Network nodes, wireless device and methods for handling identities in a communication system

Abstract

A method performed by a first network node for handling identities, ID, in a communication system (100) The first network node obtains (601) a first ID from a second network node and determines (602) a second ID. The first network node provides (603) a current message comprising the first ID and the second ID to the wireless device.

Description

[0001] NETWORK NODES, WIRELESS DEVICE AND METHODS FOR HANDLING IDENTITIES IN A COMMUNICATION SYSTEM

[0002] CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0003] This application claims priority to PCT / CN2025 / 076201 filed 7 February 2025, the entire contents of which are herein incorporated by reference.

[0004] TECHNICAL FIELD

[0005] The present disclosure relates generally to a first network node, a method performed by the first network node, a wireless device and a method performed by the wireless device. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to handling identities (ID) in a communication system. The present disclosure relates to Radio Access Node (RAN) Appended of Ambient Internet-of-Things (A-IoT) Service / Transaction ID.

[0006] BACKGROUND

[0007] Zero-Energy loT

[0008] Wireless Intemet-of-Things (loT) devices are often battery powered and both the need to change battery and the battery lifetime may be concerns for many potential applications such as asset tracking or environmental / industrial sensors. For this reason, the wireless communications industry has been interested in so-called zero-energy (ZE) devices. ZE devices refer to wireless loT devices that do not require battery replacement, and which can harvest energy from the environment. These ZE-IoT devices can in addition be of very small form factor and could even be printable and they target ultra-low power consumption to enable operation based on either energy-harvesting from an ambient sources or back-scattering communication, cf. Radio Frequency ID (RFID). That is, instead of relying on active transmission and reception for communication being powered by a battery, energy is instead harvested from an ambient source, such as vibrations, solar power, RF, etc. and for back-scattering communication a charge carrier wave is provided to the device from the network which is modulated and reflected back to the network, e.g. to the reader. This enables energy autonomous operation during the lifetime of the devices without need for either manual replacement or charging of the batteries. Compared to existing radio access technologies this puts new requirements on the radio interface and the protocols.

[0009] 3 GPP Ambient-IoTIn 3rdGeneration Partnership Project (3GPP), ZE-IoT started to be studied in Release 18, there referred to as ‘Ambient IoT’. In Release 19 the work continued with a study in RAN working groups. It was agreed to continue in the last part of Release 19 with normative work to specify a limited solution:

[0010] • Indoor inventory, indoor command only

[0011] • Backscattering Device Type 1 only

[0012] • Deploymnent Scenario 1 Topology 1 (D1T1)-B, e.g. micro Base Station (BS) indoor, device indoor, only

[0013] • Carrier Wave (CW) outside topology

[0014] • Reader to Device (R2D) in Downlink (DL) spectrum; D2R and CW in Uplink (UL) spectrum

[0015] That is, the only services supported in Release 19 inventory, i.e. reporting of device identified to the network, and command, i.e. transmitting a small payload to the device. Further the deployment scenario supported are indoor devices which receives CW transmissions for network nodes and the reflected signals are received by indoor micro base stations, e.g. in FDD uplink spectrum. For downlink direct transmission from the indoor micro base station to the device is supported, e.g. in FDD downlink spectrum. This is illustrated in Fig. 1. Fig. 1 is a schematic drawing illustrating a communications system. Fig. 1 illustrates a carrier wave transmitter, a reader, e.g. eNB, and a passive tag. The scenario shown in fig. 1 may be an indoor scenario, i.e. where at least one of the carrier wave transmitter, reader and passive tag are located indoors. Fig. 1 shows uplink and downlink transmissions.

[0016] Functional and protocol simplifications for Ambient IoT

[0017] For Ambient IoT (A-IoT), 3GPP will target an IoT segment well below the existing cellular IoT technologies, e.g. NB-IoT, with significantly lower energy consumption and device complexity / cost. This requires simplifications in physical layer design, and the higher layer, e.g. L2 / L3, design will also be much more lightweight with a minimal set of functionalities. For Random Access and multiple access devices the Release 19 scope is limited to the following:

[0018] &

[0019]

[0020] An overview of Contention-based Random Access Types is found below:

[0021]

[0022] Fig. 2 is a flow chart illustrating a method, i.e. a 2-step contention-based Random Access. The device provides message 1 to the reader in step 201. Message 1 comprises CR ID and data, e.g. device ID. The reader provides message 2 to the device in step 202. Message 2 comprises CR ID.

[0023] Fig. 3 is a flow chart illustrating a method, i.e. a 3-step and 4-step contention-based Random Access. The device provides message 1 to the reader in step 301. Message 1 comprises CR ID. The reader provides message 2 to the device in step 302. Message 2 comprises CR ID echo. The device 303 provides message 3 to the reader in step 303. Message 3 comprises data, e.g. device ID. The reader provides message 4 to the device in step 304. Message 4 comprises feedback.

[0024] There currently exist certain challenge(s).

[0025] Ambient loT (A-IoT) has been agreed to be a work item for 3GPP Rel-19.

[0026] Currently it is not clear if explicit feedback is to be specified after 3-step random access procedure in Contention Based Random Access (CBRA), i.e., if there is going to be Msg4 to indicate explicit N / ACK. lin A-IoT contention is resolved already after Msg2 reception.Hence in the scenario without Msg4, the device cannot know if it’s Msg3 transmission is successful or not once the access occasion is finished and the reader has moved to the next access occasion. I.e., without explicit Msg4 ACK, and only rescheduling of Msg3 retransmission upon failure, the device cannot distinguish between a successful Msg3 transmission or a lost Msg3 transmission or if the network has given up scheduling Msg3 retransmissions.

[0027] Only the reader knows with certainty after contention success, if data / Msg3 succeeded or failed.

[0028] In order to follow-up failed devices, especially in new / sub sequent paging / access round, it is important for the device to know what to assume regarding whether it has failed or successfully responded to the network, i.e., considering that in 3GPP it has been agreed to introduce a subsequent paging mechanism which makes devices avoid responding to the same paging / service request if they have successfully responded to the same request earlier.

[0029] It is necessary to look for solutions for the issues with failed device transmissions associated with given service from Core Network (CN) / Access and Mobility Management Fucntion (AMF) / AIOT Function (AIOTF) / Application Function (AF) and how reader can follow up such devices.

[0030] Therefore, there is a need to at least mitigate or solve this issue.

[0031] SUMMARY

[0032] An objective is to obviate at least one of the above disadvantages and to provide improved handling of IDs in a communications system.

[0033] In one aspect, there is provided a method performed by a first network node for handling ID in a communication system. The first network node obtains a first ID from a second network node and determines a second ID. The first network node provides a current message comprising the first ID and the second ID to the wireless device.

[0034] In one aspect, there is provided a method performed by a wireless device for handling ID in a communication system. The wireless device obtains a current message comprising a first ID and a second ID from the first network node. The wireless device checks if the currently obtained first ID and second ID are at least substantially the same as with respect to IDs previously obtained in a previous message. The wireless device determines which action to take based on a result of the check.In one aspect, there is provided a method performed by a first network node for handling ID in a communication system. The first network node is arranged to obtain a first ID from a second network node and to determine a second ID. The first network node arranged to provide a current message comprising the first ID and the second ID to the wireless device.

[0035] In one aspect, there is provided a method performed by a wireless device for handling ID in a communication system. The wireless device is arranged to obtain a current message comprising a first ID and a second ID from the first network node. The wireless device may be arranged to check if the currently obtained first ID and second ID are at least substantially the same as with respect to IDs previously obtained in a previous message. The wireless device may be arranged to determine which action to take based on a result of the check.

[0036] Because of the second ID, it may be possible for the wireless device to take the necessary action.

[0037] Certain embodiments may provide one or more of the following technical advantage(s).

[0038] Increases success rate of data transmission suffering from temporary coverage issues by offloading devices to new paging round for same service request by bypassing restriction to devices which does not allow device to respond again to same service request repeatedly (if coverage issues do not persist anymore).

[0039] The present disclosure is not limited to the features and advantages mentioned above. A person skilled in the art will recognize additional features and advantages upon reading the following detailed description.

[0040] BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0041] Some of the embodiments contemplated herein will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings. Embodiments are provided by way of example to convey the scope of the subject matter to those skilled in the art.

[0042] Fig. 1 is a schematic drawing illustrating a communications system.

[0043] Fig. 2 is a flow chart illustrating a method.

[0044] Fig. 3 is a flow chart illustrating a method.

[0045] Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating a communication system.Fig. 5 is a schematic drawing illustrating an overview of the Paging Round, Access Round, and Access Occasion.

[0046] Fig. 6 is a schematic diagram illustrating a communication system.

[0047] Fig. 7 is a signaling diagram illustrating a method.

[0048] Fig. 8 is a flow chart illustrating a method.

[0049] Fig. 9 is a schematic block diagram illustrating a first network node.

[0050] Fig. 10 is a flow chart illustrating a method.

[0051] Fig. 11 is a schematic block diagram illustrating a wireless device.

[0052] Fig. 12 is an example of a communication system.

[0053] Fig. 13 is an example of a communication system.

[0054] Fig. 14 shows a wireless device

[0055] Fig. 15 shows a network node.

[0056] Fig. 16 is a block diagram illustrating a virtualization environment

[0057] The drawings are not necessarily to scale, and the dimensions of certain features may have been exaggerated for the sake of clarity. Emphasis is instead placed upon illustrating the principle.

[0058] DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0059] The present disclosure relates to a service / transaction which is used by CN / AMF / AIOTF / AF to associate inventory / command with particular service request which can be appended with additional bits / ID by the RAN node.

[0060] The reason for appending the RAN related part is to circumvent the restriction on stopping redundant responses to paging requests with the same transaction ID.

[0061] For instance, if in scenarios where the present disclosure is not implemented, and if RAN node sends the paging request again containing the same transaction ID, then devices will not respond again if the devices have responded to old paging request(s) with the same transaction ID provided devices have assumed that they had responded earlier successfully. Given the inventory / command procedure without explicitly defined feedback mechanism cannot be guaranteed that devices had responded earlier successfully or not. If reader, e.g. RAN node, wants to follow up the failed devices in new paging / access round triggered, it can send new paging request with same ID. However, in order to make devices to respond, the ID must be changed. RAN node cannot change CN service ID, hence it appends additional ID which RAN node ID can change in paging requestorder to make devices to respond even redundantly to same service request associated with CN based transaction ID.

[0062] The reader appends RAN related bits to CN related transaction ID / bits. In subsequent paging, if CN related transaction ID bits remain same but RAN related bits change with respect to previous paging round, the targeted devices will respond again. However, the reader can impose restrictions if devices have responded previously successfully.

[0063] The present disclosure relates to use cases with ultra-low power devices, zero-energy or A-IoT devices.

[0064] The term RAN node is used which can be a network node or a user equipment (UE). Examples of network nodes are NodeB, base station (BS), multi -standard radio (MSR) radio node such as MSR BS, eNodeB, gNodeB, MeNB, SeNB, location measurement unit (LMU), integrated access backhaul (IAB) node, network controller, radio network controller (RNC), base station controller (BSC), relay, IAB, repeater, donor node controlling relay, base transceiver station (BTS), Central Unit (e.g. in a gNB), Distributed Unit, e.g. in a gNB, Baseband Unit, Centralized Baseband, C-RAN, access point (AP), transmission points, transmission nodes, transmission reception point (TRP), Remote Radio Unit (RRU), Remote Radio Head (RRH), nodes in distributed antenna system (DAS), core network node, e.g. Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS), Mobility Management Entity (MME) etc., Operation & Maintenance (O&M), Operations Support System (OSS), Self-Organizing Network (SON), positioning node, e.g. Enhanced Serving Mobile Location Centre (E-SMLC, etc. In particular, in Ambient loT scenario the RAN nodes comprise intermediate node / UE, e.g., relay UE, IAB, repeater etc., and assisting node / UE, e.g., relay UE, IAB, repeater etc.

[0065] In particular, in A-IoT scenario the RAN nodes comprise intermediate node / UE, e.g., relay UE, IAB, repeater etc., and assisting node / UE, e.g., relay UE, IAB, repeater etc.

[0066] The terms, polling, poll and paging, page, inventory, query, interrogate, is used to represent one or more than one signal transmitted by a network node broadcast wise or specially to a dedicated UE. The purpose of the signal is to facilitate / serve / manage / command one or more than one UE to synchronize to the network node receive DL data, response and transmit UL data correctly in intended resources. DL / UL synchronize to a reference time / frame / symbol or synchronize to one or more than one signal which the UE receives from the network node or synchronize based on apre-defined rule. The content of such signal may be a particular reference signal or a signal carrying control information and / or data. Such signal may be transmitted periodically or a periodically configured by the network node.

[0067] The terms A-IoT UE, A-IoT device, device, UE or wireless device are used interchangeably without losing the meaning.

[0068] The terms intermediate node, intermediate UE, UE and wireless device are applied interchangeably without losing the meaning.

[0069] Fig. 4 depicts a non-limiting example of a communications system 100, which may be a wireless communications system, sometimes also referred to as a wireless communications network, cellular radio system, or cellular network, in which the present disclosure may be implemented. The communications system 100 may be a 5G system, 5G network, NR-U or Next Gen system or network. The communications system 100 may alternatively be a younger system or older system than a 5G system, such as e.g. a 2G system, a 3G system, a 4G system, a 6G system a 7G system etc. The communications system 100 may support other technologies such as, for example, Long-Term Evolution (LTE), LTE-Advanced / LTE- Advanced Pro, e.g. LTE Frequency Division Duplex (FDD), LTE Time Division Duplex (TDD), LTE Half-Duplex Frequency Division Duplex (HD-FDD), LTE operating in an unlicensed band, NB-IoT. Thus, although terminology from 5G / NR and LTE may be used in this disclosure to exemplify, this should not be seen as limiting to only the aforementioned systems.

[0070] The communications system 100 comprises one or a plurality of network nodes, whereof a first network node 101a and a second network node 101b are depicted in the non-limiting example of Fig. 4. Any of the first network node 101a, and the second network node 101b may be a radio network node, such as a radio base station, or any other network node with similar features capable of serving a user equipment, such as a wireless device or a machine type communication device, in the communications system 100. The first network node 101a may be an eNB and the second network node 101b may be a gNB. The first network node 101a may be a first eNB, and the second network node 101b may be a second eNB. The first network node 101a may be a first gNB, and the second network node 101b may be a second gNB. The first network node 101a may be a MeNB and the second network node 101b may be a gNB. Any of the first network node 101a and the second network node 101b may be co-localized, or they may be part of the same network node. The first network node 101a may be referred to as a source node or source network node, whereasthe second network node 101b may be referred to as a target node or target network node. When the reference number 101 is used herein without the letters a or b, it refers to a network node in general, i.e. it refers to any of the first network node 101a or second network node 101b.

[0071] The communications system 100 covers a geographical area which may be divided into cell areas, wherein each cell area may be served by a network node, although, one network node may serve one or several cells. In Fig. 4, the communications system 100 comprises a first cell 103a and a second cell 103b. Note that two cells are exemplified in Fig. 4 only as an example, and that any n number of cells may be comprised in the communication system 100, where n is any positive integer. A cell is a geographical area where radio coverage is provided by the network node at a network node site. Each cell is identified by an identity within the local network node area, which is broadcast in the cell. In Fig. 4, first network node 101a serves the first cell 103a, and the second network node 101b serves the second cell 103b. Any of the first network node 101a and the second network node 101b may be of different classes, such as, e.g., macro base station (BS), home BS or pico BS, based on transmission power and thereby also cell size. Any of the first network node 101a and the second network node 101b may be directly connected to one or more core networks, which are not depicted in Fig. 4 for the sake of simplicity. Any of the first network node 101a and the second network node lOln may be a distributed node, such as a virtual node in the cloud, and it may perform its functions entirely on the cloud, or partially, in collaboration with another network node. The first cell 103a may be referred to as a source cell, whereas the second cell 103b may be referred to as a target cell. When the reference number 103 is used herein without the letters a or Z>, it refers to a cell in general, i.e. it refers to any of the first cell 103a or second cell 103b.

[0072] One or a plurality of UEs 105 is comprised in the communication system 100. Only one UE 105 is exemplified in Fig. 4 for the sake of simplicity. A UE 105 may also be referred to simply as a device. The UE 105, e.g. a LTE UE or a 5G / NR UE, may be a wireless communication device which may also be known as e.g., a wireless device, a mobile terminal, wireless terminal and / or mobile station, a mobile telephone, cellular telephone, or laptop with wireless capability, just to mention some examples. The UE 105 may be a device by which a subscriber may access services offered by an operator’s network and services outside operator’s network to which the operator’s radio access network and core network provide access, e.g. access to the Internet. The UE 105 may be any device, mobile or stationary, enabled to communicate over a radio channel in the communications system 100, for instance but not limited to e.g. UE, mobile phone, smart phone, sensors, meters, vehicles, household appliances, medical appliances, media players, cameras,Machine to Machine (M2M) device, Internet of Things (IOT) device, terminal device, communication device or any type of consumer electronic, for instance but not limited to television, radio, lighting arrangements, tablet computer, laptop or Personal Computer (PC). The UE 105 may be portable, pocket storable, hand held, computer comprised, or vehicle mounted devices, enabled to communicate voice and / or data, via the radio access network, with another entity, such as another UE, a server, a laptop, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), or a tablet, Machine-to-Machine (M2M) device, device equipped with a wireless interface, such as a printer or a file storage device, modem, or any other radio network unit capable of communicating over a radio link in the communications system 100.

[0073] The UE 105 is enabled to communicate wirelessly within the communications system 100. The communication may be performed e.g. between two UEs 105, between a UE 105 and a regular telephone, between the UE 105 and a network node, between network nodes, and / or between the UE 105 and a server via the radio access network and possibly one or more core networks and possibly the internet.

[0074] The first network node 101a may be configured to communicate in the communications system 100 with the UE 105 over a first communication link 108a, e.g., a radio link. The second network node 101b may be configured to communicate in the communications system 100 with the UE 105 over a second communication link 108b, e.g., a radio link. The first network node 101a may be configured to communicate in the communications system 100 with the second network node 101b over a third communication link 108c, e.g., a radio link or a wired link, although communication over more links may be possible. When the reference number 108 is used herein without the letters a, b or c, it refers to a communication link in general, i.e. it refers to any of the first communication link 108a, the second communication link 108b and the third communication link 108c.

[0075] It should be noted that the communication links 108 in the communications system 100 may be of any suitable kind comprising either a wired or wireless link. The link may use any suitable protocol depending on type and level of layer (e.g. as indicated by the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model) as understood by the person skilled in the art.

[0076] Device performs re-access in case of contention resolution failure. The device performs re-access or retransmission in case of data transmission failure. Re-access means that the device accesses and transmits in a different access occasion from the access occasion where the device has experienced failures, i.e., starting over from Msgl transmission. Retransmission means that adevice uses the same or different resources to retransmit the data on the same access occasion in time domain, i.e., Msg3 or later messages for the command use case re-transmission is scheduled by the network.

[0077] The procedure, e.g. inventory or downlink command, is initiated by a paging message to devices where all devices or a smaller subset of devices can be addressed to respond, e.g. paging trigger’ in Fig. 2. Multiple Access will likely work similar to the existing RFID C1G2 solution, where an Access Round is defined by the network to contain a certain number of N Access Occasions and devices randomly select one Access Occasion to attempt to transmit to the network. The Access Round and N and other parameters are configured in the downlink ‘Access trigger’ message in Fig.

[0078] 5. Fig. 5 is a schematic drawing illustrating an overview of the Paging Round, Access Round, and Access Occasion. If a device experiences collision and failure in its selected message slot, it will a new attempt, i.e. re-access, in the subsequent Access Round and randomly select a new Access Occasion for transmission. If, instead, the device succeeds with its transmission in the Access Occasion, i.e. delivering its full device identifier to the network for the ‘inventory’ use case it will conclude the procedure has been finalized and not make a new attempt or re-access in the subsequent Access Round. It may be still an open issue if re-access would be allowed later in the same Access Round, but then all colliding devices may accumulate in the last Access Occasions of the Access Round. Note that the number N would typically be updated by the network such that if the collision rate is low, and as more and more devices are successfully inventoried, N would decrease is later Access Rounds. If collision rate is too high, N would have to be increased to lower the collision rate in the next Access Round. Typically, the network would conclude that the procedure has been finalized after the first empty Access Round, i.e. when there are no more devices responding in an Access Round.

[0079] However, a new paging message can be transmitted by the network for any of the following reasons:

[0080] • New paging triggered by CN, new CN transaction ID for a new procedure, and the same CN transaction ID for CN repetition.

[0081] • New paging triggered by RAN, new RAN transaction ID for a new procedure, and the same RAN transaction ID for RAN repetition.

[0082] Repetition of the procedure may be required for error cases, i.e. some devices may not have been able to succeed with the previous paging / inventory procedure, and triggering a new one with the same transaction ID would catch these devices, assuming devices which has already succeeded forthis transaction ID will not respond to new paging with the same transaction ID. The are however several open issues related to the interaction of re-access, e.g. in same or next Access Round or next Paging Round, and the transaction ID, e.g. RAN or CN, relation between RAN and CN transaction ID, and device behavior for transaction ID, and these are addressed herein.

[0083] Herein, the reader can be gNB or intermediate UE based.

[0084] It is assumed that there is no explicit feedback such as ACK and / or NACK considered for CBRA or 1 / 2 / 3-step CBRA based access.

[0085] The device may get retransmission grant in retransmitedMsg2.

[0086] Embodiment 1 : In some embodiments, the reader may include an additional (RAN) ID to the indicated (CN) transact! on / service related ID in R2D / paging message initiating / associated with an inventory procedure. In essence, when the device receives the R2D / paging message, it considers the service ID composed of two IDs:

[0087] • CN / AF based service / transaction ID

[0088] o This is already agreed in SA2

[0089] • Additional ID / bits included by reader / RAN node, e.g. to above service / transaction ID, which is associated with inventory request / service / procedure triggered by this paging / R2D message. The added bits for RAN transaction ID enable RAN repetition of the procedure, e.g., to compensate for coverage issues.

[0090] Herein, if the following terms are used:

[0091] • Service / transaction related ID: It is purely based on CN / AF based service / transaction ID • Combined Service / transaction ID: The transaction ID is composed of both CN and RAN related parts.

[0092] Embodiment 2a: In some embodiments, if the combined transaction ID is the same in a new or subsequent paging / R2D message with respect to previous paging / R2D message, then the devices which has responded to previous paging / R2D message will not respond again to new / sub sequent paging request.

[0093] By response, the device had successfully accessed an occasion, e.g. Msgl or contention resolution is successful, and had at least attempted data transmission, e.g., Msg3, or Msg5, etc.Embodiment 2b: In some embodiments, if the combined transaction ID is the same in a new or subsequent paging / R2D message with respect to previous paging / R2D message, then the devices which has successfully completed the procedure triggered by the previous paging / R2D message will not respond again to new / sub sequent paging request, e.g. the transmission for the full device ID in Msg3 was received successfully for the inventory use case. The device can determine that the procedure was successful based e.g. on the following:

[0094] • No further Msg3 re-transmissions are scheduled by the network reader.

[0095] • No Msg3 re-transmission is scheduled by the network reader within a pre-defined time or number of possible occasions.

[0096] • The “QueryRep” initiating the Access Occasion after the one used be the device does not contain an indication that the procedure in the previous Access Occasion failed.

[0097] Embodiment 3: In some embodiments, if the combined transaction ID is not the same in new or subsequent paging / R2D message with respect to previous paging / R2D message, then also the devices which had responded to or been successful in the previous paging / R2D message, will respond again to new / sub sequent paging request.

[0098] Embodiment 3 a: In some embodiments, based on embodiment 3, if the CN related transaction ID part of the combined transaction ID has changed in new or subsequent paging / R2D message with respect to previous paging / R2D message, then the new paging / R2D request is associated with new service.

[0099] Embodiment 3b: In some embodiments based on embodiment 3, if the CN related part of combined transaction ID remains same, then the new paging / R2D request is associated with same service as of previous paging / R2D request and is interpreted by the device to be a RAN repetition of the procedure.

[0100] Embodiment 3b-i: In some embodiments, extending embodiment 3b, if the RAN ID part of combined transaction ID remains same in new paging message with respect to old paging message, then devices which have responded earlier to the old paging message, e.g. inventory / access round, then the devices will not respond again even if the new paging message may specify device IDs which can be CN permanent / temporary / AS based. The AS ID can be, e.g., 16-bit or X-bit contention resolution ID which device had used in previous message and the reader had promoted this 16 or X bits ID to AS ID after successful contention resolution for the device. One exampleof AS ID can be 16-bit random device ID or RN16 which device has successfully utilized in previous paging / access round.

[0101] Embodiment 3b-ii: In some embodiments, extending embodiment 3b, if the RAN ID part of combined transaction ID is different in new paging message with respect to old paging message, then the targeted devices will respond. This includes devices which have responded earlier to the old paging message, e.g. inventory / access round and the ones which failed to respond in previous paging message, e.g. contention-access failed, will respond again as long as they belong to target group. This is due to the fact that the combined transaction ID has changed and respecting the rule, the device ought to respond to paging containing modified transaction ID even though it belongs to the same service.

[0102] Embodiment 3b-iii: In some embodiments, extending embodiment 3b, if the RAN ID part of combined transaction ID is different in new paging message with respect to old paging message, and the device ID is specified in some manner, e.g. CN permanent / temporary / AS based device ID, then only these specified devices will respond. This is advantageous as the reader knows which devices have failed or succeeded given there is explicit feedback design, and then the reader can target those failed devices in paging message with modified RAN related part of combined transaction ID in order to let specified devices respond again. If the combined transaction ID remains the same, then devices will not respond again.

[0103] If it is a device which had missed previous paging message or device which had contention failure in previous paging round, then reader may not know about those devices as they never been identified. If they have never been identified, then they may be absent in specified device ID list in new paging message.

[0104] Embodiment 3b-iv: In some embodiments, the new paging message indicating modified combined service / transaction ID with same CN related part but different TAN related part may list device IDs which are barred from responding to paging message again. The barred devices are the devices which have successfully transmitted data in previous paging message as per reader understanding. The devices which are not part of barred device list will respond to a new paging message, and typically these would be the devices:

[0105] • Which are identified successfully but failed with data transmissions in previous paging / access round,• Which had missed previous paging round, e.g., due to low or zero energy and thus could decode paging message properly

[0106] • Which had contention failure, i.e., Msgl was not transmitted successfully in a previous paging round.

[0107] • Which does not fulfill any of the criteria listed in embodiment 2b.

[0108] The table below summarizes actions and device behavior depending on the combined transaction ID received in the paging message. “Same” and “Different” in the table below refers to changes in the transaction ID compared to the previous paging message.

[0109]

[0110]

[0111]

[0112] Embodiment 4: In some embodiments, if the additional bit in the message ID included in the paging / R2D message indicates that the device should respond even if it had responded to the last received paging / R2D message and the message ID in the two paging / R2D messages include the same service / transaction related ID, the device will respond again to the paging / R2D message regardless of whether the service / transaction related ID is the same or different to the last received one, otherwise the device determines whether to respond based on the service / transaction related ID as described earlier. In this option the device could determine whether to respond based on the additional bit in the current paging / R2D message without comparing it to the last received one which consumes less device energy.

[0113] Embodiment 5: In some embodiments, it may be (pre)configured whether a device should / could participate in a procedure triggered by the received paging / R2D message while it is still performing procedure triggered by the last received paging / R2D message, i.e., whether the device should / could have more than one procedure running. This may be (pre)configured differently for different device types, e.g., only device type two should / could perform multiple procedures but not device type one as having multiple procedures running may be too complicated for device type one. Besides, participating in multiple procedures may only be allowed when the procedures are associated with different service requests (i.e., the service / transaction related ID in the paging / R2D messages triggering the procedures are different) as otherwise the response may be redundant when the procedures are associated with the same service request. Such configuration may behardcoded in the spec or indicated in the paging / R2D message, e.g., use the additional bit(s) in the message ID.

[0114] In some embodiments, the device may be signalled / informed on whether one or multiple next access rounds will be identified by a CN triggered transaction ID, or a combined transaction ID. The signaling may be sent to the device via one of the below alternatives

[0115] 1. Comprised in an LI control info signaling, e.g., indicating information for subsequent R2D reception or D2R transmissions

[0116] 2. Comprised in a paging message. The paging message may be triggered by the reader when receiving a service request, e.g., inventory request, from the CN or AF, or generated by the reader itself according to previously received signaling / information from the CN / AF, e.g., the information on how the reader may generate paging for targeted devices in AS domain.

[0117] 3. Other R2D message sent by the reader during an access round

[0118] 4. MAC CE, or a MAC subheader.

[0119] Alternatively, there is no explicit signaling on whether CN transaction ID or combined ID format will be used in the next access rounds. Instead, the addition bits / RAN generated ID part will be present or coded separately from the field carrying the CN transaction ID. Thus, in the message body, there may be one field, e.g. one bit, indicating presence or absence of the RAN generated ID part. In an example, the bit with the value ‘1’ indicating presence of the RAN generated ID after this field. While, the bit with the value ‘0’ indicating absence of the RAN generated ID in the message.

[0120] In addition, the signaling may also include a field indicating the validity period / application period for which the option will apply, i.e., either the CN triggered transaction ID, or the combined transaction ID will identify an inventory request / access rounds. The validity period may be in the form of the time unit: e.g., slot / symbol / ms, or access occasion. For the latter, the validity period of the option will be represented as a number of access occasions.

[0121] Based on the received signaling, the device performs different actions.

[0122] If the device knows that an access round or multiple subsequent access rounds are solely identified by the CN triggered transaction ID, after the device has replied a paging message / inventory request message in the access rounds, the device may skip monitoring paging messages or other R2D message which may trigger subsequent access rounds or subsequent paging associated with thesame transaction ID, instead, the device may only monitor QueryRep like R2D message, indicating access occasion boundary. Thus, the device can save energy.

[0123] If the device knows that one or multiple next access rounds are identified by the combined transaction ID, the device may keep monitoring any paging, R2D message which may trigger any subsequent access round associated with the same transaction identified by the CN transaction ID.

[0124] In some embodiments, the transaction ID is not only included in the Paging Message from the network reader to the devices but also in the Access Round configuration message, e.g. Access trigger fig. 2, and potentially in the “QueryRep” initiating the Access Occasions. This would help and device with intermittent coverage to determine if the Access Rounds still belong to the same paging procedure, or if the device have missed a paging message and the initiation of a new paging round.

[0125] In some embodiments, it is not known to the device which part of the transaction ID is the CN part, and which is the RAN part. The network reader will receive the CN transaction ID in the service request from AIOTF and append the RAN bits depending on if it should be a new or repeated RAN paging. The devices will in this case only differentiate between the cases ‘Same’ and ‘Different’ transaction ID (referring to the above embodiments), and only respond to the new paging message if is not responded or been successful in the previous paging round for the case of the ‘Same’ transaction ID.

[0126] In some embodiments, there is no ‘RAN transaction ID’ and the RAN reader used the CN transaction ID received from AIOTF in the service request. In case of several paging rounds from scratch being initiated by the RAN reader for the same CN service request, RAN would in the reply to the service request, i.e. in the inventory report, to CN notify CN about the transaction ID update. For example, if a service request with CN transaction ID=15493 is received by the RAN reader from AIOTF, and RAN repeats the paging message and paging round 3 times to combat coverage issues, e.g. same transaction ID used, and then initiates the same paging procedure 2 times from scratch as a sanity-check, e.g. transaction ID updated, then in the service response back to the CN AIOTF with the full inventory report the RAN reader would also indicate that the CN transaction ID has been updated to 15495. For the independent subsequent CN service request, AIOTF would therefore start from and use transaction ID=15496.Fig. 6 is a schematic drawing illustrating a communications system 600. The communication system 600 may comprise additional entities in addition to the ones seen in Fig. 6, for example one, two or more of the entities illustrated in Fig. 4. The communication system 600 exemplified in Fig. 6 comprises a first network node 601, a second network node 602 and a wireless device 603.

[0127] Fig. 7 is a signaling diagram illustrating a method. The method comprises at least one of the following steps:

[0128] Step 701

[0129] The second network node provides a first ID to the first network node.

[0130] Step 702

[0131] The first network node determines a second ID. The second ID is different from the first ID. The determination of the second ID may be triggered by obtaining the first ID from the second network node.

[0132] Step 703

[0133] The first network node provides a current message with the first and second ID to the wireless device.

[0134] Step 704

[0135] The wireless device checks if the first and second IDs in the current message are at least substantially the same as the first and second IDs in a previously received message.

[0136] Step 705

[0137] When the IDs are at least substantially the same, the wireless device determines to take a first action.

[0138] Step 706

[0139] When the IDs are not at least substantially the same, the wireless device determines to take a second action.

[0140] The method described above will now be described seen from the perspective of the first network node. Fig. 8 is a flowchart describing the present method in the first network node for handlingIDs in a communication system. The method comprises at least one of the following steps to be performed by the first network node, which steps may be performed in any suitable order than described below:

[0141] Step 801

[0142] The first network node obtains a first ID from a second network node.

[0143] The first ID may be a second network node based service / transaction ID, e.g. CN / AF based service / transaction ID.

[0144] The first ID may be obtained in a R2D / paging message initiating / associated with an inventory procedure.

[0145] The second network node may be a core network node or an Application Function, AF.

[0146] Step 802

[0147] The first network node determines a second ID.

[0148] The second ID may be a RAN transaction ID.

[0149] The second ID may be associated with an inventory request / service / procedure triggered by a paging / R2D message.

[0150] The second ID may enable RAN repetition of the procedure.

[0151] Step 803

[0152] The first network node provides a current message comprising the first ID and the second ID to the wireless device.

[0153] The first ID and the second ID may be provided together in a current message, e.g. a current paging / R2D message.

[0154] The first ID and the second ID may together form a combined service / transaction ID composed of both CN and RAN related parts.The current message may comprise information indicating wireless device ID of wireless devices that are barred from responding to the message again, the barred wireless devices have successfully responded earlier to the previous message.

[0155] Step 804

[0156] The first network node may obtain user data.

[0157] Step 805

[0158] The first network node may forward the user data to a host or a user equipment.

[0159] Fig. 9 is a schematic drawing illustrating the first network node 601 for handling IDs in a communication system 100, 600.

[0160] The first network node 601 may comprise processing circuitry 901 e.g. one or more processors, configured to perform the methods herein.

[0161] The first network node 601 and / or the processing circuitry 901 is configured to perform the methods herein.

[0162] The first network node 601 further comprises a memory 905. The memory 905 comprises one or more units to be used to store data on, such as indications, current message, previous message, first ID, second ID, action information, measurements, thresholds, data related to nodes, and applications to perform the methods disclosed herein when being executed, and similar. Furthermore, the first network node 601 may comprise a communication interface 906 such as comprising a transmitter, a receiver, a transceiver and / or one or more antennas.

[0163] The methods described herein for the first network node 601 are respectively implemented using e.g., a computer program product 907 or a computer program, comprising instructions, i.e., software code portions, which, when executed on at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to carry out the actions described herein, as performed by the first network node 601.The computer program product 907 may be stored on a computer-readable storage medium 908 e.g. a disc, a universal serial bus (USB) stick or similar. The computer-readable storage medium 908 having stored thereon the computer program product, may comprise the instructions which, when executed on at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to carry out the actions described herein, as performed by the first network node 601. The computer-readable storagemedium may be a transitory or a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. Thus, embodiments herein may disclose a first network node 601 for handling IDs in a wireless communication network, wherein the first network node 601 comprises processing circuitry and a memory, the memory comprising instructions executable by the processing circuitry whereby the first network node 601 is operative to perform any of the methods herein.

[0164] The method described above will now be described seen from the perspective of the wireless device 603. Fig. 10 is a flowchart describing the present method in the wireless device 603for handling IDs in a communication system. The method comprises at least one of the following steps to be performed by the wireless device 603, which steps may be performed in any suitable order than described below:

[0165] Step 1001

[0166] The wireless device 601 obtains a current message comprising a first ID and a second ID from the first network node.

[0167] The current message may comprise information indicating wireless device ID of wireless devices that are barred from responding to the message again, the barred wireless devices have successfully responded earlier to the previous message.

[0168] The first ID and the second ID may be obtained together in a current message, e.g. a current paging / R2D message.

[0169] The first ID may be a second network node based service / transaction ID, e.g. CN / AF based service / transaction ID.

[0170] The second ID may be a RAN transaction ID.

[0171] The first ID and the second ID may together form a combined service / transaction ID composed of both CN and RAN related parts.

[0172] The second ID may be associated with an inventory request / service / procedure triggered by a paging / R2D message.

[0173] The second ID may enable RAN repetition of the procedure.Step 1002

[0174] The wireless device 601 checks if the currently obtained first ID and second ID are at least substantially the same as with respect to IDs previously obtained in a previous message.

[0175] Step 1003

[0176] The wireless device 601 determines which action to take based on a result of the check.

[0177] A first action may be determined to be taken when a result of the check indicates that the currently obtained IDs are at least substantially the same as the previously obtained IDs.

[0178] A second action may be determined to be taken when a result of the check indicates that the currently obtained IDs are not at least substantially the same as the previously obtained IDs.

[0179] The first action may comprise at least one of:

[0180] • determining to not respond to the current message;

[0181] • determining that the wireless device has already responded to the previous message; and • determining that the wireless device has successfully completed a procedure triggered by the previous message.

[0182] The second action may comprise at least one of:

[0183] • determining to respond to the current message;

[0184] • when the first ID in the current message is not at least substantially the same as in the previous message, determining that the current message is associated with a new service;

[0185] • when the first ID in the current message is at least substantially the same as in the previous message, determining that the current message is associated with the same service as of the previous message and interpreting the current message as a repetition of the previous message.

[0186] • when the second ID in the current message is at least substantially the same as in the previous message, determining to not respond to the current message when the wireless device has responded earlier to the previous message;

[0187] • when the second ID in the current message is not at least substantially the same as in the previous message, determining to respond to the current message;• when the second ID in the current message is not at least substantially the same as in the previous message, determining to respond to the current message if the current message comprises a wireless device ID or an indication of a wireless device ID.

[0188] Step 1004

[0189] The wireless device may provide user data.

[0190] Step 1005

[0191] The wireless device may forward the user data to a host via the transmission to the network node.

[0192] Fig. 11 is a schematic drawing illustrating the wireless device 603 for handling IDs in a communication system 100, 600.

[0193] The wireless device 603 may comprise processing circuitry 1101 e.g. one or more processors, configured to perform the methods herein.

[0194] The wireless device 603 and / or the processing circuitry 1101 is configured to perform the methods herein.

[0195] The wireless device 603 further comprises a memory 1105. The memory 1105 comprises one or more units to be used to store data on, such as indications, current message, previous message, first ID, second ID, action information, measurements, thresholds, data related to nodes, and applications to perform the methods disclosed herein when being executed, and similar.

[0196] Furthermore, the wireless device 603 may comprise a communication interface 1106 such as comprising a transmitter, a receiver, a transceiver and / or one or more antennas.

[0197] The methods according to the embodiments described herein for the wireless device 603 are respectively implemented using e.g., a computer program product 1107 or a computer program, comprising instructions, i.e., software code portions, which, when executed on at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to carry out the actions described herein, as performed by the wireless device 603. The computer program product 1107 may be stored on a computer-readable storage medium 1108 e.g. a disc, a universal serial bus (USB) stick or similar. The computer-readable storage medium 1108 having stored thereon the computer program product, may comprise the instructions which, when executed on at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to carry out the actions described herein, as performed by the wireless device 603.

[0198] In some embodiments, the computer-readable storage medium may be a transitory or a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. Thus, embodiments herein may disclose a wireless device 603 for handling IDs in a wireless communication network, wherein the wireless device 603 comprises processing circuitry and a memory, the memory comprising instructions executable by the processing circuitry whereby the wireless device 603 is operative to perform any of the methods herein.

[0199] Fig. 12 shows an example of a communication system 1200 in accordance with some embodiments.

[0200] In the example, the communication system 1200 includes a telecommunications network 1202 that includes an access network 1204, such as a radio access network (RAN), and a core network 1206, which includes one or more core network nodes 1208. The access network 1204 includes one or more access network nodes or base stations of various types, access network nodes 1210A and 1210B are depicted (which may be collectively referred to as network nodes 1210), or any other similar 3rdGeneration Partnership Project (3GPP) access nodes or non-3GPP access points (APs). Some embodiments of the access network 1204 may include more than one access network technology. The network nodes 1210 of access network 1204 facilitate direct or indirect connection of wireless devices, also referred to as user equipments (UEs), such as by connecting UEs 1212A, 1212B, 1212C, and 1212D (one or more of which may be generally referred to as UEs 1212) to the core network 1206 over one or more wireless connections.

[0201] Moreover, 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 telecommunications network 1202 includes one or more Open-RAN (ORAN) network nodes. An ORAN network node is a network node in the telecommunications network 1202 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 network nodes to implement one or more functionalities of any network node in the telecommunications network 1202, including one or more access network nodes 1210 and / or core network nodes 1208.

[0202] Examples of an ORAN network node include an open radio unit (O-RU), an open distributed unit (O-DU), an open central unit (O-CU), including an O-CU control plane (O-CU-CP) or an O-CU user plane (O-CU-UP), a RAN intelligent controller (near-real time or non-real time) hosting software or software plug-ins, such as a near-real time control application (e.g., xApp) or a non-real time control application (e.g., rApp), or any combination thereof (the adjective “open”designating support of an ORAN specification). An ORAN network node may support a specification by, for example, supporting an interface defined by the ORAN specification, such as an Al, Fl, Wl, El, E2, X2, Xn interface, an open fronthaul user plane interface, or an open fronthaul management plane interface. Moreover, an ORAN network 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 0-RAN Alliance or comparable technologies.

[0203] The network nodes 1210 facilitate direct or indirect connection of one or more UEs 1212 to the core network 1206 over one or more wireless connections. Example wireless communications over a wireless connection include transmitting and / or receiving wireless signals using electromagnetic waves, radio waves, infrared waves, and / or other types of signals suitable for conveying information without the use of wires, cables, or other material conductors. Moreover, in different embodiments, the communication system 1200 may include any number of wired or wireless networks, network nodes, UEs, and / or any other components or systems that may facilitate or participate in the communication of data and / or signals whether via wired or wireless connections. The communication system 1200 may include and / or interface with any type of communication, telecommunication, data, cellular, radio network, and / or other similar type of system.

[0204] The UEs 1212 may be any of a wide variety of communication devices, including wireless devices arranged, configured, and / or operable to communicate wirelessly with the network nodes 1210 and other communication devices. Similarly, the network nodes 1208, 1210 are arranged, capable, configured, and / or operable to communicate directly or indirectly (e.g., via other devices of telecommunications network 1202) with the UEs 1212 and / or with other network nodes or equipment in the telecommunications network 1202 to enable and / or provide network access, such as wireless network access, and / or to perform other functions, such as administration in the telecommunications network 1202. More specifically, UEs 1212 may send messages, data, and / or other signals to network nodes 1208, 1210 or other elements of the telecommunications network 1202 by transmitting such signals to the relevant device directly without the signals passing through any intervening devices or by transmitting such signals to the relevant device indirectly through an intervening device (or multiple intervening devices) that then transmit the signal to the relevant device. Similarly, network nodes 1208, 1210 may send messages, data, and other signals to UEs 12122, other network nodes 1208, 1210, and other devices in telecommunications network1202 directly or indirectly. As one specific example, a core network node 108 may transmit a particular message to a UE 1212 by transmitting the message to an access network node 1210 that will then transmit the message to the intended UE 1212. Similarly, a core network node 108 may receive a particular message from a UE 1212 by receiving the message from an access network node 1210 that itself received the message from the UE 1212.

[0205] In the depicted example, the core network 1206 connects elements of the access network 1204 (e.g., one or more of the network nodes 1210) to one or more host computing systems, such as host 1216. 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 1206 includes one or more core network nodes (e.g., core network node 1208) of various types, one or more of which may be generally referred to as network nodes 1208. Network nodes 1208 are structured with hardware and software components. Features of these components may be substantially similar to those described with respect to the UEs, access network nodes, and / or hosts, such that the descriptions thereof are generally applicable to the corresponding components of the core network node 1208. Example core network nodes provide 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 / or a User Plane Function (UPF).

[0206] The host 1216 may be under the ownership or control of a service provider other than an operator or provider of the access network 1204 and / or the telecommunications network 1202. The host 1216 may be operated by the service provider or on behalf of the service provider. The host 1216 may host a variety of applications to provide one or more service. Examples of such applications include live and pre-recorded audio / video content, data collection services such as retrieving and compiling data on various ambient conditions detected by a plurality of UEs, analytics functionality, social media, functions for controlling or otherwise interacting with remote devices, functions for an alarm and surveillance center, or any other such function performed by a server.

[0207] As a whole, the communication system 1200 of Fig. 12 enables connectivity between the UEs, network nodes, and hosts. In that sense, the communication system 1200 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 MobileTelecommunications System (UMTS); Long Term Evolution (LTE), 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 (Wi-Fi); and / or any other appropriate wireless communication standard, such as the Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (Wi-Max), Bluetooth, Z-Wave, Near Field Communication (NFC) ZigBee, Li-Fi, and / or any low-power wide-area network (LPWAN) standards such as LoRa and Sigfox. Moreover, the communication system 1200 may be configured to support multiple different standards, protocols, or other rule sets, with individual components supporting all of the relevant rule sets or with different components or sub-systems within the communication system 1200 supporting different standards, protocols, or rule sets.

[0208] As one example, in certain embodiments, access network 1204 may contain some access network nodes 1210 that support 3 GPP radio access technologies (RAT), such as LTE or NR, while other access network nodes 1210 support (or the same access network nodes 1210 additionally support) non-3GPP RATs, such as Wi-Fi or a proprietary RAT. As another example, telecommunications network 1202 may support multiple generations of related communication standards (e.g., 4G and 5G 3GPP communication standards) and, as a result, may include an access network 104 and / or a core network 106 that supports multiple different standard generations or may include multiple access networks 104 and / or multiple core networks 106 with individual networks 104, 106 supporting different standard generations.

[0209] Telecommunications network 1202 may support network slicing to provide different logical networks to different devices that are connected to the telecommunications network 1202. For example, the telecommunications network 1202 may provide Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communication (URLLC) services to some UEs, while providing Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) services to other UEs, and / or Massive Machine Type Communication (mMTC) / Massive loT services to yet further UEs.

[0210] In some examples, one or more of the UEs 1212 are configured to transmit and / or receive information without direct human interaction. For instance, a UE may be designed to transmit information to the access network 1204 on a predetermined schedule, when triggered by an internal or external event, or in response to requests from the access network 1204. 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. beingconfigured for multi-radio dual connectivity (MR-DC), such as E-UTRAN (Evolved-UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network) New Radio - Dual Connectivity (EN-DC).

[0211] In the example, the hub 1214 communicates with the access network 1204 to facilitate indirect communication between one or moreUEs (e.g., UE 1212C and / or 1212D) and network nodes (e.g., network node 1210B). In some examples, the hub 1214 may be a controller, router, content source and analytics, or any of the other communication devices described herein regarding UEs. For example, the hub 1214 may be a broadband router enabling access to the core network 1206 for the UEs. As another example, the hub 1214 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 1210, or by executable code, script, process, or other instructions in the hub 1214.

[0212] As another example, the hub 1214 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 1214 may be a content source. For example, for a UE that is a VR headset, display, loudspeaker or other media delivery device, the hub 1214 may retrieve VR assets, video, audio, or other media or data related to sensory information via a network node, which the hub 1214 then provides to the UE either directly, after performing local processing, and / or after adding additional local content. In still another example, the hub 1214 acts as a proxy server or orchestrator for the UEs, in particular if one or more of the UEs are low energy loT devices.

[0213] The hub 1214 may have a constant / persistent or intermittent connection to the network node 1210B. The hub 1214 may also allow for a different communication scheme and / or schedule between the hub 1214 and UEs (e.g., UE 1212C and / or 1212D), and between the hub 1214 and the core network 1206. In other examples, the hub 1214 is connected to the core network 1206 and / or one or more UEs via a wired connection. Moreover, the hub 1214 may be configured to connect to an M2M service provider over the access network 1204 and / or to another UE over a direct connection. In some scenarios, UEs may establish a wireless connection with the network nodes 1210 while still connected via the hub 1214 via a wired or wireless connection. In some embodiments, the hub 1214 may be a dedicated hub - that is, a hub whose primary function is to route communications to / from the UEs from / to the network node 1210B. In other embodiments, the hub 1214 may be a non-dedicated hub - that is, a device which is capable of operating to route communications between the UEs and network node 1210B, but which is additionally capable of operating as a communication start and / or end point for certain data channels.Fig. 13 is another example of a communication system 1300 according to some embodiments. As used herein, the communication system 1300 includes multiple access points (APs) 1310 (with four exemplary APs 1310A, 1310B, 1310C, and 1310D being depicted) and multiple wireless devices, referred to in the context of communication system 1300 as stations (STAs) 1312 (referred to individually as STA 1312A, ST A 1312B, ST A 1312C, STA 1312D, and ST A 1312E). STA 1312A is served by AP 1310A in a first basic service set (BSS) 1320A. STA 1310B and STA 1310C are served by AP 1310B in a second BSS, BSS 1320B. STA 1312D is served by AP 1310C in a third BSS, BSS 1320C. STA 1312E is served by AP 1310D in a fourth BSS, BSS 1320D. Stations 1312 may be non-AP STAs and correspond to various kinds of wireless devices, for example, user terminals, such as mobile or stationary computing devices like smartphones, laptop computers, desktop computers, tablet computers, gaming devices, head-mounted displays (HMDs) for Augmented Reality (AR) or Virtual Reality (VR), or the like. Further, stations 1312 could, for example, correspond to other kinds of equipment like smart home devices, printers, multimedia devices, data storage devices, or the like.

[0214] Each of STAs 1312 may connect through a radio link to one of APs 1310. For example, depending on location or channel conditions experienced by a given STA 1312, the STA may select an appropriate AP and BSS for establishing the radio link. The radio link may be based on one or more orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) carriers from a frequency spectrum that is shared on the basis of a contention-based mechanism, e.g., an unlicensed or license exempt band like 2.4 GHz Industrial, Scientific, and Medical (ISM) band, the 5 GHz band, the 6 GHz band, or the 60 GHz band.

[0215] Each AP 1310 may provide data connectivity to STAs 1312 connected to a particular AP 1310. As illustrated, APs 1310 may be connected to a data network 1330. In this way, APs 1310 may also provide data connectivity between STAs 1312 and other entities, e.g., to one or more servers, service providers, data sources, data sinks, user terminals, or the like. Accordingly, the radio link established between a given STA 1312 and its serving AP 1310 may be used for providing various kinds of services to STA 1312, e.g., a voice service, a multimedia service, or other data service. Such services may be based on applications that are executed on STA 1312 and / or on a device linked to STA 1312. By way of example, Fig. 13 illustrates an application service platform 1332 provided in data network 1330. The application(s) executed on STA 1312 and / or on one or more other devices linked to STA 1312 may use the radio link for data communication with one or moreother STA 1312 and / or the application service platform 1332, thereby enabling utilization of the corresponding service(s) at STA 1312.

[0216] Fig. 14 shows a wireless device 1400, which may be configured to operate in communication system 1200 of Figure 12 or in communication system 1300 of Figure 130. The wireless device 1400 may be alternatively referred to as a UE 1400, like a UE 1212 within the context of communication system 1200, or as a station (STA) 1400 or as a non-access-point station (non-AP STA) 1400, like a STA 1312 within the context of the communication system 1300, in accordance with respective embodiments. As used herein, a wireless device refers to a device capable, configured, arranged and / or operable to communicate wirelessly with network nodes and / or other wireless devices. Examples of a wireless device 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 device, playback appliance, wearable terminal device, wireless endpoint, mobile station, tablet, laptop, laptop-embedded equipment (LEE), laptop-mounted equipment (LME), smart device, wireless customer-premise equipment (CPE), vehicle, vehicle-mounted or vehicle embedded / integrated wireless device, and wireless terminal. Other examples include any type of UE identified by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), including a narrow band internet of things (NB-IoT) UE, a machine type communication (MTC) UE, and / or an enhanced MTC (eMTC) UE.

[0217] A wireless device 1400 may support device-to-device (D2D) communication, for example by implementing a 3 GPP 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, wireless device 1400 may not necessarily have a user in the sense of a human user who owns and / or operates the relevant device. Instead, wireless device 1400 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, wireless device 1400 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] In particular embodiments, wireless device 1400 includes processing circuitry 1402 that is operatively coupled via a bus 1404 to an input / output interface 1406, a power source 1408, a memory 1410, a communication interface 1412, and / or any other component, or any combinationthereof. Certain embodiments of wireless device 1400 may include all or a subset of the components shown in Fig. 14. The level of integration between the components may vary from one embodiment of wireless device 1400 to another. In general, in a particular embodiment of wireless device 1400, processing circuitry 1402, input / output interface 1406, power source 1408, memory 1410, and communication interface 1412 may, in whole or in part, represent or include physical components common to or shared by one or more of the other elements of wireless device 1400. Further, certain embodiments of wireless devices 1400 may contain multiple instances of a component, such as multiple processors, memories, transceivers, transmitters, receivers, etc.

[0219] The processing circuitry 1402 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 1410. The processing circuitry 1402 may be implemented as one or more hardware-implemented state machines (e.g., in discrete logic, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), etc.); programmable logic together with appropriate firmware; one or more stored computer programs, general-purpose processors, such as a microprocessor or digital signal processor (DSP), together with appropriate software; or any combination of the above. For example, the processing circuitry 1402 may include multiple central processing units (CPUs).

[0220] In the example, the input / output interface 1406 may be configured to provide an interface or interfaces to an input device, output device, or one or more input and / or output devices. Examples of an output device include a speaker, a sound card, a video card, a display, a monitor, a printer, an actuator, an emitter, a smartcard, another output device, or any combination thereof. An input device may allow a user to capture information into wireless device 1400. 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 1408 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 to supply power to circuitry or to charge an associated battery. The power source 1408 may further include power circuitry for delivering power from the power source 1408 itself, and / or an external power source, to the various parts of wireless device 1400 via input circuitry or an interface such as an electrical power cable. Power source 1408 may perform any formatting, converting, or other modification to make accessible power suitable for the respective components of the wireless device 1400 to which power is supplied.

[0222] The memory 1410 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 1410 includes one or more programs 1414, such as an operating system, web browser application, a widget, gadget engine, or other application, and corresponding data 1416. The memory 1410 may store, for use by wireless device 1400, any of a variety of various operating systems or combinations of operating systems.

[0223] The memory 1410 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 / or ISIM, other memory, or any combination thereof. The UICC may for example be an embedded UICC (eUICC), integrated UICC (iUICC) or a removable UICC commonly known as ‘SIM card.’ The memory 1410 may allow wireless device 1400 to access instructions, 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 1410, which may be or comprise a device-readable storage medium.

[0224] The processing circuitry 1402 may be configured to communicate with an access network or other network via or using the communication interface 1412. The communication interface 1412 may comprise one or more communication subsystems and may include or be communicatively coupled to an antenna 1422. The communication interface 1412 may include one or moretransceivers used to communicate, such as by communicating with one or more remote transceivers of another device capable of wireless communication (e.g., another wireless device or a network node in an access network). Each transceiver may include a transmitter 1418 and / or a receiver 1420 appropriate to provide network communications (e.g., optical, electrical, frequency allocations, and so forth). Moreover, the transmitter 1418 and receiver 1420 may be coupled to one or more antennas (e.g., antenna 1422) and may share circuit components, software or firmware, or alternatively be implemented separately.

[0225] In the illustrated embodiment, communication functions of the communication interface 1412 may include cellular communication, Wi-Fi communication (e.g., according to an IEEE 802.11 family standard), 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 according to one or more communication protocols 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 / internet protocol (TCP / IP), synchronous optical networking (SONET), Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), QUIC, Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), and so forth.

[0226] In particular embodiments, wireless device 1400 may provide an output of data captured via a sensor, through its communication interface 1412, via a wireless connection to a network node, and / or in any appropriate manner. Data captured by sensors of a wireless device 1400 can be communicated through a wireless connection to a network node via another wireless device 1400. In particular embodiments, such 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, wireless device 1400 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, wireless device 1400 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.Wireless device 1400, 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, wearable technology, extended industrial application and healthcare. Non-limiting examples of such an loT device are a device which is or which is embedded in: a connected refrigerator or freezer, a 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 / window sensor, a flood / moisture sensor, an electrical door lock, a connected doorbell, an air conditioning system like a heat pump, an autonomous vehicle, a surveillance system, a weather monitoring device, a vehicle parking monitoring device, an electric vehicle charging station, a smart watch, a fitness tracker, a wearable for tactile augmentation or sensory enhancement, a water sprinkler, an animal- or item-tracking device, a sensor for monitoring a plant or animal, an industrial robot, an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), and any kind of medical device, like a heart rate monitor or a remote controlled surgical robot. In particular embodiments, wireless device 1400 represents an loT device that comprises circuitry and / or software in dependence of the intended application of the loT device in addition to other components as described in relation to the example embodiment of wireless device 1400 shown in Fig. 14.

[0228] As yet another specific example, in an loT scenario, wireless device 1400 may represent a machine or other device that performs monitoring and / or measurements, and transmits the results of such monitoring and / or measurements to another wireless device and / or a network node. Wireless device 1400 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, wireless device 1400 may implement the 3 GPP NB-loT standard. In other scenarios, wireless device 1400 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 / or reporting on its operational status or other functions associated with its operation.

[0229] In practice, any number of wireless devices 1400 may be used together with respect to a single use case. For example, a first wireless device 1400 might be or be integrated in a drone and provide the drone’s speed information (obtained through a speed sensor) to a second wireless device 1400 that is a remote controller operating the drone. When a user makes changes from the remote controller, the first wireless device 1400 may adjust the throttle on the drone (e.g. by controlling an actuator) to increase or decrease the drone’s speed. The first and / or the second wireless device 1400 can also include more than one of the functionalities described above. For example, wirelessdevice 1400 might comprise the sensor and the actuator, and handle communication of data for both the speed sensor and the actuators.

[0230] Fig. 15 shows a network node 1500 in accordance with some embodiments. As used herein, network node refers to equipment capable, configured, arranged and / or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with a UE and / or with other network nodes or equipment, in a telecommunications network. In accordance with respective embodiments, network node 1500 may be configured to operate in communication system 1200 of Fig. 12, like network nodes 1208 or 1210, or in communication system 1300 of Figure 13, like an AP 1310 or a station 1312. 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., O-RU, O-DU, O-CU).

[0231] Network nodes 1500 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. Network node 1500 may be a relay node or a relay donor node controlling a relay. Network nodes 1500 may also include one or more (or all) parts of a distributed radio base station such as centralized digital units, distributed units (e.g., in an O-RAN access node) and / or remote radio units (RRUs), sometimes referred to as Remote Radio Heads (RRHs). Such 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).

[0232] Other examples of network nodes 1500 include multiple transmission point (multi-TRP) 5G access nodes, multi -standard radio (MSR) equipment such as MSRBSs, network controllers such as radio network controllers (RNCs) or base station controllers (BSCs), base transceiver stations (BTSs), transmission points, transmission nodes, multi-cell / multicast coordination entities (MCEs), Operation and Maintenance (O&M) nodes, Operations Support System (OSS) nodes, SelfOrganizing Network (SON) nodes, positioning nodes (e.g., Evolved Serving Mobile Location Centers (E-SMLCs)), and / or Minimization of Drive Tests (MDTs).

[0233] In particular embodiments, network node 1500 includes a processing circuitry 1502, a memory 1504, a communication interface 1506, and a power source 1508. In general, in a particular embodiment of network node 1500, processing circuitry 1502, memory 1504, communicationinterface 1506, and power source 1508 may, in whole or in part, represent or include physical components common to or shared by one or more of the other elements of network node 1500.

[0234] The network node 1500 may be composed of multiple distinct network entities (e.g., a NodeB entity and a RNC entity, or a BTS entity and a BSC entity, etc.), which may each have or utilize their own respective physical components. In certain scenarios in which the network node 1500 comprises multiple such entities (e.g., BTS and BSC), one or more of the separate entities 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 1500 may be configured to support multiple radio access technologies (RATs). In such embodiments, some components may be duplicated (e.g., separate memories 1504 or portions of memory 1504 for different RATs) and some components may be reused (e.g., a same antenna 1510 may be shared by different RATs). The network node 1500 may also include multiple sets of the various illustrated components for different wireless technologies integrated into network node 1500, for example GSM, WCDMA, LTE, NR, Wi-Fi (e.g., according to an IEEE 802.11 family standard), 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 1500.

[0235] The processing circuitry 1502 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 / or encoded logic operable to provide, either alone or in conjunction with other components, such as the memory 1504, to provide network node 1500 functionality.

[0236] In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 1502 includes a system on a chip (SOC). In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 1502 includes one or more of radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry 1512 and baseband processing circuitry 1514. In some embodiments, the RF transceiver circuitry 1512 and the baseband processing circuitry 1514 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 1512 and baseband processing circuitry 1514 may be on the same chip or set of chips, boards, or units.The memory 1504 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 / or any other volatile or non-volatile, non-transitory device-readable and / or computer-executable memory devices that store information, data, and / or instructions that may be used by the processing circuitry 1502. The memory 1504 may store any suitable instructions, data, or information, including a computer program, software, an application including one or more of logic, rules, code, tables, and / or other instructions capable of being executed by the processing circuitry 1502 and utilized by the network node 1500. The memory 1504 may be used to store any calculations made by the processing circuitry 1502 and / or any data received via the communication interface 1506. In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 1502 and memory 1504 is integrated.

[0237] The communication interface 1506 is used in wired or wireless communication of signaling and / or data with UEs, other network nodes, and / or any other network equipment. In the illustrated embodiment, communication interface 1506 comprises port(s) / terminal(s) 1516 to send and receive data, for example to and from a network over a wired connection. In particular embodiments, network node 1400 may be capable of wireless communication and communication interface 1506 may also include radio front-end circuitry 1518 that may be coupled to, or in certain embodiments a part of, an antenna 1510. Particular embodiments of radio front-end circuitry 1518 include filter(s) 1520 and amplifier(s) 1522. The radio front-end circuitry 1518 may be connected to an antenna 1510 and processing circuitry 1502. The radio front-end circuitry may be configured to condition signals communicated between antenna 1510 and processing circuitry 1502. The radio front-end circuitry 1518 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 1518 may convert the digital data into a radio signal(s) having the appropriate channel and bandwidth parameters using a combination of filters 1520 and / or amplifiers 1522. The radio signal(s) may then be transmitted via the antenna 1510. Similarly, when receiving data, the antenna 1510 may collect radio signals which are then converted into digital data by the radio front-end circuitry 1518. The digital data may be passed to the processing circuitry 1502. In other embodiments, the communication interface may comprise different components and / or different combinations of components.

[0238] In certain alternative embodiments, network node 1500 may be capable of wireless communication but does not include separate radio front-end circuitry 1518, instead, the processing circuitry 1502includes radio front-end circuitry and is connected to the antenna 1510. Similarly, in some embodiments, all or some of the RF transceiver circuitry 1512 is part of the communication interface 1506. In still other embodiments, the communication interface 1506 includes one or more ports or terminals 1516, the radio front-end circuitry 1518, and the RF transceiver circuitry 1512, as part of a radio unit (not shown), and the communication interface 1506 communicates with the baseband processing circuitry 1514, which is part of a digital unit (not shown).

[0239] The antenna 1510 may include one or more antennas, or antenna arrays, configured to send and / or receive wireless signals. The antenna 1510 may be coupled to the radio front-end circuitry 1518 and may be any type of antenna capable of transmitting and receiving data and / or signals wirelessly. In certain embodiments, the antenna 1510 is separate from the network node 1500 and connectable to the network node 1500 through one or more interfaces or ports.

[0240] The antenna 1510, communication interface 1506, and / or the processing circuitry 1502 may be configured to perform some or all of the receiving operations and / or obtaining operations described herein as being performed by the network node 1500. Any information, data and / or signals may be received from a UE, another network node and / or any other network equipment. Similarly, the antenna 1510, the communication interface 1506, and / or the processing circuitry 1502 may be configured to perform some or all of the transmitting or sending operations described herein as being performed by the network node 1500. Any information, data and / or signals may be transmitted to a UE, another network node and / or any other network equipment.

[0241] The power source 1508 provides power to the various components of network node 1500 in a form suitable for the respective components (e.g., at a voltage and current level needed for each respective component). The power source 1508 may further comprise, or be coupled to, power management circuitry to supply the components of the network node 1500 with power for performing the functionality described herein. For example, the network node 1500 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 1508. As a further example, the power source 1508 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.Embodiments of the network node 1500 may include additional components beyond those shown in Figure 15 for providing certain aspects of the network node’s functionality, including any of the functionality described herein and / or any functionality necessary to support the subject matter described herein. For example, the network node 1500 may include user interface equipment to allow input of information into the network node 1500 and to allow output of information from the network node 1500. This may allow a user to perform diagnostic, maintenance, repair, and other administrative functions for the network node 1500.

[0242] Fig. 16 is a block diagram illustrating a virtualization environment 1600 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 1600 hosted by one or more of hardware nodes, such as a hardware computing device that operates as an access network node, UE, core network node, or host. Further, in embodiments in which a 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 1600 includes components defined by the O-RAN Alliance, such as an O-Cloud environment orchestrated by a Service Management and Orchestration Framework via an O-2 interface.

[0243] Applications 1602 (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 / or benefits of some of the embodiments disclosed herein.

[0244] Hardware 1604 includes processing circuitry, memory that stores software and / or instructions executable by hardware processing circuitry, and / or other hardware devices as described herein, such as a network interface, input / output interface, and so forth. Software may be executed by the processing circuitry to instantiate one or more virtualization layers 1606 (also referred to as hypervisors or virtual machine monitors (VMMs)), provide VM 1608 A and VM 1608B (which may be collectively referred to as VMs 1608), and / or perform any of the functions, features and / or benefits described in relation with some embodiments described herein. The virtualization layer1606 may present a virtual operating platform that appears like networking hardware to one or more of the VMs 1608.

[0245] The VMs 1608 comprise virtual processing, virtual memory, virtual networking or interface and virtual storage, and may be run by virtualization layer 1606. Different embodiments of the instance of a virtual appliance 1602 may be implemented on one or more of VMs 1608, 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, each of the VMs 1608 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 1608, and that part of hardware 1604 that executes that VM, be it hardware dedicated to that VM 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 of the VMs 1608 on top of the hardware 1604 and corresponds to an application 1602.

[0247] Hardware 1604 may be implemented in a standalone network node with generic or specific components. Hardware 1604 may implement some functions via virtualization. Alternatively, hardware 1604 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 1610, which, among others, oversees lifecycle management of applications 1602. In some embodiments, hardware 1604 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 1612 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, hosts) 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 computingdevices may comprise any suitable combination of hardware and / or software needed to perform the tasks, features, functions and methods disclosed herein. Determining, calculating, obtaining or similar operations described herein may be performed by processing circuitry, which may process information by, for example, converting the obtained information into other information, comparing the obtained information or converted information to information stored in the network node, and / or performing one or more operations based on the obtained information or converted information, and as a result of said processing making a determination. Moreover, while components are depicted as single boxes located within a larger box, or nested within multiple boxes, in practice, computing devices may comprise multiple different physical components that make up a single illustrated component, and functionality may be partitioned between separate components. For example, a communication interface may be configured to include any of the components described herein, and / or the functionality of the components may be partitioned between the processing circuitry and the communication interface. In another example, non-computationally intensive functions of any of 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 / or by end users and a wireless network generally.

[0250] Generally, all terms used herein are to be interpreted according to their ordinary meaning in the relevant technical field, unless a different meaning is clearly given and / or is implied from the context in which it is used. All references to a / an / the element, apparatus, component, means, step, etc. are to be interpreted openly as referring to at least one instance of the element, apparatus, component, means, step, etc., unless explicitly stated otherwise. The steps of any methods disclosed herein do not have to be performed in the exact order disclosed, unless a step is explicitlydescribed as following or preceding another step and / or where it is implicit that a step must follow or precede another step.

[0251] In general, the usage of “first”, “second”, “third”, “fourth”, and / or “fifth” herein may be understood to be an arbitrary way to denote different elements or entities, and may be understood to not confer a cumulative or chronological character to the nouns they modify, unless otherwise noted, based on context.

[0252] The present disclosure is not limited to the above. Various alternatives, modifications and equivalents may be used. Therefore, disclosure herein should not be taken as limiting the scope. A feature may be combined with one or more other features.

[0253] The term “at least one of A and B” should be understood to mean “only A, only B, or both A and B ”, where A and B are any parameter, number, indication used herein etc.

[0254] It should be emphasized that the term “comprises / comprising” when used in this specification is taken to specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps or components, but does not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, components or groups thereof. It should also be noted that the words “a” or “an” preceding an element do not exclude the presence of a plurality of such elements.

[0255] The term “configured to” used herein may also be referred to as “arranged to”, “adapted to”, “capable of’ or “operative to”.

[0256] The steps of the methods may be performed in another order than the order in which they appear herein.

Claims

CLAIMS1. A method performed by a first network node for handling identities, ID, in a communication system (100), the method comprising:obtaining (701) a first ID from a second network node;determining (702) a second ID;providing (703) a current message comprising the first ID and the second ID to the wireless device.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the first ID and the second ID are provided together in a current message.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the current message is a current paging / Reader to Device (R2D) message.

4. The method of any one of claims 1 to 3 wherein the first ID is a second network node based service / transaction ID.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the first ID is a Core Network (CN) / Application Function (AF) based service / transaction ID.

6. The method of any one of claims 1 to 5 wherein the second ID is a Radio Access Node (RAN) transaction ID.

7. The method of any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the first ID and the second ID together form a combined service / transaction ID composed of both CN and RAN related parts.

8. The method of any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the second ID is associated with an inventory request / service / procedure triggered by a paging / R2D message.

9. The method of any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the second network node is a core network node or an Application Function (AF).

10. The method of any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein the first ID is obtained in a R2D / paging message initiating and / or associated with an inventory procedure.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the second ID enables RAN repetition of the inventory procedure.

12. The method of any one of claims 1 to 11, wherein the current message comprises information indicating wireless device ID of wireless devices that are barred from responding to the message again, the barred wireless devices having successfully responded earlier to a previous message.

13. The method of any one of claims 1 to 12, further comprising:obtaining (804) user data; andforwarding (805) the user data to a host or a user equipment.

14. A method performed by a wireless device for handling identities, ID, in a communication system (100), the method comprising:obtaining (703) a current message comprising a first ID and a second ID from the first network node;checking (704) if the currently obtained first ID and second ID are at least substantially the same as with respect to a previously obtained first ID and second ID previously obtained in a previous message; anddetermining (705, 706) which action to take based on a result of the check.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein a first action is determined to be taken when a result of the checking indicates that the currently obtained first ID and second ID are at least substantially the same as the previously obtained first ID and second ID.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the first action comprises at least one of:determining to not respond to the current message;determining that the wireless device has already responded to the previous message; and determining that the wireless device has successfully completed a procedure triggered by the previous message.

17. The method of any one of claims 14 to 16 wherein a second action is determined to be taken when a result of the check indicates that the currently obtained first ID and second ID are not at least substantially the same as the previously obtained first ID and second ID.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein the second action comprises at least one of: determining to respond to the current message;when the first ID in the current message is not at least substantially the same as in the previous message, determining that the current message is associated with a new service; when the first ID in the current message is at least substantially the same as in the previous message, determining that the current message is associated with the same service as of the previous message and interpreting the current message as a repetition of the previous message.when the second ID in the current message is at least substantially the same as in the previous message, determining to not respond to the current message when the wireless device has responded earlier to the previous message;when the second ID in the current message is not at least substantially the same as in the previous message, determining to respond to the current message;when the second ID in the current message is not at least substantially the same as in the previous message, determining to respond to the current message if the current message comprises a wireless device ID or an indication of a wireless device ID;19. The method any one of claims 14 to 18 wherein the current message comprises information indicating wireless device ID of wireless devices that are barred from responding to the message again, the barred wireless devices have successfully responded earlier to the previous message.

20. The method according to any one of claims 14 to 19, wherein the first ID and the second ID are obtained together in a current message.

21. The method of claim 20 wherein the current message is a current paging / R2D message.

22. The method of any one of claims 14 to 21, wherein the first ID is a second network node based service / transaction ID.

23. The method of claim 22 wherein the first ID is a Core Network (CN) and / or Application Function (AF) based service / transaction ID.

24. The method of any one of claims 14 to 23 wherein the second ID is a RAN transaction ID.

25. The method of any one of claims 14 to 24, wherein the first ID and the second ID together forms a combined service / transaction ID composed of both CN and RAN related parts.

26. The method of any one of claims 14 to 25 wherein the second ID is associated with an inventory request, service or procedure triggered by a paging or R2D message.

27. The method of any one of claims 14 to 26 wherein the second network node is a core network node or an Application Function (AF).

28. The method of any one of claims 14 to 27, wherein the second ID enables RAN repetition of the procedure.

29. The method of any one of claims 14 to 28, further comprising:providing (1004) user data; andforwarding (1005) the user data to a host via the transmission to the network node.

30. A wireless device for handling identities, ID, in a communication system (100), comprising: processing circuitry (1402) configured to perform the method of any of claims 14-29; and a power source (1408) configured to supply power to the processing circuitry.

31. A network node for handling identities, ID, in a communication system (100), the network node comprising:processing circuitry (1502) configured to perform the method of any of claims 1-13; and a power source circuitry (1508) configured to supply power to the processing circuitry.

32. A wireless device for handling identities, ID, in a communication system (100), the wireless device comprising:one or more antennas (1422);communication interface (1412) connected to the one or more antennas and to processing circuitry (1402);the processing circuitry being configured to perform the method of any one of claims 14-29; an input interface (1406) connected to the processing circuitry and configured to allow input of information into the wireless device to be processed by the processing circuitry;an output interface (1406) connected to the processing circuitry and configured to output information from the wireless device that has been processed by the processing circuitry; anda power source (1408) connected to the processing circuitry and configured to supply power to the wireless device.

33. A computer program product comprising program code for performing, when executed by processing circuitry, the method of any of claims 1 to 29.

34. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions, which when executed by processing circuitry, causes the processing circuitry to perform the method of any of claims 1 to 29.

Images