or terminated use of a certain application11. A computer program (1130) comprising instructions, which when executed by a processor (1110), causes the processor (1110) to perform actions according to any of the claims 7-10.

12. A carrier (1140) comprising the computer program (1130) of claim 11, wherein the carrier (1140) is one of an electronic signal, an optical signal, an electromagnetic signal, a magnetic signal, an electric signal, a radio signal, a microwave signal, or a computer-readable storage medium.

13. A network node configured to handle a sensing request for an application associated with a User Equipment, UE, (120) in a communications network (100), which UE (120) is adapted to be served by a first radio network node (111), the network node further being configured to: receive from a sensing control node (140) a sensing request comprising data related to sensing requirements to be fulfilled for the application associated with the UE (120), evaluate radio network nodes (111 , 112, 113) within radio coverage of the UE (120) regarding sensing capability according to the sensing requirements, based on the result of the evaluated radio network nodes (111 , 112, 113), identify a radio network node (111 , 112, 113) that is capable of fulfilling the sensing requirements, when the identified radio network node is adapted to be represented by the first radio network node (111), keep the first radio network node (111) as a serving radio network node for the UE (120), to perform the requested sensing, and when the identified radio network node is a second radio network node (112), decide to hand over the UE (120) to the second radio network node (112) as a serving radio network node for the UE (120), to perform the requested sensing.

14. The network node according to claim 13, further being configured to: when the identified radio network node is the first radio network node (111), send a message to the sensing control node (140), indicating that the first radio network node (111) is configured to fulfil the sending requirements and will perform the requested sensing, andwhen the identified radio network node is the second radio network node (112), send a sensing Hand Over, HO, request to the second radio network node (112), at least for performing the sensing according to the sensing request.

15. The network node according to any of the claims 13-14, further being configured to: when the sensing HO request is successful, send a message to the sensing control node (140), indicating a progress success of a performed HO according to the sensing HO request, or when the sensing HO request is not successful, send a message to the sensing control node (140), indicating no success of HO according to the sensing HO request.

16. The network node according to any of the claims 13-15, wherein: the sensing requirements to be fulfilled for the application in the UE (120), are adapted to relate to anyone or more out of:- a sensing resolution adapted to be above a first threshold,- a frequency adapted to be over a second threshold,- a beam width adapted to be below a third threshold,- a number of beams deployed in certain horizontal and / or vertical dimensions of a beam grid adapted to be above a fourth threshold.

17. A second radio network node (112) configured to handle a sensing request for an application associated with a User Equipment, UE, (120) in a communications network (100), which UE (120) is adapted to be served by a first radio network node (111), the second radio network node (112) further being configured to: when sensing requirements for the application associated with the UE (120) according to the sensing request cannot be fulfilled by the first radio network node(111), receive from a network node, a sensing Hand Over, HO, request, regarding a HO from the first radio network node (111) to the second radio network node(112) to at least perform sensing for the application associated with the UE (120) according to the sensing request, which second radio network node (112) is adapted to have been identified to fulfil said sensing requirements for the application associated with the UE (120),take over the UE (120) from the first radio network node (111) as a serving radio network node for the UE (120), at least for performing the sensing according to the sensing request, perform the requested sensing according to the requirements, and when the requested sensing is being completed, send to the application associated with the UE (120), results of the performed sensing according to the sensing request.

18. The second radio network node (112) to claim 17, wherein second radio network node (112) further is configured to take over of the UE (120) from the first radio network node (111) for radio services associated with the UE (120).

19. The second radio network node (112) according to claim 18, further being configured to: hand over the UE (120) back to the first radio network node (111) as a serving radio network node for the UE (120).

20. The second radio network node (112) according to claim 19, wherein the handover of the UE (120) back to the first radio network node (111) is adapted to be performed when any one or more out of the following conditions are met: after successful sending being made of the results of the performed sensing, a timer has been expired, a sensing Acknowledgement, ACK, from the application associated with the UE (120) has been received, and allocated resources for sensing are being depleted. allocated resources for communication are depleted the UE (120) has moved outside a preferred signal strength range, i.e. out of preferred cell coverage, in any spatial dimension, e.g. in altitude the UE (120) has adopted e.g. a velocity profile outside a preferred range the UE (120) has activated and / or terminated use of a certain application

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